Tracing, testing, and atoutreac the will also provide 52 million in federal aid for affected communities. Essential workers in agriculture and meatpacking tino are especially nly vulnerable to getting sick and dying from ththdisease. Fresno county Health Department says latinos make up roughly half of the countys nearly 70 percent of covid19 deaths. With me now by skype is Fresno City Council president and enjoining by skype from fresno is steve randel. Thank you both so ch for joining us. Thanks for having us paid you are a formerfarmworker, uabout the conditions that makeo it so hard contain the virus among farmworkers. These conditions are very specific artoorkers including living in high density substandard housing with intergenerational living conditions, the fact thate they uninsured and have limited access to healthcare, a lot of them have preexisting medical conditions like diabetes d high bloessure and they live in an area with the highest poution ra in the country and they do not have access to paid time off on a problem with Language Access for aclanguage in g and they have all been declared essential workers and been given no direct support at the federal level to remain home when they do become infected. What would you say needs to be done in liorder to t the spread of the virus among farmworkers . We have to treat them like essential workers like front line workers like medical workers, we need to provide thth relief when cant go to work and that means housing relief, mecal relief and ensure that they can afford to remain at home when they get infected and that ey have a also need to ensure that they have access to testing and tracing, where they are working and on the fields where they are picking the crops and packing food in the processing plants. Without that direct relief for t them to home when they are sick, without testing and tracing at the workplace, they will never beable to get access to the necessary healthcare they need in order to curb down the infection rates of our county. Fresno county, the county represent has more than 13,000 active coronavirus cases, the most heavily impacted county in san joaquin valley, theres been reports of outbreaks at meese Meat Processing facilis in your county as well hb neing counties, what requirements if any does your county place on reporting coronavirus outbreaks ofck meatg and agricultural facilities . Fresno county is by far the largest county in the Central Valley, we cover over 6000 squales, roughly the size of the state of connecticut so we have a lot of Rural Community as e ll as city of fresno, our largest city. Weve done a lot on all of the issues you addressendwith miguelwith meatpacking, the requirements from our public Health Department and our Public Health officer are at if somebody test positive for covid19 or believes they have it, everybody that has worked near that person in the same shift and same location of the Facility Needs to be told that they have come in contact with somebody thats edte positive and then th are then required to stay home and take time off of work. It does not mean we shut down t the whole plor even that every employee of the plant would be notified and our Public Health director ys this is case by case service. Miguel, you have heard from workers at some of those their concerns . Thats one of the primary concerns. One make meatpacking plant employs 2500 people under one roof, amazon employs 3500 people. If they only notify the person to the right and left of you, you are r too late to be able to contain the spread and thats the challenge we are seeing, thats why theres been such a big spread in those meet packing plantsand processing facilities and its really important for the general public to also be notified of ad an infection spin those locations so they also dont have to risk stheir li in order to be able to just go to work and its one of the challenges when it comes to public safety, officers or medical staff on the front line, they get time off, they get support in order to be home essential workers get zero dollars and zero support in order for them stay home knowing that they live paycheck to paycheck and theres no rent relief or mortgage really for them. Steve, would you like to address that . I woullove to address that because probably yband miguel is unaware of the Families First Coronavirus Response act, its mandated by the federal government, the employees do not have to pay to stay home, the federal ve government is taking care of that, its a project thats been underway for months and is extended through december 31, so any employer withpl500 ees or less are mandated to pay the price of the ily wages of these employees. Could you broaden our perspective on the Central Valley and tell us what your constituents are saying about the virus and its impact . Great question, the people that i represent ghas you guess are spli 50 50 on covide 19. We told daily with phone calls why arent we doing more and that we are told daily on arphone calls, why we overburdening people . Weve got people who believe that coronavirus is a hoax and we have other people t believe that if you step outside of your front door youre going to come in contact with the black plague, we know both e these not accurate, that we are fighting a pandemic, but at the same time we have to be aware that we have to keep our government and our economy running as well. What are your own thoughts about the virus and about wearing a mask . Im probably right in the middle, ive been wearing my mask at the right times since the governor mandated it nearly a month ag, so when am in public spaces where i am not able to social distance, i will wear a mask. I dont we a maskin my car or in my office and i feel im right in line with the majority of my constituents. Miguel, there seems to be an ideological split that is driving policy decisions that er are being made day, is that accurate, do you see an ideological divide and if so, could you describe that for us . I will give you an example, when althe public director a few months ago mandated mask wearing in the county of fresno, the board of supervisors overturned his decision and made it optional for people to wear. Thbi has been a difference for us in the city because we understand that as the city that has the majority of the population, our county, we understand that if you give the option to residents, they will not comply. Secondly, weve been very aggressive aboutnforcing business closures that are not supposed to be open like gyms and indoorining with th county has chosen to look the other way and not do any enforcement of the state emergency order and lastly, our city, our cares act dollars in providing direct relief for residents, so they could stay home. For example we are providing 5 million in housing relief fuids, we are prg millions of dollars for childcare for essential workers and ensuring that Small Businesses have the resources they ne and weare spending on additionatesting and tracing, all things that most cities have not done, where the county of hafresno only directed 5 llion for Small Business relief funds under the cares act and finally, steve is right,t he supervisor is ri that employers should be giving their employees time off. The challenge is that approximately hf of our Agricultural Workers are undocumented and the federal government has indicated thatre act funds cannot be used on undocumented residents, knowing that is half of the workers of essential workers in agriculture, that maintae Food Supply Chain in the country. So a few fferent topics here that have been addressed, talk about the enforcement of the rules to close when necessary, the way that monebe ha spent and this question of undocumented workers and supporting their needs. Absolutely. Let me start with the er undocumented wo that is beyond our pay grade at the Fresno County board of supervisors, we would blow thronnh every last of our cares act dollars within the next week if we had to support a healcare system for undocumented workers, that needs to be addressed at the state and feral level, its way beyond my pay grade. At the county of fresno, we do not, like the city of fres have a robust Code Enforcement team and you thwill find throughout most coties, we do not deal with the same types of things that the city normally we do not have the bandwidth to make all these enforcements that the governor has demanded. Since he has mandated those, we come more in line with his the standards laid outo us, eet but our Fresno County sheriffs are spread thin, they are attacking crime at its source and we do not have the tondwidth to go every little restaurant where there is a complaint to make sure that they are shut down. The governor has strike team in Fresno County and he can do that if you want to, and he has been. That assistance is coming week, just in oulast few xt seconds before we go, would you share with us what you know about that team comi in to help your county . Thats called the united suppt team, its different from his Enforcement Strike team and the united support s teamrking via the phone with our Public Health officer now and ne week thbegin in person meetings when they get on the ground in Fresno County, they will go over e problems and theyre going to come up with solutions, and we welcome them in Fresno County. Thank you. Othso much. Apart from the human suffering wrought the virus there is also its devastating toll on the economy. The mate nations gross domest product fell nearly percent in the second quarter, the labor Department Says there are now ic million ams claiming on employment benefits. Compare that to the same time 6 Million People claiwere just unemployment. Americans unemployed due to the virus have been receiving an additional 600 of relief each ek, that federal stimul funding ends today and theres no agreement yet on a new relief package. Ch thanks so for being with us. Ha the ed on implement 600 benefit and did today, there is bipartisan support to do something to replace it withun some aof money and yet es the measstill expired without a replacement, is there an intentional slowdown, and intentional lack of urgency around this work in washington . I dont understand what the Rod Blagojevich republicans in the senate are doing, we passed this bill and it not juthe on implement extension, its also funding for covid, its helping out states anlocal governments whose revenue has collsed so they dont have to do massive layoffs and cutoffs of service, funding for the schools so they can do their ss job, we that over two months ago to give plenty of us time to have dions to reach common ground. They didnt even Start Talking to the midd of this week, and they came up with something that is completely inadequate. I dont understand why they would want to have the economy go further in the ditch, the economist tell us that if we so dont passthing like the plan that we enacted two months ago, we are going to see a 3. To four point additional reduction in the gdp, thats not what our country nes. Your chair the committee on House Administration and voting security is one of the key issues on your committee what is your reaction to the president s tweet yesterday suggesting that the november president ial election should be moved because of his concerns abouilvoting by the president has no say in when the election is held, thats done by statute and it been the same for a long, long time. We are not going to change the , stato the election will be november 3 and that has been emphasized not only by myself chairing the committee, but even senator mcconnell mentioned that the president caot change the election anth election will go forward as planned. I dont understand the president , whetherhes trng to dive attention from his pathetic failure in managing the pandemic csis, by stirring up her issues so people wont watch his massive failure there. I suspect thats it. You are also the chair of subcommittee on immigratioasand f midjuly, immigration Customs Enforcement officials confirmed more than 3500 coronavirus cases in its Detention Center and on it website i says it has released more than 900 detained individuals to minimize the vispread of the s and they are also housing detainees at risk of exposure separately from the rest of the population. Tell us about your reaction to coronavirus among ed immigrants and reports that the agency is deporting individuals who test positive for it. We had a hearing in the subcommittee about this a while ago, and ita massive failure. People to Foreign Countries ina sprethe infection around the world, they are also transfring detainees and these are detainees who have been convicted of no offense, around the country and spreading covid throughout the United States. Infecting not only the detainees, and also the staff and of course when the staff gets infected, they go home to their neigorhoods and infect their families and neighbors, so ice has been a vect for the spread of covid. We suggested that they release all detainees who do not pose threat, they not only did not do that, they did not even , answer the lettthey are not testing, its really a massive failure. Last month the Supreme Court saved the daca program from being ended by the trump administraon, at least for now, what do you say to young undocumented immigrants who would like to apply for relief under daca but cannot do it because the Trump Administration is not accew ing plicants for it right now . s theres a lawsuit right now in the District Court in maryland that has ordered ice to reinstate the program as the United States Supreme Court directed, so right now, the plaint fs in that cawill go back to the District Court. I personally think it looks lith department is simply defying the order of the United States Supreme Court, they are that they havesome wiggle room, so we will see what the District Court says about that. I would hope that dreamers will have faith in the futurethe election is less than 100 days from now and we could have a different approach after november 3. This week, attorney general barr testified before the house also sit on, what is your reaction to the use of Homeland Security forces in portland wherththey have clashed protesters for weeks, and the attorney generals defense of sending those federal troops . Is an extraordinary abusof power, i dont think this has ever happened in thhistory of United States before where federal police, without jurisdtion have been sent to American Cities er the objection of the governors and mayors to essentially guard againsvandalism and graffiti, and with that pretext, have then gone into s other paof the city, arresting pele and brutalizing them. I think its worth noting, i mean there were problems in but the insertion of the federal presence actually instigated a further reaction, it made things worse according to the mayor and the governor and now, those forces are going in retreats, which i didnt k th helpful. No one defends vandalizing a building or graffiti, but the response to that has been extraordinarily overdrawn think it has instigated investigations by the Inspector General and we will see what he concludes. This week, Texas Congress go member louisr revealed he has tested positive for the coronavirus and this comes after he had read comments in about not willing to wear a mask and he said he may have gotten it from handling the mask so much, whhas wearing a mask become so politicized and how is it possible to keep the country safe when even politicians are not willing to follow the guidance of Health Officials . His view on that is just a du unsupported by any science. He not only s infected mself, he may have infected other people, not only members of congress, but staff in the us everybody is getting tested, so that was him being super dumb whh is not the first time, unfortunately. Why he would take that position, i would never try to explain his thinking, but i think the president has tried to make the wearing of a mask a political act wh it has nothing to dowith politics, it has to do with health. And all of the emerging information indicates that wearing a mask provida level of protection, not only for otrs if you are infected, but for yourself, so why people would not that is beyond me, and its helped prolong the emic and delayed our ability to get back meto semblance of normality. Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. A new documentary highlights the strule for press freedoms in the philippines, wnare many josts are under attack by the president , leading the fight against him is an Award Winning former cnn bureau chief whose Media Organization has been targeted by thgovernment for exposing a brutal war on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives. She and her team of reporters have faced death threats, arrests, and multiple legal challenges. In june, she was convicted on libel charges and this month, lawmakers refused to renew the franchise license of the largest news broadcaster in the philippines. With me by skype i writer, and director of 1000 r joining us. Iaz, ank you thank you for having me. The viewers here know a little bit about president duterte a, he has a reputation for being incredibly violent leader, he hes very popular ab locally, tell us t this tension that has arisen between him and the journalist there, in particular, maria russell. Sheand her organization were really the first ones who questionedthe drug war, questioning the numbers because the administration was saying the numbers were closer to 4000 whicis itself still a very horrific number but the organizations are pegging it more like 27,000, so there was a discrepancy and they started questioning matt and the tinute they qu that, they were pounded. What does that mean, what did that look like . Maria talks about it in the film, she got like 90 hate messages per hour. So who are these messages from . From trolls, but these were amplified by people who were allied with duterte. Theres an incredibly strong power of social medithat is very present through this film, i want to watch a clip now where the president berateone of the journalists from the News Organization that has been publishing documents against the president , his war, the one that maria runs, lets take a look at that and come back. Just because you have the power of press freedom, you are a filipino who has alwed to abuse our country and you are an active participant in that in the name of the holy grail of press freedom. Theres sort of a chilling analogy to me as i watch that with how the president of the United States has attacked the v press over and again, with their familiarity is for you also . When trump called cnn fake news, duterte called rattler fake news a few days later so they are probablyg,play they have the same playbook. I go back and forth between the anphilippines and here if i sit here in the u. S. And watch cnn reporters being arrested on Live Television i sometimes forget where i am, its become so the same, it is alarming. And we knewthat what were filming, that there was something very similar about the two countries. You also explore social medias outside influence on the ely tion there, weve obviou had their own issues here in this country, what are your concerns Going Forward into the election in e vember with affects that social media could have here . I think social media has been westernized and theres no longer any public space wher we canhave discourse, like reasonable discourse because i think we are all in silos, we only see the things that people we agree with. As maria says the film, this is really about content because if youengo after co thats a workable game and you will be playing that forever and once you put something out the it will always be out there, even if you put it down. If you take down your tweet for example, but its a network that you have to look at, the network of sharing and how one account can really influence thousands and millions of other accounts in the spread, it spreads like a virus, quickly and exponentially so its very hard to control. Maria fightsthat by tting forward alternate content, content she and her journalist feel very strongly is the truth. Yes, but onthe thing social media is bad news and anger and an warring truth, or the less insightful, right . For some reason they spread faster on social media and people share it faster, so really the problem with the social media platforms, like the engineering has to change. To come to antodays news what is happening around the world, president durte has instituted one ofthe longest and strictest lockdowns in asia to stop the spread of the handling of the pandemic impacted his standing there . They are on their 19th week ofanocown, the longest, the president s response to covid is like his response to the drug war, its a police no response, its a Public Health response and its really affected because people are very unhappy, hes shut down the biggest broadcast in the country in the middle of the pandemic, so peopleare starting to realize that what they fought for is fast ipping away and theres a kind of thanger you are noticing that a lot of protest, they stay in their cars, there g are noise ba, but people i think are starting to wake up in the middle of a pandemic. Thank yoso muchfor being with us. Thank you for having me. 1000 cuts opens next friday, august 7 with virtual screenings in the y area and around the nation, for more information, visit athousandcuts. Film. From all of us here at kqed, thanks for watching. [music] brinkmanship, as the election looms. This election will be the most rigged in history. President trump relentlessly attacks the iegrity of the vote. And keeps his open party on edge. But i guarantee you thel electi be november 3 of 2020. Can congress cut a deal . Seems to me that senator mcconnell really doesnt want to get an agreement. Ashe economy shutters, and the virus ravages our nation, next. [music] hithis is wton week. Corporate funding is provided by. [music] when the world gets complicated, a lot goes through
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