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Environment & Health New COVID Variants Threaten to Make Pandemic Permanent Economy & Labor COVID Relief Packages Dramatically Reduced Poverty. They Should Be Permanent. Economy & Labor Predatory Banks at Walmarts Made Over 100 Percent of Profits From Overdraft Fees Environment & Health Biden to Set Goal for Half of All Vehicle Sales to Be Electric by 2030 Environment & Health MO Coroner Says He Alters Death Certificates If Families Dislike COVID Inclusion Environment & Health Biden Made Big Compromises on Climate — and Movements That Backed Him Are Livid ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. John Winkler II was dying of heart failure when doctors came to his hospital bedside, offering a chance to prolong his life. The HeartWare Ventricular Assist Device, or HVAD, could be implanted in Winkler’s chest until a transplant was possible. The heart pump came with disclaimers of risk, but Winkler wanted to fight for time. He was only 46 and had a loving wife and four children, and his second grandchild was on the way. So, in August 2014, Winkler had surgery to implant the device. A golf-ball-sized rotor was attached to his left ventricle to pump blood through a tube and into his aorta. A cable threading out of a small incision in his waist connected to a battery-powered controller strapped to his body. If something went wrong, an alarm as loud as a fire drill would sound. Winkler returned home weeks later and, as he regained his strength, became hopeful about the future. He started making plans to visit colleges with his daughter, and was able to host his parents and new grandchild for Christmas. “He was doing so much better,” his wife, Tina Winkler, said. “We thought he was coasting until he got his transplant.” What John Winkler didn’t know: Months before his implant, the Food and Drug Administration put HeartWare on notice for not properly monitoring or repairing HVAD defects, such as faulty batteries and short circuits caused by static electricity, that had killed patients. The agency issued a warning letter, one of its most serious citations. It demanded fixes within 15 days, but took no decisive action as problems persisted. Ten days after Christmas 2014, Winkler’s two teenage children heard the HVAD’s piercing alarm and ran upstairs. They found their father collapsed on his bedroom floor, completely unresponsive. Kelly, 17, dropped to his side and tried to copy how people on television did CPR. She told her brother to call 911, and over the device’s siren did her best to hear instructions from the operator. When paramedics arrived and assessed her father, one made a passing comment that has haunted Kelly ever since: “Well, his toes are already cold.” He died two days later. Medtronic, the company that acquired HeartWare in 2016, settled a lawsuit by the family last year, admitting no fault. Tina Winkler believes her children blamed themselves for their father’s death. “Those two kids have never been the same,” she said. “I think they feel like they didn’t do things they needed to do.” But it was the FDA that failed to protect Winkler and thousands of other patients whose survival depended on the HVAD, a ProPublica investigation found. As HeartWare and Medtronic failed inspection after inspection and reports of device-related deaths piled up, the FDA relied on the device makers to fix the problems voluntarily rather than compelling them to do so. The HVAD was implanted into more than 19,000 patients, the majority of whom got it after the FDA found in 2014 that the device didn’t meet federal standards. By the end of last year, the agency had received more than 3,000 reports of patient deaths that may have been caused or contributed to by the device. Among them were reports of deaths the company linked to serious device problems: a patient who vomited blood as a family member struggled to restart a defective HVAD; a patient who bled out internally and died after implant surgery because a tube attached to the pump tore open; a patient whose heart tissue was left charred after an HVAD short-circuited and voltage surged through the pump. The ineffective regulatory oversight of the HVAD is emblematic of larger, more systemic weaknesses. For decades, the FDA and its Center for Devices and Radiological Health have been responsible for ensuring that high-risk medical devices are safe and effective. Yet they mostly rely on manufacturers to identify and correct problems. The agency says it can seize products, order injunctions against companies or issue fines, but it rarely does so, preferring instead for companies to make fixes voluntarily. When federal investigators found repeated manufacturing issues with the HVAD for years, the FDA didn’t penalize the company, even as the company issued 15 serious recalls of the device starting in 2014, the most of any single high-risk device in the FDA’s database. Thousands of patients with recalled models needed to have external HVAD parts replaced or take extra caution while handling their devices and monitor them for signs of malfunctions that could cause injury or death. Meanwhile, the processes to inform the public through formal FDA notices and messages to healthcare providers repeatedly failed and left patients in the dark about known problems with the HVAD. “Patients have no idea, and they rely on the FDA to ensure the safety and effectiveness of high-risk devices,” said Dr. Rita Redberg, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco who studies medical device regulation. “How can you not take action on a warning letter with these serious issues with very sick patients?” In response to ProPublica’s findings, the FDA said it had been closely monitoring issues with the HVAD. It said that after Medtronic acquired HeartWare in 2016, it met with the company more than 100 times to ensure problems were being fixed and to review safety concerns related to the heart pump. The agency also said it initiated formal reviews of new device modifications and continually tracked whether the HVAD had a “reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness.” “Our decisions that we made along the way have always been patient-focused,” said Dr. William Maisel, the director of product evaluation and quality at the FDA’s device division. He added that more than 80% of companies fix their problems by the time the FDA reinspects. That did not happen with the HVAD. In 2016 and 2018, inspectors found that issues detailed in the 2014 warning letter remained unresolved. Medtronic told the FDA last year that it had fixed the problems, but, before the agency could verify the claim, inspections were paused because of the coronavirus pandemic. In June, Medtronic stopped HVAD sales and implants. The company conceded that a competing device was safer after a new study showed the HVAD had higher rates of death and neurological injury. Medtronic also cited a 12-year-old problem with its devices not restarting if they disconnect from power, leaving patients’ hearts without support. Medtronic declined to make CEO Geoffrey Martha or president of mechanical heart support Nnamdi Njoku available for interviews. In an email, a spokesperson said, “There is nothing more important to Medtronic than the safety and well-being of patients.” The email continued, “Medtronic takes this matter very seriously and, over the past five years, we have worked closely with FDA and engaged external experts to resolve the issues noted in the warning letter. FDA is aware of the steps Medtronic has taken to address the underlying concerns.” The company said it will have a support system in place for the 4,000 patients worldwide and 2,000 in the United States who still rely on the HVAD. Medtronic will station 20 specialists across the globe to help with device maintenance and patient education. A centralized engineering team will also provide technical support and troubleshooting for patients and medical staff. Medtronic said it will also offer financial assistance if insurance doesn’t fully cover the surgery to replace a device with a competing product, but only if a doctor decides it’s medically necessary. Patients with HVADs have little choice but to hope the devices keep working: The surgery to remove HVADs is so risky that both Medtronic and the FDA advise against it. The device is meant to be left in place until its wearer gets a heart transplant. Or dies. Warning Signs In late 2012, HeartWare, then an independent company headquartered in Massachusetts, won FDA approval to sell a new device that could keep heart failure patients alive and mobile while awaiting a transplant. A competing device, the HeartMate, was already gaining attention, with high-profile patients like former Vice President Dick Cheney, a heart attack survivor who eventually got a transplant after using the device for 20 months. The HVAD offered a smaller option that could even be used in children, and it led to a string of publicized successes. A fitness model was able to return to the gym. A 13-year-old with heart defects could attend school again. Medtronic’s YouTube page features 16 interviews with grateful patients and families. The patients who received HVADs had already been in grave peril. They had advanced heart failure, serious enough to need blood pumped out of their hearts artificially. Most patients were older than 50, but there were also younger patients with heart defects or other cardiac conditions. The device provided help but brought its own risks. Implanting it required invasive open-heart surgery, and clots could develop inside the pump, which, in the worst cases, led to deadly strokes. The device also came with a steep price tag. Each HVAD cost about $80,000, and, even though HeartWare never made a profit as an independent company, in 2015 device sales brought in $276 million in revenue. For many severe heart failure patients, the opportunity to survive longer and return to normal life made the device worth the risks and cost. But patients were unaware the FDA started finding manufacturing issues at HeartWare’s Miami Lakes, Florida, plant as early as 2011, when the device was still seeking approval. Among the findings, a federal inspector expressed concerns that engineering staff “were not completely reviewing documents before approving them” and found one employee assigned to monitoring device quality had missed several required monthly trainings. HeartWare leadership promised quick corrective action, according to FDA documents. Then, in 2014, the FDA found more serious lapses, detailed in federal inspection reports. For example, HeartWare knew of 119 instances in which batteries failed unexpectedly, which could leave the pump powerless, stopping support for the patient’s heart. But the company didn’t test the batteries in inventory for defects, or the batteries of current patients, even though one person’s death had already been linked to battery failure. The company also received complaints that static electricity could short-circuit its devices. It learned of at least 27 such cases between 2010 and 2013, including four that resulted in serious injuries and two that led to death. HVAD patients would need to avoid contact with certain household objects like televisions or vacuum cleaners — anything that could create strong static electricity. HeartWare added warnings to the patient manual and redesigned its shield to protect the device controller, but the FDA found that the company didn’t replace shields for devices already being used by current patients or produced and sitting in inventory. Continuing quality control concerns led to the FDA warning letter in June 2014. The document labeled the HVAD as “adulterated,” meaning the device did not meet federal manufacturing standards. The agency gave HeartWare 15 days to correct the problems or face regulatory action. Still, investment analysts who followed HeartWare believed the warning posed little risk to the company’s business prospects. One described it as being “as benign as possible.” The 15-day deadline passed, and the FDA never penalized the company. The agency told ProPublica it had provided additional time because HeartWare was a relatively new manufacturer and the HVAD was a complicated device. It also said it avoided punitive action to make sure patients with severe heart failure had access to this treatment option. “We’re talking about the sickest of the sick patients who really have very few alternatives,” Maisel, the head of device quality, said. But the HeartMate, the competing device, was available and already being used by the majority of patients. When Medtronic stopped HVAD sales, both companies said the HeartMate could fill the gap. Inspectors continued to find problems at HeartWare facilities in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. In the most recent report in 2018, inspectors identified seven separate violations at the HVAD plant, including three previously cited in the 2014 warning letter. The company was still mishandling newly discovered defects like pins connecting the controller to a power source that could bend and become unusable, and controllers built with incompatible parts that could chemically react and “attack” the plastic exterior. Again, the inspection report said the company “promised to correct” the issues. “What penalty is there for noncompliance? There isn’t one,” said Madris Kinard, a former public health analyst with the FDA and the CEO of Device Events, a software company that analyzes FDA device data. “There’s nothing the FDA is doing that penalizes, in any true sense of the matter, the manufacturer.” By the time sales were halted last month, the HVAD had become the subject of 15 company-initiated “Class I” recalls for dangerous device problems that could cause injury or death. One recall came with a warning sent to health care providers in December that said pumps were failing to start up properly. The pattern of malfunctions was almost as old as the device itself, the company later admitted when it halted device sales in June. But even recent patients were completely unaware of the problem. “A No-Brainer” When children asked Latoya Johnson Keelen about the cable that came out of her side and connected to a controller on her hip, she told them she was Iron Woman. For a while, she felt invulnerable with the HVAD on her heart. Johnson Keelen, who lives in the Atlanta suburbs, learned she needed the device after delivering her fourth child, Isaiah, in early 2018. Doctors diagnosed her with postpartum cardiomyopathy, a rare and mysterious form of heart failure that afflicts mothers during pregnancy or after birth. Black mothers in the South have among the highest rates of the illness. Some mothers quickly regain heart function, some only partially recuperate and others never recover. Tests showed that Johnson Keelen, then 42, was suddenly in end-stage heart failure. Her body’s immune response at the time was too strong for her to receive a heart transplant. Doctors gave her two choices: an HVAD or end-of-life hospice care. “It became a no-brainer,” she said. “I just had a baby. I just gave birth. I’m not ready to plan for a funeral.” Johnson Keelen, a woman of faith, believed God would heal her, either through a medical advancement or a miracle. She thought the HVAD was the answer. Living with a life-sustaining medical device was difficult at first for the fiercely independent mother. She had to leave her job as a public health communications specialist, ask her older sons to change her bandages and lean heavily on her new husband, only a year into their marriage. But, for about three years, she found comfort in the soft humming of the HVAD’s spinning rotor at night. It served as a lullaby for her new baby when he lay on her chest. She said she was never told about the manufacturing problems the FDA repeatedly found at HeartWare’s facilities or about device recalls, including one sent to patients in December 2020. The notice said the device sometimes wouldn’t restart properly, which had led to two patient deaths at that point. It warned that current patients should always keep at least one power source, a battery or an AC or DC adapter, connected at all times to avoid the need for a restart. Two months after that notice, Johnson Keelen was getting her kids ready for school when the HVAD’s low-battery alarm blared. She had unplugged the battery to replace it without realizing her wall adapter was disconnected. Once before, Johnson Keelen had simply plugged the charger back into the outlet and her device restarted. But this time it wouldn’t. As an emergency alarm sounded, she called the ventricular-assist team assigned to her case, and a specialist directed her to switch out the device controller. Nothing changed, and panic crept into the voice on the phone. An ambulance took Johnson Keelen to a hospital where medical staff used several backup controllers to try to start the pump. Still nothing. Doctors and nurses tried to keep calm, but Johnson Keelen could see fear and shock on their faces. Without the HVAD, her only options were a transplant or a completely new pump. Doctors scurried to locate a donor heart and airlifted her for an emergency transplant. But while running tests, the medical team was stunned to find that Johnson Keelen’s miracle had occurred: Her heart was once again pumping blood on its own. She had a new choice. She could avoid the risks of transplant rejection and open heart surgery during the pandemic by leaving the device on her functioning heart, while cutting the wires, removing the external components and sealing the pump. She chose to trust her newly functioning heart, and leave the decommissioned HVAD inside her. Three months later, when Medtronic said it was stopping HeartWare sales and implants, its announcement cited the problem with pumps not restarting among the reasons. Company-Led Oversight If evidence suggests a medical device may be linked to a serious patient injury or death, hospitals and other health care facilities must submit a report to the manufacturer and the FDA. Device companies must also submit reports if they learn independently of any incidents. By the end of 2020, roughly 3,000 death reports and 20,000 injury reports related to the HVAD had been filed with the FDA. Any details that could identify patients, like their age or gender, are removed from the publicly available reports. Most only have limited details about circumstances surrounding deaths or injuries. But it’s clear from the reports on the HVAD that some of these outcomes could be linked to problems previously identified by FDA inspectors. Doctors attempted CPR for two hours after an electrostatic shock short-circuited one patient’s device in 2014, a few months after the FDA inspection that year. An autopsy revealed voltage had caused “deep charring” of the tissue inside the patient’s chest. Friends found another patient dead in the kitchen, with groceries still on the counter, in 2018 after their device, which did not have the recommended static shield, short-circuited. Last year, paramedics found a patient with the device disconnected from power. They struggled to restart the device, but it wouldn’t plug back into the power source because the connector pins were bent. The patient would die at the hospital. In most cases, the FDA turned to the company to investigate whether a malfunction caused or contributed to the incidents. But the FDA has long known HeartWare and Medtronic could not be relied on to properly submit HVAD incident reports. In 2014, the FDA cited HeartWare because in at least 10 cases, there were no documents showing the company attempted to investigate. In 2016, the agency wrote another citation when the company was late in reporting more than 200 cases, some more than a year past their 30-day reporting deadlines, and failed to report malfunctions that occurred during clinical trials. The FDA told ProPublica the agency increased its monitoring of HVAD reports, and Medtronic hired new employees to submit timely reports. But by 2018, its backlog had only grown, with 677 late case filings. Again, the FDA did nothing beyond telling the company to fix the problem and further increasing its monitoring. In an email, Medtronic said it “has robust systems in place to monitor the safety of all of our products, including the HVAD device.” The email said, “When any potential safety issues are identified, those issues are thoroughly investigated and relevant information is shared with regulators and healthcare providers.” The company didn’t respond to the pattern of late reports and incomplete investigations identified in FDA inspections. Maisel, the director of FDA device evaluation and quality, once criticized asking companies to investigate their own devices. In 2008, as a practicing cardiologist, he testified to the U.S. House oversight committee about his concerns. “In the majority of cases, FDA relies on industry to identify, correct and report the problems,” he said. “But there is obviously an inherent financial conflict of interest for the manufacturers, sometimes measured in billions of dollars.” Maisel has since had a change of heart. When asked about his 2008 testimony, he told ProPublica that he now believes the regulatory system “generally serves patients well” and “most companies are well intentioned.” HeartWare’s track record of questionable investigations was glaring in John Winkler II’s case. A report submitted by HeartWare that matches the dates and details of Winkler’s case shows the company decided there was “no indication of any device malfunctions.” It told the FDA that the device couldn’t be removed from the body because the hospital said his family declined an autopsy. HeartWare added that the evidence of the device’s role in Winkler’s death was inconclusive. Yet little of this appears to be true. Documents reviewed by ProPublica show an autopsy of the heart and lungs was performed a day after the death. Tina Winkler said she was told the pump was removed from her husband’s body and was available for inspection. A year after John Winkler’s death, HeartWare recalled 18,000 potentially faulty batteries produced between 2013 and 2015. Tina Winkler came across the notice online and found her husband’s battery serial numbers on the list. The company never contacted her about it or any further investigation, she said. Rewards, Not Penalties As deaths and recalls mounted, HeartWare and Medtronic touted additional FDA approval to treat more patients and their attempts to develop new cutting-edge devices. With the company on notice under the 2014 warning letter, HeartWare geared up to begin human trials on a smaller heart pump, called the MVAD or Miniaturized Ventricular Assist Device. It would be powered by a new algorithm to more efficiently pump blood. Industry analysts predicted robust sales. In July 2015, implantations were set to begin on a select group of 60 patients in Europe and Australia. But they were abruptly stopped less than two months later after only 11 implants. Patients experienced numerous adverse events, including major bleeding, infection and device malfunction, according to published data. HeartWare’s stock price plummeted from about $85 to $35 by October 2015. The next year, Medtronic bought HeartWare for $1.1 billion, replacing much of the company’s leadership shortly after. Some former HeartWare investors filed a class action lawsuit in January 2016 alleging deception in the development of the MVAD. According to the accounts of six anonymous former employees in the lawsuit, the details mirror the scandal surrounding Theranos, the former blood test company charged with fraud for raising more than $700 million by allegedly lying about its technology. Where Theranos made empty promises of a test that only needed a few drops of blood, the suit alleges HeartWare promoted a life-sustaining medical device that former employees said had many problems and actually worsened blood flow, increasing clotting risks. “Nothing really worked right,” one former HeartWare manager said in the lawsuit, citing “improper alarms, improper touch screen performance, gibberish on display screens — just so many alerts and problems.” Leadership proceeded with human testing anyway, the suit alleges. Months later, at an investor conference, HeartWare leadership acknowledged the pump and algorithm led to multiple adverse events. For two patients in particular, the algorithm would direct the pump to speed up so fast that it would try to suck up more blood than was available inside the heart for prolonged periods of time. HeartWare and Medtronic settled the investor suit for $54.5 million in 2018, admitting no fault. None of the allegations slowed the FDA as it gave Medtronic additional approval and support for its heart pump technologies. In September 2017, the agency approved the HVAD as “destination therapy” for patients who were not heart transplant candidates and would rely on the device for the rest of their lives. “We’re really excited about our HVAD destination therapy approval,” a Medtronic executive said on an investor earnings call. “That’s a real game changer for us in that market.” Two years later, Medtronic announced it was developing a fully implantable version of the HVAD that would no longer need a cable coming through the waist to connect to power. Even though issues with the HeartWare device had been unresolved for five years at that point, the FDA accepted the pitch into its new fast-track approval process for high-risk devices. “Slipped Through The Cracks” After Johnson Keelen’s pump failed in February, she found a news story about the recall notice sent to medical providers two months prior. It said the company had identified a problem with pump restarts that could cause heart attacks or serious patient harm. Nineteen patients had been seriously injured so far, and two people had died. The recall warned that patients should be careful to avoid disconnecting the device’s power sources. “I kept seeing Medtronic on record saying they notified patients,” Johnson Keelen said. “Who did they contact? No one told me.” Her doctor later told her she must have “slipped through the cracks,” she said. The current system for informing patients of new safety concerns with high-risk devices relies on a communication chain that can easily break. The device company contacts the FDA and health care providers that work with device patients. The FDA typically issues a public notice, while health professionals contact their patients. But the agency admits most patients don’t know to look for formal FDA postings. And, experts say, the medical system can lose track of who needs to be notified, especially if a patient moves or switches primary care physicians. Tina Winkler still wonders why she was never told about FDA-known safety issues with the HVAD. She said her husband’s medical team “had to teach me how to clean his wound, how to change his batteries and what to do if alarms go off. And they never mentioned any of this.” She said, “If we had all the facts, there’s no way he would have gotten that device implanted in his heart.” When FDA inspectors find serious safety issues with a medical device, inspection reports are not posted online or sent to patients. The public can obtain reports through a Freedom of Information Act request, but the agency’s records department has said new requests can be stuck behind a year-long backlog. Patients can find warning letters online in a searchable database of thousands of letters from different FDA divisions, including the center for devices. But HeartWare’s 2014 letter is no longer available for public review because the website purges letters older than five years. There are also few documents available in state courts about faulty products, because of restrictions on lawsuits related to medical devices. The restrictions date back to a 2008 Supreme Court decision in a case against Medtronic. The court found that U.S. law bars patients and their survivors from suing device makers in state court, essentially because their products go through such a rigorous FDA approval process. Two recent patient lawsuits against HeartWare and Medtronic, including one filed by Tina Winkler, were moved from state court to federal court. In both cases, Medtronic filed to dismiss the cases because of the U.S. law that protects device companies. Medtronic and the families reached private settlements soon after. Winkler and an attorney for the other family said they could not comment on their settlements. Johnson Keelen, with a decommissioned HVAD still attached to her heart, wonders what that means for her and other patients’ chances of recourse. “Why isn’t anyone now stepping up for the patient?” she asked. “They are now liable for taking care of us because we relied on them.” “Run Its Course” Deserae Cain, 33, is one of the 4,000 patients still relying on a HeartWare device. She was implanted with the heart pump in late 2017, after suddenly being diagnosed with heart failure. Scans showed her heart was three times normal size. It took time for her to come to terms with needing a life-sustaining device — not long before her diagnosis, she had been going on five-mile runs. In the four years since, though, Cain has built a life around the HVAD with her fiance in their Dayton, Ohio, home. They know the device can malfunction. In 2019, the pump failed for almost an hour as doctors at a nearby hospital struggled to restart it. Cain just tried to stay calm, knowing anxiety could threaten her unsupported weak heart. Months later, she needed an emergency experimental procedure to clear out blood clots developed within her HVAD. Then, in 2020, Cain developed a widespread infection. Doctors told her she needed surgery to clean out and replace the pump. Cain asked her medical team if she could switch to the alternative HeartMate device, which other patients told her presented fewer problems, she said. Doctors said the HVAD was better suited for her smaller frame. But her new pump had problems soon after the surgery. The device’s suction alarms, which alert when the pump is trying to pull in more blood than is available within the heart, sounded multiple times a day, for hours at a time, she said. Baffled by the issue for months, her medical team eventually turned off that specific alarm. Soon after, her ventricular-assist specialist called her about a patient’s death linked to the belt that holds the device controller, she said. The belt had ripped and the equipment had fallen, yanking on the cable that connected the controller to the pump. Cain replaced her belt but it quickly frayed and had to be replaced again within six weeks. Then, in June, she found out about Medtronic’s decision to stop sales and implants. Cain received a letter from her hospital mentioning a Medtronic support program, but it provided few specifics. Cain wondered if things would be any different than before. Anxious about her future, she asked: “Are they just going to let it run its course until there is none of us left?” This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Environment & Health New COVID Variants Threaten to Make Pandemic Permanent Economy & Labor COVID Relief Packages Dramatically Reduced Poverty. They Should Be Permanent. Economy & Labor Predatory Banks at Walmarts Made Over 100 Percent of Profits From Overdraft Fees Environment & Health Biden to Set Goal for Half of All Vehicle Sales to Be Electric by 2030 Environment & Health MO Coroner Says He Alters Death Certificates If Families Dislike COVID Inclusion Environment & Health Biden Made Big Compromises on Climate — and Movements That Backed Him Are Livid President Joe Biden is launching a push on Thursday to curb vehicle emissions and set a benchmark for the U.S. to begin phasing out gas vehicles. Biden is expected to sign an executive order setting a goal for half of all vehicles sold in the United States to be electric by 2030, which will likely play a key role in helping the U.S. meet Biden’s climate goals. He is also expected to reinstate and tighten tailpipe emission standards set under President Barack Obama (but rolled back by Trump) to cut greenhouse gas emissions and ramp up vehicle efficiency. The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., making up 29 percent of emissions in 2019, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Without swift vehicle electrification, climate goals set by the administration like cutting emissions to 50 percent of 2005 levels by 2030 will be hard to reach, experts say, Still, Biden’s announced goal for vehicle electrification will be difficult to achieve, logistically and politically. “There’s a battle on every front. There’s a battle in Congress. There’s a battle in the courts. There’s a battle against time,” Jody Freeman, Harvard Law School environmental and energy law director, told The Washington Post. Indeed, as this summer’s climate events have demonstrated, time is of the essence on climate legislation. And with climate measures being carved out of the infrastructure plan, there are few options left for legislators who want to curb the climate crisis to do so. In the latest and possibly final version of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure funding ended up being cut by nearly 96 percent of Biden’s original proposal. Vehicle manufacturers have said that their compliance with Biden’s order hinges on funding and support for building more charging stations from Congress. The latest bipartisan bill calls for only $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations, half of the $15 that was allocated for charging stations in the June bipartisan framework. Car manufacturers like Ford, General Motors and Honda have signalled their support for Biden’s electrification goals. But the American manufacturers and United Auto Workers will only take the pledge to make 40 to 50 percent of their new car sales electric if the bipartisan bill passes with the $7.5 billion in EV charging funding. Biden will also reinstate vehicle mileage standards rolled back by Donald Trump. Starting with 2023 car models, Biden will propose higher mileage standards in hopes of cutting emissions by 3.7 percent a year, mirroring a California vehicle emissions reduction plan. In 2025, the emissions cuts will ramp up by a 5 percent increase annually, and possibly more after that, the Associated Press reports. Climate and environment groups have shared mixed views on Biden’s plans. “This proposal is headed in a better direction, but the Biden administration can and should be more ambitious,” Environment America Carbon Campaign Director Morgan Folger said in a statement. “Over 5 years ago, the Obama-Biden administration took the strongest federal action to reduce global warming pollution in history, only to be stalled out by the automakers reneging on their promise…. We can’t turn back the clock 5 years, so we have to go even faster to zero out pollution from our cars and trucks and solve this climate crisis.” Simon Mui, deputy director for clean vehicles and fuels at the Natural Resources Defense Council, praised the administration for taking action but told The Washington Post, “This proposal delivers less carbon pollution reductions than the Obama-era standards and includes unfortunate loopholes that undercut progress.” Climate advocates have also recently taken umbrage with Biden for making major compromises on climate despite early promises for ambitious emissions reductions. “Today, the prospect of serious action on the scale needed to address the climate emergency, and the image of the Biden administration as being committed to climate action, are both in shambles,” wrote Basav Sen for Truthout. Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.

Following a memorandum from the Department of Justice (DOJ) last week outlining why the Treasury Department should share former President Donald Trump’s tax returns with Congress, the former president’s lawyers filed a brief on Wednesday attempting to stop that action from taking place. Trump’s legal team submitted a filing in federal court in Washington, D.C. saying the decision from the DOJ was errant and that the House Ways and Means Committee had insufficient reasoning for wanting to see his taxes.

In 2018, a crisis year in Cameroon marked by violent oppression inflicted by forces of the Francophone majority upon the English-speaking minority, Divine Tikum Kem, a shopkeeper in the country’s English-speaking northwest region, was beaten unconscious by members of the military. Kem says his shop had been targeted as a site of resistance in the continuing struggle for increased autonomy in the Anglophone region following the questionably democratic election of President Paul Biya to a seventh term, a vote the BBC reports was characterized by “low turnout and voter intimidation.”

Economy & Labor Pelosi Is Wrong – Biden Has the Power to Cancel Student Debt, and He Should Culture & Media Glen Ford’s Journalism Fought for Black Liberation and Against Imperialism Environment & Health EPA Approval of PFAS for Fracking May Spell a New Health Crisis for Communities Politics & Elections Both the Delta Variant and Thin-Willed Democrats Are Lethal to Our Society Environment & Health Biden Promotes $100 Incentives to Encourage Unvaccinated to Get Their Shots Environment & Health Exxon-Influenced Senators Carved Climate Out of Infrastructure Almost Entirely After many of their fellow Democratic lawmakers skipped town for a weeks-long vacation, Reps. Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley slept outside the U.S. Capitol building Friday night to demand that the House immediately reconvene and pass an extension of the soon-to-expire national eviction moratorium. With the reprieve set to lapse on Saturday, House Democratic leaders scrambled to pull their caucus together at the last-minute to pass legislation that would extend the moratorium until the end of 2021. But the effort, spurred by the Biden administration’s refusal to act on its own, ultimately fizzled out as a number of centrist Democrats made clear they would rather leave Washington, D.C. for August recess than work to prolong the moratorium, which is shielding millions of people across the U.S. from potentially imminent eviction. A parallel effort by Senate Democrats has also failed to get off the ground. “Earlier Friday afternoon, top Democrats began floating an alternative that they hoped would pick up votes from the moderate wing of their caucus — an extension of just over three months, rather than six months — on what is likely to be the House’s final task before departing for its lengthy August recess,” Politico reported. “But moderates remained unconvinced.” Because House Democratic leaders attempted to pass a moratorium extension using a procedure known as unanimous consent, a single Republican objection—in this case from Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.)—was enough to block the legislation. There was no full vote in the chamber, so centrist Democrats did not have to go on the record opposing an extension. The House is not scheduled to return to session until September 20. Bush (D-Mo.), who was formerly unhoused as a mother of two, expressed outrage that many of her Democratic colleagues “chose to go on vacation early today rather than staying to vote to keep people in their homes.” “That the House suddenly adjourned this evening without a roll call vote on Chairwoman Waters’ legislation is a moral failure,” Bush wrote in a letter to House Democrats on Friday, referring to Rep. Maxine Waters’ (D-Calif.) bill to extend the eviction ban. “I have been unhoused and evicted. I’ve slept in my car and slept outdoors. I know what it’s like, and I wouldn’t wish that trauma on anyone.” “I’m prepared to do whatever it takes, including staying in Washington and demanding that the House vote on H.R. 4791,” Bush continued. “I cannot in good conscience leave Washington tonight while a Democratic-controlled government allows millions of people to go unhoused as the Delta variant is ravaging our communities. Millions of people are about to lose their homes and, as Democrats, we must not give up on the chance to save their lives.” The Missouri Democrat went on to invite her colleagues to join her in sleeping outside the Capitol, but just two lawmakers — Pressley and Omar — heeded the call, along with a number of activists. We’ve got you, Sis. Extend the #EvictionMoratorium https://t.co/WH9X1Owazf pic.twitter.com/gHDhwmzMf4 — Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) July 31, 2021 First implemented by the CDC in September, the federal eviction moratorium is set to expire as more than 10 million tenants across the country are behind on rent and relief funds appropriated by Congress to help at-risk households remain largely unspent. “Six months after the aid program was approved by President Donald Trump in December, just 12% of the first $25 billion in funds had reached people in need due to loss of income from the pandemic,” the Washington Post reported Friday. “More than three months after President Biden signed a March relief package with another $21.5 billion for the program, even less of that has been spent.” Housing advocates have warned that a wave of evictions, while unacceptable at any time, would be especially perilous in the current moment, given the nationwide spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. While renters in Hawaii, Maryland, New York, Illinois, and a handful of other states will still be protected by temporary eviction bans after the national moratorium expires on Saturday, experts have argued that federal action is necessary to prevent a looming housing disaster. “Without immediate action, millions of these households will be at risk of losing their homes and their ability to keep themselves and their families safe and healthy,” National Low Income Housing Coalition and other organizations wrote in a letter (pdf) to congressional leaders on Thursday. “The newly surging Delta variant, low vaccination rates in communities with high eviction filings, and the slow rate of distributing [Emergency Rental Assistance] make the necessity of an extension abundantly clear.” The letter came hours after the Biden White House asked Congress to pass legislation to extend the moratorium — just three days before it was set to expire. In a statement Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki insisted that the Biden administration cannot unilaterally prolong the moratorium due to a recent Supreme Court ruling — a justification that many questioned. “The CDC could extend the eviction moratorium right now,” argued Kriston Capps, a staff writer for City Lab. “It would almost certainly be struck down, but it would take time for a challenge to reach the Supreme Court. Instead the White House punted to Congress but with very little time to reach a deal.” From the front of the U.S. Capitol, Bush tweeted Saturday morning that the House could have passed an extension in time, “but some Democrats went on vacation instead.” “We slept at the Capitol last night to ask them to come back and do their jobs,” Bush added. “Today’s their last chance. We’re still here.” This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Economy & Labor Pelosi Is Wrong – Biden Has the Power to Cancel Student Debt, and He Should Culture & Media Glen Ford’s Journalism Fought for Black Liberation and Against Imperialism Environment & Health EPA Approval of PFAS for Fracking May Spell a New Health Crisis for Communities Politics & Elections Both the Delta Variant and Thin-Willed Democrats Are Lethal to Our Society Environment & Health Biden Promotes $100 Incentives to Encourage Unvaccinated to Get Their Shots Environment & Health Exxon-Influenced Senators Carved Climate Out of Infrastructure Almost Entirely Spanline Dixon, a retired teacher’s aide, is used to unpleasant smells. Her home in Brunswick, Georgia, is near a waste and recycling facility, a water pollution control plant, and two facilities that emit toxic chemicals into the air: a pulp mill, Georgia Pacific (GP) Cellulose, and Pinova, a resin manufacturer. But on the evening of January 17, Dixon could literally feel a strong chemical odor, she said. She was disoriented. “I turned the air conditioner off, and it just attacked my respiratory system. I was coughing, and I didn’t know what was going on. I felt sick, nauseated… and it was in the back of my throat,” Dixon said. She called 911. “My pulse and my heart rate were pounding,” she said. She tried to escape the smell by going outside, but she found it there, too. The EMTs who arrived on the scene said they could smell the chemical odor down the street from her home. They administered oxygen to Dixon and ventilated her house. Dixon started feeling better that night. But she soon filed an official air quality complaint with the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, or EPD, following the advice of Brunswick-based environmental nonprofit Glynn Environmental Coalition, where she serves as a board member. Around the same time, several members of a Brunswick-area Facebook group, “SMELL SOMETHING, TELL SOMETHING!”, posted about a chemical odor similar to what Dixon experienced. A January 20 post in the group reads: “Toxic putrid smell. How many people have to get sick before something is done??? Is it time to hire a [sic] attorney?” In response to many posts like these, Glynn Environmental Coalition executive director Rachael Thompson suggested filing an official complaint with the state. Dixon’s is one of 170 air quality complaints about a noxious chemical odor in Brunswick and surrounding areas that were submitted to the EPD via phone and online between December 2020 and May 2021. People reported symptoms such as nonstop coughing, irritation of the throat and nose, rashes, and difficulty breathing. The complaints triggered an EPD investigation, as well as an independent one by the environmental coalition. Brunswick is a coastal city in Glynn County with a population of about 16,000, 55% of whom are Black. Industrial pollution has long plagued Brunswick, home to four Superfund sites, some of the most hazardous waste sites in the nation, and 14 sites on Georgia’s hazardous site inventory. All but one of these sites lie within a one-mile radius of a “majority-minority” population. To investigate the chemical odor, Glynn Environmental Coalition partnered with researchers from the University of Georgia to analyze 26 separate complaints filed by eight individuals in the Brunswick area between December 2, 2020 and May 8, 2021. Their analyses examined the location, date, time, weather, wind speed, and wind direction of each complaint to determine the source of the chemical odor. Their research pointed them to the GP Cellulose facility. GP Cellulose senior manager of public affairs, Randal Morris, said in an email that the company highly values their relationship with the Brunswick community and is working cooperatively with the EPD to help determine if their operation is a contributing source to the chemical odor complaints. He also said that GP Cellulose has been monitoring for hydrogen sulfide, a colorless gas that smells like rotten eggs, at locations on and around its Brunswick pulp mill since April, and will continue monitoring it for several months. “Given the proximity of our Brunswick operation to the location of some of the complaints along with a review of available meteorological data, we cannot rule out our operation as a potential contributing source of odor in the area,” Morris said. “Based upon the complaint information shared with us, our daily operations data does not indicate irregularity with our emissions that would correlate with the nature, timing and pattern of the citizen complaints.” The EPD identified a Clean Air Act violation at GP Cellulose last April involving nitrogen dioxide, one of several incurred by the corporation over the years. Nitrogen dioxide and hydrogen sulfide are two toxic chemicals emitted by GP Cellulose; others include ammonia, nitrous oxide, and sulfur dioxide. Over time, emitting these chemicals into the air can cause major health consequences to humans, including a higher risk of heart disease, respiratory disease, certain types of cancer, and birth outcomes. The university and Glynn Environmental Coalition plan to release their findings in a report later this month. Thompson said her group will use it to continue organizing city officials and local polluting industries to help resolve community concerns about air quality. They’re advocating for the EPD to monitor Brunswick’s air for sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide, and nitrogen dioxide. The agency currently only monitors the city’s air for particulate matter—PM 2.5 — and ozone. Additionally, the coalition is building an “air quality toolbox” that will include an online complaint portal and an anonymous tip hotline to make it easier for community members to submit air quality complaints to the EPD and the EPA and to track information the EPD withholds from the public. EPD director of communications Kevin Chambers said in an email that, agencies are able to withhold information related to a pending investigation of unlawful activity until the investigation is closed. Since the EPD is nearing the end of its air quality investigation in Glynn, they’ve released details of closed complaints “to assist the community in their understanding of the issue.” The agency used meteorological data, modeling, odor complaint information, and onsite inspections, yet did not make a definitive determination of the source of the chemical odor. “Odor investigations are difficult in nature due to a multitude of factors,” Chambers said. The unusually harsh chemical odor that invaded Brunswick and Dixon’s home has mostly subsided, but there’s no course of action to prevent it in the future. The complexity of this issue underscores the necessity of local monitoring by community members and organizations, according to some researchers. Dr. Christina Hemphill Fuller, an associate professor in Georgia State University’s School of Public Health, researches the effects of air pollution on communities of color. She said communities are using tools like low-cost sensors and smartphone apps to monitor local air pollution. For example, the advocacy nonprofit Air Alliance Houston’s community-based air monitoring network uses low-cost sensors in Latinx and Black neighborhoods near oil and gas refineries in the Houston area. “Part of my research is understanding that the regulatory monitors that are out there aren’t protective of public health in many areas because there’s just not enough of them to really understand where the pollution is in those highly impacted neighborhoods,” Hemphill Fuller said. “That’s why it’s important to do local monitoring.” Historically, redlining, disinvestment, and lack of political power has made Southern communities of color prime targets for industrial polluters, Hemphill Fuller said. According to a 2017 study, Black Americans are 75% more likely than white Americans to live next to a company, industrial, or service facility that directly affects their health or quality of life. Air pollution is already taking its toll on Brunswick residents. Asthma was among the top six diseases self-reported by Glynn residents who responded to a 2019 community needs health assessment conducted by the Southeast Georgia Health System. According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, trachea, bronchus, and lung cancers were the third top cause of premature deaths in Glynn between 2013 and 2017. But getting rid of polluting industries to protect residents’ health is a nuanced issue in Brunswick, where 35% of the population lives in poverty. GP Cellulose and Pinova are two of the top employers in the city, employing 550 and 216 individuals, respectively. Some Brunswick residents would love to see the city’s manufacturing plants disappear, but it doesn’t make sense economically because they’ve supported local families, including many Black families, for generations. By advocating for these industries to adopt more modern technologies that discharge less pollutants, Thompson said Glynn Environmental Coalition is aiming to solve the question: “How do we get them to sustain our economy while also keeping our people healthy and safe?” Dixon said city officials and governmental agencies are reluctant to hold industrial polluters accountable because of the jobs they bring: “They really don’t want to put the finger on any one particular industry and say, ‘You’re responsible for doing this. You need to do something about it.’ I know that it’s the bread and butter for a lot of people, and nobody wants to say, ‘We take responsibility for the odor.’” The neighborhood where Dixon lives, Magnolia Park, used to be a point of pride in Brunswick — home to Black doctors, lawyers, and postal workers. Today, it’s better known for its uphill battles with chemical and nuisance odors. Dixon hears about a lot of her neighbors dying from cancer and wonders whether their deaths are linked to air pollution. “I feel like if this were a Caucasian neighborhood and community,” she said, “more would be done about it.” This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Five months after her husband died of covid-19, Valerie Villegas can see how grief has wounded her children. Nicholas, the baby, who was 1 and almost weaned when his father died, now wants to nurse at all hours and calls every tall, dark-haired man “Dada,” the only word he knows. Robert, 3, regularly collapses into furious tantrums, stopped using the big-boy potty and frets about sick people giving him germs. Ayden, 5, recently announced it’s his job to “be strong” and protect his mom and brothers.

Economy & Labor Pelosi Is Wrong – Biden Has the Power to Cancel Student Debt, and He Should Culture & Media Glen Ford’s Journalism Fought for Black Liberation and Against Imperialism Environment & Health EPA Approval of PFAS for Fracking May Spell a New Health Crisis for Communities Politics & Elections Both the Delta Variant and Thin-Willed Democrats Are Lethal to Our Society Environment & Health Biden Promotes $100 Incentives to Encourage Unvaccinated to Get Their Shots Environment & Health Exxon-Influenced Senators Carved Climate Out of Infrastructure Almost Entirely The U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel said Friday that the Treasury Department is obligated by law to hand former President Donald Trump’s tax returns over to the House Ways and Means Committee, opening the door for Congress to finally obtain the documents after more than two years of legal battles and stonewalling by his administration. “It is about damn time,” Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), chair of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, said in a statement. “Our committee first sought Donald Trump’s tax returns on April 3, 2019 — 849 days ago. Our request was made in full accordance with the law and pursuant to Congress’ constitutional oversight powers. And for 849 days, our request has been illegally blocked by a tag-team of the Trump Justice Department and a Trump-appointed judge.” Pascrell went on to applaud Attorney General Merrick Garland for “doing the right thing and no longer using the government to shield a corrupt private citizen.” “This case is now bigger even than Donald Trump’s crimes and impacts whether the Article I branch can conduct effective oversight to impose accountability on the Article II branch,” said Pascrell, referring to the legislative and executive branches of government. “Neither the courts, nor the machinery of our government, exist to bodyguard a corrupt private citizen from transparency.” In a 39-page memo (pdf) sent to the Treasury Department, the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) said that “when one of the congressional tax committees requests tax information pursuant to section 6103(f)(1), and has invoked facially valid reasons for its request, the executive branch should conclude that the request lacks a legitimate legislative purpose only in exceptional circumstances.” “The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has invoked sufficient reasons for requesting the former president’s tax information,” the memo reads. “Under section 6103(f)(1), Treasury must furnish the information to the committee.” In 2019, Trump’s Treasury Department refused to comply with House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Richard Neal’s (D-Mass.) subpoena for the former president’s personal and business tax returns. The committee went on to sue the Treasury Department — then headed by former Goldman Sachs banker Steve Mnuchin — over its obstruction, prompting Trump to file suit against the congressional panel in his capacity as a private citizen. Last September, the New York Times — which obtained Trump tax-return data spanning more than two decades — published a major investigative story detailing how he paid just “$750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency.” “In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750,” the Times reported. “He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years — largely because he reported losing much more money than he made.” Under a Trump-appointed federal judge’s order, the Treasury Department is required to give Trump’s lawyers 72 hours’ notice before providing the former president’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, giving Trump a potential opportunity to stop the release of the documents. But that order is set to expire on August 3. In a statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the OLC memo “a victory for the rule of law, as it respects the public interest by complying with Chairman Neal’s request for Donald Trump’s tax returns.” “The American people deserve to know the facts of his troubling conflicts of interest and undermining of our security and democracy as president,” Pelosi said. This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Economy & Labor Pelosi Is Wrong – Biden Has the Power to Cancel Student Debt, and He Should Culture & Media Glen Ford’s Journalism Fought for Black Liberation and Against Imperialism Environment & Health EPA Approval of PFAS for Fracking May Spell a New Health Crisis for Communities Politics & Elections Both the Delta Variant and Thin-Willed Democrats Are Lethal to Our Society Environment & Health Biden Promotes $100 Incentives to Encourage Unvaccinated to Get Their Shots Environment & Health Exxon-Influenced Senators Carved Climate Out of Infrastructure Almost Entirely I had the honor of working with the late Glen Ford for nearly 20 years. His passing has created a huge void not just for Black Agenda Report (BAR), the site we co-founded with the late Bruce Dixon, but for all of Black politics and left media. Ford identified his political and journalistic stance with both, having created the tagline: “News, commentary and analysis from the black left” for BAR. He was the consummate journalist, a man who demanded rigorous analysis of himself and others, and he lived by the dictum of afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted. Ford co-founded a publication in line with his core values: He did not suffer fools gladly, succumb to corporate media and government narratives, or feel obligated to change his politics in order to elevate the Black face in a high place. Ford spoke of learning this lesson the hard way. He told a story of regret, his ethical dilemma, when he gave one such Black person, Barack Obama, a pass in 2003. At that time, Ford, Dixon and I were all working at Black Commentator. Obama had announced his candidacy for the United States Senate and he was listed as a member of the Democratic Leadership Council (DCL), the right-leaning, corporate wing of the Democratic Party. Obama had also removed an antiwar statement from his website. Ford and Dixon posed what they called “bright line questions” to Obama on issues such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, single-payer health care and Iraq. His fuzzy answers should have flunked him, but Ford chose not to be seen as “a crab in a barrel,” one who pulled another of the group down. Obama was given an opportunity to comment in Black Commentator and Ford wrote, “[Black Commentator] is relieved, pleased, and looking forward to Obama’s success in the Democratic senatorial primary and Illinois general election.” As he witnessed Obama’s actions on the campaign trail and eventually in office, Ford never again felt obligated to depart from his political stances or to defend a member of the group whose politics were not in keeping with the views of the Black left. From that moment on, Glen Ford did not let up on Obama, just as he did not waver from his staunch opposition to neoliberalism and U.S. imperialism. Black Agenda Report became the go-to site for all leftists. BAR’s critique of Obama when he led the destruction of Libya was no less stinging than critiques of George W. Bush when the U.S. invaded Iraq. Ford declared that Obama and the Democrats were not the “lesser evil” that millions of people hoped for. Instead, they were just the more effective evil, and they were always in BAR’s journalistic sights. Ford was always an uncompromising defender of Black people and never shrank from explaining the mechanisms which place that group at or near the bottom of all positive metrics and at or near the top of all the negative. He was one of the first to amplify the term “mass incarceration” in his unsparing analysis of the United States and its dubious distinction as the nation with more people behind bars than any other: more than 2 million, with half of those being Black, a cohort which makes up one-quarter of all the incarcerated in the world. Black Agenda Report can be counted on to give this information consistently and with no punches pulled. Glen Ford was a committed socialist, a Vietnam-era military veteran and a member of the Black Panther Party. He spent part of his childhood and youth in Columbus, Georgia, in the days of apartheid in the United States. Those life experiences shaped his work and left a legacy that anyone who considers themselves a leftist ought to follow. He worked in the media throughout his adult life and served as a Capitol Hill, White House and State Department correspondent for the Mutual Black Network. In 1977, he co-found “America’s Black Forum,” which was the first nationally syndicated Black-oriented program on commercial television. Glen Ford did not let up on Obama, just as he did not waver from his staunch opposition to neoliberalism and U.S. imperialism. Now the number of media outlets is very small, thanks in large part to Bill Clinton’s 1996 Telecommunications Act. Just six corporations control 90 percent of all media we read, watch and hear, and that means that there are very few working journalists, and an even smaller number with Ford’s experience and worldview. The most “successful” of those who fall into the category of journalists are mostly scribes, repeating the narratives which are favored by politicians and the corporate media. We desperately need left media and journalists like Glen Ford. Any reader of Black Agenda Report won’t expect The New York Times or The Washington Post to tell them what is happening in Haiti or Cuba. Thanks to Ford’s consistent analysis, they understand that even those who want to be well informed seldom are unless they also read Black Agenda Report. Glen Ford will be missed by all who knew him and by all BAR readers. He and journalists of his ilk are small in number and irreplaceable. Glen Ford presente! Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.

When President Trump used his executive authority to pause the nearly $2 trillion in outstanding student loan payments and interest back in March 2020, there was no pushback from legal experts or uproar from Congress members, from neither Democrats nor Republicans. Of course, the sudden advent of a deadly, airborne viral pandemic signified a future so grim that partial student loan cancellation seemed uncontroversial, even for an unforgiving Trump administration.