The Ledes

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Weather Channel: “Tropical Storm Milton, which formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, is expected to become a hurricane late Sunday or early Monday. The storm is expected to pose a major hurricane threat to Florida by midweek, just over a week after Helene pushed through the region. The National Hurricane Center says that 'there is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and wind impacts for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning late Tuesday or Wednesday.'”

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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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A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. -- Edward R. Murrow

Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Tuesday
Oct052021

The Commentariat -- October 6, 2021

Afternoon Update:

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."

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."

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." ~~~

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

~~~~~~~~~~

Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Tuesday that Democrats are considering a change to Senate filibuster rules to bypass a Republican blockade over raising the debt limit, which has set the United States on a collision course with a government default. 'Oh, I think that's a real possibility,' Mr. Biden said when asked if Democrats were considering the last-resort route, which would involve making an exception to allow for a debt ceiling bill to pass with a simple majority instead of the usual 60 votes needed. Senate Democrats discussed carving out the exception at their weekly lunch on Tuesday. No conclusions were reached, but notably, according to participants, the two strongest opponents of filibuster changes, Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, did not speak up in protest. They also did not speak up in support."

Jim Tankersley & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Biden and Democratic leaders i Congress in recent days have slashed their ambitions for a major expansion of America's social safety net to a package worth $2.3 trillion or less, which will force hard choices about how to scale back a proposal that the president hopes will be transformational. The figure is substantially less than Mr. Biden's earlier plan, which called for $3.5 trillion in new spending and tax cuts to spur a generational expansion of government in Americans' lives, including efforts to fight climate change and child poverty, increase access to education and help American companies compete with China. Democratic leaders will probably need to narrow their plans for free community college, child tax credits and universal prekindergarten so they are offered only to lower- and middle-income Americans, according to party members involved in the negotiations." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Maybe Manchinema, House Democratic conservatives & the entire GOP, like the people of Lake Wobegon, really believe in underachievement. In their hearts, they long to yell, "Keep America Mediocre!"

Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken held last-minute talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Tuesday, suggesting the two countries are seeking to repair relations following an angry feud over a U.S. submarine deal with Australia. Officials had previously said it was not certain if Blinken would meet with the French leader during his two-day visit, for a summit of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, just weeks after the Biden administration's decision to forge a new security pact with Australia and Britain derailed a lucrative French defense deal and ignited a string of angry rebukes from Paris."

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

Josh Hawley Defends Bullying & Violence. Timothy Bella & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday ordered the FBI to work with local leaders nationwide to help address what he called a 'disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence' against educators and school board members over highly politicized issues such as mask mandates and interpretations of critical race theory.... Republicans at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday accused [President] Biden's Justice Department of heavy-handed tactics to try to intimidate parents speaking at local school board meetings.... 'If this isn't a deliberate attempt to chill parents from showing up at school board meetings, I don't know what is,' Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said to Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. 'You're using the FBI to intervene in school board meetings. This is extraordinary.'"

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

I'm here today because I believe Facebook's products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy. The company's leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer but won't make the necessary changes. -- Frances Haugen, in Senate testimony Tuesday ~~~

~~~ Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "A former Facebook product manager who turned into a whistle-blower gave lawmakers an unvarnished look into the inner workings of the world's largest social network on Tuesday and detailed how the company was deliberate in its efforts to keep people -- including children -- hooked to its service. In more than three hours of testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Frances Haugen, who worked on Facebook's civic misinformation team for nearly two years until May, spoke candidly and with a level of insight that the company's executives have rarely provided. She said Facebook had purposely hidden disturbing research about how teenagers felt worse about themselves after using its products and how it was willing to use hateful content on its site to keep users coming back." ~~~

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

     ~~~ The New York Times liveblogged the testimony here. The Washington Post's liveblog of the hearing is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Zuck Is Too Cute by Half. Alex Heath of the Verge: "Mark Zuckerberg posted a staunch defense of his company in a note to Facebook staffers, saying that recent claims by an ex-employee about the social network's negative effects on society 'don't make any sense.'... 'The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical,' Zuckerberg said in the memo, which he also posted on his public Facebook page. 'We make money from ads, and advertisers consistently tell us they don't want their ads next to harmful or angry content. And I don't know any tech company that sets out to build products that make people angry or depressed. The moral, business and product incentives all point in the opposite direction.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Zuckerberg apparently has never heard of Fox "News," which -- as Chris Hayes pointed out on his MSNBC show Tuesday night -- incentivizes its employs to get vaccinated for Covid-19 while riling its viewers with anti-vax messaging nearly every day. Fox also incessantly encourages its viewers to get hopping mad at all Democrats, climate activists, immigrants, etc. The teevee network's thrives -- as does Facebook, to a lesser extent -- on a business model that provokes user rage. If it "makes sense" for Fox, it "makes sense" for Facebook. And Zuck knows it.

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

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

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

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

Maybe Trump's Former Caddie Is Hiding from the Process Server. Ryan Nobles, et al., of CNN: "More than a week after subpoenaing former Donald Trump aide Dan Scavino to cooperate with its investigation into the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, the House select committee investigating the attack has been unable to physically serve the subpoena to him, according to multiple sources familiar with the effort.... One source familiar with the situation joked that the committee should just tweet the subpoena to the former Trump aide since he's been actively trolling the panel there in recent days." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm not sure the lede makes sense. It seems to me that Scavino has not been subpoenaed if he has not been served in person. It's not entirely clear to me that a Congressional subpoena must be served in person, but that seems to be the case.

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

     ~~~ Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham on Tuesday accused her former boyfriend, whom she describes as a congressional candidate who has been endorsed by ... Donald Trump, of being violent toward her during their time working in the White House. Grisham made the accusation in a Washington Post op-ed Tuesday morning. She did not name her former boyfriend but noted in the piece that Trump 'has endorsed my ex's bid for Congress.' Within hours of the piece's publication online, Grisham's former boyfriend, Trump White House aide Max Miller, sued her alleging defamation. Miller accused Grisham of making 'libelous and defamatory statements' and asked a Cleveland judge to prevent her from discussing her accusations during interviews with CNN later Tuesday." A Raw Story report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Unless an abuser severely injures his victim, perhaps the most difficult part of domestic abuse is enduring the abuser's denials. Partner abuse is all about control, and especially in male-on-female abuse, the male will present himself as the psychologically "stable" partner & imply or state outright that his partner or former partner is mentally unbalanced, vindictive and/or a liar. A victim can get away from an abuser, but she can't get out of the sickening afterglow of the gaslight. The effort to control continues long after the bruises have disappeared.

Ellen Francis of the Washington Post: "Climate change is wiping out coral reefs and will kill more if oceans keep getting warmer, researchers warned on Tuesday in a new study that spanned much of the globe. The world already lost 14 percent of its coral between 2009 and 2018 -- or what amounts to more than all the coral now living in Australia's reefs -- scientists with the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network found. They blamed rising sea surface temperatures: While local factors like too much fishing, pollution and construction on the coast play a role, coral bleaching has done the most harm."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Laurie McGinley of the Washington Post: "Johnson & Johnson asked the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday to grant emergency use authorization for a booster dose of its single-shot coronavirus vaccine, making it the final vaccine used in the United States for which permission is being sought for an extra shot. The action is part of an effort by Biden administration officials to provide increased protection against covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, which has claimed more than 700,000 lives in the United States. The filing came as a top FDA official said updated data might make a strong case that everyone 18 and older should be eligible for boosters -- but added that the agency will have to see whether its outside advisory committee agrees."

Antonio Planas of NBC News: "Covid-19 killed a disproportionate number of the country's Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans last year and exacerbated health disparities among the groups, a new study concludes. An estimated 477,200 more people died because of Covid-19 and other reasons from March to December 2020 compared to the same time in 2019, according to a study led by researchers with the National Cancer Institute published Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine."

Arizona. Juan Perez of Politico: "A top Treasury Department official warned Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday that millions of dollars in federal aid may be in jeopardy because of two mask-shirking education programs in his state. The department's notice marks a new front in the Biden administration's attempts to clamp down on Republican governors who have resisted public health guidelines for schools, now that more than 700,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 since the pandemic took hold last year. [Applicants for grand funds must comply with a state law that outlaws mask mandates and vaccine requirements.] 'We are concerned that two recently created Arizona grant programs undermine evidence-based efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19.... A program or service that imposes conditions on participation or acceptance of the service that would undermine efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19 ... is not a permissible use of [federal] funds,' ... Deputy Treasury Secretary Adewale Adeyemo wrote in a letter to Ducey...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The story has two grafs outlining the grant conditions. I think there's a "not" missing from the second graf.

Colorado. Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: "A Colorado-based health system says it is denying organ transplants to patients not vaccinated against the coronavirus in 'almost all situations,' citing studies that show these patients are much more likely to die if they get covid-19.... UCHealth's rules for transplants entered the spotlight Tuesday when Colorado state Rep. Tim Geitner (R) said it denied a kidney transplant to a Colorado Springs woman because she was not vaccinated against the coronavirus.... UCHealth ... confirmed Tuesday that nearly all of its transplant recipients and organ donors must get vaccinated against the coronavirus, in addition to other vaccinations and health requirements. A spokesman, Dan Weaver, said that other transplant centers in the United States have similar policies or are transitioning to them."

Louisiana. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "Louisiana's largest health-care system is giving its employees a choice as it seeks to boost coronavirus vaccination numbers: ensure your spouse has received a shot or face higher health insurance costs. Beginning next year, employees of Ochsner Health System will see a roughly $200-a-month surcharge if their spouse or domestic partner on the company health plan is not vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to a letter sent to affected employees last week. The surcharge does not apply to child beneficiaries covered by the plan." Access is free to nonsubscribers.

Marie: A Reality Chex contributor commented a few days ago on a story of a nurse who was selling fake vaccination cards, "People are willing to spend money for fake certificates, rather than getting free vaccines that can literally save their lives? I don't understand." It seemed perplexing to me, too. I suppose most anti-vaxxers want the forged cards for convenience's sake, like gaining access to restaurants & other businesses that demand proof of vaccination. But the Louisiana & Colorado stories demonstrate that for some, purchasing a phony "proof" may be cost-effective or even (at least in the short term) life-saving.

Beyond the Beltway

Idaho. Keith Ridler of the AP: "With Idaho Gov. Brad Little out of the state on Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin issued an executive order involving COVID-19 vaccines.... Little ... promised to rescind it in quick order.... McGeachin, a far-right Republican, is running for governor. In Idaho, the governor and lieutenant governor don't run on the same ticket. McGeachin's executive order issued Tuesday afternoon seeks, among other things, to prevent employers from requiring their employees be vaccinated against COVID-19. Most mainstream Republicans prefer to stay out of the employee-employer relationship.... Also on Tuesday, McGeachin was rebuffed by Major General Michael J. Garshak in a query about activating troops and sending them to the U.S.-Mexico border."

Missouri. Raja Razek & Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Missouri executed death row inmate Ernest Johnson on Tuesday after the US Supreme Court rejected a petition earlier in the day that had sought to delay it, citing an intellectual disability. Johnson -- who was convicted of robbing a gas station and murdering three clerks nearly 27 years ago -- was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. CT after the administration of a lethal injection, according to Karen Pojmann, communications director for the Missouri Department of Corrections. The petition from Johnson's lawyers, which was submitted to Justice Brett Kavanaugh, argued that the 61-year-old had 'presented overwhelming evidence' of his intellectual disability."

New York. Grace Ashford of the New York Times: Last summer, New York State's Commission on Public Ethics approved then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo's request to write a book about his leadership during the Covid-19 outbreak without even taking a vote. "The book ... -- which earned Mr. Cuomo $5.1 million -- and the commission's approval are now at the center of a fresh controversy surrounding the ex-governor.... [Despite Mr. Cuomo's resignation in August,] just last month [the commission] voted not to look back into the book deal and its approval. Since then, the commission's chair has stepped aside, and Gov. Kathy Hochul has appointed two new members. On Tuesday, both joined a majority in voting to open an investigation into Mr. Cuomo and the approval of his book deal.... The commission agreed on Tuesday to hire outside counsel to run the inquiry."

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

     ~~~ Update. William Rashbaum & Michael Gold of the New York Times : "In a statement late Tuesday, the union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, acknowledged the search and said that its president, Edward D. Mullins, was 'apparently the target of the federal investigation.' The union, which describes itself as the fifth-largest police union in the United States, added in the statement that 'given the severity of this matter and the uncertainty of its outcome,' its executive board had asked Mr. Mullins to resign and that he had complied.'" This is an update of a story linked earlier. An AP story is here.

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. Sudarsan Raghavan of the Washington Post: "In Kabul and other Afghan cities, the United States will be remembered for enabling two decades of progress in women's rights, an independent media and other freedoms. But in the nation's hinterlands, the main battlegrounds of America's longest war, many Afghans view the United States primarily through the prism of conflict, brutality and death.... In Wardak province, 25 miles southwest of the capital, the U.S. military, the CIA and the ruthless Afghan militias they armed and trained fought the Taliban for years. Trapped in the crossfire were villagers and farmers. Many became casualties of U.S. counterterrorism operations, drone strikes and gun battles.... [The Taliban's ability to seize power so quickly this past summer was] abetted by the harsh tactics of U.S. forces and their Afghan allies and by the corruption and ineffectiveness of the U.S.-backed Afghan government.... The Taliban controlled the villagers through fear, intimidation and their own brand of viciousness. But rural Afghan society is largely conservative, and residents mostly agreed with the militants' harsh interpretation of Islam." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So maybe one reason the U.S. was unprepared for the rapid fall of the Kabul government was not the fault of bad intelligence but a refusal by the U.S. military to believe we weren't beloved in Sinzai.

Europe. Barbara Moens of Politico: "Europe is coming to the bitter realization that it will probably have to make a once unthinkable concession to end the trade war that ... Donald Trump ignited, and which ... Joe Biden is continuing. Many Europeans had hoped Biden would revoke Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, but he hasn't done so, even though the duties were imposed in 2018 on the highly questionable grounds that they were required to protect 'national security.' Lowering the defense shield of Trump's tariffs would expose Biden to blowback from politically sensitive steel milling communities like those in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Under Trump, the EU accused Washington of bullying for trying to force Brussels to accept self-imposed export restrictions on steel and aluminum to end the tariff standoff. But the Europeans are now conceding that they might have to swallow a compromise under Biden that is uncomfortably similar to the one they so adamantly rejected under Trump."

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

     ~~~ David Herszenhorn of Politico: "Emmanuel Macron is still not sure that Joe Biden gets it, or that the age-old alliance between France and the U.S. is back on track.... As Macron arrived on Tuesday evening for an EU leaders' meeting in Slovenia to discuss so-called strategic autonomy, it was clear that he was still annoyed and still insistent that the White House demonstrate its contrition in deeds not just words. Asked by Politico if he was now confident that Biden recognized France's importance as an ally, Macron replied curtly in English: 'We will see.' 'I just believe in facts,' Macron continued. 'I do hope. I do think it's feasible. I do think it's more productive for both of us. I will see. And I think we scheduled to discuss together mid-October, we will catch up during the G20 and I think it will be the right occasion to see how we can reengage very concretely.'"

Vatican, France. AP: "Pope Francis expressed 'shame' for himself and the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday for the scale of child sexual abuse within the church in France and acknowledged failures in putting the needs of victims first. The pope spoke during his regular audience at the Vatican about a report released Tuesday that estimated some 330,000 French children were abused by clergy and other church authority figures dating back to 1950." Related story linked yesterday.

News Lede

AP: "The Nobel Prize for chemistry has been awarded to German scientist Benjamin List of the Max Planck Institute and Scotland-born scientist David W.C. MacMillan of Princeton University. They were cited for their work in developing a new way for building molecules known as 'asymmetric organocatalysis.'"

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Tuesday
Oct052021

The Commentariat -- October 5, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~~~~~~~~~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

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

Beyond the Beltway

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

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

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

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

News Lede

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

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Monday
Oct042021

The Commentariat -- October 4, 2021

Afternoon Update:

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~~~~~~~~~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

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

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

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

Beyond the Beltway

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

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

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

Way Beyond

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

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

News Lede

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

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