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An American trans Olympic athlete expresses wish to “burn a US flag on the podium,” while California will clear forests to prevent fires and will pay off all overdue rent accrued during pandemic and Fed revises inflation predictions.
BMX Freestyle rider Chelsea Wolfe qualified as an alternate to represent the U.S. at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in July this year. Wolfe identifies as a trans-woman. The fact that she will be among the first trans-women to participate in the games is being overshadowed by a statement she made last year regarding her Olympic goals.
“My goal is to win the Olympics so I can burn a US flag on the podium,” Wolfe said in a now-deleted social media post. “This is what they focus on during a pandemic. Hurting trans children.”
Wolfe initially made the post on Facebook on March 25, 2020, according to a screenshot posted by Journalist Ian Miles Cheong. Her post also included a link to a PinkNews story about the Trump administration’s stance on transgender girls in female athletics, according to an exclusive report by Fox.
This year, the West was already experiencing record temperatures, drought, and repeated red flag warnings, even before the official start of summer. As a result, California announced that it will spend billions of dollars for the clearing of forests to reduce fuel for wildfires. The state will thin tens of millions of acres to remove potential fuel that could worsen forest fires. The Golden State saw some of its worst wildfires ever last year, burning a record 4.3 million acres, the Blaze reported.
Some media pundits noted that former President Donald Trump had made the exact suggestion for California, but was ridiculed over his comments.
In 2018, 2019, and 2020, in the wake of repeated extreme wildfire seasons in the West, Trump issued an ultimatum to California’s Democratic leaders: Either clean the floors of your forest or lose federal money.
Last October, the Trump administration made good on its threats by refusing “to grant California an emergency declaration that would make hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding available for areas devastated” by wildfires,” the Washington Post reported. However, following a personal appeal by California’s Governor Gavin Newsom (D), Trump reversed the decision.
California will pay off all the overdue rent that was accrued during the pandemic for all residents, California Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced, Newsweek reported.
the Golden State has $5.2 billion in funds it received from congressionally approved aid packages. The amount is enough to pay off all overdue rent, according to Newsom’s senior counselor on housing and homelessness, Jason Elliott, the Associated Press reported.
The Federal Reserve has revised its expectations over inflation, now saying it will climb to 3.4 percent this year. It is a percentage point higher than the central bank’s previous forecasts. The Fed also now projects, for the first time, that there could be two interest rate hikes in 2023, another revision of its previous predictions that saw the first initial interest rate hike not happening until 2024, the Washington Post reported.
