(NEW YORK) — Children and young people around the world are experiencing increasing anxiety over the fate of the planet — specifically climate change and how lawmakers are handling the looming crisis, according to new research.
Scientists who surveyed 10,000 young people, ages 16 to 25, across 10 countries, found “widespread psychological distress” among them, and, for the first time, discovered that the anxiety was significantly related to perceived government inaction, according to a study published Tuesday in Lancet Planetary Health.
Nearly half of all young people surveyed, more than 45%, said their feelings about climate change negatively affect their daily life and functioning, according to the study.
Another 75% of those surveyed said they feel the future is frightening, while 64% said governments are not doing enough to avoid a climate catastrophe.
Of the young people surveyed, 58% said governments are betraying hem, while 61% said governments are not protecting them, the planet or future generations.
The study is the largest to ever research climate anxiety among children and young people and is the first to investigate how government action on climate change is related to widespread psychological distress among the youngest members of society, according to the authors.
“Climate change has significant implications for the health and futures of children and young people, yet they have little power to limit its harm, making them vulnerable to increased climate anxiety,” according to the researchers.
The results of the study were not surprising and indicate a lack of trust toward the government as well as the perception of institutional betrayal, Lisa Van Susteren, a general and forensic psychiatrist and co-author of the study, told ABC News. The findings are also “as much a measure” of climate denial among adults as they are a measure of kids’ anxiety, Van Susteren said.
“Kids are very media savvy. They’re not living in a cave,” Van Susteren said. “They have heard about what the future looks like. They’ve heard the warnings.”
Scientists warned of the dire situation the planet faces in the annual Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released last month.
“This report tells us that recent changes in the climate are widespread, rapid and intensifying, unprecedented in thousands of years,” said IPCC Vice Chair Ko Barrett, senior climate adviser for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Young people have been at the forefront of the climate fight for some years — with 18-year-old activist Greta Thunberg becoming a household name in 2018, and hundreds of thousands of young people around the world taking part in an organized global climate strike in 2019.
As an expert witness, Van Susteren performed psychological evaluations on the young people who were plaintiffs in Juliana V. United States, the 2015 federal lawsuit brought about by 21 youths who accused the government of failing to adequately combat climate change. She described it as “one of the most difficult experiences” in her career.
“You can clearly see that theirs depths of despair just are off the charts and are in part attributed to the sense that the future holds little promise,” Van Susteren said.
The case was dismissed in January 2020, but lawyers representing the plaintiffs intend to appeal the dismissal, they announced in February.
The researchers concluded that climate change and inadequate governmental response are associated with climate anxiety and distress in children and young people globally. Continued government inaction on climate change could lead to a public health crisis among the youth, the researchers warned.
Van Susteren described a “healing effect” that could take place if lawmakers and industry professionals were to do “the right thing” to significantly curb greenhouse gas emissions.
“They’re not going to heal with words alone,” she said. “They’re going to heal because of actions that are taken.”
(NEW YORK) — Travis and Emily Elwood never imagined that they would call Billings, Montana, home.
The couple moved here from Portland, Oregon, last year when the pandemic forced them to reevaluate their priorities.
“I think humans just… are creatures of habit,” Travis Elwood told “Nightline.” “The pandemic coming in and forcing a change, versus one that you volunteer for, really just shook things up and everybody’s day-to-day lives and just kind of opened their eyes. [The massive change] broke off those chains and shackles [that] kind of held them in place.”
He and his wife are part of a great reshuffling taking place in the U.S. According to American real estate company Zillow, more than one in ten Americans have moved in the past year.
“For a long time, people have thought to move closer to cities because that’s where jobs are and if you wanted to minimize your commute, you wanted to get as close as possible. Now, as a result of the pandemic, a lot of workers have been untethered from their offices. And so that means they can broaden their search horizons for real estate,” Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com, told ABC News.
“They’re looking for good value further away from those downtown cores. And that’s led to home price increases,” she added.
The Elwoods had long talked about leaving Portland for a more affordable city.
“Rent for like a small apartment is quite astronomical. I mean, you’re looking $1,700 to $1,900 a month for a two-bedroom apartment,” Travis Elwood said.
When his wife began working remotely, the change gave the couple financial security — and they decided to take the plunge.
“We never in Portland would have been able to afford a house there, at least nothing like what we have now,” Emily Elwood said. “We were making pretty good money, but we just realized we were never going to buy there.”
Billings happened to have almost everything they were looking for.
“We wanted to change, so we wanted to make sure it wasn’t just a side step from where we were and something that was different, provided us new or different opportunities than-than we originally had,” Travis Elwood said.
The Montana city is #1 on the Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com emerging housing markets index
“I think people are kind of waking up to what many of us here have known,” Bill Cole, the mayor of the city, told “Nightline.” “Covid reminded us that life is not all about jobs and money. It’s about relationships, quality of life, and being part of a community. And Billings has those intangibles.”
Hale explained the Wall Street Journal /Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index is designed to track real estate markets that are going to be attractive for investment.
“[It’s] looking at a lot of different data indicators on things like amenities and quality of life, like low commute times, things like decent wages and low unemployment rate,” Hale said. “That makes these areas well rounded places where you’d actually want to live. And if you invest in real estate in these markets, you can expect a good return.”
Rounding out the emerging markets index list is Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. These locales show that smaller, more affordable cities are becoming some of the most popular places to live in the country.
The Elwoods traded in their two-bedroom apartment for a four-bedroom house with a backyard for their two dogs.
“Our mortgage here is actually less than what we’re paying and rents in Portland,” Emily Elwood said.
Her husband found a local job almost immediately. Billings has a population of less than 200,000 people, but its unemployment rate hovers around 3% — lower than the national average of 5.2%.
“I had a handful of offers in my first week here, so within my second week of being in Montana, I had a job,” he said.
Husband and wife realtors Megan and Jason Wood sold the Elwoods their home.
“Living in Billings and living in south central Montana is all about being close to the mountains and having the access to the river and the desert and some of the other nice outdoor activities,” Jason Wood told “Nightline.”
Like many mid-sized cities, Billings is experiencing a pandemic real estate boom.
“Pre-pandemic in 2019, there was about three-and-a-half months worth of inventory sitting on the market. Today, we have about three weeks worth of inventory,” Megan Wood said.
Houses are flying off the market.
“Houses are moving very quickly here. So you have three, four or five days to get an offer in and get an offer accepted,” her husband said.
While still less expensive than many cities, prices are going up. The average single-family home price in Billings and the surrounding area was $376,248 in June, up almost 28% from a year earlier.
“Homes in Billings are definitely going above asking price at the moment,” Megan Wood told “Nightline.” “The median for the month of July, the median amount over the asking price was about 6% sales price versus the list price.”
It seems new homes can’t be built quickly enough to keep up with demand. Almost all the homes in the subdivision, which range from $350,000 to $700,000 are already sold.
“The demand for houses is very, very high this year. We’re selling houses as soon as they’re done or even before they’re done,” Chad Wagenhals, Builder/Realtor at CDW Construction said. “We probably get a house framed and within the first two weeks, the house is sold. So if the house goes on the market, it’s usually sold in two or three days, if not two or three hours.”
With remote work freeing many people from their daily commute, families looking to stretch their dollar and their square footage are being up the suburbs, too.
“It’s crazy. It’s absolutely crazy,” real estate agent Pat Davis said. She’s been selling homes in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City for 30 years. “We have a lot of young people coming in with children that are looking for these types of homes, starter homes, three bedrooms, looking for it to entertain their families and have them come out.”
Davis just listed a house in Montclair, New Jersey, for $639,000. The town has become a magnet for families who want to live in the suburbs but still have easy access to New York City. With its direct trains, highly rated schools and quaint downtown area, it has much of what home buyers are willing to pay top dollar for.“What we’re seeing is a lot of families with young children, two and younger,” Pat Davis said.
Davis says the house went into contract for more than asking price, after just 13 days on the market.“We did a weekend open house on Saturday, Sunday. We had over 50 people come through,” Davis said.
Not everyone can afford this. The boom has locked out many first time buyers across the country, who are losing their dream homes to all-cash, above-ask offers.
“It’s really tough to compete in a market like this,” Davis said. “If you’re a first time home buyer and you don’t have the down payment money, if you’re using one of the products that’s available for people that are first time home buyers, that don’t have a lot of down payment money… They’re just not able to compete in this marketplace.”
“On the flip side, the one thing that is a positive for first time buyers is that they tend to take out larger loans,” Hale said. “They’re borrowing more money. And so low mortgage rates really help to benefit first time home buyers. But in today’s competitive market, the biggest challenge for many is finding a home that’s right for them and then winning the offer.
The Elwoods had to pay over asking price to close the deal on their house.
“We ended up having to put, you know, about $30,000 more or above the asking price. And even with that, we are one of 10 offers that came in,” Travis Elwood said. “So [that] really shows how crazy the house market has gotten over the last few months and so forth.”
But the couple says their new life in Billings makes it all worth it.
“I’d do it a hundred times over,” he added. “Thankfully, we’ve been blessed that it has come out in the best case.”
Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Dick Clark Productions
(SEOUL, South Korea) — K-pop group BTS was appointed as “special presidential envoy for future generations and culture” by South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday.
After the ceremony, Moon presented each member of the group with diplomatic passports and fountain pens.
Moon thanked BTS for its participation in the Permission to Dance challenge for the hearing impaired and congratulated the group on winning three awards at the MTV Music Awards.
As part of their first official duties as special envoys, BTS will be accompanying Moon in his visit to the United States from Sept. 19 to 23. Moon and BTS will attend the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York for the second meeting of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG Moment). The SDG Moment aims to reinforce the international community’s efforts to resolve global challenges, including poverty, hunger and climate issues.
The theme of the 76th General Assembly is “building resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainability, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalize the United Nations.”
At the upcoming session, BTS will give a speech and a video clip of their performance will be played. BTS is also expected to deliver a message of consolation and hope to youth all over the world.
According to the Korean government, BTS’ attendance is expected to “serve as a meaningful opportunity to expand communication with future generations around the world and draw their sympathy on major international issues.”
BTS member RM said in a statement, “It is an honor to be able to do something with a title special presidential envoy for future generations and culture. We were always contemplating on ways to give back the love we received, and we are honored to have the opportunity given by the president to be special envoys.”
This is not the first time that Moon and BTS visited the United Nations together. In 2018, RM delivered a speech titled “Speak Yourself,” sharing a message about self-empowerment and love, while Moon discussed denuclearization efforts.
In 2020, BTS delivered a speech online for the 75th session of the UN General Assembly to encourage people amid the pandemic.
(NEW YORK) — Nicholas made landfall in Texas early Tuesday as a Category 1 hurricane before weakening to a tropical storm.
The storm had been riding on the water, parallel to the Texas coast, causing it to strengthen from a tropical storm into a hurricane late Monday prior to hitting land early Tuesday. Nearly 200,000 customers were without power in the Lone Star State when Nicholas made landfall after midnight, and that figure soared to nearly 350,000 before dawn as the storm moved inland.
Hurricanes have 74 miles per hour or higher winds, and on Monday night, Nicholas reached sustained winds of 76 mph with higher gusts, according to the National Weather Service. The hurricane roared ashore Tuesday at around 12:30 a.m. CT on the eastern part of Texas’ Matagorda Peninsula, about 10 miles southwest of Sargent Beach. Maximum sustained winds at that time were 75 mph with higher gusts at landfall, according to the National Weather Service.
But by 4 a.m. CT, the National Weather Service said Nicholas had already been downgraded to a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. Hurricane watches and warnings in the region were discontinued, while tropical storm warnings were in effect from Sabine Pass to Cameron, Louisiana, from Matagorda to Freeport, Texas, and from Matagorda to Cameron, Louisiana.
Although Nicholas is forecast to weaken further over the next couple of days as the storm moves over land, the National Weather Service warned that it could still cause life-threatening flash floods across the Deep South.
Heavy rain, flash flooding, dangerous storm surge, isolated tornadoes and strong gusty winds were expected in Texas and Louisiana. A high-risk alert for “life-threatening” flash flooding was in effect for portions of southeast Texas overnight.
The high-risk areas stretch from Matagorda to Galveston to Port Arthur. Rain totals are predicted to be between 6 and 12 inches to isolated maximum amounts of up to 18 inches, according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.
Some spots across southeast Texas, southern-central Louisiana and southern Mississippi could see near 10 inches of rainfall through Thursday. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Louisiana on Monday night ahead of Nicholas’ arrival.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 17 counties and has prepped resources, including boat teams and rescue aircrafts, to assist any affected areas.
In Houston, the heaviest rain will come Monday night, and flash flooding is possible.
In Harris County, which encompasses Houston, Judge Lina Hidalgo warned Monday afternoon: “We could get 10 to 15 inches of rain over the next 24 hours or so — and that would be very, very concerning.”
All public health testing and vaccination sites will stop operations in Harris County. Schools in Houston will be closed on Tuesday.
“What I need each resident of this county to do today is to get to where you are going to be by 6 p.m. tonight and stay there,” Hidalgo said.
Nicholas is slow-moving and will likely remain in Texas from Monday to Wednesday, according to the latest forecast.
Rainfall totals will be the highest around Galveston, which could see more than 10 inches.
Storm surge could be as high as 5 feet south of Galveston.
On Tuesday, Nicholas is forecast to bring heavy rain to eastern Texas and into Louisiana. By Wednesday, some of the heavy rain will begin to reach New Orleans.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency in anticipation of Nicholas. Residents are still recovering from devastating hurricanes Laura and Ida.
During a news conference on Monday, Bel Edwards warned residents to take the storm seriously, even though it hadn’t reached hurricane status. More than 119,000 customers are currently without power in Louisiana and 1,425 people are still living in shelters there due to Ida, according to the governor.
“I know that bracing for another storm while we’re still responding to and trying to recover from Hurricane Ida is not the position that we wanted to be in, but it is a situation that we are prepared for,” Bel Edwards said.
The rainfall could be as intense as 2 inches per hour.
“The most severe threat to Louisiana is in the Southwest portion of the state, where recovery from Hurricane Laura and the May flooding is ongoing. In this area heavy rain and flash flooding are possible,” the governor said in a statement. “However, it is also likely that all of South Louisiana will see heavy rain this week, including areas recently affected by Hurricane Ida. This tropical storm has the potential to disrupt some power restoration and recovery work currently underway.”
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Nicholas is pounding the South with rain after roaring ashore in Texas early Tuesday as a Category 1 hurricane.
In the Houston area, 410,000 customers were without power Tuesday morning. In Harris County, all public health testing and vaccination sites have stopped operations and Houston schools are closed.
Rain totals reached 8 to 9 inches south of Galveston, where flash flooding was reported. Storm surge in Port O’Connor, Texas, was at nearly 4 feet.
The heavy rain is moving from the Houston area into Louisiana and Alabama where flash flood watches have been issued, including in New Orleans. Southern Mississippi could also see heavy rain and flooding.
Slow-moving Nicholas does not bode well for Louisiana, which has already been hard hit by hurricanes this year. The storm is expected to stall in the state early Wednesday, sitting there for days with heavy rain.
Six to 10 inches of rain is expected in Louisiana, including in New Orleans, with isolated totals reaching 15 to 20 inches.
The heaviest rain will arrive in New Orleans Tuesday night into Wednesday when life-threatening flash flooding is expected.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards requested a federal declaration of emergency ahead of landfall, which was granted by President Joe Biden. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 17 counties.
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 660,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 63% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Sep 14, 8:15 am
Putin goes into self-isolation due to COVID-19 among inner circle
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he will self-isolate “for a certain period,” after a member of his entourage tested positive for COVID-19.
Putin made the comment during a telephone call with Tajikistan’s president, while excusing himself from attending a regional summit there this week, the Kremlin said Tuesday in a readout of the call.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russian leader is “completely healthy” and that the self-isolation will not affect his work. Putin will continue to participate in meetings via video but will not meet with people in person while he self-isolates.
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Putin has effectively been in a form of isolation, with most people being required to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days before meeting with him.
Putin hinted at the issue of COVID-19 among his inner circle on Monday but still went to several public events, including a meeting with Russian Paralympians, attending military exercises conducted in coordination with Belarus and a meeting with Syria’s president.
“Even in my entourage, problems are arising with this COVID. We need to sort out what is happening there really,” Putin said while meeting with the Paralympians. “I think I, myself, will soon have to go into quarantine. A lot of people are sick around [me].”
Putin’s self-isolation has prompted speculation that he may be using it as a convenient excuse to not attend the summit in ex-Soviet Tajikistan in person. Chinese President Xi Jingping has also dropped out of the summit.
Sep 13, 9:42 pm
Lee County schools superintendent reverses mask mandate
The superintendent of schools in Lee County, Florida, informed parents and staff Monday night that he is reversing the mask mandate he imposed for students and will now let parents opt their children out of wearing face coverings.
In a letter, the superintendent, Ken Savage, said that last week’s ruling by an appeals court allowing the state to continue sanctioning mask-requiring districts, led him to reverse course.
“Last Friday, the 1st District Court of Appeal instituted a stay, which means the Florida Department of Education can continue to enforce its interpretation of the parental opt out until this matter is ultimately resolved. Therefore, starting on Tuesday, September 14, the School District of Lee County will require face coverings, while allowing parents to opt-out without a medical exemption,” Savage said in statement.
Lee County was one of at least 13 districts in Florida defying Gov. Ron DeSantis and requiring masks for students unless they provided a doctor’s note exempting them from wearing one.
Savage implemented a mandate on Sept. 1, effective for 30 days, while the district tracked coronavirus-related numbers.
Sep 13, 6:22 pm
DeSantis threatens Florida cities that issue vaccine mandate with $5k fine
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is threatening to sue cities in the state that have issued vaccine mandates, for up to $5,000 per infraction.
The governor, who early Monday repeated falsehoods about the COVID-19 vaccines, said hours later, at a press conference, that he’s willing to sue the cities because he does not want vaccine mandates to threaten Floridians’ jobs.
“We are not gonna let people be fired because of a vaccine mandate,” he said.
Meanwhile, over 11,215 patients remain hospitalized in Florida with COVID-19, according to the Florida Hospital Association.
As of Monday, 75% of the state’s eligible population has had one vaccine dose, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Sep 13, 9:01 pm
Judge issues temporary order to allow mask mandates in Iowa schools
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that ordered Iowa officials to stop enforcing a law passed in May that prevents school boards from enforcing mask mandates.
Judge Robert Pratt said the parents who are suing Gov. Kim Reynolds and state and local education offices, have demonstrated that an “irreparable harm exists” if masks aren’t used and required.
The judge said he looked at data on the effectiveness of masks to reduce the spread of the coronavirus and agrees with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics on mask wearing in schools.
The order will stay in effect until the court issues an order for a preliminary injunction.
Thomas Ahart, the superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools, called the judge’s decision “welcome news.”
“I will reinstate a mask mandate – as we had in place for most of last school year — for all students, staff and visitors to Des Moines Public Schools,” he said in a statement.
(WASHINGTON) — Californians may be the only ones that can vote in Tuesday’s recall election, but in his closing arguments for Gov. Gavin Newsom, President Joe Biden warned that the country’s political future is on the ballot.
“This is not hyperbole. The eyes of the nation are on California because the decision you’re about to make isn’t just going to have a huge impact on California, it’s going to reverberate around the nation, and quite frankly, not a joke, around the world,” Biden stressed.
Biden rallied alongside Newsom Monday, first traveling to survey the fire damage from the Caldor Fire, then to Long Beach, California, to make one final pitch to voters.
His support for Newsom comes after a slew of top Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, traveled to the Golden State to campaign for the embattled governor.
On the eve of his recall election, Newsom main argument was one focused on Trumpism.
“We may have defeated Donald Trump, but we have not defeated Trumpism,” he said. “Trumpism is still on the ballot in California and that’s why it’s so important, not just for all of us here at 40 million Americans strong in the nation’s largest and most populous state, but also to send a statement, all across the United States of America, that Trumpism isn’t … has no place here.”
It was a theme that Biden picked up, calling Republican front-runner Larry Elder a “clone of Donald Trump.”
“This is the closest thing to a Trump clone that I’ve ever seen in your state. Now I really mean it. And he’s leading the other team. He’s a clone of Donald Trump … you can’t let that happen. There’s too much at stake,” he said.
“You either keep Gavin Newsom as your governor, or you’ll get Donald Trump,” Biden continued.
While both speeches largely focused on making comparisons between Elder and the former president, Biden did praise Newsom on many of his policies, such as Newsom’s handling of the pandemic — which is one of the main reasons the recall effort took off.
“We don’t need politics in this battle against COVID. We need science. We need courage. We need leadership. We need Gavin Newsom. The governor will follow science. He’s got the courage to do it right now,” Biden said.
In another effort to nationalize the recall, Biden pointed to other states to warn voters of what could happen should Newsom be replaced.
“Do you have any doubt about how important it is to have Gavin, who respects women’s rights? Just take a look at what’s happening to states like Texas,” Biden said. “It just passed a law empowering complete strangers … become bounty hunters, going after women who exercise their right to choose. A law the United States Supreme Court refused to stop. Now other states say they’re looking to replicate the Texas law. You don’t think women’s rights are under assault? You’re not looking.”
In Tuesday’s election, voters will be asked two questions: Should Newsom be recalled? And if so, who should replace him?
At least 50% of voters will have to vote no on Tuesday’s recall in order for Newsom to keep his job.
As election day gets closer, Newsom’s job security is looking better, as 57.3% of voters say they’ll vote no, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polling average.
While Newsom’s team has expressed confidence in his ability to make it though Tuesday’s recall, his ally, Biden, wrapped up his remarks Monday night with a stark warning: it’s not over yet.
“You have a governor to make sure Donald Trump’s dark, destructive divisive politics never finds a place in California. So please — not a joke — on behalf of the people of Delaware, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, all across America, don’t take anything for granted,” the president said.
Although Californians will make their voices heard at the ballot box, candidates on both sides are warning of potential legal challenges that could follow.
Elder, who would not say if he would accept the results of Tuesday’s election in an interview with ABC News’ Zohreen Shah, has already started making claims of fraud.
On his campaign website, Elder has linked to a “Stop CA Fraud” page where voters can report fraud. While no votes have been calculated yet, the page already claims: “Statistical analyses used to detect in elections held in 3rd world nations…have detected fraud in California resulting in Governor Gavin Newsom being reinstated as governor.”
John Mehta Stein, executive director of California Common Cause, a nonpartisan, liberal-leaning political advocacy organization, told ABC News that such claims should be expected.
“There will inevitably be claims that the election is rigged because the purveyors of the ‘big lie’ need these local and state elections in between the major national elections to keep up their momentum; but all of their allegations in the November 2020 election fell flat,” Stein said. “There’s nothing new under the sun here. And we assume that there will be lawsuits filed after the recall and they will be treated the same way as the lawsuits in the 2020 election.”
Stein said misinformation in the recall could also undermine and limit turnout among the voters that those who are sowing the misinformation are trying to reach.
But such misinformation, he said, has “no basis in the realities of California’s election administration, which has been stress-tested repeatedly and proven to be some of the most secure, most reliable elections in the nation.”
That reliability will be put to the test Tuesday in an election with profound national consequences.
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Voters who haven’t already cast their ballots by mail head to the polls Tuesday to weigh in on whether they would like to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Californians are faced with a two-part question — if they would like to recall Newsom and who they would like to replace him with. If more than 50% of voters say he should be recalled, he will be replaced with the highest vote-getter in the recall field, which consists of 46 candidates.
This is the fourth time in the nation’s history that voters have had an election to recall their governor, and only one governor has been recalled in the last century. In 2003, Democratic California Gov. Gray Davis, facing extremely low approval ratings, was recalled and replaced with former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
This time, Republicans have a crowded primary field and, before nationally syndicated conservative radio host Larry Elder’s entrance into the race, the field was without a clear leader.
Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer was once thought to be the front-runner and is seen as the moderate in the race. Businessman John Cox, who was the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee in 2018, campaigned across the state with a live bear and an 8-foot ball of trash. Reality star and Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner entered the recall field, although she spent some time out of the country in Australia, reportedly filming a celebrity edition of a reality show.
Although numbers appear to be in his favor, Newsom recruited some of the biggest Democratic heavy-hitters to stump for him, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. President Joe Biden hit the trail with Newsom to close out his campaign in Long Beach, California, on Monday night.
“This is not hyperbole. The eyes of the nation are on California because the decision you’re about to make isn’t just going to have a huge impact on California, it’s going to reverberate around the nation, and quite frankly not a joke around the world,” Biden said Monday.
According to a recent poll from the Public Policy Institute of California, Newsom’s approval rating is sitting at 53%, and 58% of voters said they do not want him to be recalled. In 2003, exit polls showed Davis’ approval rating at 26% — a stark difference from where Newsom is today.
Historically, gubernatorial recalls produce similar vote margins for the governor holding office as they had in their last election, according to recall expert and senior fellow at Wagner College, Joshua Spivak. Gray Davis got 47% of the vote in 2002, and 44% in 2003 when he was recalled. In Wisconsin in 2010, Scott Walker was elected with 52.2% of the vote, and defeated his recall with 53.1%.
In 2018, Newsom won the state with 61.9% of the vote to GOP nominee John Cox’s 38.1%. In 2020, Biden carried with a similar margin, 63.5% of the vote to Trump’s 34.3%.
Democratic voter registration in the Golden State largely outpaces that of both Republicans and independents, putting Newsom at an advantage. So far, Democrats are leading both groups combined when it comes to returning their ballots: Democrats have returned nearly 4.1 million compared to the 3.8 million Republican and independent ballots that have been returned, according Monday data from Political Data Inc.
Democrats have attempted to nationalize the race to increase enthusiasm, warning of lawmaking similar to that of Republican-led states.
Harris, a native of the Bay Area, rallied with Newsom on Thursday and warned of the national consequences the recall could have if it was successful, referencing the recent change in abortion laws in Texas, among other things.
“What’s happening in Texas, what’s happening in Georgia, what’s happening around our country with these policies that are about attacking women’s rights, reproductive rights, voting rights, workers rights, they think if they can win in California they can do this anywhere, but we’re gonna show them they can’t,” Harris said.
The pandemic being a top issue across the state, Newsom has spent the campaign warning voters about potential policy changes surrounding the coronavirus if the recall passed. His team released an ad painting the election as “life or death.” He has singled out Elder’s promises that he will immediately end mask mandates and testing for state employees.
Spivak told ABC News that the threat of a leading candidate among the recall field, which was lacking before Elder joined the race two months ago, was helpful to Newsom in solidifying his message.
“He was really helped by Larry Elder eventually being the front-runner, because it gave him a comparison. Before he was trying to make it Newsom versus Trump, but Trump isn’t on the ballot,” Spivak said. “Larry Elder is, so Larry Elder can be Trump, play the role of Trump. And Larry Elder was obviously very happy to play the role … it was beneficial to both of them.”
Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, are already raising the alarm about the potential for voter fraud, based in conspiracies about the 2020 election. Trump claimed that the election is “probably rigged.” Elder warned of “shenanigans” last week — though he told ABC News Saturday, “So many people are going to vote to have it recalled, I’m not worried about fraud.”
Elder had previously said that he believed Biden won the 2020 election “fairly and squarely.” But he is now encouraging his supporters to call a hotline to report issues of voter fraud for litigation purposes in the recall, saying he fears there will be integrity issues similar to those of the 2020 election — despite there being no widespread evidence of voter fraud in November.
“We’re going to file lawsuits in a timely fashion,” Elder said last week.
(WASHINGTON) — In his first appearance on Capitol Hill since the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced more than five hours of questions from members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
He faces more questions from the members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Here are some key takeaways from Monday’s hearing in the House:
Doubling down on the withdrawal
Blinken’s opening statement laid out the Biden administration’s view of why everything went south so quickly and how they believe they did the best they could in those circumstances to evacuate 124,000 people — a line that Blinken never really broke from.
Instead, the top U.S. diplomat stuck to those talking points throughout the afternoon and into evening. He occasionally argued them in novel terms, but what was billed as the first oversight hearing of the Afghan withdrawal provided little new information.
“We inherited a deadline. We did not inherit a plan,” he said early on, essentially blaming former President Donald Trump’s deal with the Taliban to withdraw U.S. troops by May 1, something Trump bragged about just earlier this summer.
While President Joe Biden reversed several Trump-era agreements, Blinken argued if Biden had “not followed through on the commitments his predecessor made,” then Taliban attacks on U.S. troops would have resumed, and the U.S. would have had to send more American forces into Afghanistan.
For every aspect of the chaotic evacuation, he also countered criticism largely by laying the blame elsewhere. While some Americans were left behind, the State Department had warned them to leave repeatedly, he said; or while thousands of Afghan partners were not evacuated, the Biden administration did its best to reinvigorate the special immigrant visa program in its short time in office after Trump gutted it.
Evacuation operations “definitely improved, but it did not start from a great place,” he conceded at one point — before adding, “largely because of the exigency of the situation that we were in.”
It was not a victory lap and Blinken came as close to bristling as he does when asked about the administration calling the evacuations a “success.” But in five and a half hours of testimony, Blinken echoed what his boss has said publicly — he doesn’t regret his momentous decision to pull out, one that a majority of Americans have long supported.
Criticism of Biden’s withdrawal is bipartisan
How that withdrawal ensued, however, is a different question. Most of the committee’s Democrats defended Biden and lay the blame at Trump’s feet for his negotiations with the Taliban that excluded the Afghan government and ended in a deal to withdraw U.S. troops and release 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for Taliban commitments.
But a handful of them criticized the way Biden has conducted the withdrawal. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., said many Afghan partners were not getting the help they needed, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., said there were “missteps,” and Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Mich., said the administration’s coordination was “very challenging.”
Perhaps the sharpest Democratic criticism came from Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., who served with Blinken in the State Department during the Obama administration. He said Biden picked “up where the Trump administration left off” and “sacrificed everything that was right with Afghanistan.”
“The sacrifice, I think, is profound: An extremely important counterterrorism partnership was lost, and a terrorism state is now upon us. Enormous gains for women, for the rule of law, for democracy, for human rights. Mass displacement,” he said.
“The Afghans remade their society. We didn’t do it, they did. It was our withdrawal, I’m afraid, that has unmade their society — and what have we gained for this,” he added — noting U.S. troops are not coming home, but deploying elsewhere in the region as they continue to pursue terrorists, but now without partners on the ground and with more civilian casualties likely.
Across the aisle, however, few Republicans conceded there were any errors in how Trump handled Afghanistan — some even suggested that the president who orchestrated the withdrawal wouldn’t have carried it out.
At least one Republican lawmaker made clear that there was blame on both sides: Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a frequent Trump critic, told Blinken, “The Trump administration failed in the setup, and I think the Biden administration absolutely failed in the execution of this.”
Congress prioritizes partisan fights, not oversight
In two decades of war, Congress’ oversight role has been proven feeble at best — and Monday’s hearing put on bright display how deeply the legislative body has failed this critical mission.
Instead of achieving insights into executive branch decisions or securing commitments on the way forward, most lawmakers used their time to score political points or deliver soliloquies on who was to blame for a military and diplomatic mission that both parties led.
“Will you honor these families and give the American people the answers they deserve?” asked Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Tenn., without asking any question about the withdrawal except whether Blinken took responsibility.
He said he did for his agency and his decisions.
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., repeatedly accused Biden, Blinken and the administration of manipulating U.S. intelligence about the Taliban threat — a dramatic accusation that, he said, meant they had blood on their hands. But when Blinken tried to address the accusation, Mast repeatedly talked over him, accused Blinken of lying, and said he wasn’t interested in what he had to say.
When Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., accused Blinken of trying to “ride the coattails” of the 13 U.S. service members who were killed by mentioning that State Department officials served alongside at the airport, Blinken interrupted with stunned offense. But Stuebe continued over him, refusing to let him address the accusation.
Three hours into the hearing, no lawmaker had asked about the U.S. drone strike that reportedly killed an aid worker and his family, not the ISIS-K terrorists the Pentagon said it had. There were just four questions about the issue, from two lawmakers.
Instead, Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., for example, asked Blinken about Hunter Biden’s laptop and Burisma, the Ukrainian state-run energy company — something the committee’s Democratic chair Gregory Meeks reminded him was outside the scope of the hearing. Perry also pressed Blinken about evacuating Afghan interpreters and other allies — even though he was one of 16 Republicans who voted against authorizing more visas for these Afghan partners and their families in July.
While Blinken maintained a polite demeanor — one that engendered good will among some Republican members — he was more than happy to let Democrats slug back for him.
Trump left him and Biden with little to work with, Rep. Kathy Manning, D-N.C., said, and Blinken responded with a subdued chuckle, “Not much.”
Rep. Gerald Connelly, D-Va., used his time to torch Trump’s Taliban deal and accuse Republicans of “amnesia,” as Blinken watched on through his monitor.
Under the U.S. constitution, Congress alone has the right to declare war — a vote its members never took despite 20 years of operations in Afghanistan. And in spite of repeated findings by the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction that U.S. money was being wasted or fueling corruption, Congress conducted very little oversight of U.S. funding.
(NEW YORK) — This 93-year-old grandmother is dancing her way into the heart of millions online.
Marie Francis O’Brien, affectionately known as “Fran” or Fran the Hip Gram on TikTok, began dancing at the age of 15 when she would perform in shows for WWII servicemen and said she has been dancing ever since.
In July, O’Brien began making videos dancing with her granddaughter, 33-year-old Allison Krause, to help cheer up O’Brien’s daughter, Colleen Krause, who was battling lymphoma. The two wanted to make her smile while she was going through chemotherapy.
“Allison came over and said, ‘Mom is so sad, and she looks really ill … Let’s make a funny video to make mom laugh,'” O’Brien said. “We made a video, we danced and everything, and it did make her laugh, which I was so happy. That’s all we wanted to do.”
The next day, her granddaughter told her she put the video on TikTok. In a few short months, her dancing videos are now getting millions of views on the social media platform, and her account has over 100,000 followers.
“This is very new to me, because I never knew about TikTok,” O’Brien said. “It’s just fantastic. And if it can bring joy and laughter, and these silly videos can make people laugh. That’s all I want.”
“The thing that makes my grandma even more happy is that she’s able to respond and comment and talk to people who are dealing with the loss of their grandmother or not being able to see their grandparents during COVID,” Allison Krause said. “She gets comments saying how much those videos have meant to them through some tough times. She lights up when she hears that.”
The TikTok account has since become a family affair, with all of O’Brien’s grandchildren pitching in. Her 27-year-old granddaughter, Kerry Krause, recently starred alongside her in a TikTok of the two dancing together that has 6 million views. Her other grandchildren, 38-year-old twins Caitlin and Nicholas, help with the content also.
“This lady has been ready for the limelight for a very long time,” Caitlin Krause joked. “She’s been our little star for as long as I’ve been alive for sure and spreading joy to us for many, many years.”
O’Brien’s grandchildren are thankful they are able to spread joy to others through their silly videos and are happy that they can share their grandmother and the lessons she has taught them with all of their new followers.
“She just has the most positive outlook on everything,” Kerry Krause said. “She’s our inspiration, a bright spot in all of our lives.”
“She doesn’t let anything slow her down,” Allison Krause said. “She wants to enjoy every, every minute that she can and live life to the fullest. … It puts things in perspective for us to take a step back and try and be positive when we’re all dealing with difficult times.”
