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Solution to Evan Birnholz’s Aug. 21 crossword, “Themeless No. 20”
Next weekend in New York City is Lollapuzzoola, the world’s best crossword tournament on a Saturday in August. I am hoping to attend it in person for the first time since 2019, but it’s not a certainty just yet. If you want to compete, they are holding it both as an in-person event on Aug. 27 and as a virtual tournament. Consider jumping in if you’ve never participated in one of these events before — it’s a lot of fun to hang out and chat with others solvers about the puzzles and anything else that interests you. Be warned that while most of the tournament puzzles will probably be fairly accessible, one of them is likely going to be very challenging, but that’s what everyone else is there for. Shared struggle brings people closer together.
There’s no theme today, but I picked a pair of 20-letter answers as a nod to the fact that it’s the 20th themeless puzzle I’ve published for The Post Magazine. I did the same thing with 18-letter answers in “Themeless No. 18” and a central 19-letter answer in “Themeless No. 19,” so take a wild guess what I’m aiming to do for “Themeless No. 21.”
23A: [Sweet and sour candies] is LEMON DROPS. I learned just now that they’re also vodka cocktails with a lemon flavor.
35A: [Milla Jovovich’s role in “The Fifth Element”] is LEELOO. I named my cat after her, but — let’s be honest — she’s got a ways to go before she attains status as a supreme being who can learn entire languages in a few days, beat up an entire room full of hostile aliens like a one-cat wrecking crew, and save the universe.
37A: [Local guy who “always thought he’d squander his life differently,” per a July 2019 headline in the Onion] is AREA MAN. It’s not an official rule, but there’s a good case to be made that whenever you have an answer that hints at the Onion, you’re required by law to include one of its headlines.
52A: [Event that may feature actors working on their lines for hours?] is TELETHON. That’s if it’s a celebrity telethon, although the celebrities typically aren’t the ones doing the work of taking down credit card information for confirming the donation. They’re often just there to give donors a simple thank-you message, but that may be enough to motivate donors to call in.
64A: ["Here’s one of my favorite scenes”] is “I LOVE THIS PART.” This is one of those conversational phrases that I randomly added to my word list a while back, never knowing exactly when I’d need it. I’d also added “I HATE THIS PART” and the grid might have accommodated that one too, but we’re sticking with a positive message here.
81A: [Beer/Pong venues] is BARCADES. Here’s a word I’ve grown to love ever since I first went to a barcade in Philadelphia over a decade ago. This is my favorite clue today, too.
84A: ["Through the Looking-Glass” character who suggests that Alice start as a pawn] is RED QUEEN. The animated Disney film from 1951 combined aspects of the Red Queen with the Queen of Hearts even though Lewis Carroll wrote them as two different characters. For instance, in the film, the Queen of Hearts scolds Alice by shouting, “Look up, speak nicely, and don’t twiddle your fingers!” But the Queen of Hearts doesn’t say that in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Instead it’s the Red Queen who said it in “Through the Looking-Glass.”
93A: [All-around gymnastics gold medalist at the 2020 Olympics] is SUNI LEE. She’s also the first Hmong American to win Olympic gold.
97A: [6 of diamonds?] is SHORTSTOP. Now, I can imagine this clue might be a bit confusing if you don’t follow baseball closely. The “diamonds” is a fairly standard pun signal for baseball in crosswords, but the “6″ is less clear. The way it works is that each of the nine players in the field is referred to by a number from 1 to 9. The shortstop is 6. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “6-4-3 double play,” it means the shortstop (6) fields the ball after it was hit and throws to the second baseman (4), who then throws to the first baseman (3). It’s an inside joke that I realize might not land with every solver, but the phrase felt too on-the-nose for me to keep it out. It could even work for all positions, including the pitcher who’s numbered as 1. Even though there isn’t a 1 in a deck of cards, [Ace of diamonds?] could be a valid clue for PITCHER (assuming it’s a good pitcher).
100A: [Retrievers such as Prince William’s childhood dog Widgeon] is BLACK LABS. Here’s a picture of Widgeon, if you were curious.
104A: [___ Rocks (band that formed in Finland, not Vietnam as the name suggests)] is HANOI Rocks. I hadn’t heard of them before writing this puzzle. Here’s a music video of their song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”
4D: ["Out of the question!"] is “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.” One of the two 20-letter answers in this puzzle.
11D: [Allsopp’s Arctic ___ (beer that sold for $503,300 on eBay in 2007)] is ALE. It’s true.
15D: ["Things really got out of hand fast”] is “THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY.” The second of the two 20-letter answers. This phrase owes its popularity to the film “Anchorman,” when Ron Burgundy said that after an all-out brawl between TV news reporters.
58D is ATTITUDE and right next to it at 59D is WHINING, both clued as [Complainer’s display]. Somehow the much more common crossword answer SASS didn’t end up in this puzzle to take one of those clues.
87D: [Home of goblin sharks and vampire squids] is DEEP SEA. Something else I learned from writing this puzzle: that goblin sharks and vampire squids exist.
88D: [Cornelis ___, inventor who built the first navigable submarine in 1620] is Cornelis DREBBEL. I’d never heard of him until now either, but he seemed like a genuinely fascinating person and his name bailed me out of a real jam. Some sources also credit Drebbel with inventing the world’s first thermostat, so I’m truly perplexed how he’s flown under my radar until today.
Finally, here’s a heads-up about next week’s crossword: It’s going to be somewhat complex. It has a metapuzzle and an extra feature that I have not done for The Post before, but I hope you will enjoy it. | 2022-08-21T13:22:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Solution to Evan Birnholz’s Aug. 21 crossword, “Themeless No. 20” - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/08/21/solution-evan-birnholzs-aug-21-crossword-themeless-no-20/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/08/21/solution-evan-birnholzs-aug-21-crossword-themeless-no-20/ |
Leon Edwards stuns Kamaru Usman with a head kick KO to win title
With one swift kick. Leon Edwards won the welterweight title at UFC 278. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)
It was the head kick heard round the world … at least the UFC world.
With welterweight champion Kamaru Usman closing in on a victory Saturday night over Leon Edwards in his UFC 278 title-defending bout at in Salt Lake City’s Vivint Arena, Edwards caught Usman with a left kick to the head at the 4-minute, 4-second mark. Usman fell to the canvas and Edwards, who had been behind on points in the fifth round, started to celebrate.
“You all doubted me, saying I couldn’t do it — look at me now,” the 30-year-old fighter told the crowd. “ … I’m from the trenches. I’m built like this. … I’ve been doubted my whole life but look at me now.”
Edwards, who was born in Jamaica and became the first British champion since Michael Bisping in 2016, avenged his 2015 loss to Usman, and also ended the now former champ’s 15-fight unbeaten streak in UFC competition. Edwards has won 10 bouts in a row since his loss to Usman, who was trying to tie Anderson Silva’s UFC record of 16 consecutive wins.
Edwards started strong, with Usman being taken down in the first round for the first time in his UFC career. Although he had the early momentum, Usman dominated the second, third and fourth rounds, and seemed to be in control in the fifth.
But Edwards rallied, with one of his cornermen yelling “Come on, man! What’s f------ wrong with you?” after the fourth round. Usman bit on a feint, Edwards landed his kick and one of the biggest upsets in the sport was in the books.
“This is my moment,” Edwards said (via Yahoo). “What happened in the past, the two years out, the pandemic, none of it matters now. I’m champion of the world. Champion of the world.”
Afterward, there was an emotional scene as Edwards talked with his mother on a video call. Born and raised in Kingston, he moved to Birmingham when he was 9. Four years after his the death of his father when he was 13, Edwards found mixed martial arts.
“I told you, mum, I would do it,” the fighter known as “Rocky” tearfully told her, as footage showed the celebration that was going on in his Birmingham gym.
Edwards (20-3, 1 NC) was coming off a unanimous decision victory over Nate Diaz in June 2021, while the knockout was the first suffered by Usman (20-2). Saturday’s result prompted immediate talk of a rematch and Usman, who was taken to a hospital after the fight, graciously hinted as much on Twitter.
“Champs f--- up sometimes,” he wrote, “ … but we bounce back and come with vengeance. Damn I love this sport!!! Things happen but … Alhamdulillah we move!! Congratulations @Leon_edwardsmma.” | 2022-08-21T14:40:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Leon Edwards stuns champion Kamaru Usman with head kick at UFC 278 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/21/leon-edwards-kamaru-usman-ufc-278/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/21/leon-edwards-kamaru-usman-ufc-278/ |
Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks at the Justice Department on Aug. 11. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Don’t feel badly if you’ve lost track of all the investigations into the activities of defeated former president Donald Trump, his underlings and his cronies — there are almost too many to list. But let’s give it a try:
The coup — the violent and nonviolent part
The retention of highly classified and/or top-secret documents (and Trump lawyers’ apparent misrepresentation that all such documents had been returned)
The fundraising appeals for an entity that did not exist and for a cause (campaign litigation) that was no longer active
The mysterious disappearance of Secret Service, Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security texts
The civil investigation in New York into Trump’s finances
The Georgia grand jury investigation into his attempt to “find” just enough votes to win the state
The possible accessing of voting machines
And possible tampering with Jan. 6 committee witnesses
We don’t know whether the facts justify prosecuting what to many seems like an unprecedented crime spree, and we don’t know the extent of Trump’s involvement in each of these matters. Remember, though, that in each case, multiple legal theories might result in prosecution.
The coup, for example, could entail possible seditious conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, defrauding the United States, and aiding and abetting the violence. And those are just the possible federal charges.
When Attorney General Merrick Garland said that this is the biggest investigation ever undertaken by the Justice Department, he was not exaggerating. The number of cases already brought, the number of witnesses, the number of potential charges and the gravity of the whole thing must be daunting. Garland promised to follow the law and the facts, and will, I am convinced, indict Trump and other senior officials if the facts and law warrant, “without fear of favor” — or concern about Trump’s violent mob.
Garland must make not only the top-level decision of whether to indict, but also a slew of tactical and legal determinations along the way, as he did in authorizing the warrant to be executed at Mar-a-Lago. Let’s consider just a few of those, keeping in mind that Trump will enjoy the presumption of innocence, that it is possible no indictment will follow, and that the prosecution will have to prove every element of each crime beyond a reasonable doubt:
Does Garland grant immunity to obtain cooperation from a close Trump associate (either before or after indicting such people)? Some witnesses’ credibility may be so weak as to be worthless in front of a jury. (Let’s be honest — who will believe anything Rudy Giuliani has to say?) Others’ testimony may be invaluable, but their own conduct is so serious that any “deal” would still have to include substantial jail time. That decreases the likelihood of many being willing to cooperate. (The personal fear of the mob if one testifies should not be underestimated, either.)
Does Garland subpoena former vice president Mike Pence? We’ve argued that there is every reason to obtain key evidence from such a critical witness; there is likely no applicable privilege; and it’s not unprecedented even for a president to testify, as President Gerald Ford did in front of Congress regarding his pardon of Richard M. Nixon. On the other hand, if Pence won’t cooperate, it’s not clear Garland wants to spend months litigating against him as well, particularly if they have sufficient evidence from his top aides.
Does Garland break off and pursue separately a possible indictment relating to the documents or wait until he has every possible charge ready to go? It may be too much for any one jury to hear all the sundry charges he may bring against Trump. Moreover, given the potential for an incoming GOP Congress and the time it may require to try Trump and complete the inevitable appeals, it might be years before Trump is held accountable for anything. It therefore might be advisable to start on at least one case well in advance of the 2024 election. On the other hand, the expense, jury selection and expenditure of personnel for multiple Trump trials over years may simply be too much for the Justice Department to manage.
Does Garland allow the first criminal trial against Trump to take place in Georgia state court? In some sense, it’s an advantage to have a straightforward case with a discrete set of facts (and an audiotape of Trump to boot) in front of a Fulton County jury. On the other hand, if District Attorney Fani Willis doesn’t win the case, other prosecutions that might follow would potentially look even weaker. And this raises the next question about how soon Garland might be ready to go forward. (Willis sure seems to be on the fast track.)
Does Garland make every effort to obtain an indictment (perhaps under seal) before the midterm elections? Garland has vowed he will not be rushed or rattled. He won’t make a precipitous decision on something this grave. On the other hand, considering the firestorm that may await him if Republicans return to power, it might be helpful to get at least part of the prosecutorial effort underway before January.
Does Garland indict on every possible theory relating to the coup (up to and including seditious conspiracy), or only indict on the cleanest, easiest cases to prosecute? Every prosecutor faces this dilemma, but in the case of Trump, it takes on added importance. If Garland levels the single most explosive charge — seditious conspiracy — and cannot make it stick, the rule of law, the Justice Department and our democracy will be seriously wounded. Garland would have to have a rock-solid case to bring such a grave charge. At the other extreme, it hardly pays to indict Trump for minor, common crimes (e.g., aiding and abetting destruction of public property). If you are going to take the awesome step of indicting a former president, it better be for very serious reasons.
One can empathize with the task the Justice Department has ahead. While Democrats still control Congress and the White House, therefore, it might behoove them to authorize substantial funding for the Justice Department. Garland, his investigators and lawyers will have their hands full for a very long time. | 2022-08-21T14:53:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Merrick Garland has hard choices ahead in the Trump investigations - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/21/merrick-garland-hard-questions-trump-investigation/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/21/merrick-garland-hard-questions-trump-investigation/ |
Man killed outside gas station in Prince George’s County
A man was fatally shot Sunday morning outside a gas station, according to Prince George’s County police.
Officers arrived at the 1330 block of Ritchie Road about 2:45 a.m. and discovered the wounded man outside the gas station. Police have not released the name of the victim, who died at the scene. | 2022-08-21T15:41:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Man killed outside gas station in Prince George's County - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/21/man-killed-gas-station-pg/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/21/man-killed-gas-station-pg/ |
U.S. appeals court pauses order for Sen. Graham to testify before Ga. grand jury
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) on Aug. 18, 2022, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
A federal appeals court has temporary paused an order that would have required Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) to testify before a Georgia grand jury investigating Republican efforts to reverse the 2020 presidential election results in the state.
Graham had formally appealed a judge’s order requiring him to testify Tuesday, saying doing so would cause “irreparable harm … in contravention of his constitutional immunity.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Sunday temporarily put his testimony on hold, pending a judge’s consideration of whether that constitutional provision should apply to Graham’s subpoena.
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, which is leading the probe into the actions of former president Donald Trump and his allies, argued in a court filing on Friday that Graham should appear before a special grand jury this week despite his appeal to postpone offering testimony.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) has expressed interest in questioning Graham about conversations he had in the wake of the 2020 election with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), among other matters. The filing from her office Friday argued that delaying Graham’s appearance would also “delay the revelation of an entire category of relevant witnesses,” pushing back the timeline of the investigation.
“Senator Graham’s arguments are entirely unpersuasive, and they do not even demonstrate a ‘substantial case on the merits,’ ” the judge wrote then.
John Wagner and Matthew Brown contributed to this report. | 2022-08-21T16:07:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Sen. Lindsey Graham granted temporary delay for Ga. grand jury testimony - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/21/lindsey-graham-trump-grand-jury-georgia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/21/lindsey-graham-trump-grand-jury-georgia/ |
Leeds United Manager Jesse Marsch and players celebrate a goal in Sunday's win over Chelsea. (Carl Recine / Reuters)
The record shows that Leeds United scored a 3-0 victory over Chelsea Sunday, with the English Premier League win featuring a decidedly American flavor.
As “Men in Blazers” co-host Roger Bennett put it: “Incredible day for American Men’s Football. First time in our Nation’s history an American player scored in English Men’s Top Flight under an American Manager. 3 USMNT players on Premier League field together.”
Incredible day for American Men's Football. First time in our Nation's history an American player scored in English Men's Top Flight under an American Manager. 3 USMNT players on Premier League field together.
Significant moments I hope will become routine in Next Generation 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/ili09y9HZC
— roger bennett (@rogbennett) August 21, 2022
It’s still early in the Premier League season, but Leeds is undefeated, tied for second in the standings with two wins and a draw under new manager Jesse Marsch, the former MLS player and coach from Racine, Wis. Leeds brought a certain cheekiness into Sunday’s match, showing no signs of being fearful or intimidated by its opponent.
“That’s not the way we’re ever going to play,” Marsch told NBC’s Tim Howard with a laugh in a postmatch interview. “But we obviously know that you have to calculate the way that you want to play against these opponents. They have so much quality on the pitch and they can unbalance you so easily.”
The victory over Chelsea was Leeds’ first in the Premier League in seven tries dating to 2000, and it sent the team and its Elland Road fans into a frenzy. Brenden Aaronson, one of three U.S. national team players on the squad, started the scoring at the 33rd minute and he later told NBC’s Rebecca Lowe that he, Leeds teammate Tyler Adams and U.S. star Christian Pulisic have heard jibes about American soccer over the years.
“It just goes to show people around the world that Americans play football, too. We’re out there, we’re playing ball,” Aaronson said. “We’re playing for an English Premier League team and getting goals and assists, so we’re out there and we’re doing well — on the coaching side of things, too. I think it’s only up and coming.”
The message as the team prepared to host Chelsea was simple. “We’re going to press them. We’re not going to stay back and fear them. We’re going to go after them,” Aaronson said. “That sums up that goal and sums up this team’s performance today.”
After Leeds’ strong start, Marsch has a plan for what comes next.
“We never get outrun, we never get outworked. Now the question is can we also add to it not being outfought,” Marsch said. “If we can add all that together, we think we can really build something special.”
Validating victories aside, but Marsch said he wants the team to “keep pushing and believing in what we’re doing,” adding, “we have to be hungry, too. Just because we’ve had a little bit of success now, it’s really important that we continue to have big hunger.” | 2022-08-21T17:38:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Leeds United crushes Chelsea with a strong American presence - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/21/leeds-united-crushes-chelsea/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/21/leeds-united-crushes-chelsea/ |
Cannabis farmer Drew Barber examines a plant at his farm in in Humboldt, County in Petrolia, California. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
The irony, bitter and true, is shared on the front porches of hillside homesteads across this valley where the King Range mountains and the San Andreas Fault meet the sea. The once-mystical heart of the nation’s marijuana industry is dying, fast, strangled not by law enforcement but by the high taxes and baffling regulation that have crushed small farmers since state voters approved legalization almost six years ago.
The story of Humboldt’s fate highlights how inconsistently this influential blue state has treated a quintessentially blue-state industry, a product once rogue and now a public tax bonanza. In the first quarter of this year alone, cannabis taxes delivered nearly $300 million in revenue to the state and additional money to the counties that have embraced what they once punished.
The chosen course concentrated much of the tax and regulatory power at the state level, dominated by Democrats who often decry corporate influence, and left counties and cities, some far more conservative, with broad discretion over whether to even establish a cannabis industry.
As a result, the state is now awash in tax revenue, much of it from the industrial-scale farmers and retailers, and in marijuana, a market glut that has gutted wholesale prices and left farmers such as Barber unable to break even. The state rules and omissions have also empowered a still-thriving black market for marijuana — once a chief target of state regulators — whose growers sell their product illegally across state borders and still fetch a lucrative price.
Here in the Humboldt hills, the changes resulting from state policy decisions have also precipitated the slow fade of a unique out-there-alone way of life, pioneered by disillusioned migrants who had soured on the post-1960s vibe farther south.
The change in the industry since voters passed Proposition 64 in 2016, making it legal to possess and grow a small amount of cannabis for personal use while leaving decisions on larger cultivations and retail sales to local governments, has now spurred Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and the state bureaucracy to act on behalf of small growers.
Since 2018, when the new legalization rules took effect, the state has taxed marijuana three separate times as it travels from farm to consumer. Many counties and cities impose their own taxes, at varying levels, on top of the state levies. In some regions of the state, one pound of cannabis is subjected to as many as five separate taxes, some based on weight and others on sales.
In his most recent budget, bursting with a record $97 billion surplus, Newsom eliminated the so-called cultivation tax on growers, which in the first quarter of this year brought the state $32.7 million. Counties will still be able to impose their own cultivation tax, called the single most burdensome by many in the industry.
The state government also pledged not to raise the 15 percent excise tax imposed on distributors — the system’s middlemen who also inspect the marijuana before it moves to retailers — for at least three years. The state collected $156.4 million in cannabis excise taxes in the first quarter of the year.
To Barber and his neighbors, the recent tax break is welcome but far from decisive. His cultivation taxes alone ran to roughly $160 a pound, taking an increasingly large chunk of his revenue as wholesale prices fell to an average of $450 a pound. In an emergency step, Humboldt County just cut its cultivation tax by 85 percent.
Marijuana long flourished in the state’s far north. A back-to-the-land hippie migration in the early 1970s established a culture accepting of illegal drugs, and an out-of-sight, out-of-mind remoteness discouraged intensive law enforcement.
From that fertile ground, the Emerald Triangle of Humboldt, Trinity and Mendocino counties built a marketable mythology around the marijuana from the region that endures today.
The so-called green rush began in 1996 with the passage of Proposition 215. The measure allowed cannabis dispensaries to sell to customers who could prove they needed the drug for anxiety, pain or other ailments.
There were an estimated 69,000 marijuana growers in the state at the time Proposition 64 passed. In the spring of 2018, three months after the new regulations took effect, the state had issued 2,000 grower licenses with an expected annual yield of 4.1 million pounds. That translated to at least double California’s legal annual demand.
Now, according to the state Department of Cannabis Control, there are 8,600 licensed marijuana farmers and the amount of cannabis being grown legally in California today could be more than quadruple the state demand.
The lack of state cultivation limits, which was not addressed in Newsom’s recent plan, stands in contrast to some other Democratic-controlled cannabis states, which have confronted market gluts in the past but not nearly to the degree facing California. Colorado, for example, has rules allowing the state to limit — and even shrink — cultivation size to better control supply.
The option of fallowing a cannabis crop for a year to wait for higher prices is also impossible in California; a grower who allows a license to lapse for a year must start the arduous and expensive process of applying for a new license as if they never held one. Cannabis, unlike wine grapes, is not classified as an agriculture product here and so farmers are denied state benefits that accrue to other crops.
A pound of his marijuana, branded Mattole Valley Sungrown, is supposedly selling for about $300 a pound these days. Yet last month, he sold three pounds for $100 each. There were no buyers on the horizon and the weed was growing old.
His business began with state-of-the-art indoor crops in former cut-flower greenhouses in Carpinteria, along Santa Barbara County’s south coast. He has added retail licenses and now holds more than half a dozen, including one here in Humboldt County. But it is the size of his company’s cultivation that is astonishing.
“In a state like California it’s hard to change policy in a rapid way,” said Elliott, the cannabis department director. “There is still a lot of reform that needs to happen.”
Humboldt growers say a couple initiatives that saved small vintners in Napa County when they faced extinction from giant wine corporations could help rescue small-scale cannabis farming in California.
But industry experts say national legalization, like relaxing interstate commerce, is years off, time farmers here do not have. | 2022-08-21T17:52:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | California's taxes and regulations are killing off small pot farms - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/21/california-marijuana-farms-failing/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/21/california-marijuana-farms-failing/ |
Police investigate fatal shooting of woman in Capitol Heights
Prince George’s County police are investigating the fatal shooting of a woman in the Capitol Heights area Sunday morning.
Officers arrived at a house on Maryland Park Drive and Athena Street around 7:50 a.m., where they discovered a woman with injuries. The woman, whose name and age have not been released, was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to police. | 2022-08-21T18:57:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Maryland police investigating shooting of a woman in Prince George's - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/21/pg-woman-killed-capitol-heights/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/21/pg-woman-killed-capitol-heights/ |
Why I am eternally grateful for J. Deotis Roberts
Howard University on Feb. 1. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)
I appreciated the Aug. 18 obituary for J. Deotis Roberts, “Baptist minister and Howard professor was a pioneer of Black theology.” I was one of his students at the Howard University School of Religion (now Howard University School of Divinity) in the early 1970s, shortly after he had written his “Liberation and Reconciliation.” He, and indeed all the faculty, staff and students, treated me — a person of European descent — with amazing courtesy. It was a time of Black Power, Afros and dashikis, yet I was welcomed graciously. The experience was transformative. I am eternally grateful.
Alice Ogden Bellis, Washington | 2022-08-21T19:27:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | J. Deotis Roberts gave me an amazing, graceful reception - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/21/an-amazing-graceful-reception/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/21/an-amazing-graceful-reception/ |
FILE - Cast member Jennifer Lopez, right, and Ben Affleck attend a photo call for a special screening of “Marry Me” at DGA Theater on Feb. 8, 2022, in Los Angeles. Lopez and Affleck said “I do” again this weekend. But instead of in a late night Las Vegas drive through chapel, this time it was in front of friends and family in Georgia, a person close to the couple who was not authorized to speak publicly said Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) | 2022-08-21T19:27:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Lopez and Affleck celebrate marriage with friends, family - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/lopez-and-affleck-celebrate-marriage-with-friends-family/2022/08/21/a4259664-217b-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/lopez-and-affleck-celebrate-marriage-with-friends-family/2022/08/21/a4259664-217b-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
Disarmament is the only cure for nuclear weapons
The United Nations logo is seen on Aug. 1 at the 2022 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations in New York. (Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)
The Post is to be commended for informing readers about the disturbing study showing nuclear war could lead to mass starvation [“5 billion may starve in nuclear conflict,” news, Aug. 17]. Telling frightening truths should be coupled with hopeful solutions where solutions exist.
In this case, preventing nuclear war is the way to avoid this horrible possibility of massive global starvation. Internationally, 66 nations have endorsed and 86 nations have signed the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In this country, about 60 municipalities including Baltimore, D.C., Montgomery County and Chicago and seven state legislatures have approved Back from the Brink Resolutions, a road map to nuclear disarmament. In addition to most resolutions endorsing the U.N. treaty, all urge the United States to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by actively pursuing a verifiable agreement with the other nuclear nations to eliminate their nuclear weapons. This is the basic message of Physicians for Social Responsibility: “We must prevent what we cannot cure.”
Gwen DuBois, Baltimore
The writer is a board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility and a member of the steering committee for Back from the Brink. | 2022-08-21T19:28:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Disarmament is the only cure for nuclear weapons - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/21/disarmament-is-only-cure-nuclear-weapons/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/21/disarmament-is-only-cure-nuclear-weapons/ |
A cardiologist talks to a long-covid patient March 7 in Humble, Tex. (Mark Felix for The Washington Post)
The Aug. 15 editorial “Long covid’s long arm” highlighted many studies about the prevalence and longevity of long-covid symptoms, but it did not present the solution to long-haulers who, as a result of their condition, are unable to work: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).
Determining eligibility and applying for SSDI are the logical next steps for long-haulers affected for a year or more and who need financial security. The Biden administration categorized long covid as a disability under the Americans With Disabilities Act. This means workers (many with previously manageable chronic conditions) suffering from long-covid symptoms, to the extent that they meet the Social Security Administration’s definition of disability, can apply for SSDI.
Many of long covid’s medical mysteries are still to be uncovered. Studies suggest symptoms lingered in about 1 in 8 people, while other studies found 1 in 5 had persistent symptoms. But we do know that long-covid symptoms are forcing people out of the workforce. As medical researchers continue working to understand long covid, long-haulers who can’t work as a result should take action. They should ensure they have documented their symptoms with their doctor and seek help in obtaining SSDI benefits as a short- or long-term solution.
James F. Allsup, Belleville, Ill.
The writer is founder and chief executive of Allsup, a nationwide provider of services for those with disabilities. | 2022-08-21T19:28:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Covid long-haulers deserve help - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/21/help-covid-long-haulers/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/21/help-covid-long-haulers/ |
How a Bonaparte came to run the FBI
Charles Joseph Bonaparte, pictured circa 1906. (Frances Benjamin Johnston/Library of Congress)
Readers of the article on Charles Bonaparte, founder of the FBI, might wonder how a great-nephew of Napoleon came to be living in the United States [“The architect of the FBI was Napoleon’s great-nephew,” Metro, Aug. 17]. That story is at least as interesting as the origins of the FBI.
In 1803, Napoleon’s youngest brother, Jérôme, was touring the United States and fell madly in love with beautiful Baltimore heiress Elizabeth Patterson. The two married, and Betsy (as she was called) eventually had a son, but Napoleon refused to recognize the marriage as legitimate. Jérôme returned to Europe to plead with his brother but eventually acceded to his wishes and married a European princess. Betsy continued to fight for decades for recognition of her marriage by the French government — and for an aristocratic title — but was unsuccessful.
Betsy yearned for her son, Jérôme Napoleon, to marry into the European nobility and was bitterly disappointed when instead he married an ordinary (though wealthy) Baltimore girl. That marriage produced two sons, one of whom founded the FBI.
Natalie Wexler, Washington | 2022-08-21T19:28:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | How a Bonaparte came to run the FBI - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/21/how-bonaparte-came-run-fbi/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/21/how-bonaparte-came-run-fbi/ |
Palestinians strike over payment change
The new payment method was agreed to between Palestinian and Israeli authorities looking for a more efficient and secure way to pay salaries, but workers fear that hidden fees and new taxes will cut into their wages.
Most of the workers do not have bank accounts and putting their salaries on the books would create a new revenue source for the financially strapped Palestinian Authority while bringing a windfall in service fees for Palestinian banks.
Palestinian Labor Minister Nasri Abu Jeish said that the new arrangement was meant to protect workers’ rights and that there was no plan to impose new taxes.
An Israeli Defense Ministry official said the measure would allow an adjustment period until it comes into full force on Jan. 1.
Pope calls for dialogue after bishop's arrest
Pope Francis on Sunday called for an “open and sincere” dialogue to resolve a standoff between the church and government in Nicaragua, following the arrest of a bishop who is a leading critic of President Daniel Ortega.
Alvarez was whisked away during a predawn raid in Matagalpa on Friday and put under house arrest in the capital, Managua.
Somali forces end Islamist attack: Somali authorities on Sunday ended an attack by Islamist extremists that left 21 people dead and over 110 wounded when gunmen stormed a hotel in the capital. It took Somali forces more than 30 hours to contain the fighters who had stormed Mogadishu's Hayat Hotel on Friday evening in an assault that started with loud explosions. The attack is the first major terrorist attack in Mogadishu since Somalia's new leader, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, took over in May. The Islamist extremist group al-Shabab, which has ties with al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest of its frequent attempts to strike places visited by officials.
Indiana governor visits Taiwan: Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) arrived in Taipei on Sunday, becoming the latest U.S. official to visit Taiwan and defying pressure from China for such trips not to happen. China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory despite the Taipei government's strong objections, has been carrying out war games and drills near Taiwan since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made a two-day visit to Taipei earlier this month. Last week, a second group of U.S. lawmakers visited Taiwan.
Scores killed in India after monsoon rains: Floods and landslides triggered by intense monsoon rains killed at least 50 people in northern and eastern India over the last three days, officials said on Sunday. The rains overwhelmed hundreds of villages, sweeping away houses and leaving residents stranded as rescue crews have been racing to evacuate survivors. | 2022-08-21T20:37:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | World Digest: Aug. 21, 2022 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/world-digest-aug-21-2022/2022/08/21/f17e1ee6-2152-11ed-87c7-c807d6645a61_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/world-digest-aug-21-2022/2022/08/21/f17e1ee6-2152-11ed-87c7-c807d6645a61_story.html |
Tom Brady took in UFC 246 with Dana White at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in January 2020. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
That’s the story told by White, who has no ties to the NFL but does have a friendship with Brady. Rob Gronkowski, Brady’s longtime and now retired teammate, coaxed the story out of White on Saturday night during the Gronkowski-led alternate broadcast of UFC 278, seen on ESPN and ESPN Plus.
It’s a juicy tidbit, but there has been no comment from Gruden, who resigned from the Raiders last fall amid controversy over racist, homophobic and misogynistic language that he used in emails over a roughly seven-year span before agreeing to his second stint as the team’s head coach. Brady has not commented, either. After missing a big chunk of the training camp, he is expected to return “early” this week, according to Tampa Bay Buccaneers Coach Todd Bowles. | 2022-08-21T20:58:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | UFC's Dana White says Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski nearly joined Raiders - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/21/dana-white-tom-brady-rob-gronkowski-rumors/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/21/dana-white-tom-brady-rob-gronkowski-rumors/ |
“Happy to be playing again and having fun out there again. ... I like the way I see the ball here. The right field feels like it’s right there,” he said.
“Felt like we threw some good pitches away to him and then we tried to go front-door slider and I missed down the middle. Then he gets the hit down the line because we weren’t really playing him there,” Minor said of the Marcano double. “He hits the ball down the line and gets a triple out of it, scores some runs and acts like he’s a really good hitter. ... It was just a stupid pitch.” | 2022-08-21T22:30:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Fraley tallies 3 RBIs, scores 4 times; Reds top Pirates 9-5 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mlb/fraley-tallies-3-rbis-scores-4-times-reds-top-pirates-9-5/2022/08/21/d7f1266a-2195-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/mlb/fraley-tallies-3-rbis-scores-4-times-reds-top-pirates-9-5/2022/08/21/d7f1266a-2195-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird makes a three-pointer over Washington Mystics guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough during the first half Sunday. (Ted S. Warren/AP)
SEATTLE — The roar came from the early-arriving crowd well over an hour before tip-off, as Sue Bird trotted out of the tunnel.
Those inside of Climate Pledge Arena have been vocally trying to extend Bird’s career ever since she announced her retirement plans in June, and they didn’t want Sunday to be her last appearance on the home court. It won’t be after Seattle’s 97-84 win over the Washington Mystics to complete a first-round sweep. The Storm will face the top-seeded Aces on Sunday in Las Vegas at 4 p.m.
The Mystics couldn’t keep up with Seattle’s dominant offense. A 13-3 third-quarter stretch for the Storm seemed to rock Washington, and Settle led 71-61 heading into the final 10 minutes. A pull-up jumper by Jewell Loyd made the score 75-61, as Washington found itself in a deep hole with time running out. The Mystics would get within single digits, but the defense that had been its calling card all season allowed the Storm to shoot 55.6 percent and score nearly 100 points.
A steal and layup by Bird with 2:02 remaining sent the fans into a frenzy as Mystics Coach Mike Thibault called timeout. Bird shuffled down the court, staring at the crowd, and let out a primal scream.
Washington had to work too hard for baskets all night long and still shot a respectable 44.6 percent. Natasha Cloud scored a team-high 21, including five three-pointers, to go along with five rebounds and five assists. Elena Delle Donne was blitzed throughout the night and finished with 12 points on 5-for-14 shooting. Ariel Atkins added 15 points.
Breanna Stewart scored 21 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had eight assists for Seattle. Loyd posted 19 points and Bird dropped 18 points and 10 assists. Gabby Williams scored 14 points.
The first quarter went about as poorly as the Mystics could imagine, as they trailed 27-17 after the opening 10 minutes. There weren’t many clean looks offensively, and even the good ones didn’t go down as Washington was 5 for 15 from the field 2 for 6 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, the Storm poured in buckets. Seattle shot 75 percent in a quarter for the fifth time this season, as the trio of Tina Charles, Loyd and Bird were a combined 7 for 7.
The Mystics awoke from their slumber in the second quarter and used a 5-for-7 performance from three-point range to get back into the game. They opened the quarter with a 15-4 run, including three straight triples from Delle Donne, Cloud and Clark to take a 32-31 lead. That was Washington’s first advantage since going up 8-7. A cutting layup by Gabby Williams with 10 seconds left sent Seattle into halftime with a 45-43 lead.
Charles came out of the gate much more aggressive in Game 2 after being held to just nine points Thursday in Game 1. She was physical against Mystics rookie Shakira Austin and had eight points at the break. Mystics guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough had seven points off the bench in the first half — and 12 for the game — when other Mystics were struggling to score. | 2022-08-21T22:52:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Washington Mystics lose to Sue Bird and Seattle Storm in WNBA playoffs - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/21/mystics-storm-playoffs-game2/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/21/mystics-storm-playoffs-game2/ |
Hiker missing in Utah as flooding hits Southwest
Hiker missing amid flooding in Southwest
Authorities have been searching for days for an Arizona woman reported missing after being swept away by floodwaters in Utah’s Zion National Park as strong seasonal rainstorms hit parts of the U.S. Southwest.
They said Agnihotri was among several hikers who were swept off their feet Friday afternoon by rushing water in the Narrows area of the park.
All hikers except Agnihotri were found on high ground and were stranded until water levels receded.
On Sunday, an approximately 20-mile stretch of Colorado’s main east-west highway, Interstate 70, was temporarily closed because of the risk of flooding and mudslides from predicted storms in Glenwood Canyon, where a wildfire burned in 2020.
Elsewhere in Utah, flooding in Moab, the gateway to Arches National Park, on Saturday night led to the closure of trails in the city Sunday as crews assessed the damage. A video posted on the city’s Twitter account showed a creek gushing under a downtown bridge.
Meanwhile, in New Mexico, officials at Carlsbad Caverns National Park said about 150 tourists were evacuated Saturday night after being stranded by rising water. Park officials told people at the visitor’s center to wait there for hours because of flash flooding.
Authorities said several rivers and streams in New Mexico have nearly reached historic flood levels, not seen since the 1960s, because of recent heavy rainfall.
In Arizona, emergency crews rescued four hikers stranded in Sabino Canyon east of Tucson on Friday and helped 41 students and staff members from Marana off school buses that got stuck in high water when the storms began to move in.
9 arrested after panic at Kentucky State Fair
Nine people were arrested at the Kentucky State Fair, which closed Saturday night after suspicious activity was reported, authorities said.
Kentucky State Police said in a statement on Twitter that the fair began a “soft close” about 10 p.m. Saturday to ensure the safety of attendees. Police said there were no reported injuries.
The fair resumed normal operations Sunday, officials said.
4 injured in accidental shooting at store in Georgia: Four people were wounded after a gun went off Sunday at a Walmart in Lovejoy, south of Atlanta, police said. A customer inside the store shot himself in the leg after mishandling a gun, police said. The bullet ricocheted, striking three other people, according to authorities. None of the injuries were life-threatening. According to police, the armed man, identified as Michael Walton, 29, did not have his gun secured in a holster while it was loaded. Police said Walton will be charged with reckless conduct. | 2022-08-22T00:01:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Hiker missing in Utah as flooding hits Southwest - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/hiker-missing-in-utah-as-flooding-hits-southwest/2022/08/21/2dfbd996-146d-11ed-aba1-f2b7689c0492_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/hiker-missing-in-utah-as-flooding-hits-southwest/2022/08/21/2dfbd996-146d-11ed-aba1-f2b7689c0492_story.html |
SEATTLE — Breanna Stewart had 21 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, Sue Bird added season highs of 18 points and 10 assists and the Seattle Storm beat the Washington Mystics 97-84 on Sunday to sweep the first-round series.
UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Kayla Thornton scored 20 points, Teaira McCowan had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Dallas beat Connecticut to force a deciding third game on Wednesday night in Texas. | 2022-08-22T00:02:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Storm sweeps Mystics in WNBA playoffs, advances to face Aces - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wnba/storm-sweeps-mystics-in-wnba-playoffs-advances-to-face-aces/2022/08/21/323b24fc-21a2-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wnba/storm-sweeps-mystics-in-wnba-playoffs-advances-to-face-aces/2022/08/21/323b24fc-21a2-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
People walk freely in the “pedestrian zone” along 18th Street NW in Adams Morgan on Sunday. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
Rocío Christianson, 5, smiled as she saw the sparkles and swirls of color that were painted on her face. Her father, Josh Christianson, told her there would be fun activities at the Adams Morgan Pedestrian Zone that was set up on Sunday, but she didn’t believe him when she first arrived at the event — until she saw the face-painting booth.
“Look at it,” Rocío said to her family as she hopped out of the seat. “I love it; it’s beautiful.”
“Beautiful,” her dad agreed.
Sunday saw the return of the Adams Morgan Pedestrian Zone, a program that closed off part of 18th Street from vehicular traffic between Columbia and Kalorama roads NW from noon to 10 p.m. The goal was to expand the use of the sidewalks and the street to create more space for pedestrians and bicyclists to go to their favorite restaurant or shops in the area, according to the Adams Morgan Partnership Business Improvement District.
Residents had talked about building the infrastructure for a designated pedestrian zone after a person driving a white pickup truck struck and injured two D.C. police bicycle officers and a third person in 2017, said Kristen Barden, the executive director of the Adams Morgan Partnership Business Improvement District.
“Ideally we’d like to do this for a whole weekend, not just for one day,” Barden said.
The District announced it would close part of 18th Street between Kalorama and Columbia roads in June 2020, and it turned out to be a success. The street was buzzing with people, and businesses said they served more customers than typical on a weekend, Barden said. But neighbors complained about the lack of social distancing and masking, and it didn’t happen again.
Since then, the Adams Morgan Partnership Business Improvement District has tried to replicate it.
On Sunday, dump trucks and D.C. police vehicles blocked off the alleyways and intersection around the area, and city employees helped direct vehicle traffic. The section of 18th Street was filled with the typical Sunday morning brunch-goers, but they were joined by fitness instructors who were leading hip-hop and yoga classes in the middle of the street.
“I think people are moving around a lot more freely now, now that all those restrictions are lifted,” said Jonathan Wells, who owns Club Timehri on 18th Street. “It’s definitely nice to see people feeling comfortable being back out in the street.”
Kerstin Canby, who has lived in the neighborhood for years, was walking her dog, Penny, when she noticed the lines of police cars around the area. At first, she thought an incident had happened that drew police, until she saw the signs that earmarked the section as a pedestrian zone.
“I wish it were regular,” Canby said, adding that the zone made it so much easier to notice shops she hadn’t paid attention to. She had just finished eyeing a vintage shop that usually looked closed, and she was now contemplating a visit later in the afternoon.
Katherine Hamilton and Alexis Marston, both 24, had both walked down 18th Street on Saturday night, but they were back again Sunday so Marston could get a tattoo. Neither knew in advance that the street was a pedestrian zone.
“It’s nice having the street closed off,” Hamilton said. “It’s easier to cross.”
The area will be a designated pedestrian zone again on Sept. 4 and Oct. 23, though organizers hope to add more dates, Barden said. Funding from the Streets for People grant program — which supports outdoor concerts, movies and events in public spaces across the city — is being used to build a system with metal cables that can be pulled across the street to close it to traffic, rather than utilizing D.C. police vehicles and dump trucks.
Attendance was low at some events Sunday, as some pedestrians huddled under awnings and umbrellas to avoid the rain. But nearby business owners were optimistic about the pedestrian zone’s impact as they saw people heading into restaurants and cafes in the area. The street felt vibrant, said Jonathan Wilson, who owns Demers Real Estate, a commercial real estate firm based in the neighborhood.
“Imagine when we have nice weather,” Wilson said. | 2022-08-22T00:32:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Adams Morgan debuts car-free pedestrian zone - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/21/adams-morgan-pedestrian-zone/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/21/adams-morgan-pedestrian-zone/ |
Elena Delle Donne played 25 of 36 regular season games this season and looked healthy in the playoff series against Seattle. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
SEATTLE — After her comeback season ended, Elena Delle Donne went quickly from disappointed to congratulatory. She took her hands off her knees, stood upright and approached the four perennial all-stars on the opposing squad, one by one. She hugged Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart, then Sue Bird, Tina Charles and Jewell Loyd before greeting everyone else in the handshake line.
Delle Donne chose not to stay frozen in the moment, even after missing nearly two full seasons with excruciating back problems. For as much as she reestablished this season — for as much as the Washington Mystics reset themselves after two losing seasons while missing several key players — she wanted to move forward. And for the first time in two years, she can approach an offseason without excessive caution about taking another step.
The Mystics ran out of options Sunday afternoon at Climate Pledge Arena during a 97-84 loss to the Seattle Storm. But as their 2022 campaign concluded, it didn’t feel like they were out of hope. They’re done, for now, losing a first-round playoff series that was closer and more tense than a two-game sweep will indicate. In the big picture, however, they may have restored a run of high-level contention that injuries, roster shuffling and bad luck had derailed.
The Mystics aren’t stuck in the past anymore — the good and the bad of it. They’re not merely trying to get back to their championship glory of 2019. And they’re not trying to heal from the wounds of the past two years. They’re moving forward, right there with Delle Donne, finally able to envision a future again.
“We fought,” guard Ariel Atkins said of the season. “I still think we got better. I’m proud of the trajectory of our team. I’m very proud of the foundation we have here in the Mystics organization.”
Point guard Natasha Cloud, as only she can, articulated the franchise’s direction with the utmost intensity.
“I’m tired of talking about past years,” said Cloud, who led the Mystics with 21 points to go with six rebounds and five assists Sunday. “I’m tired of talking about 2018, 2019. It’s 2022, and we just lose in the first round. We’re going to be better. That I can promise you. We’re going to be better.”
It’s a big deal that the Mystics can focus on improvement without crossing their fingers. A year ago, they finished 12-20 during a season in which Delle Donne and Alysha Clark didn’t take the floor, and at one point, they had just six players available. In 2020, when the covid-19 pandemic forced the entire WNBA season to be held in a Florida bubble, Delle Donne, Cloud and Charles, then the Mystics’ prized free agent acquisition, did not play. Charles lasted two seasons in Washington and didn’t get any run with a healthy Delle Donne, who played just three games during that span.
This season was more like it. Delle Donne played 25 of 36 regular season games and was available and thriving down the strength. The roster was different, and a team once blessed with exceptional skill is now a top defensive squad that has frequent bouts of offensive difficulty. For all their resolve and defensive might, the Mystics labored on the other end and couldn’t match the Storm, which shot 55.6 percent from the field and made 12 of 23 three-pointers.
Washington hit 14 of 27 three-pointers, but in a fast-paced game, it wasn’t versatile enough on offense to take advantage of the way Seattle defended. The Storm switched its defensive philosophy from Game 1, when Delle Donne scored 26 points. Seattle switched a lot on defense to give her a different look on the perimeter, and then it came with aggressive double teams when she was closer to the basket. It focused on keeping Cloud from getting downhill and attacking the basket. The trade-off was that Cloud made 5 of 8 three-pointers to lead the Mystics’ good perimeter shooting. But for as well as they shot from deep, the offense overall was disjointed and couldn’t keep pace with the balanced Storm, whose five starters scored between 12 and 21 points.
Sometimes, you have to be able to win a shootout. With their season on the line, the Mystics didn’t have the firepower. For once, their league-best defense didn’t have it, and they had no other way to win.
“If I had the answers, I would have fixed it for this team,” Delle Donne lamented.
Said Bird: “We made it hard enough. It wasn’t an easy game, but we made just enough plays.”
In a few days, when the Mystics are able to look back on the entire season, they’ll look at their offense as the area that must improve for them to become a championship-caliber team again. They managed a No. 5 seed with the imbalance, but with continuity and the right roster tweaks, it’s possible they could be among the league’s top three teams next season. It won’t be easy, and it requires, at least, the same availability from Delle Donne. But it’s possible.
It has been a while since they could dream about possibility.
“We have to have a situation where everybody on the floor is honored by the defense,” Thibault said. “I don’t pretend to have answers for you at this moment. We finished fifth, not first or second.”
He knows better than to think in absolutes. Without question, though, the Mystics have more than prayer to utilize now. The anticipation to keep building something new builds.
“The WNBA offseason, it seems like an eternity,” Thibault said of waiting until next year.
It will be an easier wait this time. The Mystics have a clearer sense of what they are and what they aren’t. In this season of transition, they have moved to a much better place. | 2022-08-22T00:40:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | This Mystics team had flaws, but it also offers plenty of promise - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/21/mystics-season-elena-delle-donne/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/21/mystics-season-elena-delle-donne/ |
Facebook is among the social media sites that removed profiles of Andrew Tate, who describes himself as “absolutely a misogynist.” (Jenny Kane/AP)
In videos splashed across the internet, Andrew Tate, a onetime kickboxing champion turned self-styled men’s-help guru, has argued that women are the property of their husbands and should “have kids, sit at home, be quiet and make coffee.”
He has claimed that he needs authority over the women he dates, saying, “You can’t be responsible for a dog if it doesn’t obey you.” He has said he would attack a woman who accused him of cheating and described himself as “absolutely a misogynist.”
Tate’s content has rapidly spread across social media this summer, racking up millions of views and raising concerns about the impact on boys and young men who come across it. After seeing his popularity spike in recent months, he has bragged about his reach.
Other social media influencers — along with several organizations that support survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence — had called for him to be booted off social media platforms. Hope Not Hate, a Britain-based group that launched a petition calling for Tate to be deplatformed, described him as dangerous.
“The effect that Tate’s brand of vitriolic misogyny can have on the young male audience is deeply concerning,” Hope Not Hate said. “His content is widely celebrated by his fans for having brought back ‘traditional masculinity.’ However, we also know that misogyny can be a gateway to other extreme and discriminatory views.”
The group noted Daily Beast reporting that Tate’s home in Romania was raided in April as part of a human-trafficking investigation. No arrests have been made and Tate has denied wrongdoing.
Tate first gained notoriety in 2016, when he was kicked off the reality TV show “Big Brother,” the BBC reported, after a video surfaced that appeared to show him hitting a woman. The pair later claimed that his actions were consensual. In 2017, he sparked an online furor after posting on Twitter that women should take personal responsibility and protect themselves against sexual assault.
In the thread, posted in reaction to the sexual assault claims against Harvey Weinstein, he wrote, “If you put yourself in a position to be raped, you must [bear] some responsibility. I’m not saying it’s OK you got raped.” Twitter permanently suspended his account as a result, NBC News reported.
Tate initially had a following among far-right circles on social media, NBC News reported. He dined in 2019 with Infowars editor Paul Joseph Watson and “Pizzagate” conspiracy-theory propagator Jack Posobiec; Mike Cernovich, another proprietor of conspiracy theories, has called him a friend. He made several appearances on Infowars.
His sudden ubiquity did not happen organically, the Guardian reported. Paying members of Hustler’s University were directed to bombard social media platforms with his videos, selecting the most controversial to boost engagement in what experts described to the news outlet as manipulation of the algorithm. Among videos that gained traction was one in which he advised his followers to “slap, slap, grab, choke” women in the bedroom and another in which he said he dates 18- and 19-year-olds because it’s easier to leave an “imprint” on them.
Many of the videos that have drawn viewers on TikTok appear to have been posted by Tate’s followers. A TikTok spokesperson told The Post, “Our investigation into this content is ongoing, and we continue to remove violative accounts and videos that promote misogyny and other hateful behavior.”
Responding to criticism over his comments, Tate said in an interview with NBC News that he plays an “online character” and coaches men “to avoid toxic people as a whole.”
“It has nothing to do [with] hate for women,” he told the outlet.
Yet Tate’s influence caused enough alarm that an Instagram account aimed at classroom teachers created a guide for addressing his views with students. Groups aimed at helping domestic violence survivors argued that allowing his comments to remain on social media platforms normalized misogyny and violence.
Zainab Gulamali, policy and public affairs manager at Women’s Aid in Britain, told the Daily Mail, “Making derogatory comments and videos about abusing women is as dangerous as it is unacceptable: This normalizes the misogynistic and sexist attitudes which are at the root of all violence against women and girls.”
“Sexist actions and language that reinforce women’s inequality have been tolerated for too long,” she added. “It is vital that we all challenge these deep-rooted misogynistic attitudes, which normalize women being emotionally abused, belittled and controlled, as well as physically harmed.” | 2022-08-22T01:33:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | TikTok deletes account of Andrew Tate - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/21/andrew-tate-tiktok-instagram/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/21/andrew-tate-tiktok-instagram/ |
Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen in a scene from "House of the Dragon," a prequel to "Game of Thrones." (HBO Max/AP)
If there’s one cultural consensus that still holds about “Game of Thrones,” it’s this: The series ended on such an awkward and maudlin note that it somehow squandered the immense cultural cachet the show had accumulated over the previous 72 episodes.
And yet, I’m still rooting for “House of the Dragon,” the “Game of Thrones” prequel that emerged from an intense bake-off process at HBO and premiered on Sunday, to be a massive success. It’s not just that “Game of Thrones” left behind unfinished conversations. Rather, the show seemed to mark the end of mass, sustained cultural debate period. However poorly “Game of Thrones” went out, we’re worse off for the void it left behind.
“House of the Dragon” turns back the clock from the original series, to an era before dragons went extinct, and when the Targaryens who rode them still ruled Westeros.
King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) came to the throne after a council of the realm’s nobles chose him as heir over Princess Rhaenys Velaryon (Eve Best). Lacking a son, Viserys’s legal heir appears to be his brother Daemon (Matt Smith), a charismatic but violent and impulsive man who serves his own appetite as much as the realm. Viserys’s daughter Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock as a teenager, Emma D’Arcy as an adult) might be a better fit for the role—if she can get it and keep it.
At first glance — I’ve seen the first four episodes — “House of the Dragon” lacks some of the qualities that made “Game of Thrones” a great debating subject, and intermittently great art.
The new series, at least as it starts out, is more family drama than expansive social tapestry. Yes, that family is House Targaryen, and the personality clashes between its members produce not merely awkward dinners but a civil war. Still, in the early going, “House of the Dragon” draws its conflict mainly from the claustrophobia of power.
And while the show features some strong performances, notably from Smith as Prince Daemon; Considine as his mournful, decidedly human-size brother, King Viserys; and Best as Princess Rhaenys, who might have ruled Westeros were it not for her gender, it lacks a figure ripe for audience identification. “House of the Dragon” has no Arya Stark for those of us who remember our tomboy pasts; no wickedly funny Tyrion Lannister for the jokesters in our midst; no Jon Snow or Daenerys Targaryen, like so many of us desperate to be recognized as worthy.
But “House of the Dragon” offers plenty to chew over — and plenty that’s relevant to current debates, in the same way “Game of Thrones” provided grist for arguments about sexual violence, the impact of trauma and the way empowerment can curdle into absolutism. It’s a series about what happens when the law runs up against personal impulse, about the difficulty of undoing long-established family dynamics, and yes, about gender and power. And if the George R.R. Martin books and stories “House of the Dragon” are based on are any guide, the show will take those themes to some productively unexpected places.
If audiences show up to have those discussions, that would be an encouraging development — or at least a respite from the current dolorous state of affairs, when real political debate is rarely to be found in our great deliberative bodies, and cultural warfare has grown disturbingly literal.
Mass culture has a useful role to play in these circumstances. By providing the public with a set of hypotheticals, shows such as “Game of Thrones” can provide an opportunity to debate big ideas, unencumbered by partisan rancor. Daenerys Targaryen, Cersei Lannister and Sansa Stark gave Americans powerful women who weren’t Hillary Clinton to argue over. It would be nice to be able to talk about the transfer of power and the character of public officials in a context outside of the ongoing Trump Show that has so dominated our lives.
If not “House of the Dragon,” maybe some other show or movie franchise will be the catalyst. But binge-watching has left audiences literally out of synch with one another, and a glut of programming means that everyone can vanish down content rabbit holes of their choice. Buzzy limited series such as “Tiger King,” “The Dropout” and “Mare of Easttown” might be great, but they don’t do what a series like “Game of Thrones” did, building a community discussion that continues from year to year. In the fractious year of 2022, it’ll take something as big and fiery as dragons to bring us all back together. | 2022-08-22T02:55:51Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Can 'House of the Dragon' be the unifying TV experience we've been missing? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/21/house-of-the-dragon-unify-tv-culture/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/21/house-of-the-dragon-unify-tv-culture/ |
Former prime minister Imran Khan addresses supporters Aug. 21 in in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. (Sohail Shahzad/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, has been charged under the country’s anti-terrorism act, in the latest chapter of the tense struggle for power with Pakistan’s current government since his ouster.
Sunday’s move came a day after Khan addressed a rally and criticized top police officials and a judge for the arrest of his chief of staff. Police said in a charge report that Khan had threatened the officials.
“The way Imran Khan made his speech and the threats he made led to fear and terror among the police, judiciary and the common people and it harmed the peace of country,” they wrote in the report.
Hours after news of the charge broke, hundreds of Khan’s supporters gathered outside his residence in Islamabad, the capital, in an effort to prevent his arrest.
“Imran Khan’s arrest is a ‘red line’ for us. If this line is crossed that would lead to something very bad, not good for the people and for the country,” said Murad Saeed, a senior official of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which is led by Khan.
“We want to remain within the bounds of the constitution, but people are upset, very angry,” he said, warning the popular unrest could “destroy” the sitting government.
With political tensions rising, Pakistan launches media crackdown
Saeed and other party leaders have called on thousands more to come to Islamabad and “protect their leader.”
Khan’s chief of staff, Shahbaz Gill, was arrested earlier this month after he made comments on a talk show that the government deemed “anti-military." Khan alleges that Gill was tortured during his imprisonment, a claim the government denies.
Khan and his party already faced a partial media ban. Authorities have prohibited the live broadcast of his speeches and the news channel that Gill made his remarks on was banned. Two news anchors associated with the same channel fled the country after reportedly being harassed by the government. | 2022-08-22T02:55:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Imran Khan, former Pakistani leader, charged under terrorism act - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/21/pakistan-imran-khan-charged-terrorism-arrest/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/21/pakistan-imran-khan-charged-terrorism-arrest/ |
Dear Carolyn: Any suggestions or resources for dealing with impostor syndrome? I have been a teacher for the past 15 years and am looking to leave the field — for a wide variety of reasons, none of which involve not being good at my job. But I have picked up some extra baggage along the way: You’re only good at this. No one wants your skills. You’re going to risk it all and look like a failure. You’re a horrible person for leaving teaching. Don’t you love the kids?
And then add in the insecurities of a lifetime of being the smart girl who was never sure that she really earned what she achieved. Part of me is convinced that every achievement is the result of some sort of paperwork error or someone else’s lowered standards.
I am applying to a field that is completely outside of my experience, but for a job that is within my skill set — think curriculum training and development. I had the opportunity to have a qualified, connected person review my résumé, and possibly act as a reference, but I turned it down because I was afraid that if I got the job, I would forever feel like I did not get it on my own accomplishments. Which I know is absurd, as these companies don’t hire solely based on one acquaintance’s recommendation.
How can I convince Captain Impostor that they are no longer welcome as my sidekick in life?
— Need an Impostorectomy
Need an Impostorectomy: Given how long you’ve struggled with this and how deeply, I think the greatest gift you can give yourself is an appointment with a therapist to start dismantling your false internal narrative once and for all. And it is false. I don’t even have to know you to know that. Don’t let this drag on any longer. It might take a while to find someone who is taking new patients and is also a good fit, but keep at it.
Re: Impostor: In my experience, people who have impostor syndrome are often the most qualified. They’re the people who hold themselves to (often unreasonably) high standards. Unqualified people never seem to suffer from impostor syndrome.
Anonymous: Ha.
Other readers’ thoughts:
It’s a smart applicant who has someone else review their résumé, especially if you’re lucky enough to have someone in your field do so. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Maybe ask yourself how you’d help one of your students in a similar position.
I don’t know whether it makes things better or worse to think of it this way, but plenty of impostor syndrome feelings arise from actual discrimination in the workplace that we can’t help but internalize. There’s nothing wrong with your work, but there might be something wrong with your environment. Take, for example, this essay by Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey.
“Impostorectomy” is breaking my heart. Whoever built this doubt and false-perfectionism into them needs a swift one somewhere! The way to succeed is to ask for and accept help when you need it and when it is offered. It is a lesson hard won (still learning) in my life. I see young people who don’t have this impediment and I am so happy for them. To me it is the definition of lightness and joy.
Alison Green of “Ask a Manager” is brilliant for this sort of thing. | 2022-08-22T04:14:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Carolyn Hax: How to battle impostor syndrome that's holding you back - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/08/22/carolyn-hax-impostor-syndrome-job-hunt/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/08/22/carolyn-hax-impostor-syndrome-job-hunt/ |
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Indiana’s Republican governor met with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen Monday morning, following two recent high-profile visits by U.S. politicians that drew China’s ire and Chinese military drills that included firing missiles over the island.
In response to Pelosi’s visit, China's military held several days of exercises that included warplanes flying toward the island and warships sailing across the midline of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial buffer between the island and mainland. | 2022-08-22T04:32:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Indiana governor in Taiwan following high-profile US visits - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/indiana-governor-in-taiwan-following-high-profile-us-visits/2022/08/21/d00b8c52-21cb-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/indiana-governor-in-taiwan-following-high-profile-us-visits/2022/08/21/d00b8c52-21cb-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
South Korea, U.S. begin military drills likely to draw North’s ire
Military vehicles in Paju, South Korea, near the border with the North, on Aug. 18. (Yonhap/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
TOKYO — The U.S. and South Korean militaries began their largest field exercises in five years this week, a step that demonstrates the allies’ hardening line against North Korea but will probably trigger an angry reaction from Pyongyang and ramp up tensions on the peninsula.
The summer drills, named Ulchi Freedom Shield, will involve potentially tens of thousands of troops from both countries and a range of weapons and hardware, including warplanes, warships and tanks. The maneuvers had been scaled back in recent years in the hope of spurring diplomatic engagement with North Korea and because of the coronavirus.
The allies say the exercises are meant to improve capacity and prepare them to work together in the event of a conflict. But the drills have long been an irritant for Kim Jong Un’s regime, which views them as hostile and uses them to justify its weapons development and nuclear program. There are signs that a new cycle of escalation is already taking shape, with North Korea rejecting overtures and possibly preparing for a seventh nuclear test amid a diplomatic deadlock with Washington and shifting security dynamics in the region.
Biden visit showcases hardened stances on North Korea
Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s influential sister, blasted South Korea last week over the military drills and rebuffed South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s offer of economic benefits in exchange for denuclearization by Pyongyang. After Yoon’s announcement, North Korea launched two cruise missiles off its west coast, breaking a two-month testing hiatus.
“The U.S. and South Korea anticipate the exercises to draw an angry reaction from North Korea. But this is not a new concept. Kim has already laid the groundwork and justification for provocations,” said Soo Kim, policy analyst at the RAND Corporation in Washington. “In the face of an increasingly aggressive North Korea and little appetite for dialogue, the bandwidth to engage with the Kim regime seems very, very narrow at this point.”
The return of full-scale exercises, which run through Sept. 1, reflects the new conservative South Korean administration’s efforts to work more closely with the United States in responding to rising threats from North Korea, which carried out a volley of missile tests earlier this year.
Yet some experts warn that the U.S.-South Korea drills risk contributing to an increasingly volatile security climate in the region, as U.S. strategic competition with China intensifies and Beijing steps up military threats against Taiwan.
“While the allies’ exercises target North Korea threats, they have a multipurpose capability that can be leveraged in the wake of rising Asia tensions sparked by China risks,” said Hong Min, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.
Preparations for the drills began last week with preliminary exercises between U.S. and South Korean forces. Earlier this month in Hawaii, the United States conducted missile defense exercises with South Korea and Japan for the first time since 2017, further demonstrating how the allies are seeking to work together under their respective new leaders.
“It demonstrates acknowledgment among all three governments of how intertwined their national security interests are, and the real need to advance their ability to operate together militarily to overcome challenges related to the military modernization of their adversaries” and to improve their ability to coordinate missile defense efforts, said S. Paul Choi, principal at StratWays Group, a Seoul-based geopolitical risk advisory firm.
China draws North Korea closer than ever as Biden visits region
In years of often fruitless negotiations with its neighbor, South Korea’s leaders have routinely dangled economic incentives for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.
Last week, three months into his term, Yoon pitched his offer: Seoul would help with food aid, health care, agriculture and infrastructure in return for the North demonstrating a “firm will” for disarmament. But his proposal did not address the North’s desire for relief from international sanctions, and nor did it include security guarantees — raising concerns among some North Korea analysts that Yoon’s proposal echoed past failed efforts.
“No matter how audacious the initiative is, we cannot make a concession in certain areas, one of which is the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises,” Kwon Young-se, the Yoon government’s top official on inter-Korean ties, said in a radio interview last week.
Under the previous U.S. and South Korean administrations, the allies suspended or scaled back their drills as they worked to engage North Korea through diplomacy and denuclearization talks.
But the talks collapsed three years ago, and the situation has evolved along with North Korea’s weapons development.
“The decision to resume training in full scale reflects the shared position of the Yoon and Biden administrations that diplomacy should be based foremost on a strong defense posture, and that advancing the ability of the alliance to deter North Korea should be prioritized,” Choi said. “It demonstrates a shared understanding of North Korean intent and the need to bolster the alliance’s defense posture in response to advances in North Korean military capabilities, as well as shifting regional and global security dynamics.”
Why has North Korea stopped boasting about its missile tests?
In recent years, the two countries sometimes held computer simulation exercises, which experts say could not adequately replicate field exercises. Kim, of RAND, said full-scale drills are vital given rising threats of conflict throughout Northeast Asia and are a way of signaling to North Korea that the allies are no longer “tiptoeing around Kim lest we provoke him.”
“This is a step towards normalizing alliance military coordination and training. We’re picking up where we left off after hitting the snooze button for several years,” she said.
In previous years, North Korea has typically responded to U.S.-South Korea exercises by launching missiles or sending army units to the demilitarized zone, as well as verbal attacks. In an interview with Associated Press Television last month, Choe Jin, deputy director of a think tank run by the North Korean Foreign Ministry, warned of “unprecedented” security challenges in response to the drills.
Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s sister who often serves as a public-facing critic on behalf of the regime, was quoted in state media on Friday slamming Yoon and his economic outreach. She called the South Korean president “a knave who talks about ‘bold plan’ today and stages anti-north war exercises tomorrow.”
Kim reported from Seoul. | 2022-08-22T05:49:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | South Korea, U.S. military drills begin, set to irk North Korea - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/22/south-korea-us-military-drills-north/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/22/south-korea-us-military-drills-north/ |
Giorgia Meloni, the head of the hard-right Brothers of Italy, is flying high in polls ahead of Italy’s general election next month. In fact, she can already picture herself sitting at Palazzo Chigi, the beautiful 16th-century palace in the heart of Rome that’s home to the Italian premier.
Meloni recently told Fox Business that becoming prime minister would be the honor of a lifetime. It certainly would be. Meloni could be Italy’s first female head of government since the republic was reinstituted after the Second World War in 1946. In a country known for its high testosterone, this would be a historic achievement.
But would Meloni actually advance women’s cause in Italy? Her record suggest that, at best, she’ll act like it’s not a real issue. At worst, if she panders to her party’s hardline, her time in office could be a major setback for Italian feminists.
One clue will come from how she refers to her premiership. Would she be: Meloni, il Presidente del Consiglio, as the office is formally known? Or la Presidente? For those who don’t speak Italian, the difference may seem small — but it is an important one.
When it comes to politics, Italy has a longstanding tradition of referring to female politicians using the male form of titles. It symbolizes centuries in which men almost exclusively controlled power. There was no need to clarify gender in one’s language — you just assumed it was a man in command.
Although there has been a push in recent years to incorporate the female version of professional titles and positions of power, the old ways linger. It is not uncommon to hear il ministro — instead of la ministra — for a female minister on TV. In print, the head of Italy’s Senate, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, appears on all official communication under the male form: Il Presidente.
Perhaps this all sounds inconsequential. However, such linguistic quirks within the national discourse point to a much larger problem with female representation in Italian politics.
Aside from Meloni, the rest of the party heads — from the most progressive forces to the right — are men. And then you have Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the Forza Italia. His troubles involving women — from a public divorce to the infamous bunga bunga parties — would have ended his career elsewhere; in Italy, it added to his bravado. Times have changed since Berlusconi’s Italy, but its legacy runs deep.
Therein lies the irony surrounding Giorgia Meloni. If she does take the top job, she would be carrying the Italian right to a pioneering female premiership — escorted by Berlusconi and Matteo Salvini, leader of the League party, who played the alpha male while serving as interior minister. As for the left, a Meloni premiership would rob them of their aspiration to break the glass ceiling, though that’s a hard thing to achieve when you don’t promote women. And then there are the feminists, who make a good point: Being a woman does not automatically make one a supporter of women.
Meloni, who made headlines for having a baby out of wedlock, knows firsthand the prejudice and barriers Italian women face. She has talked at length about the discrimination she encountered when running for mayor of Rome while pregnant in 2016. Yet her policies on how to avoid such discrimination are obscure.
She is against female quotas in professional contests. The criticism is gender would trump talent, and she prefers to focus on merit — but she concedes that women have to work twice as hard in order to be as successful as men. At a recent rally, she lashed out at gender ideology, abortion and what she called the LGBT lobby. She later said her tone was off, but did not apologize.
For Italy, this isn’t just a political problem. The country has one of the lowest female labor participation rates among rich countries. Only 55% of Italian women who can work actually work, according to a study by UniCredit published last year, which suggests bolstering female participation is good for growth and a matter of social justice. When compared to Spain, Italy trails by more than 10 percentage points in terms of its female workforce. As someone who knows both countries well, going from Madrid to Rome at times feels like turning back the clock 15 years. (By the way, in Spanish, female ministers are ministras and the boss is la presidenta.)
In their joint policy manifesto, the Italian right, led by Meloni, barely mentions these issues. There are no references to closing the gender pay gap or fostering equal economic opportunities, especially after having a child. In fact, the only brief reference to women in the 17-page document published last week is dedicating more resources to combat domestic violence. It’s a stark picture for Italian women: According to data from the interior ministry, 75 women have been killed due to domestic violence so far this year, an increase of 4% compared with last year.
Meloni has made no secret of her ambition for power. “Whether it’s competing on go-karts or politics, I have to win,” she once said. But if she does, she will have a responsibility to make sure Italian women win too. After all, being la Presidente would indeed be the honor of a lifetime.
• Italy’s Right Clings to the Past — and Falls Flat: Maria Tadeo | 2022-08-22T06:07:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Feminist or Not, Giorgia Meloni Has a Duty to Italy’s Women - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/feminist-or-not-giorgia-meloni-has-a-duty-to-italys-women/2022/08/22/18c1ea52-21d8-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/feminist-or-not-giorgia-meloni-has-a-duty-to-italys-women/2022/08/22/18c1ea52-21d8-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
Liz Truss, UK foreign secretary, speaks during a Conservative Party leadership hustings in Manchester, UK, on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. The job of picking the ruling Conservative Party leader and British prime minister falls to about 175,000 grassroots Tory party members. Photographer: Anthony Devlin/Bloomberg (Bloomberg)
Nobody would claim all’s well with Britain’s monetary policy: According to the bank’s own forecasts, UK inflation will soon exceed 13% and the economy is heading toward a protracted recession. It’s important to understand what went wrong. But calling the bank’s independence into question will only dig the economy into a deeper hole.
Truss says she isn’t threatening the bank’s “operational independence,” granted by the government back in 1997. Unfortunately, she hasn’t said much more. Perhaps she’ll tweak the inflation target, which currently defines “price stability” to mean an inflation rate of 2%. Maybe there’ll be new instructions on growth in monetary aggregates and/or nominal gross domestic product. Once the bank is given a new and better mandate, Truss suggests, it can again be left to do its job.
The question isn’t whether the bank’s performance should be scrutinized, but when, how and by whom. Context is crucial. By intervening as she has, Truss risks moving what should be dispassionate analysis into the realm of partisan politics.
• Bank of England Takes a $100 Billion Leap Into the Unknown: Marcus Ashworth
• Why the Fed Should Keep an Open Mind: The Editors | 2022-08-22T06:07:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Liz Truss Shouldn’t Mess With the Bank of England’s Independence - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/liz-truss-shouldnt-mess-with-the-bank-of-englands-independence/2022/08/22/187efa8a-21d8-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/liz-truss-shouldnt-mess-with-the-bank-of-englands-independence/2022/08/22/187efa8a-21d8-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
Arkansas officers suspended after apparently beating man during arrest
Three law enforcement officers in Arkansas were taken off duty after video circulated online showing them apparently beating a man during an arrest.
The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Sunday evening that two of its deputies, who were seen in the video, had been suspended. The sheriff’s office requested that the Arkansas State Police investigate their conduct.
The city of Mulberry, about 130 miles northwest of Little Rock, said its police department had put one of its officers, who they confirmed was in the video, on administrative leave.
“The City of Mulberry and the Mulberry Police Department takes these investigations very seriously and holds all their officers accountable for their actions,” the city said in a statement. “We will take the appropriate actions at the conclusion of the investigation.”
Arkansas State Police said in a statement Sunday night that it had “opened an investigation into the use of force by two Crawford County sheriff’s deputies and a Mulberry police officer in the arrest of a South Carolina man.”
The arrest happened about 10:40 a.m. Sunday outside a convenience store in Mulberry, state police said.
The expletive-ridden video, which was shared widely on social media, showed three officers pinning the suspect, Randall Worcester, a 27-year-old from Goose Creek, S.C., on the ground in a parking lot. One of them punched Worcester in the head repeatedly, as a person recording from a nearby car gasped, saying, “Oh … this is bad.”
Another officer who was holding down Worcester’s legs repeatedly struck him with his knee. The officer holding Worcester’s head grabbed him by his hair and bashed his head onto the ground.
A bystander called out to the officers, admonishing them for beating Worcester. One of the officers — who had moved to strike his knee into Worcester — replied, “Back … up.”
Worcester was brought to a hospital “for examination and treatment” before being jailed in Van Buren, Ark., state police said.
He faces charges including resisting arrest and “refusal to submit.” He also faces charges of criminal trespass and terroristic threatening. Police said they had received a report that Worcester had allegedly threatened an employee at a convenience store in the area, according to the Associated Press. It was not immediately clear whether he had legal representation.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said on Twitter that he had spoken with Col. William J. Bryant, head of the state police, about the “local arrest incident” but did not elaborate.
Police repeatedly punched teen as he lay on the ground, videos show
State police declined to identify the officers seen in the video, deferring to local agencies. A call to the Mulberry Police Department was routed to Crawford County law enforcement, which declined to comment and referred The Washington Post to the state police for comment.
The striking visual of multiple officers pinning an arrestee to the ground was one of the latest violent arrests captured on video in the United States. There have been heightened concerns of brutality by police officers since the 2020 killing of George Floyd, the Black man who died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck. Chauvin was later convicted of murder.
Last month, police in a Chicago suburb punched a teenager multiple times after he fled a traffic stop. Video showed three officers pinning the 17-year-old to the ground. At least two of them appeared to have repeatedly beaten him.
The Oak Lawn, Ill., police chief, Daniel Vittorio, defended the use of force, saying the teenager was reaching for a bag in which a loaded pistol was later recovered. Footage from a dash camera showed officers punching the teenager before deploying a stun gun. | 2022-08-22T06:07:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Arkansas officers suspended after video shows apparent beating - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/22/arkansas-police-officers-beating-video-arrest/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/22/arkansas-police-officers-beating-video-arrest/ |
BOISE, Idaho — Will Gordon won Albertsons Boise Open to wrap up a PGA Tour card in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals opener, beating MJ Daffue and Philip Knowles with a par on the first hole of a playoff.
MADISON, Ill. — Josef Newgarden won his fifth race of the season and tightened the IndyCar title race with his Saturday night victory at World Wide Technology Raceway outside St. Louis.
MIAMI — Udonis Haslem is coming back for a 20th NBA season.
MASON, Ohio — Caroline Garcia generated momentum going into the U.S. Open, capturing the Western & Southern Open women’s championship with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Petra Kvitova on Sunday.
TAMPA, Fla. — Brody Malone cruised to his second national gymnastics title Saturday to cement his status atop the American men’s program with the Paris Olympics less than two years away. | 2022-08-22T07:39:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Weekend Sports in Brief - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/weekend-sports-in-brief/2022/08/22/e485ca4e-21e4-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/weekend-sports-in-brief/2022/08/22/e485ca4e-21e4-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
Vintage aircraft collide in Virginia
The biplanes, one taking off and the other landing, were apparently the same type as in Hitchcock’s ‘North by Northwest’
Two vintage aircraft, apparently of the same type as in one of the most famous scenes in Hollywood history, collided over the weekend in Virginia, according to authorities.
Four people suffered minor injuries in the Saturday crash of the biplanes in Fauquier County, Va., state police said.
The collision near the site of an air show in the Bealeton area occurred Saturday morning as one of the double-wing two-seaters was taking off and the other was landing, according to state police.
After the planes, both described as Stearmans, collided, one of them flipped over, police said.
In the aviation world Stearman refers to the Stearman model 75; it was built by the thousands in the 1930s and 1940s, and with its tandem seating, was used for flight training, particularly during World War II.
According to an online reference, a Stearman was one of two airplanes used in a celebrated scene from the classic 1959 movie “North by Northwest.” In the scene from the Alfred Hitchcock suspense film, Cary Grant is pursued by a crop-dusting biplane.
Ultimately, he is saved when it crashes into a truck on a rural road.
An online reference says two different planes were used for the sequence. One was used for the flight scenes and the Stearman for the concluding shots when the sinister aircraft strikes the truck and is destroyed.
According to the reference, after the war, many Stearmans were used in agriculture through the 1970s.
Saturday’s crash in Fauquier occurred along the 5100 block of Ritchie Road, state police said. Photographs from the scene show the two yellow airplanes a few feet apart in a grassy field. One is upside down, with its two wheels pointed up. Neither appears to have suffered much damage.
The pilot of the plane that was landing was a 62-year old man from Warrenton, Va., state police said. He and a 50-year-old woman who was his passenger were both treated at the scene for minor injuries.
The pilot of the plane that was taking off, a 62-year-old man from Chesterfield, Va., and his passenger, a 14-year-old girl, were also treated at the scene for minor injuries, according to state police.
It was not clear why the crash occurred, and it was being investigated, state police said in a statement issued Saturday.
The Ritchie Road address given for the collision is near that of the Flying Circus Airshow. According to the organization’s website, an annual Balloon Festival was to be held there Saturday and Sunday. An air show was scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.
It could not be immediately learned whether any connection existed between the two Stearmans and the scheduled events. | 2022-08-22T08:22:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Vintage aircraft collide in Virginia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/08/22/vintage-aircraft-collide-virginia-biplanes/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/08/22/vintage-aircraft-collide-virginia-biplanes/ |
A replica of the Horse of Selene, one of the Elgin marbles currently at the British Museum, nears completion at the Robotor workshop in Carrara, Italy. (Maria Giulia Trombini for The Washington Post)
Amid a global reckoning on colonialism and cultural supremacy, pressure is growing on the British Museum to return the sculptures to Greece
LONDON — Over the years, many have tried to persuade the British Museum to return the Elgin marbles to Greece. But Roger Michel has something the others didn’t: A life-size head of a horse, made from Greek Pentelic marble, that looks remarkably like the one on display in the museum, tiny chips and chisel marks and all, carved by a robot.
At a workshop in Carrara, Italy, a robot sculptor has been putting the finishing touches on a copy of the Horse of Selene, scheduled to go on display in London during the first week of September. The horse is one of the best known of the 2,500-year-old sculptures — also known as the Parthenon Marbles — taken from the Acropolis in Athens in the early 1800s by Thomas Bruce, the seventh earl of Elgin, when he was ambassador to the occupying Ottoman Empire.
Video from July 5 in Carrara, Italy, shows a robot, called Robotor One L, carving a replica of the Horse of Selene, one of the best known of the Elgin marbles. (Video: Robotor)
Michel thinks his replicas could be the answer to one of history’s most notorious cultural controversies. If the British Museum accepts his replicas, he says, they can send the originals to Greece.
“The sculptures we’re creating can break this 200-year-old logjam,” said Michel, the director of the Institute for Digital Archaeology, a heritage preservation organization based in Oxford.
The museum hasn’t been receptive. It refused his request to scan the marbles — he and a colleague ended up doing it by iPhone and iPad after entering the gallery as normal visitors. Jonathan Williams, deputy director of the museum, threw more cold water on the idea in an interview with the Sunday Times this month. “People come to the British Museum to see the real thing, don’t they?” he said.
Still, Michel’s offer comes as reassessments of colonialism and cultural supremacy are inspiring the return of human remains and artifacts from museums in Europe and North America to their countries of origin. Britain has been lagging in this reckoning. But public opinion is shifting, and some scholars say the arguments for the status quo, including the fear of museums emptying out, are losing ground.
Some of the greatest momentum has been in the return of artifacts plundered by British soldiers from the historic Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Nigeria, in the late 1800s.
France returns royal treasures to Benin
Germany last month agreed that Nigeria could claim ownership of more than 1,000 items from the kingdom that have been held by German museums. In the United States, at least 16 museums have begun repatriating their Benin artifacts, The Washington Post found in May, and the Smithsonian Institution has adopted a new policy that requires its museums to return or share ownership of items that were acquired unethically by modern standards.
London’s Horiman Museum said this month it would return 72 artifacts “acquired through force” to Nigeria, including its 12 Benin bronzes. The universities of Cambridge and Oxford said they would repatriate more than 200 Benin bronzes.
But that’s just a small portion of what’s in British hands. The British Museum alone holds more than 900 objects in its collection from Benin. Some scholars and activists have expressed disappointment at the relative lack of movement.
“The British reckoning with colonial violence should not be led from Berlin and Washington, D.C.,” said Dan Hicks, a curator at Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum and author of “The Brutish Museums.” “It should be led from London.”
As for the Elgin marbles, recent headlines in Britain suggested a deal with Greece might finally be near. But that’s probably overselling a “Parthenon partnership” proposal mentioned by Williams.
Williams told the Sunday Times he was eager to “change the temperature of the debate” and believed “there is space for a really dynamic and positive conversation within which new ways of working together can be found.”
But if there is a change in tone, there has not yet been a change in policy. The British Museum has not suggested it would give the marbles back to Greece — they’re an “absolutely integral part” of the collection, Williams said.
A loan then? That’s how some people interpreted Williams’s comment: “There are many wonderful things we’d be delighted to borrow and lend. It is what we do.”
But while the museum’s board of trustees has said it will “consider any request for any part of the collection to be borrowed and then returned,” it requires that the borrowing institution acknowledge the British Museum’s ownership.
That’s not likely in the case of the Elgin marbles: Their ownership has been the subject of intense dispute from the very beginning. The British government says Elgin had permission to remove them. Others say the permission was limited to pieces found in the rubble — he was not authorized to hack off those that were still attached to the structure. The original permit has been lost to history. And anyhow, Greece says, his deal was with an occupying force that didn’t represent the interests or will of the Greek people.
In any case, Elgin had the 5th-century B.C. marbles torn down from the Parthenon and shipped to Britain, where he intended to display them privately in his home. He instead sold them to the British government for $42,000 to help pay for a costly divorce.
In a visit to Downing Street last year, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis renewed Greece’s call for the “reunification” of the 80 meters of marble frieze in London with the 50 meters that reside in the Acropolis Museum.
Boris Johnson, the outgoing British prime minister, responded that the matter lay with the British Museum. But that wasn’t necessarily true — the museum is bound by laws that prevent some nationally funded museums from returning objects.
“It’s an absurd obligation, which American museums don’t have. The law needs to change,” said Geoffrey Robertson, who was once a part of a team of British lawyers, including Amal Clooney, that advised the Greek government on the marbles. He believes a change in statute will be at the heart of any breakthrough, but said near-perfect replicas offer Britain “an alternative way to effectively display the marbles, to see all that there is to be seen, so the originals can be returned to where they belong and where they have most meaning.”
Johnson, as prime minister, has maintained that the marbles should stay in the United Kingdom because they were “legally acquired by Lord Elgin under the appropriate laws of the time.”
As a classics scholar at Oxford, he had a different view. In a recently unearthed 1986 article, Johnson wrote that “the Elgin marbles should leave this northern whisky-drinking guilt-culture, and be displayed where they belong: in a country of bright sunshine and the landscape of Achilles, ‘the shadowy mountains and the echoing sea.’”
That view today is supported by the British public. Fifty-nine percent of Brits think the marbles belong in Greece, according to a survey by YouGov in November. Eighteen percent said they belonged in Britain.
The Times of London for decades supported keeping the marbles in Britain. But in a January editorial, the newspaper wrote that they should be given back: “times and circumstances change.”
Michel says his robot-carved replicas offer one solution.
In other cases, the British Museum has displayed copies of artifacts. It houses a full-scale reconstruction of the wood and bronze gates of the palace of Shalmaneser III. It contains replicas of a Japanese teahouse and a Korean scholars’ study. It has a copy of a helmet from Anglo-Saxon England and plaster casts of ancient Mayan hieroglyphs. It even helped make copies of its copies of a Mayan stairway to install at the original site at Palenque in Mexico.
As with the Elgin marble copies, that project involved robotic cutting tools carving into rock based on a digital 3D model. “Is digital innovation the future for bringing historic events and places back to life?” the British Museum asks rhetorically in the promotional materials.
In a statement to The Washington Post, the British Museum said it “regularly [receives] requests to scan the collection from a wide range of private organisations — such as the IDA — alongside academics and institutions who wish to study the collection, and it is not possible to routinely accommodate all of these. ” It said it had accommodated visits from the Acropolis Museum for 3D scanning in 2013 and 2017.
The Institute for Digital Archaeology replicas will cost about $180,000 to make, Michel said. An initial copy of the Horse of Selene was carved by a robot running nonstop for four days, humming away in a white, airy workshop, its outstretched arm and diamond-coated tip milled local Italian marble. A second copy of the horse will be carved from stone found in the quarries in Greece that were used to make the Acropolis. That marble was obtained “in consultation with Greek authorities,” Michel said.
Giacomo Massari, founder of Robotor, the technical partner on the project, said the 3D modeling allows their robot to create replicas with minute precision — and of much higher quality than plaster copies made by molds.
“You can recognize every scratch,” he said. “You can see the flaws of the stone and you can see the challenges our colleagues from 2,000 years ago were facing. It’s like going back in time — you can feel the struggles of the artist,” he said.
The highly detailed copies will go on display in a space close to the British Museum in September.
Michel hopes that sharing them with the public will, at the very least, put pressure on the museum to shift its position.
“People are tactile creatures, and big stone monuments get people’s attention,” he said. “When you plop them down, people take notice.” | 2022-08-22T08:52:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Elgin marbles: Robot-carved replicas are offered to British Museum - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/22/elgin-marbles-british-museum-greece/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/22/elgin-marbles-british-museum-greece/ |
Tuesday’s special election in a swing district has become a crucial testing ground for both major parties’ political strategies around abortion — an issue that could factor heavily into the midterm elections
KINGSTON, N.Y. — AUG. 13, 2022: Democratic candidate Pat Ryan, right, speaks during a rally in Kingston, New York on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. Mr. Ryan, the Ulster County executive, is running in a special election for the 19th Congressional District that became vacant when Antonio Delgado, second from left, accepted the position of New York State Lieutenant Governor. (Cindy Schultz for The Washington Post)
MONTICELLO, N.Y. — When the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade, Democrats here quickly mobilized to make the Aug. 23 special election for the U.S. House a referendum on abortion rights.
After the decision, Democratic nominee Pat Ryan unveiled new campaign signs, white on pink, that read “CHOICE IS ON THE BALLOT.” The state Democratic Party’s own signs show a red slash over “Roe v. Wade” with the message: “This is what happens when YOU don’t vote! Vote blue in ’22!” To Ryan, the 40-year old Democratic Ulster County executive, the strategy was clear: “We’re going to continue to focus on an issue that affects tens of millions of women and people and families.”
When Republican Marc Molinaro heard about the court’s decision — just three weeks after he became his party’s nominee in the 19th Congressional District — he said he was surprised. “I had thought, like most Americans, that this was settled,” said Molinaro, 46, as he campaigned at Monticello’s annual Bagel Festival.
Now, he is campaigning on other issues he says are more pressing, such as inflation and crime. “The Supreme Court passed this issue back to the states,” he said. “The states have to act. This state has acted, and broad access is preserved here in New York.”
Tuesday’s special election in a swing district will be a closely watched preview of both major parties’ midterm political strategies around abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn the right to end a pregnancy. It is shaping up as the last big electoral test before the November midterms of Democrats’ attempts to channel anger over the decision — and subsequent state bans on abortion — into votes for their candidates, and of Republican efforts to keep the focus on different matters.
Covering all or part of 11 counties in Upstate New York, the 19th district is of considerable interest to party strategists, since it went for President Biden by just 1.5 points in 2020 after voting for Donald Trump in 2016.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans said the end of Roe v. Wade represented a “major loss of rights” for women, according to Washington Post-Schar School poll conducted last month, but those who support abortion access were less certain they would vote this fall. Abortion is legal in the state of New York. But in the fight for this seat, which opened up when Democrat Antonio Delgado vacated it to became lieutenant governor, a debate opened over the potential for federal legislation codifying or banning abortion.
Molinaro, the GOP executive of Democratic-leaning Dutchess County and a former gubernatorial nominee, is downplaying the debate over abortion in a race he’s been favored to win. Unlike some Republicans in close races, who’ve endorsed abortion bans with few or no restrictions, he does not support a national abortion ban — or, he says, any effort for Congress to “impose its will on the states.” He did oppose abortion rights as a state legislator, which Democrats point to as evidence of how he’d vote given a chance in Washington.
On the trail, Molinaro seeks to emphasize that a victory for him wouldn’t flip the Democrats’ narrow House majority, keeping them in control of the agenda for the rest of the year. At a debate with Ryan, he cited Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to suggest that any federal abortion law would be thrown out by courts, attempting to nullify the issue.
Campaigning against crime and rising prices on Democrats’ watch, Republicans in New York have said that abortion rights won’t be at risk if voters put them back in power at the state or federal level. “I think it’s an important issue, and it’s very important to women,” said Republican Assemblyman Chris Tague, who recently campaigned with Molinaro. “But it’s not the only issue, and it’s not the issue driving voters.”
People Molinaro speaks with “continue to feel anxiety and pressure because of the high cost of living,” the Republican congressional candidate said. “That’s what I hear everywhere I go. The only things that have changed over the last several months are the district lines, and my opponent.”
Ryan and his Democratic allies have put forth very different ideas. “The dynamics of the conversation have shifted because of the Dobbs decision, and the proposal for a national abortion ban,” he said, referring to the Supreme Court ruling. In his first ad, the candidate turned that theory into a question: “How can we be a free country if the government tries to control women’s bodies?”
At a recent rally for Ryan in the liberal city of Kingston, Delgado told voters that the country was watching the Hudson Valley, to see if the energy that helped him flip the district in 2018 was still crackling. “You gotta fight back,” Delgado said. “I would hope that the threat of a national ban on abortion would give you some energy.”
Delgado won the district twice, running ahead of the Democratic ticket in 2018 — when Molinaro, then running for governor, led the Republican ticket. But his party was pessimistic when the special election began.
Eleven days after Gov. Kathy Hochul called the election, Democrats lost a formerly safe seat in South Texas to now-Rep. Mayra Flores (R-Tex.) — a perfect storm of voter malaise, a GOP nominee who had been raising money before the seat became vacant, and a lack of investment from national Democrats.
“Republicans spent millions of dollars to win a seat that’s going away,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, defending the decision not to invest in Texas. “I think the day is coming when they’re going to wish they had that money back, because we’re going to win when it counts.”
The Hudson Valley race wasn’t a DCCC priority, either; the debacle around the state’s new maps, redrawn by court order after judges threw out a friendly Democratic map, split the district into two different seats for the November election. While both Ryan and Molinaro were strong recruits, they won’t be running against each other in November — Ryan is contesting the new 18th Congressional District, which includes his Ulster County home, and Molinaro was uprooting his family to run in a different version of the 19th district.
But events over the summer made Democrats rethink the campaign. Ryan’s donations surged after the Supreme Court decision; at the start of August, both candidates had raised about $1.6 million, and Ryan said that he had surpassed $2 million by the middle of the month. The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act also jolted Democrats, with Ryan releasing his own inflation-fighting plan and joining Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) for a triumphant jobs announcement in the heart of his county.
“You made this community a promise, and you delivered on that promise,” Ryan said last week, after Schumer praised his work for the county.
Both parties saw the race getting closer in August, as the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Congressional Leadership Fund poured $1.2 million and $650,000, respectively, into anti-Ryan and pro-Molinaro ads.
“We are focused entirely on Molinaro winning in November,” said CLF spokesman Calvin Moore, “and spending now is putting him in a position to do that.”
There has been no independent polling on the race, but both sides have released internal numbers that suggest a post-Dobbs bounce for Ryan. While Molinaro is considered the favorite, Democrats say they think Ryan is competitive.
“We are seeing people incredibly sad and upset because so many of them fought for this,” said state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, a Democrat whose district overlaps with the open House seat. “They thought this was settled law, regardless of party. They thought the world was a bit better for their children and their grandchildren. All of that work, all of that comfort that they felt, is now out the window.”
Republican advertising has avoided the abortion issue altogether. The National Republican Congressional Committee has focused on crime, linking Ryan to the state’s cashless bail changes and highlighting an op-ed he wrote after the murder of George Floyd that criticized the “militarization” of police forces.
“Hurting cops. Helping criminals,” a narrator says in the ad. Samantha Bullock, a spokeswoman for the NRCC, said that “every poll shows this election is still about the kitchen-table issues impacting New Yorkers every day.”
Ryan and Democrats have campaigned on the party’s recent wins, and against a theoretical GOP majority unleashed by the Supreme Court — not just on abortion rights, but on gun laws, another conservative victory from the new 6-3 majority. Ryan, a U.S. Military Academy graduate and Iraq War veteran, has pledged to ban “weapons of war” that were “designed originally and perpetually to kill human beings.”
Democrats have long been wary of that messaging in largely-rural districts, where the party has lost some traditional supporters. But in this summer’s special elections in Nebraska and Minnesota, both in districts that voted for Trump by double digits, Democrats lost more narrowly, beating expectations with high turnout in small cities and suburbs.
Ryan’s party is hoping for the same to play out in the Hudson Valley — newly home to thousands of New York City transplants, who during the pandemic lost their appetite for small apartments and crowded streets.
In Ryan’s Ulster County, from February 2020 to February 2022, the number of registered Democrats rose by 3,000, while Republicans added just 501 active voters. In Molinaro’s Dutchess County, it was comparably lopsided; since February 2022, Democrats had added more than 4,500 voters, and Republicans had added 1,001. Newer data isn’t available, but Democrats across the country have seen more women registering to vote, and voting against Republicans, in the wake of Dobbs.
“People are fired up,” said Laurie Boris, a 60-year old writer and website administrator in Kingston who was voting for Ryan. “The women are mad. And when the women are mad, they vote. We saw it in Kansas, and we hope it happens here.”
But about half of the district’s vote usually comes from more conservative areas, and Democrats were still downplaying expectations for Tuesday. Ryan “might surprise a lot of people,” said Maloney, but the DCCC was not trying to match the NRCC’s investments.
At the Bagel Festival, most of the people who met Molinaro said that they were concerned more about the candidate than issues — from former president Donald Trump’s fate after an FBI search of his home to abortion rights.
“I’m pro-choice, but I’m a Republican,” said Jim Dippolito, the 46-year old owner of a lemonade vendor, who said he’d struggled to find summer employees. “I have no opinion on [abortion rights], other than it’s getting blown out of proportion, because you can still do it in New York state.” | 2022-08-22T10:11:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | In upstate N.Y., a test for Democrats running on abortion to stop GOP wave - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2022/08/22/abortion-new-york-special-election/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2022/08/22/abortion-new-york-special-election/ |
A cyclist rides past posters for Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Rep. Jerry Nadler hanging on a post, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022, on the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, in New York. Attorney Suraj Patel is running against Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Rep. Jerry Nadler in New York's 12th Congressional District Democratic primary which will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 23. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
New York’s primaries were supposed to be over months ago.
They were originally set for June. But a major fight over redistricting delayed the congressional primaries until Tuesday and put three of the House’s most powerful Democrats at risk of losing their seats — in some cases, to each other.
Those would be hard losses for the broader House Democratic caucus, which can lose only a handful of seats in November’s midterm elections before their chamber flips to the Republicans.
“Democrats thought they would be able to count on New York more than we might be able to produce for the party,” said Basil Smikle, the former executive director of the New York State Democratic Party. “It’s possible that one or two legislative legends will lose their seat."
Here’s what’s going on.
The background: Democrats overstepped on redistricting
This spring, New York Democrats actually had a chance to steer redistricting in their favor. They initially approved district lines that favored them in all but a few of the state’s 26 congressional districts and could win them up to three new seats. Then New York’s top court threw out the map, saying it was an illegal gerrymander.
“The legislature overplayed their hand, and Republicans sued and won,” said Smikle. "It was a huge victory for Republicans in the state.”
The new, court-approved maps are “are among the most competitive and politically balanced in the nation,” according to a Brennan Center analysis, which notes that New York is one of very few states that got more — rather than less — competitive after redistricting.
The state’s new congressional lines are drawn with little regard for how Democrats can keep their House majority. Because no Democrat in their right mind would engineer the match-ups that they have to deal with Tuesday.
1. Two committee chairs have to face off for one district
Democratic Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler are two of the most well-known names in Congress. Nadler took a prominent role in Trump’s two impeachments as the chair of the House Judiciary Committee. And Maloney is chair of the House Oversight Committee, which started an investigation this winter into what Trump took to Mar-a-Lago.
Both have been in Congress for 30 years, comfortably seated next to each other. But the new maps combined their wealthy Manhattan districts, so that only one can stay in Congress. Either could have moved districts, but both decided to stay and duke it out.
A 38-year-old lawyer, Suraj Patel, is also challenging the two veteran lawmakers, hoping to crank up the enthusiasm among younger voters in the district. In a recent debate, he was the only candidate to express support for president Biden seeking reelection. After taking some heat for her comments, Maloney said on national television, “Mr. President, I apologize. I want you to run.”
The race has quickly become a competition over identity politics.
Maloney is leaning hard into her gender and her reputation as a groundbreaker for women in politics: “You cannot send a man to do a woman’s job,” she says in a TV ad. "Of all the things I’ve worked on, it’s hardest to move things forward for women,” Maloney told The Post’s Colby Itkowitz at a recent campaign stop.
Nadler, meanwhile, has highlighted in his fundraising messages that he’s New York City’s last Jewish congressman. Earlier this year, he told The Washington Post, “It would be very unfortunate if there was no Jewish representation from New York.”
In New York, Democrats clash over identity in bitter primary
2. The head of House Democrats’ campaign arm is in the crosshairs of progressives
The new maps shook up another powerful House Democrat, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (no relation to Rep. Carolyn Maloney). He’s in charge of House Democrats’ campaign arm this year — a tough job, since the party in power in Washington almost always loses seats in Congress in midterm elections.
Adding to his troubles, the district he’s represented for nine years, outside New York City, became a lot more competitive. So he decided to run for reelection in a more Democratic district nearby. (In addition to self-preservation, Maloney was likely aware of the added embarrassment Democrats would face if, on top of losing the House, their campaign head lost his seat.)
But in doing so, Maloney, who is a White man, set himself up to challenge a gay, Black freshman member of Congress who already represented much of the area — Rep. Mondaire Jones. Liberals accused Maloney’s circle of “thinly veiled racism” for suggesting Jones might be better-suited for a different district. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) even said Maloney should resign from his role as head of Democrats’ campaign arm if he was going to challenge another member of the party.
In the end, Maloney “successfully bullied” Jones to run in another district, as David Wasserman at Cook Political Report describes it. And Ocasio-Cortez has lent her considerable weight to another challenger to Maloney, state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi.
New York observers think Maloney will win Tuesday’s primary, but he’s not out of the woods yet. This district is more Democratic-leaning than his old one, but it could still flip in a good election year for Republicans — and that would make Maloney one of the party’s highest-profile losses in November.
3. A diverse Manhattan district with an open seat
Jones, the congressman pushed out of the district Maloney is running in, is far from certain to stay in Congress. Rather than run against an incumbent, he is competing for a rare open seat representing New York’s 10th district deep in Manhattan, covering Chinatown to Wall Street to the Lower East Side and parts of Brooklyn. (This is the district Nadler left after it was redrawn, if you’re keeping track.)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has endorsed him. But it’s a crowded field: A huge group of Democrats are also running. They include former House impeachment lawyer Daniel Goldman (who got the New York Times’ endorsement, sparking some criticism that the paper backed a White man in a diverse district); a state assemblywoman, Yuh-Line Niou (who points out the new district actually includes two Chinatowns); and New York City councilwoman Carlina Rivera, who has more endorsements than the rest of the field. | 2022-08-22T10:11:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | New York’s chaotic Democratic primaries, explained - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/22/new-york-democratic-primaries-explainer/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/22/new-york-democratic-primaries-explainer/ |
Tyson Fury demands Britain crack down on knife crime after cousin killed
British heavyweight champion urges ‘higher sentencing’
World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in 2020. (Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images)
LONDON — British heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury is urging Britain’s government to issue harsher penalties for knife crime after his cousin was stabbed to death during a night out over the weekend.
The boxer, known as the “Gypsy King,” said his cousin, Rico Burton, 31, was attacked at a popular bar in the city of Manchester early Sunday local time.
“My cousin was murdered last night,” Fury said Sunday on Instagram, adding that Burton died after being stabbed in the neck.
“This is becoming ridiculous,” he said. He called on the government to “bring higher sentencing” for knife crime, which he described as a “pandemic.”
Knife crime has long been a problem in Britain, where social anxiety regarding stabbings is widespread.
Knife crime in England and Wales increased 10 percent in the year ending in March, with police recording almost 50,000 offenses involving a knife or sharp instrument, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
“RIP Rico Burton … may the lord god grant you a good place in [heaven]. see you soon,” Fury wrote on social media.Fury recently announced his retirement but indicated Saturday that he wants to keep fighting to unify four heavyweight titles. He currently holds the World Boxing Council title.
The Greater Manchester Police called the attack “senseless” and launched a murder investigation.
A male 17-year-old was also attacked during the incident and remains in a hospital with serious injuries.
“Both victims should have returned home after enjoying a night out with friends.” Detective Superintendent Ben Ewart of the Greater Manchester Police said at a news conference Sunday, adding that members of the public had rushed to help them.
Ewart said paramedics arrived and attempted to treat both men, who were then taken to a hospital, where Burton succumbed to his injuries.
Ewart added that Manchester police officers are dedicated to tackling the “devastating” effects of knife crime, which he said remains a “priority.”
According to the Office for National Statistics, offenses committed with knives or sharp instruments vary across Britain’s more than 40 police force areas. Greater Manchester is among the top three areas in volume of knife crime.
In Britain, it is illegal to carry a knife in public without “good reason.” Adults found to be carrying a knife or other weapon illegally face a maximum prison sentence of four years, a fine or both. However, offenders under 18 are more likely to be cautioned than jailed, the BBC reported.
A giant sculpture known as the “knife angel,” which was constructed using 100,000 confiscated or surrendered blades, has toured the United Kingdom in recent years, popping up across various towns in a bid to remind people of the lives lost but also to spark social change. | 2022-08-22T10:11:23Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Boxer Tyson Fury condemns knife crime after cousin stabbed in Manchester - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/22/tyson-fury-britain-cousin-knife-crime/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/22/tyson-fury-britain-cousin-knife-crime/ |
Reckoning may be in store for condo boards that ignore needed repairs
Advice by Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin
If board members know certain repairs need to be done and push those repairs too far into the future, that may put those board members at risk if something happens that harms an owner or visitor. (iStock)
Q: In our 60-unit building, our association board is reluctant to have a reserve study done for two reasons. First, the board members feel that they may have liability if they have a reserve study done and then work does not get completed. Second, depending on what comes up in the study, they don’t want to be forced to increase assessments.
Some owners will have problems paying any assessment increases. If an association does a reserve study and the board does not follow through on all or some of the recommendations, do the board members have a potential liability?
A: In his representation of buyers and sellers in condominium sales, Sam frequently comes across reserve studies. What’s interesting about these studies is that they don’t usually state that everything wrong with the property has to be fixed immediately. These studies detail the many components of an association building’s common elements, assess the remaining useful life and break down the estimated costs involved for the repair and replacement for various components.
More Matters: The due diligence you need to do before buying a condo
Let’s say you live in a high-rise building. There might be dozens of components listed in a reserve study. The report would detail everything from roof replacement to plumbing piping replacements, to facade repairs, to window replacements, to hallway carpeting replacement. Reserve studies do an amazing job breaking down the many components of a building and letting the association know what the authors of the study believe the timetable will be for repairs and replacements for each.
For example, if an association recently replaced its roof, the reserve study will note that and indicate that the association should plan on replacing a 25-year-old roof in about 25 years. They will also indicate what today’s cost for the replacement would be and what they think it might cost in 25 years.
With this type of information, an association can start saving money today for future expenses it will incur. If the association chooses not to assess funds for future expenses, it will need to pass a special assessment in the future for any repair work that will need to be done.
We believe it’s prudent for an association to clearly understand what needs to be done to maintain their property, no matter how big or small. But size matters when it comes to how much a reserve study costs. Certainly a 350-unit, multistory building will spend more money to get a detailed report of what needs to be done vs. a three-unit association.
That said, it may not be cost-effective for a small association to spend $5,000 to $10,000 on a reserve study. That money might be better spent making the repairs or funding reserves. Also, in a small building, the owners can hire contractors to come out and evaluate the condition of various elements of the building, whereas it’s much harder for individuals to do that in a 20-story building.
Your building has 60 units. That’s a good-size building. An important question to ask is whether the building has undertaken necessary repairs and replacements in a diligent manner over the years. You should then ask the board or management company how much cash is in the association reserve accounts.
Based on your question, we suspect your building has some deferred maintenance and may not have much in reserves. But turning a blind eye on the building’s problems is not the answer. We think that having good information on the issue of what needs repairs and replacements in a building is critical. If the association knows what needs to be done and is taking care of those issues in a timely manner, you might not need to undertake a reserve study. But if the association board doesn’t really understand what needs to be repaired and simply takes care of issues (or not) as they come along, that can be a source of liability for those directors.
When owners serve on a homeowners association board, they owe a duty of care to all owners of the building. We think that duty of care would include making sure that repairs and replacements are made in due time. What due time means could be subject to interpretation, but the board should recognize that repairs and replacements must be made and have a plan for addressing those repairs. One way or another, those repairs and replacements will need to be done.
The board may push those repairs into the future. But if they know certain repairs need to be done and push those repairs too far into the future, that may put those board members at risk if something happens that harms an owner or visitor. Understand that the board members could be held liable whether they fund a reserve study or not.
Your homeowners association board should consult with reserve study consultants and their attorneys to understand the specific risks and liability they may face. Each property is quite different. But if your association board has a reserve study in hand that states there are repairs that must be made imminently, and they ignore the warning and do not move forward with the repairs, that could cause a much bigger problem down the line.
Associations that turn a blind eye to must-do repairs because they don’t want to raise assessments will likely face, at some point, a reckoning. At that time, unit owners will face significant expenses to catch up with the many years of low assessments and the many repairs and replacements that were deferred. All of which could make the property much less attractive to future buyers, causing values to drop.
And that will make everyone unhappy.
If you have longtime owners who can’t afford higher assessments, that’s unfortunate. But you can’t allow those owners to keep a property from making necessary repairs. That’s unfair to everyone else. | 2022-08-22T10:41:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Reckoning may be in store for condo boards that ignore needed repairs - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/22/reckoning-may-be-store-condo-boards-that-ignore-needed-repairs/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/22/reckoning-may-be-store-condo-boards-that-ignore-needed-repairs/ |
Two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in Fairfax lists for $397,500
The condo has hardwood flooring, a living and dining area with a ceiling fan and an open kitchen with white cabinets, granite counters and a center island. (BTW)
Prospective home buyers, especially first-time ones, have been pinched in recent months by the double whammy of higher mortgage rates and higher home prices. Buyers looking in Fairfax County, Va., for example, face some of the highest home prices in the D.C. region. The median sales price for a home in Fairfax County was $685,000 in June, according to Bright MLS.
For buyers with a maximum budget of $400,000, a condo may be the only option to buy property and begin building equity. For many buyers, a condo also offers the benefit of requiring less home maintenance. However, condo fees add to the monthly cost of buying and must be weighed as part of the purchase decision. Buyers looking for a community with amenities for residents may also appreciate a condo.
For example, the condo at 3851 Aristotle Court #217 in Fairfax is priced at $397,500. Annual taxes are $4,059 and the monthly condo fee is $291.
The condo fee includes access to amenities such as a swimming pool, a fitness center, community rooms, a game room, a playground and a business center. Pets are allowed with some restrictions. The fee also includes a reserved garage parking space, common-area maintenance, trash and snow removal and reserve funds. The community has a security gate.
Built in 2003, the Fairfax Ridge condo is in the town of Fairfax in Fairfax County. The community is close to Interstate 66, Route 29 and Route 50. The Vienna Metro station, Fair Oaks Mall, Fairfax Corner shopping center and Fair Lakes shopping center are all less than five miles from the condo. Multiple grocery stores and other shops are also nearby.
This 1,144-square-foot unit on the second floor has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The condo has hardwood flooring, a living and dining area with a ceiling fan and an open kitchen with white cabinets, granite counters and a center island. The main hallway is large enough to be used as an office, and the building has high-speed fiber optics for internet service. The condo also has a laundry room with a washer and dryer in the unit.
Assigned schools include Waples Mill Elementary, Franklin Middle and Oakton High.
For more information, contact real estate agent Shannon Natale with Pearson Smith Realty at 703-282-1892. | 2022-08-22T10:41:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in Fairfax lists for $397,500 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/22/two-bedroom-two-bathroom-condo-fairfax-lists-397500/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/22/two-bedroom-two-bathroom-condo-fairfax-lists-397500/ |
How ‘Funky Winkerbean’ became the darkest strip on the comics pages
Over its 50 years, the sensitive comic has evolved from such subjects as high school gym class to suicide, abuse and cancer
Tom Batiuk, here pictured in his home studio in Medina, Ohio, in 2012, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his comic strip "Funky Winkerbean" with a reunion arc this week. (Amy Sancetta/AP)
Tom Batiuk was 25 when he cracked the comics page and was billed as a voice for his generation. Today, at 75, the Ohio-based cartoonist is still staying true to that mission.
“I started out writing about kids in high school who worry about trying to get a date and climbing the rope in gym class,” says the “Funky Winkerbean” creator this month by Zoom from Medina, Ohio. “Now, I’m writing about going to financial seminars and getting colonoscopies and playing pickleball.”
He grins with understatement: “It’s a whole different world.”
Batiuk believes his longtime readers have gained life wisdom just as his characters have — through the long arc of experience and perspective. And starting Monday, “Funky Winkerbean” will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a storyline in which a gray-haired reunion of the title character and his peers at Westview High leads to senior discoveries.
“I’m looking at the flip side of reunions,” Batiuk says of exploring the honesty beneath such a gathering’s initial artifice, as former classmates realize they all felt “clueless” while in high school.
The reunion arc spotlights aging characters who have weathered so much in “Funky’s” half-century, from enduring love to profound loss — a golden milestone not often achieved by a single syndicated creator. And no modern mainstream comic strip this side of “Doonesbury” has so often dealt with the challenges of mental and physical health, and so sensitively handled the death of a beloved cast member.
Suicide. Abuse. PTSD. CTE. And most poignantly, cancer. Given such subject matter, pain and mortality often lurk in “Funky Winkerbean.”
Batiuk proudly owns this creative space, balancing cheekiness and the bleakness. He smiles at “Funky’s” serious themes being satirized on the humor site the Comics Curmudgeon, and laughs when recalling that one reader emailed to accuse him: “You’re ruining comics for everyone.”
“I was never writing a strip not to get any complaints,” Batiuk says. “I’m on this railroad that circles the other comic strips — I’m out there by myself. Nobody bothers me, and I can do what I want.” That includes treating themes of import with optimism, including LGTBQ acceptance at a prom. Now, “Nobody bats an eye.”
Batiuk also notes that in talks with King Features, he negotiated for editorial control over “Funky,” which his syndicate says is distributed to about 400 newspapers.
“One of the things Tom does beautifully is, he’s really able to tell serialized stories that are real and serious stories, and balance that really well with humor,” says Tea Fougner, editorial director for comics at King.
She thinks that both “Funky Winkerbean” and “Crankshaft” — the spinoff strip that Batiuk creates with Chuck Ayers — “feel like sitcoms that are dealing with real issues that matter to people.”
That’s a long way from where “Funky” began.
Batiuk was born in Akron and grew up in Ohio, that famed cradle of cartoonists, from the pioneering 19th-century “Yellow Kid” writer-artist Richard Outcault to such modern greats as Bill Watterson of “Calvin and Hobbes.” The “Funky” creator graduated from Kent State — the year before the Vietnam War-era shootings on campus there — and by the early 1970s was teaching middle-school graphic arts and pursuing an art career himself.
After drawing newspaper panel cartoons aimed at a teenage audience for his hometown Elyria Chronicle Telegram, Batiuk headed to New York to visit the syndicates. Editors had an appetite for fresh features depicting youth culture — a far cry, he recalls, from the malt shops and letterman sweaters in older comics.
During Batiuk’s first stop, an editor handed him a book of his syndicate’s recently launched “Doonesbury” to peruse. A subsequent stop, Publishers-Hall Syndicate, was “looking for something ‘Doonesbury’-like.” Batiuk got signed.
“As soon as I got hold of my strip, I was off and running,” he says. “It was never like ‘Doonesbury’ — it sort of walked some of the same territory, but I soon went different places.”
As ‘Doonesbury’ turns 50, Garry Trudeau picks his 10 defining strips
Batiuk built his original characters around people he knew: a roommate here, a teacher there, as well as students in classes he taught. “I changed the names just to keep from getting sued,” he says with a laugh. And centering his strip on high school life, including band geeks — he was a trombonist himself — allowed him “to deal with something that I really understood.”
“Funky” was a gag-a-day strip for the better part of two decades. Yet Batiuk yearned to go deeper.
Batiuk stopped teaching for a time when he launched “Funky." A former high school art teacher of his, though, invited the cartoonist to sit in on his class occasionally — to stay in touch with how true students spoke and behaved. That environment has long sparked ideas.
At one point, Batiuk sketched a pregnant student. Weeks later, he found inspiration in that drawing. In 1986, he decided a recently introduced student character, Lisa, would carry a child — the first time a mainstream comic strip addressed teen pregnancy, according to the syndicate, which received tens of thousands of requests for reprints of that series.
“I didn’t realize at the time what that was going to do, because it changed my characters,” Batiuk says. “That little story arc allowed them to grow just enough that I wasn’t going to be able to take them back again to do the silly stuff.”
As Batiuk deepened his characters, he eventually chose to reboot his strip. In 1992, “Funky” unveiled its first time-jump: A cast graduating from high school was suddenly sprung ahead into young adult life — an aging of the characters that’s relatively uncommon in newspaper comics, and most enduringly executed by “Gasoline Alley,” a strip Batiuk read as a child.
“When I made the first time-jump, it was amazing — it was a Road to Damascus moment” in the strip’s evolution, says Batiuk, noting that he went from “doing entertainment and escapism to doing something more grown-up and confrontational.” His strip more sharply reflected reality. He realized: “I could stop writing about cartoon characters and I could start writing about human beings.”
Batiuk steered toward longer arcs. In 1995, he tackled the subject of teen suicide. Later in the decade, Lisa and boyfriend Les got married, as did the title character and his girlfriend, Cindy. Then in 1999, Lisa received a breast cancer diagnosis; Batiuk depicted her journey, including chemotherapy and a mastectomy.
Lisa had a daughter and pursued a law career before her cancer returned in 2006. Her death a year later shook many fans. Batiuk was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2008 for his portrayal of Lisa’s battle, and the collected cancer strips were published as “Lisa’s Story: The Other Shoe.”
“The cancer story almost chose me,” Batiuk says. Between the first and second parts of Lisa’s medical narrative, Batiuk himself learned he had prostate and thyroid cancer (today he is cancer-free). His own diagnosis, he says, “made me realize the difference between empathizing and personally experiencing.” He drew upon such emotions as fear. “I think that’s what deepened the work when I got to the last part of the story.”
He also heard from cancer patients while doing signings in coordination with hospitals. One woman told him she had gotten checked — her breast cancer was detected very early — because of “Lisa’s Story,” he says.
Shortly after Lisa’s death, Batiuk decided to reboot “Funky” again because he didn’t want to dwell on Les’s mourning. The strip jumped ahead a decade. “As I’ve aged these characters, my readers have been graciously aging along with us — with me and my characters,” he says. “They’re the people still reading newspapers, and that’s been a very good thing.”
Batiuk considers himself fortunate to have chronicled his comic world for this long: “I’m just following that work I established 50 years ago, where I’m sitting in that high school and sketching and seeing things happen and translating it to stories.”
And now that he is 75, is retirement on the horizon?
“Willie Nelson had the perfect answer to that. Someone asked him if he was going to retire. He goes: ‘Retire from what?’ This is what I wanted to be my whole life. This is my dream job.” | 2022-08-22T10:42:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How ‘Funky Winkerbean’ became the darkest strip on the comics pages - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/comics/2022/08/22/funky-winkerbean-tom-batiuk/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/comics/2022/08/22/funky-winkerbean-tom-batiuk/ |
Heated New York Democratic House primary has echoes of past fissures
Tuesday’s contest between Reps. Maloney and Nadler calls to mind a political battle of the sexes 50 years ago
Perspective by Leandra Zarnow
Leandra Zarnow is associate professor of U.S. history at University of Houston, author of "Battling Bella: The Protest Politics of Bella Abzug," and co-editor of "Suffrage at 100: Women in Politics since 1920."
Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney, Jerrold Nadler and attorney Suraj Patel, right, attend a debate Aug. 13. (Mary Altaffer/Pool via AP)
On Tuesday, a crosstown “clash of the titans” is taking place in New York City politics when two longtime liberal giants, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney of Manhattan’s East Side and Rep. Jerrold “Jerry” Nadler of the West Side, square off in the Democratic primary for a newly created U.S. House seat.
Maloney and Nadler first were elected to the House in 1992 and have served in their respective districts ever since. But court-ordered redistricting combined portions of their home districts into the new 12th Congressional District — turning two longtime allies into political opponents. As one newspaper headline framed it: “New York must pick a side. East or West.”
Maloney and Nadler’s forced run against each other has divided political clubs, donors, families and friends, calling to mind another local clash of national consequence in 1972 — when a similar redistricting effort pitted Reps. Bella Abzug and William Fitts Ryan, both left-leaning Democrats from Manhattan’s West Side, against each other. Ryan had the advantage of more years in Congress, and to offset this clout, Abzug, like Nadler today, played the part of an ethnic pol going for the district’s sizable Jewish vote. As Maloney is doing, Abzug also sought votes by arguing for the decriminalization of abortion and positioning herself as a champion of women.
The primary contest in 1972 spared few feelings and left lingering bad will in Democratic circles across the city for years to come — just as Tuesday’s contest between Maloney and Nadler threatens to do. Much like today, the contest often devolved into him vs. her, as two former allies closely aligned on the issues were suddenly thrust into the media spotlight as fierce competitors. But in the end, the power of incumbency that still affords male candidates an edge over female contenders helped Ryan win.
Before their faceoff, Abzug and Ryan were congenial collaborators in the New York delegation. Ryan first came to Congress in 1961 as a change-maker who helped found the Riverside Democratic Reform Club. Before her time on the Hill, Abzug would drop by his office to lobby on behalf of Women Strike for Peace, a disarmament and antiwar group that saw Ryan as one of the good “doves.” A decade later in 1970, Abzug ran for the House by positioning herself as a reformer, as Ryan had. She promised to represent the Democratic Party’s “new politics” of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
This new Democratic politics intersected with the rising feminist movement, and Abzug’s winning campaign slogan in 1970 reflected that ethos: “A Woman’s Place is in the House, the House of Representatives.” As a first-time candidate, she took party leaders to task for backing male incumbents as a smokescreen to dissuade women like her from joining the political fray.
Abzug’s efforts paid off, but just six months into her term, she learned that the once-a-decade redistricting process was eliminating her House district. She fought back by launching a “one woman, one vote” campaign to highlight how sexism was at work in gerrymandering. In her view, gender bias — much like race — shaped largely male state legislators’ thinking as they rewrote district maps to gain both identity-based and partisan advantage.
Abzug’s decision to run against Ryan was a matter of practical politics. Living in a reliably Democratic part of New York City, she had to take on an incumbent in her own party if she hoped to stay in the House. After weighing her options, she decided that among the Democratic incumbents in the area, Ryan would be easier to beat than others like Al Lowenstein and Ed Koch.
Ryan was livid that Abzug, whom he saw as an ally, was challenging him. If you “want to run, find another CD” he jotted down in his private notes before he met with Abzug to try to persuade her to look elsewhere. Undeterred, she took his discouragement as an expression of sexism.
Both candidates played the hands they were dealt. Seeking to blunt Ryan’s edge as the incumbent in the district, Abzug promoted her feminist credentials in an effort to motivate left-leaning women to flood the polls for her. Ryan countered by offering concrete examples of his long-standing support for feminist policy proposals, such as legal abortion.
Abzug and Ryan also tried to shift political discourse away from gender by attempting to outdo each other as the better liberal. They raced to be the first in the House to call for President Richard M. Nixon’s impeachment when the U.S. military escalated its bombing of North Vietnam. And they made sure to remind voters of the 100 percent rating they each received from the liberal political organization Americans for Democratic Action. Running as an activist, Abzug argued that her commitment to the most pressing issues of the moment was truer than that of her more senior opponent.
In the end, however, Abzug could not translate her national notoriety as a feminist leader into a local win. As a founder of the newly formed National Women’s Political Caucus, she had helped negotiate a threefold boost in women delegates at the 1972 Democratic National Convention that nominated the left-leaning George McGovern to take on Nixon. But by the time the convention took place in Miami, she had already lost the primary.
Abzug could not convince New York voters that her fighting edge was what they needed in Washington. She lost by a 2-to-1 margin and did not even carry her own neighborhood of Greenwich Village.
The 1972 Democratic House primary ended with a clear win for Ryan, but a hard-fought one that some think cost him his life (Ryan had been struggling with throat cancer off and on, ultimately dying that September as the general election ramped up). This development allowed Abzug to remain in the House. After Ryan’s death, Abzug convinced party leaders that she could deliver his solidly liberal district that November. She did — though not before an unexpected tussle with Ryan’s grieving widow, Priscilla, who entered the race on a third-party ticket.
The major question today is whether, 50 years after the Abzug-Ryan matchup, American voters have moved past the him vs. her comparison that shaped this historic primary.
Since the Supreme Court’s June decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning the constitutional right to an abortion, gender has increased as a factor in the midterm elections, and many women voters correlate female representation with advocacy for women’s rights. Channeling Abzug’s tactics from 1972, Maloney has argued that she is the far better advocate for abortion rights. Decrying sexism, she also told reporters that Nadler had urged her to step aside when redistricted. On both accounts, Nadler will have to convince voters of his long-standing support for feminist concerns.
At the same time, the Maloney-Nadler race raises a matter that was not part of the equation in 1972. In this earlier time, 15 women served in the House and Senate combined. Women were rarely incumbents and occupied even fewer leadership positions. As a result, women were largely unable to test what would happen when two leaders in Congress of nearly identical standing but opposite sexes ran against each other.
Today, women still have not reached gender parity in American politics, but they now constitute a full quarter of Congress — including several key leadership roles, from House speaker on down. What seemed unthinkable 50 years ago is now a worthy test.
More and more, we are witnessing the possibility that women can be incumbents as valuable as men. The contest between Maloney and Nadler can be an opportunity for voters to choose among equals. | 2022-08-22T10:42:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Heated New York Democratic House primary has echoes of past fissures - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/08/22/heated-new-york-democratic-house-primary-has-echoes-past-fissures/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/08/22/heated-new-york-democratic-house-primary-has-echoes-past-fissures/ |
The military has long had ties with the fashion industry
The new Army bra is the latest chapter in a longtime partnership
Perspective by Einav Rabinovitch-Fox
Einav Rabinovitch-Fox teaches U.S. and women's and gender history at Case Western Reserve University. She writes about the intersections between fashion, culture, politics and modernity. Her new book is "Dressed for Freedom: The Fashionable Politics of American Feminism" (University of Illinois Press, 2021)
Officer candidates of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps start off their day with a calisthenics drill wearing fatigue uniforms at Fort Des Moines on Aug. 8, 1942. (AP)
According to news reports, the military will offer its first uniform bra this coming fall, pending approval from the Army Uniform Board. The four prototypes of the bra, named the Army Tactical Brassiere (ATB), aim to offer optimum support, durability and comfort for training and combat. The ATB will come in different patterns and styles, including pullover and front-closure options to accommodate various body types and to meet the needs of pregnant and breastfeeding soldiers.
In the development of the ATB, the military collaborated with professional fashion designers and sought input from female soldiers to refine the design. According to Ashley Cushon, clothing designer and project lead for the ATB, feeling good in one’s clothes influences not only the individual’s mental health but also “overall readiness and performance levels, allowing them to focus on their mission.”
The move to create the ATB, along with other changes to the dress code implemented last year, is being touted as part of an increased effort by the military to enhance inclusivity and adapt to the growing diversity of its personnel and the varied needs of its soldiers. This development suggests that the military, a traditionally conservative and masculine institution, has at last adopted a more enlightened perspective on the needs of women.
But, in fact, the creation of the ATB is actually the latest chapter in a long entanglement between the fashion industry and the military — one spurred by the Army’s attention to its soldiers’ appearance, especially its female soldiers.
During the American Civil War, the demand for hundreds of thousands of standardized uniforms catalyzed the ready-made garment industry and led to a revolution in menswear after the war. World War I men’s uniform styles brought new trends to women’s fashion and changed the silhouette by 1916, which in turn also shaped the style of nurse uniforms — the first women’s uniforms the military issued.
During World War II, as part of a national mobilization effort, the War Production Board issued the L-85 order that restricted the civilian use of fabrics, clothing and accessories to preserve materials for military use. Fashion designers, following the order, found creative ways to work around it, such as using zippers instead of buttons, or introducing the now popular trend of flats modeled after ballet shoes, which were not rationed.
World War II also made urgent the question of women’s uniforms and appropriate appearance for female soldiers. For the first time in history, a significant number of women enlisted in the military’s ranks, serving primarily in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). These women needed uniforms that would suit their bodies while also allowing them to perform their duties comfortably.
At first the Office of the Quartermaster General (OQMG), which oversaw the development of women’s uniforms, simply made a few adjustments to male uniforms, believing that would suffice. It didn’t.
After a year of blunders and failing to deliver satisfying results for military women (almost 70 percent of the uniforms needed to be altered), the OQMG decided to recruit Dorothy Shaver — then the vice president of department store Lord & Taylor — to serve as a consultant. Shaver brought more than her expertise about women’s clothing and manufacturing. She also offered a feminist approach to uniform design, insisting that women’s military clothing should not imitate men’s uniforms but instead should be inspired by civilian sportswear and the “American Look” that highlighted practicality and independence.
Shaver’s perspective was most evident in her wrap dress design for the Army Nurse Corps, a garment that could be adjusted to the individual figure for accurate sizing with minimal alterations. She also persuaded military officials to include slacks as part of the official women’s wardrobe. Beginning in 1942, the military supplied pants for women working in motor transport and pilot service units, and by 1944, slacks were a staple among all WAAC units.
Known as a big proponent of American fashion, Shaver enlisted the best haute couture designers in the U.S., such as Philip Mangone, Mollie Parnis and Mainbocher, to create military uniforms. Their coveted designs became a useful recruiting tool, as every woman who joined the military knew they’d get a designer outfit. Indeed, Mainbocher’s WAVES uniforms became so popular that civilian women tried to copy them, prompting the U.S. Navy to issue warnings and remind the public that “unthinking persons who appropriate the distinctive designs of any uniform of the armed forces are violating Federal law.”
While military uniform designers in the 1940s considered functionality, they also sought to make outfits that looked pretty, addressing the government’s efforts to convince both the military command and the public that service in the armed forces would not make women more masculine. To this end, the Army discouraged women in the WAAC from sporting their hair “too short” or adopting appearances that registered as “butch,” instead requiring minimum hair lengths and the application of makeup. Relatedly, the L-85 regulations did not cover red lipstick, nor did the government ration it — despite lipstick containing some materials that were needed for military purposes. As with hair and makeup, designers and military commanders believed that a thoughtfully designed uniform might allow women to look and feel feminine while also providing enough comfort to help them do their jobs well.
The fashion industry also gained from its collaboration with the armed forces. As the military labored to streamline the production of uniforms, it launched a program to measure and standardize sizes, which benefited ready-made manufacturing for years to come. Couture designers also took inspiration from the military styles and turned out their own versions of uniforms for the runway, transforming the styles of women soldiers and war workers into a beauty ideal. In 1944, for example, Harper’s Bazaar featured a Clare Potter’s velveteen overall “cut precisely like a mechanic’s suit,” as the chic choice for fashion-savvy women.
As women became a permanent part of the military during the Cold War, initially as part of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), the military maintained its emphasis on creating comfortable, practical uniforms that also enabled members of the WAC to maintain a beautiful and feminine look. Yet when the WAC was disbanded in 1978 and women became integrated into men’s units and later into combat roles, the focus became less on femininity and more on efficiency. In the process, the military placed women soldiers’ particular needs on the back burner.
If it took longer for the military to understand that bras are also part of soldiers’ tactical gear, the recent ATB design efforts show that it received the memo. Much like the uniforms of the 1940s, it is the civilian market that is providing both the knowledge and the inspiration for the ATB. Like the original sports bra, itself touted as a feminist clothing item in the 1970s, the military today is using fashion to boost its image and appeal to recruits.
It might take time before we’ll see commercial takes on the ATB in stores, but as the long history of the military’s involvement in our fashion trends shows, this day is probably not so far away. | 2022-08-22T10:42:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The military has long had ties with the fashion industry - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/08/22/military-has-long-had-ties-with-fashion-industry/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/08/22/military-has-long-had-ties-with-fashion-industry/ |
Apple’s new laptop has a lot to offer, but not everyone will feel the extra power.
Review by Chris Velazco
The new MacBook Air has a lot going for it: a new design, bigger screen, MagSafe charging, and a new Apple M2 chipset.
Among other things, Apple says that chipset includes a CPU (central processing unit) that’s 18 percent faster than the M1 chip you can still buy in a MacBook Air today. And that got us thinking: how likely is it that you’d actually be able to tell the difference?
To find out, we cooked up a little test: on a bright August morning, we set up the new M2 MacBook Air and the comparable M1 model from 2020 in such a way that I could use both of them without knowing which one was which. And despite my nerd bravado, even I couldn’t spot the difference consistently.
Here’s how it went and everything else you need to know about the new MacBook Air.
Is it really faster than the last one?
We embarked on a series of blind tests we thought represented what most people would probably need their computer for at some point.
First up: web browsing. I installed Chrome on both machines and jumped between the same 10-15 tabs while playing the same 4K YouTube videos in the background. They both seemed to handle the load equally well, though folks who like to keep dozens of tabs open would probably see either machine struggle. (Pro tip: when looking for any new computer, get the most RAM you can afford.)
Next on the list was video calls — with a twist.
Apps like Snap’s Snap Camera, which layers silly — and sometimes highly sophisticated — filters onto your face, can put a lot of strain on a machine. That can be especially true when you’re using it while you’re streaming or chatting in a Zoom call. Neither computer seemed to bat a proverbial eyelash when I went wild with the filters, and at one point I proclaimed that — based purely on the satisfying jiggle physics of my potato-face — I must be using the M2 model. I was wrong.
It wasn’t until we started editing videos that we really started to feel the difference between these two computers.
When it was time to export our 4K video clips at a much lower resolution, the M2 Air finished a few minutes ahead of last year’s model. That may not sound like much, but those moments add up quick when you’re working on bigger projects, or lots of projects back-to-back. Then again, if that’s the sort of thing you find yourself doing a lot of, you’d be better off with a MacBook Pro anyway.
Further testing — including of games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and a slew of traditionally nitpicky benchmarks — confirm that the M2 Air is the higher-performing machine. It just takes extra work to see that speed in action — work that a lot of people might not notice immediately.
To folks who mainly rely on their computer for tasks such as web browsing and watching movies, the difference in chip may never feel apparent. If I just described you, a cheaper M1 Mac probably would suit you just fine.
If recommending last year’s model for some people feels a bit odd, it’s because Apple’s whole laptop lineup is a bit odd right now.
The Air is one of two new laptops that use Apple’s M2 processor, which (as we’ve seen) has some advantages compared to 2020’s M1 chip. But last year, Apple started building computers with different versions of the M1 — the M1 Pro and M1 Max — that actually outperform the M2.
You’d be forgiven for thinking the M2 was meant to set a new standard. Years of iPhone launches have drilled into us that the model with a new number is a bigger step forward than the model with the same number, plus a modifier. But despite what the new part number suggests, the M2 isn’t the fastest, best processor you’ll find in an Apple laptop; it’s just the newest.
Stranger still, the next step up from this MacBook Air is the M2 MacBook Pro — by all accounts it’s the faster machine, but because it still uses an old design, it doesn’t exactly feel like an upgrade.
Of course, no one ever buys a new laptop just for the chip inside of it. And in this case, the rest of the package is arguably just as important as the M2 itself.
The screen. At 13.6 inches diagonal, this “Liquid Retina” display is the biggest screen Apple has ever crammed into an ultra-portable laptop. (That means it’s easier to squeeze even more stuff onto the display at once.) And while it isn’t as fancy as the screens found in last year’s updated MacBook Pros, this one is a little brighter than the one found in the previous model.
An improved webcam. The previous MacBook Air had a notoriously lousy webcam, which stung even more because Apple released the laptop when people were getting used to sheltering in place due to Covid-19. Thankfully, Apple bumped up the quality significantly this time around, meaning you won’t look like a blurry, pixel-y mess on your next Zoom call.
Great battery life. Maybe the biggest benefit of Apple’s shift to its own processors is how much longer its laptops can run off a single charge. I’ve been able to use the M2 MacBook Air for upward of 10 hours during busy work days and still have enough power to last through the following morning. That’s a huge improvement compared with Apple’s older models — at its best, my last Intel MacBook Pro topped out at around seven hours — and it’s slightly better than the M1 model’s battery.
The notch. It isn’t just weird to catch a glimpse of it throughout the day; it also takes up space in macOS’s menu bar that other apps sometimes use. And other laptop makers have nearly perfected the edge-to-edge screen look without having to rely on big camera cutouts.
The new “Midnight” finish. Apple’s latest MacBook Air is available in a new dark blue finish called “Midnight,” which sounds fun and mysterious until you realize it picks up palm and fingerprints at the drop of a hat. (Apple pointed us to its cleaning support page, if this bothers you.)
The higher starting price. The most basic M2 MacBook Air, with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, starts at $1,199. That’s $200 more than the M1 MacBook Air — a laptop that’s still worth considering — costs today.
The M2 MacBook Air is a sleek, potent machine, and a great option if you haven’t upgraded your laptop in a few years. But if you mainly rely on your computer for web browsing, office/school work, and Netflix, the $999 M1 MacBook Air is more than enough and probably will be for a while.
So who should pay the $200 premium for the M2 model? Mainly, I’d say folks who want a better webcam and a nicer screen, though the extra horsepower tucked away here offers a little room to grow into if your needs change. | 2022-08-22T11:08:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Apple MacBook Air M2 review - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/22/apple-macbook-air-m2-review-performance/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/22/apple-macbook-air-m2-review-performance/ |
By Rand Waltzman
(Matt Chinworth for The Washington Post)
Rand Waltzman is an adjunct senior information scientist at the RAND Corporation.
Here’s a plausible scenario that could soon take place in the metaverse, the online virtual reality environments under rapid development by Mark Zuckerberg and other tech entrepreneurs: A political candidate is giving a speech to millions of people. While each viewer thinks they are seeing the same version of the candidate, in virtual reality they are actually each seeing a slightly different version. For each and every viewer, the candidate’s face has been subtly modified to resemble the viewer.
This is done by blending features of each viewer’s face into the candidate’s face. The viewers are unaware of any manipulation of the image. Yet they are strongly influenced by it: Each member of the audience is more favorably disposed to the candidate than they would have been without any digital manipulation.
This is not speculation. It has long been known that mimicry can be exploited as a powerful tool for influence. A series of experiments by Stanford researchers has shown that slightly changing the features of an unfamiliar political figure to resemble each voter made people rate politicians more favorably.
The experiments took pictures of study participants and real candidates in a mock-up of an election campaign. The pictures of each candidate were modified to resemble each participant. The studies found that even if 40 percent of the participant’s features were blended into the candidate’s face, the participants were entirely unaware the image had been manipulated.
In the metaverse, it’s easy to imagine this type of mimicry at a massive scale.
At the heart of all deception is emotional manipulation. Virtual reality environments, such as Facebook’s (now Meta’s) metaverse, will enable psychological and emotional manipulation of its users at a level unimaginable in today’s media.
I have been working on problems of deception, disinformation and artificial intelligence for close to four decades, including two terms as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). We are not even close to being able to defend users against the threats posed by this coming new medium. In virtual reality, malicious actors will be able to take the age-old dark arts of deception and influence to new heights — or depths.
The very same features that make virtual reality environments so attractive as communication environments — the sense that you’ve teleported into a synthetic world — can also harm their users. When it comes to emotional manipulation, two features of the metaverse are particularly important — presence and embodiment.
“Presence” means that people feel they are communicating with one another directly without any type of computer interface. “Embodiment” means that the user has the feeling that their avatar or virtual body is their actual body.
Even in virtual reality’s current, primitive state, these two sensations are what make VR so powerful. They are also what makes emotional manipulation in VR so dangerous.
In VR, body language and nonverbal signals such as eye gaze, gestures or facial expressions can be used to communicate intentions and emotions. Unlike verbal language, we often produce and perceive body language subconsciously.
Virtual reality environments allow interaction among people that exploits the full range of human communication. Person-to-person interaction at this intensity and scale has not been possible in traditional social media environments.
That is both good news and terrible news. Good, because it will allow for better communication. Terrible, because it will open users to the full range of deceptive influence techniques used in the physical world — and to what might be even more intense, virtual versions of them.
The metaverse will usher in a new age of mass customization of influence and manipulation. It will provide a powerful set of tools to manipulate us effectively and efficiently. Even more remarkable will be the ability to combine tailored individual and mass manipulation in a way that has never before been possible.
A user’s virtual experiences as an avatar are expected to seamlessly meld with his or her experiences, memories and understanding from the physical world. This will almost certainly change the way a person sees the world, understands it and behaves in it.
We must not wait until these technologies are fully realized to consider appropriate guardrails for them. We can reap the benefits of the metaverse while minimizing its potential for great harm.
The first step toward designing these guardrails is to do a comprehensive study and evaluation of the existing extensive psychology literature on uses and effects of VR, and consider how it might be used for malicious, manipulative purposes. This study should describe the types of emotional manipulation techniques that are possible today, but also examine techniques that are likely to be possible in more sophisticated versions of the metaverse. This has not been done. We cannot guard against something we do not fully understand.
The second step is to develop the technology to detect when these techniques are being applied. For example, we could build a type of emotional canary in a coal mine — an artificial character that could circulate in virtual reality environments, sense a broad range of attempts at emotional manipulation and send out a warning when one is being deployed.
Society did not start paying serious attention to classical social media — meaning Facebook, Twitter and the like — until things got completely out of hand. Let us not make the same mistake as social media blossoms into the metaverse. | 2022-08-22T11:20:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | How to stop misinformation in the metaverse before it's too late - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/metaverse-political-misinformation-virtual-reality/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/metaverse-political-misinformation-virtual-reality/ |
Top takeaways from the expert-laden drafts in one of fantasy’s biggest tour...
Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills is atop the quarterback rankings entering the 2022 season. (Adrian Kraus/AP)
Here are my 2022 fantasy football draft rankings for quarterbacks. I will update them as dictated by new information — or, to be completely transparent, by particularly persuasive arguments I happen to come across — right up to the start of the season, so check back for the latest player order.
At the top, I’m going with Josh Allen, which is something of a no-brainer move considering he has finished as the top fantasy QB for two straight seasons, is still just 26 and arguably has his best set of pass-catchers to date. After that, the rankings quickly get very interesting, thanks to a tantalizing mix of young gunslingers, all of whom can score points with their feet while doing damage through the air. This is a tough group to rank, in my opinion, but the good news is that you’d hardly go wrong picking any of them (barring injury, of course).
The back end of the QB1 (i.e., top 12) contingent through the start of the QB2 crew gets older and more stationary, but there’s plenty of safety in those picks. Then, starting with Trevor Lawrence, we go young again before reaching the low-upside names who should really only be considered in two-QB formats.
Best of luck in your drafts! | 2022-08-22T11:51:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Fantasy football quarterback rankings - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/22/fantasy-football-quarterback-rankings/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/22/fantasy-football-quarterback-rankings/ |
Erasmo Ramírez is one of the many players on this year's roster who joined the team via a minor league contract. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
SAN DIEGO — Right after the lockout ended this past March, reliever Erasmo Ramírez’s agent called him with a question: Could he quickly get to Miami to throw in front of scouts alongside Aníbal Sánchez?
Sánchez was expected to draw a decent-sized crowd. Gene Matos, who represents both Sánchez and Ramírez, thought Ramírez would benefit from otherwise unavailable exposure. The Washington Nationals sent Johnny DiPuglia to the showcase, asking him to see if Sánchez made sense as a depth signing after he helped them to a World Series title in 2019. And while DiPuglia evaluated Sánchez, he kept an eye on Ramírez, a 32-year-old journeyman who could, at the very least, potentially eat innings in the minors and provide a deep layer of insurance.
After he finished throwing, DiPuglia, the team’s assistant general manager in charge of international operations, walked over and told Ramírez he liked how his sinker and cutter played off each other. DiPuglia had to call his boss, General Manager Mike Rizzo, but expected the Nationals to offer a minor league contract soon. When they did that night, Ramírez chatted with his wife, making similar calculations that Victor Arano, Carl Edwards Jr., Joey Meneses and many others did over the offseason.
The rebuilding Nationals could offer an opportunity. They were aggressive with minor league deals this past winter and spring, a sign of their stripped-down roster and the need to fill it with retread veterans while young players ascend their system. The lockout played a factor, too, as the Nationals were able to sign Edwards, Maikel Franco, Dee Strange-Gordon and Jordan Weems, among others, when they were still barred from negotiating major league contracts. So while contending teams are mostly build with homegrown talent and major league free agents, 14 of the 52 players who have appeared for Washington joined the organization by signing a minor league contract. Eight others were waiver claims.
A 41-82 record is evidence that those numbers are too high. But the Nationals knew this season was a wash from the beginning, leading them to build a last-place club on the margins. Ramírez has been a good find, entering the week with a 2.17 ERA in 29 innings since July 1. So have Arano and Edwards, controllable relievers likely to return for 2023. And so has Meneses, a 30-year-old first baseman/corner outfielder who has 21 hits in the first 17 games of his career.
“They took a shot on a lot of guys who just wanted an opportunity,” Ramírez said in San Diego over the weekend. “For me, I just needed somewhere to pitch. It was really that simple and I think a lot of the older players who have been in here felt the same way.”
There are, of course, some busts among the 14 minor league signees. That’s the nature of lending all this opportunity to castoffs. Aaron Sanchez made seven starts earlier in the season and was released with an 8.33 ERA. Strange-Gordon made the Opening Day roster, didn’t hit much, was designated for assignment in June, signed back on another minors deal and was released again. Franco was the Nationals’ everyday third baseman for most of the year, then was recently replaced by Ildemaro Vargas, another infielder who arrived on a minors contract.
Ideally, the Nationals would have more major-league-ready players at their upper-level affiliates. But they came into this season with a low-ranked system that was only marginally improved by the deadline fire sale last July. At the start of this month, they dealt Juan Soto and Josh Bell for a six-player package from the San Diego Padres, improving their prospect pool with shortstop CJ Abrams, left-handed pitcher MacKenzie Gore, outfielders Robert Hassell III and James Wood, and right-handed pitcher Jarlin Susana. Trey Harris, a 26-year-old outfielder, was also netted in a straight-up trade for Ehire Adrianza with the Atlanta Braves on Aug. 1.
And while the return for Soto and Bell could hit down the line, just Abrams is already active with the Nationals. Gore remains on the injured list with elbow inflammation. Hassell, 21, is with Harris on the Class AA Harrisburg Senators. Wood, 19, is with the low-Class A Fredericksburg Nationals. Susana is pitching in the Florida Complex League and could jump to Fredericksburg in the near future. Otherwise, Washington will stick with an oddly older and experienced roster for this stage of a full-on rebuild.
For the most part, they were not the sole team interested in the players they landed. Arano, 27, was at the top of their list for right-handed relievers. With a handful of clubs in the mix, the Nationals had to pursue him early and with more money typically offered to a pitcher floating in the abyss. He and Edwards, who Manager Dave Martinez had crossed paths with in Chicago, once had outside shots to be traded for coin-flip minor leaguers at the deadline. Instead, Washington chose to retain them, setting their pen up to be the team’s biggest strength down the stretch. And who knows, maybe they or another vet could be flipped to a contending team at some point next season, recouping value and then some on very low-cost deals.
Scouting and signing these players is headed by Mark Scialabba, the assistant GM in charge of player personnel; De Jon Watson, the club’s director of player development; and John Wulf, the assistant director of player development. Martinez recently praised the group’s work, specifically pointing to Arano, Edwards and Weems.
“I wasn’t going to sign with the White Sox or Dodgers, you know?” Weems, a reliever, said in June, rightfully implying there would be far fewer chances in those bullpens. “You go where there’s a chance. That’s the headspace for a guy in my shoes, who just wants to prove himself to a team that could use an arm.”
Weems, 29, is a converted catcher with a high-90s fastball and developing splitter. He’s made 21 appearances for the Nationals with mixed results, allowing too many hits while swinging between the majors and Class AAA Rochester Red Wings. Reed Garrett, 29 and another reliever who signed a minor league deal, has had a similar experience, his numbers bloated by a few rough outings in Washington. Both possess desirable velocity but have to sharpen their command and secondary pitches.
In the current nine-man bullpen, Ramírez, Arano, Edwards and Tyler Clippard were signed to minors contracts. Kyle Finnegan was brought in on a major league deal before making his debut in 2020. Steve Cishek signed a one-year, $1.75 million major league contract before this season, and Cory Abbott, Hunter Harvey and Jake McGee were all waiver claims.
Exactly none of the pitchers were drafted and developed by Washington. | 2022-08-22T11:51:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Nationals use minor league contracts to help fill roster - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/22/nationals-rebuild-castoffs/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/22/nationals-rebuild-castoffs/ |
University of Michigan librarians now believe the document is a counterfeit made by an infamous 20th-century forger
Astronomer Galileo Galilei (AP Photo) (AP)
Using his newly built telescope, Galileo Galilei gazed up at the sky in January 1610, spotted several bright objects around Jupiter and spent weeks plotting how they changed positions each night. When he sketched how he imagined those moving objects would look to someone above Jupiter, he realized they were moons.
It was the first time in history that someone had documented a celestial body orbiting a planet that wasn’t Earth, and for nearly a century, the University of Michigan boasted Galileo’s Jupiter sketch as one of its “jewels.”
“This single-leaf manuscript is one of the great treasures of the University of Michigan Library,” the university wrote in a description of the document. “It reflects a pivotal moment in Galileo’s life that helped to change our understanding of the universe.”
Then, in May, a university curator received an email from Nick Wilding.
Wilding, a professor of history at Georgia State University, wrote to express “serious doubts” about the authenticity of the Galileo manuscript, library officials wrote in a new description of the manuscript’s origin. The university’s experts found Wilding’s findings “compelling evidence,” re-examined their jewel and came to the same conclusion he had.
It was a fake, written not in the early 1600s by the father of modern astronomy but more than 300 years later by an infamous forger.
“We’re grateful to Professor Wilding for sharing his findings, and are now working to reconsider the manuscript’s role in our collection,” the university wrote in its online update.
Neither Wilding nor the university library immediately responded to a request for comment from The Washington Post late Sunday.
The manuscript popped up on the public’s radar in May 1934 when an auction house was selling the library of the late Roderick Terry, a wealthy collector of antiquarian books and manuscripts. According to the auction’s catalogue, the archbishop of Pisa authenticated the document by comparing it to a Galileo letter in his personal collection.
Tracy McGregor, a Detroit businessman, bought the manuscript. After his death, a trust set up in McGregor’s name bequeathed it to the University of Michigan in 1938 to honor one of its astronomy professors.
It’s been there ever since and, throughout its 84-year stay, was presumed to be genuine.
Then Wilding, author of an upcoming biography of Galileo, examined it. The university mentioned two things that led to the historian’s “serious doubts.”
The first: A watermark on the paper — “BMO,” a reference to the Italian city of Bergamo — suggested the document was far newer than experts had thought. No other document with that watermark predates 1770, more than 150 years after Galileo had supposedly written the manuscript charting Jupiter’s moons.
The second: Experts could find no trace of the manuscript’s existence before 1930, despite the “extremely thorough” documentation of Galileo’s works. Cardinal Pietro Maffi, the archbishop of Pisa who authenticated the manuscript, did so by comparing it to two other works he believed Galileo had written but that were later determined to be forgeries.
Both of those fakes were donated to the archbishop by Tobia Nicotra, the man Wilding suspects forged the university’s manuscript. Described as a “well-known forger” by university officials, Nicotra was convicted in 1934 of selling a fake Mozart autograph to the son of a New York Philharmonic Orchestra conductor, according to a Nov. 10, 1934, article in the New York Times. At Nicotra’s trial in Milan, police said they found evidence that Nicotra was preparing fake autographs of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Christopher Columbus, Martin Luther, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, among others.
Nicotra created his forgeries by going to the Milan library, ripping out blank pages from old books and then using them to create “autographs” of famous musicians, according to the 1934 Times article. Librarians in Milan testified the forger had destroyed dozens of books doing this.
Last week, University of Michigan library officials said Wilding’s discovery will force them to reconsider the value of the forged manuscript. They ended their announcement on a positive note, saying such a reconsideration could make it more important than ever.
“In the future, it may come to serve the research, learning, and teaching interests in the arena of fakes, forgeries, and hoaxes, a timeless discipline that’s never been more relevant.” | 2022-08-22T11:55:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | University of Michigan library announces Galileo manuscript was a fake - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/22/galileo-fake-forgery-manuscript/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/22/galileo-fake-forgery-manuscript/ |
A branch of NSO Group in the southern Israeli town of Sapir. (Sebastian Scheiner/AP)
JERUSALEM — The CEO of Israeli spyware firm NSO Group, which has been accused of selling software allowing repressive governments to secretly eavesdrop on their critics, has stepped down as part of an internal reshuffle, the company said Sunday.
NSO co-founder and longtime chief executive Shalev Hulio was replaced by Yaron Shohat, previously the chief operating officer, while the surveillance firm’s board searches for a new CEO, according to the statement.
NSO has been mired in a global backlash and legal action over its alleged sales of Pegasus software to governments and other clients, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Hungary and India, who used it to spy on political activists, embassy employees, human rights advocates, journalists and even at least one president.
NSO has denied any wrongdoing in the licensing of its technologies. The company says it sells its military-grade spyware to a secret list of government clients to stop criminals, terrorists and pedophiles.
The company said Sunday that Hulio’s resignation was part of a broader reorganization aimed at focusing sales to members of NATO, the Western military alliance. The company also fired around 100 of its 700 employees.
The firm “will examine all aspects of its business, including streamlining its operations to ensure NSO remains one of the world’s leading high-tech cyber intelligence companies,” it said in a statement.
Last year investors warned that the company risked defaulting on its debt.
‘Somebody has to do the dirty work’: NSO founders defend the spyware they built
While NSO is privately owned, Israel’s Ministry of Defense must preapprove any export of cyberwarfare technologies. Critics say Israel’s political interests influenced Pegasus sales to governments with long track records of human rights abuses.
Washington blacklisted NSO in November for acting “contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests” of the United States.
The move followed an investigation by a consortium of news organizations, including The Washington Post, showing how foreign governments used the spyware to hack journalists and activists, among them American citizens.
Pegasus spyware was used to hack the phone of Spain’s president while other world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, have been found on lists of possible targets.
The spyware also secretly targeted the smartphones of the wife and fiancee of murdered Saudi dissident and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, an investigation by The Post last year found.
Both WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, and Apple have filed lawsuits against NSO Group for using their services to hack users.
In April, the European Parliament set up a committee to investigate Pegasus and “whether this use has breached E.U. law and fundamental rights.”
Hulio co-founded the NSO Group in 2010, after he and his partner, Omri Lavie, said they were encouraged by law enforcement to turn their then small company that did troubleshooting for smartphones by remotely accessing the devices into something bigger.
Last July Hulio defended his company, telling The Post that “all we hear is this campaign that we are violating human rights,” while he knew but could not disclose “how much life has been saved globally because of our technology.” | 2022-08-22T11:55:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Israeli NSO spyware head, Shalev Hulio, maker of Pegasus, steps down - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/22/nso-pegasus-ceo-shalev-hulio-israel/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/22/nso-pegasus-ceo-shalev-hulio-israel/ |
Fed’s Forward Guidance Is Increasing Market Volatility
The basic problem with forward guidance is that it depends on data that the Fed had a miserable record of forecasting. It was consistently too optimistic about an economic recovery after the 2007-2009 Great Recession. In September 2014, policy makers forecast real gross domestic product growth in 2015 of 3.40% but were forced to constantly crank their expectations down to 2.10% by September 2015.
The federal funds rate is not a market-determined interest rate but is set and controlled by the Fed, and nobody challenges the central bank. Yet the FOMC members were infamously terrible at forecasting what they themselves would do, as seen in the so-called dot plot of individual FOMC members’ rate projections shown in the chart. In 2015, their average projection of the 2016 federal funds rate was 0.90% and 3.30% in 2019. The actual numbers were 0.38% and 2.38%.
Not only has forward guidance been a failure, but it may have increased, not reduced, financial market volatility. The Fed raised rates in February 1994 without warning and in six months doubled the federal funds rate from 3% to 6% in November. That disrupted markets and caused US Treasury yields to skyrocket in what became known as “The Great Bond Massacre of 1994.” The yield on the 10-year Treasury note jumped an unprecedented 2.3 percentage points from February to November of that year. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, tracking the stock market spiked from 10.8 to 23.9 in April.
Despite the Fed’s credit-tightening without warning, the volatility in financial markets in 1994 was subdued, compared with recent experience. Measured by taking the 20-day moving average of the daily percentage change in yields, regardless of positive or negative, the average volatility in 10-year Treasuries in 1994 was 0.12%. The average volatility for the S&P 500 Index was negative 0.01% and the VIX Index for 1994 averaged 13.9.
To be sure, many current events today have caused uncertainty in markets, but the Fed has been in there hot and heavy with its forward guidance. Recall that early this year the central bank believed that inflation caused by frictions in reopening the economy after the pandemic and supply-chain disruptions was temporary. Only belatedly did it reverse gears, raise rates and signal that further substantial hikes are coming. Faulty Fed forecasts resulted in faulty forward guidance and increased financial market volatility.
Consequently, volatility in markets is much greater than in 1994, before the central bank broadcast its plans. Using my same measure of volatility, this year to date it has averaged 0.46% for the 10-year Treasury note. The S&P 500’s volatility is also a larger number, negative 0.09%, and the VIX has averaged 25.8.
So, financial markets without forward guidance may be calmer. As Fed Chair, Powell carries tremendous weight at the central bank and I think his suggestion to terminate forward guidance will prevail.More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion: | 2022-08-22T12:13:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Fed’s Forward Guidance Is Increasing Market Volatility - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/feds-forward-guidance-is-increasing-market-volatility/2022/08/22/5ffb064c-220a-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/feds-forward-guidance-is-increasing-market-volatility/2022/08/22/5ffb064c-220a-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
Resist the Siren Song of 40-Year Mortgage Loans
Because of rising interest rates and higher home values, the monthly mortgage payment on a typical US home is 62% higher than a year ago. So, it’s only natural to be looking for a way to cut costs. But if you’re borrowing money to buy a home and think the answer to a cheaper mortgage is a longer-term loan, like 40-years long, think again.
The idea seems simple enough – just extend the life of the loan to save on monthly payments and refinance as soon as rates drop enough to make it worthwhile. Plus, a 30-year mortgage is a bit of a misnomer, as no one really keeps the same home loan for three decades these days. So why not just go for 40 years? There are many reasons not to play with the terms.
First, the monthly savings are unlikely to be substantial. If you borrow $300,000 for 30 years at a rate of 5% that is fixed for the life of the loan, your monthly payment will be about $1,610, according to calculations from HSH.com, a mortgage website for consumers. Assuming the same rate for a 40-year fixed mortgage (which is generous because the rates for 40-year mortgages are likely to be higher), the monthly payment will be about $1,447, a savings of $163.
Sure, every little bit counts at a time when home affordability is the lowest in decades, meaning that the median household income is below what’s needed to qualify for a mortgage to buy the median-priced home. But not so when accounting for the extra interest you’ll be paying. In just five years, you’ll have paid about $3,700 more in interest with a 40-year loan than one for 30 years and owe about $11,000 more because less of your payment with the 40-year will be going toward the principal amount borrowed. And if you do end up holding the loan for the full 40 years, you’ll pay $115,000 more in total interest than if you had gone with the 30-year loan.
And that’s why some lenders will gladly arrange a 40-year loan for you if you ask. They’d love to cash in on another product that could seemingly make a house more affordable because it would help to generate additional revenue. That’s especially true now as mortgage activity has plummeted this year.
It’s not like you’re going to be able to borrow a lot more with a 40-year loan. Assuming an income of $150,000 and all other things being equal, a longer-term loan increases the amount you can borrow by about $40,000, according to the HSH calculator.
Perhaps the biggest red flag with a 40-year mortgage is how slowly you’ll build equity in your house since more of your payment is going toward interest than principal compared to a loan with a shorter term. That may become an even bigger issue if housing prices continue to slow or even dip as we enter a housing recession.
Remember, you’re typically required to have 20% equity in your home before you can refinance to a lower rate or adjust the term of your mortgage. Most people put down a lot less than 20%, and may not be able to reach that threshold as quickly as they thought with a 40-year.
If you’re concerned about your monthly payment being too high, there are other ways to reduce the cost, such as paying points to lower the rate, making a larger down payment, or even considering an adjustable-rate mortgage. Ultimately, though, if $200 a month is making or breaking your ability to buy a house, you probably should reconsider.
Right now, 40-year mortgages aren’t backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. That means they aren’t guaranteed to have the same consumer protections that come with conforming loans, such as a limit on excessive fees. Given that you’ll have to go to an online lender, or a smaller bank or credit union to get one, the rate may not be that competitive either.
Earlier this year, the Federal Housing Administration, which backs loans for first-time buyers, said struggling homeowners could modify their existing home loans into ones with 40-year terms. (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also have an option that allows for existing loans to be modified into a 40-year repayment plan). Some viewed that as a sign the federal government might move to back the loans given how unaffordable homeownership has become.
Extending the loan term to 40 years may be helpful for someone whose alternative is losing their house, but given the mountain of interest and slower pace for building equity, I can’t see why endorsing a 40-year mortgage for new homeowners would be a constructive move for anyone other than the banks.
• Andreessen’s Housing NIMBYism Is Losing Ground: Virginia Postrel | 2022-08-22T12:13:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Resist the Siren Song of 40-Year Mortgage Loans - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/resist-the-siren-song-of-40-year-mortgage-loans/2022/08/22/93f1ddfa-220e-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/resist-the-siren-song-of-40-year-mortgage-loans/2022/08/22/93f1ddfa-220e-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
This therapy is typically provided by speech and occupational therapists, neuropsychologists and neurorehabilitation experts
If attention is an issue, a therapist might tap their finger on a table once or twice and ask a patient to do the same, repeating it multiple times. This type of intervention is known as restorative cognitive rehabilitation. (Stevia Mrdja/EyeEm/Getty Images)
Before getting covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the woman had been doing bookkeeping for a local business. Now, she couldn’t add single-digit numbers in her head.
What was going on? Like many people who’ve contracted covid-19, this woman was having difficulty sustaining attention, organizing activities and multitasking. She complained of brain fog. She didn’t feel like herself.
Cognitive rehabilitation is therapy for people whose brains have been injured by concussions, traumatic accidents, strokes or neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. It’s a suite of interventions designed to help people recover from brain injuries, if possible, and adapt to ongoing cognitive impairment. Services are typically provided by speech and occupational therapists, neuropsychologists and neurorehabilitation experts.
How covid brain fog may overlap with ‘chemo brain’ and Alzheimer’s
In a recent development, some medical centers are offering cognitive rehabilitation to patients with long covid (symptoms that persist several months or longer after an infection that can’t be explained by other medical conditions). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 4 older adults who survive covid-19 have at least one persistent symptom.
Experts are enthusiastic about cognitive rehabilitation’s potential.
“Anecdotally, we’re seeing a good number of people [with long covid] make significant gains with the right kinds of interventions,” said Monique Tremaine, director of neuropsychology and cognitive rehabilitation at Hackensack Meridian Health’s JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in New Jersey.
Among the post-covid cognitive complaints being addressed are problems with attention, language, information processing, memory and visual-spatial orientation. A recent review in JAMA Psychiatry found that up to 47 percent of patients hospitalized in intensive care with covid-19 developed problems of this sort. Meanwhile, a review in Nature Medicine found that brain fog was 37 percent more likely in nonhospitalized covid-19 survivors than in comparable peers who had no known covid infections.
Also, emerging evidence shows seniors are more likely to experience cognitive challenges post-covid than younger people — a vulnerability attributed, in part, to older adults’ propensity to have other medical conditions. Cognitive challenges arise because of small blood clots, chronic inflammation, abnormal immune responses, brain injuries such as strokes and hemorrhages, viral persistence and neurodegeneration triggered by covid-19.
Getting help starts with an assessment by a rehabilitation professional to pinpoint cognitive tasks that need attention and determine the severity of a person’s difficulties. One person may need help finding words while speaking, while another may need help with planning. Yet another may not be processing information efficiently. Several deficits may be present at the same time.
Next comes an effort to understand how patients’ cognitive issues affect their daily lives. Among the questions that therapists will ask, said Jason Smith, a rehabilitation psychologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas: “Is this [deficit] showing up at work? At home? Somewhere else? Which activities are being affected? What’s most important to you and what do you want to work on?”
A therapist might then ask the patient to do two things at once: repeat the tapping task while answering questions about their personal background. “Now the brain has to split attention — a much more demanding task — and you’re building connections where they can be built,” Giacino said.
“As patients become more aware of where difficulties occur and why, they can prepare for them and they start seeing improvement,” said Lyana Kardanova Frantz, a speech therapist at Johns Hopkins University. “A lot of my patients say, ‘I had no idea this [kind of therapy] could be so helpful.’ ”
Johns Hopkins has been conducting neuropsychiatric exams on patients who come to its post-covid clinic. About 67 percent have mild to moderate cognitive dysfunction at least three months after being infected, said Alba Miranda Azola, co-director of Johns Hopkins’ Post-Acute COVID-19 Team. When cognitive rehabilitation is recommended, patients usually meet with therapists once or twice a week for two to three months.
How our emotional lives improve with age
Medicare usually covers cognitive rehabilitation (patients may need to contribute a co-payment), but Medicare Advantage plans may differ in the type and length of therapy they’ll approve and how much they’ll reimburse providers — an issue that can affect access to care.
Still, Tremaine said, “not a lot of people know about cognitive rehabilitation or understand what it does, and it remains underutilized.” She and other experts don’t recommend digital brain-training programs marketed to consumers as a substitute for practitioner-led cognitive rehabilitation because of the lack of individualized assessment, feedback and coaching.
If you’re noticing cognitive changes of concern, ask for a referral from your primary care physician to an occupational or speech therapist, said Erin Foster, an associate professor of occupational therapy, neurology and psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Be sure to ask therapists whether they have experience addressing memory and thinking issues in daily life, she said.
“If there’s a medical center in your area with a rehabilitation department, get in touch with them and ask for a referral to cognitive rehabilitation,” Smith said. “The professional discipline that helps the most with cognitive rehabilitation is going to be rehabilitation medicine.”
This article was produced by Kaiser Health News, a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, an endowed nonprofit organization that provides information on health issues to the nation. | 2022-08-22T12:13:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Cognitive rehab may help clear covid-related brain fog in older adults - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/22/covid-brain-fog-rehab-aging/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/22/covid-brain-fog-rehab-aging/ |
Don’t underestimate Val Demings. She’s got Marco Rubio pegged.
Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), running for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio (R), at a Miami roundtable discussion Aug. 15. (Lynne Sladky/AP)
Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) is in her third House term, but her decades of experience in law enforcement come through whatever the topic. It not only peppers her language but also provides her with a perspective that differs starkly from that of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), whose seat she’s seeking in November. Her opponent has achieved little while in the Senate, other than shape-shifting from a critic of former president Donald Trump into one of his most frequently mocked sycophants.
In a phone interview, I asked Demings about the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning Roe v. Wade. She says she learned an expression in police work: “Don’t relax too soon.”
Unfortunately, Democrats did just that, failing for decades to codify Roe. Now, she says, with abortion rights being restricted, “people cannot believe it.” Channeling her law-enforcement background, she says, “It’s about taking away constitutional rights. Abortion may not be your issue, but if it’s on one street, it will be on your street,” making the point that a host of other constitutional rights that a wide array of Americans care about may be on the chopping block. “Justice Clarence Thomas telegraphed” where the court is heading on contraception, same-sex marriage and other fundamental rights, she says.
On guns, she tells me that violent crime was her No. 1 issue as a police officer. “My second priority was getting guns off the street.” While she praises the Democratic-led recent passage of gun legislation (the first in 30 years), she says it did not go far enough.
In Florida, she says, “we’ve had 8,000 red-flag incidents,” referring to laws that allow a judge to take a weapon out of the hands of people who are a risk to themselves or others. “It’s made a difference.” Now, she argues, Americans need a nationwide red-flag law. And “we need to close the Charleston AME loophole,” referring to the 2015 mass shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. The killer should have failed a background check and been prevented from purchasing his weapon, but because of a clerical error the sale was allowed after a mandatory three-day waiting period had elapsed.
Demings points to Rubio’s track record in voting no on virtually every Democratic initiative, even the bipartisan infrastructure bill that will pour billions into the state. “Politics is an interesting game,” she says ruefully. “He doesn’t want what will appear to give a win to Democrats and President Biden.”
On the law-enforcement front, Rubio voted not only against the bipartisan gun legislation but also against the American Rescue Plan, which would have helped keep first responders on the job. Demings also notes that Rubio “voted against a bipartisan commission to investigate Jan. 6.” Finding the truth about the armed assault on the Capitol apparently “didn’t advance his agenda,” she says.
Demings makes no bones about her view of so many Republicans’ unhinged attacks on the FBI following the warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago. As a captain, deputy chief and chief of police, she tells me, “Not a day went by when I didn’t worry about the safety of the men and women under me.” She warns, “Somebody’s going to get hurt.”
She praises Attorney General Merrick Garland for defending the FBI and Justice Department personnel from criticism of a search that was conducted “by the book.” But what did Rubio do? He was “quick to get to a microphone” to criticize the search, she says caustically. “Whatever happened to ‘protecting the blue’?” She adds that Republicans “will ‘back the blue’ so long as they do what you want.” That’s not how the rule of law works, she says.
Defying expectations in a state trending red, Demings is mounting a strong challenge to Rubio — the polling is tight. She laughs. “I grew up poor, Black and female in the South. I’ve learned to overcome what people think.”
She emphasizes the candidates’ contrasting public styles: Rubio, she says, prefers settings that are “very scripted, controlled,” while she will “talk to anyone.” She adds, “It’s a privilege for me to be in the presence of voters. Marco Rubio thinks they’re privileged to be in his presence.”
Florida remains an uphill climb for any Democrat. But Demings’s working-class background, law-and-order credentials and feisty demeanor may be more than Rubio anticipated. In a cycle when GOP Senate candidates are struggling, Rubio would be smart to follow Demings’s advice: Don’t relax too soon. | 2022-08-22T12:13:58Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Val Demings law and order background gives her a leg up against Rubio - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/val-demings-senate-law-order/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/val-demings-senate-law-order/ |
Why a New York primary hasn't turned into a super PAC showdown
Good morning, Early Birds. The House is out. The Senate is out. President Biden is on vacation in Delaware. And dragons are everywhere. What's happening out there? Send us your tips: earlytips@washpost.com. Thanks for waking up with us.
In today's edition … New York's special election tests Democrats, Republicans strategy around abortion… Wisconsin GOP leader Robin Vos stands by Trump despite attacks and primary challenge… Where to eat and drink at 13 of the busiest airports in the U.S., from our Post colleagues… but first …
Why the Nadler-Maloney primary hasn't turned into a super PAC showdown
UDP has faced off in several races against another new super PAC, J Street Action Fund, which backs candidates who support Israel but are more willing to criticize its government. J Street Action revealed in a campaign finance disclosure on Saturday that it had received $1 million — most of the money it's raised this year — from a super PAC funded by the Democratic megadonor George Soros.
The two sides have gone head-to-head in several increasingly acrimonious races. UDP helped Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) survive his primary against a progressive challenger, and Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) told the Early the super PAC’s spending was “having a determinative effect” in Democratic primaries days after he lost a race in which UDP ran $4.2 million of ads against him.
The clash between the two sides has underscored the tensions in the Democratic Party over Israel and tested how much room there is under its tent for lawmakers who criticize the Israeli government's actions toward Palestinians. (Republicans, for the most past, are aligned with the most hawkish politicians in Israel.)
But tomorrow's Democratic primaries in New York show that when it comes to the opposing sides of the Israeli lobby, what will trigger a primary showdown is more complicated than it appears.
The Nadler-Maloney primary
J Street Action is running digital ads backing Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) in his three-way primary battle with Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Suraj Patel, a lawyer and former Obama White House aide, in what might be the most Jewish district in the country. (Nadler and Maloney’s Manhattan-centered districts were unexpectedly combined by redistricting; Patel is trying to oust both of them.)
Nadler is a longtime advocate for a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street’s president, said in an interview. He also supported the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — which Maloney opposed — that angered Israel.
“A Congress with Jerry Nadler in it and Carolyn Maloney versus a Congress with Carolyn Maloney and no Jerry Nadler is a hugely different Congress for us,” Ben-Ami said. “It is a really meaningful distinction.”
Such difference have led to battles between J Street and AIPAC in some other Democratic primaries — but not in New York's 12th District, where Nadler and Maloney — both longtime lawmakers and current committee chairs — are battling it out.
AIPAC has backed Nadler in the past, calling him “a consistent defender of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” and it’s not taking sides in the primary. Neither is Democratic Majority for Israel’s super PAC, which has backed several of the same candidates as UDP in this year’s Democratic primaries.
Nadler isn’t the first Democrat who’s managed to compile a record on Israel that’s conservative enough for AIPAC but liberal enough for J Street. As the Forward pointed out in June, the two groups have endorsed dozens of the same candidates, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, even as they’ve done battle in other races.
Dealing with the Squad
J Street Action is also shelling out $100,000 on digital ads backing Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) in his primary in a test of how critical of Israel Democrats can be and still earn the group’s support. (UDP is sitting out this New York primary, too.)
Bowman backs a two-state solution and the Iron Dome missile defense system, and he opposes the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel. He’s the only member of the Squad — the progressive faction that also includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) — whom J Street has endorsed.
“He's a very, very important voice as we try to demonstrate where the edge of the pro-Israel, pro-peace camp is in the progressive movement,” Ben-Ami said. “There’s a bridge to be built. So symbolically, he's a very important member of Congress.”
Neither UDP nor DFMI have targeted Bowman or any other member of the Squad — even though Omar came close to losing her primary earlier this month to a more moderate challenger. Mark Mellman, DMFI's president, said he thought spending money against Omar might have backfired by giving her a “rallying cry” and inducing her to devote more resources to her campaign.
“I'm not sure that our spending money there would've made the difference,” Mellman said. “Certainly we would have loved to be in a situation where she was not reelected. But she was.”
What it means for future primaries
J Street Action has raised only a small fraction of the millions of dollars UDP has brought in this year, and Ben-Ami has pledged to stop running ads in Democratic primaries if UDP and its allies agree to a truce.
“We have called on the leadership of the party to call on those groups and call it off and not do it again in 2024,” he said.
But AIPAC and its allies argue that it’s J Street and its progressive allies in Congress who have helped weaken the traditional support for Israel in the Democratic Party, forcing them to respond. “We wanted to defend our friends, and to send a message to detractors that there's a group of individuals that will oppose them,” Howard Kohr, AIPAC’s longtime chief executive, told The Post earlier this month.
Neither DMFI nor UDP has any plans to stop spending in Democratic primaries.
“We plan to be active beyond this cycle,” Patrick Dorton, a UDP spokesman, told the Early. “We are going to look at every election, including Democratic and Republican primaries, where this is a contrast between a pro-Israel candidate and an anti-Israel candidate.”
New York's special election tests Democrats, Republicans strategy around abortion
New campaign strategy, alert: “When the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade, Democrats [in Monticello, N.Y.] quickly mobilized to make the Aug. 23 special election for the U.S. House a referendum on abortion rights,” our colleague David Weigel writes.
“After the decision, Democratic nominee Pat Ryan unveiled new campaign signs, white on pink, that read ‘CHOICE IS ON THE BALLOT.’ The state Democratic Party’s own signs show a red slash over ‘Roe v. Wade’ with the message: ‘This is what happens when YOU don’t vote! Vote blue in ’22!’”
“When Republican Marc Molinaro heard about the court’s decision — just three weeks after he became his party’s nominee in the 19th Congressional District — he said he was surprised. ‘I had thought, like most Americans, that this was settled,’” Molinaro, 46, told Weigel. “Now, he is campaigning on other issues he says are more pressing, such as inflation and crime.”
“Tuesday’s special election in a swing district — coming on a busy day of primaries or runoffs in several states — will be a closely watched preview of both major parties’ midterm political strategies around abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn the constitutional right to end a pregnancy. It is shaping up as the last big electoral test before the November midterms of Democrats’ attempts to channel anger over the decision — and subsequent state bans on abortion — into votes for their candidates, and of Republican efforts to keep the focus on different matters."
Still standing (by Trump’s side): “Over the past 15 months, the speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly has sought to placate Donald Trump as the former president bombarded him with phone calls about the 2020 election, accused him of covering up corruption, labeled him a Republican in name only and endorsed his little-known primary opponent,” our colleague Patrick Marley writes. “After winning his primary by just 260 votes this month, Robin Vos expressed no regrets and stood by Trump.”
2024 meets 2022: Trump, Pence, others ramp up for allies in midterms. By The Post’s Hannah Knowles.
FBI affidavit may be ‘road map’ for Trump lawyers, Schiff warns. By The Post’s Nick Miroff and Amy B Wang.
As Biden turns toward midterms, he may not be the top surrogate. By The Post’s Matt Viser.
Beto O’Rourke’s risky quest for votes in deep-red Texas. By The Post’s Jada Yuan.
As global health threats evolved, the CDC didn’t. By the Los Angeles Times’s Melissa Healy.
ICYMI: Mehmet Oz’s new hometown is a private, religious community where opinions on him are split. By the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Julia Terruso.
You’re trying to squeeze in one last family vacation before school starts; you’re returning home from a work conference; you’re closing out #HotGirlSummer with your besties. Either way: you’re stuck in an airport with time to kill (and doomscrolling is not an option).
So, what can you do to pass the time? Eat.
Check out the best restaurants in America’s busiest airports, from our Post colleagues. I have my eyes on Café Versailles at Miami International airport. I’m a sucker for a good Cuban sandwich. | 2022-08-22T12:14:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why a New York primary hasn't turned into a super PAC showdown - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/22/why-new-york-primary-hasnt-turned-into-super-pac-showdown/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/22/why-new-york-primary-hasnt-turned-into-super-pac-showdown/ |
Illustration by Diego Mallo for The Washington Post. Reference photos by Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post and Bill O'Leary / The Washington Post; other images by Adobe Creative Stock.
Inside the shaping and execution of the Biden-Blinken doctrine
As he packed for a security conference in Munich in mid-February, Secretary of State Antony Blinken added an unexpected detour to Manhattan. The United Nations Security Council was meeting, and Blinken had word that Russian diplomats might use the occasion to plant excuses for attacking Ukraine. After painstaking months of crisscrossing the globe and working phone and video channels to share intelligence with allies and build a more-or-less united front, Blinken saw an opportunity to call out the Russian government on its intentions in the most high-profile forum to date.
Ukraine in Pictures: Three photographers document the toll of an implacable and unforgiving war
“We saw the storm really, really coming,” Blinken, 60, told me in late July at his State Department office. “We called an audible. … We made a decision virtually overnight. ‘Let’s go to New York. Let’s go to the security council.’ ”
On Feb. 17, Blinken took his seat before the peacekeeping body, and, in strikingly precise terms, offered his version of the immediate future — “here’s what the world can expect to see unfold” — as if glimpsed in an especially apocalyptic crystal ball. He foretold fake provocations and forecast cyberattacks and missile strikes, followed by Russian tanks and infantry rolling into Ukraine. “The stakes go far beyond Ukraine,” Blinken said, as the Russian representative to the council shuffled papers and the Ukrainian diplomat twisted a pen cap. “This crisis directly affects every member of this council and every country in the world. Because the basic principles that sustain peace and security — principles that were enshrined in the wake of two world wars and a Cold War — are under threat.”
The stakes went beyond Ukraine in another way, too. This moment in the diplomatic spotlight for the Biden administration was a do-over after the debacle in Afghanistan last summer, when President Biden promised there would not be a Saigon-like helicopter evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul — about five weeks before there was a Saigon-like helicopter evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Blinken, at the time, gamely went on the Sunday news shows to spin the chaotic withdrawal as necessary and not without positive aspects.
The U.N. speech was also a do-over from the previous four years, when President Donald Trump yanked America from international agreements, questioned the need for NATO and personally insulted the heads of state of allies while fawning over authoritarians. Here was Blinken giving meaning to Biden’s claim at the start of his presidency that “America is back” on the world stage, ready to engage with allies again, to take collective action on global problems.
Regaining credibility wouldn’t be easy, though. America’s track record of blundering foreign policy outcomes is not limited to Afghanistan. In 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell made an equally dramatic visit to the security council to confidently present what turned out to be a false case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Blinken acknowledged that history in his own address: “Now, I am mindful that some have called into question our information, recalling previous instances where intelligence ultimately did not bear out,” he said. “But let me be clear: I am here today not to start a war but to prevent one.”
During his 2020 candidacy, Biden had argued that a decisive competition between democracy and autocracy would be a fundamental drama of the 21st century, citing China as a major challenger. America, he said, must reengage with allies to help lead and win that struggle. This us-vs.-them vision could sound a bit like a creaky Cold War throwback rather than an overarching frame for a forward-looking foreign policy. But a week after Blinken’s security council visit, Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine just about as Blinken had outlined. The biggest war in Europe since 1945 demonstrated that the past may not be past, and the Biden administration’s foreign policy finally began to find its footing.
Biden and Blinken are attempting something larger than a post-Trump reset and restoration of the traditional liberal internationalist approach to foreign policy. They must confront a radically different context from the days when they both served under President Barack Obama: While still preeminent, America’s power abroad — relative to close rivals like China — is diminished. At home, its model as a functioning democracy is tarnished amid an insurrection investigation and paralyzing polarization. Existential crises like climate change and the threat of global pandemics overshadow geopolitical disputes and require leadership and collective responses. On top of it all, vast swaths of the American public question the value of international engagement in the first place, making us a less reliable partner. America may be back now — but for how long?
The Biden administration’s answer is rooted in a phrase coined by Blinken: the notion that “humility and confidence” should be the “flip sides of America’s leadership coin.” While liberal internationalists like Bill Clinton and Obama have always subscribed to the idea that America should confidently wield its power alongside respect for other nations’ values and interests, now humility is not just a diplomatic nicety; it’s a necessity, as we face challenges beyond America’s power to solve alone. In effect, Joe Biden and Tony Blinken have set out to reimagine American foreign policy — and, against all odds, to try to save the old liberal international order — by striking a new balance between these two very contradictory ideals.
Not being much of a beer drinker, apparently, Blinken opted for the smaller glass in a beer garden in Berlin. It was June 2021, just a few months into the Biden administration. Between high-level meetings on Libya and other matters, Blinken was doing a little personal diplomacy at a gathering of former German exchange students, seated next to his German counterpart at the time, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. The German minister sounded positively giddy at this latest turn in the conduct of American foreign policy.
“I’ll just share a story with you, if I may, Tony,” said Maas, according to a State Department transcript of their encounter. “From the very first telephone conversation we had after Tony took the office of secretary of state … I still have to get used to the fact that I can speak to the American foreign secretary and always be of the same view.” Maas called Biden’s election the biggest “game changer” since he’d been in the field of foreign affairs, because “diplomacy is back” and the United States is “back on the international stage.”
When it was his turn to speak, Blinken traced his affection for Germany to when he played guitar in a high school band on spring break in a bar in Hamburg (“Maybe we thought we were going to be like the Beatles, when they spent time in Hamburg and then they got famous”) then detailed how a changed world required a new approach to foreign policy. “When you think about the problems that we have to deal with … there’s not a single one of those big things … that any one country can effectively deal with alone. … More than any time in my life, there is an imperative, a need, for countries to cooperate. … But it doesn’t just happen; you have to work at it.”
It was a succinct description of how Biden and Blinken were trying to reorient America’s posture in the world. Disagreements would persist, of course, but the way the Americans dealt with them signaled a new empathy for foreign partners’ points of view. For example, despite Blinken’s (and Biden’s) objections to the completion of a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany — a priority for Germany — Biden waived sanctions on the pipeline builders because the disagreement wasn’t worth the damage to relations with an ally. And yet, around the time of Blinken’s Berlin visit, American and German officials behind the scenes were discussing how to keep Russia from being able to exploit the pipeline during any future hostilities.
This cooperative approach would pay spectacular dividends eight months later, when Germany refused to certify the pipeline amid rising tensions just before Russia invaded Ukraine. “That was a testament to the very diligent work that had gone on behind the scenes and therefore yielded a very powerful messaging opportunity not only about the unity of the response to the Russians, but also about the value of this approach to foreign policy and to investing in the alliances and partnerships,” says Bill Russo, a deputy assistant secretary of state.
In addition to reinvigorating long-standing alliance networks, Blinken and the Biden foreign policy team also set about building new architectures for international cooperation in Asia and the Pacific Ocean region. “I give Tony pretty high marks as a secretary of state for adhering to my former boss [Reagan-era Secretary of State] George Shultz’s dictum that alliance management is like gardening,” says Eric Edelman, a onetime ambassador and defense official, now a senior fellow at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia. “You have to sort of be constantly attentive to allies.”
Yet just over seven weeks after the toasts to allied cooperation in Berlin, Blinken seemed to have forgotten how to garden. The United States found itself mired in the controversial exit from Afghanistan — despite the serious misgivings of allies over the rapid pace of withdrawal. “Whatever happened to ‘America is back’?” Tobias Ellwood, chair of the Defense Committee in the British Parliament, said at the time. Added Cathryn Clüver Ashbrook, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations: “We’re back to the transatlantic relationship of old, where the Americans dictate everything.”
Domestic analysts were withering. “They ignored all their major allies,” Ronald Neumann, a former ambassador to Afghanistan and president of the American Academy of Diplomacy, told me. “That left a lot of people saying, you know, ‘Is there really a back to the old [foreign] policy, or is this an America First policy? Is this Trump with a smiley face?’ ”
State Department officials rebut the criticism that allies weren’t consulted, telling me that Blinken immediately relayed to Biden their concerns that the pace of withdrawal should be based on the Taliban meeting certain conditions. Biden agreed that Blinken should explore that course with the Taliban, but in the end the Taliban insisted on sticking to the deal struck with the Trump administration. The Biden team determined that if the American exit didn’t proceed, fighting would flare up again.
Nonetheless, the whole painful experience showed the dissonance within Biden-Blinken’s attempts to harmonize confidence and humility, to balance American self-interest and international cooperation. Ending the “forever war” in Afghanistan, a priority of Biden’s, was arguably a humble acknowledgment of the limits of America’s ability to fix the world. It was also a calculated assessment of what was best for America, regardless of what allies may have thought.
“While the withdrawal was incredibly important and necessary to further American national interests, the process of withdrawal was diplomatic malpractice,” says Aaron David Miller, a former adviser to Democratic and Republican secretaries of state and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “People wondered whether or not America would ever be able to lead again.”
That the same foreign policy ethos has been successful in the Ukraine effort but ended so disappointingly in the Afghanistan case reflects the strain of navigating a world where America’s stature is in flux. It’s “a world in which you have less running room than the United States has had at any other time, probably, in our recent history,” says Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser under Obama. During the Obama administration, “there was still a kind of implicit understanding globally that the United States was the leader of an international system that, to differing extents, most countries deferred to.”
That deference, Rhodes notes, has waned “for a lot of reasons,” starting with “the damage that Donald Trump did to U.S. standing, as someone who … was basically against the United States playing that role in the world.” In addition, he continues, “You have a much more hostile bloc of countries led by China and Russia literally trying to attack like a virus the wiring of the international order. You also have a lot of other countries that are skeptical that the U.S. can be relied upon. Will we hold agreements that we negotiate? … Will our democracy survive? … There’s a limit to what even the best foreign policy could do about that. … It’s something that requires a longer-term rebuilding of American credibility.”
Within that new context, Biden and Blinken have gone back to the basics of revitalizing core alliances and relationships. But they can’t wind the clock back and pretend the previous four years didn’t happen. Parts of the world started to learn to do without America.
“America is back, diplomacy is back, we can come back to the table and everyone will want us back at the table — Ukraine is a great example — but we don’t necessarily get the daddy chair anymore,” says Barbara Bodine, a former ambassador now directing the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. As the United States reengages with old allies and creates new coalitions, it is “sitting at a round table instead of at the head of the table,” she says. “We are adjusting how we deal diplomatically for a world order post-Cold War … and also an American foreign policy post-Trump. We’re now maybe preeminent — but not determinative.”
Biden and Blinken have gone back to the basics of revitalizing core alliances and relationships. But they can’t wind the clock back and pretend the previous four years didn’t happen.
Following America’s four-year near-absence from the table of nations, leadership roles have been redistributed on specific issues, says Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former senior State Department official and now CEO of the New America think tank. “On some issues, like climate, the [European Union] is the undisputed leader,” she says. “On a lot of issues that really matter to developing countries, the E.U. and China are leaders. This is a multipolar, multi-issue world where you have different orders on different issues. … When I’m talking to Brazilians and Indians … Africans and folks from the Middle East, countries are looking around, figuring out their interests and partnering with different countries, depending.”
Even so, American leadership “remains indispensable to NATO’s united response to a more dangerous and competitive world,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told me in an email. “Secretary Blinken has been playing a vital role at every stage, helping to build consensus among allies through his personal engagement, deep knowledge of the countries and issues he’s dealing with, as well as his sense of humor and empathy.”
Blinken recognizes the subtle but real change in the order of things. “There’s a greater premium than at any time that I’ve been doing this over 30 years to find ways to bring others along,” he told me. That’s why, he said, as America pursues its foreign policy interests and ideals within a frame of democracy-autocracy competition and amid global existential threats, those twin graces of confidence and humility are so important: “Humility precisely because there are profound and accelerating changes happening around the world. That means that the United States, even as powerful as we are, can’t simply decide outcomes as we want them. … But I’m equally convinced that — and I’ve seen this in action over the last 18 months — we continue to have a greater capacity than any country on Earth to mobilize others in positive collective action when we’re at our best. And so we’ve been trying — I’ve been trying — to put those two things together.”
He leaned forward in his chair as he spoke, having removed his suit coat earlier. His answers were long and organized, like his speeches, with elaborations spiraling out from a few key pillars of argument. A certain humility is also a way to acknowledge America’s struggles with its own democracy and turn them into a kind of strength, he continued. “We still confront our problems openly and transparently. This goes back to the notion that at the very foundation of the country is the quest for a more perfect union, and so the acknowledgment that we’re not perfect, never will be. But it’s in striving to get there that we make progress. But what continues to set us apart, despite the many challenges that we’re facing and some of the travails that we find at home, is we continue to do it all out in the open, transparently. We confront it. We don’t sweep things under the rug. We don’t try to pretend they don’t exist. Many other countries do.”
“And so for me, at least,” he added, “I found that … in conversations with others [in other countries] about our own challenges at home, I’m able to say to them, ‘We’re dealing with this and we’re doing it openly. The entire world sees it. Every citizen in our country sees it. You might be inspired by that, too.’ I find that to be … in an interesting way, leverage — to actually advance what we’re trying to advance — not a weakness.”
Still, there have been obvious cases when the full-throated touting of democratic values has seemed the opposite of humble, at best, and hypocritically self-defeating at worst. Biden’s Summit for Democracy in December 2021, when leaders of scores of democracies met virtually to recommit to democratic ideals, ended up raising more questions about who was or was not included (Pakistan and the Philippines, yes? Hungary and Turkey, no?) than concrete results — though the promised “year of action” for nations to achieve democratic improvements is still underway. In June, the Summit of the Americas hosted by the United States yielded an embarrassing mini-boycott by leaders of some Latin American countries, as well as harsh criticism from a few who attended. They objected to the exclusion of the autocratic leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. It was not so long ago that the Obama administration — in which, it bears repeating, Biden and Blinken both served — took an opposite path and began to reestablish relations with Cuba. Meanwhile, China is making friends and heavily investing in Latin America while not checking democracy papers at the door.
“Both the president and the secretary of state are fond of talking about the threat that China and Russia pose as fundamentally ideological, and therefore this is about democracy versus autocracy,” says Kori Schake, senior fellow and director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. “They seem not to realize how little purchase that rhetoric gets throughout most of Asia, for example. And so the conflict is between soaring rhetoric that they’re clearly attached to, and the necessities that their policies of containing China would indicate. So for example, how many times have they said they’re going to put human rights at the center of American foreign policy? How does that square with the president’s trip to Saudi Arabia?”
When I asked Blinken whether the emphasis on democracy risks subverting other goals the administration is simultaneously pursuing, he highlighted that the United States tries to promote democracy over, say, the Chinese model as a choice, not a command. “One of things that we’ve said to many countries is: We are not demanding that you choose or forcing you to choose. We are trying to offer a choice,” he said.
I noted that the rhetoric of choice is indeed a humbler form of democracy promotion than the more swaggering nation-building approach that previous administrations have practiced. As China pitches major investments around the world, Biden has been working with the largest industrialized democracies to offer alternatives to developing nations. Blinken continued, “If we’re able to show that there’s another way of accomplishing the same things — because there’s a huge thirst for infrastructure investments around the world — and people have a choice, and that choice is a better one, we have a pretty good idea of where they’ll wind up going.”
The Biden-Blinken approach “is very different than the kind of arrogant bestriding of the world that certainly Trump did, but I would say, George W. Bush and [Bill] Clinton, for that matter,” Slaughter argues. “But at the same time … this is where I think ‘confident humility’ and ‘leader of the free world, democracies against autocracies’ are very hard to reconcile. … Is your starting point great power politics and democracies versus autocracies, and then you layer other things on? Or is your starting point we are in a planetary era, we are pushing planetary boundaries in many ways, and we are going to destroy the world as we know it? … That [concern] ought to overshadow any national rivalries.”
Indeed, climate change provides another tension within the administration’s simultaneous practice of great power competition, whenever necessary, and cooperation, whenever possible. Blinken holds out hope that the United States can stand up to Chinese challenges while also enlisting Chinese solidarity in curbing global warming. It’s an ambitious gambit and not one that is likely to be completed in a single election cycle, says Jordan Tama, a professor at American University’s School of International Service. “They don’t want democracy versus authoritarianism … to be so dominant in terms of the focus of the government that there’s not attention to other important transnational challenges. They are trying to balance those things, but it is not an easy balance, because obviously the more time you spend on Russia, Ukraine or competition with China, the less bandwidth there is to be doing as much on, say, climate change or preparing for the next pandemic. … To what extent it’s possible to challenge China forcefully in some areas and gain Chinese cooperation in other areas is a huge, open question for the years to come.”
In May, Blinken put on an academic gown to address a new generation of foreign service graduates at Georgetown. He wanted to “start by kicking the elephant out of the room,” Blinken told them: “Yes, NYU got Taylor Swift as their commencement speaker.” He continued, “Now, my staff did not let me bring my guitar up here to dedicate a performance of ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ to President Putin. They said it would be ‘undiplomatic’ and also ‘cringe.’ … Since when is ‘cringe’ an adjective?”
Beyond an incurable fondness for dad jokes and a lifelong passion for jamming in amateur bands — check out his three original compositions on Spotify, user name Ablinken — Blinken breaks the mold for secretaries of state in a number of ways. He’s one of few to have toiled as a foreign policy staffer, speechwriter and adviser before evolving into a principal policymaker. He’s also unusual for serving while parenting small children. He and his wife, Evan Ryan, the head of White House Cabinet affairs, have a son and daughter under 5 years old. “Kids have a wonderful way of reminding you of what’s real,” Blinken says. “I was going to be on one of the Sunday shows and my wife said to our kids, ‘Daddy’s going to be on TV,’ and the response was, ‘We want to watch “Sesame Street”!’ ”
In Blinken’s case, biography and personality inform policy in a particularly clear way. He was an internationalist from birth. The son and nephew of ambassadors, he was born into an artistic home on Park Avenue in New York City. His mother remarried before he was 10, and they moved to Paris, where Blinken became fluent in French, went to high school and played in that band that road-tripped to Hamburg. He was influenced by his late stepfather, the international lawyer Samuel Pisar, who survived the Holocaust as a child.
Blinken told Pisar’s story at his confirmation hearing in January 2021. At the end of World War II, Pisar ran away from a death march. Hiding in the woods, he heard rumbling — an American tank. The hatch opened, and a Black GI appeared. Pisar fell to his knees and said the only words he knew in English: “God bless America.” “The GI lifted him into the tank, into freedom,” Blinken said. “That’s who we are. That’s what we represent to the world, however imperfectly, and what we can still be when we’re at our best.”
The story is at the moral center of Blinken’s view of the potential for America’s role in the world, according to his friends and colleagues. “Whether it’s sensitivity and empathy that flows from a family who had losses in the Holocaust, whether it’s just his goodness — it sounds corny, but the truth is, that’s his core,” says Miller, the Carnegie Endowment fellow. “Tony Blinken, if anything, is determined to find a better balance between values and interests for American foreign policy.”
Victoria Nuland, undersecretary for political affairs, says she saw Blinken apply these values to the work of strengthening allied resolve ahead of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “It’s Tony’s ability to walk into a room of like-minded [foreign partners] who are nonetheless at sixes and sevens about what to do, and to start by reminding them what’s important — including what’s important in human, moral, democratic terms: You don’t invade another country by force. You don’t spurn diplomacy when it’s on the table. You don’t commit the kind of human rights abuses that are happening now. And then to turn that into a what-do-we-do-about-it conversation.”
The other decisive influence on Blinken and therefore on today’s American foreign policy is his long and close relationship with Biden, who at 79 is nearly 20 years his senior. It’s an exception to the recent history of presidential-secretary pairings, most comparable to the strong bonds between George H.W. Bush and James Baker, or George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice, foreign policy experts say.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell where Biden ends and Blinken begins. They’ve been holding a two-decade conversation about foreign policy since the early 2000s, when Blinken was Democratic staff director to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by then Sen. Biden. Later Blinken served as Vice President Biden’s national security adviser in the Obama administration, before taking on other roles outside Biden’s orbit, including deputy secretary of state for Obama. As one example of their mind-meld, in his public remarks Blinken has adopted a riff, almost word-for-word, from Biden’s foreign policy manifesto published in Foreign Affairs magazine during his 2020 candidacy, titled “Why America Must Lead Again.” The riff concerns the “one of two things” that happen when America doesn’t lead: either another country leads in a wrong direction, or chaos fills the leadership vacuum.
Whether this close identification between Biden and Blinken is good or bad for foreign policy is argued both ways around Washington. “What Tony brings to the job is the reality that every time he’s in the room with any foreign leader, they know this is someone who is immensely close to the president,” says Rhodes. “What he’s saying reflects what the president’s beliefs are and where the president is going. That’s a strength.”
Last year, Blinken met with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, who spoke for an hour while Blinken took notes, according to a senior State Department official. “At the end of that, Sissi said, ‘I’m sorry that this was so long, but you’re the next best thing to talking to President Biden.’ … Then Tony was able to … go back through, point for point, all the things that [Sissi] had said, hook his answers to Sissi’s way of thinking about something, in such a way that we were able to move things along and create that human connection that has enabled us to reestablish a working relationship.”
On the other hand, for all his closeness to Biden, Blinken lacks the independent stature of former secretaries like John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell or George Shultz. Biden placed more than one former adviser on his foreign policy team, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who, like Blinken, once served as Vice President Biden’s national security adviser. It raises the question of whether anyone on the team can disagree with Biden, “who is absolutely convinced that he’s a foreign policy mastermind,” says Eliot Cohen, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and chair in strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“The president did not staff his administration with his peers; he staffed his administration with his staff,” says Schake at the American Enterprise Institute. “So it’s probably not surprising that they are deferential to his preferences, or that they’re not able to change his mind on the fundamental things he believes.” Edelman, of the Miller Center, puts it this way: “Because of his long-standing relationship with Biden, which is in many ways a plus, it’s not clear how willing [Blinken] is to force issues with Biden and take issue with decisions that he thinks the president is making erroneously.”
Officials in the State Department and the White House take the opposite view: They say Blinken’s close relationship with Biden gives him license to advocate alternative courses of action. “He’s not worried that if he tells the president, ‘Sir, I disagree with you on this,’ or ‘I think we should think about another way,’ that somehow their entire relationship is hanging on it. … It’s a very open debate,” says department counselor Derek Chollet.
“Tony doesn’t always agree with the president, and the president doesn’t always agree with Tony,” says Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff. “What they share is a common set of values and a common perspective about the world as a whole. … Inside those frameworks, [Biden] often looks to Tony for advice on the specific application of it.”
Sometimes it’s hard to tell where Biden ends and Blinken begins. They’ve been holding a two-decade conversation about foreign policy since the early 2000s.
It’s somehow fitting that Blinken, as the public face of Biden’s foreign policy, happens to have a personal style that matches the confidence and humility that he identified as an aspiration for America’s leadership abroad. “He is in some ways a modern manifestation of … walk softly and carry a big stick,” says Russo, a deputy assistant secretary of state. “Someone who is humble … but who is really one of those people for whom you should not confuse meekness for weakness.”
The confidence was on display last year in Anchorage when Blinken and Sullivan met with Chinese counterparts. After a top Chinese diplomat took shots at America on human rights and other issues — mentioning Black Lives Matter in particular — and the media was being ushered out, Blinken waved at reporters to stay as he fired back: “I’m hearing deep satisfaction that the United States is back, that we’re reengaged with our allies and partners. I’m also hearing deep concern about some of the actions your government has taken.” He went on to boast of America’s capacity for addressing its shortcomings in a transparent way. “It’s never a good bet to bet against America,” he said.
More rare in the upper echelons of national power in Washington is his humble side, which those who know him say is not a facade. “What sets Tony apart in the cutthroat world of U.S. foreign policy and geopolitics is a consistent sense of humility … and a kind of dogged work ethic,” Rhodes says. “In my decades in this field, I don’t think I’ve met anybody who is so consistently decent.”
In a sense, Blinken is a walking embodiment of America’s attempted new style of engaging with the world. “The fact that Tony doesn’t lead with his own ego, I think, bodes well for our ability to adapt to not leading with a national ego,” Bodine says. “Tony could sit at a round table and be comfortable, represent the United States, but he doesn’t have the kind of ego that needs to be dominant. So he may be the ideal secretary of state for this era.”
In wintry Moscow, 1946, as the Cold War was getting underway, American diplomat George Kennan drafted his famous Long Telegram to the State Department. He identified the close connection between the health of democracy at home and foreign policy success abroad: “Every courageous and incisive measure to solve internal problems of our own society, to improve self-confidence, discipline, morale and community spirit of our own people, is a diplomatic victory over Moscow.”
Biden and Blinken recognize that now is another decisive historical moment when America’s moral example at home (or lack thereof) may determine its success abroad. “More than at any other time in my career — maybe in my lifetime — distinctions between domestic and foreign policy have simply fallen away,” Blinken said in his first major speech as secretary of state, in which he laid out the administration’s foreign policy priorities. “Our domestic renewal and our strength in the world are completely entwined.”
Blinken doesn’t do domestic policy; other Cabinet secretaries are tasked with fulfilling Biden’s promise to “build back better” at home. But he is trying to reengage with Americans at home almost as much as he is with allies abroad. Trump’s tenure highlighted just how alienated from the work of diplomacy many Americans have become. “For some time now,” Blinken said in that first speech, “Americans have been asking tough but fair questions about what we’re doing, how we’re leading — indeed, whether we should be leading at all.” Trying to answer those questions is Biden’s and Blinken’s way of reinforcing the building blocks of their foreign policy — the rallying of democracies, the revitalizing of alliances, the confronting of planetary threats — and doing it all with the kind of confidence that comes from humbly being able to work on America’s own imperfections.
Blinken’s work in this regard has quieter elements that make fewer headlines. He has launched initiatives to focus on the “disrupters” that affect people’s lives, such as abuse of technology, cyberthreats and supply chain problems — areas where new American expertise can also give a strategic edge against adversaries. “When American diplomacy is seen to be responsive to those concerns and then is able to marshal the right coalition of partners to provide practical solutions that actually have a direct impact on the lives of Americans, that creates an environment over time in which there can hopefully be more sustainability and support for American diplomacy and engagement in the world,” says Matan Chorev, principal deputy director of Blinken’s policy planning staff.
It will take time, but rebuilding a bipartisan faith in diplomacy is the only antidote to solving America’s credibility problem as a reliable partner in the wake of Trump’s policy whiplash. To that end, Blinken has ordered his colleagues to show up not just abroad, but also in America, to talk about diplomacy and demystify its aims and ends, to connect it to people’s lives. “We’re diplomats, and we’re going to focus more of our diplomacy here at home to make sure our policies reflect the needs, the aspirations, the values of the American people,” Blinken said in an address last fall on the “modernization” of American diplomacy.
Following his own directive, Blinken dropped by Guisados, a beloved neighborhood taco shop on the east side of Los Angeles, during a break in the Summit of the Americas in June. Being a “seafood and vegetarian guy,” he got the camarones and pescado tacos.
Seated at a table with a handful of community leaders, Blinken said of the summit, “The one community that’s not really there is the immigrant community here, coming from so many of the countries in our hemisphere.” He told the leaders he was inspired by the difference they were making “in the lives of people in your communities — and our community.” He added, “It’s all our community.”
On the surface, the scene was unremarkable. Just another VIP from Washington with a massive security detail who doffed his tie to ingratiate himself with la gente. Except this guy wasn’t a politician looking for votes. He was the nation’s top diplomat, trying to make a connection, just like he had in the beer garden in Berlin.
There was something confident about the maneuver, audacious even. But humility lay at the heart of the gesture, because Blinken knew his fancy work abroad would fail without refurbishment at home, in forgotten places like this.
David Montgomery is a staff writer for the magazine. | 2022-08-22T13:40:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Can Antony Blinken Update Liberal Foreign Policy for a World Gone Mad? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/08/22/secretary-antony-blinken-foreign-policy/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/08/22/secretary-antony-blinken-foreign-policy/ |
Hochul has said the project would take four to five years and cost $6 billion to $7 billion. But documents released by the state’s economic development agency put the cost of Hochul’s overall plan at about $22 billion including transit improvements and a station expansion plan. Under a funding deal announced in July by Hochul and current Mayor Eric Adams, the state would sell development rights to private real estate companies and would also collect payments-in-lieu-of-taxes, known as PILOTs, on anything new built in the neighborhood. The city would collect a share of the PILOT payments equal to current taxes on each development site with a 3% increase each year. The remainder of the station renovation costs would be funded by the federal government, New Jersey, New York state, Amtrak and other public sources.
The Gateway Project plans to ramp up hiring over the next year as part of a requirement to show it has sufficient technical staff and controls in place in order to be eligible for its next round of federal grants, Kris Kolluri, chief executive officer at the Gateway Development Commission, said in an interview.
(Adds line on Gateway Project increasing staff in nineth question.) | 2022-08-22T13:44:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What Penn Station’s $6 Billion Makeover Means for NYC - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/what-penn-stations-6-billion-makeover-means-for-nyc/2022/08/22/e6065634-221d-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/what-penn-stations-6-billion-makeover-means-for-nyc/2022/08/22/e6065634-221d-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendia, left and Crystal Palace’s Jordan Ayew battle for the ball, during the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, at Selhurst Park, London, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
GENEVA — World Cup teams Ghana and Switzerland are taking advantage of their late start at the tournament in Qatar to play each other in a warmup friendly in the United Arab Emirates. | 2022-08-22T13:45:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | World Cup teams Ghana, Switzerland fit in warmup friendly - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/soccer/world-cup-teams-ghana-switzerland-fit-in-warmup-friendly/2022/08/22/37c01c58-221e-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/soccer/world-cup-teams-ghana-switzerland-fit-in-warmup-friendly/2022/08/22/37c01c58-221e-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
Outbreaks of the stomach bug have been far lower than in pre-pandemic years
So far this year, cruise lines have reported two outbreaks of vomiting and diarrhea to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that affected 3 percent or more of passengers or crew. That’s part of the outbreak threshold that determines whether the agency discloses episodes to the public. Ships must have a foreign itinerary with U.S. ports and need to be carrying at least 100 people.
The CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program has worked with the industry to monitor gastrointestinal illness since 1975, after “an excessive number” of outbreaks. While incidence rates of stomach illness on cruise ships dropped between 2006 and 2019, according to the CDC, pre-pandemic numbers were closer to 10 or 11 outbreaks a year. Between 2017 and 2019, cruise lines reported a total of 32 outbreaks that sickened 3,359 people. Norovirus — which the CDC says “can spread quickly in closed and semi-enclosed environments such as cruise ships” — was found to be a cause in 22 of those episodes.
William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, said that the reduced number of cruises as the industry restarted and the lower concentration of passengers — at least on many lines — would be likely factors in the lower number of outbreaks. But he said covid-19 precautions are “undoubtedly useful” to combating the spread of norovirus, as well.
Cruise lines have touted enhanced cleaning and sanitation protocols since the pandemic began. Royal Caribbean International, for example, says on its website that while hand-sanitizing stations have always been on board, the line has increased the number by 75 percent.
At least temporarily, some cruise lines got rid of self-service buffets in favor of having staff serve passengers at the food stations — though the old style has widely returned, according to the cruise news site Cruise Critic.
The CDCsays that norovirus is spread by direct contact, or sharing food or utensils with someone who is infected. Outbreaks can also result from food, water or surfaces that have been contaminated. Common settings include health-care facilities, restaurants, schools or child-care facilities, and cruise ships, the agency says, though it notes that ships account for only 1 percent of all norovirus outbreaks. | 2022-08-22T13:45:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Remember norovirus on cruises? Cases plummeted after covid measures. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/08/22/cruise-norovirus-outbreaks/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/08/22/cruise-norovirus-outbreaks/ |
By Harry Stevens
Harry Stevens is a graphics reporter at The Washington Post. He was part of a team at The Post that won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for the series “2C: Beyond the Limit.” Twitter Twitter
By Adrian Blanco
Adrián Blanco Ramos is a graphic reporter in the graphics department at The Washington Post. He previously worked at Spanish newspaper El Confidencial focusing on data visualization, data analysis and investigative journalism. He participated in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalist’s Paradise Papers investigation. Twitter Twitter | 2022-08-22T14:06:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How algorithmic redistricting detects gerrymandered congressional maps - Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/algorithmic-redistricting/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/algorithmic-redistricting/ |
Angelica Ross will make Broadway history. She aims to ‘meet the moment.’
The ‘Pose’ star will become the first openly trans woman to star in a lead role in ‘Chicago’
By Alexis P. Williams
(Steven Simione/Muze Magazine/Washington Post Illustration)
Earlier this month, Angelica Ross made headlines when it was announced she would be the first openly trans woman to star in a lead role in “Chicago” on Broadway. The former cast member of the Emmy-winning drama “Pose” will take on the role of Roxie Hart starting Sept. 12 for an eight-week limited run at the Ambassador Theater.
When she got the call for the history-making casting opportunity, Ross upheld her “vow” to Black trans women to “meet the moment,” she said. And it’s not the only way she’s doing that, she recently told The Washington Post. When the 41-year-old singer wanted to release a single this year, she started a record label to be her own boss. And when she saw fellow trans people in need of technical training and career-readiness skills, she founded a company to help them.
‘Pose’ confronts the epidemic of violence against transgender women of color in an emotional episode
It’s her casting in “Chicago” that feels like a “full-circle moment” that reunites Ross with her musical theater roots. But when the news dropped on Aug. 4, there was something else Ross wanted to bring attention to: She tweeted about WNBA star Brittney Griner, whose 9½-year prison sentence in Russia for drug possession was announced the same day.
“That day was a great day for me as far as a celebration, but it also was a not-so-great day for Brittney, for Black women who have to play overseas due to pay disparities here in the U.S., and to queer and trans and nonbinary folks who know that sometimes we are targeted or made examples when we obviously don’t fit inside certain boxes,” she said.
We spoke with Ross more about being a leader for Black trans and queer women, making history and more.
Q: How is your casting in “Chicago” a symbol of progress for LGBTQ actors on Broadway?
A: Regardless of what people’s intentions are, I’m here to meet the moment and show exactly why I was [cast]. I think that the producers had vision and they could see that I was demonstrating musical ability right now and already have seen for themselves the acting ability and wanted to bring those things together to shake up the show a little bit.
It doesn’t work if you cast someone into a role and they can’t actually perform. But I, through dance coaching, vocal coaching and acting coaching, have been preparing for this moment. And I am ready to slay [as] Roxie.
Q: Roxie Hart is a long-established character. How are you making her your own?
A: What I love about the role of Roxie is that for the past 25 years, the lines have been the same, but each woman that comes into the role puts a slight twist, her own little twist, on it. I can’t wait because context is everything. It’s the exact same lines, but even though I’m playing Roxie “straight,” as a trans woman there are just certain things that land a certain way, and those who are in on that piece of information will get an extra layer of performance.
Q: Washington Post Live recently hosted Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, and she said she “[wants] to be the example and show that it is possible” for trans women of color to succeed. You share this goal. Why do you insist on taking on this responsibility?
A: There’s a vitality when it comes to being victorious. There’s an energy that you need to cultivate in doing that. … That’s why I take it on as a vow not just, “Oh, it’s a burden” — no. It’s because I too know the responsibility is with me just like it is with every single person. Instead of passing the buck like so many people do, waiting for someone else to take care of it, I model how each one of us can stand up and face the challenges that are ahead of all of us because these challenges that we’re facing politically don’t just affect me as a Black person. They don’t just affect me as a trans person. They don’t just affect me as a woman. They affect me as a human being who wants to make sure that all humans are treated with dignity and respect. That’s the bottom line.
Q: How do Black trans women inspire you?
A: It is trans women specifically who I feel like I’ve seen really make the most out of the least that society gives us and tries to allow for us. And the joy, the art, the creativity … I’m always inspired by the ways we keep it moving. We keep it going. As the girls say, we “pay it.” There’s so many things that we can learn from Black trans women if we just pay attention.
Q: You released a single this summer. Are you going to release an album?
A: Yes, I’ve been riding around in my car listening to about 10 songs. But I’m still in the process of writing and figuring out what songs are going to be on the album. I was going to do a short EP, but I just have been putting out so many songs that we definitely have enough for a full project. … I don’t know exactly when it’s going to happen. But Miss Ross Inc., my new record label, will be releasing my new album.
Q: Now you have a record label, too?
A: When I released “Only You,” I created Miss Ross Music to basically be able to release my own music. I didn’t want to wait for anyone else. I didn’t want to have to get anyone else’s approval. I am a boss. I don’t just do things just ‘cause. I have a team of people from publicists to glam folks to graphic designers, other producers. I trust my team to make quality products, and that’s what I’m trying to do out here in Hollywood as well. In between being chosen to be in a show, I create my own opportunities.
Q: Speaking of music, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask a former cast member of “Pose” what you think about Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” album.
A: Oh my God. Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” album has had me in a chokehold from Day 1. Honestly, it is on repeat every single day. I start every single day off with “I’m That Girl” and just can’t help but think about the lyrics. “From the top of the mornin’ I shine, right through the blinds!” That just inspires me to have the right energy every day. You can just hear in the beats, in the voices of Ts Madison, and the influences of Honey Dijon, Kevin Aviance — like you can just hear all the influences — Grace Jones. This is a nod. This is a gift to queer culture specifically Black queer culture, just like “Pose” was for the ballroom community. It was a love letter specifically to the Black and Brown, queer and trans, ballroom community. And I feel like Beyoncé’s doing the same with this album.
Q: I’ve also heard you practice Nichiren Buddhism.
A: I did an email interview with Tina Turner for Glamour magazine and got to talk with her about the fact that she chants also. … I was introduced by Tina Turner through the movie “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” Being able to see that metaphor of her being so distracted and seeking outside of herself for things to then being introduced to this practice where she went inward, got focused and saw that all she needed was her name. It’s been a huge, huge inspiration for me.
Q: One’s name is so central to who they are.
A: Absolutely. I am Angelica Love Ross, both in spirit and legally. And that legally part is just as important because of how I want to be respected and treated in this world. So when people see me, they call me Miss Ross. | 2022-08-22T14:32:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Angelica Ross on making Broadway history as trans actress in ‘Chicago’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/08/22/angelica-ross-chicago-broadway-history/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/08/22/angelica-ross-chicago-broadway-history/ |
Teachers strike in Ohio’s largest district 2 days before school begins
Teachers in Columbus, Ohio, are striking for the first time in 47 years after their contract expired early Monday following months of negotiation without an agreement over working conditions in the district’s more than 100 schools.
Unionized teachers with the Columbus Education Association (CEA) hit the picket lines Monday morning after a late Sunday vote in which 94 percent of the members rejected the “last, best offer” from the Columbus City Schools’ board of education and authorized a strike.
The strike in Ohio is the first of the new school year in a major district — Columbus enrolls more than 46,000 students — and comes as strike threats bubble up in other districts around the country. A county commissioner in North Carolina urged teachers to strike over low pay, citing a state budget surplus but massive teacher shortfall; over the weekend, 2,000 teachers in Philadelphia voted to strike a week before school begins.
Two-and-a-half years of pandemic-throttled schooling and a recent escalation of culture wars around what teachers can say on topics ranging from U.S. history to racism and LGBTQ rights have left districts across the country grappling with burned-out educators and “catastrophic” teacher shortages.
Columbus teachers were scheduled to return to classrooms Monday for preparation ahead of the first day of school Wednesday.
The CEA strike is the union’s first since 1975 and comes as members push for changes to their recently-expired contract, which was written in the pre-coronavirus pandemic era and expired at 12:01 a.m. Monday.
“On July 28, the school board walked away from the bargaining table and since that time has refused to agree to contract language that will guarantee Columbus students basics like air conditioning, appropriate class sizes, and full-time art, music, and P.E. teachers in elementary schools,” the CEA said in a statement.
HAPPENING NOW @ColumbusEA teachers on strike marching for a better contract & lots of support from drivers going by South High Street #ColumbusTeachers #Strike pic.twitter.com/zyhRTdiWdb
— Jackie Orozco (@JackieWSYX6) August 22, 2022
Jennifer Adair, president of the district’s Board of Education, called the CEA’s vote to reject the contract offer and strike “incredibly disappointing.”
“We are saddened by the unfortunate situation our families, our community and, most importantly, our children now face,” Adair said in a statement. Adair said the board’s offer prioritized students while also addressing teachers’ concerns and providing “generous” compensation.
The first day for students will now be online, the district said. It was not immediately clear who would be running lessons with the teachers on strike; the CEA has asked their supporters in the district to honor the physical or virtual picket line, which includes not using the online alternatives. The union said the strike will not interfere with families accessing the district’s buildings for meal pickup and medical services. | 2022-08-22T15:11:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Columbus teachers strike two days before school starts - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/22/columbus-teachers-strike/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/22/columbus-teachers-strike/ |
Dennis Rodman says he plans to travel to Russia to work to secure the release of Brittney Griner. (Lynne Sladky/2019 Associated Press photo)
Dennis Rodman, the Hall of Fame former basketball player and occasional diplomat, hopes to travel to Russia this week to seek the release of Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who has been sentenced to nine years in prison on a drug charge.
U.S. officials in May classified Griner, the two-time Olympic gold medalist who has been in custody since February, as “wrongfully detained,” a designation that indicated the government would take more aggressive steps to negotiate her release. Since then, she has been convicted and her representatives have appealed the sentence.
The efforts of Rodman would be “likely to complicate and hinder release efforts,” according to a senior Biden administration official, who asked not to identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.
In late July Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had made a “substantial proposal” to Moscow for a prisoner exchange involving Griner, who plays for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, and Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted on espionage charges. Whelan says he was framed.
As for Rodman’s travel plans, a State Department spokesman pointed out that the department’s “Russia Travel Advisory remains at Level 4 — do not travel — due to a number of factors, including the unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces, the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials, the singling out of U.S. citizens in Russia by Russian government security officials, including for detention, the arbitrary enforcement of local law, limited flights into and out of Russia, the embassy’s limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia.” The spokesman asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Griner pleaded guilty last month to carrying vape cartridges with cannabis oil when she entered the country, where she plays professionally during the WNBA’s offseason. Prosecutors contended that the 0.702 grams of cannabis found in her luggage after she landed at Sheremetyevo International Airport was a “significant amount.”
Speaking through a court interpreter before being sentenced, Griner said she made “an honest mistake under stress” as she packed hurriedly to travel to Russia and did not realize the vape cartridges were in her baggage.
Rodman, known for his stellar defense on the court and outlandish lifestyle off it, has delved into diplomacy a number of times over the last decade, particularly with regard to North Korea and Russia. He has made multiple trips to North Korea and has a friendship with its leader, Kim Jong Un. He traveled to Moscow in 2014 and called Russian President Vladimir Putin “cool.” When former president Donald Trump met with Kim in Singapore in 2018, Rodman was there. He also claimed credit for helping gain the release of American Kenneth Bae from North Korea. | 2022-08-22T15:11:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Dennis Rodman says he'll help Brittney Griner with trip to Russia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/22/dennis-rodman-russia-brittney-griner/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/22/dennis-rodman-russia-brittney-griner/ |
Trinity Rodman, seen here seeking a goal vs. Czech Republic at SheBelieves Cup in February, will return to the U.S. national team for friendlies in Kansas City, Kan., and Washington, D.C. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press)
With six Washington Spirit players selected — and five others with local ties — almost half the U.S. women’s national soccer team chosen Monday for an upcoming camp and friendlies will feel right at home for the squad’s first appearance at Audi Field.
Following a perfect run at the Concacaf W Championship last month in Mexico, Coach Vlatko Andonovski kept his 23-player group almost entirely intact for matches against Nigeria on Sept. 3 in Kansas City, Kan., and Sept. 6 in Washington.
It includes Washington’s Trinity Rodman, Ashley Sanchez, Andi Sullivan, Kelley O’Hara, Ashley Hatch and Aubrey Kingsbury.
Five others have local connections: Becky Sauerbrunn, a University of Virginia graduate who played for the Washington Freedom, the Spirit’s predecessor; Emily Fox (Ashburn, Va.) and Midge Purce (Silver Spring, Md.); and former Spirit attackers Rose Lavelle and Mallory Pugh.
Washington’s Emily Sonnett, who is recovering from a foot injury, was the only player from the W Championship roster not selected.
“All the players on the roster performed well in Mexico at qualifying and have carried that form for their clubs,” Andonovski said in a statement. “So we’ll continue the process of growing as a team with this group.”
Crystal Dunn, a former Spirit star who gave birth in May, will rejoin the squad for training purposes only.
The U.S. visit to Audi Field will come after multiple failed attempts by the U.S. Soccer Federation and D.C. United to arrange a match at the four-year-old MLS stadium, which this season is hosting six of the Spirit’s 11 regular season home games. (Washington also plays at Segra Field in Leesburg.)
The Americans made 10 appearances at RFK Stadium between 1995 and 2017.
Despite being winless since the NWSL opener, the Spirit (1-6-9) will continue to boast the largest contingent on the U.S. roster. Seattle’s OL Reign is represented by four players and the Portland Thorns and San Diego Wave three apiece.
The only player from outside the NWSL is Olympique Lyonnais’s Lindsey Horan.
Several regulars remain unavailable: Catarina Macario, Sam Mewis, Christen Press, Lynn Williams and Tierna Davidson are injured, Abby Dahlkemper just returned from injury and Julie Ertz and Casey Krueger are on maternity leave.
The top-ranked Americans will enter the matches against the No. 46 Super Falcons unbeaten in 19 straight since losing to Canada in the Olympic semifinals. Their success at the W Championship secured berths in the 2023 World Cup and 2024 Summer Olympics.
“Preparing for the World Cup is a long process, and I’ve been very happy with how our team understands that process, is willing to do the work and is making positive strides every camp to get us to where we want to be next summer,” Andonovski said.
Like the United States, Nigeria has participated in every World Cup since 1991. Its American coach, Randy Waldrum, also oversees the University of Pittsburgh women’s team.
U.S. roster
Defenders: Alana Cook (OL Reign), Emily Fox (Racing Louisville), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave), Sofia Huerta (OL Reign), Kelley O’Hara (Washington), Becky Sauerbrunn (Portland Thorns).
Midfielders: Sam Coffey (Portland), Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyonnais), Taylor Kornieck (San Diego), Rose Lavelle (OL Reign), Kristie Mewis (Gotham FC), Ashley Sanchez (Washington), Andi Sullivan (Washington).
Forwards: Ashley Hatch (Washington), Alex Morgan (San Diego), Mallory Pugh (Chicago), Midge Purce (Gotham FC), Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign), Trinity Rodman (Washington), Sophia Smith (Portland). | 2022-08-22T15:11:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | USWNT releases roster for Audi Field friendly - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/22/uswnt-roster-audi-field-friendly/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/22/uswnt-roster-audi-field-friendly/ |
D.C. to give as much as $200K to first-time homebuyers in hot market
By Marissa J. Lang
Washington Mayor Muriel E. Bowser holds a news conference on affordable housing at the Spring Flats housing complex in 2021. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
D.C. will more than double the amount of assistance first-time home buyers can receive from the government this year in a bid to help Washingtonians — particularly Black Washingtonians — be competitive in the District’s explosive housing market.
Starting Oct. 1, first-time home buyers may qualify for as much as $202,000 in assistance from the city, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) announced Monday. The money, part of the District’s Home Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP), will be issued in the form of a low-interest loan that allows households to defer repayment for up to five years.
Previously, HPAP enabled qualified home buyers to receive a loan for up to $80,000 in gap financing and down-payment assistance and up to $4,000 in additional closing cost subsidies. Eligibility is determined based on income.
D.C. Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio said the increase is meant to help residents “keep up with a hot housing market” at a time when interest rates are going up and inflation has made other costs of living in the city even more costly.
“We knew we had to do something to make the program more viable for potential home buyers,” he said last week. “We wanted our residents to be the most prepared as they go into this hot housing market.”
The amount D.C. officials settled on — a nod to the District’s area code — would allow individuals making up to $109,600 and families of four making as much as $156,550 to qualify for graduated assistance based on income level. Loans will range from $70,000 to $202,000.
The number, said Tsega Bekele, chief of staff for the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, is “gimmicky, but this is real money that will help people.”
D.C. development has soared under Bowser. So have housing costs.
The District is “trying to get more people to buy in the District, live in the District, primarily with a focus on Black homeownership,” he added, by making a dramatic change to the program. “If you see $202,000 is available to me for down-payment assistance, you might think, ‘Wow, I, too, could buy a home, I think.’ ”
The median home price in D.C. was $646,000 in July, according to Bright MLS.
The program expansion comes as the mayor is expected to win a third term in office amid a soaring housing market and widespread anxiety over housing affordability in the District. In recent months, her office has looked to expand initiatives meant to help Washingtonians purchase or remain in their home.
Participants in the first-time home buyer program have said despite the financial assistance, they still have struggled to stay competitive in the District’s white-hot housing market due to some of the program’s requirements, including having an approved home inspection, which can be a disadvantage to buyers going up against others who can get faster financing or are willing to waive all contingencies.
But more changes may be on the horizon.
Bowser earlier this year announced a new “strike force” aimed at boosting Black homeownership and closing the racial equity gap in the District. The group is expected to issue recommendations by October that will guide how D.C. spends a $10 million allotment Bowser has earmarked for Black homeowners in her fiscal 2023 budget.
This increase to HPAP, Bekele said, was an outgrowth of one of the strike force’s early recommendations.
Mayor Bowser announces $10 million effort to support Black homeowners
Roughly 350 people have received assistance through the program since Bowser took office in 2015, officials said.
During her first term in office, Bowser doubled the amount of down-payment assistance that potential home buyers could receive from the Home Purchase Assistance Program and created a program specifically meant to provide financial aid to city workers, teachers and first responders — applicants to that program can receive an additional $20,000.
Although the nation’s real estate market may be cooling thanks to rising interest rates, Falcicchio said the District’s housing market shows no signs of significant slowdowns.
Officials said they’re hoping to equip residents to purchase homes even as real estate prices continue to hit all-time highs.
“If you look back historically where there have been dips in the housing market nationally, we haven’t felt that as much as other regions,” Falcicchio said. Raising the cap on how much assistance prospective home buyers can receive “puts those who participate in the program on equal footing in a market where people are looking for that first home that’s maybe a condo or a home that isn’t at the higher end of what homes can go for in the District.”
Bowser also announced an expansion to the District’s homeowner assistance fund, which offers financial relief to homeowners who need to make repairs to their homes, from Wards 7 and 8 to residents throughout the city. The District has $50 million to dole out — part of its pandemic relief efforts — and will be accepting applications through the end of September. | 2022-08-22T15:15:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | DC-home-buyers-subsidy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/dc-boosts-relief-first-time-homebuyers-202000/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/dc-boosts-relief-first-time-homebuyers-202000/ |
Anthony S. Fauci has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and became the public face of the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. (André Chung for The Washington Post)
“Because of Dr. Fauci’s many contributions to public health, lives here in the United States and around the world have been saved,” said Biden, who as vice president worked with Fauci on the nation’s response to Ebola and Zika during the Obama administration. “Whether you’ve met him personally or not, he has touched all Americans’ lives with his work.”
While Fauci is one of the most cited researchers of all time and has been widely known in scientific circles for decades, it was the coronavirus pandemic that catapulted him to worldwide fame — and ignited criticism from some Republican politicians and threats from the public.
Anthony Fauci is up against more than a virus
Fauci had been a lightning rod before, most notably during the early days of the AIDS crisis when activists clamored for a swifter government response as they watched friends die. But the coronavirus pandemic arrived in a strikingly different era, with social media pouring fuel on the criticism and baseless conspiracy theories leveled at Fauci and others presiding over the federal government’s response.
The veteran scientist acknowledged missteps: In the early weeks of the pandemic, Fauci and other government scientists said Americans did not need to wear masks, which President Donald Trump seized on toward the end of his presidency to criticize Fauci and to question his expertise. And, like many other disease detectives, Fauci did not recognize early on that asymptomatic people were prime spreaders of the virus.
Those factors “led the surgeon general of the United States, the CDC and me to say, right now, you really don’t need to wear a mask and all of a sudden, it became Tony Fauci is the mask guy,” Fauci said. “Since I am the primary target of the far right, when the far right says you got it wrong, it isn’t that everybody got it wrong — it’s that Tony Fauci got it wrong.”
The last 2½ years marked some of the most rewarding and challenging times of his career, Fauci said. His public contradictions of Trump over unproven covid-19 treatments and the threat posed by the pandemic and his advocacy of mitigation measures made Fauci a villain to the political right.
“It was one of the most important challenges that we have had to face, and I believe my team and I — and let history be the judge of that — have made a major contribution,” Fauci said. “We didn’t do it alone, but we played a major role in the development of the vaccines that have now saved millions of lives.”
But Fauci said the pandemic, which has claimed more than 1 million lives in the United States, proved “extremely stressful.”
He attributed that to the combination of dealing with a novel virus that has shown a remarkable propensity to infect people and mutated with breathtaking speed and the politically charged environment in which the government had to run a response. That, coupled with his fame and the attention given to his public statements, made making mistakes and communicating changing scientific guidance to the public immensely harder, he said.
He also reflected on anti-science sentiments that have proliferated, mistakes he and other scientists made during the pandemic, deep national divisions infecting politics that have put democracy at risk, and lessons learned from the government and national response to the coronavirus.
Fauci emphasized that he is not exiting the public square. He said he hopes to teach, lecture, write — perhaps a book, along with essays and other types of writing — and use his experience to inspire and teach a younger generation of scientists.
“I love everything about this place. … But even with that, I said I’m going to have to leave some time,” Fauci said. “I don’t want to be here so long that I get to the point where I lose a step.”
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said the first phone call he made after Biden was declared president-elect — at Biden’s direction — was to ask Fauci to serve as chief medical adviser. When he served as Ebola czar in 2014 in the Obama administration, Klain worked with Fauci.
“This is someone who’s given his life to save lives and serve this country,” Klain said.
Fauci, who earns $480,654 a year, considered retiring at the end of Trump’s term, he said. But when Biden called during the presidential campaign and asked whether he would serve in a potential Biden administration, Fauci reconsidered. He figured he would stay at least a year to help shepherd the country through the pandemic just as vaccines were becoming available. In the end, the virus proved far more daunting to control than anticipated, and Fauci will have served nearly two years with Biden.
Still, Fauci said, with an arsenal of vaccines and treatments and increasing immunity through shots and exposure to the virus, the nation is approaching a moment of equilibrium at which it can live with the virus.
An interim successor is expected to be named before Fauci departs, and NIH will conduct a national search for Fauci’s replacement.
An early crisis
Fauci assumed leadership of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as HIV was infecting thousands of gay men, nearly all of whom died because no treatments existed. A few years earlier, Fauci had been developing curative therapies for inflammatory diseases and saw many of his patients who were supposed to die doing surprisingly well. But in the 1980s, Fauci changed the direction of his lab to focus on the emerging disease affecting primarily gay men. Suddenly, almost all of his patients were dying, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
“To have every one of my patients die was really, quite frankly, traumatic,” Fauci said. “It was extremely frustrating when you’ve been trained to be a healer, and you’re doing nothing but putting Band-Aids on hemorrhages, metaphorically speaking, when you’re treating HIV.”
The Reagan administration for years paid little attention to the crisis, enraging gay activists who felt the government was doing nothing to stop them from getting sick and dying. Fauci and his lab had been studying AIDS for about three years by the time he became the institute’s director, but they had made little progress on a treatment.
By the late 1980s, gay activists had organized to bring global attention to the AIDS crisis. NIH and the Food and Drug Administration were targets of their demonstrations and demands that government agencies accelerate research and new-drug approval and access.
AIDS activists wanted a voice in clinical trial design and for patients to have access to experimental drugs. For years, scientists and government officials — including Fauci — refused to change the research process to allow patients access to medications out of fear it would compromise scientific integrity. Activists staged “die-ins” in front of Fauci’s office, chanting “Fire Fauci!”
Fauci said he eventually realized the activists were right — the process needed to change. And he befriended the activists, some becoming close friends and advisers. Fauci advocated for the “parallel track approach” that allows patients to access experimental medication while a randomized controlled trial unfolds separately to determine a drug’s efficacy. Years later, under President George W. Bush, Fauci was one of the architects of PEPFAR, the multibillion-dollar global HIV/AIDS program that has saved millions of lives. Bush awarded Fauci the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008.
Fauci could usually find common ground with his adversaries and a way to work with them. That changed with the coronavirus pandemic.
Even as they sometimes employed aggressive tactics, AIDS activists were correct that the clinical trial process for drugs was too rigid and needed to change, Fauci said. But he said his opponents during the coronavirus pandemic have been engaged largely in arguments devoid of science.
“The situation with the political divisiveness [with covid-19] was totally different because you had the complete unreality of stating that drugs worked when there was no evidence they did,” Fauci said. “The leader of the country is saying, ‘Oh, don’t worry, it’s going to disappear tomorrow.’ … I felt I had an obligation to the country to be the person who speaks for science and speaks for the truth.”
‘You become the villain’
If Republicans win control of the House in November’s elections, several members have said they will launch investigations into Fauci. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) have come after Fauci with particular ferocity and propagated baseless claims and conspiracy theories about him.
“There is nothing that I cannot defend,” Fauci said. “I can respect disagreement, but there’s a big difference between disagreement and investigating somebody for doing something terrible.”
The attacks from the right have resulted in threats on Fauci’s life. A man who sent emails to Fauci threatening to kill him and his family was sentenced this month to more than three years in prison.
“I had to oppose a president of the United States. That is not the easiest thing in the world to do, but I did it,” Fauci said.
Until Trump, Fauci managed to get along with the presidents he advised. He has long insisted he is a “nonpolitical person” and speaks only to science.
Since he first visited the White House to advise President Ronald Reagan, Fauci said, he has lived by advice from a friend who had advised President Richard M. Nixon. Each time you walk into the White House, the advice went, tell yourself it may be the last time. You may have to tell the president or a high-ranking official something they don’t want to hear — an inconvenient truth — and they may never want to speak with you again. Or they may respect that you told them the truth and want you back.
In the first weeks of the pandemic in 2020, Fauci seemed to strike a delicate rapport with Trump. But as Trump started seizing on so-called cures in a desperate attempt to persuade people that the pandemic was nearing an end, Fauci began publicly contradicting the temperamental president. While Trump insisted hydroxychloroquine was a promising treatment, Fauci repeatedly said there was no evidence it worked.
Trump initially embraced a recommendation from Fauci and the president’s coronavirus response coordinator, Deborah Birx, to extend guidance for a nationwide shutdown. But Trump then abandoned all mitigation measures as the virus continued to rage through summer and fall 2020 before vaccines and treatments became available. Fauci continued to advise that people wear masks and socially distance even after many, particularly Republicans, had grown weary of restrictions, making him a boogeyman to the right. His embrace of vaccine mandates in 2021 calcified that view.
Trump ultimately turned on Fauci, resulting in a remarkable public breach in July 2020 when White House officials released an opposition-style memo on every time they believed Fauci had been wrong about the pandemic.
“I was put in a very unusual circumstance where the country was scared, they really wanted someone who was steady and honest and showed integrity and stuck with the facts, and I became the symbol of that,” Fauci said. “And when you become a symbol for a certain segment of people, the people against that, you become the villain to them.”
Lessons of a lifetime
Some of Fauci’s goals have proved elusive. Earlier in his years as director of the infectious-diseases institute, he said he did not want to leave without a major breakthrough on an HIV vaccine. While he said that goal is in reach, it won’t happen before he steps down — and maybe not for a long time after.
Then, there are the humbling lessons from the past two-plus years: Don’t underestimate what an emerging outbreak can do. With HIV and the coronavirus, scientists initially thought only people with symptoms were infected, failing to recognize the potential of asymptomatic spread and missing the scope of both pandemics. Understanding asymptomatic spread earlier would have dramatically changed the government’s response to both crises.
Fauci said he has never seen the country so deeply polarized. Even as he worries about the nation’s direction, Fauci maintains hope the country can recover from its bout of political acrimony: “I believe that, ultimately, the better angels in our country are going to prevail.” | 2022-08-22T15:15:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Anthony Fauci, face of coronavirus response, to retire in December - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/22/fauci-retiring/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/22/fauci-retiring/ |
Everyone’s vacationing wrong
I ’m not a vacation expert. Barely a vacation veteran. If you remove bachelor parties, I’ve been on fewer than 10. I didn’t grow up in a vacationing family. We never “summered” anywhere, because using “summer” as a verb means you have “summer as a verb” money, and we had none. When we left Pittsburgh, it was for holidays and family reunions in New Castle, Pa., and Youngstown, Ohio. We always had a great time, but does an hour’s drive to the Hot Dog Capital of the World for a weekend qualify as a vacation? It does not!
Yet this lack of experience is why I’m specifically equipped to say that most of you are bad at it. Because I have no vacation baggage. No nostalgia. No longing for a less complicated time. I’m coming in cold and sober, with fresh eyes to assess you and your vacationing deficiencies.
My first official vacation was to Toronto’s Caribbean Caribana festival in 2002. Since then, I’ve been on vacations to Aruba; Deep Creek Lake, Md.; Erie, Pa.; and three cruises. (I’ve also done hybrid work trips to SXSW in Austin (twice), New Orleans, New York City, London, Los Angeles and many other cities. I don’t count these, though, because either I got paid to go or someone paid for me to go. Only purebred vacations matter.)
The propaganda wing of Big Vacation tells everyone that vacations are these reinvigorating and reforming respites. They’re where Stella got her groove back. Where you can find Parts Unknown. Where you’re supposed to eat, pray and love until you finally forget Sarah Marshall. Unfortunately, I have not enjoyed them the way I’ve been told they should be enjoyed. I usually have a good time, but I’ve had a good time at Arby’s, and no one’s circling their calendars for a week-long stay at an all-inclusive Arby’s next May.
I’ve grappled with this vacation angst for years, questioning why they just never felt great to me, and wondering if a combination of writer person brain worms and PTBD (post-traumatic brokeness disorder) made me unable to truly appreciate them. But then, after talking to several people who share my vacation apathy, I had an epiphany: It’s not my fault. The problem isn’t me. I’ve just been lied to.
A true vacation, to me, is a lack of expectations, for a predetermined period of time, in a desirable place you’ve traveled to. We get the last two parts right. We’re great at finding places on the map and then going there. But when we get there, we tend to bring work with us. And I don’t mean the work from our jobs. But new work. Invented work.
“So, at 9 a.m. we’re meeting the group for breakfast. Then snorkeling lessons at noon. At 3 p.m., I got us on the wait list to spelunk at Cave Satan’s Anus. And I found this cute little restaurant on the top of Mount Death. I got us reservations for 7 p.m., but they said we should plan to get there by 6:30, because wolves.”
“According to Yelp, the six-mile hike up the mountain is so fatiguing that it makes you vulnerable to high-altitude wolf attacks.”
“High-altitude wolves?”
If a vacation is supposed to be an absence of work, replacing home work with the vacation work of over-planning, over-scheduling and over-exerting yourself negates the vacation. You are no longer vacationing. Just doing new work in a different place with a better view. (And wolves.)
I have no vacation baggage. No nostalgia. I’m coming in cold and sober, with fresh eyes to assess you and your vacationing deficiencies.
I am not a vacation fascist. If jam-packing a schedule with activities is what you wish to do with your time away from home, knock yourself out. If this is what brings you pleasure and joy, this is an effective vacation … for you. What I’m saying is that there should be space in vacation culture for people (like me) who want to do nothing. Who like having the option of maybe doing things but might just spend four days butt naked in a hotel bed, eating scallops and bingeing “Barry.” I should not be made to feel bad for wanting to literally watch the paint dry in my room. In fact, I should be lauded. I’m subverting the capitalism-inspired American vacation trope of always having to do something — and the social media-fueled dynamic of nothing mattering unless it’s captured by you and witnessed online — and returning the vacation to its purest form where doing nothing is great.
In fact, in the spirit of this essay, I’m done writing now. Goodbye! | 2022-08-22T15:16:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Damon Young: Everyone’s vacationing wrong - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/08/22/damon-young-everyones-vacationing-wrong/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/08/22/damon-young-everyones-vacationing-wrong/ |
He concluded that no weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq and that the CIA and other intelligence agencies had badly misjudged
The mission of all the U.N. teams was to search out and destroy any banned nuclear, biological or chemical weapons or materials. In September 1991, using powers granted under a U.N. resolution, Dr. Kay’s nuclear team launched an unannounced inspection of a military facility in Baghdad to look for incriminating documents about Hussein’s clandestine efforts to develop nuclear arms.
Using a relatively newfangled satellite phone, Dr. Kay answered calls from news agencies, notably CNN, while surrounded by Iraqi guards. He and his team slept in their vehicles — a bus and several cars. As pressure from the U.N. Security Council and the world grew, the Iraqis let them leave with the documents and tapes.
“The chemical program was huge,” he later told journalists with the PBS series “Frontline,” summing up all the U.N. teams’ findings after the 1991 war. “The actual storage area of their main chemical weapons dump was larger than the District of Columbia. ... In the nuke area, whereas before the war there were two facilities identified. ... instead we discovered 25 main sites that we had had no knowledge of, and that they, at that point, were probably six to 18 months away from having their first working nuclear device. It wouldn’t have been a pretty device, and it wouldn’t have launched on a missile, but it would have been a working device, and then rolling progressively forward on that area.
The U.N. teams destroyed Iraq’s illicit weapons and programs in the 1990s, but after the inspectors were forced out in 1998, the CIA worried Hussein was secretly rebuilding his WMD. After the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush White House portrayed those suspicions as irrefutable evidence of a direct Iraqi threat to America and its allies.
Bush thanked him for his work, but Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld continued to play down Dr. Kay’s conclusions, suggesting Hussein may have smuggled some illicit weapons out of the country and may have at least been planning a WMD program.
Bush, however, felt obliged to respond to Dr. Kay’s bombshell and immediately set up a bipartisan presidential commission led by Reagan-appointed federal judge Laurence H. Silberman and former senator Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) that in March 2005 confirmed the prewar intelligence fiasco.
On retirement to Ocean View, Mr. Kay indulged an interest in photography. “He especially enjoyed photographing surfers at the Indian River Inlet, sunrises at Bethany Beach, also visiting Charleston, S.C, and New Orleans to take pictures,” Anita Kay said. “He had a wicked dry humor and was just as comfortable laughing over a drink and chatting about photography as he was conferring with world leaders about democracy.” | 2022-08-22T16:29:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | David Kay, weapons inspector who helped disprove Iraqi WMDs, dies at 82 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/22/david-kay-weapons-inspector-iraq-dead/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/22/david-kay-weapons-inspector-iraq-dead/ |
Defeated Kenyan candidate challenges results in Supreme Court
Raila Odinga speaks to supporters in Nairobi on Aug. 22 after filing a petition in Kenya's Supreme Court regarding his election loss. (Brian Inganga/AP)
NAIROBI — After a week of refusing to concede defeat, former prime minister Raila Odinga on Monday filed a petition in Kenya’s Supreme Court outlining his case that Deputy President William Ruto’s victory was “illegal, invalid, null and void.”
Odinga’s widely expected court challenge will launch the next phase in the closely contested election, which pitted two of the country’s most established politicians against one another and was marred by division among members of the country’s independent electoral commission. Minutes before the electoral commission’s chair, Wafula Chebukati, announced last week that Ruto had won 50.49 percent of the vote, compared with Odinga’s 48.5 percent, four of seven members declared they could not stand by the results because of the “opaque nature” of the process.
Among the allegations made by Odinga and his running mate, Martha Karua, in their lawsuit is that Chebukati “did in fact fraudulently manipulate and distort the presidential election results” and that Ruto failed to attain the 50 percent plus one vote majority needed to win. In a news conference Monday afternoon, Odinga alleged the vote tally involved “criminality” and framed his lawsuit as part of a larger fight for Kenya’s future.
“This is a do or die battle for the corruption cartels who have everything to lose to the forces of democracy,” said Odinga, a veteran opposition leader who was on his fifth bid for the presidency. “... For the sake of Kenya’s future, the corruption network must not only be stopped. It must also be crushed.”
Without evidence, Odinga also linked his opponents to bribery and killing — a serious and controversial allegation given that two election officials have been found dead under mysterious circumstances in Kenya’s two most recent elections. No arrests have been made in either case.
A spokeswoman for Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission did not reply to requests for comment. Ruto, who has four days to respond in court, had not publicly addressed the lawsuit as of Monday evening. He has previously called the four dissenting commissioners a “side show,” but also said that he would respect any legal process.
Kenya’s constitution requires that the court issue a decision within two weeks. A ruling in Odinga’s favor could lead to the results being nullified and the election rerun, which happened as recently as 2017. In that election, the Supreme Court declared Odinga’s loss to incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta invalid. Odinga then lost the rerun after telling supporters not to vote, citing his continued distrust in the electoral system.
Macharia Munene, a professor of history and international relations at the United States International University in Nairobi, said Odinga’s decision to take the case to court was unsurprising, given his history and the closeness of the election — with just 233,000 votes separating him from Ruto. And she said he had done the right thing by filing a legal challenge rather than calling his supporters to the streets, which has had “a positive effect in terms of cooling the temperatures.”
Despite a tense week of waiting for results, Kenya has avoided the deadly violence that followed the 2007 election and the widespread street protests and human rights violations after the 2017 election.
In Mathare, one of Nairobi’s largest slums and a site of vicious street fighting in 2007, Monday felt like a mostly normal day, according to Lazaro Ojango Omwa, a local shop owner. He said children were playing and people were doing business as usual. The only difference was that many were glued to the news.
“People are calm because they do not want to go through election violence,” said Omwa, 48. “We cannot start destroying things because it is our things we will be destroying.”
Omwa, a village elder who supports Odinga, said he and others are patiently waiting for a ruling and have confidence the court will deliver justice.
Odinga’s team alleges the election commission did not tally or verify ballots from 27 constituencies. The petition also claims a lack of transparency and accountability at the tallying center, citing the pause of publicly displayed election results and conflicting statements from Chebukati about voter turnout.
This time around, Odinga will have to meet a higher bar to prove the election results invalid, Munene said, especially given that the race was among the most transparent in Kenya’s history, with results from polling stations uploaded to an online portal. Kenya’s Election Observation Group, which includes civil society and faith-based groups and deployed observers across the country, also said that the official projections are in line with its own.
In order for Odinga’s case to be successful, he must show that there was either “substantial noncompliance with the constitution or electoral law or that there were significant illegalities and irregularities that affected the results,” constitutional lawyer Waikwa Wanyoike said.
“Presidential petitions are always very, very dicey for the court,” he said. “There is no position the court can come up with and you say it is an outright win for the court. … Having said that, I think it is always an opportunity to strengthen the institution.” | 2022-08-22T16:29:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Kenya election: Raila Odinga challenges election results - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/22/kenya-election-challenge-ruto-odinga/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/22/kenya-election-challenge-ruto-odinga/ |
A staff union has authorized a strike of up to five days
A staff union at American University went on strike Monday after failing to reach a labor agreement with the university in the District. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Amid stalled contract negotiations, hundreds of staffers at American University went on strike Monday as students moved onto the campus in the District.
Service Employees International Union Local 500, which represents about 550 clerical, technical and academic staff members at American, has been negotiating the workers’ first contract since last May. Through more than 30 bargaining sessions, they have made gains on issues of job security and disciplinary procedures but remain at odds over compensation, according to the university.
“I’m disappointed,” said Kelly Jo Bahry, assistant director of AU Abroad and a member of the staff union. “I love my job so much and have spent the majority of my career at AU. For the AU administration to take it this far is really astonishing.”
In a letter sent Sunday to the school community, American University President Sylvia Mathews Burwell said the staff plays a vital role and the university’s “fair and equitable” compensation proposal is based on its commitment to the workers. She said the administration has bargained in good faith and has to consider the health of the institution.
“With our deep dependence on tuition, we must be thoughtful stewards of our resources,” Burwell said. “If we want to continue our focus on affordability, further our commitment to research and learning, and invest in our people, we must carefully balance the best use of our available resources in each area. But it also means we can’t do everything in every area.”
Staffers want a 5 percent raise in the first year of the contract and a 4 percent increase in the second. They want the university to extend annual raises to part-time staff members and ensure no full-time member earns less than $40,000 a year.
American is offering a 2.5 percent increase across the board and a 1.5 percent performance pay bump this year, which the university says is in line with what it has provided to other staff and faculty this year. The university said it also offered additional pay increases to reduce salary disparities among long-serving employees. Administrators proposed eliminating the lowest rungs of the staff’s tiered pay system to create more pay equity.
“Across-the-board increases are unprecedented in the university’s history,” American Provost and Chief Academic Officer Peter Starr said in a letter to the university community Friday. “These proposed increases are consistent with the significant compensation framework investment in the most recent two-year budget, which is the largest increase in compensation in almost a decade.”
But the last bargaining session on Thursday ended at an impasse. Union leaders said they made more concessions but the university did not match the effort.
Starr said the union rejected the school’s “best and final offer” and “dismissed the sizable gains we have made together.” He said the administration hopes the union will reconsider and agree to the terms.
“We value the work of the staff in the unit, which is reflected in the university’s good faith commitment to bargaining and comprehensive and generous proposals,” Starr said.
The staff union voted earlier this month to authorize a strike of up to five days if a contract agreement was not secured by Monday. The decision came after union leaders filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the university of violating labor laws by excluding members from annual merit-based raises. American said it could not make changes to wages until a contract agreement is reached. | 2022-08-22T16:34:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | American University staff goes on strike - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/22/american-university-strike/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/22/american-university-strike/ |
The company said the problem appeared to be concentrated among viewers watching the show through an Amazon Fire TV device.
An attendee walks by signage earlier this month for the “House of the Dragon: The Targaryen Dynasty” experience at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
The website Downdetector chronicled thousands of outages shortly after “House of the Dragon” began 9 p.m. Eastern time. The company confirmed there could be problems when viewing the show through an Amazon Fire TV device.
“House of the Dragon is being successfully viewed by millions of HBO Max subscribers this evening,” HBO said in a statement provided to multiple media outlets Sunday. “We’re aware of a small portion of users attempting to connect via Fire TV devices that are having issues and are in the process of resolving for those impacted users.”
The crashes introduced a technical hiccup into one of HBO’s most hotly awaited show in years. ‘House of the Dragon’ is a prequel to the network’s blockbuster “Game of Thrones” series, which is based on the medieval fantasy novels “A Song of Ice and Fire.”
“Game of Thrones” became a television and pop culture giant by serving viewers drawn-out palace intrigue punctuated by violence and sex. The show was known for shocking viewers by abruptly killing off main characters. But the show’s final season in 2019 was criticized by some longtime fans who thought it had been rushed to a close.
The prequel, helmed by different directors than its predecessors, could provide a comeback of sorts for HBO. It also comes just a week before its competitor Amazon Prime plans to premiere “The Rings of Power,” a new cinematic installment to the “Lord of the Rings” franchise.
HBO’s technical hiccup Sunday night was a source of concern for some viewers, who expressed their frustration on social media. “App is crashing. Very disappointing,” wrote Carly Kempler, a media and audience engagement specialist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Several viewers found that HBO Max would appear to start the show by playing a trailer advertising the network’s exclusive content, according to accounts documented on social media. But then the user would be suddenly taken back to the Amazon Fire TV home screen as the app suddenly exited. This would happen repeatedly. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Apparently you have to crate a new user on your hbo max account and it works fine
As of Monday morning there were few new outages reported on Downdetector. | 2022-08-22T16:47:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | HBO Max crashes for thousands during 'House of the Dragon' release - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/22/hbo-max-crash/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/22/hbo-max-crash/ |
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) pauses while speaking during the Republican Jewish Coalition leadership meeting in Las Vegas in November 2021. (Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg News)
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who tried in multiple calls with Georgia election officials to ferret out fodder for President Donald Trump’s coup, has been summoned to testify in front of the grand jury in Fulton County investigating Trump’s effort in the state to overturn the 2020 election.
Graham claims he cannot be roped into an inquiry because the Constitution’s speech or debate clause prevents him from being questioned “in any other place” about his legislative duties. As U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May wrote in the initial order forcing Graham to testify, “Sen. Graham’s argument is that he is shielded from testifying before the grand jury because (1) he will be asked about these calls and (2) these calls were protected legislative fact-finding inquiries related to issues that fall within his legislative province.”
However, May noted that Graham has a great deal more to offer to the grand jury: “The fact that Sen. Graham may be questioned on topics outside the two phone calls — including (1) his potential communications and coordination with the Trump Campaign and its post-election efforts in Georgia; (2) his knowledge of other groups or individuals involved with efforts to influence the results of Georgia’s 2020 election; and (3) his public statements following the 2020 election — is of great significance to the issue presently before the Court.” She held that the Supreme Court has recognized that the clause will not shield actions that are "political in nature rather than legislative.” And all that activity certainly seems to be the essence of “political.”
Former prosecutor Renato Mariotti tells me, “It is unlikely that the speech and debate clause precludes any testimony by Graham, but courts will be mindful of the precedent this sets and will try to limit his testimony to ensure that it doesn’t veer into an arguably legislative area.”
In this case, Graham might have plenty of information concerning:
(1) statements and speeches given outside of Congress regarding the 2020 election, (2) efforts to “cajole” or “exhort” state election officials to change their election practices or alter election results, and (3) coordination with the Trump Campaign (or other third parties) regarding post-election efforts in Georgia. And so, even if the Court were to accept that Sen. Graham’s two calls to Georgia election officials were comprised entirely of legislative fact-finding — and that any inquiry related to those two calls was therefore shielded by the Speech or Debate Clause — there would still be significant areas of potential testimony related to the grand jury’s investigation on which Sen. Graham could be questioned that would in no way fall within the Clause’s protections. Stated another way, the mere possibility that some lines of inquiry could implicate Sen. Graham’s immunity under the Speech or Debate Clause does not justify quashing the subpoena in its entirety because there are considerable areas of inquiry which are clearly not legislative in nature.
— District Judge May's order
But Graham was able to obtain a stay of the district court order. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Sunday sent the case back to the district court to determine whether Graham is entitled to a “partial” quash or modification in the subpoena, suggesting strongly that he is going to have to show up to answer questions about some topics. The only issue is which questions, if any, he might be exempt from answering.
Judge May asked for an expedited briefing on whether allegedly “informal investigative inquiries” fall within protected legislative activity or whether such investigations must “originate from a more formal congressional source.” Certainly, any lawmaker could claim he’s informally investigating some topic that might come before Congress, but that would mean the speech or debate clause essentially prevents lawmakers from answering questions about anything in a criminal inquiry. Again, that’s not how the Supreme Court has interpreted the clause.
Graham understandably is desperate to avoid testifying under oath in a case in which Trump faces serious criminal liability. Not only might he be forced to implicate the man with whom he has spent years shamelessly ingratiating himself, but Graham’s own actions also may be problematic if he had been working to assist Trump’s coup (rather than making some “harmless” inquiry about, gosh, whether some Joe Biden votes in Georgia might get tossed out).
Even if Graham can escape testifying entirely about the calls (for which the district attorney no doubt has a full account from the call’s recipients), there is no privilege that would protect his scheming with Trump. He’s a member of the legislative branch, so executive privilege is unavailable; and he was not, like Trump’s schlock attorneys, acting in any legal capacity for Trump. In short, Graham will in all likelihood be left with two options: Take the Fifth or testify.
It’s is a fitting predicament for a politician who sold his soul to remain relevant in the world of MAGA conspiracies, antidemocratic bile and Trump delusions. As with so many others, the price for worming his way into Trump’s orbit might be very high. | 2022-08-22T16:48:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Lindsey Graham shouldn't escape testifying in Georgia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/lindsey-graham-georgia-investigation-testify/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/lindsey-graham-georgia-investigation-testify/ |
Body found in California reservoir near where teen vanished
Lindsey Rodni-Nieman, center, mother of missing 16-year-old Kiely Rodni, listens to law enforcement during a news conference on Aug. 9 in Truckee, Calif. (Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP)
A car containing human remains has been found in a California reservoir near the area where a 16-year-old girl, Kiely Rodni, went missing more than two weeks ago.
“This is a developing situation and we will provide updates when we can,” the two sheriff’s offices said, adding that a news conference has been scheduled for Monday morning.
Rodni was reported missing Aug. 6 after attending a party with at least 200 other young people at the Prosser Family Campground in Nevada County. Investigators have spent the past two weeks searching for the teenager and her 2o13 silver Honda CR-V.
The effort has included searching an 80-mile radius by air, reviewing more than 1,700 tips, combing through surveillance footage and conducting a compliance sweep of registered sex offenders in the area, authorities said. Detectives from local, state and federal agencies have joined a task force led by the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.
Rodni’s family pleaded for help. In a video shared by the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, Rodni’s mother, Lindsey Rodni-Nieman, asked people to come forward with information that might help locate her daughter.
“We just want her home,” she said. “We’re so scared and we miss her so much and we love her so much. And Kiely, we love you, and if you see this, please just come home. I want nothing more than to hug you.”
Adventures With Purpose, a Bend, Ore.-based group that searches bodies of water for missing people and releases YouTube videos documenting its work, said it found a silver 2013 Honda CRV 14 feet underwater in Prosser Creek Reservoir, about 55 feet offshore.
In a Monday news conference, diver Doug Bishop said the team began searching the reservoir Sunday morning and used “cutting-edge Garmin sonar technology” to detect an object underwater. Diving confirmed it was a 2013 Honda CR-V, he said, and the team notified Rodni’s family and law enforcement.
“We understand that the resource we provide, with our unique skill set, is rare, and it is an honor to help agencies and families all across the nation,” Bishop said. “We will be working together with authorities here to share this knowledge over the next couple of days. It is always our mission to promote and share the techniques we utilize so that our purpose can help as many people as possible.” | 2022-08-22T18:05:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Body found in California reservoir near where Kiely Rodni disappeared - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/22/kiely-rodni-missing/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/22/kiely-rodni-missing/ |
Ford slashing 3,000 jobs as it looks to make EV transition
The Ford logo is seen on the automaker's headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., in this 2009 image. The automaker notified employees Monday that it would slash 3,000 jobs as it transitions to electric vehicles. (Carlos Osorio/AP)
The layoffs, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, will affect about 2,000 salaried and about 1,000 contract employees in the United States, Canada and India. The company announced the move in an internal email Monday, confirming reports from several media outlets last month that thousands of job cuts were looming as the company worked to shave costs and as it transitioned toward EV production.
“These are real people being effected by these actions,” Reid added. “It’s not lost on folks that even changes that are necessary effect real people and we don’t take that lightly.”
The announcement comes about a month after Ford released healthy second-quarter earnings, beating Wall Street’s expectations as its adjusted operating income tripled year-over-year to $3.7 billion. U.S. sales also jumped nearly 2 percent. Chief Executive Jim Farley said he was focused on pushing aggressively toward growing its electric vehicle business while “improving profitability.”
A week before the earnings call, Ford executives announced plans to manufacture 600,000 electric vehicles globally by late 2023, and confirmed that they secured 100 percent of the battery supplies needed to make those cars. The company said it is on track to make more than 2 million electric vehicles by the end of 2026, having already sourced 70 percent of the battery capacity needed to meet that goal.
Ford’s effort to lean into electric vehicles is in line with the Biden administration’s climate initiatives. Last week, the president signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, which includes new tax credits for electric vehicles that will ultimately make climate-friendly cars more affordable. | 2022-08-22T18:18:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ford slashing 3,000 jobs as it looks to make EV transition - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/22/ford-slashing-3000-jobs-it-looks-make-ev-transition/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/22/ford-slashing-3000-jobs-it-looks-make-ev-transition/ |
The cost of energy is about to jump for UK households as regulator Ofgem prepares to raise the limit on how much it allows suppliers to charge. That’s as wholesale natural gas prices have surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In early August, Ofgem warned a challenging winter lay ahead. Analysts’ estimates point to an increase of about 80%, a reflection of record gas and power prices. Whoever replaces Boris Johnson as prime minister will face strong calls from lawmakers, campaigners and the industry to review the system of how homes are charged.
The system, introduced in January 2019 by Ofgem under Theresa May’s government, was designed to save money for consumers as it sets out how much suppliers could charge homes per unit for the power and gas they use. It covers most households, about 24 million in the UK, on a so-called standard variable tariff, and caps the level of profits an energy supplier can make at 1.9%. It has offered protection for those who haven’t been able to shop around and switch suppliers regularly. More savvy consumers have traditionally saved many hundreds of pounds per year by switching supplier.
A common misconception is that the measure limits how high a household’s bill will be. But it doesn’t, since the total will in most cases still depend on how much energy that household actually consumes. The cap set by Ofgem is expressed in terms of average energy bills, not an absolute ceiling. That cap is forecast to be raised on Friday to £3,554 ($4,185), effective Oct. 1, according to Cornwall Insight Ltd. That’s up from £1,971 pounds in force since April.
The level is nowhere near where it’s expected to get to next year. With no end in sight to Russia’s war in Ukraine and wholesale gas prices jumping more than 60% so far in August alone, analyst forecasts for future cap levels are constantly getting revised. Cornwall Insight predicts that the price cap will soar further to peak above £5,300 in the second quarter of 2023 and remain above £4,700 throughout 2023. The government is putting in place an overall £400 discount on energy bills for households, payable in monthly installments between October 2022 and March 2023, to ease the cost. | 2022-08-22T18:18:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What’s the UK Energy Price Cap and Why Is It Rising? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/whats-the-uk-energy-price-cap-and-why-is-it-rising/2022/08/22/3ce49e24-2242-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/whats-the-uk-energy-price-cap-and-why-is-it-rising/2022/08/22/3ce49e24-2242-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
Fauquier teen pleads guilty to Valentine’s Day killings of mother, brother
The teen’s father had discovered the bodies of his wife and 6-year-old son in the basement of their rural Virginia home
The house in Fauquier County where Levi Norwood is accused of killing his mother and 6-year-old brother and then shooting and wounding his father. (Moriah Balingit/Moriah Balingit/TWP)
A Fauquier County teen pleaded guilty Monday to first and second-degree murder in the 2020 Valentine’s Day killings of his mother and brother.
Levi Norwood, 19, had been arrested after a manhunt following the fatal shootings of Jen, 34, and Wyatt, 6. Norwood’s father, Joshua, had discovered the bodies of his wife and young son in the basement under a blanket after returning to his rural Virginia home and hearing gunfire.
Norwood, 17 at the time of the killings, fled the family’s house on foot before stealing a car and trying to shoplift hair dye to disguise his appearance before he was arrested in North Carolina, officials said at the time. A few months later, Joshua Norwood killed himself, his family said.
Father of Va. teen accused of killing his mom and brother is found dead in same house
Norwood’s defense attorney, Ryan Ruzic, said that remaining charges — grand larceny of a vehicle, attempted murder, and three use of a firearm and commission of a felony charges — were all dismissed by the prosecutor pursuant to a plea agreement.
Ruzic also said the second-degree murder charge had initially been first-degree, but amended down.
Ruzic said that he believes Norwood wants to see the end of the legal process. A sentencing has not yet been set, Ruzic said, but the defense is working to determine what experts and how much evidence to present at the hearing.
The Fauquier County Commonwealth attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ian Shapira contributed to this report. | 2022-08-22T18:19:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Levi Norwood pleads guilty to killing mother, brother on Valentine's Day - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/guilty-plea-valentines-day-killing-norwood/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/guilty-plea-valentines-day-killing-norwood/ |
A worker weeds a celery field at an organic farm in Salinas, Calif., in 2020. Organic food is grown without the use of most synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
Organic can be a loaded term. “There’s a lot of confusion about what it means,” says Kathryn MacLean, a dietitian with UC Davis Health Food and Nutrition Services in California.
In a nationally representative Consumer Reports survey of 2,224 U.S. adults in April, 42 percent said they thought organic food was more nutritious, and 66 percent thought it was better at limiting their exposure to pesticides or fertilizers.
What’s true? The rules for using the “USDA Organic” seal on food include no use of most synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Those that are allowed are tightly regulated, are permitted only when other methods have failed and must be shown to be safe for people. Organic food is also grown without genetically modified organisms or the ionizing irradiation sometimes used for pest control.
For meat, poultry, dairy or eggs, animals are given only organic feed and raised without antibiotics or added hormones in “living areas that encourage the health and natural behaviors of animals,” says a Department of Agriculture fact sheet. But it can be tough to tell what’s fact and what’s myth when it comes to the benefits you may have heard about.
Here’s the lowdown on four common questions.
Is it healthier?
That depends. “In general, the protein, fat and carbohydrates are the same as those in conventional foods,” MacLean says. “The vitamin and mineral content changes are pretty negligible as well.” A 2014 analysis of 343 studies, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, found that organic produce contained higher levels of disease-fighting antioxidants than conventional produce did. Other studies have found no significant differences.
Bringing produce, whether conventional or organic, from a distance can have a bad effect on nutrients, says Mary Ellen Camire, a professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Maine in Orono. And the United States imports organic food from many countries — almost 100 in 2021, says Reana Kovalcik, director of public affairs at the Organic Trade Association.
Does it have fewer pesticides?
Yes. A small study published in Environmental Research in 2019 revealed that people who switched from a conventional diet to an organic one had lower levels of pesticide metabolites in their urine. And while what we know about the harm of synthetic pesticides is limited, the Environmental Protection Agency says agricultural pesticide exposure has been associated with asthma, bronchitis, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Parkinson’s disease and certain cancers. In addition, a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2020 reported a higher risk of dying from any cause as well as from cardiovascular disease in people with the highest levels of pyrethroid pesticide metabolites in their urine. Some research also suggests that children with greater exposure to certain pesticides are more likely to be diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and that synthetic pesticides may disrupt our endocrine systems, which are responsible for hormone regulation.
Is it bad for the environment?
Yes. Synthetic pesticides and fertilizers can damage soil and pollute water. “Many of the pesticides and synthetic forms of fertilizer, if not managed and fine-tuned, often end up in our water and even in our fish,” says Garry Stephenson, a professor of crop and soil science at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Nitrogen-based fertilizer, often used in conventional agriculture, is a major contributor to air and water pollution, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Plant-based diet’s health benefits play big role in its popularity during pandemic
These days, however, some conventional farmers are turning to methods that spare the environment. For instance, some are switching to organic-friendly fertilizer, says Matt Ryan, an associate professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
When it comes to farm animals, organic rules call for them to have year-round outdoor access and to be raised on organic land, and for grazing animals like cattle to have access to organic pastures at least 120 days a year. Space to exercise is required, but animals don’t have to get a certain amount of space or never be caged, and overall, animal welfare requirements for “USDA Organic” certification are minimal.
Do animals get antibiotics?
Generally, no, with the exception of chickens and turkeys still in the egg and on their first day of life. But routine antibiotics are still widely used in conventional beef and poultry, which can lead to antibiotic-resistant infections.
“That means infections [in animals and people] that used to be easily cured may have the potential to become serious, even life-threatening,” says James E. Rogers, director of food safety research and testing at CR. | 2022-08-22T18:19:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Four common questions to ask about organic food - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/22/organic-food-questions/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/22/organic-food-questions/ |
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Fort Lauderdale last week. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
During what felt like a rally for an unannounced 2024 presidential campaign, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) last week trumpeted the arrests of 20 felons who allegedly voted illegally in the 2020 elections. These are the first cases brought by the state’s new election police force — and a clear effort to deter legitimate voting.
Yet the tiny number of cases brought so far underscores the paucity of voter fraud. For perspective, this is 20 arrests out of 11 million Floridians who cast ballots in 2020, though Mr. DeSantis called it “the opening salvo” and said the office continues to investigate.
A 2018 ballot initiative amended the Florida constitution to give formerly incarcerated felons the right to vote, but it excluded anyone convicted of murder or sexual assault. Mr. DeSantis says all 20 of the arrested voters fall into this category. His announcement would carry more credibility if the governor had faithfully followed the clear will of Florida’s voters. Instead, he undermined it, signing a law in 2019 that moved the goal posts by requiring felons to pay off any money owed in fines and fees before registering to vote, with the punishment for not doing so being another felony.
But the system remains so opaque that there’s no easy way to find out whether you owe fees or fines stemming from a past conviction. There’s no centralized tracking system for either citizens or elections officials to check. All 67 counties and various state agencies maintain their own databases. Mr. DeSantis’s broader goal is clear: to deny and deter voting.
Given the political-rally feel to last week’s announcement, it was also troubling that Mr. DeSantis was flanked by uniformed police officers. The event was held in a public courtroom. But The Post’s Lori Rozsa and Tim Craig report that a woman who identified herself as a volunteer with the Palm Beach County Republican Party monitored who could enter. Guests, including Republican activists, sat in the jury box and waved signs saying, “My Vote Counts.”
Mr. DeSantis didn’t name the 20 people who were arrested, but he said most were from the heavily Democratic counties of Palm, Broward and Miami-Dade. The governor did not hold a news conference when four people who live in a GOP-dominated retirement community were arrested earlier this year for attempting to cast multiple ballots.
Mr. DeSantis plainly wants to make inroads with Donald Trump’s supporters, who have bought into the former president’s lies about the 2020 presidential election. How many of these 20 defendants understood they were breaking the law? Perhaps they mistakenly believed that the 2018 ballot measure permitted them to register.
More significant is the chilling effect this will have on formerly incarcerated people who legitimately have the right to vote but may now be afraid to take the risk they’ll get charged on technicalities or because of unpaid debt they don’t know about. | 2022-08-22T18:20:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Ron DeSantis voter fraud arrests will chill voting - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/desantis-voter-fraud-arrests-felons-florida/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/desantis-voter-fraud-arrests-felons-florida/ |
Former president Donald Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)
Former vice president Mike Pence is trying to thread a very small needle. He’s testing whether it’s possible to remain competitive for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination without adopting the position that Donald Trump is above the law.
In a new piece, ABC News reports that various “lanes” have opened in the 2024 GOP jockeying. These lanes are defined by the varying levels of hostility among likely 2024 candidates to the FBI search of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort: While some enthusiastically echo Trump’s line that the FBI is corrupt to its core, Trump’s former vice president has taken a more nuanced position.
These differences could matter. If a Republican is elected president in 2024 — even if it isn’t Trump — it is very much an open question whether efforts to hold Trump accountable will continue, or whether they will be abruptly canceled.
Pence’s position on all this is complicated. It’s true that after federal agents searched Mar-a-Lago, Pence condemned the action, professing “deep concern” at this “political” use of law enforcement and demanding an explanation.
But Pence has also refrained from saying the episode shows that law enforcement is corruptly anti-Trump. Indeed, Pence has called on Republicans to stop attacking the FBI and to stand with law enforcement instead.
That separates Pence from other 2024 GOP candidates. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), for instance, railed that the search was an “unprecedented assault” on the rule of law and called for the removal of Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI director Christopher A. Wray.
The divide here matters. The position of Hawley — and many other Republicans — is that the search of Mar-a-Lago cannot have been legitimate. Their stance is that the search can only constitute the work of President Biden’s totalitarian secret police force, an act of corruption worthy of “tin pot dictators,” as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), another 2024 hopeful, put it. Other Republicans have argued for defunding the FBI.
All this has unfolded even though the search actually did recover numerous highly classified documents involving national security.
By contrast, Pence’s position still leaves space for the search to be seen as legitimate law enforcement activity. (Though he hasn’t explicitly adopted that position, either.)
In case anyone missed the distinction, Pence aides also leaked word that he had handled his office documents by the book, an obvious contrast with Trump. In doing this, Pence essentially told Republicans that GOP voters can be in favor of handling the public’s documents in accordance with all the applicable laws and rules.
At the same time, you can’t avoid noticing that Pence is taking an exceptionally cautious approach to staking out these differences. That shows how little space there is in GOP politics for breaking with Trump on such matters, even in the most subtle of ways.
That very tentativeness shows the direction this will likely take. It’s plausible that Trump may face prosecution — or at least full and protracted criminal investigations — for his handling of the Mar-a-Lago documents or for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. When the GOP presidential primaries formally begin, these matters will get tangled up in all sorts of still-unpredictable considerations.
New York University law professor Ryan Goodman points out that a confluence of factors may well ensure that any such investigations or prosecutions stretch for years. The Justice Department might want to complete all these investigations before deciding on whether to prosecute on one or more of them. Constitutional questions may arise that would have to be litigated.
“Timewise, there are a number of factors that could draw out the plot,” Goodman told me. “There’s a strong likelihood that in 2025, we either have ongoing criminal investigations, or we have an indictment of Trump on one or more charges, and a long, drawn-out pretrial phase or ongoing appeals.”
In the runup to 2024, then, GOP primary candidates will likely face intense pressure to declare that they will only appoint senior law enforcement officials who commit to ending any such investigations or prosecutions. It’s easy to see pressure to commit to defunding such law enforcement actions or even to presidential pardons, if they prove necessary.
“Trump will force the question,” Goodman said. “It will be a litmus test.”
The political scientists tell us that candidates actually tend to keep their promises. If Republican candidates pledge to use the presidency to place Trump above the law in whatever way they can, there is good reason to assume a winning GOP candidate would do exactly that. | 2022-08-22T18:20:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Mike Pence’s quiet subversion of Trump portends an ugly 2024 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/trump-mar-a-lago-search-mike-pence-2024-primaries/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/trump-mar-a-lago-search-mike-pence-2024-primaries/ |
Walker, criticizing climate law, asks, ‘Don’t we have enough trees around here?’
Georgia Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker holds a campaign event in Milton, Ga., on Aug. 4. (Erik S Lesser/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker is criticizing the sweeping climate, health-care and deficit-reduction bill signed into law by President Biden arguing that it includes wasteful spending to combat global warming and asking, “Don’t we have enough trees around here?”
The former NFL football player, who was encouraged to run by former president Donald Trump, has made a series of head-scratching comments that have drawn ridicule. In a July 9 appearance, he spoke about climate change, suggesting that Georgia’s “good air decides to float over” to China, replacing China’s “bad air,” which goes back to Georgia, where “we got to clean that back up.”
In an appearance Sunday, according to an account by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Walker reiterated his opposition to the Inflation Reduction Act, signed by Biden last week, that invests in curbing global warming, among other things.
It’s possible Walker may have been referring to a provision in the law that allocates $1.5 billion to the U.S. Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program.
The Walker campaign had no immediate comment on Monday.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) rankled some fellow Republicans last week when he said his party could fall short of retaking the Senate, citing “candidate quality” as an issue. While McConnell didn’t name names, Walker is among those widely believe to be underperforming in his race to unseat Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D).
Walker told the Journal-Constitution over the weekend that he was unfazed by McConnell’s comments.
The Journal-Constitution reported that Walker spoke after an event Sunday with the Republican Jewish Coalition in Sandy Springs, Ga.
In June, Walker faced a string of controversies, including that he has two sons and a daughter with different women whom he had not spoken about publicly.
The Journal-Constitution debunked previous claims by Walker that he had worked in law enforcement and had been an FBI agent. The Daily Beast reported that Walker had a 10-year-old son out of wedlock whom he hadn’t discussed publicly. Then, on Thursday, the left-leaning news site reported that Walker had another 13-year-old son with a different woman as well as an adult daughter he fathered as a college student. Walker has spoken on the campaign trail about his close relationship with another son, 22-year-old Christian.
Walker, who in the past has chided absentee Black fathers, confirmed the Daily Beast’s reporting and said he never hid his other children.
“I have four children. Three sons and a daughter. They’re not ‘undisclosed’ — they’re my kids,” Walker said in a statement sent to The Washington Post. “Saying I hide my children because I don’t discuss them with reporters to win a campaign? That’s outrageous. I can take the heat, that’s politics, but leave my kids alone.”
Take a look: Laxalt counters Cortez Masto’s portrayal of his upbringing | 2022-08-22T18:20:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Walker, in criticizing climate law, asks ‘Don’t we have enough trees around here?’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/22/walker-georgia-senate/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/22/walker-georgia-senate/ |
Kris Ward's team went winless in 15 consecutive matches after winning the season opener. (Scott Taetsch for The Washington Post)
Less than a year after coaching the Washington Spirit from ruin to its first National Women’s Soccer League championship, Kris Ward was fired Monday amid a 15-game winless streak.
The Spirit (1-6-9) has not won since the season opener May 1, a spectacular fall after the team turned off-field turmoil into a 20-game unbeaten streak (excluding two forfeits for violating pandemic protocols) that bridged the offseason.
The organization announced the move in a tweet Monday morning but did not issue any additional comment. Reached directly, Ward said he did not want to comment.
The Spirit plans to name an interim coach, pending background checks, a process that could take a few weeks. Angela Salem, a first-year assistant, will run practices and presumably oversee Saturday’s match at Houston.
Spirit General Manager Mark Krikorian, who won three NCAA championships coaching Florida State before departing early this year, is not expected to replace Ward, one person close to the situation said.
Ward’s relationship with several players had been deteriorating this year, two people familiar with the situation said. Over the weekend, after a conflict at practice, Ward was disinvited from a team retreat, one person said, requesting anonymity to speak on the matter.
Ward’s ouster comes a little more than a year after the Spirit suspended, and later fired, Richie Burke after allegations of verbally abusing players surfaced in a Washington Post story. An assistant at the time, Ward was appointed interim coach.
From the archives: Players say they left NWSL’s Spirit over Richie Burke's verbal abuse
Credited with stabilizing the team and restoring confidence, Ward guided the Spirit to the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and three postseason victories, culminating with a 2-1 extra-time triumph over Chicago in Louisville.
He also publicly supported the Spirit players in gaining greater power in the league and the sports world, speaking eloquently on the topic and wearing T-shirts with slogans supporting their cause.
Ward was rewarded with a two-year guaranteed contract, plus a one-year club option, to become the permanent coach.
Washington returned almost its entire roster this year, but a congested early schedule, injuries and national team call-ups set the team back. The Spirit, though, also struggled to regain the attacking form that it displayed late last year and, defensively, squandered several late-game leads.
In its most recent match, against the first-place Portland Thorns, Washington conceded two goals in the waning moments at home and lost, 2-1.
Washington is tied for last in the 12-team league and needs to win its final six games to have any chance of qualifying for the six-team playoffs. | 2022-08-22T18:20:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Washington Spirit fires coach Kris Ward - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/22/kris-ward-fired-washington-spirit/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/22/kris-ward-fired-washington-spirit/ |
FILE - Ohio State players celebrate after a win over Utah during the Rose Bowl NCAA college football game Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, in Pasadena, Calif. The Big Ten shook up college athletics this summer by announcing the additions of Southern California and UCLA in 2024 and negotiating a blockbuster multimedia rights deal. When it comes to what’s expected to happen on the football field, the narrative is the same as usual. Everybody’s chasing Ohio State. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File) | 2022-08-22T18:20:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Buckeyes out to restore Big Ten order; Badgers pick in West - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/buckeyes-out-to-restore-big-ten-order-badgers-pick-in-west/2022/08/22/c67d455e-2243-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/buckeyes-out-to-restore-big-ten-order-badgers-pick-in-west/2022/08/22/c67d455e-2243-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
Human remains found near National Harbor in Oxon Hill, police say
Authorities were notified Monday morning that human remains had been discovered along a wooded area near the National Harbor in Oxon Hill.
Maryland National-Capital Park Police in the Prince George’s County Division received a call at about 11:30 a.m. that a decomposed body had been found along a tree line near Oxon Hill Road and MGM National Ave., a spokesperson for the agency said.
Park Police are conducting a death investigation and are working to try to identify the person, the spokesperson said. | 2022-08-22T18:36:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Human remains found near National Harbor in Oxon Hill, police say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/human-remains-found-near-national-harbor-oxon-hill-police-say/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/human-remains-found-near-national-harbor-oxon-hill-police-say/ |
Drug pricing reforms can hurt innovation. Here are 3 ways to prevent that.
By Caleb Watney
Heidi Williams
(Daniel Fishel for The Washington Post)
Launch a public “biomedical innovation fund.”
Fix the fact that we arbitrarily give some drugs more market exclusivity than others.
Invest in building a better NIH.
Caleb Watney is the co-founder of the Institute for Progress, a think tank focused on innovation. Heidi Williams is the Charles R. Schwab professor of economics at Stanford University and director of science policy at the Institute for Progress.
Giving billions of dollars in government prize money to drug companies might sound like an idea from the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, it was a sweeping 2013 proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) using “innovation prizes” to put the cures of tomorrow and affordability of drugs today on equal footing.
This is the sort of thinking we need in the wake of the Inflation Reduction Act’s enactment. That is because, while it’s true the law will expand patient access to drugs by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, it will also likely reduce incentives to invest in developing new drugs.
That’s an argument we often hear from drug companies, and it rings hollow coming from them, given their history of producing many drugs with hefty price tags and only incremental health benefits.
But this misses the big picture: Pharmaceutical innovations play a key role in improving the health and longevity of Americans, as illustrated by the much faster-than-expected rollout of coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics. And despite provocative claims to the contrary, policies that reduce pharmaceutical revenues will mechanically lower the return from developing new drugs.
That’s why we should offset drug price negotiations with new ways of funding and incentivizing biomedical innovation. Here are three reforms that could do that:
Society regularly encounters, in the biomedical space, thorny problems that are not easily addressed with traditional federal funding mechanisms. In some cases, the government has launched initiatives, such as Operation Warp Speed for coronavirus vaccines, to fill these gaps. But all too often, existing institutions lack the mandate or financing tools to address important problems.
That’s why we propose a public fund with an ambitious budget, ideally housed at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, within the National Institutes of Health, which would have a broad mandate to address market failures in biomedical innovation. That should include legislative authorization for a range of tools to address otherwise intractable problems, such as large-scale innovation prizes to boost the development of medicines that provide little profit but high social value or patent buyouts to allow generic manufacturers to produce and sell low-cost versions of key medicines.
A large investment on the order of $20 billion would be a reasonable starting point for such a fund. An analogue for this fund, albeit at a much smaller scale, is the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority’s DRIVe program, which applies a similarly flexible set of financing tools toward preventing future pandemics.
Because patents are filed before the start of clinical trials, rather than when a drug actually hits the market, drugs that require long clinical trials effectively receive shorter patent terms. This reduces incentives to develop drugs that require long clinical trials, including many preventive medicines.
A simple way to correct this is for the Food and Drug Administration to guarantee a minimum baseline of 12 years of market exclusivity for branded drugs. Importantly, this would not change or lengthen protection for drugs that would be developed anyway; most already receive 12 to 16 years of market protection, and the United States already provides this for particular categories, such as biologic drugs. For drugs with short periods of market exclusivity, this policy could make the difference between the drug being developed or not.
Almost half of all approved drugs are built on research that was funded by the federal government, but something in this system has gone astray. Between 1980 and 2008, the average age of NIH principal investigators rose from 39 to 51. Moreover, scientific discoveries today appear to be less fundamental than previous advances, even as we continue to spend more resources. While there is consensus that NIH funding mechanisms are increasingly misaligned with the current structure of scientific research, there is much less consensus on what to do about it.
To make progress, let’s apply the scientific method to how we fund science. Pair increases in NIH funding with a commitment to experimentation. Congress could establish an NIH center to pilot novel funding mechanisms and operational improvements while collecting data to evaluate and scale successful interventions, similar to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center.
Accelerating biomedical innovation shouldn’t be viewed as a giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry but rather as a driving motivation for the public sector. Even a 1 percent reduction in cancer mortality would be worth nearly $500 billion — about five times more than the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug provisions will save.
Addressing the high cost of drugs today is an essential policy goal. But we cannot let that come at the expense of a lifesaving drug that is never developed tomorrow. Everyone from the pharmaceutical industry to Bernie Sanders should be able to agree with that. | 2022-08-22T18:44:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Drug pricing reforms can hurt innovation. Here are 3 ways to prevent that. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/medicare-drug-prices-negotiation-innovation/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/medicare-drug-prices-negotiation-innovation/ |
Man charged with murder in slaying of wife in Pr. George’s, police say
A 37-year-old man has been arrested and charged with murder in the killing of his wife Sunday in Prince George’s County, police said.
Orville-Dean Fairweather is charged with first- and second-degree murder and related counts in the fatal shooting of Jolesia Fairweather, 34, of Hyattsville, Prince George’s police said. He is being held without bond at the county jail.
Officers responded to a reported shooting at Fairweather’s home on Maryland Park Drive in unincorporated Capitol Heights at about 7:50 a.m., police said. When police arrived, they found Jolesia Fairweather with a gunshot wound. She was taken to a hospital, where she died.
According to an initial investigation, Fairweather shot his wife during a dispute, police said.
It was not immediately clear whether Fairweather has an attorney. | 2022-08-22T19:33:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Orville-Dean Fairweather charged with killing wife, Pr. George's police say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/man-charged-murder-wife-prince-georges/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/man-charged-murder-wife-prince-georges/ |
Caroline Kitchener
People rally in support of abortion rights in Kansas City, Mo., on July 2. Missouri is among the states that bar abortion from conception. (Charlie Riedel/AP)
Texas, Tennessee and Idaho all have existing restrictions on abortion, but the bans slated to begin Thursday will either outlaw the procedure entirely or heighten penalties for doctors who perform an abortion, contributing to a seismic shift in who can access abortion in their home states.
At least 11 other states have banned most abortions, prohibiting the procedure with narrow exceptions from the time of conception or after fetal cardiac activity is detected, at around six weeks of pregnancy, with legislation known as “heartbeat” laws. Five more states have similar bans temporarily blocked by the courts. If those injunctions are lifted, abortion could soon be inaccessible for millions more — in total, 36 percent of U.S. women between the ages of 15 and 44 would be largely unable to obtain an elective abortion in the state where they live.
Advocates and doctors in favor of abortion rights fear that the newest trigger laws — which in Texas will carry a potential life sentence for doctors who perform an abortion — will have a chilling effect on helping people who either need an abortion because they are facing life-threatening complications or are trying to travel and get one elsewhere. The stiffer laws come as patients and providers navigate a confusing tangle of policies amid ongoing legal challenges that at times have made abortion accessible one day and completely illegal the next. Even more changes are on the horizon as lawmakers in South Carolina and West Virginia consider new bills during special legislative sessions scheduled through the fall.
Patients in states like Tennessee have rushed in recent days to try to make last-minute appointments before they lose access to abortion completely — some only to be turned away, ineligible for an abortion because of the state’s “heartbeat” law.
Kaydria, a 28-year-old from Jackson, Miss., started researching the changing abortion laws as soon as she found out she was pregnant in mid-August. With abortion already banned in her home state, she decided to drive three hours to Memphis.
She knew she’d have to hurry: On Aug. 25, all elective abortions would be banned there, too.
“I needed to go ahead and take care of it,” said Kaydria, who spoke on the condition that only her first name be used to protect her privacy. “I knew I didn’t have time.”
‘A very confusing landscape’
Roughly 14 states have bans outlawing most abortions, with varying exemptions and penalties for doctors. In all, nearly 21 million — about 1 in 3 girls and women in the United States between the ages of 15 and 44 — have lost access to the procedure, according to U.S. census data.
The states that bar abortion from conception tend to be located in the South and the Midwest, including Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Oklahoma. Wisconsin has conflicting laws that leave the legality of abortion uncertain, but clinics stopped providing abortions in the state after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, effectively ending abortion within its borders. Georgia, Idaho, Ohio and Tennessee have bans that begin when fetal cardiac activity can be detected, which can occur before many people realize they are pregnant.
“This has been fast-moving and frightening,” said Melissa Grant, chief operations officer for Carafem, which operates abortion clinics in several states including Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois and the D.C. region.
“When you say, ‘Hey, we want to protect all of our unborn residents,’ you want to make sure that that is effective,” said Peter Breen, the vice president and senior counsel for the Thomas More Society, a conservative legal organization aiming to help state GOP lawmakers enact further restrictions.
Millions more live in states where abortion access remains uncertain as legal challenges wind their way through the courts and lawmakers consider passing new laws. In some states, abortion access has changed day by day as courts have repeatedly blocked and unblocked bans.
Three new laws triggered by the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe that are slated to take effect Thursday in Texas, Tennessee and Idaho will stiffen penalties for abortion providers or restrict access to even fewer potential patients.
Immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision in June, abortion was almost completely outlawed in Texas under a statute that predated Roe, and clinics closed their doors to patients.
“The criminal penalties will further chill the provision of care to women who need it,” said Elisabeth Smith, director of state policy and advocacy for the Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy organization that represented the clinic at the center of the Supreme Court case.
In Idaho, the state’s “heartbeat” ban on abortion went into effect this month. Now a near-total abortion ban is expected to kick in, further limiting abortion access and imposing criminal penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment on providers. The ban slated to take effect Thursday includes exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the pregnant person — but not when their health is at risk.
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the ban, arguing that the state’s law violates a federal requirement to provide medical care when a patient’s life or health is at stake. A federal judge said he would issue his opinion by Wednesday.
“It’s a very confusing landscape,” said Caitlin Gustafson, a family physician and abortion provider in rural Idaho, who is suing the state over three different abortion laws that took effect at different times after the Supreme Court struck down Roe.
Tennessee will also see a trigger law completely ban abortion Thursday — with no exception for victims of rape or incest.
‘A generational push’
“I drafted the heartbeat law, and it was a tough pill to swallow when we had to make that compromise to create the exceptions for rape and incest,” said Blaine Conzatti, the president of the Idaho Family Policy Center. “And so that’s something that I would like to fix in the future.”
Yet he acknowledged that doing so will probably be an uphill battle — even in Idaho, where Republicans control both the governor’s office and the legislature.
“I think that’s going to be a generational push,” Conzatti said, adding that it will take time to convince some reluctant lawmakers as well those who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a key constituency that supports some exceptions in the cases of rape and incest.
Republican state Rep. Brent Crane, chairman of the Idaho House committee overseeing abortion legislation, said he isn’t planning on pushing bills further restricting abortion in the upcoming session, believing the state needs to move “slowly and deliberately.” He said he’s comfortable with the current exemptions in the law and predicted that if removing the exception for rape and incest were brought up, it would not pass his panel.
Even in some Republican strongholds, antiabortion lawmakers and activists have run into opposition in trying to push through no-exemption bans, finding there is a limit to how far even many conservative voters are willing to go. This month, voters in Kansas resoundingly rejected a ballot measure that would have stripped protections for abortion from the state constitution. Days later, Nebraska’s governor announced that he would not call a previously anticipated special session to pass an abortion ban.
Lawmakers in West Virginia and South Carolina are pushing new bans in legislative sessions that could stretch into late summer. Republicans in those states are bitterly debating whether those bills should include exceptions for victims of rape and incest.
Next month, Indiana will join the states with a near-total abortion ban after lawmakers passed a law set to take effect Sept. 15. That ban includes exceptions for rape, incest or lethal fetal abnormality, or to save the life of the pregnant person.
‘Get here now’
As soon as Roe was overturned, staff members at Choices, an abortion clinic in Memphis, began preparing for the courts to lift an injunction on a six-week abortion ban, a change they knew could come at any time and would outlaw most abortions in the state. Within hours of the Supreme Court decision, staff started calling patients scheduled for the following week, urging them to get to the clinic as soon as possible.
“They told me, ‘Get here now,’” said Jacretia Porter, a 24-year-old who had an abortion scheduled a week after the Dobbs decision. “They didn’t know how much longer they’d be able to do abortions.”
Porter immediately drove to the clinic, where she saw many other women who had received similar calls that morning. The other patients looked just as she felt, Porter added: “rushed, overwhelmed and super confused.”
While Porter was able to get her abortion that day, hundreds of other patients have been turned away at Choices and other clinics in Tennessee since the six-week ban took effect on June 28. Over the last seven weeks, patients have experienced “a lot of shock and anger,” said chief executive Jennifer Pepper — feelings that will only intensify when the procedure is banned altogether.
“For the first few weeks, there was not a time I left [the clinic] when I didn’t see a patient upset on the porch,” Pepper said.
After the state’s total ban goes into effect Thursday, abortions will be allowed only to save the life of a pregnant patient, such as in the case of an ectopic pregnancy, or to “prevent serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.” Doctors and advocates worry that the law’s vague language will lead to potentially costly confusion.
The closest option was more than seven hours from Kaydria’s home in Mississippi.
Angry and frustrated, Kaydria said lawmakers shouldn’t “have the right” to decide whether she gets an abortion, adding that “women aren’t breeding machines.” Already a mom, she said she used to live paycheck to paycheck and only recently began to feel on solid ground financially. By having another child, she said, she would be taking “10 steps back.”
Caroline Kitchener reported from Memphis. | 2022-08-22T19:50:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | More trigger bans loom as 1 in 3 women lose most abortion access post-Roe - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/22/more-trigger-bans-loom-1-3-women-lose-most-abortion-access-post-roe/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/22/more-trigger-bans-loom-1-3-women-lose-most-abortion-access-post-roe/ |
WASHINGTON — A federal judge acknowledged Monday that redactions to an FBI affidavit spelling out the basis for the search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate might be so extensive as to make the document “meaningless” if released to the public. But he said he continued to believe it should not remain sealed in its entirety because of the public interest in the ongoing criminal investigation. | 2022-08-22T19:51:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Judge concedes that Trump affidavit may be heavily redacted - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/judge-concedes-that-trump-affidavit-may-be-heavily-redacted/2022/08/22/3c951190-2249-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/judge-concedes-that-trump-affidavit-may-be-heavily-redacted/2022/08/22/3c951190-2249-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
Rapper Fetty Wap faces at least 5 years in prison for federal drug charge
Fetty Wap, pictured at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, pleaded guilty on Monday to a federal drug charge. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Rapper Fetty Wap pleaded guilty Monday to a federal drug charge carrying a minimum five-year prison sentence.
The plea was entered in the Eastern District of New York’s Long Island courthouse two weeks after U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Locke revoked the $500,000 bond previously granted to Fetty Wap, 31, whose real name is Willie Junior Maxwell II. Maxwell was arrested Aug. 8 for violating the conditions of his release when, according to an affidavit, he called someone on FaceTime and threatened to kill them while brandishing a weapon.
Maxwell, best known for his Grammy-nominated debut single “Trap Queen,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2015, was one of six defendants accused in an October federal indictment of distributing more than 100 kilograms of narcotics including cocaine, heroin and fentanyl, which they allegedly obtained on the West Coast. Following his most recent arrest, Maxwell remains in custody. His estimated sentencing guidelines range between seven and nine years.
Maxwell’s attorney did not respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment on his guilty plea.
Two of the defendants listed alongside Maxwell in the indictment pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances. One of them also confessed to using firearms in connection with drug trafficking. Maxwell, who previously maintained his innocence, pleaded guilty to the first count.
In a news release from October, U.S. District Attorney Breon Peace said the defendants were “deliberately contributing to the opioid epidemic that has devastated our communities and taken too many lives.” Michael Driscoll, assistant director of the FBI’s New York field office, added that “the fact that we arrested a chart-topping rap artist and a corrections officer as part of the conspiracy illustrates just how vile the drug trade has become.”
Maxwell was initially arrested in October ahead of his scheduled performance at the Rolling Loud music festival in New York. He remained active on social media until his most recent arrest; in November, following his release on the $500,000 bond, he wrote on Instagram that “loyalty can be both a great trait and a deadly one.” | 2022-08-22T20:11:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Rapper Fetty Wap faces at least 5 years in prison for federal drug charge - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/08/22/fetty-wap-guilty-plea/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/08/22/fetty-wap-guilty-plea/ |
The Justice Department argues that federal law requires doctors to provide “health-stabilizing” care.
Attorney General Merrick Garland says a near-total ban on abortion in Idaho violates federal requirements. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters/Bloomberg News)
A federal judge in Idaho will rule by Wednesday on whether a near-total ban on abortion can take effect in the state, following a Justice Department lawsuit that says the statute violates a federal requirement to provide medical care when a pregnant person’s life or health is at stake.
The case marks the Justice Department’s first attempt to fight a strict abortion ban in court following the Supreme Court decision in June that overturned Roe v. Wade, upending the right to terminate a pregnancy that had been enshrined in federal law for nearly 50 years.
Idaho’s “trigger” law, which is set to take effect Thursday, bans abortions except in cases involving rape or when a woman’s life is in danger. There is no exception if a patient faces nonlethal health risks, such as a stroke or organ damage, by continuing the pregnancy.
U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill said he would decide by Wednesday whether the law can go into effect on Thursday as it is currently written.
Since end of Roe v. Wade, more than 1 in 3 U.S. women have lost abortion access
Justice Department lawyers have hinged their lawsuit on their interpretation of a 1986 law that has rarely been associated with abortion in courts: The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. They say the law, known as EMTALA, requires that hospitals participating in the federally funded Medicare program provide necessary, health-stabilizing treatment to all patients, even if that treatment is an abortion.
Idaho responded that the Justice Department’s attempt to block parts of its abortion law should be considered federal overreach since the Supreme Court ruled that states can set their own abortion restrictions under Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
EMTALA is intended to enshrine a doctor’s obligation to treat seriously ill patients and to ensure that hospitals do not ignore anyone who needs lifesaving or life-stabilizing treatment but cannot afford it.
The law does not mention abortion, but Attorney General Merrick Garland argued in his lawsuit this month that refusing to perform an abortion if it could save a woman’s life or protect her health would violate EMTALA.
Experts described the approach as a novel legal strategy that highlights how few tools the Biden administration has to try to blunt the national impact of overturning Roe v. Wade. Even if the Justice Department wins this case in court, the experts noted, the judge’s ruling would only protect access to abortion in extreme and rare circumstances when a pregnant patient’s health is at stake. A legal victory would not have any impact on the ability to terminate an unwanted pregnancy that does not pose a significant health risk. Under the Dobbs ruling, states are largely free to ban such procedures.
“I think EMTALA is a real sweet spot for the administration on expanding abortion access,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, who said he lobbied people he knows in the Biden administration to use the federal statute. “Biden’s options are limited. He cannot overturn the Dobbs decision.”
Winmill, who was appointed to the federal bench in 1995 by President Bill Clinton, opened the hearing Monday morning by making a similar point to lawyers on both sides: that the case would not serve as a broad debate about whether abortion should be permitted in the country.
“Dobbs is the law of the land here,” Winmill said.
Idaho’s top court allows strict abortion ban to kick in
The judge attempted to largely focus the hearing on whether Idaho’s law conflicts with the federal EMTALA requirements — and whether the federal and state laws can coexist in the ways they are currently written.
The Justice Department also objected to an element of the Idaho legislation that is said allows authorities to arrest a health-care professional involved in performing an abortion, putting the onus on that person to prove in court that the abortion met the criteria for one of the exceptions.
“It would subject doctors to arrest and criminal prosecution even if they perform an abortion to save a woman’s life,” Garland said at a news conference earlier this month. “And it would then place the burden on doctors to prove that they are not criminally liable.”
Lawyers representing Idaho said Monday that medical professionals acting in good faith would not be prosecuted for performing an abortion on a seriously ill patient, though Winmill and the Justice Department lawyers seemed skeptical.
The judge presented Idaho’s lawyers with two hypothetical medical situations during the nearly two-hour hearing. In the first, he asked what would happen if a doctor called them asking for legal advice about performing an abortion on a woman who had a 50-50 chance of dying without one. In the second hypothetical, the judge said, the patient being treated wouldn’t die without an abortion, but would be at high risk for a stroke or organ damage if her pregnancy continued.
Brian Church, deputy attorney general for Idaho, responded to the judge’s first hypothetical by saying state lawyers would tell the doctor to use her best medical judgment. To the second hypothetical, he said he would tell the doctor what the statute states.
Monte N. Stewart, an attorney speaking on behalf of the Idaho House of Representatives, suggested that the state would not hire prosecutors who would attempt to prosecute doctors who performed an abortion on a seriously ill woman.
The judge pushed back against that argument.
“The concern is that real world events are very hard to predict, but the text of the law is very clear,” Winmill said.
While this is the first time the Biden administration has argued in court that EMTALA protects a right to an abortion in certain instances, it has previously attempted to require hospitals that receive Medicare funds to perform abortions that would protect a patient’s health.
In July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — the federal office charged with enforcing EMTALA — issued guidance to hospitals saying that the statute preempts any state law that bans performing an abortion when a woman’s health is at risk.
“When a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life and health of the pregnant person — or draws the exception more narrowly than EMTALA’s emergency medical condition definition — that state law is preempted,” the guidance states.
Lowell C. Brown, an attorney who has represented and provided guidance to hospitals accused of violating EMTALA, said he has heard from hospitals in states with strict abortion laws that are concerned with how they would adhere to state laws and the federal statute.
“Federal law is clear,” Brown said, adding that doctors and hospitals “are sort of between a rock and a hard place. They have to comply with federal law, but they are facing prosecution if they do not comply with state law.”
Justice Department officials and abortion rights advocates are also weighing other legal strategies to protect abortion rights, including protecting women who are traveling to states where the procedures are legal and ensuring the ability for people to access pills that can induce abortions.
Idaho’s abortion laws have also faced challenges at the state level. Earlier this month, a divided Idaho Supreme Court rejected a Planned Parenthood effort to block an abortion law in state court.
After Garland announced the Idaho lawsuit, the state of Texas filed a motion seeking to head off any similar effort there. The filing asks a judge to prevent the federal government from using EMTALA to require Texas hospitals and doctors to perform abortions for them to receive Medicare funds. | 2022-08-22T20:33:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Idaho abortion lawsuit: Judge to rule on Justice Dept. motion by Wednesday - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/22/idaho-abortion-lawsuit/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/22/idaho-abortion-lawsuit/ |
Smithsonian’s Trump portraits to be funded with $650K donation from former president’s PAC
Peggy McGlone
A Pari Dukovic photograph of former president Donald Trump in the America’s Presidents exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, May 14, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)
The political action committee controlled by former president Donald Trump has made a $650,000 contribution to the Smithsonian Institution that will almost entirely fund portraits of Trump and former first lady Melania Trump for the National Portrait Gallery, marking the first time in recent memory a political organization has financed a former president’s portrait for the museum.
Trump’s Save America PAC disclosed a $650,000 “charitable contribution” to the Smithsonian Institution in a filing with the Federal Election Commission over the weekend. As first reported by Business Insider, the funds will go toward artists’ and other fees associated with the Trumps’ portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas told The Washington Post.
It is unclear when the Trump portraits will be completed, she added. The Obamas’ portraits were unveiled about 13 months after President Barack Obama left office.
Though unusual, the donation — and its use — is legal because Save America is a leadership PAC with few restrictions on the use of funds. Such political action committees, in addition to boosting like-minded candidates, can be used to pay advisers, cover travel expenses and defray legal bills, among other costs. Most of the money in Trump’s PAC comes from small-dollar donors responding to email and other solicitations.
Although the National Portrait Gallery was created by Congress in 1962, it did not begin commissioning portraits of outgoing presidents until 1994, when Ronald Sherr painted George H.W. Bush. The museum added the first lady’s portrait to the commission in 2006.
In the past, those portraits have been funded by private donations, usually from the supporters of the outgoing administration. More than 300 donors — including Steven Spielberg, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen — contributed to the $750,000 commissioning fees for the Obama portraits, which were painted by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, according to the Smithsonian. Donor lists for the Obamas’ and Bushes’ portraits did not include any political action committees.
The commissions for the portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama made international art headlines in 2018 because of the stature of the painters, who were the first African American artists to receive the presidential commissions. Wiley is a contemporary art star known for his colorful and subversive approach, while Sherald was then an up-and-comer who won the gallery’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition in 2016.
Nelson Shanks painted Bill Clinton and Ginny Stanford depicted Hillary Clinton. Robert A. Anderson received the commission for the portrait of George W. Bush, which was unveiled in 2008; the two were classmates at Yale University. Laura Bush was painted by Aleksander Titovets.
Last April, Donald Trump made his debut in National Portrait Gallery’s presidents exhibition with a Pari Dukovic photograph of Trump seated in the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk.
Isaac Stanley-Becker contributed to this report. | 2022-08-22T20:33:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Smithsonian’s Trump portraits to be funded with $650K donation from former president’s PAC - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/22/trump-portrait-smithsonian/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/22/trump-portrait-smithsonian/ |
(Washington Post illustration; Sega; iStock)
During the 2008 recession, the video games industry was heralded as one bright spot in the economy. Described as recession-proof, the industry showed resilience by selling million of copies of the Nintendo Wii and DS systems, even as banks folded and the housing market crumbled.
In today’s economy, though, analysts say the video game industry may not as invincible as a Super Star-powered Mario. Copies of games — and the microtransactions they sometimes contain — are getting more expensive. Prices on virtual reality hardware are going up. As the U.S. economy contracts and people re-examine their financial budgets, analysts say video game spending may be on the decline.
“This time, it’s much more uncertain,” said Cassia Curran, founder of games business consulting firm Curran Games Agency. “Employment is remaining high and demand for outdoor entertainment is jumping after two years of pandemic, and game sales in the last quarter finally saw a slight decline after the pandemic-driven couple of bumper years.”
In an impending recession, one of the first things people tend to cut is discretionary spending. The video game industry is no exception to this general rule, experts say, but the value of a $60 game or a free-to-play title can last hours and stretch into months, making them a bargain during an economic downturn.
During an earnings call on Aug. 8, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said, “We’re seeing now the decline in consumer spending and increase in inflation will have an impact on the industry. You’ve seen it from our report today and from our competitors’ reports as well.” Take-Two’s game properties include Rockstar and 2K studios, makers of hits like “Grand Theft Auto V,” Red Dead Redemption II” and 2K’s popular lineup of sports titles.
Gaming titans Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony all reported declining revenue and missed earnings expectations in late July or early August. Part of the reason, gaming companies say, is a weakened supply chain, still affected by pandemic-related lockdowns and the challenges of delivering consoles to stores. Another aspect is that much of the world has now reopened and isn’t looking online to forge social connections.
In August, Meta, formerly known as Facebook, raised the price of its Quest 2 VR headset, from $299 to $399.
“The costs to make and ship our products have been on the rise,” Bryan Pope, a Meta spokesperson, said in a statement. “By adjusting the price of Quest 2, we can continue to grow our investment in groundbreaking research and new product development.”
Pope said that Meta would continue to bet big on gaming, as it was one of the most popular content categories on the Quest 2.
The Washington Post reached out to over a dozen gaming companies for comment on how they plan to weather a possible recession. Hoyoverse, Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Devolver Digital, Annapurna, Square Enix, CD Projekt Red, Sega declined to comment. Others, including Sony and Xbox, did not respond.
Video game companies are tightening their belts, slowing hiring in some cases, and being choosier with new game development. Tencent reported its first-ever revenue drop in August, falling 3 percent to a total of $19.78 billion, with gaming revenue declining 1 percent. Unity and Niantic laid off part of their staff as cost-cutting measures, as first reported by Kotaku and Bloomberg. Ubisoft confirmed in a July earnings call it had canceled four new games, citing the “changing financial environment.”
“Budgets are going to become tighter with every company across the board, which means it will be tougher to get new projects approved unless they have a rock-solid chance of being successful,” said Chris Kramer, Tencent Games’ head of North American communications. “Publishing efforts will be scaled back as budgets shrink, so game companies will have to do more with less and really examine where the best return on investment is on dollars spent.”
As the world weathers a pandemic, Nintendo may just be recession-proof
Investors are more likely to bet on known entities, such as proven franchises and game developers with strong track records, rather than risking it with new and unknown properties, according to Curran.
Across gaming companies, those with live service games (like the constantly updating “Apex Legends” or “Candy Crush Saga”) saw microtransactions bolstering their bottom lines in the last three months. While players can access these games for free, the titles offer shiny cosmetics or battle passes for real money. Many analysts wonder how games that are free to play will fare in a recession.
“There’s a huge question mark hanging over the whole games industry,” Curran said. “Would a recession drive more players to choose free-to-play games over premium titles? Will the big spenders in [free-to-play] games — who typically generate the bulk of the revenue — cut back on their purchases? At the moment, we can only guess.”
Riot Games has raised the price of its in-game currency, which can be exchanged for cosmetics and champions, by roughly 10 percent globally. Five dollars used to equal 650 Riot Points, but as of Aug. 19, it will only net players 575 RP.
“We update our pricing by region roughly annually to account for factors like inflation, currency fluctuations and exchange rates,” said Joe Hixson, a spokesman for Riot Games. “We know that pricing changes never feel good, especially during uncertain economic times, so we try to approach these situations with empathy and understanding. That said, these changes are necessary to continue delivering on what players have come to expect from Riot.”
The economy has also impacted the industry’s competitive gaming efforts around esports. Will Partin, research affiliate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for Information, Technology and Public Life, pointed to the unreliable ways the esports industry makes money that could leave it vulnerable in a recession.
Teams rely on content creation to drive sponsorships and ad revenue, while venture capital investors are more reluctant to pay for esports during a period of higher interest rates, he noted.
“These are turbulent times and that’s having a tangible impact on esports,” Partin said. “The teams that will do the best are those that have built strong revenue streams (whether in merchandising, agency work, consulting, etc.) outside of their core esports business. But I doubt that even they will be able to avoid layoffs and spending reductions.”
Twitch streamers have also felt the pinch, as viewers become more reluctant to pay for subscriptions, and streaming for multiple hours grows less worthwhile.
Esports and content creation company FaZe Clan went public in July via a special-purpose acquisition company, a so-called “blank-check” firm that raises funds for private companies. In an April filing the company revised down its financial forecast due to “current market trends.” The company declined to comment for this story.
FaZe Clan, one of the world’s best-known and most popular esports and gaming content brands, has never been profitable, according to its financial filings. In 2021, FaZe Clan reported a net loss of $36.86 million. It’s on track to lose more this year, reporting a $18.86 million loss from January to June, approximately $5 million more than it lost in the same time period last year, according to an August filing. The company is in $94 million of debt, including $1 million from a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan it took out during the pandemic.
Similar to the esports industry, esports journalism also relies heavily on ad revenue, leaving it on shaky ground when ad sales dry up. In March, Enthusiast Gaming abruptly laid off 11 members of an editorial staff of roughly two dozen at its esports and gaming news website Upcomer.
“There’s just a lot of uncertainty in the market in general, and that can lead to quick decisions, harsh decisions, rash decisions,” said a person who works in esports journalism and spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to the speak to the media by his employer.
“People who invest in these properties are expecting a very quick return. This isn’t just in esports journalism, this is in esports in general,” the esports journalist said. “It’s why you [saw] so many teams and organizations jumping into the Overwatch League, previously.” Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch League launched in 2017, selling franchise slots to investors for upward of $20 million but has struggled to deliver returns to team owners like Robert Kraft and Stan Kroenke, owners of the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, respectively.
“A lot of this is people buying into an industry and an audience that is very used to not paying for seeing the things they like and isn’t going to change those habits,” the journalist said.
Several teams in the Overwatch League have recently cut players from their roster, such as the Washington Justice, which is in the process of trimming its lineup, as first reported by journalist Jacob Wolf. Former general manager Aaron “PRE” Heckman tweeted on July 5, “Teams fight over a dwindling fan base instead of trying to grow the whole thing larger,” before deleting his account.
The Overwatch League declined to comment. Heckman did not immediately respond to comment. | 2022-08-22T20:46:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Even 'recession-proof' video game industry is feeling an economic chill - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/08/22/are-video-games-recession-proof-sort-experts-say/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/08/22/are-video-games-recession-proof-sort-experts-say/ |
D.C. police seeking man in killing of Baltimore solar panel worker
D.C. police are searching for a man charged in the fatal shooting of a Baltimore solar panel employee who was killed Aug. 10 while working outside an apartment complex in Southeast Washington, authorities announced Monday.
Avery Miler, 27, of Southeast Washington, was charged in a warrant with first-degree murder while armed, police said. He was not in custody as of Monday afternoon.
Police have said they do not know of a motive in the killing of Aryeh Wolf, 25, who was shot as he worked alongside an apartment building in the 5100 block of Call Place SE, in the Marshall Heights neighborhood. The shooting occurred about 3:40 p.m.
Police said Wolf, who had recently married and had an infant daughter, was working near the side of the building when he was shot.
While police said Miler lived in Southeast Washington, public records for him show several different addresses, including one in Southwest Washington. Attempts to reach his relatives were not successful. | 2022-08-22T21:08:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Police seek man in killing of solar panel worker Aryeh Wolf - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/police-killing-warrant-solar-panel-worker/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/police-killing-warrant-solar-panel-worker/ |
Youngkin unveils unusual 'partnership’ to fix problems in Petersburg
The afternoon sun creates shadows on buildings along Sycamore Street in Petersburg, Va., in 2019. (Julia Rendleman/For The Washington Post)
PETERSBURG, Va. — Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said Monday that he is committing his administration to an unusual partnership with this economically distressed, violence-prone city south of Richmond, to revitalize its fortunes and improve the quality of life for residents.
In an extraordinary two-hour ceremony, Youngkin and seven of his cabinet secretaries detailed 42 initiatives they pledged to undertake with Petersburg officials and faith, civic and education leaders.
“This is a big day,” Youngkin said to reporters after the event at the Petersburg public library. “This is lot more than words. There are a lot of actions that need to accompany this but I feel incredibly encouraged by the coming-together.”
The event united hundreds of leaders from Petersburg — a heavily Democratic, majority-Black city that has suffered deep financial woes — with most of Virginia’s Republican executive branch. Mayor Samuel Parham, a longtime Democrat, praised Youngkin profusely, and the two men said the effort is the product of several conversations they’ve held about how to heal the city’s ills.
“Governor Youngkin is the first to step down here and say that he is going to put all of his resources in a city to move the dial to create prosperity here in the city of Petersburg,” Parham told reporters. “Democrats and Republicans working together — that’s what makes Virginia special.”
Most of the financial resources cited by Youngkin and his cabinet were either approved by the General Assembly in this year’s session or are federal projects that have long been in the works. And Youngkin made clear during the presentation that the “Partnership for Petersburg” touted on signs all around the building — signs paid for by Youngkin’s political action committee, Spirit of Virginia — is not a government handout.
“Let me be clear,” he told the crowd. “I do not believe that government should fix everything. But I hold firmly to the responsibility of a public servant to be a catalyst, a full partner to empower, to uplift, to provide alternative solutions.”
State Democrats seemed somewhat caught off guard by Youngkin’s big rollout, but quickly pointed out that many of its components have been around for some time.
“As usual, the Governor is taking credit for other people’s work,” House Minority Leader Del. Don L. Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth) said via text message. “I’m glad that, at the very least, Governor Youngkin recognizes that government can work to bring people together to solve problems.”
Youngkin said that the effort hinges on local residents working together in a public-private partnership, with government pitching in to facilitate. The initiative, which aides said has been in the works for weeks if not months, consists of six areas of emphasis: education, public safety, health care, transportation, economic development and relations between the community and faith leaders.
Cabinet secretaries representing each area made presentations of their specific goals, outlined several initiatives to satisfy those goals and introduced stakeholders that would be working as partners, such as the YMCA, church groups and city officials.
After each presentation, the secretaries and stakeholders ceremonially signed a pledge describing their commitments.
Education Secretary Aimee Guidera, for instance, touted a proposal from Virginia State University — which is historically Black — and Richard Bland College to start a “lab school” in Petersburg in partnership with the local K-12 school system. Lab schools have been a major Youngkin initiative; the General Assembly set aside $100 million for such projects in the coming fiscal year, but did not approve funding beyond that.
Guidera also announced a new program in which Virginia State will train people to serve as mentors and tutors in the Petersburg school system, and said the YMCA has committed to providing special programs in schools to help children get extra support.
“We’re excited about lab schools,” Petersburg School Board chairman Kenneth Pritchett said afterward. Petersburg schools are some of the most trouble-plagued in the state, with 2½ times the state’s average for absenteeism.
“We thank the governor for bringing everyone in the commonwealth of Virginia together for Petersburg,” Pritchett said. “We needed change, like, yesterday.”
Youngkin and Parham said the seeds of the effort go back to a meeting in February in which state and local officials discussed the city’s problems with violence. State Attorney General Jason S. Miyares (R), speaking Monday, said the city has the highest per capita murder rate in Virginia, at more than three times the state average.
Miyares said he has asked two federal prosecutors assigned to the region to focus on violent crime in Richmond and Petersburg.
Since April, Virginia State Police have committed additional resources to Petersburg, which city Police Chief Travis C. Christian credited with leading to a reduction of violent crime. Christian said Public Safety Secretary Robert Mosier calls him at least once a week “to make sure we’re just doing OK here in the city of Petersburg.”
Priorities listed by Transportation Secretary Sheppard Miller III include several federal programs that have long been in the works. Those include a $58 million grant awarded to Virginia and North Carolina to improve rail service between Richmond and Raleigh, which will benefit Petersburg, as well as federal money to improve the local Amtrak station.
One Democratic lawmaker spoke at the event: State Sen. Joe Morrissey, whose district includes Petersburg, and who is seen as a potential swing vote for Republicans seeking to pass increased limits on abortion next year. Democrats hold a 21-19 majority in the Senate but Morrissey has signaled he could be open to restrictions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
“I look forward, governor, to working with you. You told me eight months ago that you were going to make Petersburg a focal point of your administration. You done it — thanks very much,” Morrissey said to applause from the crowd.
After the ceremonies, Youngkin was asked by a reporter how he would measure whether the partnership has been successful. Every one of the initiatives, he replied, has “measurable key results” that will demonstrate whether Petersburg’s situation has improved.
“We do things focused on outcomes and results,” Youngkin said. Having the cabinet secretaries sign pledges “was done not for show, but for accountability,” he said, adding that he expects to get regular reports on progress.
Youngkin said he intends Petersburg to be a pilot program for a model that can be taken to localities around the state. But he also made clear that part of the reason this one came first is that he felt a close relationship with Mayor Parham — who stood beside Youngkin as he spoke with reporters.
“The mayor and I just hit it off,” Youngkin said.
Asked later if he is becoming a Republican, Parham gave a hearty laugh. “I got a special man right there in Governor Youngkin,” he said. “I have his back, he has mine.” | 2022-08-22T21:08:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Youngkin announces unusual 'partnership' to fix problems in city of Petersburg - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/youngkin-petersburg-virginia-education-crime/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/22/youngkin-petersburg-virginia-education-crime/ |
NEW YORK — Stocks fell broadly on Wall Street, extending the market’s losses amid worries about inflation and the path ahead for the economy. The S&P 500 shed 2.1% Monday, its biggest drop since mid-June. Some 95% of stocks in the benchmark index lost ground. It finished in the red last week, breaking a four-week winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq also fell. Technology companies and retailers had some of the heaviest losses. Signify Health soared after The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon would bid for the company. Investors are looking ahead to this week’s Federal Reserve conference.
JOHNSTOWN, Ohio — Ohio’s largest-ever economic development project is coming with a big employment challenge. Intel announced earlier this year a $20 billion semiconductor manufacturing operation near Columbus. The company says about 7,000 construction workers will be hired to build the two factories ahead of a planned 2025 opening. Those jobs must be filled even though several other big central Ohio construction projects are already employing thousands. The need also comes during a national shortage of construction workers. Intel says finding workers won’t be without its challenges but is confident there’s enough demand that the jobs will be filled.
DETROIT — About 3,000 white-collar workers at Ford Motor Co. will lose their jobs as the company cuts costs to help make the long transition from internal combustion vehicles to those powered by batteries. Leaders of the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker made the announcement Monday in a companywide email, saying that 2,000 full-time salaried workers would be let go along with another 1,000 contract workers. The salaried worker cuts are about 6% of the work force of 31,000 in the U.S. and Canada. Ford’s 56,000 union factory workers are not affected. The cuts will come across the company in the U.S., Canada and India. Executive Chairman Bill Ford and CEO Jim Farley said in the email that Ford will provide benefits and significant help for workers to find new jobs.
LONDON — Cineworld Group says it’s considering a U.S. bankruptcy filing for Chapter 11 protection, as it contends with billions of dollars in debt and more empty seats at its screens than expected. One of the world’s largest movie theater chains, the owner of Regal Cinemas in the United States said Monday that bankruptcy is one option it’s weighing amid a financial crunch. Cineworld faces challenges specific to itself after building up $4.8 billion in net debt. But the entire industry is navigating a tenuous recovery after the pandemic shut theaters worldwide. Box-office revenue has rebounded this summer, but it’s still running nearly 20% below pre-pandemic levels.
SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla CEO Elon Musk has subpoenaed his friend and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as part of an effort to back out of his $44 billion agreement to acquire the company Dorsey helped found. Twitter and Musk are headed for an Oct. 17 trial in Delaware that should determine whether or not Twitter can force the billionaire to go through with the acquisition. Twitter has subpoenaed a host of tech investors and entrepreneurs connected to Musk, including prominent venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and David Sacks, the founding chief operating officer of PayPal.
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. — A federal judge has rejected a request by Vermont ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s to block a plan by its corporate parent to have an intermediary sell its products in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. In the decision issued Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Carter says Ben & Jerry’s failed to show that the decision by London-based consumer goods conglomerate Unilever would hurt Ben & Jerry’s progressive social mission or confuse its customers. Earlier this year, Unilever announced that it was selling its interest in Israel in the Vermont ice cream maker to its Israeli licensee, which would market Ben & Jerry’s products in east Jerusalem and the West Bank with Hebrew and Arabic labels.
OMAHA, Neb. — Warren Buffett’s company now has clearance to boost its current 20% stake in Occidental Petroleum up to 50% of the oil producer. But it’s not immediately clear how many more shares Berkshire Hathaway plans to buy. Occidental shares soared nearly 12% Friday after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission revealed that it had approved the purchases. The stock gave up some of those gains Monday to trade just below $70 after speculation that Berkshire might try to buy the entire company cooled. Analysts that follow Berkshire expect Buffett to buy more Occidental shares once the price falls below $60 again.
BERLIN — Sports apparel maker Adidas says CEO Kasper Rorsted will step down next year and it has started looking for a successor. The Germany-based company said Monday that Rorsted and its supervisory board “mutually agreed” that he will hand over during the course of 2023. He’s been CEO since 2016. Supervisory board chairman Thomas Rabe says “after three challenging years that were marked by the economic consequences of the COVID-19-pandemic and geopolitical tensions, it is now the right time to initiate a CEO transition and pave the way for a restart.” | 2022-08-22T21:21:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Business Highlights: Wall Street's slump, workers sought - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/business-highlights-wall-streets-slump-workers-sought/2022/08/22/3ee9b0ea-225d-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/business-highlights-wall-streets-slump-workers-sought/2022/08/22/3ee9b0ea-225d-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
MoviePass offers wait list before return
MoviePass, the movie ticket subscription service that flamed out spectacularly three years ago, will open a wait list Thursday in anticipation of its return on or around Sept. 5.
Cinema fans can start signing up at 9 a.m. on Aug. 25, and the list will be open for five days, according to the company’s website.
The service will begin rolling out nationwide in stages, with markets determined in part by the level of sign-ups to the wait list.
Prices will vary by market but generally will fall in three tiers costing $10, $20 and $30.
MoviePass became popular when it introduced a plan in August 2017 that allowed subscribers to see a film every day in theaters for $9.95 a month. By June 2018, it had reached membership of 3 million, but its parent company was bankrupt by January 2020.
Reservation wage jumps by 6 percent
The average reservation wage, or the lowest pay level that Americans would be willing to accept for a new job, rose by 5.7 percent from a year earlier to $72,873 in July, according to the latest labor market survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as soaring prices change the calculus for workers.
The self-reported reservation wage has climbed faster among men and younger workers since the pandemic began, according to the survey, which is conducted three times a year. The overall figure was down slightly from a series high of $73,283 in the last study in March.
Inflation at four-decade highs has eaten into the purchasing power of U.S. employees.
The reservation wage reported by Americans with less than a college degree, and those age 45 or younger, has risen by more than 23 percent since March 2020 when the pandemic began, according to the New York Fed.
The latest survey showed a widening split by gender. The reservation wage for men jumped to $86,259, and for women it declined to $59,543.
Ben & Jerry's loses West Bank lawsuit
Ben & Jerry’s lost a bid Monday to block its corporate parent, Unilever, from going forward with a deal to allow its ice cream to be sold in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Vermont-based ice cream maker claimed in a suit that Unilever’s sale of its brand and trademark in Israel to a local company violated the 2000 agreement by which Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry’s and runs against its “core values.”
Unilever said the agreement gave Ben & Jerry’s no power to challenge the deal, which closed in June.
U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. in Manhattan denied Ben & Jerry’s request for a preliminary injunction, saying the ice cream maker failed to show that it would suffer irreparable harm if the deal wasn’t blocked.
Elon Musk subpoenaed former Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey as he fights a lawsuit by the social media company seeking to make him complete the $44 billion buyout he proposed. Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter, has been a backer of the Musk bid to take over the company. He stepped down as Twitter CEO last year. The notice of subpoena, filed Monday, came amid a flurry of filings that also included notice of subpoenas served by Musk on Friday on Kayvon Beykpour, former head of consumer product at Twitter, and Bruce Falck, formerly in charge of revenue product.
Workers at a General Electric factory in Alabama launched an effort to form a union, joining a wave of labor organization efforts at large national companies. Workers at the GE plant in Auburn submitted union cards to the Birmingham office of the National Labor Relations Board in an organization effort with the IUE-CWA. The 179-employee
GE Aviation plant in Auburn manufactures aircraft engine parts. The IUE-CWA indicated a majority of workers submitted union cards but did not give an exact number. | 2022-08-22T21:21:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | MoviePass offers wait list before return - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/moviepass-offers-wait-list-before-return/2022/08/22/fd28e93c-2220-11ed-ba29-39afcd3965a2_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/moviepass-offers-wait-list-before-return/2022/08/22/fd28e93c-2220-11ed-ba29-39afcd3965a2_story.html |
Singapore Moves on From Gay Sex Ban, Just Not Very Far
After a long period of deliberation and consultation, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Sunday the government will abolish a colonial-era law that prohibits sex between men. The step, elevated by its inclusion in the premier’s National Day Rally address that also emphasized the need to attract top brains to the city-state, rids Singapore of what Lee called an “untidy compromise” — or “state-sanctioned discrimination” as the LGBTQ community described it. The regulation, known as Section 377A of the Penal Code, has remained on the books since the 1930s, though not actively enforced for more than a decade. Leaders acknowledged attitudes have evolved, but were wary of a potential backlash from religious groups. “This is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will now accept,” the prime minister said.
While the repeal is a win for the LGBTQ community, it comes with important caveats. Lee signaled a limited appetite for further liberalization: His speech stopped short of embracing same-sex unions and officials foreshadowed legal changes that would protect the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. “Most Singaporeans do not want the repeal to trigger a drastic shift in our societal norms across the board, including how we define marriage, what we teach children in schools, what is shown on free-to-air television and in cinemas, or what is generally acceptable conduct in public,” Lee added.
It’s unclear what, if any, legal protections will guard against discrimination for LGBTQ citizens, beyond not having committed an offense. Tough questions loom. Given same-sex relationships are not legally recognized, will hospitals prevent a partner from visiting their spouse or taking medical decisions on their behalf? Will landlords feel free to discriminate against tenants, current or prospective? And what of visas for partners of the talented executives and entrepreneurs Singapore is trying hard to attract? Rival financial center Hong Kong allowed gay expat workers to bring in their partners on dependent visas after a court ruling in 2018. We’ll have to wait to see the contours of Singapore’s legislation — and what accompanies it.
Don’t look for too much envelope pushing, at least publicly. While ministers had signaled for months that change was coming, they stressed that companies, and people, should stay in their lane. By linking careful deliberation over 377A to communal harmony, officials limited the space for advocacy that might be considered too edgy.
The local LGBTQ scene wasn’t underground by any means; each year a park on the edges of the financial district played host to a vibrant pride festival. One thing the state didn’t want is multinational corporations, or foreign leaders, to take a high profile. Foreign employers were warned off sponsoring the festival years ago. This month, when a visiting US Congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked business to support the gay community, given more American firms were coming to Singapore, there was a swift rebuke. “These are matters for Singaporeans to discuss and come to a consensus on how to move forward,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.
Lee didn’t explicitly tie 377A to Singapore’s relative attractiveness as a regional base camp for global capital and labor. It’s hard to ignore the links, however. Over the years, companies have faced difficulties in obtaining visas for same-sex partners, though the government has handled some of this on a case-by-case basis. Lee’s speech Sunday warned Singaporeans against closing up shop. That’s important because during the pandemic and its aftermath, Singapore did convey a sense that it wasn’t entirely open to the rest of the world. “In this global contest for talent, Singapore cannot afford to be creamed off, or left behind,” Lee said.
While Hong Kong’s brand has been tarnished by its poor handling of the pandemic and the imposition of the national security law, Singapore cannot allow itself to be left behind. It needs to balance its innate conservatism against a changing neighborhood. India’s top court legalized sex between men in a landmark ruling in 2018 that also abolished S377 from its penal code. Thailand this year has moved toward allowing these unions. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Australia for several years. Lee saved the big news on 377A for the English version of his speech Sunday, leaving it out of the Malay and Chinese statements. | 2022-08-22T21:21:58Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Singapore Moves on From Gay Sex Ban, Just Not Very Far - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/singapore-moves-on-from-gay-sex-ban-just-not-very-far/2022/08/22/d24e36ce-2255-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/singapore-moves-on-from-gay-sex-ban-just-not-very-far/2022/08/22/d24e36ce-2255-11ed-a72f-1e7149072fbc_story.html |
A view of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland on Jan. 29. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
It is shocking and frightening to see the deterioration and poor upkeep of the support structures of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The rebar support structures have been allowed to be exposed and then weakened by salt and rust. If only one lane of this vital structure is closed, the entire areas on both sides of the bridge are in gridlock. Imagine if an entire span of the bridge would need to be closed for weeks or months because of the collapse of one of the supports.
I have fished below the bridge for years and am becoming increasingly concerned that such a vital structure in this area is so poorly maintained.
David Lloyd, Annapolis | 2022-08-22T21:22:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The Chesapeake Bay Bridge appears in disrepair - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/chesapeake-bay-bridge-appears-disrepair/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/chesapeake-bay-bridge-appears-disrepair/ |
A woman wears a T-shirt advocating for coronavirus vaccines on July 31 at Ballou High School in D.C. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post)
Regarding the Aug. 19 editorial “The next pandemic”:
Had the federal government mandated safe and effective coronavirus vaccines, once available, hundreds of thousands of lives would have been saved. Viruses replicate and give rise to resistant strains far more successfully in unvaccinated hosts. Vaccine-resistant variants will likely emerge again if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not now encourage our elected officials to mandate universal vaccinations.
In 1922, Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis wrote, “it is within the police power of the state to provide compulsory vaccination … for the protection of public health.” Georgetown global health law professor Lawrence O. Gostin wrote in Scientific American that legally the federal government can require vaccinations to “prevent transmission of a dangerous infectious disease across state lines.”
Among the most fundamental responsibilities of the CDC is advising our elected government on how to protect Americans from existential threats such as the coronavirus. Before another 1 million die or more vaccine-resistant variants emerge, our government should legislate mandatory universal vaccines and help the rest of the world to vaccinate without delay.
Steven Sorscher, Winston-Salem, N.C. | 2022-08-22T21:23:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The federal government must mandate vaccines - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/federal-government-must-mandate-vaccines/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/federal-government-must-mandate-vaccines/ |
I remember polio
A woman stricken with polio in an iron lung on Nov. 30, 1954, in Syracuse, N.Y. (Associated Press) (uncredited/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Leana S. Wen’s shocking Aug. 18 op-ed about the reemergence of polio in the United States because of a lack of vaccination in certain areas, “Polio’s return is a health emergency. And a tragedy.,” asked people who experienced this disease to remind our younger friends of what it was like.
In 1954, the year of the last major outbreak in the United States before the 1955 vaccine, the epidemic struck my father, 30, my sister, 6, and my brother, 2. My father was the hardest hit. He had all three types of polio and was paralyzed for a while. I was 4 years old and have vivid memories of my father immobile on the couch, my mother shooing us to a neighbor’s; my father gone and then returning home and “crawling” along the hall using his arms to propel himself; my sister’s months of physical therapy to strengthen a weakened foot; my father’s face looking like it would slide down off his chin; and strong undercurrents of my parent’s fear. Would he walk again? Work? Would we all get sick too?
With the support of my amazing mother, help from the March of Dimes and years of physical therapy, Dad recovered. Like many polio victims from this period, he pushed himself to his maximum capacity and eventually led a full and active life. But he could never run, play sports, ride a bike, hike, pick up and carry his kids, take stairs and curbs easily, dance or eat spicy foods, which made him choke.
I cannot imagine why anyone would risk getting polio. To those who have not done so, I have one message: For your own sake, for the sake of those you love, and for all of us, get vaccinated.
Kathryn Winthrop, Washington | 2022-08-22T21:23:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | I remember polio - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/i-remember-polio/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/i-remember-polio/ |
Yes, women should coach boys’ sports. Here’s why.
By Abby Braiman
(Molly Magnell for The Washington Post)
Abby Braiman is a youth flag football coach in Los Angeles and the head of marketing for MOJO, a sports company and app that supports the work of youth coaches.
“Coach Abby, why are you a girl?”
This was the first question Cameron, age 7, asked me at our inaugural flag football practice. I suspected that his teammates, all boys, wondered the same thing. His mom later mentioned that he’d asked his dad about it, too.
Like the majority of kids in sports, Cameron had never had a female coach. Even as women break into leadership roles in the pro leagues — Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League — in youth sports, where coaches are primarily volunteers, more than 70 percent of coaches are men. And only 2 percent of boys’ teams are coached by women.
This is a problem for society — because it means that in one of the most formative settings in which boys get to see adults in charge, we’re not exposing them to female leadership.
Why don’t more women coach? For moms, the household workload — including the labor of managing children’s lives — is often already unbalanced. They simply don’t have the energy or time. But as someone who has coached kids in multiple sports and whose day job is to make coaching youth sports easier and more accessible, I’d add a more insidious reason: The women aren’t always welcome.
We expect men to be involved with their children’s sports. But men are also more likely to claim sports expertise than women. In youth sports, this is often false expertise. The reality is that less than 10 percent of such coaches have any pertinent training.
This doesn’t stop men from letting me know what they feel about how I’m doing my job. After two practices this spring, a dad emailed me to say I “lacked professionalism,” rather than asking why I was coaching as I did. A few weeks later, another dad yelled at me on the sideline that I “didn’t have what it takes to win” — even though our team ultimately made the playoffs.
After these exchanges, I asked myself more times than I want to admit whether I was qualified.
Sports have been an integral part of my life. My dad is a former National Junior Olympics bronze medalist diver, and Title IX enabled my mom to be a competitive soccer player; she helped coach my youth soccer teams. In college, I was a Division I cross-country and track-and-field runner. For much of my young adult life, I simultaneously played sports and coached children.
I took my current job because I have acutely experienced the impact of both good and bad coaching, and I believe in helping coaches and players to be their best. And yet, because I’m a woman, I’ve been judged and belittled — by dads who’ve made me wonder if I belong out on the field at all.
As a woman, I indeed tend toward a different coaching style. I rarely raise my voice, and I do a lot of explaining “why” we’re doing something — to the children and their parents. When the kids have questions or ideas, I encourage them to speak up.
My approach has resonated with many of the team’s moms. Several have mentioned that they appreciate I don’t yell at their children and have thanked me for “good coaching moments.” Some have expressed exasperation at their husbands, who pace the sideline despite having been asked to sit.
My methods have also drawn interest from other coaches in the league. Some watch me and wind up mimicking my explanations. One coach, a former NBA star, asked how I taught 6-year-olds to run an inside reverse.
I’m not arguing that we need fewer male coaches. Given the coaching shortage in youth sports, we need lots of adults to step up. But the presence of female coaches helps reinforce a clear and important message to parents, children and other coaches: Women are qualified. Even more, they belong on the field. This means not only recruiting and encouraging women to coach but also building a community that supports them.
There will come a day when the boys I coach become men, working with women. My hope is that their time spent with me as children will help make them better adults — better at working with women, less skeptical of female leadership, and focused on both outcomes and relationships.
Cameron ended the season as a top scorer and with significant improvement as an evasive player. More important, he learned the value of cheering on his teammates and taking turns — and that being a top scorer is not the same as being a great team player.
At the end of our last game (a loss in the playoffs), he and his teammates capped off the season with a final cheer, to celebrate the day: “Happy Mother’s Day!” | 2022-08-22T21:23:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Why women should coach boys’ sports - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/women-coach-boys-sports-leadership/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/women-coach-boys-sports-leadership/ |
You can’t be too careful with what children read
Julie Womack, organizing director of “Red Wine and Blue,” a group of about 300,000 progressive suburban moms, holds banned books on Jan. 31 in Westerville, Ohio. (Maddie McGarvey for The Washington Post)
Regarding the Aug. 18 front-page article “In the name of protection, students lose access to books”:
I assume that all books referring to religion (say, Christianity and prayer) will also be pulled from the school library shelves along with most of the works of Shakespeare. We can’t be too safe when it comes to protecting our children!
Roger Kaufman, McLean
The new school book restrictions remind me of book bans of “The Catcher in the Rye” beginning in 1951. The book was banned from my high school library and many other school libraries across the country. Of course, students found copies elsewhere, read it and quickly passed it on to friends. Even students who rarely read unassigned books wanted to read it.
With the internet, banning books is not likely to restrict students’ access. In fact, it may very well increase readership.
Jon Meyerson, Frederick | 2022-08-22T21:23:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | You can’t be too careful with what children read - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/you-cant-be-too-careful-with-what-children-read/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/you-cant-be-too-careful-with-what-children-read/ |
Australian soldiers fire a Carl Gustav recoilless rifle during training in 2014. The U.S. is providing Ukraine with 2,000 rounds for the weapon, which has a range of a few hundred meters. (Sgt. Matthew Callahan/U.S. Marine Corps)
Ukrainian officials have been openly discussing an offensive on the Russian-held strategic port city of Kherson, but there is little evidence along the front lines that Ukraine is prepared to execute an operation that would require large numbers of troops, armored vehicles and powerful, close-range weapons to overcome the numerically superior Russian military.
The nearly $800 million in assistance announced Friday will include 40 bomb-resistant vehicles with rollers attached to their front, which help detonate mines, and lighter howitzers that are easier to move than the more powerful guns the U.S. has previously sent. The aid will also include recoilless rifles with a range of few hundred meters and missile launchers limited to less than three miles — much closer than the current distance between Ukrainian and Russian units in many places.
“The mine-clearing is a really good example of how the Ukrainians will need this sort of capability to be able to push their forces forward and retake territory,” a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Friday. “These are capabilities that are enhancing the Ukrainians’ mobility as they look at this very challenging environment in southern Ukraine, in particular.” The official spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon.
U.S. security aid in recent months has focused on long-range rockets and howitzers such as multiple-launch precision rocket systems, known as HIMARS, to support Ukraine in the brutal artillery fight in the eastern Donbas region. Those weapons have been effective at precisely targeting enemy command posts and ammunition depots, and have led to a reduction in the scale of Russia’s shelling. But they have not shifted the front lines.
The TOW missiles being sent to Ukraine can either be set up on a heavy tripod or loaded onto the back of a vehicle like a Humvee. That setup allows troops to launch a missile and quickly depart to avoid return fire — a technique known as “shoot and scoot.”
The package also includes 2,000 rounds for Carl Gustav recoilless rifles. The weapons are carried by infantrymen to fire 84mm rounds at vehicles and fighting positions within a few hundred meters.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an economic element to this,” Lee said. Some newly provided weapons could also be useful in the artillery fight in the east or an offensive in the south, such as using the ScanEagle drone and radar-detecting missiles in tandem to find and destroy Russian air defense systems. Removing those from the battlefield would allow troops to harness their own drones in a counterattack and move more freely around the battlefield.
“I don’t know if they have the forces to do it,” Lee said of an offensive in Kherson. An attrition strategy, he said, “makes the most sense for Ukraine.” | 2022-08-22T22:44:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | New U.S. weapons for Ukraine suggest shift to closer combat - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/22/us-weapons-ukraine-offensive/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/22/us-weapons-ukraine-offensive/ |
By Christian Caryl
Op-ed Editor/International
Investigators work at the site of a car bombing that killed Daria Dugina, daughter of Russian hard-liner Alexander Dugin, outside Moscow. (Investigative Committee of Russia/AFP) (Handout/Investigative Committee Of Russi)
On Saturday, a car bomb killed the daughter of one of Russia’s most notorious nationalist ideologues. Alexander Dugin was supposed to join his 29-year-old daughter, Daria, in their car for a ride home after an event outside of Moscow; his decision to take a different vehicle at the last minute appears to have spared his life — leading to speculation that the bomb was actually aimed at him. His daughter died instantly.
The Russian government is blaming Kyiv for the killing. The accusation implies that the Ukrainians targeted Dugin out of revenge, since he was a fanatical advocate of the notion that Moscow should place reconquering Ukraine at the heart of a new Russian empire. The Ukrainians are denying responsibility for the killing. Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, says that his country “had nothing to do with” the bombing “because we’re not a criminal state, like the Russian Federation is, and moreover not a terrorist state.”
First, Dugin is far less important than some people are suggesting. He’s not “Putin’s brain.” There is no evidence that Dugin has ever met Putin in person, much less offered him regular advice, and I am yet to be convinced that the Russian president spends his leisure time poring over turgid political tracts. Putin didn’t have to read Dugin’s writings to come up with plans to annex Crimea or undermine Ukrainian statehood — both of those ideas have long been widespread among certain members of the Russian elite. Putin has his own brain.
Second, killing Dugin will likely have zero direct effect on Russia’s war against Ukraine. Staging such an attack in Putin’s backyard might boost Ukrainian morale a bit. But that seems like a lot of risk for the sake of eliminating someone who plays no actual role in the conduct of the war. Dugin, it is worth noting, has no government position; his only function is as a propagandist — and Russia is oversupplied with those. (Both Dugin and his daughter have indulged in genocidal rhetoric against Ukrainians — which, sadly, places them solidly in the mainstream of Russian public discourse today.)
And that brings us to the most important point — that we shouldn’t take Kremlin statements at face value. Russia is a paranoid dictatorship prosecuting one of the most brazen acts of international aggression in decades. In 2014, Putin wholeheartedly denied that his troops were seizing control of Crimea until the operation was finished; today, six months after the start of the invasion, it remains a crime to state the truth that Russia is waging “war” in Ukraine. Dictatorships, by their nature, do not deal in truths. Any information released by the Russian authorities should be treated less as a description of reality than as a political tool.
Note that within hours of Daria Dugina’s killing, the Russian security service, the FSB, claimed that it had already identified the culprit: a Ukrainian woman who somehow managed to get away to Estonia (some 500 miles away) after planting the bomb. The agency didn’t explain why the suspect, identified as Natalya Vovk, chose to carry out the operation in the company of her 12-year-old daughter — highly unusual tradecraft, to say the least. (The FSB also claims to have acquired an ID card showing Vovk’s membership in a Ukrainian nationalist organization.)
The Russian state — under Putin and before him — has a long history of manufacturing or manipulating events to suit its agenda. In 1999, then-Prime Minister Putin notoriously seized upon a series of bloody terrorist bombings in Moscow and the heartland to launch a new war against the rebellious Chechens, whom he blamed for the attacks; his hard-line response boosted his own power and his subsequent revival of the police state. To this day, however, the FSB has failed to provide an adequate explanation for a bomb that was discovered to have been planted by its own operatives. (The security service dismissed the incident as part of a “training exercise.”) We may never know the full truth.
We may learn more in the days to come. But remember: The Kremlin’s explanations can’t be trusted.
Opinions about Russia | 2022-08-22T22:53:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Kremlin's take on Moscow bombing should be taken with a grain of salt - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/alexander-dugin-daughter-car-bombing-distrust-official-narrative/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/22/alexander-dugin-daughter-car-bombing-distrust-official-narrative/ |
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