Illinois to Split into Two States?, ALL Flights in and out of Haiti Canceled After Spirit Airlines Takes Fire, Ugly Buildings Make People Depressed (The Five for 11/12/24)
Hey, welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that matter, but don’t always make the front page.
I figure you already know about all the Trump appointments and goings on…so here’s the essential info happening in the rest of the world you may have missed.
[one]
Haiti, which is currently a gang-run failed state, can no longer count on American aid…at least for the time being. The government has barred all American flights after armed gangs tried to shoot down a commercial airliner.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Tuesday that it will prohibit U.S. airlines from flying to Haiti for 30 days after gangs shot a Spirit Airlines flight and the United Nations said it will suspend flights, “obviously limiting the flow of humanitarian aid and humanitarian personnel into the country.”
The bullets hit the plane when it was about to land Monday in the country’s capital Port-au-Prince, injuring a flight attendant. It was part of a wave of violence that erupted in Haiti as the country swore in its new prime minister after a politically tumultuous process.
Life in much of Haiti’s capital was frozen after the wave of violence, which came to a head when gangs shot a Spirit Airlines airplane Monday, forcing the airport to shut down. Photos and videos obtained by The Associated Press show bullet holes dotting the interior of a plane. A number of airlines suspended flights to Haiti through Thursday, but it was unclear how long closures could drag on.
Neither the former interim prime minister, Garry Conille, nor the newly inaugurated Alix Didier Fils-Aimé commented on the violence.
A untold number of Americans are on the ground in Haiti, doing relief work. At this time, there is no info on what options they have to get home.
[two]
Federal workers in Washington D.C. are scrambling, as President-Elect Trump is planning to move a massive number of jobs out of D.C. and into other states.
Trump’s website outlines a 10-point plan for Agenda 47. The site says he plans to dismantle the deep state. There are ten points in the plan. Point two wants to overhaul federal departments and agencies. Point 8 states that it will move up to 100,000 government positions out of quote the “Washington swamp”.
“If Republicans wind up with control and in the house and there's a unified form of government then there’s quite a bit we can expect to happen,” Victor said.
One of the top departments expected to move is the Department of Agriculture, with some pundits speculating that the 1,300 employees in Washington D.C. might be relocated to…I know this sounds crazy but….somewhere that farming actually happens.
[three]
If you missed the controversy that blew up over the weekend on social media, a whistleblower leaked that FEMA was refusing to help hurricane victims with Trump signs at their homes…an allegation that appears to be confirmed after a key manager in FEMA has been fired.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) supervisor has been fired for telling staff helping hurricane survivors to skip houses displaying signs supporting Donald Trump.
The agency's head, Deanne Criswell, described the supervisor's actions as "reprehensible", saying Fema takes its mission "to help everyone before, during and after disasters seriously”.
Although Criswell's statement on X does not indicate when or where the incident took place, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the Division of Emergency Management would be launching an investigation at his direction.
DeSantis called the situation "targeted discrimination" of Trump supporters in Florida.
Fema staff have been in Florida helping residents recover from Hurricane Milton last month, and needed to survey damage to homes to assess who qualified to apply for federal aid.
The Daily Wire reported on Friday that Fema staff had been checking on homes in Lake Placid when they were ordered to skip properties that had yard signs supporting the Republican candidate.
“Trump sign no entry per leadership,” said internal messages in a government system, reports the Daily Wire.
“When we got there we were told to discriminate against people,” a whistleblower told the outlet. “It’s almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal government would think that’s okay.”
Criswell, the Fema director, ended her statement saying that she "will continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again".
UPDATE: Fired employee Marn’i Washington claims she is a scapegoat, and FEMA higher ups demanded that homes with Trump signs in North Carolina be skipped over.
I was fired. They all alleged that these were made on my own recognizances and that it was for my own political advances. However, if you look at the record, there is what we call a community trend. And unfortunately it just so happened that the political hostility that was encountered, um, by my team, and I was on two different teams during this deployment, uh, they just so happened to have the Trump campaign signage.
FEMA. Always preaches avoidance first and then de escalation. So this is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance. Not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance in the Carolinas. Senior leadership will lie to you and tell you that they do not know. But if you ask the DSA crew leads and specialists what they are experiencing in the field, they will tell you.
Demand for FEMA to give you those incident reports.
[four]
The citizens of seven additional Illinois counties have voted to consider splitting from Chicago and Cook County and forming a new state.
All seven counties that had a ballot question, asking voters if they wanted to explore secession, voted in favor of the proposal. The ballot question read: “Shall the board of (the county) correspond with the boards of other counties of Illinois, outside of Cook County, about the possibility of separating from Cook County to form a new state and to seek admission to the Union as such, subject to the approval of the people?”
Illinois voters who support the referendums argue that Chicago and Cook County voters hold an oversized sway in policies enacted by the state legislature and do not align with the priorities of rural voters.
Voters in Iroquois County, Calhoun County, Clinton County, Greene County, Jersey County, Madison County, and Perry County passed the measure Tuesday night, joining at least 21 other counties that voted in favor of secession discussions in the 2020 and 2022 elections.
Madison County is the first suburban county to join the movement and the largest so far, with a population of 265,000.
An organization called New Illinois has been pursuing the formation of a new state, “separate from the current State of Illinois, Urban Cook County and Chicago,” for several years.
“All power in Illinois government is concentrated in Cook County and Chicago. This leaves the rest of the States’ residents with no real representation,” the organization has said.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul shot down the idea, saying, “It is my opinion that non-home-rule counties… do not have the authority to secede from the state of Illinois and join another state. Accordingly, any referendum on the issue of county secession would have no binding legal effect.”
One of the most surprising stories about this story is that Madison County, an Illinois suburb of St. Louis, voted to break off from Illinois.
[five]
And finally, a British study has confirmed something I’ve been screaming about for years.
The Times (UK) reports:
Ugly buildings and shabby surroundings are fuelling an epidemic of loneliness, according to a report by the Centre for Social Justice.
The independent think-tank that studies the root causes of Britain’s social problems says there is a clear link between poor building design and a lack of community spirit, leading to social isolation.
It says the government should stop creating ugly developments that leave people feeling dejected, otherwise it will “build its way into the social problems of the future”.
Half of the adults it surveyed said that architects and planners were out of touch with what local people wanted. Two fifths did not agree that buildings were designed to encourage community spirit. Three fifths of those with access to green spaces said they never felt lonely. More than 2,000 people took part in the poll by Whitestone Insight and the results were weighted to be representative of all UK adults.
The CSJ says that future developments that reflect local definitions of beauty should be prioritised. It argues that poor infrastructure leaves people unable to create meaningful connections and friendships, worsening feelings of alienation.
Slow. Clap.
Until the next one,
-sth