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Lukoil Chairman Ravil Maganov, right, with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Nov. 21, 2019. Maganov’s fall is at least the sixth fatal incident this year involving Russian oil and gas executives whose lives ended in gory or murky circumstances. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images)
The chairman of Russia’s second-largest oil company, Lukoil, died Thursday after reportedly falling from the window of a Moscow hospital where he was being treated after suffering a heart attack.
Ravil Maganov, 67, fell from a sixth-floor window at the Central Clinical Hospital around 7 a.m. local time, the state-run Tass news agency reported.
It was not clear whether Maganov’s death was an accident, a suicide or something more sinister.
Conflicting theories immediately emerged in the Russian media, with Tass citing an unnamed source in law enforcement as saying that Maganov had been taking antidepressants and killed himself.
Baza, an online outlet with links to the police, reported that the oil executive might have slipped while smoking on a balcony.
Russian oil giant Lukoil had big dreams for its U.S. gas stations. The invasion of Ukraine could spell the end.
Lukoil confirmed Maganov’s death but said only that he “passed away following a severe illness.”
“Ravil Maganov immensely contributed to the development of not only the company, but of the entire Russian oil and gas sector,” the company said in a statement posted on its website that also expressed condolences to his family on behalf of Lukoil’s “thousands of employees.”
Maganov’s unexplained fall is at least the sixth fatal incident this year involving high-profile Russian oil and gas executives whose lives ended in gory or murky circumstances.
In April, the body of a former top manager of gas giant Novatek, Sergey Protosenya, was found at a Spanish villa alongside those of his wife and their 18-year-old daughter.
Spanish news outlet Telecinco reported that police found the mother and the daughter in separate rooms with stab wounds. Protosenya was found in the yard, where he reportedly hanged himself.
Spanish media reported at the time that murder-suicide was the Catalan police’s leading theory in their investigation.
Novatek, however, seemingly cast doubt that Protosenya could be responsible for the deaths of his wife and daughter. He “established himself as an outstanding person and a wonderful family man,” the company said in a statement. “Unfortunately, speculations have emerged in the media about this topic, but we are convinced that these speculations bear no relation to reality.”
A former vice president of Gazprombank, Vladislav Avayev, was similarly found dead in April alongside his wife and daughter in their Moscow apartment.
A month later, former Lukoil tycoon Alexander Subbotin died of heart failure in the Moscow region after reportedly receiving homeopathic treatment from a shaman, who offered his clients injections of toad poison.
Lukoil made headlines in March as the only Russian oil producer that called for an end to the war in Ukraine. In a statement issued just days after the Feb. 24 invasion, Lukoil “expressed concern over the ongoing tragic events in Ukraine” and called for “the immediate cessation of the armed conflict.”
Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov resigned in late April after being sanctioned by Western countries. Maganov had served as Lukoil’s first executive vice president since 1994 and was appointed in 2020 to lead its board of directors. His brother, Nail Maganov, is the CEO of another large oil and gas company, Tatneft. | 2022-09-01T20:22:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | CEO of Russian oil company dies in fall from hospital window - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/01/russia-lukoil-fall-hospital-window/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/01/russia-lukoil-fall-hospital-window/ |
Russian military vehicles escort a convoy with experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, who reached the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on Thursday to begin a long-awaited inspection. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)
KYIV, Ukraine — A team of U.N. nuclear experts made an initial inspection at the embattled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on Thursday after traversing a contested stretch of southeastern Ukraine besieged by mortar shelling and small weapons fire.
“I have just completed a first tour of the key areas that we wanted to see,” Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a video message from the plant. “Of course there is a lot more to do. My team is staying on.”
Grossi said the goal of his multiday inspection was to set up a permanent monitoring mission at the plant and assess the safety situation there. It is unclear how extensive his team’s access will be after his departure.
The nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, is controlled by Russian forces but operated by Ukrainian engineers. Over the past few months, it has experienced a frightening array of artillery barrages, uncontrolled fires and power outages with a skeleton crew of workers sometimes held at gunpoint.
Grossi arrived at the plant in a convoy of armored vehicles and departed several hours later. According to Ukraine’s nuclear power company, Energoatom, he left behind a core team of five experts to continue the inspection until Saturday.
The group entered the plant after shelling by Russian troops forced a shutdown of a reactor, the power company said. A backup power line was damaged in the process.
The team’s mission is to check on the plant’s safety systems, review the damage done to the complex and interview workers, who Ukrainian officials say have been subject to intimidation and abuse at the hands of the Russian military. More than 1,000 workers are servicing the plant — about 10 percent of its usual workforce.
The plant’s six nuclear reactors require a constant power supply to keep cool. The facility was disconnected from its power source last week after shelling and a fire and required the use of emergency generators, Ukrainian officials said. Nuclear experts hope the IAEA mission will lead to a backup system that’s more sophisticated than the current fleet of diesel generators, which can only run for a limited amount of time.
Grossi had been negotiating a visit to the plant since March, when Russian forces first seized the facility. A proposal to enter through Russian-occupied Crimea was rejected by Ukraine, which viewed that itinerary as an affront to its sovereignty.
After overcoming those political hurdles, the visit nearly fell through on Thursday after shelling near the designated route. Grossi acknowledged the presence of “increased military activity” but said the mission was too important to abandon.
“Having come so far, we are not stopping,” he said.
On the way, he and his team were held up at a Ukrainian checkpoint for more than three hours, according to the IAEA, which released images of the stalled convoy. Grossi, who appeared visibly irritated, “personally negotiated with Ukrainian military authorities to be able to proceed,” an IAEA spokesman said.
Though both Ukraine and Russia provided security assurances to the IAEA team, no cease-fire exists between the warring sides. Ukraine blamed Russia for endangering the route to the plant. Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of shelling the facility.
Ukrainian officials have called on Russian forces to vacate the plant. Those troops have refused to leave, saying they are there to ensure its safety. | 2022-09-01T20:35:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | U.N. inspectors arrive at embattled nuclear plant as bombs fall nearby - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/01/ukraine-russia-nuclear-inspectors-plant/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/01/ukraine-russia-nuclear-inspectors-plant/ |
NYPD cop who assaulted police receives longest Jan. 6 sentence yet: 10 years
The punishment for Thomas Webster is the stiffest so far for a Capitol riot defendant.
D.C. Police body-camera footage shows Marine veteran and retired NYPD officer Thomas Webster scream profanities and attack officers during the Jan. 6 riot. (Video: U.S. Attorney’s Office)
A former New York City police officer and Marine Corps veteran, who swung a flagpole at police before tackling one officer and yanking his gas mask off during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday, the longest sentence handed down so far among the more than 860 people charged in the insurrection.
Thomas Webster, 56, of Goshen, N.Y., was the first riot defendant facing the felony charge of assaulting an officer to try his luck with a jury. Twelve others have pleaded guilty to a similar charge. Webster took the witness stand at his trial and testified that he was acting in self-defense, saying D.C. police officer Noah Rathbun had instigated the fight.
Two officers fought in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Who did wrong?
Federal sentencing guidelines set a range of punishment of 210 to 262 months, or 17.5 to 21.8 years. Prosecutors recommended 17 years for Webster, the stiffest punishment they have proposed against a Jan. 6 defendant. The government’s recommendation was still the low end of the range, even as they argued that Webster was convicted of “spearheading the breach of the police line at the Lower West Plaza, and for disgracing a democracy that he once fought honorably to protect and serve.”
In his closing argument, Webster’s lawyer, James E. Monroe, criticized Rathbun for using improper force and called him “a dishonest, unprofessional police officer.” But in his sentencing memo filed last week, Monroe took a different approach. He said that Webster, who once served on protective duty for then-New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, “was one of the few people among the thousands of Americans present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 who should have fully appreciated the enormity of the task assigned to Officer Rathbun and his fellow officers.”
“Casted in this light,” Monroe wrote, “Mr. Webster does not have a justifiable excuse for verbally abusing the officers present along the police line; pushing on the bicycle rack; using his flagpole to threaten Officer Rathbun; or in engaging in the unspeakable act of charging and tackling of Officer Rathbun to the ground.”
Ex-NYPD officer found guilty in first Jan. 6 police assault trial
Monroe noted that the federal probation office recommended a sentence of 120 months, or 10 years. He asked U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta to impose a term below the 210-262 month range of the sentencing guidelines, which are advisory.
Webster was only the 33rd defendant convicted and sentenced for any felony in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, a Washington Post database shows. The average felony sentence so far has been slightly less than 31 months. Only one felony defendant has not been sentenced to prison, Jacob Fracker. Also a police officer, Fracker was placed on two months home detention after he testified against his co-defendant, fellow officer Thomas Robertson. Robertson was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after a jury found him guilty of obstructing Congress and other charges.
Robertson and Guy Reffitt, who both were convicted at trial but were not accused of assaulting police, were both sentenced to 87 months in prison. That had been the longest sentence until today. | 2022-09-01T20:36:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ex-NYPD officer Thomas Webster sentenced to 10 years in Jan. 6 assault on police - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/webster-sentenced-assault-jan6-police/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/webster-sentenced-assault-jan6-police/ |
This image released by Universal Pictures shows Billy Eichner, left, and Luke Macfarlane in a scene from “Bros.” (Universal Pictures via AP) (Uncredited/Universal Pictures)
NEW YORK — It doesn’t take a genius to deduce that anyone who rants in New York’s Madison Square Park about “Ratatouille” not getting enough respect or gets into a shouting match on 42nd Street about Denzel Washington's stage credits might have a complicated relationship with the entertainment industry. | 2022-09-01T20:36:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Fall Preview: Billy Eichner and 'Bros' remake the rom-com - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fall-preview-billy-eichner-and-bros-remake-the-rom-com/2022/09/01/bb9faae0-2a32-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fall-preview-billy-eichner-and-bros-remake-the-rom-com/2022/09/01/bb9faae0-2a32-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
Palin didn’t lose because of ranked voting. Get smart, Republicans.
Sarah Palin joins other candidates, including Democrat Mary Peltola, on stage during a forum for U.S. House candidates at the Alaska Oil and Gas Association annual conference at the Dena'ina Convention Center in Anchorage, Ala., on Aug. 31. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News/AP)
It is tempting to blame Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system for Sarah Palin’s loss to Democrat Mary Peltola in the state’s House special election. Don’t. Palin lost this one all on her own.
Ranked-choice voting allows voters to select more than one candidate, ranking them in order of their preferences. In Alaska’s model, the primary whittles the field down to four candidates regardless of partisan affiliation. Then, in the general election, Alaskans can vote for any or all four of them in the order they like — perhaps putting a moderate Republican first and an independent second. The winner must have a majority of all voters who choose to rank someone after their first selection, thereby theoretically empowering moderates unhappy with both parties’ extremes.
Palin’s loss was nonetheless entirely due to her own deficiencies. She started the race with strongly negative poll ratings, which only worsened as the campaign continued. She clearly has the loyal support of many conservatives, but it’s hard to win an election when 60 percent of all voters disapprove of you.
This dismal fact means that she could easily have lost even under a traditional primary system. Suppose she had won a Republican primary and faced Peltola in a traditional one-on-one contest. Her high negatives could easily have spawned the same result. People who might have been happy with a conventional Republican would still have had the ability to vote for Peltola to register their dislike of Palin.
Palin compounded her difficulties by running a shambolic non-campaign. She rarely appeared at events in Alaska, choosing instead to attend out-of-state fundraisers and CPAC Texas. Two weeks before the election, she didn’t even bother to respond to a request from the Anchorage Daily News, the state’s largest newspaper, for a written list of priorities should she prevail. Voters recognize when you’re not that into them.
She also surrendered chances to make the system work for her. When she did campaign, she attacked the ranked-choice voting system. Palin also lambasted the other Republican in the race, Nick Begich III, as a RINO. Both moves were counterproductive as all the polls showed no one would get a majority, which meant Palin would need second-choice votes from Begich’s supporters to win. Perhaps turned off by her vitriol, only half of Begich’s supporters ranked Palin as their second choice and about a fifth didn’t make a second choice at all.
In some sense, ranked-choice voting “worked” because the candidate who was disliked by a majority of voters lost — the new system just made it easier for voters to register their disapproval of her.
This means Alaska conservatives need to learn how to make the system work for them. They can take some lessons from Australia, which has used ranked-choice voting for over a century.
Conservatives there used the system successfully for decades. When the Labor Party split in 1955, Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, a National Party member, negotiated with the new, strongly Catholic Democratic Labor Party to receive their second-choice votes in return for such polices as aid to parochial schools. This arrangement kept Menzies’s coalition in power until 1972.
Power has shifted back and forth since then, but ranked voting continues to impact both elections and governance. In the most recent election, independent Dai Le, a popular local council member, won a previously safe Labor seat in an area of Sydney using second-choice votes from conservatives. The alternate tabulation of votes showed that in a traditional Labor-Liberal battle, the Labor candidate would have won by 11 points if that were their only choice. Now, Le needs to keep those conservative voters in her corner.
Also in that election, six “teal independents” achieved victory on the strength of second-choice votes from left-wing voters – because although they ran as conservative on economics, they were left-leaning on climate change. In this case, independents will be trying to keep those climate-concerned votes.
Back in the United States, ranked-choice voting is gaining steam. It is used in Maine and several cities, and an initiative on the ballot this fall may bring it to Nevada. Assuming the system expands to other jurisdictions, conservatives will need to work the system better than they did this time in Alaska.
Peltola’s victory in Alaska guarantees her only a couple months in the U.S. House. But alongside the special election she won, a general-election primary was held, and it determined that Alaska voters will be presented with roughly the same choices come November: Peltola, Palin, Begich and a Libertarian who took less than one percent of the primary vote. This gives Begich a chance to win a full term: If Peltola doesn’t get a majority in the early rounds, Begich could get enough votes to finish ahead of Palin and then pass Peltola with second-choice votes from Palin supporters — provided he hasn’t infuriated them during the campaign.
Alaska Republicans now face a clear fact: Vote Palin, get Peltola. They should forgo complaining about the system and instead use it to build a coalition between the two Republicans’ backers rather than attack one another to the Democrats’ benefit. | 2022-09-01T20:36:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Palin didn't lose because of ranked voting. It could help the GOP. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/01/palin-loss-ranked-voting/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/01/palin-loss-ranked-voting/ |
The U.N. finally calls out China’s atrocities. So where’s U.S. action?
A security guard watches from a tower at the detention facility in China's Xinjiang region on March 21, 2021. (Ng Han Guan/AP)
On her very last day in the job, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet released her long-delayed report on the Chinese government’s mass atrocities against Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the western region of Xinjiang. The damning findings are shocking — but they should come as no surprise, considering the world has known about these abuses for years. So why isn’t the U.S. government doing more to stop them?
The U.N. report stops short of designating China’s abuses in Xinjiang as an ongoing genocide — contrary to the Biden administration, which has described the situation in exactly those terms. But the authors paint a gruesome picture of abject suffering for millions of innocent people in Xinjiang at the hands of the Chinese authorities. U.N. investigators determined that Beijing’s policies — including the unjust detention of more than a million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in prisonlike camps — “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”
The U.N. report also validated as “credible” claims by camp survivors that inside the camps, which Beijing calls “vocational education and training centers,” innocent civilians are subjected to torture, sexual violence, forced abortion and forced sterilization. Beijing’s policy of coercive population control, targeted at specific groups, fits the legal definition of genocide under U.N. conventions even if Bachelet’s report doesn’t admit it.
Sixty-three Uyghur advocacy groups released a joint statement praising the report, setting aside their past criticisms of Bachelet’s delays and her trip to China, which was carefully managed by the Chinese government. The Uyghurs’ main message is that the world can no longer sit idle and allow these atrocities to continue.
“Now that the leading U.N. office on human rights has spoken, there are no more excuses for the failure to hold the Chinese government accountable,” said Elfidar Iltebir, president of the Uyghur American Association.
But expectations for further U.N. action are low. After all, it took five years for this office to confirm what researchers, journalists and independent tribunals have already proved: The Chinese government is combining mass internment, population control and forced labor in the cruelest way — despite Beijing’s blanket denials and its worldwide propaganda campaign.
The best hope for real action lies in Washington. But lawmakers in both parties believe that the U.S. government has been dragging its feet. This past December, the administration reluctantly supported a bipartisan bill called the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act that designates all Xinjiang products as tainted by forced labor, thus banning them from entering the United States unless importers can prove otherwise. But implementation of the law has been spotty.
For example, agricultural products such as red dates from Xinjiang (which are produced by a state-run paramilitary conglomerate banned under the law) can still be found today in supermarkets across the Washington metropolitan area. Moreover, although the Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Chinese companies and officials for atrocities in Xinjiang in the past, they haven’t used the new law’s sanctions powers even once.
Frustrated by this lack of enthusiasm, lawmakers are pressuring President Biden to do more. Last month, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced legislation that would expand U.S. sanctions to punish any company that does business with a Chinese company implicated in forced labor.
Congress is also upset that the Biden administration hasn’t implemented a 2020 law called the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, which calls on the president to identify and impose sanctions on Chinese officials who persecute Uyghurs and their family members in countries around the world.
“The administration must move forward with sanctions designations under the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, as well as with the new authorities that this bill provides, and work with our allies and partners to hold China to account for its crimes,” Menendez said in a statement.
The Menendez-Rubio bill is the Senate’s version of legislation introduced in the House in June by Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who chairs the Republican Study Committee, a grouping of more than 150 conservative House members. While the administration has imposed sanctions on some officials for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, there are several other culpable Chinese companies and officials that the U.S. government is letting off the hook, according to Banks.
“Despite the Biden administration’s refusal to take the issue of Uyghur slave labor seriously, there are still bipartisan efforts in the Congress to strengthen our laws and close loopholes,” he told me.
The Uyghur genocide is so horrendous that it has seemingly become the one issue that can bring together Democrats and Republicans in today’s Washington. Americans in both parties overwhelmingly want the Biden administration to do more to confront China’s human rights abuses, even if that harms economic relations.
The Biden administration appears to be torn between its desire to do the right thing on human rights and its efforts to manage rising tensions with China. But Beijing is counting on Washington’s complacency to let it evade responsibility and continue perpetrating these injustices. There’s never a convenient time to try to stop a genocide.
A year after Kabul’s fall, duty still calls the U.S. in Afghanistan
Designed to compete with China, the Chips bill falls short | 2022-09-01T20:36:55Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | U.N., not U.S., calls out China's atrocities against Uyghur Muslims - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/01/us-inaction-uyghur-genocide-china-un/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/01/us-inaction-uyghur-genocide-china-un/ |
As students begin the new school year, a debate has reignited among educators, school district officials and parents in communities across the country. Beyond the question of whether children should have cellphones at all (according to the 2021 Common Sense Census, 43 percent of 8-to-12-year-olds own a smartphone), there is the matter of whether those phones belong at school.
Most school districts have steadily moved toward limiting cellphone access at school. By 2020, 77 percent of schools prohibited their use for nonacademic purposes, according to the Education Department. Many educators and parents alike have raised alarm about the growing body of research linking social media exposure to negative impacts on mental health, and experts warn that American children are already in the midst of an accelerating mental health crisis. A vast majority of public schools have some sort of cellphone policy in place: Some prohibit the use of phones during school hours, others require that they be kept in backpacks or lockers, and some provide zipped Yondr pouches that disable phones but allow students to keep them within reach. Efforts to restrict phone access are intensifying in some communities this year, including school districts in Maine, Pennsylvania and New York that have recently banned the use of cellphones on certain school campuses.
Carin Unangst, 49, a mother of 13- and 11-year-old boys in Kalamazoo, Mich., has watched the debate over cellphones play out through the perspective of her husband, a middle school teacher. He and his staff have been embroiled in a “never-ending fight with students and their parents regarding cellphones,” as well as ear buds and smartwatches, she says.
Their children’s school implemented a new policy this year prohibiting cellphone use, she says, and she and her husband are both hopeful that the rule will be uniformly enforced and that parents might show more understanding of why it is necessary. “Having a cellphone during the school day is completely unnecessary,” she says. “I think teachers and administrators get no support from parents or the community about so many things, including this subject matter. And we wonder why [teachers] are leaving in droves.”
As a mother of two and a former high school Spanish teacher in Raleigh, N.C., Brenda De León, 35, says her views on cellphones in class have shifted over the years. At first, her classroom policy was strict: Cellphones could not be out, period. “But it became one of the biggest issues I had. I had to stop all the time to ask kids to put them away. I had to contact parents,” she says. She began to allow cellphone use but only for educational purposes, like looking up translations online. Eventually, she says, she allowed students to have phones out, but they could not be used while De León was teaching or create a distraction during lessons.
“When they’re older, I’d like them to be able to have [cellphones],” De León says. “I definitely would be freaking out if I were not able to contact my child in case of an emergency — thinking about school shootings, that would be scary. So I would not be on board with putting my kids in a school where it would be prohibited to use cellphones.”
He says that sense of helplessness was intensified by the massacre at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers, despite many calls to 911 from students.
Even after shootings, experts warn against cellphones in schools | 2022-09-01T20:37:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Should schools ban cell phones? Parents are torn. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/parenting/2022/09/02/cell-phones-schools-parents/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/parenting/2022/09/02/cell-phones-schools-parents/ |
FILE - This still frame from Metropolitan Police Department body worn camera video shows Thomas Webster, in red jacket, at a barricade line at on the west front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Webster, a retired New York Police Department officer, is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, for attacking the U.S. Capitol and using a metal flagpole to assault one of the police officers trying to hold off a mob of Donald Trump supporters. (Metropolitan Police Department via AP) (Uncredited/Washington Metropolitan Police Department) | 2022-09-01T20:37:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ex-NYPD officer gets 10 years in prison for Jan. 6 attack - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ex-nypd-officer-gets-10-years-in-prison-for-jan-6-attack/2022/09/01/5284375e-2a34-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ex-nypd-officer-gets-10-years-in-prison-for-jan-6-attack/2022/09/01/5284375e-2a34-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
We asked: Should you give flight attendants gifts?
Flight attendants appreciate genuine generosity but can usually tell if you’re trying to get an upgrade
It’s not a widespread practice, but some travelers swear by bringing gifts for flight attendants. They’re usually small tokens of appreciation, but what do the recipients think of the gesture? Is it a well-intentioned thank you or a low-budget bribe? Should we all pack gifts for our next trip? We asked flight attendants to weigh in.
It always surprises me to see travelers bring flight attendants gifts. Some tell me it’s a way to show their appreciation for the flight crew, particularly after what they’ve been through during the pandemic. For others, it’s a “subtle” attempt at getting an upgrade, or at least some special treatment on board.
“We are all doing our best and trying our hardest everyday, and we are so grateful when that doesn’t go unnoticed,” she said.
Missy Roemer, a flight attendant for private planes, doesn’t expect gifts or tips, and prides herself on giving every passenger the VIP treatment. It’s “part of why I chose this career,” she said.
Still, Roemer says it’s a pleasant surprise when a gift comes along. She thinks it’s a wonderful way to acknowledge efforts seen and unseen. Flight attendants’ priority is your safety. It’s a job that requires long hours before, during and after a flight, including intensive annual trainings.
“There are times when it’s tough to be away from our families and homes,” Roemer said. “Feeling appreciated can really help boost our morale, especially at the end of a long day.”
A flight attendant for Air Canada, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his employment, said he and his colleagues “highly welcome” the gesture if it’s coming from a place of generosity and not with a transactional expectation. It’s particularly nice during hectic travel periods such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.
“Sometimes we’re on the road for a couple days straight, doing a dozen flights over that period with cascading delays. It’s the thought that really counts,” he said.
Once you’ve handed over your gift, the Canadian flight attendant says it’s common they’ll brief the other cabin crew of the gesture. They’ll try to make your trip nicer, within reason.
“I would say this would likely not get you a business-class seat from economy,” he said. “But [a gift] could be a thing that tips the scale between sharing an aisle with someone else versus having the last empty row to yourself.”
On occasion, if a customer who brought a gift or note was trying to buy something on board, the flight attendant says he’s pretended his point-of-sale machine is broken or swiped a customer’s credit card the wrong way to avoid charging them.
Loree doesn’t feel obligated to treat a passenger differently if they bring gifts, “but I do make a point to let them know I’m thankful for them and how much they are appreciated for their genuine efforts,” she said.
There are times when gifts go wrong. If your intentions are off, “that is definitely not welcomed,” Loree said.
For example, “if it’s your business card because you’re hitting on the crew, maybe not,” the Canadian flight attendant said.
Roemer says her rule of thumb is to decline a gift if it doesn’t feel right.
“It’s never worth the risk,” she said.
Roemer says cash and gift cards make for great gifts (although some airlines do not allow flight attendants to accept cash, and tipping is not considered a standard travel etiquette protocol). She’s received both as well as makeup, perfume and gift bags of food or candy. She would feel uncomfortable with any gifts worth over $100.
“Gifts that are extravagant in cost or that would influence any further business transactions would definitely be off limits,” she said.
If you’re going to go with an edible gift, the Canadian flight attendant suggests sticking with something prepackaged and sealed as opposed to something homemade. He’s been given Trader Joe’s chocolate on an Oregon flight, packets of seaweed, Starbucks and Tim Hortons gift cards, the book “Tao Te Ching,” home-smoked salmon and some Garrett popcorn from Chicago.
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One regular customer who flew three times a week always traveled with a stockpile of Tunnock’s Snowballs, a marshmallow treat coated in chocolate and coconut shavings.
“Every time he’d sit down, he’d hand the service director packets of them to distribute to the whole crew,” the flight attendant said. “He’d even have some for the crew swap for when he landed, too.”
One of the flight attendant’s most memorable gifts came from a family traveling home from a dream vacation in Iceland. The mom had a relative who worked in the aviation industry and “understood how the job can at times be underappreciated,” he said. They gifted him a goody bag full of Icelandic treats and a card that summarized their trip.
Loree’s favorite gift memory was a time when a young passenger spent the whole flight writing each flight attendant a card. “It meant the world,” she said.
Whatever you give, make sure it’s small. Flight attendants travel light and don’t need a giant stuffed animal to add to their luggage load.
And as far as timing goes, Loree says she’s been given gifts during all phases of a flight but thinks it’s best to do before takeoff or after they’ve completed their service tasks. Most of Roemer’s gifts have come after the plane has landed. | 2022-09-01T20:39:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Should you give flight attendants gifts? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/flight-attendant-gifts/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/flight-attendant-gifts/ |
In an apparent response to regulators, Microsoft reiterated its promise to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.
The Competition and Markets Authority (or CMA), a United Kingdom regulatory body, warned Thursday that Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard could give the tech giant an “unparalleled advantage” over its competition.
In July, the CMA launched its own inquiry into Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard to determine if the merger could meaningfully reduce healthy competition in the U.K. gaming market. After completing the first phase of its investigation Thursday, the CMA concluded that the deal could result in a “substantial lessening of competition” for game consoles, subscription services and cloud gaming after reviewing over a thousand internal documents from Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. In particular, the CMA said that Microsoft’s current assets combined with Activision Blizzard’s could block out future competitors as the gaming industry as a whole moves on from digital storefronts to cloud gaming and subscription services.
“Following our Phase 1 investigation,” wrote Sorcha O’Carroll, senior director of mergers at the CMA, in the agency’s news release. “We are concerned that Microsoft could use its control over popular games like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft post-merger to harm rivals, including recent and future rivals in multi-game subscription services and cloud gaming.”
Microsoft and Sony clash over Call of Duty and Game Pass in legal docs
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and regulatory bodies around the world have also been investigating how the deal could affect competition in their respective markets. Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Competition was the first regulation agency to publicly declare its approval.
Microsoft has already amassed a staggeringly powerful gaming empire through its Xbox console series, its operating system Windows (the most popular operating system in the world, including on gaming PCs), buying up prominent game companies such as Bethesda and its subscription service Xbox Game Pass (which is continually bolstered by the company’s aforementioned acquisitions). With Activision Blizzard, Microsoft would gain control over a dozen more legendary gaming properties, including Call of Duty, Diablo and Candy Crush.
In August, Microsoft’s chief gaming rival Sony argued that Call of Duty is too powerful a brand to compete against, and so popular that the military shooter series should be considered its own genre. In its news release, the CMA cited Call of Duty as a property that could crush any of Microsoft’s potential competitors if the company decided to make it an Xbox exclusive after acquiring Activision Blizzard.
“As the market for multi-game subscription gaming services grows,” the CMA wrote in its summary. “Microsoft could use its control over [Activision Blizzard] content to foreclose rivals, including recent and future entrants into gaming as well as more established players such as Sony.”
The CMA requested that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard provide the CMA with a proposal on how to abide by section 73 of the Enterprise Act 2002, which guides fair trade policies in the U.K. If the companies don’t provide a satisfactory response, the CMA will shift its investigation into the deal into a second phase, to “evaluate whether it is more likely than not that a substantial lessening of competition will occur as a result of the merger,” according to the news release.
“We’re ready to work with the CMA on next steps and address any of its concerns,” wrote Brad Smith, president and vice chair of Microsoft, in a statement to The Washington Post. “Sony, as the industry leader, says it is worried about Call of Duty, but we’ve said we are committed to making the same game available on the same day on both Xbox and PlayStation. We want people to have more access to games, not less.”
Microsoft is bigger than Google, Amazon and Facebook. But now lawmakers treat it like an ally in antitrust battles.
Both regulators and gamers have expressed concern over the idea that Call of Duty, a gargantuan gaming property that has netted Activision Blizzard over $30 billion in the franchise’s lifetime, could become an Xbox exclusive if Microsoft gains control of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft has repeatedly assured regulators and gamers that it wouldn’t take Call of Duty exclusive and remove it from PlayStation. The company would risk a huge backlash from gamers and reduced profits on the Call of Duty franchise if the titles were to leave Sony’s platform. Regulators may ask for commitments as part of the merger terms, fearing a situation in which Microsoft might try to walk back its promises to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.
To that end, Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming and head of Xbox, wrote that Microsoft will “continue to engage with regulators with a spirit of transparency and openness as they review this acquisition” in a Microsoft blog post Thursday, the same day that the CMA published its findings. Spencer reiterated his commitment from January to keeping Call of Duty on PlayStation and pointed out Tencent and Sony as other industry giants that have also made major acquisitions in the ongoing consolidation of the video game market.
“We believe that a thorough review will show that the combination of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will benefit the industry and players,” Spencer wrote in the blog post. “For all the players and game developers out there, you remain at the center of everything we do, and we will continue to listen to your feedback and do everything we can to nurture this industry we all love.”
Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, discussed the merger in a Thursday press release. Kotick said that he anticipates the deal will close in June 2023, and announced plans to host town halls to update employees on Activision Blizzard’s upcoming plans.
Shannon Liao contributed to this report. | 2022-09-01T20:40:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | U.K. says Microsoft may gain 'unparalleled advantage' with Activision - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/09/01/uk-microsoft-activision-blizzard/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/09/01/uk-microsoft-activision-blizzard/ |
Racine announces $150,000 in grant awards to groups aiding bused migrants
Migrants cross Massachusetts Avenue toward Union Station in D.C. in July. (Tom Brenner/Reuters)
D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine’s (D) office Thursday announced the recipients of $150,000 in grants to help migrants arriving on buses from Texas and Arizona — an effort to assist local aid groups that have been overwhelmed since the governors of those states began offering thousands of U.S. asylum seekers free rides to the nation’s capital.
So far, about 9,000 migrants have arrived in the District since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) launched his busing program in April to highlight what he called the Biden administration’s lax border policies amid record border crossings this year — a move replicated by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) in May.
The influx of mainly Latin American migrants — including young children — arriving at Union Station several times a week with little or no resources has left several aid groups scrambling to help them.
One agency — SAMU First Response — has been able to accept 50 people at a time at its temporary shelter in Montgomery County. The organization, which is also helping the migrants with transportation to their next destination if they intend to leave, has been searching for a larger shelter space near Union Station.
So far, that effort has been stymied by the high real estate prices in that part of the city, Capitol Hill, Tatiana Laborde, managing director of SAMU First Response, has said.
With some migrants sleeping on the streets, other mostly volunteer groups have paid for hotel rooms and food for them on their own while also chipping in for transportation costs.
Racine announced his grant program last month, after the Pentagon denied D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s (D) request to deploy 150 National Guard troops to help with what both officials called an escalating humanitarian crisis. Bowser appealed that decision and was again rebuffed.
“D. C. is at our best when we step up for our neighbors, which means providing food, shelter, and other basic essentials to people in need,” Racine said in a statement Thursday, calling the moves by Abbott and Ducey “a purely political stunt” that “has left vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers without basic resources and with nowhere to go.”
“We must use every tool at our disposable to answer the call for additional resources and provide aid to these vulnerable people,” the statement said.
Six aid groups were awarded grants through the Litigation Support Fund in Racine’s office, with amounts between $5,000 and $32,350 that must be spent by the end of September, when the current fiscal year ends.
Racine’s office said Thursday that it will evaluate whether to renew the grant program during the upcoming fiscal year after it reviews how the current pool of money is spent.
The limited time means most of the aid will be temporary and will go to lodging, food and help with transportation to areas outside of the Washington region.
Goods for Good, a volunteer-based nonprofit group in the District, was awarded $16,550 to provide clothing for the migrants, many who disembark from the buses with little more than what they’re wearing.
The Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of D.C. got $32,280 to conduct charlas, or talks, with the migrants about their rights as potential asylees and other basic information, such as how to catch a local bus or train.
Abel Nuñez, director of the CARECEN aid group, which qualified for a $31,900 grant to conduct intake interviews with the migrants and help with transportation costs, said more resources are needed to cover longer-term aid.
Though most of the migrants have chosen to leave, an increasing number — approaching 15 percent — have elected to stay in the region, Nuñez and other immigrant advocates say. Until they’re economically stable, those people will need help with more permanent housing, enrolling their children in school and getting legal services related to their asylum cases, Nuñez said.
“That’s why we’re pushing the city to really come in with some resources,” he said.
Bowser has so far avoided committing city funds to the migrant aid effort, encouraging nonprofits to apply for federal aid.
Paula Fitzgerald, executive director of Ayuda — which was awarded $32,350 from Racine’s office to, mainly, provide hygiene kits, clothing and cellphones — said longer-term aid would be easier to provide through a larger respite center near Union Station.
Such a site could also serve as a centralized center for multiple aid groups, she said.
“Because there’s not one organization running it, this is not as fluid or efficient as it could be,” Fitzgerald said. | 2022-09-01T21:19:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Racine announces $150,000 in grant awards to groups aiding bused migrants - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/dc-migrants-grants-racine-bus/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/dc-migrants-grants-racine-bus/ |
California bill would protect employees who use cannabis outside work
California lawmakers passed a bill that would protect employees who use marijuana while they’re off the clock. (Richard Vogel/AP)
It’s been six years since California legalized recreational marijuana, but workers in the state can still face punishment if they fail cannabis tests required by their employers.
This week, lawmakers in Sacramento passed a bill that would protect employees who use marijuana while they’re off the clock — a win for cannabis reformers after earlier versions of the measure stalled in previous legislative sessions. If the governor signs it, California would become the seventh state to restrict companies from penalizing employees who get high on their own time.
The legislation is part of a broader nationwide shift in drug policy that involves creating protections for marijuana users that weren’t included in the wave of cannabis legalization laws adopted in recent years.
“It’s a bigger trend of moving beyond just legalizing marijuana, stopping arrests and stopping throwing people in jail for using it,” said Robert Mikos, an expert on drug law at Vanderbilt University. “It’s providing the same level of legal rights and protections for marijuana users that you have for users of prescription drugs, alcohol and tobacco.”
There’s no single reason that officials have been slow to get employment protections on the books as states have changed cannabis laws, Mikos said. Some may have been wary of workplace safety concerns related to marijuana use, he said. Others may have worried about rankling employers and prompting them to lobby against legalization when it was up for debate.
It also could have simply been an oversight, Mikos said.
“There are lots of statutes that already protect people for using other medications or for engaging in legal activities off the job,” he said. “So lawmakers might have thought other statutes would protect medical or recreational marijuana users. In a lot of places, that proved to be false.”
Now, he said, “they’re filling in the gaps and making it clear that the same laws that protect drinkers of bourbon on the weekend protect people who use marijuana on the weekend.”
California’s bill, sponsored by Assembly member Bill Quirk, a Democrat from the Bay Area, amends the state’s anti-discrimination and employment laws. Employers would be barred in most cases from penalizing workers “based upon the person’s use of cannabis off the job and away from the workplace,” according to the text.
The bill notes that common marijuana tests — those that use urine or hair samples to indicate whether someone has recently used pot — detect only the presence of cannabis molecules and have “no correlation to impairment on the job.” The legislation would essentially render those tests irrelevant for many employers. But it would still allow them to punish workers who fail saliva tests that detect whether a person is high at the worksite. And employers could still bar workers from possessing cannabis at work.
Not all companies and employees would be subject to the restrictions. The bill contains exclusions for federal contractors, companies that receive federal funding, and employees hired for jobs that require a federal background investigation. The possession, sale and cultivation of marijuana remain criminal offenses under federal law.
Similar laws have already been adopted in Connecticut, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island, according to the marijuana reform group NORML. More than a dozen other states extend such protections to medical marijuana users.
Adding California, the nation’s most populous state, to the list “would at the very least add momentum for others,” Mikos said.
“It gives other states a well-written short statute that they can copy past into their law books,” he said.
A representative for California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Newsom has been a high-profile advocate for changing marijuana laws since his days as lieutenant governor. He was a driving force behind Proposition 64, the 2016 voter initiative to legalize cannabis in the state. This year, he cut a cannabis tax in an attempt to bolster growers facing rising costs.
The legislation has some powerful detractors. The California Chamber of Commerce called it a “job killer” when lawmakers were debating it earlier this year. The business advocacy group said in a statement that it would jeopardize workplace safety by making marijuana use a “protected class” under state law.
“The proposal also effectively prohibits preemployment drug testing,” the chamber said, “harming employers’ ability to keep their workplace safe and drug free.”
But the bill, known as AB 2188, has won support from labor unions, including the United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council. In a statement this week on the bill’s passage, union members criticized testing used by many employers, calling it unreliable and ineffective in making workplaces safer.
“AB 2188 will not only have a significant impact on protecting workers from discrimination on the basis of their past cannabis use, but will start to turn the tide toward far more accurate, modern-day cannabis testing to detect recent use,” said Jenny Phan, a UFCW Local 324 member and employee at a cannabis dispensary in Long Beach.
“This bill addresses the flaws in employers’ use of cannabis testing methods, like urine tests, to discriminate against workers’ employment and rights,” she said in a statement. “Using oral swab tests are not only more accurate at detecting recent use, but a step toward ending the stigma of cannabis use.” | 2022-09-01T21:41:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | California lawmakers protect workers who use cannabis at home - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/01/california-cannabis-workers-protection/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/01/california-cannabis-workers-protection/ |
American democracy may end not with a bang, but a whimper
People file past the Liberty Bell in Independence Hall in Philadelphia on May 5, 2016. (Matt Rourke/AP)
President Biden will speak on Thursday evening from outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia — a location overstuffed with significance. Biden plans to discuss the threat posed to American democracy from the birthplace of the nation. He’ll speak within earshot of the Liberty Bell, and, one might predict, will mention that the bell endures despite its crack.
There are not many things that Americans agree upon these days, but the risk to our democracy is one of them. A poll from Quinnipiac University released Wednesday demonstrates this vividly. Ask Democrats and Republicans how they feel about Biden or Donald Trump, the election, the economy or you-name-it, and views diverge widely.
Ask them how they feel about the danger our democracy is in, though, and views line up neatly.
That Americans agree on the danger posed democracy does not, of course, mean they agree on the reason for that danger. Prior polling has shown that Republicans are far more likely to cite the results of the 2020 presidential election — results many Republicans have come to believe were a function of fraud — as a reason for pessimism about the future of the country. Democrats, for their part, are more likely to point to things like Donald Trump’s successful effort to convince Republicans that the results of the 2020 election were a function of fraud.
Much of the conversation on this subject centers on the most direct form of danger: the threat of political violence. Two in 5 Americans think it’s at least somewhat likely that the country will collapse into civil war within the nest decade, with half of Trump voters holding that position. Many experts on the subject, though, think that political violence may emerge less formally, in spasms like the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
But, as we were reminded this week, violence is not the only risk democracy faces. It’s probably not even the most immediate one.
A few weeks ago, organizers in Michigan triumphantly presented more than 750,000 signatures to the state in support of a petition that would put a measure protecting access to abortion on the November ballot. The number exceeded the required number of signatures by hundreds of thousands.
On Wednesday night, though, the initiative was blocked by Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers. A majority of the four-person board had to agree to put the initiative on the ballot for it to advance, but only two members did. As it happens, those were the board’s two Democrats. The board’s two Republicans opposed doing so.
The central argument against allowing the measure was typographical. Copies of the petition signed by voters lacked visible spaces between words, yielding phrases like “THEREISASIGNIFICANTLIKELIHOOD.” Proponents of the measure expect that the state Supreme Court will respond positively to the idea that this drafting error should not prohibit the measure from being presented to voters. Which, of course, is the issue at hand: not whether abortion access should be protected but whether voters should be allowed to decide if it is.
This was not the only ballot measure rejected after the board reached a deadlock. Another measure that would have allowed voters to choose to expand voting access was also blocked thanks to opposition from the Republican canvassers.
It seems safe to assume that perhaps politics played a role in the decisions here. Two measures that align with Democratic policy preferences were blocked from appearing on the ballot by Republican board members. Or, to put it more bluntly: two Republicans used their political power to impede an effort that would allow Michiganders to reach their own democratic determinations on contentious issues.
Situations like this — quiet erosions of self-governance — are the easier-to-overlook manifestation of democratic waning. The post-2020 environment has been rife with them, like scaling back access to voting and the elevation of candidates who reject election results. But the trend is older than that. Analysis of party positions over multiple decades shows that the GOP has been moving toward illiberalism for some time. Trump, as is so often the case, is leveraging and amplifying an existing pattern, not creating one.
What blocked Trump’s effort to retain power in 2021, you’ll recall, was just enough people in just enough places standing in his way. At the local and state level, key officials proved unwilling to accede to his false claims about the election outcome. They allowed democracy to hobble forward.
One of them was a Republican named Aaron Van Langevelde. In one of the post-election period’s more dramatic flourishes, he not only refused to help Trump block the results of the election in his state but did so while invoking the limits of his own power.
“We have no authority to request an audit, to delay or block certification, to review inaccuracies that happened at the local level,” he said during a hearing in late November 2020. “Those results have been certified. Our duty is to look at those certified results, look at the math, and then certify. The statute couldn’t be more clear.”
The body on which Van Langevelde served voted to do exactly that. He was joined by the two Democrats on Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers; the other Republican, unwilling to similarly stand in Trump’s way, abstained. When Van Langevelde’s term ended at the end of January 2021, the state party chose not to renominate him.
It’s not just that Van Langevelde could have decided differently. It’s that so many people in positions like Van Langevelde’s have the power to do so, to choose, as that other Republican did, to go along with the erosion. There was a flash of violence in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 results, but it was a lot of quiet decisions that made the difference. Democracy depends on those quiet decisions, too. | 2022-09-01T21:54:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | American democracy may end not with a bang, but a whimper - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/01/american-democracy-may-end-not-with-bang-whimper/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/01/american-democracy-may-end-not-with-bang-whimper/ |
New paint? Windows? D.C. residents discuss the future of the jail.
People at the D.C. jail at a group discussion in June 2021. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)
A group of District residents, returning citizens, restorative justice, and activists held a virtual meeting Wednesday to brainstorm ideas of what city leaders should provide in a proposed new jail facility.
The District Task Force on Jails & Justice — which includes advocates from D.C. Justice Lab, Council for Court Excellence, and Neighbors for Justice — solicited ideas from about two dozen residents from Wards 5, 7 and 8 on issues that included programs available to incarcerated people, training for corrections officers and what colors should be painted on the walls.
“The goal of this to think down to the nitty-gritty of what this new facility can look like, feel like, smell like,” said Angel Gregorio, a small-business owner who has had multiple family members incarcerated and volunteered to moderate the discussion. “We are designing a jail, and we need everybody here to put on their designer hat.”
A city beset by violence seeks solutions — from those in jail over it
In March, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) allocated more than $250 million over six years in the city’s capital budget proposal to design and build an annex to the Correctional Treatment Facility at the D.C. jail, where women and some men in minimum security are detained. Bowser’s plan would pave the way to permanently shutter the adjacent Central Detention Facility, which was built in 1976.
The discussion comes after the District has struggled to address concerns over conditions at the jail. In November, the U.S. Marshals Service told the Department of Corrections that some people detained facing federal charges would be transferred to a prison in Pennsylvania after an inspection found the punitive denial of food and water, and unsanitary living conditions at the jail.
This week’s forum was the fourth in a series designed to solicit community input that will be summarized and sent in a letter to Bowser, the D.C. Council and city corrections officials as city leaders prepare a design phase for the proposed facility, said Casey Anderson, policy and communications manager for the Council for Court Excellence. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization conducts research and seeks policy solutions for the criminal justice system, according the group’s website.
The group plans to host two more forums next week, Anderson said.
D.C. jail leader offers few details of plan to improve troubled facility
Some residents and activists suggested creating painting programs to bring bright, vibrant colors to the jail walls along with encouraging messages to help improve incarcerated peoples’ attitudes. Other ideas included creating a landscaped, college campus environment that remained clean and sanitized. Some asked for windows that could even be opened to let in fresh air.
Leonard Smith, 36, who was locked up on a first-degree murder charge that he said was finally dropped just weeks ago, argued that a clean, more respectful facility was necessary. But he still didn’t want more comforts and amenities to distract men and women from learning lessons to keep them from losing their freedom in the first place.
“I don’t want to go in there and lay back and be comfortable,” Smith told the group.
In an interview, Smith explained that he had been in and out of jails since he was 18, and he met many people who never learned how to function on the outside. They kept getting arrested to avoid homelessness in the winter or trouble in neighborhoods, he said.
“I don’t want to go into a facility and I got a 60-inch flat screen TV. I don’t want people to go in there and think that it’s a playground or summer camp,” Smith said in a phone interview. “Don’t go in and come out the same way; I want people to change. I want them to seek change.”
Neighbors for Justice’s Anthony Petty, who returned to the District nearly two years ago after 30 years of incarceration, countered that improving programming and overall conditions would not stop the chance for people to rehabilitate.
Petty first entered prison in Lorton as a 16-year-old and later traveled to prison facilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and several in Virginia, he said in an interview, places where violence and negativity fester far deeper than most jail settings.
“When you go to places like that, you adapt to your environment,” Petty told the group.
The 48-year-old now works as a community activist geared toward stopping violence and connecting with people who are still “behind the wall,” he said in an interview.
“We have to think outside of the box with prisons,” Petty said. “I want to be in a place where I can learn and do something positive. You don’t have to be inhumane for a person to understand that they are incarcerated.”
D.C. enters agreement with Marshals Service to address ‘systemic failures’ in city’s jail
The group heard proposals to provide new training for corrections officers that would offer cultural competency, specifically targeting the unique experiences of District residents, and how to better engage people under stress.
Another person urged hiring officers with roles that better foster rehabilitative efforts rather than serving as minders focused solely on maintaining safety and security.
Brittany Vazquez, 29, a forensic social worker who previously worked as a D.C. jail case manager and at Rikers Island in New York City, said the city needed to improve reentry services, including providing better access to medications and mental services.
Other ideas included more universal access to counseling services to all jailed men and women, rather than just for those diagnosed with mental health issues.
Perhaps the most popular idea presented, centered on creating better access for incarcerated parents to interact with their children and be involved in their schooling and development.
“This is a great idea! When I worked in NYC jails, there was a program for the incarcerated people to virtually read books to their children,” Vazquez wrote in a chat to meeting attendees. “Keeping families connected is crucial for individuals to successfully transition back into the community.”
Georgetown socialite’s son settles lawsuit over alleged jewel thefts
American University reaches tentative agreement with striking workers
D.C. schools extend deadlines for covid, routine vaccination mandate | 2022-09-01T21:54:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. residents discuss ideas for new jail annex - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/dc-jail-design-reform/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/dc-jail-design-reform/ |
Waterborne diseases hit flooded areas
Pakistani health officials reported an outbreak of waterborne diseases in areas hit by recent record-breaking flooding, as authorities stepped up efforts to ensure the provision of clean drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people who lost their homes in the disaster.
Southern Pakistan braced for yet more flooding Thursday as a surge of water flowed down the Indus River, threatening further devastation in a country already a third inundated. Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in northern mountains have triggered floods that have killed at least 1,208 people, including 416 children, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.
Mexico may put national guard under military control: Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has proposed legislation that would transfer the country's nominally civilian national guard to total military authority. López Obrador created the national guard in 2019, arguing that Mexico's federal police were hopelessly corrupt and incapable of confronting Mexico's powerful drug cartels. He enshrined it in the constitution, putting it under the authority of the civilian public security apparatus. The proposal is almost certain to face constitutional challenges.
Tigray forces accuse Ethiopia of teaming up with Eritrea, again: Officials in Ethiopia's restive Tigray region allege that Ethiopian forces have again teamed up with those from neighboring Eritrea to attack the northern area. Ethiopia's government did not comment about the allegations, but it did allege that Tigray forces' own fighting had intensified. With both sides choosing to fight instead of talk, millions of people in Tigray remain severely deprived of food and other supplies, and those in the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions are again fearing for their lives.
2 Palestinians killed amid conflict with Israeli forces: Two Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank, the official Palestinian news agency said. It initially blamed both deaths on Israeli troops conducting arrest raids, but later reported that Palestinian gunmen were suspected in one of the deaths. The Israeli military said troops traded fire with Palestinian gunmen in the Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank when they went to arrest a wanted Palestinian. | 2022-09-01T22:07:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | World Digest: Sept. 1, 2022 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/world-digest-sept-1-2022/2022/09/01/03a99dec-2a1e-11ed-b16b-8271abe2ddc5_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/world-digest-sept-1-2022/2022/09/01/03a99dec-2a1e-11ed-b16b-8271abe2ddc5_story.html |
Donovan Mitchell is a three-time NBA All-Star who turns 26 next week. (Rick Bowmer/AP File)
In a significant deal that bolstered one of the NBA’s most promising young cores, the Cleveland Cavaliers agreed Thursday to acquire three-time all-star guard Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz, two people with knowledge of the deal confirmed.
The Jazz will receive Collin Sexton, Lauri Markannen, Ochai Agbaji, three unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps in the trade. Sexton, who entered the summer as a restricted free agents, arrives in Utah as part of a sign-and-trade agreement that will pay him $72 million over the next four years.
Utah will get Cleveland’s picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029 as well as swap rights in 2026 and 2028. After previously acquiring Walker Kessler, the 22nd pick in this year’s draft in a deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier this summer, Utah will add the 22-year-old Agbaji, who was the 14th player selected. ESPN and The Athletic first reported the terms of the deal.
Mitchell, 25, had been the subject of trade speculation all summer, following Jazz CEO Danny Ainge’s trade of franchise center Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves for a massive haul that included four first-round picks and a number of players, including Kessler. That blockbuster move signaled Utah was eyeing a total rebuild, meaning that Mitchell was likely the next domino to fall.
For weeks, Mitchell had been linked in rumors to the New York Knicks, who have been pursuing talent upgrades and possess a treasure chest of tradable assets that other teams might find hard to match. Mitchell is originally from the greater New York metropolitan area, and he was spotted at Mets games this summer, fueling talk that he would inevitably wind up on the Knicks.
However, New York effectively pulled RJ Barrett, one of its most prominent assets, off the table this week by giving him a large contract extension that included a so-called “poison pill” provision, making him very difficult to deal directly to Utah. What’s more, the Knicks’ price for including Barrett, their top rising talent, in a deal for Mitchell was unclear.
By pivoting to a deal with Cleveland, Utah achieved its goal of adding significant draft capital to its war chest while also acquiring a stand-in for Mitchell in Sexton, a 6-foot-3 scoring guard who averaged 24.3 points per game in 2020-21 before missing most of last season with a knee injury.
The Jazz, which earlier this week traded Patrick Beverley to the Los Angeles Lakers, still have additional veterans in Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson and Mike Conley Jr. that it could move before the trade deadline.
Cleveland was in position to pay a hefty price for Mitchell, having accumulated two all-stars in guard Darius Garland and center Jarrett Allen plus a potential franchise player in Evan Mobley, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft. By adding Mitchell, a talented scorer and proven playoff performer, the Cavaliers will be able to ease Garland’s playmaking burden. Meanwhile, Mobley and Allen form one of the NBA’s best interior defensive duos, helping to cover for Mitchell’s limitations on that end.
Mitchell, who turns 26 next week, was selected by Utah 13th overall in the 2017 draft and quickly blossomed into one of the league’s best scorers, averaging a team-high 25.9 points per game last season. The Louisville product is entering the second year of a five-year, $163 million contract extension that runs through the 2025-26 season, with a player option on the final season.
Sexton, 23, was the 18th pick in the 2018 draft, while Markkanen, 25, will join his third team in three years after previous stints with the Chicago Bulls and the Timberwolves. | 2022-09-01T22:08:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Cavaliers get Donovan Mitchell from Jazz, bolstering their young core - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/01/donovan-mitchell-trade-cavaliers-jazz/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/01/donovan-mitchell-trade-cavaliers-jazz/ |
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Tony Adams’ game film at Illinois impressed the Jets enough to spark real interest. The safety’s pre-draft interview with New York’s coaches sealed the deal.
NOTES: DL Vinny Curry was placed on injured reserve and will have to sit out the first four weeks of the regular season. The 34-year-old Curry dealt with a hamstring injury during much of training camp. He missed last season after being diagnosed with a rare blood disorder that forced him to have his spleen removed, and he later developed blood clots. ... LB Marcell Harris was re-signed to take Curry’s roster spot. Harris was among the Jets’ final cuts Tuesday. ... CB Craig James and LB Chazz Surratt were signed to the practice squad. | 2022-09-01T22:09:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Undrafted Tony Adams sticks with Jets after impressive camp - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nfl/undrafted-tony-adams-sticks-with-jets-after-impressive-camp/2022/09/01/b61c96d8-2a40-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nfl/undrafted-tony-adams-sticks-with-jets-after-impressive-camp/2022/09/01/b61c96d8-2a40-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
Labor board rejects Amazon’s objections to union victory
The decision, which has to be ratified by a director, will likely make Amazon Labor Union the first to be certified at the company
An Amazon Labor Union (ALU) organizer greets workers outside Amazon’s LDJ5 sortation center in Staten Island. (Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters)
Federal labor regulators will throw out Amazon’s objections to a labor union’s historic victory at one of the e-commerce behemoth’s warehouses in New York.
On Thursday, a hearing officer with the National Labor Relations Board said they intend to throw out Amazon’s objections, clearing a path for the union to become the first certified bargaining unit within Amazon’s vast e-commerce empire.
Both sides have until Sept. 16 to file additional exceptions, said the NLRB’s Kayla Blado in an email.
Amazon workers vote to join union in historic victory
“After dealing with all of that virtual court, it feels good to finally have celebratory news,” Chris Smalls, leader of the ALU, said in a statement. “We’re hoping that the NLRB certifies it so we can get some rights in the building and protect workers in the building.”
The news is a win for the organized labor movement, which has continued to work toward unionizing Amazon this summer. New organizing campaigns have sprung up in Kentucky, California, and North Carolina, and Amazon workers at a warehouse near Albany, N.Y., are slated to vote on unionization in the coming months.
Amazon workers in Albany, N.Y., file for a union election
Amazon has accused the NLRB regional office of being biased against the company, and it’s possible the company could sue over the outcome. Its tactics could delay contract bargaining, a process that itself could take months or years to complete.
“This was an outrageous union busting campaign by Amazon and we’re demanding the company come to table to bargain in faith as it’s required to under the law,” said Amazon Labor Union attorney Seth Goldstein in a statement. | 2022-09-01T22:10:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Labor board rejects Amazon’s objections to union victory - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/01/amazon-union-victory/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/01/amazon-union-victory/ |
Saudi Arabia probes video of security forces beating girls and women
Authorities in Saudi Arabia are investigating a viral video that appears to show a group of men — some of them clad in security uniforms — beating girls and women at a residential facility in the southwestern part of the country.
The video emerged online this week and caused outrage among Saudi dissidents and activists, who said it highlighted the type of violence the state regularly inflicts on women and girls.
In the footage, policemen and men in civilian garb chase the women through the facility’s courtyard, beating some of them with belts or batons. At one point in the video, men drag a girl across the courtyard by her hair while a policeman whips her and other men put her in handcuffs.
Prince Turki bin Talal bin Abdulaziz, the governor of the Asir region where the facility is located, said in a statement Wednesday that he had issued a directive that a committee investigate the incident and “refer the case to the competent authority.”
Distressing footage from Khamis Mushait orphanage showing security forces and masked men storming the site and assaulting girls who were protesting their conditions.
The #Saudi authorities must open an investigation and hold the perpetrators accountable.pic.twitter.com/XuiQQ73F1c
— ALQST for Human Rights (@ALQST_En) August 31, 2022
Storyful, the news and intelligence agency that verifies social media content, confirmed the location of the video, which matches images of the state-run Social Education House for Girls in Khamis Mushait.
The facility’s director, Samar bint Hassan Ahmed al-Harbi, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
It was not clear when the video was taken or what led to the incident. The ages and identities of the female individuals, some of them wearing black abayas, were also unknown.
In Saudi Arabia, women are also often sent to “orphanages” or shelters to escape domestic violence or for disobeying family members. Women staying at these facilities, which are run by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, frequently complain of ill-treatment, rights groups say.
According to ALQST, a U.K.-based rights group focused on Saudi Arabia, the person who first posted the video to social media said the attack on the women at Khamis Mushait was in retaliation for a protest over poor living conditions and rights violations at the facility.
The group said the events depicted in the video represented “the latest in a series of similar incidents in state-run social care homes” and Saudi prisons that have gone uninvestigated or did not result in justice for victims of abuse.
“Several battered women have previously reported similar violations in official institutions, including care homes, and the violators have not been held accountable,” the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights said in a statement Wednesday.
The organization said it did not believe the incident would be properly investigated, citing “flaws in the judicial system” and a general lack of accountability when it comes to crimes perpetrated against women.
Some Saudi news outlets reported that one of the security forces from the video was identified as the police chief in Khamis Mushait, Brig. Gen. Muhammad Yahya al-Banawi.
As the video from the orphanage spread online this week, the Arabic-language hashtag “Khamis_Mushait_Orphans” began trending on Twitter and social media users denounced the beatings, while cartoonists lampooned the Saudi state.
“As if what women suffer under the male guardianship system isn’t enough, here we see how young women who don’t have male guardians and live in orphanages can be violently attacked by the state for demanding their basic rights,” Lina al-Hathloul, head of monitoring and communications at ALQST, said in a statement shared by the organization on Twitter.
Hathloul is the sister of Loujain al-Hathloul, a prominent Saudi rights activist who was jailed for nearly three years after leading a campaign to allow women to drive.
In August, Saudi authorities sentenced two more women — Salma al-Shehab and Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani — to decades-long prison terms for critical online posts prosecutors said had violated public order and undermined the state, rights groups said.
The rulings come amid a broader crackdown on dissent led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has pointed to some recent social and economic reforms as evidence he is working on modernizing the kingdom.
“Contrary to the narrative of reform and progress on women’s rights that the authorities are constantly trumpeting, the repressive male guardianship system is still far from being dismantled,” ALQST said in its statement. “What authorities call ‘recalcitrance’ or ‘disobedience’ to a male guardian … is treated as a crime.”
Sarah Dadouch and Annabelle Timsit contributed to this report. | 2022-09-01T22:10:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Saudi Arabia to investigate video of men beating girls and women - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/01/saudi-arabia-women-orphanage/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/01/saudi-arabia-women-orphanage/ |
Cryptocurrency mining brought constant noise to this remote part of Appalachia
This spectrogram visualizes sound in 3D. The audio clip was recorded in Murphy, N.C.: You can hear the hum of fans from a crypto mine nearby.
Hear the cryptomine
Story by Kevin Williams
Produced by Rekha Tenjarla
Aug. 31 at 1:01 p.m.
MURPHY, N.C. — It’s midnight, and a jet-like roar is rumbling up the slopes of Poor House Mountain. Except there are no planes overhead, and the nearest commercial airport is 80 miles away.
The sound is coming from a cluster of sheds at the base of the mountain housing a cryptocurrency data center, operated by the San Francisco-based firm PrimeBlock. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, powerful computers perform the complex computations needed to “mine,” or create, digital currencies. And those noise-generating computers are kept cool by huge fans.
“It’s like living on top of Niagara Falls,” said Mike Lugiewicz, whose home lies less than 100 yards from the mine.
“When it’s at its worst, it’s like sitting on the tarmac with a jet engine in front of you. But the jet never leaves. The jet never takes off. It’s just annoying. It’s just constant annoyance,” he said.
After China cracked down on cryptocurrency mining last year, dozens of cryptocurrency companies and hundreds of independent miners set up operations in sparsely populated parts of the United States, lured by the availability of cheap and plentiful power.
But they have been followed in some areas by noise complaints against the computers and the fans, leading to lawsuits and community action and sharply dividing local populations.
Across America, there are relatively few standards for noise pollution.
Although the Environmental Protection Agency established a noise pollution program in 1972 under the Clean Air Act, the agency has generally left noise issues up to state and local authorities. In North Carolina, noise-control regulations are usually the responsibility of counties, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality.
North Carolina’s Cherokee County, where the PrimeBlock cryptocurrency mine is located, has had a noise ordinance on the books since 1999, but locals say it is unevenly enforced and does not specify a decibel threshold.
Enhanced by weather, topography and the surrounding silence in this remote part of Appalachia, the unrelenting noise quickly became intolerable for Lugiewicz, who moved to Poor House Mountain from Brooksville, Fla., in 2005.
“As soon as they started the first container, we said: ‘That’s it. We’re done,’ ” Lugiewicz said.
Staying connected in the field
To better understand the conditions created by cryptomining operations, journalists used AT&T environmental sensor hardware to measure sound quality in a rural area. This story was reported, written and created by The Washington Post. AT&T provided technical support and had no role in the content.
Technology supported by
A sensor placed on Lugiewicz’s property by The Washington Post captured noise levels roughly every five minutes over nearly three weeks. In nearly every reading — 98 percent of the time, day or night — decibel levels were above 55, about the noise of a normal conversation.
More than 30 percent of the readings exceeded 60 decibels — high enough that if they were in D.C., they would violate the city’s daytime residential noise ordinances. Estimates from the National Park Service show that expected environmental sound levels in the area should be around 41 decibels.
Kurt Fristrup, a former Park Service scientist who studied noise impacts on rural environments, compared the noise near Lugiewicz’s home to living close to a very busy road without normal pulses in traffic.
Imagine “45 sedans traveling close together nonstop on a three-lane road at 35 miles per hour,” Fristrup said.
Chandler Song, a co-founder and co-owner of PrimeBlock who serves as the company’s chief innovation officer, said that he had received no noise complaints from county officials, and that he had personally visited the facility.
“I have been to the site many times during construction,” he said in an interview. “About 200 yards from the site, we stood in front of the house to check noise levels. It sounds like an air-conditioning unit in the yard. Every night, it was like air conditioning.”
However, he said that the mine is building noise insulation walls and that most PrimeBlock sites will adopt newer and quieter cooling systems in the coming months.
County officials did not respond to emails or texts requesting comment.
The Murphy Electric Power Board did not respond to specific questions about the mine or noise complaints but provided a general statement saying: “When an individual or corporation submits an application for electric service, pays the proper construction fees, provides a security deposit, and agrees to abide by our service rules and regulations we strive to provide safe, reliable electric service.”
Lugiewicz, who works mainly from home, soon gave up on using the expansive deck he completed a month before the mine started operations, where he had hoped to perch with his laptops and listen to the birdsong. Instead of using his “outdoor office,” he retreated indoors and soundproofed his home.
He and his wife began building a new home about 1.6 miles up the mountain, far enough away that the mine is only a distant, barely audible hiss.
In their voices: Phoebe Thompson, a recent Bowdoin College graduate and environmentalist, laments the loss of the area’s natural silence.
“I think sometimes people pooh-pooh the decibel level. ...”
“We were planning to move anyway, but the mine definitely sped those plans up,” Lugiewicz said.
Poor House Mountain is dotted with stately homes that belie the name. Rows of townhouses and condos sit on the edge of an old golf course that has been shuttered for five years and is slowly being reclaimed by southern grasses and pines.
No one thought much of anything in the summer of 2021 when a long-vacant field across the street from the mountain was cleared and power poles erected. A few small buildings that looked like storage units started going up, and some thought it was just another place for people to stash their stuff. Not pretty to look at but harmless.
But crypto mining requires serious computing power. Creating a single bitcoin requires 1,556.99 kilowatt hours of electricity, according to Digiconomist, which monitors crypto consumption — about the same amount used to power an average house for 53 days.
The crypto mining centers also need those huge fans to cool them, especially during broiling Southern summers.
When crypto mining companies were forced out of China last year, the ample power available from the Tennessee Valley Authority made Appalachia an appealing spot. At least three mines have opened in North Carolina’s Cherokee County since 2020, but as there is no registration requirement for cryptocurrency data centers, finding out how many are operating in the state is difficult.
North Carolina’s secretary of state’s office, which regulates businesses in the state, said crypto mines fall under the North Carolina Utilities Commission. And Sam Watson, general counsel for the NCUC, wrote in an email: “The Commission does not keep a registry of crypto mines” (or any other retail customer).
Local utilities simply need to approve the required paperwork, and local building permits need to be up to date.
PrimeBlock’s Song said the company was drawn to Cherokee County because of the TVA’s supply of renewable energy, created by hydroelectric dams as well as other methods.
The company operates 12 facilities in North America, concentrated in North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
But some communities have expressed alarm about crypto coming to town. A group of citizens protested a proposed crypto mine in Pitt County, N.C., forcing plans to be shelved this year. In Limestone, Tenn., county commissioners reached a settlement with a crypto mine operator to move a facility to an industrial park.
Unlike cities such as Asheville, N.C., and Johnson City, Tenn., which turned into mini-metropolises during the pandemic, Murphy is still a place where people go to get away. The area attracts people in search of quiet, including many retired police officers and members of the military.
Dennis Futch, who retired as a captain after 28 years in the Army that included tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait, bought a place on Poor House Mountain in 2016, following his parents to the area.
“I needed quiet. I had to have it, and that is why I came,” he said.
If there wasn’t total hush, it was nature’s noise — territorial turkeys or summer cicadas, not gun battles or urban caw. Occasionally, there’d be the distant rumble of a truck on U.S. Highway 64, some two miles away.
Now, however, there is almost constant noise, especially prevalent at night, when other sounds are hushed. “Sound levels generally drop at night, so noises that might not seem so loud during the day suddenly become that much more prominent,” said Fristrup, formerly of the Park Service.
He added that the lower temperatures at night in the mountains of Western North Carolina also trap and amplify the sound.
“It’s changed our way of life up here,” Futch said.
In their voices: Dennis Futch, a retired army captain who battles PTSD, has gone out of his comfort zone to attend county commission meetings to air his complaints about the mine noise.
“I mean, and when it comes to your neighborhood, you just can’t easily pick up and move ...”
The noise has even forced him to come down the mountain to attend county commission meetings, although public places make him uncomfortable.
“Going to town is usually an ordeal for me, and I can sit at home all day and be perfectly content,” Futch said. “I just wanted to see what was going on and what the county would do about it, but it was not easy to go. It was noisy, and I usually stay away from that.”
Even the drive to the meeting was difficult, Futch says, with highway debris or construction bringing up memories of roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He came away from the meeting convinced that nothing could be done and that he was stuck.
“You just can’t easily pick up and move, because nobody’s going to buy your home,” Futch said. “… You could pack up and move to a nice, quiet area and figure, this is where I’m going to spend the rest of my life, and, lo and behold,” a crypto mine moves in next door.
For Gene Johnson, 80, who served 40 years in the Navy as a gunner and engine room officer, the noise has intruded on a retirement he had hoped to spend playing music with friends.
TOP: Gene Johnson, 80, is retired and living in Murphy. ABOVE: A crypto mine in Murphy on July 21. (Mike Belleme For The Washington Post)
His home on Beaver Ridge Trail is just a quarter-mile from the mine. Though he’s hard of hearing from his years as a gunner, he says, the sound is still overpowering.
Johnson plays in a local band called the Sea Notes, which performs country, classic rock, bluegrass and some Cajun music at clubs and festivals.
In their voices: Gene Johnson, who at age 80 still keeps time to the music, says the mine noise makes that harder.
“I love to play music. ...”
He keeps chairs on his front porch, welcoming any company that might meander by wanting to share some songs. But one has to strain to hear the notes over the whirring mine.
“It bothers me, and it’s a nuisance. Playing music is part of my life. You try playing music with that noise. I keep time with the fans from the mine instead of the guys in my band,” Johnson said.
“The noise makes me feel really angry. It’s embarrassing to have people come over and visit you with that noise there,” he said.
But for other locals, the mines offer economic opportunity. In the town of Marble, 15 miles away, the opening of one of the largest crypto mining facilities in the country was met by locals with a collective shrug.
Built in the shell of a former denim mill, Austin-based Core Scientific’s mine operates day and night, but the computers and cooling systems are primarily enclosed. When asked for comment, Sofia Coon, a spokesperson for Wachsman, a communications firm representing Core Scientific, said that the company “has no comment at this time.”
For residents of this mix of double-wides and tidy ranch houses, the noise is not that different from that of the mill that turned out textiles in three busy shifts. Or the chipping mill where logs are processed a mile away.
“It was loud, louder than the crypto mine,” Vicky Martin, a 67-year-old retired nurse, said of the textile mill. She described semis rumbling up to the factory, industrial equipment clanging and shift workers coming and going.
TOP: Vicky and Larry Martin outside their rural North Carolina home on July 21. ABOVE: The Martins' home is across the street from a large crypto mine. (Mike Belleme For The Washington Post)
Martin admits that out-of-town visitors are often incredulous that the crypto mine across the street doesn’t bother her.
The noise levels from the mine regularly reach 60-plus decibels. But she says, while enjoying the view from her back deck: “Life is what you make it. I am not going to let [the crypto mine] take away the joy of my life.”
She went on: “Outsiders stop by and ask me how it can’t bother me, but it doesn’t.”
In their voices: Vicky Martin, a retired nurse and lifelong Cherokee County resident, lives across the street from the county’s largest crypto mine but says the noise doesn’t bother her.
“... It just doesn’t bother us. It’s there.”
The complex algorithmic calculations that go into determining what qualifies as noise pollution remain an inexact science. One person’s innocuous white noise is another’s torture.
One of the determining factors is the difference between baseline background noise and the introduced sound, experts say.
The crypto mine near Poor House Mountain is competing with quiet. The one in Marble blends in with the chipping mill and highway noise.
A rural stretch of highway along the Nantahala River near Murphy. (Mike Belleme For The Washington Post)
Rachel Buxton, an assistant professor of conservation biology at Carleton University in Ottawa who has studied the impact of noise pollution in rural areas, says that even a five decibel increase can have a dramatic impact.
“Humans have a finite amount of attention. If you are too busy paying attention to noise, there is less cognitive ability for other things,” Buxton said.
That additional noise load can cause stress and lead to negative health effects, she says.
For wildlife, the picture is even worse, Buxton says.
“At its very simplest, the noise can mask important sounds, like wildlife listening for approaching predators or listening for mates. Covering up these sounds can be the difference between life and death,” Buxton said.
And even noise that doesn’t outwardly bother people can have noticeable health effects, according to Stephen Stansfeld, a professor of psychiatry at Queen Mary University of London who has studied the issue.
He said continual exposure to noise can cause elevated blood pressure, which can increase the risk of stroke and heart attack.
“Even if you are sleeping through the noise, it still is having an effect,” Stansfeld said, adding that people’s expectations play a significant role.
“If they are expecting a place to be quiet, then the noise can really get them down,” he said.
Stansfeld also says that people’s connection to noise can affect their perception.
“If someone lives near an airport and they work at the airport, the noise doesn’t bother them, because that is their livelihood,” Stansfeld said.
Some of nature’s noise can register loudly on the decibel scale: tree frogs and flocks of birds, for instance. But Stansfeld says those sounds are not continuous and are part of the built-in expectations of people who have chosen to live in a natural area.
Introducing a continuous source of unwanted man-made noise is a different issue, he says.
“This is even more true in people suffering from PTSD, where these noises can sometimes trigger unpleasant memories of trauma,” Stansfeld said, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder.
Stansfeld says introducing noise into an environment can affect people’s sense of control over their lives, leading to long-term anxiety as well as other psychological and physiological effects.
That’s what Patricia Callahan says happened to her. Three years ago, she bought a condo a quarter of a mile from the base of Poor House Mountain. Then came the crypto mine.
“It has ruined my life,” she said.
Patricia Callahan moved to Cherokee County from Philadelphia and says the noise has greatly affected her quality of life.
Callahan says she filed a noise complaint with the Cherokee County sheriff in October 2021, shortly after the mine became operational. An officer met with her and took notes on her complaint. “But I never got a call back,” Callahan said.
She says the sound has destroyed her efforts to recover from a debilitating car crash in 2008, in which a teenage driver T-boned her car as she was driving her three children home from school.
The young man who plowed into her didn’t survive. Callahan says she was left with traumatic brain injury and the need for specialized prism eyeglasses, forcing her to drive hours to see an optical specialist for regular care. Most of all, she says, she needed quiet.
Now, Callahan says, the mine’s noise crowds her thoughts. And it is louder at night and on weekends, she says, the very times she is trying to relax.
But Song says the computers run at the same capacity all the time. “They are operating consistently at the same level 24/7,” he said.
“When there is noise happening, it takes up space in my brain where I can’t do other things,” Callahan said, closing her eyes and rocking as she talked.
In their voices: Patricia Callahan, who moved to the area from suburban Philadelphia, hoped to find peace and escape the after-effects of a traumatic car accident.
“I go camping. I just love to have my windows open, fresh air. ...”
She has taken to sleeping with earplugs and monitoring the noise through a decibel app on her phone. She tracks the sound for anyone who will listen to her, presenting the record to county commissioners and posting the numbers to local Facebook groups.
Callahan looks for patterns and trends, anything that will help her understand — and avoid — the noise.
“I don’t know what to do. Some days I want to put my stuff in storage, buy a van and travel,” Callahan said. “I don’t want to do that. But there’s no good solution.”
(Mike Belleme For The Washington Post)
TOP: Downtown Murphy. ABOVE: Cornfields near the town of Marble. (Mike Belleme For The Washington Post)
An earlier version of this article identified Sofia Coon as a spokesperson for Core Scientific. She works for Wachsman, a communications firm representing Core Scientific, and does not work for Core Scientific directly. The article has been updated.
Writing by Kevin Williams. Additional reporting by Maddy Alewine. Design and development by Rekha Tenjarla, Shikha Subramaniam and Matt Callahan. Photography by Mike Belleme. Photo editing by Haley Hamblin. Audio editing by Robin Amer. Audio mixing by Sean Carter. Editing by Suzanne Goldenberg. Copy editing by Martha Murdock. Additional editing and production by Jenna Pirog and Marian Chia-Ming Liu.
Rekha Tenjarla is a senior creative technologist specializing in experimental storytelling and emerging technologies at The Washington Post. Twitter Twitter | 2022-09-01T23:03:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A neighborhood's cryptocurrency mine: Never-ending noise - Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2022/cryptocurrency-mine-noise-homes-nc/?itid=sf_business | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2022/cryptocurrency-mine-noise-homes-nc/?itid=sf_business |
Police investigate report of gunshot at L’Enfant Plaza Metro station
Commuters at the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station in 2015. (Sammy Dallal for The Washington Post)
Police are investigating a report that somebody fired a gun Thursday afternoon on a platform at the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station, according to spokeswoman for the transit agency. A woman was hurt in the incident, but authorities said it was not immediately clear how and she did not go to the hospital.
Spokeswoman Sherri Ly said Metro Transit Police are not sure whether the female victim had been grazed by a bullet or if she was injured in another way. Ly said the woman was treated at the scene.
Ly also said a person was detained in the incident, which occurred shortly after 4 p.m. on the upper-level Green and Yellow line platform of the station in the 600 block of Maryland Avenue SW. Ly had no immediate details on the what led to the apparent gunfire.
Green and Yellow line trains heading in the direction of Branch Avenue/Huntington had been bypassing the station, forcing riders to take shuttle buses. Ly said that as of about 5 p.m., trains were single-tracking through the station and buses were no longer required. | 2022-09-01T23:25:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Shot reportedly fired at L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/lefant-metro-station-shooting/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/lefant-metro-station-shooting/ |
Washington, DC - July 26 : Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during the America First Agenda Summit organized by America First Policy Institute AFPI on Tuesday, July 26, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection issued a request to interview former House speaker Newt Gingrich on Thursday.
The request from Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) cited evidence obtained by the committee showing Gingrich was in communication with senior advisers to former president Donald Trump, including Jared Kushner and Jason Miller, regarding television advertisements that amplified false claims about fraud in the 2020 election.
“These advertising efforts were not designed to encourage voting for a particular candidate. Instead, these efforts attempted to cast doubt on the outcome of the election after voting had already taken place,” Thompson said in a letter to Gingrich giving notice of the request for an interview. "They encouraged members of the public to contact their state officials and pressure them to challenge and overturn the results of the election. To that end, these advertisements were intentionally aired in the days leading up to December 14, 2020, the day electors from each state met to cast their votes for president and vice president.”
Thompson also wrote that the committee has obtained evidence that suggests Gingrich was involved in the fake elector plot designed to encourage former vice president Mike Pence and members of Congress to affect the outcome of the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
In an email sent on Nov. 12, 2020, Gingrich asked then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone: “Is someone in charge of coordinating all the electors? Evans makes the point that all the contested electors must meet on [D]ecember 14 and send in ballots to force contests which the house would have to settle.”
Gingrich, according to the letter, also continued to press Meadows on the evening of Jan. 6, 2021, after the attack, asking, “[a]re there letters from state legislators about decertifying electors[?]”
Committee investigators spent much of Congress’s August recess interviewing witnesses, chasing new threads that have cropped up throughout the course of the investigation, and tracking down information that has yet to be turned over to the committee and people who have so far refused to cooperate.
Investigators have continued to receive a steady stream of new documents — including a tranche of records from the U.S. Secret Service and two years worth of text messages from Alex Jones that were accidentally turned over to the lawyer for plaintiffs suing the conspiracy theorist.
Investigators have also been working to recover missing texts messages from the Secret Service and Department of Defense after the committee learned earlier this summer that the two agencies wiped communications from phones of former and current officials who are viewed by the committee as key witnesses for understanding the response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. They expect to recover some of the missing information from carriers — like time stamps, recipients and senders of texts and calls, and voicemails, but they are unsure they will be able to obtain the actual content of the communications, according to people familiar with the committee’s work who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal committee conversations.
The committee has been particularly interested in digging deeper into the role the Secret Service played around Jan. 6, amid suspicions about the agency’s transparency with congressional investigators.
“We are going back to all of the relevant people — both motorcades — to dig in on a lot of more detail,” said a person involved with the investigation, referring to testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson about what happened as Trump was leaving the Ellipse after his speech on Jan. 6, 2021. Hutchinson testified under oath that those details were conveyed to her by Anthony Ornato, a Secret Service agent who also served as Trump’s deputy chief of staff.
People involved with the committee’s work say it wasn’t until investigators heard from a “national security” professional working at the White House on the day of the attack, who testified anonymously, that the committee was able to obtain Secret Service radio chatter around Pence’s evacuation from the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Investigators went back to USSS to demand that radio traffic recording even though they had requested it a year ago. The committee is still unsure they’ve obtained all of the recordings of relevant channels, as there are over two dozen different radio channels that USSS communicates on in the Washington area.
This is not the first time investigators have come up against the Trump administration’s poor and improper record keeping practices, and lawmakers on the panel are still interested in identifying which documents former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows allegedly burned in his office fireplace, according to testimony from Hutchinson.
Several people familiar with the committee’s work said they continue to explore the handling of documents by Meadows. According to these people, there is still information from Hutchinson’s closed-door depositions that has yet to be made public and needs further corroboration.
Earlier this month, Meadows made arrangements to return records to the Archives last week in the wake of the FBI’s search of Trump’s Florida residence, according to people familiar with the matter.
Lawmakers on the committee are pressing for more information related to the testimony from the anonymous national security staffer featured during the eighth hearing — and are interested in tracking the flow of developments at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, recorded by staff on Trump’s National security Council in a chat log.
While the committee hopes to again interview Ornato and Robert Engel, Trump’s former detail leader, there is concern that the two agents are trying to run out the clock. Testimony from Hutchinson and others placed Ornato and Engel, who have both retained private counsel, at the center of various claims regarding Trump’s actions on Jan. 6.
The committee has also interviewed some of Trump’s Cabinet secretaries — including Mike Pompeo, Steven Mnuchin, Robert O’Brien, and Elaine Chao — regarding internal conversations following the insurrection about invoking the 25th Amendment, which provides for the removal of a president on grounds of incapacitation, mental health or physical fitness.
While there was never a vote on the 25th Amendment, the committee wants to show how seriously many Cabinet secretaries took invoking the amendment — and how the threat may have impacted Trump’s thinking in the days after Jan. 6.
“The possible invocation of the 25th Amendment is important because it bolsters the case about just how wrong Trump’s behavior was and is an important part of lawmakers’ continued campaign to educate the American people about his wrongdoing,” said former House impeachment co-counsel Norman Eisen.
While the committee’s work so far was largely linear and followed a chronological timeline, they now are likely to take on disparate topics.
With Republicans positioned to possibly take back the House in November, lawmakers on the panel had at one point been figuring out when the last possible moment is to get the report to the government printing office to make sure it is entered into the Congressional Record by Jan. 3, 2023.
“We are not going to close down the committee until the final day,” one aide said.
The report will likely be written in chapters, and lawmakers are expected to be charged with overseeing various sections. The committee was ultimately unable to agree on a third-party writer to draft the report, in part due to concerns about partisan perceptions. | 2022-09-01T23:25:55Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Jan. 6 committee asks former speaker Newt Gingrich to sit for interview - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/01/jan-6-committee-asks-former-speaker-newt-gingrich-sit-interview/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/01/jan-6-committee-asks-former-speaker-newt-gingrich-sit-interview/ |
In tough times, don’t lose sight of Germany’s unlikely success story
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Putlos military training area in Oldenburg in Holstein, Germany, on Aug. 15. (Morris MacMatzen/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
On one level, this is indeed a dramatic shift. Yet, it is also the continuation of a remarkably consistent German attitude toward Europe and the world since 1945. Think about how different the world would look if we did not have, at the center of Europe, its most powerful nation — the country that is the largest net contributor to the E.U. — totally committed to democratic and liberal values and willing to make sacrifices for them. Germany today is the rock on which a new Europe is being built.
And the sacrifices are real and deep. Natural gas prices are up tenfold in Europe compared to last year. The price of electricity for 2023 is more than 15 times higher than it has been in recent years, by one estimate. Vladimir Putin is ramping up the pressure by slowing and even stopping gas exports to Germany, a country he thinks he knows very well because of his years serving there in the KGB.
But Germany has not given in. Confronted with these massive challenges, it has patiently sought to diversify away from a dependence on Russia, investing even more in green technology, buying liquefied natural gas, reopening coal-fired plants and even debating whether to keep its last three nuclear power plants running longer than planned. (It should.) The European Union has suggested a 15 percent reduction in the consumption of natural gas this winter. Germany is trying to achieve a 20 percent cut just to be safe. German industry is being resourceful about energy efficiency, and companies are even thinking about sharing resources with competitors, all to get through the crisis.
Initially Scholz was regarded as a lightweight, unable to match the gravitas and leadership skills of his predecessor Angela Merkel. But Merkel herself was seen in similar ways when she came to power. Over time she developed the skills and stature to gain respect from all quarters. She might have erred in trying to develop too conciliatory a relationship with Moscow, but when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, she was at the forefront in condemning it and persuading Europe to impose an ambitious program of sanctions. She also led the world in responding to the Syrian refugee crisis, reassuring her country by declaring, “We can do this.” As of mid-2021, Germany hosts more than 1.2 million refugees, half of whom are from Syria. In fact, Germany has managed this stunning act of integration with minimal problems.
We always underestimate modern-day Germany and its leadership. The federal republic has had a remarkable run of leaders in the post-World War II era, from its first chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, to Willy Brandt to Helmut Schmidt to Merkel — and now, let’s hope, to Scholz. Can any other country compare over the past seven decades?
I remember the reaction to Helmut Kohl, who was called a “colorless man from the sticks” because he did not come from the country’s elite class. Yet he proved to be the man who succeeded in reunifying Germany while keeping it firmly anchored in the West. Germans have paid for that integration on a scale that is almost unimaginable, investing about 2 trillion euros in the East over the course of two decades, according to one estimate.
In 1945, no one would have predicted that Germany would develop as it has. It came out of the war utterly destroyed, its cities flattened, its population starving. Around 12 million ethnic Germans who had been expelled from other countries poured into Germany. Above all, postwar Germany was scarred by the gruesome legacy of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust. But the country found a way to overcome its past, to become, in Henry Kissinger’s words, “a normal country … with an abnormal memory.” And that much larger Zeitenwende is one of the great good news stories of our times.
Germany must keep — and expand — nuclear power
Germany is finally acting like Europe’s major power | 2022-09-01T23:26:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Germany’s unlikely success story is an inspiration in tough times - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/01/scholz-germany-success-story-europe/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/01/scholz-germany-success-story-europe/ |
Strega Nona books, by Tomie dePaola, on display at the Morgan Hill Bookstore in New London, N.H., in December 2013. (Jim Cole/AP)
I begin with this somewhat embarrassing admission: Yes, I have set a Google alert for myself. So it was that I woke up the other day to see that a conservative writer had described me as “Strega Nona look-alike columnist Ruth Marcus.”
Strega Nona, for those who haven’t read and reread the Tomie dePaola children’s book series, is an Italian witch (the name means “Grandma Witch”) with an overflowing pasta pot and a magic touch for curing headaches, finding husbands and getting rid of warts.
Somehow, Strega Nona’s abundant talents notwithstanding, I don’t think the comparison was meant as a compliment.
Eddie Scarry, a writer for the conservative website the Federalist, was unhappy with my column about Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Graham’s warning of “riots in the streets” if former president Donald Trump is prosecuted over the classified information he had at Mar-a-Lago. When I clicked on his piece, the dePaola reference appeared as a strikethrough— “Strega Nona look-alike columnist Ruth Marcus” — which I took to be a kind of sorry not sorry way of hurling an insult without having to own it.
Sorry not sorry, but that won’t work. My column was an argument about ideas — about how prosecutors should deal with public response to controversial cases. Disagreement on the merits is fair game; bring it on. But why are looks relevant? What is it that impels Scarry to go there?
Ruth Marcus: Gray hair? Working women shouldn't have to care.
The sensible thing to do in response to this kind of behavior is to ignore it, which is what I usually do. Why let someone think they’ve struck a nerve? Why reward insults with attention? If size matters, my platform’s bigger than Scarry’s platform; ordinarily, I wouldn’t use it to boost his profile. And, of course, what he directed my way is mild in comparison with the threats and vitriol that permeate the internet.
But I’ve been thinking a good bit recently about the toxic intersection of misogyny and ageism, so this time I’m going to speak up. I’m going to speak up because there are a lot of women who might be less well-established in their careers, less confident of their abilities, less resilient. Who would be too worried about the backlash — and, frankly, too embarrassed about having been described as old and ugly — to call out the Eddie Scarrys of the world.
I’m going to speak up because, when it comes to appearance, women can never catch a break. If a woman is too attractive, she risks not being taken seriously — most especially if she is too attractive and seems to be having a blast. See, for example, the partying prime minister of Finland. If a woman is not attractive enough — or, if attractive enough, has had the nerve to get older and let it show — that works against her, too. See, for example, Canadian television anchor Lisa LaFlamme, who was let go after letting her hair go gray.
I’m going to speak up because men, by and large, don’t have to put up with this crap, and because women, too often, are cowed into silence. If we’re quiet, the abuse continues. If we complain, we are strident harridans.
A friend — a female friend — whom I asked to read a draft of this column suggested some tweaks to “reach for funnier instead of angrier.” I’m a big believer in funny — derision can be more powerful than condemnation, self-deprecation more effective than outrage. Not this time. The impulse to be funny underscores the female compulsion to remain likable, for fear of seeming too assertive and thereby off-putting. Sometimes, it’s okay to be mad as hell.
Scarry, it turns out, isn’t new to this game. He had his 15 minutes of fame in 2018 when he tweeted a photo of newly elected Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — well, specifically, of AOC’s backside — with the snarky comment, “I’ll tell you something: that jacket and coat don’t look like a girl who struggles.” Scarry ended up deleting the tweet, but not, apparently, learning from the incident.
I reached out to Scarry by email, asking why he thought his language was appropriate. No surprise, I haven’t heard back. But my point isn’t to fix his behavior or extract an apology — it’s to push back, Strega Nona style. As my daughter pointed out when I mentioned this incident, “Mom, you know, Strega Nona is kind of a badass.”
She is — and I am, too, I hope. In one of dePaola’s books, when Strega Nona’s helper, Big Anthony, uses her magic pot, causing pasta to overrun the village, Strega Nona decrees that the punishment should fit the crime, and orders him to pick up a fork and start eating. It’s probably too much to hope that Scarry will eat his words. But hey, here’s a fork. | 2022-09-01T23:26:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Ruth Marcus: A Federalist writer compared me to Strega Nona - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/02/ruth-marcus-federalist-strega-nona-insult/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/02/ruth-marcus-federalist-strega-nona-insult/ |
JAKARTA, INDONESIA - APRIL 21: University students shout slogans at a demonstration calling for the Indonesian government to address rising prices on April 21, 2022 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Hundreds of Indonesian university students and members of a labor group called for the government to address rising prices of fuel, cooking oil, and food staples, as well as to protest persistent rumors that the government plans to delay elections so that current President Joko Widodo can stay in office. Widodo has repeatedly denied the rumor. (Photo by Ed Wray/Getty images) (Photographer: Ed Wray/Getty Images AsiaPac)
These are inauspicious times to be challenging the primacy of fighting inflation. Yet that is precisely what Indonesia, an emerging market icon that constantly frets about the strength and durability of capital flows, is contemplating. It doesn’t have to end in tears — if managed well.
With consumer prices escalating around the world, it’s a brave nation that asks its central bank to do much more than contain the cost of living. Policy makers have been chastised for not acting sooner, and more forcefully, to rein in inflation. Ominous noises are rumbling in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada about altering mandates to sharpen the focus on prices. Would it be a tragedy if a big developing country struck out in the opposite direction?
It would certainly be ironic, given that Bank Indonesia was remade along western lines after the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. BI’s official job is defined by the quest for price and currency stability. Lawmakers in Jakarta have chafed that the framework is too narrow and are making another run at broadening the central bank’s remit to support jobs and growth as well. Also under consideration is enshrining a form of debt monetization — the direct purchase of bonds from the government — in the bank’s charter. Jakarta took such a step during the pandemic, billing it as a temporary measure aimed at buttressing state coffers in a time of crisis. It was initially contentious, but Southeast Asia’s largest economy suffered no real run on its currency or investor flight. In other words, they got away with it.
When the possibility of adjustments to BI’s directives first surfaced in 2020, they met with some outcry. They would compromise independence, tut-tutted critics, overlooking that some banks considered the global benchmarks such as the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, had labor or growth mandates. Though let’s not forget that then, inflation was low and thought likely to stay that way. Central banks with dual mandates were praised for their Midas touch. It seemed unfair to turn on Indonesia for wanting to go down the same route.
Now, with inflation resurgent and public health crises still lingering, the role and shape of central banks is up for grabs. Did officials spend too much time chasing historic lows in unemployment only to store up problems for later? Are ambitions to reduce racial and gender disparities in the labor market really something that monetary institutions should worry about? The idea that attentiveness to climate change be part of their portfolios and included in stress tests of lenders remains controversial.
Liz Truss, the UK’s likely next prime minister, has talked vaguely about changing the law so that the Bank of England is more devoted to inflation-busting. The performances of the Reserve Bank of Australia and its New Zealand counterpart are under review by outside panels. You can interpret the maneuvering in Indonesia as part of a broader tussle about the scope of central bank power and where it ought to applied.
President Joko Widodo has endorsed the thrust of the mooted reforms, so some change is likely. The next question is how to translate these mandates. BI has an inflation target of between 2% and 4%; price gains are exceeding that and interest rates are climbing. Further tightening is anticipated. Most inflation targets have a “2” in them somewhere. Few — if any — have a number attached to the jobless rate or gross domestic product. They tend to be vague, which can be good. It gives monetary chiefs some leeway.
Jokowi promised during his first five-year term to boost GDP growth toward 7% from the average rate of about 5%, where it remains stuck as he enters the home stretch of his second term. Maybe BI just needs to be seen to acknowledge that it has some role in keeping that prospect alive, even if it isn’t achieved. Or at least, not be seen to stand in the way. As a last resort, there is always the piggy-bank of bond purchases.
With its natural wealth highly unequally shared among a population of 270 million scattered across some 17,000 islands, Indonesia may not exactly be a template for the rest of the world. But the arguments will be heard elsewhere as the social and business costs of returning inflation to comfortable levels bite. Autonomy for central banks, a rallying cry for decades, is still the base case. But look for that orthodoxy to come under duress. Over to you, Jakarta. More From Bloomberg Opinion:
• Indonesia Learns to Love Risky Wartime Finance: Daniel Moss
• Jackson Hole Should Be a Central Bank Mea Culpa: Marcus Ashworth
• Can Jokowi’s Shuttle Diplomacy Sway Russia?: Clara F. Marques | 2022-09-01T23:38:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | More to Life Than Inflation? Indonesia Is Just Asking - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/more-to-life-than-inflation-indonesia-is-just-asking/2022/09/01/3d36c21e-2a42-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/more-to-life-than-inflation-indonesia-is-just-asking/2022/09/01/3d36c21e-2a42-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
Independence Hall in Philadelphia, in 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
President Biden is set to deliver a speech on the “soul of the nation” Thursday evening in Philadelphia, with its famed Independence Hall as the backdrop. It’s far from the first presidential speech at the historic building. Here’s a primer on Independence Hall’s origins, transformations and key moments throughout its 269-year history.
Independence Hall is where the Declaration of Independence was approved in July 1776 and where the Founders debated and wrote the Constitution in the summer of 1787. It’s where the Liberty Bell rang and where George Washington was named commander in chief of the Continental Army at the start of the Revolutionary War. In 1797, he made his final public appearance as president next door at Congress Hall — which together with Independence Hall is now part of Independence National Historic Park.
Independence Hall started as Pennsylvania’s statehouse. First commissioned in 1732, it took more than 20 years to build, not because it was so grand — though it was the grandest building in the 13 colonies — but because the provincial government kept running out of money to fund its construction.
Today, the brick shell of the main part of the building is original, but just about everything else has been replaced or renovated over the centuries — the steeple, the clock, the wings. The Liberty Bell, with its famous crack, is now displayed across the street. The current interior has been styled to look how it would have in the 1700s, but it is not the exact space the Founders inhabited.
Even once the capital moved to Washington, the importance of Independence Hall remained. In 1865, more than 300,000 mourners paid their respects to Abraham Lincoln in Independence Hall, where his body lay in state following his assassination. A few years earlier, he’d spoken there just before taking the oath of office.
The weird history of Abraham Lincoln’s casket photos takes another twist
In 1915, former president and future U.S. chief justice William Howard Taft presided there over the League to Enforce Peace, a predecessor to the League of Nations and the United Nations.
Other presidents who have spoken in front of the hall include John F. Kennedy in 1962, Gerald Ford in 1976 for the nation’s bicentennial and Ronald Reagan in 1987 for the Constitution’s bicentennial, according to Philadelphia’s tourism bureau.
It’s also been a popular stop for presidential candidates: Hillary Clinton spoke there on the eve of the 2016 election.
Biden is expected to focus his speech on threats to democracy from “MAGA Republicans” ahead of the midterms this November. Critics who may oppose any partisan undertones to Biden’s speech, take note: There’s recent precedent for a president using a historic location managed by the National Park Service to make partisan remarks. | 2022-09-01T23:38:58Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Biden speaks at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Here's its history. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/09/01/independence-hall-biden-history/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/09/01/independence-hall-biden-history/ |
Jackson water crisis deepens as state deploys National Guard
Members of the Mississippi National Guard hand out bottled water at Thomas Cardozo Middle School in Jackson, Miss., in response to the water crisis on Sept. 1. (Brad Vest/Getty Images)
On Tuesday, President Biden approved an emergency declaration for the state and on Wednesday called Lumumba to discuss response efforts, including support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Lumumba said Vice President Harris also contacted him, while FEMA Administrator Dana Criswell spoke with Reeves and was due to visit Jackson on Friday. FEMA officials and EPA experts were also on the ground coordinating with state teams, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
“It certainly has been an accumulation of challenges and divestment over years, more than three decades. …” he said. “We’re happy to have the state aboard. We’ve been going it alone for far too long.” He said state and federal assistance will be necessary, calling the broken water system a “problem which is not within the city’s capacity to meet,” given fixes would cost an estimated $2 billion. | 2022-09-01T23:39:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | State and federal officials mount response to Jackson, Miss., water crisis - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/01/jackson-mississippi-water-crisis/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/01/jackson-mississippi-water-crisis/ |
Sexual assault in military continues to rise despite efforts to reverse
A Cadet listens during a commencement ceremony for the Class of 2020 on the parade field at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. (Alex Brandon/AP)
Service members experienced unprecedented numbers of sexual assaults and other unwanted sexual contact last year, the Pentagon said Thursday, a continuing upward trend the U.S. military has been unable to get under control.
Almost every metric is moving in the wrong direction, defense officials said in a call with reporters Thursday to describe this year’s report on the issue, despite military leaders launching numerous programs to prevent assault. The Pentagon said there were more than 8,500 reported sexual assaults in 2021, an increase of 13 percent over 2020, and estimated that nearly 36,000 active duty troops experienced unwanted sexual contact, according to a confidential survey, up from an estimated 20,000 in 2018, the last year the survey was conducted.
Those figures represented the highest numbers among women since the department began recording the data in 2006, officials said, and the second highest for men.
“These numbers are tragic and extremely disappointing,” said Elizabeth Foster, the executive director of the Office of Force Resiliency. The lives and careers of survivors, she said, were “irrevocably changed by these crimes.”
The data also challenged a justification the Pentagon has relied on for years to explain increases in sexual crime reporting: that it proves survivors are increasingly comfortable in coming forward. Yet despite historically highs in numbers of assaults, fewer troops are reporting incidents, said Nathan Galbreath, a senior defense official who focuses on sexual assault issues. One-in-five troops reported such crimes last year, which is down from 1-in-3 in recent years, he said. That tracks with plummeting confidence in the system, defense officials said.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Galbreath said.
The report points to the ongoing failure of the Defense Department to change its culture, including a reluctance to hold commanders accountable for allowing sexual assault to continue unchecked, said Rachel E. VanLandingham, a former Air Force lawyer and president of the National Institute of Military Justice, a nonprofit focused on military law issues.
“There is no sense of urgency here, there never has been, and this is the result,” she said.
The results come at a difficult time for the Pentagon, which is facing the most challenging recruiting environment in decades, with the Army in particular likely to fall thousands of soldiers short of its accession target. The Defense Department relies on the expectation among family and community leaders that potential recruits will be protected in the ranks.
“We also see declining retention intentions and declining confidence in potential recruits and in their influencers in terms of whether the military is doing a good job addressing sexual assault in the institution,” said Ashlea Klahr, a Pentagon health researcher.
Reported sexual assault cases climb at military academies despite prevention efforts
Defense officials said comparisons with previous years are inexact because of changes to the survey’s questions. That means some comparisons are not “apples to apples,” officials said, but the survey still offered a reliable estimate of how prevalent unwanted sexual contact is within the military.
The findings also come as the Pentagon faces pressure from Capitol Hill to reverse the numbers. Last year, an independent commission reviewed the department’s policies and recommended that special attorneys refer such crimes for prosecution, rather than leaders in the chain of command who may have a bias against acting. One plan being implemented, officials said, is to deploy personnel who specialize in sexual assault prevention, with hiring underway for the first 400 of 2,000 workers.
That effort may not track closely with the preferences of some survivors. Sexual assault case referrals to courts martial have steadily declined in the last decade since a peak in 2013, the report found, and less consequential nonjudicial punishments rose. Administrative actions, including separation from the military, have also generally risen over the past decade. That may reflect the wishes of some survivors who want justice but don’t want to take part in a public trial where their judgment and character is second-guessed, Galbreath said.
That explanation is victim-blaming, VanLandingham said. Nonjudicial punishment is by definition for minor offenses, she said, and the decision to prosecute is not always up to the survivors, she said. It is another reason attorneys outside the chain of command should be making the decision on how to move forward, she added. The Defense Department at first fought that measure but is now heralding it as an important change.
“I don’t trust commanders to make decisions on what’s minor and what isn’t,” she said.
While sexual crimes have been on the rise, confidence in resources like mental health support fell since 2018, according to the report, indicating broken trust within the ranks. At the same time, in 2021, the report found, “responders indicated significantly higher rates of burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma compared to 2018.” | 2022-09-01T23:39:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Sexual assault in military continues to rise despite efforts to reverse - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/01/sexual-assaults-military-increase/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/01/sexual-assaults-military-increase/ |
Man charged in Dutch soldiers’ shooting in Indiana
Man charged in Dutch soldiers' shooting
A judge ordered Duncan, who has been in custody since his arrest Tuesday, to remain jailed without bond and entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
One of the wounded soldiers has returned to the Netherlands, and the other was expected to return Thursday, Deputy Police Chief Kendale Adams said, adding that both are expected to make a full recovery.
“We do many trainings of our servicemen in the United States, and we really don’t expect this to happen. So it’s very, very concerning for us,” Ollongren told the Associated Press on Tuesday in Prague.
1 killed in apparent stabbing at high school
Jacksonville Police Chief Mike Yaniero said two minors were taken to Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune with injuries, and one later died. He said that the attack at Northside High School in Jacksonville appeared to be a stabbing but that the investigation was ongoing. A teacher was also injured, but not stabbed, and received onsite medical treatment, he said.
The chief said a school resource officer responded within about 20 seconds of receiving word of the attack about 7 a.m., and a student suspect was taken into custody. The attack happened in a common area. | 2022-09-01T23:39:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Man charged in Dutch soldiers’ shooting in Indiana - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/man-charged-in-dutch-soldiers-shooting-in-indiana/2022/09/01/deb7f9a0-1511-11ed-b403-f31960ffb1d0_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/man-charged-in-dutch-soldiers-shooting-in-indiana/2022/09/01/deb7f9a0-1511-11ed-b403-f31960ffb1d0_story.html |
This photo provided by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, in New York, shows the three bronze panels at one of the entrances to Bartlett Hall, at West Point, that depicts the history of the United States. A commission created by Congress is recommending that multiple historical reminders tied to Confederate officers during the Civil War be removed — many honoring Robert E. Lee, one of the academy’s most famous graduates. (U.S. Military Academy at West Point via AP) (Uncredited/U.S. Military Academy at West Point) | 2022-09-01T23:39:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Panel: West Point should rename Lee Barracks, nix KKK art - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/panel-west-point-should-rename-lee-barracks-nix-kkk-art/2022/09/01/e95ca73e-2a42-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/panel-west-point-should-rename-lee-barracks-nix-kkk-art/2022/09/01/e95ca73e-2a42-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
Stephen Glasser, co-founder of the Legal Times newspaper, dies at 79
He and his wife started the Washington-based weekly in 1978. The newspaper was among the first to focus on lawyers and the legal profession, and helped spark a bevy of imitators.
Legal publisher Stephen A. Glasser in 2015. He was a co-founder of the Legal Times newspaper, a Washington-based weekly. (Matt Rainey Photography, LLC)
Stephen A. Glasser, who trained as a lawyer but found far greater fulfillment shaping the legal profession as a publisher and entrepreneur, partnering with his wife in 1978 to found the Legal Times, a small but influential newspaper that helped demystify a traditionally secretive and insular industry, died Aug. 25 at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 79.
The cause was congestive heart failure, said his daughter Susan Glasser, a staff writer at the New Yorker and former editor at The Washington Post.
When Mr. Glasser started the Legal Times in Washington with his wife, Lynn, knowledge of the legal profession was generally limited to “anybody who watched 'Perry Mason,’ ” said William J. Perlstein, an FTI Consulting executive and former co-managing partner of the law firm WilmerHale. Stephen and Lynn Glasser “transformed the understanding of law in America,” he added, by founding a newspaper that “actually brought law firms and lawyers to life.”
Backed by the publishing firm Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, where Mr. Glasser had run a business and law division, the weekly tabloid reported on all kinds of legal issues, from Treasury Department regulations to energy, securities and environmental law. The newspaper had a Washington focus that was reflected in its original name, Legal Times of Washington, although its publishers technically lived in Montclair, N.J., commuting to the publication’s Dupont Circle offices each week via the Eastern Airlines shuttle.
For top editor, the Glassers hired David Beckwith, a Time magazine reporter who had scooped the U.S. Supreme Court on its own Roe v. Wade decision. Later hires included reporter Kim Masters, now an editor-at-large at the Hollywood Reporter.
“Before the Legal Times, there had never been a general interest, independent commercial publication that promised an objective outside look at lawyers, particularly the big firms operating in major cities,” Beckwith wrote in an email. He added that Mr. Glasser and his wife saw an opening after a 1977 Supreme Court decision that upheld the rights of lawyers to advertise their services, and after the American Bar Association loosened its own advertising rules as well.
The timing seemed especially right under the Carter administration, which passed “a torrent of new federal regulations on business,” he said, “making Washington corporate lawyers even more important than ever.”
Mr. Glasser had aspired to a journalism career in college, spending summers working at newspapers in Gloucester, Mass., and Detroit before his family insisted he go to law school. As publisher, he remained a steady, indefatigable presence in the office even as his newspaper “thoroughly frightened, amused and created howls of outrage among the corporate law community,” Beckwith said.
The Legal Times was especially known for a gossip column called Inadmissible, which was originated by Mr. Glasser and chronicled courtroom errors, law firm blowups and industry foibles, much to the irritation of subjects like the Washington firm Wilkes Artis. “A lot of people around our place would like to string them up,” one of the firm’s lawyers told The Post in 1979, after the Legal Times reported on an internal split at the firm.
The newspaper vied for readers and advertisers with two other national legal publications that debuted in its wake: the monthly American Lawyer, which was founded by editor Steven Brill, and the weekly National Law Journal, a sibling of the much older New York Law Journal. All three came under the control of Brill, who bought the Legal Times in 1986 for a reported $2 million to $4 million. By then, the paper had a circulation of about 6,000 and was dwarfed by its competitors, The Post reported at the time.
The newspaper merged with the National Law Journal in 2009. By then, legal news sources had proliferated, with websites and blogs including Above the Law, the Volokh Conspiracy and SCOTUSblog offering information that was once available only through newspapers like the Legal Times.
“It’s just a magnitude of a hundred of what was available before we got started,” Beckwith said in a phone interview. “I think we were kind of the door openers.” He recalled that when the newspaper got started, he and its staff had trouble getting basic information from law firms, including details on the number of lawyers they employed or who led their litigation department. But “within just a few months, they were giving out what would have caused them an aneurysm to share.”
The oldest of three children, Stephen Andrew Glasser was born in Memphis on July 27, 1943. His mother, the former Esther Kron, was a social worker. His father, Melvin A. Glasser, supervised medical field trials for Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine and was later an official of the United Auto Workers union and the Health Security Action Council in Washington.
His father’s career took the family to Arlington, Va., and then Rye, N.Y., where Mr. Glasser graduated from high school. He studied political science at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., and received a bachelor’s degree in 1965, the same year he married Lynn Schreiber. She supported him through law school, working a day job while he attended the University of Michigan.
After he graduated in 1968, he practiced law for only a few months, working as a lawyer at the Labor Department in Washington, before going into business with his wife and moving to Montclair. Together, they worked at the New York Law Journal, where Mr. Glasser became executive vice president and executive editor, and later at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, publishing legal newsletters and books by James C. Freund, a leading mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer, and Bruce W. Sanford, a First Amendment specialist.
In 1995, they started a new venture, Glasser LegalWorks, which organized law conferences and management forums. The company was sold to FindLaw, a subsidiary of the Thomson media conglomerate, in 2003.
Mr. Glasser was still working in recent years, organizing conferences and continuing-education programs through his latest venture, Sandpiper Partners. He also helped found a hospice in Glen Ridge, N.J., and worked in higher education, serving on the advisory board of Montclair State University’s communications school and as a trustee and former board chairman of Bloomfield College, a predominantly Black institution in New Jersey.
In addition to his daughter Susan, of Washington, survivors include his wife, Lynn, of Montclair, and three other children: Laura Glasser, a former TV writer who worked on “The West Wing,” of South Pasadena, Calif.; Jeffrey Glasser, a vice president and general counsel at the Los Angeles Times; and Jennifer Glasser, a partner at the law firm White & Case, of Scarsdale, N.Y. Survivors also include two sisters and seven grandchildren.
“It says something about my dad’s influence on all of us that of his four children, two are writers and two are lawyers,” said Susan Glasser, who dedicated her forthcoming book “The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021” in part to her father. (The book was written with her husband, New York Times reporter Peter Baker, and is also dedicated to his father, Ted.)
In a phone interview, she described Mr. Glasser as a voracious reader who “understood the value of original, reliable information,” saying he was focused on “news and scoops” both as a publisher and as a subscriber to three daily newspapers. “If you want people to pay for information, it has to have value to them,” she said. “That has turned out to be a very useful insight for transformations in journalism that he could not possibly have imagined when he started his career.” | 2022-09-01T23:39:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Stephen Glasser, co-founder of the Legal Times newspaper, dies at 79 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/09/01/legal-times-founder-stephen-glasser-dead/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/09/01/legal-times-founder-stephen-glasser-dead/ |
Wisconsin activist who said voter fraud is easy to commit faces election charges
An election worker sorts through ballots during a recount of Milwaukee County's results on Nov. 20, 2020. (Taylor Glascock for The Washington Post)
Wait is the president of a group called HOT Government, which derives its name from its pledge to advocate for “honest, open and transparent government.” He’s used his platform for the last two years to question the state’s election laws and practices.
In July, he used a state online portal called MyVote Wisconsin to request primary ballots in the names of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) and Racine Mayor Cory Mason (D) — two officials he has long criticized. Mason’s ballot was sent to Wait’s home in Dover in southeastern Wisconsin, but Vos’s was not. Wait said he returned Mason’s unopened ballot to county officials.
After attacks and primary challenge, Wisconsin GOP leader still stands by Trump
Soon after requesting the ballots, Wait alerted the sheriff and top prosecutor in his county to tell them what he had done and to offer himself up for arrest. Wait contended his ability to make the request showed the MyVote portal was flawed and called for officials to shut it down.
Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling (R) told Wait he wouldn’t arrest him and praised him for alerting the public to the issue. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) soon afterward announced his Department of Justice was investigating the matter.
On Thursday, Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Susan Happ charged Wait with two felony counts for the unauthorized use of personally identifiable information and two misdemeanor counts of election fraud. If found guilty on all charges, Wait could face a maximum of 13 years in prison and $22,000 in fines.
The criminal complaint describes Wait as requesting ballots in the names of “Individual 1” and “Individual 2.” Other records, along with Wait’s own comments, reveal them to be Vos and Mason. The complaint says Wait ordered ballots in the names of others as well after getting permission from them. He is not charged with any crimes for ordering those ballots.
Wait has repeatedly acknowledged he did what the criminal complaint alleges. He said Thursday he planned to initially represent himself and would argue that he didn’t violate the law because he does not believe the MyVote system is legally authorized. Election officials have discounted his claims that the portal is legally invalid.
“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to protect the republic,” Wait said. “What I did is a matter of record. I provided the DOJ with everything they need to prosecute me. And I will stand in front of 12 jurors and see if they agree with the DOJ.”
Using MyVote, anyone can look up voters if they know their names and birth dates. Once logged in, they can order absentee ballots and ask that they be sent anywhere. That option is available so voters who are temporarily away can have their ballots sent to where they are staying.
Most voters in Wisconsin must provide a copy of a photo ID the first time they request an absentee ballot. Under state law, voters who say they are indefinitely confined to their homes because of age or disability do not have to provide an ID. Wait used that function to sidestep the ID requirement, he has said.
Requesting a ballot through MyVote generates an email to the voter’s municipal clerk, who makes the ultimate decision on whether to send a ballot. The clerk in Mason’s community mailed his ballot to Wait but the one in Vos’s community did not after checking the request. She said she also stopped another ballot in Vos’s name from being sent overseas.
Voter fraud is rare. Last year, the Wisconsin Elections Commission identified 41 instances of potential voter fraud from primaries and elections in late 2020 and early 2021. That accounts for a tiny portion of the millions of ballots cast in those elections. | 2022-09-01T23:39:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Wisconsin activist Harry Wait charged voter fraud - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/01/harry-wait-wisconsin-voter-fraud/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/01/harry-wait-wisconsin-voter-fraud/ |
HARTFORD, Conn. — An assistant principal at a public elementary school in Connecticut is facing an investigation by state education officials after apparently being secretly recorded saying he’d prefer not to hire politically conservative staff, including Roman Catholics.
In a story published August 31, 2022, The Associated Press erroneously reported that a message seeking comment was sent to the assistant principal’s personal email. The message was sent to an email address that belongs to someone with the same name, not the principal. A message was later sent to the principal’s work email.
The latest: Biden to warn that ‘MAGA forces’ aim to take country backward | 2022-09-01T23:40:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Catholic comments by Connecticut principal under scrutiny - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/correction-connecticut-assistant-principal-investigation/2022/09/01/a08137ae-2a43-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/correction-connecticut-assistant-principal-investigation/2022/09/01/a08137ae-2a43-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
This still image from New York City Police Department body camera video, shows an incident Tuesday, Aug. 30. 2022, in which a detective shoved a woman to the ground after she struck him while he was helping officers arrest an attempted murder suspect in New York’s Harlem neighborhood. The woman was one of three people involved in the incident who were arrested for interfering with police and charged with obstructing governmental administration, a misdemeanor. (New York City Police Department via AP) (Uncredited/New York City Police Department)
NEW YORK — New York City police say they’re investigating a confrontation Tuesday in which a detective shoved and hit a woman, causing her to fall to the ground, after she struck him as he helped arrest a suspect in an attempted killing.
Noted: New Mexico governor designates $10 million for abortion clinic near Texas border | 2022-09-01T23:40:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Video of detective hitting woman prompts NYPD investigation - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/video-of-detective-hitting-woman-prompts-nypd-investigation/2022/09/01/43e1eba0-2a49-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/video-of-detective-hitting-woman-prompts-nypd-investigation/2022/09/01/43e1eba0-2a49-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
Fla. clerics say abortion law violates religious freedom, seek temporary injunction
The Rev. Laurinda Hafner, who supports abortion rights, inside the chapel of her church on July 29 in Coral Gables, Fla. (Taimy Alvarez for The Washington Post)
Saying Florida’s strict new abortion ban is causing “immediate and irreparable injury to … fundamental rights and cherished liberties,” seven members of a clergy asked a state court for a temporary injunction Thursday so that they can again advise believers freely based on their own religious values and beliefs.
The request to the Circuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Miami comes a month after the same clerics sued Florida, saying the law that went into effect July 1 violates their freedom of speech, religious liberty and the Constitution’s establishment clause, “because it codifies a singular and exclusive religious belief with no plausible secular justification,” the lawsuit charged.
The Florida law, which makes no exceptions for rape or incest, was signed in April by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in a Pentecostal church alongside antiabortion lawmakers such as the House speaker, who called life “a gift from God.”
The plaintiffs are two Christians, three Jews, one Unitarian Universalist and a Buddhist.
Clerics sue over Florida abortion law, saying it violates religious freedom
They note in the suit and Thursday’s filings that it’s a felony to violate the abortion ban, including “participating” in one, which the clerics say under Florida law appears to qualify as “counseling or encouraging” a crime.
“Plaintiff is inhibited from providing spiritual guidance in accordance with their religious beliefs to their congregants,” the filings read.
Opponents of the Florida law, one of the strictest antiabortion measures in the country, are arguing on multiple fronts. It bans abortions after 15 weeks.
Even before the law took effect, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, Florida abortion providers and the Center for Reproductive Rights sued, citing a 1980 state constitutional amendment guaranteeing a right to privacy. The state Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the right to abortion is included in that, including for minors. And in 2012, Florida voters rejected an amendment to the state constitution that would have removed the abortion-related privacy protection.
Planned Parenthood won an initial injunction, pausing the law from going into effect, but a state appeal quickly put the law back on until the plaintiffs could argue their points.
Antiabortion advocate worked for years to overturn Roe, but worries over next steps
Last Wednesday, a Florida appellate court formally rejected the injunction request, saying the abortion providers and their co-plaintiffs couldn’t prove “irreparable harm.” The state law bans abortions after 15 weeks. The vast majority of abortions — around 9 in 10 — occur during the first trimester, which is around 12 to 14 weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The parties do not dispute that the operation of the law will not affect the majority of provided abortions,” Judge Brad Thomas said of the Planned Parenthood case, CBS reported.
With the legal theory of Planned Parenthood and its co-plaintiffs rejected, the clerics’ attorney, Marci Hamilton, said her clients needed to urgently press their case.
The clerics cite their faith scriptures and denominational policies, showing diverse beliefs about what it means to honor the inherent rights of humans — including those bearing children — and when life begins.
“Plaintiff has given sermons on reproductive justice and believes his role in counseling and advising women and girls faced with these issues is to be a pillar of discernment and support as she makes her own decision,” read the motion from the Rev. Tom Capo, a minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami. | 2022-09-01T23:40:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Florida clergy say abortion law violates religious freedom, seek temporary injunction - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/09/01/florida-pastor-rabbi-abortion-lawsuit/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/09/01/florida-pastor-rabbi-abortion-lawsuit/ |
After Peltola win in Alaska, a debate erupts over ranked-choice voting
The procedure has drawn fierce criticism from some conservatives, while defenders have praised it for promoting less polarizing candidates
By Nathaniel Herz
Democrat Mary Peltola, seen in downtown Anchorage, after results showed her to be the winner in Alaska’s special U.S. House election on Aug. 31. (Kerry Tasker/Reuters)
ANCHORAGE — Democrat Mary Peltola made history this week as the first Alaska Native woman to be elected to her state’s lone seat in the U.S. House.
She also became the first to win an election under Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system — a novel process in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. The procedure has drawn fierce criticism from some conservatives in the wake of Peltola’s special election victory over former Republican governor Sarah Palin, while defenders have praised it for rewarding less polarizing candidates and more positive campaigning.
One of the most vocal critics has been Palin. On Thursday, she issued a statement saying this week’s ranked-choice results were “not the will of the people” and calling on the other finalist in the recently completed special election, Republican Nick Begich III, to end his campaign ahead of November’s general election in which the candidates will square off again for a two-year term. Palin also called for the state to provide more information on rejected ballots.
Begich on Wednesday issued his own statement portraying Peltola as out-of-step with most Alaskans and Palin as unelectable under the new system. He said the ranked-choice results made clear that in November, a “vote for Sarah Palin is in reality a vote for Mary Peltola.”
Alaska’s special election marked one of the highest-profile tests yet of ranked-choice voting, after its use last year in New York City’s mayoral race and in Maine before that. A constitutional amendment to adopt a new voting system similar to Alaska’s is on the Nevada ballot in November.
Experts cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions from Peltola’s win, saying the effects of Alaska’s new system will only become clear once more races are run and decided. That will happen in November, when Alaskans are set to rank candidates in dozens of state legislative campaigns, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s race for reelection and the repeat congressional contest with Palin, Peltola, Begich and a fourth finalist.
“Everybody’s rushing to draw conclusions about who benefits from this thing, when it’s totally unpredictable,” said Jack Santucci, a politics professor at Drexel University who’s studied ranked-choice voting. “People really tend to see in these results what they want to see.”
Alaska’s new system of electing candidates starts with a nonpartisan primary in which the top four finishers advance to the general election and voters only make one pick. But in the general election, voters rank their choices on the ballot. If no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, the lowest-performing candidate is eliminated and their backup votes are reallocated among the remaining contenders. The process continues until there is a winner.
Peltola led after first-choice votes were counted in the special election. Palin, in second, made up ground but still didn’t overtake Peltola after the backup choices of Begich, who finished third, were factored in. (The fourth finalist ended his campaign before the election, leaving just three on the ballot.)
About half of Begich’s first choice voters ranked Palin second. But nearly 30 percent chose Peltola second, while 21 percent ranked neither Peltola nor Palin — an outcome referred to as “ballot exhaustion.”
The 11,222 exhausted Begich ballots amounted to more than double Peltola’s final margin over Palin.
Graphic: How ranked-choice voting could change the way democracy works
Palin has consistently criticized the system throughout her campaign, calling ranked-choice voting untrustworthy, “cockamamie” and “leftist” in various statements and social media posts.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sounded similar notes on Twitter, saying Wednesday that the system is a “scam to rig elections.”
“60% of Alaska voters voted for a Republican, but thanks to a convoluted process and ballot exhaustion — which disenfranchises voters — a Democrat ‘won,’ ” he wrote.
But other observers argued that the result says less about the ranked-choice voting system and more about the contenders.
“The problem for the Republican Party in Alaska wasn’t ranked-choice voting; it was their candidates. Requiring a candidate to get more than 50% to be elected isn’t a scam; it’s sensible. Let’s get ranked-choice voting everywhere,” wrote former Michigan congressman Justin Amash, a onetime Republican, on Twitter.
Peltola, in an interview with The Washington Post, attributed her win not to Alaska’s new electoral system but to her message that she would work across party lines. “I think it also reveals that Alaskans are very tired of the bickering and the personal attacks,” she said.
The share of Begich supporters who transferred to Palin, experts said, is at least partially a reflection of what polls show as her high negative rating among Alaska voters. Despite a GOP campaign urging Republicans to “rank the red” and mark their ballots for both Palin and Begich, the two candidates’ repeated attacks on each other probably reduced the chance that their staunchest supporters picked the other candidate second, some observers said.
“Republicans who voted for Nick and decided not to go any farther essentially helped hand the election to Peltola,” said Sarah Erkmann Ward, an Anchorage GOP political consultant who was hired to educate conservatives about the new system. “This will be a wake-up call for Republican voters to rethink their strategy.”
Ranked-choice boosters said they’re looking forward to Alaska’s November election, when voters and candidates will have their second chance at using the new system — and some lessons from what happened in the special congressional race.
“They may make some different choices,” said Rob Richie, president of FairVote, a ranked-choice advocacy group. Republicans, he added, “are going to have to decide how much they want this seat.”
Alaska voters approved the state’s new election system in a 2020 ballot initiative, when it passed by just 1 percent — fewer than 4,000 votes.
It had major financial backing from entities tied to Kathryn and James Murdoch, a son of media titan Rupert Murdoch, and John Arnold, a Houston-based billionaire investor, who have since contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to a super PAC supporting Murkowski’s reelection.
Other supporters and operatives involved with the ballot measure campaign have ties to Murkowski, who topped a Trump-endorsed challenger in her August primary under the new nonpartisan system — sparing her the fate of 2010, when she lost the GOP primary and was only reelected after a general election write-in campaign. But the system’s supporters in Alaska say their vision was broader than a single election and aimed at reducing polarization in the state legislature.
In Election Day interviews, Alaska voters were split on the new system. Many conservatives said they found it confusing and frustrating, and want to return to Alaska’s old system of partisan primaries and plurality voting in the general election.
“Why would we change something that’s not broken?” said Chris Chandler, 23, an Anchorage credit union employee who ranked Palin first and Begich second. “It’s just another way for them to get another Democrat in there.”
But other voters urged patience. Dan Poulson, a public defender who ranked Peltola first, said Alaskans just need time to adapt to the system.
“People are figuring it out as they walk in,” he said after voting in Anchorage. “I think it’s going to take experience and practice before we get the hang of it.” | 2022-09-02T01:53:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | After Peltola win in Alaska, a debate erupts over ranked choice voting - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/01/peltola-palin-ranked-choice-voting-alaska/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/01/peltola-palin-ranked-choice-voting-alaska/ |
How Eurovision’s Silly Songfest Got Caught Up in the War in Ukraine
Analysis by Olivia Fletcher and Ryan Hesketh | Bloomberg
Only a handful of things truly bind Europe’s disparate nations to one another. For one cultural touchstone, consider the annual Eurovision Song Contest. With unapologetically flamboyant silliness, flame-throwing dance routines and an embrace of tolerance and multiculturalism, the campy spectacle is seen as a rare -- and ridiculous -- uniting force for Europeans. Now the event famous for introducing the world to ABBA’s bell-bottoms has been drawn into the politics surrounding Russia’s war in Ukraine.
1. What is Eurovision?
Always contentious and often highly political, Eurovision was hatched in 1956 to foster unity in the wake of World War II. About 40 countries compete every year for the best original song from a professional or a rising star, with the winner crowned in May during an annual TV extravaganza. Votes are tallied from a panel of judges and the viewing public also weighs in via phone, text, and Eurovision’s app. (Online betting markets offer a place to wager on who will win.) The show is put on by the European Broadcasting Union, or EBU, an alliance of public broadcasters that includes affiliates in the Middle East and North Africa. Countries such as Israel and Azerbaijan compete, and Australia has joined in recent years because of its large fan base.
2. What does this have to do with Ukraine?
The 2022 contest -- watched by 161 million viewers -- was won by Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra, a rap-folk band that bagged the most public votes in the history of the competition. Viewers cannot vote for their home nation, evening the playing field between large and smaller countries. Meanwhile, each country’s panel of music professionals awards points, often revealing informal alliances. The winning nation gets to host the spectacle the following year, though the EBU concluded that for “safety and security reasons” Ukraine wasn’t viable for 2023. So it asked the runner-up, the UK, to step in. Britain has been a leading supplier of arms to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
3. What does it tell us about Europe?
Eurovision is often an indicator of the wider public mood. While the show is self-described as “non-political,” with acts effectively barred from promoting their views on stage, that doesn’t stop politics from seeping into the contest every year. In 2016, Russia complained about Ukraine’s entry, which featured lyrics about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars by Stalin in 1944. But the song was allowed because it didn’t reflect current events in the peninsula, which was seized by Russia in 2014. (Russia was banned from competing in 2022). Acts often celebrate national folk traditions or instruments, and while many sing in English, some use local languages or even regional dialects. Over the last decade, many countries have made a show of championing LGBTQ performers, including the 2014 winner, an Austrian bearded diva known as Conchita Wurst. Icelandic act Hatari stoked controversy during the 2019 final for waving the Palestinian flag during the final, which aired live from Israel -- and featured Madonna in a guest performance.
4. What does it mean to win?
As the ABBA song goes, the winner takes it all. While there’s no prize money, the winners instantly join the ranks of pop royalty: Celine Dion (who is, yes, Canadian) won on Switzerland’s behalf in 1988, and ABBA famously won for Sweden in 1974 with “Waterloo.” Tears often overcome the suddenly famous winners as they’re crowned -- the lead singer of Italy’s victorious glam band Maneskin split his pants with enthusiasm in 2021. The event was parodied in the 2020 movie “Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga” starting Will Ferrell, in which an unlikely Icelandic duo rocket to contest stardom. Research published in 2018 from professors at the University of Central Florida examined the contest’s voting bias, showing that informal, often geographic, alliances within Europe decide the bulk of the voting. Norway will typically assign Sweden its highest score, Greece votes for Cyprus, and few juries tend to score the UK highly.
5. What does the host country get?
In recent years, hosting the competition has generated tourism income, which helps to offset the costs for the chosen city. In 2016, NatWest Chief Economist Stephen Boyle said in a blog that Sweden spent £17 million ($19.7 million) preparing Malmo to host, which was almost immediately offset by the £16 million tourism bonanza. However not every country takes up the opportunity. In 1980, Israel was due to host but declined because it would have been its second consecutive year of staging the event. Micro-state Monaco didn’t have the resources to host in 1972, so it went to Edinburgh. Ukraine has won three times. After victories in 2004 and 2016, Kyiv successfully hosted the following year’s finals.
6. How is the UK gearing up for 2023?
Anticipation was hot in the seven UK cities shortlisted for the honor: Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield. London is notably absent as the BBC jibes with the government’s efforts to “level up” the regions outside of the capital. Some were betting on Glasgow, a hotbed of Scotland’s political efforts to break away from the UK and become Europe’s newest nation state. Aside from its physical location, the contest is aiming to reach new audiences and younger viewers. More than 3 million tuned in to the contest on TikTok in 2022.
7. What are some memorable moments?
It’s hard to know where to begin. Let’s start with the all-singing, all-dancing Russian grannies -- a folk group of eight babushkas from the remote village of Buranovo that that made headlines after placing second in 2012. Norwegian duo Subwoolfer turned heads in 2022 with yellow wolf masks and a thumping techno entry “Give That Wolf a Banana.” Oh, and who could forget when Ireland entered a turkey into the competition in 2008? The singing poultry puppet didn’t make it past the semi-finals. | 2022-09-02T02:41:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How Eurovision’s Silly Songfest Got Caught Up in the War in Ukraine - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-eurovisions-silly-songfest-got-caught-up-in-the-war-in-ukraine/2022/09/01/22fa519c-2a5e-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-eurovisions-silly-songfest-got-caught-up-in-the-war-in-ukraine/2022/09/01/22fa519c-2a5e-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
Biden, in prime-time address, says Trump and “MAGA Republicans” are mounting a dangerous attack on the country’s values, and Americans must fight back
President Biden arrives with first lady Jill Biden to speak outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Sept. 1. (Evan Vucci/AP)
“We are still at our core a democracy — yet history tells us that blind loyalty to a single leader, and the willingness to engage in political violence, is fatal to democracy,” Biden said. “There is no question that the Republican Party is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans.”
The speech unfolded at a moment of remarkable turmoil in American politics. The Justice Department is investigating whether Trump improperly took hundreds of classified documents to his home in Florida, and whether his employees obstructed efforts to get them back.
As Trump weighs another White House run — while falsely claiming he won in 2020 — a House committee has disclosed vivid details of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, Republicans have been nominating an array of candidates for office who falsely claim the 2020 vote was rigged and appear ready to rewrite election rules in their states.
Biden sought to frame the current moment as one of the tests that has periodically arisen in American history. It is “one of those moments that determines the shape of everything that comes after, and now America must choose to move forward or to move backwards,” Biden said. “This is a nation that believes in the rule of law. We do not repudiate it. This is a nation that respects free and fair elections. We honor the will of the people, we do not deny it.”
Many Democrats and activists have long complained that Biden was doing too little, and speaking too mildly, to take on the threat from a pro-Trump movement that is seeking to undermine past and future elections, and Thursday’s speech was one of his most forceful since taking office. Biden can often stumble over his words or abandon a sentence in midstream, but on Thursday he appeared focused and energized.
The speech was delivered outdoors, and Biden was repeatedly heckled by protesters yelling “Let’s go, Brandon” and the more vulgar version of that slogan. Biden periodically referred to the hecklers, at one point saying, “They’re entitled to be outrageous. This is a democracy.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), in remarks ahead of the speech, portrayed the president as a divisive figure who dismisses much of the country, saying Biden should apologize “for slandering tens of millions of Americans as ‘fascists.’ ” At a fundraiser last week, Biden accused many in the Republican Party of moving toward “semi-fascism.”
Referring to Biden’s oft-repeated line about restoring the soul of America, McCarthy said, “What Joe Biden doesn’t understand is that the soul of America is in the tens of millions of hard-working people, of loving families of law-biding citizens, [whom he] vilified for simply wanting a strong, safer and more prosperous country.”
Some Republicans, including those who have repudiated Trump, criticized Biden’s speech for being divisive.
“I don’t hate Biden’s thesis, but that speech was so full of divisive language that goes well beyond the ‘MAGA base.’ A step backward for Biden on a critically important topic,” Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump official who has since criticized the former president and his political movement, wrote on Twitter.
Biden said Thursday that he was not taking issue with those who disagree with him or come from another political party, but rather with those who challenge the principles the country was founded on.
“I believe it’s my duty to level with you to tell the truth, no matter how difficult, no matter how painful,” Biden said. “And here in my view is what is true: MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election.”
He added, “They promote authoritarian leaders and they fan the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to our pursuit of justice, to the rule of the law, to the very soul of this country.”
This was Biden’s second visit this week to the swing state of Pennsylvania, with a third scheduled for Monday. Biden did not mention him, but the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano, has promoted Trump’s claim of a stolen election and promised, if elected, and to overhaul the state’s long-standing election procedures. Democrats are also seeking to win a critical Senate seat in the state in hopes of maintaining control of the chamber.
The president urged Americans to focus on the future, rather than litigate the past or expend energy on “divisive culture wars” or “politics of grievance.”
Biden also repeatedly condemned the use of violence as a tool to intimidate political opponents, citing election workers, poll workers and FBI agents who have endured threats, in part due to Trump’s rhetoric. That rhetoric has escalated in recent days as the former president engages in a hard-fought legal battle over the FBI’s efforts to get back the classified documents Trump brought to his home in Florida.
“There are dangers around us we cannot allow to prevail,” Biden said. “We hear more and more talk about violence as an acceptable political tool in this country. It is not. It can never be an acceptable political tool.”
Biden also referred indirectly, as he has before, to recent comments from Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) predicting that there will be “riots in the street” if Trump is criminally charged for taking the documents or obstructing justice.
Polls show that a majority of Americans are concerned about the state of democracy — an unusual development, given that issues like the economy usually dominate voters’ concerns. Worries about democracy have become a top voter issue for November’s midterms as Trump continues to falsely insist the 2020 election was stolen and some Republican candidates embrace that position.
A Quinnipiac University poll released this week found that by a 67 to 29 percent margin, Americans think the nation’s democracy is in danger of collapse — a nine-point increase from January, when it was 58 to 37 percent.
And a CNN poll in June/July of this year found that 58 percent of Americans were “just a little” or “not at all” confident that elections in America reflect the will of the people. That was up sharply from January 2021, when 40 percent doubted elections reflected the will of the public.
The views of the source of the threat to America’s democracy vary sharply between the parties. Republicans are more likely to believe that elections are fraudulent or rigged by their opponents, while Democrats fear that the GOP is moving to suppress votes and change the rules in their favor.
In the most recent CNN poll, 71 percent of Republicans, 62 percent of independents and 43 percent of Democrats said they lacked confidence that election results in the United States reflect the will of the people.
For much of his presidency, Biden has sought to avoid directly attacking Trump or citing individual Republicans by name for their embrace of anti-democratic positions. But that has changed in recent weeks as he has more directly attacked “MAGA Republicans” who he argues pose an existential threat to the nation’s future. During a political rally last week, Biden said many of them “embrace political violence.”
At Constitution Hall, Biden said he was not maligning all Republicans or those who disagreed with him, but rather what he called extremist forces that have undermined election results and stoked political violence. He understands that politics can be nasty, he said, but the United States is a “big, complicated country” that could only endure if people accepted election results, whether their candidate wins or not.
“Democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election — either they win or they were cheated. And that’s where the MAGA Republicans are today,” Biden said. “They don’t understand what every patriotic American knows: You can’t love your country only when you win.”
“I will not stand by and watch elections in this country stolen by people who simply refuse to accept that they lost,” Biden said. “I will not stand by and watch the most fundamental freedom in this country — the freedom to vote and having your vote counted — taken from the American people.” | 2022-09-02T02:41:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Biden warns U.S. faces powerful threat from anti-democratic Americans - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/01/biden-slams-attacks-on-democracy/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/01/biden-slams-attacks-on-democracy/ |
After a rather subdued entrance from the locker room by Hradecka and Noskova, who were competing as a team for the first time, a video tribute to the Williams-Williams pairing played on the Ashe videoboards, with a narrator introducing “two of the greatest athletes on Planet Earth” and, in a reference to Serena’s looming retirement, saying, “It’s not too late to change your mind.” There was footage of them through the years, including as kids with white beads in their hair (like Serena's daughter, Olympia, wore on opening night) and, later, winning titles. | 2022-09-02T02:42:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Serena, Venus Williams lose in 1st round of US Open doubles - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/tennis/serena-venus-williams-lose-in-1st-round-of-us-open-doubles/2022/09/01/e268a2e0-2a5e-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/tennis/serena-venus-williams-lose-in-1st-round-of-us-open-doubles/2022/09/01/e268a2e0-2a5e-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
Prince William County and Manassas City police officers wounded two people Thursday night during a gun battle that erupted during an undercover operation in Woodbridge, officials said.
The operation also involved two federal law enforcement agencies.
Police released few details late Thursday, including the age, genders and conditions of the two people who were wounded during the shooting that happened in the area of Cloverdale Road and Fox Glove Court about 7 p.m.
The incident unfolded during “a multiagency undercover operation” that involved police from the county, Manassas City and Manassas Park, along with agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said Prince William County Deputy Chief Jarad Phelps, who briefed reporters near the scene.
The two people were taken to a hospital. No officers were injured, Phelps said.
At least two county officers and two Manassas City officers fired their weapons during “an exchange of gunfire,” Phelps said. Police declined to describe the nature of the operation or what led to shots being fired.
Investigators gathered video from the area, and Phelps asked the public to contact police if anyone witnessed the incident or has video footage.
“Anyone who captured any information, we’re looking to view that,” Phelps said. “Any information is welcome. We need to make sure we’re doing a very detailed investigation.”
The probe into the shooting will be handled by Arlington officials as a part of a regional agreement to independently investigate such incidents and present findings to the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, Phelps said. Internal affairs investigations will be conducted by the county and Manassas City departments, he said. | 2022-09-02T03:59:58Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Police shoot two people in Prince William undercover operation - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/undercover-police-shoot-prince-william/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/undercover-police-shoot-prince-william/ |
Dear Amy: I need some advice about my boss. In more than 30 years of employment, the majority have been unpleasant or toxic workplaces, mostly because of difficult supervisors.
A few years ago, I started at a new job doing building maintenance for a local municipality. It was great; my work requirements, the hours, my co-workers and, most importantly, my supervisor were wonderful.
Since their first week on the job, a lot of fussy, nitpicky microaggressions have been directed my way, especially if there are building issues.
They try to admonish and blame me, even if there is no possible way it is my fault or responsibility.
I know I am not alone. Other co-workers are unhappy and are looking for other jobs. I would like to stay in my position, but not under these circumstances.
Should I take my issues to my supervisor first, or should I go directly to my human resources department?
Fed Up: My first thought is that “building issues” are legitimate items to nitpick about. After all, maintaining buildings seems to be within the scope of your job. I also think that casting job-related nitpicking as “microaggressions” might not be appropriate. (From your description, it’s hard to tell.) “Microaggressions” are, strictly speaking, comments or actions directed toward a person from a marginalized group, such as a racial or ethnic minority. Maybe this applies to you — but nitpicking over work issues does not necessarily apply.
You had a dream supervisor who communicated well with you and obviously trusted you to perform well. This new person does not possess that valuable skill set and has not started off on good footing with you.
While you are looking for a different position, you should at least attempt to communicate with your supervisor to review your job description, your duties and their expectations — which seem different from your previous supervisor’s. Of course, your boss should initiate this conversation, as opposed to trying to inspire you through negative feedback, but they have not done this.
I suggest you make a concerted attempt to communicate with your supervisor before going to HR, because HR will probably suggest this before taking action.
Take notes and document your concerns in writing (with dates), and describe specific incidents and issues for your later meeting with HR.
Dear Amy: My husband has a good friend whom he’s had since college.
I’ve now known him and his wife for more than 20 years.
A couple of years ago, we went on a three-week vacation with them, and the drinking and fighting were nonstop.
I’m willing to still see them occasionally socially, because I can choose to go home if the night gets rough.
Wondering: First of all, a three-week vacation with any hard-drinking and hard-fighting couple seems less like a vacation and more like a summer stock run of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is now a simple three-digit contact: 988. (The previous number can still be used indefinitely.)
The very helpful website is now 988lifeline.org. | 2022-09-02T04:13:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ask Amy: I loathe my new boss. Should I tell HR? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/09/02/ask-amy-bad-new-boss/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/09/02/ask-amy-bad-new-boss/ |
FILE - Anne Heche arrives at the premiere of “The Tender Bar” at the TCL Chinese Theatre, on Dec. 12, 2021, in Los Angeles. The coroner’s office says actor Heche died from burns and inhalation injury after her fiery car crash and the death has been ruled an accident. The cause of her death was released on the Los Angeles County coroner’s website Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022, although a formal autopsy report is still being completed. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) | 2022-09-02T04:13:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Anne Heche died without a will, son files to control estate - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/anne-heche-died-without-a-will-son-files-to-control-estate/2022/09/01/0906d598-2a6e-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/anne-heche-died-without-a-will-son-files-to-control-estate/2022/09/01/0906d598-2a6e-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
For the first time, U.S. Open organizers put a first-round doubles match in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Of course, it happened to be Venus and Serena Williams, who lost in what could be their final doubles appearance together in a Grand Slam. (Sarah Yenesel/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
NEW YORK — The fourth day of Williams Mania at the U.S. Open offered a treat for those who might have missed out on tickets to one of Serena Williams’s coveted singles matches here at Flushing Meadows. It featured the sisters together again — big sister Venus playing with Serena, perhaps for the last time, lighting up Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The sisters met the Czech duo of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova for a first-round doubles match. To give some idea of the hot glare of attention put on the sisters, the match’s stage marked the first time an opening-round doubles match, for women or men, was ever hosted on the tournament’s behemoth show court.
It served as a reminder that for all they have done apart, the Williamses might even be underrated for what they have accomplished on court together.
Neither Venus nor Serena played close to her peak in a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 loss. Nor was either necessarily expected to. Although the Williamses possess practically unmatched competitive drive when they step on court, doubles was an add-on for the sisters at what Venus said was Serena’s request.
They accepted a wild card into the tournament Saturday in large part as a way to get more matches under their belts. Serena, with two wins in the singles draw behind her, was looking for more practice and a chance to perhaps share a moment of her farewell tour with her best friend. It happened to fall on the fifth birthday of her daughter, Olympia.
Chalk it up next to all the memorable moments together in their doubles career — if there’s still room on the board.
“We have had some great wins,” Venus said this week. “It would be nice to add some more.”
Venus, 42, and Serena, 40, walked out Thursday to a Questlove-narrated tribute video to their more than two decades as a doubles pair.
The haul breaks down thusly: three Olympic gold medals and 14 Grand Slam doubles titles. Six of the major trophies came from Wimbledon, and four came from the Australian Open. Two each came from the French and U.S. Open.
They twice successfully defended major titles, in 2009 and 2010 in Melbourne and 2008 and 2009 at the All England Club. At the two other majors, their titles came at least 10 years apart.
They have split occasionally to play mixed doubles for laughs (and large audiences and checks), with Serena pairing with Andy Murray and Venus cheekily pairing with his brother, Jamie, at Wimbledon in recent years.
Together, they originated prime-time tennis at the U.S. Open — not as a doubles partnership but in the first final they contested against each other, in 2001. They were such strong ratings draws that CBS put them on under the lights.
But for what is probably Serena’s final major tournament, it was only fitting that they stood on the same side of the net one more time.
The Williamses last teamed for doubles at the 2018 French Open, at which they made it to the fourth round, but their synchronicity was the same as always, even if their foot speed and accuracy lacked. They took a 5-4 lead in a tight first set and powered their way to two set points but couldn’t convert either.
In the tiebreaker, a capacity crowd at Ashe was in full voice when they took a 4-3 lead thanks to three swinging volleys from Serena to cap a 19-shot rally full of groundstrokes that zoomed low and fast over the net. They went up 5-3 on a slam from Serena at net again.
But the Czechs, a duo with a 20-year age gap playing their first tournament together, battled back to win the next four points and take the set.
The Williams sisters appeared to be relenting after that, stepping into a 0-3 hole with Serena’s third-round singles match against Ajla Tomljanovic on Friday perhaps creeping into the back of some minds — just not any minds on court. The sisters rallied to even the match at 4-4, but Noskova, 17 years old and making her Grand Slam tournament doubles debut, served excellently.
“Playing against the Williams sisters is a special moment for everybody, everyone, anytime,” she said.
The Czechs zoomed to triple match point in the final game, relaxed slightly to allow the score to swerve to 15-40, then closed it on a cracking volley at net, leaving the sisters to walk off together, one more time.
Serena, Venus Williams make a primetime U.S. Open doubles exit | 2022-09-02T04:13:51Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Serena, Venus Williams ousted in first round of U.S. Open doubles - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/01/serena-williams-venus-us-open-doubles/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/01/serena-williams-venus-us-open-doubles/ |
STILLWATER, Okla. — Spencer Sanders passed for a career-high 406 yards and accounted for six touchdowns and Oklahoma State beat Central Michigan to give Mike Gundy his 150th coaching victory.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Mitch Griffis threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start, helping Wake Forest beat VMI. | 2022-09-02T04:14:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | No. 17 Pitt beats W. Virginia 38-31 in Backyard Brawl return - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/no-17-pitt-beats-w-virginia-38-31-in-backyard-brawl-return/2022/09/01/b7016450-2a6f-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/no-17-pitt-beats-w-virginia-38-31-in-backyard-brawl-return/2022/09/01/b7016450-2a6f-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
U.S. says latest Iran nuclear response is ‘not constructive’
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (right) and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell meet in Tehran on Feb. 3, 2020. Borrell said this week that he hoped a new nuclear deal with Iran could be reached “in the coming days,” but the latest response from Tehran makes that doubtful. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
Prospects for reviving the Iran nuclear deal appeared to take a step backward Thursday as the Biden administration said that Tehran’s latest proposals, submitted through the European Union, were “not constructive.”
“We can confirm that we have received Iran’s response,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement. “We are studying it and will respond ... but unfortunately it is not constructive.”
For weeks, the United States and Iran have gone back and forth with replies and counter-replies to a “final” text offered in July by the European Union, which has coordinated nearly a year and a half of negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement signed between world powers and Iran. E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell deemed “reasonable” an initial Iranian response to the text last month, but said Iran had requested some “adjustments.”
Two weeks ago, the administration sent its response to the text, and to Iran’s requests for changes. The U.S. statement came after Iran submitted its latest response.
Neither Iran nor the United States has made public its submissions, but the exchanges had raised optimism that the negotiations had reached an endgame and momentum for a settlement. Earlier this week, Borrell said that he hoped a deal could be reached “in the coming days.” In a speech to ambassadors Wednesday in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron said he hoped that agreement would be concluded “in the next few days.”
Under the terms of the original deal, U.S. and international sanctions on Iran were lifted in exchange for its submission to strict curbs on its nuclear program and international monitoring. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement — signed by Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, along with the United States and Iran — in 2018, reimposing lifted sanctions and adding many more.
In response, Iran resumed its pre-deal nuclear program, and speeded it up, increasing the quantity and quality of its uranium enrichment far beyond the prescribed limits, and blocked some inspection measures.
President Biden came to office pledging to restore the original agreement, saying it was the best way to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Iran has said its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. | 2022-09-02T05:40:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | U.S. says latest Iran nuclear response is ‘not constructive’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/02/us-says-latest-iran-nuclear-response-is-not-constructive/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/02/us-says-latest-iran-nuclear-response-is-not-constructive/ |
As energy prices surge, UK politicians seem to be relying on Latin American literature for guidance. Like a novel by Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez, officials have lost the ability to differentiate between substance and magical realism. But companies can’t afford to live in a fantasy land.
Departing Prime Minister Boris Johnson is clearly a fan of the literary genre. In a valedictory address on Thursday, he blamed everyone but himself for the current situation: “It’s a chronic case of politicians not being able to see beyond the political cycle,” he said, blaming previous UK Labour leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, out of power for more than a decade, for the problems. “Thanks a bunch Tony and thanks a bunch Gordon.”
But the Conservative Party has held power since 2010, giving it, in Johnson-speak, more than enough political cycles to change course. Yet British families face an 80% increase in their power and gas bills as the energy price cap increases from October. Businesses, meanwhile, are already struggling to afford much higher utility bills — paying the price of the government’s magic realism.
Over the last couple of months, the public debate about how to deal with soaring electricity and gas prices has largely focused on helping households. Neither Liz Truss, the current frontrunner to win the contest for No. 10, nor her rival Rishi Sunak have offered concrete solutions, while the risks to small businesses have barely merited a mention.
Families do face a tough winter, and the poorest will struggle to heat their homes. Even relatively well-off families will have to divert much, if not all, of their discretionary spending into paying for keeping their lights on and their houses warm. Against that backdrop, the plight of typically wealthier business owners may seem inconsequential. But with thousands of jobs at stake, their needs are also worthy of consideration.
Truss was asked earlier this week about how she planned to support business owners. Her response also crossed the line between fact and fiction: “You’ll have heard me talking about supply of energy and that’s why I think dealing with supply is the answer to this problem.” In the long term, she’s right; but there’s zero prospect of the UK coming up with additional supply to address the power shortages it faces in the coming winter, and her pledge not to resort to rationing energy may come back to haunt her.
Unlike UK retail customers, small- and medium-sized enterprises are not protected by the energy price cap, leaving them fully exposed to the recent brutal surge in wholesale electricity prices. For some companies, costs could surge as much as fourfold when their utility contracts are renewed, something that typically happens between now and the end of the year. In one example that became a cause célèbre among small business owners on social media this week, the son of the owner of a little café in Leicester showed her annual electricity bill is set to jump to more than £55,000 ($64,000) at the end of the month, up from about £10,000 previously.
It’s not just UK businesses that need government intervention. The rest of Europe is also doing too little to help family-owned businesses and smaller companies. Earlier this week, the German government said it’s worried that the country’s fabled Mittelstand sector is shutting down production under the weight of rising energy costs.
Small businesses facing hefty energy price increases have limited options: accept lower profits, try to pass as much as possible of the increase onto customers or, ultimately, cut jobs or close the doors. With consumer prices already soaring around the world, central bankers are worried that wages will climb as workers take advantage of tight labor markets to demand pay rises. But so-called second-round increases also include businesses boosting prices for goods and services to offset the impact of higher energy prices. Policymakers may face an even more sustained inflationary outlook than they are currently anticipating.
So what’s the solution? One short-term option is to extend the price cap to the smallest enterprises, treating cafes, landlord-owned pubs, corner shops, bakeries and other family-owned establishments as if they were, in effect, households. In practice, many of them are; pub owners, for example, often live above their bars. Eliminating the distinction between those households that run businesses from their premises and those that don’t makes sense.
The regulatory regime needs to improve, too. Some companies hedged against the crisis, securing multiyear contracts early last year before prices exploded. But when their suppliers collapsed, they lost that protection, which seems unfair. The government also should intervene to stop utilities from refusing to sell energy to small businesses unless they pay huge deposits to cover the risk of going bankrupt.
Above all, politicians across Europe need to discuss not just how to help families, but the thousands of small and medium-sized companies that provide the jobs those families rely on. Otherwise this winter’s energy drama risks developing into a full-blown economic crisis.
• Britain’s Energy Crisis Won’t Steal Christmas: Andrea Felsted
• As Gas Prices Soar, the UK Needs a Real Energy Plan: Editorial
• Keeping Europe’s Lights on Will Get Much Harder This Winter: Opinion Wrap | 2022-09-02T05:44:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Don’t Abandon Small Businesses in the Energy Crisis - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/dont-abandon-small-businesses-in-the-energy-crisis/2022/09/02/3e0e5bcc-2a7c-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/dont-abandon-small-businesses-in-the-energy-crisis/2022/09/02/3e0e5bcc-2a7c-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 31: Foreign Secretary and Conservative leadership hopeful Liz Truss speaks during the final Tory leadership hustings at Wembley Arena on August 31, 2022 in London, England. Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak are vying to become the new leader of the Conservative Party and the UK’s next Prime Minister. The winner of the contest will be announced on Monday. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) (Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Europe)
The longer the people of Northern Ireland live with the Brexit arrangement known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, the more they seem to like it. A majority (55%) see the Protocol as appropriate for managing the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland and 53% see a benefit to their economy.
That’s not to say it doesn’t have flaws, which many would like to see resolved through negotiations. But that broad popularity is worth bearing in mind, since the woman tipped to be Britain’s next prime minister looks set to blow up the entire arrangement.
It’s likely that Liz Truss would do that by triggering Article 16 of the Protocol — a provision that allows an aggrieved side to suspend a particular part of the agreement if it leads to “serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties.” Doing so would set off a process of consultation and negotiation.
QuicktakeThe Northern Ireland Protocol
Enacting the long-threatened Article 16 would mark an escalation in tensions between the UK and European Union, but at least an incremental one. However, Truss has a more indiscriminate weapon in the works too, in the form of legislation that unilaterally overrides parts of the Protocol itself. Its ostensible purpose, beyond throwing red meat to hardline Brexit supporters, is to force Europe to make concessions and end the Democratic Unionist Party’s boycott of power-sharing in Northern Ireland, which undermines governance and political stability there. But while the DUP might be appeased, passing the bill would be a big middle finger to Brussels.
The bill has set up a fight within the House of Lords, a battle royale with Brussels and some potentially awkward conversations with the Biden administration, which has a keen interest in keeping the peace in Northern Ireland. How Truss resolves those pressures will be the biggest early test of her ability to both control her party and manage Britain’s international reputation.
Truss argues that the bill is necessary to preserve the peace in Northern Ireland and the integrity of the UK. Former Prime Minister Theresa May takes the opposite view: “Do I consider it to be legal under international law? Will it achieve its aims? Does it at least maintain the standing of the UK in the eyes of the world,” she asked when speaking against the bill in Parliament. “My answer to all three of those questions is no.”
An early test of the government’s intentions will come when the House of Lords sends back a raft of amendments to the bill, initiating a game of parliamentary ping-pong, as it’s literally called. In a scathing report in July, a Lords committee declared the legislation “wholly contrary to the principles of parliamentary democracy.” Not only does it breach the UK-EU agreement, but the bill is something of an empty vessel into which ministers can pour whatever flavor of regulation they want. The committee described the power grab as “unprecedented in its cavalier treatment of Parliament, the EU and the government’s international obligations.”
Despite the tough talk, though, the Lords can only delay legislation, not block it. And it’s not clear the unelected and often unwieldy upper house has the appetite for a drawn-out battle, particularly if the Tories are united behind the bill. It’s not an easy battle for the opposition Labour Party either, which doesn’t want to be branded as anti-Brexit.
Truss may overcome the Lords, but the only real way to reduce some of the Protocol’s implementation issues (they cannot be eliminated completely) is through negotiation. The EU remains Britain’s biggest trading partner. Already, the foot-dragging over science research funding — directly linked to the UK’s position on the Protocol — is doing substantial damage to a sector the government is leaning on to drive innovation.
Truss’s modus operandi has been to speak bluntly, take maximalist positions and play to her base (as she did recently in declaring the jury was out on whether French President Emmanuel Macron is friend or foe). That approach may titillate her supporters and distract some from the rising costs of living — but it’s likely to backfire. Her tone will be as closely watched as the policy itself once she takes office.
If cooler heads prevail, there is plenty of potential for compromise. There’s an appreciation in Europe that the British have some good points on problems with the Protocol, notes Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. But there has to be a basis of trust on which to reach an agreement.
And there is no reason the EU should be categorical about the existing system if improvements can be found. The UK’s proposal for a green-and- red-lane system, so that goods destined to stay in Northern Ireland don’t have to go through customs, is not unreasonable. The key to making that work will be real-time data sharing and the efficient use of penalties to prosecute lawbreakers. The bloc could even afford to give Truss a relatively low-cost domestic win by tweaking the wording of the Protocol if that helps resolve matters.
Ireland’s role, as ever, will be key. “If Truss wants to surprise and make a trip to Dublin, a deal is doable,” Grant says. “But she has to focus on the practical problem of trade friction, not more ideological things.” Any flexibility would not likely extend to the UK’s separate demand that the European Court of Justice be written out of governance arrangements.
Truss shouldn’t underestimate the EU’s willingness to retaliate if things escalate. Brussels would likely interpret it as a bad omen, for example, if former Brexit negotiator David Frost was given a say on EU matters. It’s not hard to imagine a scenario where the tit-for-tat leads to the EU giving notice that it intends to suspend the post-Brexit trade agreement. The harm would be on both sides, of course, but the consequences for Britain would be hard to exaggerate.
The outcome of Truss vs. the EU will either make her the party’s most underestimated political operative since Margaret Thatcher — or confirm the suspicion that she’s a disastrous choice for leader at a perilous time for the country. What will it be: Hothead who will diminish Britain’s economy and damage its global standing further, or cool hand who can help restore both? Watch Northern Ireland.
• Is Kwasi Kwarteng Up for Saving Britain’s Economy?: Adrian Wooldridge
• The UK’s Rental Market Crisis Has Been Years in the Making: Stuart Trow | 2022-09-02T05:44:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Liz Truss Is About to Get Her Hands on Brexit Dynamite - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/liz-truss-is-about-to-get-her-hands-on-brexit-dynamite/2022/09/02/3e6ecfa2-2a7c-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/liz-truss-is-about-to-get-her-hands-on-brexit-dynamite/2022/09/02/3e6ecfa2-2a7c-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
Soraya “Miss Mauler” Johnston fights Caitlin Duffie, a volunteer from the audience, on Aug. 12 in Mount Isa, Australia. Boxers wear heavily padded gloves to help avoid injuring one another. Fourth-generation Australian showman Fred Brophy, left, has gathered a group of boxers that tour around Australia’s Outback looking for volunteers to pummel along the way. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)
MOUNT ISA, Australia — The crowd outside was several drinks deep and starting to get restless when Fred Brophy summoned his boxers to the center of the tent and handed them a bottle of port. One by one, they took swigs until the wine was gone. Then they stepped out to meet the 300 beer-clutching cowboys, miners and cattle ranchers who were itching to see some action.
“Who wants to have a fight?” Brophy asked the cheering crowd. Seven men and two women climbed onto a narrow stage for the chance to get punched in the face.
Traveling boxing troupes like Brophy’s were once common Down Under. But Australia’s transformation into a progressive, urbanized country has come at the cost of some of its unruly frontier traditions.
A mystery made this tiny Outback town infamous. Can it be solved?
“That’s why they all come to the show,” Brophy, 69, said shortly before a slate of Friday night fights last month in the Queensland mining town of Mount Isa. “They know that when I go, that’s it, they won’t see another one.”
Brophy is a fourth-generation spruiker, as they say in Australia: a showman who entices passersby to pay around $25 to watch — or join — the event. His mother was a trapeze artist; his father, a shellshocked World War II veteran turned struggling circus operator. Brophy grew up traveling from town to town, helping put up the tent where he’d box other children for pennies before the adult bouts. His eagerness to fight led to a troubled adolescence, the scars of which he still bears.
“I’ve been speared, shot, belted, smashed,” said Brophy, who walks with a limp. “I’ve got 85 shotgun pellets in this leg and 17 in that one because I belted people, so they went and got a gun and shot me,” he said, gesturing to his injuries. “The doctors were going to cut my leg off but I said, ‘Nah, I’m going to need it for dances.’ ”
After settling down, Brophy launched his own traveling boxing tent. He tells crowds that boxing was Australia’s first sport, born when British convicts and, later, gold-seekers battled each other for a few coins or a flagon of rum.
In Australia, slot machines are everywhere. So is gambling addiction.
“It gets the frustration out in the community,” said Sgt. Jake Lacy from the Queensland Police Service as he stopped by the tent before the fights. It was the weekend of Mount Isa’s rodeo — Australia’s largest — and the town of 20,000 was bursting with beer-guzzling young men. “We tell people, ‘Don’t do it here, go across to Fred’s tent and fight one of his guys,’ so they can lose in a controlled environment,” Lacy said.
“I’m not changing for any politician, any bureaucrat or any copper in the world,” he told the crowd in Mount Isa.
He then beat on a drum as he introduced his boxers by the nicknames he’d given them — also throwbacks to a less politically correct era. When Tony Tseng joined the troupe a decade ago, Brophy gave him the moniker “Chopstix.”
“I’m living the dream, really,” said Tseng, a boxing and martial arts instructor. He sometimes makes more than $1,000 during a four-night boxing stint like the one in Mount Isa. “A lot of people don’t get to do their passion in life.”
“You’re one mistake away from making someone else’s highlight reel,” said Nick Larter, a 42-year-old criminal defense attorney whose boxing nickname is “The Barrister.” (Beat him and he will defend you for free, Brophy likes to say.)
“I defend murderers and rapists and bank robbers, then I come out here and fold people in half," Larter said with a laugh.
An arm injury prevented The Barrister from boxing in Mount Isa, so he was helping Brophy with the show. After Brophy paired the boxers and challengers, the boisterous crowd poured inside the tent to the tune of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and sat on folding chairs and bales of hay surrounding a rubber mat.
“Bring in the first customer,” shouted Brophy as a slight man in khakis and a collared shirt nervously rose. Tseng made easy work of him, drawing boos from the crowd by pretending to punch his opponent on the back of the head.
The second bout was a tag-team involving four women, or “Sheilas,” in Brophy’s salty Outback vernacular. Minutes earlier, Soraya Johnston had been live-streaming to her 55,000 fans on TikTok. Now, the Sydney model entered the makeshift ring with her face smeared with Vaseline. Her father was tent boxing legend Glynn “The Friendly Mauler” Johnston, who’d won all of his more than 1,000 fights in Brophy’s tent. But this was her first contest.
Australia ousts conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison
“This was on my bucket list,” said Caitlin Duffie, one of the challengers, as she drank a beer and picked Vaseline out of her hair after the fight. She had come to rural Queensland for a two-week stint as a nurse, fallen in love with the Outback and stayed for a year. "This is our Wild West,” she said. “It is changing, probably for the better.”
One particularly fierce tag-team fight pitted two brothers against local mine worker Caleb Teece, known as “Little White Lightning," and Soraya Johnston’s 17-year-old nephew.
“We are drunk, man," Arlen Hepi, one of the brothers, admitted afterward. He said they had been drinking heavily for more than seven hours, and had the social media posts to prove it. Given their condition, the brothers equipped themselves well in the ring, though Hepi said his brother had gotten sick as soon as the fight ended.
“He was spewing,” Hepi said, a purple welt across the bridge of his nose.
When the three minutes were up, Brophy thrust both fighters’ hands into the air. It was a draw — the only upset of the night.
“As long as I can get up those ladders out there," he said, "I’ll keep going.” | 2022-09-02T07:17:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | In Australia, Fred Brophy’s Outback boxing tent is last of its kind - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/02/australia-tent-boxing-fred-brophy/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/02/australia-tent-boxing-fred-brophy/ |
Ukraine live briefing: IAEA inspectors ‘not moving’ from Zaporizhzhia nucle...
Ukraine live briefing: IAEA inspectors ‘not moving’ from Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, chief says
IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi (C-L) and IAEA members inspect the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine on Sept. 1. (Yuri Kochetkov/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
From our correspondents (on the ground)
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency are at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in a mission that braved thorny negotiations and nearby shelling to access the facility in Ukraine. Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Five inspectors will remain at the Zaporizhzhia plant through Saturday, after agency chief Rafael Grossi led a tour to evaluate the safety of the facility in Russian hands. “We are not going anywhere. The IAEA is now there, it is at the plant and it is not moving,” he told reporters Thursday after returning to territory under Ukrainian control. It was not clear how extensive his team’s access would be after his departure.
Grossi said the “physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times” and that he worried about the risks “until we have a situation which is more stable.” The atomic energy agency and Kyiv have urged a military withdrawal from the site, which is controlled by Russian forces but operated by Ukrainian engineers. The nuclear plant has experienced artillery barrages, fires and power outages with a crew working in fear.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of preventing journalists from accompanying the mission, while praising the IAEA visit in his nightly address. A spokesman for the watchdog said Grossi advocated for “free and comprehensive coverage” and spoke to media in Ukrainian-held territory several times. “The crossing of the front line was subject to protracted negotiations with both sides,” he said.
Lithuania offered to send forces to Zaporizhzhia as part of a U.N. peacekeeping force. The deputy commissioner of the Lithuanian police said a U.N. police force could ensure the plant’s “physical security” alongside a long-term IAEA monitoring mission and that his country would be ready to deploy officers.
Moldova summoned the Russian envoy after Russia’s foreign minister warned Thursday that threats to Moscow’s forces in Transnistria, a breakaway region of the Eastern European country, would be seen as an attack on Russia. The war in Ukraine has raised fears of a spillover in Transnistria, which borders Ukraine and hosts Russian troops.
At edge of Russian onslaught, city of Bakhmut clings to freedom: Russian units are less than four miles from the city’s central plaza, and life for its remaining residents is almost unbearable, Steve Hendrix and Serhii Korolchuk report from eastern Ukraine.
“For the last few civilians hanging on in this front line city being pounded by advancing Russian artillery, a gaping new crater is both a mark of war and source of water,” they write.
Many of those who stayed behind have nowhere else to go — and, with no running water or reliable power, are forced to scrape what normality they can from donated food and the wood and water they can gather. | 2022-09-02T08:16:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Russia-Ukraine war latest updates - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/02/russia-ukraine-war-latest-updates/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/02/russia-ukraine-war-latest-updates/ |
California moves to contain Route Fire that has ravaged 5,200 acres
People who were evacuated from their home watch as the Route Fire burns on Aug. 31 near Los Angeles. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Firefighters have contained 27 percent of a wildfire that erupted north of Los Angeles on Wednesday, after it burned through some 5,200 acres of land and prompted mandatory evacuations amid triple-digit temperatures.
There have been no fatalities as a result of the Route Fire, which was first detected around noon Wednesday near Castaic Lake. But seven firefighters were treated for heat-related injuries and two structures were destroyed, officials said. All evacuation orders were lifted as of 7:30 p.m. Thursday, local fire officials said. The fire had been 12 percent contained as of Thursday morning.
The brush fire’s quick and “explosive behavior” should be “a wake-up call to us all,” Robert Garcia, fire chief of the Angeles National Forest, near where the Route Fire began, told reporters. Hundreds of firefighters, aided by as many as 11 aircraft, were battling the fire throughout Thursday, officials said.
“Forecasted winds of 6-12 mph with gusts up to 30-40 mph” could increase fire growth overnight, they warned.
In San Diego, firefighters were combating the Border 32 Fire, which began two hours after the Route Fire. By Thursday evening, that fire was 14 percent contained and had ravaged 4,438 acres, according to San Diego County.
The blazes reflect an alarming trend of more frequent, quick-spreading wildfires that are fueled by warming temperatures and lower humidity, not only in California but across the globe. “With this heat wave, it’s very hot and dry,” said U.S. Forest Service fire official Seneca Smith at a news conference on the Route Fire. “We saw how quickly a small ignition can ignite and spread very rapidly.”
The state’s latest wildfires erupted amid an intense, long-duration heat event that could worsen over the weekend. This week, parts of the Los Angeles area and the western United States logged record-high temperatures. “Excessive heat, low humidity and steep terrain will continue to pose the biggest challenge for firefighters” battling the Route Fire, officials said.
The high temperatures prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to declare a state of emergency Wednesday, in an effort to prevent the expected increased demand for air-conditioning from triggering power outages. The state has so far avoided an outage, Newsom’s office said Thursday. But it urged residents to continue conserving electricity, including by precooling homes before 4 p.m., when power demand in California is near its peak.
California lawmakers this week also passed bills aimed at tackling climate change and meeting energy demand, including legislation that extends the operational life of the state’s sole remaining nuclear plant. They also approved legislation that requires the state to stop adding carbon dioxide to the air by 2045.
Six of the ten worst wildfires in California’s history, as measured by acreage burned, have occurred in the last two years. That tally includes the August 2020 North Complex Fire, which killed a record 15 people and devastated some 319,000 acres.
Across the globe, forest fires are burning 7.4 million more acres — or nearly twice as many trees — in each typical fire season compared with two decades ago, according to researchers from the United States and China. Rising temperatures and more prolonged and severe droughts are making it easier for wildfires to abruptly erupt, they said. | 2022-09-02T08:47:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | California fights Route and Border 32 fires amid heat warnings - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/02/california-route-fire-wildfire-heat-wave/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/02/california-route-fire-wildfire-heat-wave/ |
Transformed Arlington, Va., house for sale for $2.3 million
A 1954 rambler was expanded into a six-bedroom, six-bathroom, 3,800-square-foot home
“What I really like is the idea of taking something that’s dark and making it bright,” said Mike Brown of KASO Developments. “That’s one thing I always find with the old houses, particularly houses built in the ’60s, they are so dark.” (Derek & Vee)
Developer Mike Brown left behind an unsatisfying career to flip houses. His latest project is this house in Arlington, Va.
“I always thought it would be cool to flip houses,” Brown said. “I even talked to my dad when I was in college, and my dad said: ‘No. Go to college. You’re not going to drop out.’ So I went to college, got my degree, worked on Capitol Hill, went to law school, clerked for a judge, practiced law at a big firm and went back to Capitol Hill.”
Around 2009, Brown decided to make another change.
“I had two small kids, so it was like, ‘What am I going to do? Well, I’ll [flip houses],’ ” Brown said. “I met a Realtor and said, ‘I’d always been interested in flipping houses.’ She showed me a house, and I said, “All right, I’ll buy it and give it a shot.’ ”
Arlington, Va., house | The 1954 rambler was expanded by Mike Brown of KASO Developments. It is listed for $2.3 million. (Derek & Vee)
His kids liked the first house he worked on so much the family ended up moving into it.
“I joke with this guy who works for me,” Brown said. “My first house was my bachelor’s degree. My second house was my master’s degree. And the third house is where I actually made money.”
Brown named his company, KASO Developments after his daughters, Katie and Sophia, using the first two letters of their names. When choosing a house to flip, Brown is less concerned with profit margin than with the house’s history.
“I just like the stories of a house and the way the house feels,” he said. “I can walk into a house and you just get a vibe. This one’s kind of dead. This has been a rental for 20 years. … This house, we walked into it, and I knew immediately that I wanted this house because the people who had lived there, they had lived there since the ’60s.”
Little things attracted him to the house, such as the BB hole in the window. Brown wondered how much trouble the child got into for shooting his BB gun. He said the basement was like something out of a set from the television show “Mad Men.”
“You could just see the parties,” Brown said. “The house just had a really cool vibe. … What I like to do is walk through and think, ‘How can I make this better, capture the spirit but update it?' ”
The first thing he focused on was adding more natural light.
“What I really like is the idea of taking something that’s dark and making it bright,” he said. “That’s one thing I always find with the old houses, particularly houses built in the ’60s, they are so dark.”
The original house was a 1954 rambler. Brown kept nearly the same footprint, expanding the house up and behind. He also added an attached two-car garage.
The owner’s suite turned into a bigger project than he anticipated.
Real estate agent “Melody [Abella] thinks I’m very opinionated, and I am,” Brown said. “But I listen, and I adopt ideas. … I do grasp my limitations. The big one is bathrooms because I’m a boy.”
Brown said his gender is the reason he doesn’t put much thought into the design of a bathroom. He originally planned for a smaller owner’s bathroom. He was persuaded to do a separate soaking tub and larger shower, which expanded the room.
The closet for the owner’s suite was another room he gave little thought to originally.
“Again, I feel like because I’m a boy I just can’t visualize things,” Brown said. “What do you need a closet for? You just need a bar to hang up some stuff.”
Abella convinced him that the closet needed more than a rod for hanging clothes. Now it has built-in cabinetry and shelving. “I was nervous,” Brown said. “But then we put it up and it’s like, ‘Oh, this is actually kind of cool.’ ”
One of the hallmarks of Brown’s projects is that he changes the plan along the way. The kitchen ceiling is an example. He switched from a flat ceiling to a vaulted ceiling once he realized that it would make the space light and airy.
“I always feel like I have the ability to modify things,” he said.
The expanded house has two bedrooms on the main level and four bedrooms on the top floor. Two additional rooms can be used as offices. The living room has a fireplace. The kitchen has an island with a quartz countertop and seating, a double wall oven and a walk-in pantry. The lower level has a wet bar and a fireplace.
Brown said in some ways his current career is reminiscent of his former one.
“I liked working on campaigns because I felt like it was a burst of energy and then you’re done,” he said. “Honestly, I think that’s the best experience to do what I do because [flipping a house] is like a campaign. What you’re really trying to do is trying to get people to work harder than they should for less than they deserve and you have this set goal. … You get it finished, and then it’s, all right, on to the next one.”
The six-bedroom, six-bathroom, 3,800-square-foot house is listed at just under $2.3 million. An open house is scheduled for Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m.
3109 N. Nottingham St., Arlington, Va.
Features: The 1954 rambler was expanded by Mike Brown of KASO Developments. The house, which is on a hill, is surrounded by mature trees. The kitchen has a vaulted ceiling, an island with a quartz countertop and seating, a double wall oven and a walk-in pantry. The lower level has a wet bar and fireplace. The two-car garage is attached.
Open house: Sunday, 2 to 4 p.m.
Listing agent: Melody Abella, TTR Sotheby’s International Realty | 2022-09-02T09:52:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Transformed Arlington, Va., house for sale for $2.3 million - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/09/02/transformed-arlington-va-house-sale-23-million/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/09/02/transformed-arlington-va-house-sale-23-million/ |
Arlington offered $23M for Amazon HQ2. So far, it hasn’t paid a dime.
The county’s incentives are based on revenue streams that have shrunk since Amazon — and covid — moved in
The Crystal City Metro station, near Amazon's HQ2. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
Nearly four years after winning that sweepstakes, Arlington County has yet to pay Amazon a single penny. And that’s by design.
The coronavirus pandemic shrank some of the tax revenue streams that executives and elected officials said would grow as the e-retailer built its offices in this affluent Northern Virginia suburb. That has meant no cash grants paid out to Amazon — at least not yet — for its $2.5 billion capital investment in the county. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Ahead of a reporting deadline this week, Arlington officials confirmed Wednesday that they did not pay any direct financial incentives to the company for the third year in a row.
The county had initially projected it would pay $22.7 million in total to Amazon in annual payments through 2035. These pay-as-you-go grants are based on Amazon’s commitment to occupy a certain amount of office space in Pentagon City and Crystal City and on an expected increase in local hotel stays stemming from the company’s activity.
Move over, ‘National Landing’ — Amazon HQ2’s neighborhood tries on ‘NaLa’
“Largely because of the pandemic, that expected growth hasn’t happened, and so that means the incentives aren’t happening either,” County Board Chair Katie Cristol (D) said.
If the news may suggest less of an economic windfall for the county than officials and executives had touted just a few years ago, the company and its boosters say it’s too soon to make any snap judgments.
“Since we announced Arlington as the site for HQ2 nearly four years ago, we’ve made strong progress on our hiring and development plans, and are only just beginning to see the economic and community benefits of our investments,” Holly Sullivan, Amazon’s vice president of worldwide economic development, said in a statement.
Pandemic or not, the company’s economic impact on Arlington is impossible to ignore: Besides occupying 1 million square feet of office space, the company has hired more than 5,00o employees, putting it one-fifth of the way toward its stated goal of bringing at least 25,000 new jobs to Northern Virginia.
The arrival has created thousands of construction jobs, brought in new retailers and development projects in the neighborhood, and boosted the county’s status as a hub for large tech companies. Since Amazon’s announcement, the defense and aerospace heavyweights Raytheon and Boeing have announced they would be relocating their headquarters to Arlington.
Sullivan also noted that Amazon has invested more than $800 million in affordable housing through the company’s Housing Equity Fund and over $37 million to local nonprofits, businesses, schools and community groups.
All of that, however, has yet to translate to a fiscal benefit at the same scale — including any growth in revenue from the transient occupancy tax, which Amazon and Arlington officials decided on as the basis for local incentives to the company. The county will hand up to 15 percent of the increase back to Amazon only if tax revenue on hotel stays in the county increases over an average before the pandemic.
Arlington had been on average collecting nearly $25 million annually from the tax, which is applied to hotel stays and short-term rentals such as Airbnb. That figure dropped to about $16.5 million in fiscal 2020, including the first few months of the pandemic, and then $5 million in the year after that.
From July 2021 through June 2022, Arlington collected about $15.1 million in revenue from the tax. That is still millions short of the increase necessary to result in incentives for Amazon.
Amid heavy criticism of massive incentives for Amazon, some economic development analysts say the news shows that Arlington’s incentives were designed well enough to account for the most unprecedented of economic curveballs.
“It’s no benefit, no cost, as it should be,” said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a watchdog group that tracks government subsidies to businesses.
If Amazon’s headquarters was supposed to draw more visitors to Arlington, “the county is not getting all the benefits of people staying overnight and buying meals and going shopping,” he added. “So why should they get any money from the county?”
County officials estimated that when Amazon is fully operational in Arlington in 2034, the company will generate between 100,000 and 150,000 occupied hotel room nights locally. But the number of occupied hotel room nights over the past year was still below levels in fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2019, according to STR, a global hospitality data and analytics company.
By contrast: In New York, where Amazon had initially planned to locate another 25,000 jobs before backing out, state officials had promised the tech company a grant of up to $325 million — based only on how many square feet of office space it occupied.
Some other jurisdictions, LeRoy noted, have been struggling with no-strings-attached incentives that they handed up for economic development projects whose fiscal benefits have yet to materialize.
“In Arlington, they insulated themselves against any kind of downturn,” he said, “and that turned out to be very smart.”
Hotel tax revenue is ultimately a small slice of the fiscal boost that Arlington had expected to get from the deal, including taxes on Amazon’s land, building and equipment. And the company’s annual tax generation is projected to be relatively modest this early in the process: County officials expected Amazon would generate about $9.4 million in annual tax revenue five years into construction, compared with about $32.7 million in 12 years.
Cristol, the county board chair, pointed out that another incentive for Amazon — an indirect one — depends on property tax revenue in Pentagon City and Crystal City, a stream that has not grown either since the company began moving into the neighborhood.
If that the tax revenue grows beyond a certain baseline, Arlington officials must dedicate up to half the increase toward infrastructure projects in the neighborhood, such as streetscape and sidewalk improvements. The county received $4.1 million from July 2021 through June of this year, still short of a $4.8 million baseline, she said.
“Amazon has delivered on expectations,” she added. “It’s just that the pandemic has so challenged the economy in Arlington and in Crystal City specifically that the incentives are totaling to zero.”
Arlington’s incentives for Amazon are dwarfed by those promised to the company by Virginia. The company stands to receive as much as $770 million in cash grants from the state’s coffers, on the condition that corporate hires who are “principally located” in Arlington earn an average of $150,000 a year.
The first installment of those incentives, capped at $200 million, is supposed to be paid out next year.
As part of the deal inked with Amazon, Virginia is also investing in the state’s Tech Talent Investment Program, which has set a goal of producing an additional 25,000 new graduates in computer science and related fields over two decades. Much of the money is going toward Virginia Tech’s new graduate engineering campus in Alexandria as well as a tech hub that George Mason University is building in Arlington’s Virginia Square neighborhood. | 2022-09-02T10:05:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Arlington offered $23M for Amazon HQ2. Thanks to the pandemic, it hasn’t had to pay a dime. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/arlington-amazon-hq2-incentives-covid/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/arlington-amazon-hq2-incentives-covid/ |
‘From the jump, an attack.’ Child trauma experts weigh in on police video
Officers missed chance to comfort a scared 5-year-old, psychologists say, and instead made things worse
East Silver Spring Elementary School was the scene of an encounter between a 5-year-old boy and officers in Montgomery County on Jan. 14, 2020. (Dan Morse/The Washington Post)
The encounter began calmly enough.
“Come here, buddy,” police officer Kevin Christmon asked a 5-year-old boy who had just run off from his school in Montgomery County, Md.
But his tone quickly turned stern and commanding. He grabbed the boy’s arm to pull him to his squad car. And what followed, experts say, was an extended encounter that didn’t just terrify the child, it ran counter to how police officers — when well-trained and acting properly — can be ideally suited for such situations.
“This was Chapter One of the textbook of what not to do. That poor little boy,” said Steven Marans, a Yale School of Medicine professor who founded the Child Development-Community Policing Program. Marans has spent 30 years working with officers to build the best ways to communicate with children in crisis, including teaching police to shift from intimidation to what Marans calls a “benign authority” stripped of threats and fears.
“Cops at their best can be wonderful buffers for the overwhelmed feelings of overwhelmed children,” Marans said.
He was one of five experts asked by The Washington Post to review a 51-minute body-camera video that recorded an encounter between two officers and a student at East Silver Spring Elementary School that went viral last year. Their analysis of four key moments are presented below as new details surface from an internal police investigation into the case, and as long-running litigation over the encounter is expected to formally end soon after the county agreed to pay out $275,000 to the boy’s family.
These videos may be disturbing to some viewers.
‘Am I safe?’
At 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 14, 2020, Christmon responded in his patrol car to a report the student had run off from his school. Christmon spotted the boy behind a parked Prius. The officer got out, greeted him, and soon pulled him toward his patrol car.
“No, no, no, no, no!” the boy yelled out as he burst into cries and coughs.
A second officer, Dionne Holliday, spoke to the boy after he was lifted and put into the back of the police car. “Does your momma spank you?” she asked him through an open door, adding “I’m going to ask her if I can do it.”
(Video: Montgomery County Police Department)
Ryan Matlow, a child clinical psychologist who directs community programs at Stanford University’s Early Life Stress and Resilience Program, said that before the police even arrived, the child was likely already scared, having just run away from school. Frightened children, Matlow said, look to adults to “co-regulate” their thoughts and emotions.
“They’re constantly reading us, reading adults to evaluate: ‘Am I safe?’ ” Matlow said.
The arriving officers, according to the experts, presented a resounding no.
“This was, from the jump, an attack,” Marans said. “They are condemning him. They seemed ill-equipped to appreciate what it might have felt like to be that 5-year-old boy. He was spoken about and spoken to with disdain. It was like they were talking to simply a ‘bad’ child, rather than a troubled, frightened one needing help.”
“They were not sending a signal of safety to the child’s brain. They were sending signals of danger,” added Jessica L. Griffin, a clinical psychologist and executive director of the UMass Chan Medical School’s Child Trauma Training Center. “The child went into a survival mode, where he was screaming, crying and visibly upset.”
Griffin trains officers — when facing such behavior in children — to “get curious instead of furious.”
Griffin said police officers can get conditioned to view safety in terms of physical threats. “In defense of law enforcement, their first thought isn’t always psychological safety, yet that piece is very important, especially for children,” she said.
“It’s not that we are expecting law enforcement to be therapists,” Griffin said. “But there are things that you can do to be therapeutic without being a therapist that can really help a child.”
Holliday declined to comment for this report. Christmon through his attorney declined to comment. During a police internal investigation though, they acknowledged that at times their approach could have been better while justifying parts of the encounter. Christmon said the child was defiant when confronted. Holliday said her threats to spank or beat the child were made simply to “get him to shut up.”
‘Shut that noise up!’
The officers took the child back to his school, calling him “bad” and walking behind him into an assistant principal’s office. The boy balked at going farther or taking a seat in a chair.
“Sit down! Sit down!” Christmon immediately yelled before picking the child up by his armpits and forcing him into a chair. “No!!!” the child yelled, his voice morphing in wailing cries.
Holliday quickly closed in on the child. “Shut that noise up! You better shut that noise up now!” she said, bending over within two feet of his face. “Boy, I’m telling you: I hope your momma let me beat you. I swear to you, I’m going to wear it out.” Her volume rising, Holliday then leaned even closer to the boy’s face and unleashed five consecutive screams.
Rochelle F. Hanson, a child psychologist at the Medical University of South Carolina, questioned the “severe response” to a child who was crying, choked up and clearly scared. “He wasn’t aggressive. … He wasn’t flailing, hitting, kicking, biting or doing any of the things we often see. He was crying.”
“What I saw was fear,” she added, “they kept attributing to him being a bad kid. When you start labeling a child as bad, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. You’re telling him he’s worthless. That’s the message that this little boy is going to internalize.”
Adults in the room
Two educators were inside the assistant principal’s office for much of the time that Holliday and Christmon berated the child. Holliday likened the child to a “little beast” and said someone should “crate him.” She called him a “shepherd for the devil,” and asked the educators how the boy could be expelled and moved to a different school. “He got to go somewhere else,” she said.
Hanson, the South Carolina professor, said the educators should never have let the police officers stay in the office: “It seems like it would have been very easy for them to say, ‘Thank you for bringing him back. We’ll take it from here.’ ”
Even after the officers remained there, the educators still could have acted to blunt any emotional damage to the child.
“A kid can go through a pretty stressful or traumatic experience and not result in a trauma reaction or trauma symptoms — if you have the presence of a supportive caregiver,” Griffin said. “So had a school administrator stepped in or somebody said, ‘Hey, this is not okay, you are safe. We’re going to make sure that you’re safe,’ if somebody would have served as a buffer for him, it could have helped him to regulate.”
David L. Corwin, a child psychiatrist, professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine and past president of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, said that everyone — children and adults — is taught to obey the police. So that may have weighed on the educators not stepping in.
In civil litigation related to the encounter, an assistant principal in the room spoke to that point. “I did not feel like I had the authority to tell the police what to do,” she said during a deposition. A second educator said she felt the same way.
‘You can beat your child’
About 27 minutes into the encounter — after the officers had stopped yelling at the child — his mother arrived after receiving a call from the school. Conversation about her son’s behavior quickly gave way to the officers suggesting she use corporal punishment.
“You don’t use a weapon,” Holliday said, “but you can smack that butt repeatedly.”
Christmon told the woman that her son didn’t need a therapist. “We’re reiterating, you can beat your child in Montgomery County, Maryland,” he said. “Just don’t leave no cuts, or no crazy cigarette burns or nothing like that.”
Marans spoke of a broad-based consensus — from the American Academy of Pediatrics and others — that corporal punishment is ineffective and generally contributes to worsening, not improving, behavior. That is just the kind of “developmentally informed” instruction that officers and educators need to hear in their training, Marans said.
The video made it clear that both officers believed that corporal punishment and threats of beatings could change a child’s behavior. “To give them their due,” Marans said of the officers, “they appeared to actually believe this, and indicated that corporal punishment was part of their experiences growing up.”
Holliday’s statements about beating the child, her lawyers argued in court, never amounted to an immediate threat because, among other reasons, Holliday included the condition that she would first need permission from his mother.
In court filings, and as shown in the video, when the officers recommended to the boy’s mother that she administer corporal punishment, she seemed to endorse the practice.
“When parents use corporal punishment, they often up the ante and increase to more severe punishment, which can result in abuse,” Hanson said. “Having law enforcement convey to a distressed parent that you are allowed to hit your kid — that’s not a good message.”
Corwin added that the officer’s belief that misbehavior can be “beaten” out of kids, which he called mistaken, remains widespread. “It’s pretty easy to condemn how those officers acted, but they are just representative of our culture and our society,” Corwin said. “They reflect the violence that is ingrained in our culture.” | 2022-09-02T10:05:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Yelling cops missed the chance to comfort a scared 5-year-old, experts say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/video-police-yelling-children/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/video-police-yelling-children/ |
Police berated a boy who ran away from school. They were suspended, sued.
Ridicule and insults directed at 5-year-old in Montgomery County were recorded on police body camera
Video recorded by Montgomery County police of their encounter with 5-year-old boy at his school. (Video: The Washington Post)
Two Maryland police officers who berated and threatened a 5-year-old boy who had run off from school were suspended without pay, according to newly released police records of the encounter that went viral last spring and was condemned nationwide.
The sanctions, details of which emerged as a separate lawsuit over the incident was settled for $275,000, came after a lengthy internal affairs investigation by the Montgomery County Police Department. In that probe, Officers Dionne Holliday and Kevin Christmon voiced both regrets and justifications for how they treated the East Silver Spring Elementary School student over the course of the 51-minute encounter.
“I really do think that my actions were appropriate at the time, because of the fact the child was acting noncompliant,” Christmon said when asked specifically about holding the child down in a chair for 80 seconds at his school.
Holliday told investigators that raising her voice at the child probably didn’t solve anything. She acknowledged telling the boy he should be beaten and calling him “a shepherd for the devil,” but asserted that’s how he was acting.
Montgomery County police release video showing officers yelling at 5-year-old boy
Their views of what transpired also played out during 18 months of separate, contentious litigation during which their attorneys criticized the boy and said it would be difficult to gauge what effect the incident had on him. “This child had a lot of problems before this event,” an attorney for the officers asserted in court this summer.
Such claims, countered attorneys for the boy and his mother, trivialized what he was put through. Uniformed officers shouted in his face. One compared him to a “little beast” who should be placed in a crate. “Way past the line of emotional child abuse,” lawyers James Papirmeister and Matthew Bennett wrote in court filings.
Their lawsuit, which had been set to go to trial Jan. 23, was instead settled, officials announced last week. Money received by the family will go into trust fund to which the child will have access when he turns 18.
“Our client is glad to put this litigation behind her, and the police and school have finally been held accountable,” Papirmeister told The Washington Post on behalf of the child’s mother.
Holliday, who was suspended for four weeks, declined to comment. Christmon, who was suspended for nearly two weeks, declined to comment through his attorney.
Video of the incident burst around the country at a time of increased scrutiny over recorded police encounters. But most of those interactions involved adults, not a kindergartner. Among local officials, many called for enhanced police training in communicating with children in crisis. Others said the video spoke to something more fundamental: the need to address a child with patience, not threats and insults.
“There’s just some common sense with that,” Montgomery County Council member Evan Glass said at the time.
‘I hope your momma let me beat you’
The internal affairs investigation began shortly after the Jan. 14, 2020, encounter, when the boy’s mother filed a complaint and spoke with investigators. She recalled that the first night after the incident, at 3 a.m., her son awoke crying and said he had been convinced the officers were going to shoot him.
The Washington Post received the internal affairs records related to the investigation recently based on a new Maryland law that allows departments to release certain records of alleged police misconduct. In response to a request from The Post, the department provided a 19-page summary of its probe and a brief description of the accusations and findings against the officers.
Investigators studied Christmon’s body-camera video of the encounter and what precipitated it. They learned that shortly after lunch, inside his kindergarten class, the boy had grown upset and threw a clipboard at both a fellow student and his teacher. He then ran from the room, down a flight of stairs and fled the building. A school administrator spotted him running away — toward a congested section of Silver Spring — and police were called.
Christmon’s video opened with him pulling up to the boy as he hid behind a parked car about one block from the school. “Come here, buddy,” the officer said pleasantly, approaching him on foot and asking what he was doing.
The child didn’t respond. Christmon’s tone went stern.
“Look at me! Why are you out of school?” the officer asked, telling him he had to return.
The boy didn’t budge. Christmon took his left arm and pulled him toward another uniformed officer and two marked patrol cars.
“No, no, no, no, no,” the boy said, crying out for the first time.
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An assistant principal who arrived calmed him down. She and Christmon walked him to Christmon’s car. The officer lifted him into the back seat and buckled him in with a seat belt.
“I don’t wanna to go,” he said, his voice shaking and coughing.
“I don’t care!” the officer replied. “You don’t make that decision for yourself!”
Holliday spoke to the child through an open door. “Does your momma spank you?” she asked, adding, “I’m going to ask her if I can do it.”
In speaking with an internal affairs detective, Christmon described his initial interactions with the child, saying he “cried a lot but also seemed defiant and headstrong about not wanting to return to school.”
The police video showed that after the group arrived at the school and into an office, the child balked about going farther or sitting in a chair.
“No what?” Christmon told him, his voice rising. “Sit down! Sit down!”
Christmon lifted him up and placed him into a chair. The boy suddenly started wailing again. Holliday leaned into his face and shouted: “Boy, I’m telling you: I hope your momma let me beat you!”
‘He was screaming and crying’
An internal affairs detective interviewed Holliday, showing her parts of the video, and asked how close she was to the child. “Very close,” she said, “because he was screaming. So I need to get close so that he could hear me.”
Holliday, who joined the force in 2001, said that she didn’t remember saying: “I hope your momma let me beat you. I swear to you, I’m gonna wear it out.”
Investigators asked what she meant. “More — more of just a threat. ... Get him to shut up,” Holliday answered.
Shown another portion of the video, depicting her yelling in what court records described as “five primal screams” into his face, Holliday said she was trying to show him how it felt to be shouted at but acknowledged her actions “were probably not appropriate.”
Christmon, who joined the force in 2017, said he’d raised his voice to counteract the boy doing so himself. “He was screaming and crying so loud no one could hear anyone in the room,” the officer said.
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Investigators asked him about a moment when the assistant principal held out a phone so the boy could speak with his mother. The child swatted toward the phone. “I wish you would!” Christmon had yelled at him as he held the boy down on a chair. “I wish you would slap that phone out of her hand!”
The officer told investigators he held the boy down to ensure he’d speak to his mother, but he said his method was probably not appropriate. Asked to repeat the answer, Christmon requested a break, and returned with a different answer: “I really do think that my actions were appropriate at the time, because of the fact that the child was acting noncompliant.”
When Christmon viewed video of the opening moments inside the assistant principal’s office, he expressed a broader regret. “Honestly, after looking at this, we should have dropped him off and left,” Christmon said.
Internal affairs investigators also asked the officers about how they spoke about the child and possible punishments while sitting and standing only feet from him. “A crate. Crate him,” Holliday had said, laughing and adding: “You wanna act like a little beast.”
Holliday told investigators that the boy wasn’t acting like a child should and was out of control.
“She went on to say animals should be crated and she never said [the boy] should be crated,” the report states.
‘He was definitely scared’
Investigators also spoke to two educators who were in the office.
Justine Pfeiffer, the assistant principal, complimented the officers for helping return the boy to school. “But it seemed like their tactics escalated the situation,” she said, according to the report. “I did not expect them to behave that way. ... I expected them to maybe speak firmly and not yell and say things that would help calm him down.”
“He was definitely scared,” Pfeiffer said of the student.
Debra Bezold, a reading specialist, said that as the boy slouched in his chair, one of the officers picked him up several times to make him sit up straight. “He was crying, he was upset, but they kept asking him to sit in the chair,” she said. “In my opinion, I don’t feel like — knowing this student — that that was the way to get to him. He was complying for him.”
She said the officers’ behavior bothered her. “But I didn’t think it was my place to tell a police officer what to do,” Bezold said.
Pfeiffer, who now holds a position in the school system’s central office, declined to comment through a school spokesman. Bezold, who has since retired, could not be reached for comment.
‘We want you to beat him’
When the boy’s mother arrived, having been called there by the school, the officers no longer yelled at the child but advocated she severely spank him.
“We want you to beat him,” Holliday said, later adding, “All I can tell you is to beat that ass.”
Shown the video, the officer was asked if her language was professional. “No,” Holliday answered, “I could probably have worded that ... much better.”
Both officers were questioned about a brief demonstration Christmon performed on the child, when he fastened a handcuff around the boy’s right wrist, had him turn around, and drew both his hands together to simulate a full handcuffing.
“Is that how you want to live your life?” Christmon asked.
The mother did not ask the officer to stop the demonstration.
Christmon told investigators that the minute-long cuffing was not unlike his attempts to engage children he encountered on the beat — whether through squirt gun battles or foot races — and offer them life guidance. “It was solely so he could see how it feels to not be able to do what you want to do,” Christmon said.
Montgomery County settles lawsuit over police berating 5-year-old
On Dec. 30, 2020, the officers were administratively charged with several counts, including neglect of duty and failure to be courteous. They agreed to the proposed punishments, and the matter was closed.
In early 2021, the boy’s mother and her attorneys sued the county school board, the county government and the two officers. Among their claims: The officers put the boy in such immediate fear of being hurt that it amounted to assault and their broader actions constituted “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
Attorneys for the county, school system and officers fought back, setting up more than a year of dueling court filings and hearings over whether the claims should be tossed.
At a recent hearing, when the assault claims were argued, an attorney for the officers said that any threats made were not imminent. In the case of Holliday, for example, her talk of beating the child included the condition that his mom would have to approve. But Circuit Judge Jill Cummins ruled there was enough circumstantial evidence indicating “that the officers’ behavior was assaultive in nature” and the claims should remain — joining a series of other counts against the officers set to be heard at trial.
Cummings dismissed all but one claim against the school board, whose attorneys had argued the educators couldn’t have predicted how the officers would react.
Within days of the judge’s rulings, the attorneys for all parties sat down for settlement discussions. The county agreed to pay money to the child’s family from its self insurance fund without admitting liability. The family agreed to drop the lawsuit or any future litigation.
Papirmeister, one of the attorneys for the boy’s mother, said Maryland laws essentially capped any damages at $400,000 and the jury could have awarded less. “That certainly drove our thinking,” he said. | 2022-09-02T10:05:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Records reveal suspensions for Md. cops who berated 5-year-old boy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/yelling-police-suspended-child/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/yelling-police-suspended-child/ |
Alabama quarterback Bryce Young has a chance to be the second player to win the Heisman Trophy in back-to-back seasons. (John Minchillo/AP)
After nearly a half-century of waiting, Archie Griffin’s club might just double in size this season.
Griffin is the only two-time Heisman Trophy honoree, claiming the award in 1974 and 1975 while starring at Ohio State. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young is the first Heisman winner to remain at the college level for another season since Louisville’s Lamar Jackson in 2017, and he’s the latest to give going back-to-back a shot.
The closest anyone has come was Oklahoma running back Billy Sims, who won in 1978 with 1,762 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns and was nearly as good the following year while piling up 1,506 yards and 22 scores. He finished a distant second to Southern California’s Charles White.
Jackson is one of a handful of Heisman winners to finish third the following season, a group that includes BYU’s Ty Detmer (who won in 1990), Oklahoma’s Jason White (2003), Southern California’s Matt Leinart (2004) and Florida’s Tim Tebow (2007).
Young, whose season begins Saturday when Alabama hosts Utah State, might be able to pull it off. For starters, the best way to get into the Heisman conversation is to begin the year there. Inertia is a powerful force, and Young surely will be discussed (and scrutinized) ad nauseam in the weeks to come.
The second-best way to become a fixture in Heisman talk is to be the quarterback on a good team. The Crimson Tide begins the season at No. 1, and the only times in the past six seasons that Nick Saban’s team has found itself outside the top five in the Associated Press rankings were the final three polls of the 2019 season.
There is a difference between being an oft-discussed player and actually collecting the hardware. And Young — who threw for 4,872 yards, 47 touchdowns and seven interceptions last season — has experience on that front.
A similar year might not be enough to produce the same result. And besides, after losing in last year’s College Football Playoff final, Young probably would trade a trophy case full of honors for a national championship. But why not walk away with both? It’s a subplot worth monitoring as the season unfolds.
It’s late early in Lincoln
Plenty of pixels have been allocated over the past week to the status of Nebraska Coach Scott Frost, whose Cornhuskers have become almost supernaturally adept at finding ways to lose close games. It’s unnecessary to do much more than state the obvious: A third-quarter onside kick backfired spectacularly, and Nebraska was run over by a more physical Northwestern team in Ireland.
After Saturday’s 31-28 loss, Nebraska has lost twice as many games (30) as it has won (15) under Frost. It is 5-21 in one-possession games under the former Huskers quarterback. It has rattled off five consecutive losing seasons (four under Frost), and Nebraska has the longest bowl drought in the Big Ten (none since 2016).
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Frost is 0-4 against Iowa (and Ohio State, for that matter) and 0-3 against Wisconsin, none of which is all that startling. Yet he’s also 2-3 against Northwestern and 1-3 against both Minnesota and Purdue. The only Big Ten West team Nebraska isn’t below .500 against since 2018 is Illinois, and even then the Huskers are 2-2 (having lost the past two).
Every year, it seems one or two teams have their seasons implode before Labor Day. Nebraska might be on that list already. The Cornhuskers do get their next four at home, starting with North Dakota on Saturday. A visit from Oklahoma awaits Sept. 17, and no one will confuse it with the Game of the Century. But it might be Nebraska’s last, best chance to revive any hope that this could be a year of progress — or that Frost will still be on the job the next time the Huskers are anything more than mediocre.
1. Notre Dame: It’s finally time for Marcus Freeman’s regular season debut as coach of the Fighting Irish. (He led the team during a Fiesta Bowl loss to Oklahoma State in January.) And what a debut it is: a trip to the Horseshoe (Notre Dame’s first since 1995) to face a likely playoff contender in No. 2 Ohio State. It’s an incredible opportunity, but a loss would leave the No. 5 Irish with no margin for error against a schedule that’s light on playoff threats beyond No. 4 Clemson (Nov. 5) and maybe No. 14 Southern California (Nov. 26).
2. Ohio State: The Buckeyes rate second because their schedule affords them a better chance to collect multiple high-end wins later in the season and quarterback CJ Stroud is back to run an offense that remains loaded despite the loss of some key wideouts. Second-ranked Ohio State could recover and make the playoff even with a stumble against Notre Dame, but it wouldn’t be a wise thing to do.
3. Utah: If there’s going to be a playoff contender in the Pac-12, the No. 7 Utes are the best bet. Unlike at Oregon and Southern California, there is continuity and stability in Utah’s program, which is fine and dandy for Pac-12 purposes. On a national scale, there probably isn’t much wiggle room, and that means the Utes need to go to Florida (in Gators coach Billy Napier’s debut) and come out of the muggy Swamp with a victory.
4. Oregon: New Ducks coach Dan Lanning opens his tenure against a program he has plenty of familiarity with — No. 3 Georgia. Lanning was the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator last season, and he’ll be tasked with getting No. 11 Oregon back on top of the Pac-12. This game (to be played in Atlanta) offers the same sort of opportunity the Ducks exploited last season when they won at Ohio State in the season’s second week.
5. Arkansas: It has been a long, long while since the Razorbacks bandwagon was this full. No. 19 Arkansas is ranked in the preseason for the first time since 2015, but No. 23 Cincinnati comes to Fayetteville fresh off last year’s playoff appearance. The Bearcats had nine players selected in the NFL draft, but there’s a residue of success in Luke Fickell’s program. This probably isn’t going to be easy for the Hogs — though if it is, it will be rather impressive.
The preseason favorites can move into this feature as soon as they take the field. The stars of Week 0 have earned a moment in the sun.
1. QB Ryan Hilinski, Northwestern: Hilinski took apart Nebraska’s shoddy defense, completing 27 of 38 passes for 314 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-28 victory over the Cornhuskers in Dublin.
2. QB Mike Wright, Vanderbilt: The Commodores junior rushed for 163 yards and two touchdowns and threw for two more scores in a 63-10 throttling of Hawaii.
3. RB Chase Brown, Illinois: Coming off a 1,000-yard season, Brown rumbled for 151 yards and two touchdowns and tacked on a receiving score as the Illini hammered Wyoming, 38-6.
4. WR Ricky White, UNLV: The former Michigan State wideout made an impression in his Rebels debut, hauling in eight catches for 182 yards and two touchdowns to pace a 52-21 rout of Idaho State.
5. QB Drake Maye, North Carolina: The redshirt freshman opened the post-Sam Howell era in Chapel Hill with 294 yards and five touchdowns as the Tar Heels handled Florida A&M, 56-24. | 2022-09-02T10:10:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Notre Dame-Ohio State is highlight of college football schedule - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/college-football-best-games-week-1/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/college-football-best-games-week-1/ |
In discussing the past few years, John Wall said he was in the “darkest place I’ve ever been in.” (Mark Mulligan/AP)
The video of John Wall has gone viral. He’s at home, where he’s most comfortable. He looks good, healthy — powerful, even. Maybe the most powerful we have seen him in about two years. In the clip, he’s being so raw, so direct, and he has our attention.
“I’m back, mother----ers!”
“I’m him!”
“I’m too nice! I still got that s---!”
No, this is not about that video, the one with the edited highlights of Wall making every single shot in a game of pickup basketball and playing in a busy gymnasium alongside new Los Angeles Clippers teammate Paul George. The video this week in which Wall swaggers after every bucket, the model of machismo, shouting and swearing — possibly at the hapless defender but more likely for the benefit of the crowd and, of course, the cameras.
Rather, this is about that other video. The one in which Wall is sitting down in front of a Salvation Army backdrop and opening up about his mental health. He’s having a one-on-one interview and talks about his art collection, supporting the Black community, and mothers. Particularly, the one Wall calls his “Superwoman,” the late Frances Pulley.
Then the conversation takes an unexpectedly deep turn. Wall casually brings up the dark days he experienced over the past few years. And as he listens to a follow-up question about that time, Wall squints his eyes and shakes his head.
“Darkest place I’ve ever been in. I mean, at one point in time, I thought about committing suicide,” Wall said. “There was a time I had to go find a therapist. A lot of people think: ‘I don’t need help. I can get through it at any time.’ But you got to be true to yourself and find out what’s best for you, and I did that.”
Those particular words crash-land like cinder blocks tossed from a skyscraper. Even though the admission rushes out in Wall’s normal rat-a-tat cadence, it makes the interviewer, Donal Ware, sit back and mouth a single word that speaks for all of us: “Wow.”
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Wall — a multimillionaire NBA player, a five-time all-star, the career assists leader in Washington Wizards history but also a grieving son, a 30-something trying to find his way, a Black man — shattered the stigma.
There is a significance in this confession. He is not the first public figure to speak openly about his mental health. The topic has become paramount in the mainstream as celebrities and athletes alike have prioritized their wholeness. Last season, Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley announced on Twitter that he would be stepping away from football to focus on his mental wellness. Also recently, Terry McLaurin, the Washington Commanders’ top wideout, talked about the benefits he found in seeking out therapy.
Still, Wall’s admission is striking. He sat there on camera, his voice steady, no tremors of shame. He didn’t just speak in vague terms about “tough times” or “needing a break.” He said out loud how he once contemplated suicide.
That’s a taboo word in a certain branch of Black culture steeped in tradition. Especially among males, some who grew up as broken Black boys and were schooled, by other broken role models, that only a punk would cry. They may have learned to express themselves through displays of physical strength. And that a real man is defined by the status he has earned and the respect he receives.
In his honest moment, Wall broke through the facade of being hard and admitted he needed help. Such a change from a young Black man who has projected only the opposite.
As an NBA star, Wall behaved like a man who knew his worth — and wanted everyone else to know it, too. There was no problem the Rosebar couldn’t solve. He oozed the confidence — and the lack of self-awareness — of someone who refused to believe he would be anything other than No. 1.
Peak John Wall happened during a moment at an August 2017 news conference heralding his five-year, maximum contract with the Wizards. NBC Sports Washington reporter Chase Hughes asked what turned out to be the most relevant question of the day, inquiring whether Wall had thought how his high-octane game may have to develop as he gets older. Wall slowly shook his head and simply uttered: “Nah.”
The whole room laughed. Majority owner Ted Leonsis and then-general manager Ernie Grunfeld chuckled along, too. Fast-forward six months later, and Wall was recovering from a knee injury that would be a prelude to the 2019 Achilles’ surgery that changed the trajectory of his career, and he was asked what he had learned over the past eight weeks away from the game. Unfazed by the pain, he responded nonchalantly.
“What I learned? Nothing,” Wall said. “Nothing. Just chillin'.”
But things were never the same for Wall. His body failed him. The game left him behind. His precious Superwoman got cancer.
On Nov. 20, 2020, I was texting with someone close to Wall. It happened just after rumors began to circulate that Wall wanted out of Washington. By that time, the Wizards had started searching for a trade partner. His days as one of the most beloved and cocksure athletes to grace the District appeared to be coming to an end.
Wall had that foolish incident in New York City with the birthday video, where he was captured on camera, shirtless and eyes glazed, making elaborate gestures with his hands that were interpreted to be gang signs and then displaying a red bandanna. He was down, but there seemed to be more going on. More than a superstar’s fragile ego being fractured by trade rumors. More than just a 30-year-old cutting loose and acting tipsy on his birthday. So I sent the individual close to Wall a blunt message.
“Is John … okay? I really mean that as a question. Seems like he’s been down for a while”
None of us outside of Wall’s circle could have known the depth of what he was dealing with at that time. He wasn’t okay.
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In his recent interview, Wall ticked off a checklist of trauma, shedding a sliver of light of what happened these past two years.
“Tearing my Achilles'. My mom being sick. My mom passing. My grandma passing a year later, all this in the midst of covid at the same time. Me going to the chemotherapy and sitting there. Me seeing my mom take her last breath. Wearing the same clothes for three days, laying on the couch beside her,” Wall said.
All of this brought him to a dark place. But Wall — a young Black man from Raleigh, N.C., who fortifies himself as one of God’s “strongest soldiers” — sought therapy.
This is not the part where we applaud Wall, shower him with sympathy and stamp his story with and he lived happily ever after. An ellipsis belongs here, not an empathic period, because Wall stands at the starting line in his journey for wholeness.
Wall — and others like him who have struggled with depression — are not magically cured of their pain by seeking out help once. Therapy is a commitment that takes time and plenty of personal work. But we can celebrate Wall for his openness. And, yes, for being a strong Black man who had suicidal thoughts but then recognized he needed to talk to someone.
So let’s always remember that viral video of John Wall.
He’s at home, in Raleigh, N.C., where he always has been his most comfortable. He looks good. Healthy. Happy, even. Maybe the happiest we have seen him in about two years. In the clip, he’s being so honest, so open, and he commands our full attention. | 2022-09-02T10:10:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | John Wall, long known for swagger, showed real strength in discussing mental health - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/john-wall-suicide-video-mental-health/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/john-wall-suicide-video-mental-health/ |
The NFL has defanged its preseason. Interest hasn’t suffered.
Tom Brady was at the start of Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp before taking some time away. (Chris O’Meara/AP)
Just a few years ago, the absence of a marquee player would’ve been treated like an emergency. Perhaps Brady, a seven-time champion who tolerated retirement for just 40 days this offseason, is the only person who could take a break without inducing panic. But the situation still serves as evidence of the easygoing preseason mentality that has overtaken the NFL.
“It’s all personal,” Brady said, explaining his time off. “You know, everyone has got different situations they’re dealing with, so we all have really unique challenges to our life. I’m 45 years old, man. There’s a lot of s--- going on. So you’ve just got to try to figure out life the best you can. You know, it’s a continuous process.”
“They both told us that no one has their job guaranteed,” Robinson, 81, said. “All positions were open. We used to chuckle at Lombardi and say to each other, ‘You think he’s talking about Bart Starr, too?’ Maybe the star quarterback was safe, but for the rest of us, those preseason games were real. We rotated, and every linebacker would get a shot against the No. 1 offense on the other team. If I didn’t do well, I knew not to look forward to being a starter. You played your heart out.”
Robinson is the vice chairman of the Pro Football Retired Players Association. He knows what playing the game so hard can do to the body, and he has lived through the fight to compel the NFL to provide better benefits and resources for retired players. Still, the competitor in him doesn’t enjoy the current cautiousness. | 2022-09-02T10:10:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The NFL preseason means less than ever. Interest hasn't suffered. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/tom-brady-buccaneers-preseason/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/tom-brady-buccaneers-preseason/ |
Commanders receiver Terry McLaurin, center, has grown accustomed to coping with bad news over his career in Washington, and he's developed mechanisms to deal with the stresses. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
Jason Wright was leaving church in Washington on Sunday evening when his phone lit up. One call was from D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee III. Another was from Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s office. Both had reached out to alert Wright, the Washington Commanders president, that running back Brian Robinson Jr. had been shot twice during an armed robbery attempt.
Quarterback Carson Wentz was texting with his offensive linemen when he found out. Wentz had also just heard that Washington’s quarterbacks coach, Ken Zampese, was grappling with the death of his father, former coach Ernie Zampese.
“It is sobering,” Wentz said. “We’re so geared toward our job. Everything revolves around football, and it is our life, and I try to not put my identity fully in football, but you do give a lot. You give a lot, and it’s mentally and physically taxing. So to have moments that are real life moments, that aren’t completely football, are completely unrelated to football, I think it gives you a sense of reality and makes you realize there is a much bigger picture and there’s much more important things in life.”
Robinson was discharged from the hospital and was back at the team’s facility days later to catch up with teammates. He will miss at least the first four games of the season on the non-football injury list, but the Commanders feel fortunate their teammate is alive and the injuries he suffered in the incident weren’t worse.
Robinson’s situation is unusual, but for much of the past two years, the Commanders have been inundated with difficult moments: illnesses, deaths in players’ families, off-field drama that predates many on the roster, headlines about investigations and more. While tasked with trying to turn around the franchise’s losing history on the field, players in Washington face an equally trying task of dealing with consistent turmoil and adversity.
“Unfortunately, you don’t want to say we’ve gotten used to tragedy . . . but things have happened on and off the field for this team the last few years,” wide receiver Terry McLaurin said. “So we’ve learned a lot to really take the time and appreciate what’s going on because you can’t just breeze over it or just move past it, because you’ve got to play football in the game.”
The Commanders players, the ones in the spotlight during Washington’s carousel of bad news, continue on.
Consider: Since the start of 2020, when Coach Ron Rivera was hired, Washington has overhauled its coaching staff, changed team names twice, watched its coach undergo cancer treatment, had nearly half of its team contract the coronavirus in an outbreak and felt the heartbreak of teammates when their loved ones died.
The troubles seemed to boil over in December, when Washington crumbled against the Cowboys in Dallas. A skirmish broke out on the sideline between defensive tackles Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne. The two later described it as a “brotherly fight,” but the reality was sobering. The team was reeling from the news that former safety Deshazor Everett had been the driver of a car that crashed and killed his girlfriend. More than two dozen players had tested positive for the coronavirus that month, and its once-promising winning streak had dwindled into losses against division rivals that ended any hope of a playoff run.
Terry McLaurin is Washington’s most beloved player since Sean Taylor
“I think in our position, where we’re kind of at a higher standard and we play a kid’s game but get paid a lot of money [and have] a lot of eyes and attention on us, people forget that we are still human sometimes and things do affect us on and off the field,” McLaurin said. “So we just try to support each other and be human as much as we can.”
Though some players try to stay off social media and instead ask team staffers or friends to monitor the news for them, the 24-hour cycle is inescapable and often has included Commanders in the headlines. In March, former Washington quarterback Alex Smith told NFL Network’s Rich Eisen that the outside news always penetrated the walls of Washington’s facility.
“How could it not?” said Smith, who suffered a leg injury in 2018 with Washington that almost cost him his life. “All the stuff there with just the entire organization from ownership down, head coaching and GM, there’s been historically a lot of drama there. . . . So to say that the stuff going on in the building doesn’t infiltrate the locker room or out on the field would be crazy.”
“I wish we had had a person like this in place when I was at Northwestern and my teammate passed away,” said Wright, referring to former Northwestern safety Rashidi Wheeler, who died of a bronchial asthma attack during a practice in 2001. “That sort of psychological care for both the collective and the individual would have really helped us a lot.”
Washington drafted McLaurin in 2019, and he is one of its most experienced players in dealing with adversity around the team. His ability to compartmentalize has been among his greatest assets, along with his indefatigable work ethic. Yet he’s not so immersed in football that he’s blinded by the game. He has spoken about his work with a therapist to help him through difficult times, has regularly cited his family and close friends as a support network and has been vocal about being viewed as more than just No. 17 for the Commanders.
“We’re human beings, and it does affect us mentally," McLaurin said. "It just shakes your whole day when things like that happen. But we also understand that we still have to do our job and come out here and practice hard and prepare.”
“I think my wife would tell you that I’m pretty good at compartmentalization, and that’s something that you get a lot of practice with just being in this industry,” he said. “There are always things going on. You can’t ignore them. You got to take them, you got to process them, but then you’ve got to be able to put them on the side a little bit ... because it’s important that you keep a clear head while you’re out there on the field.
“When you're off the field, you can continue to process those things, whatever they may be.”
Although Washington often seems a magnet for adversity and drama, the news that Robinson had been shot shocked many. Rivera admitted he was “blindsided” when he heard, and he raced to the hospital with running backs coach Randy Jordan.
“It was hard,” Rivera said. “I’ve gotten several phone calls as a head coach, unfortunately, but this one was one of the harder ones. First of all, because he’s a heck of a young man. He really is more than just a football player.” | 2022-09-02T10:10:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | ‘Blindsided’ by latest adversity, Commanders continue to cope - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/washington-commanders-brian-robinson-adversity/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/washington-commanders-brian-robinson-adversity/ |
Armie Hammer in 2018. Hammer and his family are the subject of Discovery Plus's new docuseries “House of Hammer.” (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
To a casual observer, the Armie Hammer saga that went public in early 2021 may have seemed to be about some creepy text messages, a rope fetish and something about cannibalism. One could be forgiven; after all, that’s what the social media chatter boiled down to. But a new documentary digs in to find that the allegations against Hammer are much broader and more disturbing — and concludes that they are part of a dark family tradition.
“House of Hammer,” a three-part docuseries that premiered Friday on Discovery Plus, starts with the Armie Hammer storyline, then climbs up five generations of his family tree. For decades, it argues, the men of the mega-wealthy Hammer dynasty have been up to no good — living lawlessly and greedily, and harming others. Here are the series’ most jarring revelations about each.
Armie allegedly has a history of abusing women while playing it off as kinky sex or fetish play. Courtney Vucekovich, a Dallas business owner and a former girlfriend of Armie’s, alleges on-screen that he tied her up with ropes with only her vague consent, disregarding the common BDSM rule requiring consistent, reaffirmed mutual consent. The documentary also shows footage of another woman, “Effie,” alleging in a video that Armie violently raped her for more than four hours on one occasion in 2017. Paige Lorenze, a model and influencer, alleges that Armie wanted to find a doctor who could remove her ribs so he could eat them. She also alleges that Armie branded her with a hot iron and licked the wound while it was bleeding. All three women also describe controlling, surveilling behaviors that sometimes scared them.
Damiana Chi, a professional dominatrix and a BDSM educator, makes an appearance in the documentary, and is shown some footage of Armie’s former girlfriends describing his behavior. Someone who is aroused by “somebody else’s fear, when that person feels uncomfortable about it, is not a kinkster doing BDSM,” Chi says after watching. “That person is an abuser.”
The Los Angeles Police Department investigated Effie’s rape allegation for nine months in 2021 before handing it over to the district attorney. At this point, no criminal charges have been filed.
Johnny Depp’s VMAs cameo is the latest stop on his redemption tour
Armie’s great-great-grandfather, Julius, was a Russian Jewish immigrant to the United States who was a founding member of the American Communist Party. He named his son Armand, born in 1898, for the symbol of the Communist Party in Russia (“arm and hammer”).
Over the years, the Soviet Union was thought to have used Julius and his family to channel money into New York to fund communist groups — as well as steal American trade secrets and technology. Joseph Finder of the Harvard Russian Research Center explains in the docuseries that the CIA concluded that Armand Hammer was brought into the fold, too; Armand was used to collect information for the KGB and therefore was considered to be an agent of the Soviet Union. Thanks to Julius, Armand “was a money launderer and courier of funds channeled to Soviet espionage in the U.S.,” Finder says. “It was secret, it was illegal, it was dangerous.”
“Behind every great fortune is a great crime. Behind the Hammer fortune there were a great number of great crimes,” says Edward Jay Epstein, who wrote a biography of Armand and whose conclusions and thoughts are referenced throughout the series.
Armand, Armie’s great-grandfather, later became a mega-wealthy oil tycoon — and, according to the docuseries, was known to be abusive toward his wives and mistresses, involved in corruption schemes and disturbingly ruthless with his business interests. Armand used his third wife’s (Frances Barrett Tolman) money to invest in Occidental Petroleum, an oil company, and make it a massive success. During his divorce from his second wife, Angela Carey Zevely, she alleged that Armand willfully and maliciously “destroyed her will” and threatened to “beat her brains out” while brandishing a metal pipe. “My husband is a master of psychological warfare,” she wrote.
During his marriage to Frances, Armand had a mistress named Martha Kaufman. When Frances discovered the affair and told her husband to get rid of Kaufman, Armand ordered Kaufman to change her name to Hilary Gibson and dye her hair platinum blond. Armand kept Kaufman, now known as Gibson, as an employee, and according to Epstein, “what he demanded was control of her entire life and identity.” Gibson always had to be available on short notice, Epstein says, carrying two pagers so Armand could reach her. A tracking device was installed in her car and a tap was placed on her phone; Armand also controlled her vacation schedule, and she allegedly had to consent to his sexual demands even when she didn’t like them.
Armand’s fortune also earned him political connections and influence. Neil Lyndon, Armand’s former political and media consultant, alleges in the series that Armand made illegal contributions to political campaigns frequently; Armand even pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor after the funds used to pay the burglars in the Watergate scandal were traced back to him.
Armand was in charge of Occidental Petroleum when a North Sea oil rig exploded in July 1988, killing 167 people. Armand effectively took blame publicly, Lyndon says, but didn’t show much interest in the victims or the aftermath in private, and celebrated the successful handling of the incident with Champagne and caviar.
From 1996: Armand Hammer's afterlife
Armie’s grandfather Julian also abused women and was known to be violent, his ex-fiancee and daughter allege in the docuseries. He often lounged around in luxury pajamas, earning the nickname “the Hugh Hefner of Pacific Palisades,” and allegedly sometimes helped his father, Armand, bug telephones. On his own time, the documentary says, he liked to host cocaine-fueled orgies at home, sometimes with his young daughter Casey around. He also violently abused his wife, Glenna Sue, while Casey and her brother Michael were home. Casey alleges that her mother would take the children to a motel until Julian cooled down. “Women were disposable in the Hammer family,” Casey says.
Julian was left out of Armand’s will almost entirely; Armand instead left the majority of his estate to Julian’s son Michael. Casey, Armie Hammer’s aunt, went on to write the 2015 book “Surviving My Birthright” about the seemingly hereditary toxicity of the men in five generations of her family.
Michael, Armie’s father, is understood to be the chief keeper and defender of the Hammer family legacy. As a young man, he worked for Occidental Petroleum, and after Armand died in 1990, Casey tells the documentarians that Michael entered Armand’s home before his body was even taken away to remove several cars’ worth of expensive items and heirlooms. At Armand’s funeral, Michael’s father-in-law father declared that Armand became a Christian on his deathbed, despite the funeral being facilitated by Jewish rabbis; Michael and his then-wife Dru (Armie’s mother) donated much of the $40 million they inherited from Armand to Christian groups, including Jews for Jesus and Italy for Christ.
The docuseries also alleges that Michael possesses a 7-foot-tall “sex throne” with a hole in the seat and a cage underneath. According to a 2021 Vanity Fair story about the Hammer family, Michael has been photographed sitting in it and holding the head of a blond woman; his lawyer, in response to that and other questions from the magazine, referred to “unsolicited gag gifts.”
“Michael Hammer, Armie’s father,” says one TikToker, in a clip included in the documentary, “seems like he may have passed on some of his proclivities to his son.” | 2022-09-02T10:18:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 'House of Hammer': Armie Hammer's sordid family drama takes center stage - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/09/02/armie-hammer-house-of-hammers/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/09/02/armie-hammer-house-of-hammers/ |
A Chesapeake Bay lighthouse is up for auction. No bids have come in.
HANDOUT — The U.S. General Services Administration announces the opening of the online auction sale of the Hooper Island Lighthouse. The federal government is searching for a new steward to purchase the lighthouse, located about four miles west of Middle Hooper Island in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. The starting opening bid is set at $15,000.00. (U.S. General Services Administration) Hooper Island Light is a caisson (sparkplug) lighthouse built in 1902. The lighthouse stands in 18 feet of water with a focal plane height of 63 feet. The lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 2, 2002. (General Services Administration)
Not the nonprofits or preservationists. Not education agencies or community development groups. Not local fishermen or lighthouse enthusiasts.
The federal government has been looking for a new steward of a 120-year-old Chesapeake Bay lighthouse since 2017,, but no one has taken the bait. The lighthouse, affectionately called the “spark plug” by locals, was recently put up for auction to the public — a move the federal government can make only after it has exhausted other options. The starting bid is $15,000.
As of Thursday, Sept. 1 — more than 20 days after the auction began — there have been no bids, said Will Powell, a U.S. General Services Administration spokesman. Powell added that it’s “not unusual to not receive bids until the last few days of the auction.”
The lighthouse, built in 1902, is a working navigational aid to the U.S. Coast Guard located about three to four miles west of Middle Hooper Island. This means owning the lighthouse is, well, complicated.
It’s in the middle of the bay, so there is no dock to anchor a boat to. Instead, a person would need to tie the boat to the lighthouse’s outer ladder and climb up, amid the waves.
There were once living quarters, but those have been removed, Powell said. There are no utilities, such as water, sewer, electricity or gas. The area that previously was the kitchen is empty. And even if there were basic amenities, a new owner is not allowed to use the lighthouse as a home or rental unit.
People can stay overnight only if they are the owner or a designated contractor doing maintenance or rehabilitation work, according to a memorandum of agreement. However, they may not want to.
The interior includes “hazardous materials such as lead-based paint, asbestos, benzene, and a host of other dangerous compounds...” according to a 2019 inspection report. And even if that rehab work were to happen, the owner must communicate with the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division because it is located in a Navy- controlled surface danger area.
“It is imperative, for obvious safety reasons, that the lighthouse not be occupied whenever range operations which involve dropping non-explosive ordnance or firing inert missiles are scheduled to occur in that area of the range,” according to a memorandum of agreement.
The lighthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places. That title also comes with the responsibility of upkeep. A new owner would be legally required to maintain the lighthouse in accordance with specific historic preservation standards.
“Findings: Fair condition, but approaching poor,” a 2019 lighthouse inspection report reads.
The lighthouse sits in about 18 feet of water and the foundation extends another 18 feet above. A tower was built on top of the foundation and the focal plane, or the height of the light, is 63 feet. The lighthouse has a “distinctive design and method of construction that typified lighthouse constructions on the Chesapeake Bay during the late half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,” according to the National Register of Historic Places registration form.
“The Hooper Island Light Station is significant for its association with the federal governmental efforts to provide an integrated system of navigational aids and to provide for safe maritime transportation in the Chesapeake Bay, a major transportation corridor for commercial traffic from the early nineteenth through twentieth centuries,” according to the registration form.
The upkeep was too daunting for the U.S. Lighthouse Society, a national organization with more than 3,000 members and the lighthouse’s current owner.
“We started to realize as an organization, about five years after we started, that the remoteness of the lighthouse and the difficulty in getting onto the lighthouse was basically limiting our time that we had to work on the lighthouse,” said Henry Gonzalez, the society’s vice president. “There were many days that were lost to our volunteers because we just weren’t able to dock onto the lighthouse.”
When asked about the lighthouse’s history — stories of its previous stewards or the history it has seen on the waters in its 120 years, Gonzalez said: “There’s nothing really that stands out a lot. No deaths, no disappearances. We don’t have any ghost stories, unfortunately.” He did mention the white, glossy tile — similar to that of a subway station in the 1900s — lining the interior of the lighthouse, which he said is unique.
Since 2000 — the year the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act was enacted — the GSA has transferred about 148 lighthouses. That includes 82 no-cost transfers to public entities, such as nonprofit organizations, and 66 through public sales that have amassed more than $8 million.
The GSA hopes the Hooper Island listing reaches nonprofit groups or private buyers who “really like, enjoy, love, lighthouses,” he said.
“ “It’s not every day that a lighthouse comes up for auction,” Powell said.
But the Hooper Island lighthouse still hasn’t spurred any bidding wars.
“Should GSA not receive any bids on the lighthouse property, we will consult with the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Lighthouse Society on potential next steps, possibly including another auction,” Powell said.
“We really hope the new owners, whoever they are, will do a good job fixing it and making it look great again and be around for a very long time,” said Greg Krawczyk, the vice president of the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society. He said buyers should ensure they have the money to do the needed restoration work.
Capt. Phil Gootee isn’t planning on putting a bid on the lighthouse, but he hopes someone else does.
The Dorchester County native grew up fishing in the area, boating across the Honga River to the Chesapeake Bay to find redfish, sea trout, striped bass and other wildlife. He now oversees guided lighthouse tours, including the Hooper Island lighthouse, through his fishing charter and tour company. It cost $500 for 12 or less people, he said.
“It would be nice to see somebody fix it up because it is part of the history of the area,” Gootee said. “You go down there, you’re fishing, and you always see it when you’re coming back ... you see that lighthouse, you’re getting closer to home.” | 2022-09-02T10:19:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A Chesapeake Bay lighthouse is up for auction, but there aren’t any bids - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/chesapeake-bay-lighthouse-sale/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/chesapeake-bay-lighthouse-sale/ |
‘It is likely a reptile or a close relative,’ scientist John Calder said about the extremely rare fossil found on a beach in Canada
Lisa St. Coeur Cormier found this fossilized skeleton on Canada's Prince Edward Island on Aug. 22. (Lisa St. Coeur Cormier )
High school teacher Lisa St. Coeur Cormier was strolling with her dog near her home on Canada’s Prince Edward Island when something caught her eye.
She often finds sea glass when she’s walking Sammy, but this day she thought she spotted a branch or tree root poking out of the sand.
“I saw something about two feet long with a strange shape,” said Cormier, 36, who lives in Charlottetown. “When I looked closer, I realized there was a rib cage. And around that, there was a spine and a skull.”
Cormier, who used to be a middle school science teacher, immediately knew it was a fossil. But she never imagined how rare and old, or the excitement that would develop from her discovery that day, Aug. 22.
It turns out the fossil is probably about 300 million years old, possibly from a species that no longer exists, said John Calder, a geologist and paleontologist from Halifax, Nova Scotia. That’s before the Jurassic period, when dinosaurs roamed the earth about 200 million years ago.
“There aren’t very many specimens from this period, so it was an incredible find,” Calder said about the fossil.
A photo of the fossil Cormier found landed on his desk after she took pictures and her family began contacting experts about her discovery.
“Something like this comes along every 50 to 100 years,” said Calder, who wrote a book about the geology of Prince Edward Island. “I thought, ‘My goodness, it needs to be collected right away before more bits wash away.’ ”
Calder estimates that the fossil is from the end of the Carboniferous period and into the Permian period.
“It is likely a reptile or a close relative, but it could also be unknown,” he said.
The fossil had probably recently been exposed to the elements and was in danger of washing away in the tide, he said.
Calder put a plan together, packed up his gear and made a trip to Prince Edward Island on Aug. 26 to carefully dig up the fossil with a Parks Canada crew.
“I was really nervous about the tides and was so glad when they arrived,” Cormier said.
“To think that this fossil might have been here 60 to 100 million years before the arrival of dinosaurs was so exciting that I couldn’t sleep,” she added.
She understood the potential importance of her discovery.
“I kept thinking of all the times I’d taught my science students about fossils,” Cormier said. “And now, here I’d found a significant one.”
Laura MacNeil, a geologist who runs Prehistoric Island Tours, a company that gives tours of fossil sites on the island, also was involved in figuring out what to do with the unusual find.
MacNeil said that, like Calder, she was anxious to get the fossil safely out of the bedrock and into the hands of expert paleontologists.
She said the fossilized skeleton Cormier found is an extraordinarily uncommon discovery on Prince Edward Island.
“I was really excited to think what this could mean for the island,” she said.
After Calder took a close look at the fossil, he and his excavation crew got to work. They were joined by Cormier and MacNeil; Cormier’s husband, Gabriel Cormier; and her father-in-law, Aubrey Cormier, as they delicately dug two feet down to bedrock to put a trench around the skeleton.
“We were racing against time to get it out before sunset,” Calder said. “It took a lot of digging and fine chiseling. Once you start doing that, you’re committed to retrieving it in a short window before the tide comes in.”
More than five hours later, everyone was relieved when the skeleton was gently lifted out in three pieces surrounded by rock, he said.
Parks Canada workers then drove the fossil 36 miles across the island to a makeshift paleontology repository in Greenwich, where it will be stored until it is moved again to a paleontology lab in Nova Scotia for a CT scan.
Calder said they want to see what is inside the rock and get a better idea of how to safely remove the fossil.
“It will be a painstaking challenge to keep everything together because the rock is so soft,” he said. “It is a mud stone as opposed to a sandstone.”
Once the fossil is scanned, it could be sent to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in D.C. or the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, where experts will remove all of the rock surrounding the skeleton and begin studying the specimen, he said.
“It will probably take a year to figure out exactly what this is,” Calder said. “We’re not 100 percent sure that it’s a reptile.”
Calder said the fossilized creature was probably similar in appearance to a Gila monster.
“Ultimately, it will be up to the scientists who publish a paper [about it] to decide what it should be called,” he said.
Cormier said she is excited for that to happen. But first, she can’t wait to tell her students when classes start next week — she now teaches French and history — about what she stumbled upon.
“What are the odds that I would go out for a walk and come across this fossil at the precise moment that it was exposed and nothing was covering it?” she said. “I’m in awe.” | 2022-09-02T10:19:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Rare fossil older than dinosaurs found on beach in Canada - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/09/02/rare-fossil-canada-dinosaur-cormier/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/09/02/rare-fossil-canada-dinosaur-cormier/ |
College football has grappled with the same problem for almost a century
In 1937, University of Pittsburgh football players voted not to play in the Rose Bowl after administrators refused to meet their demands.
Perspective by Bennett Koerber
Bennett Koerber is an instructor of history at Carnegie Mellon University.
Marshall Goldberg, University of Pittsburgh halfback, is surrounded by charging Washington Huskies during the Rose Bowl game after the 1936 season, on Jan. 1, 1937. (AP)
College football is back, with the year’s first full slate of games over Labor Day weekend. The return of action on the field marks the end of a particularly chaotic offseason headlined by debates over Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) legislation, conference realignment and even a high-profile recruiting squabble between Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Alabama’s Nick Saban. Each incident reminds us that college football faces a moment of reckoning, its amateur model crumbling before our eyes as student-athletes sign increasingly lucrative endorsement and brand deals.
Yet while the change is jarring, this story is far from new. In late 1937, the players on the top-ranked University of Pittsburgh Panthers voted against playing in the prestigious postseason Rose Bowl game on New Year’s Day 1938. The news generated a national debate over player treatment and compensation that proved remarkably similar to current conversations swirling around college football. The case also exposes how, unless college football’s stakeholders listen more to players, and potentially involve them in key decisions, the problems confronting the game will persist.
The defending national champion Panthers had just completed an undefeated 1937 regular season when university administrators called a closed-door meeting after rumors about player discontent. Pitt’s 31-member “traveling squad” reportedly presented three demands: $100-$200 for each player, assurances that the entire team of 60 would travel to the Rose Bowl and an immediate two-week vacation to compensate for their lost Christmas holiday. Administrators denied the players’ requests and the team responded with a 16-15 vote not to play.
The players didn’t view themselves as activists trying to change the sport. Instead, the day after the bombshell news broke, team captain John Michelosen claimed that for many “personal” reasons, the team, especially the upperclassmen who had already played in two Rose Bowls, preferred a two-week Christmas break over practice and travel. In a 1994 interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, all-American halfback Marshall Goldberg recalled, “We were burned out.”
But while they might not have seen themselves as crusaders for systemic change, poor treatment by university officials was at the root of the players’ decision. Goldberg noted that some of his teammates voted “no” because of their Rose Bowl experience the previous year. In December 1936, the team had traveled to California by train, stopping to practice two to three times per day. Goldberg also recalled a postgame dance at which the opposing University of Washington players arrived with $100 each and new suits. The victorious Panthers, however, received nothing from Pitt athletic officials and wore older sweaters and pants. “When we showed up for a reception with them,” added Goldberg, “imagine how [embarrassed] we felt.”
Other players were upset by rumors that Chancellor John Gabbert Bowman wanted to dismiss their coach, John Bain “Jock” Sutherland, a former Pitt all-American who had guided the program to five national championships from 1929 to 1937. They were further incensed by a new athletic policy implemented by administrators earlier that fall. Most notably, it required the players to secure work-study jobs (often janitorial work) to earn their $48 monthly stipends for room and board on top of playing and practicing.
Although the players might not have been thinking about labor activism when making their decision, outside observers saw the vote in the context of the robust labor movement of the late 1930s. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sports editor Havey Boyle labeled it a “sit-down strike.” Boyle wrote that the Panthers demonstrated “solidarity” and “collective bargaining” by refusing to play the game, which carried a $10,000 prize for the winning school.
Nationally, journalists went even further, portraying the Panthers as exploited workers. A Tennessee sports reporter encouraged all college football players to unionize, contending that “the only difference” between them and industrial employees was that the latter “works out the money to pay his way through school, while the football player works for his keep after getting in school.”
The “sit-down” strike narrative spread not only because of college football’s popularity, but also because, in 1937, work stoppages occurred regularly. Historian David Kennedy notes that, in the late 1930s, as the American economy improved gradually from the Great Depression and some consumers resumed normal spending, work stoppages became more potent and unskilled laborers responded by organizing more frequently. The Department of Labor found that there were 4,740 work stoppages in 1937 — a 118 percent increase from the previous year and the most in American history, with 1.8 million workers going on strike — a 104 percent increase from 1936. Pittsburgh had 99 strikes — the fifth-most among American cities.
The press narrative that the players were overworked and underpaid resonated with an increasingly pro-labor Pittsburgh community. Beginning in 1932, Southwestern Pennsylvania residents in traditionally Republican districts began electing pro-labor Democrats in local, state and national elections. In all, 17 company-run steel towns voted in pro-labor candidates over Republican incumbents — part of what scholar Eric Leif Davin describes as the development of a class-based political identity in the region. In this environment, Pittsburghers embraced the “strike” narrative and sympathized with the players as fellow exploited workers rather than student-athletes.
Soon after the players’ decision became national news, Herbert Nussen from the nearby steel town of Carnegie argued that the players’ demands were requests for reasonable treatment from their employer. Nussen claimed that their advocacy for all players to attend the trip was simply a desire for the entire team to enjoy a California vacation after months of hard practices. In a letter to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Samuel Karas, who identified himself as “not a college man,” agreed, musing that the players simply wanted fair compensation for their labor. He compared their appeals for pay to his own work experience in which “the worker who does the job better gets paid accordingly.”
Despite the public clamor, nothing changed. The Pitt administration never satisfied the players’ demands and, on New Year’s Day, the University of California Golden Bears defeated the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, 13-0, in the Rose Bowl. Sutherland eventually resigned in 1939 after constant disputes with several Pitt administrators over the direction of the football program. The end of his tenure marked the end of Pitt football’s glory years. After a modest 5-4 record in 1939, the team would not enjoy another winning season for a decade, and it remained only moderately successful until its sole other national championship in 1976.
College football has come a long way since 1937. Players now receive athletic scholarships, cost-of-living stipends, free meals and, most recently, the ability to cash in on their likeness.
However, as legislators and NCAA officials lead the debates over NIL regulations, and university athletic administrators consider their own financial prospects when making conference realignment decisions — often meaning significantly more travel for players — it remains important to remember 1937. Despite skipping the Rose Bowl, the Panthers’ players ultimately received very little for their season of labor. Despite attracting tens of thousands of paying customers, administrators ignored their postseason demands. Even their champions — both in the media and the general public — cared little about the players’ own reasoning or thoughts.
And that helps explain why the questions about proper compensation for student-athletes have lingered for close to a century. The players — without whose labor the games and billions of dollars in profit would be impossible — really have little voice in the governance of college sports. While the NCAA’s amateur model claims to advocate for and prioritize student-athletes, it often ignores their opinions and only implements wholesale change on their behalf when forced by the courts. This makes it difficult to create a stable model — one that serves all stakeholders well and allows the game to flourish. | 2022-09-02T10:19:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | College football has grappled with the same problem for almost a century - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/09/02/college-football-has-grappled-with-same-problem-almost-century/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/09/02/college-football-has-grappled-with-same-problem-almost-century/ |
The U.S. is repeating its failed 1990s Afghanistan policies
Trying to punish the Taliban financially only hurts average Afghans
Perspective by Ali A. Olomi
Ali A Olomi is a historian of the Middle East and Islam and assistant professor of history at Loyola Marymount University.
A mother holds her malnourished boy at the Indira Gandhi hospital in Kabul on May 22. (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)
Wednesday marked the first anniversary of the end of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. The longest foreign war in U.S. history came to a close with a chaotic withdrawal that left the country in the hands of the Taliban and confronting a brewing humanitarian crisis. Despite militarily withdrawing, the United States continues to pursue a policy of financially starving Afghanistan of desperately needed funds in an attempt to force the Taliban to reduce its repression — especially of women — as well as its support for terrorism.
This approach resurrects the American policy toward the Taliban between the late 1990s and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001 — and early signs indicate it will have the same consequences now as it did then. Starving the regime of funding won’t improve its behavior. Instead, it will only lead to prolonged suffering for Afghans.
The Taliban emerged in the wake of the U.S.-Soviet proxy war during the Cold War and the subsequent Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and occupation from 1979 to 1989. The withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989 left a power vacuum that plunged Afghanistan into chaos as former mujahideen commanders — who had received support from the United States during the war — and regional power brokers vied for dominion. Corruption and civil strife were rampant.
A conservative faction of the former mujahideen, who had built a power base in the rural parts of the country, entered the fray ostensibly to address the chaos and conflict. They promised stability and drew support from young madrassa students and displaced refugees. This power and its regional base enabled the Taliban to lead an insurgency, which caught the other political players by surprise. Within a few years, the Taliban had seized sizable portions of Afghanistan, including the capital city.
Though it promised stability, the Taliban never hid their eventual vision of establishing order through brutal repression. Almost immediately after wresting control of Afghanistan, the regime began restricting the movement of women, policing access to education and carrying out violent reprisals against political opponents.
Even so, the United States welcomed the Taliban as a potential partner in the region. Leading figures in the State Department hoped the new regime would usher in stability and end infighting. American policymakers were also enticed by a partnership that could result in economic rewards.
Afghanistan was ideally located for a major gas pipeline, which policymakers estimated would be profitable for Western companies and lower prices for Western consumers. The petroleum company Unocal began courting the Taliban soon after they seized control of the country. In 1995, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Robert Oakley, joined the project as a key player for finalizing an agreement between the United States and the new regime in Kabul. Alongside him was Zalmay Khalilzad, a former Bush administration official who had joined the RAND Corporation, and former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who would serve as a special consultant — demonstrating bipartisan support for the project.
The Unocal-Taliban deal promised economic rewards, and Democrats and Republicans alike also saw it as potentially offering a direct foothold in the region after the proxy war of the 1980s. Such a relationship would offer a counterbalance in the region to the hostile Iranian regime.
Critically, Unocal would go on to funnel nearly 1 million dollars through the University of Nebraska to Kandahar to establish a training school for future pipeline workers as it pushed for the completion of a deal. The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline promised to flood the region with tens of millions of dollars in profits, something particularly attractive to the cash-starved Taliban.
In 1997, as part of their charm offensive, Unocal invited the Taliban to Texas with the approval of the Clinton State Department. Company executives warmly welcomed Taliban officials — despite the regime’s brutality and well-known human rights violations — and both parties eagerly pursued a deal.
It all fell apart in 1998 after Osama bin Laden organized and directed the U.S. Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. With the Taliban backing Bin Laden and the U.S. launching cruise missile strikes in Afghanistan, the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline deal was dead. By all accounts, the Taliban was neither directly involved nor aware of what Bin Laden was planning. Yet they remained committed to their partnership with the al-Qaeda leader — even at the cost of the potential influx of American money, and their hopes for a relationship with the United States.
The eagerness to establish business dealings between the United States and the Taliban gave way to a new period of isolation and American sanctions.
Afghans paid the price for the regime’s support of terrorism. Food and water scarcities led to famine, and lack of access to medical supplies increased infant mortality and death from readily curable diseases. Decades of proxy wars and civil strife had left the country with no infrastructure to speak of — making it ill-equipped to deal with a humanitarian crisis. Plus, the Taliban closed down schools. And the soured relationship with the United States shattered international support and cut off trade.
In 2001, however, a Swedish foreign delegation along with UNESCO visited the Buddhas of Bamiyan and offered funding to potentially buy and preserve the centuries-old historical statues. The Taliban leader, Mohammad Omar, in an interview with journalist Mohammad Shehzad, claimed that when the regime asked that the money go to food for starving children instead of preserving the statues, they were rebuffed. In retaliation for what they deemed the international community’s indifference to Afghan suffering, the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas. Speaking to journalist Barbara Crossette, Taliban envoy Rahmatullah Hashemi said, “The scholars told them that instead of spending money on statues, why didn’t they help our children who are dying of malnutrition? They rejected that, saying, ‘This money is only for statues.’ ” While the regime had earlier intervened to prevent a local commander from damaging the statues, it decided that “if you are destroying our future with economic sanctions, you can’t care about our heritage.”
Destroying the statues was an act of defiance — one that epitomized the reaction to the imposition of sanctions. The regime thumbed its nose at demands from the United States and its allies, even as ordinary Afghans suffered. Where there had once been centuries-old Buddhas, now there were empty alcoves — markers of the failed policy toward the Taliban. In the years that followed, the Taliban became even more repressive, destroying music cassettes, carrying out public executions and using physical violence to maintain their hold over major cities.
Yet despite the failure of sanctions to alter the Taliban’s behavior in the 1990s, the situation in 2022 appears to be remarkably similar.
Under the Trump administration, Khalilzad, who served in the George W. Bush administration after his efforts on behalf of the Unocal deal, returned to a position of power and hammered out the withdrawal deal between the United States and the Taliban. Last year, the Taliban unexpectedly seized Kabul forcing the United States into a hasty, chaotic and internationally humiliating withdrawal.
In retaliation, the United States has once more economically cut off Afghanistan from the world. While ostensibly aiming to punish the Taliban — especially after it reneged on promises to treat women better than it had during its initial reign — as before, ordinary Afghans are bearing the cost.
The U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction reports that 18.9 million Afghans face “extreme levels of hunger” and “near famine conditions.” Yet the United States continues a policy of icy indifference toward the unfolding humanitarian crisis. The inability of the United States to navigate the delicate balance of addressing the crisis at the human level, while simultaneously refusing to politically recognize the Taliban, once more sets the conditions for disaster.
The experience of the late 1990s suggests that not only will the policy drive vast suffering in Afghanistan, but it won’t curb the brutality of the Taliban — or its support for terrorism. Instead, international sanctions probably will worsen the regime’s extremist policies. The empty alcoves where once the Buddhas of Bamian stood are a testament to the failures of the policies past and a warning to the continuation of those policies today. | 2022-09-02T10:19:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The U.S. is repeating its failed 1990s Afghanistan policies - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/09/02/us-is-repeating-its-failed-1990s-afghanistan-policies/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/09/02/us-is-repeating-its-failed-1990s-afghanistan-policies/ |
Teen forcibly taken to reform school after seeking emancipation, feds say
( iStock)
In August last year, a teenage boy in California was approached at his workplace by at least two strangers who handcuffed him, took his phone and drove him for 27 straight hours to a boarding school in Missouri, prosecutors said Wednesday.
He was allegedly kept there for eight days against his will.
The teenager had been living away from his mother, Shana Gaviola, and had filed to be legally emancipated from the woman, whom he accused of mistreatment, court records show. A judge issued a protective order last year barring Gaviola from contacting her son, harassing him or restricting his movements, prosecutors said.
But in an indictment unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors allege that Gaviola and a former boarding school dean named Julio Sandoval violated that order by having the boy forcibly taken some 1,700 miles from Fresno, Calif., to a controversial Missouri school where Sandoval worked at the time. The teen was held there — even as his father requested his release — before being allowed to leave about a week later, according to the document.
Gaviola, 35, and Sandoval, 41, have each been charged with an interstate violation of a protective order and aiding and abetting. If convicted, they could each face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors said.
Gaviola has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody, according to court and jail records. Her attorney, Tony Capozzi, told The Washington Post in an email that Gaviola “had valid reasons for what she did.”
“There is more to the story than is being presented by the prosecutors in the indictment,” Capozzi said, adding that “Ms. Gaviola’s position will unfold as this case progresses.”
Sandoval could not be reached for comment, and his attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Thursday.
Sandoval was once the dean at Agapé Boarding School, a Christian school for “at-risk or unmotivated boys” in Stockton, Mo., the Kansas City Star reported. He left the school after five Agapé staff members were charged with assaulting students last September, according to the paper. The school, about 45 miles northwest of Springfield, is facing more than a dozen lawsuits accusing it of child abuse — allegations the school has denied. Moreover, its longtime former doctor has been charged with child sexual abuse crimes, the Springfield News-Leader reported. He has pleaded not guilty.
For years, Missouri had been a haven for unregulated Christian boarding schools, and allegations of abuse have mounted, an investigation by the Star found. Politicians there passed a law last year designed to crack down on possible abuse at those facilities, which now face health-and-safety inspections and employee background checks, the Star reported.
Sandoval now works at another boarding school — the Lighthouse Christian Academy in Piedmont, Mo. — and owns a company that transports teens to boarding schools, according to the Star. A message left with that academy was not immediately returned.
John Schultz, a lawyer for Agapé, said Gaviola’s son was at the school for seven days. School officials were unaware of the California protective order the boy had against his mother, he said. As soon as Agapé officials learned of the order, “discussions were had with the boy’s father to have him picked up,” Schultz said in an email.
In 2020, Gaviola’s son was living with another family in Fresno County, Calif., according to the indictment. Alleging that Gaviola mistreated him and subsequently harassed him and the family he moved in with, the boy applied in July 2021 for a restraining order, according to the indictment. After Gaviola was served with the order, she contacted Sandoval, who was still the Agapé Boarding School dean, and arranged to have the boy taken to Missouri, the indictment said.
On August 2021, Gaviola found out where her son would be and gave the transport personnel fake court documents to coerce the teen into going with them, the indictment states. They found Gaviola’s son at his place of work, “took hold” of him, handcuffed him and told him to get into their rental car, prosecutors say. They also allegedly took his phone and showed the fake documents to an adult he was living with.
The boy was “restrained” for the 27-hour drive to the Missouri boarding school, prosecutors say. As he was being driven across the country, law enforcement officials contacted Sandoval, telling him about the restraining order the boy had against his mom, according to court records. But Sandoval and Gaviola did not call off the boy’s transportation to the boarding school, prosecutors said.
Instead, he was dropped off there and was “detained” in the facility until the school released the boy to his father eight days later, the indictment states.
Prosecutors did not identify the people accused of transporting the teen from California to Missouri. Schultz, the boarding school’s attorney, said the facility “does not own, control or operate any transport service, [nor] does Agape sponsor or endorse any transport service.” | 2022-09-02T10:19:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Mom charged with sending son to boarding school after restraining order - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/02/gaviola-missouri-bording-school-charges/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/02/gaviola-missouri-bording-school-charges/ |
Why Gorbachev’s death feels like it’s part of an alternate history
Gorbachev was once a beloved figure. Why does his death feel like a footnote?
Perspective by Paul Musgrave
Paul Musgrave is an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Russian President Vladimir Putin pays his respects at the coffin of former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow on Sept. 1. (TV pool/AP)
Alternate history is enjoying a modest revival. The television show “The Man in the High Castle” depicted a reality in which the United States lost World War II. “For All Mankind” begins from the premise that the Soviets beat the Americans to land on the moon. Even the culturally hegemonic Marvel Cinematic Universe has debuted its multiverse, a commercially scaled version of the idea that there is always an infinity of alternatives.
The death of Mikhail Gorbachev feels like a news item in one of those stories — a discordant detail in the background to alert us that somehow, somewhen, something went wrong. Could Gorbachev, who had been one of the most powerful men in the world, really have died in circumstances approaching obscurity while Russia wages a war of conquest against Ukraine? Imagine describing that scenario in 1985, when Gorbachev became the youngest leader in Soviet history. Surely, in the prime timeline, his death would be a much bigger deal. How did we end up in this world, where his death seems like an incidental detail set against a resurgence of war and environmental calamity?
Many alternate histories turn on the idea that one wrong step would have led to disaster or salvation. Thinking about Gorbachev’s death in a world far different from the one he intended to make invites reflections about whether our history went wrong and how it could have gone right. It is hard to resist entertaining the possibility that we are living in an alternate reality in which some decision went awry, some mistake was made, that left the would-be reformer to become the architect of his country’s demise.
For younger Americans, like my undergraduate students, the actual U.S.S.R. barely registers as an object of either threat or fascination. Yet the vanished socialist superpower nevertheless endures as our national other. We still quarry the rubble of the Soviet Union to furnish the raw materials of our political hatreds. The right-wing Turning Point USA pairs a photo of Vladimir Lenin with one of Bernie Sanders; on the left, accusations fly that Donald Trump is an asset of the KGB. Soviet symbols no longer refer to a country that ever existed: they are mostly empty signifiers of something foreign to be despised, myths of pure villainy.
Those tropes reflect the lasting narrative power of the Cold War. Whatever theories of international relations academic scribblers might concoct to explain the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, the diffuse popular account of the rivalry among Americans held that it was a grand confrontation that would end in triumph or apocalypse. According to that logic, America would be the hero of history, whichever end the conflict led to — either by fighting for freedom or redeeming the Soviet Union as a free nation.
The long history of Russian imperialism is shaping Putin's war
Neither frame was right, and many dissented from them even at the time. Yet interpretations do not have to be correct to be powerful. The fantasy of an eschatological showdown with the Soviets shaped our collective sense of how history was supposed to unfold. It furnished a logic of the history of the future and prophesies through which to understand the present.
That meant most Americans never really understood much about Gorbachev or the transformation of his countries. They didn’t need to: All they needed was to know whether to regard him as villain or hero. Once that was set, they knew how the timeline was supposed to end.
Like all leaders of the “evil empire,” Gorbachev began as a villain to Americans. Yet while he was in power, many Americans came to approve of his reforms to the Soviet Union and even of the young leader himself. A December 1988 Gallup poll found Gorbachev ranked second as the man most admired by Americans, behind Ronald Reagan and ahead of George H.W. Bush. (Donald Trump ranked 10th.) Gorbachev massively outpolled that year’s Democratic nominee for president, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis — an unprecedented level of popularity for the leader of the most powerful U.S. adversary.
Partly, favorable impressions of Gorbachev reflected relief at lessening Cold War tensions and the receding likelihood of nuclear fire. Those favorable impressions also derived from a misunderstanding of the purpose of glasnost and perestroika, his signature policies of openness and reform. They seemed like moves toward making the U.S.S.R. more like us (or at least like Western Europe). But Gorbachev did not aim to make the Soviet Union into a Western country so much as to repair a system tottering toward stagnation. He believed communism, suitably modified, would ultimately outcompete capitalism. For Gorbachev and others steeped in the Soviet system, the ultimate course of history was no less certain than for Americans — the timeline just needed some tweaking to come out right.
The collapse of the U.S.S.R. meant those subtleties were swept up in the dustbin of history — or, more accurately, relegated to the footnotes of dusty academic tomes. The blunt fact that Gorbachev’s loss of power coincided with the birth of a democratic Russia left the impression in many Americans’ minds that his reforms had mostly worked. In reality, the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. proved the reforms’ utter failure. From his perspective, history had already gone awry; the Americans were just too entranced by the seeming vindication of their own narrative to realize that.
Ironically, Gorbachev became a hero to Americans even as he became a villain at home. While Gorbachev and his successor, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, still seem to Americans like Westernizing good guys, many Russians still blame them for the chaos, crime and impoverishment of the 1990s. As the former Soviet leader was feted in the West, the interpretation that his rule had been a calamity gained currency in mainstream Russian circles, finding its ultimate expression in President Vladimir Putin’s 2005 remark that the Soviet collapse was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.
The Cold War is over. Why do we still treat Russia like the evil empire?
Even Gorbachev’s now-notorious Pizza Hut commercial, which features a debate in Russian about his legacy between older and younger generations, is notable because it portrayed a version of Russian public opinion that was more subtle than most Americans’ views of the former leader. The commercial is, if anything, too nuanced in its presentation of the pro- and anti-Gorbachev sides as equal: Gorbachev was and remains wildly unpopular in Russia — more detested than Joseph Stalin — which explains why the ad was made for the export market, not for broadcast in Russia. The real-life background to the commercial, in which Gorbachev’s straitened financial circumstances made him willing to become a pitchman for pizza, spoke volumes about how history had already gone off the rails for him.
If Gorbachev did not experience the history he hoped for, it is also fair to observe that Americans have not lived out the future we expected, either. Victory in the Cold War did not ensure the consolidation of freedom and democracy in the long term. Russia is more estranged from the West than it has been in nearly a century. Putin’s long reign has dismantled what remained of the potential foundations for a pluralist Russian political system, even as it has cemented an isolated oligarchic capitalism dependent on oil and gas exports. Nor do rising countries like China seem likely to defer to American leadership. In the meantime, threats to democracy at home and around the world continue to mount.
We don’t live in the future promised by any Cold War narrative, American or Soviet. The futures they did promise can’t be recovered. Reality isn’t bound by the genre conventions of alternate history — there is no switch we could throw to fix our timeline. History doesn’t recognize inevitability or deviations: There is no true path to return to, only a course charted by helmsmen who err, commit misprisions and occasionally even display flashes of genius. Attempts to force history onto the right timeline have led to calamities like the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Instead, we can recognize, as even Marx would have to admit by now, that any seemingly inevitable endpoint of history often proves to be a mere hitching post before the next stage of the journey. The future isn’t a story whose ending we know or whose alternatives we can view with multiversal detachment: It is something we make anew with every choice in an endless, unknowable present. | 2022-09-02T10:19:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why Gorbachev’s death feels like it’s part of an alternate history - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/09/02/gorbachev-death-alternate-history-putin-cold-war/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/09/02/gorbachev-death-alternate-history-putin-cold-war/ |
Review by Rachel Newcomb
After the Nazi takeover of Austria, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and other Jewish doctors became targets. Freud, center, poses here with his daughter Mathilde and the Welsh psychoanalyst Ernest Jones after the Freud family fled Vienna and arrived in London in 1938. (AP)
The field of biographies about Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, is a crowded one. Notable works from the past few years include Adam Phillips’s “Becoming Freud: The Making of a Psychoanalyst” and Frederick Crews’s “Freud: The Making of an Illusion.” While Phillips portrayed the father of psychoanalysis as a “visionary pragmatist,” Crews reduced Freud’s work to “detective fiction,” accusing him of plagiarizing some of his major ideas while also being a misanthrope who had little interest in actually helping his patients. By contrast, Andrew Nagorski’s new biography, “Saving Freud: The Rescuers Who Brought Him to Freedom,” is unconcerned with assessing the impact of Freud or taking down his legacy. Nagorski pursues a different approach, detailing how Freud and 15 members of his entourage managed to flee Austria for Britain in 1938, just as Nazi persecution of Jews was reaching a fever pitch. Nagorski tells a riveting new story, one that shows just how narrow Freud’s escape from the Nazi genocide was.
A former Newsweek correspondent who has written previous books about World War II, Nagorski focuses on Freud as well as the supporters who enabled his escape, a list of VIPs whose influence probably kept the Nazis from making Freud an immediate target. Among others, his saviors included two former patients and loyal devotees: the American ambassador to France, William Bullitt, and Napoleon Bonaparte’s great-grandniece and princess of Greece and Denmark, Marie Bonaparte. Well-placed in government and in Europe’s high society, Freud’s rescuers had the influence to obtain the necessary visas for a move to England as well as the immense sums of money the Nazis demanded before issuing exit visas. Bullitt, for example, negotiated diplomatic arrangements and protection to help Freud leave the country, while Bonaparte financially supported the Freud family and visited them frequently, conscious that the Nazis would be unlikely to persecute the family while important people were present.
Freud continued to believe that Austria would maintain its independence from Germany, right up until March 1938, when Hitler made his final push into Vienna, cheered on by a mob of rabid supporters. Gangs ransacked Jewish businesses, including the psychoanalytic publishing house managed by Freud’s son Martin, while brownshirts paid a visit to the Freud household and had to be bribed the equivalent of $840 to leave them alone. Yet Freud continued to refuse his colleagues’ entreaties to leave. Suffering from cancer of the jaw, acquired from a habit of smoking 20 cigars a day, he was already in his 80s and knew he did not have much time left. When asked later why he had delayed his departure so long, his daughter Anna Freud blamed his illness as well as his inability to “imagine any ‘new life’ elsewhere. What he knew was that there were only a few grains of sand left in the clock — and that would be that.” But once Anna was arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo, Freud realized that to ensure her future, he would have to leave Austria.
Readers looking for an in-depth exploration of the tenets of psychoanalysis will not find that here, but “Saving Freud” contains just enough about the central themes of Freud’s professional life to give a sense of his impact on the discipline he is largely credited with inventing. Unlike other, more critical biographies, the Freud that emerges from these pages is warm, avuncular and excessively fond of Anna, whom he knew would carry on his legacy. The narrative pace and Nagorski’s fluid writing give this book the character of an adventure story. It is an engrossing but sobering read that reminds us how many others without the resources of the Freud family had no similar options to make an exodus.
Saving Freud
The Rescuers Who Brought Him to Freedom | 2022-09-02T10:19:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Book review of "Saving Freud: The Rescuers Who Brought Him to Freedom" by Andrew Nagorski - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/09/02/how-freud-escaped-nazis-with-help-well-connected-friends/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/09/02/how-freud-escaped-nazis-with-help-well-connected-friends/ |
Two women are running for Michigan governor. It’s no feminist victory.
True progress for women requires a world that supports them
Perspective by Amanda Uhle
Amanda Uhle is the publisher and executive director of McSweeney's.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) speaks at an event where General Motors announced an investment of more than $7 billion in four Michigan manufacturing sites in Lansing, Michigan. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images)
For the first time in Michigan’s history, the two major-party candidates for governor are women. It’s one of five women-only governor’s races in the nation this fall, and one of only nine such races ever. Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics has been keeping data on this issue for 50 years. It reports that there were only four such contests before 2022. As a feminist, I wish this was the picture of progress.
Back in November 2016, when I took my 7-year-old daughter with me into my polling place, a part of me thrilled at a woman’s name appearing at the top of the ballot. I wanted my daughter to witness one vote being cast for Hillary Clinton, whom I thought would be our first female president. But my excitement went far beyond her gender and that milestone. I had voted for and against many female candidates for other offices over the years; this felt different.
What filled me with such hopeful expectation that day is that we could stand behind a presidential candidate with decades of public-service experience, who was empathetic, smart and trustworthy, and who happened to be a woman. Clinton was able to achieve a major-party presidential nomination not because she was simply thrust into it, but because previous women had made it possible for her to do the work that qualified her for the highest office in the land. In 2016, that felt like progress, at least until about 9 p.m. on election night.
Here in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), a seasoned official, will face completely-new-to-politics Tudor Dixon (R) this November. (I have donated to Whitmer’s campaign.) Before becoming governor, Whitmer served for 14 years in the Michigan House and Senate and as a county prosecutor. Her leadership in this fraught pandemic time has been steadfast, even as she’s been so reviled for imposing coronavirus safety measures that armed protesters took over our Capitol in Lansing in 2020, and even as she weathered a kidnapping plot that led to the conviction of two men in August. She’s also been at the forefront of the abortion rights movement since she gave an impassioned personal speech on the state Senate floor in 2013 about her own sexual assault, and earlier this year she filed a lawsuit challenging Michigan’s 1931 abortion ban months before Roe was overturned. She presides over a robust economy and hasn’t even raised taxes.
Michigan is politically divided. But we all suffered in the pandemic.
On the other hand, Dixon worked at her father’s steel company and then as a conservative television news commentator. Until the primary in early August, she’d never appeared on a ballot.
This year’s GOP primary race may have technically qualified as a circus; it included one arrest on charges related to the U.S. Capitol assault on Jan. 6, 2021, five disqualifications for 68,000 forged petition signatures, and an extremely outspoken chiropractor whose ethos is drawn from the American Revolution; the logo of his Stand Up Michigan group is a silhouette of a lantern-holding Paul Revere, and its motto is “We the People.” Even against that bizarre milieu, the attempt by Trump-endorsed Dixon to frame her candidacy as part of a women’s empowerment narrative is astonishing.
“It’s time to elect a real woman in Michigan,” she tweeted in the hours after the primary results were announced Aug. 2. She calls herself a “mother” and Whitmer a “birthing parent.” Openly opposed to LGBTQ rights, Dixon tries to blur these attitudes into a kind of feminism, but it’s really bait for the culture war she wants to stoke among Michiganders. In June, for example, she tweeted: “As Gov., I will sign a bill that creates severe criminal penalties for adults who involve children in drag shows. This type of behavior is criminal child sexually abusive activity.”
Dixon prides herself on being an “outsider” who has “battled the establishment machine for more than a year” during her campaign. More than a year? I’ve been experimenting with baking bread since the pandemic started, and I’m still not good at it. I’m certainly troubled that Dixon is as close as she is to potentially leading our state. But I’m disgusted that she’s both completely unprepared and trying to win points for being a “real woman” along the way.
There’s always an argument for fresh voices in politics. This strategy has occasionally produced inspired leaders. It’s also resulted in official documents being flushed down White House toilets.
It doesn’t matter to me that Dixon is a woman. She’s an embarrassingly terrible candidate who is unequipped to lead our diverse and vibrant state of 10 million (about half of us women). She has promulgated false information, including that Donald Trump “legitimately won the 2020 election in Michigan.” Endorsed by former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, she’s called public schools “government indoctrination centers” and has laid out a plan to allow parents to divert tax dollars to other educational options, including private and religious schools. She believes abortion should always be illegal unless the mother’s life is at risk, even in cases of rape or incest.
Why feminists won't celebrate every woman's electoral victory
Progress for women requires a world that supports them as they work through the system and that lifts them up as they demonstrate their competence and capabilities. Whitmer, with her long and accomplished history of government service, embodies that. Dixon, by contrast, is not just the pinnacle of inexperience, she’s also being pushed to our state’s center stage because of her gender. The DeVos family has invested millions in her campaign, and Trump’s endorsement of her omitted any reference to governmental experience or other qualifications, apart from her “pro-God, pro-Gun, and pro-Freedom” commitments. Instead, he emphasized her child-rearing abilities, saying, “She raised a beautiful family, and is ready to save Michigan.” That’s the opposite of progress for women.
Now my daughter is 6 years closer to being of voting age, and she’s growing up in a transformed world. When we walk to the polling place this November, I will no longer need to hold her hand crossing the street. We now have a woman in the nation’s second-highest office, and, while still vastly underrepresented, women are extremely visible as candidates for office from city council seats to governorships. Yet this progress feels uneasy. American democracy is teetering. And candidates like Dixon are nonsensically positioning themselves as victims of a “war on women.”
As Whitmer and any other woman with experience in the working world knows, tremendous and often arbitrary struggles abound. When I think of the “war on women” Dixon mentions, I don’t conjure drag queens. I think of the pay gap, sexual harassment, the dearth of child care and family leave, and other challenges women in leadership must face. These are issues that can only be resolved through hard-won compromise and Solomon-like decisions, and approaching such complexities properly requires experience of that comes with actually serving in elected office.
When my daughter makes her own way to a 2028 voting booth, I want her to survey a ballot with only qualified leaders and inspiring choices. I wonder what she’ll find. | 2022-09-02T10:20:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Two women are running for Michigan governor. It’s no feminist victory. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/09/02/michigan-governor-whitmer-dixon-feminism/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/09/02/michigan-governor-whitmer-dixon-feminism/ |
Review by Pamela S. Nadell
American and Israeli flags fly over Jerusalem. In explaining U.S.-Israel relations, Walter Russell Mead writes that he wants to “take on both pro-Zionist and anti-Zionist legends that have obscured the historical record.” (David Vaaknin for The Washington Post)
Mead, a professor of foreign relations and humanities at Bard College, notes that the ancestral homeland of the Jews may be just a speck on the world map, but “it occupies a continent in the American mind.” That space, he found, is filled with misinformation, subject to prejudice and swamped by emotion. “To get the story straight I was going to have to take on both pro-Zionist and anti-Zionist legends that have obscured the historical record,” he writes. He set himself the task of helping Americans understand the “real history of their relationship with the Jewish state,” the importance of Zionism and Israel’s place in American world strategy.
He has achieved that goal. Any careful reader will come away from this book armed with facts, history and context, and with a clarity absent from most discussions of the subject. At a time when “replacement theory” has become acceptable political rhetoric on the right, and with antisemitic incidents at an all-time high, this volume is more than timely — it is necessary.
The book sweeps across history to show that Christian ideas about a Jewish return to Israel have played a powerful role in U.S. politics dating back to pre-revolutionary days. “There is a long tradition of Protestant predictions of an ultimate return of the Jews,” Mead writes. “In 1666, Increase Mather took to the pulpit of the First Church of Boston … and told his congregation that ‘the time will surely come, when the body of the twelve Tribes of Israel shall be brought out of their present condition of bondage and misery, into a glorious and wonderful state of salvation, not only spiritual but temporal.’ They would ‘recover the Possession of their Promised Land.’”
Throughout, Mead keeps a laser focus on antisemitism. The current “radicalization and polarization … of American politics is the gravest threat to the integration of American Jews since the 1940s,” he warns. Back then, in wide swaths of the United States, Jews could not live in certain neighborhoods or hold certain jobs. Yet polls in the late 1930s found that almost half of Americans were convinced Jews exercised too much power. What could that portend today?
Mead’s assessment of the complicated entanglement of Jews, Israel and the United States testifies powerfully to the historian Marcus’s admonition about the imperative to understand the past to ensure the future. I suspect that Mead wrote this book to guide us there. “The Arc of a Covenant,” drawing from the past to speak to today, merits a wide audience.
Pamela S. Nadell is a professor of Jewish studies at American University and the author of “America’s Jewish Women: A History From Colonial Times to Today.” She is writing a book on the history of American antisemitism.
The Arc of a Covenant
The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People
Knopf. 672pp. $35. | 2022-09-02T10:20:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Book review of “The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People.” by Walter Russell Mead - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/09/02/real-history-us-israel-relationship/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/09/02/real-history-us-israel-relationship/ |
Here’s what’s different from the past 40 years — and what’s the same
Analysis by Jasmine Kerrissey
Judith Stepan-Norris
Demonstrators protest outside a closed Starbucks at 505 Union Station in Seattle in July. (David Ryder/Bloomberg News)
It was 1894, the Gilded Age — a time of extreme inequality, foul working conditions, worker unrest and violent strikes. Congress created Labor Day, a national holiday celebrating workers and labor unions.
Labor Day alone didn’t change much. But from the 1930s through 1950s, labor unions were on the rise. One in every three workers were unionized, ushering in a new middle class, safety procedures and a voice at work, before membership declined again for decades. Today, only 1 in 10 workers are organized, and one-third of the country’s workers earn less than $15 an hour. Research suggests that union decline has contributed significantly to the rise in inequality.
But this Labor Day, for the first time in almost 25 years, union elections — events in which workers vote on whether to form unions — have increased significantly. Workers file for elections with the National Labor Relations Board, which governs most private-sector employees. Union election filings with the NLRB increased by 58 percent in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2022 (October-June), compared with the same period in 2021. Already, recent tallies estimate that more than 1,250 elections were held from October to August, more than were held during all of 2021. And unions have won the majority of these elections.
Here’s what you need to know about this surge in union elections, from Starbucks to Amazon.
A long-term decline
During the 1970s, there were upward of 8,000 annual elections to form new unions. By 2019, that number had fallen to close to 1,000 annual elections, as you can see in the figure below.
Why did elections fall off so dramatically? Labor laws, meant to protect workers’ rights to organize, failed to effectively adapt to the changing dynamics of work. More states passed laws that made it easier for employers to restrict unions and replace workers. For instance, half the states now have “right to work” laws that make it optional for workers to pay union dues, even when a union’s bargaining must apply to them.
Companies routinely use legal and illegal tactics to prevent unions from forming, including hiring union-avoidance firms, threatening to close workplaces if a union forms, holding mandatory meetings to persuade workers to vote no, offering new perks and promises of better conditions, and bogging down election processes with legal challenges.
In response, unions became cautious. Many pursued elections only if the great majority of workers expressed union support and were prepared to withstand a formidable anti-union campaign. All of this has contributed to the steep decline in union elections over time.
But elections have increased, and new types of workers are organizing
This past year has been different: Support for unions is surging. Both general approval of unions and union elections has been rising. In 2022, Gallup found that 71 percent of Americans approve of labor unions, the highest percentage since 1965. Gallup also found that over 40 percent of nonunion workers have some interest in joining one.
And workers are taking action. Interestingly, many are organizing in industries and companies that previously avoided union representation. Megacorporations, especially in retail, tech and service, have long kept out unions — until now.
Workers at Starbucks, which owns roughly 9,000 company-operated stores nationally, surprised many when they won their first vote to form a union in Buffalo in December. Since then, 225 Starbucks locations, covering more than 6,000 workers, have voted to unionize. Daisy Pitkin, Starbucks Workers United’s field director, estimates that employees at one-third of those locations have since held strikes. Dozens more have filed petitions to hold elections.
Meanwhile, Amazon warehouse workers succeeded in winning a union drive in Staten Island, the first in the United States. Apple, REI, Trader Joe’s and Chipotle workers have also organized their first unions, while others are trying in industries including cannabis, media, sports and education.
Historically, unions have advanced during booms of successful activity in favorable legal, political and economic circumstances. But these booms are often followed by employers’ innovations in reducing unions’ effectiveness and increasing legal restrictions, leading to union busts.
Predictably, these newly organized workers are facing employer resistance, especially as they rack up wins. Workers hoping to file for elections are facing more coordinated and sophisticated opposition. Starbucks recently pushed to suspend union voting, alleging election misconduct. Apple and Trader Joe’s raised wages to make union efforts less appealing. After the successful union election win, Amazon refused to recognize the union and initiated legal challenges. All of this is consistent with intense employer opposition to unions dating back at least a century.
What happens after workers win an election?
The next crucial step is to win a first contract, which can be astonishingly difficult. Bloomberg Law labor data suggests that most unions do not win contracts within the first year of organizing.
As of this writing, most of these newly formed unions have not won a first contract. If companies resist negotiating contracts, a possible union response is to threaten to strike and shut down production. Historically, strikes were a major way that workers were able to win higher wages and union recognition, from sit-down strikes in the 1930s to the public-sector strikes in the 1960s to the Justice for Janitors strikes around the 1990s to the recent educator strikes. As new union elections declined over the past 50 years, so did strikes — and as elections increased this year, strikes did as well.
By law, private-sector workers have the right to union elections and the right to strike. We don’t yet know how today’s workers will respond as employers resist their efforts to bargain for better pay and working conditions. The NLRB has an important role to play in enforcing workers’ rights, as it did last week, when it ruled that Tesla workers have the right to wear union T-shirts. Support from community allies and politicians will also be crucial, not only for the right to fair elections, but also for securing first contracts.
When new unions form, win their first contracts or win strikes, it can inspire other workers to do the same. This Labor Day, it appears that frustrated workers have been inspiring one another nationwide.
Jasmine Kerrissey is an associate professor of sociology, director of the Labor Center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and co-author of “Union Booms and Busts: The Ongoing Struggle over the U.S. Labor Movement,” forthcoming with Oxford University Press.
Judith Stepan-Norris is a professor emerita in sociology at the University of California at Irvine and co-author of “Union Booms and Busts: The Ongoing Struggle over the U.S. Labor Movement,” forthcoming with Oxford University Press. | 2022-09-02T10:20:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What to know about union efforts this Labor Day - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/02/labor-day-unions-workers-wages/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/02/labor-day-unions-workers-wages/ |
Researchers from MIT have created an AI tool that can predict Parkinson’s in patients earlier than humans, though ethicists heed caution
Engineers and researchers are trying to develop various forms of technology — from iPhone apps to watches — to detect Parkinson’s disease earlier in patients, which is notoriously difficult for doctors to do. (iStock)
“For diseases like Parkinson’s … one of the biggest challenges is that we need to get to [it] very early on, before the damage has mostly happened in the brain,” said Dina Katabi, an author of the study and a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. “So being able to detect Parkinson’s early is essential.”
“If you read about AI, there’s a vast amount of overselling … that AI is going to solve vast amounts of practical problems,” said Torbjørn Gundersen, who researches the use of algorithms in medicine at Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway. “It hasn’t really proved that yet.”
Parkinson’s strikes more men than women. Researchers have worked for decades to learn why.
The data was used to train a neural network that ended up predicting with high accuracy whether a person had Parkinson’s or not. It was 90 percent accurate based on data from one night’s sleep. The model improved to 95 percent accuracy when analyzing 12 nights of breathing patterns. The neural network could also track how severe Parkinson’s was in a patient.
The never-ending quest to predict crime using AI
“This shouldn’t supplement or replace a clinical diagnosis,” he said. “It should assist in it … until we can come up with [a test] that’s a little more biologically based.” | 2022-09-02T10:21:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Parkinson's disease could be detected earlier with AI built by MIT researchers - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/02/parkinsons-disease-ai-diagnosis/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/02/parkinsons-disease-ai-diagnosis/ |
Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, left, and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine touch rackets — but don't shake hands — after their second-round U.S. Open match on Sept. 1. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
The tap of two tennis rackets at the end of a U.S. Open women’s singles match Thursday was over in seconds. But for a sport in which handshakes are a valued post-match tradition, the exchange highlighted the strains playing out on the court since Russia started a war in Ukraine.
It happened right after Belarusian two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka beat Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, 6-2, 6-3.
The women had played for an hour and a half. On match point, Kostyuk’s forehand went into the net, sending Azarenka to the third round. The 33-year-old screamed in celebration, pumping her clenched fists while the crowd at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens cheered. Kostyuk, meanwhile, approached the net with her racket lifted. The two then quickly bumped rackets before turning to shake the chair umpire’s hand.
The moment lasted less than five seconds, but the tension carried into post-match news conferences.
“It was just my choice,” Kostyuk said of skipping the handshake, adding: “We had a great match, don’t get me wrong. She’s a great competitor, I respect her as an athlete, but that has nothing to do with her as a human being.”
Kostyuk said she could not support tennis players who have not publicly condemned the war in Ukraine, which has killed more than 5,500 civilians and forced over 7 million people from their homes since Russia’s February invasion, according to the United Nations.
Belarus, where Azarenka is from, has been one of Russia’s staunchest allies in its incursion against Ukraine. While it hasn’t gotten directly involved in the conflict, Belarus has allowed Russian forces to stage troops and equipment there. The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on Belarus, and Ukraine has accused Russia of launching missiles from there.
Belarusian president, a Putin ally, did not expect war to ‘drag on’
In response to the attack, Russian and Belarusian players were banned from the Wimbledon tennis tournament earlier this year. At the U.S. Open, they’re allowed to play — but only if their flags and countries aren’t listed.
The war has prompted tennis players from across the globe to speak out. In February, Russian player Andrey Rublev scribbled “no war please” on a camera lens after winning his semifinal match in Dubai. Daria Kasatkina, the highest-ranked Russian female player, has been an outspoken critic of what she called “a full-blown nightmare.” In March, Azarenka said “I hope and wish for peace and an end to the war” in a statement posted to Twitter.
Nevertheless, Kostyuk — one of the most vocal Ukrainian players — has been challenging Belarusian and Russian athletes to do more to publicly condemn their countries’ leaders. In April, she was part of a group calling on the sport’s ruling organizations to ask Russian and Belarusian players if they supported the war. If they hadn’t denounced the conflict, the group requested that the athletes be barred from international events.
“As athletes we live a life in the public eye and therefore have an enormous responsibility,” the group wrote, adding that “there comes a time when silence is betrayal, and that time is now.”
pic.twitter.com/BgVCL7tUZ5
— Marta Kostyuk (@marta_kostyuk) April 20, 2022
This week, Kostyuk told reporters she had texted Azarenka before the match to say she shouldn’t expect a handshake.
“I genuinely wanted to warn her that I’m not going to shake her hand because she never came up to me, at least personally, and didn’t tell me her opinion,” Kostyuk said, adding that Azarenka hadn’t used her role on the Women’s Tennis Association players’ council to speak out against the war.
Azarenka, however rebuffed those claims in a news conference: “I feel like I’ve had a very clear message from the beginning, that I’m here to try to help, which I have done a lot. Maybe not something that people see. And that’s not what I do it for. I do it for people who are in need.”
The Belarusian also said she’d be “open any time to listen, to try to understand, to empathize” with Kostyuk. At the same time, she expressed confusion as to why she was removed from last week’s Tennis Plays for Peace exhibition and fundraiser for Ukraine. Though she was due to participate, Azarenka was eventually booted after Ukrainian players complained.
“I thought that this was a gesture that really shows commitment,” Azarenka said of her plans to participate in the event. “I’m not sure why it wasn’t taken that way.”
While shaking hands isn’t mandatory, it’s rare for players not to partake in the ritual, which is seen as a sign of respect. Tennis magazine writer Steve Tignor once described the moment as “the emotional crux of any match.”
In 2013, Azarenka told USA Today it was important for players to show “that mutual respect for each other” by shaking hands. At the time, she said she would never skip the ritual.
“But that never happened to me. Oh no no! And I would never do that … to my opponent,” she said.
Nearly 10 years later, a war would change that. | 2022-09-02T11:11:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk snubs Belarusian Victoria Azarenka at U.S. Open - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/02/tennis-us-open-ukraine-belarus-handshake/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/02/tennis-us-open-ukraine-belarus-handshake/ |
India launches first locally-built carrier amid rivalry with China
Indian Navy officers stand on the flight deck of India's first home-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant after its commissioning ceremony at a state-run shipyard in Kochi, India, Sept. 2. (Sivaram V/Reuters)
NEW DELHI — India on Friday commissioned its first domestically-built aircraft carrier, effectively joining a small club of countries that are able to manufacture the warships — and use them to project power far from their shores.
The $2.5 billion INS Vikrant, built at the Cochin Shipyard in southern India, is the product of an 18-year design and production process that was hit by repeated delays. But the ship will enter service precisely at a moment when the South Asian nation — the world’s third biggest military spender — is shifting its attention away from land conflicts with its traditional enemy, Pakistan, and focusing more on an Indo-Pacific region that is contested by sea powers including its major rival China, and the United States.
At a ceremony in Kerala state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the vessel a milestone in India’s pursuit of technological self-reliance and defense manufacturing and alluded to his country’s new strategic outlook.
“In the past, security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean have long been ignored,” Modi said. “But today, this area is a major defense priority. That is why we are working in every direction, from increasing the budget for the navy to increasing its capability.”
Chinese military ship docks in Sri Lanka over Indian, U.S. objections
When the Vikrant enters service sometime in late 2023, India will be one of five countries that operate two carriers. The ship is designed to carry a full complement of 30 aircraft, including fighters that will be catapulted off its “ski-jump” deck.
The Vikrant, along with India’s other carrier, the INS Vikramaditya, a refurbished Soviet-era vessel purchased in 2004 from Russia, will lead the navy’s strike groups.
For decades, India has sought to obtain advanced defense technology from its arms suppliers, including Russia and the United States, with mixed results. Even though much of the technology in the Vikrant will be indigenous, the carrier will be powered by generators from General Electric and feature radars from Israel. Its fighter wing will be composed of either Russian MiGs, French Rafales, or American F/A-18s, but not Indian aircraft.
While military experts say that modern-day carriers are increasingly vulnerable to missiles and submarines in the event of war, the ships are still widely seen as a symbol of national prestige and crucial for conducting far-flung operations.
In the increasingly contested Indo-Pacific region, many countries are investing heavily in their navies. In June, China unveiled its own first home-built carrier, which boasts electromagnetic catapult technology. Japan, a U.S. ally today, is currently building out the Izumo, the largest warship the country has produced since its defeat in the Second World War, into a light carrier. South Korea, meanwhile, is also planning to launch aircraft carriers at the end of the decade to counter China.
Ajai Shukla, a commentator on military affairs and a former Indian army officer, said the Indian military and policymakers have been debating whether the navy would eventually need three or even four carriers to meet the strategic aim of denying China access to the Indian Ocean in case of conflict.
“When India is talking about how to build up naval strength, it’s in the context of how to dominate the Arabian Sea, which it shares with Pakistan, and how to dominate the Bay of Bengal down to the Malacca Strait to deny China entry,” Shukla said. “India has clearly gone with the side of the argument that says, ‘you need aircraft carriers.’”
Successive U.S. administrations have sought to cultivate naval cooperation with India, which they have viewed as another crucial counterweight to China. The four countries of the Quad partnership — the United States, Japan, Australia and India — have held two naval exercises since 2020, and India sent a frigate in June to join drills with the U.S. Navy near Hawaii.
Since 2020, India and China have been locked in a bitter border dispute in the Himalayas, but tensions have spilled into the maritime domain. In August, a Chinese navy ship docked in Sri Lanka despite protests from India, triggering a full-blown diplomatic spat between the two Asian neighbors. The New Delhi government also issued unusual warnings about the “militarization” of the Taiwan Strait after China held military drills last month in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island. | 2022-09-02T11:28:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | India launches Vikrant carrier amid rivalry with China - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/02/india-carrier-china-vikrant/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/02/india-carrier-china-vikrant/ |
What to watch with your kids: ‘Gigi & Nate’ and more
Charlie Rowe and Allie the capuchin monkey in “Gigi & Nate.” (Anne Marie Fox/Roadside Attractions)
Disability-focused story is more drama than monkey business.
“Gigi & Nate” is a drama about the value of nontraditional service animals. Kids may be interested in the film if they believe it’s about having a pet monkey — but it’s not. While there are some heartwarming and adorable monkey moments, this isn’t intended as a fun piece of entertainment, like many movies featuring capuchins. It’s really about the difference that a trained service animal can make in the life of someone with special needs. The first half-hour of the movie is quite serious, revolving around the incident that leads to main character Nate (Charlie Rowe) being paralyzed. The seizures he endures are emotional to watch, and his journey to recovery includes details of many of the challenges that someone with a disability faces every day. He demonstrates perseverance throughout, and the film has messages of hope. Expect humor about day drinking, minors buying/drinking beer, kissing and mild but suggestive jokes that Nate makes about his physical therapist (i.e. “she likes to undress me”). There’s also a suicide attempt (which is later regretted), and language includes “s---.” (114 minutes)
Thriller about vampires has lots of blood but doesn’t suck.
“The Invitation” is a female-centric vampire film from writer/director Jessica M. Thompson. Through the eyes of Evie (Nathalie Emmanuel), viewers are able to see how women often feel like prey, unsure who among them may be a predator. There are moments of intense violence, including bloody wounds, a person on fire and one explicit slice that’s intended to spur a strong reaction. A death by suicide is positioned as a heroic choice. Sex is implied through close-ups of kissing, and a woman’s bare backside is shown from afar. Expect some language (“a--,” “s---” and one use of “f---”) and drinking, too. While peril is high for the characters, so is courage. And when Evie’s cliched romantic fantasies seem to be coming true, she — along with many viewers — actively questions them: Can we allow ourselves to give in and enjoy the moment? Or should we know that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is? (104 minutes)
Ivy and Bean (TV-Y)
Fun book-based movie has some taunts, imagined peril.
“Ivy and Bean,” based on the best-selling books, is the first in a series of movies about two little girls with wild imaginations who sometimes think up potentially scary scenarios. These involve being cooked alive by an ogre, casting spells, dodging bombs, avoiding a mean neighbor and battling wildlife. But ultimately, the kids just want to have fun, and nobody is seriously hurt. Ivy (Keslee Blalock) and Bean (Madison Skye Validum) discover how much they have in common despite their initial misconceptions about each other. They follow house rules about being kind to others and telling the truth, and their parents display patience and love. Their neighborhood is diverse (and has amazing backyards). Childish taunts include words like “sucks,” “booger-head,” “bozo-face,” “poop,” “butt,” “dang,” “tightwad” and “silly.” (57 minutes)
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV-14)
Fantasy prequel details Middle-earth history, has violence.
“Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is a fantasy drama based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Set thousands of years before the events of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” the series presents a history of Middle-earth’s Second Age. Expect many scenes of suspense and peril, as well as strong fantasy violence, including scary orcs similar to those shown in the films. Warring creatures use swordplay and brutal, bloody, hand-to-hand combat. Monsters are stabbed in the face, there are fiery dragon battles, and the aftermath of war includes piles of dead bodies. One storyline includes a romance; language is mild (“sod it”). Families who enjoyed the films will find this entertaining series a great addition to Tolkien’s world on screen. (Eight one-hour episodes) | 2022-09-02T11:45:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Common Sense Media’s weekly recommendations. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/09/02/common-sense-media-september-2/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/09/02/common-sense-media-september-2/ |
Analysis by Gary Shilling | Bloomberg
We know that the US economy is currently weak, but the real economy is really weak, and the Federal Reserve’s commitment to precipitate a recession to curb high inflation will make this reality obvious to seemingly oblivious investors.
But corrected for inflation, real wages have declined every month since then, bringing the cumulative drop to 3.2%. Even nominal wage growth is slipping, with March’s annual growth rate of 5.6% slowing to 5.2% in July. When other sources of personal income are included — employee benefits, proprietor’s income, rents, interest, dividends and government benefits—and income taxes are subtracted, disposable personal income rose 6.8% in the second quarter from a year earlier but fell 0.6% when adjusted for inflation.
Corporate costs soared as CEOs felt duty-bound to keep employees at least apace of soaring prices. So not only did nominal wages grow but so did real pay. At the same time, depreciation of plant and equipment, based on historic costs, fell far short of the funds needed for replacement. Also, inflation created taxable inventory profits. The dollar value of inventories jumped even though the physical size of stocks didn’t change.
I pleaded with our corporate clients at the time to look at their company results in real terms to see just how much damage inflation inflicted. The universal response was that Wall Street doesn’t care about real results so why should they? And while the Dow Jones Industrial Average, in nominal terms, oscillated around the 1,000 level from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, in real terms it plunged 73.1% from January 1966 to July 1982.
On August 23, Macy’s Inc., the biggest US department store chain, cut its forecasts for this year due to the economic downturn, the slowdown in consumer spending and markdowns and promotions to get rid of excess inventories. Sales in stores that were open at least a year fell 1.5% in its second quarter from a year earlier. Still, shares of Macy’s closed 3.8% higher that day. | 2022-09-02T11:50:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Wall Street Is in Denial Over the Economy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/wall-street-is-in-denial-over-the-economy/2022/09/02/3336c9cc-2aaf-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/wall-street-is-in-denial-over-the-economy/2022/09/02/3336c9cc-2aaf-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
To tackle climate, experts say, environmentalists have to embrace big energy projects. Fast.
Climate activists participate in a march from Freedom Plaza to Capitol Hill on Oct. 15, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
But climate change is about to change everything. To cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to zero, experts say, the country is going to have to do something environmentalists have traditionally opposed: It’s going to have to build a lot of energy infrastructure. And fast.
Right now, many roadblocks stand in the way of building wind, solar, and the transmission lines that can carry their power to city centers. And while Democrats have a bill in the works to speed that sort of permitting, most environmentalists oppose it — because it could also promote oil and gas development.
“We’re going to have to build a lot more of everything clean,” said Josh Freed, the director of climate and energy at the center-left think tank Third Way. “The United States has an infrastructure building crisis. We can no longer build anything big — let alone big and ambitious — in a reasonable time frame.”
To reach net-zero carbon emissions, according to a study by Princeton University, wind farms will have to spread across the Great Plains and the Midwest, covering an area equal to at least the states of Illinois and Indiana. Solar panels will sparkle across an area at least as large as Connecticut. And thousands of miles of high-voltage transmission lines will need to be built to carry all that power from where it’s generated — mostly in rural parts of the country — to urban centers far away.
At the moment, however, a miasma of confusing regulations and local opposition have stymied many of these plans. Residents blocked project to build wind farms off the coast of New England for decades, complaining it would ruin their ocean views. A transmission line from Pennsylvania to Maryland was blocked by Pennsylvania landowners who argued that the line wouldn’t provide sufficient benefits to their state.
Now a deal between Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Senate Democratic leaders could streamline energy permitting. During negotiations over the Inflation Reduction Act, the giant health and climate spending bill that passed Congress in August, Democrats promised Manchin that they would pass a separate bill this fall, to speed up the permitting process for building energy infrastructure — both fossil fuel and clean.
Some environmental groups have blasted the deal, arguing that it would expedite a key priority of Manchin’s, the Mountain Valley Pipeline — a 300-mile pipeline that would transfer natural gas from West Virginia to Virginia — and other fossil fuel projects. “Prolonging the fossil fuel era perpetuates environmental racism, is wildly out of step with climate science, and hamstrings our nation’s ability to avert a climate disaster,” more than 650 environmental groups wrote in a letter sent to Congress in late August. Meanwhile, a group of Appalachian activists are planning a march on D.C. next week to protest the permitting reform deal and the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
But energy experts argue that, depending on the structure of the deal, permitting reform could help the U.S. switch over to clean energy — and ultimately benefit renewables more than fossil fuels.
For example, Liza Reed, the research manager for electricity transmission at the center-right think tank Niskanen Center, argues that building a more connected electric grid is absolutely essential to cut carbon emissions. Wind and solar energy, she points out, are rarely located in the same place where power is needed. “We need to build transmission very quickly and very dramatically,” she said. “There’s no two ways about it.”
Romany Webb, a senior fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, says that law is critical to making sure that communities aren’t adversely affected by energy and pipelines. But, she added, “I do think there’s ways to streamline the NEPA process to make it work better for some of these large renewable energy projects.”
“Whatever the proposed project is — whether it’s a pipeline or a highway or a solar farm — it should be subject to the same commonsense review process,” Mahyar Sorour, a deputy legislative director for the Sierra Club, said in an email. “If we want these projects to move forward faster, we shouldn’t be weakening environmental laws, but investing more resources into the agencies and staff.”
“The devil is in the details,” Freed said.
“With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the environmental movement broadly has endorsed building,” Freed said. “Now the question is: ‘How?’” | 2022-09-02T11:50:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | To fight climate change, environmentalists may have to give up a core belief - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/02/fight-climate-greens-have-embrace-big-energy-projects-fast/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/02/fight-climate-greens-have-embrace-big-energy-projects-fast/ |
A “for rent” sign is posted in front of a home in California. (Reed Saxon/AP)
Their exodus led school district officials in Milpitas, Calif., to ask students’ parents for help.
Would they let a teacher move in?
“With 53 responses to our call for Rooms for Rent for [district staff] in such a short time, this is evidence that our entire [team], which includes our teachers and classified support staff, is valued by our Milpitas community members, parents and caregivers,” Superintendent Cheryl Jordan wrote in an email to The Post.
The gap between “those who can afford a home in the San Francisco Bay Area and those who cannot, is widening at an alarming rate,” the Milpitas school board said in a resolution it unanimously approved at its Aug. 23 meeting. Many of the district’s roughly 1,000 employees — about half of them teachers — are “moderate-income employees” who are “finding it increasingly difficult to purchase or rent a home within a 15 mile radius or [closer] to the Milpitas Unified School District where they work.”
The problem has plagued California for years. In 2016, national real estate brokerage Redfin analyzed California’s 31 most-populated counties, including the Bay Area, The Post reported at the time. Redfin determined that teachers earning the state’s average salary could afford 17 percent of homes for sale in those counties. Just four years earlier, 30 percent of homes were considered affordable, which meant a mortgage payment would not exceed about one-third of a teacher’s pay.
Want to be able to buy a house in California? Don’t become a teacher.
Santa Clara County, home to Milpitas and Silicon Valley, topped Redfin’s list of least-affordable places for teachers. The number of houses on the market that were affordable: zero.
The district has also been trying to find rooms to rent from homeowners who don’t have kids in school and is talking with developers about building workforce housing in Milpitas. In May, a school district just south of San Francisco in Daly City opened 122 apartments where teachers and staff can live for up to five years at rents far below market rates, the Associated Press reported. | 2022-09-02T11:50:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | As rents soar, Calif. school district turns to parents for teacher housing - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/02/teacher-housing-california-bay-area/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/02/teacher-housing-california-bay-area/ |
Why are unions such a non-starter in the C-suite?
By Adam Lashinsky
A carried by an activist at an event dubbed the Un-Birthday Party and picket line for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on July 19 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
We supposedly live in the age of the virtuous corporation, where issues from inclusion to the environment to “stakeholder” rights hold maximum sway. At the same time, the mindful American corporation is under attack from the right, which argues that its environmental-social-governance focus amounts to little more than disingenuous woke-signaling.
Yet there’s one big exception to this veneer of virtue: Even the most progressive-minded executive teams are opposed to organized labor. It’s a disconnect that portends an increasingly contentious era between management and employees, enhanced by worker shortages not seen during the lifetime of today’s CEOs.
Despite their surging popularity, labor unions remain the bete noire of C-suites everywhere. From Walmart to Starbucks to Apple — all corporations whose CEOs have been celebrated for beneficent-sounding policies — constructive dialogue with organized labor is a non-starter. Most of the biggest corporations that haven’t traditionally had relationships with organized labor are dead set against starting one now.
Indeed, to the extent that corporate America talks about its relationship with its employees, it ignores unions altogether. In 2019, when the Business Roundtable, the collective voice of supersized U.S. companies, loudly updated its Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation, it committed to “investing in our employees” as well as “compensating them fairly and providing important benefits.” It included a promise to “foster diversity and inclusion, dignity and respect.” But it made no mention of unions, collective bargaining or the rights of workers to organize and advocate for themselves.
Walmart neatly embodies this attitude. The company has always been anti-union, dating to the days of its founder, Sam Walton. He, however, had the foresight to offer employees a generous profit-sharing plan. Still, as Walmart grew, the plight of its workers deteriorated. In a forthcoming book, “Still Broke: Walmart’s Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism,” author Rick Wartzman explains that while Walmart belatedly realized the need to boost wages, and then earnestly followed suit, the increases haven’t been sufficient to allow workers to earn a comfortable living.
A healthy relationship with organized labor might well have served as a tripwire for Walmart management. Yet when I asked Walmart why it opposes union membership, the company deflected. “Our founder, Sam Walton, always stressed listening to and serving our associates,” Walmart said in a statement. “We are proud that the vast majority of our management positions are filled by those who started as hourly associates. This has created a culture of respect and partnership with our associates that focuses on what’s important to them.”
That suggests Walmart, which employs about 1.7 million Americans, is choosing to focus more on the career trajectories of its highest-potential workers than the collective desires of the rest.
At Starbucks, long lauded for its pro-employee policies, which include health and education benefits for part-timers, Howard Schultz is battling unions in his third stint as CEO. Starbucks has been accused of multiple labor-law violations, including by the National Labor Relations Board, as it tries to prevent baristas from organizing. Schultz is transparent about his opposition to unions — though claiming otherwise. “I’m not an anti-union person,” he said recently.“I am pro-Starbucks, pro-partner, pro-Starbucks culture. We didn’t get here by having a union.”
Schultz, who once flirted with running for president as a pro-business centrist, has also cited the main argument chief executives use to oppose unions: the negative effects of placing another organization between the company and its workers. “The customer experience will be significantly challenged and less than if a third party is integrated into our business,” he has said.
Apple, whose CEO Tim Cook keeps two pictures of Robert F. Kennedy on his office wall and likes to wax eloquent about his company’s pro-privacy positions, mounts a similar defense. “I worry about what it would mean to put another organization in the middle of our relationship,” Apple HR chief Deirdre O’Brien told employees this spring, in response to nascent efforts to organize employees at Apple’s retail stores. “An organization that doesn’t have a deep understanding of Apple or our business, and most importantly, one that I do not believe shares our commitment to you.”
It’s not up to companies, of course, to decide who is best positioned to speak for its employees. Then again, it’s notable that even executives with little or no experience with labor unions are so opposed to them. As union membership has declined, business schools have largely given up teaching about them. For example, the word “union” appears nowhere in the course description list for the Wharton School’s MBA program.
Wharton isn’t unique. Even the University of Michigan, which once trained auto executives to negotiate with unions and guided union organizers to negotiate with car companies, has de-emphasized such instruction. “We don’t teach about labor unions in business schools,” said Jerry Davis, a Michigan professor who specializes in organizational behavior. “They’re just not a big enough factor in the private sector.”
Many factors explain the long, slow decline of private-sector unions, not the least of which are endemic corruption and their inability to save jobs in decaying industries. But with today’s tighter labor markets, companies will have to work harder to keep the people they want — and need. That might mean finding partners where they least expect them, making a hear-no-union, see-no-union attitude something they can no longer afford. | 2022-09-02T11:50:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Why are unions such a non-starter in the C-suite? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/02/unions-ceos-workers-together/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/02/unions-ceos-workers-together/ |
Tangier Island, facing oblivion, waits to see: Will Congress will help?
Sen. Tim Kaine, right, talks with Tangier Mayor James “Ooker” Eskridge during a boat tour around Tangier Island on Aug. 30. (Kristen Zeis/For The Washington Post)
TANGIER, Va. — Mayor James “Ooker” Eskridge ushered his visitors onto a boat for a tour of the disappearing shoreline of his island, turned to Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and said: “Thinking of passing a new ordinance that says any visitor has to bring a rock."
He could be joking, but then again, maybe not. These days, the sinking island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay will take any help it can get, as rising sea level and accelerating erosion threaten to make the island uninhabitable in as little as one generation. Every day the relentless waves crash against the mostly unprotected shoreline. Standing water pools in some residents’ front yards, some resembling wetlands already, some lined with family gravestones, because the island does not have any more land to spare for burials.
“When I talk about saving the island, I’m not talking about just a small piece of land or a building. I’m talking about saving the whole island — the people, the culture, a whole way of life,” Eskridge told Kaine at the back of the boat, as it idled just offshore from the island’s least-protected areas.
The 400-plus residents in this devoutly religious, solidly conservative fishing town have been pleading for years for investments to save the island — while standing defiant against warnings that they may have to one day abandon it as “climate change refugees." But this clear-skied Wednesday afternoon, Kaine and Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) journeyed across the Chesapeake by ferry to deliver — tentatively, at least — some good news: Help may finally be on the way.
Kaine and Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) had secured $25 million in the Senate budget proposal to fund a pilot project that would repurpose dredging material hauled from navigation channels to be deposited on Tangier Island — serving as a natural buffer against erosion and sea-level rise. If the budget and project pass Congress, it would mark the largest investment in protecting the island in decades, said David Schulte, a marine biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers who has studied the island’s shrinking land mass.
The project, Schulte said, could also turn Tangier Island into a poster child for a pressing moral question as climate change threatens the fates of many small, coastal communities like Tangier: How far is the federal government willing to go to save them? Or would it rather evacuate and abandon them, letting the sea swallow the remains of their homes?
“That’s something that’s really going to need to be answered, I think, as a nation: What are we going to do with these small towns that cannot pay for these large projects to save themselves?” Schulte said. Often, he said, “the large cities with the big tax bases can get help, while everybody else is left to fend for themselves. That’s what gives me real hope about this Tangier project, because what you have here is a small town that [could] get significant help, and that is one of the first times I’ve seen that.”
Tangier, known for its unique dialect and a local economy that revolves around crabbing and tourists, has lost two-thirds of its land mass since 1850 at an average rate of eight acres a year, according to Schulte’s prior research. The town has been losing population too, with its young people heading off to college or jobs on the mainland. Eight students graduated from the town’s school this past spring — “that was a large class,” Eskridge said — while just one student will be enrolled in kindergarten next year, the student’s grandmother said.
But the community has been seeing some encouraging growth too: A long-shuttered grocery store is slated to reopen, and so is a bed-and-breakfast, signs of how the island could thrive for the younger generations — if they could get protection from the ocean.
“We’ve had a lot of folks who moved to the mainland who said they would move back, if the island were protected,” Eskridge told Kaine.
Tangier’s dire circumstances made headlines around the world during the Trump era after a CNN crew visited the island in June 2017 and reported many residents did not acknowledge some of the main threats to their home’s survival: the rising sea level and human-caused climate change. Most preferred to focus on stopping the erosion they could see happening with their own eyes.
The story caught the attention of President Donald Trump after Eskridge also told the reporter that he loved Trump “as much as any family member I got.” About 90 percent of voters on the island supported Trump in 2016 and 2020, and “Trump 2024” flags fly from fishing shanties and greet tour boats as they pull into the docks.
As Eskridge tells it, he was out crabbing when a fellow resident told him the president had called to talk to him. “President of what?” Eskridge said — only to soon hear Trump’s voice on the other end of the line at home. He said Trump told him that he also believed that rising sea level was not a threat to the island, and that the residents had nothing to worry about — Tangier would be around for hundreds of years to come.
Trump calls mayor of shrinking Chesapeake island and tells him not to worry about it
The story exploded. Soon, Eskridge was on national television onstage at a CNN town hall telling Al Gore he had lived on the island his whole life and the sea level didn’t look any different to him: “If sea level rise is occurring, why am I not seeing signs of it?” The erosion he could see. Gore said a big challenge for scientists was being able to translate the threats of climate change in an understandable way so that people “can see the consequences in their own lives.”
But on Tangier, while there may be some disagreement about the underlying cause of the threat to their island, there’s little debate about the urgency to address it — and the spotlight, Eskridge said, seems to have made a difference. Trump may not have taken up Eskridge on an invitation to visit the island — but journalists from 42 countries did, Eskridge said. Two years ago, with a combination of state and federal funding, the Army Corps constructed a small jetty at the entrance of the main channel, a portion of a larger Corps project that had been delayed for roughly two decades due to funding issues.
And now this, the potential $25 million pilot project awaiting approval in Congress — the largest investment since the Corps built a rock sea wall on the western portion of the island in 1989.
Back on the boat with Kaine and Luria, Eskridge was already thinking about all the ways the island could use the dredging material to beef up the shoreline or the uplands. The only hitch: where to start?
Eskridge said some conversations he’d had with government scientists years ago have haunted him: He said he was once told he might not be able to save the entire island, requiring him to triage which areas to save first — something that struck him as an impossible choice.
“So you have to be deciding what you want to save and what you want to let go of,” Eskridge recalled being told. “We’re such a small island, we really can’t let any area go. I mean over here you have the businesses and the harbor, and here you have the homes.”
“So you gotta look at it as, what’s phase one? What’s phase two?” Kaine said.
Eskridge said recent research estimating how much money it would take to fully protect the island has had some residents feeling nervous and discouraged.
A research paper that Schulte co-authored with his son last year as an update to his 2015 paper found that the uplands — the three ridges where residents live, just four feet above sea level — were converting into wetlands due to rising sea level at a faster rate than previously thought, and if sea-level rise continued as expected, the island would be uninhabitable by 2053.
To fully protect and restore the island, Schulte estimated it could cost between $250 million to $350 million. The $25 million proposed project would “make a significant difference as far as extending the life of the island,” he said — but said more would need to be done.
Kaine had been fighting for the funding to protect Tangier for several years, even writing with Warner to Trump to propose they partner up to save the island (Trump didn’t respond, Kaine said). But he said it was so hard to get Congress to provide funds to help Tangier because federal funding formulas could require local governments to put up matching funds for projects — money that places like Tangier simply did not have. The $25 million project, however, was the result of Congress bringing back “earmarks,” which allows lawmakers to set aside funds for local projects, Kaine said. This project has no local-match requirement.
Why Sen. Kaine wants to save Trump Country from sinking into the Chesapeake
In recent years, residents had watched with frustration as the federal government funded projects to protect a National Wildlife Refuge and residents on nearby Smith Island and to restore a wildlife habitat on Poplar Island, where no people live — using the same method on Poplar of repurposing dredge material.
Norwood Evans, Tangier’s vice mayor who believes both sea-level rise and erosion are threatening the island, said it was painful to see ships carrying dredging material to Poplar pass right on by Tangier, where hundreds of people were worried about their future.
“It just kind of hurt,” he said, “when your island’s in need and it’s going by.”
Returning to the island from their tour, Kaine and Luria and a representative from the Army Corps led a town hall at the Four Brothers Crab Shack to take questions from Tangier residents, eliciting a combination of gratitude and dread.
The first woman to ask a question wanted to know, in as many words: Why had the government been willing to put up the money to save wildlife on Poplar, but not them?
The woman, Linda Clary — “I am lovingly called a Come Here; I came on a sailboat and never left” — noted that the island just celebrated the 98th birthday of the town’s oldest veteran, and shouldn’t its decades of military service to the country count for something?
“I think the patriots and the veterans of Tangier Island are more important than a flock of birds and a group of turtles,” Clary said. “And I resent it that we still — we gotta have another study, we gotta have this, we gotta have that, to get anything done. Because we are losing the battle. We are losing the battle.”
Kaine offered a note of optimism about the money for Tangier in the proposed budget: “$25 million can do a lot of good. I don’t think we’re going to be done. … Let’s get this started with a big number, not a small number."
“We get the job started, and it’s more reason to keep going — protect that first investment,” agreed town councilman Tommy Eskridge, sitting in the front in a Trump hat and Trump T-shirt.
Kaine added that he believed the island’s designation on the National Register of Historic Places should be reason enough for Congress to protect the whole island.
“It’s more than just X hundred people and here’s the property value — it’s history, it’s culture, it’s something unique you can’t find anywhere else in the country,” he said.
“It’s worth saving,” Clary said. | 2022-09-02T12:16:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Tangier Island, facing oblivion, waits to see: Will Congress will help? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/tangier-island-virginia-congress-funding/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/tangier-island-virginia-congress-funding/ |
Women in Baseball
Jen Pawol, a baseball umpire in the minors, is schooled in the game and those who came before her.
Jen Pawol is part of a three-person Class AA umpiring crew. (Sam Mallon for The Washington Post)
PORTLAND, Maine — The first thing to know about Jen Pawol — and listen closely, because this is important — is that she would rather no one know much about her at all. Professional umpires are professionally inconspicuous, and women in baseball have always known the key to a life in baseball is the ability to blend.
The second thing to know about Jen Pawol — and this is important, too — is that she may someday become the first woman to umpire a Major League Baseball game. Pawol, 45, would never say that herself. From her perspective, she and the other members of her three-person Class AA umpiring crew are all in the same position, two steps from the majors, on the cusp of living their thankless dreams.
But people like her crewmates Tanner Moore and Kellen Martin have made the journey to the majors before. No woman ever has. So she is not in the same position as they are, even though she says everyone is doing a remarkable job of treating her like she is.
Fifty years after the passage of Title IX, many women are finding their way into baseball roles no one like them has had before. Kim Ng is the general manager of the Miami Marlins. Eve Rosenbaum was just named assistant general manager of the rising Baltimore Orioles. Kelsie Whitmore is playing in the Atlantic League. Alyssa Nakken is a coach for the San Francisco Giants. Rachel Balkovec is managing a New York Yankees minor league affiliate. That list is hardly all-inclusive.
But only nine women have ever umpired in the minor leagues, according to MLB. Two, Pawol and Isabella Robb, are currently umpiring in the minor leagues. Numerically, she is an outlier. On the field, she is far less so.
As she umpired games between the Portland Sea Dogs and Hartford Yard Goats last week — one at first base, one behind the plate — the only thing that distinguished her from her colleagues was the ponytail that spilled out from under her black hat. Her punchout motion was by the book, neither demonstrative nor tentative.
Previously in this series: In the Atlantic League, a baseball player knows what she wants.
Catchers thanked her by name when she handed them clean baseballs so often that she almost tired of it. When she lined up at first base instead of behind the plate, coaches fist-bumped her to say hello, and newly promoted first basemen introduced themselves — just like they do for the male umpires they hope will give them the benefit of the doubt. But players still winced and shook their heads when she called a close pitch strike three. A few expressed their displeasure with a pointed question or two, just like they usually would.
“Everyone is so professional,” said Pawol, who admitted she heard the heckler telling her to “go back to Little League school” after one call. She usually gets “go back to softball.” She said she doesn’t care one bit.
“They do it to everyone,” she said with a smile, and indeed, that heckler was particularly indiscriminate in his proclamations. But even for a former teacher who never exactly lacked a backbone, other parts of being a female umpire in the minor leagues do require some extra adjustment.
“I’ve had to shed tremendous amounts of preconditioned responses,” Pawol said. “I listen to the Harvard women’s business podcast all the time. I’ve done a tremendous amount of reading on all these potholes women tend to fall into: Apologizing. Not taking the lead with male counterparts. Letting them do it first. The great thing about sports is once you know the ground rules, you just play the game.”
And everything about the professional umpiring experience is subject to well-honed rules. Even on-field conflicts, Pawol said, are more calculated than they may seem from the outside. Managers and players know where the lines are and what will happen when they cross them. And over seven years of navigating disagreements in that way, Pawol went from fairly sure she could be the on-field authority figure she needed to be to downright certain.
“I want to be ready to take care of my business. If someone else is handling my ejections, I don’t belong out there. I don’t have the backbone to do the job,” Pawol said. “I can stand up for myself. I can be out there as the authority figure. I can umpire the game and run the ship.
“One of our supervisors always says, ‘Rough seas make great sea captains.’ I always think that. If everything is always easy, if you don’t go over waves or through storms, you won’t be ready for whatever happens at the big league level.”
‘You can be comfortable in your own skin’
Last weekend, during an otherwise baseball-heavy conversation about the realities of her position, Pawol asked a question few umpires had probably ever asked of reporters before: “Are you familiar with the waves of feminism?”
Pawol is, but she wasn’t asking for the sake of historical analysis. Her point was that her ability to pursue her goal of umpiring in the majors is possible because women before her did what she calls the “heavy lifting to push for equality.” And Pawol would know.
Brewer: What makes Mariners President Catie Griggs special? It’s not her gender.
Like so many women ascending in baseball these days, she has talked to the ones who found the boulders blocking their way too heavy to dislodge completely, the ones who shoved them far enough off the path that future generations could finish the job. She can rattle off the dates in which women before her served and at what level. If there is an advantage to being a woman in a job like hers, it is that the list of those who came before is short.
So she knows that only one other woman has made it further than she has now, to Class AAA. She knows that woman, Pam Postema, ended up out of baseball working as a welder just a few years after being considered for a job in the National League.
Heck, she even read Postema’s memoir, the one in which Postema detailed the sexism and verbal abuse she received during those years, the one which rued newspaper articles (like this one) because they ruined her plan to keep a low profile long enough that she could reach the majors before small-minded men tried to intervene. Postema was the last woman that headlines posited as the first female major league umpire. Those headlines ran in the 1980s.
Pawol would rather not be in the headlines, either. But other than that, her experience could not be more different than the women who came before her, the ones who shortened names from Christine to Chris on umpire school applications, the ones that were excluded from those schools because they didn’t have separate facilities to accommodate women.
“There’s clearly still work to do, but I receive equal pay. I have the same contract. There’s no gender gap. I get equal union representation. I get equal health benefits. I got equal training. I wasn’t given more test questions or easier or harder test questions at umpire school. I get the same supervision. The same number of looks,” Pawol said. “To be in that framework, it’s very relaxing. You can be comfortable in your own skin.”
Pawol had been umpiring for years before she learned affiliated baseball was even an option for women. She grew sick of umpiring local baseball games in Upstate New York and handling Division I softball games in New York and New England. She wanted something bigger.
“Amateur and high school baseball, you pay your $70 to join the umpires, and you get to work those leagues,” Pawol said. “I was really sick of doing that. I wanted a salary. I wanted a contract. I wanted to be in a union. I wanted a career.”
Each year, the New York high school baseball association held an annual clinic with major league umpires. The head of one of her local umpiring associations called her one Friday afternoon in 2015 and asked her if she was enrolled in the clinic, which was scheduled to begin the next day. She wasn’t. By Saturday morning, she was.
From the archives: What Kim Ng’s hire means to girls who play baseball
At that clinic, she met longtime MLB umpire Ted Barrett and bought a ticket to his clinic in Georgia the next year. At that camp, Barrett asked her if she wanted to be a professional. He told her about the umpire camps. She enrolled.
Pawol paid for her own ticket to one of those minor league umpire feeder clinics, then earned a scholarship to umpiring school. For years, the road to professional umpiring ran through private umpiring schools like the one founded by Harry Wendelstedt (father of current big league umpire Hunter) in 1977 or the one run by Jim Evans until Minor League Baseball stopped accepting its students in light of a racist incident in 2012. Under the old system, interested umpires would have to pay thousands to attend those private schools.
But now, as part of MLB’s push to diversify its umpiring ranks, it is overhauling the system. The league hosted five open clinics this year, including one in Brooklyn’s Maimonides Park in August. This year, MLB announced that top performers will earn the chance to participate in an umpire development camp in January at no cost to them.
“If he had never said anything, I would have never known,” Pawol said. “Now, today, if you go to the website, you can see it. I wouldn’t have had to wait 10 years to get into professional baseball.”
From the archives: Baseball told Kim Ng no (and no, and no) before it finally said yes
Pawol made it, but she might have made it sooner, which is why a woman who has dedicated her career to blending in was willing to talk about all this. When she left Hofstra University as a decorated softball star in 1998, she didn’t know there were paths to the majors in umpiring, or even in the coaching ranks, where she watches women breaking through now. She wants others to see them.
“I could be a hitting coach now,” Pawol speculates, wondering what might have been if the same paths had been open and obvious then. She has coached catching for Milliken University’s baseball team near her home in Illinois. She coaches hitting for baseball and softball players alike. She wants others to know just how much things have changed since Postema found herself a step from the big leagues but light-years away from feeling welcome there.
“When Pam came through, you could still smoke on airplanes. The culture, it was just a different mind-set,” she said. In those days, the idea of a woman ejecting a man from a professional baseball game was a strange one, an uncomfortable recasting of long-standing gender dynamics that still held firm to the professional baseball consciousness. Now, her crew spends road trips splitting up the driving evenly, rotating who pays for gas instead of penalizing the youngest, debating whether they should even refer to themselves as “a three-man crew” anymore or if they really should be saying “three-umpire crew” instead.
Pawol never asked them to change anything on her behalf. She says she didn’t have to. She is one of them, as purposely inconspicuous as a trailblazer can be. | 2022-09-02T12:21:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Umpire Jen Pawol is working her way to MLB - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/female-umpire-minor-league-baseball/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/female-umpire-minor-league-baseball/ |
Spencer Anderson (54) and Mason Lunsford (78) are part of Maryland's experienced offensive line responsible for protecting quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, right. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
Spencer Anderson was about to host a potential recruit not long ago when the starting right guard for the Maryland football team thought TopGolf might provide just the right atmosphere for a gathering that would leave a lasting impression.
So the redshirt senior and tri-captain reached out to his fellow offensive linemen to ask if they would consider joining the excursion to the sprawling entertainment and dining venue a short drive from campus.
Anderson received rousing support, and even though the player the Terrapins were targeting wound up committing elsewhere, the trip yielded yet another valuable bonding experience for members of a formidable offensive line with its entire starting rotation from 2021 intact.
The Big Ten made Maryland rich. Only winning can make the Terps relevant.
Maryland, which opens the season against Buffalo on Saturday afternoon in College Park, is one of eight schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision and the only program in the Big Ten to return its starting five on the offensive line.
“The O-line, we’re pretty close knit,” said Anderson, who grew up in Bowie and played high school football at Bishop McNamara. “I think we’re probably the closest position group on the team.”
Connection and continuity within that unit, along with a litany of skill players in the mix, have Maryland aiming for another year of outsize production through the air on the heels of setting a single-season record for total yards (5,740) and passing yards (3,960).
Anderson, meanwhile, has been an anchor in keeping the pocket clean for record-setting quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa. Last year the redshirt junior became the program’s single-season leader in passing yards (3,860) and touchdowns (26) as well as completions (328) and completion percentage (69.2).
Playing multiple positions along the offensive line last season, Anderson (6 feet 5, 320 pounds) earned a pass-blocking grade of 86.6 from Pro Football Focus, the highest among tackles in the Big Ten and third nationally among tackles with at least 500 snaps.
“I was always taught outside of availability being your best ability, versatility is next because you never know,” Anderson said. “Guys could go down, and some people might not be able to get into a left-handed or right-handed stance, or somebody can’t snap the ball.”
Over 516 snaps while pass blocking, Anderson has yielded one sack thanks to textbook footwork and other sound fundamentals that have made him a coveted NFL prospect. So too has his durability been underscored by 18 consecutive starts, matching senior center Johari Branch for the longest active streak on the team.
The rest of the starting offensive line includes two players also from the state of Maryland in left guard Mason Lunsford (Olney) and left tackle Jaelyn Duncan (New Carrollton), who has drawn considerable interest from NFL scouts.
Duncan (6-6, 326 pounds) twice has been voted honorable mention all-Big Ten and last year was a projected first-round pick, according to ESPN. Charged with protecting Tagovailoa’s blind side, the redshirt senior has started 27 games over his career, the most among active Maryland players.
“The biggest thing I see from them that makes them tight is the leadership from the seniors,” Tagovailoa said of the offensive line. “Big J, Johari, Big Spence, guys like that. I think they’re being more vocal, and that helps everyone understand where they’re coming from, why they do the things that they do.
“We got young guys, guys that played on the team last year, that were looking for that leadership from within, and I think that makes them close, and I appreciate them for leading the O-line.”
The offensive line also is tasked with helping to ignite a rushing attack that sputtered through last season. Maryland ranked 10th out of 14 teams in the conference in rushing yards (136.5) and rushing attempts (439).
It remains unclear, however, how much improvement the Terrapins realistically can expect running the ball considering the No. 1 tailback on the depth chart, redshirt freshman Roman Hemby, totaled 71 yards on just 17 carries over three games last season.
Taulia Tagovailoa fuels Maryland’s hopes as preseason camp opens
Hemby’s speed in part vaulted him ahead of sophomore Colby McDonald, who last year was second on the Terrapins in rushing with 325 yards and two touchdowns on 60 carries in eight games. Redshirt freshman Antwaine Littleton (74 yards on 15 carries in two games) is listed as the No. 3 running back.
“I think being able to run the football is paramount to us,” Maryland Coach Michael Locksley said. “When I talk about balance on offense, too many times people think balance is being able to run it 50 percent of the time and pass it, but it actually is being able to do both well. …
“So as this O-line continues to develop I want to continue to hang my hat on it. They’re the veteran group. They’re a group that has been through a lot but also has continued to get better and better each year. To establish the run is something we want to do going into the year and have it complement what we already know is a productive passing game.”
Marcus Fleming leaves Maryland football program, faces assault charge | 2022-09-02T12:21:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Maryland's experienced line ready to pave way for explosive offense - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/maryland-football-offensive-line/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/maryland-football-offensive-line/ |
Flexible posts have been installed on the westbound lanes of Interstate 66 in Prince William County, where new express lanes are set to open this year. (Virginia Department of Transportation)
A nine-mile section of the 66 Express Lanes outside the Beltway will open to traffic as early as Sept. 10, the Virginia Department of Transportation announced Friday, giving drivers traveling through the busy commuter route the option to test the new tolling system that is expected to fully open before the end of the year.
Transportation officials are phasing in the debut of the new lanes, which stretch from the Beltway interchange in Fairfax to Gainesville in Prince William County. The westernmost section, from Route 29 in Gainesville to Route 28 in Centreville, will open on or around Sept. 10, VDOT said. The exact date will be determined in coming days as crews work to complete final preparations, the agency said.
The remaining 13 miles of the 22.5-mile system are expected to open in December. The partial opening should allow drivers to familiarize themselves with new traffic patterns along the route as the fifth year of construction wraps up on the $3.7 billion widening program. The new lanes will be the latest addition to the region’s growing network of express lanes, of which more than 60 miles are in Northern Virginia.
Beltway ramp to open as I-66 HOT lanes on track for December debut
“By opening the western segment of the new 66 Express Lanes early, we are able to start delivering congestion relief to I-66 travelers sooner than originally planned,” VDOT Commissioner Stephen Brich said in a statement.
State officials say the project will relieve congestion and provide drivers in the Interstate 66 corridor with a more reliable trip. Motorists will be able to choose between the general lanes, which will remain free, or the new high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, which buses, carpoolers and motorcyclists can use free.
Javier Gutierrez, the group’s chief executive officer, said this month’s opening will “ensure a great customer experience when the full corridor opens at the end of the year,” and he added in a statement that it will kick-start “the benefits that the new managed lanes and project enhancements will provide.”
Drivers traveling eastbound on I-66 will be able to merge onto the toll lanes from the general lanes before Route 29 in Gainesville and by using a ramp near Route 234 Business. Westbound traffic will have access before Route 28. Ramps at Route 234/Sudley Road, Route 28, and Braddock and Walney Roads also will carry traffic into the toll lanes, as will ramps from commuter parking lots at University Boulevard in Gainesville and at Century Park Boulevard in Manassas.
The toll system will be a 24-hour operation, which officials say is meant to create an incentive for drivers who want free travel to carpool. The lanes will have a dynamic pricing system, with tolls that rise and fall based on traffic conditions.
Project officials declined to say what an average toll would be or how much time drivers would save on a trip if taking the toll lanes. When the toll system launched five years ago in the corridors inside the Beltway section, drivers paid up to $40 for the 10-mile trip.
Nancy H. Smith, a spokeswoman for contracting firm FAM Construction, a joint venture of Ferrovial Construction and Allan Myers, said drivers will be able to pay a toll using an E-ZPass or pay online at Ride66express.com. They also can pay by mail, by phone or in person at a customer service center in Manassas.
High-occupancy vehicle rules will change along the corridor when the entire system of toll lanes opens in December. Vehicles will need to have three occupants to qualify for the free ride — a rule that will apply across the I-66 corridor from the D.C. line to Gainesville. Currently, drivers using the 66 Express Lanes inside the Beltway during peak travel periods are required to ride with at least one passenger.
Drivers should expect increased activity and changes in traffic patterns in coming weeks as the crews prepare to open the toll lanes. Testing of the toll gantries is ongoing, as is the installation of flexible posts that will divide the toll lane from the general lanes.
An extended lane closure went into effect Wednesday on the westbound side between Manassas and Gainesville. That lane will remain closed until Sept. 10, reducing to three the number of travel lanes in that section of the corridor, officials said. There could be other potential overnight lane closures in the area.
The first new exit ramp at the Beltway opened late last month, a major shift for traffic traveling at that interchange. Traffic from the Beltway’s northbound lanes now takes a new ramp to westbound I-66. Other ramps that recently have opened include those at the Route 123 and Route 234 interchanges.
More stories about Northern Virginia
Metro area back to school begins with Fairfax, Alexandria City opening
Man charged in shooting deaths of two landscapers in Alexandria | 2022-09-02T13:08:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | I-66 Express Lanes: Nine miles in Virginia to open around Sept. 10 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/09/02/9-miles-new-66-express-lanes-open-around-sept-10/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/09/02/9-miles-new-66-express-lanes-open-around-sept-10/ |
Dear Damon: A cousin whom I’m not really close to insists on using the r-word about herself. She’ll text me and say, “I’m so [stupid]!” (But using the r-word instead.) I’ve told her not to use the word, but she insists that she has a right to “reclaim” the word and use it for herself. (Never mind the fact that she’s not even doing any reclaiming — she hasn’t tried to put a positive spin on the word.)
She’s going through a hard time — dealing with the recent death of her brother by suicide, estrangement from other family members, etc.
We both grew up in a family and culture that didn’t teach us how boundaries work, so I’m struggling here. On one hand, it seems petty to block her entirely because of her use of this word. On the other hand, it seems like there is a bigger issue if she’s not willing to respect my right to not hear/see such an offensive word. Could you help me sort this out, please?
— Not just semantics
Not just semantics: So I’m thinking about water, and how language reminds me of that sometimes. Not because of its shared fluidity, though. But because if you alter the conditions, the same substance can feel like a breeze (condensation) or a brick (ice).
For instance, the words “make,” “America,” “great,” and “again” still mean the same thing, by themselves, that they always have. If I would have worn a shirt or a hat with those words, in that sequence, in 2015, people might have thought it was a curious sartorial decision (“Is that a garage band?”) and then they probably wouldn’t have thought about it again. A choice to wear something with those words in that sequence in 2022, though, suggests that you’re sympathetic to fascism.
That drastic change in connotation, in just seven short years, is whiplash-inducing, but not uncommon. Your cousin’s favorite word has undergone a similar shift, but stretched over a longer time. The r-word used to be a catchall to describe people with intellectual disabilities. As that word eventually was erased from polite discourse, it retained a second life as an off-color insult — something you’d freely hear at bars and on elementary school playgrounds. Today, it’s recognized as a slur; one of the few words so offensive it’s been given a euphemism (the r-word).
I do not think it’s petty to allow your cousin to experience a social consequence of using that word in 2022. She should know that while she’s free to say whatever she wants, you’re free to decide if her behavior demands that you alter your relationship with her. You don’t even have to be petty. Just firm. Before you do that, though, I would try again to talk to her about some of the history of that word, including why it’s a pejorative, why (assuming she has no intellectual disabilities) her right to “reclaim” it is nonexistent, and how hurtful her language might be to other people. Then ask her if it’s worth using that word, and hurting people, when there are dozens of other words that would convey the same sentiment.
Considering the trauma she’s recently experienced, I’m curious if this is out-of-character behavior for her. If so, it might help her to see a therapist. If not, it … still might help her to see a therapist. Also, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has links to support groups for family members of people who died by suicide. I think it would be a good idea for her to attend a meeting. Maybe you, too. | 2022-09-02T13:13:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ask Damon: My cousin keeps using the R-word after I asked her to stop - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/09/02/ask-damon-cousin-rword-wont-stop/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/09/02/ask-damon-cousin-rword-wont-stop/ |
Quarterback Brennan Armstrong is back for a fifth year at Virginia with a new coach and a retooled offense. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
CHARLOTTESVILLE — When Tony Elliott accepted the position as head coach of the Virginia football team in December, one of his most in-depth conversations immediately following was with Cavaliers quarterback Brennan Armstrong, who at the time had been considering entering the NFL draft.
The record-setting passer spent his first four years under the previous administration, and with an overhauled staff taking over, there were legitimate concerns whether it would be worth Armstrong’s while to remain in school rather than pursue a potentially life-changing professional contract.
It didn’t take much convincing to entice Armstrong to commit to a fifth year despite not only his unfamiliarity with the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach but also a tactical shift to prostyle formations, with Armstrong directly under center.
Chris Slade’s Virginia football homecoming was 30 years in the making
The discussion included intriguing strategies to boost Armstrong’s NFL stock, and what Elliott had to say carried considerably more sway than most given his previous position as Clemson’s offensive coordinator, where he worked closely with future NFL quarterbacks Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence.
Watson was the 12th pick in the 2017 NFL draft, and Lawrence went first overall in 2021.
“I had a lot of questions because, obviously, the offense we ran last year was a lot different compared to the offense that he ran at Clemson,” Armstrong said of Elliott. “Now I have a pretty good grasp of the offense and the concepts and things that we are trying to accomplish. I think just the biggest thing in this offense is I can play within an offense.”
Armstrong had submitted paperwork to the NFL last year requesting feedback regarding his draft stock not long after the Cavaliers lost their regular season finale to Virginia Tech. Then he spoke with Elliott and announced via social media he would be staying at Virginia.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound left-hander is coming off the most statistically prolific year of any quarterback in school history, establishing single-season program records for total yards on offense (4,700), passing yards (4,449) and passing touchdowns (31) in directing the Cavaliers to a 6-6 record.
Virginia was on track to play in the Fenway Bowl at Fenway Park in Boston, but a coronavirus outbreak in its locker room compelled the Cavaliers to withdraw, leaving Armstrong 145 yards shy of Watson’s ACC single-season mark for passing.
Last year Armstrong also amassed 538 yards of total offense, the most in a game in school history, in a 59-39 loss to North Carolina and accounted for six touchdowns, another Virginia single-game record, during a 66-49 loss to BYU.
“He brings initial credibility to me by making a decision to stay,” Elliott said. “Obviously he had opportunities to move on and transition to the next level, so he brings that immediate validation because he believes, showing his belief in me to the rest of the locker room.”
Teammates have embraced Armstrong’s moxie and steady leadership since he ascended to starter in 2020.
His willingness to run for extra yards when a play goes awry remains one of the more compelling components in the dual threat’s arsenal, but Armstrong has grown more prudent when it comes to sliding and getting out of bounds to avoid violent collisions.
Armstrong, who has 803 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns over the past two seasons, as well as Elliott and his staff indicated that quarterback runs still will be featured in the game plan, although not necessarily on designed plays.
“He’s able to run the ball, right? But there’s a fine line,” Virginia first-year offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said. “Let’s control the hits because you know he’s a competitor. We gave him some prep, ‘Hey, if we’re outside the red zone, get down.’ Now if we’re in here close to scoring, yeah, go score the football, but let’s not take hits just to take hits.”
New Virginia football coach Tony Elliott has players buying in early
As a junior Armstrong missed one game while in concussion protocol following helmet-to-helmet contact during an attempted slide. Last year he left late in the BYU game with damaged ribs, sat out the next week against Notre Dame and came back to face 20th-ranked Pittsburgh in a critical Coastal Division showdown.
The Cavaliers lost, 48-38, but Armstrong threw for 487 yards and three touchdowns on 36-of-49 passing. His passer rating of 173.1 was more than 17 points higher than that of Panthers counterpart Kenny Pickett, who went to the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 20th overall pick in the NFL draft.
Armstrong’s path to the NFL draft begins in earnest Saturday when Virginia opens the regular season against Football Championship Subdivision foe Richmond in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers’ first Power Five opponent is Illinois the following week in Champaign, Ill.
“To be around him, to see how he operates, how he conducts himself, I think we have a lot of similarities,” Elliott said of Armstrong. “We’re both blue-collar mentality guys, team-first guys. One of the points that he wanted to illustrate to me early on is, ‘Coach, this ain’t about stats. This is about winning. I want to come back. I want to win. I want to develop, and I want to prepare myself for the next level.’” | 2022-09-02T13:17:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Record-setting QB Brennan Armstrong back at Virginia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/brennan-armstrong-virginia-football/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/brennan-armstrong-virginia-football/ |
A stellar 20 consecutive months of sustained job growth more than recovered the millions of jobs lost during the pandemic
Vanessa Wade pours a beer at Takoda Navy Yard in D.C. in July. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post)
The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 3.7 percent, according to a monthly jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, with 344,000 more people unemployed than the previous month.
The August jobs gains were the lowest monthly pick-up so far this year, but the labor market remains an area of strength for the economy, especially as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to rein in blistering inflation.
The biggest gains were in professional and business services, which added 68,000 jobs in August, with strong gains in computer systems design, management and technical consulting, and architectural and engineering services.
Employment in healthcare rose by 48,000 jobs, with notable additions in physicians, hospitals, and nursing and residential care facilities. Retail trade added 44,000 jobs and manufacturing continued to trend up by 22,000.
Employment in leisure and hospitality saw little change after average monthly job gains of 90,000 in the first seven months of 2022. The industry still remains below its pre-pandemic levels.
Inflation rose 8.5 percent in July compared with the previous year, while wages rose by only 5.2 percent during the same period.
“Broadly speaking, the economy is slowing even though the job market has been very hot,” said Daniel Zhao, lead economist at Glassdoor. “But the overall economy and job market can’t be out of sync for too long. I think the labor market still has gas left in the tank and clearly more than we expected a few months ago, but eventually it will have to fall back to earth.”
The economy added 528,000 jobs in July, more than doubling forecasters’ expectations and substantially reducing recession fears.
“Things are still very hot, but July’s report was more of a fluke than the start of an accelerator,” Zhao said.
“When we stop seeing growth in those industries, that’s when you think the first shoe is beginning to drop. It hasn’t yet,” said Erica Groshen, an economics adviser at Cornell University and the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2013 to 2017.
The strength of the job market has emboldened the Fed to take aggressive action to fight inflation. Speaking in Jackson Hole, Wyo. last week, central bank Chair Jerome H. Powell said the Fed will not stop raising rates until inflation is more under control, though he expects that will probably soften the labor market.
Craig Woodling, 39, quit his job delivering packages for an Amazon contractor in Orlando in August. His co-workers had been quitting “left and right,” he said, and his manager was disappointed when he gave his notice.
“It was mostly heat and the expectations of how much Amazon wanted us to deliver,” Woodling said. He added that the number of packages he was delivering had surged to 400 a day, up from 220 during the pandemic. “I’m about 40, at this point, so it’s wearing my body out.”
Woodling said he felt comfortable quitting his $18-an-hour delivery job because of a labor market with plentiful opportunities. Plus, his wife has a stable income. Now that he’s applying for jobs, he’s less certain that he’ll be able to quickly find another, particularly in the areas that he is looking: radio, his passion, or information technology.
“I thought it would be much easier to get a job once I quit, but that hasn’t been the case,” Woodling said. “Part of me want to looks for delivery jobs that I did before, but my wife keeps reminding me that you don’t want to get in that field again.”
The tight labor market, combined with inflation at 40-year-highs, has also fostered an environment ripe for union activity, as workers struggling to pay for gas, food and housing have more power to make collective demands of employers facing widespread labor shortages. The National Labor Relations Board has reported a 56 percent uptick in petitions for union elections in the first nine months of fiscal year 2022 compared with the prior year. | 2022-09-02T13:21:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | U.S. economy added 315,000 jobs in August, a continued bright spot in the economy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/09/02/august-jobs-report/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/09/02/august-jobs-report/ |
No, Alaska Hasn’t Figured Out a Better Way to Vote
The House special election in Alaska, in which Democrat Mary Peltola won an upset victory over opponents including former Governor Sarah Palin, was the first conducted under that state’s new voting system. It’s one of a number of electoral experiments in states around the nation, which overall are a good thing, in my view. But I’m no fan of the Alaska version.
The problem with the Alaska system is that its single-ballot first round of voting eliminates formal party nominations. Political parties tend to be unpopular in the US, but political scientists are almost unanimous in saying that parties are essential to making democracy work. Parties structure voter decisions and give them concise, useful information.
Parties also give people who want to become more involved in politics a way to participate meaningfully, because parties define themselves through nominating candidates for office. Take away those nominations, and it becomes that much harder for groups and for individual citizens to fight for what they want from their elected officials. Without party influence, true self-government becomes a lot more difficult.
In the new Alaska system, candidates enter a single preliminary contest, open to all candidates and all voters regardless of party affiliation. In the initial round, voters select one candidate, and the top four finishers proceed to the second round.
Alaska calls this a “primary” election (as does California, which has begun using a similar system), but it’s no such thing. Primary elections choose party nominees.(1) The second election uses instant-runoff procedures to determine a winner, with the bottom candidate knocked out and votes redistributed to the voters’ second-choice candidates until one winner gets more than 50% of the vote.
So there are two non-standard features — the two-round election, and the ranked-choice voting in the second round. But ranked-choice voting, in which voters are asked to express first-choice, second-choice and third-choice preferences instead of just picking their favorite candidate, isn’t much different in principle from the familiar mechanism (used, for example, in many Southern states) of requiring a run-off election among the top two contestants if neither reaches 50% in the general election.
It’s the non-partisan, two-round election that is troubling. In primary elections, party actors — politicians, campaign and governing professionals, party officials and staff, donors and volunteers, party-aligned interest groups and the partisan media — control valuable resources that help candidates win nominations. Even though voters make the final decision, the party matters. And that means that candidates must pay attention to party actors, and party actors have incentives to work with each other and cut bargains that wind up defining and redefining the party. That’s where a lot of democracy actually takes place: People who care enough to get involved beyond just voting do so, and the outcomes of intra-party struggles really matter to governing.
It’s possible that parties will settle on a nominee despite rules that make it hard to do so. That’s basically what Alaska Democrats did; an independent candidate running against Republicans was one of the top four in the second-round election, but he dropped out and supported Peltola, giving Democrats a de facto nominee. Without a mechanism to force that to happen, factional candidates can get through, and they may resist efforts to bring the party together. That’s more or less what happened on the Republican side in Alaska.(2)
Republicans are blaming the ranked choice element for losing what normally is a safe GOP seat, but that’s not quite correct. It is true that had the Democratic-leaning independent candidate remained in the race, the Democratic vote would likely have split and the two Republicans, Palin and businessman Nick Begich, would have been the final two candidates, meaning one of them would have won. Instead, Peltola had the most raw votes and Palin was second, meaning that Begich’s votes were redistributed, with enough of them either going to Peltola or getting tossed out entirely (with some Begich voters declining to declare a second choice) that Peltola won.
But it’s also true that had there been a primary election, Palin might well have won the Republican nomination, and given what we know from second-choice ballots, it’s at least plausible that she was so unpopular that she would have lost in the general election. The problem for Republicans is that many of their voters (egged on by former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Palin) keep supporting candidates who aren’t very popular, regardless of the voting rules.
But overall, eliminating any kind of formal nominations and making it harder to deliver party support to strong candidates can’t help solve that problem. I’m less critical of the ranked-choice portion of the Alaska system. Thinking through what happened in this special election and how it could have turned out differently depending on which candidates were involved in the final round demonstrates that ranked-choice fails to necessarily choose moderate candidates, which is supposed to be the appeal of this kind of system; in fact, most of the studies on similar systems have failed to find any moderating effect.
Ranked-choice voting can be helpful in some circumstances, although it’s no cure-all. But top-four, top-two and other rules that strip political parties of their role in selecting candidates for a general election? They’re simply bad for democracy.
• Craig Volden and Alan E. Wiseman on improving congressional performance.
• Andrej Kokkonen, Anne Meng, Jørgen Møller and Anders Sundell on leadership succession in HBO’s “House of the Dragon.”
• Susan Liebell on the Supreme Court’s “originalism.”
• Allyson F. Shortle, Eric L. McDaniel and Irfan Nooruddin on Christian nationalism.
• Robert Farley on the B-21 Raider.
(1) Of course, you can call these procedures whatever you want. But traditional primary elections are procedures to nominate the parties’ candidates; the Alaska “primary” in the top four system no longer has that function - and in fact makes it impossible for parties to formally designate nominees at all.
(2) And it may happen again in the November election for the regular term. The same three candidates have qualified, this time joined by a Libertarian Party candidate who will presumably finish fourth and be eliminated quickly in the instant-runoff portion of the vote. The incentives again will be for the two Republicans to run against each other, rather than consolidating to run against the lone Democrat. | 2022-09-02T13:21:51Z | www.washingtonpost.com | No, Alaska Hasn’t Figured Out a Better Way to Vote - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/no-alaska-hasnt-figured-out-a-better-way-to-vote/2022/09/02/c5825024-2abb-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/no-alaska-hasnt-figured-out-a-better-way-to-vote/2022/09/02/c5825024-2abb-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
Photographer Liz Moughon was in the hospital, struggling to breathe. That’s when she discovered she had Type 1 diabetes.
Perspective by Liz Moughon
“Repeat after me, ‘I am a diabetic,’” the nurse said. “It’s part of the coping process.” On my 23rd birthday, Sept. 28, 2019, I was discharged from the ICU with a new diagnosis: Type 1 diabetes, a condition in which the pancreas stops producing insulin. The cause for it is unknown. (Liz Moughon)
For days, Liz Moughon had been struggling to breathe. Now she was on her way to an emergency room, prodded by a concerned sister and the realization that, in the past 24 hours, it had gotten worse.
In the previous two months, she’d lost 20 pounds, constantly felt the need to urinate, had noticed something off about the taste of water and had become so fatigued that she struggled to carry the equipment for her work as a freelance photographer and cinematographer. She blamed the weight loss on the marathon she was training for. But when that marathon rolled around, she was barely able to make it a quarter of a mile before dropping out. It felt like bricks had been stacked on her chest.
At the ER, a nurse listened to her symptoms, asked whether she was diabetic and did a blood sugar test. It came back at 501 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) — more than 350 mg/dL higher than it should be. Moughon also had diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially fatal complication of unchecked diabetes. She was quickly moved to the intensive care unit.
‘At all ages of life’
Moughon had developed Type 1 diabetes, which used to be called juvenile diabetes because it most often hits between ages 5 and 14. It is much less common than Type 2 diabetes, which tends to strike older people and is often triggered by being overweight.
Type 1 diabetes, which has genetic and environmental components, is caused when the pancreas creates little or no insulin. Insulin is the hormone that enables the body to convert glucose into energy.
In Type 2 diabetes, people develop a resistance to insulin, which can be lessened with weight loss and healthy eating. But in Type 1 diabetes, that is not the case. The cells that produce insulin — called beta cells — are thought to be targeted by the body’s own immune system. A lifetime of regular doses of insulin is the only therapy.
“You have two organ systems that are not working well,” says Scott Soleimanpour, director of Type 1 Diabetes Basic Research at the University of Michigan Caswell Diabetes Institute. He also has Type 1 diabetes.
Without insulin, the body’s blood sugar levels can reach levels far beyond the normal range for a nondiabetic person, which is typically in the range of 70 to 110 mg/dL. Starting at 250 mg/dL, diabetic ketoacidosis can set in for some patients, resulting in the symptoms that brought Moughon to the hospital. If left untreated with regular insulin, it can lead to mental confusion, a coma and death. The condition is brought on when the body cannot produce enough insulin — which drives up the body’s blood sugar level — and begins to break down fat for energy, producing high levels of blood acids called ketones.
A person finding themselves in diabetic ketoacidosis is “a very common way for a new onset person to be diagnosed,” Soleimanpour said.
Of Moughon developing Type 1 diabetes as an adult, Soleimanpour says, “There are people who have Type 1 diabetes at all ages of life.”
Adjusting to the new
Moughon was discharged from the ICU after two days, on Sept. 28, 2019. It was her 23rd birthday. Her sister Hannah, who had cared for patients with diabetes as a nurse, had driven to the hospital in the middle of the night and pledged to spend the next week with Moughon to help monitor her new diagnosis.
That first week, Moughon recalls, was a mess of needles and numbers, all of which had to be reported to her sister. But every day since leaving the hospital, her blood sugar was high.
“Looking back at that time, I didn’t know what Type 1 meant,” Moughon, now almost 26, says. “Fortunately, I have an incredibly selfless sister, and she understood how important it was.”
After that first week, she moved back to her childhood home and devoted herself to learning about Type 1 diabetes. She tested her blood sugar eight to 10 times a day. She gave herself four to five insulin shots a day. Her sister and other members of her family who work in the medical field helped answer questions and explain the science of how her body, insulin and carbohydrates worked.
“It was the first time in my life where I had no other responsibilities but to take care of my body,” Moughon said.
Photographing her life
Even before her diagnosis, Moughon was using her skills as a photographer to create portraits of herself.
“I think it’s one of the best ways to be vulnerable in a safe space,” she explained. And so, when grappling with her illness became difficult, she turned to photographing it as a way to create something tangible from her frustrations — as she described it, “I’ve made something, let’s move on.”
It was two months after her diagnosis that she realized she was building a real body of work about her diabetes. She remembers the first set of pictures she made, knowing they would be contributing to a larger project: two images of her stomach, one with it covered in the needles she had used to administer insulin, the second with the devices she’d received that would help manage her diabetes.
One of those devices is a monitor that connects to her phone, gives a reading of her blood sugar and alerts her if it is too high or low. The other is a pod that administers insulin. Both have to be changed on a regular basis and both leave small purple scars that Moughon simultaneously dislikes and recognizes as “a mark of healing.”
She has to maintain a relationship between the food she eats, the insulin she takes and the physical activity in which she partakes. Since her diagnosis two years ago, she has noticed that her body needs more insulin now than it used to. All of these things she describes as “just maintenance.”
“It’s a thing I deal with, but I live a good life and it’s not held me back,” Moughon said. “I want this project to serve as a way for people to see that, no matter what you’ve got going on in your life, it can be a release.” | 2022-09-02T13:21:58Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Photographer documents Type 1 diabetes - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2022/09/02/tracking-type-one-diabetes/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2022/09/02/tracking-type-one-diabetes/ |
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran said Friday its navy seized two American sea drones in the Red Sea before letting them go, the latest maritime incident involving the U.S. Navy’s new drone fleet in the Mideast.
This marks the second such incident in recent days as negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers hang in the balance. The earlier incident involved Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, not its regular navy, and occurred in the Persian Gulf. | 2022-09-02T13:22:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | US Navy says Iran again briefly seizes American sea drone - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-navy-says-iran-again-briefly-seizes-american-sea-drone/2022/09/02/c9322e1c-2abe-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/us-navy-says-iran-again-briefly-seizes-american-sea-drone/2022/09/02/c9322e1c-2abe-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
Post-Roe, some areas may lose OB/GYNs if medical students can’t get training
By Sara Hutchinson
A treatment room at the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health in Tennessee in June. The clinic had participated in training programs. (Jessica Tezak for The Washington Post)
Today, Soto is a third-year medical student at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine. She chose to study at UTRGV — located in South Texas along the border with Mexico — because of the opportunity to work with a Spanish-speaking immigrant population.
“I won’t get the abortion care training I need if I stay, and I’m not willing to sacrifice that,” Soto said.
“It’s a difficult position to be put in,” said Jessica Flores, a second-year medical student at UTRGV, who comes from the small city of Portland in South Texas and has long dreamed of serving her community as a physician. Now that Texas has made performing an abortion a felony punishable by up to life in prison, she is rethinking her plans.
“Do I pursue my education in a state where I want to be ideally, but it’s going to potentially undercut me and not make me as prepared as a physician for my patients? Or do I leave?” Flores said.
For years, researchers have warned of a growing OB/GYN shortage, especially in rural communities across the country. Following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, concern is rising that abortion bans will intensify those shortages by making the path to becoming an OB/GYN more difficult and less appealing.
To become a doctor, students attend four years of medical school, then complete a residency in their chosen specialty. OB/GYN residency programs are required to offer access to training in induced abortion, although students with moral or religious objections are permitted to opt out.
This requirement has been enforced by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME ) since the mid-1990s, and programs unable to meet this standard jeopardize their accreditation status.
The fall of Roe scrambles abortion training for university hospitals
Nearly half the country’s future women’s health care providers could be affected. An April report in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology said 45 percent of all OB/GYN residency programs were in states “certain or likely to ban abortion” with the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Those programs accounted for 2,638 residents out of 6,007 total.
Meanwhile, program directors in abortion-restricted states are relying on their personal networks — connecting with colleagues in states that allow abortion to find training opportunities for their residents — but the logistics have proved challenging.
“There’s no centralized system to help make this happen,” said Kate Dielentheis, an OB/GYN and associate director of the OB/GYN residency program at the Medical College of Wisconsin. “It’s left up to institution by institution to try to cobble together experiences for their residents.”
On June 24, the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, leaving abortion decisions up to the states. Here’s what you need to know — and what comes next. (Video: Blair Guild/The Washington Post)
Kristin Simonson is the director of programs and operations at the Ryan Residency Training Program, based at the University of California at San Francisco, which works with OB/GYN residency programs nationwide to help build out their training in abortion and family planning. She said the organization is working with programs in states where abortion is legal to bulk up training capacity, but those doctors are already facing an influx of new patients.
As the capacity of abortion providers is tested, many experts worry current OB/GYN residents in need of abortion training will miss out.
“Residency is finite,” Dielentheis said. “OB/GYN residency is four years, and the idea that ‘Oh, we’re going to need six months or a year to figure this out’ — that’s a long time for a resident.”
Beyond the capacity challenges, medical educators worry new barriers to abortion training will discourage future doctors from studying in states that restrict abortion.
At the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, Laura Jacques, an assistant professor, advises medical students who plan to apply to an OB/GYN residency. She says she believes Wisconsin’s recently reinstated abortion ban — which makes providing an abortion a felony offense — will have a chilling effect on the program’s ability to attract candidates.
“There’s no question that residents are going to not come to states that won’t give them the training that they value and think they need,” Jacques said.
“Our guess is that programs in states where abortion access is safe will become more competitive,” she said.
“There’s more to abortion training than just performing an abortion,” said Eve Espey, chair of the OB/GYN department at New Mexico University and president of the Council of University Chairs of OB/GYN.
“There are far-reaching, unintended consequences,” Espey said.
The added legal scrutiny around miscarriage care also hampers learning, says Tony Ogburn, chair of the OB/GYN department at UTRGV.
“I have concerns that it’s going to be challenging both from an education standpoint and a practice standpoint,” Ogburn said. “You now are no longer thinking about what the standard of care is and what’s best for my patient. In the background is: ‘I can’t do this,’ or ‘Is this something I could do, but it might be illegal?’ That is unfortunate, because ultimately who suffers are the patients.”
Even before the Dobbs decision, OB/GYNs were distributed unevenly in the United States, disproportionately located in or near urban areas. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, half of all counties in the United States are without a single OB/GYN, and that shortage is expected to grow.
A challenge for antiabortion states: Doctors reluctant to work there
It’s not just residents whose training is affected. Those still in medical school will also suffer from the Dobbs decision, medical educators say.
Unlike OB/GYN residency programs, which must provide access to abortion training to maintain their accreditation, medical schools are not required to include instruction on abortion care. As a result, medical students’ exposure to abortion varies based on the curriculum design of their program.
“No matter what you go into, you’re going to be taking care of patients who have had or will be having or will be seeking an abortion, and if you don’t get that base level of training in medical school, it’s only going to further increase these disparities and access issues,” Jacques said.
“It’s a frustrating field to enter into if you’re not in the right state, which is really draining,” Chetty said. “Number one, you don’t want [to] deal with these insane lawsuits or just the dread of something happening. And then number two, you can’t take care of your patients.”
Chetty, who is the president of her school’s OB/GYN interest group and of the campus chapter of Medical Students for Choice, said student leaders in these groups have similarly changed their plans.
“None of us are planning to go into OB/GYN anymore — like zero. It breaks my heart,” Chetty said. “We don’t want to put a target on ourselves.”
Back in the Rio Grande Valley, Soto is considering residency programs in New Mexico and Colorado. She worries the new legal landscape in Texas will push future doctors away from the state.
“A lot of students will leave Texas. Will they come back?” Soto said. “Probably not.”
This story about OB/GYN training was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our higher education newsletter. | 2022-09-02T13:22:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Post-Roe, some areas may lose OB/GYNs if medical students can’t get training - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/09/02/abortion-training-rural-areas/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/09/02/abortion-training-rural-areas/ |
Gorbachev didn’t set out to open the door to democracy
The former Soviet leader learned the hard way that reining in political changes is harder than making them
Analysis by Daniel Treisman
Russian President Vladimir Putin walks by the coffin of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow on Sept. 1. (Russian pool /AP)
Mikhail Gorbachev, who died Tuesday, opened the door to democracy in Russia. But that was not what he intended to do.
A fervent believer in a more humane version of communism, he thought the policies of glasnost and perestroika that he introduced in the late 1980s would revitalize the stagnating Soviet system. Under his leadership, Gorbachev imagined that the U.S.S.R. would once again inspire admirers, both at home and abroad.
In fact, the revolution he started soon swept him away.
Gorbachev was an accidental democrat
In falling victim to forces he unleashed, Gorbachev was hardly unique. I recently studied more than 300 instances of democratization that occurred between 1800 and 2015. Conventional wisdom suggests that such political changes are the result of deliberate choices by incumbent leaders.
In fact, I found that most were triggered by the incumbents’ mistakes. In only about one-third of the episodes that I examined did an authoritarian leader intend to share or give up power in the way that ultimately occurred. At least two-thirds of the time, democracy emerged because of the dictator’s misperceptions and miscalculations.
Autocrats make a variety of fatal errors. Some leaders, such as Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, call plebiscites or elections and lose, empowering their opponents and splitting supporters. Others, such as Leopoldo Galtieri in Argentina, start wars expecting victory, only to be weakened by military defeat.
Gorbachev’s mistake was sliding down the “slippery slope.” That’s when leaders make concessions or launch reforms thinking they can later rein them in. But they lose control as their early steps reconfigure the political arena in unexpected ways.
Besides Gorbachev, other sliders include Poland’s Communists, who thought they could defang the country’s opposition movement, Solidarity, with minor compromises. And in Mexico, the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party assumed it would continue to triumph at the polls even with an independent electoral administration.
Is Russia headed for a return to Stalinism?
Gorbachev destroyed the Soviet system — by mistake
Gorbachev’s glasnost was initially meant to be limited. The word often translates as “openness,” but it also has connotations of “publicity.” A more open media was supposed to boost Gorbachev’s reformers in power. But journalists rewrote the rules, claiming unlimited freedom of expression and the press.
Perestroika — economic restructuring — wasn’t intended to spawn free markets but rather to rebuild the planned economy. Instead, reforms destroyed it. In allowing the non-Russian republics some autonomy, Gorbachev was aiming for a more balanced federalism. But, starting too late and moving inconsistently, he ended up undermining the Soviet Union.
To many in his party, Gorbachev did not just make mistakes — he was a mistake. He had fooled the old Politburo into thinking he would defend the regime, only to turn against it. Like Adolfo Suárez in Spain after the death of Gen. Francisco Franco, Gorbachev tore apart the system that had promoted him — from the inside.
Gorbachev was a ‘hero of retreat’
Can we consider someone great if his career consisted of a series of failures? Gorbachev’s true greatness was in how he reacted to defeats. He became what the German writer Hans Magnus Enzensberger dubbed a “hero of retreat.”
“Any cretin can throw a bomb,” Enzensberger argued. “It is 1,000 times more difficult to defuse one.” Gorbachev was the world’s most successful “historical demolition man,” even if he did not realize until too late that wrecking was his true vocation.
Why didn’t Gorbachev resort to force to restore his control? In part, he had genuine moral qualms and a distaste for violence. “They say we need to thump our fists,” he told aides at one point, clenching his hand to illustrate. “Generally speaking, we could do that. But I don’t feel like it.”
Gorbachev did share responsibility when, on his watch, Soviet troops killed 19 unarmed civilians in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1989 and 17 more in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1991. The details remain murky. And in November 1991, he seemed to have considered tougher measures, at least according to Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, the Soviet defense minister at the time.
Shaposhnikov wrote later that Gorbachev called him into his Kremlin office and said, “You, the military, take power into your hands, install a government that suits you, stabilize the situation and then step aside.” When the defense minister responded sharply, Gorbachev claimed to have been merely “thinking out loud.” By the time of the Belavezha Accords that formally ended the U.S.S.R. in early December 1991, Gorbachev clearly saw that force would not work.
Over time, Gorbachev became more democratic, acclimatizing to the boisterous public politics that broke out in the early 1990s. He even humbled himself to run for election in 1996, against his wife Raisa’s pleading. This campaign — which netted him 0.5 percent of the vote — looks almost like a deliberate penance.
Gorbachev’s embrace of nuclear disarmament was no mistake. He deftly harnessed President Ronald Reagan’s utopianism to push the world toward an ambitious rethinking of international security. Previous Soviet leaders had sought only to win the competition with the West. Gorbachev sought to end it.
If not a mistake, this initiative certainly ended up a disappointment. The West matched Gorbachev in reducing its nuclear arsenal. But there was little evidence to suggest a rethinking of security. After his military bloc — and country — disintegrated, Gorbachev saw NATO expand eastward. The advocate of a new “common European home” ended up outside it.
From Gorbachev to Putin … and back again?
The decade after 1989 was the most democratic that Russia has ever seen — and remarkably peaceful, given the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Since then, the pendulum has swung the other way.
Gorbachev withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan; Vladimir Putin sent tanks into Ukraine. Gorbachev ended one cold war with the West; Putin started a new one. Gorbachev let his citizens speak freely; Putin is jailing Russians for social media posts. Gorbachev introduced the first competition into Soviet elections; Putin has turned Russia’s ballots into a farce.
As Brezhnev-style economic stagnation returns, there’s a familiar sense in Russia of a society that has outgrown an archaic political system. Russia’s current president seems ever more determined to cling to power, come what may. Will a new Gorbachev emerge from inside Putin’s regime to demolish it? Only time will tell.
Daniel Treisman is a professor of political science at UCLA and a co-author of “Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century” (Princeton University Press, 2022). | 2022-09-02T13:22:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Gorbachev destroyed the Soviet system — by mistake - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/02/gorbachev-reform-putin-russia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/02/gorbachev-reform-putin-russia/ |
Man fatally shot at son’s football practice, D.C. police say
D.C. police investigate a fatal shooting. (Peter Hermann/The Washington Post)
A 36-year-old man was fatally shot Thursday night at his son’s youth football practice next to an elementary school in Southeast Washington, according to D.C. police.
Police said the shooting occurred about 7:20 p.m. on a sidewalk in the proximity of players, coaches and parents who were on an expansive field in the 1500 block of Mississippi Avenue SE.
Dustin Sternbeck, a police spokesman, said Friday that the circumstances of the shooting near Malcolm X Elementary School were being investigated and that no arrest had been made.
Sternbeck said police found a ghost gun on the victim after he had been shot. Ghost guns are untraceable firearms manufactured or built at home from kits and lacking serial numbers. Police said the man, whose name has not been released, died at the scene.
Police also were investigating a fatal shooting that occurred Friday about 6:40 a.m. in the 1600 block of 18th Street SE, in the Fairlawn neighborhood. Sternbeck said a man was shot outdoors and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
As of Thursday night, homicides in the District were up 2 percent from the same time in 2021, police statistics show. D.C. ended 2021 with more than 200 killings for the first time in nearly a decade. | 2022-09-02T14:05:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A man was killed at his son's football practice in Southeast, D.C. police say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/man-killed-sons-football-practice/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/man-killed-sons-football-practice/ |
Man who police say traded fire with officer is charged with carjacking
No one was injured in the shootout in Southeast Washington on Aug. 25
D.C. police said this firearm was found in a vehicle after a shootout involving a man and police on Aug. 25 in the 3500 block of Sixth Street SE. No injuries were reported. (D.C. police)
A man who D.C. police said exchanged gunfire with an officer last month in Southeast Washington had robbed a woman of $3 and carjacked a security guard before the shootout, according to court documents filed in the case.
Neither the officer nor the man was struck by bullets the night of Aug. 25, and police said they arrested Joseph Hall, 24, of Southeast. He has been charged with carjacking, armed robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm without a license.
D.C. officials on Friday identified the officer who fired as Ethan Way, who has been on the force six years. Way did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Police said Hall declined to allow authorities to make public the video from Way’s body camera, as is his right. Authorities said the investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
A Superior Court judge has ordered Hall detained and set a hearing for Sept. 16. His attorney with the Public Defender Service did not respond to a request for comment.
The encounter occurred about 8:30 p.m. in the 3500 block of Sixth Street SE. Police said they received multiple 911 calls reporting a man waving a gun and trying to rob people.
A woman told police a man had pointed a gun at her daughter’s chest and demanded money. The victim gave the man $3, the woman said. Police said the man, later identified as Hall, then ran over to a parked silver Ford EcoSport occupied by two on-duty security guards, known as special police officers.
The driver of the Ford told police the man banged on her window and yelled, “Help me,” according to the court documents. She said the man then pointed a gun at the guard’s head and said: “Give me the keys and get out. Give me the keys. Give me them now or I’m going to blow your head up.”
Police said that the guard and her passenger, who were unarmed, got out of the Ford and ran away and that the driver kept her car keys. Police said Hall got into the Ford just before police, including Way, arrived.
The court documents say Way gave Hall, still inside the vehicle, “multiple verbal commands” to drop the firearm, “but he did not comply.” Police said Hall pointed the gun at Way, who fired, and Hall fired back.
Police eventually arrested Hall and said they found a handgun, emptied of its bullets, in the vehicle. | 2022-09-02T14:05:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Man who police say traded fire with officer is charged with carjacking - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/police-shooting-washington/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/02/police-shooting-washington/ |
By Ryan Bourne
Ryan Bourne is the R. Evan Scharf Chair for the Public Understanding of Economics at the Cato Institute.
Young families and many child-care workers were dealt a huge blow last month when a court upheld a pernicious D.C. day-care regulation.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed a suit challenging the Office of the State Superintendent of Education’s requirement that D.C. day-care providers require a college degree. When the rule kicks in from December 2023, the result will be more expensive child care and fewer work opportunities for many vulnerable workers.
Putting legalities aside, the rule has always been truly dreadful economics. D.C. already has the highest-priced child care nationwide, with full-time center-based care for infants costing an average of $24,378 per year and even home-based care costing $18,425.
These figures amount to 79 percent and 60 percent of local median income for single parents, respectively, making child care simply unaffordable for the poorest, absent government support. Putting two kids into a child-care center in D.C. costs 41 percent more than the local average mortgage payment and nearly twice the cost of tuition at a public university.
Enforcing a new standard that requires carers to have an associate’s degree in early-childhood education or 24 credit hours in that subject to supplement an existing degree will squeeze the number of carers further, raising prices higher still.
The time and financial costs of obtaining the credentials create a new barrier to those considering working in the sector and encourages exit for those without the 10 years’ continuous experience needed to avoid the rule. Previous research from economists Diana Thomas and Devon Gorry has found that state requirements for lead carers to have even a high school diploma increase prices by 25 percent to 46 percent. The D.C. educational hurdle is much more stringent.
The impact of this supply squeeze will be highly regressive. Proponents of the rule argue it will improve child-care quality, which will lead to better child-development outcomes. Yet research by economists V. Joseph Hotz and Mo Xiao has found that increasing the average required years of education for center directors in other states reduced the number of child-care centers open. The resultant higher prices mean many poor or middle-income families cannot afford child care that works for them even if they can find it, forcing them toward informal arrangements or forgoing work opportunities entirely. The impact on the development of children being raised in financially poorer households and makeshift child-care settings has so far been ignored.
Then there is the effect on potential carers. For those low-qualification workers and poorer immigrants for whom English is not a first language, obtaining this qualification will be a tall order financially and instructionally. People in these groups, often with vast experience in raising their own children, are therefore denied the opportunity to care for others’ children for a living, even when parents consent. This is mutually destructive. Indeed, one can imagine many families might value their child being exposed to a different language at a young age, but this rule smothers this opportunity.
In opposing the regulation, the plaintiffs pointed out that, as structured, child-care workers would have to take local college courses that incorporate classes or electives unnecessary for the care of infants and toddlers. The court, laughably, argued in return that advanced mathematics or courses in Shakespeare could still be useful, “as any adult who has been flummoxed by a two-year-old repeatedly asking ‘why’ can attest.” Why, exactly, a child-care worker needs a formal qualification to answer 2-year-olds’ questions, when parents do not, is unclear.
In fact, it’s worth bringing things back to first principles here: If parents, with personal knowledge of their children’s wants and needs, decide that a certain home day-care provider is best, what business is it of the D.C. government to say what qualifications the carer should have? The fact that this policy has been delayed in implementation again and again since its adoption in 2016, with more workers carved out for exemption, is acknowledgment itself that this rule is contentious.
In the past year, Democratic federal legislators have pushed for federal programs that would cap families’ child-care spending. One reason child care is becoming more expensive to provide, however, is precisely because of government regulations that restrain the number of available workers.
D.C. will take this occupational licensing to extremes through these new education requirements. It is difficult not to wonder whether lawmakers’ and staffers’ desire for more federal demand-side subsidies is in part a result of the supply-side dysfunction they experience for their own families in Washington. | 2022-09-02T14:18:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The D.C. child-care ruling is a disaster for young families - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/02/dc-daycare-regulations-burdensome/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/02/dc-daycare-regulations-burdensome/ |
By Yanet Amanuel
A Prince George’s County police cruiser on May 28. (Eric Lee for The Washington Post)
Yanet Amanuel is public policy director of the ACLU of Maryland.
Every time there is an opportunity to give the community control of the police, Maryland Democrats at every level who say they support police accountability squander it by backing amendments pushed by the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).
Community oversight of law enforcement is the most effective way to deter negative police behavior and the dehumanization of Black and Brown people, because it gives the community the power to hold accountable those who harm its members. Because the likelihood of getting caught deters crime and misconduct, it is painfully evident in Maryland and nationwide that police cannot police themselves. But again and again, we see that those who claim to want change instead reassert the dangerous, ineffective approach of deferring to the police.
In 2021, Democratic leaders in the Maryland House and Senate pledged to repeal the infamous Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (LEOBR) and give the community a more significant role in police discipline. However, the bill to replace the LEOBR was watered down by amendments pushed by the FOP over the objections of community members, advocates and allied legislators. The amendments included requiring that internal police trial boards maintain final decision-making power and, worst of all, stripping external community oversight boards of the ability to conduct independent investigations, issue subpoenas and have final decision-making powers. Furthermore, the implementation of local Police Accountability Boards (PABs) in every county and Baltimore City, as mandated by the Maryland Police Accountability Act (MPAA) of 2021, further proves that police unions exert a great deal of power and influence over the new disciplinary process.
For example, although the new MPAA explicitly prohibits active police officers from serving on the Police Accountability Board, many local jurisdictions passed bills to allow or require former police officers to serve on the boards. Additionally, nearly every jurisdiction included bans preventing Marylanders who were formerly incarcerated and non-U.S. citizens from serving on the board. This approach intentionally exacerbates racial disparities because Black and Brown people are shamefully overrepresented in the criminal legal system. It also sends the message that some people are qualified to have a say in policing and others — ironically those most affected — are not. As a result, many Police Accountability Boards across the state will not represent communities routinely harassed and harmed by police misconduct. However, thanks to solid community organizing efforts, jurisdictions such as Prince George’s County and Baltimore City removed some of these provisions from those final bills.
Moreover, a community oversight board is only as strong as its authority to conduct independent investigations, which is why it matters that no PAB in the state has received investigatory powers. In fact, in Prince George’s County, one of only two jurisdictions in the state with an independent community oversight board, the new PAB is a big step backward for community control. The previous Citizens’ Complaints Oversight Panel (CCOP) was established in 1990 in response to a high-profile police killing. Then between 1990 and 2001, Prince George’s County police killed more citizens per officer than nearly any of the country’s 50 largest city and county law enforcement agencies, 84 percent of whom were Black. As a result of community outrage and organizing over the rampant police shootings, the CCOP was given subpoena powers and the authority to conduct concurrent and subsequent investigations into complaints in 2001. Unfortunately, the CCOP has been toothless because of underfunding, limitations with the now-repealed LEOBR and the fact that the county executive controlled CCOP membership.
Distrust in police is fueled by prevailing public opinion that police departments do not sufficiently hold officers accountable for misconduct. Many Prince Georgians feel the same way — and with good reason. The recent explosive Graham Report detailed how the Prince George’s County Police Department failed to conduct investigations or thoroughly investigate police misconduct claims — both internal complaints and complaints made by the public. In fact, internal affairs has never sustained a racial profiling complaint.
Yet, instead of getting police accountability right, the Prince George’s County Council opted to replace the CCOP with a Police Accountability Board that only monitors complaints. This move means that Prince George’s County will have a weaker system of police accountability than it did before the LEOBR repeal. This is a prime example of how local elected officials, including Democrats who will talk about the need for police accountability, actively work with the FOP to further undermine community control.
Furthermore, Maryland Democrats’ failure to establish proper community oversight and hold police accountable for misconduct significantly undermines their efforts to address public safety issues and protect the lives and quality of life of Black and Brown Marylanders. Lack of trust in the police means that community members, especially those from over-policed communities, are less likely to cooperate with the police in apprehending perpetrators of violence.
Our challenge is to finally overcome the overwhelming influence of police unions so that Black and Brown people are protected from police violence and communities are safer for everyone. Legislators must fully commit to centering community oversight in police accountability to make that positive vision a reality.
Marc Elrich has no mandate
WSSC is working on its billing issues
Who really owns your neighborhood school? | 2022-09-02T14:18:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Maryland police reform is far from over - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/02/police-reform-maryland-accountability/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/02/police-reform-maryland-accountability/ |
Josiah Gray has pitched 123⅓ innings this year and Washington has started to manage his innings in the final month of the season. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
The day after making his most recent start in San Diego, Josiah Gray sat down with Manager Dave Martinez and pitching coach Jim Hickey to go over a plan — one that would limit the number of innings that Gray would throw the rest of the season.
The reasoning?
This year marked Gray’s first full season in the majors, where he has already thrown 123⅓ innings. The career-high for Gray in any season was 130 in 2019, when he was a prospect for the Los Angeles Dodgers. That was the only year in which Gray threw at least 100 innings.
The Nationals — with an eye toward future postseason runs — wanted to manage his innings by skipping starts instead of shutting him down completely with a month left in the season.
The reaction?
“Well, my first feeling was, ‘Are you serious?’ or ‘I really don’t want this to happen,' “ Gray said Thursday. “But thinking about it and thinking about the longevity of the situation, it sort of made sense. We talked through it and sort of how the schedule would look and, yeah, I was all for it. I think they have a really good idea of what they want to do.”
When Gray takes the mound at Citi Field on Friday — pitching in his home state for the first time in his major league career — it will be the first time that Gray has stepped on the mound since Aug. 20.
Gray, 24, has made 23 starts this season, trailing only Patrick Corbin for the team lead. He has felt fine physically this season even with the increased workload compared to recent years. If anything, the adjustments for Gray have been on the mound, where he leads the majors with 32 home runs allowed and is in the top 10 in walks issued.
Gray said his starts have helped him learn about not only the mental aspect of the game but the physical, where he has tried to take what he practices in bullpen sessions and apply them in real time.
Now, he’ll have more time to work in the bullpen. But he’ll have less time to see how it plays in the games during the season’s final month. Gray doesn’t want to stop pitching — he feels like he has been in a groove of late — but he understands the long-term picture.
“That competitive aspect doesn’t leave me at all,” Gray said. “But you have to have someone looking out for you sometimes and sort of make that executive decision. So [the organization] did that for me … thinking about the progression of workload. They have to make the executive decision. And I’m completely on board.”
Martinez wants to see a gradual increase for Gray’s innings in the coming years. Going back to his days as a bench coach with the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago Cubs, Martinez said the benchmark for a young pitcher’s increase in innings pitched has typically been around 20 percent from the year prior.
“If that’s the sort of formula they want to go with, I’m all for it. I think it’s smart,” Gray said. “I think there’s a lot of room to grow with how many innings I finish this year. I look forward to next year, being healthier and building on that. It’s a good steppingstone for years to come.”
Gray isn’t alone in being managed carefully this season — Cade Cavalli was just shut down for two weeks with shoulder inflammation after just one start. MacKenzie Gore hasn’t pitched since he was acquired in the Juan Soto/Josh Bell trade; he was placed on the 15-day injured list with left elbow inflammation July 26 and Washington has managed his return slowly.
Even in the past, the Nationals have limited a young pitcher’s innings early in his career — Washington controversially shut down Stephen Strasburg in 2012 after making 28 starts following Tommy John surgery the year prior with the team in the middle of a playoff hunt.
This year, Washington finds itself in a much different situation. Gray will face the New York Mets on Friday, a team that sits a whopping 38.5 games ahead of Washington in the NL East. Washington, meanwhile, has the worst record in baseball. That gives the Nationals even more reason to limit Gray until they’re more competitive.
“In two years time, when things are different here, when the vibe’s different and the standings are different, we’re going to be the guys they rely on,” Gray said. “I would say it’s a confidence boost thing to think that the manager and upper management want to build around you. So tailor your innings now when the standings aren’t the way we want, so when they are then we’re going out there and becoming work horses.” | 2022-09-02T14:22:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Josiah Gray comes around on Nationals' plan to manage his workload - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/josiah-gray-washington-nationals/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/josiah-gray-washington-nationals/ |
If Trump did ‘declassify’ records (he didn’t), it would be as damning
His nonsensical claim is a bit like the Twinkie defense — at best it would mean he put his convenience above risks to national security
Perspective by Steve Vladeck
Steve Vladeck is a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, co-editor in chief of Just Security, co-host of the National Security Law Podcast and a CNN legal analyst.
A page from the Justice Department's response to the Trump legal team's request for a special master to review the documents seized in the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. (Jon Elswick/AP)
There are so many holes in former president Donald Trump’s claim that he declassified the documents confiscated by the FBI during its Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago that it’s hard to keep track. The latest came Wednesday night, when Trump’s own lawyers agreed with the Justice Department that if a special master were appointed to review the seized materials, that person should have a top secret/SCI security clearance: If Trump’s declassification claim were correct, why the need for a special master to have that clearance? Equally significant is that none of the three federal crimes that formed the basis for the search — Espionage Act violations, mishandling of government records and obstruction of justice — turn on the documents’ classification status. So the declassification issue is the reddest of red herrings: It’s as factually implausible as it is legally irrelevant.
But there’s one more problem with Trump’s argument that these rebuttals don’t fully capture. Even if it were accurate and relevant, it would be no less damning as an indictment of the former president.
The U.S. has no rules for when the president is a national security threat
Although the concept of national security secrets goes back to the nation’s founding, the formal legal rules for “classification” date only to the aftermath of World War II. This is partly why the Espionage Act, enacted in 1917, refers to the broader and more amorphous category of “information relating to the national defense.” The modern classification system was created in a September 1951 executive order signed by President Harry Truman. In that order, and in the numerous amendments that have followed, the core principle has always been the same: The purposes of national security classification are “to protect the national security of the United States” and “to establish a system for the safeguarding of official information the unauthorized disclosure of which would or could harm, tend to impair, or otherwise threaten the security of the nation.” The most recent classification order, signed by President Barack Obama in 2009, endorses a similar view: “Throughout our history, the national defense has required that certain information be maintained in confidence in order to protect our citizens, our democratic institutions, our homeland security, and our interactions with foreign nations.”
In other words, national security classification does not just have bureaucratic utility; it reflects the concern that allowing certain information into the public domain could pose grave risks to the safety and security of Americans and our allies. Yes, there are long-running and entirely justified concerns about over-classification — and about the public’s difficulties in accessing information that should be available. But no one seriously disputes that the government needs to keep at least some information properly classified, and that declassification should be based at least in part on an assessment of the risks (or lack thereof) of publicizing the material.
Against that backdrop, consider Trump’s “I declassified them” defense — and note what’s missing from it. In the various forms and forums in which he has made it, he has never said that he declassified the materials because he was concerned about over-classification. Nor has he suggested that he declassified them because, although they were properly classified in the first place, his judgment was that the information ought to be in the public domain. Nor has he argued that the materials did not meet the relevant classification criteria — perhaps because they revealed misconduct or malfeasance by other government officers. Trump’s argument is far less sophisticated than any of these. His claim is that he had a “standing order” (for which there is no evidence) that everything he took with him to his private residence was automatically declassified, regardless of what it was.
Trump’s supporters seem to think that, once again, the president has outfoxed his critics. But imagine for a moment that such an order existed (it doesn’t), whether or not it’s relevant to Trump’s potential legal liability (it isn’t). That would mean that Trump declassified some of our most sensitive national security secrets not because he wanted the public to know about them, and not because he thought they were wrongly classified; he did it — if he did it — because he was lazy. In this scenario — this defense, such as it might be — he wanted to make it easier to take what might be the crown jewels of our national security state back and forth with him without having to do what every other government official does; that is, use a “secure compartmentalized information facility,” or SCIF. Secret technology that we don’t want to share with China? Too bad. Human intelligence that could be used to smoke out American agents in foreign governments? Not his problem. Specific details about the deployment of U.S. troops overseas? Whatever.
If Trump is charged, it should be for the worst of his crimes
Trump’s “defense” would mean that he committed what would have to be the most stunning and indefensible systematic breach of our national security not just by any president in American history, but perhaps by any person. Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning may be responsible for putting a greater number of government secrets into the public domain, but they at least had substantive reasons for doing so — whether or not we agree with them. In Trump’s version of events, breaching our national security and potentially exposing secrets happened simply because he couldn’t be bothered to handle classified information correctly. It’s not quite the “Twinkie defense,” the standard for wildly improbable justifications for improper behavior, but it’s not far off.
In a better-functioning system, such a wholesale and unspecific declassification of national security secrets would be impeachable. For the moment, we’re stuck with the hope that it will at least have political consequences for Trump should he choose to run for the presidency again in 2024. After all, when the best argument Trump can muster for why he didn’t commit multiple felonies in bringing these materials to Mar-a-Lago is that his convenience was more important than the nation’s security, that ought to be disqualifying — especially if it’s true. | 2022-09-02T14:53:58Z | www.washingtonpost.com | If Trump did ‘declassify’ records (he didn’t), it would be as damning - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/09/02/declassified-mar-a-lago-national-security/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/09/02/declassified-mar-a-lago-national-security/ |
A Trump-led movement centered in victimhood sees Biden’s speech as an attack
President Biden delivers remarks at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Sept. 1, 2022. (Doug Mills/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
In both literal and figurative terms, “make America great again” is about reversion. It’s about how America now is not good but America then was. The most important word of the four is “again”: what was once, can be again.
Supporters of former president Donald Trump share a broad understanding of the America to which they want to return. In March 2016, a poll conducted by The Washington Post and ABC News yielded results that, at the time, were startling: The better predictor of support for Trump in the Republican primary wasn’t whether voters were struggling economically but whether they strongly felt that White Americans were losing out to non-Whites. Other polls reinforced this idea: Members of the heavily White Republican Party saw Whites and Christians as embattled in modern society.
Even in April this year, polling determined that Republicans saw those two groups as facing more discrimination than Black or Jewish Americans. This sentiment is why toxic ideas such as “great replacement theory” land on fertile ground. The victimhood was often framed in the context of deviant “elites” who controlled media and the economy, but the concerns were often expressed outside the context of class.
What Donald Trump promised his supporters was that he would fight back in the face of these and other perceived embattlements. He would be the shield standing between them and an America that had become more diverse and more liberal in recent decades; what’s more, he would return fire. A group used to unchallenged dominance was now perpetually aggrieved, the nation they grew up in seeming to turn away from them. But here came Trump, ready to make America great once again.
On Thursday night, President Biden narrowed his long-standing focus on the battle between democracy and autocracy to focus narrowly on the most fervent Trump supporters. “Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology,” he insisted in his Philadelphia speech, but the threat posed by “MAGA Republicans” was severe.
“MAGA forces,” he said pointedly, “are determined to take this country backwards.”
There’s irony here, certainly, given that Trump flirted with deploying the military against American citizens in the summer of 2020. But you see how it works: Not only is Biden “threatening America,” he’s doing so more than rhetorically.
Biden’s first speech as president on Jan. 20, 2021, was similarly focused on the threat to democracy, though, at the time, he framed it as a more international threat. Speaking two weeks after the Capitol insurrection, from the steps where rioters attacked police, he made similar comments about white supremacists, extremism and violence, although not framed through the lens of “MAGA Republicans.”
The response from Fox News’s Tucker Carlson? Biden was wildly attacking half the country and threatening them with force. Feigning ignorance about what “white supremacist” meant, Carlson declared that there was “a new regime in power, and they seem to be planning to accelerate things dramatically. They’re getting the FBI and the Pentagon involved in this hunt for people who may criticize them. That’s a very big change, and you should understand what it’s really about.”
They are coming after you. This is exactly the same response as the one that followed Biden’s recent assessment that Trump extremists on the right were promoting “semi-fascism.” Trump’s longtime adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News viewers that this reflected how “they actually look down upon you,” adding: “They don’t think that you’re like them. They don’t want their kids to go to school with yours. They don’t want you to live in their neighborhoods.”
Biden’s speech on Thursday night, blending his comments about the threat to democracy with more plebeian appeals centered on the midterm elections, made it easier to cast his comments as fundamentally partisan. But the response went beyond that, once again.
Here, for example, is the junior senator from Missouri’s view:
Hawley is a useful example of how the Republican Party has learned to echo Trump’s appeal to the concerns and aggrievement of the base. Biden was talking about Hawley in his speech, criticizing efforts like Hawley’s pre-Jan. 6 announcement that he would try to block valid Biden electors when electoral votes were counted on that day. Hawley’s political maneuvers may be calculated, though he would be the first to proclaim himself a “MAGA Republican,” if pressed. But notice how he positions Biden’s speech: It’s about “half the country.”
In part, this expansion of the rhetoric is something of a recruitment strategy. Bring less-Trump-sympathetic Republicans further to the right by telling them that Biden views them as extremists anyway. This was how Trump and his allies pivoted from Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment, a pivot that likely helped cement loyalty to Trump in some quarters (though this is hard to measure).
But what comments like Hawley’s really do is reinforce how MAGAism works. It is a movement centered on perceived victimhood, and so the safest political play in most circumstances is to stoke that perception. When in doubt, collapse it into us against them. Which, it’s worth pointing out, is a common feature of fascism.
Biden’s bind is illustrated. It would be challenging for any American president in this moment to call out elements of the opposition that explicitly reject democracy without triggering a polarized response. But when those elements also feed off the perception that their side is under attack?
No matter what Biden said about the threat to democracy on Thursday night, the response would have been the same. That response is central to the threat Biden was describing. | 2022-09-02T14:54:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A Trump-led movement centered in victimhood sees Biden’s speech as an attack - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/02/biden-trump-speech-republicans/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/02/biden-trump-speech-republicans/ |
G-7 nations say they will set a price cap on Russian oil
The move targets a major source of revenue for the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen in July. Yellen has pushed U.S. allies to set a cap on the price they'll pay for Russian oil in an attempt to cut off profits Russia is using to pay for its war in Ukraine. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
The leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations announced on Friday that they will implement a new price cap on Russian oil, aiming to undercut the Kremlin’s finances while keeping energy flowing to the West.
Western allies led by Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen have for months been trying to rally the world behind a plan to purchase Russian oil at a set lower price to stop the huge energy profits Russia is using to finance its war in Ukraine. They have settled on a price cap that is intended to undercut those profits while also ensuring Russia continues to provide oil to world markets, trying to prevent price shocks that could cripple the global economy.
The G-7 had previously only agreed to explore the price cap proposal, but its declaration Friday represented its most significant statement to date that the nations will seek to enact the aggressive new policy, which would be an unprecedented, internationally coordinated action on energy prices.
Top Russian leaders have repeatedly warned that they will retaliate against the price cap.
“Today’s action will help deliver a major blow for Russian finances and will both hinder Russia’s ability to fight its unprovoked war in Ukraine and hasten the deterioration of the Russian economy,” Yellen said in a statement on Friday. “We have already begun to see the impact of the price cap through Russia’s hurried attempts to negotiate bilateral oil trades at massive discounts.”
The G-7 governments, composed of the U.S. and other Western allies, said in a statement that they plan to enact the price cap by cutting off insurance for all shipments of Russian oil that are sold above a certain price — which would effectively make it impossible to ship. That price has not yet been announced. The new price cap is expected to go into effect by the end of the year.
Yellen has pushed the policy for months with her international counterparts but faced skepticism and difficult questions about exactly how the price cap will work. Analysts have raised concerns that the price cap could be circumvented if countries outside the G-7 — such as China and India — continue to buy Russian oil at a higher price, and then sell it back to world markets at a premium. Other analysts and foreign leaders have expressed concerns that Russia could retaliate by limiting even more its shipments of natural gas to Europe, which already faces a winter in which Germany and other nations will see critical shortages of energy supplies.
Despite the recent decline in energy prices, Russia has continued to reap hundreds of billions in profits from its sales of oil and natural gas. Those energy sales have dramatically undercut the West’s sanctions campaign over the war in Ukraine, stabilizing the Kremlin’s finances and giving it the means to continue the invasion.
Energy analysts said Friday’s announcement does little to clear up how the cap will affect international gas and oil prices, noting that critical details — such as the amount of the price cap and the date it will go into effect — haven’t yet been announced.
“The devil is in the details, and few details appeared today,” said Bob McNally, a former energy official in the George W. Bush administration now at the Rapidan Energy Group. “This was a process announcement, moving from exploring a price cap to implementing one.”
Janet Yellen's global campaign to defund Vladimir Putin's war machine
To implement the cap, the G-7 will have to get European Union member states to amend the bloc’s sixth round of sanctions. In June, after weeks of tense negotiation, the E.U. agreed to ban imports of oil from Russia and prohibited insuring and financing the maritime transport of Russian oil to third countries. The United States banned Russian oil imports in March.
The oil cap news comes as the E.U. considers emergency measures to tackle soaring energy prices and prepares for what many fear will be a long, cold winter. E.U. energy ministers will meet in Brussels on Sept. 9 to discuss calls to overhaul the bloc’s power market.
Concerned about the potential for soaring prices, U.S. officials have pushed hard for the cap but faced resistance in Brussels, where some E.U. diplomats have maintained that the cap needs much broader support, particularly from China and India, to be effective.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, warned Friday that countries who participate in the price cap will not receive Russian oil. Peskov said of the Western allies: “We simply will not cooperate with them on oil on such non-market principles.”
Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said that he remains concerned that Putin will respond to the price cap by cutting Europe off from natural gas shipments, which could exacerbate the continent’s economic crisis.
“We have to be careful in not causing an economic slump in Europe,” Cohen said. “I want to understand clearly where the alternative gas supply will come from. What is the extent of the economic pain Europe can take?”
But Simon Johnson, an MIT professor who specializes in energy policy, emphasized that the price cap plan — which would still allow Russia to trade oil at a discount — would be less disruptive to world markets than Europe’s prior plan to simply cut off all Russian oil.
“It demonstrates that they want oil to flow, which will keep oil prices lower than they would be otherwise,” Johnson said. | 2022-09-02T14:54:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | G-7 nations say they will set a price cap on Russian oil - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/09/02/g-7-nations-will-set-price-cap-russian-oil/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/09/02/g-7-nations-will-set-price-cap-russian-oil/ |
Timothee Chalamet poses for photographers upon arrival for the photo call of the film ‘Bones and All’ during the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Friday, Sept. 2, 2022. (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
VENICE, Italy — Timothée Chalamet was feeling cut off from the world in the early days of the pandemic. Then Luca Guadagnino, whom Chalamet saw as a father figure while filming “Call Me By Your Name,” called with a new possible project. It would be another young romance set in the 1980s. But instead of Italy they’d be going to the American Midwest. And they’d be cannibals. | 2022-09-02T14:55:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell play cannibals in love - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/timothee-chalamet-taylor-russell-play-cannibals-in-love/2022/09/02/e377cfe4-2ac7-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/timothee-chalamet-taylor-russell-play-cannibals-in-love/2022/09/02/e377cfe4-2ac7-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html |
Racket attack: Rafael Nadal suffers self-inflicted nose injury in U.S. Open win
Rafael Nadal lies on the court after hitting himself in the face with his racket on Thursday. (Corey Sipkin/AFP via Getty Images)
Rafael Nadal was bloodied but not defeated during his second-round match Thursday at the U.S. Open, a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 win over Fabio Fognini that was delayed for about five minutes in the fourth set after Nadal managed to cut himself on the bridge of his nose with his own racket.
The freak accident occurred during the first point of the fourth game in the final set, with Nadal leading 3-0 and on his way to improving to 21-0 in Grand Slam matches this year. On a backhand follow-through, Nadal’s racket rebounded off the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium and hit him in the nose. The 36-year-old immediately dropped his racket and placed both hands on his head before lying down and receiving medical treatment for the self-inflicted laceration. He returned with a bandage on his nose and lost the fourth game before winning the next three to advance.
Nadal told reporters the incident was “a shock" and he initially thought he had broken his nose. He described feeling “a little bit out of the world" in the moments after his racket smacked him in the face.
“Little bit dizzy at the beginning, little bit painful,” Nadal said during an on-court interview.
Fognini, who defeated Nadal at the 2015 U.S. Open, went over to check on his opponent during the stoppage in play.
“He told me everything was OK," Fognini said after the match. “I hope it’s nothing serious."
Nadal posted a selfie on his Instagram story with the thumbs-up emoji and an “all good” message after the win. He managed to joke about the bizarre injury, saying that while this had never happened to him with a tennis racket, it had with a golf club.
“I was little bit in shock,” Nadal said when asked during his post-match interview about his ability to play through pain. “I know that when I come back on court I going to be in trouble for a while. … Tennis is a lot about moments. The most important thing in this game is when you are playing bad or when the opponent is playing too good, don’t be too far on the score. When you are playing very well, create an advantage, no? It’s about making the things happens in the right moments. Today I was not doing that for a while. Then I think I started to compete.”
Nadal has dropped the opening set in both of his matches this week before rebounding to win the next three. He will face France’s Richard Gasquet in the third round on Saturday.
Ava Wallace contributed to this report from New York. | 2022-09-02T15:10:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Rafael Nadal bounces back to win U.S. Open match after nose injury - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/rafael-nadal-nose/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/02/rafael-nadal-nose/ |
Catching students up to pre-pandemic levels could take to 2027, researchers say
Following a two-year testing hiatus, student scores on a critical standardized exam have dropped to their lowest levels in years, new data from the District show.
The results of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test — widely known as PARCC — illustrate the dramatic academic toll the pandemic has taken on children, with students of color and at-risk youths bearing the brunt.
Students in grades three through eight and high school take the online exam in the spring, as required by federal law.
In spring 2019, the last time students took the exam, 37 percent of students were reading at or above grade level. Now, 31 percent meet that standard. The share of students who passed the math exam fell 12 percentage points, from 31 percent before the pandemic to 19 percent in 2022.
But officials say they expected low scores, which come after two difficult years of the pandemic that took children out of classrooms. The city also suspended testing for two years, meaning this spring was the first time about half of the 43,000 students who participated — in either PARCC or an alternative assessment for students with cognitive disabilities — took the exam.
Additionally, the scores reflect national trends, as indicated in national data released this week that shows elementary school math and reading performance has plunged to levels unseen for decades.
But with $1 billion in federal stimulus funds, officials in the District have set forth an ambitious plan to catch students up that includes summer programming, tutoring and curriculum changes.
“There are some widening gaps across the city, some learning loss effectively everywhere with, I think, the most harm from the pandemic done to students who have the greatest need,” said Paul Kihn, the city’s deputy mayor for education. “But interim data from [local education agencies] suggest that students are indeed on a path to recovery and have indeed been learning over the course of [the] last academic year.”
English language arts test scores in the District have not been this low since the 2016-17 school year, when 31 percent of children were reading at or above grade level. Officials noted drops in proficiency rates were most pronounced in lower grades. In 2019, 38 percent of children in third through eighth grades passed the reading exam. That number fell to 30 percent in 2022.
Reading proficiency among high-schoolers, however, dropped just one percentage point — from 34 percent in 2019 to 33 percent in 2022.
During the last round of testing, city education officials celebrated the progress made by Black and Hispanic children, who improved at a moderately faster rate than — though still tested considerably behind — their White peers. In 2019, 27.8 percent of Black children were reading at or above grade level, a 3.1-percentage-point increase from the previous year. Hispanic and Latino students made a five-percentage-point gain during the same time period, from 32 percent to 37.3 percent. The share of White children who passed the reading exam rose by 2.9 percentage points, to 85 percent in 2019.
But the pandemic has chipped away at that progress. Reading proficiency rates among Black children fell nearly eight percentage points. Hispanic kids fell behind by seven percentage points. The share of White students reading at or above grade level dropped about five percentage points.
The English language arts proficiency rate dropped by six percentage points for students who are at-risk, defined by the city as children who are homeless, in foster care or low income.
But the District suffered the most severe learning loss in math, recording its lowest scores since the city began administering the PARCC exam during the 2014-15 school year. Proficiency rates dropped by more than 10 percentage points for most racial and ethnic groups.
Just 22 percent of elementary and middle school test takers passed the math exam in 2022, a drop from 32 percent in 2019. Students in grades nine through 12 also lost ground, from 19 percent of students passing in 2019 to 11 percent this year.
But city officials say they are on track to return to pre-pandemic achievement levels. D.C. Public Schools is introducing a new math curriculum this year, called illustrative mathematics, that will allow teachers “to enhance math instruction, especially for our secondary students, grades six to 12,” said Lewis Ferebee, chancellor of the public school system.
And, testing data from NWEA MAP and i-Ready, which are other standardized tests students take throughout the year, show kids in elementary and middle school have started to rebound to pre-pandemic growth rates, according to EmpowerK12, an education research firm in the District.
“The spring semester’s growth was better than average,” said Josh Boots, the organization’s founder and executive director. If the rate of improvement from the spring continues, the city could regain the achievement levels seen before the pandemic for most students by 2027.
The rate of improvement for at-risk students, English learners and children with disabilities, however, is slower than their peers.
“This is a multiyear recovery effort,” said Christina Grant, state superintendent of education. “We believe that these targeted investments are going to continue to bear fruit in the education of our children in light of the results that we have today.” | 2022-09-02T16:07:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. math, reading test scores fall to lowest levels in more than 5 years - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/09/02/dc-schools-parcc-test/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/09/02/dc-schools-parcc-test/ |
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