The Commentariat -- September 6, 2021

Afternoon Update:

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."

"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 reminds us in today's Comments of Monty Python's ironical admonition, but in fact there are a few bright lights dotting our shameful horizon.

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."

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Marie: I hoped I would not have use for this Labor Day illustration again.~~~ Happy Labor Day. P.S. No More Jobless Benefits. Yeganeh Torbati, et al., of the New York Times: "More than 7 million out-of-work people across the United States are set to lose all of their jobless benefits this week as three federal programs expire on Monday, in what several experts described as one of the largest and most abrupt ends to government aid in U.S. history. In addition to the more than 7 million people who will lose all their benefits, nearly 3 million more people will lose a $300 weekly boost to their state unemployment benefits." The Hill's story is here.

Anne Barnard of the New York Times: "As residents scrambled to clean up and assess damage from catastrophic flash floods that swept the Northeast last week, President Biden prepared to visit hard-hit areas in New York and New Jersey, where he will confront political ferment that is growing over the climate-driven disaster. The lethal deluge from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, which killed more than 45 people in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, has amped up battles that began in 2012 with Hurricane Sandy over how to slow climate change and protect communities. The floods are already sharpening debate over whether city, state and national leaders are doing enough -- even those who, like Mr. Biden, publicly champion strong measures." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'd like to know how President Biden is supposed to take many effective measures against climate change when Joe Manchin & Kyrsten Sinema & all 50 Republican Senators think either that climate change is a hoax or that the best way to deal with it is to drill for more oil, send shale slurry through pipelines from Canada to Lake Charles and frack their way through the Midwest. ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Falconer of Axios: "Global warming is affecting people's health — and world leaders need to address the climate crisis now as it can't wait until the COVID-19 pandemic is over, editors of over 230 medical journals warned Sunday evening.... This is the first time so many publications have come together to issue such a joint statement to world leaders, underscoring the severity of the situation -- with the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Lancet and the British Medical Journal among those issuing the warning. Ahead of this November's UN general assembly and the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, the journals warned: 'The greatest threat to global public health is the continued failure of world leaders to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5C and to restore nature.'"

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The U.S. military's top officer asserted last week that a drone attack on a sedan near the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, was a 'righteous strike' that foiled a plot by the Islamic State in the waning hours of the immense evacuation effort. The officer, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that secondary explosions after the drone strike last Sunday supported the military's conclusion that the car contained explosive s-- either suicide vests or a large bomb. General Milley said that military planners took proper precautions beforehand to limit risks to civilians nearby. But the military's preliminary analysis of the strike and the circumstances surrounding it offer much less conclusive evidence to support those claims, military officials acknowledge. It also raises questions about an attack that friends and family members of the car's driver say killed 10 people, seven of them children. So far, there is no ironclad proof that explosives were in the car."

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Just a few days shy of his 80th birthday, [Sen. Bernie] Sanders was back on the campaign trail last week, trekking across Republican-leaning districts in the Midwest to cap off a blitz of local television interviews and opinion essays placed in traditionally conservative news outlets. But this time, instead of pursuing a higher political office, he was campaigning for a legislative legacy: a $3.5 trillion package that, if passed, would amount to the most significant expansion of the social safety net since the Great Society of the 1960s.... It is Mr. Sanders who will oversee the drafting of the legislation in the Senate, which Democrats plan to steer through Congress using fast-track budget reconciliation rules, which shield it from a filibuster but will require the support of every Democrat in the Senate and nearly every Democrat in the House. Among the steepest challenges will be persuading conservative-leaning Democrats, such as Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, to drop their reservations about the plan's cost and support it."

Laurence Tribe, in a Washington Post op-ed: "... the federal government has -- and should use -- its own powers, including criminal prosecution, to prevent the [Texas abortion] law from being enforced and to reduce its chilling effects.... There are ... solutions that already exist in federal law. Attorney General Merrick Garland has the power, under federal civil rights laws, to go after any vigilantes who employ the Texas law to seek bounties from abortion providers or others who help women obtain abortions.... Section 242 of the federal criminal code makes it a crime for those who, 'under color of law,' willfully deprive individuals 'of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.' This statute -- originally designed to go after the Ku Klux Klan -- fits the Texas situation perfectly.... Section 241 of the federal criminal code makes it an even more serious crime for 'two or more persons' to agree to 'oppress, threaten, or intimidate' anyone 'in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States....' In addition to these criminal provisions, there are civil actions available under federal law, including the ability to seek and obtain court orders to halt the illegal state scheme."

Guardian & Agencies: "Divers searching for the source of an oil spill spotted in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Ida have identified a broken pipeline on the ocean floor as the possible cause. Talos Energy, the Houston-based company currently paying for the cleanup, said in a statement issued on Sunday evening that the broken pipeline, which is around 30cm (1ft) in diameter, did not belong to them. The company said it is working with the US Coast Guard and other state and federal agencies to coordinate the response and identify the owner of the ruptured pipeline. Divers also identified two 10cm-wide (4in) pipelines that were open and apparently abandoned. The company's statement did not make clear if oil was leaking from the two smaller pipelines, but satellite images reviewed by the Associated Press on Saturday appeared to show at least three different slicks in the same area, the largest drifting more than a dozen miles (more than 19km) eastward along the Gulf coast."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "Anthony Fauci on Sunday said the Pfizer-BioNTech shot will likely be the only approved COVID-19 vaccine booster by Sept. 20, the date the Biden administration previously recommended for beginning to administer booster shots for all fully vaccinated individuals.... [Fauci said] that Moderna will need some additional time for appropriate approval."

Florida. A Cautionary Tale. Saundra Amrhein, et al., of the Washington Post: "As Florida appears to be turning the corner from a coronavirus rampage that fueled record new infections, hospitalizations and deaths, its residents and leaders are surveying the damage left from more than 7,000 deaths reported since July Fourth and the scars inflicted by feuds over masks and vaccines. New infections were averaging more than 22,000 a day in the last days of August but have fallen to about 19,000.... In late June and early July, the state averaged fewer than 30 deaths a day.... Recovery could prove fleeting: Holiday weekends such as Labor Day have acted as a tinderbox for earlier outbreaks, and late summer marks the return of students to college campuses.... Epidemiologists say Florida taught the nation important lessons as the highly transmissible delta variant of the virus accounts for nearly all new cases. Even with vaccination rates slightly above the national average, Florida provided ideal conditions for the virus to flourish. Businesses have largely reopened. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has waged high-profile fights to stop mask mandates at schools and to shield businesses from fines for allowing unvaccinated and unmasked patrons." A related (September 4) AP story is here.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Rachel Pannett, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Taliban on Monday seized Panjshir province, a restive mountain region that was the final holdout of resistance forces in the country, cementing its total control over Afghanistan a week after U.S. forces departed the country. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that the Islamist group had 'completely conquered' the Panjshir Valley. 'Our last efforts for establishing peace and security in the country have given results,' he said. Taliban officials shared a photo on social media Monday that purported to show their fighters taking control of local administrative buildings." The AP's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Melissa Eddy & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the New York Times: "Around 1,000 people, including dozens of American citizens and Afghans holding visas to the United States or other countries, remained stuck in Afghanistan for the fifth day on Sunday as they awaited clearance for the departure from the Taliban. The holdup reflects the challenges of foreign governments working with the group, which has yet to form a government. Negotiations to allow the planes to depart, involving officials of the Taliban, the United States and Qatar, have dragged on for days, leaving the evacuees in an increasingly precarious limbo, according to representatives of organizations trying to get them to safety. The plight of the passengers hoping to leave the country from the airport in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif mirrors that of thousands of people who were unable to board planes from Kabul, the capital, after Taliban militants took the city on the eve of the U.S. troop withdrawal." A BBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Joshua Posaner of Politico: "Germany wants talks with the Taliban on flying its remaining local workers out of Afghanistan, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday. 'We need to talk to the Taliban about how we can continue to get people who worked for Germany out of the country and to safety,' Merkel said during a visit to the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia. On Friday, EU foreign ministers agreed an outreach plan with the Taliban but that doesn't mean the bloc is about to recognize them as the legitimate Afghan government."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Michael K. Williams, the actor best known for his role as Omar Little, a stickup man with a sharp wit and a sawed-off shotgun in the HBO series 'The Wire,' was found dead on Monday in his home in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, the police said. He was 54.... The death is being investigated, and the city's medical examiner will determine the cause."

AccuWeather: "Even though [Hurricane] Larry is forecast to remain well east of the United States, the powerful hurricane is expected to pass close to Bermuda and could make landfall in Atlantic Canada, AccuWeather meteorologists warn. But, impacts from Larry will be far-reaching even though the storm may stay hundreds of miles away from the Atlantic beaches from Florida to Maine. Larry appeared as a very healthy and dangerous Category 3 hurricane on Monday touting a large eye and maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (193 km/h). The hurricane was moving to the northwest at 10 mph (16 km/h). As of Monday morning, Larry was located 1,015 miles (1,630 km) to the southeast of Bermuda."

AP: &"A man wearing full body armor fatally shot four people, including a mother and the 3-month-old baby she was cradling, and engaged in a massive gunfight with police and deputies before he was wounded and surrendered, a Florida sheriff said Sunday. An 11-year-old girl who was shot seven times survived. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said during a press conference that even after 33-year-old Bryan Riley was arrested Sunday morning, he was so aggressive that he tried to wrestle a gun from police as he lay on his hospital gurney. Judd said Riley, a former Marine who served as a sharpshooter in both Iraq and Afghanistan, seemed to have targeted his victims at random and appeared to be suffering from mental health issues. Judd said Riley's girlfriend told authorities Riley had been slowly unraveling for weeks and repeatedly told her that he could communicate directly with God."

New York Times: "Jean-Paul Belmondo, the rugged actor whose disdainful eyes, boxer's nose, sensual lips and cynical outlook made him the idolized personification of youthful alienation in the French New Wave,most particularly in his iconic performance as an existential killer in Jean-Luc Godard's 'Breathless,' died on Monday at his home in Paris. He was 88."

The Commentariat -- September 5, 2021

Zeke Miller & Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Joe Biden will visit all three 9/11 memorial sites to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and pay his respects to the nearly 3,000 people killed that day. Biden will visit ground zero in New York City, the Pentagon and the memorial outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Flight 93 was forced down, the White House said Saturday. He will be accompanied by first lady Jill Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, for a separate event before joining the president at the Pentagon, the White House said. Harris will travel with her spouse, Doug Emhoff."

Robert Burns of the AP: "Top U.S. national security officials will see how the failed war in Afghanistan may be reshaping America’s relationships in the Middle East as they meet with key allies in the Persian Gulf and Europe this week. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are traveling to the Gulf separately, leaving Sunday. They will talk with leaders who are central to U.S. efforts to prevent a resurgence of extremist threats in Afghanistan, some of whom were partners in the 20-year fight against the Taliban. Together, the Austin and Blinken trips are meant to reassure Gulf allies that President Joe Biden’s decision to end the U.S. war in Afghanistan in order to focus more on other security challenges like China and Russia does not foretell an abandonment of U.S. partners in the Middle East."

Julie Watson & Bernard Condon of the AP: "Veteran-led rescue groups say the Biden administration’s estimate that no more than 200 U.S. citizens were left behind in Afghanistan is too low and also overlooks hundreds of other people they consider to be equally American: permanent legal residents with green cards. Some groups say they continue to be contacted by American citizens in Afghanistan who did not register with the U.S. Embassy before it closed and by others not included in previous counts because they expressed misgivings about leaving loved ones behind. As for green card holders, they have lived in the U.S. for years, paid taxes, become part of their communities and often have children who are U.S. citizens. Yet the administration says it does not have an estimate on the number of such permanent residents who are in Afghanistan and desperately trying to escape Taliban rule."

MoDo Notices the Great American Debacle. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: “One coast is burning. The other is under water. In between, anti-abortion vigilantes may soon rampage across gunslinging territory.... America is reeling backward, strangled by the past, nasty and uncaring.... We feel the return of dread.... With a memory like a goldfish, America circles its bowl, returning to where we have been, unable to move forward, condemned to repeat a past we should escape.” Etc., etc. etc. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Oh, wait, wait; that's not MoDo.

The “Great Reassessment.” Heather Long, et al., of the Washington Post: “There are 10 million job openings, yet more than 8.4 million unemployed are still actively looking for work.... This weekend, the employment crisis will hit an inflection point as many of the unemployed lose $300 in federal weekly benefits and millions of gig workers and self-employed lose unemployment aid entirely.... There is a massive reallocation underway in the economy that’s triggering a 'Great Reassessment' of work in America from both the employer and employee perspectives. Workers are shifting where they want to work — and how. For some, this is a personal choice. The pandemic and all of the anxieties, lockdowns and time at home have changed people. Some want to work remotely forever. Others want to spend more time with family. And others want a more flexible or more meaningful career path. It’s the 'you only live once' mentality on steroids. Meanwhile, companies are beefing up automation and redoing entire supply chains and office setups. The reassessment is playing out in all facets of the labor market this year....”

What Hillary Knew. Colbert King of the Washington Post: “While celebrating the Supreme Court’s June 27, 2016, decision rejecting of two restrictive provisions in a Texas House bill regulating abortion, [Hillary] Clinton warned in a campaign release that the fight for the right to access health care, and for women to make their own decisions about their bodies and their futures, was 'far from over.... The fact that our next president could appoint as many as three or four justices in the next four years' is a striking reminder 'that we can’t take rulings like today’s for granted.'... 'Just consider Donald Trump, the Republicans’ presumptive nominee. The man who could be president has said there should be some form of ‘punishment’ for women seeking abortions. He pledged to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. And last year, he said he’d shut down the government rather than fund Planned Parenthood.'”

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “Leaders of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol are calling out House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for making 'baseless' claims regarding ... Donald Trump’s involvement in that day’s violence. In a joint statement Saturday, committee chairman Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) criticized a Thursday interview by McCarthy, in which he said the FBI had concluded Trump had 'no involvement' in the insurrection.... 'We’ve received answers and briefings from the relevant entities, and it’s been made clear to us that reports of such a conclusion are baseless,' they continued. Thompson and Cheney also pointedly noted that McCarthy’s statements — including remarks he gave on the House floor on Jan. 13, a week after the insurrection — 'are inconsistent with his recent comments.'... On Jan. 13, McCarthy said in a House floor speech that Trump 'bears responsibility' for the Capitol attack and even floated the idea of censuring Trump....” CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Thompson & Cheney's statement, via the House.

Jonathan Greenblatt, Director of the Anti-Defamation League, in a CNN opinion piece, says the organization was wrong to oppose "the location of the then-proposed Park51 Islamic Community Center & Mosque near Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan." He says it's important to make this admission now, when anti-Muslim conspiracy theories & other expressions of hate are being used to discourage the settlement of Afghan refugees.

Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: “Richard B. Spencer, the most infamous summer resident in [Whitefish, Montana], once boasted that he stood at the vanguard of a white nationalist movement emboldened by ... Donald J. Trump. Things have changed. 'I have bumped into him, and he runs...,' said Tanya Gersh, a real estate agent targeted in an antisemitic hate campaign that Andrew Anglin, the founder of the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website, unleashed in 2016 after Mr. Spencer’s mother made online accusations against Ms. Gersh. Leaders in Whitefish say Mr. Spencer, who once ran his National Policy Institute from his mother’s $3 million summer house here, is now an outcast in this resort town in the Rocky Mountains, unable to get a table at many of its restaurants. His organization has dissolved. Meanwhile, his wife has divorced him, and he is facing trial next month in Charlottesville, Va., over his role in the deadly 2017 neo-Nazi march there, but says he cannot afford a lawyer. The turn of events is no accident. Whitefish, a mostly liberal, affluent community nestled in a county that voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020, rose up and struck back. Residents who joined with state officials, human rights groups and synagogues say their bipartisan counteroffensive could hold lessons for others....”

The New York Times features on its front page links to three stories about cryptocurrencies:

     ~~~ Eric Lipton & Ephrat Livni: "The boom in companies offering cryptocurrency loans and high-yield deposit accounts is disrupting the banking industry and leaving regulators scrambling to catch up." ~~~

     ~~~ Ephrat Livni & Eric Lipton: "The development of Bitcoin and thousands of other cryptocurrencies in a little over a decade has changed the definition of money — and spawned a parallel universe of alternative financial services, allowing crypto businesses to move into traditional banking territory. Here’s what is happening in the fast-growing crypto finance industry, a sector that has officials in Washington sounding alarm bells." ~~~

     ~~~ Why Bitcoin Is Really Bad for the Planet. Jon Huang, et al., of the New York Times: "Cryptocurrencies have emerged as one of the most captivating, yet head-scratching, investments in the world. They soar in value. They crash. They’ll change the world, their fans claim, by displacing traditional currencies like the dollar, rupee or ruble. They’re named after dog memes. And in the process of simply existing, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, one of the most popular, use astonishing amounts of electricity.... The process of creating Bitcoin to spend or trade consumes around 91 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, more than is used by Finland, a nation of about 5.5 million. That usage, which is close to half-a-percent of all the electricity consumed in the world, has increased about tenfold in just the past five years.... Much of the electrical energy gets consumed ... [in] the maintenance of the vast Bitcoin public ledger.... The system wastes energy by design." MB: Like Robert Frost's milkweed pod, "... waste was of the essence of the scheme."

Sarah Kaplan & Andrew Ba Tran of the Washington Post: "Nearly 1 in 3 Americans live in a county hit by a weather disaster in the past three months, according to a new Washington Post analysis of federal disaster declarations. On top of that, 64 percent live in places that experienced a multiday heat wave — phenomena that are not officially deemed disasters but are considered the most dangerous form of extreme weather. The expanding reach of climate-fueled disasters, a trend that has been increasing at least since 2018, shows the extent to which a warming planet has already transformed Americans’ lives. At least 388 people in the United States have died due to hurricanes, floods, heat waves and wildfires since June, according to media reports and government records." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oddly enough, even though I don't live in one of those counties, I got hit by the dregs of Hurricane Ida as her heavy rains knocked over a huge tree. The tree fell on my power lines & knocked two smaller trees onto the lines, too. The power company came out with tree trimmers & freed the lines, but I still will have to have the half-fallen tree trunks cut down. The point is, you don't have to be part of the statistics to suffer the consequences.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Ken W. contributes this post by an anonymous doctor. S/he must speak for tens of thousands of doctors, nurses and other hospital workers. MB: I feel just as this doctor does, but s/he and others who experience the heartache first-hand must feel it a thousand times more vividly than I do. Donald Trump's limp & confusing Covid response, including his discouragement of mask-wearing, is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. But at least he did what he knew how to do (shout at subordinates) to facilitate rapid development of Covid-19 vaccines. Now the mini-Trumps like Ron DeSantis & Greg Abbott, along with millions of Trump's nitwit followers who refuse to take the vaccine, refuse to wear masks, and actively promote unsafe health practices are all murderers, too.

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

Florida. There's This. Adriana Licon & Kelli Kennedy of the AP: "Florida is in the grip of its deadliest wave of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, a disaster driven by the highly contagious delta variant. While Florida’s vaccination rate is slightly higher than the national average, the Sunshine State has an outsize population of elderly people, who are especially vulnerable to the virus; a vibrant party scene; and a Republican governor who has taken a hard line against mask requirements, vaccine passports and business shutdowns." ~~~

~~~ AND This. Debbie Lord of Cox Media: "Florida businesses, government entities and schools will soon face fines of up to $5,000 fines for asking a customer or visitor to show proof they have been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. A bill signed in May by Gov. Ron DeSantis will allow the state to issue fines beginning Sept. 16 if people are asked to show proof they have received a COVID-19 vaccine before being allowed in businesses, schools or government buildings."

Way Beyond the Beltway

AP: "Pope Francis is encouraging countries to welcome Afghan refugees who are seeking a new life. During his appearance to the public in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Francis also prayed that displaced persons inside Afghanistan receive assistance and protection."

Afghanistan. Adam Nossiter of the New York Times: "Taliban fighters violently suppressed a women’s protest Saturday in Kabul, while 70 miles to the north ex-Afghan army and militia members battled the Islamist group in Panjshir Province, as pockets of anti-Taliban resistance continued to flare up. Several of the women, who were demanding inclusion in the yet-to-be named Taliban government, said they were beaten by Taliban fighters — some of the first concrete evidence of harsh treatment of women by the group."

The Commentariat -- September 4, 2021

Until Further Notice, the Comments section is again working properly, and there is no need for you to fake-sign in to comment. But do save your work until you're sure your comment "took." -- Marie

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Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "President Biden surveyed the damage caused by Hurricane Ida in the New Orleans area on Friday, days after powerful winds and destructive rains from the Category 4 storm devastated the Gulf Coast. At a briefing at the St. John the Baptist Parish Emergency Operations Center in LaPlace, La., Biden spoke to the potential impacts of the 'significant investment' the infrastructure bills he is seeking to push through Congress in rebuilding the storm-ravaged areas like the ones he would tour.... The president pointed to the levee system around New Orleans, which was rebuilt in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as an example of smart infrastructure investment, saying it was 'a lot of money -- but think about how much money it saved.'... On a later tour of a LaPlace neighborhood, Biden saw homes covered in blue tarps amid debris and uprooted trees. He hugged residents in sweltering heat as they showed him the damage. He then surveyed the damage from above in a helicopter." See also Greg Sargent's post, linked below, on how Joe Manchin is stepping on Biden's message.

Daniel Han of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Friday called the new Texas law banning most abortions 'un-American,' telling reporters that the Department of Justice is investigating mechanisms that might block its enforcement. 'The most pernicious thing about the Texas law, it sort of creates a vigilante system where people get rewards to go out [and enforce it],' Biden said of the law, which prohibits abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, roughly six weeks into pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. 'It just seems, I know this sounds ridiculous, almost un-American.'" The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Friday signed an executive order that would require the review, declassification and release of classified government documents related to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. In doing so, Biden said he was fulfilling a promise he had made while campaigning for president, in which he had vowed, if elected, to direct the U.S. attorney general to 'personally examine the merits of all cases' where the government had invoked state secrets privilege and 'to err on the side of disclosure in cases where, as here, the events in question occurred two decades or longer ago.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "With a humanitarian crisis looming [in Afghanistan], the Biden administration is reviewing how to tailor that web of sanctions so that aid can continue to reach the Afghan people. The challenge is how to let donor money continue to flow without further enriching the Taliban, which the United States considers a terrorist organization. Experts say that such a situation, in which a group deemed to be terrorists takes over an entire country, is without precedent and poses a complex test for the United States' sanctions program.... As the Taliban swept to power last month, the United States swiftly ... blocked its access to $9.5 billion in international reserve funds and pressured the International Monetary Fund to suspend distribution of more than $400 million in currency reserves.... The militant group continues to be classified as a specially designated global terrorist group, and they are also under United Nations sanctions.... But a desire to demonstrate some flexibility is already apparent. In the past week, the Treasury Department has signaled to humanitarian organizations that it is taking steps to permit aid work that benefits the Afghan people to continue."

Jonathan Dienst, et al., of NBC News: "The U.S. plans to send at least two Afghan evacuees back out of the country to Kosovo because of security concerns raised after they arrived at a U.S. airport, said two sources familiar with the U.S. evacuation. The Afghans will undergo a further review in Kosovo.... Any other evacuees who trigger similar concerns will also be sent to Kosovo, said the sources. Of more than 30,000 evacuees from Afghanistan to the U.S., about 10,000 needed additional screening as of Friday, said the sources, and of those about 100 were flagged for possible ties to the Taliban or terror groups. Two of those 100 raised enough concern for additional review."

Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "On the last day of August, when President Biden called the airlift of refugees from Kabul an 'extraordinary success,' senior diplomats and military officers in Doha, Qatar, emailed out a daily situation report ... [that said] conditions in Doha ... were getting worse.... Whatever plans the Biden administration had for an orderly evacuation unraveled when Kabul fell in a matter of days, setting off a frenzied, last-minute global mobilization." If you have a NYT subscription, read on. Unsettling, tho not surprising. In fairness, the majority of immigrants to this country -- from those who came in slave ships to those who came in steerage & counted themselves lucky to escape conditions in the places from which they fled -- arrived in less-than-ideal circumstances.

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The Commerce Department plans to shut down a little-known internal security unit that came under scrutiny by Congress for conducting rogue surveillance and investigations into people of Chinese and Middle Eastern descent, department officials said on Friday. The announcement came after department investigators released the findings of a nearly five-month internal review that concluded that the Investigations and Threat Management Service improperly opened investigations 'even in the absence of a discernible threat' and operated outside the bounds of its legal authority.... Unlike [a parallel] Senate investigation, the Commerce Department stopped short of attributing the problems to racism or xenophobia inside the unit."

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "... Sen. Joe Manchin III is going to great lengths to dramatically undermine [President] Biden's ... $3.5 trillion 'human infrastructure' package. In a Wall Street Journal piece, Manchin urges a 'pause' on the bill and calls for 'significantly reducing' its size 'to only what America can afford and needs to spend.' Most obviously, this could upend the 'two track' strategy, under which progressives support the $1 trillion bipartisan 'hard' infrastructure bill on the understanding that centrists such as Manchin will back the reconciliation measure. That could implode Biden's whole agenda. But this is deeply dangerous in another, less obvious way, one that turns on the reconciliation bill's provisions to combat climate change.... It's galling that the word 'climate' appears nowhere in Manchin's piece, even as he piously suggests he has a divinely inspired reading of what America truly 'needs to spend.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marshall Cohen of CNN: "The so-called 'QAnon Shaman' who stormed the US Capitol in a horned bearskin outfit pleaded guilty Friday to a felony for obstructing the Electoral College proceedings on January 6. The defendant, Jacob Chansley of Arizona, is a well-known figure in the QAnon movement. He went viral after the January 6 attack because of the bizarre outfit he wore while rummaging through the Capitol. He made his way to the Senate dais that was hastily vacated earlier by Vice President Mike Pence -- someone Chansley falsely claimed was a 'child-trafficking traitor.' He pleaded guilty Friday during a virtual hearing in DC District Court. The guilty plea was made as part of a deal with prosecutors, and it was accepted by District Judge Royce Lamberth." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

No. 1 Grifter Uses Donor Money to Pay -- Himself. Shayna Jacobs, et al., of the Washington Post: "... as Trump Tower has dealt with imploding tenants [including a company that made Ivanka Trump shoes], political backlash and a broader, pandemic-related slump in Manhattan office leasing since last year -- it has been able to count on one reliable, high-paying tenant:... Donald Trump's own political operation.... Starting in March, one of his committees, Make America Great Again PAC, paid $37,541.67 per month to rent office space on the 15th floor of Trump Tower -- a space previously rented by his campaign.... This may not be the most efficient use of donors' money: The person familiar with Trump&'s PAC said that its staffers do not regularly use the office space. Also, for several months, Trump's PAC paid the Trump Organization $3,000 per month to rent a retail kiosk in the tower's lobby -- even though the lobby was closed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is quintessentially Trump: scamming people who think their $25 will transport him to the White House in August (oh wait, August is over) but instead will be a drop in the bucket to pay Trump to rent empty space to himself because the space is unrentable to real people & businesses.

Steve Vladeck in a Washington Post op-ed: Justice Elena Kagan's dissent in the Texas abortion case was only two short paragraphs in which she pointed out "the court's alarming record of inconsistency in its recent spate of late-night emergency orders, [and] she spoke directly to its eroding legitimacy. Rather than focus on the majority's willingness to allow Texas to flout the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, Kagan chose to highlight what the ruling said about the court's 'shadow-docket' -- the calendar it uses to issue procedural case-management orders.... As Kagan put it, the majority decision 'is emblematic of too much of this Court's shadow-docket decisionmaking -- which every day becomes more unreasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend.'... Her critique [noted that the majority] ... used an unsigned and barely explained order to short-circuit the constitutional rights of millions of Texas women; and its nonintervention over abortion differed blatantly from its aggressive interventions in the past year in religious liberty cases.... Two things have changed in recent years. First, the court is using these orders with far greater frequency to allow much-debated policies to go into effect.... Second..., the court is treating these orders as creating precedents that lower courts must follow." Justice Kagan's dissent is here, via the Supreme Court. ~~~

~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "In recent years, and especially during the Trump administration, the court has relied on the shadow docket to make consequential decisions on a wide range of issues. Often, the court issues its decisions from the shadow docket without signed opinions or detailed explanations of the kind you would find in an argued case.... The vote on the Texas abortion law came on Wednesday, in the dead of night.... The court has essentially nullified the constitutional rights of millions of American women without so much as an argument.... This isn't judicial review as much as it is a raw exercise of judicial power.... The extent to which political outcomes in America rest on the opaque machinations of a cloistered, nine-member clique is the clearest possible sign that we've given too much power to this institution. We can have self-government or we can have rule by judge, but we cannot have both."

... the courts let the Sacklers off the hook, the excuse being they didn't want to clog the courts with lawsuits. But suing poor women in Texas, or people who help poor women in Texas, or people who help the people who help the poor women in Texas? File at will! -- Nisky Guy, in yesterday's Comments

Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. -- Scott Fitzgerald

And the courts won't let us forget it. -- Marie

Marie: So here are the fundamental flaws in U.S. "democracy" today. (1) We nearly re-elected a president* who for four years mocked the rule of law and used his position and his appointees to facilitate multiple violations of law and "norms." The president is not elected by popular vote, and arguably the worst presidents* in recent years (Bush & Trump) came into office after they lost the popular vote. (2) A Senate that in no way represents the majority of Americans. a House of Representatives that, because of gerrymandering, does not represent a majority of American voters. (3) A court system that overreaches its implied powers and is made up of justices, two of whom (Gorsuch & Barrett) were confirmed under abnormal conditions and two of whom (Thomas & Kavanaugh) who most likely told material lies, under oath, during their confirmation hearings. (4) State legislatures which are working to disenfranchise millions of Americans. (5) A Constitution which is almost impossible to amend in order to improve Flaws 1-4. (Likely you can think of more, but these are the basics.) ~~~

~~~ ** AND There's This. Elizabeth Dwoskin of the Washington Post: "A new study of user behavior on Facebook around the 2020 election is likely to bolster critics' long-standing arguments that the company's algorithms fuel the spread of misinformation over more trustworthy sources. The forthcoming peer-reviewed study by researchers at New York University and the Université Grenoble Alpes in France has found that from August 2020 to January 2021, news publishers known for putting out misinformation got six times the amount of likes, shares, and interactions on the platform as did trustworthy news sources, such as CNN or the World Health Organization.... The NYU study is one of the few comprehensive attempts to measure and isolate the misinformation effect across a wide group of publishers on Facebook, experts said, and its conclusions support the criticism that Facebook's platform rewards publishers that put out misleading accounts." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Clearly, 20th- and 21st-century parents & teachers have not been smart enough or able enough to convey to their impressionable offspring that tabloids, movie magazines, gossip columns, what your friends heard -- and now social media -- are not fonts of facts. The result is a country populated by generations of numbskulls.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Friday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "A coronavirus variant known as 'mu' or 'B.1.621' was designated by the World Health Organization as a 'variant of interest' earlier this week and will be monitored by the global health body as cases continue to emerge across parts of the world. It is the fifth variant of interest currently being monitored by the WHO." The article outlines what is known, so far, about the mu variant. ~~~

     ~~~ Tom Tapp of Deadline: "Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday said U.S. public health officials are 'keeping a very close eye' on a new variant of Covid-19 that was first detected in Colombia. Known as B.1.621 or the 'Mu variant' according to the World Health Organization nomenclature, it has 'a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape,' according to a WHO report released on Monday. 'Preliminary data presented to the Virus Evolution Working Group show a reduction in neutralization capacity of convalescent ... similar to that seen for the Beta variant, but this needs to be confirmed by further studies.' Today, he Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced the Mu variant, for the first time, has been identified in the region. The numbers are still small; Only 167 Mu variants have been identified in L.A. County thus far."

Chris Hayes of MSNBC pointed out Friday night that about twice as many people died from Covid-19 yesterday as died from Covid-19 on that date a year ago, before vaccines were available.

Marie: I was listening to Anthony Fauci on the teevee Friday night. He speaks unscripted about complex topics in full, understandable & grammatical sentences and paragraphs. If you're accustomed to listening to teevee hosts & pundits, that should impress you.

Arizona. Andrea Salcedo of the Washington Post: "When an Arizona school employee called a parent on Thursday to share that his son had come in close contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus, the dad was told his son must stay at home for at least a week. Instead, later that morning, the man walked into Mesquite Elementary School with his son and two other men carrying zip ties before confronting the principal over the school's quarantine policy, Vail Unified School District Superintendent John Carruth told The Washington Post. In a meeting with the principal, Carruth said, the men threatened to call local authorities and conduct a 'citizen's arrest' if the student was not allowed to rejoin school activities immediately.... The principal ... explained that the school was following guidance issued by the local health department [and] ordered the trio to leave, Carruth said.... A spokesperson with the Tucson Police Department confirmed that officers responded to the incident."

Beyond the Beltway

Colorado Update. According to Bente Birkeland of NPR, Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is still in hiding after a month on the lam, aided & abetted as she is by My Pillow Guy Mike Lindell. Tina is an elected official & the county supervisors, who like Tina are Republicans, are urging her to return to work. MEANWHILE, "Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold [D] filed a lawsuit to prevent Peters from having any role in the county's upcoming fall election.... [AND] On Thursday [Peters'] deputy, Belinda Knisley, was charged with second-degree burglary and a cybercrime over entering the building while she was suspended, pending an investigation into unprofessional and inappropriate conduct in the workplace." I checked out photos of Tina online, and it turns out she is an attractive, blond-haired woman d'un certain âge. Perhaps Mike has My Pillow aspirations here. In Right-wing Bizarros World, life is but a dream.

Texas. Sean Hollister of the Verge: "... the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life is encouraging citizens to report those people [who help women get abortions] at a dedicated 'whistleblower' website, promising to 'ensure that these lawbreakers are held accountable for their actions.'However..., hosting provider GoDaddy has given the group 24 hours to find a different place to park its website. 'We have informed prolifewhistleblower.com they have 24 hours to move to another provider for violating our terms of service,' a spokesperson told The New York Times and The Verge. GoDaddy ... tells The Verge that it violated 'multiple provisions' of the site's Terms of Service including Section 5.2, which reads: 'You will not collect or harvest (or permit anyone else to collect or harvest) any User Content (as defined below) or any non-public or personally identifiable information about another User or any other person or entity without their express prior written consent.'" ~~~

~~~ Leia Idliby of Mediaite: "Logan Green, the CEO and co-founder of Lyft, announced that the ride-hailing company will cover all legal fees if any of its drivers are sued under Texas' new abortion law." ~~~

~~~ AP: "A state judge has shielded, for now, Texas abortion clinics from lawsuits by an anti-abortion group under a new state abortion law in a narrow ruling handed down Friday. The temporary restraining order Friday by state District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin in response to the Planned Parenthood request does not interfere with the provision. However, it shields clinics from whistleblower lawsuits by the nonprofit group Texas Right to Life, its legislative director and 100 unidentified individuals. A hearing on a preliminary injunction request was set for Sept. 13."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Patricia Maginnis, one of the nation's earliest and fiercest proponents of a woman's right to safe, legal abortions, who crusaded for that right on her own before the formation of an organized reproductive-rights movement, died on Aug. 30 in Oakland, Calif. She was 93."

New York Times: "Willard Scott, the antic longtime weather forecaster on the "Today' show, whose work, by his own cheerful acknowledgment, made it clear that you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, died on Saturday at his farm in Delaplane, Va. He was 87.″