October 18, 2021

Late Afternoon Update:

Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump is suing to block the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol from receiving records it has requested regarding his role and the role of his aides in the events of that day. The lawsuit argues that the records request is overly broad and has no legislative purpose."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court on Monday for an emergency halt to the Texas law that has practically stopped access to abortion in the nation's second-largest state. The action means the court will again have to confront the controversial law, which generally outlaws the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy. In a divisive 5 to 4 decision last month, the court allowed the law to go into effect, although dissenters said it violated the nearly 50-year-old precedent in Roe v. Wade that guaranteed a right to abortion before fetal viability. DOJ raises new arguments in its filing, and says the court must intervene to prevent an end run around its authority and the Constitution."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "In two unsigned decisions without noted dissents, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of police officers accused of using excessive force. The rulings were a signal that the court continues to support the doctrine of qualified immunity, which can shield police misconduct from lawsuits seeking damages. The doctrine has been the subject of criticism across the ideological spectrum, and it became a flash point in the nationwide protests last year over police brutality, with activists and lawmakers calling for its reconsideration. The doctrine requires plaintiffs to overcome a daunting hurdle. They must not only show that the official accused of misconduct violated a constitutional right, but also that the right had been 'clearly established' in a previous ruling."

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** Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Colin L. Powell, who in four decades of public life served as the nation's top soldier, diplomat and national security adviser, and whose speech at the United Nations in 2003 helped pave the way for the United States to go to war in Iraq, died on Monday. He was 84. He died of complications from Covid-19, his family said in a statement. He was fully vaccinated and was treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, his family said." The AP report is here.

Christopher Flavelle of the New York Times: "Climate change is warming the air, allowing it to hold more moisture, which causes more frequent and intense rainfall. And no state in the contiguous United States is more exposed to flood damage than West Virginia, according to data released last week.... [Sen. Joe] Manchin has rejected any plan to move the country away from fossil fuels because he said it would harm West Virginia, a top producer of coal and gas. Mr. Manchin's own finances are tied to coal: he founded a family coal brokerage that paid him half a million dollars in dividends last year. But when it comes to climate, there's also an economic toll from inaction. The new data shows [show!] that Mr. Manchin's constituents stand to suffer disproportionately as climate change intensifies. Unlike those in other flood-exposed states, most residents in mountainous West Virginia have little room to relocate from the waterways that increasingly threaten their safety.... The measure that Mr. Manchin opposes, a clean electricity program, may be the last chance for Congress to reduce planet-warming emissions before the effects of climate change become catastrophic." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: West Virginia is one of the top five "taker" states; that is, it's one of the states that get far more in federal assistance than they give back in tax revenues. This will be even more true if the Build Back Better plan is enacted. All Joe has to do is forget about his personal interests (fat chance!), tell his constituents he's voting for the bill because it helps them so much (true!), and vote for it. It's that easy, Joe. ~~~

~~~ Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: "The transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg delivered a blunt warning on Sunday to Joe Manchin and other Senate Democrats who are forcing Joe Biden to scale back his climate crisis agenda: your resistance is going to cost lives.... 'The longer you take to do something about it, the more it's going to cost in livelihoods as well as lives,' he said. 'The administration and the president are committed to bold climate action, exactly what legislative form that takes is what's being negotiated right now. But the bottom line is we have to act on climate for the good of our children and for the good of our economy. This is kind of like a planetary maintenance issue.'... Buttigieg's criticism was more veiled than that of the progressive Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who lambasted Manchin last week in an opinion piece in the Charleston Gazette-Mail. 'Poll after poll shows overwhelming support for this legislation. Yet ... in a 50-50 Senate we need every Democratic senator to vote "yes." We now have only 48. Two Democratic senators remain in opposition, including Manchin.' he wrote."

Lucien Bruggeman & Matthew Mosk of ABC News: "Former British spy Christopher Steele is stepping out of the shadows to 'set the record straight' about his bombshell dossier for the first time since his name splashed across headlines in early 2017, defending his work, his name, and the decision to include some of its most controversial elements.... In his first major interview, Steele described how and why he wrote the 17 reports that made up the so-called 'Steele dossier,' which accused ... Donald Trump's campaign of conspiring with the Russians to tilt the result of the 2016 election.... In many ways, [the dossier] proved prescient. The Mueller probe found that Russia had been making efforts to meddle in the 2016 campaign, and that Trump campaign members and surrogates had promoted and retweeted Russian-produced political content alleging voter fraud and criminal activity on the part of Hillary Clinton. Investigators determined there had been "numerous links -- i.e. contacts -- between Trump campaign officials and individuals having ties to the Russian government." And, proof emerged that the Trump Organization had been discussing a real estate deal in Moscow during the campaign. All were findings that had been signaled, at least broadly, in Steele's work."

Christopher Mele of the New York Times: "Former President Bill Clinton was released from a California hospital on Sunday after being admitted on Tuesday for treatment of a urological infection that developed into sepsis, officials said." The AP's story is here.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here: "Police officers and others responsible for public safety should view vaccination against Covid-19 as a key part of their role, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor, said during an interview on Fox News Sunday.... Police unions in cities across the country are urging members to resist Covid vaccine requirements for their jobs."

Florida. Ron's Big Cover-up. Ian Hodgson of the Tampa Bay Times: "For 105 days this summer, while COVID-19 deaths soared across the state, Floridians had no idea how many of their neighbors were dying.... The number of people dying in each Florida county went missing from June 4 through Sept. 17.... In June, Gov. Ron DeSantis' office declared that the pandemic had receded to the point where daily reports were no longer necessary. The state also took down its COVID data website, known as an online dashboard.... On June 4..., state officials stopped releasing daily pandemic data, switched to weekly reports and started withholding data once available to the public. Instead of including county deaths in its weekly reports, the state directed the public to find that information via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the CDC relied on Florida's online portal of COVID data -- which the state also took down in June. The CDC's tally of deaths for Florida went blank."

Beyond the Beltway

California. Matthew Brown of the AP: "Investigators believe a 1,200-foot (366-meter) cargo ship dragging anchor in rough seas caught an underwater oil pipeline and pulled it across the seafloor, months before a leak from the line fouled the Southern California coastline with crude.... Investigators believe [the] anchor [of the Panama-registered MSC DANIT] dragged for an unknown distance before striking the 16-inch (40-centimeter) steel pipe, Coast Guard Lt. j.g. SondraKay Kneen said Sunday.... Still undetermined is whether the impact caused the October leak, or if the line was hit by something else at a later date or failed due to a preexisting problem, Kneen said."

Way Beyond

Haiti. Maria Abi-Habib of the New York Times: "... few Haitians, rich or poor, are safe from the gangs of kidnappers that stalk their country with near impunity. But the abduction this weekend of 17 people associated with an American missionary group as they visited an orphanage shocked officials for its brazenness. On Sunday, the hostages, five of them children, remained in captivity, their whereabouts and identities unknown to the public. Adding to the mystery was a wall of silence from officials in Haiti and the United States about what, if anything, was being done to secure their release." ~~~

     ~~~ Danica Coto & Evens Sanon: "A notorious Haitian gang known for brazen kidnappings and killings was accused by police Sunday of abducting 17 missionaries from a U.S.-based organization. Five children were believed to be among those kidnapped, including a 2-year-old. The 400 Mawozo gang kidnapped the group in Ganthier, a community that lies east of the capital of Port-au-Prince, Haitian police inspector Frantz Champagne told The Associated Press. The gang was blamed for kidnapping five priests and two nuns earlier this year in Haiti."

October 17, 2021

Jonathan Lemire of the AP: "Framed by the Capitol, President Joe Biden paid tribute Saturday to fallen law enforcement officers and honored those who fought off the Jan. 6 insurrection at that very site by declaring 'because of you, democracy survived.' Biden spoke at the 40th Annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service to remember the 491 law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in 2019 and 2020. Standing where the violent mob tried to block his own ascension to the presidency, Biden singled out the 150 officers who were injured and the five who died in the attack's aftermath.... Biden also underscored the heavy burden placed on law enforcement officers, and rebuked the 'defund the police' political movement, saying that those gathered before him would get 'more resources, not fewer, so you can do your job.'... At the ceremony, Biden expressed concerns for all officers in the line of duty and mentioned the three constable deputies shot in an ambush early Saturday while working at a Houston bar. One deputy was killed." ~~~

~~~ Marie: This might be a good place to mention that "COVID-19 has killed nearly 500 law enforcement officers, between 2020 and 2021, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a database that tracks line of duty officer deaths.... COVID-19 accounts for 65% of law enforcement officer deaths since 2020, data shows." This makes police unions' opposition to vaccine mandates seem all the more stupid. ~~~

      ~~~ Update. Ryan Young, et al., of CNN: "The coronavirus has become the leading cause of death for officers despite law enforcement being among the first groups eligible to receive the vaccine at the end of 2020.... Five times as many police officers have died from Covid-19 as from gunfire since [the] start of [the] pandemic[.]... Law enforcement officers and their unions across the country have resisted vaccine mandates despite the Delta variant-fueled resurgence of Covid-19 and effectiveness of the shots in preventing severe cases and death."

Julie Turkewitz of the New York Times: "The United States extradited a top ally of Venezuela's authoritarian government on Saturday, his lawyer said, prompting a swift retaliation from Venezuelan officials that immediately threatened a fledgling effort to resolve the country's political turmoil. The extradition of Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman and financial fixer for President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, to face money laundering charges on American soil was supposed to be a victory for the U.S. government, whose efforts to topple Mr. Maduro have faltered in recent years. Mr. Saab was detained more than a year ago by law enforcement officials in the West African island nation of Cape Verde. His extradition makes him one of the highest-ranking supporters of Mr. Maduro to be taken into American custody. But just hours after Mr. Saab was put on a plane to the United States on Saturday, the Venezuelan government re-apprehended six oil executives, including 5 American citizens, who had been under house arrest in Venezuela, according to a lawyer for one of the men."

Adolfo Flores of BuzzFeed News: "Border groups on Saturday 'walked out' of a virtual meeting with the Biden administration over its upcoming plans to restart a Trump-era program that forced thousands of immigrants and asylum-seekers to wait in dangerous Mexican border cities, according to leaked video obtained by BuzzFeed News. In a Thursday night court filing, the Biden administration said it was prepared to restart the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) in mid-November. The relaunch of policy is still contingent on Mexico agreeing to take immigrants sent back under MPP, which the Mexican government has so far not agreed to.... The Republican-led states of Texas and Missouri filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration for stopping MPP [shortly after Joe Biden took office]. In August US District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk sided with the states and ordered the government to reinstate the program. The Biden administration appealed and asked the Supreme Court to stay the order, but was unsuccessful."

Shawna Chen of Axios: "The Pentagon has offered unspecified payments as a condolence to the families of 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children, who were killed in an Aug. 29 U.S. drone strike in Kabul.... The U.S. offered the payments in a virtual meeting on Thursday between Colin Kahl, the under secretary of defense for policy, and Steven Kwon, the founder and president of Nutrition & Education International, a nonprofit focused on women in children in Afghanistan that had employed [Zemari] Ahmadi before he was killed [in the drone strike].

"Forever Chemicals": There's a Toxic Dump Near You. Carey Gillam & Alvin Chang of the Guardian: "The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified more than 120,000 locations around the US where people may be exposed to a class of toxic 'forever chemicals' associated with various cancers and other health problems that is a frightening tally four times larger than previously reported, according to data obtained by the Guardian. The list of facilities makes it clear that virtually no part of America appears free from the potential risk of air and water contamination with the chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).Colorado tops the EPA list with an estimated 21,400 facilities, followed by California's 13,000 sites and Oklahoma with just under 12,000."

Myah Ward of Politico (Oct. 15): "Pete Buttigieg on Friday brushed off Fox News host Tucker Carlson's comments mocking the transportation secretary for taking paternity leave to care for his twin newborns. 'Look, in his case, I guess he just doesn't understand the concept of bottle feeding, let alone the concept of paternity leave. But what's really strange is that, you know, this is from a side of the aisle that used to claim the mantle of being pro-family,' Buttigieg said on MSNBC."

West Virginia Gazette-Mail Editors: "It's time for Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act. The legislation, a compromise from Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., of the previous For the People and John Lewis Voting Rights acts, would secure democracy going forward by hindering dark money that plays far too large a role in elections. It also standardizes a federal voter ID law while still making access to the polls easy with several ways to vote, along with same-day registration and a standard 15 days for early voting. The bill also would reasonably tackle the issue of gerrymandering -- a Republican and Democrat problem -- not only with bipartisan line-making for congressional districts, but the use of technology to show where and how those lines should be drawn.... Elected officials should always consider who they're representing first, rather than prioritizing schemes to make sure they stay where they are, which often happens to be insulated from the people while serving the needs of wealthy donors."

Beth Reinhard, et al., of the Washington Post: "A wealthy Trump donor who helped finance the rally in Washington on Jan. 6 also gave $150,000 to the nonprofit arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, records show, funds that a person familiar with the contribution said were intended in part to promote the rally. The nonprofit organization paid for a robocall touting a march that afternoon to the U.S. Capitol to 'call on Congress to stop the steal.' On Dec. 29, Julie Jenkins Fancelli, daughter of the founder of the Publix grocery store chain, gave the previously undisclosed contribution to RAGA's nonprofit Rule of Law Defense Fund, or RLDF.... Funding for the events in Washington that day is a focus of the House select committee investigating the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol that followed the rally.... The leaders of Women for America First have been subpoenaed by the committee, as has Caroline Wren, a Republican fundraiser who was listed on that group's permit as a 'VIP ADVISOR.' Both of Fancelli's donations were arranged by Wren.... Fancelli ... is not involved in Publix business operations...."

Bryan Pietsch & Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "Hollywood producers and labor leaders narrowly averted a strike that would have shuttered production across the country, agreeing on Saturday to a new contract that guarantees production workers meal breaks, weekends and breaks between shifts. IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, a union representing workers such as camera operators, makeup artists and editors, said it had reached an agreement Saturday with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), a group representing major producers including Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Netflix and Amazon. The new agreement, which will need to be ratified by union members, includes mandatory 10-hour break periods between shifts and a 54-hour weekend. Workers had raised issues with work bleeding into evenings and weekends. The agreement covers union members on the West Coast; members in local unions in other parts of the country will need to pursue a separate agreement."

Robert Reich, in a Guardian op-ed (Oct. 13): "... American workers are now flexing their muscles for the first time in decades. You might say workers have declared a national general strike until they get better pay and improved working conditions.... In its own disorganized way it's related to the organized strikes breaking out across the land -- Hollywood TV and film crews, John Deere workers, Alabama coal miners, Nabisco workers, Kellogg workers, nurses in California, healthcare workers in Buffalo. Disorganized or organized, American workers now have bargaining leverage to do better. After a year and a half of the pandemic, consumers have pent-up demand for all sorts of goods and services. But employers are finding it hard to fill positions.... Corporate America wants to frame this as a 'labor shortage.' Wrong. What's really going on is more accurately described as a living-wage shortage, a hazard pay shortage, a childcare shortage, a paid sick leave shortage, and a healthcare shortage."

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "Former president Bill Clinton will remain hospitalized Saturday night as he recovers from an infection and is expected to be discharged Sunday, his spokesman said."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Mandates Work. Meryl Kornfield & Annabelle Timsit of the Washington Post: "About 41 percent of hospitals nationwide -- roughly 2,570 facilities -- have some sort of vaccine mandate, according to data collected by the American Hospital Association.... Others are expected to follow after President Biden announced last month that he would require most health-care facilities that accept Medicaid or Medicare funding ... to vaccinate their employees. Most health-care systems that require vaccination have touted widespread compliance. In interviews, administrators at some of the nation's largest hospital systems said the mandates worked: Officials said that they have very high vaccination rates they attributed to the requirement and that they have seen coronavirus infections -- and sick leaves -- noticeably drop."

** Virginia. Julia Shanahan of the Rappahannock News: "U.S. Rep. Bob Good on Thursday encouraged a group of Rappahannock County High School students to not wear masks in school.... 'If nobody in Rappahannock complies [with the mask mandate], they can't stop everyone,' Good (R-5th District) told the students. 'If I was ya'll, I'd say none of ya'll wear a mask. What are they gonna do? They're still going to have school.' Good, a Republican representing Virginia's 5th Congressional District..., spoke to a Rappahannock County High School government class of about 20 students on Thursday after Tim Stockdale, the class' teacher, invited him to speak. The Virginia Department of Public Health is mandating that all students, teachers, staff and visitors in K-12 schools wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. The event on Thursday was originally supposed to take place in the high school auditorium, but after Good refused to wear a mask, administrators moved it outdoors to the football stadium." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I suppose Representative Bob there was out-of-sorts because some lowly teachers or custodial staff blocked his divine majesty from entering the building. But then, people who attempt mass murder usually are upset. Okay, I guess Bob can't be held for attempted murder, but I do think he should be arrested for something like "contributing to the delinquency of minors" or inciting minors to commit unlawful acts. And, no, Bob, inciting unlawful behavior is not a First Amendment right.

Beyond the Beltway

Alaska. Nathaniel Herz of the Washington Post: At Alaska's Denali National Park, a popular tourist destination, "climate change threatens the only road in and out[.]... Halfway along the route, as the road curls past the steep cliffs and chutes of Polychrome Pass, park scientists have discovered that a rocky glacier lies underneath it. Warming temperatures are accelerating the glacier's movement downhill, carrying 300 feet of road bed with it and jeopardizing continued access to some of the park's key attractions. In August, the slide prompted park managers to close the road just short of the halfway point, forcing lodges on the far side to conduct a costly evacuation and end their summer tourist season early. This week, they announced the closure would continue through the entire summer of 2022.... And as continued warming destabilizes other key planks in Alaska's economy and threatens its infrastructure, the state's elected leaders continue promoting the oil development that is helping to fuel the problem."

Wisconsin. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "Police deputized a 'band of white nationalist vigilantes' during last year's racial justice protests in Kenosha, Wis., where Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two people and injured a third, the lone survivor of the incident alleges in a new lawsuit. Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Milwaukee, just weeks before Rittenhouse's murder trial is set to begin. It marks the second major legal action against the city and county of Kenosha since the Aug. 25, 2020, riot where Rittenhouse shot three people: Grosskreutz, who lost a chunk of his biceps but survived; Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, who both died. Rittenhouse, 18, whose trial is set to begin Nov. 1, faces homicide charges in both deaths and an attempted homicide charge for shooting Grosskreutz as well as a charge for being a minor in possession of a firearm.... Grosskreutz's complaint names both the city and county, which oversee their respective law enforcement agencies, as defendants."

Way Beyond

Vatican. Gaia Pianigiani of the New York Times: "The Vatican announced on Wednesday that Pope John Paul I, the Italian pontiff who reigned for only 33 days before his death in 1978, will be beatified after a miracle was attributed to him, bringing him one step closer to sainthood. Pope Francis authorized a decree that recognized a first miracle attributed to John Paul I, the mysterious healing of a sick young girl in Buenos Aires in 2011...."

October 16, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Jonathan Lemire of the AP: "Framed by the Capitol, President Joe Biden paid tribute Saturday to fallen law enforcement officers and honored those who fought off the Jan. 6 insurrection at that very site by declaring 'because of you, democracy survived.' Biden spoke at the 40th Annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service to remember the 491 law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in 2019 and 2020. Standing where the violent mob tried to block his own ascension to the presidency, Biden singled out the 150 officers who were injured and the five wh died in the attack's aftermath.... Biden also underscored the heavy burden placed on law enforcement officers, and rebuked the 'defund the police' political movement, saying that those gathered before him would get 'more resources, not fewer, so you can do your job.'... At the ceremony, Biden expressed concerns for all officers in the line of duty and mentioned the three constable deputies shot in an ambush early Saturday while working at a Houston bar. One deputy was killed." ~~~

~~~ Marie: This might be a good place to mention that "COVID-19 has killed nearly 500 law enforcement officers, between 2020 and 2021, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a database that tracks line of duty officer deaths.... COVID-19 accounts for 65% of law enforcement officer deaths since 2020, data shows." This makes police unions' opposition to vaccine mandates seem all the more stupid.

Shawna Chen of Axios: "The Pentagon has offered unspecified payments as a condolence to the families of 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children, who were killed in an Aug. 29 U.S. drone strike in Kabul.... The U.S. offered the payments in a virtual meeting on Thursday between Colin Kahl, the under secretary of defense for policy, and Steven Kwon, the founder and president of Nutrition & Education International, a nonprofit focused on women in children in Afghanistan that had employed [Zemari] Ahmadi before he was killed [in the drone strike].

Beth Reinhard, et al., of the Washington Post: "A wealthy Trump donor who helped finance the rally in Washington on Jan. 6 also gave $150,000 to the nonprofit arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, records show, funds that a person familiar with the contribution said were intended in part to promote the rally. The nonprofit organization paid for a robocall touting a march that afternoon to the U.S. Capitol to 'call on Congress to stop the steal.' On Dec. 29, Julie Jenkins Fancelli, daughter of the founder of the Publix grocery store chain, gave the previously undisclosed contribution to RAGA's nonprofit Rule of Law Defense Fund, or RLDF.... Funding for the events in Washington that day is a focus of the House select committee investigating the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol that followed the rally.... The leaders of Women for America First have been subpoenaed by the committee, as has Caroline Wren, a Republican fundraiser who was listed on that group's permit as a 'VIP ADVISOR.' Both of Fancelli's donations were arranged by Wren.... Fancelli ... is not involved in Publix business operations...."

Robert Reich, in a Guardian op-ed (Oct. 13): "... American workers are now flexing their muscles for the first time in decades. You might say workers have declared a national general strike until they get better pay and improved working conditions.... In its own disorganized way it's related to the organized strikes breaking out across the land -- Hollywood TV and film crews, John Deere workers, Alabama coal miners, Nabisco workers, Kellogg workers, nurses in California, healthcare workers in Buffalo. Disorganized or organized, American workers now have bargaining leverage to do better. After a year and a half of the pandemic, consumers have pent-up demand for all sorts of goods and services. But employers are finding it hard to fill positions.... Corporate America wants to frame this as a 'labor shortage.' Wrong. What's really going on is more accurately described as a living-wage shortage, a hazard pay shortage, a childcare shortage, a paid sick leave shortage, and a healthcare shortage."

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

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Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Friday sought to reassert America's leadership in the fight for human rights around the world, but he acknowledged that depends in part on the country's performance at home and said the best course is for the United States to be honest about its flaws. Speaking at a center dedicated to Thomas Dodd, a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders after World War II, Biden tied the horrors unveiled there to current human rights violations around the world. 'We see human rights and democratic principles increasingly under assault, and we feel the same charge of history upon our own shoulder to act,' Biden said. 'We have fewer democracies today than we did 15 years ago. Fewer. Not more -- fewer. It cannot be sustained.'" ~~~

Ann Marimow & Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Department of Justice said Friday that it will go back to the Supreme Court to request that it put on hold Texas's restrictive abortion law while legal battles continue. In a different case, the Supreme Court last month allowed the law to go into effect on a divisive 5 to 4 vote. The DOJ has filed a separate challenge to halt the law, which bars abortion as early as six weeks into the pregnancy and makes no exceptions for rape or incest.... Last week, a federal judge in Austin temporarily suspended enforcement of the abortion ban.... But the U.S. Court of Appeals of the 5th Circuit quickly put Pitman's order on hold, and on Thursday said the law would remain in effect, setting a hearing the week of Dec. 6. and reinstated the law pending further review.... 'The Justice Department intends to ask the Supreme Court to vacate the Fifth Circuit's stay of the preliminary injunction against Texas Senate Bill 8,' Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said in a brief statement Friday." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Betsy Klein & Kate Sullivan of CNN: "Foreign visitors who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to travel to the United States starting on November 8, the White House said Friday.... The move would relax a patchwork of bans that had begun to cause fury abroad and replacing them with more uniform requirements for inbound international air passengers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Donald Judd of CNN: "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a Hatch Act complaint against White House press secretary Jen Psaki, alleging that she appeared to have endorsed Terry McAuliffe during a White House press briefing on Thursday. According to the US Office of Special Counsel, the agency charged with investigating Hatch Act violations, the law prohibits federal employees from 'using their official titles or positions while engaged in political activity,' including 'any activity directed at the success or failure of a political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group.' During the briefing, Psaki acknowledged that she could not make an endorsement from the podium, saying, 'I have to be a little careful about how much political analysis I do from here, and not, not traipse into that too much.' She then told reporters: 'We're going to do everything we can to help former Governor McAuliffe, and we believe in the agenda he's representing.'"

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The most powerful part of President Biden's climate agenda -- a program to rapidly replace the nation's coal- and gas-fired power plants with wind, solar and nuclear energy -- will likely be dropped from the massive budget bill pending in Congress, according to congressional staffers and lobbyists familiar with the matter. Senator Joe Manchin III, the Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia whose vote is crucial to passage of the bill, has told the White House that he strongly opposes the clean electricity program, according to three of those people. As a result, White House staffers are now rewriting the legislation without that climate provision, and are trying to cobble together a mix of other policies that could also cut emissions." ~~~

~~~ Hailey Fuchs of Politico: "Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) raised more campaign money in the last three months than in any quarter since she became a senator. And she hit that $1.1 million haul with a big assist from the pharmaceutical and financial industries, whose political action committees and top executives stuffed her coffers in the middle of negotiations on Democrats' massive infrastructure and social spending bills.... Little of the $1.1 million Sinema raised came from her constituents. Nearly 90 percent of Sinema's cash from individual contributors came from outside Arizona." ~~~

~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Az.) "and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) are the two holdouts keeping President Biden's 'Build Back Better' agenda (and with it a $1 trillion infrastructure bill) from passage. But while Manchin has consistent (conservative) positions and has been negotiating in good faith with the White House, Sinema chose this week to fly off to the land of Marie Antoinette. Yes, Sinema is in Paris -- doing a fundraiser.... The peasants need a child tax credit, Internet access and tuition assistance, and Sinema responds: Qu'ils mangent de la brioche. Alas, we have seen entirely too much Sinema vérité of late.... Her staff says she's conducting 'remote' legislative negotiations while this is going on. Very remote. Biden, CNN reported, complained to progressives that Sinema didn't reliably return phone calls from the White House.... The person who poses the greatest threat to the Democrats' agenda -- and the democratic agenda -- appears to be dangerously irrational." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Milbank is right. I think the "solution" would be for Senate Democrats to corner Sinema and hold an intervention. She needs help. And so does the nation.

Michael Balsamo & Colleen Long of the AP: "A U.S. Capitol Police officer has been indicted on obstruction of justice charges after prosecutors say he helped to hide evidence of a rioter's involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection. The officer, Michael A. Riley, is accused of tipping off someone who participated in the riot by telling them to remove posts from Facebook that had showed the person inside the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack, according to court documents.... Riley, who responded to a report of a pipe bomb on Jan. 6 and has been a Capitol Police officer for about 25 years, had sent the person a message telling them that he was an officer with the police force who 'agrees with your political stance,' an indictment against him says." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ellie Kaufman of CNN: "A Marine who was found guilty after posting a series of videos on social media criticizing top military leaders' handling of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan received a sentence of one month forfeiture of $5,000 in pay and a direction to receive a letter of reprimand from a military judge on Friday. Marine Corps Judge Col. Glen Hines said he was considering giving Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller two months of docked pay but decided to limit it to one month because Scheller spent nine days in pre-trial confinement.... On Thursday, Hines found Scheller guilty after he entered guilty pleas to all five charges he faced -- including 'contempt towards officials,' 'disrespect toward superior commissioned officers' and 'failure to obey order or regulation' -- after videos of Scheller criticizing military leaders about their handling of the withdrawal went viral.... Scheller has yet to receive his characterization of discharge. As a part of the plea deal, he will likely receive either an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions. The characterization of discharge will be decided by the secretary of the Navy, the military judge said in court on Thursday."

Matt Gertz of Media Matters: "Fox News host Tucker Carlson dismissed the importance of paternity leave while taking an anti-gay swing at Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on Thursday. But in corporate materials his employer touts its parental leave policy, which his male Fox colleagues have praised for allowing them to take time off to care for their spouses and infants.... 'Pete Buttigieg has been on leave from his job since August after adopting a child. Paternity leave, they call it, trying to figure out how to breastfeed. No word on how that went,' he snarled on his prime-time show, mocking both fathers who take paternity leave and gay fathers." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Carolyn Johnson & Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "A panel of outside experts on Friday advised the Food and Drug Administration to authorize a booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine for people 18 and older, with a recommendation it be given at least two months after the first shot. The unanimous recommendation on the Johnson & Johnson booster will be taken up by the FDA, which is expected to make a decision within days. The move will chart a path forward for the 14 million people in the United States who have received the vaccine, many of whom have felt left behind as widely used shots employing a different technology garner greater attention from researchers and the public."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Michael Levenson & Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "The former student who was accused of shooting and killing 17 people at his high school in Parkland, Fla., in 2018 plans to plead guilty to 17 counts of premeditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, one of his lawyers said on Friday. The rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, killed 14 students and three faculty members and wounded 17 and was one of the deadliest school shootings in American history. The former student, Nikolas Cruz, who was 19 at the time and had a history of mental health and behavior problems, used a semiautomatic rifle that he had legally bought to carry out the assault, according to the police.... Prosecutors have vowed to pursue the death penalty and said that no agreement on a sentence had been reached." The AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

U.K. Megan Specia, et al., of the New York Times: "A Conservative Party lawmaker was stabbed to death on Friday afternoon as he was meeting with local constituents in southeast England.... Essex Police, the force that covers the area where the attack took place, identified the lawmaker as David Amess, 69, a long-serving member of the House of Commons. He was killed in the town of Leigh-on-Sea on the mouth of the Thames River, about 40 miles east of London.... A 25 year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder and was currently in custody." Update: "... the authorities declared [the murder] a terrorist attack early Saturday...."

     ~~~ The BBC News report is here.(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In case you're inclined to feel, "Wow, they're just as bad in Britain as in the U.S.," there is a stark contrast here. You're right, per capita, there probably are as many murderous nut cases in the U.K. as in the U.S. But the Florida boy was about to murder 17 people & wound 17 more because he had legal access to a semi-automatic weapon; the U.K. man was able to senselessly murder only one person. On the other hand, I don't suppose many countries limit bow-and-arrow sales. ...

~~~ Norway. Cora Engelbrecht & Henrik Pryser Libell of the New York Times: "The man accused of killing five people and wounding two others with a bow and arrow in the small Scandinavian town of Kongsberg has confessed to the rampage, his defense lawyer said in an interview on Friday. Espen Anderson Brathen, 37, a Danish citizen and local convert to Islam, 'admits to committing the acts he is charged with,' said his lawyer, Fredrick Neumann, adding that his client was also undergoing a mental health evaluation 'by doctors and health personnel.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Afghanistan. Taimoor Shah & Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the New York Times: "A blast at a mosque in southern Afghanistan killed dozens of people and wounded dozens more during Friday Prayer, officials said, the second such attack on a Shiite place of worship on successive Fridays in the country. The attack, which witnesses said involved multiple explosions, took place in Kandahar city -- considered the heart of the re-established Taliban government. And though no group has yet claimed responsibility, the Islamic State said it was behind a similar strike last week on a Shiite mosque in Kunduz Province, in the north, that left more than 40 people dead. Hafiz Saidullah, a Taliban official in charge of the culture and information department in Kandahar, said that the latest attack killed 47 people and injured at least 68." An AP report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "As many as 17 Christian missionaries from the United States and their family members, including children, were kidnapped on Saturday by a gang in Port-au-Prince as they were leaving an orphanage, according to Haitian security officials."

So Then. Washington Post: "Robert Durst has tested positive for the coronavirus just days after the real estate heir was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a close friend, his attorney told The Washington Post on Saturday. Durst, 78, was reportedly placed on a ventilator shortly after his Thursday sentencing to life without parole for the 2000 murder of Susan Berman, 55, according to the Los Angeles Times, the first to report the story."

New York Times: "One Texas deputy was killed and two others were injured in an early-morning shooting outside a Houston bar, law enforcement officials said at a news conference on Saturday. Just after 2 a.m., three deputies with the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office working in a police-related job at the 45 Norte Sports Bar went outside to address a disturbance, according to Jim Jones, executive assistant chief of the Houston Police Department."