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Vice President Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff attend the service for the late Queen Elizabeth II at Washington National Cathedral. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is at right. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)
The official memorializing of the late Queen Elizabeth II shifted stateside Wednesday, filling Washington National Cathedral with black-clad ambassadors, military leaders from both sides of the ocean, three of the country’s most powerful political leaders and one Episcopal bishop, whose sermon honored the queen both as a historic figure and as simply one of “God’s children.”
Wednesday’s service in Northwest D.C., following days of American remembrances — and debates — outside the British Embassy and elsewhere, symbolized the deep religious ties between Britain and its former colony. The cathedral, a regular site of major political and social services, is also the seat of the U.S. Episcopal Church, which began as a branch of the Church of England in the early 1600s.
The British monarch is the “supreme governor” of the Church of England, though the position is ceremonial and symbolic only. The queen had nothing of the religious stature of, say, a pope, but she represented in life, and death, an image of an enduring, quiet faith, experts on the monarchy and the church have said.
Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, speaking on Wednesday to a cathedral full of invited mourners that included Vice President Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), offered a sermon that tied together the queen, Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr., Toni Morrison and gospel icon Mahalia Jackson. The first African American leader of the denomination, Curry avoided debate about colonialism and instead declared that Elizabeth II’s legacy must reflect Jesus’ call that the way to live forever is to serve others.
The surprise star of Harry and Meghan’s wedding: U.S. Bishop Michael Curry
“We aren’t here just to consume oxygen! … We are here to give back! Back to the world! Can I get an amen?” Curry, in his white-and-red vestments, invited from the towering Canterbury Pulpit. “We have assembled here this morning to give God thanks for the ways her majesty served, often at some personal sacrifice. Her commitment to serving others was a common refrain by commentators and people who stood in lines, sometimes up to 16 and 17 hours to pay their respects, and to say thank you.”
The cavernous cathedral filled with applause.
Queen Elizabeth II became more open about her personal faith after the early 2000s, and Curry quoted her 2014 Christmas message, saying that Jesus was a role model because “he stretched out his hands in love, acceptance, and healing.”
“Christ’s example,” the queen said then, “has taught me to seek to respect and value all people of whatever faith or none.”
Washington National Cathedral was founded in the early 1900s to be the Westminster Abbey of America, a goal that reflected the early, elite status of the Episcopal Church. But church-state relations are very different in England, where the population is much more secular and the Church of England is the official state church, whereas the U.S. Constitution bars government establishment of any religion.
The Episcopal Church is now tiny compared to the power and size it had in the colonial period and in early America, representing just over 1 percent of the U.S. population.
Attendees Wednesday morning said they were struck by the queen’s legacy — in different ways.
Bill Kelso, an archaeologist credited with discovering key aspects of Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America, was in attendance Wednesday wearing a blue cross, one of Britain’s highest honors given to civilians, signifying him as an “Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.” He had given the queen a tour of Jamestown in 2007, and he called her an “extraordinary role model of dedication” to passing down and protecting what she inherited.
“She maintained the legacy that was given her, and that she thought was worth saving,” said Margaret Fowler, who accompanied Kelso. “The founding of America is a British story.”
Kelso said some of the Jamestown sites he excavated included the remains of clergy, and that he was able to show some of that history to the queen. She didn’t express anything related to her role with the church, he said, and she seemed to understand the site was “where the British began to expand” and was interested in things of a more secular nature.
Standing near a group of dozens of diplomats in black before the service, LaVerne Adams said she was there to show a kind of respect for the queen’s apparent pragmatism. Adams, an executive coach and United Nations peace ambassador, said her family is from Barbados, which last November formally severed ties with the queen, ending 400 years of British rule.
“She was a figurehead and served in her capacity well,” Adams said. “This was her role — she couldn’t get out of it. She had a responsibility and she kept it.”
But, thinking of her parents and family who grew up in Barbados, the birthplace of British slave society, she said history must be remembered in full. That includes acknowledging the way that more harmless aspects of British culture are woven into former territories along with the more horrific parts of colonialization.
“Americans might not get that: It’s something that just is. You can be upset about it, but now we have to forge ahead,” Adams said. “For me, today is a day of reckoning: deciding you can be separate, but respectful.”
The Virginia Episcopal Diocese committed to spend $10 million for reparations. But how?
The Rev. Gary Hall, who was dean of the cathedral from 2012 to 2015, was pondering similar concerns Wednesday — including what he called “one of those questions I’ve always had.”
In the Bible, “we use this language to talk about Christ as king,” Hall noted. “What does that mean in the 21st century? Kings are these useless goofballs that dress up but don’t have authority. What are we saying?
“Everyone admired her personally,” he said of the queen. “But how much do we honor the living embodiment of a colonial enterprise is a quagmire.” | 2022-09-21T23:23:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Harris, Pelosi among leaders honoring the queen at National Cathedral - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/09/21/national-cathedral-queen-elizabeth-dc/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/09/21/national-cathedral-queen-elizabeth-dc/ |
With film festival, Prince George’s makes a bid for the silver screen
Tressa Smallwood, left, poses with actors Bill Bellamy and Victoria Rowell in 2020. Smallwood, a filmmaker and producer from Prince George’s County, has produced 12 films in Prince George’s with the support of the Prince George’s County Film Office. (Derian Whitfield/Courtesy Tressa Smallwood)
Prince George’s County didn’t feel like a place to make movies when actress Kike Ayodeji grew up. She loved film festivals, but she had to drive to D.C. and Philadelphia or fly to Los Angeles to reach them. The first film to represent Prince George’s that came to mind for her was a 2020 documentary about the county’s long list of accomplished basketball players.
By the time it debuted, a once-modest local community of directors and performers had grown considerably, backed by the county’s film office, which opened in 2013. The documentary film dubbed Prince George’s a “Basketball County.” Now, these artists think Prince George’s can be a county for filmmakers, too.
They will make that pitch at the Prince George’s Film Festival, the first county-sponsored film festival running this week from Thursday to Sunday. To the county’s filmmakers, it’s an underdog story fit for Hollywood. Next to the iconic scenes of the District, Prince George’s traditionally attracted little attention from large film and TV productions.
When You Want to Film in Washington, She Makes It Happen
“When people come to this area, they tend to come because they’re shooting something that needs the backdrop of the nation’s capital,” said Donna Foster-Dotson, a consultant for the Prince George’s Film Office. “We’re a well-kept secret.”
Foster-Dotson said the county film office instead tapped into a community of low-budget and local creators in the county, offering grants and making it easier to shoot on location in Prince George’s. Tressa Smallwood shot her first film out of her Oak Creek home in 2015 with the film office’s support. She’s produced 12 films in Prince George’s altogether now, shooting at public locations across the county she said she’d struggle to access elsewhere.
“If I tried to go to New Orleans, Atlanta, nobody’s going to help me get a hospital,” Smallwood said. “They’ve been very helpful in the county, helping to lend resources. I think that’s major.”
Director Harold Jackson, who grew up in Los Angeles but spent his career in D.C. and Prince George’s, said the county has unique advantages for filmmakers who want to shoot on location.
“It has everything you need to film,” Jackson said. “You can go 10 minutes one way and get a suburb, you can go 15 minutes the other way and get a lake, a waterfront. … Hyattsville is becoming a big component in my filmmaking because it has pretty much everything in a very small radius.”
The film office’s work has seen results, Foster-Dotson said. They’ve supported 156 film and TV productions in Prince George’s since 2016 — including “Basketball County” — and hosted 22 so far this year, she said. Bigger names are taking notice — a Paramount Plus-backed production is currently shooting in the county. This year, the film office launched a new grant program with county funding earmarked specifically to support film projects.
The weekend’s film festival will be another chance to help Prince George’s filmmaking scene grow. Besides screenings at the MGM hotel in National Harbor, the four-day event will host networking receptions and workshops on film financing, distribution and marketing at Bowie State University.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Tewodross Williams, Bowie State’s chair of fine and performing arts. “There are some exciting panels that are not only great for filmmakers in the county but also students … to empower them as they get into the industry.”
Baltimore nonprofit organization trains youths in film and media
Prince George’s creators have more stories to tell. Smallwood’s next project, a story about the Tulsa Race Riots that she hopes to shoot in Prince George’s, is in preproduction. Jackson’s latest film, a murder mystery set across the District and Maryland, will screen at the festival. With grant funding from the film office, he’s begun shooting his next film in Brandywine, a lighthearted comedy that he hopes will show the county in a positive light amid the summer’s headlines about curfews and crime.
“Normal everyday people, showing a lot of love and respect for one another and having fun in the process — just taking that and putting that in Prince George’s County is very important,” he said. “To use that in a way to help change the narrative is definitely part of my mantra.”
Ayodeji, on lunch break on a shoot for a corporate video project near Baltimore, will be heading back this weekend to attend the festival. It means the world to her, she said, to see a festival in her home county. And she hopes it will lead to more projects closer to home.
“There are artists and creators out here that are excellent, and hungry,” Ayodeji said. “We’re excited to work.” | 2022-09-21T23:28:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | With film festival, Prince George’s makes a bid for the silver screen - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/21/with-film-festival-prince-georges-makes-bid-silver-screen/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/21/with-film-festival-prince-georges-makes-bid-silver-screen/ |
Skipping New York Is Bad Policy for Jakarta
Aziz Akhannouch, Morocco’s prime minister, speaks during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. US President Biden, UK Prime Minister Truss and New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern are among the heads of state attending this year after Covid-19 moved the gathering online in 2020 and limited the in-person event in 2021. (Bloomberg)
When Indonesia’s Joko Widodo visited Ukraine and Russia this summer, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi explained the president was “choosing to try to contribute, instead of choosing to be quiet.” And yet now, with the world at a perilous juncture, he has bafflingly chosen silence.
Granted, he is not the only missing leader. China’s Xi Jinping, weeks away from a party congress that will anoint him for a precedent-breaking third term, is staying home, as is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nor is the non-attendance out of character for Jokowi, who has long put domestic policy first, and in close to eight years in office has addressed the UN gathering only when pandemic restrictions allowed remote interventions.
But this is not a routine meeting. Trust among global powers is at a low, and the world is grappling with compounding crises, most immediately with the fallout from Russia’s assault on Ukraine that has been particularly punishing for the emerging world, with rising fuel and food prices, and the menace of broader instability. Moscow is threatening to torpedo a deal allowing grain exports to flow. It’s the disaster Jokowi supposedly sought to fix with his travels back in June.
It’s also happening at what may be a turning point for the war, as losses of men and materiel pile up for Russia, while China and India — who initially embraced what might be called pro-Russian neutrality — begin to signal displeasure. The pressure is having an impact on Russian President Vladimir Putin, now struggling to find a way out of this debacle of his own creation. (Moscow has announced votes in occupied territories and a partial mobilization.) Indonesia too has clout, as Russia needs large, populous, fuel-importing economies to avoid isolation.
Nor is it a run-of-the-mill year for Jokowi himself, nearer the end than the beginning of his time in office, and thinking about his legacy. He holds the presidency of the G-20 and will host world leaders — including, supposedly, Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy — for the year’s banner get-together in Bali, before taking the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year. Indonesia is, as Jokowi put it last month, at the “pinnacle of global leadership.”
Jokowi’s distaste for geopolitical theater is well-known, especially compared with his predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and while his personal appeal has opened doors overseas, he has tended to focus on investment benefits. In analyst and former journalist Ben Bland’s book(1) on the Indonesian leader, a Jakarta official puts it well: “Jokowi’s view would be, why do I have to go to the United Nations, there’s no money there and in fact we have to pay them.” An inward-looking approach not so unusual, as Bland, now at Chatham House in London, points out, in the context of Southeast Asia today.
Yes, in his early years, the president had good reasons to concentrate on the home front — without an elite background or military ties, he needed to build a power base. But his second term, now supported by a broad coalition, was supposed to be the moment to look further afield. That hasn’t happened. While there have been creditable efforts, as with the visits to Kyiv and Moscow, they have mostly fizzled out, suggesting the projection back home really did matter as much if not more than the outcome.
And this time, as ever, there were domestic reasons for Jokowi to stay put. Radityo Dharmaputra, who lectures in international relations at Universitas Airlangga, points to widespread discontent over rising prices that has prompted demonstrations in Jakarta, and to the president’s growing concern with the end of his term in 2024 and whatever lies beyond that. He cannot stand again, though local media have floated the vice presidency. All those headaches will matter more than the United Nations and the world stage — even if they shouldn’t. After all, continued disaster in Ukraine spells only bad news back home.
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation and the most populous in Southeast Asia, has long punched below its weight in international politics and this year should have been a moment to begin to rectify that. More to the point, its foreign policy has long rested on the idea of bebas-aktif — a role in world affairs that is both independent and active.
• Why Putin Can’t Tap Fascism’s Big Strength: Leonid Bershidsky
• A Surprise Winner As Emerging Markets Crumble: Shuli Ren
• Can Jokowi’s Shuttle Diplomacy Sway Russia?: Clara Ferreira Marques
(1) “Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia”, Ben Bland, Penguin, 2020 | 2022-09-21T23:45:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Skipping New York Is Bad Policy for Jakarta - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/skipping-new-york-is-bad-policy-for-jakarta/2022/09/21/be117d28-39fd-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/skipping-new-york-is-bad-policy-for-jakarta/2022/09/21/be117d28-39fd-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
Man indicted on murder, assault charges for ‘bias’ attacks on homeless people
The spree of violence sparked a massive police search in Washington and New York City, where officials feared someone was preying on vulnerable individuals
An apartment building at 1600 28th Place SE in Washington, where Gerald Brevard was staying with a great-aunt, according to his cousin Darrell Brevard Sr., of Laurel, Md. (Fredrick Kunkle/The Washington Post)
A D.C. grand jury on Wednesday indicted a local man on 17 criminal charges, including murder and assault, for attacks on three homeless men earlier this year — a spree of violence that sparked a massive police search in Washington and New York City, where officials feared someone was preying on vulnerable individuals.
The new indictment alleges the attacks were bias-related hate crimes, and prosecutors asserted Gerald Brevard III chose his victims because they were homeless or he believed they were homeless.
The attacks in the District occurred between March 3 and March 9. Prosecutors alleged Brevard, 31, assaulted two homeless men with a firearm, one of whom “suffered serious and permanent bodily injury.” They said Brevard fatally shot and stabbed a third victim, Morgan Holmes, 54, who was found in a tent that was set on fire along New York Avenue in Northeast Washington near Union Market.
The allegation that Brevard committed hate crimes could enhance his sentence, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in the District. Brevard faces a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder charge, if aggravating circumstances are found by a jury, the statement said.
Emails seeking comment from Brevard’s public defenders were not returned.
Brevard is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges on Oct. 18 before Judge Robert Okun in D.C. Superior Court.
The series of attacks in Washington and New York sparked fear among homeless people, their families and authorities. Authorities believe Brevard was also responsible for attacks on two homeless men in New York City, one of which was fatal.
Authorities believe after the March 9 slaying of Holmes, Brevard traveled to New York City. There, a homeless man was shot in the early morning hours as he slept near the Holland Tunnel, authorities said. About 90 minutes later, police said another homeless man was fatally shot in his sleeping bag 15 blocks away.
D.C. detectives identified Brevard as a suspect using witness accounts that all gave similar clothing descriptions, as well as security camera images. Detectives determined the attacks in D.C. and New York were carried out in similar fashion, and that cellphone location data put Brevard in both cities when the attacks occurred.
Police said they have no information as to how or why Brevard apparently traveled to New York, a city to which his family and authorities said he is not known to be tied. Family members have described Brevard as being homeless himself.
D.C. police arrested Brevard on March 15. A day before his arrest, police said, Brevard posted a selfie to Instagram as the massive search was underway. The posting read: “Feeling Devilish Feeling Godly.”
According to court records, Brevard had been in and out of jails for years in Maryland, the District and Virginia on charges ranging from shoplifting and unlawful entry to attacking a bicyclist with a knife and assaulting a police officer. Most recently, he served several months in Fairfax County jail after he was arrested on an abduction charge that was reduced to misdemeanor assault in a plea agreement. Prosecutors say Brevard is still on probation from that case. | 2022-09-21T23:45:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Man indicted on murder, assault charges for ‘bias’ attacks on homeless people - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/21/brevard-attacks-bias-homeless-dc/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/21/brevard-attacks-bias-homeless-dc/ |
Live updates:Russia-Ukraine war live updates: Zelensky and Biden condemn Russia in U.N. ...
White House promises to stand with Ukraine as it retakes territory despite threat of nuclear weapons use and annexation
President Biden addresses the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. (Evan Vucci/AP)
The United States signaled Wednesday that it wouldn’t be cowed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest steps to escalate his war effort in Ukraine, vowing to continue to arm Kyiv for its advancing counteroffensive, even as Putin ordered up more forces for battle and threatened to use nuclear weapons.
President Biden, in an address to the U.N. General Assembly, said, “We will stand in solidarity with Ukraine. We will stand in solidarity against Russia’s aggression. Period.”
The comments came hours after Putin, in a speech aired early Wednesday, announced plans to mobilize about 300,000 Russian reservists for the front and hold “referendums” in occupied areas of Ukraine that could presage a broad annexation of Ukrainian land.
Should Russia’s territorial integrity and people be threatened, Putin warned, “We will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff.”
The escalation, analysts said, represents an attempt by Moscow to freeze its gains in eastern Ukraine and deter further Western support for Kyiv, before losing any more occupied land to a Ukrainian force that has seized the initiative in recent weeks. It is also an effort by Putin to solve a troop numbers problem that is preventing Russia from conducting offensive operations and risking the further collapse of its positions on the battlefield.
Kyiv has said the orchestration of staged referendums and annexations will not prevent Ukrainian forces from taking back the country’s territory.
“Russia wants war — it’s true. But Russia will not be able to stop the course of history,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a prerecorded address to the United Nations on Wednesday evening.
The White House said the flow of weapons to Ukraine would continue.
“We are going to continue to support Ukraine with security assistance and other financial aid, as the president said, for as long as it takes,” John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the White House National Security Council, said in an interview with ABC News. “That is Ukrainian territory. It doesn’t matter what sham referendum they put in place or what vote they hold. It is still Ukrainian territory.”
Kirby decried Putin’s nuclear threat as irresponsible, warning of severe consequences if Moscow used such arms in the conflict. Kirby said the United States is monitoring Russia’s nuclear complex and sees no reason at this point for Washington to alter its strategic posture.
Kori Schake, the director of foreign and defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, who visited Kyiv last week, said the Russian reinforcements would take months to train and deploy and wouldn’t necessarily alter the outcome of the war. She noted that Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons do not register the same way in Ukraine, after months of combat, as they do in the United States.
“There, I was struck by the unanimity and attitude both among government people and among civil society that Russia using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine would not change the outcome of the war,” she said. “It would simply raise the costs.”
In response to Putin’s nuclear threat, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called an emergency meeting Wednesday evening of E.U. foreign ministers. He said he expects to issue an E.U. response to Putin’s statements at Thursday’s U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine, which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is scheduled to attend along with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“What President Putin announced today constitutes another major escalation in the unprovoked war,” Borrell told reporters at the United Nations. “It looked like he’s speaking in a measure of panic and desperation … by threat of using nuclear weapons, he’s trying to intimidate Ukraine and all the countries that support Ukraine. But he will fail. He has failed, and he will fail again.”
If Putin formally annexes the occupied territory his military holds, he could characterize future Ukrainian military operations as attacks on Russia itself, giving him license to take more extreme measures in response and again brandish the nuclear threat. Russian doctrine permits a nuclear response to a conventional attack that threatens the existence of the state.
Though Russian draftees are technically excluded from being sent to war zones such as Ukraine, they could be deployed to the occupied territories, should Moscow deem the lands part of Russia.
Putin’s nuclear saber rattling, analysts say, is an attempt to make Ukraine’s Western backers think twice about enabling Kyiv to inflict a resounding Russian defeat on the battlefield for fear of the possible consequences.
“It’s designed to get us to send less to Ukraine and certainly not to increase the amount of assistance we provide both in quantity and in quality,” said John E. Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. He argued that the administration should provide long-range missiles, tanks, air defense systems and fighter jets — weapons the administration has so far refused to send — to ensure Ukrainian victory regardless of Russian threats.
Biden has declined to specify how the United States would respond to the use of a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, saying only: “It’ll be consequential. They’ll become more of a pariah in the world than they have ever been. And depending on the extent of what they do, will determine what response would occur.”
His administration has made averting any risk of a direct conflict with Russia a cornerstone of its policy response to the conflict. According to a congressional official familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations, the United States will continue to provide Kyiv with more of the same weapons that have helped Ukraine make gains against Russian forces, but it isn’t immediately considering new types of weapons.
One senior U.S. official said it is unlikely that Putin’s announcement does anything other than “steel resolve for continued support” in defense of Ukraine within the administration.
The administration’s decision to supply Ukraine with High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) significantly altered the situation on the battlefield this year in Kyiv’s favor. Previously, Ukrainian forces suffered territorial and personnel losses because they were outgunned by Russia’s longer-range artillery.
Putin’s partial mobilization will help placate nationalist hard-liners at home, who have been calling on the Kremlin to unleash the full force of Russia’s power against Ukraine. But the move also risks domestic discontent in other quarters, as Russia calls up reservists and sends them into a badly managed military campaign, in some cases against their will.
It’s a “sign of desperation,” said Dmitry Gorenburg, who studies Russian security issues for CNA, a defense research group in suburban Washington.
Gorenburg noted a confluence of several troubling factors for Putin in recent days, including the Russian military’s stunning rout in northeastern Ukraine, the lack of support for Putin during an international security summit last week in Uzbekistan, and building frustration with the Russian military’s failures among more extreme Russian nationalists.
Russia will probably use the additional forces in an effort to prop up units in Ukraine that already have suffered heavy combat losses, rather than attempting to build new units to deploy, Gorenburg predicted. Doing so, he said, can be accomplished more quickly and could help the Russian military dig in where it is, even if it is unlikely that it can go back on the offensive.
“I’m not convinced it will work everywhere,” Gorenburg said. “And even with relatively limited training, it will take some weeks to get people there.”
The result is an opportunity for Ukrainian forces to try to advance their counteroffensive as aggressively as possible before any Russian reinforcements arrive. The Ukrainians have been steadily chipping away at Russian defenses outside the southern city of Kherson and in the northern part of the Donetsk region. | 2022-09-21T23:45:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Russian mobilization may spur U.S. to accelerate aid to Ukraine - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/21/putin-threats-us-response/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/21/putin-threats-us-response/ |
Jan. 6 committee reaches deal with Ginni Thomas for an interview
Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, will be interviewed by the committee in the coming weeks. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection has reached an agreement with Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, to be interviewed by the panel in coming weeks, her attorney said Wednesday.
The committee had earlier announced a public hearing for next week.
Her efforts caught the attention of lawmakers and legal scholars who questioned whether it could prompt Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from any cases linked to causes on which his wife had worked.
Ginni Thomas repeatedly pressed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to find ways to overturn the election, according to messages she sent to him weeks after the election. The messages represent an extraordinary pipeline between Thomas and one of Trump’s top aides as the president and his allies were vowing to take their efforts all the way to the Supreme Court.
She emailed 29 Arizona state lawmakers in November and December 2020, urging them to set aside Biden’s popular-vote victory and “choose” their own presidential electors. She also emailed a pair of Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin urging them to do likewise.
On March 6, 2021 — two months after a mob of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol as Congress was certifying Biden’s victory — Thomas attended a gathering of right-wing activists where a speaker declared to thundering applauds that Trump was still the “legitimate president,” a video recording of the event shows. | 2022-09-22T00:28:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ginni Thomas to meet with January 6 committee - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/21/ginni-thomas-january-6-interview/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/21/ginni-thomas-january-6-interview/ |
At the dais of the U.N. General Assembly, Iran’s hard-line president bemoaned the “oppression” and “militarism” unleashed by the United States. “We are the defenders of a fight against injustice,” said President Ebrahim Raisi, who also styled himself as someone who championed “the rights of the Iranian people.” But absent within the parade of tired slogans often spouted by the functionaries of Iran’s Islamic Republic was any recognition of what was transpiring in Iran as Raisi spoke.
On Wednesday, Iran was in the grips of a fifth consecutive day of unrest, as angry protests rocked cities in various corners of the country. Authorities appeared to restrict access to social media apps such as WhatsApp and Instagram after videos proliferated showing demonstrators clamoring for the downfall of the regime and clashing with police. In other instances, security forces were depicted indiscriminately attacking civilians on the streets. At least seven people have been killed while hundreds have been injured and arrested, according to rights groups monitoring the situation.
The catalyst was the death last week of Mahsa Amini, 22, in the custody of Iran’s so-called “morality police.” Iranian state media claimed Amini — a Kurdish woman from western Iran who had been visiting the capital Tehran — was detained after exiting a metro station, suffered a heart attack, and slipped into a coma. But her family has rejected this version of events, saying she was physically assaulted and brutalized by authorities even though she was observing the regime’s strict dress codes for women. The regulations have been compulsory since Iran’s 1979 revolution.
Images of the young Amini lying stricken in a hospital bed inflamed social media in Iran. Her death compelled some women to go to public areas and remove their headscarves; in some instances, the traditional garb was set on fire by protesters.
“The ferocity of the protests is fueled by outrage over many things at once,” my colleagues detailed. “The allegations Amini was beaten in custody before she collapsed and fell into a coma; the priorities of Iran’s government, led by ultraconservative Raisi, who has strictly enforced dress codes and empowered the hated morality police at a time of widespread economic suffering; and the anguish of Amini’s family, ethnic Kurds from a rural area of Iran, whose expressions of pain and shock have resonated across the country.”
Speaking a few slots after Raisi at the General Assembly, President Biden hailed “the brave citizens and brave women of Iran, who right now are demonstrating to secure their basic rights.” French President Emmanuel Macron told the BBC’s Persian news service that “the credibility of Iran is now at stake regarding the fact that they have to address this issue.”
An aide to the regime’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made overtures to Amini’s family and promised that the state’s institutions “will take action” to make amends. Raisi earlier promised investigations, casting Amini as his “own daughter.” But public trust in and goodwill toward Iran’s authorities are in short supply. Raisi, after all, is still infamous for his role in the 1980s as part of a regime committee that ordered the execution of thousands of political prisoners.
“These protests are a response to the status quo of severe political and social repression by a government that refuses to even acknowledge its people’s demands,” Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, which is based in New York City, told me. “The anger and fury we’re witnessing on the streets is palpable. The disconnect between the people of Iran and the state’s rulers could not be more apparent.”
Ghaemi added that what is notable about this round of protests — compared with, say, 2019, when mass demonstrations over the economy shook the country — is “the overwhelming presence of women who are risking their lives to be front and center at these protests.”
So many moving and inspirational videos coming out of Iran in the wake of #Mahsa_Amini's murder.
An Iranian woman removed her headscarf and stood in a square in Siraj, a city in southern Kerman province. Standing by her side are her two little girls. pic.twitter.com/lnSpKRioGs
That bravery is all the more striking given the existing precedents. In 2019, 2017 and 2009, following elections critics believed were rigged, authorities deployed severe and repressive tactics to subdue protests. “The survival of the Iranian regime is based on its brutality not its popularity,” Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told me. “I think many Iranians understand this system is not sustainable, but they also realize this regime has repeatedly shown itself willing to kill en masse to stay in power.”
Yet there’s also a sense that something may have to give. “Some conservative and hardline members of parliament even believe that apprehending women in the street should end for good,” wrote Najmeh Bozorgmehr in the Financial Times. “Increasingly, women are drawing support from men and religious factions who are now sympathetic to their campaign.”
For whatever their domestic travails, Iran’s leadership remains defiant on the world stage. Talks over restoring the nuclear deal forged between Tehran and world powers in 2015 appear stalled; Raisi and Iran’s hard-liners are intent on securing a better deal than the one that was broken by the Trump administration in 2018, and Biden and his allies are loath to make further concessions to Iran — not least before the midterm elections.
Some analysts contend that the protests show the importance of Washington engaging with Iran on terms well beyond its regime’s nuclear portfolio. “U.S. policy should be designed to not only counter the destructive ambitions of the Iranian regime, but also to champion the constructive ambitions of the Iranian people,” Sadjadpour said.
Such a vision has yet to be articulated by the current U.S. administration. On Wednesday, Biden reiterated his belief in the importance of diplomacy to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. At the same time, some Republican lawmakers in Congress are contemplating legislation that would make it more difficult for Biden to lift sanctions on Iran in return for some constraints on Tehran’s uranium enrichment capabilities.
“Even if there is a deal, neither the United States nor Iran really has a strategy for the other,” Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran program at the Middle East Institute, a Washington think tank, told me. He gestured to the political divisions in Washington that could see a future Republican administration reverse whatever Biden manages with Tehran. “You’ll have a deal that will be weak and very likely will … collapse under the weight of all the other issues,” he added.
At the same time, Raisi and the figure looming above him, Khamenei, see Iran’s future in tightening alliances with countries outside the West, including Russia, China and India. It’s a solidarity that is transactional at best and still won’t significantly offset the economic damage wrought by U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports.
“There’s a kind of parallel universe where some leaders in Tehran want to live, but reality keeps catching up with them,” Vatanka said. | 2022-09-22T01:12:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | At U.N. assembly, Iran’s leader ignores an uprising at home - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/21/iran-mahsa-amini-raisi-united-nations/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/21/iran-mahsa-amini-raisi-united-nations/ |
The Fed’s latest rate hike shows it isn’t messing around
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell announces an interest-rate hike at a news conference on Sept. 21. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Just a week ago, we might reasonably have hoped that inflation was moderating and that Federal Reserve policy would, too. Sure, the war in Ukraine might have unpleasant effects on the prices of grain and fossil fuels, but presumably logistics wizards were unsnarling supply chains and consumers were working through the pent-up demand from the pandemic. Besides, hadn’t the Fed already raised interest rates drastically — 1.5 percent in just two short months? Surely we were already through the worst of it.
Then came last week’s nasty inflation report. Headline inflation didn’t look too bad, up just 0.1 percent from the month before thanks to falling gas prices. But food prices were soaring. And when you looked beyond volatile food and energy prices, you saw broad general upward pressure on prices, suggesting that there was more inflationary froth for the Fed to wring out of the economy. And the Fed is certainly signaling that it’s willing to put us through the wringer; on Wednesday afternoon, the monetary policy committee announced a third 0.75 percent interest-rate hike, adding that it “anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate.”
Translated into plain English, that means more hikes, and a lot more economic pain than we’re currently feeling — possibly including recession levels of agony.
You can already see the painful signs of slowdown if you know where to look. Mortgage rates topped 6 percent last week for the first time since the financial crisis, helping home sales continue a seven-month slide. Auto sales are slowing, too. Silicon Valley start-ups are cutting back as financing dries up, and even giants such as Meta and Google are reining in employee head counts. Most worrying, FedEx, which is a fairly reliable reflection of how everyone else’s business is doing, recently warned that it was likely to miss its earnings targets next quarter.
Normally, this is when the Federal Reserve’s monetary wonks would be looking for ways to ease us into a soft landing. Instead, they’re the ones tightening the screws. But it’s hard to blame them.
When inflation goes on too long, it can start to feed on itself. People and businesses expect to pay higher prices in the future, so they demand higher wages for their work and higher prices for their own goods. This, in turn, causes more inflation.
Once that toxic upward spiral of prices and expectations gets going, it’s very costly to stop. The last time the United States suffered a major bout of inflation, in the late 1970s, the Federal Reserve under Paul A. Volcker had to force the federal funds interest rate to nearly 20 percent in the following years to get the situation under control. More than one-tenth of the labor force ended up out of work. It was the country’s worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Higher interest rates got the balance between money and output back under control. But they also helped keep it under control because they sent a strong signal: The Fed is not playing around. If inflation creeps up, the institution will do whatever it takes to get it back under control. For 40 years, the Fed has maintained that credibility, which has helped the economy maintain price stability.
Now, for the first time in decades, that credibility is at risk, and the Fed is taking no chances. Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell and his monetary experts are clearly willing to err on the side of a mild recession rather than risk losing what Volcker bought them so dearly.
There’s one big way Powell’s job is easier than Volcker’s was: In 1980, the public had spent 15 years watching inflation creep up. Our current episode hasn’t even lasted 15 months. So it shouldn’t take anything like the pain the country endured in the 1980s to get it under control. But however much it takes, the Fed is clearly willing to deliver. | 2022-09-22T01:16:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The Fed's new interest rate hike will help save its credibility - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/21/fed-interest-rate-hike-credibility/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/21/fed-interest-rate-hike-credibility/ |
Appeals court: Justice Depart. can use Mar-a-Lago documents in criminal probe
Federal appeals panel says Judge Aileen Cannon “abused" her discretion in requiring outside review of seized classified documents
The decision by a three-judge panel of the appeals court marks a victory, at least temporarily, for the Justice Department in its legal battle with Trump over access to the evidence in a high-stakes investigation to determine if the former president or his advisers mishandled national security secrets or hid or destroyed government records.
It was the second legal setback of the day for Trump, who was sued Wednesday morning by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D). The lawsuit said Trump and his company flagrantly manipulated property and other asset valuations to deceive lenders, insurance brokers, and tax authorities to get better rates and lower tax liability.
In Wednesday night’s ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta found fault with Trump’s rationale that the classified documents seized on Aug. 8 might be his property, rather than the government’s. The appeals court also disagreed with the rationale used by U.S. District Court Judge Aileen M. Cannon in agreeing to have the classified documents reviewed by a special master to see if they should be shielded from investigators because of executive or attorney-client privilege.
The lower court “abused its discretion in exercising jurisdiction ... as it concerns the classified documents,” the panel wrote in a 29-page opinion. Two of the judges on the panel were appointed by Trump; the third was appointed by President Barack Obama.
A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The panel found particularly unpersuasive the repeated suggestions by Trump’s legal team that he may have declassified the documents — citing an appearance by Trump’s attorneys on Tuesday before special master Raymond Dearie, who pressed them to say whether the former president had acted to declassify the material in question.
“Plaintiff suggests that he may have declassified these documents when he was President. But the record contains no evidence that any of these records were declassified. And before the special master, Plaintiff resisted providing any evidence that he had declassified any of these documents,” the panel wrote. “In any event, at least for these purposes, the declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal.”
Last week, the Justice Department filed papers asking the appeals court to quickly review part of Cannon’s decision in which she appointed a special master to review the seized documents.
Prosecutors have argued that two parts of her order — allowing the special master to review the roughly 100 documents that were marked classified, and halting the criminal investigation surrounding those documents while the special master conducts a review — jeopardize national security interests.
Cannon, a federal judge in Florida, appointed Dearie, a federal judge in New York City, to serve as special master and review the roughly 11,000 documents and items seized in the FBI’s search.
Donald Trump, 3 of his children, sued by New York attorney general over business practices
The Justice Department had previously asked Cannon to reconsider those two elements of her order, but she declined in a written order that repeatedly expressed skepticism of the government’s claims about the case.
In particular, Cannon said that a risk assessment of the case, conducted by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, could continue, while the criminal investigators were not allowed to use the classified documents for the time being.
The Justice Department argued such a distinction was impractical, because much of the DNI’s work would necessarily be done by FBI agents, and the two tasks were “inextricably intertwined.” Cannon did not accept that characterization and held to her original determination.
But the appeals court rejected her reasoning on that issue, writing: “This distinction is untenable.” The panel also used its ruling to offer a public primer on how the government classifies and declassifies government secrets, and why that process is important.
“For example, information that could reveal the identity of a confidential human source or that relates to weapons of mass destruction is exempted from automatic disclosure,” the judges wrote.
Prosecutors have said in court papers that some of the papers seized from Mar-a-Lago contained information related to programs that involve intelligence gleaned from human sources. The Washington Post has reported that one of the documents recovered by FBI agents described a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities.
The Justice Department told the appeals court that it disagrees with Cannon’s decision, but asked the court to issue a stay of “only the portions of the order causing the most serious and immediate harm to the government and the public,” calling the scope of its request “modest but critically important.”
Trump’s lawyers countered with their own filing, urging the appeals court not to intercede, suggesting that the documents marked classified may not in fact be classified and arguing that if they are, it is up to to the government to prove it.
The appeals court decision simplifies the special master’s work, removing the classified documents from the equation — though Dearie had signaled at a meeting Tuesday that he would probably avoid reviewing the classified documents if he could.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Justice Department lawyers had indicated they might appeal the issue to the Supreme Court if they lost at the 11th Circuit; it’s unclear if Trump’s legal team would file such an appeal now that the appeals panel has ruled against them. | 2022-09-22T01:16:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 11th Circuit finds for Justice Dept. on Mar-a-Lago Trump appeal - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/21/mar-a-lago-appeal-court-ruling/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/21/mar-a-lago-appeal-court-ruling/ |
In this photo released by INAH, pre-Hispanic site “Canada de la Virgen” stands near the colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, in the central state of Guanajuato, Mexico, Aug. 1, 2014. Mexico has declared this pre-Hispanic site as an archaeological monument zone protecting it from the possibility of encroaching development and expressing a commitment to continue excavating the ancient ruins. (Mauricio Marat/INAH via AP) (Uncredited/IHAH) | 2022-09-22T01:18:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Mexico ups protection at pre-Hispanic ceremonial site - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mexico-ups-protection-at-pre-hispanic-ceremonial-site/2022/09/21/b1830c88-39e0-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mexico-ups-protection-at-pre-hispanic-ceremonial-site/2022/09/21/b1830c88-39e0-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry Press Office, Azov officer Sviatoslav Palamar, center, who was released in a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, speaks on the phone in Ankara, Turkey, late Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. (Ukrainian Interior Ministry Press Office via AP) (Uncredited/Ukrainian Interior Ministry Press Office) | 2022-09-22T01:18:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Steel plant defenders, Putin ally exchanged in prisoner swap - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/steel-plant-defenders-putin-ally-exchanged-in-prisoner-swap/2022/09/21/6606c048-3a11-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/steel-plant-defenders-putin-ally-exchanged-in-prisoner-swap/2022/09/21/6606c048-3a11-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
Experts say LEDs, with countless practical applications, use up to 75 percent less energy than incandescent sources and last up to 25 times longer than incandescent and halogen light sources
By Phil Davison
Nick Holonyak Jr. (University of Illinois)
Dr. Holonyak was working General Electric’s Advanced Semiconductor Laboratory in Syracuse, N.Y., when a chemist colleague was working toward realizing a semiconductor laser that used invisible infrared light. Out of competitive drive, Dr. Holonyak recalled thinking, “If they can make a laser, I can make a better laser than any of them because I’ve made this alloy that is in the ‘red’ — visible. And I’m going to be able to see what’s going on. And they’re stuck in the infrared.”
When Dr. Holonyak developed a light-emitting diode — a semiconductor light source that emits light when an electric current flows through it — he was literally showing the world in a whole new light. It shone an intense red, thanks to the gallium arsenide phosphide crystals that he used in the diode.
Isamu Akasaki, LED innovator who shared Nobel Prize in physics, dies at 92
Experts say LEDs use up to 75 percent less energy than incandescent sources and last up to 25 times longer than incandescent and halogen light sources. His work is now used in airport runway lights, aircraft cabins and miners’ helmet lamps, an issue close to his heart as the son of an immigrant Ukrainian coal miner.
More recently, Dr. Holonyak helped create a technique to bend light within gallium arsenide chips, a development allowing computer chips to transmit information by light rather than electricity. He also helped develop, along with fellow Illinois professor Milton Cheng, the transistor laser, using light and electric outputs that could enhance next-generation high-speed communications technologies.
“He arrived by boat in Baltimore, with $2 in his pocket,” Dr. Holonyak told the Big Ten TV news network in 2011, “and started walking to Pennsylvania because he knew there were coal miners there. All he knew [in English] was ‘Mr. Boss, give me a job.’ Miners were paid 38 cents per ton of coal mined. Most men in town were coal miners, so I understand broken Slavic almost perfectly.”
His father survived the 1914 mine explosion at Royalton, Ill., that killed 52 miners by crawling through an air shaft to safety and later told his son not to work in the mines. The younger Holonyak worked first on the Illinois Central Railroad as a “gandy dancer” — laying down railway ties 10 hours a day, six days a week for 65 cents an hour — before saying to himself “the hell with this.”
He became the first in his family to pursue higher education, receiving his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees (the last in 1954) at the University of Illinois. He then worked for Bell Labs, the Army Signal Corps and General Electric before joining the University of Illinois faculty in 1963, recruited back by his graduate school mentor John Bardeen, a two-time Nobel laureate in physics. (At Illinois, Dr. Holonyak held the Bardeen chair in electrical and computer engineering and physics.)
In 1955, he married the former Katherine “Kay” Jerger. She is his only immediate survivor.
President George H.W. Bush awarded Dr. Holonyak the National Medal of Science in 1990 for “his contributions as one of the Nation’s most prolific inventors in the area of semiconductor materials and devices.” President George W. Bush later bestowed on him the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2002 and Queen Elizabeth of England presented him with the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in 2021.
He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America, among other organizations. Dr. Holonyak also became known to his students for his physical fitness, challenging them to numbers of push-ups or how far they could walk on their hands across the university’s gym. He rarely lost.
“Nick was known for not only his discipline and hard work but also his willingness to talk and engage with colleagues and students, and share stories of his past,” Rashid Bashir, dean of the University of Illinois’s Grainger College of Engineering, wrote in an email. “He was provided a nice independent office, but he preferred to be in the lab around students and where the research was happening. He used to exercise regularly in Kenny’s gym on campus at UIUC and was known to challenge others to run, do handstands, etc. etc. He was dedicated to making the world a better place by learning, teaching and doing research.”
In the Big Ten TV program of 2011, Don Scifres, a student at Illinois who studied under Dr. Holonyak and got his PhD in 1972, said: “He said life is about improving the world, and people who don’t have that as a goal, I don’t know what they live for.” | 2022-09-22T02:48:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Nick Holonyak Jr., who made an LED breakthrough, dies at 93 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/09/21/nick-holonyak-led-illinois-dead/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/09/21/nick-holonyak-led-illinois-dead/ |
His political views are 180 degrees different from ours.
Until now, it hasn’t been an issue, because we have plenty of other things to discuss (gardening, family, etc.), and we have kept our views to ourselves.
The problem is that he has hung a large flag (replacing the worn-out original with a new and even bolder model) a few feet from our backyard fence. This flag contains a message representing ideals that are abhorrent to us.
No profanity, just divisive with hurtful implications. I don’t think it’s an intentional attack on us or anything like that.
Visitors to our home have commented: “What do you think about that flag?” “I could get rid of that for you, ha-ha,” etc.
My husband and I don’t want to lose Charles’s friendship or ruin what has been a good relationship for years. But this is very upsetting to me — a constant reminder of the ugly divisions in our country.
Torn: You don’t provide any details about this flag — nor do you say what your personal politics are — so I am determined to envision this issue from a wide spectrum.
You also don’t seem to have ever asked your neighbor whether he could move the flag to another location in his yard, so it wasn’t flapping so distractingly close to your own.
We live in a country where everyone is free to let their freak flag fly, and where people like you and your neighbor can live cordially and peacefully side by side — each free to express themselves, or to stay quiet, if that is what you prefer to do.
So when friends ask you what you think of your neighbor’s flag, you can say, “Well, every day when I see it, I’m forced to appreciate the First Amendment. So — God bless America!”
Dear Amy: There was recently an infidelity issue (on my part) between my husband and me. We are working on our marriage, and things appear to be getting much better.
His best friend doesn’t speak to me much anymore, but I did reach out letting him know that I do love him and his girlfriend, that I don’t want to lose them and that I hope they don’t hate me.
He responded, stating he isn’t making any judgment calls until he gives it time to see how my husband is feeling.
Nervous: Your husband’s best friend responded to you honestly and responsibly. You also handled that encounter well.
Aside from that, it’s important for both you and your husband to convey that you are repairing your relationship, but that otherwise, the inner workings of your marriage will remain private.
Dear Amy: “Had Enough” wrote to you about her daughter, whose high school friends rejected her, leading her to finish school online.
Disappointed: I don’t think “calling out” a vulnerable person is necessarily helpful. | 2022-09-22T04:06:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ask Amy: My neighbor hung a flag I find offensive near my property - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/09/22/ask-amy-neighbor-flag-offensive/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/09/22/ask-amy-neighbor-flag-offensive/ |
Analysis by Ian King and Debby Wu | Bloomberg
The crushingly complex, high-stakes business of making semiconductors has always been a battle between global giants. Now it’s also a race among governments. These critical bits of technology — also known as integrated circuits or, more commonly, just chips — may be the tiniest yet most exacting products ever manufactured. And because they’re so difficult and costly to produce, there’s a worldwide reliance on just a handful of companies. That dependence has been brought into stark relief by shortages during the pandemic and by a ratcheting up of US restrictions on chip exports to China amid rising tensions around trade and security. Tens of billions of dollars will be spent in the coming years in a dash to expand production, with geopolitical as well as economic fallout.
1. Why the war over chips?
Chipmaking has become an increasingly precarious business. New plants have a price tag of up to $20 billion, take years to build and need to be run flat-out for 24 hours a day to turn a profit. The scale required has reduced the number of companies with leading-edge technology to just three — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. and Intel Corp. of the US. Chipmakers are under increasing scrutiny over what they sell to China, the largest market for chips. Shifts in the global supply chain and recent shortages has governments rushing to subsidize new factories and equipment, from the US and Europe to China and Japan.
2. Why are chips so critical?
They’re the thing that makes electronic items smart. Made from materials deposited on disks of silicon, chips can perform a variety of functions. Memory chips, which store data, are relatively simple and are traded like commodities. Logic chips, which run programs and act as the brains of a device, are more complex and expensive. And as the technology running devices — from space hardware to refrigerators — is getting smarter and more connected, semiconductors are more pervasive in the modern world. That explosion has some analysts forecasting that the industry will double in value to become a trillion-dollar market this decade.
3. Is the world short of computer chips?
Pandemic lockdowns and supply-chain shortages made many types of chips scarce for a period of about two years. That event helped usher in this new era, with an increasing realization of their strategic importance. Now that PC and phone demand is cooling off post-pandemic — and much of the world is falling into a recession — the cycle has turned. Chipmakers are warning of a glut in certain areas, though some customers including carmakers are still struggling to get enough. Yet for political reasons chipmakers are still poised to add capacity at a time of shaky demand – which could further upend the industry.
4. How’s the competition going?
• TSMC is unveiling bigger budgets, while Samsung is introducing cutting-edge technology ahead of its rivals. TSMC’s revenue is expected to surge 40% this year. In 2021, Samsung overtook Intel to become the world’s largest chipmaker; this year, TSMC is on course to overtake Intel.
• China is pushing hard to catch up but is facing more US moves to restrict access to American gear for designing and manufacturing chips. The US is also targeting technology that it has determined could be misused for military purposes. Notably, China’s Huawei Technologies Co., which once led the market for mobile phone infrastructure and rivaled Samsung as one of the biggest smartphone makers, was cut off from its primary suppliers. In any case, China has a long way to go and its task is getting harder.
• US politicians have decided that they need to do more than just hold back China. The Chips and Science Act, signed into law Aug. 9, will provide $50 billion of federal money to support US production of semiconductors and foster a skilled workforce needed by the industry.
• European Union officials are exploring ways to build an advanced semiconductor factory in Europe, possibly with assistance from TSMC and Samsung, as part of its goal to double chip production to 20% of the global market by 2030.
5. How does Taiwan fit into all this?
The island democracy emerged as the dominant player in outsourced chipmaking partly because of a government decision in the 1970s to promote the electronics industry. TSMC almost single-handedly created the business of building chips for others, one that was embraced as the cost of building plants skyrocketed. Large-scale customers like Apple Inc. gave it the massive volume to build industry-leading expertise and now the world now relies on it. Matching its scale and skills would take years and cost a fortune. Politics have made the race about more than money, though, with the US signaling that it will continue efforts to restrict China’s access to American technology used in Taiwan’s foundries. China has long claimed the island, just 100 miles off its coast, as a renegade province and threatened to invade to prevent its independence. Recent military exercises by China have reignited concerns about the world’s dependence on Taiwan for chips. | 2022-09-22T05:47:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How ‘Chip War’ Puts Nations In Technology Arms Race - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-chip-war-puts-nations-in-technology-arms-race/2022/09/22/7f0d27fe-3a33-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-chip-war-puts-nations-in-technology-arms-race/2022/09/22/7f0d27fe-3a33-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
Antiabortion activists at the Supreme Court (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“Val Demings supports abortion up until the moment of birth.”
— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), in a tweet, Sept. 6
“Mark Kelly believes in nationwide abortion on-demand up until the moment of birth, with zero limits.”
— website of Blake Masters, Republican Senate nominee in Arizona
These accusations are emblematic of a frequent Republican attack on Democrats who support abortion rights. The line provides a vivid image — that a baby could be aborted literally as a mother is about to give birth. Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel this week even coined a new phrase — “due date abortion.”
Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), who is challenging Rubio, and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) say such attacks mischaracterize their positions because they do not support late-term abortions and accept limits on the procedure.
Republicans defend their allegations by pointing to votes these candidates cast for the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill that would have restored the right to abortion enshrined in Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case recently overturned by the Supreme Court. The legislation includes exceptions for the health of the mother, which Republicans describe as a loophole that puts no limit on when an abortion can take place.
But the GOP attacks are disingenuous at best. They imply that late-term abortions are common — and that they are routinely accepted by Democrats.
The reality, according to federal and state data, is that abortions past the point of viability are extremely rare. When they do happen, they often involve painful, emotional and even moral decisions.
Finding common ground on basic facts in this debate is not easy.
Opponents and supporters of abortion rights disagree on basic definitions of “birth,” “health” and “late-term” that influences how one views the numbers. Moreover, both sides agree that much of the data collected on abortions is inadequate. For instance, California, Maryland and New Hampshire do not release any abortion data.
But we have dug deep into the files of states that release abortion statistics and interviewed doctors to illuminate how often abortions “up to the moment of birth” actually happen.
When abortions take place
The start of a pregnancy usually is dated from a woman’s last menstrual period, even though fertilization typically happens about two weeks later. The idea is that it is difficult to know exactly when you became pregnant, but you are likely to know when you started your last period.
Pregnancies are divided into three parts, known as trimesters. There is not a standard definition of when these periods begin or end. Florida, for instance, defines the third trimester as starting as 24 weeks while Minnesota says it starts at 28 weeks.
About two-thirds of abortions occurred at eight weeks of pregnancy or earlier, and nearly 90 percent take place in the first 12 weeks, or within most definitions of the first trimester, according to estimates by the Guttmacher Institute, which favors abortion rights. About 5.5 percent of abortions take place after 15 weeks, with just 1.3 percent at 21 weeks or higher.
Still, with more than 900,000 abortions a year in the United States, according to Guttmacher, that means that at least 10,000 occur after 20 weeks, toward the end of the second trimester — when medical technology makes it increasingly possible to save a premature infant.
While a woman can be pregnant for 40 weeks or longer, 66 percent of deliveries in 2020 took place between 37 and 39 weeks — and another 10 percent were premature, with deliveries between 20 and 36 weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC recorded almost 22,000 births between 20 and 27 weeks. Babies born before 25 weeks are considered extremely preterm, with vital organs such as heart, lungs, and brain very immature. But the survival rate has climbed to 30 percent for 22-week babies and 55 percent for 23-week babies, according to a 2022 study.
In other words, there is a period when premature births and late abortions begin to overlap. For many opponents of abortion, the “moment of birth” is not when the pregnancy is full-term — 40 weeks — but when the fetus can survive outside the womb.
“To me, just personally, any abortion that takes place after 22 weeks, after viability, that means that baby could be in a nursery,” said Kathi Aultman, a Florida doctor who conducted abortions in the late 1970s until she turned sharply against the practice after giving birth to her own daughter.
Some states record whether a fetus was born alive during an abortion and if efforts were made to save it. Seven were born alive in Florida in 2022, nine in Arizona in 2020, one in Texas in 2021 and five in Minnesota in 2021. A CDC study of 143 cases between 2003 and 2014 found that most died within hours, with only 4.2 percent surviving for more than 24 hours.
Third trimester abortions
Federal data does not break down when abortions take place after 21 weeks — and many states do not as well. But an examination of state data shows most of those late-term abortions come within the 22nd or 23rd week, when viability outside the womb is not assured. That would place almost all abortions before or within the second trimester.
In Minnesota, in 2021, about 1.8 percent of 10,000 abortions took place after 20 weeks. But virtually all of the 161 abortions took place in the 21st, 22nd and 23rd week. Only five took place later — with one in the 28th week. The pattern was similar in 2020, though one abortion took place as late as 35 weeks.
In Texas, in 2021, out of more than 50,000 abortions, only 11 were recorded between 21 and 25 weeks — and two above 26 weeks. And in Oklahoma, in 2021 only six out of more than 5,900 abortions took place after 21 weeks.
Colorado is the home of the Boulder Abortion Clinic, which specializes in late abortions. In 2021, state records show, about 1.8 percent of 11,580 abortions in Colorado took place after 21 weeks, but just 60 took place at 25 weeks or later.
Who gets late-term abortions
There is little data on why women might get abortions so late in pregnancy.
Warren Hern, director of the Boulder clinic, said in his experience virtually all women seeking a late-term abortion are devastated by the prospect. As late as 20 weeks, doctors may order medical tests for neural tube defects, Down syndrome, spine or brain problems or conduct ultrasounds that find birth defects like cleft palate, heart problems and kidney problems.
“In an average week at my office, 25 to 50 percent of the patients have some serious, catastrophic fetal abnormality, and there are some weeks in which this is true for 100 percent of the patients,” he said. “These are uniformly desired pregnancies, and the patients are generally grief-stricken to be ending the pregnancy.” Most of the others have severe medical conditions, such as pregnancy-related high blood pressure, severe hypertension or multiple sclerosis, so an abortion will reduce the woman’s risk of death.
In a 2014 academic study for the journal Prenatal Diagnosis, Hern reported the cases of 1,005 women who over a 20-year period requested an abortion for reasons of genetic disorder, fetal anomaly, or fetal demise during the second or third trimester — with at least one as late as 39 weeks. There were 26 cases of spontaneous fetal death and 2 conjoined twins.
“As for gestational age, many of the patients whose diagnoses of fetal disorder were not made until after the 30th week of gestation reported that ultrasound examination had been evaluated as ‘normal’ at 18 or 20 weeks, and the diagnosis of fetal anomaly was made in late pregnancy when a repeat ultrasound scan was carried out in connection with evaluation or treatment of some other unrelated problem,” Hern wrote.
Katrina Kimport, a sociologist at the University of California-San Francisco, recently published a study of interviews with 28 women who had third trimester abortions, which she defined in the article as after 24 weeks. (A substantial portion of the people she interviewed obtained their abortions after 28 weeks gestation.) Many discovered new information — such as severe deformities — that made them decide to discontinue the pregnancy. But she described two who discovered to their shock they were 25 or 26 weeks pregnant, even though they still had regular periods and had not had morning sickness.
In one of these previously unknown pregnancies, Kimport said in an email, the woman had a debilitating genetic condition and was told the child would likely have it, too. But other women she interviewed whose pregnancy was discovered after 24 weeks gestation “did not have testing or screening to determine the health of the fetus because they already decided they did not want to continue the pregnancy.”
International comparisons
This month, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) proposed a bill that would ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy, saying this would end what he called “late-term abortions.” He argued such a standard would put the United States on par with Europe, saying that 47 out of 50 countries there did not allow abortions after 15 weeks gestation.
The website of the Center for Reproductive Rights has an interactive world map of abortion laws that would seem to support Graham’s assertion. But Kelly Krause, a CRP spokeswoman, said legal limits do not reflect the experience women have in those countries. “Where countries impose earlier gestational limits for abortion on request, there are often very broad exceptions to these limits — such as socioeconomic concerns, or to preserve the person’s mental health — that extend at the least through viability and often longer,” she said.
Germany, for instance, on paper has a 12-week limit for abortion on request — but the law in reality permits abortions as late as 22 weeks after conception (24 weeks gestation). A woman can seek an abortion that late when, after counseling, she determines an abortion would avert “grave impairment to the pregnant woman’s physical or mental health and if the danger cannot be averted in another manner which is reasonable for her to accept,” section 218 of the criminal code says.
In a 2021 brief to the U.S. Supreme Court when it reconsidered Roe, a group of European law professors said 37 European countries had broad exceptions that allowed abortion through at least 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Moreover, abortion in many European countries is often subsidized or fully funded and women do not face legal hurdles like mandatory waiting periods, making it easier to obtain an abortion before the deadline.
The Republican claim
In response to Rubio’s claim that she supports abortion up to birth, Demings has said she supports abortion “up to the time of viability of the fetus,” which she understands to be about 24 weeks, made in consultation with “a medical professional.”
Elizabeth Gregory, a spokeswoman for Rubio, justified the attack on Demings because of the text of the Women’s Health Protection Act, which Demings supported.
The legislation defines a health-care provider as “a physician, certified nurse-midwife, nurse practitioner, and physician assistant.” The bill would prevent states from prohibiting abortion “after fetal viability when, in the good-faith medical judgment of the treating health care provider, continuation of the pregnancy would pose a risk to the pregnant patient’s life or health.”
Gregory suggested that “health” was an escape hatch that permitted abortion at any point. A Supreme Court case, Doe v. Bolton, decided the same day as Roe v. Wade, concluded that a medical professional may decide that “health” in the context of abortion could relate to “all factors physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age.”
A Masters spokesman did not respond to a question for comment, but in the past his campaign has also pointed to the legislation as justifying the claim. Kelly has responded that he did not oppose “restrictions on abortion late in pregnancy.”
The campaign rhetoric suggests such late-term abortions happen frequently. The truth is that they do not — and involve difficult, heart-wrenching circumstances glossed over in political ads. | 2022-09-22T07:18:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The GOP claim that Democrats support abortion ‘up to moment of birth’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/gop-claim-that-democrats-support-abortion-up-moment-birth/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/gop-claim-that-democrats-support-abortion-up-moment-birth/ |
A mural in Baghdad depicting the late Iraqi artist Mahood Ahmed, one of several painted by Wijdan al-Majed in the city. (Alice Martins for The Washington Post)
Each had grown up in the shadow of America’s 2003 invasion, and their art now wrestles with its aftermath. A film by Layth Kareem explored community trauma and healing. Sajjad Abbas brought a banner emblazoned with a picture of his eye, which he had once hung opposite Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, meant to symbolize the Iraqi experience of watching the $2 trillion occupation.
But when the group walked into the exhibition hall, a different installation about Iraq loomed largest: a series of war trophies taken by U.S. soldiers — photographs of the torture and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners inside Abu Ghraib prison — presented by a French artist to shock the gallery’s visitors.
“All we’ve asked for is to have a voice that isn’t spoken over,” Sahakian said. “The Iraqi artists participating were just grouped together with the photographs.”
Private galleries exist but are hard to break into, often requiring personal connections and money for publicity. Grant funding requires applications in fluent English. When international opportunities arise, many artists find that they cannot get visas to their own exhibitions.
“It takes a lot of networking and time,” said Hella Mewis, a German-born Baghdad art curator. “You need to know the system, the art market and it’s very complicated.”
When a Palestinian artist visited recently, he described the tone of the work as distinct from the rest of the region, Mewis recalled. “Here, he said that with each artist, you see that they are Iraqi. There are different styles but you don’t see the Western influence,” she said. “This is the best compliment we have ever received.”
With hindsight, Mewis realized, it took the pulse of a society on the verge of revolt. Seven months later, small protests against state corruption turned into a full-scale uprising against the political system, and artists joined Iraqis from every walk of life.
After more than 600 people were killed in a government crackdown, the protesters etched that history on the walls. Near Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, a gray-stone underpass became a riot of color. Murals showed the names and faces of the dead, in gold calligraphy and black-and-white sketches.
During his student days at the Institute of Fine Arts, he made plans with his friends for future projects. But amid growing economic despair, at least 10 of them boarded migrant boats bound for Europe in 2015.
Some of the group died at sea. Others made it, but fell out of touch.
“This is about our plans, and how they stayed with me,” he said, looking down at the half-wheel’s spokes. “The other half crossed to another world, and I can’t see what’s over there.”
On a recent night, a driver was blaring his car horn on the street, but Saad was wrapped up in his work. “I think about so many things as I do this,” he said.
His latest piece for exhibition focused, again, on migration, and his friends were still on his mind. “Some of them trusted me so much they told me they were leaving before they told their families,” he said. | 2022-09-22T08:32:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Iraqi artists tell their story after pulling art from Berlin Biennale - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/22/iraq-artists-baghdad-refugees-protests/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/22/iraq-artists-baghdad-refugees-protests/ |
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un poses for a group photo at the opening of an exhibition of weapons systems in Pyongyang, North Korea, Oct. 11, 2021. (AP)
SEOUL — North Korea denied U.S. intelligence reports that it had supplied weapons to Russia, condemning Washington for spreading rumors aimed at tarnishing Pyongyang’s image.
“We have never exported weapons or ammunition to Russia before and we will not plan to export them,” a senior North Korean defense official was quoted as saying in state media on Thursday. The official accused “the U.S. and other hostile forces,” of spreading “a rumor of arms dealings between the DPRK and Russia,” referring to North Korea by its official name.
Thursday’s statement, carried by North Korea’s Central News Agency, follows newly declassified intelligence assessment from Washington that Russia was seeking to buy North Korean weapons for its war in Ukraine. Earlier this month, State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said that “the Russian Ministry of Defense is in the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea for use in Ukraine.”
“We warn the U.S. to stop making reckless remarks” criticizing North Korea and “to keep its mouth shut,” the statement said, which was attributed to an official only identified as a vice director of the General Bureau of Equipment.
While denying any arms sales to Russia, the official defended North Korea’s right to make such military deals. “Not only the development, production, possession of military equipment, but also their export and import are the lawful right peculiar to a sovereign state, and nobody is entitled to criticize it.”
Biden administration officials said the weapons transfer plan indicates that sanction-strapped Russia was forced to reach out to the Kim Jong Un regime to help source weaponry for use in its invasion of Ukraine. Moscow responded to the U.S. intelligence reports by calling them “fake.”
Even amid widespread international condemnation, North Korea has openly supported its Cold War ally Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this year, Kim exchanged messages with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and vowed to expand relations toward “new strategic heights.” The Asian nation is one of a handful of countries that officially recognized the independence of the Moscow-backed breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. North Korea and Russia share land and maritime borders, which served as trade routes before coronavirus border lockdowns.
Any weapons trade with North Korea would be in violation of United Nations sanctions imposed on the regime to curb its nuclear and missile activities. In defiance of the sanctions, the Kim regime has continued its military pursuits, including an unprecedented flurry of ballistic missile tests this year. Officials in Seoul and Washington said earlier this year that North Korea is preparing for its first nuclear test in five years. | 2022-09-22T08:32:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | North Korea denies selling weapons to Russia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/22/north-korea-weapons-russia-us-assessment/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/22/north-korea-weapons-russia-us-assessment/ |
Speaking at the U.N. on Sept. 21, President Biden said that the U.S. and the U.N. need to stand in solidarity against Russian aggression in Ukraine. (Video: The Washington Post)
U.S. and European leaders on Wednesday swiftly condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to call up as many as 300,000 reservists in his war against Ukraine, a move that sparked protests across Russia and soaring demand for one-way flights out of the country.
Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly, President Biden accused Putin of attempting to extinguish Ukraine’s “right to exist,” and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his citizens “demand just punishment” for Russia’s actions during the war. Russian captives from the United States, Britain, Morocco, Sweden and Croatia — including individuals who had been sentenced to death — were also released Wednesday in an elaborate prisoner exchange brokered by the Saudi crown prince and the Turkish president.
Putin’s partial military mobilization means up to 300,000 reservists will be called up to serve in Russia’s armed forces, a major escalation in the war after Moscow suffered embarrassing setbacks, including a retreat from the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the mobilization “reflects the Kremlin’s struggles on the battlefield, the unpopularity of the war, and Russians’ unwillingness to fight in it.”
Thousands of Russians took to public spaces to protest after Putin’s announcement, with authorities making at least 1,300 arrests in a single day, according to the human rights group OVD-Info. Video footage from rallies across the country shows police officers pushing protesters to the ground, stuffing them into buses and, in at least one instance, attempting to punch an apparent protester in the head on a busy street.
Two U.S. military veterans and a British man fighting in Ukraine were among nearly 300 people released on Wednesday as part of an elaborate prisoner exchange between Moscow and Kyiv. The deal, brokered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also led to the release of 215 Ukrainians and 55 Russians. Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Kremlin opposition politician from Ukraine who is considered a close friend of Putin’s, was also released.
Zelensky’s passionate appeal to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday focused on his desire for peace and “just punishment” for Russia. He proposed a five-part “peace formula,” which included requests he has made publicly before, such as sanctions against Russia, visa restrictions for Russian citizens and additional defense and financial support for Ukraine.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine suffered renewed shelling early Wednesday. It sustained damage to cables that provided electricity to one of its six units and a reactor was forced to temporarily rely on emergency diesel generators, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said in a Telegram post that rockets also hit the city of Zaporizhzhia and its suburbs, striking a hotel and leaving people under the rubble.
Moscow-backed officials in occupied parts of Ukraine announced plans this week to hold “referendums” from Friday to Tuesday on the prospect of joining Russia. The moves indicate an escalation in Russia’s apparent plans to annex swaths of Ukraine. The votes would be illegal under Ukrainian and international law.
After convening an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in New York on Wednesday, E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell denounced Russia’s plans for the next phase of the war, vowing that E.U. members would increase E.U. military support to Ukraine and study a new set of sanctions against Russia. Borrell condemned Russia’s plan to stage sham referendums that could result in an illegal annexation of parts of occupied Ukraine, as well as Putin’s plan to call up as many as 300,000 reservists to the armed forces in a partial mobilization.
Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly, President Biden accused Putin of “irresponsible nuclear threats” and “reckless disregard for the responsibilities of the nonproliferation regime,” hours after Putin warned in his speech that he might use nuclear weapons if threatened. Biden also rebuked Russia’s invasion in general, saying: “This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state, plain and simple, and Ukraine’s right to exist as a people. Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should make your blood run cold.”
North Korea has denied claims that it exported weapons or ammunition to Russia and said it has “no plans” to do so, according to a statement released Thursday by the government-run Korean Central News Agency. A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity about a newly declassified intelligence report, told The Washington Post this month that Moscow was suffering from severe supply shortages and was preparing to buy “millions of rockets and artillery shells” from Pyongyang. | 2022-09-22T08:32:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Russia-Ukraine war latest updates - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/22/russia-ukraine-war-latest-updates/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/22/russia-ukraine-war-latest-updates/ |
California is nation’s first state to create anti-gun-violence office
Firearms on sale last year at a store in El Cajon, Calif. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg News)
California will be the first state to set up an office dedicated to reducing gun violence by keeping firearms away from “dangerous individuals” and promoting research and data collection, state Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said Wednesday.
Bonta, who called the number of gun violence deaths in the United States an epidemic, said the Office of Gun Violence Prevention will “examine a broad range of factors” and seek an evidence-based and data-driven approach. Bonta’s wife, Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D), sponsored a bill in February that called for the office’s creation.
“When is enough going to be enough?” Rob Bonta said at a news conference in San Francisco alongside gun-control advocates, some of whom had relatives killed in shootings.
“We are in a full-on crisis, full-on state of emergency, and in order to fight this epidemic, it’s going to take new efforts, creative approaches and new action,” he said. “That’s why we’re here today.”
Many Democratic-led state and local governments have pushed for more firearms regulation — California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has used Republican antiabortion tactics to tighten gun laws — amid higher nationwide homicide rates since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and relatively modest gun-control efforts at the federal level. The number of homicides in California increased by 7 percent in 2021 over the previous year. Firearms were involved in about three-quarters of the killings in which authorities identified a weapon.
Some state and local restrictions could be checked by a U.S. Supreme Court that has taken an expansive view of gun rights, experts said. In June, the high court ruled that law-abiding Americans have a right to carry a handgun outside the home for self-defense, forcing New York state to rewrite a century-old gun law.
How much the new California body “can achieve will in part depend on how much damage the Supreme Court will do if it strikes down sensible measures,” said John J. Donohue III, a law professor at Stanford University.
“Creative new means to limit the massive increase in gun thefts … to counteract the damage to police effectiveness that follows the promiscuous carrying of guns, and to get guns out of the hands of those who are likely to do harm to themselves and others are sorely needed,” he said. “A dedicated office may well be able to initiate such measures.”
The California Gun Rights Foundation, an organization that has opposed many gun-control laws, and Bonta’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday evening.
In April 2021, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell (D) created an anti-gun-violence office, and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) also set up a Gun Violence Prevention Emergency Operations Center to coordinate enforcement. But violent crime continues to be a major challenge for both cities. Representatives for Cantrell and Bowser could not immediately be reached for comment late Wednesday.
California’s new office will support ongoing operations to seize firearms from dangerous individuals on the state’s Armed and Prohibited Persons System database. The list includes people who have been convicted of a felony or a violent misdemeanor, are under a restraining order or suffer from serious mental illness.
The state averaged 8.5 firearms-related deaths per every 100,000 people in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was the seventh-lowest such figure among the 50 states. Hawaii had the lowest number of gun-related deaths per capita, while Mississippi had the highest.
California has the most restrictive gun regulations nationwide, according to the Giffords Law Center, a gun-control advocacy group that pushed for the creation of the new California office. Attorneys at the nonprofit organization analyzed gun legislation in all 50 states and assigned point values to each state’s laws and policies. | 2022-09-22T08:36:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | California is first state to create gun violence prevention office - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/22/california-gun-control-office-violence-prevention/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/22/california-gun-control-office-violence-prevention/ |
Five things to watch as training camp begins
Analysis by Samantha Pell
Washington opens training camp on Thursday. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
The Washington Capitals open training camp Thursday with a Stanley Cup-winning goaltender between the pipes and a slew of returning veterans in tow. Washington will look to lean on this experienced core and its new netminder to break its disappointing streak of four straight opening-round postseason exits.
The Capitals’ championship aspirations will run in parallel with Alex Ovechkin’s pursuit of the NHL’s all-time goals record. Ovechkin sits in third place with 780, 50 of which came in a surprisingly strong 2021-22 campaign. Needing only 22 goals to surpass Gordie Howe for second place, Ovechkin will look to employ his combination of strength and skill and inch closer toward Wayne Gretzky’s hallowed record of 894.
Washington will open its six-game preseason slate Sunday afternoon at Capital One Arena against the rebuilding Buffalo Sabres. The Capitals’ season opener, at home against the Boston Bruins, is Oct. 12.
Here are five things to watch as training camp unfolds:
How does Darcy Kuemper look in Washington?
Darcy Kuemper, a salary cap casualty of the Colorado Avalanche’s success last season, arrives as Washington seeks to shore up its most frustrating and inconsistent position the past two years. Fresh off signing a five-year, $26.25 million deal in free agency, Kuemper will look to solidify himself as a top-tier NHL goaltender and try to shake the perception that he merely benefited from a role on a juggernaut Avalanche squad.
Kuemper’s backup in net will be Charlie Lindgren, who was signed this offseason as a free agent after spending last year on a two-way contract with the St. Louis Blues.
What is the status of Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson?
Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson, two mainstays of Washington’s lineup, will start the year on long-term injured reserve. Backstrom is recovering from offseason hip surgery, and there is no timetable for his return. There is still a chance Backstrom does not play at all this season, but he appears determined to give it another go instead of opting for early retirement.
Capitals name Scott Allen to coaching staff, replacing Scott Arniel
Wilson continues to recover from ACL surgery on his left knee in May. He was injured in last year’s postseason series against the Florida Panthers. Wilson’s recovery timeline is on track, with the team forecasting a potential regular season debut as early as late November.
Will Carl Hagelin be cleared to play?
Carl Hagelin’s eye injury in early March led to two surgeries and left his NHL future uncertain. His progress has been promising, but it is unclear whether he will suit up for Washington this season.
The 34-year-old winger spent the summer participating in informal skates and has been wearing a full-contact jersey during group sessions. Hagelin, still listed as injured on the official training camp roster, remains under the care of Washington’s medical staff and has had appointments and consultations with outside doctors.
How will Dylan Strome and Connor Brown mix in with the forward group?
With Wilson and Backstrom out, Dylan Strome and Connor Brown will have prominent roles as the only two newcomers up front.
Strome, a 25-year-old center, was a solid addition by Washington on the first day of free agency, signing a one-year, $3.5 million deal. He is expected to be the team’s second-line center, but the Capitals probably will try him at center and left wing throughout the preseason.
Brown, 28, is a right winger and could fit anywhere in the lineup, most notably on the top line alongside Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov. Washington has multiple options for its top-line right winger, with Brown, T.J. Oshie and Conor Sheary the most likely candidates. Brown is also a penalty-killing specialist and will see extended time on that unit.
Where does Connor McMichael fit (again)?
So much of the talk surrounding Washington’s lineup last season revolved around the play of Connor McMichael. In his rookie season, the former first-round pick contrasted moments of potential with underwhelming stretches. McMichael, 21, played in 68 games, a healthy load for a versatile player still finding his way.
McMichael filled in as injuries struck Washington at a staggering pace and showed the coaching staff he can be a natural fit at center when some of the veteran players start to lose their edge.
This year, however, there is no clear-cut spot for McMichael in the Capitals’ lineup. Washington has four other centers at its disposal: Kuznetsov, Strome, Lars Eller and Nic Dowd. If Strome gets moved to the wing, McMichael could shift to center. If Eller doesn’t meet expectations in training camp, he could fall out of favor and be replaced by the youngster. With Backstrom out for a prolonged period of time, Washington has plenty of options to bolster its lineup down the middle, but choosing the right combination could take some trial and error. | 2022-09-22T08:36:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Washington Capitals open training camp - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/washington-capitals-training-camp-begins/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/washington-capitals-training-camp-begins/ |
SAN DIEGO — Blake Snell held St. Louis hitless until Albert Pujols beat the shift for a single with two outs in the seventh inning and the San Diego Padres beat the NL Central-leading Cardinals 1-0.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals fired longtime executive Dayton Moore, ending the roller-coaster tenure of an influential general manager and president who took the club from perennial 100-game loser to two World Series and the 2015 championship before its quick return to mediocrity.
COSTA MESA, Calif. — Quarterback Justin Herbert was mainly a bystander as the Los Angeles Chargers went through their first practice in preparation for Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. | 2022-09-22T08:54:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Wednesday's Sports in Brief - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wednesdays-sports-in-brief/2022/09/22/4719d2a8-3a4b-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wednesdays-sports-in-brief/2022/09/22/4719d2a8-3a4b-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
In this image made from a video, rescuers use sling to move one of whales in water near Strahan, Australia Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022. A day after 230 whales were found stranded on the wild and remote west coast of Australia’s island state of Tasmania, only 35 were still alive despite rescue efforts that were to continue Thursday. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation via AP) (Uncredited/Australian Broadcasting Corporation) | 2022-09-22T08:54:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 32 pilot whales rescued out of 230 stranded in Australia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/32-pilot-whales-rescued-out-of-230-stranded-in-australia/2022/09/22/6bd312e8-3a4c-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/32-pilot-whales-rescued-out-of-230-stranded-in-australia/2022/09/22/6bd312e8-3a4c-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
From a former aide, insights on Zelensky — and pride in Ukraine
Review by Kate Tsurkan
Ukrainian soldiers prepare to raise a giant flag in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky, during a ceremony to commemorate the Day of the National Flag on Aug. 23. (Heidi Levine for The Washington Post).
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the world has been inspired by the Ukrainian people: There are already enough stories of heroic resilience to last a lifetime. The Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov even urged his fellow countrymen and women on social media to keep diaries during this challenging time as a future testament to what they lived through. Some of those testimonies are starting to reach a Western audience. Iuliia Mendel’s “The Fight of Our Lives: My Time With Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s Battle for Democracy, and What It Means for the World” is advertised on the back cover as being “written with the sound of Russian bombs and exploding shells in the background.” The Ukrainian president’s former press secretary recounts how her upbringing in Kherson eventually led her to one of the country’s most sought-after positions for journalists, what she witnessed during the beginning of Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidency and how Ukraine came together in the face of all-out war.
Most of the chapters are structured around the challenges faced by Zelensky during his time in office: “The Press vs. The President,” “The Negotiator,” “Oligarchs and Fake News” and so on. It would have been nice to read more about Mendel herself beyond her checklist of achievements: “Born a provincial girl, I earned a doctorate in Ukrainian literature, worked as a journalist, and then became President Zelenskyy’s press secretary from June 2019 to July 2021 before returning to journalism. I proudly earned my place in a prosperous, thriving, free, and transparent country.” Her retelling of her career arc — which brought her from Ukraine to Brussels to the States and back — would make for a compelling book on its own about a snappy young journalist dreaming big. Instead, much of the book recaps what occurred in Zelensky’s administration during her time as press secretary. She attributes this to her cultural upbringing: In Ukraine, it is seen as unbecoming to speak too much of oneself. However, the passages about her parents and her beloved Kherson, still under Russian occupation, are moving: “Kherson was where I learned my first words, it was the place where I stood up for the Ukrainian language. It was there that I was taught to work hard if I wanted to achieve something.”
Her reflections on her relationship with the Ukrainian language at a time when Ukraine’s cultural ties to Russia have been all but severed are also extremely important to the cultural discourse within the country: Of her generation, she writes: “We are determined to restore our lost Ukrainian heritage while we also construct a vibrant contemporary identity. We have plenty of ideas about where we are headed, what we value from the past, and who we will be in decades to come.”
Those familiar with recent Ukrainian political history might take issue with certain parts of the book. Mendel goes after former president Petro Poroshenko at every possible chance, calling him and his team “the same Soviet swindlers we had endured before.” Poroshenko won the presidential election in 2014 following the triumph of the Maidan Revolution, which led pro-Russian dictator Viktor Yanukovych to flee to Russia. Before that, Poroshenko was no stranger to Ukrainian politics, but he was also well-known for his business empire, most notably the Roshen confectionery company. Some of Mendel’s criticisms of Poroshenko are warranted: He is an oligarch and not without controversies. But she does not acknowledge the many accomplishments during his term in office that benefited Ukrainians, such as the expansion of the visa-free travel regime and the establishment of state institutions like the Ukrainian Book Institute and the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. All of this helped significantly improve Ukraine’s cultural standing worldwide.
While Poroshenko’s slogan “Army, language, faith!” was indeed conservative, there is an argument to be made that after the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Donbas eight years ago, such a mind-set was necessary to unite the Ukrainian public. Even before the start of the current invasion, on Feb. 24, Russia’s intentions were clear: to wipe Ukraine off the map. Moreover, when Mendel acknowledges that the nationalization of PrivatBank in 2016 was a significant achievement in the fight against oligarchy, there is not a single mention of Poroshenko, only “the Ukrainian political leadership.”
It also borders on the absurd to write that “Poroshenko’s love for the Ukrainian language was as hypocritical as his patriotism” because his family’s native language was Russian. Many Ukrainians — Mendel included, by her own admission — come from Russian-speaking families yet made the conscious decision to publicly use the Ukrainian language. As Mendel also correctly points out, this embrace of Ukrainian over Russian was accelerated after the invasion.
As for Poroshenko’s perceived gaffes after Zelensky became president, Mendel does not acknowledge that Zelensky has sometimes done the very same. There is either a justification for Zelensky’s doing so or no mention of it. For example, Mendel writes about how, in 2020, Poroshenko delivered the New Year’s Speech on Channel 5, which he owned at the time. It is a tradition for the Ukrainian president — and other leaders of the countries of the former Soviet Union — to do so. But Zelensky was president by then, and Poroshenko’s speech was criticized. . However, on New Year’s Eve in 2018, the TV channel 1+1, then owned by the oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, aired Zelensky’s New Year’s Speech rather than Poroshenko’s, in which Zelensky announced his presidential candidacy. Perhaps none of this will matter to English-language readers who came to know Zelensky through his wartime leadership, but it does sometimes put Mendel’s objectivity into question.
Zelensky was subject to much criticism by the Ukrainian public before the Russian invasion, and that criticism sometimes seemed excessive. As Mendel describes, the former comedian and actor was unlike any other president in Ukraine’s history. Unsurprisingly, the public was unsure what to make of him once he came to power. Though he won 73 percent of the vote in the presidential election, citizens were skeptical that he could bring change to a system that had been struggling to make significant progress since Ukraine achieved independence in 1991. As Mendel keenly observes: “It is difficult to build a state when you are starting not from scratch, but from something that has already been thoroughly worn out, ripped off, and smashed up. It is no easy task.”
The coronavirus pandemic and the Russian invasion forced Zelensky to mature quickly and become a true statesman. During that time, he also made progress in other domestic matters, such as the launch of the app Diia, nicknamed the “state in a smartphone,” which lets citizens access digital documents and government services. He also secured the release of many Ukrainian political prisoners of the Kremlin, including high-profile figures such as the filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and the military commander Vitalii Markiv. The fact that the Ukrainian public united around Zelensky after the invasion is a testament to his sincerity for his country and, in many respects, a redemption arc worthy of a film star.
The reader also gains some invaluable insight into meetings between Zelensky and other political leaders. During the “Normandy Four” summit of 2019, for example, Mendel describes witnessing President Vladimir Putin and the rest of the Russian delegation face to face: “His entire team seemed hopelessly outdated. And when I found the right words to describe how I saw him, I suddenly became calmer.” Pointing out all of Putin’s repetitions, stammers and pauses — which the TV voice-overs tend to gloss over — helps demystify the dictator whom the Western media has long portrayed as having the cunning and wit of a fearless Bond villain. Mendel’s description is far more fitting.
Ultimately, Mendel’s memoir is best read as a subjective account of the Zelensky administration rather than an authoritative history. Hopefully, the main takeaway for readers is that their interest in Ukraine endures and they will search out the many quality books from Ukraine scheduled to be released in the near future, including from authors currently serving in the Ukrainian military or working tirelessly as volunteers.
Kate Tsurkan is a writer, editor and translator. In 2017, she co-founded Apofenie, an online literary magazine that primarily publishes literature in translation. She lives in Ukraine.
My Time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s Battle for Democracy, and What It Means for the World
Atria/One Signal. 208 pp. $27.99 | 2022-09-22T10:25:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Book review of The Fight of Our Lives: My Time with Zelenskyy, Ukraine's Battle for Democracy, and What It Means for the World by Iuliia Mendel - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/09/22/former-aide-insights-zelensky-pride-ukraine/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/09/22/former-aide-insights-zelensky-pride-ukraine/ |
A migrant child’s long journey to Gringolandia
Review by Steven V. Roberts
Border Patrol agents process families who crossed into the United States from Mexico on June 24 in Yuma, Ariz. More than 20 years ago, 9-year-old Javier Zamora undertook a similar journey, traveling with a smuggler from El Salvador to America. (Eric Thayer for The Washington Post)
In the spring of 1999, when Javier Zamora was 9 years old, he left his home village in El Salvador. His family had hired a coyote, a smuggler, to help him cross the southern border of the United States illegally and join his parents, who were living in California. “Gringolandia,” he writes as he approaches his destination. “The country of the movies, popcorn, pizza for school lunches, snowball fights, swimming pools, Toys ‘R’ Us, and McDonald’s.”
Twenty-three years later the pull of “Gringolandia” remains as strong as ever. Thousands of families, many with young children like Javier, are pouring across the same border, triggering a humanitarian crisis — and a political opportunity. Republican governors in Florida and Texas have seized that opening, sending buses and planes full of migrants to northern cities, including Washington, hoping to highlight an issue that plays well with their party base. It is all a stunt, a cynical exploitation of well-meaning and long-suffering families, but it does raise the question: Who are these people? Why do they come to Gringolandia, and what has their journey been like?
Zamora’s timely memoir helps provide some answers. A trip that was supposed to take two weeks stretched into nine as young Javier rode in buses and boats, trudged through deserts, and hid in terror from La Migra, the dreaded Border Patrol, which seized him the first time he crossed La Linea and returned him to Mexico. He finally reached his goal, rejoined his parents and eventually became a distinguished poet, publishing his first volume, “Unaccompanied,” five years ago.
This memoir, “Solito,” which means “alone” in Spanish, recounts in gripping and graphic detail his boyhood travels to Gringolandia, that mythic land of big dreams and Big Macs. But it is more than a story about immigration, it is a coming-of-age tale about a 9-year-old whose journey toward maturity — another mythic land — was compressed into one season.
His story starts in the rural hamlet of La Herradura, where he lives with his grandparents and assorted relatives. It’s a common theme, as many working-age parents were fleeing the dangerous strife and deadening poverty of El Salvador, leaving the young and the old behind. “For most of us, grandparents are the ones who show up for Mother’s and Father’s Day assemblies,” Zamora writes. His father left when he was 1, his mother when he was 5, and he encounters them only as disembodied voices on the telephone, which his family doesn’t even own. Javier has to walk to the local baker’s house to take their calls, which evoke yet more myths. “I’ve never met my dad — or I have, but I don’t remember him,” the author explains. Of his mother he writes: “I try to remember what Mamá Pati smells like, but I forget. It’s what I’m excited for when I see her again, to relearn her smells.”
No matter how driven an immigrant is to leave home, departure is always painful, and so it is for young Javier: “My parents I’ll see soon. But Mali, Abuelita, Lupe, Julia, my toys, my dog, my parakeet, my classmates, the cat, I won’t see them anytime soon.” And he is so young, and so unprepared for the journey. “I don’t like using toilets, I’m scared I’m gonna get flushed down them,” he admits. And he has to wear shoes with Velcro straps: “I don’t know how to tie my shoes properly . . . Grandpa tried to teach me . . . but I haven’t completely learned.”
Zamora writes with economy and eloquence, and his narrative connects the reader directly to the tastes and terrors, smells and stresses of life on the run from the law. After a perilous ride in a small boat to enter Mexico from the south, he describes the lingering stench from the engines: “I got the salt out, but not this. Gasoline in my hair, inside my fingernails, between my legs, in my shirt, my pants, my underwear. Or maybe the smell is trapped in my nose, on my tongue.”
After he and his friends, Chino and Patricia, are arrested and thrown into a van, he writes: “Chino keeps trying to open the door. Kicks the seat in front of him. Kicks the metal divider. Kicks the door. He’s a rabid dog. The entire car shakes.” Patricia screams, “Ay, no. Ay, no.” And Javier adds, “I want to cry, but nothing comes out.”
Later their group is locked up, and he writes: “I’m in a zoo. A cage. I’m a monkey with at least twenty-one other monkeys. Everyone wears a long face. No one smiles.”
Through it all, young Javier grows up, and quickly. After some older companions give him his first cigarette, he writes, “I started coughing and couldn’t stop. Marcelo hit me hard in the back to let the smoke out, saying, ‘You’re a man now.’” Once he recovers, “I do feel older. Like the smoke gave me courage to get on that boat. To not cry. To not vomit. To be here now in another country without Grandpa.” At one stop, after a coyote shows him where they’ll rest for a few days, Javier writes: “A-par-ta men-to. I only know that word from movies and from that show Friends. Another thing I’ve never done. It’s a running checklist: Stay at a motel. Check. Use a fancy bathroom. Check. Shower with a showerhead. Check. Sleep in a two-story building. Check. Three-story building. Check. Stay in an apartamento. Check.”
When Zamora finally greets his parents, you’ll find yourself cheering, but this compelling story has some minor flaws. It’s too long, and it contains many Spanish phrases that are never translated. Some readers who don’t know the language may not fully grasp the tone and texture of the narrative. More seriously, Zamora never explains how this book came about. He was 9 when the story occurred, so presumably he didn’t take notes, and 23 years later he has produced an exceptionally detailed account. He thanks the “massive help” he got from his therapist and makes a vague reference to revisiting “the places, the people, and the events that shaped me.” But he owes his readers more information. Is this really a memoir? Or is it more like a novel, inspired by real events but leavened by imagination?
Whatever it’s labeled, however, this is a valuable book. It puts a human face, a child’s face, on all those anonymous immigrants we only see on the news as pawns in a political game. And it reminds us, yet again, how immigrants like Javier Zamora enrich our culture, on so many days, in so many ways.
Steven V. Roberts, who teaches journalism and politics at George Washington University, is the author of “From Every End of This Earth: 13 Families and the New Lives They Made in America.” | 2022-09-22T10:25:23Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Book review of Solito by Javier Zamora - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/09/22/migrant-childs-long-journey-gringolandia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/09/22/migrant-childs-long-journey-gringolandia/ |
At stake in the U.S.-China rivalry: The shape of the global political order
Review by Dexter Roberts
(James Steinberg for The Washington Post)
In just over 40 years, the People’s Republic of China has arisen from the political chaos and poverty of the Mao Zedong era to become a powerhouse on the world stage. Its unmistakable clout is intensifying its rivalry with the United States over which country will dominate the global order and, crucially, which system will stand as the world’s political and economic model: the authoritarianism and state capitalism of China, or the liberal democracy and market-oriented economy of the United States.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, who is expected to gain an unprecedented third term next month as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, believes that “the East is rising and the West is declining” and that “time and momentum are on our side.” For his part, President Biden noted the competition with China in a speech last year, declaring that “America won’t back away from [its] commitments to human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
The contest between the two superpowers poses perhaps the most consequential challenge in foreign affairs today. Signs of the U.S.-China confrontation emerge with striking regularity. In August, China launched its largest military exercise ever around Taiwan after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-governing island, which China claims as its own. Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin have enhanced their relationship in recent years based largely on a mutual opposition to the United States. And on the economic front, Biden signed new legislation in August — the Chips and Science Act — which aims to build an American semiconductor industry that will never be second to China’s.
By some theoretical measures, China’s communist regime should have collapsed by now. Almost 20 years ago, Columbia University political scientist Andrew J. Nathan argued in an influential essay assessing China’s surprising durability that, according to a thesis on international relations called “regime theory,” authoritarian states are “inherently fragile because of weak legitimacy, overreliance on coercion, over-centralization of decision making, and the predominance of personal power over institutional norms.”
So, why is the Chinese Communist Party still around? That’s a question Harvard University’s Steven Levitsky and the University of Toronto’s Lucan Way grapple with in “Revolution and Dictatorship: The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism.” In a sweeping historical analysis, they examine 13 revolutionary regimes, including the Soviet Union, Iran, Vietnam, Algeria and Cuba, to understand the durability of each state.
China, whose Communist Party celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, is a key example of “durable authoritarianism,” according to Levitsky and Way. Counterintuitively, the authors argue that some of China’s worst mistakes — the Great Leap Forward from 1958 to 1960, Mao’s messianic attempt to use human will to drive steel production that led to the worst famine in history, killing tens of millions; and the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, which set back the development of the country’s education, legal and economic systems by years — help explain the party’s longevity. “China’s emergence as a global power was made possible,” they argue, not just by Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms but also “by the extraordinarily risky actions” of the Chinese communists that “nearly destroyed the [party] but eventually gave rise to a powerful and cohesive party-state. The adaptation and reform of the late 20th century would not have been possible had the revolutionary regime not first built a centralized state and survived the crises of the 1950s and 1960s.” The authors describe how violent revolutionary regimes take actions that turn people inside and outside their countries against them; the regimes that survive emerge stronger, with an even more weakened opposition. Case in point: the Tiananmen massacre. Many Chinese now feel incapable of opposing the party and resigned to accept its worst excesses.
As in all revolutionary regimes that survive long-term, a long revolutionary “war fostered the emergence of a tight-knit core of leaders” and “generated a strong and loyal army,” Levitsky and Way write. “Violent struggle fostered an intense two-front siege mentality rooted in fear of enemies both from within and abroad.” While the strength and unity of the party and army have been obvious throughout China’s modern history (unlike many other regimes, it has never had a coup), so has a culture of paranoia, today heard in the regular accusations of meddling by “hostile foreign forces” in Hong Kong and the province of Xinjiang.
The “destruction of alternative centers of societal power,” the authors’ third pillar of durable authoritarianism, continues to be part of the Chinese Communist Party tool kit. This was seen in more recent years when the party crushed a labor rights movement in 2014 and later arrested #MeToo movement feminists. Beijing views civil society — the life of the Chinese apart from the dominance of the party — as a threat to its rule and moves to repress it. The violent origins of the party, the authors argue, have prepared it to respond with little mercy when it feels threatened, as it did when it ordered the People’s Liberation Army to open fire on student protesters in 1989. “Unified by a polarizing zero-sum conception of political opposition that was rooted in their experience in the revolutionary struggle,” China’s elderly leaders “saw student actions as an existential threat to the regime.”
Today Xi is pushing a very different narrative, one that promises a benevolent regime whose paramount aim is to meet the needs of all Chinese through campaigns such as the “common prosperity” venture, explain German journalists Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges in “Xi Jinping: The Most Powerful Man in the World.” The slogan “common prosperity” has its roots with Mao and largely vanished until Xi revived it as a promise to provide economic equality across China. “Xi holds that shared prosperity is a goal of both Marxism and Confucianism,” write the authors, noting that Xi extols the long history of China’s civilization as far back as its earliest philosopher and calls for the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
China emphasizes its humane and effective leadership by contrasting it with an uncaring and chaotic government in the United States, and it represents American shortcomings as flaws of Western democracy in general. China’s state media reported widely on the systemic racism that sparked the Black Lives Matter movement and the precariousness of the U.S. political system evidenced by the violent Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. The propaganda arm of the Chinese Communist Party also has widely reported that China has kept the vast majority of its citizens healthy during the pandemic, while the United States has had more than 1 million fatalities. The Global Times, an English-language newspaper published by the People’s Daily, quoted a Chinese scholar as saying: “After seeing how China’s zero-COVID policy has saved many lives, the biggest challenge for the US is how to rationalize its huge death toll.”
Aust and Geiges argue that, far from turning Xi away from hard-line politics, the persecution of his father, Xi Zhongxun, during one of Mao’s many purges of rivals may have made Xi a more devoted communist and believer in the Chinese system. Many observers were proved wrong in predicting that Xi would become a reformer like his father, who oversaw the creation of the country’s first special economic zone in Shenzhen, a key step in China’s opening. Instead Xi is the most conservative leader in generations, overseeing the reimposition of the party’s role in education, media and the economy. Aust and Geiges suggest that Xi took his father’s travails as a warning for himself. As the writer Yu Jie explains: “Because his father was treated with real cruelty during the Cultural Revolution, his son decides never to become like him. . . . He does not want to suffer the same fate as his father.” Wishing to be a good communist, Xi has tacked in the other direction. “When his father is sentenced as a counter-revolutionary, he must present himself as even more communist and even more revolutionary than the others if he wants to survive,” says Chinese journalist Li Datong. “He learns his speeches by heart, until Mao’s heritage is deeply rooted in him.”
To ensure he will never be purged, nor the party toppled, Xi heavily promotes nationalism. The lessons of China’s “century of humiliation,” when European powers colonized swaths of China, are preached in the classroom to increasingly patriotic youth. No easing of the hard line is ever suggested. State media trumpets China’s success in cracking down on the “black hands” behind the Hong Kong democracy movement and reports in detail on China’s missile tests threatening Taiwan. Xi wants to be seen “as the strong leader who has made China proud again and shown the world China’s true greatness. In this way, Xi’s approach is much the same as that of [Donald] Trump, Putin, [Turkey’s Recep Tayyip] Erdogan or [Brazil’s Jair] Bolsonaro,” Aust and Geiges write.
For decades under the Communist Party, China has kept a close eye on its citizens. In earlier days, neighbors and even family members would inform on others’ suspicious behavior. Now, China has developed perhaps the most sophisticated surveillance systems in the world both to keep track of its people and, leaders promise, to manage society for the betterment of all. In “Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control,” Wall Street Journal reporters Josh Chin and Liza Lin reveal just how far Xi and the Communist Party have gone in deploying surveillance technology to rein in the population. The technology has been widely used in Xinjiang, a far-western autonomous region where the Communist Party says there has been terrorist activity among the Uyghur population and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups, and where Beijing has locked up as many as 1 million people in detainment camps for “reeducation.” Over the years, the leadership has undertaken a massive migration of Han Chinese, the country’s majority ethnic group, into the region to dilute the minority numbers. Many outside observers have accused China of committing horrendous human rights violations against its minority population. The United States has called China’s conduct genocide.
For Beijing, Xinjiang is a problem largely of its own making. By cracking down viciously and indiscriminately on what was at most an insignificant push by a small number of people for independence, Beijing has convinced the majority of Uyghurs that they would be better off separate from China. Now, to keep watch on the population, Beijing has implemented a vast surveillance system that uses facial recognition cameras matched with voice recognition and DNA samples to create a massive database for race-based digital profiling. The purpose of the elaborate effort is to control and erase the Uyghurs’ cultural identity, Chin and Lin write.
Beijing has another ambitious plan for the surveillance state it is building. Through the use of technology, it aims to create, in the words of state planners, a “new model of smart cities.” Cameras, smartphones and artificial intelligence will ease traffic flows, aid crime prevention, assist in paying utility bills and even find lost children, Beijing promises. “The same technologies that the Party uses to terrorize and remold people who buck its authority can be deployed to coddle and reassure others,” the authors write.
China is relying on the pervasive use of surveillance as a key weapon in combating and defeating the lure of Western democracy. “Under Xi, the Party thinks it has the blueprint for the rival system it has long dreamed of building,” Chin and Lin explain. “By mining insight from surveillance data, it believes it can predict what people want without having to give them a vote or a voice. By solving social problems before they occur and quashing dissent before it spills out onto the streets, it believes it can strangle opposition in the crib.”
With the export of these technologies, which are already in use in more than 80 countries, Beijing hopes to convince the world of the effectiveness of its surveillance state and eventually shatter the dominance of the U.S. democratic model.
China’s authoritarian leaders are playing the long game — and so far it has worked. But will they remain in power, and will China become the “rich and powerful” country Xi says it will, by the 100th anniversary of its founding in 2049? China faces huge challenges: an aging population, growing inequality, declining productivity with the stalling of its economic reforms and, in Xi, over-centralization of power by a ruler increasingly unwilling to listen to others. “In reducing choice and intensifying control, the state is eliminating the friction, uncertainty, and freedom that are vital to creativity,” Chin and Lin caution.
If the tensions of the Cold War with the Soviet Union served as any preview, the years ahead for China and United States will pose an array of geopolitical potholes as two superpowers with vastly different political and economic systems vie for domination. “Does Xi Jinping aspire to rule the world?” Aust and Geiges ask at the end of their book. Their conclusion: “Xi Jinping is no longer interested in following examples set by others. He wants to put his own mark on China — and on the world.” Whether he will ultimately succeed, and what that mark might look like, are questions that will ring through the corridors of the White House, Congress and government capitals the world over for years to come.
Dexter Roberts, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Asia Security Initiative, is the author of “The Myth of Chinese Capitalism: The Worker, the Factory, and the Future of the World.”
Revolution and Dictatorship
The Violent Origins of Durable Authoritarianism
By Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way
Princeton. 638 pp. $39.95
The Most Powerful Man in the World
Polity. 219 pp. $29.95
Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control
By Josh Chin and Liza Lin
St. Martin’s. 310 pp. $29.99 | 2022-09-22T10:25:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Book review of three China books - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/09/22/stake-us-china-rivalry-shape-global-political-order/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/09/22/stake-us-china-rivalry-shape-global-political-order/ |
Speculation that Japan may intervene to support its currency reignited repeatedly this year as the yen plunged to 24-year lows against the US dollar. In mid-September, the Bank of Japan was said to have conducted a so-called rate check, a move often considered a precursor for actual intervention. Days later, it did just that, stepping in to support the yen for the first time since 1998. It’s an extraordinary move for a country that’s long been criticized by trading partners for tolerating or even encouraging a weak yen to benefit its exporters.
While investors speculate about a “line in the sand” that the authorities are determined to defend, it’s never absolute. Authorities tend to talk more about containing excessive moves rather than defending specific levels. On Sept. 22, the government intervened after the yen breached 145 and continued to fall following the BOJ’s decision to maintain its ultralow rates. That brought it within striking distance of the 146.78 level that was reached before a joint Japan-US intervention to support the yen back in 1998. Top currency official Masato Kanda, who confirmed the September intervention, described the moves in the currency market as having been sudden and one-sided.
Read more: Why the Yen Is So Weak and What That Means for Japan
In past cases, the BOJ calls traders to ask about the price offer of the currency against the dollar. It’s a step short of an actual yen transaction, and is meant to serve as a warning for traders to avoid one-way bets. It usually happens when volatility increases and regular verbal warnings by ministers don’t have the desired effect. Before mid-September, the last reported rate check happened in 2016 as the yen surged. It kept rising despite that move and only retreated after the US Federal Reserve embarked on a series of rate hikes and the BOJ introduced yield curve control -- a policy that aims to keep the yield on 10-year government bonds around at set level.
The finance ministry decides whether to intervene in the market and the Bank of Japan does the buying or selling. It’s usually preceded by a succession of carefully choreographed verbal warnings by officials. If they say the government isn’t ruling out any options, or that it’s ready to take decisive action, that’s usually meant to put markets on maximum alert that intervention may be imminent.
7. How do we know if the government intervened?
Sometimes the government announces it, as it did this year. In 2011, the finance minister summoned the press and announced the G-7’s coordinated intervention as it was happening. A sudden, long vertical line on a price graph can also signal that the BOJ has bought or sold, but sometimes those moves can be triggered by people panicking in the market. The Ministry of Finance releases intervention figures at the end of each month, even if it hasn’t done any buying or selling. | 2022-09-22T10:25:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How Does Japan Intervene in Currency Markets? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-does-japan-intervene-in-currency-markets/2022/09/22/b2bf8dac-3a5c-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-does-japan-intervene-in-currency-markets/2022/09/22/b2bf8dac-3a5c-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
‘We never expected something like that,’ said Nick Hurdakis, the boy’s father. ‘It was beautiful.’
The Hurdakis family was stunned to see nearly 1,000 people assemble for the parade in Hamilton, Ontario. The event was in honor of Alexandros Hurdakis, 5, who has terminal brain cancer. (Chrissa Tzouanakis)
Alexandros Hurdakis was less than a year old when his parents received a devastating diagnosis: Their baby had brain cancer.
“He is the strongest person I’ve met,” said Alex’s father, Nick Hurdakis, 33, who lives with his wife, Kira, and their three children in Hamilton, Ontario.
Alex’s parents wanted to make his remaining time as meaningful as possible. They asked him if there was anything that he still wished to experience. His response: Halloween. Specifically, he wanted to see monsters.
That’s when Paula Tzouanakis Anderson, a close friend of the Hurdakis family, came up with a plan. She would find a way to bring Halloween to them.
She went to visit the family at their home on Sept. 11, shortly after they had received the shocking news.
“Kira mentioned to me that Alex wanted to see monsters,” Tzouanakis Anderson said. “As I was driving home, I said, ‘We have to re-create some sort of Halloween for him.’ ”
The next morning, she decided that she would build a haunted house in Alex’s backyard with the help of her family, including her two children, who are 6 and 8.
Then she posted in a local Facebook group, asking neighbors to show up in costume.
“I have a time sensitive request/plea,” she wrote, explaining Alex’s heartbreaking situation, and his last wish to experience Halloween. “We need volunteers to help make this night Spooktacular for Alexandros, people willing to dress up and walk down the street for him, decorate their cars and drive through the parade! This is extremely time sensitive!”
The post was soon flooded with comments from strangers, and almost immediately, “my inbox exploded,” Tzouanakis Anderson said. “People were just asking how they could help and offering their Halloween displays.”
As it became clear that plenty of people planned to show up, Tzouanakis Anderson created a Facebook event, and more than 500 people responded to it. Rather than just creating a haunted house, “we’re going to do a parade,” she decided, adding that many strangers offered to help make it happen.
“I’m available to decorate houses. Looking for webs and pumpkins right now,” one person commented.
“Can we bring carved pumpkins and put them on the street?” another person wrote. “We don’t live in the area but can come and wear costumes.”
With the help of several community members, Tzouanakis Anderson was able to get in touch with local officials and block off the main road.
His son watched in awe as a swarm of strangers (many with their pets) paraded through the streets, dressed in spooky costumes. There were zombies, witches, monsters and skeletons. Inflatable decorations decked the streets, and local police officers and firefighters in trucks also made an appearance.
“It was just incredible,” Tzouanakis Anderson said.
Several people also volunteered their services, including Hayley Trickett, who spent four hours face-painting.
“I used to face-paint for small events,” said Trickett, 27. “I didn’t have any blowup decorations, but I thought if some people in the community hadn’t been able to get Halloween costumes yet but still wanted to participate, I could turn them into monsters for the parade.”
Trickett also has experience working in hospice and end-of-life care.
“It’s just an inherently touching story,” Trickett said. “I don’t think there are many people that wouldn’t want to try and achieve the wishes of a 5-year-old with a terminal illness.”
Still, she was stunned by the turnout.
Being at the parade “was overwhelming in a very good way,” she said, adding that she had the opportunity to spend some time with Alex and his family. “Seeing their reaction was pretty spectacular.”
Tzouanakis Anderson agreed.
“I felt every emotion that you could imagine; tears of joy, tears of sadness, tears of hope,” she said. “The sense of community was just amazing. They showed up for him.”
Hurdakis said he and his wife — as well as Alex’s two siblings, ages 2 and 8, felt carried by the community.
“There were people that had lost their kids, people that were going through cancer that we met,” Hurdakis said, explaining that he and his wife are trying to keep their son comfortable as he lives out his remaining time. “It doesn’t make you feel better, but at least you know you’re not alone.”
“I hugged so many strangers, so many people who understood and have been touched themselves by cancer,” echoed Tzouanakis Anderson, who created a GoFundMe page to support the family several years ago. “It was just something that’s very hard to put into words.”
In a poignant Instagram post, Ariane Clark — who lost her 5-year-old daughter to cancer in 2019 — expressed what the parade meant to her.
“It’s humbling and heartbreaking to witness this community come together every single time to support families like ours,” she wrote. “I had chills, I cried a lot, I smiled a lot. This place, I swear, there is nothing like it.”
Hurdakis said amid the most painful point in his life, he and his family are feeling gratitude for all of the support.
“We’re very blessed to live in a community like this,” he said. | 2022-09-22T10:26:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Strangers bring Halloween to Alexandros Hurdakis, boy with cancer - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/09/22/halloween-costume-monster-cancer-hurdakis/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/09/22/halloween-costume-monster-cancer-hurdakis/ |
‘The Little Mermaid’s’ Black Ariel fits in the tradition of the musical
Musical theater has always carved space for greater equality — including Disney’s animated films
Perspective by Peter C. Kunze
Peter C. Kunze is a visiting assistant professor of communication at Tulane University. His upcoming book, "Staging a Comeback: Broadway, Hollywood, and the Disney Renaissance," examines the influence of theater talent on the company's resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s.
Actress and singer Halle Bailey plays Ariel in the live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid.” (Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP and Walt Disney Pictures)
During the recent D23 convention in Anaheim, the Walt Disney Company released a teaser trailer for the upcoming live-action remake of its classic animated film “The Little Mermaid.” In it, Halle Bailey, playing the movie’s star mermaid, Ariel, stares up to the surface and sings a few bars of her signature ballad, “Part of Your World.” The clip prompted a lot of excitement at the convention and on social media, where Black parents, for example, shared videos of their excited daughters seeing Bailey playing the first Black live-action Disney princess. But the trailer also sparked anger and dismay among fans who felt that Ariel was written to be a White character. As these critics saw it, Bailey’s casting was nothing more than “wokeness” gone awry.
The anger over the racial identity of a mermaid, partnered with similar vitriol over racial diversity in Middle-earth in the new “The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” TV series, reminds us of the powerful racial politics behind representation in fantasy narratives. Surely, policing how, when and if characters of color can be included in new adaptations of fictional narratives amounts to little more than what children’s literature expert Ebony Elizabeth Thomas calls an “imagination gap” — that is, a failure to imagine all the rich possibilities for telling the story.
But we also might note the complicated racial politics within the stories themselves and the genre of the musical more broadly.
The origins of the musical have been traced back to various precedents, including John Gay’s “The Beggar’s Opera” (1728) and, in the United States, “The Black Crook” (1866). By the 20th century, the musical took cues from opera in its attempt to blend drama, dance and singing into a coherent narrative.
Many composers, lyricists and performers — especially Black and Jewish artists — were crucial to the genre’s development during this time. The musical “Show Boat” (1927), for example, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, was hailed as a landmark production that told a serious story using various artistic elements including singing, dancing, acting and set design. When the Black stevedore Joe looks out and sings “Ol’ Man River,” he is expressing his exhaustion with his work as well as the centuries of oppression felt by Black people along the Mississippi River.
As a musical, “Show Boat” represented a rare kind of early American popular entertainment that featured Black and White performers onstage together, albeit not necessarily on equal footing. Still, the musical as a genre has provided unique opportunities for actors, singers and songwriters of color to control representation through performance. The most famous performer of “Ol’ Man River,” Paul Robeson, renegotiated the lyrics with Hammerstein over the stereotyped representation of Black people.
Throughout the history of American popular culture, the musical has been set in utopian spaces and the stories often concluded with a united society: Couples get together, as in “Oklahoma!”; families are reunited, as in “Gypsy”; and communities are reaffirmed, as in “The Music Man.” Musicals such as “South Pacific,” “Finian’s Rainbow” and “West Side Story” used song to boldly explore race relations, though with some damaging stereotypes and all-too-convenient solutions that have aged poorly. Still, the social ambitions within musicals often distinguished them from nonmusical dramas and were liberal for their times.
“The Little Mermaid,” Disney’s original 1989 animated feature, is another important example in this long tradition. The film represented a milestone for the Walt Disney Company, as it reintroduced the musical to Disney animation. Its “The Great Mouse Detective” in 1986 and “Oliver & Company” in 1988 each featured musical numbers, but unlike musical productions, those songs were not tightly integrated into the storytelling to develop characters and drive the plot forward. “The Little Mermaid,” by contrast, with songs by theater talents Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, used music like tent poles to hold up the story. The songs were not mere interludes or ornaments; they were crucial components to the plot structure. For instance, “Part of Your World” explains Ariel’s desire to join the human world, while “Poor Unfortunate Souls” demonstrates the villain Ursula’s menacing intentions in striking a dangerous deal with Ariel.
The songs of “The Little Mermaid” also worked to diversify the musical repertoire of the Disney animated feature, even if only in a limited fashion. The character of Sebastian, for instance, was originally written as a stuffy English crab named Clarence. Howard Ashman, however, suggested Clarence be reimagined as a crab from the Caribbean, which would allow him and Menken to write songs in the Afro-Caribbean style of Calypso music. Eventually named Sebastian, the character was loosely based on Geoffrey Holder, a Trinidadian American actor whose career spanned stage and screen, and Black actor and singer Samuel E. Wright was cast to bring life to the animated cartoon role.
Wright’s performances of “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl” introduced a new sound and style of music in “The Little Mermaid” that helped Disney win accolades. “Under the Sea” won the Academy Award for best original song — the first time a Disney film had won the award in 25 years, since “Chim Chim Cher-ee” from “Mary Poppins” got the prize.
This was a measured step forward, especially when compared with early Disney animated features in which Black performers — the Hall Johnson Choir in “Dumbo,” James Baskett in “Song of the South” — appeared in harmfully caricatured roles that prompted criticism, particularly from Black audiences and civil rights groups like the NAACP.
After “The Little Mermaid,” Disney continued to find success with its animated film musicals, often with Ashman and Menken employing Black musical traditions. The Genie in Disney’s 1992 hit “Aladdin” was inspired by Fats Waller and Cab Calloway, whose legendary big band sound informed the jazzy number “Friend Like Me.” In the 1997 Disney film “Hercules,” the chorus of Muses — played by Cheryl Freeman, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Vanéese Y. Thomas and Lillias White — performed Gospel-inspired musical numbers. Although the original “The Lion King” soundtrack is often credited to Elton John and Tim Rice, South African composer and musician Lebo M was a crucial collaborator, writing and performing the iconic Zulu chant that opened the film. His additional musical contributions to the stage version of the show helped to make it one of the most successful stage musicals of all time.
While these efforts further diversified the Disney songbook, expanded opportunities for performers of color and broadened representation in animated stories, the film characters who performed these songs were often relegated to supporting roles — that is, until 2009, with “The Princess and the Frog,” the first animated Disney feature with a Black princess. But while Anika Noni Rose, the voice actress behind Tiana, was the star of the film, the music — inspired by blues, jazz, even gospel — was composed by White musician Randy Newman.
“The Princess and the Frog” was not without its critics, who drew attention to how Princess Tiana, unlike other Disney princesses, had to work hard for her dream, even becoming a frog to achieve it. Furthermore, disproportionate representation of White talent behind the scenes left some critics and audiences alike hoping Disney would do better in the future.
With this new live-action production of “The Little Mermaid,” Disney is again taking a step forward. The new film also reflects the tradition of the musical genre, by gesturing toward the hope and promise of social unity while taking cautious advances to make it a reality. Casting Bailey as Ariel is not a violation of some sacred text. Instead, the move creates space for communities who have too often been excluded in a genre all about inclusion. | 2022-09-22T10:26:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A Black Ariel in "the Little Mermaid" fits into the tradition of musicals - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/09/22/little-mermaids-black-ariel-fits-tradition-musical/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/09/22/little-mermaids-black-ariel-fits-tradition-musical/ |
Newly gerrymandered districts might hurt Democrats less than you think
Our new method for measuring gerrymandering might help settle state court lawsuits over district borders.
Analysis by Marion Campisi
Tommy Ratliff
Stephanie Somersille
Ellen Veomett
More than 100 opponents of the Republican redistricting plans vow to fight the maps at a rally ahead of a joint legislative committee hearing at the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison on Oct. 28, 2021. (Scott Bauer/AP)
This November, members of Congress will be running in new districts based on the 2020 Census data. So how might the new district maps influence the midterm elections — and perhaps more important, which party wins control of the House?
Of course, many issues will affect that result, from the fact that the president’s party usually loses seats in the midterms, to the Supreme Court Dobbs decision, inflation, and the Trump investigations, and any surprises between now and November. We can’t offer any predictions on those factors. But our research finds that this round of gerrymandering hurt Democrats less than the maps in place during the 2020 elections for the House. Here’s how we know.
Using both geography and election results to detect gerrymandering
How can we calculate and compare the impact of gerrymandering across the whole country? By using a new metric that can give an idea of how many districts each party is winning due to gerrymandering in each state. We call it the “GEO metric,” for Geography and Election Outcomes.
When mapmakers draw a partisan gerrymander, they must use two key pieces of information. First is the partisan data of whether a set of voters leans toward Democrats or Republicans, which the mapmakers infer from such sources as the percentage of votes that went to a Democrat or Republican in the last presidential election. Second is the geographic data of where those voters are located on the map.
Surprisingly, researchers measuring partisan gerrymandering in the past have not used both those pieces of information.
For instance, consider two widely used older metrics: the Polsby-Popper, introduced in the early ’90s, and the Reock ratio, introduced in the ’60s. Both use only the irregularity of a district’s shape — in other words, information about the map — to detect gerrymandering. But that can’t tell us whether an irregular shape is drawn because of natural boundaries like coastlines and mountains or because mapmakers are trying for partisan advantage.
Since 2015, researchers have used more modern metrics, like the Efficiency Gap and Mean-Median, which use only the partisan makeup of each district. But these metrics cannot tell whether voters of different parties are being separated because that’s what the mapmaker is trying to do or because that’s how the state’s geography falls.
However, it’s necessary to use both the partisan data and map data. For example, looking at the newly released district maps, the Efficiency Gap concludes that Connecticut has a much more extreme gerrymander than Illinois, which is gerrymandered to favor the Democrats, or than Florida, gerrymandered to favor the Republicans. Our new metric uses both election and geographic data. With that, we can see that Democratic support is distributed across Connecticut consistently enough throughout the state that Republicans are unlikely to win a congressional seat no matter how maps are drawn — something that the Efficiency Gap could not detect. Thus, while our GEO metric appropriately flags Illinois and Florida as gerrymandered, it does not inappropriately flag Connecticut.
If you’re curious how this can happen, our paper introducing the GEO metric gives a clear example with a pair of small, easy-to-understand fictional states.
State judges tend to favor their own party's district maps — especially Republican-appointed judges.
GEO metric shows that this year’s maps favor Democrats more than maps used in 2020
For most states, the GEO metric finds that, compared with the last round of districts, this round’s districts offer roughly equal room for improvement for both Republicans and Democrats’ chances at taking seats. For example, in Washington state, data from Dave’s Redistricting App predicts Democrats will win seven seats and Republicans will win three. The GEO metric gives a score of 2 to the Democratic Party and 3 to the Republican Party in Washington, meaning that if the map were adjusted slightly, Democrats could gain another two seats, and other small adjustments could give Republicans another three. Since two and three are very close, the map is largely fair.
The GEO metric gives a score of 7 to Republicans and 1 to Democrats in Illinois, meaning that if there were changes to the map, Republicans could gain a lot but Democrats couldn’t gain much — which suggests it’s a Democratic gerrymander — which is predictable in a state where Democrats control the legislature. On the other hand, the GEO metric gives a score of 4 to Republicans and 10 to Democrats in Florida, indicating that while a changed map could help Democrats a lot, changes would benefit the Republicans much less — which suggests it’s a Republican gerrymander, which, similarly, isn’t surprising with a Republican-dominated legislature.
When we add up all of the GEO scores across all states for the maps that will be used in 2022, we get an accumulated score of 82 for Democrats and 92 for Republicans — meaning that Republicans are at a slight disadvantage compared to where they could be. For the maps used in 2020, the Democrats had an accumulated score of 91 and the Republicans had a score of 82 — meaning that the Democrats were at a slight disadvantage at that point. In other words, the 2022 maps give Democrats a bit more of an advantage than the 2020 maps did.
Redistricting might gain Republicans a few seats in the House. The real gains will be in state legislatures.
GEO metric gives an interpretable count
That’s one benefit of the GEO metric: It offers a count of the number of additional districts a party could have won with small changes to the map. This number is very understandable and interpretable. What’s more, the GEO metric tells us exactly which districts could have become competitive — giving anyone drafting lawsuits to challenge a district the relevant ammunition. And the GEO metric reveals exactly which districts were gerrymandered, which previous metrics couldn’t do.
We can clearly see that a number of state legislatures are gerrymandering districts for partisan gain. We hope that the GEO metric will give state courts a better tool to detect gerrymanders, so that by the time we’re discussing what might affect the 2032 elections, gerrymandering won’t be in the list.
Marion Campisi is an associate professor of mathematics at San José State University.
Tommy Ratliff is a professor of mathematics at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass.
Stephanie Somersille is a math consultant specializing in the areas of gerrymandering and math education.
Ellen Veomett is a professor of mathematics at Saint Mary’s College of California. | 2022-09-22T10:26:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Will this year’s gerrymandering mean Democrats lose control of the House? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/gerrymandering-midterms-democrats-republicans/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/gerrymandering-midterms-democrats-republicans/ |
From a panel that was two-thirds comprised of fellow Trump-nominated judges, no less.
Judge Aileen M. Cannon in a still image from a video interview during a nomination hearing on July 29, 2020. (Committee on the Judiciary)
As U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon ruled twice in the Mar-a-Lago documents case for the former president who nominated her to the bench, many legal experts — including conservatives and executive-power advocates — have strained to understand how she could have reached such conclusions about Donald Trump’s claims.
On Wednesday night, two fellow Trump nominees joined with another judge to provide the rebuke of Cannon’s jurisprudence that those experts suggested might be coming.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit was rather unsparing in unanimously granting the Justice Department a reprieve from Cannon’s order barring them from reviewing documents with classified markings seized from Mar-a-Lago. The stay is temporary, but the reasoning is firm.
The ruling really kicks into gear when the judges address what a 1977 Supreme Court case considered the “foremost consideration” in deciding whether a court such as Cannon’s should exercise jurisdiction in such a case: whether the government “displayed a callous disregard for … constitutional rights” in its seizure.
The judges say Cannon conceded that it hadn’t displayed such disregard, but then disregarded that consideration all the same — and say she thus “abused” her “discretion.”
“Here, the district court concluded that [Trump] did not show that the United States acted in callous disregard of his constitutional rights. No party contests the district court’s finding in this regard,” the judges write. “The absence of this ‘indispensab[le]’ factor … is reason enough to conclude that the district court abused its discretion in exercising equitable jurisdiction here.”
The judges continue, rather dryly: “But for the sake of completeness, we consider the remaining factors.”
Cannon might wish they hadn’t.
On the second test — whether Trump has an interest in the documents marked classified at issue — the judges note that Cannon ruled Trump had an interest in some of the documents seized.
“But none of those concerns apply to the roughly one-hundred classified documents at issue here,” the judges write, before twisting the knife a little more: “And the district court made no mention in its analysis of this factor as to why or how Plaintiff might have an individual interest in or need for the classified documents.”
Indeed, Cannon’s apparent lack of curiosity — best exemplified by her acceptance of the Trump legal team’s claims that the documents might have been declassified without actually stating as much — was a feature of the remainder of the opinion. The judges repeatedly note Trump’s lawyers weren’t even compelled to furnish arguments on some of the crucial matters at hand. And they say that even if they had been, it might not have mattered.
“Plaintiff has not even attempted to show that he has a need to know the information contained in the classified documents,” they write. “Nor has he established that the current administration has waived that requirement for these documents. And even if he had, that, in and of itself, would not explain why Plaintiff has an individual interest in the classified documents.”
They go on to not only rebuke Cannon’s ruling, but the very idea that Trump’s public, out-of-court claims (which his lawyers have conspicuously declined to echo) that he declassified the documents even matters — a crucial point that shouldn’t be lost in all of this.
“Plaintiff suggests that he may have declassified these documents when he was President. But the record contains no evidence that any of these records were declassified,” the judges write. “And before the special master, Plaintiff resisted providing any evidence that he had declassified any of these documents.”
They add: “In any event, at least for these purposes, the declassification argument is a red herring because declassifying an official document would not change its content or render it personal. So even if we assumed that Plaintiff did declassify some or all of the documents, that would not explain why he has a personal interest in them.”
It’s an opinion that brings home virtually all of the criticism of Cannon’s ruling and even of the significance of the underlying dispute over the classification status of the documents. It’s saying both that she got it wrong — and that it’s beside the point.
But Cannon is hardly the only one to suffer a rebuke in the opinion. Trump has publicly claimed he declassified all of the documents, but his lawyers watered that down to suggest merely that he might have, and Cannon accepted that evidence-free claim as rendering the documents’ status as in dispute. Yet judges signaled that they have no time for any of it. Rather, they repeatedly refer to the documents as classified, without qualifying that description in any way.
They refer to “the roughly one-hundred classified documents at issue here” and repeatedly to “the classified documents.” And in their concluding sentence, they twice flat-out call them classified: “The district court order is STAYED to the extent it enjoins the government’s use of the classified documents and requires the government to submit the classified documents to the special master for review.”
It’s the second time in two days that judges have undercut the Trump legal strategy that Cannon accepted, after the special master, Raymond J. Dearie, pressed Trump’s legal team much more than she had on its unsubstantiated declassification claims. | 2022-09-22T10:26:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Judge Cannon ruled for Trump. Fellow Trump-nominated judges decimated her order. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/thorough-rebuke-judge-aileen-cannons-pro-trump-order/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/thorough-rebuke-judge-aileen-cannons-pro-trump-order/ |
The event Thursday reflects an expansion of the use of the White House campus as pandemic restrictions have eased. It’s also part of a larger initiative to host municipal, county and state officials on a weekly basis from all 50 states, coinciding with campaigning for November's midterm elections as the White House tries to energize Democratic voters. | 2022-09-22T10:27:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | White House hosts local officials, touts impact of policies - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-hosts-local-officials-touts-impact-of-policies/2022/09/22/e651ca8e-3a59-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-hosts-local-officials-touts-impact-of-policies/2022/09/22/e651ca8e-3a59-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
Commanders safety Kam Curl (31) sits out with an injury during Washington's defeat of the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
“I don't like ever being on the sideline,” he said. “I'm supposed to be on the field.”
“It makes me feel not tough because I'm not playing,” he said the day after the season opener. “But you just got to be smart. It's just a mind thing.”
Kam Curl is back pic.twitter.com/mmQZBsMsf6
Kam Curl, cerebral and steady, has become an integral part of Washington’s defense
“I was just letting him know how serious it was,” Greg Curl said. “Imagine going through life — you’re trying to pick up a water bottle and your thumb don’t latch on. He was thinking, like, ‘Man, that’s crazy.’ ”
"Whatever it is, it’s in his favor,” he added. | 2022-09-22T10:27:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Kam Curl returns to practice, giving a boost to the Commanders’ defense - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/kam-curl-commanders-injury/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/kam-curl-commanders-injury/ |
Biotech aims to detect cancer early. But tests have a long way to go.
The Biden administration wants simple blood tests to detect cancer earlier. Scientists say it’s not that easy.
President Biden said he wants to foster research on these tests through his cancer “moonshot” initiative. (Vanessa Leroy/Bloomberg News)
Biotechnology is full of tantalizing promises, but few as appealing as this: a test that can screen for any kind of cancer early, allowing patients to start treatment early and have a better chance at surviving.
These tests, often called multi-cancer early-detection tests, search for bits of DNA that are shed by tumor cells into the bloodstream. This allows them to potentially detect cancer before people have symptoms. If tests identify potential cancer, biopsies could be done to confirm where it is.
But scientists have faced challenges with the technology. Identifying where a cancer comes from is scientifically complicated, though at least one company is using machine learning to solve that. And although early research shows that some private companies are finding success, many tests still struggle with accuracy.
Last week, President Biden said he wants to foster research on these tests through his cancer “moonshot” initiative. He touted a government-funded clinical trial that will study the efficacy of multiple types of early-screening tests. The hope, Biden said, is that a tool comes out that can help halve cancer deaths in the United States within 25 years.
“Imagine a simple blood test during an annual physical that could detect cancer early,” he said.
In the United States, nearly 600,000 people die of cancer every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Detecting cancer early is one of the best ways to save lives, experts said. But few cancers have tests that can do so, except for a few in places such as the breasts, prostate and lungs.
A handful of companies have entered the space to detect more cancers. Among them is Grail, a Silicon Valley-based biotechnology start-up that has developed the Galleri test, one of the furthest along, biotechnology experts said.
The company’s test works off the basic principle of finding DNA that tumor cells release into the bloodstream as they die and replicate. The Galleri test spots markers on DNA shed by tumor cells and feeds that data into a machine-learning algorithm that can detect whether cancer is present and in which organ, said Josh Ofman, Grail’s president.
The company says its test can identify more than 50 cancers early. The tests are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, though they are actively seeking it, Ofman added. Most insurances don’t cover the test, but people can purchase it for a hefty $949 if they have a prescription.
Grail conducted an initial study in which it screened more than 6,600 people over age 50 for cancer with its test. It caught cancer in 35 people, and in 71 percent of those cases the cancers were not ones for which there is routine screening. Fifty-six healthy blood samples were incorrectly identified as cancerous.
The Biden administration’s initiative, run by the National Cancer Institute, plans to examine how effective blood tests are in identifying cancer early. It will look to enroll 24,000 patients ages 45 to 70 starting in 2024 for a four-year pilot study. This will lay the groundwork for a larger trial that aims to enroll 225,000 people, the White House said.
Which tests will be in the study have not been finalized, Ofman said, adding that Grail would be happy to collaborate.
Salil Garg, a clinical investigator at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, said if tests can be perfected, they would become valuable as regular screening tools for patients. He noted that despite the attention being put into the space, there are several challenges to make this technology ready for the masses.
This machine could make many more livers available for transplant
A positive result doesn’t necessarily mean there’s cancer present or there’s a mass that will turn into cancer, he added. Pinpointing where the cancer comes from is difficult because some cancers share similar DNA mutations or might not shed any DNA into the bloodstream at all, making it difficult for the tests to spot them.
“The open question is: In what context is this going to be useful information?” Garg said. “Very useful information versus not as helpful.” | 2022-09-22T10:27:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Biden wants blood tests to detect cancer early, but it’s not that easy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/22/early-detection-cancer-tests-biden-cancer-moonshot/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/22/early-detection-cancer-tests-biden-cancer-moonshot/ |
‘Death of a Salesman’ gets first Black Linda Loman, and she’s a dynamo
The British actress Sharon D Clarke, a Tony nominee last season for “Caroline, or Change,” is opposite Wendell Pierce as Willy in Arthur Miller’s classic drama
Sharon D Clarke leads “Death of a Salesman” at Hudson Theatre. “That is so exciting for me, that there will be a generation that will not only see this and be able to claim it as their own, but it will open their eyes up in a completely different way,” she said. (Jenny Anderson)
NEW YORK — Attention is at last being paid on these shores to Sharon D Clarke, and no one is more surprised than she is. It’s becoming increasingly hard not to notice the London-groomed stage actress, what with her blistering, Tony-nominated turn in last season’s revival of the musical “Caroline, or Change” and, now, with an eagerly anticipated follow-up as the first Black woman to play Linda Loman on Broadway in “Death of a Salesman.”
Not having a game plan seems to be working well, as this jobbing actor adds role after role to a résumé chockablock with British theater and television: One of her all-time favorite gigs was as a nurse who dies in an episode of the BBC’s “Doctor Who,” with the 13th doctor played by Jodie Whittaker. The leap, though, to a storied part in the American canon — previously assayed on Broadway by Mildred Dunnock, Teresa Wright, Kate Reid, Elizabeth Franz and Linda Emond — offers a new level of thrill, and challenge. Especially as Arthur Miller’s 1949 drama of multiplying financial and domestic heartbreaks has been reset in a Black American household.
“I was early in my career of leading shows, and I was learning what it meant to be a leading lady. I looked to her to learn,” Levy added. They worked together again in “Caroline” on Broadway last year, this time requiring Levy to play Caroline’s employer in a tension-filled home in the Deep South of the ’60s.
Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller. Directed by Miranda Cromwell. At Hudson Theatre, 141 W. 44th St., New York. thehudsonbroadway.com. | 2022-09-22T10:27:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | ‘Death of a Salesman’ gets first Black Linda Loman, and she’s a dynamo - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/theater-dance/2022/09/22/sharon-clarke-death-salesman-broadway/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/theater-dance/2022/09/22/sharon-clarke-death-salesman-broadway/ |
In this Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, protesters chant slogans during a protest over the death of a woman who was detained by the morality police, in downtown Tehran, Iran. Iranians saw their access to Instagram, one of the few Western social media platforms still available in the country, disrupted on Wednesday following days of the mass protests. (AP Photo) (Uncredited/AP) | 2022-09-22T10:28:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | At least 9 killed as Iran protests spread over woman's death - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/at-least-9-killed-as-iran-protests-spread-over-womans-death/2022/09/22/1dee704c-3a59-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/at-least-9-killed-as-iran-protests-spread-over-womans-death/2022/09/22/1dee704c-3a59-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
Tua Tagovailoa, who leads the NFL in passing yards and touchdown passes, first downs and wins, turned in a selfie-worthy performance in Baltimore. (Julio Cortez/AP)
Week 1 of the NFL season was nutty enough. Then Week 2 seemed to say, “Hold my beer” as several teams built comfortable leads, only to cough them up.
There were three remarkable late comebacks, led by quarterbacks who have been doubted and just plain discarded. Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins overcame a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit in Baltimore; Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals won in overtime after erasing a 20-point lead by the Las Vegas Raiders; and Joe Flacco, the New York Jets’ emergency starter after Zach Wilson’s injury, led the Jets’ rally from a 13-point deficit against Cleveland.
It was a head-spinning few hours Sunday, and here’s a quick look at what may lie ahead this week.
Steelers (1-1) at Browns (1-1), 8:15 p.m., Amazon Prime: Ben Roethlisberger isn’t walking through that door, and Mitch Trubisky may not be the man to replace him, with Pittsburgh’s offense averaging 255 yards per game and totaling 30 points in roughly nine quarters (Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati in overtime in Week 1).
Saints (1-1) at Panthers (0-2), 1 p.m.: When Marshon Lattimore was lined up against Mike Evans, the Bucs’ star wide receiver had only one catch for seven yards on 14 routes run.
Texans (0-1-1) at Bears (1-1), 1 p.m.: The Bears have 784 wins in their franchise history, just one more than rival Green Bay for the most all time. Since 2001, the Bears are 167-172, while the Packers are 215-122-2, and Chicago’s time atop the list may be running short.
Chiefs (2-0) at Colts (0-1-1), 1 p.m.: Patrick Mahomes has less time to release the ball (2.83 seconds in 2021 compared with 2.63 seconds in 2022), according to Next Gen, and is facing far more blitzing pressure (on 45.3 percent of plays compared with 12 percent in 2021).
Bills (2-0) at Dolphins (2-0), 1 p.m.: Tagovailoa passed for four touchdowns in the final 13 minutes against the Ravens. Remember when Miami wanted Tom Brady? Neither do we. Buffalo, in its first 11 offensive possessions of the season (including one kneel-down play) has five touchdowns, one field goal, four turnovers and no punts.
Tua Tagovailoa ranks
Pass Yards 739 1st
First Downs 35 t-1st
Wins 2 t-1st pic.twitter.com/u1Y65YSZA4
Lions (1-1) at Vikings (1-1), 1 p.m.: Detroit has scored 35 or more points in three straight games (dating to 2021, of course) for the first time since its 1952-1953 NFL championship teams.
Ravens (1-1) at Patriots (1-1), 1 p.m.: Mac Jones isn’t likely to wear out Baltimore’s secondary the way Tagovailoa did. Defensive backs ran 6,131 yards in Baltimore’s loss to Miami, the most of any secondary since the start of the 2021 season, according to Next Gen stats.
Bengals (0-2) at Jets (1-1), 1 p.m.: Beware Flacco’s Jets, who against Cleveland in Week 2 became the first team since 2001 to overcome a 13-point deficit and win with two minutes or less left in a game. Pity battered Joe Burrow, who has been sacked a league-leading 83 times since the start of last season (including the playoffs).
Raiders (0-2) at Titans (0-2), 1 p.m.: Josh McDaniels’s Las Vegas team blew a 20-o lead against Arizona, the largest blown lead in franchise history for a team that formerly was 39-0 all time when leading by 20-plus points at halftime.
Eagles (2-0) at Commanders (1-1), 1 p.m.: Former Eagle Carson Wentz has passed for seven touchdowns through two weeks of the season — the most by a quarterback in Washington franchise history.
Jaguars (1-1) at Chargers (1-1), 4:05 p.m.: What’s going on with Chargers Coach Brandon Staley, who gained fame for leading the NFL with the most fourth down conversions (22 on 34 attempts) in 2021? Faced with seven fourth-and-short opportunities in last week’s loss to Kansas City, Staley only chose to go for it twice (and once was when the Chargers trailed 27-17), saying he “just wanted to give our defense a chance to compete.”
Rams (1-1) at Cardinals (1-1), 4:25 p.m.: On his first of two successful two-point conversions against the Raiders, Kyler Murray traveled 84.85 yards. Next Gen Stats says that is the longest distance traveled by a ball carrier on a two-point attempt in its history (since 2016).
Falcons (0-2) at Seahawks (1-1), 4:25 p.m.: Atlanta was thisclose to reversing that 28-3 curse, nearly coming back from that familiar deficit against the Rams. At least the performance of rookie wide receiver Drake London (eight receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown) was a bright spot.
Packers (1-1) at Buccaneers (2-0), 4:25 p.m.: Barring a playoff appearance, this surely will be the final head-to-head matchup between Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady, right? Brady hasn’t looked like himself so far this season, completing only 59 percent of his passes and guiding the Bucs to only two offensive touchdowns.
49ers (1-1) at Broncos (1-1), 8:20 p.m., NBC: San Francisco is Jimmy Garoppolo’s team now as Kyle Shanahan deals with losing a starting quarterback to injury in four of his six years with the team. Garoppolo, who had offseason shoulder surgery, is 33-14 as a starter in the regular season.
Cowboys (1-1) at Giants (2-0), 8:15 p.m., ABC, ESPN, ESPN Deportes: It has been ages — as New York fans calculate things — since the Giants were 2-0. In regular human years, the last time was 2016, when the Giants finished 11-5 and made their only playoff appearance since their Super Bowl XLVI win after the 2011 season.
Most sacks in the NFL
Micah Parsons 4.0
Khalil Mack 3.5
Devin White 3.0
Myles Garrett 3.0
Nick Bosa 3.0
Aidan Hutchinson 3.0@MicahhParsons11 pic.twitter.com/74WY7qSG6a | 2022-09-22T10:38:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | NFL Week 3 schedule, matchups and five-minute guide - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/nfl-week-3-schedule/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/nfl-week-3-schedule/ |
For months, civil rights groups have unsuccessfully pleaded with Big Tech companies to bolster their election policies
Donald Trump loyalists scale the west wall of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in D.C. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
A coalition of five dozen civil rights organizations is blasting Silicon Valley’s biggest social media companies for not taking more aggressive measures to counter election misinformation on their platforms in the months leading up to November’s midterm elections.
“There’s a question of: Are we going to have a democracy? … And yet, I don’t think they are taking that question seriously,” said Jessica González, co-chief executive of the media and technology advocacy group Free Press, which is helping to lead the coalition. “We can’t keep playing the same games over and over again, because the stakes are really high.”
YouTube spokeswoman Ivy Choi said in a statement that the company enforces its “policies continuously and regardless of the language the content is in, and have removed a number of videos related to the midterms for violating our policies.”
A statement from TikTok spokeswoman Jamie Favazza said the social media company has responded to the coalition’s questions and values its “continued engagement with Change the Terms as we share goals of protecting election integrity and combating misinformation.”
Twitter spokeswoman Elizabeth Busby said the company was focused on promoting “reliable election information” and “vigilantly enforcing” its content policies. “We’ll continue to engage stakeholders in our work to protect civic processes,” she said.
Facebook spokesman Andy Stone declined to comment on the coalition’s claims but pointed a Post reporter to an August news release listing the ways the company said it planned to promote accurate information about the midterms.
Civil rights leaders thought they’d figured out how to deal with Facebook. But now they are ‘livid.’
Among the criticisms laid out in the coalition’s memos:
Meta is still letting posts that support the “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen spread on its networks. The groups cited a Facebook post that claims the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection was a hoax. While TikTok, Twitter and YouTube have banned 2020 election-rigging claims, Facebook has not.
Despite Twitter’s ban on disinformation about the 2020 election, its enforcement is spotty. In an August memo, the coalition cited a tweet by Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake who asked her followers if they would be willing to monitor the polls for cases of voter fraud. “We believe this is a violation of Twitter’s policy against using its services ‘for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes,’ ” the coalition wrote.
While YouTube has maintained its commitment to police election misinformation in Spanish, the company declined to release data on how well it was enforcing those rules. That issue became particularly contentious in an August meeting between civil rights groups and Google executives including YouTube’s chief product officer, Neal Mohan. This month, the coalition expressed concern in a follow-up memo that the company still wasn’t investing enough resources fighting problematic content in non-English languages.
“The past few election cycles have been rife with disinformation and targeted disinformation campaigns, and we didn’t think they were ready,” González said about the platforms’ election policies. “We continue to see … massive amounts of disinformation getting through the cracks.”
The midterms are here. Critics say Facebook is already behind.
The comments by civil rights activists shed light on the political pressures tech companies face behind the scenes as they make high-stakes decisions about which potentially rule-breaking posts to leave up or take down in a campaign season in which hundreds of congressional seats are up for grabs. Civil rights groups and left-leaning political leaders accuse Silicon Valley platforms of not doing enough to remove content that misleads the public or incites violence during politically cautious times.
Meanwhile, right-leaning leaders have argued for years that the companies are removing too much content — criticisms that were amplified after many platforms suspended former president Donald Trump’s accounts following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Last week, some conservatives cheered a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that upheld a controversial Texas social media law that bars companies from removing posts based on a person’s political ideology. What the limits are for social media companies is likely to be determined by the U.S. Supreme Court, which was asked Wednesday to hear Florida’s appeal of a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that blocked a state social media law.
The Change the Terms coalition, which includes the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, the legal advocacy group Southern Poverty Law Center and the anti-violence group Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, among others, has urged the companies to adopt a wider range of tactics to fight harmful content. Those tactics include hiring more human moderators to review content and releasing more data on the number of rule-breaking posts the platforms catch.
In conversations with the companies this spring, the civil rights coalition argued that the strategies the platforms used in the run-up to the 2020 election won’t be enough to protect the against misinformation now.
In April, the coalition released a set of recommendations for actions that the companies could take to address hateful, misinformed and violent content on their platforms. Over the summer, the coalition began meeting with executives at all four companies to talk about which specific strategies they could adopt to address problematic. The groups later sent follow-up memos to the companies raising questions.
“We wanted to kind of almost have like this runway, you know, from April through the spring and summer to move the company,” said Nora Benavidez, a senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights at Free Press. The design, she said, was intended to “avoid what is the pitfall that inevitably has happened every election cycle, of their stringing together their efforts late in the game and without the awareness that both hate and disinformation are constants on their platforms.”
The groups quickly identified what they said were the most urgent priorities facing all the companies and determined how quickly they would implement their plans to fight election-related misinformation. The advocates also urged the companies to keep their election integrity efforts in place through at least the first quarter of 2023, because rule-breaking content “doesn’t have an end time,” the groups said in multiple letters to the tech platforms.
Those recommendations followed revelations in documents shared with federal regulators last year by former Meta product manager Frances Haugen that showed that shortly after the contest, the company had rolled back many of its election integrity measures designed to control toxic speech and misinformation. As a result, Facebook groups became incubators for Trump’s baseless claims of election rigging before his supporters stormed the Capitol two months after the election, according to an investigation from The Post and ProPublica.
In a July meeting with several Meta policy managers, the coalition pressed the social media giant about when the company enforces its bans against voter suppression and promotes accurate information about voting. Meta acknowledged that the company may “ramp up” its election-related policies during certain times, according to Benavidez and González.
In August, the civil rights coalition sent Meta executives a follow-up letter, arguing that the company should take more aggressive actions against “big lie” content as well as calls to harass election workers.
“Essentially, they’re treating ‘big lie’ and other dangerous content as an urgent crisis that may pop up, and then they will take action, but they are not treating ‘big lie’ and other dangerous disinformation about the election as a longer-term threat for users,” Benavidez said in an interview.
The coalition raised similar questions in a June meeting with Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, Twitter’s vice president of public policy and philanthropy for the Americas, and other company policy managers. At Twitter’s request, the activists agreed not to talk publicly about the details of that meeting. But in a subsequent memo, the coalition urged Twitter to bolster its response to content that already appeared to be breaking the company’s rules, citing the Lake tweet. The Lake campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The coalition also criticized the company for not enforcing its rules against public officials, citing a tweet by former Missouri governor Eric Greitens, a Republican candidate for Senate, that showed him pretending to hunt down members of his own party. Twitter applied a label, saying the tweet violated the company’s rules for abusive behavior but left it up because it was in the public interest to remain accessible. The Greitens campaign didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
“Twitter’s policy states that ‘the public interest exception does not mean that any eligible public official can Tweet whatever they want, even if it violates the Twitter Rules,’ ” the groups wrote.
The coalition also pressed all the companies to expand the resources they deploy to address rule-breaking content in languages other than English. Research has shown that the tech companies’ automated systems are less equipped to identify and address misinformation in Spanish. In the case of Meta, the documents shared by Haugen indicated that the company prioritizes hiring moderators and developing automated content moderation systems in the United States and other key markets over taking similar actions in the developing world.
The civil rights groups pressed that issue with Mohan and other Google executives in an August meeting. When González asked how the company’s 2022 midterm policies would be different from YouTube’s 2020 approach, she was told that this year the company would be launching an election information center in Spanish.
YouTube also said the company had recently increased its capacity to measure view rates on problematic content in Spanish, according to González. “I said, ‘Great. When are we are going to see that data?’ ” González said. “They would not answer.” A YouTube spokesperson said the company does publish data on video removals by country.
In a follow-up note in September, the coalition wrote to the company that its representatives had left the meeting with “lingering questions” about how the company is moderating “big lie” content and other types of problematic videos in non-English languages.
In June, civil rights activists also met with TikTok policy leaders and engineers who presented a slide deck on their efforts to fight election misinformation, but the meeting was abruptly cut short because the company used a free Zoom account that only allotted around 40 minutes, according to González. She added that while the rapidly growing company is staffing up and expanding its content moderation systems, its enforcement of its rules is mixed.
In an August letter, the coalition cited a post that used footage from the far-right One America News to claim that the 2020 election was rigged. Their letter goes on to argue that the post, which has since been removed, broke TikTok’s prohibition against disinformation that undermines public trust in elections.
“Will TikTok commit to enforcing its policies equally?” the groups wrote. | 2022-09-22T11:04:55Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Civil rights groups pushed Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok to toughen disnformation policies - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/22/midterms-elections-social-media-civil-rights/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/22/midterms-elections-social-media-civil-rights/ |
Thursday’s fall equinox signals end of summer, shorter days
For the next six months, days will be shorter than nights
By Justin Grieser
A sunrise view of the District from Arlington on Tuesday. (Thomas Cluderay)
There are only two days each year when daylight and darkness are in near-perfect harmony everywhere on Earth.
One of them happens Thursday: The autumnal equinox arrives at 9:04 p.m. Eastern time, which marks the astronomical transition from summer to fall in the Northern Hemisphere (and winter to spring south of the equator).
What happens on the equinox?
The autumnal (fall) equinox is the halfway point between our longest and shortest days of the year, and usually falls on Sept. 22 or 23. Technically, an equinox is not a day-long astronomical event. It’s a brief moment in time when the sun appears directly over the Earth’s equator.
Like the spring equinox in March, it’s one of only two days of the year when day and night are about 12 hours long everywhere on Earth. In the Northern Hemisphere, daylight will continue to dwindle until the winter solstice, as the sun traces a shorter and lower path across the sky. The diminishing sunlight is the main reason trees burst into brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow before dropping their leaves for the winter.
The location of sunrise and sunset will also edge closer to the southern horizon until December. During the equinox, the sun rises due east and sets due west everywhere on Earth except near the North and South poles.
Not quite equal day and night
Though “equinox” comes from the Latin words “aequus” (equal) and “nox” (night), all places on Earth actually see more than 12 hours of daylight on the equinox.
Washington sees about 12 hours, 8 minutes of daylight on the equinox (sunrise on Friday, the first full day of fall, is at 6:56 a.m. and sunset at 7:03 p.m.). However, the “equilux” — the day when sunrise and sunset are closest to 12 hours apart — happens a few days later.
In most of the United States, the equilux is Sept. 25 or 26. Not until March 17 will the sun again grace our skies for at least 12 hours.
Why the equinox has more than 12 hours of daylight
There are two reasons we see more than 12 hours of daylight during the equinox.
One is how we measure the length of a day. The sun appears as a lumbering disk, not a discrete point in the sky. Sunrise occurs as soon as the sun’s upper edge appears on the horizon, while sunset doesn’t happen until the sun’s upper edge completely dips below it. “Because we’re taking the first-up, last-down approach to defining day length, rather than tracking when a single point on the sun is above the horizon, our day is a couple of minutes longer than 12 hours,” Capital Weather Gang’s Matthew Cappucci explained in 2020.
The second reason we see more than 12 hours of daylight is because the Earth’s atmosphere can refract, or bend, the sun’s light. This allows us to see the sun even when it’s technically below the horizon. The amount of refraction depends on atmospheric pressure and temperature. “[W]hen we see the sun as a reddish-orange ball just sitting on the horizon, we’re looking at an optical illusion. It is actually completely below the horizon,” Space.com explained in a recent article.
These two factors — how we measure the length of day and atmospheric refraction — add several minutes of daylight to the equinox — from 12 hours, 6 minutes near the equator to about 12 hours, 20 minutes in Earth’s polar regions.
Rapidly losing daylight
The autumnal equinox is when we experience the fastest loss of daylight, although the rate of change depends on how far you live from the equator. Near the fall equinox, Washington loses 2 minutes, 30 seconds of daylight per day, while Miami loses only 90 seconds. At higher latitudes the loss of light is more dramatic: Seattle sees daylight vanish by nearly 3½ minutes each day, and in Anchorage, the difference is more than 5½ minutes.
Fall temperature outlook
As if on cue, our first full day of fall will certainly feel the part. A strong cold front arriving Thursday will bring crisp, autumnal weather to D.C. and the Mid-Atlantic. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects below-normal temperatures for most areas east of the Mississippi River during the last week of September.
What’s in store for the rest of the season? While colder weather is inevitable as we head toward winter, fall on balance should still lean warmer than normal, as we can expect in our warming climate. Much like last year, NOAA is again forecasting a warmer-than-average fall across most of the Lower 48. | 2022-09-22T11:30:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Fall equinox: explaining the first day of autumn - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/22/fall-equinox-autumn-first-day/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/22/fall-equinox-autumn-first-day/ |
At just 32 years old, the North Carolina native is becoming the face of a genre that he feels is misunderstood. He’d like to set the record straight.
Luke Combs at Ohio Stadium in July 2022. (Andrew Spear for The Washington Post)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Luke Combs wants you to understand this about country music: If you’re making fun of it, there’s a good chance you just don’t get it.
He’s heard it all plenty of times before. You’re probably going to say that all the songs sound the same, or that all the lyrics are about drinking cold beer and driving down dirt roads in your dad’s old truck. Combs has heard every criticism, which puts him in the unusual position of a superstar who is shaping the future of the genre while also serving as one of its fiercest defenders.
“It’s never been about the small town you grew up in, it’s knowing where home is; it’s not about the dirt roads you ride down, it’s the freedom you feel. The physical thing is not the thing that we’re talking about. It’s the emotion that’s evoked by what that moment speaks to,” Combs, 32, said in a recent interview. “It’s not about your dad’s truck, it’s not about the truck — it’s about your dad. That’s the thing where I think we’re a little misunderstood sometimes.”
Combs did this venting on a warm Friday evening in July while sitting in a suite overlooking an empty Ohio Stadium football field. The next night, around 63,000 people would pack the stadium to watch Combs headline Buckeye Country Superfest, the biggest audience yet for the genre’s newest mega-headliner. But that’s the thing about being a Nashville star — no matter how successful you are, some people from other genres hear “country music” and roll their eyes.
“I challenge any of those people and their acts to come in here and fill this place up,” Combs said, gesturing the to stadium below. As soon as the words left his mouth, he burst into nervous-sounding laughter, and quickly glanced back at his publicist sitting in the corner — he knew how that might sound, especially for someone whose down-to-earth humility has been a big part of his mass appeal.
But he’s not wrong: You would be hard-pressed to find musicians in competing formats who have risen to stadium status as quickly as Combs. Since the release of his debut album five years ago, Combs has shattered sales and streaming records in a way rarely seen in the genre.
Each of his 14 singles has reached No. 1 on country radio, with the swooning “The Kind of Love We Make” (from his new album, “Growin’ Up”) at the top of the Mediabase chart this week. He had the best-selling country album of 2019 with his debut, “This One’s For You” (originally released in 2017) and repeated the feat in 2020 with “What You See Is What You Get” (released in 2019). Already on a sold-out arena tour this fall, he just announced a 2023 world tour that will take him to 16 stadiums stateside starting in March, followed by arenas from Australia to the U.K.
Combs’s rapid rise explains a lot about the contemporary country music landscape: After the bro-country craze of a decade ago, fans are embracing ’90s nostalgia and favoring performers who seem like real, down-to-earth people. For his part, Combs oozes everyman relatability, with more listeners seeing him as a reflection of their lives and experiences than many of the genre’s more entrenched stars.
“Luke was always such a giant fan of country music, and it affected him in the way that drove his lifestyle and work and the way he talked to people and the way he interacted with people and the friends he picked and the clothes he wore,” said Jonathan Singleton, his longtime co-writer and producer, noting that there are “a bunch of suits in town” that aren’t living an authentic country lifestyle. “And here’s a guy that is — so what happens if we don’t mess with that and let it be what it is? It’s purely, beautifully raw. … If you’re trying to understand modern country music, you would take a big long look at Luke.”
So if Combs sounds defensive for someone so successful, it’s because he knows that even though he’s reached the height of success in his field, he will still sometimes feel like a “pariah” in the larger music industry thanks to the preconceived notions about country music.
“I don’t want to come off as a jerk, because it’s not an arrogance or cockiness,” he said. “I just — I care about how our genre is perceived by the world. And I don’t think people really give it a fair shake.”
Following Combs around for an afternoon often feels like a family-friendly version of “Entourage.” Old friends populate his road crew, trading inside jokes and making fun of Combs for his terrible golf game. (After one particularly frustrating round at Green Gables on Canada’s Prince Edward Island, Combs chucked his golf balls into the scenic body of water next to the course.) When reflecting on his career trajectory, Combs is back to his usual low-key demeanor.
“I don’t know how to feel or think about it. I mean, besides grateful, and humbled,” he said. “To be able to be sitting here, and look where we’re at … I think about it literally all the time.” To Austin Harper, his childhood friend growing up in Asheville, N.C., who now works as his executive assistant, the surreal nature of a moment like this still hit home. “What are we doing here?” he yelled, looking out over the giant stadium.
Combs still writes with the core group of Nashville songwriters who supported him in his unknown early days when others questioned his potential. He estimates he spent $2 million paying his band and crew’s salaries when touring stopped during the pandemic.
“I’m not trying to brag,” he added quickly. “I just wanted those guys to not have to worry about what happened next, and I’m lucky enough to have made enough money at that point.”
“He’s the guy that all the fans love, and also the people in town that like, are kind of too cool for school — or not mainstream or whatever — those people love him too,” said songwriter Ray Fulcher, one of Combs’s frequent collaborators. “So he’s the people’s champ.”
Combs, after all, isn’t that far removed from the person just attending a concert himself. He viewed singing mostly as a hobby in school and started playing guitar when he went to Appalachian State University, entertaining patrons at a bar where he worked. He left without a degree, moving to Nashville in September 2014 while scraping together enough money to record a couple of EPs and tour.
His music started picking up steam on Facebook, Vine and YouTube, and club owners around the Southeast noticed he was bringing in serious crowds. Eventually, word filtered back to the major Nashville labels that there was a low-key guy with a big voice who already had a fan base.
“Luke came into our office and sang, and when he walked in, he did not look like a lot of the archetypical male artists within country music at the time,” said Randy Goodman, chairman and chief executive of Sony Music Nashville, not naming names but alluding to the muscled, coifed singers (perhaps the Sam Hunts or Florida Georgia Lines of the world). “But the voice that came out of him was one of those kind of things where everything else kind of melts away. … It was so powerful to be in his presence and have him playing his acoustic guitar. It was pretty overwhelming.” Soon, he had the first of many No. 1 singles with “Hurricane.”
Combs’s booming vocals come from a place deep within his chest. That voice sets him apart from the other singers that populate country radio. “He starts out at 10 and then he goes to 11, 12,” Goodman said. “It feels like a bear is coming at you,” Singleton added.
“He’s got one of those big, gravely strong voices, but it doesn’t strike you that he’s hurting himself. … It doesn’t feel like he’s over-singing. You hear a lot of people screaming when they’re trying to sing hard,” said Kix Brooks, one half of Brooks & Dunn. “He kind of sings hard all the time, but it’s his natural voice, natural delivery.” Brooks & Dunn serve as one of Combs’s biggest influences — he incorporates a similar traditional ’90s country sound with modern production, feeding the current nostalgia craze without coming off as a carbon copy. Combs collaborated with the duo on a new version of “Brand New Man” for their 2019 “Reboot” album.
Brooks recalled writing the 1991 hit “Brand New Man” with Dunn, and finds it very appropriate that Combs has adapted the song.
“It’s in your face from the first note: ‘I saw the light, I’ve been baptized.’ It just punches from the get-go,” Brooks said. “And that’s what Luke does and how he’s built his career — it sorts of fits him perfectly.”
While Combs thinks that non-country fans are liable to have stereotypical views of the genre and its fans, this leads to the question: maybe that’s due to stories about that genre that break through into national news? A casual observer won’t see the overdue efforts for the industry to be more inclusive, or what Combs points to as the diverse origins of the format. Instead, they’ll see a TMZ story about how country star Morgan Wallen was caught on video saying the n-word, and how his popularity has only grown since then.
A few weeks after the video of Wallen was released in early 2021, Combs participated in a conversation about “accountability” at the annual Country Radio Seminar with his fellow country star and labelmate, Maren Morris. Combs apologized for appearing in a 2015 music video where the Confederate flag is shown repeatedly, and for a photo of the flag on his guitar, saying there was no excuse for those “painful” images.
“I want people to feel welcomed by country music and by our community,” Combs said during the discussion. “At the time that those images existed, I wasn’t aware what that was portraying to the world and to African American artists in Nashville that were saying, ‘Man, I really want to come in and get a deal and do this thing, but how can I be around with these images being promoted?’ And so I do apologize for that.”
Looking back, Combs said he was extremely nervous about the panel: What if he lost fans? What if he said something stupid? Afterward, some applauded him, though others called him a “sellout” for participating.
“I was like, me being a sellout would be not saying anything. Because then I would just go on my merry way,” he said. “When someone says, ‘Hey man, you’re a racist,’ that’s a big accusation to say. And I felt to me like I did need it to be addressed. … I feel the need to explain myself and explain why I’m not.”
“I don’t consider myself a super political guy. I didn’t get into this business to be a social justice warrior,” he added. “I just got into this to play music that I love. But there are times when I think it’s pertinent to, you know, there are moments that are like — you just have to say something.”
NPR’s Ann Powers, who moderated the panel, noted that while Morris has always been outspoken, it was unusual to see a star at Combs’s level participate in such a discussion, and that the burden usually falls on the Black artists in the industry. “It was a very volatile moment,” Powers said. “I appreciated the authenticity of Luke’s participation in the conversation and willingness to say, ‘I honestly made a big mistake.’”
Goodman, his label president, noted the easy road would have been to say nothing.
“I would never try to censor or edit one of our artists, because that’s really not a part of what our job is — whatever they decide to talk about and the causes they decide to promote and support are really up to them,” he said. “I’m excited if I can help build a soapbox that’s big enough for them to go out and do that, and maybe move us all toward a more civilized society. ”
Another topic that makes frequent mainstream headlines is country music’s close relationship with gun culture, made more complicated in recent years by the fact that one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern history occurred at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas almost exactly five years ago. Combs doesn’t need to be reminded — he was standing sidestage when the gunman started firing into the crowd. The seemingly endless spate of school shootings has been on his mind.
“Kids, children are dying. So how do we change the conversation to that? It’s like at a base level, how does a parent not fear to send their five- or six-year-old kid to kindergarten? That’s the sadness of where we’re at in the moment. And what’s the answer? I don’t know. I really have no clue,” said Combs, who like other country stars, enjoys hunting. “I mean, I have tons of guns. I love them. Never shot anybody, don’t plan to. But at the same time, I’m open to hearing realistic options. It’s just openness, like, willingness, to hear something that maybe you don’t want to hear or aren’t interested in hearing.”
It’s about time to take the stage on Saturday night, and Combs is partaking in his usual pre-show rituals: shots of Jack Daniels with his bandmates, blasting Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried” as they walk down the tunnel. The stadium that yesterday Combs dared anyone else to pack is filled with 63,000 people who sound like they are on the verge of losing their collective mind by the first notes of “1, 2 Many” and the four-time platinum “When It Rains It Pours.” By the second song, people are openly weeping. By the fourth song, a man has proposed to his girlfriend and Combs has shotgunned a beer, about half of which he drank and half soaked his shirt.
Combs casually walks around the stage, belting out lyrics about drinking too much (“Any Given Friday Night”), being in love (“Beautiful Crazy”), losing love (“One Number Away”), the pain of saying goodbye (“Even Though I’m Leaving”), and, as he put it about halfway through the nearly two-hour show, “all of you underdog, blue-collar, country-ass folks.”
“I always felt like an underdog when I wanted to do this,” Combs said, introducing “Does To Me,” his duet with his hero Eric Church, about small moments in life that mean a great deal. “I know it might not seem like it tonight,” he said. “But to me, it still feels that way.”
This is where Comb’s relatability is most apparent. It’s one reason he doesn’t mind talking about personal topics such as his family or body image.
“There’s probably some other chubby kid out there that is self-conscious about the way he looks, and he’s a great singer — and if he digs into that and does that, and it’s because of something he heard me say,” Combs said, “that would be a win for me to give somebody hope that things are going to be all right.”
He knows that there’s a small but intense internet obsession with his relationship with his wife, Nicole, who has become a social media influencer in her own right. Families frequently become an integral part of a Nashville star’s brand, though Combs is hesitant to post any photos of his baby on social media. As a new dad, he half-joked that sometimes he thinks about pulling a Garth Brooks and temporarily leaving music to focus on his family.
“That should be the No. 1 thing on the Garth resume,” Combs said. “It shouldn’t be ‘30 No. 1 songs’ or whatever it is. It should be ‘gave up his entire career and existence for 14 years to make sure his kids had some semblance of a normal upbringing.’”
For now, however, early retirement is a distant dream. After a brief medley of ’90s country songs, he explains to the crowd that people sometimes tell him that “country music’s about the same thing all the time”: beer, getting drunk, small towns and back roads.
“Who the hell do you think listens to country music?” Combs rhetorically asked the audience, which screamed back in approval. “I’m not ashamed of the kind of music I like and the music I write. … I write it for me.”
But it was clear by the roar of the crowd — they knew he also writes it for them. | 2022-09-22T11:56:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Luke Combs is country music's biggest new star, and its fiercest defender - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/09/22/luke-combs-country-star/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/09/22/luke-combs-country-star/ |
A realty sign hangs on a fence outside a home that’s been boarded-up with plywood in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013. Almost one in 10 Roseland properties is vacant and the areas homeownership rate fell to 57 percent in 2010 from 64 percent in 2000, according to the Woodstock Institute. (Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg)
The good news is this is not a disaster market. There’s no evidence home price declines could threaten the financial system, nor create mass economic distress as we saw after 2007. . . . The bad news is there’s a lot more downside than upside for average homebuyers, and some of them are very likely to suffer in 2021.
I started by considering the price-to-earnings ratio for residential real estate, which is how many years it takes for net rental revenue to equal the purchase price of a house. I applied the idea behind Yale University professor Robert Shiller’s Cyclically Adjusted Price Earnings (CAPE) ratio, which averages the prior 10 years of earnings (rents in this case) adjusted for inflation. The chart below shows housing CAPE since 1995.(1)
Two years ago, when the housing CAPE was 42, I took comfort from the fact that it was still much lower than the 2005 peak of the last housing bubble and also that — unlike typical bubbles — the price increases were slowing rather than speeding up. Then the gains in CAPE accelerated and brought valuations to a peak exceeding the 2005 levels.
Next, I compared the housing CAPE to the S&P 500 Index CAPE.(2) The chart below shows the dot-com bubble, followed by the blue line showing the housing bubble that preceded the 2007 – 2009 financial crisis. I pointed out that both historical bubbles happened in only one asset class. But since 2011 we saw similar valuation increases in not only stocks and housing, but other assets as well. I used this to argue we weren’t in a housing bubble, and we were instead seeing an economy-wide inflation in asset prices likely due to extremely loose monetary policies. Why inflation showed up in asset prices but not consumer prices is a mystery. But my point was that inflation would likely correct as years of economy-wide low asset returns rather than a sudden crash in home prices.
Here, too, things quickly changed. Consumer inflation roared back and stock market valuations crashed, but home-price valuations continued skyward. Monetary policy did not revert to normal but loosened throughout 2020 and 2021.
My final reason not to panic was the relation between home prices and interest rates. Normally, higher rates cause home valuations to decline. Most of the money used to buy houses is borrowed, and higher costs of capital mean lower present value to future cash flows (in the case of a home buyer, the future cash flows are savings from not paying rent).
The next chart shows residential housing CAPEs versus the 10-year US Treasury yield during four subperiods. (I had only the first three subperiods in my 2020 column.) The blue dots from 1995 to 2002 show a normal housing market. Lower rates lead to higher CAPEs. But the orange dots in the bubble period from 2003 to 2013 — both before and after the crash — show the price/rate reversed. Lower rates led to lower home prices. The reason is home buyers were not relying on traditional sources of capital, but on money from structured product investors. When prices were going up, home buyers were getting loans at far below 10-year Treasury yields; after the crash, home buyers had trouble getting capital at any rate. Moreover, during the bubble period, many borrowers didn’t care about rates because they had no intention of making payments — they’d sell the house at a profit or walk away.
Two years ago, looking at the grey dots from 2014 to 2020, I argued that housing prices had returned to their normal relation with rates. That led me to predict valuations would fall gradually as rates rose —either due to monetary tightening or, if that didn’t happen, increased inflation expectations.
But then the yellow dots happened. Home valuations increased as rates increased, just as in the housing bubble. Perhaps that is turning around now, as housing prices are beginning to decline (typically before we see large price declines we see softening markets — fewer buyers and sellers, longer delays between listing and sales — as have been happening in the last few months) and the Fed is raising rates. But looking at the data so far, it looks like a bubble.
Maybe you shouldn’t pay much attention to what I think now, since I was exactly wrong two years ago. But I’m still not panicking about a housing crash. I expect valuations to revert to long-term mean because rents will continue to increase rapidly, meaning no dramatic drop in home prices is necessary. I base that on expectations for more legal immigration and legalization of existing undocumented immigrants and lifestyle changes — mainly more working from home — triggered by the pandemic, but not reverting to past practices.
Other factors are the eviction moratoriums of the last two years discourage renting and construction of rental housing, and the massively inflated money supply has to go somewhere. I think the student loan forgiveness increases home buyers’ expectation of mortgage forgiveness if prices decline. After all, that almost happened in 2008, and it will be hard for politicians to ignore the cry, “You bailed out rich college graduates, why not hard-working middle-class homeowners?”
But if I’m wrong about a rapid escalation in rents, everything seems to be in place for a historic crash in housing prices, inflicting broad economic damage.
(1) This is my calculation based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of Primary Residence in US City Average) and the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index with my own assumptions about average ownership costs of housing.
(2) S&P 500 and housing price CAPEs cannot be compared directly for a number of reasons. The main one is that housing cash flows are largely tax-free for most home buyers — they do not have to pay tax on the implicit income from living rent-free in the houses they own. Tax-free future cash flows naturally have higher valuations, higher CAPEs, than taxable future cash flows. | 2022-09-22T11:57:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Unless Rents Rise, Housing Is Set Up for an Epic Crash - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/unless-rents-rise-housing-is-set-up-for-an-epic-crash/2022/09/22/84973b6e-3a66-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/unless-rents-rise-housing-is-set-up-for-an-epic-crash/2022/09/22/84973b6e-3a66-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
I want the reinvestment in local media to come to my city
We are in the middle of a sustained, aggressive response to the huge decline in local news in America. This newfound support for local news just needs to reach more communities, such as mine — and much faster.
Thousands of local newspapers have closed in the past two decades, and basically every still-existing outlet has significantly fewer staffers. Largely because of the collapse of local journalism, there are 25 percent fewer journalists employed in print, television, radio and other kinds of newsrooms compared with 2008, a drop from about 114,000 to 85,000.
But over the past decade and particularly the past five years, there have been a number of major investments in local journalism. In some areas, existing outlets are getting more funding, while others are seeing brand-new organizations. Much of the money is coming from donations from rich individuals, foundations and small-dollar donors. The journalism is generally free and not published in a print product.
For example, a wealthy philanthropist named Stewart Bainum Jr. has promised to either donate or raise $50 million over the next four years to back the Baltimore Banner, an online news site that started in June with more than 40 staffers. Mississippi Today, a nonprofit founded in 2016 that focuses on state politics and is funded by advertising, foundations and donors, has unearthed many of the details of ex-National Football League star Brett Favre and then-Gov. Phil Bryant’s reported steering of welfare funds to projects that would benefit them personally, most notably a volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi when Favre’s daughter was playing the sport there. (Both men have denied wrongdoing.)
But this new model of local journalism typically depends on a rich person, a foundation or some other entity with lots of money and interest in local journalism to either be based in the area where you live or to have a mission-based reason to invest in it. So we aren’t seeing these new or revitalized outlets in many rural areas or small towns. Or even many midsize cities.
Katrina vanden Heuvel: News deserts are a civic crisis
Like Louisville, where I live. The birthplace of Muhammad Ali and the home of the Kentucky Derby and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) is the 45th-largest metro area in the country, with around 1.3 million people. Louisville’s media story is similar to those of other cities across the country. We have a paper, the Courier Journal, that was once one of the most powerful institutions in the city, constantly breaking stories that affected city government, business and everything else in Louisville. It was the definitive news source and really the only source of original reporting.
I grew up here in the 1990s reading a paper with big business and opinion departments, reporters covering stories across Kentucky, extensive coverage of neighborhoods within Louisville and staff columnists it seemed like everyone read.
That paper also made a lot of money, allowing it to have such a huge staff.
Then, the internet destroyed the local newspaper business. As profits dropped in the 2000s and 2010s, the Courier Journal, like other newspapers around the country, just kept cutting costs. The paper’s newsroom staff is around 50 people now, down from 240 in its glory days.
And that number is almost certain to keep dipping, because of the business strategy of Gannett, the national newspaper chain that owns the Courier Journal and hundreds of other papers around the country. Rather than investing deeply in the papers that it owns or selling them to others who might, Gannett — like the hedge funds buying up papers across the country — seems to be trying to wring out the remaining years of revenue that papers with print editions still get from advertisers and subscribers. But since that revenue is constantly dropping, Gannett and many other owners of local papers are regularly cutting reporters and other journalism costs to keep profits as high as possible.
So the Courier Journal is undergoing a slow, steady decline in its staffing and ambition.
“Time after time, @Gannett’s actions have chipped away at morale and at our product. Louisville deserves better,” the paper’s own reporters said in a recent Twitter thread announcing that they were forming a union. The reporters listed numerous criticisms: unpaid furloughs; pay so low for junior staffers that some were working second jobs; too many important stories behind the paper’s paywall, meaning that only subscribers can read them.
Louisville still has some great journalism and people and institutions who care about local news. Even with all of the cuts, the Courier Journal does some tremendous reporting. The paper won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020 for its coverage of controversial pardons issued by then-Gov. Matt Bevin. The NPR affiliate and one of the local TV stations (WDRB) are hiring former newspaper reporters to do in-depth stories, intentionally trying to fill the gap created by the smaller CJ. The city’s news outlets combined to do excellent and extensive coverage of the police killing of Breonna Taylor two years ago and the months of protests that followed.
But the journalism landscape here is far from ideal. Because all of the outlets, particularly the Courier Journal, are trying to keep costs low, they don’t have the more experienced, higher-paid cohort of reporters with deep knowledge of Louisville that the Courier Journal once did. Great stories don’t get the attention they deserve or have the impact they should. Many people in the community don’t regularly check the websites of the public radio and TV stations for in-depth articles, although those sites are often the best place for news about Louisville. Nor are they as tuned into the CJ as they used to be, since the paper is perceived to be declining and not something even people here feel as though they must read daily.
George F. Will: How the news business’s economics altered the news itself
I and others who lament the decline of the newspapers we grew up reading might be trapped in some nostalgia. The papers during the industry’s glory days, including the Courier Journal, had shortcomings, particularly in coverage of Black people. It’s not clear that the only or even best fix for journalism in Louisville today is re-creating the old Courier Journal.
Nor do I want to valorize local news. I don’t think, as some advocates of local journalism imply, that the decline of local news is the reason national politics is so polarized and ineffectual — or that a revival of local journalism will help much in reducing those problems. I’m also not sure that the newer models of local journalism are sustainable in the long term. Even if they are, I’m leery of one of those new models in particular — the funding of local publications by a single rich individual, giving that person outsize power in a community. This concern applies equally to Post owner Jeff Bezos, who could have disproportionate influence on D.C.-area issues.
But Louisville residents and people in areas across the country where the number of reporters has shrunken would benefit greatly from an infusion of dollars, ambition and energy aimed at bolstering journalism in their communities. That revitalization could come from an individual, some group of people or an entity buying entire chains of papers, if Gannett and other owners could be persuaded to sell. People in individual communities could purchase and invest in the old paper in their cities. Or create a broad-based outlet in each community, along the lines of the Banner in Baltimore. Or a bunch of smaller, specialized outlets could be funded across a city or area, which is happening in Chicago.
Everyone in the United States deserves strong, thriving local news, not just those who live in a few lucky cities and states. I’m thrilled about the money and innovation coming to local journalism. I am frustrated it has not yet reached so many areas, including the city where I live. | 2022-09-22T11:57:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Local media is seeing more investment. But not in enough places. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/local-news-media-louisville-perry-bacon/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/local-news-media-louisville-perry-bacon/ |
Why Trump may be at a tipping point
New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference on Wednesday. (Brittainy Newman/AP)
If you want to understand why New York Attorney General Letitia James’s civil lawsuit against Donald Trump and others in his business is so ominous for the former president, turn to Paragraph 5 of her complaint.
The numerous financial misrepresentations by Trump and his companies, the complaint states, “violated a host of state criminal laws, constituting repeated and persistent illegality in violation of Executive Law § 63(12),” referring to New York’s civil fraud statute. “Among other laws, Defendants repeatedly and persistently violated the following: New York Penal Law § 175.10 (Falsifying Business Records); Penal Law § 175.45 (Issuing a False Financial Statement); and Penal Law § 176.05 (Insurance Fraud).”
Trump and his family have repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Trump attorney Alina Habba said in a statement on Wednesday, “Today’s filing is neither focused on the facts nor the law — rather, it is solely focused on advancing the Attorney General’s political agenda.”
In any case, James’s complaint is a shot across the bow of the hapless New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who so far seems to have failed to find a basis to pursue criminal charges against the Trump Organization, leading to the resignation of experienced prosecutors Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz. (Bragg claimed on Wednesday that the criminal investigation is “ongoing.”)
Norman Eisen, who served as co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment and authored multiple analyses on Trump’s potential civil and criminal exposure, tells me, “Whatever Mr. Bragg’s failures, [U.S. District Court for] the Southern District of New York is not known for turning its back on evidence of serious crimes.” Indeed, fact-finding in civil litigation could offer fodder in criminal investigations.
In other words, the same facts set out in James’s complaint could lead to a host of federal charges, including federal bank, tax and wire fraud. And remember, this would be in addition to possible criminal cases concerning Trump’s mishandling of top-secret documents stashed at Mar-a-Lago, his actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt and his attempt to pressure Georgia officials to overturn the state’s election results.
As Eisen wrote for Just Security with E. Danya Perry and Joshua Stanton, “At some point, the aggregate effect of all these investigations will reach a tipping point.… The cumulative weight bearing down upon a possible defendant — whether corporate, individual, or both — at some point becomes unsustainable.”
Even before the New York civil case reaches a settlement or verdict, financial firms are now on notice of potential misconduct and may cease doing business with Trump. If, for example, banks begin to exercise their rights to call in loans based on financial covenants they believe were violated, financial turmoil and even bankruptcy become real possibilities. (No financial institution wants to be the last in line to get its money out.)
Consider the myriad ways in which a civil suit of this magnitude might impact Trump:
If he loses his ability to do business in New York for five years, as James seeks, his financial empire would be essentially kaput. He might lose the right to control multiple properties, including Trump Tower and Trump National Golf Club Westchester. He might retain properties elsewhere, but if James’s allegations are correct, they would be worth far less than he has claimed. For example, the complaint alleges that Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, “was valued as high as $739 million based on the false premise that it was unrestricted property and could be developed and sold for residential use ... In reality, the club generated annual revenues of less than $25 million and should have been valued at closer to $75 million.”
Bragg may feel compelled to reconsider his lack of interest in the case against Trump’s business, as James boldly urges him to do.
Trump’s already enormous legal bills may become unmanageable, even for someone adept at squeezing gullible supporters for cash. That could make it difficult for Trump to formally declare his candidacy for president, since he wouldn’t be able to rely on self-funding his campaign.
In sum, Trump’s entire claim to fame as a financial “genius” may soon lie in ruins. His fortune, political power and ability to garner attention might slip away. If so, he may finally face accountability for his actions. | 2022-09-22T11:57:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Why Trump may be at a tipping point - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/trump-new-york-lawsuit-tipping-point/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/trump-new-york-lawsuit-tipping-point/ |
(Illustration by Daniel Fishel for The Washington Post)
When Aubrey Garcia’s daughter was in the third grade, she suddenly stopped attending school.
Every day, Garcia, a former teacher, would ask herself, “ ‘Is she going to go to school today? What can I do to make her want to go to school?’ It was just a constant battle.”
Garcia was dealing with an increasingly common behavioral issue — school refusal, which is also known as school avoidance or anxiety. Clinical psychologist Christopher Kearney, who directs the Child School Refusal and Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, defines it as “a child-motivated refusal to attend school and/or difficulty remaining in classes for an entire day.”
Garcia’s daughter, who had some learning and emotional issues and would later be diagnosed with autism, could not articulate why going to school made her anxious. And the small Texas educational district she was in could not give her the support she needed. Eventually, the family moved to a Houston-area school system that provided the child with plenty of resources, including a psychotherapist, speech therapist, music therapist and social skills group leader.
With this support, and the help she got outside school, Garcia’s daughter began to attend much more regularly. On the occasions that she did balk about going — usually related to anxiety about “a social situation that she didn’t understand or know how to work through,” her mother said — the school helped figure out what had happened, talked her through the situation and got her to return.
This school year, Garcia’s daughter is happily attending sixth grade general-education classes and hasn’t missed a day yet. “You just really need a whole team of people,” Garcia said. “And we’ve been able to build that for her. But, you know, it took many years.”
Not all school-refusal situations resolve so positively. Consider the case of a sensitive 19-year-old who stopped attending a competitive magnet school in Northern Virginia when he was a freshman. His mother, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for her and her son to protect his privacy, thinks the initial cause was related to academics, although, looking back she believes her son had signs of anxiety that doctors brushed off.
In the five years since that time, the mother said, she and her husband have tried several approaches. These have included moving him to a new school, enrolling him in cognitive behavioral therapy (which teaches people to understand and control anxiety by changing thinking and behavioral patterns), trying a variety of medication, sending him to therapeutic residential programs, and trying wilderness therapy and virtual schooling.
Nothing worked well or consistently enough to allow him to finish high school. At this point, he is making his own decisions; he’s seeing a therapist he trusts, has gone back on medication and has started volunteering at an animal-related business. His mother has encouraged him to go at his own pace, telling him, “We’ll figure stuff out. Life isn’t a race.”
These two very different stories illustrate the complexity and potential cost of school refusal. The problem is difficult to quantify, according to Kearney, because researchers use different definitions — some focus on missed school time, for example, while others might include distress while at school. Research by Kearney, who also chairs the department of psychology at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, found that the issue affects between 5 percent and 28 percent of school-age kids at some time during their education, and equally affects kids of different racial, ethnic and income groups.
Anecdotally, Kearney and other experts say, school refusal has become more common during the pandemic. “I work with many schools and school systems, and absolutely it’s increasing,” said clinical psychologist Jonathan Dalton, founder and director of the Center for Anxiety and Behavioral Change in Rockville, Md., and McLean, Va.
Data appears to bear that out. In July, the Education Department reported that 72 percent of public schools reported an increase in chronic absenteeism (of which school refusal would be a subset) compared to a typical year before the pandemic. A survey of school counselors conducted in April by the New York Times found that 85 percent said they were seeing more chronic absenteeism than before the pandemic.
That would not be surprising, given the fact that rates of anxiety and depression were increasing in children even before the pandemic and that school refusal can be a symptom of those disorders. Furthermore, many kids spent months learning from home during the pandemic, and, if a child has a tendency toward school refusal, allowing them to stay home makes it more difficult to get them to return, Dalton said.
“One of our pet peeves is when people who aren’t experts in this recommend homebound services because the kid’s experiencing a lot of distress when they’re in school,” he said. “It’s the confrontation with fear, it’s persisting in the presence of distress” that is the best treatment for school refusal. (One caveat: If a child is suicidal, they should be stabilized before the school issue is addressed.)
Avoidance, not anxiety, is the real enemy. “Anxiety is two things: It’s temporary and harmless,” Dalton said. “What I treat is avoidance, and avoidance can ruin lives.”
Here’s what parents need to know about the condition and how to handle it.
It should not be ignored
A lot of parents take the attitude that school avoidance is “something that’s eventually going to go away, or it’s not a big deal,” Kearney said. While it’s true that some cases, especially those that accompany the start of a new school year or a change in school, may resolve on their own, “there’s going to be a subset of kids where their level of distress is going to remain high.”
There are warning signs
Dalton said school avoidance can begin gradually — with kids complaining about physical symptoms such as stomachaches — and eventually stiffen into full refusal. Other times, he said, there is a clear antecedent, such as an illness, death in the family, school or home move, or loss of a pet.
Warning signs in addition to physical complaints might include difficulty separating from a parent, worry about something happening at school, reports of being bullied, difficulty focusing, slipping grades, a pileup of missed work or assertions that a teacher doesn’t like them.
The first step should be to reach out to the school, she said. “Oftentimes the school team and the school psychologist and/or school counselor on campus can be very helpful and trained in managing school refusal.” In a bullying situation, for example, they can develop a plan for getting a child back on campus and helping them feel safe.
If, however, there is “an underlying diagnosis like social anxiety and underlying OCD or a generalized anxiety disorder,” she said, “then the child would likely need support for the underlying diagnosis.” In this case, an outside therapist would work with the parents and the school team to get the child back in school.
Mihalas urged parents to act quickly. “It’s incredibly important to intervene as soon as possible so the child can get back to school as soon as feasible. Otherwise, the behavior and the emotionality gets more entrenched and more traumatic for the child and the family.”
It’s important to understand the reason for the avoidance
According to research led by Kearney, there are four main reasons for school-refusal behavior.
To avoid something that sparks general anxiety or depression or physical feelings of distress; this often applies to younger children
To avoid being evaluated in a social or academic fashion
To gain attention from a parent or another person
To obtain some kind of tangible benefit from being home, such as sleeping in or playing video games
Determining the child’s motivation will help you decide how to approach the problem.
Don’t make home more attractive than school
Parents should not spend the day cuddling with their children or letting them watch television. A good rule of thumb, Dalton said, is that the child shouldn’t do anything at home during the school day that they wouldn’t be able to do at school. “Boredom is our ally,” he said.
Mihalas suggested trying to create the atmosphere of a school day: Get them up and dressed at the usual time, eat lunch when they normally would and engage in schoolwork.
And it doesn’t have to be all home or school. “Sometimes what we do is we have the kids go in for at least part of the day, and then work on anxiety management skills, and then get them in for the full day,” Kearney said. “It’s always better if a child’s actually physically in the school building, even if it’s for a short period of time.”
School refusal responds to treatment
The standard treatment for school refusal involves the parents as well as the child, Mihalas said, and uses CBT to address the student’s particular form of anxiety. “The primary focus here is building skills, decreasing anxiety, building emotional tolerance, being able to problem solve, and then transitioning back into the school system, ultimately,” Mihalas said.
She said kids can build skills by learning to answer questions such as, “When I feel this way, how do I calm myself down? When I am triggered, what do I do? Who can I ask for help when a problem arises? What are the four steps that I can take to manage the problem?”
Dalton said he first gives kids “an owner’s manual for their nervous system” in which they learn to recognize disordered anxiety, when the fear is real but the danger is not. The next step is exposure therapy, in which they learn that they are capable of handling the emotions they are avoiding by not going to school.
If a child has social anxiety and is afraid of embarrassment, for example, Dalton might encourage them to do something unusual during a treatment session, such as wear a funny wig or try to pay for something in euros. Much like allergy shots help a child build a tolerance for pollen, exposure therapy helps a child build a tolerance for embarrassment.
Parents need training, too
“It is not only about the child, ever, when it comes to school refusal, because there are a lot of things that the parent can do to reinforce the school-refusal syndrome and the anxious behaviors,” Mihalas said.
Many kids who avoid school have parents who themselves deal with anxiety, Dalton said, and lean toward letting their child stay home to protect them from those feelings. These parents need to learn that experiencing anxiety will not harm their children, he said. “It’s a natural process of how we grow and how we learn about what it is that we can actually do.”
School avoidance is not about school, Dalton said. “It’s not about forgetting when the War of 1812 is, or how to carry the 1. This is about using avoidance as a means of self-regulation.” If parents can teach their children non-avoidant coping skills, he added, “the benefits will echo forever.”
Recommended resources about school refusal:
“Getting Your Child Back to School: A Parent’s Guide to Solving School Attendance Problems,” by Christopher Kearney
SPACE — a parent-based treatment program developed by Eli Lebowitz, director of the program for anxiety disorders at the Yale Child Study Center, to support children and adolescents who have anxiety and related disorders
School Avoidance Alliance – an organization and website that spreads awareness about school avoidance and best practices for dealing with it.
Tips and Tricks for School Refusal from the Provo City School District in Utah | 2022-09-22T11:57:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What to do when your child refuses to go to school - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/parenting/2022/09/22/school-avoidance-refusal-tips/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/parenting/2022/09/22/school-avoidance-refusal-tips/ |
Thursday briefing: Russians protest Putin’s draft; more legal trouble for Donald Trump; Hurricane Fiona’s path; and more
Protests erupted in Russia after Vladimir Putin called up more troops.
Protesters gathered in Moscow on Sept. 21 after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization in Russia. (Video: AP)
The details: Over 1,300 protest-related arrests were reported yesterday and outbound flights sold out after the Russian president drafted up to 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine.
Why it matters: Putin had resisted a mobilization for months — despite repeated battlefield setbacks — over fears of a political backlash in Russia, which has begun.
Donald Trump suffered two legal setbacks yesterday.
In New York: The state’s attorney general sued the former president and three of his children over an alleged $250 million in business fraud.
Last night: An appeals court ruled that the FBI can use classified documents it seized from Trump’s Florida home in its ongoing criminal investigation. And Trump offered a new defense on Fox News.
The House passed a bill that would make it harder to overturn election results.
The details: It’s designed to stop presidents from trying to use Congress to reverse election defeats and cites the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack as a reason it’s needed.
Will it become law? Stay tuned. President Biden supports it, but the Senate is working on its own version of the bill that has bipartisan support.
What else to know: Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, agreed to talk to the Jan. 6 committee about her efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Hurricane Fiona is expected to pass Bermuda on the way to Canada.
The latest: The storm, which strengthened to a Category 4 yesterday, is moving north and could hit Canada this weekend. A separate system could threaten the U.S.
In Puerto Rico: Fiona devastated the U.S. territory, where at least four people were killed by extreme rainfall and winds.
Anger spread in Iran after a woman died in custody.
How it started: Mahsa Amini, 22, was detained by the “morality police” last week, allegedly for breaking the country’s strict rules on how women can dress.
The latest: Videos show deadly protests in Iran, many led by women burning their headscarves. At least seven people have died, a rights group said.
The U.S. took a big step toward limiting super-pollutant emissions.
What are super-pollutants? Hydrofluorocarbons, which leak from air conditioning and are much more powerful than carbon dioxide in speeding up climate change.
What’s new? The Senate yesterday ratified a global treaty that would sharply cut emissions of these pollutants. The U.S. is the 137th country to sign on.
America is going crazy for pickleball.
What’s that? It’s similar to tennis but with a smaller court, shorter net and plastic ball. It doesn’t require as much mobility, so age and fitness levels are less important.
A pandemic boom: There were at least 4.8 million players in the U.S. last year. Three pro leagues are battling for superiority — and tennis players are fighting for court time.
And now … some tech tips: Here’s how to customize your lock screen and other iOS 16 features, and how to spot scams in your search results. | 2022-09-22T11:59:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The 7 things you need to know for Thursday, September 22 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/the-seven/2022/09/22/what-to-know-for-september-22/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/the-seven/2022/09/22/what-to-know-for-september-22/ |
Clemson running back Will Shipley has been hard to stop this season. (Jacob Kupferman/AP)
This column finally broke out of its rut in Week 3 of the college football season, going 3-1 by correctly predicting an easy Mississippi win over circling-the-drain Georgia Tech and two unders in Texas A&M-Miami and Kansas State-Tulane. The only loss was Fresno State failing to keep up with USC after its quarterback suffered a high-ankle sprain in the third quarter (the Bulldogs still nearly outgained the Trojans in terms of yards per play, a sign that the USC defense is going to be a lingering issue moving forward).
These picks now are 7-5 on the season. Let’s keep it going.
No. 5 Clemson (-7) at No. 21 Wake Forest, noon, ABC
What would this spread be if the Demon Deacons had lost to Liberty this past weekend instead of squeaking out a one-point win when the visiting Flames failed to convert a late two-point conversion attempt? The stats suggest Wake Forest may have gotten at least a little bit lucky to come out on top — they were outgained in yards per play (5.7 to 4.9) and had to rely upon four takeaways, two of which stopped Liberty drives in Demon Deacons territory. The Flames also missed two field goals.
For all the talk about D.J. Uiagalelei’s struggles at quarterback for Clemson, all he needs to do is hand the ball off to running back Will Shipley, who is averaging 7.78 yards per carry and has rushed for six touchdowns this season. Shipley had 112 rushing yards and two scores against the Demon Deacons in last season’s 48-27 Clemson win, and Liberty rushed for 181 yards against Wake Forest on Saturday.
The Tigers’ defense is as stout as it usually is, particularly against the rush: Clemson’s defense ranks eighth nationally in rushing success rate and seventh in expected points added per rush. Throw in Wake Forest’s complete inability to get anything going on the ground this season — the Demon Deacons tallied only 21 rushing yards against Liberty and rank 128th in rushing success rate — and I think the Tigers do enough to cover this number.
Minnesota (-3) at Michigan State, 3:30 p.m., Big Ten Network
The Golden Gophers have won their first three games by a combined 149-17. Yes, they’ve played perhaps the easiest schedule taken on by a Power Five team, running up the score on New Mexico State, Western Illinois and Colorado. No, that’s not any reason to fade Minnesota here.
The Spartans are still getting the afterglow from last season’s 11-2 team, and it’s masking a season that’s in serious jeopardy of going completely awry because of injuries. Wide receiver Jayden Reed (the 2021 team leader in catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns), defensive tackle Jacob Slade (one of the Big Ten’s best defensive linemen) and safety Xavier Henderson (third-team all-Big Ten in 2021) missed Saturday’s loss at Washington, and starting linebacker Darius Snow suffered a season-ending injury earlier against Western Michigan.
The injuries have particularly hurt Michigan State’s pass defense, which ranks 89th nationally in success rate and 103rd in yards allowed per game (264.3). Minnesota is averaging 10.7 yards per pass attempt (ranking fifth in the nation) and also features running back Mohamed Ibrahim, who is second nationally at 154.67 rushing yards per game with a Football Bowl Subdivision-best seven rushing touchdowns. Yes, the loss of leading receiver Chris Autman-Bell to a season-ending knee injury will sting, but the Golden Gophers have plenty of other seasoned pass-catchers (wideout Michael Brown-Stephens and tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford each are averaging nearly 16 yards per reception).
Defensively, Minnesota leads the nation in passing success rate and should be able to limit the Spartans even if Reed returns. I’ll take the road favorite.
Central Michigan (+27.5) at No. 14 Penn State, noon, Big Ten Network
This is an obvious letdown spot for the Nittany Lions after this past weekend’s rousing win at Auburn, but there are a few other reasons I like the big MAC dog here. The Chippewas have shown an ability to break out big plays, ranking 27th nationally in explosive play rate and gaining at least 10 yards on 58 scrimmage plays so far this season (ranking 12th in the country). Penn State, meanwhile, has allowed 48 scrimmage plays of at least 10 yards, which ranks 104th, and Pro Football Focus puts its defense as the No. 125 unit in the country in terms of tackling. Auburn only managed to score 12 points on the Nittany Lions, but that total was a bit deceiving: The Tigers drove fairly deep into Penn State territory on their first three drives but ended up with just two field goals and an interception, and their fourth drive ended at the 50 after a fumble.
Defensively, Central Michigan ranks 27th nationally in rushing success rate, and opposing teams are averaging only 2.85 yards per rush attempt. Penn State running back Nicholas Singleton is averaging a gaudy 15.6 yards per rush over his past two games, but he only got 10 carries in each. One has to wonder whether Coach James Franklin will hold him and the other Nittany Lions starters back should this get out of hand, particularly with Michigan and Ohio State looming over Penn State’s next four games.
In the Nittany Lions’ only other game as a large favorite this season, they covered while giving 27.5 points to Ohio on Sept. 10. Now the point spread is essentially the same for this one against Central Michigan, which rates out to be a much better team than the Bobcats in terms of the SP+ efficiency metric. Take the dog here.
Boise State at Texas El Paso under 45.5 points, 9 p.m. Friday, CBS Sports Network
Here we have two sluggish offenses: The Broncos are averaging 4.76 yards per play (107th nationally) and the Miners 4.67 (108th). UTEP also has failed to exceed 13 points in three of its four games this season, and in the one exception it put up only 20 against a New Mexico State team that gave up 38 to Minnesota and 66 to Wisconsin.
That alone makes the under an intriguing play, and Boise State’s defense only adds to that. Check out this graphic showing offensive and defensive explosive play rate among Group of Five teams:
CCAR and CIN lead the G5 for explosive plays, while JMU have so far limited their opponent's explosiveness the most, but will get tested this week against APP.
2/ pic.twitter.com/DZngxKt2KL
— Cover 2 FiguRes (@cover2figuRes) September 20, 2022
Look at Boise State’s logo all by itself in the upper left quadrant of this graphic. That means the Broncos have been excellent at limiting explosive plays on defense (here defined as runs of at least 10 yards or passes of at least 15 yards) while also pretty dismal at creating them on offense. Boise State has allowed only 19 scrimmage plays of at least 10 yards, tied for fifth nationally, and 14 of them came in its season-opening loss to Oregon State. The Broncos’ offense, meanwhile, has had only 25 scrimmage plays gain at least 10 yards, better than only three teams nationally. And it’s not like Boise State has played any world-beating defenses, with games against New Mexico and Tennessee-Martin after the Oregon State loss.
Out of UTEP’s 47 drives that have taken place with significant time on the clock (i.e., drives not begun at the very end of a half or game), 34 have ended without points (72.3 percent), and the Miners have scored only five offensive touchdowns despite having played in four games (one more than most FBS teams). I don’t see any of that improving here against a stout Boise State defense, so give me the under. | 2022-09-22T12:09:51Z | www.washingtonpost.com | College football picks: Clemson should cover vs. Wake Forest - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/best-bets-college-football-this-week/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/best-bets-college-football-this-week/ |
Jana is 23 and works in digital marketing. She is looking for someone sweet and tall with a somewhat sporty background. Ogo is 24 and owns an influencer marketing company. He is looking for someone interesting but not internet quirky, who is at least 5-foot-6. (Daniele Seiss)
Ogo is from Waynesboro, Pa., and went to college in Wisconsin, but left before earning a degree. “My dad died, and I was like, ‘Damn, life really ends, and if I die, I don’t want to die in Wisconsin,’ ” he said. “The school part will always be there, but the things that I’m doing right now won’t always be in front of me.”
He’s young — 24 — and has spent his time building an influencer marketing business. He is also learning Italian and started playing tennis. What Ogo hasn’t had is a lot of long-term relationships. The longest one was on and off for two-ish years when he was living in Los Angeles, but he never found his people there. So, he moved to the nation’s capital in late 2020 because “all of my cousins that live in the U.S. live in D.C.”
He applied for Date Lab after a conversation about dating with a friend who works at the paper. “I’ve never been on a blind date, which seems harder with the internet [because] you can do research on people now. The not knowing sounds kind of funny.”
His date, Jana, hasn’t had many long-term relationships either. The 23-year-old was in college outside Boston when the pandemic started and says that made dating harder. “The pandemic really stunted that for me … and then coming out of that I just haven’t dated much.”
After landing her second post-college job, she moved this spring to D.C. from New York City, where she was doing public relations for a financial services company. “I didn’t love that job and started looking around and took this job that’s in the change advocacy sector, and they ultimately said ‘We need you to come to D.C.,’ so here I am!”
Jana applied for Date Lab because her roommates put her up to it, but she also thought it would be a good way to kick off dating in a new city. She’s not looking for love but not not looking for love either. “I’m in a place where I’m not set on anything but wherever the wind takes me,” she explained.
Jana took an Uber to El Chucho in Columbia Heights, and when she got there, Ogo was sitting at the bar having a snack. “My very first impression was that he was wearing a very vibrant outfit and that he was eating already,” Jana said. “He was wearing a scarf on his head. He was wearing purple pants that happened to be corduroy on a 100-degree day. It obviously was curated.”
Yes, Ogo was in purple pants and, yes, they were hot. But they were not corduroy. “I had been gone for two weeks so I took all my good outfits with me, and I had pretty much worn everything,” he said, adding that he had flown into D.C. late the night before the date and that they were Homme Plissé Issey Miyake flowy pants. “The outfit I had wasn’t really ideal, but I was counting on I was already going to be sweating … and I didn’t have any shorts.”
As for his first impression of Jana, Ogo was surprised to find out during the date that she was 23. “She kind of gave a little bit of an older vibe,” he said. “I thought she was 26 or 27.”
They got their Date Lab photos taken, then headed to the rooftop where they said the conversation flowed. “We talked about his work [and] the cyclical nature of popularity for influencers,” Jana said. They also talked about his travels, her dad who is a chef and her love of food, and how they both find children funny and have spent time tutoring and mentoring them. Plus, they discovered they were like-minded about living in D.C.: It’s all right. Just all right.
This talking happened while he sipped two margaritas and she worked on a Paloma then moved on to a drink with vodka and hibiscus tea. They also ordered two rounds of tacos (al pastor for Ogo, chicken and birria quesa for Jana) but didn’t share.
Once it started getting dark, Ogo noticed they were both stifling yawns, so “I tried to read the room a little bit,” he said. They made their way out and he asked for Jana’s phone number. “No one asks for numbers anymore; I don’t know, everyone is lame,” he said. “I like to open the line of communication.”
Jana shared her number but admitted there was no spark. “I felt like it was a very platonic ‘We’re in this weird situation together, we’ll make the most of it’ [vibe],” she said. Ogo thought Jana was cool, but no butterflies for him either — though he said he would be open to hanging out as friends.
Jana: 3 [out of 5].
Ogo: 3.
Ogo texted once after the date when a movie he was watching made him think of a joke Jana had made, but the two haven’t been in contact since. | 2022-09-22T12:22:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Date Lab: His purple pants caught her eye - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/09/22/date-lab-his-purple-pants-caught-her-eye/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/09/22/date-lab-his-purple-pants-caught-her-eye/ |
Poll workers prepare to put out signs to guide voters to a polling station at Rose Hill Elementary School during the midterm primary election on June 21 in Alexandria. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Early voting in Virginia kicks off Friday, marking the start of the mad dash to Election Day in this year’s midterms with several high-profile races on the ballot in Virginia that could help determine which party controls Congress.
Democrats and the GOP have been wrestling to steer the narrative in the election. Republicans have been hammering on the economy and inflation and attacking Democrats for what they call “wasteful spending” in the Inflation Reduction Act, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated won’t materially affect inflation either way. Democrats, meanwhile, have been pouring millions into advertising on abortion after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, painting opponents as extreme in their opposition to abortion — while touting cutting health-care costs and boosting clean energy as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Voters can expect a continued deluge of TV ads and attacks on those issues in the ensuing weeks, particularly in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, where both parties have spent or reserved more than $15 million in broadcast TV ads, and in Virginia’s 2nd, where the parties have spent or reserved more than $7 million, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Local contests are also on the ballot in many cities and counties in Northern Virginia. Below, find information on how to register and how to vote early.
When does voting begin?
Who’s running for Congress in Virginia?
Who’s running in Arlington County races? | 2022-09-22T13:15:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A guide to the 2022 Virginia general election - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/virginia-general-election-ballot-faq/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/virginia-general-election-ballot-faq/ |
Tolling on Virginia’s 66 Express Lanes begins Saturday
The new travel lanes stretch for about nine miles. Another 13 miles of express lanes will open in December.
Motorists use regular and express lanes of I-66 outside of Manassas earlier this month. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post)
Tolling will begin Saturday on the western section of the 66 Express Lanes in Northern Virginia, bringing to an end a two-week, toll-free adjustment period.
The new Interstate 66 travel lanes stretch for about nine miles, from Route 29 in Gainesville to Route 28 in Centreville. Another roughly 13 miles of express lanes to the Capital Beltway are under construction and are scheduled to open in December.
The project expands I-66 to 10 through-travel lanes: three general-purpose lanes both eastbound and westbound, and two HOT lanes in each direction. The Virginia Department of Transportation expects the variable tolling system — similar to those along the 395, 495 and 95 Express Lanes — will help the state to better manage traffic, foster carpooling and public transit use, and give commuters more travel options.
Starting Saturday, the toll gantries will begin to charge tolls, while high occupancy vehicle (HOV) rules also will be in effect, VDOT said. Solo drivers will be charged a toll to use the lanes, but carpools with two or more people can ride free with an E-ZPass Flex set to “HOV” mode.
Toll rates change depending on how much traffic is on the road. Drivers will see the toll price on electronic signs before entering the lanes. Passenger vehicles such as cars, pickup trucks, SUVs and most vans will pay the same rate. Larger vehicles and large trucks will pay a higher rate, while motorcycles can use the lanes free.
When a driver passes under an overhead gantry, the E-ZPass account will be debited. Drivers will also be able to pay a toll online at Ride66express.com, by mail, by phone or in person at a customer service center in Manassas.
The speed limit in the express lanes is 70 mph, compared with 55 mph to 65 mph at various locations in the general lanes.
The new high occupancy toll lanes are the latest addition to the region’s growing network of express lanes, of which more than 70 miles are in Northern Virginia. | 2022-09-22T13:15:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Tolling on 66 Express Lanes in Northern Virginia starts Saturday - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/09/22/66-express-lanes-tolls/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/09/22/66-express-lanes-tolls/ |
Ask Sahaj: How do I get over my ‘unshakeable fear’ of being dumped?
Dear Sahaj: I am a 24-year-old woman, and I have been in a hetero relationship for three years. It has been going well, yet I have an unshakable fear of being dumped — like it’s the worst thing that could happen, no matter how respectful or rational that decision may be.
This is my first relationship, but it feels like a deeper problem, and I don't want it to drive my relational habits going forward.
The fact that I have this fear means even small and normal amounts of conflict in the relationship are really loaded for me, and as a result for him. We have something beautiful, which I want to learn to enjoy more by being mentally and emotionally present. I don’t want to be driven by the fear of losing it.
How do I keep the fear of rejection at bay?
Wondering: While it’s perfectly normal to want to belong, to be loved and to have successful relationships, a chronic fear of rejection may indicate something bigger — like a past trauma. Consider where this fear of rejection comes from, and how it manifested for you as a child, growing up or in other relationships. If the fear is deeply rooted in something more painful than your present relationship, I’d encourage you to seek out a professional to work toward treating that wound.
When we believe something about ourselves, no matter how much we don’t want to believe it, we may start to subconsciously act in ways to make it true. I hear insecurity and a lack of confidence in your question. Take a second to digest these next two questions:
Do you believe you are lovable? Do you believe you are worthy of love?
While you want this relationship to work out, reflect on if you are behaving in ways that may be self-sabotaging your relationship. This may look like placing unrealistic expectations on your boyfriend. Additionally, consider if there are any realistic needs that aren’t being met, like verbal validation, that can help you feel more secure with him. While your boyfriend can be supportive, you will need to go solo on self-reflection.
First romantic relationships often have a steep learning curve. However, three years is a long time! This isn’t new, which means that you and your boyfriend have attained some stability in your relationship. Yet, you still worry about it ending. This makes me wonder if it’s the happiness part that makes you so uncomfortable or concerned with the end.
You deserve to be happy. Don’t gloss over that …. You. Deserve. To. Be. Happy. If you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, or are somehow convinced you don’t deserve this, then you’re not really being present in your relationship. This isn’t easy to learn, but you can practice implementing a few things in your life to help you learn to accept happiness, build confidence and focus on the present.
You can schedule worry time in your week and only during that time allow yourself to freak out about getting rejected. You can practice mindfulness through focused breathing and noticing your emotions and body sensations that provide exemptions to this fear of rejection. You can say affirmations in the mirror every morning and evening to remind yourself that you are worthy. You can ask your friends and other relationships what they like about you and keep the list handy to remind yourself that you are deserving.
You may want to also learn to reframe conflict resolution as something that is beneficial for your relationship rather than something that is harmful. By caring enough about one another to work through any conflict, you and your boyfriend are actually allowing yourselves to grow together, and that is beautiful. | 2022-09-22T13:28:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ask Sahaj: How do I get over my 'unshakeable fear' of being dumped? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/09/22/ask-sahaj-dumped-fear-relationship/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/09/22/ask-sahaj-dumped-fear-relationship/ |
At the Phillips Collection, ‘Jacob Lawrence and the Children of Hiroshima’ looks at nuclear devastation through a lens of hope, and one of despair
“Relay Race,” an image by 9-year-old Nobuko Tanaka in the Phillips Collection exhibition “Jacob Lawrence and the Children of Hiroshima.” (Phillips Collection/All Soul’s Church Unitarian)
In 1947, when parishioners of a D.C. church sent 1,000 pounds of school supplies to Hiroshima, the long-term effects of atomic radiation were little understood. But many Americans did have a vivid sense of the destruction visited on the Japanese city, thanks to John Hersey’s book “Hiroshima.” That eloquent account, first published in the New Yorker in 1946, told what happened to six A-bomb survivors during and immediately after the blast.
Retropolis: The U.S. hid Hiroshima’s human suffering. Then John Hersey went to Japan.
Hersey and Hiroshima are the links between two sets of artworks on display at the Phillips Collection. “Jacob Lawrence and the Children of Hiroshima” places eight silk-screen prints Lawrence produced for a 1983 limited edition of Hersey’s book in the same gallery as eight circa-1947 drawings by students at the school closest to ground zero. The latter were previously shown locally in the American University Museum’s “Hiroshima-Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Exhibition” in 2015.
The children’s pictures, made with crayons and pencils donated by All Souls Church, a Unitarian congregation in Columbia Heights, contain just one hint of what happened in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. Most of the drawings are peaceful scenes of kids at play, along with a few portraits and a rendering of a woman in a kimono. The exception is a sunny view of one of the city’s many rivers, a scene that seems generic except for the skeletal ruin now usually called the A-Bomb Dome, visible at the far left.
The picture’s creator, who was 9 or 10 when she made it, may not have known that a T-shaped bridge in this neighborhood was the exact target of the airplane that dropped the nuclear bomb. The area included her school — Honkawa Elementary, now a peace museum — where more than 400 died on Aug. 6.
The crayon drawing contains something that’s lacking from Lawrence’s pictures: green, the color of life and renewal. His prints are mostly in shades of brown and reddish purple, punctuated by touches of blue, yellow and blood red. The palette is, intentionally and appropriately, eerily unnatural. Brown also dominates many of the paintings in Lawrence’s best-known set of illustrations, his 1940-41 “Migration Series,” half of whose 60 panels are owned by the Phillips. But in those, the color is earthier and less ominous.
Many of the children’s pictures include faces, which are largely missing from Lawrence’s prints. His subjects have skulls for heads, flanked by red flesh that appears partly melted away. The people perform everyday tasks while in a sort of half-life, surrounded by death. Several images include the corpses of dead birds, and one striking vignette depicts six people seated on benches, framed by the outline of a charred black tree in the foreground.
While most of Lawrence’s work focused on the Black experience, the African American artist had previously done paintings about World War II, based on his service in the U.S. Coast Guard during that conflict. (He served with the first racially integrated crew in Coast Guard history.) Lawrence was born in Atlantic City in 1917 and moved to Harlem at age 13, but spent the last third of his life in Seattle, where he went to teach at the University of Washington (and died in 2000). It’s likely he became more familiar with Asian American culture while in the Pacific Northwest.
Vivid artist Jacob Lawrence, 82, dies
That’s not evident from the eight Hiroshima prints, which were donated to the Phillips in 2021 by NoraLee and Jon Sedmak. There’s little that appears specifically Japanese in Lawrence’s work. But then, the artist didn’t have to provide the details of the Hiroshima bombing and its effects; Hersey had already done that. What Lawrence adds is the increased sense of terror that comes with recognizing the suffering caused over time by radiation, and because of the proliferation of nuclear weapons since 1946.
If the Hiroshima schoolchildren’s pictures represent innocence, Lawrence’s reflect experience. The former suppose a return to pre-nuclear normality; the latter grimly acknowledge that this is impossible.
Jacob Lawrence and the Children of Hiroshima
Dates: Through Nov. 27.
Admission: Included with general admission of $16; $12 for seniors; $10 for students and teachers; and free for members, children under 18 and military personnel. Masks are required. So are timed-entry tickets, except for members. | 2022-09-22T13:28:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Hiroshima, seen through the eyes of innocence and experience - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/09/22/phillips-collection-jacob-lawrence-and-the-children-of-hiroshima/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/09/22/phillips-collection-jacob-lawrence-and-the-children-of-hiroshima/ |
Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England (BOE), during the Monetary Policy Report news conference at the bank’s headquarters in the City of London, UK, on Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022. The Bank of England unleashed its biggest interest-rate hike in 27 years as it warned the UK is heading for more than a year of recession under the weight of soaring inflation. (Bloomberg)
The Bank of England acted cautiously by raising its official rate by 50 basis points to 2.25% on Thursday. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t step up the pace at its next quarterly economic review on Nov. 3, as it has made clear its determination to wrestle runaway inflation down to its 2% target. The global rate-hiking cycle is far from over, as the Federal Reserve illustrated on Wednesday with its third consecutive 75 basis-point jump.
In the world we live in a half-point hike is now considered dovish, with its central banking peers — especially its neighbor the European Central Bank — taking three-quarter point leaps. But the UK is a more open and interest-rate sensitive economy. Moreover, the BOE is not in possession of the full facts about the government’s impending plans to deliver a fiscal boost.
Sterling was little changed to the dollar, remaining close to its lowest level since 1985. On a trade-weighted basis the value of the pound has fallen 10% in the past year, back toward the pandemic lows of March 2020. Ten-year gilt yields similarly barely reacted, but remain close to the highest levels since 2014 and treble where they started this year. Sterling money markets are pricing in a peak of rates at 5% by the middle of next year, although that is considerably higher than most economists expect. Bloomberg Economics looks for 3.75% by the summer of next year, with no rate cuts until 2024.
This more measured approach illustrates that the BOE is treading a finer line, compared with the Fed and ECB, in assessing the economic impact of rapidly escalating borrowing costs. Bloomberg Economics Senior Economist Dan Hanson suggests that “the government’s emergency energy support package reduces the need to up the hiking pace by ensuring a lower inflation peak and a faster decline next year.” The BOE now expects inflation to peak at just under 11% in October, though it may stay above 10% for several months. That may mean interest rates stay higher for longer if the BOE assesses that a more generous fiscal policy will lead to increased consumer spending, although the BOE’s statement did flag up evidence from its agents that retail activity and underlying growth may be starting to slow down.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng is due to unveil his plan for growth on Friday, which should give clearer direction on the size of the fiscal largesse the government is preparing to dispense to lift the UK economy. The BOE will need to analyze carefully how stimulatory these measures might be, to calibrate how much further monetary policy needs to be tightened to counteract rising inflation expectations.
Courtesy of the government’s promised spending splurge, the BOE will likely amend upwards its growth outlook at its November review. In August, somewhat controversially, its forecasts mapped out a five-quarter long recession. Nonetheless, the risks of a mild technical recession remain for either this year or next.
Another reason for the BOE refraining from ever larger rate hikes is its dual approach to tightening financial conditions. The Monetary Policy Committee is stepping up the reduction of its quantitative easing bond pot. Direct sales back into the gilt market will commence next month, in addition to maturing holdings not being reinvested.
This will double the annual attrition rate to £80 billion ($90 billion), as the BOE seeks to reduce its £838 billion of holdings. The gilt market should be able to take this is in its stride. Many of the BOE’s holdings are in bonds that are in short supply, so it could improve overall liquidity, if deftly arranged not to clash with new issuance from the government.
There is one important caveat to this, which is how much the overall scale of gilt sales is raised over the rest of the fiscal year. This will be announced when Kwarteng finishes his fiscal statement on Friday. An increase of around £60 billion, lifting the full-year total to £190 billion, is expected, but the distribution in maturities is also important as there has been a noticeable lack of issuance in shorter-dated debt in recent years.
Issuance for the next fiscal year, starting in April 2023, could rise by as much as £100 billion, but details of that will not known until the November budget at the earliest, in combination with new set of financial forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
There are a lot of moving parts for the BOE to digest, not only how the economy is reacting to its rate-hiking pace, but also the sudden political switch to looser fiscal policy from the previous government’s more parsimonious approach. The MPC will be keen not to be viewed as taking its eye off the inflation ball. Thursday’s more considered approach doesn’t mean that the peak in rates will be either lower, or reached earlier. UK monetary policy remains very much a work in progress.
Fed Splits the Difference on Labor Market Pain: Jonathan Levin
Fed Must Show It’s Willing to Cause a Recession: Editorial | 2022-09-22T13:28:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Bank of England Is Right to Take a Softly, Softly Approach on Rates - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/bank-of-england-is-right-to-take-a-softly-softly-approach-on-rates/2022/09/22/33873de8-3a6e-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/bank-of-england-is-right-to-take-a-softly-softly-approach-on-rates/2022/09/22/33873de8-3a6e-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
A congressional aide inspects the official tally during a joint session of Congress to count the Electoral College votes of the 2020 presidential election in the House Chamber in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. The U.S. Capitol was placed under lockdown and Vice President Mike Pence left the floor of Congress as hundreds of protesters swarmed past barricades surrounding the building where lawmakers were debating Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College. (Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg)
This difference was the topic of intense debate in the Democratic Party this year. The party supported some extreme candidates in Republican congressional primaries, on the theory that they would be easier to defeat in the general election. Critics said the practice was irresponsible and risked the possibility of putting people who would be a threat to US democracy in Congress.
During the floor debate, many Republicans questioned why the bill was being rushed. The answer is obvious: There’s a very good chance that Republicans will have a House majority in January, and no one expects them to move similar legislation.(1)
Yes, things are different on the Senate side, where more Republicans may vote for it. Still, there’s a good argument that the more House Republicans are elected, the more US democracy is in danger. (And for whatever it’s worth, in all six districts where Democrats meddled and the more extreme Republican was nominated, the Democrat is likely to win.)
(1) To be sure, Democrats may think there’s some very marginal advantage in moving the bill before the election rather than waiting for it to pass in a lame-duck session. Realistically, however, it’s extremely unlikely that this bill will get very much attention in the media, and even if it did a day or two of media attention to a technical-sounding bill in mid-September is hardly going to move voters in November. | 2022-09-22T13:28:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Even Mainstream Republicans Are Pretty Extreme - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/even-mainstream-republicans-are-pretty-extreme/2022/09/22/171e26ee-3a73-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/even-mainstream-republicans-are-pretty-extreme/2022/09/22/171e26ee-3a73-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
The neighboring United Arab Emirates has the Arab world’s leading space program, having launched a probe into Mars' orbit in February 2021. The UAE plans to launch its first lunar rover in November. If the moon mission succeeds, the UAE and Japan, which is providing the lander, would join the ranks of only the U.S., Russia and China as nations that have put a spacecraft on the lunar surface. | 2022-09-22T13:29:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Saudi Arabia plans to send female astronaut to space in 2023 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/saudi-arabia-plans-to-send-female-astronaut-to-space-in-2023/2022/09/22/d34aefd0-3a75-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/saudi-arabia-plans-to-send-female-astronaut-to-space-in-2023/2022/09/22/d34aefd0-3a75-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
Virginia judge boots progressive prosecutor from second case
The move came in a case that has become a rallying cry for conservatives nationwide
Buta Biberaj at an event in 2019 after being elected Loudoun County commonwealth's attorney. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)
A Virginia judge once again has booted Loudoun County’s progressive prosecutor from a criminal case, a judicial intervention that analysts say is extraordinary and raises questions about whether he is exceeding the bounds of his authority.
In the latest move, Circuit Court Judge James E. Plowman Jr. this month disqualified Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj (D) from the misdemeanor case against a Leesburg father who was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest last year. The charges came after the father showed up at a Loudoun County School Board meeting to protest what he said was a coverup of his daughter’s sexual assault in a Stone Bridge High School bathroom.
The case has become a rallying cry for conservatives nationwide, fueling backlash against a policy in Loudoun County schools — put in place after the assault — that allowed transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. Authorities have described the assailant as a male student wearing a skirt; the girl’s parents have alleged the person was “gender fluid.”
Judges only in rare instances remove attorneys from ongoing cases, but it was Plowman’s second time booting Biberaj from a case this year. Some legal experts have questioned whether Plowman has the legal authority to remove Biberaj from such cases, while others have said the judge’s moves raise separation-of-powers concerns.
“No statute gives Virginia judges the power to do this,” said Darryl K. Brown, a professor of law and criminal procedure at the University of Virginia School of Law. “The sole statute that empowers judges to appoint a substitute for a local prosecutor authorizes that action only in very limited circumstances: when the commonwealth’s attorney ‘is unable to act, or to attend to his official duties as attorney for the Commonwealth, due to sickness, disability or other reason of a temporary nature.’ ”
Virginia’s highest court, Brown said, has held that the phrase “other reason of a temporary nature” refers to circumstances such as a sickness or disability.
The judge’s moves are the latest head winds facing Biberaj, who says crime has fallen even as she has cut down on pretrial detention for nonviolent, low-level offenders. A recall campaign has gathered thousands of signatures, and organizers said they expect to begin the formal court process to remove the prosecutor next year. Other judges have booted attorneys in Biberaj’s office from cases involving a different sexual assault and recall attempts of a school board official. The chair of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, a Democrat, has criticized Biberaj for hiring a sex offender as a paralegal and then inaccurately blaming the county’s human resources department for the lapse. The sex offender was dismissed within days.
But the most potent criticism has come from Plowman, who led the Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office for 15 years as a Republican before taking the bench in 2019. Biberaj frequently criticized his legacy during her campaign.
Plowman’s one-page order, dated Sept. 2, says the court could not find that Biberaj had a direct conflict of interest. But the judge called into question Biberaj’s impartiality and replaced her with Eric Olsen, the Republican prosecutor in Stafford County. Olsen said he received a courtesy call from Plowman before the appointment but that the judge did not say why he had been chosen.
“The concerns about the public confidence in the integrity of the prosecution as well as the Defendant’s concerns regarding the impartiality of the Commonwealth’s Attorney are sufficiently grounded,” the judge’s order says. “As a result the integrity of the Defendant’s due process rights is in jeopardy and must be protected.”
In a statement to The Washington Post, Biberaj said: “I and the voters of Loudoun County are concerned that their elected commonwealth’s attorney is being prevented from serving them. I will not speak to the issue of any bias against me or my office but leave it to the community to make its own conclusions.”
William M. Stanley Jr., an attorney for the father charged with disorderly conduct, accused Biberaj of bias and asked the judge to remove her from the case because she was heavily criticized after the student accused in the Stone Bridge High School sexual assault case was initially released. In a legal brief, Stanley, who is also a Republican state senator in Virginia, added that Biberaj “has been a fierce proponent of criminal justice reform” and was a member of a private Facebook group called Anti-Racist Parents of Loudoun, which has been accused of doxing opponents of teaching critical race theory in public schools. Stanley’s brief did not explain how these activities affected his client’s case.
The sexual assault at Stone Bridge took place in late May 2021. The school board meeting at which the girl’s father was arrested was held in June. The student assailant was arrested July 8, 2021, and released pending trial. Virginia law does not allow authorities to hold juveniles for more than three weeks in jail before charges are adjudicated or transferred to a different court for adult proceedings. After being released, the student was charged with sexually assaulting another girl, at a different school, in October 2021. The student was found to have committed both assaults.
“I am pleased by the court’s fair and just ruling, and I look forward to proving my innocence for my actions at the June 22, 2021, Loudoun County School Board meeting at the upcoming criminal trial,” the father, 49, said in a statement after Plowman removed Biberaj from his case.
The Post is not naming the father to protect the identity of his daughter, a juvenile victim of sexual assault.
The father was convicted of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in Loudoun County General District Court. He appealed to the Circuit Court, and the case landed on Plowman’s docket. At a hearing May 2, Plowman dismissed the charge of resisting arrest, leaving only the disorderly conduct charge.
A Loudoun County sheriff’s deputy who participated in the father’s arrest wrote in a police report that the school board meeting had turned rowdy, with disruptions from protesters and counterprotesters. Amid the hubbub, a woman told the father “that she was going to ruin his business,” the report says, and the father clenched his fists, called her an epithet and “advanced on her.”
“Immediately upon seeing that, I tried to restrain him, but he pulled away,” Loudoun County sheriff’s deputy Timothy Iversen wrote in the report, adding that the father “resisted by refusing to give me and other deputies his hands, instead continuing to hold them under his body.”
“Multiple deputies had to utilize active counter measures including punching and what appeared to be pressure points to get his hands out from underneath his body and into handcuffs,” Iversen wrote.
Biberaj said she was not at the school board meeting and did not know the Leesburg father who was arrested.
“The evidence is that while at the school board hearing, [the father] engaged in aggressive behaviors that caused a Loudoun County deputy to be concerned about the physical safety of a woman,” Biberaj said. “When the deputy interceded, [the father] tussled with him and other deputies,” Biberaj said, adding that the “prosecution was based on the investigation and arrest by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.”
Plowman declined to comment. Court staff cited ethical restrictions that prevent judges from speaking publicly about pending cases.
Miriam Krinsky, executive director of the group Fair and Just Prosecution, said Biberaj was under fire from political foes because the progressive prosecutor was trying to “roll back tough-on-crime policies that have cost us billions of dollars, wasted many lives and have not made our communities safer.”
Sean Kennedy, head of the group Virginians for Safe Communities, which is leading the recall effort against Biberaj, said Plowman’s orders to disqualify Biberaj were extraordinary but justified. In addition to being disqualified from cases by at least three judges, he said, the commonwealth’s attorney’s office under Biberaj also hired a sex offender to be a paralegal without conducting a background check.
“She’s doing things that are beyond the pale,” Kennedy said. “Buta personally prosecuted the father on medium-to-mild misdemeanor charges. That is extraordinary. … The idea that she would have no sympathy for him but would have sympathy for every other criminal defendant in front of this court is really disturbing.”
Biberaj said her office received the application for the temporary paralegal position “from the county HR department.” “Our assumption was that the screening process included a background check. The application listed work history that included the Department of Justice,” she said. The man’s federal probation officer called on his second day of work, and Biberaj terminated him after learning of his record, she said.
“As a result of this experience, we worked with HR to amend the applications to affirmatively ask about criminal convictions, a new background check vendor was selected, and our office does the background check verification prior to the start date of any team member followed by a fingerprint check after hiring,” Biberaj added.
The legal feud between Biberaj and Plowman flared up this year when the judge accused prosecutors in her office of hiding details from a 19-year-old defendant’s criminal and juvenile record to “sell” a plea deal that called for six months in prison for nonviolent robbery charges.
Judges have the power to reject plea agreements between prosecutors and defendants, which is an uncommon step in and of itself. But Plowman went further, issuing an order in June that disqualified Biberaj and all 23 lawyers in her office from the case. As a replacement, the judge tapped the Fauquier County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
Biberaj protested the move and said her opponents were “trying to subvert the will of the voters.” She asked the Supreme Court of Virginia to annul Plowman’s order in the case.
A group of progressive prosecutors from across the country, including several from Northern Virginia, filed an amicus brief in the state Supreme Court in support of Biberaj. They argue that Plowman’s order “sets a dangerous precedent around eroding the will of voters and intruding into discretion uniquely vested in our nation’s and Virginia’s elected prosecutors.” | 2022-09-22T13:29:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Loudoun County judge boots progressive prosecutor from second case - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/loudon-county-attorney-disqualified-case/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/loudon-county-attorney-disqualified-case/ |
Manchin's permitting bill sets up dramatic clash over government funding
Good morning and welcome to The Climate 202! Today we're grateful for gorgeous sunsets on Capitol Hill. 🌅 But first:
Manchin's permitting proposal sets up dramatic clash over government funding bill
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) on Wednesday unveiled the long-awaited text of legislation to speed up the nation's permitting process for energy infrastructure, including polluting fossil fuel projects and the clean energy projects crucial to President Biden's climate goals.
But the bill, dubbed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022, faces staunch opposition from Republicans and a growing group of Democrats in both chambers of Congress.
The mounting opposition threatens to undermine an agreement between Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and President Biden to pass the permitting proposal as part of a government funding bill — an unusual compromise that secured Manchin's elusive support for the Inflation Reduction Act.
The details: The 91-page bill would take the following steps aimed at streamlining federal agencies' approval process for new energy projects, according to a summary from Manchin's office:
Set a two-year time limit for reviews of major projects under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Set a 150-day statute of limitations for lawsuits over projects.
Create a rolling list of 25 projects that are in the “national interest,” including five fossil fuel projects.
Most controversially, the measure seeks to expedite the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would transport natural gas about 300 miles from West Virginia to Virginia and is a key priority of Manchin's.
The bill directs agencies to “take all necessary actions” to issue new permits for the pipeline, which has been delayed by legal setbacks.
The measure also requires all future litigation over the pipeline to be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, rather than the 4th Circuit, which has previously ruled that agencies failed to consider erosion, construction runoff or the impact on endangered fish species when approving permits for the project.
More Democratic concerns
Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) on Wednesday became the latest Democrat to oppose the permitting legislation, citing the provisions that would help more than 100 miles of the Mountain Valley Pipeline traverse his home state.
“I was not consulted about it. I will do everything I can to oppose it,” Kaine told reporters Wednesday evening.
“Allowing a corporation that is unhappy about losing a case to strip jurisdiction away from the entire court that has handled the case? Unprecedented,” he added. “It would open the door for massive abuse and corruption.”
NEWS: @timkaine opposes Manchin’s permitting bill because it would expedite the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
Still, Kaine stopped short of saying he would vote against the stopgap funding bill, which would raise the risks of a government shutdown when the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.
Earlier Wednesday, news broke that Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) was organizing a letter from a handful of liberal senators calling for a stand-alone vote on the permitting bill. That would allow critics of the permitting proposal to vote against it without voting to shut down the government.
The letter has garnered support from Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Politico first reported on the letter. A spokeswoman for Merkley confirmed the accuracy of that report.
Led by House Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), liberal House lawmakers have made a similar demand.
Sanders had previously come out against the permitting bill, calling it a “huge giveaway to the fossil fuel industry.” But Warren had maintained that she would withhold judgment until seeing the final text of the measure.
After seeing the text, Warren told reporters Wednesday: “If Congress is going to consider significant changes in permitting, then we should be able to have an up-or-down vote."
Republican jeers, climate hawk cheers
Meanwhile, 47 of 50 Senate Republicans have rallied around a rival permitting proposal from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) that would boost fossil fuel projects and codify some of former president Donald Trump's changes to the environmental permitting process.
“If our colleague across the aisle wants real permitting reform, Senator Capito's fantastic bill only needs Senator Manchin plus nine more Democrats to clear this chamber,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on the Senate floor Wednesday. "Otherwise it would appear the senior senator from West Virginia traded his vote on a massive liberal boondoggle in exchange for nothing."
Still, some climate hawks have insisted that the Manchin bill would expedite the transmission lines necessary for carrying clean power across the country.
“If we don't get transmission right, we're not going to meet our clean energy goals,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), one of the Senate's most vocal climate advocates.
“The whole strategy here is to electrify everything and to create a nationwide grid,” he said, “and that's part of permitting reform.”
.@SenBrianSchatz says he’s seen the text of Manchin’s permitting bill and it would help expedite transmission projects.
He urges reporters covering the permitting reform debate to read @robinsonmeyer’s piece. https://t.co/EDiwBnPg92
Senate ratifies treaty amendment curbing climate super-pollutants
The Senate on Wednesday voted 69-27 to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which compels countries to sharply limit the use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs — the planet-warming gases used in air conditioning and refrigeration that are hundreds to thousands of times as powerful as carbon dioxide in speeding up climate change, Steven Mufson reports for The Washington Post.
U.S. climate envoy John F. Kerry, who was in the Rwandan capital of Kigali when the amendment was first negotiated in 2016, said the Senate vote “was a decade in the making and a profound victory for the climate and the American economy.”
The treaty, which had to win the approval of at least two-thirds of the Senate, garnered broad bipartisan support for its potential to boost American competitiveness in the global market and to avert a climate catastrophe.
U.N. chief blasts fossil fuel industry, rich countries
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres delivered scathing remarks criticizing developed nations and fossil fuel companies after a closed-door roundtable Wednesday on climate change, Max Bearak reports for the New York Times.
The remarks came after at least half a dozen global leaders met privately for a “frank and informal exchange” on climate policy during the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The meeting, which was chaired by Guterres and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, was aimed at laying the groundwork for the COP27 climate summit in Egypt in November.
After the session, Guterres warned that the more ambitious goal of the Paris agreement — limiting Earth's warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels — is “fading fast” because of government and corporate inaction.
“You have all seen the appalling images from Pakistan,” he said, referring to the devastating flooding there, which scientists have found was intensified by climate change. “This is happening at just 1.2 degrees of global warming. And we are headed for over 3 degrees.”
The federal government’s response to Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria in 2017 did not equally serve people with disabilities, impoverished communities and non-native English speakers, according to a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report released Wednesday, The Post’s David Nakamura reports.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which killed 2,975 people in Puerto Rico, the commission found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not have enough Spanish-speaking staff members, was not adequately prepared, and that contractors hired with federal funds often failed to complete their work. Some commissioners argued that Puerto Rico’s status as a territory without full congressional representation added to the inequities it faced at the time.
Meanwhile after Hurricane Harvey, which killed 68 people in Texas, people with disabilities often did not receive adequate accommodations after being forced into shelters. The commission recommended that FEMA streamline its application process for aid but avoid a “one-size-fits-all” approach to disasters while focusing efforts on the most vulnerable communities.
California has brought renewable energy production to scale in recent years, but when a rare heat wave hit this month, state officials required residents to conserve electricity during peak hours to avert widespread outages because the state does not yet have enough storage capacity to hold onto excess solar and wind power, Erica Werner reports for The Post.
Clean energy generation in the Golden State is far ahead of storage capacity, causing energy officials to turn down surplus energy just hours before demand peaks. Some proponents of the system said the current unreliability of the grid is expected while California embarks on the nation's most ambitious transition to renewable energy, and that eventually generation and storage will balance out.
But others argue that as extreme hot spells occur more frequently because of global warming, strain on the grid will only worsen and it will be hard for storage capacity to catch up.
“The irony is that the very technology we’re relying on to fight climate change is making us vulnerable exactly at those moments when climate impacts are at their worst,” said Kyle Meng, co-director of the climate and energy program at the University of California at Santa Barbara’s Environmental Market Solutions Lab.
Hurricane Fiona’s destruction of Puerto Rico, in maps and photos — Marisa Iati and Daniel Wolfe for The Post
These planes are battery operated. Will that fly? — Pranshu Verma for The Post
Fiona barreling toward Canada as threat to U.S. grows from new disturbance — Matthew Cappucci for The Post
Dozens of records smashed in Midwest during late September heat wave — Zach Rosenthal for The Post
Calls to replace Trump-appointed World Bank chief grow after climate denial — Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Eric Martin for Bloomberg News
Just hanging: 😍
On our radar: Senate Democrats to press a doomed procedural vote on the Disclose Act | 2022-09-22T13:29:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Manchin's permitting bill sets up dramatic clash over government funding - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/manchin-permitting-bill-sets-up-dramatic-clash-over-government-funding/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/manchin-permitting-bill-sets-up-dramatic-clash-over-government-funding/ |
Michael Locksley and the Terps travel to No. 4 Michigan on Saturday. “The guys believe,” the coach said this week. “I don’t think there’s anybody, when we step on the field, that doesn’t.” (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
The bridge that lies ahead this weekend for the Maryland football team is as familiar as it is rickety. This is a movie that would fit into one of those two-day TBS marathons, a repeat over and over and over again. The Terrapins are 3-0. They travel to play No. 4 Michigan on Saturday. A victory could change the course of the program.
Yet rewind the movies again, just those since the Terps joined the Big Ten.
In 2014, they were 4-1 and won their conference opener — then played Ohio State and lost 52-24.
In 2016, they were 4-0 and won their conference opener — then went to Penn State and lost 38-14.
In 2017, they started 3-1 and won their conference opener — then went to Ohio State and lost 62-14.
In 2018, they started 3-1 and won their conference opener — then went to Michigan and lost 42-21.
Last year, they started 4-0 — then hosted Iowa in their conference opener and lost 51-14.
Given all that, Michael Locksley would seem to have quite a sales job to get his players to even begin to believe the Terrapins could beat the Wolverines.
South Carolina coach apologizes for demanding female athletes leave field
“The guys believe,” Locksley said in an interview this week, surely and emphatically. “I don’t think there’s anybody, when we step on the field, that doesn’t.”
That’s a step, then. To cross the bridge, to change the channel, the Terps who are on the field must discard all evidence of what’s happened in these situations before, even if the Terps fans in the stands or on the couch might need some convincing.
Which doesn’t mean Locksley’s beyond molding the Terps’ minds to solidify that belief. To be clear about what’s ahead: Michigan is the defending Big Ten champion, a program that reached the College Football Playoff last season and has designs on repeating those accomplishments this campaign. The Wolverines (3-0) rank third in the nation in yards allowed per game (194.0) and yards allowed per play (3.22), and they just unleashed a quarterback — sophomore J.J. McCarthy — who might be the best Coach Jim Harbaugh has had in college since he coached Andrew Luck at Stanford.
Maryland’s lone win at the Big House came in 2014 and was so devastating in Ann Arbor that it was a factor in getting then-Wolverines coach Brady Hoke fired. It was long enough ago that Locksley, then the Terps’ offensive coordinator, said he doesn’t remember much about the game.
What he might remember: Since that upset, the Terps have played Michigan six times and lost six times, with the average score of roughly 43-10.
So, then, belief?
“I asked them about Grandma’s macaroni and cheese,” Locksley said.
Locksley said he asked his players whether Grandma’s macaroni and cheese is better on Christmas than it is on a normal Sunday dinner. The emphatic response: No.
“It’s slammin’,” Locksley said, parroting his players. “It’s great. It’s unbelievable.”
The connection?
“Who we play doesn’t change” what the Terps do, the coach said. “It’s the consistency of how we prepare to play. Which is what makes Grandma’s macaroni and cheese good on Christmas Day or a regular Sunday after church.
“I’m trying to get us out of this mentality of riding this wave of emotions where we prepare differently for Charlotte than we do Ohio State, prepare differently for Michigan than we do SMU. Because that’s not the case as a football coach. We don’t go in and say, ‘It’s Michigan week. Let’s all of a sudden ramp up our intensity,’ because that’s not how you go about building a winning program.”
Campus cleanup: Kansas is 3-0. Yep, Kansas is 3-0.
The obstacles to building a winning program for Maryland in the Big Ten have been hashed and rehashed in this space. The one right in front of them, Michigan, is what matters at the moment.
“It’s like they’re just another team,” said junior receiver Rakim Jarrett, who caught a 48-yard touchdown pass in the Terps’ penalty-filled, come-from-behind victory over SMU on Saturday.
That might seem like forced belief. For Jarrett and an increasing number of Terrapins, it’s not. He is a Prince George’s County native who played at powerhouse St. John’s in the District and received scholarship offers from, among others, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State and — you guessed it — Michigan. He is exactly the kind of player Locksley pledged to keep home.
“I don’t want to sound like something I’m not,” Jarrett said, choosing his words carefully. “But since I’ve been recruited by all these teams, it’s like they don’t really excite me as much as they would excite somebody that didn’t have the chance to go to Michigan.”
That’s Grandma’s mac and cheese baked-in, right there. Yeah, it’s corny (cornbread?), but it makes sense. According to the recruiting site 247 Sports, Maryland’s past three recruiting classes have composite rankings of 31st, 18th and 31st nationally. Yeah, Michigan’s were 10th, 13th and ninth in that time. Michigan certainly has more experienced talent and more depth, so there’s a disparity. It just shouldn’t be a 43-10 disparity.
“Get it to the fourth quarter, and now it’s who executes the best,” Locksley said. “Sometimes it neutralizes the difference in skill level or depth level because they’ve got pressure on them, like we have pressure on us. Who’s going to handle it the best? That’s why we try to prepare for pressure.”
By the fourth quarter of blowouts, the pressure is long gone. Which gets us to this point: Through three games — wins over Buffalo, at Charlotte and the comeback against SMU — this looks like the best of Locksley’s four teams as the Terps’ head coach. Fair assessment?
“No doubt about it,” Locksley said. “There’s no doubt it’s the best culture and the best players I’ve had since I’ve been here — across the board.”
Whether that’s enough to cross the bridge or change the channel or [insert overwrought metaphor here] will show up at noon Saturday. The talented Terps have pledged to prepare with the consistency of Grandma’s mac and cheese. At some point — be it Saturday or some date we can’t yet see from here — that will have to help change the results. | 2022-09-22T13:45:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Maryland football takes hot start to Michigan - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/maryland-michigan-michael-locksley/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/maryland-michigan-michael-locksley/ |
Art All Night brings music, dance, mural painting and cultural performances to neighborhoods across D.C. on Friday and Saturday nights. (D.C. Department of Small and Local Business Development)
Theatre Washington Theatre Week: More than 20 productions around the D.C. area offer discounted tickets during this fall’s Theatre Week, with shows priced at either $22, $33 or $44. (Eagle-eyed readers will note that Theatre “Week” actually stretches for 18 days.) A variety of shows are participating, including “Dear Evan Hansen” at the Kennedy Center, “The Color Purple” at Signature Theatre and, for younger audiences, “Witch Wartsmith’s Halloween Spooktacular” at the Puppet Co. in Glen Echo Park. The festivities kick off with a free event at Arena Stage on Sept. 24, featuring performances, panel discussions and workshops with almost three dozen theaters starting at 11 a.m., followed by a concert starring local musical theater pros at the Wharf from 4 to 6 p.m. Other events during the week include pre-show happy hours, a night out at Nationals Park, and a free weekend bike ride from the Keegan Theatre to the Reach at the Kennedy Center, with stops at other theaters along the way. Through Oct. 9. $22-$44.
Banned Books Week: With attempts to ban and remove books from school libraries at record levels, the annual Banned Books Week is receiving more attention than usual. At Busboys and Poets in Anacostia, best-selling author and MacArthur “genius” grant winner Ibram X. Kendi joins Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) to discuss the impact of censorship and how it shapes what’s read — and what isn’t. (7 p.m. Free.) At the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, a panel of scholars discuss the works of Toni Morrison, whose “Beloved” and “The Bluest Eye” are frequently the subject of bans. The first 100 audience members to register receive a copy of “The Bluest Eye” or “Miss Chloe.” (7 p.m. Free.) In tribute to Banned Books Week, Frederick brewery Flying Dog has been taking over Little Free Libraries around the region, stocking them with frequently banned or challenged titles. One of those libraries is at Brookland’s Finest, which has created a “banned book and beer pairings” menu, encouraging customers to pull a book and pair it with one of its 10 drafts. Suggestions include Soul Mega’s Worldwide Pale Ale with James Baldwin’s “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and Denizens’ Born Bohemian Pilsener with Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.” (Through Saturday. Beers $7-$8.50; books free.)
Latin American Film Festival at AFI Silver: The Latin American Film Festival runs for almost three weeks, a crowded slate featuring 41 films from 21 countries — from Argentina to Venezuela, plus Spain and Portugal, too. Highlights include 2023 Oscar selections from Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Uruguay; numerous U.S. and North American premieres; Q&A sessions with filmmakers; and post-screening events sponsored by embassies. (The opening night screening of “Argentina, 1985” features a wine reception with the Argentine embassy; Sept. 30’s screening of “Dos Estaciones” is followed by a reception with a tequila tasting, thanks to the Mexican Cultural Institute.) Through Oct. 12. $15 per film; $200 all-access festival pass.
‘Saved by the Barrel’ at Barrel: After more than two years, Capitol Hill’s Barrel is finally reopening its basement bar, which has previously hosted extended pop-ups dedicated to “Seinfeld” and the 1990s tiki bar Politiki, among other themes. As you can guess from the name, “Saved by the Barrel” has a ’90s theme, with drinks including a Cosmo (“The Carrie Bradshaw”) and an Appletini (“Master of Your Domain”), plus adult Capri-Sun pouched cocktails. Throw in a matching playlist and decor, and you’ve got a night of boozy nostalgia. Thursday through Saturday from 6 p.m. to close. Drinks $13-$15.
D.C. Firefighters Burn Foundation Hot Sauce Contest and Pig Roast at Rocklands Barbeque: The D.C. Firefighters Burn Foundation is a nonprofit that raises money for the recovery and rehabilitation of burn patients and injured firefighters. The group’s annual pig roast features a homemade hot sauce contest alongside all-you-can-eat pulled pork and sides and all-you-can-drink Right Proper beer. The all-ages event includes a firetruck for family photos. 5 to 8 p.m. $15-$45.
Art All Night: Art All Night has been a staple of D.C.’s cultural calendar since 2011, but this year’s festival is the biggest yet, with more than two dozen neighborhoods offering after-dark music, food, film, pop-up exhibits and hands-on activities in all eight wards of the city over two nights. Listen to go-go and watch a fashion show in Congress Heights; taste through a beer garden full of Black-owned brands in Shaw; try double Dutch and meet mini-cows and alpacas at a petting zoo in Franklin Square downtown; learn about the history of Mount Pleasant at a talk and film screening; go gallery hopping in Georgetown — every part of the city comes alive with culture. Just pick a neighborhood and explore. Friday and Saturday. Times and locations vary — See dcartallnight.org for links to schedules, organized by ward.
SporcleCon at the Washington Hilton: Washington is packed with pub quizzes, from national chains organizing games at neighborhood bars to weekly events where the hosts write their own questions. But D.C. hasn’t seen anything like SporcleCon, billed as “the biggest trivia event in the U.S.,” with three days of quizzes, scavenger hunts, one-hour single-subject competitions, head-to-head trivia showdowns, game shows and much more. There are even “boot camps” that will fill your brain with answers to common quiz queries, broken into themes like “elements” and “presidents.” While the topics and formats are broad, the spirit of Alex Trebek looms large over proceedings: The official host is 12-time “Jeopardy!” champ Austin Rogers; journalist Claire McNear, the author of “Answers in the Form of Questions,” will discuss the state of “Jeopardy!” with a panel on Saturday; and Sunday begins with “Jeopardy!” auditions, though participants must be preapproved. Friday through Sunday. $99-$129 per day; $199-$299 full weekend.
Lovettsville Oktoberfest: Lovettsville’s two-day Oktoberfest shows the historic small town at its best. The Oktoberfest king and queen are crowned at the fire station on Friday night before a ceremonial keg tapping on the town green and a performance by ’80s cover band the Reflex. Saturday brings a pancake breakfast at the elementary school and races in the community park before Kinderfest welcomes kids to the town green for family activities, including karaoke and chicken dances. The main event is the traditional wiener dog races — “the fastest 30-foot dash on 3-inch legs” — beginning at 2 p.m., while German music continues at locations around town, alongside food trucks, vendors and beer gardens. There’s more music in the evening, plus stein holding and hauling competitions, leading to the annual climax: a “world record singalong attempt” for the most people simultaneously singing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Friday from 5 to 11 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. 6 E. Pennsylvania Ave., Lovettsville, Va. Free.
Oktoberfest celebrations: While the party continues at many German restaurants and bars, there are also some special events taking place this weekend. The Guinness Open Gate Brewery kicks off three weekends of parties on Friday, pouring five exclusive German beer styles and featuring music by the Sepp Walzer Fest Band. Friday through Sunday. Free.
Urban Garden Solar Return release party at City-State Brewing: Urban Garden Brewing celebrates its first anniversary by — what else? — releasing a new beer. D.C.'s first Black woman-owned beer brand has previously made beers at Right Proper and DC Brau, but for the anniversary beer, founder Eamoni Tate-Collier partnered with City-State Brewing in Edgewood to create Solar Return, a sorrel saison. The release party includes a performance by Malcolm Hilton and DJs Bri Mafia and Ethedizzle. 5 to 8 p.m. Free.
D.C. Beer Week: The annual D.C. Beer Week is significantly scaled down this year — its website refers to it as “D.C. Beer All Week(end) — but there are still events worth noting. Friday kicks off with the Karaoke Battle of the Brewers at Metrobar, which features D.C. brewers trying to prove they’re as good at singing as they are at making beer, while the audience gets to enjoy a few pints. (7 p.m. Free.) DC Brau hosts a party as part of Art All Night (see above) with a DJ and the beginning of a mural crawl. (5 to 8 p.m. Free.) For parents, the Lane at Ivy City hosts “Bar and Bounce”: Kids get to spend two hours playing in a bounce house while adults drink beers on the club’s rooftop deck. (5 to 8 p.m. $20.)
Cinema Hearts at Comet Ping Pong: When she started performing as Cinema Hearts, Caroline Weinroth set out to unite two icons of Americana that seemed impossibly far apart: Miss America and the electric guitar. After graduating from college, the singer-songwriter tried to make that fantasy a reality, competing on the pageant circuit and winning a handful of crowns throughout Virginia. Apart from giving her post-college life some structure, the world of pageants allowed her to tango with how girls and women are taught and treated in society. While Cinema Hearts has previously viewed the subject of the female experience through the prism of pageantry, the fixation is most acute on the recently released “Your Ideal” EP. The five-tracker kicks off with two songs from the perspective of a woman ready to be whatever is expected of her: a queen, a princess, a trophy, a fantasy, an ideal. A few years removed from the scene, Weinroth is grappling with the larger societal struggles that pageants underscore. 10 p.m. $15.
Interview: Cinema Hearts: An ex-pageant queen turned indie rocker
‘A Night with Jackie “Moms” Mabley’: The Essential Theatre is showcasing one of last century’s most influential comedians, known to Harlem crowds for generations and to younger crowds for her recent portrayal in Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” at its pay-what-you-can Theatre Week celebration. The 1996 comedy cabaret features bits from Mabley’s stand-up routines on race, sexuality and political oppression. For its roughly two-week run, a happy hour begins an hour before showtime. Through Oct. 9. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 4 p.m. Pay-what-you-can tickets available at the door, one hour before each performance; limited $33 tickets available online in advance.
Back to the Yards at Yards Park: The Yards’ retro party lets parents show their kids what it was like to party back in the 1980s, thanks to a throwback soundtrack, breakdance lessons, and the chance to make slap bracelets and color Rubik’s cubes at the outdoor event. (’80s kids of all ages are welcome to attend.) 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Free.
Washington Concert Opera at Union Market: The Washington Concert Opera’s Opera Outside program strives to make opera accessible and relatable to the masses: no costumes, no props — just the beauty of voice and music in the fresh air. The company ventures to a new location outdoors in front of Union Market this weekend. Grab a picnic from the market, or drinks from the Suburbia cocktail trailer, and settle in to listen. 6 to 7 p.m. Free.
Fiesta DC: What was once a neighborhood festival in Mount Pleasant now takes over a portion of America’s Main Street. The 50th Fiesta DC is the city’s most prominent celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month and includes two days of music and dancing on multiple stages, food vendors, and entertainment. Sunday’s highlight is the parade, which fills Pennsylvania Avenue with bands, dancers and groups in traditional costume. Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Parade Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. Free.
Mosaic District Fall Festival: The streets of Fairfax’s Mosaic District are filled with music and shopping this weekend during the annual Fall Festival. Browse 90 booths run by local makers and vintage dealers, or pick up dinner supplies at the FreshFarm farmers market. Children can be entertained by the Vienna Singing Princesses, a moon bounce and pumpkin painting, while adults listen to cover bands and hang out in the beer or wine gardens. Free shuttle service runs between Mosaic and the Dunn Loring Metro station. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free.
Pumpkin Festival at Butler’s Orchard: Butler’s Orchard’s 42nd annual Pumpkin Festival is already chockablock with spots for kids to run free — such as a straw-filled hayloft and a 70-foot-long jumping pad — and this year will see three new attractions in addition to the popular mazes, pumpkin cannons and hayrides. Cute little goats will scamper up the 16-foot-tall Goat Mountain, and the very first tractor purchased for the farm will be set out for a tractor pull. “Get your friends together and try to pull this tractor to the finish line,” Butler’s Orchard general manager Tyler Butler says about this new activity spotlighting his grandfather’s old John Deere M tractor. Meanwhile, construction-obsessed kids will love hopping on mini-diggers and actually digging a hole using hydraulic levers with these little machines shipped from Sweden. On the way out, drive to the pumpkin patch to pick your own pumpkins for 75 cents per pound. Open Wednesday through Sunday from Sept. 24 to Oct. 30, plus Oct. 10. $10-$15 online, $12-$17 at the gate; free for children younger than 2. Advance reservations are recommended, particularly on weekends.
‘Harmony in Blue and Gold’ at the National Museum of Asian Art: If you tried to visit James McNeill Whistler’s Peacock Room at the Freer Gallery of Art over the summer, you were greeted by closed doors. From June 1 to Sept. 3, the ornate installation of blue and white porcelain, golden wall paintings, and gilded surfaces underwent conservation work for just the third time in its history. But the Peacock Room has reopened, with the collection of ceramics restored to the way it looked in museum founder Charles Lang Freer’s home in the early 20th century. Join the Modern Flute Ensemble — a unit of the U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps — for two performances of “Harmony in Blue and Gold,” a piece by Eric Ewazen inspired by the surroundings. Curators will discuss the room, and its restoration, at noon. 1 and 2 p.m. Free.
Fotos y Recuerdos Festival at National Portrait Gallery: Lil’ Libros, the publisher of children’s books whose “The Life of / La vida de” series tells the stories of such notables as Fernando Llort, Pelé and Celia Cruz, is teaming with the Smithsonian for this Hispanic Heritage Month family festival. Visit the Kogod Courtyard for story time, a Mexican dance performance by Corazón Folklórico and hands-on crafting. 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free.
Clarendon Day: The area around the Clarendon Metro station becomes a giant block party during the Clarendon Day festival. Browse vendors and eateries, let the kids play on an 18-foot-high inflatable slide or run through an obstacle course, or groove to a yacht rock group or ’90s cover band Uncle Jesse. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free.
Oktoberfest celebrations: Crooked Run Fermentation taps its German beers in Sterling this weekend at a party featuring German food, contests and guest taps from breweries including Black Narrows, Ocelot and Vibrissa. (Noon to 6 p.m. Free.) BYO one-liter stein to Dynasty Brewing’s Leesburg taproom Saturday afternoon and it’ll be filled with Fest Marzen for $10. Oliver’s Corner is on hand for all your schnitzel and sausage needs. (Noon to 7 p.m. Free.) All Pizzeria Paradiso locations are featuring Oktoberfest beers between Thursday and Sunday, but Saturday’s party at Dupont is the highlight, with selections from Aslin, Atlas, City-State and DC Brau available. Tickets range from $10, which gets you a branded mug and two pours, to $40 for a large pizza and unlimited beers. (Noon to 4 p.m. $10-$40.)
Professional Bull Riders competition at EagleBank Arena: The once-banned sport of the American Old West rides into Fairfax this weekend, where participants compete for a spot in the Professional Bull Riders’ upcoming Challenger Series championship. EagleBank Arena is being transformed with over 500 yards of steel and 750 tons of dirt to prepare for the teams and individual professionals competing — including Virginia local and reigning event champion Carlos Garcia. Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m. $25 to $168.
Opera on the Field: ‘Carmen’ at Audi Field: After years of hosting outdoor opera viewing parties at Nationals Park, the Washington National Opera is moving down Potomac Avenue SW to Audi Field. Bring blankets and spread out on the pitch to watch a performance of Georges Bizet’s “Carmen” broadcast on the stadium’s high-definition video screens. Gates open at 2 p.m. with pre-show performances and family arts and crafts. Early arrival is suggested if you want to stake out a spot on the grass. 4 p.m. Free. Registration required.
Celebrate Africa Festival at Bladensburg Waterfront Park: Back for its fifth year, this Prince George’s County festival on the Bladensburg waterfront highlights the artistic contributions of the local African immigrant community. The day, geared toward children and families, features performances from comedian, actor and vocalist Anna Mwalagho and R&B/African pop songwriter TolumiDE. The fashion show — because what cultural festival is complete without one? — is themed “Red Carpet Africa,” and designers will showcase the styles of African stars from film hubs in Nigeria, Ghana and Botswana. Guests can expect drumming and dancing from the Performing Arts Center for African Cultures, crafting demos and 13th-century music of the royal courts of West Africa. Noon to 6 p.m. Free.
Hill Center Family Day: City kids can trade out their Strider bikes, strollers and scooters for a horse-drawn carriage during Hill Center’s annual Family Day. Belgian draft horses from Harmon’s Carriages ferry families around the historic Capitol Hill building from 2 to 5 p.m. as part of this free afternoon packed with activities for all ages. Other draws include a magic show, a fitness class, craft time, face painting, balloon animals and a concert from King Bullfrog geared toward little ones. While tickets are free, they must be reserved in advance for both kids and adults. 1:30 to 6 p.m. Free. Registration required.
Echo Arts Festival: Home to 13 resident artists and organizations, Glen Echo Park hosts galleries, visual and performing art classes, and a social dance program year round — so it’s no surprise that its end-of-summer festival highlights the county’s art scene. The day features live music from Washington Conservatory of Music and Afropop band Elikeh, open studios, art demonstrations, food trucks, and a final chance to ride the park’s famed carousel before it closes for the season. Noon to 5 p.m. Free.
DC Beer Week: The abbreviated D.C. Beer Week(end) wraps up with two interesting events. Metrobar hosts a meet-and-greet with Black brewers from across the area. Attendees will be divided into small groups at tables, and the brewers will rotate every 15 to 20 minutes to chat with each group. Presenters include Eamoni Tate-Collier of Urban Garden Brewing; Leon Harris, an assistant brewer at Port City; Kofi Meroe of Sankofa Beer; and Shaun Taylor of Black Viking Brewing. Beers from participants will be for sale. (4 to 6:30 p.m. Free; registration requested.) The Brau Proper Ramble brings DC Brau and Right Proper Brewing together at DC Brau’s headquarters for an outdoor party featuring live music from Bob Perilla’s Big Hillbilly Bluegrass. Proceeds benefit the D.C. Brewers Guild. (2 to 5 p.m. Free.)
Porchfest DC: Southeast Edition in Hillcrest: Singers, instrumentalists, bands, rappers, poets and other artists turn a neighbor’s porch into their stage during the fourth annual Porchfest DC: Southeast Edition, which takes place on various porches throughout the Hillcrest neighborhood. Join the audience members assembled on sidewalks, yards and front lawns, participate in a go-go cardio dance class, or browse a vendor village with food trucks and local makers. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Free.
Oktoberfest celebrations: The West Annapolis Oktoberfest turns Annapolis Street into a giant block party with a beer garden, live music, vendors, and activities for kids and families. (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free.) Ballston’s Rustico presents a live performance by the Alpine Players to complement a menu of Märzens on draft, including Ayinger, Port City and Firestone Walker’s barrel-aged Oaktoberfest, and a selection of schnitzel, brats and other food. (1 to 6 p.m. Free.)
‘37 Words’ at the National Archives: This summer, on the 50th anniversary of Title IX, ESPN released a four-part docuseries called “37 Words” exploring the history and consequences of the prohibition against sex discrimination in education. This screening of the first episode, held in the National Archives’ William G. McGowan Theatre, is followed by a Q&A discussion with director Dawn Porter; Olympic gold medalist and sportscaster Donna de Varona, who was featured in the series; and ESPN Films Vice President Marsha Cooke. 7 p.m. Free. | 2022-09-22T13:54:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Festivals, parades and fall celebrations in the Washington D.C. area - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/best-things-do-dc-area-week-sept-22-28/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/best-things-do-dc-area-week-sept-22-28/ |
Woman says Eliza Fletcher would be alive if police acted sooner in 2021 rape
Alicia Franklin is suing the city of Memphis after the man belatedly charged with raping her was arrested in Fletcher’s killing
Alicia Franklin speaks to WMC about suing the city of Memphis. (Courtesy WMC)
Alicia Franklin went to a Memphis apartment complex on Sept. 21, 2021, to finally meet the man she’d been chatting with for a month via text and a dating app. He was supposed to take her out to dinner, but instead, she said he forced her into his car at gunpoint, then raped and robbed her.
Franklin, now 22, reported the attack to Memphis police and agreed to a rape kit, which yielded her attacker’s DNA, she said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. Detectives eventually matched that DNA to Cleotha Abston, a man released from prison in 2020 after spending two decades in prison for kidnapping, the suit states. He was indicted on Sept. 8 with raping Franklin, almost a year after she went to police.
Abston’s arrest came six days too late for Eliza Fletcher, according to the suit. Fletcher, a 34-year-old kindergarten teacher, disappeared during her morning jog near the University of Memphis early Sept. 2 and was later found dead. Citing DNA evidence, police identified Abston, 38, as a suspect and charged him Sept. 6 with abducting and killing Fletcher.
Fletcher would still be alive if police had investigated the September 2021 rape properly, Franklin alleges in the suit filed in Shelby County Circuit Court. The Memphis Police Department had all the evidence and resources it needed to home in on Abston “in time to stop him from committing at least one other violent felony,” the suit states. Instead, Franklin says police were negligent and reckless in their investigation, citing a delay in testing the rape kit, a failure that caused her further emotional distress while endangering the entire city.
“I was just an average Black girl in the city of Memphis, you know,” Franklin told the Institute for Public Service Reporting and the Daily Memphian on Sunday. “I just think it wasn’t a priority.”
Her lawyer, Jeff Rosenblum, told The Washington Post that his client was “heartbroken” by the abduction and death of Fletcher, and that it motivated her to hold Memphis police accountable. The Post normally doesn’t name victims of sexual assault, but Rosenblum said his client wants to be the face of an effort to fix what she considers a systemic problem.
The city of Memphis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post late Wednesday. Memphis police spokeswoman Maj. Karen Rudolph told the Institute for Public Service Reporting in a statement that the department didn’t receive word of a match between the DNA from Franklin’s rape kit and Abston “until after the unfortunate event” of Fletcher’s death.
“Probable cause to make a physical arrest of any suspect did not exist until after the [DNA match] had been received,” Rudolph said in the statement.
In her lawsuit, Franklin said the match should have happened much sooner and that the department should have put in a rush request when it submitted her rape kit to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for testing.
Memphis police “had a duty to [Franklin] and to the Memphis community to either request expedited processing or hire a private forensic laboratory to process [her] rape kit to prevent further heinous crimes that were not only foreseeable but that were also predictable,” the suit alleges.
Without that request, it took the bureau’s analysts until June 24 to pull the rape kit for testing, then another two months to finish an initial report, the suit states. On Sept. 5, according to Franklin, a bureau scientist got a match to Abston.
Police allegedly had that DNA sample just hours after the Sept. 21, 2021, attack. Earlier in the day, Franklin had agreed to meet a man she knew as “Cleo” after texting and talking with him for about a month on a dating app, the suit states.
Cleo had agreed to take her out to dinner, Franklin said in the suit. Instead, he allegedly pulled a gun and forced her into a vacant apartment, where he blindfolded her with a T-shirt and threatened to kill her. He then ushered her out of the back of the apartment and into his Dodge Charger, forced her into the back seat and raped her, even though she begged him to let her go, the suit states.
Cleo later stole money from Franklin’s purse and forced her back into the apartment at gunpoint, the suit states. He allegedly made her sit in a corner and ordered her not to leave until she heard him rev his car engine. Franklin said she followed his instructions but fled as soon as she heard the Dodge Charger take off.
Franklin said in her lawsuit there was plenty of evidence that, even without the results of the rape kit DNA, police could have used to quickly arrest her attacker. She gave police the name “Cleo,” his phone number, a description of his vehicle and information from the dating app, the suit states.
Within days, police showed Franklin some lineup photos, one of which was of Abston, she alleged. Franklin couldn’t identify her attacker but said in her lawsuit that she overheard police saying something like, “Maybe we need to show her a newer picture — this photo (presumably of Cleo Abston) is 10 to 12 years old.”
Officers promised to show her a more recent photo once they tracked one down but never did, even though they could have wrangled one of Abston’s mug shots from the Tennessee Department of Correction, the suit states.
A few months after the attack, Franklin called Memphis police to get an update on the case but was told there was no new information, she said in her suit.
Then, on Sept. 2, Fletcher went out for a run around 4:20 a.m. and disappeared. Surveillance footage captured her being forced into a black SUV, sparking a massive search over Labor Day weekend. Three days later, police found her body behind a vacant home.
Police said one of the key pieces of evidence that led them to Abston was DNA on a pair of Champion sandals that a passerby found next to Fletcher’s cellphone. This time, police put in a rush request when they submitted a sample to the state bureau’s lab, which resulted in them learning that it matched to Abston “within a matter of hours or a few days,” Franklin’s suit alleges. He was charged with murder on Sept. 6.
Something similar should have happened a year ago in the rape case, Franklin said in her lawsuit.
“Abston should and could have been arrested and indicted for the aggravated rape of Alicia Franklin many months earlier, most likely in the year 2021 … and the abduction and murder of Eliza Fletcher would not have occurred,” the suit states.
Franklin told WMC that she hopes her lawsuit makes sure something similar doesn’t occur again.
“I don’t really want to get in the spotlight of this,” she said, “but I felt that it could help a lot of women come forward.” | 2022-09-22T14:16:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Alicia Franklin sues Memphis police, says Eliza Fletcher should be alive - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/22/woman-says-eliza-fletcher-would-be-alive-if-police-acted-sooner-2021-rape/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/22/woman-says-eliza-fletcher-would-be-alive-if-police-acted-sooner-2021-rape/ |
The uptick shows that return-to-work mandates are having some impact, but the future of the office remains up in the air
Workers on Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg News)
Texas was one of the first states to shift toward “living with the virus rather than hiding from it,” said Kris Larson, president and chief executive of Central Houston, Inc. “Culturally there’s just a desire to get back to work,” Larson said.
But after big companies such as Apple, Peloton, NBCUniversal and Comcast pushed to bring workers back to offices after Labor Day, some employees fought to hang onto the flexibility they found in the pandemic. Nearly 1,500 current and former Apple employees signed a letter asking the company to “stop trying to control how often you can see us in the office.” | 2022-09-22T14:59:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Return to office is working, but it's still got a long way to go - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/09/22/return-to-office-post-labor-day/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/09/22/return-to-office-post-labor-day/ |
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 01: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during a joint session of Congress in the U.S. Capitol’s House Chamber on March 01, 2022 in Washington, DC. During his first State of the Union address, Biden spoke on his administration’s efforts to lead a global response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, efforts to curb inflation and bringing the country out of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Jabin Botsford-Pool/Getty Images) (Photographer: Pool/Getty Images North America)
Here’s some moral whiplash for you.
Tuesday last week started on a grim note. It was barely 8:30 in the morning when the Bureau of Labor Statistics told us that inflation is still on the rampage: Prices in August were 8.3% higher than a year before. The Biden administration looked, again, like it had lost control of the script. Stocks tanked. Liberals took cover.
But then 10 a.m. rolled around. That’s when the Census Bureau told us that, in the throes of a health emergency like no other — one that killed millions, snarled global supply chains and wrought havoc with labor markets around the world — the US managed to cut the Supplemental Poverty Measure, a calculation of the poverty rate that takes into account the impact of government benefits, to 7.8% last year from 9.2% in 2020.
Funny thing is that the American Rescue Plan — that $2 trillion fiscal package that President Biden pushed through Congress defying critics who argued it would build inflationary pressure — deserves much of the credit. Just the child tax credit, expanded under the plan, moved more than 5 million people out of poverty. Fiscal stimulus payments lifted nearly 9 million people above the poverty threshold.
That’s not all. Expanded unemployment insurance also helped. And the rescue effort’s boost to demand helped to keep the finances of the most vulnerable above water. After-tax household income for Americans without any college education increased slightly, according to the census data.
Go Dark Brandon.
I get it, though: There is no inevitable tradeoff between inflation and poverty reduction. One can reduce child poverty without sending inflation off the rails. Indeed, the price tag for the expansion of the Child Tax Credit came in at around only $100 billion — hardly an inflation-busting number. Even if it were bigger, you could use higher taxes to pay for it and avoid pumping more money into the economy.
But once you think for a minute on the politics that shape fiscal policy and redistribution in this country, the trade-off faced by the Biden administration comes into focus.
Consider poverty. According to the Supplemental Poverty Measure, the state-of-the-art metric of want unveiled in 2009, the decline in poverty between 2019 and 2021 was greater than during the entire preceding decade. And that’s despite the cataclysm that Covid-19 brought upon us, which on its own would have driven millions more Americans into destitution.
That was possible because the political system responded to the emergency with fiscal rescue packages that seem un-American in their scale and scope. Biden’s American Rescue Plan came on top of multi-trillion dollar packages of fiscal support from the Trump administration, each of which had no precedent in American policymaking — at least since the Great Depression.
Remember the alarm of advisors to President Obama in the aftermath of the housing crisis some 15 years ago? American politics, they argued, would not support emergency government spending above $1 trillion, not even if the emergency threatened the livelihood of millions of Americans.
Covid changed these politics. Perhaps the seeming universal nature of the threat from the coronavirus sparked a sense of “there but for the grace of God go I.” In any event, following multi-trillion-dollar stimuli in the last year of the Trump presidency, Biden’s advisors were hardly nuts to eschew the Obama-era advice and aim for the fences instead.
Maybe it was not the ideal moment in the economic cycle to throw trillions of additional dollars into the economy. But opportunities must be seized as they come. To go by the history of American policymaking, the alternative seems to amount to accepting several more million Americans in poverty.
This is not the end of the story. Inflation has become the dominant economic theme in the American political conversation in the runup to the midterm elections, undermining Democrats’ claim to be responsible stewards of the economy.
Critics argue not only that Biden’s fiscal policy will fail to improve livelihoods over the long term, as inflation eats into any fleeting gains. They also say that poorly targeted spending — like universal checks to Americans whether they needed the money or not — will complicate the economics and politics of other critical objectives. How, for instance, could the American Rescue Plan be deemed a progressive success if it delivers Congress to a Republican Party hell-bent on obstructing every progressive policy goal?
And yet, the critique elides the importance of political opportunity. Critics of Biden’s approach must deal with their own uncomfortable question: If not now, when? “The politics will get easier, trust me,” is hardly an adequate response.
There is a better way to do redistribution. Washington chose austerity in the depths of the great recession following the housing collapse, when interest rates were so low that virtually any government investment would have turned a profit. Then it chose to spend hand over fist just as inflation started perking up. Maybe American policy could be made to fit more sensibly around the economic cycle.
Justin Wolfers at the University of Michigan argues that automatic stabilizers — assistance that turns on when the economy goes sour and turns off as it improves — could help make better sense of American redistribution. It would be a clear improvement over the current practice of pushing help through reconciliation because nothing could get through otherwise.
And yet automatic stabilizers require some sort of political consensus that we, as of yet, do not have. In its absence, the Biden administration should capitalize on every opportunity it gets. | 2022-09-22T15:00:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ugly Politics Conjure Up Trade-Off Between Poverty Reduction and Inflation - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ugly-politics-conjure-uptrade-off-between-poverty-reduction-and-inflation/2022/09/22/786e8666-3a7b-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ugly-politics-conjure-uptrade-off-between-poverty-reduction-and-inflation/2022/09/22/786e8666-3a7b-11ed-b8af-0a04e5dc3db6_story.html |
New movies to stream this week: ‘Sidney’ and more
Sidney Poitier is the subject of the documentary “Sidney.” (Apple TV Plus)
In 2009, when Sidney Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, President Barack Obama noted, “It’s been said that Sidney Poitier does not make movies; he makes milestones.” And so the Oprah Winfrey-produced, Reginald Hudlin-directed documentary “Sidney” ticks off litanies of both aesthetic and cultural achievements, without ever feeling obligatory. That’s certainly due in part to Poitier’s remarkable life, which began in 1927, when he was born to Bahamian tomato farmers. His formal education stopped at third grade, and he had no knowledge of electricity, indoor plumbing or the existence of mirrors. The latter revelation occurred only after he moved, at age 15, to Miami, and coincided with the discovery that he looked different from many Americans — a revelation that would shape him, both as a Black man involved in the civil rights movement and as an actor, whose roles stood out for their groundbreaking frankness about race. “Sidney,” which includes narration by and interviews with Poitier — as well as appearances by talking heads including Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Barbra Streisand, Halle Berry, cultural critic Nelson George and a host of others, both celebrities and intellectuals — really tells two stories. The first is the tale of a life of purpose and principle. The other charts an inspiring filmography, which began in 1950 with “No Way Out,” in which Poitier played a Black doctor treating a racist White prisoner, and culminated with the 1967 trifecta of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “To Sir, With Love” — three of the 15 top-grossing films of that year. (Poitier won two Oscars: the 1964 best actor prize for “Lilies of the Field” — the first for a Black man — as well as a lifetime achievement award in 2002.) If news of the actor’s death in January didn’t already impel you to head straight for your favorite streaming service so that you could put together your own Poitier film retrospective, “Sidney” will certainly make you want to do so now. PG-13. Available on Apple TV Plus. Contains some coarse language, including racial slurs, and some smoking. 106 minutes.
Sidney Poitier was an icon of racial reassurance. But his genius lay in his rage.
Josh Duhamel stars in “Bandit,” a thriller about a career criminal who falls in love with a social worker (Elisha Cuthbert), but whose intercity bank-robbing rampage leads him to seek bigger opportunities from a loan shark (Mel Gibson), ultimately drawing the attention of a dogged detective (Nestor Carbonell). R. Available on demand. Contains strong language throughout, some sexual scenes and nudity. 126 minutes.
The documentary “Bitterbrush” follows Hollyn Patterson and Colie Moline, two female range riders who are spending their last summer herding cattle off the grid in remote Idaho. According to the New York Times, which designated the film a Critic’s Pick, “One of the most emotional moments occurs at the campfire when Colie recalls the hands of her deceased mother — an achingly beautiful scene that almost takes the film by surprise (and has echoes in the close-ups on both women’s hands as they wrangle wire, a scene or two later).” Unrated. Available on Apple TV Plus, Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, DirecTV and other on-demand platform. 91 minutes.
Set in Malta in the 1980s, “Carmen” stars Natascha McElhone as the title character: the sister of the local priest (Henry Zammit Cordina), for whom, in accordance with Maltese tradition, Carmen has worked most of her life as an unpaid servant. When the brother dies, and as Carmen’s community awaits the arrival of a new priest, heralded by the arrival of his own sister (Michaela Farrugia), Carmen begins to pass herself off as the new priest — at least in the confession booth, where her appearance is hidden and she can disguise her voice. Unrated. Available on Apple TV Plus, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, Xfinity cable and other on-demand platforms. In English and Maltese with subtitles. 88 minutes.
In the thriller “Dig,” Thomas Jane plays Scott, a man traumatized by the violent death of his wife — for which his daughter, played by Jane’s real-life daughter Harlow Jane, rightly blames him. When Scott, a salvage specialist, is hired by a mysterious man (Emile Hirsch) offering cash to strip a remote home of its fixtures, Scott and his daughter head to the vacant property, hoping for some healing. But they discover that their employer has secret designs on what lies beneath the home, and doesn’t intend to let father and daughter walk away alive. According to the AV Club, “The entire production feels like one of convenience, in which a desert parcel of land with a run-down house on it happened to be available, and a script got written to take advantage of that fact.” R. Available on demand. Contains pervasive coarse language, violence, some sexual scenes and brief drug use. 90 minutes.
Antonio Banderas plays the title role in “The Enforcer”: a violent mob goon who turns against his employer (Kate Bosworth) when he discovers she is putting the life of a teenage runaway at risk. R. Available on demand. Contains strong, bloody violence, coarse language throughout, sexuality, nudity and drug use. 90 minutes.
Guy Pearce stars in “The Infernal Machine” as Bruce Cogburn, the reclusive author of a popular book about a mass shooting that may have inspired copycat crimes. When Bruce finds himself stalked by what appears to be an obsessive fan of his work, he must come out of hiding to identify his tormentor and confront his own dark past. R. Available on demand. Contains coarse language and some violence. 111 minutes.
Directed by Tyler Perry, based on a script he wrote 27 years ago, “A Jazzman’s Blues” is a period coming-of-age drama about forbidden love in the late 1930s and 1940s South. Variety calls the film — a tonal change of pace for the filmmaker, whose last movie was the comedy “A Madea Homecoming” — accomplished, noting that it proves why Perry “should get serious more often.” R. Available on Netflix. Contains some drug use, violent images, rape, brief sexuality and strong language. 127 minutes.
When a young girl is abducted during a storm in the thriller “Lou,” the child’s mother (Jurnee Smollett) seeks the assistance of a mysterious loner (Allison Janney) in tracking down the kidnapper. R. Available on Netflix. Contains violence and coarse language. 107 minutes.
“The Story of Film: A New Generation” is a follow-up to “The Story of Film: An Odyssey,” a 2011 docuseries exploring the history of 20th-century film by critic Mark Cousins, based on his 2004 book “The Story of Film.” Structured as a highly personal essay, “A New Generation” looks at world cinema from 2010 to 2021, examining such mainstream and esoteric works as “Frozen,” “The Babadook” and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Cemetery of Splendor.” According to the New York Times, “Cousins’s assessments offer plenty to argue with, but it’s possible to enjoy ‘A New Generation’ without agreeing that ‘Booksmart’ ‘extends the world of film comedy,’ as he claims, or that a shot in ‘It Follows’ merits comparison to the camerawork in Michael Snow’s landmark experimental film ‘La Région Centrale.’ ” Unrated. Available on demand. 167 minutes.
“The Swearing Jar” follows Carey (Adelaide Clemens), a happily married woman who finds herself torn between her husband (Patrick J. Adams) and a charming new friend (Douglas Smith). According to Film Threat, the drama — which also features Kathleen Turner as Carey’s mother-in law — defies expectations. “So many cinematic romances, both comedic and dramatic, can feel formulaic even when their narrative beats and the chemistry between characters work as they’re supposed to. This is something more complicated and, because of that, more fulfilling, and its leads definitely don’t lack for chemistry.” Unrated. Available on demand. 111 minutes. | 2022-09-22T15:00:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | New movies to stream from home this week. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/09/22/september-23-new-streaming-movie-roundup/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/09/22/september-23-new-streaming-movie-roundup/ |
Biden touts leadership at the U.N. — and reveals our competing concerns
President Biden addresses the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday in New York. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Four years ago, the United Nations General Assembly literally laughed at the buffoonish American president. Fortunately for the United States and the world, President Biden’s address Wednesday demonstrated the benefit of cogent, moral U.S. leadership in a world vexed by war, climate change and economic turmoil.
Whereas Donald Trump groveled before foreign dictators and could not bring himself to utter a harsh word against Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, Biden minced no words. “A permanent member of the United Nations Security Council invaded its neighbor, attempted to erase a sovereign state from the map,” he said. “Russia has shamelessly violated the core tenets of the United Nations Charter — no more important than the clear prohibition against countries taking the territory of their neighbor by force.”
Biden denounced Putin’s threats of nuclear war and his call-up of still more Russian troops. He also praised the remarkable united front opposing Russia’s goal of “extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state.” He declared: “That’s why 141 nations in the General Assembly came together to unequivocally condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine. The United States has marshaled massive levels of security assistance and humanitarian aid and direct economic support for Ukraine — more than $25 billion to date.” He praised the more than 40 countries that have stepped up with aid.
He made the case that Russia’s defeat is essential to every other sovereign country. “We chose liberty. We chose sovereignty. … Each of us in this body who is determined to uphold the principles and beliefs we pledge to defend as members of the United Nations must be clear, firm and unwavering in our resolve.” And he reminded the delegates that “Ukraine has the same rights that belong to every sovereign nation. We will stand in solidarity with Ukraine. We will stand in solidarity against Russia’s aggression. Period.”
In making his appeal, Biden revealed the fallacy of the noxious “America First” idea that we should not care about the fate of any other country or people. If Russia can attack Ukraine with impunity, no country is secure.
And while Biden made clear we champion democracy, he acknowledged that even non-democracies have a stake in Putin’s defeat, recalling that “the United Nations Charter was not only signed by democracies of the world, [but] was negotiated among citizens of dozens of nations with vastly different histories and ideologies, united in their commitment to work for peace.” (One is reminded of the alliance we forged with the authoritarian Soviet Union to combat another fascist dictator who sought to invade and oppress the rest of Europe.)
For a president who had stressed the existential battle between democracy and authoritarianism, Biden now sounds more like a pragmatic Cold Warrior ready to accept imperfect allies to keep the peace. (“If you’re still committed to a strong foundation for the good of every nation around the world, then the United States wants to work with you.”) That somewhat sad reality reflects the compromise he thinks necessary to contain aggressive powers such as Russia and China.
Biden plainly seeks to minimize aggressive powers’ influence by, among other things, proposing an expansion of the Security Council and finding “constructive ways to work with partners to advance shared interests” — whether in the Indo-Pacific, in outreach to Africa or in search for a “more peaceful, integrated Middle East.” In addressing global crises such as climate change, food insecurity and nuclear nonproliferation, Biden implicitly reached out beyond the democracies.
Yet he still avoided running afoul of human rights. To the contrary, he declared:
The future will be won by those countries that unleash the full potential of their populations, where women and girls can exercise equal rights, including basic reproductive rights, and contribute fully to building a stronger economies and more resilient societies; where religious and ethnic minorities can live their lives without harassment and contribute to the fabric of their communities; where the LGBTQ+ community individuals live and love freely without being targeted with violence; where citizens can question and criticize their leaders without fear of reprisal.
So is this a foreign policy driven by human rights or realpolitik? A little of both, which creates an inevitable tension and sometimes incoherence. (See, for example, the infamous fist bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.)
The administration won’t always get this balance right. However, to the relief of our allies, to the countries that would be victimized and to the world’s most vulnerable populations, at least America is “back” — and that is no small thing. | 2022-09-22T15:00:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Biden's UN speech delivers on the promise of U.S. leadership - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/biden-un-speech-human-rights/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/biden-un-speech-human-rights/ |
The First Amendment battle that could transform Big Tech
For a quarter-century, it appeared the law was settled: Silicon Valley’s internet platforms were private companies, full stop, with absolute control over what content to promote or suppress. As the platforms tightened political control over user speech in recent years, conservatives complained about “Big Tech Censorship,” but legal experts scoffed.
Scoffing will no longer suffice. Supposedly settled law can be altered when its political foundation erodes. Liberals now take a dimmer view of free speech than they did at the dawn of the tech era, while conservatives take a dimmer view of corporate power. That has created an opening for a frontal assault on the rules that govern America’s digital public square. Now the Supreme Court is being asked to weigh in.
A bold ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit last week, written by Judge Andrew Oldham, is the latest sign that the conservative campaign to resist Silicon Valley’s political controls might have legal and constitutional legs. His opinion declared that some technology firms fit into the Anglo-American tradition of “common carriers,” like phone companies and the telegraph, whose right to exclude people and ideas may be regulated by the government.
The case was prompted by a 2021 Texas law forbidding companies such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from censoring a user based on “the viewpoint represented in the user’s expression,” with limited exceptions. The corporations, through the trade group NetChoice, challenged the law by arguing that their right to curate content, including blocking political viewpoints, is protected speech under the First Amendment.
That argument had easily prevailed in the lower courts and in another appellate court reviewing a comparable Florida law, but the 5th Circuit panel disagreed by a 2-1 vote. It didn’t say the Texas law will be constitutional in every application, but it lifted an injunction to allow the law to go into effect.
As the concurrence put it: “Case by case adjudication is a small burden on the Goliaths of internet communications if they contend with Davids who use their platforms.” David might not always win, in other words, but he should at least be allowed to take a censorious Goliath to court.
Can an organization exclude speakers it disapproves of? The Supreme Court’s precedents mostly say yes. Miami Herald v. Tornillo (1974) said Florida couldn’t require newspapers to give politicians space to publish replies to criticism, and Hurley v. GLIB (1995) said Massachusetts couldn’t tell parade organizers which groups to include. Lawyers for the social media firms argued that their clients were like newspapers or, failing that, parade organizers whose expression Texas wants to control.
But neither is a particularly good analogy, and some high court precedents say that hosting speech is not the same as speaking. PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins (1980) said California could require a privately owned mall to allow access to pamphleteers, and Rumsfeld v. FAIR (2006) said Congress could penalize law schools for refusing to host military recruiters.
The panel zeroed in on those cases, which supported Texas’s position. But Oldham also reached back further than modern free-speech doctrine to argue that certain technologies throughout history — “from ferries and bakeries, to barges and gristmills, to steamboats and stagecoaches, to railroads and grain elevators, to water and gas lines, to telegraph and telephone lines, to social media platforms” — have been so central to public life and commerce that access can’t be arbitrarily denied by private parties.
The decision isn’t the last word on this issue, and it might be brushed back by the Supreme Court. But as Alan Z. Rozenshtein of the University of Minnesota’s law school notes, the opinion also “offers a compelling model for what the Supreme Court could decide to do.”
While we wait, expect political alignments to be scrambled. Since 2010, progressives have been blasting the Supreme Court’s conclusion in Citizens United that corporations have a right to free speech. Now that the issue is not campaign finance but the right of politically aligned social-media companies to censor, progressives may find a new appreciation for corporate autonomy.
Divisions will similarly be exposed on the right, where populist sentiment might collide with the desire to protect property rights. On that note, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who as a lower-court judge wrote a dissent skeptical of common-carrier regulation, might be more difficult to convince than some of his colleagues.
But the biggest mistake would be for the justices to resolve the issue too quickly and conclusively, closing the door to experimentation. The legal-technology establishment — including academics, nonprofit groups and the companies themselves — has claimed for years that internet services will immediately become unusable cesspools if their ability to censor is restricted one iota. Meanwhile, the companies’ moderation has become steadily more political and polarizing.
The old speech and technology order is coming apart — but forcing an entire industry into the common-carrier regime in one fell swoop would be a plunge into the economic and legal unknown. By allowing Texas’s legislation to be tested, the 5th Circuit wisely left the door open to trial and error. As with abortion, it might not be possible to know what solutions are viable until politicians have had a chance to legislate — and are held accountable for the results. | 2022-09-22T15:00:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The First Amendment battle that could transform Big Tech - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/conservative-legal-challenge-big-tech/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/conservative-legal-challenge-big-tech/ |
Trump’s all-powerful brain can reshape his wealth or national security
Then-President Donald Trump greets talk show host Sean Hannity at a rally in Missouri on Nov. 5, 2018. (Jim WATSON / AFP)
There are three possible reasons that Fox News host Sean Hannity isn’t embarrassed by how sycophantic and useless his on-air conversations with Donald Trump are..
The first possibility is that he’s simply so mired in the false presentation of the world that he’s helped to create that he doesn’t even realize how all of his jumping-off points for questions to the former president are themselves imaginary. Like Trump, Hannity litters his comments with shorthand references to things that others immersed in the same media world understand without explication: bought-and-paid-for dossier, BleachBit, Hunter Biden’s laptop. Each of those unpacks into its own universe of allegations and fears for Hannity viewers, and he uses them to heighten the conspiratorial flavor of any new topic the way one might compare a disliked boss to Attila the Hun. But, importantly, those shorthands are never reexamined; Hannity’s questions are simply built on top of a foundation of sand.
Then there’s the possibility that Hannity knows that he’s simply serving as an appendage of Trump’s communications team. That, fretting perpetually about viewership numbers, he knows he ought to dance with the feller that brung him. He has accepted that his job is not one in true proximity to journalism but, instead, it’s to help push forward this great, sluggish machine that is the Donald Trump worldview. He weaves those shorthands into his patter in the way that the spokesperson for the sanitation department refers to the trash can in his kitchen as a litter basket.
Someone once described former NBC commentator Chris Matthews’s interviewing style to me as: “Here’s what I think. What do you think of what I think?” As I’ve noted before, Hannity’s style with Trump is a variant of that: “Here’s what you think. What do you think of what you think?” It served him well for the past four years and he sticks with it.
But then there’s the third option: that Hannity is slowly trying to undercut Trump from the inside. That he is keeping his enemy closer. That he manifests as a lunkish hanger-on so that he can get Trump feeling loose and at ease. And then — without Trump or anyone else noticing — he gently leads the former president to the precipice.
Gets him to say stuff like this, from Hannity’s interview with Trump that aired on Wednesday night:
“If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, ‘it’s declassified.’ Even by thinking about it, because you’re sending it to Mar-a-Lago or to wherever you’re sending it.”
This unique explanation of the presidential declassification power came in response to Hannity’s pressing Trump to explain how it worked. This has come up a lot recently, as Trump and his allies emphasize that the dozens of documents with classification markings found at Mar-a-Lago when the FBI searched it last month had, in fact, been previously declassified. This is irrelevant to the legal questions at issue, mind you, but Trump and his allies understand that hoarding classified material is much more immediately tangible to a layperson than questions about the Presidential Records Act.
So Trump and his team have said they were declassified, citing various putative mechanisms under which that happened, and Hannity asked. And Trump declared that the act of thinking about sending a classified document to a place where it didn’t belong functionally counted as declassification.
For perhaps obvious reasons this is not how it works. There is a process for declassification that needs to be followed simply because it is not the case that the president is the only person using this material. If a president thought declassifies a report on CIA torture programs, that’s technically now available for public consumption, according to Trump. But I suspect that the CIA would prefer there be something in writing before they started handing out copies.
Put another way, Trump’s presentation of declassification here is one that is entirely dependent on this particular use case: clearing something that he will have in his possession. There’s no other context in which declassifying-by-mind-control makes sense as a useful governmental function, which is why no one has ever before claimed that this is how it works.
But there’s another interesting parallel here worth elevating. The first softball Hannity tossed to the former president dealt with the announcement earlier in the day that the New York attorney general was suing Trump, three of his adult children and his company for fraudulent business practices. The central allegation is that the Trump Organization, with its executives’ blessing, misrepresented the value of different properties depending on who was requesting the information.
The idea was that property values, like classification status, depended on what Trump needed them to be in the moment. If he wanted a loan, the lawsuit suggests, he might decide to inflate the value of his properties to imply that he had a more robust base of collateral. If he got caught with material marked TOP SECRET, he might announce that he had the power to declassify that document with his mind.
One of the first presentations Trump made to the public as a candidate leveraged this same technique, in fact. When he announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2015, he released a document detailing his net worth. But that document included vague, subjective declarations like that his brand was worth billions of dollars.
This comported with his past representations. In 2011, CNN reported that during a deposition Trump had been asked how he determined his net worth.
“My net worth fluctuates,” he said, “and it goes up and down with the markets and with attitudes and with feelings, even my own feelings, but I try.”
His feelings affect his net worth? Sure, why not.
There may be a reason for Trump’s reliance on his own brain to surmount reality. His father was a close friend of Norman Vincent Peale, whose book “The Power Of Positive Thinking” became a bestseller when Trump was young. In 2015, Trump biographer Gwenda Blair outlined how Peale’s rhetoric had seemingly been internalized by Donald Trump. He regularly credited his positive outlook for his success. Mind over matter. Hoping over valuations. Thinking over declassification processes.
True to form, Hannity didn’t press Trump on the obviously weird declassification assertion. Anyone else would have noted that this defied both reason and the presentations of people better versed in declassification. But Hannity next interjected not to question the Power of Positive Thinking About Classification Status but, instead, to help Trump over a rough patch in the former president’s riffs.
The safest bet on the reason Hannity approaches his interviews with Trump the way he does, of course, remains the first one I listed.
The latest: Parties spar over police support as House debate begins | 2022-09-22T15:00:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Trump’s all-powerful brain can reshape his wealth or national security - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/trump-hannity-classified-documents/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/trump-hannity-classified-documents/ |
President Biden stands next to, from left, (RED) Ambassador and AIDS activist Connie Mudenda, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a photo session after the seventh replenishment conference of the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria on Wednesday in New York. (Yonhap/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was caught on a hot mic Wednesday insulting U.S. Congress members as “idiots” who could be a potential embarrassment for President Biden if they did not approve funding for global public health.
Representatives for Yoon and for the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday. Park Hong-keun, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party in South Korea, criticized Yoon’s “foul language tarnishing the US Congress” as “a major diplomatic mishap,” Agence France-Presse reported.
Yoon and Biden were both in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where they held discussions on the sidelines Wednesday.
“The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen the U.S.-ROK alliance and ensure close cooperation to address the threat posed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” the White House said in a readout of their meeting. “The Presidents also discussed our ongoing cooperation on a broad range of priority issues including supply chain resilience, critical technologies, economic and energy security, global health, and climate change.”
Min Joo Kim contributed to this report. | 2022-09-22T15:01:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol overheard insulting U.S. Congress as ‘idiots’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/yoon-biden-congress-idiots/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/yoon-biden-congress-idiots/ |
The Cavaliers take on the Orange at 7 p.m. Eastern on Friday (ESPN)
Quarterback Brennan Armstrong and the Virginia offense has struggled through the first three games of the season. (Mike Kropf/The Daily Progress/AP)
Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong led one of the most prolific offenses in college football last season. Tallying over 6,000 total yards and finishing second in the nation in passing yards per game, Armstrong and the Cavaliers appeared primed to build on their record-breaking success. So far this season, Virginia’s offense has yet to regain its explosive nature.
As the Virginia offense has searched for cohesion in the early going, the departure of offensive coordinator Robert Anae and quarterbacks coach Jason Beck continues to loom large. Heading into Friday night’s matchup at the JMA Wireless Dome, their absence could be magnified as they now sport a new shade of orange and blue on the opposing sideline, both coaching in the same roles they had with the Cavaliers.
“It’s an emotional game when you got your old family and you’re in front of them again,” Syracuse head coach Dino Babers said Monday. “I’m sure that there’ll be some hugs and hellos, either before or after the game, either way doesn’t bother me. The game is the game.”
During their time in Charlottesville, Anae and Beck helped engineer some of the best offenses in the program’s history. Only two Virginia quarterbacks have thrown more than 20 touchdown passes in multiple seasons, with all four of those seasons coming during the duo’s tenure.
Virginia rallies in final minute to beat Old Dominion
This success reached its pinnacle in 2021. Armstrong set new marks in Virginia history for passing yards, passing touchdowns, completions and total offense in a single season. He also set several Virginia single-game records, including tallying the top three marks for passing yards and the record for total offense generated in one game.
“Coach Beck has been great for me,” Armstrong said at ACC media day in July. “I wouldn't be in the position I am without him there and the staff that was there.”
Following its record-breaking campaign, Virginia’s offense has fallen back to earth. The Cavaliers (2-1) are averaging 17.7 points, 413.3 total yards and have scored six touchdowns through three games this season. In 2021, the Cavaliers averaged 34.6 points and 515.8 yards with 52 touchdowns.
While Virginia’s offense has struggled overall, its passing game has specifically regressed. Following a late victory against Old Dominion, Armstrong has amassed 710 passing yards, two touchdown passes and three interceptions while completing 52.9 percent of his passes. Through the first three games of last season, Armstrong tallied 1,298 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 71.9 percent of his passes.
“He’s trying to make every single play for us because [he] had that freedom last year in the system, and he was confident. Again, he’s a playmaker, whereas here I want him to play within the system and make the required play,” Virginia head coach Tony Elliott said Tuesday. “You could still be Brennan in the pocket and make that throw, having the confidence to still believe that you can make every throw, but just do it within the framework of the other system.”
Contrarily, Syracuse’s offense has taken off with Anae and Beck in the fold. The undefeated Orange (3-0) is averaging 37 points per game, 408.3 yards of total offense and is converting 42.9 percent of third-down opportunities. That’s up from 2021, when the team averaged 24.9 points per game to go with 366.5 yards of offense and a 32.9 percent third-down conversion rate.
Last season, Syracuse averaged 153 passing yards per game and found the end zone 10 times through the air, with Garrett Shrader playing a majority of the quarterback snaps. This year, the Orange is averaging 245.3 passing yards per game and has already totaled eight passing touchdowns.
Shrader has seen a major jump in production, tallying 709 passing yards, eight touchdown passes, and a completion percentage of 66.2 percent through three games compared to last season when he totaled 1,445 yards, nine touchdowns and a 52.6 percent completion rate in 12 games.
“[Beck] has a very calming effect. Shrader’s a little high-strung. Beck can get after you but that’s not how he’s wired. He’s a little bit different,” Babers said about Beck’s impact on the junior quarterback. “They’re a good fit. They make a good couple.”
Syracuse has shown progression and explosiveness as it grows into its new offensive scheme. Meanwhile, Virginia’s new offense has generated 19 points combined in its last two games. Though there is still time to settle into an offensive rhythm this season, the Cavaliers will have to find their stride quickly to compete with the familiar, lethal Syracuse offense led by Anae and Beck. | 2022-09-22T15:01:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Virginia's offense lags as former offensive coaches thrive in Syracuse - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/virginia-syracuse-robert-anae-jason-beck/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/virginia-syracuse-robert-anae-jason-beck/ |
Book bans are surging but online access tries to fill the void
Online resources are at the center of the national battle between limiting and expanding book access for teenagers
Aren Lau knows what it’s like to have to sneak around to read controversial books.
The 17-year-old moved from Georgia in his freshman year of high school to live with his dad in New York City. He says at least two of the three books he’s currently reading would have been an issue back home.
“I know the internet exists and it’s obviously very useful for kids to access things they can’t access in school, but a lot of times kids who are in these conservative schools are also in very conservative homes,” says Lau.
Books are being banned in U.S. school libraries in record numbers, led largely by conservative lawmakers and activists. This week, libraries and anti-censorship groups are among those hosting Banned Books Week to call attention to the growing issue. More than 1,651 individual titles were banned from schools between January and August alone according to PEN America, including “Beloved” by Toni Morrison, “Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag” by Rob Sanders and “Sulwe,” a children’s book by Lupita Nyong’o.
Demand for many of those same titles are only growing online, as educators and librarians try to fill the void with internet-based resources. Some libraries have removed physical copies of controversial books, but still offer them as digital checkouts through apps like Libby. Meanwhile, some lawmakers are going after the online technology used by libraries, hoping to block certain content.
A book about sexuality or racism might not be allowed in your school, your local library, even your own home. But online, it can be found as an e-book in another library, less legally on torrenting sites or for purchase in any online bookstore. The concepts in that book, deemed too dangerous to young minds by some legislators or parents, are freely available on educational websites and Wikipedia, recapped on social media and documented in mainstream articles.
Pulling a physical book out of a school library seems like it should be minor, when online alternatives exist. The reality is more complicated. Finding books takes work and unfiltered internet access.
“The fact is, if you’re an enterprising teenager and you want a copy of ‘Gender Queer’ you’re going to get it,” says Linda E. Johnson, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Public Library. “Either the elected officials or parents or school administrators are naive or there’s something else at play.”
The Brooklyn Public Library is at the center of the national battle between limiting and expanding book access for teenagers. In April, it launched its Books Unbanned program, offering free online access to its entire collection for 13- to 21-year-olds who send an email. Johnson says it has already issued more than 5,100 cards and checked out 20,000 materials as part of the program. The program is funded independently, which is why it can offer books to people out of state.
Simply pointing students to the program’s site has already created an issue for one teacher. In August, a Norman, Okla. high school English teacher was punished and then quit after posting a QR code in her classroom that linked to the Brooklyn program. The state has one of the strictest laws in the nation against teaching students about race and sex.
Like many attempts at book banning, the incident created a bit of a Streisand Effect, amplifying the very thing it was trying to silence. Brooklyn’s program had a surge of applications and the QR code started showing up online and even on lawn signs in Norman. Johnson says the library can see what’s happening in different states just by the interest in their site — there are spikes in demand in districts after schools attempted to ban titles.
Not every teenager has open access to these resources or even knows they exist. And bans in schools and libraries affect students, beyond being able to find individual books.
“In theory the internet and the access that it provides gives the appearance that people can still access books. I think what is missed is there is something quite tangible and irreplaceable about a library that holds books,” said Jonathan Friedman, who directs PEN America’s free expression and education program. “The whole idea of a school library is to encourage literacy and exploration and access to information.”
For five decades, the book “Our Bodies, Ourselves” was battling bans in schools and libraries. The educational book about women’s sexuality and health was simultaneously labeled obscene and used by women to get the kind of information they weren’t able to find elsewhere about everything from puberty to rape.
It ceased publication in 2018 but was relaunched in September as a fully online resource focused on health, sexuality and reproductive justice. Its history of being banned was one of the reasons organizers were eager to make a site that was free and open to anyone on the internet, says Amy Agigian, its executive director and a sociology professor at Suffolk University in Boston.
“I believe having information online is absolutely helpful to people who are seeking things that are being banned,” said Agigian. “But there’s so much that a library can offer that the internet can’t make up for.”
Banned Books Week is an annual event to raise awareness about books that are banned or challenged. Local libraries usually put out books that have been banned in the past and host events.
“It was kind of quaint for a while, every library had a display,” said Johnson, the Brooklyn Public Library head.
This year, libraries and organizations like PEN America, The American Library Association and The National Coalition Against Censorship are hoping to inspire more activism and greater pushback against the organized attempts to block teens’ access to books — from even the teens themselves.
“There is an effort to really change the way in which the access to info is really available to the country as a whole,” said PEN America’s Friedman. “And in many places students are a little bit freer right now to speak out more than teachers and librarians.”
For now, teenagers are seeking books and resources online and increasingly finding themselves right back at the public library — but this time it’s online and in Brooklyn, New York.
Lau, the high school student, volunteers with the Brooklyn Public Library and hopes it can help kids who have struggled like he did.
“If I had had this [program] back then I would have felt so much less alone,” said Lau. | 2022-09-22T15:02:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What you can do to find banned books in libraries - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/22/books-banned-libraries/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/22/books-banned-libraries/ |
New Acela trains represent a significant step toward national aspirations for faster and more reliable train service
Come fall of 2023, there will be a new fast train between Washington, D.C. and Boston. See how the new trains go from aluminum car shells to ready for people. (Video: Lee Powell/The Washington Post)
HORNELL, N.Y. — In a sprawling complex surrounded by hills, hundreds of yellow-vested workers are building the nation’s fastest trains — resembling the European-style rail cars that have largely been absent from American tracks.
The buzz of activity fills the Alstom manufacturing plant in this small western New York town, where concrete floors shine and the whizzing of drills echoes to the high ceilings. In every direction, Amtrak’s most advanced rail cars sit in various stages of construction.
The new Acela trains will roll through the nation’s busiest rail stations beginning next year, representing a significant step toward America’s aspirations for modern, faster and more reliable intercity train service. The trains will overhaul passenger service in the busy Northeast Corridor, improving safety, reliability, rider comfort and capacity.
“This is service-proven, top of the line, international technology,” said Laura Mason, Amtrak’s executive vice president for capital delivery.
The trains will be the fastest on the U.S. rail network. While built to reach speeds up to 186 mph, they are more likely to top out at 160 mph in small stretches of the D.C.-to-Boston corridor, outrunning legacy Acelas that travel up to 150 mph ― currently the nation’s fastest passenger train.
Their speed, however, will be limited by the complexities of the 457-mile route, which is old, curvy and carries a mix of freight, commuter and intercity trains. Most Amtrak trains travel between 110 mph to 145 mph in the corridor, depending on the track and proximity to stations.
New U.S. technology, limited time savings
Amtrak’s faster, higher-tech Acela trains are delayed again
Top speeds of 160 mph will only be reached along 34 miles in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with another 16 miles in New Jersey. Ongoing track enhancements between D.C. and New York will allow the new trains to travel 10 mph more quickly in segments with a 125 mph speed limit. Signal upgrades at various locations could eventually boost speeds from 45 mph to 80 mph.
“Even if our top speed isn’t changing through certain sections of track, what we’re doing is going faster through those curves in a more comfortable way, which will ultimately allow us to reduce the trip time,” Mason said.
Future capital projects such as tunnel and bridge rehabilitations would allow higher speeds in the future, officials said, bringing Amtrak closer to a goal of dropping the D.C.-to-New York trip from just under three hours to just over two hours. But when the new trains enter service, travelers initially can expect to save a little more than five minutes on a trip from Washington’s Union Station to New York’s Moynihan Train Hall, with similar savings from New York to Boston.
Amtrak’s investments in the Acela fleet — which predate a massive infusion of federal infrastructure funding for rail last year — aim to grow its most lucrative line. Before the pandemic, the service’s ridership grew 4.3 percent in fiscal year 2019 compared with the previous year, higher than growth rates on other Northeast Corridor lines and on state-funded routes nationwide.
Amtrak is a top travel choice in the Northeast. With an ally in the White House, it wants trains in the rest of America.
Alstom officials said some of the train’s features will debut in the United States before Europe, including touchless doors and spacious restrooms with a 60-inch diameter turning radius, which exceed accessibility requirements.
On this side of the Atlantic, Alstom uses materials from 250 suppliers in 27 states, in compliance with a “Buy American” rule in its $1.8 billion contract with Amtrak. Power systems such as transformers, pantographs, gears and batteries are shipped from Virginia, South Carolina and New Jersey, respectively. Axles and wheels are made in Kentucky, Illinois and Pennsylvania. The power car shells were built in Michigan.
“Many of our suppliers established new facilities in the United States, really building a foothold in the United States to support all of this activity,” said Noah Heulitt, the project’s director at Alstom.
The company obtained a waiver to import passenger car shells, which are made at an Italian Alstom plant and brought to Hornell — population 8,000 — through the Port of Baltimore. The type of shells being used for the project aren’t produced in the United States, project officials say.
The aluminum shells are lighter than traditional steel or stainless steel, decreasing train weights and reducing maintenance needs, according to Amtrak. The trains are also 20 percent more energy efficient.
‘The life of the equipment starts’
The assembly begins at Station Zero with car body shells. Crews start on the power cars that will tow the passenger cars and install the crash management system, which look like bumpers. The driver’s desk is assembled a few steps away, with cables, plugs and gear shifts visible before installation. The power car is built with a single-pane windshield, eliminating a divider at the center while increasing visibility for the engineer.
“We have a significant amount of equipment that needs to be installed … heating systems, cooling systems, commercial refrigeration, coffee makers, quite a bit of passenger interaction systems that have a very precise nature to them,” Heulitt said.
Moving along the production line, crews work on passenger cars, adding windows — larger than those on the legacy Acela trains to allow more light — before moving to the station where restrooms, the air conditioning system and the roof are mounted. Then crews are ready to install walls and carpet.
The work requires hundreds of parts, of which piles of equipment are lined along the massive shop floor — from wall panels to restroom doors, cables and nails. Each phase of production goes through an inspection involving independent reviews by Alstom and Amtrak quality control members.
Once a train has passed inspection, “the life of the equipment starts,” Heulitt said. “We’ve gone through our respective quality processes, validated through the functional testing. The equipment is good to operate and now we proceed.”
The FRA is deeply involved in this phase of testing, training and computer simulation before approving passenger operations.
The birthplace of American high-speed rail
Railroads have been part of Hornell’s fabric since Erie Railroad arrived in the mid-1800s, connecting New York City with western New York and establishing repair shops in the city. The industry is still the city’s largest employer, with more than 700 workers at the Alstom complex.
“We’re literally the place in the United States of America that produces high-speed rail,” said Mayor John J. Buckley, a Hornell native whose office is decorated with images of the old train depot in the heart of town. “If your city is looking to expand to high-speed rail or to refurbish existing [rail] cars, Hornell is the hotbed of that.”
Over the years, this city of maple trees surrounded by farmland — filled with corn and potatoes, and a large dairy farm outside its boundaries — has had other manufacturers. A silk mill, a distillery and a Coca-Cola bottling company came and went, leaving rail as the mainstay. Most families have deep ties to the industry.
The Amtrak contract in 2016 was a game changer for the city and the company. It revived the industry after Alstom — which delivered subway cars to New York in 2010 — was nearly forced to shutter operations in Hornell. The company kept only 25 workers to maintain the facility.
“The industry has had peaks and valleys,” said Buckley, whose grandfather worked in the Erie Railroad shops.
Now, Alstom is at the peak of its Acela production and has secured another 10 years of work through a $775 million contract to build commuter trains for the Chicago area. Its Hornell site, which is 885,000 square feet — larger than 15 football fields — is growing as the company is building a fourth plant in town that would become Alstom’s shell manufacturing facility.
“They’ve been adding infrastructure in the city over the years, positioning themselves for future contracts and future growth,” Buckley said. “Obviously that has a significant economic impact here in the city of Hornell.”
Back in the plant at the end of the production line, fully assembled trains are put through testing in “operational” mode to simulate a train in service. The trains then depart Hornell for Philadelphia, where Amtrak is conducting more testing.
“Once we get FRA approval, that testing expands to the speeds that it will travel — all the way up to the max operating speed of 160,” she said. “Training will really start to ramp up in spades.”
Sparky Hewlett, 29, grew up near the Hornell plant and runs a small eatery where he makes milkshakes, burgers and sausages. He said lunch traffic has doubled in recent years as Alstom’s finances have brightened.
“It’s keeping our town pretty alive,” Hewlett said. | 2022-09-22T15:02:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Amtrak's fastest rail cars are being built inside this New York plant - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/09/22/amtrak-acela-high-speed-trains/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/09/22/amtrak-acela-high-speed-trains/ |
Judge Aileen Cannon. (Committee on the Judiciary)
All throughout the Mar-a-Lago documents saga, Donald Trump and his allies have pushed a topsy-turvy line of propaganda: Trump has been uniquely victimized by lawless state overreach. What makes this up-is-downism truly absurd is that in reality, Trumpworld is raging at the fact that the law is being applied to him as it would be to anyone else.
For now at least, this up-is-downism is failing Trump in spectacular fashion.
That’s the upshot of a new federal appeals court ruling that allows the Justice Department to continue accessing classified documents seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. That temporarily reversed District Judge Aileen Cannon’s previous order in favor of Trump, dealing a blow to Trump’s efforts to evade accountability for his hoarding of state secrets.
Again and again, the ruling asserts in various ways that Trump is not entitled to privileged treatment, that he is not above the law. Meanwhile, in a jarring contrast, Trump appeared Wednesday night in Sean Hannity’s hermetically sealed-off Fox News universe, where actual legal arguments against him were treated as if they simply don’t exist.
The ruling’s upshot is that Trump’s tactics in court — which relied on a friendly judge to delay the investigation for as long as possible — have been decisively upended. The Justice Department had sought narrow relief from Cannon’s district court ruling by requesting continued access to approximately 100 classified documents seized in the search.
The court granted that. But it also telegraphed with unusual clarity that in the long run, Trump’s arguments will fail, meaning the investigation will continue.
“It’s about as thorough a repudiation of the district court’s ruling as one could get,” Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Austin at Texas, told me.
The appeals court ruling systematically dismantled many of the dubious arguments that Cannon employed to halt the investigation.
First, the ruling rebuked the idea that Trump has a legitimate “interest” in the classified documents, which had been based on the specious claim that a handful of seized documents were personal. The ruling archly noted that this latter fact didn’t concern documents that were actually classified:
Translation: What the bleedin’ heck is Trump even doing with all these highly classified secrets, anyway?
The ruling also knocked down the idea that Trump had declassified the documents, calling this a “red herring.” After all, it noted, even if Trump had declassified them (which he didn’t), that wouldn’t mean he had a legitimate interest in getting them back.
In short, the ruling reaffirmed that Trump is not entitled to these documents. They belong to the public. What’s more, the ruling declared that the public has a legitimate interest in the government investigating whether his hoarding of them posed a serious national security threat, and if so, how.
Meanwhile, the ruling also dismantled one of Cannon’s most contested arguments of all: That as an ex-president, Trump would face unusual “stigma” associated with an ongoing prosecution, giving the lower court cause to intervene in the investigation.
To knock this down, the ruling noted that Trump is not entitled to such a presumption. If the stigma associated with prosecution were an argument for a court to intervene, it said, that could be invoked by “every potential defendant.”
Of course, Cannon’s idea was in effect that Trump is not any old “potential defendant.” It was that he should get special treatment. The ruling said, in effect: No he should not.
Put this all together and the ruling affirms that the law should be applied to Trump, just as it is to everyone else. As a private citizen, he doesn’t retain magical declassification powers. He doesn’t get to keep classified documents that belong to the public. And he doesn’t get special treatment that places him above any other potential defendant.
“It’s restoring a sense of normalcy to a dispute that had gotten hijacked,” Vladeck told me.
In short, Trump is not being victimized here. He’s being subjected, at least for now, to the rule of law.
The lengths to which Trump and his propagandists go to cast him as uniformly a victim of lawless prosecutorial overreach is remarkable. Even as this ruling came out, journalist Aaron Rupar flagged the following exchange on Hannity, in which Trump accused the FBI of planting incriminating information at Mar-a-Lago:
TRUMP: Did they drop anything into those piles? Or did they do it later? There’s no chain of custody here with them.
HANNITY: Wouldn’t that be on video tape, potentially?
TRUMP: I’d — nah, I don’t think so. They’re in a room.
They’re in a room.
You may recall that for a time, Trumpworld threatened to release Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage that would expose the search’s truly jack-booted nature. Shockingly, he hasn’t released anything yet. Hannity correctly asked whether such footage would confirm Trump’s claims, but then accepted Trump’s dissembling and politely moved on.
We still have no idea if Trump will ever face criminal charges. But one thing is clear: Thus far, whatever delays he’s secured, his efforts to frustrate the overall investigation into his conduct appear to be running into trouble. | 2022-09-22T15:43:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Appeals court slams Judge Aileen Cannon over Mar-a-Lago: No, Trump is not above the law - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/appeals-court-ruling-judge-aileen-cannon-trump-mar-a-lago/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/appeals-court-ruling-judge-aileen-cannon-trump-mar-a-lago/ |
Prisoners released from Russia arrive at the airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. (Saudi Press Agency/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
The hundreds of prisoners of war released Wednesday in a surprise deal between Moscow and Kyiv included 10 foreign nationals captured in Ukraine, a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s, and commanders and fighters of the Azov Regiment, a Ukrainian far-right paramilitary group.
As part of the swap, Moscow agreed to release the foreigners as well as 215 Ukrainians, including more than 100 members of Azov. In return, Ukraine said it released Viktor Medvedchuk and 55 Russian and pro-Russian fighters. The imbalance in numbers, as well as the freeing of Azov members long portrayed as “Nazis” by the Kremlin, has already sparked criticism in Russia from pro-war nationalists.
However, the breadth and depth of the prisoner exchange — which was brokered with involvement from Saudi Arabia and Turkey — drew praise from the governments of the freed foreigners, several of whom had been sentenced to death in territory occupied by pro-Russian separatists.
Here’s a brief look at those who were released.
Viktor Medvedchuk, 68, is a pro-Kremlin Ukrainian opposition politician and close friend of Putin’s. He was captured in April by Ukraine’s internal security service, which said Medvedchuk had been in hiding for weeks and claimed he was going to be smuggled out of Ukraine with the help of Russia. He was charged with treason last year and allegedly escaped house arrest in February, two days after the Russian invasion, according to Kyiv.
Who is Viktor Medvedchuk, the pro-Russia mogul arrested in Ukraine?
The swap has already faced criticism from Russian hard-liners who say Russia gave up more than it got in the negotiations with Kyiv and are critical of the Kremlin’s decision to release members of the Azov Batallion, whom they view as a neo-Nazi threat that should be eliminated.
On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged that 55 Russian soldiers had returned home but did not reveal any details of the deal. Further confirmation instead came from the Moscow-backed separatist leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, who claimed credit for the prisoner exchange and argued it was important to release Medvedchuk because of his past role as negotiator throughout years of fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists.
“With my own eyes I’ve seen how during the Minsk process and outside of it, more than a 1,000 of our guys have been freed with the Viktor Medvedchuk’s help who wouldn’t have survived otherwise,” Pushilin said in a video posted by Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti. In evidence if Medvedchuk’s mercurial role, he was working for Kyiv during those previous prisoner-exchange negotiations.
Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Huynh
Drueke had told family that he was teaching Ukrainian troops how to use American-made weapons, his mother previously told The Washington Post. Joy Black, who identified herself as Huynh’s fiancee, said he had volunteered to fight alongside Ukrainian forces.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a statement, welcomed news of “the negotiated prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia, which includes two U.S. citizens captured while serving in Ukraine’s military.” Blinken said: “We look forward to these U.S. citizens being reunited with their families.”
Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner, John Harding, Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill
Five British nationals were also released Wednesday, the British government confirmed. They had been captured at various points in the war. British Prime Minister Liz Truss called it “hugely welcome news that five British nationals held by Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine are being safely returned, ending months of uncertainty and suffering for them and their families.”
Ukraine war volunteers are coming home, reckoning with difficult fight
In a video that Aslin and Pinner recorded from the plane as they headed back to the U.K., Pinner said they had gotten out “by the skin of our teeth.”
British national Aiden Aslin posted a video aboard a plane on Sept. 21 announcing his release from Russian prison. (Video: Aiden Aslin)
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February , Prokopenko led the defense of Mariupol, as Azov soldiers holed up for weeks under Russian fire inside the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works. For his leadership role on the front line of the conflict, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded him the title of Hero of Ukraine.
He was captured by separatist forces when they retook Azovstal and then held in a penal colony in Olenivka, in Donetsk. In June, Russian media reported that the commanders of the Azov Batallion were taken from Donetsk to Russia for “investigative actions.”
Prokopenko was released Wednesday and transferred to Turkey along with four other Azov commanders, Zelensky said. They will remain there until the end of the war “under Erdogan’s protection,” the Ukrainian president said in vague comments that suggested some form of house arrest. Russia’s parliament has taken steps to formally classify the Azov as a terrorist organization,
Sergey Volynsky
Sergey Volynsky, 30, is the commander of Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade, the last remaining unit of Ukraine’s armed forces in Mariupol during the Russian siege that ended in the capture of Azovstal.
Last Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol vow to fight ‘as long as we are alive’
In April, a unit of the 36th Brigade under his command merged with fighters from the Azov Battalion to take over the impenetrable network of underground tunnels that formed the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, which served as the last Ukrainian stronghold in the region and successfully diverted Russian resources for weeks. Volynsky became the voice of Azovstal’s defenders, appealing to world leaders to save civilians and the wounded in their ranks.
In Mariupol, echoes of history, utter devastation and a last stand
When Volynsky was released Wednesday as part of the prisoner swap, he said, “Emotions are overwhelming. Thank you on behalf of the [Armed Forces of Ukraine], the Marines who defended Azovstal.” | 2022-09-22T16:22:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Who was released in the Ukraine and Russia prisoner swap? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/22/medvedchuk-azov-prisoner-swap-ukraine-russia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/22/medvedchuk-azov-prisoner-swap-ukraine-russia/ |
Flying directly over a hurricane isn’t unheard of — but it can make for a bumpy ride
Video of a weather satellite and flight path radar show the JetBlue plane that flew over the Dominican Republic at the same time as Hurricane Fiona on Sept. 19. (Video: Google Earth / Zoom Earth)
As Hurricane Fiona pulled away from the Dominican Republic, eventually strengthening into the year’s first Category 3 major storm, more than two dozen flights out of the country’s biggest airport were canceled. But one made it out.
The flight, headed from Punta Cana to Newark via JetBlue late Monday, took off nearly five hours late, just after 7 p.m. It appeared on flight trackers as a lone craft in the middle of a swirling hurricane. It sparked alarm among some weather and aviation observers and prompted a question: Can you fly over a hurricane?
“I have seen the JetBlue flight that apparently went over Fiona and I will say that depending on cloud top heights you CAN fly over a hurricane,” tweeted Nick Underwood, an aerospace engineer who flies into the heart of storms as a member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Hurricane Hunters to collect vital data.
But, he added, “it is still not something I would recommend.”
It is not unprecedented for pilots to steer close to or over storms, and it can be done safely, meteorologists and aviation experts said. Pilots can make decisions based on weather in consultation with the Federal Aviation Administration and with their airlines’ own experts — as was the case Monday evening, a JetBlue spokesman said. The JetBlue flight landed safely at Newark International Airport just before 11 p.m. Monday.
The airline had been monitoring Fiona to determine routes to safely navigate around or above the system, spokesman Derek Dombrowski said, adding that the airline had canceled many flights that could not depart safely.
“Each flight is planned by a team of experts who then monitor progress of the flight and weather continuously,” Dombrowski said in an email. “It is important to understand that when routing a flight both the direction and the height of the weather system are factored into our decision-making.”
The main dangers in flying near or through hurricanes involve lightning, hail and winds, which are strongest near the center of a storm and vary in direction around it. There’s also concern about updrafts — strong vertically oriented blasts of wind present in any type of thunderstorm. One FAA report from 2011 warns of the possibility of “violent turbulence anywhere within 20 miles of very strong thunderstorms.”
“An aircraft when sufficiently high enough can fly safely above a hurricane as long as they avoid the individual thunderstorms that sometimes are adjacent to the hurricane,” a spokesperson for the Professional Pilots Association, a nonprofit group through which pilots discuss safety, told The Post.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to be on that flight,” Bass said.
Fiona was a Category 2 hurricane with maximum wind speeds of 110 mph at its core Monday evening, according to the National Hurricane Center. Data show the height of its clouds would have made it difficult for any aircraft to avoid.
At the time of the flight, clouds around the hurricane’s eye were as high as 45,000 feet, while on the outer fringes of the storm they were between about 33,000 and 39,000 feet, according to satellite data. In general, Category 2 hurricane clouds reach altitudes from about 33,000 to 46,000 feet.
Even for the hurricane hunters, safety is a top consideration when planning routes into and around hurricanes. The team, which gathers data used to better understand and forecast hurricanes, flies its Lockheed WP-3D Orion planes into the heart of storms at altitudes of 8,000 to 10,000 feet. To explore conditions above and around hurricanes, it flies its Gulfstream IV-SP aircraft at between 41,000 to 45,000 feet, spokesman Jonathan Shannon said.
Shannon said it would be difficult to estimate how high any aircraft would need to be above a storm to avoid turbulence, noting, “every storm can be different.”
Hurricane Fiona battered Puerto Rico Sunday, leaving almost 600,000 residents without power before moving the neighboring Dominican Republic. Hours before the flight, up to 20 inches of rain was reported on the eastern side of the Dominican Republic, where the Punta Cana airport is stationed, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The NHC also warned of life-threatening flash and urban flooding in the region. | 2022-09-22T16:31:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Is it safe to fly over a hurricane? A JetBlue plane flew right over Fiona - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/22/jetblue-hurricane-flight-fiona/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/22/jetblue-hurricane-flight-fiona/ |
Youngkin’s meeting with Va. delegation gets heated over trans policy
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) speaks with reporters after signing an executive order in Stafford on Sept. 1, 2022. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post)
The Virginia congressional delegation’s bipartisan monthly meeting Monday started out cordial enough, with Rep. Bob Good (R) asking special guest Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) to lead the delegation in a prayer before sitting down to a Chick-fil-A lunch.
But then Youngkin’s new policy for transgender students came up — ultimately leading to a heated exchange between Good and Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D), according to multiple aides with first- or secondhand knowledge of the meeting, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly.
Youngkin’s administration this weekend unveiled a new directive restricting the rights of transgender students in schools, ordering all 133 school districts to adopt policies that would require transgender students to use facilities and participate in activities corresponding with their sex at birth. It would also bar students from changing their names or pronouns at school without parental permission, putting Virginia at the center of a national debate about the relationships between schools and parents when it comes to kids’ gender identities.
Responses to the policy — which would go into effect after 30 days of public comment — have been deeply divided. Republicans and parental rights advocates have applauded it as the right thing to do for families, while Democrats and LGBTQ advocates have sharply criticized it, saying the measure will lead to bullying of vulnerable children who are already marginalized and need support at school.
Monday’s meeting with Youngkin starkly captured those emotional divides.
In between talk of economic development and infrastructure, Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D) brought up her concerns to Youngkin about the new policy’s mental health impact on transgender students, according to the aides. Data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has showed that about 2 percent of high school students identify as transgender, and 35 percent of those have attempted suicide. For Wexton, whose niece is transgender, the issue is personal, and she had previously publicly called the policy “a vile and disgusting attack on vulnerable trans kids” of which Youngkin “should be ashamed.”
How Jennifer Wexton became the patron saint of the transgender community
Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D) and Don Beyer (D) built on Wexton’s concerns, ranging from higher risks of suicide among transgender students to the constitutionality of the policy and its impact on inviting business to Virginia, aides said. Youngkin described the policy as a statement on parental rights in education, according to one of the people.
When it was Good’s turn to speak, he defended the governor and his administration’s new policy as the right thing to do for children. In Good’s view, schools and teachers were “grooming” children to change their gender, arguing they are being forced into gender transitions.
Rather than bullying of trans students contributing to suicide, Good argued that “the fact that these kids are killing themselves is because of grooming,” or something to that effect, and that they were being “forced” to undergo gender-affirming surgeries — comments that the aides said raised the temperature in the room.
Spanberger responded forcefully, telling Good, “That’s not f---ing true.”
Good stood his ground and insisted he was the one telling the truth, according to people familiar with the exchange, before Sen. Tim Kaine (D) stepped in to calm things down by reciting a Bible verse, Matthew 25:40: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
A spokeswoman for Good did not respond to requests for comment, but Good confirmed the tense exchange occurred in an interview with Punchbowl News, saying that when it was his turn to speak he sought to refute Spanberger, accusing Democrats of supporting “grooming” of children and the “mutilation of children” through gender-affirming surgeries. He then said Spanberger yelled out and cursed at him to call him a liar, though he said she was the one lying about Democrats’ position.
A spokesman for Spanberger said in a statement that she “always appreciates the opportunity to have a candid conversation with the Governor about the issues facing Virginia’s Seventh District,” noting she discussed emergency preparedness, Chesapeake Bay watershed conservation needs — and “her perspective as a parent related to recent education policy announcements made by the Governor’s administration.”
“Separately, she will always stand up against conspiracy theories that harm or attack Virginia’s students, their parents, and their educators — as was the case when one of her congressional colleagues did just that,” the statement added.
She had previously said after Youngkin’s policy was released that the move “will hurt children, especially LGBTQ children who already suffer higher rates of depression and are at greater risk of suicide.”
Bob Good ascends from Liberty University bubble to fight congressional culture wars
Good, a self-described biblical conservative, frequently speaks out against transgender rights, and has often traveled to school board meetings in his district to urge parents and school administrators to reject policies accepting transgender students at school. On the same day of the meeting with Youngkin, he appeared at a news conference hosted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to support her bill making it a felony to perform gender-affirming care — including treatment such as puberty-blocking drugs and surgery — on transgender kids, which Good equated to child abuse, reiterating his belief that it led to suicide.
Medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics have recommended transgender children access gender-affirming health care to reduce psychological distress.
FAQ: What you need to know about transgender children
Historically, the Virginia delegation’s private monthly meetings are opportunities for lawmakers to strengthen working relationships across the aisle and find common cause in helping Virginia. Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D), the dean of the Virginia delegation, said in a statement that he was “proud of the long-standing tradition of being able to work together on issues we agree on for the betterment of all Virginians,” noting that it was a unique tradition the state lawmakers maintained compared with other states.
But Scott added, “Obviously, there are issues we disagree on,” without getting into specifics.
A spokeswoman for Youngkin declined to comment.
If you or someone you know needs help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988. You can also text a crisis counselor by messaging the Crisis Text Line at 741741. | 2022-09-22T16:31:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Youngkin’s meeting with Va. delegation gets heated over trans policy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/exchange-over-trans-policy-gets-angry-spanberger-good/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/exchange-over-trans-policy-gets-angry-spanberger-good/ |
Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 1776, the British hanged Continental Army Capt. Nathan Hale for spying. On his way to the gallows, the 21-year-old schoolteacher from Connecticut purportedly declared “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”
Greg Norman visited Congress this week seeking allies for his Saudi-funded, Donald Trump-connected LIV Golf operation, locked as it is in a legal war with the PGA Tour. But instead of a gimme putt, the famous linksman found himself in something of a sand trap. Sorry.
My colleague Rick Maese reported on Norman’s visit to the Capitol, where he met with senators like Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) on Tuesday and members of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) on the House side on Wednesday.
“While some lawmakers posed for selfies and seemed receptive to Norman, others questioned LIV Golf’s Saudi financing and said Congress shouldn’t spend time intervening in a business dispute between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour. LIV Golf and seven of its golfers have sued the PGA Tour, saying the tour violated antitrust laws, allegations that the Department of Justice is also reportedly probing,” Rick explained.
Because so few lawmakers talked after the meetings, it’s not easy to get a full picture of the sort of welcome Norman received. But as a general rule, if you’re working with the Saudis and someone brings up 9/11, things aren’t going flawlessly.
And that’s what happened after Politico’s Andrew Desiderio reported Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) walked out of the RSC meeting with Norman complaining of “propaganda,” saying he struggled with the golfer’s Australian accent, and that the group should not waste time on “billionaire oil guys” and the Saudis.
Burchett quote-tweeted Andrew and added this:
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), who has urged the Justice Department to investigate LIV Golf for not registering under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, was also unimpressed, Rick reported.
“Don’t sell us ‘this is just about competition’ when they won’t answer about a billion dollars to buy off PGA Tour players … resulting in a billion dollars of PR for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (quoting President Trump) in likely violation of FARA,” Rick quoted Roy as saying in a statement.
A LIV spokesman told Rick that Norman was "very well received, even if a couple members of Congress say otherwise.”
Saudi Arabia’s critics see in LIV a blatant attempt at “sportswashing,” the practice of repressive regimes using athletic competitions to polish their image — think the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany, or subsequent games in places like China or Russia. (Moscow first invaded Ukraine shortly after hosting the 2014 Olympic Games.)
“The Olympics and the World Cup in 2018 weren’t just ways to showcase Russia to the rest of the world, but were also ways for Putin to consolidate internal support from Russians for his leadership,” said Jane McManus, the executive director of Seton Hall’s Center for Sports Media.
“The internal approval is more impactful sometimes than the external rewards,” McManus told The Daily 202.
Athletes can be in a tough spot. Some have trained their whole lives and may never see another Olympics. And wasn’t it worth seeing Jesse Owens collect four gold medals and ruin Adolf Hitler’s garbage race theories in front of the fuhrer himself?
Perhaps mindful of this — and of the fact that Olympic boycotts have never worked — President Biden let American athletes compete in the winter games in China but kept U.S. officials away in what amounted to a “diplomatic boycott.”
Saudi Arabia and human rights
With Saudi Arabia, the question is whether some of the golf world’s brightest stars are lending their popularity indirectly to a government the State Department accuses of “significant” human rights abuses, while the U.S. intelligence community says Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Tiger Woods reportedly turned down a payday of up to $700 million if he agreed to join LIV.
Norman’s visit to Congress came as LIV has yet to land a deal to televise its tournaments, which would increase its earnings and broaden its influence. (If people can’t sports-watch, you can’t sports-wash?)
In a November 2021 interview with Golf Digest, just a week after he became CEO of LIV Golf Investments, Norman bristled at the suggestion he was effectively doing PR for the regime in Riyadh but also tried to get some daylight between his funding and the crown prince.
The Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund “invested in major U.S. corporations because of commercial reasons. They invested in LIV Golf Investments for a commercial opportunity. They’re passionate about the game of golf,” he said.
Norman told Golf Digest it was unfair to criticize the regime in Riyadh “unless you actually go there” before extolling progress on women’s rights: “You walk into a restaurant and there are women. They’re not wearing burkas. They’re out playing golf.”
That prompted an editor’s note that quoted from a Human Rights Watch report: “Saudi women still must obtain a male guardian’s approval to get married, leave prison, or obtain certain health care. Women also continue to face discrimination in relation to marriage, family, divorce, and decisions relating to children, including child custody.”
Still, whatever happened on Norman’s visit to Washington, he can still count on support from Trump. The former president’s New Jersey golf club hosted one event earlier this summer with plans for more events at the former president’s properties. It usually doesn’t take long for Republicans to follow Trump’s lead. Even if that means landing in the rough.
“A host of central banks from across the world raised interest rates again on Thursday, following the U.S. Federal Reserve in a global fight against inflation that is sending shockwaves through financial markets and the economy,” Reuters' Francesco Canepa reports.
Senate Democrats to press doomed procedural vote on Disclose Act
“Democrats in the Senate will try — and probably fail — to advance legislation to provide disclosure of donors to super PACs. None of the bills is expected to reach President Biden’s desk before the midterm elections, but party leaders think that considering them sends an important message,” John Wagner and Azi Paybarah report.
“Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged missile and artillery barrages that killed at least six people Thursday as both sides refused to concede any ground despite recent military setbacks for Moscow and the toll on the invaded country after almost seven months of war,” the Associated Press reports.
“A coalition of five dozen civil rights organizations is blasting Silicon Valley’s biggest social media companies for not taking more aggressive measures to counter election misinformation on their platforms in the months leading up to November’s midterm elections,” Naomi Nix reports.
“In 1989, the Los Angeles Raiders hired Art Shell, who became the first Black head coach in the modern history of the NFL. He is one of 191 people who have been head coaches in the three-plus decades since. A brief uptick of Black coaching hires in the mid-2000s provided hope that racial equity was within reach. But that glimmer of progress was a mirage. In the 33 years since Shell’s hiring, just 24 other head coaches have been Black,” Dave Sheinin, Michael Lee, Emily Giambalvo, Artur Galocha and Clara Ence Morse report.
“A campaign watchdog group has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission against the campaign arm of Senate Republicans, accusing the group of breaking federal law by using money that is supposed to be earmarked for legal expenses on campaign ads instead,” the New York Times' Shane Goldmacher and Reid J. Epstein report.
“President Biden issued a major disaster declaration on Wednesday for Puerto Rico, unlocking additional federal assistance as island residents navigate the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona,” Politico's Gloria Gonzalez reports.
“The major disaster declaration allows FEMA to directly help individuals pay for temporary housing and home repairs, provide low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and pay for other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the storm.”
“The Russian tanks and armored vehicles had barely begun to roll into Ukraine before the fossil fuel industry in the US had swung into action. A letter was swiftly dispatched to the White House, urging an immediate escalation in gas production and exports to Europe ahead of an anticipated energy crunch,” the Guardian's Oliver Milman reports.
“The letter, dated 25 February, just one day after Vladimir Putin’s forces launched their assault on Ukraine, noted the ‘dangerous juncture’ of the moment before segueing into a list of demands: more drilling on US public lands; the swift approval of proposed gas export terminals; and pressure on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an independent agency, to green-light pending gas pipelines.”
Our colleagues Marisa Iati and Daniel Wolfe walk you through the destruction in Puerto Rico, from the initial blackouts to flooding to landslide risks.
“San Juan, the capital, was spared the storm’s worst effects, and parts were among the first to get power back. Departures from the international airport there resumed Monday afternoon. But some nearby areas were hit hard by flooding. In Toa Baja, about 16 miles west, water flowed over the top of La Virgencita bridge and made it impassible.”
“In his first TV appearance since a court-authorized search of his Florida home last month, Donald Trump reasserted Wednesday that any documents taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago were declassified while he was in office, adding that a president can carry that out ‘even by thinking about it,’” Julian Mark reports.
Context: “Presidents do have the authority to declassify information — though typically there’s a process for doing so, which can include coordinating with the agencies or Cabinet members from which the information originated to prevent possible national-security risks.”
“On his Fox News show in August, Tucker Carlson concluded a segment with this advice: “If every Republican office-seeker, every Republican candidate in the United States focused on law and order and equality under the law, there would be a red wave' in the November midterm elections,” Bill Lueders writes for the Bulwark.
“Since then, writes Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters who tracks Fox News and other right-wing outlets, ‘Republican strategy appears to have fallen in line with Carlson’s suggestion.’ GOP candidates are increasingly using the golden-oldie issue of crime to quite literally scare up votes, making sweeping claims about skyrocketing lawlessness that, outside of the Trump Organization, is not actually occurring.”
The president is in New York City today.
At 2:15 p.m., Biden will get a hurricane briefing at Federal Emergency Management Agency’s office at One World Trade.
He will then participate in a Democratic National Committee event at 4:40 p.m.
At 5:55 p.m., Biden will leave New York. He will arrive at the White House at 7:45 p.m.
On Trump’s latest predicament
On our radar: House Repulicans introduce ‘Commitment to America’ | 2022-09-22T16:32:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Greg Norman, pitching LIV golf, gets rough Congress welcome - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/greg-norman-pitching-liv-golf-gets-rough-congress-welcome/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/greg-norman-pitching-liv-golf-gets-rough-congress-welcome/ |
Robert “Bojo” Ackah, center, and Fik-Shun, left, perform during the announcement of the first Thursday Night Football on Prime Video, a matchup between the San Diego Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs. (Vera Nieuwenhuis/AP)
Of the 13 million viewers, nearly 12 million viewed the game on Amazon Prime, while the rest watched on broadcast TV, which was available in Los Angeles and Kansas City.
During last week’s game, Amazon had hundreds of customer service representatives available to field troubleshooting phone calls from fans who could not find the game. There were not widespread issues with the telecast or its logistics, though some anecdotal data on social media suggested some fans dealt with buffering issues in the second half. | 2022-09-22T16:33:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Rating for NFL’s Amazon Prime debut is a good sign for streaming - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/nfl-amazon-prime-rating/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/nfl-amazon-prime-rating/ |
The chance to see new places and make memories with friends is appealing, but much can go wrong. (iStock)
Salo Aburto was thrilled about his first trip to Europe last month. The plan was a two-week jaunt with his best friend from college to Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin. His friend was married and living in Brussels and seemed eager to play tour guide. (Her husband joined them for a couple of days.) Aburto, 27, a digital content specialist for an environmental nonprofit group in Washington, was taking two weeks off for the adventure. The pair would be traveling together for the first time.
Within days, the trip devolved into his “worst nightmare.”
Cracks quickly showed up: He is organized and likes to have “an itinerary, plus a Plan A and Plan B,” while she is more spontaneous. He grew frustrated at not having time to explore on his own and felt his priorities were being ignored. They even fought over his snoring. Minor disagreements and snipes culminated in a blowup fight in Berlin. The next time he saw her was at the airport, where she switched her seat on the plane they had booked together back to Brussels. Aburto spent the last three days there trying to salvage the trip alone.
They haven’t spoken since he left Europe a month ago, although they got together for coffee just before he flew home, and he’s hopeful they’ll patch up their relationship with time. But he’ll think twice before traveling with friends again. “It does make me sad, because I feel like this trip completely bombed an amazing relationship,” he said.
The chance to see new places and make memories with friends is appealing, but much can go wrong. Personalities can clash, goals can differ, well-meaning planners can make boneheaded mistakes. Whether it’s a weekend lark or a multiweek international excursion, here’s how to move a trip from an idea to reality — and how to survive it with friendships intact.
Set (and agree on) expectations. Clarifying the goal of the trip can make the planning process easier. A trip to Paris with the purpose of seeing as many museums as possible will have a faster pace and more scheduled outings than a chill weekend at a lake house. Talk about what most of the group wants to do, and people can decide whether they want to participate. On a recent New York birthday weekend with friends, for instance, I made it clear that I would not stay out as late at clubs as the rest of the group.
Nail down dates early. One of the hardest parts about group travel is getting everyone to commit. People have busy schedules and varying amounts of time off; create a Google or Doodle form, and ask everyone to look at their calendars and provide date ranges when they’re free. Pick the dates with the most overlap.
“If you’re the person corralling these trips, you need to be prepared for not everyone to go,” said David Bell, 27, a physics PhD student at the University of Washington in Seattle who has traveled with his group of high school friends every couple of years since 2013. “There’s not going to be a perfect date.”
Pick a group organizer. The trip won’t happen if no one takes charge. Vanessa Bowling Ajavon, founder of the Girls Vacation Club, a D.C.-based travel company that organizes group trips for women, recommends appointing one person to be the lead planner. This person will make decisions and keep the group on track. Ajavon has seen many would-be trips dissolve because no one wanted to take the lead. “If you have too many people researching, it’s going to get really sloppy,” she said.
Others can be assigned to book specific aspects, such as hotels, restaurants and activities, while the designated planner keeps everyone on track.
Sort out money issues right away. Don’t leave for a trip without clear expectations about how much it costs, what everyone can pay and how people will be reimbursed. No one wants to be surprised with a hefty bill, and no one wants to chase down payments.
Travelers with different budgets can still vacation together. Olivia Rempel, 29, a video expert for an environmental communications center in Norway, regularly travels with friends who have different levels of income. In May, she and her husband joined six others on a diving trip in Jordan and later visited the desert reserve of Wadi Rum; the rest of the group stayed at a luxury campsite featuring tents with clear tops to see the stars, while Rempel and her husband chose a less-expensive Bedouin camp nearby.
“If they’re splurging, we totally respect it, but we know what our budget is and stick by it,” she said.
If someone is fronting money, work out how and when everyone will pay their share. Holly Trantham, creative director of the Financial Diet, used a credit card to purchase plane tickets to see Lady Gaga in Las Vegas; she told her friends when payments were due to give people time to save. “I was traveling with really good friends who I knew would pay me back,” she said.
Keep track of each person’s expenses, and settle bills promptly after the trip. Trantham and Rempel recommend using Splitwise, an app that tallies individual expenses. If someone needs more time to pay, settle on a timeline and stick to it.
10 solo travel destinations for your first trip alone
Be ready to compromise. People with different habits can travel well together as long as expectations are set early. In a large group, make sure each person gets to do at least one thing they value.
It’s okay to decide not to travel with a friend if their travel style or expectations differ too much from yours. “You can be a really good friend to somebody and decide they’re not someone you want to travel with,” Trantham said.
Keep the itinerary flexible. Most travelers want a mix between scheduled activities and downtime. Secure tickets or reservations for any group activities in advance, so they don’t sell out. Schedule some group meals, but leave others unplanned, so people can try different places. Rempel saves restaurants on Google Maps, so she has pre-vetted recommendations, even when wandering around.
Ajavon builds her itineraries with flexibility in mind. “You can stay with the group as much as you want to, but you can also go off and do your own thing,” she said. On a trip to Paris, for instance, she slept in and met her friends for lunch after they visited the Louvre, where she had already been.
Build in alone time. Even the best of friends need time away from one another. Factor in alone time, whether that’s staying in separate rooms or dedicating time for solo outings. Aburto said he’ll always reserve his own room going forward. “Even if I have to pay more money, I’ll be happier coming back to my own room,” he said. For an upcoming trip to New York, he booked a hotel room instead of making plans to stay with local friends.
Cut each other slack. Even the best-laid plans can be derailed. Bell, the physics student, was in charge of booking some Airbnbs on a trip to Europe in 2019 and “received a little bit of heat” for “booking some real bummers.” But his friends were forgiving. Remember why you’re on the trip together, and try to focus on having fun. | 2022-09-22T16:34:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Tips for planning group travel - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/09/22/travel-vacation-planning-friends-group/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/09/22/travel-vacation-planning-friends-group/ |
Her character Lucy Barton returns, this time riding out the pandemic’s early wave with her ex-husband in Maine
By Karen Heller
Elizabeth Strout in Topsham, Maine, in August. Her new novel, “Lucy by the Sea,” brings back several of her beloved characters. (Tristan Spinski for The Washington Post)
Harpswell, Maine — Here, in the Mid-Coast Maine village of her childhood, in a home overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, is where Elizabeth Strout has chosen to install the characters in her new novel, “Lucy by the Sea.” You might well know these characters. Lucy Barton (of three previous novels) and her ex-husband William Gerhardt (of “Oh William!”) retreat to Maine to ride out the pandemic’s initial wallop, and end up staying more than a year.
Strout, 66, is a novelist who can’t quit her loved ones, and whose recent astonishing productivity delights her devoted readers. “Lucy by the Sea,” which was published Tuesday, is her sixth book in less than a decade. Characters tend to appear fully formed to Strout, a visitation, and keep returning to her, as if to say, Surely, you are not done with me yet.
“I have such a deep relationship with them. In order for me to write about them, I need to inhabit them as fully as possible,” says Strout at her nearby home, a duplex in a handsome 1851 building graced with hammered tin ceilings. She rarely kills a character, except a spare husband or two. “It’s hard to have them just go away,” Strout says.
Laura Linney, who starred in the one-woman production of “My Name Is Lucy Barton” on Broadway and twice in London, says Strout’s characters are “so alive, and keep tapping you on the shoulder.”
So, the gang is all here! In “Lucy by the Sea,” Strout summons Bob Burgess (of “The Burgess Boys”); Isabelle (from her debut, “Amy and Isabelle”); and, yes, the indomitable Olive Kitteridge of the eponymous Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, its encore, “Olive, Again,” and the Emmy-laden HBO adaptation starring Frances McDormand. (Strout adores McDormand’s performance but finds the actress altogether too pretty for the role.)
To Strout, writing is an act of revelation. And she is always writing, often in her studio above a nearby store. She’s amazed that Lucy returned for a fourth novel, but here she is.
“I never know what’s going to happen. Because I always feel like if I’m not surprised, then the reader won’t be surprised,” she says. To Strout, the act of writing is “purely intuitive.” She rarely foresees how her books will end. As Lucy notes, in one of Strout’s favorite observations in the new novel: “It is a gift in this life that we do not know what awaits us.”
There is an insistent generosity in Strout’s books, and a restraint that obscures the complexity of their construction. Her literary success seems akin to Hemingway’s observation of how someone might go broke: “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” Her first novel was published on her 42nd birthday in 1998, following years of relentless rejection that did nothing to crush her drive or discipline. Now, dedicated readers have come to expect a new book from Strout every year or so.
“She’s had to work for this,” says her editor, Random House publisher Andy Ward. “She dedicates her life to it. She’s really sort of devoid of ego. The focus for her is on her book and the characters. She’s never showing off.”
Possibly, that’s the Mainer in her. Her mother’s family has been here since 1603; her father’s family arrived more recently — the mid-1700s. She was raised in a home with no newspapers or television, but there was a subscription to the New Yorker. Strout writes about people who, at first glance, might be overlooked, often older characters — she grew up surrounded by tough, older Maine women — born to brutal poverty and shattering circumstances.
Strout loved describing the Maine coast through her character, seeing it anew. “A dark green water curled up over the rocks, and seaweed that was a brown-gold color, almost deep copper, lay wavy-like on the rocks as the dark green water splashed up,” Strout writes of Illinois-raised Lucy observing the ocean for the first time. “This is the sea! It was like a foreign country to me.” Few novelists bestow exclamation marks with such aplomb.
Tall and trim, Strout appears immune to bragging and refrains from criticizing others, even places. She stops herself from uttering an unkind comment about a nearby town that has long weathered hard times. During a lengthy afternoon interview, she is generous, observant and forthright. She cannot cook but wants to make sure her guest has acquired lunch — like Lucy, Strout is largely uninterested in food because of a childhood of dismal gastronomy — and she is cursed with an unerringly wretched sense of direction, even in places that she has known forever.
Since Strout’s comparatively late start, the books, popularity and awards have been near constant: nine novels; more than 5.2 million copies in print, according to her publisher; and a frequent berth on the bestseller list. Ward calls her “the ultimate less-is-more writer. She’s just in the zone right now. She’s writing all the time, doing some of the best work of her career.”
“Oh William!” is among six novels shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize. (She was longlisted for “Lucy Barton” in 2016.) “No one writes interior life as Strout does,” the judges noted. “Barton is one of literature’s immortal characters — brittle, damaged, unraveling, vulnerable and most of all, ordinary, like us all.”
Strout was encouraged by her mother to write, to observe everything. She recalls completing her first story by age 9 or 10. She realized at an early age that her father was kinder than her mother, but her mother was more interesting.
“I have never had writer’s block. My writer’s block takes the form of writing badly, which is much more preferable,” she says, perched on a cream sofa draped with a lemon-print fabric. Books are stacked everywhere on the hardwood floor. “That happens to me all the time. ‘Oh, okay, today was just terrible. I just wrote bad stuff, and tomorrow I’ll write better stuff.’” On a good day of writing, says James Tierney, her second husband of 10 years, “she’s as excited as a teenager. Her eyes are flashing.” Tierney, a former Maine attorney general, is a lecturer at Harvard Law School.
On the way to becoming a published author, Strout tried acting, stand-up comedy, working in a shoe mill, cocktail waitressing, playing piano in a cocktail bar, teaching writing, law school and practicing law for all of six months.
“I was a terrible lawyer, just terrible,” she says. “It turns out I did not have one adversarial bone in my body. I was just too young and too stupid.”
All of it, she believes, was in the service of becoming the author she is today: “I think that I just have been in training for a really, really, really, really long time.” The summer she spent in the shoe factory informed “Amy and Isabelle,” which is set in a mill office, the characters inspired by the stories of former co-workers. Law school taught her to write tightly and discard excess emotion. Stand-up offered lessons in deploying candor and engaging directly with readers. Acting allowed her to inhabit other characters. “I loved the idea of becoming a different person,” she says. “That is what has motivated me in my writing. I want to know what it feels like to be another person.”
Linney says of Strout’s writing: “It is skill that is beyond skill. It doesn’t feel technical at all. She is able to distill truth down to such a stealth level. It hits your body and your mind and your heart, particularly when you hear the language out loud, but also when you’re quietly alone reading the book.”
Strout is an indie-bookstore favorite and a staple of book groups. For the “Olive Kitteridge” reader’s guide, she engaged in “conversation” with her character, Olive, not forfeiting a point. “I think about my readers all the time. I love my readers,” Strout says. “So I have an ideal reader. If I can make up a character, I can make up a reader.” Her reader “has no gender but is right in front of me when I write. The presence of the reader is very visible to me,” she says. “I’m never, ever, ever writing for myself.”
Strout lived in Manhattan for many years, where she raised her only child, playwright Zarina Shea, and still keeps a studio apartment. She loved living elsewhere and didn’t think she would ever return to Maine. New York is where she met Tierney, a divorced father of five, at one of her author events. Having scored the last ticket, he rushed to be first in the long line to meet her afterward. “When he went out the door,” Strout recalls, “he turned left and he looked right, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘That’s what my life should have been.’”
But Tierney had slipped her his email address on a tiny piece of newsprint. “We met twice. And then he moved in,” she says. “We waited a year to get married because we didn’t want to scare the kids. It was very, very innocent and very romantic.”
Strout finds herself back in Maine, so near to the town she had seemingly left for good, because Tierney wanted to be here. When the coronavirus pandemic first struck, they hunkered down in their native state. How could she not write about the pandemic? “I couldn’t think of writing anything else. I couldn’t pretend it hasn’t happened,” she says. “It was a more difficult piece for me because there was tremendous uncertainty as I was writing.”
Tierney says: “She has to get it right. Her commitment to accuracy is astounding.” Lucy Barton is originally from the fictional rural town of Amgash, Ill. “Her voice sort of arrived to me, and I thought, ‘Okay, I see sky.’ I literally saw this gigantic sky and this little tiny house,” Strout says. But her gift for conjuring characters from thin air does not extend to their physical surroundings. So she and Tierney went to Illinois, and also Iowa, to discover their own Amgash, visiting three times to capture the different seasons. It seemed important that her characters were not only specific to her home state. “It was just so freeing to get them out of Maine,” she says.
Politics quietly and occasionally sneaks into Strout’s work. Olive is an ardent Democrat who thinks poorly of George W. Bush. “I got so much hate mail, and I didn’t think too much of it, but that was years ago and things are changing,” Strout says. In her latest book, Jan. 6, 2021, is noted, as are supporters of the former president, though he is never named. Strout is well aware that, given her substantial audience, she has admirers with diverging political beliefs. “I don’t want to put off readers,” she says, “though I think I probably will.”
Strout sees literary acclaim and an ever-enlarging readership at a later age as gifts. “I’m actually really glad that it didn’t happen to me early. I think it worked exactly how it should have worked,” she says. “Those boxes and boxes and boxes of rejections were earned, and therefore, the sentences were earned. And, until they got fully earned, then they shouldn’t have been out there.”
She realized when she was young, even as a terrible lawyer, that “this is what I am here for,” she says of writing. “I always knew that. I always understood that about myself.” Unlike Lucy, who pens a memoir, Strout has no intention of writing her life’s story: “No, never, not in my wildest dreams!”
She’s deep into the next novel, likely to be published in 2024. Her characters, it appears, have no intention of leaving. “Yes, they’re all coming back. I feel like I’ve got millions of stories to tell,” she says with delight. “They just keep burbling up.” | 2022-09-22T16:53:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Elizabeth Strout talks about 'Lucy by the Sea' - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/09/22/elizabeth-strout-lucy-by-sea/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/09/22/elizabeth-strout-lucy-by-sea/ |
Michael Dirda recalls a time of typewriters and landlines, of putting together a section that captures the joy of literature and the love of reading
Perspective by Michael Dirda
I was in my late 20s when I first arrived at Book World in the spring of 1978. During the previous year, I’d written a half dozen reviews for Bill McPherson, who oversaw the section, and one day he asked if I might be interested in becoming an assistant editor. He needed someone who could assign fiction, poetry, history and basically everything that wasn’t strictly political. I seemed to fit the bill.
Partly because I’d never worked at any newspaper before, everything about The Post struck me as magical. And surprisingly noisy. In those days, each staffer’s cubicle held a telephone, a heavy metal Rolodex and a Selectric typewriter. Phones in the open newsroom rang almost continuously, and reporters hammered out their stories on sheets of six-ply paper, instantly creating five copies of each page. One of those pages — called “takes” — would be scrolled up in a canister and sent via pneumatic tubes to the composing room. There, linotype machines would turn those paragraphs into rows of metal type.
In later years, compositors — we called them printers — would use heavy cardboard flats to create mock-ups of each page, a job strictly restricted to members of the printers’ guild. A dapper red-haired Englishman named Brian Jacomb always made up Book World’s pages while murmuring snatches of wisdom from old music-hall songs, such as “If you want to know the time, ask a policeman.” Once McPherson covertly repositioned some camera-ready art by himself and a foreman’s voice almost instantly rang out over the loudspeaker: “Down tools.” All work on the floor stopped. A sheepish Bill was warned never, ever to do that again.
Except for Carl Bernstein, most of the people who appear in the films “All the President’s Men” and “The Post” were still at the paper. Mrs. Graham — as Katharine Graham was always called — inspired awe, being the most patrician person I’d ever met; Ben Bradlee was ebullient and raffish; and the Op-Ed pages were looked after by the scarily intelligent Meg Greenfield. If you ran into Herblock in the corridor, he would invariably ask your opinion of his latest political cartoon. After Don Graham took over as the paper’s publisher, he regularly practiced “management by walking around” and, quite amazingly, could greet any of several hundred employees by name. What’s more, whenever you would write something especially good, you’d find a complimentary note from Don in your mailbox.
Each week, a motley crew — the section’s editor in chief and four assistant editors — provided five daily reviews for Style and filled the 16 pages of the Sunday “tab,” a stand-alone magazine section. Besides individual reviews and roundups (of children’s books, mysteries, science fiction and fantasy), each issue required a fair amount of in-house writing: snappy headlines, paragraph descriptions for a half dozen titles in New in Paperback and New in Hardcover, a literary quiz called Book Bag, and hardcover and paperback bestseller lists compiled from sales numbers reported by local bookstores.
One long-ago September, I noticed works by various French thinkers — Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and the like — occasionally cropping up on the list. It turned out that a Francophile news aide named Joe, charged with compiling the list, had decided that their works should be bestsellers, and he made sure they were. Joe, by the way, was as colorful a character as Brian. If you called him over to your desk, he would stand at stiff attention, strike his chest with his fist in a Roman salute and say, “Yes, my liege.”
I used to make up many of the Book Bag questions, but the only one I now recall was built around the close similarity in name of two contemporaries, Beatrix Potter, the creator of “Peter Rabbit” and Beatrice Potter, the Fabian socialist who, following her marriage, became Beatrice Webb. The Monday morning after that question appeared, I was called into the office of Richard Harwood, the gruff assistant managing editor who oversaw several sections including Book World. A former Marine, “Left-for-dead-on-Iwo-Jima” Harwood — as he was fondly referred to — complained that the quiz had gotten too hard, too obscure. “Dirda, I want questions like ‘Mary had a little,’ followed by a blank that people can fill in.” I nodded acquiescently, but didn’t make the questions any easier.
In those days, every major publisher sent us proofs and review copies, which were duly shelved by publication month in the Book Room. Each afternoon, after the day’s mail delivery, its floor would be covered ankle-deep in padded envelopes and small boxes. We regularly trampled on them without a second thought. What’s more, any book with “good art” might suffer mutilation if we needed an illustration for its review. As something of a bibliophile, I found cutting pictures out of books appalling, but newspaper work hardens even the most sensitive soul. When our art director, Kunio Francis Tanabe, went on vacation I was the one wielding the X-ACTO knife.
Each Monday, Book World’s staff would gather to thrash out the contents of the upcoming issue, argue about what should go on the front and, after discussing possible books for review, lament that publishing wasn’t what it once was. In assigning, we either telephoned or — yes, children — wrote actual letters to possible reviewers. The thriller writer Ross Thomas always answered his phone on the second ring and turned in immaculate copy. He could be counted on, the perfect professional. But for glamour, we might ask Stephen King to write about Robert Ludlum (which he did in a devastating evisceration), or arrange for a piece from Salman Rushdie when he was in hiding from an Islamic fatwa, or present a conversation between Joseph Heller and Mel Brooks in which they talked about their childhood reading. But we also tried out promising new writers. In 1981, I assigned Mary Robison’s “Oh!” to a Post intern named David Remnick, now the editor of the New Yorker.
In those heady years following Watergate, I regularly sought out reviewers among older writers I admired. I once spent 45 minutes chatting with novelist Christopher Isherwood about W.H. Auden, flattered Sir Harold Acton — the dedicatee of Evelyn Waugh’s “Decline and Fall” — into reviewing books on the Brideshead generation, solicited pieces from Malcolm Cowley and Morley Callaghan, who had both been expats in Paris during the 1920s, and persuaded Robert Penn Warren to send us a poem.
Among my contemporaries I commissioned as much as they could bear from composer Ned Rorem, polymath Guy Davenport, classicist Bernard Knox, and novelists Gilbert Sorrentino, Robertson Davies and Angela Carter. I remember that Angela — we became telephone friends — verged on mockery in her review of Gabriel García Márquez’s much lauded “Love in the Time of Cholera.” Roald Dahl, who somehow resisted my honeyed words, did mention that his favorite American writer was Ed McBain, creator of the 87th Precinct police procedurals. Since we grew up in the same town, I had an in with Toni Morrison and was able to sweet-talk her into a piece about Jean Toomer.
More stories from Book World
Perhaps my proudest achievement during those first years at Book World was the monthly science fiction and fantasy column, which was only initiated after Joanna Russ, an old friend and author of the feminist classic, “The Female Man,” provided me with considerable tutelage. Soon, no other mainstream paper could match our coverage of fantastika. The legendary Theodore Sturgeon reviewed the young Thai writer S.P. Somtow. We ran an “Ode on the Death of Philip K. Dick,” by sf great Thomas M. Disch. George R.R. Martin scribbled for Book World long before “A Game of Thrones” and Ursula K. Le Guin and John Crowley became frequent and favorite reviewers of anything. Best of all, when Gene Wolfe completed “The Book of the New Sun,” John Clute’s account of the final volume, “The Citadel of the Autarch,” deserved the front page and got it.
Washington has always been a great book town. For a big spread in Weekend, David Streitfeld — then Book World’s nonpareil publishing correspondent, now a business reporter for the New York Times — and I visited and briefly described 35 secondhand bookshops in the greater metro area. One memorable evening, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan hosted a party on the Hill where I found myself arguing about Ezra Pound with novelist Bernard Malamud and CIA spymaster James Jesus Angleton. My wife and I then lived in the same apartment building as Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist Mary McGrory. Once, when I was off to the laundry room with a basket of dirty clothes, the elevator opened and there stood Teddy Kennedy and the economist John Kenneth Galbraith, both on their way to Mary’s annual St. Patrick’s Day party.
Book World was always trying new ways to keep the section lively. For instance, we ran a half dozen pieces tracking how a book is made: In one, Leo and Diane Dillon revealed the secrets of dust-jacket illustration. We even devoted entire special issues to off-trail subjects, including home maintenance. I actually reviewed seven or eight plumbing-repair manuals. Back in the 80s, another theme issue presciently focused on comics and included pieces on the Hernandez Brothers, Harvey Pekar’s “American Splendor” and “Watchmen.”
Unrelentingly, each year our seasonal specials, geared to children’s books, winter holidays, and vacation reading, demanded fresh crowd-pleasing features. For one summer reading issue, I asked John Sutherland — an expert on popular fiction — for an annotated list of the 20 worst or kitschiest books that had become 20th-century best sellers. “At No. 19,” Sutherland wrote, “I nominate the vulgarest novel I have ever read, Judith Krantz’s 1991 bestseller, ‘Dazzle.’ ” I was pleased to see this. My own review of that novel had begun: “I read ‘Dazzle’ in one sitting. I had to. I was afraid I couldn’t face picking it up again.”
As children’s book editor, I came up with a series in which various writers recalled their childhood reading in, for instance, Argentina (Alberto Manguel), India (Shashi Tharoor) and the Soviet Union (Cathy Young). Perhaps Book World’s most popular feature, “Rediscoveries,” looked at books undeservedly neglected and was chiefly the work of Noel Perrin (who assembled his essays in “A Reader’s Delight”). Much later, Book World editor Marie Arana undertook a terrific series of author interviews, eventually published as “The Writing Life,” while the Library of Congress’s poets laureate — Rita Dove, Robert Hass, Robert Pinsky — wrote infectiously about their favorite poems in “Poet’s Choice.”
Sigh, my editors tell me I really must stop. Still, this has been the shallowest of dives into Book World’s early history and much has had to be left out (some of it scandalous — those were the days!). What’s more, I’ve no doubt that my former colleagues — only a few of whom I was able to mention — would tell different and better stories. The fact remains that in 2009, the Sunday tab ceased publication and book coverage was divided between Style and Outlook, where it has remained until now. But with this issue of Book World, its editors — John Williams, Stephanie Merry, Steven Levingston, Nora Krug and Jacob Brogan — with the help of critic Ron Charles and office manager Becky Meloan relaunch a stand-alone Sunday section. They’re even letting me stick around to be part of the fun. Come join us.
Michael Dirda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for Book World, and author of the memoir “An Open Book,” the Edgar Award-winning “On Conan Doyle” and five collections of essays: “Readings,” “Bound to Please,” “Book by Book,” “Classics for Pleasure” and “Browsings.” | 2022-09-22T16:53:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Michael Dirda looks back at Book World's roots in the Watergate era - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/09/22/michael-dirda-book-world/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/09/22/michael-dirda-book-world/ |
Brothers and fourth-generation farmers, left to right, Andrew and Adam Mariani co-founded Scribe Winery in Sonoma, California, in 2007. (Scribe Winery)
When Adam and Andrew Mariani bought an old abandoned turkey farm near the town of Sonoma, Calif., they knew the property had been a thriving vineyard from the 1850s until Prohibition. In a nod to the Dresel family, German immigrants who had owned the land, the brothers planted sylvaner and riesling, two German grape varieties that are — well, let’s just say not widely planted these days in northern California. They also planted German clones of pinot noir, known in German as spätburgunder.
Over the last 15 years, their Scribe Winery has gained a following among the natural wine crowd for their pétillant natural sparkling wines, a chardonnay fermented on its skins and a nouveau of pinot noir, as well as their riesling, sylvaner and other wines.
While doing more research on the history of the estate, the brothers discovered an 1872 news clipping from the Alta California, a daily newspaper published in San Francisco. The article told how Julius Dresel, the grower at the time, had sent some of his wines to Geisenheim, his hometown and Germany’s equivalent of the University of California at Davis for wine studies. There the wines were reviewed by a panel of professional tasters, who raved especially about Dresel’s red wines made with the mission grape. The mission was “pure of taste, ripe and unctuous,” with sweetness and “genuine alcohol” that contrasted with previous weak harvests in Germany. They even compared the still mission with fine wines of Burgundy. Dresel, being no marketing slouch, made sure the newspaper got wind of his accomplishment.
“We knew the history of mission in California, but this was the first we’d heard that it was grown on our estate and had received such acclaim,” Andrew said. “It was the first time we had seen tasting notes and analysis of the wines that were grown here. We thought it would be interesting to see how mission would perform if made with a modern approach.”
I spoke to the brothers by phone as they were driving around a vineyard in their pickup truck. It was difficult to tell who was speaking, especially when they finished each other’s sentences.
Mission gets its name as the grape planted by Spanish missionaries who accompanied the spread of Spain’s empire in the New World in the 16th and 17th centuries. After being introduced to Mexico and Chile in the mid-1500s, mission was established along the Rio Grande in central New Mexico in 1629, making it the first European vinifera variety planted in what is now the United States. It reached California in 1769 with the founding of the first mission in San Diego.
The grape’s various aliases speak of its history, and the places where it can still be found form a map of the age of Spanish conquest. We can still buy some made from legacy vineyards in Chile, where it is called país, by Mariposa by Gillmore and Bouchon Family. In Argentina, where it is called criollo chica, the Torres family makes a delicious sparkling wine. Only in the last 15 years or so, modern DNA research identified the variety as listán prieto, a vine native to central Spain that was believed to have been wiped out by the phylloxera blight in the late 1800s.
Mission was the main red grape in Spanish California, but it fell out of favor when the territory became a U.S. state and immigrants from other European countries, pursuing riches in the Gold Rush, brought other varieties more familiar to them. Phylloxera and Prohibition — which sounded the death knell for the original Dresel vineyard — furthered the grape’s decline in popularity.
Mission can still be found in some of those gnarly, bush trained vineyards planted a century or more ago that are still scattered across California. Up until at least the 1980s, some wineries made a sweet, fortified dessert wine with mission called Angelica. Today, a few maverick winemakers produce small amounts of mission from these legacy vines.
“No one has planted mission in California since Prohibition, that we know of,” Adam Mariani said. “Nurseries don’t sell it.”
With no commercial source for the vines available, the brothers turned to UC Davis, which maintains a legacy vineyard of historic wine grape varieties grown in California. They took 10 cuttings from the healthiest mission vines, each with four buds, and propagated them each year. Like layers in puff pastry multiplying after each fold, before long they had thousands of cuttings, enough to plant two acres using modern vineyard trellising and spacing. In 2020, they harvested enough grapes to make some experimental wines. Last year, they settled on two reds, a still and a sparkling, both of which they made available to Scribe Winery’s club members in July.
The still wine reminded me a bit of Beaujolais, with its savory character and light body. The sparkling mission is reminiscent of an American Lambrusco, ideal for barbecue or charcuterie. They are prime examples of the lighter style of wines increasingly popular with today’s consumers.
“They have an earthy quality to them,” Andrew says. “Nothing else on our estate has this kind of old school rusticity.”
As the vines mature, the brothers should be able to increase production, but there’s only so much they can make with two acres of vines. They don’t have immediate plans to propagate more mission, but they are impressed with the variety’s vigor and hardiness, which could help the vines in drought years.
Those gnarly old vineyards won’t last forever. But for now, at least, these two acres on a revived old farm near Sonoma provide a bridge from California’s vinous past to its future. | 2022-09-22T17:10:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Mission, the first European grape planted in U.S., is coming back - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/09/22/mission-grape-scribe-winery-resurgence/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/09/22/mission-grape-scribe-winery-resurgence/ |
Cars leaving Russia sit in long lines Thursday at a checkpoint at the border with Finland. (Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images)
Russian families bade tearful farewells on Thursday to thousands of sons and husbands abruptly summoned for military duty as part of President Vladimir Putin’s new mobilization, while pro-war Russian nationalists raged over the release of commanders of Ukraine’s controversial Azov Regiment in a highly secretive prisoner exchange.
As women hugged their husbands and young men boarded buses to leave for 15 days of training before potentially being deployed to Russia’s stumbling war effort in Ukraine, there were signs of mounting public anger over the mobilization, which is supposed to call up 300,000 reservists or more.
More than 1,300 people were arrested at anti-mobilization protests in cities and towns across Russia on Wednesday and Thursday, in the largest public protests since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed reports of booked-out flights and queues to leave Russia as “false information.”
In the city of Togliatti, a military commissariat, or local military recruitment and draft office, was set on fire, one of dozens of similar attacks across Russia in recent months, indicating the depth of antipathy to military recruitment efforts.
Russia’s pro-war far right, meanwhile, had a different cause for fury: a prisoner exchange that freed the Azov commanders long branded by Russia as “Nazis” in return for dozens of prisoners held in Ukraine including Viktor Medvedchuk, reputed to be Putin’s closest Ukrainian friend and the leader of Ukraine’s main pro-Kremlin political party, which was banned by Ukrainian authorities in June.
The dual backlash over mobilization and the prisoner exchange showed Putin facing his most acute crisis since the he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Not only is his country grappling with punishing economic sanctions imposed by the West, but his military has suffered dramatic setbacks, including an embarrassing retreat from the northeastern Kharkiv region.
With his options diminishing, Putin has taken increasingly perilous decisions, including the partial mobilization, which risks swinging public sentiment against the war. In a national address Wednesday, Putin also proclaimed his support for steps toward annexing four Ukrainian regions that he does not fully control militarily or politically, which risks fierce fighting and potentially humiliating defeat.
Putin also used his speech to make a thinly veiled threat that Russia would use nuclear weapons. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, now the deputy head of the country’s Security Council, reiterated that threat on Thursday and upped the ante, specifically warning that Russia would be willing to use “strategic nuclear weapons” to protect any Ukrainian territories absorbed by Moscow.
“Referendums will be held, and the Donbas republics and other territories will be accepted into Russia,” Medvedev posted on Telegram on Thursday, adding that the Russian armed forces would protect those territories.
“Russia announced that not only mobilization capabilities but also any Russian weapons, including strategic nuclear weapons … could be used for such protection,” he wrote.
In New York, where world leaders are gathered for the annual General Assembly meetings, leaders of Western powers, including President Biden, swiftly denounced Putin’s annexation plans and called on Russia to respect Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, delivering an address to the United Nations by video, insisted on Wednesday night that his country would not surrender territory and that Russia must be punished.
The secretive prisoner exchange deal, announced Wednesday night and involving the mediation of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, created the latest pressure on Putin at home.
The details were so toxic that the Kremlin distanced itself from the exchange and Russia’s Ministry of Defense did not outline them, except to confirm 55 Russian and pro-Russian Ukrainian soldiers were swapped.
Medvedchuk, who was chief of staff to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma from 2002 to 2005 and has long played a Machiavellian role in Ukrainian politics, reportedly controlled several pro-Kremlin Ukrainian television stations, shut down by Zelensky in February 2021.
Medvedchuk was seen as a potential Kremlin choice as a puppet Ukrainian president before the failure of Moscow’s effort to seize Kyiv and topple Zelensky’s elected government. But Medvedchuk is mainly known as a close friend of Putin. The Russian leader is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter and has also visited Medvedchuk’s palatial mansion in Crimea.
Asked whether Medvedchuk had been freed, Peskov said: “I can’t comment on the prisoner exchange. I don’t have powers to do so.”
The Russian Defense Ministry statement, issued many hours after Ukrainian officials published the details in the early hours of Thursday, similarly did not mention Medvedchuk.
“As a result of the complex exchange negotiation process, 55 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Russia and the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, who were in mortal danger while in captivity, were returned tonight from Kiev-controlled territory in Ukraine,” the statement said.
Eventually Denis Pushilin, Moscow’s puppet leader in a self-declared separatist area of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, confirmed that he had signed the decree on the exchange for 50 Russian servicemen, five pro-Russian fighters from Ukraine and Medvedchuk.
Sending Russian men to fight in a war to “denazify” Ukraine, at the same time as releasing the Azov commanders and fighters, was difficult for Russia to explain — given that, for years, Kremlin propaganda has portrayed the Azov group as fanatical terrorists and “Nazi” ringleaders who must be destroyed.
The exchange deal took place “in difficult circumstances,” Pushilin told Russian state television. “We gave them 215 people, including nationalistic battalion fighters. They are war criminals. We were perfectly aware of that, but our goal was to bring our guys back as soon as possible,” in comments that only underscored the controversy.
The Russian prisoners were flown to Chkalovsky military air base in the early hours of Thursday and arrived to no fanfare or heroes’ welcome.
Among the toughest far-right critics of the Russian military approach — for being too soft — is Igor Girkin, a former Russian FSB agent who commanded Moscow proxy fighters in 2014. He called the exchange of the Azov fighters “treason,” in a post on social media Thursday, blaming “as yet unidentified persons from the top leadership of the Russian Federation.”
The release, on the same day Russians were being called up to fight, was “worse than a crime and worse than a mistake. This is INCREDIBLE STUPIDITY,” he complained. (Girkin is being tried in absentia by a court in The Hague over the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.)
Putin had been relying on public apathy and lack of interest in the war but now faces rising anger over the mobilization of reservists, even though he stopped short of declaring a full national draft.
Some protesters who were arrested while demonstrating against mobilization were handed military summonses at police stations late Wednesday in a practice that appeared designed to deter further protests, especially by fighting-age men. Peskov said it was perfectly legal. “It does not contravene the law. Therefore, there is no violation of the law,” he said.
In Chechnya, the regional dictator and close Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov declared that anyone who opposed mobilization was an enemy of the people, after a small protest by around 20 women in the capital of Grozny on Wednesday. Kadyrov threatened to send the husbands of the protesters to fight in Ukraine, local media outlet Caucasian Knot reported.
Questions and fears over the mobilization swirled on Thursday, with doubts about who would escape being called up and who would be forced to fight.
The role of Peskov’s own son Nikolai Peskov underscored Russian suspicions that wealthy and politically connected figures invariably escape military service, with Russian wars fought largely by men from impoverished regions far from Moscow.
Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, confirmed his son was phoned, but insisted that his comments were not conveyed in full.
Alexei Mishustin, son of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, was also called and told Nizovtsev he was “not planning to serve in the army” and believed himself to be exempt because he was doing a master’s degree.
Natalia Abbakamova in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report. | 2022-09-22T17:14:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Putin faces public anger in Russia over mobilization and prisoner swap - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/22/mobilization-putin-anger-russia-war/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/22/mobilization-putin-anger-russia-war/ |
Parts of Atlantic Canada are bracing for hurricane-force winds, heavy rainfall and a dangerous storm surge
Ahead of Fiona, the Canadian Hurricane Centre has issued a hurricane watch for portions of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Isle-de-la-Madeleine and Newfoundland.
There’s also Tropical Storm Gaston, which is centered 375 miles west-northwest of the Azores over the northeast Atlantic. The Azores are under tropical storm warnings, and could see conditions deteriorate Friday and remain inclement through late Saturday. In addition, a tropical wave exiting the coast of Senegal in Africa could strengthen into a named storm in the next few days, as well as a disturbance midway between Africa and South America that could gradually develop. Of potentially high concern is another fledgling storm that could deliver a serious blow to the Gulf or Caribbean.
Fiona’s approach toward Canada
“Preparations … should be rushed to completion,” wrote the National Hurricane Center. In addition to strong winds and rough surf, Bermuda could see a couple inches of rain.
Because the storm will be moving northward quickly, it won’t have much time to weaken, meaning it will still pack the punch of a Category 2 hurricane. It will possess a mix of tropical and high latitude storm characteristics.
A storm of record strength and impact
The low pressure system itself could set an record for lowest air pressure anywhere in Canada. Models are currently simulating a storm with an air pressure between 930 and 935 millibars. The lowest barometric pressure ever observed in Canada was 940.2 millibars at St. Anthony in Newfoundland on Jan. 20, 1977. Typically, the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.
Brian Tang, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Albany, tweeted that “Fiona will be [an] off the charts bad … generational storm for Nova Scotia.”
Fiona could even deliver some snow to portions of the Labrador Peninsula as the storm draws in very cold air on its northwest flank. Uninhabited regions of the empty Canadian tundra may pick up as much as ten inches. | 2022-09-22T17:54:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Fiona will lash Nova Scotia as Canada’s strongest storm on record - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/22/canada-fiona-hurricane-storm/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/22/canada-fiona-hurricane-storm/ |
U.S. abortion restrictions absolutely do not align with European law
By Leah Hoctor
Campaigners celebrating the repeal of a constitutional ban on abortions in Ireland in 2018. (Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images)
Leah Hoctor is senior regional director for Europe at the Center for Reproductive Rights and an expert on international and comparative European law on abortion.
Three months after the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate the constitutional right to abortion in the United States shocked people across Europe, Republican lawmakers have astonished Europeans again with claims that 47 of 50 European countries ban abortion after 15 weeks.
This is simply untrue — as is the claim, made by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and other lawmakers, that by introducing a 15-week federal ban on most abortions, the United States would move into line with Europe.
Ruth Marcus: Graham’s 15-week abortion ban gives the endgame away
Apart from the very few European nations that retain highly restrictive laws on abortion — Andorra, Lichtenstein, Malta, Monaco and Poland — no other European country “bans” abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Instead, almost all European countries allow abortion throughout pregnancy on a range of grounds, including where there are risks to a patient’s physical or mental health, and in situations involving severe or fatal fetal impairment.
Elective abortion is only one of the grounds on which abortion is legal in most of Europe, and time limits for this differ per country. When these time limits end, abortion almost always remains legal for a much longer period on other grounds, such as broadly framed socioeconomic or health grounds, or grounds of severe or fatal fetal impairment.
Opinion: Lindsey Graham’s abortion bill is hypocritical — and dangerous
In support of calls for a 15-week ban on abortion — with carve-outs merely for highly restrictive exceptions, extending only to situations of physical risk to a patient’s life and pregnancy resulting from rape or incest — U.S. lawmakers referred to six European countries in particular (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway and Spain) and falsely stated that such a ban in the United States would be similar to policies in these nations.
Although these countries set a first-trimester time frame for elective abortion, they all allow abortion thereafter on other grounds. For example, laws in Denmark and Norway allow abortion for social, economic or family reasons until fetal viability (the definition of which is not specified). German law allows abortion on grounds of serious risk to health throughout pregnancy, explicitly noting that this covers both physical and mental health.
Moreover, unlike in the United States, many of these countries include abortion under national health insurance policies, as do most other Northern and Western European countries, meaning that patients do not have to finance the costs of abortion care themselves.
Even more problematic is the underlying assertion that new bans and restrictions on access to abortion dovetail with a European approach to abortion. This is highly disingenuous.
The fact is that most European countries are moving to expand access to abortion, not limit it. In the majority of countries, European lawmakers have moved steadily forward for decades on the issue of access to abortion. They have removed bans, increased abortion’s legality and taken steps to ensure laws and policies on abortion are guided by public health evidence and clinical best practices.
In recent years, European countries from Iceland to Ireland, North Macedonia to Northern Ireland, have lifted abortion bans or repealed regulatory restrictions. In the past six months alone, six European countries — France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, San Marino and the United Kingdom — have undertaken reforms to increase access or remove legal barriers to abortion.
In the three months since the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, lawmakers in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France and Sweden started discussing new efforts to advance legal protection for abortion care. And in July, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the Supreme Court’s action.
This trajectory is not just limited to Europe. Colombia, New Zealand and South Korea are just three examples of countries in other parts of the world that have adopted major reforms to expand the legality of abortion in the past few years. In contrast, since the Supreme Court decision, many U.S. states have now enacted some of the world’s most extreme prohibitions on abortion.
Although abortion is legal in most of Europe, our region’s laws are not perfect. Barriers to access, such as procedural requirements and third-party authorization rules, remain in place in many countries, and there is substantial room for improvement across the board. Rollbacks have occurred in a small number of countries, such as Poland and Hungary. In the five nations with highly restrictive abortion legislation, people’s lives and health are threatened by these laws every day.
Yet in general, the trend is squarely in favor of broadened access to abortion and reduced restrictions. Seen in this light, the assertion that new restrictions in the United States will align with a European approach is not only false — it is unfathomable. | 2022-09-22T18:02:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | No, abortion laws in Europe do not align with U.S. restrictions - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/europe-abortion-laws-vs-usa/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/europe-abortion-laws-vs-usa/ |
By R. Creigh Deeds
Jan Burger and other climate advocates demonstrate against the Mountain Valley Pipeline project on Sept. 8 in Washington. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post)
R. Creigh Deeds, a Democrat who represents Virginia’s 25th state Senate District, lives in Charlottesville.
Communities across Virginia that have been battling the Mountain Valley Pipeline for years have been holding their breath since the news broke about a backroom deal tied to passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The deal is a wish list for the fossil fuel industry that would eradicate all the efforts by community members, state legislators and advocacy groups to receive fair consideration of the Mountain Valley Pipeline and stack the deck in favor of future projects.
The effort by Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) to undermine the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act simply is not good policy. The proposal would sacrifice communities and the environment and sabotage vital climate change mitigation efforts for short-term profits for the fossil fuel industry. Manchin’s plan guts 50 years of bipartisan environmental protections, mandates how the judiciary handles certain cases and forces federal approval on a controversial project.
Under ordinary circumstances, this proposal would be dead on arrival.
The only reason this proposal is getting any consideration is because of a deal made by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) with Manchin to secure passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The imprudent promise to include Manchin’s proposal in must-pass legislation could undermine decades of progress and have negative consequences for communities in Virginia and throughout the United States.
As of now, it looks as though Manchin’s proposal will be attached to a continuing resolution needed to keep the government running. Because neither Democrats nor Republicans want to be blamed for shutting down the federal government so close to the midterm elections, this vehicle will likely pass, even if it contains provisions that a majority of Congress — and the American people — vehemently oppose.
Using such coercive techniques is no way to govern. As a state senator, I understand legislative sausage-making. But this is beyond the pale.
Among many other provisions, Manchin’s proposal would usurp executive authority by attempting to force administrative agencies to come to predetermined conclusions about permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Our federal agencies should not be forced to give preferential treatment to a specific project. The communities in the pipeline’s path deserve a government that applies the same level of scrutiny to the Mountain Valley plan as any other matter under review.
Under the false premise of avoiding litigation delays, the proposal would micromanage how judicial panels are formed, demanding randomized panels for each case. Our federal circuit courts assign judges to similar cases so that the judges can build expertise around certain subject matters, which saves the court time and resources and allows for a more thoughtful and deliberative consideration of cases. Undermining those efforts is reprehensible, particularly when the integrity of our democratic institutions is already under assault.
And contrary to the principles of equal justice, Manchin’s proposal would let powerful special interests choose the venue in which they face litigation.
The proposal also would severely restrict the length of time for permitting reviews and for filing litigation. I have seen firsthand the amount of time it takes for communities to organize and respond when a wealthy corporation files an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build such a project. The process already favors the fossil fuel industry, and shortening time frames further tips the scales.
These unpopular and consequential policy changes should not be rammed through Congress by attaching them to must-pass legislation. I urge every member of Congress to join Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and stand up for good governance — stand up for the people they represent — and tell Schumer and Manchin that they will not approve this fossil fuel giveaway.
If the only way to get this deal through Congress is through this backroom maneuver, then it has no business becoming law. | 2022-09-22T18:03:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Don’t force the Mountain Valley Pipeline on Virginia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/mountain-valley-pipeline-deeds-backroom-deal/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/mountain-valley-pipeline-deeds-backroom-deal/ |
A driver charges his electric vehicle at a charging station. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)
As electric vehicles hit the road around the country, hundreds of thousands of Americans are beginning to learn the ins and outs of car charging: how to install home chargers, where to find public charging stations, and how to avoid the dreaded “range anxiety.”
According to a new study from researchers at Stanford University, if EV sales grow rapidly over the next decade — and most drivers continue to charge their electric cars at home — vehicle charging could strain the electricity grid in the Western United States, increasing net demand at peak times by 25 percent. That could be a problem as the West struggles to keep the lights on amid heat waves and rising electricity demand.
The first thing to know about EV charging is that it’s nothing like filling a car with gasoline. Charging an electric car takes time — while the fastest chargers can charge an EV battery by 80 percent in 20 to 30 minutes, most chargers are slower, taking somewhere between two and 22 hours to get to a full charge. That means that around 80 percent of EV charging happens at the owner’s home, overnight — when the driver doesn’t need the car and can leave plenty of time for a charge.
The mass adoption of electric vehicles will change everything we know about automobiles – from driving them to repairing them. But the shift will be bumpy. (Video: Lee Powell/The Washington Post, Photo: Brian Monroe/The Washington Post)
“Once 30 or 40 percent of cars are EVs, it’s going to start significantly impacting what we do with the grid,” said Ram Rajagopal, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and one of the study’s authors. Even if drivers wait until after peak hours and set their cars to charge at 11 p.m. or later, they will be using electricity at exactly the time when renewable energy is not readily available. That could lead to increased carbon emissions and a need for more batteries and storage in the electricity grid.
One solution, the researchers say, is if more EV owners shift to daytime charging, charging their cars at work or at public chargers. If electric cars are charged in the late morning and early afternoon, when the grid has excess solar capacity that’s not being used, there will be less pressure on the electricity system and less need for storage. According to the study, under a scenario where 50 percent of cars are electric, a shift from mostly home to a mix of home and work charging could almost halve the amount of storage needed on the grid. Adding workplace and public chargers has an added benefit of also helping renters or those who don’t own homes access EVs.
Siobhan Powell, a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zürich in Switzerland and the study’s lead author, says that the time to plan for expanding public and workplace charging is now. “We’re not saying, ‘Don’t have any more home charging’ or ‘limit home charging,’ ” she said. “We don’t want to discourage any charging because that’s really important for adoption. But there’s a lot of money going into charging, and we could make it as convenient to charge at work or in public as it is at home.”
The authors also recommend shifting electricity price structures to better incentivize charging in the middle of the day. At the moment, some utilities offer super-low electricity rates to consumers for charging their cars overnight. PG&E, for example, a California utility, offers EV owners electricity for 25 cents overnight between midnight and 7 a.m. and 36 cents between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. Ideally, Rajagopal and Powell say, the cheapest rates should be in the middle of the day to incentivize charging when the sun is out.
Gil Tal, the director of an electric vehicle research center at the University of California at Davis, who was not involved in the paper, said that current EV owners don’t need to worry about their charging patterns. “We don’t need to tap the brakes on adoption of electric cars,” he said. As more clean energy and storage is added to the grid, he argues, many of these issues will be resolved.
Policymakers need to “put the chargers where the cars are during the day,” he said. | 2022-09-22T18:03:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | It’s common to charge electric vehicles at night. That will be a problem. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/22/its-common-charge-electric-vehicles-night-that-will-be-problem/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/09/22/its-common-charge-electric-vehicles-night-that-will-be-problem/ |
Most of the House GOP has opposed each effort to protect elections
Republican Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) listen as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack meets last year. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
Republican politicians have been afforded countless opportunities to separate themselves from former president Donald Trump’s post-2020 effort to claim that the election was stolen from him.
They could, of course, have immediately rejected the claim out of hand, trusting that states — in which elections were often overseen by members of their party — had conducted the vote safely and accurately, as happens every two years like clockwork. Once Trump started elevating claims of rampant fraud, they could have resisted, pointing out that his purported evidence was no such thing and reiterating that there was no reason to suspect that anything was amiss.
As Trump’s efforts wended their way down various paths toward keeping him in power, his party was fully capable of impeding him. When he challenged certification, they could have spoken out. When he and his allies corralled alternate electors, other Republicans could have elevated the ridiculousness of the idea.
In some cases Republicans did, of course; a handful — often ones forced to take a public position — rejected Trump’s efforts, thereby invoking the wrath of his supporters. This was the cudgel Trump deployed: He maintained loyalty by wielding a base of millions of angry people who for whatever reason trusted Trump’s self-serving claims over reality. “What’s the downside for humoring him?” one Republican infamously asked in the post-election period. The downside of standing in his way was much more immediately tangible.
By Jan. 6, 2021, the path of least resistance for many elected Republicans was simply to fold into the crowd of politicians cheering Trump on. Whatever their misgivings — one, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) says, lamented what they had to do for the “orange Jesus” — they joined in with their peers in a show of force for the lame-duck president. It was to political leadership what the crowd standing outside the Capitol on that day was to peaceful assembly.
In the hours after the riot, after the Capitol had been cleared of the violent mob bent on preventing the counting of legitimately submitted electoral votes, that crowd of elected Republicans picked up the baton. A majority of the Republicans in the House voted to reject electoral votes from Arizona, Pennsylvania or both, siding with the aims of the mob if not the methods.
The effort failed. Trump packed up his things and a few additional items and headed to Mar-a-Lago, disgraced by what had been done at the Capitol in his name. But the disgrace was fleeting for those Republican members of the House. When it came time to decide if Trump should be impeached for his role in the riot, nearly all of them rejected the idea. When the House moved to form a committee to investigate the riot, most Republicans again said no.
And when, on Wednesday, the House considered bipartisan legislation aimed at overhauling the Electoral Count Act, securing the electoral-vote-counting process against future efforts to derail the will of the electorate, the vast majority of Republicans in the House once again expressed opposition.
That’s four different opportunities to stand in support of the results of the election, to condemn Trump’s efforts to undermine those results or to work to secure elections in the future. And of 175 Republicans who cast a yes-or-no vote on all four of those issues, 112 took the pro-Trump, anti-election position each time.
The outliers are interesting. More than 50 Republicans opposed all of the proposals in the wake of the Capitol riot but didn’t reject the counting of electoral votes. Two Republicans — Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) — consistently took the anti-Trump side. It is not a coincidence that neither will be returning to Congress next year.
Then there are the other eight Republicans. Six supported the submitted electoral votes back on Jan. 6 and voted to impeach Trump but rejected the formation of the Capitol riot commission. Five of those six supported the proposal to reform the Electoral Count Act. The sixth, Rep. Dan Newhouse (Wash.), rejected that proposal Wednesday. It is not a coincidence, we might safely assume, that he is the only one of the six up for reelection in just over a month.
Two other Republicans also voted for the Electoral Count Act reforms. One was Rep. Tom Rice (S.C.), who lost in the primary in June. His support for impeaching Trump came as a surprise and clearly led to his ouster. The other is Rep. Chris Jacobs (N.Y.). Jacobs holds the unique distinction of being the only Republican to vote against a Jan. 6 commission, vote against impeaching Trump, vote for rejecting the electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania … and to also support reforming the Electoral Count Act.
Jacobs, too, will not be in Congress next year, having announced his retirement. He did so only after the first three votes indicated above — and after prompting a sharp backlash from Republican voters for diverging from party orthodoxy on new gun legislation. Jacobs represents a district outside Buffalo; a mass shooting at a grocery store there this spring prompted him to support new restrictions on firearm ownership. His primary campaign then became untenable.
There are two lessons from this. First, that it isn’t only allegiance to Trump that’s demanded of Republican politicians. Second, that Republicans freed from accountability to the party base are more willing to oppose Trump and his allies on defenses of democracy.
Which, of course, has been the situation since Nov. 3, 2020. | 2022-09-22T18:04:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A majority of House Republicans have opposed every post-Jan. 6 reform - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/republicans-2020-election-trump/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/republicans-2020-election-trump/ |
Joey Meneses arrived after the Juan Soto trade and has a magical season with the Nationals. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
Do you already have a favorite Joey Meneses moment? Was it when he homered in his major league debut, when the Washington Nationals had just traded Juan Soto and you had never heard of this 30-year-old rookie from Culiacán, Mexico? Was it his inside-the-parker against the Miami Marlins, watching him chug around third with heavy legs before crossing home with that sly smile on his face?
Was it his walk-off shot against the Oakland Athletics? Was it earlier that week, when he punched four doubles in the same game? Was it on Wednesday afternoon in Atlanta, once Meneses crushed a second-deck homer that delivered a win and could have material effects on the National League East race.
Or maybe your favorite moment is right now, realizing it’s — [checks notes] late September — and Meneses is still hitting, his batting average still .328, his on-base-plus-slugging percentage still .927 and home run total at 10 in 43 games.
Maybe that’s it.
“I can’t say enough about what Joey’s been doing for us since he’s been here,” Manager Dave Martinez said after Meneses went 7-for-12 in the series with the Braves, including an intentional walk to load the bases in back-to-back games. “He’s been hitting balls … doubles, homers, getting on base, playing good defense.”
Since he was called up on Aug. 2, Meneses has filled seven weeks with questions that begin with “how.” How did he spend a decade in professional baseball before someone gave him a chance at its highest level? How does he keep hitting? And perhaps most importantly: How might he fit into the Nationals’ roster for 2023?
The answers, of course, are layered and sometimes complicated. Before the Nationals signed him to a minor league deal last winter, Meneses had played for the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox, often finding himself blocked by dudes named Freddie Freeman and Rhys Hoskins. In 2018, he smacked 23 homers for the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, the Phillies’ Class AAA affiliate, and earned a $1 million deal with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan.
Things were looking up then. Meneses’s wallet was certainly heavier. But 29 games into the season, he tested positive for Stanozolol, a banned substance. Meneses contends he was unknowingly injected with the substance when a doctor in Mexico gave him vitamins the previous winter. He and his agent, Francis Marquez, appealed the one-year suspension to no avail, leaving Meneses to rejoin his hometown team in Mexico.
The 2020 minor league season was soon canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Feeling more down than ever, wondering if his career was finished, Meneses signed with the Red Sox in 2021 before the Nationals took a flier on him. His deal with Washington did not include an invite to spring training or guarantee Meneses would play for the Class AAA Rochester Red Wings. He was a minor league vet who had to prove himself.
“The only time Joey seemed mad, and only very briefly, was when we couldn’t get him a spring training invite this year,” Marquez said this week. “I felt the same way. I really wanted to get him an opportunity in a big league camp and thought he deserved it. But then he quickly called me back and was like, ‘Okay, let’s go. Let’s do it. I’ll do it.’ That’s Joey for you.”
As for his continued production, Meneses is crushing breaking balls in September. Like really, really crushing breaking balls.
What most attracted the Nationals to Meneses was his contact ability, feeling it was a jumping off point to unlock more power. In past seasons, Meneses slumped when he hit too many groundballs. His bat stays in the zone for a while — a great trait for any hitter — but a flatter swing path made it hard to elevate contact to line drives and flyballs consistently.
The equation, then, is simple in theory if not in practice: Meneses has improved the vertical angle of his swing, thus upping his launch angle to the point of hitting more line drives without popping balls straight up, thus increasing his chances of doing damage when he does make contact. A less flat bat path is also connected to his early success against sliders and curves.
In August, Meneses posted a .211 slugging percentage against sliders. But in September, that number has ballooned to .579, with pitchers faring even worse when they throw curveballs. Month to month, he has cut his whiff rate on sliders by about eight percentage points. He has a .526 batting average against curves this season.
Of his 10 homers, three have come against curves, three against four-seam fastballs and one off a slider, sinker, change-up and splitter. A high batting average on balls in play — .374 — suggests there will be some regression down the line.
“That ability is something I’ve developed just with experience through the years,” Meneses said through a team interpreter of handling sliders and curves so well, adding he’s seen more sliders after pitchers leaned on fastballs against him early on. “Even though I don’t look for breaking pitches over the plate, I just react to them.”
An important disclaimer here: All of these statistics are from a small sample. Teams will prod Meneses’s swing and plate approach until they find an exploitable hole. That is what they do, especially when unknown rookies get hot, and a telling measure will be how Meneses adjusts to whatever counter adjustment is next.
But with each passing game and hit, Meneses adds a scoop of validity to what he’s doing. He has 187 plate appearances to his name. At the moment, his only evident cold zone is up and in. And while most of his power has come on middle-in pitches, he’s complemented that by often flicking outside pitches to the opposite field for singles.
With so many ways for fans and teams to evaluate players, there can be a tendency to shrug off something that doesn’t feel predictive. Joey Meneses, though, is good. It’s okay to just enjoy that. | 2022-09-22T18:04:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why Nationals' Joey Meneses has had a dream season - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/joey-meneses-nationals-home-runs/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/joey-meneses-nationals-home-runs/ |
What to know about federal laws, TSA and flying with CBD
(Illustrations by Woody Harrington for The Washington Post)
This story has been updated to reflect regulations as of September 2022.
America’s relationship with pot is changing. While the substance is illegal to use or possess on a national level under the Controlled Substances Act, some of the country’s states, territories and the District of Columbia have been passing laws to the contrary, and in very different ways, since 1996.
At the publishing of this story, 19 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have legalized recreational pot, and 37 states, the District of Columbia and four permanently inhabited U.S. territories have legalized pot’s medical use. Other states have moved to decriminalize pot, but not legalize it altogether.
Illinois is a more recent state to legalize recreational use. As a result, its most prominent airports, O’Hare International and Midway, are now equipped with so-called pot amnesty boxes at the end of every security checkpoint. The boxes are in place for travelers who may arrive with cannabis products and don’t want to break the law by flying with them.
“The amnesty boxes are owned by the Department of Aviation here in Chicago and serviced by us at the police department,” says Maggie Huynh, public relations coordinator at the Chicago Police Department. “The boxes are where travelers can safely dispose of cannabis and cannabis products before travel.”
The placement may seem counterintuitive to those who want to avoid running into legal trouble, so we spoke with experts to find out exactly what you need to know about flying domestically with pot.
So, to be clear, can I fly with pot?
No. Here’s why. According to Larry Mishkin, a Northbrook, Ill., lawyer at the Hoban Law Group, which provides legal services for the clients in the marijuana industry in the United States and internationally, carrying pot onto a plane is a federal crime.
“Marijuana is illegal under federal law, and federal law governs airplane travel in this country,” he says.
The airspace you’ll be traveling through is considered federal territory; hence, why it can’t come on your flight. That includes flying within states where pot use is legal, or flying between states — even if both allow it for recreation. If you leave a state with marijuana, “you’ve broken the law of the state that you purchased it in, you’ve broken the law of the state that you’re going into, and you’ve broken federal law,” Mishkin says.
Mishkin advises people not to try to fly carrying pot. It’s illegal. “Know the law, respect the law and stay off radar screens,” he says.
What should I do if I get to the airport and still have pot?
That depends on a few factors, like where you’re flying out of and how much pot you have in your possession, says Mishkin.
Despite pot being illegal on the federal level, “certain airports, like LAX and O’Hare, have publicly announced that they will not stop any outbound passenger in possession of an ounce or less of marijuana,” Mishkin says. “If, however, you arrive at the airport and realize you have marijuana in your possession and do not want to travel with it, you can deposit it in the amnesty boxes if there are any present, or you can throw it in the trash.”
Todd Maybrown, a partner at Allen, Hansen, Maybrown and Offenbecher in Seattle, has similar suggestions for passengers who show up to the airport with pot in tow.
“In a perfect world, I would recommend that people return to their vehicle and place any marijuana in a secure compartment, such as the trunk or a locked glove box,” Maybrown says. “In an imperfect world, where the passenger does not have a vehicle at the airport, a trip to the bathroom may be the best solution. There are no cameras in the bathroom, and toilet bowls can be flushed.”
Where is marijuana legal?
You can check where marijuana is legal on websites such as the National Conference of State Legislatures and Leafly. The laws governing it in the United States are ever-changing and confusing to follow. What applies one day might not the next.
“We try to give people advice, and then sometimes the laws change on us literally overnight,” Mishkin says. “This is not an industry to take chances.”
States have different rules around usage. In California, for example, a person 21 and older can carry up to an ounce of marijuana, or eight grams of it (a third of the weight) in concentrated form. In Illinois, your limit is also about an ounce, but with a smaller amount of concentrated marijuana — a maximum of five grams — and no more than 500 mg of THC in the form of edibles. Users need to familiarize themselves with the existing laws in the places they intend on consuming marijuana.
What happens if TSA finds marijuana in someone’s luggage?
TSA’s primary concern is passenger safety and detecting potential threats to aviation. In fact, the TSA website states: “TSA security officers do not search for marijuana or other illegal drugs.”
“The TSA has gone out of its way to say that its focus is not on marijuana,” Mishkin says.
You asked: Can I fly with edibles?
Because the TSA is a federal agency, its officers must enforce federal laws.
“If a TSA officer comes across [pot] while they’re conducting a bag check, they are obligated to report it to the police, and then it’s up to the police how they want to handle it,” says TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein.
With states passing new legislation on the topic or changing existing laws, a pot-carrier’s fate is hard to predict.
“You really run the risk of becoming a guinea pig if you decide to go on a plane with marijuana, even if it’s legal in the place where you started, or in a place where you get to finish the trip,” says Maybrown. “There’s so much confusion and uncertainty about what new rules could, or would, apply.”
Lawyers say it is unclear what exactly TSA would do if you had weed in your bag. If you’re caught with pot at an airport in Chicago, or another place in America where pot use is allowed, you may be waived on or simply asked to get rid of it before you board. “It’s up to the officers to make those sorts of decisions,” Farbstein said.
“TSA will encourage [amnesty boxes] to travelers if they have cannabis on them,” adds Huynh, of the Chicago Police Department. “They don’t call us unless it appears to be clearly illegal amounts, like a suitcase-full.”
What if I have a medical marijuana ID card?
Mishkin says that there’s a distinction for medical use of marijuana in the eyes of the law.
“People who have their state medical card that shows they are patients are typically treated a little more leniently than somebody else,” he says.
But having a medical marijuana card may only help you sometimes. At the airport, TSA doesn’t have the jurisdiction or ability to check the validity of those cards. The agent could still pass you off to the local police, who will assess the situation. The state you’re in is also important. If there’s no medical-marijuana program there, a card will mean “absolutely nothing,” Mishkin says.
Can I fly with CBD?
As long as your CBD product contains no more than 0.3 percent THC, or is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, you can bring it on a flight. If the product is a liquid or food, it must comply with the usual TSA carry-on policy (3.4 ounces or less per liquid item, for example).
Carry-on checklist: Here's what you can pack (Video: Taylor Turner/The Washington Post) | 2022-09-22T18:07:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 6 questions about flying with weed, answered - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2020/02/18/6-questions-about-traveling-with-marijuana-answered/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2020/02/18/6-questions-about-traveling-with-marijuana-answered/ |
Coastal cities in parts of Asia are sinking fastest, study finds
Motorists commute during the morning traffic rush in Jakarta on Tuesday. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images)
Cities along the coasts of South and Southeast Asia are sinking — even faster than similar cities elsewhere — because of rapid, poorly controlled urbanization, scientists say, heightening risks already posed by rising sea levels.
Over the past two decades, the population of Chittagong in Bangladesh, on the Bay of Bengal, has swelled by more than 120 percent to 5.2 million. It is also one of the world’s fastest-sinking cities, according to new research.
The study, published this week in the journal Nature Sustainability, found that land is sinking particularly quickly in coastal cities built on “flat, low-elevation river deltas,” where groundwater and oil extraction are driven by rapid growth and urbanization.
Led by Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), a group of international scientists used satellite imagery taken between 2014 and 2020 to analyze sinking land across 48 of the most densely populated coastal cities, with populations of at least 5 million, across the world. They found that the median velocity of land subsidence — the rate at which land is sinking — in each of the 48 coastal cities ranges as much as 16.2 millimeters, or more than 0.6 inches.
Sinking Tuvalu prompts the question: Are you still a country if you’re underwater?
“When large amounts of water are withdrawn from underneath the ground, the sediments compact and start to sink onto itself because there is less water holding up the sediments, thereby causing land to sink,” said Cheryl Tay, an earth sciences PhD student at NTU and lead author of the study.
Cities in Indonesia, Myanmar and India also have some of the highest rates of land subsidence, the study showed. Washington was among the 48 coastal cities studied but has a relatively low rate of land subsidence — averaging zero millimeters annually — and is at a lower risk of being affected by rising sea levels.
The findings in the report also take into account and provide velocities for neighborhoods further inland, where rising sea levels can still affect populations through extreme weather events, such as typhoons, hurricanes and floods.
“This study is important because it quantified land subsidence in a globally consistent matter, which can be used to improve estimations of sea level rise,” said Emma Hill, an earth sciences professor at NTU and one of the authors of the report.
The researchers did not investigate the reasons for the land subsidence as part of the scope of the study.
Indonesia passes law to move capital from Jakarta to Borneo
Jakarta, one of the fastest-sinking cities, is set to be replaced as Indonesia’s capital city after years of rapid growth, congestion and pollution. In January, the Indonesian government passed a law outlining how it plans to move the capital to a jungle tract in East Kalimantan, Borneo — a decision that environmental activists say would spur further deforestation.
“By 2030, a large part of Jakarta will be uninhabitable,” said Kian Goh, an architect and urban planner who investigates how cities in the United States and Southeast Asia respond to climate change. “The root cause of land subsidence in cities is development coupled with a lack of adequate planning.”
Goh said that while the study is helpful in giving readers a “big-picture look” at which coastal cities are most vulnerable to land subsidence, it does not unpack the systemic issues heightening risks in those areas. “The places with the highest land subsidence are often home to poor populations living in settlements dating back to colonial times,” she said. “These are riskier areas, where people suffer the most.”
Drilling wells and extracting groundwater would not be necessary if cities had adequate piping and municipal water supplies, Goh said. “The problems are ultimately due to questions of planning and politics.” | 2022-09-22T18:07:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Sinking cities: Those in parts of Asia are disappearing fastest, study finds - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/22/asia-cities-sinking-ground-water-climate-change/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/22/asia-cities-sinking-ground-water-climate-change/ |
John Wall, who played nine seasons with the Washington Wizards, has opened up over the past month about his mental health. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
“It was like she was standing right next to me,” Wall recalls in a powerful and soul-baring essay for the Players’ Tribune that published Thursday. “She looked me in the eyes and said, ‘You have to keep going for your children. There’s more for you to do on this earth.’”
Wall considered the dream a “sign from God.” With his world collapsing around him, he finally confided in a friend that he needed help and began seeing a therapist. It saved his life.
“Darkest place I’ve ever been in,” Wall said in response to a question about what the past 2½ years have been like for him. “I mean, at one point in time, I thought about committing suicide. 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.”
Buckner: We're seeing John Wall at his strongest. He still has some heavy lifting.
Wall expanded on those comments in the Players’ Tribune essay, describing in great detail the confluence of life events that made him feel as if suicide — which he acknowledges is practically a taboo word in the community in which he grew up — was “the only option.”
The five-time NBA all-star suffered an Achilles’ injury in February 2019 that forced him to miss the entire 2019-20 season and cost him “the only sanctuary” he ever knew. His mother, Frances Ann Pulley, died 10 months later. Wall recalls calling his mom “six or seven times a day just to hear her voicemail” in the days that followed.
“My best friend is gone,” he writes of his mom. “I can’t play the game I love. Everybody just got their hand out. Nobody is checking on me for me. It’s always coming with something attached. Who’s there to hold me down now? What’s the point of being here?”
“The franchise I had sacrificed my blood, sweat and tears to represent for 10 years decided they wanted to move on,” Wall writes. “I was devastated, I’m not gonna lie. That was when I started debating — literally debating — whether I wanted to go on, almost every night.”
Wall said he attempted to quell his pain by partying, but his dark thoughts would return when the party stopped and his friends went home, and one night he “got about as close as you can get to making an unfortunate decision and leaving this earth.”
Wall said therapy has “slowly turned things around” for him. He continues to see a therapist and has found a sense of peace and purpose in being a good father to his two young sons and carrying on his mother’s legacy. Wall hopes his story is a lesson to others who might be hesitant to ask for help, as he was for so long.
“I had to be the man of the house at nine years old,” writes Wall, whose father died of liver cancer. “So my whole mentality, no matter the situation, was always, ‘I don’t need anybody’s help. I’ll figure it out. I’ve gritted through everything else, so why not this?’ Being a product of your environment is not a bad thing. But I think it’s a blessing and a curse. Being a dog, being unbreakable, always having that chip on your shoulder — hey, I get it. I’ve been that guy. But the day is going to come when you can’t do it on your own. And you gotta be strong enough on that day to ask for help.” | 2022-09-22T18:15:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | John Wall details mental health struggles in Players' Tribune essay - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/john-wall-suicide-essay/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/john-wall-suicide-essay/ |
Aaron Judge is chasing real history, not Barry Bonds’s phony version
Aaron Judge has chased Roger Maris's home run exploits at Yankee Stadium. (Elsa/Getty Images)
When Aaron Judge hits his 62nd homer of the year — something almost certain to happen between now and Oct. 5, when baseball’s regular season ends — he will become the single-season home run king.
Entering Thursday, Judge has 60 home runs with 14 games left. That ties him with Babe Ruth’s 60 and puts him one behind Roger Maris’s 61 — which, if you truly love the game, is the record Judge is chasing.
The record is not Barry Bonds’s 73, Mark McGwire’s 70, or any of Sammy Sosa’s three 62-plus home run seasons. Their performances are tainted, accomplished before there was drug-testing in Major League Baseball. It doesn’t matter what baseball’s record book says, because the sport is notorious for not punishing cheaters. The sign-stealing Houston Astros, after all, are still recognized as the 2018 World Series champions. Enough said.
Barry Svrluga: The best comp for Aaron Judge’s historic season? Babe Ruth.
Baseball’s see-no-evil approach to steroids damaged the game then and it damages the game now.
People still suggest that there were no rules against steroids until MLB and the players’ union finally agreed to an experimental drug-testing system in 2002. That’s just not true. Fay Vincent banned steroids in 1991 when he was commissioner. Banning them was one thing; trying to enforce the ban was another. It took MLB and the union more than a decade to agree to drug-testing. It was a little bit like having speed limits on the highway but no police to enforce them.
With no potential consequences, players took performance-enhancing drugs without concern for getting caught. In 2007, the year former senator George Mitchell compiled a report for MLB on steroid use in the game, I was doing a book on Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina. Before the report came out, I asked each of them what percentage of players had been using steroids before drug-testing began. Both estimated about 25 percent, though they also agreed that if you counted those who had at least experimented with steroids, the number was closer to 50 percent. That’s an epidemic.
On the day the Mitchell Report came out that December, I called both pitchers. Again, they said almost the same thing: They were more surprised by the names not on the list than the names that were included.
Mitchell had no subpoena power, and no one could be held in contempt for lying to him. He still came up with evidence that 89 players — including Roger Clemens — had been users of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.
No one, except perhaps close friends, family and ardent fans, questions the notion that Bonds, Sosa and McGwire — among many others — used steroids. McGwire has admitted it, and Bonds’s denials sound a little bit like Richard Nixon saying, “I am not a crook.” Sosa, whose English was always excellent, professed at a congressional hearing in 2005 that he didn’t speak enough English to answer questions.
None of the three, thank goodness, is in the baseball Hall of Fame, although their lifetime statistics would normally make them slam-dunk inductees. Bonds hit 762 home runs; Sosa 609 and McGwire 583. Bonds and McGwire were both Gold Glove defenders.
Even with a new generation of Hall of Fame voters more inclined to rely on analytics than morality, none of the three men who supposedly passed Maris has been voted in. Neither, for that matter, has Clemens.
Maris, meantime, hit his 61 homers in 1961 but never as many as 40 in any other season. He was a two-time MVP and played on three World Series champions — two in New York, one in St. Louis. But injuries shortened his career, and he finished with 275 home runs.
His numbers aren’t close to Hall of Fame worthy. But there are those who think Maris deserves consideration, not just for what he did in 1961, but because he had to tolerate former commissioner Ford Frisk’s ridiculous denigration of his record. The asterisk by his name — signifying that his 61 homers came in more games than Ruth played — remained there until he died of cancer at 51 in 1985. It wasn’t until six years later that a committee chaired by Vincent voted to remove the asterisk. Ironically, that was the same year that Vincent banned steroids.
During the summer of 1998, McGwire and Sosa’s chase of Maris’s record became the stuff of romance among almost all those in the media, with iconic Washington Post columnist Shirley Povich a notable exception. In fact, the 2006 book “Game of Shadows” by Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada reported that Bonds’s steroid use began after the 1998 season, in part because he was so upset with the notion that McGwire and Sosa might somehow be considered better players than he was.
The only outrage in the Hall of Fame voting? How many people voted for Barry Bonds.
They weren’t. Bonds was a future Hall of Famer before he ever put anything in his body. It’s worth remembering that he stole 514 bases in addition to all his home runs. But he cheated and damaged the game — just as the others did.
It doesn’t matter, even a little bit, that Judge says he considers Bonds’s 73 to be the single season record. He was a 9-year-old kid growing up not far from San Francisco when Bonds had his greatest season. It’s understandable that he thinks Bonds has the record. But he’s wrong.
Many in the media keep reporting that Judge is closing in on Maris’s American League home-run record. That’s true. But when he goes past Maris, he will hold the all-time single season record for home runs.
The most thrilling in-person moment I had in sports was watching Ben Johnson explode from the blocks and leave Carl Lewis in the dust in the 100-meter dash at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The chills still go down my arms when I see that race in my mind’s eye.
Except it wasn’t real. Three days after the race, the International Olympic Committee stripped Johnson of his gold medal after he tested positive for steroids. (Note to baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred: The IOC did not say the medal was merely “a piece of metal.”) I was one of many people devastated. We had witnessed history, only we hadn’t. That’s the way a lot of people felt after Bonds, McGwire and Sosa turned out to be users.
So when Judge hits that 62nd homer, we should all not only stand and applaud, but we should get chills.
He will have made history. Real history. | 2022-09-22T18:20:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Aaron Judge is chasing Roger Maris, not Barry Bonds - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/aaron-judge-barry-bonds-roger-maris/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/22/aaron-judge-barry-bonds-roger-maris/ |
Police arrest man in fatal shooting in Southeast Washington
D.C. police on Thursday arrested a man in a fatal shooting that occurred in May in Southeast Washington’s Fairlawn neighborhood, according to a statement from the department.
Marcus Barringer, 31, was charged with second-degree murder while armed in the death of Rashad Davis, 32, who was shot about 4:30 p.m. on May 6.
The shooting occurred in the 2300 block of Nicholson Street SE, near Pennsylvania and Minnesota avenues in a neighborhood near the Anacostia River.
Police said members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Barringer, who is from Southeast Washington.
Authorities did not comment further on the case. Barringer could make an initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court on Friday, when additional information about the allegations would be made public. | 2022-09-22T18:33:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Police arrest man in fatal shooting in Southeast Washington - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/arrest-shooting-homicide-dc/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/arrest-shooting-homicide-dc/ |
Duante' Abercrombie said his mom, Devara Abercrombie, signed him up for skating lessons to keep him off the streets. He just signed on as a coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Duante' Abercrombie/Obtained by The Washington Post)
Devara Abercrombie wasn’t a typical, type-A Washington parent, striving to sculpt an Ivy-league résumé for her two boys. She was a teen mom whose first priority as a parent was to keep her sons safe, to keep them from their father’s fate.
“She was big on not allowing the streets to take her children,” Duante’ Abercrombie, now 35, recalled. “Plenty of friends in my life are locked up or dead.”
So Abercrombie found himself in gymnastics, swimming, violin, ice skating — “activities that weren’t the norm for a Black boy,” he said.
As a result, it wasn’t the streets that took her oldest boy last week. It was the National Hockey League.
“Right now, I’m dreaming with my eyes open,” said the Toronto Maple Leafs new coaching development associate, who joined a handful of Black coaches in the NHL. He fulfilled the #NHLBOUND hashtag he attached to all his communications, the line he put in allcaps on his résumé: “MY GOAL IS TO COACH IN THE NHL”
Coach Neal Henderson cried when Abercrombie called to tell him. He cried again when I called him.
“It’s a dream and a pleasure,” said Henderson, who is now 85 and getting ready for his 45th season running the hockey program that got Abercrombie started, and, he said, saved his life — the Fort Dupont Cannons.
A hockey coach spent decades saving lives. Let's save his ice.
“I told Duante’ he would go far when I met him,” Henderson said. “He was 6 years old. I used to carry him around in my hands around the ice to teach him how to skate and how to stand.”
Henderson was the first Black man elected to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019 for his role in founding and running the Fort Dupont Cannons. It’s the nation’s longest-running, minority-oriented hockey team and has shown thousands of D.C. kids that yes, they can be anything — even what they can’t see.
Abercrombie is now there for them all to see — the Black boy who couldn’t skate when he got to the rink; now coaching pros in North America’s hockeyland.
“I want to be there for them to know they belong, they deserve to have as many opportunities as the other players around them,” he said, remembering how hard it was for him to believe his talent and drive was enough as he shared locker rooms full of White players who had been on travel teams, who trained with special coaches and did summer clinics. All he had was the free program in the city.
“Look at me,” he said. “This is possible. I want kids to ask me, ‘what was it like when I was 10? When I was 15?’ ”
Abercrombie’s mom took him to the Fort Dupont Ice Arena’s free learn to skate program when he was 6. Skating is messy your first few times, the wobbles, those insane knives you’re supposed to stand on, the wet clothes after all the falls. It wasn’t love at first wipeout for Duante’.
But right after his lesson, the young boy watched the hockey team take the ice.
“They were moving so fast, the puck was flying,” he remembered. “What is this magical thing that’s happening on the ice?”
His mom, of course, marched straight up to the front desk and asked them if there was any way her little boy could learn this insane sport. And the front desk introduced her to Henderson.
“If it wasn’t for Coach Neal, for Fort Dupont those Monday and Wednesday nights, when he was my dad, who knows what would’ve happened to me?” said Abercrombie, who did not know his father growing up.
He remembers waking up Saturday mornings — his mom had a cosmetology license — to a house full of women getting their hair done. She worked hard to afford all the special programs and private schools that she sent Duante’ and his little brother, Devan, to.
Henderson remembers that Abercrombie was athletically talented, but more importantly, “he was a highly coachable kid.
“He was always asking for more,” Henderson said. “Asking me for more ways to do something better: ‘Is this the way to make myself skate faster?’ ‘Is this the way to hold my stick better?’ ”
His time with the Cannons propelled Abercrombie to Gonzaga College High School, the all-boys Jesuit school with a fierce hockey program. When he toured it, much of the campus was under renovation, scaffolding and boards, nothing as complete as the other schools. And that appealed to him, realizing he can be part of “what it’s going to become.”
He helped lead the hockey team to four Maryland Student Hockey League/Mid-Atlantic Prep Hockey League championships. Then he played three seasons professionally in New Zealand, as well as in New York and Pittsburgh. Most of the time, he was the only Black player in the locker room, in the arena. He could outscore and outskate others, but he had to keep convincing them he was serious.
When he became a dad, he knew it was a good time to start his life as a coach. And he coached locally, the Little Caps, Georgetown Prep, individual sessions and clinics.
He became one of four black coaches in NCAA hockey when he was hired as an NCAA assistant coach at Stevenson University in Pikesville, Md.
But he still had that goal, #NHLBOUND. So when a coaching job opened in Toronto in May, he got the résumé ready and spent the whole summer sweating, even in those cold ice rinks, waiting to hear back.
He moved to Toronto last week.
It felt right to head to Canada. It’s where Henderson learned to play hockey while his father was stationed there as a Merchant Marine during World War II.
It’s where Graeme Townshend, the first Jamaican-born hockey player to compete in the NHL, who once coached for the Leafs, took Abercrombie to the public housing complex where he was raised, after his family moved to Canada. It was Townshend — who took pride in talking about a tough upbringing — who convinced Abercrombie to get back in touch with his dad, who since got out of prison.
“He showed me that he grew up in the projects and ended up coaching at the Leafs,” Duante’ said. “He showed me it can be done.”
Now that’s he’s achieved the hashtag, what’s next?
“I want to be a head coach on that bench,” he said. “And I want my name on that Stanley Cup four times. The dream keeps changing. It has to.” | 2022-09-22T18:33:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. native Daunte' Abercrombie began coaching in the NHL this week - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/duante-abercrombie-hockey-dc/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/22/duante-abercrombie-hockey-dc/ |
Walker’s campaign struggles show GOP’s deeper challenge in Georgia
Some Republicans concede privately Herschel Walker was chosen as a Black celebrity, but his struggles risk making him an object of ridicule
Herschel Walker delivers remarks during a rally in Norcross, Ga., on Sept. 9. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
CUMMING, Ga. — Herschel Walker’s taunt was aimed at his opponent in the race for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat, but it could as easily have been a retort to critics of both parties who’ve questioned his intelligence, mocked his grasp of policy and even asked whether his troubled temperament disqualifies him for the U.S. Senate.
“I’m not a child,” he told the audience in this conservative city recently, ripping into Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.) for purportedly avoiding a debate. “Put your big man pants on and show up. Show the people what you can do. I’m this country boy, remember? I don’t know what I’m talking about? So why don’t you show up and embarrass me?”
Walker, 60, cruised through a Republican primary four months ago, armed with former president Donald Trump’s endorsement and buoyed by his name recognition as a national championship-winning Heisman Trophy winner. He offers his up-by-the-bootstraps story as a counterpoint to liberal assertions that the country is rife with systemic racism, telling mostly White audiences that they should ignore overblown complaints about a racist America.
And it’s prompted some political operatives to question whether the party embraced a deeply flawed candidate in an urgent bid to appeal to voters outside a shrinking base.
“The Republican Party has not historically done a very good job of building bridges to minority communities,” said Ralph Reed, a former Georgia Republican Party chairman. “That has to change, or we face permanent minority status.”
Two years ago, in a 63-day span, Georgia voters handed the state’s presidential vote and its two U.S. Senate seats to Democrats, a startling turnabout for a state in the heart of the Deep South. Reversing that trend now rests on Walker’s muscular shoulders.
As Black voters increasingly show their strength, the Georgia GOP leadership remains largely White and almost entirely male. The party has struggled to find a message that appeals to independent, college-educated voters in some of the nation’s fastest-growing suburbs, according to nearly two-dozen strategists, politicians, voters and activists of both parties interviewed for this article.
For many, it’s unclear if Walker is a solution to the problem or a symptom of it. With seven weeks until the election, many polls show a statistical tie between Walker and Warnock, who is also Black.
A CBS News poll in Georgia shows Warnock with a small two-percentage-point edge over Walker. An Atlanta-Journal Constitution poll shows Walker has the support of 46% to Warnock’s 44 percent. Both polls are within the margin of error for the candidates, who have agreed to debate next month.
While Walker appears to have weathered many of his worst stumbles, the troubling stories and campaign missteps could still derail his candidacy, especially as voters begin to focus more on the race.
Many Republican operatives admit privately that Walker was backed by the party’s leaders at least in part because the GOP wanted a Black candidate to face Warnock, the first Black Senator in Georgia’s history, who preaches at the pulpit once held by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“A lot of [conservatives] said, ‘He’s Black, and he agrees with us,’ and I think that’s why people just gave him the benefit of the doubt,” said one Republican strategist in Georgia, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly. “That’s what happens when you have a primary and, you know, a celebrity candidate, unvetted in the media.”
Beyond peeling off a handful of Black voters, GOP leaders may also have been seeking to reassure White swing voters that their party was not racist, the strategist said. A Black nominee appeared to be a way to do that, even if he was an almost entirely unknown quantity.
“He never debated in the primary. He never had to answer any questions about his business interests. He never had to answer anything about his wife or his mental health issues,” the strategist said. “You just kind of breeze through it based on your celebrity, and now — when people are actually paying attention, when things matter — I mean, he’s just floundering every single day.”
The Walker campaign has dealt with a conveyor belt of damaging public revelations that have rattled Republican leaders in Georgia and Washington.
He preached about the corrosive influence of absentee fathers — then his campaign confirmed that he was one, as he had three children he had not discussed publicly. He has been accused of stalking one woman and threatening to kill at least two. In a televised interview, Walker’s ex-wife recounted being choked by the former football star and spoke of the time he “held the gun to my temple and said he was gonna blow my brains out.”
Walker has said that he’s had a lifelong struggle with dissociative identity disorder. He has detailed his mental health struggles on television interviews and wrote a 2008 book that his supporters tout as a redemption story — albeit one filled with still more troubling moments.
“The logical side of me knew that what I was thinking of doing to this man — murdering him for messing up my schedule — wasn’t a viable alternative,” Walker wrote about someone who was supposed to deliver a car he had ordered but instead was ducking his calls. “But another side of me was so angry that all I could think was how satisfying it would feel to step out of the car, pull out the gun, slip off the safety, and squeeze the trigger.”
He wrote that his rage dissipated when he saw a sticker on the man’s truck saying, “Smile, Jesus loves you.”
Walker says his alternative personalities were responsible for some of the more disturbing moments of his life, but also credits them with powering him through childhood adversity and helping him perform extraordinary athletic feats, including playing through excruciating pain. He has generally characterized any mention of his past as political mudslinging.
But voters appear to have taken note. Statewide, 40 percent of likely voters have a favorable opinion of Herschel Walker, according to a Quinnipiac Poll released this month, while 51 percent have an unfavorable opinion.
“Don’t let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Eph. 4:29. @ReverendWarnock & his friends want to stigmatize & turn us against each other. Let’s reject that. pic.twitter.com/GZI3wxEQVh
Former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones, a Republican who lost a primary for Congress in June, said Republicans aren’t the only ones who lean into race to send a message to voters. Democrats picked Warnock, he said, in part because they felt he could excite a growing Black electorate.
“The Democratic Party right now is nervous about the decline of the support from Black voters,” said Jones, who is Black. “That’s what makes Herschel a viable candidate, because Black people have been saying, ‘We’ve got all these Democrats, and I’m still losing.’”
One D.C.-based Republican strategist said conservative leaders knew about many of the potentially damaging stories from Walker’s past before the May 24 primary, but their concerns peaked after Walker became the GOP nominee. During the worst weeks, an internal email list compiled by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which featured stories about candidates across the country, was picking up a half-dozen negative Walker stories every day.
Walker promotes a covid-killing "mist"
“It was brutal,” said this strategist, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. “So yeah, ‘not a quality candidate’ is the nice way to say it.”
Traditional Republicans have also been concerned with Walker’s inability to articulate his party’s policy positions. This year he challenged the theory of evolution, saying, “If man descended from apes, why are there still apes?”
He attacked President Biden’s climate change policies by asking, “Don’t we have enough trees around here?” He said Georgia’s “good air decides to float over” to China, replacing China’s “bad air,” which goes back to Georgia, where “we got to clean that back up.”
In August, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) questioned whether his party could retake the Senate, which is now split 50-50 between the parties, citing “candidate quality” as a problem. McConnell did not single out individual candidates, but several strategists said Walker is among those widely thought to be underperforming.
In statements to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Walker insisted that he was unfazed by McConnell’s comments. “Guys, I’m here for the people of Georgia,” he said. “I’m not worried about what people say.”
Publicly, national Republican leaders have now rallied around Walker. McConnell has endorsed him, as has Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the second-ranking Senate Republican. A Walker victory would double the number of Black Republicans in the Senate. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is heavily favored to win reelection. In addition, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has served in the Senate since 2013.
But some Republican insiders wonder if Walker will alienate voters who are otherwise open to voting for the party.
“If you’re a suburban independent voter, or you’re a White mom anywhere in the state, it doesn’t give you a whole of confidence that Walker can’t articulate the importance of the Second Amendment or why the Dobbs decision would be good for a Georgia voter,” said another Georgia GOP strategist, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent abortion decision.
But Walker does not necessarily need to be a policy wonk, said Theodore Johnson, a senior director at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank. Walker’s role as a solid Republican vote in the Senate may be enough for many conservatives, he added.
“This is just going to be a guy who puts his head down, maybe says some dumb stuff,” said Johnson, an expert in race and politics. “But if he is a reliable vote, you know, is it better to have than Warnock, who’s a reliable vote [for Democrats] 90-plus percent of the time? People may be willing to make that trade-off that he may not be the most gifted or qualified, but he’s going to do as he’s told by McConnell.”
At his rallies, Walker mostly sticks to broad, rapid-fire statements about Republican values, coupled with criticisms of Warnock and Democratic policies.
“You can see I’m not a politician. I don’t look like one. I’m not going to act like one,” he said at a recent appearance in Cumming. “What I see going on is not right in this country. Inflation is going off the roof, is it not? Inflation is, oh wow. And they don’t want to talk about it. They don’t want to talk about inflation. They don’t want to talk about crime. They don’t want to talk about this border. Because they have nothing to say. And they’ve done it. They are the reason we have this problem we have today. And if you want that, vote for [Warnock] again, because you’re going to get more of it. Because they got no solution. All they want to do is spend money. When they have a problem, they throw money at it. That’s no way you solve a problem. You need to get in and get your hands dirty.”
Walker declined through a spokesman to be interviewed for this article. (Many of his interviews have been with right-leaning outlets.) But during an informal news conference following an event in Norcross, Ga., he conceded he has a learning curve, while rejecting criticism that he is unfit to be a senator.
“Everyone that came into office came into office on Day 1,” he said. “Who has been better at getting anything done? … Everything I’ve ever done, I’ve succeeded at.”
The people who come to Walker’s rallies seem ready to forgive, and many contend that he is now finding his rhythm.
“He brings a whole bunch of advantages, and of course he’s got some baggage that I was afraid would derail him, but so far, it doesn’t seem like it did in the primary,” said Allen Norris, 56, an air-conditioning repairman from Wrightsville who attended a recent Walker rally.
Some Black leaders see Walker’s campaign as part of a long history of Black candidates being chosen as political figureheads. In 2004, for example, two-time presidential candidate Alan Keyes entered the Senate race in Illinois against a rising Black candidate named Barack Obama. Keyes was a Black Maryland resident with little connection to Illinois, and he lost badly.
But as the polls suggest, there is no guarantee that Walker’s missteps mean a Democratic win. Georgia’s statewide offices are still largely dominated by conservative Republicans, and the Democratic Party has its own challenge in the state, including the view of many Black voters that Democrats failed to deliver on promises to reform policing, improve ballot access and attack systemic racism.
Still, LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, said many African American voters view Walker as a Black face who was chosen to make conservative ideologies more palatable. Walker’s Republican backers miscalculated, she said.
“They felt that all they needed to do is to solidify the White base and to be able to skim some of the Black vote,” Brown added. “I think they overshot. I believe if Herschel Walker had been a little bit more sophisticated, he could have pulled it off.”
Emily Guskin in Washington contributed to this report. | 2022-09-22T18:55:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Walker's campaign struggles shows GOP's deeper challenge in Georgia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/herschel-walker-georgia-black-voters/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/herschel-walker-georgia-black-voters/ |
If Democrats win, the GOP candidate meltdown will be why
Republican congressional candidate J.R. Majewski takes the stage at a rally held by former U.S. president Donald Trump in Youngstown, Ohio. (Gaelen Morse/Reuters)
It’s hard to remember a midterm election in which the predicted outcome was as uncertain as it is right now, less than seven weeks before Election Day. If Democrats do somehow manage to hold one or both houses of Congress, they’ll be able to thank their opponents for nominating such an extraordinary number of terrible candidates.
Not one or two, but a whole parade of Republican mediocrities, extremists, nutballs and fools, turning one race after another to Democrats’ favor. Sensible Republicans must be asking themselves: How did we wind up with so many awful nominees?
In every election, candidates blow winnable races by either being generally lackluster, getting caught in a scandal or saying something appalling. The prototypical recent case was Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin, who in 2012 said abortion would be unnecessary in cases of “legitimate rape” because “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” He never recovered from his gynecological musings.
This year, there are Todd Akins everywhere you look. Some recent news:
J.R. Majewski, the GOP nominee for a House seat in Ohio, has apparently been claiming to be a combat veteran who served in Afghanistan when, in fact, his overseas deployment consisted of unloading planes in Qatar. Majewski’s chief qualification for office is basically that, in 2020, he painted his lawn into a Trump sign.
CNN reports that John Gibbs, the election conspiracist and nominee in a Republican-leaning House district in Michigan, once lamented women’s suffrage, writing that ladies lack “the characteristics necessary to govern,” and that men are smarter because they aren’t so emotional.
Other Michigan Republicans are also struggling: GOP nominee Tudor Dixon trails incumbent Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by 16 points in a new Detroit Free Press poll, while attorney general nominee Matthew DePerno proposed banning emergency contraception, known as Plan B. “You have to stop it at the border. It would be no different than fentanyl,” he said. “It should be banned.”
In New Hampshire, Don Bolduc ran in the Senate GOP primary claiming that Donald Trump won in 2020, then days after securing the nomination, announced that he now believes Joe Biden really won. A novice candidate, Bolduc has not yet learned how to talk about issues without saying things that immediately land in attack ads.
Multiple Republican Senate candidates have suggested privatizing Medicare or Social Security, which might be the single most disastrous political position a candidate can take.
Alaska now has a Democratic congresswoman, because even Alaskans can’t stand Sarah Palin.
Meanwhile, other Republican Senate candidates — Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, J.D. Vance in Ohio, Blake Masters in Arizona, Herschel Walker in Georgia — have in various ways turned out to be bad at campaigning. All are in vital swing-state races, all are in their first run, all were boosted by Trump, and all have demonstrated that they just don’t really know what they’re doing.
Again and again, Republican voters have nominated the Trumpiest candidate available — which usually means the one with less political experience and always means the one with less crossover appeal. Republican voters made those choices for a simple reason: It’s what they wanted.
The party dynamic at work here is that all the incentives for Republicans point away from quality candidates: people with skills, experience and the ability to win a majority of votes in any state or district that isn’t overwhelmingly Republican. While it is possible for a masterful politician to also be an election-denying, QAnon-curious extremist who wants to ban all abortions, that kind of person is less likely to have what it takes to win.
On the other side, Democrats tend to be much more cautious about whom they nominate, in part because they are constantly worried that the broader electorate doesn’t really like them. That’s not to say Democratic candidates never implode, but when it happens, it is usually because someone who looked great on paper turned out to be worse than he or she appeared, or did something surprisingly stupid. (We’re looking at you, Cal Cunningham.) Republicans, on the other hand, often nominate candidates who are clearly terrible right from the beginning.
At least one or two of these GOP lemons will probably wind up winning, because it’s still a midterm election (in which the president’s party almost always suffers), and we are a very polarized country, meaning most people will vote for their party’s nominee even if he or she an obvious nincompoop. And other factors — the economy, the sudden urgency of the abortion issue, Trump’s ongoing toxic presence — will have a greater overall impact.
But it is likely to be close in both the House and the Senate, so almost everything matters. And if Democrats do prevail, Republicans might ask themselves whether they should try to get better candidates next time around. The trouble is that most of their voters are perfectly happy with the clown show they’ve assembled this year — and will be ready to do it all over again. | 2022-09-22T19:25:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | If Democrats win this election, the GOP candidate meltdown will be why - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/democrats-election-republican-candidate-meltdown/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/democrats-election-republican-candidate-meltdown/ |
Protesters carry away looted items during a demonstration against fuel price hikes, and to demand that Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry step down, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Sept. 16. (Odelyn Joseph/AP)
No one relishes the idea of another international intervention in Haiti, nor does recent history give much reason for optimism that a new one would go smoothly. Yet in the absence of muscular action by outside actors, there is now no plausible scenario in which that tormented Caribbean country, already the Western Hemisphere’s poorest, will not be sucked deeper into a vortex of anarchy, street violence, economic meltdown and humanitarian suffering.
That chaotic brew is a recipe for death and despair, in addition to a steady or swelling tide of refugees. The Biden administration, having already deported more than 25,000 Haitians, might imagine it can maintain that status quo, ignoring Haiti’s turmoil. It should think again, for it is folly to imagine that things in Haiti cannot deteriorate.
Mounting pandemonium and pervasive gang warfare have seized the country in the 14 months since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, a crime that remains unsolved. A power vacuum has contributed to the chaos; no elections have been held in six years, meaning the government lacks legitimacy. That goes for the prime minister, Ariel Henry — himself implicated in the Moïse assassination — whose grip on power owes more to backing from Washington than to popular support in Haiti, where he is broadly reviled and regarded as impotent.
With the economy in a tailspin and inflation surging, Mr. Henry this month slashed fuel subsidies, causing the price of gas at the pump to more than double. That triggered furious protests that some regional leaders described as a “low-intensity civil war,” along with demands for his resignation. In some neighborhoods, street barricades, wanton vandalism and marauding demonstrators had paralyzed transport and the delivery of basic goods, including food and water.
Mr. Henry’s grip on the levers of government is extremely weak; his administration’s authority and ability to maintain order are anemic. More than 100 civic and faith groups last week called on the Biden administration to withdraw its support for him, accusing him of corruption and complicity with the gangs that have paralyzed life in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
By propping up the prime minister, Washington’s calculus might be that it is forestalling an even more complete power vacuum. U.S. officials might also shrug at growing disorder and the absence of democracy in Haiti as long as the Henry government continues to accept deportees.
Yet it is unlikely that the status quo can hold. Prominent gang leaders and opposition figures are calling for wider protests, which will translate into more violence. Major Western embassies have closed to the public and advised their diplomats to hunker down. According to reports, police have started refusing to show up for work in the face of spiraling violence. The Dominican Republic has sent troops to its border with Haiti, to prevent any spillover.
The situation is not tenable, and waiting for worse to come is not a policy; it is an abdication of responsibility. The United Nations, the Organization of American States and key governments, including the Biden administration, must face Haiti’s collapse squarely, and act to prevent further carnage and suffering. | 2022-09-22T19:25:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Haiti violence will only worsen without international intervention - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/haiti-violence-how-to-help/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/haiti-violence-how-to-help/ |
Here are more reforms for the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court in Washington. (Sarah Silbiger for The Washington Post)
The Sept. 18 editorial “One way to repair the Supreme Court” noted that the court needs repair and, as the polls tell us, most of the country agrees. However, the editorial’s recommendations were related only to the length of terms of service and the “self-sabotage” of recent widely unpopular decisions. But there’s another problem about the court that needs correction. There are no ethics rules to which justices must adhere, and that is a huge reason for the public’s loss of confidence in the court. The court could and should adopt an ethics code with enforcement provisions.
Joyce Siegel, North Bethesda
One step not mentioned in the editorial on repairing the Supreme Court is to take away the power of the Senate majority leader to determine when a vacancy can be filled. This would go a long way to remove the taint of political partisanship that has so clouded recent Supreme Court selections. That procedure gives one person too much power, which is a detriment to our democracy.
Greg Versen, Harrisonburg, Va. | 2022-09-22T19:25:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Here are more reforms for the Supreme Court - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/more-reforms-supreme-court/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/more-reforms-supreme-court/ |
The Stock Act wasn’t enough
The New York Stock Exchange in 2018. (Mary Altaffer/AP)
Regarding the Sept. 19 editorial “Hope for a stock-trading ban”:
The Stock Act of 2012 was enacted to address insider trading by congressional members who, in the course of their duties, become aware of information that will affect a company’s stock prices. These politicians use their gained knowledge to buy and sell stocks to increase their personal wealth at a high-percentage success rate that the rest of us can’t.
This apparently wasn’t enough to dissuade our representatives (of both parties) from resisting temptation and greed. This is yet another example of how our guardrails aren’t as strong as they should be.
There have to be consequences, or the fabric of decency will be ripped to shreds, and we’ll all eventually suffer the consequences for the actions of a few. We have to wake up.
Dave Perry, Onancock, Va. | 2022-09-22T19:26:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The Stock Act wasn’t enough - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/stock-act-wasnt-enough/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/stock-act-wasnt-enough/ |
The U.S. Supreme Court building on June 26. (Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz)
The Supreme Court may be poised to weigh in on a subject that, even more than other far-reaching topics in its purview, affects nearly every citizen nearly every day: the internet. In doing so, the justices have the opportunity to make a muddled area of governance less murky. They also have a chance to do great harm along the way.
A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit last week upheld a Texas law that prohibits online platforms from removing user-generated material on their sites based on a user’s viewpoint or the viewpoint expressed in a post. Earlier this year, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit determined a Florida law that similarly restricted technology companies violated the First Amendment. Now Florida has asked the Supreme Court to reconsider. The court, if it agrees to take the case, will confront questions about governments’ ability to regulate speech in the digital age, which both sides so far have approached as all-or-nothing — but that really demand nuance and care.
Those two attributes were glaringly lacking in Judge Andrew Oldham’s majority opinion in NetChoice v. Paxton, the 5th Circuit case, which denies any First Amendment protection for what most people call content moderation by platforms but what its author insists on calling censorship. This conflicts with plenty of precedent on corporations’ right to decide what kind of speech they will host. But most alarming are the blatant mischaracterizations of social-media sites that the opinion uses to justify this position. The assertion that neo-Nazi and terrorist material are “borderline hypotheticals” ignores the platforms’ documented and ongoing game of whack-a-mole with just that type of hatred. The claim that sites “exercise virtually no editorial control or judgment” somehow misses the millions of pieces of content they review daily — and the many more algorithmic filters prevent from showing up at all.
This last point is supposed to prove that the government can classify platforms as “common carriers,” just like railroads or phone providers, and demand that they not discriminate. Those on the opposite side of this debate believe that’s the wrong analogy, and it is. But the alternative they propose is similarly shaky: They say these platforms are more like newspapers or radio broadcasters. The truth lies somewhere in between. Social media sites do act as something of a public utility; they also do exercise editorial control and judgment that’s essential to the value they provide. They exist in a category all their own, and no court so far has figured out what standard should apply to them — or what types of speech regulation, from the extreme restrictions in Texas and Florida to more moderate transparency mandates under consideration elsewhere to nothing at all, the Constitution permits.
The Supreme Court seems likelier than ever to do that thinking in the near future. If so, the justices should resist the temptation of seemingly easy answers that miss the digital age’s most difficult realities. | 2022-09-22T19:26:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Internet speech regulation deserves careful review by Supreme Court - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/supreme-court-internet-speech-regulation/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/supreme-court-internet-speech-regulation/ |
Trump is declassifying things with his mind — and he can’t stop!
As long as you knew what you were trying not to think about it, it was hopeless. (Gaelen Morse/Reuters)
It was horrible. He wished he had never known about it. He had thought that it would be a great blessing, but it was just awful. All he had to do was think about something, and it was declassified. He sat at Mar-a-Lago with a thick Turkish towel wrapped around his head, eyes squeezed shut, willing the thoughts to stop.
He remembered years ago when he had been a little boy and somebody had told him that the best way to get somebody to think about elephants was to tell them, “Don’t think about elephants.” He had tried not to, to see if it was right, and an elephant sprang unbidden into his mind and sat there, and he could not get it out. For almost a week, all he had done was think about elephants.
Simply by trying not to think about them, he had summoned a whole herd; his mind would try to rush past them to rhinos or skip away from them toward mice, but it only made him more aware of the elephant he was avoiding. As long as you knew what you were trying not to think about it, it was hopeless. The elephant always won in the end.
Now he got up and turned on the TV. Usually having the TV on very loud helped him not think. He had made it through large chunks of his life not thinking very hard. Indeed, sometimes he had gone years without having anything that rose to the level of a thought — some gut feelings, numerous prejudices, but nothing that could be considered actively thinking. But now all he was doing was thinking. He hated it. It was an awful process, very unpleasant to do, and he could see why it had made his uncle at MIT so unhappy and caused him to look so upset all the time.
What a mistake it had been, to try to declassify things that way. He had thought it would be a good power for the president to have. Much more convenient than the old process, which involved a lot of paperwork and talking. This way, no sooner would he think a thing than it would no longer be a secret. Everyone could know about it, and you could take it out of a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility and walk around with it and let it see Florida sunshine for a first time, then a Florida storage room and some copies of Time magazine, also in Florida.
And it had seemed fine, for a time. He was proud of his new power. He brought friends to Mar-a-Lago and showed them how he could declassify documents with a single thought. Whole boxes of documents were suddenly fine for anyone to look at and carry anywhere! All the savory characters he gathered around himself were very impressed.
Then a hush had fallen.
“But Donald,” one of them said, very hesitantly, “suppose you don’t want to declassify something, but you have to think about it?”
This thought had not occurred to him, although when it did, it was instantly declassified.
“And suppose you want to make sure something stays classified?” somebody else asked. “Could you even think about it then?”
“Or what if you think about something, but it’s a thing that proves that what you are saying is untrue?”
He tried not to think about the answer to that question. But the more he tried not to think about it, the worse it got. He excused himself from dinner early and went upstairs, protesting that if he were a weaker kind of man, he would have a headache, but that he wasn’t, so he didn’t.
Now he sat there with his eyes squeezed shut. No, that was worse. Turn on the television! Turn it on! Turn on Fox News! They were talking about the FBI, the documents — no, he was thinking about them now! His lawyer had said it was important that the documents remain in a kind of limbo where he was both thinking about them and not thinking about them for their legal strategy to work.
He was not going to think about the documents! He was not going to think about any state secrets! He was certainly not going to think about the nuclear codes, or anything to do with France, or — no, it was just getting worse! He thought about his family, but that just made him think about their business dealings, and — no, better not. Why, there were things that could damage him, if they were not kept absolutely secret! If people were to find out about them — MIND BLANK! THOUGHTS EMPTY!
He tried and tried. But for once in his life, the thoughts would not stop. He could feel it happening. Everywhere around him huge boxes of papers were getting declassified. State secrets were flying around everywhere!
He began to scream. Soon there would be no more secrets! If he could only forget! But he could not forget. For the first time in his life, he was thinking about everything. The elephant was winning. | 2022-09-22T19:26:23Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Trump is declassifying things with his mind — and he can’t stop! - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/trump-declassify-mind-satire/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/trump-declassify-mind-satire/ |
The Andrews air show was wasteful
An acrobatic plane flies over other planes Sept. 17 parked at an air show at Joint Base Andrews. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Washington Post)
After reading the Sept. 18 Metro article “Flying high while turning 75,” I was left with many questions: How many tax dollars were spent on this extravagant air show? What effect did it have on the climate? For example, how much carbon was emitted during this air show? We are no longer waiting for climate chaos. It is with us. If anyone is in doubt, go to Pakistan, which experienced the monsoon of the century. There are many, many examples of climate chaos. I’m just astonished that the Air Force would continue to waste tax dollars and avoid these concerns.
Janice Sevre-Duszynska, Towson
The Sept. 18 article about the Joint Base Andrews Air Show indicated that Sept. 17 coincided with the Air Force’s 75th anniversary. I note that it was also the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam. An estimated 22,717 young men were either killed, wounded or missing as a result of that carnage in 1862. Many others no doubt suffered lasting psychological injuries. Let us remember that these human costs are the actual and most tragic fruits of war. Slick public relations circuses that waste taxpayer money are fairy tales bent on perpetuating the profiteering military-industrial-congressional complex.
The article mentioned that each branch of the military had recruiting stations at the event. Did the recruiters note the Antietam anniversary to the young people stopping by, or that the U.S. military is the single largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, or that it is also the largest consumer of energy in the United States?
While working Americans are struggling under inflation, we have on display here privileged spending, fairy-tale militarism, nonessential energy consumption and avoidable greenhouse gas emissions.
Andrews, next year, park the people’s assets and take a short trip over to Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Md. There, please solemnly explain to your employers (the American people) what you are doing to truly promote peace.
James P. Wagner, Frederick | 2022-09-22T19:26:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The Andrews air show was wasteful - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/waste-andrews-air-show/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/waste-andrews-air-show/ |
Hollywood couldn’t make ‘The Woman King’ historically accurate
Viola Davis participates in a news conference during promotion for "The Woman King" in Rio de Janeiro on Monday. (Antonio Lacerda/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Whenever a historical epic comes out, a debate about what it gets right and wrong, and how much any of that matters, inevitably follows. “The Woman King,” Gina Prince-Bythewood’s hit action movie was no exception. But for once, this discussion is useful, if only because it reveals how filmmakers can tangle themselves up trying to balance the demands of audiences who want accuracy and narratives that flatter their political preconceptions.
“The Woman King” is about the Agojie, fierce African female warriors from the Dahomey kingdom, led by fearless General Nanisca (Viola Davis). They are at war with the Oyo, who fund their fight by enslaving other Africans and selling them to the Portuguese. In Prince-Bythewood’s version of this story, Dahomey, led by King Ghezo (John Boyega), participates in the slave trade as well. But just a little bit! And it’s just to procure the weapons needed to defend itself from the Oyo! And let’s just not pay too much attention to that because, look, Nanisca wants to end the evil practice and focus on the cultivation of palm oil.
There are other plotlines in “The Woman King,” but the question of slavery is, understandably, the one on which critics have fixated. The argument against the film: the Dahomey kingdom wasn’t made up of righteous abolitionists worried about the effects of colonial barbarism on their pure continent. No, they were slavers. Vicious slavers. The sort of slavers who went village to village and rounded up as many humans for enslavement as they could.
Folks on the right damned the film by saying it whitewashes Dahomey’s role in the slave trade. Those on the left damned it for being a film about Africa written by White women that commoditized “empowerment” at the expense of Black women’s bodies. Both converged on the trending hashtag #BoycottTheWomanKing.
For what it’s worth, people who actually saw the movie as opposed to just complaining about it on Twitter loved it: “The Woman King” garnered a rare A-plus from CinemaScore and earned a 95 percent positive rating from Comscore/Screen Engine’s Post Trak.
For critics, the question of historical accuracy should be consistent and simple: It doesn’t matter much, if at all, when considering the quality of a film. “Gladiator” is a good movie despite the suggestion that Commodus’s death ushers in the restoration of the Roman Republic. “300” is a good movie despite its inaccurate suggestion that the Spartans loved liberal democracy and strove to defend human freedom and flowering from Eastern hordes. Don’t get a historian started on “Braveheart” or “The Patriot”; they’ll never leave you in peace — and they’ll never relax enough to enjoy some great cinema.
A more interesting question is whether fetishizing accuracy — or throwing it off — flattens a movie’s drama.
In “The Woman King,” blurring Dahomey’s participation in the peculiar institution strips the picture of its intellectual heft and narrative complexity. The film could have been far more provocative with an “Are we the baddies?” moment. Writing in the New Yorker, Julian Lucas makes a convincing case that the decision not only cheapened the movie, but it also might have cost the picture an Oscar-caliber talent when Lupita Nyong’o walked away from the project after learning more about the behaviors of the kingdom her character hailed from.
Another question worth grappling with: Do the politics of the moment make it impossible to make an accurate movie about a kingdom like Dahomey? As it stands, “The Woman King” probably couldn’t be anything but a rousing action epic whose heroes served as the inspiration for a group of Marvel Cinematic Universe characters. It is hard to envision Hollywood making a film about the British Blockade of Africa, a decisive moment in the effort to end the transatlantic slave trade. Any such picture would be dismissed in pre-production as a “White savior” narrative or a defense of imperialism; it would be hounded for stripping agency from African abolitionists.
“The Woman King” either works as a film or it doesn’t, regardless of the real-life story of the Agojie. But it might have been a great movie rather than a good one if the politics of the moment let it tell a more complicated truth. | 2022-09-22T19:26:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | 'The Woman King' could be empowering or accurate. Not both. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/woman-king-historically-accurate/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/woman-king-historically-accurate/ |
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