"Stealth" food banks serve the undocumented – The Counter

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Undocumented clients are especially vulnerable these days because they dont qualify for the unemployment benefits that other out-of-work people are able to receive. They also fear coming into contact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during distributions or endangering their migration status by applying for SNAP.

It all adds up to a limited ability to access resources among a population that needs them the most. I was surprised at how many more families were in need, said Rosario Valerio, Senior Manager of Nutrition Programs at Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County. I was not aware of how scared they were. That was a shock for me.

Valerio helps oversee the food banks underground food distribution program, run in conjunction with the Center for Farmworker Families, a nonprofit dedicated to advocating for and supporting farmworkers and their families, mostly from Mexico.

The secret food distribution program, which started two years ago and now serves about 160 families, came about when Dr. Ann Lopez, Executive Director of the Center for Farmworker Families, approached the food bank about the migrant farm workers who harvested food for a living, but were not being paid enough to support their families. The workers also felt they could not safely access food assistance.

To remedy this, the two organizations created a clandestine food bank, which meets in less public locations such as alleys and backyards. These locations are rotated to further ensure client safety. Rather than advertise the sites, Lopez makes phone calls directly to families about where they need to go.

All these people are here getting food because they trust Dr. Lopez, Valerio said. They feel comfortable to come and get the food that they need to be able to provide for their families.

Partnering with organizations that are already established in supporting migrant people has proven to be one of the most effective ways for food banks to serve this sometimes hard to reach demographic.

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"Stealth" food banks serve the undocumented - The Counter

The COVID-19 catastrophe is shrinking remittances from the United States and creating a looming humanitarian disaster. – Foreign Policy

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EDITORS NOTE: Were making some of our coronavirus pandemic coverage free for nonsubscribers. You can read those articles here and subscribe to our newsletters here.EDITORS NOTE: Were making some of our coronavirus pandemic coverage free for nonsubscribers. You can read those articles here and subscribe to our newsletters here.

It has been clear for a while now that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are not evenly spread across U.S. society. One particularly hard-hit group is foreign-born workers. And now, on top of all the other economic chaos wrought by the disease, the shutdowns are grinding the industries in which many of them work to a halt and draining their pockets of the remittances that usually help sustain their family members in their home countries.

According to data from Migration Data Portal, as of June, there were 653.4 reported COVID-19 cases per every 100,000 migrants in the United States. That may be somewhat lower than the overall case rate in the country, but making things worse for migrant workers is the economic devastation. At the peak in May, there had been 40 million layoffs since the start of the pandemic. According to National Migration Forum, about half of immigrant workers are employed in some of the industries most affected by the pandemic: educational and health care services; professional, scientific, management, administrative, and waste management services; arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, and food services; and manufacturing.

Missing paychecks are a problem both for the workers themselves and for families abroad. For decades, the United States has been the worlds biggest source of remittances, accounting for nearly 20 percent of the global total in the most recent figures. In 2018, immigrants sent home about $68.5 billion in remittances, an average of nearly $3,000 per worker, which represents between 2 and 38 percent of their U.S. earnings.

A full accounting of this years crash in remittances is not yet available, but the experience during the 2007-2008 financial crisis is instructive. Between 2008 and 2011, outflows fell by roughly 10 percent.

This time around, the World Bank has predicted a global fall in remittances of over 20 percent. The International Monetary Fund likewise forecasts that money sent to sub-Saharan Africa will drop by 20 percent. It is hard to overstate the devastation, in 2019, remittances to the region totaled $47 billion, making up a larger source of foreign income than foreign direct investment and official development aid.

In May, the economist Michael Clemens added detail to the grim overall picture. In the Philippines alone, he noted, a 20 percent drop in remittances would throw about 380,000 people into extreme poverty, according to rigorousestimates by Dean Yang and Claudia Martinez. And in Mexico, for example, a 20 percent cut in remittance income would cause roughly 800 additional deaths of children under age one each year.

There is no question the world will one day recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The flow of remittances may quickly return to (or even exceed) pre-pandemic levels. But for many, it will be too late.

As Orla Doyle of the University College Dublin showed in a study from April, a childs first 2,000 days in the world matter significantly to their lifetime achievements. Good early childhood intervention raises the childs future prospects and the lack of it could result in the opposite. Disadvantaged households that are highly dependent on income from migrant relatives and friends will have less to invest in their childrens health and development during this period.

Such shortfalls cannot be remedied by future economic recoveries. The impact of a shock to remittances on babies being born during the pandemic will last for a lifetime. In fact, as the researcher Douglas Almond found in a 2006 study, the negative effects of the 1918 pandemic were still apparent in census data from 1980; children in utero during the pandemic were worse off in terms of income, educational attainment, and socioeconomic status.

It is impossible to predict exactly when affected economies will stage a comeback. The 2007-2008 financial crisis lasted about 17 months; the COVID-19 crisis may last longer. And manyespecially some immigrant workers in the United States and those who rely on remittances they send homemay never recover.

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The COVID-19 catastrophe is shrinking remittances from the United States and creating a looming humanitarian disaster. - Foreign Policy

‘They cannot go up and they cannot go back’: Pandemic leaves migrants stranded in the Sahara – Telegraph.co.uk

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Coronavirus is not the first shock that has hit Nigers migration routes in recent years. In 2015, when Europes migration-crisis hit its peak, Niger became the unofficial southern border of the European Union.

Over the last five years, Brussels has poured hundreds of millions of euros into the impoverished country in a desperate attempt to stop the flow of migrants. Under EU pressure, the Nigerien government adopted a harsh law banning people smuggling and cracked down on age-old desert trade routes.

The crackdown had the effect EU officials wanted. Migration through Niger on to Libya fell from more than 300,000 in 2016 to about 10,000 in 2018, according to the European Parliament.

However, the crackdown has wrought havoc on many peoples livelihoods. It is estimated that about half of Agadezs 120,000 residents profit in some way from the migration routes through the desert.

Overnight the 2015 anti-smuggling legislation turned what was effectively a thriving retail economy in northern Niger into a criminal one. Humanitarians say the crackdown pushed smuggling operations underground and forced many migrants to take increasingly dangerous routes through the Sahara.

To make matters worse, Algeria started to expel African migrants and refugees en masse in 2017. A reported 25,000 people were deported from Algeria back to Niger in 2018 alone.

Over the last three years, the Algerian security forces have left thousands of people, including pregnant women and children in the middle of the desert, to walk back to civilisation or die in temperatures well above 40c.

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'They cannot go up and they cannot go back': Pandemic leaves migrants stranded in the Sahara - Telegraph.co.uk

Is BJPs Criticism Of TMC Opting Out Of Central Schemes Justified? – The Quint

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Launched in the Interim budget of February 2019, right before the Lok Sabha elections the same year, the Pradhan Mantri Kisaan Sammaan Nidhi (PM-KISAN) is a 100 percent centrally funded scheme that gives minimum income support of 6,000 rupees a year to marginal and small farmer families having combined land holdings/ownership of up to 2 hectares.

The 6,000 rupees is disbursed in three equal installments and is to be directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

Similarly, with the elections in mind, the Trinamool Congress government launched the Krishak Bandhu scheme on 31 December 2018, as a New Year gift to all farmers. The state-funded, approximately 3,000 crore rupees scheme, gives annual financial assistance of 5,000 rupees per acre to farmer families, disbursed in two installments- during the rabi and kharif seasons.

However, the Krishak Bandhu scheme also had a second part in the form of an assurance model. Under this, if a farmer, aged between 18 and 60, died (due to natural or unnatural causes), then their family was entitled to a one-time grant of two-lakh rupees.

Both aspects of the scheme, the state government said, would be rolled out to 72 lakh farmer families in West Bengal.

With PM KISAN, the states and Union territories, had to assess the farmer families eligible and provide data to the centre. Soon after, the scheme was announced, the West Bengal government refused to roll it out.

In February 2020, however, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, while appealing to the West Bengal government to join the scheme said that almost 10 lakh of the 70 lakh farmers in the state had registered for the PM-KISAN scheme. Since then various BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have harped on how they cannot help the farmers in the state, because Mamata Banerjee would not verify their data.

West Bengal is losing approximately Rs 42,000 crore in central funding by opting out of PM-KISAN.

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Is BJPs Criticism Of TMC Opting Out Of Central Schemes Justified? - The Quint

Granaries Overflowing With Food, Why States Are Unable To Provide The Needy? – Outlook India

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In early July, Neelam Devi (name changed) has made at least three trips to the panchayat office, a few kilometres from her house in Bihars Motihari district, for information about the status of her ration card. Her last visit turned out to be fruitful as Devi got an assurance from the officer that her monthly ration will continue for a few more months; the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) has been extended till November. For the past three months, the benefits of the scheme has turned out to be a lifeline of her family.

Under the scheme, ration cardholders are entitled to five kg of rice or wheat per beneficiary and one kg of pulse per family/per month free of cost, which is over and above the subsidised grains. The scheme is a part of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package to help those affected due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. It was earlier valid from April to June.

While the scheme targets 80 crore beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), Neelam Devi doesnt belong to the club. For the past few months, her family has not been able to avail ration through the Public Distribution System (PDS) as her ration card is not linked to her Aadhaar number. Devis husband, who used to work as a driver in Mumbai, has returned home and is out of work now.

It was with the help of local activists that the four-member family managed to get ration on a temporary basis after the lockdown was announced in March. Devi is clueless about what the future holds after November. While many like Neelam Devi are left in the lurch, what is baffling is the dismal record of Bihar in distributing the food grains to the needy. According to government data, Bihar distributed only around 37 per cent of its monthly quota of food grain to beneficiaries at the peak of the migrant crisis in June. Till June 30, the state has distributed 72 per cent of the total food grain lifted from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for April, May, and June.

Opposition parties were quick to interpret the extension of the free food grain scheme as a political move in view of the impending Bihar elections. However, the distribution chart of other states such as West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh also paints a dismal picture. The alleged callousness of the states has prompted Union minister for food and consumer affairs Ram Vilas Paswan to ask states to be sensitive and speed up the distribution of food grains.

Former planning member board member N.C. Saxena believes that the central government needs to monitor the states which failed in implementing the schemes and timely distribution of food grain. Saxena points out that the data posted on the websites of many states show that the total distribution of food grains in April 2020 is slightly less than that of April 2019.

Ideally, the states should have distributed double amount of food grains this year during such a crisis. This shows that the states are not implementing the schemes properly. The central government has to find out why they are lagging behind, says Saxena, a former rural development secretary.

Jharkhand, one of the worst-hit states by the pandemic and migrant influx was at the forefront in demanding an extension of the free grain scheme. The state food and consumer affairs minister Rameshwar Oraon welcomes the move with caveats.

The extension of PMGKAY will benefit the cardholders. But there are lakhs of people who dont possess cards under BPL. How to feed them is the problem, he says. Oraon stresses that the scope of the scheme needs to be expanded in view of the humanitarian crisis caused by the pandemic. The minister also said that the state has special schemes for migrants and the ones who are out of the ambit of PDS.

Approximately 9.5 lakh people have applied for ration cards in the last six months. We are providing 10 kgs rice to the non-card holders also. We will be enforcing universalisation of PDS soon, says Oraon, adding that the delays in distributing the food grains will be sorted out by mid-July.

Rameshwar oraon, Food minister, Jharkhand

With the countrys granaries overflowing with 100 million tonnes of food grain, the extension of the free ration scheme is an expected move, opine experts. However, activists say that the absence of an efficient delivery mechanism proved to be a major hurdle in reaching the beneficiaries.

Dipa Sinha, a right to food activist, points out the flaws in the Atmanirbhar package rolled out by the central government in May especially for returning migrant workers. She says that the government came up with the package realising that a large group of people has been left out in the crisis. While the government announced a 5-kg food grain scheme for 8 crore migrant workers for May and June, government data showed that it reached only 13 per cent of the beneficiaries.

A possible reason for the gap could be the central governments failure to give proper guidelines to the states to identify the migrants. Implementation wasnt happening properly. How will you identify the 8 crore people? What are the criteria? The central government left it to the states. It will take a lot of time for any state government to identify new beneficiaries, says Sinha, who teaches at Ambedkar University, Delhi.

She says that more people should be added to the system to extend the benefits of PDS. Since NFSA was implemented in 2013, its calculations were done on the basis of Census 2011. With the increase in population over the years, its possible that at least 10 crore people are excluded from the list.

Siraj Hussain, a former agriculture secretary says that 10 crore more people need to be included in the coverage of the NFSA. Currently there are 80 crores ration cardholders. To bring in 10 crores more people, Niti Ayog has to give the number of people in each state, who are eligible for fresh ration cards, says Hussain.

Many activists also argue that implementing universalisation of PDS is an emergency response to the current crisis. Sejal Dand, a Gujarat-based right to food, campaign activist cannot agree more. For the past three months, Dand has been struggling to address the problems of tribals in the state, who are excluded from PDS for various reasons. She says that with reduced income sources and mounting food insecurity, the situation is grim. For the excluded people, the administration has given ration for April and May. There is huge confusion, says Dand adding that universalising PDS is the only solution in a disaster situation.

However, Saxena disagrees with the idea of universalising PDS. Why should everyone get subsidised food grains? Those who can afford should buy from the market, he says. He believes that the onus is on the state governments to update the list of beneficiaries and implement the schemes in an effective way.

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Granaries Overflowing With Food, Why States Are Unable To Provide The Needy? - Outlook India

Mesothelioma Victims Center Has Endorsed Attorney Erik Karst of Karst von Oiste to Ensure a Person Who Turned Out to Have Mesothelioma After Initially…

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HOUSTON, July 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --The Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "We have endorsed attorney Erik Karst of the law firm of Karst von Oiste to ensure a person with mesothelioma receives the best possible financial compensation results-nationwide. For direct access to attorney Erik Karst of Karst von Oiste please call 800-714-0303. One huge complicating factor in mesothelioma compensation in 2020 is the Coronavirus. The Coronavirus and mesothelioma have almost identical symptoms such as pneumonia, high fever, and shortness of breath. As a result, many people who had mesothelioma-have been misdiagnosed with 'possible Coronavirus' and if they died the cause of death probably says-COVID-19. In the event a person with mesothelioma gets misdiagnosed with the Coronavirus and dies-they or their family will probably never see a dime in compensation." http://www.karstvonoiste.com/

The Mesothelioma Victims Center is urging the wife or adult children of a Navy Veteran, a manufacturing, industrial or skilled trades worker, who is over 60 years old and who had significant exposure to asbestos prior to 1982- to please tell his treating physicians about his asbestos exposure if he is now in the hospital with what they are calling possible 'Coronavirus-COVID-19.' The average age for a person with mesothelioma in the United States is about 72 years old. https://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

The reason the Mesothelioma Victims Center has endorsed attorney Erik Karst of the law firm of Karst von Oiste is because he and his colleagues have been assisting Navy Veterans and people with mesothelioma for decades and they are responsible for over a billion dollars in financial compensation for people like this. For direct access to attorney Erik Karst of Karst von Oiste please call 800-714-0303. "Please do not roll the dice on mesothelioma compensation in 2020. Erik Karst is one of the nation's leading mesothelioma attorneys and he is an amazing resource."www.karstvonoiste.com/

According to the CDC the states indicated with the highest incidence of mesothelioma include Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington, and Oregon. http://www.karstvonoiste.com/

High risk work groups for exposure to asbestos include US Navy Veterans, power plant workers, shipyard workers, oil refinery workers, steel mill workers, manufacturing, or industrial workers, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, machinists, miners, or construction workers. Typically, the exposure to asbestos occurred in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, or 1980's. https://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com

For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the National Institutes of Health's web site related to this rare form of cancer:https://www.cancer.gov/types/mesothelioma.

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Michael Thomas800-714-0303240829@email4pr.com

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Research Shows Why You Should Have Peritoneal Mesothelioma Surgery – Mesothelioma Guide

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Researchers and medical experts often compare pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma. One of the most striking differences? Prognosis, as peritoneal mesothelioma carries much better odds of prolonged survival.

Most peritoneal survival stories involve one consistency: aggressive surgery, which a recent study confirmed.

The Annals of Surgical Oncology published a report that includes analysis of peritoneal mesothelioma survival trends. The focus is on survival after aggressive, potentially life-saving surgery compared to survival without surgery.

The results showed a staggering yet unsurprising difference. Its the strongest evidence in support of newly diagnosed peritoneal mesothelioma patients undergoing surgery right away.

The primary surgery for peritoneal mesothelioma is cytoreduction. This operation involves debulking, or physically removing all visible tumors from the disease area. Surgeons also perform a peritonectomy, which requires removing the thin lining where this cancer forms.

This lining, called the peritoneum, wraps around your abdominal cavity. It includes two walls of mesothelial cells. Their primary function is to protect essential cavities and organs in the abdomen. While helpful, this lining is not critical to continued good health or high quality of life.

Following cytoreduction, most peritoneal mesothelioma patients undergo hyperthermic (heated) intraperitoneal chemotherapy. This therapy, shortened to the acronym HIPEC, involves bathing the abdomen in warm liquid chemotherapy drugs. The treatment addresses remaining tumors in the abdomen and reduces the chances of mesothelioma recurrence.

Cytoreduction with HIPEC lasts 8-14 hours, depending on the extent of the cancer. Patients remain in inpatient care for 10-12 days following the procedure.

From 2003-2014, the National Cancer Database registered 2,062 malignant peritoneal mesothelioma cases. The term malignant means the case is cancerous and actively spreading.

Of those 2,062 patients:

Using systemic chemotherapy after cytoreduction with HIPEC improved the median mesothelioma survival to 41.8 months.

These statistics are not new revelations. For years, peritoneal mesothelioma specialists have vouched for cytoreduction with HIPEC. In an older study, around 55% of cytoreduction with HIPEC patients survived for at least three years.

Mesothelioma Guide has documented numerous survivor stories from peritoneal mesothelioma:

As the stats show, others have survived peritoneal mesothelioma thanks to aggressive surgery. We at Mesothelioma Guide can refer you to other mesothelioma survival stories. If you have peritoneal mesothelioma, then we can help you become the next story of hope.

Reach out to our patient advocate and registered nurse, Jenna Campagna, to get a list of all cancer centers and doctors that perform peritoneal mesothelioma surgery. Please email her at jenna@mesotheliomaguide.com whenever youre ready.

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Devin Golden is the content writer for Mesothelioma Guide. He produces mesothelioma-related content on various mediums, including the Mesothelioma Guide website and social media channels. Devin's objective is to translate complex information regarding mesothelioma into informative, easily absorbable content to help patients and their loved ones.

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New Zealand Scientists Warn of Mesothelioma Risk from Construction Projects – Mesothelioma.net Blog

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Published on July 17, 2020

The city of Auckland in New Zealand is experiencing unprecedented economic expansion, but the new construction going on to accommodate that growth may be putting the population at risk for malignant mesothelioma. A recent article in theNew Zealand Medical Journalhas reported that the volcanic bedrock under the city contains erionite, an asbestos-like mineral that when inhaled may cause the rare and fatal form of cancer.

Workers are excavating volcanic rock to build a tunnel that will connect existing train lines and platforms beneath the Britomart Train Station, and this has raised concerns from the papers authors that construction workers and those in the vicinity of the project may be at risk for malignant mesothelioma. They worry that dust raised by the work will be filled with a potentially carcinogenic material.

According to University of Auckland associate professor Martin Brook, the rock bed under the train station may contain erionite, a mineral made from volcanic ash that eventually forms a fibrous rock much like asbestos. Breathing in erionites dust and particles creates an effect similar to that of asbestos, and speaking of the need to determine whether the toxic substance is present and to study its impact further, Brook said, Currently there are no international or New Zealand occupational exposure limits or standard low-cost field sampling and analytical methods for erionite.

Though the University of Auckland scientists have not definitively stated that erionite causes mesothelioma, they point to previous studies showing that in locales where erionite has been disturbed, malignant mesothelioma rates have increased decades later. Associate professor and co-author of the study Jennifer Salmond said, This lag between dose and response makes it very difficult to know when, where, or how much erionite people might have been exposed to prior to getting ill.

To date the group has indicated that construction workers and quarry workers are most at risk, and they are urging further study to determine whether erionite is present in areas where construction is planned. In the Auckland region we need to know where this mineral is and how much is present in soils and air before we can quantify the risk it presents to both occupational and public health.

In the United States, most cases of mesothelioma are caused by asbestos-contaminated products for which appropriate protection and warnings were not provided. For information on resources available to mesothelioma victims, contact the Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma.net at 1-800-692-8608.

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Former state Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver sentenced to more than 6 years in prison – NNY360

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NEW YORK After four years and two trials, former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced Monday to 6 years for a corruption scheme involving developers dependent on Albany support.

Silver, 76, had last been sentenced to seven years in prison for the developers scheme, as well as a second involving legal referrals for mesothelioma patients. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals tossed the guilty verdicts tied to the latter scam in January and ordered Silver be resentenced.

The Lower East Side Democrat was convicted of secretly taking $800,000 in legal fees from real estate developers from 2005 to 2015. The money came mainly from Glenwood Management, which owns luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan and the Bronx. The company is one of the biggest campaign contributors in state politics.

In return for the money, Silver performed a number of favors, including supporting tax breaks and landlord-friendly rent rules under the states 2011 Rent Act and voting in favor of Glenwoods applications for tax-exempt financing of its projects.

Silver, once one of the three men in a room who decided major New York State policies in secret, begged Judge Valerie Caproni for leniency in a letter in June.

Your Honor, I do not want to die in prison, pleaded Silver, who was Assembly speaker from 1994 to 2015.

As a public official, you are not entitled to anything. You have to earn your votes every day and your rewards are in the satisfaction that you did good and earned the respect of the community, which are both deeply meaningful. This has to be enough, otherwise find a new line of work.

It should have been enough for me but it wasnt and I am ruined.

Silver was found guilty twice of a second corruption scheme involving $3.3 million earned through legal referrals of mesothelioma patients. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals vacated three charges related to that scheme, ruling that it did not meet the legal standards for extortion.

Silver was first sentenced to 12 years in prison for the schemes in May 2016. A Supreme Court ruling that changed the legal definition of public corruption required he be tried again.

Caproni has noted that Silver aged dramatically during the long legal fight.

Visually, hes aged more than the three years chronologically that have gone by since he was first charged, she said in 2018.

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Former state Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver sentenced to more than 6 years in prison - NNY360

Unable to land hits on Biden, Trump paints him as socialist Trojan horse – NBC News

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WASHINGTON During a campaign-style speech last week in the White House Rose Garden, President Donald Trump lamented that his efforts to turn Joe Bidens son into a political vulnerability for the Democrat had flopped.

But Hunter wheres Hunter? Trump said, referring to the younger Bidens lucrative position on the board of a Ukrainian gas company while his father was vice president. And you all know about Burisma, but nothing happens. Nobody cares.

Its one of many punches by Trump that have failed to land on his Democratic rival. He has called him sleepy Joe and derided him as too tired and unfit to do the job. He has mocked him for a steady stream of verbal stumbles. He has painted him as a tool of China. He has linked him to a defund the police movement that Biden has rejected. None of it is sticking.

As a result, the president and his allies have settled on a different strategy: Paint Biden as an empty vessel for socialist radicals to exploit. As Trumps new campaign manager Bill Stepien said Tuesday, We will expose Joe Biden as a hapless tool of the extreme left.

Vice President Mike Pence made the case Friday during a trip to Wisconsin.

Joe Biden would be nothing more than an auto pen, a Trojan horse for a radical agenda so radical, so all-encompassing that it would transform this country into something utterly unrecognizable, he said.

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Trump said Tuesday that Biden has gone radical left and suggested he would abolish the suburbs, a reference to the Democratic Party's support for desegregation efforts. The next day he floated a conspiracy theory on Twitter about a secret pact between Biden and Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who was resoundingly defeated in the primary, that is further left than even Bernie had in mind.

The new approach comes as Bidens national lead has more than doubled to 9 points in the FiveThirtyEight polling average since the U.S. revealed its first death from COVID-19 at the end of February. Trumps declining political fortunes mirror the sinking approval of his handling of a pandemic that has killed more than 138,000 Americans and crippled the economy.

Former Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., took the narrative a step further by theorizing baselessly in an op-ed article for TheHill.com that the "socialist/progressive wing" of the Democratic Party would install a vice presidential candidate and use the 25th Amendment to topple Biden in a "coup" within months of his election.

People disparage Joe Biden. People question Joe Bidens judgment. People question Joe Bidens acuity at this point. But no one hates Joe Biden, said Michael Steel, a former aide to House Speaker John Boehner and to Jeb Bushs presidential campaign. And so the 2016 playbook that the president used successfully against Hillary Clinton just doesnt work.

Secretary Clinton was a uniquely unpopular and polarizing figure. Despite high approval as secretary of state, the negative image of her had been burned in over decades, he said. She didnt have to be a stalking horse. She motivated opposition all by herself.

Democrats say Trumps characterization of Biden as a socialist doesnt pass the smell test.

It's like saying Coca-Cola is arsenic, said Ian Sams, a former presidential campaign aide to Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., last year and Clinton in 2016. Voters are smarter than that.

Biden, who cultivated a reputation as an institutionalist in Washington through 44 years as senator and then vice president, is proving to be an elusive opponent. Hes not as loved or hated as Trump. But surveys show hes seen as more honest and trustworthy than Trump or Clinton. And polls say voters who dislike both presidential candidates prefer Biden, unlike in 2016 when Trump ultimately won them.

The Trump campaign's efforts to paint Joe Biden as something he is not is nothing new, Biden campaign spokesman Bill Russo said in a statement. The only new development here is the increasingly deranged level of desperation they are showing in trying to sell another ridiculous theory.

Biden has made some concessions to progressives in an attempt to unite the Democratic Party and avoid left-wing defections that hurt Clinton in 2016. He recently called for 100 percent clean electricity by 2035, drawing fierce criticism from the Trump campaign. But he has rejected the most liberal ideas in his party, such as a Medicare for all system that ends private insurance.

At a March 2 rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, before the pandemic caused nationwide shutdowns, Trump painted Biden as hapless, but more "moderate" than his rivals.

"I honestly don't think he knows what office he's running for, and it doesn't matter. You know, maybe he gets in because he's a little more moderate," he said. "So maybe he gets in, but he's not going to be running it."

Sahil Kapur is a national political reporter for NBC News.

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Unable to land hits on Biden, Trump paints him as socialist Trojan horse - NBC News

Controversial Lakeside land decision to be reconsidered at virtual meeting this month – Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News

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A CONTROVERSIAL decision to sell off a publicly owned field in Highbridge to make way for 110 homes will be reconsidered by the district council later this month.

In February developer Coln Residential won outline planning permission to build 110 homes, a play area and a fitness trail on land between Lakeside and Isleport despite more than 140 objections from residents.

Last month Sedgemoor District Council's (SDC) Executive met and approved the plans to sell the land but a few weeks later Liberal Democrat councillors from SDC 'called in' the Executive's decision to sell the land and a meeting was held to discuss the plans again.

At a meeting on Monday (July 13) SDC's Scrutiny Committee reviewed the decision by the Executive to dispose of the land and members of the public were able to raise their concerns to the committee.

The committee unanimously voted to send the plans back to the Executive to be reconsidered.

A meeting will be held on July 22 via Skype for Business to deal with the Corporate Scrutiny Committee's six points.

The reasons provided for the call-in are:

- The decision to sell this land acquired for Public Open Space and the failure to bring forward any such use over 20 years.

- The decision to sell green space in the Highbridge area which is deficient in this locality.

- The threat to the biodiversity of this site during a climate change crisis.

- The allocation of the S106 monies towards this site being transferred to the developer.

-The desirability of keeping open space for the health and wellbeing of local residents.

- Was sufficient weight given to the public consultation in making this decision?

A spokesperson for Sedgemoor District Council, said: "The public and press are welcome to listen in to the meeting.

"They can also speak at the meeting in line with the normal requirements for council meetings, which permits one person to speak in support and one against any item of business on the agenda.

"This is limited to 3 minutes per speaker. If you wish to register to speak at the meeting please contact Democratic Services to register.

"The public and press will be able to listen to the meeting, but you will need to pre-register with the Democratic Services Team and provide a telephone number so they can invite you to join the virtual meeting. Please email democratic.services@sedgemoor.gov.uk or telephone 0300 303 7800

"All public meetings will be recorded and the recording of the meeting will be available to view via the Councils website or on the Councils YouTube Channel, normally within 2 days of the meeting."

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Controversial Lakeside land decision to be reconsidered at virtual meeting this month - Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News

If Democrats Win, They Must Show Israel That Unilateral Annexation Has Consequences – Foreign Policy

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July 1, the date set by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank to begin, came and went and nothing was annexed. Of course, home demolitions, settler and police violence, land confiscation, and systemic discrimination against Palestinians all continue unabatedbut U.S. politicians have been scrambling to respond to the new threat of annexation. A clear division has emerged between Democrats, who mostly oppose annexation, and Republicans, who mostly support it. After decades of bipartisan agreement on policy toward Israel, the biggest recipient of U.S. foreign aid has finally become a partisan issue in Washingtonat least nominally.

A large majority of Democrats in both the House and Senate, including presumed presidential nominee Joe Biden, have come out against annexation in recent weeks. Nearly 200 House members signed onto a letter at the end of June, initiated by Rep. Ted Deutch, expressing deep concern that Israels push for unilateral annexation will make a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians toward a two-state solution harder to achieve.

Among the signatories was House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a longtime ally of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a hawkish pro-Israel lobby which organizes bipartisan congressional trips to Israel. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted her support for the letter, too. In addition, 40 Senate Democrats, including some pro-Israel stalwarts who never seem to oppose anything Israel does, such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Bob Menendez and Ben Cardin, have also penned their milquetoast opposition.

Meanwhile, more than 100 House Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Minority Whip Steve Scalise and Rep. Liz Cheney, signed a letter addressed to Netanyahu that reaffirms the unshakeable alliance between the United States and Israel, and indicated that Israel should do as it pleases with its sovereignty and its borders, echoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeos latest statement on the matter. Sen. Ted Cruz and several other GOP senators sent a letter to President Donald Trump not only urging the president to approve Israeli annexation but to provide any resources necessary to help streamline it.

For decades, Democrats and Republicans have both held the U.S.-Israel unbreakable bond sacrosanct, a staple of U.S. foreign policy so ingrained that it is almost never questioned. AIPACs success over the past few decades has primarily been in maintaining airtight bipartisan support for Israel. Even as Democrats and Republicans have been diametrically split on many issues, Israel never seems to be one of them. But that is changing. Now, the Democratic Party is united against annexation, while the Republican Party is united behind anything Trump doesand hence supports it.

In other words, the Democratic Partys formal position is still a negotiated two-state solution whereby an independent Palestinian state is established on roughly the pre-1967 borders. The Republican Party has effectively relinquished that position in favor of an expanded Israeli state that formalizes its sovereignty over much of the Palestinian territory it currently occupies without granting political rights to its new subjectsin other words, an apartheid regime.

Now that the partisan divide is clear, the question is, what will Democrats do? Peter Beinart, probably the most well-known liberal Zionist thinker in the United States, just published a piece in the New York Times saying he no longer believes in a Jewish state or a two-state solution and called for one binational state that can be home to both Palestinians and Israelis. The articulation of this kind of position from a prominent American Jew may embolden Democrats to move away from the two-state paradigm or at least entertain the notion that what they have done thus far simply has not worked.

But punitive policies that could actually influence the Israeli governmentsuch as supporting boycotts, divestment, and sanctionsare still off-limits. Likewise, conditioning U.S. aid to Israel, which Sen. Bernie Sanders championed during his presidential campaign, is still mostly taboo, even though Republican presidents from Gerald Ford to George H.W. Bush have engaged in it. In 1981, Reagan suspended a military arms pact with Israel over its annexation of the Golan Heights. A decade letter, George H.W. Bush threatened to withhold a $10 billion loan guarantee to Israel over its expansion of settlements. Maybe the most salient example came under President Gerald Ford, in the aftermath of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, when Secretary of State Henry Kissinger took a hard line with Israel and pressured it to withdraw from the Sinai. At the time, Ford told Kissinger that the United States would not isolate itself from the rest of the world to stand behind Israeli intransigencepretty much the polar opposite of U.S. policy today. In the spring of 1975, the U.S. government implemented a reassessment of U.S.-Israel relations, which included the freezing of arms deliveries to Israel.

So, for Democrats, conditioning aid to Israel should actually be a no-brainer.

A recent letter initiated by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and signed by a dozen other lawmakers, including Sanders, calls on Congress to limit or withhold U.S. aid to Israel should it go through with annexation. It notably mentions aid could be withheld for other practices as well, among them home demolitions and land expropriation. It is the only statement from Democrats against Israeli annexation that doesnt just caution against the harm to the prospects of peace and Israels international standing, but actually mentions occupied Palestinian territory, warns of apartheid, and specifically calls out the violation of Palestinian human rights. The anti-occupation group IfNotNow has endorsed this letter, and 1,000 former and current members of J Street U, the youth arm of the liberal pro-Israel lobby of the same name, have called on J Street to get behind legislation that would condition U.S. aid.

Unfortunately, this sort of language still appears to be beyond the pale for most Democrats. This month, Sen. Chris Van Hollen inched closer when he introduced an amendment that would block the Israeli government from using U.S. security assistance to fund annexation. This should be the baseline Democratic approach, but it has not garnered much support thus far, and Bidens team has notably remained silent on it. A Biden advisor reiterated in May that Biden completely opposes any restrictions on military aid to Israel. Bidens position, like that of many Democrats, that no side should take unilateral steps is therefore hard to take seriously, considering that Israels settlement enterprise is a national unilateral project for which Biden is not willing to make Israel pay any price.

In this sense, the Trump-Israel annexation plan is a real test for Democrats. They cannot just oppose annexation rhetorically; it means nothing without an actionable policy that holds Israel to account. Doing nothing will make Democrats complicit in writing a blank check to an annexationist apartheid regime. The fact that so many Democrats are uniting against annexation only highlights the obvious: that their failure until nowand particularly under former President Barack Obamato restrain Israeli settlement-building on occupied territory, which is the primary reason a contiguous Palestinian state appears impossible, has brought the world to this point. It should force the party to reckon with what it means that they have continued to give unconditional support to a country institutionalizing a 53-year military occupation.

There are several things a Democratic administration could do that would hold the Netanyahu government accountable for taking unilateral moves that imperil peacewithout being in any way anti-Israel.

The Democrats could begin with reversing some of Trumps most damaging policies. Since entering office, Trump upended decades of official U.S. policy by recognizing Israels annexation of East Jerusalem (when he moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem in 2018), and then recognized Israels annexation of the Golan Heights last year.

Biden should at minimum reverse Trumps damage and adopt a policy that would rescind U.S. recognition of Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights and move the embassy back to Tel Aviv. Without doing so, Biden would be de facto recognizing Israeli sovereignty over land it occupied in a war.

Furthermore, if Biden is as committed to a two-state solution as he has claimed, his administration could recognize East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital of a future Palestinian state. A Biden administration should not only embrace Van Hollens amendment to ensure U.S. aid is not used for annexation, but go a step further and endorse Rep. Betty McCollums year-oldHouseResolution 2407, which seeks to prohibit the transfer of U.S. funds for use by the Israeli military to detain Palestinian children. The bill does not, in fact, prescribe withholding a single dollar of U.S. assistance, but rather redirecting the funds so that none of it is spent on the incarceration of children. This would send a clear message that Democrats are not only interested in a peaceful resolution one day in the future, but committed to ending human-rights violations right now.

While it does not seem likely any of this will happen, if the Democrats genuinely oppose annexation, they must put their money where their mouth is. If they dont seize this opportunity, Israel will simply return to being a bipartisan issueexcept, in the wake of annexation, they wont just be helping an occupier anymore; both parties will be aiding and abetting an apartheid state.

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If Democrats Win, They Must Show Israel That Unilateral Annexation Has Consequences - Foreign Policy

Mandryk: Pandemic concerns should have trumped Buffalo grievances – The Province

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Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe shares a laugh with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney during the Saskatchewan Oil & Gas Show in Weyburn last yearBRANDON HARDER / Regina Leader-Post

The problem isnt necessarily that the Buffalo Projects advertisement last week was a not-so-thinly veiled swipe at the federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

It obviously was, but its free speech and diverse groups left or right, business or union still occasionally buy newspaper space to express views unfettered by the confines of balance insisted on by pesky journalists.

For those of partisan Liberal persuasion who complain that this is a travesty, this may be why there are so precious few of you out West. And after the WE charity scandal and the refusal to recall Parliament to debate the $323-billion budget deficit, the Liberals hardly deserve much sympathy.

The ultimate problem isnt even that the open letter is laced with undertones of soft Western separatism clumsily disguised as the opposite.

The reality is the the vast, vast majority of Westerners want to be Canadian and see talk of separation as either the the view of a comical fringe or (at best) an unserious political ploy by elite Conservatives with business and oil wealth angry there is a Trudeau in power.

But herein lies the real problem with last weeks Buffalo Project advertisement: The country, the world and certainly Western Canada that includes Saskatchewan and Alberta are in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic.

Well-heeled oil and business types and their operativesmadeonly passing reference to this in their ad and only as a bridge to their own long-standing grievances. They basically ignored the health crisis that has shuttered the economy.

This was their opportunity to tell others what they were willing to do to lend a hand to lead.

Instead of offering a hand in troubled times truly, the Western way their focus was on old divisions we dont need right now. It is likely to only confirm suspicions about this group and their cause.

And let us make no mistake that their cause has been political.

The Buffalo Project _ a political action committee fronted by former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall (whose name was conspicuous by its absence in last weeks ad) _ was all about defeating the Rachel Notley NDP government, the Trudeau government in Ottawa and keeping the NDP out of power here in Saskatchewan. (There again, Ryan Meili and company seem pretty determined to do that themselves.)

Rather than make it about the pandemic, the concerned citizens fighting for a new deal for Alberta and Saskatchewan told us the biggest issue at play is how our heritage as traders, innovators and keepers of the land is slowly being destroyed.

Destruction of our very heritage? Really?

Their open letter addressed to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe urged the two premiers to forge a new deal with Canada and to take steps to exert sovereignty over provincial affairs like immigration, trade, transportation corridors, and taxation. Evidently, jurisdictional squabbling is more productive and important right now than actual recovery.

And it demanded a referendum on equalization by 2021 because Saskatchewan and Alberta will no longer disproportionally support the rest of Canada, via a confusing, unfair and unresponsive transfer programs like equalization and fiscal stabilization.

It is here where things enter the realm of laughably partisan, given that we all know Wall and his Sask. Party government abandoned equalization reform in 2008 because the 2006 Conservative election promise to remove non-renewable resources from the formula was politically unpalatable for then-prime minister Stephen Harper and then-Conservative-government minister Jason Kenney.

Let us hope the Sask. Party government that suggested the letter had five concrete proposals deserving of scrutiny does unbiasedly weigh merits with the associated costs and risks. Things like access to tidewater be for fibre optics or oil do make sense.

But for now, lets hope those who purport to want to provide leadership start doing so.

Today, that means all of us lending support to a pandemic crisis rather than sowing seeds of Western discontent.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

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Mandryk: Pandemic concerns should have trumped Buffalo grievances - The Province

Ex-NY Assembly speaker gets 6 1/2 years in prison – The Recorder

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TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICEFormer speaker of the New York State Assembly, Sheldon Silver enters federal court in New York on the first day of his second trial on April 30, 2018.

By Stephen Rex BrownNew York Daily NewsNEW YORK After four years and two trials, former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced Monday to 6 1/2 years for a corruption scheme involving developers dependent on Albany support.Silver, 76, had last been sentenced to seven years in prison for the developers scheme, as well as a second involving legal referrals for mesothelioma patients. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals tossed the guilty verdicts tied to the latter scam in January and ordered Silver be resentenced.The Lower East Side Democrat was convicted of secretly taking $800,000 in legal fees from real estate developers from 2005 to 2015. The money came mainly from Glenwood Management, which owns luxury apartment buildings in Manhattan and the Bronx. The company is one of the biggest campaign contributors in state politics.In return for the money, Silver performed a number of favors, including supporting tax breaks and landlord-friendly rent rules under the states 2011 Rent Act and voting in favor of Glenwoods applications for tax-exempt financing of its projects.Silver, once one of the three men in a room who decided major New York state policies in secret, begged Judge Valerie Caproni for leniency in a letter in June.Your Honor, I do not want to die in prison, pleaded Silver, who was Assembly speaker from 1994 to 2015.As a public official, you are not entitled to anything. You have to earn your votes every day and your rewards are in the satisfaction that you did good and earned the respect of the community, which are both deeply meaningful. This has to be enough, otherwise find a new line of work.It should have been enough for me but it wasnt and I am ruined.Silver was found guilty twice of a second corruption scheme involving $3.3 million earned through legal referrals of mesothelioma patients. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals vacated three charges related to that scheme, ruling that it did not meet the legal standards for extortion.Silver was first sentenced to 12 years in prison for the schemes in May 2016. A Supreme Court ruling that changed the legal definition of public corruption required he be tried again.Caproni has noted that Silver aged dramatically during the long legal fight.Visually, hes aged more than the three years chronologically that have gone by since he was first charged, she said in 2018.

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Ex-NY Assembly speaker gets 6 1/2 years in prison - The Recorder

Which Small Cryptocurrencies to Invest in? – Tech Digest

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Cryptocurrencies are taking over the world. At the moment, Bitcoin is getting ever more mainstream exposure and acceptance as a legitimate asset and storage of wealth.

Whether using Bitcoin or not, its always a good idea to consider investing in this type of asset. However, always make sure you do your homework and thoroughly research any digital asset before making your first move.

Bitcoin is definitely not the only crypto out there thats worth considering, although it is still considered to be the most popular digital currency. On the other hand, there are many other cryptos, often named altcoins, that are doing a pretty good job and are attracting investors from all over the world. Here are some of the best alternatives.

Ethereum is perhaps one of the most important coins out there after bitcoin, as it is also a company that provides a platform for developing decentralised apps. In other words, Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, saw a much bigger potential in blockchain technology than just using it for cryptocurrencies.

A single unit of ethereum is approximately $240 at the moment, but make sure to check out its price at the time you plan to invest as it is highly volatile just like BTC. The total market cap is somewhere around $26 billion and the circulating supply is 111.6 million ETH at the moment.

Thanks to Ethereum, many can now access many dapps and enjoy using them on the blockchain. Platforms such as Ethereum also paved the way for the creation of numerous crypto online games. Check out this bitcoin gambling blog to get some idea of the kinds of innovations using dapps can bring to the gaming space.

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was separated from Bitcoin in a hard fork and became a cryptocurrency of its own. BCH has the same features as BTC, but its faster due to some core differences in the underlying technology.

Some believe that BCH is closer to how Satoshi intended bitcoin to be, to act as a form of easy to use electronic payment, similar to how we use bank cards for payments over the internet today. If youre looking to invest in a true BTC alternative, this is perhaps one of the options to consider. A single unit of Bitcoin Cash costs approximately $240 at the moment.

When litecoin was created, its primary purpose was to be a fix that would make bitcoin transactions lighter (hence the name). However, its creator decided to make a cryptocurrency of its own instead. Eventually, litecoin became the first real competitor to bitcoin, although it never reached its popularity.

At the moment, you can buy one litecoin for $44, but the price of this cryptocurrency also changes every moment. The current market cap is about $2.88 billion and the circulating supply is 64.98 million LTC. Just like bitcoin, LTC has a max supply that can be issued and is set to 84 million LTC.

Tether is a different type of cryptocurrency thats often referred to as stablecoin. The reason why it bears such a name is that its value is much more stable compared to other cryptocurrencies.

This stability is achieved by pegging its value to a more stable asset such as the US dollar or gold. Tether (USDT) is pegged to the US dollar in a 1:1 ratio, meaning that one unit of USDT = $1 at least most of the time.

Although tether was proclaimed controversial due to some unapproved practices by its creators, the cryptocurrency managed to retain its popularity and is currently the fourth most popular crypto in the world, with a total market cap of $4.13 billion.

Jul 16, 2020Tech Digest Correspondent

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Which Small Cryptocurrencies to Invest in? - Tech Digest

Tesla could soon join the S&P 500 but inclusion isn’t automatic, even with a full year of profitability – CNBC

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Teslaplans to report its second quarter results on Wednesday after the market closes, and all eyes are on the company's bottom line this period.

That's because a fourth consecutive quarter of reported profitability on a GAAP basis wouldmake Elon Musk's electric car company eligible to join the S&P 500 index.

Speculation has mounted that the company will hit this milestone a full year of reported profitability since Tesla reported a record number of car deliveries earlier in July. Elon Musk fueled the rumors, sending an email to employees implying that there's a chance the company will break even for the quarter.

Shares have jumped more than 50% this month alone adding to the stock's more than threefold increase this year as investors have bet on the company's inclusion, which could mean a sudden jump in demand from passive funds that track the benchmark.

But it's not a done deal. Even if the company does report a fourth consecutive quarter of GAAP profits, there's no guarantee that it will be added to the S&P 500.

The make-up of the S&P 500 is determined by what's known as the "Index Committee" at S&P Dow Jones Indices. Inclusion in the index is based on quantitative as well as qualitative factors.

Companies must be U.S. based, and listed on either the NYSE, the Nasdaq or the Cboe. They also must have a market cap of more than $8.2 billion, and report four straight quarters of profit as determined by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).

Even if a company meets these criteria as well as the other stipulations, however, it still does not guarantee inclusion in the index, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

"The purpose of the index is to emulate the U.S. domestic common market," he said. "When you go to put a company in to actually select it it's got to fit into the algorithm in that it represents the market, it has liquidity, it has size," he added.

The committee meets on a quarterly basis to rebalance the index, and the next meeting is scheduled for the third Friday in September. But Silverblatt said companies can be added or removed from the S&P at any time.

Given the potentially market-moving nature of additions and deletions from the index, the process is tightly guarded. Even companies that are set to be added receive no advance warning.

Silverblatt said that a notice typically goes out at 5:15 pm ET five trading days before a company is set to join the index.

There are particular challenges to adding a company of Tesla's size to the index, since every other component's weighting would subsequently have to be adjusted. Additionally, it would force index investors to sell portions of their other 499 stock holdings to make room for the company.

With a market capitalization of $304 billion, according to FactSet, Tesla is the 12th largest U.S. company, ahead of names like JPMorgan, UnitedHealth and Home Depot. Research firm Baird noted that it would be the largest company ever added to the index.

According to analysis from Credit Suisse, Facebook was the last mega cap company added to the index back in 2013, when it was worth roughly $120 billion.

"Accordingly, it's possible an S&P add may not occur until 2021," the firm said, noting the company's size. "That said, once Tesla becomes eligible, we would expect S&P to see pressure to add Tesla to the index."

Speculation began building that Tesla could turn a profit in the second quarter after vehicle deliveries beat Street expectations. The company delivered 90,650 vehicles in the second quarter the closest approximation of sales numbers reported by Tesla topping the 72,000 number expected by analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Elon Musk himself added to the speculation when he sent an email to employees, which was promptly leaked to the press, urging everyone to "go all out" ahead of the delivery figures' release.

In the email, he also said that "breaking even is looking super tight." It wasn't immediately clear whether he was referring to the company's profit margin or another metric, such as production numbers, but some took it to mean that a second quarter profit was indeed possible.

Despite investor enthusiasm for the stock, which has seen shares nearly quadruple this year, the Street is more tempered ahead of the company's quarterly report. According to estimates compiled by Refinitiv, analysts are expecting the company to report a loss of 11 cents per share, on revenue of $5.233 billion.

"We are cautious into the quarter given recent share appreciation; there is a chance TSLA does not achieve GAAP profitability, which we think would be a significant negative catalyst given current elevated expectations,"Baird analyst Ben Kallo wrote in a recent note to clients. He said that investors should take profits ahead of earnings, while also noting that the company "will likely be added to the S&P 500 index."

It's hard to overstate the recent rally in Tesla shares. Through Monday's close the stock is up 52% in the last month, 292% year to date, and 536% in the last year. The stock has been a favorite among retail investors. Data from Robintrack, which tracks millennial-favored trading app Robinhood, shows that the stock is among the top holdings on the platform.

But given the recent run-up in shares, some investors believe that the stock price is preemptively reflecting inclusion in the S&P 500, and the subsequent flood of new demand.

According toLarry McDonald, editor of The Bear Traps Report, there's around $3.9 trillion of pure index capital tracking the S&P 500. As of Monday morning, per his analysis, Tesla had a free float market cap of $220 billion (this number excludes the 18.38% of the company that Musk owns).

Taking the total S&P market value to be $27.8 trillion, this would give Tesla a 0.8% weighting if it were to join the index. This means that funds tracking the index would need to buy roughly $30 billion worth of Tesla stock.

Not to mention active managers that track the index, as well as individual investors who favor portfolios tied to the S&P 500.

With a potential upcoming buying spree, McDonald believes the recent run is driven not by fundamental strength, but by investors bidding up shares.

"By buying up Tesla TSLA now, front-runners are forcing the S&P Indexes to give the stock a higher and higher weighting," he wrote in a recent note. "Thus, ETFs / Indexes will be forced to pay up, buying even more shares. Then the hot money exits, leaving indexes holding the bag," he said.

While Tesla's rally might be extreme, it's not unusual for stocks to move higher onspeculation about inclusion in the index.

Goldman Sachs analyzed performance for additions to the index going back to 2018, and found that a stock typically rallies 4% in the month leading up to its addition to the index. One month later, however, the stock was down an average of 1%, although still beating the broader market.

- CNBC's Lora Kolodny, Michael Bloom and Nate Rattner contributed reporting.

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Tesla secret project Palladium: new Model S and Model X are coming – Electrek

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Electrek has discovered a new Tesla secret project called Palladium, and it involves some important updates to the Model S and Model X.

Earlier this year, Electrek exclusively revealed information about Teslas Roadrunner secret project to build its own new battery cells and its own technology to produce them.

Now sources have confirmed to Electrek that Tesla has another secret project codenamed Palladium that is currently being deployed in Fremont factory and Gigafactory Nevada.

Not much is known about the project as Tesla is keeping the information compartmentalized throughout the organization, but Electrek has been able to confirm its existence with several sources.

The project involves building new production lines for updated versions of the Model S and Model X.

Its still unclear how far-reaching the Palladium update is going to be, again due to Tesla keeping the information compartmentalized, but it sounds like it could be significant.

According to people familiar with the matter, the new Palladium update is going to involve new battery modules and drive units that are going to serve as the basis of the upcoming Plaid version of Model S and Model X.

The new powertrain is going to enable a tri-motor configuration for plaid and feature increased performance and efficiency. We dont have the final numbers just yet, but it should be impressive.

Another source told Electrek that it involves more than the powertrain, and one employee even referred to a new Model S and Model X Palladium Body meaning that the new version of the vehicles will have a different body.

When Tesla started testing early prototypes of the Model S Plaid, it did feature some body modifications, but it hasnt been clear whether Tesla plans to bring them to the production version.

Tesla is currently updating production lines in Fremont factory and Nevada as part of the new Palladium project.

The exact timing of the launch is unclear, but it should be ready by the time Tesla holds its battery day in September.

We havent been able to confirm why Tesla codenamed the project Palladium.

Palladium is one of the six platinum-group metals, and the majority of the palladium mined around the world ends up in catalytic converters in car exhausts.

Its unclear if some of the new components in the new Model S and Model X Palladium update use the materials, or it might be a jab at combustion engines who need their emission cleaned up by palladium.

Tesla is like palladium for the entire auto industry?

Also, the price of the material has increased significantly over the last few years, and some have even compared it to the rise of Teslas stock.

In another interesting note, it also sounds like both Roadrunner and Palladium could be related.

For example, the new Palladium Model S and Model X could be the first vehicles in Teslas lineup to receive the new battery cells built by Tesla from the ground up.

New cells, new modules, new motors, and a new body would be some significant updates to Model S and Model X, but Tesla doesnt do car refreshes.

It could also possibly be timed with an interior design update, which Tesla originally planned for last year before being pushed.

Though if those are combined together, it would be hard for Tesla not to call the update a refresh.

Either way, I am glad that Tesla is planning a major update to Model S and Model X who have been somewhat neglected as the flagship vehicles for Tesla.

They received several incremental improvements over the last year, but it does now feel like the cheaper Model 3 and Model Y are the technology leaders for the automaker.

It looks like the Palladium project is going to change that.

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Opinion: Tesla’s rise is a message to big oil in Texas it’s time to transform – Houston Chronicle

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Capital markets have voted. Technology companies are in, and Texas oil and gas companies are out. Thats not necessarily all bad news for Texas, which has been courting companies like Tesla and Amazon to set up shop here, but with mixed results. News that electric automaker Teslas market capitalization has surpassed that of ExxonMobil reflects more than questionable premises about the growth potential of electric cars and the sunsetting of the gasoline engine. It reflects investors hopes and fears for the future. In a world where longstanding lifestyles were abandoned overnight in the shadow of a global pandemic, financial bets on companies proficient in self-transformation and technological innovation seem prudent. ExxonMobils pitch that it has staying power when incumbent oil and gas infrastructure takes years to revamp is simply not resonating with investors.

The sudden love affair with Tesla stock is partly linked to new potential for growth. Since it opened its Shanghai, China giga factory, analysts forecast increasing cash flow for the firm, which in March captured 30 percent of the crowded Chinese electric vehicle market amid depressed demand due to COVID-19. Teslas market capitalization has now surpassed $300 billion, up 175,000 percent since 2010. By contrast, ExxonMobils market capitalization has now fallen to around $185 billion, down from $350 billion a decade ago.

But Teslas attractions go beyond its improving financial outlook. Investors are betting on its expansive innovation potential. Not only has Tesla Energy installed the worlds largest lithium-ion battery to mitigate wind generation intermittency in South Australia, it has provided small-scale, household solutions to reduce the regions frequent brownouts. The company offers a load-balancing system in which solar panels are matched with in-home battery storage and smart inverters to bolster the grid when electricity demand peaks, creating a virtual power plant. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has alluded to the possibility of deploying a similar model with vehicle batteries, allowing Tesla owners to use their cars as backup power sources or even sell their battery storage back to the grid.

Tesla has weighed in on a policy debate in Texas over whether the state should loosen restrictions so electricity distribution companies can own storage to buttress operations, but regulatory disputes over who can own and operate Tesla battery systems in the state are ongoing. Texas, with its weather and other load challenges, would do well to follow Teslas advice to loosen who can own battery systemswhile protecting consumers and competitive markets for local energy generatorsso benefits are shared from the kind of forward-looking innovation the state is well known for.

For investors, Teslas innovation goes beyond cars and energy. It has also developed a giant HEPA filter, installed in Model S and Model X vehicles, which Tesla claims stops 99.97 percent of particles 0.3 micrometers or larger from entering the vehicle. Amid endemic pollution in major cities and growing questions about airborne COVID-19 transmission, its no wonder that Teslas Bioweapon Defense Mode is a hit.

Then there is Californias new Advanced Clean Trucks rule, which requires truck manufacturers to sell an annually increasing percentage of zero-emission trucks in the state over the next two decades. With its light-duty Cybertruck and heavy-duty Semi model due for release in 2021, Tesla is well positioned to supply the new market. The Cybertruck already has over 650,000 pre-orders, and Austin is knee-deep in competition with Tulsa, Okla., to house a new giga-factory for its production. Meanwhile, Teslas vehicle software is growing ever closer to facilitating full, self-driving autonomy.

The point is that Tesla is no longer just a car company. It is a technology company creating products with cross-industrial applications fit to solve some of the societys most pressing challenges. Ditto Amazon, which is an increasingly important bridge between many Americans and essential household supplies. At $1.65 trillion, Amazons capitalization is now 160 times higher than ExxonMobils as the marketplace and logistics company looks to new vertical integration opportunities including autonomous delivery vehicles.

Research and development spending made up 32.5 and 35.8 percent respectively of Teslas and Amazons total operating expenses in 2019, according to Bloomberg News. By contrast, ExxonMobils R&D budget was a paltry 8.7 percent of its operating expenses based on our calculations from Bloomberg data. Unlike its European peers who are actively pivoting to new energy businesses, ExxonMobils admirable R&D in algae biofuel and carbon sequestration has brought neither technology to scale. Rather, ExxonMobils notable technology and process improvement gains focus on the companys here and now oil opportunities in places like West Texas and Guyana, and thereby lack the visionary pizazz and breadth of wider applicability that draw investors to Tesla.

ExxonMobil continues to try to mobilize its base of investors around the idea that the company is well positioned with a strong balance sheet, promising legacy assets and topnotch engineering knowhow to both weather the current oil downturn and meet rebounding oil demand when the economy recovers. But sell-side analysts say current oil prices are too low for ExxonMobil to generate sufficient cash flow to cover its dividends without cutting spending, discouraging bargain hunters from bottom-picking the companys stock.

ExxonMobils plight is a cautionary tale for Texas industry and Houston as the energy capital. Though other companies like Hess, ConocoPhillips and Chevron are garnering some positive investor attention based on cash outlooks, the heady days when Texas shale was lauded as a growth business are fading, at least for now. The solution to investor apathy might not just be cutting costs, but a reemphasis on transformative technological innovations.

Myers Jaffe is author of the forthcoming book Energys Digital Future: Harnessing Innovation for American Resilience and National Security. Schreiber is a summer intern at the Council on Foreign Relations and an undergraduate student at Rice University.

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Opinion: Tesla's rise is a message to big oil in Texas it's time to transform - Houston Chronicle

You’ll Need $1.5M to Own the Last Tesla Roadster Ever Built – The Drive

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There's something intrinsically special about firsts. First impressions, first dates, first choicesand let's not forget about first cars. For Tesla, its very first automobile was none other than its Roadster, a car which gave the startup a jump start in becoming the world's most valuable automaker. And while the first example built is technically no longer of this world, you can now buy the second most important example: the last one ever built.

A used car listing in Switzerland is advertising the final-built Tesla Roadster for sale at a whopping $1.47 million. With just 124 miles on the odometer, this is perhaps one of the most well-preserved specimens still around. According to the ad, the car was also never registered and instead spent its life on tire pillows atop marble flooring, meaning that the new owner could technically be the car's first.

The car is also embellished with a full carbon package and special "2500" badging signifying its importance. It's also worth noting that the owner kept the vehicle at a proper charge level, so the worry of a bricked battery can be put to rest. Speaking of the battery, the visible portion of the pack also bears the signatures of many notable Tesla team members in white marker.

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You'll Need $1.5M to Own the Last Tesla Roadster Ever Built - The Drive

Tesla lands another tax break to locate Cybertruck factory in Texas – TechCrunch

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Lawmakers in Texas just gave Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk another incentive to locate its next factory there.

Commissioners in Travis County, home to Austin and the possible next Tesla factory, approved Tuesday property tax breaks worth at least $14.7 million and potentially more over 10 years. The incentives are on top of $46.6 million in property tax abatement that the Del Valle School District Board approved earlier this month.

News of the approval pushed Tesla shares 3.5% higher in after-hours trading.

The agreement, which the Austin Statesman first reported, is the latest carrot dangled in front of Tesla in hopes of landing the automakers next factory, which is slated to assemble the all-electric Cybertruck and the Model Y for the East Coast market.

There are, of course, conditions to such an arrangement.

Under terms of the agreement with Travis County, Tesla must invest $1.1 billion in the new factory within the first five years. In exchange, Travis County will rebate 70% of the property taxes Tesla will pay. Once Teslas investment in the factory eclipses that $1.1 billion mark, the property taxes rebates will increase to 75%. Any investments in the factory beyond $2 billion, will give Tesla 80% in property tax rebates.

Travis County has estimated that a $1.1 billion investment by Tesla would generated $8.8 million in new tax revenue over a 10-year period, a figure that takes into account the property tax rebates.

If Tesla fails to hit the investment goal or if its falls 75% short of its jobs requirement in any year, the company wont receive any property tax relief. The county will also have the ability to recoup tax rebates if Tesla breaches its contract.

The incentives packages has been approved quickly, illustrating the thirst by local governments to find ways to create new jobs, a point that Tesla is keenly aware of. The company has pointed to unemployment statistics in Travis County as part of its presentation, a figure that popped to more than 12% in April from 2.2% a year earlier.

Musk tweeted in March that the company was scouting locations to build a new U.S. gigafactory that will produce the Cybertruck and Model Y crossover.

Initially, Tesla was eyeing Nashville, but the focus quickly turned to a location east of Austin as well as land in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Lawmakers in Oklahoma have offered up their own incentives package, although details of what the state is offering has not been made public.

Tesla has promised Texas officials it will employ at least 5,000 people. About 25 of those workers are categorized as qualifying jobs and would be paid a minimum of $74,050, while the remaining would be middle income jobs with an annual salary of $47,147.

If the process to approve Teslas factories in Nevada and New York are any guide, state incentives are also likely. The company could, for instance, seek a taxpayer-funded grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund.There are other beneficial rewards Texas could offer Tesla such as allowing the automaker to sell directly to consumers, a method that is prohibited in the state.

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Tesla lands another tax break to locate Cybertruck factory in Texas - TechCrunch