October 1, 2024: Dockworkers Strike and an Update on Negotiations, Hurricane Helene Destruction and Issues with Disaster Relief Funding, DOJ Sues Alabama Over Voter Removals, and More.
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Welcome back to Unbiased. Today is October 1st, and this is your bi-weekly news rundown. As a reminder, for the next few weeks, episodes will be releasing only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the episodes will be a little bit earlier in the day than usual, but once we get into the latter half of this month, we'll be back to four episodes only.

I'm your host, Kasey.

prepared a rumor has it segment as if today was Thursday. So we're just going to throw it into today's episode. The critical thinking segment will return on Thursday. And finally, my news cycle ended early today around 1030 a.m. Eastern Time. So any noteworthy stories that broke after that time will be covered in Thursday's episode. Today we're covering stories from last Thursday evening.

up until this morning. With those notes out of the way, let's get into today's stories. First story, the DOJ has sued the state of Alabama and its Secretary of State after it allegedly removed voters from its election rolls too close to the November

On August 13th, 84 days before the election, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen announced that he had started the process of inactivating the voter registrations of roughly 3,200 people who had previously been issued non-citizen identification numbers.

However, the National Voter Registration Act mandates that states complete their systematic programs aimed at removing names of ineligible voters from voter registration lists no later than 90 days before federal elections. In addition to the allegations that the removal violated federal

federal law. The DOJ also says it identified multiple native-born and naturalized citizens who were incorrectly identified as potential non-citizens during the removal. The DOJ is asking the court to order Alabama to restore the ability of eligible voters to vote unimpeded on election day and order Alabama mail eligible voters about the restoration of their rights.

Following the filing of the lawsuit, Alabama's Secretary of State said in a statement, quote, I was elected Secretary of State by the people of Alabama, and it is my constitutional duty to ensure that only American citizens vote in our elections, end quote. And as a final and related note, this is the second lawsuit of its kind which Alabama's Secretary of State faces. A coalition of voting rights groups also sued Allen.

over the same voter removal, alleging he illegally targeted and intimidated naturalized citizens. Next story, on Friday, the U.S. and Iraq announced an agreement to end the anti-ISIS coalition military presence in Iraq over the next two years. The agreement marks the third time in the last 20 years that the U.S. has announced a formal transition of the military's role in Iraq.

Importantly, according to U.S. officials, the announcement does not mean the United States is completely withdrawing from Iraq, but rather transitioning to a new military relationship. The Pentagon's deputy secretary referred to it as a changing footprint within the country, and another U.S. official said the current U.S. military mission would transition to a, quote, bilateral security relationship.

From what we know, the agreement consists of a two-part transition. The first part began in September and runs through September 2025, and that's the winding down of the coalition mission against ISIS. In phase two, the United States will continue to operate in some fashion from Iraq through 2026 to provide support to the United States.

port for the roughly 900 U.S. troops stationed in northeast Syria. On the Iraqi side of things, the Iraqi prime minister has been facing consistent pressure from Iranian-backed militia groups that oppose the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq. Just in the last year, Iranian-backed militia groups have carried out more than 170 rocket and drone attacks on U.S. military bases in

in Iraq and Syria. So this is the Iraqi prime minister's attempt to ease some of the tension from these Iranian-backed militia groups. Notably, the public does not currently know specifics on how many of the 2,500 U.S. troops will be withdrawn, the pace of the withdrawal, or which bases will remain in use over the next two

We do know, however, that following the November election, American forces will start departing Iraq from a Western Iraqi airbase and from Baghdad International Airport. The next story is about the devastation left by Hurricane Helene. Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in the Bay of Plenty.

bend area of Florida's panhandle on Thursday and just immediately began making its path of destruction. Currently, numbers show at least 133 people have been killed across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. 600 people had not been accounted for as of yesterday.

Of the six states to experience Hurricane Helene's wrath, North Carolina was the state to see the most destruction. Currently, entire communities in North Carolina are underwater. The city of Asheville, North Carolina, and just western North Carolina generally are just completely flooded. Roads and bridges have collapsed. Millions of people are without power and cell service, and people are lining up for fresh drinking water.

Residents have said the town is quote-unquote absolutely decimated, and the pictures that have come out show just that. The FEMA administrator said there are more than 1,200 federal workers on the ground responding to one of the worst disasters in North Carolina's history, and that currently drinking water is the biggest issue right now. So FEMA reported today that it had delivered about 1 million liters of water thus far, but more is needed.

President Biden is set to travel to North Carolina tomorrow to meet with officials and take an aerial tour of Asheville. And former President Trump visited Georgia today to see the damage and offer supplies. President Biden said in addition to FEMA, he directed the FCC to help establish communications capability, as well as the National Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Defense to, quote, provide all resources necessary

at its disposal to rescue and assist in clearing debris and delivering life-saving supplies, end quote. We are going to touch on this story a bit more in the Rumor Has It segment, so I'll leave it here for now, but I do want to mention that I do have a few different resources in the sources section of this episode if you'd like to donate in any way to the restoration and recovery efforts.

In some other news, union dock workers along the East Coast and Gulf ports went on strike early this morning, resulting in the first strike at these ports since 1977. The strike means that the movement of billions of dollars worth of goods, including furniture, paper, shoes, manufacturing components, are

farm machinery, etc. has come to a halt, at least until an agreement is reached. The strike comes after talks between the International Longshoremen's Association and the United States Maritime Alliance failed to result in a new contract.

So the USMX, the Maritime Alliance, represents the major shipping lines as well as terminal operators and port authorities, whereas the International Longshoremen's Association represents the dock workers. There are two major sticking points here. One is wages. The other is automation. So as it pertains to wages, the USMX...

said its latest offer would increase wages by nearly 50% and triple contributions to employee retirement plans over the proposed six-year contract. The International Longshoremen's Association is seeking a $5 an hour pay increase each year over the next six years.

over the next six years, which would equate to a 77% pay increase over that six-year contract. The association cites the exponential increase in industry profits since COVID as justification for increasing wages and says the industry just isn't sharing those profits with the dock workers.

As far as automation is concerned, the dock workers are afraid automation could replace them in the future. So they are looking for stronger contractual language that prevents certain automation at the ports. USMX, though, said it's offering to keep the current contract language in place, which wouldn't offer that added protection that the dock workers are looking for.

USMX has also accused the Longshoremen's Association of not taking part in good faith negotiations because it hasn't met face-to-face with USMX since June. However, the association says it has remained in good faith negotiations and discussions, just not face-to-face.

In total, that strike affects work at 14 ports along the East and Gulf Coasts. These are the ports of Boston, New York and New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Mobile, New Orleans, and Houston. More than $2 billion worth of goods typically flow through these ports daily.

Now, here in the United States, we have something called the Taft-Hartley Act. Without getting too far into the weeds of its history, it became law in 1947, and it significantly limited unions' rights to strike and boycott. But more relevant to the story is it allowed the president to suspend a strike for 80 days for further negotiations.

So many associations like the National Association of Manufacturers and various other entities like the United States Chamber of Commerce are calling on President Biden to invoke his authority under the Taft-Hartley Act and put a hold on this strike so the strike doesn't have this domino effect in the economy.

But there are conflicting views on Taft-Hartley, and that's because Taft-Hartley is very much anti-union. This provision, which allows the president to put a strike on hold, essentially forces workers back to work and diminishes their power in the bargaining process, at least temporarily. In fact,

when Taft-Hartley was passed by Congress in 1947, President Truman vetoed it for this reason, but Congress overrode his veto, which ultimately led to its passage. So President Biden shares in the same sentiment that Taft-Hartley isn't necessarily a good thing. He said Monday, quote, it's collective bargaining. I don't believe in Taft-Hartley.

end quote. Obviously, though, you have the people on the other side that are saying Biden needs to invoke his authority and put the dock workers back to work so it doesn't affect our economy too, you know, too bad. We do have some time, though, before the dominoes would really start to fall, right? If the strike only lasts a matter of days, it won't have as big of an impact as it would if the strike were to go on for weeks. So it's

Time will tell what happens with this, but the strike just started early this morning, so I'll keep you updated as more develops. As you guys know, I have been abroad for a few weeks now, but I'm getting ready to head home and let me tell you, I cannot wait to get back on my routine. I told you guys a couple of weeks ago that I already have my HelloFresh meals scheduled to be delivered because I'm not messing around once I get back. I just want my meals to show up on my doorstep without having to even think.

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is everything to me. I was just telling someone the other day how I'm so excited to get into the fall vibe once I'm home. And I remembered that the HelloFresh meals are seasonal, which means that the meals I'll be getting delivered will also help me channel that fall cozy vibe. So whether you're just wanting to cozy up with a nice dinner on the couch this fall, or simply wanting some game day snacks now that football season is here, HelloFresh has a variety of recipes for you. There are so many options to choose from. And the best part is you can get

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Our fifth and final main story is one about RFK Jr. In a short one-line order released by the Supreme Court on Friday, the justices declined to intervene in Kennedy's fight to be placed on the New York state ballot. You may remember this from when I covered Kennedy's New York ballot eligibility case a couple of months ago, but essentially a judge in New York said Kennedy could not be on the state ballot because

the address he had listed on his nominating petition was not his permanent residence as defined under state election law.

Because his nominating petition was invalidated and the deadline to file had passed, the judge's ruling meant that Kennedy would not be on the ballot in the state of New York. So Kennedy appealed the ruling, the appellate court affirmed the ruling, and Kennedy then went to the Supreme Court. Now, since Kennedy took this case to the Supreme Court, he made the decision to suspend his campaign. So the ruling from the justices isn't

too detrimental. It does negatively affect Kennedy in the sense that he wanted to remain on ballots in states that are definitively red or blue to try to get 5% of the vote. So New York is a definitively blue state. So even though he suspended his campaign, he would still like to rack up some votes from New York voters, and now he can't.

And as I've said in the past, but to be clear, the reason he's trying to get 5% of the votes is because if he does, his party, the We the People party, would officially be considered a minor party for the 2028 election. Minor parties, like major parties, are entitled to funding from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. The amount of public funding that is available to a minor party candidate is based on the ratio of the party's popular vote to the

average popular vote of the two major party candidates in that election. Also, new party candidates, which is what Kennedy is currently, are eligible for partial reimbursements after the election if they get at least 5% of the vote in the election. So for those reasons, Kennedy would have liked the justices to get involved and

overturn New York's decision. But given the fact that Kennedy has suspended his campaign, the justices refusing to get involved has far less implications than it would have if he hadn't suspended his campaign.

That takes us into quick hitters. Over the weekend, California became the first state to ban food dyes in public schools. Notably, the ban won't take effect for another three years or so. But the ban reads, quote, beginning December 31st, 2027, competitive foods do not contain any of the following substances. Blue 1, blue 2, green 3, red 40, yellow 5, and yellow 6.

End quote. That law, which mostly focuses on nutritional limits, also bans those same dyes from beverages.

Moving on to some news out of another state, Arkansas. The state of Arkansas has filed a lawsuit against YouTube and its parent company, Alphabet, accusing the platform of being deliberately addictive and fueling a mental health crisis among the state's youth. As for the actual violations of law, the state's attorney general says YouTube has violated Arkansas' deceptive trade practices and public nuisance law.

And the DOJ has indicted three Iranian nationals for their attempts to hack into accounts of current and former U.S. officials, members of the media, non-governmental organizations, and individuals associated with U.S. political campaigns ahead of the election. I do have that indictment linked for you in the sources section of this episode if you're interested in

in reading it. Staying on the topic of federal charges, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has pled not guilty to five federal charges related to corruption and bribery. If you do want to hear more about those charges and his indictment, check out my episode from this past Thursday. The judge overseeing Adams' case allowed Adams to be released, released pending trial, but says he cannot have contact with anyone involved in the allegations in the indictment.

And Prime Video is supposedly nearing a deal with former NBC and MSNBC news anchor Brian Williams to lead election night coverage on Amazon's Prime Video platform. If the deal goes forward, this will be Prime's first attempt at live news.

And finally, speaking of the election, don't forget that tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, it is the first and likely only vice presidential debate. It'll be hosted by CBS, so you can definitely watch it there, but it'll be broadcasted on other mainstream networks as well. Again, that's 9 p.m. Eastern Time tonight, October 1st.

And finally, it's time for Rumor Has It, the segment where each week I will either confirm, dispel, or add context to recent rumors. I usually feature this segment on Thursdays, like I said in the beginning of the episode, but we're breaking the rules today. So the first rumor, Rumor Has It, that Biden said there are no funds left for hurricane relief in the wake of Hurricane Helene. This rumor needs context, and there's actually a lot to say about this one, so stick with me.

First and foremost, the rumor started when Biden was asked by a reporter, quote, Are there any more resources the federal government could be giving them? Referring to the victims in North Carolina. Biden responded, quote, No, we have preplanned a significant amount of them, even though they hadn't asked for it yet.

So at the start of each fiscal year, the agencies and the departments are given a certain amount of money that they are able to spend for that year. This includes not only FEMA, but any other program that can assist in disaster relief and any other federal agency and department. So as an example, last year, FEMA, which in part helps to respond to and recover from natural disasters, was given $20 billion.

But the president can request more money if necessary. So as an example, last October, Biden requested $23.5 billion in disaster aid funds, which included $9 billion specifically for FEMA. This past June, Biden requested another $4 billion, which was mostly to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge that was taken down by the cargo ship. So there are certain unforeseen events that the president can request more money from Congress for, but Congress ultimately has to be the one to pass it.

Now, remember when I spoke last week about Congress's continuing resolution that is keeping the government funded. What that continuing resolution did is it extended funding at the current levels until December 20th. So FEMA and other agencies and departments are stuck with the

funds that they had last year. Now, I also mentioned that Speaker Johnson had originally proposed a continuing resolution that would have extended funding for six months and created a federal requirement for people to show proof of citizenship when they register to vote.

The resolution, that resolution also included $10 billion in extra FEMA aid. But as we know, that resolution did not pass. The resolution that did pass was a stripped down version of the original resolution and did not include unpaid

either the proof of citizenship requirement or the extra FEMA aid. Now, this is despite FEMA's already depleted disaster relief fund and despite the fact that lawmakers themselves left Washington two days early for their six-week recess because of this incoming hurricane. So all this to say FEMA is stuck with the $20 billion they had last year. They didn't get any additional relief in Congress's recent continuing resolution.

To put numbers into perspective, when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast and New Orleans in 2005, Congress actually rushed back into session early because they were on break at that time and cleared a $10.5 billion supplemental aid package.

Soon after, lawmakers realized $10.5 billion wasn't nearly enough, so six days later, they reconvened and added another $51.8 billion. It was said that FEMA was spending $2 billion a day on the Katrina response effort at that point. Now, with Hurricane Helene, it's still being assessed how much is going to be needed for the response effort. It could take weeks to figure out.

But even if Helene only requires half of what Katrina did, FEMA could exhaust its entire annual budget in just one month from now.

It's also important to note that FEMA isn't the only agency that can assist here, right? There are other federal disaster programs like the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Disaster Block Grant Program, the Small Business Administration's Disaster Loans Program, the Federal Highway Administration's Disaster Recovery Account, but all of these programs are

are also in need of additional funds. So to bring this all back home, that's why Biden's response to the reporter was that there are no additional federal resources right now, aside from the additional resources he mentioned in Monday's press conference, which we spoke about earlier in this episode. What this means is that Congress is going to have to provide supplemental aid. Now, Congress is currently on its six-week recess, but they can be called back early.

early. In fact, President Biden told reporters Monday that he expects to ask Congress for a supplemental bill to fund Helene relief efforts once he knows how much it's going to cost. When asked if he would ask Congress to return from recess, he said it's

quote, something I may have to request, but no decisions are made yet, end quote. However, it's worth noting, even if he does end up requesting Congress come back, it's ultimately up to Speaker Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer whether they do or don't. So from here, the White House Budget Office is going to have to determine which federal departments and agencies have enough money to handle their portion of the disaster response and which need additional funds.

From there, it'll send Congress a supplemental spending request, and it'll be up to Speaker Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to call both chambers back in. If Congress doesn't return until its scheduled return date of November 12th, members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees can start negotiating on the supplemental request in the interim once they have it. That way, when Congress is back, they can get right to a vote.

So that's the context you needed. And now we can move on to the second rumor, which is much shorter, but it is rumor has it that the presidential candidates are lying in their political ads. This is true. Believe it or not, political ads are not required to be factual to be aired on TV. Political ads are regulated by the FCC, which really only has two rules for these political ads.

One, all candidates have to have the same opportunity to buy commercial time on TV stations. And two, politicians can say whatever they want. They cannot be censored. What this means is candidates can say whatever they want, even if it's false. So this goes without saying, but please don't trust political ads. Always do your own research when you can and understand that all politicians will say what they have to say to win your vote, regardless of whether it's true.

That is what I have for you today. Have a great next couple of days and I will talk to you again on Thursday.