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Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) are separated by much more than substantive disagreements about policy, a gap revealed when Sanders unloaded on Manchin in an appearance on ABC News’s “This Week.”
The episode showed that the two men have fundamentally different ideas about how legislators relate to their party, in ways that illuminate the way party politics and ideology work in 2022.
For Democrats, it isn’t the ideologues who keep things from working smoothly. It’s the so-called moderates — people such as Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
The subject was Manchin again pulling back from supporting a Democrats-only bill that includes climate change provisions and corporate tax increases, after he had indicated support for both. Here’s what Sanders said about Manchin:
He has sabotaged the president's agenda.
No, look, if you check the record, six months ago, I made it clear that you have people like Manchin, Sinema to a lesser degree, who are intentionally sabotaging the president’s agenda, what the American people want, what a majority of us in the Democratic caucus want. Nothing new about this.
And the problem was that we continue to talk to Manchin like he was serious. He was not. This is a guy who is a major recipient of fossil fuel money, a guy who has received campaign contributions from 25 Republican billionaires.
It’s highly unusual to hear a senator say that kind of thing about a fellow caucus member. But what has Sanders so mad isn’t the place Manchin ended up, it’s how he got there.
Manchin is certainly a skilled politician, and in his deep-red home state, getting elected as a Democrat means he must be more than just ideologically moderate. He believes he must also be a visible thorn in the Democratic Party’s side.
But he has turned this into a game of cat-and-mouse that his own colleagues find infuriating. Sometimes he says he supports action to address climate change, but then he’ll turn around and kill measures meant to do just that. One day he’s a populist insisting we should increase taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and the next he’s torpedoing benefits for lower-income people.
All of which leaves those who want to negotiate with him, or those just waiting for him to say what he’ll accept, fuming.
But the problem is not that Manchin is just more moderate than his fellow Democrats. It’s that he doesn’t have any discernible core ideology.
If Manchin did have clear and consistent beliefs, Democrats could work with him. They’d know where he stands, and there might be an achievable compromise, even if it meant Manchin getting 90 percent of what he wants and the other Democrats getting only 10 percent of what they want.
But he isn’t. The real contrast on display here is this: For all his reputation as a far-out lefty, Sanders is simultaneously an ideologue and a pragmatist. For instance, while he has long advocated the creation of single-payer health care, he has voted for most incremental improvements to our current mess of a system. He argues for big change, but accepts that small changes are better than nothing. That’s someone other Democrats can negotiate with, even if they’re less progressive than him.
By contrast, Manchin often positions himself as a centrist, but his centrism too often consists mainly in opposing whatever liberals want, for its own sake, and isn’t grounded in any clear set of beliefs.
You can see this contrast in two big debates.
First, the expanded child tax credit. This policy was widely credited with reducing child poverty, but Manchin started talking about attaching a work requirement and capping those eligible for the credit at family incomes of $60,000.
Fellow Democrats told Manchin this position would do away with the very things that made the program a success. But Manchin was unmoved. He didn’t give a meaningful argument as to why he wanted a work requirement and a means test. He just decided too much spending is bad in a vacuum, without weighing the downsides of spending against the consequences for millions of families and children of not spending that money.
Manchin also decided giving families money had to constitute an “entitlement,” which, naturally, is also bad. This reflexive position that a program giving families money simply must be a discouragement to work and initiative didn’t allow him to entertain the notion that the expanded child tax credit is an empowering policy.
The dynamic was similar on climate change. When Manchin ended talks over the most recent version of resuscitated Democratic agenda — which would have included hundreds of billions in tax incentives for a green energy transition, funded by canceling some GOP corporate tax cuts — he cited inflation as the primary culprit.
But here again, Manchin has not made any serious case that this particular package, which was dramatically scaled down from Democrats’ initial hopes, would even be all that inflationary. Nor has Manchin seriously argued that the consequences of whatever inflation that package would have allegedly produced would be worse for the country — over the long term — than killing robust action on climate change would be.
Manchin’s lack of a discernible ideological core leads him to arbitrarily declare that one set of consequences (from inflation) should be controlling. Thus they don’t need to be weighed against the other set of consequences (not acting on climate change over time).
Democrats long expected Manchin to simply be moderate, pushing them to shrink their ambitions. What they didn’t understand is that Manchin wouldn’t see child poverty, soaring inequality and the cooking planet as consequences that figure in the equation at all. A party organized around the idea that those are unacceptable moral and policy catastrophes can’t bargain with someone like that. | 2022-07-18T22:56:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Sanders’s eruption at Manchin highlights a deeper party difference - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/18/sanders-eruption-manchin-democratic-party/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/18/sanders-eruption-manchin-democratic-party/ |
“It was pretty tough. Pretty frustrating. I try to keep my stuff private, don’t try to throw stuff out there,” Juan Soto said about the leak of his contract talks. “It feels really bad, but at the end of the day we just have to keep playing.” (Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports)
“My hands are tied… I don’t make the decision,” Soto said. He is under, uh, close supervision. pic.twitter.com/gZho867vaO
A month and a half ago, Washington General Manager Mike Rizzo said publicly the Nationals would not be trading Soto. Soto said no one with the Nationals has explained to him what changed since then, though the obvious catalyst appears to be turning down the $440 million deal.
“I haven’t talked with anybody to tell me how that changed or what was the mind-set, but definitely it’s like you say, a couple weeks ago they were saying they would never trade me and now all these things come out,” Soto said. “It feels real uncomfortable, you don’t know what to trust.”
Asked if the last few days have changed his relationship with the Nationals, Soto said, “never.” He repeated things he told reporters in Washington this weekend — namely that he doesn’t have control over the situation and he just wants to play baseball. But he seemed like a man bracing for change, should it come.
“Can’t do anything about it. I have my hands tied. I’m just gonna play as hard as I can and play baseball. Forget about everything else,” he said. “I don’t make the decisions. They make the decisions. If they wanna make the decision, I’ve gotta pack my stuff and go.”
Soto has already dealt with swift change once in his young career. He began his Nationals tenure surrounded by players like Max Scherzer, Trea Turner and Anthony Rendon. By August of last season, he was the last star standing, a relative veteran not far removed from being the one following the veterans’ lead. He arrived as a young star on a World Series contender and now finds himself as the best player on the league’s worst team.
From the archives: Juan Soto, left in the wreckage of a rebuild, feels new pressure as the Nats’ face and future
“It’s very frustrating, but at the end of the day, we’re just trying our best. For me, I’m trying my best. I know those guys are trying their best. But things just aren’t going our way,” Soto said. “We’re just going to try to keep playing hard, keep trying to find out he pieces we’re missing and get back on track.”
Reporters from the dogged New York media corps asked Soto several times whether he wanted to play in New York. He never really gave them what they were looking for, never flinched and suggested he would rather be there. In fact, when asked about playing in New York, Soto threw some subtle jabs the New York Mets’ way.
“Playing in New York against the Mets, I love it. I love to play against them, hit the ball hard. You see my numbers in that field it’s just amazing,” said Soto, who has a 1.173 OPS in 30 career games at Citi Field.
As for that short porch in Yankee Stadium, the one that entices so many left-handed hitters with the possibility of a few extra homers each year:
“I have two homers there, but I never hit a ball that way,” said Soto, whose 1.256 OPS in four games there is his best in any stadium. “To me it’s another thing to play against the Yankees, it’s very cool. To hear the noise and just shut it down.”
This week, and likely for the next few weeks, Soto will have to shut out plenty of noise. He admitted he wished he didn’t have to deal with contract negotiations during the season, even as he nodded to Boras and his staffers and suggested they take care of everything. They stuck close to Soto on Monday in the hours before he competed in his second Home Run Derby. The rumors and the questions will stick close for the foreseeable future, too.
“Here and there, sometimes, it can be a little bit on your mind, but you can’t blame that [for] your stats or anything you do on the field,” Soto said. “At the end of the day, I just try to forget about everything outside for three hours and try to be the 12 years old I’ve been doing this since, playing baseball as hard as I can.” | 2022-07-18T22:57:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Juan Soto discusses Nationals' contract offer ahead of Home Run Derby - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/18/juan-soto-all-star-game-nationals-contract/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/18/juan-soto-all-star-game-nationals-contract/ |
The Washington Nationals used six of their eight picks during the second day of the MLB draft to select hitters, led by Tennessee third baseman Trey Lipscomb in the third round.
“I think you got some really, really good position players, a couple of guys with tools,” Nationals vice president of scouting operations Kris Kline said Monday. “But more importantly, guys who can hit and have a track record of hitting.”
On Sunday, the Nationals began their draft by selecting speedy high school outfielder Elijah Green with the No. 5 pick, then added Oklahoma left-hander Jake Bennett in the second round. Counting Monday’s selections, Washington has picked seven college players, generally regarded as closer to big-league-ready, among its 10 choices.
Lipscomb was the first of those draft-eligible college players taken Monday; the Nationals grabbed him with the 84th pick. He hit 22 home runs last season, becoming the first player to slug at least 20 for the Volunteers since 2009.
Lipscomb grew up in Frederick and played at Urbana High. He didn’t play much during his first three seasons with the Volunteers, appearing in just 37 games and hitting two home runs. But as a senior, he led the team in hits (89), home runs and RBI (84) while making 66 starts for a national power that went 57-9.
“Just the fact that the kid hadn’t played a whole lot and then gets an opportunity and runs with it, I think that speaks a lot about how this guy’s wired,” Kline said. “For somebody that hasn’t played as much as he had, he sure looks advanced and confident.”
The Nationals used their next two picks on outfielders. First, they grabbed Brenner Cox, of Rock Hill High in Texas, in the fourth round. He is committed to the University of Texas. Kline called Cox the best high school outfielder in the state. Mark Baca, the Nationals’ assistant director of amateur scouting, said Cox reminds him of Johnny Damon or Jacoby Ellsbury.
Outfielder Jared McKenzie of Baylor was the Nationals’ pick in the fifth round. His draft trajectory dropped after a down season in 2022 in which he hit .288 after a rough summer in the Cape Cod Baseball League. In his first two seasons at Baylor, he hit over .380. Kline said he felt McKenzie tried to pull the ball instead of taking it to the opposite field, leading to his struggles.
After choosing Bennett on Sunday, the Nationals added two more college arms Monday: TCU right-hander Riley Cornelio (seventh round) and Georgia Tech righty Chance Huff (eighth round). Both will begin their careers as starters, Kline said, but Huff is the more likely of the two to move to the bullpen.
The other players the Nationals drafted on Day 2: Nathaniel Ochoa Leyva, a high school shortstop from Canada (sixth round); Miami catcher Maxwell Romero Jr. (ninth round); and Texas third baseman Murphy Stehly (10th round).
Baca and Kline expressed confidence that all of their selections would sign.
“I thought this first few days of the draft was really, really good,” Kline said, “a really positive thing for an organization that’s kind of in a rebuilding process.” | 2022-07-18T22:57:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Nationals pick Trey Lipscomb on second day of MLB draft - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/18/nationals-mlb-draft-trey-lipscomb/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/18/nationals-mlb-draft-trey-lipscomb/ |
Ryan Reynolds on his growing business empire
Hollywood, one of the most competitive ecosystems in the world, is witnessing a new era of star entrepreneurship. On Wednesday, July 27 at 3:00 p.m. ET, Ryan Reynolds joins Washington Post deputy business editor Damian Paletta to discuss his growing business empire, philanthropy and this new model of movie stardom.
Actor, Producer & Entrepreneur | 2022-07-18T22:57:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ryan Reynolds on his growing business empire - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/07/27/ryan-reynolds-his-growing-business-empire/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/07/27/ryan-reynolds-his-growing-business-empire/ |
A person shelters in the shade of the Bank of England during a heat wave in London on Monday. (Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg News)
LONDON — Has it ever, in human history, been this hot in the British isles? Maybe not.
If you want to mark an unnatural, scary, real-world data point for climate change, it is here in Britain, right now, where temperatures are forecast to soar as high as 40 Celsius — 104 Fahrenheit — on Tuesday, an extreme weather episode, a freak peak-heat, not seen since modern record keeping began a century and a half ago.
And probably not since weather observation got serious here in 1659. And maybe far longer.
Hitting 40C, for British climate scientists, is a kind of a unicorn event that had appeared in their models but until recently seemed almost unbelievable and unattainable this soon.
Houston? Islamabad? New Delhi? Hardly surprising when they’re hot as a furnace.
But London? The high-latitude city — with its recorded history dating back to the Romans — has probably never experienced temperature such as those as forecast today.
Surely no Briton alive now — or his or her great-great or great-grandparents — has felt 40C without traveling abroad. Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare, Henry VIII? They never faced down a 40C day.
This nation was not built to withstand such heat. Its homes, workplaces, roads, rails, hospitals and infrastructure were constructed for temperate weather — Shakespeare’s “other Eden, demi-paradise” — not this inferno.
Britain has some of the most extensive weather records in the world, logged via diaries, observation and instruments as far back as the Age of Enlightenment, including daily records archived since the 1770s and monthly maximums and minimums dating back to 1660s.
Currently, the highest official temperature is 38.7°C (101.7° F), recorded at the Cambridge Botanical Gardens on July 25, 2019. Almost all the highest recorded temperatures occur in recent years.
“We are absolutely confident we have not recorded a 40C day going back to the mid 1850s,” Mark McCarthy, manager of National Climate Information Centre for the Met Office, told The Washington Post, referring to the beginning of the weather service’s instrument-measured temperature records.
Alexander Farnsworth, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Bristol, was willing to travel back further in time. “There is no direct evidence that the U.K has exceeded 40C in the past 6,000 or so years,” he told The Post.
That would be back to the middle Holocene.
With caveats, Farnsworth warned.
To go deep into prehistory, before instrument data, scientists must rely on proxies that tell them average temperatures over long periods of time — looking at lake and marine sediments, ice cores, corals, glaciation, bugs in bogs, tree rings, and such, to estimate past climate.
Over the past 2,000 years, it did get warmer in Britain during the Medieval Warm Period — between 750 and 1350 — but probably not as hot as the late 20th and early 21st centuries, most scientists say.
The medieval Domesday Book, completed in 1086 as a kind of census, tallied 45 vineyards in Britain, as far north as York — so it was warm enough to grow grape vines, a tradition brought to the island by the ancient Romans.
Then there was the Little Ice Age, from 1300 to 1850, when the Northern Hemisphere grew colder again. This warming and cooling was not caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases, as today, but by the subtle tilt and wobble of the planet as it faced the sun.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, representing the authoritative consensus of world scientists, reported in 2021 that overall, and on average, the Earth is now warmer than it’s been in 125,000 years.
Some experts in paleoclimate studies say it’s possible that to top 21st century heat in Britain, you’d have to go back to the Miocene Climatic Optimum, about 15 million years ago, when the world looked quite unlike today. Back then, the continents were bumping around. There were different seas and mountain ranges. There were mammals, but no humans.
Myles Allen, a professor of geoscience at Oxford University, suggested caution. He said it was clear from the 1850s onward there has never been a day with 40C. But the further one looks back in time, the fuzzier the picture may be.
One remarkable thing, Allen said, is how accurate climate models have become — both at forecasting the future and looking backward in time.
Researchers at the Met Office have reported that in the “natural climate” of the preindustrial world, there might be one day in every 7,000 years that Britain could face 40C.
Today, the likelihood is once every 100 to 300 years — and growing. According to the models, a 40C day could happen once every 15 years by 2100 if countries meet their carbon emission promises — or once every 3 or 4 years if they continue to emit as much pollution as they do today.
Simon Lee, an atmospheric scientist at Columbia University, who was born and raised in North Yorkshire, England, wrote on his blog that the idea of 40C is was a “seemingly unthinkable temperature for a country with an aging population which does not have widespread residential air conditioning.”
But “everything changed” on June 30, he wrote, with the publication of a Global Ensemble Forecast System model forecast dotted with 40C across southeast England. “Given that the UK’s previous hottest days had only seen 38°C exceeded very locally, this was unlike anything anyone had ever seen before.” Scientists were initially skeptical. No more.
Hannah Cloke, a natural hazards researcher at the University of Reading, told The Post, “We thought the models were wrong,” but today we are “sitting in the middle of a changing climate.”
“It’s unprecedented,” she said, this kind of forecast, “where we might see and feel something we’ve never experienced here before.” | 2022-07-18T23:16:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | U.K. heat wave could bring record 40C temperature - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/18/heat-wave-uk-temperatures-40c-record/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/18/heat-wave-uk-temperatures-40c-record/ |
With top offices on the line, Maryland voters head to polls
A Montgomery County polling worker cleans the stations at a library during the 2020 election. (Sarah Voisin/The Washington Post)
An unusual and highly competitive primary season in Maryland draws to a close Tuesday as voters head to the polls to select nominees for some of the most powerful offices in state government.
Democrats will decide who, from a crowded field of nine candidates, should battle to reclaim the governor’s mansion from Republicans, a contest Democrats have lost more times than they have won in the last two decades despite their overwhelming advantage on voter registration. Three candidates, Comptroller Peter Franchot, former U.S. labor secretary Tom Perez, and author and former nonprofit chief Wes Moore have been locked in a tight race atop the pack.
Republicans will select among four candidates in a race that has exposed fractures within the party. The front-runners represent the pragmatic wing and the Trumpian wing of the party, with former Maryland commerce secretary Kelly Schulz, a mentee of term-limited Gov. Larry Hogan, and state Del. Dan Cox of Frederick, who is endorsed by former president Donald Trump. Voters will also nominate candidates for attorney general and comptroller, statewide offices that have been held exclusively by Democrats for half a century or more.
Despite the high stakes, voters largely tuned out the governor’s race, with polls showing a plurality of voters remaining undecided in the final stretch. Complicating the fight for voter attention, the primary was pushed into the heat of summer vacation season after a legal battle this spring over redistricting ended up bumping the date out three weeks. And with an unprecedented 500,000 voters requesting mail-in ballots, which election officials cannot begin tallying until Thursday, campaigns are girding themselves for long waits on deciding a winner in many races.
“We have never had an election like this,” said John Willis, a political science professor at the University of Baltimore who served as Maryland secretary of state from 1995 to 2003. “People have been grasping for how to make comparisons, but it is difficult.”
For comptroller, Democratic voters will cast ballots for either Del. Brooke Lierman of Baltimore or Bowie Mayor Tim Adams in an under-the-radar competition to be the chief state tax collector. Republican Barry Glassman, the Harford County executive, is running unopposed.
Crime in Baltimore is rising and could affect the gubernatorial race
For attorney general, the Republican candidates are former Montgomery County election board president Jim Shalleckt and former Anne Arundel County Council member Michael Peroutka.
The Democratic race for attorney general has been among the most contentious of the season, pitting U.S. Rep. Anthony G. Brown against former district judge Katie Curran O’Malley. Brown and O’Malley were once allies, but they have sharply criticized each other on the campaign trail.
Eager to build up turnout, candidates made a final push over the weekend, knocking on the doors of loyal primary voters, waving campaign signs on busy street corners, shaking hands at farmers markets and churches.
As he rallied supporters on Saturday, Perez laid out the stakes. “This is going to be razor thin,” he told volunteers at his Silver Spring campaign office. “Somebody’s going to win this race by as few as a few thousand votes,” he said. “You know what, folks? Winning doesn’t mean getting 50 percent. The winner of this election is going to have somewhere between 27 and 31 percent of the vote.”
Perez said in an interview that as he knocks doors, he has been surprised at how many voters are just now turning into the competitive race that has been underway for more than year. “They are just now starting to pay attention,” he said.
Perez is banking on a huge showing in Montgomery County, where he has lived for three decades and has been a prominent political figure, both as a local former county council member and a national fixture in Democratic politics. He has recorded ads in Spanish and done outreach to other communities where he said candidates are often overlooked.
On Sunday, Moore attended two church services in Prince George’s County, flanked by top elected officials, including county executive Angela D. Alsobrooks, one of his biggest boosters. Peter Igiebor of Silver Spring made his way over to Moore at the front of City of Praise church in Landover to tell him he has his vote. “The way he was brought up, everything he has achieved,” said Igiebor, 61. “I just had to tell him he is the one.”
Moore anticipates “doing well” in the second largest Maryland county, where he has expanded his base of support in recent weeks. “People are excited in Prince George’s County about our campaign and they are excited that we are going to lift the banner for Prince George’s from Annapolis,” he said.
Moore, like Perez, said he has seen a shift in voter attention to the race. “The continuing moving of the date was confusing to a lot of voters so part of what we have had to do is not just educate the population on our candidacy, but it is also educating them about the election,” Moore said.
Over the weekend, Franchot hit a couple of farmers markets in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, areas he hopes to have a strong finish. He also met with and made calls to voters.
Voting was low during the eight days of early voting, which ended Thursday. About 172,000 voters cast their ballots during early voting, nearly a 22 percent drop from early voting turnout in 2018.
Former U.S. education secretary John B. King Jr., former attorney general Douglas Gansler, former nonprofit executive Jon Baron, millennial candidate Ashwani Jain, progressive activist Jerome Segal and retired teacher Ralph Jaffe also are on the Democratic gubernatorial ballot. Perennial candidate Robin Ficker and attorney Joe Werner round out the Republican field.
Roger Hartley, dean of the College of Public Affairs at University of Baltimore, pointed out the effects of the pandemic, fatigue from national politics and a delayed primary in the middle of the summer have probably contributed to lackluster early voting.
“People are focused on kids going to camp,” Hartley said. “There is fatigue over covid, the Jan. 6 hearings, a lot of noise out there for people to be paying attention.” But, he said, recent actions by the Supreme Court on abortion and guns could also energize voters in state and local races on Tuesday.
Last Thursday, volunteers handing out campaign literature far outnumbered the slow trickle of voters walking into Arundel Middle School to cast their ballots.
A Democratic voter from Severn said he spent five minutes looking at the names of Moore and Perez while he stood in the voting booth. “It was tough,” the 54-year-old engineer said. He said he chose Moore because he was impressed by his work fighting poverty at the nonprofit Robin Hood Foundation and had the backing of the teachers union.
Annisa Waker of Gambrills said she was committed to voting for Franchot, and even told a volunteer who called her earlier this year, but changed her mind last week. She voted for Perez, who was a civil rights prosecutor and served as chair of the Democratic National Committee. She said his experience won her over, viewing him as a candidate who could bring unity in a polarized political environment. “It was a wild card,” said Waker, 54, of her decision.
At City of Praise, Bobby Henry said Franchot is the only candidate who can get a win for Democrats in November. “We cannot lose another governor’s race,” Henry said shaking his head. | 2022-07-19T00:00:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Maryland voters head to polls to make choices for top state positions - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/maryland-voter-governor-primary/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/maryland-voter-governor-primary/ |
Officials weigh releasing security footage of police shooting at Wharf
Advocates have called on D.C. to make the video public. The officer involved was off duty and not wearing a body camera.
Michael Brice-Saddler
D.C. police officials said an off-duty commander fatally shot this man in the 800 block of Wharf Street SW. (D.C. police)
D.C. officials said Monday they are weighing whether to release security camera video that might show an off-duty police commander fatally shooting a man who authorities said pointed a gun Saturday night in the city’s waterfront entertainment district.
Advocates have called on the city to release the footage of the incident at the Wharf, though Police Chief Robert J. Contee III said at a news conference Monday: “That decision has not been made yet.” The chief praised the officer involved in the shooting — who officials have told The Washington Post was Cmdr. Jason Bagshaw.
Contee said Bagshaw and his wife, who is also a D.C. police officer, “went toward the danger … and they took action.”
Contee said people on Wharf Street panicked and ran when they saw a man pull out a gun, and had the gunman started shooting before Bagshaw intervened, it “could have been dangerous and deadly” for bystanders.
Officials have said Bagshaw’s wife tackled a man who had been with the gunman.
D.C. law gives officials five business days to publicly identify an officer who uses serious force and release video from that officer’s body camera. But in this case, Bagshaw was off duty and not wearing a uniform or a camera.
A spokeswoman for Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said that because there is no body-camera video, the administration is not subject to the five-day deadline.
Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, a racial justice group, has demanded on Instagram that any video of the shooting be immediately made public. “Accountability is vital concerning this Police killing,” the Instagram post says.
It is not clear whether video from security cameras captured all or part of the encounter between Bagshaw and the man he fatally shot, Lazarus David Wilson, 23, of Dumfries, Va. Efforts to reach Wilson’s family have been unsuccessful.
Several representatives of restaurants or other businesses near where the shooting occurred declined to provide The Post with video from their security cameras or said they did not have video.
Bagshaw, a 20-year decorated veteran who heads the Special Operations Division, has declined to comment through a department spokesman.
The commander has been singled out by activist groups who have questioned his conduct handling demonstrations, particularly those involving racial justice after the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.
Saturday’s shooting occurred shortly after 9 p.m. as Bagshaw and his wife were leaving a restaurant in the 800 block of Wharf Street SW, a popular waterfront promenade lined with bars and restaurants.
Contee said Bagshaw — who has not officially been identified by police but was identified by The Post in a report published Sunday — saw a man pointing a gun at others and ordered him to drop the firearm. Police said the man refused, and Bagshaw shot and fatally injured Wilson.
Police said Wilson had come to the District with another Virginia man and got into a dispute with other men from the District. Officials said Bagshaw may have interrupted an armed robbery. Police officials said they questioned others involved in the incident, and at least one person was uncooperative.
Noemy Sanchez, 21, who lives in Fort Worth and is in D.C. interning for a media company, said that she and a friend were headed toward Bistro Du Jour when they heard a pop and saw people running.
A few minutes later, she said, police stormed into the area, a helicopter hovered overhead and a police boat sped to the dock. “We realized it was something serious,” said Sanchez, who did not see the person with the gun or the shooting by the officer.
Her biggest concern, she said, was whether there was an active shooter and an ongoing threat. “That was scary, not really knowing what was going on,” Sanchez said. | 2022-07-19T00:00:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. weighs releasing security footage of police shooting at Wharf - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/police-shooting-wharf-security-footage/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/police-shooting-wharf-security-footage/ |
Biden’s cautious approach to the deaths of two journalists reflects the complications of his pledge to put human rights at the forefront of foreign policy
A photo of slain Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is placed on a chair as journalists wait for remarks by President Biden and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem last week. (Evan Vucci/AP)
When American journalist Brent Renaud was fatally shot in Ukraine in March, the State Department angrily — and quickly — blamed Russia. “We are horrified,” spokesperson Ned Price said. “This is yet another gruesome example of the Kremlin’s indiscriminate actions.”
When President Biden visited Saudi Arabia last week, the White House initially declined to say ahead of the meeting whether he would raise the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi with Saudi leaders. Later, under pressure, Biden said he had been “straightforward and direct” with them.
And in Israel, Biden did not publicly mention the death of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed while covering an Israeli raid in the West Bank, until he met with Palestinian leaders in the second part of his visit and called for a “full and transparent accounting” of her death.
Biden’s handling of the killings of the three journalists reflects what has become a central dilemma of his foreign policy: how to keep his promise of restoring human rights to a marquee role while at the same time urgently building a world coalition against Russia and China.
The president has repeatedly outlined his soaring vision of a global struggle between democracy and autocracy, but that does not always yield an obvious path forward. It is always harder for a president to chastise governments that are allies or partners, and that has certainly been true in the Middle East, where the United States has long supported authoritarians for strategic gain.
These crosscurrents were on full display during Biden’s recent trip to the region, and nowhere more so than in the president’s wrestling with the fate of Khashoggi and Abu Akleh. In both Saudi Arabia and Israel, Biden at first visibly held back from outspoken denunciations or public pressure, though in both cases he circled back to raise the issue.
The cases are different. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler, ordered the murder and dismemberment of Khashoggi, an outspoken critic of the crown prince. Abu Akleh was likely killed by the Israeli military while covering a news event.
Palestinian authorities released an investigation saying the Israelis had killed her intentionally. Israel, which has yet to release the results of its own inquiry, has said it is not sure who killed her but if it was an Israeli soldier, it was an accident. The United States also has called the killing unintentional.
Human rights activists widely charged that Biden had fallen short in both countries. His “effective subordination of human rights in both Israel and Saudi Arabia shows why skepticism is flourishing regarding Biden’s commitment to human rights when anything else is at stake,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
John Kirby, a White House communications official, defended Biden’s decision to visit Jiddah — suggesting it was the best way to confront the kingdom on human rights — and said that Biden was “comfortable” with the steps the United States has taken to hold Saudi officials accountable, including sanctions.
“You can’t advance human rights, and you can’t say that it’s a part of your foreign policy, and not go,” he told NPR on Monday.
Biden has previously spoke forcefully about Khashoggi’s killing, vowing to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” while campaigning in 2019 and releasing an intelligence report that found Mohammed responsible for the killing.
Last week, after meeting with the crown prince in Jiddah — and facing criticism for greeting him with a fist bump — Biden said he had told the crown prince in a “straightforward and direct” way that the killing was unacceptable and made “clear what I thought of it at the time and what I think of it now.”
That did not satisfy those close to Khashoggi. Hatice Cengiz, Khashoggi’s fiancee, tweeted a picture of the president fist-bumping the crown prince and said the blood of Mohammed’s “next victim” was on Biden’s hands.
Biden was more cautious with Abu Akleh, who was killed in May. He did not publicly address her killing while in Israel.
Abu Akleh’s family criticized Biden for refusing to meet with them, and for not publicly mentioning her — an American citizen — during a friendly news conference with Israel’s prime minister. “He should have talked about her,” Lina Abu Akleh, the journalist’s niece, said in an interview.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said Biden’s visit left journalists in the Middle East and around the world “more vulnerable after this trip.”
“The U.S. effectively shrugged its shoulders over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, did not push for the release of journalists jailed in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and did not commit to an FBI-led investigation into the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh,” the group said.
Complicating matters, Saudi state media reported that the crown prince brought up Abu Akleh during his meeting with Biden, suggesting the president was guilty of a double standard for harping on Khashoggi’s death while going easy on the Israelis.
And in comments that gave little hope of a change in course, Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, suggested on Saturday that political opponents could merit the same response as violent extremists. “What you may call a dissident we may call a terrorist,” Jubeir said in an interview with the BBC. “What you may call somebody expressing their opinion we may call incitement.”
As a candidate, Biden pointedly rejected the legacy of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who openly spoke about the need for the United States to stand by autocratic allies, even at the expense of raising human rights.
“Our friends will never question our support,” Trump said at a meeting of Muslim-majority nations in Saudi Arabia in 2017.
Biden’s promise to act differently, and to restore U.S. leadership as a champion of human rights, has led to accusations of betrayal from advocates and charges that the United States is doubling down on a familiar formula — valuing stable alliances over its stated values.
Biden spoke last week in Jiddah to a group of Arab leaders about America’s partnerships in the Middle East, saying, “The United States is not going anywhere.” His audience included some heads of highly repressive regimes.
The aftermath of Abu Akleh’s killing is still unfolding. The United Nations found that “several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets” were fired at her and three other journalists from the direction of Israeli forces. The finding that Israeli troops likely fired the fatal shots mirrored the conclusions of several independent investigations, including a review by The Washington Post.
A U.S. State Department report found the bullet that killed Abu Akleh was likely fired by a member of the Israeli military but did not appear to be intentional. Human rights advocates have been critical of the U.S. assessment, which stated that the bullet that killed Abu Akleh was too badly damaged to be definitively analyzed. That assessment also has been criticized by Israelis and Palestinians alike.
While Khashoggi’s killing — in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul — left a trail of flight information and other verifiable information, a senior State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations, said the Abu Akleh incident was harder to document after the fact, so the administration had to rely on earlier investigations by Palestinian and Israeli authorities.
Despite appeals from Democratic lawmakers and Abu Akleh’s family for additional steps to establish definitively what occurred, the administration does not appear to be moving to involve the FBI or other U.S. law enforcement agencies.
The senior official said the administration is doing what it can to pursue justice. “In both cases we’ve absolutely called for accountability,” the official said, adding, “when there are appropriate investigative authorities, we tend to defer to those investigative authorities.” Palestinians and human rights activists, however, say the Israeli military has for years evaded efforts to hold its members accountable.
Biden’s allies argue that his relationship with Middle Eastern leaders accused of human rights abuses is much cooler than that of his predecessor. Trump traveled to Saudi Arabia in his inaugural foreign visit and once referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi as his “favorite dictator.” Biden, in contrast, waited about four months after taking office to speak by phone with Sissi and, until last week, had declined to meet with the Saudi crown prince.
For more than a year, U.S. officials sought to circumvent a meeting by noting that Mohammed, despite being the kingdom’s de facto ruler, formally serves as defense minister — so his counterpart is Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, not Biden. Saudi Arabia’s titular ruler is King Salman, though he is 86 and has health problems.
In addition, the Biden administration has declared it would stop the sale of offensive weapons that the Saudis are using in a brutal war in Yemen. It also cited rights violations in withholding a portion of the $1.3 billion in military aid the United States provides Egypt each year.
But activists say those steps fall short of what is needed to end repressive tactics in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other autocratic states. They also criticize what they say is a weak response to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, including its handling of the shooting death of Abu Akleh.
“The contrast between Shireen Abu Akleh and the journalist in Ukraine … has been noticed in places like Palestine,” said Rajan Menon, director of the Grand Strategy Program at Defense Priorities, a think tank. “Our use of the rules and norms is highly selective.”
Before Biden’s trip to Israel and the West Bank, Abu Akleh’s family had complained of neglect by the administration while saying the State Department’s findings appeared designed to protect Israel.
As Biden left the region, his departure left no clear path regarding accountability in the death of either journalist.
No new information emerged after his trip, for instance, about the location of Khashoggi’s remains, which have never been found, even though the men who concealed them after dismembering his body are in Saudi custody. In Abu Akleh’s case, the U.S. finding that she was killed by accident, likely by an Israeli soldier, remains forcefully disputed by the Palestinians.
Human rights advocates said Biden’s approach could pave the way for future tragedies. The Committee to Protect Journalists said Biden’s “failure to hold [Mohammed] to account suggests states can get away with sanctioning such killings and has profound implications for press freedom everywhere.”
Sherif Mansour, the committee’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, said Biden’s visit had linked the cases of Abu Akleh and Khashoggi, since in both cases he offered “vague statements” rather than full-throated advocacy. “It’s in the places where press freedom is lacking or nonexistent that it matters what the U.S. said,” Mansour said.
In the room where Biden spoke in Bethlehem, Palestinian journalists wore black T-shirts with Abu Akleh’s face on them. The journalist’s picture was propped on a chair, for a news conference she would have attended, her niece Lina Abu Akleh said.
“There was no way for the president to escape that scene,” Abu Akleh said. “She will always be remembered. And more importantly, we will not be silenced.”
The latest: Paul says he objected to potential judicial nominee because McConnell didn’t consult him | 2022-07-19T00:04:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Three journalist deaths fit uneasily in Biden’s human rights push - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/18/biden-journalist-killings/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/18/biden-journalist-killings/ |
Live updates MLB Home Run Derby takes place at Dodger Stadium
Who will pitch to Juan Soto in the Home Run Derby?
Perspective: Juan Soto is at the center of baseball’s swirl. That’s not going away soon.
A look at the Home Run Derby bracket
Pete Alonso and the importance of being earnest
Dodger Stadium will host some of baseball's top sluggers for Monday night's Home Run Derby. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
PJ Morales
Some of baseball’s brightest stars have gathered in Los Angeles, as the Home Run Derby gets underway at Dodger Stadium on Monday night.
This year’s field includes New York Mets star Pete Alonso, who is seeking his third Derby title. Also look out for 42-year-old Albert Pujols, who has returned to St. Louis for a farewell tour, and 21-year-old Julio Rodríguez, the electric Seattle Mariners rookie.
Washington Nationals slugger Juan Soto, who set a Home Run Derby record with a 520-foot shot last summer, is back in the Derby this year. Jorge Mejia, a former minor league instructor for the Nationals and Soto’s offseason hitting coach in the Dominican Republic, is expected to pitch to him. Soto’s former teammate, Kyle Schwarber, is also participating.
Follow along for live updates from the Home Run Derby.
What to know about the Home Run Derby
Time: 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Location: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles.
Participants: Pete Alonso (New York Mets); Ronald Acuña Jr. (Atlanta Braves); Albert Pujols (St. Louis Cardinals); Juan Soto (Washington Nationals); Kyle Schwarber (Philadelphia Phillies); Julio Rodríguez (Seattle Mariners); José Ramírez (Cleveland Guardians).
How to watch: ESPN.
By Jesse Dougherty8:08 p.m.
Jorge Mejia, a former minor league instructor for the Washington Nationals and Juan Soto’s offseason hitting coach in the Dominican Republic, will be pitching to Soto in tonight’s Home Run Derby. Mejia was with the organization until last offseason, when he left to join an agency and train amateurs in the Dominican Republic.
He worked with Soto when he played for Washington’s Gulf Coast League team in 2016 and 2017. And when Soto broke out in the majors in 2018, some credited Mejia with helping Soto mold his swing and approach.
By Barry Svrluga7:54 p.m.
By PJ Morales7:40 p.m.
Here’s a look at the bracket for the first-round matchups in this year’s Home Run Derby:
No. 4 Juan Soto (Nationals) vs. No. 5 José Ramírez (Guardians)
No. 3 Corey Seager (Rangers) vs. No. 6 Julio Rodríguez (Mariners)
By Chelsea Janes7:30 p.m. | 2022-07-19T00:13:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Home Run Derby begins at Dodger Stadium: Live updates - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/18/home-run-derby/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/18/home-run-derby/ |
The trade deadline is Aug. 2. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
The market, at least via trade, is hard to define. A team would need the capital in high-end, franchise-restoring prospects; must have the financial wherewithal to pay Soto what he’ll make in his final two years of arbitration (perhaps north of $45 million); and be in position to win. That whittles the field significantly.
Juan Soto is in control in the batter’s box and behind a microphone. He is not in control of what happens to him over the next two weeks. It is unsettling to all involved, but the answers won’t come easy. | 2022-07-19T00:13:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Juan Soto will have little say as Nationals explore stunning trade - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/18/juan-soto-home-run-derby-nationals-contract/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/18/juan-soto-home-run-derby-nationals-contract/ |
The Nationals are considering trading Juan Soto after the outfielder turned down a 15-year, $440 million contract offer. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
A week ago, it seemed impossible to believe the Washington Nationals — the lowly Washington Nationals — would somehow be at the center of their sport when the showcase event of the summer arrived. And yet here we are with Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game set for Tuesday night in Los Angeles, and the swirl is decidedly around the Nats.
The reason: news that star outfielder Juan Soto rejected a 15-year, $440-million contract extension from the team. That would be enough to put Soto, the Nationals’ lone all-star, in the spotlight. But because Soto’s decision also means the Nats will explore trading him this summer — well, that’s enough not only to rock D.C.’s baseball foundation, but to potentially change the landscape of the sport.
Chelsea Janes, our national baseball writer (who happened to be the lead beat writer on the Nats when Soto came to the majors), is with me in Los Angeles and will join me for this Q&A — which will start an hour earlier than normal, at noon Tuesday. Come then for the answers but feel free to submit your questions early. | 2022-07-19T00:13:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Q&A: Ask Barry Svrluga about Juan Soto's future - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/19/juan-soto-all-star/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/19/juan-soto-all-star/ |
‘We do not believe it is probable that the office would be able to obtain and sustain convictions on these charges,’ the U.S. attorney’s office said
Late night talk show host Stephen Colbert. (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert/CBS/The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)
Federal prosecutors said Monday that they are not pursuing charges against members of a television production crew for “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” who were arrested last month in a House office building closed to visitors.
In a statement, the U.S. attorney’s office for D.C. said that nine members of the show had been invited by congressional staffers into the Longworth House Office Building on June 16 and that an escort left them unattended.
“We do not believe it is probable that the office would be able to obtain and sustain convictions on these charges,” the statement from prosecutors said.
Colbert explains story behind staffers’ arrests on Capitol Hill
Capitol Police had charged the Colbert team members — who had entered the building on two separate occasions — with misdemeanor unlawful entry. Those arrested included the man who voices the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog puppet, who had come to interview members of Congress about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The incident drew attention from conservative media figures, including Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, who said on his show that the group had carried out a “meticulously planned coup” in a segment that seemed to take aim at other television hosts for their reaction to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
After the arrests, Colbert joked that an insurrection seeks to “prevent the peaceful transfer of power,” while what his staff did was “first-degree puppetry.”
In a statement Monday, Capitol Police said members of the group had been warned several times before they entered the Longworth building that they had to remain with a staff escort “and they failed to do so.”
The statement added that prosecutors informed them Monday the charges would be dropped. “We respect the decision that office has made,” Capitol Police said. | 2022-07-19T00:17:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Prosecutors not pursuing unlawful entry case against Colbert team - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/colbert-capitol-police/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/colbert-capitol-police/ |
Law enforcement agencies initiate probes after searing Uvalde report
Texas House panel’s 77-page report detailed failures in the multi-agency response to the Robb Elementary School shooting
An officer near the memorial at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex., on May 28. (Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images)
A day after a Texas House report found that systemic failures caused the bungled law enforcement response to the Uvalde, Tex., school shooting, state and local officials pressed their own internal probes to determine what their individual agents and officers did and did not do during the May 24 massacre.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) called the findings “beyond disturbing” and said they must trigger “critical changes.” But Abbott, who is running for reelection, did not address specific issues raised in the report. Hours later, the state Department of Public Safety said it had begun to review the actions of every trooper, officer, agent and ranger at the scene to “determine if any violations of policy, law, or doctrine occurred,” according to an emailed statement.
The 77-page detailed account released to families of the victims and survivors on Sunday and then to the public, represented the most exhaustive account of the shooting inside Robb Elementary School so far. After weeks of competing narratives by agencies seeking to blame others for the assault that ended with 19 children and two teachers killed by a teenage gunman, the committee did not single out one department but spread the blame across various agencies and the school system for failing to prepare for and stop the carnage.
Local officials, including the incident commander, Pedro “Pete” Arredondo of the school police department, did not take charge and officers from other agencies did not fill the void, the report said. The result was chaos that extended the time before the gunman was confronted and killed.
Hours after the report was released, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin announced the suspension of Uvalde police Lt. Mariano Pargas, who was acting chief on May 24. The police officer is also a recently reelected Uvalde County commissioner. Pargas did not respond to messages about the reasons prompting his leave. An email sent to his county email address bounced back and his phone number was disconnected.
Uvalde city leaders will investigate whether Pargas was responsible for taking command, what specific actions he took to establish command, whether it was feasible to take command and “other possible policy violations,” McLaughlin said.
Southwest Texas Junior College President Hector Gonzales was in the room when committee members walked families through their preliminary conclusions. The facts were no surprise after weeks of media leaks and public testimony from state law enforcers, but they were no less searing, he said.
Families, he said, are still absorbing the dense report but their next logical step is to seek accountability. Local leaders across the region need to offer reassurances that they are taking note and correcting the mistakes.
“We need to take that report as a call to action to make sure we, as leaders of our institutions, make the necessary changes to address these shortcomings,” said Gonzales, who hosted the meeting between lawmakers and families. “We can’t let this happen again. We all have a role, whether it be calling on our colleagues and speaking up. We need to help advocate for those changes that are necessary.”
The report cited a lax culture around school safety protocols within Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District schools that left Robb Elementary unprepared for an attack of this kind. In response, Superintendent Hal Harrell said in a statement that the district is taking steps to reinforce its security, including installing new perimeter fencing and cameras, upgrading door locks and hiring additional school police and campus personnel.
Arredondo resigned from the city council but is still employed as the school district police chief. In its statement, the district did not indicate whether his status has changed. The district placed him on administrative leave last month.
The report named more than 20 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies involved in the response and rescue at Robb Elementary. U.S. Border Patrol and the Texas DPS supplied more than half of the nearly 400 troopers and agents near or on school grounds that day, the report said.
The CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility said it is conducting its own review of the agency’s response but has not yet reached any conclusions. About 145 agents were there, arriving from as far as 70 miles away from Uvalde, and worked to help evacuate students from adjoining classrooms. Border Patrol agents also were part of the team that ultimately confronted and killed Salvador Ramos more than 77 minutes after he fired the first round.
Only one Border Patrol agent wore a body camera, in part because the agency has not fully implemented its camera program across all border sectors. Some agents at the scene were off duty or out of uniform, officials said.
The federal agency promised to share the results of its review, identifying anything it can improve and helping to answer questions from the community.
“We owe this to the Uvalde community, and the nation,” CBP officials said in a statement.
Several other local agencies did not respond to calls or requests for comment, including the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office.
“The sheriff answers to the voters and the deputies answer to the sheriff,” Uvalde County Commissioner Ronald Garza said in response to a question about whether elected leaders could or would exercise any oversight. “We are still kind of shocked at the preliminary report, still chewing on it, and we are not sure what will happen.”
Garza’s colleagues on the commission and Uvalde County Judge Bill Mitchell did not respond to questions about their next steps.
Some agencies in the region are taking action and upgrading their active-shooter training.
Dilley Police Chief Homer Delgado said his officers arrived well after the shooting ended and helped with crowd control at the civic center, where a memorial began to form. In recent weeks, some of his officers participated in active-shooter drills alongside Border Patrol agents and they are looking at their own policies to make improvements, he said.
“Trust is restored by transparency, being open with the community and answering questions,” Delgado said. “If there are questions, I think any law enforcement agency has the responsibility to answer those questions. It’s important to explain to our communities what our policies are.”
Delgado, who is a close friend of Uvalde Chief Daniel Rodriguez, said he is withholding judgment on individuals but he said internal reviews are an important part of pushing an agency to evolve and meet the needs of the people they serve.
Gonzales, the college president, said the report makes clear what has to happen. He and his wife have supported the families of victims and survivors, counseling them and acting as a sounding board for the community’s emerging activism and demands for change.
Last week, his college endured a bomb threat. Officials evacuated the school, executed a multiagency plan and handed over command to a DPS major who assessed the situation within three minutes. No one was hurt. While the situations were different, he said, the comparison was striking.
“If that had occurred on May 24th, we more than likely would have had a different outcome,” he said. “I’m not going to say that should happen, but after a review if there is a need for change then that needs to occur, and there needs to be a process for that. The frustration is, that hasn’t been allowed to happen because of the hold on information. That is an important part of the process.” | 2022-07-19T00:17:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Police agencies in Uvalde school shooting investigate their behavior - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/18/uvalde-shooting-report-reaction/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/18/uvalde-shooting-report-reaction/ |
Jury finds two District men guilty of murder in 2017 shooting
The two men were convicted of fatally shooting Carl Hardy in the Potomac Gardens courtyard
A D.C. Superior Court jury Monday found two District men guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy and criminal street gang affiliation in the 2017 fatal shooting of a man standing with a group of people in a courtyard of a Southeast Washington housing complex.
Quincy Garvin, 22, and Saquan Williams, 20, were found guilty of the 2017 fatal shooting of Carl Hardy as the 24-year-old was socializing with a group of friends in the courtyard of the Potomac Gardens neighborhood complex.
During the six-week trial, federal prosecutors Laura Bach and Lindsey Merikas argued that at about 6 p.m. on Sept. 10, 2017, Hardy was in the courtyard with a group of friends when Garvin, Williams and others drove around in a vehicle looking for people in the neighborhood to target as part of a neighborhood beef between rival gangs. The prosecutors said the two men, armed with assault rifles, eventually got out of the car and began shooting into the crowd. More than 30 bullets were fired at the group. Hardy was struck and died of his injuries.
Prosecutors in the District have struggled in recent years to secure criminal street gang affiliation convictions, as defense attorneys have challenged evidence of such associations.
Prosecutors credited the security video from a neighborhood homeowner that captured the shooters as they ran back to the vehicle immediately after the shooting.
Judge Robert Okun has not yet set a sentencing date. | 2022-07-19T00:21:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Two D.C.. men guilty of murder, gang affiliation in 2017 killing - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/dc-men-guilty-shooting-gangs/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/dc-men-guilty-shooting-gangs/ |
The number of buses arriving in the city has doubled, exhausting donations and exceeding the ability of city volunteers and mutual aid networks to respond
Migrant children drew chalk drawings on the ground after arriving July 12 at the District's Union Station on a bus that departed from Texas. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Washington Post)
Ten D.C. Council members are calling on the District government to direct local resources to support migrants who have been arriving in buses from Texas and Arizona for months, taking a toll on city organizations that are relying on donations and one federal grant.
It’s been more than three months since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and two months since Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) started offering what they have said are voluntary bus trips to the nation’s capital for migrants caught crossing the border from Mexico, a measure in response to President Biden’s decision to lift an emergency health order that allowed immigration authorities at the border to deny entry to migrants.
In the last few weeks the number of buses arriving a day has increased from two to four, sometimes five, sometimes late at night, exhausting donations and exceeding the ability of volunteers and mutual aid networks in the city to respond. In response, members of the council are asking Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) to use local resources and work in coordination with the council to ensure the federal government is fully responsive to the existing needs.
“With the number of buses arriving every day increasing rapidly, we encourage you to mobilize your administration to coordinate with other jurisdictions in the region to step in and assist with the response. If the District truly is a sanctuary city, we must stand up against the hateful rhetoric of Gov. Abbott and provide a dignified welcome to the arriving migrants,” said the letter, which was signed by 10 council members, including Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1), who chairs the council’s human services committee.
The letter, which was dated July 14, asks Bowser to release the city’s contingency funds, provide city staff members to assist migrants’ arrival, create respite centers near Union Station, ensure buses arrive during daylight hours, and provide coronavirus tests, protective equipment and isolation hotels for those who have been infected with the coronavirus.
In response to the letter, Bowser said the responsibility to help the migrants lies with the federal government.
“We are dealing with a federal issue that the District of Columbia won’t be able to bear,” Bowser said in a news conference Monday after acknowledging receiving the council members’ letter. “We have to be very focused on working with D.C. residents who are homeless and have a right to shelter in our city, especially as we prepare for the winter months. We know that we have a federal issue that demands a federal response.”
In an interview Sunday with CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” Bowser also said the influx of buses arriving at the city represents a “significant issue” and that her administration has called on the federal government to work across state lines to prevent people from “being tricked into getting on buses.”
Bowser said the city worked with the White House to provide a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to assist SAMU First Response, the international humanitarian nonprofit that is officially assisting migrants.
The office of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) was not available to comment, and FEMA did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
SAMU told The Washington Post last week that the organization does not have capacity to coordinate all the buses arriving in the city every week. Tatiana Laborde, SAMU’s managing director, said in an interview that the organization can fund 30 percent of onward tickets for those migrants going to other destinations, and the organization’s shelter in Montgomery County only allows migrants to stay up to three days.
SAMU’s FEMA grant is enough to provide emergency aid for about 2,000 migrants a month, but with the number increasing in recent weeks, the council said more needs to be done.
“The current FEMA grants are not nearly enough, and it is critical that we take advantage of any additional federal resources that are available. We must call on the federal government to work with the District in being fully responsive to the existing need, and would be glad to join you in doing so,” the letter read.
The Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network — a coalition of D.C. grass-roots organizations heavily involved in aiding the migrants — and SAMU estimated that 10 percent to 15 percent of the migrants, including families with children who arrive with no connections in the country, are seeking to resettle in the Washington region.
Local leaders with the Region Forward Coalition at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, which is chaired by Nadeau, will convene this week to determine what officials and nonprofits, including SAMU, can do to increase support for those arriving in the city. | 2022-07-19T00:21:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. lawmakers ask Bowser to direct resources to aid migrants from Texas - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/dc-migrants-arrival-local-response/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/dc-migrants-arrival-local-response/ |
By Krutika Pathi and Bharatha Mallawarachi | AP
People wait in queue to get their passports outside Department of Immigration & Emigration in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, July 18, 2022. Bankruptcy has forced the island nation’s government to a near standstill. Parliament is expected to elect a new leader Wednesday, paving the way for a fresh government, but it is unclear if that’s enough to fix a shattered economy and placate a furious nation of 22 million that has grown disillusioned with politicians of all stripes. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) | 2022-07-19T01:57:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Sri Lanka's political turmoil sows worries for recovery - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sri-lankas-political-turmoil-sows-worries-for-recovery/2022/07/18/a54bf54c-06ff-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sri-lankas-political-turmoil-sows-worries-for-recovery/2022/07/18/a54bf54c-06ff-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
There is no threat to the community, authorities say
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service responded on Sunday to a call about a fire at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish at 9601 Old Georgetown Road. (Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service)
A juvenile has been arrested and charged in connection with recent incidents of arson and vandalism at two churches in Montgomery County, Md., the fire department said.
He said Monday that the incidents occurred July 9 and 10 at two churches on Old Georgetown Road in the North Bethesda area.
Three churches in Bethesda vandalized, two of them set on fire
There was no ongoing threat to the community, the spokesman said. The basis for the statement was not disclosed Monday night.
No motive in the incidents could be immediately learned. | 2022-07-19T03:11:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Youth arrested in church arson, Montgomery authorities say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/arrest-montgomery-church-arson-maryland/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/arrest-montgomery-church-arson-maryland/ |
Teenager dies in Prince George’s crash, police say
The car she was in hit a tree, police say
A teenager was killed in Prince George’s County on Sunday when the car she was riding in crashed into a tree, the police said.
Janiya Thompson, 17, of Upper Marlboro, was in a car that hit the tree after it left Kettering Drive near Kettering Place in the Upper Marlboro area about 5:50 p.m., the police said.
Four other people in the car, including the driver, were injured, officials said. Police said they said they are still investigating why the car left the road. | 2022-07-19T03:11:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Teenager killed in Prince George's crash - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/teenager-killed-prince-georges-crash/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/18/teenager-killed-prince-georges-crash/ |
Silver Line’s second phase will cost an additional $250M
In a report requesting additional funding, officials cite ‘project complexity at all levels’ as one of the reasons
Workers walk along tracks in Reston that are part of the second phase of the Silver Line project in 2018. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
Officials with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority are seeking an additional $250 million in funding to pay for construction of the second phase of the Silver Line rail project, citing the project’s complexity, coronavirus-related restrictions, an increase in the cost of building materials, and supply chain slowdowns as key factors for the cost increase.
The additional dollars will push the price tag for the second phase of the rail line, which was originally scheduled to open in 2018, to just over $3 billion. The original estimate was about $2.8 billion.
The request must be approved by MWAA’s board of directors at its meeting Wednesday. MWAA is overseeing construction of the rail line, which ultimately will become part of the region’s Metro system and will be managed and operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
The additional cost would be spread among the project’s funding partners, which include Fairfax and Loudoun counties, MWAA, and Dulles Toll Road users under a predetermined formula. According to a staff report, the increase will not have an impact on toll rates, which are set to rise next year under a previously published schedule.
Just last month, a presentation to the MWAA board indicated the project was still on budget.
“I have just learned about this today and will be carefully looking at it,” said Jeffrey C. McKay (D-At Large), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. “Cost increases on projects of this size are never enjoyable, but are also not unusual.
“That said, we will fully analyze and scrutinize the reasons to be sure that this is the very last financial adjustment for this project and that Fairfax County is under no further obligations for any capital payments.”
Officials in Loudoun County did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Why the second phase of Metro’s Silver Line has been more problem-plagued than the first
MWAA said it arrived at the $250 million figure after concluding negotiations with its contractors and with officials at Metro. The funding will include a pool of money that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority can tap to cover additional expenses related to issues that arose during construction, including concerns about defective panels installed at five of the six new stations that will be part of the rail extension.
MWAA declared the project substantially complete late last year. Last month, Metro took control of the rail extension, a milestone that raised the possibility that passenger service could begin this fall. Once open, the rail line will extend service into Loudoun County and will include a stop at Washington Dulles International Airport.
Metro takes control of Silver Line extension, starts testing phase
Because it appeared to be less challenging than the project’s first phase, which involved constructing a tunnel under Tysons and building large sections of track over the Capital Beltway, airport authority officials had hoped they would save money on the project’s second phase. Initial bids to build the rail line came in below MWAA’s estimates.
But those hopes were quickly dashed, and contractors found themselves dealing with problems. For example, an early decision to comply with new requirements for storm-water management added to the project’s cost and caused a 13-month delay. Subsequent projects pushed the project’s opening date even later.
By comparison, the project’s first phase, which included five stations — four in Tysons and one in Reston — was six months late and more than $220 million over budget. It was built by Bechtel.
Bechtel had hoped to win the contract to build the rail line’s second phase, but MWAA turned to a different company: Capital Rail Constructors, a joint venture between Bethesda-based Clark Construction Group and Kiewit Infrastructure Group. Hensel Phelps was hired to build the rail yard that also was part of the project.
The companies were selected by MWAA not only for their technical know-how, but also because they said they could build the rail-line extension and yard for less than their competitors.
Metro: Internal probe into lapses finds disregard of training process | 2022-07-19T03:29:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Silver Line's second phase will cost an additional $250M - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/07/18/silver-line-cost-second-phase/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/07/18/silver-line-cost-second-phase/ |
Across Western Europe, there were signs of what French authorities warned may be a “heat apocalypse.” Amid surging wildfires, more than 15,000 people were evacuated from their homes in France, according to the French Interior Ministry. In Britain, airport runways melted and trains were slowed out of fears for buckling steel tracks. Meteorologists suggested that Tuesday could be the hottest day ever recorded in some parts of the British Isles.
Temperatures spiked to 115 degrees (46 Celsius) in areas of the Iberian Peninsula, triggering dozens of wildfires. Over the past week, there probably have been more than a thousand heat-linked deaths in Spain and Portugal. Hospitals are straining under this additional burden as they also cope with a renewed surge in coronavirus cases. Hydrologists are warning of the deeper effects of widespread drought, shrinking water tables and battered harvests.
Center-left politicians linked the extreme heat to the march of climate change. Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said his nation had “no time to lose” and urged faster investment in renewable energy. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez toured the drought and wildfire-ravaged Extremadura region on Monday. “Evidently, climate change kills,” he said. “It kills people, kills our ecosystem, the biodiversity.”
As The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang reported: “The chances of seeing 40°C [104 degrees] days in the U.K. could be as much as 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence,” said Nikos Christidis, a climate attribution scientist at the U.K. Met Office. “The likelihood of exceeding 40°C anywhere in the U.K. in a given year has also been rapidly increasing, and, even with current pledges on emissions reductions, such extremes could be taking place every 15 years in the climate of 2100.”
The extreme temperature has not been seen “since modern record keeping began a century and a half ago,” my colleague William Booth writes of Britain. “Hitting 40C, for British climate scientists, is a kind of a unicorn event that had appeared in their models but until recently seemed almost unbelievable and unattainable this soon.”
Train passengers experienced “moments of panic” as they traveled past raging wildfires near Sanabria, Spain, on Monday.https://t.co/gwZsSOSmYH pic.twitter.com/SGgYtEXGxk
Yet even as European scientists and policymakers recognize the need to adjust in the face of looming planetary peril, more immediate pressures are pulling governments in the opposite direction. The Russian invasion of Ukraine — which triggered chaos in global energy markets and stiff Western sanctions on Russian fossil fuels — has led to a spike in the cost of electricity across the continent, with some countries getting exposed for their overreliance on Russian natural gas and oil to power their economies.
The onset of brutally hot temperatures has triggered new demands in a part of the world where air conditioning is not as ubiquitous as the United States. “This huge increase in the demand for natural gas for electricity production has been mainly due to the high temperatures recorded as a result of the heatwave,” Spanish utility company Enagas said in a statement last week.
Questions loom over Europe’s gas supply, with countries frantically trying to fill storage facilities ahead of winter. The “next few months will be critical,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said Monday. “If Russia decides to completely cut off gas supplies before Europe can get its storage levels up to 90 percent, the situation will be even more grave and challenging.”
Attention falls this week on Thursday, when the Nord Stream 1 pipeline linking Russian gas to Europe is set to resume operations after a scheduled 10-day hiatus for maintenance. Germany, in particular, is paralyzed over what may or may not happen, depending on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin and state energy giant Gazprom turn off the spigot — a move that would cost the Kremlin, too, but nevertheless throttle some of Europe’s major economies.
“Anything can happen,” German economy minister Robert Habeck said in a radio interview. “It could be that the gas flows again, even more than before. It could be that nothing will come at all.”
Some Western commentators think Putin’s bluff must be called and that the confrontation with the Kremlin must be escalated. “A long, cold, calamity-filled European winter of power shortages and turmoil looms,” wrote the Guardian’s Simon Tisdall, bemoaning NATO’s “delusion” that the conflict in Ukraine could be confined to that nation alone. “And like a coin-fed gas meter, the price of western leaders’ timidity and shortsightedness ticks upwards by the hour.”
Beyond the war, European leaders are pushing for an energy future free of dependency on Russia — but may face significant shortfalls in the near term. The prospect of Russian gas supplies falling off a cliff has already moved Europe in problematic directions. Habeck, one of Europe’s most influential Green politicians, has taken measures that directly clash with the emission-curbing commitments made by European Union member states. And he’s hardly alone.
“Germany’s options are few, imperfect and unpleasant,” observed Constanze Stelzenmuller in the Financial Times. “Habeck is bringing dirty coal plants back online, and telling people to take shorter showers. He is streamlining procurement and loosening environmental restrictions to build fixed liquefied natural gas terminals; meanwhile, he is renting floating terminals. And he has wooed authoritarian Gulf leaders in search of alternative LNG supplies.”
Europe is arguably leading the world in its transition to renewable energy. But most E.U. countries remain dependent on natural gas to help tide over their economies. “The war in Ukraine has highlighted the degree to which [Europe’s climate] ambitions relied on gas piped from Russia to keep the lights on and factories humming while awaiting a payoff from hundreds of billions of euros in planned investment in renewables, electric cars, and technologies to cut emissions from heavy industry,” noted Bloomberg News.
Now, analysts see a considerable emissions spike in the offing. Numerous European countries have stepped up the use of coal, while also encouraging new investments in long-term fossil fuel extraction and storage. “It looks to me like an attempt by the oil and gas industry to end-run the Paris agreement,” said Bill Hare of Climate Analytics, an advisory group in Berlin, referring to the landmark 2015 international treaty on climate change in an interview with the New York Times. “And I’m very worried they might succeed.”
On the flip side, experts also see European governments doubling down on investments in renewables, including major expansions in the E.U.’s solar capacity. Per an analysis by think tanks Ember and the Centre for Research and Clean Air, current trends could see 63 percent of E.U. electricity produced from renewables by 2030, up from a projected 55 percent under policies proposed as late as 2019.
“It’s always risky to allow higher emissions, but if that’s coupled with razor-sharp focus on wind and solar deployment, probably that means a faster energy transition,” Charles Moore, head of Ember’s Europe program, said to Bloomberg. “It would be a risky strategy if you had any other options, but you don’t.” | 2022-07-19T04:07:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Europe’s energy crisis deepens amid record heatwave - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/19/europe-heat-temperature-russia-energy/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/19/europe-heat-temperature-russia-energy/ |
From just a handful of cases in Europe in early May, more than 13,000 cases, mostly in men, were reported across dozens of countries by mid-July, according to data collated by global.health. At least one death was reported in an immuno-compromised person. Experts told a WHO meeting that monkeypox had been circulating undetected in Europe since at least April. Preliminary research estimates that among cases who identify as men who have sex with men, the virus has a reproduction number greater than 1, which means more than one new infection is estimated to stem from a single case. A UK study found anonymous sex has proved to be a barrier to effective contact tracing, with only 28% of men able to provide the names of all recent sexual contacts. Data from outbreaks in Canada, Spain, Portugal, and the UK suggest venues where men have sex with multiple partners are helping to drive spread.
Vaccination against smallpox can be used for both pre- and post-exposure and is as much as 85% effective in preventing monkeypox, according to the HSA, which is offering the Imvanex smallpox vaccine to close contacts in the UK. Newer vaccines based on non-replicating versions of the vaccinia virus have been developed. Bavarian Nordic A/S, the only company with an approved vaccine specifically for monkeypox, will supply the US with almost 7 million doses of its Jynneos immunization by mid-2023, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, which said on July 15 that more than 300,000 shots had been made available to states and jurisdictions since late May. (Bavarian Nordic said July 18 that it also has signed supply contracts with other, unspecified countries.) Immunization requires two injections administered four weeks apart. Otherwise, the main way to prevent infection is by isolating patients with the infection, monitoring their contacts, and ensuring health staff wear appropriate personal protective equipment.
(Updates to add research on transmission in section 4, number of cases in section 5, information on treatments in section 6, vaccine supply in section 7, and threat risk in section 8.) | 2022-07-19T05:00:23Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Understanding Monkeypox and How Outbreaks Spread - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/understanding-monkeypox-and-how-outbreaks-spread/2022/07/19/3a4c667e-071c-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/understanding-monkeypox-and-how-outbreaks-spread/2022/07/19/3a4c667e-071c-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
Signage outside an Apple store at the Westfield Century City shopping mall in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022. The owner of Westfield malls plans to sell all its properties in the U.S. as pandemic fears have sped changes to how people shop, according to the Los Angeles Times. (Bloomberg)
Apple of the Market’s Eye
There’s no doubt what Monday’s biggest market news was in New York. Apple Inc. stock fell more than 2% in its worst session in almost three weeks after Bloomberg revealed the company’s plans to slow hiring and spending to cope with a potential economic downturn. The news, shortly after midday, sparked an immediate tumble.
Until now, shares of the iPhone-maker had fallen roughly 17% for the year, in step with the broader market rout. The announcement undercut the market, with other big “FANG” internet platforms such as Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp. also falling. The tech stalwart had been among the companies that beat Wall Street expectations throughout the pandemic, and had come to be seen as a defensive stock, so any negative news was bound to hurt sentiment across the market.
The development was particularly unwelcome as it came just as the tech sector appeared ready to rally. The Nasdaq 100, down 27% for the year so far, had briefly managed to get above its 50-day moving average on Monday, suggesting that the relentless downward trend was over — but the index failed to stay there, thanks in large part to Apple.
There have been hopes that valuation is at last looking favorable for the tech sector once more — although this gets a little harder to sustain on closer examination. The spread between the prospective earnings multiples of the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector and the benchmark S&P 500 started this year at the highest it had been since 2004. A “healthy correction” was in order, and what looks like some seriously unhealthy speculative excess has now been wrung out of the market. However, it’s worth noting that from the Great Financial Crisis through to about 2018, tech basically traded at the same multiple as the rest of the market. Tech’s premium could easily fall further from here:
There is a similar message from the tech index’s P/E ratio judged in its own right. It has slipped to 20.6 on Monday, having peaked above 30 in the first year of the pandemic. But 20 appears to be the level at which it hit a plateau in 2017 and 2018 — again while it looks like the excess has been blown off the top, there’s no particular reason to think that the multiple can rebound.
Investors will get more clarity this week when more tech heavyweights report earnings following mixed results from major banks. Netflix Inc., savagely punished for disappointing results so far this year, will kick off the FANG stocks Tuesday evening. This is the season for all companies to get bad news off their chests, so the chances of a durable rebound should be much stronger once investors believe they know the worst.
Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, would “prefer to get bullish” on US large-cap tech once he sees second-quarter earnings season, which will include third-quarter guidance. This, even as Wall Street’s forecast still remains relatively optimistic. “Even still, the return math says the Nasdaq is pretty washed out here on a relative basis,” he said.
• While the surge in US tech stocks just after the March 2020 stock market lows was statistically remarkable, it was nothing like the dot com bubble. The peak in post-Pandemic Crisis NASDAQ outperformance was 21 points in August 2020. That is just over two standard deviations (18.4 points, as calculated above). By contrast, the 2000 dot com bubble saw the NASDAQ outperform the S&P 500 by 77 points, which is nine standard deviations.
• The NASDAQ rarely underperforms the S&P 500 by much more than 6.8 points over 100 days, which is one standard deviation from the relative return mean... It exceeded those levels in late May 2022, at 11 points of relative underperformance.
• The NASDAQ has underperformed the S&P 500 by 4.3 points over the last 100 days, well within one standard deviation.
All of this suggests that the sector could have further to fall if the news is bad. Still, if earnings of tech companies prove profitable, or traders can be convinced that the worst news is known, it may solidify its status as the new defensive play, at least for now.
Colas is not alone in suggesting that the conditions for a bottom are not in place, despite the recent signs of life in the tech sector. Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded The Sevens Report, continues to suggest that some broader macro landmarks need to be passed before the market can make a durable bottom. His list is as follows:
1. Chinese Lockdowns Ease and Growth Recovers — The Chinese economy has largely reopened, but this week’s shutdown in Macau and mass testing in Shanghai and other regions show that “Zero COVID” remains partially in effect and as a result, the threat of lockdowns will continue to weigh on Chinese stocks and the outlook for the global economy.
2. Inflation Peaks and Declines and the Fed Eases Off the Hawkish Rhetoric — Obviously we’re not close on this yet. The June CPI printed above 9% and it’s essentially a “toss up” as to whether we get a 75bps hike or a 100bps hike.
3. Geopolitical Tensions Decline — Certain commodities like wheat and corn have declined to pre-invasion levels, as markets are hopeful that grain shipments from Ukraine will start again soon. But energy commodities, despite large drops, remain above pre-invasion levels (oil and natural gas). Additionally, the drops have been driven by fears of a global recession crimping demand and lack of export capacity in the US (for natural gas), not on some geopolitical improvement.
Until these macroeconomic factors are resolved, and it could take a while, Essaye does not think the June low in equities is the bottom, while the market remains vulnerable to any disappointments. Apple delivered just such a disappointment on Monday; now the question is whether further ones lie ahead.
— with Isabelle Lee
Politics Is About Economics Again
The fight for the leadership of the UK’s Conservative Party is for the most part demoralizing and depressing. It’s true of all of the candidates that until now they’ve done a better job of attacking each other than putting forward any kind of new political vision. Boris Johnson’s ouster had almost nothing to do with ideology or policy, and all to do with his perceived dishonesty, so perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising.
But something intriguing is going on. The economy is back at the center of the Conservatives’ internal debate for the first time since the early days of Margaret Thatcher four decades ago. Since Thatcherite reforms succeeded in revitalizing the UK’s economy, internal Tory politics has been dominated by Europe and culture war issues. But with inflation back, so is an intense debate over how to guide the economy.
It’s healthy that economic policy is now going to have to respond to the democratic will. But it’s very unhealthy that the debate seems badly uninformed. Liz Truss, the current foreign secretary, looks now as though she has a good chance of confronting Rishi Sunak, who recently resigned as chancellor, in a head-to-head ballot that goes to the party membership. Sunak is the candidate of fiscal prudence and austerity, preferring tax rises to more debt.
Truss is arguing for something more expansive. That in itself makes some sense. If austerity isn’t producing results, try spending some money. There’s always a case for tax cuts.
The problem came when Truss detailed how she would deal with inflation. “We need to look at the best practice around the world. The countries who have been most successful at controlling inflation,” she said. “We need to look at the mandates they have, for example the Bank of Japan.”
This is terrifying. The BoJ has been trying to raise inflation for a quarter of a century now, and failed. In the process, it has flooded the system with money. There is no greater example of monetary incontinence. And yet Truss also wants to move to a system of targeting money supply: “We have inflation because of our monetary policy. We have not been tough enough on monetary supply. That’s the way I would address that issue.”
There is a strong argument that loose monetary policy has a lot to do with the UK’s economic problems. But regular readers will know that quite a lot of other factors are involved, too. Any hint of changing the Bank of England’s mandate (which unlike the Federal Reserve’s is focused solely on controlling inflation), will go down like a lead balloon on markets. And her suggestion that the Bank should start targeting money supply, using the BoJ as a positive example, suggests that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
It’s perfectly possible to be a good prime minister without being an expert in economics (although as Truss, like Sunak, has a degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford, it would seem reasonable to think she knew something about it). But taken as a whole, the Truss package is alarming. She should at least be getting good advice and understanding it, and she isn’t. I agree with a startlingly critical report that came out from Citigroup Inc.’s chief UK economist Ben Nabarro:
Truss’s policy platform still poses the greatest risk from an economic perspective in our view with an unseemly combination of pro-cyclical tax cuts and institutional disruption… Scapegoating the [Bank of England] bank for the cost of living squeeze is neither correct nor constructive. More worrying here though are efforts to muddy operational independence, which poses fundamental questions surrounding institutional credibility.
Attacking Truss on this is not to side with the powers that be, or to come out in favor of inequality, or insist on the status quo. Rather, it is to recoil with alarm at the realization that someone who could very soon be in charge of a major economy has some weirdly confused ideas about basic economics, and seems to have half-understood some extremely bad ideas. It’s obvious that economic policy is not working well for people in the UK or in most other developed countries. It’s vital to try to improve it. But it would be good not to make it worse.
That is one of the greatest current risks. Economics is back as the pivot of political competition for the first time in a generation, and the results are impossible to predict. Well-meaning attempts to reform institutions such as central banks could lead to uncertainty and financial accidents. Predicting the outcomes is made all the harder by the fact that parties of both the right (like Britain’s Conservatives) and the left are divided over what to do next.
There’s Something About Vlad...
It’s almost been possible to forget about Vladimir Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine of late. The war drags on. With few big headlines any longer, it looks as though Russia is steadily and brutally winning a patient war of attrition to establish a hold over more or less the entire of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. What happens next, though, is critical.
If Russia basically holds on to what it has gained, and tries to institutionalize those gains, then the situation begins to resemble the status quo from 2014 until the invasion earlier this year. Russia had grabbed some territory in the Donbas, a low-intensity war continued with almost no fanfare in the west, and Russian relations with the west were broadly unaffected. This would be an awful outcome in many ways, but it wouldn’t be so bad for the markets. One way or another, western Europeans would return to buying Russian oil and natural gas. Arguably the greatest single force pressing upward on global inflation while also dragging Europe into recession would be neutralized.
To be clear, this is a cynical point of view, but it’s one that will move markets, and help them move in a direction that makes a lot of people more hopeful. The Ukraine conflict and the risk of a European energy crisis it creates has everything to do with the weakness of the euro. As Marko Papic of Clocktower Group points out, the euro never dropped below parity with the dollar when its very existence was in question — but it fell below parity last week. That’s an indicator of how serious the crisis is perceived to be. Unfortunately, as the price of natural gas in the Netherlands makes clear, the crisis isn’t over:
The week has started with an ugly combination of bad news on the energy front. Gazprom PSJC, the giant Russian gas supplier, is declaring force majeure and stopping supplies to Europe; Saudi Arabia’s unwillingness or inability to boost oil production prompted a sharp rise in crude oil prices; an EU report suggests that a Russian cessation of supply and a cold winter could on their own knock 1.5 percentage points off European gross domestic product; and maintenance of the vital Nord Stream pipeline continues to provoke anxiety.
Papic sketches an optimistic version of events in which Russia sticks with its gains in the Donbas, and then returns to providing energy to western Europe as the European powers seize the opportunity to accept. The technological difficulties of building pipelines to alternative potential customers in India or China make this by far Russia’s preferred option; Putin’s position remains weak.
The pessimistic version of events would begin to unfold if Russia instead decides to press on and try to capture more Ukrainian territory, or force some form of Ukrainian capitulation. Such a decision might well be disastrous for Russia in the longer term. In the short term, Europe would have no choice but to deny itself Russian energy imports. The effect on inflation and growth would be horrible.
Will Putin be satisfied with Donbas, or will he try to get more? It’s an imponderable question, and the latest convulsion in the energy markets shows that the answer remains unclear.
First, survival is easier if you’re unashamed to ask for help. The eagle-eyed will note that the Apple note is bylined by my colleague Isabelle Lee, who did the research for it. My thanks to her, and I’m looking forward to her ongoing contribution to Points of Return. With luck, she’ll help make this a better newsletter.
And now some podcast recommendations. If you want to bone up on inflation, try this chat from The New Bazaar between Cardiff Garcia and Matthew Klein; they know what they’re talking about, and they can actually express themselves. As a huge fan of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, I’d recommend two compilations, of seven of the funniest castaways (Simon Cowell’s one luxury was a mirror), and the nine most moving (including both the cellist Jacqueline Du Pre on what it was like to be dying of multiple sclerosis, and her widower Daniel Barenboim, decades later describing what it was like to watch his wife dying). And on a more contemporary note, I recently recommended Patrick Radden Keefe’s book “Empire of Pain” on the Sackler family’s role in the opioid crisis. For a podcast inspired by it, try this episode of Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History, which finds that the states that made it obvious to doctors through extra bureaucracy that their prescriptions were being monitored suffered far less severely than the rest. It might be the most successful example of a behavioral “nudge” I’ve ever heard. Worth listening.
• The Big, Fat $200 Billion European Energy Bailout: Javier Blas
• China’s Labor Force Is About to Get Much Smaller: Justin Fox | 2022-07-19T06:31:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The Big Tech Apples May Have Further to Fall - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/the-big-tech-apples-may-have-further-to-fall/2022/07/19/73bb5902-0720-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/the-big-tech-apples-may-have-further-to-fall/2022/07/19/73bb5902-0720-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
Here’s a great idea that unfortunately won’t become reality any time soon: Germany should recognize English as a second official language. So should most countries, in fact.
The idea popped up this month in a 10-point program put forth by the Free Democrats, the business-friendly and liberal junior partners in the German governing coalition. Their motivation is to attract half a million skilled immigrants per year, net of emigrants.
This makes sense. Germany is an aging society that suffers from labor shortages and needs more international talent. But as a society, it’s much less open to newcomers — both bureaucratically and culturally — than traditional immigrant nations such as Canada, say. Another hurdle is German.
As Mark Twain authoritatively and charmingly put it, the language is “awful.” Only a deviant mind, given a clean slate, would construct a grammar with four cases and three genders, yielding a baffling array of permutations just for definite articles. By contrast, English has “the.” Nuff said.
Simplicity isn’t the only thing to commend English. Ubiquity is the big one. English is the obvious heir to such historical antecedents as Akkadian, Aramaic, Greek or Latin in being a lingua franca — that is, a common and near-universal means of communication. Its only rivals today are Mandarin in Asia and Spanish in the Americas.
In old Italian, lingua franca meant “Frankish tongue.” The term didn’t refer to Frankish — the Germanic dialect spoken by the Franks around the time they conquered Gaul — but to a new language spoken all around the Mediterranean during the late Middle Ages.
Also called sabir, this “Frankish” was actually a blend of Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Slavic, Greek and other dialects. It was therefore a pidgin, which later turned into a creole. A pidgin is a simplified mixture of existing tongues spoken as a second language to facilitate communication. A creole is a pidgin spoken by subsequent generations as a first language, with more standardized grammar and syntax.
English, according to some linguists, also started as a pidgin — a cocktail of Anglo-Saxon and Norman French, with bits of Norse and Celtic — before turning into a creole and eventually a language. This evolution is ongoing. For example, Singapore English, also known as Singlish, began as a pidgin of English, Hokkien, Malay, Cantonese, Tamil and other ingredients, before turning into today’s colorful creole.
In its global rise, English has followed the classic career path of lingua francas throughout the ages, as Nicholas Ostler describes in “Empires of the Word.” It initially spread by migration (to North America and Australia, for example), then by “diffusion” (to India, say), as well as “infiltration,” the combination of the two (as in South Africa).
Via global diffusion — through business and academic jargon, the reach of Hollywood, Silicon Valley and what have you — English has of late been spreading even faster. In places such as Scandinavia, it’s become almost a second first language.
Sometimes using English just makes things easier. Other times it keeps the peace among native language communities that might otherwise be at each other’s throats, as in Singapore, India or the Philippines. Often, it does both, as in the European Union. There and in a long list of other places, English is, therefore, privileged as an official language — that is, one that citizens can use to communicate with their bureaucracies.
The real reason why many people reject the lingua franca is more visceral. They’re reacting against the cultural cosmopolitanism and globalism English represents. English is for “anywheres,” people who barely care any longer which country their current Starbucks and yoga studio is in. National languages and regional dialects are for “somewheres,” those who don’t want to, and maybe couldn’t, live anywhere but their home town.
The backlash against English isn’t confined to nativists and populists. It’s also spreading to the political center. Jens Spahn is a conservative member of the Bundestag and former health minister. A few years ago, he went through a phase in which he ranted in Op-Ed pages against chic cafes in his hipster neighborhood of Berlin that displayed menus — gasp — in English.
Let’s all relax. Anglophone cosmopolitanism won’t replace local cultures, just as “Frankish” sabir didn’t make medieval Mediterranean societies any less varied and colorful. A lingua franca just helps more people get stuff done.
In his mind, Kohl was offering amity. In hers, he was confirming that Krauts are weird. The diplomatic damage was contained — Thatcher, after some American arm-twisting, did eventually accept German reunification. But sometimes, it’s probably better just to get a translator.
Wordle Is the Word: A Logophile’s Paean: Andreas Kluth
Moscow and Beijing Are Waging a War on Words: Clara Ferreira Marques
How to Reverse the West’s Creativity Crisis: Adrian Wooldridge | 2022-07-19T06:31:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Germany Should Make English an Official Language - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/germany-should-make-english-an-official-language/2022/07/19/74932f4e-0720-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/germany-should-make-english-an-official-language/2022/07/19/74932f4e-0720-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
“Zero-COVID” has been justified as necessary to avoid a wider outbreak among a population that has had relatively little exposure to the virus and less natural immunity. Although China’s vaccination rate hovers at around 90%, it is considerably lower among the elderly, while questions have been raised about the efficacy of China's domestically produced vaccines. | 2022-07-19T06:32:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Authorities in south China apologize over COVID-19 break-ins - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/authorities-in-south-china-apologize-over-covid-19-break-ins/2022/07/19/ae17ce48-0723-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/authorities-in-south-china-apologize-over-covid-19-break-ins/2022/07/19/ae17ce48-0723-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
This photo made available by Danah al-Mayouf, shows prominent Saudi critic and women’s rights advocate Danah al-Mayouf in April 2022, in New York City, where she has sought asylum since fleeing Saudi Arabia. Al-Mayouf is one of several Saudi women named in a complaint unsealed last month in federal court in Brooklyn, alleging she was harassed by a Saudi man who has now been arrested on charges of lying to federal officials about using a fake Instagram account to bully critics of the kingdom in the U.S. and Canada. (AP Photo) (Uncredited/Danah al-Mayouf) | 2022-07-19T06:32:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Arrest of Saudi for lying to FBI shows kingdom’s reach in US - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/arrest-of-saudi-for-lying-to-fbi-shows-kingdoms-reach-in-us/2022/07/19/b3504f2a-0728-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/arrest-of-saudi-for-lying-to-fbi-shows-kingdoms-reach-in-us/2022/07/19/b3504f2a-0728-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
A dehydrated and injured koala receives treatment after its rescue from a wildfire in November 2019. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)
Australia’s unique wildlife is increasingly under threat from wildfires, drought, and climate change, according to a much-anticipated expert report described as “shocking” by the country’s new environment minister.
The world’s driest inhabited continent has already lost more mammal species than any other continent in the past 200 years — roughly when mass industrialization took off — and continues to have one of the highest rates of species decline among developed countries, a state of the environment report published Tuesday said.
“While it’s a confronting read, Australians deserve the truth,” Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said. “We deserve to know that threatened communities have grown by 20 percent in the last five years with places literally burned into endangerment by catastrophic fires.”
The government-commissioned review by an independent panel of scientists was completed last year, but held back from publication by the previous conservative Coalition government — which lost power after elections in May partly because it had resisted firmer cuts to carbon emissions.
Australia was one of the last developed nations to commit to net zero emissions by 2050. (Then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison quipped: “I don’t hold a hose, mate,” when questioned about his decision to go on vacation in Hawaii during devastating wildfires in 2019.)
Australia, a climate laggard, leans toward 2050 net-zero target as election looms
The increasing frequency and ferocity of natural disasters have pushed concern in Australia about climate change to an all-time high, according to polls.
Scientists have warned that devastating wildfires such as those Australia experienced a couple of years ago, which killed 34 people and destroyed thousands of homes, could become regular occurrences. It is estimated that 1 to 3 billion animals were killed or displaced by the 2019-2020 fires.
In February, one of Australia’s most iconic animals, the koala, was officially moved from threatened to endangered status along the country’s east coast.
The country has also been hit by a string of serious floods in recent months, raising questions about how to prepare Australians to live in places where “once in a century” floods are becoming more common.
Tuesday’s report found at least 19 Australian ecosystems are showing signs of collapse or near collapse. For the first time, Australia now has more foreign plant species than native ones, Plibersek said. Meanwhile, marine heat waves have caused mass coral bleaching in the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef.
As a historic and deadly heat wave scorches western Europe, the report also contained a salient warning for Australia’s cities, many of which are growing at faster rates than metropolitan areas in other rich countries. This growth has led to increased urban heat, waste and pollution and pressured increasingly scarce resources such as water and energy, the report’s authors said.
Sydney, the commercial capital, has lost more than 70 percent of native vegetation cover through development, the experts wrote.
The urbanization is likely to lead to increased deaths, poorer sleep patterns and productivity, they said.
Between 2000 and 2017, Australia cleared more than 19 million acres of threatened species habitat across the country — much of it in small increments that meant no assessment under environment laws, according to Plibersek.
“After a lost decade; after a decade of going backwards; we can’t waste another minute,” the environment minister said.
The Greens and other lawmakers on whom the government relies in the Senate are pressuring the center-left Labor government to guarantee that a proposed bill targeting a 43 percent reduction in emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 is just a floor.
The Greens want a more ambitious 75 percent cut, but have signaled their willingness to support the legislation if the target is set as a minimum with obligations that can’t easily be unwound by future governments. Independent lawmakers are also calling for a mechanism to boost targets over time as an “insurance policy” against future administrations.
Plibersek said Tuesday that “too many urgent warnings were either ignored or kept secret” by the previous administration.
Jonno Duniam, a lawmaker who speaks for the opposition Coalition on the environment, denied that the previous government had failed to act on the climate and challenged Plibersek to “get on with her job ... rather than engage in partisan finger-pointing and game-playing.” | 2022-07-19T07:58:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Australia State of Environment report sounds climate crisis alarm - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/19/australia-state-of-the-environment-report-2022-climate/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/19/australia-state-of-the-environment-report-2022-climate/ |
Pedestrian dies weeks after being hit, Prince George’s police say
The man was struck while crossing Marlboro Pike, according to police
A man died Saturday weeks after being struck by a car last month in Prince George’s, county police said.
Michael Howard, 59, of District Heights, was struck June 17 while trying to cross Marlboro Pike in District Heights, police said.
He was found about 10 a.m. in the roadway in the 5800 block of Marlboro Pike, according to police, and taken to a hospital, where he later died of his injuries. | 2022-07-19T07:58:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Pedestrian dies weeks after being hit, Prince George’s police say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/19/pedestrian-dies-weeks-after-being-hit-prince-georges-police-say/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/19/pedestrian-dies-weeks-after-being-hit-prince-georges-police-say/ |
How Chip Neutrality Scuppered Nvidia Deal to Buy Arm: QuickTake
Analysis by Ian King | Bloomberg
STMicroelectronics STM32F205 integrated circuit microchips (IC’s), designed by ARM Ltd., in a storage tray at CSI Electronic Manufacturing Services Ltd. in Witham, U.K., on Wednesday, April 28, 2021. The global chip shortage is going from bad to worse with automakers on three continents joining tech giants Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in flagging production cuts and lost revenue from the crisis. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg (Bloomberg)
One of the most influential businesses in the tech industry is unknown to most consumers: Arm Ltd. The UK-based company designs key parts of the chips that power almost every smartphone on the planet. Its strategic importance is so great that when owner SoftBank Group Corp. decided to sell the company to US chipmaker Nvidia Corp., it sparked an outcry from Arm’s customers that killed the $40 billion deal. SoftBank’s Plan B is to sell Arm shares in what could be the chip industry’s biggest-ever initial public offering.
1. What does Arm do?
Arm doesn’t own factories or produce its own chips. The company designs core semiconductor components and licenses the blueprints to other firms in exchange for a fee based on how many are produced. The arrangement brings in about $700 million in revenue every quarter, making Arm one of the UK’s largest tech businesses. That’s still a fraction of the sales that tech giants like Nvidia and Intel Corp. generate, and Arm has a relatively small workforce of 6,000. Yet few companies reach so far across the tech ecosystem: Arm estimates that 70% of the world’s population uses its products on a daily basis, and more than 200 billion chips have been made with its technology.
2. Where would I find Arm’s products?
They’re used in everything from the tiniest sensor to the most powerful data center. Amazon.com Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc. are among Arm’s most important customers. Arm’s instruction set -- the basic code used by software to communicate with semiconductors -- is in billions of devices, and the effort required to switch to another company’s code would be enormous. Devices that work on batteries need chips that can get by with relatively little power; Arm’s designs prioritized that from the outset. When smartphones came along and demanded more processing horsepower, the technology evolved into more computer-like chips. There are about 1.4 billion of these pocket computers sold every year, with more than 90% using Arm. More recently, major tech names such as Apple and Amazon have been seeking to supply their own chips. Many of those new components rely on Arm too, and that’s beginning to threaten Intel’s lucrative hold on high-end computing processors. Intel owns the so-called X86 instruction set, the basis for a type of processor that’s the most widely used in computers. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is the other major user of that technology.
3. Why did Nvidia want to buy it?
So it could build on its success in graphics processors and push faster into data centers, artificial intelligence and new areas such as automotive chips. But critics said a takeover would threaten a cornerstone of Arm’s success: its neutrality. Arm has been used across the $550 billion semiconductor industry on the understanding that no one would get privileged access to its technology. SoftBank announced the sale to Nvidia in September 2020. The transaction began to unravel after the US Federal Trade Commission sued to block it in December, and Nvidia walked away in February.
4. So what about Plan B?
SoftBank is expected to list a minority stake in Arm in New York by the end of March 2023. It also agreed to consider a partial listing on the London Stock Exchange after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly lobbied SoftBank Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son in person. In July, with the UK government in turmoil following Johnson’s resignation, SoftBank put a temporary pause on talks about a London listing, according to people familiar with the matter.
5. What’s Arm really worth?
Shortly after SoftBank announced the IPO plan, it was targeting a valuation of at least $60 billion for Arm -- almost double the amount it paid for the business in 2016. However, tech valuations have plunged since then, forcing companies to cancel listings or cut stock prices to get sales over the line. SoftBank decided in April to sell a smaller portion of Arm than previously planned and retain a controlling stake in the hope of obtaining a higher valuation for the remainder later. Supply-chain problems and concerns that the industry is making too many chips in a slowing global economy have made it hard to put reliable valuations on semiconductor companies. As of February, Arm would have been worth about $24 billion if investors valued it at the average market capitalization-to-revenue ratio of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index. But that benchmark has lost around a quarter of its value since then.
6. Does an IPO solve the neutrality problem?
The wide and diverse investor base typically secured via an IPO could help to ensure Arm doesn’t fall under the sway of any single industry player. That may still not be enough to reassure some of its most important customers. Qualcomm Inc. CEO Cristiano Amon has said that his company wanted to buy a stake in the business alongside its rivals and create a consortium that would maintain Arm’s neutrality. | 2022-07-19T08:02:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How Chip Neutrality Scuppered Nvidia Deal to Buy Arm: QuickTake - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-chip-neutrality-scuppered-nvidia-deal-to-buy-arm-quicktake/2022/07/19/2ff849f8-0731-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-chip-neutrality-scuppered-nvidia-deal-to-buy-arm-quicktake/2022/07/19/2ff849f8-0731-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
State Sen. Doug Mastriano of Pennsylvania, the Republican nominee for governor. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
“When the government ensured that the Little Sisters of the Poor wouldn’t have to violate their religious beliefs, my opponent @JoshShapiroPA sued them and forced them to go to the Supreme Court. He lost and proved that he’s too extreme for Pennsylvania.”
— State Sen. Doug Mastriano, GOP candidate for Pennsylvania governor, in a tweet, June 15
Over and over, Doug Mastriano has claimed that his Democratic opponent, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, sued a group of nuns, aiming to force them to “violate their religious beliefs.”
Catholics make up about one-quarter of Pennsylvania’s population. They traditionally lean toward Democrats, so this attack line is intended to undermine Shapiro’s standing among Catholics.
We previously encountered a similar case involving President Biden’s health and human services secretary, Xavier Becerra. He had been California’s attorney general, and during his confirmation hearings he also was accused of suing the Little Sisters, a charity run by Catholic nuns that serves the elderly poor.
This is a great example of how a complex legal dispute is weaponized, through misleading rhetoric, for political purposes.
Ever since passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, litigation has ensued over the law’s requirement that employers with more than 50 employees provide a preventive-care package that includes contraceptive coverage.
Agency rulings initially created a three-tier system for religious employers, including a full exemption from the contraceptive mandate for churches and religious orders and an “accommodation” for certain religious nonprofit employers. Under the accommodation, these groups could opt out of purchasing contraceptive coverage by listing an objection with their insurer; workers and dependents would still get coverage, but organizations would not have to pay for it.
Religious for-profit employers initially received no exemption, but the Supreme Court in 2014 ruled that the mandate violated the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act if it was applied against “closely held” corporations such as the craft store Hobby Lobby.
The court did not address at the time whether the RFRA applied to employers, such as the Little Sisters, that were covered by the accommodation — a compromise that still deeply displeased the group as burdensome for their religious rights. Little Sisters officials dismissed the opt-out document as a “permission slip” for forms of birth control that the group found objectionable.
Making matters even more complicated, Little Sisters has a self-insured plan. Under provisions in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the federal government, in this instance, cannot enforce the regulations even if the group files notice of its objection to the contraception mandate.
By the time the issue reached the Supreme Court in 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia had died and there was no replacement, so the court appeared split 4-4. The court vacated the cases consolidated as Zubik v. Burwell and told the parties to work out a solution “that accommodates petitioners’ religious exercise” by not requiring the notice. “Because the Government may rely on this notice, the Government may not impose taxes or penalties on petitioners for failure to provide the relevant notice,” the court said.
Then Donald Trump became president. His administration shifted course and made it easier for any entity exercising a religious or moral exemption — even big for-profit corporations — to deny contraceptive coverage. Signifying the politics involved, Trump invited representatives of the Little Sisters to a 2017 signing ceremony for an executive order that called for crafting new regulations.
Pennsylvania and California filed separate lawsuits, challenging the new policy as overly broad and permitting too many exemptions for businesses. “Previously, exceptions to this mandate were extremely narrow,” Shapiro said in announcing the lawsuit. “Now, as a result of these new rules, virtually any employer can refuse to provide coverage for contraceptive services for their employees, who will now have to pay more for health care.”
The Pennsylvania case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled 7-2 that the Trump administration’s regulations were legally valid, though it left undecided whether the rules were “arbitrary and capricious,” as Pennsylvania (joined by New Jersey) argued. That issue was to be litigated in lower courts.
So how did Little Sisters get involved? They sued to intervene in the case. It’s stated plainly in the group’s brief to the Supreme Court: “Because Pennsylvania sought to invalidate an exemption that the Little Sisters had long pursued and would directly benefit from, they moved to intervene.”
Indeed, the case before the Supreme Court was called Little Sisters of the Poor v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
By the time the Pennsylvania case got to the court, it had gone through many twists and turns. But Shapiro’s office consistently argued that the Little Sisters were unaffected. They “already won an order from the Supreme Court exempting them from the Contraceptive Mandate and immunizing them from any ‘taxes or penalties … for failure to provide the relevant notice,’” his office said in a 2017 court filing.
In 2019, a district judge imposed a preliminary injunction that “will maintain the status quo,” and then a Colorado district court permanently enjoined enforcement of the mandate for the Little Sisters’ health plans. That led an appeals court to dismiss the Little Sisters as “no longer aggrieved” and having no standing to intervene — prompting the group and the Trump administration to appeal to the Supreme Court.
During oral arguments before the Supreme Court, Shapiro’s office insisted it had not targeted the nuns, just the Trump administration.
“To be clear, we brought this suit against the federal government,” Deputy Attorney General Mike Fischer told the court on May 6, 2020. “We have not challenged the Little Sisters. We have not challenged their Colorado injunction. They and all the other parties to Zubik are protected by injunctions and do not have to comply with the contraceptive mandate no matter what happens in this case.”
At another point, Fisher noted: “Your Honor mentioned the Little Sisters. Their insurance carrier stated that it will not provide contraception no matter what. Or their health plan. And because it’s a church plan exempt from ERISA, the government cannot enforce it. So, even if they didn’t have their separate injunction, their employees would not receive contraception. We’re not trying to challenge that at all.”
The majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, however, cast the Little Sisters as the litigant. “For the past seven years, they — like many other religious objectors who have participated in the litigation and rulemakings leading up to today’s decision — have had to fight for the ability to continue in their noble work without violating their sincerely held religious beliefs,” he wrote. In a footnote, he said that the appeals court was in “error” for concluding that the Little Sisters lacked standing to sue.
“Pennsylvania did not sue the Little Sisters,” said Douglas Laycock, a University of Virginia law professor and leading authority on the law of religious liberty. Shapiro “sued the federal government, and the Little Sisters intervened.”
“It is also true that the Little Sisters were part of a church plan, that church plans are exempt from much regulation under ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which regulates fringe benefits), and that the government conceded that it could not regulate them,” Laycock added. “Why employers with church plans were allowed to litigate the contraceptive mandate, not just in this case but in lots of other cases, is a mystery that so far as I know the Court never explained.”
We sent a lengthy email laying out our analysis to a spokesman for the Mastriano campaign. The campaign has a reputation for ignoring the media, and we did not get a response.
But Ryan Colby, a spokesman for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented the Little Sisters, defended Mastriano’s rhetoric.
“Shapiro filed the lawsuit,” Colby said in a statement. “He sued to take away religious protections given to the Little Sisters of the Poor and others, who were doing critical work caring for the elderly during the pandemic. He even told the courts that it would be unconstitutional to have protections for religious objectors. When the Little Sisters fought to protect their rights, Shapiro didn’t relent. And he is actually still in court trying to take away those protections.”
Colby did not respond to a request for clarification, but the last line was an apparent reference to Shapiro’s office asking a court to stay the pending litigation as the Biden administration works to rewrite the rules yet again.
“Doug Mastriano is known to spend his time rejecting reality and peddling dangerous lies — and this is just the latest example in his track record of doing so,” Shapiro campaign spokesman Manuel Bonder said in a statement. “Pennsylvania needs a Governor who can focus on solving problems and making people’s lives better — not one who constantly puts conspiracy theories before facts.”
The Little Sisters have been a sympathetic and potent face of opposition to the ACA contraceptive mandate. But by the time Shapiro filed his lawsuit against the expanded exemptions ordered by Trump, the group had basically secured what it desired and was not subject to the mandate. Nevertheless, it sued to intervene, fearing that any rollback of the Trump rules would result in losing its exemption — even though Shapiro said that was not his intention.
The fact remains: The nuns sued to join a case that was aimed at the federal government; Shapiro did not sue the nuns. Mastriano is falsely claiming otherwise. Given that the Little Sisters ended up as a litigant, we can’t quite say this is worthy of Four Pinocchios. But Mastriano earns Three.
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The Fact Checker is a verified signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network code of principles. | 2022-07-19T08:03:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The misleading claim that a Democratic candidate ‘sued’ a group of nuns over contraception coverage - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/misleading-claim-that-democratic-candidate-sued-group-nuns-over-contraception-coverage/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/misleading-claim-that-democratic-candidate-sued-group-nuns-over-contraception-coverage/ |
LOS ANGELES — Washington Nationals star Juan Soto won his first Home Run Derby, holding off Seattle Mariners rookie Julio Rodríguez 19-18 in the final.
MONTERREY, Mexico — Alex Morgan converted on a penalty in the 78th minute and the U.S. national team won the CONCACAF W Championship 1-0 over Canada to secure one of the region’s spots in the 2024 Olympics.
LOS ANGELES — The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics kicked off a six-year countdown with the announcement of the dates for the Games’ return to the city. | 2022-07-19T08:03:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Monday Sports in Brief - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/monday-sports-in-brief/2022/07/19/0ef86906-072f-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/monday-sports-in-brief/2022/07/19/0ef86906-072f-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
Dubai International Airport in 2019. (Jon Gambrell/AP)
The UAE sentenced Ghafoor over the weekend to three years in prison and an $800,000 fine on charges of money laundering and tax evasion after an in-absentia conviction sometime in the past, according to the WAM, the state news agency.
The UAE said Saturday that U.S. authorities had requested UAE support with an investigation into Ghafoor’s alleged crimes. He was arrested while transiting through Dubai International Airport.
“The UAE Public Prosecution praised the mutual coordination to combat transnational crimes with the United States, which led to the arrest of the accused, and his presentation to the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court in accordance with the legal procedures established in this regard,” the news agency reported.
Price, however, said the United States did not seek Ghafoor’s arrest and conveyed to the UAE its expectation that he “be afforded a fair and transparent legal process and that he be treated humanely.”
Ghafoor’s attorney, Faisal Gill, said Monday that his client had not heard anything about his conviction in the UAE before his arrest and had yet to see any documentation for the government’s charges. Ghafoor was not facing any criminal charges in the United States, Gill said.
When asked whether the United States had requested that the UAE investigate Ghafoor in the first place, Price referred that question to the Justice Department. | 2022-07-19T08:33:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Asim Ghafoor arrest and sentencing in UAE prompts U.S. query - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/19/asim-ghafoor-uae-khashoggi/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/19/asim-ghafoor-uae-khashoggi/ |
A passerby walks near the entrance to a Toys R Us store, in Wayne, N.J., in January 2018. (Julio Cortez/AP)
From this month through mid-October, the brand is opening shops inside every Macy’s store in the United States, Macy’s said in a news release Monday. The Toys R Us shops will be between 1,000 and 10,000 square feet in size, with locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco and San Jose.
But the industry trends that contributed to Toys R Us’s initial downfall are still in place. Although consumers have been buying more and more toys every year in terms of dollars since 2019, according to a June report by NPD, a research firm, purchases increasingly happen online.
Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in 2017, worn down by nearly $8 billion in debt and growing competition from online rivals. Two years later, it tried to come back, reviving its website and opening two physical stores in Houston and Paramus, N.J. But the pandemic had other ideas. By January 2021, the two reopened stores were closed, though online stores were kept open. Last December it opened a new flagship store at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, N.J., but the mall has run into financial distress.
In August, under the new ownership of WHP Global — a brand management company that bought a controlling stake in Toys R Us in March — the toy seller embarked on a new e-commerce partnership with Macy’s. At the time, Macy’s pledged to open brick-and-mortar Toys R Us shops at 400 of its locations in 2022.
In its earnings report for the first three months of this year, Macy’s said toy sales had doubled compared with the same period last year. In the last three months of 2021, Macy’s said toy sales had tripled from the fourth quarter of 2019.
Welcome to the first holiday season without Toys R Us
In 1987, the best-paid CEO in the United States was Charles Lazarus, the founder and leader of Toys R Us, receiving $60 million. After serving in the Army during World War II, the District native started a baby-furniture store, reasoning that an ensuing baby boom would make child-related retail a success. He soon found out selling toys made for better business. | 2022-07-19T09:34:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Toys R Us attempts comeback inside Macy’s, under owner WHP Global - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/19/toys-r-us-comeback-macys/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/19/toys-r-us-comeback-macys/ |
Why Marburg Virus Is An Increasing Threat in Africa
Marburg virus killed two men in Ghana in June, touching off the West African nation’s first confirmed outbreak of the highly virulent disease. From the same family as the Ebola virus, Marburg caused occasional outbreaks and sporadic cases mostly in Central and Southern Africa until Guinea, in West Africa, confirmed a single, lethal case in August 2021. The latest deaths show once again how a pathogen found in fruit bats can cross the species barrier to infect humans and risk touching off a deadly scourge.
1. What is Marburg virus?
It’s a member of the Filoviridae family of viruses which can cause severe hemorrhagic fever in people, killing up to 90% of those infected. Marburg virus disease was recognized in 1967, when outbreaks occurred simultaneously in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, both in Germany, and in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Cases were traced to green monkeys imported from Uganda for research and polio vaccine production. Nine years later, a closely related virus was found to have sparked a deadly outbreak in a village near the Ebola River in Congo, giving that virus its name. Since then, many more viruses known to cause similar diseases in humans have been discovered around the world, with globalization, international travel, and climate change aiding their spread.
2. What symptoms does it cause?
After an incubation period of two to 21 days, symptoms begin with a high fever, severe headache and severe malaise, often accompanied by muscle aches and pains. Watery diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramping, nausea and vomiting can begin on the third day. Diarrhea can persist for a week. The appearance of patients at this phase has been described as showing “ghost-like,” drawn features, deep-set eyes, expressionless faces and extreme lethargy. In the first recorded outbreak in 1967, a non-itchy rash was noted in most patients two-to-seven days after the onset of symptoms. Many patients develop severe bleeding, or hemorrhaging, at the end of the first week of symptoms. Fresh blood in vomit and feces is often accompanied by bleeding from the nose, gums, and vagina. Spontaneous bleeding at sites where intravenous access is obtained to give fluids or obtain blood samples can be particularly troublesome. During the severe phase of illness, patients have sustained high fevers. Involvement of the central nervous system can result in confusion, irritability, and aggression. Males occasionally experience inflammation of one or both testicles in the third week of the disease. In fatal cases, death occurs most often eight to nine days after symptom onset, usually preceded by severe blood loss and shock.
3. How is it diagnosed?
Without diagnostic lab tests, it can be difficult to distinguish Marburg virus disease from malaria, typhoid fever, shigellosis and meningitis or Ebola, Lassa fever and other viral hemorrhagic diseases. Samples collected from patients are an extreme biohazard risk. The World Health Organization recommends conducting tests under maximum biological containment conditions with specimens transported using a triple packaging system.
4. How do outbreaks start?
The African fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus is considered the reservoir host, or main carrier, of Marburg virus. Human cases have resulted from prolonged exposure to mines or caves inhabited by colonies of the flying mammals. Primates, such as monkeys and apes, can also be infected. Encroachment into forested areas and direct interaction with wildlife, such as “bush meat” consumption, facilitate the spread of Marburg and other filoviruses from animals to humans. Once a person is infected, the pathogen can be transmitted from person to person via direct contact through broken skin or mucous membranes with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials, such as bedding and clothing, contaminated with these fluids.
5. Who’s at risk?
Historically, the people at highest risk include family members and hospital staff who care for patients infected with Marburg virus and haven’t used personal protective equipment or other infection prevention measures. Veterinarians and laboratory or quarantine facility workers who handle non-human primates from Africa may also be at increased risk of exposure. Burial ceremonies that involve direct contact with the body of the deceased can also contribute in the transmission of Marburg.
6. Are there treatments and vaccines?
No vaccine or antiviral treatment has been approved for Marburg virus disease, though several approaches, including blood products, immune therapies, monoclonal antibodies and antivirals, are being evaluated, according to the WHO. Supportive care, especially rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids, and treatment of specific symptoms improves chances of survival. The US government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority provided additional funding in October to the Sabin Vaccine Institute and New York-based IAVI to advance mid-stage clinical trials on candidate vaccines.
7. How is the current outbreak being managed?
Both cases occurred in Ghana’s Ashanti region, known for its gold and cocoa production. The first was a 26-year-old male who checked into a hospital on June 26 and died the following day. The second was a 51-year-old male who reported to the same hospital on June 28 and died that day. WHO is supporting health authorities in a joint investigation in the southern region, it said in a July 17 statement. The UN agency is deploying experts, making PPE available, bolstering surveillance, testing, tracing contacts, working with communities to alert and educate them about the risks and dangers and collaborating with emergency response teams. More than 90 contacts, including health workers and community members, have been identified and are being monitored, the WHO statement said.
8. Where else have cases occurred?
Since the initial cases among lab workers in Germany and former Yugoslavia in 1967, outbreaks have occurred in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Congo, Angola, Uganda and Guinea. A fatal case occurred in Russia in 1990 after a lab infection, and another in 2008 in a woman who had returned home to the Netherlands after visiting the Python Cave in Uganda’s Maramagambo Forest days earlier. | 2022-07-19T09:34:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why Marburg Virus Is An Increasing Threat in Africa - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/why-marburg-virus-is-an-increasing-threat-in-africa/2022/07/19/c434b12c-073d-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/why-marburg-virus-is-an-increasing-threat-in-africa/2022/07/19/c434b12c-073d-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
Ind. attorney general’s comments endangered abortion provider, complaint says
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R). (Darron Cummings/AP)
A misconduct complaint alleges Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita intended to “harass and intimidate” doctors who perform abortions when he publicly cast doubts about whether an Indianapolis OB/GYN complied with state law after helping a 10-year-old rape victim terminate a pregnancy.
The newly filed complaint against Indiana’s top prosecutor is expected to trigger a probe by the state’s Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission after Rokita, a Republican, claimed last week on Fox News that physician Caitlin Bernard had a “history of failing to report” abortions in child-abuse cases and rapidly launched an investigation into her licensure.
A record obtained by The Washington Post showed that Bernard, who administered the abortion medication to a girl forced to travel from her home state of Ohio for the service, reported the incident to relevant state agencies as required by Indiana law.
Kathleen DeLaney, an attorney for Bernard, told The Post on Monday that Rokita’s actions have “touched a nerve” in the legal community for what she called a blatant ethical violation.
“As the highest-ranking lawyer in Indiana, Todd Rokita should be held to a high standard of legal conduct and ethical behavior, and both his comments and the continued presence of his baseless claims on his state-run website suggest that a disciplinary investigation is warranted,” DeLaney said.
Lauren Robel, the former dean of Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law, filed the complaint requesting an investigation into Rokita on Friday. It alleges that the attorney general made “inflammatory statements on national television, without due diligence concerning their truthfulness,” according to a letter obtained by The Post.
“The attorney general is tasked with protecting citizens, not going after them without evidence on television,” Robel told The Post. “I just fear that without those of us in the bar calling [out] that kind of behavior when we see it, we lower the standards” of ethics for all lawyers. (Although Robel said she does not personally know Bernard, both women are affiliated with Indiana University.)
A spokesperson for Rokita’s office dismissed Robel’s complaint, saying in a statement, “any attorney or client can file anything they want, even without basis, which is the case here.”
The attorney general’s office said that while no enforcement actions have been filed against Bernard so far, it will continue to pursue its investigation of her conduct.
The disciplinary commission is tasked with investigating and prosecuting any claims of Indiana lawyers violating the state’s rules of professional conduct. Once a complaint is filed, the agency reviews the information and decides whether to launch an investigation. If it finds there are grounds for an attorney to be disciplined, the case is sent to the state Supreme Court for formal charging. In the range of possible outcomes, disbarment is the most extreme.
Representatives with the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Kathleen Clark, an ethics professor at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, said the best chance of spurring “overwhelmed bar prosecutors” into pursuing a case against an attorney general is an ethics complaint that makes clear arguments for how the rules of conduct were allegedly broken.
The strongest argument against Rokita is likely to be his alleged violation of rules on trial publicity, which generally dictate how lawyers involved in trials or investigations may publicly comment on a case. The guidelines seek to balance public interest and free speech while not “heightening public condemnation of the accused,” Clark said.
Doctor in 10-year-old’s abortion case faced 2020 kidnapping threat against daughter
She said Rokita’s comments could affect the fairness of any investigation and could leave Bernard in “actual physical jeopardy.”
“No government lawyer is supposed to be a bully,” Clark said.
Susan Carle, a law professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, said disciplinary commissions have historically been wary of taking up cases concerning public officials. But the country’s highly polarized environment and the discourse it has prompted have blurred the line between law and politics — and kindled a push for accountability from bar associations across the nation.
“As the sort of level of political invective and lack of standards about truthfulness continue to become worse, there are going to be more and more efforts along these lines,” Carle said.
Should the commission act on the complaint against Rokita, he would be the second successive Indiana attorney general to face a misconduct probe. The state Supreme Court suspended for 30 days the law license of Rokita’s predecessor, Republican Curtis Hill, after allegations that he groped four women. Hill lost his reelection bid to Rokita in 2020.
If the commission determines that Rokita’s comments were out of line, “then I would like him to retract that statement and apologize for it,” said Robel, who filed the complaint.
On July 13, Robel watched as Rokita made what she called “baseless claims” against Bernard during an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters. Hours earlier, a man had been charged with raping the 10-year-old girl, who had to travel to Indiana because of Ohio’s ban on abortions after the six-week mark, the Indianapolis Star first reported. The case rapidly divided the nation, with some pointing to it as an example of the consequences of overturning Roe v. Wade, while others claimed the story was “too good to confirm.”
Under Indiana law — which allows abortion up to 22 weeks of pregnancy — providers are required to alert the state’s health and child services departments of pregnancy terminations in patients younger than 16 within three days of the procedure. Failure to do so constitutes a misdemeanor.
In the Fox interview, Rokita said that his office was “gathering the evidence” and preparing to “fight this to the end” when Watters questioned whether Bernard had followed the reporting law and asked whether she would be criminally charged. That day, he also sent a letter to Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) requesting an intervention, saying his office hadn’t received documentation that the girl’s abortion had been properly reported.
The next day, however, media outlets obtained the terminated-pregnancy report showing that Bernard had alerted state agencies that the girl had been a victim of abuse within the three-day window.
Robel said in her complaint that Rokita’s comments “placed [Bernard] in danger.” Bernard is already listed as a “local abortion threat” on a website for Right to Life Michiana, an antiabortion group based in South Bend, Ind. Two years ago, The Post reported, a kidnapping threat was made against her daughter — forcing Bernard to stop providing abortion services at a South Bend clinic.
In a state that’s slated to outlaw abortion in the coming week when its GOP-controlled legislature holds a special session, Rokita’s probe and statements feel like “an attempt to intimidate” Bernard and other abortion providers, Robel said.
“If he wants to stop abortion in the state of Indiana, there are legal channels to do that,” she said. “Harassment and intimidation by the chief legal officer of the state of Indiana is not one of them.”
“This is the opposite of the rule of law,” Robel added. | 2022-07-19T09:34:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Lawyer misconduct complaint filed against Indiana AG Todd Rokita - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/complaint-rokita-indiana-abortion/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/complaint-rokita-indiana-abortion/ |
An attack left a woman in a coma. She woke up and accused her brother.
The man has been charged with the attempted murder of his sister, who was comatose for two years
Wanda Palmer was found suffering from severe head trauma at her home in June 2020. (WFOR)
When Jackson County, W.Va., sheriff’s deputies found Wanda Palmer on her couch in June 2020, she was slumped over and bleeding from head wounds.
“We thought for sure this was a murder case,” Sheriff Ross Mellinger told The Washington Post.
But earlier this month, Palmer woke up — and she told deputies that it was her brother who had nearly killed her, Mellinger said. Daniel Palmer is in custody and has been charged with attempted murder and malicious wounding, according to the sheriff’s department.
“Just the fact that she survived is nothing short of a miracle,” Mellinger told The Post. “But to be able to come back … two years later and identify who her attacker was, it’s spectacular.”
Wanda and Daniel Palmer lived about a half-mile apart on the same property near Cottageville, a hamlet in Jackson County near the state’s northwestern border, Mellinger said. He said Wanda lived alone in a mobile home. The criminal complaint noted there was a history of violence between the siblings, CNN reported.
One morning in June 2020, someone showed up to mow Wanda’s grass and found her inside, having been attacked, Mellinger said. Her wounds appeared to have been caused by an edged weapon, such as a machete or a hatchet, although investigators did not find a weapon, he said.
Other evidence was hard to find. Wanda’s home had no electricity, so there was no surveillance footage or cellphone records. Mellinger said Daniel was a suspect early on because of the siblings’ history. One man told deputies he had seen Daniel on his sister’s porch the previous night, about 10 hours before Wanda was discovered, but it wasn’t enough to go on, Mellinger said.
Deputies had even traveled across the state to chase various leads, but in the end, “we had nothing,” Mellinger said.
Then, just before the July Fourth holiday, the sheriff’s department was contacted by Wanda’s caseworker, saying she was awake. Deputies interviewed her shortly afterward, Mellinger said. According to a criminal complaint obtained by WCHS, Wanda said that she remembered being hurt on her head at her home and that it was her brother who did it.
Asked why Daniel would have hurt her, Wanda replied that he was “mean,” WCHS reported, citing the complaint.
Mellinger said he’s unsure whether Wanda will fully recover from the attack. He referred to her waking from the coma after more than two years as a miracle.
“From an investigative standpoint, this is kind of the holy grail,” Mellinger said. “You don’t ever get a chance to talk to somebody once they go into a coma.” | 2022-07-19T09:34:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | West Virginia woman wakes from coma to name brother in brutal attack - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/woman-attacked-coma-brother/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/woman-attacked-coma-brother/ |
New Yorkers accused of defrauding Chinese investors, selling Trump access
The complaint and affidavit in support of an arrest warrant against Sherry Xue Li, 50, and Lianbo “Mike” Wang. A photo in the affidavit shows President Trump and first lady Melania Trump with Li during a 2017 fundraiser. (AP)
Sherry Li, 50, and Lianbo “Mike” Wang, 45, of Oyster Bay, a hamlet on the North Shore of Long Island, were arrested Monday, according to court records, and charged with wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States, the Justice Department said in a statement.
The pair dangled green cards to Chinese investors, promising that if they invested in their feigned real estate project — which included plans for a sprawling school, the “Thompson Education Center,” and an amusement park in New York state — they would receive legal residency in the United States through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, prosecutors said.
Trump officials revamp rules for foreign investor ‘golden visa’ program
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the program “sets aside EB-5 visas for participants who invest in commercial enterprises” in certain areas, particularly rural ones like Sullivan County, N.Y., where Li and Wang, naturalized U.S. citizens, had promised to develop the complex, saying they chose the location specifically because “it clearly fits within [USCIS’s] target area definition for the EB-5 program.”
Prosecutors said Li and Wang defrauded more than 150 investors as part of the scheme, raising about $27 million — including $16.5 million from people who were expecting a green card for their investment and $11 million from investors who thought the project’s parent company would go public.
They also presented a vestige of relationships with high-ranking Trump administration officials, issuing news releases about Li cozying up to politicians such as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Trump at galas and breakfasts. They sold access to Trump fundraisers, prosecutors said, by filtering the Chinese money through the bank accounts of their businesses and bringing the investors as guests, with Li and Wang making the donations.
In one instance, they charged 12 non-U.S. citizens $93,000 per person, a haul of more than $1 million, to attend a June 2017 Trump fundraiser with the president before illegally donating $600,000 to the fundraising committee, the Justice Department alleged.
Beneath the facade, Li and Wang siphoned off the money to fund their lifestyles, the Justice Department said, using the investors’ money to pay for clothes, jewelry, housing, vacation travel and “upscale dining.”
The real estate project was a sham, too, the United States alleged, with the only funds actually put toward the project being used “merely to create and perpetuate the fiction that the [Thompson Education Center] Project was a viable development project that was actually under construction.” The project, which Li announced in 2013 as the China City of America, has yet to come to fruition. Its Facebook page categorizes it as a Chinese restaurant.
Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Li and Wang lied to investors by telling them they were “guaranteed to receive a green card in return for their investment,” that the project was already under construction, that the project’s parent company would go public on the New York Stock Exchange and that their “ties to high-ranking elected and government officials assured the [Thompson Education Center] Project of political support to attain regulatory approvals.”
None of that was true, prosecutors said.
Not a single investor received a temporary or permanent green card, prosecutors said. Instead, USCIS in 2017 started issuing “notices of intent to deny” applications for green cards “because USCIS did not find [the project’s] business plan credible.”
It is illegal for foreign nationals to donate money “directly or indirectly” to federal, state or local campaigns, or to a committee of a political party. It is also illegal for anyone to “solicit, accept, or receive” such contributions from a foreign national.
It was not immediately clear whether Li and Wang had legal representation. Overnight messages to a phone number and email address associated with Li’s company did not immediately elicit a response. Representatives for Trump, who was not named in the suit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement that Li and Wang had tricked investors “by misleadingly claiming that their fictitious project had the support of prominent politicians.” Furthermore, he said, “the defendants were able to perpetrate this fraud by then selling access to U.S. politicians" at fundraisers.
Peace said his office was “committed to protecting our democratic process from those who would expose it to unlawful foreign influence, and investors from the predatory fraudsters who would steal their money.”
The United States sought steep bail conditions for Li and Wang “in light of the serious risk of flight” that each posed, including limitations on their movements and the surrendering of passports and assets in the United States and China. Li and Wang hold dual U.S. and Chinese nationality, according to court documents, and the United States does not have an extradition treaty with China. | 2022-07-19T09:34:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | New Yorkers accused of defrauding Chinese investors, selling Trump access - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/19/new-york-fraud-chinese-investors-trump/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/19/new-york-fraud-chinese-investors-trump/ |
Biden’s associates say he will feel compelled to run if Trump does. If that rematch materializes, Biden said recently, ‘I would not be disappointed.’
President Biden maintains that he is still the Democrat best-positioned to beat Donald Trump, if Trump runs for president again. (Al Drago for The Washington Post)
He’s about to undertake a similar process in the coming months, one that will involve discussions with his wife, Jill — perhaps in quiet moments during their upcoming vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Del. — along with considerations of how a run would affect his family, including potential congressional investigations of his son.
But as the current president weighs his options, according to those close to him, one person looms largest over his decision: the man he’s often tried to ignore, the one whose legacy he’s worked to erase, the one he’s simply called “the former guy.”
When it comes to opposing Trump, “he does feel like he’s the best option,” said Ted Kaufman, a longtime Biden adviser and confidant. “But the primary thing is, how will he feel if he doesn’t do it and if Trump gets elected president? … ‘This would be very, very bad for the country, and did I do all I could to stop this from happening?’”
But there is an underlying anxiety among some Democrats about Biden’s chances against Trump (whom he leads slightly in the polls) or another Republican. He is enduring an unusually rocky stretch of his presidency. His approval ratings are at an all-time low, and 64 percent of Democrats in a recent New York Times-Siena College poll said they wanted a different nominee in 2024.
The president’s supporters argue that he is the only person ever to defeat Trump and that he remains uniquely positioned to assemble a winning coalition of centrists and liberals, with strong support from the Black community.
“In terms of him matching up against Trump again, I say bring it on,” said Minyon Moore, a longtime Democratic consultant with senior roles at the Democratic National Committee.
Everyone around him is operating as if Biden is running, with current plans pointing toward April 2023 for a formal announcement. Close associates say his low poll numbers, and the ongoing discussion among Democrats of whether Biden is their best option, motivate rather than deflate him.
“He feels he has something to prove,” said one person close to Biden, speaking on the condition of anonymity to offer a candid assessment. “It just makes him more enraged.”
Kaufman added that Biden has an ability to ignore the prevailing political commentary. “I’ve known him for 50 years — he’s incredibly good at tuning out the political chatter in Washington,” Kaufman said. “He’s never been focused on what’s the buzz about.”
Other Biden allies, while conceding that his polls are dismal, say the political landscape can shift in a flash.
“I keep telling people: Go back and read the newspapers from Ronald Reagan’s second year in office. People talked about ‘the Reagan recession,’ and you would have thought he would never win reelection,” said former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell. “Less than two years later, he got reelected and he won 49 states.”
Rendell said he sees few scenarios, absent an unexpected health problem, where Biden would not be on the 2024 ballot. “Joe Biden believes in himself,” he said. “He’s not going to give this thing up.”
“I’ve been in the White House when people were hand-wringing and moaning and secretly meeting that maybe we should find someone else or that the president maybe wasn’t progressive enough. It sucks. It’s not fun. It drives you crazy,” said David Axelrod, a Democratic consultant who was President Barack Obama’s chief strategist.
“But you have to separate out the hand-wringing from the legitimate concerns — and there are legitimate concerns,” Axelrod added. “They shouldn’t be angry that people are thinking about that, because there’s a lot on the line.”
Over his half-century in public life, Biden has deliberated numerous times over mounting presidential runs — so often that he has developed a well-worn process of sorts. There are long discussions with family over Thanksgiving in Nantucket, Mass., and debates with a small team of advisers in his living room.
“On the outside it can be a circus, but he really is focused on the pros and cons and what the situation is when he sits down to talk about these things,” Kaufman said.
Biden has weighed running for president in almost every election since 1980, when he was first constitutionally old enough. That year, a group of consultants approached him to argue that President Jimmy Carter and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), vying bitterly for the nomination, would so damage each other that Biden could emerge as a compromise candidate.
Biden decided against it. Four years later, he signed filing papers to compete in New Hampshire’s primary and left them with his sister, Valerie, before departing for vacation. But on the flight to the Virgin Islands, he and Jill discussed the idea, and when the plane touched down, he called his sister and told her not to file the paperwork.
In 1988, Biden finally did launch a campaign — but just before announcing, he later wrote, he confessed to his wife that he didn’t want to do it. She urged him to go forward, given how many people’s lives he had put on hold by signaling his interest.
But he dropped out less than four months later amid allegations that he had plagiarized a speech from a British politician. Biden did not consider running in the next several campaigns, haunted by that experience and questioning why he had listened more to those around him than to his own instincts.
When he finally did run again in 2008, he dropped out following a 1 percent finish in the Iowa caucuses and ended up as Obama’s running mate.
Biden has since suggested that he could have prevented Trump from entering the White House in the first place. “I regret it every day,” he said later about the 2016 decision.
Four years later — the year he ultimately won the White House — the decision process was no faster, in part because of concerns about his son Hunter. As has become clearer since, his son was at one of the lowest points of his addiction. He had fled the family and moved to Los Angeles, where he fell into a drug-induced spiral that at one point required his uncle, James Biden, to come and make sure he got to rehab.
James Biden, family helper
During the 2020 campaign, Hunter Biden was often a focus of attacks. The appetite among Republicans to go after him has only grown, with many pledging to launch investigations into Biden’s surviving son if the GOP takes control of Congress in the midterm elections.
“The one-term chatter never lasted very long,” said Greg Schultz, Biden’s first campaign manager. “He didn’t want to entertain it.”
This time, the specter of a second Trump presidency would be sufficient to motivate Biden and Democrats, Schultz said: “The threat of Trump is enough.”
As the incumbent president, Biden would have to worry far less this time about logistics — campaign hires, early-state visits, fundraising — but would still need to consider whether he could unite his fractious party.
Trump’s presence could again help Biden paper over Democrats’ divisions. But if Trump opts not to run, even those close to Biden worry that rather than being the candidate who has shown he can beat Trump, he would become the incumbent who is vulnerable to a younger Republican.
“A handful of people have questioned [Biden’s prospects], but they haven’t presented an alternative plan. They’ve just criticized him,” said Ben LaBolt, a strategist who worked for Obama’s reelection campaign and as an adviser to the Biden-Harris transition.
“Last time there were a lot of doubts about Joe Biden, and he turned out to be the only one who could beat Trump,” LaBolt added. “The only calculus is who can beat him.”
In his interview last week with the Israeli television station, Biden said that he was not exactly looking forward to a rematch and that he hoped the Republican Party “moves back to a more normal position — not this MAGA party that it’s become in many ways.”
“The one thing I know about politics, and American politics in particular, is there’s no way to predict what’s going to happen,” Biden added. “I’m not even halfway through my term yet. And so there’s a lot of room to figure out what’s going to happen.” | 2022-07-19T09:35:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | As Biden eyes 2024, one person weighs heavily: Trump - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/biden-trump-rematch/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/biden-trump-rematch/ |
Washington Commanders defensive back Benjamin St-Juste makes a one-handed grab during an offseason minicamp practice. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
“If you don’t have a coach like that, that’s trying to help you anticipate those plays and trying to teach you the game … then he’s cheating you,” St-Juste said.
Vieselmeyer has experience working closely with backs, including stints as the assistant linebackers coach and safeties coach for the Oakland Raiders from 2015 to 2017. “He’s done this before,” defensive line coach Sam Mills III said. “He’s taken a young guy and taught him the game and the particulars of the game. … [St-Juste] basically has a one-on-one tutor.”
“It’s a learning process,” he said. “… Once you make a mistake in practice, you make sure it never happens the next day.” | 2022-07-19T09:35:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Commanders CB Benjamin St-Juste slides to slot for Year 2 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/19/benjamin-st-juste-commanders-slot/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/19/benjamin-st-juste-commanders-slot/ |
Maxine Williams, the company’s chief diversity officer, said the unexpected benefit to expanding remote work options was that it helped the company improve diversity
People from underrepresented groups were more likely to opt to work remotely, according to Facebook's chief diversity officer. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg News)
In the United States, remote job offers were more likely to be filled by people of color, people with disabilities and veterans, according to the company’s annual diversity report. Around the world, candidates who accepted remote job offers were also more likely to be women, the company found.
Among existing employees, people from underrepresented groups were more likely to opt to work remotely, according to Williams. She said the company is still studying why people from underrepresented groups are choosing remote work, but speculated some workers are seeking to locate where they feel more at home.
“Silicon Valley was never a place where Black people were predominant,” Williams said in an interview with The Post. “So you are seeing people choose places like Atlanta, New York.”
Between 2021 and 2022, Facebook saw slight jumps in the share of Black, Hispanic, multiracial and Asian employees in its U.S. workforce, while White workers dropped by 1.5 percentage points, according to the report. Leaders at the company also became more diverse, with the share of Black and Hispanic managers increasing by less than half a percentage point, it said. The share of women leaders increased from 35.5 percent in 2021 to 36.7 percent in 2022.
“Look it’s been a challenge from the jump. That’s the truth,” she said. “We are very hyper focused on how are we going to do this given the current environment.” | 2022-07-19T09:35:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Facebook’s workforce grew more diverse when it embraced remote work - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/07/19/facebook-diversity-report-2022/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/07/19/facebook-diversity-report-2022/ |
Nicholas Bostic rescued a girl by leaping from the second story with her tucked under his arm
Body-camera footage from the Lafayette Police Department captured the Barrett family home in flames. (Lafayette Police Department)
He slammed on his brakes, turned his car around and pulled into the driveway. Then he realized he’d left his phone at his home a few miles away and couldn’t dial 911.
Bostic, 25, jumped out of his car and tried to flag down another driver, but the person didn’t stop. He wasn’t sure whether anyone was in the home, so he ran to the back of the house, found an unlocked door and rushed inside. All he saw was smoke.
“I shouted, ‘Anybody here? Get out! Get out! Fire!’ ” he said, recalling that he felt his eyes and nostrils stinging from the smoke in the early morning of July 10.
He didn’t hear a response, and he was about to leave, he said. Then he saw a teenager at the top of the stairs with some younger kids.
Seionna Barrett, 18, was babysitting her three siblings and her sister’s friend while their parents were out on a date night playing darts. Seionna had smelled smoke and was frantically trying to wake up everyone to get them out of the house when Bostic busted through the back door.
Bostic said he hustled everyone outside — then Seionna told him the baby was missing. Bostic would soon learn she was referring to 6-year-old Kaylani, nicknamed “Baby K,” who was still in the burning house.
“I ran inside and looked under beds and closets, but I couldn’t find her,” he said. “But when I got to the stairs that led downstairs, I heard some faint crying.”
“I thought, ‘I don’t want to die here,’ ” he said.
“I rolled her up in my arm like a football, then felt my way back up the stairs,” Bostic said. “It was extremely hot and smoky, and it was painful to breathe. The only light I could see was coming from the rooms upstairs. So I headed up there.”
“His selflessness during this incident is inspiring,” said Lt. Randy Sherer of the Lafayette Police Department.
Bostic — who works as a pizza maker for Papa John’s — is bashful about praise and told Sherer he was just an ordinary guy, he said.
“What he doesn’t understand is his actions weren’t ordinary, they were extraordinary,” Sherer said. “He went down those stairs to save that little girl when he thought it was impossible just moments before. He knew he was risking his life. There’s only one way to define that: courageous and heroic.”
They arrived to find their home engulfed in flames and “Baby K” in an ambulance with minor injuries. Bostic was also being sent by ambulance to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and first-degree burns on his buttocks, right ankle and right arm.
By the time firefighters arrived, the children — Seionna, who was babysitting, Shaylee, 13, Kaleia, 1, and Shaylee’s friend, Livian Knifley, 13, — were safely out of the house. They were shaken, but otherwise unharmed, said David Barrett, 39.
“We feel very blessed for what Nick did,” Barrett said. “He’s a real hero, and my daughter’s a real hero for waking the kids up. I don’t like to think about what might have happened if Nick hadn’t shown up. I’m grateful beyond words.”
Barrett said he works as an assistant principal at Tecumseh Junior High School in Lafayette and he and his wife had rented their home for about six years. The Lafayette Fire Department is still investigating the cause of the fire, but officials believe it may have started on the front porch, he said.
“It’s scary how fast it spread — we lost everything,” Barrett said, explaining all his physical possessions were ruined.
Barrett said when he returned to the house the next day, the “LOVE” plaque on the family’s living room wall had not been touched by the fire.
“It was like a sign,” he said. “Everything had been burned down and all that remained was love. The love shown by Nick and the community has been great.”
A teacher at his school who is on vacation offered her house for the family to use until they can find a new place, Barrett said. And residents of Lafayette rallied to schedule a bowling tournament, a band festival and a silent auction to raise funds for his family to replace their belongings.
Valerie Holdman also set up a Facebook fundraiser for Bostic to help pay for his three-day hospital stay and other medical bills. Her niece was on a sleepover at the house that night. More than $30,000 has been donated so far.
“I get chills when I think of what could have happened,” Holdman said. “A couple of more minutes, and they might not have made it. Helping with Nick’s medical bills is the least we can do.”
“When I met Nick, I cried for what must have been five minutes,” said Livian’s grandmother, Faith Holdman Bohannon. “He truly is our hero.”
“The last thing on my mind at the time was the medical bills, but yeah, going to the hospital is expensive,” he said. “I’m really grateful that everyone has been so kind and giving. But more than anything, I’m grateful those kids are still here.”
On July 17, he met the family formally for the first time after David Barrett invited him to attend church services with them, said Bostic.
“It was a nervous moment and also tear-jerking,” he Bostic said. “I was just trying to do what was right that night, and to know they’re all okay, I just wanted to cry.”
“Nick is far more than a friend to us,” he said. “He’s now officially a part of our family.” | 2022-07-19T10:26:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Nicholas Bostic rescued 5 kids from fire, one by leaping out a window - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/07/19/nicholas-bostic-rescue-kids-fire/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/07/19/nicholas-bostic-rescue-kids-fire/ |
Ex-congresswoman, GOP target on ballot as Maryland votes for Congress
Former U.S. representative Donna F. Edwards, center, speaks with potential voters June 18 in District Heights, Md. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post)
Maryland primary voters will make their picks for Congress on Tuesday, in a midterm election year in which Democrats’ slim House majority is on the line and every seat counts. But the most high-profile race on the ballot is in deep-blue territory.
Former congresswoman Donna F. Edwards, seeking to return to her old seat in the state’s 4th Congressional District, has been locked in a bitter faceoff with former Prince George’s County state’s attorney Glenn Ivey that has attracted millions of dollars in outside spending. The race has become an example of the unchecked influence that national special-interest groups can wield in politics, even though voters in the 4th District, anchored in Prince George’s, have indicated they are largely focused on local issues about public safety and gun violence and also the cost of living in a strapped economy.
A new super-PAC affiliated with the pro-Israel American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, which endorsed Ivey, has spent nearly $6 million against Edwards, flooding the airwaves with ads bashing her constituent services while in office. Edwards has sought to overcome those attacks by leveraging her reputation as a four-term liberal congresswoman with backing from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who defended Edwards as “one of the most effective” lawmakers during her time in Congress.
Former delegate Angela Angel (D-Prince George’s) and several others are also seeking the nomination for the 4th District seat, which came open because Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md.) decided to run instead for state attorney general.
Results in that race and others, however, may not roll in for days after the election, because Maryland law does not allow election workers to begin counting the state’s hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots until Thursday. Even then, it could take several more days or longer for workers to finish hand-counting them, state elections officials have said.
Maryland’s six other incumbent House Democrats are on the ballot but do not face competitive primary challengers. Neither does U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
The only Republican in the state’s congressional delegation, Rep. Andy Harris, is unopposed in his 1st District primary. But two Democrats, former delegate Heather Mizeur and former U.S. Foreign Service officer Dave Harden, are running for the right to challenge Harris, a staunch ally of former president Donald Trump, in November. That race is expected to be tough for Democrats in the solidly red, Eastern Shore-anchored district.
Republicans’ most exciting matchup is in Western Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, which political observers consider the Maryland GOP’s best chance to flip a seat red. Several Republicans are facing off Tuesday for the chance to challenge Rep. David Trone (D-Md.), the mogul co-founder of Total Wine & More, who has contributed $12 million to his own campaign.
Del. Neil Parrott (R-Washington County), the best-funded candidate in the Republican field, is seeking a rematch against Trone, after losing to him by about 20 points in 2020. Recent redistricting has made the district much redder, losing bluer areas closer to D.C. and adding all of Frederick County; FiveThirtyEight rates it a “toss-up,” while the Cook Political Report has it leaning Democratic. Parrott has, in part, himself to thank for the more favorable map: He had been crusading against gerrymandering in Maryland for the past decade and finally won in court this year.
But Parrott — a social conservative known for leading petition drives seeking to repeal laws protecting same-sex marriage and abolishing the death penalty — has found stiff competition in the GOP primary against a little-known, 25-year-old conservative former journalist, Matthew Foldi. In the past weeks of the race, Foldi got a boost from high-profile endorsements that spanned the GOP, ranging from Gov. Larry Hogan to Donald Trump Jr. to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.).
Foldi has indicated that if elected he wants to continue investigating Democrats like he did for the Washington Free Beacon. In this campaign, as Politico recounted, Foldi has been trolling Trone by showing up at some of his part-time offices across the districts on days they are closed and accusing Trone of slacking.
Foldi’s campaign platform has centered on securing the border, “crushing” the Chinese Communist Party and “unleashing” American energy, along with parental rights in schools.
Air Force veteran Mariela Roca and several other Republicans are also seeking the 6th District’s GOP nomination. | 2022-07-19T11:01:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Maryland elections 2022: Edwards, Ivey headline House primary ballot - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/19/edwards-maryland-primary-elections-congress/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/19/edwards-maryland-primary-elections-congress/ |
Mixed-use development coming to Howard University
Residents in the Oliver are anticipated to be graduate students, recent Howard University graduates and other residents not affiliated with the university. (Rendering courtesy of Rock Creek Property Group)
A five-story, 140,000-square-foot mixed-use building is under construction adjacent to the Howard University campus at 2711 Georgia Ave. NW.
Known as the Oliver, the building will include 93 fully furnished residences, a lounge area, a deck overlooking the campus and commercial space leased by the university. The site formerly was an apartment building.
Howard University collaborated with Rock Creek Property Group to develop the $62 million building, which is designed by a team with GTM Architects of Washington. Internships, scholarships and real estate development seminars will be offered to Howard students during the project. At least 10 percent of equity for the project will be sourced from businesses owned by minorities, and at least 35 percent of the contractors and consultants with the project will be Certified Business Entities, which means they are headquartered in D.C. and meet certain criteria to be given preference for business opportunities.
GTM’s team is led by Colline Hernandez-Ayala, a multifamily mixed-use studio specialist whose parents met at Howard University. The team also includes Rosana Torres, principal, and Kimberly A. Lee, a senior associate. The women-led team includes African American, Latina and Asian-American professionals.
Residents in the Oliver are anticipated to be graduate students, recent Howard University graduates and other residents not affiliated with the university. The units will be fully furnished to make it easier for residents moving to the city or transitioning out of dorms. The lobby of the Oliver will include work and study nooks, a hospitality station and lounge seating. The top level of the building will have access to a deck and will have an indoor lounge with arcade games, a fitness studio and a work center with a conference room, private office spaces and communal desks.
The commercial section of the building will be entirely leased by Howard University for the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, the Office of University Communications and other administrative offices. The building will also have underground parking.
The Oliver is anticipated to be complete in 2024.
For information and updates, click here. | 2022-07-19T11:05:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Mixed-use development coming to Howard University - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/19/mixed-use-development-coming-howard-university/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/19/mixed-use-development-coming-howard-university/ |
Few countries occasion more potential optimism than Colombia, yet the reality falls short of the promise. The country appears to be doing well, so if you visit Colombia, as I did over the last week, it becomes a kind of referendum on the wealth of nations. Which should you believe more – the generally positive evidence before your eyes, or the mediocre hard numbers?
The pluses for Colombia are easy to discover. The country’s major cities are full of attractive office buildings and retail shops, not just in a few wealthy neighborhoods but throughout the city. Both Bogotá and Medellín put on a good show of being ready for the big time, even if they are not yet fully arrived. It is impossible to visit those places and come away thinking of Colombia as a lost cause.
Colombia also does the American-style shopping mall better than many other countries do, including most of Western Europe, with stores full of people from a range of income groups.
Colombians also are notable for their entrepreneurial spirit. One 2021 index ranked the country as the most entrepreneurial in Latin America.
As a nation Colombia is extremely pro-American, both in its basic attitudes and in its foreign policy. Colombians identify with the United States, they tend to be skeptical of socialism and they have collaborated considerably with the US military to combat illegal drugs.
It is debatable whether pro-American attitudes lead to prosperity, but at the very least it shows the country isn’t allergic to ideals of prosperity and opportunity. And close ties to the US, which include large numbers of Colombia migrants, have been a transmission belt for business expertise, trade connections and remittances. To cement those ties, in 2012 Colombia entered into a free trade agreement with the US.
If all one did was visit places, one might come away more bullish on Colombia than virtually any other emerging economy.
Yet those positives have been in place for a while, and the results are less than earth-shattering. By World Bank estimates, Colombia has a per capita income of slightly more than $16,000, using purchasing power parity standards. For purposes of comparison, Mexico comes in at slightly over $20,000. Argentina is considered to have been an economic failure since the Peronist years, but still has a per capita income exceeding $22,000.
Also troubling is the country’s export profile. After fossil fuels, which have a limited future, the country’s leading exports are coffee, gems and precious metals. None of these is large enough or sophisticated enough or training enough quality labor to push the nation over the top. When it comes to complex manufacturing, the country is lagging well behind Mexico and Brazil, much less South Korea.
A pessimistic view of Colombia would cite the country’s very different geographic regions that have never seen full economic or even political unification. The lack of a fully developed nation-state has been reflected in the country’s ongoing troubles with guerrillas and drug lords. The major urban centers of Bogotá and Medellín are both deep in the interior, surrounded by mountains, and unable to take advantage of major navigable rivers. There is no world-class port or harbor, and except for its connection to the US, the country is inward-looking and has attracted relatively few immigrants, recent Venezuelan refugees aside. The Amazon cuts off Colombia from much of the rest of South America. De facto Colombia has no richer neighbor to pull it up by its bootstraps, Panama being much too small and most of Brazil being too distant. Colombia’s problems also include a recent uptick in troubles with former guerrillas.
The country’s election of a left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, has created much debate and controversy, but it probably won’t change the fundamentals of those positives and negatives, which are deeply rooted in Colombia’s history. Petro’s party holds only a small number of seats in the two houses of Congress, limiting its influence.
So if you look only at the numbers, you will forecast no great future for Colombia, at least not in economic terms. Since 1990, the economy has grown an average of about 2% a year, not enough to catch up to wealthier nations.
Still, I expect that Colombia slowly but surely will climb the ranks of middle-income countries. And so I have to ask why I place such faith in the “feel” and “buzz” of a country. Does a pro-American, pro-entrepreneurial spirit really have to pay off in the long run, even if the hard facts of economic geography suggest a tougher road? At the end of the day, I can’t give up my optimism.
Colombia isn’t just 50 million people who want a better future. It is also an ongoing referendum on what makes for national success.
Who Has the Stomach — or Obstinacy — to Stand Against the Dollar? Daniel Moss
Inflation Is Raging Because Globalization Is Fading: Stephen Mihm
Japan’s Lack of Inflation Is Tied to Loose Monetary Policy: Richard Cookson | 2022-07-19T11:05:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Colombia’s Economy May Yet Catch Up to the Hype - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/colombias-economymay-yet-catch-up-to-the-hype/2022/07/19/5f45e3e6-074a-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/colombias-economymay-yet-catch-up-to-the-hype/2022/07/19/5f45e3e6-074a-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
The Dollar Bulls Are Looking Increasingly Like a Cult
The U.S. dollar has appreciated against every Group of 10 currency this year. It’s done even better on a longer-term basis, with the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rising as much as 16% since May 2021 -- a massive move for a developed-economy currency. Naturally, betting on gains in the greenback has acquired a huge following, even among retail investors, gaining a cult-like status almost equal to the self-described “apes” that cheerlead for meme stock AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.
If you’ve spent any time on Twitter you might know that thousands of people have subscribed to the “Dollar Milkshake Theory” coined by Brent Johnson of wealth management firm Santiago Capital. The theory is that all fiat currencies are flawed, and ultimately doomed to obsolescence because they are rooted in debt and not backed by any absolute store of value. But the dollar is less flawed than the others, because it is the world’s primary reserve currency and most global transactions, especially in the commodities market, are conducted in dollars. When the Federal Reserve begins to withdraw liquidity from the system via quantitative tightening, it becomes a net seller of US Treasury securities, which serves to constrain the amount of dollars in circulation. At the same time, the demand for dollars is increasing among borrowers who need them to make interest payments on the vast amount of dollar-denominated debt. Hence, the value of the dollar will increase over time.
On the surface, the theory seems to be working. But in the world of foreign-exchange, where $6.6 trillion trades hands each day, it’s hard to definitively connect cause and effect. The dollar could be rallying for any number of reasons. You might find it counterintuitive that the dollar is rallying when everyone seems to be saying an economic recession in the US is imminent, if it’s not already in one. However, inflation rates are high and the Federal Reserve has been more aggressive than other major central banks in tightening monetary policy to combat inflation. That has made interest rates in the US much higher and more attractive than most anywhere else in the developed world, luring money to the dollar. So maybe dollar strength is simply a function of interest rate differentials, as is the case with most currency movements. Whatever, the reasons, Johnson and his milkshake theory adherents are pretty happy these days.
At this point, what would cause the dollar’s rally to end and for the currency to weaken? The first would be if Fed suddenly began to ease monetary policy, which would put dollars back into the financial system. Interestingly, the dollar has declined a bit in the last few trading sessions, perhaps in connection with speculation that the Fed may have to start reducing rates at some point next year due to a recession, or that the rally needed a break after the euro fell below parity to the dollar for the first time since 2002. It’s too soon to declare the trend in dollar strength over, but the recent weakness is noteworthy.
I analyze markets from the framework of sentiment, and I have been observing bullish sentiment on the dollar building steadily over the last year to the point where it’s now at an extreme level. Google the phrase “Dollar Milkshake Theory” and what pops up in the suggested searches box is “How do I invest in dollar milkshake theory?” The only thing missing is an Economist cover on the strong dollar, much like the one in December 2016 that featured a muscle-bound George Washington. The only problem for the dollar bulls is that the currency soon experienced a period of protracted weakness after that magazine cover.
Being long the dollar is the oddest trade to form a cult around. The only real way to express a long dollar thesis in the market is via the Invesco DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund exchange-traded fund. It had risen as much as 14.2% from its low in mid-January through July 14. Speculative sentiment usually forms around things that are more, well, speculative, with the potential for a lot more gains, like Tesla Inc. or the ARK Innovation ETF.
Johnson and his adherents have a provocative worldview, one in which the strong dollar is a “wrecking ball” that destroys other currencies and related assets. This is the “macro doom” that I have written about, that the dollar will become progressively stronger, and the result will be a crash in stocks and other risky assets. A strong dollar view is essentially a pessimistic view. And the theory may be correct, but like all trades it can easily fall out of favor for a period of weeks, months or even years. That is what inevitably happens when sentiment gets extremely hot -- and it may be happening now.More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:
• The Dollar’s Rampage Gets Even Tougher to Resist: Daniel Moss
• The Latest Currency War May Just Be a Skirmish: Robert Burgess | 2022-07-19T11:05:58Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The Dollar Bulls Are Looking Increasingly Like a Cult - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-dollar-bulls-are-looking-increasingly-like-a-cult/2022/07/19/0edf8026-0752-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-dollar-bulls-are-looking-increasingly-like-a-cult/2022/07/19/0edf8026-0752-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
Facing a competitive reelection race, New York City’s last Jewish representative in the U.S. House bets his faith still counts for something
By Paul Schwartzman
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) takes a selfie with a voter during a campaign stop at a Fairway in New York. (Jeenah Moon for The Washington Post)
NEW YORK — Jerry Nadler was fishing for votes outside Zabar’s, that purveyor of bagels and babka on Manhattan’s West Side, when Carole Kaufmann stopped to take the congressman’s campaign flier.
“A heymisher man,” said Kaufmann, 86, using the Yiddish word for familiar as she admired the 75-year-old Democrat in his blue suit, red striped tie and sensible shoes. Nadler is Jewish, and Kaufmann likes that about him.
“I want him around,” Kaufmann said. “He represents us.”
Nadler’s Jewishness has taken on new importance since redistricting has left him in a pickle, pitting him in a showdown against another powerful Democrat, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, in a new district that melds his West Side and her East Side.
If Nadler’s 30-year reign in Congress ends, his campaign recently warned in a fundraising appeal, New York City would lose its “last remaining” Jewish representative — a seemingly incongruent decline for a city that is home to more Jewish people than anywhere in the world outside Israel.
When Nadler was elected to Congress in 1992, he was among eight Jewish House members representing the city. He has never felt the need to play identity politics — not for his own benefit anyway. But now, 46 years after first being elected to the state assembly, Nadler is playing the mensch card.
“Jerry Nadler isn’t just Jewish, he’s a person who lives and breathes Tikkun Olam,” said the campaign’s fundraising appeal, invoking the Hebrew phrase for repairing the world. “Can you chip in $36 to help Jerry fight for our Jewish and Democratic values in Congress?”
Nadler’s appeal not only reminded his supporters that he is Jewish but also that in a race between two well-known liberals in 2022, his Jewishness matters.
“Of course it matters,” Nadler said in an interview, between spoonfuls of chicken soup at a restaurant near his Upper West Side apartment. “I wouldn’t talk about it if it didn’t matter.”
“It would be very unfortunate if there was no Jewish representation from New York,” Nadler said. “As it would if there was no Latino representation or no Black representation.” He was not suggesting that someone like Maloney, a Presbyterian, can’t represent Jewish interests. “Non-Blacks can support civil rights,” he said, by way of comparison. “Nonetheless, no one would argue that you shouldn’t have Black representation because others can do it for them.”
The race is expected to be close and could hinge not only on how a third Democrat, Suraj Patel, performs but also on who turns out for a primary in late August, when many New Yorkers decamp to Zip codes known more for sand than sidewalks.
Maloney has dismissed Nadler’s faith-based appeal, describing it to the New York Times as a “divisive tactic.” She has highlighted her own record on Jewish issues and showcased an endorsement from Elie Wiesel’s son, Elisha. (She also committed what for some was an unsavory faux pas when she referred to Barney Greengrass, the 114-year old Jewish deli on the West Side, as “Grassroots.”)
Divisive or not, it’s unclear whether Nadler’s faith-based appeal matters enough to draw votes in the new district, which is heavily Jewish. In interviews on the East and West sides, Jewish voters said that although they value diversity, they do not generally feel compelled to back their own. “I’m not voting for him because he’s Jewish,” said Roy Moskowitz, 67, a construction administrator, who called out “We love Jerry!” when he saw Nadler on Broadway. “I’m voting for him because he’s thoughtful.”
Nadler’s constituents support him because he’s a steady liberal voice, a defender of tenants’ rights, women’s rights and civil rights. He has been around long enough that they run into him at the drugstore, at synagogue and even at funerals, as Stella Gold once did. “I don’t have to wonder where he stands or what he means,” said Gold, 91, a retired social worker, as she pushed her walker outside her West Side apartment complex. “He has been very reliable.”
That he’s Jewish, Gold said, “doesn’t hurt.”
Nadler was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household in Brooklyn, the son of a poultry farmer turned auto parts salesman. At Stuyvesant High School, he developed a passion for politics alongside Dick Morris, the future Clinton adviser turned conservative pundit. Morris remembers coaching Nadler on the debate team and helping him win student elections. “Jerry was Talmudic in his defense of his positions,” Morris said in an interview. “He resisted the slogan and insisted on long-winded briefs. He basically talked like a Supreme Court justice.”
After high school, Nadler, Morris and their crew — known as the “West Side Kids” — built a political organization as they protested the Vietnam War, organized tenant associations and won low-level Democratic Party posts. Nadler became a fan of Bella Abzug, the feminist firebrand who was elected to Congress in 1970. He was impressed that Abzug could appeal to some voters with an antiwar message and others as “a Jewish mama” with her “gefilte fish and matzoh ball recipes.”
In recent years, Nadler has drawn attention leading the House Judiciary Committee hearings for President Donald Trump’s impeachment proceedings. It was at one of those proceedings that C-SPAN captured him carrying a Zabar’s shopping bag into a hearing room. A Nadler aide, asked at the time about the bag’s contents, said, “A babka and the Constitution, what else?” — a quip that inspired approving nods on the West Side’s nosh circuit and beyond.
Now, outside Zabar’s, it was Trump — and other concerns — that drove the questions voters put to Nadler in their uniquely New York way.
“What are you gonna do about guns?” one woman asked, her tone suggesting she was in no mood for a Talmudic answer.
“The Democrats need to get their messaging together,” another said.
A man snarled: “Tell me Merrick Garland’s gonna bring charges against that . . .” — and used a term less delicate than “former president.”
“I can’t tell you that,” Nadler said, quietly. Then: “I need your vote August 23.”
“Oh I always vote for you,” the man said, softening. He smiled, then headed toward the cheese counter.
The decline in Jewish House members in New York reflects the city’s demographic evolution since the 1950s, when 2 million Jews — about 25 percent of the population — lived in the five boroughs. That number has dropped to just over 1 million, or about 12 percent of the population, as Jews have died off or left for places like Great Neck, Miami and Los Angeles. At the same time, other groups have emerged. Of the city’s 13 current House members, a majority are Black, Latino or Asian.
“This city’s more African, more Caribbean, more Asian, more South American, more Mexican, more East Asian,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political consultant and an Orthodox rabbi. “Jerry Nadler is known among the people who voted for him. The question is, are there enough of those people left?”
Over the years, Nadler’s Jewish former House colleagues from New York have faded away. There was Queens’s Gary Ackerman, whose retirement ended his annual D.C. fundraiser that featured corned beef sandwiches shipped from New York. Ackerman was succeeded by Grace Meng, the first Asian American member of New York’s delegation. Scandal eliminated Brooklyn’s Anthony Weiner. His district, subsequently redrawn, is now shared by Hakeem Jeffries and Yvette Clarke, two Black Democrats. After 16 terms, the Bronx’s Eliot Engel was ousted in 2020 by Jamaal Bowman, another Black progressive.
How a middle school principal used the Ocasio-Cortez playbook against a 16-term incumbent
“The history of urban politics is always about change and competition among groups and Jews are in the process of losing the competition in New York,” Sheinkopf said. “What you have is a lack of identity of Jews as Jews. And they don’t have the power to ensure that there’s more than one Jewish congressman. It’s astounding.”
That is not to say that Jewish people no longer have muscle in a city where words like “putz,” “schmuck” and “schlep” are a ubiquitous part of the soundtrack. Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, is a Brooklyn-born Jew. The city’s highest-ranking financial officer, Comptroller Brad Lander, is Jewish. And Jewish challengers are running in other New York congressional races.
But Jews’ collective strength in the city has been diluted by fragmentation. While Manhattan Jews are largely secular and liberal, the most significant increase in the city’s Jewish population has occurred in Brooklyn, where conservative Orthodox communities are growing. As a result, Nadler can provoke a range of reactions depending on which Jewish people you’re talking to. In Reform circles, he’s lauded for supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Orthodox, meanwhile, have chided him for endorsing President Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.
“I’d rather have someone with a big cross around their neck who is there for the Jewish people than someone who is quote unquote Jewish and wears a big yarmulke but isn’t there,” said Dov Hikind, an Orthodox leader from Brooklyn whose battles with Nadler date back to when both were in the state legislature. “Jerry Nadler is missing in action.”
Nadler cited as evidence of his activity his opposition to acts of antisemitism, as well as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement intended to push Israel into halting its occupation of the West Bank. And he has served as dean of the House’s Jewish caucus. Yet his electoral fate may have less to do with his faith than his ability to connect, late in his career, with Democrats on the East Side who may be more familiar with his main opponent.
“Great to see you! Welcome to the East Side!”
It was a Tuesday in June, and Carolyn Maloney was greeting New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) for the benefit of a scrum of cameras. In fact, they’d been campaigning together all morning — first on the West Side, now on the East. Nadler was there, too, slowed by an arthritic knee.
As long-serving reps from neighboring districts, Maloney and Nadler have been allies whose reelection victories have been as predictable as alternate-side-of-the-street parking. Now, as competitors for the redistricted seat, they looked like a divorced couple at a gathering of extended family — standing a few feet apart while ignoring each other. Maloney, 76, is older than Nadler but more mobile. During this particular joint appearance she had all but attached herself to the governor’s hip as they searched for voters in the thicket of reporters, politicians and campaign aides while Nadler did his best to keep up.
“She’s got more energy,” said David Vlahov, 69, an East Sider who stopped to take in the spectacle, explaining why he prefers Maloney. “She looks like she has more time on the clock.”
As far as faith and representation goes, “It would be good to have someone who takes off Yom Kippur,” Vlahov said. But not having a Jewish representative doesn’t stop Jewish New Yorkers from flexing their political clout. “There are still a lot of Jewish voters,” he said. “We won’t let you off the hook.”
That Nadler is attempting a faith-based appeal is, perhaps, a sign of how hard it is to distinguish himself from Maloney. They both chair powerful committees (Judiciary Committee for him, Oversight Committee for her). They are in sync on most contemporary issues — each gets top marks from groups such as the ACLU and Planned Parenthood — though Nadler goes out of his way to point out differences. Unlike Maloney, he opposed the Iraq War and Patriot Act. (She also opposed the Iran nuclear deal.)
“She’s good and he’s good,” said Bernice Fleischer, 75, a music teacher, as she walked her Shetland sheepdog on West End Avenue. “It’s a sad choice to make.”
And then there are some potential voters who can’t be bothered.
“I need your vote,” Nadler said to a man who kept walking as the congressman fished for votes one afternoon in Chelsea, a West Side neighborhood that has grown more affluent as younger generations of professionals have moved in. Another raised his hand to signal he didn’t want his flier. A woman stopped, but she was a French tourist. Another smiled as she walked by.
“Here’s your bread and butter, right here,” an aide told Nadler as two more women approached, both senior citizens. One wore a leopard-spotted jacket echoing the pattern on her eyeglass frames.
“I don’t need that,” Joan Rose, 87, said when the congressman offered her a flier. “I know you.”
“It’s Nadler,” said her friend, Sharon Santana, 74. “He’s a staple.”
A bit later, Nadler traveled uptown to Fairway, a supermarket on Broadway where for decades he has trolled for votes. He met Nathan Bahny, 69, who bemoaned the mishegoss — that’s Yiddish for craziness — of the congressman’s duel with Maloney.
“Both good people,” Bahny said, considering his choice as he offered an unsolicited description of his expansive book and CD collection and referred to himself as a “stereotypical Upper West Side Jewish liberal.”
So Nadler’s Jewishness would be the deciding factor?
“No,” Bahny said. “I don’t vote for religion.” Instead he described a connection with Nadler that, in New York’s version of tribal loyalty, may be as important. “He’s my across-the-street neighbor,” he said. Before moving on, he promised the congressman his vote. | 2022-07-19T11:06:23Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Jerry Nadler is hoping New York City Jews care about identity politics - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/07/19/jerry-nadler-jewish-identity-politics-new-york-city/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/07/19/jerry-nadler-jewish-identity-politics-new-york-city/ |
Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall and Patrick Henry didn’t advocate for prosecution of a woman who probably had an abortion
Perspective by Sarah Hougen Poggi
Cynthia A. Kierner
Antiabortion activist Elianna Geertgens, right, argues with abortion rights activist Sam Scarcello outside the U.S. Supreme Court on July 4. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post)
A basic premise of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.’s majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was that the Constitution can protect the right to abortion only if it is “deeply rooted in our history and traditions.” This statement complements Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s concept of originalism, or the idea that the court should interpret the Constitution by trying to infer “the meaning that it had at the time people ratified it.”
Alito’s evidence that abortion was always considered a criminal act, and thus something the Constitution should not protect, consisted of a single criminal case that was prosecuted in 1652 in the (Catholic) colony of Maryland. He then jumped ahead to laws that states enacted, mostly in the mid-to-late-19th century, to criminalize abortion. This cursory survey of abortion in early America was hardly complete, especially because it ignored the history of abortion in the years in which the Constitution was drafted and ratified.
In that era, abortion was governed by Anglo-American common law. Under this framework, the procedure was legal before “quickening,” or the moment the pregnant person first felt fetal movement — a highly subjective milestone that usually occurred around 16 to 22 weeks of gestation. Yet even after quickening, few people were prosecuted for abortion, let alone convicted — Alito’s opinion certainly did not offer contradictory evidence. The reason is simple: In the early republic, abortion was largely a private matter. It was not a cause for public concern, nor was abortion considered a criminal act.
In fact, contrary to Alito’s assertions in Dobbs, three Founders from Virginia — Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and John Marshall — did not seek charges in a sensational court case from that era in which evidence of an abortion was discovered.
In 1792, 18-year-old unwed Nancy Randolph was impregnated by her 22-year-old brother-in-law and cousin, Richard Randolph. Nancy lived with Richard and his wife, her sister Judith, at their Cumberland County plantation in Virginia, aptly named “Bizarre.”
In September, Nancy and Judith’s cousin and sister-in-law, Jefferson’s daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph, visited and found Nancy unwell and unwilling to undress in front of her. Martha, who believed Nancy was pregnant, recommended gum of guaiacum, an herb known to treat “menstrual obstruction,” a euphemism for pregnancy. On her return home, she sent Nancy the herb, which she warned could “produce an abortion.”
Two weeks later, Richard, Judith and Nancy visited the home of their cousins, Randolph and Mary Randolph Harrison. Nancy appeared ill and retired early to bed, awakening with a scream in the middle of the night. The next morning, Nancy’s bedclothes were bloody. Randolph Harrison saw blood on the stairs and noted “[Nancy’s] considerable paleness and a disagreeable odor.”
When an enslaved man found what appeared to be a White fetus on a woodpile, rumors spread through the community of enslaved people to Whites of all classes quickly, reaching Philadelphia, where Jefferson expressed sympathy for Nancy in a letter to daughter Martha, declaring: “I see guilt but in one person, and not in her.” Jefferson’s response was typical of that era, a time when upper class White women like Nancy were viewed as morally pure and sexually chaste by nature.
Many among the general public believed that Richard impregnated his sister-in-law — which was incest under Virginia law — and that he also murdered a living infant. His honor and life were at risk. Richard vehemently asserted his innocence in a newspaper. His public statement had little effect, and, facing mounting pressure, he surrendered to the county sheriff. Richard was charged with “feloniously murdering a child delivered of the body of Nancy Randolph or being accessory to the same.”
Medically, five pieces of evidence suggest that what happened was not murder of a living child, but rather a deliberate second-trimester abortion. First, Nancy had an abortifacient. Second, witnesses reported her enlarged abdomen, though not a full-term pregnancy. Third, Nancy’s brief cries were more consistent with latent labor than active labor. In latent labor, the cervix dilates to four-to-six centimeters, sufficient for passage of a one-to-two-pound fetus. Uncomfortable but not unbearable, and sometimes lasting days, latent labor in the second trimester ends abruptly with the expulsion of the fetus. (At full term, hours of painful active labor follow to achieve 10-centimeter dilation and pushing efforts.)
Fourth, no one reported a baby’s cry, suggesting pre-viability outside the womb. Finally, Nancy later delivered a son at term, indicating she had no risk factors for second-trimester miscarriage such as uterine or cervical anomalies. Altogether, the evidence supports the conclusion that Nancy ingested herbs to induce a second-trimester abortion and that her effort was successful.
In April 1793, Richard appeared before a tribunal of county judges who weighed the merits of serious criminal charges to decide whether they should be adjudicated in a higher court. Few defendants in the 1790s had legal counsel, but Richard and his stepfather assembled a good team: Henry, a charismatic litigator and former governor famous for his “Give me liberty or give me death” speech; Marshall, a rising star and the future U.S. Supreme Court chief justice; and William Campbell, the U.S. attorney for Virginia.
The circumstantial obstetric evidence overwhelmingly demonstrated that Nancy’s pregnancy ended that night at the Harrisons’ home. Marshall recorded Martha Randolph’s testimony that Nancy was pregnant and that she delivered the herb, noting that the gum of guaiacum was “designed” for producing an abortion. But he did not describe this as a crime.
No effort seems to have been made to determine whether the pregnancy had reached the stage of quickening. If it was post-quickening, the state could have prosecuted Nancy and Martha. Instead Henry skillfully undermined the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses, and Marshall successfully took the untenable position that there was never a pregnancy and, thus, Richard could not be guilty of murder.
While the release of Richard — a wealthy White man with great lawyers — was not surprising, what was remarkable and relevant to today’s debates is that evidence of an intended abortion was discovered in an unwed, unpropertied woman and not fully investigated or acted upon. Nancy would later admit she had been pregnant, yet neither she nor her accomplice were ever charged.
Abortion was later criminalized in Virginia and across other states in the 19th century. But these laws reflected the development of modern gynecology more than a change in morality. The curette, introduced in 1843, was widely adopted when dilators were developed in 1871, resulting in the “D and C” procedure, in which the cervix is dilated to allow for passage of a curette, which removes tissue from the uterus. Abortion transformed from a private, female matter to the purview of male medical professionals, who excluded other providers by influencing lawmakers.
Therefore, the more historically accurate conclusion is Justice Harry A. Blackmun’s majority opinion in Roe v. Wade (1973), that “at the time of the adoption of our Constitution, and throughout the majority of the 19th century, abortion was viewed with less disfavor than under most American statutes currently in effect. Phrasing it another way, a woman enjoyed a substantially broader right to terminate a pregnancy than she does in most States today. ”
Though Marshall’s notes on Commonwealth v. Randolph are extensive, this episode is poorly documented in the county court records, and, thus, no formal case law was generated. Regardless, the episode begs examination as it involved key Founders who occupied vastly different positions on the political spectrum, both nationally and in Virginia. The Federalist Marshall believed in a strong national government. Jefferson mostly supported a decentralized system. Henry was a populist. Yet all three tacitly agreed that abortion in this case was a private matter, not a criminal act worthy of further investigation and prosecution. In a remarkable coda, Nancy went on to marry Gouverneur Morris of New York, an influential signer of the Constitution, who was well aware of her backstory.
If anything, the saga demonstrates that the concept of abortion as a private matter was “deeply rooted” in the minds of our nation’s Founders. As Americans consider their next move on the abortion issue at the state level, they should be mindful of the precedents followed by these early giants of our republic. | 2022-07-19T11:06:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A 1792 case reveals that key Founders saw abortion as a private matter - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/07/19/1792-case-reveals-that-key-founders-saw-abortion-private-matter/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/07/19/1792-case-reveals-that-key-founders-saw-abortion-private-matter/ |
A GateHouse Media-owned Palm Beach Post and the Gannett Co.-owned USA Today are seen for sale at a newsstand in 2019, the year the two chains merged. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
That observation, from legendary television producer Norman Lear (who turns 100 on July 27!), might sound like a blunt assessment of contemporary journalism — but Lear wrote those words in a special issue of the Nation, where I serve as publisher, in 1996.
Since the frenzy of Big Media consolidation that rocked the 1980s, journalists, media figures and scholars have been issuing such warnings. Yet, for decades, the number of newspapers has kept shrinking — and a report from Northwestern University confirms the severity of the trend. The United States has already lost a quarter of the newspapers that existed even in 2005; each week, two more shut down.
As a result, the number of Americans living in news deserts — communities with no functioning local news outlet — has grown to an astonishing 70 million. As private equity firms and hedge funds snap up half of the country’s daily newspapers, they’re emptying newsrooms and disinvesting in local coverage. Some news deserts harbor a “ghost newspaper” that lingers as a shadow of its former self, absorbed by a larger paper or slashed to a staff you could count on one hand. Others have lost their papers altogether. The upshot: Across the country, particularly in rural, low-income communities, people are losing access to relevant, trustworthy news — and we’re suffering consequences in real time.
Those who live in news deserts are forced to turn to national news sources and social media platforms. The former often fails to provide any information about their local communities, while the latter often profits from misinformation.
This warped information landscape has coincided with an unprecedented erosion of trust. According to a recent Gallup poll, just 16 percent of Americans reported having “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers — the lowest rate Gallup has ever recorded.
That distrust could prove dangerous. Local journalism has historically been crucial to holding leaders accountable and ensuring the government serves the people. Since the water crisis in Flint, Mich., began in 2014, the Detroit Metro Times has investigated its causes and publicized its coverup. In 2019, the Connecticut Mirror uncovered intentional segregation in local towns, exposing zoning board officials who created those injustices. Local news sources were essential to disseminating crucial information about the coronavirus — from mapping testing sites to clarifying vaccine availability.
Indeed, local news helps build a robust civic life by not only informing people but also involving them in community conversations. It has the potential to create a shared reality, so when we disagree, it’s about the solutions to problems — not whether such problems exist.
As journalist Bill Moyers once observed in a speech to the National Conference for Media Reform, “The quality of democracy and the quality of journalism are deeply entwined.” The precarity of local journalism today is a civic crisis. Media columnist Margaret Sullivan illustrates the repercussions: “As local news disappears, bad things happen: Voter participation declines. Corruption, in business and government, finds more fertile ground. And false information spreads wildly.” We might add to that list: Local government officials aren’t held accountable for corruption, and the influence of dark money becomes all the more pervasive.
To revive local journalism, shouldn’t we value it as a public good essential to democracy? And to that end, wouldn’t a Democratic-controlled Congress want to boost the government’s investment in news? That could be made clear in existing proposals, such as the payroll tax credit for local news organizations that was embedded in the Build Back Better bill. There’s also the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, first introduced in 2020, which creates tax credits for local newspapers and other critical stakeholders, such as subscribers and advertisers. (Institutionalists, take heed: Both of these steps can be taken through budget reconciliation — without any need to eliminate our precious filibuster.)
But government funding alone won’t be enough. A transforming media landscape creates opportunities to reimagine local newspapers altogether. The Saving Local News Act — backed by Reps. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.) and Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), among others — would make it easier for local newspapers to become nonprofits and shift their incentives to serve readers over advertisers. We’ve already seen success stories of how the nonprofit structure can benefit coverage — including the Texas Tribune boasting the largest state house bureau in the country, the Colorado Media Project pooling the resources of local media organizations, and two new New York nonprofit media outlets, the City and New York Focus. And to combat the existential threat of media consolidation, we urgently need to increase antitrust enforcement over newspaper mergers and acquisitions — which so often lead to slashed investment in local reporting.
Moyers, in that same speech, invoked the words of communications scholar Patricia Aufderheide to define the role of public media. As she put it, public media exists “to create a public — a group of people who can talk productively with those who don’t share their views, and defend the interests of the people who have to live with the consequences of corporate and governmental power.” | 2022-07-19T11:06:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Save local news. Our democracy depends on it - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/save-local-news-democracy/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/save-local-news-democracy/ |
Why the Tory leadership race matters
Conservative leadership candidates Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat and Penny Mordaunt during a debate in London on July 17. Tugendhat is now out of the race. (Jonathan Hordle/ITV/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
“Do you have grandchildren?”
That was Mitt Romney’s opening question to me when I first interviewed him decades ago while he was still governor of Massachusetts.
Romney explained that when you become a grandfather your worldview changes. I wasn’t a grandfather then, but I am now — and Romney was right. When you are considering the future of the United States, or the West, your view of events shifts fundamentally when grandkids enter the picture. You think longer term. The politics and the personalities of the day are less important than ensuring the right choices are someday placed before those who might decide the important things.
Suddenly, the holdings of a Supreme Court that advance the ordered liberty of the Constitution matter much more than a particular spending bill. So do worries over the ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party for global hegemony or the unregulated growth of “surveillance capitalism.” The bigger the picture, the more certainty that the issue set will matter more to a grandparent than who is up or down in the political pecking order.
Still, it is startling to see most of American news media pay scant attention to the intraparty competition among Tory members of the British Parliament to become the successor to Boris Johnson as prime minister. No ally of the United States has been more critical to the battle with global terrorism than the British. Just as the election of Margaret Thatcher to the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1975 marked a sea change for the West, so could the Tories’ choice now of a new leader.
Thatcher teamed with Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush to bring about the end of the Soviet Union and the revitalization of faith in free markets and free peoples. Reviled by her country’s left, she earned her title of “the Iron Lady” by, among other memorable phrases, reportedly telling Bush in the immediate aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990: “Remember, George, this is no time to go wobbly.”
Johnson, who is stepping down after a series of poor judgments, has been a stalwart supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia, but he’s hardly a Thatcherite, and his party is more populist now that it was some 40 years ago. He got Brexit done and hurried Britain out of the European Union, and for that alone he will be a memorable figure in the country’s history.
But what my grandchildren need now is a West recommitted to freedom, personal and national. A “woke” future is as dreary as California’s dystopian landscape. A hesitant response to China won’t create the future they need. And strong leaders matter.
There are some indications in the early maneuvering among the 358 Conservative members of the 650-seat House of Commons that a sweeping, enormously significant choice is before those legislators. The four candidates who remain are all under 50, and none are White men of the standard-issue variety in the democracies of the West. While America continues to imagine men aged 75 or older as its future leaders, generational change has already occurred in Britain — and there is no going back. Indeed, the next prime minister could serve in the job as long as Thatcher did.
The two debates last Friday and Sunday allowed the Conservatives in Parliament to watch the would-be leaders talk to the public. These lawmakers will whittle down the list of candidates to two and then turn those finalists over to a vote among the roughly 200,000 official members of the Conservative Party, who will get to decide who their leader will be — and thus who becomes the next prime minister.
If you have grandkids, my bet is that you are likelier than young parents or single folks to be focused on a leadership change across the Atlantic. You will know that whoever leads Britain next could remain prime minister for a decade or more and either lead our friends to renewal or managed decline.
But the U.S. news media should be doing its best to alert Americans to the stakes, the personalities and the agenda ahead in Britain — because of what they portend not just for U.S. politics but for the world. | 2022-07-19T11:07:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Why the next British prime minister election matters - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/tory-party-leader-election/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/tory-party-leader-election/ |
Former president Donald Trump speaks during an event with Joe Lombardo, Clark County sheriff and Republican candidate for Nevada governor, and republican Nevada Senate candidate Adam Laxalt, on July 8, in Las Vegas. (John Locher/AP)
In case you missed it, The Post had a sensational scoop last week in an article headlined “Donald Trump looks to fall launch for 2024, potentially upending midterms.” Oh, I wasn’t surprised that Trump is ready to announce his candidacy. I’ve been expecting that, if only because he is likely to see a campaign as a way to ward off prosecution for inciting an insurrection — which he richly deserves. This is going to be the “don’t lock me up” campaign.
No, what I found eye-opening was this passage: “Trump has decided in recent weeks to stage a series of what aides dub policy speeches as he continues to plan the structure of his next campaign. He gave a speech on crime Friday in Las Vegas ... Further speeches are being planned.”
When I served as a foreign policy adviser for Republican campaigns (John McCain, Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio), we used to spend inordinate amounts of time crafting policy speeches full of weighty proposals. This was considered standard practice for a “serious” candidate. Trump, as we know, flushed those expectations down a gold-plated toilet. His idea of policy was “lock her up” and “build the wall.”
Has Trump finally decided, seven years after launching his first campaign, to become a serious candidate? His speech in Las Vegas on July 8 had some serious-looking trappings: He used a podium with “President Donald J. Trump” and a mock presidential seal on it. But if this were a policy speech, then orange is his natural skin color.
Trump began with a brief tribute to Shinzo Abe, the assassinated former Japanese prime minister. “Based on this being a speech about law and order,” he said, “I hope that the man who committed this crime will pay a swift and steep price for the greatness he has taken from our planet.”
But, of course, most of speech wasn’t about Abe’s greatness or about the issue du jour. It was about Trump’s greatness — and how he has been victimized by so, so many.
“We have to stop fighting with each other and unify,” he solemnly intoned. “That was happening during the greatest period, I believe, in our country’s history in many ways, just before covid came in from China.” I’m sure we can all remember the Era of Good Feelings when Trump was castigating Democrats as traitors and criminals before China unleashed a pandemic to ruin his life.
We could go back to that halcyon age if only Trump weren’t in the crosshairs of a “racist” attorney general in New York. That would be Letitia James, a Black woman whose office is about to depose Trump about his business dealings — because, according to Trump, she is anti-White. You can tell Trump is nervous about being held to account, because he also accused Democrats of using “the law as a weapon to persecute their political opponents while they let rapists and murderers go free.”
In Trump’s telling, it was a shame he was robbed of his rightful election victory, because, if he had still been in office, he would have solved every problem in the world — even the Iranian nuclear program. “I would’ve had a deal done within one week after the election if the election wasn’t rigged,” he assured the audience. Yeah, right.
As to the ostensible subject of this “policy speech,” Trump did mention crime a lot, mainly to blame it on “the Biden administration, the Pelosi-Schumer Congress, radical left Democrats at the state and local level, and frankly everybody else.” (Everybody else?) “They defunded the police,” he claimed. In reality, Biden wants to increase spending on police.
But what about actual, you know, policies? There were a few — all familiar from previous Trump rallies. Limiting access to guns definitely wasn’t on the agenda. He demanded: “Leave our police alone, let them do their job. They know what to do.” (The family of George Floyd would beg to differ.)
Trump wants the death penalty for drug dealers, which he claims has eliminated drug dealing in China and every other dictatorship that’s tried it. At least that’s what he said Chinese President Xi Jinping told him. The facts suggest otherwise: China has a big drug problem.
For the umpteenth time, Trump also called for a border crackdown, falsely blaming crime on “an open cesspool of drugs and criminals pouring into our country.” But how can all these criminals be pouring across the border, given Trump’s boast that “We completed almost all of the wall”? You mean that the wall wasn’t completed? Or that it doesn’t work?
I could continue pointing out Trump’s false “facts” and nonsensical proposals from now until 2024, but honestly, what’s the point? His movement was never about policy. It was always a cult of personality that tapped into fear and resentment of liberal elites and people of color. To judge from his Las Vegas speech, nothing has changed. (Who do you think lives in “Democrat-run cities”?)
Is Trump finally becoming a serious candidate? You’ve got to be kidding. If Trump really wanted to fight crime, he would simply turn himself in. | 2022-07-19T11:07:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Is Trump finally becoming a serious candidate? You’ve got to be kidding. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/trump-candidate-lacks-policy-substance-not-serious-speech/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/trump-candidate-lacks-policy-substance-not-serious-speech/ |
Many Ethiopians see illegal migration as the only escape from violence
Governments and asylum systems offer women few protections, our research finds
Analysis by Lauren Carruth
Lahra Smith
Ethiopians disembark from a boat that carried them to Yemen in 2019. (Nariman El-Mofty/AP)
Earlier this month, more than 300 people were killed in Ethiopia, as part of ongoing ethnic violence. The alleged atrocity comes on the heels of continuing conflicts — and a “climate of fear” for many political minorities and outspoken activists.
In recent years, hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians have fled their home country, often without visas or other documentation and often traveling secretly to avoid the attention of authorities. Many of these women and men head eastward, through neighboring Djibouti and across the Red Sea, in search of work in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf nations. Ethiopians risk encountering armed conflict in Yemen and face additional dangers from drowning, dehydration, vehicle crashes, human trafficking and detention in inhumane prisons.
Why do so many people — even young mothers — risk everything to leave? Our ethnographic research in the Horn of Africa, including interviews with female migrants and the people and organizations assisting them, provides some insight.
What’s happening in Ethiopia is part of a larger trend. Around the world, many people fleeing violence in their home countries see little choice but to risk dangerous and clandestine journeys abroad. And while many are seeking employment, our research finds that, more fundamentally, they are escaping political and personal violence in Ethiopia.
Announcing the ninth African Politics Summer Reading Spectacular!
Why women leave
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) finds that most Ethiopians heading eastward are ethnic Oromos, and up to half may be women. Women from the Oromia region of Ethiopia face disproportionate levels of medical insecurity and political repression as well as physical violence, domestic violence and sexual violence compared to other Ethiopians. Population displacement, human rights violations and repression of political dissent throughout Ethiopia and for many Ethiopian ethnic groups also continue. All of these conditions contribute to decisions to migrate abroad, as well as women’s relative lack of financial and social support along their journeys.
One woman we interviewed, Ayyantu, said she wanted to leave Ethiopia to find work, but also because of what she called “forced villagization,” or forced displacement, in the verdant eastern highlands of the country. Local officials had stolen her family’s livestock and other belongings, she said, and accused them of treasonous political activism. She and her brother decided she should go to Saudi Arabia for a housekeeping or child care job. Her brother helped save money for a “delala” — a guide — to help her cross the desert expanses and international borders. (The names of interview subjects have been changed to protect their privacy.)
Refugee camps are often isolated and miserable
Some Oromo Ethiopians who experienced threats or persecution at home, like Ayyantu and her family, seek asylum in towns and refugee camps scattered throughout Djibouti. But Djibouti’s arid landscapes and remote camps offer little in the way of economic or resettlement opportunities. Ali Addeh camp, for example, remains underfunded, and it’s located far from industrial, educational or transportation hubs. The climate is dry, hot and unfit for farming.
The Markazi refugee camp, on the northeastern coast of Djibouti, is only a few miles from a bustling port. Yet there’s little shade in the camp, where temperatures regularly top 110 degrees Fahrenheit and dust storms regularly upend residential structures.
African refugees are exploited
Women we’ve interviewed who are fleeing violence and threats of persecution in Ethiopia often decline to live in desolate camps like these. Instead, they want to migrate elsewhere, to find work in countries where their labor is in high demand.
In Ethiopia’s civil war, violence against civilians is eroding support for the government
Popular destination countries for Ethiopian labor migrants, like Saudi Arabia, have not signed the Refugee Convention, a U.N. treaty that recognizes the human rights of people to seek asylum from persecution. These countries do not designate or recognize refugees as such and often do not guarantee them special protections or benefits. Many refugees live and work in these countries without legal status or documentation, which means they are subject to deportation and exploitation.
Escape routes are dangerous
More than a year before we met her, Ayyantu and three of her female friends packed into a car and rode 300 miles nonstop to the Ethiopian border with Djibouti. They got out of the car at night and walked across a remote stretch of desert, guided by a delala, and then got back in the same car, on the other side of the border. They were then driven two more hours to the town of Dikhil in the middle of Djibouti — nowhere near the Red Sea coast.
The delala then abandoned them. The four women found themselves trapped in Dikhil, without money or formal assistance, for the next year. They were forced to beg and take small jobs to survive.
Ayyantu described how memories of her sister, who had left Ethiopia 10 years earlier, kept her going. But Ayyantu refused to accept rumors of her sister’s struggles and instead imagined her living freely and happily in Saudi Arabia.
Ayyantu finally called her sister for help but was wired only enough money to pay for another delala to guide the friends by foot approximately 180 miles, along remote and mountainous trails, to an IOM transit center in northeastern Djibouti where they could get a plane ticket back home to Ethiopia.
Migration offers escape
Ayyantu and many other Ethiopians migrate abroad to escape violence. But most of the women we spoke to also expressed desires for opportunity and freedom — even adventure. In addition to escape, they wanted the chance, power and means to “build their own house,” as one woman phrased it.
Many Ethiopians — and people all around the world — continue to face violence and persecution at home. Refugee camps often offer refugees little hope of a better life. And opportunities for resettlement for African refugees in Europe and North America remain nearly impossible to access.
Without viable camps to seek refuge in, without countries that will resettle and protect them and without visas for work abroad, people like Ayyantu fleeing violence cross borders illegally and seek new lives wherever they can. And they survive these journeys not because of assistance or protection from governments, for the most part, but instead by drawing on informal networks of support — paid guides, family members and friends.
Lauren Carruth is a medical anthropologist who studies humanitarian response, global health, displacement and nutrition. She is an associate professor in the School of International Service at American University and author of “Love and Liberation: Humanitarian Work in Ethiopia’s Somali Region” (Cornell University Press, 2021).
Lahra Smith is a political scientist who studies citizenship, migration and political development in Africa. She is an associate professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service and the Department of Government at Georgetown University and director of the African Studies Program. | 2022-07-19T11:07:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why are Ethiopians leaving? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/ethiopian-migration-refugee-saudi-camps/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/ethiopian-migration-refugee-saudi-camps/ |
Tuesday briefing: Europe’s heat wave; Parkland death penalty trial; Anthony Fauci; track and field world championships; and more
A massive, deadly heat wave is boiling Europe.
Today’s forecast: It’s expected to hit a record 104 degrees Fahrenheit in Britain.
Why is that such a big deal? The country isn’t designed for heat like this, which is 36 degrees above normal. Most homes don’t have air conditioning and were built to trap heat.
In the rest of Europe: Heat has killed hundreds in Spain and Portugal, and France warned of a “heat apocalypse” as wildfires forced thousands to evacuate.
The U.S. is running out of time to hit its climate goals.
The top target: To cut emissions by at least 50% by the end of 2030 compared to levels in 2005. Scientists say that’s necessary to head off extreme climate change.
How the U.S. is doing: It’s between 12% and 21% there (but probably closer to 12%). Hitting the goal remains possible but would require huge changes.
Why we’re talking about this: President Biden may soon declare a climate emergency because new policies are stuck in the Senate.
A death penalty trial for the Parkland school shooter started yesterday.
The details: 23-year-old Nikolas Cruz has already pleaded guilty to killing 17 people at a Florida high school four years ago. His sentencing trial is expected to last for months, and the jury is deciding between life in prison and a death sentence.
What else to know: The mass shooting Sunday at an Indiana mall was a rare example of an armed civilian stopping a gunman.
Ukraine’s farms have become Russia’s latest targets.
What’s happening? Missile attacks are hitting and burning fields of grain. Ukraine’s wheat is key to feeding much of the rest of the world.
What else to know: Russian forces are pushing forward in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, the latest battlefield, and Ukraine’s first lady is on a high-profile trip to the U.S.
Anthony Fauci said he’s retiring by 2025.
Why this matters: 81-year-old Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, has been the face of the coronavirus pandemic response for more than two years.
In coronavirus news: CDC advisers are set to meet today on recommending the Novavax vaccine, which the FDA authorized last week.
Maryland will vote today in the first primaries in weeks.
What to watch: A very competitive race for governor. Larry Hogan, a Republican, is leaving office because of term limits, leaving the field wide open.
What else to know: Results could take weeks. A record number of voters — 500,000 — requested mail-in ballots, which officials won’t start counting until Thursday.
The track and field world championships are this week in Oregon.
The details: It’s the sport’s largest stage outside of the Olympics. Events started Friday and run through Sunday. Find out how to watch here.
Key moments so far: American Fred Kerley became the fastest man in the world this weekend, running 100 meters in 9.86 seconds, and the U.S. has dominated the podium.
And now … were you fascinated by NASA’s mind-blowing images of space? Explore each one with this annotated tour. | 2022-07-19T11:08:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The 7 things you need to know for Tuesday, July 19 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/the-seven/2022/07/19/what-to-know-for-july-19/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/the-seven/2022/07/19/what-to-know-for-july-19/ |
People swim in the River Wye on July 18, during a heat wave in Britain. (Carl Recine/Reuters)
A provisional temperature of 102.38 degrees (39.1 Celsius) was recorded as the country, which has declared a national emergency, braces for 106 degrees (41 Celsius), well above the 2019 record of 101.7 degrees (38.7 Celsius).
After 363 years tracking summer heat, U.K. sees an all-time high
“Earth sends a warning,” another British headline read — a nod to the warnings from scientists of the challenge that climate change poses to daily life.
Rail temperatures threatened to break the tracks, suspending train traffic. And London’s ambulance service prepared for an uptick in emergency calls for fainting and heat exposure.
Experts pointed to the role of human-influenced climate change as thousands of people were forced out of their homes because of wildfires in Spain and France.
In Spain, as wildfires scorched tens of thousands of hectares of land, footage showed one man emerging from a billowing blaze. He ran through a field from the yellow flames that engulfed his excavator in the Zamora province, where thousands of people have fled dozens of villages.
Train services were suspended Tuesday between the capital, Madrid, and Galicia to the northwest because of a fire close to the tracks, transportation authorities said.
A Spanish man fleeing a wildfire had a close brush with death on July 18 when the blaze engulfed his excavator in Zamora, Spain. (Video: Reuters)
In southwest France, wildfires that have destroyed at least 19,000 hectares were still raging in Gironde early Tuesday after more firefighters were dispatched to region on the west coast, which is lined with popular beaches and vacation spots. Authorities said about 37,000 people had evacuated their homes over the past week.
Towns and cities on the Atlantic coast got some respite early Tuesday, when a cool oceanic air mass arrived from the west overnight. The French meteorological agency lifted the “red” alert level on 15 areas and said the atmosphere was becoming “much more breathable.”
Still, “the heat wave is shifting to the east of the country,” the Meteo-France agency added, and 70 other regions in the country remained under an “orange” heat alert level. Maximum temperatures were expected to reach 95 to 104 degrees (35 to 40 Celsius).
The record temperatures in Britain sparked calls for action on climate change. “The likelihood of exceeding 40°C anywhere in the UK in a given year has been rapidly increasing,” according to Nikos Christidis, climate attribution scientist at the Met Office, the U.K. Weather Service — which described the hot spell as “historic.”
At a climate meeting in Berlin on Monday, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said in a remote address that world leaders faced a stark choice on climate change: “Collective action or collective suicide,” he told government representatives. “It is in our hands.”
National emergency in Britain as deadly heat wave sweeps over Europe
Timsit reported from Paris. | 2022-07-19T11:35:55Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Record heat wave in Europe; thousands flee wildfires in France, Spain - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/19/record-heatwave-europe/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/19/record-heatwave-europe/ |
Post Politics Now House poised to pass bill providing same-sex marriage protections
On our radar: Democrats pressing votes on marriage equality, birth control
On our radar: Biden could declare climate emergency as soon as this week
On our radar: What’s at stake in Maryland’s primaries today
On our radar: What’s weighing on Biden as he decides whether to run in 2024
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) addresses reporters from the podium during a weekly news briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday. (Tom Brenner/For the Washington Post )
Today, the Democratic-led House is poised to pass legislation providing federal protections for same-sex marriages, including a provision that would require states to recognize valid marriages performed in other states. The move is part of an ongoing effort to showcase the party’s commitment to other rights that could be at risk after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which for nearly 50 years had guaranteed the right to an abortion in the United States.
On Wednesday, the House plans to vote on a bill to protect access to contraception. The legislation on same-sex marriage is expected to draw some Republican votes in the House but its fate is unclear in the evenly divided Senate, where 60 votes are required to advance most legislation.
Meanwhile, President Biden has no public events scheduled Tuesday. Maryland is holding primaries for governor, Congress and other offices, and opening statements are expected in the federal contempt trial of former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon.
10 a.m. Eastern: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg testifies before a House committee on implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Watch live here.
8 p.m. Eastern: Polls close in Maryland.
Former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon slammed the Jan. 6 committee hearing as a “show trial” after exiting jury selection on July 18. (Video: Reuters)
Jury selection is nearly complete, and opening statements are expected Tuesday in the federal trial of former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon, who has been charged with two counts of contempt of Congress after refusing to cooperate with the House select committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Post’s Spencer S. Hsu has the latest:
A pool of 60 D.C. residents was whittled down Monday to 22 prospective jurors — 12 men and 10 women — from whom a final group of 12 jurors and two alternates will be chosen Tuesday morning before U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols of Washington.
Eighteen others were ruled out during day-long vetting by the judge, federal prosecutors and the defense, including several who said under oath that they had formed opinions they were not certain they could set aside regarding the conduct of Trump’s former chief White House strategist, who is alleged to have ignored a committee subpoena for records and testimony last October.
An opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas last month openly questioned whether the court “should reconsider” rulings that guaranteed access to birth control and same-sex couples’ right to marriage — two issues that many Americans view as settled law.
The Post’s Marianna Sotomayor and Leigh Ann Caldwell write that Thomas’s opinion — filed as a concurrence to the Supreme Court ruling that overturned federal abortion protections in Roe v. Wade — has opened the door for congressional Democrats to attempt to draw a sharp contrast between themselves and Republicans ahead of the fall midterm elections. Per Marianna and Leigh Ann:
The Post’s Tony Romm and Jeff Stein report that the potential move comes days after Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) told Democratic leaders that he does not support his party’s efforts to advance a sprawling economic package this month that includes billions of dollars to address global warming. Per Tony and Jeff:
Maryland voters are heading to the polls on Tuesday — in the nation’s only primaries being held this month — to nominate candidates in competitive races for governor, Congress and other top seats.
The Post’s Erin Cox and Ovetta Wiggins report that legions of primary voters were undecided heading into the final stretch, with polls showing some top contenders locked in ties. Per Erin and Ovetta:
Democrats, who are seeking to win back the governor’s mansion after eight years under Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, are choosing from a crowded field of nine active candidates with a breadth of experience. Recent polling found Comptroller Peter Franchot, best-selling author and former nonprofit chief Wes Moore and former U.S. labor secretary Tom Perez are in a statistical three-way tie with a large percentage of voters undecided. …
You can read Erin and Ovetta’s full story here.
Also worth watching: the Democratic primary in Maryland’s 4th Congressional District. Former congresswoman Donna F. Edwards is hoping to complete a comeback bid for her old seat in a competitive race against former Prince George’s County state’s attorney Glenn Ivey.
The seat is open after Rep. Anthony G. Brown (D) decided to run for attorney general. In the Democratic primary, he faces Katie Curran O’Malley, a former Baltimore judge and wife of former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley.
The Post’s Matt Viser writes that Biden is about to undertake a similar process in the coming months, one that will involve discussions with his wife, Jill — perhaps in quiet moments during their upcoming vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Del. — along with considerations of how a run would affect his family, including potential congressional investigations of his son. Per Matt, here’s the rub:
As the current president weighs his options, according to those close to him, one person looms largest over his decision: the man he’s often tried to ignore, the one whose legacy he’s worked to erase, the one he’s simply called “the former guy.” | 2022-07-19T11:40:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | House poised to pass bill offering same-sex marriage protections - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/house-gay-marriage-protections/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/house-gay-marriage-protections/ |
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) arrives to speak at her weekly news conference July 14 on Capitol Hill. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)
China’s Foreign Ministry lashed out Tuesday after reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is planning a trip to Taiwan in August, saying it firmly opposes a visit.
Pelosi had previously planned to lead a congressional delegation to Taiwan, the democratic island claimed by Beijing, in April but delayed her trip to Asia after contracting the coronavirus.
A visit this summer would make Pelosi one of the most senior U.S. politicians to visit Taiwan in recent years and the first House speaker to travel there since Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) in 1997.
Pelosi’s office told The Washington Post on Tuesday: “We do not confirm or deny international travel in advance due to long-standing security protocols.” The Financial Times first reported news of Pelosi’s trip, stating that she would also visit Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia.
“If the United States insists on going ahead, China will have to take firm and forceful measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
Such a trip would cause “grave harm to China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” he added, and “seriously impact the political foundations of China-U.S. relations.”
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou said the ministry had not received information related to reports of Pelosi’s visit.
Beijing claims Taiwan as its own and has vowed to achieve what it calls “reunification,” threatening, if necessary, to use force to take control of the self-ruled island. The United States has for decades treaded a fine line, not taking a position on the status of Taiwan’s sovereignty but asserting repeatedly that it opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo.
Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, President Biden sent an unofficial delegation of former U.S. defense and national security officials to Taiwan in March, in a bid to show that the United States’ commitment to Taiwan remained “rock solid.”
The European war and invasion by a superpower of its neighbor has especially resonated in Asia, with Taiwan taking steps to bolster its military readiness against any attack from China, as Beijing sharpened its rhetoric toward Taipei in recent months.
During his first trip to Asia as president in May, Biden signaled a more confrontational approach toward China and issued a sharp warning against any potential attack on Taiwan. Asked if the United States would defend Taiwan militarily if it is attacked by Beijing, Biden said: “Yes, that’s the commitment we made.”
His comments represented a departure from the usual U.S. policy of remaining vague on the subject and were swiftly walked back by aides and criticized by Beijing at the time. The United States has long maintained a policy of strategic ambiguity over the extent of U.S. assistance, making it deliberately unclear what it would do if it comes to defending Taiwan.
Zhao told reporters at a press briefing Tuesday that Congress, as part of the U.S. government, should abide by the one-China policy, referring to the United States’ long standing position that acknowledges Beijing’s position that there is only one China, with the understanding that Taiwan’s fate will not be decided by force.
Pelosi has been a vocal critic of China and in January met virtually with Taiwan’s vice president, William Lai, when he was in the United States. Lai thanked her for championing human rights and called her a “true friend” of Taiwan.
I was pleased to meet with @SpeakerPelosi, a champion of human rights and true friend to Taiwan. We are committed to working together to strengthen the US-Taiwan partnership. pic.twitter.com/dl7uA71CGu
— 賴清德Lai Ching-te (@ChingteLai) January 29, 2022
Taiwan has lived under military threat from Beijing since Chinese Communist forces defeated the Nationalists in the Chinese civil war in 1949, prompting the Nationalists to flee to Taiwan and set up a rival government.
In recent years Beijing and Washington have had an increasingly fraught relationship over trade, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, the South China Sea and Hong Kong’s autonomy, among other issues.
China’s defense minister, Gen. Wei Fenghe, in June called Washington a “bully” and vowed to “fight to the end” to take over Taiwan if a confrontation is forced, ramping up a war of words with the United States.
Lily Kuo, Amy B Wang and Bryan Pietsch contributed to this report. | 2022-07-19T12:06:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Nancy Pelosi visit to Taiwan would cause ‘grave harm,’ China warns - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/19/nancy-pelosi-visit-taiwan-china/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/19/nancy-pelosi-visit-taiwan-china/ |
Townhouses with expandable floor plan in Bowie, Md.
At Caruso Homes at Amber Ridge prices start at $535,990 for the base model
By Harriet Edleson
The living area of the Caruso Homes furnished model townhouse at Amber Ridge. (Benjamin C Tankersley for The Washington Post)
When Angel Goldsborough was preparing for a “new chapter” in her life, she thought she wanted to live on one level. That is, until she saw the floor plan for the Caruso Homes townhouses at Amber Ridge in Bowie, Md.
She also wanted to stay in Bowie, where she has lived for 23 years, and she was sure that she didn’t want to live through a home renovation. “There weren’t a lot of options in the Bowie area,” said Goldsborough, 51, who retired from the federal government in September, and has a new position working remotely in information technology. An empty nester, her son is in college.
New construction on one level was hard to find in Bowie, so she began considering townhouses. “I looked at a lot of floor plans online,” she said. “The floor plan was huge for me. I bought [the Amber Ridge townhouse] from the floor plan.”
Caruso plans a total of 63 townhouses at Amber Ridge. Prices start at $535,990 for the base model. The townhouses all have the same floor plan, the Patuxent. The open-concept layout and ample natural light in the model unit convinced Goldsborough that townhouse living would be right for her.
The base Patuxent townhouse has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a powder room on three levels, but Goldsborough chose several of the many “extensions” that Caruso offers buyers at Amber Ridge.
“The Patuxent floor plan can expand to include five full bedrooms and four full baths,” said Jozette Adams, sales manager, Caruso Homes, Amber Ridge.
The upgrades include adding a fourth level, which appealed to Goldsborough. Her unit’s total square-footage is about 2,800, up from a standard size of about 2,400.
On the lower level, which comes standard with a recreation room, she chose to add an office and a full bathroom.
Off the great room, on the main level, she ordered a sunroom, and she chose a full spa bath and extended closet for the fourth level. She also added a deck to the third level, off the owner’s suite, another deck off the sunroom and a concrete slab off the lower level.
“These are the options they give you,” Goldsborough said.
Caruso, one of two builders working at Amber Ridge, is offering townhouses with luxury laminate floors in the foyer, kitchen, laundry and powder room (half-bath) and ceramic floors in the full bathrooms. The other rooms are carpeted in neutral tones. There are nine-foot-high ceilings on the second and third levels.
The kitchens have granite countertops, stainless-steel appliances and a stainless-steel sink with sprayer faucet, a self-cleaning gas range, a microwave with recirculating fan and LED lighting.
Energy-saving features include vinyl, double-pane, thermal-insulated, Low E single-hung windows with tilt lower sash, a high-efficiency natural gas heating and cooling system, programmable thermostat, high-efficiency tankless hot water heater and Energy Star-rated appliances.
Schools: Pointer Ridge Elementary, Benjamin Tasker Middle, Bowie High.
Transit: This community is largely dependent on private vehicles. The Largo Metro station, on the Blue and Silver lines, is eight miles away.
Nearby: Bowie Town Center includes restaurants and stores such as Macy’s, Barnes & Noble and Safeway. South Bowie Community Center has a community garden, basketball court, a computer lab, a fitness room, a gym, a playground, meeting rooms and a therapeutic sensory room. Allen Pond Park, Bowie’s 85-acre city park, offers biking, fishing, and ice skating at the Bowie Ice Arena. Six Flags America, the amusement park, includes a water park and is known for its roller coasters. Patuxent Research Refuge is 13,000 acres of forest, meadow and wetland set aide to conserve and protect wildlife.
Caruso Homes at Amber Ridge
16580 Fife Way, Bowie, Md. 20716.
Sixty-three Caruso townhouses are planned at Amber Ridge, with 24 left to sell. Prices start at $535,990 for the base model.
Builder: Caruso Homes
Features: The base model has three levels: the ground level (lower level) with a two-vehicle garage and a rec room, a middle level with the main living area and the third level with three bedrooms, including the owner’s suite. The second level, with the main living space, includes a great room, dining room, kitchen and powder room. The kitchens have stainless-steel appliances, granite countertops, 42-inch birch cabinets and a 10-foot-long island. Units have a two-vehicle garage.
Bedrooms/bathrooms: 3 /2.5 (base)
Square-footage: 2,396 (base)
Homeowners association fee: $92 a month, includes snow removal on the streets, grass cutting on front yard but not backyard, and trash removal.
View model: Models can be viewed 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and 1 to 5 p.m. Monday. Call 301-517-7314 to set up an appointment. | 2022-07-19T12:36:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Townhouses with expandable floor plan in Bowie, Md. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/19/townhouses-with-expandable-floor-plan-bowie-md/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/19/townhouses-with-expandable-floor-plan-bowie-md/ |
Covid ‘Viral Load’ Is a Meaningless Distraction
Analysis by Cathy O'Neil | Bloomberg
When a person is exposed to Covid, does quantity matter? The conventional wisdom has long been that French-kissing a highly contagious person in a bar will lead to a much worse case than inhaling a few bits of virus on a walk in the park. The higher the initial “viral load,” the sicker you’ll become.
Actually, probably not. Judging from new research, the math doesn’t work out.
Before digging in, let’s consider the notion of a fatal dose, and how it might lead to the wrong intuition about viral infection. With substances such as lead or arsenic, the initial dose defines the effect: If it’s greater than what the human body can handle, we’ll get sick or even die. Viruses, by contrast, use human cells to multiply at exponential rates, typically doubling every two hours if allowed to grow unimpeded. The effect on the body, then, depends on how much they manage to spread.
To get a sense of what this looks like with Covid, a group of researchers built mathematical models to reflect how the virus infects human cells, how it reproduces and how people end up feeling sick. The research has yet to be peer-reviewed, but from this mathematician’s perspective, the intuition is convincing.
Covid viruses bombard us regularly, just when we’re walking around, but they don’t always get into our respiratory tract. They might get stuck in nose hair, or infect a cell but fail to reproduce. Just as sex doesn’t always result in pregnancy, exposure doesn’t guarantee infection. There’s an element of randomness.
Once a virus starts reproducing, however, its impact depends on its interaction with the immune system (specifically, the fast-acting part called the innate immune response). Infected cells produce a substance called interferon, which protects nearby cells from infection. The exponential growth of interferon-producing cells eventually catches up with the exponential growth of the virus(1)— but as the body gets flooded with interferon, people feel really sick.(2)[2]
Now consider how this works with different viral loads with realistic numbers. Suppose a person gets infected with a smallish amount of virus at noon. Over the next five hours, that amount doubles three times, growing to eight times the original amount. The immune response at 5 pm, and the attendant discomfort, would be only a bit more developed than if the person was suddenly infected with eight times the original amount at 5 pm. And considering how fast exponential growth is, from that point on, the progression and the peak of the illness would be essentially identical.
So how do other studies conclude that viral load matters? Researchers shoot pipettes of active virus directly into the respiratory tracts of mice, instantly infecting large portions of their lung cells. Such a targeted infection in such a vulnerable part of the body never happens to humans in real life. It would be like sucking on a turkey baster full of Covid. Nobody does that.
In short, don’t worry about viral load. If you want to avoid infection, masks help — and good masks help even more. But if you do get infected, you’ll end up feeling just as bad as if you hadn’t worn a mask. And in that case, being vaccinated is the best way to avoid getting really sick.
(1) When unimpeded, a given virus recreates itself about eight times. Different people produce different amounts of interferon in their innate immune response. But eventually the interferon impedes the growth of the virus, which is what I mean by the immune system “catching up”.
(2) So on the one hand, you want a healthy interferon response to combat the virus, but too much and you end up feeling super sick.
Cathy O’Neil is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A mathematician and data scientist, she founded ORCAA, an algorithmic auditing company. She is author, most recently, of “The Shame Machine: Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation.” | 2022-07-19T12:36:55Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Covid ‘Viral Load’ Is a Meaningless Distraction - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/covid-viral-load-is-a-meaningless-distraction/2022/07/19/f113b454-0756-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/covid-viral-load-is-a-meaningless-distraction/2022/07/19/f113b454-0756-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
Emmanuel the Emu has become a star of Knuckle Bump Farms’ TikToks. Taylor Blake, whose family owns the farm, helped facilitate Emmanuel’s interview. (Video: Annabelle Timsit/The Washington Post)
We wanted to know how Emmanuel felt about being a viral sensation. Millions of people have watched videos of the giant bird strutting into the frame of Blake’s TikTok videos, uninvited and oblivious to anything going on around him. In some cases, Emmanuel attacks the phone while it’s recording — pecking the device to the ground — and he constantly interrupts the social media content creator’s educational videos about animals and farm life.
And Blake herself is relatable to many on social media — representing those just trying to get things done amid the chaos of life. Some parents compared her futile attempts at convincing a giant bird not to do something — and watching helplessly while Emmanuel, as Blake says, “chooses violence” anyway — with trying to raise a toddler. Some teachers said it reminded them of unruly classrooms.
Blake was raised near her grandparents’ farm and developed a deep love for animals as a child. She has been creating social media content professionally since 2013. After a brief stint in Los Angeles, she moved to Knuckle Bump Farms with her girlfriend to help Blake’s aging grandparents care for their animals full-time.
The first time Emmanuel interrupted her as she was filming a video on the farm, Blake was irritated and didn’t post it. About a month later, she was rewatching the video on her phone and thought the interruption was funny.
Blake says Emmanuel’s interruptions aren’t staged. He has a genuine “obsession with the camera” — and “obsession with me. … No matter where I am … he always has to be right next to me.” | 2022-07-19T12:37:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Emmanuel, emu viral on TikTok, Twitter, adapting to ‘new life of fame’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/07/19/emmanuel-emu-knuckle-bump-farms-tiktok-twitter/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/07/19/emmanuel-emu-knuckle-bump-farms-tiktok-twitter/ |
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Both Republicans and Democrats have competitive primaries for governor in Maryland this year. Here is a look at some of the other races in a big Maryland election year with open statewide offices, including attorney general and comptroller. All 188 seats in the Maryland General Assembly are on the ballot. | 2022-07-19T12:37:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | AP News Guide: A look at Maryland's primary elections - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/ap-news-guide-a-look-at-marylands-primary-elections/2022/07/19/9ebf534c-0757-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/ap-news-guide-a-look-at-marylands-primary-elections/2022/07/19/9ebf534c-0757-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
Wendell Pierce on the role of a lifetime in ‘Death of a Salesman’
Wendell Pierce is set to star in the revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” on Broadway. (Edmund D. Fountain for The Washington Post)
Wendell Pierce, 58, is an actor and activist best known for his roles in the HBO dramas “The Wire” and “Treme,” and more recently in Amazon Prime Video’s “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.” (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) This fall, as “The Wire” celebrates its 20th anniversary, Pierce will star in the revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” becoming the first Black actor to take on the classic role of Willy Loman on Broadway. Pierce divides his time between New York, Los Angeles, and his native New Orleans.
I am amazed at how “The Wire” continues to find new audiences 20 years later. When you were making “The Wire,” did you have any idea it would have this type of staying power?
No, when we were making it, we didn’t. Almost every year we had to wait to see if we were renewed. I remember one particular year David [Simon, creator, writer and executive producer,] had to turn in six spec scripts before they gave approval. When we first saw it, it was so new and innovative in the way it told stories that I distinctly remembered telling Sonja Sohn and Andre Royo — we were watching it together — Save your money. Cause this s--- is going nowhere.
But by the end of the run we knew that we had a following. And like any good novel, it would have staying power, which is what [Simon] was attempting to do — a novel for television. Twenty years in, it pleases me to know that people are sharing it generationally with their kids who are now of age. I meet someone almost every month who is watching it for the umpteenth time, and to see it being studied around the country in academia is really an uplifting thing because it was the canary in the mine. It was a cautionary tale of how the dysfunction of America’s institutions can be crushing to the individual and self-destructive to the institution itself. And are we not witnessing that now?
It’s interesting to hear you say that he wrote it as a novel because that’s what it felt like. The whole time I was watching it, I kept saying, “This is literature.”
David said that from the very beginning: As actors, I want you to know this is a visual novel, and you’re not going to be in every chapter. You have to allow me to develop the chapters and develop places. So be patient. I know you’re so accustomed to a beginning, a middle and an end of regular television — cop shows in particular. The case is introduced, you investigate the case, and it’s solved by the end of the hour. That’s not going to be happening here.
And it’s the same conversation he was having with the network. And I think that’s the innovation of “The Wire.” It’s the first visual novel that really respects the intelligence of the audience, and knowing, if you are truthful and authentic, the audience will stick with you as you develop story and character.
It certainly seems more popular now than it was even then. Is there any resentment that people didn’t get it when it was on?
No, no resentment at all. I’m even more proud of it. It’s a piece of art. Art is lasting and impactful whenever people come to it, and they come to it in their own time. It’s the people in the industry that were late to it. I’m sure they’re resenting how late they came to it. [Laughs.] I have no resentment. Quite the opposite. I am honored and humbled that this piece of art that I was a part of is still impacting people, ’cause that’s what makes it a classic. Something is classic when it speaks to our humanity across time and space and age and race and gender because our humanity is that common thread that we all share, and when you tap into that it will outlast you.
But to think the show never won an Emmy Award.
By the time we got to the last season, I was like, “C’mon man, don’t break the streak!” I didn’t want an Emmy. I said then the lasting testament will be: This show will be one of the most revered and critically acclaimed shows that will never have any awards, and it will just show you how shallow people’s approach to commercialized art can be. That they missed the point of the power of art. I wear it as a badge of honor that we didn’t receive any Emmys.
“Treme” was looking at the rebuilding of New Orleans after Katrina. You’re from New Orleans. What was it like working in that city, particularly at that time?
Well, if “The Wire” was a novel, “Treme” was a poem. How do you capture culture and its significance, that intersection between life and people itself? How they deal with it — that intersection is culture. We have captured that so much in New Orleans, with our resilience, our ability to adapt, how we can honor structure and at the same time be free and improvisational. You hear that in our music. You see that in our food. And that’s what [Simon] was trying to do with “Treme.” The idea of pulling the curtain back and just peeking in on life as it’s happening. And that’s what “Treme” was for me. The years after Katrina. Some kid will say what did you do in New Orleans’s darkest hour? What was happening then? There is some visual document that I can say: Watch and see. It was also the last three years of my mother’s life. So I was home and blessed with being here to spend that time with her. So I will always cherish that time.
I’ve heard you talk about the neighborhood that you come from. Can you talk a little bit about that?
I am from one of the great American neighborhoods called Pontchartrain Park. This week, our landmark placard goes up because we are now on the National Register of Historic Places. Through an ugly time in segregation when Black folks could not even go to a green space in New Orleans, except for one day of the week — on Wednesdays — Negro Day. If you were ever caught in a park, you could be arrested, and it was because of the activism of my parents’ generation and the advocacy of the civil rights movement that the city government decided to do this, so that Black folks in post-World War II could have access to this new suburbia that was happening. It was ugly, actually. Separate but equal. But we took something ugly and made it beautiful, and it became a community that was an incubator for Black talent, politically, socially, culturally.
So what Baldwin Hills is to L.A. and Sweet Auburn is to Atlanta, this Black middle class started burgeoning in the ’50s. Out of that [came] our first Black mayor, [Ernest] “Dutch” Morial, his son now the president of the National Urban League, Marc Morial, myself, Terence Blanchard, the great jazz trumpet player and composer. We all came out of this neighborhood, which was anchored by this beautiful golf course designed by Joseph Bartholomew, who designed most of the courses in New Orleans at the time and could not play on any of them because he was a Black man. He created a course, 1,000 homes around this beautiful course, just for working-class people really. But it gave an opportunity to access the American Dream, and at the same time understand that [it] comes with a price. It came with a price of years of segregation and being kept out of the American Dream, creating an American nightmare.
The revival of “Death of a Salesman”: The production was in London; you are now bringing it to Broadway. I wonder, did you ever imagine that you would play the role of Willy Loman?
I would have never dreamt that this could happen. And that makes it even more special because I stand in the shadow of so many people, for so many years — and this is the thing that really touches me: I know who have dreamed of it and hoped for the opportunity but knew they would never get the chance. Probably left this earth with that disappointment and heartache — that unsung heart song, as Arthur Miller says. And for them, I step out on that stage and in their spirit give all that I humanly can give so that their unsung heart song will be heard. Giving voice to those who were voiceless for generations. And to know that being specific is the thing that makes it universal. So the message of the play is only elevated even more and speaks to everyone in the same way that it always has. You know, people always talk about there is this interpretation that you are doing, and I say: No, I’m doing Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” I’m bringing who I am to it. In the same way that small fraternity of men — Lee J. Cobb, George C. Scott, Dustin Hoffman, Brian Dennehy and Philip Seymour Hoffman — in the 70-year history of the play gave voice to it on Broadway. And for that opportunity, and this historic position that I am in as the first Black actor who is doing it [on Broadway], I think of James Edwards and Roger Robinson and Ira Aldridge and Paul Robeson and Ossie Davis and all those men who so inspired me to be an actor. And I am lifted up on the courage and the resilience that they had. And, yes, I have fear, but I also have courage. And that’s how I approach this play, and that’s the phenomenal opportunity that I have, the phenomenal opportunity that the play has right now. It is timely. And it is timeless, and it is time that it be done.
And so the play itself is the same, but you and the four characters are Black and everyone else is White.
That’s right. Five, actually, in the family. We are the only Black characters. But it gives a new ring to the lines. There is insult that happens in the middle of the play, that people hear so clearly and I actually don’t even say it, but they hear the insult because they know the position of this Black man in 1949. The danger of being in a compromising position with a White woman. The danger of challenging a boss. The irresponsibility and shame and guilt of a man who was supposed to provide for his family, but in the face of insurmountable odds against him, he’s lying to himself and what impact that has. The shame he feels but even more importantly, the guilt of disappointing his family. Those lines just ring out: “Linda, there is so much that I want to make for you. There is a living I want to make for you. … A man can’t go out the same way that he came in. He has to add up to something.” That is a heavy, heavy burden. It’s a spiritual burden of: I am destroying the lives of my family because of my inability as a man. And that is such an investigation that Arthur Miller had in this play. That’s the reason it still speaks to people 70 years after the fact. It’s crushing. And to add to that, where we are as African Americans in 1949, when this play is taking place — is it a futile dream? Is it a pipe dream? How awful is it for you to even believe in this American Dream when there is no evidence that you should, but you still do? That’s the ultimate disappointment. A crushing disappointment.
So it is something that I have to be very careful with. I never subscribed to the idea that actors would often say, “Oh, I have to detach myself from a role.” Always dramatic. But for this one it was different, especially at this point of my career. There is a similarity and a semblance of what Willy Loman is going through. Am I the mediocre man? Are my best days behind me? Have I sacrificed my family? And am I worthy of their love? Of even having what I have? And am I losing it? And I had to, as a middle-aged man, be careful that I don’t get to where Willy gets to.
Do you feel like this will open opportunities for other ethnicities with the classics?
Definitely. I was speaking about this with a friend the other night. I’m going to burn it down. I’m going to burn down the house so we build anew, not just for African Americans. It’s so that we, as Americans and as artists of the American theater, can just take those blinders away, take those limitations away, see new art. We do not have to be defined as through the classics of every- and anybody else. I feel that I am doing this play because it’s an American classic that should be done. I’m bringing myself to it and the uniqueness of who I am and we are. But I hope that people understand that we have — with our blinders — missed many classic plays that have been written amongst these 70 years that probably never got an opportunity because of our narrow-mindedness. The lack of opportunity and diverseness means that we missed it.
I always would tell people when we did “The Wire,” when you pass those corner boys, remember he has the cure for cancer and you missed it, because he didn’t have the opportunity to take that intelligence and actually guide it a few blocks away at some research center at Johns Hopkins Hospital. But he knows how to put together this enterprise in the underground economy. It’s the same thing with this. When you see the innovations of a production like ours, think of all the Arthur Millers who were writing at the time and happened to be Asian or Black or women. So I hope to burn down a house that is limiting, so that we, as artists, are building a bigger, more inclusive house. Not just for the Black community. It’s for the American community. Look how many stories have been left out. How many “Deaths of a Salesman” have we missed? How many Willy Lomans have we destroyed? Who had a dream that ultimately [would] never be fulfilled? Had a vision that could never be actualized? And so what I hope people retain from what we are doing and while we think about expanding what our American theater is: Let’s use words of Arthur Miller. Attention. Attention must finally be paid.
Robin Rose Parker is a writer in Maryland. This interview has been edited and condensed. | 2022-07-19T12:37:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Wendell Pierce on the role of a lifetime in ‘Death of a Salesman’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/07/19/the-wire-wendell-pierce-baltimore-treme/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/07/19/the-wire-wendell-pierce-baltimore-treme/ |
By Sarah Ransome
Sarah Ransome addresses the media on June 28, 2022, outside the U.S. Federal Courthouse in New York, where Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for trafficking charges related to her time working with Jeffrey Epstein. (Justin Lane/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
Sarah Ransome is the author of “Silenced No More” about her ordeal in Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking operation.
When I heard the eerie clink of shackles as Ghislaine Maxwell entered her sentencing hearing in a New York courtroom last month, I thought: “I will never doubt myself again.”
Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, and she continues to insist that she is being punished for his crimes, even after the jury’s guilty verdict. I read a statement at the sentencing to make clear Maxwell is guilty of her own crimes, and to speak up for all victims — both underage and those, like me, who were “of age” when trafficked.
News coverage of Epstein and Maxwell’s sex crimes has mostly focused on the young girls recruited near Epstein’s Florida mansion and the rich and powerful men who visited his Caribbean island. I struggled with this because the trafficking operation snared not only underage girls, who were coerced into nude massages, masturbation, oral sex and intercourse. There was also a large group of women like me who were trafficked and raped for more than three decades. I was 22. And when you’re a legal adult, you face a barrage of “you should have known better” victim-blaming and “you deserved it” gaslighting. Since coming forward in 2016, I have been called a “gold digger,” a “whore” and a “prostitute." Even my own father said, “You made your bed, you can lie in it.”
I didn’t know the FBI began investigating Epstein in 2005. I wish I had. I was recruited in 2006 by a woman I thought was my friend. She told me Epstein and Maxwell could help get me into fashion. I didn’t know I’d have my passport and phone taken away when I boarded Epstein’s private plane to his island. He wasn’t some old geezer in a bar saying, “Come to my island.” It was a carefully scripted, well-oiled machine. This was a professional sex trafficking ring. Epstein and Maxwell taught girls to recruit girls, women to recruit women. They knew what they were looking for.
I was born into a generationally dysfunctional family. Alcoholism runs in my family. I was first sexually abused when I was 11 by a man my mother brought home. At 14, I was raped by another student. All I’ve ever known is rape, abuse, trauma. Being a child like that, you don’t know what’s normal and what’s not. Your boundaries are broken down.
I was the perfect target. But even if you were from a “good family” you could be snared. Several women over 17 or 18 who were abused by Epstein and Maxwell have stated that they were offered work as Victoria’s Secret models through a scouting agency run by Epstein’s associate, Jean-Luc Brunel. Both men were jailed on sex crime charges they denied and hanged themselves in prison while in custody awaiting trial
People can judge survivors and say we should have done more to speak out or that we should name more names. Doing so threatens a group of wealthy, well-respected powerbrokers with influential friends and lawyers trained to silence accusers.
I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I’ve had my dignity stripped from me. I’ve had to question my own mind, my own thoughts. I have been ridiculed by lawyers and ignored by law enforcement. I tried to kill myself twice throughout this. The first time was when Epstein’s lawyers, including Kenneth Starr and Alan Dershowitz, made a secret deal with Miami’s U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta that protected Epstein from federal charges and allowed him to work at his office during the day throughout his 18-month sentence for state crimes. Acosta later became Trump’s labor secretary.
I think a lot of survivors don’t come forward because it’s one thing for a stranger to judge you, but it’s another when your loved ones join the victim shaming and law enforcement says you don’t qualify as a victim because of your age. The re-traumatization can undermine your efforts at recovery. I know it did mine.
Among all the survivors, only seven gave victim impact statements at the sentencing. Having the judge allow me to read mine in court even though I didn’t fall squarely within the contours of the charged conspiracy and seeing Maxwell sentenced was life changing. It went a long way to restoring the self-worth and dignity that Epstein and Maxwell took from me.
Still, I do not think that justice has been completely served with Maxwell’s sentencing. There are so many others involved in the crimes who have not been held accountable. No survivor should have to go through the journey from hell and back that I went through. That’s why I wrote to all 150 members of the New York State Assembly to urge passage of the Adult Survivors Act. I’m pleased they listened and passed the law. Now, survivors who were over 18 when they were sexually assaulted can sue without defendants skirting away on a statute-of-limitations defense.
This is not just about young girls, I can assure you. Every survivor of rape and trafficking deserves compassion. Your age, sex, gender, skin color and class don’t matter. What happened to me should never happen to any human being. My job now is to make sure others — victims, perpetrators, law enforcement and society at large — know that, too.
As told to Washington Post Opinions senior producer Kate Woodsome. | 2022-07-19T12:37:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | I survived Epstein and Maxwell’s sex ring. Then the gaslighting began. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/i-survived-jeffrey-epstein-ghislaine-maxwell-sex-trafficking-ring/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/i-survived-jeffrey-epstein-ghislaine-maxwell-sex-trafficking-ring/ |
State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski participates in a televised Democratic debate in Milwaukee for Wisconsin's Senate seat. (Morry Gash/AP)
Wisconsin’s heavily contested Democratic Senate primary raises an interesting question for the party’s voters: If they prioritize abortion rights, shouldn’t they try to send a woman to Washington?
Bunched at the top of the race are Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, whose endorsements from the far left of the party raise questions about his electability; former Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, who is running on the strength of his civic accomplishments; and state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, the only woman in contention. They all appeared in a debate Sunday, along with pro-union populist Tom Nelson and Steve Olikara, former head of the Millennial Action Project.
Godlewski was the candidate who stood out, and not just because her bright green jacket contrasted with the lineup of men in dark suits. She presented a feisty image, stressing her success in winning statewide races in the swing state.
Where she really leaned in, however, was on the argument that her male opponents are latecomers to the abortion debate. She noted that in events predating the Dobbs decision that overturned abortion rights, she was often the only person to bring up reproductive rights. “For me, this is not an afterthought,” she said.
Her strong appearance will test the degree to which abortion has become a top priority — perhaps the highest priority — in the wake of Dobbs. She certainly has made abortion rights a cornerstone of her campaign. She was the first up with an ad — shot from the steps of the Supreme Court, no less — after the Dobbs ruling leaked. She also featured a practicing OB/GYN in another ad. In an interview with NPR in late June, she explained, “This is one of the reasons I stepped up to run for the U.S. Senate . . . I was getting sick of reproductive freedom being treated like some sort of extra credit project.”
She has received the endorsement of Emily’s List, which backs pro-choice female candidates. And on Monday, her campaign announced a list of OB/GYNs backing her candidacy. She remains in third place in polls, although she has moved up from low single digits. If she is to break out of the pack, her best chance might be to convince voters, women in particular, that she is the most effective and determined advocate for abortion rights.
A Marquette University Law School poll last month conducted before the Dobbs decision showed Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly favor abortion rights. Nearly 60 percent said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, whereas only 35 percent said it should be illegal in all or most cases. Given the state’s trigger law that will impose an 1849 law banning abortions with no exception for rape, incest or the health of the mother, the issue is no longer theoretical. The Post reported on a recent case in the state in which “a woman bled for more than 10 days from an incomplete miscarriage after emergency room staff would not remove the fetal tissue amid a confusing legal landscape that has roiled obstetric care.”
All the Democratic contenders present themselves as pro-choice. Nevertheless, the race might provide some insight into how much Democrats, especially Democratic women, are willing to emphasize abortion as an issue ahead of the midterms. Will they choose a woman, who wants to make it a top priority? Or will they choose a male candidate, for whom abortion is one of many reliably liberal positions? The primary takes place on Aug. 9. | 2022-07-19T12:37:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Wisconsin voters will tell us if a woman is the best abortion advocate - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/wisconsin-democrats-can-support-abortion-rights-godlewski-senate-primary/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/wisconsin-democrats-can-support-abortion-rights-godlewski-senate-primary/ |
The Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is likely to affect abortion access in roughly half the states, most of which either don’t mandate sex education or offer sex education that emphasizes abstinence, an approach that, research shows, does not encourage adolescents to delay intercourse or reduce the risks that accompany it.
But parents can and should fill the sex education gap, says Laura Widman, an associate professor of psychology at North Carolina State University.
“The Supreme Court ruling makes it more important than ever that we equip teens with all the tools they need to prevent unintended pregnancies,” said Widman, who researches adolescent sexual health. “In all states, and especially in states that are not providing comprehensive sex education in schools, parents have a critical role to play in discussing pregnancy prevention with their kids.”
She understands parents’ hesitance to talk to their kids on the important yet awkward topics of sex and birth control, however. “Oftentimes that anxiety of, ‘I don’t want to say the wrong thing. I don’t want to screw up my kid permanently’ becomes such a barrier that parents say nothing.”
We talked to Widman and others about how parents who would like their kids to use birth control when they become sexually active can best approach the topic.
Start early and talk often
Toss out any presuppositions of having “the talk” with your children. Building a relationship of openness and support about all aspects of sexuality means having many age-appropriate discussions with your kids, experts said.
“I think it’s never too early to for a parent to start talking with their kids in developmentally appropriate ways about sexual health and safety,” said Annie Hoopes, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine physician-researcher specializing in sexual and reproductive health care. “So for very young kids, it’s talking about understanding your body and who’s allowed to have access to your body and how to communicate your body’s needs.”
As kids reach puberty, she added, the conversations can get more technical and focus on issues like sexual intimacy and how to reduce the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
Waiting for the exact right moment to bring up these issues is also a mistake. “There’s never going to be a perfect time or a right time to discuss things related to sex,” Widman said. “So just start. You can use an opportunity when you hear about something in the news, and you just sort of start and keep it short and sweet.”
Not talking to your teens can leave them with the wrong impression about where you stand, said Julie Maslowsky, a developmental psychologist and associate professor of community health sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “In our research, we have seen many instances where a teen assumes their parent is opposed to them using contraception, and the parent is actually supportive but just hasn’t had conversations with their teen about it yet,” she said.
In her research involving parents of pregnant teens, “often what we hear is, ‘I was going to talk with her about birth control or we were going to go to the doctor. It was on my list,’ ” Maslowsky said. “And so I would say, ‘Do it early. Do it way before your concerns that there is an imminent risk of pregnancy or unhealthy consequences of sex.’ ”
It might take time to find a method that the adolescent is comfortable with, which is another reason to start talking early about birth control. “Giving the teen some options to start learning about and asking questions about contraception before the time that they need it can provide a really nice foundation,” Hoopes said.
Know the facts
Teen pregnancy has been trending downward since 1991; in 2021, there were 14.4 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, according to provisional data. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites fewer teens having sex and improved usage of birth control as likely reasons for the decline but also points out that the U.S. teen pregnancy rate is among the highest in the developed world.
If your child is in high school, there is a good likelihood they are having sex. According to 2017 research from the Guttmacher Institute, 20 percent of high school freshman had had sexual intercourse, rising to 57 percent of seniors.
How to talk to kids about sex
Parents often have the misconception that some forms of birth control are restricted by age, but Hoopes said that as long as an adolescent has had their period and is otherwise healthy, “all methods are available except sterilization, which is getting your tubes tied.” The choices basically boil down to three types, from least to most effective: barrier methods such as condoms and diaphragms; short-acting methods such as the birth control pill, vaginal ring, and skin patches or injections; and long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), such as an IUD or implant.
Many teens, however, are not using the most effective methods of birth control. According to the CDC, data collected from 2015 to 2017 about birth control methods used by sexually active females ages 15 to 19 found that 97 percent had used condoms, 65 percent had used withdrawal and 53 percent had used pills. Nineteen percent had used emergency contraception.
Many teens also are not aware of LARC options, which are expensive. But public health experts are trying to change that. A Colorado initiative to improve access to these options cut teen pregnancy and abortion rates nearly in half.
Make your support clear
When you do talk to your kids, the main goal should be to convey that they can contact you whatever situation they are in. Hoopes suggested making the conversation “about health and safety, not about values and judgment.” A parent could say something like, “’What I want for you is to for you to achieve your personal goals, for you to complete your education or live your best adult life. And part of that is avoiding pregnancy before you’re ready for one. And I want to be a part of that conversation with you.’”
Widman suggests avoiding yes/no questions, such as “Are you being safe?” Instead, you could ask more open-ended questions, such as, “What have you heard about birth control?” or “What are you friends saying about sexual activity?”
And if you’re wondering how important your involvement is, Hoopes said research indicates that teens are more likely to access contraception and use it more consistently if they feel connected to their families.
Don’t forget your sons
Experts say you should have similar conversations about birth control options with boys as you do with girls. “Both male-identifying and female-identifying adolescents should understand biology and sex and healthy relationships and supportive relationships,” Maslowsky said. “And so, I would not have the conversations very differently. If my teen was capable of pregnancy, then I would talk with them about how to prevent pregnancy in their own body. If my teen was capable of making someone pregnant, then I would talk with them about how they can prevent that.”
Currently, the only male contraceptive option is the condom. While condoms are 98 percent effective with “perfect use” (consistently and correctly), the rate falls to 82 percent with “typical use” (what usually happens in real life). “To use a condom in a way that optimizes the effectiveness does require some education,” Hoopes said. If your teen is not receiving that education through school, you can talk to their pediatrician.
Beyond condoms, which teens of any gender should be using to prevent sexually transmitted infections, boys should understand and be involved in decisions about other forms of contraception, and support their partners, the experts said.
“I would say that pregnancy prevention is everyone's responsibility and that I think, unfortunately, boys get left out of that conversation, not by their own fault,” Hoopes said.
Help your child consider their options
All birth control options have positives and negatives, and most come with potential side effects. “The best, most supportive thing a parent can do is provide information and provide support and help the adolescent make the decision that's right for them,” Maslowsky said.
Health-care providers are ready to help. “We use a model called shared decision-making in contraception care,” Hoopes said, “where the patient or the patient and their parent is the expert in their own experience and their body, and the physician or the clinician is the expert in the methods and how they’re used and what the risks and side effects are. And together, in partnership, we make a decision that’s best for that patient.”
Ideally, teens will want to talk to their parents about birth control, but if not, parents can make sure adolescents have some time to talk privately with their pediatrician during their yearly checkups or help them identify other adults — such as a family friend or favorite aunt — who would support them and help them find resources.
Parents can also guide teens — and themselves — to online information from organizations such as the CDC, Planned Parenthood and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The experts also recommended several other resources: Amaze.org has a website and a YouTube channel specifically designed for adolescents by the nonprofit Advocates for Youth, which focuses on sex education. Power to Decide, a nonprofit that seeks to prevent unplanned pregnancies, has a page called Find Your Method. It also runs Bedsider.org, a site aimed at older teens and people in their 20s. The Reproductive Health Access Project has a detailed chart about birth control options.
Trust your kids
According to Maslowsky, there is a consensus in the scientific community “that teens can make decisions about their health care, about their sexual and reproductive health care, that they’re absolutely capable of weighing the pros and cons and making decisions about what’s right for them in terms of the contraception, in terms of being sexually active or not, in terms of abortion.”
Researchers also know that teens like to obtain advice on these issues from adults they are close to. “And so if a teen comes to you and asks for your help, for your opinion, that’s great,” she said. “That means that they’re exercising their ability to make these informed decisions. They’re bringing in trusted experts. And so, I would work with them on the decision. I would support them on their decision.” | 2022-07-19T12:38:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How parents can talk to teens about birth control - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/parenting/2022/07/19/teen-pregnancy-parents-birth-control/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/parenting/2022/07/19/teen-pregnancy-parents-birth-control/ |
Clayton Kershaw is the legend of this generation of Dodgers, the 21st-century star in the mold of 20th-century legends. (Mark J. Terrill/AP)
LOS ANGELES — No other major league stadium frames a sunset quite like Dodger Stadium, where the hills around Chavez Ravine follow the San Gabriel Mountains into various shades of purple as the steady Southern California sun gives way.
Generations of Los Angeles Dodgers stars have made their way into hearts and history on this timeless stage, never exactly leaving it, because their legacies fade into the aura of the place. The greatest Dodgers star of what might just be their greatest generation, Clayton Kershaw, seems likely to follow them soon.
And Tuesday night, Dodger Stadium will frame his sunset as only it can, when Kershaw finally gets the chance to start the All-Star Game, doing so in the only home he has ever known.
“I really didn’t think anything of it at the time. I was like, ‘Well, yeah, it would be fun to do it’ or whatever,” Kershaw said after Atlanta Braves Manager Brian Snitker announced Monday that Kershaw would be the National League starter. “But now that it’s finally here and I get to start that game tomorrow night, it just means a lot.”
Kershaw is part of the landscape here, as much a part of this place as Sandy Koufax or those mountains, as much a part of this franchise’s history as Steve Garvey — who stopped traffic in the Dodger Stadium concourse by merely appearing there Monday — or Fernando Valenzuela. Kershaw is the legend of this generation of Dodgers, a 21st-century star in the mold of 20th-century legends.
He is third in franchise history in wins, is first in strikeouts and has started more Opening Days than any of the Hall of Famers who took the mound before him. And at 34, as his body breaks down more frequently, he knows he isn’t the most dominant pitcher in the game anymore — though of course, he did take a perfect game into the eighth inning just a week ago.
“It’s hard, because obviously Sandy Alcantara, Tony Gonsolin, Max Fried, all these guys have better numbers than I do and they should be starting this game and I get that,” said Kershaw, flashing the humility his teammates bring up long before his baseball talents. But what Snitker gets, what Kershaw seems to understand, is that this isn’t about a year’s worth of numbers. This is about 15 seasons, nine all-star selections, three Cy Young Awards, an MVP award and the only title this wildly talented Dodgers generation has been able to muster.
“I mess with him all the time and tell him, ‘Hey, you’re my hero’ or, ‘You’re my favorite player growing up’ — even though he’s only two years older than me,” Dodgers starter Tyler Anderson said. “It makes him uncomfortable.”
But what Anderson knows is that many people in this sport aren’t joking when they say he was their baseball role model.
“He was the guy that I looked up to. He was the young lefty, tall, had a big curveball and was dominating,” said Fried, an Atlanta Braves pitcher. “Growing up in this area and being a Dodgers fan, it was easy to be a big fan of his.”
“I think I’ve always appreciated how good he is, but to be able to go through it and understand how hard it is to do it at that level with the consistency with which he’s done it as long as he’s done it,” Fried said, “it puts him in a different category.”
That category is surefire Hall of Famer and an undeniable legend, one of the best to ever do it. Few active pitchers can be so classified, a list that may be as short as Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. Trea Turner played with Scherzer before joining Kershaw’s clubhouse last season. When he walked into the Dodgers’ clubhouse for the first time, he encountered Kershaw, the stoic L.A. legend with nearly unparalleled clout, singing.
“Things you don’t see every day,” Turner said.
“I don’t think he’s hiding [that part of him]. I just think you don’t really notice it because he’s competing so much,” Turner added. “He’s a lot like Scherzer in that they have those two personalities. When they’re not pitching, they’re a normal, nice, funny guy. When they’re pitching, they’re the ultimate competitor.”
Many starters have been described that way, but the reason Kershaw will be on the mound at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night is, to hear current and former teammates describe it, that he has been that way every five days for years — no matter how he is feeling, no matter what is going on around him.
“Kersh is the most prepared human I have ever met. He is the hardest worker I have ever met. He will know every strength you have, every weakness you have,” former Dodger Joc Pederson said. “Even when he is having fun, there is no one that cares more about winning on days that he doesn’t pitch. He is invested in every pitch. Best teammate you could ask for. Top teammate that I’ve had.”
Gonsolin, the breakout Dodgers ace, doesn’t remember if Kershaw ever articulated the greatest lesson he taught him — to pitch with what you have, as well as you can, no matter what. Kershaw’s mediocre stuff certainly is better than most. But those who see him regularly can tell just how determined he is to do what he can when it’s his turn.
“I don’t know if it’s something he said or just from watching him pitch, but he just goes out there and competes with whatever he has that day,” Gonsolin said. “I don’t think it’s ever easy to see he’s battling. He just goes out there and does his best.”
His best has been better than almost anyone’s for 15 years. Perhaps he has another year or two left, though he hasn’t said for sure. He talks with the air of someone who knows his time on the mound is dwindling, of hanging on long enough for some of young children to have some memories of all this. Tuesday night, he will get the chance to do something he has never done at the place where he has done so much. No stadium in baseball does sunsets quite like Dodger Stadium. | 2022-07-19T12:38:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Clayton Kershaw gets All-Star Game start - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/19/clayton-kershaw-all-star-game/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/19/clayton-kershaw-all-star-game/ |
Derek Jeter famously revealed little during his playing days. His ESPN documentary series isn't much different. (Julie Jacobson/AP)
It happened on a snowy New Year’s Eve in 1999. As the story goes, Derek Jeter, then the New York Yankees’ superstar shortstop, and his pals were getting out of a cab. There’s ice all around and, just after Jeter warns them about the conditions, he steps out and slips, screaming as he falls, “Oh, God!”
All these years later, his buddies still get a kick out of that story. So does Jeter — even though he wound up hurting himself, being diagnosed with a condition (an umbilical hernia) that sounds serious but is relatively harmless. He laughs about it during the third episode of “The Captain,” a seven-part documentary series that premiered Monday on ESPN.
“My belly button popped out,” Jeter says, revealing a never-before-told moment. His face softens as he chuckles.
“True story,” he quips.
That third episode focuses on loyalty and what it takes to enter, or be exiled from, Jeter’s circle of trust, and the belly button anecdote takes up just over a minute of airtime. It’s probably the most salacious crumb served up in the whole series.
That’s by design. When one of the most revered but enigmatic and private sports figures of recent decades decides to open up, he does so on his terms.
Take his icy reception for Alex Rodriguez after his former bestie joined the Yankees — Jeter never owns up that, as a captain, he could’ve done more to help A-Rod feel welcomed. Or his love life — it’s implied that Jeter would enjoy a night out every now and then, taking small bites out of the Big Apple, but in the first five episodes his romantic relationships remain off-topic. (And, no, he says he never gave out gift baskets filled with memorabilia after one-night stands.)
“I think you have to draw the line,” Jeter says of protecting his privacy. “I drew the line at a very, very young age, and I just wasn’t going to let them cross it.”
Playing 20 scandal-free years in the insatiable New York media market, Jeter disguised vanilla morsels as sound bites and hid his personality behind that placid, handsome face. He looked like a runway model but spoke with the sobriety of an accountant.
The man was boring, a fact best summed up by ESPN reporter T.J. Quinn in the fifth episode: “He never broke character. He’s always Derek Jeter. You never got a sense of who is inside him.”
But unless you are a sportswriter being paid to extract insight, boring isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Jeter was guarded and territorial, and thankfully his way hasn’t been imitated by athletes who care deeply about issues that matter in the world. Still, the superstars of the social media generation could learn a thing or two from his art of moderation.
We see their offseason workout videos on Instagram. We listen in to their barber shop conversations, talk so raw and unfiltered that they have to rush to Twitter for cleanup. We hear their gripes about talking heads in traditional media — even as they study from the same hot-take playbook while hosting their own podcasts.
NASCAR driver Austin Dillon has a reality TV show, and the Ball family’s online series somehow has generated six seasons. Somewhere, Tom Brady is probably preparing for his 23rd NFL season while producing his 700th documentary. Try to picture Jeter revealing this much of himself in the 1990s. It never would have happened. And yet he was the professional athlete who helped usher in this era of oversharing.
As a player, Jeter tried to stay off the back pages of the New York tabloids. But when he retired, he hopped into the media business and founded the Players’ Tribune with Jaymee Messler. Since 2014, the website has given athletes a chance to tell their stories — or, to be more precise, to frame the narrative to their choosing.
Jeter, now 48, recognized the power of speaking for yourself, even though the Players’ Tribune publishes work largely crafted by ghostwriters, and athletes have seized on this self-empowerment to commodify and brand themselves. They are the CEOs of their personal and professional lives. But there’s one big difference between Jeter and today’s stars: In his world, not everything was for sale.
Even in “The Captain,” the story goes only as far as the star, who in February stepped down as CEO of the Miami Marlins after nearly five years, allows.
The fans who worshiped him, the beat reporters who covered him and just about everyone who stood locked outside of his intimate circle may never have known about Jeter’s dry sense of humor, that he almost was in the same nightclub as Sean “P. Diddy” Combs on the night of a triple shooting in 1999 or that his trust issues go back to growing up biracial in Kalamazoo, Mich.
Viewers will hear these tales and more in “The Captain,” which is an invitation just far enough past the surface to finally see Jeter. At times, he shows a side few have witnessed. He curses freely, tees off on critics and swims in his personal reservoir of pettiness.
Jeter’s not only a Jordan Brand athlete; he acts like a Michael Jordan clone. Who can forget the scene in “The Last Dance” of Jordan holding a tablet that played a snippet of a Gary Payton interview — and then roaring in laughter about the defense of his long-ago nemesis?
Jeter also gets the last word each time. When reacting to Nomar Garciaparra’s assertion that the Boston Red Sox didn’t lose to a better team in the 1999 American League Championship Series, Jeter channels his inner MJ.
“That’s what losers say,” Jeter says with a smile and a shrug. “Sorry, Nomar. We had a better team that year.”
In the same episode, Jeter shares the gnarly story about his navel. After confirming the incident, he turns his head and, as if facing someone sitting off camera, says, “Pretty sure that story doesn’t make this.”
But of course that story makes the cut. The media company behind “The Last Dance,” which gave Jordan full editorial control, produced this film. The Players’ Tribune also partnered with ESPN and Major League Baseball to help with its creation.
“The Captain” remains Jeterian. It’s billed as candid, but it tells the story his way.
For two decades, Jeter won five championships while controlling his narrative. Now he must think his legacy needs a postscript — so he has written that, too. | 2022-07-19T12:38:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Derek Jeter reveals little in ESPN documentary 'The Captain' - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/19/derek-jeter-captain-documentary/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/19/derek-jeter-captain-documentary/ |
Jaime Echenique (12) scored 10.4 points per game for the Washington Wizards' Summer League team. (Stephen R. Sylvanie/Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports)
LAS VEGAS — Late in the Washington Wizards’ second Summer League game last week, Jaime Echenique drove his 6-foot-11 frame to the low post on back-to-back possessions, drawing a three-point play each time. After the first, he turned to the bench and got a laugh and clap from head coach Zach Guthrie. After the second, he turned to the bench again and the entire coaching staff was cracking up.
The joke? Echenique, a 25-year-old center built like a sturdy NBA big man of yore, was not supposed to be posting up.
“I told him no post-ups,” Guthrie said with a laugh. “But then he did it anyway and scored, so I said you get one. And then he came down and did it again so I said, ‘Okay, fine. Two.’”
Guthrie’s rule had a purpose. Echenique plays like a traditional center, mainly in the paint, for the Wizards’ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go. Guthrie spent Summer League trying to bring the big man’s game outside of the lane and into the present.
For the whopping seven players on Wizards’ Summer League roster who spent time with the Go-Go this season, that’s what this month’s Vegas showcase was all about.
Unlike most NBA clubs, Washington didn’t have its young centerpieces such as Deni Avdija and Corey Kispert play since both had significant roles during the season. This year’s lottery pick, Johnny Davis, underwhelmed, averaging 8.3 points and shooting 27.6 percent from the field in three games while playing through some back tightness.
But Echenique, Jordan Schakel, Vernon Carey Jr. and Jordan Goodwin — players who even the most die-hard Wizards fans might struggle to point out of a lineup, the guys who toil in the G League trenches — showed up.
“The G League guys are used to being in this environment,” Capital City Go-Go Coach Mike Williams said. “It’s not a shock to their system.”
That level of comfort in a large, bustling NBA ecosystem is exactly what Washington is trying to foster in its G League players. While the purpose of the G League broadly is to operate as a farm system of sorts for NBA teams, the Wizards pride themselves on having an especially close relationship with the Go-Go.
Washington’s eventual goal is to create a pool of in-house talent from which the Wizards can pull coaches, front office members and players. Williams worked on both the Wizards’ and Go-Go staffs before he was named the G League head coach. Ryan Richman, currently an assistant on Wizards Coach Wes Unseld Jr.'s staff, coached the Go-Go before he was promoted. Amber Nichols, the Go-Go’s general manager, works closely with Wizards General Manager Tommy Sheppard and Washington’s front office to ensure the two teams are on the same page. At the same time, she gets to build up her own bona fides as an NBA decision-maker.
As for the players, Sheppard has yet to turn a Go-Go player into a significant Wizards contributor. But when the Wizards needed bodies during a coronavirus outbreak during the 2021-22 season, they called up five players from the Go-Go.
“We want to become the Miami’s, the Golden State’s, the Oklahoma City’s, the teams bring these guys in at the G League level and then they see a pathway to the NBA,” Nichols said. “You’ve got to cultivate them in your own system, in your own house.”
One way Washington does that is by keeping its G League players close — literally. Before Echenique made history as the first Colombian to play in the NBA when he was called up in December, he was a regular friendly face at Wizards practices because the Wizards and the Go-Go share training facilities. Not every NBA club even houses its G League team in the same state. That proximity helps the Go-Go attract talent, Nichols said.
“I hear this from agents all the time. Seeing a parent club invest in the G League organization, it makes them want to put their players in this type of organization. There’s consistent investment in their development and they’re constantly getting evaluated by people in an NBA front office,” Nichols said. “That’s big time for what we’re trying to do.”
So too was having a Summer League squad packed with G Leaguers. Guthrie spent the 11-day showcase getting the Capital City Go-Go players out of their comfort zone and more in an NBA frame of mind. In the team’s first three games, he brought Echenique off the bench and tried to keep his minutes low.
“Not because he doesn’t deserve more, but because that’s his role in the NBA. Because there’s probably a center on that roster that plays 35, 36 minutes a game,” Guthrie said. “I think there’s a great quote from Alex Caruso in J.J. Reddick’s podcast. He said, ‘You’ve got to understand what job you’re trying out for in the NBA.’ Some of these guys in the G League think they’re trying out to be the CEO. They’re actually going to be much lower down the totem pole.”
Echenique saw that first hand when he was called up to the Wizards in December. He was with the team for five games, got on the floor just once, for three minutes, but left with a wealth of knowledge and sense of motivation he’d never before felt. The game he returned to the Capital City Go-Go, he notched a career-high 28 points and nine rebounds.
This month, he led the Summer League squad with 6.4 rebounds off the bench and was its third-leading scorer averaging 10.4 points per game.
“For me, getting called up was an appetizer,” Echenique said. “It just woke up a feeling of hunger, it was like, ‘I belong there.’ Now [Guthrie] is helping me understand the adaptation from the G League to the NBA so much more. I feel like I’m playing at my highest level.” | 2022-07-19T12:38:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Wizards’ G League players made the most of Summer League - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/19/wizards-go-go-summer-league/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/19/wizards-go-go-summer-league/ |
By Katherine Kam
“I don’t have to deal with myself if I scapegoat, if I blame,” said Deborah Stewart, a Jungian psychoanalyst in Cape Cod, Mass. “That’s the part that most people don’t really know — that they are trying to expel some of their very own feelings by putting them on others.”
Road rage is up. How to deal with an angry driver — even if it’s you.
When she was 16, her father died of an illness. She felt lost without the man whom she had revered as her anchor and best friend, and she began drinking heavily. When a violent white supremacist group recruited her at 17, she found a potent way to deflect the shame of failure and humiliation. “On the inside, when you feel that beaten down and that low about yourself, you’ll basically look for anything to make yourself feel better,” Manning said.
“I’m not at all condoning violence,” Manning said, “but basically, the way people in that racist circle see violence is an act of self-defense. … It’s fear turning into anger turning into violence. ”
How to recognize gaslighting and respond to it
“It’s important that our leaders don’t engage in this kind of rhetoric,” he said. “It empowers people who are already biased against that group to say: ‘If I treat you differently, will anyone care? No.’ ”
Making broad generalizations about a group can be a telltale sign of scapegoating, McDevitt said. “Some of the stereotypes that form the basis of our scapegoating have an inherent fallacy about the group,” he said. “Step back and ask yourself about that and whether … that makes sense.”
Scientists show how we start stereotyping the moment we see a face
For Manning, the self-scrutiny started after she felt kindness from those she considered enemies. “One night, after we got into this drunken rampage fight, we go running out into the streets covered in blood and bruises,” she said. Two Black men approached and asked whether they could help. “They called 911 for us. They stayed and tried to settle us down as much as possible until help got there.” At a job in setting up scaffolding structures, she found camaraderie with her Jamaican co-workers. “These guys are fun. I actually enjoy going to work in the morning,” she said.
Cracks had formed in the racist ideology, and Manning felt disillusioned and burned out. She left extremism in 2015, having started to disengage after a close friend was killed. With the help of a counselor, she envisioned a different future for herself and committed to making amends.
She understands the emotions that cause people to scapegoat and demonize others, and she now works as an exit specialist with Life After Hate, a Chicago-based nonprofit that helps people leave far-right hate groups. She also wrote a memoir with her mother, Jeanette Manning, titled “Walking Away From Hate: Our Journey Through Extremism.” | 2022-07-19T12:38:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How unconscious feelings about ourselves drive scapegoating - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/07/19/scapegoating-causes-reasons/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/07/19/scapegoating-causes-reasons/ |
What a supervising producer on ‘The Tonight Show’ does in a workday
Perspective by Sarah Connell
(Todd Owyoung/NBC/Washington Post illustration)
Welcome to The Work Day, a series that charts a single day in various women’s working lives — from gallery owners to stay-at-home parents to chief executives. In this installment, we hear from Sarah Connell, a supervising producer for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” who recorded a workday in June.
Name: Sarah Connell
Job title: Supervising producer/head of segment producing department for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”
Previous jobs: I’ve had the truly unique experience of working my entire career in late-night television. From 2002 to 2014, I worked at “Late Show With David Letterman.” I started as an intern in fall 2002 and left the show in fall 2014 as a producer. I have been working in late night for nearly 20 years!
What led me to my current role: Ever since I was 14, I have wanted to work in 30 Rock. I was obsessed with “Saturday Night Live” and late-night TV and dreamed of working in New York City. After studying film and TV production at Fitchburg State College, I interned in the talent booking department at “Late Show With David Letterman.” Shortly after my internship ended, I was offered a job answering phones, which eventually led to being a talent assistant, talent coordinator, talent booker and ultimately a segment producer. In 2014, I was offered a position as a segment producer at “The Tonight Show” (finally made it to 30 Rock!) and in February 2020, I was promoted to supervising producer to run the segment producing department.
How I spend the majority of my workday: I am a mom of two boys — who are 8 and 5 — so the day starts early. My mornings are spent getting ready, making breakfast, prepping the kids’ lunches, answering Slacks and emails, and bringing the kids to summer camp before catching the train.
The majority of my time is spent working on guest interview segments. We have anywhere from 10 to 13 guests on the show per week, and I am in charge of overseeing all of them. I have an incredible team of segment producers, and we each produce two to three guests a week.
The prep for each guest starts a week or so out from their appearance. When producing a guest, I watch the project they’re promoting, brainstorm fun things for them to do with Jimmy, pitch ideas, read through a comprehensive research packet that has been put together by our incredible research team, and compile topics that could lead to a fun and interesting conversation with Jimmy.
Before their appearance, I have a pre-interview phone call with the guest. From that conversation, I narrow down the topics that could be fun for Jimmy to dive into during the interview. When I’m not working on the guest that I’m personally producing, I’m checking in with the other producers to discuss their segments. We are a very collaborative department and are constantly talking and bouncing ideas off each other throughout the day.
5:40 a.m.: Alarm goes off at 5:40 a.m. because I think today is the day I’m going to want to work out before my kids get up. Turns out, it’s not that day, and I snooze until 6:23 a.m. Once I get out of bed, I start getting ready and answer any early emails and Slacks about that day’s show.
7:30 a.m.: My boys usually wake up anytime between 6 and 7 a.m., but we had a big weekend, so they sleep in. I make them breakfast and we chat while I pack up their lunches. It’s their first day of summer camp and they are excited.
8:55 a.m.: Head out and catch the train. I usually work throughout my train ride to and from work. I have a guest on today’s show — Michaela Jaé Rodriguez. I write up a segment outline that goes to our showrunner, and work on the segment notes for the interview, which will go to Jimmy later today. The drafts for these notes go to our amazing research team who meticulously proofread and fact-check everything.
10:30 a.m.: Daily Zoom production meeting where we go over the details of what’s happening in that day’s show and then look ahead to upcoming shows for the rest of this week and next.
11 a.m.: I work on finalizing my segment notes and go over segment notes for the other guests appearing on that day’s show and give any notes or feedback.
1:30 p.m.: Take my covid test and grab a salad from Sweetgreen downstairs.
3:45 p.m.: Go backstage to the prop department to double-check the props, photos and any other elements being used in the guest segments today.
4:30 p.m.: Michaela Jaé Rodriguez arrives. I go to her dressing room to greet her and go over the segment with her. This is her very first time on the show and she’s so excited to be here.
4:50 p.m.: Jimmy stops by Michaela Jaé’s dressing room to welcome her.
5 p.m.: Show taping begins.
5:35 p.m.: In the commercial break before Michaela Jaé’s segment, I give Jimmy desk notes for the interview and update him with timing for the segment.
6:05 p.m.: Show wraps.
6:15 p.m.: Pre-interview phone call with Steve Carell, my guest on tomorrow’s show.
8:15 p.m.: Arrive home just in time for bedtime. The boys tell me about their first day of summer camp. They loved it!
9 p.m.: Boys are in bed (a little later than we planned). The workday continues. There are still a couple of segment edits to sign-off on. After wrapping up edits, my husband and I (and our dog Millie) sit on the couch with bowls of pasta and debrief about the day. Then, we watch a little TV. We’re re-watching “Veep” right now.
10:45 p.m.: Time for bed. I set the alarm for 5:40 a.m. juuust in case tomorrow is the day I work out. | 2022-07-19T13:59:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What a producer on ‘The Tonight Show’ does in a workday - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/07/19/workday-tonight-show-producer/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/07/19/workday-tonight-show-producer/ |
By David A. Taylor
Roscoe Lewis sets up to record an interview of formerly enslaved people in Petersburg, Va., as part of the Federal Writers’ Project. (Hampton University Archives)
For several days in June last year, I found myself driving through Virginia on the trail of undercover historians. I was working on a podcast about the Federal Writers’ Project, which had sent researchers across the state during the 1930s to talk with formerly enslaved Virginians. These historians, all of whom were Black, were undercover in the sense that had they been too obvious in their aim to expose the realities of slavery, they could have been harassed by local officials, had their funding slashed by Congress and been subjected to the ire of their White editors. They also worked at a time when Jim Crow still prevailed.
Their project was part of a national Black history initiative within the Federal Writers’ Project, which was established by the Works Progress Administration. That initiative, led by Howard University’s Sterling Brown, included a plan to interview thousands of formerly enslaved people across the South before they died. Brown entrusted one of the larger pieces of that effort to a dozen interviewers in Virginia, under the leadership of a bespectacled chemist named Roscoe Lewis.
I first came across Lewis — who grew up in D.C., graduated from Brown University in 1925 and held a master’s from Howard — while researching a 2009 book and documentary. Since 1927 he had taught science at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University, an HBCU). He accepted Brown’s offer to lead the Virginia project in 1936 and began hiring staff to research in local archives and conduct interviews. Altogether they found some 300 elders who agreed to talk about their youth in slavery. The research was intended to be published in a book.
One of the interviewers was a teacher in Petersburg named Susie R.C. Byrd. She discovered a trove of history just two blocks from her home, where a community of about 40 formerly enslaved people lived. She talked with them individually and as a group, capturing frank and moving moments. “Lord, baby, I hope you young folks will never know what slavery is, and will never suffer as your foreparents,” Charles Crawley told her in February 1937.
But Lewis’s White supervisor in Richmond, Eudora Ramsay Richardson, harbored doubts about the research. According to historians at the Library of Virginia, Richardson insisted that some of the accounts of slavery and its brutality were unreliable. She strongly doubted the story of a woman named Henrietta King. The manuscript said King “bears the scars of slavery on her face. … [H]er face is a hideous mask” from having been crushed under a rocking chair. Lewis defended the account. Ultimately, Richardson visited King herself. She returned sobered. When the team’s research was published, the account stayed in.
Their 1940 book — “The Negro in Virginia” — marked a milestone: It was the first modern history of Black Americans in North America, combining personal accounts with social history, starting from enslaved Africans’ arrival at Point Comfort in 1619. A Book-of-the-Month Club pick, it drew raves from W.E.B. Du Bois and H.L. Mencken. “The story of the Negro in Virginia is also the story of the American Negro,” Lewis wrote in the preface. The aim, he wrote, was “to tell impartially of the springs that watered those roots and of the droughts that withered them.”
At the time, Hampton’s president, Arthur Howe, praised Lewis’s work in a Black local newspaper, noting, “His modesty has kept him in the background, but the service has been so important and significant.” Though Lewis returned to his job as a Hampton professor, the history of slavery kept its hold on him. Soon he was pursuing more interviews. One trip sent him driving more than 600 miles into rural Georgia to find Mark Thrash, a freedman born in Virginia who served in the Civil War.
Lewis’s write-up, published in the journal Phylon more than a decade later, highlighted a problem that other scholars have identified: Slavery’s survivors would talk about their experiences differently depending on whether their interviewer was Black or White. Thrash, a centenarian, often had White visitors who wanted to meet a Civil War veteran. When Lewis visited, he recorded both the canned, benign version Thrash told to White tourists who were there that day — and, after they left, the old man’s thornier replies to Lewis’s questions. One involved Thrash’s mother’s pain when her other children were torn from her: “I know that mother mourned for them all the rest of her days,” he said.
Julian Hayter, a historian at the University of Richmond, draws a line from Lewis’s work to the civil rights movement. “ ‘The Negro in Virginia’ really does help set the stage,” he told “The People’s Recorder,” the podcast where I am a producer and writer. (The podcast is produced by D.C.-based media company Spark Media with a grant from Virginia Humanities, among others.) “It still holds water, now more as a historical document — an initiator, if you will, of a strain of history that is now widely accepted.”
These days it takes a feat of imagination to convey the surrealism of the Black interviewers’ situation. Historian-novelist P. Djèlí Clark conjures that experience in his 2018 dark fantasy short story “Night Doctors,” which begins by quoting a WPA interviewee in Virginia, Cornelius Garner, and his story of “Ku Kluxers” posing as doctors. Clark, while researching a master’s thesis in history, immersed himself in the interviews at the Library of Congress. “People always ask me, ‘Where did you get that idea of the Klan as monsters?’ I say, ‘The WPA archive,’ ” Clark told me in a phone interview.
Audrey Davis directs the Alexandria Black History Museum. Her grandfather, Howard professor Arthur P. Davis, was friends with Lewis and Brown. (All three graduated from D.C.’s Dunbar High School.) Their work in Black culture and education “was so incredibly important,” she said in an interview for the podcast. They were “trying to show America that there is a group of people who have an amazing history, who are part of our country, who you owe the greatness of America to, and recognizing that greatness.”
Lewis continued to publish in scholarly journals, pursuing equality through historical research, until his death in 1961 at age 57. (His son, Roger, died in 2013; a grandson declined to be interviewed.) He never got to publish the book he envisioned containing all 300 of the Virginia interviews. In a small cemetery on the Hampton campus, his headstone is straightforward. His epitaph says, “With bias towards none.”
David A. Taylor is a writer in Washington. | 2022-07-19T13:59:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A federal project in the 1930s found some 300 formerly enslaved people to share their experiences - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/07/19/slavery-virginia-oral-history/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/07/19/slavery-virginia-oral-history/ |
The national average has plunged 10 percent since its June peak as recession worries drive down crude costs
People get $40 of free fuel at a gas giveaway at a Shell gas station Monday in Oak Park, Mich. Americans have been grappling with high fuel costs through much of 2022. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
The national average for a gallon of gas has fallen below $4.50 for the first time two months, offering some relief for Americans weighed down by runaway inflation.
The national average stood at $4.495 on Tuesday, according to AAA, which represents a 10 percent pullback from its June peak above $5. A gallon of diesel, meanwhile, has dropped to $5.51, down 31 cents in the last month. Fuel prices are still sharply elevated from last year.
In some parts of the country, prices are even lower: There are now at least 35 states where at least one station is selling gas for less than $4 per gallon, according to the fuel-tracking app GasBuddy. The lowest prices is in Virginia, where two stations are selling gas for $3.25 per gallon.
The drop in gas prices tracks along with the falling price of crude oil, which has become cheaper in recent weeks as fuel markets react to concerns of possible recessions in the U.S. and elsewhere.
The U.S. oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude briefly fell below $96 per barrel last week, marking a significant retreat from the early weeks of Russia’s war in Ukraine, when the benchmark briefly crossed $130. On Tuesday it stood close to $100 per barrel, suggesting fuel prices have stayed low for long enough to significantly pull down gas prices. | 2022-07-19T14:08:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | U.S. gas prices fall below $4.50 a gallon, a two-month low - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/19/gas-prices-inflation-ukraine/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/19/gas-prices-inflation-ukraine/ |
In Democratic Vermont, Senator Patrick Leahy is retiring at the age of 82. Vermont Democrats are going to nominate their single member of the House of Representatives, Peter Welch, 75, to replace him. Yeah, that’s not good. Republicans are doing quite a bit better with their two safe open seats. Alabama Republicans have nominated 40-year-old Katie Britt, while Oklahoma Republicans await a runoff with US Representative Markwayne Mullin, who will turn 45 later this month, expected to beat T.W. Shannon, former speaker of the state House of Representatives, who is 44. That’s more like it!
Three other Republicans running for open seats are expected to be competitive. In Pennsylvania, the GOP candidate is the celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, 62. In Ohio, it’s the writer and investor J.D. Vance, 37. And in North Carolina, it’s US Representative Ted Budd, who will be 51 when the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3, 2023. For those three seats, Democrats have nominated Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, who’d be 53; US Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio, 49; and former North Carolina Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, 56. | 2022-07-19T14:08:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The Old, Old Senate Could Soon Be a Tiny Bit Younger - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-old-old-senate-could-soon-be-a-tiny-bit-younger/2022/07/19/50641c84-075f-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-old-old-senate-could-soon-be-a-tiny-bit-younger/2022/07/19/50641c84-075f-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
Sitting behind bars in a Moscow courtroom last week, WNBA star Brittney Griner holds up a photo of players from the recent All-Star Game wearing her number. (Dmitry Serebryakov/AP)
The White House will unveil new steps Tuesday aimed at averting wrongful detentions of Americans overseas and seeking the release of U.S. citizens already imprisoned or held hostage.
As part of an executive order set to be issued by President Biden, the U.S. government will be authorized to increase the sharing of intelligence and other information with the families of those held overseas, officials told reporters ahead of the order’s release. The administration will also be able to impose sanctions on those involved in unlawfully holding Americans, sometimes as a result of suggestions or tips from detainees’ relatives, the officials said.
“The bottom line is that we’re trying to partner with families to find these solutions,” said one senior official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview an order that had not yet been made public.
The new rules come after years in which families of Americans held hostage or imprisoned overseas have complained of being provided insufficient help and scant information about their loved ones. Biden, like previous presidents, has underscored his desire to secure the release of Americans held in foreign nations.
In April, the administration conducted a prisoner exchange that led to the release of former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, who was imprisoned in Russia for threatening the “life and health” of local police. Officials cited Reed’s poor health in the decision to swap a former Russian pilot jailed in Connecticut for Reed.
The family of Paul Whelan, another former Marine imprisoned in Russia, has complained that his case has not received sufficient administration attention. Biden spoke with Whelan’s sister this month. Whelan was convicted on espionage charges.
The president also spoke this month with the wife of basketball star Brittney Griner, who pleaded guilty in a Russian court to carrying hashish oil in her luggage, saying she had packed it by mistake.
The detentions are part of a long list of grievances between the United States and Russia, which the Biden administration and its allies have slapped with wide-ranging sanctions over President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Officials defended their efforts to secure the release of Americans held overseas, saying those involved in hostage and detainee matters spent hours a day speaking with affected families.
“I’m always mindful in these cases that as we work on these different strategies … at the end of the day the other side, whether it’s Russia, China, Venezuela, etc., they get a vote … and in a way they have a very strong vote in that they hold the keys to the jail cell,” the official said.
“What we often find ourselves doing is trying to strategize and organize and frankly work with the families to find ways that might get those keys to open up,” he said.
The administration will also introduce a new indicator in State Department travel notices for countries where officials believe there is a heightened risk of being wrongly detained by the local government. The “D” indicator — for detention — differs from a separate indicator signaling the risk of being kidnapped or held hostage by a nonstate group.
Countries that will immediately receive the new detention indicator include Venezuela, China, Iran, Russia and North Korea, officials said.
The new order is rooted partly in the Robert Levinson Act, a 2020 law that required the State Department to establish criteria to determine when U.S. citizens are wrongly held by foreign governments or other actors.
Levinson was a retired FBI agent who disappeared in 2007 during a visit to an Iranian island. In 2020, his family announced that he had died in Iranian custody.
Under the order, officials will also develop new measures to avert future unlawful detentions, officials said. | 2022-07-19T14:08:55Z | www.washingtonpost.com | White House unveils new steps to help Americans detained overseas - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/19/white-house-unveils-new-steps-help-americans-detained-overseas/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/19/white-house-unveils-new-steps-help-americans-detained-overseas/ |
Biden’s executive order is a needed step to fight against wrongful detentions
By Jason Rezaian
Global Opinions writer
Brittney Griner in court in Moscow on July 15. (For The Washington Post)
President Biden just declared the hostage-taking and wrongful detention of American nationals abroad by foreign governments a national emergency, confirming what those of us who follow the issue closely already knew. But it’s still a step in the right direction: The problem has been getting worse, and until now, we have been failing to adequately combat it.
Biden signed an executive order Tuesday morning declaring that the hostage-taking and the wrongful detention of U.S. nationals abroad “constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” His order significantly expands the U.S. government’s ability to target hostage-takers and their assets, along with individuals who are complicit in such activities. It provides guidance to government agencies on how they should coordinate efforts at the interagency level, and on sharing information with the families of current hostages and wrongful detainees. This last point has long been a contentious issue for families who have felt uninformed about the fates of their loved ones and efforts to secure their release.
The executive order also creates a travel advisory category for the risk of wrongful detention in several countries. In doing so, the government recognizes hostage-taking by states as a form of leverage as a recurrent and pernicious crime. But will this executive order lead to the release of the more than 40 Americans currently held hostage or wrongfully detained by foreign governments? No. Nor will it end these practices.
What it represents, though, is an important — if incremental step — in the government’s slow response to a dangerous, and worsening, challenge. An aggressive policy that involves stakeholders in and out of the government is our best chance to push back on what has become a favored foreign policy tool of authoritarian regimes.
The Biden administration understood coming in that the wrongful detention and hostage-taking of Americans abroad was a growing menace, but with so many other fires to put out, the issue was not a priority. Or at least it has rarely seemed like one.
Yet two developments in recent months have given the threats new urgency. The first is a groundbreaking effort led by the loved ones of Americans currently being detained by different governments around the world. The Bring Our Families Home campaign has organized demonstrations in front of the White House, held news conferences and this week will unveil a large-scale mural in Georgetown with the faces of 18 current American hostages, including D.C. resident Emad Shargi.
While each family is still pleading for their own relatives, the campaign has made their efforts more cooperative. That is helping to make the issue of wrongful detention easier for ordinary Americans to empathize with and harder for the administration to ignore.
But undoubtedly the biggest event that has put the problem on the national agenda is the five-month-long detention of WNBA superstar Brittney Griner. Some argue that Griner’s case isn’t receiving enough attention because she’s a Black lesbian. In any case, her detention shows very clearly that state hostage-taking is not a race or partisan issue.
In a letter to Biden, Griner used her platform to speak for those in her deeply unjust situation. She asked for Biden’s commitment to bring her and all other wrongfully detained Americans home. Griner is the giant that the community of wrongful detainees and their supporters needs right now — but, of course, I wish she hadn’t been forced into that role.
As a hostage survivor and the subject of a high-profile campaign for my release, I understand the incredible burden placed on those fighting to get the U.S. government to work on their behalf. What I understood was that, while the detention is rarely personal, the impact it has on family members and entire communities is profoundly devastating. By declaring wrongful detention and hostage-taking an urgent national priority, Biden made an important commitment to listen and stand with those who, while deeply affected, continue to fight for the freedom and well-being of their loved ones. | 2022-07-19T14:09:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Biden’s executive order is a welcome step in the fight against wrongful detentions - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/biden-executive-order-wrongful-detentions-griner/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/biden-executive-order-wrongful-detentions-griner/ |
Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), all members of the House Jan. 6 select committee, talk during a hearing on July 12. (Shawn Thew/AP)
The House Jan. 6 select committee on Thursday will provide a blow-by-blow account of the 187 minutes that passed during the Capitol siege in which Donald Trump did nothing to rescue lawmakers and his own vice president from the mob he unleashed. It’s critical to understand what purpose this evidence will — and will not — serve.
Start with the non-legal aspects of the committee’s job. The committee set out to to tell the complete story of Jan. 6 to provide a definitive historical account and assist in formulating suggestions to prevent a repeat in future elections. This effort is also critical for the public and the Republican Party to understand the depth of Trump’s betrayal and his egregious refusal to perform his duties as commander in chief.
If Trump, as president, failed to activate the armed services during a foreign attack on our homeland — or worse, put out tweets praising the attackers — it would be tantamount to treason. In the face of domestic terrorism, his obligation to act was no less clear.
The GOP’s refusal to prevent him from seeking office again (first by failing to convict him at his impeachment trial and now by declining to oppose his participation in the primaries) amounts to ratification of Trump’s treachery. It is also an indication of the depths of the party’s depravity. Forcing GOP voters and politicians to grapple with a potential second Trump term remains one of the committee’s critical functions.
As for the legal significance of the 187 minutes, the public should understand that “dereliction of duty” under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice applies to those in the military, not to civilians — including the civilian commander in chief. It may have been grounds for impeachment (which could have resulted in removal from office and a bar against holding future office). And it might be grounds for civil liability (i.e., Trump had a legal obligation to act and failed to do so when others were in harm’s way). But there is no criminal theory against Trump based on that charge.
This does not mean the 187 minutes are without legal significance. To the contrary, the full telling of this part of the saga can shore up evidence (virtually all from Republicans) that Trump corruptly sought to defraud the United States and to corruptly obstruct congressional proceedings.
Norman Eisen, who served as co-counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment hearing, tells me, “The key thing to remember is that his inactions and actions during that 187 minutes are not an isolated crime by themselves but rather the culmination of his alleged criminal conspiracies to defraud and to obstruct.” He adds that evidence about that period of time could “illuminate” Trump’s criminal intent, which would be critical to any prosecution of the former president, including by the prosecutor investigating Trump’s pressure campaign on Georgia’s election officials.
As Eisen and a group of Brookings Institution scholars explain in their comprehensive guide to prosecuting Trump, “Even if they had sincerely believed the election was stolen, frustration with the courts would not have entitled Trump and his allies to deploy dishonest and illegal means to overturn the outcome.” The statute concerning fraud upon the United States requires proof of specific intent to short-circuit a lawful function of the government and proof it was carried out by “deceitful or dishonest means.”
Trump’s refusal to intervene, even as he was watching the violence play out on his television, is powerful evidence that he was seeking to creating havoc and to disrupt the congressional proceedings. His inaction suggests that when all other nonviolent, illegal means failed, he was willing to use the mob to accomplish his ends.
Likewise, the statute concerning the attempt to “corruptly” obstruct an official proceeding requires prosecutors to show either that Trump acted with a corrupt purpose (i.e., preventing Congress from fulfilling its legal obligation to count electoral votes) or that he used corrupt means. Inviting the mob to descend on the Capitol — and specifically calling out Vice President Mike Pence, who Trump said “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution” — substantiates Trump’s willingness to resort to any means to retain power. So does refusing to call off the mob for more than three hours.
As Eisen concludes, Trump’s “complicity in the violence when taken together with his failure to perform the duties to which he was legally obligated by his office are the capstone on what has already been a devastating argument about his criminality and of those who conspired with him.”
If the Jan. 6 committee’s hearing on Thursday is anything like its seven previous hearings, viewers should be prepared to learn just how deplorable Trump’s conduct truly was — and how solid the potential criminal case against him is. | 2022-07-19T14:09:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Why we should care about the 187 minutes - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/jan-6-committee-final-hearing-what-trump-inaction-means/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/jan-6-committee-final-hearing-what-trump-inaction-means/ |
Analysis by Brady Dennis
Good morning! Brady Dennis, a national climate reporter for The Washington Post, wrote the top of The Climate 202.
Today we're wishing a speedy recovery to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who broke her leg while hiking in Shenandoah National Park on Sunday. But first:
🚨: “President Biden is considering declaring a national climate emergency as soon as this week as he seeks to salvage his environmental agenda in the wake of stalled talks on Capitol Hill, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations,” our colleagues Tony Romm and Jeff Stein scooped last night. (More on that below.)
This week, another heat wave is scorching parts of the South and the southern Plains. Across the Atlantic, the United Kingdom is bracing for dangerously high temperatures as a crippling heat sweeps across Europe. Drought and wildfires have again battered parts of the West, even as much of the summer lies ahead.
The relentless heat in some parts of the nation and abroad are in line with what scientists have said humans can expect in a warming world: more intense and frequent weather extremes. Searing heat is one of the most common, and deadly, manifestations of those changes.
Given that reality, a growing number of cities now employ a “chief heat officer” to focus on the risks posed by sweltering temperatures — and to seek opportunities for how to adapt. Miami, Phoenix and Athens are among the prominent places to hire for such a role.
Last month, Los Angeles followed suit, naming environmental and public health expert Marta Segura as the city’s first heat officer. She spoke with The Post about her new role, what changes are in store and how the main goal is to save lives.
The Climate 202: You were named the chief heat officer for Los Angeles last month, joining other folks who have that same title in Miami and Phoenix. It seems to be a growing job field in parts of this country. I wonder why you think that is and why it’s an important person to have.
Marta Segura: Extreme heat is the primary climate hazard for L.A. It’s having tremendous public health impacts. We’re having more hospitalizations and premature deaths when we have heat waves. And that’s been documented by UCLA. They just came out with a heat risk map that demonstrates where we have excessive hospitalizations and premature deaths correlated to heat waves.
Those are preventable deaths and preventable hospitalizations. The city of L.A. wanted to do everything that it could to ensure we prevented those deaths and hospitalizations. Number two, we want to ensure our infrastructure is safe. Roads can buckle as a result of extreme heat. Rails can buckle. We’ve made a lot of investments into our transportation system. So we want to make sure that our investments are long term.
And we wanted FEMA and the federal government to recognize that when extreme heat devastates not just the public health but the infrastructure, that we need those resources in order to make the city of L.A. safe for everyone. It’s gaining, I think, momentum and traction because we are now just beginning to document its health effects and its effects on infrastructure.
The Climate 202: What precisely does a chief heat officer do? What are the main priorities for you right now?
Segura: We’re in the process of creating a strategic plan, a key action plan … to bring to the radar what specifically we can do to create resilient, modernized, heat-resilient infrastructure. And what we can do to build awareness through community engagement — both with private businesses, nonprofits, hospitals and clinics, but with the departments across the region like the city of Los Angeles and L.A. County, too — to go to the root cause of these social vulnerabilities that create inequities, that make the pollution-burdened areas more vulnerable to extreme heat and these hospitalizations.
So it’s a multifaceted, multilayered approach to ensuring that we’re not just dealing with the Band-Aid, but we’re dealing with the symptoms.
The Climate 202: Who is most affected by heat? Who’s most at risk and in what ways?
Segura: It’s no surprise, but low-income communities across Los Angeles that live in pollution-burdened areas where there are preexisting health conditions like asthma, heart and kidney disease, autoimmune diseases — they are less resistant to extreme heat because their organs just don’t work at full capacity.
Where you have the combination of those factors, you have less resilience and more hospitalizations. You also have less awareness because traditionally these kinds of public health issues aren’t well communicated and conveyed by our medical system, our hospitals. They’re working more reactively than proactively. And public health is the opposite. Public health wants to be proactive, wants to prevent, wants to educate, to help people become aware of what tools they have at their disposal to plan and prepare in advance.
The Climate 202: One obvious response to extreme heat, and an understandable one, is to find ways to get people at risk to air conditioning, to cooling places. But are you also looking at solutions that don’t require using more electricity, like natural solutions that either help cool the city down or help people find relief from the heat that’s out there?
Segura: Oh, absolutely. We’re looking at our external landscaping, particularly our quality shade trees. And we have an equity tree canopy study where we’ve identified the lack of urban forest and the lack of shade trees. Instead of going for quantity, we’re going for quality and strategic targets, the areas that most need shade trees. We’re also investing more in street structures like sheet structures or shade arcades, as they are called. So more of our bus stops will have these shade structures that are combined with hydration stations.
Our Department of Water and Power at the city of Los Angeles, for example, has a program where if you commit as either a school or a city department or even a private facility to maintain hydration stations, they will place them there for you as long as your organization agrees to maintain hydration stations. So that’s another strategy that is just beginning to emerge so that water is accessible to everyone, publicly, everywhere.
The Climate 202: What keeps a heat officer up at night, especially now that we are into the summer months?
Segura: I think what keeps me up at night is those most vulnerable communities, especially our unhoused population — and knowing that there are never enough resources to provide. Not just housing, but emergency response to the needs of that community.
The Climate 202: When you think about the ways that heat impacts Los Angeles or even California today, how do you think that’s going to change over time?
Segura: I think it’s a problem that if we don’t address it and don’t address climate change, it’s going to get probably exponentially worse. Heat waves are now six times more frequent than in the early 2000s. And if we have more heat, there is more drought. And if we have more drought, there’s less vegetation. And if we have less vegetation … it’s just a vicious circle. L.A., like other cities, is going to be less habitable than it once was.
Biden administration considering declaring climate emergency this week
“President Biden is considering declaring a national climate emergency as soon as this week as he seeks to salvage his environmental agenda in the wake of stalled talks on Capitol Hill, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations,” our colleagues Tony Romm and Jeff Stein write.
The potential move comes days after Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) said he wasn’t willing to support the passage of clean-energy spending ahead of the August recess because of concerns about record inflation. Since then, some members have called for another round of engagement with the senator, citing the fact that executive action alone may not be enough.
"While I strongly support additional executive action by President Biden, we know a flood of Republican lawsuits will follow," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said. "Legislation continues to be the best option here."
“Two of the individuals with knowledge of the discussions said also they expect the president to announce a slew of additional actions aimed at curbing planet-warming emissions," Tony and Jeff report. "The exact scope and timing of any announcements remain in flux."
Exclusive: Biden administration's slow pace to repair BLM has delayed climate goals, PEER report says
In falling behind on its promise to fix Trump-era systemic issues at the Bureau of Land Management, the Biden administration has derailed many of its own climate goals, according to a new report from the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility shared exclusively with The Climate 202.
The report argues that in order for the agency to take ambitious action on climate change and biodiversity loss — such as sunsetting new fossil fuel leases on federal lands — the Biden administration must first address longstanding internal issues such as staff or resource shortages, company culture, and any legal or political shortcomings.
According to PEER, the administration must follow five steps to boost the agency so that it can better help serve President Biden’s core climate agenda, including developing a long-term strategy to boosts staffing levels and adding state-level leadership positions dedicated to climate and land conservation.
“We hope that the agency will be fearless and push through the difficult politics to address the impacts of oil and gas leasing and livestock grazing,” Chandra Rosenthal, Rocky Mountain office director at PEER, told The Climate 202. “ BLM needs to staff up — even strong leadership cannot be effective if the agency doesn’t have the capacity to make the policy changes on the ground.”
Climate-focused start-ups launch coalition to boost responsible carbon removal
A group of more than 40 leading carbon management start-ups on Tuesday launched the Carbon Business Council to create an ethical standard for the growing carbon removal industry that focuses on tackling climate change. The Oath to Restore the Earth hopes to encourage companies to not only work to remove emissions, but also to mitigate pollution.
“I believe in the crucial role that carbon management has in restoring the climate, but also recognize that carbon management alone cannot solve climate change,” the groups write in the oath, which other companies can sign onto. “I support efforts to reduce climate pollution, along with initiatives to protect communities from the impacts of climate change.”
The new council comes just one day before the Energy Department’s Carbon Negative Shot Summit, which will explore low-cost, clean and innovative ways to store huge amounts of carbon as the nation races to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Some of the founding members of the council, representing over $100 million in assets, include Aether, CarbonCapture, Nori and Vesta.
Donna Edwards hails climate record in House race
Former Maryland congresswoman Donna Edwards is touting her record on climate change and environmental policy in her Democratic bid to return to the U.S. House. On Tuesday, she is set to go head-to-head with Glenn Ivey, Prince George's County's former top prosecutor.
As a congresswoman for the 4th District from 2008 to 2017, Edwards helped bring clean-energy spending to the transportation sector and advocated for sweeping action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and address environmental injustice.
While Edwards has gained the endorsement of notable green groups and progressive advocates such as the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund and Friends of the Earth Action, Ivey is seen as more of a centrist, gripping the support of the New Democrat Coalition. However, Ivey's campaign spokesperson told E&E News' Timothy Cama in an email that “Glenn Ivey knows that climate change is the most pressing crisis facing humankind, and he knows it will be necessary to call for and mandate difficult sacrifices.”
Climate aid takes center stage at talks in Berlin
Leaders from more than 40 nations convened on Monday in Berlin to discuss the growing effects of climate change on the global economy ahead of the next United Nations climate summit, COP27, in November, Frank Jordans and Geir Moulson report for the Associated Press.
In a video played during the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged countries to take swift collective action, warning that the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avert catastrophic climate change was moving out of reach.
“We need a concrete global response that addresses the needs of the world’s most vulnerable people, communities and nations,” he said. “We have a choice. Collective action or collective suicide.”
After 363 years tracking summer heat, U.K. could see an all-time high — William Booth for The Post
Park Service to hold public meeting on Tidal Basin repair project — Michael E. Ruane for The Post
Gavin Newsom plants flag on climate, spurring 2024 chatter — Zack Budryk for the Hill
‘Climate change’ increasingly on candidates’ lips in Maryland governor’s race, but will it translate to votes? — Scott Dance for the Baltimore Sun
On our radar: Pence to speak in S.C. on the ‘Post-Roe World’ | 2022-07-19T14:09:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Crushed by heatwaves, more cities are hiring ‘Chief Heat Officers’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/crushed-by-heatwaves-more-cities-are-hiring-chief-heat-officers/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/crushed-by-heatwaves-more-cities-are-hiring-chief-heat-officers/ |
Transcript: The Path Forward: The Creator Economy with Jack Conte, CEO and Co-Founder, Patreon
MR. JORGENSON: Hello, and welcome to Washington Post Live. I’m Dave Jorgenson, senior video producer at The Washington Post.
Today I'm joined by Jack Conte, co‑founder and CEO of Patreon, to discuss the growth and future of the creator academy‑‑excuse me‑‑the creator economy, but there might be an academy lesson later. We'll see.
Jack Conte, welcome.
MR. CONTE: Thanks. Thanks, Dave. Thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here.
MR. JORGENSON: Of course. I like the background. I hope we get some music from you later. We'll see what happens.
And remember we always want to hear‑‑
MR. CONTE: Hey, you know me.
MR. JORGENSON: Yeah. We always want to hear from you, our audience, so you can share your thoughts and questions for guests on Washington Post Live by tweeting @PostLive.
So, Jack, before I get you to play the keyboard, let's start with some basics here. How would you describe the creator economy?
MR. CONTE: I think your intro clip described it quite well. The creator economy is this birth of, you know, now hundreds of millions of people who are taking advantage of these wonderful creation tools that are now available to so many people at a scale that I think we never have seen before, you know, in our history. This camera is a higher‑resolution camera than the one used to film some of my favorite movies, and now billions of us have these in our pockets, and we get to make videos. And this microphone, you know, showed up at my doorstep in less than 24 hours from an order from Amazon. Like, it's easier and cheaper and faster to make things than it's every been in human history, and there's now hundreds of millions of people making things. And then if you combine that with the fact that we're all now connected because the last, you know, 20 years or so of the internet, you get people who are making things and then reaching others with the things that we make. We call those people "creators."
And it's‑‑you know, it's gotten kind of a name for itself over the last year and a half, but the truth is, you know, there's been many creator economies, you know, over hundreds and hundreds of years as sort of different mediums have come to the forefront of creation.
MR. JORGENSON: Well, you're absolutely right because I've been using this phone now for three years to make TikToks for The Post. I used to have a nice Sony camera I would use, but I don't need it. This works fine, and I shoot them vertically. And it's a lot cheaper for everyone, so you just kind of‑‑
MR. CONTE: And, by the way, your TikTok videos are‑‑your TikTok videos are incredible. I mean, you have an amazing TikTok game, and I saw that you have a book too on TikTok. So, anyway, I'm following now. It's really wonderful what you're doing.
MR. JORGENSON: That's very kind. In fact, I've done a few of these Washington Post Lives, and this is the first time anyone has any remote idea who I am, so I'm already‑‑you're already my favorite. [Laughs]
MR. CONTE: I mean, the truth is‑‑not that I'm‑‑not that I'm trying to get on your good side here, but seriously‑‑
MR. JORGENSON: It's working.
MR. CONTE: ‑‑the videos, the videos are crushing, and the most recent one, I thought, was so funny about the Founding Fathers. And which amendment was that? Oh, yeah, it was the first one. I was right. It's the first one. Just cutting and genius and I'm a fan.
MR. JORGENSON: I'm so glad you liked it, and I could talk about those for hours. But I'm not‑‑they're not paying me right now to do just that. Maybe later, but I'm glad you liked that one.
MR. JORGENSON: I have to move on, though, and talk about Patreon, which you founded back in 2013. How did being a musician and filmmaker on YouTube inform essentially what was the thesis behind Patreon, and what was missing in this ecosystem that translates art to dollars?
MR. CONTE: Yeah. So I'll correct one thing about the intro video which said, you know‑‑
MR. JORGENSON: Please do.
MR. CONTE: I think it said "Jack Conte, former YouTuber." I'm still producing a hundred music videos a year on YouTube. So I'm still active and putting out lots of music and lots of videos and a current‑‑a current YouTuber.
So informed, you know, Patreon, nine years ago when we launched, and it continues to inform Patreon today, you know, every day.
And maybe a couple things stood out to me. You know, as a YouTuber, I was‑‑you know, when Patreon launched, I was reaching‑‑I don't know‑‑a couple million people a month with my YouTube videos, had 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. That's like a‑‑you know, I'm not like PewDiePie. I'm not playing Staples Center, but, you know, 100,000 subscribers is a football stadium full of humans looking forward to my next thing. And I had this feeling that that should be enough. Like, that should work. If I've got a football stadium full of people who want to see my next video, like, on what planet is that not enough? You know, in what world is that‑‑does that not translate to making an income?
And, you know, no one else was really thinking about that or doing that nine years ago. It's only in the last couple years, I think, people have really started to wake up to the fact that creators deserve to be paid for the work that they're contributing to the world. I mean, creators make our lives better every day with their work and insight and holding a mirror up to society. It's an important function. Creativity is‑‑it's not just beautiful, but it's an important function for‑‑you know, in the world, and creators ought to be paid and compensated for doing what they do.
And, yeah, I mean, nine years ago, you know, when we launched, I was getting‑‑I was reaching a million people a month and getting paid $166 in ad revenue, and that felt awful. It felt unfair.
MR. JORGENSON: It's a little low.
MR. CONTE: It felt‑‑it felt like it wasn't reflective of my impact.
MR. JORGENSON: Right.
MR. CONTE: And so that was when, you know, I sort of sketched an idea on a few pieces of printer paper and launched Patreon.
MR. JORGENSON: I have an extremely unimportant follow‑up question. Did PewDiePie really play Staples Centers, or is that‑‑
MR. CONTE: No, I don't think PewDiePie has ever played Staples Center, but maybe I should have said‑‑
MR. JORGENSON: Okay. All right.
MR. CONTE: Who's played Staples Center? Lady Gaga. There you go. Lady Gaga.
MR. JORGENSON: Okay. There you go.
MR. CONTE: Okay. She's probably five years doing that.
MR. JORGENSON: I was just trying to imagine him like streaming a game in Staples.
MR. JORGENSON: All right. Cool. It's already in my head, though. So it's never going away.
Okay. Well, I've got another one for you, though. This is a real question. Patreon is home to over 250,000 creators, and they have earned $3.5 billion, much more than that measly‑‑I think you said 166 you were getting earlier‑‑from eight million subscribers. Obviously, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, they can all offer a lot more eyeballs. Is that the value proposition to artists, like consistent income that you're getting?
MR. CONTE: That's a key thing for creative people. I mean, as a creator myself, you know, nine years ago, money was kind of coming in chunks. I would do a licensing deal and get a big chunk of money and then have to kind of make it last for however long until the next thing happened, but that's not how most of the world operates. People who have jobs and who provide consistent value, you know, get paid every month. Why shouldn't creators be paid every month? So, yeah, that was absolutely a big piece of, you know, what informed Patreon was the fact that subscription income just means reliability and predictability for creative people. So it means that creators can have that ongoing living and plan and budget and forecast and better run their businesses.
MR. JORGENSON: And you called Patreon itself a membership model. So can you elaborate more on what that means?
MR. CONTE: Yeah. Membership is actually quite a simple concept. There are, like, real‑world versions of memberships, but this category of membership to a creator is something that we've been working on now for, you know, six, seven years. And, essentially, what that is is a subscription payment in exchange for exclusive content and community. It allows a creator to run a subscription content and community service where they can, you know, give their fans extra content, extra access, you know, a behind‑the‑scenes glimpse at what they do, some extra videos, some extra episodes, whatever it is that their fans want. And we provide the infrastructure to creative people to do that.
MR. JORGENSON: So I use Patreon myself very specifically to follow a "Survivor" podcast. That's a very small group of very passionate fans, and it's really fun. So I have a pretty good sense of Patreon, but maybe for the viewers, you can give a sense of what it looks like inside Patreon in case they've never been.
MR. CONTE: Sure. So a creator signs up, and then they start a page. That's kind of a landing page for their fans so fans can come and decide whether or not they want to be members, and then when a fan does and when a fan becomes a member, the creator gets a suite of tools, including like a CRM and posting tools so they can communicate with their fans, they can communicate with their members, and then it allows them to make posts and, you know, fulfill the benefits of their membership with their patrons.
MR. JORGENSON: And you already talked about this very briefly, but what are the drawbacks of the advertising model for artists on YouTube? Is it just‑‑are you just not‑‑you know, you're not getting a bang for your buck, but what's going on there? How is it so little compared to, you know, what Patreon might be offering?
MR. CONTE: How long do we have?
MR. CONTE: Well, you know, in all seriousness, I think there are actually a lot of drawbacks, and I know I'm‑‑we all know about many of them. There's serious side effects on privacy, on security, on how‑‑you know, on our relationships, on addiction. There's some serious problems with the advertising model, I think, for society as a whole that we've really woken up to over the last, you know, five, ten years in particular.
But I think, you know, even worse for creative people, there's a problem of efficiency. Specifically, if I‑‑say I'm a super fan of a particular creator, and say, you know, I follow them on Instagram. I watch every YouTube video. I go to all the concerts. I have the T‑shirt. I'm a super fan. I love this creative person. You know, they make stuff that I enjoy every day, and when that creator releases a new video, for example, and I watch that video, under an advertising model, my view of that video translates to fractions of a penny being transferred to that creator. It's like one/one‑thousandth of a CPM is what my view is worth in an ad‑driven ecosystem.
But that's ridiculous. If I'm a super fan and I love this creator and I love everything they do, this video that they just made might be worth $10 to me. It might be worth $20, and yet in this advertising system, it's worth, you know, less than a thousandth of a penny. That's crazy to me. It doesn't make any sense. It's not good for creative people. It's not what fans want, and there needs to be more models.
Now, you know, I actually think it's really important for creators to like diversify their income stream. So we don't advise creators to turn off ad revenue unless they want it. Like, it's actually helping to support a lot of creative people right now. It's just not a very efficient way to do it, and it's certainly not enough to build a, you know, full creative business.
MR. JORGENSON: And you're helping them build these businesses, obviously, and I'm curious. And tell me if I'm off here, but it seems like you don't necessarily prioritize audience building. Is that correct, and can you tell me about that as well?
MR. CONTE: What we prioritize is a direct relationship between a creator and their fans, and so I'll give you an example of how that translates into the product. When a creator makes a post on Patreon, we deliver 100 percent of those posts to 100 percent of their patrons, 100 percent of the time, no questions asked.
That's very different from when I make a post on Instagram or Facebook or anywhere else. When I make a post on Facebook now, a little popup comes up and says, "Congratulations. You've reached 2.5 percent of your audience. Would you like to reach 3 percent of your audience? Pay $200 to boost this post." Oh, God, that is the opposite of a direct connection with your fans. That sucks for creative people. That is mitigating the relationship.
Sorry. I'm getting frustrated because it's‑‑it is frustrating for me as a creator‑‑
MR. JORGENSON: Let it out. Yeah.
MR. CONTE: ‑‑because I've invested for, like, decades in these platforms, and then to have them basically cutting off my relationship with my fans, that's the opposite of what's good for creativity. It's the opposite of what's good for creative people.
And so the way we view it is a creator ought to own that relationship. A creator ought to have a pipeline to their fans, no questions asked, and that's what we prioritize.
Now, the reason these other platforms mitigate that relationship is because they prioritize, like, audience building and personalization and discovery and those sorts of things, and I actually think that's, like, an important‑‑obviously, it's a very important thing for creative people, and I think they need‑‑they need that. We need that. We need to be able to reach our‑‑you know, reach new fans and new audiences elsewhere.
But it's not the focus of Patreon. The focus of Patreon is providing that connection and providing that ongoing relationship and ensuring that that relationship is owned by creative people.
MR. JORGENSON: And this economy has changed a lot, as we've talked about, just in the last five years and not decade, however long, in part, thanks to Patreon, but today when you hear from content creators, what are they saying that's missing today in the equation?
MR. CONTE: So many things. There are so many things that are missing for creators. You know‑‑
MR. JORGENSON: List three.
MR. CONTE: The best way, I think, to think about this is, like, what is happening right now is a creative renaissance, right? Like, for the last 20 years, you know, with the advent of the internet and, you know, low‑cost and ubiquitous creation tools, we've seen so many people start to do creation as a living. But it's still a very young industry, right? It's still like small, and so most of the problems for creators to build‑‑if you think about it this way, it's like problems around creators building online media businesses. That's essentially what creators are doing, building their‑‑and there's kind of no infrastructure for creative people to do that. There's no‑‑if you need to hire teammates, if you need to‑‑you know, if you need health care, if you need, you know, to have business intelligence, if you need, you know, 3P and distribution for physical goods. There's so many problems that creative people have, and they're kind of having to cobble together all of their own solutions to kind of build their own media companies, and that's hard. Like, creators have their work cut out for them just making, you know, their art for the world and producing their art. That's enough of a job, but now we're expecting them to be CEOs of their own media companies, and that is‑‑that's a hefty job. That's a hard job, and so there's a lot of problems associated with kind of scaling and just keeping that, you know, keeping going, building your own media company as a creator.
MR. JORGENSON: We talked a lot about this relationship that the creators have with YouTube or wherever else they're posting and then, of course, the relationship with Patreon. We just had this Twitter question come in from Phil Parkman. It says, "What responsibility does Patreon have to censor their creators?"
MR. CONTE: It's such a good question. So the way‑‑the way we think about this is essentially content policy and trust and safety are, like, very important functions, and I don't think many companies are doing that well right now, largely because I think it's a burgeoning field, and obviously, there are, like, very complicated issues around what is okay to say and do on the internet and what is not okay to say and do on the internet.
And I am incredibly proud of Patreon's content policy. I think we've invested deeply there. Ten percent of our team is devoted to this problem, to content policy and trust and safety and making sure that we're making the right decisions, and it's particularly important for Patreon because we're talking about a person's living here. So we don't take that responsibility lightly of having to remove somebody's Patreon page from the service because, again, this is a person's income. This is a person's livelihood.
That said, there are cases where I think it's the right thing for us to do, to act and take down a page. If a page is, for example, spreading instructions on how to pour concrete on railroad tracks, we can't allow that on Patreon. If a creator is spreading instructions on, you know, how to manufacture guns and bombs, like, we‑‑obviously, we can't‑‑we can't allow that. So, you know, we have a very thorough content policy that we've invested a lot in, and we‑‑you know, it's a living, breathing field, so we're constantly iterating on it and adjusting it to make sure that we're keeping up with the pace of the internet and keeping up with the pace of culture. But it's a responsibility that we take, I guess, very seriously because it's such an important problem, and I think getting it wrong in either direction has so many, you know, clear consequences. So we have to be really careful and thoughtful as we‑‑as we approach that question.
MR. JORGENSON: Who at Patreon is arbitrating that? Like, who is kind of making these decisions about those policies?
MR. CONTE: It's a team of people called our "trust and safety organization." Content policy team writes content policy, and those are, you know, experts in the internet and culture and policy and law and kind of what's happened over the last 10 years online with other companies, and then there's a team‑‑that's the content policy team. Then there's a trust and safety team. The trust and safety team is responsible for enforcing the content policy, and it's those teammates that are making decisions about each piece of content on Patreon, proactively and then responsively as well.
And that's a very hard job, right? Those teammates are constantly evaluating the edge and, you know, being exposed to, you know, sometimes very disturbing things that are on the internet. So I have a lot of respect for our teammates who are working in trust and safety. It's a really tough job, but it's that team that's enforcing the content policy.
MR. JORGENSON: And you talked about sort of the flow of the internet and how fast it goes. I don't envy you trying to keep up. I've noticed a lot. Even with TikTok, I mean, it's just constantly changing.
And there's actually‑‑we have a question here that kind of reminds me of how quickly TikTok and its policies are changing. It's another Twitter question from RockDots. That's the handle. "Jack, with respect to music, in particular, there's a large established music business with its own rules and flow of money. Can creators participate in that and Patreon? What are the challenges there?"
MR. CONTE: Yes, absolutely. Creators‑‑I mean, we don't have restrictions on what‑‑you know, what types of industries you can and can't do. If you're‑‑you know, if you're working with a management company or if you're assigned to a label and you're not happy with the deal, we're not going to stop you from launching on Patreon. Of course not. I mean, in many ways, we are there to support creators who are unhappy with their current business arrangements and are looking for a‑‑for a better route where they have autonomy and control and where they don't have somebody telling them what BPMs to write their songs at, which, you know, I think is a frustrating thing for a lot of creators who are kind of in the establishment, feeling like they don't have full creative ownership of their work.
A lot of the creators that we see on Patreon are, you know, joining the platform because they want creative independence. They want creative control, and so, absolutely, we allow those creators to join the platform and to, you know, build their own businesses and have their own sense of autonomy and creative control.
MR. JORGENSON: And there are all kinds of creators and artists on Patreon. Do you have a sense of what genre of artists seems to perform the best?
MR. CONTE: You know what so interesting about that is it has nothing to do with genre and it has nothing to do with, you know, the medium that the creator is working within. It is‑‑ah, it is just how much do you love your fans and how much do your fans love you back. It really is that. I know that's funny to say, but it's‑‑
MR. JORGENSON: It makes sense.
MR. CONTE: It's the truth. It's the truth, and we've seen that. You know, there are some podcasters who just have this incredibly strong tight relationship with their fans, and then there's some TikTok creators who have that, and there's some video creators who have that, and at the end of the day, it's that two‑way street and that tight engagement and that feeling of mutual love that, you know, is kind of a predictor of a creator doing well in the platform.
MR. JORGENSON: I think that's absolutely right. That rings true with my experience. We have something we call the "Washington Post TikTok Cinematic Universe," which is just basically that there are Easter eggs and inside jokes in every TikTok that are referencing something from 50 TikToks ago, and that seems‑‑that community building seems to be what works more than anything else for sure.
MR. CONTE: That's such a good idea. Yeah. Just I can imagine people seeing that and feeling like they're a part of it and feeling like they're along for the journey.
MR. JORGENSON: That's exactly right.
MR. CONTE: And so it makes a ton of sense.
MR. JORGENSON: Yeah. And, you know, for me, it is a full‑time gig, but I'm curious, the sort of makeup of the creators you have on Patreon. Are a lot of them full‑time, or is it kind of supplemented incomes? How does that work?
MR. CONTE: So the goal of the company, you know, what we want to do is provide infrastructure for creators to quit their jobs and do their businesses and their creation full‑time.
Now, the platform is open, which means that we don't stop people from setting up a Patreon page. So, as you can imagine, there's a lot of people who launch a Patreon page who are kind of aspirational. You know, they want to eventually get into creation, but they haven't yet, and we're not going to stop those people from launching a Patreon page. But there are a lot of those pages on Patreon.
It doesn't change the fact that, like, who we're building for and the kinds of things that we build are things for people who want to be a creator full‑time, things for people who, you know, want to build a creative business, want to reach their fans, have that be the thing that they wake up every day and do.
MR. JORGENSON: So I saw on the Patreon website‑‑or I think it was the Patreon blog page related to the website. Basically, it was a really helpful page on here's how you can get health insurance, here's the myths about health insurance, all that kind of stuff. For the people that are full‑time, using Patreon for their full‑time income, is there any consideration by Patreon that you might actually have access to health care provided by Patreon?
MR. CONTE: This is something I am so excited about and I want to do in the future. We don't have a timeline on it or a time‑‑or, you know, any sort of horizon. It's not currently on the roadmap, and the reason is because there's actually a lot of work to do on just the core of membership with regard to helping creators showcase their work and build communities on the platform, and so we're prioritizing that.
But, gosh, I want a world where, you know‑‑where creators don't have to choose between, you know, benefits and the steady desk job or full‑time creation, and so, yeah, whether we kind of build it natively or partner to make sure that it happens, it is something that I am really excited about.
And, yeah, that's‑‑you know, you mentioned problems previously. I mean, quitting‑‑quitting the‑‑quitting the job where you have the benefits and the‑‑you know, and health care and retirement and savings and all those sorts of things, that's a hard thing to do, and so, yeah, I absolutely want to solve that for creative people at some point.
MR. JORGENSON: Well, I think you would‑‑you would be ahead of basically the landscape as it is right now, but I would like to talk more about that landscape. You know, we have these media giants that are now kind of doing the same thing you started many years ago. There's Substack. I think the Jonas Brothers have something called Scriber, I think, and you were early and you are right, but are you concerned about the other companies entering this space?
MR. CONTE: It is my job to be paranoid as a‑‑you know, as an owner of a platform, about competition. That said, I'm not losing sleep over it, and I guess there's two reasons. One, so many people ask me about, you know, the fact that "Well, you know, Instagram has got subscriptions now and YouTube is, you know, trying to get creators paid and all these people are trying to get creators paid. Like, Jack, aren't you worried about this?" And my response is hallelujah. Like, finally the world is waking up to the fact that, like, creative people should be paid for their work. I'm so grateful and thankful that we're entering a new phase.
And what's even better is that it's not going anywhere. Like, there's so much momentum and excitement about the creator economy now that all these big companies are vying to be the best company at getting creators paid. That is great. I'm very happy about that as a creator myself. We couldn't be in a better position. I think over the next, you know, couple decades, there will be billions and‑‑tens of billions of dollars sent to creative people, and that is going to accelerate, you know, this coming renaissance that we foresee. So I'm very excited about that.
And then in terms of, you know, competition and what it means for Patreon, we do a lot of things differently that I think give us an advantage, and that's another reason that I'm not worried is that, you know, one, creators are who we're serving and that's it. We are serving creators. They are our priority, and on, you know, Instagram and Facebook and all these other platforms, creators are one of 50 constituents in their massive ecosystems, and they're constantly making tradeoffs that hurt creative people. And it reduces trust in those platforms, and it reduces my ability to, long term, bank on those platforms to do my thing as a creator.
I mean, I remember years ago when, you know, YouTube made a ranking change to its algorithm, and my traffic got cut in half. I remember when Facebook did the same thing, and it wasn't just creators that got hurt. It was media companies and publishers that, you know, end up going through layoffs because suddenly they have less traffic and less people reading their things, and Facebook just feels fine making those decisions. And that's not good for creative people.
So, at the end of the day, I'm not‑‑I'm not losing sleep over those companies because I think‑‑yeah, I think we put creators first every time, you know, over and over again, and eventually, I think that will breed more trust and give creators more control and make creators more successful on the platform. So, over the long run, it's not something that I'm‑‑you know, that I'm losing sleep about.
MR. JORGENSON: Well, you know, I think that mixture of paranoia and excitement is healthy too because, like, in my very small corner of the creator economy, when other people said, "What about other newspapers on TikTok?" I'm like, "Great. They'll just prove that we work just as hard and that their‑‑them being not as good as us, will show how much better we are."
MR. CONTE: Exactly. Yeah. I think, yeah, from our standpoint, the more creators the better. The more creators quitting their jobs and building businesses and doing what they do best the better. Like, we're thrilled about that at the end of the day. I mean, you know, it‑‑just even selfishly for Patreon means we have more people to be building for. So we're thrilled about it.
MR. JORGENSON: I have one last question for you, and I'm asked a version of this a lot. So, when I'm passing it on to you, it's like the ring where I have to pass it on now to get rid of this question, but where do you see the creator economy in five years and Patreon itself?
MR. CONTE: Yeah. I think in five years‑‑let's go five to ten. I'm going to say five to ten years. The thing that I'm most excited about is I foresee a cultural change. I foresee a world where creative people are valued and respected, and I see the dissolution of the term "starving artist." And I see a world where being a creator is normal, where a kid graduating high school and college can think of being a creative person as an option, not a dream. It's something you can do, and the infrastructure is there to support you in that. I think that's coming sooner than we all think. It's actually already here. It's just the culture that hasn't kind of caught up with it yet, but we are very close to that world, and it's‑‑it is a world that I'm just personally very excited about.
MR. JORGENSON: Me too. It's within reach.
That's all the time we have for today, Jack. At the intro here, you corrected something for us. Now I need you to correct me. Is your last name Con‑TAY or Con‑TEE?
MR. CONTE: I say CON‑tee, but, you know, enough people say Con‑TAY that it's probably that too at this point.
MR. JORGENSON: Do you know if you google your name and Google says this is how to say Jack Con‑TAY," and it says Con‑TAY?
MR. CONTE: You're kidding me.
MR. JORGENSON: I'm not. That's why I was like I got it, if Google says.
MR. CONTE: Google is wrong. Wow.
MR. JORGENSON: I know. I've just demonstrated another part of the creative economy: misinformation.
MR. JORGENSON: But, anyway, yeah, it's Jack CON‑tee. Got it.
Well, Jack Conte, we are out of time, but I appreciate you correcting me and this whole conversation. Thank you so much for joining us here at Washington Post Live.
MR. CONTE: Of course. Thank you, Dave, and keep crushing on the TikToks.
MR. JORGENSON: I appreciate it.
And thanks to all of you for joining us here today. I’m Dave Jorgenson. To checkout what interviews we have coming up, please head to WashingtonPostLive.com to register and find more information about all of our upcoming programs. Thanks again for joining us. | 2022-07-19T14:09:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Transcript: The Path Forward: The Creator Economy with Jack Conte, CEO and Co-Founder, Patreon - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/07/19/transcript-path-forward-creator-economy-with-jack-conte-ceo-co-founder-patreon/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/07/19/transcript-path-forward-creator-economy-with-jack-conte-ceo-co-founder-patreon/ |
FILE - A body is removed from a nightclub where 21 teenagers died in the early hours of the morning, in East London, South Africa, Sunday June 26, 2022. The toxic chemical methanol has been identified as a possible cause of the deaths of 21 teenagers at a bar in the South African city of East London last month, authorities said at press conference in East London Tuesday. July 19, 2022. (AP Photo/File) (Uncredited/AP) | 2022-07-19T14:10:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Methanol in blood of teens who died in South African tavern - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/methanol-in-blood-of-teens-who-died-in-south-african-tavern/2022/07/19/3f912636-0764-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/methanol-in-blood-of-teens-who-died-in-south-african-tavern/2022/07/19/3f912636-0764-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pa. (Jeff Chiu/AP)
Sesame Place Philadelphia has apologized after a woman’s claim that a performer intentionally ignored her young Black daughters sparked online backlash.
A woman posted a video to Instagram on Saturday that she says shows a performer playing the “Sesame Street” character Rosita brushing off her daughter and niece as they asked the character for high-fives during a parade. The nine-second video shows the performer portraying Rosita — a bilingual Muppet on the legendary children’s show — waving and high-fiving other visitors before appearing to wave off the 6-year-old girls in their “Sesame Street” backpacks. The girls were disappointed and confused after they had come in from Brooklyn for the day with their families, B’Ivory LaMarr, the family’s attorney, told The Washington Post.
“We were on our way out of Sesame Place and the kids wanted to stop to see the characters. THIS DISGUSTING person blatantly told our kids NO then proceeded to hug the little white girl next to us!” Jodi Brown wrote on Instagram. “Then when I went to complain about it, they looking at me like I’m crazy.”
The video has gone viral in recent days, with many online calling for a boycott of the park.
Sesame Place Philadelphia initially apologized in a statement to Instagram, but noted on Sunday that the costumes “sometimes make it difficult to see at lower levels” and that sometimes “performers miss hug requests from guests.” The park said that the performer’s “no” hand gesture was not specifically directed at the girls but in “response to multiple requests from someone in the crowd who asked Rosita to hold their child for a photo which is not permitted.”
“The Rosita performer did not intentionally ignore the girls and is devastated about the misunderstanding,” the park said.
But as the family rejected the apology and Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind “Sesame Street,” called the experience the children went through “unacceptable,” the park issued a more direct apology to The Post on Tuesday.
“We sincerely apologize to the family for their experience in our park on Saturday; we know that it’s not okay,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “We are taking actions to do better. We are committed to making this right.”
A park spokesperson added that Sesame Place Philadelphia would “conduct training for our employees so they better understand, recognize and deliver an inclusive, equitable and entertaining experience to our guests.”
LaMarr told The Post that the family is considering its options, including a potential lawsuit, as other videos allegedly show the performer in question refusing to engage with children of color at the park.
“We don’t want to just jump to race all the time, but unfortunately, only one logical deduction can be made off this set of facts,” LaMarr said.
Located just outside Philadelphia, Sesame Place has entertained millions of guests for the past 42 years. It is one of only two parks in the United States to be based entirely on “Sesame Street,” one of the longest-running TV programs in the world. The park has a licensing agreement with Sesame Workshop and is operated by SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment.
Rosita, a turquoise, bilingual Muppet hailing from Mexico, first appeared on “Sesame Street” in 1991. She is often featured playing the “Spanish word of the day” on the show.
The Sesame Place performer portraying Rosita on Saturday at one of the park’s parades is shown waving to patrons ahead of a float featuring Elmo, according to the Instagram video. After high-fiving a young girl, Brown’s daughter and niece extend their arms in hope of interacting with Rosita. But when the performer appears to wave “no” at them before walking away, one of the young girls looks dejected as the character walks out of the frame.
The video, which has been viewed more than 555,000 times, led to an online furor. Actor Wendell Pierce related the incident to an experience from his own childhood, and called it “violent” and “scarring.” Singer Kelly Rowland said on her Instagram story that watching the video made her “so mad.”
“Had that been me, that whole parade would have been in flames,” Rowland said. “Like, are you serious? You’re not going to speak to my child? And did you see that baby’s face at the end? The little one with the pink on? She deserves an explanation.”
When Sesame Place released its first apology, LaMarr said the family believed the statement was “just completely not genuine.”
“They’re trying to say anything to appease the public, considering they’re putting in jeopardy one of the ‘Sesame Street’ characters we’ve all come to love,” the attorney said. “These 6-year-old girls, who are very fond of this character, have been disheartened; their hearts have been shattered.”
Brown echoed the sentiment, responding in her Instagram story that Sesame Place was only “adding insult to injury.”
“I really tried to handle this situation [as] calm as possible but I am hurt, and that response just made it worse! The character could’ve just waved to everyone or just kept walking, but to blatantly look at my kids and say no … Don’t try to tell me he can’t see lower levels. He looked at them and said no!! So embarrassing and hurtful.”
The performer has not been publicly identified, and it’s unclear whether the employee has faced any discipline since the video went viral. Sesame Place emphasized that the park “has worked to uphold the values of respect, inclusion and belonging.”
“We are committed to doing a better job making children and families feel special, seen and included when they come to our parks,” the spokesperson said.
LaMarr told The Post that the family’s ultimate goal is to bring accountability to the park. He noted that the 6-year-old girls are so hurt that they are planning to go to therapy in response to what the family says was discriminatory behavior at the park.
“It’s about principle,” LaMarr said. “We want to make sure they don’t continue with business as usual.” | 2022-07-19T15:22:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Sesame Place apologizes after Rosita appears to wave off 6-year-old Black girls at Philadelphia park - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/sesame-place-philadelphia-black-girls-video/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/sesame-place-philadelphia-black-girls-video/ |
Why the ECB Needs New Tools for Bond ‘Fragmentation’
The European Central Bank is trying to prevent a sovereign-debt storm with the promise of a new tool to curb market stress as it raises interest rates for the first time in a decade. The effort gained urgency after the yield on Italian government bonds breached 4% in June, the highest since 2014. Investors viewed the renewed push to tackle so-called fragmentation as evidence that policy makers are fighting to prevent borrowing costs of the nations that share the common currency from diverging excessively. That’s a dynamic that threatened to rip the euro zone apart during a crisis a decade ago.
The term refers to a jump in borrowing costs for weaker euro-zone countries relative to stronger ones. While the currency bloc’s 19 economies differ by metrics like inflation, economic growth and debt, policy makers say some market moves don’t reflect these fundamental factors and are too rapid. The member states with the highest ratios of debt to gross domestic product -- notably Greece and Italy -- had some of the highest 10-year bond yields among major nations in mid-June. What’s more, the difference in yield, or spread, above Germany, the continent’s benchmark, had widened. Making matters worse is a government crisis in Italy, which could quickly test the ECB’s resolve.
While members share a common currency, they implement their own tax and spending policies, leading to divergences that can swell over time even with European Union limits on budget deficits. That’s a unique challenge for the ECB, which joined its peers around the world in buying government bonds to support an economic recovery after the 2008 global financial crisis. The EU’s founding treaties prohibit the ECB from financing member governments, and broad buying of government bonds tests that idea. Germany’s Bundesbank, the central bank that provided the blueprint for the ECB, has historically spoken out about the dangers of such moves. Its president, Joachim Nagel, warned in early July that the use of the new instrument must be limited to “exceptional circumstances,” and that governments will still need incentives to reduce their debt. | 2022-07-19T15:40:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why the ECB Needs New Tools for Bond ‘Fragmentation’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/why-the-ecb-needs-new-tools-for-bond-fragmentation/2022/07/19/747694be-0771-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/why-the-ecb-needs-new-tools-for-bond-fragmentation/2022/07/19/747694be-0771-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
Nearly half of all local law enforcement agencies in the United States have fewer than 10 officers
Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo, second from left, leads a six-officer police force that was overwhelmed by a horrific school shooting in May. (Dario Lopez-Mills/AP)
The criticism heaped on a six-member school police force in Uvalde, Tex., after its response to a mass shooter this spring has drawn attention to a ubiquitous American institution: the tiny police department.
While supporters of such agencies say they provide a personal touch that bigger police departments can’t match, critics say they often lack the training, expertise and accountability expected in today’s world of heavily armed criminals and heightened scrutiny of officers.
In Uvalde, it took more than an hour after the first officers arrived for law enforcement to enter the classroom and kill a gunman who fatally shot 19 children and two teachers. The chief of the school police force has borne the brunt of the blame, though larger agencies are also being strongly criticized. Police departments with fewer than 10 officers have also made headlines in Pennsylvania, Maryland and elsewhere in recent years for hiring and misconduct issues.
As the nation wrestles with what policing should look like in the 21st century, many question whether these smallest of police departments — which function in nearly every state, employ more than 20,000 officers nationwide and provide the first line of defense for millions of Americans — can adequately carry out their mission. Officials in some states have pushed to consolidate the smallest departments into larger, neighboring agencies, often triggering opposition.
One reason police reform is hard? So many small departments.
“The only reason they exist is because of politics, and they provide jobs for some individuals,” said Charles A. McClelland Jr., who led the Houston Police Department from 2010 to 2016. “Uvalde is a perfect example of what’s wrong with the disjointed law enforcement jurisdictions we have in this country. Even though it happened in Texas, it can happen anywhere.”
‘Dedication to service’
Agencies with fewer than 10 officers make up nearly half the nation’s more than 12,200 local departments, a 2016 federal survey found. In many cases, these agencies have sprung up and evolved alongside the towns and communities they serve.
“These agencies literally define community-oriented policing,” said Sean Marschke, who is chief of the 15-officer Sturtevant Police Department in Wisconsin and represents agencies with 15 or fewer officers on the board of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
“Many of these chiefs are the Little League coach. They also serve on the volunteer fire department. … So there’s this dedication to service and really knowing the people that you’re serving in those communities by first name.”
It’s difficult or impossible, however, for these departments to match the resources of bigger ones — resources that go into things like training, communications systems, body cameras and professional standards units.
McClelland said officers in many of Texas’s smallest agencies receive only the state minimum of 40 hours of ongoing training every two years, while those at bigger agencies often far exceed that. “The state requirements are very minimal, and it’s not adequate,” he said.
The lack of resources also translates to lower pay and fewer benefits, which makes it difficult for agencies with single-digit rosters to recruit.
In Maryland, Timothy Maloney, a trial lawyer who served in the state legislature from 1979 to 1994, says tiny departments there have long had a reputation for shaky hires.
“Some of their best officers are retirees from large county departments,” Maloney said. “But they also get the retreads and rejects from other agencies. There is a food chain in law enforcement like anywhere else.”
This chief is hiring women to reduce ‘toxic’ policing
The town of Fairmount Heights, with a population of about 1,500 along the edge of Maryland’s border with D.C., has lost all of its officers in recent years to resignations, misconduct and a death.
One officer, Martique Vanderpool, faces state and federal charges after he was accused in 2019 of stopping a 19-year-old for speeding and threatening to jail her unless she had sex with him. His lawyer Joseph Wright said Vanderpool "believes he will be fully exonerated at trial.”
The Fairmount Heights chief and other officers resigned soon after Vanderpool’s departure.
Last year, a grand jury indicted one of the town’s remaining officers, Philip Dupree, on charges of kidnapping, perjury and misconduct in office. Dupree, who also awaits trial, allegedly pepper sprayed a handcuffed man and then left him unattended at the station for hours. He had been terminated from two other departments before Fairmount Heights hired him, state records show.
Justice Dept. to probe Maryland State Police hiring, discrimination reports
After the lone remaining officer died last month, the town council decided to rebuild the department, rather than seek policing services from Prince George’s County, which long has struggled with allegations of misconduct and corruption.
“We looked at a lot of alternatives, and basically when we weigh it all out, it seems like the community prefers having our own unit,” Mayor Lillie Thompson Martin said. “They want to see our community police remain.”
Chief Earl Fox, who runs a three-officer department in Crofton, Md., northeast of Prince George’s in Anne Arundel County, says that giving someone a second chance can seem preferable to letting a position stay vacant. “I struggle to find a qualified candidate,” he said.
Fox hired one officer after he’d been fired from a larger sheriff’s office, and within months the second-chancer was in trouble again, accused of felony theft. But Fox says another of his officers has redeemed himself after his termination from a previous agency.
Large police departments have produced plenty of scandals of their own, to be sure. It’s difficult to know for certain how small departments fare in comparison, because little research has been done on them, said David Weisburd, a distinguished professor at George Mason University and executive director of the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy.
Weisburd points out that local control is a feature of U.S. society. Communities like to have their own police just like they have their own libraries and educational systems. “There are great advantages to local control, because it means the community is very close to what’s going on,” he said.
Texas report says police agencies large and small erred in Uvalde shooting
But Weisburd said the advantages of scale for larger police forces, such as specialized units and data-driven crime prevention strategies, are clear. “I don’t really see how you make a defense for a six-member police department.”
Mergers — and pushback
The spotlight was cast on a tiny department in Pennsylvania this month, when the small town of Tioga hired as its lone officer the former Cleveland police officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice in 2014.
In that state and across the nation, officer shortages are spurring many small agencies to consider merging with neighbors. In the area around Scranton, Pa., more than a dozen towns are discussing whether to consolidate their departments, largely because of recruiting challenges and increased costs.
The state’s Department of Community and Economic Development is working to facilitate those discussions and offer technical help. But there, as elsewhere, some worry that a regionalized department would lose focus on community policing.
“You’re not going to get a police officer that quick when there’s a blocked driveway, a barking dog, things of that nature,” said Chief Andy Kerecman of the Throop Police Department, which has seven full-time officers and six part-timers. The town of about 4,000 is participating in a study to explore merging its police force with seven others.
Pennsylvania AG says town broke law in hiring Tamir Rice’s killer
“I know probably 98 percent of the people in this town,” said Kerecman, 62, who grew up in Throop and whose father served on the police force before him. “I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say, ‘This better not happen.’ ”
There are downsides, too, for officers, who stand to lose prized shifts, rank, and hard-won contracts, Kerecman said. “The officers obviously are saying, ‘What, are you kidding me?’ ”
In Florida, some consolidation was spurred by the 1993 shooting death of Officer Jeffery Tackett, who was the only member of the Belleair police force on duty one night as he investigated a prowler. Tackett found the suspect and radioed for backup. Then the man snatched his gun. “I’m shot. It’s bad,” Tackett radioed next. The dispatcher reached a nearby town’s police department. But by the time help arrived, Tackett was dead.
The shooting death sparked a debate about whether the police agencies dotting Florida’s central Gulf Coast should turn their responsibilities over to larger sheriff’s offices. Many residents and town officials were fiercely protective of the tiny departments, which they saw as providing a constant and personal presence.
Dennis Jones, then a state representative, saw it differently.
“These little towns with seven, eight people on a police force. They don’t have any K-9s. They don’t have any undercover drug detectives. They don’t have a homicide division. They don’t really have squat, other than to walk around the community and be seen,” Jones said in a recent interview. “But that’s not really law enforcement in this day and age.”
Much of America wants policing to change. But these trainers say officers are doing fine.
In Florida’s Pinellas County, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says there are 24 cities in his county, and 13 of them now contract with his agency for police services, getting “as good or better services” than what they could provide on their own.
By taking advantage of the sheriff’s office’s economy of scale, a small town or city will “save a boatload of money,” Gualtieri said.
Studies on consolidations of police departments elsewhere also have said they reduce overall costs. But Kerecman, the chief in Throop, Pa., said many towns worry they’ll end up subsidizing police service in neighboring communities that have more crime.
Gualtieri said officials give all sorts of reasons for not wanting to give up their police departments, predicting that deputies won’t know their communities and will take too long to respond.
“It’s all a bunch of concocted nonsense,” the sheriff said. “Control, that’s what it comes down to. They like to be able to control the police department.”
Protecting school campuses
Uvalde’s school district used to contract for part-time school resource officers with the Uvalde Police Department, which has about 40 officers. But the setup had its problems, said Mickey Gerdes, former president of Uvalde’s school board.
“The city police chief at the time needed the officers for his own shifts, so it was getting harder to coordinate scheduling resource officers for the junior high,” Gerdes said. “The police chief said, if you want to continue using our officers, we’re going to need you to contribute more money.”
At the time, a potential school shooter wasn’t top of mind for the board, Gerdes noted. “It wasn’t about anything more serious than the administration at the high school and the junior high needed additional assistance in sort of monitoring and policing the campuses for minor student infractions.”
In 2018, Gerdes said, “we decided as a district, based on the recommendation of the superintendent at the time, that in the long run it would be easier to coordinate and just have our own department.”
More than a quarter of school districts in Texas — 329 out of 1,022 — employ their own officers, according to a report by the Texas School Safety Center that covered 2017-2020. The majority of those departments reported having between one and five officers on the payroll.
Since the Uvalde shooting, Texas lawmakers have repeatedly voiced their desire to put more officers on school campuses. Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne, legislative chairman for the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas, counseled at a June state senate hearing that contracting with sheriff’s agencies, rather than creating new departments, would be best.
“The system works,” Hawthorne told lawmakers. “It saves money … because the sheriff’s office already has the infrastructure. You do not have to go in and re-create an entire police department infrastructure, whether it’s the law enforcement software, whether it’s the fleet operations and vehicles.”
Police reform in America
Repeated police misconduct: More than $1.5 billion has been spent to settle claims of police misconduct involving thousands of officers repeatedly accused of wrongdoing. Taxpayers are often in the dark.
Listen: “Broken Doors” is a six-part investigative podcast about how no-knock warrants are deployed in the American justice system — and what happens when accountability is flawed at every level.
Fatal Force: Since 2015, The Washington Post has logged every fatal shooting by an on-duty police officer in the United States. View our police shooting database.
Fired/Rehired: Police departments have had to take back hundreds of officers who were fired for misconduct and then rehired after arbitration.
Read more coverage on policing in America. | 2022-07-19T15:40:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Do police departments with fewer than 10 officers make sense? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/tiny-police-uvalde/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/tiny-police-uvalde/ |
A Chinese microchip is seen through a microscope at the booth for the Chinese state-controlled Tsinghua Unigroup project during the 21st China Beijing International High-Tech Expo in Beijing in 2018. (Ng Han Guan/AP)
Democrats took a loss last week when Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) all but dashed their dreams of a big, bold reconciliation package. Yet as it turns out, the defeat might make another victory more likely.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been threatening to kill the long-awaited bipartisan U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), or the America Competes Act in the House, as payback for the opposing party’s seeming success in negotiating a multitrillion-dollar deal on health care, climate, tax reform and more. His caucus stood, if somewhat shakily, behind him. Now that the deal has shrunk considerably, there’s room for revival on the China competition front: Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) tweeted on Sunday that the reconciliation collapse would “green light proceeding this week to shore up the dangerous vulnerability of U.S. supply chain for advanced semiconductors.” And that’s exactly what Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) plans to do.
Legislators are almost certain to sever the Chips Act from the larger USICA, pushing through $52 billion in aid to the semiconductor industry, including $39 billion in grants to subsidize new factories in the United States; that move was already likely even with Mr. McConnell holding the rest of the bill hostage. Legislators are also hoping to add on a little more, such as an investment tax credit for semiconductor manufacturing and a program to bolster alternatives to Chinese-made 5G technologies. The thinking is that the Chips Act is urgent — because unless it passes quickly, companies impatient for the subsidies it would provide will build their facilities in countries where incentives are already in place. And with Taiwan responsible for the bulk of advanced chips today, supporters are right that domestic production is the surest way to prevent future supply shocks and protect national security.
The problem is, the Chips Act has never been the only way, or even the best way, to achieve that aim. Lawmakers have attached some strings to the money the bill would dole out, but there’s still a risk that the funds would largely benefit shareholders rather than taxpayers. There’s also a risk that no matter how well the United States spends its dollars, it can’t keep up with China — which is used to funneling far more government resources into industry. Other parts of the competition package took a smart tack: supporting academic research in critical areas and facilitating immigration by students and talented professionals. These interventions, alongside a robust free market, are essential to success.
Congress shouldn’t stop at the Chips Act, but instead consider the crucial parts of the reconciliation bill it otherwise will sacrifice — if not this week, then as soon as legislators can manage. The imperiled reconciliation deal gives Democrats some space to propose these provisions after all, and Republicans some space to support them. Call it a silicon lining. | 2022-07-19T15:40:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Don’t stop at the Chips Act, Congress - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/congress-chips-act-semiconductors-not-enough/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/congress-chips-act-semiconductors-not-enough/ |
Julio Rodriguez could get a second chance in a home run derby if Tuesday night's All-Star Game is tied after nine innings. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Major League Baseball will employ a novel technique to end Tuesday night’s All-Star Game if the score is tied after nine innings: the game will swivel to a home-run derby to supply a (hopefully) quick resolution.
Managers Dusty Baker, of the American League, and Brian Snitker, of the National League, have chosen their derby “lineups,” just in case. Three players from each side would take three swings a piece to determine the winner, a process that caught some players off guard.
“That would actually happen?” New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton asked (via the Associated Press). “This is news to me.”
Snitker, the manager of the defending champion Atlanta Braves, chose the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso, the Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. and the Philadelphia Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber. Baker, of the Houston Astros, chose the Seattle Mariners’ Julio Rodriguez and Ty France as well as the Astros’ Kyle Tucker. Rodriguez blasted 63 home runs in two rounds of Monday night’s home run derby, but lost to the Nationals’ Juan Soto, who hit 19 homers to Rodriguez’s 18 in the final round.
“I’ll be your guy,” Alonso said (via the AP) he told Snitker when the manager called to see if he’d be willing to give it a go. Like, Stanton, he was unaware of the format. “I think it’s fun. I think it’s going to be a great event if that does happen.”
The summer classic has gone to extra innings 13 times since its inception in 1933. The last two times it happened, the game went 10 innings, in 2017 at Miami’s LoanDepot Park (then known as Marlins Park) and 2018 at Washington’s Nationals Park.
The game has undergone a number of changes over the years and in 2002 notably ended in a 7-7 tie after 11-innings when both teams ran out of pitchers. The plan for games that were tied after regulation briefly called for playing extra innings with a runner on second base at the start of each half-inning.
The provision for this change can be found in exhibit 13 of the memorandum of understanding that settled the MLB lockout on March 10.
Here are the official rules, according to the AP:
“[T]he manager of each league’s All-Star team shall select three players on his team’s active roster who have agreed to participate in the All-Star tiebreaker, if applicable; one alternate player from his active roster who has agreed to participate in the All-Star tiebreaker, if necessary due to injury to a tiebreaker selection; an All-Star team coach who will throw batting practice during the All-Star tiebreaker; and an All-Star team bullpen catcher who will catch during the All-Star tiebreaker.”
There would be a brief pause after the ninth inning so that the grounds crew could reconfigure the field. In the tiebreaker, “each player can take an unlimited number of pitches without it counting against their swing total. Players on each team may hit in any order during the All-Star tiebreaker; provided, however, the batters from each team shall alternate.”
The AL team is the visitor in Tuesday’s game at Dodger Stadium, and would go first in the competition.
“Once all six tiebreaker selections have completed their swings, the team with the most home runs shall be declared the winner of the All-Star Game,” the rule says. “In the event the teams have the same number of home runs following the tiebreaker, each manager shall select one tiebreaker selection to participate in another round in which the tiebreaker selection from each team takes three swings to break the tie. The aforementioned head-to-head format will continue until the tie is broken.”
The three batters picked for the tiebreaker cannot be replaced unless there is an injury or to protect a player’s health. | 2022-07-19T15:41:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | All-Star Game tie would be ended by a home run derby - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/19/all-star-game-tie-hr-derby/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/07/19/all-star-game-tie-hr-derby/ |
Auletta on what enabled Harvey Weinstein to become a sexual predator
Writer Ken Auletta is known for his skillful reporting and in-depth profiles for The New Yorker – including an iconic 2002 profile of Harvey Weinstein that made waves illuminating the entertainment mogul’s volatile behavior in the workplace but failed to expose his sexual predations. On Tuesday, July 26 at 1:00 p.m. ET, the author joins Washington Post staff writer Sarah Ellison to talk about his latest book “Hollywood Ending: Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence,” which dissects the former media executive’s path to power, his ultimate downfall and the culture of silence in Hollywood that allowed for his rampant sexual abuses.
Author, “Hollywood Ending: Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence” | 2022-07-19T15:41:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Auletta on what enabled Harvey Weinstein to become a sexual predator - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/07/26/auletta-what-enabled-harvey-weinstein-become-sexual-predator/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/07/26/auletta-what-enabled-harvey-weinstein-become-sexual-predator/ |
In this undated photo released by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, INAH, scuba divers explore the Hoyo Negro underwater cave, or cenote, in Tulum, Quintana Roo state, Mexico, where according INAH, a skeleton almost 13,000 years old of a prehistoric young woman was found, making it the oldest and most complete found in the Americas. The Mexican government invoked national-security powers on July 18, 2022 to forge ahead with a tourist train along the Caribbean coast, while activists warn the high-speed rail project will fragment the coastal jungle and run above the roofs of fragile limestone cenotes. (Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History via AP, File) (Uncredited/Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History) | 2022-07-19T15:42:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Train endangers some of Mexico's oldest pre-historic sites - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/train-endangers-some-of-mexicos-oldest-pre-historic-sites/2022/07/19/79f65f62-0773-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/train-endangers-some-of-mexicos-oldest-pre-historic-sites/2022/07/19/79f65f62-0773-11ed-80b6-43f2bfcc6662_story.html |
When Erin Taylor, 29, began working at a Decatur, Ga., Chick-fil-A in August last year, she thought it would be a turning point: a chance to climb up “the corporate ladder” and, after nearly two pandemic years, a way to gain some financial stability, she said.
Instead, she was met with sexual harassment from co-workers on her very first day at work, Taylor alleges in a discrimination lawsuit filed last month. When she reported the abuse to the franchise restaurant’s owner, the complaint alleges, Taylor was not only outed to her harasser as transgender, but she also was told that, as a trans woman, “it should be an honor ... that someone liked her enough to hit on her.”
The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia, accuses the Decatur fast-food restaurant of violating her civil rights by “subjecting [Taylor] to ongoing discrimination” on the basis of her gender identity, and for firing her after she raised the issue repeatedly with management. (The lawsuit refers to Taylor, who transitioned three years ago, by her pre-transition name because her legal name hasn’t been changed.)
Chick-fil-A, one of the most profitable fast-food chains in the country, is known for touting its “family-owned” and “biblically-based” principles. The company also has drawn attention for its anti-LGBTQ stances — most notably in 2012 when the company’s chief executive, Dan Cathy, said he was opposed to same-sex marriage. The company later said that its culture was “to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect” and that it would leave the same-sex marriage debate to the government and political arena.
In 2019, the company pledged to stop donating to organizations that oppose gay rights. Still, the Daily Beast reported that as recently as last year, Cathy has helped fund efforts to derail the Equality Act, a federal-level effort to protect LGBTQ individuals from discrimination.
In a statement shared with The Washington Post, a lawyer for IJE Hospitality, which oversees the Decatur store, wrote that the company has “vigorous policies and procedures to prohibit harassment, discrimination and retaliation.” (Chick-fil-A Inc. is not a defendant in the lawsuit.)
“IJE Hospitality is committed to creating and maintaining a workplace that is welcoming, inclusive and values all people,” the statement read. “IJE Hospitality will continue to defend against these claims in court.”
Taylor’s discrimination lawsuit comes amid increased violence and political animus against LGBTQ communities across the country. In addition to an onslaught of anti-LGBTQ bills, this past Pride Month saw unprecedented protests and attacks, and fatal violence against the transgender community has been on the rise for years.
According to the lawsuit, Taylor began working at the Atlanta-area Chick-fil-A to train as director of operations. Her first day on the job, Taylor was eager to make a good impression, she recently told The Post. But as she began preparing for the evening rush at the fry station, a male co-worker began hurling lewd sexual comments at her from across the kitchen, Taylor said.
Taylor said she tried to deflect the attention, ignoring the catcalls or saying she wasn’t interested. But the harassment, which she said took place in front of store management and other co-workers, only escalated: Taylor said another male co-worker joined in.
“There was literally a physical demonstration of him giving and performing oral acts,” Taylor said. The behavior was so over the top that a couple of female co-workers tried to intervene, telling the men to leave her alone, Taylor said. But most of the restaurant staffers either laughed or did nothing, according to Taylor.
“I was terrified because, one, this is my job, and this is my first day and this is already going on,” Taylor said. But she was also scared of what the unwanted attention could bring: The only person at the Chick-fil-A who knew she was transgender at that time was the person onboarding her, she said. What would happen to her if those male co-workers found out?
According to the lawsuit, the harassment continued throughout her first week at the fast-food restaurant, with Taylor talking to multiple managers to try to address the problem. Eventually, she raised the issue with the store owner, Joe Engert, the complaint alleges. During the conversation, Taylor disclosed to Engert that she is transgender. “I wanted it to be handled with a certain of level of care,” she said.
Engert, who is mentioned by name in the lawsuit, did not respond to a request for comment.
Taylor’s lawsuit alleges that Engert told her he would look into her claims, while adding that she ought to look at it as an “honor” that as a transgender woman, “someone liked her enough to hit on her.”
“I was completely appalled,” Taylor said. “To hear this coming from my direct superior. ... I felt at that moment isolated and unprotected.”
Shortly after the meeting, Engert spoke with the man who had been harassing her, Taylor said. Once the meeting was over, Taylor’s co-worker returned to the kitchen, enraged. He yelled homophobic slurs and threatened to beat Taylor, the lawsuit alleges. Because of the sudden shift in the man’s behavior, Taylor said she believes Engert outed her to her co-worker.
Afterward, Taylor felt as though the restaurant turned against her. Her lawsuit alleges that for four months, she was regularly misgendered at work by multiple co-workers and taunted with homophobic and transphobic comments in front of management and customers.
“If a customer said, ‘Thank you ma’am,’ [other staffers] would say, ‘You mean sir,’ under their breath,” Taylor said. Management did nothing to prevent the harassment, she claims.
2021 is the deadliest year on record for transgender and nonbinary people
According to UCLA’s Williams Institute, transgender people are four times more likely than their cisgender counterparts to be the victims violent crimes, including rape, sexual assault and aggravated assault. Last year was considered the deadliest for transgender and gender nonconforming people on record, with at least 50 killings, according to the LGBTQ advocacy organization the Human Rights Campaign. Since the organization began tracking fatal violence in 2013, Black trans women have represented two-thirds of all known victims.
Taylor’s experiences at work left her on edge, feeling increasingly unsafe, depressed and suicidal, she said. Taylor, who is Black, couldn’t help thinking about the disproportionately high rates of violence against trans women of color, she said: “If something were to happen to me, would anyone even care?”
On top of that, Taylor has accused the Chick-fil-A branch of retaliating against her and sabotaging her at work. As she continued raising the abusive behavior to her managers, her management training ceased altogether, she alleges.
The store fired Taylor in November for tardiness and for allegedly walking off her shift. Taylor’s lawsuit claims she had asked to leave work early because of the ongoing harassment, which her supervisor agreed to, and that co-workers with similar infractions had not been terminated as a result.
Nearly a year after first working at Chick-fil-A, Taylor says she struggles to recognize herself. She is constantly on guard, finds it difficult to trust people and experiences anxiety and panic attacks, she said.
“That change in myself is really sad ... because that wasn’t who I was,” Taylor said. “I was this young lady full of life, full of personality, excitement and drive and ambition.”
Taylor is seeking damages, including for lost wages and benefits and “mental and emotional suffering,” according to the complaint. She said she hopes the lawsuit inspires other transgender people to stand up for themselves.
“What I’m asking, and I don’t think it’s too much, is that I can walk into a room and I don’t have to fear for my life,” Taylor said. “I don’t think that’s too much to ask of a job.” | 2022-07-19T15:48:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Trans Chick-fil-A worker told to be ‘honored’ by catcalls, suit says - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/trans-chick-fil-a-lawsuit/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/trans-chick-fil-a-lawsuit/ |
The arrest brings a partial end to a dispute between prosecutors and police, who wanted to see the teen charged in the slaying far earlier
A 15-year-old from Northeast Washington was arrested and charged Tuesday with fatally shooting a 19-year-old man who was paralyzed and sitting in a wheelchair outside his Northeast Washington home earlier this year, police said.
The teen’s arrest brings a partial end to months of debate between prosecutors in the D.C. attorney general’s office and police, who wanted to see the teen charged in the slaying far earlier, according to three law enforcement officials familiar with the matter. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
The officials said the teen, who is expected to appear in court Wednesday, is also police’s top suspect in another fatal shooting that occurred in Northeast Washington four days later, although prosecutors have pushed them to find more evidence in that case. Police had feared that if the teen remained on the streets, he might commit more crimes or become a target of someone retaliating, the officials said.
The teen — who is awaiting sentencing later this month in a separate case — is charged with murder in the killing of Devin Brewer. Authorities have said Brewer was sitting in a wheelchair outside his home with friends just before 8 p.m. on Jan. 18 when a car slowly road past and the driver opened fired. A bullet struck Brewer in the head. Two of his friends were also shot but survived.
The Washington Post generally does not identify juveniles charged with crimes unless they are charged in adult court.
Police suspected the teen in Brewer’s killing as far back as late February and petitioned prosecutors in D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine’s office to sign off on an arrest warrant for the teen on murder charges, according to police documents obtained by The Post and interviews with three law enforcement officials familiar with the case. But at that point, prosecutors declined, telling police they needed more evidence. Two law enforcement officials familiar with the case said investigators recently were able to retrieve new evidence in the youth’s cellphone that links the teen to Brewer’s murder, and prosecutors on Wednesday signed off on the warrant.
Last month, The Washington Post began reporting on the tension between D.C. police and prosecutors in Racine’s office over the strength of the evidence in Brewer’s killing and the slaying four days later of 38-year-old Timothy Stewart. The Post had first tried to contact the attorney general’s office about the case on June 29, and interviewed Racine on July 1.
City officials, including Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), have long criticized Racine as being too lenient on juveniles charged in violent offenses. In the July 1 interview, Racine declined to comment on the particular investigations but said, in general, his prosecutors will charge juveniles in criminal cases as long as the evidence is strong.
“We work closely with MPD to build cases. However, the prosecutor must be satisfied that a preponderance of the evidence exists to charge the case and that to proceed with a prosecution that prosecutors can meet the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard,” Racine said. “We do not move forward on cases where we cannot meet these standards.”
When reached by telephone, the teen’s public defender, Taylor Dodson, refused to comment.
Police believe both Brewer and Stewart were shot because they lived in a Northeast Washington neighborhood where members of a gang had engaged in a spate of gun-fighting and retaliation, according to three law enforcement officials familiar with their cases. Stewart was shot in a drive-by while he was walking to a store in Northeast to play his grandmother’s lottery numbers, as he did every day, according to police documents and a law enforcement official familiar with the case. No one has been charged in that killing.
In both homicides, police conceded that their evidence was largely circumstantial: They lacked any eyewitness accounts or DNA evidence, the law enforcement officials said.
According to two law enforcement officials, the teen boasted about killing Brewer to one of his friends, and police found an Instagram post in which he said that he had “made the news” and referenced a media account about Brewer’s shooting. But the teen’s friend, who cooperated with police, had been charged alongside him in an armed robbery and could face significant questions about his credibility, those law enforcement officials conceded.
Surveillance video captured a burgundy Toyota Highlander used in Brewer’s killing. Police believe that the vehicle was one the teen had previously carjacked and tried to sell on Instagram, before it was set on fire after the homicide, the law enforcement officials said.
In Stewart’s killing, according to one law enforcement official and a police document, a GPS tracker was placed on another of the vehicles police claim the teen was involved in carjacking. It showed the car at a house where the teen was staying, then at the scene of Stewart’s killing around the time it occurred, then back at the house, according to the law enforcement official and document.
When police stopped the car following a separate robbery, though, a different person was driving — perhaps complicating the effort to tie it to the teen, according to the document. That driver told investigators he had gotten the vehicle from the teen, according to a police document and one of the law enforcement officials. That person was charged with robbery.
Two law enforcement officials familiar with the case said officers recovered clothing that the teen is believed to have worn from a home he was using, along with a .45 caliber weapon that police linked to Stewart’s shooting. The teen, the law enforcement officials said, had previously posted pictures of himself on Instagram, holding such a gun and wearing the clothes.
But neither police nor prosecutors have ordered the weapon tested for DNA to compare to the teen’s, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the case, who blamed the attorney general’s office for not testing the weapon. The attorney general’s office declined to comment on the assertion but said police can submit guns for DNA testing on their own. A police department spokesperson said that when a suspect is already charged in a separate case, the attorney general’s office must sign off on a comparison using their DNA.
The delay in bringing charges against someone for his son’s killing has left Timothy Wiggins, Stewart’s father, discouraged.
“They know who done it. That’s the whole thing,” Wiggins said. “The prosecution office is giving different accounts and different stories as to why they haven’t processed the warrant.”
It’s not uncommon for authorities to bring charges in one case, while continuing to investigate another.
Prosecutors had relied on information from the teen’s associates and Instagram postings to charge him in June with 14 offenses unconnected to the killings, including armed carjacking, armed robbery and receiving stolen property, officials said. Weeks later, the teen pleaded guilty to lesser charges, including robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon and carrying a pistol without a license, according to records reviewed by The Washington Post. The teen, who had been released to his mother’s home on electronic monitoring, is scheduled to be sentenced July 28.
But in those cases, prosecutors had security video footage of the teen inside several of the vehicles that were reported carjacked, according to two law enforcement officials and police documents.
In D.C., Racine’s office typically handles cases involving defendants ages 17 and younger, while federal prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office handle those involving adults or juveniles charged as adults. Generally, if local prosecutors determine that a youth charged in a crime cannot be rehabilitated by the time that person is 21 years old, the office can ask a judge to move the case to the U.S. attorney’s office and adult court. A minor charged as a juvenile can remain in the system only until turning 21. Those charged as juveniles must go to trial in 45 days of arrest, according to D.C. law. That means police and prosecutors must have their strongest evidence ready when they make an arrest.
The law enforcement officials said they believe the teen was motivated in the Brewer case by revenge, though he was indiscriminate in choosing a target.
A friend of the teen told police that the youth was close with 18-year-old D’Maree Miller, who was killed in early January, according to police documents and law enforcement officials. By the friend’s account, two of the law enforcement officials said, the teen believed someone who lived in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood was responsible for Miller’s death, so he took one of the vehicles he and his friends carjacked previously and drove there alone on Jan. 18, looking for someone — anyone — to kill.
Daneen Wright, Brewer’s mother, said at around 7:30 p.m., she heard Brewer’s friends wheel Brewer outside so he could get some air. Within 10 minutes, Wright recalled, she heard gunshots.
Seconds later, Brewer’s friends ran into the house. Wright said she ran out the back and saw her son on the ground “like he tried to jump out of his chair and run, but couldn’t.” Wright picked him up and carried his lifeless body back to the house.
“I had to run out there to get my son and see my son like this,” she said. “My husband cleaned up the blood. This was devastating for my family.”
Neither Brewer, who had been paralyzed from a previous shooting, nor his friends who were injured were connected to Miller’s murder. In March, an 18-year-old from Southeast Washington was charged in Miller’s slaying.
Wright said police told her in February that they believed they had identified her son’s killer but that prosecutors refused to sign an arrest warrant because of lack of evidence. She said she contacted the attorney general’s and requested a meeting — afraid that whoever shot her son could also target other members of her family.
“I feel relieved,” said Wright, the pastor of Saving Souls Deliverance Church, on news of the arrest in her son’s killing. “God answers prayers. I now feel like justice is being served.” | 2022-07-19T16:57:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. teen arrested in fatal shooting of man in wheelchair - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/19/teen-arrested-wheelchair-shooting/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/19/teen-arrested-wheelchair-shooting/ |
From right, Karma (voiced by Asiahn Bryant), and her brother Keys (Camden Coley), mom Lillie (Danielle Brooks) and dad Conrad (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) in “Karma's World.” (Netflix)
Bridges and Karma, now 20, created an educational website that debuted in 2011 and marked the first iteration of “Karma’s World.” The site was revamped a few years later and with every version, he said, the music got better, the animation and storytelling richer. As the TV series got underway, Bridges came in with a clear vision. “I want to move hip-hop culture forward with this show,” head writer Halcyon Person recalled the rapper saying in their first meeting. “I don’t want to just make another show — I want to really feel like we are changing the next generation of kids and bringing hip-hop to a whole new generation in a new way.”
9 Story Media Group, which produces “Karma’s World” alongside Bridges’s Karma World Entertainment, has an ongoing partnership with the Perception Institute, a research consortium that consults on every episode of the show to ensure storylines avoid bias and stereotypes. The collaboration helps the writers dig deeper, according to Person. For the hair episode, that meant pushing beyond the typical anti-bullying story in favor of “a more complex, nuanced and difficult story.”
“Karma’s World” has joined the pioneering “Proud Family,” along with “Doc McStuffins,” “Ada Twist the Scientist” and Matthew Cherry’s Oscar-winning short “Hair Love” in increasing representation in children’s animation. Karma’s family — including her mom Lillie (Danielle Brooks) and kid brother Keys (Camden Coley) — and neighbors have a range of skin tones and hair textures so detailed it’s hard to believe they’re animated in some frames. Karma’s best friend, Winston (Isaia Kohn), is Dominican American, speaks Spanglish with his family and sports a mop of chestnut curls. Her friend Switch (Aria Capria) sports multicolored pigtails.
Many of the episodes are based on experiences that Karma Bridges went through as a kid, but the show has also consulted with other children to find out which topics they need to be covering. “We went to Brooklyn and talked to kids and got their experiences, truly asked them every question under the sun,” Person said. “What do you and your friends do at recess? What are you reading right now?” That level of research sets “Karma’s World” apart, Person said. In an episode from the new season, Winston designs a pair of vivid sneakers for a school assignment but is hurt when Karma doesn’t like them. The writers wanted to tell a story about opening your mind, but weren’t sure kids would get it.
“If anything, we saw that kids were not only ready for that conversation, but were going even deeper than we ever expected,” Person said. Their feedback helped elevate the storytelling in the episode. Dad Conrad helps bring the message home by asking Karma if she thinks “rapping is just rhyming words.” Horrified, she says “rapping is so much more than that.”
“Well, there was a time when some people thought rap wasn’t art,” Conrad replies, bridging the generational gap between young viewers and parents that grew up on Luda’s music (and perhaps grandparents who didn’t get it back in the early aughts). “They thought it wasn’t as important as classical music, or even rock-and-roll.”
Bridges is the first to admit that the idea of him tackling an animated children’s program sounds, well, ludicrous. But, he adds, “I’ve based my entire career on continuing to do things that no one would really expect me to do. I love surprising people.” That approach has taken Bridges from the airwaves of Atlanta, where he began as a well-known radio personality, to global stardom as a multiplatinum, Grammy-winning rapper, movie star (he’s a familiar face in the Fast and Furious franchise) and beyond. He is also chairman of the Ludacris Foundation, established in 2001, whose mission is to “inspire youth to live their dreams through programs and partnerships … that help them envision new possibilities for their lives.”
At the Essence Festival in New Orleans earlier this month, Person had her first opportunity to see firsthand how kids and their parents (and grandparents and aunties) respond to “Karma’s World.” The dolls weren’t available in stores yet but attendees were able to get a hands-on look. One little girl came and “she wouldn’t leave,” Person recalled. “She was like ‘I have to bring Karma home with me.’” When her mom told her they would have to wait a few weeks to get the doll, the girl cried.
The third season of Karma’s World is now streaming on Netflix. | 2022-07-19T17:10:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ludacris and ‘Karma’s World’ prove that hip-hop is for the kids - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/07/19/ludacris-karmas-world/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/07/19/ludacris-karmas-world/ |
Chairman Bennie G. Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney listen as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing on July 12. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
The law enforcement agency, whose agents have been embroiled in the Jan. 6 investigation because of their role shadowing and planning President Donald Trump’s movements that day, is expected to share this conclusion with the Jan. 6 committee in response to its Friday subpoena for texts and other records.
Many of its agents’ cellphone texts were permanently purged starting in mid-January 2021 and Secret Service officials said it was the result of an agencywide reset of staff telephones and replacement that it began planning months earlier. Secret Service agents, many of whom protect the president, vice president and other senior government leaders, were instructed to upload any old text messages involving government business to an internal agency drive before the reset, the senior official said, but many agents appear not to have done so.
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, incursion into the U.S. Capitol by Trump’s supporters issued a subpoena to the U.S. Secret Service on Friday requesting phone, after-action reports and other records relating to that time.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General upended the committee’s investigation last week claiming the Secret Service had erased texts from around Jan. 5 and 6 after his office had requested them as part of his own investigation.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi has said that the agency did not maliciously delete text messages and that the Secret Service had lost some data because of a previously planned agencywide replacement of staff telephones. The replacement began a month before the Office of Inspector General made his request, he said last week.
Guglielmi acknowledged that some data on the phones had been lost in the changeover but emphasized that “none of the texts” the OIG was seeking were missing.
Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) signaled that the subpoena could resolve the discrepancies in the accounts between the OIG and the Secret Service, which falls under DHS.
The Secret Service’s text messages have become a new focal point of Congress’s investigation of Jan. 6, as they could provide insight into the agency’s actions on the day of the insurrection and possibly those of Trump. A former White House aide last month told the House select committee investigating the assault on the Capitol that Trump was alerted by the Secret Service on the morning of Jan. 6 that his supporters were armed but insisted they be allowed to enter his rally on the Ellipse with their weapons. | 2022-07-19T17:11:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Secret Service has no new texts to provide Jan 6 committee, any texts not backed up have been purged and cannot be recovered - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/secret-service-texts/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/secret-service-texts/ |
Doctor in 10-year-old’s abortion case takes 1st legal step against Indiana AG
Caitlin Bernard, a reproductive health-care provider, speaks during an abortion rights rally on June 25, 2022, at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis. (Jenna Watson/Indianapolis Star/AP)
Attorneys for the Indianapolis doctor who helped a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim obtain an abortion took the first legal step on Tuesday in a possible defamation lawsuit against Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) for his comments in a story that has captured international attention.
Kathleen DeLaney filed a notice of tort claim against Rokita on behalf of her client, Caitlin Bernard, for “false and misleading statements” about the OB/GYN in the days after she shared how she helped the 10-year-old, who traveled to Indiana for an abortion.
“Mr. Rokita’s false and misleading statements about alleged misconduct by Dr. Bernard in her profession constitute defamation per se. The statements have been and continue to be published by or on behalf of Mr. Rokita and the Office of the Attorney General,” the claim reads. “To the extent that these statements exceed the general scope of Mr. Rokita’s authority as Indiana’s Attorney General, the statement forms the basis of an actionable defamation claim against Mr. Rokita individually.”
Even after Gerson Fuentes was charged with rape last week, Rokita questioned Bernard about whether she had reported the procedure to state officials, as required by law. Records obtained by The Washington Post show that Bernard reported the minor’s abortion to the relevant state agencies before the legally mandated deadline to do so.
A spokesperson with the attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. | 2022-07-19T17:12:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Caitlin Bernard, doctor in 10-year-old rape victim's abortion, might sue Indiana AG Todd Rokita for defamation - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/abortion-doctor-lawsuit-bernard-rokita-indiana/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/abortion-doctor-lawsuit-bernard-rokita-indiana/ |
Sarah Matthews, Donald Trump's White House deputy press secretary, listens during a news conference in July 2020. (Al Drago/Bloomberg News)
The Jan. 6 hearings will return to prime time Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern, and on Monday the committee’s lineup of witnesses was unveiled: former Trump White House aides Matthew Pottinger and Sarah Matthews.
Each is expected to expand upon the bombshell testimony of fellow former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Hutchinson’s own public appearance three weeks ago set the stage for Thursday’s hearing, which is set to focus on President Donald Trump’s actions during the insurrection. The hearing is also expected to feature more videotaped testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who met with the committee again after Hutchinson’s testimony.
We’ve run down what Cipollone can add to the record. But what about Pottinger and Matthews?
Pottinger served for all four years of Trump’s presidency before resigning as deputy national security adviser on Jan. 6. He had significant stature in the White House and will be difficult for Trump to try to dismiss as an insignificant aide, as Trump did with Hutchinson. Indeed, Pottinger appears to be the highest-ranking White House official to resign that day, though Cabinet secretaries also resigned in response to Jan. 6.
Matthews, who was a deputy press secretary, has more publicly criticized Trump in the 18 months since Jan. 6. When she resigned, she issued a statement saying, “Our nation needs a peaceful transfer of power.” A week later, she told The Washington Post’s Ashley Parker that “seeing people I know, who were scared for their lives, just shook me to my core.”
Both will undoubtedly speak to a central event after the insurrection began: Trump’s 2:24 p.m. tweet attacking Vice President Mike Pence for not having the courage to go along with overturning the election. The committee has played relatively little of their prior videotaped testimony, but each witness weighed in on this event in the portions that have been shown so far.
Crucially, committee member Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said that both Matthews and another White House aide, Ben Williamson, testified that Trump had been informed of the violence at the Capitol before his tweet attacking Pence.
(This has been a significant question, given that it would amount to Trump inflaming an already tense situation and targeting his own vice president despite it. We learned after the riot that protesters had chanted, “Hang Mike Pence.” Hutchinson also testified that a White House aide told her he had informed Trump that supporters at his Jan. 6 rally had weapons, but Trump directed them to the Capitol anyway.)
Aguilar said both Matthews and Williamson described Chief of Staff Mark Meadows going into the dining room off the Oval Office, where Trump was, to tell him about the violence.
Matthews recounted in her taped testimony:
I think when [press secretary] Kayleigh [McEnany] gave us that order of don’t say anything to the media, I told her that I thought the president needed to tweet something. And then I remember getting a notification on my phone. And I was sitting in a room with … Ben, and we all got a notification. So, we knew it was a tweet from the President. And we looked down, and it was a tweet about Mike Pence.
Elsewhere in her testimony, Matthews added, “I remember us saying that that was the last thing that needed to be tweeted at that moment. The situation was already bad. And so, it felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire by tweeting that.”
Pottinger said that the tweet was the moment he decided to resign.
The committee hasn’t shared much more of Pottinger’s and Matthews’s previous videotaped testimony, but Pottinger was also reportedly involved in discussions over sending in the National Guard. He reportedly visited the Oval Office after 3 p.m., after a former colleague told him Washington Mayor Muriel E. Bowser was inquiring about that subject.
ABC News’s Jonathan Karl reported in his 2021 book that Pottinger rushed to the Oval when he learned there had been a delay, and that he joined Cipollone in their astonishment that it hadn’t happened yet. Both Meadows and McEnany said the National Guard had been ordered and were on the way, but that was later contradicted by others, including testimony from then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, who said his final approval didn’t come till 4:32 p.m.
Former Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger will testify live during Thursday’s Jan 6 hearing. He has quite a story to tell. In Betrayal, I recounted the moments that let to his resignation on January 6: pic.twitter.com/9a9a7hVJTx
Pottinger is a figure who has surfaced in past controversies, most notably the White House’s coronavirus response. Reporting has indicated that he pushed for a more aggressive response very early in the pandemic, after Trump had spent weeks downplaying the threat of the virus.
He hasn’t spoken out much publicly since his resignation the day of the insurrection, and the above-linked Washington Post profile noted he had “maintained a military-style respect for the chain of command, content to stay out of the spotlight and careful not to upstage the bigger personalities in the West Wing.” He said in an interview last summer, “I’m proud of a lot of things that the administration did, and I think I’ll look back on those years as ones that I’m proud of.” But his resignation leaked shortly after the insurrection, with Bloomberg News first reporting it shortly before 1 a.m. on Jan. 7.
Matthews has been much more outspoken, including recently. As some pushed back on Hutchinson’s testimony and labeled it “hearsay,” she said that it was “damning” and urged people to take it seriously. Matthews, who like Hutchinson is in her mid-20s, challenged Trump’s defenders to testify themselves.
On the anniversary of Jan. 6 early this year, Matthews offered some other choice words in a Twitter thread, labeling the events of that day a “coup attempt.”
“Make no mistake, the events on the 6th were a coup attempt, a term we’d use had they happened in any other country, and former President Trump failed to meet the moment,” Matthews said. (Matthews notably faulted Trump more for the lack of a response rather than mounting the “coup attempt” himself.)
She added: “While it might be easier to ignore or whitewash the events of that day for political expediency — if we’re going to be morally consistent — we need to acknowledge these hard truths.”
While it might be easier to ignore or whitewash the events of that day for political expediency — if we’re going to be morally consistent — we need to acknowledge these hard truths. (3/4)
The thread escaped many people’s notice at the time, with fewer than 20 retweets on any of her four tweets. Her testimony Thursday promises to gain significantly more attention. | 2022-07-19T17:12:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What Matthew Pottinger and Sarah Matthews could testify about on Jan. 6 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/matthew-pottinger-sarah-matthews-testimony/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/19/matthew-pottinger-sarah-matthews-testimony/ |
The studio is the latest to join the video game industry’s labor organizing wave
Blizzard Albany, a video game developer owned by Activision Blizzard, is going public with its unionization efforts. The quality assurance team at the Albany-based studio formerly known as Vicarious Visions — a unit made up of about 20 employees — has filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board.
Last Thursday, the workers asked Activision Blizzard management to voluntarily recognize their union.
“I firmly believe that having the union is going to give us the power that we need to make our workplace better,” said Amanda Laven, associate test analyst at Blizzard Albany in an interview with The Washington Post. “It’s very exciting to go public with it and hopefully be able to inspire others the way that we’ve been inspired by Raven, and Starbucks and Amazon and all the unions that have come before us.”
Report: ‘Scorched earth’ and big profits: How embattled gaming titan Bobby Kotick outlasts his opponents
The workers’ request was acknowledged by Activision Blizzard, though the company did not specify if it would recognize the union.
“We deeply respect the rights of all employees under the law to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union,” wrote Activision Blizzard spokesperson Rich George in a statement. “We believe that a direct relationship between the company and its employees is the most productive relationship. The company will be publicly and formally providing a response to the petition to the NLRB.”
Vicarious Visions officially merged with Activision Blizzard in April. It’s known for its work on franchises including Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, and Crash Bandicoot.
The studio took cues from the organizing campaign at Raven Software, Madison, Wis., where 28 quality assurance testers won their bid for a union in May.
“Raven has been a huge inspiration to us,” Laven said. “Seeing their process, it’s been demystifying to see them do it first and have an idea of how things go and how the company might respond … We’ve already gotten to see some someone do it in our own company, and they’ve been very forthcoming with us talking to us about what things are like and what problems they encountered. It’s been very, very helpful and inspiring.”
The Albany workers looking to unionize call themselves Game Workers Alliance - Albany, following the same naming convention as the Raven Software workers. The workers chose the name Game Workers Alliance, rather than a more specific name referring to their studio or department, so that other parts of the company and other games workers across the country could join over time. To do so, those other divisions at Activision Blizzard would need to collect a majority of union authorization signatures and then vote in favor of joining the GWA.
“The only way to get a raise above inflation is to take a job at a totally different company,” said a Blizzard Albany employee who is not a quality assurance tester, speaking on the condition of anonymity citing fear of retaliation. “If the executives at ABK want their workers to be productive, engaged, and invested in the success of their workplace they must recognize and bargain in good faith with unions. Workers deserve to be treated well and compensated fairly for the work they do and for too long this has not been the case at Activision Blizzard.”
Microsoft enters agreement to respect Activision Blizzard unionization
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it would acquire Activision Blizzard in a nearly $69 billion all-cash deal, pending regulatory approval. The tech giant has said it would respect unionization efforts when the deal is completed. To that end, Microsoft entered a labor neutrality agreement with the major media union Communications Workers of America, which has been organizing video game workers across the industry.
“[The agreement] means that we don’t try to put a thumb on the scale to influence or pressure [our employees],” Microsoft president Brad Smith told The Washington Post in June. “We give people the opportunity to exercise their right to choose by voting … it’s something that’s respectful of everyone, more amicable and avoids business disruption.”
Activision Blizzard employees, including some at Blizzard Albany, are also planning to walk out on Thursday, virtually and physically, in states like California and Texas, to protest the overturn of Roe v. Wade and demand workplace protections. | 2022-07-19T17:13:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Blizzard Albany, formerly Vicarious Visions, announces unionization bid - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/07/19/blizzard-albany-vicarious-visions-union/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/07/19/blizzard-albany-vicarious-visions-union/ |
After Uvalde massacre, Dallas district plans to require clear backpacks
A student carries a transparent backpack in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2012. (Hector Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images)
Middle and high school students in Dallas will soon be required to carry clear or mesh backpacks — a districtwide response to the massacre that killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex.
The Dallas Independent School District announced Monday that it will be implementing the new policy in the fall, joining a handful of other districts in Texas that have adopted similar safety measures.
The district said starting in the 2022-2023 school year, sixth- through 12th-grade students will no longer be allowed to carry backpacks that are not clear or mesh. But students can have a small nontransparent pouch — no larger than 5.5 inches by 8.5 inches — to conceal personal items like cash or feminine hygiene products.
How can schools detect potentially violent students? Researchers have an answer.
Last month, Harper Independent School District (ISD), about 100 miles from Uvalde, became one of the first to announce that “in light of the recent school shooting, and in an effort to do everything we can to increase safety for our students and staff,” it was implementing a clear-backpack policy for students in the fall.
The state’s Greenville ISD, Ingleside ISD, Southside ISD and Seguin ISD have done the same — some applying the policy to all students and others applying it only to those in secondary school. And there some exceptions, depending on the district. Seguin ISD, for instance, said students involved in extracurricular activities such as athletics or band may use nontransparent bags to carry equipment but must store those bags in designated areas upon arrival.
Transparent book bags are not a new idea. After the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., district officials temporarily required students to carry clear backpacks — an unpopular rule with many students, one of whom called it an “invasion of privacy.” | 2022-07-19T17:54:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Dallas school district to require clear or mesh backpacks in response to Uvalde shooting - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/dallas-clear-backpacks-uvalde-shooting/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/dallas-clear-backpacks-uvalde-shooting/ |
More than 60 million Americans could see highs in the triple digits
High temperatures on Tuesday as predicted by the National Weather Service. (Pivotal Weather)
Dallas and Oklahoma City are both forecast to reach at least 108 degrees Tuesday afternoon.
Heat advisories and excessive heat warnings blanket the Plains, where the combination of record-challenging heat and tropical humidity will place dangerous amounts of strain on the human body for those who can’t escape the heat. That presents a serious threat to the elderly, homeless individuals and others without adequate access to cooling shelters.
“Extreme heat and humidity will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses,” wrote the National Weather Service, “particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities.”
The heat is centered over the southern Plains and south-central United States, but it has already managed to deliver a record temperature of 107 degrees to Salt Lake City on Sunday. In Montana, Glasgow experienced one of its 10 hottest days on record at 108 degrees.
A sprawling ridge of high pressure known as a heat dome is responsible for the high temperatures. It brings clear skies, sinking air and abundant sunshine. It also shunts the jet stream north into Canada, deflecting any major storm systems or inclement weather. That’s why heat domes often beget drought.
Tuesday is likely to be the hottest of the next week, though highs over the century mark will linger for the forecastable future. Oklahoma City is projected to hit 109 degrees Tuesday, the hottest since July 20, 2018. The Sooner State’s capital has hit 109 degrees only 19 times since 1890.
In southwest Oklahoma along the H.E. Bailey Turnpike, the high temperature is slated to peak at around 112 degrees Tuesday afternoon. Since July 1912, that’s happened only 20 times — making the heat a roughly once-in-five-year event.
It’s a similar story in Wichita Falls, just across the Red River in north Central Texas, where a 112 degree reading is also projected.
Fort Worth’s Meacham International Airport spiked to 110 degrees Monday.
Dallas is predicted to hit 109 again Tuesday and 108 on Wednesday. So far this month, DFW has already had 14 days at 100 degrees or more.
🌡️Dangerous heat is expected on Tuesday with near record temperatures. Forecast highs range from 106 to 113 °F.
⚠️Please take a look at these heat safety tips and the signs of a heat stroke—remember that excessive heat can be deadly! #okwx #texomawx pic.twitter.com/16o2UncEaV
“I’d say right now the longevity” is most impressive, Mahale said. “The biggest impact to people is how persistent it’s been.”
The heat itself is unusual — about 5 to 10 degrees above average in places like Oklahoma and Kansas and up to 15 degrees hotter than typical in the Lone Star State. Even Houston is expected to peak around 100 degrees each afternoon through at least the start of next week.
In Austin, highs in the 102 to 106 degree range are expected through at least the start of next week. The same is true in San Antonio, Tulsa and Wichita.
Even more problematic are nighttime lows, which in many areas will not dip below the mid-80s. Hot overnight temperatures are major contributors to heat-related fatalities, since warm nights prevent the body from entering its nocturnal cool-down period. Highs above 100 degrees will extend throughout the Desert Southwest too.
The sun is setting on an intense brush fire in Somervell county (SW of DFW). This fire is producing a tall pyrocumulus cloud (see its shadow on the east side). Fire releases heat & moisture and when unstable atmospheric conditions exist, these can grow into storms.#dfwwx #txwx pic.twitter.com/ueHaQsTqxE
In Southeast Texas and along the Gulf Coast, dew points near 70 — indicating the amount of tropical moisture in the air — will lead to heat indexes approaching or exceeding 110 degrees. Farther north and west over the Interstate 35 corridor, comparatively less moisture will translate to fire weather concerns. Red flag warnings are up for a wide swath of Texas and Oklahoma, where relative humidity could fall below 25 percent and winds may gust up to 30 mph.
“A red flag warning means that a dangerous combination of weather conditions and dry vegetation is expected within 24 hours, favoring rapid growth and spread of any wildfires,” wrote the National Weather Service in Tulsa. Several fires are already burning across the south-central Plains.
Those conditions could “contribute to extreme fire behavior,” echoed the Weather Service in Norman. More than half of Texas is experiencing a severe or top-tier “exceptional” drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
“We haven’t had substantial rainfall for a little while,” Mahale said. “A lot of our stations haven’t had rainfall of at least a quarter-inch for 30 to 40 days, and only isolated to widely scattered storms for the past month. As vegetation dries out, that makes it easier for the crops to heat up. You don’t have much evapotranspiration going on, and things dry out.” | 2022-07-19T18:37:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Blistering heat is baking the Great Plains with highs to 115 degrees - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/07/19/heatwave-plains-texas-oklahoma-record/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/07/19/heatwave-plains-texas-oklahoma-record/ |
Climate change is pushing temperatures to levels previously considered unfathomable — faster than many can imagine
A security guard gives water to a member of the Queen's Guard outside Buckingham Palace on July 18 as London wilts amid record heat. (John Sibley/Reuters)
For two weeks, computer models teased the possibility of Britain reaching 40 Celsius (104 degrees) this week, a level unsurpassed since at least 1850 — and probably in more than 6,000 years. Meteorologists gazed at these model forecasts in disbelief, skeptical that such predictions would come true.
Six days ago, the U.K. Met Office put the odds of hitting 40 Celsius at only 10 percent.
But the seemingly unlikely model forecasts proved correct. London Heathrow was among six locations in the United Kingdom to top 40 Celsius on Tuesday, shattering Britain’s all-time temperature record.
This is the latest example of how human-caused climate change is pushing temperatures to levels previously considered unfathomable — faster than many can imagine.
Britain sees hottest day on record
In 2020, the Met Office issued projections suggesting that the type of heat seen in Britain on Tuesday might occur somewhat routinely by 2050. But to see it happen in 2022 struck scientists as both premature and an ominous preview of what’s to come.
“I wasn’t expecting to see this in my career,” Stephen Belcher, chief of science and technology at the Met Office, said in an online video.
Belcher warned that if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed, temperatures in the U.K. could eventually get this hot every three years.
Another factor that startled scientists: It wasn’t just that Britain’s temperature record was eclipsed, it was beaten by 1.6 Celsius (2.9 degrees Fahrenheit). The previous mark was 38.7 Celsius, set in Cambridge two summers ago.
“For meteorologists, exceeding records by a margin of 2 or 3 degrees is a staggering thought when historically records were only broken by fractions of a degree,” said Simon King, a meteorologist for BBC.
The number of high temperature records set in the U.K. on Tuesday, both for daytime highs and nighttime lows, and the magnitude by which they were broken are reminiscent of the heat wave in the Pacific Northwest last year.
That heat wave set high-temperature records by massive margins in Seattle and Portland, which hit 108 and 116 degrees. Lytton, a village in British Columbia, broke Canada’s previous heat record of 113 degrees on three straight days, climaxing at a shocking 121 degrees on June 29.
‘Hard to comprehend’: Experts react to record 121 degrees in Canada
Scientists with the World Weather Attribution project found climate change had made the Pacific Northwest heat wave at least 150 times as probable.
Meteorologists also marveled at how far north temperatures skyrocketed in this week’s European heat wave. London is farther north than any location in the Lower 48 states and sits a latitude just north of Calgary. Its high of 104 was hotter than Houston and Miami.
How abnormal is the record-shattering heat wave in Europe? View this map. @weatherchannel
London's latitude is 10° farther N than Chicago.
London hit a prelim high of 104.4°F(40.2°C)🌡️ at Heathrow Airport today, which obliterated the previous record of 101.7°F set in 2019. pic.twitter.com/6LVwbhTsJY
Corinne Le Quéré, a climate research professor at the University of East Anglia, said the high temperatures seen in the U.K. should not be so shocking.
“We should not be surprised about the extreme temperatures that we live in the UK this week,” she said in an email. “The rise in extreme temperatures is a direct consequence of climate change caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases. Temperature records will continue to be more and more extreme in the future.”
But other scientists said the magnitude of these heat waves may force people to reassess what weather events supercharged by climate change might bring.
“Models, if anything, are underestimating the potential for future increases in various types of extreme [summer weather] events,” Michael Mann, a professor at Penn State, told the Guardian. | 2022-07-19T18:38:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why the U.K. heat wave is so bad and how climate change will impact future - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/07/19/uk-heat-wave-record-temperature/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/07/19/uk-heat-wave-record-temperature/ |
While Europeans talk of tackling climate change, near-record summer heat in Oklahoma, Texas and South Dakota has not shifted the politics
Workers install infrastructure under a Texas flag tent during a heat wave in Austin on July 11. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg)
As summer temperatures spiked in Oklahoma — heading toward at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday — the city of Tulsa pondered what to do about its 36-hole municipal golf course. Should it replace the fescue turf with Bermuda grass that’s resistant to heat and drought? The cost of showering it nightly with 1 million gallons of water had gotten pricey, at $5,000 a pop.
“There is a point where we may have to start prioritizing tees and greens and fairways and not as much on the rough,” said Randy Heckenkemper, a golf course architect based in the city, in an interview.
But for now, officials were lavishing water on the city’s Page Belcher course, as Oklahoma baked in a massive heat wave that is also scorching parts of Texas, Kansas and South Dakota. Residents are cranking up their air conditioners, putting pressure on the power grid, and farmers are using more water at a time when the region could slide into drought.
But across the Atlantic, as the same weather pattern broke centuries-old records in Europe, political leaders seized on the heat wave as a call to action.
“This is the consequence of climate change,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a tweet Monday. “Tackling the climate emergency must be at the top of the to-do list for the next Prime Minister.”
The sharp policy divergence could have profound implications for the planet, as the world’s biggest historic emitters of greenhouse gases grapple with how to confront their new climate reality. Many European nations are working to shift away from fossil fuels, but the combination of intense summer heat and energy shortages stemming from the war in Ukraine threatens to delay this transition.
Visualizing Europe's heat wave, with melting popsicles
In the United States, President Biden is struggling to advance his environmental agenda in the face of intense opposition from Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.).
The dueling heat waves are both the result of sprawling zones of high pressure, or heat domes. Underneath these heat domes, the air sinks and clears out cloud cover — while allowing the sun to beat down relentlessly.
With temperatures expected to surpass 110 degrees in some U.S. states on Tuesday, nearly 69 million Americans were facing the risk of dangerous heat exposure, and heat-related illnesses are projected to rise from Dallas to Pierre.
“When it’s 110 outside, you’re a prisoner in your home,” said Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric science at Texas A&M University. “Is this the kind of life you want to live?”
Asked whether she thinks the climate is changing, South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) said, “I think the science has been varied on it, and it hasn’t been proven to me that what we’re doing is affecting the climate.”
And in Texas, a major fossil fuel producer that has grown 2 degrees hotter than the previous century, climate adaptation is rarely mentioned in a political arena focused on gun rights and abortion.
Dessler said his state should immediately draw up plans to adapt, but he doubts that will happen. “The first thing they need to do to adapt is to be able to say the words ‘climate’ and ‘change,’ ” he said.
Texas’s approach to adaptation, Dessler said, was summed up by former governor Rick Perry’s call to the public during a time of drought and wildfires in 2011. At the time, Perry said, “I urge Texans of all faiths and traditions to offer prayers ... for the healing of our land.”
The demand for power in Texas hit an all-time high Monday, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the grid for about 26 million customers. The operator asked Texas air quality regulators to relax their enforcement rules for the afternoon and evening, so that the state’s fossil fuel plants could pollute more than normally permitted in the effort to generate enough power to keep the state’s lights on.
“They haven’t done forward planning,” said Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston. “With a state growing as fast as Texas, it was just going to be a matter of time before [energy] demand outstripped available supply.”
Grid operators in Texas have been pleading with consumers to cut their energy use and calling on utilities to put off maintenance and other down time for their power plants, elevating the risk for system failure as the summer wears on.
Elsewhere in the Plains, many emphasized that high heat arrives every summer.
Doug Sombke, who operates a farm in northeastern South Dakota, said people lean a little too hard on the climate change angle. Farmers have learned to drink iced tea to keep cool and spray the livestock with water, he said, when it becomes windy, dry and hot at the end of June, through July and August.
“It’s typical weather for us this time of year,” he said, adding, “This year is better than last year.”
But in the next breath he said: “One hundred ten degrees is extreme. ... It’s something we need to learn to adapt to.”
In Sombke’s mind, that means slowly transitioning from petroleum use to biofuels and solar and wind generated energy. “It will take time.”
In Europe, which has shattered several temperature records this week and is experiencing severe wildfires, politicians are already planning for a hotter future. France’s capital has launched an adaptation project dubbed Paris at 50° C (122 degrees Fahrenheit), chaired by Green Party member Alexandre Florentin.
“This is neither prophecy, nor an intuition, nor a hypothesis,” Florentin told the newspaper Le Monde. “We are in a new climate situation in which some people are already suffering, and which is going to get even worse.”
Why the European heat wave is so bad, and what it means for future climate change
Europe has become a global hotspot for heat waves, with a notable spike in the last two decades. In the past 42 years, the continent has seen an increase in extreme heat waves three to four times faster, compared with the rest of northern latitudes, research shows.
“It is now well accepted that anthropogenic climate change acts in reinforcing heat waves, in terms of frequency, intensity, and persistence,” said Efi Rousi, a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “This is simple physics. As mean temperatures are rising, heat extremes are also rising.”
Changes in the jet stream — potentially tied to climate change — have also played a role in increasing the number of heat waves over the past four decades. Typically a relatively strong jet stream, a narrow band of strong winds about 6 to 7 miles above ground, brings cooler air from the North Atlantic Ocean. But winds have gotten weaker over the continent, and the jet stream is splitting into two branches, paving the way for persistent and intense heat waves, Rousi explained.
“Under continued anthropogenic emissions we expect to see more and more of those extreme heat waves in Europe,” Rousi said. “This is why taking action and reducing emissions in order to limit warming according to the Paris agreement levels is very crucial.”
Britain's hottest day in at least 363 years
Britain, where temperatures rose to 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) Tuesday, is looking for ways to adapt to a climate that is 1.1 degrees warmer than the 1961-1990 average.
This rise of a single degree Celsius can dramatically intensify heat waves. A study by the U.K. Met Office found the nation is 10 times more likely to experience a 40C day now, compared with a world unaffected by human-induced climate change.
“What is astonishing is that many people seem to be surprised that we are now seeing temperatures of 40C,” said Friederike Otto, a climatologist and senior lecturer at Imperial College London, in an email. “It is not surprising, climate change is not a surprise, neither is the fact that it leads to much more frequent heat waves and higher temperatures.”
Otto welcomed the fact that the U.K. Met Office issued a red warning and informed people of potential adverse health effects but said the government needs to do more to help people prepare for these unprecedented scorching waves.
“Building homes, schools and hospitals that cannot be cooled is still happening, and it really shouldn’t,” Otto said.
That problem doesn’t exist in the United States. Unlike Europe, where about 20 percent of households have air conditioners, more than 85 percent of American households have them installed.
Golf course operators in Oklahoma and elsewhere also have a powerful incentive to keep their fairways lush: Money. The National Golf Foundation reported this spring that the number of Americans who took up the game since the pandemic began is 30 percent higher than the previous record-breaking span between 1999 and 2000, when Tiger Woods’s winning streak inspired millions of Americans to take up golf.
But even as operators in places in Oklahoma douse their courses this summer, they recognize they cannot sustain this approach for long.
Oak Tree National, located in the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond, is in the midst of a six-month, complete overhaul of its greens. Its new crop of hybrid TifEagle bermudagrass appears to be weathering the heat.
“We’ve already done the back nine and tomorrow we’re sprigging the front nine,” said Oak Tree President and chief operating officer Tom Jones, who has been running golf courses for 40 years. “Because of the caliber of players we have out here, our goal is when someone steps into the tee box, they look out and think, ‘You could play a tournament here tomorrow.’ ”
Evan Halper, Kasha Patel and Jason Samenow contributed to this report. | 2022-07-19T18:42:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | As heat waves hit U.S. and Europe, leaders split on climate change - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/07/19/heat-wave-europe-climate-change/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/07/19/heat-wave-europe-climate-change/ |
Steve Bannon trial live updates Opening statements set to begin
Bannon judge denies one-month delay over evidence confusion
Bannon’s trial could be brief after judge blocked many of his defenses
Jury selection started with a pool of 60 D.C. residents
Former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon is back in federal court this week for his trial on charges of contempt of Congress. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
Opening statements in the federal trial of Stephen K. Bannon are set to begin this afternoon after jury selection wrapped today. The former Trump adviser and right-wing podcaster is charged with two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with an order from the House Jan. 6 committee to turn over records and testify about his actions ahead of the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In declining to testify and turn over records, Bannon claimed executive privilege, and his lawyer said he was contacted by Trump lawyer Justin Clark and instructed not to respond. But during a pretrial hearing this month, the judge overseeing the case rejected several of Bannon’s defenses, including the executive privilege claim. The judge narrowed Bannon’s defenses at trial mainly to whether he understood the deadlines for answering lawmakers’ demands.
The high-profile trial comes amid closely watched televised hearings of the very panel that Bannon rebuffed. It’s unclear how long his trial may take or if he will testify in his own case.
The misdemeanor contempt charges are each punishable by at least 30 days or up to one year in prison upon conviction.
By Spencer Hsu2:36 p.m.
The jury for the contempt of Congress trial of former top Trump political strategist Stephen K. Bannon includes nine men and five women, more than half of whom work for federal or D.C. government agencies or contractors.
The panel of 12 jurors and two alternates was seated at about 2 p.m. and was read trial instructions before opening statements by U.S. prosecutors and Bannon’s defense.
The jury’s federal workers include a Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer; an employee with the State Department’s Office for International Religious Freedom; a NASA contract photographer and archivist; a woman who recently joined the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., America’s development bank for emerging markets; and another who works with the International Republican Institute, a democracy and development agency that draws funding from the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development.
Its D.C. government employees include a Parks and Recreation maintenance manager, Transportation Department contract driver for special needs children, and a supervisor with a Health Department pandemic vaccination contractor.
Other jurors include a commercial residential architect; a university hospital janitor; an online art seller; and people who work with a Takoma Park appliance distribution company and the EnviroCorps job training group.
One juror with the appliance company said he watched the first prime-time televised hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, saying during jury selection, “I understand everyone wants to figure out what was going on, to figure out the truth of what happened.”
U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols warned jurors that they are not permitted to discuss the case nor their service on Bannon’s jury with anyone except each other, only during deliberations, and to not read any news or information about the case throughout the trial.
“You must not use electronic devices or communications to talk about this case with anyone at all, or about your jury service,” Nichols said.
By Devlin Barrett2:15 p.m.
The trial of former Donald Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon on charges of contempt of Congress got off to a bumpy start Tuesday morning as the judge, defense lawyers and prosecutors seemed to disagree on what evidence a jury could hear related to Bannon’s talks with the Jan. 6 committee.
U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols denied a request by Bannon’s team to delay the proceedings for a month.
The jury panel had been nearly assembled Tuesday for Bannon’s trial on two counts of contempt of Congress for allegedly refusing to provide testimony or documents to the committee, and opening statements were expected to begin.
But an hour-long discussion outside the presence of jurors revealed a fundamental misunderstanding over how much of the committee’s correspondence with Bannon could be shown to the jury — evidence that related to the ex-presidential adviser’s understanding of the subpoena deadline at issue in the case.
The judge said Tuesday that his previous rulings allowed Bannon to offer a rationale for why he may have thought the committee’s deadlines were not fixed. Lawyers representing Bannon did not think they could enter that territory, according to their understanding of the parameters that Nichols had previously set.
One of Bannon’s lawyers called the judge’s comments Tuesday “a seismic shift” in their understanding of what they could present to the jury. “There are a lot of moving pieces,” said the lawyer, M. Evan Corcoran. “We simply have not done the type of defense preparation we would have.”
Corcoran asked for a one-month delay in the trial so they could recalibrate their strategy. The judge seemed frustrated that the lawyers did not seem to understand his previous rulings and called a recess to consider the issue.
By Devlin Barrett and Spencer Hsu7:55 a.m.
Former Trump adviser and right-wing podcaster Stephen K. Bannon promised that the contempt of Congress charges against him would become a “misdemeanor from hell” for the Biden administration, but after judicial rulings against his proposed defense, legal experts said his trial could be more of a quick trip through court.
At a recent hearing that left Bannon’s legal strategy in tatters, his lawyer David Schoen asked U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, “What’s the point of going to trial if there are no defenses?” The judge replied simply: “Agreed.”
The exchange was a remarkable comedown for the combative, bombastic Bannon team that live-streamed his declaration, “we’re taking down the Biden regime,” as he surrendered to the FBI in late 2021 on charges he had illegally flouted a subpoena from the House committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Read more legal analysis of Bannon’s trial here.
Jury selection in the trial began Monday morning, and by day’s end, the pool of 60 D.C. residents had nearly been finalized to a group of 22 prospective jurors.
Eighteen people were ruled out Monday during day-long vetting by the judge, federal prosecutors and the defense, including several who said under oath that they had formed opinions they were not certain they could set aside regarding the conduct of President Donald Trump’s former chief White House strategist, who is alleged to have ignored a committee subpoena for records and testimony in October.
“I would try to [set aside my opinions] but can’t guarantee it 100 percent,” said one prospective juror, who identified herself as a social media manager for a Washington museum and who was dropped from the case at the government’s request.
“It would seem cut and dried, the same way I received a notice to come here” to court for jury duty, said another man, who handles contracts for a small private company, and who was excluded from jury service after Bannon’s lawyers objected.
Read more about the jury selection in Bannon’s trial here.
By Isaac Stanley-Becker7:49 a.m.
Perhaps no one but the former president himself is more closely associated with Trumpism than Steve Bannon.
A former investment banker and Hollywood producer, Bannon used the far-right website Breitbart News to tug the GOP in a more populist and nationalist direction, preparing the way for Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency. He served as CEO of Trump’s 2016 campaign and chief strategist in the White House.
Following his departure from the administration and return to Breitbart, Bannon faced Trump’s ire over critical comments about the president’s adult children included in Michael Wolff’s 2018 “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.” But he made his way back into Trump’s good graces, and, after he was indicted on charges of defrauding donors to a crowdfunding campaign for the U.S.-Mexico border wall, he received a pardon from Trump in January 2021.
By that time, Bannon had used a new media venture, a show called “War Room,” broadcast from the basement of his Capitol Hill townhouse, to make himself the chief spokesman for Trump’s movement. On the show, he parrots Trump’s false claims of election fraud and whips his audience up in opposition to what he calls the “illegitimate Biden regime.”
The show is distributed by a network called Real America’s Voice, which is led by a little-known media mogul in Colorado and which one former producer described as “Trump propaganda.” | 2022-07-19T18:42:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Steve Bannon trial: Live coverage and latest updates, July 19 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/19/steve-bannon-trial-live-updates/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/07/19/steve-bannon-trial-live-updates/ |
The Pentagon says it completed a successful hypersonic missile test this week and secured a $1.3 billion deal to help defend against such threats
The Defense Department has faced growing scrutiny from lawmakers who fear the United States is losing ground to its adversaries in the field of hypersonic weapons. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
The Pentagon this week said it reached important new milestones as it scrambles to catch China and Russia in what has become a fraught arms race between the world’s most advanced militaries, conducting a successful hypersonic missile test and securing a $1.3 billion deal to help defend against such threats.
Monday’s test of the air-breathing hypersonic missile, a partner venture of defense-tech manufacturers Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, follows separate successful tests announced last week using hardware built by Lockheed Martin. Together, they hint at a potential breakthrough for the Defense Department, which has faced growing scrutiny from lawmakers who fear the United States is losing ground to its adversaries and just last month conceded a full-system test fail.
Yet with China testing advanced-engine hypersonic missiles and Russia promising to use hypersonic cruise missiles in battle by the end of this year, U.S. officials say there is perhaps greater urgency to develop adequate defenses against such weapons. Central to that, they say, is the deal to have L3Harris Technologies and Northrop Grumman design and launch 28 satellites as part of the Pentagon’s new missile defense network.
“People talk about space as a war-fighting domain,” Derek Tournear, director of the Space Development Agency, told reporters in announcing the contracts. “These satellites are specifically designed to go after that next generation of threats out there.”
U.S., U.K. and Australia announce expanded cooperation on hypersonics
Since China successfully tested a hypersonic glide missile a year ago, Beijing’s and Moscow’s recent strides have put Washington on high alert. While these recent successful tests are seen as encouraging, they have not yet evened the playing field: Russian government news service Tass reported this week that Moscow completed testing its hypersonic cruise missile and intends to put it into use.
The Pentagon has laid out a five-year plan for developing resilient defenses — a timeline that has disquieted the lawmakers tasked with funding and overseeing such research and development.
“I get really nervous when I hear dates like 2028 for something, and we’re pleased that it’s 2027,” Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) said to Vice Adm. Jon Hill, director of the Missile Defense Agency, during a discussion about hypersonics at a Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing in May. “So how are we going to condense the time period?”
China's test of hypersonic vehicle is part of a program to rapidly expand strategic and nuclear systems
Hypersonic missiles can fly at speeds at or above Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, and travel at low atmospheric altitudes. Unlike ballistic missiles, they can also change course during flight, enabling them to dodge traditional defense systems.
To date, U.S. missile defense has been focused primarily on identifying ballistic missiles, by detecting the initial heat trail registered by their blastoffs and then calculating trajectory. The maneuvering capabilities of hypersonic missiles, however, make their courses — and ultimately, their targets — far less predictable.
“Historically, we have not flown satellites that were designed to go after and detect hypersonic maneuvering vehicles,” Tournear said.
The Pentagon expects that by positioning a large number of heat-detecting satellites in the atmosphere, orbiting on different planes at low and medium altitudes, the U.S. military will be able to see when and how such missiles change direction. By compiling tracking data from multiple satellites in real time, the military believes it will be able to create an accurate picture of the hypersonic missile’s activity and warn those in its path to anticipate incoming strikes, either so they can attempt an intercept or take cover.
“Right now today, we have limited capability to do that tracking aspect,” Tournear said. “The satellites we’re going to launch … can do that complete missile warning and missile tracking.”
Why the Pentagon fears the U.S. is losing the hypersonic arms race with Russia and China
Two years ago, the Space Development Agency awarded contracts to L3Harris and SpaceX to produce four satellites each. The first two of those satellites are expected to be launched in September, Tournear said, while the other six are set for next March.
The 28 satellites covered by the contracts announced this week are scheduled to begin launching in April 2025, in four sets of seven, each of which will orbit on a different plane.
The tranche that follows is likely to have 54 satellites, officials say.
“We get resilience by proliferation,” Tournear said.
Bidding for the next round of satellite contracts has not yet opened, and it is unclear how many firms will compete. In the initial round, 10 companies sought to build eight satellites; in the current round, seven firms put in bids. Tournear would not identify which companies were excluded but said that, overall, the quality of submissions improved markedly between rounds.
Still, at a current cost of about $50 million per satellite, which is about half the full budget for launching and operating them, the cost to American taxpayers will only grow as the program becomes a permanent fixture of the federal budget. The projected life span of each satellite tops out at five years, Tournear said, meaning the entire fleet will have to be replaced at regular intervals. | 2022-07-19T18:42:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Pentagon touts progress in hypersonic weapons race with China, Russia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/19/hypersonic-missile-pentagon-china-russia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/19/hypersonic-missile-pentagon-china-russia/ |
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Faced with demands to do something about the right-wing revolution the Supreme Court is inflicting on the country, congressional Democrats will hold votes on bills guaranteeing marriage equality and the right to contraception. These are protected at the moment but many fear the court and Republicans will move to attack them sometime in the near future.
Since these bills will fall to Republican filibusters in the Senate, they are demonstration votes, meant not to become law (at least not yet), but in large part to force Republicans to vote against them and thereby reveal themselves to be out of step with public opinion. As many a Democrat has said, “Let’s get them on the record.”
But “getting them on the record” doesn’t accomplish much if you don’t have a strategy to turn that unpopular vote into a weapon that can be used to actually punish those Republicans. And there’s little evidence Democrats have such a strategy.
Sure, they’ll issue some news releases and talk about it on cable news. And here or there the vote might find its way into a campaign mailer (“Congressman Klunk voted against contraception! Can the women of the Fifth District really trust Congressman Klunk?”). But I fear that too many Democrats think getting them on the record is enough by itself.
The reason is that unlike their Republican counterparts, Democrats tend to have far too much faith in the American voter.
People in Washington, especially Democrats, suffer from an ailment that is not confined to the nation’s capital. It plays out in all kinds of places and in politics at all levels. It’s the inability to see politics from the perspective of ordinary people.
This blindness isn’t a matter of elitism. The problem is that it’s hard to put yourself in the mind of someone whose worldview is profoundly different from your own. If you care about politics, it’s almost impossible to understand how the average person — even the average voter — thinks about the work you do and the world you inhabit.
If you’re reading this, politics is probably a daily reality for you. You almost certainly have a deep well of both foundational knowledge and day-to-day awareness of the political world. You know who the major players are and what their jobs entail. You can explain what a “filibuster” is, or how a bill becomes a law. And because you follow the news, you know what the issues of the moment are and where the two parties stand on them.
Here’s the problem: Most Americans have only a fraction of the understanding you do about these things — not because they’re dumb or ignorant but mainly because they just don’t care. They worry about other things, especially their jobs and their families. When they have free time they’d rather watch a ballgame or gossip with a friend than read about whether certain provisions of Build Back Better might survive in some process called “reconciliation.”
If you are the kind of weirdo who cares about politics, you may find it difficult to communicate effectively to those regular people about something they neither know nor care much about.
Like many people, I discovered this disconnect the first time I volunteered on a campaign and went door to door trying to convince people to vote for my candidate. Most didn’t know who he was, didn’t know who he was running against, and didn’t much care about the issues I raised.
In fact, the very idea of “issues” — where a thing happening in the world is translated into something the government might implement policies to address — was somewhat foreign to them. Because I was young and enthusiastic but not schooled in subtle communication strategies, I couldn’t get beyond my own perspective and persuade them of anything.
In the years since, I’ve spent plenty of time trying to understand how normal people think about politics, but that understanding is always incomplete. And most Democrats I know are still captive to the hope that politics can be rational and deliberative, ultimately producing reasonable outcomes.
Republicans have no such illusions. They usually start from the assumption that voters don’t pay attention and should be reached by the simplest, most emotionally laden appeals they can devise. So Republicans don’t bother with 10-point policy plans; they just hit voters with, “Democrats want illegals to take your job, kill your wife, and pervert your kids,” and watch the votes pour in.
Of course, sometimes those appeals fall flat, and Democrats win plenty of elections. And every once in a while, a vote in Congress gets so much attention and discussion that even regular people hear about it, and might even form an opinion.
But like most such demonstration votes, the ones on contraception and marriage equality probably won’t be one of those times. Turning them into something that moves the electorate will require a lot of planning and work to execute. It will mean concerted and coordinated effort. If Democrats think “getting them on the record” will get the job done all by itself, they’re going to be disappointed once again. | 2022-07-19T18:43:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Democrats need to come to terms with a clueless electorate - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/democrats-abortion-contraception-marriage-clueless-electorate/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/democrats-abortion-contraception-marriage-clueless-electorate/ |
Men carry a coffin during a funeral on July 17 for a 4-year-old girl killed by Russian attack in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)
The military “operational pause” Russia declared upon completing its conquest of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk province has ended, less than two weeks after it began. Confirmation of this development came in two forms. On Saturday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu issued an order to his forces, commanding them to resume attacks, presumably for the purpose of seizing the last Ukrainian-controlled portion of the Donbas region, consisting of about half of Donetsk province. And before Mr. Shoigu’s order went public, stepped-up Russian missile, artillery and air attacks had started again, claiming the lives of large numbers of Ukrainian civilians, including children.
The most horrific Russian strike occurred when three cruise missiles fired from a submarine in the Black Sea struck the city of Vinnytsia last Thursday, killing at least 23 people, including a 4-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was pushing a stroller. The weapons hit a wedding hall, a shopping mall and a neurological clinic, but Russia, cynically, claimed the target was a Ukrainian officers’ club where military officials were talking with foreign arms suppliers.
On Monday, Russian missiles hit civilian areas in Toretsk, killing at least another six civilians. The United Nations published that day its latest estimate confirming 5,110 civilian deaths and 6,752 injuries in Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, with the majority of the carnage caused by explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as missiles and airstrikes, CNBC reported. The United Nations acknowledged that its casualty figures underestimate the true toll.
The implications are clear: Indiscriminate bombardment of areas where civilian noncombatants are known to be present is a war crime, and the Russians have therefore committed such offenses on a large scale. Ukrainian officials describe the latest attacks on towns in Donbas as deliberate attempts to terrorize Ukraine into submission, and, on the available evidence, it’s hard to disagree. Certainly, Russia’s tactics are consistent with those of its recent wars in Chechnya and Syria.
It is important to be reminded of those realities as the war grinds on, and the discussion of its impact increasingly shifts from the human to the strategic and geopolitical. To be sure, possibilities for a negotiated cease-fire, spillover effects on the domestic politics of European countries and even the apparent infiltration of Ukraine’s government by Russian agents, necessitating a crackdown by President Volodymyr Zelensky, are all important subjects. Yet as the momentary lull in combat occasioned by Russia’s operational pause gives way to renewed fighting, suffering and bloodshed, overwhelmingly borne by Ukraine’s people, will once again grow. There can be no just conclusion to this war that does not take into account President Vladimir Putin’s ultimate responsibility for it or the need to hold him accountable for it. | 2022-07-19T18:43:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | War resumes in Ukraine and so does Russian atrocity - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/russian-war-crimes-resume-ukraine/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/russian-war-crimes-resume-ukraine/ |
Save the Biden agenda from Joe Manchin
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) at the Capitol on Nov. 1. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg)
Boxing great Muhammad Ali is believed to have said, “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” A bunch of other folks said a variation of this decades before him, but the meaning remains the same. When you’re trying to do monumental things, or even just something basic but absolutely necessary, that pebble can be a real pain.
Now, if you had on thicker socks, you could ignore the pebble. Heck, you might not even know it’s there. Which brings me to Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), the pebble in President Biden’s shoe. And the midterms, that opportunity for Democrats to put on a pair of thick socks.
Once again, Manchin has driven Democrats mad by roadblocking a legislative avenue to the sweeping policy goals of the president of his own party. This time, Manchin objected to climate and tax provisions of what was being billed as “Build Back Manchin.” This $1 trillion economic package was a slimmed down version of the $2 trillion “Build Back Better” economic package that passed the House last November, and which Manchin killed in the Senate last December.
Each time, Manchin has cited rising inflation and concerns about deficits as his reasons for pumping the brakes on talks. Manchin insisted on a West Virginia radio show on Friday that the deal isn’t dead. He just wants to wait until the release of July’s inflation numbers next month. But Manchin asking Democrats to trust him — again — is peak pebble.
Adding to the annoyance is Manchin’s curious way of deflating Democratic dreams. He killed BBB while appearing on Fox News. For Democrats, that’s like talking smack about your BFF in the home of your archnemesis. And Manchin blew things up this time while Biden wasn’t even in the country. The president was in Saudi Arabia at what can only be described as a jamboree of tyrants.
Oh, and we can’t forget what Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) did when their Democratic colleagues pleaded with them earlier this year to change the Senate rules to allow voting rights legislation to pass with a simple-majority vote. They voted with all 50 Republicans against the rule change.
That’s what happens when your party’s Senate majority is merely numerical — one that requires 100 percent party loyalty and the tiebreaking vote of the vice president. In this setup, any Democratic senator can be that pesky pebble in the presidential shoe. Manchin is the one who seems to delight most in playing that role. This is why, in addition to holding the House majority, Democrats need a thick pair of socks, in the form of two more seats in the Senate.
Biden said as much during a meeting with governors on reproductive rights on earlier this month in the wake of the Supreme Court ending the constitutional right to an abortion. He needs a true Democratic Senate majority with the numbers to do away with the filibuster, which would make it possible to codify rights once guaranteed by Roe v. Wade. It might then be possible to safeguard voting rights, pass common-sense gun safety legislation or finally approve the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
West Virginia has about 1.8 million people, and the president lost the state by 38.9 percentage points. So I can understand Manchin going his own way. But Biden was elected by a record 81 million Americans to lead this nation. That one man in his own party is able to stand in the way of his ability to govern is as untenable as it is unacceptable. “Government by Manchin” must come to an end. | 2022-07-19T18:43:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Manchin is the pebble in Joe Biden's shoe - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/save-biden-agenda-manchin/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/save-biden-agenda-manchin/ |
Here’s a ‘systemic failure’ not mentioned in the Uvalde report
A memorial to the 19 students and two teachers killed in May at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex. (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post)
Richard Parker is the author of “Lone Star Nation: How Texas Will Transform America.”
A three-person investigative committee from the state legislature issued a report Sunday on the May 24 shooting, assigning blame to “systemic failures,” in the words of committee chairman, Rep. Dustin Burrows, a Republican from Lubbock. The report found failure across the board — local, state and federal police failed; the school failed; the killer’s family failed; the people who knew him failed. But when everyone is responsible, no one is responsible.
You can’t say Texas’s gun laws failed because they worked exactly as designed. Everything the shooter did was strictly legal — except for the murdering. Yet those gun laws, many of them the result of loosening over the past seven years during the tenure of Gov. Greg Abbott (R), bear plenty of responsibility for the shooting. They reflect a “systemic failure” of Texas gun culture.
Many Americans, and Texans in particular, have a mythical misconception about the state: In rootin’, tootin’ Texas, this has always been the way with guns. But that simply isn’t true. Until 1870, sure, Texas was part of the Wild West when it came to guns. Yet in 1870, that all changed: The state legislature banned carrying firearms outside the home.
Texas was the one of the first states to do so, leading the way on gun-safety laws into the 20th century. It also banned knives, daggers and other weapons from being carried in public. In the 1920s, Texas quadrupled fines for violations (and sent offenders who couldn’t pay them into prison work gangs), banned automatic weapons altogether and imposed a hefty 50 percent tax on gun sales.
The new Republican governor signed a concealed-carry law in 1995, saying it would “make Texas a safer place.” Thus was born the unofficial “Ann Richards rule” in Texas politics: Never oppose bills expanding gun rights.
Other than signing a stand-your-ground law, Rick Perry, who followed Bush as governor, mostly just talked about guns, when he wasn’t posing with them. But under Abbott today, and a Republican-controlled legislature, Texans can carry a gun pretty much any place except where a posted sign prohibits it.
You can openly carry a 9mm pistol at the grocery store, walk into a coffee shop with an AK-47 as long as there’s no sign prohibiting firearms. I can even keep my .45-caliber pistol right in the center console of my truck — without a license.
Sweeping in its condemnation of every institution — except the legislature and the governor — the Uvalde report is long on detail and short on insight. While painstakingly describing the killer’s legal purchases of weapons and ammunition right after he turned 18, the report doesn’t discuss the wisdom or morality of allowing such purchases when seven states outlaw precisely that.
In Texas, there is a Palo Duro Canyon-size gap between what politicians so often say they value — children — and what they’re willing to spend to protect them: a little less than $10 per student.
As a gun owner, I think selling civilianized military-style long rifles to anyone is wrong — AK-47s, SKSs, AR-15s, the whole lot. Selling them to 18-year-olds is just perverse. But Americans own about 20 million of these weapons — and that’s just the AR-15-style rifles among the nearly 400 million guns nationwide. I’m dubious about ever getting them out of circulation.
“You’re going get what you pay for, and I don’t think you’re going to get very much for $10 per student,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told me Monday. “Most schools don’t have the budget, and the people who dole out the budgets are not convinced that that money is needed there.” | 2022-07-19T18:43:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Here’s a ‘systemic failure’ not mentioned in the Uvalde report - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/texas-gun-culture-and-uvalde/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/19/texas-gun-culture-and-uvalde/ |
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