Latest news with #JoshEdelson
Forbes
29-07-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Sweeping Problems Under The Rug By The Feds Doesn't Make Them Go Away
A man walks his dog past a homeless man sleeping under a message painted on a boarded up shop in San ... More Francisco, California on April, 1, 2020, during the novel coronavirus outbreak. - The US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped 5,000 late on April 1, according to a running tally from Johns Hopkins University. (Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images) For decades, every administration, every Congress, put many things off for someone else to deal with. No one can get everything done all the time, that's understandable. But many current economic and social programs aren't a result of juggling what might be possible. Instead, they have become the ultimate attempt to kick every can down the road. That doesn't solve problems. It only hides them and allows them to grow and fester. One of the current examples is homelessness. Here is a statement out of the presidential executive order, Ending Crime And Disorder On America's Streets: 'The overwhelming majority of these individuals are addicted to drugs, have a mental health condition, or both. Nearly two-thirds of homeless individuals report having regularly used hard drugs like methamphetamines, cocaine, or opioids in their lifetimes. An equally large share of homeless individuals reported suffering from mental health conditions.' Homelessness is a problem in many parts of the country. And, yes, people on the streets are often troubled in one way or another. However, the entire executive order is a rhetorical setup, claiming that 'nearly two-thirds' of the individuals reporting having used 'hard drugs like methamphetamines, cocaine, or opioids in their lifetimes.' No source for the statistic that is then delivered to deemphasize that any such use might have been long before. And then a statement that an 'equally large share of homeless individuals reported suffering from mental health conditions.' No source, again, and no explanation of what mental health conditions mean. Broadly defined enough, like any amount of depression, anxiety, discomfort, and so on, it could include everyone in the country. Next, a combination of claiming that spending by the federal government and states has run tens of billions on failed programs 'that address homelessness but not its root causes.' After claiming that homeless people leave 'other citizens vulnerable to public safety threats' comes the statement, 'Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order.' After stating that previous spending never looked at root causes, presuming that the administration knows the root causes, the proffered solution is to lock people away. The message is to ignore the problem and put it out of sight. The point isn't really for safety, because most dangerous behavior in the country doesn't come from homeless people. It's for comfort and to pretend everything is fine. This has economic and social implications. Institutionalize where? Privately owned prisons where someone makes a lot of money from incarcerations? Hospitals that have been financially struggling but will even more now that Medicaid has been so thoroughly cut? Similar issues come in arguments over diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI. The administration wants it purged not only from websites and government discussions, but from corporations, universities, and anywhere else the term might appear. Again, the communication expressed by action is to strike any mention of the topic anywhere, to bury it from consciousness as though that makes issues go away. It never does. Other parts of life are no different. Corporations want to promote the use of the most recent forms of artificial intelligence. Traditionally, the argument executives would use is not that technology was about enabling job cuts, but to free people up to do more useful and interesting work. That mask has finally begun to slip as CEOs and their corporations boast of shrinking their workforces. Ultimately, this will lead to fewer people being employed, greater degrees of consumer financial struggle, and economic weakness. But, again, that all gets brushed under the carpet. No society can long stand with such undermining. So long as problems are ignored, they likely grow worse until there comes a point that they demand more resources than are available.
Wall Street Journal
07-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Uber Swings to Profit on Bookings Growth; Sees Bookings Up in 2Q
May 7, 2025 7:03 am ET Earnings surpassed the 81 cents a share targeted, on average, by analysts surveyed by FactSet. Photo: josh edelson/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Uber UBER 0.47%increase; green up pointing triangle Technologies swung to a first-quarter profit as riders ordered more trips on the digital taxi service, and the company forecast more growth in bookings during the second quarter. The San Francisco ride-hailing and food-delivery app owner swung to a profit of $1.78 billion, or 83 cents a share, from a loss of $654 million, or 32 cents a share, a year earlier.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What to Know About Trump's Plan to Reopen Alcatraz
An aerial view of Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay on May 16, 2024. Credit - Josh Edelson—AFP/Getty Images Since its closure in 1963, Alcatraz Prison has become the stuff of legend. The seemingly inescapable federal penitentiary on a California island surrounded by frigid and powerful currents gained notoriety for housing some of history's most famous prisoners, from Al 'Scarface' Capone to George 'Machine Gun' Kelly. But now, decades since the island was purchased by the National Park Service and turned into a popular tourist destination, Donald Trump wants to convert it back into a prison. 'REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!' the President posted on Truth Social on Sunday evening, announcing that he has directed the Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security to 'reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt' prison on Alcatraz Island to 'house America's most ruthless and violent Offenders.' The move comes as Trump has pursued more aggressively punitive policies in his second term, including signing orders that encourage the use of extreme sentences and the death penalty, that target incarcerated trans women, and that expand police powers. Trump has also been criticized for eschewing the rule of law in carrying out a mass deportation campaign, detaining and deporting both undocumented immigrants as well as people legally in the U.S. without due process. At an April meeting between Trump and El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, Trump said he'd be 'all for' deporting Americans to El Salvador next. In January, Trump ordered the opening of a detention center in Guantanamo Bay, where the U.S. has long leased a site from Cuba, to which his Administration would send the 'worst criminal aliens.' Read More: Trump Set to Ratchet Up His Immigration Crackdown During Next 100 Days 'When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That's the way it's supposed to be,' Trump added in his Truth Social post. 'We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally.' Trump told reporters on Sunday night while returning to the White House from Florida that his Alcatraz plan was 'just an idea I've had' to counter the 'radicalized judges [that] want to have trials for every single—think of it—every single person that's in our country illegally.' Alcatraz is 'a symbol of law and order,' he said. 'It's got quite a history, frankly.' Long before Alcatraz became the site of a prison, it was a military fortress. Originally the land of the Ohlone people indigenous to the San Francisco Bay Area, the island was named La Isla de las Alcatraces after its large pelicans that a Spanish Navy officer who arrived in 1775 thought were gannets, called alactraces in Spanish. Later, the island became a U.S. naval defense fort after the Mexican-American War of 1848. The U.S. military also used the island to hold prisoners, including confederate sympathizers during the Civil War and Hopi Native Americans who resisted the government's land decrees and mandatory education programs in 1895. By 1912, it was rebuilt as an official military prison. In 1933, the Justice Department took over the island and made it a maximum-security federal penitentiary, partly in response to a rise in organized crime during prohibition. If the surrounding conditions didn't make escape a hard enough prospect, the prison was retrofitted so that each prisoner was kept to one cell, and one guard was on duty for every three prisoners. Thirty-six men attempted 14 different escapes over the 29 years that the prison was open, and nearly all were caught or died in the attempt. But the prison closed in March 1963. Its facilities were crumbling and would have cost $3 to $5 million to restore, and its isolated location made operating costs too expensive to maintain—nearly three times higher than any other federal prison, according to the Bureau of Prisons—because everything, including potable water, had to be shipped in. The prison has long been a site of public fascination. It was featured in the 1962 film Birdman of Alcatraz about Robert Stroud, a convicted felon who studied the birds he saw while incarcerated and became an ornithologist, even finding a cure to a common avian hemorrhagic disease. It was also featured in the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz, starring Clint Eastwood, and based on the real-life 1962 attempted escape of three prisoners who were never found, as well as in the 1996 fictional action thriller The Rock, starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage. After its purchase by the NPS in 1972, the island has become a major tourist attraction and brings in more than a million visitors each year, according to the agency. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons told the Associated Press that the BOP will 'comply with all Presidential Orders,' but did not explain how it would restore or reopen the prison while it is under the jurisdiction of the NPS, whose staff and funding have been threatened by Trump cuts, particularly while the BOP is struggling to keep its own facilities open amid deteriorating infrastructure and staffing shortages.'The President's proposal is not a serious one,' former House Speaker and California Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi posted on X. Contact us at letters@
RNZ News
05-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Donald Trump directs Bureau of Prisons to reopen Alcatraz
An aerial view shows Alcatraz island in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California Photo: AFP / Josh Edelson US President Donald Trump says he is directing the Federal Bureau of Prisons to rebuild and reopen the infamous Alcatraz prison in the San Francisco Bay to "house America's most ruthless and violent Offenders." "REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!" he posted on the Truth Social platform. "When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm." The federal prison at Alcatraz housed notorious U.S. criminals such as Al Capone before it closed in 1963. It is now one of San Francisco's most popular tourist destinations. "Today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ," Trump wrote. The prison was closed because it was too expensive to continue operating, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) website, in large part due to its island location. It was nearly three times more costly to operate than any other federal prison, the BOP website said. - Reuters
Newsweek
30-04-2025
- Climate
- Newsweek
Millions in California to Get More Water
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Millions of Californians will receive more water this year as the state increases allocations from its primary water distribution system following a robust winter runoff. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced that the State Water Project (SWP) allocation for 2025 has risen to 50 percent of requested supplies—up from 40 percent last month—thanks to strong snowmelt replenishing key reservoirs. Why It Matters The updated allocation comes as snowpack runoff accelerates with warming spring temperatures, bolstering storage in reservoirs critical to urban and agricultural water supplies across the state. The SWP serves 27 million people and irrigates 750,000 acres of farmland. With many of the state's reservoirs surpassing average levels for this time of year, state officials are emphasizing the opportunity and the ongoing need for flexible, resilient water infrastructure. What to Know California's snowpack peaked at 100 percent of seasonal average on April 4 and is now melting into watersheds. Lake Oroville—the SWP's largest reservoir—is currently at 120 percent of average and 95 percent full, with DWR expecting it could reach full capacity for the third consecutive year later this spring. If Oroville hits full capacity this year, it will be the first time in the lake's history that capacity has been reached three years in a row. Lake Oroville is seen filled with water in Oroville, California, on April 16, 2023. Lake Oroville is the largest reservoir in the State Water Project. Lake Oroville is seen filled with water in Oroville, California, on April 16, 2023. Lake Oroville is the largest reservoir in the State Water Project. Josh Edelson/Getty Meanwhile, San Luis Reservoir, serving Southern California, is at 101 percent of average and 83 percent full. "San Luis Reservoir likely reached its peak storage on April 7 at 90 percent of capacity," a DWR spokesperson told Newsweek. State Water Project allocations are updated monthly and rely on snowpack, rainfall and runoff assessments, a DWR spokesperson told Newsweek. Last month, the DWR increased allocations to 40 percent, a 10 percent jump over the previous allocation. In 2023, the SWP allocations were 100 percent after an abnormally wet winter season benefitted reservoirs and helped remedy much of California's drought. However, final allocations last year were only at 40 percent. The final allocation for this year will be announced in May or June. What People Are Saying A DWR spokesperson told Newsweek: "Any additional increases in the 2025 State Water Project allocation will depend on the water content and runoff of the Sierra Nevada snowpack." DWR Director Karla Nemeth said in a press release: "This winter, water managers were able to navigate extreme swings between wet and dry conditions thanks in part to new operating permits that allow increased flexibility in operations to move water into storage while protecting endangered species. Our full reservoirs will allow us to help meet the needs of the State Water Project contractors and their customers this year as well as provide some water supply next year in the event that dry conditions return." What Happens Next Despite the increased allocation, DWR stressed the need for future-proofing water supplies. Officials highlighted that had the Delta Conveyance Project and proposed Sites Reservoir been in place this season, California could have captured an additional 867,000 acre-feet of water—equivalent to a 20 percent higher allocation this year. DWR continues to assess seasonal conditions and will provide further updates as conditions evolve.
