Human Rights Defenders, Greenhouse Gases, and Child Poverty

I. Human Rights Defenders by the Numbers
304 - Human rights killed across the globe in 2019, according to a new report by Front Line Defenders.
40% - Percentage of murdered human rights defenders who advocated for land, environmental, or indigenous peoples' rights.
3.5K - Human rights defenders killed since 1998, the year the United Nations adopted its Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
85% - Percentage of murdered human rights defenders who had previously been threatened.
107 - Human rights defenders killed in Colombia in 2019,the highest of any country that year ( 13 cases are still being investigated, which could bring the total to 120.) (Source: Meerabelle Jesuthasan, The Nation, February 10, 2020.)

II. Greenhouse Gases
1.2B - Metric tons of greenhouses gases emitted by the US military since 2001 -- roughly equivalent to the annual output of 257 million cars, according to Brown University's Costs of War Project.
47th - The US military's ranking, if it were a country,  among greenhouse gas emitters,based on its fuel usage alone -- ahead of Sweden, Portugal, and Denmark.
4-8 - Miles per gallon of diesel fuel for the Army's 55,000 Humvees.
80 - Number of countries across six countries in which the US is engaged in counterterrorism operations (Source: The Nation, February 3, 2020.)

III. Two Ways to Cut Child Poverty
Both plans include giving families a child allowance, but one would lift nearly three times as many times as many children out of poverty.

Democrat's Bennet-Brown American Family Act of 2019: $3,600 per child under the age 6 --- reduction in poverty - 40% (would include 4.5 million children) --- annual cost - $90 billion.

Bipartisan Bennet-Romney Tax Bill: $1,500 per child under age 6 --- reduction in poverty - 40% (would include 1.6 million children) --- annual cost - $90 billion.

"The Bennet-Romney proposal would make several changes to the current system; the most important is that most of the child tax credit would be fully refundable." "Effectively, the bill would create a basic income for all families with children, linking the interests of poor, and working class families." (Sources: Mike Konczal, "Think of the Children," The Nation, February 10, 2020. Also, the Niskanen Center.)

ADDENDUMS:
*A DCCC ad begin running in January, telling Americans that in 2011, Trump said: "Our president (Obama) will start a war with Iran. He will attack Iran sometime before the election because he thinks that's the only way he can get elected."
*Sen. Mike Lee was apoplectic regarding the briefing on the killing of Soleimani. He said those getting the briefing were told that they should be good little boys and girls and shut up about limiting the power of the president to take military action.
*Former ambassador to Russia Mike McFall said that he would not support the non-binding House resolution but would support legislative action stopping Trump from launching a military attack within Iran.
*Trump said early in January that he does not believe climate change is a hoax, cementing a perception that Trump will say anything.
District Judge Peter Messitte ruled in a 31-page opinion, that the Trump administration grant of a veto power to local governments to block refuges as likely "unlawful." It is "arbitrary and capricious as well as inherently susceptible to hidden bias."
*Betsy DeVos said her department plans to remind schools that students and teachers have a constitutional right to pray in public schools, and that students and religious organizations should get to access public facilities just like secular ones do.