Private prisons curtailed - Investors demand sustainability - Senate filibuster deal

Forty-five Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to dismiss the trial as unconstitutional. The motion failed by a vote of 45-55, enabling the trial to move forward. But it signifies that a critical mass are leery of the trial and underscores the unlikelihood of finding the two-thirds majority needed to convict. For many Republicans, an argument over the legality serves as a process-based justification to acquit Trump.
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The motion, led by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., whose vote could be influential in the outcome. At least 17 Republicans will be needed to convict. But just five voted to proceed with the trial: Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
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Senate Republicans heard from Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, who was a GOP witness in Trump's first impeachment trial. Turley spoke about the "'Brandenburg test' for speech," a reference to the standard established by a Supreme Court ruling on inflammatory speech that incites violence or illegal action, and he added that Turley "said there's not a chance in hell that you could convict Donald Trump in any court in the land of incitement."

After being relegated to minority leader, McConnell had pressed [Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer] to promise to preserve the filibuster, a legislative tool that Senate Republicans can use to delay or block bills brought forth by Democrats unless a 60-vote threshold is met. The Kentucky Republican had asked Schumer to provide him with a written pledge not to touch the filibuster, though he dropped the demand after two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, assured him they have no intentions to kill the filibuster.
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The partisan fight over the filibuster put the Senate on pause and prevented Democrats from bringing Biden's key priorities, including his proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, to the negotiating table. The relief bill is facing trouble, and the next round of stimulus might not pass until March unless both parties work together to reach a deal sooner.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, has suggested using a tool called budget reconciliation to bypass the 60-vote filibuster requirement and push through legislation with a simple majority of 51. Vice President Kamala Harris would be the tie-breaking vote. McConnell on Tuesday warned that if the filibuster is overridden, his party will reverse every Democratic policy whenever they take back Congress.

State prison systems hold the majority of the roughly 2.3 million incarcerated people in the country. And of the federal prison population, only 15 percent are held in private prisons. [David Fathi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's national prison project] noted that Biden's order will not touch the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the immigration detention system, nor the private contractors the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) uses for other services, such as medical care.
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CNN also reported that Biden will sign an executive order reinstating Obama-era limits on the transfer of military equipment to local and state law enforcement. The Pentagon’s 1033 program distributes surplus military equipment to police. Thanks to the 1033 program, 1,114 [Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected vehicles] are currently in the possession of American police departments.
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President Donald Trump, who portrayed himself as a staunch ally of the police, rescinded the Obama memo, including tighter reporting requirements, in 2017. The 1033 program is not the most significant federal source of police militarization, though. The program is dwarfed by Department of Homeland Security anti-terrorism grants to local police, as well as shared revenue from property seizures and forfeitures.

Thousands of farmers have been blocking several roads into New Delhi for more than two months demanding the repeal of three laws Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party passed in September as a part of a plan to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2024. But the farmers are worried that the reforms will leave them at the mercy of large corporations that will buy their crops for low prices, leading to their financial ruin.
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Farmer’s unions had devised a plan for a peaceful march into the capital on Republic Day, which commemorates the signing of India’s constitution. The Indian government had approved a plan for the farmers — who have been protesting for months — to enter the city at noon. But the farmers’ plans went awry when some protesters began marching toward the capital a few hours ahead of schedule, resulting in a face-off with police, who used tear gas and batons to try to turn them back.
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The farmers, many of whom are Sikhs from India’s Punjab and Haryana states, also entered New Delhi’s historic Red Fort and raised the Nishan Sahib, a flag of importance to India’s Sikh communities. The Joint Farmers’ Front, which represents a number of Indian farmers unions, issued a statement Tuesday condemning the clashes and separating themselves from protesters who engaged in violence.

The CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, told CEOs at its portfolio companies to outline their plans for getting to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to show that their board of directors has reviewed the plans. [Ben Ratner, senior director of EDF+Business, a partnership between the Environmental Defense Fund and businesses pledging to decarbonize] said that BlackRock's call for specific plans could prod companies into revealing details that they have so far avoided disclosing.
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BlackRock last year made waves when it said it would put environmental sustainability at the center of its investment strategy, including divesting from fossil-fuel producers. The move by Blackrock, with a portfolio over $7 trillion, effectively pressures other finance firms to increase their own climate commitments, according to environmental advocates.
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BlackRock itself has been called out: The firm still owns $85 billion worth of coal-producing stock, thanks to a loophole in its climate pledge, the Guardian recently reported. It has also been blamed for fueling deforestation in the Amazon through its investments in companies that conduct business in Brazil's most endangered natural resource.