Americans' Quest for Security

March 4, 2021

 — THIS WEEK IN DC —

Biden Now Says U.S. Will Have Enough Vaccine For Every Adult By The End Of May; Senate Panel Deadlocks On Advancing Biden's Pick For Health Secretary; White House pulls Tanden Nomination; Historic George Floyd Justice In Policing Act Passes House And Senate; House Energy And Commerce Leaders Unveil Sweeping Climate Change Legislation; House Passes Sweeping Bill On The Election, Government Reforms; Haaland Confirmation Likely After Picking Up Support From Collins; Biden Limits Eligibility For Stimulus Payments Under Pressure From Moderate Senate Democrats; Bipartisan Senators Introduce Bill To Strip Biden Of War Powers; Police Uncover ‘Possible Plot’ By Militia To Breach Capitol; Congressional Hearings Have Revealed Capitol Police Were Unprepared And Overwhelmed During Insurrection.  

 

 In This Issue 

  • What is Our Rescue Plan for Small Businesses?
  • The U.S. Capitol Attack as a Byproduct of Online Right-Wing Extremism
  • STATEMENT: MPAC Congratulates Dilawar Syed
  • Khashoggi's Fiancee Criticizes Lack of Action Against Saudi Crown Prince
  • ICC Launches War Crimes Probe into Israeli Practices
  • Interpol Warns Fake Vaccines Seized In China and South Africa Are 'Tip of Iceberg'

 


 

 Featured 

Jessica Rinaldi/GLOBE STAFF

What is Our Rescue Plan for Small Businesses?

By: Prema Rahman, Human Security Program Manager

In this third and final piece of our 3-part analysis of the latest COVID relief package, we dissect Issue 3 to better understand the needs of small businesses and examine how the American Rescue Plan will bolster their economic security to strengthen human security for all Americans. With the Senate looking to trim down essential relief provisions that Americans nationwide need to survive in the pandemic, small businesses may also become victims of reduced stimulus. Unless small businesses receive the support they need to survive the pandemic, their closures and the resulting unemployment will inevitably spell out drastic consequences for the American economy.

Read the full article

 


via CNN

The U.S. Capitol Attack as a Byproduct of Online Right-Wing Extremism

By: Shaezmina Khan, MPAC Policy Intern

Right-wing extremists planned the Capitol insurrection publicly online. It was the climax of weeks of intense plotting, the majority of which took place blatantly on websites popular with far right extremists. According to U.S. News, between January 6 and January 8, the terms “civil war,” “trust the plan” and “hold the line” were invoked more than 250,000 times across social media, including Instagram, Twitter, and Reddit. This highlights the extent to which social media has become an increasingly important tool for right ring extremists to proliferate content and create networks, posing a deep threat to the security and stability of American democracy.

Read the full article

 

 

MPAC Congratulates Dilawar Syed

Washington, D.C. | mpac.org | March 3, 2021 — MPAC congratulates Dilawar Syed on his historic nomination as Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA). In a press release earlier today, the White House announced their intention to welcome Mr. Syed into this position.

Syed has a long history of entrepreneurship and civic engagement, having previously chaired the White House-commissioned Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders’ Economic Growth Committee. In this capacity, he spearheaded . . . Read the full statement

 

 Good to Know 

  • COVID-19 vaccinations proceed slowly among older Latino, Black people
  • Fewer Americans are earning less than $15 an hour, but Black and Hispanic women make up a bigger share of them
  • Five states are rolling back mask mandates. More could be on the way. Here's what it could mean for all of us.
  • ICC launches war crimes probe into Israeli practices
  • Interpol warns fake vaccines seized in China and South Africa are ‘tip of iceberg’
  • Unaccompanied kids being held by Border Patrol for 77 hours on average, internal documents show
  • Khashoggi's fiancee criticizes lack of action against Saudi crown prince

 

 

 

—THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

Feb 28, 1908 - Failed assassination attempt on Shah Mohammed Ali in Tehran; Feb 28, 1974 - US & Egypt re-form diplomatic relations after 7 years; Feb 28, 1976 - Spain withdraws from Western Sahara, leaving Ceuta & Melilla (Spanish Morocco) as the last European possessions in Africa; March 1, 1966 - Ba'ath-party takes power in Syria; March 2, 1956 - Morocco tears up the Treaty of Fez, declaring independence from France; March 2, 1958 - Yemen announces it would join the United Arab Republic; March 2, 1984 - Iran offensive against Iraq fails; March 2, 1991 - UN votes in favor of US resolutions for cease fire with Iraq; March 2, 1991 - US Army controversially destroys a retreating Iraqi Republican Guard column at Rumaila Oil Field, despite a ceasefire being observed; March 3, 1958 - Nuri ash Said becomes premier of Iraq; March 3, 1961 - King Hassan II ascends to throne of Morocco; March 3, 1977 - Libyan Socialist Arabs People's Republic forms; March 5, 1046 - Persian scholar Naser Khosrow begins the 7 year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama; March 5, 1924 - King Hussein of Hedzjaz appoints himself kalief; March 5, 1991 - Iraq repeals its annexation of Kuwait; March 6, 1079 - Omar ibn Ibrahim al-Chajjam completes Jalali-calendar; March 6, 1964 - Boxing legend Cassius Clay joins the Nation of Islam and changes his name to "Muhammad Ali", calling his former title a "slave name"; March 6, 1967 - Muhammad Ali is ordered by selective service to be inducted.

Feb 28, 1854 - Republican Party formally organized in Ripon, Wisconsin; Feb 28, 1933 - 1st female in US Cabinet: Frances Perkins appointed Secretary of Labor; Feb 28, 1961 - JFK names Henry Kissinger special advisor; March 1, 1780 - Pennsylvania becomes 1st US state to abolish slavery (for newborns only); March 1, 1781 - Continental Congress officially adopts the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the US; March 1, 1864 - Rebecca Lee in the US becomes 1st African American woman to receive a medical degree; March 1, 1875 - US Congress passes Civil Rights Act; invalidated by Supreme Ct, 1883; March 1, 1961 - US President JFK establishes the Peace Corps; March 1, 1971 - Bomb attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C.; March 2, 1807 - US Congress bans the slave trade within the US; March 2, 1819 - US passed its 1st immigration law; March 2, 1974 - Grand jury concludes US President Richard Nixon is involved in Watergate cover-up; March 3, 1837 - Congress increases US Supreme Court membership from 7 to 9; March 3, 1879 - 1st female lawyer heard by US Supreme Court (Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood); March 3, 1913 - Woman suffrage procession through Washington, D.C. Ida B. Wells marched with her Illinois delegation despite blacks being told to march in a separate section; March 3, 1991 - Los Angeles police officers severely beat motorist Rodney King, the beating later leads to riots when the police officers are acquitted; March 4, 1789 - 1st US Congress meets and declares constitution in effect (9 senators, 13 reps); March 4, 1791 - President Washington calls the US Senate into its first special session; March 4, 1954 - James E. Wilkins appointed 1st black US sub-cabinet member; March 4, 1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. announces plans for Poor People's Campaign; March 5, 1770 - Boston Massacre: British soldiers kill 5 men in a crowd throwing snowballs, stones and sticks at them. African American Crispus Attucks 1st to die; March 6, 1810 - Illinois passes 1st state vaccination legislation in the U.S.

 

 

 

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