The Commentariat -- October 5, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Marcy Gordon of the AP: "A former Facebook data scientist told Congress on Tuesday that the social network giant's products harm children and fuel polarization in the U.S. while its executives refuse to make changes because they elevate profits over safety. Frances Haugen testified to the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection. She is accusing the company of being aware of apparent harm to some teens from Instagram and being dishonest in its public fight against hate and misinformation. Haugen has come forward with a wide-ranging condemnation of Facebook, buttressed with tens of thousands of pages of internal research documents she secretly copied before leaving her job in the company's civic integrity unit. She also has filed complaints with federal authorities alleging that Facebook's own research shows that it amplifies hate, misinformation and political unrest, but the company hides what it knows." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging the testimony here. The Washington Post's liveblog of the hearing is here.

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department is reviewing its decision not to charge FBI agents who failed to properly investigate sex abuse allegations leveled against Larry Nassar, the disgraced former USA gymnastics doctor who sexually abused his patients, including world-famous gymnasts. Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco made the announcement at a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Lawmakers on the panel have sharply criticized the Justice Department for not pursuing false statements charges against a supervisory FBI agent and his boss for what the agency’s inspector general concluded were lies to internal investigators to cover up their failures."

Julian Barnes & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "Top American counterintelligence officials warned every C.I.A. station and base around the world last week about troubling numbers of informants recruited from other countries to spy for the United States being captured or killed, people familiar with the matter said. The message, in an unusual top secret cable, said that the C.I.A.'s counterintelligence mission center had looked at dozens of cases in the last several years involving foreign informants who had been killed, arrested or most likely compromised. Although brief, the cable laid out the specific number of agents executed by rival intelligence agencies -- a closely held detail that counterintelligence officials typically do not share in such cables."

Peter Stone of the Guardian: "Donald Trump is facing increasing legal scrutiny in the crucial battleground state of Georgia over his attempt to sway the 2020 election there, and that heat is now overlapping with investigations in Congress looking at the former president's efforts to subvert American democracy. A criminal investigation into Trump's 2 January call prodding Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to 'just find' him 11,780 votes to block Joe Biden's win in the state is making headway. The Georgia district attorney running the inquiry is now also sharing information with the House committee investigating the 6 January attack on the Capitol in Washington DC. Meanwhile, a justice department taskforce investigating threats to election officials nationwide has launched inquiries in Georgia, where election officers and workers received death threats or warnings of violence, including some after Trump singled out one official publicly for not backing his baseless fraud claims." ~~~

~~~ Worse News for Donald: he is no long one of the Fab Forbes 400. ~~~

     ~~~ Dan Alexander of Forbes: "Donald Trump is worth an estimated $2.5 billion, leaving him $400 million short of the cutoff to make this year's Forbes 400 list of America's richest people. The real estate mogul is just as wealthy as he was a year ago, when he stood at No. 339 on the ranking, but he is down $600 million since the start of the pandemic. Technology stocks, cryptocurrencies and other assets have thrived in the Covid era. But big-city properties -- which make up the bulk of Trump's fortune -- have languished, knocking the former president out of the nation's most exclusive club. If Trump is looking for someone to blame, he can start with himself. Five years ago, he had a golden opportunity to diversify his fortune. Fresh off the 2016 election, federal ethics officials were pushing Trump to divest his real estate assets. That would have allowed him to reinvest the proceeds into broad-based index funds and assume office free of conflicts of interest."

It's the Media's Fault! Donna Cassata of the Washington Post: "Former vice president Mike Pence said media reporting on the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection is meant to 'demean' supporters of ... Donald Trump, some of whom stormed the Capitol that day shouting, 'Hang Mike Pence!' In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Monday night, Pence sought to explain media coverage of the Jan. 6 riot in which he was hurriedly evacuated from the Senate chamber and taken to a secure location amid threats to his life. 'I know the media wants to distract from the Biden administration's failed agenda by focusing on one day in January,' Pence told Hannity. 'They want to use that one day to try and demean the character and intentions of 74 million Americans who believed we could be strong again and prosperous again and supported our administration in 2016 and 2020.'" MB: In case you never noticed, mike pence is really weird. If a bunch of violent lunatics tried to murder me in the course of overturning a (quasi-)democratic election, I know for sure I would not blame the media for making a bit deal of it.

Stephanie Grisham is not through skewering the Trumps. In a Washington Post op-ed she writes, Donald and Melania Trump knew that my relationship with my boyfriend, a White House staffer, "turned abusive -- and they didn't seem to care." After I told each of them separately about the abuse, "the president and first lady seemed totally unfazed about whether there was an abuser -- another abuser -- in their workplace. There was no follow-up from either of them to see if I needed help or protection. There was no investigation ordered.... Knowing what he knows, [Donald] Trump has endorsed my ex's bid for Congress."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Tuesday are here.

New York. David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation Tuesday morning raided the offices of the right wing, controversial, pro-Trump NYC Sergeants Benevolent Association. FBI agents may have also raided the home of the group's leader, Ed Mullins, according to multiple reports. 'The union is headed by Mullins, a brash leader known for his over-the-top social media attacks on NYPD leadership and Mayor de Blasio,' The New York Daily News reports, confirming the raid with the FBI.... It is not known why the FBI conducted the raid but last week Gothamist reported on 'a WNYC/Gothamist investigation of online records that appears to tie several New York law enforcement officers and public officials -- including at least two active members of the NYPD -- to a far-right, anti-government militia.'"

France. Aurelien Breeden of the New York Times: "Clergy members in the Roman Catholic Church in France sexually abused more than 200,000 minors over the past seven decades, according to an estimate published on Tuesday by an independent commission that concluded the problem was far more pervasive and systematic than previously known. The long-awaited 2,500-page report by the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church laid out in detail how the church hierarchy had repeatedly silenced the victims and failed to report or discipline the clergy members involved."

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Kevin Freking & Josh Boak of the AP: "President Joe Biden accused Republican lawmakers on Monday of blocking efforts to increase the government's borrowing authority, saying they're playing 'Russian roulette with the U.S. economy' by committing to filibuster the measure ahead of an Oct. 18 deadline. Biden called on the Senate to suspend the nation's debt limit by a simple majority, which would allow more borrowing and stave off the risk of a default. But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has said Democrats will need to use a special 'reconciliation' process to secure a suspension from the evenly split Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tiebreaker. The president in White House remarks said that McConnell's demand needlessly poses a threat to the international credit of the federal government, potentially hurting financial markets and the broader economy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Jeff Stein & Tony Romm of the Washington Post do a crack-up job of irrationally both-sidering the looming debt ceiling crisis, but they do manage this: "Speaking at the White House, [President] Biden threw responsibility for a potential U.S. default -- which would be an unprecedented event in American history -- on Republicans who have refused to lend their votes to help Democrats avert the debt ceiling cliff.... Biden's alarming comments came amid an intensifying standoff as Republicans continue to refuse to help Democrats avert the debt ceiling cliff." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

Juan Perez of Politico: "Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday ordered federal law enforcement authorities to huddle with local leaders in the coming weeks to address what the nation's top prosecutor called a recent 'disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence' against educators and school board members. The Justice Department will also unveil a series of additional measures in the coming days to 'address the rise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel,' Garland wrote in a memorandum to federal prosecutors and FBI Director Christopher Wray. The department said they're expected to include a training program and a new federal task force stacked with representatives from the department's criminal, civil rights and national security divisions."

Lenny Bernstein & Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, who headed the government's effort to map the entire human genetic code and two decades later became one of the most recognizable leaders in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, will leave his post by the end of this year, NIH will announce Tuesday. After more than 12 years directing the nation's premier biomedical research center, Collins, a 71-year-old physician-geneticist, will return to his lab at the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of NIH. He is the longest-tenured director of the Bethesda, Md.,-based NIH...." Politico's story is here.

Oops! We Might Be Crooks. Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "The Federal Reserve on Monday released a rare public statement revealing an independent review by the Office of Inspector General for the Federal Reserve Board, over whether trading activity by top Fed officials 'was in compliance with both the relevant ethics rules and the law.' Leaders had previously announced the Fed's own internal ethics review of financial trading rules for top officials, and Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell said there would be changes to existing guidance. But the latest statement reflected a more concerted focus on the legality of the trades themselves.... Earlier on Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren called for an investigation of whether the financial trading activities of top Federal Reserve officials violated insider-trading rules, heightening scrutiny over ethics issues at the central bank." At least three Board members made large trades at the same time they of course helped control the Fed's pending actions. MB: And couldn't we have Fed leaders who aren't so rich they more-or-less routinely trade stocks & bonds worth as much as $5MM?

Manu Raju & Clare Foran of CNN: "Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Monday pushed back on several politically sensitive positions his party leaders are taking at a crucial time for President Joe Biden's domestic agenda. The West Virginia Democrat, who holds a pivotal vote in the 50-50 Senate, indicated to CNN that he disagrees with the strategy top Democrats are pursuing in the standoff with Republicans over raising the national debt limit. Manchin said that Democrats 'shouldn't rule out anything,' including a budget process [-- reconciliation --] that Democratic leaders have made clear they will not employ. Speaking to reporters, Manchin also would not commit to the new timeline set by party leaders to find a deal on the social safety net expansion by October 31. And he resisted calls from progressives and other top Democrats to raise his $1.5 trillion price tag for the package, which many in his party view as too low to achieve key policy objectives."

Ashley Reese of Jezebel: "... a group of activists pursuing Senator Kyrsten Sinema around the Arizona State University campus over the weekend and -- controversially, somehow -- briefly following Sinema into a public restroom to note that their family members were deported -- is bound to prompt some pearl-clutching.... [BUT] It's no wonder her constituents -- who don't understand what the fuck she's doing any better than the rest of us -- are piping mad.... They told Sinema, to her face -- and through a door -- that she was failing them and why. There was no violence, no rude language, nothing. Just a few constituents following their representative into a large bathroom to air their grievances [after she refused to speak with them while they were all in a corridor].... [Sinema herself put out a statement saying,] 'It is unacceptable for activist organizations to instruct their members to ... [film] students in a restroom.'... Maybe it's easier to act like a public bathroom is a sacred place than criticize the fact that Sinema decided to hide from her voters like a coward." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm with Reese. If Sinema refuses to talk to constituents and reporters about her political positions, there's nothing wrong with their confronting her where they can -- even in the can. It isn't the activists' fault Sinema won't do parts of her job -- like constituent outreach. It's her fault she made them follow her into the loo. Untoward? Oh, please. ~~~

     ~~~ Oh, and here's some right-wing opinionator blaming George Soros for the "harassment" of the hapless Kyrsten. ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times tries to figure out what's wrong with Kyrsten Sinema. Marie: Goldberg seems to capture Sinema finally in the last word of her column: "narcissist." But I'd say Sinema's real problem is a midlife crisis, which has confused her. She is 45 years old, and she no doubt thrived for years playing the part of an attractive but ditzy blonde. That persona doesn't work for a woman in her mid-40s, much less one with a highly responsible job. So she's messed up trying to be a star at the same time she's trying out a Garbo vant-to-be-alone routine. It isn't working. She should follow Hillary Clinton's model and get down to being a good senator instead of a whack-job.

A Cornhusker Scam. Lachlan Markay of Axios: "The top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee's agriculture panel raised money for a legal defense fund with claims he's facing federal prosecution that a spokesperson later disavowed.... On a fundraising page for a new legal expense fund -- which was later taken off-line -- Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) wrote: '[President] Biden's FBI is using its unlimited power to prosecute me on a bogus charge.'... The investigation in question, the spokesperson said, had to do with illegal campaign contributions by a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire to a number of congressional Republicans." Despite the fact that Forenberry made his appeal in the present tense for an implied ongoing prosecution, the prosecution was apparently only against the donor, was brought in the past, and Fortenberry was not charged. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It seems weird to try to raise money by associating yourself with a crime you didn't commit & aren't being accused of committing.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court returned ... on Monday after a pandemic-induced absence of more than 18 months, starting a new term that will include major cases on abortion and gun rights.... But the courtroom had changed since the court last heard arguments in person in March 2020. The seat at the far left was empty, a consequence of a positive Covid-19 test received by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh on Thursday. He participated remotely from his home, a court spokeswoman said. His questions were piped into the courtroom. The seat on the far right was occupied by ... Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was making her first appearance at an in-person argument.... Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the only member of the court who wore a mask.... Justice Clarence Thomas, who very seldom voiced inquiries from the bench before the pandemic, asked the first questions of both of the main lawyers in the case. The lawyers wore masks except when they were presenting arguments. The lectern at which they made their presentations had been moved back from the bench by several feet. The public was barred from the courtroom, but the court is providing live audio on its website." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As a pundit on CNN pointed out yesterday, it's no wonder Thomas is finally inserting himself into the conversation. With at least five or six radical confederates on the court, it's Clarence's court now.

Tom Hamburger & Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "A bipartisan group of former officials and legal heavyweights, including two former federal judges, asked the California bar association Monday to investigate the conduct of John Eastman, the adviser to ... Donald Trump who mapped out a legal strategy to overturn the 2020 election results. The complaint, also signed by two former justices of the California Supreme Court, cites Eastman's work in election challenges rejected by the Supreme Court and his speech at a Jan. 6 rally in Washington before a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol. But the 24-page memo centers on Eastman's alleged role in pressing Vice President Mike Pence not to count electoral votes on Jan. 6 and certify President Biden as the winner. 'The available evidence supports a strong case that the State Bar should investigate whether, in the course of representing Mr. Trump, Mr. Eastman violated his ethical obligations as an attorney by filing frivolous claims, making false statements and engaging in deceptive conduct,' the letter said. 'There is also a strong basis to investigate whether Mr. Eastman assisted in unlawful actions by his client, Mr. Trump,' to overturn the results of a legitimate election." The Raw Story has a summary report here.

Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News: "A judge on Monday ordered Capitol rioter Matthew Mazzocco to spend 45 days in prison, rejecting not only the defense's argument for probation but also the prosecution's recommendation that he be sentenced to home confinement instead of time behind bars. The sentencing before US District Judge Tanya Chutkan marked the first time that any judge presiding over the hundreds of Jan. 6 prosecutions in Washington, DC, handed down a sentence that was harsher than what the government asked for. Chutkan noted that Mazzocco had already been allowed to go home and be with his family in the months since his arrest in mid-January and said his punishment had to be more severe. 'There have to be consequences for participating in an attempted violent overthrow of the government, beyond sitting at home,' Chutkan said."

Mike Isaac & Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times: "Facebook and its family of apps ... were inaccessible for hours on Monday, taking out a vital communications platform used by billions and showcasing just how dependent the world has become on a company that is under intense scrutiny. Facebook's apps -- which include Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Oculus -- began displaying error messages around 11:40 a.m. Eastern time, users reported. Within minutes, Facebook had disappeared from the internet. The outage lasted over five hours, before some apps slowly flickered back to life, though the company cautioned the services would take time to stabilize.... More than 3.5 billion people around the world use Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.... Facebook is also used to sign in to many other apps and services, leading to unexpected domino effects such as people not being able to log into shopping websites or sign into their smart TVs, thermostats and other internet-connected devices.... Facebook said late Monday, the culprit was changes to its underlying internet infrastructure that coordinates the traffic between its data centers.... Facebook eventually restored service after a team got access to its server computers at a data center in Santa Clara, Calif." ~~~

~~~ Elizabeth Dwoskin & Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "After four years of almost continuous scandal, Facebook is approaching its latest controversy over political polarization and the toxic effects of social media in a more aggressive and defiant way than it has previously, say current and former employees, including executives who helped shape the company's earlier responses. Gone is the familiar script in which chief executive Mark Zuckerberg issues a formal apology -- sometimes in long blogs on his personal Facebook page or over live-streamed video for a Congressional hearing -- then takes responsibility and promises change. In its place, the company has deployed a slate of executives to mount a public defense while quibbling with the details of allegations from Frances Haugen, the former project manager who left Facebook with tens of thousands of documents." ~~~

~~~ Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "After whistleblower Frances Haugen unleashed a torrent of unflattering revelations about Facebook in the Wall Street Journal and on CBS's '60 Minutes,' the social media giant pledged to 'tackle the spread of misinformation and harmful content.' But as long as the social network makes money off such garbage, such a promise comes across as a sick joke rather than reassurance.... Haugen's leaks make clear just how vast the gap is between the friendly facade and the ugly reality.... After reading the [Wall Street] Journal's series of articles and watching the '60 Minutes' interview, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that 'misinformation and harmful content' are a feature of the platform, not a bug.... In pursuit of profit, Facebook has cost the rest of us too much." ~~~

~~~ Twilight of the God? Kevin Roose of the New York Times: "One possible way to read 'The Facebook Files,' The Wall Street Journal's excellent series of reports based on leaked internal Facebook research, is as a story about an unstoppable juggernaut bulldozing society on its way to the bank. The series has exposed damning evidence that Facebook has a two-tier justice system, that it knew Instagram was worsening body-image issues among girls and that it had a bigger vaccine misinformation problem than it let on, among other issues. And it would be easy enough to come away thinking that Facebook is terrifyingly powerful, and can be brought to heel only with aggressive government intervention. But there's another way to read the series.... Which is: Facebook is in trouble.... What I'm talking about is a kind of slow, steady decline that anyone who has ever seen a dying company up close can recognize.... Facebook's problems ... come in two primary flavors: problems caused by having too many users, and problems caused by having too few of the kinds of users it wants -- culture-creating, trendsetting, advertiser-coveted young Americans.The Facebook Files contains evidence of both types."

AP: "Tesla Inc. must pay nearly $137 million to a Black former worker who said he suffered racial abuse at the electric carmaker's San Francisco Bay Area factory. The jury in San Francisco agreed that Owen Diaz was subjected to racial harassment and a hostile work environment. Diaz alleged in a lawsuit that he was harassed and faced 'daily racist epithets,' including the 'N-word,' while working at Tesla's Fremont plant in 2015 and 2016 before quitting. Diaz was a contracted elevator operator. Diaz alleged that employees drew swastikas and left racist graffiti and drawings around the plant. He contended that supervisors failed to stop the abuse. 'Tesla's progressive image was a façade papering over its regressive, demeaning treatment of African-American employees,' the lawsuit said."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

New York. Eliza Shapiro of the New York Times: "New York [City]'s requirement that virtually everyone who works in the city's public schools be vaccinated against the coronavirus compelled thousands of Department of Education employees to get at least one dose of a vaccine in the past week, leading to extremely high vaccination rates among educators, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. About 95 percent of all full-time school employees have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, the mayor said, including 99 percent of principals, 96 percent of teachers and 94 percent of non-education staff. Roughly 43,000 doses total have been administered since the mandate was announced in late August, including more than 18,000 shots that were given to staff members since Sept. 24. New York's mandate, which took effect when the school day started on Monday, is the mayor's first attempt at requiring vaccination without a test-out option for any city workers. It could lay the groundwork for a much broader requirement for the city's vast work force." Mandates work.

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama ... Is Still Alabama. Emmanuel Felton of the Washington Post: Alabama's "Confederate Memorial Park is ... home to a small museum and two well-manicured cemeteries with neat rows of headstones -- that look a lot like those in Arlington National Cemetery -- for hundreds of Confederate veterans.... On a recent morning, there was just one visitor on the property and he didn't enter the museum.... For the most part the museum focuses on the story of Confederate soldiers on the battlefield, mostly highlighting the bravery they displayed and the principles they were fighting for.... While other museums struggle to keep their doors open..., in 2020 alone, the park received $670,000 in taxpayer dollars. That's about $22 per visitor and more than five times the $4 admission price for adults.... Earlier this year, a pair of state senators, a Black Democrat and a White Republican, co-sponsored a bill that would have maintained funding for the Confederate Park, while providing the same amount to Black historical sites. The bill failed...."

California. Brian Melley, et al., of the AP: "The U.S. Coast Guard received the first report of a possible oil spill off the Southern California coast more than 12 hours before a company reported the major leak in its pipeline and a cleanup effort was launched, records show. Oil spill reports reviewed Monday by The Associated Press raise questions about the Coast Guard's response to one of the state's largest recent oil spills as well as how quickly Amplify Energy, the company operating three offshore platforms and the pipeline, recognized it had a problem and notified authorities. Two early calls about the spill came into the National Response Center, which is staffed by the Coast Guard and notifies other agencies of disasters for quick response. The first was from an anchored ship that noticed a sheen on the water and the second, six hours later, from a federal agency that said a possible oil slick was spotted on satellite imagery, according to reports by the California Office of Emergency Services."

Michigan. Susan Demas of Michigan Advance: "Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Sunday vetoed three Republican election bills introduced ... as part of a nationwide right-wing effort to restrict voting and change election rules. She also vetoed a fourth measure she said lacked the proper funding. Whitmer vetoed the bills at the 66th annual NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner in Detroit.... Whitmer said in the veto letter obtained by the Michigan Advance that they were an 'attempt to suppress the vote or perpetuate the "Big Lie": the calculated disinformation campaign to discredit the 2020 election....'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

New York. Jesse McKinley & Rebecca O'Brien of the New York Times: "Lovely Warren, the embattled Democratic mayor of Rochester, N.Y., agreed to resign on Monday as part of a plea deal on several state criminal charges, capping a swift and staggering fall for a politician once considered a rising star in the state Democratic Party. The plea deal, in Monroe County court, resolves two separate state cases against Ms. Warren: one arising from campaign finance violations and another that included gun and child-endangerment charges that Ms. Warren and her estranged husband faced. Ms. Warren's resignation is effective Dec. 1, just a month before she would have left office, having lost a June primary for a third term to Malik Evans, a city councilman."

News Lede

New York Times: "Three scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for work that is essential to understanding how the Earth's climate is changing, pinpointing the effect of human behavior on those changes and ultimately predicting the impact of global warming. The winners were Syukuro Manabe of Princeton University, Klaus Hasselmann of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, and Giorgio Parisi of the Sapienza University of Rome. Others have received Nobel Prizes for their work on climate change, most notably. former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, but the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said this is the first time the Physics prize has been awarded specifically to a climate scientist."

The Commentariat -- October 4, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Kevin Freking & Josh Boak of the AP: "President Joe Biden accused Republican lawmakers on Monday of blocking efforts to increase the government's borrowing authority, saying they're playing 'Russian roulette with the U.S. economy' by committing to filibuster the measure ahead of an Oct. 18 deadline. Biden called on the Senate to suspend the nation's debt limit by a simple majority, which would allow more borrowing and stave off the risk of a default. But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has said Democrats will need to use a special 'reconciliation' process to secure a suspension from the evenly split Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tiebreaker. The president in White House remarks said that McConnell's demand needlessly poses a threat to the international credit of the federal government, potentially hurting financial markets and the broader economy." ~~~

     ~~~ Jeff Stein & Tony Romm of the Washington Post do a crack-up job of irrationally both-sidering the looming debt ceiling crisis, but they do manage this: "Speaking at the White House, [President] Biden threw responsibility for a potential U.S. default -- which would be an unprecedented event in American history -- on Republicans who have refused to lend their votes to help Democrats avert the debt ceiling cliff.... Biden's alarming comments came amid an intensifying standoff as Republicans continue to refuse to help Democrats avert the debt ceiling cliff." ~~~

A Cornhusker Scam. Lachlan Markay of Axios: "The top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee's agriculture panel raised money for a legal defense fund with claims he's facing federal prosecution that a spokesperson later disavowed.... On a fundraising page for a new legal expense fund -- which was later taken off-line -- Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) wrote: '[President] Biden's FBI is using its unlimited power to prosecute me on a bogus charge.'... The investigation in question, the spokesperson said, had to do with illegal campaign contributions by a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire to a number of congressional Republicans." Despite the fact that Forenberry made his appeal in the present tense for an implied ongoing prosecution, the prosecution was apparently only against the donor, was brought in the past, and Fortenberry was not charged. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It seems weird to try to raise money by associating yourself with a crime you didn't commit & aren't being accused of committing.

The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.

Michigan. Susan Demas of Michigan Advance: "Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Sunday vetoed three Republican election bills introduced ... as part of a nationwide right-wing effort to restrict voting and change election rules. She also vetoed a fourth measure she said lacked the proper funding. Whitmer vetoed the bills at the 66th annual NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner in Detroit.... Whitmer said in the veto letter obtained by the Michigan Advance that they were an 'attempt to suppress the vote or perpetuate the "Big Lie": the calculated disinformation campaign to discredit the 2020 election....'"

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David Lynch of the Washington Post: "President Biden's top trade negotiator is scheduled to assail China on Monday for failing to buy large quantities of American products under an agreement signed last year and for using subsidies and coercion to harm American workers, according to three senior administration officials. In a speech to a Washington think tank, Katherine Tai, the U.S. trade representative, will lay out a road map for re-engaging with Beijing after a months-long internal policy review, said the officials...."

Another U.S. Navy Kickback Scheme Likely. Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "Federal agents are investigating a new U.S. Navy corruption case that has strong echoes of the Fat Leonard scandal, with a defense contractor facing accusations that he delivered cash bribes and bilked the Navy out of at least $50 million to service its ships in foreign ports, according to recently unsealed court records. The Justice Department is trying to extradite the contractor -- Frank Rafaraci, chief executive of Multinational Logistics Services, or MLS -- from Malta, the Mediterranean island where he was arrested last week after an international manhunt. Rafaraci, 68, is a dual U.S.-Italian citizen who splits his time between the United Arab Emirates and Sicily. Since 2010, the Navy and federal agencies have awarded MLS about $1.3 billion in contracts to resupply and refuel U.S. warships in the Middle East, Asia and other regions."

Wish Fulfillment. Marie: On Saturday, I wished that "protesters [would] locate the 'high-end resort & spa' [where Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was meeting with campaign contributors] and show Kyrsten's donors what they think of her little outings." They came close enough: ~~~

~~~ They Followed Miss Loopty-Loo into the Loo. Julie Luchetta of the Arizona Republic: "Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was confronted by proponents of the democratic Build Back Better bill who followed her as she entered a public restroom on Sunday morning. A video posted on the Twitter account of Living United for Change in Arizona, or LUCHA, an immigration reform advocacy group, shows activists following Sinema on her way out of a classroom at Arizona State University. After she declines to speak to them, they follow her into a bathroom. 'We knocked on doors for you to get you elected,' a woman filming the encounter who identifies herself as Blanca is heard saying after the senator enters a stall. 'And just how we got you elected, we can get you out of office if you don't support what you promised us.'... 'She is the one blocking a path to citizenship, deportation protection, paid family care, climate justice, lower drug costs and so many other things we need,' [an] email [from LUCHA to the Az. Republic] said in reference to the Democrats' efforts to pass the 10-year $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act. The legislation includes funding for free community college, Medicare expansion, extended child tax credit, paid family leave and efforts to combat climate change." Firewalled. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sinema's refusal to speak to any constituents who don't pay for access, BTW, contrasts with Joe Manchin's willingness to engage with West Virginia protesters who kayaked out to his luxury houseboat moored in the D.C. area, even if it's rather galling to refuse to approve aid to needy West Virginians from the stern of a luxurious vessel.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A transformed Supreme Court returns to the bench on Monday to start a momentous term in which it will consider eliminating the constitutional right to abortion, vastly expanding gun rights and further chipping away at the wall separating church and state." Related Washington Post story also linked yesterday. As Justice Sotomayor said last week, "There is going to be a lot of disappointment."

Charles Blow of the New York Times on Texas' anti-abortion law & a Congressional bill codifying Roe v. Wade: "If men were the ones who got pregnant, this would never have happened. Men wouldn't stand for it. Women shouldn't either."

The Pandora Papers. Greg Miller, et al., of the Washington Post: "A massive trove of private financial records shared with The Washington Post exposes vast reaches of the secretive offshore system used to hide billions of dollars from tax authorities, creditors, criminal investigators and -- in 14 cases involving current country leaders -- citizens around the world.... The new material encompasses records from 14 separate financial-services entities.... The revelations include more than $100 million spent by King Abdullah II of Jordan on luxury homes in Malibu, Calif., and other locations; millions of dollars in property and cash secretly owned by the leaders of the Czech Republic, Kenya, Ecuador and other countries; and a waterfront home in Monaco acquired by a Russian woman who gained considerable wealth after she reportedly had a child with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Other disclosures hit closer to home.... South Dakota now rivals notoriously opaque jurisdictions in Europe and the Caribbean in financial secrecy..., some of [the funds sheltered in the state] tied to people and companies accused of human rights abuses and other wrongdoing." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's story on King Abdullah II of Jordan is here. The New York Times' story is here. The Post's story on Putin's lucky lady friend is here. A related Guardian story is here. The Guardian has a story on how former PM Tony Blair & his wife Cherie evaded £312,000 in U.K. taxes. The Post is live-updating reactions to some of the revelations. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Guardian currently has links to a number of related stories on its front page.

Michael Flynn for Hire -- By Any Dodgy Schemers. Jeff Stein of Spy Talk: "Disgraced former Donald Trump National Security Adviser and Army general Michael Flynn was paid a previously unreported $200,000 for work on a controversial plan to bring nuclear power to the Middle East involving Russian and other foreign business interests, according to a report this weekend by the respected Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. The payment to Flynn was uncovered during an audit by one of the project's major players, the Dutch transport company Mammoet, which envisioned shipping major parts of the nuclear plants to Saudi Arabia and other destinations in the Middle East, the paper reported. The wildly ambitious scheme imagined a consortium of U.S., Russian, Canadian and French partners building nuclear power plants in a half dozen Arab states and managing them independent of local regimes. The project never jelled for numerous reasons, just one of them being the involvement of Flynn, whose willingness to take an exorbitant speaking fee from the Russians and under-the-table lobbying fees from the Turks made him toxic."

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Cat Zakrzewski & Cristiano Lima of the Washington Post: "Former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen has been revealed as the source behind tens of thousands of pages of leaked internal company research which she says show that the company has been negligent in eliminating violence, misinformation and other harmful content from its services, and that it has misled investors about these efforts. For Facebook, the document leak -- and the public reveal of the source -- represents perhaps the most significant crisis in the company's history, further deteriorating relationships between the company and Washington politicians. The company is the target of a historic federal antitrust case and is fielding document requests as members of Congress investigate its role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol." A CNN story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The "60 Minutes" video & transcript of the interview with Frances Haugen is here.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here.

Michigan. Andrea Salcedo of the Washington Post: "Federal authorities have ... charged [nurse Bethann] Kierczak with stealing authentic coronavirus vaccination cards from the [Michigan] VA hospital -- along with vaccine lot numbers required to make the cards appear legitimate -- and later reselling those cards for $150 to $200, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday in the U.S. Eastern District Court in Michigan. For over four months, the complaint states, Kierczak, 37, sold the cards across metro Detroit, primarily communicating with buyers via Facebook Messenger.... Kierczak ... had access to immunization records since she was responsible for administering the doses."

Virginia. Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: "Several hundred hospital workers in Virginia have been suspended or lost their jobs because they refused to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, as required by most major health-care systems.... Across the country, health-care systems that have instituted mandates have seen some workers leave or be terminated over their refusal to get the shot, exacerbating a shortage in skilled nursing and bedside care. Health-care systems in rural areas of Virginia, where there is generally more vaccine resistance, are being hit harder by an employee exodus over mandates than urban and suburban hospitals, which generally have larger staffs and are better able to withstand some unvaccinated employees leaving.... Inova in Northern Virginia lost 89 workers for noncompliance with the system's requirement, which is less than half of 1 percent of its workforce, while Valley Health, based in the northern Shenandoah Valley, fired a little over 1 percent of its workers for not getting a vaccine.... The ... CEO of Inova, which operates the state's largest hospital, Inova Fairfax, said the Northern Virginia system's Sept. 1 vaccine mandate helped with recruitment."

Beyond the Beltway

California. Neil Vigdor & Melina Delkic of the New York Times: "A pipeline failure off the coast of Orange County, Calif., on Saturday caused at least 126,000 gallons of oil to spill into the Pacific Ocean, creating a 13-square-mile slick that continued to grow on Sunday, officials said. Dead fish and birds washed ashore in some places as cleanup crews raced to try to contain the spill, which created a slick that extended from Huntington Beach to Newport Beach. It was not immediately clear what caused the leak, which officials said occurred three miles off the coast of Newport Beach and involved a failure in a 17.5-mile pipeline connected to an offshore oil platform called Elly that is operated by Beta Offshore." ~~~

~~~ Amy Taxin & Christopher Weber of the AP: "Crews on the water and on shore worked feverishly Sunday to limit environmental damage from one of the largest oil spills in recent California history, caused by a suspected leak in an underwater pipeline that fouled the sands of famed Huntington Beach and could keep the beaches there closed for weeks or longer. Booms were deployed on the ocean surface to try to contain the oil while divers sought to determine where and why the leak occurred. On land, there was a race to find animals harmed by the oil and to keep the spill from harming any more sensitive marshland."

Missouri. John Hanna & Jim Salter of the AP: "Former U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, a conservative Missouri Republican whose comment that women's bodies have a way of avoiding pregnancies in cases of 'legitimate rape' sunk his bid for the U.S. Senate and became a cautionary tale for other GOP candidates, has died. He was 74." MB: I'm sorry that he died. I hope the last thing he saw on the TV were the protests against the Texas anti-abortion bill.

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. Sudarsan Raghavan, et al., of the Washington Post: "A bombing outside Kabul's main mosque left at least two Afghan civilians dead and others wounded on Sunday, the Taliban said, the latest in a series of blasts apparently intended to undermine the militants' ability to bring security to the capital and other cities. The explosion at Eid Gah Mosque was the first major attack in Kabul since the Islamic State targeted the international airport in late August as thousands attempted to escape the country. As of Sunday night, there had been no official claim of responsibility."

Brazil. Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: "Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Brazil's biggest cities Saturday, calling for the country's president, Jair Bolsonaro, to be impeached. In Rio de Janeiro, the country's second-largest city, huge crowds paraded through the downtown area in a sign of growing discontent with the president -- a right-wing firebrand whom critics accuse of destroying Brazil's economy, environment and world standing."

News Lede

New York Times: "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly on Monday to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian 'for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.' Their work sheds light on how to reduce chronic and acute pain associated with a range of diseases, trauma and their treatments."

The Commentariat -- October 3, 2021

The Pandora Papers. Greg Miller, et al., of the Washington Post: "A massive trove of private financial records shared with The Washington Post exposes vast reaches of the secretive offshore system used to hide billions of dollars from tax authorities, creditors, criminal investigators and -- in 14 cases involving current country leaders -- citizens around the world.... The new material encompasses records from 14 separate financial-services entities.... The revelations include more than $100 million spent by King Abdullah II of Jordan on luxury homes in Malibu, Calif., and other locations; millions of dollars in property and cash secretly owned by the leaders of the Czech Republic, Kenya, Ecuador and other countries; and a waterfront home in Monaco acquired by a Russian woman who gained considerable wealth after she reportedly had a child with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Other disclosures hit closer to home.... South Dakota now rivals notoriously opaque jurisdictions in Europe and the Caribbean in financial secrecy..., some of [the funds sheltered in the state] tied to people and companies accused of human rights abuses and other wrongdoing." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's main story is here. Both the WashPo and Guardian currently have related stories linked on their front pages. The Post is live-updating reactions to some of the revelations.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Kicking the Can Down a Short, Dead-End Road? Ian Duncan of the Washington Post: "The Senate voted Saturday to extend transportation funding programs for a month, a step that grants a reprieve to 3,700 Department of Transportation employees who were furloughed when the money expired on Thursday. The House approved the measure late Friday. President Biden signed the measure into law on Saturday. The fund, designed to provide long-term stability for road and transit projects, expired Thursday night as Democrats clashed over whether to advance a $1 trillion infrastructure bill amid debate that included the future of trillions more in social spending." The Hill's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Jordan Williams of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Saturday set a new deadline of Oct. 31 for the House to pass the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. In a 'Dear Colleague' letter released on Saturday. Pelosi said that 'more time was needed' to pass the infrastructure bill along with the larger, $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package after scrambling over the past two days to get enough votes."

Biden Fingers Manchinema for Sinking His Agenda. Molly Nagle of ABC News: "Speaking with reporters ... [Saturday morning, President] Biden [said,] 'We can bring the moderates and progressives together very easy if we had two more votes. Two. Two people.... I'm going to try and sell what I think the American people will buy,' Biden told reporters.... 'There's nothing in any of these pieces of legislation that's radical....'"

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: Kyrsten Sinema is a hot pink mess (or words to that effect). (Also linked yesterday.)

Ellen Knickmeyer of the AP: "The first Women's March of the Biden administration headed straight for the steps of the Supreme Court on Saturday, part of nationwide protests that drew thousands to Washington to demand continued access to abortion in a year when conservative lawmakers and judges have put it in jeopardy. Demonstrators filled the streets surrounding the court, shouting 'My body, my choice' and cheering loudly to the beat of drums. Before heading out on the march, they rallied in a square near the White House...." MB: Best sign I saw was at the Austin, Texas rally: "Texas, where a virus has reproductive rights and a woman doesn't". Unfortunately, the signmaker is right. (Also linked yesterday.)

María Paúl of the Washington Post: "Police this week released more footage from a dispute between 22-year-old Gabby Petito and her now-missing fiance, Brian Laundrie, putting domestic violence in the spotlight and bringing criticism to the officers who handled the couple's fight. With police being the primary responders to intimate-partner violence incidents, experts have questioned whether they are able to handle these situations correctly -- especially with the complexity of domestic violence. For some, the new video shows that community-led measures are necessary. Others said police need better training." MB: I've linked this story because of what it says about law enforcement's reactions to domestic violence. I can tell you from personal experience (albeit a long time ago) that many male cops don't care about physical assaults on women, even when the injuries are glaring & the woman is calm and coherent.

Forgotten Friends. Miriam Jordan & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "... roughly 53,000 Afghans have been living at [military] bases [in the U.S.] since the chaotic evacuation from Kabul this summer that marked the end of 20 years of war. While many Americans have turned their attention away from the largest evacuation of war refugees since Vietnam, the operation is very much a work in progress here, overseen by a host of federal agencies and thousands of U.S. troops. While an initial group of about 2,600 people -- largely former military translators and others who helped allied forces during the war -- moved quickly into American communities, a vast majority remain stranded on these sprawling military way stations, uncertain of when they will be able to start the new American lives they were expecting. An additional 14,000 people are still on bases abroad, waiting for transfer to the United States.... U.S. officials say the delays are a result of a measles outbreak, medical checks and a vaccination campaign, as well as the need to complete immigration processing.... Most bases in the United States are at or near capacity, and Afghan evacuees waiting on bases in the Middle East, Spain and Germany can be flown in only once space opens up."

Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "The committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection and ... Donald Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election will issue 'criminal referrals' to witnesses who refuse to obey subpoena deadlines, Chair Bennie Thompson said Friday.... The panel is also considering offering limited immunity to some witnesses who might be reluctant to share incriminating information with the committee." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Schmidt & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times profile John Eastman, the lawyer who laid out the framework for a Trump coup: "John Eastman's path from little-known academic to one of the most influential voices in Donald J. Trump's ear in the final days of his presidency began in mid-2019 on Mr. Trump's favorite platform: television. Mr. Trump, who had never met Mr. Eastman, saw him on the Fox News talk show of the far-right commentator Mark Levin railing against the Russia investigation.... Then, after the November election, Mr. Eastman wrote the memo for which he is now best known, laying out steps that Vice President Mike Pence could take to keep Mr. Trump in power.... Mr. Eastman's rise within Mr. Trump's inner circle in the chaotic final weeks of his administration ... underscores the degree to which Mr. Trump not only relied on, but encouraged, a crew of players from the fringes of politics." ~~~

~~~ New York Times Editors: "However horrifying the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol appeared in the moment, we know now that it was far worse. The country was hours away from a full-blown constitutional crisis -- not primarily because of the violence and mayhem inflicted by hundreds of ... Donald Trump's supporters but because of the actions of Mr. Trump himself. In the days before the mob descended on the Capitol, a corollary attack -- this one bloodless and legalistic -- was playing out down the street in the White House, where Mr. Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and a lawyer named John Eastman huddled in the Oval Office, scheming to subvert the will of the American people by using legal sleight-of-hand.... [The scheme] involved Mr. Pence rejecting dozens of already certified electoral votes representing tens of millions of legally cast ballots, thus allowing Congress to install Mr. Trump in a second term.... Democrats should push through [election & voting] reforms now, and eliminate the filibuster if that's the only way to do so. If they hesitate, they should recall that a majority of the Republican caucus in the House -- 139 members -- along with eight senators, continued to object to the certification of electoral votes even after the mob stormed the Capitol."

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Mike Isaac of the New York Times: A "whistle-blower, whose identity has not been publicly disclosed, planned to accuse [Facebook] of relaxing its security safeguards for the 2020 election too soon after Election Day, which then led it to be used in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, according to [an] internal memo obtained by The New York Times. The whistle-blower planned to discuss the allegations on '60 Minutes' on Sunday, the memo said, and was also set to say that Facebook had contributed to political polarization in the United States.... Facebook has been in an uproar for weeks because of the whistle-blower, who has shared thousands of pages of company documents with lawmakers and The Wall Street Journal." The article republishes in full Facebook's pushback memo, written by company veep Nick Clegg, former Deputy Prime Minister of the U.K. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Over the weekend, I have watched parts of a PBS bio of William Randolph Hearst, the ultra-wealthy (for a while) publisher of a chain of "yellow journalism"-style newspapers. Although there was much about Hearst that was different from Mark Zuckerberg, what they have in common is their great wealth, their power over what Americans read and their arrogant irresponsibility when it comes to accounting for the effects of their substandard publications. I see Hearst & Zuckerberg as equally-dangerous and overly-influential in misdirecting American public opinion.

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court embarks Monday on what could be an extraordinarily controversial term, with its justices on the defensive, its actions and structure under a political microscope and abortion -- the most divisive issue of them all -- taking center stage. Before the term ends next summer, the justices will have weighed in on three major public policy disputes -- guns, religious rights and possibly race, if the court takes up a request to once again review affirmative action in university admissions."

Ian Millhiser of Vox on the Nihilism of Neil Gorsuch: Gorsuch "is broadly anti-government, skeptical of democracy and the institutions that make it possible, and eager to centralize power within the judiciary. That worldview and his certitude of its rightness are married with a willingness, even eagerness, to impose draconian consequences on the nation if he catches someone violating his often-quite-unusual ideas about what the rules should be.... [While claiming to interpret the Constitution textually,] Gorsuch's commitment to textualism can be little more than hot air. He is a selective textualist, who frequently evangelizes in favor of this method of interpretation but often abandons it in cases that reach a conservative result.... As Gorsuch votes to limit the franchise and make it easier for Republican lawmakers to skew the results of elections, he has also launched a direct attack on the free press -- an institution that is essential to any democracy.... His jurisprudence shows utter disregard for the norms of ... [the Court] ... to come up with a system of law that can manage a pluralistic society. It's a revolutionary project, breathtaking in its audacity and nihilistic at its core."

Twitterthumbs Trump Asks for Immediate Relief from Twitter Ban. Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump has asked a court to mandate that Twitter restore his social media account. In a filing late Friday, Trump asked a federal district judge for a preliminary injunction enabling his return to Twitter while his lawsuit against the social media giant continues.... [The filing] argued that Twitter was 'censoring' Trump by indefinitely banning him from the platform.... In July, Trump sued Twitter, Facebook and Google, as well as their chief executives, alleging that they unlawfully silenced conservative viewpoints on their platforms and violated his First Amendment rights by suspending his accounts. Legal experts and business associations predicted the lawsuits had little chance of succeeding in court, given that the First Amendment to the Constitution protects against censorship by the government, not by private companies."

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "The woman who has accused Corey Lewandowski of making unwanted sexual advances last weekend has sent a statement to police outlining her allegations against the former Trump adviser. Trashelle Odom, an Idaho-based Trump donor, alleged that while seated next to Lewandowski at a Las Vegas charity dinner, Lewandowski described his genitalia, boasted about his sexual performance and touched her repeatedly, Politico reported on Wednesday. Odom also alleged that Lewandowski intimidated her by claiming that he wielded enormous power over the former president's orbit and that he had committed violent acts earlier in his life." (Also linked yesterday.)

Lloyd Green, in the Guardian, reviews Stephanie Griffith's tell-all (which doesn't necessarily mean truth-telling) memoir of her unhappy years working four different jobs in the Trump White House. "Grisham's book is salacious and score-settling -- but not entertaining.... The spotlight on Melania is unsparing."

Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A Canadian man who narrated two infamous propaganda videos that the Islamic State used to recruit Westerners and to encourage terrorism attacks was secretly whisked to the United States to face federal prosecution in Virginia. The man, Mohammed Khalifa, 38, a Canadian who traveled to Syria in 2013 and later joined the Islamic State, was charged with material terrorism support that resulted in death, according to a criminal complaint made public on Saturday. He was captured in early 2019 by a Kurdish-led militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is backed by the United States. The militia handed over Mr. Khalifa to F.B.I. agents this week, and he was flown to the United States. Mr. Khalifa, who was born in Saudi Arabia, appears to be the first foreign fighter to be prosecuted in the United States during the Biden administration." MB: There's no indicating in Goldman's report that Canada is objecting to U.S. prosecution of Khalifa.

Programming Note. Maria Cramer of the New York Times: "The evangelical leader Pat Robertson said on Friday that he was stepping down as host of the 'The 700 Club' after more than 50 years at the helm of a program that channeled Christian conservatism into millions of American homes and turned him into a household name.... Mr. Robertson said on the show ... that his son Gordon Robertson would take over as host. [Pat] Robertson, 91, made the announcement at the end of the broadcast on Friday, the 60th anniversary of the Christian Broadcasting Network, which Mr. Robertson started in a small station in Portsmouth, Va., in 1961."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

AP: "Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor denied an emergency appeal from a group of teachers to block New York City's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public school teachers and other staff from going into effect. Sotomayor ruled on Friday, after the teachers filed for the injunction with her on Thursday to keep the mandate from going into effect. Under the mandate, the roughly 148,000 school employees had until 5 p.m. Friday to get at least their first vaccine shot. Those who didn't face suspension without pay when schools open on Monday." (Also linked yesterday.)

Karl de Vries & Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Justice Brett Kavanaugh has tested positive for Covid-19, the Supreme Court said Friday, the first publicly known case of coronavirus among the high court's justices. Kavanaugh, who is fully vaccinated, tested positive on Thursday night, the court said in a statement. The justice's immediate family tested negative and he has no symptoms. Kavanaugh underwent a routine Covid test Thursday ahead of fellow Justice Amy Coney Barrett's investiture ceremony Friday, which he will no longer be attending out of precaution, the court said." (Also linked yesterday.)

Isaac Stanley-Becker of the Washington Post: "A template letter [made to sound like a concerned parent expressing impassioned opposition to school mask mandates] circulated by Independent Women's Forum offers a glimpse into a well-resourced campaign [by the Koch fortune & other GOP megadonors] against public health regulations." MB: Oh, don't tell me this anti-mask campaign isn't about politics; I strongly suspect the idea is to make kids sick so President Biden looks bad for not taking control over Covid-19. If that isn't these rich freeedumb-lovers' central motive, I'm sure that find undermining a Democratic President a felicitous side-effect -- even if kids get sick & die. (Also linked yesterday.)

Alaska. Mike Baker of the New York Times: "Nearly two years after the virus began circulating in the United States, some of the scenes here on the country's northern frontier echo the darkest early days of the pandemic: testing supplies are depleted, patients are being treated in hallways and doctors are rationing oxygen [and deciding who lives and who dies].... Through much of the pandemic, Alaska's natural isolation had shielded the state.... But with some pockets of the state wary of taking vaccines and Gov. Mike Dunleavy resisting restrictions to curtail the virus, the state's isolation has become a growing liability as the Delta variant sweeps through.... When the Anchorage Assembly considered a mask mandate last week, some of the doctors who came to speak [in favor of the mandate] were jeered at." ~~~

     ~~~ Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "Sen. Lisa Murkowski gave an impassioned speech Friday on how Alaska's growing coronavirus infection rate has strained the state in unforeseen ways, and she decried protesters comparing mask mandates to actions by the Nazis.... 'We are leading the nation right now in our covid rates,' Murkowski said.... 'If Alaska were a country, it would be the nation with the world's highest per-capita case rate,' Murkowski said.... 'We have had some just horrible, horrible confrontations in our public meetings in Anchorage,' Murkowski said. 'The top of the fold in the Anchorage paper is about an assembly meeting where individuals wore yellow Stars of David to protest the mask ordinance that the Anchorage Assembly was taking up, comparing a mask mandate to the Holocaust. It's shocking.'"

Way Beyond the Beltway

Philippines. Dynastic Ambitions. Jim Gomez & Joeal Calupitan of the AP: "Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday announced he was retiring from politics and dropping plans to run for vice president in next year's elections when his term ends, paving the way for his politician daughter to make a possible bid for the top post. Speaking before reporters, Duterte said many Filipinos have expressed their opposition to his vice-presidential bid in surveys and public forums." (Also linked yesterday.)