The Commentariat -- September 9, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Annie Linskey, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden is announcing sweeping new vaccine mandates Thursday that will impact tens of millions of Americans, pushing all businesses with more than 100 employees to require their workforces to be inoculated or face weekly testing. Biden also will require all health facilities that accept Medicare or Medicaid funding to vaccinate their workforces, which the White House believes will impact 50,000 locations. And the president plans to sign an executive order that would require all federal employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus -- without an option for those who prefer to be regularly tested instead -- in an effort to create a model he hopes state governments and private companies will adopt." CNN's report is here.

Devlin Barrett & Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: "President Biden's Justice Department sued the state of Texas on Thursday to try to block the nation's most restrictive abortion law, which bans the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy and allows private citizens to take legal action against anyone who helps a woman terminate her pregnancy. At a news conference to announce the lawsuit filed in federal court in Austin, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the ban 'is clearly unconstitutional under longstanding Supreme Court precedent.' The suit asks a judge to declare the measure unlawful, block its enforcement and 'protect the rights that Texas has violated.'" The AP story is here.

Dana Farrington of NPR: "Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., announced Thursday that she underwent radiation treatment for breast cancer earlier this year and her doctors recently confirmed that the treatment went well.... A mammogram in February alerted Klobuchar to a possible issue, and a biopsy later confirmed it was stage 1A breast cancer. She completed a course of radiation in May. In her post, Klobuchar noted that many people have delayed routine exams because of the pandemic -- including her."

Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "Lawyers for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) filed an emergency appeal Wednesday evening after a circuit judge earlier that day rejected a previous appeal from the governor, a move that put his ban on school mask mandates on hold and allows school districts to require face coverings in academic buildings for the time being. DeSantis's lawyers are now calling for the automatic stay on his mask mandate ban to be reinstated, which would allow the ban on the mandates toonce again take effect."

~~~~~~~~~~

Biden's Gift to Earth. Ivan Penn of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Wednesday released a plan to produce almost half of the nation's electricity from the sun by 2050 -- something that would require the country to double the amount of solar energy installed every year over the next four years and then double it again by 2030. The expansion of solar energy is part of President Biden's effort to fight climate change, but the new target would represent a huge leap with little historical precedent -- solar energy contributed less than 4 percent of the country's electricity last year. Such a large increase, laid out in an Energy Department report, is in line with what most climate scientists say is needed to stave off the worst effects of global warming. It would require a vast transformation in technology, the energy industry and the way people live.... Getting there will mean trillions of dollars in investments by homeowners, businesses and the government." A UPI story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "The White House pushed out several prominent Trump administration appointees from their posts on the advisory boards of U.S. military service academies, administration officials said on Wednesday. The Biden administration was seeking to ensure that nominees and board members were 'qualified to serve on them' and 'aligned' with the president's values, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said at a White House briefing. Chris Meagher, a White House spokesman, later confirmed that all of the appointees 'either resigned or has been terminated from their position.' Eighteen Trump appointees were asked to resign. They included former White House officials such as Kellyanne Conway..., Donald J. Trump's counselor; Sean Spicer, his first White House press secretary; Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Mr. Trump's second national security adviser; and Russell T. Vought, a former director of the White House Office of Management and Budget under Mr. Trump."

Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that 'the Justice Department could file a lawsuit as soon as Thursday' against Texas's new [anti-abortion] law, which offers citizens $10,000 bounties if they successfully file lawsuits against anyone in the state who performs or even assists in an abortion procedure." The WSJ story is here.

Jennifer Scholtes & Caitlin Emma of Politico: "Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned congressional leaders on Wednesday that she expects the country's debt limit will hit its breaking point next month, dealing a likely blow to the global economy without quick action. In a letter to top lawmakers in both parties, Yellen said the Biden administration's 'best and most recent' calculations suggest that the United States will run out of cash 'during the month of October.' If Congress continues to push off action on the debt limit over the next few weeks, she warned, the uncertainty alone could hurt financial markets."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans are the nation's most egregious tax evaders, failing to pay as much as $163 billion in owed taxes per year, according to a new Treasury Department report released on Wednesday. The analysis comes as the Biden administration is pushing lawmakers to embrace its ambitious proposal to beef up the Internal Revenue Service to narrow the 'tax gap,' which it estimates amounts to $7 trillion in unpaid taxes over a decade. The White House has proposed investing $80 billion in the agency over the next 10 years to hire more enforcement staff, overhaul its technology and usher in new information-reporting requirements that would give the government greater insight into tax evasion schemes." MB: Hey, Joe & Kyrsten, here's some found money that will pay pretty much all of that omnibus infrastructure bill you find too expensive -- without raising taxes. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Guardian's story is here.

Seung Min Kim & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "The White House is planning to withdraw David Chipman's nomination to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives this week amid bipartisan pushback over his gun control advocacy, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. President Biden nominated Chipman, who worked at ATF for more than two decades before joining the gun control group led by former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), in April as part of a larger effort to curb gun violence." MB: It seems to me that advocating for gun control is completely consistent with the ATF's mission. I'm having trouble seeing what the problem is (Joe Manchin?).

Yes, Big Government Programs Work. Jason DeParle of the New York Times: "As 20 million jobs vanished at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and traffic jams formed outside food banks, many experts warned that the twin crises of unemployment and disease would produce soaring rates of hunger. But huge expansions of government aid followed, and data released on Wednesday suggests the extraordinary spending achieved a major goal: Despite shuttered businesses and schools, food insecurity remained unchanged from prepandemic levels. That result defied past experience, when recessions caused food hardship to spike."

Look at Me! Look at Me! Manu Raju of CNN: Sen. Joe Manchin (Dino-W.Va.) "and his staff have been engaged for weeks in intensive negotiations with the chairs of key Senate committees ahead of his party's release of a sprawling bill to expand the social safety net, laying down his demands on a wide-range of issues: health care, education, child care and taxes, according to multiple sources familiar with the talks. And Manchin is making clear he won't cave on aggressive climate provisions sought by many Democrats, throwing a wrench in his party's efforts to make the bill key to combating global warming. With Democrats needing every vote in their caucus to get the bill through the Senate along straight party lines, Manchin has received more attention than any other Democrat, even as others -- like Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema -- have also balked at the $3.5 trillion price tag." MB: Yes, because climate change is a hoax when some of your biggest campaign contributors are oil & gas interests.

Eric Tucker, et al., of the AP: "Law enforcement officials concerned by the prospect for violence at a rally in the nation's capital next week are planning to reinstall protective fencing that surrounded the U.S. Capitol for months after the Jan. 6 insurrection there, according to a person familiar with the discussions.... A security plan that is being finalized calls for a fenced perimeter on the streets immediately surrounding the Capitol building and the Supreme Court, though not around the congressional office buildings nearby, said the person...." MB: Okay, so Capitol & Supreme Court building. I hope they're a little worried about the White House, what with the guy who stole the election from The Furor having taken up residence there. It seems to me the White House would be the focus of any new attack.

Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Frank Scavo, a Donald Trump supporter from Pennsylvania who chartered four buses to D.C. on the day that the U.S. Capitol was attacked, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge on Wednesday. As part of a plea agreement, Scavo pleaded guilty to one of the four counts in his criminal information during a virtual hearing before Judge Royce C. Lamberth. Scavo admitted that he 'willfully and knowingly paraded, demonstrated, and picketed in a Capitol Building.' Scavo, an Old Forge resident who said that about 200 Pennsylvania residents traveled on the trip he organized, initially lied to the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, saying that he and his group 'didn't see what was going on inside the Capitol.' But the news outlet spotted Scavo in news photographs inside the Capitol building. Scavo's plea deal requires him to cooperate with federal authorities." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

This Mom Might Be a Little Too Proud of Her Son. Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "A 34-year-old man [Russell James Peterson] who traveled with his mother to D.C. for ... Donald Trump's Jan. 6 rally and stormed the U.S. Capitol while wearing a '(F**k) your feelings' sweatshirt pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor on Wednesday.... A witness told the FBI that Peterson's mother, Shelly Peterson, had posted on Facebook that her son 'sat in Pelosi's chair.'..."

Life Is Difficult for an Insurrectionist. Tess Owen of Vice: "An Oath Keeper and accused Capitol rioter who owns a tattoo parlor in upstate New York unwittingly poured his heart out to an off-duty FBI agent who'd stopped by his business for an appointment.... Minuta told the group that his life 'had been crazy since 6 January 2021,' according to the unclassified FBI memo. He explained that he was part of the security detail for right-wing operative and Trump ally Roger Stone on Jan. 6. He called the conspiracy charges 'fake,' said he wasn't involved in any conspiracy, and claimed he saw 'antifa' at the Capitol (FYI, there's absolutely no evidence to suggest that antifascist protesters were present at the Capitol). He said he had to turn in his firearms in exchange for being released pending the outcome of his jury trial, and has had some problems with security at airports (plus, his travel is limited). He also talked about how his tattoo parlor had been vandalized in March after he'd been charged in connection with the Capitol riot."

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "The FBI on Wednesday released new video of a person believed to have placed pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters in D.C. the night before the U.S. Capitol riot and revealed that investigators think the suspect is 'not from the area,' as officials made another call for the public's help to solve the case.... The FBI said the person wore a face mask, glasses, a hooded gray sweatshirt, gloves, and black and light gray Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes with a yellow logo." MB: Hmmm, except for the Nikes, the perp seems to be wearing the same outfit I often wear in winter. ~~~

Marie: There are a number of Trump stories in the news these past couple of days: Trump is gearing up his 2024 campaign, Trump is planning rallies in Iowa & someplace else, Trump horrified by removal of Robert E. Lee statue, Trump endorses Liz Cheney's primary race opponent, Trump & Number One Son are providing color commentary for a stock car race or something. I really don't care, do u?

Robert Barnes of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday night granted a last-minute reprieve to a Texas inmate who wants his preacher physically by his side and audibly praying for him at the time of his execution. Just hours before John Henry Ramirez was to be executed, the court issued a one-paragraph order granting his request for a stay. The court will order full briefing and argument in the case, which will be added to the court's docket in October or November.... The Supreme Court has been increasingly siding with death-row inmates in requiring prison officials to allow spiritual advisers." MB: So a break for a vicious murderer but not for Texas victims of rape & incest. Nice work, Supremes.

Joyce Vance, in an MSNBC opinion column: "Last week the Supreme Court did something courts don't usually do: It gutted Roe v. Wade, a landmark legal precedent that stood for almost 50 years.... The majority ducked [the] issues [of the Texas law], simply declining to grant an emergency request to block the Texas law while litigation to determine its constitutionality continues.... The scheme is such a transparent violation of Roe that it would have been laughable a few years ago. But now, suddenly, it isn't. The majority agreed the plaintiffs had presented 'serious questions regarding the constitutionality of the Texas law' but then went on to ignore them.... Under Roe, abortion can't be prohibited, but in Texas it essentially is. The Supreme Court's decision sends a message to women and girls that it won't protect their rights and that they can't be trusted to make the most intimate decisions about their own bodies.... Nothing says women are second-class citizens like the Texas anti-abortion law."

Bannon Banished. James Iman of the Art Newspaper: "After a protracted legal battle, the Italian culture ministry has evicted Benjamin Harnwell, a British Catholic conservative, from the 13th-century Italian monastery where he planned to launch a right-wing political academy with Donald Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon. The ministry is now enlisting a coalition of community groups to open the Certosa di Trisulti to the public and determine what purpose it should serve. But Harnwell, who says he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, has filed a final appeal on the case with the Corte di Cassazione, the Italian Supreme Court."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Joe Biden Is Tired of Trying to Reason with You People. Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden is expected on Thursday to detail his administration's plan to put pressure on private businesses, federal agencies and schools to enact stricter vaccination mandates and testing policies as the Delta variant continues its spread across the United States, pushing the country's daily average caseload over 150,000 for the first time since late January, overwhelming hospitals in hard-hit areas and killing roughly 1,500 people a day. Mr. Biden, who was briefed by his team of coronavirus advisers on Wednesday afternoon, is set to deliver a speech at 5 p.m. that will address about six areas where his administration can encourage -- or, at this point, push -- more eligible Americans to receive vaccines, according to the White House."

Florida. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "A Florida judge on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration for a second time over school mask mandates, allowing school boards to require that students wear face coverings. Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper again sided with parents who said an executive order from DeSantis (R) overstepped the state's authority in restricting school districts from requiring masks. 'We have a variant that's more infectious and more dangerous to children than the one we had last year,' Cooper said when issuing his ruling. 'We're in a non-disputed pandemic situation with threats to young children who, at least based on the evidence, have no way to avoid this unless to stay home and isolate themselves. I think everybody agrees that's not good for them.' Cooper pointed to the guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommends masks for students and staff in schools, calling it the 'the gold standard.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Texas. Jack Douglas & Laura Meckler of the Washington Post: "Masks are now mandatory for students and staff in the Connally Independent School District, on the outskirts of Waco. The decision, made late last week, followed ... two teacher deaths and a surge of cases in the community.... Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in May barred Texas school districts and other governmental entities from requiring masks, saying it should be a matter of personal choice. But as this school year began, with the highly contagious delta variant bearing down, several big-city school districts defied him. Then a court put his order on hold. Now, many smaller, more rural school districts are following their big-city counterparts." MB: Teachers have to die as martyrs to Greg Abbott's stupidity before schools, parents & students wake up to reality. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. The Lowest of Lowlifes. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: "... on Wednesday..., prosecutors in Miami-Dade County announced that they had charged three people for stealing the identities of at least seven Champlain Towers residents [who were victims of the Surfside tower collapse]. Five of them ... had been killed in the June 24 collapse. Two had survived.... In all, the three stole at least $45,000 and attempted to steal an additional $67,000...."

South Carolina. Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post: "At the center of [a saga of a Hampton, South Carolina dynasty] is Alex Murdaugh, 53, the now-resigned lawyer whose wife, Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and 22-year-old son, Paul, were murdered on June 7 at the family's hunting compound a few miles from town. Alex said he discovered their bodies upon returning to the compound. Both had been shot multiple times. In a recording of his 911 call, Alex said that his wife and son needed urgent attention and had been shot 'badly.'... In a 72-hour period last weekend, Alex's law partners informed Alex that he was suspected of misusing firm funds (reportedly in the millions, according to the New York Times), and suggested he resign, which he did.... Then, on Saturday, while allegedly changing a tire..., Alex again called 911 and claimed that someone in a passing truck had shot him. Alex was airlifted to a Savannah, Ga., hospital and released with a 'superficial' head wound. On Monday, Alex declared that he had an addiction and checked into an undisclosed rehab center." There's more.

Texas. Marie: As we learned yesterday, Gov. Greg Abbott stated that Texas women need not worry about becoming impregnated by rapists because Texas would be getting all rapists off the streets. Chris Hayes of MSNBC was wondering how that was going to happen inasmuch as Texas law enforcement agencies currently have a backlog of 6,000 unprocessed rape kits.

Virginia. A Monument to a Traitor Comes Down. Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "After more than a year of legal wrangling, one of the nation's largest Confederate monuments -- a soaring statue of Robert E. Lee, the South's Civil War general -- was hoisted off its pedestal in downtown Richmond, Va., on Wednesday morning. At 8:54 a.m., a man in an orange jacket waved his arms, and the 21-foot statue rose into the air and glided, slowly, to a flatbed truck below. The sun had just come out and illuminated the towering gray pedestal as a small crowd on the east side of the monument let out a cheer.... It was an emotional moment. The Lee statue was erected in 1890, the first of six Confederate monuments -- symbols of white power that dotted the main boulevard in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy. On Wednesday, it became the last of them to be removed, opening up the story of this city to all of its residents to write." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

Wisconsin. Scott Bauer of the AP: "Former Republican officeholders and elections experts said Wednesday that the GOP-ordered investigation into the 2020 presidential election in Wisconsin lacks credibility, transparency and raises security risks and legal concerns."

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. >Marc Santora & Sami Sahak of the New York Times: "Several passenger jets arrived on Thursday morning in Kabul as Taliban officials said that American passport holders and other foreigners would soon be able to fly out of the international airport there, the first passenger flights to leave Afghanistan since the frenzied U.S. military evacuation drew to a close late last month. A U.S. official familiar with the negotiations but who spoke only on the condition of anonymity said that about 200 people had been cleared to leave and that they included Americans and other third-country nationals. Bilal Karimi, a close aide to the Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that three flights from Persian Gulf nations had landed at the airport and that more were expected. They arrived with desperately needed humanitarian aid, Mr. Karimi said, and would be allowed to take off when technical issues involving the radar at the airport had been resolved." MB: Scary thought: the "technical issue" might be they don't have any qualified air traffic controllers.

The Commentariat -- September 8, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Biden's Gift to Earth. Ivan Penn of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Wednesday released a plan to produce almost half of the nation's electricity from the sun by 2050 -- something that would require the country to double the amount of solar energy installed every year over the next four years and then double it again by 2030. The expansion of solar energy is part of President Biden's effort to fight climate change, but the new target would represent a huge leap with little historical precedent -- solar energy contributed less than 4 percent of the country's electricity last year. Such a large increase, laid out in an Energy Department report, is in line with what most climate scientists say is needed to stave off the worst effects of global warming. It would require a vast transformation in technology, the energy industry and the way people live.... Getting there will mean trillions of dollars in investments by homeowners, businesses and the government." A UPI story is here.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans are the nation's most egregious tax evaders, failing to pay as much as $163 billion in owed taxes per year, according to a new Treasury Department report released on Wednesday. The analysis comes as the Biden administration is pushing lawmakers to embrace its ambitious proposal to beef up the Internal Revenue Service to narrow the 'tax gap,' which it estimates amounts to $7 trillion in unpaid taxes over a decade. The White House has proposed investing $80 billion in the agency over the next 10 years to hire more enforcement staff, overhaul its technology and usher in new information-reporting requirements that would give the government greater insight into tax evasion schemes." MB: Hey, Joe & Kyrsten, here's some found money that will pay pretty much all of that omnibus infrastructure bill you find too expensive.

Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post: "Frank Scavo, a Donald Trump supporter from Pennsylvania who chartered four buses to D.C. on the day that the U.S. Capitol was attacked, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge on Wednesday. As part of a plea agreement, Scavo pleaded guilty to one of the four counts in his criminal information during a virtual hearing before Judge Royce C. Lamberth. Scavo admitted that he 'willfully and knowingly paraded, demonstrated, and picketed in a Capitol Building.' Scavo, an Old Forge resident who said that about 200 Pennsylvania residents traveled on the trip he organized, initially lied to the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, saying that he and his group 'didn't see what was going on inside the Capitol.' But the news outlet spotted Scavo in news photographs inside the Capitol building. Scavo's plea deal requires him to cooperate with federal authorities."

Florida. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "A Florida judge on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration for a second time over school mask mandates, allowing school boards to require that students wear face coverings. Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper again sided with parents who said an executive order from DeSantis (R) overstepped the state's authority in restricting school districts from requiring masks. 'We have a variant that's more infectious and more dangerous to children than the one we had last year,' Cooper said when issuing his ruling. 'We're in a non-disputed pandemic situation with threats to young children who, at least based on the evidence, have no way to avoid this unless to stay home and isolate themselves. I think everybody agrees that's not good for them.' Cooper pointed to the guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommends masks for students and staff in schools, calling it the 'the gold standard.'"

Texas. Jack Douglas & Laura Meckler of the Washington Post: "Masks are now mandatory for students and staff in the Connally Independent School District, on the outskirts of Waco. The decision, made late last week, followed ... two teacher deaths and a surge of cases in the community.... Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in May barred Texas school districts and other governmental entities from requiring masks, saying it should be a matter of personal choice. But as this school year began, with the highly contagious delta variant bearing down, several big-city school districts defied him. Then a court put his order on hold. Now, many smaller, more rural school districts are following their big-city counterparts." MB: Teachers have to die as martyrs to Greg Abbott's stupidity before schools, parents & students wake up to reality.

A Monument to a Traitor Comes Down. Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "After more than a year of legal wrangling, one of the nation's largest Confederate monuments -- a soaring statue of Robert E. Lee, the South's Civil War general -- was hoisted off its pedestal in downtown Richmond, Va., on Wednesday morning. At 8:54 a.m., a man in an orange jacket waved his arms, and the 21-foot statue rose into the air and glided, slowly, to a flatbed truck below. The sun had just come out and illuminated the towering gray pedestal as a small crowd on the east side of the monument let out a cheer.... It was an emotional moment. The Lee statue was erected in 1890, the first of six Confederate monuments -- symbols of white power that dotted the main boulevard in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy. On Wednesday, it became the last of them to be removed, opening up the story of this city to all of its residents to write." ~~~

~~~~~~~~~

Katie Rogers & Juliet Macur of the New York Times: "President Biden warned Americans on Tuesday that Hurricane Ida's lethal destruction was the sure sign of a nation and world 'in peril' from climate change and said drastic action would be needed to prevent extreme weather patterns from worsening. 'They all tell us this is code red,' Mr. Biden said from a neighborhood in Queens, referencing scientific research that suggests a growing number of Americans are vulnerable to extreme weather events.... A trip through storm-battered areas of New Jersey and New York City gave Mr. Biden an opportunity to show his commitment to the federal government's storm response and to build support for an infrastructure package that he has promised would help safeguard against future storms. While he was traveling, the White House sent Congress an urgent funding request for $14 billion to aid recovery from natural disasters that occurred before Hurricane Ida and to avert a government shutdown on Oct. 1." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the transcript of President Biden's remarks, as delivered, via the White House.

Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Merrick Garland's vow to protect women's right to choose abortion while officials explore challenging a Texas law that severely restricts the procedure offers more bark than bite, legal analysts say, with abortion rights proponents pressing for more aggressive steps. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee called Tuesday for Garland to take the dramatic step of criminally prosecuting those who seek to enforce the law, which effectively bans abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy. Republicans and supporters of the measure, meanwhile, decried what they saw as Justice Department overreach to block a law where the Supreme Court would not.... Department officials have been discussing other ways to get involved in recent days, and Garland said they had reached out to U.S. attorneys' offices and FBI field offices in Texas and across the country 'to discuss our enforcement authorities.'"

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The White House budget office Tuesday sent Congress an 'urgent' spending request asking for tens of billions of dollars in natural disaster relief and Afghanistan resettlement funding as the administration tries to respond to both emergencies. The White House is asking for $14 billion in aid to respond to natural disasters that occurred before Hurricane Ida, as well as $6.4 billion to pay for the ongoing relocation of tens of thousands of Afghans who partnered with the United States during the war in Afghanistan. The administration anticipates that another $10 billion will have to be approved in disaster relief for Hurricane Ida, as well. As part of the request, White House Office of Management and Budget acting director Shalanda Young called for Congress to approve a short-term extension in government funding so that there isn't a partial government shutdown Oct. 1."

Thanks, Heidi! Jonathan Weisman, et al., of the New York Times: Former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp [D] has emerged as the smiling face of a well-financed effort to defeat a proposed tax increase that is crucial to funding the $3.5 trillion social spending bill at the heart of President Biden's agenda. Her effort is indicative of the difficult slog ahead as the business lobby mobilizes to chip away at Democrats' tax-raising ambitions, which some lawmakers say will have to be scaled back to maintain party unity, an assessment the White House has disputed.... Corporate interests, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and Americans for Tax Reform, have mobilized a multifaceted lobbying and advertising blitz to stop the tax increases -- or at least mitigate them.... On Thursday, the House Ways and Means Committee is set to begin formally drafting its voluminous piece of the 10-year measure to combat climate change and reweave the nation's social safety net, with paid family and medical leave, expanded public education, new Medicare benefits and more. The committee's purview includes much of that social policy, but also the tax increases needed to pay for it."

I will pursue as my primary goal in life the killer or killers who slaughtered Nicole and Mr. Goldman. -- O.J. Simpson, vowing to find the real killers

We will run our own investigation. -- Kevin McCarthy, vowing to find the real insurrectionists

Kevin McCarthy is the O.J. Simpson of Jan 6. -- Dana Milbank (or his headline writer)

~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "How deeply, an interviewer asked [Kevin McCarthy], was ... Donald Trump involved in the events of Jan. 6? 'The FBI has investigated this,' McCarthy replied. 'The Senate had bipartisan committees that come back. And you know what they have found? That there is no involvement.'... To the extent that McCarthy has control over what comes out of his mouth, what he voiced was a lie. The Senate probe avoided the question of Trump's role, and the FBI has reached no such conclusion.... McCarthy embodies the corruption of truth that has consumed the GOP.... [Among other things,] he's threatening telecom companies that cooperate with the committee's request to preserve phone and social media records of people (including lawmakers) who may have been involved in the insurrection.... What did McCarthy mean? Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), a rising power in the House GOP, explained on Fox News that if telecom companies 'go along with this, they will be shut down -- and that's a promise.'"

Charles Pierce of Esquire: "The world's most predictable exercise in public hypocrisy is unfolding right on schedule. After spending a couple of weeks belaboring the administration over how it allegedly left our Afghan allies behind, even as the administration airlifted some 125,000 people out of a war zone, the Republicans -- and a few too many people in the elite political press -- are now trafficking in Scary Brown People stories regarding the administration's attempts to resettle some of our Afghan allies, and their children, in this country." Pierce points to a Wisconsin Public Radio story about the president pro tem of the state senate -- one Patrick Testin -- and U.S. Rep. U.S. Tom Tiffany [R], are most exercised about "the mass entry of foreigners from a known hotbed of terrorism" into a refugee camp to be located in the state. "The New York Times is on this story, too, but, as expected, is soft-pedaling the utter two-faced mendacity of the Republican Party. It's not the hypocrisy, you see, it's the 'schism.'" Pierce provides "a fine example of a kind of pure Timesian euphemistic lullaby." Pierce's post is firewalled.

Felicia Sonmez & Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post: "Jason Miller, a former senior adviser to Donald Trump, said Tuesday that he was briefly detained and questioned by Brazilian authorities on a day in which the South American country inched yet closer to a full-blown constitutional crisis. In a statement, Miller, the chief executive of the social media site Gettr, said that he and other members of his traveling party were 'questioned for three hours at the airport in Brasilia, after having attended this weekend's CPAC Brasil Conference,' before eventually being released to fly back to the United States.... According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Miller's questioning was ordered by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.... In recent weeks, de Moraes has signed off on the arrest of multiple supporters of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro as his office oversees a national investigation into misinformation." MB: This makesme very sad, said Miller didn't get at least an overnight stay in a dank Brazilian jail.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Perry Bacon of the Washington Post on how Politico wrecked mainstream political journalism: "... early in the Obama years, it became clear that the ... most important stories in American politics were the deepening polarization of the American electorate along cultural and racial lines and the growing radicalization of the GOP. But a Politico-ized national political press was both largely unwilling and in some ways unable to center its coverage on those realities. So the press spent much of the Obama years acting as if the opposition to him was solely because he had a liberal policy ideas ... -- and not because [President] Obama had become both the leader and a symbol of a multicultural America whose values are opposed by many on the right. Wary of angering Republican readers, much of the mainstream press refused to cast the GOP as drifting into radical and racist behavior, even when prominent Republicans would not acknowledge that Obama was born in the United States. The coverage of the 2016 campaign in particular was abysmal. The focus on Hillary Clinton's emails stemmed from the media's reflexive both sides-ism, and an obsession with feuds among Donald Trump's staffers reflected an insider-focused approach to politics gone too far."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "The C.D.C. reported a terrifying fact in July: Vaccinated people with the Delta variant of the Covid virus carried roughly the same viral load in their noses and throats as unvaccinated people. The news seemed to suggest that even the vaccinated were highly vulnerable to getting infected and passing the virus to others.... In recent weeks, however, more data has become available, and it suggests that the true picture is less alarming.... If you're vaccinated, a Covid infection is still uncommon, and those high viral loads are not as worrisome as they initially sounded. How small are the chances of the average vaccinated American contracting Covid? Probably about one in 5,000 per day, and even lower for people who take precautions or live in a highly vaccinated community." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Fauci States the Obvious. Madeline Holcombe of CNN: "Dr. Anthony Fauci says there's an important step adults can take to protect children who are too young to be vaccinated against Covid-19. 'The way you protect children who, because of their age, cannot get vaccinated yet is to surround the children ... surround the children with vaccinated people,' the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN on Sunday. More children have needed emergency room visits and hospitalizations in states with lower vaccination rates, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Florida. Stupidest Remark of Last Week. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Ron DeSantis on Covid-19 vaccinations: "At the end of the day ... it's about your health and whether you want that protection or not.... It really doesn't impact me or anyone else." For the stupidest remark of this week, see Greg Abbott, Texas, linked below.

Idaho. Rebecca Boone of the AP: "Idaho public health leaders announced Tuesday that they activated 'crisis standards of care' allowing health care rationing for the state's northern hospitals because there are more coronavirus patients than the institutions can handle. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare quietly enacted the move Monday and publicly announced it in a statement Tuesday morning -- warning residents that they may not get the care they would normally expect if they need to be hospitalized. The move came as the state's confirmed coronavirus cases skyrocketed in recent weeks. Idaho has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S."

South Dakota. Ashish Jha in a Washington Post op-ed: "The annual Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota ... was ... a serious pandemic stress test.... The best data suggests that at least 75 percent of the entire South Dakota population has some degree of immunity against the virus.... South Dakota, despite its middling vaccination rates, probably has among the highest levels of population immunity in the nation, driven largely by horrifying winter outbreaks.... But unfortunately..., in the weeks since the rally began in early August, infection numbers have shot up more than 600 percent in South Dakota. We can expect to see big increases in other states, too, since bikers returned home from the event. Last year..., much of the region was aflame because of Sturgis, probably causing thousands of deaths.... Over the past year, every time we have tried to defy the virus by scorning precautions, the virus has won...."

Beyond the Beltway

New York. Republican Local Official (Allegedly) Behaving Badly. Lauren Frias of Business Insider, reprinted in Yahoo! News: "A deputy mayor of a city in New York state faces federal charges after authorities discovered unregistered firearms and bogus badges for federal agencies, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday. Last week, Brian Downey, a Republican who serves as deputy mayor of Airmont, New York, was taken into custody for 'purchasing a rifle suppression device over the internet,' according to a statement from the Rockland County District Attorney's Office. Authorities later executed a search warrant on his home and found at least 13 illegal suppressors and 16 unregistered assault weapons, including a short-barrel rifle and sawed-off shotgun. The firearms were displayed on a rack in a room of Downey's house, which authorities dubbed the 'Gun Room,' according to the complaint. Alongside the illegal firearms, law enforcement officers also found a small locked box, to which Downey claimed he did not have the combination. After forcing the box open, [authorities found] it contained 'numerous federal badges and credentials' bearing Downey's name from various agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Justice Department's Bureau of Prisons, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation." The Washington Post's story is here.

Texas. Eva Moravec of the Washington Post: "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday signed into law a bill that creates strict new voting rules in the state, ending a months-long effort by Democrats to stall the legislation by denying Republicans a quorum in the House. But the law already faces at least five challenges in state and federal courts, with dozens of organizations and individuals suing Texas GOP leaders and local elections officials." ~~~

     ~~~ Stupidest Remark of the Week. And it was only Tuesday: "During a Tuesday press conference, [Gov.] Greg Abbott said the law gives rape victims up to six weeks to get abortion[s] and thus 'does not do that [force victims to have their assaulter's child]. Let's be clear: rape is a crime. And Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Apparently Greg there imagines that rapists are a lot like jaywalkers; Texas lawmen will find them walking down the street. (The vast majority of rapes are committed by someone known to the victim & very few are reported to law enforcement.) I would like to hear from those Texas law enforcement officials who can fulfill Abbott's goal to "eliminate all rapists," as we would all be glad to know how that might be accomplished. When you're a Republican Who Would Be President, making stupid, fact-averse remarks is a feature, not a bug.

Wisconsin Senate Race. Democratic Local Official (Allegedly) Behaving Badly. Natalie Prieb of the Hill: "Milwaukee City Councilwoman Chantia Lewis [D], who is running for the Senate seat held by Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), was charged Tuesday with four felonies for allegedly stealing $21,000 from her own campaign and lying about it. The criminal complaint said Lewis used funds from her campaign to travel to a worship conference in Florida, pay tuition for classes at a bible college and go on family trips, as well as pay for personal expenses like car and credit card bills, TMJ4 reports."

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. Jim Huylebroek & Matthieu Aikins of the New York Times: "The Taliban announced their choices for several acting cabinet positions on Tuesday, but held off on formally announcing a permanent government for Afghanistan.... The announcement came just hours after the Taliban used force to break up a demonstration by hundreds of women in Kabul. The protesters called for the Taliban to respect their rights and made it clear that they would not easily surrender the gains they have made over the past two decades. Running a government will most likely prove more daunting than toppling one. To succeed, the Taliban will need to secure desperately needed aid, which has been frozen by the United States and other nations. Foreign governments and lenders are waiting to see the fate of the opposition and if rights for women and ethnic and religious minorities will be respected. Without that money, the government faces worsening challenges, including humanitarian and economic crises that have forced Afghans to flee. Basic services like electricity are under threat, and the United Nations warned that food aid would run out by the end of the month for hundreds of thousands of Afghans." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ AP: "An Afghan employee of an American organization in Afghanistan says the Taliban are blocking her and hundreds of other people from boarding charter evacuation flights out of Afghanistan.... The U.S. organization, Ascend, has worked for years with Afghan women and girls. The woman is among several hundred people, reportedly including American citizens and green card holders, who say they have been waiting in large residence halls and hotels for more than a week for permission to board waiting charter flights out of the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.... She says the American citizens she has met in the group are vulnerable people in their 70s, parents of Afghan Americans in the United States. Taliban officials say they will let people who have the proper passports and other documentation leave. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday denied claims from Republican lawmakers that the situation in Mazar-e-Sharif amounted to a hostage-taking...." (Als linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This morning, a representative of a rescue operation, speaking on CNN, said that his organization had to move vulnerable Afghans through 20 "checkpoints," where the "checkers" demanded payoffs of up to $4,000 for each person they allowed through. I don't know if that's true, but assuming it is, demanding huge bounties is, IMO, comparable to hostage-taking. ~~~

~~~ Back to the Future. Akhtar Makoii in the Guardian: "The Taliban have started replacing murals on Kabul's streets with paintings of their flags and Islamic slogans as the new rulers continued to reimpose their austere vision on Afghanistan. The [painted-over] murals addressed everything from the killing of George Floyd in the US and the drowning of Afghan refugees in Iran, to the signing of the US-Taliban agreement towards peace and murder of a Japanese aid worker."

Mexico. Mary Beth Sheridan & Alejandra Chaoul of the Washington Post: "Mexico's supreme court voted unanimously on Tuesday to decriminalize abortion, a striking step in a country with one of the world's largest Catholic populations and a move that contrasts sharply with tighter restrictions introduced across the border in Texas." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. MB: Okey-doke, Texas, time for some abortion tourism south of the border. ~~~

~~~ Samantha Beech & Rafael Romo of CNN: "A powerful earthquake struck the southwest of Mexico late Tuesday, causing widespread shaking as far away as Mexico City and killing at least one person. The United States Geological Survey said the 7.0 magnitude quake struck 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) east-northeast of Los Órganos de San Agustín, about eight miles from the Pacific Coast beach resort city of Acapulco. It was measured at an initial depth of 7.8 miles (12.6 kilometers). At least 92 aftershocks were recorded, including one with a magnitude of 5.2, the Mexican State Civil Protection Secretariat said." MB: As Ken W. points out in today's Comments, the second event (the earthquake) is no doubt God's response to the first event (the supreme court's decision to decriminalize abortion).

News Lede

New York Times: "Dangerous swells from Hurricane Larry were expected to reach the East Coast beginning Wednesday, although its current track does not suggest the powerful storm will make landfall in the United States, according to the National Hurricane Center. As of Wednesday morning, Larry was about 500 miles southeast of Bermuda and moving northwest at 13 miles per hour, the Hurricane Center said. The Category 3 storm has maximum sustained winds of 110 m.p.h., but forecasters expect it to weaken in the coming days. Bermuda was under a tropical storm warning, with high winds expected late Wednesday or early Thursday. Swells generated by Larry were affecting parts of the Caribbean and could produce 'life-threatening surf and rip current conditions' in the United States and Canada through the end of the week, the Hurricane Center said."

The Commentariat -- September 7, 2021

Afternoon Update:

David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "The C.D.C. reported a terrifying fact in July: Vaccinated people with the Delta variant of the Covid virus carried roughly the same viral load in their noses and throats as unvaccinated people. The news seemed to suggest that even the vaccinated were highly vulnerable to getting infected and passing the virus to others.... In recent weeks, however, more data has become available, and it suggests that the true picture is less alarming.... If you're vaccinated, a Covid infection is still uncommon, and those high viral loads are not as worrisome as they initially sounded. How small are the chances of the average vaccinated American contracting Covid? Probably about one in 5,000 per day, and even lower for people who take precautions or live in a highly vaccinated community."

Fauci States the Obvious. Madeline Holcombe of CNN: "Dr. Anthony Fauci says there's an important step adults can take to protect children who are too young to be vaccinated against Covid-19. 'The way you protect children who, because of their age, cannot get vaccinated yet is to surround the children ... the children with vaccinated people,' the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN on Sunday. More children have needed emergency room visits and hospitalizations in states with lower vaccination rates, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Afghanistan. Jim Huylebroek & Matthieu Aikins of the New York Times: "The Taliban announced their choices for several acting cabinet positions on Tuesday, but held off on formally announcing a permanent government for Afghanistan.... The announcement came just hours after the Taliban used force to break up a demonstration by hundreds of women in Kabul. The protesters called for the Taliban to respect their rights and made it clear that they would not easily surrender the gains they have made over the past two decades. Running a government will most likely prove more daunting than toppling one. To succeed, the Taliban will need to secure desperately needed aid, which has been frozen by the United States and other nations. Foreign governments and lenders are waiting to see the fate of the opposition and if rights for women and ethnic and religious minorities will be respected. Without that money, the government faces worsening challenges, including humanitarian and economic crises that have forced Afghans to flee. Basic services like electricity are under threat, and the United Nations warned that food aid would run out by the end of the month for hundreds of thousands of Afghans." ~~~

~~~ AP: "An Afghan employee of an American organization in Afghanistan says the Taliban are blocking her and hundreds of other people from boarding charter evacuation flights out of Afghanistan.... The U.S. organization, Ascend, has worked for years with Afghan women and girls. The woman is among several hundred people, reportedly including American citizens and green card holders, who say they have been waiting in large residence halls and hotels for more than a week for permission to board waiting charter flights out of the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.... She says the American citizens she has met in the group are vulnerable people in their 70s, parents of Afghan Americans in the United States. Taliban officials say they will let people who have the proper passports and other documentation leave. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday denied claims from Republican lawmakers that the situation in Mazar-e-Sharif amounted to a hostage-taking...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This morning, a representative of a rescue operation, speaking on CNN, said that his organization had to move vulnerable Afghans through 20 "checkpoints," where the "checkers" demanded payoffs of up to $4,000 for each person they allowed through. I don't know if that's true, but assuming it is, demanding huge bounties is, IMO, comparable to hostage-taking.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hamza Shaban of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department is exploring 'all options' to challenge Texas's restrictive abortion law, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday, as he vowed to provide support to abortion clinics that are 'under attack' in the state and to protect those seeking and providing reproductive health services. The move by the nation's top law enforcement official comes just days after the Supreme Court refused to block a Texas abortion statute that bans the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. The court's action stands as the most serious threat to Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling establishing a woman's right to abortion, in nearly 50 years." An AP story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Here's a statement from Garland.

Abigail Williams & Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "The U.S. facilitated the safe departure of four American citizens overland from Afghanistan on Monday, a senior State Department official said. The news came while Secretary of State Antony Blinken was en route to Doha, Qatar.... 'The Taliban was aware and did not impede their transit,' the official said, adding that the Americans were in good condition."

Republicans Are Winning. Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "This year alone, 12 states have passed income tax reductions, 17 states have increased voting restrictions that are expected to hit Democratic constituencies more critically, and 18 states have enacted new or expanded school choice programs, according to the tallies kept by interest groups. Republican governors in several states have also had success in undermining President Biden's efforts to require masks for schoolchildren and others in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus.... By focusing on state and judicial power, Republicans are enjoying something of a provincial policy renaissance. Democrats, meantime, face new pressures to wield their power more aggressively by breaking long-standing precedent.... The success has rewarded a long-running Republican strategy of looking beyond the top-line national ballot trend to focus on state and local elections and judicial appointments." ~~~

~~~ Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "Red and blue states are increasingly moving in opposite directions on how millions of Americans can cast their ballots, exacerbating a growing divide as Republicans in states across the country -- most recently Texas -- impose new voting restrictions, while Democrats in others expand access. The conflicting trends are widening the disparities in election policy in the wake of the 2020 election, with Republicans heeding ... Donald Trump's calls to tighten rules and Democrats moving to make permanent many voting policies that helped turnout soar during the pandemic. At least 18 states this year enacted 30 laws restricting access to voting, according to an analysis as of mid-July by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice." ~~~

~~~ Zach Montellaro of Politico:"GOP legislative leaders in key battleground states are increasingly embracing 2020 election investigations that they once held at arm's length, as Arizona Republicans await a long-delayed final report from their own conspiracy-tinged 'audit.' Top Republicans in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have recently thrown their support behind new hunts for fraud or irregularities in the last election. Pennsylvania state Senate President Jake Corman sidelined a prominent Republican backbencher who had tried to lead an investigation and instead empowered a committee chair to launch one with his support. That effort is hiring vendors and scheduling hearings.... It's the next stage in GOP efforts to export the Republican election review in Arizona elsewhere, after state legislators from around the country made pilgrimages to Arizona to see the Republican state Senate's process there."

Charles Blow of the New York Times: "One hundred years ago this week, The New York World began to publish a 21-part explosive exposé on the inner workings of the Ku Klux Klan.... I was struck by just how resilient Klan ideology has been in the years since The World exposed the group's systems and rituals; its ideas have been repackaged and dressed up -- or, disrobed, as it were -- but the core tenets remain the same. I was even struck by how many of the same tactics are still being used to preserve white supremacy and subjugate racial, ethnic and religious minorities in this country.... By the early 1920s, [the Klan's] leaders had moved on from primarily anti-Black hatred. To grow the brand, they had to grow the ring of bias.... Furthermore, the Klan realized, much as Trump did, that hate was an industry and that the right -- or wrong -- man could milk it for profit.... The core ideology of the Klan lives on in a more palatable form.... One hundred years later, pointy-hat white supremacy has evolved into soft-shoe white supremacy: same goal, less gauche."

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy organization, was ousted by the group's board on Monday night over a report revealing that he had advised former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on how to handle sex harassment allegations. Mr. David, the group's first Black president, was terminated 'for cause' in separate votes by the boards of the Human Rights Campaign and its affiliated foundation after the two boards held a joint meeting. Beyond two abstentions from the foundation board, the votes were unanimous.... Mr. David, who had worked as a lawyer in Mr. Cuomo's office, was identified in the [Letitia] James report as involved in efforts to undermine Mr. Cuomo's first accuser, Lindsey Boylan."

Ali Soufan in a Washington Post op-ed: "... the terrorism era is far from over. A new, more dangerous phase has begun. Despite the Taliban's protestations to the contrary, al-Qaeda remains fused to the militants running Afghanistan, by an oath made by Osama bin Laden, and twice renewed by his successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri. In May, a U.N. monitoring group said of al-Qaeda that 'it would be difficult, if not impossible, to separate it from its Taliban allies.' Al-Qaeda is hardly the only terrorist group with a presence in Afghanistan. Most prominently, the local Islamic State affiliate, ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, is a deadly threat, as shown by the horrific bombings at the Kabul airport last month. Afghanistan is on the verge of again becoming a hub for terrorism. Even before the Taliban fully took over, various extremist groups were running training camps there, the way they did before 9/11.... Afghanistan is now far from the only country in the region where extremist groups hold sway.... There is little the United States can do about it, because as these groups expand their power, America appears to be in retreat. Over the past decade or so, the United States has systematically dismantled its influence across most of the region's flash points."

"Always Look on the Bright Side." Miriam Jordan & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Throughout the United States, Americans across the political spectrum are stepping forward to welcome Afghans who aided the U.S. war effort in one of the largest mass mobilizations of volunteers since the end of the Vietnam War.... In a nation that is polarized on issues from abortion to the coronavirus pandemic, Afghan refugees have cleaved a special place for many Americans, especially those who worked for U.S. forces and NGOs, or who otherwise aided the U.S. effort to free Afghanistan from the Taliban. The moment stands in contrast to the last four years when the country, led by a president who restricted immigration and enacted a ban on travel from several majority-Muslim countries, was split over whether to welcome or shun people seeking safe haven." PD Pepe reminded us in yesterday's Comments of Monty Python's ironical admonition, but in fact there are a few bright lights dotting our shameful horizon. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. The Freedom Phone, a Smartphone for Dimwits. Jack Nicas of the New York Times: There is "a growing right-wing tech industry taking on the challenge [or providing services for so-called conservatives], relying more on their conservative customers' distaste for Silicon Valley than expertise or experience. There are cloud providers hosting right-wing websites, a so-called free-speech video site competing with YouTube and at least seven conservative social networks trying to compete with Facebook." The story profiles an obnoxious twit named Eric Finman, who introduced -- with little preparation & a crap Chinese android phone -- the "Freedom Phone." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here: "More than 40 million cases of the coronavirus have been recorded in the United States, according to a New York Times database.... Vaccines are effective in preventing severe disease and death, but 47 percent of Americans are not fully vaccinated.... No U.S. state has more than 70 percent of its population fully vaccinated, according to federal data.... After reading a list of people who died in his state from causes related to the disease since Friday, [Gov. Jim] Justice [R-W.Va.] pleaded with the unvaccinated people of West Virginia to get inoculated.... Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that unvaccinated Americans should avoid travel. But ... T.S.A. checkpoints recorded 2.13 million travelers through U.S. airports on Friday, close to the number on the Friday before Labor Day two years ago." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Tuesday are here.

Never realized asterisks were Chinese characters. Thanks to Forrest M. for the link. Forrest is rightly concerned that MAGAs won't be able to figure out that the billboard advertises the $7.50 buffet.

Ohio. Jake Zuckerman of the Ohio Capital Journal: "A Butler County judge sided with a local hospital and reversed a previous court order forcing it to honor a prescription of ivermectin, which infectious disease experts have warned against as a COVID-19 treatment, for a patient who has spent weeks in the ICU with the disease. After two days of testimony and arguments, Common Pleas Judge Michael Oster issued an order Monday siding with West Chester Hospital. He said the hospital bears no duty to honor a prescription written for Jeffrey Smith, 51, for ivermectin, a drug used as a dewormer in horses and an anti-parasitic in humans.... Julie Smith [-- who brought the original suit on behalf of her husband Jeffrey --] testified that neither she nor her husband were vaccinated against COVID-19. She said it was 'experimental,' so she didn't trust it." Read on. The doctor who prescribed ivermectin for Jeffrey is not board-certified, hasn't worked in a hospital for ten years, and has neither seen Jeffrey nor reviewed his medical records. But hey.

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota. Oh, Could It Be Obstruction of Justice? Jacey Fortin of the New York Times: "Minnesota State Patrol troopers deleted text messages and emails shortly after responding to protests that erupted over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last year, according to a major who testified in federal court in July. The testimony was included in court documents that were released on Friday as part of a lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed last year on behalf of journalists who said they had been assaulted by law enforcement officers while covering the protests. 'The purge was neither accidental, automated nor routine,' lawyers with the A.C.L.U. said in a court memo on Friday, adding that no one had been able to review the deleted communications to see if they might have been relevant to the case."

Virginia. Denise Lavoie of the AP: "A towering statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, is set to come down on Wednesday, more than 130 years after it was built as a tribute to a Civil War hero who is now widely seen as a symbol of racial injustice, state officials said Monday. 'Virginia's largest monument to the Confederate insurrection will come down this week,' Gov. Ralph Northam said in news release on Monday. 'This is an important step in showing who we are and what we value as a commonwealth.' The imposing, 21-foot (6.4-meter) tall bronze likeness of Lee on a horse sits atop a granite pedestal nearly twice that high in the grassy center of a traffic circle on Richmond's famed Monument Avenue.... The Northam administration has said it would seek public input on the statue's future."

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. Frud Bezhan of Radio Azadi in Informed Comment: "The Taliban has imposed a new dress code and gender segregation for women at private universities and colleges in Afghanistan, in line with a decree issued to educational institutions and obtained by RFE/RL. All female students, teachers, and staff must wear an Islamic abaya robe and niqab that covers the hair, body, and most of the face, according to the extensive document issued by the Taliban-run Education Ministry on September 5. The garments must be black, the text added, and women must also wear gloves to ensure their hands are covered. Classes must also be segregated by gender -- or at least divided by a curtain -- according to the order, which added that female students must be taught only by other women. But it added, though, that 'elderly men' of good character could fill in if there were no female teachers. Since seizing power after the collapse of the internationally recognized government in Kabul last month, the Taliban has said 'women and girls will have all their rights within Islam.'"

Australia. Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Damien Cave of the New York Times: "After years of casting doubt on climate change and attacking politicians who favored corrective action, Rupert Murdoch's media outlets in his native Australia are planning an editorial campaign next month advocating a carbon-neutral future. Depending on its content, the project, described by executives at Mr. Murdoch's News Corp on Monday, could be a breakthrough that provides political cover for Australia's conservative government to end its refusal to set ambitious emission targets. If sustained, it could also put pressure on Fox News and other Murdoch-owned outlets in the United States and Britain that have been hostile to climate science."

Belarus. Andrew Roth of the Guardian: "A Belarusian court has sentenced the senior opposition leader Maria Kalesnikava to 11 years in prison, punishing one of the most prominent opponents of the country's authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko. Kalesnikava, a leader of the opposition's coordination council, was one of three women last year who united to lead an uprising in which tens of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets in the largest protests in the country's modern history."

Mexico. Goodbye, Columbus. Adela Suliman & Sofia Mateus of the Washington Post: "A statue of divisive European explorer Christopher Columbus that was on prominent display in Mexico City will be replaced with a figure of an Indigenous woman, the city's mayor said this weekend, as the country becomes the latest to reckon with the public commemoration of its past. The looming Columbus figure had stood tall on the Paseo de la Reforma boulevard for over 100 years, but on Sunday the mayor of the capital city, Claudia Sheinbaum, said it was time for a change of landscape and to make way for a monument that delivers 'social justice.'"

News Lede

New York Times: "Adlai E. Stevenson 3d, a scion of generations of Illinois Democrats, who shared the names and presidential ambitions of his father and great-grandfather but not their political successes, serving a decade in the Senate and losing two races for governor, died on Monday at his home in Chicago. He was 90."