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UPDATE: Death toll over 22,000 after massive earthquake in Turkey, Syria

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UPDATE:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared the areas hit by the massive 7.8 earthquake Monday, a disaster zone. According to reports from the AP and Reuters,  the 10 provinces affected by the devastating earthquakes in southern Turkey, now have been placed under a state of emergency for three months.

By Tuesday,  70 countries had offered to help the Turkish government with search and rescue operations.

According to the latest reports, the combined death toll in Turkey and Syria to over 22,000. The vicious aftershocks of the quake were responsible for 18,991 of those deaths and over 75,000 more injuries.

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A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday morning, leaving 3,500 lives lost and many buildings destroyed. There is an ongoing search and rescue mission for survivors, according to reports.

According to Fox News, The World Health Organization (WHO) the death toll could increase as much as eight times as rescuers work to find more victims. WHO’s senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood, told AFP that, “We always see the same thing with earthquakes, unfortunately, which is that the initial reports of the numbers of people who have died or who have been injured will increase quite significantly in the week that follows.”

To make matters worse, a mixture of rain and snow fell throughout the areas Turkey and Syria that were devastated by the earthquake. Eyewitness accounts described citizens as they ran out of their homes after waking up to the violent and thunderous shakes of the earthquake.

The massive earthquake toppled buildings in regions of Syria, which were held by the opposition due to the ongoing civil-war. Access to health and medical services was limited in the impoverished areas.

According to a doctor in Atmeh Syria, 11 people were killed with an unknown number of citizens buried underneath the debris from the toppled apartment buildings and other infrastructure.

The quake was so fierce that it could be felt in Cairo Egypt. The center-point  of the quake was located 60 miles from the Syrian border according to Fox News.

Hours later a series of at least 20 aftershock followed the quake. According to Turkish authorities the largest aftershock measured in at a 7.5 magnitude.

On twitter Turkish President, Reccep Tayyip Erdogan said, “We hope that we will get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least damage.”

The death toll continues to rise in Turkey and Syria.

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Economy

TX farmers fight to block USDA from using race in distributing farm aid

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“When natural disasters strike, they don’t discriminate based on race and sex. Neither should the Department of Agriculture.” That’s the message from a group of farmers written in a court filing made public Monday.

Just The News reports on a group of white farmers in Texas who are asking a federal judge to block the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from using race, gender or other “socially disadvantaged” traits to determine who gets disaster and pandemic farm aid and how much, arguing the agency’s current administration of eight emergency funding programs is unconstitutionally discriminatory.

According to Just the News, the USDA’s program appears to be rooted in an executive order that President Joe Biden signed. The lawsuit names the USDA and Biden Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The farmers bringing the action include Rusty Strickland, Alan and Amy West and Bryan Baker, all of Texas.

The farmers, represented by the nonprofit legal firm called the Southeastern Legal Foundation, asked a judge to issue an emergency injunction from the U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas, to stop any additional awards from being made on the basis of race and gender or other liberal standards.

“Enjoining USDA from using race, sex, or progressive factoring when administering the programs is warranted because Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims that: (1) the programs, as currently administered, are unconstitutional; (2) USDA lacks statutory authority to run the programs in their current form; and (3) USDA failed to adequately explain changes in calculating payments when implementing progressive factoring,” the motion stated.

The farmers said the Biden administration has taken roughly $25 billion in disaster and pandemic aid approved by Congress for farmers in eight programs and devised a system to make awards based on race, gender or other “socially disadvantaged” traits. Such decision-making violates the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment and the Administrative Procedures Act.

“The Constitution promises equal treatment to all Americans regardless of their race or sex,” the court filing also reads. “It also promises the separation of powers. USDA broke both promises through the disaster and pandemic relief programs challenged here.”

The farmers said they can prove that “USDA gives more money to some farmers based on” race, gender or other factors never approved by Congress.

“USDA does this by first defining farmers who are black/African-American, American Indian, Alaskan native, Hispanic, Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, or a woman as ‘socially disadvantaged,’” the court filing said. “Then, it provides farmers who qualify as socially disadvantaged more money for the same loss than those it deems non-underserved, along with other preferential treatment”

Just the News explains the request for an injunction relies in part of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision last year banning racial preferences in college admissions. It even quoted from the high court’s declaration that “eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.”.

“Disasters don’t discriminate and neither should USDA. In fact, the Constitution prohibits it,” the lawyers said in a statement. “That is why our brave clients – a group of Texas farmers that includes three white men who received significantly less money in disaster relief funds from USDA than if they had been of a different race or sex – filed this case and are asking the court to stop USDA’s blatant discrimination.”

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