This Week’s COVID Roundup
The latest: 14.8M cases & 282K deaths
A few headlines:
Black people are dying at higher rates than previously reported
Joe Biden will ask everyone to commit to wearing masks for the first 100 days of his presidency to help slow the spread of the virus
85% of California residents are on lockdown from today until Christmas
The CDC recommends frontline workers & nursing home residents & employees to be the first to access the vaccine
The Return of DACA
Last week, a federal judge ordered Trump & crew to restore the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program back to its original glory by reopening the program to first-time applicants & re-establishing the protection period as 2 years instead of 1. While this is definitely a step in the right direction, the program may face additional challenges if it makes its way back to the Supreme Court with its new 6-3 conservative majority. Joe Biden has also promised to pass additional protections for the program once he’s in office, but that might be a challenge without an evenly split Senate.
Congress, What’s Good?
The House made a big move last week by voting to decriminalize marijuana & expunge related nonviolent federal convictions. This is BIG news, but we know it will essentially be for naught because there’s a 0% chance that the Senate will do the same.
A bipartisan group in Congress announced a potential package to help the country get through the ‘Rona. It doesn’t include stimulus checks and it doesn’t tick off every single box for either party, but the $908B plan might have the best chance of getting passed before the year ends.
Some of the topics on deck this week:
Discussing the impact of denying women of abortions if they cannot afford the procedure
Ensuring sovereignty for native tribes
The PPP program that aims to protect small businesses
Georgia Runoff Watch
Days to Remember:
Voter registration deadline: TODAY
Early voting starts: December 14
Deadline to request an absentee ballot: December 31
Election Day: January 5
Here are key takeaways from yesterday’s debate between Raphael Warnock & Senator Kelly Loeffler. There were supposed to be 2 debates, but Senator Perdue refused to debate challenger Jon Ossoff.
Trump’s attendance at a Georgia rally was supposed to be in support of his fellow Republicans whose jobs are on the line, but you know he couldn’t not talk about his election loss. Shocker.
Keeping Up with Biden & Harris
To the relief of everyone who has common sense, Dr. Fauci has accepted a job offer in the next administration. He’ll be doing exactly what he does now.
Here’s the latest on Joe’s plans for student loan debt, COVID relief, income tax changes & more.
He hasn’t even been inaugurated yet, but Biden is already more popular than Trump ever was.
Meanwhile, Trumpers are still in denial.
Around the Diaspora
If you’d like to help provide shelter and aid to those who’ve been impacted by the civil crisis raging in northern Ethiopia, consider donating to the UN Refugee Agency.
Here’s a status of how each country in Africa is managing the pandemic.
Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie recently beat the world record for completing a half marathon by 29 seconds.
Getting to the Money
Got federal student loans?? Well, enjoy another month of not paying them (unless you want to, of course). The federal government extended their pause on student loan payments until January 31, 2021.
Take your small business to the next level while also building up your community with Facebook’s Career Connections program. Career Connections trains Black and Latinx college students in digital & social media marketing and places them in an internship with a small business. It’s a win-win for everyone involved. Apply for the program as a business (or intern) here.
The Key Resource helps beginner real estate investors & homeowners make passive income from their properties. It also provides homebuyer guides, which include a number of down payment assistance programs for you to snag your first (or next) property. It’s also for us, by us. Need we say more?
Pharrell recently launched Black Ambition, an initiative to support Black & Latinx entrepreneurs. Applications are now open until February 18, 2021.
Buying Black
Buying Black is the wave (always has been, BTW) and now it’s easier to make it a part of our daily lives. Check out We Buy Black to find household items, toys, beauty products, books & more in one place.
Culture that Pops
Black-ish star Marsai Martin was crowned the world’s youngest executive producer by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Studies show that Black Millennials contributed to a home-buying surge last year. Be sure to remember this fact & share it with the next parent/uncle/grandparent who tries to shit on our generation.
Christmas lovers rejoice! The queen of Christmas Mariah Carey, just released a new special on Apple TV.