October 25, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Maria Sacchetti & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "A U.S. Customs and Border Protection discipline board found that 60 agents 'committed misconduct' by sharing violent and obscene posts in secret Facebook groups but fired only two -- far fewer than an internal discipline board had recommended, according to a House Oversight and Reform Committee report released Monday. The report found 'significant shortcomings' in the agency's handling of the incidents and said most agents who engaged in misconduct are back on the job working with migrant adults and children. They include a Border Patrol agent who posted a 'sexually explicit doctored image' about a member of Congress, and a supervisor who 'improperly' shared an internal video of a migrant falling off a cliff to their death, according to the report. 'These outcomes were the result of a number of failings at CBP, including an inconsistent disciplinary process, a failure to train on and enforce social media policies, and senior leadership's failure to take appropriate actions despite knowledge of these Facebook groups,' said the report, which was prepared by staff from the committee's Democratic majority.... Committee investigators said they had tried for more than a year to obtain access to witnesses and unredacted disciplinary records, but said the Trump administration refused to hand them over, even when the chair issued a subpoena." Emphasis added.

Elizabeth Dwoskin, et al., of the Washington Post: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has demonstrated a "relentless determination to ensure Facebook's dominance, sometimes at the expense of his stated values, according to interviews with more than a dozen former employees. That ethos has come under fire in a series of whistleblower complaints filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen.... Experts said the SEC -- which has the power to seek depositions, fine him and even remove him as chairman -- is likely to dig more deeply into what he knew and when. Though his direct perspective is rarely reflected in the documents, the people who worked with him say his fingerprints are everywhere in them.... Haugen references Zuckerberg's public statements at least 20 times in her SEC complaints, asserting that the CEO's singular power and unique level of control over Facebook mean he bears ultimate responsibility for a litany of societal harms." ~~~

~~~ Cristiano Lima of the Washington Post: "A trove of internal Facebook documents reveals that the social media giant has privately and meticulously tracked real-world harms exacerbated by its platforms, ignored warnings from its employees about the risks of their design decisions and exposed vulnerable communities around the world to a cocktail of dangerous content.... A mix of presentations, research studies, discussion threads and strategy memos, the Facebook Papers provide an unprecedented view into how executives at the social media giant weigh trade-offs between public safety and their own bottom line. Some of the documents were first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Here are key takeaways from The Post's investigation[.]" ~~~

~~~ New York Times: "For weeks, Facebook has been shaken by revelations that have ignited a firestorm of criticism from lawmakers, regulators and the public.... The latest revelations, published on Monday morning, show internal research that undercuts the heart of social networking -- 'likes' and sharing -- that Facebook revolutionized. According to the documents, researchers determined over and over that people misused key features or that those features amplified toxic content, among other effects." ~~~

~~~ How Whistleblower Frances Haugen Managed the Facebook Files. Ben Smith of the New York Times: "Frances Haugen first met Jeff Horwitz, a tech-industry reporter for The Wall Street Journal, early last December on a hiking trail near the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, Calif.... She became one of the greatest sources of the century, turning over the tens of thousands of pages of internal documents she had collected. Starting Sept. 13, The Journal justified her confidence [in Mr. Horwitz] with a meticulous rollout that included 11 major articles by Mr. Horwitz and other reporters cleverly packaged ... [as] The Facebook Files.... So there was an uncomfortable moment on Oct. 7, when a communications firm working with Ms. Haugen invited Mr. Horwitz and two of his editors to a Zoom call with a group that would grow to include journalists from 17 other U.S. media outlets. On the call, Ms. Haugen offered to share redacted versions of the trove of Facebook documents under an embargo to be set by the group..., which was founded by the former Barack Obama aide Bill Burton.... First she handed her documents to The Journal for a boutique rollout. Then she opened the journalistic equivalent of an outlet store, allowing reporters on two continents to root through everything The Journal had left behind in search of overlooked informational gems. Her intention was to broaden the circle, she said."

Niraj Chokshi of the New York Times: "Hertz, the car rental agency, said on Monday that it had placed an order for 100,000 Teslas, a sign of growing momentum in the shift to electric vehicles. By the end of next year, when the Tesla order is completed, electric vehicles will make up more than 20 percent of Hertz's global vehicle fleet, the company said."

Margaret Renkl of the New York Times: "Gasoline-powered leaf blowers are invaders, the most maddening of all the maddening, environment-destroying tools of the American lawn-care industry. Nearly everything about how Americans 'care' for their lawns is deadly. Pesticides prevent wildflower seeds from germinating and poison the insects that feed songbirds and other wildlife. Lawn mower blades, set too low, chop into bits the snakes and turtles and baby rabbits that can't get away in time. Mulch, piled too deep, smothers ground-nesting bees, and often the very plants that mulch is supposed to protect, as well. But the gasoline-powered leaf blower exists in a category of environmental hell all its own, spewing pollutants -- carbon monoxide, smog-forming nitrous oxides, carcinogenic hydrocarbons -- into the atmosphere at a literally breathtaking rate. This particular environmental catastrophe is not news. A 2011 study by Edmunds found that a two-stroke gasoline-powered leaf blower spewed out more pollution than a 6,200-pound Ford F-150 SVT Raptor pickup truck." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This turns out to be news I can use. I have always mulched leaves into the grass, but this year I have a lawn-care guy, and he came around with his leaf-blower last week. I asked him to mulch the leaves instead of blowing them and he gave me a long explanation of why he couldn't. There are more leaves on the ground now, so the leaf-blower will be back. This time, I'll tell him not to blow the leaves.

Katherine Huggins of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump blasted Fox News on Sunday, claiming the network 'continually allow[s] horrible and untruthful anti-Trump commercials to be run.'... The PAC MeidasTouch claimed responsibility for the ad that got under Trump's skin...." Here's the ad: ~~~

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

The New York Times is live-updating developments in Sudan following a military coup Monday.

New Mexico. Simon Romero & Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "Alec Baldwin was rehearsing a scene that involved pointing a revolver 'towards the camera lens' when the gun -- which the crew had been told did not contain live rounds -- suddenly went off and killed the cinematographer, according to the film's director, who was quoted in an affidavit released Sunday night." ~~~

     ~~~ Simon Romero, et al., of the New York Times: "After the 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died following the shooting on Thursday, detectives from the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office began examining the role that the assistant director, Dave Halls, among others on the set, had in the incident. They learned that Mr. Baldwin was told by Mr. Halls, who handed him the firearm, that it was a 'cold gun,' according to court documents. A cold gun on a film set typically refers to a gun that's unloaded. Investigators have not charged anyone or placed blame on any individual in the incident. They also have not indicated what kind of projectile killed Ms. Hutchins.... Mr. Halls, an industry veteran who worked on movies like 'Fargo' and 'The Matrix Reloaded,' has been the subject of complaints from various film professionals for years. The complaints, which largely revolve around his regard for safety protocols and on-set behavior, are fueling questions about the New Mexico production...." ~~~

~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Monday, The Daily Beast reported that Donald Trump Jr. is now hawking shirts from his website making fun of the fatal movie set accident that killed Alec Baldwin's cinematographer Halnya Hutchins. '... Donald Jr., is hawking $27.99 T-shirts on his official site with the mocking slogan: "Guns don't kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people." On his Instagram stories, the Trump son also posted a photoshopped pic of the actor wearing one of the Ts,' reported Jamie Ross. 'It's the latest and possibly most egregious example of Trumpworld's celebration of Thursday's fatal accident on the set of Rust. The alt-right has reveled in the shooting due to Baldwin's previous mockery of ... Donald Trump and his advocacy for tighter controls on firearms..'" The Daily Beast story, where is here, is firewalled.

Virginia. Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "More than four years after hundreds of white nationalists and far-right extremists descended on the city of Charlottesville, Va., in a rally that turned deadly, a civil case that takes aim at the organizers is set to begin in federal court on Monday. In simple legal terms, the nine plaintiffs -- including an ordained minister, a landscape gardener and a lawyer who was a student at the time -- are suing 14 men and 10 groups considered the main organizers of the rally, accusing them of violating their civil rights and seeking damages for the injuries they sustained.... Delayed repeatedly by the coronavirus pandemic, the trial will revisit one of the most searing manifestations of how hatred and intolerance that festers online can spread onto the streets."

Virginia. Hannah Dreyfus of ProPubica: "Interviews with more than 50 former Liberty ['University'] students and staffers, as well as records from more than a dozen cases, show how an ethos of sexual purity, as embodied by the Liberty Way, has led to school officials discouraging, dismissing and even blaming female students who have tried to come forward with claims of sexual assault. Three students ... recalled being made to sign forms acknowledging possible violations of the Liberty Way after they sought to file complaints about sexual assaults. Others say they were also warned against reporting what had happened to them. Students say that even Liberty University police officers discouraged victims from pursuing charges after reporting assaults."

Afghanistan/Pakistan. Susannah George, et al., of the Washington Post: "As the Islamic State-Khorasan is ramping up attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan is using a network of informal channels to feed intelligence and technical support to the Taliban to combat the threat, according to two Taliban leaders. Pakistan is passing the group raw information as well as helping it monitor phone and Internet communication to identify Islamic State members and operational hubs, according to a senior Taliban leader.... A Pakistani official described the communication between the two sides as informal discussions, rather than an established intelligence-sharing partnership. Pakistan appears to be one of the few foreign governments directly aiding the Taliban in the Islamic State fight, despite concerns from the United States and other countries that Afghanistan could once again become a haven for militants to carry out attacks on international targets...."

~~~~~~~~~~

Catie Edmondson & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "President Biden huddled with key Democrats on Sunday to iron out crucial spending and tax provisions as they raced to wrap up their expansive social safety net legislation before his appearance at a U.N. climate summit next week. Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said Democrats were close to completing the bill, displaying confidence that the negotiations over issues like paid leave, tax increases and Medicare benefits that have bedeviled the party for months would soon end. 'We have 90 percent of the bill agreed to and written. We just have some of the last decisions to be made,' Ms. Pelosi said on CNN's 'State of the Union,' adding that she hoped to pass an infrastructure bill that had already cleared the Senate and have a deal in hand on the social policy bill by the end of the week. 'We're pretty much there now.' Her comments came as Mr. Biden met with Senators Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia.... The White House called the breakfast at Mr. Biden's Wilmington home a 'productive discussion.'" Politico's story is here.

"Things Fall Apart." Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "Resistance to taxation is the rotten core of the modern Republican Party. Republicans in recent decades have sharply reduced the federal income tax rates imposed on wealthy people and big companies, but their opposition to taxation goes beyond that. They are aiding and abetting tax evasion. Republicans have hacked away at funding for the Internal Revenue Service over the past decade, enfeebling the agency. When the rich and powerful open loopholes in the tax code, Republicans reliably fight to keep the loopholes open. Indeed, they valorize Americans who find ways to pay less, a normalization of antisocial behavior that may be even more damaging than the efforts at bureaucratic sabotage.... Donald Trump's loud and proud declaration that paying very little in taxes 'makes me smart' was just a more brazen articulation of what has become party orthodoxy.... We create and maintain our society through our contributions. Or we don't. And things fall apart."

Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Rolling Stone is reporting that a pair of witnesses have spoken to the House Jan. 6 Select Committee revealing that Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) told them ... Donald Trump would issue a blanket pardon for some who attacked the U.S. Capitol that day.... 'Two of these people have spoken to Rolling Stone extensively in recent weeks and detailed explosive allegations that multiple members of Congress were intimately involved in planning both Trump's efforts to overturn his election loss and the Jan. 6 events that turned violent,' said the report, saying that it confirmed the account from a third person. It's the first time that Americans have heard about a member of Congress being officially tied to the events that unfolded that day.... The report said that it has 'documentary evidence' to prove what the three sources claimed. Trump campaign aide Katrina Pierson has also been called a 'liaison' between the insurrectionists and the White House and Mark Meadows was also named as a key part of the organizing. Read the full report from Rolling Stone." It is firewalled. MB: Gee, looks as if Donnie let down his insurrectionist buddies.

Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "In a biting piece for the LA Times, longtime columnist Doyle McManus pointed out that Donald Trump has only one overriding reason to become president again.... Re-election for Trump may be the only way he avoids jail time and forestalls a panoply of lawsuits he is currently facing.... "He's notching up another presidential first: He's running for reelection to stay out of jail," he concluded. You can read the whole piece here -- subscription required."

Ivana Saric of Axios: "Twitter suspended the account of Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) Saturday after he intentionally misgendered Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender Senate-confirmed federal official, a spokesperson for the platform told Axios.... 'The account referenced has been temporarily locked for violating our Hateful Conduct Policy,' the spokesperson wrote. 'The account owner is required to delete the violative Tweet before regaining access to their account.' Twitter updated its policy in 2018 to prohibit the 'targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.'"

Sheikh Saaliq & Krutika Pathi of the AP: "Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as its own employees cast doubt over the company's motivations and interests. From research as recent as March of this year to company memos that date back to 2019, the internal company documents on India highlight Facebook's constant struggles in quashing abusive content on its platforms in the world's biggest democracy and the company's largest growth market.... The files show that Facebook has been aware of the problems for years.... Many critics and digital experts say it has failed to do so, especially in cases where members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, are involved." The photo accompanying the story is of Modi giving Mark Zuckerberg a bearhug. A related Washington Post story is here.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

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

Florida. Mychael Schnell of the Hill: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Sunday that he is looking to enact legislation that will provide a $5,000 bonus to police officers to relocate to Florida, where they can avoid vaccine mandates. DeSantis told host Maria Bartitomo on Fox News's 'Sunday Morning Futures' that Florida is 'actively working' to recruit law enforcement officers from other states who are being fired for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine.... 'So, NYPD, Minneapolis, Seattle, if you're not being treated well, we will treat you better here. You can fill important needs for us, and we will compensate you as a result,' he added."

Beyond the Beltway

New Mexico. Simon Romero & Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "There were at least two accidental gun discharges on the set of an Alec Baldwin movie being filmed in New Mexico days before he fatally shot the cinematographer, according to three former members of the film's crew. The discharges occurred on Oct. 16, the former crew members said, prompting a complaint to a supervisor about the safety practices on the set, which was outside Santa Fe. The crew members, who asked not to be named out of fear that their future employment in the industry could be affected, were among several workers who quit, just hours before the fatal shooting, over complaints about unpaid work and working conditions on the production. The disclosures, which were first reported by The Los Angeles Times, are focusing attention on concerns over loosely followed protocols and labor strife between producers and crew members during the production of the movie, 'Rust,' a low-budget film about a 19th-century accidental killing and its aftermath."

Tennessee. Jamie McGee of the New York Times: "As Confederate monuments across the South began to come down after a 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., [some residents of Franklin, Tennessee,] wanted [a] 37-foot local statue [of a Confederate soldier], known as 'Chip,' gone, too.... [They] did not get the statue removed, but they have come up with a provocative response to it: a new bronze statue in Franklin's public square depicting a life-size soldier from the U.S. Colored Troops, largely Black regiments that were recruited for the U.S. Army during the Civil War. The new monument, which was unveiled Saturday before a crowd of hundreds, and five recently added markers tell the story of the market house where enslaved people were auctioned and the role that local Black men played in fighting for their freedom. Dubbed the Fuller Story, the four-year project led by [four] local residents expanded the narrative of why and how the war was fought." MB: Oh, my stars & stripes! Critical race theory being taught in broad daylight right out there in the public square. Another bright spot: if you look at the photo of the people applauding the unveiling, the majority are white.

Way Beyond

Afghanistan. Reuters, republished by CNN: "Afghanistan will shortly collapse into chaos unless the international community acts rapidly, Swedish and Pakistani ministers warned on Saturday.... Many countries and multilateral institutions have halted development assistance but increased humanitarian aid since August, reluctant to legitimize the new Taliban rulers.

Colombia. Rachel Pannett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Colombia's most-wanted drug lord, Dairo Antonio Úsuga, widely known by his alias, Otoniel, has been captured by armed forces in his jungle hideout and faces extradition to the United States. Úsuga, 50, a former left-wing guerrilla and later a paramilitary fighter, is the alleged leader of the notorious drug-trafficking group Clan del Golfo, or Gulf Clan, which dominates major cocaine-smuggling routes through thick jungles in the country's restive north. Colombian President Iván Duque likened Úsuga's arrest Saturday to the capture of [internationally notorious drug lord] Pablo Escobar three decades ago."

Mexico. Paulina Villegas of the Washington Post: "... several thousand migrants who, desperate for work and fleeing poverty and violence, decided to march out of the border city of Tapachula [where they were waiting for Mexico to process their asylum applications --] on Saturday. Mexico's National Guard forces tried to stop them, but the contingent pushed through. They continued their trek Sunday, hoping to eventually reach Mexico City.... The massive number of applications has overwhelmed an already flawed and underfunded immigration system, especially the agency responsible for processing asylum claims, human rights groups and advocacy groups say." MB: The article is vague, but these migrants appear to be hoping to settle in Mexico.

Sudan. Max Bearak of the Washington Post: "The detention by Sudan's military of the country's prime minister and a large number of his cabinet and party members early Monday morning plunged the country's fragile democratic transition into disarray. Just days earlier, the capital of Khartoum was swept by the biggest pro-democracy street protests since 2019, when longtime dictator Omar Hassan al-Bashir was toppled by a wave of popular discontent. Crowds swelled in Khartoum's streets again Monday in response to the detentions.... Since Bashir's ousting, the country has been governed by a hybrid civilian-military transitional council, and tensions over power-sharing have repeatedly threatened to boil over into outright confrontation.... Last month, pro-Bashir elements within the military attempted a coup but were quickly thwarted." Read on. ~~~

     ~~~ Samy Magdy of the AP: "Military forces arrested Sudan's acting prime minister and other senior official Monday, disrupted internet access and blocked bridges in the capital, the country's information ministry said, describing the actions as a coup. In response, thousands flooded the streets of Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman to protest the apparent military takeover. Footage shared online appeared to show protesters blocking streets and setting fire to tires as security forces used tear gas to disperse them.... A takeover by the military would be a major setback for Sudan, which has grappled with a stop-and-go transition to democracy since long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir was toppled by mass protests two years ago."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Two people were killed and four others were injured, including a police officer, during a shooting at a mall in Boise, Idaho, on Monday.... When the police arrived, Chief Lee said at a news conference on Monday, officers found an individual matching a suspect's description and exchanged gunfire just afterward, which resulted in a police officer's injury. Chief Lee said the suspect was taken into custody."

AP: "A powerful storm barreled toward Southern California after flooding highways, toppling trees and causing mud flows in areas burned bare by recent fires across the northern part of the state. Drenching showers and strong winds accompanied the weekend's arrival of an atmospheric river -- a long and wide plume of moisture pulled in from the Pacific Ocean. The National Weather Service's Sacramento office warned of 'potentially historic rain.'" The Washington Post's story is here.

October 24, 2021

Ashley Parker & Clarissa Wolf of the Washington Post: "During the 2020 presidential campaign, one of [Joe] Biden's political superpowers was his sheer inoffensiveness, the way he often managed to embody -- even to those who didn't like him -- the innocuous grandfather, the bumbling uncle, the leader who could make America calm, steady, even boring again after four years of Donald Trump. But it's clear that after nine months in office, Biden -- or at least what he represents -- is increasingly becoming an object of hatred to many Trump supporters. The vitriol partly reflects Trump's own repeated baseless claims that Biden is a usurper, depriving him of his rightful claim to the presidency, and partly stems from Biden actions that Republicans deplore, from his spending plans to his immigration policies. Yet the anger also demonstrates how a political party or cause often needs an enemy ... that can unite its adherents -- and, in this case, one refracted through the harshness, norm-breaking and vulgarity of the Trump era.... The current eruption of anti-Biden signs and chants, however, is on another level, far more vulgar and widespread [than those leveled against former presidents (and Trump)]. ~~~

~~~ Jon Ward of Yahoo! News: "Former President Barack Obama exhorted Virginians to support Democrat Terry McAuliffe's candidacy for governor, warning of the dire consequences for the state and the country if he were to lose. 'We're at a turning point right now both here and in America and around the world. There's a mood out there, we see it: a politics of meanness,' Obama told an estimated crowd of around 2,000 people on a sun-dappled afternoon at Virginia Commonwealth University. Obama presented the choice for Virginians as between McAuliffe, who he said would keep moving the state forward, and Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin, who he said has been 'encouraging the lies and conspiracy theories that we've had to live through all this time,' referring to the ongoing attempt by ... Donald Trump to falsely claim that the 2020 election was illegitimate." ~~~

~~~ Marie: You might want to just drop in on President Obama's speech somewhere. What a campaigner! ~~~

~~~ Brent Johnson of NJ.com: "Former President Barack Obama visited Newark on Saturday to call for New Jerseyans to re-elect Gov. Phil Murphy, saying American politics are at a 'turning point' and this race is a choice between moving forward or backwards.... The appearance came the same day early in-person voting began for the first time in New Jersey history, 10 days before Murphy seeks a second term against Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli in a race that appears to be tightening in its final stretch." Another stemwinder.

Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "They called it the 'command center,' a set of rooms and suites in the posh Willard hotel a block from the White House where some of ... Donald Trump's most loyal lieutenants were working day and night with one goal in mind: overturning the results of the 2020 election.... The activities at the Willard that week add to an emerging picture of a less visible effort, mapped out in memos by a conservative pro-Trump legal scholar and pursued by a team of presidential advisers and lawyers seeking to pull off what they claim was a legal strategy to reinstate Trump for a second term. They were led by Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani. Former chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon was an occasional presence as the effort's senior political adviser. Former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik was there as an investigator. Also present was John Eastman, the scholar, who outlined scenarios for denying Biden the presidency in an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 4 with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times (of all people!) does Colin Powell justice: "Powell should have paid more attention to his Rule No. 8: 'Check small things.' When U.N. officials covered up a tapestry of Picasso's antiwar masterpiece, 'Guernica,' before his speech, Powell should have checked that small thing. The discordance of the secretary of state selling the bombing of Iraq in front of the shrouded image of shrieking and mutilated women, men, children, bulls and horses spoke volumes."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Florida. Christine Sexton of Florida Politics. "Florida's top public health official was asked to leave a state Senator's office this week after refusing to don a mask in her office. Sen. Tina Polsky, who was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in August, asked state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and his two legislative aides to leave her office after Ladapo refused to comply with her request to put on a mask. 'I told him I had a serious medical condition,' said Polsky, who will begin radiation therapy treatment for cancer next week. Polsky said that Ladapo had requested to meet with her in Tallahassee this week; he was making the rounds visiting several Senators who will be asked in the upcoming Session to confirm him." MB: Why, I think Ladapo will make a fine surgeon general. (Well, other than the fact that he's a genuine kook who, for instance, "invoked anecdotal examples and unsubstantiated conspiracy theories to argue against [Covid-19] vaccines...."

Beyond the Beltway

Montana. Tailyr Irvine of the New York Times: "Chief Old Person, the longest-serving tribally elected official in the United States, died on Oct. 13 at 92 after a long battle with cancer. On Tuesday, the chief returned to the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana -- home to nearly 10,000 tribal members -- from a funeral home 160 miles south, beginning a four-day mourning period that closed the small northern town of Browning for three processions: when the chief was brought to the tribal council chambers, when he was moved the following day to the high school gym and, on Friday, after the funeral, when his body was brought to his family plot. As the hearse crossed the Rocky Mountains into Blackfeet Country, thousands of mourners gathered to welcome their chief home.... Earl Old Person was born into the last Blackfeet generation to speak Pikuni before English. Growing up, he served as a translator for his elders, learning the traditions and history of the Blackfeet Nation that predated colonization. He shared that history with the generations that followed him, teaching children traditional songs, giving eulogies and performing naming ceremonies."

Way Beyond

Turkey. Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has threatened to expel the ambassadors from 10 countries including the U.S., declaring them 'persona non grata' after they called for the release of a jailed philanthropist.... The envoys, including those from the seven European nations, Canada and New Zealand, as well as the United States, released a letter earlier this week urging the Turkish government to abide by a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights and release the philanthropist, Osman Kavala, who has been held since 2017 despite not having been convicted of a crime. The Biden administration was the driving force behind the letter, in keeping with the president's policy of publicly calling out states over human rights violations. A declaration of persona non grata typically means the individual must leave the host country. However, the ambassadors were not immediately given a deadline for leaving, and it remained unclear whether they would actually be expelled."

The Commentariat -- October 23, 2021

Late Morning Update:

Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: "They called it the 'command center,' a set of rooms and suites in the posh Willard hotel a block from the White House where some of ... Donald Trump's most loyal lieutenants were working day and night with one goal in mind: overturning the results of the 2020 election.... The activities at the Willard that week add to an emerging picture of a less visible effort, mapped out in memos by a conservative pro-Trump legal scholar and pursued by a team of presidential advisers and lawyers seeking to pull off what they claim was a legal strategy to reinstate Trump for a second term. They were led by Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani. Former chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon was an occasional presence as the effort's senior political adviser. Former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik was there as an investigator. Also present was John Eastman, the scholar, who outlined scenarios for denying Biden the presidency in an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 4 with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence."

~~~~~~~~~~

AP: "China on Friday said there is 'no room' for compromise or concessions over the issue of Taiwan, following a comment by U.S. President Joe Biden that the U.S. is committed to defending the island if it is attacked. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin reasserted China's longstanding claim that the island is its territory at a daily briefing after Biden made his comment a day before at a forum hosted by CNN. China has recently upped its threat to bring Taiwan under its control by force if necessary by flying warplanes near the island and rehearsing beach landings.... Biden's comments on Thursday were viewed as stretching the 'strategic ambiguity' Washington has maintained over how it would respond to an assault on the self-governing island republic.... In his comments, Biden said the U.S. did not want a new Cold War but expressed concern about whether China was 'going to engage in activities that will put them in a position where they may make a serious mistake.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday named Neera Tanden, a longtime Democratic insider in Washington, to be White House staff secretary, moving her into a little-known but influential West Wing post after failing earlier this year to install her as the director of the Office of Management and Budget. For the last several months, Ms. Tanden has been a senior adviser to the president, working quietly behind the scenes to build support among interest groups for his social spending agenda and overseeing a government reform agenda with officials at the budget office." CNN's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday launched a new Justice Department initiative aimed at combating discriminatory lending policies among banks, saying the practice harms minority communities and contributes to the racial wealth gap. In an address to staff, Garland cited the history of banks denying loans to Black borrowers during the Great Depression -- a tactic known as redlining -- and warned that such practices remain widespread more than 90 years later. He said the department would, in conjunction with other federal agencies, mount the federal government's 'most aggressive and coordinated effort' to root out and punish those who violate federal laws that prohibit such practices.:

** Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "The House select committee investigating the US Capitol insurrection is planning for former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark to testify next Friday -- teeing him up to be the first Trump administration official to comply with a subpoena for an interview with the panel, two sources ... told CNN. Clark's testimony could be a major step forward for Democrats as they attempt to determine what ... Donald Trump, Republican members of Congress and his advisers did and said behind closed doors about overturning the results of the 2020 election before January 6. CNN has also learned that Alyssa Farah, former director of strategic communications in the Trump White House and assistant to the president, has voluntarily met with Republicans on the House select committee and provided information in several meetings...."

Marshall Cohen & Holmes Lybrand of CNN: "A federal judge said Friday that defiant US Capitol rioters, who are still defending their role in the January 6 insurrection, are fueling threats against judges from people who falsely believe the 2020 election was stolen from ... Donald Trump. 'It bothers me that she would try to associate herself with that type of violence... and then she goes on television on two occasions and is proud of what she did, and says she would do it again,' district Judge Reggie Walton said at a hearing for Capitol riot defendant Lori Vinson. 'I know that these types of comments have an impact,' Walton added. 'As judges, we're getting all kinds of threats and hostile phone calls when we have these (January 6) cases before us, because there are unfortunately other people out there who buy in on this proposition, even though there was no proof, that somehow the election was fraudulent.' These comments came at a sentencing hearing for Vinson and her husband, Thomas Vinson. Walton gave them each five years of probation and a $5,000 fine -- the maximum allowed, and the largest for a Capitol rioter so far. Prosecutors asked for a month in jail for Lori and house arrest for Thomas."

Madeleine May of Vice: "On December 5..., Donald Trump singled ... out [Richard Barron, elections director of Georgia's Fulton County,] at a rally in Valdosta, Georgia. He showed a video of Barron to the hundreds of attendees, and voiced conspiracies about voter fraud in Georgia. 'So, if you just take the crime of what those Democratic workers were doing,' said Trump, 'that's ten times more than I need to win the state.'... Barron [and] his entire election staff became a target [of dozens of threatening voicemails].... 'My staff is almost exclusively African American, and they started receiving calls laced with racial slurs.' Physical threats began as well.... [People were surveilling the elections facility, taking photos of individuals & of license plates.] Officials across the United States experienced physical stalking, explicitly violent phone calls, racial slurs, home surveillance, bomb scares, and threats of mass shootings.... In election hotspots like Georgia, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, many of these threats came directly after Trump mentioned election workers (like Barron) at events and in tweets.... For some officials in Georgia and Pennsylvania, the threats have continued for nearly a year. And now, many of these officials want to quit."

Colin Moynihan of the New York Times: "On Friday, in Federal District Court in Manhattan, [Lev] Parnas and an associate, Andrey Kukushkin, were convicted on all counts [brought for campaign finance crimes]. [His associate Igor] Fruman and a fourth defendant, David Correia, had pleaded guilty previously.... [Mr.] Parnas and his business partner, [Mr.] Fruman, had climbed to prominent places in the orbit of ... Donald J. Trump when they were arrested at Dulles International Airport near Washington in 2019 while holding one-way tickets to Frankfurt. The two Soviet-born businessmen were accused of funneling a Russian tycoon's money into American political campaigns. But in the two years that followed, Mr. Parnas's role in events connected to Mr. Trump's first impeachment slowly emerged. He acknowledged participating in an effort by Rudolph W. Giuliani to pressure Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden, who was then a leading Democratic presidential candidate. Even as Mr. Parnas's profile grew, though, the campaign finance charges against him loomed.... Speaking outside the courtroom after the verdict was announced, Mr. Parnas’s lawyer, Joseph A. Bondy, said his client planned to appeal and seek to have the conviction vacated." Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link. An AP story is here.

Katie Lillis of CNN: "Michael Ellis, who was installed as the top lawyer at the National Security Agency during ... Donald Trump's final days in office, was appropriately sidelined the day after his arrival at the agency based on a pair of security incidents that took place in early 2021, the Defense Department inspector general found in a report released on Thursday. The investigation also found that the Pentagon's selection of Ellis for the role was appropriate and carried out without political influence. The two security incidents took place after Ellis' hiring in the fall of 2020, but before he started work on January 19, according to the report. NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone placed him on administrative leave on January 20, the day President Joe Biden was inaugurated." MB: Read on. Ellis's actions sound remarkably careless/suspicious to me. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider legal arguments over the Texas abortion law that is the nation's most restrictive on Nov. 1, and that the law will remain in effect. The court granted an expedited review of what is called S. B. 8, which the Biden administration in a filing Friday said 'has virtually eliminated abortion in Texas after six weeks of pregnancy.'... The court said it will consider the law's unique enforcement policy, which authorizes individual citizens to sue anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion after cardiac activity is noted in the embryo, usually about six weeks. The court did not accept a request from Texas specifically to reconsider Roe and Casey.... Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the lone dissenter in the order." MB: Just put those unwanted pregnancies on holds, Texas gals. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ryan Mac & Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times: "Facebook has publicly blamed the proliferation of election falsehoods on ... Donald J. Trump and other social platforms.... But the company documents show the degree to which Facebook knew of extremist movements and groups on its site that were trying to polarize American voters before the election. The documents also give new detail on how aware company researchers were after the election of the flow of misinformation that posited votes had been manipulated against Mr. Trump.... What was unmistakable was that Facebook's own employees believed the social network could have done more, according to the documents.... Disclosures from [Facebook whistleblower Frances] Haugen, who plans to appear at a hearing in Britain's Parliament on Monday, have resurfaced questions about what role Facebook played in the events leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot." The article gives some preliminary hints of how large a role Facebook content played in the insurrection. ~~~

~~~ Craig Timberg, et al., of the Washington Post: "... in the days after the 2020 presidential election..., many who had worked on the election, exhausted from months of unrelenting toil, took leaves of absence or moved on to other jobs. Facebook rolled back many of the dozens of election-season measures that it had used to suppress hateful, deceptive content. A ban the company had imposed on the original Stop the Steal group stopped short of addressing dozens of look-alikes that popped up in what an internal Facebook after-action report called 'coordinated' and 'meteoric' growth. Meanwhile, the company's Civic Integrity team was largely disbanded by a management that had grown weary of the team's criticisms of the company.... [On January 6,] measures of online mayhem surged alarmingly on Facebook, with user reports of 'false news' hitting nearly 40,000 per hour, an internal report that day showed. On Facebook-owned Instagram, the account reported most often for inciting violence was @realdonaldtrump -- the president's official account, the report showed. Facebook has never publicly disclosed what it knows about how its platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp, helped fuel that day's mayhem." Emphasis added. CNN's report is here. ~~~

~~~ Brandy Zadrozny of NBC News: "In the summer of 2019, a new Facebook user named Carol Smith ... describ[ed] herself as a politically conservative mother from Wilmington, North Carolina. Smith's account indicated an interest in politics, parenting, and Christianity, and followed a few of her favorite brands, including Fox News and ... Donald Trump. Though Smith had never expressed interest in conspiracy theories, in just two days Facebook was recommending she join groups dedicated to QAnon.... Smith didn't follow the recommended QAnon groups, but whatever algorithm Facebook was using to determine how she should engage with the platform pushed ahead just the same. Within one week, Smith's feed was full of groups and pages that had violated Facebook's own rules, including those against hate speech and disinformation. Smith wasn't a real person. A researcher employed by Facebook invented the account, along with those of other fictitious 'test users' in 2019 and 2020, as part of an experiment in studying the platform's role in misinforming and polarizing users through its recommendations systems. That researcher said Smith's Facebook experience was 'a barrage of extreme, conspiratorial, and graphic content." The NYT story linked above also outlines the finding for the "Carol Smith" account. ~~~

~~~ Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "A new whistleblower affidavit submitted by a former Facebook employee Friday alleges that the company prizes growth and profits over combating hate speech, misinformation and other threats to the public, according to a copy of the document obtained by The Washington Post. The whistleblower's allegations, which were declared under penalty of perjury..., echoed many of those made by Frances Haugen, another former Facebook employee whose scathing testimony before Congress this month intensified bipartisan calls for federal action against the company. Haugen, like the new whistleblower, also made allegations to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees publicly traded companies.... The SEC affidavit goes on to allege that Facebook officials routinely undermined efforts to fight misinformation, hate speech and other problematic content out of fear of angering ... Donald Trump and his political allies, or out of concern about potentially dampening the user growth key to Facebook's multi-billion-dollar profits."

Dan Milmo of the Guardian: "Twitter has admitted it amplifies more tweets from rightwing politicians and news outlets than content from leftwing sources. The social media platform examined tweets from elected officials in seven countries -- the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and Japan. It also studied whether political content from news organisations was amplified on Twitter, focusing primarily on US news sources such as Fox News, the New York Times and BuzzFeed.... The research found that in six out of seven countries, apart from Germany, tweets from rightwing politicians received more amplification from the algorithm than those from the left; right-leaning news organisations were more amplified than those on the left; and generally politicians' tweets were more amplified by an algorithmic timeline than by the chronological timeline."

Eileen Sullivan & Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "A record 1.7 million migrants from around the world, many of them fleeing pandemic-ravaged countries, were encountered trying to enter the United States illegally in the last 12 months, capping a year of chaos at the southern border, which has emerged as one of the most formidable challenges for the Biden administration. It was the highest number of illegal crossings recorded since at least 1960, when the government first began tracking such entries. The number was similarly high for the 2000 fiscal year, when border agents caught 1.6 million people, according to government data."

Beyond the Beltway

Nevada. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "... a few days after Election Day..., [Donald Kirk Hartle, a] Las Vegas man, was telling a local news station that someone had stolen his late wife's mail-in ballot and returned it to Clark County election officials, according to Nevada's online ballot tracker. 'That is pretty sickening to me, to be honest with you,' Hartle said in an interview then with KLAS 8 News Now.... On Thursday, the Nevada attorney general's office announced it had filed two charges of voter fraud against Hartle, alleging that he forged his late wife's name to vote with her ballot.... The claims by Hartle, a registered Republican, spread quickly in conservative circles, jumping from local outlets to Fox News's Tucker Carlson, who used it to bolster Trump supporters' assertions that widespread voter fraud could have swayed the 2020 election results."

New Mexico. Simon Romero, et al., of the New York Times follow up on the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins on a film set by actor-producer Alec Baldwin: "The plot of the film Mr. Baldwin was shooting, 'Rust,' hinges on an accidental killing and its aftermath.... An assistant director grabbed one of three prop guns that the film's armorer had set up outside on a gray cart, handed it to Mr. Baldwin, and, according to an affidavit signed by Detective Joel Cano of the Santa Fe County sheriff's office, yelled 'Cold Gun!' -- which was supposed to indicate that the gun did not have any live rounds in it.... Several members of the crew walked off the set earlier this week over working conditions, according to several people familiar with the shoot.... On film sets, the safety protocols for using guns are well established and straightforward...." See also related stories in yesterday's News Ledes.