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Beluga whale dies after French rescuers lift 13-foot mammal from Seine river
Veterinarians examine a beluga whale that was stuck in the Seine river in France. (Jean-Francois Monier/AFP/Getty Images)
Dozens of rescuers watched a whale suspended in a net in the air, in what French officials described as “an unprecedented operation” to save the 13-foot mammal.
After hours of delicate lifting, a crane had pulled the whale out of the Seine river before dawn, in the first phase of a mission to save the beluga trapped in the river northwest of Paris. The next step was moving him back toward the coast in a refrigerated truck.
But despite a massive operation that mobilized 80 people — divers, scientists, police and firefighters — the local prefecture said early Wednesday it was sad to announce the death of the beluga.
After realizing he was too weak to survive, authorities decided to euthanize the suffering animal, they said. It was not clear how the whale, which weighed over 1,700 lbs., had strayed so far from the Arctic waters that make up its natural habitat.
Vets had waited on land to examine the mammal that captivated onlookers after getting stuck for days in France’s northwest. Crowds formed on the banks of the river in Normandy to watch the operation.
On the coast near the English Channel, a command center was monitoring the rescue operation. Rescuers planned to treat the unwell animal before releasing him back into the waters.
But, far from the cold waters his protected species is used to, the cetacean’s health worsened on the truck.
A beluga whale was first spotted in France's River Seine on Aug. 2, far from the cold Arctic waters it is more suited. (Video: Reuters)
“During the trip, veterinarians noticed a deterioration in his condition, particularly in respiratory functions,” veterinarian Ollivet Courtois said. She said the beluga had spent days in an unsuitable environment, with the river’s temperatures, pollution and boats.
“The operation was launched because it was the last chance. If we had left him, he was doomed to a certain death,” she told a news conference. “So, we tried to save him. Unfortunately, we did not succeed.”
Members of the marine conservation group and rescuers tried earlier this week to feed the whale fish to help it make the return along the river out to the English Channel. They had voiced fears the weakened animal could starve in the waterway.
However, shortly after the crane hoisted him out of the Seine, Sea Shepherd France said the male beluga did not have infectious diseases but was not able to digest food for reasons that were unclear.
Sea Shepherd thanked local authorities for attempting the tricky operation.
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce that the beluga did not survive the transfer, which was risky but indispensable to give a chance to an animal that was otherwise condemned,” it said.
Sightings of belugas in rivers are rare — but in 2018 a whale nicknamed Benny in Britain’s River Thames sparked a similar rescue mission.
Other Arctic animals have also been spotted in Europe in recent years, according to the Natural History Museum, including a walrus nicknamed Wally.
“While it’s too soon to say if the increase in Arctic wildlife in Europe’s waters is part of a growing trend, an increase in melting ice, the movement of prey and stormy weather have all been linked to changes in the distribution of these animals,” the museum said. | 2022-08-10T13:23:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Beluga whale stuck in France's Seine euthanized during rescue mission - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/10/france-whale-beluga-seine-rescue/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/10/france-whale-beluga-seine-rescue/ |
Man found dead in a car in Prince George’s County
A man was found dead in a car Wednesday morning in the Camp Springs area, police said. (Prince George's County Police)
Police in Prince George’s County said they found a man dead in a car Wednesday morning in the Camp Springs area.
Just before 7 a.m., police went to the 5300 block of Chesterfield Drive not far from Temple Hill Road for a welfare check after receiving a call. When officers arrived, they found a man “suffering from trauma to the body,” officials said on Twitter. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
His name was not released, pending the notification of his relatives. The incident remains under investigation.
Authorities said they’re trying to figure out a motive and find the killer. | 2022-08-10T13:32:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Man found dead in car in Camp Springs area of Prince George's County - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/man-found-dead-in-car-pg/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/man-found-dead-in-car-pg/ |
Democrats Saw Something Special in Minnesota
There were primary elections in four states on Tuesday, but I’d like to focus on the special election to fill a vacant congressional seat in Minnesota. Special elections can be predictive of the general election, and there are three more of them over the next three weeks.
In some ways, the result in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District was unsurprising: It is a Republican district, and the Republican, Brad Finstad, won. But — and ballots are still being counted as I write — it appears that the Democrat, Jeff Ettinger, is going to do better than the district’s partisan lean: He is projected to lose by a margin of 51% to 47%, while the district voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020 by 54% to 44%. The result was similar in a Nebraska special election in late June.
If one party consistently does well in special elections — not just for the US House — it suggests that it will do well in the next general election. What matters isn’t so much who wins or loses, but how the parties perform compared to their expected outcome, which itself can be tricky to compute.
Of course, any one special election can be misleading, since it could have more to do with the candidates or some district-specific circumstances. And there’s a lot of conflicting information right now, with President Joe Biden’s approval ratings low but generic ballot polls running even between Democrats and Republicans. Still, if the cumulative evidence from all five special elections this year favors one party, it deserves at least a little predictive weight. Ettinger and Finstad will have a rematch in 13 weeks.
Elsewhere on Tuesday:
In the Wisconsin governor’s race, there was another case of Republicans selecting an inexperienced candidate who fails to give them their best chance of winning. Businessman Tim Michels will be the Republican nominee, defeating Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. (The former was endorsed by Trump, the latter by former Vice President Mike Pence.) Moderate Republican candidates for Senate were defeated in Connecticut and Vermont, too, though it may not matter as much in those two states, where the Democrat is expected to win.
But it could matter in Wisconsin — even if this turns out to be a landslide year for Republicans. Odd things can happen in a landslide election, especially if a party doesn’t have a candidate well-suited to exploit it. On the other hand, as Wisconsin-based political scientist Julia Azari notes: “I agree that Kleefisch was probably a stronger general election candidate than Michels but if you haven’t learned from the last 6 years or so that any major party nominee can be elected, then I don’t know what to tell you.”
Wisconsin also saw one of two almost-losses of note: Its very conservative state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who was targeted by Trump because he wouldn’t help Trump try to overturn the 2020 election, survived against a no-name Trump endorsee. The other close result was in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, where so-called Squad member Ilhan Omar narrowly won her primary, despite attempts by moderate and some mainstream liberal Democrats to defeat her. Perhaps incumbency and local factors aren’t completely irrelevant.
Finally, allow me to complain one more time about Vermont Democrats, who chose their 75-year-old member of the House to be their candidate for that state’s Senate vacancy. That’s how the Senate gets old. At least Wisconsin Democrats chose their 35-year-old lieutenant governor, Mandela Barnes, to challenge Senator Ron Johnson, although it’s unlikely a Democrat will win in that toss-up state if it is a good year for Republicans. | 2022-08-10T13:40:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Democrats Saw Something Special in Minnesota - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/democrats-saw-something-special-in-minnesota/2022/08/10/f8898cfa-18a8-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/democrats-saw-something-special-in-minnesota/2022/08/10/f8898cfa-18a8-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
The US can do better. (Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images North America)
The health plan for one Ohio-based employer, Marietta Memorial Hospital, pushed back against this model. By treating dialysis providers as “out of network,” the Marietta plan reduced coverage for its members and paid providers less for treatment. DaVita Inc., one of two major dialysis providers in the US, filed suit, claiming that its policy discriminates against ESRD patients. A federal appeals court sided with DaVita, but in June, the Supreme Court reversed that decision. By a 7-2 majority, the court ruled in favor of Marietta, saying that the plan is legal because it offers the same terms to all of its members.
That still leaves the bigger problem: the cost of ESRD care, which is driven by the need for patients to undergo in-person dialysis, usually at a clinic multiple times a week. The availability of cheaper, alternative forms of treatment for kidney disease, such as at-home dialysis machines, remains limited, in part because of industry resistance. DaVita and its main competitor, Fresenius SE, control more than 70% of the market, forming an effective duopoly that research suggests has raised prices for consumers and lowered the quality of care.
The wide availability of dialysis has provided life-extending treatments to scores of Americans — but at considerable public expense. Making the industry more competitive will promote innovation, benefit consumers and protect taxpayers too. | 2022-08-10T13:40:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Dialysis Spending Is Out of Control. Here’s How to Rein It In. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/dialysis-spending-is-out-of-control-heres-how-to-rein-it-in/2022/08/10/2809c5ae-18ad-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/dialysis-spending-is-out-of-control-heres-how-to-rein-it-in/2022/08/10/2809c5ae-18ad-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
University of Vermont network theorist Laurent Heber-Dufresne compares each wave to a wildfire burning itself out when it runs out of fuel. Because most people who are infected retain immunity for a few weeks and some for a few months, the disease can — temporarily — run out of people to infect.
What classic disease modelling can say is that waves that rise fast tend to collapse quickly, said Vermont’s Heber-Dufresne. That happened with the first omicron wave — the sharpness of the infection curve in the winter of 2021 was surprising, but typical for a very contagious virus. The original US wave in the spring of 2020 was the unusual one because it changed people’s behavior so much.
It’s also vital to remember that the amount of testing we do also affects the shape of Covid waves — especially the lack of available tests early in the pandemic and lack of interest in getting tested in this latest wave, said Heber-Dufresne. That’s another layer of complexity making it hard to know what’s going on now, and hard to predict what will come next. And there are also elements of chance that figure into where outbreaks occur — even air currents in a room can influence who gets infected and who doesn’t. | 2022-08-10T13:40:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The Omicron BA.5 Wave Is Starting to Ebb. We Need to Know Why. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/theomicronba5-wave-is-starting-to-ebb-we-need-to-know-why/2022/08/10/c78de06e-18a4-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/theomicronba5-wave-is-starting-to-ebb-we-need-to-know-why/2022/08/10/c78de06e-18a4-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
Clarisa Kimskii shook up her whole life; now she goes with the flow
The DJ-producer is playing the first anniversary party for Noxeema Jackson, an event series that celebrates queer and trans people of color
DJ-producer Clarisa Kimskii. (Ayo Dawkins)
After living in Berlin for three years, D.C.-born DJ-producer Clarisa Kimskii received a letter from the German government that her visa was up and it was time to leave the country. Instead of relocating elsewhere in Europe and fighting the decision, she decided to come back to the Washington area, where she still had family. But what would she be returning to, after not having lived in the DMV since high school?
For one thing, Kimskii received the letter on the night of Donald Trump’s election in 2016. At first, she was excited: Perhaps Trump’s elevation would supercharge art and music with the spirit of protest and honest expression — a common silver-lining view at the time.
Returning to the D.C. nightlife scene, the energy was different, at first. “It wasn’t just partying [to] escape our problems or whatever. It became almost like a protest,” she recalls. “It definitely felt that us getting together and gathering with music was a form of resistance.”
While fatigue and frustration with the Trump administration would eventually set in, Kimskii found D.C.’s tightknit dance community to be nurturing and supportive. And after years of being dominated by house music and drum and bass, the city’s underground was finally embracing techno, her preferred flavor of electronic dance music.
As with everything, nightlife was sidelined and then permanently altered by the pandemic, with spaces lost and bad actors exposed. For Kimskii, the early pandemic period proved even more disruptive: Kimskii realized she was trans less than a week after her mother died.
Among the many adjustments to her life, the realization also changed her artistry. Previously, she would self-edit: Don’t play these tracks, don’t play the same artists. Behind the decks, she would be too far in her own head.
“Now, all that’s gone,” Kimskii says. “I go with my instincts, and I found that I get way into the flow. I don’t take things as seriously. If the sound is not working or this goes wrong, I feel like I smile and breathe through it way easier now.”
Coming out as trans has also given Kimskii an appreciation for queer spaces in a way that’s different from when she identified as a bisexual man. Playing the first anniversary party for Noxeema Jackson — a D.C. event series centered on people who identify as queer, trans, Black, Indigenous and people of color (QTBIPOC) — allows Kimskii, who is half Korean, to celebrate her entire identity.
“I read something recently from Derrick Carter, who said that he’s always thought of himself as more evolutionary than revolutionary,” Kimskii said of the Chicago house music legend. “That really struck a chord with me, because I’ve operated the same way.”
Aug. 13 at 10:30 p.m. at DC9, 1940 Ninth St. NW. dcnine.club. $12-$15. | 2022-08-10T13:40:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | DJ Clarisa Kimskii is playing the first anniversary party for Noxeema Jackson - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/08/10/clarisa-kimskii-interview/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/08/10/clarisa-kimskii-interview/ |
On Aug. 12, the Birmingham-based trio is performing punk rock anthems from a new album on resistance at Comet Ping Pong
By Sophia Solano
Singer and guitarist Lee Bains of the Glory Fires. (Joe Steinhardt)
Lee Bains and the Glory Fires are known for their Southern punk rock bangers. But in contrast with their usual righteous rage, their latest album also includes country-adjacent ballads and dad rock — if your dad is an anti-capitalist preacher on unionized resistance and anti-racism. Released in early August, “Old-Time Folks” is a more produced, sometimes slowed-down effort that offers a glimmer of hope for those looking at the state of American democracy and wondering how to right wrongs.
“Something that I’ve found myself running into is a sense of despair and feeling like things are getting worse and not better,” Bains says. “One of the things I did was learn about times in history where people did fight and win.”
Bains’s activism isn’t limited to his songwriting. The band, which includes brothers Adam Williamson (bass) and Blake Williamson (drums), has lent its talents to benefit performances for striking Alabama coal miners, Southern Black LGBTQ liberation organizations and Alabama food banks. And if Bains’s labored lyrics sound like poetry, you have a keen ear — a collection of poems he wrote about Southern cuisine and the people who sustain it was published in the New Yorker last year.
Confronting the complexities of his Alabama heritage, Bains uses his songwriting to explore the history of Southeastern resistance beyond the peaceful marches and boycotts taught in American public schools. You can hear it on the album’s opener and title track, which begins with a clip of an Angela Davis speech, followed by Bains: “Black rebels gripping microphones, fountain pens, AKs and cane knives / The barons hiding behind white hoods and redlines / Hissing lies to sunburnt rabble holding bullwhips and 9s / Drums in the streets and swamps growing loud.”
As a singer, Bains swerves from nasally shouts to pensive croons with ease, making it hard to believe that a song as relentless as “Caligula” (“Old Jeff David never hoed one row / Old Donald Trump never laid one brick”) and a dirge as soft as “Gentlemen” (“Are these really gentlemen who don’t seem to give a damn about this place?”) share a singer. The latter captures the meditative, almost spiritual side of the group — one yet to be seen in a decade-long career of spitfire lyrics and anthemic bops.
“I really wanted to do something different and make a more dynamic album, where each song kind of had its own identity or a voice that it was bringing into conversation with the other songs,” Bains explains. “That’s what I was hoping to bring to the top a little more, this diversity of sounds that make up music from my part of the world.”
The thesis of “Old-Time Folks” is a call for unity; in “Rednecks,” Bains sings, “If you go against your brother, boy, you go against yourself / Don’t go against yourself.” It’s a reminder that no revolution was ever won alone.
“My hope was to have a sense of grounding and place in community and time,” Bains says, “and how that belonging can transcend time.”
Aug. 12 at 10 p.m. at Comet Ping Pong, 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW. cometpingpong.com. $15. | 2022-08-10T13:41:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Lee Bains and the Glory Fires slow down in new album "Old-Time Folks" - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/08/10/lee-bains-glory-fires-old-time-folks/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/08/10/lee-bains-glory-fires-old-time-folks/ |
Why the Inflation Reduction Act passed the Senate but cap-and-trade didn't
Good morning and welcome to The Climate 202! Today we're excited that the U.S. Postal Service released stamps featuring sharks, sea otters, seals and seascapes in honor of the 50th anniversary of the National Marine Sanctuary System.
Send us a letter with a confidential tip using one of the new stamps! But first:
Why the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act but not a cap-and-trade bill, according to three ex-lawmakers
In 2010, the biggest climate bill in the nation's history crumbled in the Senate, where climate legislation has gone to die for decades.
The measure — known as “Waxman-Markey” for Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the authors — would have set a nationwide cap on carbon emissions while letting companies trade permits to meet it.
But many factors converged to spell the cap-and-trade bill's demise, including the Great Recession and opposition from industry interests. After narrowly passing the House, it never got a Senate vote.
For those involved in the failed attempt to advance Waxman-Markey, the Senate's passage of a major climate bill on Sunday was nothing short of an astonishing feat — one that offers important lessons for the future of climate policy in the United States.
The Climate 202 on Tuesday spoke with three former U.S. lawmakers who were directly involved in the legislative effort more than a decade ago: former senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chaired the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee at the time; Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who served in the House; and Waxman, who helmed the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Here's why it was possible to advance the Inflation Reduction Act, which the House is expected to approve on Friday and send to President Biden's desk, according to the trio of climate champions:
Boxer: Carrots are easier than sticks
While the Inflation Reduction Act contains $369 billion in new spending to fight global warming and bolster clean energy, most of that spending is in the form of carrots, not sticks.
In other words, the bill provides generous incentives for consumers and corporations to curb their planet-warming emissions, rather than punishments for individuals and industries that emerge as climate laggards.
That's a major change from Waxman-Markey, which fell decidedly into the stick camp, prompting loud complaints from conservative groups and the fossil fuel industry. The conventional wisdom in Washington has also long held that a carbon tax — another stick — amounts to political kryptonite.
The cap-and-trade bill “told companies that they couldn't emit more than a certain amount of carbon into the air,” Boxer said. “I think that made it harder because it was laying down the law.”
By contrast, Boxer said, the Inflation Reduction Act “is all incentives. I think that really is an easier lift.”
Still, the Inflation Reduction Act includes a Methane Emissions Reduction Program that uses both carrots and sticks to curb methane pollution from the oil and gas sector.
The stick: Certain petroleum and natural gas facilities would be subject to a “methane emissions charge” that would start in 2024 at $900 per ton of methane, increase to $1,200 in 2025, and reach $1,500 for 2026 and each year after.
The carrot: The bill would provide up to $1.55 billion in grants, rebates and loans to help companies comply with the program. And companies would be exempt from the fee if they comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's forthcoming methane regulations.
Inslee: Climate disasters are on the rise
Compared to 2010, more Americans are now experiencing extreme heat waves, wildfires, floods and other weather disasters fueled by rising global temperatures.
The compounding disasters have put more pressure on Congress to act, said Inslee, who mounted a long-shot 2020 campaign to become America's first climate change president.
“The country is now recognizing that what might have been a hypothetical concern in 2010 about sea-level rise and glaciers is now a flooded Kentucky and a California on fire,” Inslee said.
“What was somewhat of an abstraction in 2010 is now a reality with floodwaters going through your living room and being evacuated from your home because of fires,” he added. “And that has fundamentally changed the dynamic of this issue and has allowed the Senate to catch up with the House to really take some climate action.”
Waxman: The filibuster needs to go
In January, after Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) said he could not support Democrats' climate package, Waxman told The Climate 202 that he supports abolishing the filibuster, which would have ensured the passage of the cap-and-trade bill.
Waxman reiterated his support for ending the 60-vote threshold in an interview Tuesday, although he acknowledged that Democrats only needed 50 votes to pass the Inflation Reduction Act via the budget reconciliation process, with Vice President Harris casting the tiebreaking vote.
“We need to abolish the filibuster because it doesn't make sense that a minority should be able to block a majority from doing what needs to be done,” said Waxman, who now runs a public relations and lobbying firm called Waxman Strategies.
“It's been a real roller coaster ride,” he added, referring to the decades-long quest to get climate legislation through the upper chamber. “And while this bill is not going to solve the problem completely, it's a major step forward.”
Sens. Schumer and Wyden seek to tax Big Oil in new bill
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are pushing new legislation targeting the windfall profits of large oil and gas companies amid high gasoline prices, Nico Portuondo reports for E&E News.
The Taxing Big Oil Profiteers Act would double the tax rate on the profits of major oil companies, impose an excise tax on stock buybacks, and close a tax loophole used by energy firms.
“Our broken tax code is working for Big Oil, not American families,” Wyden said in a statement. “While Americans pay more to fill up their gas tanks, Big Oil companies are raking in record profits, rewarding their CEOs and wealthy shareholders with massive stock buybacks, and using special loopholes in the tax code to pay next to nothing in taxes.”
The bill is the latest among several windfall tax proposals introduced by congressional Democrats. It differs from other proposals, such as the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), because it is based on energy companies' profit margins rather than oil prices.
While one such proposal has passed the House, none are expected to be approved in the narrowly divided Senate.
When the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday, many climate activists cheered the historic achievement. But the celebrations troubled other activists, who worried about the provisions in the bill that could harm low-income people of color who are disproportionately likely to live near polluting fossil fuel infrastructure, The Post's Sarah Kaplan reports.
Rhiana Gunn-Wright, director of climate policy at the liberal Roosevelt Institute think tank, recalled seeing mostly White activists tweeting about hugging their children.
As part of a hard-fought political compromise with Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), the package includes a pledge to hold oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico; a commitment that congressional Democrats and the White House will complete the controversial Mountain Valley pipeline; and a promise to pursue a separate measure that would ease permitting requirements for fossil fuel facilities as well as clean energy infrastructure.
Varshini Prakash, co-founder and executive director of the youth-led Sunrise Movement, called the moment “bittersweet.”
“It's clear to me that this is both a big step forward and there’s more work to do," she said.
Europe faces another wave of record heat, prompting alerts
Much of France and parts of England are forecast to swelter under another heat wave this week, with temperatures possibly reaching 18 to 25 degrees above normal, prompting safety alerts and jeopardizing records, Matthew Cappucci reports for The Washington Post.
The U.K. Met Office on Tuesday issued amber warnings — the second-highest alert for extreme heat — in parts of England. The high temperatures are also expected to increase the risk of wildfires and exacerbate an ongoing drought.
Health officials have advised residents to “look out for others, especially older people, young children and babies and those with underlying health conditions” amid the scorcher, warning of heat stress, heatstroke and other ailments, considering that most people do not have air conditioning in their homes.
The brutal hot spell comes barely three weeks after the previous one, which was made 10 times more likely because of human-caused climate change, baked Western Europe and broke records in Britain.
Northern Mexico has a historic water shortage. It's not going away anytime soon.
Abnormally hot, dry weather and exceptional drought conditions have plagued northern Mexico for more than a year, with water shortages becoming increasingly alarming in recent months, Kasha Patel and Lauren Tierney report for The Washington Post.
The lower-than-normal amount of rainfall linked to climate change has been exacerbated by insufficient water management and population growth, adding strain to water demand and an already-weak socioeconomic system.
Reservoirs are emptying, taps are running dry and water bills are skyrocketing, forcing ranchers to give up their livestock and people to steal water from trucks or pipes. Researchers say that water issues in the region will continue to worsen as the planet warms without better adaptation, adding that the government should update water policies and craft better drought mitigation plans.
In photos and videos: Seoul’s dramatic scenes of floods — Washington Post staff
‘The sacrifice zone’: Myanmar bears cost of green energy — Dake Kang, Victoria Milko and Lori Hinnant for the Associated Press
Ford raises price of electric F-150 Lightning by up to $8,500 due to 'significant' battery cost increases — Michael Wayland for CNBC | 2022-08-10T13:41:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why the Inflation Reduction Act passed the Senate but cap-and-trade didn't - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/why-inflation-reduction-act-passed-senate-cap-and-trade-didnt/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/why-inflation-reduction-act-passed-senate-cap-and-trade-didnt/ |
Transcript: 117th Congress: Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.)
MS. CALDWELL: Hello. Welcome to Washington Post Live. I’m Leigh Ann Caldwell, anchor here at Washington Post Live and coauthor of the Early 202 newsletter.
Joining us today is the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, New York Democrat Gregory Meeks.
Congressman Meeks, thanks so much for joining us today.
REP. MEEKS: Thank you for having me.
MS. CALDWELL: Of course.
And to our audience, please feel free to join in this conversation by tweeting at us at @PostLive, and we will try to get some of your questions answered.
Mr. Chairman, I want to start with the big news of the day, and that is, well, what happened last night is the FBI search of Mar‑a‑Lago, President Donald Trump's records that he has there. What is your response to this? Is this, like what the Republicans are saying, government overreach?
REP. MEEKS: No. I think that we've all said. I mean, the Republicans have done investigations. Remember Hillary Clinton for months and months and‑‑but nothing to show for it? But we know that no one politically was involved in this, that there had to be various approvals from a grand jury and from a judge. So we've always said no one is above the law, no matter the president of the United States. So, apparently, generally, the lawyers they would have to have probable cause for a judge to sign a warrant to do something of this nature. So I think that what has to be done is the judicial process or the process, criminal justice process, is just moving along. But there obviously had to be probable cause for a warrant to be granted.
MS. CALDWELL: Right. And I want to ask you about the reason we asked you on this show is about your trip to Taiwan with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week and the reaction that it's gotten. So tell me first, when you were in Taiwan, what did you hear from the Taiwanese? Were they concerned about your visit, especially given China's threats and escalation before and since then?
REP. MEEKS: Not at all. They were so happy for us to be there. They thanked us. You know, there was over 250,000 people in Taiwan that was tracking our flight into Taiwan. When we landed‑‑and the greetings were just fantastic‑‑the streets were lined with individuals as we left the airport going to our hotel. One of the largest buildings, skyscrapers were saying, "We love you, Nancy Pelosi. Thank you for being here." Around our hotel, people in the streets with signs welcoming us. So they were‑‑the people of Taiwan was very appreciative that we were there. When we met with the president and members of their legislative body, they were all very thankful and said thank you for being here. It was a warm reception. No regrets. They were very happy that we were there.
So there is no question. I mean, we all know about China's aggression, but the people of Taiwan wanted to know that their friends are with them, and they demonstrated just that by the reception that they gave us.
MS. CALDWELL: Some people have expressed concerns since then, including the Australian prime minister. Some diplomats have said that this perhaps could escalate tensions with China, increase the chances, perhaps of even war. What is your reaction to that? Is that your assessment of what could happen?
REP. MEEKS: Look, I've traveled to Taiwan previously. There's been other members that have traveled to Taiwan. There's nothing that we did was different. You know, it's the status‑‑we, you know, wanted the status quo. Members have traveled, other Speakers have traveled to Taiwan. So there is nothing that was done on the United States' part. The only one that wanted to change the status is Beijing. The only one that's talking about aggression even before we arrived was Beijing. There was nothing that we did.
So the clear answer here is, you know, I think that China‑‑and can be predicted‑‑wanted to intimidate. This is something that they were planning and would continue to do off and on, but when our friends are threatened, as that is‑‑as Taiwan has been, that's when you need your friends to be with you. And so we knew what was going on in that regard, and so we want our friends to know that we're there. We're not going to desert them.
And I will say to you that the other countries that we visited in the region‑‑Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore‑‑they were happy we were there, and we stopped in Taiwan also.
MS. CALDWELL: So do you think then that China's actions and words are just efforts to intimidate and not threat that they might follow through on?
REP. MEEKS: Well, look, there's some things that I can't discuss. You know, we've had a lot of classified meetings with our folks on the way there and before leaving, but I will say that I don't think that China, other than having talk and doing the test‑‑and which I will say, you know, some unprecedented flying missiles over Taiwan, going close to the Japanese territorial waters, which is why Japan was happy that we were there, you know, but I think that those threatening moves by them is an attempt to intimidate. And the Taiwanese surely would not be and were not intimidated, as you might have heard recently from their foreign affairs minister, and surely, our delegation and Speaker Pelosi is not intimidated by Beijing and President Xi.
MS. CALDWELL: Did the Biden administration dissuade you, try to dissuade you from making that stop? What did they say to you?
REP. MEEKS: Well, you know, President Biden is very aware, being a former Senator, of the difference between the legislative bodies and the executive. So, therefore, he knew that we had a responsibility and that we should do what we thought was right, and I'm appreciative to President Biden in the sense that, you know, the authorization and the protections that were needed, et cetera, was all to make sure the trip was a safe trip.
So he did not say to me, Nancy Pelosi, anyone, you know, because he knew that we had a responsibility to do it, and he also realized and said that he supported us, you know, and did support us during and after the trip. So, no, I think President Biden did the responsible things, and, you know, he's been very involved as a former chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee himself, and he knows that it was‑‑it is important to show that we stand with our friends and our allies.
MS. CALDWELL: How would you assess the overall relationship between China and the United States right now?
REP. MEEKS: Well, it's very tense at the moment. There's no question about that. It's tense on the Taiwanese Strait, and as a result, you know, we've got things that we still need to talk about and work together on like climate. We've got to, you know, make sure that we're doing those things, and we've got to make sure that conversation continues.
Now, I've visited China on several times. I've always and will continue to have dialogue and conversations with its ambassador when they come to visit with me and they knock on the door, as they did just before we left on this trip. So we did‑‑you know, we need to have these conversations with them, and we'll continue to have these conversations with them, but there's no question that it's clearly a tense moment on the Taiwanese Strait. And that's why I also think that it was very important for us to be there and to stress that what we want is the status quo. We're not trying to change anything. We're not promoting anything other than that. We just want to‑‑the status quo there, and China should know to not‑‑they should not force to change things. So that's where we are, you know.
MS. CALDWELL: How about‑‑
REP. MEEKS: But we've got things that we've got to work on, and we disagree on trying to change the status of Taiwan.
MS. CALDWELL: Mm‑hmm. I have a question from a viewer. Randall Marks from Maryland asks, former President Trump was very aggressive‑‑or I'm sorry. Would you favor putting a U.S. naval base in Taiwan? If not, how do you deter Chinese aggression?
REP. MEEKS: Look, we've always agreed that we would give the Taiwanese the defensive weapons that they need to protect themselves, and, you know, in my committee, for example, there's several bills that we are putting in place and provisions that we have signed into law, like the‑‑we want the Taiwanese‑‑the Taiwan Peace and Stability Act, which has happened, the Taiwanese Reassurance Act, and provisions to, you know, expedite getting them the different equipment that they may need to defend themselves.
So we will stand by. I don't think that we need to do anything. Taiwan‑‑when we spoke with the president, they are ready to defend themselves and will defend themselves. They are not intimidated by China at all. So we will continue to do those things that we've done all along to make sure that we are cooperating with Taiwan in the face of Beijing's aggression.
MS. CALDWELL: I want to move on a little bit to another trip you just took. You just were in Colombia because‑‑for the swearing in of Gustavo Petro, who is the new president there, an avowed leftist. Why did you attend that inauguration?
REP. MEEKS: Well, I was there with Administrator Samantha Power as the official congressional delegation. Colombia has a 200‑year history with the United States of America. They are probably the most important country to us on the hemisphere. We've got great, close working relationships, and here we have democracy at work, a president that was elected by a‑‑by the people of Colombia in a clean, transparent election--democracy, which we talk about all the time. And there's plenty of areas of which we will continue to work with them, in most areas, just about all when we talked about it and listening to his inauguration speech. And for me personally, one who has been invested in Colombia for over 22 years, watching the progress that they've made, having had a relationship with every president since I've been a member of Congress, starting with President Uribe to President Santos to President Duque, now to President Petro, it is important.
And the focus that he has on trying to make sure that violence has ended in Colombia, that rogue violence from the guerrilla groups and violence from narcotraffickers, there's things that we can do collective new ideas that he may have and ideas that we're working on, and the conversation that we had with him, which was I think a very good conversation and will continue. So it was extremely important for us to be there to let him know that for the United States of America, we want to continue the relationship that we've had for over 200 years.
MS. CALDWELL: But are there any concerns that there's more and more countries in South America that is electing far left leaders? You have Colombia now, Peru, Venezuela, of course. Is, you know‑‑is that going to be a problem?
REP. MEEKS: Well, listen, I don't think‑‑the people who speak are the kind of government they want. Did you hear the same questions when there were far right presidents elected? The people have a voice.
MS. CALDWELL: Yep.
REP. MEEKS: And they try to move forward in that regard. So I don't see‑‑I see‑‑my thing is democracy. That's what we talk about. We don't want someone that's going to come in and be‑‑because right now it's a struggle between democracy and autocratic governments. So the people's voice was heard, and as long as that occurs, whether it's someone to the left or someone to the right.
You know, did we‑‑you know, a lot of folks in America, we elected a right-wing president six years ago. Then there's another election. In fact, the president we had did not‑‑still doesn't acknowledge that he lost, even after all the votes were counted. That's the kind of person you don't want because they're not following the democratic process. Having people like the Hungary president, Orbán, who came in, who clearly is undemocratic, those are the people that we want to call out not to work with, those that don't believe in democracy. But here in Colombia, you had an example of a clear‑cut, clean election with the voice of the people. So you've got to acknowledge the voice of the people and work together because we're promoting democracy.
MS. CALDWELL: There's some concern that with the leftward movement of some of these governments that there could be a spike in attempts to immigrate to the United States from South Americans. Is that a concern that the United States should have, and is there a plan in case that does happen?
REP. MEEKS: Look, I don't think so. What I think is what‑‑people who are running to migrate to the United States are people generally that's under authoritarian governments, not democratic governments, and they're under situations where there's crime, there's murder, there's killing, there's homicides, there's no peace. So they're running for someplace better. They don't want to leave. They don't want to leave their homeland. They're forced to leave, and in instances like Colombia, where clearly, you know, the areas that where people have been killed and moved around as those of African descent on the Pacific coast and what we've talked about moving forward is to make sure that they're included in the peace process. And our great Samantha Power who was with us from the USAID going into those areas, working with the Colombian government to try to make sure that we can reduce the violence that's there‑‑the number one part of the inauguration speech that President Petro was talking about was ending the violence, stopping the wars, trying to figure out how we make investments in communities that have been left behind‑‑
MS. CALDWELL: Mm‑hmm.
REP. MEEKS: ‑‑trying to work together with climate because the climate and people coming in have been the ones that hurt them.
MS. CALDWELL: Yes.
REP. MEEKS: So the way that we do that is to work collectively with the governments.
To me, you know, we had this great plan, and this is what happened with me when I was‑‑and how I got involved in Colombia. We started with Plan Colombia, and when you looked at the big cities, whether it was Cartagena, Bogotá, or Medellin, they weren't safe. They were being run by narcotraffickers, and the United States and Colombia came together to figure out for the municipal cities how they could take them back and make sure that people were safe.
When I first went there, you couldn't go certain places because of fear of kidnapping. So they worked and they successfully‑‑now you go to Cartagena or Bogotá or Medellin or other places, there's tourism back. What was left out was the farmlands, the agricultural lands, the Pacific coast where the Indigenous and African Colombians were. So half the plan for peace in Colombia was done. So now you got to do the second half, and that's what President Petro was talking about, to make sure that those that had been left out are included.
REP. MEEKS: And in talking to those people and in talking with‑‑you know, working with the United States, the same kind of formula that we worked out for Plan Colombia, we should work together for peace in Colombia, particularly on the Pacific coast where the Indigenous and African Colombians live.
MS. CALDWELL: On Sunday is going to be the tenth anniversary that Washington Post freelance journalist Austin Tice has been held captive in Syria. Is the United States doing enough to ensure his freedom and to ensure that he remains alive?
REP. MEEKS: You never do enough until they get home. You keep trying. You keep working. I know our committee‑‑we work in a bipartisan way there. I worked with Mike McCaul on sending letters. We just sent two letters from the committee to the administration and to others. We want all of our prisoners that are being held to be released so that they can come home, and so are we doing enough? You're never doing enough until they come home. You keep working at it, and I think that the administration is focused on that, as we see that's taking place with Russia also, with two of our‑‑two folks that are being held hostage. We have others in Venezuela. So we've got work to do, and I will never be satisfied until each and every one comes back home to their families.
MS. CALDWELL: Chairman Meeks, we are out of time. Thank you so much for joining us today on a very timely discussion. I appreciate it.
MS. CALDWELL: Mm‑hmm. And thank you for watching. You can find the transcripts of this program, watch this program, and watch other programs on WashingtonPostLive.com. Thanks so much. | 2022-08-10T13:41:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Transcript: 117th Congress: Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.) - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/08/10/transcript-117th-congress-rep-gregory-w-meeks-d-ny/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/08/10/transcript-117th-congress-rep-gregory-w-meeks-d-ny/ |
A black-tailed marmoset in Brazil. (Sylvain CORDIER/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
With cases of monkeypox surging around the world, it’s not a good time to be a monkey.
The primates have, in recent days, been physically attacked — and even killed — by poisoning and stoning attacks in Brazil, according to local media reports that cite police officials.
In the last week, at least 10 animals of the marmoset and capuchin types were found displaying signs of intoxication or aggression, leading to fears that they had been poisoned, according to Brazilian news site G1. Seven of the monkeys died, while the others are under observation at a zoo in São José do Rio Preto, a municipality in the state of São Paulo.
The assaults have led to the World Health Organization — which declared monkeypox a global health emergency last month — issuing a reminder that despite the virus’s name, monkeys should not be blamed for its transmission.
“What people need to know very clearly is the transmission we are seeing is happening between humans to humans,” Margaret Harris, a WHO spokesperson told reporters Tuesday. “They should certainly not be attacking any animals.”
“It’s close-contact transmission. So the concern should be about where it’s transmitting in the human population and what humans can do to protect themselves from getting it and transmitting it,” Harris said, adding that the virus was seen “much more commonly in various rodents” than monkeys and that work was ongoing to consider whether the virus should be renamed.
Brazilian officials believe it is possible that the recent outbreak of the virus is driving anti-monkey sentiment and behavior, although they also noted that the “deliberate” attacks could also be linked to animal trafficking.
Following the attacks, environmental military police officers are patrolling the forest of Rio Preto to prevent attacks on the animals, local media reported, as the National Network to Combat Wildlife Trafficking blamed the “persecution” of monkeys and attacks on “a lack of information” in Brazilian society.
Globally, there are almost 32,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases have been reported in 89 countries, and the outbreak is prominent in Europe, where most of the infections have been recorded following an outbreak that began in the spring.
Countries that do not usually report monkeypox have documented a surge in cases, including the United States and Britain, prompting health officials to implement plans to combat the spread of infection.
Brazil, which has similarly not historically reported monkeypox before this outbreak, has registered more than 2,131 cases of infection.
Maurício Lacerda, a virologist at the Faculty of Medicine of Rio Preto told local media that when it comes to the virus, the monkeys of Brazil do not pose a threat to locals.
“What we are seeing in Brazil, Europe and the United States is … people who are sick and are transmitting through close contact to other people. There is no evidence of monkeypox virus circulating in monkeys in the Brazil,” he said. “There is no need to panic.”
The name “monkeypox” emerged after researchers in Denmark used the primates to identify the virus — which is transmitted by a number of animals and not just nonhuman primates — including rats, dormice and squirrels.
Since the outbreak began in May, the majority of monkeypox cases were documented among men who are gay or bisexual, or who have sex with men.
Monkeypox is spread through close contact — including respiratory drops, bodily fluids and contaminated items such as bedding or clothing.
The virus was declared “a public health emergency” in the United States last month as health officials scrambled to provide better access to treatments, funding and vaccines amid climbing case numbers. Cases of the infection have also been confirmed among children in the United States.
“We urge every American to take monkeypox seriously and to take responsibility to help us tackle this virus,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Aug. 4. | 2022-08-10T14:50:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Monkeypox is being transmitted by humans, not monkeys, World Health Organization says - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/10/who-monkeypox-monkeys-brazil-attacks/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/10/who-monkeypox-monkeys-brazil-attacks/ |
GOP congressional candidate Brad Finstad hugs his mother, Sharon Finstad, on Aug. 9 in Sleepy Eye, Minn. (Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune/AP)
Republican Brad Finstad, a former state lawmaker, won the special election for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, defeating Democrat Jeff Ettinger in a closely watched race.
The Associated Press called the race Wednesday morning, with Finstad holding a narrow lead of 51.1 percent to 46.9 percent with 98 percent of precincts reporting.
“I’m humbled to receive the support of my fellow southern Minnesotans to represent them in Congress,” Finstad tweeted Wednesday. “Our country faces extraordinary challenges, but I am confident that we can come together to overcome them and ensure the 21st century is yet another great American century.”
A member of a family that has farmed for generations, Finstad is the former director of rural development in Minnesota for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The 46-year-old Minnesota native was appointed to the position by President Donald Trump.
The seat was labeled “likely Republican” by media outlets, given its demographics and history. But analysts were paying close attention to the race to determine whether a Democratic upset — spurred by the recent Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade — would suggest that the political environment is improving for Democrats, who are underdogs in their bid to hold their majority in the House.
A former chief executive of Hormel Foods, Ettinger now oversees the food processing company’s foundation. The 63-year-old lawyer is a California native who joined the Minnesota company as a corporate attorney.
Ettinger boasted that he is “not a politician.” He noted that he had never run for office before and said he joined the race “to address the problems that politicians seem unable or unwilling to fix.”
“The voters of Southern Minnesota have spoken, and I want to congratulate Brad Finstad on winning the Special Election last night,” he tweeted Wednesday. “Though I had hoped to celebrate different news with you all, there is plenty for which to be hopeful.” | 2022-08-10T15:03:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Republicans hold Minnesota House seat as Finstad wins special election - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/minnesota-house-republicans/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/minnesota-house-republicans/ |
The talking points against the Trump search, broken down
Armed Secret Service agents stand outside an entrance to former president Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday night. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Republicans wasted virtually no time in decrying the search of former president Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago — despite us having very little detail about the search, and despite their very pronounced past concerns about presidential candidates protecting government documents.
But beyond the reflexivity of the reaction, there are the actual arguments used to decry this situation about which we have such precious little actual information. The talking points are remarkably consistent across Trump’s lengthy response, GOP lawmakers’ comments and Fox News’s coverage. The message discipline is remarkable.
What about the message itself? It’s worth breaking down several of the key talking points.
Talking Point No. 1: If it could happen to Trump, it could happen to you
This is perhaps the most pervasive line of rhetoric, having been pushed by multiple Fox News commentators, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), the Heritage Foundation, the House Judiciary Committee’s GOP members and plenty of others. Many have connected it to a bill passed in the Senate over the weekend that would add 87,000 IRS agents who, the argument goes, could be turned against Trump supporters. And if there’s one thing Republicans have successfully exploited in recent years, it’s a sense of persecution.
Like other talking points, though, this leads to the question: Are they saying Trump should be held to a different standard? We don’t know what was in the search warrant or what evidence was used to obtain it, but we do know that it pertains to the removal of documents from the White House, which has been reported on extensively. The National Archives has said on the record that it retrieved 15 boxes of materials from Mar-a-Lago that were supposed to have been handed over to it, and The Washington Post has reported those materials included ones marked “classified” and even “top secret.” A Trump lawyer now says 12 more boxes were taken, after a dispute about whether Trump had turned over everything he had.
If you removed such documents from the White House, logic would suggest, you too would find federal agents quite interested in retrieving those materials. Most people aren’t in that position or anything close to it.
This is a core problem with the pushback. It’s certainly possible that, ultimately, the evidence will be judged insufficient for the search in the court of public opinion (though it had the approval of a judge), but we simply don’t know! Without that, it’s kind of premature to say this is the tip of the emerging police-state iceberg.
Making such a claim without knowing these details sounds a lot like saying a former president should be exempt from investigation, which kind of undermines the idea that nobody is above the law — a common refrain among Republicans when a certain other presidential hopeful was being investigated in 2016. What if the evidence behind the search is damning? The problem with this talking point is that it doesn’t allow for that possibility. It just presumes this is a pittance, when there’s no firm reason to believe that.
Talking Point No. 2: Biden has ‘weaponized’ the DOJ
Many made another rather extraordinary leap, suggesting the White House, or even President Biden himself, was responsible for the search.
Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade relayed such a claim after speaking with Eric Trump, saying the order “has to have come from @POTUS and/or someone in White House.” Trump speculated Tuesday that Biden “absolutely signed off on this.” Heritage said, “Biden needs to answer the question of whether he ordered this raid.” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) declared that “until Joe Biden denies it, a President just raided a former President — his political opponent.”
Others laid this at Biden’s feet more obliquely, with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) saying, “Biden has taken our republic into dangerous waters.” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said, “Biden is playing with fire by using a document dispute to get the @TheJusticeDept to persecute a likely future election opponent.” The Republican National Committee declared this as evidence of how “Democrats continually weaponize the bureaucracy against Republicans.”
It’s difficult to prove a negative, but there is zero evidence to even suggest Biden or the White House had anything to do with this. The White House has said it had no advance knowledge of the search. Biden said in 2019 that he would not order the Department of Justice to investigate or prosecute Trump. And it would indeed be highly irregular for him or the White House to do anything of the sort.
(Similarly, both Trump and Fox News’s Jesse Watters have moved on to suggesting — again, without any evidence — that the agents who searched Mar-a-Lago might have planted evidence. This is a very serious charge, treated entirely unseriously.)
This talking point is also particularly rich against the backdrop of Trump’s demonstrated penchant for meddling in Justice Department business. There is a president in recent years who has repeatedly and very publicly pushed for politically expedient investigations and prosecutions, including of his electoral opponent. But it was Trump. Biden has demonstrated nowhere near such a heavy hand when it comes to the Justice Department.
Talking Point No. 3: This is third-world stuff
This was in Trump’s statement and was soon picked up by plenty of others.
“This is what happens in Third World countries. Not the United States,” said the House Judiciary GOP. A Fox News commentator repeatedly called the search “third-world [expletive]” in a viral clip. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) likened it to what happens in a banana republic. Rubio warned we were on track to become like Nicaragua and added, “Using government power to persecute political opponents is something we have seen many times from 3rd world Marxist dictatorships. But never before in America.”
It’s certainly valid to worry about the precedent this kind of thing sets — again, depending upon the actual evidence, which we’re not yet privy to.
But we have indeed seen the American government investigate matters involving politicians, and even a former president in the opposite political party. After Bill Clinton left office, the Justice Department investigated whether Marc Rich effectively purchased his pardon. Richard Nixon was sure to be investigated extensively even after he left office for Watergate — we learned in recent years that a grand jury drafted an indictment before he left office — but Gerald Ford effectively took that off the table by pardoning Nixon a month after Nixon resigned in 1974.
This is also hardly the territory of only the Third World. Former presidents in European and other developed countries have repeatedly been investigated and even convicted after leaving office in recent years, including in Israel, South Korea, and multiple recent former French leaders. It’s certainly more common in the Third World, where criminal prosecutions are politically weaponized, but it’s not unheard-of elsewhere.
That it hasn’t happened in the United States is a reflection of our unease about that, but it could also be a reflection of what our limited number of presidents did or didn’t do. Again, it’s a matter of the evidence, when we get it — which can then be compared to other former presidents whose conduct was questioned but not prosecuted or subjected to a search warrant.
Talking Point No. 4: Trump could have just declassified the documents
This one has been added to the mix later than the others — apparently for a reason. Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio) suggested Tuesday that Trump might have declassified the documents he allegedly took, saying that Trump as then-president “unlike Hillary Clinton has the ability to declassify those materials. So, you don’t know what the status of these materials.” Former Trump White House aide Stephen Miller added Tuesday night on Fox News that “the president controls classification authority” and that his word is superior to the National Archives on whether materials were classified.
It’s true that presidents have broad authority over the classification and declassification of documents. But Trump can’t do it retroactively, particularly as a former president who no longer wields such power. It’s also illegal to declassify material for an improper purpose, such as covering up a crime.
Back in May, former Trump administration official Kash Patel claimed that Trump had indeed declassified the materials in the 15 boxes the National Archives retrieved from Mar-a-Lago before leaving office, even if documents still had classified markings on them.
This figures to be a potentially key defense for Trump if this ever gets into the criminal realm — especially given that there’s no set declassification procedure.
But notably, Fox News host Laura Ingraham actually pressed Miller on whether Trump had declassified the latest documents — rightly pointing out that “we don’t know” whether he did — and Miller demurred.
“It wouldn’t matter either way,” Miller said. “His decision would be the final word, presuming that’s even the case.”
That statement sounds less certain than Patel’s was. Certainly, this is space worth watching. | 2022-08-10T15:03:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The Republican talking points against the Trump search, broken down - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/talking-points-trump-search-breakdown/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/talking-points-trump-search-breakdown/ |
A member of Secret Service stands guard at the entrance of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg)
Around 9 a.m. Monday, FBI agents appeared at the entrance to Donald Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago. Their arrival apparently came as a surprise to the Secret Service agents tasked with protecting the former president’s residence. When news of the FBI search of the property finally emerged nine hours later, that surprise spread nationally — and triggered an immediate firestorm.
Details of what agents did at Mar-a-Lago, why they were there and what they seized are still sketchy, with new details emerging regularly. That said, here is what we currently understand about the day’s events.
Before Aug. 8: U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart signed a search warrant authorizing federal law enforcement to search the former president’s residence. The warrant itself didn’t contain much information, as Trump’s attorney Christina Bobb said in an interview on Tuesday. That isn’t unusual.
The affidavit submitted by the FBI as it sought the warrant, however, would have been much more detailed. Journalist Marcy Wheeler walked through what the affidavit for the Trump search might have included in broad strokes, but the one submitted for the search of Trump adviser Roger Stone’s home gives a sense of the sort of detail that would have been included.
Aug. 9, around 9 a.m.: The FBI arrives at Mar-a-Lago. As noted above, it appears that the Secret Service was not given any notification in advance. Bureau agents were given access to the property. A source who spoke with a reporter for NewsNation, Brian Entin, said that the agents were in plainclothes, so staff may have thought they were Secret Service agents, helping explain why the news didn’t break.
The timing for the search, though, also minimized the number of people who would be around. Mar-a-Lago is closed during the summer, when demand for spending time in Southern Florida is low. While the facility is now Trump’s primary residence, he is currently staying at his club in Bedminster, N.J. Only a few staff would have been around at Mar-a-Lago anyway.
Trump’s son Eric was apparently the first person informed that the FBI had arrived, according to an interview he gave Fox News host Sean Hannity. Eric Trump said that he is the one who told his father. He may also have been the one to inform Bobb, who was the first attorney to arrive at the scene, some time before 10 a.m.
When Bobb got there, she asked to see the warrant. In an interview on a right-wing streaming service Tuesday, she claimed that agents were reticent to share the document with her at first. In that interview, she verified that the search included a focus on documents Trump might have removed from the White House.
“They also said that they were looking for classified documents, evidence of a crime as far as classified documents go,” Bobb said. “So they were looking for both classified information that they think should not have been removed from the White House as well as presidential records.”
Trump’s legal team was given a copy of the warrant. It has declined to release it, one source told NBC News’s Vaughn Hillyard, because “the burden of transparency rests with the [Justice Department] to lay out its reasoning.” Since the warrant also includes an articulation of the potential legal violations to which the search relates, it may also be that case that Trump’s team wants to avoid revealing the scope of the legal threat Trump faces.
10 a.m.: Attorney Lindsey Halligan is called about the search. She arrives at Mar-a-Lago about an hour later. In an interview with CBS News, Halligan provided a number of details about the FBI’s activities.
The search: It involved “30 to 40” personnel, she told CBS, with “a handful dressed in suits, but most wore T-shirts, cargo pants, masks and gloves.” Some 10 to 15 vehicles were involved, including a box truck. FBI agents searched “a bedroom, a storage area and an office,” Halligan said.
The “storage area” is likely the basement. As the Justice Department was engaged earlier this year with Trump’s team about potential documents stored at Mar-a-Lago, they noted that the basement was poorly secured, prompting Trump to add a lock to the door. “When FBI agents searched the property Monday, Bobb added, they broke through the lock,” The Washington Post reported.
The office is the facility’s former bridal suite. That was the location of the safe, Entin reported, which he described as a “hotel-style safe.” It’s not clear how the FBI accessed it, though experts who spoke with Slate indicated that the bureau has tools for quickly opening safes with electronic locks, like those used in hotels. In his Hannity interview, Eric Trump said that there was “nothing” in the safe, though it’s not clear if he meant that literally or in the sense that it contained nothing pertinent to the search.
Bobb and Halligan were not allowed to observe the FBI’s search. Halligan told CBS News they were “forced to remain outside, between the ballroom and residence, on the grounds of Mar-a-Lago.”
Around 6:30 p.m.: The search concludes. Investigators removed about 12 boxes of material, most or all of which apparently came from the basement area.
Right about then, a source texted Peter Schorsch, a former political operative who now runs a website focused on Florida politics. “Did you know Mar-a-Lago is being raided right now?” the source asked when Schorsch called him. Neither Schorsch nor anyone outside of Trump’s immediate circle did.
6:36 p.m.: Schorsch breaks the news on Twitter.
Fifteen minutes later, Trump confirmed it on Truth Social. The firestorm began. | 2022-08-10T15:07:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What we know about the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/trump-fbi-search/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/trump-fbi-search/ |
7 MALIBU RISING (Ballantine, $18). By Taylor Jenkins Reid. An end-of-summer party is the backdrop for the story of four famous siblings trying to reckon with their upbringing.
8 BEACH READ (Berkley, $16). By Emily Henry. Two writers who are summer neighbors challenge each other to write novels in each other’s genres.
10 EVERY SUMMER AFTER (Berkley, $16). By Carley Fortune. A woman returns to her hometown and reconnects with her former flame.
6 THE BOMBER MAFIA (Back Bay, $18.99). By Malcolm Gladwell. How a strategy to reduce bloodshed with precision bombing in World War II was thwarted by military leaders.
7 DO THE WORK!: AN ANTIRACIST ACTIVITY BOOK (Workman, $22.95). By W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz. A workbook with games, activities and illustrations that shed light on systemic racism and offer tips on what people can do about it.
8 HOW TO FOCUS (Parallax Press, $9.95). By Thich Nhat Hanh, Jason DeAntonis (Illus.). Meditations for mindfulness to enhance the power of concentration.
10 TALKING TO STRANGERS (Back Bay, $18.99). By Malcolm Gladwell. An examination of why humans are so bad at recognizing liars and lies.
3 WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING (Putnam, $9.99). By Delia Owens. A young outcast finds herself at the center of a local murder trial.
8 THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (Del Rey, $7.99). By Douglas Adams. Just as Earth is demolished, mild-mannered Arthur Dent escapes to the galactic freeway.
9 GOOD OMENS (Morrow, $9.99). By Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. A novel imagining the end of the world and the fallout.
10 THE NAME OF THE WIND (DAW, $10.99). By Patrick Rothfuss. Kvothe the Kingkiller tells the story of his rise to near-legendary heroism.
Rankings reflect sales for the week ended Aug. 7. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from the American Booksellers Association, the trade association for independent bookstores in the United States, and indiebound.org. Copyright 2022 American Booksellers Association. (The bestseller lists alternate between hardcover and paperback each week.) | 2022-08-10T15:12:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Washington Post paperback bestsellers - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/washington-post-paperback-bestsellers/2022/08/09/e21d9b96-180d-11ed-8c9b-37f55528c617_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/washington-post-paperback-bestsellers/2022/08/09/e21d9b96-180d-11ed-8c9b-37f55528c617_story.html |
Chipotle to pay $20 million to resolve New York City workplace case
The settlement — the largest of its kind — means cash payments for 13,000 current and former workers tied to alleged scheduling and sick leave violations
New York City has reached a $20 million settlement with Chipotle Mexican Grill to resolve violations of worker protection laws. The deal affecting about 13,000 workers is the largest of its kind. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)
Chipotle Mexican Grill has reached a $20 million settlement with New York City — the largest of its kind — to resolve fair scheduling and sick leave violations affecting 13,000 current and former employees.
The deal announced Tuesday affects anyone who worked for the fast-casual restaurant chain in the city from November 2017 to this past April. They are eligible for $50 for each week of work. Current employees will be sent a check, but those who left their positions before April 30 must file a claim to collect. Chipotle also will pay another $1 million in civil penalties.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said Chipotle violated the city’s Fair Workweek Law, which took effect in November 2017. The measure requires employers to give workers their schedules 14 days in advance and pay premiums for schedule changes or shifts with less than 11 hours of rest in between. It also requires large employers like Chipotle to offer 56 hours of paid leave each year.
It’s the largest fair workweek settlement in the nation and the biggest labor protection settlement in the city’s history, Adams said Tuesday.
In 2018, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection started an investigation of Chipotle’s labor practices, following complaints filed by 160 Chipotle employees and the 32BJ Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The inquiry initially focused on Brooklyn locations over possible violations of the Fair Workweek Law, then expanded to encompass locations citywide in 2021 with nearly 600,000 alleged violations.
“This almost feels unreal. When you’re in the thick of it, like going to work each day and going through the motions, you think no one is paying attention,” said Chipotle worker Yeral Martinez in an SEIU statement. “But this settlement proves that we’re not invisible.”
Scott Boatwright, the chief restaurant officer, noted that Chipotle had raised wages across the country last year and reinstated new policies.
“We have implemented a number of compliance initiatives, including additional management resources and adding new and improved time keeping technology, to help our restaurants and we look forward to continuing to promote the goals of predictable scheduling and access to work hours for those who want them,” he said in a statement. | 2022-08-10T15:12:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Chipotle to pay $20 million to resolve New York City workplace case - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/10/chipotle-settlement-new-york-city/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/10/chipotle-settlement-new-york-city/ |
What’s Missing From Bond Markets Ahead of the CPI
Lamont Dozier, part of the legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team that penned most of the Motown songs you’ve ever heard, has passed. His oeuvre included Heat Wave (originally by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas), Where Did Our Love Go by the Supremes (and later Soft Cell), Reach Out I’ll Be There by The Four Tops, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by Vanilla Fudge, and later the Supremes and Kim Wilde, “How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You” by Marvin Gaye and later James Taylor, “Give Me Just A Little More Time” by the Chairmen of the Board and later Kylie Minogue, There’s A Ghost In My House, later covered by The Fall, Stop! In the Name of Love by the Supremes, and “You Can’t Hurry Love” which has been covered by everyone from the Dixie Chicks to Phil Collins, although the Supremes still reign supreme. OK, some of them are a bit similar to each other, but what a great formula. More From Other Writers at Bloomberg Opinion: | 2022-08-10T15:12:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What’s Missing From Bond Markets Ahead of the CPI - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/whats-missing-from-bond-markets-ahead-ofthe-cpi/2022/08/10/1a7b1e94-186a-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/whats-missing-from-bond-markets-ahead-ofthe-cpi/2022/08/10/1a7b1e94-186a-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
Customers enter a Bed Bath & Beyond store in Redwood City, California, US, on Monday, June 27, 2022. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on June 29. (Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg)
Meme stocks have enjoyed something of a renaissance in recent days. A prime example is Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., which soared as much as 75% between Friday and early Tuesday for no apparent reason. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and GameStop Corp., two other meme stocks, also saw big gains. This latest episode is more evidence that the meme-stock phenomenon just won’t die, completely ignoring any semblance of fair value and continuing to frustrate short sellers. Then again, maybe the problem is short sellers.
The number of shares sold short in these and other meme stocks would suggest that a lot of people have come to the conclusion that their underlying businesses are worth zero. So, the thinking is that you short the shares and wait for the companies to go bankrupt. The problem is that stocks don’t go to zero because they are bad businesses; they go to zero because they encounter a liquidity crisis and run out of cash. (I should know as I worked at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. when it collapsed.) It is very difficult for a publicly traded company to run out of cash. They can borrow, issue more stock and tap a credit line, among other things. CEOs have many options at their disposal to prevent the stock from going to zero.
The issue is framed such that buying meme stocks is risky, and you shouldn’t do it. Well, it turns out that shorting meme stocks is perhaps even more risky! It doesn’t matter if you think a stock is worth zero, the reality is that it’s worth whatever someone is willing to pay. The bigger issue, though, is that the meme stocks’ prices have an abnormal and large right tail, meaning that they have the potential to explode higher at any moment. On Wall Street they call trying to profit despite this as “picking up nickels in front a steamroller.”
I have a strong suspicion that it’s not Reddit users who are powering these stocks higher. I think it’s hedge funds. The Redditors are pretty much out of ammo at this point, having burned through the government’s stimulus checks long ago and suffering big losses more recently. The shares of Robinhood Markets Inc., where many of these investors traded, are down 82% the last year on a declining user base. The only way these stocks can stage such a rally is because big investors are pushing them higher. And why not? They certainly have the means to engineer a “short squeeze.” So, the meme-stock trade today isn’t really r/wallstreetbets versus big bad hedge funds, it’s big bad hedge funds versus big bad hedge funds. Those Reddit users who are still around are simply along for the ride.
The timing couldn’t be better for meme-stock bulls. For the first time in a long time, growth stocks are back to outperforming value stocks. Cathie Wood’s bellwether ARK Innovation ETF is up almost 40% from its low this year in mid-June in a sign of rekindled animal spirits. While it’s entirely plausible that these businesses will return to fair value in the stock market, it might take much longer than the short sellers expect.
I don’t like meme stocks. I have a handful of acquaintances and family members who are unsophisticated about finance who bought meme stocks in 2021, having heard about them through various media. I said at the time that meme-stock mania was a massive wealth transfer from the unsophisticated to the sophisticated, especially for buyers of options tied to the stocks. And that has largely proven true, destroying a lot of capital belonging to people who couldn’t afford to lose it. And the longer interest in meme stocks lingers, the more capital these stocks will attract and ultimately be destroyed. The one thing I have never understood about the frenzy is that retail investors picked the worst stocks to speculate on — the ones with the poorest growth prospects and on the verge of bankruptcy. But that was the postmodern financial world of 2021 and seems to be continuing to this day.
It’s possible that going forward the stock market will have a handful of speculative footballs that hedge funds will fight over in the octagon, with a bunch of crazy cult members along for the ride. These aren’t the first meme stocks we’ve ever had — Krispy Kreme Doughnuts comes to mind from 20 years ago — but they’ve lasted the longest. What will it take stop them? Probably nothing but a long, slow denouement. People have a short attention span. They’ll move on eventually. | 2022-08-10T15:12:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Latest Meme-Stock War Is Hedge Fund Versus Hedge Fund - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/latest-meme-stock-war-is-hedge-fund-versushedge-fund/2022/08/10/5b8cd64c-18b1-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/latest-meme-stock-war-is-hedge-fund-versushedge-fund/2022/08/10/5b8cd64c-18b1-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
Since social media influencer Kyla Scanlon coined the term “vibecession,” she has experienced all sorts of feedback from TikTok users and economists alike. I sat down with her to chat about algorithms, markets and more on Twitter Spaces. Below is an edited transcript of our discussion.
Conor Sen: I first came across your work in April of 2021 when you made your viral lumber video. The way that you produce content related to markets and the economy is really clever and I don’t think anyone else does what you do. I’m curious how you came to do that and if you felt like traditional media was lacking in some way.Kyla Scanlon: I started making TikToks around December 2020, right around when GameStop started happening. I had just left my job at Capital Group, so I was no longer under compliance. The markets were so wacky then that it was almost impossible not to make content like that. Beyond video, I’ve been writing online for about six years. I started in college and had a blog called “Scanlon on Stocks.”
CS: When you’re doing research to come up with things to talk about, do you just look at the traditional data or are you scrolling through TikTok?
KS: I include a lot of data on my TikTok, but some of it’s based on feedback. When I first started thinking about what a vibecession was, I had just published this video saying that we weren’t in a recession and I was being eaten alive in the comments. I thought to myself, “oh, this is like the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.” So I published another piece asking whether we needed a recession. I got more feedback from that, which shaped out this vibecession idea where, if you look at the data, it isn’t great, but it’s not terrible, but people feel tremendously bad. A lot of people like to think in binary terms: Things are bad and that’s it. But it would be ridiculous to say that things aren’t hard for people right now. I’m not saying that it’s not bad. I’m just saying that how people feel about it could make it worse.CS: What I find interesting is that when you said we’re not in a recession, you got negative pushback against that. And then when you wrote the vibecession piece, you were acknowledging the way people were feeling. And yet people seemed to hate that too. Why do you think that is?
KS: Personally, the vibecession piece was a really hard experience. I was getting death threats. I had never gone through anything like that. I think people were looking at it from a surface level and they were like, oh my gosh, this person is not acknowledging my reality. I think that’s a totally fair response if you feel like your experience is being diminished. My theory is that people don’t like being told how they’re feeling. If you start telling people that their “lived experience” might not be what they thought it was, that can lead to a bit of anger.
CS: I think when I wrote my piece and cited yours, I was trying to go through the same thing — we’re adding all these jobs … how can people feel so negative? Since February, we’ve added a ton of jobs, but the overall level of real income people are taking home is down.
I think you and I both agree that “recession” isn’t the right term and maybe some people don’t like the term “vibecession,” but we need a generally accepted word to describe this environment.
KS: People don’t really experience the economy in terms of GDP growth. They experience it in terms of gas prices and food prices. And so if you start to see those easing, I do think people are going to end up feeling a little bit better. But on the margin, I don’t know how much has really changed. There’s still a lot of uncertainty.CS: What would make people feel better? Are there certain things that you’re looking for on TikTok that would suggest that things have improved?KS: The barometer for how people feel in my little bubble is my comment section. Although we’re talking about how things have improved — at least over the past few weeks — the sentiment in the comments has not improved at all. There’s a lot of confusion around what the Fed is doing. When we have that next meeting in September, it’ll be interesting to see how people respond to that.CS: You straddle Gen Z think and millennial in a way that nobody else does. Do you think that Gen Z sees markets and maybe the economy more broadly or differently than people, say, my age do?KS: I don’t know if it’s really an age group thing. I definitely think there’s an element of “financial nihilism” where it’s like, “oh, I’m not going to save for the future because who knows, right.” That shapes a lot of spending patterns. And when I tell my friends that I like the stock market, they’re like, “that’s not real.”CS: When I was in my mid twenties, it was the subprime bubble and people were going to Vegas and then the Iraq war was going on. People were pretty nihilistic, feeling like, “this economy is a joke, it’s all fake.” I do wonder whether the past 20 years have been weird, or maybe it’s always been this way, and we just have different themes and characteristics that shape this cynicism and uncertainty.KS: I’m sure it’s always been this way. You could read literature and see that everybody has always been feeling pretty bad. Social media has made a lot of stuff worse because our brains are not built for consuming this much information.CS: It’s generally not helpful if everybody’s thinking about the state of the economy and markets the way they do their favorite sports teams. Negativity can spill over to your point about people: Are we going to will ourselves into a recession?KS: Fed meetings are now like a Super Bowl party. If you look at your timeline, people are saying things like, “oh, the market is going to be super choppy,” or “get ready, everybody. It’s gonna be crazy.” It’s kind of interesting that the CPI print and the Federal Reserve discussing monetary policy can be that exciting.CS: You’re trying to help people navigate this scary, confusing world and these algorithms that try to make us negative. As an optimist, what do you think we can do to combat the negativity?KS: The biggest thing is explaining things in a really accessible way, all while using data and recognizing the human experience of it, too. The reason that we don’t like inflation is because it causes uncertainty. If you explain things in a way that’s entertaining, it will help people feel a little bit better. Hypersensationalism and doomism are rewarded by the algorithms. And our little brains love bad news. So you have to battle those dual forces. A lot of people entered the market in 2020 when the expectation was that things would go up forever. But it’s okay for things to not go up all the time. In fact, it might be good to take a breather.
‘Jobful Vibecession’ Will Keep Workers on the Payroll: Conor Sen | 2022-08-10T15:12:51Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Meet Kyla Scanlon: Master of TikTok, Markets and Vibes - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/meet-kyla-scanlon-master-of-tiktok-markets-and-vibes/2022/08/10/8c8f2ade-18b5-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/meet-kyla-scanlon-master-of-tiktok-markets-and-vibes/2022/08/10/8c8f2ade-18b5-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
Scientists overlooking the edge of Mawson Glacier, East Antarctica. (Richard Jones)
The latest study, published in the journal Nature, combined recent findings about potential vulnerabilities in the bedrock and undersea topography — particularly in areas where glaciers interact with warm water — with an analysis of warm periods in the Earth’s past.
The team of researchers from Australia, Britain, France and the United States found that if global temperature increases are below the upper limit set by the 2015 Paris climate accord — 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels — that should mean the ice sheet adds less than half a meter (1.6 feet) to sea levels by the year 2500. Any increase above that temperature has the potential to raise sea levels by up to 5 meters (16.4 feet) over the same period.
The researchers said evidence from seafloor sediments around East Antarctica indicates that part of the ice sheet collapsed and contributed to increasing sea levels by several meters during the mid-Pliocene era, around 3 million years ago, when temperatures were about 2 to 4 degrees Celsius warmer than now. Approximately 400,000 years ago, there is evidence that a part of the ice sheet retreated more than 400 miles inland, at a time when it was only 1 to 2 degrees Celsius warmer than right now.
Scientists just discovered a massive new vulnerability in the Antarctic ice sheet
“This ice sheet is by far the largest on the planet, containing the equivalent of 52 meters [171 feet] of sea level and it’s really important that we do not awaken this sleeping giant,” Stokes said in a statement.
Australian scientists are embarking on a campaign over the next few years to deepen their understanding of the Denham glacier region, a 12-mile-wide stream of ice that flows over the deepest undersea canyon in the East Antarctica Ice Sheet. Scientists have previously warned the canyon could provide a potential pathway for the ocean to infiltrate deep into Antarctica’s center. | 2022-08-10T15:13:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | World’s largest ice sheet risks melting, threatens spike in sea levels - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/10/east-antarctic-ice-sheet-melting-climate-change/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/10/east-antarctic-ice-sheet-melting-climate-change/ |
Marshawn Lynch, shown in 2019, was arrested on suspicion of DUI Tuesday. (Ted S. Warren/AP File)
Marshawn Lynch, the former NFL running back who brought “Beast Mode” into the backfield of the Seattle Seahawks, was arrested in Las Vegas just before 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and booked for driving under the influence, according to Las Vegas police.
The department tweeted that the arrest was made during a traffic stop of a black 2020 Shelby GT500, a Ford Mustang model, in central Las Vegas, adding, “Through the course of the investigation, officers determined that Lynch was impaired and conducted an arrest.”
Lynch, a popular player with a ferocious power running style over 13 NFL seasons spent mostly with the Seahawks, was booked at the Las Vegas city jail. He is facing charges of driving under the influence, failing to surrender proof of security, driving an unregistered vehicle and failure to drive in the travel lane, according to Las Vegas Municipal Court online records obtained by Las Vegas TV station KSNV.
A five-time Pro Bowler, Lynch rushed for 10,413 yards and 85 touchdowns from 2007 to 2019 with the Seahawks, the Buffalo Bills and the Oakland Raiders. He was arrested for DUI in 2012, but pleaded down to the lesser charge of reckless driving when the case was resolved in 2014.
Lynch has made his laid-back vibe a hallmark of an entertaining personality that was on full display when he appeared with Peyton and Eli Manning on ESPN’s “Manningcast” during last year’s Seahawks-New Orleans Saints game on “Monday Night Football.” He joked that he had prepared for his appearance by having a few shots of Hennessey, saying “I took one for big bruh [Peyton]. I took one for me, and I got one for lil bruh [Eli].” | 2022-08-10T15:14:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Marshawn Lynch arrested, booked for DUI in Las Vegas - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/marshawn-lynch-dui/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/marshawn-lynch-dui/ |
Robert Hassell III arrived in the Nationals' organization as part of the Juan Soto trade. (Rob Leiter/MLB Photos/Getty Images)
ABERDEEN, Md. — Before they played their first of two games Friday, the Wilmington Blue Rocks grabbed their gloves and filled the outfield for batting practice on a humid afternoon.
Scattered around the turf were groups of players, their red, brown and black gloves hanging by their sides as they chatted among themselves. But standing alone in center field was Robert Hassell III, looking straight ahead with a custom gray-and-green glove.
If you looked close enough, under the webbing, there was another detail.
“Well, yeah, I had the Padres logo on it,” Hassell said Saturday with a slight grin. “I had gotten that customized a long time ago. So I know another glove was shipped out yesterday — waiting on that.”
Hassell hasn’t had much time to get new gear since Aug. 2, when he was one of six players acquired by the Washington Nationals in the blockbuster trade that sent Juan Soto and Josh Bell to San Diego.
By the next day, Hassell was the No. 1 prospect in Washington’s farm system. The day after that, he was batting third for high Class A Wilmington.
But in the bigger picture, he was traded as part of a package for Soto, a 23-year-old whose hitting and plate discipline have been compared to that of the all-time greats, and Bell, Washington’s standout first baseman. Soto was part of the 2019 World Series team and became the face of the franchise, a cornerstone for the Nationals to build around. That all changed at the trade deadline, and now in Washington, Hassell’s name is front and center.
He will be the answer to trivia questions at sports bars in the D.C. area for years to come. It’s part of his Wikipedia page. He’ll also have to deal with the high expectations of fans who hope the trade was worth it — and of the ones who might never be satisfied.
“I can understand it,” Hassell said. “Soto’s the player you want right now. … He’s a really exciting player. But, for me, I would say to fans, ‘Just come out and watch some games.’ I trust my ability to perform consistently, so I trust my game. Wherever they put me, they put me and move me up along the way. However that goes, I let it be up to [the front office]. But I think I can be a really exciting player, and that’s what I got.”
Hassell was a top prospect from Franklin, Tenn., who committed to play at Vanderbilt, a perennial college powerhouse. He was selected with the eighth overall pick by the Padres in the 2020 draft. He called himself a contact-first hitter who can spray the ball to all fields and use his speed to take extra bases. In two seasons in the minors, he has a .296 batting average and has stolen 56 bases, and he believes there is power in his game.
“I’ve had 10-plus home runs both years I’ve been a Padre,” Hassell said before he stopped and smiled. “A Padre and National now.”
He continued: “I can be that guy. I got the power, and what I’ve learned about myself is I got the [opposite field] juice, too. But I focus on putting the bat on the ball; when you put the bat on the ball, good things are going to happen.”
Hassell is a fan as well as a player, so like everyone else he found himself scrolling through Twitter and keeping up with rumors in the days leading up to the trade deadline, even as his name floated through the discussion.
Hassell said he didn’t find out he was traded until about 30 minutes before it hit Twitter. Padres General Manager A.J. Preller called him first, and his agent phoned not long after.
The Nationals offered to fly Hassell to Maryland for their affiliate’s road series, but it would have taken him about two weeks to get his car. So he packed his bags in Fort Wayne, Ind., and drove around 8½ hours, spending the time listening to music and talking to family and friends.
He was happy to be traded — not because he was leaving the Padres but because the trade represented a new opportunity. But his dad reminded him that with new opportunities come new responsibilities and added pressure.
When Hassell was talking to a reporter Saturday, an usher at Ripken Stadium walked up behind him and pretended to wipe off a bleacher chair. Then, he turned and mouthed, “Is that Hassell?”
Eventually, the usher introduced himself: “I’m a big fan. I’ve been watching your game for a while, man.”
The usher wasn’t the only one who knew him that weekend. So did a fan in Section 204 on Sunday: “Did you see that Hassell guy? He’s the guy who’s expected to be the next Soto. He’s big time. He’s big time.”
Hassell may never become the next Soto. No one’s really expecting that. Still, the Nationals hope he can become a part of their next contending team. The focus is on the future and on Hassell — every swing, every stolen base and every flyball caught with that new glove.
“I’ve grown up to believe that, anywhere I play, as long as there’s a diamond and the field doesn’t look all goofy and messed up, it’s the same game regardless of what team you’re on,” Hassell said. “Pressure is inevitable. If you’re in a position that you want to be in, there’s going to be pressure with it. So just take that with a grain of salt and keep playing your game.” | 2022-08-10T15:14:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Robert Hassell III arrives in Nats system after Juan Soto trade - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/robert-hassell-juan-soto-trade/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/robert-hassell-juan-soto-trade/ |
Since lawsuit, Riot Games’ once all-male leadership is now over 20 percent women
(Washington Post illustration; Riot Games)
In August of 2018, Riot Games didn’t have a chief diversity and inclusion officer, a team dedicated to diversity, nor any pay equity practices. Its leadership team was all men. After being sued in California in November of 2018 for gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment, and settling the suit last December for $100 million, the “League of Legends” publisher released its third annual diversity report Wednesday, reflecting on the recent years of reform and active investment to hire more women and people of marginalized backgrounds.
The company of over 3,000 workers now has a diversity and inclusion team of 10. Women comprise 21.5% of its leadership team and 25.8% of Riot Games overall.
Owned by Chinese conglomerate Tencent, Riot has been reshaping its internal policies on diversity and inclusion as it seeks to grow its already notable position in the video game and entertainment industry, entertaining ambitions for a whole franchise universe. “Arcane,” its Netflix TV series set in the world of “League of Legends,” launched last November, to immediate success. It has also bolstered its game offerings beyond the flagship “League of Legends,” publishing the first-person shooter title “Valorant” and card game “Runeterra.”
Riot’s chief diversity officer, Angela Roseboro, recalled employees’ reactions when starting her job in 2019.
“There was hurt, there was disappointment,” she said. “But people wanted us to be better … and so to walk into that, and to help build to make sure that, as a chief diversity officer, you want to make sure that whatever you put in place outlives you.”
Roseboro announced to staff in May she was stepping down by the end of the year and will stay on in an advisory role, as she spends more time with family.
“It’s tough because although I don’t think the work was finished, I thought it was at a point that I could be part of Riot’s story and I feel good about where we were,” Roseboro said. “And so if I was going to take the time, now would’ve been it.”
Her replacement, Patty Dingle, who currently serves as Riot’s global head of diversity and inclusion, told The Washington Post she heard all about the suit while she was still a bank executive. Dingle has been in her position for six months as she waits to succeed Roseboro.
“I was interviewing to come to Riot and when I Googled it, all of this stuff came up and I read it. It was very impressive around the commitment that I read that Riot was willing to make,” Dingle said.
The 2018 gender-based discrimination class-action lawsuit had ripple effects across the industry. Companies like Activision Blizzard, which has faced its own lawsuit and reckoning over working conditions for women employees, reconsidered its alcohol policies. The suit came after gaming news site Kotaku published an exposé about a culture of sexism at Riot Games, which manifested itself in workplace behaviors ranging from unwanted advances and harassment to a hiring and promotion process that passed over female candidates for being insufficiently into gaming and “League of Legends.”
Last December, Riot Games announced it was settling the suit for $100 million. The company will pay $80 million to members of the class-action suit and approximately $20 million toward plaintiffs’ legal fees. A judge approved the settlement July 25 and the case is still awaiting final approval from the court.
“I started months after the first article was released by Kotaku. I told myself that I would not accept the job if no one mentioned what had happened, and thankfully, my manager at the time brought it up in the interview,” said one current female employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity because she wasn’t authorized to speak to the media. “I don’t believe change happens on its own. If Riot was willing to own up to sexism inherent to our industry, then I would work to ensure we could and would do better.”
While several current employees agreed Riot has made significant improvements in company culture, some incidents have continued to draw scrutiny. Last month, some female Riot employees tweeted that they could get in trouble for posting photos of themselves in bikinis on social media, and said men at work could wear shirts of bikini models and be protected from complaints.
Joe Hixson, a spokesman for Riot Games, said in a statement that the company’s loose social media policy had created confusion.
“There’s absolutely no policy against posting bikini photos or swimsuit photos in general. With 3,000+ Rioters out there I’m sure you can find many pictures of Rioters of all genders wearing all sorts of swimwear,” he said. “Another claim in the tweet was that there is a rule against raising possible dress code violations. This isn’t true. In fact, we want and encourage Rioters to bring any concerns they may have about their workplace environment to our attention so that they can be addressed as quickly as possible. In this case, if this issue had been raised internally we would have reviewed the T-shirts in question and probably asked those Rioters to change them.”
How accessibility consultants are building a more inclusive video game industry behind the scenes
As the organization gets more grown-up and buttoned-up it has added executives who hail from Visa, Netflix and Hulu.
As part of an initiative Roseboro introduced in 2019, when hiring for director-level positions and above, Dingle said Riot requires that women and ethnic minorities be included on any list of candidates provided to hiring mangers. This initiative was enacted before the settlement, which states that Riot will also be required to include a woman or a member of an underrepresented community on employment selection panels.
The 2018 lawsuit alleged Riot Games employees faced gender-based discrimination, including when managers looked for “core gamers” when hiring, often assuming them to be men. When asked about whether this had changed, Roseboro said it was one of the first issues she worked on when she started at Riot. Both Dingle and Roseboro also pointed out they were not gamers, and that their colleagues did not discriminate against them.
“When I first started, I also led talent acquisition. That was one of the things that we shifted,” Roseboro said. “So we do think that there is competency in knowing certain skillsets. We have a rubric now. If you are in game design, you should know games, right? For a person like me, I don’t have to be a gamer, it’s about craft. We put a rubric around roles that needed gamer knowledge.” Roseboro added that questions like “Are you a gamer?” don’t need to be asked anymore and are instead replaced by questions about game design.
The current female employee said, “I do believe we’ve moved away from ‘League’-only, core gamer mentality. I personally hadn’t played any of Riot’s games prior to working here, though I play them now.”
The claims against Riot in 2018 also stated the company denied women promotions and paid them unequally compared to men.
“When we first started … we had very few women in leadership,” Roseboro said, adding that now over 20% are women. “And that came from us saying, ‘Hey, if we’re going to make an impact, let’s hire these leaders, let’s make sure that we’re, from a gender and underrepresented minorities perspective, that we are ensuring that people are getting the interview.’”
Not everything in Wednesday’s report was rosy. In 2020, Riot’s percentage of women hired dipped to 28%, down from 32% the year prior, though it floated back up to 30.4% in 2021. Similarly, the percentage of underrepresented minorities newly hired dropped to 17.3% in 2021, compared to 19.6% in 2020.
The company said that through a third-party’s pay review studies, it found no statistically significant pay inequity for women or marginalized groups. Pressed for details on this point, Roseboro said that this was the trend across the company, and that in specific instances where people were found to be underpaid, Riot would take action to adjust their salaries.
“It’s a practice that we do every year, based on not having any processes at all three years ago, and now having to check to make sure that we are holding ourselves accountable, to continue to be fair,” Roseboro said. “All of that was part of the checks and balances that we held ourselves to, to make sure that we didn’t go backward.”
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While diversity data in the Riot report reveals how many women and marginalized groups are being hired, the numbers don’t detail the experiences of those employees, nor if the company is retaining them over time.
Riot doesn’t publish attrition numbers in its diversity and inclusion report. Roseboro said they internally track the rate at which they lose women and marginalized employees compared to male and White employees, and if attrition for marginalized groups is above average, leadership will hold meetings to discuss how to retain talent. In addition to statistics, Roseboro said she listens to a group of employees who share anecdotal evidence on whether company culture has been improving.
Even the process of creating diverse characters in its games “League of Legends” and “Valorant” has been recalibrated since 2018. Dingle described how, in the past, product team employees would come knocking on the diversity and inclusion team’s door so often that they had to make an official process and diversity guide for character creation, including what not to do and things to consider.
“That makes writers super excited, when they can see this authentic representation in these agents, in their characters,” Dingle said. “Who doesn’t want to see themselves reflected in one of the games that they love, or a series that they love on Netflix?”
The Netflix series “Arcane” was created in 2015, before the lawsuit, and while the characters in “League” were still not as diverse as it is today. It was back when fans only knew of Senna, a black woman, as Lucian’s dead wife mentioned in passing, rather than a stand-alone champion with a powerful ultimate skill of her own. (Riot later released Senna as her own champion in 2019 and in the initial few weeks of her release, gamers were delighted by how her attack could blast across the map.) “Arcane” creators added an additional character, Mel Medarda, a woman of color, on the show while expressing disappointment last November to The Washington Post that they couldn’t incorporate newer champions or lore.
One current male Riot employee suggested that slow, sometimes contradictory approach to diversity can still be felt in other areas of the company today. He pointed to cosmetics skins available for purchase in “League of Legends” that turn champions like Vi and Caitlyn (also stars of the show “Arcane”) in to police officers for roughly $6 or $10.
“Riot gave an admirable amount of money to activist organizations in 2020 following the George Floyd killing, but still profits on ‘cop skins’ in ‘League of Legends,’ ” said the Riot employee, who chose to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak publicly on these matters.
Hixson, the Riot spokesman, said in a statement: “Those skins are mostly not monetized, have been in the game for a decade, and are part of a global game where the vast majority of the player base doesn’t have a negative association with police.”
In March 2021, “Valorant” added a Ghanaian agent named Astra, and hired an external consultant based in Ghana to make sure her looks, voice-over lines and lore was authentically representing the culture.
Here’s how Breeze, ‘Valorant’s’ sixth map, was built
While creating more diverse backstories, Riot employees often mine their own experiences, but the gaming audience has not always been receptive. In a June 2021 video shared with The Post, three Asian American Riot employees discussed their experiences detailing “League of Legends” champion Seraphine’s Chinese heritage in social media posts. They faced a social media outcry when they depicted Seraphine cooking a Filipino dish in 2020, but Riot later announced the champion was actually Chinese. Fans who had believed Seraphine to be Filipino were disappointed, and others on social media expressed racist disdain for Filipinos.
“One of the things I had to learn is I had to think about the essence of what people’s frustrations are versus the package of how they present it,” Roseboro said. “And so I tried to look at, ‘Okay, if that was wrong, we should fix it … But I will always make sure that those writers [working on Seraphine] are okay, because they just want to deliver something great to the world.”
Roseboro said the situation reminded her of how some gamers online called her a social justice warrior when she joined Riot.
“I recognize that not everyone’s going to like change,” she said. “Change is a hard thing for folks to get their head around.”
Nathan Grayson contributed to this report. | 2022-08-10T15:14:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How Riot Games has evolved since 2018 discrimination lawsuit - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/08/10/riot-games-diversity-report-lawsuit/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/08/10/riot-games-diversity-report-lawsuit/ |
Bolton served as Trump’s national security adviser before reportedly resigning over disagreements on foreign policy.
FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. national security advisor John Bolton adjusts his glasses during his lecture at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, U.S. February 17, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake/File Photo (Jonathan Drake/Reuters)
The Justice Department has charged a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in connection with a plot to murder former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, accusing him of attempting to pay individuals $300,000 to kill Bolton in D.C. or Maryland.
Federal officials said the assassination of Bolton would have been retaliation for the U.S. military killing in January, 2020 of Qasem Soleimani, a top commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is a branch of Iran’s military. Soleimani was killed in an airstrike in Baghdad.
Bolton served as national security adviser for 17 months under Trump, resigning in 2019 after reportedly disagreeing with the president over whether to lift some sanctions on Iran as a negotiating tool.
Bolton’s departure allegedly pegged to disagreement over lifting sanctions on Iran
Bolton, who did not want the sanctions lifted, was a main architect of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign of escalating economic sanctions and threats of retaliation for Iran’s alleged support for terrorism. The idea was to cripple Iran’s economy to the point that its leaders feel they must bargain away any nuclear ambitions and missile technology.
“While much cannot be said publicly right now, one point is indisputable: Iran’s rulers are liars, terrorists, and enemies of the United States,” Bolton said in a statement about the indictment. “Their radical, anti-American objectives are unchanged; their commitments are worthless; and their global threat is growing.”
Bolton was a major backer of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and served in senior arms control roles and eventually the ambassador to the United Nations Under President George W. Bush.
After the Bush presidency he worked at right-wing think tanks in Washington, at a global private equity firm and was a Fox News contributor.
He came under fire in July for saying in an interview on CNN that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was not a coup — and that he would know since he had helped planned them.
“As somebody who has helped plan coups d’etat — not here but, you know, other places — it takes a lot of work, and that’s not what [President Donald Trump] did,” Bolton said in the interview. He did not provide details.
This is a developing story that will be updated. Josh Dawsey contributed to this report. | 2022-08-10T15:42:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | John Bolton, former adviser to Donald Trump, allegedly targeted by Iran - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/10/bolton-iran-assassination-plot/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/10/bolton-iran-assassination-plot/ |
Woman fatally shot in parking lot in Southeast Washington
A view of a D.C. police car. (Peter Hermann/The Washington Post)
A woman was fatally shot Wednesday morning in a parking lot in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Southeast Washington, according to D.C. police.
The shooting occurred about 8:15 a.m. in the 200 block of Savannah Street SE, near Ballou STAY High School’s football field.
Police said officers found a woman unresponsive and suffering from at least one bullet wound. She died a short time later at a hospital.
Cmdr. John Branch, who heads the 7th District station, said investigators believe the woman was targeted and that “it appears to be some type of personal matter.”
No arrest had been made as of Wednesday morning. | 2022-08-10T16:04:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Woman fatally shot in parking lot in Southeast Washington - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/shooting-fatal-dc/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/shooting-fatal-dc/ |
(Corcoran Collection; National Gallery of Art)
Aaron Douglas illustrated primal imagery of slavery for a 1936 show in Texas
Aaron Douglas had been making powerful murals for almost a decade when he created “Into Bondage,” a painting now at the National Gallery of Art. Douglas (1899-1979) was one of the most brilliant artists associated with the Harlem Renaissance. When he took on heavy subjects — in this case the enslavement of Africans and their transportation to America — he did so in a seductive, stylized idiom that combines heroic silhouettes with an Egyptian-influenced design, shifting degrees of transparency and a ravishing color palette.
Whether you can abide so much artistry in a depiction of something so harrowing may be a test of your sensibilities — but also, perhaps, of your historical imagination.
Douglas worked during a period in which racial “science” had convinced many that Black culture could never compare to the depth and richness of European culture. He set out to shame that baneful narrative. His work addressed the same questions that animate Black artists today, including Deana Lawson, Rashid Johnson, Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé. What does it mean to be Black both in America and in the Black diaspora? How should the “African” part of “African American” be understood? What might a genuinely modern visual language by African American artists look like?
Douglas’s answers came in the form of an original, illustrational idiom that looks stronger than ever today. Admire, in this painting, the sophisticated interaction of the main subject — a diagonal line of shackled figures receding in space — with the overlaid pattern of transparent concentric circles emanating from the setting sun. The figures’ long march is framed by lush, enveloping foliage, accentuating our sense of watching from within as brothers and sisters are cast out of an intimate Eden. The diagonal and curving lines of the plants and the single ray of starlight establish jazzy rhythms. Douglas maintains order by staying in an adjacent color key (purple and maroon) and using only subtle gradations in tone.
Douglas was born and raised in Topeka, Kan. His father, a baker, and his mother, an amateur artist, had been part of the Great Migration. He came to New York in 1925, planning to stop only briefly before continuing his art education in Paris, but he was persuaded to stay by Alain Locke, the “dean of the Harlem Renaissance,” whose special-issue magazine, “Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro,” came out that year. Its illustrations were by Winold Reiss, who became Douglas’s teacher. There was no need, Douglas realized, to make a pilgrimage to Paris; Harlem could provide all the stimulus and sustenance he needed.
He was versatile, and he worked in media that allowed for wide and swift distribution: woodblock prints publicizing theater; dust jacket illustrations for some of the Harlem Renaissance’s most influential books; and cover designs for magazines, including Fire!! and the Crisis, edited by W.E.B. Du Bois.
By the late 1920s, he was making murals, the most famous of which, “Aspects of Negro Life,” was commissioned in 1934 by the Public Works Administration and made for the Countee Cullen Library (in a Harlem building that is now part of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture). “Aspects,” which told the African American story in four panels, led to a second four-panel commission. This one, for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas, was to be installed in the lobby of the Hall of Negro Life, which opened on Juneteenth (June 19), a celebration of the end of slavery in Texas.
“Into Bondage” and the De Young Museum’s “Aspiration” are the only two of those four panels surviving. Both stand alone as singular oil paintings, testaments both to the power of style and to the visual sophistication of narrative illustration at its best.
Into Bondage, 1936
Aaron Douglas (b.1899). At the National Gallery of Art. | 2022-08-10T16:43:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Perspective | Slavery’s horror, powerfully stylized by a Harlem Renaissance artist - Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/interactive/2022/aaron-douglas-into-bondage/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/interactive/2022/aaron-douglas-into-bondage/ |
Back in the 1980s, London’s “Big Bang” revolutionized stock trading and put it at the forefront of global financial markets. Following Britain’s departure from the European Union in 2020, the government has aspirations for another kind of “Big Bang”: jettisoning EU rules that it sees as holding back innovation and economic growth. A new financial services bill, published in July, isn’t on the same scale as the changes more than three decades ago, though the inspiration is similar. It aims to make stock listings easier while relaxing regulations in areas such as insurance and even crypto assets. It could also include “call-in” powers to make the Bank of England and other regulators more accountable to politicians.
The bill ranges from reforms to company listings and capital markets rules to measures to help consumers cope with technological change. Parts of the EU’s vast MiFID II rules, designed to protect investors and improve the functioning of financial markets, will be unraveled, such as the cap on trading in so-called dark pools, or private venues, to try to tempt share trading back from Amsterdam and shore up London’s business. Looking to the future, certain types of stablecoins, digital assets designed to hold a steady value, will be regulated as a form of payment. The bill also introduces a secondary objective for financial regulators to promote economic growth, after their primary aim of ensuring safety of the financial system.
The bill coincides with the Conservative Party’s election to choose a new leader, who would automatically become prime minister. Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, was leading Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor of the exchequer, in early August, having won support from the right wing of the party and Brexiteers. That group is likely to want measures to implement their vision for Brexit, including cutting financial red tape and reducing the size of the state. There could be calls for less focus on consumer protection and more emphasis on freeing firms to pursue faster growth.
5. How might a new Prime Minister change the bill?
Truss is likely to give ministers the power to overturn some financial regulators’ decisions if she becomes prime minister, a move that could set up fresh tensions with the Bank of England. Allies of Truss say she favors “call-in” powers to allow the government to block or change the actions of financial regulators, including the central bank’s Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority. Her position means whoever wins the leadership race supports the mechanism. Sunak argues that such powers are needed to ensure politicians -- not “faceless regulators” -- are accountable for regulatory decisions. When Nadhim Zahawi replaced Sunak as chancellor in July, he backed away from adding the “call-in” power to the bill, but it could still be added as the legislation makes its way through Parliament.
At the heart of the debate about the call-in power is politicians’ attitudes to the BOE, which is the UK’s ultimate financial regulatory authority as well as the setter of interest rates. The central bank is having a difficult time. There is rising criticism across government of its handling of inflation, which may escalate as cost-of-living problems intensify. Truss, the foreign secretary, has said she wants to revisit the BOE’s mandate and explore how to ensure policy makers meet their goal to keep inflation down, triggering debate about the central bank’s independence.
Even for backers of the BOE, there is recognition that the bill should lay out some new oversight. That’s because before Brexit, the PRA -- the part of the BOE which oversees the financial system -- and the FCA, which focuses on consumer protection, operated according to directions set by people elected democratically to the European Parliament. Much of the decision making passes to the regulators themselves as part of the shift of EU rules to UK law. Many in Parliament, as well as lawyers, economists and industry figures, want some checks to be introduced over regulators, who are not democratically elected. Ideas vary from monitoring by lawmakers on the Treasury Select Committee helped by experts, to the courts taking an active role, to greater powers for the government. | 2022-08-10T16:43:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What Britain Is Targeting in a Post-Brexit City - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/what-britain-is-targeting-in-a-post-brexit-city/2022/08/10/61e496dc-18c1-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/what-britain-is-targeting-in-a-post-brexit-city/2022/08/10/61e496dc-18c1-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
President Biden shows a wind turbine size comparison chart during a meeting at the White House in Washington on June 23, 2022. (Susan Walsh/AP)
For 18 months, President Biden’s climate agenda was in limbo. The White House and Senate Democrats were in bumpy negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), talks that often seemed like they’d go nowhere (and, on occasion, collapsed). Meanwhile, the administration held its fire on several key issues — such as more fossil fuel drilling on federal lands, which would violate a Biden climate pledge — as it waited to see whether Manchin would come around.
Then in June, in a long anticipated decision, the Supreme Court clipped the administration’s wings by limiting how the Environmental Protection Agency can regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
But now, Biden finally has a strong tail wind as he begins to shape the climate policy for the rest of his term. The Senate has passed the largest climate bill ever undertaken in the United States — which the House is expected to pass Friday for Biden’s signature.
The hard part is not over yet, though. Here are some of the tough decisions facing the administration after Biden signs the bill and it becomes law.
Ramping up regulation
With the climate bill nearly across the finish line, the administration’s attention will turn to writing a slew of rules confronting global warming to accompany the legislation.
For instance, one of the central features of the Inflation Reduction Act is a fee on the emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Oil and gas facilities will start paying $900 a ton.
But for the fee to function as designed, the EPA needs to finish writing a pending methane regulation. The agency put forward a draft rule to better monitor and capture the planet-warming pollutant in November but has yet to finalize the rulemaking.
Another key rulemaking Biden’s team is aiming to complete: Limits on tailpipe pollution for cars made for Model Year 2027 and later.
Those standards would work in conjunction with the billions of dollars in rebates for new electric cars included in the climate bill, designed to encourage both automakers and drivers to ditch gasoline-guzzling vehicles and go electric.
When it comes to regulating carbon pollution from cars, “they have a lot of authority in that space,” said Jamal Raad, a co-founder and the executive director of the environmental group Evergreen Action. The EPA is planning to finalize a tailpipe rule by 2024.
The clock is ticking: If Biden loses reelection, any rule completed in the last few months of his administration is at risk of being struck down by Congress using a law called the Congressional Review Act. If Biden or another Democrat wins in 2024, though, the rules will be safe.
Difficult decisions on drilling
To win the support of Manchin, the compromise climate bill mandates oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska. It also links building offshore wind turbines on the East Coast and construction of solar and wind farms on federal acreage out West to ongoing oil and gas auctions.
The new law makes it pretty much impossible for Biden to meet his campaign promise of ending new drilling in federal lands and waters, especially if he wants to build out renewable generation. “No more drilling on federal lands, period,” he said during the campaign. “Period, period, period.”
Now his administration will have to figure out how to balance the goal of limiting emissions from federal oil and gas reserves with keeping gasoline prices under control and complying with the new law.
There are options for constraining new oil and gas development, if the administration so chooses.
The Interior Department, for instance, could raise royalty rates on onshore drilling and set new rules for venting methane, both of which would make it more costly for producers to drill. And the government could conduct the bulk of its wind lease sale earlier so it can avoid holding as many oil and gas auctions.
“There are ways that the Interior Department can play this that follows the letter of the law,” said Kevin Book, a managing director of the consulting firm ClearView Energy Partners, “but not necessarily contrary to the president’s initial intent, the spirit of this campaign promise to stop leasing.”
The White House declined to comment on the future of the fossil-fuel leasing program.
Rhetorically, Biden has been clear: Climate change, he has repeatedly said, is an “existential threat.” But the White House has stopped short of officially declaring climate change a national emergency.
Invoking the National Emergencies Act and other existing laws could allow the administration to check off a host of items on the wish list of many Democratic lawmakers and climate activists: halting crude oil exports, directing defense dollars toward renewable energy and curtailing private investment in fossil fuel projects abroad.
This summer, the White House toyed with the idea of an emergency declaration as a way of advancing his climate agenda in the absence of help from Congress as talks with Manchin stalled. The option is still on the table for Biden, but, for now, the administration has been cagey about what it will do.
“Right now, we are glad to see that Congress has heeded the call,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters last month when asked whether the president would still declare a climate emergency.
Many activists are still agitating for a declaration. “Biden can and must do more,” said Jean Su, a program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “When he signs this bill into law, the president must also declare a climate emergency and use the full force of his executive powers to confront the deadly fossil fuel industry head-on.”
The move, though, would carry political risks as Republicans look for ways to attack Democrats on gasoline prices and other issues ahead of the midterm elections in November. | 2022-08-10T16:43:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Biden finally has a climate bill. What happens next? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/10/biden-finally-has-climate-bill-what-happens-next/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/10/biden-finally-has-climate-bill-what-happens-next/ |
Nights offered little relief from day’s heat in July, set U.S. record
A trend toward warmer nights is one of the leading indicators of human-caused climate change
People line up at John's Water Ice on a hot summer night in Philadelphia on July 20. (Tom Gralish/AP)
Unseasonably hot July days turned into uncomfortably warm nights over large areas of the Lower 48 states, as average overnight temperatures hit their highest level in recorded history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Although it was the nation’s third-hottest July on record taking into account daytime temperatures, the nighttime warmth was unsurpassed — not just for July, but any month in 128 years of record-keeping, as first reported by meteorologist Bob Henson at Yale Climate Connections.
July 2022 recorded an average low temperature of 63.57 degrees in the contiguous United States, the warmest since official record-keeping began in 1880. July 2012 — with an average minimum temperature of 63.55 degrees — was the previous record holder.
A trend toward warmer nights is one of the leading indicators of human-caused climate change, reflecting both the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and urbanization. According to Climate Central, a nonprofit science communications group, summer minimum temperatures have warmed nearly twice as fast as daytime highs. Averaged across the Lower 48 states, summer nights have warmed 2.5 degrees since 1970.
The cities with the most pronounced nighttime warming since 1970, according to Climate Central, are Reno, Nev. (17.3-degree increase); Las Vegas (9.5-degree increase); El Paso (8.1-degree increase); Salt Lake City (7.3-degree increase); and Boise, Idaho (6.9-degree increase).
During July, NOAA reported that four states posted their warmest July nights on record: Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Tennessee; many others states saw their nights rank among the top 10 warmest.
The entire Southwest experienced its warmest nights, the temperatures boosted by humid air associated with a very active monsoon pattern.
Increased cooling costs and demand are a consequence of such sweltering overnight temperatures. During July, the Texas power grid was repeatedly tested: On multiple occasions, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the grid’s operator, appealed to customers to conserve energy, and the state set a July record for its peak daily power usage.
Nighttime heat can also be extremely dangerous for human health, especially in parts of the country without reliable air conditioning or for people who cannot afford it.
Without air conditioning, the body may be unable to properly cool at night, a time when it needs a reprieve from the heat. Constant exposure to warm temperatures increases the body’s risk of developing heat stroke or exhaustion, conditions that are especially dangerous for such vulnerable groups as the elderly and the homeless.
Maricopa County, Ariz., which encompasses Phoenix, confirmed 42 heat-associated deaths through the end of July (some of the deaths had occurred in months prior) and was investigating many other deaths in which heat may have played a role.
Warm temperatures reduce the body’s ability to progress through important states of sleep, the news magazine Wired reported. An absence of deep sleep can fuel poor decision-making, impaired performance and emotional outbursts.
Even if one can manage deep sleep on a warm night, the heat may cause the body to release an extreme amount of sweat. Excess sweating can cause dehydration, which can progress into heat-related illness.
Nowhere in the country were nighttime temperatures more persistently uncomfortable than Texas.
In Galveston, overnight temperature records were smashed throughout the month, with record-warm minimum temperatures set on 24 out of 31 days. The low temperature settled at an all-time high of 86 degrees on an unenviable six occasions.
Dallas also saw 10 of its July overnight heat records fall, with the overnight minimum temperature also as high as 86 degrees. Averaged across the state, the mean low temperature — for the whole month — was a toasty 74.3 degrees.
Many other locations in the Lower 48 also experienced persistently muggy nights. Richmond has an ongoing record-long streak of low temperatures above 70 degrees, currently at 23 days.
While the nighttime warmth was unprecedented in the Lower 48 states, it was abnormally hot during the day, too, even if not record-setting. Most of the country had higher-than-normal maximum temperatures.
Texas saw not only its highest nighttime temperatures but also record-high daytime temperatures — with the state’s average daily temperature (between day and night) settling in at a toasty 87.3 degrees.
Dallas recorded temperatures consistently near or above 100 degrees, and San Antonio reached triple digits on all but two days. So far in 2022, San Antonio has reached at least 100 degrees on 56 days; the average number year to date is eight.
Texas was hardly the only place to experience extreme heat in July. For a second year in a row, parts of the Pacific Northwest baked, with Oregon recording its fourth-hottest July. Six other states — Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Rhode Island — registered their fifth-warmest July on record.
Alaska also saw warmer-than-normal temperatures, conditions that helped to fuel wildfires across the state. Blazes across Alaska’s wilderness have burned more than 3 million acres this summer, an area larger than the state of Connecticut.
The hot July in the United States fits into a global pattern of high temperatures. July also ranked as the third-hottest for the entire planet, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service of the European Union. | 2022-08-10T16:43:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | July 2022 featured hottest nights in U.S. history - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/10/hottest-us-nights-july-climate/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/10/hottest-us-nights-july-climate/ |
A driver stops to charge a Tesla vehicle at a Sheetz gas station in Breezewood, Pa., on June 16, 2022. (Nate Smallwood/Bloomberg)
When do the new EV tax credits go into effect and what’s changing?
Should I buy an EV now or wait?
How could the availability of eligible EVs be affected?
Which EVs could be eligible?
With the nation’s most significant climate bill likely to become law in days, many Americans might be wondering how their lives could be directly affected. The sweeping legislation contains a slew of incentives aimed at helping individuals who want to make more climate-friendly choices — chief among them new tax credits for electric vehicles.
The bill, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, made it through the Senate over the weekend. The House is expected to approve it on Friday, sending it to President Biden to sign into law.
While the tax credits have been widely heralded as a way to make new and used electric vehicles, or EVs, more affordable, many of the stipulations determining eligibility — manufacturing requirements that a number of current models likely won’t be able to meet in the short term — have sparked confusion among people scrambling to figure out how their plans to purchase these cars could be affected.
The public confusion around the electric vehicle incentives isn’t all that surprising, said Chris Harto, a Consumer Reports senior sustainability policy analyst for transportation and energy.
“Unfortunately, in the short term, this change to the tax credits makes an already challenging EV market even more challenging,” Harto said. “But ultimately, in the long run, it’s going to be great for consumers and great for especially middle-income mainstream consumers getting into more affordable EVs down the road.”
Here’s what Harto and other experts say you need to know about the electric vehicle tax credits and how to potentially take advantage of them.
As it stands, many of the bill’s electric vehicle provisions are expected to go into effect for cars put into service after Dec. 31, 2022 and will stay in place through 2032, according to Consumer Reports. For new electric vehicles, a $7,500 tax credit could be applied at the point of sale. Those who purchase used EVs could be eligible for up to a $4,000 credit. The legislation would also do away with a previous limit that kept EV manufacturers from being able to offer tax credits once they sold 200,000 vehicles.
But eligibility to receive the credits depends on income as well as how much the new or used vehicle costs. Additionally, new electric vehicles could become ineligible if they don’t meet certain manufacturing requirements, such as being assembled in North America or using critical minerals and components that are sourced domestically or from the country’s free-trade-agreement partners. Some automakers have warned that these targets could be impossible to hit, which in turn might make it more challenging for consumers to find qualifying EVs.
Meanwhile, the existing EV consumer tax credit is expected to no longer be available after Biden signs the bill into law, according to a spokesperson for the Zero Emission Transportation Association. But people should still be able to claim the credit if they purchase an EV before the signing — provided that the vehicle is eligible under the current requirements. That means an electric car from a manufacturer that has reached the 200,000 vehicle cap, such as Tesla or General Motors, wouldn’t be eligible.
In a statement, Rivian, an electric vehicle automaker that has not reached the sales limit, said it is “working to help interested preorder holders and customers obtain a written, binding contract to purchase and secure EV tax credit eligibility before new restrictions take effect. We’ll be sharing more information and next steps with customers directly.”
If you’ve already been in the market for an EV and have found one available to buy, “definitely go ahead and finish the transaction and get it done,” Harto said. But, he noted, it’s probably “going to be challenging for somebody who wasn’t in the market for a new car and saw that this change is coming and is trying to jump into the market and take advantage of the situation quickly.”
For one thing, there are a large number of people who want EVs and a limited supply — a situation that, Harto said, “has created long wait times and just frankly, absurd dealer markups on EVs.” And he anticipates things might only become worse in the immediate future as consumers scramble for cars. There also currently isn’t a tax credit available for used EVs.
“We’re in a turbulent time of rapid change in the market,” he said. “There’s going to be more vehicles, there’s going to be cheaper vehicles in the future. Eventually, a lot of vehicles are going to qualify for the credit again, so there’s not a whole lot of risk in waiting to buy an EV.”
Thinking of buying an electric vehicle? Read this first.
People trying to buy cars now should be mindful of potential dealer markups, Harto said. “It’s not going to do you a whole lot of good to get a $7,500 tax credit if the dealer is going to charge you ten or $20,000 over MSRP for the vehicle.”
If you’re worried that the EV you want might not be eligible in the future, remember that the new credits are expected to remain until 2032. Even if automakers don’t have vehicles that qualify until 2025 or 2026, the bill “still gives them many, many years of eligibility for the credits,” Harto said.
“The common sense thing would be to say, ‘Look, don’t worry. These rebates aren’t going anywhere. They’re fully funded to be around for a while. Do them when they make sense,’” said Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown, a climate nonprofit.
In the short term, changes to the EV tax credit are probably “going to eliminate a lot of vehicles from being eligible,” Harto said.
For instance, he noted, cars that aren’t assembled in North America are expected to immediately become ineligible. At present, such vehicles could include those from Hyundai, Kia and Toyota, among others, according to Consumer Reports.
Other models of cars, regardless of where they are assembled, would not qualify because they are too expensive. To be eligible for a credit, new EVs that are vans, SUVs or pickup trucks can’t exceed $80,000 while other types of vehicles can’t cost more than $55,000. Used EVs could be eligible if they cost no more than $25,000. A list of cars compiled by Consumer Reports that likely won’t qualify due to their price tags include some Teslas, several BMWs and other models depending on the vehicles’ modifications.
In the long term, however, the new EV incentives are “likely to be a massive improvement over the existing tax credit system,” Harto said. “It will really help middle class Americans afford EVs. They just may have to wait for a couple more years” for automakers to adapt to the new requirements and vehicle supply to increase.
And although the new manufacturing requirements could be “a high bar to clear,” the existing vehicle cap was probably already making it difficult for many people to buy popular EVs that would be eligible for the tax credit, said Leah Stokes, an associate professor of environmental politics at the University of California at Santa Barbara. “A current EV tax credit basically doesn’t exist for most EVs that Americans buy,” Stokes said, noting that several manufacturers of popular vehicles have reached the sales limit.
What’s more, one aspect of the EV market is likely to remain unchanged, regardless of the tax law that is in place, Foley said: Every year, “some cars will be eligible, some won’t.”
“Right now, it’s because of the cap on individual companies,” he said. “In the future, it might be who’s got the batteries that are meeting the standard.”
Trying to figure out which vehicles would qualify for tax credits under the bill could be tricky as eligibility is expected to change depending on whether automakers are able to meet the manufacturing requirements.
Based on cost alone, eligible vehicles could include several Chevrolet models, Teslas, Fords and the Nissan Leaf, among others, according to Consumer Reports. But keep in mind that certain modifications and special features could push a vehicle over the price cap.
Many used EVs that are below the stated price cap would also be eligible and aren’t subject to the same manufacturing requirements as new models. | 2022-08-10T16:44:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What the EV tax credits in the IRA bill mean for you - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/08/10/electric-vehicle-ev-ira-credit-bill/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/08/10/electric-vehicle-ev-ira-credit-bill/ |
Janice Bluestein Longone, doyenne of cookbook collectors, dies at 89
Her archive of thousands of antiquarian cookbooks helped give food a place at the table of history
Janice Bluestein Longone collected thousands of historical cookbooks, including this one, “Child Life Cook Book,” one of her favorites. (Larry E. Wright/Ann Arbor News via AP)
Janice Bluestein Longone, an antiquarian bookseller who gathered thousands of cookbooks and other relics of the American kitchen in a collection that helped give food a place at the table of history, died Aug. 3 at a nursing home in Ann Arbor, Mich. She was 89.
She had congestive heart failure, said her nephew Jay Bluestein.
Mrs. Longone had no doctoral degree in history, no formal training in library science and no Michelin star to her name. But over more than half a century, she amassed an archive of gastronomy that is revered among chefs, scholars and gourmands as an unparalleled repository of culinary history. Julia Child and James Beard were among the cooks and cookbook authors said to have turned to Mrs. Longone, a self-described “digger,” for her help locating particularly hard-to-find recipes or volumes.
The Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive, housed since the early 2000s at the University of Michigan, includes more than 20,000 cookbooks, menus, pamphlets, labels, posters, and product advertisements. Together those materials help reveal not only the history of American cuisine but also American history itself — the arrival of immigrants who brought with them the foods of their homeland, the feminist movement and the changing roles of women in the home and in society, even the effect of the introduction of refrigeration in American homes.
“Women’s voices, which are so often lost, were very much found in cookbooks, and the collection she acquired was extraordinary,” Ruth Reichl, the food writer and former editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, said in an interview. “She saw in [a cookbook] much more than recipes. She really saw that it was a way to understand the past.”
At its inception, Mrs. Longone’s collection was a project undertaken to satisfy her personal curiosity. The daughter of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, she grew up in a Boston tenement and remembered the kitchen as the center of her family’s home. She gained much of her early knowledge about food from her lifetime subscription to Gourmet magazine, a gift from her husband when they were newlyweds in 1954.
Mrs. Longone began collecting historical cookbooks and in 1972 opened the Wine and Food Library, a bookstore that she operated from her home in Ann Arbor. It quickly grew in renown, attracting a devoted coterie of mail-order clients as well as cooking aficionados who detoured great distances to peruse her teeming shelves. For old volumes, prices ranged from $10 to $8,000.
“She was the doyenne of American cookbook dealers,” said Bonnie Slotnick, the owner of Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, an out-of-print and antiquarian bookstore in Manhattan. “I don’t know if there is anybody else who is around today who could come anywhere near her.”
Mrs. Longone kept her personal collection of cookbooks in her living room and books for sale in the basement. Volumes were organized by topic but “certainly … not using the Dewey Decimal system,” Nick Malgieri, a noted pastry chef and author who frequented Mrs. Longone’s store, admiringly recalled. Any such attempt at rigid categorization would have “collapsed under the weight of the sheer quantities of difficult to classify books,” he remarked.
Mrs. Longone’s collection was most robust in its holdings from the 19th and early 20th century but extended into the 18th and the 21st. She recalled her indignation when, at a conference in Oxford, England, someone declared that “America doesn’t have any history, much less culinary history.” Mrs. Longone responded with a thorough rejoinder, she told the St. Petersburg Times, citing such dishes as Rhode Island apple slump, Florida guava preserve, Idaho miner’s bread and a recipe she called “Kansas Poor Man’s Pudding.”
In addition to more formally bound cookbooks, Mrs. Longone collected homespun “charity cookbooks” published, often by women, as fundraisers for churches or other houses of worship and for causes such as women’s suffrage.
“Women used what they knew, what they could to champion their causes,” Mrs. Longone, a frequent speaker on culinary topics, once observed in a lecture. “If that meant baking a cake or cooking a dinner or writing a cookbook, they did that.”
Among her most notable holdings was the only known copy of “A Domestic Cook Book” by Malinda Russell, an 1866 text that Mrs. Langone determined to be “the earliest unequivocally Black-authored American work devoted solely to cookery.” It had arrived to her at the bottom of a box of other items.
“When it came in, I almost passed out,” Mrs. Longone told the Detroit News in 2020. “I was astonished: Here was a book nobody had ever heard of — and I had the only copy of it! I thought, ‘This is probably one of the most important books in America.’ ”
Mrs. Longone also sourced a copy of the “Jewish Cookery Book,” an 1871 volume that, according to the Forward, is generally believed to the first Jewish cookbook published in the United States.
She collected mountains of items known among archivists as “ephemera” — restaurant menus, brochures, advertisements for products such as Jell-O, a World War I-era poster calling upon Americans to help “re-chickenize devastated France.”
“She was interested in all of those everyday items that surround us, but most of us, we look at them but don’t think about their deeper meaning because they’re not high art,” said Darra Goldstein, the founding editor of the food journal Gastronomica.
“My vision is to create the best collection in the world for the study of American culinary history,” Mrs. Longone told the Newhouse News Service, “and to have it catalogued properly for the use of historians.”
For all the obscurities and exotica that her bookstore and collection contained, Mrs. Longone said the request she most frequently received was for “Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book,” the best-selling cookbook in American history, with 75 million sold since it was introduced in 1950. “Nostalgia,” Mrs. Longone told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, by way of explanation.
Janice Barbara Bluestein was born in Boston on July 31, 1933. Her father sold kitchen wares, and her mother was a homemaker. Her parents did not keep kosher but served traditional Jewish food, and they always ate as a family.
“I grew up in a household where I knew the importance of food,” she told the New Orleans Times-Picayune, “and the importance of sharing it with people and sitting around a table and talking — whether you were 3 years old or 93.”
Mrs. Longone received a bachelor’s degree in education and history at what is now Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts in 1954. She and her husband, Daniel T. Longone, her childhood sweetheart, both attended graduate school at Cornell University, where they hosted international students for meals. Mrs. Longone embarked on her study of American cuisine in part to show those students that one existed.
“I started looking for and finding and then collecting books,” she told the Forward, “and unbeknownst to me I must have decided I was going to open an antiquarian cookbook shop because I had been buying every book I could find in rare book shops but I’d buy four copies.”
It was also during those years that she began her readership of Gourmet magazine. To the devastation of epicureans everywhere, the magazine was discontinued in 2009. Six years later, when a reporter inquired about the matter, Mrs. Longone was still on the hunt for the one issue of the magazine missing from her collection — the edition of March 1941.
Mrs. Longone and her husband settled in Ann Arbor, where he became a chemistry professor at the University of Michigan. Besides her husband, of Ann Arbor, survivors include a brother.
Mrs. Longone wrote for Gastronomica, penning a column called “Notes on Vintage Volumes,” and was a contributor to reference guides including “The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America.” The encyclopedia, a reporter for the Toledo Blade once noted, would have been incomplete without an entry on Mrs. Longone; it described her as a “scholar, sleuth, collector, rare book dealer, lecturer, and … mentor and prime resource for countless food professionals, academicians, authors, entrepreneurs, and journalists.”
Visitors to Mrs. Longone’s shop and collection might have been surprised to learn that she did not cook from cookbooks, or at least not directly. She preferred to survey multiple recipes for a particular dish, combining the most appealing elements of each into a creation of her own.
Of her most enduring creation — her collection — she once told the Detroit Free Press that “it’s me. It’s who I am. It’s not just a profession or a hobby.”
She took satisfaction in the knowledge, she said, that long after her death, the archive would remain available for anyone who is curious, as she had been, about the dishes and traditions of the past. The cookbooks that had made their way across the generations to hers would be waiting for still new ones.
“Isn’t it wonderful that somebody saved all these things?” she said. | 2022-08-10T16:45:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Janice Bluestein Longone, cookbook collector, dies at 89 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/10/janice-bluestein-longone-cookbook-collector-dead/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/10/janice-bluestein-longone-cookbook-collector-dead/ |
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) delivers remarks on the South Lawn of the White House on Aug. 9. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
As Republicans whipped themselves up into new levels of fury on Tuesday over the execution of a search warrant at former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Democrats were taking victory laps and spelling out their midterm message.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has remained unflappably upbeat about the midterms, now has good reason to tout Democrats’ prospects. Even when other issues have popped up (e.g., impeachment of Trump for inciting an attack on the U.S. Capitol), Pelosi has consistently been an advocate for running on “kitchen table” issues, as she regularly put its, such as lowering the cost of health insurance premiums and prescription drugs.
She did this well during an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Tuesday. She spoke about multiple legislative wins that fall into this category, such as the CHIPS and Science Act that President Biden signed into law on Tuesday, and the PACT Act, which will expand health care for sick veterans. The speaker also glowed about the pending Inflation Reduction Act, the reconciliation package that the Senate recently passed. “It’s pretty exciting,” she said, adding, “It has an integrity to it. And yes, it is about meeting the needs of America’s working families for the people, not politics.”
Later, at a White House signing ceremony, she was once again on message: “The CHIPS and Science Act is a historic achievement — lowering kitchen table costs and creating good-paying jobs for America’s families,” she declared. “That is our first responsibility, domestically. Returning American semiconductor production to world leadership status. And unleashing America’s science and technology to maintain our leadership for the future.”
Since the Supreme Court overruled federal protection of abortion rights, she and scores of Democrats have elevated the issue to the top of their agendas. For Democrats such as Rep. Elaine Luria (Va.), abortion now figures heavily in their ads:
Rep. Kim Schrier (Wash.) has been running a similar ad:
Even in red states such as Kansas and Nebraska, Democrats are leaning into the “cultural” issue. They have discovered that talking about reproductive rights — such as women’s freedom from forced pregnancy and birth, access to post-miscarriage care and privacy protections — works when facing a party seeking absolute bans across the country.
Ironically, Democratic candidates need not to do much on their third issue: Republicans’ lawlessness, penchant for violence and hostility toward law enforcement. When asked on NBC News’s “Today Show” about House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s hysterical reaction to the news that the FBI searched Trump’s residence, Pelosi dismissed the Republican leader’s statement and said, “We believe in the rule of law. And that’s what our country is about. And no person is above the law. Not even the president of the United States. Not even a former president of the United States.”
Moreover, Democratic House and Senate candidates need not do much heavy lifting when it comes to the Jan. 6 insurrection, Republicans’ slavish support for the “big lie,” their refusal to hold Trump accountable and election deniers’ threats to refuse to certify opponents’ wins. They can easily drill down on the clear and present danger that Trump’s Republican supplicants pose to the country. And they can rely heavily on the report from the House Jan. 6 select committee and the megaphone that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) effectively uses. (If Democrats are lucky, Trump will declare his candidacy for 2024 and scare the living daylights out of the majority of the electorate that fears his return to office.)
Altogether, Democrats are ready to go on the offensive. They can tout their legislative wins and promise to fight for abortion rights. And they can do so while reminding voters that the GOP cannot be entrusted with power. | 2022-08-10T16:45:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Pelosi has found the Democrats’ midterm strategy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/pelosi-has-found-democrats-midterm-strategy/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/pelosi-has-found-democrats-midterm-strategy/ |
A portrait of the artist as an older man: Bill Collins’s pandemic art
Bill Collins with a pair of the abstract paintings he created in the last two years. Collins, a psychologist and former educator from Severna Park, Md., was moved to paint during the pandemic. (John Kelly/The Washington Post)
“Here’s my dilemma,” says Bill Collins. “You see all the paintings here? There’s just so many of them.”
A dozen large, brightly colored, abstract, acrylic paintings hang on the wall of the gallery Bill just opened on West Street in Annapolis. Dozens more are at the back of the gallery, unhung, leaning against one another.
More are surely coming. Two years ago, Bill picked up a paintbrush, and he’s barely put it down since.
“I had nothing to do,” Bill says. “I’m a person who needs to work.”
Bill is 84. He’s worked since he was a child growing up in Anacostia: paperboy, scrap metal collector, typist, actor, teacher, principal, professor, college administrator, psychologist. He retired from Bowie State University in 1998, then focused on his psychology practice.
He still sees patients, but for nearly two years he didn’t. The pandemic hit, and suddenly this Severna Park, Md., man who had always been active was in danger of being inactive. So he painted.
It was a reprise of sorts. Bill tells me that when he was in his 20s, he fell into a severe depression after a love affair ended. Painting helped pull him out of it, saved his life, even. Perhaps, he thought, it could work its magic again.
“I have a mudroom adjacent to the garage, a very small area,” he says. “I was painting them there.”
Bill was painting so much — “They were all over the house, one after the other” — that his wife, Sharon, was, well, a little upset. He understands. And so: the W.N. Collins Gallery, which he opened last week.
It’s lovely and cool in the gallery. The paintings — they’re big — pulsate on the walls.
“What I do primarily is put on a background of color with a brush, then I work solely with a palette knife,” Bill says. “With that palette knife, I keep putting color on. And lines. I keep working and working and working.
“People ask: ‘How long does it take you?’ That answer, I can never give them.”
Sometimes, driven by some inner impulse, Bill gets up in the middle of the night to work a canvas some more. More paint. More lines. Some paintings went through seven or eight iterations before he deemed them finished.
“It’s an emotional and mental act,” Bill says. “It’s the most complete transfer of your unconscious onto the canvas.”
I would describe Bill’s unconscious as colorful, spiky, energetic. The resulting paintings are a little Gerhard Richter meets Jackson Pollock.
Says Bill: “If you sit there and look at them from five feet or eight feet, different things come up: animals, people, cities. They just emerge from the paintings.”
And they inspire the titles Bill gives them: “Lost Maiden,” “Lost City,” “Bamboo Village,” “Fish in a Menagerie.”
The N in Bill’s name — William N. Collins — stands for Nicholas, the name of one of Bill’s uncles.
He was an artist. Those paintings Bill did 60 years ago? They did not meet with Uncle Nicholas’s approval.
“When he came to see my paintings, he looked at them and walked out,” Bill says. “You have to remember, he had a master’s of fine art from New York University at 19, then studied in Florence on a scholarship.”
Bill figures his uncle wouldn’t be crazy about these latest abstracts either, but he doesn’t care. Bill likes them, and that’s all that matters.
“My mother used to say self-praise stinks,” he says.
Bill doesn’t agree. “Never put yourself down,” he says. “There will be other people who put you down. ”
As for these paintings, “I look at them and I fall in love with them.”
They’re priced in the four figures, but I get the feeling that more than anything, Bill just wants people to see them — and to perhaps be inspired to scratch their own creative itch. The gallery — online at wncollins.com — is open by appointment, but he expects he’ll be there for a few hours most days, maybe painting out front, smoking one of his beloved cigars.
“I took a lease for three years,” says Bill, father of four grown children and the grandfather of two. “Right now I’m still working a couple days a week as a psychologist helping me to fund this, and then I’m going to completely retire in March.
“This is all I’m going to do now. I’m going to be 85 next month. I don’t have much time left. So that’s the way I’m going to spend the rest of my time.”
Painting, painting, painting. | 2022-08-10T16:52:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | When the pandemic hit, this Md. psychologist turned to abstract art - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/pandemic-artist-maryland/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/pandemic-artist-maryland/ |
Qatar World Cup start expected to be moved up one day
Al Bayt Stadium will host the World Cup opener Nov. 20. (Hassan Ammar/Associated Press File)
The start of the World Cup in Qatar is expected to be moved up one day. FIFA, the sport’s governing body, is likely to change the date of the host country’s first game against Ecuador to Sunday, Nov. 20.
The match would be the only one played that day and extend the tournament to 29 days. The host country since 2006 has been featured in the first match of the tournament and the original plan for the Qatar match, the third of four on Nov. 21, put the opening ceremony after games had begun. The first match originally had been scheduled to be Senegal-Netherlands.
ESPN reported earlier this year that Qatar requested a later kickoff time because the emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, wanted a fireworks display to precede his country’s first match, which would have had an afternoon kickoff on the 21st. Moving the game up a day gives the ceremony and the Qatar game a bigger showcase.
FIFA submitted a proposal to move the Qatar match after discussions with officials from Qatar and Ecuador and a request from Conmebol, the South American confederation. The change will become official if the bureau of the FIFA council (made up of the six confederation presidents) and FIFA President Gianni Infantino approve the change, as is expected.
On Nov. 21, the Senegal-Netherlands match will replace Qatar-Ecuador in the 7 p.m. slot, with the England-Iran (4 p.m.) and United States-Wales (10 p.m.) matches unaffected. | 2022-08-10T16:56:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | FIFA likely to move Qatar World Cup start up one day - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/world-cup-qatar-start-day/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/world-cup-qatar-start-day/ |
Who is Scott Perry, Trump ally and lawmaker whose phone was seized by FBI?
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), at a House hearing on April 28, 2022, in Washington. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)
After the FBI seized the cellphone of Rep. Scott Perry, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania who boosted former president Donald Trump’s baseless election fraud claims, all eyes are on the latest Trump ally to face scrutiny by federal law enforcement.
Perry’s cellphone was seized Tuesday while he was traveling with his family, the congressman said in a statement.
Neither Perry nor the Justice Department, which declined to comment on the seizure, said why federal agents took the congressman’s phone. Perry wrote in a statement that the contents of his phone are not the “government’s business.”
If the seizure were related to Perry’s spreading of election fraud claims, he would be the first member of Congress known to have his phone seized as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into last year’s attempt at the U.S. Capitol to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Perry, a five-term congressman who last fall became chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is known both for his vigorous support of Trump and for his history of promoting baseless conspiracies on issues that range from terrorism to the coronavirus to the murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich.
For months, Perry has been on the radar of the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot. Last December, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the committee, sent Perry a letter requesting information on his effort to help install a little-known Justice Department official named Jeffrey Clark in the role of acting attorney general. The committee in July detailed the plan that involved Trump ousting then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and replacing him with Clark, who would then use his power to encourage key states won by Joe Biden to send in alternate slates of pro-Trump electors.
A report by the select committee determined Perry introduced Clark to Trump; it also cited evidence that Perry repeatedly communicated with Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, about Clark.
Perry quickly rejected the committee’s request to provide communications and voluntary testimony.
The 60-year-old congressman, who now represents Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, resisted calls for his resignation after reports of his involvement in efforts to overturn the election results — including his public objection to Congress counting Pennsylvania’s electoral votes for Biden.
“When votes are accepted under unconstitutional means, without fair and equal protection for all, the only result can only be an illegitimate outcome,” Perry said on the House floor after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Perry not only embraced Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent but promoted some of the more outlandish claims — including one that a former Justice Department official called “pure insanity.”
The Washington Post previously reported that Perry “was at the heart” of bringing to Trump’s attention the so-called “Italygate” conspiracy, which claimed an Italian defense contractor conspired with the CIA to use military satellites to change votes for Trump to ones for Biden.
“Why can’t we just work with the Italian government?” Perry asked in a Dec. 21, 2020, text message to Meadows, according to the Jan. 6 committee.
Richard Donoghue, the former deputy to Rosen when he was acting attorney general, called the theory “pure insanity” and “patently absurd.”
Perry’s diligent efforts on Trump’s behalf also include allegedly seeking a preemptive pardon in case of any criminal liability stemming from his efforts to overturn the election. During testimony before the House select committee in June, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Meadows, testified that Perry was among five Republican lawmakers who advanced Trump’s stolen election claim and also sought pardons.
Perry has denied he sought a pardon, issuing a statement after Hutchinson’s testimony saying, “I never sought a Presidential pardon for myself or other Members of Congress.”
Hutchinson testified that Perry spoke to her directly about a pardon, which Perry also denied.
“At no time did I speak with Miss Hutchinson, a White House scheduler, nor any White House staff about a pardon for myself or any other Member of Congress — this never happened,” Perry said in June.
Perry has spent 15 years representing Pennsylvania, first as a state legislator and then as a congressman in a career that for several years overlapped with his service with the state’s Army National Guard. He also serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee, according to his official House biography.
Perry has consistently voted with some of Congress’s most far-right members, opposing Trump’s impeachment, the Violence Against Women Act and the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act aimed at protecting Asian Americans who faced a surge in attacks during the coronavirus pandemic. But the congressman has on occasion broken with those conventions, including his recent vote in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would federally protect same-sex and interracial marriage.
Perry faces reelection in November, two years after he was redistricted into Pennsylvania’s more competitive 10th Congressional District, which includes Hershey, Pa.
If Republicans are successful in taking control of the House after the midterm elections, the Freedom Caucus, which Perry now leads, is expected to have a significant role in selecting the next House speaker.
Perry Stein contributed reporting.
3:34 PMThis just in: Iranian charged in alleged plot to kill John Bolton | 2022-08-10T17:40:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Who is Scott Perry, Trump ally and lawmaker whose phone was seized by FBI? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/scott-perry-trump-fbi-phone-explainer/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/scott-perry-trump-fbi-phone-explainer/ |
Former president Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in Manhattan on Aug. 9, the day after FBI agents searched his estate in Palm Beach, Fla. (David Dee Delgado/Reuters)
The first minutes after Donald Trump announced that his Florida estate had been searched by FBI agents went better than the former president could have imagined. His years-long effort to cast the bureau as inherently biased against him quickly prompted even Trump-skeptical Republicans to side with him against the devious “deep state.” The wagon-circling reportedly pleased Trump, whose team saw a new breath of unity with Trump as its focus.
That this reaction was based on claims of political bias within the FBI that have no basis in the available evidence was beside the point. The point was that the FBI became the opposition, just as Trump would have hoped.
But it turns out that this wasn’t enough. Baseless assertions of impropriety and bias by the FBI have now been kicked up a notch with multiple figures on the right claiming — again without evidence, much less justification — that maybe the agents planted evidence as they combed through Mar-a-Lago. Because, it seems, any opponent of Trump’s must be cast in the most nefarious terms possible.
The insinuation was first made by Trump attorney Christina Bobb. Speaking to a right-wing streaming service, Bobb (herself a veteran of the right-wing network One America News) repeatedly tried to suggest that the FBI had acted inappropriately. She asked to see their warrant when she arrived at Mar-a-Lago on Monday morning; she claims they at first resisted. She hoped to observe the search; they prevented her from doing so.
Which she presented as perhaps suspicious.
“We’ll see what they come up with. If they did, it will be interesting — especially since they precluded me from watching what they did,” Bobb said. “But at this point, I don’t necessarily think that they would even go to the extent of trying to plant information. I think they just make stuff up.”
It is certainly true that law enforcement officers have in the past planted evidence on suspects. But the idea that they would do so in this context makes no sense. They took a dozen boxes of material; if agents at the scene wanted to inject something incriminating, there were plenty of opportunities to do so once they’d left Mar-a-Lago. After all, planting evidence at a crime scene would generally be done with the aim of convincing other officials not in on the scheme that it was there all along. If all the officials are in on it, there’s no such need. And if all of the agents weren’t in on the alleged nefariousness at Mar-a-Lago, the problem would be being spotted by other agents more than Trump’s attorneys.
All of this runs the obvious risk of treating this insinuation as in any way credible. It is not, even in Bobb’s vague formulation. There is literally no reason to think that the FBI wanted to add anything to the evidence that wasn’t already present. Asserting that there is reason to think so requires that you believe (or want others to believe) that the bureau is inherently corrupt and out to get Trump, which is begging the question.
Anyway, it got worse. Another Trump attorney, Alina Habba, appeared on Fox News on Tuesday night with host Jesse Watters. Watters, whose track record of accuracy is not spotless, quickly elevated the idea that the FBI was up to something.
“What the FBI is probably doing is planting evidence, which is what they did during the Russia hoax,” he said. “We also have a hunch they doctored evidence to get the warrant — again, what they did during the Russia hoax.”
Watters’s hunch should be considered as strongly correlated to demonstrated reality as I should be considered a contender for this year’s Cy Young Award. Yes, an FBI official pleaded guilty to altering an email used in a warrant application, but he avoided jail time in part because a judge believed the claim that the information he added was accurate. The “planting evidence” statement is a reference to a complicated assertion made by special counsel John Durham that’s never been substantiated. But each is a good example of how isolated, decontextualized claims targeting the FBI have propagated through the conservative bubble with the central aim of casting the bureau and not Trump as the dubious actor.
Habba, of course, agreed with Watters.
“Quite honestly, I’m concerned that they may have planted something,” she said. “At this point, who knows? I don’t trust the government, and that’s a very frightening thing as an American.”
This, of course, is how it works: Use unfounded allegations of wrongdoing against the government as a reason to distrust the government and use distrust of government as a reason to suggest that the government committed acts of wrongdoing. It’s exactly how defenses of Trump’s claims about election fraud worked. He insisted that fraud was going to occur and then that it had occurred. A lot of people believed him. That belief was then cited as a reason to address election fraud, which heightened the sense that something needed to be fixed.
On Wednesday morning, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), long an outspoken critic of the intelligence community and how the government wields power, echoed the baseless idea that the FBI might plant evidence.
“Do I know that the boxes of material they took from Mar-a-Lago, that they won’t put things into those boxes to entrap him?” Paul said. “How do we know? … How do we know they’re going to be honest with us about what’s actually in the boxes? How do we know that was in the box before it left the residence if the lawyers weren’t allowed to see everything?”
After all, he added, the FBI had “lost a great deal of trust” — thanks in part to years of misrepresentations of the FBI’s actions.
Skepticism of law enforcement is always warranted and always an important part of the American system. But there’s a difference between informed skepticism and an effort to use eroded trust in law enforcement to further erode trust in law enforcement.
Consider where Paul’s framing does and doesn’t differ from that of Trump himself, who opined on his bespoke social media network Wednesday morning.
“Everyone was asked to leave the premises, they wanted to be left alone, without any witnesses to see what they were doing, taking or, hopefully not, ‘planting,’ ” Trump wrote. “Why did they STRONGLY insist on having nobody watching them, everybody out?”
This isn’t skepticism. This is Trump continuing a years-long pattern of disparaging the integrity of the FBI at every opportunity, solely to inoculate his supporters against occasions in which he was or might be the focus of the FBI’s interest. For occasions, that is, like this one.
There is an added benefit to this line of argument. Should the FBI announce that it uncovered something incriminating among the documents, Trump et al have a prefabricated response: You put it there. The base inoculated once again. | 2022-08-10T17:40:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Planting distrust, not evidence: The right’s latest effort to impugn the FBI - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/trump-fbi-search-republicans/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/trump-fbi-search-republicans/ |
They’re passing the torchic to their kids
By Teddy Amenabar
Brandon Stell, center, plays Pokémon, surrounded by his children (R-L) Venasera, Roslyn, Margery and Morgan. (Stephen B. Morton/For The Washington Post)
Mike Bridges films his 8-month old son, Finn, crawling toward stuffed plushies of the three original starter Pokémon — Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle.
At first, as Finn scoots across the carpet — flailing his feet and slapping his hands — he inches in the direction of a winking Bulbasaur. Then he glances toward a smiling Squirtle. Finally, Finn reaches out for Charmander, the fiery baby dragon.
“Good choice lad!” one of the video’s 2.2 million viewers replied on TikTok.
“It’s not the one I would have picked,” Bridges said later in an interview with The Post. (He would’ve chosen Bulbasaur). “But we will love and support him no matter what.”
Parents often record life’s firsts. A baby’s first steps, a child’s first bike ride, a teenager’s first dance. But recently, some couples have started to treasure something new: their kid’s first Pokémon. It’s a recreation of a rite of passage from the franchise, in which players need to choose one of three starter Pokémon before beginning their journey.
The 26-year-old Pokémon franchise is one of the highest grossing media franchises in the world, right next to Hello Kitty and Mickey Mouse. And the kids who grew up catching Pokémon are now parents.
“We’ll be able to talk at length about what his favorite Pokémon is,” Bridges said of Finn. “We’re one of the first generations where that is very possible, and probably a little more normal, for video games or media to be shared between adults and children.”
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How the kids who grew up on Pokémon are raising trainers of their own
♬ original sound - We are a newspaper. We game.
The Pokémon Company International, which is responsible for managing the Pokémon brand outside of Asia, fully recognizes the fan base for the franchise now spans generations, even from grandparents to grandkids. Torrie Dorrell, the vice president of marketing for the company, said she loves watching parents “passing the baton” on to their children — and she added that the company is “really just getting started” on how it plans to serve all these audiences.
“We just are continuing to diversify our offerings,” Dorrell said, without providing specifics. “We can’t share too much about our future, obviously, and what we’re looking at doing but we definitely see it. It’s not lost on us.”
A boy sold his Pokémon cards to pay his sick dog’s vet bill. Then the donations started.
Randy and Stephanie Timmerman recorded their daughter picking her starter Pokémon and posted the video on TikTok in March — not to go viral but just to have a record of the moment. “Because it’s adorable,” Stephanie said.
To Randy, a pastor who lives on the eastern shore in Virginia, parents have always wanted to show their kids the hobbies they’re passionate about. For him, it’s Pokémon. For his dad, it’s a love for fishing.
“I love fishing to this day, especially when it comes to being side-by-side with my dad,” Randy said. “Whether or not our daughter ends up being a Pokémon nerd like me, or us, doesn’t matter. What matters is that this is the way that we’re seeking to connect with her.”
When Pokémon first came to North America in the late 90s, the franchise was an omnipresent form of kid’s entertainment — a television show, trading cards and a video game all at once. Brandon Stell, a 32-year-old mechanic who lives in Hinesville, Georgia, remembers seeing the first movie in theaters, collecting the cards with his friends and going to Burger King to get all the plastic toy monsters.
For Stell, the video games have been a consistent part of his life. It all began when his dad found an original gray Game Boy with a version of the first Pokémon game while cleaning out a car at work one day. Stell said his family didn’t have a lot of money growing up and his dad was an alcoholic who was “in and out of the picture.” The game became an escape.
“My brother and I would just go to the bedroom, pull out the Game Boy and just, kind of, hide playing Pokémon together,” Stell said. “It still is a form of escapism for me.”
Years later, in high school, Stell would ride his bike to his girlfriend Kimberly’s house just so the two could play “Pokémon Sapphire,” a sequel on the Game Boy Advance. And she’d often beat him with a “level 100 Dodrio,” a three-headed ostrich that knows a one-hit move called “Tri Attack.”
“This was high school, mind you, so we were thinking about other things,” Stell said. “But all we did when we got there is she pulled out her Game Boy and I pulled out my Game Boy.”
The two are now married with five kids. Stell remembers when they first started talking about building a family together. Eventually, he thought then, he’d be able to introduce his kids to the world of Pokémon. And he did. Once or twice a week, Stell plays the trading card game with his 9-year-old daughter, Venasera.
“As corny as it sounds, it was one of the things I was really looking forward to about having kids,” Stell said. “Being able to share not just Pokémon, but all of my interests.”
Natasha Vadori-Canini, a mother of two who lives near Toronto, is re-watching the original animated series with her four-year-old son, Jonathan. Vadori-Canini told The Post the show beats what’s on today, like Peppa the Pig or Caillou. When she was a kid, Vadori-Canini remembers running home from school so she could catch the latest episode. She didn’t have tapes or DVR back then, so either she caught the episode live or missed it, she said.
The animated series drew the furor of fans and critics alike when it first released. In 1997, hundreds of children were hospitalized in Japan after reportedly experiencing seizures and other symptoms while watching a scene from the show. It’s estimated that 55 percent of the primary and middle school children in Tokyo were watching the show that night.
But it wasn’t just one strange night of television. The franchise has a long history of spurring moral panics. Educators banned the playing card game from school grounds after a reported spate of robberies, fights and one stabbing in Quebec over the cards. Assuaging the concerns of Catholic parents, the Vatican said the Pokémon franchise’s first movie, which was released in 1999, does not have “any harmful moral side effects'' on children.
Almost two decades later, “Pokémon Go,” the mobile game that uses augmented reality to place monsters in real-world locations, became an international sensation. It’s been six years since the title released and “Pokémon Go” is still one of the most popular mobile games to download. At the height of the coronavirus pandemic fans clamored for the trading cards again; players camped in lines outside of retail stores to purchase packs. Target eventually suspended sales of the cards, citing safety concerns.
As a kid growing up outside of Seattle, Douglas Haines rarely played with Pokémon cards. He remembers his pastor brought a small barbecue to Sunday school for kids to burn their trading cards. The way the church saw it: “Pokémon evolved, and evolution was bad,” Haines said. The collectible cards fit into the same banned bucket as Harry Potter and Dungeons & Dragons. As a replacement for the Pokémon cards, the church offered biblical trading cards depicting scenes like Daniel in the lion’s den, Haines said.
“I can’t imagine how many thousands of dollars in rare Charizard holographics were burned that day in the nineties,” said Haines, 35. “I cry thinking about it now.”
Two decades later, Haines is the father of four kids and a film producer in Las Vegas. His six-year-old son Max wakes his dad up “almost every morning” to play with Pokémon cards on the floor of his bedroom. Haines said a booster pack of Pokémon cards and a trip to McDonalds is a “huge deal” for Max, and it’s easy for him to take his son on a whim.
“In adulthood, I’m really liking Pokémon more because I’m able to connect with him on that level,” Haines said. “Five dollars for a Pokémon booster pack is nothing.” | 2022-08-10T17:49:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Parents are introducing kids to the original starter Pokémon on TikTok - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/08/10/pokemon-starter-parents-kids/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/08/10/pokemon-starter-parents-kids/ |
(Charles Krupa/AP)
Walgreens helped fuel the opioid epidemic in San Francisco by shipping and dispensing the addictive drugs without proper due diligence, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
In a 112-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer highlighted shortcomings by the company responsible for shipping nearly 1 out of every 5 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills distributed nationwide during the height of the opioid crisis. Walgreens, the only drug company sued by San Francisco that did not settle and went to trial in April, “substantially contributed” to the crisis by not stopping suspicious orders and the diversion of drugs for illicit use, causing a public nuisance, Breyer wrote.
A trial will be held later to determine how much the company must pay the city to address the harms of the opioid crisis.
Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman said the company was “disappointed” with the decision and would appeal.
“As we have said throughout this process, we never manufactured or marketed opioids, nor did we distribute them to the ‘pill mills’ and internet pharmacies that fueled this crisis,” he wrote in an email. “We stand behind the professionalism and integrity of our pharmacists, dedicated healthcare professionals who live in the communities they serve.”
Peter Mougey, an attorney representing San Francisco and other communities across the country fighting drug companies, said the verdict will help in other cases.
“Walgreens has hidden, covered up and run from the truth throughout the entirety of this five-year litigation,” he said. “Walgreens knew its system to detect and stop suspicious orders was nonexistent but continued to ship opioids at an alarming pace to increase profits. San Francisco is now one step closer to starting the healing process.”
The decision comes after the company reached a $683 million settlement with the state of Florida in May, halting a trial in state court. In November, a jury in Ohio found that the company, along with CVS and Walmart, contributed to the opioid crisis in two counties — the first decision of its kind in a pharmacy case. | 2022-08-10T18:15:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Walgreens helped fuel San Francisco’s opioid crisis, judge rules - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/10/walgreens-opioid-decision-san-francisco/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/10/walgreens-opioid-decision-san-francisco/ |
FILE - In this image taken from a Windsor, Va., Police video, a police officer uses a spray agent on Caron Nazario, an Army lieutenant who is Black and Latino, on Dec. 20, 2020, in Windsor, Va. The traffic stop from December 2020 was captured on video and viewed by millions of people after it became public in April 2021. Nazario can proceed to trial with claims in a lawsuit of false imprisonment, assault and battery under state law, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. (Windsor Police via AP, File) (Uncredited/Windsor Police) | 2022-08-10T18:15:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Soldier's assault suit against officers can proceed to trial - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/soldiers-assault-suit-against-officers-can-proceed-to-trial/2022/08/10/2b1b8ea4-18d4-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/soldiers-assault-suit-against-officers-can-proceed-to-trial/2022/08/10/2b1b8ea4-18d4-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
Biden’s Saudi trip delivered a lot for Americans
President Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Gulf Cooperation Council on July 16 in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)
The Aug. 5 editorial “A failed fist bump” argued that President Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia failed to deliver for the American people. I disagree.
The editorial, which called the decision by OPEC Plus to boost output by 100,000 barrels per day “little more than a rounding error’s worth of additional crude oil supply,” failed to note that Saudi Arabia is now producing 11 million barrels per day, a level reached only twice before. This increase is already having a positive effect on plummeting oil prices.
Our sale of Patriot interceptor missiles to Saudi Arabia is not a concession. These missiles are produced in the United States by American workers. And they are used solely to protect Saudi Arabia — and, I might add, the 70,000 Americans who live and work there — against Iranian-enabled missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The editorial did not address Yemen, which is now in its fifth month of a truce in its Civil War. That truce was just extended earlier this month, and our diplomacy with Saudi Arabia and partners in the region was critical in achieving it. Thousands of Yemeni lives are being saved as a result.
As for human rights, the president raised his concerns in every meeting he held, to include those with Saudi leaders. Indeed, his very first order of business in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, was to restate his strong views about the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
Mr. Biden’s Middle East trip was an important opportunity to advance our national interests across a range of issues. He set forth a policy designed to secure a more peaceful, integrated and stable region, thereby reducing the burdens on American troops and their families. I think the editorial missed that broader point.
John F. Kirby, Washington
The writer is coordinator for strategic communication for the National Security Council. | 2022-08-10T18:15:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Biden’s Saudi trip delivered a lot for Americans - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/bidens-saudi-trip-delivered-lot-americans/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/bidens-saudi-trip-delivered-lot-americans/ |
A line of traffic on northbound I-270 bakes in the 90-degree heat near Clarksburg, Md., in July 2021. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
A tidal wave of new residents and jobs is bearing down on the national capital region, bringing high pressure on housing and infrastructure for the foreseeable future. “Foreseeable” is the key word, because population and employment projections are available for local leaders whose most important job should be preparing to meet the predictable challenge.
Yet the Potomac River has become a dividing line between Virginia officials, whose eyes are wide open, and Maryland politicians who have stuck their heads in the sand. Nowhere is that discrepancy more apparent than in transportation — and it is Maryland commuters of every age, race and ethnicity who will pay the price.
The approaching population bulge appears lost not only on most elected officials in suburban Maryland, mainly Democrats, but also on the party’s gubernatorial nominee, Wes Moore. Mr. Moore identifies with Baltimore and has lived there for the past decade. His transportation policy, in which Maryland’s suburbs near Washington go virtually unmentioned, gives no indication that he grasps that they are full of drivers fed up with staggering traffic — or that it will get worse.
By 2045, nearly 400,000 more people, along with roughly a quarter million new jobs, are expected to arrive in Montgomery, Prince George’s and Frederick counties. Even if post-pandemic commuting patterns shift to reflect the rise of telework, there are likely to be unprecedented demands on the capital region’s overburdened roads as well as its transit network.
Virginia has grappled with the coming onslaught by adding toll lanes to widen most of its main commuting arteries. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, proposed a similar initiative, scaled back from its original scope, to add toll lanes that would widen the Beltway near the Potomac and a portion of I-270 from Montgomery County to Frederick. Regular lanes would remain free; no one would be forced to pay tolls. The project would be financed and built by a private consortium, at minimal cost to taxpayers; in return, the consortium would keep most toll revenue in coming decades.
That plan is in limbo, awaiting federal environmental approval, which has been delayed; approval would unlock federal funding. The Federal Highway Administration, which is handling the proposal, has given no transparent explanation for the delay, fueling speculation that its knees are buckling in the face of political opposition.
The simple truth is this: Mr. Hogan’s proposal offers reasonable hope that the area’s bad congestion will not worsen. Without it, longer commutes are inevitable.
The problem is that suburban politicians, mainly Democrats, offer only impediments to Mr. Hogan’s plan, and no concrete alternatives. Mr. Moore, for his part, glosses over the congestion, the certainty that more is coming, and says he wants to judge transportation projects by their equity and environmental impact, along with the quality of community input.
That’s a likely recipe for inertia and paralysis, which has already become the U.S. default where infrastructure construction is concerned. Needless to say, building new roads, bridges, tunnels and subway lines generates pushback. Leaders, if they are to achieve anything big — including construction projects — need to manage that and overcome it.
All over the United States, building ambitious infrastructure has become a nightmarish slog of litigation, special interest obstructionism and institutional dysfunction. Public-private partnerships such as the one Mr. Hogan is pushing — and those that have been used to expand Northern Virginia’s highway network — are plausible ways to get big things done without the political heavy-lift of raising taxes. | 2022-08-10T18:15:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Maryland interstate widening, toll road plan is in limbo - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/maryland-traffic-toll-road-plan-limbo/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/maryland-traffic-toll-road-plan-limbo/ |
A temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City in October 2019. (Rick Bowmer/AP)
If the record of clergy sex abuse of minors in the Catholic Church has imparted a lesson, it is that institutions and individuals have a moral duty, and should have a legal one, to inform law enforcement of reports that children are being victimized. Somehow, that lesson appears to have been lost in some instances on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as the Mormon Church or LDS.
In a disturbing expose by the Associated Press, a Mormon bishop in Arizona, alarmed that a church member had confessed to raping his own young daughter, contacted the church’s 24-7 hotline. The advice he received, from church lawyers, was that he “absolutely can do nothing,” and was prohibited by state law from reporting the abuse to police.
That advice was false, and its consequences unspeakable. The daughter’s abuse, which her father admitted started when she was 5 years old, continued for another seven years. He also began abusing a second daughter while she was an infant, not even 2 months old — and posted videos of his crimes online. He eventually killed himself after being arrested by federal agents, who received no help from the church.
The AP investigation, based partly on sealed records, found that the LDS hotline, established more than 25 years ago amid fears that churches faced mounting liability risks from hefty jury awards, can be and has been used, with unknown frequency, as a black box in which reports of sexual abuse have been hidden. A protocol circulated by the church to some hotline staffers advised them to encourage victims or perpetrators to report abuse to authorities, but “never” to offer that guidance to church officials who might call. Only church lawyers could give such instructions, according to the protocol. And while a church lawyer told the AP that “hundreds of reports” of abuse had been conveyed by church officials or lawyers to Arizona authorities, it’s unclear how many hotline calls reporting abuse were not referred to police or child welfare officials.
In its response, the church insisted it regards abuse as inexcusable, encouraged reporting it to civil authorities and attacked what it called the AP’s “oversimplified and incomplete” characterization of church procedures — without providing detail. It also said abusers face discipline within the Mormon Church. Yet an affidavit by a senior church official, obtained by the AP, stressed that the church’s disciplinary procedures are subject to “the highest confidentiality possible,” in order not to compromise abusers’ “willingness to confess and repent.”
In nearly 30 states, clergy are required to report plausible cases of child abuse to police or state social workers. But Arizona’s law, like some others, also provides a loophole, similar to attorney-client privilege, that allows clergy to withhold information gleaned from spiritual confessions if doing so is deemed “reasonable and necessary” under church doctrine. That gaping — and unjustified — exception was apparently used to justify hushing up the young girl’s rape by her father in Arizona.
Rather than ducking and covering up, the LDS would be wise to seek procedural reforms, erring not on the side of institutional self-preservation but instead prioritizing the protection of the most vulnerable members of its community: children. | 2022-08-10T18:16:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The Mormon Church must do more to protect children from sexual abuse - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/mormon-church-child-sexual-abuse/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/mormon-church-child-sexual-abuse/ |
Serena Williams holds her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., and the ASB Classic trophy in Auckland, New Zealand, in January 2020. (Chris Symes/AP)
The big news in Serena Williams’s cover essay for the September issue of Vogue is that one of the greatest players to take on the game is planning her departure from tennis. But the piece matters most for its illustration of an enduring, and newly salient, truth: Carrying and giving birth to a baby mean being at the mercy of one’s body — even for an athlete as historically dominant as Williams.
The Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade prompted a renewed conversation about what pregnancy — so often lauded as natural, as what women are built for — does to the person who experiences it.
As Irin Carmon wrote in New York magazine, carrying a baby under the best circumstances can “estrange you from the person you once were” as you’re beset with prolonged symptoms such as nausea, dizziness and lumbering fatigue. At worst, the experience might look more like what Annie Lowrey described in an essay for the Atlantic. Carrying her children activated an autoimmune condition that made her so itchy her skin became like lichen; because of her pregnancy complications, she now has permanent liver disease and diabetes.
Bald recitations of pregnancy-related conditions and raw testimonies still can’t quite capture what it’s like to be pregnant for someone who hasn’t experienced it. And going into it, there’s no way to predict how any individual pregnancy, labor and delivery will progress.
This is true even for women who make careers out of their bodies. Williams and her sister, Venus, aren’t merely tennis champions: They are credited with transforming their sport by bringing new athleticism and power to the women’s game. More so than almost any other woman in the public eye, Serena Williams has spent her career perfecting not merely her body’s form, but its function.
And yet, her experiences are stark proof that it’s impossible to optimize one’s way out of childbirth-related uncertainty. Williams delivered her daughter by Caesarean section after the baby’s heart rate dipped precipitously during labor. Immediately after giving birth, Williams experienced a pulmonary embolism and a major hematoma; she coughed so hard that her C-section incision opened again. Her husband, Alexis Ohanian, told Vogue at the time: “Consider for a moment that your body is one of the greatest things on this planet, and you’re trapped in it.”
Later, Williams wrote on Instagram about the tensions between perfecting her body for her job and wanting to be present for her daughter.
“I work a lot, I train, and I’m trying to be the best athlete I can be,” she said in a post about the fact that postpartum emotional challenges — which are linked to both hormonal changes after birth and physical stresses such as sleep deprivation — can linger for as long as three years. “However, that means although I have been with her every day of her life, I’m not around as much as I would like to be. Most of you moms deal with the same thing.”
In her new essay, Williams is clear-eyed about the long-term career impacts of devoting her body to her daughter — including her quest to match or beat Margaret Court’s record for grand slam victories.
“I had my chances after coming back from giving birth,” she reflects. “I went from a C-section to a second pulmonary embolism to a grand slam final. I played while breastfeeding. I played through postpartum depression. But I didn’t get there.”
And while Williams writes that “if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter,” she’s blunt about the unfairness of that choice.
“If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family,” she explains in one of the essay’s most striking passages. “Maybe I’d be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity.”
In recent years, other famous women have acknowledged finding ways to outsource the work and physical toll of pregnancy.
Kim Kardashian hired surrogates to carry her third and fourth children with Kanye West after experiencing preeclampsia and needing multiple surgeries to remove retained placenta from her earlier pregnancies. Her sister Khloé recently had a second child via surrogate after learning she was unlikely to be able to carry a second child to term. And earlier this year, actress Jamie Chung was candid about the fact that she and her husband chose to hire a surrogate so she wouldn’t have to interrupt her career.
But there’s no way around it: For a baby to come into the world, someone has to give her body over to the process of creating life. If the capriciousness of biology can humble a transcendent athlete like Serena Williams, it ought to inspire awe and caution in us all. | 2022-08-10T18:16:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Serena Williams's choice shows: Pregnancy humbles everyone - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/serena-williams-retirement-pregnancy-family-choice/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/serena-williams-retirement-pregnancy-family-choice/ |
Frank Gore faces an October court date after an alleged domestic violence incident. (Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
Frank Gore, the former NFL running back and the league’s third all-time leading rusher, was charged with simple assault in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident at an Atlantic City, N.J., hotel, the city’s police department said Tuesday.
Officers were sent on Jul 31 to the Tropicana Atlantic City in response to a domestic violence dispute, the police said in a statement. The alleged victim, a 28-year-old woman from Miami, was speaking with hotel security and “did not exhibit signs of injury and complaints were not filed” at the time. An investigation followed and Gore was charged.
Gore, 39, is scheduled to appear in Atlantic City Municipal Court on Oct. 17, and has not commented on the matter.
He signed a one-day contract in June with the San Francisco 49ers to retire as a member of the team, which plans to induct him into its Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. 49ers Hall of Fame.
In addition to the 49ers, Gore played for the Colts, Dolphins, Bills and Jets over a 16-year career that ran from 2005-2020. He gained 16,000 yards with 81 touchdowns, and added 3,985 receiving yards and 18 touchdown receptions.
Since his last NFL appearance in 2020, Gore has turned to boxing, losing his first fight to former NBA star Deron Williams in a split decision last year. He knocked out Yaya Olorunsola in May in his second fight. | 2022-08-10T18:16:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Former NFL star Frank Gore charged in alleged domestic violence incident - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/frank-gore-charged-assault/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/frank-gore-charged-assault/ |
Republicans’ response to the Mar-a-Lago search is disturbing and dangerous
A supporter of former president Donald Trump drives past his Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8 in Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee/AP)
Of course, criminal investigations of presidents shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. The warrant in this case isn’t public; even if it were, only a sealed affidavit could tell the full story about the evidentiary basis for the search. The improper retention of records is a serious offense that shouldn’t be dismissed, but it is so far unclear whether Mr. Trump’s retention of these records constituted a violation of national security, a threat to democracy, or any other grave abuse. Attorney General Merrick Garland, then, finds himself in a tricky position: He may eventually be summoned before GOP-controlled congressional committees and ordered to explain himself for allowing the FBI’s actions — a job that will prove more difficult if the inquiry doesn’t lead to criminal charges or evidence of major wrongdoing. | 2022-08-10T18:54:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Republicans’ response to the Mar-a-Lago search is dangerous - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/republican-response-mar-a-lago-search-dangerous/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/republican-response-mar-a-lago-search-dangerous/ |
After playing two games with Howard in 2020, Makur Maker continued his basketball career overseas. (Gregory Payan/AP)
Makur Maker, who made waves in 2020 as the highest-ranked prospect in the modern era to commit to a historically Black college, has signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Washington Wizards. The center will participate in the Wizards’ training camp next month and then join the Wizards’ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, according to a person with knowledge of the team’s plans.
An Exhibit 10 contract is a one-year, minimum salary deal that can be converted into a two-way contract before the regular season starts.
Maker, 21, has had a somewhat unconventional career trajectory but is a well regarded center at 6-foot-11.
He most recently showed flashes of promise while playing for the Chicago Bulls during Summer League and before that helped the Sydney Kings win their fourth title in Australia’s National Basketball League.
Maker was a top 20 prospect in the class of 2020 who made news when he committed to Howard University despite receiving scholarship offers from Kentucky, Memphis and UCLA. He played just two games with the Bison because of a groin injury before Howard shut down its 2020-21 season with pandemic-related issues.
Maker went undrafted in 2021 but opted to train with former NBA guard Darren Collison in Los Angeles rather than return to college. Born in Kenya to South Sudanese parents but reared in Australia, he is the cousin of former NBA center Thon Maker.
Taj Gibson is here to be a mentor and help nurture younger Wizards
Wizards use Summer League as test ground for G League squad | 2022-08-10T19:29:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Wizards sign Makur Maker with plans to send him to the G League - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/makur-maker-wizards-g-league/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/makur-maker-wizards-g-league/ |
In talking honestly about her retirement, the tennis star showed that even the most successful among working moms can’t have it all at once, at least not always.
Serena Williams with daughter Olympia during New York's Fashion Week in 2019. (Seth Wenig/AP)
That conversation happened on Sunday night. On Tuesday, in between scrambling to get three back-to-back interviews completed, I learned that Serena Williams was retiring and had explained why in Vogue. If you haven’t read her words yet, you should. They are raw and powerful. They are also relatable to many working mothers who have felt pulled between building careers and building families.
The moms are not all right — and maybe that’s okay for children to see
In speaking honestly about her struggles, Williams validates theirs. She shows that even the most impressive among working moms can’t have it all at once, at least not always.
“The way I see it, I should have had 30-plus grand slams,” Williams wrote. “I had my chances after coming back from giving birth. I went from a C-section to a second pulmonary embolism to a grand slam final. I played while breastfeeding. I played through postpartum depression. But I didn’t get there. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. I didn’t show up the way I should have or could have. But I showed up 23 times, and that’s fine. Actually it’s extraordinary. But these days, if I have to choose between building my tennis résumé and building my family, I choose the latter.”
For Mother’s Day, a remembrance of my almost daughter.
As moms, we’re expected to want to give every bit of our energy to our children. Don’t get me wrong, I give plenty to mine. They frequently ask me to sit on the floor with them and play Legos or battle Pokémon cards, and I do that often enough that I have my own designated Lego figures and a binder of Pokémon cards. We’ve also started playing basketball together every weekend.
But my work is important to me, and they know that. I am fortunate to have a job I care about. It is one that takes me into the lives of people throughout the Washington region and allows me to share their stories. I take that responsibility seriously, which often means working long hours. I used to think that work-life balance meant splitting your time 50-50. But I now realize that it is an ever-shifting formula that varies by day and year and person.
The pandemic has asked a lot of everyone, but especially working moms. They were hit hard by job losses, and on top of that stress, had to worry about interrupted school weeks and increasing mental health challenges among children. Our country needs real reforms when it comes to addressing maternal mortality, parental leave and flexible work schedules. But it also helps to hear successful working moms say finding a balance is hard and there are no easy choices.
Most working moms, of course, can’t “evolve” away from their jobs to focus on their families. They need the paycheck. But that word choice is empowering. It offers others permission to choose one over the other at times, or switch jobs, and to not see it as a failure but rather as growth. | 2022-08-10T19:37:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Serena Williams became a champion again…for working moms - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/working-moms-serena-williams/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/working-moms-serena-williams/ |
My fiance and I can’t agree on what to watch. Carolyn Hax readers give advice.
Dear Carolyn: My fiance and I squabble about our differing media tastes more often than I’d like to admit. He thinks reality TV is trash, and won’t even be in the room while it’s on. He thinks movies from the Criterion Collection are relaxing to watch, and that art house films have more value than rom-coms (which he also loathes to watch).
I do not particularly enjoy these sorts of films or “classic” shows that he likes to watch — we are both attorneys, and so our days are packed with dense material. I like to decompress by reading romance novels or watching “trash” TV.
We do have shows and movies that we watch together, but the topic of entertainment can devolve into a fight quickly on a Friday night when we’re looking for a movie or show to watch, and many times we quit a movie in the middle because the other person hates it so much. How do we bridge this divide?
— Media Squabble
Media Squabble: First, it is important for you both to understand and accept that you are allowed to have your own unique tastes, likes and dislikes. Both approaches to relaxing are valid, even if they don’t work for both of you. This is true of more than just movie tastes, and relationships are filled with choices you won’t agree on. What is important is that neither of you is judging the other’s harmless personal tastes and being openly critical of the other. If that is happening here, I’d urge you both to confront that issue before you say “I do.”
As for the specific question of how to decide what to watch, I would say you both need to stop asking the other to watch something you know the other person won’t enjoy. If there are a few shows or genres you do both enjoy, then stick to those for Friday night hang outs, saving your other personal preferences to watch separately. If there is no common ground, then maybe find a different form of entertainment you both enjoy, like playing games, cooking together, taking an evening stroll, etc.
Alternatively, who says you have to be watching the same thing? You could hang out on the couch sharing a bowl of popcorn but watching separate movies on your laptops, wearing headphones (or one of you is watching something while the other reads a book, whatever). My husband and I do this all the time and we’ve been happily married for nearly a decade. (He’s never seen “Dirty Dancing” and I didn’t get past the third episode of “Game of Thrones,” and that is perfectly fine.)
In short, focus your together time on your shared interests, but allow each other the space/alone time to pursue your separate interests as well. Both are equally important to any lasting relationship.
— SM
Media Squabble: Are there any places where your media tastes overlap? Are you both okay with action adventure movies, or sci-fi, or more modern dramas that aren’t art house films? Spend your media time together on things that you can agree on even if it’s neither of your favorites.
And plan to have time during the week or weekend where you each go your separate ways and watch the media the other person can’t stand.
But you should also consider that just like with other hobbies that are an important part of someone’s life that you personally don’t give a darn about, it’s important to periodically make an effort to participate in or at least support your partners’ interests, and see how that interest makes them the person you love. Right now it sounds like you’re both forcing your tastes on your partner — and in his instance, belittling your tastes. In order for the two of you to make this work, you need to switch up the dynamic to occasionally choosing to watch your partners’ favorite genre with them, no griping, belittling or quit-in-the-middle allowed, as a gift to your partner.
If either of you can’t do this, and if your opinions of each other’s media choices continue to spiral into contempt on either part, then you should reconsider your engagement. Going into a marriage with the level of contempt and disgust you’re describing is a recipe for misery.
Media Squabble: My girlfriend and I have wildly different preferences for TV/movies as well. We chatted about it and came up with an idea that works for us. We created a jar with names of movies or shows that we both agreed on (or would be willing to sit through since the other loves it) and will pull a name out of the jar if we can’t decide on what to watch. We also allow each other to have “control of the remote” specified nights where we’ll still be spending time together, but she gets to watch what she prefers while I read or scroll on my phone, and vice versa. We’re vastly different people, but we’ve found a way to make it work so that our varied preference for TV is a nonissue.
Do other issues cause fights like the TV issue? Is there something else under the surface that needs to be recognized and addressed?
— Timber
Media Squabble: He’s got contempt for your choices (and I detect a dismissive tone from you as well, when referring to his) and that’s the problem. It’s fine not to like some of the things the other person likes, but not fine at all to be contemptuous of someone you plan to spend the rest of your life with. I’d try dropping your end of the rope (not defending your choices, not commenting on his, “This is what I’m in the mood for tonight, if you don’t want to watch I’ll watch on my laptop and you can have the TV. I’m having some wine, want some?”) and see how he responds. If that doesn’t work, seriously reconsider marrying — this kind of thing is poison to a long-term relationship.
Every week, we ask readers to answer a question submitted to Carolyn Hax’s live chat or email. Read last week’s installment here. New questions are typically posted on Fridays, with a Monday deadline for submissions. Responses are anonymous unless you choose to identify yourself, and they are edited for length and clarity. | 2022-08-10T19:46:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Carolyn Hax: My fiance and I can't agree on what to watch - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/08/10/carolyn-hax-what-to-watch-fiance/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/08/10/carolyn-hax-what-to-watch-fiance/ |
Md. lieutenant governor says Hogan could run for president as independent
Boyd Rutherford told a Baltimore radio station the popular Republican governor could run as independent in a few years.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, left, and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford at the State House in Annapolis in 2018. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan may have campaigned for a more inclusive Republican Party, but his second-in-command floated the idea Wednesday that Hogan could leave it and run for president as an independent instead.
“We could see an independent candidate, possibly, with initials L.H. for president in a couple years,” Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford told WBAL radio Wednesday morning. “If that happens, I’d be wholeheartedly supportive.”
But David Weinman, a spokesman for Hogan’s political organization, An America United, said the governor has no plans to leave the Republican Party, adding: “The lieutenant governor speaks his mind."
Rutherford is helping run state government this week while Hogan — who has been weighing a presidential bid — is in the Midwest, stumping for like-minded Republican candidates. Rutherford said he believes most Americans are center-right or center-left, leaving the 2024 presidential field ripe for an independent who can appeal to the middle.
The lieutenant governor went on to say he’s considered whether there’s no longer a place for himself in the modern Republican Party, which he says has become “just angry and pushing toward what I consider an extreme.”
“I can’t speak for the governor on that, but it has crossed my mind,” Rutherford said of one day leaving the party.
An America United released a national crime plan Wednesday that Hogan will discuss while he is Nebraska and Iowa.
He has talked about expanding the appeal of the Republican Party and the need to move away from Trump, whom he has long criticized. The governor said he will make a decision about the presidency sometime after his second term ends in January.
Hogan’s protege, former Maryland labor secretary Kelly Schulz, lost July’s Republican primary to Trump-aligned Del. Daniel L. Cox (Frederick), which some viewed as a repudiation of Hogan’s brand of pragmatic conservatism. The governor has been undeterred, saying he will “continue fighting" for a different sort of Republican Party. | 2022-08-10T19:46:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Md. lieutenant governor says Hogan could run for president as independent - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/maryland-hogan-president-run-independent/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/maryland-hogan-president-run-independent/ |
Douglas Brinkley recalls his friend and colleague McCullough, ‘the dean our nation’s historians’
Perspective by Douglas Brinkley
Contributor, PostEverything
Author David McCullough signs books at the 2017 National Book Festival in D.C. ( Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
Like the Founding Fathers he wrote about, David McCullough stood for reason, enlightenment, education and incorruptible democracy. In our stone-crazy world of Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian-styled savage banality, McCullough, who died on Sunday at age 89, offered proof of just how reassuring a good American can be. As the dean of our nation’s historians, he was trusted by middle America on par with Walter Cronkite. And if America understood who McCullough was, he returned that favor, showing in his books just how well he knew his countrymen across the centuries. He was our dependable deep river oracle, the silver-haired sea captain navigating around the shoals of endemic narcissism to lead us to the promised port of the Declaration of Independence.
McCullough’s voice on PBS documentaries such as Ken Burns’s “The Civil War” resonated like Jesus Christ delivering the Sermon on the Mount. His very tone personified bedrock integrity. As a professional historian like myself, garnering a blurb from McCullough for your upcoming book was the cultural equivalent of a Good Housekeeping seal and Oprah’s Book Club selection combined. And his generosity to fellow tradesmen, myself included, was legendary.
McCullough was born on July 7, 1933, in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh. He had a fine childhood where sports, books and nature wanderings were all part of his life. There was no dysfunction in McCullough’s youth to mar him later in life, no dent in his armor that carried a hangover effect into adulthood. Imbued with civility from his parents, he saw Pittsburgh as a humming city of entrepreneurship and philanthropy serving the middle class. He never sought the seedy side of urban life like Nelson Algren or Upton Sinclair. Cheeriness and optimism were embedded in his personality. His college years at Yale did nothing to change that.
There was about McCullough the personification of the Boy Scout Handbook sprung to life. It would never have dawned on him to throw a rock into the plate glass window of Pittsburgh’s stately Duquesne Club to protest corporate corruption or mock the yacht set in Martha’s Vineyard for white privilege. Those were important American places to him and he wasn’t ashamed of their élan. If he thought change was needed, his modus operandi was more like, first let me join the private club, then put me on the steering committee, and then we’ll diversify memberships to address gender and ethnicity deficiencies. That is the quintessential way of the Yale gentleman scholar following the Civil Rights Act of the 1960s. It would be a mistake to think of McCullough as a Democrat or Republican. His instincts veered to our foundational documents like the Bill of Rights and leaders who sought to uphold them.
A few years back, I was part of a panel discussion at Boston College, with McCullough, Burns, and Don Henley (of the Eagles). It was a fundraiser for the Walden Woods Project in nearby Lincoln, Mass. All of us were serious admirers of Henry David Thoreau. At one point, Henley asked McCullough to name his Walden Pond, his personal sacred place in the outdoors. It was set up for dramatic answers such as California’s Yosemite or Maine’s Acadia. McCullough chose Pittsburgh for Mount Washington, a hill of the southern banks of the Monongahela and Ohio rivers. “Nowhere is more majestic to me,” McCullough said. “Pittsburgh is serene and sublime from that vista.”
Serene and sublime are good words to describe McCullough. Yet over the decades, as a friend, I saw him turn irate a few times. Once at a dinner in Dallas, I watched him tremble with indignation during a discussion about how geography wasn’t being properly taught in schools. Every young person, he believed, needs to develop a map mind.
I first worked with McCullough when he was at American Heritage, at the time, a sort of editor emeritus. Having studied with John Hersey and Thornton Wilder at Yale, he was the ultimate connoisseur of what constituted quality nonfiction writing. For McCullough, history needed to be written so readers were always leaning forward as if hearing a story told by Grandma on a frosty January evening in front of a Pittsburgh hearth. His books — all of them — were fresh and accessible without being breezy. His dazzling talent was on display in two Pulitzer Prize winners, “Truman” (1992) and “John Adams” (2001).
Conjuring the atmosphere of long past eras, McCullough made these presidents come alive as flesh-and-blood human beings. My favorite of his books was “Mornings on Horseback” (1981) because he made Theodore Roosevelt’s entire family jump off the page. That TR book was the antithesis of what today’s universities teach PhD candidates to do. McCullough put the personality of his subjects ahead of policy documents and data. Novelists such as Willa Cather, Conrad Richter and Thomas Wolfe had influenced him more than C. Vann Woodward.
This doesn’t mean the McCullough approach is the best way to study a president. Crucial policy documents may tell the true story of the Biden administration more usefully than how the family dogs Champ, Major and Commander brought comfort to the first couple in our troubled times. So McCullough’s familial style had limits. But out of modern-day narrative historians, only Doris Kearns Goodwin, T.J. Stiles and Barbara Tuchman jump to mind as his peers for making every page fascinating.
When word of McCullough’s death broke in the news, my cellphone lit up as friends offered condolences. Brian Lamb, the founder of C-SPAN, was one of them. Over the decades, Lamb and I shared McCullough stories in the way fans of the Beatles might talk about Paul McCartney. C-SPAN interviewed McCullough 77 times (with Lamb conducting 10 multiple-hour sessions in Maine, Massachusetts and D.C.). They’re wonderful to watch online. “At some point in his life,” Lamb told me, “McCullough decided to tell the world that American history mattered. It was his mantra. He was the nation’s schoolteacher. I love all of his books. But McCullough was also about his persona; he was the whole package of writing skill, resonant voice and grand presence.”
There was a fluidity to McCullough as writer and speaker that was comforting. His command of the past, the exacting details of Independence Hall in “1776” (2005) or Kitty Hawk, N.C., in “The Wright Brothers” (2015) or the Ohio River Valley in “The Pioneers” (2019) during the time of the first European American settlement of the Northwest Territory were mesmerizing.
Only occasionally would McCullough get involved in pressing, contemporary political affairs — as when he called Trump “a monstrous clown with a monstrous ego.” His comfort zone was with the ghosts of the past. If you ever saw McCullough walking down Newbury Street in Boston or Fifth Avenue in New York, you got the distinct feeling that his mind was imagining what these cities were like at the time of Valley Forge. In conversations, McCullough spoke about the need for biographies of the Liberty Bell, Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge. Nothing about our technological age interested him as a writer.
McCullough’s high school teacher-like enthusiasm for the past was combined with a watchdog attitude about protecting it. In the 1990s, when the Walt Disney Co. thought about building a theme park near the Manassas National Battlefield, in Northern Virginia, he went on high alert like a pointer dog on a hunting mission. I once jokingly told McCullough, in April Fools’ Day fashion, that Disney had just been approved to paint Mickey Mouse ears on a water tower higher than the Washington Monument in Fairfax County, Va. With his thick gray eyebrows rising and his body bristling, it took him a long minute to realize I was yanking his chain. For the next two decades, whenever I saw him, he teased me about the Mickey Monument with a twinkle in his eyes.
Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown chair in humanities and professor of history at Rice University. He is the author of the forthcoming “Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening.” | 2022-08-10T19:46:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Douglas Brinkley: David McCullough helped America understand itself - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/08/10/david-mccullough-appreciation-brinkley/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/08/10/david-mccullough-appreciation-brinkley/ |
This image released by SYFY shows Alan Tudyk in a scene from “Resident Alien.” In the series, Tudyk’s character was tasked with destroying all Earthlings, and he takes the life and identity of Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle to appear human, but awkwardly, as he pursues his mission. Instead, he begins to value his intended victims. (SYFY via AP) (Uncredited/SYFY)
Looking for a taste of Keaton’s artistry? Check out Tudyk's Twitter feed. | 2022-08-10T19:47:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Alan Tudyk infuses 'Resident Alien' with the art of clowning - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/alan-tudyk-infuses-resident-alien-with-the-art-of-clowning/2022/08/10/db4da33e-18d9-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/alan-tudyk-infuses-resident-alien-with-the-art-of-clowning/2022/08/10/db4da33e-18d9-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
The Disney Plus website on a laptop computer. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)
As more consumers cut the cord and more players get into the streaming game, the entertainment world has divided into ever-smaller niches. But conglomerates don’t want niches; they want mega-properties with hundreds of millions of subscribers. They should be careful about rebundling, though. We live in an age when identity is intimately tied to cultural consumption. Trying to be everything to all people is a risky strategy in a world that already has Netflix.
The recent history of television looks something like this: Tired of three networks, consumers flocked to cable companies, which bundled together dozens, then hundreds of channels. But most customers came to realize they watched only a handful of these channels. They grew frustrated, demanding to know why they were paying for things they weren’t using. So the Great Unbundling began: People could get individual channels via streaming or cheaper packages on YouTube and pay only for what they wanted to watch.
Between the increasing cost of high-speed internet and the proliferation of streaming subscriptions — Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Apple TV Plus, the Criterion Channel, YouTube, Shudder, Paramount Plus, Peacock, etc. — costs haven’t really gone down all that much. People wind up paying a little less, maybe, but at the cost of having radically fewer choices. What’s interesting about this is how little most folks really seem to mind the trade-off.
Only part of this is economic. A much bigger part has to do with self-conception and identity: People simply don’t want to associate, even tangentially, with channels or products they don’t like.
We’ve seen this for years, on the left and on the right. It was at least part of the argument made both by conservative-minded parents groups frustrated by the proliferation of boundary-pushing channels such as FX and by progressives angry at Fox News’s dominance in the cable news ecosystem. People, they said, shouldn’t be forced to support channels or programs they find offensive. That these channels didn’t cost consumers very much doesn’t really matter. Their objections were ideological — a signal against the coarsening of the culture or the degradation of the discourse.
The phenomenon isn’t limited to entertainment, of course. Just last week, The Post reported on Cracker Barrel customers who were angry that plant-based Impossible sausage had been added to the menu. It’s important to note that the pork sausage Southerners have enjoyed for generations hadn’t been removed from the menu. Customers were merely angry that they had to associate, however indirectly, with something enjoyed by their out-group.
This is at least one reason Warner Bros. Discovery may be making a mistake when it considers plans to merge HBO Max and Discovery Plus into a single streaming service. Most HBO Max subscribers probably don’t see themselves as “Discovery people,” nor vice versa. After all, HBO remains best represented by the tagline “It’s not TV, it’s HBO.” Discovery Plus, meanwhile, is the absolute lowest common denominator of TV: cheap reality programming on HGTV and the Food Network combined with reruns on A&E and whatever TLC, formerly known as The Learning Channel, has evolved into.
HBO Max and Discovery Plus can coexist on the same home screen. (My family’s Apple TV is proof of that.) Even packaging both together as a deal — similar to the one that Disney offers to subscribers of Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus — makes sense as something people can opt in to. But merging them into one, and only one, location makes less sense, just as merging the Disney-owned trio into one app would make less sense for families who only want the animated Bluey or millennials who only want FX on Hulu.
In an age of niche entertainment and supreme customization, people get almost angry when something they don’t want or don’t identify with is forced upon them. Think back to one of the foundational lessons of this age: the debacle that was U2’s “Songs of Innocence,” a terrible misstep by Apple and the Irish rock group that involved putting the album — for free but without warning— onto every iTunes account.
Most customers weren’t happy about getting a gratis surprise. Rather, they saw it as a violation of the sanctity of their music library, the purest and most private distillation of their own tastes. If you weren’t a “U2 person,” this was almost an act of aggression on the part of Apple and Bono, one that lingers in the collective memory.
In an age of niche-dom, even a gift from the biggest band (or brand) can be an unwelcome intrusion. Entertainment conglomerates seem to be forgetting that as they move closer to making people pay for properties they don’t identify with.
The Great Rebundling is just over the horizon, and I can’t help but feel it’s a mistake. | 2022-08-10T19:47:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Streamers like HBO Max show the Great Rebundling is coming. Bad idea. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/hbo-max-discovery-rebundling-bad/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/hbo-max-discovery-rebundling-bad/ |
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, left, in D.C. on Nov. 8, 2021, and former president Donald Trump in D.C., on July 26. (Olivier DOULIERY and MANDEL NGAN / AFP)
For most of his tenure, Attorney General Merrick Garland has been battered by the left for not moving fast enough to pursue criminal charges against former president Donald Trump. Now, Garland finds himself in the crosshairs of conservatives infuriated by a court-ordered search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida home, and working themselves into a frenzy over Garland’s supposed political “weaponization” of the Justice Department.
Both sides have it wrong. Neither seems to understand the first thing about the deliberative, hyper-methodical attorney general. Garland was going to go slow, or appear that way, because going slow is what careful lawyers do — and because responsible prosecutors do not show their hands in public until they are ready to bring charges. Yes, much to the dismay of those eager to see Trump in handcuffs, Garland is innately and immensely cautious — but caution is warranted in the case of an attorney general weighing the monumental step of prosecuting a former president.
But if liberals needed to find their inner Zen when it came to Garland, conservatives are positively unhinged. Their portrayal of Garland and his stewardship of the Justice Department bears no relation to the man or his performance. It is a caricature that would be laughable if it were not so alarming.
Trump immediately denounced the search as “prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.” No surprise there — it’s a trademark Trump move to accuse others of what he himself has done and to then try to transform his legal trouble into political advantage.
And no surprise either, to anyone who’s watched his cringeworthy Trump sycophancy, that Trump’s message was dutifully amplified by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “I’ve seen enough,” McCarthy tweeted. “The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization. When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned.”
Where was McCarthy on the department’s “intolerable state of weaponized politicization” when Garland’s predecessor, William P. Barr, was busy overruling career prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation for Trump ally Roger Stone or dismissing the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, after Flynn’s guilty plea? Or when Trump himself was trying to, yes, weaponize the Justice Department in his desperate effort to undo the election results?
Other members of the lap dog brigade went further. “At a minimum, Garland must resign or be impeached,” tweeted Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), calling the search “an unprecedented assault on democratic norms and the rule of law.”
An assault on the rule of law, really? With the execution of a search warrant approved by a federal magistrate who would have found probable cause to believe that a crime may have been committed and that evidence was present in the place to be searched.
That is the definition of the rule of law — not an assault on it.
Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), no Trump fan, weighed in. “The country deserves a thorough and immediate explanation of what led to the events of Monday,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “Attorney General Garland and the Department of Justice should already have provided answers to the American people and must do so immediately.”
Note to McConnell: Garland and his prosecutors are bound by law, Justice Department policy and the rules of professional ethics not to discuss who or what they are investigating. These restrictions leave them at a disadvantage, unable to respond to criticism. But the purpose of the constraints is to protect the subjects of their investigations, who enjoy the presumption of innocence. That, too, is an element of the rule of law.
So, Garland can’t really defend himself — but I can. And while I don’t know the facts underlying the search, I do know this: The attorney general did not authorize a search of the home of a former president — and I presume he was at least informed of a decision of that magnitude — unless he was doubly certain the action was justified.
Garland is the opposite of a cowboy; he is more inclined to worry an issue to death than to shoot from the hip. He is a stickler for procedure; if anything, his missteps at the department have been to hew too closely to department norms and stick to positions adopted under the Trump administration.
More fundamentally, there can be no accusation more unfair than that Garland, of all people, is introducing politics into the Justice Department. He began at the department in 1979 as an aide to then-Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti, helping write rules adopted in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal to govern contacts between the White House and Justice Department and were designed to insulate the department against improper political influence.
His tenure as attorney general has been aimed at repairing the damage to the department inflicted during the Trump years, reaffirming the norms “that like cases be treated alike. That there not be one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans,” as he said in his first speech to department employees.
We’ve all become inured to Trumpian gaslighting. The portrayal of Garland as the great politicizer is something worse. It’s a smear of a man who has devoted his career to ensuring the opposite. | 2022-08-10T19:47:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Ruth Marcus: Merrick Garland cannot be 'weaponized' - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/merrick-garland-trump-search/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/merrick-garland-trump-search/ |
About The Monkey Cage
Analysis by John Sides
January 1, 2019 at 2:32 p.m. EST
What is The Monkey Cage?
“Democracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage.” — H.L. Mencken
The Monkey Cage’s mission is to connect political scientists and the political conversation by creating a compelling forum, developing publicly focused scholars, and building an informed audience. Using the discipline’s research, we help make sense of the circus that is politics.
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Henry Farrell is the SNF Agora Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He studies trust, the politics of the Internet, and international and comparative political economy. His recent book is The Political Economy of Trust. Follow him on Twitter @henryfarrell.
John Sides is a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. He specializes in public opinion, voting, and American elections. His books include Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America. He has also written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, the New York Daily News, Salon, Boston Review, and Bloomberg View. Follow him on Twitter @johnmsides.
Sarah Binder is a professor of political science at George Washington University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She has authored or co-authored four books on legislative politics, and she has a mild obsession with congressional rules, the history of Congress, and the Fed. Follow her on Twitter at @bindersab.
Nadia E. Brown is a professor of government and the director of Women’s and Gender Studies at Georgetown University. She is the author of the award-winning Sisters in the Statehouse: Black Women and Legislative Decision Making and co-author, with Danielle Lemi, of Sister Style: The Politics of Appearance for Black Women Political Elites. She is the lead editor of Politics, Groups and Identities. Follow her on Twitter @BrownPhDGirl.
Kim Yi Dionne is associate professor of political science at the University of California, Riverside. She studies public opinion, political behavior, and policy aimed at improving the human condition, with a focus on African countries. She is the author of Doomed Interventions: The Failure of Global Responses to AIDS in Africa. She has also written for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and Africa is a Country. Follow her on Twitter at @dadakim.
Stacie E. Goddard is professor of political science and director of the Madeleine K. Albright Institute at Wellesley College. She is currently a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute. Her research focuses on issues of international security, especially great power competition and its effects on international institutions. Her most recent book, When Right Makes Might: Rising Powers and World Order, was published by Cornell Studies in Security Affairs in 2018. Follower her on Twitter at @segoddard.
Amanda Hollis-Brusky is an associate professor of politics at Pomona College. She studies the United States Supreme Court, constitutional change and development, executive power, and the conservative legal movement. Her books include Ideas with Consequences: The Federalist Society and the Conservative Counterrevolution. She has also written for The Los Angeles Times, Politico, Newsweek, and The Washington Post. Follow her on Twitter at @HollisBrusky.
Marc Lynch is professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. His books include The New Arab Wars, The Arab Uprising, Voices of the New Arab Public, and State Interests and Public Spheres. He is also director of the Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS) and a nonresident senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Program. In 2016 he was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Follow him on Twitter at @abuaardvark.
Bryn Rosenfeld is an assistant professor of government at Cornell University. She studies the politics of Russia and other former Soviet countries, political behavior, and democratization. She is the author of The Autocratic Middle Class: How State Dependency Reduces the Demand for Democracy. Follow her on Twitter at @brynrosenfeld.
Elizabeth Saunders is an associate professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She studies U.S. foreign policy and international security, especially the role of leaders, the presidency, and the politics of using force. She is the author of Leaders at War: How Presidents Shape Military Interventions. Follow her on Twitter at @ProfSaunders.
Laura Seay is an assistant professor of government at Colby College. She studies African politics, conflict, and development, with a focus on central Africa. She has also written for Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, Guernica, and Al Jazeera English. Follow her on Twitter at @texasinafrica.
Christopher Stout is an associate professor at in the School of Public Policy at Oregon State University. He studies the racial and ethnic politics, political behavior, political communication, public opinion, and representation. He is the author of the books Bringing Race Back In: Black Politicians, Deracialization, and Voting Behavior in the Age of Obama and The Case for Identity Politics: Polarization, Demographic Change, and Racial Appeals. Follow him on Twitter at @christophestout.
Joshua Tucker (currently on leave from TMC) is a professor of politics and an affiliated professor of Russian and Slavic studies and data science at New York University. He is the director of the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia and the co-director of the NYU Center for Social Media and Politics and the Social Media and Political Participation (SMaPP) Lab. He is the author of Regional Economic Voting and the co-author of Communism’s Shadow. Follow him on Twitter @j_a_tucker.
Jeremy Wallace is an associate professor of government at Cornell University. He studies Chinese politics, authoritarianism and ideology. He is the author of Cities and Stability: Urbanization, Redistribution, and Regime Survival in China. Follow him on Twitter at @jerometenk.
Jessica Chen Weiss (currently on leave from TMC) is an associate professor of government at Cornell University. She studies Chinese politics and international relations in the Asia-Pacific. She is the author of Powerful Patriots: Nationalist Protest in China’s Foreign Relations. Follow her on Twitter at @jessicacweiss.
E.J. Graff
Vanessa Lide
Gihane Askar
Larry Bartels (Vanderbilt University)
Erica Chenoweth (Harvard University)
Stephen Benedict Dyson (University of Connecticut)
Chris Federico (University of Minnesota)
Andrew Gelman (Columbia University)
Jason Lyall (Dartmouth College)
Andrew Rudalevige (Bowdoin College)
Erik Voeten (Georgetown University) | 2022-08-10T19:47:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | About The Monkey Cage - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/10/about-monkey-cage/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/10/about-monkey-cage/ |
By Margaret Newkirk | Bloomberg
Stacey Abrams, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Georgia, speaks during a news conference on Georgia’s economy in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. Abrams highlighted her plans to create jobs, expand opportunity and grow Georgia’s economy — all without raising taxes. (Bloomberg)
Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams unveiled a plan to deploy the largest budget surplus in state history, saying Republican Governor Brian Kemp has no vision for the windfall other than handing out checks to residents in an election year.
In a speech at an Atlanta brewery Tuesday night, Abrams said Georgia has a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to invest in itself. The money -- $5 billion in surplus plus another $2.3 billion in federal Covid-19 relief funds -- should be invested in education, infrastructure, law enforcement, small business opportunities and rural communities, she said. Georgia also has a $4.3 billion rainy day fund.
As she did when she unsuccessfully ran against Kemp four years ago, Abrams promised to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. She pledged to push for a constitutional amendment to allow casino and sports gambling in the state, to create a permanent source of new revenue. She said no tax increases would be required.
“Hear me clearly,” Abrams said. “We don’t have to raise taxes. All we have to do is raise our expectations of those who lead us.”
The speech marked a new attack on Kemp on what has been his strongest advantage in the nation’s most-watched gubernatorial race. Kemp has emphasized the health of Georgia’s economy almost to the exclusion of any other issue, touting its 2.9% unemployment rate and new manufacturing, including a Hyundai Motor Co. plant, coming to the state.
In a statement, Kemp’s campaign press secretary, Tate Mitchell, called the speech “an hour of hot air and empty words from a desperate candidate” whose plans would cost billions. “She’s coming for your wallet to pay for it all,” Mitchell said.
Kemp has used some of the state’s budget windfall to cut checks to Georgians and plans to do it again this week.
On Thursday, the governor will announce his second $1 billion in tax rebates, along with an additional $1 billion allocation to local governments to reduce homeowners’ property taxes, according to people familiar with the plan who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak before the announcement.
Abrams has said she supports $1 billion in tax rebates, too. She also supports Kemp’s suspension of the state gas tax, although she wants Kemp to suspend it until the end of the year: Kemp makes news monthly by extending the suspension another month.
Abrams, a former Georgia House minority leader and nationally known voting-rights advocate, narrowly lost to Kemp in 2018, when he was secretary of state. Although she has out-raised him in campaign money so far this year, she has been trailing him in most polls in the rematch. The race is ranked a toss-up by RealClear Politics. | 2022-08-10T21:18:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Abrams, Kemp Duel Over Budget Surplus in Georgia Governor’s Race - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/abrams-kemp-duel-over-budget-surplus-in-georgia-governors-race/2022/08/10/f38bc2f4-18e9-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/abrams-kemp-duel-over-budget-surplus-in-georgia-governors-race/2022/08/10/f38bc2f4-18e9-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
Environmentalists worry disturbing the ecosystem in pursuit of fossil fuels could produce up to three years worth of global carbon dioxide output
Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens as Democratic Republic of Congo Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula speaks during a news conference in Kinshasa. (Pool/Reuters)
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — The United States will work with local leaders here in the Congo River basin to ensure that planned fossil fuel extraction won’t result in a climate catastrophe, U.S. officials said this week, echoing environmentalists who fear the project will undermine efforts to combat global warming.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, was aimed partly at advocating protection of a vast rainforest and carbon-rich peatland as the country moves to auction nearly 30 oil and gas blocks. The brief stop coincided with Blinken’s tour of three African nations, an itinerary intended to promote partnerships with the United States as Russia and China make inroads on the continent.
Environmentalists are particularly worried about the potential destruction of the flooded forest, an area larger than England, where the mud measures up to 30-feet deep. They have warned that disturbing the ecosystem could set off a “carbon bomb,” representing up to three years worth of global carbon dioxide output.
While the Biden administration remains concerned about the ability of Congolese officials to oversee the auction and ensure it does not lead to significant environmental damage, U.S. officials say they are not pressing the government of President Félix Tshisekedi to forego the initiative entirely.
One of the world’s five poorest countries, the DRC is in dire need of jobs and income as its economy rebounds from the coronavirus pandemic.
“We appreciate the short-term economic challenges confronting the Congo,” Blinken said in a news conference Tuesday alongside his Congolese counterpart. “By conserving irreplaceable forests and other ecosystems and by undertaking development projects only after carrying out rigorous environmental impact assessments, the DRC can act on behalf of all the world’s people to protect our shared home.”
Together with the DRC’s neighbor, the Republic of Congo, the area represents the world’s largest tropical peatland. The surrounding tropical rainforest is the world’s second largest, after the Amazon.
Many industrialized nations drained their peatlands to make way for agriculture long ago and now are asking other countries to forego doing the same.
As alarm grows about the potential impact of steps to disturb or drain the peatlands, state and private donors pledged at last year’s COP26 summit to provide at least $1.5 billion toward protecting the Congo basin forest and peatlands. Advocates say much more is needed, however.
DRC Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula said his government would work to protect biodiversity and the climate but must also address the needs of its people, most of whom live on less than $2 a day.
“Today, the DRC finds paradox that … the DRC is rich, is a wealthy country, but with a very poor population,” he said, speaking to reporters after the visiting diplomat’s meetings at Tshisekedi’s sprawling presidential compound along the Congo River.
“The challenge is to find an equilibrium, a balance between the well-being of Congolese people and also the necessity to guarantee … a development framework [and] an ecological framework,” Lutundula said.
The DRC’s long history of corruption has stymied other conservation efforts in the past and raised additional concerns about the plan to auction off energy blocks. Last year, the Tshisekedi government lifted a long-standing moratorium on new logging licenses, a move decried by environmentalists.
Blinken said the United States understood that the Congolese people were wary of involvement by foreign nations or companies.
“Too often, African nations have been treated as instruments of other nations’ progress rather than as authors of their own progress. Resources have been exploited for other countries’ gains,” he said. “That is not what the United States will do. We don’t want a one-sided transactional relationship. Instead, we want to work with you on shared priorities in pursuit of shared goals.”
Climate change is killing more elephants than poaching, Kenyan officials say
Blinken spoke a day after he unveiled the Biden administration’s new strategy for Africa, a blueprint governed by a desire to develop partnerships with African nations that modernize the historic donor-recipient dynamic and jointly develop means to address challenges like climate change. The strategy comes as China deepens its economic influence on the continent, and Russia sends arms and mercenaries.
He said the two countries would form a working group on the DRC’s planned rainforest exploitation that would seek to achieve a “responsible” development of fossil fuel, potentially providing a means for the United States to help the DRC conduct ecological analysis of various options. The working group would not have decision-making power over which firms are selected to extract oil and gas, officials said.
Blinken said Tshisekedi had committed to conducting thorough environmental impact assessments.
Another chief objective of Blinken’s visit was to press for a credible presidential election in 2023. The last presidential elections, in 2018, resulted in the first peaceful transfer of power in the DRC’s history.
Blinken on Wednesday met with the head of the country’s electoral commission. After the meeting, he referenced the arrest of an opposition leader, Jean-Marc Kabund, allegedly for calling Tshisekedi a “danger.”
Speaking to reporters, Blinken called the arrest “a possible setback” in the lead-up to the election and said he had raised the incident with Congolese officials. “We are concerned about any steps taken that could actually reduce the political space,” he said. | 2022-08-10T21:18:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Blinken urges preservation of Congo rain forest, citing climate change - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/10/congo-rain-forest-fossil-fuel/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/10/congo-rain-forest-fossil-fuel/ |
5 factors that will drive the midterms
Mandela Barnes leaves after casting his vote on Election Day in Milwaukee on Aug. 9. Barnes won the Democratic nomination to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate. (Ebony Cox/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)
1The president
2The economy
3Abortion
4Republican extremism
5Donald Trump
There are still some important primaries left on the calendar. Among other things, we’ll learn whether Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) will stay in Congress, which Democratic House members from New York will survive their post-redistricting free-for-all and which Democrats will face Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida.
But with less than three months remaining until the general election, the issues determining this most important midterm election are pretty much set. Let’s break them down:
Feelings about the person in the White House always dominate midterm elections, though the president’s party almost always loses seats no matter how they’re doing. On one hand, opinions of President Biden have been pretty poor for some time; he’s been hovering around 40 percent approval, and sometimes less.
On the other hand, the president is on a remarkable winning streak in Congress, having signed or is preparing to sign legislation on guns, expanding NATO, promoting high-tech manufacturing, climate and taxes, and veterans benefits. Even if people haven’t directly felt the results yet, if nothing else, this sudden burst of legislating is likely to mitigate the feeling among progressive Democrats that Biden is a disappointment and that it isn’t worth going to the polls to support him and his party.
Though the venomous loathing Republicans have for Biden doesn’t seem to have changed, at the moment there’s a disconnect between his ratings and people’s voting intentions. As many voters say they’ll choose a Democrat for House as will pick a Republican, while Republicans had been ahead on that question for months.
All of which is to say, we don’t really know how feelings about Biden will affect the results, and it’s possible this year could be an outlier in that the president’s party will do relatively well even as he remains unpopular.
We just learned that inflation for the month of July compared to the previous month was essentially zero, which means we might have reached the peak of this round of inflation. Gas prices have already started coming down; the national average has now fallen below $4 a gallon for the first time since March.
That doesn’t mean prices aren’t still high, but when it comes to the economy, it’s often not whether things are good or bad in some objective sense that matters most to elections, but rather whether they seem to be getting better or getting worse. The more inflation is moving in the right direction, the less voters may feel an urgent need to punish officeholders for it.
No one should have been surprised that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, but many were shocked that voters in conservative Kansas turned away a ballot initiative that would have allowed legislators to eliminate abortion rights. A measure to protect those rights will probably be on the ballot in the key state of Michigan, and Democratic candidates around the country are stressing the issue in their advertising.
Republican extremism
In state after state, Republicans have nominated election saboteurs, conspiracy theorists and shameless Trump lickspittles to key offices. In some states, they’ve nominated what is essentially an all-fanatic ticket. In Arizona, for instance, gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake has based her campaign on the idea that the 2020 election was stolen, while secretary of state nominee Mark Finchem is literally a member of the far-right Oath Keepers.
Democrats are certainly trying to make extremism a voting issue, but because we’ve never had an election with this many real extremists on the ballot, it’s hard to know how much of a difference it will make. But one of the ways campaigns have changed in recent years is that offices up and down the ballot have been nationalized: People are more aware than ever that when you vote for a member of Congress, you’re voting for their party even more than you’re voting for that individual.
It’s common to hear that when the former president becomes an issue, he “distracts” from the news Democrats would rather focus on, such as the legislation they’ve passed. But there’s little reason to think Trump being in the news does any favors for Republicans. When do we hear about him these days? Because he’s being investigated, or because he said something horrifying, or because he continues to obsess over his petty grievances. There are no news stories about Trump doing something good.
And there’s no question that Trump is the greatest turnout motivator Democrats have ever had. As long as he seems like an active threat, the more likely Democratic voters will go to the polls.
The big picture here is that there is one issue that likely favors Republicans (inflation), while pretty much everything else favors Democrats. Barring some new crisis emerging in the next couple of months, this is what voters will have on their minds when they cast their ballots. And unlike in most midterm elections, we genuinely have no idea what will happen. | 2022-08-10T21:18:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Now we know what the midterm elections will be about - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/midterm-elections-biden-inflation-abortion-extremism-trump/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/midterm-elections-biden-inflation-abortion-extremism-trump/ |
The Washington Post unveils a #BringAustinHome banner on the exterior of Post headquarters. (Maansi Srivastava/The Washington Post)
President Biden on Wednesday demanded that the Syrian government release freelance journalist and Washington Post contributor Austin Tice, saying that the United States knows “with certainty” that he is being held by their government 10 years after he was abducted.
This week marks a decade since Tice, who served in the United States Marine Corps and was also a journalist who had been working and covering the conflict in Syria, was abducted in Damascus on Aug. 14, 2012, days after his 31st birthday. He is one of the longest held American hostages.
Transcript: American Hostage with Debra & Marc Tice, Parents of Austin Tice
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has not acknowledged that his government detained Tice, and other top Syrian officials have denied having custody or any information about him. But Biden made clear in his statement that the United States believes the Syrian government has Tice, and the ability to release him.
“I am calling on Syria to end this and help us bring him home,” Biden said. “There is no higher priority in my Administration than the recovery and return of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad. We must name them, keep them in our hearts and our minds, and make their recovery and return a priority.”
In his statement, Biden alluded to a meeting he held in early May with Tice’s parents, Marc and Debra, saying he pledged to them to try to secure their son’s release. | 2022-08-10T21:18:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Biden says Austin Tice held by Syria, demands his release - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/biden-austin-tice/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/biden-austin-tice/ |
President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Jan. 23, 2018. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
There are not many people who know exactly why FBI agents searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday. The FBI knows, certainly, and the former president and his attorneys probably have a good sense as well, given that they saw the search warrant. Everyone else is operating on what’s been revealed by Trump’s team and public reporting: The FBI search was largely or entirely a function of the investigation into Trump’s retention of documents after leaving the White House.
We know that he did, by his own admission. This year, a number of boxes of material were turned over to the National Archives. Included in that material were some that were classified. On Monday, the FBI removed another dozen boxes, with speculation rampant that more of that material was similarly restricted.
If Trump is found to have violated federal law in removing and retaining classified documents without authorization, he could be convicted of a felony punishable by five years in prison. And that conviction would be a felony carrying that punishment because of a law signed by President Donald Trump.
Trump’s 2016 campaign was intertwined with a similar question. His Democratic opponent, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, had been found to have operated a private email server that she used for official business — including, the FBI determined, some that was classified. Trump and his allies pushed for Clinton to face criminal charges but in July 2016, FBI Director James B. Comey announced that the FBI wouldn’t seek an indictment. Trump was furious, but he won anyway.
During his first year in office, a central tool used for surveillance by the intelligence community — Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act — was set to expire. Shortly before it did, Congress passed an extension of the authority for another five years.
But that didn’t come without turmoil. Trump came into office angry at the intelligence community for revealing to reporters that it believed Russia had interfered in the 2016 election. He excoriated intelligence agencies on Twitter — and continued to do so as the contours of the investigation into that interference became clear.
On the day that the House was set to vote on the reauthorization, Trump complained on Twitter:
“House votes on controversial FISA ACT today.” This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?
(That initial phrase is in quotes because Trump, characteristically, was responding to something he saw on Fox News.)
The tweet freaked out advocates of the extension. A few hours later, he tweeted his support and it passed. On Jan. 18, 2018, he signed it into law.
What became law was S. 139. It had been introduced by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) as the Rapid DNA Act of 2017. But sometimes Congress hollows out existing legislation and replaces it entirely with other legislation to move the process forward more quickly. So S. 139 was replaced with H.R. 4478, which extended Section 702 for another five years.
It also had a stipulation editing 18 U.S. Code §1924. It originally read:
With Trump’s signing S. 139 into law, that became: “ … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.” And with that, it became a felony.
You can see how Trump absconding with classified material to Mar-a-Lago would facially violate the law as articulated. So Trump’s allies have already been offering a rationalization: He had declassified everything he took to Mar-a-Lago.
In an interview on Fox News Tuesday night, former Trump administration official Kash Patel made this case.
“What I can tell you definitively is that President Trump was a transparency president,” Patel said when asked if there was any classified material at Trump’s Florida estate. “And time and time again … we tried to get all of it out. And President Trump, on multiple occasions at the White House, declassified whole sets of documents. Including — I remind you and your audience that around October of 2020, he issued a statement from the White House declassifying every document related to not just the Russiagate scandal, but also the Hillary Clinton email scandal.”
Trump did, in fact, order the wholesale declassification of a number of documents related to those investigations, including on the day before he left office. At that point, though, the order was to declassify documents that had been cleared by the FBI a few days prior.
In an interview with Breitbart in May (at the time reports about classified material at Mar-a-Lago first emerged), Patel made a slightly different argument.
“Trump declassified whole sets of materials in anticipation of leaving government that he thought the American public should have the right to read themselves,” he said. “The White House counsel failed to generate the paperwork to change the classification markings, but that doesn’t mean the information wasn’t declassified.”
In other words, Trump declassified a bunch of stuff, even if there isn’t record of it. This obviously is very convenient — but also not completely ridiculous.
In 2017, on the day after he fired Comey, Trump welcomed senior Russian officials into the Oval Office for a meeting. During that discussion, he revealed to them classified information. That report spurred an unexpected defense as articulated by Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho) and others: The president has full authority to declassify things and can, in essence, do so on the fly. Fact-checkers considered this idea … and determined it to be largely accurate.
We’re trudging toward a very gray area here, clearly, but it is conceivable that Trump’s defense against his potential possession of classified material at Mar-a-Lago may be that he declassified it while still president, even if no formal record of the declassification was made. This introduces a slew of other questions, since that material would now presumably be publicly available in some form.
“The president has unilateral authority to declassify documents — anything in government,” Patel told Breitbart. “He exercised it here in full.”
Patel was one of the administration’s most loyal defenders during Trump’s presidency. As a staffer to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Patel was intimately involved in the congressman’s fervent effort to push back against the investigation into Russian interference. Nunes was also a critic of Clinton’s handling of her email server, suggesting at one point in 2016 that he hoped “the irresponsible handling of classified information documented by the FBI will be considered if any of these individuals currently possesses a security clearance or applies for one in the future.”
H.R. 4478, the legislation that became S. 139 and which escalated the punishment for the retention of classified material, was introduced in the House by Nunes.
Analysis: Two gut checks on GOP talk of a 2022 red wave | 2022-08-10T21:18:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Citizen Trump may have broken a law that President Trump made a felony - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/trump-fbi-search-surveillance-law/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/trump-fbi-search-surveillance-law/ |
Natasha Cloud (right) and the Washington Mystics will take on Sue Bird and the Seattle Storm in the first round of the WNBA playoffs. (Terrance Williams for The Washington Post)
The Washington Mystics will have to send Sue Bird into retirement if they plan on advancing in the 2022 WNBA playoffs. They’ll also have to knock off an MVP favorite and a former MVP who unceremoniously left Washington during the offseason.
The only first-round matchup clinched so far will pit the Mystics and Seattle Storm next week with the final seeding and date to be determined.
“Yeah, I don’t think we care,” Elena Delle Donne said about the additional hoopla. “For us, it’s like, head down, focus. What do we need to do to be successful?
“All the storylines and all that, they’re huge and great for them. But for us it’s like, let’s stay focused. There’s really nothing that can take us out of our focus and mind-set at this point. Let’s stay locked in on what we need to.”
The first-round matchup was set after the Connecticut Sun (23-11) defeated the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday night. The Sun holds the tiebreaker over the Storm (21-13) and cannot fall further than the No. 3 playoff slot. That leaves the Storm and Mystics (20-14) in the No. 4 and No. 5 spot, in some order.
The Mystics have to win their final two games — both against the Indiana Fever (5-29) — and have the Storm lose its final two games against the Minnesota Lynx and Las Vegas Aces to leapfrog into the No. 4 seed. Otherwise, the Storm will host the Mystics for the first two games of the three-game series as Seattle holds the tiebreaker over the Mystics.
“[Home-court advantage is] important, but if we don’t get it, it ain’t,” Ariel Atkins said. “We’re out here to win.”
The Storm rolled the Mystics, 85-71, on June 23 in the teams’ lone meeting in Seattle this season, in Bird’s first home game after announcing her plans to retire after the season. The two teams met in Washington for a back-to-back at the end of July and the Storm won the first, 82-77, to clinch the tiebreaker. Delle Donne hit a half-hook through contact from former Mystic Tina Charles with 46.5 seconds left to secure a 78-75 win in the second game.
Up first, however, is a pair of games against last-place Indiana.
“[It’s] in the back of your mind because your staff starts doing preparation,” Coach Mike Thibault said. “It’s interesting, in practicing for this weekend, there are some things that both teams do, Seattle and Indiana, defensively that will serve us well.
“Because ironically, the defense that Seattle plays, a lot of it is instilled from Coach [Gary] Kloppenburg when he was there, and he’s now the defensive coach in Indiana. So we’ll see some similar things. And so that’s probably helpful in our preparation, too.”
The matchup will showcase the top two defensive teams in the WNBA as Washington leads the league with opponents scoring 75.8 points per game while Seattle allows 77.8. The Mystics are the No. 1 team in defensive rating (95.8) with the Storm at No. 3 (96.9).
Storm forward Breanna Stewart is in an MVP race with Aces forward A’ja Wilson as she’s averaging 22 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.7 steals and one block. The only other player in WNBA history to average 21-plus points, 6-plus rebounds, 2-plus assists, 1-plus steal and 1-plus blocks was Stewart in 2018, when she won her MVP award.
“She’s just so versatile,” said the Mystics’ Alysha Clark, who played five seasons with Stewart in Seattle. “I think her versatility is the reason why she’s continuously been in the running for MVP. Just because she’s able to do a lot of things. This year you see her more mid-post, midrange a lot more. And obviously she’s shooting at a really high percentage.
“So I think that just takes it up another notch. That’s what makes her so tough and one of the best players in the world, it’s just that she’s just so versatile and can score from all levels.”
The Mystics signed guard Jazmine Jones on Tuesday to add some emergency depth on the perimeter. The 6-foot Louisville product was the No. 12 overall pick to the New York Liberty in 2020 and averaged 10.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals as a rookie. She shot a career-high 38.3 percent from behind the arc in 2021. Jones was waived by the Liberty in February, picked up and waived by the Fever before signing three seven-day contracts and playing seven games with the Sun this season.
Forward Myisha Hines-Allen missed practice Tuesday as she was being tested to see whether she will be placed in the health and safety protocol.
“Insurance,” Thibault said about signing Jones. “We couldn’t have signed anybody until today cap-wise. We got ourselves under the cap today for the rest of the season. So we’ve been trying to figure how to have some insurance at guard. We debated about some people that really haven’t played in the league versus somebody who’s played in a playoff game and knows what the league’s about.
“[She] can defend. She may never play. I don’t know. But it’s a way to have insurance that we felt like we needed and a 12-person roster.” | 2022-08-10T21:19:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Mystics locked into WNBA playoff matchup with Storm - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/mystics-storm-wnba-playoffs/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/mystics-storm-wnba-playoffs/ |
Transcript: Across the Aisle with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Rep. Ann Kuster (D-N.H.)
MS. CALDWELL: Hello. Welcome to Washington Post Live. I’m Leigh Ann Caldwell. I’m an anchor here at Washington Post Live and also co-author of the Early 202 newsletter. Today is another edition of “Across the Aisle,” where we aim to bring members of both parties, Republican and Democrat, to talk about things that they are getting done, things that are passing Congress in a bipartisan manner. Today, we have with us one Republican House member, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and a House member of the Democratic Party, Representative Annie Kuster. Thank you both so much for joining us today.
REP. KUSTER: Great to be with you, Leigh Ann.
REP. FITZPATRICK: Thanks.
MS. CALDWELL: And to our audience, feel free to join in this conversation by tweeting at us at @PostLive and we will try to get in your questions.
So today we are talking a 30-minute conversation about mental health. But first I have to talk about news of the day. And, Congresswoman Kuster, I want to ask you about this FBI search of Donald Trump. Are you concerned that this search of Mar-a-Lago is politicizing the FBI?
REP. KUSTER: Well, I'm dying to hear Brian's experience on that, because he's actually I think the only member of Congress that’s served in the FBI, and I really admire his service. Look, this search warrant was signed by a federal judge. And I know that the folks at the Department of Justice are very reticent to get involved in political--politicization of the Department of Justice or the FBI. But if a crime has been committed, I think we need to count on our law enforcement officials to get to the bottom of it, to get the evidence of that crime. No one is above the law. And I think that's the important premise. We don't know all the details yet. More will come. But I have confidence that this was signed by a federal judge I believe appointed by the former president. And Christopher Ray, the head of the FBI, was appointed by the former president. So, this is not political.
MS. CALDWELL: Congressman Fitzpatrick, as the congresswoman said, you are the only member, former member of the FBI. Does the FBI make political decisions?
REP. FITZPATRICK: Well, I didn't experience it certainly, Leigh Ann, when I was there. That's why I've always been a big supporter of the of the bureau. However, this is an unprecedented action, and it better have been met with unprecedented justification. And in order to make that assessment, we need the FBI and the DOJ to address it publicly because there's a lot festering out there, certainly in my community and across America right now.
And we need to do that because decisions you make in any case, particularly a case of this magnitude, doesn't just impact that case. It impacts cases across all divisions of the FBI. It affects counterterrorism cases, counterintelligence cases, cybersecurity cases, because the FBI, in order to do their job, in order for the DOJ to do their job, they need the support of the public. They need the cooperation of the public. There is nothing more important as my job as an FBI agent than was to recruit sources, recruit people that would introduce our undercovers into criminal networks. And also, when you knock on somebody's door, just as a random witness that when they see the FBI credentials and badge, they respect it, they invite you in and they share information with you. When you lose that aspect of the job, it makes our country less safe. So, I think it's incumbent upon all of us, number one, obviously, to reserve judgment until we know all the facts.
But that being said, Leigh Ann, I'm very concerned about this step, because it's not just a step for this case. It's a precedent setting step that needs the justification to back it up. And DOJ needs to speak to what that justification is, and I'm concerned as to whether or not they have it at the moment.
MS. CALDWELL: Do you expect them to? Is it common practice for them to?
REP. KUSTER: Leigh Ann, I would say--
REP. FITZPATRICK: I’m sorry, Leigh Ann?
MS. CALDWELL: I was going to say is it common practice for the Department of Justice or the FBI to provide justification? Should we expect that soon?
REP. FITZPATRICK: Well, I think they need to address whatever they can. Certainly, they're not going to release any law enforcement sensitive or classified information. They cannot do that legally. But there are things they can say that can at least answer some of the questions around the periphery of this right now, that at least provide some context to what's going on. Again, this is not a run of the mill case. This is an extraordinary circumstance that I think requires a very different type of response.
REP. KUSTER: And, Leigh Ann, I just want to add that Brian and I can find common ground even on this. And it is unprecedented. And I think what's unprecedented was this president, the former president taking the documents to Mar-a-Lago. You know, typically these types of things would have been worked out with legal counsel. And I think one thing the president himself, the former president could make the search warrant public. They have a copy of that. And I think that would go a long way to answering questions about what this is about. But Brian, and I certainly can agree this is unprecedented. And I also share his concern not to politicize the FBI. We do need to keep the FBI integrity in mind, the DOJ integrity in mind. But lack of police enforcement of our laws is also a political act. So again, no one is above the law.
MS. CALDWELL: Congressman, I want to ask you about a member of the Mental Health Task Force. There are four members who lead this Mental Health Task Force. You two and then one is Jaime Herrera Beutler of Massachusetts--or I'm sorry, of Washington, and she lost her primary. The results she conceded last night in her primary to someone who ran to her right. Of course, she is someone who voted to impeach the former president. She is also someone who voted to certify the election on January 6.
So, Congresswoman, first to you. Is it--a lot of people who take a similar path as the congresswoman, Jaime Herrera Beutler, working across the aisle, voting to certify the election, are not going to be back in Congress next year. Are you concerned that it will make it more difficult to find common ground with members across the aisle not only on issues of mental health, but on other issues too?
REP. KUSTER: Well, first, let me just start with my tremendous respect for Jaime. She was a friend. She was a colleague. And Brian and I were both very grateful when she agreed to serve. We have four co-chairs--David Trone from Maryland is the other Democratic co-chair of our Bipartisan Addiction and Mental Health Task Force.
I enjoyed working with Jaime. I enjoy her as a person. My brother lives near her. She and I have had a number of conversations about mental health and substance misuse in her district and in Washington state. And I am concerned about the direction of Congress if very extreme people winning primaries end up getting elected to Congress. I think Congress gets more done in the middle with people like Brian and myself and Jaime and David Trone working together. And we're excited to talk with you about the progress that we've made on mental health and addiction. So yes, I'm disappointed that Jaime just barely, barely didn't make it through that primary. It's a top two system. She came in number three by just literally hundreds of votes. I was watching the count until late into the night hoping that she would make it.
MS. CALDWELL: And, Congressman Fitzpatrick, like Herrera Beutler, you are also someone who voted to certify the election on January 6. Are you concerned that a lot of people who refuse to deny the results of the 2020 election are losing their seats? Does it make it harder for you in Congress and to maintain your position?
REP. FITZPATRICK: Well, it just--it amplifies the importance of the work Annie and I are doing across the aisle on this critical issue of addiction and mental health. But to your point, Leigh Ann, yes, I am concerned. Two vice chairs of the Problem Solvers Caucus, one on the--on the Republican side, Jaime Herrera Beutler, she’s my vice chair of the Problem Solvers as well--and a Democrat vice chair, Kurt Schrader, both lost their primaries in the past six weeks, one to someone running to Jaime's right, someone running to Kurt's left. So sure, I'm concerned about it because we need bridge builders in Congress. And you know, we always extend an invitation to everybody, all of our colleagues, to join us in that cause of centrism and not extremism, because that's the only thing that will keep the fabric of our democracy together. Our country survived 246 years. It's the great American experiment. Ben Franklin said to that young paperboy that came up to him--after the Constitutional Convention when he said, "Sir, what kind of government have you given us?" He said, Ben Franklin said, "A republic, if you can keep it," because they knew they created this brilliant system of government, but how fragile this system of government was. And the Constitution itself is a product of compromise. We forget that. Our country was founded on compromise. Our country can only be sustained by compromise as well. And we need people in Congress willing to do that.
MS. CALDWELL: I could talk about how Congress has changed and the makeup of Congress all day, but I do really want to talk about what we are here for, which is the mental health legislation that passed Congress, at least the House earlier this year, with over 400 votes, which is something that doesn't happen very often.
Congresswoman Kuster, you know, what this legislation does, I'm just going to tick off a couple of things. It reduces barriers for treatment for opioids. It provides Medicaid for--access for children in schools to have some mental health coverage. There's grants for depression and suicide screening. Can you talk to me a little bit about how important this legislation is? And has the country, the United States not been doing enough in this area of mental health and drug addiction?
REP. KUSTER: Well, yes. The answer is we have not been doing enough. And particularly when you add in two and a half years of the COVID pandemic, what I'm sure Brian is seeing in his district, certainly what I see in my district, is tremendous anxiety. I call it almost free-floating anxiety right now, where families could not protect their loved ones during the pandemic, or took great effort. Here in New Hampshire, 80 percent of our deaths--we have over 2,000 deaths--were seniors in nursing homes and the heartbreak that that causes to families knowing that grandparents have died, parents have died. You look at children in schools, and the whole issue around vaccines and masking and just trying to keep our families safe. Add to that gun violence in our schools, in our grocery stores. Online predators, we find there's a great deal of influence among teens from online predators, sexual assault in our military and in our colleges and in our schools and in our sports teams. So, there's just a lot of anxiety, depression. Much of it does relate to trauma.
I've also started a bipartisan task force to end sexual violence because of the trauma that can plague people later in life with mental health and addiction issues. So, this bill was extremely important before but even more important coming out of COVID.
MS. CALDWELL: Congressman Fitzpatrick, the congresswoman just talked about the COVID pandemic. And following up on that, did the government, did the United States--were they attuned early enough into this pandemic of the mental health acts or problems that this pandemic would create? Were they too late to the game?
REP. FITZPATRICK: Well, we talked about that a lot in our task force. We always anticipated two phases of COVID, the first phase being the physical health risks and manifestation, and then the second wave, which we are now seeing, are the psychological and emotional health consequences, because Annie was spot on. I mean, we were making--I mean, we saw a steady increase over decades of both addiction and mental health challenges that we were starting to make some appreciable progress on pre-COVID. We saw some of the metrics start to level out. And when COVID hit, every box was checked as far as relapse goes--isolation, job loss, lack of availability for treatments, particularly those that were seeking inpatient treatment for both mental health and addiction. Those resources were no longer available, and they were facing economic challenges, and they're facing isolation. So, if you have those sort of precursors, and in addition to what Annie's talking about, depression and anxiety amongst especially our kids today is at an all-time high, which is a huge problem. We knew that this was going to be coming.
Now are we behind the eight ball? Yes, just like we were behind the eight ball with COVID-19 and dealing with the physical consequences and getting ahead of the curve from a science standpoint with masking and vaccinations and the like. But now we're dealing with the second equally important phase, and that is a psychological and emotional fallout from COVID-19.
MS. CALDWELL: Well, Congressman Fitzpatrick, just to follow up on that, how specifically is this legislation that passed--of course, it hasn't passed the Senate yet, so it's not signed into law--but what will it do to alleviate some of those problems that you just ticked through?
REP. FITZPATRICK: A couple of things starting with destigmatizing mental health and addiction. That is--that is a genesis that's the root cause of all this. For so long, people were struggling with addiction and mental health challenges that they were afraid to talk about, because it is stigmatized. In this country, we treat illnesses from the neck down very different than we treat illnesses from the neck up. And we have to take a whole of body approach. That's step one. And the key to that is destigmatizing, getting into schools early, teaching kids what substance use disorder is. It's not a moral failing. It's a--it's a genetic issue that people face and mental health challenges.
And second, Leigh Ann, is parity, parity in health insurance. If physical therapy is covered, mental health sessions ought to be covered. Parity in schools. If our schools are going through phys ed programs, as they should, they should have mental health education as well. We need parity across the board to treat mental health the same way we do physical health. And once we do that, we will destigmatize, and it will become a normal part of our healthcare system.
MS. CALDWELL: Congresswoman Kuster, you came to this issue. You have some personal experience with mental health issues in your family. Can you talk about that a little bit and how it has helped to inform you when crafting legislation?
REP. KUSTER: Well, I want to say I'm not alone in this. In fact, our co-chairs and many, many members that work with us--and, Leigh Ann, we have over 148 members of Congress on both sides of the aisle that have been involved with our bipartisan task force, many have personal experience. In my own case, it's my older brother that got involved with opioids after a series of hip surgeries several years ago. But Brian was spot on when he described the impact of COVID. My brother is in his 70s and when NA/AA treatment moved online, he relapsed, and this was very challenging for him. And so we need to destigmatize.
We also need to work on the access issues. And a big part of this package of legislation we passed in June was to address how to get medically assisted treatment to people in rural communities, such as the case with my brother in Washington state, so that people can get the support and the treatment they need to tackle their substance use disorder and to move forward in recovery.
We covered recovery housing in this bill, for example. That was another of the pieces of this comprehensive package that came from our task force. Making sure that providers are trained but don't have hurdles for prescribing what we call buprenorphine or Suboxone, that type of medication-assisted treatment. All of these pieces of medication assisted treatment. All of these pieces, whether it’s treatment, whether it's prevention, whether it's long-term recovery, each piece is very important. And as Brian says, breaking down the stigma is really one of the biggest pieces. And that's what our taskforce does both for our colleagues, and as we move forward in the policy.
MS. CALDWELL: As you mentioned, access is a huge issue also not just for addiction treatment, but also for mental health, too. I know people with means, with resources, and it's even hard for them to find access, especially for children.
Congresswoman, I want to follow up on that a little bit. Why is--why did you guys decide to pair two issues that are often looked as separate issues--drug addiction, opioid addiction, and mental health--into one comprehensive legislative piece and also way to look at this? Was that an important aspect?
REP. KUSTER: It was something that we learned over the years as we worked on this issue together and in our districts. It's called co-occurring illness. And what it is, is that frequently, for many people, if not most people, there is an underlying mental health or condition that almost leads to the substance use disorder. In other words, people end up self-medicating, if you will. And so there's a behavioral health component to this, as we've mentioned--anxiety, depression, but also I mentioned trauma. And what I found over and over again, in my district--and I'll give you an example, right before COVID, I visited the women's prison here in New Hampshire, our State Women's Prison. 100 percent of the women in our women's prison are survivors of either sexual assault--that was 75 percent--or domestic violence or abuse in their childhood. And they're dealing with this trauma without getting treatment. They haven't had trauma-informed care, either accessing therapy or group therapy. And so they find themselves self-medicating and getting involved with substance use disorder.
It can also happen from opioids. And we know from the Purdue pharma case and for much of the information that's come forward, that that's very common for people. So, we found that these go hand in hand, and they were best addressed together.
MS. CALDWELL: And I was going to go there, could talk about this a little bit down the road, but I'm sorry for the third question in a row, Congresswoman, but since you brought it up, you also have separate legislation about ensuring that prisoners have access to Medicaid so that they can get some access to mental health and drug treatment care. You know, is that--is that a problem in our prisons and is that exacerbated because there is not a lot of access to help?
REP. KUSTER: One hundred percent. And this was a real ah-ha moment for me, Leigh Ann, as I was working on this issue. We have a revolving door where we are not providing sufficient mental health and substance use treatment during incarceration so that when people come out, they tend to go right back to that addiction. They tend to get back into whether they may be in for selling drugs, for buying drugs, or it may be something related--you know, stealing or that type of thing. And what we don't do is help them to get better.
And I think what Brian and I and the members of our task force have recognized, this is--just like a medical problem, this is a mental health, sometimes physical problem related to addiction that can be treated effectively. But historically, because Medicaid was not available to people during incarceration, they for 50 years, all 50 states, they haven't had sufficient treatment and therapy. And we all act surprised when people come out. We're not surprised that they still have diabetes.
And so what I'm trying to do is provide that health care coverage, both mental health and substance use treatment. We have learned that medically assisted treatment is very effective, that people do recover, and they go on to be citizens that are paying their taxes, participating, taking care of their families, and being a part of our economy. And that's where I want to end up.
MS. CALDWELL: And, Congressman, as a former member of law enforcement, did you see the impacts of that firsthand, and can you describe that?
REP. FITZPATRICK: No doubt. And I applaud Annie for doing this work, because it's really, really important. Over 80 percent of inmates will be released. The recidivism rate remains high because our prison system in many ways has failed to realize the fact that 80 percent will be released and they're going to be part of the community again, and do we want to prepare them for that or not? And what Annie's touching upon is people that are put in prison that has substance use disorder, oftentimes, it was that substance use disorder that drove them to commit crimes in the first place that landed them there. So, we just need to take a very, very smart, commonsense approach towards how we view the correction system. So--and Annie's done a great job with that. I applaud her for doing that, and I'm proud to partner with her on it. But yes, I certainly saw that as well.
And, you know, we in law enforcement, you know, certainly the violations that I worked, we saw the impact that unaddressed mental health issues and unaddressed substance use issues had on the law enforcement system, because those were the people that--who fell through the cracks, who did not have the support system they needed, ended up on the wrong side of the law and ended up in the law enforcement system, in the prison system.
So, what we try to do--and you know, Annie, along with, with Jaime and David Trone, another phenomenal member of our group, are trying to take a holistic view that when we think about health care, it's not just physical health, it's mental health. And it's not just physical and mental health, but it's the social determinants of health. It's that 360-degree paradigm and addressing the ripple effect that if you don't address the cause, the root causes of health care, both physical and mental, that has a massive ripple effect throughout so many different parts of our life.
MS. CALDWELL: You have legislation, Congressman, also addressing suicide. So, I want to bring in a viewer question from Sarah Corcoran from Washington D.C. asks, in light of the recent launch of 988 as the three-digit code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, what are your legislative priorities to help implement it nationwide--or I'm going add to this a little bit--even more broadly, to address the increase of suicides in this country?
REP. FITZPATRICK: Yeah, Leigh Ann, so I just left the White House. I was at the signing of the PACT Act, which was a tremendous piece of legislation benefiting our veterans. And the president addressed I believe we're up to 17 veteran suicides every single day. And that's just in our veterans’ community. It's a huge issue. What do we do to implement this legislation? Number one, we have to fund it. We have to make sure that the funding resources are there for all, anybody who's administering this program at the federal, state, or local level. And second, and equally important, we have to market it. We have to let people know that this resource does exist, that there is a digit code that they can dial on their phone to get instant help, and oftentimes lifesaving help that they need. So, it's incredibly important. It feeds right into the mental health piece that Annie and I are working on. But it's another resource out there for people, because isolation, so many times it leads to suicide. Sometimes people have a support structure, sometimes they don't. And if we can provide a support structure for people that don't have it, even if we can save one life, it's worth it.
MS. CALDWELL: Congresswoman, what else does Congress need to do?
REP. KUSTER: Well, one of the issues just coming straight out of that--and I used to serve on the Veterans Affairs Committee before I went over to Energy and Commerce and all the health care work that we do--is that peer support is incredibly effective. And one of the sort of fundamental tenants of our package that we put together that passed the House in June is to put together treatment modalities that have been successful. So, I've talked about medically assisted treatment, also making therapy more accessible and available, and we have to address the workforce issues. So, we have some workforce components to this as more people are calling 988--and thank you to our caller for getting that number out for us--we need to make sure that when they're referred for therapy, that they can get a timely appointment, that somebody's not telling someone who's suicidal we can see you in six weeks, but they're saying we can see you tomorrow. And that's incredibly important, getting people in within 24 hours for that first warm handoff, that first contact.
So, there's a lot more that we can be doing. Right now, Brian and I are very focused on committing--convincing the Senate to take up our package that passed the House in June, in September. And we're having productive conversations with our colleague, Senator Patty Murray, who's the chair of the committee over there. I'm sure Brian's talking to his Republican colleagues as well. This is bipartisan, as you mentioned at the outset, such a strong vote in the House of Representatives. I remember jumping up and down saying that's the most bipartisan vote I've seen in this Congress. And I'm really thrilled with it.
MS. CALDWELL: Yeah, Congressman Fitzpatrick, who are you talking to in the Senate to get this done? And also, how did so many Republicans sign on to this legislation? What did you do?
REP. FITZPATRICK: Well, it's just a matter of I mean, David and Annie and Jaime, I mean, they all do a great job. We talked to our colleagues about this, but it didn't honestly, Leigh Ann, take a whole lot of convincing because I think anybody who's representing their district, spending time in their district sees it. They see it up close and personal. They're hearing the stories. They're going to funerals of people dying of overdoses. They're, you know, hearing from constituents who have to travel sometimes 100 miles or more to get access to mental health treatment, where they can go right around the corner if they need to see an orthopedic surgeon. So, it didn't take a whole lot of work, to be honest.
Who am I dealing with in the Senate? I talk to Kyrsten Sinema all the time about this. Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, they've been my main points of contact on this piece of legislation. And just like we've gotten a couple of big pieces of legislation across the finish line--the PACT Act, the CHIPS Act--we're going to try to drive this now. And we've had a good string of luck over in the Senate getting some of these pieces of legislation enough bipartisan support that it needs. And with those kind of numbers coming out of the House, you know, as Annie referenced, that sends a very strong message to the Senate. And it's a good signal that it will emerge from the Senate.
MS. CALDWELL: And we are unfortunately out of time. Congressman Fitzpatrick, Congresswoman Kuster, thank you both so much for joining me today talking about this very important issue.
REP. FITZPATRICK: Thanks for having us, Leigh Ann.
REP. KUSTER: Leigh Ann, thanks so much for the opportunity. We really appreciate the coverage and want to tell your viewers call the Senate; tell them to pass this bill.
REP. FITZPATRICK: Yeah.
MS. CALDWELL: Great. Thank you both.
And thank you to our viewers for tuning in. You can find a transcript and this full program, as well as all of Washington Post Live programs on WashingtonPostLive.com. Thanks so much. | 2022-08-10T21:20:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Transcript: Across the Aisle with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Rep. Ann Kuster (D-N.H.) - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/08/10/transcript-across-aisle-with-rep-brian-fitzpatrick-r-pa-rep-ann-kuster-d-nh/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/08/10/transcript-across-aisle-with-rep-brian-fitzpatrick-r-pa-rep-ann-kuster-d-nh/ |
Heavy rains flooded streets in the St. Louis area on Aug. 4. (Hillary Levin/AP)
The scenes are getting all too familiar: torrential rains triggering floodwaters that engulf roads, houses, subdivisions and cities, overwhelming officials and residents who’ve never seen anything like it before.
Almost as soon as the cleanup starts somewhere, another wave of flooding hits. It has occurred in Houston, Detroit, St. Louis and most recently, eastern Kentucky, where President Biden visited this week. He vowed to provide ample federal resources and promised a return trip to gauge progress on efforts to rebuild.
“This happened in America! American problem! And we’re all Americans, everybody has an obligation to help,” Biden said.
But the United States isn’t alone in the devastation caused by these extraordinary deluges. This week, the gleaming streets of Seoul, one of Asia’s most prosperous capitals, were engulfed by floods, far exceeding the impact of an ordinary typhoon.
Nine people died, the Han River overflowed, cars were stranded across the city, and nearly 800 buildings were damaged in the worst flooding in 80 years.
There are multiple reasons cities flood, but the primary one is that rain comes down so heavily that the water has nowhere to go. Mayors everywhere have urged citizens to play a role by clearing catch basins of debris and moving cars out of the way of drains.
For years, urban planners have prescribed ideas to thwart the floods. Solutions include building sponge cities, popular in China, where rainwater is repurposed for irrigation and to flush toilets.
Courtney Lucas: The Kentucky flooding is horrific. So is some Democrats’ lack of sympathy.
Green roofs and rooftop gardens have been planted everywhere from Ford Motor’s Rouge plant in Dearborn, Mich., to the skyscraper parks that abound in Singapore. Permeable pavement — half plants, half brick or concrete — is becoming a popular landscaping feature, as are the rain gardens popping up to replace curbside strips of grass.
Toronto is trying something even more dramatic. It is in the midst of the billion-dollar Port Lands Flood Protection Project, in a former industrial area southwest of downtown. Six hundred acres are being reconstructed, with parkland, wildlife habitats and eventually housing for 20,000 residents.
The project builds on conversations that have taken place since the 1970s about combining flood protection with an effort to bring nature back to the area. According to Bloomberg News, everything that needs to stay dry is being raised higher, while areas that can support water will absorb any excess flow.
Twelve hundred miles to the south, Panama City, Fla., is spending $25 million on a storm water management plan. The effort was driven by the devastating impact of Hurricane Michael three years ago. The storm took out so many trees that it changed the city’s water table, pouring more water into sewers than the system was built to hold.
Biden, speaking in Kentucky, sounded encouraging about avoiding future damage. “We have the capacity to do this. It’s not like it’s beyond our control. The weather may be beyond our control for now, but it’s not beyond our control.”
For some Detroit residents, however, some of the post-flood help that they expected after strong rainfall in June 2021 did not arrive. All 24,000 flooding claims filed with the Great Lakes Water Authority in Wayne County were rejected.
Authorities said that the widespread basement flooding that accompanied strong rainfall was simply unavoidable. Even if all the area’s pumps and other flood-mitigation equipment had been working, basements would have flooded anyway, the agency said.
However, more than 600 flooding victims have filed a class-action lawsuit against the agency and the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, alleging that only three of 16 pumps were working — a legal battle that is likely to continue.
Here in New Orleans, where I moved in May, urban flooding is an almost daily challenge, due in part to the city’s low geography. While hurricanes have stayed away this season, locals tell me they can’t remember a summer with more thunderstorms, which can cause streets to flood in minutes.
As I typed this column, I received a text reading, “Heavy rain could cause street flooding in low-lying areas.” It was the seventh such alert I’d received since June. Thankfully, I have access to information: The city’s Streetwise website tracks street flooding in real time. But even when streets are still passable, New Orleans’s notorious deep potholes can become camouflaged when filled with water.
Beyond danger to motorists and pedestrians, urban flooding poses a growing threat to communities of color. A new study from Brown University, which looked at New Orleans and five other cities, said it was crucial to clean up abandoned industrial sites — often located near poor neighborhoods — so that their pollution isn’t spread by floodwaters.
In the Bible, Noah had decades to build his ark before the great flood. With climate change increasingly appearing to produce storms that bring staggering amounts of rain, we don’t have that much time to prepare. We urgently need to expand on current countermeasures against flooding and pioneer new ones. | 2022-08-10T21:48:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The summer of flooding never seems to end. Here’s how some places fight back. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/fighting-against-summer-flooding/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/fighting-against-summer-flooding/ |
Keep the Constitution forever young (with help)
The U.S. Constitution. (iStock)
The Constitution has aged pretty well, “but only because it has been periodically amended,” Charles Lane suggested in his Aug. 8 op-ed, “No office for old men (or women).” Indeed, our founding governmental document was a brilliant product of 18th-century political compromise — forged, it’s worth noting, by wealthy and often enslaving White men when the country was home to fewer than 4 million people. Remarkably, for its time, it launched a reasonably democratic form of government, bounded by declared human rights, that has survived for more than 230 years. We owe the document immense respect.
But recent political realities make its dysfunction obvious, among them the high and currently politically insurmountable bar to amendment. Evidence of the need for amendment includes the breakdown of the undemocratic Senate, the failure of the electoral college to award the presidency to candidates gaining the most popular votes and the growing swagger of state legislatures empowered to manipulate election-district boundaries and possibly even the outcomes of elections. An undemocratically appointed Supreme Court majority sees no human rights or governmental authority not explicitly codified in the Constitution. It’s hard to see how to adapt outmoded rules of self-government to a time of human-caused climate change and popular demands for gender and racial equality. But one good start would be to work, even if against all odds, to amend the document aggressively. The objective should be, in Mr. Lane’s words, “to correct its initial flaws, adapt to new realities and help the system stay forever young.”
Robert Engelman, Takoma Park | 2022-08-10T21:48:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Keep the Constitution forever young (with help) - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/forever-young-with-help/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/10/forever-young-with-help/ |
Chipotle settles for $20 million in New York lawsuit
Chipotle settles for $20M in N.Y. lawsuit
Chipotle Mexican Grill has reached a $20 million settlement with New York City to resolve fair scheduling and sick-leave violations affecting 13,000 current and former employees.
The deal — the largest of its kind in the United States — was announced Tuesday and affects anyone who worked for the fast-casual restaurant chain in the city from November 2017 to this past April. They are eligible for $50 for each week of work. Current employees will be sent checks, but those who left their positions before April 30 must file claims to collect. Chipotle also will pay $1 million in civil penalties.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said Chipotle violated the city’s Fair Workweek Law, which took effect in November 2017. The measure requires employers to give workers their schedules 14 days in advance and pay premiums for schedule changes or shifts with less than 11 hours of rest between. It also requires large employers including Chipotle to offer 56 hours of paid leave each year.
It is the largest fair workweek settlement in the nation and the biggest labor protection settlement in the city’s history, Adams said Tuesday.
In 2018, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection started an investigation of Chipotle’s labor practices, after complaints were filed by 160 Chipotle employees and the 32BJ Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The inquiry initially focused on Brooklyn locations over possible violations of the Fair Workweek Law, then expanded to encompass locations citywide in 2021 with nearly 600,000 alleged violations.
According to court filings, Chipotle capped workers at 24 hours of paid sick time. From November 2017 to September 2019, the chain maintained an irregular scheduling system where shifts varied each day or each week. To avoid paying the premium that the law requires, Chipotle created false documentations of “waivers,” the investigation found.
Searches show more trying to sell homes
Searches online for “sell my house” have soared in the United States, rising 147 percent as of July, according to an analysis of Google Trends by luxury home brands Ruby Homes.
Some of these sellers are buyers themselves, who feel comfortable listing their current home because they think they have more inventory to choose from.
Wendy’s became the latest restaurant chain to show signs of strain thanks to rising inflation, as second-quarter sales and restaurant margin fell short of Wall Street projections. Inflation pressure showed up in Wendy’s U.S. same-store sales, which rose just 2.3 percent in the quarter ended July 3, the company said in a statement on Wednesday, below the 2.97 percent analysts expected, on average. Restaurant margin at company-operated stores was 14.5 percent; analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News were looking for 14.9 percent.
The pot business is going from green to red in Colorado, and dispensaries are closing. Its first-in-the-nation statewide recreational cannabis industry is contracting amid competition from other states, the Colorado Sun reports. Aggravating the situation is a saturated retail market as Colorado continues to issue new sales licenses. Through July, cannabis taxes and fees collected by the state dropped 21 percent from the same period of 2021 as shops closed. Marijuana flower prices have fallen to about $700 a pound this year from $1,300 in 2021, the Sun said. Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2014. | 2022-08-10T21:52:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Chipotle settles for $20 million in New York lawsuit - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/chipotle-settles-20-million-in-new-york-lawsuit/2022/08/10/16e3b64e-18ae-11ed-b777-8e8738265b2c_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/chipotle-settles-20-million-in-new-york-lawsuit/2022/08/10/16e3b64e-18ae-11ed-b777-8e8738265b2c_story.html |
Maurica Manyan, 25, was killed at a training session for library police officers; a retired D.C. police officer is charged with involuntary manslaughter
Maurica Manyan, in her uniform, poses with her son, Damauri. She was fatally shot this month by a retired D.C. police lieutenant who was training her to become a full-fledged library police officer. (Lloyd Campbell)
Her son’s first day of preschool was almost a month away, and Maurica Manyan wanted to do everything she could to make the occasion as magical as it felt when she was a kid.
So the 25-year-old saved up enough money to surprise Damauri with a trip to Walmart, where she dreamed about telling him to pick out all the crayons and colored pencils he could find, her family said.
She would never get the chance to take her 4-year-old shopping. Last week, in a room in the lower level of the Anacostia Neighborhood Library, Maurica was fatally shot by a retired D.C. police lieutenant who was training her to become a full-fledged library police officer. The job was supposed to be a steppingstone, she told family, toward her goal of becoming a crime scene investigator one day.
Jesse Porter, the 58-year-old former lieutenant hired by the library system to host trainings for its officers, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Thursday killing, which some witnesses described as the result of a joke gone wrong. His attorney could not be reached for comment.
“She had her whole life ahead of her,” said Maurica’s uncle, Steven Hoskins, sitting outside their family home in Maryland, five days later.
Up the steps behind him and through the white front door was where Maurica had grown up. As a toddler, family said, she dreamed of becoming president of the United States. As a woman, she was determined to build a good life for her and her son.
Pictures of her line the living room walls. Maurica as a baby. Maurica at 9 years old, dressed in stripes with a beaming smile. Maurica playing basketball and soccer and softball. Maurica at her high school graduation.
Born in Beltsville, Md., to Jamaican immigrants, she was raised in a close-knit family. Dinner was always together, and all six relatives who lived in the home would eat Maurica’s favorite jerk chicken. She and her mom wore matching shirts and pajama sets. Her brother, Radcliffe Manyan, was her best friend.
The siblings grew up together, sharing everything from earphones to hobbies. They played sports side by side, with Maurica often joking that she would have become a professional basketball player if she had her brother’s height, family said. When they had children of their own two years apart, Maurica and Radcliffe decided to raise their kids as if they were siblings.
“She was my best friend. She was the person I called every day,” said Radcliffe, 23. “I just wanted to catch up to her, to be more like her.”
He especially admired her love for her work as a library police officer. Radcliffe said his sister was fascinated by crime TV shows and had an intense interest in solving problems. Maurica studied criminal justice at Bowie State University before she had to drop out for financial reasons, her family said. She decided to pursue criminal-justice-related jobs in government and work her way back to school, they said.
Maurica was a security guard before she was hired to be a library police officer in February. Around that time, she bought a house of her own in Indian Head, Md., for the first time to live in with her dad and her son, family members said.
Radcliffe and Sherene Manyan, Maurica’s mom, said they remember how excited Maurica was when she talked about training to become an officer. One evening, the family sat around the dining room together, studying the names and locations of D.C.’s 26 libraries.
Now, Sherene was sitting steps away from that table, holding a framed picture of her deceased daughter.
“It is so unreal to us,” she said.
Just before 4 p.m. Thursday, Sherene said, a police officer called, notifying family that there had been an accident at work involving Maurica. A team of officers was on their way to the house to tell the family more, the officer said.
Panicking, Sherene and her family begged the officer for more answers. When that failed, they turned to Google. They saw an article saying that a library police officer had been shot during a training session.
“Oh, my God,” Sherene recalled saying. “Don’t tell me that was Maurica.”
Forty minutes later, police confirmed that it was. Her daughter had been posing for a class photo at the end of a day of learning how to use extendible batons, when she paused to fix her hair and take off her face mask, according to charging documents in the case. At that point, her trainer walked out of the photo line, picked up his handgun and shot her, according to the documents.
Witnesses interviewed by police said it seemed Porter meant to be playful, poking fun at Maurica for taking a long time to get ready for the photo. A D.C. police officer who responded to the scene said she heard Porter say something like: “I thought I had my training gun. Why did I do this? Is she okay?” according to charging documents.
“That’s the biggest slap in the face — that somebody of that caliber could do this,” Monique Simpson, Maurica’s cousin, said Tuesday.
“Maurica knew the difference between a real gun and a fake gun, and she was not a lieutenant,” Radcliffe said, adding that his sister had taught him about the importance of firearms. “How could have he not known? That is what’s killing me.”
Radcliffe said he had talked to his sister a few hours before she was killed and she sent him a job posting for a mechanic position and urged him to apply. He changed the topic to discuss their plans for the weekend, when they were supposed to take their dad to New Jersey for his birthday.
Instead of holding a birthday cookout, the family is planning a funeral. And family members said they are trying to wrap their head around how to tell Damauri that his mom will never come home.
On Tuesday, the 4-year-old bounded around the living room as if there were a party going on. Piles of food were on the dining room table, and cousins and aunts were wandering in and out of the house.
Then Damauri asked when “Maur Maur,” as he called his mom, was coming to pick him up.
No one in the house could bring themselves to answer. | 2022-08-10T22:40:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | She was fatally shot during training for D.C. library police officers - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/maurica-manyan-library-officer-shot/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/maurica-manyan-library-officer-shot/ |
Metro is asking for reinstatement of more than 25 trains
Transit officials have asked the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission to operate up to 35 suspended trains.
A 7000-series Metro train returns to service at the Huntington station in Virginia on June 16. (Justin George/TWP)
A Metro request last week to reinstate more suspended trains calls for a significant bump-up in 7000-series rail cars and a decrease in the interval of required safety screenings.
Transit officials proposed a change to their agreement with the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission, seeking to operate as many as 27 more 7000-series trains, in addition to eight already allowed on a single day. Metro is proposing a decrease in the frequency of inspections on reinstated trains, from daily to weekly, safety commission spokesman Max Smith said Wednesday.
The requests are a signal that Metro feels optimistic about its inspection process and the safety of those rail cars, which make up nearly 60 percent of the agency’s fleet. The 7000 series has been suspended since October after a defect was found in some of the wheels.
“Metro is confident that our request to extend the inspectional interval to seven days provides an ample safety margin to detect any wheel movement before it becomes a safety concern,” Metro spokesman Ian Jannetta said in a statement.
Metro has operated up to eight 7000-series trains for more than a month under a special allowance from the safety commission that require daily inspections. Since Metro returned the trains on June 16, no sign of the defect has surfaced, safety commission Chief Operating Officer Sharmila Samarasinghe said Tuesday during a commission meeting.
“There have not been any cars that have been found to be out of compliance,” she said.
The proposed number of trains and inspection changes associated with Metro’s request, which was made Friday, were first reported by Greater Greater Washington.
Metro remains under pressure to reduce wait times that have averaged 10 minutes or more over 10 months because of a rail car shortage that stemmed from the suspension of the 748 cars.
Transit officials are also planning to open the Silver Line extension as early as this fall. Metro has estimated that the 11-mile extension will require between six and eight additional trains. The effects would be lessened by the eight-month closure of the Yellow Line starting in September for a bridge and tunnel construction project.
Metro’s request should be seen as a starting point for a discussion with the safety commission, Smith said. Metro sets limits on how many trains it wants to bring back, then the commission approves or denies the agency’s plans based on whether it thinks a process is in place to do so safely, he said.
“They need to have a plan and the data to support that whatever they’re going to do is safe,” Smith said. “It’s about the level of safety provided by the entirety of the plan.”
The same applies to Metro’s request for fewer weekly inspections, he said. When Metro submitted its return-to-service plan for the 7000 series in December, transit officials committed to performing weekly inspections of reinstated cars. That plan was reviewed and approved by the safety commission.
Almost two weeks later, Metro proposed changing the interval of inspections to daily. The change, which also was approved by the safety commission, was driven by a consultant’s recommendation, transit officials have said.
A few days later, the safety commission ordered Metro to stop after the commission said it found the agency was deviating from its inspection process. Transit officials said daily manual inspections on the trains had proven to be a challenge with the measurement tools it had in place, and because of the amount of staffing and time required.
Metro ordered new equipment and revised its inspection process before successfully resubmitting it in May with a limit of 64 cars — enough for eight trains.
Jannetta said the proposal for a longer interval between inspections is based on an analysis of 36,700 data points collected from 7000-series cars that have traveled 540,000 miles, “during which time not a single failure was detected.”
“As we progress through the phases of returning [7000-series] trains to service, we will continue to evaluate the appropriate interval for manual inspections based on the data our teams are collecting,” he said.
Manual inspections are the agency’s way of getting some 7000-series trains into service as Metro engineers work on installing and testing automated wayside inspection systems that could inspect and screen hundreds of cars in a short period. That process would also have to be approved by the safety commission. | 2022-08-10T22:40:51Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Metro is asking for reinstatement of more than 25 trains - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/08/10/metro-rail-trains-7000-series/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/08/10/metro-rail-trains-7000-series/ |
A special deputy marshal faces federal charges of money laundering conspiracy, according to prosecutors
U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Greenbelt. (Katie Mettler/The Washington Post)
Someone who claimed to be a major general in the U.S. Army said they were in need of money to transition out of the military. Another person who claimed to be a lieutenant commander in the U.S. military abroad asked for help to pay for a shipment of gold and cash seized in a raid. And one individual who claimed to be in the U.S. Army stationed in Syria messaged one person they met on Facebook saying they needed money to retire early and return “home to his three children.”
Prosecutors allege that a special deputy U.S. Marshal from Maryland was part of a network that defrauded seniors out of almost $2 million in “romance scams” over several years.
Isidore Iwuagwu, 35, of Upper Marlboro, has been charged with conspiring to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for Maryland.
Romance scams cost consumers a record $304 million as more people searched for love online during the pandemic
Between October 2015 and July 2021, Iwuagwu was a part of romance scams where individuals engaged in online relationships with more than 20 victims via social media platforms and dating websites and swindled them out of large sums of money, prosecutors alleged. Victims reported a combined loss of $1.9 million, according to an affidavit, and at least $585,180 was connected to accounts belonging to Iwuagwu.
In many cases, the victims reported being defrauded by individuals claiming to be deployed U.S. Armed Forces members who needed money for personal hardships, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors allege the money would then be wired to accounts controlled by Iwuagwu or mailed to him as money orders, personal checks, cashier’s checks or cash. In one case, an individual claimed to be a major general who needed money for help transitioning out of the military and told the victim that Iwuagwu was his attorney. The victim sent more than $300,000 to Iwuagwu, according to the affidavit.
“If you find yourself in an online relationship and you’re asked for a bunch of money, it’s probably fraud not love,” Erek L. Barron, U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, said in a news release.
Iwuagwu provides security for “critical Department of Justice facilities” as a special deputy U.S. Marshal and Justice Department contractor, according to the affidavit. He received special deputation in 2018.
Romance scammers are ready to ruin Valentine’s Day
The U.S. Marshals headquarters and Justice Department did not immediately respond for comment. It was not immediately clear whether Iwuagwu has an attorney. Attempts to contact him or family members were not immediately successful.
According to the affidavit, another victim was scammed into wiring money to accounts belonging to Iwuagwu and sending cash after someone claimed to be a Spanish doctor living in California aboard a ship who said he did not have access to a bank account. The person told the victim to send money to “a friend in the United States” with an account that belonged to Iwuagwu, according to the affidavit. The person then sent the victim a photo of Iwuagwu’s government identification card when they expressed doubts about sending funds. The victim sent an estimated $51,880.
“Bro the woman said she cannot transfer without the id of the person whom they want to deposit the money to,” one co-conspirator said in a conversation, according to court documents.
“Jus give her any idea,” Iwuagwu responded, according to the affidavit alleging that he was telling his co-conspirator to offer “any identification” to the victim. | 2022-08-10T22:49:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Special deputy U.S. Marshal accused of money laundering conspiracy in "romance scam" - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/marshal-romance-scam-money/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/marshal-romance-scam-money/ |
‘Mack & Rita,’ a comedy about aging women, grows old fast
A 30-year-old (Elizabeth Lail) is transformed into her 70-year-old self (Diane Keaton) in this predictable fantasy
Elizabeth Lail in “Mack & Rita.” (Gravitas Premiere)
Growing old is a privilege denied to many. It’s hard to remember that — particularly if you’re a woman surrounded by anti-aging serums and polishing scrubs and needles that can take away every one of those hard-earned facial lines. Even though the pandemic inspired many women to embrace their gray hair, aging is still thought of as something women should not be doing, and certainly not something they should be celebrating.
Mack (Elizabeth Lail), one of two title characters in “Mack & Rita,” feels the opposite. Raised by her stylish grandmother (Catherine Carlen), Mack feels like, as she puts it, a 70-year-old in the body of a 30-year-old woman. She’s tired of high heels and staying up late and a lifestyle fueled by a vaguely successful career as an author: Her one book did well; she’s now stuck on a second. When she travels with her girlfriends for a bachelorette weekend and they all want to see Bad Bunny perform in a walk-in fridge, Mack opts to check out a sketchy past-life regression thingummy set up on the side of the road. The experience magically ages her 40 years; now played by Diane Keaton, she passes herself off as her own aunt Rita. And wouldn’t you know it, that’s when her career takes off, as the fabulous “Rita” steals hearts, minds and Instagram likes.
At this point, you can pretty much Mad Lib the rest of the script for yourself: There’s zaniness, a touching lesson and so on. The biggest source of tension is the (admittedly good) sexual-ish banter between Keaton and Mack’s neighbor Jack (Dustin Milligan of “Schitt’s Creek”).
For the most part, Rita still has to navigate a world built for the young. When Mack’s agent — unaware of Mack’s transformation — assigns her to go to a “Pilates for All Bodies” event, all the bodies are young, female and thin. (If Keaton, who is 76, did her own stunt work on those machines, kudos to her. She performs moves that could snap most people in half.) Rita finds her people in a women’s book club — more like a wine club with a book habit — portrayed by a powerhouse of older actresses, including Wendie Malick, Loretta Devine, Lois Smith and Amy Hill. It’s there, of course, that she learns that getting confidently older is a gift, but also a reward for the work of your youth. Her new friends also point out that you can, in fact, choose to quit wearing high heels in your 30s. Elastic waistbands and afternoon naps for all!
It’s wonderful to see older women on-screen. It’s wonderful to see getting older presented as something a younger woman wants to do, even if she doesn’t really understand what comes with it: knee pain, weird pokey hairs on your chin, getting those pill organizers with “AM” and “PM” written on them — and more knee pain. But “Mack & Rita” just can’t sell that message. Keaton, who can be so, so funny, seems at a loss as to what to do. The short script by Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh is stuffed with filler. At one point, Rita does magic mushrooms to try to turn back into the younger Mack (which doesn’t seem like a great solution, and we all know where the story is going to end anyway). The members of the book club are uniformly great, and Milligan is genial enough in a generic way, but the standout performance belongs to Taylour Paige (“Zola”) as Mack’s best friend, Carla. She brings nuance and a spark of life to a wholly underwritten character.
“Mack & Rita” feels, paradoxically, both too short and overlong. It could have examined the theme of aging much more deeply. Alternatively, it might have made a nice short film about a young person who becomes a senior citizen for a night. As it is, it’s a story that doesn’t need to be told and isn’t told very well. (Never mind that Mack doesn’t just want to be old — she wants to be old, healthy and rich.) And there’s no mention of the retirement plan the book club gals must have to maintain their “glamma” aesthetic.
After the movie, I texted my own mom, who’s in her 70s, to ask what she likes about getting older. “I don’t give a s--- what people think,” she replied. (This is the same woman who wouldn’t let me say “butt” growing up.) Maybe she’s onto something. After all, she ditched her high heels decades ago. And maybe she’d like “Mack & Rita.” If so, more power to her. As for the rest of us? There are better ways to waste your youth.
PG-13. At area theaters. Contains some drug use, sexual references and strong language. 95 minutes. | 2022-08-10T22:49:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 'Mack & Rita' grows old fast - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/08/10/mack-rita-movie-review/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/08/10/mack-rita-movie-review/ |
Dozens of migrants feared lost at sea
Greek authorities conducted a major search-and-rescue operation Wednesday for dozens of people believed missing at sea east of the island of Karpathos after a boat reportedly carrying up to 80 migrants toward Italy sank during the night. The coast guard said 29 people were rescued 33 nautical miles off Karpathos, a southeastern island between Rhodes and Crete.
Those rescued said the boat had departed the Antalya area on the southern Turkish coast for Italy when it ran into trouble. The most common sea route for asylum seekers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa has been from Turkey to the nearby Greek islands. But with Greek authorities increasing patrols in the Aegean, many are now attempting the much longer and more dangerous route directly to Italy.
Drug cartel arrests trigger riotous acts in Mexico: A series of arrests of drug cartel figures in western Mexico has set off destruction of vehicles and businesses in the states of Jalisco and Guanajuato in apparent reaction. The region is dominated by the Jalisco New Generation cartel, whose leader, Nemesio Oseguera, "El Mencho," is among the most sought by Mexican and U.S. authorities. There was no indication Oseguera was arrested.
Oil tank farm fire in Cuba reported under control: A deadly fire that has consumed at least half of a large oil facility in western Cuba and threatened to worsen the island's energy crisis has been largely controlled after nearly five days, authorities said. Flames that recently consumed the fourth tank in the eight-tank facility in Matanzas were almost quelled, although the third tank remains on fire and surrounded by smoke. The blaze killed at least one person and injured 128 others, with 14 firefighters still reported missing and 20 people hospitalized.
At least 5 dead in prison break in Congo: At least five people, including two policemen, were killed in an attack at a prison in which about 750 inmates escaped in the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern Butembo town, local officials said. Rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces attacked the Kakwangura prison early Wednesday during a transfer of prisoners, said Capt. Anthony Mwalushay, spokesman for the Congolese army in Beni. The rebels launched the attack based on information that female prisoners associated with their group would be transferred from Beni to Butembo, he said.
UAE overturns prison sentence of Khashoggi lawyer: The United Arab Emirates overturned a three-year prison sentence for an American civil rights lawyer who had represented slain Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Instead, Asim Ghafoor, a U.S. citizen who lives in Virginia, was punished with a fine of $1.36 million and deportation. Ghafoor had been convicted in absentia in the UAE on murky charges that included money laundering and tax evasion. He was arrested last month upon landing at Dubai International Airport and sent to a detention facility in Abu Dhabi. Some suggest his arrest might be political due to his ties to Khashoggi, who was murdered in Turkey in 2018 by agents of Saudi Arabia, a close UAE ally. | 2022-08-10T22:49:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | World Digest: Aug. 11, 2022 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/world-digest-aug-11-2022/2022/08/10/714c25d0-18b8-11ed-84fb-e187e1a4a96f_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/world-digest-aug-11-2022/2022/08/10/714c25d0-18b8-11ed-84fb-e187e1a4a96f_story.html |
William ‘Marty’ Martin, authority on eastern timber rattlesnakes, dies at 80
A 2021 photo of timber rattlesnake expert William “Marty” Martin with his daughters Claire, left, and Amelia while snake hunting. (Family photo)
William “Marty” Martin, a naturalist who turned a boyhood fascination with snakes into a career as a leading authority on the eastern timber rattlesnake, combing Appalachia and beyond for decades to track rattler populations and threats from climate change and human encroachment, died Aug. 3 in Shepherdstown, W.Va. He was 80.
The cause was complications after being bit by a captive rattler at his home and research facility, said his daughter Claire Martin.
Mr. Martin gained his expertise in the eastern timber rattlesnake in the woods and rock fields, largely alone. From spring’s first thaw to winter’s first blast, he spent most of his time trekking to known snake dens and hunting for new groups of timber rattlers — one of about 30 venomous species in the United States, with a habitat that ranges from eastern Texas to New England.
Mr. Martin had a special interest in the mountains and piedmont from Pennsylvania to Virginia, even at times snake hunting around the edges of Washington’s Beltway. He was a familiar figure along the Appalachian Trail and other paths, a wiry 5-foot-7 bushwhacker wearing his trademark mesh angler’s vest and toting a snake sack and pole called a snake hook.
“The ambassador of rattlesnakes,” the nature site Terrain.org dubbed him in a 2019 profile.
Stress of climate change is aging lizards before they are even born
Merging science and education, he tried to peel away some of a cultural stigma that surrounds snakes. He also sought to stir a healthy respect for rattlers and their place in the ecosystem and even American history such as the snake depicted on the “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsden flag from the Revolutionary War.
He was quick to point out that timber rattlers rarely strike without a provocation, such as being inadvertently stepped on. Deaths from snake bites are rare in the United States. About 3,000 snakebites are reported to U.S. poison centers every year, but fewer than 10 are fatal, according to the University of Virginia.
“There was a time when scientists identified animals as good or bad to man,” Mr. Martin told the Baltimore Sun in 1993, noting that rattlers help control rodent populations. “We don’t look at things like that anymore.”
His research was nearly all independent, distinguishing him from colleagues affiliated with universities or institutions. Mr. Martin modeled himself more on earlier explorers of the natural world, such as renowned birder Florence Merriam Bailey, who built their credentials doing field work.
Mr. Martin supported his work through temporary contracts, including projects tracking snake populations in a warming ecosystem. (He was also bitten several times along the way.)
Somewhat counterintuitively, hotter seasons are not necessarily an advantage for coldblooded species such as snakes, which rely on the sun and ambient warmth for body heat. Temperatures too high can disrupt snakes’ feeding, reproduction and other cycles by forcing them to spend more time in rock crevasses and other places to avoid overheating.
The timber rattlers, like many other species, also face dwindling habitats as exurbs and roadways press into hills and hollows. But other animals often have greater abilities to adapt.
Timber rattlers mature slowly, and females don’t give birth every year. The snakes typically never slither more than a few miles from their birth den. Timber rattlers are listed as endangered in several northern states and Virginia.
“You’ll probably want to stay right behind me from here on,” Mr. Martin told a Washington Post journalist in 2002 while on a snake-seeking hike in Shenandoah National Park.
They approached a den. Mr. Martin counted 24 rattlers, coiled and basking in the sun. He took notes on their size and general health. Then, with a swoop of his snake pole, he snagged a 37-incher, about average size. He did it in a bit of serpent showmanship for the reporter.
“He was a larger-than-life character,” said Joe Villari, manager at the Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve, where Mr. Martin contributed research for the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. “He absolutely loved to bring anyone into his world: naturalists, other herpetologists, interested hikers. He was one of a kind.”
‘Kid was right’
William Henry Martin III was born Dec. 24, 1941, in Leesburg, Va., and was exploring the nearby woods looking for snakes before he was 10 years old.
When he was 13, Mr. Martin came across a previously unknown population of timber rattlers in the Bull Run Mountains. The boy contacted herpetologist Leslie Burger at the College of William & Mary, who agreed to visit the site to check.
“Dr. Burger was thrilled, as the kid was right,” wrote Villari, who said Mr. Martin’s discovery began a lifelong interest in the Bull Run rattlers.
At age 17 — with notebooks full of field observations — Mr. Martin became a founding member of the Virginia Herpetological Society.
He served as a paratrooper in the Vietnam War with the Army’s 101st Airborne Division and was a bantamweight boxer in military bouts. After his discharge, he used the GI Bill to help cover his studies at the University of South Florida, graduating in 1969 with a degree in biology.
This reptile swam in the oceans for 150 million years. Then the climate changed.
Then it was back to herpetology. He traveled across Africa, Asia and South America doing independent research on venomous species — and found himself in some hot spots such as Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) during an Ebola outbreak.
As Mr. Martin’s reputation as a timber rattler expert grew, he was consulted by museums, universities and other groups around the world. In 1999, he assisted Steve Irwin for a “Crocodile Hunter” episode on timber rattlers.
Irwin took note of the snake’s scientific name, Crotalus horridus.
“It’s like horrible or horrid rattlesnake,” Irwin said. “They’re not horrible. They’re not horrid. They’re not evil. They’re not ugly.”
Mr. Martin co-authored “The Timber Rattlesnake: Life History, Distribution, Status, and Conservation Action Plan,” a 450-page study published in 2021 on the species and challenges in its habitat.
Survivors include his wife of 16 years, Gwen Renee Miller of Shepherdstown; daughter, Claire Martin of Asheville, N.C.; daughter, Amelia Martin of Winchester, Va., from an earlier marriage to Patricia Gerty; two stepdaughters, Laura Layva of Morgantown, W.Va., and Vanessa McGuigan of Shepherdstown; two sisters; and a granddaughter.
Last year, Villari joined Mr. Martin in a seven-hour mountain hike to survey rattlers in a new area. They found nothing. “Not even a shed skin,” Villari said.
He told Mr. Martin that at least it was a nice day to be outside, snakes or no snakes.
“Marty stood staring at me with a comically puzzled look,” Villari recalled, “and said, 'No it’s not!’ ” | 2022-08-10T22:49:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Marty Martin, expert in eastern timber rattlesnakes, dies at 80 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/10/marty-martin-timber-rattlesnakes-dies/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/10/marty-martin-timber-rattlesnakes-dies/ |
Q&A with Mandela Barnes, Wisconsin’s Democratic nominee for Senate
The lieutenant governor sat for an interview with The Washington Post over coffee late last month
Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes speaks to supporters at a rally outside of state Capitol on July 23, 2022. (Sara Stathas/For The Washington Post)
MADISON, Wis. — Mandela Barnes, Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor, sat for an interview with The Washington Post on July 21 at a sleek coffee shop here to talk about what was then a crowded Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. .
Shortly after the interview, three of his competitors dropped out and endorsed Barnes. And Tuesday night, voters made it official: Barnes is the Democratic nominee for Senate in Wisconsin.
The conversation was wide-ranging and done in advance of a story The Post published about how Barnes reckoned with his liberal past as he looked to November. The interview also touched on how he got into politics, what he sees as his path to defeating Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and what he has learned in the rare times he has lost elections.
This is a condensed transcript of the conversation:
The Post: Was there a particular moment that prompted you to run for Senate?
Barnes: It was more of a difficult decision for me. … In this role as lieutenant governor, I enjoy it every day. There are challenges. There are a lot of fun things. … So it took me a while to actually get there. But [Sen.] Ron Johnson being as reckless as he has been? I could go through this, run for lieutenant governor again or do the work to get rid of the worst senator. … I just couldn’t sit idly by.
The Post: Was there any one thing that particularly bothered you about Johnson?
Barnes: It’s not a one thing. It’s a series of events. A series of things, a series of statements. … whether it is conspiracy theories about the vaccine … voting against pandemic relief, voting against the infrastructure bill.
[In a tweet from his campaign account Tuesday night, Johnson called Barnes “another radical liberal who will cave to the whims of Democrat leadership.” On Wednesday, Johnson wrote, “I’m honored to represent Wisconsin Republicans on the ballot this November. It’s time we finally hold the Democrats accountable for their failures.” ]
The Post: What would your coalition be in a general election?
Barnes: It is intergenerational, it is multiracial, it is labor unions. It is farmers. It is working people all across the state of Wisconsin: teachers, service workers, people in the trades, you name it.
The Post: How do you think President Biden is doing?
Barnes: He’s been faced with some challenges, mainly the U.S. Senate. The Senate is a broken place. The Senate has refused to deliver for working people, and Ron Jonson hasn’t lifted a finger to help us out.
The Post: Would you want President Biden to campaign with you?
Barnes: If he wants to come to Wisconsin, please, come on down. We’re here to talk about a vision, rebuild the middle class, and if he wants to join us in carrying that vision across the state, he’s more than welcome to do so.
The Post: You’ve differed with Biden on his attempt to end a pandemic-era program that halted some immigration. Is there anything else on which you differ from Biden?
Barnes: I would differ maybe on lifting the Chinese tariffs. We’ve got to hold bad actors accountable. I look at what has happened in communities like mine in Milwaukee, with the loss of good-paying jobs because companies move their good-paying, union jobs overseas, and in that void that was left — it was filled with crime and violence. And we see the same thing happening in rural communities with loss of opportunity and we see the addiction crisis tearing rural communities apart.
And, on top of that, I’ve had enough conversations working with farmers who are frustrated with the concentration of agriculture.
The Post: One wise political strategist I know likes to say that parties and candidates learn things only when they lose. You lost a race in 2016, what did you learn?
Barnes: I learned a whole lot. First, I believe that completely — 100 percent — I say the same thing to people: I learned so much more in that race I lost. And it’s: Never take anything for granted. Strategy matters. And listening matters.
[Barnes won his first race at age 25, defeating a Democratic member of the state’s Assembly in a primary.] You can almost feel like you know everything at that point. … Almost like nobody could tell you anything. So after a loss, okay, well, that was not true. So it certainly helped me. I promise you, I would not be lieutenant governor if I didn’t lose that state Senate race.
The Post: Tell me about your relationship with Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.
Barnes: He also lost. He ran for U.S. Senate in 2016, the same year I ran for state Senate. I donated to his Senate campaign. We both won our primaries [for lieutenant governor] in 2018, being swing-state Democrats. I think that’s when we first engaged.
We were two people who didn’t necessarily fit political molds. He’s certainly a “do whatever he wants” kind of guy. And it has worked out. I respect that.
The Post: Does the fact that two people who don’t fit political molds are advancing in the Democratic Party say anything about the party changing?
Barnes: I think it says less about party and more about society. One of the biggest pieces of feedback in 2018, after Congress started to work a little bit, was that we had unlikely candidates. [Democrats won control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections.] And my response was, they are the most likely Americans. These are the people who live life as most people live life. And why shouldn’t this perspective be present in decision-making bodies? Especially Congress. | 2022-08-10T22:50:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Q&A with Mandela Barnes, now Wisconsin’s Democratic nominee for Senate - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/mandela-barnes-wisconsin-senate/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/mandela-barnes-wisconsin-senate/ |
Transcript: Protecting Public Safety with John Creuzot, Dallas County District Attorney
MR. JACKMAN: Good afternoon, and welcome to Washington Post Live. I’m Tom Jackman, a criminal justice reporter here at The Post. Thank you for joining us today for a conversation about protecting public safety.
Dallas County in Texas is one of the largest counties in the United States, top ten in population, but unlike the rest of the country, Dallas's overall crime rate is dropping. The number of homicides is up this year after declining last year. To help us make sense of this data and these statistics, my guest today is the District Attorney for Dallas County, John Creuzot.
Judge Creuzot, welcome to Washington Post Live.
MR. CREUZOT: Thank you. Great to be here.
MR. JACKMAN: Before we get going, I want to remind our audience that we want to hear from you. Tweet your questions using the handle @PostLive, one word, @PostLive.
And I also want to give our audience some quick background for those who don't know about your career. You were an assistant prosecutor, a defense attorney, and then a judge for 21 years who pushed for drug courts and diversion programs in Dallas with such impact that they named the residential treatment center after you.
MR. CREUZOT: Yes.
MR. JACKMAN: Then you ran for Dallas County district attorney on a progressive platform of criminal justice reform, seeking to incarcerate fewer people and not prosecute low‑level crimes such as marijuana possession and certain types of shoplifting. You recently won the Democratic primary in your pursuit of a second term.
So let's start with some crime statistics now that you've been in office for three years. Last year while violent crime went up in much of America and in much of Texas, it went down in Dallas, including big drops in murder, rape, and robbery. This year, murder is up, but violent crime is down.
MR. JACKMAN: What's going on in Dallas? What's making this happen?
MR. CREUZOT: Well, I think that we have several things working; first of all, an evidence‑based, a data‑based approach to both policing and prosecution. We have a new police chief who came in, working with criminologists from Texas, from University of Texas, San Antonio, and has put in a multifaceted crime plan. That goes hand in hand, though not coordinated, with our approach, and that is we look at the data. We also work with criminologists. We look at areas that we can impact vulnerable populations, people who have been over‑policed and over‑criminalized, over‑prosecuted in the past. We know that that increases recidivism in those groups, and we've taken measures to decrease the criminal justice presence from this office. And the police have also taken measures to decrease the police presence, not necessarily the presence in a neighborhood, but the type of patrolling and policing that they do.
For example, let's take the marijuana cases. We declined to prosecute any marijuana case, with a few exceptions, four ounces or less. Those cases in a traffic stop will take an officer four to five hours to complete between stopping and leaving the jail after they've booked the person in. If that officer is on an eight‑hour shift, then four or five hours of that is blown, and so we had a big problem here in Dallas in responding to 911 calls, the efficiency of what happens once the police officer gets to a home. And so all of that has been corrected.
The police chief also on his own declared that recreational marijuana, two ounces or less, which is 97 percent of the misdemeanor cases, to let the people go and don't arrest them and don't prosecute them. And so what we've also seen from the police chief is he's taken a different approach to violent crime. He's looked at the people who are committing the crimes and the places that they commit the crimes, and rather than having this broad dragnet over certain sectors of the community, he's focused on 300‑feet‑by‑300‑feet grids. And so it's been very effective because he's put officers on top of where the criminals are and where the crimes are committed.
The community is much more accepting of that. The community understands what we're doing here. We no longer prosecute for criminal‑‑simple criminal trespass, people who are homeless or mentally ill, and when you talk about certain types of shoplifting, it's actually a very small category, and it's those who are stealing for sustenance or food, diapers, formula, things like that. So it's not just any theft, but it's one that indicates or suggests a strong suggestion of poverty, and that's the reason why.
So it's kind of a comprehensive strategy that also goes along with an intense focus on the violent crimes and criminals here in this office. As everyone knows, a district attorney's office will not answer a 911 call, but we will try the case. And so we have an extensive training program, mentoring program. I've gone down and tried cases. I do go down to the courtrooms, and I'm present in some of the larger cases, more high-profile cases, and so we have a much better success at prosecuting those violent criminals and getting convictions and prison time.
MR. JACKMAN: You mentioned shoplifting, and that was a big topic of conversation early on.
MR. CREUZOT: Yeah.
MR. JACKMAN: And I believe that you've set out some sort of specific guidelines for what you will and won't prosecute. You mentioned it briefly there.
MR. JACKMAN: And I think cases under $100 go to the municipality, so they don't come to your office. Cases above $100 but below $750 are the ones that you are nolle prossing or, you know, not taking anymore.
MR. JACKMAN: How is that working after three years? There were a lot of small businesses who felt like this gives people, you know, carte blanche to come into my store and take stuff.
MR. JACKMAN: So it's been three years. How has it gone?
MR. CREUZOT: Well, so we're talking about food, diapers, formula, things like that. We're not talking about people who are thieves, who are boosters and what have you. So, first of all, it's unlikely that you can get food over $100 if you're in a small store. It just doesn't happen, and so what we've actually found is the numbers have not changed. The numbers of cases have gone down. It was going down before I got in office, that type of case.
And, also, we reject the same percentage, 1 to 2 percent of cases a year. So we have also talked to the Dallas Chamber of Commerce to see if they have any data that would suggest that this has had a negative impact on businesses or the community. They have none. We've gone to the Black Chamber of Commerce to see if there's any negative data there. There are none. And we've gone to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. We've checked every chamber of commerce that will respond to us, and we can't find any evidence. We've also met with the Texas Retailers Association, the National Retailers Association, and from day one, they said, "This is not a problem. We don't expect that this is an area that will give us any problems." Actually, it's organized retail crime and the lack of police response that they're concerned about, not anything this office is doing.
So, though it is maligned for political purposes, the data show that there have been no negative impact in the community or any businesses in this community by that policy.
MR. JACKMAN: You mentioned the police and their method of policing and using data to police smartly.
MR. JACKMAN: How is your department getting along with their department? There are some cities where this hasn't worked out well, where the police have really pushed back and said, "We want to do it the old way." You know, in New York, sometime back, there was this whole broken windows policy where if you take care of the little stuff, that will handle the big stuff, and it was credited with driving New York's crime rate down.
So it sounds like you're getting along with your police. How is it?
MR. CREUZOT: I do. I get along with all of them. In fact, as evidence that I get along with them and that we cooperate and collaborate, we are looking at a thing called "focused deterrence" with our major police department, which is Dallas Police, and one of our smaller ones, which is Garland Police Department. And what that is, it's a collaborative effort to try to anticipate who the violent criminals are by their recent criminal past, not an old criminal past, and involvement and engagement with police, and that is based on academic research. And so we're doing it with two different universities, and we're showing success. We're able to see who may be violent, and we're offering services and intervention before prosecution.
If, unfortunately, somebody does take advantage of it and they commit a crime, we're going to prosecute them fully, but we hope to intervene and to get them into rehabilitative services or whatever they need, including their family, because what we actually want is for crime not to occur.
In addition to that, let's take the city of Dallas, for example. We recently wrote from our asset forfeiture fund, criminal asset forfeiture fund, a quarter‑million‑dollar check to expand RIGHT Care. So what we're doing is helping the police do crisis intervention because when a mentally ill person comes in contact with a police officer, they're 16 times more likely to be killed. We want to reduce or eliminate that.
We've also given $100,000 to the Dallas Police Department for an initiative that we started and developed, and we had lots of partners with it, but it's called the Dallas County Deflection Center, which is an alternative to jail for the homeless and the mentally ill for certain low‑level offenses.
And then four of our cities in the northwestern sector of the county, we gave a total of $200,000 to. They matched $100,000. So it was $300,000 total. But the purpose of that money was to get a needs assessment on mental health in those four communities. They happen to share a jail, and they're contiguous to one another. And they have some common problems, and so we are on the vanguard of solving problems that come up. The low‑level offender, the mentally ill offender, the poor offender, those people, those are the ones who populate, in large respects, the criminal justice system, but the criminal justice system is not designed to reduce recidivism.
And so everything that we do, every program that we have is designed around reducing recidivism, and it's put into place to measure it. And then we, of course, get an academic facility to measure it, and then we publish our results. And so we've had quite a bit of success with everything so far.
MR. JACKMAN: What about bail reform, which I think is something that you're in favor of? And I've seen police departments‑‑New York comes to mind‑‑that says bail reform has been a disaster because people go in, they go back out.
MR. CREUZOT: Right.
MR. JACKMAN: And I think that you would be of the belief that you still want to keep the violent defendants in.
MR. CREUZOT: Sure.
MR. JACKMAN: But is bail reform helping with everything you just said about decarceration and keeping people in the system‑‑or keeping them out of the system, keeping their families together, keeping them with their jobs? Where are you guys on bail reform?
MR. CREUZOT: I think we're doing a good job. The Texas legislature has put in a new law, which trumped, at least the judge things so, the bail lawsuit that we had. The judge has kind of withdrawn from it and said that it's now moot because of the new legislation.
We never had the problems here. We had a few that were in other cities.
The main thing here is that we, the DA's office, and a person's lawyer are not present at the time of arraignment and the time of setting bail. Of course, we would like to be present. We think that judges would do a better job if both sides are present, but without a defense lawyer, we cannot constitutionally be present.
And so what we have is we think that we've done a good job. We have some violent offenders who can make a big bond, and they have, and they've gotten out. We've had some judges, in my opinion, say and do some inappropriate things in regards to us or the defendant in reference to setting bond. It's usually been on somebody who has a very, very violent history, and if we think that the judge has violated the judicial conduct laws, we have filed the motion to recuse. We've been successful every time, and we've gotten that case in front of a different judge who can take a different look at it and set a more appropriate bond to not only‑‑well, basically to protect society.
Some of these people have committed, you know, one crime after another, and they're still put out there, and based on the comments made in court, we've been able to file these motions and get another judge and get a different outcome. So we're very proactive on keeping those violent offenders in jail, those who continually commit crimes.
I know in some other cities, the DAs, the district attorneys, have been more actively involved, so it's alleged, in getting these people out of jail. I don't see that as my mission. If someone has a past of violent crime and they've committed multiple violent crimes and I don't think there's any reason for me to assume that if we let them out today that they're going to just change, I think the way to keep the community safe is for those people to remain in jail until we get their case resolved, whether it be a trial or plea bargain or whatever.
MR. JACKMAN: Let's talk about guns. Texas has suffered some pretty horrendous mass shootings in recent years. What can be done legislatively to address this, and is there anything that prosecutors can do that isn't already being done to address gun crime?
MR. CREUZOT: I'm not sure other than prosecuting the cases. The problem in Texas, as you've hit on, is that it's almost a free gun state. I mean, there's some‑‑you know, some limitations, but for the most part, if you're the average citizen, you have a right to carry a gun, buy a gun, whatever.
We don't have much by way of red flag laws, but, you know, we have a governor and a lieutenant governor and an attorney general who think it's a good idea to even carry guns in schools.
I can tell you that I've been in legislative sessions and in committee rooms where somebody is testifying‑‑and I know this from personal experience‑‑with a gun, with a barrel on it longer than his thigh. And I tell you, I had a hard time paying attention to what he was saying as opposed to looking at this big gun. I mean, so you can take a gun into the Texas legislature.
When these laws were first passed, we had professors, tenured professors leave the state of Texas because they were not going to be in a school or a classroom with an individual or individuals with guns, and you can understand that. I mean, that can be a volatile situation. Professors deal with a lot. And so it's been quite controversial as to what our laws are.
As far as prosecuting the cases, we do so. Anybody that's a felon with a firearm, we prosecute. Anybody who commits an offense with a firearm, we prosecute it. If it's an enhancement of any kind, we'll use our discretion and put it on. If it makes a difference, we will, but we are fully engaged in protecting this community.
Now, as far as gun safety, I've been a proponent of that. I've done many town hall meetings on gun safety. We've partnered with Moms Demand Action, which is a national gun safety group. I know that I don't have the authority to restrict guns, and I know in the state of Texas, under this current leadership that we have in Austin, that will not happen.
On the other hand, that doesn't mean that we can't prosecute those cases and do everything we can when guns are used illegally to commit violent crimes, to prosecute those crimes fully.
MR. JACKMAN: All right. Let's switch to another hot topic; abortion, front and center right now for many people. The response to the Supreme Court decision on abortion, more than 80 elected prosecutors have committed to not enforcing abortion bans, including you.
MR. JACKMAN: You have said you will not prosecute women seeking abortions. Why?
MR. CREUZOT: Well, I said I'd exercise discretion. I think that we need to be realistic. There's some abortions that may be so far along that there's no medical reason to do it, and so, obviously, that may be a crime.
On the other hand, we also know‑‑we know now especially since the Dobbs case that there are many situations where a fetus, though well along the way, is not viable outside the body, and we have put doctors and women in a terrible position.
I remember reading of one where the organs of the child were growing outside the body of the child, and there was obviously a medical crisis. The mother was hemorrhaging. The baby was not ever going to survive, and yet the doctor basically did not know what to do under the current circumstances. And that's an awful position for a doctor and a patient and a mother to be in, and that woman was hemorrhaging. And there was a lot of debate as to what to do. I don't remember exactly what came out.
But we also have issues of whether someone takes medication to abort, proof. How do you prove that? Are the medications legal? Are they FDA‑approved? We also have issues of a person that they're debating or going to debate in Austin‑‑I think they're going to try to make it illegal for a woman here to go across state lines and have an abortion in a state where abortions are legal, and they're going to try to criminalize that here.
So I think we've only seen the tip of the iceberg on this issue, and the various ramifications that will show up, we cannot imagine at this point in time. And so I am in favor of women making‑‑and doctors making choices that are best for the women for their own health care.
I also understand that Dobbs will have a disparate impact on poor women and women of color. There will probably be more lives lost. In this state, it's awful on mother mortality, female mortality during pregnancy. You know, we're one of the poorest states or at least one of the states that funds health care for women at the lowest rates, if not the lowest rate in the nation, and I'm not going to participate in furthering that and criminalizing people making health care choices unless it's obvious that it's beyond the pale of what we expect, I think, in an organized society.
So, on average cases, we're going to use discretion, and we're going to look at each case individually.
MR. JACKMAN: If you use your discretion and decide not to charge people, do you foresee that the governor or the attorney general could try something like has been done in Florida where they've removed a prosecutor, an elected prosecutor from office, and what's your plan when that happens?
MR. CREUZOT: Well, they've talked about removing me long before this.
MR. CREUZOT: So they haven't‑‑they haven't come up with anything.
Interestingly‑‑so let's talk about removal. I'm going to change this up a little bit. So they took me down to Austin about the theft thing, and so they brought their state experts. And one of the things they discovered is they had no evidence that the theft policy created crime. So that went away, and so the discussion of removing me from office went away.
And when you say exercise discretion in prosecution, there's a lot of things we can do. We can still handle a case but not do a traditional prosecution. We have pretrial diversion, pretrial intervention. We have other things that we can do. I mean, if we can do this with the homeless and the mentally ill and substance abusers, we can do it in other categories, and it doesn't mean that you've turned your back on anything. In fact, what it may be is more trying to help the individual not get back into that situation where they're back in the eyes of the police.
And the other thing, too‑‑let's be honest‑‑what will the police do? I mean, right now, we've had a vote by a committee, nine to zip, which is more than half of the city council, to not fund police activity towards reproductive health care decisions and beyond that don't even keep a written record of it. So I'm not certain how the police department will respond to that. I'm sure they have some state law obligations to keep a record, but I anticipate that the Dallas city council is going to ban any police‑‑or funding of any police enforcement of reproductive health decisions.
So it may be that this never lands on my desk. Also, all of the clinics at this point in time are closed. I don't anticipate that any of them will open. So, like I said, there are ramifications about this that we haven't seen yet, and so, as I said, I don't see that his will happen. I am protective of women, I will be of their decisions and their doctor's decision or health care providers. There may be some outlying situation that we need to deal with, but that's why we say we'll exercise discretion in how we go about this.
MR. JACKMAN: As a judge, you started a drug diversion court, which has been in effect for 14 years now. Has that had an impact? Is that something that you can measure by statistics?
MR. CREUZOT: How about 24 years? [Laughs]
MR. JACKMAN: Twenty‑four. Oh, I did the math wrong.
MR. CREUZOT: We started that‑‑yeah.
MR. JACKMAN: You're right. It was 1998, right?
MR. CREUZOT: That's okay. Yeah. Twenty‑four years, 1998.
MR. JACKMAN: Sorry.
MR. CREUZOT: No, that's okay. So, yeah, that was the first truly structured drug treatment court, diversion court in the state of Texas, and we engaged with Southern Methodist University with two departments, the psychology department and the economics department. We did a recidivism study, which showed a 68 percent reduction in recidivism, and for every dollar spent, $9.34, and avoided criminal just with the cost‑benefit analysis.
So I took that information to the legislature a couple sessions in a row. In 2005, Texas was told that soon, in addition to the 150,000 existing prison beds that we would need 17,000 more. There was a bipartisan effort starting with Rick Perry, the governor, to not do that. And so the question is, what can we do different?
And the model out here that was working and that had been looked at and measured and peer reviewed, all of this research, was divert court. So, basically, I worked with the legislature, myself and other judges and other criminal justice professionals and legislators, bipartisan effort, to establish criteria for treatment and expansion of treatment, be it inpatient, outpatient, continuum of care, et cetera. And so it changed a lot of things that we do and how we look at people, not only in the programs but also in courts generally.
We also taught something that I and others have put together as a curriculum called "evidence‑based sentencing practices for judges."
So the bottom line is we've closed 15 prisons in the state of Texas‑‑the state of Texas, and so that's obviously very significant and I guess that perhaps as a contributing factor of why that 300‑bed drug treatment facility bears my name. But, yes, we've been very impactful on that in the state of Texas.
MR. JACKMAN: I was going to ask you about that, that the number of prisons have gone down, and that has resulted‑‑
MR. CREUZOT: Yep.
MR. JACKMAN: ‑‑in fewer people incarcerated. What about the deflection center that you mentioned briefly? How might that also impact things? Who's going in there‑‑
MR. CREUZOT: Well, we don't know yet.
MR. JACKMAN: ‑‑and how will it happen?
MR. CREUZOT: Well, we don't know yet. It's finished, and it's open, and we've put out one training video to the police department. But it's so recently opened, we haven't had anybody there yet. We're putting out training videos to other departments like Dallas Area Rapid Transit and I think a couple of other entities that are in the city and could easily access it.
If Dallas Police Department does not make full use of it, then I have other police chiefs, to be quite honest, in some of our smaller communities, suburban communities, who have said, "Well, use it." And so if we don't fully utilize it with the entities that we have so far, we'll expand it out to others. I mean, we're going to use it. They use it in Harris County. There's a different system of referring people there, but it's been quite a success in Houston, and we expect that it will be quite a success here also.
MR. JACKMAN: We mentioned earlier that you're‑‑I hate to put labels on anyone, but a progressive prosecutor and‑‑
MR. JACKMAN: ‑‑also one who has accepted financial backing from George Soros, and there's this term going around of "Soros prosecutor." Are you enthralled to Mr. Soros or required to handle certain issues in a certain way because you've taken money from him?
MR. CREUZOT: No, not at all. First of all, I've never met him. I'm not enthralled with him. [Laughs] I really don't know much about him.
However, if you look at my current opponent, general election, was my former opponent general election, and so I don't know about using names and labels, but let's be honest. The people who support her want to turn back the clock, and in fact, she wants to turn back the clock if you look at her campaign materials and what she's talking about. And the people that support her are the people who also support restricting the right to vote. These are also the people that are in favor of cutting back mental health funding, the governor especially, the lieutenant governor, and the attorney general. The attorney general and his supporters support her, and we have stopped him, myself and other so‑called "progressive prosecutors" in the state of Texas. We went in on an amicus or a friend of the court brief and stopped him and had it declared unconstitutional, his prosecution of people of color for voting violations. Of all the cases he brought, 72 percent of them were for African Americans, and we put a stop to that.
And so I think there's a question not of a name, but of values. Where are your values? And so my values are that we have a criminal justice system, especially policing, that‑‑let's be honest. It was developed in the 1870s and 1880s, and it's heavy patrolling of people of color. It's heavy arrest of people of color, regardless of the level of the offense, and that is unfair. It is wrong. It increases recidivism. It breaks down families. It ruins the futures of individuals, whether they be male or female, and so there needs to be a correction in criminal justice.
And I think together with this police chief, where he is focused not on areas of town but on grids where criminals and crime intersect, and that strategy has shown to be effective in reducing crime, violent crime, I think that my philosophy and his philosophy, though not developed together, have joined together quite well, and that we're seeing better police response times because they're not going four or five hours to take somebody to jail for minor offenses. They're able to respond, and I think we're seeing a better job from our policy agencies on the investigation of the cases. In other words, we get a better investigated case that we can do a better job on in trial.
So, you know, I'm not just looking at little points. I'm looking at the big picture, and one of the things you left out is after I retired from a judge, I was actually six years a criminal defense attorney. So I have a lot of experience all the way through this criminal justice system, but I've always engaged in what works. I've always been willing to say maybe I'm doing this wrong or maybe we've done it wrong, and what's a new look? You know, what are the data? What do they show, and what is it that we can do to change this and change it safely? What can we do to reduce recidivism and reduce cost? And if so, let's not be afraid to move forward.
And so all of my campaigns have been based on ideas, not fear, and so we'll continue to promote our ideas, to promote the outcomes, and we'll have an idea‑based campaign, not a fear‑based campaign.
MR. JACKMAN: I have many brilliant follow‑up questions for you on that, but unfortunately, we're out of time. I really do have quite a lot of follow‑up questions here.
MR. CREUZOT: Okay. Have you?
MR. JACKMAN: Thank you, District Attorney of Dallas County, John Creuzot, so much for joining us today.
MR. CREUZOT: Well, thank you for having me. Appreciate it.
MR. JACKMAN: And thanks to all of you for watching. Check out what interviews we have coming up at WashingtonPostLive.com. Register and find more information about our upcoming programs.
I'm Tom Jackman. Thanks for joining us. | 2022-08-10T22:51:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Transcript: Protecting Public Safety with John Creuzot, Dallas County District Attorney - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/08/10/transcript-protecting-public-safety-with-john-creuzot-dallas-county-district-attorney/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/08/10/transcript-protecting-public-safety-with-john-creuzot-dallas-county-district-attorney/ |
Sen. Tim Scott on his new book, the GOP and the state of American politics
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is considered a rising star in the Republican Party. On Monday, Aug. 15 at 1:30p.m. ET, he joins Washington Post Live anchor Leigh Ann Caldwell to discuss his new book, “America, a Redemption Story,” the current dynamic in the GOP and the state of American politics.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.)
Author, “America, A Redemption Story” | 2022-08-10T22:51:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Sen. Tim Scott on his new book, the GOP and the state of American politics - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/08/15/sen-tim-scott-his-new-book-gop-state-american-politics/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/08/15/sen-tim-scott-his-new-book-gop-state-american-politics/ |
Zhou Xiaoxuan, center, also known as Xianzi, a feminist figure who rose to prominence during China's #MeToo movement, stands with supporters as she arrives to attend a hearing in her sexual harassment case against prominent television host Zhu Jun in Beijing on Aug. 10. (Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images)
A Beijing court on Wednesday dealt a serious blow to China’s beleaguered #MeToo movement, rejecting the appeal of a woman whose harassment claims against a TV host had inspired dozens of others to open up about their assaults.
At a closed-door trial, the court said it had “rejected” the appeal of Zhou Xiaoxuan, 29, against a previous ruling that dismissed her claims due to insufficient evidence, Reuters reported.
Zhou had sued Zhu Jun, a star presenter at the state-owned CCTV broadcaster, for emotional damages after accusing him of groping and forcibly kissing her while she interned at the channel in 2014.
She first came forward in 2018, using the online alias Xianzi to accuse Zhu of harassment on the popular Chinese blogging service Weibo. Zhu has denied the allegations and lodged a defamation suit against Zhou.
But her account ignited a firestorm in China and galvanized countless other women to publicly share their own sexual assault stories.
Beijing court dismisses landmark #MeToo case as authorities censor discussion
In recent years, Chinese authorities have taken some steps to strengthen laws against sexual abuse — but the country’s women’s rights movement remains consistently under fire, with some officials claiming it’s a tool used by Western nations to destabilize China. As a result, sexual harassment victims in China often avoided filing complaints, worried they could face a public backlash, rights advocates say.
Zhou first brought her case to the Hadian People’s Court, filing a grievance under the “personality rights” law that covers complaints related to an individual’s body and health. But in 2020, China passed a new civil code aimed at clamping down on workplace sexual harassment — and Zhou’s lawyers then asked that her suit be considered under the new framework.
Still, the court ruled in 2021 that she did not meet the burden of proof. She vowed to appeal her case, despite what she said was a growing emotional toll from the proceedings.
“I don’t think I can do anything more,” Zhou said outside the courthouse after her case was dismissed last year. “I can’t do that for another three years.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s ruling, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported that Zhou’s legal team had focused on gathering more evidence, including surveillance footage and police transcripts of interviews with her parents after she reported the incident.
“Deep down, I am very disappointed,” Zhou told the Guardian. “But perhaps at this stage and in such a case, the fact that I lost the battle could provoke more reflection on the real difficulty of being a woman in today’s China.” | 2022-08-10T22:51:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | China's Zhou Xiaoxuan loses appeal in landmark #MeToo case - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/10/zhou-xiaoxuan-china-metoo-court/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/10/zhou-xiaoxuan-china-metoo-court/ |
When Biden met with historians last week at the White House, they compared the threat facing America to the pre-Civil War era and to pro-fascist movements before WWII
President Biden listens during a meeting with CEOs to receive an update on economic conditions across key sectors and industries on July 28. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
President Biden paused last week, during one of the busiest stretches of his presidency, for a nearly two-hour private history lesson from a group of academics who raised alarms about the dire condition of democracy at home and abroad.
The conversation during a ferocious lightning storm on Aug. 4 unfolded as a sort of Socratic dialogue between the commander in chief and a select group of scholars, who painted the current moment as among the most perilous in modern history for democratic governance, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions who requested anonymity to describe a private meeting.
Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama, briefed Biden with other experts before the Russian invasion of Ukraine and before the president’s 2021 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.
“They get out of their bubble,” McFaul said. “I worked at the White House for three years before going to Moscow, and comparatively I think they do that in a much more strategic way than we used to do in the Obama administration. It feels that they are more engaged.”
McFaul was among a socially distanced group that met to discuss Ukraine in the East Room earlier this year, along with former diplomat Richard Haass, journalist Fareed Zakaria, analyst Ian Bremmer, former National Security Council adviser Fiona Hill and retired Adm. James G. Stavridis, a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
Biden sat at the center of a dining table with the experts gathered at either end to keep the president a covid-safe six feet from the group. As some participants, including McFaul and Stavridis, appeared remotely on a screen, Biden began with brief comments and then spent about two hours asking questions.
“They really wanted outside-the-box thinking of, is there any way that this war, which will be horrible for everyone involved, can be stopped? Can we stop it? How can we stop it?” Bremmer said. “All of my interactions [with the White House] in the last few years have been uniformly open, constructive and really wanting to get my best sense of where they’re getting it right and where they’re not.”
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the president “values hearing from a wide range of experts.” NSC spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said, “We are in regular touch with a diverse, bipartisan collection of experts and stakeholders on a variety of topics, including Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine.”
At a news conference in January, Biden said a priority of his second year in office was to get more input from academia, editorial writers, think tanks and other outside experts. “Seeking more input, more information, more constructive criticism about what I should and shouldn’t be doing,” he told reporters.
Some meetings have been more exclusive. At a private lunch with Biden on May 2, Clinton praised his successor’s efforts to build a multinational coalition supporting Ukraine.
But he also urged Biden to lean into speaking about his administration’s efforts to battle inflation, with the expectation that price pressures would ease in the weeks before the midterm elections, according to people briefed on the exchange. Clinton suggested that Biden position himself to take credit for inflation reductions, if they come.
Clinton also urged Biden to create a sharp policy contrast with Republicans, latching especially onto the policy proposals of Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who had proposed a five-year sunset on all federal laws, including Social Security and Medicare, and tax increases on many Americans who are not working.
As it happened, the White House was already planning a similar contrast, and days later Biden publicly laid into what he called the “ultra MAGA agenda,” a reference to the Make America Great Again movement organized around former president Donald Trump.
The historians Biden has invited to the White House generally take a longer view, placing his presidency in the context of America’s path since its founding. Biden — who is 78 and has seen nine presidents up close, starting with Richard M. Nixon — has signaled that he has thought about what makes some presidencies more successful than others.
The group that gathered in the White House Map Room last week was part of a regular effort by presidential historians to brief presidents, a practice that dates at least as far back as the Reagan administration. Obama convened such groups multiple times, though the sessions fell out of favor under Trump.
Following a similar meeting with Biden last spring, the Aug. 4 gathering was distinguished by its relatively small size and the focus of the participants on the rise of totalitarianism around the world and the threat to democracy at home. They included Biden’s occasional speechwriter Jon Meacham, journalist Anne Applebaum, Princeton professor Sean Wilentz, University of Virginia historian Allida Black and presidential historian Michael Beschloss. White House senior adviser Anita Dunn and head speechwriter Vinay Reddy also sat at the table.
Biden, who was still testing positive for the coronavirus, appeared on a television monitor that was set up next to the room’s fireplace, taking notes as he sat two floors up in the Treaty Room that is part of the White House residence. Senior adviser Mike Donilon also appeared on-screen, say people familiar with the events.
During the discussion, a loud crack of thunder could be heard, which the participants later found out coincided with a lightning strike that killed three people in Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House.
One person familiar with the exchange said the conversation was mostly a way for Biden to hear and think about the larger context in which his tenure is unfolding. He did not make any major pronouncements or discuss his plans for the future.
“A lot of the conversation was about the larger context of the contest between democratic values and institutions and the trends toward autocracy globally,” the person said.
Most of the experts in attendance have been outspoken in recent months about the threat they see to the American democratic project, after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, the continued denial by some Republicans of the 2020 election results and the efforts of election deniers to seek state office.
Applebaum, a contributor to the Atlantic, recently published a book on eroding democratic norms called “Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism.” Black, a longtime adviser to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was recently named to the board of Vanderbilt University’s Project on Unity and American Democracy, which aims to reduce political polarization.
Beschloss, a presidential historian who regularly appears on NBC and MSNBC, has recently become more outspoken about what he sees as the need for Biden to battle anti-democratic forces in the country.
“I think he has got to talk tonight about the fact that we are all in existential danger of having our democracy and democracies around the world destroyed,” Beschloss said in March on MSNBC, before Biden delivered the State of the Union address.
Wilentz, prizewinning author of “The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln,” has also voiced alarm in recent months about the state of the country. “We’re on the verge of what Hamilton in ‘The Federalist’ called government by brute force,” Wilentz told the Hill last month.
Some of last week’s discussion focused on similarities between today’s landscape and the period leading up to World War II, when growing authoritarianism abroad found its disturbing echo in the United States.
As Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini consolidated their power in the 1930s, the Rev. Charles Coughlin used his radio broadcast to spread a populist anti-Semitic message in the United States. Sen. Huey Long (D-La.) also rallied Americans against Roosevelt and showed sympathies for dictatorial government.
Concerns about anti-democratic trends have long animated Biden, who began his 2020 campaign by arguing that a “battle for the soul of the nation” was underway, a play on the phrase used by Meacham to title his 2018 book “The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels.”
Democrats broadly expect the same ideas will anchor Biden’s reelection campaign, if he decides to move forward with one, especially if Trump is his opponent again.
Biden has continued to bring up such themes in his public speeches, most recently in a July address to a law enforcement group, where he criticized Trump for taking no immediate action as the rioters he had inspired attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to overturn the results of the recent presidential election.
“You can’t be pro-insurrection and pro-democracy,” Biden told the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. “You can’t be pro-insurrection and pro-American.” | 2022-08-10T23:06:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Historians privately warn Biden: America’s democracy is on the brink - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/biden-us-historians-democracy-threat/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/biden-us-historians-democracy-threat/ |
Commanders offensive line coach John Matsko led one of the NFL's better lines in 2021 and has been a stabilizing force in training camp. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
Even in hindsight, it’s odd to think that Washington lost its starting veteran quarterback last year on the season’s 16th snap, that newly signed receiver Curtis Samuel missed almost the entirety of the season and that star pass rusher Chase Young went down in Week 10 with a torn ACL.
Even stranger? The offensive line was down to its fifth center at one point. Five.
Injuries and covid-19 left Washington in shambles in the latter half of 2021, and the offensive line especially felt it. Yet somehow it played through the decimation and became one of the team’s most consistent units.
This year, despite a growing list of injuries across the roster, including on the O-line, Coach Ron Rivera is still confident the front five and its reserves can be just as consistent and deep as they were in 2021.
“We do things with intent,” he said. “We’re looking at how many offensive linemen we can keep on the 53 and how many of those guys will we be able to get back on the practice squad and rotate them.”
Last year, the Commanders lost starting center Chase Roullier to an ankle injury that required extensive surgery. Then they lost his backup, Wes Schweitzer, who doubled as a guard and center, to a nasty ankle injury. His backup, Tyler Larsen, went down soon after with an Achilles injury and is still recovering, and at one point late in the year, the team practiced with its fifth center, Jon Toth.
What’s more: Veteran left tackle Charles Leno Jr. was new to the team, and right tackle Sam Cosmi was a rookie and played only nine games because of ankle and hip issues.
Players from the bottom of the depth chart had to be subbed in, and they did so without a drop-off. Pro Football Focus ranked Washington’s offensive line as the sixth-best in the league at the end of the season.
Chase Roullier, snap after snap, cements himself as an anchor of Washington’s offense
In training camp so far this year, the Commanders have been without right guard Trai Turner, who was signed to replace Brandon Scherff but is nursing a quad injury. Swing tackle Cornelius Lucas has been on the non-football injury list for all of training camp, Roullier has been working his way back from his injury, and Larsen is still on the physically unable to perform list.
So Washington’s vaunted line is essentially a rotation at key positions, which raises questions about whether some starters will be ready for the season opener — and also gives young players chances to prove themselves with more reps and key depth roles.
“We try to have 10 guys that we feel good about,” Rivera said. “And we do; in fact, we feel like we have 12 guys that we feel really good about as far as that group’s concerned. We did that on purpose. Last couple years, we’ve had really good line play in spite of the amount of the injuries we’ve had on the offensive line. It’s a credit to the coaches. I think what [offensive line] Coach [John] Matsko and [assistant offensive line] Coach [Travelle] Wharton has done with those guys has been really good.”
Much of Rivera’s confidence stems from the experience of the line. All but one player (rookie Chris Paul) among the top 10 offensive linemen on the Commanders’ unofficial depth chart have experience in offensive coordinator Scott Turner’s system. There are also three other reserves who were on the roster or practice squad last year.
Trai Turner was with Rivera for six seasons in Carolina and knows the system. Left guard Andrew Norwell is also a former Panther and is beginning his eighth NFL season. And Roullier is still ramping up, but he’s been in this offense for two seasons and in the league for five.
“Chase progressed very well,” Rivera said. “In fact, yesterday we got a little carried away, and we had him out there a little bit longer. … He came in, and he said, ‘I’m glad we did that.’ And I’m thinking to myself, we did it by accident, but we pushed him a little bit and he came out, felt great, felt great this morning.”
Roullier has been involved in team drills, albeit on a limited basis, in camp recently. He’s become accustomed to playing with a rotation of players around him, and this year is no different. Norwell is favored at left guard and, when healthy, Turner is in the lead at right guard.
“I’m not always playing with the same two guards,” Roullier said. “I’m playing with eight different guards on every practice, which allows me to build a lot of confidence with a lot of different guys and also get to know them on the field, which allows me to get to know them off the field better as well. You build a lot of camaraderie that way. I think Coach Matsko understands that through his years of coaching and does a very good job with it.”
With Roullier back, Turner has been the only starter missing on the line. Rivera said the team expects Turner to be back within the next 10 days and would like to see him get at least a series in the preseason. But his quad injury has sidelined him for two weeks (he did some side-field work for the first time Wednesday), and he fills a significant role in replacing Scherff, widely considered one of the best guards in the NFL.
“If he were a younger guy, he’d probably be doing a lot more than he’s done right now,” Rivera said. “Because he’s a veteran guy, he knows our system. He knows the techniques that we need. There’s not a need to push him out there a lot sooner.”
Multiple players, as well as Rivera and Wharton, lauded Matsko’s coaching for keeping the group consistent amid injuries. Cosmi has said that though he plays alongside different players, they’re all taught the same techniques and the same responsibilities.
“[Matsko] demands everybody to have a starter mentality,” Wharton said. “Don’t think you are two or three, you are a starter. That’s the expectation in our room, that at any given moment you have to be ready to play. … Whether it’s footwork, hand placement, hat placement, he sees it all. … But it’s the coaching, letting you know, ‘Hey, we’re all in this together, we’re going to coach you hard and go out there and play hard.’” | 2022-08-10T23:32:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Washington Commanders offensive line should be just as consistent in 2022 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/washington-commanders-offensive-line/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/washington-commanders-offensive-line/ |
WSSC Water General Manager Carla A. Reid has faced scrutiny over a billing system whose costs have tripled.
The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission headquarters in Laurel. (Katherine Shaver/The Washington Post)
The outgoing leader of Maryland’s largest water utility is seeking the resignation of two members of the utility’s board, saying WSSC Water is an “organization in crisis.”
The call by General Manager Carla A. Reid follows months of scrutiny of the utility’s billing system, particularly by the two commissioners whom she said should resign or be removed. The commissioners — Keith E. Bell, representing Prince George’s County, and T. Eloise Foster, representing Montgomery County — have questioned the utility’s procurement and management of a 3-year-old billing system, whose $40 million budget has tripled.
Some utility officials have said the system also hasn’t done enough to help customers address billing problems online, leading to numerous complaints of long hold times and unanswered calls at the utility’s customer service center.
Why WSSC Water spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on its 'rebranding'
In an Aug. 3 letter to leaders of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, Reid said the commissioners improperly interfered in daily operations by reducing her authority last month to make high-level personnel changes. Reid, who has led WSSC Water since 2016, said the move followed the board deciding in June to not renew her contract, which expires at the end of the year.
The seven-page letter, obtained by The Washington Post, illustrates the kind of political infighting that has plagued the bicounty agency for years, including tensions between general managers and commissioners. Foster said during the board’s July meeting that the board had decided in a closed-door session to not renew Reid’s contract but did not say why. Board members told Reid they were curbing her personnel authority, as often occurs with other outgoing chief executives.
Reid has publicly accused the commissioners of curtailing her power — a step she said had not been taken during previous WSSC Water leadership transitions — because she is the utility’s first female leader.
“WSSC Water is an organization in crisis because of the abhorrent conduct of certain Commissioners and their misuse of power,” Reid wrote. “ … The conduct of these commissioners has created a cancer in the organization.”
WSSC Water, which has about 1,700 employees, is governed by a six-member board, with county executives in Montgomery and Prince George’s appointing three commissioners each. The general manager reports to the board. Reid is paid $297,252 annually, and commissioners are paid $13,000, according to a WSSC Water spokesman.
WSSC Water provides water and sewer services to nearly 2 million people in the Washington suburbs and has come under scrutiny for high administrative costs, water-main breaks and spills of untreated sewage. It is funded by customers, whose rates have risen by about 6 percent annually in recent years.
Reid’s letter drew a swift response from Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D). In an Aug. 5 letter to Bell, Miriam L. Brewer, appointments liaison for Alsobrooks, said the executive “intends to commence the process for your removal” from the board.
“A central concern was your routine encroachment from your role of governance to attempting to dictate the organization’s daily operations,” the letter said.
WSSC chooses Carla A. Reid as new general manager
In an interview, Bell called Brewer’s letter a “knee-jerk reaction” to Reid’s allegations.
Bell, a federal administrative law judge, denied improperly interfering in personnel issues, saying he works to fulfill his fiduciary responsibility as a commissioner. Bell has led the board’s recent questioning of WSSC Water officials about the billing system’s cost overruns.
“My goal here is to make sure we are doing the right thing for WSSC Water and ratepayers,” Bell said.
Foster did not respond Wednesday to a call and email seeking comment. Richard S. Madaleno Jr., Montgomery’s chief administrative officer, said Wednesday that Elrich has no plans to remove Foster from the board. Madaleno cited her “decades of leadership,” including as former secretary of the Maryland Department of Budget and Management.
“He has full faith in her and the value she brings to the rate payers of WSSC,” Madaleno said in an interview.
Reid returned to WSSC Water after top administrative jobs with Montgomery and Prince George’s governments. She worked at the utility for 20 years before leaving as deputy general manager in 2006, five months after being cited for speeding and crashing a utility vehicle on the Capital Beltway, her fifth incident in a utility-owned vehicle.
In an interview, Reid said she is seeking the two commissioners’ removal because she believes the board must be “impartial” to choose her successor. She said she had not been told why commissioners voted unanimously to not renew her contract but said it “feels like retaliation” after she referred to the utility’s ethics board allegations that an IT manager had assisted in the hiring of six friends and former colleagues, including some who weren’t qualified.
“I never got a reason,” Reid said. “Never got any kind of discussion with the commissioners regarding transition or regarding their thoughts about not renewing my contract.”
The board has scrutinized the billing system, implemented in mid-2019, that has soared from a $40 million budget to $120 million, according to board meeting recordings. Commissioners have said utility leaders didn’t make clear that the system would be the first of its kind that its vendor, Oracle, had implemented in North America.
The billing system, known as Project Cornerstone, was designed to make bills more user-friendly and eventually allow customers’ water usage to be transmitted automatically from their meters to the utility rather than through meter readers, according to board meeting recordings.
Utility officials have said they selected Oracle to develop the system in 2017, without putting the project out to bid, because the utility already used other Oracle software. Reid also has said the utility needed the system to quickly implement a new rate structure after the Maryland Public Service Commission found its previous structure discriminated against larger households.
But the project quickly ran into problems, with the price continuing to climb as Oracle submitted change orders and the utility relied heavily on vendors who were flown in from around the country, according to board meeting discussions.
In February, the board voted unanimously to hire an independent firm to investigate the problems and how the system was procured. The board also put on hold additional spending until the utility analyzes whether it would be more cost-effective to switch to another software company.
Reid said Project Cornerstone had been a success, saying the additional costs have been “normal” for such a large project and were “never considered or represented to be part of the project budget,” according to a February memo she wrote to the board.
Del. Al Carr (D-Montgomery), who has followed WSSC Water closely, said the utility has a history of “serious overspending issues,” even as its customers pay water rates almost twice as high as they would in Fairfax County.
Asked about the commissioners whom Reid wants removed, Carr said, “They’re doing their jobs. They’re providing the oversight they should be.”
Director of News Research Monika Mathur contributed to this report. | 2022-08-10T23:33:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | WSSC Water leader Carla Reid calls for removal of two commissioners - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/08/10/carla-reid-wssc-commissioners/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/08/10/carla-reid-wssc-commissioners/ |
James Franco attends IFP's 27th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards on Nov. 27, 2017, in New York. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for IFP)
When news broke last week that actor James Franco would play Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro in the upcoming film “Alina of Cuba,” a wave of backlash ensued. Latinos across the internet and in the film industry decried the choice of a white, non-Latino actor as the latest, glaring example of discrimination of Latinos in Hollywood.
Actors, experts and even politicians have since claimed more should be done to correct the historical exclusion of Latinos at a pivotal moment in Hollywood, where there is a public demand for more inclusion and diversity in the industry.
But the controversy also prompted a larger debate online: Who has the right to play what kind of roles? Should an actor’s ethnicity, race or nationality align with the character, with some arguing that artistic freedom and skill should be the guiding principle.
“This is about people being tired of the lack of Latinx representation in the industry, of the continuing erasure of the community and of people not making an effort to authentically cast these roles,” said Ana-Christina Ramon, co-author of the UCLA “Hollywood Diversity Report,” which charts representation of different ethnic groups on and off screen.
The story grabbed national headlines after Colombian American actor John Leguizamo took to Instagram to condemn the decision.
“How is this still going on?” he said on Instagram. “How is Hollywood excluding us but stealing our narratives as well? No more appropriation Hollywood and streamers! Boycott!”
Leguizamo, who wrote and performed the Broadway production Latin History for Morons, continued:
“We’re 30 percent of the box office — I want 30 percent of the roles, okay? Thirty percent,” the actor said in a different video posted on Instagram. “That means out of every 10 movies, three of those should be Latin movies, and out of 10 actors in your Marvel movies, three of those will be Latin actors.”
Latinos constitute more than 18 percent of the population yet made up only 5.7 percent of film roles in 2020, according to the 2021 UCLA “Hollywood Diversity Report.” Small-screen representation is similarly bleak: Latinos accounted for only 6.3 percent of the share of broadcast TV roles in the 2019-20 season, according to the same report.
The Castro film is based on a script by Jose Rivera, who is Puerto Rican, and Nilo Cruz, a Cuban American. It follows the true-life story of Alina Fernandez (played by Cuban American actress Ana Villafañe), a Cuban exile turned social advocate, who was born of the love affair between Cuban socialite Natalia Revuelta and “El Comandante,” Castro’s moniker.
Miguel Bardem, who is Spanish, is signed on to direct.
Fernandez — who learned Castro was her father when she was 10 and would grow up to be a fierce critic of his regime — has expressed her approval of Franco’s casting, praising the “obvious physical resemblance with Fidel Castro,” as well as his “skills and charisma,” she said in an interview with Deadline.
Franco’s agent and publicist did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
John Martinez O’Felan, the project’s lead creative producer, told Deadline that they were looking for an actor with a “close physical resemblance” to Castro and focused on his “Galician heraldry,” adding that Franco, whose father is of Portuguese descent, best fit that mold.
O’Felan did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post. In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, he also dismissed Leguizamo’s criticism that Franco wasn’t Latino as “culturally uneducated” and misguided, representing the “confusion and identity crisis in Hollywood” about who should identify as Latino.
The term “Hispanic” is used to describe people from the Americas and Spain who speak Spanish or are descended from Spanish-speaking communities; while “Latinx,” a gender-neutral alternative to Latina or Latino, describes people with roots in Latin American. Both can overlap and are often used interchangeably.
O’Felan’s technical argument misses the point, Ramon said. The Cuban leader was a historically known Latin American figure who had tremendous impact in the lives of people in Cuba and Latin America and, given his ancestry, should have been represented by someone with that same Latinx background — or at least Spanish background, Ramon who is director of research and civic engagement of the Division of Social Sciences at UCLA said.
Film critic Carlos Aguilar argued that the current push for more representation of people of color in Hollywood makes it much more difficult for the lack of representation and appropriation of Latino roles by non-Latino actors to go unnoticed.
“Hollywood used to get away with all of this, pretty much without repercussions, but things are starting to change, this simply does no longer fly,” Aguilar said.
Leguizamo, and others, have in recent days pointed to several examples of White actors playing Latino roles through the years — from Marlon Brando playing Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata (1952) to Al Pacino in “Scarface” portraying Cuban immigrant turned drug kingpin, Tony Montana.
The conversation about inclusion in Hollywood has brought attention to other casting controversies. In 2018, for instance, Ed Skrein faced fierce backlash from the Asian American community when he was cast in “Hellboy” as Ben Daimio, a comic book character who is Japanese American.
The outrage was such that Skrein decided to remove himself from the role.
As the controversy unfolded, some people on social media argued actors should have the artistic freedom to play any character, regardless of their race, ethnicity or nationality, and be cast on the sole merit of talent.
But experts say that would be an ideal scenario if, in fact, there was a level playing field. For Latinos, historically has not been the case.
“But those who make that argument seem to forget that we are in this path of course correction of positive, meaningful representation of Latinx in the industry, but we have only barely begun to address the historical lack of representation,” Aguilar said. “But we are not there yet, so that is still a utopia.”
Aguilar and Brown say that Latinos are rarely cast in roles that are not explicitly Latino, often times pigeonholed in stereotypical characters of gangsters or maids, or overlooked for leading roles if these are not explicitly written as Latinos.
“There just aren’t enough roles for them, so when you don’t even consider them for obvious ones like these historical figures, tied directly to their identity, you are basically saying there is no space for them in this industry,” Aguilar said.
The news of Franco’s casting came after Warner Bros. Discovery said it would not release “Batgirl,” starring the Afro-Latina actress Leslie Grace, and the cancellation of HBO Max comedy series “Gordita Chronicles,” which tells the experiences of a girl from the Dominican Republic and her family who adapt to their new American life in Miami.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D) said Sunday that the shutdown of both projects shed light on what he called “systemic racism of Latinos” in the entertainment industry.
“When your industry is based in LA, a city that’s 47% Latino, yet Latinos make up only 6% of the industry that’s a pretty strong case for systemic racism in a “liberal” industry,” he said on Twitter, adding that this created a “void in narrative” of Latino history, culture and contributions. | 2022-08-10T23:37:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | James Franco casting as Fidel Castro sparked a wave of backlash - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/08/10/latino-representation-hollywood-james-franco/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/08/10/latino-representation-hollywood-james-franco/ |
Slain woman was found on fire after domestic violence call, police say
Fairfax County, Va., police said they were talking to a person of interest
A woman was killed in Fairfax County on Wednesday in what police described as a “horrific” incident in which officers responding to a domestic violence call arrived to find the victim on fire.
Maj. Ed O’Carroll of the Fairfax County Police Department said emergency responders were called to a home in the 2900 block of Willston Place, in the Seven Corners area, for a reported domestic dispute as well as the activation of a fire alarm. He said authorities arrived to find the woman and part of the residence on fire.
“This is a horrific crime,” O’Carroll said. “It’s profoundly sad.”
Emergency responders tried to provide treatment to the woman, O’Carroll said, but she was pronounced dead. He said police were speaking with a “person of interest” who was at the residence just before a woman was heard screaming for help and then spotted “fleeing the area.” Authorities had released a photograph of the person captured by some type of camera.
O’Carroll said that investigators believe the killing is an isolated incident and that the killer knew the victim. He said officers had been called to the area previously for “domestic” issues, and investigators were exploring whether that was connected to the killing.
Police did not release the woman’s name. | 2022-08-10T23:54:51Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Slain woman was found on fire after domestic violence call, police say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/woman-on-fire-domestic-violence/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/woman-on-fire-domestic-violence/ |
The Disney+ website on a laptop computer in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Monday, July 18, 2022. Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN will raise the price of its streaming service by 43% next month, betting that it can help cover the escalating cost of sports rights without losing subscribers who are grappling with soaring inflation. (Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg)
Walt Disney Co.’s streaming strategy appears to be shifting ever so subtly away from subscriber growth toward profits, dealing another blow to customers who have become accustomed to low-price, ad-free viewing.
While Wall Street showed its delight with the 14.4 million new Disney+ subscribers that the company reported on Wednesday for the quarter ended July 2, the growth wasn’t as good as it could have been. In the North American market, for instance, Disney+ added just 100,000 subscribers compared with the previous quarter, to 44.5 million from 44.4 million as of April 2. So the growth came almost entirely from overseas, partly from India, where average revenue per subscriber is a fraction of what it is for Disney+ elsewhere. Overseas growth was also fueled by the launch of 50 new markets, which muddies the waters.
Disney Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy suggested that domestic growth would accelerate a little in the current quarter thanks to releases of new shows. While that’s better than the reverse, any acceleration is likely to be short-lived thanks to Disney’s decision to raise the price of the existing ad-free version of Disney+ in the U.S. by 38% to $10.99 on Dec. 8 and to introduce a version with ads at the old $7.99 price.
Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek assured analysts he doesn’t expect the price increase to have “any meaningful long-term impact on our churn.” That makes sense. Disney+ fans can trade down to the ad-supported version at the same price if the new ad-free price is too high for them, as McCarthy acknowledged.
But the price increase won’t do anything for growth. Anyone who isn’t interested in Disney+ at $7.99 a month without ads is unlikely to be more excited in trying it at that price with ads.
No, what this is all about is stemming the service’s losses. Disney reported that the operating loss at its direct-to-consumer division — the term it uses for streaming — was $1.06 billion in the quarter, compared with $293 million a year earlier. McCarthy told analysts that this is the peak year for Disney+ losses, which means Disney has to show a path toward break-even next fiscal year.
That should be feasible. What isn’t clear is how much of the impact of the price increase will be cannibalized by people shifting down to the ad-supported version. McCarthy noted that the ad-supported version of Disney’s Hulu service is more popular than Hulu’s ad-free version. Still, even assuming Disney’s subscriber numbers in North America don’t grow much, international markets should continue to expand. And the ad tier will bolster revenue.
The same profits-over-growth thinking drove Disney’s recent decision to give up IPL cricket streaming rights for its Disney+ service in India, which also carries the Hotstar brand. Without IPL, Disney appears to expect Hotstar’s growth to be weaker, based on new medium-term subscriber growth projections for the service issued on Wednesday. The subscriber target for Hotstar might change further: McCarthy noted that other cricket rights held by Hotstar in India are coming up for renewal. She added that those would be evaluated with the “same discipline” Disney used in considering the IPL rights. Disney is taking the right tack there. India doesn’t generate enough subscription revenue to justify high costs for sports programming.
The good news for Disney as it takes a more cost-conscious approach to streaming is that its top rivals, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery, are taking similar steps, to varying degrees. That limits the competitive damage that could arise if Disney were raising prices and others weren’t. The only real losers are consumers, for whom the happy days of low-cost, ad-free streaming will soon be a thing of the past.
• Netflix Shouldn’t Take a Victory Lap Just Yet: Martin Peers
• Music Labels Love TikTok a Bit Too Much: Trung Phan | 2022-08-11T00:20:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Disney Joins the Tough-Love Club for Streaming Viewers - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/disney-joins-the-tough-love-club-for-streaming-viewers/2022/08/10/0dcb5006-190a-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/disney-joins-the-tough-love-club-for-streaming-viewers/2022/08/10/0dcb5006-190a-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
The result in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District caught the attention of party strategists and nonpartisan analysts looking for clues about the mood of the electorate
Lenny Bronner
Former Hormel CEO Jeff Ettinger, who was on pace to lose by single-digits in Minnesota's 1st Congressional District special election. (Mark Zdechlik/Minnesota Public Radio/AP)
Democrats and nonpartisan analysts said Wednesday that they saw fresh signs for the party in power to be more optimistic about the midterms after a special election for the House in the wake of the Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade — but acknowledged that with three months left in the campaign, President Biden and his party continue to face substantial political hurdles.
The result in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, where Republican Brad Finstad defeated Democrat Jeff Ettinger, caught the attention of party strategists and nonpartisan analysts looking for clues about the mood of the electorate. Finstad led Ettinger by four points with 99 percent of the vote tallied Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. Donald Trump won the district by about 10 points in 2020.
Those three events, along with some other factors, could suggest the political climate for Democrats is not as apocalyptic as it seemed a few months ago, when Biden’s low approval numbers (which remain in negative territory) and high gas prices coupled with historic trends pointed to a Republican wave election, some analysts said.
David Wasserman, who analyzes House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said falling gas prices, an uptick in Democratic enthusiasm after Roe and GOP candidates being pulled to the far right in their primaries have helped level the playing field. “Overall, Republicans are still clear favorites for the House majority, but they may not be in line for the large gains they expected,” Wasserman said.
Republicans don’t need a wave to win the House, only a handful of seats, which is still very much in reach, analysts said. In the battle for the Senate, where candidate strength and the unique political makeup of each state tend to matter more than the national mood, the picture is more fluid.
A precinct analysis of both the Minnesota and Nebraska districts suggests that Democratic turnout was strongest in suburban areas and small towns. In Minnesota, Democrats also improved in rural precincts — by an average of 2 percentage points.
In the higher-turnout election in Kansas, a combination of factors came into play. According to data from the Democratic voter file company Catalist, Democrats saw a higher turnout rate then Republicans for the first time since at least 2008.
Some observers and strategists warned not to overread what happened in these three places. Nathan Gonzales, a veteran political prognosticator, said the politics do seem to be shifting, but said it’s hard to draw conclusions from three small samples.
“I think the results in Nebraska and Kansas and Minnesota shouldn’t be dismissed or ignored, but I haven’t seen enough evidence that these midterms will be atypical,” he said. I think for most of the cycle, it was: ‘Will Republicans have a good election or a great election?’ Since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, it might be closer to a good election.”
But Democratic strategists working on House races say there’s reason for them to be optimistic about the results. If they can overperform in a district Trump won by double digits, then it bodes well for the more competitive seats with closer margins, they argued.
“By just the numbers alone, our voters want to show up. We think that’s good news for us,” said Chris Taylor, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Some Republicans viewed it differently, predicting that inflation would still be a major impediment to Democrats’ chances this fall.
“I don’t see it,” said a GOP operative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking more openly. “You always need to be concerned, but right now Democrats have shown an inability to fix the number one problem facing voters. I think people are losing sight of how bad things are for everyday Americans: They’re living with the consequences of Democrats’ economic mess every time they go to buy something.”
Historically, first midterms have been difficult for the party of a new president, and many Republicans say believe this cycle will be no exception. Privately, many Democrats have also said they worry about a bad night on Nov. 8 when the returns come in.
The Roe decision — which wasn’t present in the run-up to past midterm elections — has appeared to generate energy among Democrats, party strategists and analysts said.
“If you have both parties enthusiastic, then one party can see significant gains, but it’s not a wipeout. Roe has pulled up Democratic enthusiasm so that it’s not as much of a wipeout scenario,” said Gonzales.
Wasserman said Democrats have “made large gains among those who are likeliest to turn out in these low-turnout specials. We wouldn’t have seen these narrow margins before Dobbs. The abortion issue seems durable and is helping them to turn out their voters at more impressive rates than Republicans in these special elections.”
The elections since the Supreme Court decision indicate that the national environment might have improved for Democrats since the elections in Virginia and New Jersey last year. Even in those elections, Democratic turnout was high, as Terry McAuliffe received nearly 200,000 more votes than Ralph Northam did in Virginia four years earlier. But that was not enough to counteract the huge increase in Republican turnout, as Glenn Youngkin received nearly half a million more votes than Ed Gillespie in the state.
At a polling station in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District on Tuesday, Ann Brown, a former social studies teacher, said the Roe decision erased any chance that she would vote Republican this year. But Brown said doesn’t feel great about Democrats’ chances in November, and wishes they had done more when they controlled both houses.
“They had the chance,” she said. “Congress couldn’t unite.”
Former New York congressman Steve Israel, who chaired the DCCC during the 2014 midterms, when Democrats were trounced in House races, cautioned against reading too much into Democrats’ recent performance.
“The question is whether this is a long-term changing environment or the eye of the storm,” Israel said. “I remember waking up to vastly improved numbers in the lead up to the 2014 midterms, then gravity set in, and our generic advantage evaporated in the three days before the election.”
“The best strategy,” he advised, “is hope for the best and continue planning for the worst.”
Eugene Scott in Washington and Sheila Regan in Minnesota contributed to this report. | 2022-08-11T00:21:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Post-Roe special elections show potentially encouraging signs for Democrats - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/democrats-special-election-minnesota-roe/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/democrats-special-election-minnesota-roe/ |
Joey Meneses, the Nats’ 30-year-old rookie, homers again in loss to Cubs
Joey Meneses hit his third home run of the series in the Nationals' 4-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday afternoon. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
CHICAGO — When Juan Soto and Josh Bell were dealt to San Diego at the trade deadline, the Washington Nationals found themselves with a void in the middle of their lineup. The pivot to a full-on rebuild has brought opportunity for some — like a 30-year-old career minor leaguer who waited 10 years before getting his chance last week once Bell took his first baseman’s mitt to the Padres.
Joey Meneses, with more than 3,000 at-bats in the minors, has made the most of his chance since the Nationals called him up to play first. He blasted his fourth home run in seven games, a majestic 422-foot drive in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s contest at Wrigley Field. His homer couldn’t overcome another late-game collapse, as the Cubs rallied for four runs in the seventh for a 4-2 win, sending Washington (37-76) to its seventh loss in eight games.
After the loss, Meneses was asked if he expected this kind of power output once he reached the majors.
“Not at all,” he said. “I was just going to try to get in there do the best I could when the opportunity was given to me and thank God I’ve been taking advantage of it.”
Meneses has made a handful of stops in his professional baseball career since signing a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves in 2011. He’s played 10 years in the minors and a few extra in the Mexican League. This season with Class AAA Rochester, he hit 20 home runs, power that continues to be on display since joining the Nationals.
He hit a home run in his debut and added three more in this series — a pinch-hit, two-run shot on Monday and a go-ahead, two-run homer on Tuesday before his solo shot Wednesday afternoon against the Cubs (45-65).
His blast gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead. Washington broke on top in the third when César Hernández hit a blooper that bounced over the head of a sliding Rafael Ortega in center field. The ball rolled past him, allowing Tres Barrera to score from first base.
Meneses’s recent performance, albeit a small sample size, could earn him a chance to stick around with the Nationals in some capacity beyond this year. That would likely be in a bench utility role as a first baseman with the ability to play some outfield, though it’s not his ideal position. Still, with a struggling offense post-trade deadline, Meneses will likely remain in the heart of the order.
“I feel like, up here, you have a little bit more energy and more motivation, obviously,” Meneses said. “But I feel that I’ve been doing it [in the minors] all year long and hopefully I continue to do it.”
How did the Cubs score in the seventh? It started when Nico Hoerner hit a solo shot off Josiah Gray, who leads the major leagues with 29 home runs allowed. Gray hadn’t allowed a run over six innings before the homer and exited after allowing a single to former Nationals catcher Yan Gomes. Gray struck out five over 6⅓ innings and, most notably, he didn’t walk anyone.
Steve Cishek replaced him and walked P.J. Higgins, the first batter he faced. Nick Madrigal hit a game-tying single; both he and Higgins advanced on a throwing error by Victor Robles — an airmail of a throw to the plate.
“Once [Robles] threw it, I watched his reaction, he knew that ball should’ve been down,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “You just got to understand the portion of the game and that’s something he needs to start learning. You can’t just come up there and fire the ball.”
Robles’s error proved costly when Higgins scored on a sacrifice fly to give the Cubs the lead. Ian Happ singled to drive in Madrigal, accounting for the final margin.
Why was Luis García scratched before Wednesday’s game? García experienced right knee soreness before the game and was replaced in the lineup by Ildemaro Vargas, who was initially penciled in at third base.
How close is Erick Fedde to returning to the rotation? Soon. Fedde (right shoulder inflammation) threw an extended bullpen on Tuesday and is scheduled to make a simulated start next week. If all goes well, Martinez hopes to fit Fedde back into the rotation once he comes off the 15-day injured list.
Who was optioned after Wednesday’s game and what’s the latest on the bullpen? Mason Thompson. The move sending Thompson to Rochester was to clear space for left-handed reliever Jake McGee, who will join the team Friday in Washington.
Will Harris suffered a groin injury while rehabbing in Rochester, so he’s likely to miss time. This injury is another setback for Harris, who has pitched in just 28 games since being signed to a three-year, $24 million deal before the 2020 season. He underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in June 2021 and right pectoral surgery March 31, but hoped to make his return at the end of the season.
Tyler Clippard is currently on the 15-day IL with a groin strain, but threw two scoreless innings Tuesday night and has made three appearances in Rochester. He could also rejoin the Nationals’ bullpen soon. | 2022-08-11T00:21:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Joey Meneses, the Nats' 30-year-old rookie, homers again in loss to Cubs - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/nationals-cubs-joey-meneses/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/nationals-cubs-joey-meneses/ |
Library public safety director submits resignation after officer is shot
Douglass Morency submitted his resignation after the killing of 25-year-old Maurica Manyan.
The Anacostia neighborhood library, in the 1800 block of Good Hope Road SE, closed after a library police officer was fatally shot Aug. 4 during a training exercise. (Clarence Williams/TWP)
The D.C. library’s public safety director submitted his resignation hours after a 25-year-old library police officer in training was shot during an exercise last week in Anacostia, a spokesman for the library system said Wednesday.
George Williams, the library spokesman, said officials received Douglass Morency’s resignation letter the evening of Aug. 4, the same day Maurica Manyan was shot and killed inside the Anacostia Neighborhood Library, on Good Hope Road in Southeast.
Police have charged a retired D.C. police lieutenant, 58-year-old Jesse Porter, with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting. Court documents say it occurred as cadets were preparing for a group picture at the end of training, and witnesses suggested it may have stemmed from a joke gone tragically wrong.
Williams said Morency, who earns $137,700 annually, is no longer running the day-to-day operations of the department, though his formal departure is set for Aug. 18. Morency did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Williams declined to provide Morency’s resignation letter, calling it a personnel document, and the precise reason for the departure was not clear. But Manyan’s shooting had raised questions about training and standards for a 36-member police force that attracts little attention. The department has six police cruisers, and officers patrol 26 library branches throughout D.C.
Williams said an interim public safety director has not been named and that supervisors are filling in.
Porter has been freed from custody and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 24. His attorney declined to comment last week; he did not respond to interview requests on Wednesday.
The libraries function as multipurpose gathering places — where children spend time after school, homeless people seek help from social workers, and residents get their taxes filed, their passports renewed and their free coronavirus tests from the city.
At the library system, Morency oversaw people called “special police officers,” whose arrest powers are generally limited to properties they are hired to protect — in this case, all library grounds. These officers have to meet requirements set by the D.C. police department’s Security Officers Management Branch, one of two city agencies that regulate licensed security guards.
Williams said the library public safety department’s training and development coordinator left in July, and officials decided to contract with Porter, who runs a private company called Porter Consulting and Expert Tactical Training, with an address in downtown Washington, according to online records.
Porter left the D.C. force in 2020 after about three decades. While a D.C. police officer, his resume claims, he worked on training at the academy, writing curriculum and reviewing use of force incidents to improve tactics and training.
Williams said “the library’s public safety department was familiar with Mr. Porter because of his training” with D.C. police. He said the Aug. 4 training session was the first time Porter’s company was hired to train the library police.
Library officials hired Porter’s company using what is called a city purchase card, and paid him $1,550.
A document titled “contract agreement,” dated June 30 and provided to The Washington Post by the library’s general counsel, outlined specific training Porter agreed to provide. It listed classes in use of force, de-escalation, the use of extendible batons and handcuffing techniques. It asserted that the training company “shall not be responsible for injuries sustained in training.”
Williams said grief counselors have been made available to staff in person and remotely as colleagues and friends process the tragedy. But one email sent to all librarians and other staff discouraged employees from discussing the shooting or their dead colleague — even among themselves.
The email sent by Tanzi West-Barbour, the library’s director of marketing and communications, warned: “Conversations with each other or members of the public about the incident and/or the case or people involved can affect the investigation. Please don’t do it.”
Her email also warned against “engaging in conversations via social media,” specifically noting emoji such as “a thumbs-up, a heart, a crying emoji.” could affect the criminal case.
Efforts to reach West-Barbour on Wednesday were not successful. Williams, the library spokesman, said she was not in the office and referred questions about her email to Kevin McIntyre, general counsel for the library.
McIntyre said he did not want to stifle employees’ free speech about their colleague’s death but did have concerns about what they might say.
“The email went out to prevent employees from speaking on behalf of the agency or to appear that they’re speaking on behalf of the agency,” McIntyre said. “The concern was releasing inaccurate or unverified information that could harm the investigation of our dear colleague.”
McIntyre said emoji can be problematic. “I think they can be taken a number of different ways,” he said.
After The Post asked questions about the note, West-Barbour sent out a new email Wednesday night walking back her earlier statement.
She said employees were still not authorized to speak to the media without permission, but added, “We continue to encourage you to check-in with others and share memories of Officer Manyan.” | 2022-08-11T01:08:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Library public safety director submits resignation after officer is shot - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/dc-library-safety-director-resigns/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/dc-library-safety-director-resigns/ |
University of Vermont network theorist Laurent Hebert-Dufresne compares each wave to a wildfire burning itself out when it runs out of fuel. Because most people who are infected retain immunity for a few weeks and some for a few months, the disease can — temporarily — run out of people to infect.
What classic disease modeling can say is that waves that rise fast tend to collapse quickly, said Vermont’s Hebert-Dufresne. That happened with the first omicron wave — the sharpness of the infection curve in the winter of 2021 was surprising, but typical for a very contagious virus. The original US wave in the spring of 2020 was the unusual one because it changed people’s behavior so much.
It’s also vital to remember that the amount of testing we do also affects the shape of Covid waves — especially the lack of available tests early in the pandemic and lack of interest in getting tested in this latest wave, said Hebert-Dufresne. That’s another layer of complexity making it hard to know what’s going on now, and hard to predict what will come next. And there are also elements of chance that figure into where outbreaks occur — even air currents in a room can influence who gets infected and who doesn’t.
(Corrects the spelling of Laurent Hebert-Dufresne’s name.) | 2022-08-11T01:52:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The Omicron BA.5 Wave Is Starting to Ebb. We Need to Know Why. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/theomicronba5-wave-is-starting-to-ebb-we-need-to-know-why/2022/08/10/58b09a44-1910-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/theomicronba5-wave-is-starting-to-ebb-we-need-to-know-why/2022/08/10/58b09a44-1910-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
A health-care worker administers a Jynneos monkeypox vaccine in Los Angeles on Aug. 9. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images)
The manufacturer of the only vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration to protect against monkeypox said Wednesday it did not support a Biden administration plan to split doses and change how the shots are delivered.
A company representative, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said Bavarian Nordic had concerns about the safety of the new method for injecting the vaccine that U.S. health officials had adopted and whether there was adequate data to support the approach. The representative said Bavarian Nordic had communicated those concerns to the Biden administration.
In interviews Wednesday, Biden administration officials acknowledged Bavarian Nordic’s concerns but said they would not affect their vaccine strategy.
“We’ve had conversations with them about this, and so has FDA,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “We wouldn’t have moved forward unless we thought it was safe and effective, and if FDA hadn’t dotted its I’s and crossed its T’s.”
Some Biden officials also believe Bavarian Nordic’s concerns stem from a potential loss in profits should the United States and other countries be able to stretch their existing vaccine supplies and reduce the need for future orders, according to three officials who were not authorized to comment. The Bavarian Nordic representative stressed that the concerns were driven by safety.
Becerra and other officials Tuesday announced a strategy to stretch the nation’s limited supply of monkeypox vaccine, saying the plan would transform several hundred-thousand doses of Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos vaccine into millions of potential shots. About 9,500 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in the United States, overwhelmingly among gay and bisexual men, and local officials have pressed the White House to deliver more vaccine doses amid surging demand.
The plan is “a game changer,” Robert J. Fenton Jr., coordinator of the nation’s monkeypox response, told reporters Tuesday. “It’s safe, it’s effective, and it will significantly scale the volume of vaccine doses available.”
Under the new approach, health-care providers would split each single-dose vial of Jynneos into five doses. Rather than injecting the shots subcutaneously, a traditional way of delivering vaccines into the fatty tissue under the skin, the doses would be injected under the top layer of the skin. This approach, known as an intradermal injection, uses a thinner needle and less vaccine but leads to a small bubble forming on the surface of the skin.
FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, who authorized the new approach Tuesday, cited a 2015 study into the two-dose vaccine that he said showed the strategy would be effective. Paul Chaplin, Bavarian Nordic’s CEO, was one of the authors of the study.
“The results of this study demonstrate that intradermal administration produces similar immune response to subcutaneous administration,” Califf said Tuesday. The FDA commissioner first publicly floated the dose-splitting strategy last week.
Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine official, released a memo that reviewed the data for the new approach and addressed the need to stretch existing vaccine supplies.
“Approximately 1.6 to 1.7 million people are currently estimated to be at elevated risk of monkeypox in the U.S. and may need vaccination,” Marks wrote in his memo. “Therefore, 3.2 to 3.4 million doses of JYNNEOS would be required to immunize that population. However, only about half that number of doses are currently estimated to be available before the end [of] 2022,” before the United States adjusted its strategy as it did Tuesday.
But Bavarian Nordic on Wednesday noted that the FDA had approved its shots only to be delivered subcutaneously and called for further study, according to the company representative.
Outside experts also have raised concerns about whether the Biden administration is rushing to adjust its vaccine strategy, amid criticism that the nation does not have enough monkeypox vaccine to meet demand.
“No effort to protect people’s health should come without proper due diligence and research,” David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, said in a statement. “We have grave concerns about the limited amount of research that has been done on this dose and administration method.”
Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and other public health experts also have said that changing the Jynneos vaccination strategy will require more health providers to be trained on the new approach.
Bavarian Nordic officials have signaled that they are open to other strategies to stretch limited vaccine supplies, such as delaying the second dose of the vaccine, as officials in New York, the United Kingdom and other monkeypox hotspots have done. Bavarian Nordic scientists are reviewing doses of Jynneos that were previously purchased by the United States but are past their shelf life to see if they remain viable and can be deployed in the outbreak.
Meanwhile, Bavarian Nordic officials had “limited notice” before Califf and other officials touted their potential plan to split the doses last Thursday, according to two individuals with knowledge of the communications who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The Biden administration has said it is still planning to procure more than 5 million additional single-dose vials from Bavarian Nordic by next year. | 2022-08-11T01:52:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Monkeypox vaccine maker voices concerns on U.S. dose-splitting plan - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/10/monkeypox-vaccine-bavarian-nordic-opposition/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/10/monkeypox-vaccine-bavarian-nordic-opposition/ |
Suspect in Albuquerque slayings denies involvement
Albuquerque suspect denies involvement
After he was detained by police, the suspect in the killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque denied any connection to the crimes that shook the city and its small Muslim community — and told authorities he was so unnerved by the violence that he was driving to Houston in search of a new home for his family, court documents said.
The documents made public Tuesday night in a criminal complaint said Muhammad Syed, 51, had only clothing, shoes and a handgun in his car when he was arrested Monday during a traffic stop more than 100 miles from his Albuquerque home. Syed, an Afghan immigrant, told detectives with assistance from a Pashto interpreter that he had been with the special forces in Afghanistan and fought against the Taliban, the complaint said.
The first ambush-style shooting happened in November and was followed by three more between July 26 and Aug. 5. Police say they are looking at a number of possible motives. Authorities said Syed knew the victims and “an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings.”
Prosecutors on Wednesday filed a motion to detain Syed without bond pending trial.
Also Wednesday, the suspect’s son Shaheen Syed was charged by federal prosecutors with providing a false Florida address when he bought two rifles last year. He has denied any role in the killings and has not been charged in connection with them.
House explosion kills 3; 39 homes are damaged
Three people were killed when a house exploded in Evansville on Wednesday, authorities said.
David Anson, chief deputy coroner for Vanderburgh County, said the victims’ identities would not be released until the next of kin had been notified.
Sgt. Anna Gray, Evansville police spokeswoman, said at least one other injury was reported and that victim was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Evansville Fire Department Chief Mike Connelly said 39 houses were damaged by the explosion at about 1 p.m. He said the department had not confirmed how many of the houses were occupied at the time because “some were too unstable to enter.” At least 11 of the 39 homes damaged are “uninhabitable,” he told the Evansville Courier & Press.
The cause of the explosion has not been determined. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was investigating. A phone message seeking comment was left at the Evansville field office of the ATF.
“Debris is strewn over a 100-foot radius,” including wooden boards, window glass and insulation, Connelly said.
Abortion ban on hold in Wyoming: Abortion will remain legal in Wyoming while a lawsuit that contests a ban on the procedure in nearly all cases moves ahead, a judge ruled Wednesday. The lawsuit will probably succeed because the ban appears to violate the state constitution and is vague, Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens, in Jackson, wrote in granting the preliminary injunction. The ban took effect July 27. But within hours, Owens granted a temporary restraining order suspending the law. Her latest ruling keeps the law suspended after the restraining order expired Wednesday.
State safety officers to be at Uvalde schools: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said Wednesday that the Department of Public Safety will be a law enforcement presence throughout the Uvalde school district in the upcoming school year. The presence of more than 30 state police officers was requested by Uvalde schools Superintendent Hal Harrell, Abbott said in a news release. Law enforcement has been heavily criticized for the response to the May 24 shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School. | 2022-08-11T01:52:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Suspect in Albuquerque slayings denies involvement - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/suspect-in-albuquerque-slayings-denies-involvement/2022/08/10/ffec636c-1468-11ed-aba1-f2b7689c0492_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/suspect-in-albuquerque-slayings-denies-involvement/2022/08/10/ffec636c-1468-11ed-aba1-f2b7689c0492_story.html |
Business owner frustrated at continued damage from floods, calls on city help
When the sky unleashed rain on Northeast Washington on Wednesday afternoon, Jacob Hensley, owner of dog day care District Dogs, checked his Rhode Island Avenue shop’s security cameras.
“There’s waves of water crashing on the building,” Hensley said. “I’m like, ‘Crap, here we go again.’ ”
For the third time in less than a month, Hensley’s storefront would be underwater. When the day care begins to flood, Hensley said, dogs are taken to higher ground and staff members go into “damage control mode,” removing things from the floor that could be damaged.
“They’ve told us these are like once in a generation or once a year type floods, but three times in four weeks?” Hensley said. “I don’t think so.”
Images of #DCsBravest removing victim from atop the vehicle in the 600 block R.I. Ave NE. That person was uninjured. pic.twitter.com/OAO2Yt99gs
The flooding in Hensley’s business was part of a storm system that swept across the District, Maryland and Virginia Wednesday afternoon and evening, flooding roadways and bringing miles-long delays to the evening commute according to authorities.
In the District, D.C. Fire and EMS rescued a woman whose car was stuck in high water at about 5:06 p.m. in the 600 block of Rhode Island Avenue NE, said Vito Maggiolo, a D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman. The occupant, a woman, had climbed onto the roof of her car, where rescuers removed her. She was uninjured.
On the same block, Hensley said there was at least a 3-foot wall of water outside his facility and two to three inches of water inside. Flood bags had been put in place, but “our building’s not built like a ship,” Hensley said, “You can’t protect it from that much water.”
The dog day care location opened in May. During construction last year, Hensley said he wasn’t given any warning of any possible flooding issues. Hensley said he has been in touch with city officials and is hoping for a solution, whether through an improved storm-drain system or some form of protection for his business.
“ I need to know that there is a way to fix this,” Hensley said. “This is a risk anytime it rains.”
At the Capitol South Metro Station, located on First Street SE, staff cleared water from the platform that came from the ceiling, Sherri Ly, a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority spokeswoman, said in an email.
“Earlier today, heavy rains and flooding in the area overwhelmed our drainage system and began entering Capitol South Station from the dome ceiling,” Ly said Wednesday evening. “We are also inspecting the drainage to make sure there are no other issues.”
The incident lasted about 15 minutes and there were no injuries or impact to train service, Ly said.
The Metropolitan Area Transportation Operations Coordination (MATOC) tweeted at 6:47 p.m. delays of six miles due to high water on Interstates 95 and 495 northbound, past Maryland 450 in Prince George’s County. Earlier, about 6:25 p.m., a tree fell on Maryland 295 southbound at Greenbelt Road, blocking one right lane, which created delays of seven miles, according to the MATOC.
According to the FAA, at about 6:50 p.m. flights were delayed an average of 3 hours and 29 minutes at Baltimore-Washington International Airport and delays of 4 hours and 56 minutes were reported at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. At Washington Dulles International Airport, delays of up to 4 hours and 57 minutes were reported.
In Prince George’s County, lightning struck a two-story single-family home in the 14400 block of Saint Gregory Way in Accokeek, about 4:50 p.m., Prince George’s Fire and EMS said. Smoke was coming from the roof and flames through the attic. The residents self-evacuated, the department said.
The severe weather came less than a week after three people were killed in a lightning strike in Lafayette Square and another person was injured after a severe thunderstorm Thursday.
A flood cleanup crew left District Dogs on Wednesday night after cleaning up, Hensley said. A crew had also been there Friday. Dog day care will be closed Thursday and probably through the weekend, giving staff a break and some time to regroup, Hensley said.
“You sort of feel lost, you don’t know what to do, because it’s out of your control,” he said. “No one controls Mother Nature.” | 2022-08-11T03:14:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Storms sweep region, business owner frustrated at floods - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/storm-floods-maryland-washington-virginia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/10/storm-floods-maryland-washington-virginia/ |
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a national meeting on the coronavirus, in a picture released in August by state media. (Kcna/Via Reuters)
SEOUL — North Korea, which has one of the poorest health care infrastructures in the world, now claims it has done what few other countries have accomplished: Eradicate covid.
For days, state propaganda outlets reported zero cases of “fever,” which North Korea, with its limited testing capacity, apparently uses as a euphemism for potential covid-19 cases. On Wednesday, leader Kim Jong Un gave a speech in which he “solemnly declared a victory” over the virus, state media said Thursday.
But there are plenty of holes in North Korea’s miraculous comeback story. For one, it lacks the capacity to do widespread PCR testing. North Korea and Eritrea are the only two countries without a coronavirus vaccine program. And North Korea’s hospitals are also so poorly equipped that there is barely reliable electricity.
That has not stopped North Korea from heralding success. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is credited with eradicating the virus despite falling “seriously ill with high fever” himself — though state media did not specify whether the fever was from coronavirus infection.
“He could not lie down for a moment thinking about the people he had to take care of until the end in the face of the anti-epidemic war,” his influential sister, Kim Yo Jong, said during a recent speech commending his leadership.
Since May, North Korea reported more than 4.7 million cases of “fever” symptoms, afflicting nearly a fifth of its population of 25 million. At its peak, it reported more than 750,000 fever cases in one day. It now claims just 74 fever patients — or about 0.002 percent — have died, which would make North Korea’s fatality rate the lowest in the world.
Making sense of N. Korea’s coronavirus mystery — and its menace
“The virus outbreak that came on top of an ongoing economic crisis posed a critical challenge to the Kim Jong Un regime, which prompted Kim Jong Un to act on it himself,” said Park Won-gon, professor of North Korean Studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
Park said the Kim regime made an “all-out effort” to curb the virus which appears to have been effective, though the “zero case” claim is still hard to believe. North Korea could shortly resume military provocations that it has refrained from while dealing with the virus outbreak, he said.
‘Alien things’ brought covid into North Korea, regime says
The latest: BA.5 is the most recent omicron subvariant, and it’s quickly become the dominant strain in the U.S. Here’s what to know about it, and why vaccines may only offer limited protection. | 2022-08-11T03:24:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | North Korea claims it eradicated covid and that Kim Jong Un had fever - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/10/north-korea-covid-kim-jong-un/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/10/north-korea-covid-kim-jong-un/ |
Dear Amy: I no longer communicate with the remaining members of my immediate family. Honestly, it’s a relief.
Several months ago, my partner witnessed a horrible scene involving my mother and her husband’s vicious behavior. My partner said he’d heard and witnessed quite a lot over the years, but he’s at the point where he can’t be in their presence any longer.
After the episode, my sister (who wasn’t present) stopped responding to my attempts to contact her. I decided to have nothing more to do with any of them. I don’t know what my sister has been told, but I don’t care anymore.
My problem is that I don’t know what to say to people who don’t know we’re estranged when they ask me how they are. What should I say if people ask about our estrangement? So far I just say, lightly and without any drama, that I don’t want to talk about them.
Fancy Free: Congratulations on your liberation. Your family of origin seems to present genuine dangers to your own mental and emotional health.
Sick: It is always okay to tell people how you feel, as long as you don’t attach specific expectations to their response.
For the past 45 years, my MIL has never criticized or commented on anything. Her position is that she has enough to worry about without taking on my or my wife’s stuff. Believe me, Amy, I’ve given her plenty to complain about.
We just celebrated MIL’s 85th birthday, and I toasted her saying that she had first the kindness and second the wisdom to allow my wife and me to make our own way, for which I am forever grateful.
Grateful: This is a touching tribute to a very wise mother-in-law. | 2022-08-11T04:28:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ask Amy: What do I say when asked about my estranged family? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/08/11/ask-amy-estranged-immediate-family/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/08/11/ask-amy-estranged-immediate-family/ |
Carolyn Hax: Parents fight grown child’s career change and relocation ‘tooth and nail’
Dear Carolyn: I have been working in a career field for the past four years, since I graduated from college. For the past two years, I have been unhappy. My job requires frequent travel to dangerous places, intense hardship and long hours at times. I have been looking to make a change but haven’t had the chutzpah to make it happen.
I recently decided to relocate. I am actively seeking out gainful employment in my desired city. I am looking at places to live. I have a fair bit of money stashed away. I have excellent job prospects anywhere I move but not at the salary I get now, which I can deal with.
My parents have been fighting this decision tooth and nail. I have told them I am unhappy. For my parents, it is the bottom line, and nothing else. They own and operate a small business that has the potential to fail. They do not want me to take a pay cut because of this, at least it seems to me.
There is also a woman involved in my decision. I may sound like a starry-eyed romantic, but she is the woman with whom I want to spend the rest of my life. I don't want to put her through the wringer of constant deployment, time away in hazardous areas, etc. My parents think she is the only reason I am entertaining this.
How do I address this with my parents without starting a huge fight every time? It appears they would rather see me miserable.
— S.
S.: Even if the woman were your only reason for moving, it’s still your life. You can pick a location because its name reminds you of your favorite cheese.
The precarious state of your parents’ business does matter, of course, and does come with certain obligations for you — but not an obligation to stay in a job you hate for a few extra bucks. It’s certainly not an obligation to do their bidding.
You have savings, marketability, a plan, a purpose and a sense of duty to your parents, to yourself and to the people you love. Most parents would be giddy with their good fortune.
Since yours aren’t, you now have a chance to add another arrow to your quiver: growing up. The ultimate test of independence is in handling a decision that satisfies nothing except your own sense of what’s right. The more unpopular it is, and the more powerful your critics, the stronger you have to get.
This isn’t to be mistaken for getting stronger in your arguments. Quite the contrary. You’ve made your case to your parents; they disagree. There isn’t much more to be said — except perhaps that you hope, but don’t expect, they’ll come to respect your decision. No further discussion.
This also isn’t about whomping up a strong need to prove yourself. Whether your decision holds up isn’t the issue. What matters is that you make your best effort to live according to your values, in failure as well as success. You honor your parents by never forgetting how you came by those values, and why. | 2022-08-11T04:29:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Carolyn Hax: Parents fight grown child's relocation ‘tooth-and-nail' - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/08/11/carolyn-hax-parents-fight-relocation-child/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/08/11/carolyn-hax-parents-fight-relocation-child/ |
Infant dies after being found inside car Tuesday
A D.C. police cruiser. (Clarence Williams/Washington Post)
A 3-month-old boy died Tuesday after he was found left inside a car, D.C. police said.
The child had been removed from a black Honda Accord by the time police arrived at the 600 block of Park Road NW about 6 p.m., said Dustin Sternbeck, a police spokesman. The infant was unconscious and unresponsive, and medics took him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:40 p.m., according to a police report.
Investigators are trying to determine how the child was left in the car and for how long. Police are awaiting the results of an autopsy to announce the cause and manner of death, Sternbeck said. | 2022-08-11T04:46:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. police investigate death of infant after being left inside a car - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/infant-death-car-northwest-washington/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/infant-death-car-northwest-washington/ |
“I think where the resentment comes from … is the fact that they want to try to get their way back in here with no consequences,” Rory McIlroy said. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy has rarely been shy about expressing a disdainful viewpoint on the attempts of Saudi-backed LIV Golf to quickly gain traction by pilfering some of the PGA Tour’s biggest names. On Wednesday, one day after the PGA Tour scored a legal victory over its upstart rival, the Northern Irish star offered pointed opinions on the golfers who took the money and then went to court.
“I don’t begrudge anyone for going over to play LIV or taking guaranteed money,” McIlroy told reporters Wednesday in Memphis, where the PGA Tour’s season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs begin Thursday with the St. Jude Championship. “If that’s your prerogative and what you want to do, totally fine. I think where the resentment comes from, from the membership of this tour, is the fact that they want to try to get their way back in here with no consequences, and anyone that’s read the PGA Tour handbook or abided by the rules and regulations, that would feel very unfair to them.”
McIlroy was referring to a federal antitrust lawsuit filed last week against the PGA Tour by 11 golfers — including Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Ian Poulter — who defected this year to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf circuit. The plaintiffs allege the PGA Tour damaged their careers and engaged in anti-competitive practices by following through on threats to ban members who signed with LIV.
McIlroy said Wednesday that while he has spoken out against LIV Golf, the tension between the organizations did not feel “personal” until the lawsuit was filed. He added he now has “a little more respect” for the former PGA Tour players who didn’t add their names to the suit.
That legal process is still playing out, but the PGA Tour notched a win Tuesday when a federal judge denied a temporary restraining order sought by the three players among the group of 11 who had qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs and wanted to be allowed to participate. The three-tournament postseason stretch features a bonus pool of $75 million and will pay $18 million to its champion.
U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman ruled Tuesday that, rather than suffering the “irreparable harm” they alleged, Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford were set to earn more on the lucrative LIV Golf circuit than they “could have reasonably been expected to make” in the PGA Tour’s three postseason events.
Lawyers for the PGA Tour had said in court filings related to the temporary restraining order bid that the LIV players were trying to “have their cake and eat it too,” and Wednesday that language was echoed by another standout player who has remained loyal to the established circuit.
“It was personal to me from the beginning,” said Justin Thomas, also speaking from the site of the St. Jude Championship. “It’s kind of like I said from the start: Those [LIV] guys were given an opportunity to go play, and just go play. You can have your cake, but you don’t need to eat it, too. And they got their fair share of a large, large amount of cake, and you know, go eat it on your own means. You don’t need to bring it onto our tour.”
Thomas, who won the PGA Championship in May for his second major title, added that all the talk about LIV has been a distraction and has overshadowed “great storylines” in his sport.
“I saw Scottie [Scheffler] came in and did his interview, and I’m sure he got asked about what was going on, and he’s had one of the best seasons of all time,” Thomas said. “I mean, the most money that’s ever been earned and winning the FedEx Cup [points race] by a mile — I’m sure there weren’t as many questions about that as there should have been. It’s little things like that, to where it takes away from the big picture of what’s going on on the PGA Tour, obviously, in the game of golf as a whole.”
In his pretournament media appearance Tuesday in Memphis, Scheffler said he was “surprised” and found it “a bit frustrating” that the 11 LIV golfers had gone ahead with a lawsuit.
“It’s one of those deals where those guys kind of made their decision to go join another tour, and they broke the rules and regulations of our tour and now they’re trying to sue us,” said Scheffler, the reigning Masters champion, who enters the postseason ranked No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings. (McIlroy is sixth, and Thomas is eighth.)
Scheffler declared that his “dream was to play on the PGA Tour” and was “never to maximize my financial benefits.”
“I feel very blessed and fortunate to play golf and get paid for it, and so for me, I’m not looking to go out and do anything else,” he told reporters. “The PGA Tour is where I want to play, and it continues to be the place where the best golfers in the world play.”
The same may not be the case for Cameron Smith, a 28-year-old Australian who scored a breakthrough major win last month at the British Open. Smith was recently reported by the Telegraph to have agreed to a $100 million payment to jump ship to LIV Golf — but only after competing in the FedEx Cup playoffs. Not coincidentally, the next LIV event is scheduled to take place in Boston a week after the postseason ends with the Tour Championship later this month in Atlanta.
Sitting at No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings, Smith demurred Tuesday when asked about signing with LIV.
“My goal here is to win the FedEx Cup playoffs,” he told the media in Memphis. “That’s all I’m here for. If there’s something I need to say regarding the PGA Tour or LIV, it will come from Cameron Smith, not [PGA Tour player] Cameron Percy. I’m a man of my word and, whenever you guys need to know anything, it’ll be said by me.”
Asked Wednesday about the Smith rumors, Thomas indicated he was well aware of them but noted he had learned “nothing is official until it’s official.”
Thomas added that “the most annoying part” to him has been the ever-swirling talk — whether from players, caddies, agents or “all the people on Twitter that seem to know everything about everything” — about who might be the next to take the Saudis’ money.
McIlroy was just glad that “common sense prevailed” regarding the three LIV players’ ability to compete in the PGA Tour postseason.
“I thought it was the right decision,” he said. “Now that that has happened, I think it just lets us focus on the important stuff, which is golf.
“We can all move forward and not have that sideshow going on for the next few weeks, which is nice.” | 2022-08-11T04:50:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas applaud ban of LIV golfers from playoffs - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/rory-mcilroy-liv-golf-lawsuit/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/10/rory-mcilroy-liv-golf-lawsuit/ |
FILE - James Hetfield of Metallica performs at the Lollapalooza Music Festival in Chicago on July 28, 2022. Metallica, Mariah Carey and The Jonas Brothers will headline a free concert in New York’s Central Park to mark the 10th anniversary of the Global Citizen Festival on Sept. 24. (Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File) | 2022-08-11T04:55:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Metallica, Mariah Carey headline Global Citizen NYC concert - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/metallica-mariah-carey-headline-global-citizen-nyc-concert/2022/08/11/98562a64-192a-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/metallica-mariah-carey-headline-global-citizen-nyc-concert/2022/08/11/98562a64-192a-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
For some Russians, occupied Crimea seemed as good a place as any to spend a lazy August vacation. The “Crimean Riviera” offered beaches along the Black Sea, relaxing dachas and luxurious beach resorts, even mountainous trails and historic ruins — all for a very reasonable price without leaving Russia’s self-declared borders.
A Russian passport would be welcomed on the peninsula. Crimea had been annexed from Ukraine in 2014 after pro-European protests in Kyiv, sparking years of escalating tension between the two neighboring countries. There, Russians wouldn’t be sneered at as they would in other European hotspots.
But if Russians went to Crimea to forget the fallout from the war in Ukraine, it wouldn’t last long.
On Tuesday, at least three explosions rocked Crimea’s western coast. Early footage from the scene showed the confused reactions on the sand at Novofedorivka beach. Swimmers and bathers stood bewildered by abandoned cabanas as plumes of thick black smoke rose from a nearby Saki air base. Soon, social media videos showed roads out of Crimea clogged with holidaymakers cutting their vacations short.
Moscow said it was just an ammunition explosion, not an attack, and Kyiv offered no immediate claim of responsibility. But still, there was little doubt: The war in Ukraine had come to Crimea. The conflict has now hit a “gray zone” of sovereignty between Russia and Ukraine that in fact goes back far further than 2014, into the depths of regional history and nationalist myth.
Exactly what occurred at the Saki air base is not yet clear. Russian accounts of minimal damage appear to contradict video evidence. The Ukrainian air force said in a statement that nine military planes were destroyed at the base, which if accurate would be the biggest loss in a single day for the Russian air force since the start of the war six months ago.
But there has been no direct claim of responsibility. A Ukrainian government official told The Washington Post’s Kyiv bureau chief Isabelle Khurshudyan on Wednesday that Ukrainian special forces had carried out the attack. Previously, a U.S. official told The Post that it appeared Ukrainian forces had carried out a strike using a weapon not provided by the United States.
The attack shows the strange place that Crimea, claimed by both sides, occupies in the Ukraine conflict. After news of explosions spread Tuesday, Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of state-funded broadcaster RT and a fierce supporter of the Kremlin, referred to the peninsula as a “red line” on Twitter. Later that evening, the Ukrainian president gave a nightly address focused on Crimea. “Crimea is Ukrainian, and we will never give it up,” Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Crimea is roughly the size of Maryland; it has a population of around 2 million people. Russia militarily moved into the peninsula in March 2014, seizing it from Ukraine. It formally annexed it just weeks later, following a widely disputed referendum that saw a reported 96.77 percent vote by Crimeans to join Russia.
Officially, it’s still a part of Ukraine in the eyes of the world — only a handful of countries have recognized Russian sovereignty over it — but there has been little doubt for the last eight years who has the power on the ground.
How Russia’s aggression in Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 is shaping Biden’s actions today
Crimea is much more than a pretty holiday spot. The peninsula’s history is dramatic, intertwined with both modern Ukraine and Russia but also distinct, with lengthy periods of Mongol and Ottoman rule. Some of these past events are still bitter, including the Soviet-era mass deportation of a major ethnic group in the peninsula, the Muslim Crimean Tatars, to Central Asia.
Russia has long viewed Ukrainian control of Crimea as the result of a foolish historic mistake. In 1954, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev transferred what was then the Crimean Oblast, a regional district, from Russia to Ukraine. The majority of Crimea still spoke Russian and under the Soviet Union, this sort of administrative difference was nominal.
But as communism collapsed, Crimea’s status as a gray area became an issue.
The reforming Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was at his vacation home in Crimea when the KGB launched a coup against him in 1991, a key moment in the end of the Soviet Union. When Ukraine held a referendum on independence from Russia later that year, 54 percent of Crimean voters favored breaking away — a majority, though still among the lowest to be found in Ukraine — and there were calls for independence from Ukraine in the peninsula’s parliament.
For both Kyiv and Moscow, Crimea was too valuable to lose completely. Ukraine held onto it after 1991, while Russia was allowed to keep the Russian naval fleet housed at Sevastopol — a crucial warm-water port in Crimea that would provide access to the Mediterranean all year round for Russia.
The peninsula’s strategic location would later prove vital for Russian troop movements into south Ukraine earlier this year, becoming a key logistics hub for Moscow’s war effort.
A successful Ukrainian attack in Crimea would be a significant escalation in the war. Patriotic Russians like RT’s Simonyan have been apoplectic after Tuesday’s blasts, while the mood among Ukrainians has been one of celebration perhaps only rivaled by the sinking of Russia’s Black Sea fleet flagship, the Moskva, in April.
By attacking far into territory that Russians assumed safe, Ukraine could change the calculus of the war by forcing Moscow to redeploy defenses. It is not clear how the air base could have been hit if this was indeed a deliberate attack. Ukrainian officials have hinted at the work of “partisans” acting as saboteurs behind Russian lines. Drones and missiles are possible, though Ukraine is not known to have any missiles that could reach 140 miles from the nearest front line.
The United States has not given Ukraine longer-range weapons, despite requests from Kyiv, largely due to fears that they could be used to strike within Russian borders — an escalation that worries Washington. Crimea, despite its disputed sovereignty, may not be exempt.
Russian travelers, meanwhile, are in a bind. Hotel room occupancy in Crimea was already down by a third year-on-year in June, despite slashed prices, Russian news outlet RBC reported earlier this summer. But for Russian tourists facing the risk of travel restrictions pushed by Zelensky and supported by some European states, holidaying in a gray zone next to a war may be one of few choices. | 2022-08-11T04:56:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Crimea, a grey zone for Russia and Ukraine, is a holiday spot for Russians - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/crimea-tourists-ukraine-russia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/crimea-tourists-ukraine-russia/ |
It’s Stephen King to the rescue.
The horror writer testified against Penguin Random House’s acquisition of rival publisher Simon & Schuster last week, arguing that industry consolidation made it harder for fledgling authors to get printed. He may be right. But the legal thrust of this case is not primarily about unknown writers — it’s about big names like King and the threat to their jumbo advances.
That’s tricky ground on which to fight.
The $2.2 billion transaction would reduce the so-called “Big Five” publishing houses to a “Big Four,” strengthening Penguin’s leading position. The question is whether this takeover could cause a marked reduction in competition versus the status quo.
In taking the deal to court, the US Department of Justice is not arguing that an enlarged Penguin would force readers to pay more for books. Its attack rests on the idea that there will be fewer deep-pocketed publishers vying to buy rights to potential bestsellers — whether work by King, political biographies or celebrity cookbooks.
The six-figure advances would fall and writers would suffer, the DOJ claims. What’s bad for top writers must be bad for all writers and, in turn, readers.
Focusing on potential harm to vendors rather than to consumers is unusual in antitrust cases. The legal difficulty here is the DOJ’s attempt to define a small market based on price, namely manuscripts that sell for at least $250,000.
As Penguin counters in its deposition, that’s ambitious. Bestsellers come in many forms and you don’t know a deal will fetch that price until after bidding begins. Moreover, it says just 1,200 manuscripts command such valuations annually — 2% of all books published in the US — with only 85 fought over with Simon & Schuster.
But don’t let the small numbers fool you. These deals matter an awful lot. A handful of blockbusters usually determine whether a publisher has a good or bad year.
Assuming the market definition proves legally valid, the challenge is to prove the deal’s harm.
Clearly, the bargaining power of the literary agents who strike deals for authors is set by the number of options they’ve got. The tie-up in question would reduce those, and create a single publisher dwarfing the competition in terms of financial muscle. There’s no way of holding Penguin to its pledge that Simon & Schuster would compete internally with other imprints following its acquisition. As King says, that’s like expecting a married couple to bid against each other on a house.
The legal case needs to hang on something more substantial. To that end, the DOJ has used economic modeling to show that if Simon & Schuster tried to lower its advances for anticipated bestsellers today, between 42% to 59% of the manuscripts it bids on would be lost to Penguin. It’s the fear of losing those deals that keeps bids high. Post-merger, Simon & Schuster could cut advances by 12%-15%, and Penguin by 4%-6%, the DOJ asserts.
The number-crunching isn’t science fiction, but it is highly theoretical. It assumes that all book deals are conducted via multi-round auctions, and that the two betrothed houses end up as the final bidders according to their current market shares. It also uses assumed profit margins to calculate the publishers’ propensity to slash advances.
Things are different in the real world. Penguin doesn’t go head-to-head with Simon & Schuster as often as the model predicts. And manuscripts for likely bestsellers get acquired in many ways other than straight auctions. There can be blind bids, invite-only negotiations or a handful of auctions followed by best-and-final offers. Contracts could include a right-of-first-refusal on sequels.
Still, while not perfect, the computations are at least a rough guide to the impact of reduced competition. An implicit rival buyer underpins any purchase offer.
Penguin’s defense relies heavily on the idea that literary agents are so powerful they can keep advances high in a more concentrated industry. It suggests that most of these shadowy figures frequently eschew auctions for high-value manuscripts anyway. If that’s the case, writers should be asking their agents why they’re not using the most obvious tool for getting advances up. Maybe idle M&A bankers should switch careers — they might do an even better job.
Now that the DOJ has presented its case, Penguin is giving its response and bringing literary agents to testify. Step aside Stephen King, and let them tell us how it’s done. | 2022-08-11T06:26:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Bored Being an M&A Banker? Become a Literary Agent - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/bored-being-an-manda-banker-become-a-literary-agent/2022/08/11/46fbbf36-1933-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/bored-being-an-manda-banker-become-a-literary-agent/2022/08/11/46fbbf36-1933-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
Shaun Harrison reacts as attorneys give closing arguments in his 2018 trial in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff/AP)
In 2015, members of the Boston public school system were shocked to learn that Shaun Harrison, a high school dean and youth minister who was fondly known as the “Rev,” had shot a student in the back of his head, after recruiting him into a gang to sell drugs.
On Tuesday, the 63-year-old educator pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges. He faces up to 218 months — more than 18 years — in prison, the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts said. His sentencing will be on Nov. 15. Harrison was already behind bars after being sentenced in 2018 to about 25 years in prison for shooting the student.
“He used his position of trust to find victims and groom them,” said Rachael S. Rollins, a federal prosecutor whose office oversaw the case. “It is truly disgusting.”
Harrison lived a double life, authorities said. In public, he portrayed himself as an anti-violence advocate and a mentor to at-risk teens, as a dean at Boston’s English High School. In reality, he was a member of the Latin Kings gang, using his position to recruit teens to sell drugs, prosecutors said.
In March 2015, Harrison began to suspect that a student, Luis Rodriguez, who was distributing drugs under his direction had stolen money from him, and that Rodriguez could soon alert police about Harrison’s crimes, prosecutors said. On March 3, the dean was captured on surveillance camera shooting Rodriguez at point-blank range.
Rodriguez miraculously survived, with the bullet entering just beneath the right ear, narrowly missing his carotid artery, the Associated Press reported. Although Rodriguez initially didn’t tell police who had shot him, he later became an informant for authorities. “I was in such denial. I knew who did it. Of course I knew,” he said while testifying in court.
D.C. high school worker charged in 2020 killing of rap artist in Southeast Washington
Harrison and his attorneys could not be immediately reached late Wednesday. He has previously denied the allegations against him in media interviews. In 2016, as he awaited trial for the shooting, he told 7 News Boston that he had never sold drugs nor turned students into gang members. “Me? I would not even know how to do that,” he said.
In 2020, Harrison pleaded not guilty to accusations that he had worked with fellow gang members from behind bars to identify police informants in his case, according to the AP. But the Latin Kings supported him during his incarceration, praising Harrison’s loyalty and refusal to implicate others, prosecutors said. Meanwhile, a federal court last week ordered Harrison to pay $10 million to Rodriguez, as compensation for pain and emotional distress, medical bills and punitive damages. | 2022-08-11T06:26:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Boston school dean Shaun Harrison recruited teens for Latin Kings - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/11/boston-shaun-harrison-latin-kings-gang/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/11/boston-shaun-harrison-latin-kings-gang/ |
A health worker gives a polio vaccine to a child in Karachi, Pakistan, on May 23. (Fareed Khan/AP)
Britain will offer a polio booster vaccine dose to children ages 1 to 9 in London, after the poliovirus was detected in wastewater in parts of the city.
The U.K. Health Security Agency on Wednesday said the vaccination program will start in areas where traces of the virus have been detected and immunization rates are low. The highly contagious virus can lead to paralysis.
“No cases of polio have been reported and for the majority of the population, who are fully vaccinated, the risk is low. But we know the areas in London where the poliovirus is being transmitted have some of the lowest vaccination rates,” Vanessa Saliba, an epidemiologist at the agency, said in a statement.
Polio was a fearsome, sometimes fatal scourge before an inactivated vaccine was first announced in 1955. The virus causes permanent paralysis in people who are not fully vaccinated in about 5 out of every 1,000 cases. The last case of polio in Britain was detected in 1984. Before mass vaccination, approximately 8,000 people in Britain developed paralysis from it every year.
The United States recently recorded its first case of polio in nearly a decade. The unvaccinated 20-year-old man from Rockland County sought treatment in a New York City hospital in June. He has since been discharged but is having difficulty walking.
Traces of highly contagious poliovirus found in British sewage
The virus has also been detected in wastewater in the northern New York City suburbs of Rockland and Orange counties, which the New York State Department of Health said indicated wider local transmission.
Most of the U.S. population is protected against the disease through vaccinations in childhood. But in areas with low vaccination coverage, such as the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Rockland County, people who have not been immunized are at high risk. There is no treatment for polio.
British health officials said Wednesday that they are working closely with health agencies in New York and Israel, as well as the World Health Organization, to investigate any links between the poliovirus detected in London and recent incidents in the other two countries.
Since early February, 116 polioviruses had been identified in 19 wastewater samples from areas in northeast and central London. But only a few have sufficient mutations to be classified as vaccine-derived poliovirus, or VDPV2, the Health Security Agency said.
Health officials consider VDPV2 to be of “greater concern” because of the similarities with naturally occurring “wild” polio. Unvaccinated people who contract it have a small chance of becoming paralyzed.
Many countries provide an additional dose of the polio vaccine to children, British health officials said. | 2022-08-11T07:10:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | U.K. to offer polio vaccine booster to London children - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/uk-polio-vaccine-children-london/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/uk-polio-vaccine-children-london/ |
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). (Meg Kinnard/AP)
“Do you make $75,000 or less? Democrats’ new army of 87,000 IRS agents will be coming for you — with 710,000 new audits for Americans who earn less than $75k.”
— House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, in a tweet, Aug. 9
With a vote scheduled Friday in the House on the big spending package approved in the Senate, the GOP has focused its fire on provisions that would bolster the Internal Revenue Service with new funding to crack down on tax cheats.
But these numbers are a misfire, lacking significant context.
The 87,000 figure was plucked from a Treasury report released in May 2021 about how the administration hoped to address the “tax gap” — the difference between what is owed to the government and what is actually paid. That figure was believed to be at least $381 billion a year, with most of it because of underreporting of income, according to the nonpartisan Joint Tax Committee.
Years of congressional underfunding of the IRS has left the agency without the resources to quickly process returns, let alone assess the complex tax-avoidance strategies of well-heeled individuals. So audit rates have fallen dramatically and more taxpayers are presumed to be not paying what they owe.
For each dollar of additional spending on enforcement, the IRS estimates that it collects an average of $5 of revenue.
On page 17 of the Treasury report, a chart shows that almost $80 billion in new resources over 10 years would allow for the hiring of 86,852 full-time employees in the next decade. The report says the new staff, added in annual increments of about 7,000 to 12,000 people, would conduct audits, improve informational technology and enhance customer service.
About $46 billion of the funds is targeted for enforcement, but Treasury officials say a precise number of enforcement agents who would be hired is not known yet. Currently, the IRS has about 82,000 employees — down from 90,000 in 2012 — but when all is said and done, the size of the agency should only grow 25 to 30 percent.
Natasha Sarin, Treasury counselor for tax policy and implementation, told The Fact Checker that over half of the IRS staff — 50,000 — is eligible for retirement in the next five years. Much of the funding for new employees will be focused on mitigating that attrition and adding customer service and information technology specialists in addition to enforcement agents. The agency has also lost about 40 percent of the agency staff who specialize in complex tax audits, bringing it to the level of the agency in World War II, she said.
In any case, the 87,000 figure is wildly exaggerated. These people are not all new tax agents.
Now let’s turn to the audits. First of all, we should note that 80 percent of IRS audits of individuals in 2019 are simply through correspondence — in effect, a written request for some additional information.
McCarthy’s calculation that 710,000 additional audits would be conducted of people making less than $75,000 came via the Republican staff of the House Ways and Means Committee. The staff relied on a Sept. 2 blog post by Congressional Budget Office Director Phillip L. Swagel that explained how $80 billion of new spending for the IRS was estimated to raise an additional $200 billion in revenue over 10 years.
Swagel noted that CBO baseline budget projections had assumed a continuing decline in audit rates. “The proposal, by contrast, would return audit rates to the levels of about 10 years ago; the rate would rise for all taxpayers, but higher-income taxpayers would face the largest increase,” he wrote, adding that “the administration’s policies would focus additional IRS resources on enforcement activity aimed at high-wealth taxpayers, large corporations, and partnerships.”
So the GOP staff applied 2010 audit rates to the recent tax filing data, coming up with 1.2 billion new audits per year.
The math adds up, but these numbers lack important context.
Using IRS tax data, we did our own calculations. The raw figure of 710,000 sounds big, but people making less than $75,000 file more than half of tax returns — 125 million. So the increase in audits for this income group amounts to just 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, while the number of new audits for people reporting more than $5 million income seems small — about 9,500 — that would represent an increase of nearly 15 percent.
In a statement to The Fact Checker, the CBO indicated that Swagel’s blog post was not intended for such calculations.
“The statement about the effect on taxpayers in the September 2021 blog post was intended to place the magnitude of the funding change into context rather than as guidance as to how one might predict a count of audits,” the CBO said, adding that it has not “provided an estimate of the number of audits that might result from providing additional resources to the IRS since such an estimate would be very sensitive to exactly how IRS utilized the additional funding.”
In a May report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said audit rates have declined dramatically for the uber-rich. In 2010, more than 21 percent of tax returns reporting more than $10 billion in income were audited — and that dropped to 3.9 percent by 2019, GAO said. The report also said audit rates for people filing the earned income tax credit — which is for the working poor — were higher than average. That’s largely because audits related to the credit require few resources and are relatively easy to complete. More than half of the agency’s audits in 2021 were directed at taxpayers with incomes less than $75,000, the IRS says.
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, who was appointed by Donald Trump, said in an Aug. 4 letter to lawmakers that after the bill was approved, “audit scrutiny” would not be raised on small businesses or middle-income Americans. “Our investment of these enforcement resources is designed around the Department of the Treasury’s directive that audit rates will not rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000,” he wrote.
Rettig was referring to this line in Treasury’s 2022 “Greenbook,” which outlines tax policies: “The proposal would direct that additional resources go toward enforcement against those with the highest incomes, rather than Americans with actual income of less than $400,000.”
Of course, nothing is written in stone — and the language about “actual income” suggests people reporting less than $400,000 could face some scrutiny. After all, some taxpayers report income that would place them in lower tax brackets but are significantly underreporting what they earn.
In a letter to Rettig sent on Aug. 10, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen wrote, “I direct that any additional resources — including any new personnel or auditors that are hired — shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels.” The letter said that “audit rates will not rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000 annually” and that “enforcement resources will focus on high-end noncompliance.”
“We are committed to not increasing audit rates on ordinary people,” Treasury counselor Sarin said. “We will heavily concentrate on the top distribution of taxpayers.”
A McCarthy spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
The Biden administration is planning to hire 87,000 IRS employees over the next 10 years — not IRS audit agents — and many will be replacing people who will retire soon. That’s a big difference.
As for hyperbolic claims about audits, McCarthy’s tweet lacks important context. The numbers reflect a relatively small percentage increase for people making less than $75,000 — and a big one for the superwealthy. In any case, the calculations relied on a CBO analysis that the agency says was not intended to be used in this way, making the numbers even more dubious.
McCarthy earns Three Pinocchios. | 2022-08-11T07:14:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Hyperbolic GOP claims about IRS agents and audits - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/hyperbolic-gop-claims-about-irs-agents-audits/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/hyperbolic-gop-claims-about-irs-agents-audits/ |
Disney announced Aug. 10 that it will raise prices for customers who want to watch its Disney Plus streaming service without ads. (Video: Reuters)
Disney now has a combined total of some 221 million subscribers across its streaming platforms, edging past Netflix and maintaining its growth as competitors struggle with retaining customers and managing costs.
The entertainment giant’s flagship streaming service, Disney Plus, added 14.4 million subscribers between April and early July, which chief executive Bob Chapek highlighted as part of an “excellent” quarterly performance. To capitalize on the growth, Disney Plus will raise its monthly subscription fee by $3 to $10.99 for U.S. users this December. It is also creating a new ad-supported tier that costs $7.99.
The company expects the ad-supported tier to be popular, chief financial officer Christine McCarthy said on a call with analysts. Kareem Daniel, another top Disney executive, said that the two-tier pricing system allows Disney to provide “greater consumer choice at a variety of price points to cater to the diverse needs of our viewers and appeal to an even broader audience.”
Netflix loses nearly 1 million subscribers, and its stock soars
Disney Plus now boasts 152 million paying users, or up 31 percent from a year ago. Some of the growth can be attributed to strong performance outside the West and Chapek said the platform places an emphasis on featuring global celebrities such as South Korean supergroup BTS.
Despite Disney’s strong showing, executives revised their projections for Disney Plus downward. It now expects up to 245 million subscribers by 2024, down from the previously forecast 260 million, though it says the service will be still by profitable by that year. Losing streaming rights to Indian Premier League cricket matches — a popular sports franchise in a country that drives much of Disney Plus robust international expansion — is a significant blow to the company.
Other major streaming platforms have struggled to retain customers amid a turbulent economic environment. Netflix has been hemorrhaging subscribers this year, starting with a loss of 200,000 paying users in the first quarter, which was followed another 970,000 over the following three months. It now has 220.7 million subscribers. The streaming giant has laid off at least 450 U.S.-based employees this year in an effort to cut costs; those who lost their jobs included staff at Tudum, a website Netflix launched less than a year ago to showcase behind-the-scenes content for fan-favorite shows.
A standard Netflix subscription is priced at a little over $15 a month in the United States, making it one of the more expensive general entertainment streaming services. Analysts attribute the decline in Netflix subscribers to the prevalence of password sharing, its withdrawal from the Russian market following the invasion of Ukraine and consumer concerns about the economy.
Disney stock rose by 6.85 percent to $120.13 during after-hours trading in New York. | 2022-08-11T07:53:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Disney Plus to raise subscription price in December - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/disney-plus-increase-price-subscribers/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/disney-plus-increase-price-subscribers/ |
FILE - A Russian mine clearing expert with a dog works to find and defuse mines along the high voltage line in Mariupol, on the territory which is under the Government of the Donetsk People’s Republic control, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Despite getting bogged down in Ukraine, the Kremlin has resisted announcing a full-blown mobilization, a move that could prove to be very unpopular for President Vladimir Putin. That has led instead to a covert recruitment effort that includes trying to get prisoners to make up for the manpower shortage. This photo was taken during a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense. (AP Photo, File) (Uncredited/AP) | 2022-08-11T07:58:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Russia struggles to replenish its troops in Ukraine - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/russia-struggles-to-replenish-its-troops-in-ukraine/2022/08/11/304d14aa-193e-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/russia-struggles-to-replenish-its-troops-in-ukraine/2022/08/11/304d14aa-193e-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
Hundreds gathered at the Islamic Center of New Mexico in Albuquerque on Aug. 9 for a memorial service to honor four murdered Muslim men. (Video: Reuters)
Killings sow fear and panic in Albuquerque’s Muslim community
Syed was arrested Monday after authorities trailed him from a Costco to his Albuquerque home, where they found a Volkswagen Jetta matching the description of the vehicle that police had earlier told the public to keep watch for.
Syed left the home in the Jetta before authorities detained him in Santa Rosa, N.M., about halfway between Albuquerque and the Texas border. He told officers that he was driving to Houston “to find a new place for his family to live because the situation in Albuquerque was bad,” and mentioned the recent shootings of Muslims, according to the court records.
The shootings — a string of four killings within the past year, three of which occurred in a 10-day span — had rocked Albuquerque’s 5,000-strong Muslim community. Some closed businesses early, refused to go out after dark and stopped going to daily prayers at a local mosque, the Islamic Center of New Mexico, where armed guards were installed. At least three of the shootings followed a pattern in which the victim was ambushed and left for dead, police said.
In the killing of Hussein last month, police said the shooter had lurked in a bush near a driveway, waiting for Hussein to park and exit his vehicle, at which point he was shot “through the bush multiple times.” Police found multiple firearms in Syed’s home and vehicle, Deputy Police Commander Kyle Hartsock said at a news conference Tuesday, including at least one that matches bullet casings found at the scenes of two killings.
In an interview with a detective at Albuquerque police headquarters, Syed said he had known Hussain since 2016 and knew of Hussein from “parties in the community.” Both victims were regular members at the mosque, the center’s spokesman, Tahir Gauba, told The Washington Post. (Though the men share a similar surname, they were not related, Gauba said.)
The police said “an interpersonal conflict may have led to the shootings.”
Syed has denied having any involvement in the killings, police said. His daughter told KRQE, a local television news station: “I believe they will release my father. He didn’t do anything.”
The elder Syed told authorities that he and his son would sometimes go to the desert to shoot his AK-47 — an activity he described to the police as “hunting” — and that he liked the weapon because he had one in Afghanistan. He told police that he had fought the Taliban there. | 2022-08-11T08:15:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Albuquerque man charged in killings of 2 Muslim men knew them, police say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/11/new-mexico-killing-muslim-muhammad-syed/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/11/new-mexico-killing-muslim-muhammad-syed/ |
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