If you haven’t heard, the world is on fire! The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report this week that basically said we are screwed. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the report “a code red for humanity.” The report officially says we the people are to blame. It’s our green house gas emissions. “Society’s reliance on fossil fuels is the reason the planet has already warmed 1.2 degrees Celsius — every bit of it through the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.” So what can we do? According to the report, if we reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and then eventually net negative emissions, the earth will stop heating up. So to recap, all we have to do as a planet is work together to stop something terrible that is negatively affecting everyone through a simultaneous and coordinated effort. I think we can do it, just look at how well we all handled COVID-19.
Fake IDs
Here’s a story I knew would happen as soon as I saw the vaccine cards. They were so elementary that of course someone faked them.
Across the internet, a cottage industry has sprung up to accommodate people who say they won’t get vaccinated for either personal or religious reasons. An Instagram account with the username “vaccination cards” sells laminated COVID-19 vaccination cards for $25 each. A user on the encrypted messaging app, Telegram, offers “COVID-19 Vaccine Cards Certificates,” for as much as $200 apiece. An increasing number of inquiries to these sites and similar ones appear to be from those who are trying to get fake vaccination cards for college.
AP News: Fake COVID-19 vaccine cards online worry college officials
This is dumb. What will people Not do in order to endanger their lives? If you fake a COVID vaccine and then get COVID; what should we call that?
Debt to Debt
I am from the generation that believed and bought into the idea that college and higher education would level the playing field for Black Americans. WSJ reports that may not be the case:
College is setting Black millennials back and increasing the wealth gap. The median net worth of households with Black college graduates in their 30s has plunged over the past three decades to less than one-tenth the net worth of their white counterparts, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Federal Reserve data. The drop is driven by skyrocketing student debt and sluggish income growth, which combine to make it difficult to build savings or buy a home. More than 84% of college-educated Black households in their 30s have student debt, up from 35% three decades ago, when many baby boomers were at the same age. By comparison, 53% of white college-educated households in their 30s have debt, up from 27% three decades earlier. Black graduates’ household incomes have grown more slowly than those of college graduates in general, according to a Journal analysis of census data. Median income for Black college-educated households in their 30s increased 7% from the early 1990s to late 2010s to about $76,000. Income for their white counterparts rose 13% to about $114,000. The median net worth for Black households with college graduates in their 30s has fallen to $8,200 from about $50,400 three decades ago, the analysis found. Over the same period, their white peers saw their median net worth grow 17% to $138,000. The Journal’s analysis is based on the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, which examines household wealth, and census data.
WSJ: College Was Supposed to Close the Wealth Gap for Black Americans. The Opposite Happened.
Black wealth is a topic I frequently read about. Debt is something that essentially limits savings and investments. Black households are less likely to own stocks, retirement accounts, and homes, all of which are wealth building. But for Black college students education is sometimes the only way to get to a top level jobs, thus they incur student loans. A college education allows for better pay than Black people without a college degree. So, it leaves us in this conundrum and cycle of debt that ends in less wealth generation after generation. So the solutions to this particular problem should lie in making college more affordable full stop. Graduation with little to no debt is one way give us a fighting chance.
Seven Up
Nick Cannon continues to be a hot topic because he fathered four of his seven children last year. Further fanning the flames he appeared on “The Breakfast Club and spoke with Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy about a myriad of things like ownership, cancel culture and the importance of building and leaving a legacy.” When questioned about his legacy Cannon said:
Why would people question that? That’s a Eurocentric concept when you think about the ideas of ‘you’re supposed to have this one person for the rest of your life.’ And really that’s just to classify property when you think about it. I mean if we go into that mindset, if we really talking that talk. Like, just the idea that a man should have one woman—we shouldn’t have anything. I have no ownership over this person. If we are really talking about how we coexist and how we populate, it’s about what exchange can we create together. So I’ve never really subscribed to that mentality.” He later added, “I actually think women are blessing us. Those women [the mother of his children] and all women are the ones who open themselves up to say ‘I would like to allow this man in my world and I will birth his child.’ It ain’t my decision. I’m following suit.” To which Charlamagne replied, “I respect that game you runnin’ on them ladies. Wow, Nick.”
The Roots: ‘That’s a Eurocentric Concept’: Nick Cannon Responds to Criticism Over Having Kids With Multiple Women
Oh Nick. I’m with the author of this article, stop making things up. You can have as many children as you want with as many women as you want. Before he said, he was having these children on purpose. Which is obvious, by the way. In Nick’s defense, I don’t care and the only reason anyone is talking about this (I hope) is because four of them came in the same year. But let’s put this in perspective. A lot of people have seven or more children. A lot of celebrities have seven or more children. ( Cue: Jim Bob And Michelle Duggar, Mia Farrow, Dog The Bounty Hunter, Bob Marley, Eddie Murphy, Mel Gibson, Mick Jagger, Clint Eastwood, etc.) Nick Cannon can afford these children. The women involved agreed to have these children. So, let’s all move on.
Pay to Play
“Northwest Arkansas is among a growing crop of cities, states and regions offering as much as $20,000 to entice newly remote workers to move to their areas. Some, like the Ozarks, are trying to create a pool of high-skilled workers to help fill job openings. Others aim to build up a skilled workforce to attract companies. Still, others are combating longstanding population declines or are looking to fill new housing complexes. The efforts are turning the traditional building blocks of economic development upside down. Typically, cities have spent hundreds of millions of dollars offering tax breaks and other incentives to lure companies. The handful of cities with the largest clusters of innovative companies – such as San Francisco, Seattle, San Jose, Washington, D.C., and Boston – have attracted the most workers, helping them draw still more businesses. Smaller towns that lacked vibrant ecosystems of employers and workers were left with shrinking tax bases that further deepened their struggles.At least 45 communities across the country are offering incentives to attract remote workers. USA Today: Move here, get paid: Small towns offer up to $20K just to get you to live there, work remotely Well, I work from home and nobody gave me a bonus; who do I contact about this?
The Culture Commentary 