Month: September 2024

The Los Angeles Times published a sprawling essay Wednesday written by environmental reporter Rosanna Xia, who expressed overwhelming grief about the prospect of climate change and called to “fix individualism” and “reimagine” society’s “systems” to address climate change.

“How do you cope? I feel the sorrow, the quiet plea for guidance every time someone asks me this question. As an environmental reporter dedicated to helping people make sense of climate change, I know I should have answers,” Xia lamented in her essay. “But the truth is, it took me until now to face my own grief.”

Two paragraphs later, Xia said that she finds herself “questioning whether I could ever justify bringing my own children into this world,” adding that she “can’t help but feel like we’re just counting down the days to our own extinction” and noting the amount of plastic used nationwide and decreasing populations of certain butterfly species.

Xia’s essay underscores how energy and environmental reporters, purportedly tasked with objectively reporting stories related to their beat, often have the same views as far-left climate activists. Such despair about climate, for example, is a hallmark of groups that have called on the federal government to declare a “climate emergency” and disrupt public events nationwide to protest fossil fuels.

Later in her story, Xia calls for fixing “individualism” and reimagining “the systems that got us into such a devastating crisis in the first place” in order to save the planet.

“It is not too late to turn your climate anxiety into climate empathy,” she wrote. “Acknowledging the emotional toll on people beyond yourself can be an opportunity to listen and support one another. Embracing our feelings—and then finding others who also want to turn their fear into action—can be the missing spark to much-needed social and environmental healing.”

In a coinciding article also published Wednesday, Xia listed book recommendations for people with climate anxiety who need hope. “The future of our planet has become all but impossible to ignore, and it’s not exactly easy digging your way out of a despair that is so deeply connected to, well, everything,” she said.

The worldview presented by Xia, according to Alliance for Consumers executive director O.H. Skinner, leads directly to policies that make everyday items, such as residential appliances and cars, more expensive. Activists have increasingly targeted those items in their regulatory war on carbon emissions, even as the price of goods across the board have skyrocketed in recent years.

“This is the ultimate worldview that motivates so much of the war on household appliances and everyday conveniences: these activists don’t care that life is being made harder, because they ultimately care about ideology over their own children, future children, or even their own lives,” Skinner told the Washington Free Beacon. “It’s sad, and not a path most consumers want to follow.”

But Xia and other journalists at both the Times and other mainstream outlets that have published “climate anxiety” pieces are often rewarded by organizations that oversee journalism awards.

For example, Xia was awarded a prize last year for her reporting on the environment by the Society of Environmental Journalists, an organization that presents itself as nonpartisan but routinely targets the oil industry and recommends that reporters reach out to activist groups such as the Union of Concerned Scientists when writing stories.

And other Times reporters have been awarded prizes by Covering Climate Now, a group that also presents itself as nonpartisan but was cofounded by left-wing news outlet The Nation. The group is housed at the Washington, D.C.-based Fund for Constitutional Government, which boasts funding from top liberal nonprofits such as the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and MacArthur Foundation, according to tax filings reviewed by the Free Beacon.

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(NewsNation) — Unsubstantiated claims that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating neighbors’ pets have gone from city commission meetings to the 2024 presidential campaign. But the attention has led to a larger discussion about the impact of immigration on U.S. communities.

Springfield, Ohio mentioned during presidential debate

During his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump repeated claims that immigrants in the Ohio town are eating neighbors’ pets. Springfield city leaders have said those claims are unsubstantiated.

Springfield is a town of just under 60,000 people, according to the 2020 Census, and since then an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 migrants have settled there looking for work, many of them from Haiti.

Its city leaders are faced with the same reality many other midsized manufacturing towns are faced with — balancing the need for workers versus managing finite resources in the community.

Immigrants in Springfield

Residents who spoke with NewsNation say the situation is out of control and the city lacks the ability to handle the 20,000 Haitian immigrants. Richard Jordan addressed the issue at a city commission meeting.

“Is there a cut-off point for the population here?” he asked.”I mean, I feel like there should be a ‘No Vacancy’ sign right now and people are still coming in. What’s the cut-off point?”

Some Haitian residents of the city feel they are victims of misconceptions about the community and their status in the country.

“Let’s be clear, there is a preconceived notion that all Haitians here in Springfield are illegal immigrants, which is false. Some of us are Haitian-American citizens who can vote, we are green card holders, and some of us are here via a federal program that allows us to have a Social Security card, employment authorization, that allows us to temporarily stay in the country,” one resident said.

The federal government has pledged $2.5 million to increase access to medical care but Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says it isn’t enough. 

“They have to step up,” he said. “It is their policies that have created these surges.”

The number of immigrants has strained healthcare services and schools and the number of car accidents has skyrocketed.

Springfield residents talk to NewsNation

Residents tell NewsNation they are additionally concerned about crime in a town that’s already seen a spike in violent offenses. FBI data shows violent crime went up by 142% from 2019 to 2022, the latest year data is available. The agency does not track crime by immigration status.

Bill Monaghan, a former journalist in Springfield, is now part of a group called “Stop the Influx.”

“It’s causing sharp increases in rent and home prices, which is forcing people out of their homes,” Monaghan said. “It’s causing delays in public safety response like police, fire or even emergency services. You go out to a site and no one speaks English.”

Aidan Clark

Last year 11-year-old Aiden Clark was killed in a car accident, and the person driving the car was a Haitian migrant. His father, Nathan Clark, urged politicians not to use his son’s death to further political agendas in a city commission meeting this week, NewsNation affiliate WDTN reported.

“You know, I wish that my son, Aiden Clark, was killed by a 60-year-old white man,” Nathan Clark said. “I bet you never thought anyone would ever say something so blunt. But if that guy killed my 11-year-old son, the incessant group of hate-spewing people would leave us alone. The last thing that we need is to have the worst day of our lives violently and constantly shoved in our faces.”

Rents and home prices have risen nationwide since 2019, with the increases partially attributed to inflation and interest rates as well as a lack of housing stock.

Another man told NewsNation he lost his job and his home because of the influx of immigrants, saying he was replaced by workers willing to accept worse conditions.

“Haitians [replaced me] through a temporary company because they found out they could get it for a lot less than $21 per hour,” Roland said.

Claims of immigrants eating pets

But it’s the topic of immigrants eating pets and other animals that has gone viral. One 911 call included a report of people taking waterfowl.

“I see a group of Haitian people, there are about four of them, they all have geese in their hands,” the caller said. 

In an August city commission meeting, Anthony Harris complained that immigrants were taking ducks from a park. 

“They’re in the park grabbing up ducks by the neck and cutting their head off and walking off with them and eating them,” he said.

Springfield’s mayor denies reports of pets being taken

Springfield police didn’t find any evidence of those actions and the city’s mayor has also denied all reports of pets being taken and eaten.

“The president of the Clark County Commission and I held a press conference to address recent rumors that have been circulating relative to the Haitian Community,” said Clark County Commissioner Rob Rue. “We wish to clarify that there have not been any credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

The city also says that Haitian immigrants are in the country legally under a federal program that allows them to remain in the country temporarily, the Associated Press reported.

Last month the Biden administration granted eligibility for temporary legal status to about 300,000 Haitians already in the United States because conditions in Haiti are considered unsafe for them to return. Haiti’s government has extended a state of emergency to the entire country due to endemic gang violence, according to the AP.

Some residents told NewsNation they don’t believe the city and are now planning to leave. 

A diversity, equity, and inclusion activist group backed by anti-Semite Rev. Al Sharpton ended its race-based grant program after settling a legal battle with the American Alliance for Equal Rights.

Venture capital firm Fearless Fund on Wednesday announced the closure of its Fearless Strivers Grant Contest, which awarded $20,000 in grants to black female-owned businesses, the Washington Post reported. In August 2023, Edward Blum, president of the AAER who led the charge against affirmative action in college admissions, sued the Fearless Fund, arguing that the program violated the 1866 Civil Rights Act.

“Race-exclusive programs like the one the Fearless Fund promoted are divisive and illegal,” Blum said Wednesday. “Opening grant programs to all applicants, regardless of their race, is enshrined in our nation’s civil rights laws and supported by significant majorities of all Americans.”

The Fearless Fund’s settlement is the latest blow to DEI initiatives in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action last June. Since winning that battle in the Supreme Court, Blum, a leading anti-discrimination advocate, has scored many victories against DEI efforts in the private sector, including programs at major firms such as Amazon, Meta, and Pfizer, the Washington Post reported.

In June, a U.S. federal appeals court temporarily prohibited Freedom Fund from awarding the grants, saying the contest was “substantially likely to violate” section 1981 of the 1866 Civil Rights Act.

Sharpton, who has supported Fearless Fund’s legal battle since the beginning, counseled the firm to settle the dispute before it went to the Supreme Court, which could result in a precedent-setting ruling against corporate affirmative action. He described Wednesday’s decision as a “sacrifice” and a “painful decision,” according to the Washington Post. 

“If we had fought, and Blum and them wanted to go all the way to the Supreme Court, we’d have lost the fight for generations,” Sharpton said.

Sharpton, a prominent Democratic ally, provoked the 1991 Crown Heights riots—one of the worst eruptions of anti-Semitic violence in American history that inspired chants such as “Let’s get the Jew!” and “Hitler didn’t finish the job!” Sharpton has also said Jews have the “blood of innocent babies” on their hands.

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