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The fault lines between America’s Good Jews and Bad Jews
Review by Jane Eisner
A Shabbat morning service at Temple Sinai in Oakland, Calif., in February 2020. Emily Tamkin explores the dividing lines among American Jews, writing, “Every group has its rules that determine who is in and who is out.” (Noah Berger/AP)
As a young girl, I considered my grandmother Minnie, my father’s mother, the epitome of a pious Jew. A diminutive woman who fled Poland after World War I and was widowed long before I was born, she held steadfast to Jewish tradition and practice — keeping strictly kosher, observing the Sabbath — as if she transported her Orthodox old world to a modest apartment in the Bronx.
We’d visit on Sundays. There were so many families at our Reform synagogue that the younger children attended Hebrew School on Saturday mornings, and I remember one day eagerly telling my grandmother about my class, anticipating her approval.
We learned Hebrew words. She smiled.
And a new prayer. Another smile.
And the teacher played Jewish songs on the piano. A deep frown.
I was stunned by her reaction. Many observant Jews do not play musical instruments on the Sabbath, but I didn’t know that at the time. I only knew that I suddenly went from Good Jew to Bad Jew, crossing an invisible fault line drawn by the one person in my life who cared openly about such things.
This fault line is catalogued and explored in Emily Tamkin’s new book, “Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities.” My grandmother’s disapproval — that of a conventionally religious Jew dismayed at the irreligious behavior of her offspring — is one of many ways in which American Jews draw lines and judge one another, sometimes out of love or to uphold treasured traditions, other times out of anger, insecurity or political beliefs that transcend the tribal.
Jews aren’t the only ones to draw such lines, of course. (Just ask your Catholic friends if they’ve ever felt like a Bad Catholic.) But the particularity of Jewish life in contemporary America provides an especially easy canvas. Here religious practice is freely available to follow or ignore; assimilation is commonly accessible; and as the late Leonard Fein once observed, every Jew is a Jew by choice. The Nazis didn’t care if you played the piano on the Sabbath — you were a Jew, no matter what. Here Jews are generally able to try to enforce their own dividing lines, and some do, with relish.
Tamkin is, by her own admission, an imperfect chronicler of American Jewish history and identity. She was not religiously educated, did not have a bat mitzvah, married a non-Jew and did not visit Israel until she began writing this book. When she and her husband joined a Reform synagogue, she “felt like a person playing at being Jewish while filling out the membership forms.”
Her honesty is appreciated, and her sense of being an outsider seeking acceptance, knowledge and understanding propels this book. The more pertinent question is not whether Tamkin is qualified to undertake this project but whether she is discerning and insightful enough to add to the considerable conversation on Jewish religious, cultural and political identity that already exists.
Unfortunately, while she adeptly offers a serviceable overview of that debate, she misses the chance to fully analyze it and provide fresh thinking.
Summarizing the early history of Jews in America, she does make an important point: that antisemitism was present but largely not foundational. “There was, broadly speaking, cultural discrimination against Jews, and that was at times reinforced and reflected by institutions like the justice system,” she writes. “But that is very different from Jews in America being legally classified and treated differently.” (As African Americans were since the time of slavery.)
And because of that, acceptance and assimilation were attainable. “In the years from 1945 through the 1960s, many American Jews moved more comfortably into and up in the world of white America,” she writes.
As they became more accepted, prosperous and secure, American Jews adapted divergent religious and political identities. The chapter headings of “Bad Jews” encapsulate those identities: Zionist Jews, Civil Rights Jews, Right-Wing Jews, Laboring Jews, Refugee Jews, “This Land Is Our Land” Jews, Pushing Jews. Engagement with Israel became a larger and more controversial aspect of Jewish identity. Engagement with other movements — civil rights, labor, immigration reform — flowed and ebbed.
What clearly animates Tamkin is the debate over intermarriage. Her mother was not born Jewish and converted after she married her father. Tamkin’s Indian American husband has agreed to raise their (prospective) children Jewishly and gladly supports creating a Jewish home. Nonetheless, as Tamkin writes repeatedly, she often is made to feel like a Bad Jew by the Jewish establishment.
Referencing one prominent philanthropist who views intermarriage as an existential threat (or at least one keeping him up at night), Tamkin writes, “I wondered if he understood what it felt like to hear from people who are held up as Jewish leaders that the big threat to Jewishness is you, a person who is so proud to be Jewish and who happens to love someone who is not.”
This plaintive cry is not new, at least to anyone who has paid attention to Jewish debate in the last decade or more. Even though the imperative for a Jew to marry another Jew is embedded in Jewish law and tradition, the rate of intermarriage has soared in America, and so has mainstream acknowledgment, if not full acceptance. Just one example: Birthright Israel, the free trip to Israel that has become a right of passage, is open to Jewish young adults “who have at least one Jewish parent.”
This is also true: The children of intermarriages are much less likely to be raised as Jews and identify as Jews. There are notable exceptions, and Tamkin’s future family may be one of them. But there’s a solid reason that the Jewish establishment cares about in-marriage, even if the forces of assimilation and modernization will make it impossible to sustain for all but the Orthodox.
Toward the end of the book, Tamkin writes, “Every group has its rules that determine who is in and who is out.” True, but in wildly pluralistic Jewish America, such norms may not exist — and may not matter if they do. Contemporary American Jews have no Santa Claus figure deciding who is naughty or nice, because Jewish life is decentralized, multifaceted and largely free of outside control.
I began to think, when reading this book, that the writer is imprisoned by the title. It sets up the reader to expect fresh thinking about who is a Bad Jew, when really Tamkin is earnestly trying to understand how many in this crazy quilt of a nation are trying to be Good Jews. Including the author herself.
Jane Eisner, a regular Book World contributor, is the director of academic affairs for the Columbia School of Journalism. She is writing a book about Carole King for Yale University Press.
A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities | 2022-10-19T13:06:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities by Emily Tamkin - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/10/19/fault-lines-between-americas-good-jews-bad-jews/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/10/19/fault-lines-between-americas-good-jews-bad-jews/ |
6 PROJECT HAIL MARY (Ballantine, $20). By Andy Weir. The lone survivor on a spaceship must figure out how to save the earth from destruction.
9 THE SILENT PATIENT (Celadon, $17.99). By Alex Michaelides. A psychotherapist is consumed with finding out why a woman killed her husband.
10 CIRCE (Back Bay, $16.99).By Madeline Miller. This follow-up to “The Song of Achilles” is about the goddess who turns Odysseus’s men to swine.
6 GETTING LOST (Seven Stories Press, $18.95). By Annie Ernaux, Alison L. Strayer (Transl.). The Nobel Prize winner writes about her affair with a married man in the 1980s.
8 A CARNIVAL OF SNACKERY (Back Bay, $18.99). By David Sedaris. The popular humorist shares diary entries from the past two decades.
10 HOW TO FOCUS (Parallax Press, $9.95). By Thich Nhat Hanh, with illustrations by Jason DeAntonis. Meditations for mindfulness to enhance the power of concentration.
Rankings reflect sales for the week ended October 16. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from the American Booksellers Association, the trade association for independent bookstores in the United States, and indiebound.org. Copyright 2022 American Booksellers Association. (The bestseller lists alternate between hardcover and paperback each week.) | 2022-10-19T13:06:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Washington Post paperback bestsellers - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/washington-post-paperback-bestsellers/2022/10/18/c3f57030-4f0d-11ed-9b9f-2f3e226d3a8a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/washington-post-paperback-bestsellers/2022/10/18/c3f57030-4f0d-11ed-9b9f-2f3e226d3a8a_story.html |
Not many Americans remember the 2008 election for US Senate in Minnesota, in which Democratic challenger Al Franken beat Republican incumbent Norm Coleman — by 312 votes, after eight months of litigation. When the state’s supreme court issued its unanimous verdict, both winner and loser accepted the result in gracious remarks delivered from their front steps.
Now envision a similar scenario playing out in 2022. It’s hard to imagine any politician giving such a speech, but contested results and litigation are all too likely. And that’s a terrifying prospect in today’s culture of election denialism.
Franken’s victory gave the Democrats a 60-to-40 supermajority in the Senate. This year the stakes could be even higher. “We’ve never had a situation where the entire control of the US Senate turns on a single suit,” says Ned Foley, a professor of law and the director of the election law program at Ohio State. “What if one or more of these states is jump ball?”
Maybe it’s not a matter of if but when. There’s a strong likelihood that at least one loser won’t accept defeat. And as political rhetoric gets more and more extreme, millions of Americans seem to be shrugging their shoulders.
While polling shows that people view “threats to democracy” as a top issue, voters don’t necessarily see a central component of that — election denialism — as disqualifying. In a recent New York Times poll, nearly 40% of registered voters said they’d be very or somewhat comfortable voting for a candidate who thought the 2020 election was stolen, but with whom they agreed on most positions.
As one voter, quoted in the Bulwark’s The Focus Group podcast, put it when asked how he would view a candidate who denied the results of the 2020 presidential election: “I wouldn’t hold it against them,” he said.
That voter, who lives in Nevada, supports Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto and Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak. But he is prepared to vote for the conspiracy-minded Republican secretary of state candidate, Jim Marchant, who says he was a “victim” of election fraud in 2020.
Such voters say they don’t really understand what election denialism means. There are always voting irregularities, after all, and they may think candidates who deny the 2020 results deserve the benefit of the doubt as long as they also talk about issues such as inflation and crime.
“The thing that keeps me up at night,” says Sarah Longwell, an anti-Trump Republican strategist and host of The Focus Group, is that voters don’t know the power that secretaries of state hold over election outcomes, or even who’s running in their state.
According to the Washington Post, a majority of Republican nominees for Congress and statewide office have denied or questioned the outcome of the 2020 election. Some 28% of secretaries of state running for office this year are election deniers; 21% of governors, 40% of House candidates and 24% of Senate candidates, according to the Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST) at the University of Chicago, which analyzed data from FiveThirtyEight.
An analysis from the Brookings Institution says there is a high probability that 131 election-denying candidates will be serving in the House and Senate next year. Among the candidates for statewide office with significant control over elections — governor, secretary of state and attorney general — 14 election deniers are poised to win.
And what about the candidates that don’t win?
“You have combustible material in the country,” says Robert Pape, director of the Chicago project. “There’s no way to predict a lightning strike, and whether election deniers will become quite aggressive or just go home.”
According to a CPOST survey from last month, 13 million Americans believe force is justified to restore Donald Trump to the White House, while 40 million are ambivalent. Eighteen million believe force is justified to prevent the prosecution of Trump.
Pape sees an increased potential for violence between November and January, especially if there are widespread claims of stolen elections or if Trump is indicted. At the same time, he acknowledges the difficulty of taking preventative steps.
That difficulty stems in part from voter ambivalence glaringly evident in Pape’s survey. For example, 23% of Americans, and 35% of independents, neither agree nor disagree when asked if the use of force by ordinary citizens is sometimes necessary to achieve political goals.
History is replete with examples of the dangers of apathy. For election denialism to become accepted reality, voters don’t necessarily have to believe in it. They just have to not care.
• Do Americans Still Care About Democracy?: Jonathan Bernstein
• Destroying US Democracy Is a Bipartisan Effort: Niall Ferguson
• Biden Can’t See Why America Is in Trouble: Clive Crook | 2022-10-19T13:06:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Americans Care About Democracy, Just Not Enough to Save It - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/americans-care-about-democracy-just-not-enough-to-save-it/2022/10/19/903d0526-4faa-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/americans-care-about-democracy-just-not-enough-to-save-it/2022/10/19/903d0526-4faa-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
Downtown San Francisco Can’t Shake Working From Home
The Covid-19 pandemic decimated activity in large North American central business districts, none more so than downtown San Francisco, which has struggled mightily to rebound.
These statistics, from a recent report by the University of California at Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies that uses mobile-phone location data, are from last spring (a report with updated numbers should be out next month). Timelier Google location data for the whole city indicate that while retail and recreation mobility has continued to rise, activity at workplaces — which are concentrated downtown — has been about the same in September and October as in the spring.
The much-watched back-to-work statistics from Kastle Systems, which measure how many people come into the buildings that use the company’s security systems, do show an increase for the San Francisco metropolitan area, to 42% of pre-pandemic normal last week from about 35% in the spring — bumping it up to second-to-last place among the 10 metro areas tracked, ahead of Philadelphia. But it’s not clear how much of that is in downtown San Francisco and how much is in other areas like the large complex of biotech labs and offices along the bay just south of the city, where the parking lots were full when I passed by on a workday late last month.
My view was from an upstairs window of a double-decker Caltrain that I was riding to get a sense of the (greatly underutilized) current state of public transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area, the topic of another column. Subsequently, I spent a couple of days roaming around downtown San Francisco. Having visited a year earlier when it was an eerily deserted wasteland where you could ride the cable cars for free, I can report that it felt somewhat less deserted, the cable cars are back to costing $8 a ride, and a fair number of tourists are riding them. There was also a lot more going on in downtown San Francisco than in nearby downtown San Jose, which according to the UC Berkeley report was at 50% of pre-pandemic activity this spring. But downtown San Jose is perennially sleepy. Compared with its former self, and even with some outlying city neighborhoods and suburban downtowns I visited, San Francisco’s downtown is still awfully quiet.
Why is that? Since the onset of the pandemic, San Francisco has been the subject of pretty much constant analysis and critique, with observers calling out its struggles with wildly expensive housing, persistent homelessness, drug abuse, rampant petty crime and dysfunctional governance. These are real problems, but none is new. If you want to know what’s changed about the city since February 2020, the main answer is simply that large employers there and in surrounding areas, as well as those they employ, took to working from home with greater alacrity at the outset of the pandemic and have stuck to it with more persistence than their counterparts anywhere else in the US.
According to the US Census Bureau, about 35% of employees in the San Francisco and San Jose metropolitan areas were still working mostly from home last year — higher than in any other large US metro area and up from 7.2% and 4.8%, respectively, in 2019. Two close-to-downtown neighborhoods in San Francisco had WFH shares above 55%. With some large area employers finally requiring workers to return to the office this fall, those numbers will be down somewhat this year, but the change from before the pandemic will surely still be huge.
By contrast, the statistics on homelessness and crime in San Francisco show no such sea change. The city’s homeless population was actually slightly smaller in January 2022 than in January 2019, albeit higher than it was for most of the 2010s.
With crime, the story depends somewhat on which one you’re talking about. Homicide is the one for which statistics are most reliable over time and across jurisdictions, and San Francisco’s homicide rate did go up a shocking 50% from 2019 to 2021 (it’s down 9% so far this year). But the 2019 homicide rate was the city’s lowest in more than 34 years, and compared with every other year in the 2010s, the 2021 figure didn’t look so alarming. For perspective, I’ve included the national homicide rate in the chart below, plus those of Portland, Oregon, and Minneapolis, two cities with (1) empty-ish downtowns and (2) much clearer evidence of a pandemic murder wave.
While San Francisco has never been one of the nation’s murder capitals, it has long been plagued by rates of robbery, burglary and theft much higher than those of California and the US. And while robbery and burglary had at least been trending downward over the years, there was a sharp increase during the 2010s in larceny-theft, which covers offenses such as shoplifting and pickpocketing. This started before California voters decided in 2014 to reclassify all thefts of $950 or less as misdemeanors and worsened afterward.
Since 2019, though, larceny-theft in San Francisco is down 17%. Most other offenses are also now at levels below or similar to those before the pandemic, with the one big exception being auto theft, which is way up in the rest of the country, too.
Some of this can probably be chalked up to there being fewer people out and about to rob or assault or pickpocket, and fewer open stores from which to shoplift. The risk of being a crime victim may well have risen for the much smaller number of people going to downtown San Francisco. Similarly, homeless people can both seem more threatening and be in greater danger themselves when fewer other people are on the street. San Francisco’s ills have also been spreading beyond its borders. With fewer people going out in the big city, Walnut Creek, home to one of the region’s liveliest suburban downturns, has experienced a sharp increase in robberies over the past two years. Homelessness rose in the rest of California from 2019 to 2022 even as it fell in San Francisco.
Meanwhile, the rise of remote work makes it easier for those exasperated by the high costs and persistent problems of San Francisco and the Bay Area to flee, with San Francisco’s population falling by an estimated 58,764, or 6.7%, from April 2020 to July 2021 and that of the rest of the nine-county Bay Area by 124,294, or 1.8%. San Francisco is the second-most-affluent large US city, and San Jose is the most affluent, with estimated median household income in 2021 of $121,826 and $126,377, respectively. The San Jose and San Francisco metropolitan areas also top the median income list, and San Francisco is one of the relatively few principal cities of a large metro area that is more affluent than its suburbs (San Diego and Seattle are among the others). Its residents tend to be people with ample resources to escape what they deem a bad situation, especially if they can keep their jobs when they leave.
In some ways that bad situation is already improving. San Francisco rents have gone from about 230% of the national average in 2019 to 166% as of September, according to Apartment List’s estimates. The city’s politics also appear to be in the midst of a course change, with voters already tossing out several school board members and the district attorney. But then there’s that semi-deserted downtown, and the havoc it threatens to unleash in the form of a commercial real estate crash and possibly a public transportation meltdown, too.
The fact that so many people in San Francisco and rest of the Bay Area could and can work from home has been a blessing in many ways. The city and area had about 70% fewer Covid-19 deaths relative to population than the US as a whole, giving the area a Covid mortality rate similar to Canada’s and lower than that of all but a couple of European countries. The expanded ability to work from home also brought more flexibility for parents and others with care responsibilities, new opportunities for the disabled and less geographically constrained labor markets, among other benefits. WFH is fine, but dealing with the fallout from the Bay Area’s extreme preference for it isn’t going to be easy.
• San Francisco’s Empty Train Cars Spell Trouble: Justin Fox
• California Versus Florida, a Covid Reckoning: Justin Fox
• Make Sun Belt Cities More Like New York and L.A.: Conor Sen | 2022-10-19T13:06:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Downtown San Francisco Can’t Shake Working From Home - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/downtown-san-francisco-cant-shake-working-from-home/2022/10/19/629b7b1a-4fa6-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/downtown-san-francisco-cant-shake-working-from-home/2022/10/19/629b7b1a-4fa6-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
Analysis by Karin Matussek | Bloomberg
The headquarters of Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt, Germany, on Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Deutsche Bank and its asset management unit had their Frankfurt offices raided by police, adding to legal headaches facing Germany’s largest lender. (Bloomberg)
1. What’s a cum-ex trade?
2. Why is it controversial?
For years tax authorities granted the refunds despite having knowledge that the process could lead to multiple payouts. While there were several attempts to mend the practice, in 2007 lawmakers said tax officials had to tolerate occasional incidents. Law enforcement authorities, however, started to investigate a few years later, arguing that parliament had focused on the unintended side effects of legitimate transactions — not trades set up deliberately to generate tax refunds. Prosecutors argue that people involved in the transactions knew they were double-dipping on the refunds. The practice ended in 2012 when Germany revamped how it collects dividend tax. Similar deals were being reviewed in Denmark and Belgium.
3. Which banks and investors used it?
According to a parliamentary inquiry, the practice was first noticed by banks as early as the 1990s. A decade later, transactions were set up by traders at structured finance units of banks, mainly in London. Cum-Ex spread beyond the banking industry as some former bankers set up funds to allow wealthy individuals to take advantage of the loophole. Many investment banks across Europe and the US participated at some level: buying or selling stock, lending shares to the short seller, providing capital or acting as custodians.
4. How wide are the investigations?
At least half a dozen probes were started in Germany, with one in Cologne being the broadest. Major banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc, Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley have seen their Frankfurt offices raided. At Deutsche Bank AG alone, dozens of former and current employees were under investigation, including five former board members. Its headquarters as well as the home of a former co-chief executive officer, Juergen Fitschen, were raided in October 2022. The banks say they are cooperating with prosecutors. Investigations were opened in other countries including Belgium and Denmark.
5. Has anyone been charged and/or convicted?
Yes. Former M.M. Warburg Chief Executive Christian Olearius in July 2022 became the first leading banker to be charged. A former colleague described as his “right-hand man” was convicted of aggravated tax evasion in 2021 and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison. Hanno Berger, a German tax attorney, made a partial confession in a German court after being extradited from Switzerland. Executives linked to Duet Group, a London asset manager, were charged in Germany in September. Paul Mora, a former investment banker at UniCredit SpA’s HVB unit from New Zealand, was placed in 2021 on Interpol’s Most-Wanted list. Two former London bankers were convicted in 2020 but given suspended sentences after cooperating with Cologne investigators. Germany’s top criminal court in July backed these verdicts, dubbing the trades a “blatant money grab.” The cases are likely to continue for years. | 2022-10-19T13:06:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The German Tax-Dodge Probe That Is Haunting Global Banks - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-german-tax-dodge-probe-that-is-haunting-global-banks/2022/10/19/eba84dde-4fab-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-german-tax-dodge-probe-that-is-haunting-global-banks/2022/10/19/eba84dde-4fab-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
Analysis by Simone Foxman | Bloomberg
DOHA, QATAR - JUNE (Photographer: David Ramos/Getty Images Europe)
Ever since it won the right to host the 2022 World Cup, Qatar has been a controversial choice. The Persian Gulf country’s scorching climate made it impossible to hold the competition during the usual summer slot, so it was switched to November and December -- just when national leagues are in full swing. Deprived of their star players, domestic competitions will have to shut down for up to six weeks. Investigations continue into how Qatar, a tiny nation of 3 million people with no soccer pedigree, managed to win a secret vote to become host. Human-rights groups have decried the treatment of foreign workers building the stadiums and accommodation for visiting fans. The government says the event is a catalyst for improving its labor laws.
1. Why was the bidding process contentious?
Ever since 2010, when soccer’s ruling body FIFA awarded Russia and Qatar the rights to consecutive World Cups, allegations of vote-buying have swirled. Two members of the 24-man FIFA executive committee that chooses the hosts were suspended before the 2010 ballot after being filmed offering their support for cash. An investigation continues in France into the award of the 2022 tournament. An indictment was also filed in the US in 2020 that accused several officials of receiving payments to back Qatar’s bid. Their trial is set to begin in a federal court in New York in January. Qatar denies paying anyone for the hosting rights. FIFA said that holding the event in the country was in line with its goal of expanding soccer into new regions.
2. What’s in it for Qatar?
Qatar is betting the tournament will help to modernize its image and make it a tourism and business destination on par with regional rival Dubai. The World Cup is the world’s most-watched sports event, with the last one held in Russia in 2018 attracting 3.6 billion television and online viewers. Bloomberg Intelligence estimated that Qatar was on course to complete $300 billion of infrastructure projects before the opening game on Nov. 20. That looks like a lot for a country smaller than Connecticut, but Qatar is one of the world’s wealthiest nations thanks to vast natural gas reserves. Organizers expect the event to add $17 billion to the economy, equivalent to about 10% of gross domestic product in 2021.
3. Why the outcry over migrant workers?
Media reports have detailed cases of laborers working on the new stadiums and other infrastructure being subjected to inhumane treatment and unsafe working conditions. Amnesty International accused the government of failing to properly investigate the deaths of many migrant workers. The World Cup preparations have shone a light on the Gulf region’s “kafala” (sponsorship) system, under which laborers require their employer’s permission to switch jobs, return home or even open a bank account. In 2019, the United Nations assailed Qatar for racial discrimination, saying a worker’s nationality played an “overwhelming role” in how they are treated.
4. What does the government say?
While denying allegations that laborers are ill-treated, the government has been building some new living quarters and promised to improve safety. Qatar introduced new labor laws in 2020 designed to guarantee a minimum wage and make it easier to move jobs in what it says is an effort to dismantle the kafala system. Rules instituted in 2021 further limited the hours that workers can toil outside in the summer heat. At least on paper, the reforms make Qatar’s labor laws among the most worker-friendly in the Gulf region. Rights groups acknowledge that working conditions have improved in recent years, but continue to publish reports documenting unpaid wages, illegal recruitment fees and poor enforcement of labor rules.
5. Is Qatar a free country?
Qatar is ruled by its emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who controls the government and the judiciary. Political parties are banned and most of the population are noncitizens with few civil or political rights. Homosexuality is officially illegal, though penalties are infrequently enforced. While FIFA rules stipulate that displays promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights be permitted in stadiums, a senior official responsible for security during the event warned that rainbow flags could be taken away from fans to protect them from being attacked. In March 2021, Human Rights Watch published a report calling on Qatar to reform the male guardianship system, a loose group of practices and rules that make many women’s personal decisions contingent on approval from a male family member.
6. Will there be boycotts?
Players and teams in Norway and fans in Denmark called for boycotts, but soccer authorities in participating countries ultimately rejected the idea. Amnesty and others groups said enforcement of Qatar’s labor reforms has fallen short, but note the changes have been positive overall and pushed back on the idea of a stay-away. Sportswear manufacturer Hummel said it changed its design for the Danish national team uniforms because the brand doesn’t “wish to be visible during a tournament that has cost thousands of people their lives.” The mayors of Paris and several other French cities have said they won’t set up giant screens and zones for fans to watch the tournament. Several tied the decision to Qatar’s poor human rights record, while others cited financial reasons, energy costs and the winter climate.
7. What will it be like for fans?
The weather should be quite pleasant. The average mid-November high is 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29 degrees Celsius), and the heat tends to dissipate in December. Nonetheless, some of the tournament’s eight outdoor stadiums are equipped with air conditioning systems -- adding an extra challenge to FIFA’s pledge to make this World Cup carbon neutral. The limited number of hotels in Qatar means some fans are being encouraged to stay in other cities in the region and travel by plane to matches.
8. How should fans behave in Qatar?
The country’s dress code reflects its Muslim traditions. While there’s flexibility in five-star hotels, women and men must cover their bodies from shoulders to knees in malls and most public spaces. Public displays of affection are unwelcome; even hand-holding is rare. With a handful of exceptions, alcohol is limited to restaurants attached to high-end hotels, though World Cup organizers have said tourists will be able to drink in designated fan zones. | 2022-10-19T13:06:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why Qatar Is a Controversial Venue for 2022 World Cup - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/why-qatar-is-a-controversial-venue-for-2022-world-cup/2022/10/19/d5f11b50-4fa2-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/why-qatar-is-a-controversial-venue-for-2022-world-cup/2022/10/19/d5f11b50-4fa2-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
A young birder’s passion started with a flock of chickens
Zita Robertson’s interest in her family’s chickens led to a hobby and then a national award.
Zita Robertson looks for birds during an outing with the Missouri Birding Society in September 2022. (Kornelia Robertson )
Zita Robertson set a goal to see 175 bird species this year. The 13-year-old birder from Canton, Missouri, reached that number in May. She has since raised the bar several times — to 190 species, then 200, then 210. She is now aiming for 220 species and is four birds away from accomplishing her mission.
“This is my best year yet,” said Zita, as chickadees chirped outside her window on a recent October morning.
The personal-best bird count isn’t the only highlight of her year: This summer, the American Birding Association chose the home-schooled eighth-grader as the Young Birder of the Year for the 10-to-13-year-old division. The organization based its decision on her submissions for the “modules” that the program’s 55 participants work on between July 2021 through February. The five categories are field notebook, writing, illustration, photography, and conservation and community leadership.
“Zita really stood out as a shining star in her birding community,” said Laura Guerard, the association’s young birder programs coordinator. “We want her to be a voice for the birds.”
Most birders have a “spark bird,” a species or sighting that ignited their passion for the feathered creatures. Zita’s spark bird was a chicken.
“I didn’t get interested in wild birds at first,” she said. “I had a flock of eight chickens when I was 7, and I would sit in the yard and watch them for hours. Then I started noticing all of the other birds around them.”
The American robin was one of the first wild species she observed on her family’s farm. She would watch the chickens chase away the red-breasted visitors, which the fowl considered competition for the worms.
Since 2019, she has registered 351 species on eBird, an online database run by Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology. She spotted more than half of the birds in northeastern Missouri and nearby Illinois and Iowa. She also documented 140 birds in Hungary, where she lived and attended school in 2020-2021. (Her mom is from the Eastern European country.)
“The interesting thing I learned there, is that the birds aren’t all that different,” she said. “You’ve got woodpeckers and chickadees and harriers and hawks. The same groups of birds, just different species.”
To identify a bird, Zita uses field guides (Peterson is her favorite) and Slack channels run by the birding association. On the messaging platform, young birders from across the country share photos and expertise to uncover the name of a mystery bird.
“When they see something in California, I can’t really say if it’s a Hammond’s flycatcher or a Western Wood-Pewee, because I’ve never seen those,” she said. “But if they’re asking if this is a summer tanager or a scarlet tanager, I can answer their question, because we have summer tanagers and scarlet tanagers in my backyard.”
Zita said one of the most important lessons she has learned from birding is that she is not always right. For example, she once thought she saw a Bay-breasted Warbler, but the bird turned out to be a Blackburnian warbler. “It’s not good to identify a bird and stick to that and not be more open-minded about it,” she said. “I can be wrong, and that’s humbling.”
Zita still hopes to glimpse a Bay-breasted Warbler. For the fall migration, the songbirds flew over Missouri in September. But she will have another chance to catch them in the spring, on their return trip north. | 2022-10-19T13:06:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A young birder’s passion started with a flock of chickens - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost/2022/10/19/young-birders-passion-started-with-flock-chickens/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost/2022/10/19/young-birders-passion-started-with-flock-chickens/ |
Test kits distributed to a middle school in San Antonio last month.
Texas schools are encouraging parents to store their children’s DNA and fingerprint records in case they need to provide them to law enforcement if kids go missing.
For many, the rollout — less than six months after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde, Tex. — brought to mind a grisly problem: school shootings.
As one middle school teacher in San Antonio said: The word missing “means a lot of different things.”
The free test kits — which are optional — were not explicitly linked to school shootings under a 2021 law establishing a “child identification program.”
“A gift of safety, from our family to yours,” reads the message printed on the kits that were handed out to students at a middle school in San Antonio last month. “Over 800,000 children are missing every year — that’s one every 40 seconds,” the text on the envelope reads.
The Texas Education Agency said the kits will be provided to families through their local school systems. The Houston Independent School District, the largest in the state, would begin distributing the kits this week, the Houston Chronicle reported. “A parent or legal custodian who receives a fingerprint and DNA identification kit may submit the kit to federal, state, tribal, or local law enforcement to help locate and return a missing or trafficked child,” the law states.
The Texas Education Agency said in an email that the distribution was a “statutory obligation” and that the kits would be given to families “who had children in kindergarten through sixth grade during the 2021-2022 school year and kindergarten during the 2022-2023 school year."
Enclosed is an inkless fingerprint kit, applicator, medical information section and DNA section. The data would be gathered and then stored in the child’s home, according to the program’s website. The fingerprints and DNA can be passed on to law enforcement agencies should an emergency arise, though some parents have expressed privacy concerns.
The middle school teacher, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of fear for her and her school’s safety, said she initially associated the kits only with child abductions because of the state’s messaging. She told students that the kits “were important and that they should take them home.”
But as a teacher and a mother in Texas, the threat of gun violence is “personal” and makes her feel “helpless,” she said, adding that her profession expects her to be “a soldier or a first responder” if there’s a shooter.
“Our lawmakers have done nothing,” she said. “They seem to have no interest in addressing Uvalde or what happens every day [with gun violence] in the U.S.”
Gunman bought two rifles, hundreds of rounds in days before Uvalde massacre
The rollout of the kits was quickly seized upon by Democrats, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Beto O’Rourke, Abbott’s opponent in the governor’s race. O’Rourke decried Abbott’s record on guns, tweeting Monday: “Inaction won’t change this. We must win and take commonsense steps to reduce gun violence.”
Abbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Wednesday. During a debate with O’Rourke this month, he pushed back against raising the age limit for buying certain firearms to 21 in response to the Uvalde massacre. “We want to end school shootings. But we cannot do that by making false promises,” he said, arguing that the age restriction would be struck down by the Supreme Court.
The investigation also noted deep “systemic failures and egregiously poor decision making.”
Weakened gun laws put Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on the defensive
“I love my job. I love being a teacher. My students perform well,” the teacher said. “And yet this threat of gun violence is the one thing that would make me leave. No job is worth the risk when the tradeoff is leaving my kids without a mother.” | 2022-10-19T13:07:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Texas schools distribute DNA kits to identify students in emergencies - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/19/texas-dna-kits-schools-shootings/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/19/texas-dna-kits-schools-shootings/ |
FILE - In this 2020 photo provided by the Center for Biological Diversity is a Tiehm’s buckwheat near the site of a proposed mine in Nevada. A pair of lithium mines and a geothermal power plant in the works in Nevada are among the most ambitious projects at the forefront of the Biden administration’s “green” energy agenda. The three ventures at various stages of development in the biggest U.S. gold producing state are also shining a spotlight on the hurdles ahead. (Patrick Donnelly/Center for Biological Diversity via AP) | 2022-10-19T13:07:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Rare toad fight similar to landmark endangered species case - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rare-toad-fight-similar-to-landmark-endangered-species-case/2022/10/19/6e2e84fa-4faa-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rare-toad-fight-similar-to-landmark-endangered-species-case/2022/10/19/6e2e84fa-4faa-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
Pay close attention to currency conversion rates
I wish I had warned my brother about this when he visited me in Athens this summer. As we were exploring the historic Plaka district one hot afternoon, he excused himself to withdraw money from an automatic teller. A few minutes later, he returned with 1,000 euros. The cost: $1,219.
That couldn't be right, I told him. But his receipt from a company called Euronet showed the breakdown: a transaction fee of 3.95 euros, an exchange rate of 0.82 euros to the dollar and a 13 percent markup from the going exchange rate.
I asked him if the ATM had disclosed these expenses during the transaction.
I routinely hear from readers who report fees and surcharges that almost make the exchange rate from the ATM in Greece look like a bargain. And back in 2020, when I was living in Lisbon, I encountered a pricey ATM operated by Euronet.
Then I checked the numbers: The machine charged a $4 fee, plus a 12 percent markup — displayed on the screen in small print — for exchanging my dollars.
Stephanie Taylor, a spokeswoman for Euronet Worldwide, said all of its charges are “clear, transparent and prominently displayed” before every transaction. “The customer may opt out of the transaction at any time at no cost,” she said in an email.
She said Euronet is committed to offering convenient cash to people around the world, but that there is a cost involved with providing this service, “which we believe is fair and reasonable.”
The ATMs endear themselves to locals in two ways. First, by handsomely compensating shopkeepers who host them (merchants have told Semprini they receive up to $1,000 a month to keep a cash machine at their location). And also, by allowing customers with a bank account in the ATM’s home country to withdraw with lower fees.
Greg Grobmyer, a dentist from Chattanooga, Tenn., says he was stunned when he returned from a trip to Poland and found $100 in commissions and fees on his credit card bill. He’d found a cash machine in Krakow after needing to settle up a hotel bill. Although the exchange rate didn’t look great, he didn’t run the numbers before accepting his withdrawal.
Michael Foguth, founder of Foguth Financial Group in Brighton, Mich., recommends calling your bank before your trip to order some currency of the country where you’re traveling. He says it may be less expensive, but not free. It requires an in-person visit, and your bank may also offer a less favorable exchange rate when you buy foreign currency.
There are workarounds once you’re on the ground. Mine was to head to a bank ATM, which may give you a better exchange rate. Not a perfect solution: Halfway through the transaction, the machine asked if I wanted to conduct the transaction in dollars or euros. As with credit cards, it’s best to conduct transactions in the local currency and let your bank do the conversion.
Another fix: using a multicurrency debit card to reduce your exchange costs. The financial services app Revolut, for example, converts your money at the more favorable interbank rate (that's the rate banks charge each other to exchange money).
For transactions at out-of-network ATMs, Revolut doesn’t charge a fee for withdrawals of up to $1,200 (or the local currency equivalent) per month. After that, it charges a 2 percent fee of the value of an ATM withdrawal.
Wise, another popular app, also uses the real rate and charges for exchanges on a sliding scale. It’ll cost about $4 to convert $1,000 to euros. For ATMs, there’s no charge for the first $250 in a month, and you pay a 2 percent fee for anything above that. | 2022-10-19T13:08:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Using the wrong ATM in Europe could cost you hundreds of dollars - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/europe-atms-conversion-rates/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/europe-atms-conversion-rates/ |
Women are the best thing about ‘NHL 23’
Perspective by Mike Hume
It’s easy to miss the tiny, iterative changes made to each new installments of EA’s NHL franchise. Oftentimes, the alterations are minuscule, tweaks so minor they’re hardly worthy of comment. This is largely true of “NHL 23,″ which released Oct. 14. However, there is one addition to this year’s game worthy of specific commendation — the addition of female hockey players to the game’s Ultimate Team mode.
Change is not something for which EA’s sports franchises are known, but the addition of women to the popular fantasy team-building mode is worth celebrating for what it means to women’s hockey. For those who don’t follow the sport, women have long struggled to earn a fair share of the spotlight occupied by their male counterparts. Female pro players have largely continued to grind through games purely for the love of hockey, absent the endorsements, televised games (outside of the Olympics) and even the paychecks that have been staples of men’s leagues around the globe for decades. Despite the thrilling, tension-drenched clashes between the women’s teams for Canada and the U.S. over the past several Olympics, the stars of those teams have struggled to build a sustainable pro league.
It’s a devastating cycle. The rationale against investing in women’s hockey is that there’s a lack of interest. But without the money to grow the sport’s visibility and popularity, there will always remain relatively few fans.
That’s why the additional integration of female players into “NHL 23” — and the inclusion of Canadian star Sarah Nurse on the cover — is one of the most important additions the game has made over its 30-plus year history. Now, Nurse and other women like her will be more visible than ever to players of the beloved franchise. Players will see and remember their names. Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Marie-Philip Poulin and other greats now have a chance to be recognized outside for the four-year Olympic cycle.
This is not going to change anything for the sport overnight. This is a small step with limited substantive impact on the lack of money around women’s hockey. But awareness of women’s hockey is the first step in growing its pro scene. Visibility matters, and this game franchise is a particularly good place to be visible.
Video games are the most popular form of entertainment on the planet, and the NHL, with its work around esports and other gaming initiatives, has leaned into them, helping bring a young audience to hockey. NHL, the video game, has served as an introduction for many to a sport that had been usually reserved for those living in Canada and the Northern U.S. In this way, it has been an educational tool, and an enjoyable one.
Now, with “NHL 23,” it can instruct its users about how good the world’s best female players are as they play alongside men in the Ultimate Team mode. We’ve already seen women players competing with men in real life. Manon Rhéaume played a pair of preseason games with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992 (and is now hired to the Los Angeles Kings’ hockey ops department as a prospect adviser). The aforementioned Kendall Coyne Schofield competed in the 2019 NHL All-Star Skills’ fastest skater competition, beating Clayton Keller of the Arizona Coyotes, and finishing about a second behind winner Connor McDavid. “NHL 23” pushes the women and men even closer together with skill ratings equating for both genders. So if a female player rates 88 overall, she’s just as skilled in “NHL 23” as a male player with the same rating.
“It’s all a level playing field … any top rated women’s player, on the ice in terms of their attributes, will be the same as a men’s hockey player,” Clem Kwong, a producer for “NHL 23” said during a recent interview with The Post. “It’s important not only to represent the landscape of the sport, and the growing popularity and presence of women’s hockey, which we continue to support, but also [to represent the landscape] in terms of the in-game experience.”
Before anyone wishes to question whether this is a realistic approach, please save it. It’s a video game. If you don’t want to use female players on your Ultimate Team, you don’t have to (though you’ll be missing out on some top talent). And while the ratings may be equal, EA’s developers said that size will still matter in terms of the game’s physics.
“A 6-foot-6, 230-pound defender is going to be able to lean on a smaller player, regardless if that player is a man or a woman,” Kwong said.
Profile: Hilary Knight: Four-time Olympian, full-time disrupter
For as welcome of an addition the women player are to the Ultimate Team mode, the impact could be even greater. The game will not let a women’s team play against a men’s team. If you want to take on the Team USA women, you can’t do it with the Colorado Avalanche, nor any other men’s roster. I wish it were different. Again, it’s a video game. This is not real. Injuries are not a concern in digital worlds. Why limit it to games against the same gender?
From giving players the chance to set concession prices and upgrade parking garages (needless and a waste of time) to its all-new “last-chance” puck movement mechanic (which lets players get off a desperate pass or shot while falling to the ice and was totally unnoticeable in the games I played), EA has shoehorned a lot of distractions into the NHL franchise over the years. For once, an addition feels substantive. The additional shine given to women players feels resonant. The NHL as a whole has seen women breaking through in more visible ways throughout the game in recent years. It’s good to see them doing the same in the world’s most popular hockey game as well.
Noah Smith contributed to this review. | 2022-10-19T13:08:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | In NHL 23, female hockey players in Ultimate Team are the stars - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/10/19/nhl-23-women-ultimate-team/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/10/19/nhl-23-women-ultimate-team/ |
Transcript: Future of Aviation
Today we have two segments on the airline industry and the future of aviation. Later on, we'll be joined by United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, but first, we're going to hear from Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
Mr. Secretary, welcome back to Washington Post Live.
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: Nice to be with you again. Thanks for having me.
MR. LYNCH: Well, we're delighted you're here.
I want to start by asking a question about the often miserable experience of traveling by air in this country. Particularly this summer, air passengers put up with an enormous number of flight delays and cancellations. Airline schedules seemed to be really just suggestions about what might happen rather than any sort of commitment for a plane to take off, fly somewhere and land. Can you walk us through the factors that explain this? What happened?
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: So, in a nutshell, what happened was demand came back more quickly than the airline sector was ready to support. On one hand, great news that passengers have the income and the inclination to return to the skies just a year or two after we were wondering whether the U.S. airline sector was going to survive at all, but the problem has been that there has not been enough by way of staffing, resources, and a number of other issues that have presented themselves as part of these shockwaves that have come since the pandemic first arrived that left the sector unable to handle this increase in demand. And we saw that reflected in the number of cancellations and delays we experienced over the summer.
So there is always going to be some level of travel disruption. Weather alone is a big part of that, and it's not unusual to have 1 percent or 2 percent of flights cancelled, especially during the summer.
What we saw this summer was several busy travel weekends where it was more like 4 percent. Now, I know the difference between 2 percent and 4 percent doesn't sound like much mathematically, but it makes all the difference in the world in terms of whether the system is able to catch up, keep up. And it's really the difference between things feeling pretty much like business as usual, and seeing headlines, they use words like "chaos" and "meltdown."
So, early in the summer, I got together and asked all of the airline leadership to come together and lay out what could be done differently and how my department could help in terms of making sure that things move on to a smoother footing. We've seen a lot of improvements since then, but as we look back on the summer, it's clear that the system is still not as resilient as it needs to be for us to be confident that the passengers be free from these kinds of increase in cancellations and delays that affected so many of us over the course of this year.
MR. LYNCH: Fair enough. Then the pandemic obviously was very disruptive. The recovery from this historic episode has been perhaps understandably uneven. At the same time, taxpayers did pony up $54 billion to support the airlines and presumably prepare them for the resumption of travel. Did we get our money's worth?
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: Well, I certainly think it was the right move to step in and ensure that the airline industry did not collapse in 2020 and '21. One of the best moments. One of the best moments of the early days that I had in this job was when I got word from the flight attendants union that they in turn had got word to tear up their furlough notices because the American Rescue Plan had passed. There was a very real danger of things actually falling apart in a way that would have been irreversible.
But the other side of that is when tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money went into supporting this industry, it is a very surprising, puzzling, and frustrating to get to where, as we all hope would happen, demand is back, passengers are back, airlines are back, and by the way, back into what looks like very profitable territory as we get into the reporting that's coming out in this part of the year. And you're still seeing these kind of services.
And I'll give you an example of one of the things that I think contributed to that. These dollars, these taxpayer dollars that went to rescue the airlines, they did have strings attached. If you took that taxpayer money, you couldn't turn around and fire people left and right, but there were still a lot of early retirements where people, including pilots, they were very hard to replace. It takes a long time to train a pilot. They were nudged into early retirement or at least encouraged to do that in a way that left the airlines without some of the resilience and readiness they needed to service these routes when the passengers did come back to fly. So that's a big part of what the airlines need to work on right now is making sure they have staffing levels that are adequate.
And, by the way, this is something that's happened across the system, even within the department and the FAA. We are working still to recover from the hole that covid blew in the training and qualification of air traffic control so that we can make sure that that's never going to come up.
MR. LYNCH: So, just to be clear, do you think the airlines mismanaged their staffing requirements?
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: Well, certainly, they need to be prepared to service the tickets that they sell, and we didn't see that going into this summer. Part of that had to do with staffing levels. I think also part of that had to do with scheduling, a lot of schedules that just weren't realistic.
And so one of the things that I urged the airlines to do and, to their credit, I think took place over the summer was a trimming of the schedules, a thinning out of the schedules to make sure that they were more realistic and more in alignment with what they could actually support, given a realistic look at the staffing levels that they had.
MR. LYNCH: Now, our next guest, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, has blamed the Federal Aviation Administration for many of the delays. How much of the situation legitimately is the responsibility of the federal government?
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: Well, certainly not most of it, and if you look at the statistics around the causes of delays and cancellations, I want to be very clear that the majority of them are not the result of air traffic control staffing, or related issues.
But it is true that we have had constraints on the air traffic control side, again, largely because there was a disruption to the pipeline of getting controllers prepared. That was especially causing issues in the New York area and in the Florida area.
So, again, I want to be clear in our aviation system, not responsible for the majority of the place, but to the extent that has been an issue, we have leaned into working on solutions and make sure that we have regular operational communication, all the way down to the day‑to‑day level with the airlines to make sure that we are aligning our resources the best we can to meet demand and that we're in touch with them.
Something's happened that I don't think anybody expected, including demand, for example, in that Florida market actually returning to levels that are higher than they were before the pandemic, and Florida unfortunately experienced a perfect storm of issues that included everything, weather to space launches, military activity, air traffic control issues, and some of these staffing concerns that have plagued the airlines.
So anytime there's anything that we can do to be part of the solution, we're going to move very quickly to do that, but none of that, of course, absolves the airlines of the responsibility as they sell profitable tickets to be ready to provide an adequate level of customer service to back those up.
MR. LYNCH: Now, anecdotally, the situation does seem to have improved since the summer or at least become less awful than it was at that point. What's your assessment of the current state of play? How satisfactory or not is it? And to the extent that we have seen some progress, how confident are you that it will stand up to increase demand over the holiday season?
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: So the good news is we are seeing several steps really bear fruit in terms of things we've been working on and things that the airlines have done, and some of that has taken a lot of pushing on our side. We're really doing three things at once in order to drive and improve passenger experience.
The first is enforcement, enforcing the rules we have, especially when we have issues like airlines failing to issue the refunds that passengers are entitled to if they get a delay, a major delay, or a cancellation, and clarifying the rules around that.
The second is raising the floor; in other words, improving the rules as they stand and making sure that they're tough enough.
And the third is using tools for things like transparency. So one thing that I think led to a lot of improvement was actually very simple, especially compared to the complexity of a federal regulation or rulemaking, which was earlier this summer, we put together a website listing the top 10 airlines and just giving you a green checkmark or red X next to basic customer service practices that they were committed in writing to do, things like do they promise in writing that they're going to give you a meal or a hotel voucher if you get stuck and it's their fault or will they rebook you on another airline. And when we made that decision to put up that website, which only took a week or two to build, I notified the airlines that it was coming and encouraged them to use those next few days to raise their customer service standards.
In that two‑week period, we went from zero to, I think, nine out of the top ten airlines committing that they would at least do hotels and meals and went from, I think, one to ten out of the top ten airlines, indicating that they were committed to rebooking you if you got stuck. So those are some of the improvements that we've seen, and we'll continue driving more.
But, on the operational side, we're not out of the woods yet. There is more work to do on the airlines when it comes to staffing; for us, when it comes to getting our air traffic control where we want and need it to be, and I think for the system and the economy as whole. So we're cautiously watching this holiday period. I think it will be an improvement from the toughest moments we saw over the summer but not perfect as we go into next year and start to see some of these pandemic shockwaves fully work their way through the system.
MR. LYNCH: I don't want to minimize the progress that's been made, but I have to say when I looked at that online dashboard, I was struck by how fairly modest the compensations are that are provided by airlines, you know, a commitment to rebook you on a flight on the same airline and take you where you've already paid to go, maybe a voucher for a meal or a hotel. That's obviously better than the alternative. Except when you fly in Europe, the compensation, when the airlines don't deliver what they've promised, is typically hundreds of dollars paid back to you in compensation. Why am I so better protected when I travel in the EU than I am here at home?
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: Well, there's no easy apples‑to‑apples comparison between U.S. and European regulations, but it is worth noting that there are additional consumer protections that other countries have, and we're taking a look at that right now.
As a matter of fact, we have two pending regulations out for comment right now, which means that if you're a passenger and you want to weigh in, you can go to our website and share your experiences or make your views known. One of them has to do with ancillary fees and making sure there's accountability when you don't get what you paid for when you pay for fees like baggage or Wi‑Fi and a second having to do with cancellations and delays and toughening the rules around that. And we may well have reason to go further in that direction.
So what we're trying to do is make sure that we enforce an adequate floor but also encourage the airlines to go well above and beyond that floor, which is part of why we found transparency has been as powerful a tool as the regulatory side, and we're going to continue to use both.
MR. LYNCH: Now, as you know, in August, a bipartisan group of state attorneys general complained that your agency was, quote, "unable or unwilling to hold the airline industry accountable," close quote, and asked for states to be given new powers in this area to step in and for the Federal Trade Commission to take over from DOT in some areas. What's your response to those complaints? And in hindsight, are there things that you think your department could have done or should have done during the worst of this situation?
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: I'm proud of the results that we were able to get, including some actions that we had undertaken before this summer of travel problems even took place. It was before this summer, for example, that we issued the strongest fine in the history of the consumer protection program against an airline that was failing to meet its obligations in terms of refunds, and we're going to keep pushing and keep working to get more results.
We are also working with states, working with attorneys general to make sure that that their view and their authorities are represented. We have an attorney general, for example, the attorney general of Michigan participating in our Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee, which is helping to frame some of the road ahead for the work that we do.
I don't think it's workable to have 50 or 52 different regulatory frameworks for a single national aviation system, which is why we need a strong federal role here, but we do recognize the consumer protection experience that a lot of attorneys general have and welcome the chance to work with them on some of these opportunities.
MR. LYNCH: But are there any specific areas or reforms that you would be willing to put forward, perhaps working with Congress, to sort of toughen up the pressure on airlines to do a better job of providing the service that they're selling? As you indicated earlier, you know, in many, many cases, the airline schedules were way beyond what they knew they had the people to deliver, and yet they don't seem to have paid much of a price for that.
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: Well, this is one of the reasons why making sure passengers get the refunds they're entitled to is so important, right?
In theory, if everybody gets those refunds when their flight is canceled, that means that there would never be any incentive for an airline to do unrealistic scheduling. They would only be hurting their own profitability when they did it. That's in theory. We need to make sure practice catches up to theory, and that's part of what we've been working on, again, in three parallel lines of effort: enforcement of the rules that we have, toughening of the rules so that they're stronger than they were, and transparency around airline practices which we found can be actually a very fast‑acting ingredient toward an improved passenger experience.
Definitely interested in continuing to work with Congress as well on possibilities on what we can do. For example, we have a remarkably hardworking consumer protection team, but I think far, far fewer people than most Americans would expect in this department who handle everything from drafting regulations to handling the tens of thousands of complaints that come in. And, by the way, you should know that as a passenger, that if you're not being treated appropriately by an airline, you can let us know directly, and we can follow up and enforce on that. But working with Congress to make sure that our Aviation Consumer Protection Team has the resources and the technology and the staffing that they need to be proactive and not just reactive, which they've done with remarkably‑‑remarkably lean resources to date. That's just one example of something that I really welcome a chance to work with Congress on furthering and strengthening.
MR. LYNCH: Now, later this week, shareholders of Spirit Airlines are scheduled to vote on the proposed merger with JetBlue, and I realize antitrust questions are not your bailiwick. They belong to the Attorney General, Merrick Garland. But I do wonder whether you have a view as to whether these type of mergers will benefit consumers, whether there's sufficient competition in the industry, in general, or whether this consolidation trend a problem.
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: Well, as you mentioned, DOJ has the lead on this, although I should note that we also have some responsibilities when it comes to not just consumer protection but the competition side of how airlines are managed in this country, and it's something that we're leaning into pursuant to the president's executive order around competition.
I'm not going to weigh in directly on something that is being adjudicated right now and that DOJ is working on, but I will say broadly that we need to make sure there is a very rigorous standard for how we evaluate all of this, because if you go back to the history of airline deregulation, you look at what was expected in the 1970s when we really changed the way that the aviation sector works in our economy, most people who were advancing deregulation sincerely believed that there would be dozens of competitive airlines competing for market share in the U.S. economy by the time we got into the 2000s. And, in fact, what we've seen across the 2000s is fewer and fewer airlines, where now just a handful control more than two‑thirds of the market. Anytime you have that kind of concentration, you have to be especially vigilant about any indications that that is either depressing the passenger experience or creating upward pressure on prices, and I know that's something that within the authorities we have, my department continues to look at. And I trust it's a big part of how DOJ is evaluating things too.
MR. LYNCH: I want to take a moment to ask you about a different mode of travel now, rail and under the heading of infrastructure projects, which I know is a big focus of yours. It's clear our infrastructure across the board needs an upgrade. It's not clear that we've necessarily figured out how to build these big projects on time and at a reasonable cost, and much as I hate to advertise our competition, The New York Times had a very good story the other day about the high‑speed rail project in California, which has spent billions of dollars and doesn't have much to show for it to this point. And things were so bad that a French company that was actually involved in that project gave up and went to Morocco instead, because they said there was less political dysfunction in North Africa than there was in the great state of California. So, as we prepare to build out major projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, how confident are you that we're not going to see these kind of mishaps, these kind of problems crop up time and time again?
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: Well, this is one reason why we're very focused on delivery. Matter of fact, we just had a summit at the White House on exactly this topic last week, and it's a major focus in my department and all of the other departments working on delivering the president's infrastructure law. And, look, we're up against a real headwind that's not just a function of the politics and economics of American infrastructure today. It's a function of mega projects in general. You could go all the way back to antiquity and the construction of temples and pyramids to see all the many, many ways in which very big projects very frequently take longer and cost more than they were supposed to or were expected to. And so much depends on us fighting off that tendency because we need to make sure that the American people see $1.2 trillion worth of value out of the $1.2 trillion in funding that the president has signed, about half of which is for transportation infrastructure as part of this infrastructure package.
It's one of the reasons why we're engaging very closely with the project sponsors who are doing the building. Notably, that's typically not our department. It's usually a state, a transit agency, a city an airport that's specifically undertaking the project. We need to connect them up with the resources they need, not just in terms of the project funding itself, but in terms of best practices, technical assistance, attention to the permitting process, and community engagement so that it happens early, often, and serves to smooth out the project instead of leading to 11th‑hour delays, which is largely a matter of getting that kind of engagement right and looking at other things that can be done to create an alternative to the complexity of a lot of this.
Even in our own department, just things like the process of grant making, we started consolidating multiple programs from multiple applications into one so that there's less paperwork. This is something we're going to have to continue to be very vigilant on, especially in an inflationary environment where time is money, and the sooner you can get a project done, the more affordable it's going to be for taxpayers.
And that's true‑‑not to leave aviation, you know, just to give one set of examples, you know, you look at the investments we're making in LAX to improve the dreaded horseshoe where it can take half an hour just to drop somebody off, the way that the highway and the road meets the drop‑off area; Denver, where we're investing in a better baggage claim system because we know that's going to help speed processing there; Atlanta, where Concourse D needs to be about 20 feet wider than it currently is, and we're providing funding as part of the vision of making that a reality, airports large and small, all the way down to Chamberlain, South Dakota, where the general aviation terminal right now is a mobile home and we have a grant of about $800,000 that's going to help them have a consistent, permanent building there that meets the needs of that rural community. Even within the aviation sector, we see so many projects where success is so important to the communities they serve, and delivery is so important, whether those projects are the success that we all envision them to be.
MR. LYNCH: Now, in the 60 seconds or so that we have left‑‑and I know you've worked a lot on the supply chain situation in the country. That's been a big contributor to our inflation problem. How do you assess the progress at this point? I know the queue of ships waiting off the coast of Southern California is way down from its record high, still a little higher than its pre‑pandemic level. How much progress do you think has been made? How much of it is due to the federal government's efforts? How much is just a reflection of slower production coming out of China and perhaps weaker demand as higher interest rates bite here?
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: So we've definitely seen a lot of progress. This time last year, we were looking at something like a hundred ships bearing down on the West Coast ports. Last time I checked, it was more on the order of a dozen or sometimes even in single digits. But that doesn't mean that the issues are solved. I'm proud of the work that we've done, especially with our supply chains task force, working every end of the supply chain from ship to shore, from the container terminals to the availability of chassis to the support for the trucking workforce, all the way through to the warehouse, the rail system, which is key, and ultimately to the shelf and to your home. So we are going to be in a dramatically better position this retail season than we were last year. Although I would note that last year, after all the pain and frustration we went through in, well, months like October, we got through the holiday season with an all‑time record high in terms of retail sales, and that's really because so many people, beginning with the port workers and truck drivers and warehouse and rail and other workers stepped up to deliver.
We are not out of the woods on these supply chain disruptions. Let me be very clear about that. More work to be done in the immediate term, which we're undertaking, and in the long term, which is why we're making these big infrastructure investments in every part of our multimodal transportation systems. But we are in decidedly better shape than we were and looking forward to more progress in the months ahead.
MR. LYNCH: Great. Interesting. And, unfortunately, we are now out of time. So we'll have to leave it there. Secretary Pete Buttigieg, thanks so much for joining us today.
SEC. BUTTIGIEG: Pleasure to be with you. Thanks.
MR. LYNCH: Now, up next, we'll be joined by United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby right after this video, so please stand by.
MS. MESERVE: Hello. I'm Jeanne Meserve. It has been a challenging few years for the aviation industry, first, the pandemic, then the recovery from the pandemic, and then some new shockwaves, including labor shortages, high‑energy prices, and the Russia‑Ukraine war.
With me to discuss is Larry Culp. He is chairman and CEO of GE and also CEO of GE Aerospace. Great to have you with us today.
MR. CULP: Thank you, Jeanne.
MR. LYNCH: So, first, of those challenges that I mentioned, which do you see as the most consequential, and how are you dealing with it?
MR. CULP: Jeanne, I would say it's probably the convergence of all of those challenge that have come together here in the last couple of years to make this perhaps the most daunting operating environment I've seen I my career. We power at GE Aerospace three out of every four commercial departures around the world on a daily basis. So we're working very hard with our customers to return to flight, and at the same time, our airframer [phonetic] customers are ramping production at a rather dramatic rate, and we're working to keep pace with them as well. We're doing all of that very much using the lean management principles that we've used here over the last several years, which help us enhance the safety and quality of what we do for our customers, all the while improving our delivery and productivity performance.
This is an exciting time, we believe, in the aerospace industry. We're pleased to play the role that we do, and we look forward over the next several years to be part of that recovery.
MS. MESERVE: You mentioned lean management. You embrace it. You used it to drive GE's turnaround. For those who aren't familiar with the term, what is "lean management," and how are you using it exactly in the current circumstances?
MR. CULP: Jeanne, lean management, as it's known today, is really rooted in the Toyota production system, which came about after World War II as Toyota was trying to manage through a period of great scarcity. Today it's a wonderful way to run a factory but also really, I think, the best way to run a business.
There are a lot of elements to lean, but some of the core principles are a focus on the customer, relying on the people who are closest to the work to improve it, making every day count through daily management, and solving problems at their root cause.
Now, a lot of that is common sense, and I've often used the shorthand of "common sense vigorously applied" to define "lean," but it really does shape the way we do the work that we do with our airframer customers, the airlines, and our suppliers to improve safety, quality, delivery, and cost on a regular basis. And it's really helping us today, not only in our engine manufacturing operations, improve our output, quarter in, quarter out, but also in our service operations to reduce the turnaround time required for us to repair or overhaul an engine to get it back up in the air.
MS. MESERVE: Let's talk for a moment about sustainability. You took part in the first ever experimental flight with passengers that used 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF. How critical is SAF to reaching the goal of net‑zero flights by 2050?
MR. CULP: Jeanne, I think most of us in the industry see SAF as playing a critical role as we move forward toward those net‑zero goals.
We were thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with United Airlines on that first flight, a hundred percent SAF in one engine. Scott Kirby, their CEO, has really spearheaded their efforts and I think very much for the industry as well with respect to sustainability.
But it's not going to be just SAF alone, in our view. We're working with Airbus, for example, on a hydrogen propulsion demonstrator. We're doing the same thing with NASA in and around hybrid electrics with an eye toward powering a commercial airliner this decade, and we're also updating and advancing traditional propulsion systems. Our RISE program aims to utilize open fan architectures to drive in excess of a 20 percent improvement in efficiency and in turn emission. So there's a lot to do on the path to 2050.
MS. MESERVE: Some of that is down the road. What are you doing right now to address sustainability?
MR. CULP: Jeanne, we think we're doing a lot today because if you look at what GE Aerospace has done through the last several decades, it's with each generation of technology, improve efficiency, and reduce emission. If you look at today's engines compared to those that we produced in the 1980s, our engines are 40 percent more efficient today, largely through advanced design capabilities and manufacturing techniques like 3D printing and CMCs. That gives us tremendous capability, not only today, but we couple that with our Foam Wash service capabilities in addition to using software from our GE digital aviation business to help airlines plan and operate routes in a more efficient and productive way.
MS. MESERVE: Is sustainability also a concern of your military customers?
MR. CULP: Jeanne, very much so, and we see tremendous read across from our commercial business to our military business and at times in the other direction as well. We are working on a next‑generation engine, the XA100 for the F‑35, and improved efficiency and emissions is very much a part of what the military is driving with that program.
Interestingly, this next‑generation technology, which we think should drive a 20 percent improvement in capability, also enhances that platform's mission capability, particularly as it pertains to range.
So all of those objectives are ones that we hope we'll be able to deliver for our military customer.
MS. MESERVE: Larry Culp, chairman and CEO of GE and also CEO of GE Aerospace, thanks so much for joining us.
And now back to The Washington Post.
MR. LYNCH: Welcome back, and for those of you just tuning in, welcome to Washington Post Live. I'm David J. Lynch, global economics correspondent here at The Post.
I'm joined now by United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, to continue our discussion about the future of aviation.
Scott, welcome to Washington Post Live.
MR. KIRBY: Thanks for having me, David.
MR. LYNCH: Well, we're glad you're here.
I want to start you off with the same question I asked Secretary Buttigieg which is basically what happened to air travel this summer. I think the traveling public, many of us, still bear the scars from the flight delays, the cancellations that we saw, not just United but all across the industry. What explains the disappointing performance?
MR. KIRBY: Well, David, I think if you bear scars, you must have been flying an airline other than United, because the reality is that at United, we actually had the best third quarter operating performance in the history of United Airlines, excluding 2020 when we weren't flying. But we had the best on‑time performance, the lowest cancellation rate. So I think this narrative, you know, it's true in some airlines, but at United, you know, despite all the challenges around the industry and around the globe, it turns out that we actually had the best operating performance that we've had since 2020. And October is now setting even bigger and newer records.
So I feel really good about where we are at United and where we're headed for the future for our customers.
MR. LYNCH: Well, I must have been unlucky enough to catch you on a bad day at the end of July, but I won't belabor the point.
MR. KIRBY: [Laughs]
MR. LYNCH: I am curious, though, about the planning assumptions that you took into the year in terms of what you anticipated by way of how the traveling recovery would manifest itself. What did you expect, and how different was the set of circumstances that ultimately played out?
MR. KIRBY: Yeah. You know, we expected strong demand. It's been even stronger than we started, and one of the things that we changed and one of the reasons the summer was the best‑‑that doesn't mean it was perfect, and particularly, any days that there were weather delays and we had some other unique challenges which we may or may not talk about that really weren't United related directly, but‑‑is we pulled the schedule back, and we just decided‑‑we have 10 percent more pilots per block hour than we had pre‑pandemic. We're running a lower utilization of our aircraft than we were before the pandemic, and all of that is to build more buffer into the system.
One other big change that happened for United is we had 52 of our biggest airplanes, the Pratt & Whitney‑powered 777s, 52 of our largest airplanes that were grounded, that came online really at the beginning of the summer, and it takes time to ramp that up. And that has a huge impact that just flows through the whole system.
And so while the third quarter was the best in our history, every single month in the quarter got meaningfully better. September was by a wide margin better. July wouldn't have been better. But that 777 issue was probably the biggest.
But I think the most significant thing that we've done differently is build more buffer into the system, and look, there's issues beyond our control.
I know that Secretary Buttigieg was on earlier. I talked to him, you know, about air traffic control. That's one of the issues. But the issue that really is the FAA does an amazing job, and they jump through all kinds of hoops to keep the air traffic control system running. But we have fewer controllers today in the United States than we had 30 years ago, and we have about triple the number of operations. That means there's a system that is just on the very edge.
And what's really happened with the FAA is they've been asked to do so much more. They're doing space launches and drones and far more certification work, without an increase in their budget at the same time, and so those resources have come out of the day‑to‑day operation. And I think what we all need to do, is what I told the Secretary yesterday when we spoke, is work in the next FAA reauthorization bill to get the air traffic control system staffed. We've invested billions of dollars in the infrastructure around this country, and we wind up with air traffic control delays for one or two sick calls that have impact of hundreds of flight delays or can have impacts of hundreds of delays or cancellations. And so those are the kinds of issues that I think still remain to be resolved, and we all should work together to do that. It's nobody's fault that we're here, but we are where we are, and we should work together to really get the FAA resourced appropriately. And to say that we have the same number of controllers or fewer controllers today than we did 30 years ago just doesn't pass the smell test for anyone, I don't think.
MR. LYNCH: And so looking ahead, what should people expect as they head out for the holiday season, November and December this year? How well do you think the system can stand up to the strain?
MR. KIRBY: Yeah. Look, the system is running really well right now. You know, I've said we're setting records every day. In fact, our operating team said last week was the best week in all of our records at United Airlines operations. So we're running well. The truth is the whole industry is running a lot better. I think everyone has done, to some‑‑you know, to greater or lesser degree, what United has done, which is simply fly less, build more buffer into the system. And we've built that buffer into the system, and that's letting us overcome more of the challenges.
I mean, look at the impact, the devastating impact that Hurricane Ian had on Florida and the Southeast. While it had devastating human and toll on buildings and infrastructure, airlines came back pretty quickly and more so than they've ever done in the past. I think that's an indication that the industry is just building more buffer into the system, and that buffer is letting us recover quickly.
And so I think‑‑and I think also, by the way‑‑I know the FAA is focused on the holidays, and they're pulling more levers, whether it's overtime or having people come in for extra shifts in order to cover for things, and they're focused on it. And so I'm hopeful that the holidays will go well.
But it is a system that's tight, and in a system that's tight, if you get bad weather or get something that happens, it can be challenging. But it's a better setup than the whole industry had going into the summer.
MR. LYNCH: Now, one thing I think we've seen during the recovery is that leisure travel has bounced back more quickly or more completely than has business travel. To what extent do you think that change in your customer mix is permanent, and to what extent is it just taking longer? Will business travel ever go back to where it was in 2019?
MR. KIRBY: Well, I think this is one of the big takeaways. We just released earnings half an hour ago, and we're going talk about it at our earnings call tomorrow.
One of the epiphanies that I've had recently is there's a structural change in leisure, what we call leisure travel, that is higher. People are going to travel more, and the reason is because hybrid work now gives them the flexibility to travel when they didn't have it before.
If you're working hybrid, it means every weekend has the potential to be a three‑ or four‑day weekend. When you were tethered to your desk and had to be there Monday to Friday, nine to five, you couldn't get away for a weekend. Now you can leave on Wednesday or Thursday or come back on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday and work remotely for one or two days.
And what we saw in September, for example, September was the third highest RASM a month in the history of United Airlines, and September is the off‑‑most off peak of all months. And for that to be the third highest in our history was remarkable. What we saw is the midweek days‑‑Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday‑‑had about an eight‑point improvement in load factor, while the weekend days, they had an improvement, but they were up about 3 percent. That is all about people taking new‑‑having the flexibility to travel now more than they did before.
I think it's a permanent structural change and in demand because people can now‑‑now are untethered from their desks and have the flexibility and the freedom to travel for weekend getaways more than they ever did in the past.
MR. LYNCH: Now, airlines like many other industries have struggled to find enough workers to do the work that needs to be done. I believe United became the first major U.S. airline earlier this year to open up a school, your own school to train pilots. Tell me a little bit about what went into that‑‑
MR. KIRBY: Yeah.
MR. LYNCH: ‑‑decision and how well is it working.
MR. KIRBY: Yeah. So, first, you know, I'd say we're on track to hire 15,000 new employees at United Airlines this year. We create great careers. They're not jobs. They're careers, where people can, you know, earn six‑digit incomes after they've been here a few years, great benefits, and because of that, we don't actually have a challenge hiring at United Airlines. A lot of the infrastructure around us does, whether it's screeners or the FAA or fuel vendors and others, but we don't have a problem.
But there is a shortage of pilots in the aviation industry, and it has more pernicious effects in other places than just at United Airlines. And we decided during the pandemic to be the only airline that I know of in the world that founded our own flight training academy. It's called Aviate. We bring in students. They can come in with no training experience. We give them better training than they got traditionally in civilian flight schools, including things‑‑we call it "upset recovery training." But we give them better training, more training than they get somewhere else. And they, of course, still have to pass all the certification that any pilot would have to pass to get through.
But we're going to take about 500 people a year through the Aviate Training Academy and then have them in the United Airlines ecosystem with the ability to fly, someday fly a United widebody jet.
And not only are we doing a great job at training the next generation of pilots, but we're making a difference on diversity efforts with this. Today fewer than 20 percent of the pilots in the United States are women or people of color. Eighty percent of our students at the Aviate Academy are women or people of color, and if you go out there, it's one of the most inspirational things you can see, to listen to their stories and talk‑‑and hear them talk about their excitement for their future and the opportunity that it creates for them.
So we're really proud. It's the right thing to do for us as a business, but it's also the right thing for us to do just for society at large. And it's a perfect example of the difference that private companies can make that go beyond just doing day‑to‑day business decisions.
MR. LYNCH: Earlier today I believe you participated in the first Eco‑Skies Alliance summit along with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and several members of Congress.
MR. KIRBY: Yes.
MR. LYNCH: What's that alliance about, and what sort of concrete accomplishments do you anticipate from it?
MR. KIRBY: Yeah. Well, United is the leader in global aviation in terms of sustainability by a wide margin, and the Eco‑Skies Alliance is about increasing the size of the tent and partners that will help us invest and add‑‑more than anything be a megaphone for the kinds of long‑term investments that we need to make in order to get to a hundred percent green.
United is unique, not just amongst aviation, but unique amongst companies in making a commitment to be a hundred percent green by 2050. And that is different than net zero, which is what most companies say, and the reason is we've committed to getting to a hundred percent green without using traditional carbon offsets. And the reason for that is traditional carbon offsets are mostly about planting trees, and there's nothing wrong with planting trees. But the truth is most of those carbon offsets aren't real. Those are trees that were going to be planted anyway or trees that were never going to be cut down.
But the bigger point is that system can't scale. If we planted every square inch of the planet that could grow trees, it would account for less than five months of mankind's emissions. By the way, we'd all starve to death because we just covered up all the farms.
But it also‑‑because it's only five months, it's gone and it's over, and the real problem we have, I think, in corporate America, not just in aviation, with net‑zero commitments is because they rely on this really small thing, which is planting trees. It's the easy answer, and the easy answer isn't going to get us there. And we have to do something different.
So, for us at United, the two big ones are sustainable aviation fuel and carbon sequestration.
MR. LYNCH: Right. And I think you've got an interim goal of cutting your greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2035. What are‑‑you know, what makes that difficult? What are the hurdles that you've got to clear between now and then to make that a reality? And how widespread or how easily available is so‑called "sustainable aviation fuel"?
MR. KIRBY: Well, the answer to the first part of the question is wrapped up in the second part. The only way to get there is sustainable aviation fuel for United and for aviation around the world, and the problem is that industry is tiny today.
United's commitment to sustainable aviation fuel is more than all the rest of the world's airlines combined, but it's still just to drop in the bucket of our total needs, and the challenge is we've got to build that industry. It basically doesn't exist today.
The great news is the Inflation Reduction Act had several provisions about sustainability that I think we will look back 15 years from now and say it was one of the most consequential pieces of legislation passed in the last 30 years, and particularly what it does for SAF or hydrogen credit and for carbon sequestration is really going to‑‑it makes hundreds of projects potentially viable that weren't before. And the key is going to be once we get started investing in those projects, we can drive the economies of scale and make the economics work on a long‑term sustainable basis. It's going to‑‑it really is the seed capital to start to jumpstart these industries, and I believe we'll be able to do the same thing with SAF and with carbon sequestration that happened with wind and solar which, if you went back 20 or 30 years ago, people said were uneconomic, could never compete with coal or natural gas. And today it's cheaper to produce a megawatt of electricity from wind or solar than it is from coal or nat-gas.
And the same thing can happen with SAF and carbon sequestration, and the Inflation Reduction Act really enables hundreds of projects that weren't viable before. And I think that's going to be the key to getting to our goals.
MR. LYNCH: And so how quickly can SAF be brought online in a meaningful sense? What sort of goals do you have to get to 20 percent of your fuel consumption, 50 percent, et cetera, et cetera? Lay out the timeline for me to the extent that you might‑‑
MR. KIRBY: We're years away. We're years away. And the issue is really feedstock, and so that is, what do you use to make the fuel? Is it corn? Is it used cooking oil? And all of those are constrained.
One of the challenges has been that if you're producing renewable diesel or ethanol, there were always government credits, and so you were always better off using that corn or whatever the feedstock was. You're better off using it to produce ethanol or diesel than you were SAF because you got extra government credit. The Inflation Reduction Act gets us onto a more level playing field. So we could use those.
I think the biggest answer is power-to-liquids, the only way to really solve this liquid fuel issue, which is SAF and others, but liquid fuel issue is going be power-to-liquids. Power-to-liquids is taking carbon from some source. It can be straight out of the atmosphere, combining it with water and using clean energy, so using wind or solar to use that energy to turn the carbon and the water into fuel. And that literally is making fuel out of thin air. It takes energy. So you need clean energy to do it, but I think that's the most promising and scalable technology for the future. But it's just beginning, and it's years away from really being scalable.
But it's okay. I mean, this is not a‑‑this is not going to be linear. If you look at the curves, you know, for any technology like this, they're very slow and shallow at the bottom, and then they hit an inflection point, and they go through the roof once you get the technology working. We're still in the get‑the‑technology working phase.
MR. LYNCH: I want to go to a question from a member of our audience. Christopher Bolsinger from Massachusetts asks, "Is decreasing greenhouse gas emissions enough? What disruptive technologies are we exploring to rethink air travel more broadly?"
MR. KIRBY: Well, first, I'm not sure what he means--totally what he means here, Christopher, but what I'd say is, first, I think it's important that we travel and stay connected with the world. One of the less talked about casualties of covid was the loss of global connectivity, the loss of global perspective.
The first time I said this on stage was at COP26 in Scotland, and it was in November of 2021. And I said, look, before the pandemic, United Airlines carried a thousand U.S. citizens a day to China and a thousand Chinese citizens to the United States, and all that creates bridges and understanding that when things happen and there's a crisis, there's a lot of these bridges and perspective to understand. It doesn't mean we'll always agree, but we're a lot closer because we spend time together and understand each other.
We carried a hundred or so people a day back and forth each day to Russia, and everybody said at the time was the world is a more dangerous place because we haven't been connected, and people have become isolated and lost touch with others' perspectives. That sadly turned out to be prophetic.
So I think the first point is travel is important. It's not just something that people like to do. It's not just important for business. It is important for a global society.
Juan Trippe said, you know, something early in his career that his job was shrinking the world when he‑‑you know, at Pan Am, and that is true today.
So what we should do, though, we need to continue to travel. We need to do it sustainably, and if you ask for disruptive technologies to do that, I think the most disruptive thing doesn't just apply to aviation. It applies to the globe, and that is carbon sequestration. Like, the only answer that we have to get the globe to zero, that anyone has today‑‑there's some theoretical silver bullets like fusion energy, but that's probably not happening anytime soon‑‑but is carbon sequestration. That's just a matter of cost. We can sequester as much carbon as we want.
I personally am an advocate for a price on carbon, for a carbon tax, because if we did that, it would drive the incentives correctly for carbon sequestration. But if you're looking for a disruptive technology, it's not unique to aviation. But it is carbon sequestration.
At United, we were proud to be partnered with Occidental in 1PointFive, in what is the world's largest and first commercial‑scale carbon sequestration plant. Others are starting to do it now. When we started on carbon sequestration, I had to explain what that word meant to people. Many more people know it today, but if you're looking for a disruptive technology that can work, carbon sequestration is probably your answer.
MR. LYNCH: Now, very quickly because we're just about out of time, but I wanted to ask you briefly about your plans for electric aircraft. I think you're planning on fielding them or at least getting them in the air by the end of this decade.
MR. LYNCH: What sort of role do you envision for them, and how much of a difference could they make?
MR. KIRBY: Yeah. Electric aircraft and electric air taxis, these are both going to be great for short‑haul aviation. I mean, I think the easiest use case is, you know, if you're in midtown and want to get out to an airport, get out to the airport in Newark instead of sitting in traffic, you can take an electric air taxi, be quieter, safer than a traditional helicopter would have been. That's one of the use cases.
The other one is short‑haul airplanes, you know, flying from Denver to Breckenridge or Denver to Vail, you know, those kinds of mountain communities, But really, that's really a kind of a niche.
The reality is that the energy density for batteries is nowhere‑‑is way too low for us to ever be able to fly big airplanes long distances.
So electric aircraft are going be, I think, important for short‑haul service, but they're not going to be big airplanes flying even medium‑haul distances. There's not even any theoretical technology on the drawing boards that would allow that. So it's important, but it's going to be focused on the short haul.
MR. LYNCH: Fair enough. Well, that does exhaust our time. I want to thank you, Scott Kirby of the United Airlines, for joining us today. We appreciate having you with us.
And thanks to all of you for joining the conversation. To see what else we have planned, please go over to WashingtonPostLive.com. | 2022-10-19T13:08:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Transcript: Future of Aviation - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/10/19/transcript-future-aviation/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/10/19/transcript-future-aviation/ |
Sleeping under 5 hours? Your risk of chronic disease is higher, study warns.
(PhotoAlto/Frederic Cirou/Getty Images/PhotoAlto)
The peer-reviewed study looked at almost 8,000 British civil service workers over an average 25-year period, at the ages of 50, 60 and 70, and found “short sleep duration to be associated with the onset of chronic disease and multimorbidity,” that is, two or more chronic diseases at the same time.
“As people get older, their sleep habits and sleep structure change. However, it is recommended to sleep for 7 to 8 hours a night,” Sabia said in a separate statement.
“More than half of older adults now have at least two chronic diseases. This is proving to be a major challenge for public health, as multimorbidity is associated with high health care service use, hospitalisations and disability,” she said.
The study acknowledges it has some limitations. It relied on self-reported data on sleep, and the participants were all civil servants, mostly in London, with only a “small proportion of non-white participants,” it added.
“There is no magic one size fits all number of hours sleep,” Neil Stanley, sleep consultant and author of “How to Sleep well,” told The Washington Post on Wednesday. “We should be looking for the right hours for us.”
Good sleep is essential to physical and mental health and sleep needs are to some degree “genetically determined” like height or shoe size, Stanley said, imploring people not to feel anxious about hitting a target number of hours.
Quality is important, too, he added, with our brains needing to enter the deep, restorative stage of sleep known as slow-wave sleep. It aids cognitive processes such as consolidating memory, problem-solving and removing toxins that can lead to Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Just one hour of extra sleep each night can lead to better eating habits
Sleep needs also vary with age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Babies under a year old can need up to 16 hours of sleep per day, while teens up to 10 hours and adults and the elderly seven or more hours per night.
Study author Sabia advised that good sleep hygiene can promote a better night’s sleep. Such habits can include ensuring your bedroom is quiet, dark and a comfortable temperature, removing electronic devices and avoiding large meals before you sleep.
“Physical activity and exposure to light during the day might also promote good sleep,” she added.
Why it’s hard to fall asleep, and tips to make it easier
For insomniacs and those with difficulty nodding off — Stanley suggests not to “overcomplicate” things too much. Human beings have been putting themselves to sleep for “millions of years — we’ve never needed lotions, potions or self-help books to fall asleep,” he jokes.
Mostly people just need a quiet room and a “quiet mind” to sleep well, he added. “Put your cares and worries to bed before you get into it.”
Professor of circadian neuroscience and author Russell Foster agrees that sleep is “extremely important” and urges those worried about the number of hours they’re getting to accept that there is “individual variation” in sleep habits and duration. The acid test is really how well we perform when we’re awake, he told The Post.
If we’re able to function, problem solve and self-reflect then we are likely getting enough sleep for us, said Foster. If you need to set multiple alarms, feel tired, irritable or impulsive, crave naps or caffeine or have noticed altered behaviors, then they are common indicters that you’re not getting enough sleep.
Although a “golden slumber number” may exist, is it likely based on the individual, he added, and “will vary and change as we age.” | 2022-10-19T14:11:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Sleeping less than five hours a night raises chronic diseases risk, study says - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/10/19/sleep-five-hours-chronic-diseases-study/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/10/19/sleep-five-hours-chronic-diseases-study/ |
What to know about the ALCS: Yankees, Astros can still bring it
The Yankees will take on the Astros in the ALCS beginning Wednesday. (Brad Penner/USA Today)
Much unlike the National League, the American League has boiled down to its two best teams from the regular season: the 106-win Houston Astros and the 99-win New York Yankees.
Both clubs won their respective divisions. Both weathered the difficult task of resting during the playoffs’ opening weekend, lining up their pitching staffs to their exact liking against lower seeds, then pushing through the five-game division series with home-field advantage. The Astros completed a sweep of the Seattle Mariners with an 18-inning victory. The Yankees went the distance with the upstart Cleveland Guardians, edging them Tuesday evening after rain left no space between the end of the last round and the beginning of this one.
Game 1 of the American League Championship Series is set for 7:37 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday at Houston’s Minute Maid Park. Here is what to know:
The Astros have a monopoly on ALCS games. The past six ALCS matchups are Astros vs. Yankees (this year), Astros vs. Boston Red Sox, Astros vs. Tampa Bay Rays, Astros vs. Yankees, Astros vs. Red Sox and Astros vs. Yankees. In that same stretch, the NLCS has been San Diego Padres vs. Philadelphia Phillies (this year), Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves, Dodgers vs. Braves, Washington Nationals vs. St. Louis Cardinals, Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Brewers and Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs.
So while the Dodgers have been close to a constant in the championship round, Houston has been an immovable rock. The Astros’ lone title came in 2017, and it was later stained by the revelation of their illegal use of technology and trash can-banging to steal signs. Their quest for another championship coincides with Manager Dusty Baker’s hunt for his first. Baker, 73, has been to two World Series and fallen short each time. Now it’s mid-October and his team in the mix again.
Aaron Judge could be heating up for the Yankees. After bashing an AL-record 62 home runs in the regular season, Judge was mostly neutralized by the Guardians’ stellar pitching staff in the ALDS. He finished the series with two homers, two singles, a walk and 11 strikeouts in 21 plate appearances. But one of those home runs and one of those singles came in Game 5 on Tuesday, probably piquing the attention of the Astros’ dominant staff.
Not that they needed Judge’s two-hit game to pay attention. He’s been atop the scouting report all along.
Judge against Houston’s pitchers during the regular season: 4 for 27 with two homers, three walks and eight strikeouts.
Yordan Alvarez, the Astros’ most feared hitter, against the Yankees: 5 for 16 with two homers, a double, three walks and seven strikeouts.
Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander meet again, even if they aren’t facing each other in Game 1. Once teammates with the Astros, each veteran right-hander will play a pivotal role in the ALCS. Verlander, 39, will start the series opener against Jameson Taillon and the Yankees’ bullpen. Cole, having pitched New York to two wins over the Guardians in the ALDS, is expected to pitch Game 3 on Saturday at Yankee Stadium. Verlander struggled through his lone start of the playoffs, yielding six runs on 10 hits to the Seattle Mariners in four innings. But the Astros recovered, showing they can cover for their ace when he isn’t at his best. The Yankees are still working through their codependency with Cole’s success.
The Astros’ core is familiar with one new face. Joining José Altuve, Alex Bregman, Justin Verlander, Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Ryan Pressly and Yuli Gurriel is rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña, who slid into a star-sized hole when Carlos Correa departed in free agency last spring. Peña delivered the game-winning homer in that 18-inning victory over the Mariners. During the regular season, he posted a .253 batting average, .289 on-base percentage and .426 slugging percentage with 22 homers and 135 strikeouts in 136 games. He now steps onto the biggest stage of his young career. | 2022-10-19T14:28:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | American League Championship Series schedule and story lines - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/alcs-yankees-astros-what-to-know/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/alcs-yankees-astros-what-to-know/ |
2-year-old boy found unconscious in Southwest D.C. has died, police say
Police found the child, who has not been identified, unconscious and unresponsive Oct. 13. He died Tuesday.
A 2-year-old boy whom police found unconscious and unresponsive in Southwest Washington last week has died, the department said.
The child, who has not been identified, was located in the unit block of Atlantic Street SW around 9:06 p.m. on Oct. 13. He was in critical condition at the time. He died Tuesday, police said.
Police said Wednesday they are actively investigating the incident and waiting on the office of the medical examiner to determine the cause of death. | 2022-10-19T14:38:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 2-year-old boy found unconscious in Southwest D.C. last week has died - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/19/dc-death-two-year-old/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/19/dc-death-two-year-old/ |
(Lucy Engelman for The Washington Post)
Across the country, students who survived attacks find themselves turning to each other. By grim necessity, their sprawling group keeps growing.
By Charley Locke
On Aug. 9, the first day of her senior year of high school, Mia Tretta scrolled through texts from her friends. One told her that they hoped the day went well. Another said they understood how hard it could be to go back to school. A third offered to talk anytime she needed.
For Tretta and her friends, returning to school means more than the end of summer. It means revisiting the worst day of their lives. Three years ago, as a freshman, she survived a shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, Calif. She and her best friend, Dominic Blackwell, were walking together past palm trees and benches in the school’s courtyard at the end of first period when a 16-year-old student opened fire. Tretta was shot in the stomach; Blackwell was shot and killed. Their schoolmate injured two other students and killed another before turning the gun on himself. Students still walk through the area on their way to class, the tragedy marked by a plaque dedicated to the victims. “It’s certainly hard to be on campus, having to concentrate at the place where everything happened,” says Tretta, who stopped having lunch in the grassy quad.
Although the friends she was texting didn’t attend Saugus, they know what it’s like when walking to class brings back traumatic memories. The fellow teenagers and young adults have survived shootings at their schools, too: Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.; Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Tex.; Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.; Marysville Pilchuck High School in Marysville, Wash. “If I look at my contacts, I see someone’s name and then what school they were shot at,” says Tretta, now 18. “Once you’re someone who has experienced gun violence and you want to talk to people, that’s what your phone looks like, because there are so many school shootings.”
Perspective | Will Gun Owners Fight for Stronger Gun Laws?
Tretta has become part of an informal network that shouldn’t need to exist: young people who have survived school shootings in the United States, and who now turn to one another for comfort and advice. They talk on anniversaries, around the holidays and when the latest tragedy happens. Some have found fellowship through gun-violence survivor organizations; others have created these relationships organically.
It took Tretta some time to build her network. In the days and weeks after the shooting at Saugus High, she struggled to talk to people about what she had experienced. There were community events — a vigil, a school picnic — but Tretta was the only survivor still in the hospital. “After the feeling of shock goes away, you can feel very lonely,” she says. In the following months, as she recovered, people reached out who had survived the shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas two years earlier, where 60 people were killed and hundreds wounded. She found that talking to them helped, although their experiences diverged in meaningful ways. “Every shooting is so different, and a lot of them were significantly older than me,” she says. “But I was looking to these people like, ‘What do I do now?’ ”
She ended up getting involved in local activism, lobbying the city of Santa Clarita to dedicate a park to her two classmates killed in the shooting and raising over $6,000 in 2020 through lemonade stands to fund a memorial there. Afterward, Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control nonprofit, contacted her and she joined Students Demand Action, its youth advocacy arm. Tretta started to speak virtually to audiences across the country against ghost guns, such as the one used to shoot her and her classmates; these guns are assembled at home from kits, enabling users to sidestep some regulations.
Tretta didn’t meet any school shooting survivors in person until Sandy Hook Promise, a nonprofit founded by family members of those killed in the 2012 Newtown shooting, flew her and about 20 other survivors to New York City to record a video for a public awareness campaign in the spring of 2021. “We all connected over sharing a gun-violence experience, the way that normal people connect over liking the same movie or TV show or sitting together in a class,” she says. “It was sad, but happy that we were able to meet each other.”
They could discuss things few others understood: how uncomfortable it was when people talked to them as though they were celebrities, feeling isolated from classmates who had experienced the event differently. But the teenagers were also just that — teenagers. They were staying at the same hotel as Lil Nas X, so they figured out which room was his and knocked on the door. Security “immediately pushed us away, obviously,” Tretta says, giggling at the memory. “It was just a normal teenage thing to do.”
Eventually, the Everytown Survivor Network — an initiative from Everytown that connects those who have been personally affected by gun violence — asked Tretta to talk to a girl who’d recently experienced a school shooting. “That’s when I realized that I can offer support to people as well,” she says. The network that she and other young people had built would, by grim necessity, have to keep growing. “There are a lot of handbooks on how to come home as a soldier with PTSD, or how to deal with the loss of a mother or father or sister or brother,” she says, “but there’s not a lot on what you do if this unexpected tragedy happens at your school, a place where you’re supposed to feel safe.” Together, young people are searching for those answers — and building support systems — for themselves.
Twenty years ago, school shootings seemed like isolated tragedies. Towns turned inward, rather than finding support in a broader community; students navigated grief and the national spotlight with school counselors and family members who were often experiencing their own trauma. “When Columbine happened, we didn’t know what to do, both in terms of prevention and response,” says Franci Crepeau-Hobson, who was working as a school psychologist in a Colorado district near Columbine High School when the shooting occurred in 1999.
Now after a shooting, she and her colleagues from the Colorado Society of School Psychologists’ Statewide Crisis Response Team show up at the school to triage, figuring out which kids need the most support and working with local organizations to provide it. She herself has provided support at three shootings in Colorado and given advice to responders at many more. “We get calls all the time from groups in other states, asking, ‘How did you do this? How does your team work?’ ” Crepeau-Hobson says.
She also chairs the School Safety and Crisis Response Committee for the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), which has trained psychologists from districts and states across the country on how to prevent and respond to a school shooting. NASP created national guidelines for school staff: In the first two hours, use a triage structure to assess levels of trauma based on physical and emotional proximity to the shooting; in the first 24 hours, dispel rumors on social media; in the first two weeks, establish a family assistance center for long-term needs.
The mental health response to school shootings in the United States is often led by the school district, supported by a patchwork of nonprofits like the Red Cross, government organizations like the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and local volunteers; regions and districts often don’t have their own protocol for responding to a school shooting. “After something like this happens, then they get trained and have a team, which is a silver lining,” Crepeau-Hobson says. She and her NASP colleagues are working to get more districts prepared for the possibility.
From her experience on the ground, Crepeau-Hobson sees survivor relationships, especially those centered on activism, as a key part of moving forward, along with psychological care from professionals. Those friendships can help reestablish a sense of belonging and control, particularly for young survivors.
Peers can also offer practical advice. “Someone else who’s been through this will say to you, ‘I know you’re probably not thinking about this, but here’s what happened when I went back to school,’ ” says Laura Wilson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Mary Washington who studies how trauma affects survivors. “It can be so relieving for someone to share, ‘Here are some things I struggled with and some things that helped me get through it.’ ” For example, the sound of a locker banging shut might bother a survivor, Wilson suggests, so a peer might advise staying inside the classroom for a few extra minutes or listening to music in the hallways.
The main organization building a network for gun-violence survivors is Everytown for Gun Safety; it offers trauma-informed programs, connects individuals to resources and supports those who choose to advocate for gun control. The organization was founded in 2014 when gun-control advocacy groups Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Mayors Against Illegal Guns merged. A year later, the group formalized the Everytown Survivor Network. “We’re a club that no one wants to be a part of,” director Keenon James says. Today, the Everytown Survivor Network includes thousands of people. James is one of them; when he was 12, his brother Sean was shot and killed.
The network intentionally defines “survivor” broadly. Some participants were threatened with a gun or shot; others witnessed a shooting; some lost a loved one. Everytown connects people who are grappling with related challenges. “When you’re amongst a group of people who had a similar experience, they know some of what you’re going through without you even having to use words,” James says. His team connects individuals one-on-one and sets up quarterly peer-led support groups that address different needs: parents who’ve lost their children to gun violence, those whose loved ones died by firearm suicide, survivors wounded by gun violence who live with ongoing health issues.
After a school shooting, students are often encouraged to turn to their school counselors and parents. That can be hard when trusted adults have experienced the trauma, too: school staff who sheltered students and feared for their own lives, parents coping with post-traumatic stress. It’s also a challenge for teenage survivors because of their natural tendency to drift away from their parents and turn more to their friends. Wilson says: “These typical teenage difficulties are going to creep into the recovery process for a young person, too.” She’s seen this conflict as a clinician. Parents want to support their child’s recovery, but a teenager needs space from family to process their trauma.
For many teen survivors, their first post-trauma community is with their fellow students. “I thought it’d be super awkward to get back together with friends, but everything that happened actually made some friendships a lot stronger,” says Zoe Touray, 18, who survived a shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford, Mich., in November 2021, when a 15-year-old shot 11 people, killing four students. “After what happened, I didn’t even want to talk to my parents about it, but I could talk to survivors about every little thing that happened that day.”
In the weeks and months after the shooting, Touray got close with a few other survivors she had previously known, including Maddie Johnson, 18, whose best friend, Madisyn Baldwin, was killed in the shooting. The girls formed a tightknit group. They have turned to each other to process what they’re going through: experiencing traumatic flashbacks, tensing up when they hear a loud noise, using dark humor to get through a hard day. “We have moments where we talk about it and we’re sad, but it’s mostly just a normal high school friend group,” Johnson says. “We like to go to Target a lot, or just drive around and get Taco Bell. … It’s not just a relationship based in tragedy.”
Those new relationships are often connected to new priorities. A couple of months after the shooting, both Touray and Johnson decided to actively advocate for gun-violence prevention. Johnson helped lead No Future Without Today, a group of Oxford survivors pushing for change; Touray gave a speech on the steps of the Michigan Capitol in Lansing as a member of gun-control organization March for Our Lives, which was founded by survivors of the Parkland shooting. The fervor of Touray’s new friends recommitted her to speaking up as a way to heal. “At first, I was really nervous and kind of closed off,” Touray says. “But meeting other survivors was eye-opening for me, to see that I wasn’t the only one going through these things.”
For many survivors, activism offers a way to make sense of what happened and move forward. Clinical psychologists use the term “meaning making” to describe this step in trauma recovery. “After trauma, people feel restless sometimes about what they’re going to do and what their lives are going to look like,” Wilson says. “Having role models of how people can turn grief or frustration or depression into movement toward positive change gives examples of how they can use that restless energy to do something.”
After Jordan Gomes survived the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in fourth grade by hiding in a supply closet in the gym, she turned to family and friends; she doesn’t remember speaking to a psychologist or medical professional. “I found myself comforting younger kids a lot — my brother, my neighbors,” says Gomes, now 19. “It felt like an incredible weight had been put on very young shoulders.” As a freshman at Newtown High School, she joined the Jr. Newtown Action Alliance, a group of students against gun violence, and started to share her story publicly, meeting survivors outside her community. “As I got older, I needed that support system,” she says. “I needed somebody to lean on who really understood.”
She estimates that since then, she’s become friends with over 50 young survivors, many of whom she keeps in touch with through social media. These connections have helped her reckon with feelings of frustration and despair over how little has changed since Newtown. When an 18-year-old shot and killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers in Uvalde, Tex., in May, “it was like a time machine in the worst way,” Gomes says. In those moments, she now turns to her friends who are also survivors. “Talking to people who know what you’ve gone through is a full feeling,” she says. “It makes you feel a little less alone.”
Sari Kaufman, now 20, didn’t see herself as a survivor or activist right after the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School. “I honestly wouldn’t have identified as either,” she says. She had been on campus, but she hadn’t been in the building where the shooting occurred. “Saying, ‘I don’t know if I identify as a survivor’ let me push the reality of how it affected me away.”
That denial is the kind of response that she now talks to other survivor activists about. A few months after the shooting, Kaufman met some Columbine survivors who encouraged her to come to terms with the experience now rather than decades later. “It was hard for me to talk to them because I realized that they still had PTSD, which I had thought might go away by their age,” she says. “But that was also helpful, because they gave me the advice to process what I went through then, rather than pretending my high school experience was normal.”
Today, Kaufman calls herself a survivor and an activist. Both labels have helped her regain a sense of control. She’s an active member of the Everytown Survivor Network and Students Demand Action. In fall 2021, she led an affinity group for school shooting survivors within the network over Zoom. The group started off with icebreakers, talking about their favorite foods. By the end, they were discussing how to share their survivor stories without invalidating someone else’s differing memories.
In May, Kaufman was interning in Sen. Chris Murphy’s office in Connecticut; when the Uvalde shooting happened, she was able to work with legislators and friends at Students Demand Action to organize walkouts and rallies in more than 250 cities nationwide. On May 26, she spoke alongside legislators at a rally on Capitol Hill; on June 11, she spoke at a March for Our Lives rally in Parkland. “That helped me cope with it, instead of sitting at home, thinking about the shooting and what their families are going through,” she says.
It’s never too late to forge these connections. Salli Garrigan was 16 when she survived the massacre at Columbine High School. She buried her memories for decades, leaving home and building a life far from Littleton, Colo. Nineteen years later, Garrigan watched coverage of teenagers fleeing Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Her anger and despair — and the Parkland students’ activism — pushed her to join her local chapter of Moms Demand Action in Virginia. She spoke about her experience at Columbine publicly for the first time; she also joined the Everytown Survivor Network and began to meet others like her.
For Garrigan, her most meaningful relationships aren’t with other survivors of school shootings, many of whom are decades younger than she is. Instead, she’s found community with those who are navigating grief and fear from different vantage points. From Everytown, she has a close friend group with three other women. She’s the only one who survived a school shooting. One of her friends lost her daughter to gun violence; another lost her mother; another lost both parents. “Usually, we all come together when school starts,” she says. “We’ve bonded through our own kids.”
After the shooting in Uvalde earlier this year, survivors of Parkland and Sandy Hook reached out to Javier Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter, Jackie, was killed. A few weeks later, several Parkland survivors joined family of Uvalde victims at a rally in Austin as part of March for Our Lives. Those calls and visits were especially meaningful for Javier’s teenage daughter, Jazmin Cazares.
“It was surreal to meet them, because the Parkland shooting is something I saw in the news when I was in school,” says Jazmin, 17. “It’s different from talking to someone who lost their friend in a car crash. Of course, that’s devastating, and we relate on the same level of our loved one passing, but this wasn’t just my sister. It was my sister and all her friends.”
The Parkland survivors told her details from their experiences that her sister will never be able to. “They helped me understand what they went through and what my sister went through,” Jazmin says. “Except they were able to make it out alive, and my sister wasn’t.”
She also asked them for guidance: How do the grief and mourning change? How should she evaluate which reporters to trust with her story? How can she keep her composure while talking about her sister? “One really good piece of advice they gave me was to take a break and say no to people,” she says. “When they were beginning their fight, they worked until they dropped, and they wouldn’t want anyone else to experience that.”
This support inspired Jazmin to resolve to offer the same to families of the next mass shooting. She’s already had that chance. Six weeks after losing her sister, she and her parents connected with families who lost their loved ones in the mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill. She shared the advice she had received weeks earlier: how to grieve, how to move forward, how to fight. Jazmin knows that another teenager will lose their little sister to a school shooting, and when that happens, she’s ready to reach out. “Part of the grieving process is that you feel alone, but you’re never truly alone,” she says. “That will be my advice.”
This past summer, many of these teenagers met in person for the first time. As Congress deliberated the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, survivors led a week of rallies and marches in D.C. in support, largely organized by March for Our Lives; a few weeks later, the Biden administration invited survivors from across the country to attend the bill’s signing.
It was a familiar scene for some, like Mia Tretta, who flew with her family from Southern California, and Jordan Gomes, who flew alone from Hartford, Conn. For others, like Zoe Touray and Maddie Johnson, the two friends from Michigan, it was their first time being advocates under such a bright spotlight. To them, many of the survivors seemed intimidating, famous and familiar from TV. “It was like stepping into a room of celebrities,” Touray says. “It was really surreal.” But much more meaningful was being in a room full of others who had gone through what they had.
On a muggy July day in D.C., the girls both attended an event on the White House lawn celebrating the bill becoming law, listening to speeches from President Biden and Vice President Harris. That evening, they walked into a dinner party at an upscale restaurant.
While looking for a seat, Johnson’s mom started talking to another mom, and they quickly introduced their daughters: Johnson and Tretta, then both 17, both of whom survived school shootings where their best friends died. The girls clicked right away. Johnson asked Tretta what it was like to go back to school, if she ever stopped feeling fear, if the pain of losing her best friend lessened with time. “I asked her, ‘Does it ever get better?’ She said, ‘It doesn’t. You never miss them any less,’ ” Johnson says. “It was comforting, in a way, to talk to someone who’d been through something so similar before, but it’s also really sad.”
That same day, Johnson and Touray saw a little girl and her family dressed in Robb Elementary T-shirts, survivors of the Uvalde shooting. The girl had on acrylic nails — purple and black, the favorite colors of her best friend, who had been shot and killed in their classroom weeks before. The teenagers approached her and her parents, introducing themselves as fellow survivors — and in Johnson’s case, as another girl who had lost her best friend. For both teens, it was their first time in that position: Seven months after surviving a shooting at their school, they were giving advice on how to cope. “I had never been in a situation before where I was the person who had been through it before, looking down at a little girl who was still very obviously traumatized,” Johnson says. “It sort of felt good, to try to help somebody in that way.” Johnson and Touray gave the family their phone numbers, promising to reconnect. “I could tell she was nervous about school this year, so I told her, ‘I’ll text you before you go back to school and see how you’re doing,’ ” Johnson says.
Since the summer, Johnson has continued those friendships, as has Touray: with Tretta, with Gomes. They’ve continued to talk to the little girl from Uvalde, too. At first, Johnson didn’t feel ready to give advice. She still suffers from panic attacks and sometimes finds it impossible to leave the house. But stepping into that role supports her, too. “It’s been helpful to be a guide for someone, because it makes me realize that I can talk about what I’ve gone through,” she says. “It puts it into perspective that this issue isn’t just about me.”
Charley Locke writes about young people and K-12 education, including for the New York Times Magazine and the Atlantic. She’s a regular contributor to the New York Times for Kids. | 2022-10-19T14:38:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | These School Shooting Survivors Are Building Remarkable Support Groups - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/10/19/school-shootings-survivors-support-networks/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/10/19/school-shootings-survivors-support-networks/ |
It’s not actually duct tape
Looking out of your plane’s window and seeing what looks like duct tape patching up the wings is not a reassuring sight.
Several concerned passengers in recent years have posted photos on social media of taped planes, including a traveler in Australia who tweeted a photo of a Qantas tape-covered wing last month.
Although it appears to be duct tape, what you’re seeing on aircraft wings is actually an aluminum-based material known in the aviation world as speed tape, and it’s perfectly safe for certain types of repairs, according to aviation experts and the Federal Aviation Administration.
No, you can't open a plane door
“There’s never going to be a piece of garden-variety duct tape used on an airplane,” said John Nance, a veteran pilot and safety consultant. “So if you’re looking at it, it’s called speed tape, and it’s very, very specifically designed to do whatever it is they’re trying to make it do.”
Speed tape is extremely durable, able to withstand up to 600 mph winds and extreme environmental changes if properly applied, according to Nance. 3M says its version of the tape is rated from minus-65 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and is able to withstand moisture, flame, UV rays and chemicals.
The tape is primarily deployed when weathering has caused a part to be exposed to the airstream. The plane is safe to fly, but the airline wants to prevent any further weathering until it can repair the part, Nance said.
“It is not something that would be used to hold together two parts of the airplane,” he said. “This is usually skin, but you don’t want anything peeling back further than it might already have started peeling back.”
Nance added that airlines “don’t want to use it any more than they have to,” especially where it is visible to passengers.
“There’s just no way this day and time to explain to passengers. They think you’re holding the airplane together with baling wire and Scotch tape,” he said.
Speed tape is safe to use “for temporary, minor repairs to nonstructural aircraft components,” an FAA spokesperson said in a statement. Each airline spells out approved uses of the tape in its maintenance manual, which subsequently must be approved by the FAA, according to the spokesperson.
In 2002, the FAA fined United Airlines $805,000 for flying 193 flights with improperly applied speed tape. Although the airline’s maintenance manual permitted use of the tape, the agency said a United mechanic had applied it on holes that were too big and close to the edge of the spoiler; the airline contested the fine, saying the aircraft were safe to fly.
When passengers are out of control, flight attendants reach for a last resort: Duct tape
The aircraft in the recent photo from Australia appears to be a Boeing 787, which could explain the use of the speed tape. The FAA has flagged a largely cosmetic issue with peeling paint on Boeing 787s due to damage from UV rays.
A Boeing spokesperson said in a statement that a “small number of 787s” have experienced issues with paint adhesion and that one of its recommended temporary solutions is the use of speed tape. The company is developing a new coating that would alleviate the issue.
Although aircraft are generally safe to fly with speed tape, Nance suggested that any traveler concerned with a part of the plane ring the call button and ask the flight attendant to tell the pilot to explain the issue.
Nance said his career has been saved three times by passengers alerting him to a problem with the plane, including a woman who spotted a massive fuel leak on a DC-8 he was flying out of Lima, Peru, years ago.
“We would not have made landfall had she not seen that,” Nance said. “I think most pilots have stories like that. You’re part of our eyes and ears back there.” | 2022-10-19T14:39:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | That's not duct tape on your plane wing. It's 'speed tape.' - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/10/05/plane-duct-tape-speed-tape/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/10/05/plane-duct-tape-speed-tape/ |
Celeste Ng joins Washington Post Live on Tuesday, Oct. 11. (Video: The Washington Post)
Celeste Ng has explored subjects including race, class, family and belonging in her best-selling books, “Everything I Never Told You” and “Little Fires Everywhere.” Join The Post’s Michelle Ye Hee Lee for a conversation with Ng about her latest novel, “Our Missing Hearts,” and using her platform to open doors for other aspiring writers.
“Seeing so much anti-Asian violence in the wake of the pandemic, really brought home to me that this was something that I had to look at straight in the face. It was something that I wanted to acknowledge and witness and not shy away from."- Celeste Ng (Video: Washington Post Live)
“I was different from other kids. For me, that was a source of pride in a lot of ways… Looking back I recognize how much it meant to me that my parents were like ‘You’re more than one thing. You are of Chinese descent; we are from Hong Kong.’ And to say that those things could coexist with each other, that’s something I’ve started to recognize more and more now that I’m a parent.”- Celeste Ng (Video: Washington Post Live)
“I am not the only person that writes about the Chinese American, Asian American experience, nor should I be. Making space for more voices is something that feels really important to me. It just gives us a fuller picture; it makes our whole culture richer."- Celeste Ng (Video: Washington Post Live)
Author, “Our Missing Hearts” | 2022-10-19T14:39:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Best-selling author Celeste Ng on new novel and opening doors - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/10/11/best-selling-author-celeste-ng-new-novel-opening-doors/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/10/11/best-selling-author-celeste-ng-new-novel-opening-doors/ |
Wendell Pierce, known for his roles on “The Wire" and “Treme,” is making history as the first Black man to star as Willy Loman in the Broadway revival of “Death of a Salesman.” On Monday, Oct. 24 at 11:00 a.m. ET, Pierce joins Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart to discuss his groundbreaking role and how he has honed his craft as an actor throughout his decades-long career.
Actor & Entrepreneur | 2022-10-19T14:39:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Wendell Pierce on starring in historic revival of ‘Death of a Salesman’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/10/24/wendell-pierce-starring-historic-revival-death-salesman/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/10/24/wendell-pierce-starring-historic-revival-death-salesman/ |
John Durham shown in 2006. (Bob Child/AP) (AP)
A few months after special counsel Robert S. Mueller III appeared on Capitol Hill to answer lawmakers’ questions about the investigation he led into Russia’s effort to influence the 2016 election, the Justice Department inspector general released a much-anticipated follow-up. It didn’t consider the question of whether Donald Trump or people in his campaign had aided or been linked to Russia, as Mueller had. Instead, the inspector general’s report released in December 2019 considered whether the probe that Mueller inherited from the FBI had itself been legitimate.
For two years, Trump had insisted that it wasn’t. He took to calling the Russia investigation a hoax or a witch hunt well before anyone had any sense of what was being investigated, much less any likely conclusions. He and his allies hoped that the report from Inspector General Michael Horowitz would provide them ammunition — particularly given that the impeachment investigation that was just heating up.
In that regard, Horowitz’s report was a letdown. It confirmed that the FBI had a valid reason to open an investigation into links between a Trump campaign adviser and Russia, especially since the adviser had told an Australian diplomat he had learned Russia possessed stolen data from Hillary Clinton. Concerns were articulated, including in text messages between two FBI employees in which Trump was disparaged. More concerning was the discovery that an FBI lawyer had altered a document that was included in an effort to obtain a warrant to surveil a former Trump campaign official with links to Russia. Generally, however, Horowitz’s conclusion was one Trump didn’t want to hear: The Russia probe was properly predicated and legitimate.
But there was already another effort underway to undercut the Russia investigation. In May 2019, Attorney General William P. Barr — confirmed to that position a few months prior — appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to conduct a broader review of the Russia investigation. Barr was clearly antagonistic to Mueller’s effort, masterfully releasing an aggressively Trump-friendly version of Mueller’s findings before a redacted version of the full report became public. Much of the sense that Mueller’s investigation came up empty depends on Barr’s framing and a pro-Trump audience primed for that frame.
Barr didn’t have similar control over Horowitz’s report, so when it came out, he was reactive. He released a lengthy statement mostly restating the Trumpworld view of the investigation. And then, unexpectedly, Durham also weighed in, producing a statement that had the effect of blowing on the dying embers of Trump’s hope that Mueller and the FBI would be exposed as biased partisans.
“Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.,” it read. “Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.”
The implication? Both shoes had not yet dropped.
This week, the second one did. Durham’s probe — now more than three years in duration, nearly twice as long as the period between Mueller’s appointment as special counsel and the conclusion of his team’s work — had obtained an indictment against Igor Danchenko, a key source of information for the infamous dossier of reports alleging links between Trump’s campaign and Russia. But the prosecutorial effort failed, and a jury on Tuesday found him not guilty on the charges.
It was the second not-guilty verdict in a row for Durham’s team. He had similarly obtained an indictment against a lawyer who worked for a law firm hired by Clinton’s 2016 campaign, but he failed to prove his case to a jury’s satisfaction. The only criminal charge successfully resolved by Durham’s team was the one against that FBI official who had altered the document — a charge stemming from Horowitz’s work, not Durham’s. Contrast that with Mueller, who obtained dozens of indictments and a battery of guilty pleas.
Even if Durham had obtained convictions of Danchenko and that lawyer, Michael Sussmann, his achievements would hardly have matched the expectations of Trump and his allies. Nailing a guy for lying to the feds after Trump was already president? For an attorney not telling the FBI he was working for Clinton’s campaign (which he denied anyway)? Hardly the convictions that Trump’s most loyal advocates were hoping Durham would generate if he had been successful, which federal prosecutors usually are.
“John Durham’s team, this is not about working on another report like the IG,” Sean Hannity said in May 2020. “They actually have the ability to convene grand juries, and they’re working on criminal prosecutions potentially. Justice is hopefully coming.” If not, he added, the result would be that “the great American republic will disintegrate before your eyes.”
Not that Durham didn’t provide Hannity with a steady stream of fodder for his shows. Durham took to lacing his court filings with morsels quickly devoured by the right-wing media, as when, during the Sussman prosecution, he hinted that Sussman was part of an effort to spy on electronic data from the White House. Trump and the Fox News world went wild … until it became clear that the data was voluntarily shared with researchers by the Obama White House.
As Politico reported, the tail end of the Danchenko trial seemed to be focused more on prosecuting the FBI than the defendant. The FBI was always one of the central targets, of course, since it was the FBI that opened the investigation in the first place until the firing of FBI Director James B. Comey triggered the appointment of Mueller. But on that front, too, all Durham managed to deliver were questions and critiques — most not dissimilar from what Horowitz’s December 2019 report contained.
Among Trump’s most eager defenders, responses to the Danchenko verdict were mixed. Hannity, no doubt understanding what Durham wanted the consolation prize to be, proclaimed that he “never really cared that much about Igor Danchenko.” Instead, “what we learned in the trial is what matters to me more.” John Solomon, a writer selected by Trump to craft an anti-Russia-investigation storyline, looked forward to a final Durham report and suggested that Republicans might put together a commission to study the situation. (That seems likely should Republicans win the House, but not for the reasons Solomon would like his readers to believe.)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) was one of the few voices critical of Durham’s obvious failure to make the case.
“Durham has been on this investigation for years, and here we are, 0-and-2, with fewer wins than the Washington Generals,” Gaetz said. He noted that former California congressman Devin Nunes — now the head of Trump’s social media company — sent more than a dozen criminal referrals to Durham, and he wondered why those didn’t yield prosecutions.
The answer, of course, is that political rhetoric is not a strong substitute for actual evidence — if it’s even connected to reality at all. Stay tuned for that commission.
Barr and Durham got into this from the outset with the apparent belief that the FBI had acted rashly and without proper grounds for doing so. They spent months working together on evaluating the case, including flying to Europe to test alternate theories about the probe’s genesis. But, despite that belief and that effort, they weren’t able to make the case they sought. “Russia hoax” proponents like Solomon were left championing as Durham victories things like Clinton using Trump’s ties to Russia to help her campaign.
In other words, Durham spent three years and $4.5 million to advance the ball little further than Michael Horowitz did. As has long been apparent, the “hoax” wasn’t the Russia investigation. The hoax was trying to present the Russia probe as a hoax. | 2022-10-19T14:59:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The three-year effort to undercut the Russia probe comes up dry - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/19/trump-russia-durham-fbi/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/19/trump-russia-durham-fbi/ |
She plays doubles with her mom, is sponsored by Fila and says college can wait: Pickleball’s Anna Leigh Waters is the face of an exploding sport.
Anna Leigh Waters returns the ball during the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Baird Wealth Management Open in September. (Arden S. Barnes/For The Washington Post)
Anna Leigh Waters is 15 years old, which is almost a footnote considering all the unexpected turns and opportunities of the past year. Not long ago, she was a promising soccer player with her sights set on college, perhaps even the pros. That feels like a long time ago now.
Nearly every week, she’s posting wins in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, the “triple crown” at Professional Pickleball Association tournaments. She’s locked into major endorsements with bigger deals likely on the horizon and has played with the swimmer Michael Phelps, actor Jamie Foxx, boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard and golfers Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth.
“The timing has been just absolutely perfect,” said her mother and doubles partner, Leigh Waters. “Between her age and the way her game is developing and the way the sport is developing, it’s all like coming together.”
In hotel lobbies, restaurants and airports, pickleball obsessives are taking notice of the charismatic teen with the bobbing blonde ponytail who’s poised to sit on the pickleball throne for years to come. A flight attendant on a recent flight to California begged for a selfie. A woman in Las Vegas chased her down the Strip with a camera in hand. At tournaments, fans push their babies in Anna Leigh’s arms for a quick photograph.
“The first time I was like, I've never even held a baby before,” she said with a laugh.
Anna Leigh enters this week’s n2Grate DC Open, in College Park, Md., having won 11 of the past 12 events she’s played, including triple crown wins in three of the past four tournaments.
Though just a high school junior, she’s taken a professionalized approach to a sport that has graduated from a weekend and after-work hobby to a booming business. In recent weeks, Tom Brady and LeBron James have signed on as investors with one of PPA’s rivals, Major League Pickleball, and major corporations are angling to get in the space. Anna Leigh finds herself at the forefront of this rapidly expanding universe.
“She’s in a unique place right now in terms of her dominance,” said her agent Kelly Wolf, who’s spent years working with tennis players. “If you’re a brand and you’re trying to reach a certain demographic or you want to put a foot in pickleball, she’s just a fantastic ambassador. It’s her age, her personality, her ability to communicate with people, her love for the sport.”
Even for a sport that is only recently bursting into the mainstream, Anna Leigh’s rise has been meteoric. Five years ago, she was proficient with a tennis racket but had never held a pickleball paddle. As Hurricane Irma started ripping through the Caribbean, her family evacuated from their home in Delray Beach, Fla., to Allentown, Pa., where they stayed with Leigh’s parents.
LeBron James is buying into the pickleball explosion
“And we were like, no,” Anna Leigh recalled with a laugh. “It didn't even seem like a sport to us in the beginning.”
“That was when we kind of decided like, okay, this can work; we can do this. She’s not too young; she’s ready,” Leigh said.
“When we first started, everyone would either make fun of us or tell us we were playing the game incorrectly,” Anna Leigh said.
“We had top pros, top coaches tell us, ‘You’ll never win playing that way,’ ” her mother added. “We just didn’t listen because it just didn’t feel right to us.”
Leigh was a practicing attorney and decided to press pause on her legal career to focus on the sport — both managing and playing alongside her daughter. And in January, with her pickleball credentials well established, Anna Leigh quit soccer, which had become too taxing on her body but also her time.
“I think it was just the timing of it all,” Leigh said. “And really the opportunities are just insane right now for her in the sport.”
“I love that Anna Leigh is the face of the sport because it shows how much the sport is really accessible to all,” said Lauren Mallon, Fila’s senior director of marketing and strategic partnerships. “I love the energy that she brings to the court. She has a great passion. She is dynamic to watch. I love her enthusiasm. She’s always so positive.”
Anna Leigh also has deals with a water company, a paddle manufacturer and a jewelry business. She is a six-figure annual earner right now but could be on the cusp of much more. Her agent says she’s being strategic, but the young player is poised to take on more sponsors and could be wearing company logos on her playing outfit next season.
“We’ll be on the phone with these companies and they’re like, I can’t believe a 15-year-old is on this call,” Leigh said. “It’s just not something that a kid is normally involved in. And the size of the contracts for a 15-year-old are kind of mind-blowing.”
Perspective: Pickleball raises our social capital. That’s what America needs.
The family’s approach is very much borrowed from the tennis world. Anna Leigh travels to big events with a personal trainer, who helps her warm up before matches and cool down after. Her mom serves as her doubles partner, coach and business manager. Anna Leigh also regularly meets back home with a mental coach, who has helped her navigate the pressures that come with being a phenom.
“When I first started playing, it was just like I had nothing to lose and I was trying to be the one to take down the No. 1 players and stuff. So it was kind of easier in the start,” she said. “...What I like to tell myself when I’m on the court is that there’s a reason that I’m ranked No. 1. I don’t think, ‘Oh, I have so much to lose’ — but I can think, ‘I have so much to gain, I get to show you why I’m No. 1.’ ”
For Anna Leigh, there’s less pressure in doubles, which is pickleball’s more prized event. In mixed doubles, she plays alongside Ben Johns, the Maryland native who at 23 is already the PPA’s all-time winningest player. And in doubles, she’s with Leigh, 43, which pairs the tour’s youngest pro player with its oldest.
“We’re just able to be, like, one shot ahead of everybody because we know what the other person’s going to do,” said Leigh. “And there’s not many other teams that have that.”
The family wants to be thoughtful to make sure Anna Leigh is up to the rigors of a full-time schedule that will likely see her on the road for 24 weeks next year. She is home-schooled by her grandmother, Ann Eichelberger, a retired schoolteacher and is already a year ahead, on track to graduate next year, her family says. After high school, she’ll likely stick with pickleball and pursue college on the side or down the road.
“I feel like college is always going to be there,” Anna Leigh said.
Her parents stress that Anna Leigh can scale back if she needs, but the young phenom isn’t wired that way. None of this was expected, but the whole family is seizing the opportunities that keep arising.
“If I didn’t love it, then it might be an issue. But I feel like right now it just all works out,” Anna Leigh said. “I’ve always loved, like, training and playing the sport in general, so, like, it doesn’t really feel like work. It just kind of feels like fun.” | 2022-10-19T15:21:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How 15-year-old pickleballer Anna Leigh Waters is shaking up the sport - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/anna-leigh-waters-pickeball/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/anna-leigh-waters-pickeball/ |
Rachel Roubein
About 1 in 10 babies is born too soon, risking lifelong complications and death. (iStock)
An expert panel convened by the Food and Drug Administration voted 14-1 on Wednesday to recommend withdrawing a preterm pregnancy treatment from the market, saying it does not work. The drugmaker and some patient groups had argued there is evidence to suggest it might work in a narrow population that includes Black women at high risk of giving birth too soon.
Peter Stein, director of the Office of New Drugs at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, acknowledged in closing arguments clinicians’ arguments about the need for an effective drug to reduce the incidence of preterm birth — a leading cause of infant mortality in the United States. He said the agency agrees with clinicians who testified during three days of hearings on the urgent need for such a drug, but only if the data and science support it — and that is not the case for Makena.
“Hope is a reason to keep looking for options that are effective, whether we find them here or elsewhere,” he said. “Hope is not a reason to take a drug that is not shown to be effective. or keep it on the market.”
The recommendations of the panel of independent advisers are nonbinding, though the agency usually follows its advice. Withdrawing a drug from the market is a highly unusual step.
The three day hearing was emotional both for members of the public, as well as the panel members of the Obstetrics, Reproductive, and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee.
Several health groups have supported keeping Makena on the market while further study is done, worried that pulling it could deepen health inequities. “We believe that removing access will have a detrimental impact on the health of women and birthing people at risk of recurrent preterm births and will not impact all women equally,” said Martha Nolan, senior policy adviser at HealthyWomen, nonprofit women’s health group focused on helping women making informed decisions about their care.
Members of the panel, which is made up of maternal health experts, neonatologists, statisticians, and other experts, related the difficulty of their decision.
“I’m so disappointed … I wish we weren’t sitting here today,” one member said. Another expressed “deep sadness” about the large trial of Makena that showed no benefit.
Esther Eisenberg, a reproductive endocrinologist, supported withdrawing the drug, “but I’m very conflicted. This is a very very difficult question.”
Cassandra Henderson, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist in New York City who was the sole panel member who argued the large clinical trial showed promise for some patient subgroups and who voted to keep the drug on the market, said she was concerned about the low representation of minority women in the trial, as “we do know race is sort of a surrogate for racism and all the structural inequities.”
Covis and its backers have argued that study may have missed its benefits in high-risk populations in the United States because participants were largely Eastern Europe and only 7 percent Black. In a filing with the FDA, the drug company called the latter trial “flawed,” not only because of its racial demographics, but also because the population was low-risk and the women had access to national health-care systems that differ greatly from the complex piecemeal system in the United States.
Raghav Chari, chief innovation officer for Covis Pharma, had testified the company was willing to work with the agency to limit Makena’s use to “a higher-risk target population” only and would also agree to stop active promotion of the drug.
He called this a “practical approach” that would enable individual physicians in consultation with their patients to make decisions about whether using the drug might be helpful.
Chari said Covis is committed to conducting additional studies to address questions about the drug’s potential risks and benefits, emphasizing that reducing preterm birth is a public health priority and an area of unmet need in drug development.
“We are not proposing that race biologically differentiates patients,” he said Wednesday. “At the same time, it is well-documented that preterm birth disproportionately impacts women who are Black and other minorities in the United States. These and other social determinants of risk are factors in defining the higher-risk population where Makena is most likely to be effective.”
But Joseph Alukal, a urologist who is director of men’s health at Columbia/NewYork-Presbyterian suggested the racial inequity argument “implies the drug is effective and implies the drug is safe” when we don’t actually have an answer on that.
Mark Hudak, a neonatologist the University of Florida College of Medicine, said he is “sensitive to the disparity issues that have been raised.” However, he said allowing Makena to remain on the market is not appropriate and would result in “complete regulatory chaos.”
Makena was approved by the FDA in 2011 under an accelerated approval program for drugs that treat serious conditions for which there are no treatments. The drugmakers are then required to conduct studies confirming the drug’s benefits to continue selling the medication. But the debate over Makena’s effectiveness more than a decade after its approval underscores the complexities of that program, highlighting how it can take the agency years to pull a drug from the market even if officials believe it’s ineffective.
In the case of Makena, the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research proposed withdrawing it from the market in October 2020 — a move that followed an expert advisory panel’s 9-7 vote a year earlier to pull it from the market based on disappointing results from a large confirmatory study. But regulatory requirements, as well as the pandemic, have slowed the process.
The FDA’s Stein argued that leaving Makena on the market for a narrowed use would “upend the intention of the accelerated pathway.” He argued that “absent evidence of effectiveness, we are only left with risk. The benefit-risk balance for Makena is not favorable.” | 2022-10-19T16:09:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Expert advisers urge FDA to pull pregnancy drug from market - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/10/19/makena-preterm-birth-fda-advisers-black-women/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/10/19/makena-preterm-birth-fda-advisers-black-women/ |
This photo courtesy of the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), provided in October 2022, shows excavation of the East Smithfield plague pits in London, which were used for mass burials in 1348 and 1349. According to a study published Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022, in the journal Nature, our Medieval ancestors left us with a biological legacy: Genes that may have helped them survive the Black Death make us more susceptible to certain diseases today - a prime example of the way germs shape us over time. (MOLA via AP) (Uncredited/Museum of London Archaeology) | 2022-10-19T16:09:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Genetic twist: Medieval plague may have molded our immunity - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/genetic-twist-medieval-plague-may-have-molded-our-immunity/2022/10/19/686f075a-4fbf-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/genetic-twist-medieval-plague-may-have-molded-our-immunity/2022/10/19/686f075a-4fbf-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
Commanders owner Daniel Snyder stands on the sideline before the game between Dallas and Washington at AT&T Stadium on Oct. 2. On Tuesday, Colts owner Jim Irsay spoke at length about Snyder's status among NFL owners. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay offered the sharpest comments yet about Daniel Snyder and the Washington Commanders, telling reporters at the NFL’s fall league meeting in New York Tuesday that “there’s merit to remove” Snyder as owner of the team.
Irsay talked to media for nearly 15 minutes, fielding question after question about Snyder and his status with fellow owners. Here are his comments.
Has Dan Snyder been a topic of conversation? “I don’t know. I assume we’re going to get into more and more discussion on that. It’s a difficult situation. I believe that there’s merit to remove him as owner of the [Commanders]. I think it’s something that we have to review. We have to look at all the evidence, and we have to be thorough in going forward. But I think it’s something that has to be given serious consideration.”
Do you believe enough people agree with you that that’s a realistic possibility? “When we look at the evidence and go forward, we’ll have to determine what the situation is. But I just believe in the workplace today, the standard that the shield stands for in the NFL, that you have to stand for that and protect that. I just think that once owners talk amongst each other, they’ll arrive to the right decision. My belief is that — unfortunately, I believe that that’s the road we probably need to go down. And we just need to finish the investigation. But it’s gravely concerning to me, the things that have occurred there over the last 20 years.”
What concerns you the most? “I just think what’s happened in the workplace — [I have] three daughters, seven granddaughters — that’s just not, again, we have to look at the investigation and see the finality of certain things that happen, because there’s been a lot of different things that have happened. But you can’t shy away from the fact [that] it’s an unfortunate situation. But I believe it’s in the best interests of the National Football League that we look it squarely in the eye and deal with it. I think America, the world, expects us to, as leaders.”
Do you think [Snyder] has dirt on other owners? “I don’t know about that. I could care less. You can investigate me until the cows come home. That’s not going to back me off, private investigators or any of that stuff. To me, I just shrug it off. It’s irrelevant to me. I don’t know about any of that stuff. I just focus on the issue [of] what’s happened in Washington. And, to me, it’s gravely concerning.”
Do you think there are 24 owners who agree? “I think potentially there will be. But we’ll see.”
Is there anything the investigations can show that would change your mind at this point? “Sure. I said it’s under consideration, serious consideration. But I want to see the thorough investigation be put before us and see exactly what’s going on, including possible financial improprieties. I don’t know if that exists. But that’s another component to it that we have to see.”
Are you saying you’d like to see a vote today? “We’re not going to vote today.”
How soon do you think a possible vote would be held? “It’s hard to say. You know, I don’t know how long it will take. Certainly we’re going to be thorough and look at everything. It could be at the March meeting. I don’t know. But I know we want to be thorough and look at everything carefully.”
What troubles you the most about the way [Snyder’s] actions reflect on the rest of the owners? “That’s not what we stand for in the National Football League. And I think owners have been painted incorrectly a lot of times by various people and under various situations. And that’s not what we’re about. And we do care a great deal for each other. You know, there’s a lot of friendships in this league and closeness. Bob Kraft getting married and talking to him and sending him a gift. There’s just a lot of closeness in this league. And I don’t think, some of the things I’ve heard, it doesn’t represent us at all. And I want the American public and the world to know what we’re about as owners.”
Should the Snyder family sell? “I said there’s consideration that he should be removed. We have to complete the investigation. But, to me, it’s something that I think serious consideration has to be given to the removal. And we have complete authority to do that.”
[Consideration of just removing] him or the family, period? “I think, in general, of him being removed and selling the franchise.”
How would you describe your relationship with Dan over the years and today? “You know, I’ve known Dan. We’re not close or anything like that. Of course, I’ve known Dan and talked to Dan. And so, again, it’s a regrettable situation. It pains me to see it. The founders of this league taught me you have to protect the game and protect what we’re about. This isn’t what we’re about.”
How much does the team’s struggle to get a new stadium concern you and other owners? “I don’t think that plays into this. You know, obviously, there’s problems there and that sort of things. But … this doesn’t have anything to do with the financial inability possibly to go forward in Virginia or Washington to build a new stadium. We would never base that on that.”
Have owners been given any information on the status of the Mary Jo White investigation? “We need to be updated a lot more thoroughly and more clearly. There’s no question about that. So [we’re] looking forward to seeing the final report on that, no question.”
Does Snyder have much support in the room at all? Does he have friends? “You’d have to ask the other owners. It’s something where every owner looks at it differently. I think, again, it pains me because it’s not something personal. It’s something in the interest of the National Football League and what we’re about and how we’re represented as leaders in the world, quite frankly.”
Do you believe there has been or will be an attempt to convince him to sell voluntarily? “I don’t know. I don’t know [with] that dynamic, if that would occur. I just know that unfortunately this has been put before us, and we have to act and look at it once we have all the facts. And we have to act appropriately, you know, to protect and to be an example for what we want to be about.”
Do you feel Dan Snyder is good for the league? “From the things that I’ve heard, I want to hold my final opinion until I see the report. … But I have my concerns at this point. I’m very concerned that he needs to be removed.”
Was there a turning point for you? “No. This is a situation that has a long, long history. And it’s unfortunate that way. But, again, I want to see the final report on those things before we move in that direction. I think in looking at where we’re at, I can’t sit here and not say that this is a very serious situation and, you know, it’s something that we have to really look at closely because it could very well head down that road where we have to remove him.”
How many people will support how you feel out of the other owners? “I believe they’ll support[removal] if the report shows and they believe it’s the right thing to do. I’ve seen the room act that way all the time. It’s a situation that you wish wasn’t there. But you can’t shy away from it. As leaders, these things are presented before you. And so I think it’s important to wait to see for the whole report to come in, because obviously it’s a big decision. But … if we have to move in that direction, we have to be prepared to do it.”
Do you think the NFL has handled this properly? “I think it’s a very big decision. And all owners and the commissioner have to look at it very carefully and thoroughly, because obviously there hasn’t been this type of removal. … But I think we just have to really see the report before there’s any definite and for-sure direction that we go in. I just think that, at this point, there has to be serious consideration to be ready to move in that direction.”
Are you in favor of making the report public? “I can’t comment on that. I’ll let the commissioner comment on that.” | 2022-10-19T16:11:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Read the transcript of Colts owner Jim Irsay’s comments on Daniel Snyder - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/jim-irsay-daniel-snyder-transcript/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/jim-irsay-daniel-snyder-transcript/ |
Rebecca Clark says she posted the TikTok to warn other hikers to be vigilant around wild animals
Rebecca Clark’s solo hiking trip to Caprock Canyons State Park in Texas began earlier this month with two days of beautiful sunrises and tent camping, all of which she chronicled on TikTok. But in her next video post, which has been viewed more than 2 million times, Clark’s trip takes a dangerous turn.
One minute, she is waiting for a group of bison to clear the trail. The next she’s running for her life as a bison charges at her. The phone falls as the bison gores her back, off camera, sending her tumbling into a thorny bush yelling in pain. In the following video, Clark uses profane language.
With limited cell service, she told The Washington Post, she managed to get word to her son, and rescuers reached her about 50 minutes later. The attack left Clark, 54, hospitalized for six days with a large gash in her back, but she expects to fully recover and return to exploring the outdoors by December.
“I was very lucky,” said Clark, an early-childhood specialist from Boyd, Tex., who described herself as an avid and experienced hiker. She said she forgot she had been recording during the attack, but when she rediscovered the clip in the hospital, she decided to post it on TikTok to warn even the most experienced hikers to never be complacent around wild animals.
“The more I watched it, I thought, wow, I was just too close,” she said. “And there are people out there just like me who get confident.”
How travelers can stay safe during encounters with wild animals
She credited Caprock Canyons for having extensive warnings not to get too close to bison, including a large display in the visitor’s center, but she said it was her second time visiting and she did not pay as close attention as she should have.
Bison can run three times faster than humans, despite weighing up to one ton, according to the National Park Service. Officials at Yellowstone National Park, which is home to the country’s largest and oldest wild bison herd, warn that bison have injured more visitors than any other animal in the park, including three people attacked in a one-month span earlier this year.
What’s with all the bison attacks lately?
Texas Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Stephanie Salinas Garcia said the agency is aware of Clark’s attack and has kept in touch with her during her recovery. Visitors to Caprock Canyons should stay at least 50 yards away from bison, Garcia added.
On its website, the agency recommends following the “rule of thumb”: If you close one eye, stretch an arm out and hold your thumb up to the bison, it should completely cover the view of the animal — otherwise, you are too close.
In Clark’s video, the animals’ tails begin to swish before one of the bison charges at her. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, anxious bison will raise their tails in a question mark, a sign that you are disturbing the animal.
“Other signs of agitation or disapproval are pawing the ground and lowering its head,” the agency says. “In bison culture, a head-on gaze can communicate a threat or just simply rude behavior, especially to dominant males. If you see any of these behaviors, leave the area.”
As a general rule, the agency says, if a bison changes its behavior in any way as a result of your presence, you should leave the area. “You are visiting the home of bison,” it notes.
He took a date to the park where he was gored by a bison, figuring it wouldn’t happen again. He was wrong.
Caprock Canyons, which lies in the Texas panhandle about 300 miles northwest of Dallas, is home to the Texas State Bison Herd. The only remaining examples of the southern plains bison subspecies, they are genetically different from any other bison in the world, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
In 1878, rancher Charles Goodnight and his wife decided to preserve their few remaining southern plains bison as hunting nearly wiped out the subspecies. The ranch’s owners donated the herd to the state in 1996 and the animals were moved to Caprock Canyons, which is part of their historical range, according to Texas Tech University’s Natural Science Research Laboratory. In the long term, the state hopes to restore the subspecies on a 100,000-acre refuge.
On the day of the attack, Clark was solo hiking the park’s Eagle Point Trail, an out-and-back trail. On her way out, the herd of bison was blocking the path, so she walked around off the trail to avoid them, she said.
That gave her “confidence” that she could slowly pass by the herd when she encountered them on her way back, but one of the bison suddenly turned and charged her. As she recorded, it gored her back and flipped her up in the air before throwing her forward into a mesquite bush, she said.
In hindsight, she said, she should have turned around or waited farther down the trail for the herd to clear, especially when the bison started to swish their tails. She said she had been filming other parts of the hike and was not trying to record the bison, which she discourages.
Bison selfies are a bad idea: Tourist gored in Yellowstone as another photo goes awry
After the attack, her phone service was too spotty to get through to 911, which was not unusual for many of the remote areas she enjoys hiking, she said. By holding her phone high, she was able to get texts out to her family and friends, who contacted rescuers. Clark was carried out on foot and taken by ambulance to a hospital, then airlifted to United Regional Hospital in Wichita Falls, Tex.
She said the incident will not diminish her love of hiking, but she plans to take more steps to ensure her safety. Her children will probably buy her a locator device for Christmas this year, she said.
“I don’t want to stop doing what I’m doing,” Clark said. “But I just need to make changes.” | 2022-10-19T16:12:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A bison gored a hiker at Texas's Caprock Canyons. She posted the video to TikTok. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/10/19/bison-gores-hiker-texas-tiktok/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/10/19/bison-gores-hiker-texas-tiktok/ |
How Trump’s ‘love letters’ with Kim Jong Un could cost him
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump meet at the border village of Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone, South Korea on June 30, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
In a presidency chock full of peculiarity, it ranked near the top of the list. It was Donald Trump’s relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, whom Trump once threatened with “fire and fury,” but with whom he later forged a relationship he lightheartedly compared to a “love” affair.
But there’s increasing evidence that Trump’s pride in his correspondence with Kim could cost him legally, experts say.
Not only were Trump’s letters with Kim apparently so treasured that he opted to show them off and took them with him when he left the White House — among other highly sensitive government documents — but now The Washington Post reports that Trump in late 2019 and early 2020 appeared to acknowledge these letters were indeed highly sensitive government documents.
Ashley Parker reports on the new Trump interview tapes that The Post’s Bob Woodward is releasing as an audiobook:
In December 2019, after President Donald Trump had shared with journalist Bob Woodward the fawning letters that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had written to him, the U.S. leader seems to acknowledge he should not be showing them around.
As Parker notes, this is Trump acknowledging the documents’ sensitivity in his own words. But what might that actually mean for the burgeoning Mar-a-Lago documents investigation and Trump’s potential legal liability?
There has been evidence that Trump might have been well aware of what he had in his possession, even as he resisted returning documents when the National Archives and the Justice Department came calling. The Washington Post has reported that, when Trump returned some but hardly all documents in January, Trump personally oversaw the packing of the boxes “and did so with great secrecy, declining to show some items even to top aides.” The documents had also been requested many months before, meaning there was ample opportunity to do an inventory.
What the new interview tapes add is Trump saying, in his own words, that these kinds of documents were “so top secret.” That’s not just saying Trump must have known what he had; that’s him talking about specific documents and how sensitive they were — before taking them anyway.
From there, it’s worth going over the specifics and the timeline.
The first thing to note is that these conversations came during Trump’s tenure as president. Trump has claimed (at least publicly) that he declassified the documents. The implication is that, even if the documents were classified when he spoke with Woodward, they weren’t classified when he took them. (There remains no evidence Trump actually declassified these or any other documents, of course, and his lawyers have conspicuously avoided echoing their client’s public claims.)
Former federal prosecutor Brandon Van Grack said the timing of the conversations means the new evidence isn’t definitive.
“I think most conversations that predate inauguration are going to have a limit to their value,” he said, “because it doesn’t answer the question as to whether the document was declassified.”
David Priess, a former CIA officer and expert on classified documents who once delivered the President’s Daily Brief, said Trump could also potentially claim that he was using ‘top secret’ in a colloquial rather than technical sense.
“But that is weak compared with the growing circumstantial evidence that he knew exactly what he had,” Priess added.
But that’s also less pertinent when it comes to the crimes the government has said it’s investigating, which generally pertain to obstruction of justice and retaining sensitive — though not necessarily classified — documents. And that’s where experts say this new development could be troublesome for Trump.
The subpoena that the government issued in May for documents didn’t request only classified documents, but any documents with “classification markings.” So whether the documents were declassified is a bit of a red herring.
“It appears to be further confirmation that there was material at Mar-a-Lago that was highly sensitive,” Van Grack said. “And whether or not there was a declassification order doesn’t change the fact that the information was highly sensitive.”
Ashley Deeks, a former deputy legal adviser to the National Security Council who now teaches at the University of Virginia law school, said the Woodward revelation “clearly seems to help the government” when it comes to one specific crime. That crime: “willfully” retaining information that could damage national security and failing “to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it.”
“Under the statute, the government has to prove that the person possessing information related to the national defense has ‘reason to believe’ that the information ‘could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation,'” Deeks said.
Deeks added: “The government, I suppose, will have to prove the connection between knowing that information shouldn’t be widely disclosed and knowing that the information could be used to harm the United States or help another government.”
Apart from Trump apparently having knowledge of the sensitivity of the information he took, there’s the matter of when he returned these specific documents he knew were so sensitive.
We recently learned, thanks to yet another new Trump interview tape, that Trump suggested to the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman in September 2021 that he hadn’t, in fact, taken the Kim letters when he left the White House.
“No, I think that has the … I think that’s in the Archives, but most of it is in the Archives,” Trump said. He added that he had taken “nothing of great urgency, no.”
Yet as of May 2021, the government had specifically cited the Kim letters among the materials that hadn’t been returned. The National Archives told Trump’s legal team that it was “essential that these original records be transferred to NARA as soon as possible.” By June 2021, the Archives instructed a Trump adviser who was handling the matter to return the letters for FedEx overnight shipping, CNN has reported.
Trump did return the letters in January 2021, when the Archives retrieved 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago. That’s the first known instance of documents being returned to the government, and it predated the Justice Department’s apparent involvement. But it also came eight months after the National Archives specifically requested those documents in May 2021 — a reflection of Trump’s resistance to comply.
So the timeline would appear to indicate Trump would’ve been aware that he had these specific documents, in addition to him being aware that they were highly sensitive, by his own newly revealed admission.
Added Deeks, of the statute she cited: “It defies belief to think that a person could recognize that certain information was top secret and yet not realize that the information, if revealed, could be used to harm the United States.” | 2022-10-19T16:26:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Trump's 'love letters' with Kim Jong Un could hurt him in Mar-a-Lago case, experts say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/19/how-trumps-love-letters-with-kim-jong-un-could-cost-him/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/19/how-trumps-love-letters-with-kim-jong-un-could-cost-him/ |
Chinese President Xi Jinping is applauded upon his arrival at the opening of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing on Sunday. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
No effort has been spared to ensure the smooth execution of a crucial Chinese Communist Party congress this week where Xi Jinping is expected to extend his tenure as his country’s most powerful leader in decades.
In Beijing, police and volunteers with red armbands work at checkpoints and patrol neighborhoods under orders to operate with “warlike” readiness during the six-day meeting that began Sunday. To enter the city, residents must have tested negative for the coronavirus twice within the previous three days. After a one-man protest in Beijing where banners were hung from an elevated road in the district of Haidian, guards were posted on bridges across the city.
The airwaves have been flooded with testimonies and images of people all over the country competing with each other to celebrate their leader’s words.
A 100-day security operation before the meeting began Sunday led to the arrest of 1.4 million people, laying the “solid foundation for the security and stability” of the 20th Party Congress, according to China’s Ministry of Public Security. In Anhui province, more than 600 miles from Beijing, no fewer than a third of the police were deployed to patrol the streets against any disturbances for the duration of the meeting.
“It’s always incredibly tight, but this time, because Xi Jinping is breaking the mold, he’s even more sensitive and everyone is going double. It’s even tighter than it was before,” said Steve Tsang, the director of the China Institute at the London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies.
On Sunday, Xi opened the 20th National Congress of the CCP, a political meeting held every five years that sets out the party’s broad priorities and the next batch of leaders. Xi is expected to break with tradition of leaders stepping down after a decade and continue his role as general secretary and head of the party’s Central Military Commission, the two most powerful positions.
Characterized by pomp, pageantry and paranoia, the event is often more about optics — a time for the Chinese leadership to impress upon the public the legitimacy of the CCP’s rule.
Xi on Sunday delivered a triumphalist speech in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where he pledged to turn his country into a modern socialist superpower that represents a “new choice” of governance and development, different from the dominant model of Western democracy.
As he spoke, the internet was flooded with photos of Chinese residents — delivery workers, People’s Liberation Army soldiers, Buddhist monks, patients at rehab centers — devotedly watching the speech. In Guangdong province, the city of Gaozhou organized 50,000 people to watch the event.
Primary schools held karaoke contests, and teachers wrote poems dedicated to Xi. (“You are the helmsman, the sail, the oar, the hope,” one teacher wrote.) Local officials in Ningde in Fujian province, where Xi was party secretary, said they were “overwhelmed with emotion” by his speech.
“After listening to his speech, I now understand how strong the motherland is and my love for this land is even deeper,” one primary school student wrote about Xi’s remarks, according to a post on WeChat from a school in Behai in Guangxi province.
In Xinjiang, officials in Toksun county were “fired up,” and in Shenzhen, officials and residents alike were “full of joy” after tuning in to the speech, according to local government social media posts. A 40-episode television series loosely based on Xi’s poverty-alleviation work in Ningde has been aired nightly by state broadcaster CCTV since Sunday.
To ensure blue skies for the meeting’s opening, Beijing officials held meetings on how to push the “one microgram” operation, a reference to bringing the amount of airborne particulate matter or PM2.5 down to 1 microgram per cubic meter of air. Steel factories in Hebei province, near Beijing, cut production by as much as half starting in mid-October through the end of the congress, according to local media.
Having succeeded, Zhao Lei, secretary general of the Beijing Municipal Committee, said, “We have the confidence and the determination to keep a clear sky in Beijing” and applauded Xi’s speech. “We have witnessed this great era together,” Zhao told the state-run China Daily.
The fawning over major events and pronouncements by the party are not unusual, especially in Chinese state media and propaganda organs. But the degree of fervor and the focus on Xi underline the direction in which China is moving — toward more centralized and personalized rule under one man.
“The cult of personality around Xi Jinping is particularly obvious,” said Lu Yeh-chung, a professor of diplomacy at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “It shows that Xi’s control over society, as well as the party’s skills and techniques in forming narratives, are becoming more advanced than before,” he said.
Going into his third term, Xi faces a slowing economy, an increasingly combative relationship with the United States and its allies, an unstable situation in the Taiwan Strait and declining international opinion in part because of Beijing’s supportive relationship with Russia.
Without naming these specific challenges, Xi in his report called on his country to “unite in struggle” to resist outside efforts to “blackmail, contain and exert pressure” on China — language that shows the leadership’s turn away from the increasingly open years of reform.
“China is going to get back to being more ideological. It might not be a restoration of the Maoist era, but it is going to be more ideological,” Tsang said. “They are going to have a leader who’s not going to stay on for just 10 years. He is going to be leader for a heck of a long time.”
Not everyone is happy with Xi’s continued hold on power. Hong Kong democracy activists protested outside a Chinese consulate in Manchester, England. After consular staffers dragged one of the demonstrators onto the consulate grounds and beat him, China’s ambassador to the Britain was summoned by the British Foreign Office. In China, the protest slogans that were hung from a bridge in Haidian have started to appear in public restrooms, according to social media posts.
“The Congress is not a place for debate. It’s primarily a ritualistic display of power,” said Joseph Torigian, a Chinese-politics expert at American University in Washington, who said this week’s meeting will offer mostly ambiguous hints about China’s future. “The big question is whether he will change the longer he is in power.”
Vic Chiang and Pei-Lin Wu in Taipei contributed to this report. | 2022-10-19T17:31:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | China’s 20th Communist Party Congress is all about pomp and paranoia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/19/china-communist-party-congress-pomp/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/19/china-communist-party-congress-pomp/ |
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh on the House of Delegates chamber floor on Jan. 30, 2019. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh has ordered a detailed review of 100 autopsies of people who died in police custody after a team of experts determined that further scrutiny is warranted.
The announcement comes more than a year after Frosh launched a one-of-a-kind probe of 1,300 autopsies handled by former Maryland medical examiner David Fowler, who testified for the defense in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd.
A “design team” of an independent panel of experts from around the world were tasked with deciding the scope and scale of the audit of Fowler’s work.
The panel began with 1,300 in-custody cases, which has been described by state officials as a case “in which an agent of government was involved in any way.” The cases included, but were not limited to, pedestrians struck during vehicular pursuits, individuals who took their own lives in jail and individuals who died of overdoses while in jail. It focused its attention on 100 deaths that “occurred during or shortly after the decedent was physically restrained, and for which no obvious medical cause of death, such as a knife wound, was discerned during the autopsy.”
In a 12-page report issued Wednesday, the experts recommended that an independent panel continue the work.
“This review will determine whether independent experts agree or disagree with the OCME’s determination of cause and manner of death, whether such experts believe the OCME’s determinations were based on adequate investigations, and more broadly whether changes are needed to improve the OCME’s practices so that they better serve the public interest,” the report states.
Frosh’s office, in consultation with Gov. Larry Hogan’s office of legal counsel, ordered an audit of cases handled by the state during Fowler’s tenure after receiving an open letter signed by more than 400 medical experts who questioned Fowler’s testimony in Chauvin’s trial and called for an investigation to determine whether the practices of the examiner’s office for investigating in-custody deaths under Fowler were inappropriate.
In his testimony, Fowler blamed Floyd’s death on heart disease and drug use rather than his oxygen being cut off while pinned beneath Chauvin’s knee for more than nine minutes. | 2022-10-19T17:40:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Md attorney general to open "detailed review" of 100 in-custody deaths - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/19/maryland-autopsy-medical-examiner-fowler/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/19/maryland-autopsy-medical-examiner-fowler/ |
By Morgan Coates | Oct 19, 2022
Chinese leader Xi Jinping opened a meeting of senior party members in Beijing with calls for all Chinese people to “unite in struggle” and make China great again, as he prepares to defy succession norms and stay in power for at least five more years.
The once-every-five-years event is a time for the party to celebrate itself in style — and remind the people of China who is in charge.
A man walks behind decorations for the 20th National Congress in Shanghai on Monday.
Alex Plavevski/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
All eyes are on Xi, the most powerful Chinese leader in decades, to see if he will become leader for life.
Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the congress on Sunday.
Ju Peng/AP
Military delegates leave after the opening ceremony on Sunday.
The meeting is an orchestrated display of power. Months of careful preparation — and heightened security — mean it is almost certain to follow Xi’s script.
Even for people in China, the event can be removed from daily life, full of Marxist theory and arcane party lore.
Xi is seen on a TV screen in a restaurant in Hong Kong on Sunday.
But the pomp and pageantry are a way for China’s leaders to put on a display of unity and strength. Tea is poured in synchrony.
Hostesses prepare drinks on Sunday.
The military band rehearses Sunday before the opening ceremony for the Communist Party congress.
A man walks by a screen showing Xi on Wednesday.
And everyone is reminded of China’s decades of growing international influence, even as the country faces a sputtering economy, severe youth unemployment and simmering public resentment over Xi’s unwavering zero-covid policy.
A security guard at the end of the opening ceremony.
Delegates at the opening ceremony of the congress on Sunday.
The congress is not a time for debate. Even in the Mao era, fierce power struggles within party elites took place offstage. Instead, new leaders and changes to the party constitution are presented for the delegates to rubber-stamp.
But for the outside world, the results provide vital clues about who is in or out of favor.
Representatives attending the 9th Chinese Communist Party Congress in 1969.
Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin delivers his reports to the opening of the 14th Chinese Communist Party Congress in 1992.
Mike Fiala/AFP/Getty Images
The Communist Party congress in 2002.
Two security guards stand before the opening the Communist Party congress in 2012.
Former president Hu Jintao and newly elected President Xi shake hands after the election in 2013.
This year, Xi is expected to be elevated above predecessors Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin in the pantheon of party leaders.
Xi at the Communist Party congress on Sunday.
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images/Bloomberg News
Photo editing and production by Morgan Coates and Olivier Laurent | 2022-10-19T17:41:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Photos: The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/interactive/2022/photos-20th-national-congress-communist-party-china/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/interactive/2022/photos-20th-national-congress-communist-party-china/ |
Runners love to hate their sport. Here’s advice for how to get past the pain and make running more fun.
(Illustrations by Luis Mazón for The Washington Post)
Are you a runner who hates running?
It turns out, a lot of runners don’t love the actual running part of their sport. Running can conjure up memories of pain and punishment from high school sports. It can feel like a chore. Even avid runners who love the sport have had periods where their motivation wanes. One popular search on Google: “How do you start running when you hate it?”
Brendan Leonard, an outdoor adventure writer who runs ultramarathons, said that when strangers learn he’s a distance runner, they often tell him that they hate running, to which Leonard replies, “I hate running, too, man. It’s not that fun.”
And yet, running is one of the most popular forms of exercise with nearly 8 million people around the world signing up to compete in races each year. Running can be cathartic, and people who do it often feel a sense of accomplishment.
The Washington Post asked readers, “Do you hate running but want to do it anyway?” More than 100 people responded with stories of their love-hate relationship with running. Here’s their advice.
Go slower. You can even walk sometimes.
You don’t have to go fast. You don’t even have to run the whole time.
Cody Townsend, a 39-year-old professional skier, found running boring and painful. His endurance coach, Sam Naney, told him to slow down and alternate jogging for 30 seconds and walking for 30 seconds — a run-walk-run training method popularized by Olympian Jeff Galloway.
Townsend ran-walk-ran for 20 minutes several times a week for about four to six weeks. In the beginning, that meant he was running a 12- to 13-minute mile pace.
“If you can run and have a conversation with someone, then you're at the correct pace,” Townsend said. “And once I learned that, that’s what was the key catalyst to improving and then learning to love running.”
Expect the struggle. Embrace the boredom.
The struggle of running is a shared experience with every other runner, from beginner to elite marathoner.
In his book, “I Hate Running and You Can Too: How to Get Started, Keep Going, and Make Sense of an Irrational Passion,” Leonard recommends giving yourself permission to struggle. Running takes time. It requires practice. You need the proper shoes and gear, which can be found at specialty running stores.
Another common refrain from people who don’t like running is that it’s boring. Leonard, 43, agrees. But to him, “Boredom is fertile. It’s a great place to put yourself to actually think, as opposed to something that’s commanding your attention every few seconds.”
Make a game out of it
Mika McDougall, who is married to Christopher McDougall, the best-selling author of “Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen,” realized that she needed extra motivation to run during the frigid winter days of Lancaster County, Pa.
She noticed that in a nearby neighborhood, residents had set up free libraries in their front yards. She started to organize her runs around them. By the end of her runs, she would have a pile of books to take home. She would also drop books off.
“I wanted to vary it up to entertain myself, because you can kind of get into a routine and get bored,” said McDougall, who has since moved to her home state of Hawaii, where the weather is warmer. “It was a fun way to plan the afternoon and get rid of junk around the house.”
Run with a personal coach in your ear
Listening to a running podcast or guided running app during your run is like having a personal coach by your side. You can search for a variety of apps for runners of all levels.
Jess Mullen, 39, an administrative assistant in Philadelphia, says that running is “always a slog.” Listening to the NHS Couch to 5K podcast has helped. The episodes distract her from pain and offer reminders about form and breathing. The podcast is “a completely judgment free, nurturing way into running,” Mullen said.
Mullen’s cousin, 34-year-old Emily Kane, of Philadelphia, runs with Peloton’s guided workouts. “You kind of feel like you’re not by yourself,” she said.
Run with music or entertainment
Music, audio books and podcasts can also serve as entertainment and distraction on a long run. “At low to moderate intensities of running, the reduction in the rates of perceived exertion is around 10 percent” while listening to music, said Costas Karageorghis, a professor at Brunel University in London and author of the book, “Applying Music in Exercise and Sport.”
“It encourages dissociation, which means that runners are not so aware of the fatigue related symptoms from the organs and from the working muscles,” Karageorghis said.
The sweet spot for music tempo is between 120 beats per minute for a low intensity run and 140 beats per minute for a high intensity run.
Look for headphones with “bone conduction technology” and an open-ear design so you can listen to music but still hear traffic and stay aware of your surroundings.
Head to the trails
Trail running allows a change of scenery and an escape into nature. It also gives you “permission to slow down,” said Mike Crowley, 59, of Conshohocken, Pa., who has competed in multiple 100-mile races, including the Eastern States 100 in Waterville, Pa.
“It’s not as monotonous,” Crowley said. “The environment is more appealing and changes through the season. The community of trail runners is very welcoming and a fun group to be a part of.”
The American Trail Running Association (ATRA) lists dozens of trail-running events in the United States every month.
Keep chasing the runner’s high
Not everyone experiences the runner’s high the same way, but research suggests the feeling has to do with endocannabinoids, which are the natural versions of THC and CBD.
“When we say runner’s high, we mean kind of a euphoric effect that some but not all people experience after a bout a physical activity, and also reductions in pain and anxiety and stress,” said Hilary Marusak, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. “An acute bout of exercise, whether it’s running or cycling or swimming — or even yoga — was associated with an increase in levels of circulating endocannabinoids.”
Leonard, the outdoor adventure author, starts feeling the runner’s high after 40 to 50 minutes into a run. “It takes a lot of work to get to a point where running is relaxing,” he said.
[Running a first marathon? Here’s what veteran runners wish they’d known.]
Practice breathing
A common question beginners ask is how to breathe. Heather Knight Pech, a running coach for McKirdy Trained, said one of the first thing she tells her clients is to slow down their pace.
One breathing exercise Knight Pech recommends to warm up before running is box breathing — inhaling and pausing for three to five seconds before exhaling through the mouth and pausing for three to five seconds. The 60-year-old competitive marathoner practices it before running and going to bed.
While running, Knight Pech suggests inhaling through the nose and mouth but exhaling deeper out of the mouth. The key is slowing it down and avoiding short and shallow breathing. “You do not want to be breathing short,” she said. “And if you are breathing short, that probably means you’re in some sort of stress.”
Find your running community
A number of runners noted that the running community — during training and at race day events — can make running more fun. The Road Runners Club of America offers a comprehensive list of U.S.-based running groups.
Matt Lindner, a 39-year-old Chicago marketing manager, ran high school cross-country and tried to get back into the sport at various points in his adult life with little success. “For me, there was just no point going out on a run when I could sit at a bar and drink beers,” Lindner said.
On a whim, Lindner signed up to run the 2017 Chicago Marathon for charity. He joined the Chicago Area Runners Association, a nonprofit organization with more than 11,000 members. Lindner credits the group for keeping him accountable and reigniting his passion for running.
Pick a fun, weird or quirky race
Running doesn’t have to be all business. In France, runners can sign up for the Marathon du Médoc, a 26.2-mile race through scenic vineyards with over 20 wine-tasting stops along the way. In San Francisco, the Bay to Breakers 12K race routinely draws tens of thousands of participants, many of whom are in costume. Every January, Walt Disney World in Orlando hosts a marathon weekend that includes a 5K, 10K, half-marathon and marathon.
Instead of signing up for a prestigious, big city race, 35-year-old Alex Quevedo of Irvine, Calif., chose the Star Wars Half Marathon in 2015. He wore a Stormtrooper tank top with white shorts for the race.
“There was a casualness to it,” he said. “There was more community.”
Art direction by Chelsea Conrad. Design and development by Garland Potts.
Kelyn Soong is a reporter on The Washington Post's Well+Being desk, covering fitness and exercise advice, trends and culture. | 2022-10-19T17:43:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 10 ways to start running when you hate running - Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/interactive/2022/hate-running-tips-beginners/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/interactive/2022/hate-running-tips-beginners/ |
To boot Liz Truss, U.K. Conservatives face short list of poor options
British Prime Minister Liz Truss departs 10 Downing Street on Wednesday. (Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg News)
British Prime Minister Liz Truss does not have the confidence of her own party — let alone the nation.
Since she took office Sept. 9, her grand financial plan has tanked the British economy, she’s seen her polls dive to the worst in recorded history and has had her most controversial proposals gutted by a former rival.
But if Britain’s ruling Conservative Party wants to replace Truss, it has a poor array of alternatives, each with its own drawbacks.
There are no good options. The question is whether they are worse for the party than keeping Truss in power.
Whatever happens will constitute a major inflection point for the Tories, the party once led by the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill. The Conservatives have led the government since 2010. Despite the pain of Britain’s exit from the European Union, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson won the Conservative Party’s largest electoral majority in 2019.
Johnson came crashing down amid scandal after scandal, however. He stepped down last month. The party chose Truss after a prolonged leadership contest, but her short time in office has anything but ushered in the stability her backers sought.
What are the party’s options?
A Truss resignation
Under current rules, Britain is scheduled to hold its next general election no later than January 2025. But the Conservatives are deeply unpopular, with some predictions showing that the party could be almost wiped out if a vote were held today.
Replacing Truss would be the most logical option, and the most logical way for her to go would be to resign.
All three of Truss’s Conservative Party prime minister predecessors — David Cameron, Theresa May and Johnson — resigned under pressure from their party.
“It would be like the Truss premiership never happened,” said Jon Tonge, a professor of politics at the University of Liverpool. “Such a neat solution, when you have so many people with vaulting ambition within the party, may be difficult.”
Would Truss resign? On Wednesday during Prime Minister’s Questions, a political tradition in which the prime minister answers questions from members of Parliament in a rough-and-tumble session, she declared herself “a fighter, not a quitter.” That does not mean she would not make a U-turn; Johnson resigned only after dozens of members of his government quit.
Some polls suggest a majority of Conservative Party members now want her to resign. That’s crucial because under the current rules, Conservative Party members would ultimately get to pick her successor.
But here’s where things get tricky. Though Conservative members of Parliament get to select the candidates, the final arbiters are the more than 170,000 dues-paying party members.
Often these party members are out of step with not only their own elected politicians but also the wider public. One poll suggests that party members want Johnson to return to the premiership — a Groundhog Day scenario that has Tory Party members eying the election with dread.
Scrap the rules
Within the party elite, some hope for a ticket of Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt, two leaders who may be more palatable among the broader electorate.
But if Truss doesn’t want to quit, what can be done? Under rules set by the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, Truss is immune from a no-confidence vote in her first year of leadership. And even if she were ousted, the party membership could throw another spanner in the works during a vote.
One potential answer? Get rid of the rules.
It may seem like heresy, but Michael Gove, one senior Tory member of Parliament, has suggested a “papal conclave” of the party’s elite in which the top brass hashes out the next leader of the party privately.
Tonge said there was no consensus on what the rule changes could be, however.
“There’s talk of cutting out the Conservative Party members, but one of the few reasons to be a Conservative Party member is to have a vote in the leadership contest, so that wouldn’t be taken lightly,” he told The Washington Post. “You’d alienate Conservative Party members who are already quite brassed off, frankly.”
If the Conservatives do force Truss out, the party will face a potent line of criticism: This is not democratic.
Truss already faced this critique when she enacted a number of major tax cuts. What mandate did Truss, who had inherited a majority rather than contested a general election herself, have to make such sweeping changes? (The policies were later rescinded by Truss’s new finance chief, Jeremy Hunt — who has not only not led the party in a general election but lost two bids to lead the party).
An election would quell those criticisms. Truss could call one herself, or, facing a vote of no confidence tabled by the opposition Labour Party, Tory MPs could side with the opposition to force her hand. If Truss lost a no-confidence vote, she would be expected to resign or ask King Charles III to dissolve Parliament and call a general election.
Alternatively, if Truss were to be ousted and no successor could be found, an election would be forced because of constitutional norms.
It is unlikely that Truss could win an election — one poll found only 1 in 10 voters had a favorable view of her. Another suggests that at least 10 members of Britain’s government would lose their seats in Parliament in an election held today, with a historic landslide for Labour.
It is not clear whether a successor could do much better, either. Truss is astoundingly unpopular, but Labour leader Keir Starmer is “considerably less unpopular” than all of his Tory rivals, including Sunak and Mordaunt, according to another poll. | 2022-10-19T19:11:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How to get rid of Liz Truss? Britain's Conservative have three options. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/19/liz-truss-removal-options-uk/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/19/liz-truss-removal-options-uk/ |
Partner buys expensive skin care you can’t afford. Carolyn Hax readers give advice.
(Nick Galifianakis/Illustration for The Washington Post)
Dear Carolyn: My partner spends around $400 a month on expensive facial and body products. We’re talking about $70 for a 2.5-ounce bottle of this kind of oil, cleanser, etc. Obviously, there are people who can afford these products and buy them regularly. There are also people who can afford them but choose to buy less expensive products. Then there are people who can’t afford these products but buy them anyway. We fall into the last category.
The two or three times I’ve brought it up, my partner responds with comments about the pressures on women to look a certain way and about the objectification of women. To be sure, she’s correct. I’m in no position to really understand what it feels like to be a woman in our society. Still, that’s a lot of money. Meanwhile I buy one pair of Uniqlo jeans and wear the hell out of them.
On top of not being able to afford this kind of luxury (a fraction of her skin-care expenses could go toward us and our two young kids taking a vacation, which we don’t do for lack of money), it doesn’t seem right that she has effectively marked this issue as off-limits. It’s about her as a woman, so I have no say in the matter. I need a new approach. What do you suggest?
— Too Much
Too Much: In a calm moment, discuss finances, not cosmetics. Discuss your family budget, your retirement plan, your hopes for vacations and child enrichment (art, music classes? sports?). Within that discussion, include discretionary spending as a part of the whole, and see if you can come to an agreement on how much is reasonable for each of you to have.
You might also consult a financial adviser (do you have a will to provide for your children?). This is a business talk, not a commentary on discretionary spending. It might help if you set up three bank accounts: one for household expenses, like mortgage, insurance, utilities and food; and one for each of you for discretionary funds that you each agree not to question. You might also want to make sure that you have separate credit cards in your own names rather than joint cards.
When your partner sees exactly how much money she has to spend, because it’s in a separate account and not mixed in with what seems like plenty, she will realize she has to learn to budget or go into debt on her own credit card.
— D Bernard
Too Much: She is deflecting the conversation to shutting you down with an irrelevant but factual statement. There are many ways that women can take care of themselves that don’t include spending $400 a month on skin care. Healthy diet, adequate sleep, exercise and not smoking are at the top of the list.
There are also many great drugstore and other skin-care brands that don’t break the bank. Do a little research and try to have another conversation. Concede her point and move the conversation to working together to get to the bottom of why she feels that these skin-care products are the only solution to the problem.
— Been There Done That
Too Much: Speaking as a sleep-deprived mom of two young kids, there are very few things in my life and the lives of my fellow mom friends that are solely for us. Self care often goes out the window and it is easy to feel as though we have lost ourselves.
It sounds like your wife’s luxurious skin-care routine is something that gives her what may be just a few minutes a day to feel pampered and to make space for herself. Applying some fancy lotions can be incredibly rejuvenating and as a bonus can keep us looking fresh (requiring less money spent on makeup!) in a world where our social and professional success is often directly tied to our appearance.
She has set a firm boundary on this, and before re-approaching her, I would pause; if you think of the cost as being for her physical and mental health, rather than on a set of products, does that change your perspective on whether you can afford it?
If you still feel it is too much, then I think you should set aside time to discuss your budget and priorities. Accept and respect that this is a big one for her, then decide together what your financial goals are rather than making it your sole mission to get her to acquiesce on this one thing. If vacation is a big one for you, there may be other things to cut back on to allow both travel and skin care. If not, maybe she can pick one product to substitute with a more generic product as you save that money for a trip. Still … tread carefully here and please avoid a you vs. me dynamic when discussing spending. | 2022-10-19T19:11:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Partner buys skin care you can't afford. Carolyn Hax readers give advice - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/10/19/carolyn-hax-expensive-skin-care/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/10/19/carolyn-hax-expensive-skin-care/ |
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan waves to supporters in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday. (Burhan Ozbilici/AP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has forced into submission his country’s once-vibrant free press. In recent years, the government has jailed journalists, and the regime and friendly businesses have taken over once-freethinking news outlets, enabling Mr. Erdogan to keep a chokehold on what is printed and broadcast. A new law moves Turkey still deeper into the void.
The legislation, approved by parliament on Oct. 13 with backing from Mr. Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party and its allies, is clearly intended to silence critics before next year’s presidential election, providing the government new tools to criminalize journalism and online activity. The law imposes penalties for disseminating “misleading information,” the definition of which is left ominously vague, adding a new article to the Turkish Penal Code: “Any person who publicly disseminates untrue information concerning the internal and external security, public order and public health of the country with the sole intention of creating anxiety, fear or panic among the public, in a manner that is capable of disrupting public peace, shall be sentenced to imprisonment from one to three years.” If the perpetrator “commits the offense by concealing his real identity or within the framework of the activities of an organization,” the sentence is to be increased by half.
Misinformation and disinformation are challenges for every nation. But Turkey’s new law is a license to muzzle free expression. It will give prosecutors wide-ranging latitude to accuse legitimate journalists, as well as others, of having an “intention” to create anxiety, fear or panic — and throw them in jail. The Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s expert legal body, noted in an Oct. 7 opinion that the wording of the new law is “very broad.” It added, “Does a post on Facebook accessible only to one’s Facebook friends amount to ‘public dissemination’? Or does an unsolicited e-mail sent to a specific e-mail address … ?” The experts warned the law could have a “chilling effect.”
Some independent journalists in Turkey have survived with online newsletters, podcasts and videos, despite existing restrictions. The new law “greatly increases the extent” to which tech companies “can be held criminally, administratively, and financially liable,” and introduces severe sanctions for failure to comply with content-blocking, removal requests or demands for data from the government, according to Human Rights Watch and Article 19, a group that defends free expression. Burak Erbay, a lawmaker who opposed the bill, declared: “You only have one freedom; it is the phone in your pocket … if this law passes, you can break your phones like this, you will not need to use it.” He took a hammer and smashed a cellphone.
We recently met with Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party, who objected to Mr. Erdogan’s practice of jailing those who speak out against him. “We cannot talk about democracy if the country puts their journalists in jail,” he told us. “Nobody should be in prison because of what they think.”
Nor can you build a thriving nation by locking up its most outspoken voices. The new law marks another backward step for Turkey.
Opinions about press freedom
Opinion|Free speech disappears in Turkey. So does democracy.
Opinion|In U.S. journalist’s death, Israel leaves questions unanswered
Opinion|My high school paper published a ‘pride’ issue. Then we got canceled. | 2022-10-19T19:13:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | In Turkey, Erdogan advances his crackdown on journalists - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/erdogan-turkey-journalists-democracy/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/erdogan-turkey-journalists-democracy/ |
Montgomery County school bus drivers gather in the parking lot at Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring on Jan. 13. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)
Schools are still feeling the pandemic’s calamitous effects. Learning loss, teacher and staff shortages, behavioral problems, and school safety are just a few of the challenges. The people serving on school boards are more important than ever, and voters in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties will decide in the Nov. 8 elections who will do so in Maryland’s two largest school districts.
In Montgomery County, four seats — three district seats and one at-large — are on the ballot; all eligible voters can vote for each seat, regardless of where they live. For the at-large seat, the clear choice is incumbent Karla Silvestre. Not only has Ms. Silvestre proved an able leader, tested by the demands of an unprecedented pandemic, but also her opponent, Mike Erickson, has been a phantom candidate, unresponsive to media inquiries and doing no noticeable campaigning. Ms. Silvestre emphasizes addressing learning loss and students’ and staff members’ mental-health needs.
For the District 1 seat Judy Docca is vacating, we endorse Grace Rivera Oven, founder of a nonprofit that fights food insecurity in upper Montgomery County. Her deep roots in the community, including running an after-school program for high-risk youths, gives her keen insights into students’ and families’ needs. Among her priorities: closing the opportunity gap and expansion of wrap-around services.
After longtime board member Patricia O’Neill died, the school board appointed Scott Joftus to her District 3 seat, and it made the right choice. As head of a company that provides technical assistance to school boards and superintendents, Mr. Joftus is uniquely qualified. His opponent, Julie Yang, has an admirable record of work in the schools and community involvement, but Mr. Joftus is best equipped to help improve student outcomes.
In District 5, we endorse incumbent Brenda Wolff in her bid for a second term. Twice elected president of the board, Ms. Wolff helped steer the schools through the pandemic’s disruptions. She has championed the use of out-of-school time to extend learning. And we admire her commitment to addressing school-system inequities.
In Prince George’s County, voters in four districts will select board members. In District 2, a seat Joshua M. Thomas is vacating, our nod goes to Jenni Pompi, the parent of two children in county schools who has worked as a community advocate for more than a decade. Ms. Pompi is tired of the petty fights and personality clashes that have marred the board in recent years and promises to stay focused on students’ needs.
In District 3, incumbent Pamela Boozer-Strother seems headed for a second term — her opponent dropped out of the race — and that would be a good thing. Ms. Boozer-Strother, thoughtful and collaborative, helped lead the system through the pandemic crisis and would provide needed stability to the board, which is being reshaped so that all its positions will be elected.
Voters in District 6 have good choices for the seat Belinda Queen is vacating in the candidacies of Ashley Kearney and Branndon D. Jackson, but we give the nod to Mr. Jackson. His compelling story about how he overcame adversity to work for a Fortune 100 company shows he understands the struggles students face. An economist, he can read a budget’s granular details, which would make him a valuable addition to the board.
For the District 9 seat, we endorse Kent Roberson. A graduate of the Prince George’s schools who has three children in them now, Mr. Roberson has been active in his school community and in county politics. He would hit the ground running as the schools seek funding for their growing needs. | 2022-10-19T19:13:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | School board endorsements in Montgomery and Prince George's counties - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/school-board-endorsements-montgomery-prince-georges-maryland/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/school-board-endorsements-montgomery-prince-georges-maryland/ |
Xi to the world: Full speed ahead
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening session of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Oct. 16 in Beijing. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
As Chinese President Xi Jinping prepared for his coronation this week as China’s 21st century emperor, he trumpeted the success of his hard-line policies over the past five years — and, in the process, offered an ominous warning of what’s to come.
Xi’s self-celebration came in the “work report” he delivered Sunday to the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party that’s meeting in Beijing. It was an unyielding official affirmation of the leftward turn he has adopted — without any sign that he recognizes the damage these policies have caused for China’s economy or reputation abroad.
The congress will conclude this weekend by granting Xi an unprecedented third term as China’s leader, and installing a new generation of reliable Xi supporters to the ruling Politburo. Most telling in this festival of personal celebration: Xi’s utter lack of self-criticism.
Outside the echo chamber of Chinese propaganda, there’s growing evidence that Xi is making mistakes. China’s economic growth is slowing, to what many expect could be under three percent this year, and the party was evidently so nervous about this issue that it delayed this week’s scheduled release of third-quarter gross domestic product numbers. China’s business elite, meanwhile, are struggling to cope with Xi’s emphasis on inefficient state-run companies rather than Chinese innovators. And Chinese citizens have suffered under an oppressive “zero covid” lockdown.
David Von Drehle: Xi wants China to eclipse the U.S. He could be his own worst enemy.
Some analysts expected he might offer some modest concessions to his critics at home and abroad — scaling back the zero-covid policy, for example, or promoting officials who might provide more of the checks and balances that had existed among the Chinese collective leadership until Xi took power in 2012 and began a ruthless consolidation.
But Xi offered no apologies for China’s recent course, only praise for his policies and pointed insults for his critics. The setting of the party congress gave his self-assessment special importance. The bottom line: If Xi has been moving in the wrong direction in recent years, as many Chinese and foreign analysts believe, he is now promising to run even faster in that direction in the future.
Xi’s speech was encyclopedic. The official translation ran to 60 pages, single spaced. It’s anodyne-sounding theme was “socialism for the new era,” and Xi mentioned this “new era” — the Age of Xi, we might call it — more than 40 times. The speech had 80 mentions of security, 45 of socialism, 23 of technology. It mentioned freedom once.
Xi’s tone toward the United States was not bellicose, but he signaled that China is hunkering down for a period of intense competition with what he suggested was a bullying America: “Confronted with drastic changes in the international landscape, especially external attempts to blackmail, contain, blockade, and exert maximum pressure on China, we have put our national interests first, focused on internal political concerns, and maintained firm strategic resolve,” he said.
Xi’s most intriguing comments were his attacks on domestic critics, who have grumbled about the Communist Party’s ever-tightening control of all sectors of Chinese life. Xi ripped these naysayers: “Inside the Party, there were many issues with respect to upholding the Party’s leadership, including a lack of clear understanding and effective action as well as a slide toward weak, hollow, and watered-down Party leadership in practice.”
Charles Lane: For China, Xi’s coronavirus policy is a great leap backward
The Chinese leader continued: “Some Party members and officials were wavering in their political conviction. Despite repeated warnings, pointless formalities, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance persisted in some localities and departments. Privilege-seeking mindsets and practices posed a serious problem, and some deeply shocking cases of corruption had been uncovered.”
On his police-state covid lockdowns, Xi said he had launched “an all-out people’s war to stop the spread of the virus,” and he made no mention of the human costs of these policies. With the coronavirus, China truly has been caught between the health risks for an aging population and the costs of strangling commerce and social interaction.
As for the economy, Xi defended his neo-Maoist emphasis on state-run firms, and the consequent throttling of entrepreneurs. He attacked “money worship, hedonism, egocentricity, and historical nihilism” and said of the once-vibrant Chinese internet sector, “online discourse was rife with disorder.” Chinese business leaders were already intimidated by Xi’s attacks; now they are likely to retreat from any Western business contacts that might be dangerous.
Taiwan is the issue that most concerns many Western analysts. They will hardly be reassured that Xi got loud applause when, after saying he wanted peaceful reunification, that “we will never promise to renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary.” He blamed “interference by outside forces” (meaning the United States) and a “few separatists seeking ‘Taiwan independence,’ ” for any troubles.
Xi spoke like the modern-day emperor he has now become. As we read his strident work report, we should remember that its author will be the most powerful Chinese leader in history — whose response to China’s sagging economy and international isolation is full speed ahead. | 2022-10-19T19:13:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | China is becoming the cult of President Xi Jinping - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/xi-china-communist-party-congress/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/xi-china-communist-party-congress/ |
It’s time to stop calling Xi Jinping the ‘president’ of China
By Katherine Wilhelm
A journalist holds magazines with images of Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday. (Tingshu Wang/Reuters)
Katherine Wilhelm is executive director of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute and an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law.
In Chinese philosophy we find the concept of “rectifying names” (zheng ming). Confucius taught that failing to call things by their proper names is a failure to recognize reality, which leads to social and moral disorder.
He was right. One excellent case in point: what to call Xi Jinping.
This week, as the world’s media are following the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress reporters have been referring to Xi almost universally as China’s “president.” But that’s misleading. The congress is likely to give Xi an unusual third five-year term as the leader of the Communist Party. We know the title he holds as party leader: general secretary. And we also know that his immense power as the paramount leader of China derives from this party position, not from his concurrent position as head of state. So why on earth do we persist in calling him “president” instead of “general secretary”?
The position that we have come to call “president” in English is actually styled “state chairman” (guojia zhuxi) in the Chinese constitution. Mao Zedong held the same post for five years in the 1950s but gave it up because he was bored by the paperwork. The next “state chairman” was Liu Shaoqi, who died in detention during the Cultural Revolution, a year after being stripped of all his titles for alleged disloyalty to Mao.
The position fell into disuse but was revived in the 1982 constitution, with fewer powers. In a reflection of the party’s post-Mao backlash against excessive concentration of power, the chairmanship was held by a series of respected veteran members of the party politburo. In 1993, when China was trying to overcome the brief international chill caused by the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, then-party General Secretary Jiang Zemin grabbed the post, and it’s been held concurrently by the party general secretary ever since.
It is generally believed that CCP leaders find the title of president useful when dealing with foreign countries. They can meet as peers with other heads of state rather than with the heads of other countries’ ruling parties — who might not be the same person.
Indeed, the title was so valuable to Xi that in 2018, he had the constitution amended to remove the two-consecutive-term limit on the presidency. Everyone in China immediately understood this as a signal that Xi intended to remain party general secretary for more than two terms. The general secretary position had no such term limit.
The state post holds no charm of its own for an ambitious politician. Mao, not one to share power, was happy to give it up — perhaps because its powers are mostly ceremonial. We never see photos of Xi sitting in a presidential office doing presidential things. It’s not clear that there even is a presidential office per se, with its own staff. The only time we hear from Xi as president is when he signs one-sentence orders proclaiming new laws that have been approved by the National People’s Congress, appoints new ambassadors who have already been approved by the NPC, or takes similar ministerial actions. Virtually all of the powers conferred on the president by the constitution are shared with the NPC or its standing committee. Only the pomp and circumstance of international travel as head of state belong to Xi alone.
Foreign offices and media seem to assume that no harm comes from referring to the CCP general secretary almost exclusively by his state title. But the practice generates a lot of unnecessary confusion about how China’s political system works. Ultimate power in China is held by the Communist Party, with state officials operating solely as its agents. Indeed, under Xi, the party has boldly stepped out of the shadows, issuing more and more policy documents jointly with government bodies or entirely in its own name. When we insist on using Xi’s state title while ignoring his party title, we participate in a charade that pretends important decisions in China are made by the apparatus of the state, instead of by the party.
In China’s own media, Xi is almost always identified as the party general secretary. Let’s follow their example and ditch the word “president.” | 2022-10-19T19:13:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | It’s time to stop calling Xi Jinping the ‘president’ of China - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/xi-jinping-president-china-general-secretary/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/xi-jinping-president-china-general-secretary/ |
Every F1 race brings a three-day festival filled with a variety of events, sideshows and attractions
Advice by Gregory Leporati
Yachts and boats were trucked in and set upon fake water at the Miami Grand Prix in May. (Thomas Simonetti/The Washington Post)
The global motor sport has cracked the American market thanks in part to the breakthrough success of the Netflix docuseries “Drive to Survive.” And while new fans have been enjoying races from their couches on Sunday mornings, many have been itching for the logical next step: attending a Grand Prix in person.
Formula One, fueled by Netflix and ESPN, revs up courtship of U.S. fans
The process, though, is not so simple. With a calendar that zigzags across five continents, and only a few races in the United States — the series will head to Austin for the U.S. Grand Prix on Oct. 23, in addition to races in Miami and Las Vegas next year — seeing a live Formula One race may require an extensive travel plan. For Americans who have never attended a race, the whole weekend can be confusing to navigate, not to mention expensive.
If you’re eager to catch your first F1 race but don’t know where to start, fear not: These tips will help you plan your trip — and hopefully save you a few bucks in the process.
First thing’s first: You’ll want to figure out which race you’d like to attend and where you’ll stay. The earlier you plan, the better, because finding a hotel can be one of the trickiest parts of a Formula One trip.
Shortly after the official Formula One calendar is revealed (the 2023 schedule was released last month), downtown hotels in host cities begin filling up fast. Their prices increase as the race draws near — most hotels in Austin are north of $400 per night during the upcoming U.S. Grand Prix — so you’ll want to start investigating your hotel options early, almost a full year in advance if you’d like to find the best deals.
If downtown hotels exceed your budget, there are other options: You may be able to find a good deal on an Airbnb from a host who may not realize there’s a Formula One race in town. Or you can look to stay in a neighboring city. For example: If downtown Austin seems limited, you can find some more affordable hotels in nearby San Marcos, only a half-hour drive from the racetrack.
An F1 weekend is much more than just the two-hour race on Sunday. Each Grand Prix is a three-day festival filled with a variety of racing series, sideshows and attractions, such as hot-air balloons, motocross stunt shows and rock concerts. Each racetrack creates a carnival atmosphere.
Most new fans feel compelled to attend Sunday’s race, but that’s not necessarily your best option: Those tickets are incredibly expensive (grandstand seats often exceed $500 per ticket), and the viewing experience can be lackluster. Many sections at each track do not have video screens, so you’ll often be relying on Twitter to figure out what happened to your favorite driver.
Want to get to know a new city? Go to a game.
Typically for a fraction of the price (think $50 instead of $500), you can attend Friday’s Formula One practice day and catch on-track action while still soaking in the venue’s atmosphere.
The slightly reduced crowds mean you can get around much more easily and not have to wait in obnoxiously long lines, and you can often pick and choose where you want to sit, because the grandstands are not as packed as the rest of the weekend. If you’re attending your first race and are unsure how you’ll like it, this is a great test and a terrific experience that often gets overlooked.
Formula One is not like a Major League Baseball or National Basketball Association game, where you can hop on StubHub a few days before and pick up cheap nosebleed seats.
Face-value race tickets purchased through Formula One’s website sell out very quickly, but don’t lose hope: You can also find tickets at the independent website for each host racetrack (Circuit of the Americas for the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin; Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Canadian Grand Prix slated for June in Montreal).
Sellout crowd of 140,000 descends on 2021 Grand Prix in Austin
Some of these sites also feature verified resale portals, which is helpful, because resale sites such as StubHub, Viagogo and Vivid Seats don’t always have many options.
And be warned: Ticket prices for newer races — such as Miami, which debuted this year — tend to be very expensive, particularly on the resale market.
Because Formula One is such a global series, each race varies wildly in security procedures, ticket prices, how to get to the racetrack, food options and accessibility.
Formula 1 CEO doesn’t see ‘a girl coming into F1 in the next five years’
Additionally, it’s a good idea to search on social media, particularly on the Formula One subreddit (r/formula1), to get a sense of what fans were saying at last year’s Grand Prix. You might gain some tips and catch wind of any major problems that cropped up: Were there not enough water refill stations? Should you avoid the shuttle buses by taking the subway or driving? | 2022-10-19T19:15:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Austin Formula 1 Grand Prix travel guide - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/formula-one-race-tickets-hotels/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/formula-one-race-tickets-hotels/ |
Transcript: Securing Cyberspace: Business and the Economy
MR. STARKS: Hello, and welcome to Washington Post Live. I’m Tim Starks. I’m the author of the Cybersecurity 202 newsletter here at The Washington Post.
Today we're going to have two segments on cybersecurity and the economy. Later we'll be joined by Congressman Jim Langevin. He's a Democrat of Rhode Island and the co‑founder of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus.
But, first, we're going to be joined by Dmitri Alperovitch. He is the coach‑‑the co‑founder‑‑the founder of the Silverado Policy Accelerator. Before that, he had been the co‑founder of the cybersecurity firm, CrowdStrike.
Dmitri Alperovitch, welcome back to Washington Post Live.
MR. ALPEROVITCH: Thanks so much, Tim.
MR. STARKS: It's a lot for us to discuss, so let's get started. We've seen Russia escalating its war in Ukraine with some attacks in Kyiv, with some attacks on critical infrastructure there, particularly energy facilities. Do you expect Russia to also simultaneously escalate its cyber ambitions in Ukraine?
MR. ALPEROVITCH: I don't think that they're going to dramatically increase the rate of cyberattacks in Ukraine, because frankly they've been targeting Ukraine at a pretty high clip of--high ratio of attack tempo since the war began.
But what I do think we're about to enter is probably one of the most dangerous times that we've had in the history of the cyber domain when it comes to our infrastructure here in the West, both because of what Russia may be doing against us as well as China, where we are both simultaneously entering a time of confrontation with both countries.
And when it comes to Russia, what is clear now is that Putin is steadily escalating this conflict, not just vis‑a‑vis Ukraine and many war crimes by targeting civilians and destroying their critical infrastructure, but also vis‑a‑vis the West. If it is proven that Russia was behind the destruction of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines that provided gas to Europe, that is a very ominous sign that they're willing to directly attack infrastructure that could have potentially been of use down the road to the West.
And I think it shows that as he's escalating his rhetoric, including the use of nuclear threats, as he's mobilizing the Russian public, he may be willing to target the West, and cyber probably is going to be his first weapon of choice.
MR. STARKS: That's what I was just about to ask you about, in fact. We have not seen a whole lot in terms of Russian attacks during this period on the U.S. in cyberspace. We did see some pro‑Russian hackers recently take credit for knocking down some airport websites in the U.S. Have you been surprised that not much has happened, and what do you think it would take for something‑‑for Russia to escalate in cyberspace with the U.S.?
MR. ALPEROVITCH: I have. You know, one of the things that surprised me since the war began is how little we have seen in terms of Russian retaliation vis‑a‑vis the West, both in cyber domain and even economically. Remember that Russia supplies not just energy to Europe but also lots of critical materials, everything from aluminum and nickel and uranium and titanium that is used in many of our industries. They have not worked hard to cut that off so far, and obviously, they have not targeted our infrastructure through cyberattacks either, despite these really aggressive sanctions that we have put on Russia in response to their invasion of Ukraine.
So I do think that we are entering a new phase of the conflict, though, where Putin is starting to realize that the war is not going well for him, and he's steadily losing territory, including territory that he has recently tried to annex, and that may mean that he's going to be much more willing to confront not just Ukraine, but also the West, who he believes, wrongly of course‑‑but he believes are controlling Zelensky and are controlling this conflict.
MR. STARKS: With those geopolitical dynamics in mind, kind of a three‑part question. What kind of attacks do you think Russia would be capable of pulling off against United States? What are perhaps the most probable kind, and what kind of attacks would you expect to get the most bang for their buck if they were to carry them out?
MR. ALPEROVITCH: Well, they're very much obsessed with energy. You know, if you look at their rhetoric, if you re look at the rhetoric of the CEO of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, they talk about Europe freezing this winter, and of course, they are doing their part to help that by cutting off the Nord Stream I pipeline that is providing gas to Europe by claiming that their turbines have all magically gone out of service in the last couple of months.
But, you know, they may also engage in cyberattacks to try to target the LNG facilities that are absolutely critical in compensating for the lost Russian gas that the Europeans are now receiving from other parts of the world. They may be targeting storage facilities. So they may be looking for ways to increase the pressure on Europe specifically and perhaps even on the United States and drive further prices.
They were very much obsessed when we had gas prices at $7 a gallon in some parts of the country early in the summer. That was making headlines all over Russian media, state‑sponsored media, state‑controlled media, I should say, and they may be looking for ways to drive that further.
They, of course, noticed that when one of the Russian‑based ransomware groups attacked the Colonial Pipeline last year, that that caused shortages and long lines on the East Coast. So that may be a blueprint that they may try to replicate going forward.
MR. STARKS: Right. You mentioned U.S. sanctions earlier. I want to come back to that. What kind of impact do you think the U.S. sanctions have had on Russia's approach in cyberspace, its strategy, its ambitions, its goals?
MR. ALPEROVITCH: I don't think it has. Obviously, the sanctions are crippling their financial sector and disconnecting from the rest of the world, and probably the most impactful measures that we have taken on the economic front has been the use of the so‑called "foreign product direct rule," which is actually not a sanction but an export control measure that prevents the export of semiconductors into Russia. That is crippling their industry.
Semiconductors, of course, are essential to virtually every means of modern production these days, from military equipment to cars and microwaves and air conditioners and the like‑‑and electronics. And Russia has had a hard time importing chips. They're not completely cut off. They're still getting it from other sources, including China. They're able to reuse chips from e‑waste. So you're seeing a lot of washer and dryers in Ukraine being stolen by Russian troops. It's not because there are no washers and dryers in Russia and they need to bring them back home. It's because a lot of that equipment has valuable chips that you can reuse, including in military equipment.
MR. STARKS: So, given those limitations, I want to talk about what kind of deterrence you think could work. Back in April for The Post, you wrote "The most effective response would meet two potentially conflicting objectives, deterring further attacks, but not pushing the United States and Russia into an escalatory spiral that would lead to a hot war between the world's two largest nuclear powers." So what does that look like in practice?
MR. ALPEROVITCH: So what we try to articulate is a strategy for potential destructive cyberattacks, and of course, we'll have to see whether their attacks that they launched are impactful or not. If they're nuisance types of attacks, like what we saw from this group against the airline industry, that really does not, in my opinion, deserve much of a response. It doesn't really have much of an impact, and we should not be risking escalation over that.
But, if there's something that's truly destructive or disruptive to our economy, that's a different matter entirely. But instead of getting into a tit‑for‑tat in cyber with Russia, because obviously they can hit us back in many ways a lot harder than we can hit them because they're going to be unconstrained by the rules of war‑‑we've already seeing that, of course, in Ukraine. They're going to target our hospitals. They're going to do things to us that we would never do to them. And the best way to do that is to demonstrate our ability to actually take them offline and to‑‑as a show of force, if you will, to do a demonstration where we could take their internet offline for 30 minutes or an hour. That wouldn't cause significant impact to them but would show them what we are capable of if they don't stop this activity.
MR. STARKS: It sounds like you were starting to get into a little bit of what I was about to ask you next, in fact, which is, at what point would you advocate for the U.S. to get more aggressive on offense in cyberspace? It sounds like you were talking about a big economic impact. Are there other sort of triggers that you would look?
MR. ALPEROVITCH: Well, I think you have to look at cyber in the context of the overall conflict and what you're trying to achieve. Cyber is a means to an end, and at the end of the day, unless you tie it with other measures, whether it's kinetic weaponry or it's economic measures, you're not going to have much of an effect. So, even if you look at the most effective cyberattacks, arguably in history‑‑I believe it was the Russian hack of Viasat that occurred on February 24th when they were able to shut down satellite communications across Ukraine via cyberattack. If they had only just done that cyberattack, it wouldn't have had a whole lot of impact, but it was done in conjunction with kinetic action, with jamming action for other communications channels that the Ukraine were using, and as a result, you had, as Ukrainians themselves were reporting, near complete blackout of communications on the front lines, just as Russia was invading their country.
So that shows you how cyber can be very effective but only if it's coordinated with other attacks and actions across other domains.
So we have to be very thoughtful about what we're trying to achieve, what signal we're trying to send, and how cyber can or maybe not play a role into that.
MR. STARKS: Bringing that Viasat hack up is interesting to me because we have seen Ukraine after some initial discussion of how effective that was. Simply kind of walk back how effective they thought it was. Is that spin from them, or has that been a reevaluation that others would agree with?
MR. ALPEROVITCH: Yeah. I mean, you have to remember what happened a few days later, which is that Elon Musk had come to their rescue and provided Starlink, which has become absolutely essential to their communications. So, yes, in the overall scheme of things, they were able to recover quickly because of, in part, help provided by SpaceX. But there's no question that in those initial days, they were severely impacted by both that hack and other measures that the Russians were taking.
We now know that there was quite a bit of electronic warfare that the Russians were conducting, jamming operations, et cetera, that were quite effective.
MR. STARKS: You mentioned Russia's willingness to go a little further than the U.S. would. There is, by some consensus, a general lack of consensus on the gray areas of cyber norms, and I'm wondering if you think that lack of real institutional cyber norms has given Russia more impunity to operate.
MR. ALPEROVITCH: Well, I actually disagree with the premise of your question. There's actually quite a bit of consensus on cyber norms. In fact, you had a so‑called "group of 20 UN experts," major countries like China, Russia, and United States come together and articulate norms of responsible cyber behavior a few years ago that was then approved by the UN General Assembly.
The issue is not that we lack norms. The issue is that we lack enforcement of norms. So, when those norms are violated, nothing tends to happen, particularly to great powers, and that's of course not just a problem in cyber. It's a problem in the physical world as well, as we're witnessing in this conflict in Ukraine where the Russians are committing all sorts of horrible atrocities‑‑torture, rape and murder‑‑and they're getting away with it so far at least.
MR. STARKS: Okay. I see that‑‑I see that distinction you're raising.
Can we turn to China for a little bit? You have recently discussed President Biden's export measures against the Chinese semiconductor agency‑‑sorry, semiconductor industry. You've talked about that being an act of‑‑a declaration of economic war. Why is that such an important step, and what do you expect China's response to be? Will it move from just an economic response to include cyberspace, especially as it pertains to China's historical theft of intellectual property?
MR. ALPEROVITCH: This is absolutely a huge action and completely unprecedented with that. We're no longer targeting just individual companies. Of course, in the past, we have targeted companies like Huawei and ZTE in telecommunications sector and prevented them from importing U.S. technology or technology with U.S. intellectual property, like semiconductors that have‑‑that's had crippling effects on a company like Huawei. But this is now targeting the entire sector, and it is not only about preventing them from accessing advanced technology, including equipment that they would need to manufacture their own chips. It is also preventing them from access to U.S. talent. So any U.S. permanent resident or a citizen or anyone actually living in the United States is prevented from working with a huge number of Chinese companies and universities and research facilities on anything related to semiconductors, and that is going to have huge effects on China, because you have a lot of expats, American citizens. They're currently working in the Chinese sector. You have a lot of Taiwanese citizens that hold U.S. passport‑‑dual citizenship with the U.S., have U.S. passports, also work in China. All of those people are either going to have to give up U.S. citizenship, which I don't doubt they will do, or leave that industry at the risk of prosecution under U.S. law.
So this is, I believe, a declaration of economic war. It is absolutely going to basically crush Xi Jinping's plans to achieve chip independence by 2025, a key goal that he has had for more than a decade now, and is going to absolutely destroy their efforts at advancing their advanced technology industry over the coming decade.
I doubt that they'll take it sitting down. Of course, they're preoccupied this week with the party congress, and I don't think that there is going to be any retaliation in the near term. But once they get past the Congress and the changes that Xi Jinping is implementing within the party, I think you will see retaliation, both against American companies in China as well as potentially through cyber operations to try to compensate for the loss of access to technology with IP theft. I don't think it's going to be enough, but they're going to keep trying.
MR. STARKS: I know you've paid close attention to what's happening between China and Taiwan right now. What role do you expect cyber might play were China to invade Iran‑‑I'm sorry‑‑invade Taiwan? And I know it's not something that might happen in the near future from what I read from your comments, but what role do you think it would play if it did come to that?
MR. ALPEROVITCH: Well, I think cyber can play a role in preparing the battlefield. So China, unlike Russia, is convinced that it has potential to take Taiwan without firing a shot. I think they're completely wrong on that, but they may try to use propaganda and disinformation, including the cyber domain, to try to convince the population that if war is coming, their best choice is to stop resisting and to acquiesce and join China. They may also use cyber to try to cut off communications if that initial effort fails and if they've actually decided to go to war.
And, you know, the unique vulnerability that Taiwan has, unlike Ukraine, is that it's an island. There is no connection to the outside world except through undersea water‑‑undersea cables. They're supplying much of the communications currently to the island. Those cables could be cut. It is within the power of China to do so if it launches an invasion. It can use jamming to try to block radio and satellite communications with the outside world. Cyber also will play a role in that and‑‑as we've seen in Ukraine‑‑and that is one of the biggest problems that the Taiwanese are going to have.
If you look at what Ukraine has done so incredibly well since this invasion began is they were able to communicate with outside world. They were able to showcase the pain that their population is suffering. They were able to galvanize the world opinion to their side. President Zelensky is putting out videos every single night that are watched by millions of people around the world.
If Taiwan is cut off from the outside world, it will not be able to do that, of course, and that may make China's job much, much easier.
MR. STARKS: So this will probably be our last question. Looking more generally, is there a kind of attack that you think U.S. companies and the U.S. economy might be least prepared for right now?
MR. ALPEROVITCH: Well, any type of disruptive attack that targets our financial sector or targets our energy sector, of course, is going to be impactful. But the one thing to remember and the one thing that the Ukraine conflict shows uniquely well is that no cyberattack is likely to have long lasting impact. There's always workarounds, and even as we've talked with Viasat, there was a workaround with Starlink being able to provide service. We're going to get through this. It may be painful for a few days, but ultimately, the good thing about cyber is that it rarely causes physical destruction.
It is possible in a few occasions, particularly in the operational technology side, if you're targeting turbines and if you're targeting electric substations.
But outside of that, you can always rebuild. You can always, if you have backups, restore from backups, and even Colonial Pipeline was operational within a few days. So that's the nice thing about cyber is that the effects are rarely permanent.
MR. STARKS: Yeah. There's been some alarming discussions we've had here, but that's a good positive note to end on, on what is not as dangerous.
We are, unfortunately, out of time. I want to thank you so much for joining us, Dmitri.
MR. ALPEROVITCH: Thank you so much, Tim.
MR. STARKS: So, up next, we're going to hear from Congressman Jim Langevin but first a video. Please stay with us.
MS. KELLY: Hi there. I'm Suzanne Kelly, CEO and publisher of The Cipher Brief, a national security‑focused media publication.
We talk a lot at The Cipher Brief about cybersecurity, and today we're going to talk about the intersection of digital innovation and cybersecurity. And joining me to talk about this is Ivan Shefrin. He is executive director of Managed Security Services at Comcast Business.
Ivan, thanks for being here.
MR. SHEFRIN: Good morning, Suzanne, and Happy Cybersecurity Month. It's great to be here.
MS. KELLY: Yep, I agree.
You know, everyone in the business community is talking so much about digital innovation and the benefits of it, but what they're talking a little bit less about are the inherent cybersecurity risks that come with that innovation. So I thought I might ask you first off this morning, Ivan, how should businesses be thinking about managing the risk that comes with innovation?
MR. SHEFRIN: That's a great question, Suzanne. So digital transformation at the end of the day allows us to go faster, bring new products and features and services to our customers or constituents and stakeholders.
But, in terms of cybersecurity, that comes at a slight cost, which is the risk of complexity. Complexity ends up being sort of the enemy of cybersecurity because we don't always know‑‑and it's not always easy to identify‑‑who has access to our crown jewel data and who's processing that data.
We buy services that allow us to go faster from companies in‑‑public cloud providers, for example. But there are four main ways that hackers get into our systems to steal or destroy data, and that's credentials, credential theft, phishing vulnerabilities or exploiting vulnerabilities in software bugs, and then botnets of compromised computers on the internet worldwide.
So, as business and government transform and digitize their organizations, it's equally important to build in ways to prevent and detect threats from those four main ways that companies get attacked.
MS. KELLY: And, Ivan, you know, hybrid work, I think we all know has really accelerated the adoption of cloud‑based technologies. How does that present a whole different set of cybersecurity challenges? And then more importantly, how are enterprises adapting to that?
MR. SHEFRIN: That's a great question. So, at the end of the day, hybrid work means people working from home or offices that really aren't protected by the standard cybersecurity controls that we're mostly used to in the office, whether it's a small business, midsize business, or large enterprise.
So one of the fundamental ways‑‑or pillars of cybersecurity is network security, of course, along with application security and user security and email security. Network security is a pretty critical component to make sure that the bad guys don't get in. And, of course, when you're working from home, you are using your home network, and it's not ever going to be secured as well as the corporate network that you're used to at work.
So we have to‑‑instead of just using remote access technology to VPN into our company environment, we've got to make sure that's secured and that the traffic is also inspected.
MS. KELLY: It does, and it leads to another one, funny enough. We've seen such a growth of network‑connected devices, as you were talking about, particularly with employees having their own devices, the Internet of Things. How are these presenting new challenges?
MR. SHEFRIN: That's a great question too. So it kind of goes back to my first answer, which is complexity is a challenge for cybersecurity.
So, when those devices are manufactured and built, it's very difficult to understand the risk involved because we don't know always who built them. We kind of have to take a leap of faith and trust that the firmware and software running on those devices, which may or may not be managed devices, allow us to do our work securely.
Many of those devices often contain vulnerabilities, and it's up to the user themselves to patch those vulnerabilities and keep the software up to the date‑‑up to date. And many of the devices, it's just not possible to update them. In fact, if it's some, you know, IoT device or a smart refrigerator, the ones that aren't as good just don't have that kind of security built in.
So it means that we have to educate our users to keep our systems updated or keep their own personal systems updated and transfer some of that cybersecurity risk out to our user base. And, of course, users are the most vulnerable population of all. So that's a challenge with remote work and hybrid work.
MS. KELLY: Yeah, one of many challenges. I agree.
Ivan, last question for today, how can business leaders be thinking more holistically really about digital growth and cybersecurity strategies?
MR. SHEFRIN: Yeah, that's a great question too.
So, you know, digital business allows us to roll new and innovative features out much more quickly than ever before, right? We can serve business, lower cost to increase revenue and so forth through digital transformation and innovation, but it's really important when rolling out these new technologies, not just to consider the feature itself, but also the infrastructure on which they run. And good security not‑‑involves not only the technology but also the people and process.
So we call this‑‑in cybersecurity, we call this "shifting left" and building security in from the start, not just on the technologies, not just on the third‑party systems that we depend on, but also the people and the processes on which they all depend.
MS. KELLY: I'm going to remember that phrase, "shifting left," because this is something that every business out there right now is thinking about and trying to plan for, for the future.
Ivan Shefrin, executive director of Managed Security Services at Comcast Business, thanks so much for being here.
MR. SHEFRIN: Thanks, Suzanne. It was my pleasure. Have a great day.
MS. KELLY: You too.
And now back to our colleagues at The Washington Post.
MR. STARKS: Welcome back, or if you're just joining us, welcome to Washington Post Live. I am Tim Starks. I'm the Cybersecurity 202 author here at The Washington Post.
I'm now joined by Congressman Jim Langevin. He is a Democrat from Rhode Island. He is also the co‑founder of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus.
Representative Langevin, welcome.
REP. LANGEVIN: Tim, great to be with you.
MR. STARKS: Same.
I know we just saw a little bit from you in Russia in that video, and we were just talking about it with Dmitri as well. Can we talk about what you're seeing from Russia in terms of its capabilities, its goals, its strategies, and how that might have evolved since the invasion of Ukraine?
REP. LANGEVIN: Sure. Well, we know that cyberthreats still remain a significant challenge. What we haven't seen is the massive cyberattacks that perhaps we had expected or the blowback here against the United States that could have happened because of our involvement and support of Ukraine and the work we've done, that President Biden has done to really rally the international community behind Ukraine.
But we can't let our guard down. We know that that cyber is still a significant threat, both to businesses, to our economy, and to our national security, and that's why I'm so pleased that CISA has been so forward‑leaning on the direction of Director Jen Easterly with this Shields Up program, a constant reminder to businesses that we need to be vigilant and really have shields up and be ready.
MR. STARKS: More broadly, can you talk about the need for international rules of the road on cybersecurity?
REP. LANGEVIN: Yeah. International rules of the road are really important, especially among partners and allies and then joining together and being willing to respond when bad actors violate those norms. So think about the idea of not attacking another nation's critical infrastructure in peacetime or a financial system and those types of things. Beyond that, if nation states or proxies do violate those norms, we need to be ready to use all‑source intelligence to identify those violations, call out the bad actors, and then shorten the timeline between identifying the bad actor and the punishment consequence that would result from those actions.
So it takes close coordination and communication with partners and allies, but calling out bad actors and then punishing them appropriately when they when they violate those norms is a critical part of that effort.
MR. STARKS: Do you have thoughts on what you think those norms should look like, what they should actually be
REP. LANGEVIN: Sure. Well, as I identified a couple of them already, not attacking another country in times of‑‑in peacetime. Of course, the situation in Afghanistan, in Ukraine right now is clearly a war situation. We are trying to walk a very fine line, President Biden especially trying to walk a fine line between supporting the country of Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, and I admire their courage. We are grateful for their‑‑certainly their resilience, but at the same time not going so far as to get the United States into a war with Russia.
So we need to make sure that we continue to support all efforts to build up our resilience here at home and out of our partners and allies but recognizing that we could face a significant challenge in the cyber realm going forward.
MR. STARKS: We did recently hear from Albania's prime minister in response to a cyberattack from Iran that he would have‑‑he contemplated invoking Article 5, NATO's Article 5. That's the principle of collective defense. When, or if, do you think that should ever be invoked for a cyberattack?
REP. LANGEVIN: Yeah. It's a good question, Tim, and I would say in those areas where there is the loss of life or there is a disruption or destruction of national critical functions and to critical infrastructure, I think that would constitute an Article 5 violation. You know, this is always, of course, subject to interpretation, but when you specifically see significant damage or loss of life, that's when the red line has been crossed.
MR. STARKS: Right. The next question I have for you is, who is it that you think poses the greatest threat to United States in cyberspace right now? And where do you think we're the most vulnerable?
REP. LANGEVIN: Sure. Well, no shortage of bad actors or their proxies, but clearly, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea are among the top four of the bad actors out there that we have to worry about. Russia has significant cyber capabilities and could use them against us or our allies. We haven't seen, as I said earlier, that level of cyber action or cyberattacks that we had expected, but we're not out of the woods. I've said that many times before.
But I would say one of the biggest threats to our economy comes from China. China uses cyber not only for espionage but also for theft of intellectual property. Director Wray has identified China as the biggest threat to our economy because of the intellectual property that they're stealing to the tune of probably trillions of dollars, and that leads to loss of productivity. It costs American jobs, and China has been, unfortunately, relatively unrestrained, and I think that's an area we need to work harder to push back on China and their malicious cyber activity.
But the Iranians also play a role in cyber operations, and we've seen that in Montenegro and Albania, as you mentioned just recently.
MR. STARKS: Yeah. Speaking of China, some colleagues and I recently reported about FBI warnings to state political party headquarters in various states about Chinese scanning of those targets. At the same time, we've also heard from the administration that there are no specific or credible threats to the midterms right now. Can you talk about what fears or lack thereof you have about threats to the election infrastructure right now?
REP. LANGEVIN: Yeah. Look, great question there, and something that should concern all of us and, again, why we need to double down on our vigilance, making sure that our election systems and election equipment is protected.
They, right now, are priority customers, if you will, with CISA, and I know CISA is working very closely with state and local governments to make sure that whatever resources the federal government can bring to bear to assist and shoring up those defenses and that security of election systems and equipment. We are doing that.
I know that the administration has an all‑hands‑on‑deck approach right now with monitoring and watching out for bad actors trying to interfere with our elections.
But even the idea of posing doubt about the integrity of election could have severe consequences, and so that's why we need to be ever vigilant. And I'm pleased that the steps that are being taken within the administration, CISA in particular, to make sure that those efforts are robust and working with state and locals to protect and‑‑or shore up our election systems.
MR. STARKS: We're now going to go to a question from our audience. Jay Tanner asks, "How does Congress plan to support municipalities and smaller units of local government, many of which have extremely tight budgets in the ongoing cybersecurity conversation? Is there a role for public‑private partnerships in this space?"
REP. LANGEVIN: Yes. There's absolutely a role for public‑private partnerships. We have provided some resources to a state, local, territorial, and tribal governments for building and resilience, and I'd like to see more done as we encourage states and municipalities to migrate data to the cloud where there can be stronger cybersecurity efforts, leaving cybersecurity efforts to those who are really good at it.
Look, the state and local governments will never have the resources to be able to detect against a pushback, a nation state intrusion or attack. We can buy down the risk of state and locals by, again, migrating data to the cloud, providing cloud security companies to do what they do best. I think it's a partnership that we need to encourage.
But the federal government has a strong role to play. I know we provided some resources already, but we're going to need to do more because we're not meeting the need of what state and locals really need for resources to be able to accomplish that goal.
MR. STARKS: Over the time you've been in Congress, as your career here is winding down, you've been definitively one of the most authoritative voices on cyber. Can you talk about how Congress has evolved on that issue over your time?
REP. LANGEVIN: Sure. Well, I can tell you that the awareness level has been raised significantly, and we recognize that it's an ongoing threat. I've often said that cybersecurity is never a problem that we're going to be able to solve, but we can buy down our risks to something that is much more manageable. I'd say the big game changer on cybersecurity and Congress's‑‑the ability and the willingness of Congress to act came as a result of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. I was proud to be one of the commissioners on that, that commission, that was co‑chaired by Senator Angus King and Congressman Mike Gallagher, and it was a truly nonpartisan, bipartisan commissioner, where we just all rolled up our sleeves and did the hard work to come up with an overarching strategy to better protect the United States against cyberattacks of significant consequence. As a result of our efforts, there was some 80 recommendations that were produced. We were able to change‑‑put many of those recommendations into legislative form and get them enacted, a significant number of over 27 or so now, and I believe we're on track to do even more in this‑‑in this next National Defense Authorization Act where we see many of those provisions included. So Congress has done more, and in terms of funding, per se, shoring up CISA, which is vitally important, we need to make sure that that is‑‑that that is the country's premier cybersecurity agency for protecting the dot‑gov network and being a partner with the private sector. Again, we need to continue to grow that partnership because the public‑private partnership is essential. Government cannot do this on its own. Private sector can't do it on its own. We need to be a stronger partner with the private sector and bringing resources to bear wherever possible.
But the Congress has done a lot in terms of raising its own awareness and providing funding to government agencies as well as state and local governments, but it's an ongoing effort. We can't let up now.
MR. STARKS: What would be the top thing Congress could, do you think, to tackle the difficult problem of the big cybersecurity workforce gap that we're seeing?
REP. LANGEVIN: Yeah. Great question there, and that's something that I have often tried to champion and call attention to, the fact that we are woefully under‑resourced right now in our workforce. We can have all the right policies in place, but if we don't have the people to implement them, we are still not effectively protecting the country in cyberspace.
So we need to encourage more people to go into the field of cybersecurity. We need to recognize that it doesn't always mean that you need a four‑year‑‑a traditional four‑year degree at a college or university. In cyber, it could be something of akin to a two‑year cyber degree at a community college or even a certificate program to help someone get their foot in the door to a meaningful career in cybersecurity. It's a good‑paying job and providing an important service to the country or to state and local governments or in the private sector.
So, on the government side, we have the CyberCorps program, which had been a huge champion of‑‑because it's a Scholarship for Service program. It helps pay for the tuition of those who are going into this field while they're in college, and then when they come out, they agree to serve in federal, state, or local government for a period of two years to pay back their service. In the meantime, when they're in school, not only is their tuition paid for, but they're getting a stipend of over $30,000 a year.
So it's a great program that I've been trying to expand. We have met with some success, but we need to continue to grow that program and also look at other efforts, especially at the high school level and encouraging our young people who, by the way, are digital natives growing up, understanding technology better than probably any of us ever will because we are learning about it, where they're living it. And we need to harness that, that talent, the skill, and encourage them to put those skills to use in the field of cybersecurity.
MR. STARKS: I know one thing you've been working hard to get across the finish line here this year is the concept of systemically important critical infrastructure. This is the idea of finding these entities that are just the very most important parts of the critical infrastructure and doing more to protect them. There has been some pushback from industry on this. I wanted to see if you could explain why this is an important thing to get done and specifically what you might be doing to respond to the industry criticism.
REP. LANGEVIN: Sure. Well, I think industry is probably always leery about more requirements being put on them.
You know, I look at it more in terms of how could we better partner with industry and have greater situational awareness to understand what the systemic cyberthreats are and how we can mitigate those threats and share that information more broadly, more effectively, and more quickly.
So the idea of these SIEs, systemically important entities, would basically start off with what are the criteria of what qualifies as an SIE. I would argue that it's those companies that are mature enough to do something with the threat information that is given, and also it's those companies that if they were hit, that's not just the company having a bad day as a result of a cyberattack, but the country would have a bad day as a result of a cyberattack. And so, again, that's the kind of criteria that we need to look at for, I believe, SIE. I'd like to see some more specifics in terms of what qualifies or what companies would constitute being an SIE.
But then we also need to have some additional requirements, kind of a new social contract. That's why I think that a joint collaborative environment is so important. Creating an entity that has basically a common operating toolset for giving broader situational awareness and being able to share information in real time, not just passing emails back and forth, but being able to actually see threat information and understanding that in context and being able to share it again in real time as opposed to just passing emails back and forth.
The SIEs, joint collaborative environment, of course, the JCDC, making sure that we're doing effective cyber planning, those are the things where I think government and industry can and should partner more closely together.
MR. STARKS: What are your thoughts on the Biden administration's approach that seems to be a bit more regulatory than past administrations on some key sectors? Today we saw them talking about‑‑or I guess yesterday we saw them talking about rail carriers and wanting to put more guidelines in place for them. Do you think that's an appropriate approach?
REP. LANGEVIN: Sure. It's a balance, right? In some way, it's always best that we have the public‑private partnership and things are voluntary. When that fails, legislation or regulation might be appropriate.
I've often harkened back to why do we have the safest airline industry in the world. Well, you know, certainly, the airline companies want to get their passages safely from point A to point B, but, you know, good intentions and hope is only going to get you so far. And that's why you have the FAA or the NTSB that does, in some cases, provide appropriate regulation.
And so where it's necessary through regulation, it should be considered, but always the front lines should be the public‑private partnership, wherever possible, or incentives wherever we can.
But, in some places‑‑first of all, I applaud the Biden administration for their work in cyber. In all the years that I've been doing this, I have not been more impressed than what I am with the Biden administration and what they've done. And that goes across other administrations, Democrat or Republican administrations. The Biden administration has done more than any other, and we finally now have the right structure, policies, and people in place to do the job of effectively‑‑more effectively protecting the country in cyberspace.
But, again, we need‑‑we need to continue to focus on the people because growing the workforce is very essential.
By the way, I'm pleased that Chris Inglis is on the job as our first national cyber director. It's a position that I worked for over a decade to create, and finally, Chris is in place. And he's the quarterback for helping to coordinate our cyber defensive policies especially, and he's been a very effective voice in that role.
MR. STARKS: We have to leave in just one moment. Should we expect to see you working on cyber issues after you leave Congress now?
REP. LANGEVIN: You know, I'm sure I will be involved in cyber issues in some way, shape, or form. It's been the highlight of my career to have served in Congress for 22 years, and it is certainly bittersweet as the end of the year approaches. And I am personally very proud of the role I played in cyber. It's one of those areas where not many people were doing it, and I was able to grab onto this issue and work in a bipartisan way with colleagues, including Mike McCaul and Mike Gallagher and people like Dutch Ruppersberger on our Democratic side and several others to advance the cause, better protect the country in cyberspace.
So I'm sure that I'll be involved in cyber in some way, shape, or form. What that will be yet, I'm not sure. But I'll always at the ready to assist in any way I can. It's such an important issue and, again, not going away anytime soon, but we've got to get this right. It's just too important to the country not to continue to focus.
MR. STARKS: I'm sure people are glad to hear you say that.
Unfortunately we are out of time. Thank you so much for joining us, Congressman Langevin.
REP. LANGEVIN: Thank you, Tim. Great to be with you.
MR. STARKS: So I want to thank all of you for joining us for this conversation. To check out what interviews we have coming up, please head to Washington Post, WashingtonPostLive.com to find more information about all of our upcoming programs.
I'm Tim Starks, and again, thank you so much for joining us. | 2022-10-19T19:15:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Transcript: Securing Cyberspace: Business and the Economy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/10/19/transcript-securing-cyberspace-business-economy/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/10/19/transcript-securing-cyberspace-business-economy/ |
Where the Jan. 6 committee failed
Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) takes his seat at a House Jan. 6 select committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Oct. 13. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
As the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol closed what is probably its last hearing with a vote to subpoena former president Donald Trump, Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) declared, “He must be held accountable.”
The committee did an effective job, especially at last week’s session, proving the centrality of Trump’s role in sending a violent mob of his followers to the Capitol intent on overturning a legitimate presidential election. It was striking how premeditated his plan was to create the conditions for an insurrection, not just in the marching order the president delivered that day to “fight like hell,” but also in the plot concocted before the first 2020 election ballot had been counted to preemptively — and, it turns out, falsely — declare victory. That lie was the original sin, not just of Jan. 6, but of the undermining of democracy in which most of the Republican candidates for key offices this fall have been complicit.
And yet the early evidence shows that the committee’s probe, while important and even vital for establishing the truth, does not seem to have mattered — at least not in the sense of crystallizing public understanding or changing people’s minds.
In a survey released Wednesday by Monmouth University’s reputable polling outfit, only 36 percent of respondents said they believed Trump was “directly responsible” for what happened on Jan. 6, which is six points down from the response they got to that question shortly after the committee began its public hearings in June. It’s only slightly more than the 33 percent in the same survey who said they believe Trump did nothing wrong.
Now, it appears, not so much. On Tuesday, a Virginia jury acquitted Igor Danchenko, a private researcher who was a primary source for a 2016 dossier of allegations about Trump’s ties to Russia, finding him not guilty of lying to the FBI about where he got his information. The case was Durham’s second strikeout in two times at bat. Cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann, who also was accused by the special counsel of lying to the FBI, was found not guilty in May by a federal jury. The Post reported Danchenko’s trial might well be Durham’s last, though he will issue a report of his investigation.
We are no longer living in the years before and during Watergate when a high-profile investigation, warranted or not, could drive public opinion. The easiest conclusion to draw is that Americans are so siloed in their political views that it is impossible to budge them. But I think the problem is deeper than that — and it has been festering since long before the Trump presidency.
The vast majority of Americans believe that democracy is imperiled, but as the New York Times’s Nate Cohn pointed out while analyzing his newspaper’s most recent poll, they do not describe it in a way that “squares with discussion in mainstream media and among experts — with a focus on Republicans, Donald J. Trump, political violence, election denial, authoritarianism, and so on.” They believe the threat to democracy stems from corruption, and their view that government no longer works for all people.
Investigations such as the House Jan. 6 select committee can still have enormous value. None of this takes away from the admiration we should have for those who seek the truth — especially those two principled Republicans, Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), who were willing to set their political careers on fire in the quest. | 2022-10-19T19:24:51Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The Jan. 6 committee has failed to change minds - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/jan-6-committee-failure-opinions-polls/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/jan-6-committee-failure-opinions-polls/ |
Two years after Maryland voters decided to legalize sports betting, and nearly a year after the first bets were placed inside the state’s casinos, Maryland could start taking online sports bets by the end of November or early December — after first reviewing the applications it has received from companies that want to offer the service — a state commission said on Wednesday.
At a meeting of the Sports Wagering Application Review Commission (SWARC), Maryland gaming official John J. Mooney said the state had received 10 applications from mobile sports-betting operators ahead of the initial deadline, which is Friday. Kimberly M. Copp, the commission’s legal consultant, added that she expected a few more applications to come in before then. The state has authorized SWARC to award up to 60 mobile licenses, and if that number is not met by Friday, SWARC can open up another application window.
After the deadline, SWARC will present the license applications to the Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency at its Oct. 27 meeting. Each application will be vetted by the state, and SWARC will reveal the companies that have been awarded licenses at its next meeting on Nov. 21. Then, after one final review of each company’s internal controls, which should take about a week, the state will issue the licenses and mobile sports gambling will begin in Maryland.
The commission has said it will issue the licenses on a rolling basis as it completes the application reviews instead of issuing them all at the same time, and some of the industry’s largest operators have already started directing advertising toward Maryland residents
Maryland has taken an arduous path toward full-fledged sports betting, which was approved via ballot question by the state’s voters in 2020. The General Assembly passed a law setting the framework for the industry in 2021, but the state took a methodical approach toward awarding licenses for mobile sports betting as it studied ways to attract smaller minority- and women-owned companies that often are less represented in the industry. So while brick-and-mortar sportsbooks opened at state casinos late last year, the state has yet to tap into the lucrative mobile sports gambling market, which is projected to inject millions into state coffers in 2023. Still, that revenue won’t come close to the revenue generated by the state’s casinos, which generated $67.9 million for Maryland in September alone. Brick-and-mortar sports wagering at the state’s seven facilities in September totaled $31.4 million, contributing about $1 million to a state publication education fund.
Most of the states that border Maryland, plus the District of Columbia, have long had mobile sports gambling, and the lengthy delay has irked those who believe that the state has fallen well behind its neighbors. Plus, many had hoped that Maryland would get mobile betting up and running before the start of football season, a lucrative time on the wagering calendar.
Gov. Larry Hogan (R) had pushed SWARC to “accelerate and intensify” its efforts to allow mobile wagering before the start of the football season, writing in June that “instead of decisive action to implement the voters’ decision, you have allowed the process to stagnate and become mired in overly bureaucratic procedures that have needlessly delayed” the state’s entry into the market. But other officials said one of the nation’s slowest launches helped ensure an appropriate process. | 2022-10-19T19:55:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Maryland online sports betting should begin in late November or early December - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/maryland-sports-gambling/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/maryland-sports-gambling/ |
Give my disregards to Broadway’s over-the-top theater ‘trigger warnings’
By Richard Zoglin
This case of Roundabout Theatre Company's "1776" during a performance in New York. ( Joan Marcus/Polk & Co. via AP)
Richard Zoglin is a New York-based writer and critic.
Broadway theatergoing is finally back to something close to normal. No more pandemic-era lines outside the theater to show proof of vaccination; no more mask requirements (though many in the cautious, mostly older Broadway crowd are still wearing them); no more last-minute cancellations because half the show’s cast has come down with covid-19.
Not content with their spaces being safer, theaters increasingly seem to want to be “safe spaces.”
Take the audience advisory for the new Broadway revival of the musical “1776.” Highlighted in red on the production’s website, it warns that the show, about the political wrangling that led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, “contains stylized representations of racialized violence” as well as “sexually suggestive themes, occasional strong language, haze, a brief strobe effect, a non-firing replica firearm, and a gunshot sound effect.”
The warning struck me as a little alarmist, especially after seeing the show. The “racialized violence” is a reference to the show’s somewhat overheated, but historically accurate, depiction of the debate over slavery. The only strong language I heard was an occasional “damn it, Franklin”; and the sexual material was so mildly suggestive as to be barely noticeable. As for the replica firearm — well, the country was at war, wasn’t it?
Catherine Rampell: Goodbye, ‘Phantom’: The godfather of blockbuster musical theater
Just how much coddling do theatergoers need these days? An audience advisory for the touring production of the recent revisionist Broadway revival of “Oklahoma!” gives a jarringly literal spin to the term “trigger warning.” It alerts viewers to the exact number of guns that appear onstage (114) and details the timing and plot circumstances of each of the four gunshots heard in the show. “The third shot is around 18 minutes into the second act … with a character surreptitiously picking up the gun, then firing it off in order to bring order to a chaotic scene on stage.”
Spoilers are allowed, I guess, for what is described as Broadway’s first “gun-neutral production”: For every gun prop that appears in this “Oklahoma!,” the producers promised to make a minimum $100 donation toward nonprofits working to take illegal firearms out of circulation or supporting youth programs in areas with high levels of gun violence.
So-called trigger warnings first gained notoriety several years ago, when some college instructors began alerting students to potentially disturbing content in reading material, even classic novels such as “The Great Gatsby” (abusive treatment of women) and “Mrs Dalloway” (discussion of suicide). And audience advisories have long been common in theater playbills, alerting patrons to surprise gunshots and other things that might affect sensitive viewers, such as strobe effects or smoking onstage.
But the new advisories go well beyond that. They seem less about protecting potentially distressed theatergoers than italicizing the show’s revisionist, diversity-minded, politically evolved messages. The most startling thing about the new production of “1776” is not any sexually suggestive material but the topsy-turvy sexual casting: All of the Founding Fathers are played by female, nonbinary and transgender actors. This rather blunt-force gimmick is meant, of course, to highlight the utter lack of diversity among the delegates to the Second Continental Congress, the band of White men who established the freedoms on which our nation is based.
More bothersome, these warnings often seem to reflect a patronizing, self-centered view of the past — a need to signal how far we’ve advanced from an era whose customs, morals and political views no longer mesh with our own.
Yes, a lot of people in the old Oklahoma Territory walked around toting guns — and sometimes even fired them. And yes, the White men who signed the Declaration of Independence were largely oblivious to the rights of women and people of color. But if we can’t change the past, can we at least try to understand it on its own terms?
At least the moral preening isn’t universal — there are no similarly prominent warnings about the Nazi spouting antisemitic slurs in Tom Stoppard’s Holocaust play, “Leopoldstadt,” which just opened on Broadway, or about the brutal rape scene in the Tony-winning musical “A Strange Loop.” Perhaps that’s because shocking the audience — provoking a reaction, forcing us to confront unpleasant things — is part of the point, not just of these plays but of much of Western drama going back to Shakespeare.
Yet not even the Bard has escaped the new skittishness. For its production of “Romeo and Juliet” last year, London’s Globe Theater felt it necessary to warn audiences about the play’s “upsetting” content, including “depictions of suicide, moments of violence and references to drug use.” That was followed by a list of organizations offering “advice and support” for anyone who might be disturbed by the play.
Theater producers genuinely concerned about the well-being of their audiences should consider the research showing that trigger warnings may actually increase anxiety among vulnerable theatergoers. I jump as high as anyone at the sound of a gunshot onstage, but I’m not sure an advance warning would help much. And when it comes to Romeo’s swordplay, or John Adams’s profanity — damn it, Franklin, I think I can handle it. | 2022-10-19T20:38:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Give my disregards to Broadway’s over-the-top theater ‘trigger warnings’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/broadway-trigger-warnings-too-much/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/broadway-trigger-warnings-too-much/ |
Russia doesn’t want everything, just the world
A man walks Oct. 10 in front of civilian houses destroyed in a rocket strike in Kupiansk, Ukraine. (Wojciech Grzedzinski for The Washington Post)
David Ignatius deserves credit for raising an uncomfortable question in his Oct. 12 op-ed, “ ‘It’s not Putin; it’s Russia,’ for Ukrainians.” Though he provided an informed discussion, in the end he failed to conclude what is obvious: Russia has a centuries-long history of preying on smaller and weaker neighbors. From the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century to the absorption of Finland in the 19th century to the forcible acquisition of the three Baltic states and the five Central Asian “stans” as well as large swaths of the Caucasus and the unequal treaties with China that resulted in the securing of territory in the Far East, Russia has been on a brutal quest to acquire more and more territory despite the clear objections of the affected inhabitants. Whether under the czarist regime, the thin veneer of communism or the quasifascist Putin regime, the Russian playbook has always been the same.
As has been observed before, Russia doesn’t seek to dominate the world, only those countries that border it, until those borders are once again expanded. There is a very good reason the Baltics and Poland are in the vanguard of opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine: They know from bitter experience what the scenario will be if Russia is successful.
Alan Neuschatz, Chevy Chase
The Oct. 13 editorial “What’s next for Russia” correctly stated that many Russian citizens “are in a ‘state of deep resentment towards the West’ and believe that it has prevented Russia from regaining great-power status.” Nothing justifies what Russian President Vladimir Putin has done, but, in terms of his being able to sustain Russian popular support, the assertion about U.S. policy since the end of the 1990s is accurate. Some U.S. experts and commentators understood that as it happened, but they were ignored by U.S. leaders and mainstream media alike.
After George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton worked to build a “Europe whole and free,” the next four administrations forgot the lesson of Germany and the Treaty of Versailles in 1919: Punishing or belittling a defeated great power (Germany then, and Russia after 1998) builds national resentments and helps empower tyrants. The United States left the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Euromissile agreement, deployed anti-ballistic-missile systems in Central Europe and decided at the 2008 NATO summit that Ukraine and Georgia will become members of the alliance.
To understand why the bulk of Russian public opinion supports Mr. Putin includes seeing the U.S. and NATO role for what it has been toward Russia’s place in Europe for more than 20 years. We have to show due respect to the Russian people and provide a valid place in the post-Ukraine-war world to Russia while requiring that it accept the needed strictures and responsibilities, as it is not now doing. To deny this reality is to help make permanent a new Cold War — or worse.
Robert Hunter, Washington
The writer is a former U.S. ambassador to NATO. | 2022-10-19T20:39:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Russia doesn’t want everything, just the world - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/russia-doesnt-want-everything-just-world/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/russia-doesnt-want-everything-just-world/ |
Vigilantes must be stopped
Members of the Proud Boys near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post)
Regarding Karen Tumulty’s Oct. 17 op-ed, “Proud Boys may be coming to a park near you”:
They call themselves “Proud Boys” and yet are too scared to reveal their faces, choosing masks and bandannas to avoid recognition. Nevertheless, these vigilantes must be stopped. No one intended the First Amendment to protect threats of violence, particularly when a gang such as this one already has a track record of physically harming others.
Shari Jacobson, Lewisburg, Pa. | 2022-10-19T20:39:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Vigilantes must be stopped - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/vigilantes-must-be-stopped/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/vigilantes-must-be-stopped/ |
For the first time, scientists were able to simulate the tsunami that struck 66 million years ago.
Researchers have modeled the tsunami created by the nine-mile-wide asteroid that wiped out dinosaurs 66 million years ago. (Video: University of Michigan)
Sixty-six million years ago, a nearly nine-mile-wide asteroid collided with Earth, sparking a mass extinction that wiped out most dinosaurs and three-quarters of the planet’s plant and animal species. Now we’re learning that the so-called Chicxulub asteroid also generated a massive “megatsunami” with waves more than a mile high.
A study, published in AGU Advances, recently allowed scientists to reconstruct the asteroid’s impact. Scientists were able to estimate the extreme effects of the collision, which included a global tsunami that brought flooding around the world.
“This was a global tsunami,” said Molly Range, a scientist at the University of Michigan and the study’s corresponding researcher. “All of the world did see this.”
Following the asteroid’s impact, there would be extreme rises in water level in two phases, the team found: the rim wave and subsequent tsunami waves.
“If you just dropped a rock in a puddle, there’s that initial splash; that’s the rim wave,” Range said.
These rim waves could have reached an inconceivable height of one mile — and that’s before the tsunami really gets going, the paper estimates.
“Then you see a wedge effect with the water being pushed symmetrically away [from the impact site],” Range said, noting that the Chicxulub asteroid struck in the Gulf of Mexico just north of what’s presently the Yucatán Peninsula.
“It had calmed down enough and the crater had formed,” Range said. That’s around the time the tsunami began racing across the ocean at the speed of a commercial jetliner.
“The continents looked a little bit different,” Range said. “Most of the East Coast of North America and the north coast of Africa easily saw 8 meter-plus waves. There was no land between North and South America, so the wave went into the Pacific.”
To simulate the megatsunami, the team of scientists used a hydrocode — a three-dimensional computer program that models the behavior of fluids. Hydrocode programs work by digitally breaking the system into a series of small Lego-like blocks, and then calculating forces acting on it in three dimensions.
The researchers drew on previous research and assumed the meteor had a diameter of 8.7 miles and a density of about 165 pounds per cubic foot — roughly the weight of an average adult male crammed within a volume the size of a milk crate. That means the entire asteroid probably weighed about two quadrillion pounds — that’s a 2 followed by 15 zeros.
After the hydrocode produced a simulation of the initial stages of impact and first 10 minutes of the tsunami, the modeling was turned over to a pair of NOAA-developed models to handle tsunami propagation throughout the global oceans. The first was called MOM6.
“Initially we started using the MOM6 model that is an all-purpose ocean model, not just a tsunami model,” Range said. The team was forced to make assumptions about the bathymetry, or shape and slope of the sea floor, as well as the ocean’s depth and the structure of the asteroid crater. That information, along with the tsunami waveform from the hydrocode model, were pumped into MOM6.
In addition to building a model, the study researchers reviewed geologic evidence to study the tsunami’s path and power.
Range’s co-author, Ted Moore, found evidence of major disruptions in the layering of sediment at plateaus in the ocean and coastlines at more than 100 sites, supporting results from the study’s model simulations.
The modeling predicted tsunami flow velocities of 20 centimeters per second along most shorelines worldwide, more than sufficient to disturb and erode sediment.
“We’d like to look at inundation, which we didn’t do with just this current work,” Range said. “You really need to know the bathymetry and the topography.” | 2022-10-19T20:43:23Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs caused a ‘megatsunami’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/10/19/tsunami-dinosaur-meteor-extinction-waves/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/10/19/tsunami-dinosaur-meteor-extinction-waves/ |
Author of the Cybersecurity 202 newsletter at The Washington Post, Tim Starks, speaks with Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), co-chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, and Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and chair of Silverado Policy Accelerator, about how businesses can navigate the threat landscape, the impact on the national economy and ways to grow the cyber workforce. | 2022-10-19T20:44:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Two veteran journalists on the impeachments and acquittals of Donald Trump - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/post-live/two-veteran-journalists-on-the-impeachments-and-acquittals-of-donald-trump/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/post-live/two-veteran-journalists-on-the-impeachments-and-acquittals-of-donald-trump/ |
The increased lifespan of Americans is changing attitudes about retirement, allowing companies to retain experienced employees and bringing greater age diversity to the workforce. On Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 1:00 p.m. ET, join Washington Post Live for conversations with Jason Furman, former economic advisor to President Obama, and Laura Carstensen, founding director of Stanford’s Center on Longevity, about the opportunities and challenges of an aging workforce and the impact on the national economy.
Former Director, National Economic Council
Laura Carstensen
Founding Director, Stanford Center on Longevity
Presenting Sponsor: AARP | 2022-10-19T20:46:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Experts on changing attitudes about work and aging - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/10/26/experts-changing-attitudes-about-work-aging/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/10/26/experts-changing-attitudes-about-work-aging/ |
Sean Hannity’s million-dollar in-kind contribution to the GOP
Ninety-seven minutes of Republican interviews just in the past two weeks
Fox host Sean Hannity speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Aug. 4 in Dallas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Two Wednesdays ago, Fox News’s Sean Hannity began his show in characteristic format, criticizing President Biden and inveighing about the Biden administration’s efforts to lower gas prices. Various Fox personalities and contributors joined him to echo and amplify his rhetoric.
About a third of the way into his show, though, he pivoted. He began talking about the Senate race in Wisconsin, in which incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R) holds a narrow lead in polling. And then, lo and behold, Johnson appeared for an interview as friendly as it was concise. That out of the way, Hannity turned his attention to a different subject: the Senate race in Ohio. And there was Republican candidate J.D. Vance, ready to chat about his positions with the Fox News host.
A commercial break and then Mehmet Oz, Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, was there to chat with Hannity. And when Oz was done, it was Rep. Ted Budd’s (R-N.C.) turn; he’s the GOP’s Senate nominee. In total, Hannity spent about 14 minutes of his show interviewing Republican Senate candidates — about a quarter of the full hour, even if you don’t take out the time spent showing ads.
“We’ll do the job of the media mob,” Hannity told his audience on Oct. 5 before his friendly chat with Oz: “We’ll vet the candidates.”
This is how Hannity has been spending his airtime of late: repeatedly welcoming and “interviewing” Republican candidates. He’s had 18 candidates on in the past two weeks, 13 of whom are Republicans running for Senate. Several candidates have appeared multiple times, including Johnson and Rep. Lee Zeldin, who’s running for governor of New York. On Monday, he took it a step further: dedicating the entirety of his show to a “town hall” with Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, interspersing wiffle-ball-level questions to the candidate with chats with more established Republican politicians who joined Hannity and Walker on the stage.
In total, Hannity’s spent more than 97 minutes of his last 10 hours of airtime interviewing those 18 candidates — airtime that, again, includes more than 15 minutes of ads. In other words, he’s spent about a fifth of the total time he has to present programming in interviews with candidates.
This is extremely valuable airtime. Thirty-second spots on Hannity’s show ran more than $76,000 at the higher “issue rate” in the third quarter, according to the Columbus, Ohio-based firm Medium Buying. Candidate rates are lower, often substantially, particularly when you buy more time. If we assume that each 30 seconds costs as little as $50,000 — well beneath what Medium Buying has been cited for candidate spots in the past — the airtime provided by Hannity would have run the candidates north of $2.4 million.
Instead, it’s not costing them anything. In fact, it’s probably a net positive, by design: During the interview, they often pointedly include directions for viewers to visit their websites and contribute.
Again, the 97 minutes is only the interview. It doesn’t include the introductions to each segment, which often included negative news stories about their opponents or snippets of recent debates (as he did with Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon and Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters). Before that interview with Oz on Oct. 5, he showed an ad from Oz’s campaign, then welcomed the candidate himself on “for reaction.”
Oz reacted positively to the ad, as you might assume.
This is also only one show and one means of boosting candidates. The watchdog group Media Matters catalogued the extent of Fox News’s coverage of Senate races across prime time from early September to early October. Fox mentioned Republican Senate candidates about twice as often as MSNBC — and mentioned Democrats nearly four times as many times as its rival. Data provided by Media Matters to The Washington Post indicates that Republican Senate candidates made 32 combined appearances on Fox’s prime-time programs from Sept. 6 to Oct. 18.
On Monday, Hannity entered his last commercial break with a tease: he had a big announcement worth sticking around for. When the show returned, he broke the news: his guest on Wednesday would be Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, who would be the star of an hour-long “town hall” discussion.
It will no doubt prove to be lucrative. | 2022-10-19T21:13:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Sean Hannity’s million-dollar in-kind contribution to the GOP - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/19/fox-news-hannity-republican-candidates/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/19/fox-news-hannity-republican-candidates/ |
After a Georgetown Law grad watched her sister have bad experiences with dating apps, the two came up with Dateability for disabled people
Sisters Alexa, left, and Jacqueline Child. (Family photo)
As she recovered from hip surgery, Jacqueline Child sent a message to a man she had met through a popular dating app. She wanted to let him know she couldn’t do anything too strenuous on their date, but they could have dinner together.
She still hasn’t forgotten the conversation that followed.
He asked how she had gotten injured. She told him she hadn’t. She explained that a connective-tissue disorder required her to have surgery.
“Well, I hope you’re not planning to have children,” he told her. “You shouldn’t pass that on.”
His words stunned her. She hadn’t even talked to her family or friends about whether she wanted children, and here was a man she barely knew speaking to her about eugenics.
“It was horrible,” she said. “It was the most invasive question when literally we had exchanged two messages to each other.”
It also wasn’t her only bad experience with dating apps. She had started dating another man she met through an app and the relationship was progressing — until he told his mom about her disability.
“She told him to run, and he told me,” Child said. “It was just very traumatic and a real eye-opener, and I know I’m not the only one who has experienced things like that.”
It’s not easy for the 28-year-old to talk publicly about how she was treated. For a long while, she didn’t even want to share with people close to her how difficult she was finding dating. But on the day we talked, she explained that she has come to believe these types of honest conversations are needed. She also gets that people need to know about her past dating experiences to understand why she and her sister, Alexa Child, have been working hard to change the future dating experiences of other people.
On Friday, the two will launch Dateability, a dating app designed for disabled and chronically ill people. It carries the slogan “Making love accessible.” As the sisters tell it, they created the app in hopes of establishing a welcoming space for people to enter the dating pool without having to worry about constantly encountering ableist attitudes and behavior.
College students with disabilities deserve accessible campuses
“The bottom line is disabled people have sex, and they are worthy of sex and relationships,” Jacqueline Child said. “And I think a lot of people forget about that or don’t want to think about that. But it’s a really important conversation.”
Time will reveal how many people will be drawn to the new app. When it launches, users in the D.C. region will be allowed to connect with users across the nation and Canada and Mexico, but the hope is that so many people eventually sign up that a person will need only to look at members in their geographical region to find a match. The app also comes at a time when the pandemic has caused many people to have chronic illness and disabilities.
But no matter what happens with the app, the creation of it promises to bring valuable discussions about accessibility and ableism when it comes to the dating scene and amplify those conversations that have already been happening.
The unexpected star of NASA’s Webb images — the alt text descriptions
“Bumble, Tinder, e-Harmony: Make your platforms more inclusive of people with disabilities,” reads the title of a petition Jerusha Mather created.
“People with disabilities (PWD) are often discriminated against by other users on dating platforms, and not seen as potential partners,” Mather, who has cerebral palsy, wrote on the petition. “I’m calling on Tinder, Bumble, e-Harmony to take steps to increase visibility of PWD using their apps and educate their users to be more open and inclusive. Just like the next person, I too am looking for a romantic partner and want to be in love. People with disabilities have the potential to become great partners. We bring love, care and passion to our relationships just like anyone else. We want to be lovers, parents and experience fulfilling relationships.”
I spoke with Mather through email, and she said she believes all dating apps should be inclusive.
“Mainstream dating shows should also include people with disabilities,” she said. “This will really help people understand disabilities and encourage them to be more inclusive.”
If you talk to Alexa Child, a public-interest attorney who graduated from Georgetown Law, she will tell you that her sister is a catch: “She’s beautiful and kind and very thoughtful. People who have known us for years, they can never believe that Jacqueline is still single and can’t find somebody.”
But the 32-year-old, who lives with her sister, has watched Jacqueline have one bad encounter after another with potential dates and grown frustrated on her behalf. Then late last year, Jacqueline decided to get a surgery that would leave her with a feeding tube, making it so that she could no longer eat dinner out, and they both worried what that might do to her dating life.
That’s when they came up with the idea for the app. Alexa described it as a way for them to “take the power and control back.”
In the week that Jacqueline spent recovering in the hospital after her surgery, they worked on the app together.
“I don’t think we would have been able to do it individually, but as a team we could do it,” Jacqueline said. “It’s very unique that we live together and that we’re also best friends.”
“Even though we are so similar, in a lot of ways we are also so different and we complement each other very well,” Alexa said. “Jaqueline is good at marketing and graphic design and being creative. I bring in the legal aspect and business mind.”
The two decided to not restrict who could use the app, because they didn’t want to require people to submit confidential medical information or exclude people who might have relatives and friends with disabilities. But they said they plan to take reports of abuse and harassment seriously and offer safety tips through the app.
The sisters have created an Instagram page to offer updates about the app and have spent the past several weeks letting people know it’s coming. So far, they said, the reaction has been positive. Some of the responses they have received: “This is so needed.” “I can relate to this so much.” And “How is it 2022 and we don’t have a dating app for disabled people?”
Jacqueline said she is excited not just to launch the app but also to use it. She hopes to connect with someone through the platform who sees her disability but doesn’t see only that.
“I am the first to say I am who I am because I’m disabled,” she said, “but I am also much more than that.” | 2022-10-19T21:22:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Two sisters created a dating app that aims to ‘make love accessible’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/19/dateability-dating-app-disability/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/19/dateability-dating-app-disability/ |
Driver in Arlington restaurant crash will not be charged, police say
Police said the driver who crashed into plowed into Ireland’s Four Courts pub experienced a medical emergency before the crash
The scene in the 2000 block of Wilson Boulevard, where multiple people were injured after a vehicle crashed into a building and sparked a fire in August. (Aviva Loeb/The Washington Post)
Arlington police announced Wednesday that they will not charge the driver who crashed into Ireland’s Four Courts pub in Arlington in August, sparking a fire and injuring more than a dozen people.
Police said the driver experienced a medical emergency before the crash.
The crash took place in mid-August in the 2000 block of Wilson Boulevard. Fifteen people were injured when the vehicle went through the pub’s front door, according to authorities and witnesses. All patients in the crash were released by mid-September, according to police.
In a similar incident in March in the District, two women died and at least nine other people were injured when the driver of a small SUV crashed into patrons outside a restaurant along Connecticut Avenue NW during lunch, according to D.C. police and fire officials. | 2022-10-19T21:22:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Driver in Arlington restaurant crash will not be charged, police say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/19/arlington-pub-crash-no-charges/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/19/arlington-pub-crash-no-charges/ |
Capitol Police investigate ‘suspicious vehicle’ near U.S. Capitol
The vehicle is located in the 100 block of East Capitol Street NE, which is near the Library of Congress
Police detained three people near the U.S. Capitol and the Library of Congress on Wednesday afternoon during an investigation of a “suspicious vehicle,” authorities said.
The vehicle was located on the 100 block of East Capitol Street NE, according to U.S. Capitol Police. Police shut down East Capitol Street between First Street and Third Street, and First Street and Second Street between Constitution Avenue and Independence Avenue during the investigation.
Capitol Police announced the investigation before 4 p.m. Roads were still closed around 4:40 p.m. | 2022-10-19T21:22:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Police investigate ‘suspicious vehicle’ near U.S. Capitol - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/19/suspicious-vehicle-capitol-building-dc/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/19/suspicious-vehicle-capitol-building-dc/ |
LONDON — British food prices rose at the fastest pace since 1980 last month, driving inflation back to a 40-year high and heaping pressure on the embattled government to balance the books without gutting help for the nation’s poorest residents. The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that food prices jumped 14.6% in the year through September, led by the soaring cost of staples like meat, bread, milk and eggs. That pushed consumer price inflation back to 10.1%, the highest since early 1982 and equal to the level last reached in July. The figures fueled demands that the government do more to help families and retirees as it struggles to regain credibility after an ill-fated package of tax cuts roiled financial markets.
GREER, S.C. — BMW will invest $1 billion in its sprawling factory near Spartanburg, South Carolina, to start producing electric vehicles and an additional $700 million to build a electric-battery plant nearby. The German automaker’s announcement reflects its commitment to transitioning to electric-vehicle production in North America, in line with similarly ambitious plans by other major automakers. The investment in the 7-million-square-foot vehicle factory in Greer, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, would add an unspecified number of jobs to the more than 11,000 workers there. The battery plant, to be built in nearby Woodruff, will employ 300, the company said, with hiring to begin within a few years.
DETROIT — Tesla has reported that its third-quarter profit more than doubled from a year ago, fueled by higher vehicle sales. The Austin, Texas, electric vehicle and solar panel maker said it made $3.29 billion from July through September. Revenue rose 56% to a record $21.45 billion. But it fell just short of estimates averaging $21.98 billion. Tesla stuck with its prediction of 50% annual vehicle sales growth over the next few years, confident that demand will remain strong. But it will take a stellar fourth-quarter sales performance to reach the 50% goal. Analysts have questioned whether Tesla is experiencing waning demand for its vehicles, which in the U.S. start around $49,000.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is telling voters that he hasn’t given up on lowering gasoline prices. Biden says he has ordered the release of 15 million barrels from the U.S. strategic reserve and will consider additional withdrawals this winter. It’s a message with clear political implications as the president’s approval rating has moved in the opposite direction from changes in gasoline prices. Wednesday’s announcement completes the release of 180 million barrels authorized by Biden in March. The reserve now contains roughly 400 million barrels of oil. That’s the lowest level since 1984. And Republicans such as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio say that the releases are about helping Democrats in midterm elections.
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Wednesday awarded $2.8 billion in grants to build and expand domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles in 12 states. A total of 20 companies will receive grants for projects to extract and process lithium, graphite and other battery materials, manufacture components and strengthen U.S. supply of critical minerals. The announcement comes as the administration seeks to boost production and sales of electric vehicles as a key part of President Joe Biden’s strategy to slow climate change and build up U.S. manufacturing. A sweeping climate and health-care law passed in August includes several provisions to boost electric vehicles, including tax credits for EV buyers worth up to $7,500.
BERLIN — Germany wants to massively expand the country’s charging network for electric cars. It plans to spend 6.3 billion euros ($6.17 billion) over the next three years as it expects more and more drivers to turn from combustion cars to more climate-friendly electric vehicles. The country’s transportation minister on Wednesday presented a “master plan” for improving the charging infrastructure that had been passed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ cabinet. In order to boost the number of charging points, the government will provide real estate, especially along highways, where new charging points can be build. Private owners of electric cars will be offered subsidized plans to install solar energy panels at their homes to charge their cars. overnight. | 2022-10-19T22:14:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Business Highlights: UK inflation, Tesla profits - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/business-highlights-uk-inflation-tesla-profits/2022/10/19/b9cef6a8-4ff3-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/business-highlights-uk-inflation-tesla-profits/2022/10/19/b9cef6a8-4ff3-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
A paper finds that the upper reaches of the ocean have been heating up since the 1950s.
A man walks on a pathway that is partially submerged due to the rising sea levels in the village of Sidogemah, Central Java, Indonesia. (Dita Alangkara/AP)
The world’s oceans have been warming for generations, a trend that is accelerating and threatens to fuel more supercharged storms, devastate marine ecosystems and upend the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, according to a new scientific analysis.
Published this week in the journal Nature Reviews, it finds that the upper reaches of the oceans — roughly the top 2,000 meters, or just over a mile — have been heating up around the planet since at least the 1950s, with the most stark changes observed in the Atlantic and Southern oceans.
The authors of the review, who include scientists from China, France, the United States and Australia, write that data shows the heating has both accelerated over time and increasingly has reached deeper and deeper depths. That warming — which the scientists said likely is irreversible through 2100 — is poised to continue, and to create new hotspots around the globe, especially if humans fail to make significant and rapid cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.
The findings underscore both the key role the oceans have played in helping to offset human emissions — oceans absorb more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped within the world’s atmosphere — and also the profound implications if the warming continues unabated. If it does, the areas near the surface of the oceans could warm by two to six times their current temperature, the scientists wrote.
“Global warming really does mean ocean warming,” Kevin E. Trenberth, a co-author of the review and a scholar at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said in an interview from New Zealand. “The best single indicator that the planet is warming is the ocean warming record.”
U.N. climate report: Monumental change already here for world’s oceans and frozen regions
That record, comprised of thousands of temperature measurements across the globe over decades, he said, shows a “relentless” trajectory. “The warming has been accelerating, and the most rapid warming rates have been in the last 10 years or so,” he said.
The consequences of hotter oceans already are on display in numerous ways.
Scientists attribute about 40 percent of global sea level rise to the effects of thermal expansion in ocean water. Warmer oceans also speed the melting of ice sheets, adding to rising seas. They disrupt traditional weather patterns and deepen drought in some areas. And they fuel more intense hurricanes, as well as create the conditions for more torrential rainfall and deadly flooding.
The authors cite one example from August 2017, when the Gulf of Mexico reached the warmest summertime temperature on record to that point. That same month, Hurricane Harvey tore through the gulf, exploding from a tropical depression to a major hurricane and dumping catastrophic amounts of rain on Houston and other areas.
“All of these things are part of the fact that there’s extra energy available” in the oceans, Trenberth said.
In addition, the analysis found that future warming could cause precipitous drops in certain fisheries, causing the loss of livelihoods and food sources. The trend also makes it “inevitable” that marine heat waves will become more extensive and longer-lasting — a reality that can trigger toxic algal blooms and fuel massive mortality events among coral reefs, kelp forests and other ocean life.
Sea level to rise one foot along U.S. coastlines by 2050, government report finds
While the authors make clear that oceans around the world are projected to continue warming over the coming decades, even if humanity begins to cut greenhouse gas emissions, that warming will not happen equally across the globe. Largely due to circulation patterns, some regions are projected to warm faster than others and are likely to grapple with more intense impacts.
The paper also underscores that while many uncertainties remain, how that plays out is “critical” to the consequences humans will likely experience, said Joellen Russell, a professor and oceanographer at the University of Arizona.
“A small fraction more [mixing] would slow our warming, and a small fraction less mixing would accelerate our warming,” said Russell, who was not involved in this week’s analysis. “That is incredibly important for people to understand.”
The latest findings are largely in line with the growing body of research has documented — that oceans have long stored astounding amounts of energy from the atmosphere and mitigated the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions, but that over time profound impacts are unavoidable on land and at sea.
In its most recent assessment on the state of climate science earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said it is “virtually certain” that the upper swath of the oceans have warmed over the past half-century, and that human-caused carbon emissions are the main driver.
“Global mean sea level has risen faster since 1900 than over any preceding century in at least the last 3,000 years,” the IPCC wrote. “The global ocean has warmed faster over the past century than since the end of the last deglacial transition (around 11,000 years ago).”
Still, researchers say the amount of future warming depends on what humans do — or don’t do — to rein-in the greenhouse gases that ultimately are heating oceans. And better measuring, understanding and mitigating the problem should be a global priority.
If the world can steer toward a future with the kind of rapidly shrinking emissions envisioned by the Paris climate agreement, the author of this week’s review write, that would likely “lead to a detectable and lasting reduction in [the] ocean warming rate, with noticeable reductions in climate-change impacts.”
Russell said the latest findings emphasize that it “absolutely matters” that humans cut emissions as quickly as possible, to limit warming in the oceans and the ripple effects that ultimately has for humans.
“Our oceans are doing us a profound service,” she said. “As a scientist and a mom, I pray about the fact we need to bend that curve in my lifetime. … It is important that we do this.” | 2022-10-19T22:14:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Oceans are warming faster than ever. Here’s what could come next. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/10/19/oceans-warming-climate-change/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/10/19/oceans-warming-climate-change/ |
Justice Dept. sues South Dakota casino that banned Native Americans
The Justice Department building in Washington in December 2020. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg News)
The Justice Department filed a civil discrimination lawsuit Wednesday against the owners and operators of a South Dakota hotel and casino that banned all Native Americans last spring in response to a fatal shooting on the property.
Federal prosecutors said the proprietors of the Grand Gateway Hotel and the Cheers Sports Lounge and Casino in Rapid City, S.D., discriminated against prospective patrons when they issued the new policy in late March and turned away at least two Native Americans who attempted to book hotel rooms over the next two days.
Hotel director Connie Uhre said in a Facebook post on March 20 that she took the action after a guest was fatally shot by another guest in one of the rooms a night earlier.
The suspect, Quincy Bear Robe, has pleaded not guilty to charges that include second-degree murder in connection with the shooting.
A hotel banned Native Americans. The Sioux served a trespassing order.
“Polices that prohibit Native Americans from accessing public places are patently offensive, racially discriminatory and have no place in our society today,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who oversees Justice’s civil rights division, said in a conference call with reporters. “These defendants resorted to conduct akin to policies instituted in the Jim Crow era.”
A manager at the Grand Gateway Hotel declined to comment Wednesday.
Prosecutors cited Uhre’s social media post in which the hotel would “no longer allow any Native American [sic] on property. Or in Cheers Sports Bar. Natives killing Natives.” Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender posted a screenshot of her message on Twitter.
The federal complaint said Uhre told other members of the hotel’s management that they should “not want to allow Natives on property … The problem is we do not know the nice ones from the bad natives … so we just have to say no to them!”
Uhre’s actions prompted a backlash in the state’s second-most populated city, where about 10 percent of residents are of Native descent. A nonprofit group that defends the rights of Native Americans filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the hotel and Uhre, alleging racial discrimination, and Sioux tribal leaders served the hotel with a trespassing order, saying the Grand Gateway is on Native land, in violation of an 1868 treaty.
Some hotel employees criticized Uhre, while the staff in the casino resigned en masse.
The federal complaint names Uhre, her son Nicholas and Retsel Corporation, the property’s corporate owner. Clarke said the Justice Department is asking the federal court to overturn the policy by the hotel and casino under Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prevents discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin in a place of public accommodation.
Alison Ramsdell, U.S. attorney for the District of South Dakota, said Native Americans “are a vital part of the community in Rapid City” and should feel welcome there. | 2022-10-19T22:15:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Justice Dept. suing South Dakota casino that banned Native Americans - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/19/doj-south-dakota-casino/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/19/doj-south-dakota-casino/ |
Charles W. Duncan Jr., energy secretary during Carter-era oil crunch, dies at 96
Energy Secretary Charles W. Duncan Jr., left, with President Jimmy Carter at the White House on Jan. 10, 1980. (Dennis Cook/AP)
Charles W. Duncan Jr., who directed U.S. energy policy under the Jimmy Carter administration amid oil-supply shocks from Iran’s Islamic revolution and OPEC threats as the White House struggled to avoid another panic of long lines at gas pumps, died Oct. 18 at his home in Houston. He was 96.
Mr. Duncan had a series of health complications following a fall earlier this month, said his son, Charles W. Duncan III.
Mr. Duncan was brought to Washington by President Jimmy Carter — first as deputy defense secretary and then in 1979 heading the newly formed Department of Energy — carrying an impressive business résumé that included executive roles at Coca-Cola, but no experience spearheading government policies. Mr. Duncan liked to joke that his only previous experience in the oil industry was working a few weeks in Texas rigs as a low-rung laborer known as roustabout.
He soon established himself in Washington as an administration stalwart for Carter’s initiatives, led by efforts to wean the U.S. energy markets off oil imports from OPEC and its powerhouse producer Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Duncan took over the energy portfolio just as another fuel crisis was brewing. The toppling of Iran’s Western-allied regime in early 1979 sharply cut oil exports — and Carter would fully cut off Iranian oil after 52 Americans were taken hostage in November 1979 in the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. (The captives would not be freed until Carter was out of office in 1981.) Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, threatened to trim its output, and OPEC partners would follow suit, but ultimately did not take any steps.
Still, oil prices spiked in 1979, bringing a brief replay of the gas lines and fuel hoarding common during the 1973 Arab oil embargo. The scenes left Carter with a political dilemma. Mr. Duncan became the point man for damage control and attempts to portray aggressive new energy strategies such as emphasizing domestic crude production, calls for more nuclear power and research on so-called synthetic fuels such as “gasohol,” mixing corn- and alcohol-based additives with gasoline.
“The gasoline lines have been real. … There is always the possibility they will return,” Mr. Duncan told The Washington Post in July 1979 after replacing the first energy secretary, James R. Schlesinger, whose confrontational style became a political liability with Congress and other agencies.
Mr. Duncan’s soft-spoken approach — he was called “an amiable Carter loyalist” by The Post — gained admirers as well as detractors. After a visit to Saudi Arabia in February 1980, he took heat from some columnists and industry analysts for failing to publicly rebuke Saudi officials for toying with oil markets and the kingdom’s hesitation to ship extra crude to boost the U.S. strategic reserves.
“It’s a complete debacle,” said energy consultant Joseph Lerner at the time. “Like the Vichy government, we are learning to live cozily under occupation.”
Mr. Duncan rarely replied directly to the criticism. Instead he was a tireless spokesman for Carter’s energy priorities. Mr. Duncan urged in vain for fuel price controls to stabilize the market and limit what Carter called “war profiting” by oil companies. Mr. Duncan rallied behind the call for energy conservation by Carter, who once wore a sweater in a national address in 1977 to encourage turning down the heat at home.
In late 1980, Mr. Duncan trumpeted a 37 percent decline in oil imports from a year earlier. He said it reflected trends toward more fuel-efficient vehicles and energy-efficient homes and appliances.
Yet Mr. Duncan faced pushback over his advocacy for synthetic fuels after studies suggested risks of cancer-causing benzo(a)pyrene, or BP, in wastewater from extracting shale oil. His drive for domestic production stirred outcry from environmentalists in Alaska and elsewhere.
Mr. Duncan served in an era before the full impact and urgency of man-made climate change was clear. He called attention to some of the eco-concerns of the day, such as urban smog, even as he continued support for coal in the drive for energy self-sufficiency.
“We simply must reduce our dependence on petroleum,” Mr. Duncan wrote in a 1981 issue of the Energy Consumer, a newsletter by the Department of Energy. “This means making greater use of coal, solar and renewable energy sources.”
Charles William Duncan Jr. was born in Houston on Sept. 9, 1926, into a family with expanding wealth and social stature from Duncan Coffee Co., founded in 1918 by his uncle, and Mr. Duncan’s father was vice president.
Mr. Duncan attended boarding school in Tennessee and, in 1947, earned a degree in chemical engineering from the Rice Institute (now Rice University). He worked briefly after graduation as a roustabout, digging ditches for the Humble Oil and Refining Co. (later acquired by Standard Oil) and then became a company engineer.
He joined the family’s coffee company in 1948, rising to become president as it rebranded itself Duncan Foods with coffee and other items shipped to markets from the Midwest to the East Coast. The company also set its sights on trying to eclipse rival Maxwell House.
Duncan Foods was acquired in 1964 by Coca-Cola. Mr. Duncan then headed Coke’s London-based operations and, in 1970, moved to the Atlanta headquarters as president from 1971 to 1974. He bought the TE Ranch near Cody, Wyo., which was founded in 1895 by William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody.
As a top executive at Atlanta’s most-famous company, Mr. Duncan soon developed ties with Carter, who was then Georgia’s governor. After Carter’s presidential election win in 1976, Mr. Duncan received a call in Houston, where he was then chairman of Rotan Moise Finance Corp. Carter wanted Mr. Duncan as deputy defense secretary despite no past military ties or experience.
“A complete business manager,” said Carter in describing his choice of Mr. Duncan, “strong-willed enough to prevail in the internecine struggles among different military services.”
Mr. Duncan pushed for arms-limitation talks with the Soviet Union and broke with convention at the time to urge Congress to allow women in military combat roles — which did not become a reality until 2013.
In addition to his son, Mr. Duncan is survived by his wife of 65 years, the former Anne Smith; daughter Mary Anne Dingus; and five grandchildren.
In the swearing-in as energy secretary, Mr. Duncan thanked Carter and said the future depends on domestic energy production and “the genius of American technology to make use of the sun and other renewable resources.”
Carter then got a laugh: “And now since we’ve had the thermostat turned so low for this ceremony, we can turn it back up.” | 2022-10-19T22:15:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Charles Duncan, energy chief during Carter-era oil crises, dies at 96 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/10/19/charles-duncan-energy-carter-dies/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/10/19/charles-duncan-energy-carter-dies/ |
Lucy Rushton joined President of Soccer Operations Dave Kasper, left, at Wayne Rooney's introduction as coach this past summer. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
D.C. United on Wednesday fired General Manager Lucy Rushton after two seasons, including a 2022 campaign that ended with the worst record in MLS.
Rushton, a native of England, became the second female GM in league history when United hired her from the Atlanta organization in early 2021. She worked closely with Dave Kasper, D.C.'s longtime GM who, upon Rushton’s arrival, became the club’s sporting director and president of soccer operations.
Kasper will remain in his position, but the club has hired a search firm to identify a replacement to work alongside Kasper rather than under him, as Rushton did.
Wayne Rooney, the former star player who became United’s coach midseason, will have a say in the choice of Rushton’s replacement.
“The club’s on-field performance this season was unacceptable,” co-chairmen Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan said in a statement. “We owe it to our supporters, our players and our greater community to compete at a high level. We are focused on bringing leadership that will work closely with Wayne Rooney and our management team to build a squad that once again competes at the top echelon of Major League Soccer.
“In order to accomplish this and to evolve as a club, we felt it was necessary to make this decision and bring in new leadership.”
United finished with a 7-21-6 record, one of its worst seasons in its 26-year history. The campaign was marred by an early-season coaching change: Hernán Losada was sacked after one-plus seasons and assistant Chad Ashton took the interim job before Rooney’s appointment.
United, which won four MLS titles between 1996 and 2004, has missed the playoffs three consecutive years and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2015.
Rushton was Atlanta’s head of video and technical analysis for five years. She did not immediately respond to a message Wednesday.
The new general manager, United said, “will have broad responsibility in all aspects of the first-team soccer operations, including roster makeup, player recruitment and talent identification, and will report directly to club ownership.”
Rushton’s dismissal was not the only change. Performance director Victor Lonchuk, who worked closely with the coaching staff on player preparation, was also fired. He had been hired by Losada.
Ashton, an assistant since 2007, will be reassigned within the organization and assistant Nicolás Frutos, who was hired by Losada, will not return next season, said people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
United is in the market for an experienced assistant, preferably with MLS insight, to join Rooney’s staff. Rooney will choose from a number of candidates reviewed by the front office, said a person who did not want to be identified while discussing a club personnel matter. | 2022-10-19T22:16:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. United fires general manager Lucy Rushton - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/lucy-rushton-fired-dc-united/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/lucy-rushton-fired-dc-united/ |
FILE - Georgia Bulldogs halfback Charley Trippi passes during practice in 1946. Trippi, a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy at Georgia who went on to lead the Cardinals to their most recent NFL championship in 1947, died Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. He was 100. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File) (Uncredited/Atlanta Journal-Constitution) | 2022-10-19T22:17:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Pro Football Hall of Famer Charley Trippi dies at 100 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nfl/pro-football-hall-of-famer-charley-trippi-dies-at-100/2022/10/19/17c06150-4ff6-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nfl/pro-football-hall-of-famer-charley-trippi-dies-at-100/2022/10/19/17c06150-4ff6-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
Transcript: Rachael Bade & Karoun Demirjian Co-Authors, “Unchecked”
MS. CALDWELL: Hello. Welcome to Washington Post Live. I’m Leigh Ann Caldwell, an anchor here at Washington Post Live and also co-author of The Early 202 newsletter.
Today my guests are Rachael Bade, co-author of Politico's Playbook, and The Post's Karoun Demirjian, who is the Pentagon correspondent here at The Washington Post. Karoun, Rachael, thank you so much for joining us today to talk about your book, "Unchecked," which is the untold story behind Congress' botched impeachments of Donald Trump. I am so excited to have this conversation.
MS. DEMIRJIAN: Thanks for having us.
MS. BADE: Thanks for having us.
MS. CALDWELL: And, of course, to our audience, to our listeners and watchers, we would love to hear from you, so feel free to tweet us questions at @PostLive.
You guys, I'm just so thrilled to be talking about this fascinating page-turner. Before we get into it, though, I want to ask each of you, why did you decide to write this book? You guys covered these impeachments, so why did you want to write a book about it, Karoun?
MS. DEMIRJIAN: Right, as if covering it wasn't difficult enough.
MS. CALDWELL: Exactly.
MS. DEMIRJIAN: I think Rachael and I, as we were covering it, we had this idea, while the Democrats were in the middle of the investigation phase, pulling together their case for the first interview, we were spending most of our lives staking out the SCIF in the basement of the House side of the Capitol, and realized that this was moving very, very quickly. As much as we were covering every twist and turn, there were things that we didn't have time to run down, questions about what was happening behind closed doors, questions about why certain decisions were being taken.
But everything was moving at such a fast clip that we realized, wait a second, there's more here to be uncovered. And this is a significant moment that is happening. Presidential impeachments are extremely rare. They had never been one happening before that the genesis was entirely on Capitol Hill, with no special counsel or prosecutor handing them the case.
And so we kind of approached each other saying, "Wait a second. Do you want to write a book about this?" Should we take some time to look into this more deeply and try to figure out what we didn't have the bandwidth, frankly, and nobody did, to figure out in real time. And the project ended up going from being about one impeachment to, as we were finishing the manuscript, January 6th happened, so it became about two impeachments, and this treasure trove of information about different choices made, punches pulled, decisions that happened behind the scenes, that nobody got to see but that are so important for documenting this missing piece of history in this very, very vibrant time of the Trump presidency and the impeachments and trials, that also serves as a cautionary tale for what could happen in the future.
MS. CALDWELL: Karoun, you talk about standing outside the SCIF. You guys were both at The Post at the time during that, and I was at NBC, and we used to call it the "pit of despair," standing there for hours and hours and hours.
Rachael, I want to hear about your experience, why you decided to dive into this, and what sort of challenges arose that you weren't really expecting?
MS. BADE: Yeah. I mean, just to sort of echo what Karoun said, you know, these two impeachments were highly covered, on the cable news networks and in every paper here in town. But there was always this sort of undercurrent that was not well covered, and it was sort of what people were saying off the record at the time.
There were a lot of Democrats who weren't happy with the process, and as we got closer and closer to that first impeachment vote we started hearing not remorse over impeaching Trump, because obviously everybody thought, you know, he had committed impeachable offenses, but sort of a regret that they hadn't built a stronger case. I mean, you could look at the poll numbers at the time. Trump, he was on the rebound. By the time he was acquitted his Gallup poll numbers were the highest they had ever been. And then we would also hear from Republicans talking about how what Trump was doing was crazy, or they were very concerned about his actions, but you never heard this publicly.
So we just felt like there was another layer to this story, a deeper layer, that we knew it would take time for people to open up, and it was sort of perfect for a book.
In terms of challenges, I mean--yeah, I was just going to say in terms of challenges, you know, Karoun and I, we faced a lot of them, I would say. I mean, there are clearly people in town who didn't want some of this narrative out there. There are Democrats who benefit from this prevailing wisdom that they did everything they could to check Trump and just blaming the Republicans for the fact that Trump was acquitted twice.
But, I mean, look, things are not black and white like that. And because of that, you know, we got some pushback. We had some offices who were initially cooperating with our book, that once they learned about certain things we had uncovered that were not supposed to be released to us, staff cooperating--specifically, we talk in the front of the book about Pelosi's office and how they initially cooperated and then decided to stop, and then proceeded to go around and lecture and yell at sources they suspected had cooperated with our book for revealing too much.
So there's definitely challenges. We can talk about some other ones if you want. But, I mean, Karoun and I, we knew we had the goods, and we knew we had a narrative that was true and one that was not out there, and really challenged the prevailing wisdom surrounding these impeachments, and it really needed to be told. So we stuck with our guts.
MS. CALDWELL: You know, as I was covering this as well alongside you guys, I always thought you two were such a great team, because Karoun, you had the national security experience and the expertise, and then, Rachael, of course you're so well sourced among House leadership, congressional leadership, congressional offices. And so you guys broke a lot of news as you were reporting this in real time, but also there's just so much more in this book. And one of the things that stood out to me is at the beginning how we knew that Pelosi did not want to go down go down this path at the time. But your book really outlines and details how resistant she was, how she was put in a box at multiple stages of the process, through her judiciary chair, Jerry Nadler, and then ultimately by a bunch of national security, frontline Democrats.
Karoun, can you talk a little bit about that and explain a little more about how critical that was to get Pelosi on board and why she had to relent?
MS. DEMIRJIAN: Right. Well just as a baseline matter, I mean, Pelosi kind of came of age as a leading Democrat in Congress during the Clinton impeachment years, and learned through that experience that impeachment can blow back on the impeacher if it's not done perfectly. And so she kind of foresaw that this was going to be difficult, and given that she was trying to protect a majority that she had just won, becoming Speaker again at the beginning of 2019, with the help of a bunch of moderate Democrats winning seats in districts that Trump had also won in 2016, she was very, very concerned about impeachment being a boomerang.
And so she used all kinds of measures to put down all these calls for impeachment coming from the more liberal wing of the Democratic party that only intensified after the Mueller report came out. We document, week by week basically, how there was this band of Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, led--people don't really know but Jamie Raskin was basically the ringleader of that group, long before he became the face of the second impeachment prosecution. He said, "We have to do this." He and his friends approached Nadler. Nadler said, "Pelosi will never go for it. You are going to basically have to stage a mutiny in the party and build up so much support that she can't deny it. She's going to have to go with it."
We document how even Pelosi tried to put Nadler down as he filed the petitions with courts to get information, redacted information in the Mueller report, saying each time, "Oh, we're doing this because we're considering impeachment," even though Pelosi had not given him the green light to do that. So there was a little bit of trickery going on. We refer to it in the book as something called the "Magic Dick Language," which was a pejorative term that the Judiciary Committee adopted kind of jeeringly about Pelosi's House counsel--excuse me, Pelosi's staffer, Richard Meltzer, who was putting down their efforts and kind of blocking for Pelosi. During that summer she said, "I don't care if I'm the last person standing. I'm not going to let this impeachment go ahead."
And yet, by September, as the Ukraine allegations started to come out in the press, and it started to become clear about the role that Trump had played in trying to get Ukrainian President Zelensky to launch an investigation into the Biden family in exchange for him getting the military aid Congress had already approved for him, as those allegations started to become confirmed and solidified you had this band of freshman members with national security experience, having worked for agencies, having military background, saying, "Okay, we need to do something." They approached Schiff. Schiff is also talking to Pelosi. And it was painted at the time as being this organic moment of they wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post and then Pelosi just said, "Oh, of course, and I have to go along with them."
We show, kind of hour by hour, how there were several days of Pelosi knowing that this was coming, the national security freshmen trying to psych out whether they could get ahead of Pelosi or not, and this all being a very sort of reluctantly dragging the Speaker into a position where she had to say, "Okay, I'm going to go ahead because I have lost my people here," but then never really being so embracing of impeachment that she was ready to let them run with it. She approved of the impeachment, but she put it on a timeline. They had to be done by Christmas so that it wouldn't interfere with the 2020 election season. She would not let them open the aperture of the probe beyond the Ukraine allegations, even though, we didn't know at the time, that there was going to be a resumed war between Russia and Ukraine. It was a hard thing for people to sink their teeth into. People wanted her to follow the money, to look at the emoluments violation. She basically said, "No. We're finishing by Christmas. We're doing it this way. We're getting it done," which is not the way--it's a way to maybe try to protect your political weak flank, right, but it's not a way to make sure that you are upholding the strength of your subpoenas, the punch of the legislative branch's oversight that's guaranteed in the Constitution.
MS. CALDWELL: Yeah. And then her annoyance with being pressured, not only by those members of the Judiciary Committee, Jamie Raskin and others, but Jerry Nadler's insistence at the beginning, it led her to make a really critical decision, Rachael, I think, what I got out of your book, that she was going--when she finally decided to move forward with impeachment that she put it in the hands of Adam Schiff instead of where it traditionally is, in the Judiciary Committee, with Jerry Nadler.
Can you explain that process and also the divisions that exacerbated and perpetuated throughout the process?
MS. BADE: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for those of us who have covered the Hill for a while, I mean, we know that Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff are very close allies. He is arguably the chairman she turns to most. As leader of the House Intelligence Committee, he was hand-picked by her to sort of lead that very sensitive panel.
And so, you know, when she sort of looks in a mirror, or when she looks at Schiff it's like looking in a mirror, right? They are very much of similar minds in terms of protecting the majority, being very cautious around impeachment. She had turned to him in the first part of 2019, to help put down some of these calls for impeachment in the caucus as Jerry Nadler and Jamie Raskin were spinning people in the opposite way.
So, you know, Pelosi, she obviously wants to control the process. If she sees impeachment as very politically risky, she wanted to have as much control of it as possible. And Schiff is someone who, you know, would defer to her on pretty much any matter. They're very close, and she knew that since they were of very much a like-minded position when it came to how to run this impeachment, he was someone who she knew she could trust.
The problem with that is that, you know, Schiff already had a reputation amongst Republicans as someone they couldn't trust. You know, he had gone out earlier, years before, and said he had seen classified evidence that Trump colluded with Russia. And, you know, when the Mueller report came out, Mueller ultimately said, yes, Trump welcomed Russia's interference, but they couldn't find sort of proof of a conspiracy. And so ever since then Republicans, and not just, you know, your Jim Jordans, Kevin McCarthys of the world, moderate Republicans, the Will Hurds of the world, didn't trust Adam Schiff. And so it sort of hindered the impeachment from the get-go because, you know, the possibility of Schiff actually turning Republican heads and changing Republican minds was always going to be a stretch.
I do think it's interesting that she chose Schiff because, you know, one thing we uncovered in the book is that Schiff, in many ways, was one of the people who gave that final push to Pelosi to do this impeachment that she did not want to do. We uncovered some news about how Schiff was privately advising that group of national security Democrats that would write that very influential Washington Post op-ed that sort of triggered Pelosi to embrace impeachment. And they had asked him over the summer to give them a warning if impeachment was happening. They did not want it to happen. They were concerned about the political risks. And they sort of cornered Schiff and they said, "We need a heads-up if this is going to happen," because, you know, they wanted to be able to prepare. And he says, "Don't worry. It's not happening right now. I'll give you a heads-up."
And so what happens after the Ukraine news breaks about this whistleblower report and allegations of quid pro quo, they corner him on the floor, these national security frontliners, and say, you know, "Is Pelosi going to change her mind?" We have reporting in the book that at the time Pelosi was not looking to change her mind. I mean, she actually went on NPR that same day and said, "We don't know enough yet to make any sort of decision."
But Schiff tells these frontliners that he thinks, yes, she's going to be changing her mind. And given the fact that these are moderate Democrats, they know they're going to be attacked if they are seen as sort of being these Pelosi puppets who follow her on impeachment. So they decide they have to actually get out ahead of her. And so having this thought that she's going to endorse impeachment, which again, we report at the time was premature for Schiff to tell them, they start writing this op-ed, and that op-ed actually ends up cornering Pelosi, because when she finds out it's coming she knows she can't hold back the tide.
And so, you know, there's that interesting little backstory between Schiff and Pelosi. But, I mean, your question about him leading the impeachment, it obviously alienated a lot of Republicans from the get-go, and that was a challenge that he had to deal with, obviously, throughout the whole process.
MS. CALDWELL: Because, you know, the Republicans, when they first heard about this, as you guys write, they thought it was going to be very hard to defend Donald Trump. And they turned mostly to a process argument. They made it into a debate over process, and an unfair process, and an unfair impeachment because they are having no voice, et cetera.
So Karoun, did Schiff--was choosing Schiff a tactical disaster on Pelosi's behalf, because of what Rachael said, he didn't have the trust of Republicans, they didn't like him, you know, people blamed Schiff for making Elise Stefanik an extremist, more extreme now. And so was this process argument, did it help to play into Republicans' argument since they couldn't really defend Donald Trump on the merits?
MS. DEMIRJIAN: Yeah. I mean, there are two things going on here simultaneously. Schiff was such a bogeyman for the GOP that it gave them something to shoot at. If they had nothing else to shoot, they could say, "Well, Adam Schiff is trying to trick you because he's Shady Schiff," and all the various nicknames that Trump had already come up with by that point. So it gave them an Achilles' heel that they could try to strike.
The process stuff that was going on, though, is happening kind of at the same time. Look, there was an argument for giving Schiff part of this process. They didn't have an evidentiary record. They did not have a handoff from a special prosecutor, and so Schiff could've done that phase. But they boxed Larry Nadler into a corner so there was never the parallel phase of what had happened in previous impeachments happening in that committee. And yes, that was a strategic choice by Pelosi.
But because they were--look, there are no rules in the Constitution about what process you follow when you're going to impeach. It's all based on the precedent. But the impeachments before this you had had bipartisan buy-in, at least from the get-go, of like, should we launch a probe? Yes, we should launch a probe. That didn't happen this time. It was all Democrats for the first impeachment, no Republicans, and the Democrats didn't even try to reach out to the Republicans to talk about it ahead of time, which had happened in the Nixon cases and the Clinton cases.
There are the questions about how much access is there to information. Did they run down their subpoenas and actually try to get the first-hand witnesses? Again, that's something that was part of the Nixon and Clinton impeachments, but not part of the Trump impeachments.
And so yes, you pointed out that there's a great deal of hypocrisy on the part of the GOP leaders for this. They knew that they were cutting off the congressional oversight power as they were helping Trump. They didn't like it. They actually tried, at first, to convince Trump to comply with the process. And then when he said no, they basically turned around and said, okay, we're going to shoot at the process ourselves, even though we know this is bad for Congress' long-term future.
So a lot of hypocrisy there. That's what was happening in the House. Meanwhile, in the Senate you have a band of Republicans who Mitch McConnell appoints to try to basically run Trump's defense, because they feel like the process arguments aren't good enough for the Senate trial and they have to go harder and hit on the substance.
So combined, you know, it is the GOP knowingly taking advantage and knowingly shifting their own legislative power as they are taking advantage of this to block for Trump. But the Democrats basically could have -- we documented discussions where they see the potential for these attacks coming down the pike, but they don't actually make any sort of, you know--they don't shift their strategy to anticipate it. They just kind of throw up their hands and say like, "Oh well, we'll blame Republicans and that will be enough."
Were Republicans deserving of that blame, yes, but was that enough to actually keep it from happening? No, and that's the point that we're trying to make in illustrating all this, is that based on the reporting, you know, there were these moments where they could have safeguarded--they could have taken steps to cut off those arguments at the paths before they happen. Instead, they just ran heads first into them, thinking that they could control the messaging, which obviously they couldn't. The GOP was messaging very strongly at that point on those procedural grounds, saying it's not a fair fight.
MS. CALDWELL: I just wanted--go for it.
[Overlapping speakers]
MS. BADE: Just to give a couple of quick examples in the specifics, I mean, we report in the book that Francis Rooney, who was a conservative from Florida, personally approached Pelosi on the House floor and said, "Look, I'm willing to impeach Trump but I need to hear it from somebody's mouth that Trump himself was orchestrating this quid pro quo." He wanted a John Dean, somebody who could do that. And the witnesses that the Democrats brought in were obviously sort of lower level. They weren't Trump's inner circle, right, which was a big difference from what, you know, lawmakers did during Nixon's day. But Pelosi basically told him no, even though he said he would be willing to impeach.
There's another example we have in the book about Jaime Herrera Beutler, who plays a huge role in the second impeachment, and we can talk about that when we get there. But she was actually standing up behind the scenes in Republican meetings saying, "Why shouldn't I vote for this?" She believed what Trump did in Ukraine was bad, potentially even impeachable. But we show, in real time, how leaders like Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise are able to capitalize on a lot of the process issues that Democrats had to sort of spin her up and say, "Look, this isn't fair. There's no due process for the President. They are totally sidelining us and not looping us in on anything." And they actually print out side-by-sides of the resolution, sort of laying out the rules of the road for this impeachment and the ones used for Clinton and Nixon, and they used that to whip members like Jaime Herrera Beutler in line. And she's not the only one.
So look, there were opportunities, and we say in the book Jaime Herrera Beutler personally was like, why have Democrats not come to me to ask about this process? Like if they had looped in some of these moderate Republicans who did have a problem with what they were seeing, would the result have been different? Could potentially they have gotten one or two or three House Republicans to vote to impeach, which then might have led to a different result in the Senate? Who knows. But the process issue was very much front and center for the GOP.
MS. CALDWELL: And moving over to the Senate, real quick, for the impeachment trial, for the first impeachment, before we get to the second impeachment, you know, there was also, on the Republican side, as you mentioned, Mitch McConnell was helping to orchestrate Trump's defense, which I want you to go into briefly as well. But also people like Susan Collins, a Republican, was challenging McConnell, you write, about the process, and that he was undermining the process and not doing it the way that the Clinton impeachment was done. And he's making it a much more partisan process.
Karoun, can you talk a little bit about that?
MS. DEMIRJIAN: Sure. So again, what I said a moment ago about impeachments aren't--that there are no rules about how to impeach written into the Constitution -- high crimes, misdemeanors, treason, bribery, but not here are the steps that you follow to do it. So what they rely on is what happened before. Nixon's impeachment is considered the gold standard. It was a long, long investigation. They had hearings that laid out the case to the public that took months upon months. They had bipartisan buy-in at the beginning in crafting the rules of the road, and they ended up getting such a bipartisan--slowly building up so much of a bipartisan coalition against what Nixon had done that he ran away from the office before he could even be impeached.
The Clinton time basically followed that model, not in terms of the substance of the impeachment, not in terms of where it ended. But from where it started it said, okay, we're going to basically do it the way that Nixon did it because that worked.
And so what Susan Collins does is she basically prints out a copy of the rules of the road for the Clinton impeachment and says, "Mitch McConnell, you said we wanted to follow the Clinton model. I'm going to hold you to that," because McConnell starts making decisions to try to maybe throw out charges, because Trump is pressuring him, remember. Trump doesn't want to be on trial. He wants him to get rid of everything. He thinks that the whole thing is a witch hunt, so they're trying to manage that too.
But we document basically how McConnell is getting pressures from his moderates, and in the Senate the moderates matter, and they matter a lot more it mattered in the House because the House, as we know, it's majority ruled by fiat. They direct Republicans to rally around the message of like Trump is wrongfully maligned here.
But in the Senate, we document how Ted Cruz basically said to Trump's lawyers, "There's not going to be a single person in this Senate that actually agrees that was no quid pro quo here, so stop saying it. You need to just make this argument that quid pro quo is part of doing business and it's okay." That's happening at the same time as there are these process arguments being made about precedent from the Susan McConnells [sic] at the same time that McConnell is putting the squeeze on Lisa Murkowski to say, "If you don't vote against witnesses, we are going to drag the judicial branch into a dumpster fire--if you make Roberts break a tie on a witness vote." And all of these things are happening at the same time. But it's like a different set of procedural and substantive arguments that end up mattering in the Senate that also end up dragging things into the gutter in terms of what the precedent now is for how you go about doing things.
And that is kind of the end-of-the-day story, that even if--you know, we can have debates about whether or not doing this differently would have resulted in the conviction, especially for the first impeachment, I think. But we know, based on what happened, that the precedent now for impeachment, two of the four impeachments that have ever gone to fruition, and two of the four impeachments that were ever started in modern history, the bar has been significantly lowered, which means that it is easier to jump over, based on not very much in this case, in the future.
MS. CALDWELL: Yeah, and that's very relevant now, as House Republicans could win majority of the House in the midterm elections. Lots of talk about impeachment already.
So I want to now fast forward to the second impeachment. I know most of your book is on the first because that is all you thought you were going to be writing about was one impeachment, but there was a second. You know, just big picture, can you talk about the shift from the night of January 6th to a couple weeks later, the political shift, especially in the Republican party, on the issue of impeachment. Rachael?
MS. BADE: Yeah. I mean, I would just say, you know, after the first impeachment, you know, even though there was obsessive media coverage on the first impeachment, I mean, the headlines, people following them, they really faded as quickly as they surfaced or started.
And so when the second impeachment came around, obviously after January 6th, there was anger, we show in the book, by both sides, like people who were furious at Trump. We do a tick-tock in the book where Pelosi, McConnell, McCarthy, Scalise, Schumer were all together at Fort McNair, basically trying to save the Capitol, and sort of illustrate this role they played behind the scenes, trying to get Pence to get that order to move the National Guard.
And like there was a moment there where, you know, Trump, his popularity very much dipped. There were Republicans who were very much having a, you know, crisis of conscience about how to handle him and what to do from there on. And for Democrats there was an effort that very night by the same members who sort of were spinning up a mutiny in the first impeachment--Jamie Raskin and his friends like David Cicilline, and Ted Lieu. They actually put it to Pelosi that night to see if she would allow a vote that evening to impeach Trump again. She said, "No, focus your attention elsewhere." And so, you know, they moved on.
But in terms of Republicans, obviously Republicans were angry that night, but within a few days were starting to look for an excuse to not convict the president, not vote to impeach. And this all had to do with, you know, political opportunism. It's this guy, they've always sort of been afraid of him. If you've covered Republicans on the Hill they say a lot of terrible things privately about Trump, but then when it comes to actually saying something publicly, they don't do it.
We have reporting in the book about how McConnell was really struggling with this decision. He thought Trump committed impeachable offenses. But he had members out there saying that if you're going to vote to convict you can't be leader anymore. So he would probably have had to retire if he did something like that.
And then there was this argument by Republicans that you can't impeach a former president, or you can't have a trial to try a president who had been impeached once they left office. And McConnell originally thought that idea was baloney, and we show in the book that he fought with his counsel about it, debated the idea, but ultimately that's what he uses to justify his acquittal vote, an argument that he himself was very skeptical of.
But again, I mean, it just shows, you know, Republicans, there was a moment perhaps. We show in the book that, you know, Jamie Raskin was trying to get GOP witnesses to testify in the second trial of Trump. He believed that if he could get somebody from, for instance, Mike Pence's staff to take the stand, that people like McConnell might actually vote to convict. And obviously we can talk about why he caved on that, but that never came to fruition, and so you see, again, Trump escaping accountability and Republicans rallying around him.
MS. CALDWELL: Yeah. There's been so much reporting about McCarthy in the weeks after, you know, going down to Mar-a-Lago, hugging the former president essentially. Mitch McConnell is a much more interesting figure, and we have sound from McConnell trying to kind of have it both ways during this process, explaining his vote to acquit, on February 13th. If we could play that.
MS. CALDWELL: Yeah, and both McCarthy and McConnell are also living with the consequences of their decision today. Trump is still the leader of the Republican party.
So in the final minute or two we have left, Karoun, can you talk about the lessons learned perhaps? Did Democrats learn any lessons from this process? And did Republicans, they are expecting, if they have the House, to investigate the Biden administration. Do they expect the Biden administration to comply with these investigations? What sort of precedent does this have, moving forward?
MS. DEMIRJIAN: Well, a couple of lessons basically. I mean, I think that what you just showed right there showed that, you know, Republicans were trying to have their cake and eat it too, like they were being tough on Trump but also just giving him pass after pass. That speech that you played of McConnell, there's reporting in the book that shows that he didn't even really buy that argument he's making about this is all moot, that he thinks it is a procedural offramp, and it takes it voluntarily.
I think that, you know, on both sides the politicians thought that they could control the political outcome of this experience a hell of a lot more than they actually were able to. Trump is somebody that Democrats thought that they could put in the rear-view mirror if they just sped through the impeachments to get to the election, or in the second case, to get on with the Biden agenda. But guess what? Two years later we are still talking about President Trump. We are eyeing to see whether he is going to--when he is going to announce another run for office in 2024.
The Republicans also thought, okay, well if we just don't convict him, he won't turn into a martyr, and then he'll leave because he's not in office anymore. That proved to not be true. That was a bad gamble that people like Mitch McConnell made, thinking that they'd be able to control things.
And now we're in this situation where we have just finished what's supposed to be the last public hearing of the January 6th Committee. The January 6th Committee's experience is really important to put in relief with the impeachments, because clearly, it's covering some of the same ground as did the second impeachment, at least. In that way it's a tacit acknowledgement that we didn't do everything we could here.
And also keep in mind the way they've been investigating. They have run down their subpoenas into the ground. They have brought the Republican witnesses that the entire Democratic party basically would not let Jamie Raskin bring during the second impeachment. They have followed these leads. But, you know, people that support the January 6th Committee and the work they've done is quite incredible, say, "Okay, well, this is fixing. Now we are doing hard oversight and we are going to nail Trump."
But the thing is even if they succeed in every criminal referral that they want to send to the Justice Department, even if they succeed in bringing Trump to subpoena with the subpoena that nobody thinks he's actually going to respect, at the end of the day it's not fixing what broke during the impeachment. The impeachments were about can Congress flex its legislative branch muscle against an executive branch that doesn't want it to, that wants to prevent it from happening.
The January 6th Committee, if anything, it had the help of the executive branch and the Biden administration right now in trying to do these fixing steps that they are trying to take to reassert congressional authority, the strength of the congressional subpoena. But it doesn't say anything about what might happen next, when there is a president that doesn't want to comply with that, because that is a situation in which the impeachment matters, when you're talking about potential removal.
And also there's another lesson here, and I'll let Rachael have the last word. But just one other quick point, which is that, you know, we're looking at a situation here where we likely are having GOP takeover of the House. We know that they have promised to impeach Biden and several members of his cabinet. And, you know, right now we've got a recent legacy of impeachments where it doesn't take much to do that. You can do that with just one-party support. You don't have to run your subpoenas into the ground. Maybe you shouldn't even expect to because maybe the point isn't to actually oust a president but just to express political animus of a higher-than-normal order. And that leaves us in a situation where that's constitutionally problematic.
MS. CALDWELL: Yeah. You guys, this was so great. We are so far over time. I really appreciate it. Everyone, Karoun Demirjian and Rachael Bade, everyone please read their book, "Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress' Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump." It's fantastic. I cover this every day and I learned so much and you will too.
Thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it, both of you.
MS. CALDWELL: And thank you for watching. To find more of our programming you can go to Washington Post Live or WashingtonPost.com and see our programs, this transcript, and rewatch this program if you'd like. Thanks for joining us. | 2022-10-19T22:18:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Transcript: Rachael Bade & Karoun Demirjian Co-Authors, “Unchecked” - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/10/19/transcript-rachael-bade-karoun-demirjian-co-authors-unchecked/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/10/19/transcript-rachael-bade-karoun-demirjian-co-authors-unchecked/ |
Mary Ilyushina
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on Wednesday. (Gavriil Grigorov/Pool/Sputnik/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law Wednesday in four Ukrainian territories illegally annexed by Russia last month.
During a meeting of Russia’s security council Wednesday, Putin gave emergency powers to regional leaders across Russian regions and introduced martial law starting Thursday in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
In practice, what will change on the ground in highly militarized regions already under military occupation, or under contest in Ukraine’s counteroffensive, remains unclear. The main change could be a new degree of cover for military actions under Russia’s legal system.
Here’s what you need to know about Putin’s imposition of martial law.
“Martial law essentially means the suspension of the normal governance of the economy, of the rule of law,” said Max Bergmann, director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It allows the military to seize civilian assets, buildings, deploy resources as needed. And essentially enables the military to call the shots.”
Moscow does not entirely control the four regions, so it’s unclear whether Russia will be able to effectively implement the provisions, or how they will diverge from existing conditions under military occupation.
According to Bergmann, the decree serves as “a formalization of a lot of what was already taking place on the ground.” It does away with the notion that these regions had elections, are “happily part of Russia and are being administered in a civilian capacity,” he said. It “gets rid of the facade and says, ‘Well, we’re just militarily occupying these regions.’ And that’s an important signal.”
“During the Soviet period, Russia fought a number of wars, but it did so through its regular forces. It didn’t have to do the mass mobilization needed [now],” Bergmann said. In the past few decades, Russia invaded neighbors Georgia and Ukraine, and intervened in Syria, but those conflicts didn’t require a “mass mobilization.”
“There’s a real disconnect in the propaganda that Putin has used to sell the conflict and the sacrifices that the Russians are being asked to make,” he said. “The Russian people were told this was a special military operation and now are being mobilized like it’s World War II.”
In Russian regions that are close to or border Ukraine — Krasnodar, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk and Rostov,, as well as Crimea, the restrictions impose some wartime measures but are a step lower than the “maximum response” the Kremlin introduced in the occupied Ukrainian territories.
The measures in illegally annexed territories could mean further forced deportations to parts of Russia. “Putin’s martial law in the annexed regions … is preparation for the mass deportation of the Ukrainian population to depressed areas of [Russia] in order to change the ethnic composition of the occupied territory,” tweeted Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defense council. But such deportations have long been underway. | 2022-10-19T22:18:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What is martial law, and why did Putin impose it in Ukraine territories? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/19/martial-law-russia-putin-ukraine/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/19/martial-law-russia-putin-ukraine/ |
Avocado surplus results in giveaway of 380,000 fruits in Philadelphia
Sarah DiPasquale, left, and Alex Havertine of the Philadelphia nonprofit Sharing Excess, help to give out cases of free avocados in FDR Park. (Rachel Wisniewski/for The Washington Post)
Avocados, the fruit known as “green gold” because of their ability to generate billions of dollars for producers, are apparently so abundant right now that South American farmers are just giving them away. A nonprofit group in Philadelphia passed out hundreds of thousands of avocados on Wednesday to everyone who drove up in a car at FDR Park and asked for a case.
The avocados came from producers in South American, most likely Peru, said Evan Ehlers, founder and executive director of Sharing Excess, a Philly-based group that combats waste by delivering surplus foods to those people and organizations that need it most. The produce was initially secured by Farmlink Project, a California-based nonprofit group that was able to get its hands on about five truckloads of avocados that otherwise would have gone to waste. The group turned the fruit over to Sharing Excess to distribute, Ehlers said.
The giveaway underscores the volatility of this year’s avocado market, in which America’s voracious appetite for the fruit, combined with Mexico’s drop in production, led to vastly higher prices and an influx of avocados from other countries, including Peru. When the market began to stabilize in July and August, and Mexico’s yields increased again, analysts suggested the market may have become inundated with unwanted avocados. But that’s just speculation.
“We’re able to handle this amount, and, you know, we’ve been moving these all week. It started to just get to a point where we saturating the organizations that we normally distribute to, and we realized that we needed to probably do a large distribution on our own,” said Ehlers during a phone call from Philadelphia, where he had spent part of the morning operating a forklift.
In a matter of hours, Sharing Excess passed out 230,000 avocados on Wednesday to everyone who showed up at the park, regardless of need. Part of the group’s mission, Ehlers said, is to destigmatize hunger, so the organization doesn’t require people to produce evidence of need. Earlier in the week, Ehlers added, Sharing Excess had donated 150,000 avocados to Philadelphia area food banks. The group plans to hand out more avocados Thursday.
Early in the summer, the price of midsize Mexican avocados peaked at $87 per case, an increase of 180 percent over the previous year, said David Magaña, a senior fruits and vegetables analyst with RaboResearch Food and Agribusiness in Fresno, Calif. About 90 percent of avocados imported into the United States come from Mexico, according to a RaboResearch report forwarded by Magaña.
As avocado prices climbed higher in the first months of the year, restaurants and chefs were forced to respond. Chipotle raised its menu prices. One craft condiment company in Los Angeles had to alter its recipe for avocado salsa to adapt to the higher prices.
“The prices of avocado are so high that it’s now a luxury for a customer to ask for one avocado in a daily meal,” Lazaro González, a chef in Toluca, Mexico, told Business Insider this summer.
But since then, avocado prices have normalized. A case of 48 midsize Mexican avocados now sells for about $30, down about 25 percent from a year ago, Magaña said. So what accounts for the wild fluctuations within just a few months?
A number of factors contributed to higher prices in the first half of 2022, Magaña said. But one major factor was, basically, the nature of avocado production itself: The trees are alternate bearing, meaning that some years they simply produce fewer fruits. Last season was one of those years, Magaña said. For the first six months of 2022, he said, avocado shipments from Mexico to the United States were down 25 percent from the previous year, though Magaña notes that 2021 was an exceptionally fruitful year for growers in Michoacán, where most of Mexico’s avocados are grown.
But there were other impacts, too. In February, the U.S. Agriculture Department banned all imports from Michoacán after a U.S. inspector was reportedly threatened in Mexico. The ban lasted just a week, but it was followed two months later with a new policy in Texas that required secondary inspections of all commercial trucks and other vehicles entering the state. The inspections led to miles-long lines at U.S.-Mexico border crossing and forced some operators to destroy produce destined for American markets.
“So, all that combined with an off year,” Magaña said, “we had very high prices.”
The good news, Magaña said, is that the current Mexican avocado season is “looking great,” and for the first time, avocados won’t just be coming from Michoacán. Mexico and the United States reached an agreement last year to import avocados from the state of Jalisco. The first shipment of Jalisco avocados arrived in the United States in August.
But the increase in yield and the decrease in price of Mexican avocados could spell trouble for Peruvian farmers. Magaña said he doesn’t have any specific insights as to why Peruvian producers may have given away their avocados in Philadelphia. But he said Philly is a main port of entry for fruit from South America. If the Peruvian fruit was not in optimal condition when it arrived, buyers may not be required, let alone compelled, to grab it, given the Mexican avocados now widely available. (Interestingly, Australia is also dealing with an overabundance of avocados.)
Farmlink Project did not immediately respond to an email asking for more information about how it secured the avocados.
At the Philly giveaway on Wednesday, Sharing Excess workers inspected every case of avocados before handing them out, Ehlers said. Many of them were still a couple days from peak ripeness. But even if there were some small imperfections, the avocados were still better off in the public’s hands than in a landfill, the executive director said.
“Forty percent of food that’s produced in the United States goes to waste,” Ehlers said. “If we have an efficient way of redistributing out to communities, then we can have a much better society where we waste less and share more.” | 2022-10-19T22:45:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Avocado surplus results in giveaway of 380,000 fruits in Philly - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/10/19/avocado-giveaway-surplus-philly/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/10/19/avocado-giveaway-surplus-philly/ |
Christian Secor, center, holding a flag, in a video still from Senate Chamber camera, inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (From sentencing memorandum in U.S. District Court in D.C.)
Christian Secor, who led a campus group at UCLA with white supremacist ties, was sentenced Wednesday to 42 months in prison for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after admitting he entered the Senate chamber that day and sat in Vice President Mike Pence’s chair.
“You are in part responsible for the trauma ... experienced that day,” Judge Trevor N. McFadden told Secor. But he said Secor did not deserve the nearly five-year sentence requested by prosecutors because he didn’t “personally injure anyone,” and because he is only 24 years old.
“Many young people have made mistakes in their early 20s,” McFadden said.
Secor, who pleaded guilty in May to obstructing an official proceeding, was among the first wave that broke into the Capitol. He went into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite, where McFadden noted staffers were “cowering ... terrified” in another room. Secor then joined a group of about 40 people pushing against three Capitol Police officers guarding a set of doors on the east side of the Rotunda. The door gave way, allowing more demonstrators to flood in — including members of the Oath Keepers who are on trial in the same courthouse. From there, Secor went into the Senate chamber and sat in Pence’s chair.
Throughout, Secor wore a shirt and carried a flag inside the Capitol advertising the “America First,” movement started by far-right commentator Nick Fuentes, described by prosecutors as “a public figure known for making racist statements, celebrating fascism, and promoting white supremacy.” Secor founded a campus “America First” group at UCLA and on social media described himself as a fascist and referenced neo-Nazi literature.
The government is “very concerned about” Secor’s “extremist beliefs,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall said in court, because “specific to January 6,” Fuentes “was encouraging the kind of behavior we then saw.”
Fuentes said after the 2020 election that Trump supporters should “storm every state capitol,” Paschall noted. Fuentes, who spoke outside the Capitol the day of the riot, was subpoenaed by the House committee investigating Jan. 6 but has not been charged with a crime.
McFadden said he “understood the government’s concern” about Secor’s “involvement in an organization that has pretty ugly sides to it.” But he said “the fact that UCLA allows them to be an official club mitigates some of the concerns I have.” He said he didn’t think the school would allow the Ku Klux Klan to have a campus chapter.
Secor’s attorney, Brandi Harden, agreed, saying “it can’t be some untoward association” when “there’s an ‘America First’ chapter at his school.”
The “America First Bruins” club Secor founded in early 2020 with two others was controversial at UCLA. A report from the school’s Luskin Center for History and Policy found that multiple students had asked the office that approves student groups to intervene because of Secor’s racist, anti-immigrant and antisemitic comments. Members of UCLA’s Republican club also reported Secor to campus police. According to the report, they were told the school could not act without violating Secor’s free speech rights. Secor was ultimately banned from Bruins Republicans, the report said.
In a search six weeks after the riot, law enforcement found three knives and a baton in Secor’s vehicle, mace and body armor plates in his bedroom, and a privately manufactured “ghost gun” in a gun safe in the house. They also found a registered .22 caliber rifle and video of him pointing a rifle inside his home. The weapon in the video was not registered or recovered. After Jan. 12, he told someone asking about guns that “we are in a civil war,” and he searched online for information on whether a gun owner can be identified by the weapon’s serial number.
Secor “enjoys the ability to put together guns in a legal way,” Harden said, but “was never and is not now a person who is violent.” She called his online comments “just chatter.”
Secor spoke in court only to say that a text conversation with a friend in February 2021 about “ultra secret” “future operations,” described by Paschall as concerning, was “a potential financial business idea.” | 2022-10-19T23:46:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Christian Secor, UCLA "America First" leader, sentenced in Jan. 6 case - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/19/christian-secor-ucla-jan6-sentence/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/19/christian-secor-ucla-jan6-sentence/ |
Ohio’s Tim Ryan, with a glass of wine, rebrands the Democrats
Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, at a campaign event in Cincinnati on Sept. 20. (Megan Jelinger/Bloomberg News)
TOLEDO — If you want to know why Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan is within range of an upset victory in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race against Republican J.D. Vance, have a look into a midday meet-and-greet with his supporters here on Tuesday.
First, it was a virtual roll call of the U.S. labor movement. Proudly wearing union jackets, auto workers, steel workers, iron workers, electrical workers and others furnished evidence for Ryan’s “Workers First” campaign signs.
In jeans and running shoes, with his wife, Andrea, next to him, Ryan made sure the point wasn’t lost. “Andrea comes from a working-class family,” he says. “I come from a working-class family. We are going to have an absolute laser-like focus on the economic issues for working families, whether you’re White or Black, whether you’re a man or a woman.”
Ryan, 49, is an old-school Labor Democrat — “a working-class kid who doesn’t forget where he came from,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told me.
Like Brown, whose successful campaigns here are a model for Democrats, Ryan is making a case to blue-collar voters who backed Donald Trump that he is on their side. He underscores his point by telling them, as he noted during an interview, that, especially on Trump’s trade and China policies, “I agreed with him when I thought he was right. … It’s not about me or Trump, it’s about you.”
At the same time, Ryan is appealing to suburban moderates, including Republicans, who are wary of right-wing extremism. It’s a charge he hurls unrelentingly at Vance, who has been racing away from statements he has made in an effort to appeal to Trump’s base. Ryan sees himself rallying “the exhausted majority,” weary of “stupid fights.”
The result: In a state Trump carried in 2020 by eight points, Ryan is within a couple of points of Vance and is running well ahead of his party’s gubernatorial candidate, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley. Whatever happens in November, Ryan will have shown that the right kind of Democrat who “doesn’t get distracted by culture wedge-baiting,” as his pollster Molly Murphy said, can compete in states Democrats have written off.
But he isn’t just trying to make a point. He believes he can win. And this is the second message he sent here on Tuesday by opening with a self-deprecating story about one of his early dates with his wife, when he accompanied her to a football game her students had asked her to attend. She was mobbed by grateful kids. He was ignored.
“And I’m thinking, I’m the freaking congressman, no one’s paying attention to me!” Ryan said to laughter.
He’s only too happy now to call attention to the starring role Andrea Ryan plays in a schmaltzy and highly effective commercial in which the twosome creates a permission structure for Republican-leaning voters to back Ryan.
“Some people think that they have to agree with their politicians 100 percent of the time,” Ryan says in the ad, “and I ask these people, are any of you married?"
What follows is a rapid-fire dialogue:
Tim: “But if we have 10 conversations in one day …
Andrea: “And we agree on seven …
Tim: “We crack a bottle of wine …
Andrea: “Yes, we do.”
For many swing voters, the choice they confront is between Ryan, the candidate they like better from the party they don’t trust; and Vance, the candidate they don’t like very much from the party they agree with and would rather support.
While the Vance campaign was largely somnolent after the primary, Ryan cast his opponent as an extremist and opportunist with weak ties to Ohio. So Vance is doing all he can to make the race about party. His favorite words are “Pelosi” and “Biden.” During a debate on Monday, Vance linked Ryan nearly a dozen times to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (though Ryan once ran against her for the House leadership). Ryan shot back: “If you want to run against Nancy Pelosi, move back to San Francisco and run against Nancy Pelosi,” reminding voters of Vance’s work as a venture capitalist in California.
In 18 months of visiting all 88 counties in Ohio, Ryan has done all he could to detoxify the Democratic label he carries. Nonetheless, there are some glimmers in the polling that Vance — like weak Republican Senate candidates in Georgia and Pennsylvania — might be consolidating the Republican vote in the campaign’s final weeks. All three races will test the limits of candidate quality in a polarized time.
Over coffee at the Monroe Street Diner, Tony Totty, president of United Auto Workers Local 14, suggested in two sentences why Ryan has a shot — and how the Democratic brand has soured. “You’ve got to be a different kind of Democrat to win in Ohio,” he said. “You’ve got to be pro-American worker.”
It’s a real problem that the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt needs to prove it is “pro-American worker.” Still, it’s worth noting that Totty thinks Ryan is going to win. | 2022-10-19T23:46:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Ohio's Tim Ryan is rebranding the Democrats - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/tim-ryan-rebranding-ohio-democrats/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/19/tim-ryan-rebranding-ohio-democrats/ |
Biden announces oil release, hoping to calm prices as midterms near
Republicans criticized the move as polls show that voters are deeply concerned about inflation and gas costs
President Biden listens Wednesday during an event on the bipartisan infrastructure law at the South Court Auditorium in the White House complex. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
With President Biden’s approval rating hovering in the 40s, he has not received a lot of invites to campaign with embattled Democrats. But that is not stopping him from spending the week touting policies that he hopes will resonate with voters — though his stumping has mostly been in D.C. and without a candidate by his side.
On Tuesday, Biden announced that he is releasing 15 million more barrels of fuel from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move aimed at easing gas prices less than three weeks before the midterms. But he brushed aside Republican claims that the move was political, noting that it was not the first time he’d ordered such a withdrawal.
“No it’s not,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for how long now? It’s not politically motivated at all. It’s motivated to make sure that I continue to push on what I’ve been pushing on. And that is making sure there’s enough oil that’s being pumped by the companies so that we have the ability to be able to produce enough gas that we need here at home, oil we need here at home, and, at the same time, keep moving in the direction of providing for alternative energy.”
Midterm elections historically come in the midst of a dip in the president’s popularity that creates a rough landscape for the party in power, and this one is no exception. George W. Bush is the only president in recent memory whose party gained House seats at the halfway point of his first term, and that came as voters rallied behind him in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The 2022 version of those head winds is illustrated by Biden’s plans this weekend: spending time in his vacation house in Rehoboth Beach, Del., while other Democrats campaign furiously in their home states. Still, the White House has spent the week trying to show that Biden is addressing issues close to voters’ hearts and their wallets.
Most prominent in that effort is Wednesday’s announcement about the petroleum reserve. Polls regularly show that the economy, inflation and the cost of living are top concerns for voters by a wide margin, and Biden sought to show the progress his administration has made on the issue. While many economists are skeptical releasing the oil will have much of an impact on prices at the pump, the White House hopes it at least helps persuade voters that Biden is doing all he can to ease their pain.
“Without the steps we have taken over the past several months to ramp up production and lower prices and get relief to consumers, gas prices would be higher than they are today,” Biden said, adding that he is “acting aggressively” to counter the damaging choices made by other countries. “We’ll keep doing everything we can to keep it going, to ensure our energy independence and security is available and to lower gas prices here at home and to give folks a little bit of breathing room,” he added.
But polls suggest Republicans have made political headway blaming Biden and the Democrats for high gas prices. On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office reissued comments he made recently on the Senate floor saying Democrats have long refused to take advantage of America’s reserves of oil and natural gas.
“Families across America have felt the brunt of this all-Democratic government’s failed energy policies,” said McConnell (R-Ky.). “American families and small businesses know their electricity bills skyrocketed this spring and summer, and they know that heating costs on Democrats’ watch this fall and winter may be catastrophic.”
Over the past year, Biden has tried to pin higher gas prices on Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the fuel shortages and supply disruptions that followed, deeming the rising costs “Putin’s price hike.” He has also faulted energy companies for raising prices quickly when oil prices spike but lowering them slowly when costs go down.
“My message to the American energy companies is this: You should not be using your profits to buy back stock or for dividends. Not now. Not while a war is raging,” Biden said Wednesday. “You should use those record-breaking profits to increase production and refining.”
This month, OPEC Plus, a coalition of oil-producing nations led by Russia and Saudi Arabia, announced that it would slash oil production by 2 million barrels per day, threatening further price increases in countries already grappling with high costs. Meanwhile, Europe is planning to implement a full ban of Russian oil in early December, a move administration officials worry will reverberate in energy markets around the globe.
While boasting of his administration’s actions this week, Biden has also sniped at Republicans, or at least tried to draw contrasts between the two parties. During a separate announcement about electric batteries on Wednesday, he said Republicans who had vociferously opposed the infrastructure law were now asking for some of its funds to be diverted to their constituents.
“You may have seen the news reports describing Republicans who voted against the infrastructure bill and the Democrats who passed it because it’s ‘socialism,’” he said. “Well, now quietly … they’re sending me and the administration letters asking for money in the same bill, talking about how important the projects would be for their districts, if we just gave them the money. I know I was really surprised to find out there are so many socialists in the Republican caucus.”
But this year, according to a Washington Post analysis of more than 60 candidates in competitive races, Biden has been attacked more often in televised ads than Obama was at the same point in 2010 or President Donald Trump was in 2018. Candidates have announced scheduling conflicts when he comes to their states, or openly asked him to stay away, keeping his face and name off their campaign websites and Twitter accounts. | 2022-10-19T23:47:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Biden announces oil release, hoping to calm prices as midterms near - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/19/biden-strategic-oil-reserve/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/19/biden-strategic-oil-reserve/ |
Why Breaking the QE Addiction Is Such a Struggle
British pound price tags on cuts of meat for sale at a butchers stall in the Moor Market in Sheffield, UK, on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. The Office for National Statistics are due to release the latest UK CPI Inflation data on Wednesday. (Bloomberg)
Few in Britain may want to hear it, but the financial crisis that rocked the country has a silver lining for the rest of the world. The dramatic intervention by the Bank of England reminds us that quantitative easing, the large-scale bond buying commonly associated with low inflation rather than today’s price surge, isn’t going away. What looked like a one-off exercise rooted in the traumas of 2008, Europe’s debt crisis a few years later, and post-bubble Japan keeps being rolled out. The UK is unlikely to be its last resurrection. The potential for a breakdown in the trading of US Treasuries is troubling top officials; Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen went public with her concerns last week when she fretted about adequate liquidity. The worst market rout in decades isn’t helped by the Federal Reserve’s efforts to unload a portion of the bonds it acquired during its Covid stimulus. Watching the BOE wade in and calm the market led me to recall a powerful message from Raghuram Rajan, a former Reserve Bank of India governor, at a conference a year ago. Inflation was beginning to build around the world and central banks were contemplating how to begin ever-so-gently unwinding the vast sums pumped into the financial system during the pandemic. Was QE slated to return to the archives? Rajan was skeptical and told a panel that asset purchases were like “a whirlpool,” easy to fall into, but far harder to escape.
It seemed like an odd time to be flagging a short retirement. The Fed was starting to signal a tapering of bond purchases and would subsequently move faster than expected toward interest-rate hikes. The Reserve Bank of Australia was preparing to jettison efforts to suppress bond yields, the Bank of Korea and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand was already hiking and the BOE was preparing to do so. Deployed to prevent a public health crisis morphing into an economic calamity, so-called unconventional policies were being blamed for exacerbating the uptick in inflation. QE looked like yesterday’s hero — and villain. Rajan stands by his warning of October 2021. In theory, he says, the process is straightforward: During QE, central banks buy bonds and expand their balance sheets. When the economy has recovered and it’s time to unwind stimulus, you simply do the reverse and release the bonds into the market. QE becomes quantitative tightening, or QT. “That is the narrative that says it’s very easy to get in and very easy to get out,” Rajan, a professor at the University of Chicago, told me recently. “The problem is that stuff happens along the way.” Providing liquidity in tough times makes perfect sense, “but the private sector gets used to it and you keep having to go back in. It’s a drug, it’s addictive. The private sector cannot withdraw from that addiction.”
Once considered a piece of Japan exotica, QE was unfurled by the Fed during the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. It was also utilized by the BOE and, during the European debt crisis that followed, by the European Central Bank. QE has become a legitimate tool that’s always there, and no central bank is likely to foreswear its future use, no matter how much it may be blamed in the current economic cycle for contributing to much higher levels of inflation. It’s simply far too useful.Like battlefield weapons, that doesn’t make their actual deployment free of hazard. Witness the BOE rowing into the market in recent weeks to mop up bonds after a reckless and unfunded government fiscal package spurred a run on the pound and an implosion in demand for UK debt. While billed as an exercise in restoring financial stability, the buying puts the BOE in a precarious position. The bank is committed to ratcheting up its benchmark rate to quell inflation and may do so dramatically at the next meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee. On the other hand, by engaging in QE — albeit of the emergency and short-lived variety — it pursued a policy linked to risks of deflation. And having stepped in once, who can doubt officials will return?
One of the defining characteristics of QE is not just about bond purchases, per se. It’s about signaling, a way of saying that rates will remain low for quite a while. The punch is more powerful when twinned with forward guidance that commits to easy policy as much and as long as possible. That was the case after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and during much of the pandemic. Just because the principle doesn’t apply right now — inflation well exceeds the Fed’s 2% target — doesn’t mean the lesson has lost meaning.Because of concerns about a “taper tantrum,” such as the one that occurred in 2013, officials waited too long to extricate themselves from Covid QE. The resulting rapid tightening, the fastest in decades, is creating enormous strains in the global economy. The economic dislocation will force many banks to cut rates in 2023, economists say.
But with inflation now the highest in decades and officials scrambling to assert their hawkish credentials, surely the bar for QE will have been raised much higher? Not necessarily. The RBA last month released an autopsy of its QE program. While finding some benefits in large-scale easing, the bank concluded that deploying unconventional policy is best “only in extreme circumstances.” Yet the circumstances in which it resorted to QE — the advent of the pandemic — were extreme. The conclusion might resemble a “sorry,” note, but isn’t really. In the same situation, RBA Governor Philip Lowe or his successors would probably do it again.
Even in the withdrawal of stimulus era, forms of QE are alive and well. Bank Indonesia is selling short-term notes to drive up yields and make its debt more attractive, while buying longer dated bonds to lower borrowing costs for the government. The Reserve Bank of India has undertaken a similar program. QE is just too hard to say goodbye to, even when everyone wants to be seen as the next Paul Volcker, the slayer of inflation.
• UK Needs to Do More to Restore Stability: Mohamed El-Erian | 2022-10-20T01:17:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why Breaking the QE Addiction Is Such a Struggle - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/why-breaking-the-qe-addiction-is-such-a-struggle/2022/10/19/23222628-500f-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/why-breaking-the-qe-addiction-is-such-a-struggle/2022/10/19/23222628-500f-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
Government rests in foreign-agent case against Trump friend Barrack
Thomas Barrack, center, arrives at federal court in New York in July 2021. (Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg News)
NEW YORK — In the early days of the Trump administration, billionaire Thomas Barrack was poised to be an unofficial channel between the White House and the United Arab Emirates, a place where the Los Angeles-based investor had business interests and geopolitical acumen.
Barrack was a longtime friend of Donald Trump’s who headed his presidential inauguration committee and was a member of his national security advisory council during the 2016 campaign. He made trips to the White House and offered himself as an expert in the Persian Gulf region eager to make introductions to President Trump and his staff, according to evidence introduced at his ongoing criminal trial.
Federal prosecutors at U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, however, have said the Colony Capital founder and an associate, Matthew Grimes — who is also on trial and is accused of aiding Barrack’s efforts — were using their access to the president to promote the agenda of the UAE government and to enrich themselves by using their favor in the UAE to make money.
Prosecutors spent several weeks presenting their arguments against Barrack and Grimes before resting their case Wednesday. They relied heavily on dozens of text messages and emails that they argue amount to Barrack taking marching orders from officials in the UAE.
In some cases, UAE officials sent talking points that Barrack apparently worked into comments he made in national TV interviews and in news publications, according to prosecutors.
Barrack, 75, who has pleaded not guilty and denies any wrongdoing, is among several Trump insiders who have been investigated for alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Under federal law, advocates of foreign nations operating in the United States must disclose the nature of their work to the attorney general.
In recent years, former Trump consultants Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were convicted of acting as agents of Ukraine without registering and Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, admitted to violating FARA during his dealings with Turkey. Rudy Giuliani, a Trump advocate who aggressively pushed his false election-fraud claims in 2020, was also the subject of a FARA investigation over his contacts in Ukraine.
The Barrack trial has at times been a walk-through of the early days of Trump’s presidency. In some communications, there are mentions of Manafort, former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon and other campaign and White House officials.
Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson was a witness for the government. On direct examination, he confirmed that Barrack did not have an official foreign relations role in the Trump administration, although he called Tillerson at the State Department and floated the idea of an ambassador position. The idea fizzled out after Tillerson mentioned it to Trump, Tillerson said.
Tillerson’s testimony could help to support the prosecution’s assertion that Barrack was gaming his access to the highest ranks of the U.S. government to bolster his credibility with UAE government officials and business executives.
Steven Mnuchin, who was treasury secretary under Trump, was set to be called as a defense witness, a prosecutor mentioned in court Wednesday outside the jury’s presence. It was not immediately clear when Mnuchin would be called or whether the scope of his testimony would be limited by U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan.
At Barrack’s trial, jurors heard testimony about conversations and saw communications among Barrack, Grimes and a Rashid al-Malik, an Emirati living in Los Angeles who was also indicted in the case but fled the country after being interviewed by the FBI.
Grimes was allegedly a frequent go-between bridging Malik, who had access to UAE officials, and Barrack. Grimes and Malik were texting frequently on WhatsApp and iMessage throughout the time of the alleged crimes, government exhibits at the trial show.
The texts reveal what had apparently become a close relationship. At times, Grimes called Malik his “best friend” and remarked that he missed him when time passed between their chats.
Malik was the main channel from the Emiratis to Barrack and Grimes, 29, who routinely facilitated dealings for Barrack, his boss at the investment firm, according to prosecutors. Grimes also denies wrongdoing, and his attorney has sought to downplay any decision-making ability Grimes had under Barrack.
“For two years, these two men met with, took direction from and acted in the interests of the UAE and its national security officials,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Hiral Mehta argued in his opening statement last month, referring to the defendants.
Barrack and Grimes “partnered with [Malik], who was secretly operating in the United States on behalf of the UAE government” and “acted as the eyes, ears and voice of the UAE” over the years of the charged crimes, Mehta said.
Barrack faces up to 20 years in prison on a count of obstruction of justice. He is also charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government, conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government and making materially false statements. Grimes faces up to a decade in prison on the top count he faces, acting as an agent of the UAE.
The first defense witness on Wednesday was Bernard Haykel, a Princeton University professor with expertise on politics and prominent figures in the Middle East.
Several defense witnesses are expected to be called to illustrate the claim that Barrack, who has a Lebanese background, was trying to be helpful and to facilitate healthy relationships between Middle Eastern allies and the United States and that nothing in their dealings was amiss.
Barrack’s pro-UAE comments at issue in the case were made only because “he wanted to and because he believed it was the right thing to do for his business, for his work, for his shareholders, and for America,” Barrack’s lawyer, Michael Schachter, said in opening remarks at the start of the trial.
Grimes was a vice president at Colony Capital who started there as an 18-year-old intern and continued working for Barrack after college. His attorney, Abbe Lowell, has described Grimes as a more junior employee than his title conveyed, suggesting he did what he was told by Barrack.
“Matthew started almost every day getting Mr. Barrack’s coffee or smoothies,” Lowell argued in opening statements. | 2022-10-20T01:17:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Government rests in foreign-agent case against Trump friend Tom Barrack - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/19/new-york-barrack-trial/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/19/new-york-barrack-trial/ |
This photo released by the Oregon State Police shows the scene where one person was killed in a multi-vehicle crash in heavy fog on Interstate 5 north of Eugene, Ore., Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. Oregon State Police say the crashes in the southbound lanes of the interstate involved about 60 vehicles including up to 20 semi trucks. (Oregon State Police via AP) (Uncredited/Oregon State Police) | 2022-10-20T01:17:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 1 killed in foggy Oregon crash involving dozens of vehicles - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/1-killed-in-foggy-oregon-crash-involving-dozens-of-vehicles/2022/10/19/70605260-5010-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/1-killed-in-foggy-oregon-crash-involving-dozens-of-vehicles/2022/10/19/70605260-5010-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
(Michael Clubb/AP)
Mississippi State football player Sam Westmoreland has died at the age of 18, the university announced Wednesday.
The cause of Westmoreland’s death and the circumstances surrounding it are not yet publicly known. MSU said it is working with the sheriff’s and coroner’s offices in Oktibbeha County, as well as with campus officials, to “determine the facts of this incident” and would not comment further until it gathered more information.
According to the county sheriff’s office, via the Clarion Ledger, deputies responded to a call at 11 a.m. Wednesday and found Westmoreland dead outside of a Starkville church located approximately four miles east of MSU’s campus. No foul play is suspected by the sheriff’s office, the newspaper reported, and no further details were immediately provided.
Westmoreland was two days shy of his 19th birthday, per his Bulldogs profile.
A native of Tupelo, Miss., Westmoreland was a freshman offensive lineman listed at 6-foot-4 and 260 pounds. He had yet to appear in a game for the 5-2 Bulldogs.
“The Mississippi State Athletics Family is heartbroken by the sudden death of Sam Westmoreland,” Coach Mike Leach said in a statement. “Sam was a beloved son, brother and teammate, and a tremendous young man with a limitless future. He will always be remembered and deeply missed by everyone who knew and loved him. The entire MSU Family mourns as our thoughts and prayers go out to the Westmoreland family. Our highest priority is the support of the Westmoreland family and our student-athletes during this troubling time.”
God Bless our friends at Mississippi State Football & especially the Westmoreland family….our thoughts and prayers are with you🙏 https://t.co/ZxhIHQSEmt
— Lincoln Riley (@LincolnRiley) October 20, 2022
Westmoreland could be counted on to brighten the days of others, his former coach at Tupelo High said.
“One of my memories of Sam is that he was always smiling,” Trent Hammond, who coached Westmoreland in 2020, told the Clarion Ledger. “It didn’t matter what was going on at practice or what. When he showed up at the field house he was always with a smile. He greeted you with a smile every day.”
The current head coach at Tupelo, Ty Hardin, echoed that remembrance.
I’m gonna miss your smile. Love you Sam! pic.twitter.com/mpvT5SHLwN
— Ty Hardin (@ThardiN1235) October 19, 2022
In a statement the high school shared online, Hardin said: “Sam was a fantastic young man, brother and teammate. He was a leader and his positivity was like no other. His teammates and coaches viewed Sam as a ray of sunshine with a contagious smile. He was even voted a team captain his senior year. His leadership and impact on our program will be carried on forever.”
“Sam was a great player and an even greater friend,” Jake Weir, a Bulldogs quarterback and former Tupelo teammate of Westmoreland’s, wrote in a tweet. “Check up on the folks around you, you never know somebody’s personal life outside of work, class, practice, etc. Doing it for you this season Sammy!”
The Bulldogs are scheduled to play at Alabama on Saturday.
“We’re really saddened to hear the passing of one of Mississippi State’s players, Sam Westmoreland,” Crimson Tide Coach Nick Saban said at a news conference Wednesday. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to he, his family, his friends, the Mississippi State football team. This is terrible that a young person is not going to be able to enjoy a successful life.” | 2022-10-20T02:31:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Mississippi State football player Sam Westmoreland dies at 18 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/mississippi-state-football-player-dies-18/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/mississippi-state-football-player-dies-18/ |
San Diego's Austin Nola hits a run-scoring single off his brother, Aaron, in the Padres' pivotal fifth inning of Game 2 of the NLCS. (Ashley Landis/AP)
SAN DIEGO — For a game that lasted nearly four hours, featured two bat-around half-innings, saw the lead change hands in one dizzying sequence and witnessed several of the most accomplished hitters in the game sending balls flying to, off and over the outfield fences, it was still easy to pick out the pitch and the moment that marked both the emotional center of Game 2 of the National League Championship Series and its turning point.
The Philadelphia Phillies were leading the San Diego Padres by two runs at Petco Park, with a game in hand in the best-of-seven series. It was the bottom of the fifth. There was a runner on first, one out, an 0-2 count.
What happened next would become an indelible part of the history of both the sport of baseball and the Nola family of Baton Rouge And it also may have tilted the entire NLCS.
When Padres catcher Austin Nola rifled a fastball off Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola into right field — scoring Ha-Seong Kim, who had taken off from first on the pitch — it launched San Diego to a five-run inning that turned a dispiriting loss into a triumphant 8-5 victory and sent the series to Philadelphia this weekend tied at a game apiece.
It isn’t every day a pitcher and a batter who share the same blood stand 60 feet 6 inches apart in October. The matchup of the Nola brothers, in fact, marked the first brother-vs.-brother, pitcher-vs.-batter duel in postseason history. Aaron, the younger of the two, retired Austin in the second on a groundout. In the fifth, big brother got his revenge.
“We both knew we were going to do everything we could to help our team win,” Austin Nola said. “I think that was understood. The magnitude of the game, the magnitude of the situation — there was not going to be anything given up [easily].”
But the matchup would have been just a historical curiosity were it not for the barrage Austin Nola’s single spawned. The Padres’ five-run outburst knocked Aaron Nola out of the game, turned a 4-2 deficit into a 7-4 lead, sent a sellout crowd of 44,607 into spasms of euphoria and essentially pulled San Diego’s season back from the edge of the abyss. It has been a magical month for the Padres, who have already vanquished two teams, the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, who finished a combined 34 games ahead of them in the league’s standings. But heading to Philly down two games in this series would have been tempting fate.
“We’re always in every game, every inning,” Austin Nola said. “That’s our motto. That’s our identity.”
“Flush it,” Aaron Nola said of Wednesday’s loss. “Go back home, start fresh.”
Four of the Padres’ five runs in the fifth were driven in by Juan Soto (RBI double), Brandon Drury (two-run single) and Josh Bell (RBI single), who happen to be General Manager A.J. Preller’s three key pickups at this summer’s trade deadline. Bell and Drury both added solo homers, as the three new Padres combined to go 6 for 12 with three extra-base hits and six RBI on Wednesday.
The Padres’ flurry of offense undid — and then some — the damage the Phillies inflicted in the top of the second, when they plated four runs against Padres lefty Blake Snell with a series of bleeders and bloopers, aided by Soto’s adventurous defense in right field. On consecutive batters, Soto, who has never been mistaken for a Gold Glover, committed a throwing error and lost a flyball in the sun.
The Phillies’ four-run frame was initiated, fittingly, by Bryce Harper, who — facing the same pitcher, Snell, who had broken his thumb with an inside fastball in June, leading to a two-month stay on the injured list — flicked a single into shallow left-center to lead off the second.
Harper, who turned 30 on Sunday, is authoring one of the greatest Octobers in recent history; he added a double in the sixth, and has at least one extra-base hit in seven straight playoff games, hitting .419 with a 1.390 OPS this postseason.
The Phillies’ lead was 4-2 when the bottom of the fifth got underway, and when Nola stepped in against Nola. Up in the stands, parents A.J. and Stacie braced themselves for the swirl of conflicting emotions they knew was coming. Dad wore a Phillies jersey over a Padres jersey, toggling between the two as necessary to remain neutral.
Aaron had been a bonus baby and an all-star — the seventh overall pick of the 2014 draft who was in the majors a little over a year after being drafted. By at least one widely used metric — wins above replacement — he was the best starting pitcher in baseball this season, amassing a WAR of 6.3 (via FanGraphs), just ahead of Carlos Rodon and Justin Verlander. In two previous starts for the Phillies this postseason, spanning 12⅔ innings, he had not given up an earned run.
Austin, three years older, was the classic grinder, a fifth-round pick as a shortstop, who cycled through three organizations and has spent the bulk of his 13-year professional career in the minors, with his breakthrough occurring only after he converted to catcher.
With Kim, who led off with a single, dancing off first base, Aaron Nola started his brother with a cutter that Austin fouled off. A swing and a miss at a 94 mph fastball made the count 0-2, and a fouled back sinker kept it there.
“Typical plate appearance against my brother: I’m down 0-2,” said Austin, who is 1 for 5 with an RBI, a walk and two strikeouts against Aaron in six regular season plate appearances. “I should just walk up there and say, ‘Put two strikes on me.’ ”
The fourth pitch from Aaron would be a 95-mph sinker. Kim took off from first and didn’t stop sprinting until he reached home plate. Mom and Dad craned their necks to watch, knowing by the end of the afternoon they would likely be elated for one son, devastated for the other.
And Austin Nola whipped his bat through the zone and connected, and suddenly the NLCS and the next Nola family holiday gathering took on entirely new dimensions. | 2022-10-20T02:31:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Nola brothers take center stage as Padres rally past Phillies, tie NLCS - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/phillies-padres-nola-brothers-nlcs/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/19/phillies-padres-nola-brothers-nlcs/ |
Since emerging in late 2021, the highly transmissible omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 has splintered into a dazzling array of subvariants that are now driving fresh waves of Covid-19 cases around the world. The proliferation of such a diversity of variants is unprecedented, and pits numerous hyper-mutated iterations against each other in a race for global dominance. That’s turbo-charged Covid, making it one of the fastest-spreading diseases known to humanity and further challenging pandemic-mitigation efforts in a global population already weary of frequent booster shots, testing and masking.
Omicron was first identified in southern Africa late last year, when it outcompeted the delta variant. Omicron’s initial iteration, B.1.1.529, is characterized by some 30 mutations in the gene for the spike protein, which gives the coronavirus its crown-like appearance and allows it to invade cells. Changes there can make the pathogen less recognizable to the antibodies the immune system makes in response to vaccination or a case of Covid, increasing the risk of infection.
The subvariants known as BQ.1.1, BQ.1, BQ.1.3, BA.2.3.20 and XBB are among the fastest-spreading of the main omicron lineages. Of these, XBB is the most antibody-evasive SARS-CoV-2 variant identified to date, the World Health Organization said in an Oct. 19 report. There is no evidence yet of any change in disease severity, the Geneva-based agency said. Based on UK data, the BQ variants, as well as BA.2.75.2 and BF.7 are the most concerning due to their growth advantage and immune evasiveness, the country’s health security agency said on Oct. 7. BF.7 has been gaining ground in the US, where it accounted for 5.3% of Covid cases in the week ending Oct. 15, from 4.6% the week before, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Atlanta-based agency noted BA4.6 was the most prevalent after BA.5, accounting for 12.2% of cases in the second week of October, from 13.6% the week before. The XBB strain has been linked to a surge in cases in countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Singapore, where it accounts for more than half of Covid infections, the country’s health ministry said on Oct. 15. The XBB wave may peak around mid-November, and is probably driving an increase in reinfections, which make up about 17% of all new cases, the ministry said.
Immunity generated by a primary vaccination series generally has reduced effectiveness against the omicron variants. Booster doses, especially using mRNA shots from Moderna Inc. or Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, substantially improve protection against symptomatic disease and infection, though the benefit diminishes over time. Studies have found effectiveness against severe illness after a primary immunization series is typically maintained over the following six months. More research is needed on the longer-term impact, according to the WHO. Regulatory agencies approved so-called bivalent vaccine booster doses after manufacturers developed shots aimed at improving protection against various omicron subvariants.
(Adds detail on prevalence of omicron strains in section 3, booster doses in section 4.) | 2022-10-20T02:48:55Z | www.washingtonpost.com | World Faces New Threats From Fast-Mutating Omicron Variants - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/world-faces-new-threats-from-fast-mutating-omicron-variants/2022/10/19/77004928-501e-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/world-faces-new-threats-from-fast-mutating-omicron-variants/2022/10/19/77004928-501e-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
The Australian expat started a British publishing house, Virago, to release books by new and neglected female authors
Publisher and author Carmen Callil, the founder of Virago Press, in 2011. (Michele Mossop/Fairfax Media via Getty Images)
Carmen Callil never lacked for ambition. When a young job applicant walked into her London office in the 1970s and asked why Ms. Callil had started Virago Press, one of the first publishing companies devoted to the work of new and neglected female writers, she replied that her goal was simple: “To change the world, darling.”
Ms. Callil, who was 84 when she died Oct. 17, may well have succeeded. Although Virago was far from the only women-led publishing house to emerge out of the feminist movement of the 1960s and ’70s, the company helped redefine what a commercial publishing house could look like, serving as a beacon for a generation of readers looking for books that were written by and for women, in contrast to the male-dominated offerings of traditional publishers.
Guided in its early years by Ms. Callil and four other female directors, Virago published contemporary writers including Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, Pat Barker, Helen Garner and Adrienne Rich. The press also launched a popular Modern Classics series, complete with signature green spines and radiant cover illustrations, that gave new life to books by Vera Brittain, Willa Cather, Rebecca West, Edith Wharton, Henry Handel Richardson (the pen name of Australian author Ethel Florence Richardson) and Elizabeth Taylor (the deft English novelist, not the actress of the same name).
After decades spent publishing other writers, Ms. Callil left the industry to write books of her own, devoting eight years to “Bad Faith” (2006), a critically acclaimed biography of Louis Darquier de Pellepoix, the antisemitic Frenchman who deported thousands of Jews to their deaths while serving in the Vichy government. She also wrote a family memoir, “Oh Happy Day” (2020), that traced her ancestors’ journey from the English Midlands to southeastern Australia, where she was raised.
“In its often tearful compassion, its eloquent rage and its vengeful delight in proletarian snook-cocking, ‘Oh Happy Day’ deserves to be called Dickensian,” wrote literary scholar Peter Conrad, reviewing the book for Britain’s Observer newspaper.
“I started Virago to break a silence, to make women’s voices heard, to tell women’s stories, my story and theirs,” she wrote in a 2008 essay for the Guardian. “How often I remember sitting at dinner tables in the 1960s, the men talking to each other about serious matters, the women sitting quietly like decorated lumps of sugar. I remember one such occasion when I raised my fist, banged the table and shouted: ‘I have views on Bangladesh too!’ ”
By then, Ms. Callil had worked as a book publicist for a half-dozen publishers and began helping the underground press. She supported her new publishing company with the proceeds from her publicity business — its motto: “anything outrageous suitably publicised” — and with the overdraft on her bank account. Its name, Virago, came from a classical term for a warrior woman, and was plucked from a book about goddesses that she was reading with Boycott.
From her attic apartment above a west London synagogue, Ms. Callil met with authors including Mary Chamberlain, whose nonfiction book “Fenwomen: A Portrait of Women in an English Village” became Virago’s first title when it was published in 1975. Three years later, Ms. Callil launched the Modern Classics series, selecting green for the books’ spines because she considered it a neutral color — unlike a masculine blue or feminine pink — that would suggest the titles’ broad appeal to all readers, not just women.
At the time, the idea of a women-led press was practically unheard of. One bookstore refused to stock their books, saying there were no feminists in town. Anthony Burgess, the author of “A Clockwork Orange,” dismissed the women behind Virago as “chauvinist sows.” Some female authors were also skeptical of the business: “What a name!” Belgian-born novelist Marguerite Yourcenar said. “They publish only women. It reminds me of ladies’ compartments in 19th-century trains, or of a ghetto.”
Yet the books sold, the press made money and the publishing house grew. By the late 1970s, Ms. Callil was part of a quintet of publishing executives that included Ursula Owen, Harriet Spicer, Alexandra Pringle and Lennie Goodings, the young woman who had once asked her why she created Virago. (Goodings is now the company’s chair.)
By all accounts — including her own — Ms. Callil could be demanding and difficult to work with. “She behaved to her staff like an over-possessive mother,” one former employee told the Independent of London, “which gave her the absolute right to treat her children abominably, cuffing them round the ear if she felt like it. But if anyone outside the family attacked them, she would defend them like a lioness.”
“What came naturally to me was always considered outrageous and rude,” she told the Guardian in 2007. “You’re never allowed to lose your temper … you’re never allowed to say you’re absolutely hopeless at what you do, you’re never allowed to say anything. I came to the conclusion that I should never have come here. I should have stayed at home. Definitely. Or lived in France.”
Still, her early years in Britain proved difficult. She was suicidal, she later said, and found help while visiting a therapist, Anne Darquier, who was later found dead in 1970 with drugs and alcohol in her system. Only a year later, when Ms. Callil was watching a TV documentary, did she discover Darquier’s family history, which she explored further in her book “Bad Faith.”
Ms. Callil was named managing director of the publishing house Chatto & Windus after it acquired Virago in 1982. She went on to work with writers including A.S. Byatt, Angela Carter, Hilary Mantel, Toni Morrison and Alice Munro while continuing to serve as chairwoman of Virago until 1995, when the press became part of Little Brown.
By then, Chatto had been bought by Penguin Random House, where Ms. Callil held the title of publisher-at-large before leaving in the mid-1990s to write books and literary criticism. Her first book, “The Modern Library: The 200 Best Novels in English Since 1950” (1999), was written with Irish novelist Colm Tóibín.
Ms. Callil remained active in the country’s literary scene, serving as a judge for the Booker Prize and making headlines in 2011 when she withdrew from the panel of the Man Booker International Prize after her fellow judges decided to honor Philip Roth. “He goes on and on and on about the same subject in almost every single book,” she said. “It’s as though he’s sitting on your face and you can’t breathe.”
In 2017, she was awarded the Royal Society of Literature’s Benson Medal, a lifetime achievement honor, and named a dame commander of the Order of the British Empire. | 2022-10-20T03:32:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Carmen Callil, pioneering feminist publisher, dies at 84 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/10/19/virago-publisher-carmen-callil-dead/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/10/19/virago-publisher-carmen-callil-dead/ |
Beth is a teacher and I’m a security engineer. Basically, I work as a computer hacker that stops computer hackers. Every day after work, I’ll listen and weigh in while Beth tells me about troubles at the school, her kids, learning about different teaching methods and policies, curriculum, theories — and everything in between.
Unfortunately, when it comes to me sharing things about my work, she will say, “I don’t like/understand technology” and remove herself from the conversation. I have tried supplying all kinds of metaphors, offering to show bare bones basics, anything else I can think of. She simply says, “Oh it’s tech. I’m not interested.”
Multifactor: I looked up “Multifactor” to discern what you might have meant by signing your question that way, which tells me two things. One: For those of us in the non-tech “people” business, your orientation might occasionally be difficult to understand.
He is now scheduling “gigs” on weekend nights at various bars and clubs. He refuses to commit to “date nights” for us because he might get a gig that night. I feel neglected, our relationship is suffering, and I’m unwilling to play second fiddle.
Frustrated: The early point in marriage is when most couples have positive experiences that will sometimes sustain them when times get tough. To maintain a healthy and happy marriage, both parties should put the relationship first.
Tom: What a beautiful bargain. | 2022-10-20T04:20:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ask Amy: My partner says she's not interested when I talked about work - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/10/20/ask-amy-partner-work-talk/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/10/20/ask-amy-partner-work-talk/ |
One purpose of the greeting at the front door is to establish for all parties that a new set of etiquette rules is now in effect: those of guest and host, co-worker and co-worker, client and salesperson. Within reason, everyone is assumed to be invisible before this exchange — meaning there is no bar against stopping in the driveway to check one’s lipstick, ensure you are at the right house or finish a telephone call.
When he comes to our home, he only speaks to my husband, ignoring my daughters and me. When I offer him something to drink, he responds by saying, “No. If I want something, I will tell you.” During the meal, he eats silently, except to tell me what he does not like about his food, or to say, “Get me this,” or “Get me that.”
Your father-in-law’s behavior is inexcusable, an adjective that may seem insufficient to the many citizens alive today for whom rage is both sport and occupation. | 2022-10-20T04:20:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Miss Manners: Finishing a phone call in someone's driveway - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/10/20/miss-manners-driveway-phone-conversation/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/10/20/miss-manners-driveway-phone-conversation/ |
College enrollment declines for third straight year since pandemic
Report finds undergraduate count is off about 7 percent since fall 2019
A person walks on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in September 2020. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
College and university enrollment has declined for the third straight year, according to a new national report, with the undergraduate count now about 7 percent lower than it was in fall 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic rocked higher education.
The report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, released Thursday, found that undergraduate enrollment has dipped 1.1 percent since last fall. That was smaller than the previous annual decline of 3.1 percent, recorded in fall 2021. But analysts said the trends remained worrisome and are nowhere near pre-pandemic levels.
Colleges scramble to recruit students as nationwide enrollment plunges
Enrollment is sensitive to birthrates as well as migration patterns and economic factors. When the economy booms and jobs are plentiful, many young people will delay going to college. Several states in the Midwest and mid-Atlantic regions have had sharper enrollment declines than the national average. Across the country, most colleges and universities are worried that such declines will reduce revenue they need to keep pace with higher costs as inflation raises the price of goods and services.
The next inflation-driven worry: Rising college tuition
One potential positive sign for next year’s enrollment is emerging in the number of high school seniors who complete the federal financial aid application known as FAFSA. Data from the National College Attainment Network show that 4.3 percent of students in the high school class of 2023 had completed the FAFSA through Oct. 7. That was up 25 percent compared with the previous academic year. | 2022-10-20T04:20:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | College enrollment declines for third straight year in worrisome trend - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/10/20/college-enrollment-declines-since-pandemic/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/10/20/college-enrollment-declines-since-pandemic/ |
Analysis by Igor Cherkaskyi | Bloomberg
Firefighters appear on the scene to put out a fire in Kyiv. (Photographer: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images Europe)
As of this writing, Russia continues to bomb my country, my city Kyiv, and the streets, parks and central squares I used to walk with my children. The goals are far from military — Russian rockets deliberately target civilians to strike fear into the hearts of Ukrainians and doubt into the resolve of our allies. At the same time, the Russian leadership continues to threaten the world with nuclear warfare.
These activities amount to terrorism — and should be dealt with as such.
The international community has developed mechanisms for dealing with rogue states that support terrorism and embark on dangerous nuclear weapons programs. These are based on comprehensive economic sanctions that undermine terrorists’ ability to raise funding, greatly reducing their capacity to cause harm. While ideology and naked self-interest are the causes of terrorism, money is its lifeblood.
North Korea and Iran, for example, have both faced sanctions for the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. They have been deemed high-risk jurisdictions and “blacklisted” by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog set up by G7, which now includes 37 member states. This is one of the most effective tools for restricting terrorists’ access to the global economy, as it forces all states to apply enhanced due diligence to any transactions involving the financial system of a blacklisted jurisdiction.
Aside from being blacklisted by FATF, North Korea and Iran have something else in common. They have forged ties with Russia and, in some cases, been supported by Russian actors in their terrorist endeavors.
In March 2022, the US sanctioned Russian individuals and entities that allegedly supported the weapons of mass destruction and ballistic programs of North Korea. It has also been reported that Russia was buying ammunition from North Korea.
Iran and Russia have drawn closer too since the full-fledged invasion of Ukraine. Russia has been buying Iranian kamikaze drones and using them to attack Ukrainian civilians and critical civilian infrastructure. Many of these have been downed in Ukraine and are proof of Russian cooperation with Iran.
Again and again, Russia has failed to prevent the financing of terrorism and nuclear proliferation. It is also well known for its kleptocratic regime thriving on money laundering and illicit finance generation.
Although existing sanctions have made a difference, the war continues to drag on and global threats emanating from Russia are increasing. Not since the darkest days of the Cold War has the risk of nuclear war felt so real. It is time the international community acknowledges this and addresses Russia as the terrorist state it has become.
In June, FATF took an important step with the decision to suspend Russia’s decision-making powers within the organization. Now more must be done.
This week we have a chance to further increase pressure on Russia. Today and Friday, the FATF plenary meeting takes place in Paris. Ukraine’s request is clear: Exclude Russia from FATF and blacklist it for the safety and security of not just Ukraine but the world and the global financial system.
These steps would protect lives in areas far beyond Ukraine. They would necessitate immediate compliance with more robust anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing requirements when dealing with Russia. This would add another major disincentive for international business to operate in the Russian market and limit Russia’s access to the global economy.
At present, only a limited number of states participate in sanctioning the Russian regime for its gross violations of the international rule of law. FATF blacklisting would compel all actors from all jurisdictions around the world, besides those on the FATF blacklist such as Iran and North Korea, to comply or risk being called out for facilitating terrorism financing and money laundering.
Such a step will close off some of the main loopholes for sanctions circumvention. For example, it would eliminate the safe havens provided by Russia’s existing unsanctioned banks. From more than 300 Russian banks, only around 20 have been sanctioned. It would also prevent possible circumvention through those states that have not introduced sanctions against Russia.
Together, these moves would help choke Vladimir Putin’s ability to finance the war.
But we should think bigger too. By designating Russia as a high-risk jurisdiction, we will strengthen the entire global financial system. While many understand the risks posed by Russia already, many others continue to covertly support the state or continue business operations there. Officially blacklisting Russia will mean those actors must comply or risk violating existing anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing regulations.
Early sanctions and the scramble by Russian elites to protect their assets revealed the extent to which Russia’s high level of corruption has been exported worldwide. Indeed, the invasion of Ukraine has forced Western financial centers to address risks associated with Russian money urgently.
By uniting to further close Russia out of the global economic and financial system, we send a clear message that actions that threaten global security will not be tolerated — and that violators, no matter their size or importance, will be held accountable.
Igor Cherkaskyi is the head of the Financial Intelligence Unit of Ukraine. | 2022-10-20T05:51:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | It’s Time to Sanction Russia as the Terrorist State It’s Become - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/its-time-to-sanction-russia-as-the-terrorist-state-its-become/2022/10/20/e0b61120-5034-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/its-time-to-sanction-russia-as-the-terrorist-state-its-become/2022/10/20/e0b61120-5034-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
Such information could prove crucial in helping the United States and its Ukrainian allies better identify and ultimately defeat the unmanned craft
This image of a drone approaching for attack was captured in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on Monday. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)
The U.S. government has examined the wreckage of Iranian-made drones shot down in Ukraine, deepening its insight into the unmanned craft that Russia has launched in a spate of kamikaze attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure, according to two U.S. officials.
Information about the drones’ structure and technology could prove crucial in helping the United States and its Ukrainian allies better identify and ultimately defeat them before they can reach their targets. Officials said the process has been used in the past to study weaponry deployed by Iran’s proxies in conflicts in the Middle East. People interviewed for this report spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence collection.
The Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used in this week’s attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, have targeted power stations and other utilities, killing at least four, authorities there have said. Their use by Russian forces has underscored the growing ties between Moscow and Tehran, alarming Western leaders whose sanctions and other punitive economic measures have drastically undercut the Kremlin’s ability to regenerate its military after eight months of war.
The Iranian-made drones are being launched from three Russian military bases in Crimea and another position in Belarus, a Ukrainian official said. Tehran has dispatched advisers to Russian-controlled areas, where they have provided operators with technical instruction.
It is unclear how the United States gained access to the drone wreckage, though the Pentagon coordinates closely with Ukraine’s military and maintains a small administrative presence at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. That team is led by a one-star Army general.
Drones over Ukraine:
Death in different sizes
Iranian Shahed-136 drones can loiter over areas for hours until their cameras identify
a target and the drone drops on it like a bomb. The Russians are using these weapons to devastating effect without risk to their troops.
SHAHED-136 (IRAN)
Max. speed:
Approx. weight: 440 pounds
Range: About 1,100-
Nose contains explosive warhead as well as cameras
But the Iranian drones are bigger, noisier and reportedly easier to shoot down than the tiny Switchblade 300s the U.S. is supplying to Ukraine.
SWITCHBLADE 300 (U.S.)
Max. speed: 100 mph
Approx. weight: 5.5 pounds
Range: About 6 miles
Sources: Defense Express, AeroVironment
Iranian Shahed-136 drones can loiter over areas for hours until their cameras identify a target and the drone drops on it like a bomb. The Russians are using these weapons to devastating effect without risk to their troops.
Approx. weight:
But the Iranian drones are bigger, noisier
and reportedly easier
to shoot down than the tiny Switchblade 300s the U.S. is supplying
to Ukraine.
300 (U.S.)
Drones over Ukraine: Death in different sizes
Iranian Shahed-136 drones can loiter over areas for hours until their cameras identify a target and the drone drops on it like a bomb.
The Russians are using these weapons to devastating effect without risk to their troops.
Engine, propeller
The Shahed is a large, lumbering aircraft that flies very low and appears to have few metallic parts, making it difficult to detect with radars and other sensors before reaching its target. Examination of the wreckage may help overcome those challenges.
The drones’ points of origin pose another challenge, the Ukrainian official said: They are too far for U.S.-supplied rocket artillery to strike, blunting options for destroying the aircraft before they are airborne.
Ukraine, which says it has destroyed more than 220 Shahed-136 drones since Sept. 13, appears to be studying the platform, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told reporters this week. Pevkur said it was of regional urgency to learn about the aircraft.
“We all have to understand that we all have to put our efforts to that. To understand how it works, and to understand how to take it down,” he said. “Because it’s not only the question of Ukraine at war at the moment, but it’s a question of all of us who are in the situation where we are.”
Iran produces a variety of drones and has reportedly supplied them to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthi rebels in Yemen, among other groups. The Pentagon believes Iran-allied forces have used them against U.S. military personnel in Syria, including in an August attack at the U.S.-run base at Tanf.
The Houthis claimed to have used Samad-3 drones to attack a refinery in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last spring, and launched Samad-1 drones at Saudi Aramco facilities in other parts of the country. Those drones are distinct from the weapons used by Russia in Ukraine.
In February, the United Arab Emirates was hit by several drone and missile attacks claimed by the Houthis. In a military parade last month in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, the Houthis reportedly displayed a local version of the Shahed-136.
Ukraine has asked the United Nations to examine the wreckage, to determine the aircraft’s country of origin. In a letter dated Friday, Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador invited “U.N. experts to visit Ukraine at the earliest possible opportunity to inspect recovered Iran-origin drones.” The letter maintained that Iranian transfers of the drones would violate both U.N. sanctions against Iran and terms of the 2015 U.N. Security Council resolution on the Iran nuclear deal that year.
The Council held a closed-door meeting Wednesday to hear “an expert briefing … on recent evidence that Russia illegally procured Iranian UAVs that it is using in its war on Ukraine,” Nate Evans, spokesperson for the American U.N. mission, said in a statement after the session. “These UAVs were transferred from Iran to Russia in open violation of provisions” of the resolution approving the nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers.
Earlier this week, France and Britain — signers of the deal along with Iran, the United States, Germany, Russia and China — echoed Ukrainian charges that sending the drones to Russia violated a provision prohibiting Iran from transferring unmanned aerial vehicles with a range of more than 300 kilometers (186.4 miles) unless it had specific permission from the council.
“As was outlined during today’s meeting,” the statement from Evans said, “there is ample evidence that Russia is using Iranian-made UAVS” in its attacks on Ukraine. “By procuring these weapons in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions, Russia continues to flout international law in its pursuit of a senseless and brutal war.”
The statement did not indicate any immediate action would be taken, although Evans said “we anticipate this will be the first of many conversations at the U.N. on how to hold Iran and Russia accountable for failing to comply with U.N. Security Council-imposed obligations.”
The Shahed loiters in the air until it identifies a target, often a fixed position, and then dives into it, detonating onboard explosives. Unlike bigger reusable drones that fire missiles and return to a base, it flies low and slow.
Ukrainians call it “the lawn mower” because of the loud buzzing sound it makes. The distinct noise has served as a warning of its approach, allowing people to scramble for cover and brace for the explosion, which is smaller than the impact caused by conventional ballistic missiles.
The drones pose a significant problem, analysts say. Many defensive systems capable of defeating them are costly, are designed mostly for bigger threats like jets and helicopters, and take months or years to produce, limiting how many can be distributed and forcing military planners to prioritize sites deemed most vulnerable.
While Ukrainian air defenses have shown some success against the drones, even a few slipping through can cause havoc, said Samuel Bendett, an expert on the Russian military at CNA, a research group. “It’s a demonstration of Russian capability, and now they have cheap plentiful weapons that can constantly remind Ukrainians that their skies are not 100 percent safe,” he said. “It’s a very powerful psychological weapon.”
Russia’s performance with the Shaheds in Ukraine “suggests an evolution,” Bendett said. “They probably started with a basic concept the Houthis and the Iranians used themselves and built on it to possibly overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses, to fly around them, to circumnavigate them, in one way or another.”
Iranian military leaders will probably seek feedback from Russian commanders on how they have evaded Western air defenses, experts have said. Such information could aid Tehran in any potential attacks it pursues against its regional adversaries.
The United States has provided Ukraine with air defense systems capable of destroying drones. One, the Vampire, can take down drones with a launcher attached to a pickup truck.
The Pentagon also has promised to send Ukraine NASAMS, a surface-to-air missile system capable of intercepting ballistic missiles and other aerial threats. Two NASAMS are slated for delivery in the coming weeks, U.S. officials have said. Six others pledged to Ukraine are expected to take years to build and deliver.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to air defense threats and to these drones specifically, experts say. They point to a diverse set of weapons capable of defending priority targets, from Stinger missiles, which are shoulder-fired weapons developed long ago, to newer, more sophisticated systems like the NASAMS, said Tom Karako, the director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.
Also needed, Karako said, are electronic warfare systems that can disrupt the connection between drone and operator, taking it offline. “You may not need the world’s biggest interceptors,” he said, “but you are going to need something.”
The Pentagon has not indicated whether this week’s attacks in Kyiv would trigger a rush to deliver more anti-drone weapons. A senior military official pointed to the 1,400 Stingers the United States has provided Ukraine to date and contributions from other Western countries to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses.
Both the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates have said Patriot interceptors have been used to thwart Houthi missile attacks — along with, in the UAE, a THAAD defense system. Neither has specified the defenses they have used against drones.
Ukraine uses kamikaze drones as well. The Pentagon has provided its military with hundreds of Switchblades, which are much smaller than the Shahed and are designed to strike small groups of soldiers or armored vehicles, depending on the variant. While smaller and more evasive than the Iranian drones, they lack the range, with the larger Switchblade version able to travel 25 miles. The domestically produced RAM II also is in use, but its range tops out at 18 miles, making both weapons more suitable near the front lines.
Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report. | 2022-10-20T07:18:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | U.S. has viewed wreckage of kamikaze drones Russia used in Ukraine - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/20/russia-iran-kamikaze-drones/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/20/russia-iran-kamikaze-drones/ |
Brazil’s runoff presidential election on Oct. 30 pits two larger-than-life figures representing opposite ends of the political spectrum: the incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who ruled the country from 2003 to 2010. Lula outperformed Bolsonaro during the first round of voting, 48% to 43%, but fell short of the outright victory that some had predicted. The outcome of the runoff will have profound implications for Latin America’s biggest and most populous nation.
He’s stated that only God could remove him from office and has for most of his four years in government sought to undermine institutions that impose checks and balances on his powers. He has repeatedly cast doubt about the reliability of the country’s electronic voting system, even claiming without proof that the 2018 election was rigged against him because he didn’t win in the first round. That fueled fears that he may mimic attempts to overturn the result of the US’s 2020 election by then-president Donald Trump. In late July, top Brazilian banking and company executives, jurists, economists and other professionals signed a letter defending the country’s voting system and warning that attacks on it posed an “immense danger” to democracy. The letter didn’t mention Bolsonaro by name. The president has denied that he’d consider staging a coup should he lose the election and more recently pledged to accept the result of the election in a bid to win over moderate voters. After outperforming expectations in the first round of voting, Bolsonaro toned down his criticism of the electronic system.
Polling still suggests Lula is the favorite, yet Bolsonaro is gaining some ground and trimming the gap. The leftist challenger saw his advantage over the incumbent narrow to 5.6 percentage points in a Quaest poll published Wednesday, from nearly 8 points two weeks ago. An Ipespe survey released the previous day showed the candidates statistically tied, though both polls moved within the margin of error.
The state of the economy is, by quite some margin, the main worry of Brazilian voters, and it’s shown signs of improvement in the past few months. Growth beat expectations in the second quarter, and the unemployment rate dropped in August for the sixth straight month, reaching 8.9%, the lowest level since 2015. Economists see Brazil ending the year with a 2.7% expansion of gross domestic product and inflation slowing to 5.6%, which is a much better outlook than at the beginning of 2022. | 2022-10-20T07:23:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What to Know About Bolsonaro-Lula Showdown in Brazil - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/what-to-know-about-bolsonaro-lula-showdown-in-brazil/2022/10/20/3392778c-503d-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/what-to-know-about-bolsonaro-lula-showdown-in-brazil/2022/10/20/3392778c-503d-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
Why Malaysia Has Early Elections and What Is at Stake
Analysis by Kok Leong Chan and Anisah Shukry | Bloomberg
Malaysia will hold an early general election on Nov. 19 to try to end the messy politics that have plagued the Southeast Asian nation since the historic defeat of the long-ruling Barisan Nasional coalition four years ago. The opposition alliance that pulled off that shock victory fell apart after 22 months due to infighting, leading to the BN’s eventual return to power. Still, with multiple coalitions in the race this time, an influx of millions of new, young voters and the risk of disruptions from monsoon floods, the era of one party dominating the nation’s political landscape may be long gone.
1. What is at stake?
Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and his fragile coalition are seeking to capitalize on recent wins in local polls and an opposition in disarray to improve on their four-seat majority in the 222-seat House of Representatives, with the vote coming almost a year ahead of schedule. A stronger mandate could enable the government to plow ahead with plans for budget cuts to improve public finances without having to make deals with the opposition -- or even suspend democracy as the last prime minister did. Malaysia is a major trading partner of both the US and China, but foreign policy has received little mention in this race. However, the results may matter a lot to ex-premier and BN leader Najib Razak, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence for his role in the multibillion-dollar scandal related to state investment fund 1MDB. Najib has petitioned for a royal pardon, a move that his party supports, so a big win could improve the chances of it being granted. This would echo opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s pardon following his coalition’s victory in the 2018 election.
2. Who are the players?
The main ones are:
• BN: Remodeled from the Alliance Front in 1973 after the 1969 race riots between ethnic Malays and Chinese, it has won 13 out of 14 elections. At the height of its power, BN comprised 14 parties, epitomizing the country’s identity politics and patronage system. The 1MDB scam finally turned voters against it. BN now consists of Ismail’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the Malaysian Chinese Association, the Malaysian Indian Congress and the United Sabah People’s Party.
• Pakatan Harapan: The alliance brought to an end BN’s dominance of Malaysia’s political landscape. Its victory was hailed as a milestone for transparency, accountability and racial tolerance, but the government, led by UMNO veteran-turned-critic Mahathir Mohamad, collapsed due to defections. The coalition comprises the People’s Justice Party, the Democratic Action Party and the National Trust Party. It has also formed an electoral pact with newcomer Malaysian United Democratic Alliance.
• Perikatan Nasional: The grouping comprises two main parties -- Bersatu and the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party -- and is led by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin. The coalition currently has 39 lawmakers.
• Three small parties that are expected to dominate the race for seats on the island of Borneo may become kingmakers. Gabungan Parti Sarawak currently has 19 seats, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah has eight and Warisan Sabah, seven. They are likely to partner with whomever wins the majority of seats in Peninsular Malaysia.
3. What are the issues?
Economic woes are expected to remain front and center as Malaysians struggle with rising living costs, a weakening ringgit and concerns of a global slowdown next year. Some 70% of low-income households in a World Bank survey said they were unable to meet their monthly basic needs. Others include:
• Stability: Every party promises to end the political squabbling that followed Mahathir’s resignation in 2020. BN has pledged to retain Ismail as prime minister and continue with the 2023 budget his government unveiled Oct. 7 -- three days before he dissolved parliament, paving the way for a new election.
• Corruption: The 1MDB scandal is expected to take a backseat following Najib’s prison sentence. Still, it remains ready ammunition for opposition parties as UMNO leaders including party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi face dozens of pending corruption charges.
4. Any wild cards?
There are 5.8 million new voters after the government lowered the minimum voting age to 18 from 21 -- and made voter registration automatic. Whether they will show up is untested. About 67% of Malaysian Muslim youths in a recent survey by Merdeka Center said they weren’t interested in politics, and 77% said politics was too complicated to understand. Another factor influencing turnout could be the annual northeast monsoon, which typically brings heavy floods. The opposition have criticized Ismail and his party for the timing as it risks diverting resources away from disaster management. Floodwaters late last year left dozens dead and led to more than 6.5 billion ringgit in losses.
4. How did Malaysia get here?
Mahathir, who was UMNO president for 22 years -- and Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister -- until his retirement in 2003, buried the hatchet with Anwar long enough to end BN’s uninterrupted reign and send Najib to jail. But the bad blood between Mahathir and Anwar ran deep, and it didn’t take long before their feuding caused the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government in 2020. Ironically, both leaders lost out to their own deputies -- Yassin and Mohamed Azmin Ali -- who led enough defections to replace them with the Perikatan Nasional government. The Muhyiddin administration didn’t last and he too was replaced by UMNO’s Ismail in August last year.
5. What is the outlook?
Despite the near-constant political instability and the damage inflicted by the pandemic, Malaysia has rebounded swiftly. Boasting one of the world’s fastest Covid-19 vaccination programs, the country surprised everyone by logging a 8.9% GDP expansion in the second quarter of 2022. The just-passed $80 billion spending plan for 2023 aims to cut taxes while still narrowing the fiscal deficit through more targeted subsidies. Higher energy prices this year have led to higher dividends from Malaysia’s state oil company Petroliam Nasional Bhd., which helped the government pay its ballooning subsidies bill. But the uncertainty over the fate of the budget has created fresh headwinds for the ringgit, already languishing at a 24-year low versus the dollar. A weak currency is bad news for Malaysia, a net food importer. | 2022-10-20T07:23:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why Malaysia Has Early Elections and What Is at Stake - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/why-malaysia-has-early-elections-and-what-is-at-stake/2022/10/20/196ca90e-5042-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/why-malaysia-has-early-elections-and-what-is-at-stake/2022/10/20/196ca90e-5042-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
One of the reasons Iran’s anti-government protests have persisted is the emergence of new inspirational figures every few days. The latest is Elnaz Rekabi, a sport climber who defied the Islamic Regime’s strict dress code for women by competing in an international tournament in South Korea last week without wearing a head scarf.
Rekabi vanished from view after her performance and only emerged after apologizing on Instagram for baring her head. Reports suggest her statement was coerced by officials from the Iranian embassy in Seoul, who then hustled her into a flight back home.
The officials clearly didn’t expect what happened next: Rekabi was greeted at the Tehran airport by crowds chanting, “Elnaz, Hero!” Since the airport was crawling with security forces, whether in uniform or in mufti, the ecstatic reception was itself an act of defiance by the hundreds of Iranians who knowingly risked joining Rekabi in her uncertain fate.
Although the International Olympic Committee has said it received assurances from Iranian officials that Rekabi “will not suffer any consequences,” the the regime has been known to wait until the spotlight has moved on before inflicting punishment on those who break its rules. Prominent protesters face a spectrum of oppression, ranging from televised apologies and a period of house arrest to incarceration and torture in one of Iran’s notorious prisons. Some detained protesters have been killed, with officials concocting ever-more absurd cover stories — including, in the case of Nima Shafaqdoost, “infection caused by a dog bite.”
The regime’s repressive measures have not had any dampening effect on the nationwide street demonstrations, which were sparked by the death in custody of a young woman, Mahsa Amini. Rather than be cowed, the crowds appear to be inspired by every new heroine and hero to new heights of dissent — including the destruction of images and statues of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, as well as calls for the death of his successor, Ali Khamenei. The rallying cry of “Jin! Jiyam! Azadi!” (Women, Life, Freedom) has grown louder with every week for the past month.
Since this counterrevolution is female-led, most of the inspiration has come from women like Amini and Rekabi, and girls like Nika Shakarami, who was thrown to her death from a high floor after having set fire to her headscarf. The ranks of prominent protesters include the odd man in, like the singer Shervin Hajipour, who turned despondent online lamentations about Amini’s death into lyrics for a song that has become the anthem of the protests. He, too, has endured arrest on charges of “propaganda against the system” and “inciting people to violent acts.”
Perhaps the most important characteristic of these inspirational icons is their youthfulness. Amini was 22 years old; Shakarami and Shafaqdoost, just 16. Hajipour is 25, and Rekabi, 33.
This may be key to the durability of the protests. Holly Dagres, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, has described the demonstrators as representatives of Iran’s Gen Z.
This means they have no direct experience of the two major events on which the Islamic Republic rests its case for legitimacy: Khomeini’s 1979 revolution and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Being young, they also tend to be less religious than their parents, which weakens the regime’s other claim to authority: Islam. It doesn’t help that the government uses faith to justify rigid social rules, such as the dress code for women, that young people find despicable.
Over four decades since its inception, the Islamic Republic has not been able to add to the stories of sanctity and sacrifice which it has tried to drum into successive generations. It can offer no narratives of good governance and economic opportunity, and the standard excuse that this all the fault of the American “Great Satan” — a phrase coined by Khomeini and still trotted out by Khamenei — has worn thin.
If the regime can’t suppress the protesters with violence, it won’t placate them with hoary slogans and tales of martyrs for the revolutionary cause. Iran’s Gen Z has its own slogans, its own cause, and in the likes of Amini and Rekabi, its own martyrs.
• Iran’s Protesters Need Some More Homegrown Support: Bobby Ghosh
• Iran’s New Ploy Is to Threaten to Seize Bahrain: Hussein Ibish
• US Can’t Fight China, Iran and Russia All at Once: Hal Brands | 2022-10-20T07:23:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Iran’s Protesters Challenge the Regime’s Legitimacy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/irans-protesters-challenge-the-regimes-legitimacy/2022/10/20/3fbd34b6-503d-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/irans-protesters-challenge-the-regimes-legitimacy/2022/10/20/3fbd34b6-503d-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
A man needed a brain tumor removed. He played the sax during surgery.
A patient at Rome’s Paideia International Hospital played saxophone while undergoing a nine-hour operation to remove a brain tumor Oct. 10. (Video: Paideia Hospital via Storyful)
Earlier this month, the soothing sounds of a saxophone streamed from an operating room in Rome’s Paideia International Hospital. The music wasn’t coming from a speaker, but rather from a patient playing the woodwind on the operating table as a team of surgeons worked to remove a tumor from his brain.
Yes, he was awake — and remained so throughout the nine-hour surgery. Christian Brogna, a neurosurgeon who led the operation, told The Washington Post that the 35-year-old saxophonist’s performance was necessary for the team to navigate the man’s brain and avoid damaging the areas he needed to continue playing the instrument.
“Each person is unique because each brain’s unique,” Brogna said, explaining that he needed to understand the patient’s “wishes” and lifestyle to tailor a successful surgery.
Patients staying awake for brain surgeries is not unusual. It can help surgeons map their brains and work around areas responsible for speech, memory and important lifestyle functions while the use of local anesthetics allows them to remain awake without feeling pain. Some may read or answer questions, and in recent years, patients have been filmed playing the guitar and the violin and even singing opera music during surgeries. There have also been other saxophonists who’ve played on the operating table.
Man plays guitar through his own brain surgery
Brogna, who said he performs around 50 awake surgeries per year, added that playing a musical instrument integrates numerous highly complex brain functions like hand-eye coordination, motor skills and even math.
The saxophonist’s tumor, he said, was located in precisely the regions responsible for bodily movement, which are not easy to operate on. What made this patient’s surgery especially tricky was that he was left-handed. His brain structure was different from that of a right-handed person and therefore more difficult to map, Brogna said.
The man, whom Brogna could identify only by the initials G.Z., played the theme of the 1970 film “Love Story,” as well as the Italian national anthem, during portions of the surgery, Brogna said. His team studied those songs carefully before the operation, he said, because any wrong note, change in rhythm or abrupt pause could mean the surgeon was probing an area that needed to be avoided.
The Oct. 10 operation, which involved an international team of more than 10 medical professionals, was ultimately successful, Brogna said. Tests showed the tumor had been completely removed, he said, and the patient went home three days later to his wife and two children. All of his functions, including his saxophone playing, were normal.
Brogna said the man wished to tell news outlets that a brain tumor operation was “not necessarily a bad experience” — that he was comfortable and calm throughout the procedure and trusted Brogna and his team. Brogna, for his part, spoke of the “very strong connection” and sense of collaboration he felt with this and other patients during the operations.
He also said that, in addition to aiding the man’s surgery, the saxophone playing helped further his understanding of the human brain — and will help him with future operations.
“Each surgery of this kind is a window into the complexity of the brain, and we learn from all these surgeries continuously,” he said.
“This was the saxophone now,” he added, “but it can be anything important for the patient.” | 2022-10-20T08:37:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Video: Man plays saxophone during his 9-hour brain tumor surgery - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/20/saxophone-brain-surgery-rome-video/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/20/saxophone-brain-surgery-rome-video/ |
A refugee boy walks through tents in a village near Pemba, Mozambique, on Sept. 2. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
PEMBA, Mozambique — The boy’s scars streak under his ears and circle his neck, dark razor marks left by the Islamic State militants who overran his village. The fighters tried to recruit him. When he refused, the torture began. He was 13.
But the boy’s deepest trauma surfaces when he talks about what happened to his uncle. His eyes dim and his voice gets low, almost disappearing in the breeze.
“They beheaded my uncle that day, along with others,” recalled R.A., who is now 16 and living in a refugee camp. “He was begging for help, but I could do nothing. I was too scared. I could hear the machete striking him. I could hear his screams.”
In northern Mozambique, one of the Islamic State’s newest branches is fueling a brutal insurgency that has raged out of sight in small villages and remote forests since late 2017. Women are kidnapped and kept as sex slaves, boys are forced to become child soldiers, beheadings are weapons of terror. The conflict has claimed about 4,000 lives; nearly 1 million people have fled their homes, separating countless families.
Victims shared their stories with The Washington Post on the condition that they be identified only by their first names, and, in R.A.’s case, by his initials, because his first name is uncommon. They still live in fear of the militants.
The violence and instability also threaten one of the world’s most lucrative deposits of natural gas. As Russia’s war in Ukraine drives up gas prices, fueling fears of scarcity across Europe, northern Mozambique’s reserves of liquefied natural gas, or LNG — the third largest in Africa — are viewed as vital.
Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, the U.S. government approved nearly $6 billion in loans and risk insurance to help get Mozambique’s nascent natural gas industry off the ground. American and European oil and gas companies, including ExxonMobil and French giant TotalEnergies, have multibillion-dollar projects in the resource-rich province of Cabo Delgado, in the country’s far north. But the five-year-old Islamist insurgency there has halted most production.
The U.S. and European governments are trying to help Mozambican forces fight the militants — and get the gas flowing.
“They have completely stopped LNG operations from moving forward,” said a U.S. Embassy official in the capital, Maputo, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation freely. “There certainly is a new urgency for LNG with Ukraine.”
Africa has become a new frontier for Islamist militant groups in recent years, with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State spreading rapidly across the continent. Though the groups still claim global aspirations, they are engaged here in local conflicts, capitalizing on weak governments and exploiting old grievances and inequities.
Al-Qaeda and Islamic State are on the rise in Africa
Last year, the State Department designated the Islamic State of Mozambique, or ISIS-Mozambique, as a foreign terrorist organization, though the group is believed to have fewer than 500 fighters. The United States also imposed sanctions on the group’s leader, Abu Yasir Hassan, though it’s unclear whether he is still in charge, or is even still alive.
The Pentagon’s Africa Command is training Mozambican troops to improve their counterterrorism capabilities. The European Union is spending $89 million to train and equip 11 rapid-reaction units of the Mozambican army, in part because Portuguese and Italian oil companies also operate here alongside TotalEnergies.
The militants “are in a key area, so their influence has been quite large,” the U.S. official said. “In order to create terror, you don’t need that many people.”
ISIS-Mozambique has always been small in relative terms, but the weakness of the Mozambican armed forces allowed the group to make rapid gains in recent years, seizing towns and cities, and exacting a terrible toll on communities across the north.
R.A. said the militants beheaded his uncle and other men in his village for not disclosing the positions of Mozambican forces. After the executions, two fighters beat him with the butts of their rifles as he sat in the sun, hands tied. When he refused to take up arms for them, he said, they brought out the razor blade.
“I was tortured for two hours,” recalled R.A., who is tall and slim, and wore cutoff blue jean shorts and red slippers. As he spoke, his words slowed and his eyes drifted to the ground.
R.A.’s ordeal could not be independently verified, but similar claims were made by other victims interviewed by The Post in northern Mozambique last month, and corroborated by accounts from aid workers and community activists. The Post also reviewed graphic social media footage showing the aftermath of militant attacks in the region.
When the extremists tired of torturing him, R.A. said, he was forced to walk several hours to their jungle base, the blood still running down his chest.
The roots of the rebellion
The insurgency began in October 2017, fueled by a complex and combustible mix of poverty, inequality and Islamist radicalization. In Cabo Delgado, residents have long felt politically and economically isolated, even after natural gas and minerals were discovered here.
“This is first and foremost a rebellion of local youth who have been frustrated and marginalized, the fishermen and local miners who saw their businesses extinguished,” said Dino Mahtani, former deputy Africa director for the International Crisis Group (ICG).
The economic exclusion dovetailed with growing Islamist extremism in the region.
“The war came from outside,” said Sheikh Nasrullahi Dula, a leader of Mozambique’s Muslim community, pointing to ultraconservative clerics from Kenya and Tanzania who started madrassas here in 2010 that began to radicalize young men in Muslim-majority Cabo Delgado. “They taught the opposite of what we preached. They taught that women were nothing and the government is not to be respected.”
Militant local youths began to denounce more moderate religious leaders like Dula and pushed to ban alcohol and stop women from working. Their resentment grew as elites drawn from President Filipe Nyusi’s Makonde ethnic group secured business deals in the province at the expense of the Mwani and Makua ethnic minorities, the ICG said in a report last year. The ethnic tensions have simmered since the Portuguese colonial era.
As militants overrun Mozambique oil town, fears rise of ‘humanitarian catastrophe’
Local discontent deepened with the discovery of ruby and gas deposits. The government cleared many residents off their lands to make room for foreign concessions. Prices for rents and commodities soared. The extremists “found a very fertile place to recruit unemployed, frustrated youth,” said João Feijó, a Mozambican sociologist who has studied the roots of the war.
In early 2017, the government sent police to eject thousands of artisanal miners from a commercial ruby mine. The police “burned houses, they raped women and men. They beat, they tortured,” Feijó said. “Suddenly, they broke all these possibilities for the youth to get some earnings. But they didn’t provide an alternative.”
The Mozambican president’s office, the Defense Ministry, Cabo Delgado’s governor and other local officials did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment or interviews.
When the uprising began months later, some of the first militant recruits were miners, according to Western diplomats and analysts.
By 2018, the Islamic State had embraced the militants, who now counted Tanzanians and other foreigners among their ranks, including defectors from al-Qaeda affiliates in East Africa, analysts said. Some Tanzanians are now leaders while the lower-level militants are largely Mozambicans, primarily Mwani and Makua youths.
It remains unclear how strong ISIS-Mozambique’s ties are to the central Islamic State leadership in Syria and Iraq. The militants here carry the trademark black Islamic State flag and pledged allegiance to the terrorist network two years ago. On social media and in its online magazine, Islamic State leaders have lauded recent attacks in Mozambique, including some targeting Christians.
“There is communication going back and forth,” the U.S. Embassy official said. “It is probably a more independent ISIS branch than others, but the links are real enough for us to declare it.”
An international fight
In 2019, desperate to stem the insurgency, the Mozambican government hired mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, which is run by an oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the infamous private military, which is now fighting in Ukraine and a slew of other African countries, departed several months later after suffering heavy casualties, according to Western diplomats and analysts.
Mozambique then turned to Rwanda and several southern African nations, whose forces entered the conflict last year. Regional leaders fear the violence could spill into their countries and further destabilize the coast of East Africa, which is already plagued by other terrorist groups.
Russian mercenaries have landed in West Africa, pushing Putin’s goals as Kremlin is increasingly isolated
The joint African forces — better trained and equipped than their Mozambican counterparts — have pushed ISIS-Mozambique out of the northern cities and towns they seized last year, including Palma, the epicenter of natural gas exploration. But the insurgents have expanded to new areas, including the province’s southern districts near the regional capital, Pemba, and have even conducted raids into Tanzania.
They use guerrilla tactics, hiding within local communities or in the vast forests of Cabo Delgado, an area the size of South Carolina. In small groups, numbering no more than 10 fighters, they have staged a steady stream of hit-and-run attacks since May, when Islamic State leaders declared ISIS-Mozambique to be an autonomous branch operating in its own “province.”
“Right now, it is absolutely impossible for them to control a big city, populations, or even seize a little bit of land for more than 24 hours,” said Brig. Gen. Nuno Lemos Pires, until recently the European Union’s mission force commander in charge of training Mozambican army units. “That said, it doesn’t mean that things are under control.”
On a visit to Mozambique last month, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, announced $15 million in new funding for the joint African forces, just days after Islamist militants beheaded six civilians and killed an Italian nun in Nampula province.
Borrell said the attacks are “a stark reminder that the fight against terrorism is not over and that, unhappily, it is spreading.”
The violence has prevented aid organizations from assisting the tens of thousands of people who have fled their homes in recent months. Nearly 60 percent of the displaced are children. Scores of health clinics and schools are closed or destroyed. More than a million people are facing hunger, according to the United Nations.
“The situation is still volatile,” said Phipps Campira, operations director for Save the Children. “The sporadic attacks are destabilizing our efforts to reach out to displaced people.”
Compounding matters, the international focus on Ukraine has caused shortfalls in assistance here, as in other parts of the world. Donors have provided less than 60 percent of the $388 million sought by the United Nations this year, according to U.N. data, making it hard to help even those who have reached camps in safer areas.
“Some days, they go without food,” Campira said.
A long trail of terror
When the militants overran the city of Mocímboa da Praia in 2020, they arrived at Ulenca’s door. At gunpoint, they forced her and two female cousins into a car and took them to a base, where they joined other kidnapped girls and women. They were later separated and taken to other bases, she remembers.
Ulenca never saw her cousins again.
After a three-day walk, she arrived at the second base. Thirty other women were there, and it soon became clear why. Ulenca said she was handed over to a 24-year-old Tanzanian, whose nom de guerre was Fawzani. Ulenca, who was 20 at the time, was to become his “wife.”
That night, when she refused to have sex, Fawzani beat her with a bamboo stick and raped her.
“All the fighters were raping the women,” said Ulenca, now 22, her voice cracking. “After every rape, I prayed to God to stop my suffering and to get me back home and find my family.”
She lived at the base for two years.
The fighters were mostly Mozambican, but the leaders were from Tanzania, she recalled. Many spoke Swahili, which she understood, as well as local languages. There were other foreigners, too.
Most of the fighters carried AK-47 rifles, Ulenca said. They carried out military drills every day and built deep trenches to take cover from helicopter assaults. Many fighters wore stolen Mozambican army uniforms.
“They would say ‘Islam is the only religion. We want to establish an Islamic state,’ ” she recalled some fighters telling her.
An Islamist insurgency in Mozambique is gaining ground — and showing a strong allegiance to the Islamic State
Ulenca said she witnessed more than 10 executions, including those of several women. Some had refused to fight. Others had tried to escape. The women were shot in the back of the head. The men were beheaded.
“Everyone on the base was forced to watch,” Ulenca said. “It was a lesson to others not to commit mistakes.”
Two other women held at different bases said they witnessed similar atrocities.
Ana, 25, was forced to watch her husband’s beheading with her two small daughters. The only reason she wasn’t raped, she said, was because the fighters thought she had gone mad.
International forces may have arrested the momentum of the militants, but their brutality continues. Most people on the ground say there is no military solution to the conflict.
The United States and the European Union are spending millions to help develop Cabo Delgado — building schools and creating jobs to prevent young men from joining the militants. Under international pressure, the Mozambican government approved a reconstruction plan, tacitly acknowledging that its neglect contributed to the insurgency.
“Are the root causes of everything that has happened solved? Of course not,” Pires said. “That is a huge step that we still have to fight for for a long, long time.”
The victims will carry their trauma forever.
Children as young as 11 beheaded by Mozambique militants, aid group says
When R.A. reached the jungle base, he said, he was tied up and beaten again. His tormentors were not much older than him. Most carried guns and machetes. On the third day, by his count, as the militants took a nap, two other abducted boys loosened the ropes around their wrists and freed R.A. as well.
“As we ran, we were always looking back to see if they were chasing us,” he remembered.
Ulenca escaped in May. By then, the militants had lost ground. During a bombing raid, she and another woman managed to get away. They walked for 17 hours until they reached a Mozambican army position, she said.
Ana and her girls fled in April while they went to fetch wood. Ancha, now 5, hardly remembers what happened to her dad. But Amina, who is 8, can’t forget. “They killed my father,” she said in a shy voice. “I still think about it when I sleep.”
Estacio Valoi contributed to this report. | 2022-10-20T08:54:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | ISIS-Mozambique spreads terror, threatens gas supply amid Ukraine war - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/18/mozambique-isis-cabo-delgado-gas/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/18/mozambique-isis-cabo-delgado-gas/ |
Bob Chan, a Hong Konger who said he was “dragged” into the Chinese Consulate in Manchester, England, during a protest, appeared with scratches on his face. (Matthew Leung/The Chaser News/AP)
The treatment of a Hong Kong protester in Britain, who was seen being dragged into the Chinese Consulate in Manchester and beaten on Sunday, has raised concerns about the quashing of dissent outside of Chinese borders.
The episode was “absolutely unacceptable,” seeing as the protests were “peaceful and legal,” the British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, told Sky News. “They were on British soil.”
Iain Duncan Smith, a member of British Parliament, said in a Wednesday news conference that Zheng Xiyuan, the consul-general in Manchester, was probably involved and that other diplomats were “certainly” involved, calling the episode “an abomination here in the United Kingdom.”
Duncan Smith called for any Chinese diplomat involved in the assault to be sent home. “They will no longer be welcome,” he said. “They will be persona non grata, whoever they are, and as high as they go, they will be on their way back to Beijing.”
Such a move risks escalating tensions between London and Beijing, said Chien-wen Kou, a political scientist at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. “Assuming that the British side does expel the diplomats, China would likely retaliate strongly,” he said.
China’s ‘wolf warrior’ diplomats like to talk tough
Bob Chan, the protester, who appeared at the news conference alongside Duncan Smith, said he was near the consulate’s gates after its staff tried to take away and destroy the demonstrators’ posters protesting the Chinese Communist Party Congress, which began on Sunday.
“They pulled me inside. Police tried to pull me back out but didn’t succeed. So in the end I was pulled inside and was beaten up,” Chan said.
He added that he had injuries to his eye, and pain in his head and back. “The worst is near my spine; there are some internal injuries and it still hurts to sit down now,” he said.
Chan was hospitalized, according to a statement by the Greater Manchester Police, who said they were investigating the assault.
British police said Oct. 17 that they were investigating the assault of a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester at the Chinese Consulate in Manchester. (Video: Reuters)
Alicia Kearns, a member of British Parliament and chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in the House of Commons that Zheng, the consul-general, was seen “ripping down posters and peaceful protest,” and later committing “grievous bodily harm” against Chan.
In Hong Kong crackdown, police repeatedly broke their own rules — and faced no consequences
Zheng appeared to be pulling Chan’s hair in footage published by the British media. When asked by SkyNews about whether he had done so, Zheng said that Chan was “abusing my country, my leader. I think it’s my duty.” Chan had been holding a satirical poster of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Zheng denied that he beat any of the protesters but said that the protest turned violent because of the “rude banners” that were displayed outside the consulate.
The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, said Tuesday at a press briefing that Chan was a “troublemaker who illegally entered” the consulate and “jeopardized” its security. Wang said that diplomatic institutions “have the rights to take necessary measures to safeguard the peace and dignity of their premises.”
But Chan on Wednesday disputed that account. “Let me say it again so it is clear: I was dragged into the consulate. I did not attempt to enter the consulate,” he said.
Jimmy Chen, a 19-year-old who was at the protest, said the assault on Chan was a worrying development for demonstrators outside of China. He said it made other protesters “worry what might happen to us.”
Chen is one of thousands of Hong Kongers who left the city following a crackdown on political dissent there; many Hong Kong residents have fled to Britain, where they have been granted the right to live and work, and a path to citizenship.
Hong Kong exodus gathers pace as thousands vote with their feet
Chen wondered whether protesters could be targeted if Chinese diplomats had photos of them. “Are we safe even in the U. K.?” he asked.
Kou, the political scientist, said the assault was likely accidental.
“The Chinese Foreign Ministry may have told its embassies that they should respond strongly to any protest events, but they probably didn’t expect this to happen,” Kou said. “This overreaction also shows the extreme anger of China, from the government to the public, toward the protests in Hong Kong.”
Kou added that Beijing was unlikely to publicly condemn the diplomats in question. “Any criticism will only be made in private,” he said.
Lyric Li contributed to this report. | 2022-10-20T08:55:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Hong Kong protester Bob Chan details Chinese consulate beating in U.K. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/20/bob-chan-manchester-consulate-hong-kong-protest/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/20/bob-chan-manchester-consulate-hong-kong-protest/ |
The Department of Justice seal in Washington on Nov. 28, 2018. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday charged five Russian nationals in an alleged global sanctions evasion scheme that involved millions of barrels of smuggled oil from Venezuela and U.S. military technology that was traced to the battlefield in Ukraine.
Orekhov and Kuzurgasheva are accused of helping Russians acquire items including advanced semiconductors and microprocessors, which can be used in fighter aircraft, missile systems and other military technology, the Justice Department said. In some cases, the electronic components were found in Russian weapons platforms seized from the battlefield in Ukraine. They were charged with bank fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States and other charges.
Russian nationals Timofey Telegin and Sergey Tulyako, who control sanctioned Russian companies that received some of the shipments, also face several charges, including money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
The Justice Department also accused Orekhov and the son of a Russian governor, Artem Uss, of smuggling hundreds of millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela through a front company that the pair co-owned in Germany. The oil was allegedly sent to clients in China and Russia in illegal multimillion-dollar deals brokered by two Venezuelan nationals, Juan Fernando Serrano Ponce and Juan Carlos Soto, who were also charged Wednesday.
As the war in Ukraine drags on for its eighth month, the United States has dialed up pressure on Moscow and parties that cooperate with Russia. In late September, the Biden administration announced a new spate of sanctions that aims to restrict the Russian defense industry’s access to technology and penalize Russian and Belarusian officials.
The measures were aimed at reducing “the capacity of the Russian military machine to regenerate its ability to threaten Ukraine,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at the time.
Breon Peace, a U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, called the seven defendants “criminal enablers for oligarchs.” They face up to 30 years in prison, and the United States has already moved to extradite Orekhov and Uss, who were arrested in Germany and Italy, respectively.
“Their efforts undermined security, economic stability and rule of law around the world,” Peace said in a statement.
In a separate case unsealed by federal prosecutors in Connecticut on Wednesday, four individuals from Latvia and Ukraine were charged for violating U.S. export laws by trying to send an advanced, computerized grinding machine to Russia. Called a “jig grinder,” the item is export-controlled and has the potential to be used in nuclear proliferation and defense programs, the Justice Department said.
Karen DeYoung and Yasmeen Abutaleb contributed to this report. | 2022-10-20T08:55:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | U.S. charges 5 Russians in alleged sanctions evasion scheme - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/20/russians-arrested-sanctions-evasion-ukraine/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/20/russians-arrested-sanctions-evasion-ukraine/ |
A rendering of a Neanderthal father and daughter (living about 54,000 years ago) whose remains were found in a Russian cave. (Tom Bjorkland/Reuters)
The social organization of Neanderthal populations is not well understood. The latest research suggests that in Siberia at least, Neanderthals lived in groups of 10 to 20 people — similar to present-day mountain gorillas, which are an endangered species.
The study was carried out by a global team of scientists, including Svante Pääbo, a Swedish geneticist who won the Nobel Prize for medicine this month for his work mapping our genetic ties to Neanderthals.
Unlike many archaeological sites, which contain fossils built up over long periods, genetic studies on 11 Neanderthals found in the Chagyrskaya Cave — in the Altai Mountains, near the Russian border with Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China — showed many of them were close relatives, suggesting they all lived around the same time.
“Chagyrskaya Cave is basically a moment in time 54,000 years ago when this community lived and died in this cave,” Richard G. Roberts, a scholar at the University of Wollongong in Australia and one of the co-authors of the study, said in an interview.
“Most archaeological sites, things accumulate slowly and tend to get chewed over by hyenas or something else like that,” he said. “You don’t really get sites that full of material. It was packed full of bones, Neanderthal bones, animal bones, artifacts. It’s a moment, literally frozen in time.”
The scientists used DNA extracted from fossils found in Chagyrskaya Cave and from two other Neanderthals found in a nearby cave to map out the relationships between the individuals and to search for clues on how they lived.
Chagyrskaya Cave is perched high on a hillside, overlooking a flood plain where herds of bison and other animals once probably grazed, Roberts said. The researchers found stone tools and bison bones buried in the cave alongside the remains.
Genetic data obtained from teeth and bone fragments showed that the individuals included a father and his daughter, along with a pair of second-degree relatives, possibly an aunt or an uncle, a niece or nephew, Roberts said. The father’s mitochondrial DNA — a set of genes passed from mothers to their children — was also similar to two of the other males in the cave, he said, indicating they probably had a common maternal ancestor.
“They’re so closely related, it’s like a clan really living in this cave,” he said. “The thought that they could go on for generations upon generations seems unlikely. I think probably they all died very closely in time. Maybe it was just a horrendous storm. They are in Siberia, after all.”
The study also revealed that the genetic diversity of Y chromosomes (which are passed down only through the male line) was a lot lower than that of the mitochondrial DNA in the individuals, which the authors said suggests that Neanderthal females were more likely to migrate than males. That pattern is also seen in many human societies, where women marry and move away with their husband’s family before they have children.
Previous work by Pääbo, the Swedish geneticist, has shown that Neanderthals mixed with prehistoric humans after they migrated out of Africa, and the vestiges of those interactions live on in the genomes of many present-day people. During the pandemic, he found that a genetic risk factor associated with severe cases of covid-19 was passed down from Neanderthals, carried by about half of people in South Asia and about 1 in 6 people in Europe.
The authors say the sample size of the latest study is small and may not be representative of the social lives of the entire Neanderthal population.
“If we could just reproduce [the study] in a couple of other places, then we’d really have a grasp on how Neanderthals ran their lives, maybe some indication as to why they went extinct and we didn’t,” said Roberts, the Australian scholar. “We’re so similar. So why are we the only ones left around on the planet?” | 2022-10-20T09:16:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | First known Neanderthal family found in cave in Russia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/20/neanderthal-family-russia-cave-father-daughter/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/20/neanderthal-family-russia-cave-father-daughter/ |
Quarterback Taylor Heinicke throws a first-down pass to receiver Terry McLaurin during Washington's win over the Giants in East Rutherford, N.J., last season. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
“The continuity is important,” Coach Ron Rivera said. “And for a guy like Terry … the rapport he has and he develops with guys is tremendous because of his athletic ability and his skill set. … We’ve got to make sure he’s involved at the very beginning of what we’re trying to do because he’s such a dynamic guy.”
“Today we had a route out there, and one of the guys could have done something a little different, and Taylor right away explained it to him,” Rivera said. “ … He’s got a very good knowledge of it. And you saw it during the regular season when he was the backup going up to players and explaining certain things to them. He’s very solid in this.”
The transition will require some adjustment to the play calls so that they are better suited to Heinicke’s skill set. Heinicke and the young pass-catchers, including wideout Jahan Dotson and tight end Cole Turner, must adjust to one another, too. And in the running game, the addition of Brian Robinson Jr. and the new starters on the interior offensive line will offer Heinicke a different look from last season. But a change of any sort often can jump-start a team in the doldrums.
“I know we’ve had some quarterback changes over the years, but having a guy that you have worked with, that the receiver group has worked with, that makes for a smooth transition,” he said. “I think his ability just to extend plays is really big for us. The heart … he plays with, I feel like a lot of our guys galvanize behind that, and I know he’s going to give us a good chance to be successful this weekend.” | 2022-10-20T09:33:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Commanders' Terry McLaurin taking QB change to Taylor Heinicke in stride - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/20/terry-mclaurin-taylor-heinicke-commanders/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/20/terry-mclaurin-taylor-heinicke-commanders/ |
How to buy real art, even when you’re on a budget
Student shows, nonprofit galleries and other avenues to explore, according to art-world pros.
Figuring out what art to hang on your walls can be daunting, particularly if you’re determined to avoid something mass-produced. Choosing it, though, shouldn’t be stressful — it’s one of the best opportunities in your home to showcase your personality and maybe your culture, too.
You don’t have to be Beyoncé to afford the real stuff, either. Although high-end fine art typically costs thousands of dollars (or tens of thousands), there are many alternative options for buying pieces under $1,000, or even $100. “It’s easy to fall into the trap of … thinking that taste equals the amount you spend or where you bought it,” says Colleen Cash, a senior vice president at Artnet, an online art auctions platform. “I think some of the most beautiful collections are the ones that have meaningful stories.”
We asked experts in the art and design world to share their advice for approaching the art scene as a novice — and coming away with a piece that fits your budget.
Maybe you’re drawn to colorful, abstract art or you’re obsessed with pastel landscapes. Learning to differentiate what irks you from what invigorates you is essential to choosing pieces that will make you happy for years to come. There’s a perception that you need all sorts of knowledge before you say yes to an artwork, but what matters most is that you love it.
"There’s no right or wrong, it’s just what you connect with as a person — because you have to live with this stuff,” says Ian Bourland, a professor of art history and criticism at Georgetown. He advises following your instincts, and asking yourself: “What is going to enlighten your household? What do you like to be around everyday? What’s going to make your life better?”
Visual art spans painting, photography, drawing, printmaking and sculpture, so it’s essential to decide what kinds of works you’re most interested in pursuing. Focus on your needs: Is it just one piece that you want to feature on a specific wall? Or are you conceptualizing an entire room? Determine your goals for articulating the mood of the space you’re looking to fill.
You also might find certain genres or artists that you want to support because of your own interests or identities. In her book “Represent: Art and Identity Among the Black Upper-Middle Class,” Patricia A. Banks, a professor at Mount Holyoke College, examines the sociology of art collecting, finding that some Black patrons collect as “a way for them to articulate and nourish their racial identity,” she says, adding: “It’s a very personal practice.”
Understand how pricing works
Several factors influence the price of an artwork, from medium to materials to labor. Pieces from popular and established artists will be more expensive than those by emerging artists. Large oil paintings on canvas can cost $10,000 and up, while drawings, photographs and other works on paper get priced lower.
Prints generally are the least expensive because they’re usually made in batches of limited editions (so, a print is one of multiples). The smaller the edition number — meaning, the rarer the work is — the more valuable the print. A limited edition print can make a great first purchase because it’ll be relatively affordable while offering quality and originality that you won’t find in mass-produced pieces.
Plus, you can feel good about spending more on original art than whatever you’d find at Target: Your money will directly benefit the artist, rather than a big company. Buying art can also be about more than aesthetics — it can be an intentional and powerful way to support artists from marginalized backgrounds who have been historically shut out.
Don’t let galleries intimidate you
Galleries can come across as elitist and reserved only for buyers with unlimited funds. “I would always advise, like, just ignore all of that,” says Nicola Charles, who runs 11:Eleven in Washington, D.C., a gallery of contemporary art that spans a wide price range. “If you like the vibe, then that’s where you should be. If you don’t like the vibe, just leave.”
Commercial galleries aren’t the only option, either. Nonprofit, artist-run, and artist-centered galleries actively try to recruit newcomers into the art world, thus they’re often more welcoming. “We seek to really support underserved emerging artists,” says Victoria Reis, director of the nonprofit Transformer gallery in D.C. “The majority of artists that we work with … are BIPOC artists, queer artists, women artists.”
Find local artists
Getting engaged in your local artist community will lead you to diverse work and help you hone your taste. One easy way to start: Sign up for newsletters at galleries and cultural organizations that you like.
Another place to look for high quality — but affordable — work is a student art show. If you’re near universities with strong MFA programs, you can find skilled artists in graduate or undergraduate shows (typically at the end of each semester), which are often advertised in the institutions’ event calendars. Bourland, who used to teach at the Maryland Institute College of Art, says some big-name collectors even go to student shows to identify emerging talent, kind of like baseball scouts.
The boom of digital art platforms has created more access and price transparency — both great things for new collectors. Thanks to Instagram, we can all easily connect with artists anywhere in the world. If you find someone whose work speaks to you, “drop into their DMs!” says Cash of Artnet. "It’s quite literally as easy as just saying, ‘Hey, I love your artwork. I would be curious if you have anything available.’ ”
Artnet is another major platform, hosting regular online auctions, a price database of fine artworks, and educational resources for potential buyers. Its pieces run from from $500 to $5 million; each one is assigned a specialist who can tell you everything you’d want to know about it. Though buying a piece without seeing it in-person obviously carries some uncertainty, online markets (including Artnet) often use virtual reality technology to show you the scale, color and details of the work. | 2022-10-20T10:13:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How to buy art for your home on a budget - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/home/2022/10/20/how-to-buy-real-art/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/home/2022/10/20/how-to-buy-real-art/ |
Politicians don’t need to choose between focusing on reproductive rights or pocketbook politics. They’re the same thing.
People protest outside the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta objecting to the Supreme Court's ruling in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision in June. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
Hesse: The unrealistic expectations of American motherhood
Abortion is an economic issue for the women who are able to increase their wages by 11 percent after delaying motherhood for one year, or the women whose access to abortion increased their probability of graduating college by 72 percent — numbers provided by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee’s report titled “Abortion Access is key to economic freedom.” | 2022-10-20T10:13:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Abortion access and economic issues are one and the same - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/10/20/abortion-access-economic-politics/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/10/20/abortion-access-economic-politics/ |
The American University ZBT brothers helped save one brother’s business, chipped in to buy a car for another and created a scholarship for students in need
From left, Stan Marks, Gary Eckstein and Bob Memiroff embrace during a reunion of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity at American University on Oct. 15. Marks and Memiroff were given “strong men” awards for their resilience after losing their wives. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Washington Post)
The American University fraternity brothers, now in their 70s and 80s, returned to campus last weekend — their hair mostly gray, if they had any left at all. They each carried emotional battle scars from decades of life.
Of the original 200 Zeta Beta Tau members in the group, about 170 are still alive. They marveled at being back in the place they met when they were barely men.
University president Sylvia M. Burwell welcomed the group back to campus Oct. 15, and was struck by the gravity of the reunion.
“I am thrilled,” Burwell said, holding back tears, “to see you all, and how you stay together.”
The group, made up of men who graduated from American University between 1960 and 1972, have punctuated the longevity of their friendship with acts of giving. They helped save a brother’s business that was going under, chipped in to buy a car for another member who was down on his luck, created a scholarship at the university for students in need and raised money for a school in Ecuador. They have also stood by one another through turmoil and triumphs.
“This group is special,” Burwell said in an interview with The Washington Post. “ZBT helped set the culture of what these organizations should be. They are about community, and a group of people that support each other.”
When it comes to Greek life, she continued, “I believe this is the example.”
David Kanter, 80, founded the Beta Psi chapter of ZBT at American University in 1961, and was the fraternity’s first president.
“I never envisioned that this would go beyond graduation into a group that would stick together and take care of each other,” he said. “Fraternities are not all about exclusivity and drinking and partying. It can have a long-term meaning, and that is exactly what this has been.”
Fraternity culture has been called into question in recent years on campuses across the country. Out-of-control hazing has turned fatal, incidents of sexual assaults and alleged druggings have mounted, while examples of racism, classism and other disturbing themes have come to the surface.
This group has tried to embody the inverse.
ZBT was founded in 1898, and despite being the world’s first Jewish fraternity, the Beta Psi chapter welcomed people of all faiths and backgrounds. The chapter closed down and was later restored, and still operates at the school — though the current fraternity is not affiliated with the original members.
“I was the second African American in the group,” said Chuck Hill, 76, who graduated in 1967. “I never felt alienated.”
“The comradery that has developed over the years has been as strong as any that I’ve experienced in many of the military organizations that I’ve had the honor to serve in,” said Hill, a retired Air Force pilot.
When one member’s small bookstore in Lenox, Mass., was on the brink of bankruptcy, the fraternity — along with members of the local community — rallied to save it. The story became the subject of a documentary film.
“When times come up that the group needs to support someone, there’s no shying away,” Hill said.
The brothers have also supported the community. Since 1998, they have maintained a scholarship fund and awarded a four-year partial scholarship to more than 20 university students based on financial need. Legacies of the fraternity are given priority, but the scholarship is also open to other students who meet their academic and financial requirements.
“All brothers contribute to whatever extent they can,” said Howie Soltoff, a member of the fraternity who serves as a liaison with American University.
The group has funded educational programs elsewhere, too. When one brother, Harry Lehrer, died in 2004 at age 57, the brothers arranged an annual golf event in his memory. They have been raising funds for a school in Ecuador — where Lehrer’s daughter worked as a teacher.
Additionally, the brothers have helped one another with serious personal matters over the years — including the loss of children and spouses, as well as health challenges, financial woes and legal issues.
“There have been many instances where I have helped and represented brothers and their family members confidentially, in matters of the most serious nature of one’s life,” said Ted Simon, 72, who graduated in 1971 and is a lawyer and former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “I’m sure I’m not alone.”
The brothers are an unusual bunch, Simon said, in part because they are different from one another in many ways.
“This group, despite the vast political differences and divides, different social and cultural histories and experiences, significant age differences, and significant economic disparities, have remained a true band of brothers,” Simon said. “I don’t know people who have remained with a functioning group of this size for this long.”
Simon created a Listserv 15 years ago, which has helped keep the group in contact.
At the reunion, the brothers reminisced and shared stories, including a classic tale, in which Kanter chased a softball into Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson’s front yard, and was confronted by Secret Service officers. Johnson lived at the time in the Spring Valley neighborhood near the university.
David Aldridge, a former Washington Post writer and American University alum, presented Kanter with a softball that has Johnson’s signature, as well as that of former AU president, Hurst Anderson, and Mickey Mantle, who was a famed New York Yankees player.
Participating in the reunion “was delightful,” said Aldridge, who knows some of the fraternity brothers from the alumni community. When they asked if he would present the softball, “I was happy to do it.”
“It’s very touching that these guys are still together after all these decades,” he added.
Following the campus event, the brothers spent the evening celebrating their friendship and dancing to The Van Dykes — a Baltimore rhythm and blues band that has played for the fraternity since the early 1960s.
Saturday’s event was one of many gatherings the brothers have had since college, though the regular reunions didn’t start until long after they left the university.
Ron Nissenbaum, 75, was one of the people who brought the group back together. It started in 1985, when Nissenbaum ran into a fraternity brother whom he had not seen since graduating in 1968.
As the two men caught up, Nissenbaum decided right then he would organize a reunion. That year, ZBT held its first one, which drew close to 200 people.
The gathering was such a hit, Nissenbaum said, that not long after, “I started getting calls from the guys saying we want to have another one.”
And so they did — and so began a tradition of gathering on a regular basis and being in frequent communication.
As the men moved through life, they have remained each other’s go-to guys for issues large or small.
“There are people that have had hard times financially, and there are brothers that have anonymously supported them,” said Simon, adding that several brothers contribute additional funds toward reunions to ensure everyone is able to attend.
Simon said this group is a juxtaposition to the stories of “fraternity hazing, death and sexual abuse.”
The brothers hope their bond sets an example for what a fraternity can and should be like.
“Some things change, some things never do and never will,” Simon said. | 2022-10-20T10:13:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | ZBT fraternity brothers at American University have 50-year friendship - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/10/20/fraternity-zbt-american-university-friendship/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/10/20/fraternity-zbt-american-university-friendship/ |
By Vijai Nathan
Erin is 30 and a software quality assurance engineer. She is seeking “a goofy/funny guy” who “comes from a similar background.” Jacob is 31 and a therapist. His dream date is “an anthropologist who enjoys travel and wants to talk over dinner.” (Daniele Seiss)
Erin, 30, was talking to her mom about how hard it is to meet someone now that she works from home — and doesn’t get out much. Her mom pointed her to Date Lab. “I thought it would be a different way to meet someone, and I’m open to that,” she explained. So, the software quality assurance engineer applied in April without ever having read the column.
Erin typically meets romantic interests through dating apps or being set up by friends, “but it hasn’t been too fruitful.” Her dating history is limited, and she hasn’t had a serious relationship that’s lasted more than six months. “I’ve just never met anyone worth being with. I’d rather be alone than settle for someone who is not for me.” Erin, who was born and raised in Maryland, owns her own townhouse and is interested in meeting someone to have a family with.
We set her up with Jacob, 31, a therapist who moved to D.C. from New York in August. The New Mexico native gave Date Lab a shot because it’s a “nice way to meet someone with a cool story.” He is looking for a meaningful relationship after several long-term ones that weren’t the right fit. “I’ve tried dating apps, but in my opinion the system of dating apps isn’t great for the human side of the people involved — it’s something I try to avoid,” he said. He prefers in-person ways to meet women such as at bars or restaurants and through his jujitsu community.
Jacob is comfortable meeting new people because he’s traveled the world on his own. “When you are a solo traveler it makes it easier to meet people just because you are doing so much exploring and out so much.” He is looking for “someone who has their own life that they’re excited for.” He’s open to marriage and family, but “it’s not something I’m trying to force.”
We sent the pair to Ristorante Piccolo in Georgetown. Erin said she was pretty calm until “about five minutes before the date and my heart started pounding.” Meanwhile, Jacob “was more excited than nervous.” His first impression: “She was very pretty, put together and well dressed. I was pleasantly surprised.” Hers: “He was a good-looking guy for sure. He was very friendly and welcoming.”
Over cocktails, they got to know each other. “I thought it was cool how we didn’t know anything about each other. I was surprised that I didn’t feel awkward. Even if there were silences, there was no pressure to fill the silence with noise,” said Jacob. He continued: “I really appreciate that she has a great sense of humor. I like dry humor. I’m really attracted to women who are smart and value themselves and what they do.” Erin agreed that “there were no awkward moments” and was intrigued by Jacob’s argument that dating apps are, as she summarized it, “unnatural in a psychological sense.”
They learned more about each other’s friends and families over a dinner of Caprese salad, tortellini carbonara, short rib ravioli and steak with truffles, all of which they split. “I like people who are willing to share at dinner so that you get a little bit of everything,” he said.
Erin was fascinated with Jacob’s tales of his jobs and travels, including living in the South of France for a summer and multiple trips to Italy with dreams of buying a house there to fix over the years. “I was asking a lot of questions about his life. I kept saying, ‘Oh my God you’ve lived such a life!’ ” she said. “Meanwhile, I’ve just been here in Maryland.” Jacob enjoyed learning about her community and appreciated her values. “She has had a core group of friends since she was in college. Someone who values friendship over time is the kind of person I am interested in,” he said.
They found common ground on their love of animals, belief in social equity, and preference for television shows over movies, particularly their guilty pleasure: “Love Island U.K.” “We were able to laugh, get to know each other while being comfortable around each other,” Jacob said.
Jacob asked at the beginning of the date if Erin wanted to go to Chez Billy Sud for cheesecake and espresso after dinner. “I said yes, of course, because I love cheesecake,” she told me. They finished dessert around 10 p.m., made their way outside and Jacob asked for her number. They hugged goodbye. Erin appreciated that Jacob was very polite and insisted she order her Uber first and waited for it to arrive before calling his own. “We enjoyed each other’s conversation, and I certainly felt there was a romantic feeling. It was a really good feeling for sure,” Jacob said.
While Erin liked his company, she wasn’t feeling a love connection with Jacob. “I don’t know that our lives align. He’s done so much and I’m just questioning whether or not he’s done exploring. … I’m just not sure that would align with my future.”
Jacob: 5 [out of 5].
Erin: 3.9.
Jacob texted Erin a few days after the date to see if she’d like to get together. Erin said she had fun but didn’t feel a romantic connection, and they wished each other well.
Vijai Nathan is a writer and comedian in Washington. | 2022-10-20T10:13:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Date Lab: His travels abroad fascinated this dater - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/10/20/date-lab-his-travels-abroad-fascinated-this-dater/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/10/20/date-lab-his-travels-abroad-fascinated-this-dater/ |
Aaron Rodgers’s season, in a nutshell. (Mike Roemer/AP)
In an NFL season in which it feels like every team is 3-3 (in fact, 10 of the 32 teams are), the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles look to be the class of the league. Among the jumble further down the standings, some of the biggest star quarterbacks are struggling.
Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers thinks it might be time to simplify his offense. Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady is yelling at his offensive line and looked to former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger “like he didn’t want to be out there” Sunday when the Buccaneers lost to Pittsburgh. Denver’s Russell Wilson is on pace to pass for 14 touchdowns this season but looked more like himself before suffering a hamstring injury Monday in a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Lamar Jackson’s late-game problems with Baltimore have him sliding down the list of early-season favorites to win MVP.
Maybe Brady said it best this month: “I think there’s a lot of bad football from what I watch. I watch a lot of bad football.”
Maybe it’s not surprising that only 10 teams are above .500. Here’s a quick look at the schedule for Week 7.
Saints (2-4) at Cardinals (2-4), 8:15 p.m., Amazon Prime: Arizona is 0-8 in home games since Week 7 of the 2021 season, which makes this an especially great time for wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to return from a suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. Including postseason games, the Cardinals are 16-10 since acquiring Hopkins when he plays; 5-9 when he doesn’t.
Browns (2-4) at Ravens (3-3), 1 p.m.: Baltimore has three losses in which it led by at least 10 points, already tying a team record over an entire season. Against the New York Giants last week, Jackson had two fourth-quarter turnovers (an interception and a strip-sack fumble on successive possessions in the final three minutes). Still, he is third in the league in passing touchdowns (13) and fifth in rushing yards (451).
Buccaneers (3-3) at Panthers (1-5), 1 p.m.: Tampa Bay has had 29 possessions in the first half of its six games and has all of three touchdowns to show for them (along with 11 field goals, one missed field goal, nine punts, three fumbles and two turnovers on downs). Yelling at the offensive line may not have a galvanizing effect, and Brady had to admit, “It’s a bad day when there’s more F-bombs than touchdowns.”
Falcons (3-3) at Bengals (3-3), 1 p.m.: Cincinnati has won three of its past four games, with the offensive line doing a better job, playmakers such as Ja’Marr Chase getting hot and Joe Burrow releasing the ball more quickly. The defending AFC champions’ record could look a lot better, if not for three losses by three, three and two points.
Lions (1-4) at Cowboys (4-2), 1 p.m.: No team has allowed more points per game than Detroit (34). Facing the Lions should make Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott’s expected return from thumb surgery more pleasant.
Giants (5-1) at Jaguars (2-4), 1 p.m.: New York is the first team this century to overcome double-digit second-half deficits in three of its first six games. And, according to NFL Research, Daniel Jones is the first quarterback to beat the previous two MVP winners (Rodgers, Jackson) in back-to-back games since 2016, when Sam Bradford beat Rodgers and Cam Newton in Weeks 2 and 3. The Giants also lead the league with five comeback wins. (And, in case you were idly wondering, the last time both the Giants and New York Jets were in the playoffs was 2006).
Daniel Jones (1.3%) has a lower Interception/Attempt pct than many notable QBs this season, including:
Aaron Rodgers 1.4%
Josh Allen 1.7%
Patrick Mahomes 1.7%
Joe Burrow 2.2% pic.twitter.com/eD9K9aN2oF
Colts (3-2-1) at Titans (3-2), 1 p.m.: Perhaps the burial of Indianapolis quarterback Matt Ryan was premature. With his offensive line preventing a single sack on 58 drop backs, Ryan passed for 389 yards and three touchdowns last week against Jacksonville, with one interception. A win this week would leave Indy and its unwieldy record alone atop the AFC South.
Packers (3-3) at Commanders (2-4), 1 p.m.: Green Bay has scored 107 points in six games, a 17.8-point average that is the poorest in any six-game span with Rodgers as the starting quarterback. This is a team with offensive line issues, something Washington can identify with. The Commanders turn to Taylor Heinicke this week with quarterback Carson Wentz sidelined by a finger injury.
Jets (4-2) at Broncos (2-4), 4:05 p.m.: As a general rule, it’s probably wise just to not throw in the direction of cornerback Sauce Gardner when the Jets defense is in man coverage. In 40 such snaps, the fourth pick in this year’s draft has allowed one reception. With Gardner and lineman Quinnen Williams, the New York defense is becoming formidable as it obeys Coach Robert Saleh’s mantra, “Just keep giving ’em blow after body blow after body blow.” That also happens to be the mantra of the Broncos defense, which has allowed 16.5 points per game (fourth best in the league).
Texans (1-3-1) at Raiders (1-4), 4:05 p.m.: Each of Las Vegas’s four losses has been by one score — and a total of 14 points, not that it makes losing any more palatable. At least the schedule seems favorable, with the next five games against New Orleans, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Denver and Seattle.
Seahawks (3-3) at Chargers (4-2), 4:25 p.m.: Los Angeles’s Justin Herbert became only the second quarterback since 1950 with 55 or more passing attempts and zero touchdowns in a win Monday over Denver. The other guy? Warren Moon in a 1991 Week 11 overtime win over the Cowboys.
Chiefs (4-2) at 49ers (3-3), 4:25 p.m.: Patrick Mahomes couldn’t lead Kansas City to another late scoring drive to beat Buffalo last week, and the Chiefs have fallen into a tie with the Chargers atop the AFC West. Things are even more crowded at the top of the NFC West, where San Francisco’s loss to Atlanta put the 49ers in a three-way tie with the Rams and Seahawks.
Steelers (2-4) at Dolphins (3-3), 8:20 p.m., NBC: Think Mahomes misses Tyreek Hill at all? The feeling may not be reciprocal because Miami’s Hill leads the NFL with 701 receiving yards, his highest total through the first six games of a season in his seven years in the league. In four games with Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback, Hill has caught 31 passes for 477 yards and two touchdowns. Now Tagovailoa is expected to return after spending time in concussion protocol.
Bears (2-4) at Patriots (3-3), 8:15 p.m., ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes: New England’s Bailey Zappe brings increasingly solid credentials into his first shot at being a prime-time player. He is the only rookie quarterback to win his first two starts and post a passer rating of 100 or better since Sonny Jurgensen in 1957. | 2022-10-20T10:25:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | NFL Week 7 schedule, matchups, five-minute guide - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/20/nfl-week-7-schedule/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/20/nfl-week-7-schedule/ |
A new Life magazine exhibition at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts is revelatory — and riveting
The “Life Magazine and the Power of Photography” exhibit is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston through Jan. 16. (Ann and Graham Gund Gallery/Photograph copyright Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
This fact floored me: Between the Great Depression and the Vietnam War, according to the organizers of “Life Magazine and the Power of Photography,” an exhibition at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, “the majority of photographs printed and consumed in the United States appeared on the pages of illustrated magazines.”
Today, with photographs published and consumed everywhere, it’s staggering to think that their dissemination was ever so concentrated.
Preeminent among illustrated magazines was Life. Published as a weekly news magazine between 1936 and 1972, Life magazine sold in the tens of millions. When you include pass-along readership, its pages regularly reached about one-quarter of America’s population.
Gordon Parks went back to Rio to save a boy’s life. What happened next was a lot more complicated.
Life magazine emerged before the onset of television. What made it revolutionary was its emphasis on photography. Previous illustrated magazines used artists’ illustrations. If they used photographs, they were subordinated to the written word. Life put photographs front and center.
Its founder, Time Inc. publisher Henry Luce, was inspired by picture magazines in Europe. Working in New York with Kurt Safranski, a German Jew who had come to the United States to escape Nazi persecution, and Kurt Korff, a former editor at “Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung,” Luce experimented with mock-ups and dummies, before typing up a “Prospectus for a New Magazine.”
You can see this electrifying document in the exhibition’s first gallery. It was like a pitch, so it may help to imagine it delivered in the voice of Jon Hamm as ad man Don Draper, replete with pregnant pauses for dramatic effect. The new magazine’s purpose, wrote Luce, would be “to see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events; to watch the faces of the poor and the gestures of the proud; to see strange things — machines, armies, multitudes, shadows in the jungle and on the moon … to see and to take pleasure in seeing; to see and be amazed; to see and be instructed.”
The magazine’s working title at this point was “The Show-Book of the World.” Its premise was that “to see, and to be shown, is now the will and new expectancy of half mankind.” Feel the tectonic force of that statement! The new weekly’s destiny-fulfilling mission was to be carried out by photographers. The magazine, Luce wrote, “proposes to be the biggest picture show on earth. … It proposes to scour the world for the best pictures of every kind; to edit them with a feeling for visual form, for history and for drama; and to publish them on fine paper, every week, for a dime.”
Because Life really did shape lives. It affected people’s understanding of the world and their attitudes, and it took on the power of a shared record, a history. “It was all three [TV] networks combined,” says 99-year-old Stan Flink, a former reporter and correspondent for Life, on the exhibition’s audio guide.
It does include some of the 20th century’s best-known photographs. Among them: Capa’s photograph of the 1944 landing at Normandy (which photographer Matthias Bruggman describes on the audio guide as “the Mona Lisa of conflict photography”); J.R. Eyerman’s 1952 photograph of an audience watching a movie with 3-D spectacles; Alfred Eisenstaedt’s 1945 photograph of a sailor kissing a woman on V-J Day; and Frank Dandridge’s 1963 photograph of 12-year-old Sarah Collins, hospitalized with injured eyes after the bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church, which killed her sister and three other girls.
Birmingham’s ‘Fifth Girl’
But the show doesn’t just present these iconic photographs and their backstories. It delves into every aspect of the photographs — from the magazine’s commissioning process and story researchers to the assignments themselves, the image selections, the captioning and layouts, and the images’ subsequent impact. It’s not only about how the sausage was made, but also how it was cooked, how it was served, who ate it and how it tasted. For anyone interested in journalism, photography and ethics, it’s revelatory — and riveting.
“Life Magazine and the Power of Photography” is a much bigger version of an exhibition that opened at the Princeton University Art Museum in early 2020. That show was cut short by the pandemic. If you missed it there and can’t see it in Boston, it comes with an award-winning catalogue full of fresh research drawn from the archives of Life magazine and the photographers who worked for it.
Occasionally, photographers would pitch an idea and have it accepted. Much more often, the magazine’s editorial team would select the subject, choose a photographer, and workshop the story using researchers and a story-building team. In other words, it was a collaboration. The challenge of collaborations, as everyone knows, is keeping everyone on the same page. At Life, things became interesting when the photographer in the field (usually accompanied by a reporter) captured things that didn’t entirely align with the story as conceived.
It’s fascinating to read letters and telegrams sent from the field by the likes of Margaret Bourke-White, Yousuf Karsh (who photographed Winston Churchill) and W. Eugene Smith. Smith, having spent almost a month photographing midwives working in impoverished areas of the U.S. South, wrote to the magazine complaining about the “staggering” amount of money he had spent on cameras, lenses and portable strobes, and lamenting the state of his car, “so beat by the brutality of the backwoods cow paths that I feel I must either turn it in upon my return or go through with a complete and expensive overhaul.” Smith hoped that his story would strike “a powerful blow … against the stupidity of racial prejudice.”
Letters sent from photographers in Vietnam and other war zones are harrowing reminders both of the risks taken by war photographers and the enormous logistical challenges they faced — not least smuggling rolls of film back to the magazine.
Inevitably (it’s in the nature of journalism), photographers in the field discovered more than the story-building team had conceived. The team back at Life then had to decide how much to adjust their original idea or, conversely, how much to massage the images (by selection, captioning, layout or sometimes even manipulation) to make them “fit.”
Were many of their decisions informed by ideological biases? Undoubtedly. A catastrophic global conflict dominated the magazine’s early years and the Cold War followed. So did the civil rights movement, Vietnam and second-wave feminism. Life’s generally moderate (within a U.S. context) viewpoint could appear imperialist from a foreign perspective. And within America, where the magazine catered to a mostly White, middle-class audience, it often ignored or misrepresented the experiences of large swaths of the population.
The Boston show includes more recent work, not affiliated with Life, by three contemporary artists — Alfredo Jaar, Alexandra Bell and Julia Wachtel — who are interested in the power of images in journalism. Their works, intended as reflections on some of the issues raised by the historical portion of the exhibition, are conceptual and critical of the power structures underlying the production of mainstream news. I found Wachtel’s installation abstruse, and Bell’s redactions and arch reworkings of New York Times front page articles provocative but tendentious (as she evidently feels the original articles were).
Jaar’s installations I found more affecting. The Chilean-born, New York-based artist finds simple but powerful ways to question the effect of news photographs of traumatic events. His work expresses empathy for both photographers and their subjects. Photographers, he says on the audio guide, are often betrayed by photo agencies and media companies. They send in their work, but a “photo editor comes in and selects images to fit the ideological agenda of those media companies. Perhaps most of the best images were never used because they do not fit the narrative of the media and their ideological agendas.”
The point is well taken, but it’s not just about ideological agendas. It’s also about the constraints on storytelling within a given format; about working collaboratively in a context of relentless deadlines; and about the bottom line. Life magazine was a business. People on the editorial side would have had differing opinions about what images were most important. Their colleagues on the business side would have had their own opinions about how to sell copies and attract advertising. Ideology inheres in everything, especially economics. It can be useful to make this visible. But it is naive simply to wish these forces away.
These, in any case, are the kinds of big questions provoked by this fascinating show, which may also lead us to measure the distance between the end of Life, which stopped publishing 50 years ago (overtaken by television and “magazine” format news programs like “60 Minutes”), and today’s media landscape, where algorithms rule, infotainment prevails, cynical manipulation of people’s fears is de rigueur, deep fakes are commonplace, and the very idea of a shared reality undergirded by empirical truth is under sustained attack.
Life Magazine and the Power of Photography Through Jan. 16 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. mfa.org. | 2022-10-20T10:26:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Life magazine exhibition at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts is revelatory - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/10/20/life-magazine-exhibit-boston/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/10/20/life-magazine-exhibit-boston/ |
How the search for clues in Taylor Swift’s music became all-consuming
As ‘Midnights’ nears release, her fans go down all the rabbit holes and work themselves into a frenzy
(Amy Sussman/Getty; Screenshots from Taylor Swift's Instagram, Twitter and TikTok accounts; iStock; Emily Sabens/Washington Post illustration)
Two years ago, TikTok creator Steven Sullivan had it all figured out. Something was going to happen with Taylor Swift on Dec. 4, 2020. Something big.
It made so much sense: Spotify had released a Swift-themed video that showed a pair of dice that added up to 13, which everyone knows is the singer’s lucky number. Swift responded to the video by tweeting that it was “cute cute CUTE,” similar phrasing to her 2012 song “Stay Stay Stay.” Not to mention that Paul McCartney, who had recently appeared with Swift for a Rolling Stone feature, mysteriously tweeted dice emoji. Oh, and Dec. 4 was National Dice Day, a thing that exists. What more evidence could you need that Swift was going to announce a major new project?
Sullivan posted a video of this theory on TikTok, eventually racking up about 250,000 views. On Dec. 4, the clock struck midnight and… nothing. Commenters encouraged him to stay up until 12 a.m. in the Central and Pacific time zones. Still, nothing. Sullivan — appearing half joking and half truly despondent — filmed another video, where he slammed his face into a piano. “I’m so sorry,” he told his followers, who consoled him. “It was a good theory,” one person wrote, adding a heart.
To those unfamiliar with the Taylor Swift world, this may seem like alarming and even troubling behavior. But for the pop megastar’s enormous and fiercely loyal fan base, such theorizing is both beloved pastime and standard daily activity. On her path to becoming one of the most powerful stars on the planet, Swift has taken great joy in building her own mythology as she embeds clues, hints and puzzles into her music, social media posts and even seemingly offhand comments during interviews. Fans have been conditioned to think that everything could have a hidden meaning, whether she’s revealing a meaningful fact about her life or announcing the date of a tour, and they can work themselves into a frenzy trying to figure it out.
Superstar Taylor Swift's tenth album, "Midnights," will debut on Oct. 21. It will contain a trove of hidden meanings tied to her love of numeric symbolism. (Video: Allie Caren/The Washington Post, Photo: Sarah Hashemi/The Washington Post)
Now, the tradition of trying to decode deeper meaning into what Swift does or says has reached stratospheric heights as she prepares to release her 10th studio album, “Midnights,” on Oct. 21. She has steadily dropped clues about the record on social media — revealing the track list one by one in individual TikTok videos where she plucks ping-pong balls out of a hopper like she’s running a bingo game — and the internet is ablaze with theories about what awaits within “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life,” as Swift has described it.
While even the most devoted Swift fans recognize this is obviously an excellent marketing strategy, they say it goes beyond other stars who have similarly passionate fan bases and leave cryptic clues on Instagram. This feels personal.
“She’s aware of the game, so if we play the game, it feels like we’re all doing something together,” Sullivan said in an interview. “From the beginning, that wall that used to exist between fans and artists — Taylor was slowly taking that wall down by sharing so much of her life. She’s definitely pulled back on that recently for good reason, but with how much sharing she did early in her career, she created a unique connection with her fan base.”
Since the start of her career in Nashville as a teenager around 2006, Swift has maintained an unusually close bond with her fans, posting on MySpace and later chatting with them on social media and leaving comments on their Instagram posts. Her seven-time platinum debut album set the stage for what was to come, featuring randomly placed capital letters within the lyrics in the CD booklet that spelled secret messages revealing hidden meanings of the songs. (The liner note hype only got more intense as the subjects of her songs appeared to be fellow celebrities.)
“I remember saving up to buy a CD when I was a kid, tearing it open, and laying on the floor reading every word of the lyric booklet. Reading lyrics and seeing which photos defined the album were two of my favorite parts of experiencing a record release,” Swift wrote. “I felt like some artists really leaned into their album packaging in a creative way. The Chicks ‘Fly’ album was my favorite because their photos depicted all the meanings of the word ‘fly’ in very theatrical ways.”
“When I was 15 and putting together my first album, I wanted to recreate the experience I used to have for my fans in a reimagined approach. I decided to encode the lyrics with hidden messages using capital letters,” she added. “That’s how it started, and my fans and I have since descended into color coding, numerology, word searches, elaborate hints, and Easter eggs. It’s really about turning new music into an event for my fans and trying to entertain them in playful, mischievous, clever ways.”
“As long as they still find it fun and exciting,” Swift concluded, “I’ll keep doing it.”
Swift’s love of hidden messages is now so well known that it seeps into the broader culture. Last month, the NFL announced that it was switching Super Bowl halftime show sponsors from Pepsi to Apple Music. Immediately, rumors swirled that Swift would be the headliner; not just because she no longer had a soft drink conflict as a Coca-Cola ambassador, but due to both the name of her upcoming album — and the time of day of the NFL’s news release.
“The league curiously dropped the news at midnight — something that’s been associated with Swift for YEARS,” TMZ wrote. This idea was quickly shot down when Rihanna was confirmed as the performer, another misreading of clues that weren’t actually clues.
“Taylor intentionally creates this image of a master plan, a deeper meaning that rewards paying this sort of attention to everything,” said Kristen Reid of Chicago, who runs the site Taylor Swift Scholar. Swift has such a controlled public image, Reid theorized, that even the tiniest piece of information gets overanalyzed.
The hunt for clues wasn’t always on this level. In her early days, fans were mostly the ones noticing that she painted the number 13 on her hand before every concert, or gave her songs 13-second introductions; her lucky number was 13, she explained, partly because she was born on Dec. 13. On tour in 2011, she wrote lyrics from other artists on her arm in marker before shows, giving concertgoers insight into what she was thinking about that day.
Things truly escalated with her “Reputation” album in late 2017, released after Swift’s much-documented feud with Kim Kardashian, who posted an edited version of a phone call between her then-husband, Kanye West, and Swift, and branded the pop star a “snake.” Swift disappeared from of the public eye and reemerged with a music video for new single “Look What You Made Me Do,” where nearly every scene had a reference to something the public had mocked about her: A headstone reading “here lies Taylor Swift’s reputation”; a shot of her dressed like her frenemy, Katy Perry, while holding a Grammy (something Perry has never won); and snakes.
“The rollout with that was so different than any other rollout she had ever done,” said Brittany Spanos, a Rolling Stone senior writer who teaches a New York University course about Swift, noting that the singer didn’t do any interviews leading up to the album release, letting the visuals speak for themselves. The “self-mythologizing elements,” such as the snake imagery, became a major part of how the album was presented, she added. It fueled Swift going forward, as the video became a pop culture sensation and fans spent hours dissecting every frame.
By her “Lover” album in 2019, Swift was drawing comparisons to “The Da Vinci Code,” as listeners spotted a mysterious butterfly stamp on April 13 on her official 2019 calendar, which they surmised meant a big announcement. Indeed, on that day, a countdown clock started on her social media accounts leading to April 26 (13 days later, of course) which wound up being the release of her first single. Swift soon appeared on the cover of Entertainment Weekly in a jacket covered in pins that represented her most famous symbols, telling the magazine she wasn’t surprised by her fans’ aggressive hunts for Easter eggs within her work, saying matter-of-factly: “I’ve trained them to be that way.”
On Oct. 7, Zainub Amir of New York, whose Twitter account @SwiftNYC has more than 156,000 followers, had to be awake by 7:30 a.m. for her day job. But that night, Swift started posting one TikTok an hour, from midnight to 4 a.m., announcing the complete “Midnights” track list.
“I did lose sleep,” said Amir, who has been running the account for 12 years. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Incidentally, Swift has been fairly straightforward in her previews of “Midnights,” revealing the tracks without a word scramble puzzle as she did last year for her rerecorded “Red (Taylor’s Version).” She has posted short video explanations for the stories behind certain songs — including the first single, “Anti-Hero,” a track that she said explores her insecurities — and billboards with snippets of her new lyrics have been cropping up all over the world. She also announced a collaboration with Lana Del Rey called “Snow on the Beach.”
And still — Swift’s followers have been joking about being driven into madness by posts revealing the “Midnights” tracks, trying to figure out whether the handheld phone in the videos has a particular meaning and analyzing her clothes. In the TikTok where Swift announced that one track is called “Bejeweled,” fans noted she’s dressed in the same sweater as actress Sadie Sink in her “All Too Well” short film, which includes a lyric about Swift being a “jewel.” Could those things be connected?!
If you’re exhausted just thinking about it, you have nothing on the fans who will be staying up all night on Oct. 21 thinking about all that and more.
“It’s a two-way street, and you don’t get that with other artists,” Amir said. “For somebody at that level of success and level of fame to still stay connected and drop these theories and be interactive in the game with us — that’s what makes it so interesting.”
As the fervor has built even more, particularly with Swift’s surprise album drops “Folklore” and “Evermore” during the pandemic, frustration has come with it.
Sometimes it evolved into inside jokes within the fandom, such as a 2019 post from the pop star sitting behind a fence with five holes in it, an ultimately meaningless photo that some thought was leading to a countdown. In such instances, Amir said, fans are often good-humored and acknowledge “we’re literally being clowned.” Other times, people refused to accept that theories weren’t true, like the popular guess that Swift had a third pandemic album called “Woodvale.” (Swift personally debunked this in a TV interview, but some are still true believers.)
Spanos recently wrote a piece for Rolling Stone about a widespread theory that Swift scrapped an album called “Karma” that was recorded in 2016. She was surprised that while many fans thought it was fun speculation, some were upset, and felt that heated debates over such things “feed into the worst parts of the fandom.”
Some pointed out that certain fans can take things to the extreme, but many don’t take the theories too seriously, using them as a way to build excitement. Other singers have employed similar guessing games, Spanos said, but “no one is doing it as detailed or in-depth — and no one is on the level of Taylor.” | 2022-10-20T10:26:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Taylor Swift's upcoming 'Midnights' release has fans chasing theories - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/10/20/taylor-swift-midnights-easter-eggs/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/10/20/taylor-swift-midnights-easter-eggs/ |
HANDOUT PHOTO TreVaughn Roach-Carter (Yvonne Downs)
Strict FDA regulations disproportionately exclude LGBTQ community
TreVaughn Roach-Carter had been waiting to donate his sperm for nearly two years in early 2020 when he visited the Sperm Bank of California. The day after providing his semen sample, he received a rejection email. The reason: He checked a box for being gay, and Food and Drug Administration regulations prohibit anonymous sperm donations from men who have had sex with men in the past five years.
“I thought these bans were something that was long gone and over and that I wouldn’t have to worry about it,” Roach-Carter said.
Sperm banks already have an uphill battle trying to get men of color, especially Black men, to donate sperm. A Washington Post analysis found Black sperm donors represent less than 2 percent of all sperm donors at the country’s four largest cryobanks.
As a gay Black man, Roach-Carter said he chose to donate sperm in part to aid other LGBTQ couples trying to build families.
“I know that when the time comes for me to have children, it will be a lengthy, stressful and also probably expensive process. And I wanted to help make things as easy for other people as possible who would be going through similar things,” he said.
The shortage of Black donors was another reason he wanted to donate, he said. ’“People deserve to be able to have families that look like them.”
“I thought these bans were something that was long gone and over and that I wouldn’t have to worry about it.”
— TreVaughn Roach-Carter
Only about 1 percent of applicants make it through a highly selective process for sperm donation, according to Jaime Shamonki, the chief medical officer at California Cryobank, the country’s largest.
While the selection criteria are not specifically targeted at any ethnic group, they contribute to a shortage of Black sperm donors, said Cindy Duke, a Las Vegas reproductive endocrinologist and virologist.
The process requires a detailed physical and psychological exam, a three-generation family medical history, criminal background checks, genetic screening and semen analysis. Men need to be between the ages of 18 and 39 to donate, and many cryobanks require them to be at least 5-foot-7.
Donors with higher education are favored.
America’s Black sperm donor shortage
Cryobanks reported that the number of Black women seeking their services to conceive rose sharply during the pandemic after increasing steadily over the years. Yet Black sperm donors represent just a fraction of available supply — less than 2 percent at the country’s four largest sperm banks, according to an analysis by The Washington Post.
The Black sperm donor shortage is forcing Black women into an agonizing choice
Roach-Carter, now 26, said he had initially inquired about being a sperm donor in 2018 but was advised to return after he completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Applicants with common illnesses or conditions including Type I diabetes, red-green color blindness, Huntington’s disease, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are rejected, said Robin Baird, the legal and policy director for Cryobio sperm bank in Columbus, Ohio.
Carriers of BRCA gene mutations that can increase the likelihood of breast and ovarian cancers are also disqualified.
“So for us, that was 20 opportunities that we could not even begin a process simply because they were part of the LGBTQ community.”
— Kenya Campbell
Over the past two decades, cryobanks have stopped disqualifying donor applicants who are carriers of genetic diseases including Tay-Sachs disease, which is more prevalent among people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, and the sickle cell trait, which is most common among Black people.
But the FDA ban on men who have sex with men has remained in place since 2005. The provision is based on data from the 1980s and early 1990s, at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
While donor sperm is quarantined for six months and tested for HIV before being released onto cryobank websites for purchase, the FDA said it had no immediate plans to end the ban.
“Despite the high level of accuracy and sensitivity of today’s donor screening tests for communicable diseases, FDA believes additional safeguards are needed to prevent the introduction, transmission, and spread of communicable diseases to protect recipients,” FDA press officer Veronika Pfaeffle said in an emailed statement.
“For example, although rare, it remains possible for a donor to test HIV negative and still be infected with HIV early in infection with the virus itself — or the antibodies against the virus might be too low to be detected,” she said.
But the FDA ban makes it even harder to overcome a shortage of Black sperm donors.
The Sperm Bank of California told The Post it had 243 candidates in the past three years who indicated on their applications that they’d had sex with men within the past five years. Of those, 120 were men of color. Twenty were Black.
“So for us, that was 20 opportunities that we could not even begin a process simply because they were part of the LGBTQ community,” said program director Kenya Campbell.
Seattle Sperm Bank said it turned away a “really great candidate” in the spring because he disclosed he was gay. “We’re huge LGBTQ advocates. The majority of the people who work with us are part of two-mom families,” said Clinic Relations Manager Alyse Mencias. “It feels like we’re stuck in this duality where we wholeheartedly support and welcome the LGBTQ community, but then we have to fall under these ancient regulations.”
Editing by Suzanne Goldenberg. Project management by KC Schaper. Design by Allison Mann. Design editing by Virginia Singarayar. Photo editing by Haley Hamblin and Monique Woo. Copy editing by Shannon Croom. Additional editing by Monica Norton and Krissah Thompson. | 2022-10-20T10:26:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why gay men and other groups are banned from donating sperm - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/10/20/sperm-donor-criteria/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/10/20/sperm-donor-criteria/ |
Images of unveiled Iranian protesters inspire. But there are risks, too.
Depictions of unveiled Iranian women may reproduce misogynistic assumptions that the veil is a universal marker for oppression
Perspective by Sara Rahnama
Sara Rahnama is an assistant professor of history at Morgan State University and author of "The Future is Feminist: Women and Social Change in Interwar Algeria" (forthcoming, Cornell University Press).
Iranian women hold hands as people chant slogans and wave Iranian flags in Washington on Oct. 15. The demonstrations were triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, last month after she was arrested by Iran's notorious morality police. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)
In response, the United States has expanded sanctions against Iran, and some politicians and pundits have called for even more. Since 1979, however, the severity and wide breadth of U.S.-imposed sanctions have had a deadly impact. Sanctions limit Iran’s ability to purchase essential medical devices, supplies and raw materials needed, for example, to make medicine. Meanwhile, sanctions have helped to create conditions in which ordinary Iranian businesses are unable to compete with state-affiliated companies. Women and working-class Iranians are among the most vulnerable to the impact of sanctions. That means there is a real danger in how the recent images of unveiled Iranian women are being deployed to argue for further sanctions and intervention.
It would not be the first time that depictions of Muslim women have been used to legitimize harmful foreign interventions. In the 19th century, for example, the French deployed images of oppressed Muslim women as a tool to popularize the colonization of Algeria, the confiscation of Algerian land and institutions and the continued war during the Algerian War of Independence. Though the historical and geographical contexts differ, revisiting the history of Algeria reminds us how ideas about emancipating oppressed Muslim women have been seductive for global audiences. States have used such ideas to build popular support for foreign interventions that ultimately harmed the women they claimed to want to rescue. This history reminds us to question such depictions of Muslim women more critically.
Under French rule from 1830 to 1962, Algeria occupied an important role in France’s overseas empire as one of its longest-held colonies and the only colony officially considered an extension of France rather than a colony. From the beginning of the French colonial occupation of Algeria, postcards played an important role in increasing popular support for France’s colonial project.
Photographs on postcards tended to depict Muslim women in two ways: very covered or shockingly uncovered (often with nudity). Some 19th-century postcards depicted Algerian women walking in the streets, in their traditional long white veils (haïks) and baggy harem pants. Others showed Algerian women with their veils opened, revealing their faces, breasts and bodies for the viewer. While images of Algerian women exposing themselves for the viewer were taken in photographers’ studios for pay or under coercion, they were captioned and marketed in ways that suggested they were everyday photographs of Algerian women.
These depictions of Algerian women built on a longer tradition of European art from the 18th and 19th centuries, in which paintings of nondescript homes, harems and slave markets featured Muslim women who were exotic and sexy but visibly constrained by both their physical surroundings (the harem, for example) or the tight control of husbands and fathers. Postcards made these highbrow images legible and accessible to a wider working-class European public. Their cheapness and ubiquity meant they could be circulated widely between Algeria and Europe — wordlessly cementing French fantasies to see underneath the veils of terribly oppressed but also alluring Muslim women.
The European obsession with the oppression of Muslim women extended beyond art and material culture. Claims about Muslim sexuality were used as the legal basis to legitimize the confiscation of Algerian land, wealth and institutions. French officials alleged, for instance, that Muslim family customs, including polygamy, were incompatible with French laws, so French citizenship could not be extended to Muslim subjects. Claims like this also justified separate legal systems for European settlers and Algerian subjects.
Images of subjugated Muslim women remained pivotal to the French colonial project until its gasping final breaths. On Nov. 1, 1954, the Algerian War of Independence began as the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) launched 70 attacks on various political and military targets across Algeria. In response, the French army’s psychological warfare bureau launched unveiling campaigns and veil burning ceremonies to demonstrate to international audiences that France was emancipating and modernizing women as part of a broader project. For the French, this was particularly symbolic because they had made the veil into a symbol of backwardness. In cities like Algiers, while many Muslim women no longer veiled, some began donning the haïk in response to these French campaigns as a means of insisting on their right to their own religion and culture. After Algerian independence in 1962, few women still wore the traditional haïk, but it was still celebrated as a symbol of national culture.
The history of how ideas about gender and Islam were weaponized in colonial Algeria remains relevant today. The obsession with the veil as a marker of constraint was neither unique to France nor something only of the past. In October 2001, then-Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) appeared on the floor of the U.S. House in a burqa to call for war against the Taliban to save Afghan women. In November 2001, first lady Laura Bush took over the president’s weekly radio address to frame the War in Afghanistan as a fight to ensure Afghan women could live freely. In August 2017, President Donald Trump decided to recommit more soldiers to Afghanistan after being shown a photograph of Afghan women wearing miniskirts in 1972.
In recent weeks, people all over the world have been celebrating images of Iranian women bravely defying Iran’s mandatory hijab laws. Protesters have been clear, through chants, slogans and graffiti, that they are not protesting hijab or Islam, but rather the imposition of hijab laws and the Islamic Republic itself. One photograph from Iran shows an unveiled woman and a woman in black chador holding hands and raising their fists in the air, facing an Iranian flag, with the caption, “No woman is free until all women are free to choose.” Another graffitied message in Iran references Iran’s own history with forced unveiling by a former imperial ruler and says, “No to forced hijab or Reza Shah’s banned hijab.” Videos show how women veiled in black chadors march among protesters.
Like colonial postcards, while social media facilitates the quick mass consumption of images, it cannot convey important context about both Iran and the longer, global history of representations of Muslim women. The way images of unveiled Iranian women are being consumed risks reproducing the same misogynistic assumptions that the veil is a universal marker for oppression — or potentially even legitimizing foreign intervention, from increased sanctions to warfare. Iranian women, like all Muslim women, deserve to live without their agency constricted, either by an Islamic regime or by foreign intervention. | 2022-10-20T10:26:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Sanctions may harm the Iranian women removing the hijab in protest - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/10/20/iranian-women-hijab-sanctions-iran/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/10/20/iranian-women-hijab-sanctions-iran/ |
Why the anti-Indigenous remarks of the L.A. City Council sparked protest
The Oaxacan community in Los Angeles is rejecting the anti-Black and anti-Indigenous views of council members
Perspective by A. S. Dillingham
A. S. Dillingham is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the author of "Oaxaca Resurgent: Indigeneity, Development, and Inequality in Twentieth-Century Mexico."
Protesters demonstrate outside City Hall on Oct. 12, calling for the resignations of L.A. City Council members Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo in the wake of a leaked audio recording that revealed racist comments amid a discussion about city redistricting. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Last weekend, thousands of people took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles in a march to City Hall. Called to action by a coalition of the city’s Oaxacan organizations, protesters demanded the resignation of two city council members, Gil Cedillo and Keven de León. They also made clear that Oaxacans are a central part of the vibrant, diverse city, and demanded respect for their community.
Saturday’s march was the culmination of a week of outrage and protests in Los Angeles. The leaked recordings of a 2021 conversation between three Latino city council members and a local labor leader revealed their anti-Black and anti-Indigenous views. One described the adopted African American child of another council member as “un changuito,” (little monkey) and another derided Oaxacans who live in L.A.’s Koreatown for their physical appearance. The city council president, Nury Martinez, a participant of that conversation, announced her resignation, and protesters continue to call for the two remaining council members, Cedillo and de León, to resign. In L.A., the scandal has raised questions about who is best placed to govern a city of nearly 4 million people. Nationally, it has raised questions about the limits of representational politics.
Local community leaders, such as Odilia Romero, have denounced the racist and “colonial” remarks of the elected leaders and pointed out how they form part of long-standing anti-Indigenous and anti-Black views within the Latino community. For many Oaxacans living in L.A., the comments were deeply hurtful, not only for their unabashed racism but also because many had mobilized for Martinez and the other council members in previous elections. Indeed, the leaked conversation and the public response have led to important discussions in mainstream spaces regarding the diversity and divisions within Latino communities. People have rightly pointed to the fact that racist ideas and racial hierarchies pervade the Latino community as well as our broader society.
To fully understand the outrage over the leaked conversation, and the Oaxacan community’s place in Los Angeles, we need to understand how anti-Black and anti-Indigenous ideas are prevalent on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. In particular, we need to understand the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca’s unequal incorporation into the North American economy. Oaxaca and its people have been exploited economically and cast as racially inferior on both sides of the border. But crucially they have also fought back and demanded respect for their labor and culture.
The state of Oaxaca is in southern Mexico, southeast of Mexico City, and boasts impressive mountain ranges along with a long Pacific coastline. It is not far from Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala. Oaxaca was a center of pre-colonial Indigenous civilization, a source of tremendous wealth for Spanish colonialism and remains a place of Indigenous resilience and creativity. Today, there are officially 16 distinct Indigenous groups in Oaxaca. They speak a variety of languages, including Mixtec, Zapotec, Mixe and Chatino, among others. Many communities along Oaxaca’s coastline are of African descent. In a relatively small geographic region, Oaxaca houses incredible linguistic and cultural diversity.
After independence from Spain in 1821, Mexican elites celebrated pre-conquest civilizations, such as the Aztecs, as a way to distinguish themselves from their former European colonizers. Yet these elites, operating under similar racial assumptions as Europeans, continued to view the large, Indigenous population as a “problem” to be solved. Post-Independence leaders privatized Indigenous communal lands and dismissed the country’s many Indigenous languages as mere “dialects” that should be eradicated in pursuit of national unification. There were moments when Indigenous individuals and communities participated in national life, be it electoral politics or the military, but rarely could they do so as Indigenous actors. Instead, they had to shed this aspect of their identity.
In the aftermath of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, there was another shift in Mexican ideas about race. The government embraced ideas of mestizaje, or racial and cultural mixture. While Diego Rivera’s mural in the Mexican National Palace celebrated the pre-Hispanic past and the armed campesinos of the revolution, the discourse of racial mixture maintained ideas of white supremacy. If aspects of Indigenous culture were now ostensibly valued, they nonetheless were seen as a subordinate ingredient to European heritage. And while the state rhetorically celebrated Indigenous peoples, in all practical effect it erased the presence of African-descended peoples in the country (who were present since the first days of European conquest). Mexico had officially embraced a more inclusive idea of who was included in the nation, but anti-Indigenous and anti-Black ideas persisted.
In the 20th century, successive Mexican governments pursued models of economic development that favored commercial agriculture in the north and increased trade with the United States. Catering to U.S. markets was seen as key for the growth of the Mexican national economy. The central government invested in water works and infrastructure in northern Mexico that facilitated Mexican producers’ access to U.S. markets.
What this meant for southern Mexico, and Oaxaca in particular, was that while the Mexican economy grew, ordinary peoples’ lives in the south became more precarious. Small-scale, Indigenous farmers in the country’s south could not compete with large-scale commercial agriculture and found themselves increasingly dependent on a cash economy. At mid-century, Oaxacans increasingly migrated north for seasonal work. First, they migrated to Mexico City, where they labored in the industrial economy and as domestic laborers, and then further north, to the fields of Baja California and Sinaloa, states that delivered agricultural goods to U.S. markets.
Eventually, Oaxacans made their way across the border, seeking employment from southern to northern California. These migrations created an Oaxacan diaspora, a community of working-class Indigenous families that stretches across three countries. Today, the diaspora stretches from southern to northern Mexico, and from San Diego to Vancouver, B.C. In Los Angeles, upward of a quarter-million Oaxacans, many from Zapotec communities in the Oaxacan central valleys, call the city their home.
The Oaxacan diaspora toils in wealthy homes, agricultural fields and factories across North America. Some have escaped low paid work and entered professional fields. Yet many outside observers insist on equating Oaxacan poverty and indigeneity. According to them, to be Oaxacan is to be poor, whether in Mexico or in the United States. In Mexico, there are a slew of derogatory terms used to malign Oaxacans, and bigotry is often aimed at Oaxacans in prominent public roles. For instance, Alfonso Cuarón’s 2018 film, “Roma,” sparked a racist backlash in Mexico, as Mexicans were unaccustomed to seeing an Indigenous woman protagonist in a major film. The actor who played the lead role, Yalitza Aparicio, herself from the highlands of Oaxaca, navigated the racist backlash with grace and dignity.
But the reaction to “Roma” also spoke to Oaxacans’ increasing cultural presence on both sides of the border. The problem of racism and colorism has become a dinner-table topic among Mexican families in recent years. Oaxacan social movements in the early 2000s, struggling against persistent political authoritarianism and economic inequality, emphasized their Indigenous character in mass mobilizations. And Oaxacans living in the diaspora have increasingly embraced and celebrated their indigeneity as a point of pride. Many living in the United States have made connections with Native nations who have similarly been cast as part of the past and inferior.
We would do well to understand the outrage at the L.A. City Council members’ comments as part of the increasing power and recognition of Indigenous communities in the Americas. The scandal also underlines the limitations of representational politics, Latino or otherwise, and how communities are often riven by inequalities of class and race. Oaxacans demand respect on both sides of the border, an imposition created by competing colonial states. | 2022-10-20T10:27:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Anti-Indigenous comments about Oaxacans have sparked protest in L.A. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/10/20/la-city-council-racism/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/10/20/la-city-council-racism/ |
Samantha Ege and the Yale Philharmonia will perform the orchestral world premiere of Helen Hagan’s “Piano Concerto in C Minor”
Samantha Ege and the Yale Philharmonia with conductor Peter Oundjian at a recent rehearsal of Helen Hagan's "Piano Concerto in C Minor." (Yale School of Music)
On Friday, at the very same concert hall where Hagan delivered the debut of her “Piano Concerto in C Minor,” the Yale Philharmonia will give the world premiere of composer Soomin Kim’s newly imagined orchestral arrangement of its first movement. Pianist and musicologist Samantha Ege will take Hagan’s spot at the piano as featured soloist.
Born in 1891, Helen Eugenia Hagan embarked on her musical path early, playing organ at New Haven’s Dixwell Avenue Congregational Church at the age of 10. Hagan is believed to be the first Black student at Yale School of Music, where as an undergraduate she performed Saint-Saëns’s “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra” as well as her own concerto with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Her 1912 debut of the concerto (performed at Yale’s Woolsey Hall with a student ensemble) earned her the school’s inaugural Samuel Simons Sanford Fellowship, allowing her two years of postgraduate study in France.
‘An African-American Requiem’ turns national grief into powerful music
Piano Concerto in C Minor has its world premiere Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Woolsey Hall, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. music-tickets.yale.edu. | 2022-10-20T10:27:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Helen Hagan, pioneering Black composer, retakes the spotlight at Yale - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/10/20/helen-hagan-samantha-ege-yale-music/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/10/20/helen-hagan-samantha-ege-yale-music/ |
Jukebox the Ghost rediscovers Queen’s magic
The trio will perform their annual Queen cover set at 9:30 Club on Oct. 27
Jukebox the Ghost members Tommy Siegel, Ben Thornewill and Jesse Kristin met at George Washington University in the mid-2000s and have performed as a band since. (Shervin Lainez)
Queen frontman Freddie Mercury once said that “you either have the magic or you don’t. There’s no way you can work up to it.” He couldn’t have known that Jukebox the Ghost would one day emulate his garb and mirror his moves with an annual tribute show. Nor could he have known that the ebullient trio would spare none of their abundant magic — that melodic charm that propels us into euphoria while watching a performance in perfect sync.
But it did take the band time to work up to that. Ben Thornewill (piano and vocals) met Tommy Siegel (guitar) and Jesse Kristin (drums) as underclassmen at George Washington University, where they played quad shows, benefit concerts and a few battles of the bands; one victory claimed them a spot opening for a not-yet-denounced Kanye West. Still, by the time they graduated and began touring in 2007, they considered a show with 10 audience members “a good night,” Thornewill says. Lacking fans, they made do with spunk.
“We were doing 150, 160 dates a year, on the road 220 days a year,” Thornewill says. “We’re asking onstage if anyone can put us up or sleeping on floors.”
In the 15 years since, Jukebox the Ghost has played on David Letterman’s and Conan O’Brien’s late-night shows and performed at Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival, and the band is still touring on six full-length albums that feel dramatically jubilant. That theatricality did not go unnoticed by reviewers, who were quick to compare Jukebox the Ghost to that other campy pop group.
The name, HalloQueen, came first; the idea to put on a yearly October mini-tour with one set of original songs and another of Queen classics came second. Since 2015, the shows, described by Thornewill as “the biggest party of the year,” have grown, and they now feature gimmicks like a spinning fortune wheel and a costume contest. Queen’s influence has seeped beyond a yearly jam and into Jukebox’s original music, with killer solos, sweeping harmonies and intricate twinkling piano riffs.
“We’ve just embraced the weirdness,” Thornewill says. “We learned that by doing Queen. … When we do the HalloQueen show, or cover a tune, it feels really good. Everyone’s dancing. What is that? How do we tap into that vein and put it into our own music?”
In its sixth album, “Cheers,” the band found its formula: timeless tunes, rich with glee and glamour, topped by catchy lyrics on love, life and a love for life. On the final, titular track, Thornewill sings with Broadway conviction, “Cheers to all the dreamers, the everyday believers/Here’s to more of the everyday.” He invites the listener to sing along.
“My goal is just to bring joy. I know that sounds a little tacky, but I’m just up there to have a good time, to look out and see like 1,000 people smiling and jumping and dancing,” Thornewill says. “It gives me life. That’s the ultimate for me.”
Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. (doors open) at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. 930.com. Sold out. | 2022-10-20T10:27:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Jukebox the Ghost rediscovers Queen’s magic - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/10/20/jukebox-the-ghost-interview/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/10/20/jukebox-the-ghost-interview/ |
Many officials consider whether the hostility they face is worth it
Dario Armstrong, commissioner of the Bull Run (Va.) Officials Association, stands for the national anthem before a game between Gar-Field and Potomac on Oct. 7. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Dario Armstrong wakes up to get yelled at. Armstrong, a senior manager at Costco, fields complaints from employees and customers. And after a long week of nine-hour work days, he drives to Prince William County to officiate a high school football game. For 16 years he has made this drive, even if his destination is rarely welcoming.
“I work in Fredericksburg. I live in Fredericksburg. My church is in Fredericksburg. But I’m cheating for a team in Prince William County?” he said with a laugh. “It’s just a new group of parents and coaches saying the same things as when you first started out.”
Still, those long days are Armstrong’s favorite. He’s in love with the craft; when he attends NFL games, he watches the officials. When a colleague dies, he asks the family if he can place a whistle in their casket. As the football commissioner of Virginia’s Bull Run Officials Association, Armstrong, 50, is jovial and well-liked by fellow officials.
But for many, the pressures of the job have surpassed its appeal, leading to a shortage that has colored this high school football season.
Because of that shortage, a number of games, mostly in Prince William County, have been moved to Thursdays, obstructing practice schedules, cutting into ticket revenue and aggravating players’ aches and pains. With fewer eyes on the action, coaches and refs alike say games are officiated worse than they should be.
Many referees believe these problems will only get worse.
Pay and pushback, Armstrong, said, are the biggest factors keeping potential officials from joining the ranks. In Bull Run, officials make $110 per game, a recent increase from $85, but many decide it’s not worth the trouble.
Many officials work 9-to-5 jobs several Zip codes away from the games they’re assigned. They’re supposed to arrive 90 minutes before kickoff, so the overall time commitment can exceed five hours. Several officials said they have negotiated with their bosses to leave early on Fridays just to make it in time.
Meanwhile, vitriol from fans, coaches and players is more casually accepted these days, officials say, and extreme examples of misbehavior — including a brawl last month between Northwest and Gaithersburg as well as shootings during a flag football game in Prince William County and during a high school game in Toledo — present real fear.
“It plays on your mind sometimes; that’s what we’ve heard from different officials,” said John Joback, who at 75 is in the midst of his 50th season of officiating. “They’re saying, ‘John, you know, I’m getting kind of shaky about this stuff.’ ”
Just three officials, compared to the five or six that traditionally officiate a game, were present at the Montgomery County brawl.
A scheduling issue
Gar-Field Coach Tony Keiling knows there are challenges that come with coaching a young team. He and other coaches in Prince William County didn’t expect the schedule to be one of them.
But the lack of available officials has forced three Red Wolves games to be rescheduled this year. On weeks in which they play on a Thursday rather than a Friday, they have just one padded practice and limit the intensity to avoid injuries.
“With younger players, they need those contact days,” Keiling said. “It’s no fault to the referees, but it kills your schedule. If you have an older team, it’s fine, but when you have sophomores and juniors who need that technique, if you lose that day, it’s very hard. It’s a competitive disadvantage.”
Athletic directors, who are responsible for drafting initial schedules, are left to scramble. Michael Payne, the AD at Gar-Field, knows kids want to play on Friday nights, and for as long as he remembers they did so for five home games each season. This year they have just two Friday night games. He views the shortage of officials and scheduling as a cyclical issue, because Thursday games hurt ticket sales and, in some years, a portion of that revenue funds officiating crews.
Keiling said many coaches have sympathy for the referees’ schedules and workload. But he believes officials are burned out, which affects the quality of their calls. Multiple officials agreed.
“I love this job, but you can burn out if you’re doing [it] four times a week,” Armstrong said. “I have officials who don’t mind working every day; but the quality of officiating will go down because they’re out there day in and day out with bad weather and frustrated coaches.”
An exhausted and understaffed crew can pose a risk to players as well. An understaffed officiating crew, one official said, is less likely to see helmet-to-helmet contact and can miss the crucial seconds that follow to see if a player is wobbling or uneasy. While crews generally consisted of five or six members in previous seasons, many organizations are down to four — with as few as three for some games.
The inexperience of crews compounds these issues. Many experienced officials retired during the height of the pandemic, citing health concerns. While a newer official may not struggle to see a holding penalty or a false start, dealing with the intangibles of tight games and hostile environments are harder to teach in a class.
“Newer officials, in those situations, can get thrown off, be uneasy, uncertain, gun shy [to] throw flags because of the hype of the crowd and the moment,” Armstrong said. “Older officials are always needed in those games that mean the difference between going to the playoffs or staying home. That’s where we miss those guys. I love that they were able to retire and walk away from the game, but I hate it in the fact that we miss them and need them.”
Recruiting for new blood
Armstrong still walks down to his local community center and hangs advertisements for the association. In passing conversations, he encourages officials to promote within their own circles. Other associations occasionally advertise openings over the loudspeakers before games.
But the process can be slow. Officials are required to attend classes and on-field training for four to five months and must officiate scrimmages and lower-level games before they can call varsity games. Some younger officials end up leaving partway through training or after a year on the job, citing pay and scrutiny that outweighs their initial desire to join.
With so many officials gone, and a growing number with one foot out the door, the next couple of years will be crucial to the preservation of Friday night football. The officials atop the associations aren’t banking on an influx in funding or a flawless organizational strategy. Much of their hope is placed in an emotional plea that has kept most of them on board for all these years.
“It really is for the love of the game, for being around the sport and for us to give back to our communities.” Armstrong said. “Our kids need to be afforded the opportunity to go and chase their dreams. That’s why we stay hopeful, stay optimistic.” | 2022-10-20T10:28:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | High school football refs at a shortage after incidents at games - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/20/high-school-football-games-get-testier-refs-are-harder-find/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/10/20/high-school-football-games-get-testier-refs-are-harder-find/ |
An influential task force has recommended that people ages 8 to 18 be screened for anxiety. Here’s what parents and children can expect.
(Photo illustration by Chelsea Conrad/The Washington Post)
Your child’s next visit to the pediatrician may include something new: questions about their worries and fears.
Physicians across the country are likely to screen their patients for anxiety after an influential group of experts last week recommended it for children ages 8 to 18, signaling the need for early intervention during a worsening national mental health crisis. The final recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force followed similar guidance issued last month for anxiety screening in adults ages 19 to 64. The task force advice isn’t mandatory, but its recommendations typically change the way doctors practice medicine in the United States.
The task force found that screenings, which consist of a standard set of questions, helped identify anxiety in children and adolescents who are not showing signs or symptoms, allowing them to be connected with treatment early, said task force member Lori Pbert. Pbert is a clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School.
Questions focus on avoidant behaviors — or when a child avoids certain people, places or situations — which are an important sign of anxiety, said Oscar Bukstein, the vice chair of psychiatry at Boston Children’s Hospital. Other questions focus on the common symptoms of anxiety, such as panic, worry and trouble concentrating, experts say.
The task force mentioned two screenings — Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED) and Social Phobia Inventory — as being widely used in clinics. Both have questions about the fears and worries children may have. Some questionnaires, the task force said, may not be feasible for primary-care visits because of their length.
Other experts suggested the commonly used Generalized Anxiety Disorder screening, or GAD-7, and the Patient Health Questionnaire, or PHQ-9. The GAD-7 asks if a patient has been feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge; not been able to stop or control worrying; or has had trouble relaxing over the two weeks before their visit. The screening works on a scale of 0 to 3 for each of the seven problems listed. The PHQ-9 asks about issues such as trouble sleeping and poor appetite.
In a first, health panel calls for routine anxiety screening in adults
The screening your child gets will depend on their physician’s preference. But clinicians will probably start with a general screening that covers multiple mental health conditions, then use narrower questionnaires based on the results to prevent overloading parents and patients, Bukstein said. Some screenings ask both the parent and the child to fill out the questionnaire.
“If you gave a lot of questions of each area, it would be more than parents and kids would be able to tolerate, more than primary care doctors could accomplish within a visit,” he said.
During the visit, as a parent, you may be able to sit with your child during the screening, or you may be asked to leave the room, said Jennifer Bernard, a pediatrician and internist at Saint Luke’s Health System in Overland Park, Kan. She said she decides based on what she, the child and their parent agree would be best — a process she calls shared decision-making.
If the child wants their parent in the room, Bernard allows them to stay. If not, she asks them to leave and fills them in on the results at the end of the visit. She typically gives the screening to patients on paper, so they can check boxes, which she said is easier than having to verbalize their feelings.
Bernard said she has been doing mental health screenings for years to help families navigate care and connect them with treatment plans. “I always feel like mental and physical health go together,” she said.
Bukstein’s advice to parents is “to not be afraid to bring this up” with their pediatricians or primary care physicians, as not all clinicians routinely ask patients about mental health. A survey of physicians found that fewer than half always asked their patients about mental health, according to research cited by the task force.
The task force acknowledged some weaknesses of screening methods such as “false-positive” results, which, they said, could “lead to unnecessary referrals (and associated time and economic burden), treatment, labeling, anxiety, and stigma.”
Charity Ruch, 39, said she pushed for help from a therapist after she noticed one of her children feeling more sad and irritable, and having trouble focusing. Ruch’s friends suggested the child’s symptoms were normal reactions to recent events. Pandemic isolation had been going on for more than a year. And in May 2019, Ruch’s child was at STEM School Highlands Ranch, in Colorado, when one student was killed and eight others were injured in a shooting.
Ruch took her child to see a therapist in 2021 through a center that the school established for mental health support after the shooting. The therapist did a screening, which indicated anxiety. That helped the child “learn about it and how to cope with it,” Ruch said, and be “able to put together a toolbox of strategies.”
Ruch has taken her children to annual visits every year, she said, but mental health screenings had never been offered to them. She called the task force’s new recommendation a “huge victory,” a step to generating more awareness around mental health and anxiety disorders.
In a devastating pandemic, teens are ‘more alone than ever.’ Many struggle to find help.
In recent years, more children and teens have been affected by anxiety, depression or other mental health conditions, and it has been worsened by the pandemic. In the first year of the pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression jumped 25 percent, according to the World Health Organization.
In its recommendation, the task force cited the 2018-2019 National Survey of Children’s Health, which found that 7.8 percent of children ages 3 to 17 had an anxiety disorder.
In suggesting that anxiety screening be part of pediatric care, the task force acknowledged that it would be an added burden on a system already straining to provide mental health care — a concern within adult care as well.
“We absolutely recognize that that is a challenge,” Pbert said. “And what we’re hoping is that this set of recommendations on mental health within children and adolescents can help bring awareness of the need to create greater access to mental health care.”
If an anxiety screening yields positive results, clinicians will interview the child or teen to confirm a diagnosis and then come up with a treatment plan, which is discussed with the parent, Pbert said.
The task force noted that after diagnosis, treatment options can include counseling, medication or both. Treatment can also include “collaborative care,” meaning a child’s physician would work with a psychiatrist and behavior health care manager on treatment.
Ultimately, Pbert said, it’s important to understand that anxiety disorders are treatable, and screenings for children and teens are one step in getting the care they might need.
Elizabeth Spencer, 52, sought counseling for one of her children for the teen’s disordered eating. The screenings, which were part of the counseling, showed that the teen was suffering from anxiety, and the eating struggles were probably a symptom.
Before that, the teen had not been offered screenings during doctor’s visits, which Spencer said might have helped them find treatment options earlier.
“Maybe if we had had some of those screenings and been able to say, ‘Oh there are some flags here for possible anxiety,' ” Spencer said, maybe her child would not have had disordered eating.
After the diagnosis, the counselor recommended medication, therapy and a self-help workbook, which helped the teen manage their struggles with eating and sleeping. Now in college, the teen has continued counseling and is studying applied health science, with a focus on exercise science — a path that was inspired by their experience with anxiety and recovery, Spencer said.
And last month, Spencer received a text from the teen that ended with: “I’m so thankful for the place I’m in now.” | 2022-10-20T10:29:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Anxiety screening may happen at your child’s next pediatrician appointment - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/10/20/anxiety-screening-children/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/10/20/anxiety-screening-children/ |
A view of the air traffic control tower at Flesland Airport as a small propeller plane flies in background, in Bergen, Norway, Wednesday. (Marit Hommedal/AP)
On Wednesday, Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Store, blamed foreign intelligence — and indirectly pointed a finger a Russia. "It is not acceptable that foreign intelligence is flying drones over Norwegian airports. Russians are not allowed to fly drones in Norway,” he said according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
European leaders blame Russian ‘sabotage’ after Nord Stream explosions
Offshore oil and gas installations are central to Norway’s economy. Since the Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the country has become a critical supplier to energy-starved Europe.
Store’s remarks Wednesday came hours after a drone was spotted near the airport in Bergen, the country’s second largest city, temporarily shutting down air traffic.
The man, Andrei Yakunin, is the son of is the son of Vladimir Yakunin, a former president of Russian Railways and an associate of President Vladimir Putin. The elder Yakunin was sanctioned by the United States in the wake of Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea.
When the younger Yakunin was arrested, police also seized drones and electronic devices, Police Prosecutor Anja Mikkelsen Indbjor told the Barents Observer. “The content from the drone is of great importance for the case."
Yakunin’s arrest comes roughly a week after Norwegian police arrested a Russian man after he was caught flying a drone above an airport in Tromso, in northern Norway. The authorities seized a “large” amount of photography equipment, including the drone and memory cards. Police also discovered photos of the airport in Kirkenes, a Norwegian town near the Russian border, and of a Norwegian military helicopter.
A 50-year-old Russian man was also detained at Norway’s border with Russia after he was found to be carrying two drones and several electronic storage devices, according to the Associated Press. Four other Russians were detained days later for taking pictures of areas that are not allowed to be photographed, according to Norwegian officials. | 2022-10-20T11:09:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Norway arrests Russians for flying drones near energy infrastructure - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/20/norway-drones-russia-arrests-gas/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/20/norway-drones-russia-arrests-gas/ |
D.C.-area children’s hospitals are at capacity
The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. (Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Children’s hospitals in the D.C. area have been full for weeks, with patients stacking up in emergency departments as a surge in respiratory illnesses exacerbates the strain of staff shortages and a dwindling supply of pediatric beds.
Children’s National Hospital in Northwest D.C., as well as the children’s hospitals at Inova Fairfax in Northern Virginia and the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, which represent a total of more than 650 beds, are at capacity, physicians at the hospitals said this week.
Pediatricians locally and nationally report a spike in cases of respiratory illnesses such as RSV and rhinovirus — the common cold virus — which for the second consecutive year have hit earlier and made kids sicker than usual. At the same time, coronavirus continues to circulate, and hospitals are bracing for a severe flu season.
“We are treating a very high number of severely ill children,” said Sarah Combs, an emergency medicine physician at Children’s National.
At one point on Tuesday, 18 children were waiting for a pediatric intensive care unit, or PICU, bed at Children’s National, which has 323 inpatient beds and primarily serves the greater Washington area. The system remotely cares for children farther away in Virginia and Maryland as well as Pennsylvania and Delaware. Even as they detailed the crunch, officials stressed that hospitals’ inpatient, intensive care and emergency departments remain open and that children in need of care will never be turned away.
How to get an updated covid booster in D.C., Maryland and Virginia
Experts speculate that the lockdown effects of the covid-19 pandemic two years ago when precautions were in full swing may mean that children’s immune systems got a break and weren’t ready to fight illnesses this year. Even without the pandemic, they say, some viruses are particularly virulent some years.
When inpatient beds are full, children who come to the hospital via the emergency department and are sick enough to be admitted have nowhere to go and must stay in the emergency room until a bed opens or they improve enough to go home. The situation is especially serious when a child needs intensive care.
Sofia Teferi, a pediatrician at MedStar Montgomery Medical Center, said Wednesday she was treating a 4-month-old in the emergency department because she could not find the patient an intensive care bed in the region.
“The fact that you have to look at the parent and say your kid needs ICU-level care but we have no bed for them, that’s a very hard conversation to have,” she said, of the shortage of pediatric beds. “I’m just floored by the whole thing — in the nation’s capital.”
The situation is not unique to the D.C. metropolitan area. At the height of the pandemic, in many cases hospitals converted pediatric beds to treat adults and never switched them back. Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond this spring closed pediatric inpatient and PICU beds, citing too few patients. The problem predates covid. MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center closed its inpatient pediatric unit in 2018 for the same reason.
Eric Biondi, chief of pediatric hospital medicine at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, said the hospital’s 80 pediatric acute care beds, 20 oncology beds and approximately 28 PICU beds are “completely full.” The hospital reached this point a few times over the pandemic, he said, but this time is different because covid is not the driver.
‘This is a big deal for my family’: At-risk kids 5-11 get coronavirus vaccine first
“It’s not just a problem of how busy we are at Hopkins, which we are, but it flows out to the remote community emergency rooms that have to move kids,” he said.
Joanna Fazio, vice president for the Pediatric Service Line at Inova, said Inova L.J. Murphy Children’s Hospital is also operating at or beyond capacity at times. Clinicians reported less of the usual lag in illness they typically see in the summer; instead, illnesses began to build in August and September and haven’t let up.
Of the hospital’s 226 pediatric beds, about half are for newborn intensive care and 26 are pediatric intensive care unit beds, she said. On Tuesday, the PICU was on what Fazio called “capacity alert,” or full, meaning doctors seeking to transfer sick kids had to keep searching for a bed.
“We have every strategy in place to try to expand capacity where we can,” she said.
Fazio sees no end in sight. “We’re preparing for it to last through flu season because we know what our disease patterns are. Our predictions are only as good as the next day,” she said.
It’s a fact of emergency medicine that non-urgent cases will present in the emergency room, but given that volumes are higher overall, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center reopened its covid tent to see lower acuity non-covid patients, and L.J. Murphy Children’s is looking at ways to repurpose spaces. Doctors ask parents to consider calling their pediatrician or visiting urgent care if their child does not need acute intervention. Many have guidelines to help parents decide what to do.
Combs, of Children’s National, acknowledged that parents are under a lot of pressure coming out of the worst of the pandemic, but she stressed the importance of getting themselves and their kids vaccinated for the coronavirus and the flu.
She added that two years ago, covid-prevention measures, such as wearing masks, social distancing, hand washing and avoiding large gatherings, resulted in very little RSV, flu and rhinovirus — lessons that parents can apply even as new covid infections wane.
“In order to give both a sprout of hope and also some micro sense of control of, ‘Well what can I do other than panic?’ ” she said, “go back to basics, do what you’ve been doing over the past couple of years of pandemic, get your immunizations … and just do your best.” | 2022-10-20T11:26:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Surging respiratory illnesses are straining limited D.C.-area capacity - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/20/pediatrics-hospital-capacity-dc-children/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/10/20/pediatrics-hospital-capacity-dc-children/ |
Analysis by David A. Hopkins | Bloomberg
The alliance between big business and the Republican Party, one of the oldest in US politics, is unusually frayed these days. The question is whether there will be a complete unraveling.
There is ample evidence of a strained relationship. Senator Rick Scott of Florida, the current chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, introduced his “Rescue America” policy plan earlier this year with the accusation that “most corporate boardrooms” are now controlled by the “militant left.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has become engaged in a public battle with the Walt Disney Co. that led to the state revoking some of Disney’s long-held powers and tax advantages. Representative Jim Banks of Indiana, a potential member of House Republican leadership in the next session of Congress, recently said that Republicans are “so much healthier now that we’ve divorced ourselves from corporate America.”
So far, this newfound Republican disaffection has mostly been expressed through combative rhetoric. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, for example, has denounced “weak corporate leaders” who oversee “nationless corporations that amass fortunes divorced from the fate of our great country.” | 2022-10-20T11:57:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Are Republicans and Big Business Headed for a Breakup? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/are-republicans-and-big-business-headed-for-a-breakup/2022/10/20/59769400-506b-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/are-republicans-and-big-business-headed-for-a-breakup/2022/10/20/59769400-506b-11ed-ada8-04e6e6bf8b19_story.html |
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