The Ledes

Friday, October 4, 2024

CNBC: “The U.S. economy added far more jobs than expected in September, pointing to a vital employment picture as the unemployment rate edged lower, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls surged by 254,000 for the month, up from a revised 159,000 in August and better than the 150,000 Dow Jones consensus forecast. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, down 0.1 percentage point.”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Friday
Oct082021

The Commentariat -- October 9, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "... as the national [Democratic] party starts to create a new calendar for the 2024 presidential nomination that could remove Iowa from its privileged [first-in-the-nation] position for the first time since 1972, when candidates started flocking to the state for an early jump on the race to the White House. The caucuses' reputation has been damaged by high barriers to participation, a dearth of racial diversity, the rightward drift in the state's electorate and a leftward drift in the Democratic participants. The state party's inability to count the results in 2020 only deepened dismay in the party.... '... Iowa is not representative of America,' [former DNC Chair Tom] Perez said Friday in an interview. 'We need a primary process that is reflective of today's demographics in the Democratic Party.'"

Jim Acosta & Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Former Trump aide Dan Scavino has been served a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, bringing an end to the panel's struggle to physically locate him. A process server brought the subpoena to ... Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday, the source said. While Scavino was home in New York at the time, he asked a staff member to accept the subpoena on his behalf."

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Ordinarily staid and silent Supreme Court justices have become whirling dervishes of late, spinning madly to rebut the idea that Americans are beginning to regard the court as a dangerous cabal of partisan hacks.... Many of us have thought that for a long time.... The Least Dangerous Branch, as the court was once known, has become the Most Dangerous Branch.... And please, Justice Breyer, skedaddle. You're playing a dangerous game. You need to get out of there because it looks as if the midterms are going to be bad, and if the Democrats lose the Senate majority, there's no guarantee that Mitch McConnell will let any Biden nominee onto the court, even with two years left on the president's term."

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

Rebecca Robbins of the New York Times: "Moderna, whose coronavirus vaccine appears to be the world's best defense against Covid-19, has been supplying its shots almost exclusively to wealthy nations, keeping poorer countries waiting and earning billions in profit. After developing a breakthrough vaccine with the financial and scientific support of the U.S. government, Moderna has shipped a greater share of its doses to wealthy countries than any other vaccine manufacturer, according to Airfinity, a data firm that tracks vaccine shipments.... Of the handful of middle-income countries that have reached deals to buy Moderna's shots, most have not yet received any doses, and at least three have had to pay more than the United States or European Union did...."

California. Azi Paybarah of the New York Times: "The pipeline that spilled at least 126,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean off the California coast may have been damaged up to a year earlier, according to preliminary results of an ongoing investigation, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Officials have said the leak occurred three miles off the coast of Newport Beach, Calif., and involved a failure in a 17.5-mile pipeline connected to an offshore oil platform called Elly that is operated by Beta Offshore.... Investigators are 'fairly certain' that an anchor from a 'large vessel' struck the pipeline's concrete casing, and dragged the pipeline more than 100 feet from its original location...."

Afghanistan. Kathy Gannon of the AP: "The Taliban on Saturday ruled out cooperation with the United States to contain extremist groups in Afghanistan, staking out an uncompromising position on a key issue ahead of the first direct talks between the former foes since America withdrew from the country in August. Senior Taliban officials and U.S. representatives are to meet Saturday and Sunday in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Officials from both sides have said issues include reining in extremist groups and the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country. The Taliban have signaled flexibility on evacuations. However, Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press there would be no cooperation with Washington on containing the increasingly active Islamic State group in Afghanistan."

~~~~~~~~~~

President Biden often talks about a 'foreign policy for the middle class.' Today, is what foreign policymaking for the middle class looks like in practice. -- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in a statement Friday ~~~

~~~ Alan Rappeport & Liz Alderman of the New York Times: "The world's most powerful nations agreed on Friday to a sweeping overhaul of international tax rules, with officials backing a 15 percent global minimum tax and other changes aimed at cracking down on tax havens that have drained countries of much-needed revenue. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which has been leading the negotiations, said the new minimum tax rate would apply to companies with annual revenue of more than 750 million euros ($866 million) and would generate around $150 billion in additional global tax revenue per year.... The agreement is the culmination of years of fraught negotiations that were revived this year after President Biden took office and renewed the United States' commitment to multilateralism. Finance ministers have been racing to finalize the agreement, which they hope will reverse a decades-long race to the bottom of corporate tax rates that have encouraged companies to shift profits to low-tax jurisdictions...."

Maegan Vazquez & Betsy Klein of CNN: "President Joe Biden on Friday attributed the disappointing September jobs report to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic but sought to frame the new data as steady progress toward the nation's economic recovery. In a speech at the White House, Biden pointed to the specific week when the survey for the monthly jobs report was done as one reason the number of jobs added in September fell below expectations. 'Today's report is based on a survey that was taken during the week of September 13. Not today, September the 13th -- when Covid cases were average more than 150,000 per day,' Biden said. 'Since then, we've seen the daily cases fall by more than one-third and they're continuing to trend down, and we're continuing to make progress.'" The full proclamation, via the White House, is here.

Zeke Miller & Ellen Knickmeyer of the AP: "President Joe Biden on Friday issued the first-ever presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples' Day, lending the most significant boost yet to efforts to refocus the federal holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus toward an appreciation of Native peoples. The day will be observed Oct. 11, along with Columbus Day, which is established by Congress. While Native Americans have campaigned for years for local and national days in recognition of the country's indigenous peoples, Biden's announcement appeared to catch many by surprise." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden signed into law on Friday a new government program to compensate C.I.A. officers, State Department diplomats and other federal officials who have suffered traumatic neurological injuries that the intelligence community has yet to figure out, launched by assailants it cannot yet identify. With no ceremony and little public comment, Mr. Biden signed the Havana Act, authorizing Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and the C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, to give financial support to employees who have suffered brain injuries. The act is named for what has become known as 'Havana Syndrome,' a series of unexplained injuries whose victims were first identified five years ago at the United States Embassy in Cuba.... The president's signature came just as the episodes appear to be increasing in frequency and some have become more brazen.... Mr. Biden's silence about the new law ..." reflects the fact that so little is known about the cause of the illnesses and the identities of the perpetrators.

Mr. Biden Regrets He's Unable to Cover Your Ass. Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden rejected ... Donald Trump's request to block documents from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the White House said on Friday, likely setting up a legal and political battle. Trump has claimed executive privilege in seeking to evade the committee's demands for details about Trump and his aides' activities during the Jan. 6 attack. But in the letter to the National Archives and Records Administration, the White House said Biden 'determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States.' Trump responded with a letter of his own Friday that formally claimed executive privilege over about 50 documents requested by the select committee. At a White House briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden decision reflected the gravity of the attack.... Biden's decision on Friday came after former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon told the House committee that he cannot comply with the panel's sweeping request for documents and testimony. But the committee said two other Trump advisers -- former chief of staff Mark Meadows and national security aide Kash Patel -- are 'engaging with the committee.'..." The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to legal experts who have appeared on CNN & MSNBC, all Trump's claims to executive privilege, real and imagined, ended on January 20 at noon. Bannon, who hasn't even had an administration job since 2017 is, of course, full of it. And frankly, my dear, I think the DOJ is compelled to bring conspiracy charges against Trump and that self-aggrandizing twerp Jeffrey Clark, at the very least. Also too, I don't think executive privilege covers criminal acts. ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot threatened on Friday to pursue criminal charges against Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief strategist to ... Donald J. Trump, for refusing to comply with its subpoena, announcing it would consider initiating criminal contempt of Congress proceedings. In a statement after Mr. Bannon informed the panel that he would not cooperate in the inquiry, the panel's leaders [-- Reps. Bennie Thompson & Liz Cheney --] said they would 'swiftly consider' the contempt referral, raising the prospect of what could be a prolonged legal battle over what could be crucial evidence in the investigation." CNN's report is here. MB: Time to clear out the perhaps-mythical cell in the Capitol crypt and fit it with a cot & a bucket. (Also linked yesterday.)

Daniel Lippman & Betsy Swan of Politico: "A former high-ranking Capitol Police official with knowledge of the department's response to the Jan. 6 attack has sent congressional leaders a scathing letter accusing two of its senior leaders of mishandling intelligence and failing to respond properly during the riot. The whistleblower, who requested anonymity for privacy reasons and left the force months after the attack, sent the 16-page letter late last month to the top members of both parties in the House and Senate. His missive makes scorching allegations against Sean Gallagher, the Capitol Police's acting chief of uniformed operations, and Yogananda Pittman, its assistant chief of police for protective and intelligence operations -- who also served as its former acting chief. The whistleblower accuses Gallagher and Pittman of deliberately choosing not to help officers under attack on Jan. 6 and alleges that Pittman lied to Congress about an intelligence report Capitol Police received before that day's riot. After a lengthy career in the department, the whistleblower was a senior official on duty on Jan. 6.... Without naming specific lawmakers, his letter [also] accuses congressional leaders of having 'purposefully failed' to tell the truth about the department's failures."

Rachel Reads the News. Marie: Rachel Maddow did a great job Thursday of reading from the Democratic Senators' report on Trump's January 6 coup attempt. The full show is here, and it begins with the reading. However, I'm not sure you'll be able to access the link, since it may be specific to my IP address. If you cannot access it with that link and you get MSNBC through your ISP, link on the show's general page (here), then click on "Full Episodes," and follow the instructions from there. If neither of those works for you, there could be some pirated copies of the show on YouTube. Anyway, her reading is worth going to a little trouble to watch, as she gives you a very good sense of the report's findings & what they say about the administration's coup-plot participants. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Philip Bump of the Washington Post outlines all of Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, then tears into Senate Republicans' conclusion that since the coup failed, it was okay: "That [Vice President Pence didn't throw out slates of Electors] and that Trump gave up on replacing [Acting AG Jeffrey] Rosen and that the physical violence at the Capitol didn't derail the electoral-vote counting for long have all been elevated as reasons to shrug at Trump's efforts. He tried all these things and they didn't work, this line of argument goes, so why should we be concerned about their working in the future?... This argument has two critical flaws, though. The first is that it misunderstands Trump's intent. The second is that it underestimates the assistance he received....[Trump's] pre-Jan. 6 effort [arose from an] an incoherent strategy except that it was wide-ranging. This is what he always did.... His was a spaghetti-at-the-wall presidency; his was a spaghetti-at-the-wall coup.... But if you learned where the wall was weak, it was worth it."

Carlos Lozado of the Washington Post reviews a memoir by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) in which Schiff discusses the January 6 insurrection. In the book, Midnight in Washington, Schiff writes, "What took place inside our chamber, with the challenge to the electors, was every bit as much an attack on our democracy. We can reinforce the doors and put up fences. But we cannot guard our democracy against those who walk the halls of Congress, have taken an oath to uphold our Constitution, but refuse to do so." "In effect, there were two insurrections, not one, Schiff argues, and he is more interested in the insurrectionists wearing suits and ties than in the shirtless ones in buffalo horns."

Even When Trump Uses Corrupt Practices to Prop up His Businesses, He Fails. Jonathan O'Connell & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's luxury Washington hotel lost more than $70 million while he was in office despite reaping millions in payments from foreign governments, according to federal documents released by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Friday. The committee, chaired by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), released hundreds of pages of financial documents on the property Friday that it received from the General Services Administration, the agency that leased the federally owned property to Trump's company beginning in 2013. Maloney and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) allege the documents show that Trump received an estimated $3.7 million from foreign governments and received preferential treatment from Deutsche Bank when the bank allowed Trump to defer payments for six years on the principal of the property's $170 million loan. The findings 'raise new and troubling questions about former President Trump's lease with GSA and the agency's ability to manage the former President's conflicts of interest during his term in office when he was effectively on both sides of the contract, as landlord and tenant,' the two Democrats said in a news release." The AP's story is here. MB: Worst U.S. President*, Failed Businessman, Horrible Human Being. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Donald Trump hid losses of more than $70m at his eponymous Washington DC hotel while he was in the White House, House Democrats said on Friday.... According to the House committee [on oversight]: 'On his federally mandated financial disclosures, President Trump reported that the Trump Hotel earned him over $150m in revenue during his time in office. However, the records obtained by the committee show that the Trump Hotel actually incurred net losses of over $70m, leading the former president's holding company to inject at least $24m to aid the struggling hotel. By filing these misleading public disclosures, President Trump grossly exaggerated the financial health of the Trump Hotel. He also appears to have concealed potential conflicts of interest stemming not just from his ownership of this failing business but also from his roles as the hotel's lender and the guarantor of its third-party loans.' The committee said that in 2018 Trump received preferential treatment from Deutsche Bank, which allowed him to delay payments on a $170m loan." (Also linked yesterday.)

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: When Donald Trump first became President*, his staff issued hollow denials of reports that he had made cruel, racist remarks. "Now, he just goes on Fox News and says it. 'You know,' he said to the network's Sean Hannity on Thursday night, 'there's one other thing that nobody talks about. So we have hundreds of thousands of people flowing in from Haiti. Haiti has a tremendous AIDS problem.... Many of those people will probably have AIDS, and they're coming into our country. And we don't do anything about it. We let everybody come in. Sean, it's like a death wish. It's like a death wish for our country.'... There is no flood of migrants from Haiti entering the country unchecked, healthy or not."

Andrew Desiderio & Lara Seligman of Politico: "The U.S. government's investigation into the mysterious illnesses impacting American personnel overseas and at home is turning up new evidence that the symptoms are the result of directed-energy attacks, according to five lawmakers and officials briefed on the matter. Behind closed doors, lawmakers are also growing increasingly confident that Russia or another hostile foreign government is behind the suspected attacks, based on regular briefings from administration officials -- although there is still no smoking gun linking the incidents to Moscow. The National Security Council has recently been convening more frequent high-level meetings on the topic, according to a current and a former official with direct knowledge -- a sign that the government's review is accelerating." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If compelling evidence emerges, the perps should be marched off to the Hague. This is torture.

A Day After Sheathing His Sabre, Mitch Pulls It Out & Starts Rattling. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "A day after dropping his party's blockade and allowing action to temporarily increase the federal debt ceiling, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, warned President Biden on Friday that he had no intention of doing so again, reviving the threat of a first-ever federal default in December. In a phone call with Mr. Biden, Mr. McConnell, who toiled to corral the votes needed to break his own party's filibuster against the debt limit increase -- and voted himself to do so -- said Democrats should not expect such help in the future...." The Hill's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Karoli Kuns of Crooks & Liars: "According to Beltway media and cable yakkers, Republicans have hurt fee-fees because Chuck Schumer didn't politely look the other way when they broke their own filibuster in order to raise the debt ceiling ... and keep the nation from economic ruin..., as they should have done without a filibuster in the first place." Read Kuns' report and you'll realize anew that as long as the GOP exists, and no matter how many crooks and liars are its stars, Beltway reporters will wallow in both-siderisms.

Looks as if Fossil-Fuel Donors Got to Sinema. Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who began her political career with the Green Party and who has voiced alarm over the warming planet, wants to cut at least $100 billion from climate programs in major legislation pending on Capitol Hill, according to two people.... Last month, Ms. Sinema told The Arizona Republic, 'We know that a changing climate costs Arizonans. And right now, we have the opportunity to pass smart policies to address it -- looking forward to that.'... A spokesman for Ms. Sinema, John LaBombard, forcefully denied that Ms. Sinema requested the cuts." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sinema may have a reputation for being very smart, but what this report shows is that she is in way over her head. I think her refusal to talk to reporters is a reflection of that; silence is her only defense against public revelations that she is lost or duplicitous.

When the Ordinary Privileges of Wealth Are Not Enough. Alanna Richer of the AP: "Two wealthy parents were convicted Friday of buying their kids' way into school as athletic recruits in the first case to go to trial in the college admissions cheating scandal that embroiled prestigious universities across the country. Gamal Abdelaziz, a former casino executive, and John Wilson, a former Staples Inc. executive, were found guilty after about 10 hours of deliberations in the case that exposed a scheme to get undeserving applicants into college by falsely portraying them as star athletes." (Also linked yesterday.)

Debbie Cenziper, et al., of the Washington Post: "The U.S. government has long condemned prominent offshore financial centers, where liberal rules and guarantees of discretion have drawn oligarchs, business tycoons and politicians. But a burgeoning American trust industry is increasingly sheltering the assets of international millionaires and billionaires by promising levels of protection and secrecy that rival or surpass those offered in overseas tax havens. That shield, which is near-absolute, has insulated the industry from meaningful oversight and allowed it to forge new footholds in U.S. states.... [Investigators combing the 'Pandora Papers'] identified 206 U.S.-based trusts linked to 41 countries. Nearly 30 of the trusts held assets connected to people or companies accused of fraud, bribery or human rights abuses in some of the world's most vulnerable communities.... The trust documents come mostly from the Sioux Falls office of Trident Trust.... Other states competing to lure wealth include Alaska, Delaware, Nevada and New Hampshire.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Beyond the Beltway

North Carolina Congressional Race. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post (October 5): "At the beginning of a campaign ad announcing his candidacy for Congress, North Carolina state Rep. Charles Graham reflects on the divisions the country faces today -- but also those of decades ago, when the Ku Klux Klan sought to terrorize his home county.... The campaign video had drawn more than 3.4 million views on Twitter as of Tuesday afternoon." MB: Five million by Friday, according to MSNBC. ~~~

North Carolina. Danielle Battaglia & Brian Murphy of the Raleigh News & Observer: "The Biden White House condemned on Friday North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's comments calling transgenderism and homosexuality 'filth.' 'These words are repugnant and offensive,' said Andrew Bates, White House deputy press secretary and a native of North Carolina, in a statement. 'The role of a leader is to bring people together and stand up for the dignity and rights of everyone; not to spread hate and undermine their own office.' Robinson, the state's highest-ranking Republican, made the comments in June at Asbury Baptist Church in Seagrove. Part of the speech was posted Tuesday at Right Wing Watch's Twitter account, prompting an outpouring of criticism."

** Texas. Paul Weber of the AP: "A federal appeals court Friday night allowed Texas to temporarily resume banning most abortions, just one day after clinics across the state began rushing to serve patients again for the first time since early September. Abortion providers in Texas had been bracing for the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals to act quickly, even as they booked new appointments and reopened their doors during a brief reprieve from the law known as Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks." The Washington Post's story is here.

Virginia. Graham Moomaw of the Virginia Mercury: "The Virginia Redistricting Commission's first-ever attempt to draw fair political maps collapsed in spectacular fashion Friday, when frustrated Democrats walked out of a meeting after Republicans rebuffed their suggestions for reaching a compromise. The commission, which has been holding regular meetings for more than a month, never came close to reaching an agreement on final General Assembly maps. Partisanship dominated the process from the start, with the commission hiring two teams of overtly partisan consultants and repeatedly failing to agree on how to merge two sets of maps. The process now appears headed to the Supreme Court of Virginia...."

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. Samya Kullab & Tameem Akhgar of the AP: "An Islamic State suicide bomber struck at a mosque packed with Shiite Muslim worshippers in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 46 people and wounding dozens in the latest security challenge to the Taliban as they transition from insurgency to governance. In its claim of responsibility, the region's IS affiliate identified the bomber as a Uygher Muslim, saying the attack targeted both Shiites and the Taliban for their purported willingness to expel Uyghers to meet demands from China. The statement was carried by the IS-linked Aamaq news agency. The blast tore through a crowded mosque in the city of Kunduz during Friday noon prayers...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Comments Off
Thursday
Oct072021

The Commentariat -- October 8, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Zeke Miller & Ellen Knickmeyer of the AP: "President Joe Biden on Friday issued the first-ever presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples' Day, lending the most significant boost yet to efforts to refocus the federal holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus toward an appreciation of Native peoples. The day will be observed Oct. 11, along with Columbus Day, which i established by Congress. While Native Americans have campaigned for years for local and national days in recognition of the country's indigenous peoples, Biden's announcement appeared to catch many by surprise."

Mr. Biden Regrets He's Unable to Cover Your Ass. Tom Hamburger, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden rejected ... Donald Trump's request to block documents from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the White House said on Friday, likely setting up a legal and political battle. Trump has claimed executive privilege in seeking to evade the committee's demands for details about Trump and his aides' activities during the Jan. 6 attack. But in the letter to the National Archives and Records Administration, the White House said Biden 'determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States.' Trump responded with a letter of his own Friday that formally claimed executive privilege over about 50 documents requested by the select committee. At a White House briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden decision reflected the gravity of the attack.... Biden's decision on Friday came after former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon told the House committee that he cannot comply with the panel's sweeping request for documents and testimony. But the committee said two other Trump advisers -- former chief of staff Mark Meadows and national security aide Kash Patel -- are 'engaging with the committee.'..." The NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: According to legal experts who have appeared on CNN & MSNBC, all Trump's claims to executive privilege, real and imagined, ended on January 20 at noon. Bannon, who hasn't even had an administration job since 2017 is, of course, full of it. And frankly, my dear, I think the DOJ is compelled to bring conspiracy charges against Trump and that self-aggrandizing twerp Jeffrey Clark, at the very least. ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot threatened on Friday to pursue criminal charges against Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief strategist to ... Donald J. Trump, for refusing to comply with its subpoena, announcing it would consider initiating criminal contempt of Congress proceedings. In a statement after Mr. Bannon informed the panel that he would not cooperate in the inquiry, the panel's leaders [-- Reps. Bennie Thompson & Liz Cheney --] said they would 'swiftly consider' the contempt referral, raising the prospect of what could be a prolonged legal battle over what could be crucial evidence in the investigation." MB: Time to clear out the perhaps-mythical cell in the Capitol crypt and fit it with a cot & a bucket.

Rachel Reads the News. Marie: Rachel Maddow did a great job Thursday of reading from the Democratic Senators' report on Trump's January 6 coup attempt. The full show is here, and it begins with the reading. However, I'm not sure you'll be able to access the link, since it may be specific to my IP address. If you can't access it with that link and you get MSNBC through your ISP, link on the show's general page (here), then click on "Full Episodes," and follow the instructions from there. If neither of those works for you, there may be some pirated copies of the show on YouTube. Rachel's reading is worth going to a little trouble to watch, as she gives a very good sense of the report's findings & what they say about the coup-plot participants.

Even When Trump Uses Corrupt Practices to Prop up His Businesses, He Fails. Jonathan O'Connell & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's luxury Washington hotel lost more than $70 million while he was in office despite reaping millions in payments from foreign governments, according to federal documents released by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Friday. The committee, chaired by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), released hundreds of pages of financial documents on the property Friday that it received from the General Services Administration, the agency that leased the federally owned property to Trump's company beginning in 2013. Maloney and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) allege the documents show that Trump received an estimated $3.7 million from foreign governments and received preferential treatment from Deutsche Bank when the bank allowed Trump to defer payments for six years on the principal of the property's $170 million loan. The findings 'raise new and troubling questions about former President Trump's lease with GSA and the agency's ability to manage the former President's conflicts of interest during his term in office when he was effectively on both sides of the contract, as landlord and tenant,' the two Democrats said in a news release." The AP's story is here. MB: Worst U.S. President*, Failed Businessman, Horrible Human Being. ~~~

     ~~~ Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Donald Trump hid losses of more than $70m at his eponymous Washington DC hotel while he was in the White House, House Democrats said on Friday.... According to the House committee [on oversight]: 'On his federally mandated financial disclosures, President Trump reported that the Trump Hotel earned him over $150m in revenue during his time in office. However, the records obtained by the committee show that the Trump Hotel actually incurred net losses of over $70m, leading the former president's holding company to inject at least $24m to aid the struggling hotel. By filing these misleading public disclosures, President Trump grossly exaggerated the financial health of the Trump Hotel. He also appears to have concealed potential conflicts of interest stemming not just from his ownership of this failing business but also from his roles as the hotel's lender and the guarantor of its third-party loans.' The committee said that in 2018 Trump received preferential treatment from Deutsche Bank, which allowed him to delay payments on a $170m loan."

Andrew Desiderio & Lara Seligman of Politico: "The U.S. government's investigation into the mysterious illnesses impacting American personnel overseas and at home is turning up new evidence that the symptoms are the result of directed-energy attacks, according to five lawmakers and officials briefed on the matter. Behind closed doors, lawmakers are also growing increasingly confident that Russia or another hostile foreign government is behind the suspected attacks, based on regular briefings from administration officials -- although there is still no smoking gun linking the incidents to Moscow. The National Security Council has recently been convening more frequent high-level meetings on the topic, according to a current and a former official with direct knowledge -- a sign that the government's review is accelerating." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If compelling evidence emerges, the perps should be marched off to the Hague. This is torture.

When the Ordinary Privileges of Wealth Are Not Enough. Alanna Richer of the AP: "Two wealthy parents were convicted Friday of buying their kids' way into school as athletic recruits in the first case to go to trial in the college admissions cheating scandal that embroiled prestigious universities across the country. Gamal Abdelaziz, a former casino executive, and John Wilson, a former Staples Inc. executive, were found guilty after about 10 hours of deliberations in the case that exposed a scheme to get undeserving applicants into college by falsely portraying them as star athletes."

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

Afghanistan. Samya Kullab & Tameem Akhgar of the AP: "An Islamic State suicide bomber struck at a mosque packed with Shiite Muslim worshippers in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 46 people and wounding dozens in the latest security challenge to the Taliban as they transition from insurgency to governance. In its claim of responsibility, the region's IS affiliate identified the bomber as a Uygher Muslim, saying the attack targeted both Shiites and the Taliban for their purported willingness to expel Uyghers to meet demands from China. The statement was carried by the IS-linked Aamaq news agency. The blast tore through a crowded mosque in the city of Kunduz during Friday noon prayers...."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "President Biden is expected to announce on Friday that he will use his executive authority to restore sweeping environmental protections to three major national monuments that had been stripped away by ... Donald J. Trump, according to two people familiar with the matter. Mr. Biden will reinstate and slightly expand the original 1.3 million acre boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument, and restore the original 1.8 million acre boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante, two rugged and pristine expanses in Utah that are defined by red rock canyons, rich wildlife and archaeological treasures. He will also restore protections covering the Atlantic Ocean's first marine monument, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, an expanse of sea canyons and underwater mountains off the New England coast. Mr. Trump had href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/us/trump-bears-ears.html">sharply reduced the size of all three national monuments at the urging of ranchers, the fishing industry and many Republican leaders, opening them to mining, drilling and development." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If I were Biden, I would commandeer an aircraft carrier, hang a huge "Mission Accomplished" banner across it, call up the Marine Band & race out upon the bounding New England coastal waters to make the announcement. It's a PR stunt that works so well for presidents.

Julian Borger & Helen Davidson of the Guardian: "The US has been secretly maintaining a small contingent of military trainers in Taiwan for at least a year, according to a new report [by the Wall Street Journal], the latest sign of the rising stakes in US-China rivalry.... [Prior to their deployment during the Trump administration,] US troops have not been permanently based on the island since 1979, whe Washington established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.... China's foreign ministry issued a statement urging the US to stop military aid to Taiwan."

Congratulations to the U.S. Senate. The gentleladies & gentlemen of the Greatest Deliberative Body on Earth have managed, at the very last minute, to avert a worldwide financial catastrophe of the Senate's own making -- for a period of up to six weeks, before which they will create another world financial crisis. Next up: the House. ~~~

~~~ Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "The Senate passed legislation on Thursday to raise the debt ceiling through early December, after a small cluster of Republicans temporarily put aside their objections and allowed action to stave off the threat of a first-ever federal default. The action came the day after Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, partly backed down from his blockade on raising the debt limit, offering a temporary reprieve as political pressure mounted to avoid being blamed for a fiscal calamity. But the fragile deal to move ahead was in doubt until the very end, with some Republicans reluctant to drop their objections. Mr. McConnell and his top deputies labored into the evening on Thursday to persuade enough members to clear the way for a vote. Ultimately, 11 Republicans joined every Democrat in voting to take up the bill, clearing the 60-vote threshold needed to break the G.O.P. filibuster. The final vote was 50 to 48, with Democrats unanimously in support and Republicans united in opposition. Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, said the House would return on Tuesday to take up the bill." This is an update of a story also linked yesterday afternoon. ~~~

     ~~~ Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "The Senate approved a short-term debt ceiling fix on Thursday night, bringing Congress a huge step closer to staving off an economic debacle until December. The two-month patch overcame a Senate GOP filibuster, 61-38, then passed with all Democratic votes. The action followed a furious bout of GOP whipping to ensure at least 10 Senate Republicans would allow the bill to advance, giving Democrats the ability to clear the measure with a simple majority threshold." This is an update of a story also linked yesterday.

Former President* Bankrupto Furious Mitch Didn't Tank Your 401K. Felicia Sonmez & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Thursday's debt-limit deal has prompted a new round of attacks on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell by ... Donald Trump and his supporters.... Looks like Mitch McConnell is folding to the Democrats, again,' Trump said in a statement.... 'He's got all of the cards with the debt ceiling, it's time to play the hand. Don't let them destroy our Country!'" MB: I'm not sure Trump is intelligent enough to know that in the nick of time, Mitch finally decided not to "destroy our country." In any event, it doesn't matter to Trump, because he doesn't care if he "destroys our country" if it vanquished a perceived enemy. ~~~

~~~ Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "Republicans are in disarray after the GOP's Senate leader came to an agreement to raise the debt ceiling to prevent the federal government from defaulting on its debt.... Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted [Mitch] McConnell on the floor of the Senate." Trump's fair-weather friend Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was upset with McConnell, too.

Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued three new subpoenas Thursday, continuing its focus on those organizing rallies the day former President Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol. The subpoenas went to Nathan Martin and Ali Abdul Akbar, also known as Ali Alexander, and an affiliated corporation titled Stop the Steal LLC. Both men's names and contact information are listed on a permit application for the 'One Nation Under God' event, which sought to rally on 'the election fraud in the swing states.'"

Luke Broadwater & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has instructed his former aides not to comply with subpoenas from the special congressional committee investigating the Capitol riot, raising the prospect of the panel issuing criminal referrals for some of his closest advisers as early as Friday.... Mr. Trump's lawyer asked that witnesses not provide testimony or documents related to their 'official' duties, and instead to invoke any immunities they might have 'to the fullest extent permitted by law.' The House committee has ordered four former Trump administration officials -- Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff; Dan Scavino Jr., a deputy chief of staff; Stephen K. Bannon, an adviser; and Kash Patel, a Pentagon chief of staff -- to sit for depositions and furnish documents and other materials relevant to its investigation. They all faced a Thursday deadline to respond. Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the select committee, has threatened criminal referrals for witnesses who do not comply with the subpoenas, and said the panel expected witnesses 'to cooperate fully with our probe.'" Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Thursday's edition of CNN's 'The Lead,' Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) warned ... Donald Trump's allies that they cannot be pardoned anymore if they are prosecuted for contempt of Congress or obstruction."

~~~ BUT a Boost from DOJ. Kyle Cheney & Nicholas Wu of Politico: "A top career official in President Joe Biden's Justice Department blocked efforts by Senate investigators to probe the handling of voter fraud complaints in the aftermath of the 2020 election, according to transcripts released Thursday. As Senate Judiciary Committee aides investigating Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election questioned top Trump-era Justice Department officials, a DOJ attorney present for the interviews intervened repeatedly to say such questions were outside the scope of the panel's inquiry. The official, DOJ attorney Bradley Weinsheimer -- a career official who has worked under attorneys general of both parties -- cited guidance he issued in July.... But his assertions drew repeated, and sometimes pointed, challenges from Judiciary Committee aides in both parties.... The Justice Department declined to comment, but [AG Merrick] Garland confirmed in an interview Monday that the DOJ is in regular contact with the White House on executive privilege issues related to investigations of former President Trump." Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "A Senate report on ... Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election offers new details about an Oval Office confrontation between Trump and the Justice Department, revealing the extent to which government lawyers threatened to resign en masse if the president removed his attorney general. The interim report by the Senate Judiciary Committee was issued Thursday. While Republicans on the panel offered their counter-findings, arguing that Trump did not subvert the justice system to remain in power, the majority report by the Democrats offers the most detailed account to date of the struggle inside the administration's final, desperate days." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) CNN's report on the report is here. ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post outlines "some key takeaways [front the Democrats' report].... Perhaps the report's biggest disclosure involves something we already knew a bit about: [DOJ attorney Jeffrey] Clark's willingness to be a pawn in Trump's effort to overturn the election.... [Acting AG Jeffrey] Rosen recounted that, at one point, Trump lamented his refusal to assist in not just questioning the election results but -- in Trump's own words -- 'overturning the election.' According to Rosen, Trump opened the [Jan. 3] meeting by saying, 'One thing we know is you, Rosen, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election.' A transcript of his testimony shows Rosen twice described Trump using that phrase.... This report doesn't land in a vacuum. In fact, next to several other recent disclosures, it demonstrates a clear and multifaceted effort to use any tool available to overturn the election." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Since previous news report revealed at least the outlines of most of the report's finding, perhaps the most shocking part is that Republican Senators dared to write a counter-report with subheadings like, "THE AVAILABLE EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP DID NOT USE THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO OVERTURN THE ELECTION" and "PRESIDENT TRUMP DID NOT EXERT IMPROPER INFLUENCE ON THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT...." Right. ~~~

     ~~~ GOP: A Failed Illegal Plot Is Legal & Proper. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Sen. Charles "Grassley's [R-Iowa] report highlights the facts that Trump not only didn't ultimately fire Rosen and replace him with the loyalist Clark, as had been threatened, but that he also opted against releasing the letter Clark had drafted about supposed evidence of fraud in Georgia.... As with Ukraine, it wasn't because Trump had some attack of conscience; it's because the plot fell apart.... Trump was talked out of [carrying out the coup] not for moral reasons, but for practical, personal ones[.]... This plot was apparently very much set in motion.... Per Rosen's testimony..., [on] Jan. 3, '[Clark] told me ... that the President had decided to offer him [Rosen] the position [of attorney general], and he had decided to take it. So that I would be replaced that Sunday, and the Department would chart a different path.... So ... I told him, "Well, here's the thing, Jeff Clark, my subordinates don't get to fire me. So ... I'm going to contact the President and tell him I need to talk with him."'"

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "... As a pro-Trump mob grew in size and anger [on January 6], a man in a MAGA hat briefly spoke outside the building with the Proud Boys leader Joseph Biggs. Minutes later, the man, Ryan Samsel, walked to the front of the crowd, turned his hat backward and started to shove aggressively at barricade. As others joined him, the barricade fell, knocking down a police officer and arguably setting off the ensuing riot. While the encounter between Mr. Biggs and Mr. Samsel was caught on video and is often thought of as a tipping point in the Capitol attack, little has been known about what the two men said to each other. For months, however..., the government has known Mr. Samsel's account of the exchange: He has told investigators that Mr. Biggs encouraged him to push at the barricades and that when he hesitated, the Proud Boys leader flashed a gun, questioned his manhood and repeated his demand to move upfront and challenge the police.... It is not clear whether the F.B.I. views Mr. Samsel as credible.... Mr. Biggs's lawyer, denied that his client was armed on Jan. 6 or that he sought to encourage Mr. Samsel to confront the police...."

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post wonders: "How dumb can a nation get and still survive? Idiotically, we seem determined to find out."

Sara Fischer of Axios: "Google and YouTube on Thursday announced a new policy that prohibits climate deniers from being able to monetize their content on its platforms via ads or creator payments.... It's one of the most aggressive measures any major tech platform has taken to combat climate change misinformation."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Eli Rosenberg & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "President Biden touted the effectiveness of workplace vaccine mandates and urged companies to begin instituting them on their own during a visit to the Chicago area Thursday as his administration rushed to create a federal rule that will require companies with more than 100 employees to institute vaccination or testing protocols among their staffs. Biden initially shied away from calling for coronavirus vaccine mandates but has fully embraced them with the coronavirus reignited in the country in recent months, hampering the economic rebound and his efforts to move past the pandemic. Since Biden began his for push for more workplace vaccine mandates, evidence that they effectively boost vaccination rates has piled up.... He called the vaccine requirements 'tough medicine' that he came around to only after seeing how many people refused to get vaccinated, amid rising caseloads across the country from the delta variant. Biden met with the chief executive of United Airlines, the first airline to institute a vaccine mandate for employees, and visited the worksite run by a construction company, Clayco, that recently announced a vaccine or testing requirement for its workers."

Heather Long & Andrew Van Dam of the Washington Post: "Millions of Americans have returned to work this year as health risks have subsided, but a full jobs rebound is a long way off, and the recovery so far has largely left behind Black Americans and workers without college degrees. The job losses for these groups are still worse than anything college-educated Americans ever experienced during the pandemic. The highly uneven recovery has been driven by long-standing problems in access to the Internet and child care, along with recent economic head winds: Hiring slowed sharply in August, supply chain issues have worsened, inflation remains high and consumer sentiment plunged in August and remains near its pandemic-era low."

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: “Moderna said on Thursday that it planned to build a vaccine manufacturing facility in Africa, news that was welcomed for the long-term but that does not address the continent's immediate need for Covid-19 vaccines. The company said that a new 'state of the art' facility would eventually produce up to 500 million doses a year of Moderna's mRNA vaccine, which has shown an efficacy rate of more than 90 percent in preventing Covid-19. The plant will, in time, also produce other Moderna vaccines, the company said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sharon LaFraniere & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "Pfizer and BioNTech asked federa regulators on Thursday to authorize emergency use of their coronavirus vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, a move that could help protect more than 28 million people in the United States. The companies say they are submitting data supporting the change to the Food and Drug Administration. The agency has promised to move quickly on the request and has tentatively scheduled a meeting on Oct. 26 to consider it. A ruling is expected between Halloween and Thanksgiving." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Florida. Lori Rozsa & Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post: "The tug of war between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the Biden administration over mask mandates in schools escalated Thursday when the state Board of Education voted unanimously to penalize school districts that continue to require masks, a move the U.S. Department of Education warned could be illegal. The board found that eight districts were not in compliance with a new state law on parental rights and that they violated a recent state health department rule that says students exposed to the coronavirus cannot be ordered to quarantine if they are asymptomatic. School board members in the eight districts will have their salaries withheld."

Beyond the Beltway

** Florida. Jesse Wegman in a New York Times op-ed: "... more than 700,000 people in Florida ... are barred from voting because they can't afford the financial obligations stemming from a prior felony conviction.... Even as other states began reversing their own bans in recent years, Florida remained a holdout -- until 2018, when Floridians overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to nearly everyone with a criminal record, upon the completion of their sentence.... But within a year, Florida's Republican-led Legislature gutted the reform by passing a law defining a criminal sentence as complete only after the person sentenced has paid all legal financial obligations connected to it.... This isn't just Kafkaesque. It may well be the deciding factor in Florida elections: Donald Trump carried the state by roughly 370,000 votes in 2020, or about half the number of Floridians who are denied the right to vote because they can&'t afford to pay their fines and fees." Read on. It gets worse.

New York. Cuomo Hoped to Foist off Hochul on Biden. They Call her "Governor Hochul" Now. Josh Dawsey & Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "Top aides to then-New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo sought a job in the Biden administration for then-Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul so they could remove her from the gubernatorial ticket ahead of his planned bid for a fourth term in 2022, according to multiple people.... Cuomo's office told Hochul early this year that they wanted her to leave the ticket so the governor could pick someone with a deeper political pull with minority communities ahead of what he expected to be a difficult campaign.... Hochul was considering ... [possible top jobs in the Biden administration] earlier this year, but the conversations with the White House tapered off this spring amid growing allegations about Cuomo's conduct and mounting scrutiny of his administration's reporting of nursing home deaths related to covid-19, the people said."

Oklahoma Gubernatorial Election. Brittany Shammas of the Washington Post: "Oklahoma's top public education official on Thursday switched her party affiliation to Democratic and announced a bid for governor, blasting Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.Joy Hofmeister, a lifelong member of the GOP first elected as state superintendent in 2014, stressed that her values have not changed and that her decision was not an easy one. But she said she was bothered by what she called Stitt's 'toothless health response.' She has previously broken with him over mask policies in schools."

Texas. Sabrina Tavernise & Ruth Graham of the New York Times: "At least six clinics in Texas returned to performing abortions the day after a federal judge halted enforcement of the nation's most restrictive abortion measure, but a majority had not, a reflection of the power of the law the judge froze. The novel law, which banned most abortions in the state after cardiac activity is detected, about six weeks into pregnancy, continued to exert control over many clinics. Planned Parenthood, whose Texas affiliates operate seven centers that offer abortion services, said on Thursday that despite the ruling it was not carrying out abortions banned under the measure.... After weighing the risks, most of the state's abortion clinics -- there are about 24 across Texas -- decided not to resume abortions on women whose pregnancies exceeded six weeks because of another of the law's unique features: Clinics can be sued retroactively for up to four years for any abortions they provide while the measure is blocked." Emphasis added.

News Ledes

New York Times: Gary "Maynard, a criminology professor who specializes in deviancy, now sits in a Sacramento jail awaiting a hearing' on allegedly purposely setting a forest fire in the Sierra Nevadas.

CNBC: "The U.S. economy created jobs at a much slower than expected pace in September, a pessimistic sign about the state of the economy though the total was held back substantially by a sharp drop in government employment. Nonfarm payrolls rose by just 194,000 in the month, compared to the Dow Jones estimate of 500,000, the Labor Department reported Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 4.8%, better than the expectation for 5.1% and the lowest since February 2020." MB: Not sure this means jobs growth is bad or the "experts" are bad guesstimators.

Celebrate This, Duterte & Putin. AP: "Journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their fight for freedom of expression in countries where media outlets have faced persistent attacks. The Norwegian Nobel Committee stressed that an independent press is vital in promoting peace. 'Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda,' said Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the committee, explaining why the prize was awarded to two journalists." The New York Times liveblog that reports the awards is here.

Comments Off
Thursday
Oct072021

The Commentariat -- October 7, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Caitlin Emma & Marianne Levine of Politico: "Senate leaders clinched a deal on Thursday to avoid an economic nightmare in less than two weeks, pushing their debt ceiling stalemate into December and creating a fiscal pileup around the holidays. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the agreement on Thursday morning after the Senate adjourned just after midnight. The plan, which the upper chamber could pass later Thursday, would raise the nation's credit limit by $480 billion through Dec. 3, when government funding is also set to expire.... Democrats may need help from at least 10 GOP senators to pass the deal on Thursday. Some Republicans, concerned about letting Democrats off easy, don't want to allow Democrats to pass the measure with a simple 51-vote majority on the floor. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) acknowledged there were Republican objections, but he predicted any holdups would be resolved after the GOP conference meets for lunch Thursday afternoon." The New York Times report is here.

Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "A Senate report on ... Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election offers new details about an Oval Office confrontation between Trump and the Justice Department, revealing the extent to which government lawyers threatened to resign en masse if the president removed his attorney general. The interim report by the Senate Judiciary Committee was issued Thursday. While Republicans on the panel offered their counter-findings, arguing that Trump did not subvert the justice system to remain in power, the majority report by the Democrats offers the most detailed account to date of the struggle inside the administration's final, desperate days." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Since previous news report revealed at least the outlines of most of the report's finding, perhaps the most shocking part is that Republican Senators dared to write a counter-report with subheadings like, "THE AVAILABLE EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP DID NOT USE THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO OVERTURN THE ELECTION" and "PRESIDENT TRUMP DID NOT EXERT IMPROPER INFLUENCE ON THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT...." Right.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here: "Moderna said on Thursday that it planned to build a vaccine manufacturing facility in Africa, news that was welcomed for the long-term but that does not address the continent's immediate need for Covid-19 vaccines. The company said that a new 'state of the art' facility would eventually produce up to 500 million doses a year of Moderna' mRNA vaccine, which has shown an efficacy rate of more than 90 percent in preventing Covid-19. The plant will, in time, also produce other Moderna vaccines, the company said."

Sharon LaFraniere & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "Pfizer and BioNTech asked federal regulators on Thursday to authorize emergency use of their coronavirus vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, a move that could help protect more than 28 million people in the United States. The companies say they are submitting data supporting the change to the Food and Drug Administration. The agency has promised to move quickly on the request and has tentatively scheduled a meeting on Oct. 26 to consider it. A ruling is expected between Halloween and Thanksgiving."

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David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Biden will meet President Xi Jinping of China for their first summit by the end of this year -- but virtually, not in person, a concession to a pandemic era and a recognition of the dangers of going an entire year into a new presidential term without a formal meeting between the leaders of the world's largest and second-largest economies. The announcement on Wednesday from American officials came after a six-hour meeting between Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, and his closest Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, Beijing's top diplomat."

"Build Back Better" Means Not Destroying the Environment. Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "The White House proposed restoring parts of one of the nation's bedrock environmental laws Wednesday, requiring agencies to conduct a climate analysis of major projects and give affected communities greater input into the process. If finalized, the move to change how the government reviews pipelines, highways and other projects under the National Environmental Policy Act would reverse a significant rollback by the Donald Trump administration. While the proposal won praise from environmentalists, it came under criticism from developers and could make it harder to upgrade the aging bridges and roads President Biden has pledged to rebuild. Brenda Mallory, who chairs the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in a statement that the changes would not delay major projects because they would make it easier to forge a consensus on how they would be built."

The Turtle Blinks. A Little. Jonathan Weisman & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Senator Mitch McConnell, bowing to the immediate threat of a federal default, said Republicans would allow Democrats to raise the debt ceiling into December, but he refused to lift his blockade of a long-term increase in the government's borrowing limit. The offer appeared to reflect some nervousness on the part of Republicans in an escalating standoff over the government's borrowing limit, as a first-ever default on federal debt looms in as few as 12 days.... The proposal ... confronted Democrats with the prospect of a politically uncomfortable vote that some of them had wanted to avoid, embracing a set dollar amount by which they would raise the debt cap.... Shortly after [McConnell] floated his offer, Democrats put off a planned vote on a bill to lift the debt limit -- which Republicans had vowed to block for the second time in two weeks -- and arranged a closed-door gathering in the Capitol." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ ** New Lede: "Senate Democrats and Republicans neared agreement as they met into the early morning hours Thursday to temporarily pull the nation from the brink of a debt default. The deal would punt their showdown on raising the federal borrowing limit to December after Republicans bowed to pressure to stave off immediate fiscal calamity."~~~

     ~~~ Burgess Everett, et al., of Politico: "Democrats are planning to accept an offer from Mitch McConnell to let them raise the debt ceiling into December without a GOP filibuster, multiple senators said after a closed-door caucus meeting on Wednesday.... But ... Democrats ... pledged to reject his demands that the majority party use the laborious process of budget reconciliation to pass a longer debt ceiling increase."

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Leading Senate Democrats increasingly see the Republican blockade against raising the federal debt limit as clear justification for changing the chamber's filibuster rule, a long-shot effort that so far has lacked the unanimous support within their ranks it would need to succeed. President Biden, who has sent mixed signals for months about whether he supports scrapping the filibuster, gave fresh momentum to the idea on Tuesday when he told reporters at the White House that it was a 'real possibility' that Democrats could create an exception to the rules and allow the debt ceiling to be raised with a simple majority.... Any weakening of the filibuster would significantly reduce [Mitch] McConnell's power to block the Democratic agenda."

Debbie Cenziper, et al., of the Washington Post: "A bipartisan group of lawmakers plans to introduce legislation this week that for the first time would require trust companies, lawyers, art dealers and others to investigate foreign clients seeking to move money and assets into the American financial system. The bill's sponsors cited the findings of the Pandora Papers investigation, the result of a sweeping international collaboration published this week that exposed how the global elite conceal their wealth in tax havens that increasingly include the United States. Stories by The Washington Post and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) showed that little-known trust companies in Sioux Falls, S.D., established nearly 30 trusts holding assets connected to people or companies accused of corruption, human rights abuses or other wrongdoing in some of the world's poorest communities.... The proposed law, known as the Enablers Act, would amend the 51-year-old Bank Secrecy Act, by requiring the Treasury Department to create basic due-diligence rules for American gatekeepers who facilitate the flow of foreign assets into the United States."

Rachel Pannett of the Washington Post: "The special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction told a congressional subcommittee Wednesday that his office would probe allegations that former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani took millions of dollars with him when he fled the country in mid-August.... In August, the Afghan ambassador to Tajikistan told reporters that Ghani 'stole $169 million from the state coffers,' according to the Associated Press. The diplomat, who said he would file an arrest request with Interpol, did not provide evidence for the claim."

Bernie Has Had Enough of Manchinema. Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: During a 15-minute news conference Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), "chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and leader of the progressive movement, took direct aim at [Sen. Joe] Manchin's [D-W.Va.] statements and positions on the wide-ranging legislation that would invest in climate change, expand and shore up health-care programs, and overhaul the nation's social safety net.... Clearly irritating Sanders was the opaqueness of Manchin's various demands related to the spending package.... 'Senator Manchin has been extremely critical of the $3.5 trillion proposal that many of us support,' Sanders said. 'The time is long overdue for him to tell us with specificity -- not generalities, but beyond generalities, with specificity -- what he wants and what he does not want, and to explain that to the people of West Virginia and America.' He later added that ... a few outliers in the Democratic caucus should not have such power to sway what most Democratic lawmakers and what [President] Biden want. 'I could ... go to Chuck Schumer ... and say, "Chuck, I can't support this bill unless you have a Medicare-for-all provision." But I'm not going to do that,' Sanders said. 'It is wrong and it is really not playing fair that one or two people think that they should be able to stop what 48 members of the Democratic caucus want, what the American people want, what the president of the United States wants.'" ~~~

~~~ Alayna Treene of Axios: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) withheld support for a joint statement condemning last weekend's protests against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) because it also wouldn't include a rebuke of her political views, Axios has learned." MB: Check out the photo that accompanies the post. I'm sorry, but you cannot convince me that a green wig & fake leopard skin halter top is appropriate Senate attire. And, no, I'm not talking about Bernie here.

The Party of Violence. Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "Republicans in Congress have seen the threat of mob violence, and they are going to ... defend the mob, and make sure law enforcement doesn't crack down too hard on it. That's the clear message being sent from up and down the right -- politicians, pundits, and conservative media -- in response to a memorandum from the Department of Justice laying out an effort to address the rising tide of angry threats directed at school boards and education officials. The memorandum ... presented a perfect opportunity for Republicans to reemphasize to their supporters that 1) the Biden administration is tyrannical; 2) conservatives are oppressed and afflicted; and 3) mob intimidation is an appropriate response to any public policy they disagree with.... Fox News promptly sent a wave of histrionic, dishonest rants to its viewers.... Threats of violence against public officials are now simply part of the Republican repertoire." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sky Palma of the Raw Story: "A Trump-endorsed candidate for Congress in Ohio is facing allegations that he was physically abusive to former White House press secretary during Stephanie Grisham during his time serving in the Trump administration. Now, Max Miller's request to ban Grisham from talking about their relationship during her tour to promote her book ... has been denied by a judge, Bloomberg reports." The Bloomberg report is firewalled. ~~~

~~~ Felicia Sonmez & Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "More than a dozen high-profile Republicans are co-hosting a fundraiser next week for Max Miller, an Ohio congressional candidate and former Trump White House aide who faces allegations of domestic violence."

Uh, Thanks, Chuck. Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Wednesday congratulated a Korean American judicial nominee for the 'hard work ethic' of 'you and your people,' invoking a stereotype about Asian Americans. The 88-year-old senator, who is seeking reelection to another six-year term, praised Lucy Koh, a judge nominated by President Biden to the federal appeals court, during her confirmation hearing.... A spokesman for Grassley said the senator's 'intent was to be complimentary, not to insult anyone....'" MB: Later Chuck asked a Black nominee how much affirmative action had helped her unbelievable level of achievement & queried a Puerto Rican nominee on how a Mexican like him could rule fairly on cases involving immigrants.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Twenty years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Supreme Court on Wednesday found itself struggling to address two issues stemming from that period: torture and government secrecy. Before the justices were done for the day, the proceedings had taken a surprising turn. The basic question for the justices was whether the government could invoke national security to block testimony by two C.I.A. contractors who were instrumental in the brutal interrogations of the detainee known as Abu Zubaydah, who was waterboarded more than 60 times and is being held without charge at Guantánamo Bay.... Three justices [-- Breyer, Gorsuch & Sotomayor --] proposed a novel solution: Why not let Abu Zubaydah himself testify in connection with the Polish inquiry? By allowing him to describe what he had endured, the justices suggested, the court could sidestep the question of whether the government had to allow the C.I.A. contractors to appear." Brian Fletcher, the acting U.S. Solicitor General, said he hadn't thought about that, which irritated Justice Gorsuch. ~~~

     ~~~ An NPR story, by Nina Totenberg, is here. ~~~

~~~ When a State Secret Is Not a Secret. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "At the Supreme Court, the justices asked [acting SJ Brian] Fletcher how the government could invoke the state secrets privilege, which the court first recognized in the 1950s, on information already known.... [BUT] 'As you've put it, it's no secret at all,' [CJ John] Roberts said to [Abu Zubaydah's attorney]. 'But you don't have the United States government acknowledging that. And the United States government says this is critically important because our friends, allies, intelligence sources around the world have to believe that we keep our word, and our word was, this is secret.'"

Katie Benner of the New York Times: When Donald Trump led a nearly three-hour meeting on January 3, the purpose of which was to threaten to remove the acting Attorney General and replace him with election conspiracy theorist Jeffrey Clark, White House Counsel Pat Cipolline said that he and his principal deputy would resign in protest if Trump carried out his plan to get the DOJ to pretend there was mass voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election. "Mr. Cipollone's stand that night is among the new details contained in a lengthy interim report prepared by the Senate Judiciary Committee about Mr. Trump's efforts to pressure the Justice Department to do his bidding in the chaotic final weeks of his presidency.... It provides the most complete account yet of Mr. Trump's efforts to push the department to validate election fraud claims that had been disproved by the F.B.I. and state investigators.... Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement ... that he believes the former president, who remains a front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2024, would have 'shredded the Constitution to stay in power.'"

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A social media influencer who spoke at a pro-Donald Trump rally in Washington on Jan. 5 pleaded guilty Wednesday to disorderly conduct [-- a misdemeanor --] during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Brandon Straka, 44, a former New York City hairstylist, admitted in plea papers to recording himself during the Capitol breach in front of a mobbed entrance, urging a crowd to wrest away a riot shield from a police officer and shouting: 'Take it! Take it!' At another point, according to plea papers, Straka stood behind a crowd of people trying to push their way in, yelling, 'Go! Go!'... In a plea agreement, Straka promised to cooperate by turning over social media and other evidence and to participate in a law enforcement interview."

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "A new investigation into the drowning of nine U.S. service members last year says that senior commanders responsible for ensuring troops' safety failed to keep up with mounting demands imposed on them due to the coronavirus pandemic, the prospect of war with Iran and ... Donald Trump's militarization of the southern border. Released Wednesday, the report does not excuse those Marine Corps officials whose lack of oversight was faulted previously in the sinking of a 26-ton amphibious assault vehicle during predeployment training off the California coast. Rather, it scrutinizes what a senior military leader determined were other contributing factors. Lt. Gen. Carl Mundy III said it would be 'a mistake to discount or overlook' the demands on commanders, their staffs and rank-and-file troops ahead of the disaster on July 30, 2020."

David Byler & Yan Wu, in a Washington Post op-ed, test your belief in popular American political conspiracy theories. Marie: The test is easy for an old codger like me, who has lived through the events and read about most of the theories as they arose. However, if you're someone who wasn't even born when some of these theories first circulated, don't be troubled if you don't know they're false (or at least generally believed to be false).

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here: "The White House on Wednesday announced a billion-dollar investment in at-home rapid coronavirus tests that it said would help quadruple their availability by later this year. By December, 200 million rapid tests will be available to Americans each month, with tens of millions more arriving on the market in the coming weeks, Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House's Covid-19 coordinator, said at a news conference." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Maryland. Katherine Huggins of Mediaite: "A Maryland man allegedly killed his brother and sister-in-law last week because his brother, a pharmacist, had administered Covid-19 vaccines. Court documents revealed that Jeffrey Burnham, 46, told his mother he needed to confront his older brother, Brian Robinette, 'about the government poisoning people with COVID vaccines.' He repeatedly insisted that 'Brian knows something.'"

Mississippi. Brittany Shammas of the Washington Post: Meggan Gray, who co-anchored Biloxi's WLOX morning news show for 14 years, wrote on Facebook the day after she signed off the show that "she lost her job after refusing to be vaccinated for the coronavirus as required by her station's parent company, Gray Television.... It was not clear whether she left the station or was fired." Meggan says that isn't fair. Marie: I can imagine what Meggan thought was newsy. Might be best, WLOX, to hire a co-anchor who elevates facts over conspiracy theories.

New Hampshire. Adam Sexton of WMUR (Manchester): "The New Hampshire Republican representative who shared a document with his colleagues that was riddled with conspiracy theories and anti-Catholic bigotry has resigned his position as chairman of the House Finance Committee. Rep. Ken Weyler's resignation from the committee also means he is no longer chair of the Fiscal Committee.... Weyler came under fire this week for sharing a document with committee members referred to as a 'vaccine death report.' The document contains conspiracy theories but also features blatant anti-Catholicism, including an allegation that top church leaders worship Satan. The 'report' alleges that multiple popes have answered to a hidden leader known as 'The Grey Pope.' The document also claims COVID-19 vaccines contain tentacled creatures and 5G technology intended for mind control." MB: The report is at least partially true. Subversive control mechanisms flowing to my brain tell me that Weyler is in-sane.

Texas. Maria Cramer of the New York Times: "On April 5, 2020, Christopher Charles Perez posted a message on Facebook about an H-E-B grocery store in San Antonio, federal prosecutors said. 'My homeboys cousin has covid19 and has licked everything for past two days cause we paid him too,' Mr. Perez wrote. 'YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.' The claim was not true, and the post came down after 16 minutes, according to court documents. But someone anonymously submitted a screenshot of the post to the Southwest Texas Fusion Center, a group of law enforcement agencies that investigates possible criminal and terrorist activity. When the F.B.I. confronted Mr. Perez, he said he had been trying to scare people from going to public places 'to stop them from spreading the virus,' according to a federal affidavit. This past June, Mr. Perez, 40, of San Antonio, was found guilty of disseminating false information and hoaxes related to biological weapons. On Monday, a federal judge sentenced him to 15 months in federal prison."

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. Sabrina Tavernise & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Wednesday granted the Justice Department's request to halt enforcement of the recently passed Texas law that bans nearly all abortions in the state while the legal battle over the statute makes its way through the federal courts. In his 113-page ruling, Robert L. Pitman, a Federal District Court judge in Austin, sided with the Biden administration, which had sued to halt a law that has changed the landscape of the abortion fight and further fueled the national debate over whether abortion will remain legal across the country. Judge Pitman used sharp language to criticize the law, known as Senate Bill 8, which was drafted to make it difficult to challenge in court by delegating enforcement to private individuals, who can sue anyone who performs abortions or 'aids and abets' them. 'From the moment S.B. 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their own lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution,' he wrote in his opinion." The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, how is it possible that a relatively-lowly district court judge is more observant of Constitutional guarantees than the majority of the Supremes? Oh, he's an Obama appointee.

Way Beyond

Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "Malaria kills about half a million people each year, nearly all of them in sub-Saharan Africa -- including 260,000 children under 5. The new vaccine, made by GlaxoSmithKline, rouses a child's immune system to thwart Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of five malaria pathogens and the most prevalent in Africa. The World Health Organization on Wednesday endorsed the vaccine, the first step in a process that should lead to wide distribution in poor countries. To have a malaria vaccine that is safe, moderately effective and ready for distribution is 'a historic event,' said Dr. Pedro Alonso, director of the W.H.O.'s global malaria program.” A CBS News story is here.

News Ledes

Military Times: "Eleven sailors were injured Oct. 2 when the deployed fast-attack submarine Connecticut 'struck an object' while submerged in the Indo-Pacific region, a Navy official confirmed to Navy Times Thursday. None of the injuries were [was!] life-threatening and the vessel is arriving in Guam today, according to the sea service."

New York Times: "The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded on Thursday to Abdulrazak Gurnah for 'his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.' Gurnah was born in Zanzibar, which is now part of Tanzania, in 1948, but he currently lives in Britain. He left Zanzibar at age 18 as a refugee after a violent 1964 uprising in which soldiers overthrew the country's government. He is the first African to win the award -- considered the most prestigious in world literature -- in more than a decade."

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