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Palestinians sit in the ruins of their home after Israeli airstrikes over the weekend in the Gaza Strip. (Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
GAZA CITY — Safa Shamalakh sat in a shady doorway and stared at the tangle of concrete and metal that was once her home. An Israeli missile, targeting the apartment of a suspected Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative next door, had demolished both structures last weekend. She and her neighbors were warned to evacuate in the minutes before the blast.
It’s not the first time her block has been collateral damage. The building one lot over was destroyed by Israel a year ago during an 11-day war against Hamas, Islamic Jihad’s biggest internal rival. She blames Israel for the bombings, but laments the “bad luck” of living where both militant groups are active.
Shamalakh, a 31-year-old shopkeeper with a lifelong neurological condition that limits her ability to walk, has no affiliation with either group, designated as terrorist organizations by the United States. But as they compete for support in the Gaza Strip, and battle with Israel, it is civilians like her in this densely packed enclave of 2.2 million people that often pay the price.
“Every year it is getting nearer,” she said. “This time, we lost everything.”
This time it was Islamic Jihad that engaged in two days of hostilities with Israel, which left 47 Gazans dead. The escalation began after Israel arrested one of the group’s senior leaders in the West Bank. Israel then launched a “preemptive” strike Friday against what it said was an “imminent” reprisal attack being planned by the group.
Islamic Jihad, or PIJ, said just 12 of those killed were active in its ranks. The rest, including 16 children, had no connection to the group, it said.
Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since it won elections in 2006, sat out this round of fighting. Many here were relieved that the dominant faction kept its rockets quiet, preventing an even greater eruption of violence. But some supporters of Islamic Jihad criticized the restraint, predicting that their smaller, more militant group would gain followers.
“That was not good,” said Abu Omar Khadoura, 71, the imam of a mosque in north Gaza, known to be a center of Islamic Jihad supporters. “I think the popularity of Islamic Jihad has increased, God willing.”
Hamas, Khadoura said, had become more concerned with governing than with fighting. He noted that thousands more Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank had gotten permits to work in Israel in recent months, which many have credited with reducing conflict in the year since the last war.
“It’s not about work, it’s about dignity,” he said in his mosque after noon prayers, the ceiling fans stopping every time Gaza’s irregular power supply cut out. “Islamic Jihad cares more about the enemy that has to be erased.”
But on social media and in private conversations, other Gazans expressed frustration with Islamic Jihad. Having more than one group fighting with Israel made violence more likely, they said, even as Hamas seemed focused on maintaining the relative calm, and as rebuilding was beginning to gain traction.
“Nobody is saying that Islamic Jihad did a great job this time,” said an auto mechanic in Rafa on the Egyptian border, where an Israeli strike killed the group’s southern commander, Khaled Mansour, and six others, including a 14-year-old boy and two women.
The man, who asked not to be identified out of concern for his security, thinks the violent weekend showed that the militant group is not up to a full conflict with Israel.
“It seems they are not as powerful as Hamas,” he said.
In one video circulating on WhatsApp, a Palestinian man blames the group for caring more about the release of its leader arrested in the West Bank than “the blood of children and ordinary people” killed by Israeli airstrikes.
“All of this to please PIJ,” he railed near the scene of an airstrike.
Hamas leaders, meanwhile, downplay their rivalry with Islamic Jihad. Their fighters may not have taken part in the fighting, but they expressed solidarity with the smaller group, even as they worked with its leaders and Egyptian and Qatari negotiators to bring an end to the violence.
The two organizations maintain a council that lets them communicate and coordinate when necessary. The “Joint Room” was activated when it came time to implement the cease-fire that went into effect late Sunday, said Basem Naim, head of Hamas’s political division.
“Yes, we’ve had some problems [with Islamic Jihad],” Naim said in an interview. “Maybe we have a difference when it comes to tactics, but at the end of the day our goal is the same, to get rid of the occupation.”
But the groups are working with different weapons — PIJ’s rockets are smaller and less accurate, increasing the danger for Gazans. The Israeli military said about 200 of the 1,100 rockets the group launched fell short and landed inside Gaza. Israel said some of the fatalities were caused by those projectiles, most notably a strike in the Jabalya refugee camp that killed at least four children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Gaza officials declined to comment on the specifics of the incident, but said Israel was to blame for all deaths.
A spokesman for the Gaza Interior Ministry, Eyad al-Bozom, said Israel “bears full responsibility for this crime and all the crimes it commits during its brutal aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip.”
In Jabalya on Wednesday, in his shop a few doors down from the demolished car that marks where a strike exploded in a crowded street, Tariq Muqebel, 31, recalled the shattering blast, the bodies “cut to pieces.”
He has lived through too many wars, with all sides shooting at one another, to seek blame for one particular explosion, he said.
“At the end of the day, the ones who lose are the people,” he said. “Who fired the rockets? It doesn’t matter. Who was killed? Civilians and children.” | 2022-08-11T08:54:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | As Hamas and Islamic Jihad compete in Gaza, civilians pay the price - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/gaza-israel-hamas-islamic-jihad/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/gaza-israel-hamas-islamic-jihad/ |
NSS Annapolis towers, seen from Whitehall Bay in Annapolis. The U.S. Naval Academy is proposing to demolish the area to build a second private golf course. (Eric Lee for The Washington Post)
The head of Anne Arundel’s county government has asked the Navy to consider allowing the county to manage Greenbury Point as a conservation area rather than moving forward with a proposal to build a new golf course for the U.S. Naval Academy.
County Executive Steuart Pittman (D), in a letter dated Wednesday, said he shared the concerns expressed by members of the community and environmental organizations over a proposal to build a second course across the Severn River from the academy that would serve midshipmens’ sporting programs, active and retired military personnel, and members of the public.
The idea for a second golf course was floated earlier this year by Chet Gladchuk, the academy’s athletics director. His plan was quickly met with concerted opposition by hikers, birders and others who want to preserve the approximately 280 acres as is.
Proposal for new golf course to serve U.S. Naval Academy triggers uproar
Gladchuk, who also heads the Naval Academy Golf Association (NAGA), asked the Navy to explore the idea of allowing the nonprofit organization to lease the land and develop a second 18-hole golf course to supplement the existing privately funded course where midshipmen varsity, intramural and physical fitness programs golf free. Greens fees and membership dues are sharply discounted for military personnel compared with those charged to members of the public. There is a waiting list to join.
Opponents, including more than two dozen environmental groups, have asked the Navy to kill the idea, saying another golf course would pollute the Chesapeake Bay at a time when efforts to improve the bay’s water quality are falling short. They also argue the proposal would destroy habitat for birds and wildlife and further reduce public access to the water.
“I understand and share their concern, as Greenbury Point is a site that is beloved by the community for its passive nature, rich history and extraordinary views of the Severn River and Chesapeake Bay,” Pittman’s letter says.
His letter proposes that the county lease Greenbury Point and manage its conservation area as parkland by enhancing meadows, removing invasive species, planting native trees and seeding the shoreline with grasses that reduce erosion.
Pittman said the county also would be willing to commit funds to extend the nature trails and create features that would give people more recreational opportunities along the shore, such as designated fishing areas, observation overlooks and a “paddle-in” park. The county also might provide additional parking space and a ranger substation. Pittman’s letter says the fiscal 2023 budget has funds available that would pay for conceptual plans and start the process of inviting public participation in planning.
From the archives: ‘You know you’re here when you see the towers’
“We propose to preserve and enhance its current conservation uses, rather than create new ones,” Pittman says in the letter, which is addressed to Capt. Homer R. Denius, commanding officer of the Naval Support Activity Annapolis (NSSA). The command, part of Naval District Washington, supports the academy and several operations on the peninsula, including a nearby rifle and pistol range.
Ed Zeigler, spokesman for Naval District Washington, said late Wednesday that Navy officials have not had time to review the letter and would be unable to comment about the county’s proposal. | 2022-08-11T09:16:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Anne Arundel County appeals to Navy about Greenbury Point golf site - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/greenbury-point-navy-anne-arundel/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/greenbury-point-navy-anne-arundel/ |
The “Field of Dreams” game is Thursday night in Iowa. (Charlie Neibergall/AP)
For the second straight summer, Major League Baseball will seek to turn an otherwise routine August evening into a cinematic tribute to baseball nostalgia when it sends the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds to Dyersville, Iowa, on Thursday night. There, in a field cut into the corn next to the site of the movie “Field of Dreams,” MLB will stage an event unlike any in the other major American sports — one whose intention has almost nothing to do with what happens when the losing teams meet on the field.
The whole thing requires a behemoth effort, and not just because Dyersville isn’t exactly the kind of place built to host a major sporting event. Last year, players flew into small Iowa airports and bused along country roads the morning of the game. Fans parked in dirt lots and saw their step counts rise as they made their way through cornfields to get to the park, then drove winding roads back to faraway hotels.
But after 2021’s wildly exciting slugfest between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees, MLB decided to do it all again, this time with the locally beloved Cubs and the game’s oldest franchise, the Reds. If MLB wanted to expand its reach in Iowa, there are easier ways — such as, for example, lifting the broadcast blackouts that make it difficult for the state’s residents to watch any of six “local” teams because of conflicting television deals. But MLB opted to make the trip — and the effort — at least one more time.
From the archives: MLB re-created ‘Field of Dreams’ for a night. But it can’t escape the sport’s tough realities.
“There’s no question it’s a lot of effort. Just getting there is an effort. Finding places to house people and transportation and all that sort of stuff,” said Chris Marinak, MLB’s chief operations and strategy officer. “But maybe the easiest way to answer is we had the highest rating of any regular season baseball game [in years]. You’re willing to put in the effort when you see results like that, when it cuts through the noise. We saw how successful that was.”
Something about the 2021 game seemed to stick. According to Fox Sports, it was the most-watched regular season game on any network since 2005 and the most-streamed regular season game in Fox Sports history. What MLB will find out Thursday is whether it was the novelty of the game that made it so appealing or if something about the model can continue to seize fans’ attention.
The “Field of Dreams” site owners, including Hall of Famer Frank Thomas, have let MLB know that they will not be able to host a game next year because of construction plans, according to a person familiar with the situation, who said MLB would consider going back to Dyersville in subsequent years.
But whatever happens Thursday, MLB is already considering other, similar event-style games in the future, Marinak said.
For example, MLB has announced that the Cubs and their biggest rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, will play in a two-game series in London next June, the second such series after the Yankees and Boston Red Sox played there in 2019. The San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks were scheduled to play games in Mexico City during the 2020 season before it was shortened because of the coronavirus pandemic.
And when MLB negotiated its new collective bargaining agreement with the players union this year, the pact included a commitment to holding games or tours in Asia, the Dominican Republic, London, Mexico, Paris and Puerto Rico over the next four seasons. Those games, Marinak said, will be less about the event than the location, less about one particular moment than a broader effort to reach out to new fans in new areas. In London, for example, MLB staged a new competition called Home Run Derby X that pitted former major leaguers against one another this summer.
“We’re looking at fans in international markets, and the game really helps cement a marketing initiative around that audience. London next year — that’s not done in isolation. That’s not a game where it stands on its own [like the ‘Field of Dreams’ game],” he said, noting that like the Little League Classic, which MLB will stage in Williamsport, Pa., this month, international games can be relevant over and over because MLB’s marketing to geographic or demographic groups continues year after year.
Marinak said MLB is having conversations about other ways to tie event-style games in nontraditional venues to other areas in which it is trying to expand its reach. For example, a report in Ballpark Digest recently suggested that Bosse Field, the historic setting of the movie “A League of Their Own,” is on MLB’s radar as a potential venue in the next few years. During last year’s “Field of Dreams” broadcast, MLB Network analyst Harold Reynolds pitched Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, N.J. — one of the last remaining stadiums to host Negro League games — as another appealing possibility.
MLB would not confirm those venues as potential sites and Marinak said that, as of Wednesday, it did not have firm plans for future games. But he acknowledged that venues like those — locations with strong baseball traditions — are the kind of places MLB would consider for events in the mold of, if not exactly like, what will happen in Dyersville on Thursday night.
“I have no doubt in the next handful of years we’ll have some of those type of games. We don’t have any firm plans on what that might be at this time, but we have active internal conversations about all sorts of ideas,” Marinak said.
“Outreach to the African American fan base, Negro League history is definitely an area where we look to improve our engagement. I can see a game that fits into that area. Something around women in baseball could be something that makes sense,” he added. “Or things around certain geographies, certain areas of the country that have rich baseball histories and trying to bring a game there to bring life to those.”
What may become clearer after Thursday’s game is exactly how much appetite baseball fans have for watching similar events when they are no longer unique. Though games in strange places are often likely to draw capacity crowds — tickets for last year’s “Field of Dreams” game were going for thousands of dollars on the secondary market — they are no sure thing to secure the same kind of national television interest when the stage is not so novel and when the participants are less famed than the vaunted Yankees and star-studded White Sox.
But Marinak said he isn’t worried about saturating the market with events like these, in large part because they take a great deal of effort and preparation to stage — even at a place where MLB has previously held an event.
“There’s only so many shoot-the-moon kind of ideas. But when you hit one, you want to hit on it, and certainly the ‘Field of Dreams’ has fit into that category,” he said. “I’m sure other ideas may surface in the coming years that fit that, and it’s a know-it-when-you-see-it thing.” | 2022-08-11T09:20:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Cubs, Reds meet for 2022 'Field of Dreams' game - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/field-of-dreams-game-cubs-reds/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/field-of-dreams-game-cubs-reds/ |
An Evansville neighborhood was rocked by the blast: ‘I thought a bomb fell on us’
The home that exploded on Weinbach Avenue in Evansville, Ind., on Aug. 10. (Denny Simmons/Evansville Courier & Press/AP)
Just before 1 p.m. on Wednesday, residents of a neighborhood in Evansville, Ind., heard and felt an earth-shattering rumble.
“It sounded like a sonic boom,” Dorthy Waters told WFIE. “I thought a bomb fell on us or like a tree fell through the house; it shook so hard it went through my chest, it shook my windows.”
A house in the center of the city of about 116,000 had exploded, sending debris 100 feet in each direction. At least three people were killed and one was injured, officials said. Thirty-nine houses were damaged in the blast.
Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the explosion, which occurred on the 1000 block of North Weinbach Avenue, Evansville Fire Chief Mike Connelly told reporters at the scene on Wednesday afternoon. He said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was conducting a “blast analysis” at the site, temporarily halting a search for possible missing residents.
“There could be other victims,” Connelly said. “We’ve not yet completed our search.”
It’s unclear if that search has resumed. The Evansville fire and police departments did not immediately respond to messages from The Washington Post. A message left with ATF was not immediately returned. A representative with the Vanderburgh County coroner, which had earlier confirmed the three fatalities to news outlets, told The Post no further information was available as of Wednesday night.
Officials have not yet publicly identified the victims.
A soundless video of the explosion, captured from down the street and published by WFIE, shows gray smoke and debris shooting high into the air over a house shrouded by trees. Surveillance footage from a nearby home, published by the Evansville Courier & Press, shows a blizzard of debris raining down on the neighborhood immediately following the blast.
“We thought a tree fell on the building or a car ran into the place,” Jacki Baumgart, who works at an office about two blocks from the explosion site, told the Associated Press. “Debris from the ceiling came down.”
“Everybody here immediately ran out of the building,” she added. “We thought the building was going to come down.”
Vincent Taylor, who was working on a roof two blocks away, described the scene as “total devastation.”
“A lot of people lost everything down here. Their houses are totally gone,” he told WFIE.
The fire department said 11 of the 39 damaged homes are uninhabitable. The fire chief told reporters Wednesday afternoon that the houses closest to the explosion were in “bad shape” and that some residents might not be able to return to their homes for the rest of the week. He said debris covered a 100-foot radius around the blast site.
The house explosion is the second to have taken place in Evansville in recent years. In 2017, a natural gas explosion destroyed a home, killing two people and severely injuring three, the Courier & Press reported. The surviving victims of the explosion sued CenterPoint Energy, alleging the utility was to blame, but lost after a judge dismissed the lawsuit because of a lack of evidence, the paper reported.
Wednesday’s explosion took place only blocks from the site of the 2017 blast. The Evansville Police Department said in a Facebook post that the area will be closed off for the “foreseeable future,” adding that its “thoughts are with those closely involved with the explosion.”
Other officials echoed their concerns.
“My heart goes out to the family and friends of those killed or injured during the devastating explosion in Evansville today,” state Rep. Ryan Hatfield (D) tweeted Wednesday. “I am in contact with local authorities and monitoring this tragic situation closely.”
Connelly said the Red Cross had responded and set up shelter for affected residents at a nearby elementary school.
Roxane Weber told WFIE she was worried about her neighbors, as well as the condition of her own home.
“It’s mostly older folks on that end,” Weber told the station. “It was like a bomb went off near us. All the left side of our house the windows blew, and I have cracks everywhere. It’s like we have an old plastered house.” | 2022-08-11T10:13:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Explosion at Evansville, Ind., home leaves 3 dead, damages 39 houses - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/11/evansville-indiana-explosion/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/11/evansville-indiana-explosion/ |
A man was fatally stabbed in Prince George’s County
A man was fatally stabbed Wednesday morning in the Clinton area, police said. (iStock)
Police in Prince George’s County said a man was fatally stabbed early Wednesday.
The incident happened around 4:40 a.m. in the 9000 block of Woodyard Road near Branch Avenue in the Clinton area. Police responded to the area and found a man suffering from stab wounds. He was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead.
Detectives are trying to determine a motive and find a suspect or suspects. | 2022-08-11T10:43:23Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Man fatally stabbed in Prince George's County - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/man-stabbed-in-prince-georges-county/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/man-stabbed-in-prince-georges-county/ |
HOV privileges are ending for drivers of electric vehicles in Maryland
Starting Oct. 1, the state won’t allow an exemption to use HOV lanes without the required number of occupants
Traffic on Interstate 270 in Montgomery County. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)
Electric vehicles will no longer get a free pass on Maryland’s high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes beginning this fall.
Starting Oct. 1, the state won’t allow an exemption for drivers of EVs and hybrid vehicles to use HOV lanes without the required number of occupants. The adjustment will treat those vehicles in the same way as gas-powered vehicles.
The change comes as provisions in state law are set to expire Sept. 30.
Since 2010, drivers of plug-in electric or hybrid vehicles have been allowed — when equipped with a special permit — to use HOV lanes in Maryland regardless of the number of passengers. The state legislature last renewed the benefit in 2018 but didn’t take action during the most recent session, which allowed the provision to expire.
Motor Vehicle Administration spokeswoman Ashley Millner said any changes would require action by the legislature. She said the agency has issued 13,786 HOV stickers to owners of electric vehicles and will notify drivers the program is ending.
The change comes as demand for electric vehicles continues to rise. As battery capacity grows and charging stations become more widely available, thousands of Marylanders have used federal and state incentives to buy electric or hybrid vehicles. Maryland offers a tax credit of up to $3,000 to EV buyers, as well as financial assistance for charging technology.
EV registrations rose from 609 in 2012 to 52,966 this summer, according to the MVA.
High-occupancy vehicle lanes are reserved for car pools, van pools, buses and motorcycles during the morning and evening rush. Maryland has HOV lanes along Interstate 270 in Montgomery County and along U.S. 50 in Prince George’s County.
EV and hybrid drivers in the Washington region have for years taken advantage of the end-run around the carpooling requirement to drive on HOV lanes, but the rules have mystified others. While the exemption was viewed as an incentive to encourage the purchase of vehicles that are less harmful to the environment, other commuters complained about HOV lanes becoming more congested because of solo drivers in EVs.
Virginia three years ago ended the free pass on the state’s HOV lanes for most registered vehicles bearing clean special fuel license plates. Some plug-ins and electric vehicles retained the privilege. | 2022-08-11T10:43:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Maryland EV drivers losing free pass for HOV lanes - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/08/11/maryland-ev-hybrid-hov-lanes/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/08/11/maryland-ev-hybrid-hov-lanes/ |
Inside the fiercely competitive cornhole world championships, where America’s favorite bean-bag game is a way of life
Jamie Graham tosses a bag during his semifinal against Mark Richards during the American Cornhole League pro singles world championship finals, held at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center in Rock Hill, S.C. last weekend. Graham, who was ranked third going into the competition, lost to Richards. (Logan Cyrus/For The Washington Post)
ROCK HILL, S.C. — The surface of a professional-grade cornhole board — two feet wide and four feet long, give or take a quarter-inch, and made of birch or oak with a polyurethane finish — can change texture with the temperature. On a hot day, even indoors, the clear varnish can get tacky, slowing bean bags down as they slide toward the 6-inch scoring hole. Near an air-conditioning vent, boards “play faster.” Further away they get stickier.
Which is why, here at last week’s American Cornhole League world championships, held in a massive indoor sports facility in humid South Carolina, Corey Gilbert, 33, has opted for the “Sniper” set from his sponsor, Lucky Bags. It’s a middle-of-the-spectrum, Goldilocks option — not the firmest or the floppiest, neither the silkiest nor the craggiest, but it will slide comfortably on the boards, which have been playing on the slow side. It also suits both his own rocket-like throws and his doubles partner’s loftier, softer tosses. “You can just chuck it and it’ll be like skrr-rr-rt but it’ll still stop,” he says. The two often fine-tune midgame by changing which side of the bag — the smoother or the rougher — will hit the board.
It wasn’t a slam-dunk strategy, though it also wasn’t disastrous. When he arrived in Rock Hill, Gilbert was officially the 43rd best cornhole player on planet Earth; when we speak on Sunday, as the tournament winds down, he thinks his ranking may have slipped, but only a little. As Gilbert explains all this to me animatedly, his parents, 63-year-old Anita and 66-year-old Jerry, glance over, anxious to get him to the airport on time to fly back to Sacramento.
A barber in his weekday life and a former softball pitcher, Gilbert plays cornhole almost every night of the week, sometimes on boards he built himself. Among the accoutrements that have to make it onto the plane home with him: Gilbert’s rolling cornhole bag, which contains six sets of bean bags and weighs 28 pounds.
Tailgates, barbecues and frat quads have all done their part to raise awareness of cornhole, known in some regions as “bags,” and played in its modern form since the 1970s. On lawns and decks all over America, the game offers a way to pass the time while the burgers get grilled; a way to benignly bond with a father-in-law; a way to assert momentary, marginal athletic dominance over one’s buddies while holding a Bud Light in one hand. Cornhole is shorthand for relaxed summertime fun, an easygoing enough pastime that pharmaceutical commercials sometimes include it in their soft-focus “after” montages.
In recent years, though, many have gotten acquainted with the elite levels of the game by flipping past ESPN coverage of major cornhole tournament finals. For five years running, cornhole has been part of Ocho Day — ESPN’s annual celebration of niche and novelty sports, a whole genre of haha-no-way-OK-but-wait-what-a-shot TV spectacles. For the 1,800 players competing at “worlds” in the Rock Hill Sports & Event Center, a 170,000-square foot athletic complex built in 2019, ’hole is life. And almost everyone here shares the earnest belief that the game is poised for global domination.
Behind Gilbert, stretching out across a prairie of hardwood floor under fluorescent lights, are 132 cornhole courts, every one occupied by either two or four players. A gigantic American flag looms over the expanse. The air smells like sweat, $2 pizza slices and the occasional discreet puff of vape smoke, despite PSAs ringing out now and again to remind attendees that vaping is off-limits. Sideline chatter accompanies the thwacking sound of competitors’ bean bags landing plumply on the boards (or, God forbid, the floor). There’s no official uniform of cornhole, but you could be forgiven for thinking it consists of a jersey, baseball cap and cargo shorts. Amateur players wear jerseys with the names of their local leagues: North Country Cornhole, Montana Vigilante Cornhole, A-Town Baggerz. Pros wear jerseys proudly advertising Bush’s baked beans. Beards are optional but popular. Women, who make up about a quarter of competitors at worlds, often pair their jerseys with leggings.
Every one of them has come here, some from hundreds or even thousands of miles away, with a goal: Some want to win their amateur division, others want to win their way to a pro card, still others want to win a pro singles or doubles title. Gilbert, who earned his pro ranking last year, wants to someday win a championship on ESPN.
Though the tournament’s main court is just two boards set up on half of a dramatically lit basketball gymnasium, under ESPN’s red-tinted TV lights it looks and feels like the Arthur Ashe Stadium of cornhole; its Colosseum, even, maybe. Competitors enter, prizefighter-like, through an inflatable tunnel sponsored by Johnsonville Sausage.
It was there, on Saturday afternoon, that Mark Richards, a 25-year-old first-year pro from Valparaiso, Ind., who came in tied for No. 1, claimed the pro singles championship title. Some spectators wore white foam wedge hats in the shape of cornhole boards; others held up yellow signs reading “4 BAGGER” when a player or team managed to sink all four bags. At tense moments — like when Richards reached 18 points against 51-year-old janitorial supply salesman Matt Guy of Alexandria, Ky., and found himself one clean shot from victory — the arena went spooky-silent, other than the frequent pop-chhh of aluminum cans emanating from the beer garden. When Richards’s last bag instead went skipping off the back of the board, the roar of anguish from the crowd rattled the bleachers.
Richards, a gym teacher, doesn’t have as much time to devote to the game as his contemporaries who play cornhole full-time. Nineteen-year-old Alex Rawls, Richards’s co-No. 1, graduated high school this year. He practices for up to three hours each weekday at an LA Fitness near his home in Jacksonville, Fla., that lets him set up boards in its dance studio. Jamie Graham, 24, ranked No. 3 behind Richards and Rawls, throws hundreds of bags every day. His girlfriend, 20-year-old Kaylee Hunter, a rising cornhole star herself, throws with him at their home in Hamlin, N.C.
Still, Richards plays about eight to ten hours a week. He works on his wrist flick, his backswing, making shots from different angles, whenever he can make time.
Up 20-7 with one bag left, Richards needed only to land it on the board to claim the championship. When he instead fired it cleanly into the hole, his girlfriend, sitting courtside, brought her hands to her face and burst into tears.
Indeed, Rock Hill Sports & Event Center is an insular social ecosystem unto itself, with its own gossip networks and cliques and scandals and royalty. Amateur players speak in hushed tones about how No. 7-ranked pro Matthew Creekkiller throws bags for, like, eight hours a day. (Creekkiller, a 20-year-old from Clouds Creek, Okla., tells me it’s actually more like four.) A score-entry error in an early-round women’s singles game sent cornhole podcasters into a tailspin; Trey Ryder, the chief marketing officer of American Cornhole League, whose additional work as an analyst has earned him the nickname “the Tony Romo of cornhole,” says he got death threats over it. And 2020 and 2022 women’s singles champion Cheyenne Renner, 22, is getting married this November to — who else? — an amateur cornhole player. Sarah Cassidy, who teamed with Renner to win this week’s women’s doubles championship, will be a bridesmaid.
In the championships’ vendor hall, one can purchase a generic fan replica of this year’s Bush’s Beans-emblazoned pro jersey. Nearby, sets of League-regulation cornhole bags — with names like “Karnage,” “Assault,” “Sniper” and “Juggernaut” — are sold for upward of $50 each. Some have skulls; some have camouflage. It’s a curiously violent, militaristic aesthetic choice for a sport that, rather than requiring its athletes to maintain any sort of fighting shape, is instead rather forgiving. What it takes to be a good cornhole player is mastery of a variety of shots and the wisdom to know when to deploy them — not any impressive degree of strength, or agility, or reflex quickness, or stamina.
Meet Ryan Smith, one of the nation’s top pro cornhole players
Or even sobriety, really. True to cornhole’s origins as a bar or yard game, players at almost every level are known to drink before, during and after. Not everyone partakes. But Shannon Thompson, a contractor with the ACL, opens the beer garden at 8 a.m. every day of the tournament to a morning rush hour: “There’s guys who can’t throw their first bag until they’ve had their first beer.” Domestics are most popular, she adds (“obviously”), though Samantha Finley, a top women’s player, tells me with a laugh that she prefers to warm up with Fireball. Matt Guy has been playing cornhole competitively for 22 years and is widely understood to be the greatest to ever do it; he says his sweet spot is somewhere around six beers in. (Those are, he clarifies — after ACL media chief Marlon LeWinter shoots him a look — consumed over the course of several hours before a big game.)
Stacey Moore, the former tennis player who founded the ACL in 2015 and now acts as its commissioner, welcomes the obvious question with a laugh when we speak on Saturday evening, the ESPN crew packing up their gear behind us. No, he doesn’t have any plans in the immediate future to institute an alcohol policy, though “we definitely talk about it every season,” he says. On the one hand, rarely do cornhole players cause problems with their drinking; some players find it calms their nerves. “I want players to feel like they have the right to do what they feel like is going to put them in the best position to win,” Moore says. Beers, he adds, sometimes used to be affectionately called “PEBs” (a riff on PEDs, or performance-enhancing drugs). Eventually, though, he expects cornhole to go the way golf did — years ago, some players were notorious for how much they could knock back on the course. But eventually, Moore says, competition reached a level so fierce it paid to stay sober.
Already, the rate at which the game of cornhole has crystallized into a thousand tiny trackable, analyzable strategies and statistics has astonished even Moore. When he founded the league, “I felt like, ‘Okay. There’s basically two or three basic shots,’” he says. Now, there are seven or eight, and Moore is still learning the new ones. He laughs as he ticks them off: Cut shot. Rollback. Bar of soap. Penguin.
Moore’s eventual dream for the American Cornhole League is for more tournaments with bigger cash prizes so that more participants can do it full time. (Richards, for example, won a $10,000 cash prize for winning the singles final, and split an additional $7,500 with his partner when they finished second in pro doubles.) He’ll need continued support from sponsors and an ever-expanding base of players who’ll pay entry fees for tournaments (yes, like this one), but he’s not worried. He’s courting new fans, players and sponsors with events like this week’s SuperHole series, which pairs up celebrities with pro cornhole players for doubles. In Friday’s final, Matt Guy and NFL great Doug Flutie bested Richards and basketball Hall-of-Famer Dawn Staley. Though the buzziest contestant on-site was “Jersey Shore” star Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino.
And after the tournament, Moore was scheduled to travel to the Netherlands for the first official ACL international tournament.
International interest, he emphasizes, is key to getting cornhole recognized as an Olympic sport. Initially, he set his sights on 2028. He doubts that will happen, “even though when L.A. 2028 rolls around, we’ll be in over 50 countries, easily,” he says. So he’s aiming for 2032.
The next day, the ESPN set gets swiftly dismantled after the network’s last broadcast is over, and the tournament’s main stage begins to look once again like a gymnasium. The day after that, an Uber driver who lives 30 minutes away in Charlotte laughs when I tell him what I’ve been doing in town.
“Cornhole,” he repeats, and shakes his head. “I did not know about that.” | 2022-08-11T10:52:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The world’s cornhole elite, chasing that one perfect toss - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/08/11/cornhole-championships-league-espn/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/08/11/cornhole-championships-league-espn/ |
A grim milestone: 10 years since Austin Tice’s abduction in Syria
The freelance journalist’s parents still push hard for the U.S. government to find a way to bring their son home
Debra Tice, the mother of Austin Tice, speaks with reporters Aug. 9 at the unveiling of a #BringAustinHome banner outside The Washington Post headquarters. A Post contributor and freelance journalist, Austin Tice was abducted while reporting in Syria in 2012. (Maansi Srivastava/The Washington Post)
Debra and Marc Tice wanted some joy. So they got a piñata. She baked a special birthday cake. They invited their whole large family to a celebration.
But there was an absence that was impossible to ignore — the birthday boy.
For a decade, these parents of seven have yearned to celebrate in person at their Houston home with their eldest son, Austin Tice, a law student and freelance journalist who was abducted in Syria 10 years ago this week. He was taken on Aug. 14, 2012 — three days after he turned 31. His parents’ fervent belief, shared by the U.S. government officials they have endlessly consulted and others who have made public statements, is that Austin is alive even though he hasn’t been seen since a video was posted on YouTube nearly 10 years ago showing him blindfolded and being led through rugged terrain by men in white robes carrying what appear to be automatic weapons.
And so those birthdays for this young man growing older mean something beyond marking another trip around the sun. They’re a manifestation of faith and hope, even as they tumble past without him, the milestone years — his 35th, his 40th last year when the piñata seemed like the perfect touch — and the others. Each has arrived without full answers but not without a deep-seated belief that his story will eventually end well.
On Wednesday, President Biden added an increased level of specificity to the decade-long saga, saying in a statement that “we know with certainty that [Austin] has been held by the Government of Syria.” It was a shift from the past when U.S. officials tended to hedge about whether they believe Austin is held by the Syrian government or groups allied with the government.
With Biden’s attention so clearly trained on their son, this year’s birthday, so close to the 10-year marker of his captivity, is a bit different for the Tices. Debra Tice is commemorating her son’s 41st in Washington without a big party, but still doing what she’s done with persistence and consistency: Pushing. Hard.
At various times, the Tices have been furious with the FBI, the State Department, the White House, the media and themselves. They’ve pressed three presidents and still nothing. They’ve clamored for more engagement with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Both Tices have been in the public eye, demanding the government do more — Marc, a clean-cut 64-year-old who is usually the more measured and soft-spoken one; Debra, the fiery embodiment of a family’s torment. She has not been afraid to confront bureaucrats, especially those who she deems unhelpful, lazy or uncaring.
“I am Austin’s mother — I will not be intimidated,” she said in an interview this week. When she goes to Washington, she’s there to demand action at the highest levels of government. “I’m not there for tea and crumpets,” said Debra, a 61-year-old with dazzling white, shoulder-length hair and a piercing gaze.
Her blunt and unflinching manner, her boundless energy and maternal instinct to protect her son, can be inspiring and energizing, said Bill McCarren, executive director of the National Press Club, which has taken up Austin’s cause with gusto. “She has gumption,” he said. But he also worries that her confrontational style might sometimes work against her.
“She’s not the easiest person to get along with,” McCarren said. “She does not suffer fools.”
McCarren has tried to educate her in the strange and disconcerting mores of Washington: how the capital can often be a place of evasions and empty promises. But these truths she cannot abide, a trait McCarren admires in her. In her own way, she is not only pushing for her son, but also pushing for Washington as a place, and the U.S. government as an institution, to do better.
Not long ago, Debra met with a large group of State Department officials in Washington. She’s concluded that many in the department have decided it is “not viable” to secure her son’s release, even though Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been publicly and privately supportive. Internal “obstacles,” as the Tices describe them, have been erected because so many people within the department have essentially given up on bringing their son home.
“You’re going to be shocked when you see [Austin] walk free,” Debra told them.
She employed some colorful language to demand that they work harder rather than, as she sees it, sitting back and claiming that there’s very little or nothing they can do. They weren’t pushing. Not like she pushes. “It’s just your little hall pass that you’re writing out for yourself,” she told them.
Recounting the meeting, her voice builds to a crescendo: “Bam!” she said emphatically in that Texas drawl. “Oh, my goodness. They were shocked.”
State Department officials declined interview requests or to address details of the meeting. “We are extensively engaged with Syrian officials to bring Austin Tice home,” a senior administration official said in an emailed statement. “But Syria has never even acknowledged holding him.”
An invitation and a decision
Austin was a “challenging” kid, his mother recalls with affection. Never a boring moment in his life, always charging out into the world.
“He’s so intense,” she said. “He’s so fully alive, he’s so ready to go.”
He was an Eagle Scout. He joined the Marines as an infantry officer and served in Iraq and Afghanistan, then stayed on in the reserves. He graduated from Georgetown University’s school of foreign service and was attending the university’s law school in 2012 when he decided to go to Syria as a freelance journalist, becoming one of the few reporters at the time inside that most dangerous of nations for journalists. While there, he contributed to The Washington Post and CBS News, and he won a Polk Award, one of journalism’s most prestigious honors, for his reporting on Syria’s civil war for McClatchy newspapers.
Those first awful weeks of his captivity have stayed with her, even now. She castigates herself for not getting on a plane right away, rather than following advice she was receiving from U.S. officials to take steps as underwhelming as planning a news conference.
“I can’t tell you, with seven kids, how many times I’ve jumped in the car and driven to a place where they’ve had a car accident, jumped in the car and flown to wherever they were in school because they were sick,” she said in the interview. “When something happens, I show up. Why did I keep my feet on the wrong side of the ocean?”
It wasn’t until three months later that she and her husband got on that plane, landing in Beirut, where she was planning to arrange to drive to Damascus at the invitation of Syrian officials.
Then they got a call from an FBI agent working their son’s case. The agent, who they declined to identify, berated Marc Tice, saying the road was unsafe and they were about to make their other six children orphans. Journalists were telling them the opposite; the Tices believe they were being fed “misinformation.”
Under pressure from the FBI agent, Debra said, she decided not to go. A decade later, she still laments following the agent’s advice. She’s gone out of her way to apologize to the Syrian government over the years.
“To not accept that invitation, we have no idea what the ongoing repercussions of that are,” she said.
FBI officials declined to be interviewed or to address Debra Tice’s account. In a statement emailed to The Post, the bureau said: “The FBI and our U.S. government partners in the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell are constantly working to bring Austin Tice and other Americans held overseas, back home to their families. The FBI is committed to this mission, in close coordination with the victim’s family members, no matter how much time passes.”
Debra Tice eventually got to Damascus in 2014. She met with everyone she could, including Syrian government officials. Finally, she received a message from a highly placed Syrian official: “I will not meet with the mother. Send a United States government official of appropriate title.”
Questions and concerns remain
Years passed and the Tices never heard of any meetings about their son involving U.S. and Syrian officials. And the basic questions remained: Why this particular journalist? What would the Syrians have to gain from holding him this long without any public acknowledgment? Why no pleading hostage videos? Why no ransom request? In that information vacuum, news organizations, including Reporters Without Borders, took up his cause. The Post featured Austin in a 2019 Super Bowl advertisement.
Finally, in 2020, there seemed to be a break: Kash Patel, the Trump administration’s National Security Council counterterrorism chief, and Roger Carstens, the presidential envoy for hostage affairs, traveled to Syria for what they described as the first direct U.S. diplomatic engagement with Syria in a decade. “It was a one-and-done kind of thing said,” Marc Tice said. Instead, he said, the United States needs to lean into the fundamentals of hostage dealings: engagement, negotiation and concession.
After the Syria trip came to light, Debra Tice accused then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of “undermining” President Donald Trump’s directive to bring her son home because he had said he would “compartmentalize” prisoner issues from foreign policy writ large. Carstens came to Pompeo’s defense.
In The Post interview, Debra leveled another raft of concerns at Biden’s administration, singling out national security adviser Jake Sullivan for, as she put it, not following his boss’s directives. She thinks back to a May 2022 meeting she and her husband had with Biden. Right there in front of the Tices in the Oval Office, Biden instructed his the national security staff in the meeting to contact the Syrians and find out what they want in return for Austin’s release, Debra recalled.
Three months later she believes no contacts have been made. “I’m not sure if all the phone lines are down in D.C. or if there was some kind of, you know, solar flare,” she said. “They don’t have internet anymore? I’m really not sure what the obstacles are. But they can certainly fly down here and use my phone if they need to.”
She and her husband have learned over the course of three White House administrations that people working under the president can thwart his objectives, Debra said. (Sullivan did not respond to interview requests.)
All the while, she is puzzled about what seems like stagnation. The United States doesn’t recognize that new approaches need to be employed to save their son, she asserts. She seethes that she knows of no calls from U.S. officials to Syria at a time when Biden has even fist-bumped for the cameras with Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince who has been linked to the murder of Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Post’s publisher, Fred Ryan, has been a vocal advocate for the return of Austin Tice. In 2021, Ryan wrote an editorial published in The Post saying: “The United States should never stand by when dictatorships take our citizens hostage. But the offense is especially outrageous when the victims are journalists, who provide the information and perspective our democracy needs to function, often at great personal risk.” On Tuesday, he unveiled a 12-foot-by-8-foot banner above the main entrance to The Post that reads #BringAustinHome. The White House was also taking notice. In his statement the next day, Biden went long on promises and hope, but short on specifics about what is or can be done: “I am calling on Syria to end this and help us bring [Austin] home.”
In their anguish, the Tices know what will happen each year as Aug. 14 approaches; they know the drill. The reporters will call. Cascades of them. These “quote-unquote anniversary interviews” are appreciated, Austin’s father said. But then the reporters mostly go away. It’s a brief downpour, when what they hope for is a “steady rain,” Debra said. The kind that lasts all year long, that lasts until Austin comes home.
They plan to appear at the National Press Club on Sunday for an event marking 10 years. An invitation went out a while ago. It’s billed, hopefully, as a “Welcome Home Party for Austin Tice.” But the event will go forward whether he’s home or not. | 2022-08-11T10:52:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A grim milestone: 10 years since Austin Tice’s abduction in Syria - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/08/11/grim-milestone-10-years-since-austin-tices-abduction-syria/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/08/11/grim-milestone-10-years-since-austin-tices-abduction-syria/ |
Group with GOP ties targets liberals on Democratic spending bill
The organization, United for Clean Power, has run ads urging liberal members of Congress to tank the Democrats’ reconciliation bill if it omits more expansive climate measures
Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), left, and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) are among the lawmakers being targeted by United for Clean Power. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
An organization with ties to Republicans has been targeting liberal lawmakers with advertisements urging them to defeat the Inflation Reduction Act, on the grounds that it does not do enough to stop climate change.
The Democrats’ spending bill, which passed the Senate over the weekend and is expected to be voted on by the House this week, would provide hundreds of billions of dollars in clean-energy tax credits, rebates for electric vehicles, rewards to cut methane emissions, and other incentives that together are estimated by experts to cut U.S. planet-warming emissions by 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Although environmental advocacy groups disagree with the bill’s measures supporting fossil fuel production, the most prominent ones have urged its passage, including the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund and National Wildlife Federation.
The GOP-linked group, United for Clean Power, has purchased ads targeting some of the most liberal members of the House, including Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Cori Bush (Mo.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Ilhan Omar (Minn.). Their offices declined or did not respond to requests for comment, but they are expected to vote for it.
The ads urge voters to tell liberal members of Congress to “demand environmental justice or kill the reconciliation bill,” adding that “without comprehensive climate change provisions the reconciliation package is a failure.” Democrats have a narrow margin in the House and need virtually every vote in their caucus to send the measure to President Biden’s desk.
United for Clean Power did not respond to an interview request.
There is little information available publicly about the group or its donors, but tax and fundraising disclosures point to ties to a GOP network of political operatives and donors. In 2015, it received $41,000 from Freedom Frontier, a group that donated $250,000 that year to a political action committee supporting Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.). In 2018, United for Clean Power raised nearly $208,000 and paid nearly $136,000 to Majority Strategies LLC, a Republican political advertising firm.
The newsletters FWIW and Popular Information reported on the group, its ads on the reconciliation bill and its ties to Republicans. The group’s founder, Erin Cummings, told Popular Information that she transferred the organization to someone else years ago but declined to say who. Cummings did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
David Kieve, president of EDF Action, the advocacy arm of Environmental Defense Fund, said in an interview that he and his colleagues first noticed United for Clean Power’s advertisements on a Politico newsletter. A Politico spokesman said the group sponsored its New York Playbook newsletter during the week of Aug. 1.
“We kind of kicked it around internally and asked each other, ‘Has anyone ever heard of these guys?’ And the answer was no, and so we started doing a little more poking around, and we certainly didn’t like what we saw,” Kieve said. “This is exactly the type of activity that makes people really cynical about politics and cynical about the way that things work in this country.”
While liberal lawmakers like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have criticized the Inflation Reduction Act for not doing more to shore up the American social safety net, they are still expected to support its passage. Omar was quoted on Monday as saying that she was disappointed in the bill’s fossil-fuel provisions and the removal of measures of some corporate tax and health care measures, but that the bill still represented a “massive step forward.”
“If the question is, do we take this or nothing, the answer to all of us just about seems pretty clear,” Kieve said. EDF Action has purchased $1 million in national television ad buys urging the bill’s passage.
The ads on the reconciliation bill are not the first time United for Clean Power has used this strategy to stymie Democrats. In 2020, United for Clean Power purchased ads in an Oregon state Senate race in support of a third-party candidate, Shauleen Higgins, according to Google data, focusing on the environment and a local natural gas project that had been hugely controversial. The area had long been represented by Democrats.
Higgins won 4 percent of the vote, and the Democratic candidate in the race, Melissa Cribbins, lost to the Republican by less than three percentage points. Higgins said in an interview that the group had not coordinated with her campaign and that she was unaware of the ads.
“Unfortunately in a tight race like that where the (party) registration percentage is almost exactly equal, it doesn’t take a lot to tip things over,” Cribbins said in an interview. “Honestly, I just wondered if it wasn’t somebody trying out a strategy.” | 2022-08-11T10:56:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Group with GOP ties targets liberal Democrats on Inflation Reduction Act - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/gop-group-targets-liberals/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/gop-group-targets-liberals/ |
Tallinn City Hall (Linnahall), originally known also as the V. I. Lenin Palace of Culture and Sports, was completed for the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics. It is situated in the harbor, just beyond the walls of the Old Town in Tallinn, Estonia. (Juho Kuva for The Washington Post)
Rate hikes are little help for Estonia’s 22% inflation, Europe’s worst
Some employers give raises three times a year while others desperately try to cut energy costs
TALLINN, Estonia — In the two years since developer AS Kapitel drew up plans for a flashy new office complex here, the price of just about everything needed to complete it has gone up.
Steel grew more expensive as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine interrupted shipments from mills in both countries. Glass panels for the buildings’ exteriors cost more because the natural gas used to produce them has soared in price. And wages have jumped as an overheating local economy collided with a worker shortage.
All together, inflation has added about $30 million to the cost of the Arter Quarter complex, which is set to spruce up a nondescript city center street with a new town square, public park, sports club, sauna and multiple restaurants. Amid talk that Europe could slide into recession following the European Central Bank’s decision last month to raise interest rates, Kapitel executives fear they will be unable to recoup their ballooning costs from tenants, putting at risk the company’s profit hopes.
“All the raw materials went up and not just because of the war. It started last autumn,” said Rait Pallo, Kapitel’s chief financial officer. “These things were pretty scary for us.”
Fed's interest rate hikes may mark start of tough new economic climate
Estonia is suffering the worst inflation in the euro area, with consumer prices rising at an annual rate of nearly 22 percent — more than twice as fast as in the United States. This tiny Baltic nation, and its neighbors, Latvia and Lithuania, represent extreme examples of the price pressures sweeping Europe and confronting policymakers, executives and consumers with a challenge unseen for 40 years.
Some Estonian employers must raise salaries several times each year. Others are retooling their operations to use less energy. Consumer grumbling about rising prices, meanwhile, is muted, overshadowed by existential worries about the threat from neighboring Russia.
“Of course, it’s annoying. But it’s happening globally; it’s not only our problem here in Estonia,” said Marju Vanatalu, a shopper at the Viru Keskus mall. “But the most important topic for Estonians is the war in Ukraine. This is more important than inflation.”
The two subjects are related. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended global commodity markets, sending prices rocketing for oil, natural gas, wheat and fertilizer.
Higher energy costs account for about one-half of Estonia’s inflation and rising food prices account for an additional one-quarter, according to the central bank.
Since Estonians remain poorer than the European Union average, food and energy take up a larger share of the typical consumer’s spending than in countries such as Germany or France, helping to explain why inflation is so much higher here.
“Some prices are two times or five times higher,” complained Vladislav Vassiljev, another shopper and an aspiring science-fiction writer. “Especially for utilities and gas for the car.”
Filling up a Toyota Camry, for example, now costs the equivalent of about $130, up from about $86 one year ago, based on average pump prices.
But even excluding volatile energy and food costs, prices are rising fast.
Consumers emerged from the depths of the pandemic with ample savings, fueled by years of steady wage growth. Then last fall, the government began allowing withdrawals from a mandatory retirement savings program, which further stimulated consumption.
“You could see it in electronics stores. People were buying TVs and home appliances,” said economist Kristo Aab of LHV Bank, who estimates Estonians withdrew roughly 1 billion euros.
All that extra demand — at a time when the supply of some goods was constrained by shipping problems or component shortages — drove prices higher. Housing prices and rent also rose sharply, prompting many workers to appeal for higher pay.
At Cybernetica, which develops software for government and corporate clients in 35 countries, CEO Oliver Vaartnou is in a nonstop scramble for talent.
“I used to change salaries once a year. Now, I’m doing it two times a year, maybe three times,” Vaartnou said. “I need to keep these people. If I don’t have software engineers, I don’t have anything. I’m willing to take the risk I won’t be profitable this year.”
Estonia surrendered control over its monetary policy in 2011, when it joined the European currency union, becoming the first ex-Soviet republic to do so. After decades of rule from Moscow, Estonians saw the change as a price worth paying to cement the country’s place in Europe.
Euro-using countries share a common central bank, just as U.S. states have the Federal Reserve. But each nation retains its own tax and spending authority. So the financial transfers between rich and poor areas, which smooth out economic ups and downs, are more limited.
Embracing the euro left Estonia subject to interest rates set by the Frankfurt-based ECB, which prioritizes the needs of the euro zone’s largest economies, such as Germany. Inflation there is roughly one-third of Estonia’s level.
The ECB’s half-percentage-point increase last month brought its main policy rate to 0 percent, after years in negative territory. But Estonia’s current situation warrants an interest rate around 7 percent, according to a recent assessment by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, which cited a widely used monetary policy guideline.
“Interest rates are too low to tame Estonia’s high inflation,” the OECD said.
In Estonia, domestic factors — including a structural budget deficit that pumps too much money into the economy — have played a much larger role than interest rates in driving up prices, according to Rasmus Kattai, head of economic policy and forecasting division for Eesti Pank, Estonia’s central bank.
“It’s not monetary policy’s fault, this very high inflation in Estonia,” he said. “We were in a boom. Capacity utilization was the highest ever recorded at the end of last year.”
Warehouses in China and the U.S. show global economy struggling to adjust
Even if interest rates were higher, they would do little to address the energy price increases afflicting Estonia.
Long before the war, the government had begun disconnecting from Russia’s electricity grid and switching to the continental European alternative. The move promised greater security of supply, but has also contributed to high and volatile electricity prices.
On July 26, for example, electricity in Finland, separated from Estonia by just 50 miles of open water, cost roughly $7 per megawatt-hour while Estonians were paying more than $215 per megawatt-hour, according to the Nord Pool, an energy-trading market.
Estonia generates electricity using shale oil, wind power and natural gas. There are problems with all three.
Using more shale requires paying for carbon quotas under European environmental rules, which drives up the cost. Wind power supplies are limited and the region is short one-third of the natural gas supplies it requires, according to Hando Sutter, CEO of Eesti Energia, the state-owned energy company.
Estonia uses much less natural gas than countries such as Germany, but nonetheless faces higher bills for what it does use in the wake of the war. Gas prices in Europe are eight times higher than one year ago.
Estonia in April vowed to wean itself from Russian natural gas supplies by the end of this year. In a partnership with Finland, it is building a floating offshore platform to receive imports of liquefied natural gas.
Even if the facility is operational by November, as planned, it may be another two months before cargoes arrive, Sutter said.
In May, Sutter redrew Eesti Energia’s strategic plan to emphasize sharp increases in production from wind and solar power. By 2026, the company expects to produce 5 terawatt-hours of electricity, more than three times the 2021 figure.
“Because we need to replace gas, we need more renewable power,” he said.
Businesses, meanwhile, are scrambling to cope with mounting expenses.
Indrek Laul, a concert pianist and business executive, uses natural gas to heat the Estonia Piano Factory, located alongside a 16th-century graveyard-turned-park. But soaring energy bills convinced him to switch to an alternative fuel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Laul plans to tear down two small buildings to make room for the installation of underground LPG tanks. He’s also replacing nearly four dozen radiators with more efficient, individually controlled units. The change will shave his heating bills, his largest single expense, by more than half.
Scrapping the factory’s Soviet-era electrical wiring and adding an energy-efficient system for collecting the mountain of sawdust produced by piano making should cut his electric bill by more than one-third.
Standing in a sunny workshop in his five-story, limestone building, Laul shows off rows of half-finished grand pianos. The largest and most opulent models sell for more than $100,000 apiece.
“During covid, piano sales took off after about six months. Dealers told us ‘Send us more pianos,’ ” he said. “Now, we have an energy crisis. But demand is still up there.”
Across the economy, prices began surging last year. Annual inflation topped 12 percent in December; exceeded 15 percent in March; and hit 20 percent in May.
“Everything” is more expensive, said Natalia Saevalaje, an office administrator, and shopper at the mall. “My salary is not keeping up.”
To stretch her euros, she has begun baking her own cakes and dining out less often.
In a Eurobarometer survey completed in February, more than 70 percent of those surveyed identified the cost of living as their main worry, far higher than the 41-percent euro zone average.
Yet the same poll showed 90 percent of Estonians backed the euro, despite the escalating price increases. And the widespread public anger that has driven U.S. consumer confidence readings to record lows and threatens Democratic control of Congress this fall is absent here.
One reason for the relatively sanguine mood may lie in Estonia’s history. Occupied by Stalin’s troops in 1940, the country was swallowed by the U.S.S.R. and ruled from Moscow until 1991.
As the newly-independent nation built a market economy in the early 1990s, inflation spiked to 90 percent before settling to acceptable levels later in the decade.
“We all have families where the grandparents were taken away to Siberia,” said Sutter, the energy executive. “All our property was taken away in the Second World War. Our currency was taken away and replaced with the ruble. We all remember this — at least my generation. We’re used to hard times.”
Still, the economic hit from today’s rising prices is real. High inflation will drive annual output growth from last year’s 8.2 percent to just 1.3 percent this year, the OECD said.
Over time, excessively low interest rates will erode Estonia’s competitiveness, including by making its exports too expensive for customers outside the euro area, Bank of America economists warned in an Aug. 4 note to clients.
World Bank warns global economy may suffer 1970s-style stagflation
On a recent weekday, next door to the oldest wooden structure in Estonia, a Russian Orthodox church built in 1721, four towering yellow cranes swiveled above a construction site.
This is where Kapitel’s office complex is taking shape. By late summer 2024, there should be four buildings here, including a 28-story tower, boasting modern ventilation systems designed to appeal to covid-scarred workers.
As the project’s cost continued climbing last year, the developer considered halting construction and acquiring an existing building instead. But it couldn’t find one it liked, said Pallo of Kapitel.
Now, the developer is hanging on, hoping that inflation will ebb and investors will overcome their concerns about Estonia’s proximity to Putin’s Russia.
The central bank says inflation is likely to remain uncomfortably high for the rest of this year, before dropping to 4.3 percent in 2023 as the energy price shock fades. Some are skeptical.
“Fundamental inputs to everything in our economy have gotten more expensive,” said Raivo Vare, a partner in Rvve Group, an investment firm, and a prominent ex-politician. “They are just starting to transfer into everything else. It’s not over yet.” | 2022-08-11T10:56:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Rate hikes are little help for Estonia’s 22% inflation, Europe’s worst - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/inflation-estonia-europe/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/inflation-estonia-europe/ |
Cash effective tax rates
of most-profitable companies since 2019
min. 15%
Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon and Intel paid less than 15 percent in taxes globally in each of the last three years
Tech companies including Alphabet
lower their tax bills by reporting income
in counties with lower rates
& Johnson
of Calcbench data
Tech companies including Alphabet lower their tax bills by reporting income in counties with lower rates
Source: Washington Post analysis of Calcbench data
15 percent in taxes globally in each of the last three years
The House is expected to approve the Inflation Reduction Act on Friday that includes a minimum tax rate of 15 percent on highly profitable companies — a levy that could hit Amazon, Verizon and others. The tax would help pay for large investments across climate and health care.
But the minimum tax conflicts with a hallmark of corporate taxes in America: deductions and credits ratified by Congress.
Tax credits and deductions are purposefully designed as tools to incentivize certain behaviors. But because they reduce companies’ tax bills, they stand to chip away at the effectiveness of a minimum tax. Companies can still use carve-outs for research and development, investment expenses and others to lower their tax bills. Democrats’ marquee climate proposal comes in the form of tax breaks — which are also exempted from the corporate minimum tax rate.
Because of these exemptions, it would remain possible for profitable corporations to achieve a tax rate below 15 percent, Daniel Bunn, executive vice president at the Tax Foundation, said in an email.
The minimum tax proposal would raise $220 billion over 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan congressional body that analyzes tax bills. The minimum tax rate would apply to companies that reported to shareholders an annual average of $1 billion in annual profit over three years.
More than 250 companies in the S&P 500 averaged more than $1 billion in pretax income over the last three years, according to a Washington Post analysis of Calcbench data. Of those, 84 paid less than 15 percent in income tax globally. The list includes tech companies such as Amazon and Intel, banks like Bank of America and U.S. Bancorp, telecom giants Verizon and AT&T, and other household names like General Motors and UPS.
The rate is calculated according to global income, meaning a company could, in theory, “have a domestic effective tax rate below 15 percent as long as their foreign profits were taxed higher,” Kyle Pomerleau, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said in an email.
President Biden frequently notes that 55 profitable corporations paid no federal income tax in 2020, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal think tank.
The talking point sidesteps that companies often pay different amounts in taxes year-to-year. But it points to a truism that Democrats aims to fix: Over the long run, many companies pay less than the current standard corporate tax rate of 21 percent.
Some corporations avoid federal income taxes by redirecting revenue to countries where they operate with lower tax rates. Until the end of 2019, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, licensed its own intellectual property from Bermuda — an offshore tax haven. Alphabet reported its global effective tax rate in 2018 and 2019 was lowered by billions because “substantially all” of its foreign income was earned by its Irish subsidiary, according to a securities filing.
Corporations also lower their taxes through deductions and credits. Amazon shaved $3 billion off its tax bills from 2019 to 2021 through its use of stock-based compensation and another $2.2 billion for other tax credits including one for research and development, according to securities filings. The company reported federal tax expenses of $4.1 billion for those years on $69.4 billion in pretax U.S. profit — an effective federal rate of less than 6 percent. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Post.)
To gain the support of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Democrats amended their minimum rate proposal to exclude deductions for certain investments and exempt firms owned by private equity. Those last-minute changes will further help some ultra-profitable corporations to pay less than the minimum rate.
This analysis relied on data from Calcbench, pulled from company filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The chart shows cash-effective tax rates (tax expense divided by pre-tax income). The chart includes the 20 most profitable companies in recent years that disclosed enough numbers to make the calculation. | 2022-08-11T10:56:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The corporate minimum tax could hit these ultra-profitable companies - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/minimum-corporate-tax/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/minimum-corporate-tax/ |
Described by the FBI as a white supremacist, Bryan Betancur pleaded guilty in May to one count of disorderly conduct in a restricted building or grounds
A man who told his parole officer he was handing out Bibles went to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, instead. (John Minchillo/AP)
As authorities tell it, convicted burglar Bryan Betancur made what seemed to be a reasonable request to Maryland probation officials a few days before the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Prohibited from leaving the state without permission, he asked to travel to the District on Jan. 6, 2021, so that he could hand out Bibles on behalf of the Christian group The Gideons International.
Maryland’s division of parole and probation said okay.
In a recent plea deal, Betancur acknowledged that his story about distributing the Good Book was a ruse. Instead, clad in a shirt bearing a logo of the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of violence, he attended Donald Trump’s incendiary rally on the Ellipse, after which Betancur stormed the Capitol with an angry mob of fellow Trump supporters trying to prevent Congress from affirming Joe Biden’s electoral victory, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington.
Betancur, described by the FBI as a white supremacist who lived with his mother in Silver Spring, Md., was sentenced Wednesday to four months behind bars for participating in the riot. Although his age isn’t clear (prosecutors say he is 24; his attorney says 22), there was no dispute in U.S. District Court in D.C. regarding his Jan. 6 whereabouts.
Prosecutor Maria Y. Fedor asked for a six-month term in her sentencing memo, saying Betancur’s Jan. 6 visit to Washington wasn’t the first time he lied to probation officials to get approval to leave Maryland. After gaining permission to hand out Bibles for the Gideons in D.C. a month earlier, on Dec. 12, he took part in the Proud Boys’ violent pro-Trump rally in the District that day, Fedor said.
At the Capitol, she wrote, Betancur “climbed scaffolding and later entered a sensitive area,” meaning Senate conference room ST-2M, and helped rioters “in removing furniture from ST-2M, which was likely used as weapons in the nearby Lower West Terrace tunnel” in a confrontation with police. In addition to tracing his movements with videos, photographs and other evidence from social media, Fedor wrote, investigators used the GPS data to show that Betancur entered restricted areas of the Capitol.
“Betancur has made statements to law enforcement officers that he is a member of several white supremacy organizations,” an FBI agent wrote in a court affidavit. “Betancur has voiced homicidal ideations, made comments about conducting a school shooting, and has researched mass shootings. … Betancur has stated he wanted to run people over with a vehicle and kill people in a church.”
“When asked if he regretted the decisions he made on January 6, 2021, Betancur stated he did not live a life of regrets,” she wrote. “However, he added that he only regrets that the actions he took now prevent him from joining the U.S. military. Betancur wanted to join the U.S. military because of the sense of brotherhood. If he is unable to join the U.S. military, Betancur said that he may attempt to join a different country’s military or become a mercenary.” | 2022-08-11T11:01:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Bryan Betancur told his probation officer he was handing out Bibles on Jan. 6 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/betancur-jan6-probation-bible/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/betancur-jan6-probation-bible/ |
Learning from past blunders is crucial for a new Army program
How the military branch can avoid repeating mistakes that marred a Vietnam-era program to help recruits who didn’t meet basic standards
Perspective by Kyle Longley
Kyle Longley is the director of the War and Society Program at Chapman University and author of "LBJ’s 1968: Power, Politics, and the Presidency in America’s Year of Upheaval" and "Grunts: The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam."
About 130 soldiers with the U.S. Army's 87th Division Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Division Sustainment Brigade, wait to board a chartered plane during their deployment to Europe, March 11, 2022, at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. The Army is significantly cutting the total number of soldiers it expects to have in the force over the next two years, as the U.S. military faces what a top general called unprecedented challenges in bringing in new recruits. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)
In August, the Army will introduce the Future Soldier Preparatory Course to help recruits increase their physical and mental aptitude scores to meet minimum requirements. It has already identified nearly 2,000 applicants needing the instruction even to start standard basic training. This initiative reflects two fundamental issues plaguing the recruitment needed to maintain an all-volunteer Army: health and education.
Today, the more sedimentary “Nintendo Generation” faces increased obesity and other health issues affecting endurance and strength. Many of them also lack basic knowledge — the rudimentary math and language skills necessary for military service.
And yet, the military has encountered such challenges before. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara launched a similar program during the Vietnam War aimed at boosting potential soldiers who did not meet the minimum qualifications on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). But poor implementation and a focus on getting the men through the program — instead of ensuring they had the skills they needed — doomed it from the start. It’s a reminder that while the Future Soldier Preparatory Course could help both the Army and the soldiers who take it, that will require implementation and commitment as well.
During World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, the U.S. government conscripted young men to fill out its fighting force. But many local draft boards ended up having to qualify countless recruits (both draftees and volunteers) as 4-F — unable to serve. This classification reflected mental or health deficiencies, and the large number of recruits labeled 4-F plagued the effort to generate enough troops, especially in World War II.
During the Vietnam War, the problem became even more acute as many young Americans learned to game the system through draft deferments and service in the National Guard. The worsening struggles to generate sufficient troops helped bring these health and educational concerns to the attention of political leaders. In 1965, future Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) heralded a study that uncovered that more than half of those failing the AFQT lived in large families with incomes under $4,000. He called this “de facto job discrimination” for the “least mobile, least educated young men.”
Others focused on the racial dimensions. The study couched racial disparities in gendered terms, arguing that “given the strains of disorganized and matrifocal family life in which so many Negro youth come of age, the armed forces are a dramatic and desperately needed change; a world away from women, a world run by strong men and unquestioned authority.” Supporters of changes to the recruitment system framed the argument more positively: they asserted that underprivileged African Americans would receive training and education that ensured social mobility in civilian life.
Ultimately, the ideas became associated with an expansion of the Great Society programs, at a moment when public support for new large-scale initiatives waned. As Moynihan noted, with “expectations of what can be done in America … receding” the “best hope” for society was “to have the Armed Forces as a socializing experience for the poor.” The military became one of the ways to support upward mobility alongside a host of other job training and educational developments that the Johnson administration backed.
In 1966, McNamara took up the issue. He proposed “Project 100,000” to give a second chance to large numbers of those who had fallen in Category IV of the AFQT (a score below 91) — which eliminated them from consideration and indicated low IQs and educational levels as well as health problems. McNamara wanted to give “the poor of America … the opportunity to earn their fair share of this Nation’s abundance” by serving so they returned “to civilian life with skills and aptitudes which … will reverse the downward spiral of human decay.” He promised to help them with their problem of “idleness, ignorance, and apathy.”
Project 100,000 lasted until 1971 and sought to provide at least 100,000 recruits annually with additional support as they trained for the military, including additional physical training and tutoring. But problems existed from the beginning as many in the military resisted the program, especially in a time of war when commanders preferred focusing resources on getting as many able-bodied men through training as possible. In response, military officials often passed many people along without teaching them the requisite skills envisioned by McNamara. Despite the Pentagon characterizing them as “New Standards Men,” they became known as the “Moron Corps” and “McNamara’s Misfits.”
Indeed, less than 6 percent actually received the promised vocational training that McNamara had pitched to the recruits and supporters of the program. An Army officer emphasized: “We got most of them out and through the system. Of course, they all went in the infantry units, most of them, and went overseas.” One Marine lieutenant observed a struggling 40-year-old machine-gunner named “Pappy” who had joined through Project 100,000. He concluded, “I had a hard time figuring out how his skills with a machine gun were going to help him earn a living after the Marine Corps.”
By, 1971, more than 354,000 soldiers cycled through Project 100,000 with over 5,400 dying in combat and another 20,000 wounded in Vietnam. These soldiers — some with autism — often experienced discrimination for their lack of ability to follow even basic commands Language issues also arose, exacerbated by some having limited English language skills as evidenced by the case of a Puerto Rican recruit, Carlos Rivera-Toledo, who sued in 1970 and won a case against the Army for not providing adequate English training. Once in Vietnam, regular troops viewed them with suspicion and their lack of training and ability too often led to deaths and injuries for their comrades and themselves.
A 1991 study compared Project 100,000 veterans to other similar “low-aptitude” nonveterans, exposing the program’s abysmal failings. It found that their military service did not provide the “New Standards Men” with promised benefits: their average income was nearly 25 percent less than the nonveterans, and they had higher unemployment and divorce rates alongside lower educational attainment. The Project 100,000 veterans also battled high rates of post-traumatic stress and had other health issues.
While many served honorably and a few gained some educational and job skills, the vast majority benefited little from the program — although the U.S. government developed a deeper reservoir of front-line troops for Vietnam, easing the pressure to call up the National Guard populated by the scions of American elites. As one analyst noted: “What is clear, though, is that Project 100,000 was a failed experiment. It proved to be a distraction for the military and of little benefit to the men it was created to help.”
The problems weren’t with the program’s vision. The basic idea behind it — the desire to have soldiers with the ability, training and education to succeed — persists. Rather, the downfall of Project 100,000 came from a military leadership that prioritized moving people through the system and onto the battlefield, with little concern for whether they acquired the promised skills promised or not. That’s the key for the Future Soldier Preparatory Course: implementation. The vision can work if the program focuses on providing resources to recruits struggling to meet the qualifications, instead of merely trying to get them to meet requirements.
Providing them adequate resources is key to ensuring that recruits have the ability to succeed, both for their sake and those of their colleagues. | 2022-08-11T11:01:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Learning from past blunders is crucial for a new Army program - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/08/11/learning-past-blunders-is-crucial-new-army-program/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/08/11/learning-past-blunders-is-crucial-new-army-program/ |
Seeing Americans as consumers threatens the fairness of our economy
The Federal Reserve keeps increasing interest rates to try to bring prices down — but that may erase gains by non-White workers.
Perspective by Suzanne Kahn
Suzanne Kahn is the managing director of research and policy at the Roosevelt Institute and author of, "Divorce, American Style."
As traders work and watch, a news conference held by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell is displayed at the New York Stock Exchange in New York on July 27. (Seth Wenig/AP)
After almost a year of concerns over inflation and a hot economy, the Federal Reserve’s repeated interest rate hikes have slowed the economy and raised recession concerns. That was the point: The Fed’s actions were rooted in the decision that lower prices are more important than continued job growth.
This prioritization is the result of decades of choices that have pushed policymakers to see constituents primarily as consumers — with prices and market choice as their foremost concerns — and government as responsible primarily for maintaining consumer markets. These choices shifted both understandings of American citizenship and the very operations of the state over the past 80 years.
Since the 1940s, the federal government has been charged with promoting economic stability through “maximum employment, production, and purchasing power.” But, over the latter half of the 20th century, the Fed increasingly prioritized stable prices over maximum employment. This shift was not natural, but rather the result of decades of work by neoliberal theorists and conservative policymakers to prioritize stable prices and markets for corporations and investors rather than tight labor markets that empower workers.
In 1937, the Federal Reserve argued explicitly that “price stability should not be the sole or principal objective of monetary policy.” Rather, it defined economic stability as “full employment of labor and of the productive capacity of the country as can be continuously sustained.” The Board of Governors believed that goal might, in some instances, mean accepting inflation as a price of, not threat to, stability.
In early 1945, as World War II and the wartime full-employment economy both came to a close, Congress began to debate a full employment bill that proposed all men had a right to a job, and that the government take responsibility for creating those jobs where the private sector failed. This commitment proved a sticking point for many in Congress who believed the private sector, not the federal government, should create jobs. As a compromise, the final version of the bill, the Employment Act of 1946, encouraged consumption to drive employment and vice versa. The idea of a “consumer” moved one step closer to being at the very center of the American government’s management of the economy.
Only a year after the Employment Act’s passage, in 1947, the Mont Pelerin Society met for the first time. The scholar-activists there seized on the idea of governing for the consumer as a means of pushing back against the New Deal state, which they argued had overly centered workers.
In place of a model of governance where the state helped maintain a balance between oppositional workers and corporations, these conservatives proposed a model of economic governance where consumers and corporations might be seen on the same side with a shared interest in a competitive market that kept prices low.
Interestingly, the focus on consumers continued not only through the 1950s but into the more liberal era of the Great Society. Under President Lyndon B. Johnson, efforts to foster equality centered expanded access to credit and markets. For example, the Higher Education Act of 1965 broadened access to college education through the creation of the first large-scale federal student loan program instead of through an expansion of the public university system. In another example, to address housing inequality, the Housing Act of 1968 created mortgage-backed securities that gave low-income buyers the ability to get credit to purchase homes.
The consumer, not the worker, also increasingly guided the government’s management of the economy. Congress once again debated full employment legislation in the late 1970s during the Jimmy Carter presidency thanks to a push from labor and the Congressional Black Caucus in the face of the 1970s recession. As in 1946, the original proposal included a provision to make the federal government an employer of last resort if full employment (defined as above 4 percent unemployment) was not reached in five years. But the bill that Carter signed into law in 1978, the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act (known as Humphrey-Hawkins), focused on controlling inflation, balancing the budget and maximum employment only in the context of the first two goals.
The next year, Carter’s appointee to chair the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, initiated interest rate hikes to purposefully put the economy into recession to bring down inflation. The Volcker Shock, as it came to be known, solidified the idea that inflation was the most significant problem the economy could face, and that controlling inflation was worth an occasional recession.
More than 50 years later, we know that monetary policy that prioritizes combating inflation rather than ensuring employment has led to deeply unequal outcomes. In the wake of the Volker Shock, for example, the Black unemployment rate reached 19.5 percent, 9 points higher than the overall unemployment rate. Further, prioritization of prices over employment led to decades of wage stagnation for most workers while the assets held by the wealthy grew in value.
Expanding access to higher education through student debt has also created vastly unequal outcomes for Black and White students. Likewise, improved access to home loans for lower-income borrowers did not address a still-segregated housing market that left Black families vulnerable to predatory lenders.
In short, addressing inequality through consumer-oriented policies has failed.
President Biden entered office with a policy agenda that decentered the consumer in many — but not all — cases. In his first year in office, his administration proposed policies that experimented with the government providing child care, broadband and a host of other services directly, rather than through subsidies that fostered consumer markets. And, into early 2022, the Federal Reserve seemed to be prioritizing employment over prices.
As a result, employment boomed. Workers gained more labor market leverage than they have had in years. By June of 2022, Black male employment exceeded its pre-pandemic levels. For the first time in almost 40 years, wages at the bottom of the income distribution have kept pace with, and by some measures even outpaced, inflation.
At the same time, prices rose for a range of reasons — from supply chain issues to the war in the Ukraine to corporate greed. In the face of rising prices, the habit of viewing the consumer as the priority of economic governance reappeared with a vengeance.
The Fed’s recent decisions to raise interest rates are rooted in consumer-centric governing. It’s not clear its actions will significantly impact prices, but history shows, they probably will harm American workers — especially people of color, those with less education and other already marginalized workers who benefit the most from a tight labor market and are often the first to suffer in a slack one.
Indeed, although today’s liberal policy agenda has re-centered the importance of public goods, such efforts have been undermined because almost all Americans, including politicians and reporters, are accustomed to measuring the health of our economy through purchasing power. Understanding this history is the first step to freeing ourselves from it. | 2022-08-11T11:01:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Seeing Americans as consumers threatens the fairness of our economy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/08/11/seeing-americans-consumers-threatens-fairness-our-economy/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/08/11/seeing-americans-consumers-threatens-fairness-our-economy/ |
The Democratic candidate for Texas governor lashed out, telling the heckler: ‘It may be funny to you ... but it’s not funny to me’
Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke hit back at a heckler who laughed as he discussed the Uvalde school massacre at a town hall on Aug. 10. (Video: Beto O'Rourke/Facebook)
Beto O’Rourke on Wednesday railed against Texans’ easy access to AR-style rifles like the one used in May to massacre 19 students and two of their teachers at a Uvalde, Tex., elementary school.
O’Rourke, the Democratic nominee running to oust Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in November, initially ignored the laughter. He kept stumping, saying that the Uvalde shooter had used the rifle not to fight enemy soldiers off in the distance but “against kids” five feet away.
One video of the exchange went viral, racking up more than 3 million views by early Thursday, just hours after O’Rourke wrapped up the campaign stop in Mineral Wells — a town some 40 miles west of the Dallas-Fort Worth area and 260 miles north of Uvalde. O’Rourke’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the exchange from The Washington Post late Wednesday.
Beto O’Rourke confronts Abbott in Uvalde: ‘You are doing nothing’
The town hall was part of what’s shaping up to be the most expensive campaign in Texas history, dwarfing the $125 million O’Rourke and Sen. Ted Cruz spent in 2018 in the Democrat’s failed attempt to unseat the Republican incumbent, the Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday. O’Rourke and Abbott raised a combined $52.5 million between late February and June alone, with O’Rourke’s $27.6 million haul setting a state campaign fundraising record, the Texas Tribune reported last month.
Gun control has been a staple of O’Rourke’s platform to defeat Abbott, especially in the wake of the massacre in Uvalde. A day after the shooting, he interrupted Abbott during a news conference at Uvalde High School as the governor updated reporters, The Post reported at the time. As Abbott introduced Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), O’Rourke came up to the stage to declare that the governor and other high-level state officials had dithered for far too long, failing to take action after previous mass shootings in Texas, including those at Santa Fe High School in 2018 and an El Paso Walmart in 2019.
Moments before O’Rourke interrupted him at the May 25 news conference, Abbott told reporters that tougher gun laws are “not a real solution” to preventing more mass shootings. Instead, a week later, he called on the state legislature to create special committees that would make recommendations about how to take “meaningful action” that might stop something like Uvalde from happening again. At the time, O’Rourke knocked the idea, imploring the governor to “do your job” by calling a special legislative session to specifically tackle the issue. | 2022-08-11T11:01:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Beto O’Rourke lashes out at heckler laughing over Uvalde mass shooting - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/11/beto-orourke-uvalde-gun-heckler/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/11/beto-orourke-uvalde-gun-heckler/ |
Perspective by Lawrence Sumulong
Young Ka'Ren men and boys gather around a memorial as the first Martyr Day after the national pandemic lockdown concludes. The holiday commemorates the death of Saw Ba U Gyi, the first president of the Ka'Ren National Union. (Lawrence Sumulong)
Photographer Lawrence Sumulong’s project “A Proposed State” came about after he visited his father-in-law’s Boy Scout troop meeting in Ohio. The troop is mostly made up of Ka’Ren teenagers from Myanmar, also known as Burma. They live in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood, originally populated by Italian, Croatian, Polish and Irish immigrants. It also happens to be the neighborhood his father-in-law grew up in.
Sumulong sent me the following description of the project, presented below:
“Overseas, the Ka’Ren have been waging a decades-long war for liberation against the Burmese military junta’s violent and genocidal persecution. The working title of this series refers to the concept of Kawthoolei, or the endonym for an autonomous nation that the Ka’Ren have sought to establish in Myanmar. It also speaks to what I feel is the community’s profound desire for visibility and agency within the United States.
“ ‘A Proposed State’ continues my engagement with the daily lives and histories of emerging Asian and Pacific Islander communities, often specific ethnic groups that experienced forced migration — the marginalized within the margins.
“What I am doing differently from years and projects past is more deeply weaving the concept of locality and diasporic experience visually. As such, these pictures are inkjet prints on Philippine gampi paper (a nod to my own heritage) overlaid on northeastern Ohio milkweed paper. Both types of paper were handmade by Allie Morris of the Morgan Conservatory in the neighboring city of Cleveland. The milkweed paper was grown in their garden.
“There are larger Ka’Ren communities across the United States. However, my connection to them would not have the same personal stake. There is something shared between the community and myself in this notion of northeast Ohio as a second home. My wife’s family is historically from Cuyahoga County, Akron, Ohio, and as such this place is one of new roots and memories for me as well.
“However, it would be incredibly irresponsible for me to lean too heavily into the notion that the Ka’Ren community and I share or navigate reality and this surrogate home in the same ways. In a book that I was reading contemporaneously as I was working on this project, ‘The Loneliest Americans’ by Jay Caspian Kang, he incisively points out the marked striations across Asian American communities and experiences across time.
“Being out here, speaking with community members, and thinking about the fraught category of ‘Asian American,’ obfuscation appears closer to what’s on the ground.
“Especially for a working-class community trying to survive and make ends meet after the pandemic, it is a fight to preserve let alone define who they are.
“On a very pragmatic level, it is a struggle financially and logistically to simply find a space to exist as a cultural entity.
“Above all, my aim was to share Ka’Ren history and Ka’Ren American experiences in the present as a point of convergence and divergence. My hope is that the audience finds both connection and idiosyncrasy in my portrayal of this burgeoning community.
“Lastly, my profound gratitude to Ajino Wah, the chairman of the Ka’Ren Community of Akron, for opening up the community to me over the years. His kindness, patience and belief made this all possible.”
We’re publishing this work close to Aug. 12, which happens to be a big day for the Ka’Ren community. It is when its members celebrate Martyr’s Day. Sumulong contacted Hsa Win, one of the community’s leaders, to help explain the importance of the day.
“In my past experience, Ka’Ren Martyr’s Day has been a day of gathering together at one location by sharing joy, mourning our respected leaders that has given their lives for the Ka’Ren people, and it’s also a learning day for our Ka’Ren people to reflect their history, pride, culture and most importantly their identity. This year, I hope to see the same thing. I want to see Ka’Ren people continue to preserve this particular celebration in the city of Akron. So that we can be visible and we can show other communities Ka’Ren does exist. In the next 5-10 years, I would like to see the Ka’Ren community of Akron have its own community office. A community center that is willing to provide assistance to the Ka’Ren people that are facing language barriers, offer driver’s license classes, U.S. citizenship class, dance class, language classes, etc. In this way, we can keep the Ka’Ren community prosperous and thriving.”
You can see more of Sumulong’s work on his website, here. | 2022-08-11T11:01:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Photos of the Ka'Ren community in Ohio - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2022/08/11/finding-place-exist-cultural-entity-akron-ohio/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2022/08/11/finding-place-exist-cultural-entity-akron-ohio/ |
Thursday briefing: Donald Trump pleads the Fifth; gas prices drop; Indiana explosion; tax credits for electric vehicles; and more
Donald Trump refused to answer hundreds of questions at a deposition.
What to know: The former president was questioned yesterday in New York as part of an investigation (one of many involving Trump) about his family business.
What happened? He repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself when asked about his property valuations, loans and businesses.
Why it matters: It’s the latest ominous legal development for Trump this week after an FBI search of his Florida home left him at potential risk of a felony.
Average gas prices fell under $4 a gallon for the first time in months.
That’s a 20% drop from its most expensive point in June, when the average cost of a gallon in the U.S. was over $5.
The bigger picture: Inflation slowed slightly last month, thanks to less expensive gas and energy. The cost of used cars also dropped, but food prices continued to rise.
Ukraine claimed responsibility for a powerful attack on a Russian air base.
Where? In Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Nine Russian military planes were destroyed Tuesday, according to Ukrainian officials.
Why it’s important: It would mark an escalation in the nearly six-month war and suggests Ukraine’s covert forces have the ability to strike behind enemy lines.
An explosion in Indiana killed at least three people and damaged 39 homes.
What happened? The explosion at a house in the center of Evansville yesterday afternoon sent debris flying 100 feet in each direction. The cause isn’t clear.
The latest: Authorities are conducting a “blast analysis,” and officials warned the death toll could rise as a search continues.
Nights last month were so hot they broke records.
What to know: Average overnight temperatures in July were the hottest in recorded U.S. history, according to NOAA.
Why this matters: Warmer nights are a sign of climate change. They also can be extremely dangerous: The risk of heat stroke or exhaustion increases if the human body doesn’t cool down at night.
The world’s biggest ice sheet is at risk of melting.
The details: The “sleeping giant” — about the size of the U.S. in East Antarctica — is more vulnerable to climate change than scientists thought, a new study found.
Why that’s worrying: It could eventually raise sea levels 16½ feet as it shrinks if targets to limit greenhouse gas emissions aren’t met.
New tax credits should make it cheaper to buy electric vehicles — eventually.
The nation’s most significant climate bill to date, which is likely to become law within days, includes a $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles.
But there are rules: The credits would apply only to cars that are put into service starting next year, cost less than a certain amount and meet specific manufacturing requirements.
What this means: Initially, a lot of vehicles wouldn’t be eligible. But in a few years, they should be much more available and affordable, experts say.
And now … a sweet moment you may have missed at a Little League championship. Plus, the latest advice column from the wise Carolyn Hax. | 2022-08-11T11:02:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The 7 things you need to know for Thursday, August 11 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/the-seven/2022/08/11/what-to-know-for-august-11/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/the-seven/2022/08/11/what-to-know-for-august-11/ |
Moving in together? Here’s how to marry clashing styles.
It’s one thing to love someone, but it’s another thing entirely to live with them, as anyone who has watched Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby argue about a wagon wheel coffee table in “When Harry Met Sally” knows. Cohabiting can make or break a relationship and can quickly turn a love nest into a battleground. If you’re considering combining households with your partner, there are a few things to keep in mind.
“The first thing to realize is that everybody perceives things differently,” said Glennon Gordon, a couples therapist with offices in Tenleytown and Bethesda, Md. “I mean that literally. The way that I perceive something and the way you perceive something are as different as our fingerprints. So is the way we see our physical space.”
These differences extend beyond coffee table preferences. For some people, external space is correlated with their internal, or emotional, space; the home needs to be orderly for them to feel that way inside, Gordon said. For others, the two things are separate. A stack of dishes is just that; it does not imply a chaotic state of being.
The key is to never assume your partner will be just like you. “When you expect the other person to be completely different, as they most likely are, it makes compromise so much easier,” she said.
It’s also wise to consider all possible outcomes before signing a lease. “Think about the worst-case scenario,” said Cheryl New, a family lawyer at New & Lowinger in Bethesda, Md. “How does that play out?”
Moving in together is a serious commitment that can be a pain to undo. New’s advice is to be realistic and keep your receipts. “Nobody thinks they’re the types to bicker over pots and pans in a breakup,” she said. “In the end, of course, almost everyone does.”
Some people save things. Others crave a clean slate. What happens when opposites attract?
Relationships are an art, not a science, and some people simply live better together than others. But there are steps you can take to avoid some common pitfalls. We spoke to experts for tips on how to combine your possessions, be a good roommate, blend styles and manage expectations while protecting yourself against a messy uncoupling, should the relationship go south.
Don’t rush it. As tempting as it may be to share a lease in today’s pricey rental market, the decision should be thought out. “Moving in together is about more than just getting on the same page,” Gordon said. In her experience, it’s often about navigating conflict. “Couples need to be able to handle the inevitable tensions that come up when you have to share everything: your space, your stuff, your time, your self. A lot of people assume that if they’re happy enough to move in together, they must be relatively similar people. But this is a whole new level of intimacy. It only works if people feel like they can be fully themselves.”
Discuss expectations. Before you start house- or apartment-hunting, have a conversation about how you both prefer to live. “Get specific,” said Natalie Ron, who founded the home-organizing company Swoon Spaces, which offers services in New York and Los Angeles. “What does a peaceful home look and feel like to your partner? How much of that are each of you responsible for?” These conversations should include each other’s upbringings. “Ask your partner about their parents’ relationship with money and how their childhood household was run,” Gordon said. “Did Mom do all the cooking and cleaning and Dad handled the expenses? If so, find out how much that factors into your partner’s current expectations. Know what you’re signing up for.”
Make a budget and track receipts. Keep a log of which person’s items are coming into the new home and who is buying new pieces. Budgeting can be tricky if you have different financial situations or differing ideas about how to spend money. “Some people are naturally more spontaneous, while others have to budget for everything,” Gordon said. Getting either party to change those habits probably won’t happen, so focus instead on how you manage the variation: “If you expect and respect differences, you’re much more likely to get along.”
Declutter before you move. Ron recommends that all of her clients who are on the verge of combining households get their own house in order first. “Think of it as a final, reflective moment for your single, independent self,” she said. “Go through your old clothing, letters from exes and trinkets that you’ve held on to over the years. Do they really need to come into your new home with you?” If some do, buy a couple of low-profile storage containers that can be stowed in the back of a closet. “Nobody expects you to toss your sentimental collectibles, but they will appreciate a sense of consciousness and order,” she said.
Understand each other’s triggers. Cleanliness is the most common source of friction for Gordon’s clients. “One person can walk by a piece of trash and not even see it,” she said. “Another person couldn’t possibly walk by it without getting anxious.” Be curious, not critical, about how your partner sees their space. Similarly, if your partner has a harder time parting with things, resist the urge to coach them through it. “It’s tempting to pressure someone to ‘just throw it out,’ but that almost always backfires,” Ron said. “Instead, find out what’s behind their attachment, whether it’s sentimental reasons or financial habits, and try to help them prioritize, so they don’t feel pushed or dismissed.”
Mix and match styles. “Even if one person is more design-inclined, it’s critical that both people feel like they have a say in their space,” Gordon said. “This is about more than ego; it’s also about mental health. It’s never good for someone to feel like a stranger in their own home — not good for the individual, and really not good for the relationship.” If you can, resist the urge to cast one partner aside; the cliched solution of granting the husband a single room to make his own, usually a “man cave” or the garage, feels superficial and dated. Instead, spend time browsing Pinterest boards and design blogs together to find pieces and aesthetics you’re both drawn to. “I promise: There will be common ground,” Ron said.
Give yourselves a grace period. Even the most prepared and organized couple will encounter surprises once they’re under the same roof. Gordon said many people struggle with how their partner spends their free time. “One person might cook or clean or grab the window [of time] to work out, while the other person takes a nap or stares at their phone for an hour,” Gordon said. “These variations can be shocking at first, and they take some getting used to.” Try not to let these differences balloon into judgmental statements about the other’s character or lobbying campaigns to get them to change their ways. Instead, respect conscious decisions about how you want to live, and take turns seeing things from the other’s perspective. “Is it really that your partner is lazy? Or is it that they’re better at relaxing than you?” Gordon said.
Megan Buerger is a freelance writer in New York. | 2022-08-11T11:31:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Tips for blending decorating styles when moving in with a partner - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/home/2022/08/11/couples-blend-different-styles/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/home/2022/08/11/couples-blend-different-styles/ |
Post Politics Now Gas price drop is welcome news for Biden and fellow Democrats
The latest: Gas prices fall below $4 a gallon, lowest point since March
Analysis: Hyperbolic GOP claims about IRS agents and audits
The latest: Amid tumultuous week, Trump takes the Fifth
On our radar: Post-Roe special elections show potentially encouraging signs for Democrats
Noted: Capitol rioter claimed he was elsewhere on Jan. 6, handing out Bibles
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden walk from Air Force One as they arrive at Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina on Wednesday. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
Today, President Biden, who is on vacation in South Carolina, and his fellow Democrats are welcoming news that the national average for a gallon of gas has fallen below $4 for the first time since early March. Prices at the pump — and inflation more broadly — have been a drag on Biden’s popularity and a challenge for Democrats with the midterm elections approaching. How voters will process the drop remains unclear. While record-high inflation appears to be moderating, the costs of rent, food and other items remain notably high.
Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump is having a tumultuous week. He repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination as he refused to answer questions during a deposition Wednesday with the New York attorney general focused on his business dealings. Earlier this week, the FBI searched Trump’s Florida residence in a separate investigation on his handling of government documents.
2:05 p.m. Pacific time (5:05 p.m. Eastern time): Vice President Harris holds a roundtable discussion with California state legislators and advocates on reproductive health care.
Joe O’Dea, the Republican nominee for Senate in Democratic-leaning Colorado, seeks to put some distance between himself and his party in a new ad in his race against incumbent Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.).
“Everyone in Washington votes the party line. Joe won’t,” a supporter says in the upbeat ad. “He doesn’t care about partisanship. He’ll represent Colorado.”
O’Dea himself then seeks to hammer home the same message, saying: “I’m not focused on political parties. I’ll do what’s right for our country.”
You can take a look above.
Vice President Harris is scheduled Thursday to hold her latest in a series of discussions about reproductive rights in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. This one is with state legislators and activists in California, scheduled to be held in San Francisco.
Harris, who has aspirations beyond her current office, has sought to play a leading role on how Democrats should respond in the post-Roe era.
Earlier Thursday, she plans to hold a press call about investments in broadband access for tribal communities.
President Biden is on vacation in South Carolina and has no public events scheduled Thursday.
Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) and two members of her staff died in a car crash in Indiana on Aug. 3. The five-term congresswoman was 58. (Video: The Washington Post)
The funeral for congresswoman Jackie Walorski (R- Ind.), who was killed in a car crash last week along with two aides, is set to take place Thursday in Granger, Ind.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is expected to be among a group of her colleagues traveling to Indiana for the service and burial.
According to the South Bend Tribune, the service will be held at the Granger Community Church, followed by a 15-mile procession to a cemetery in South Bend, Ind.
Walorski, 58, was involved in a two-vehicle crash on Aug. 3 in Elkhart County, Ind., that also claimed the lives of her staffers Zachery Potts, 27, and Emma Thomson, 28, and the driver of the other vehicle, Edith Schmucker, 56.
Gas prices — and inflation more broadly — have been a drag on President Biden’s popularity and a major challenge for Democrats heading into the fall’s midterms. There was some fresh evidence overnight that the situation at the pump is improving, though it remains to be seen how the latest information will be processed by voters.
The Post’s Aaron Gregg reports that the national average for a gallon of gas has fallen below $4 for the first time since early March, a key psychological threshold for cash-strapped Americans even as inflation remains elevated. Per Aaron:
But lower pump prices mean there’s less drag on the broader economy, as evidenced by federal data released Wednesday that shows inflation eased in July. Though overall prices remain elevated, climbing 8.5 percent year over year, they’ve moved away from the pandemic peak of 9.1 percent recorded in June, when the U.S. fuel average topped out at $5.02.
RELATEDInflation eased in July from a year ago, as energy prices fell
With a vote scheduled Friday in the House on the spending package approved in the Senate, Republicans have focused their fire on provisions that would bolster the Internal Revenue Service with new funding to crack down on tax cheats.
“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 (R-Calif.) said in a tweet this week.
Writing in The Fact Checker, The Post’s Glenn Kessler says these numbers are a misfire, lacking significant context. Per Glenn:
The 87,000 figure, which is wildly exaggerated, 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.
You can read Glenn’s full analysis here and find out how many Pinocchios were awarded to McCarthy.
Donald Trump spent hours in a deposition Wednesday with the New York attorney general and repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, the latest in a series of ominous legal developments that would have once been considered devastating for a former president considering another run for the White House.
The Post’s Shayna Jacobs, Josh Dawsey and Devlin Barrett report that Trump emerged from the question-and-non-answer session with praise for the “very professional” way Attorney General Letitia James’s team handled the meeting, in which he refused more than 400 times to answer questions about his businesses, property valuations and loans, according to a person with knowledge of the discussion.
This person, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the closed session, said Trump stated his name, formally declared his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, and from then on replied to many questions with two words: “Same answer.”
Less than two years after leaving office, Trump faces legal jeopardy from multiple directions, with criminal probes into his possible withholding of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election results; James’s civil probe; and congressional inquiries into his taxes and his conduct related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
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 in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down Roe v. Wade. But they acknowledged that with three months left in the campaign, President Biden and his party continue to face substantial political hurdles.
The Post’s Colby Itkowitz and Lenny Bronner write that 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. Per our colleagues:
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.
Bryan Betancur of Maryland was sentenced Wednesday to four months behind bars for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. What’s notable about his case is how he got there.
The Post’s Paul Duggan reports that Betancur, a previously convicted burglar, asked Maryland probation officials to let him travel to the District that day so he could hand out Bibles on behalf of the Christian group Gideons International. Per our colleague:
In a recent plea deal, Betancur acknowledged that his story about distributing the Good Book was a ruse.
Instead, clad in a shirt bearing a logo of the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of violence, he attended Donald Trump’s incendiary rally on the Ellipse, after which Betancur stormed the Capitol with an angry mob of fellow Trump supporters trying to prevent Congress from affirming Joe Biden’s electoral victory, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington. | 2022-08-11T12:15:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Welcome news on gas prices for Biden and fellow Democrats - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/democrats-gas-prices-trump-legal/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/democrats-gas-prices-trump-legal/ |
Mystics will have tough start to WNBA playoffs
Washington may face the Seattle Storm, led by Breanna Stewart, in the opening round.
Breanna Stewart (Number 30) of the Seattle Storm leads the WNBA is scoring. The Washington Mystics may face the Storm at the start of the playoffs. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) playoffs are coming up, and the Washington Mystics have not made it easy for themselves.
After Tuesday night’s games, the Mystics have a record of 20-14 (20 wins, 14 losses). That places them as the fifth seed in the eight-team playoffs. While things may change during the last days of the season, it looks like the Mystics will have to play the Seattle Storm in a three-game series during the opening round.
Talk about a tough start. Seattle beat the Mystics 2 out of 3 during the regular season.
All the games were close and hard-fought. But the Storm is a tough matchup for any team. They are led by Breanna Stewart, a 6-foot-4-inch forward who leads the WNBA in scoring, averaging 22 points per game. Stewart is also rugged enough to grab more than seven rebounds a game.
Seattle is loaded with veteran leadership. Point guard Sue Bird is in her 19th and final season in the WNBA. The four-time WNBA champion has won five Olympic gold medals with the United States team. Bird is used to the spotlight and will not get nervous in a close game.
Seattle has former Mystic Tina Charles too. The 33-year-old center is looking for her first WNBA title but has achieved almost every other honor in the game.
The WNBA has had problems catching on, but men's pro sports had problems too.
If the Mystics beat the Storm, they may have to play the Number 1 seed Chicago Sky. The defending WNBA champs lead the league with a record of 25-9. The Sky features a balanced offense in which six players average more than 10 points a game.
The Mystics would have their hands full with the Sky. Washington lost three of its four matchups with Chicago during the regular season.
The Mystics have a tough road ahead, but they have the talent to go all the way.
Elena Delle Donne is still one of the top players in women’s basketball. The Mystics rested Delle Donne during the season to make sure her surgically repaired back was ready for the playoffs. Hopefully she will be at the top of her game during the postseason.
Even if she isn’t, Washington still has a terrific backcourt in guards Ariel Atkins and Natasha Cloud. Atkins scored almost 15 points per game, and Cloud led the WNBA in assists with more than seven a game.
Finally, if the old sports saying that offense wins games but defense wins championships is true, the Mystics should have a real chance at the title. The Mystics allowed the fewest points per game in the WNBA this season.
It won’t be easy, but at least the Mystics have a shot. | 2022-08-11T12:19:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Mystics will have tough start to WNBA playoffs - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost/2022/08/11/mystics-face-tough-2022-playoffs/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost/2022/08/11/mystics-face-tough-2022-playoffs/ |
My boss said ‘we didn’t need another White guy.’ Say what?
Companies looking to diversify their workforce need to be mindful of avoiding further discrimination
Is it illegal for an employer to reject a qualified job candidate simply because he's a White man? (iStock)
Reader: I was chatting with one of my bosses the other day about a potential new hire. He let slip that the executive team ultimately did not extend an offer because “we didn’t need another White guy.” He literally said this out loud. I was taken aback.
To be clear, the candidate was eminently qualified, had made it through multiple rounds of interviews, and was the clear favorite among almost everyone who spoke with him. Further, it’s not like he lost out to someone else — they simply didn’t hire him, and the company started the hiring process all over again! This was a position where a person’s ethnicity/sex were completely irrelevant (it is a data analytics job).
As a White guy this bothers me, because if it is true, it is obviously discriminatory. I understand wanting to build a diverse workforce, but this scenario is basically the caricature of diversity hiring. As I’ve thought about it over the past few days, I’ve grown angry. Imagine being a young person, doing well in a series of fairly tough interviews, only to be told “Thanks but no thanks!” Imagine wondering what you did wrong, and not knowing the company took a pass on you because you’re a White guy and they’re worried about optics. It seems clearly illegal, but my boss’s nonchalance suggests he has no idea that this is a rotten way to run a business, and a terrible way to treat people. Am I overreacting?
Karla: Of course it’s illegal to make a hiring decision based solely on someone’s skin color and/or sex. Presumably your boss knows that — or perhaps he mistakenly thinks it doesn’t apply to members of the majority.
But that’s assuming your boss’s summation is objectively accurate, and not an oversimplification of a more nuanced situation. Yours would not be the first employer to relaunch a search and cast a wider net in the hope of pulling in a candidate with more “wow” factor. And if, as your boss’s comment suggests, a majority of your employer’s workforce, applicants and preferred candidates just happen to all be from one narrow demographic, your employer may be trying to ensure that no bias, overt or systemic, is limiting its choices.
A Black woman hits a glass ceiling, then breaks ground as her own boss
As you note, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a key goal among many employers. Some, in their efforts to reverse historical inequity, have been accused of perpetuating further discrimination. To be fair, it’s not always clear where the line is, which is why employers need to consult legal and DEI experts to ensure they’re going about it fairly and correctly.
But it’s not illegal to want your workforce to mirror the diversity of your current and potential client base and end users.
It’s not illegal to want to avoid groupthink and confirmation bias, and to bring in team members whose perspective and experience challenge the status quo.
It’s not illegal to look for signs of exclusionary bias in everything from the language in your job ads to where you target your recruiting efforts.
And even though race and sex may seem irrelevant in a field that runs on ones and zeroes, the fact is that data and technology are only as unbiased as the humans who gather and design them. From medical imaging technology that misses symptoms because it’s been calibrated to light skin tones, to a recruiting AI at Amazon that rejected eminently qualified female applicants, to crime prediction algorithms that inaccurately target Black and Latino faces, we keep seeing evidence that our supposedly “neutral” tools and “universal” metrics carry a legacy of systemic bias. Assembling a more diverse team of humans behind the technology can help prevent those outcomes. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
These robots were trained in AI. They became racist and sexist.
In short, I can imagine plenty of nondiscriminatory reasons why your employer decided not to settle for the most recent candidate. But it’s possible your employer has some work yet to do on articulating its goals and values.
For example, it’s not clear from your boss’s words whether he’s scornful of diversity, or so committed to the idea that he doesn’t realize he’s crossing a line. It might be worth asking him to clarify. “Do you mean to say we’re specifically rejecting White, male candidates? Isn’t that illegal?”
Even if he’s committed to building a more diverse environment, his offhand remarks give the impression that he thinks making the hiring process more inclusive and competitive means candidates should be considered or disqualified purely on the basis of their demographics, because they’re not expected to be capable of competing on merit. And that line of thought doesn’t benefit anyone. | 2022-08-11T12:32:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | My boss said we "didn't need another white guy." Isn't that illegal? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/hiring-reverse-discrimination/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/hiring-reverse-discrimination/ |
The author embarked on a research expedition to trace the history of his home and its occupants. (Illustrations by Yadi Liu for The Washington Post)
How to investigate the history of your home
A homeowner’s search through old records revealed stories about Washington, Hamilton and a Civil War-era congressman
Perspective by Troy McMullen
LITCHFIELD, Conn. —
John Henry Hubbard was a prominent attorney in the 1850s here who went on to serve two terms in the U.S. Congress during the Civil War. His tenure in the House of Representatives was marked by his vote in favor of the 13th Amendment — landmark legislation to abolish slavery in the United States — and his support of funds to help people who were freed from slavery after the war.
“From the beginning to the present time they have been robbed of their wages,” Hubbard, a Republican, said on the House floor in 1866 in advocating for federal relief to newly emancipated Blacks, according to the Connecticut State Library database. “To say nothing of the scourgings they have received."
By the time he died in Litchfield in 1872, Hubbard was one of the town’s largest landowners, amassing hundreds of acres of mostly wooded property and farm land along its eastern border. The wood frame farmhouse I purchased on Fern Avenue in Litchfield two summers ago — built on a 50-foot-wide patch of grass in 1920 — sits on 1.4 acres of that land today.
How it got there offers a window into the history of land ownership and conservation in Litchfield, an 18th-century New England town where some houses date back to before the country’s founding.
How I got here — a lifelong urban dweller who sought refuge in the town during the pandemic — underscores how a widening interest in learning about my home took me on a journey of discovery that revealed as much about Litchfield today as it did about the two centuries before I arrived.
That journey — through decades old land deeds and census data, county tax records and library files — also connected me to the people, places and history of a pastoral town still dotted with family farms and where some residents travel across their properties on horseback.
The small town has played a big role in American history: It’s where Harriet Beecher Stowe was born and Aaron Burr was educated. Where the colonial home of Oliver Wolcott Sr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence, still stands today. And where George Washington and Alexander Hamilton lodged following their meeting with French allies — including the Marquis de Lafayette — at the height of the Revolutionary War.
And though its unspoiled scenery has long been a popular country retreat for affluent New Yorkers — with pockets of wealth and status — it has none of the pretentiousness found in other favored weekend locations.
“The town has always retained a genuine sense of community,” Lee Lyons toldme as we walked across her horse farm just down the road from my house. This summer marks her 50th year of raising horses on the 100 rolling acres she operates at Lee’s Riding Stable. “We’ve seen some changes over the past few years, especially with more people moving here during covid, but the people of Litchfield still consider themselves neighbors.”
Landing in Litchfield
I bought my Litchfield home in the summer of 2020 as a weekend house to help escape Manhattan during the height of covid. Like many New Yorkers, I was cooped up and concerned about the post-pandemic future and grew tired of donning a mask each time I stepped outside of my Upper West Side apartment.
Set back from the road on a gentle slope, the small cottage is tucked beneath a grove of hickory and maple trees, some soaring more than 100 feet tall. Adding to its allure was its neighbor: It abuts Hauser Nature Preserve, a 110-acre swath of protected land in a town that safeguards much of its pristine landscape.
The best part of all was its price.
Listed at $189,000, the modest property with knotty-pine wood interiors and a cramped, country kitchen had already been on the market for months by the time I toured it. At just under 600 square feet, its size was likely off-putting to many second-home buyers with money to spend on something larger. (It was listed as the smallest home for sale in the town of Litchfield at the time of my closing.)
I eventually whittled the sale price down 40 percent from its asking price thanks, in part, to a charitable seller who owned and sold much larger properties nearby.
Yet soon after I signed the deed, questions about the home began swirling inside my head.
Why were the narrow property lines on each side of the home marked by stone walls that ran the full length of the property? The home’s pitched roof was bifurcated; did that suggest the original structure was expanded in later years? And in a pocket of Litchfield surrounded by hundreds of acres of protected land, who built this tiny home in 1920 and how has it remained standing for 102 years?
“Once you start digging into Litchfield’s history, you’re not just going down one rabbit hole, you’re going down dozens,” said Cathy Fields, director of the Litchfield Historical Society. She and her colleague, archivist Linda Hocking, became important partners in helping me chart the town’s history during the time John Henry Hubbard roamed the land under my home. “Every stone you turn over here might reveal something new and interesting,” Fields said.
Finding something interesting started at the Litchfield town hall, where the clerk’s office helped me chart a chain of ownership dating back nearly 75 years.
Land deeds showed the property has changed hands seven times since 1948 — proving I wasn’t the only buyer to see value in owning one of the thinnest spits of real estate within the town’s 57 square miles.
Sale prices for the property ranged from about $3,000 in 1953 to $18,000 in 1973. It reached $42,000 in 1981 and changed hands in 2004 for $200,000.
Past owners were mostly couples from the New York City area who, like me, probably bought the home as a weekend retreat.
The man who sold me the home, Robert Kantor, also owned the 14-acre property next door and says he used my place as a guest cottage.
“It was always a favorite spot for my friends because it sat right next to the nature preserve,” said Kantor, a former fashion industry executive who later combined his background in fashion design with a passion for guitar collecting and began designing customized guitars for artists such as Lady Gaga, Richie Sambora and Lenny Kravitz.
He admitted that when he purchased that larger estate in 2003, he didn’t notice the smaller cottage next door. “There was some brush that separated the properties so I didn’t even see the little cottage there,” he said, laughing. “It was only after I signed the deed that I actually noticed it.” A year later he purchased the cottage and said it served as a contrast to the larger home, offering a kind of intimacy that his guests appreciated.
“The place had great karma,” he said. “My friends always thought it was a relaxed little place to ease into.”
A dead end hints at history
I reached my first dead end when I got to 1948. Some property deeds before that were handwritten, making it difficult to decipher which names were associated with my land or my neighbors.
Adding to the challenge: Fern Avenue today was Fern Road until the 1960s and Chestnut Hill before 1968 when nearby Route 118 opened. And few homes before the 1970s had house numbers, said Sue Weston, who was raised on the 100 acres her family owned on Fern Road and remembers riding her bike along the street when it was actually lined with ferns.
“There were fewer houses on Fern Road back then,” said Weston, the lead interpreter at the Litchfield Historical Society. “The post office didn’t need a house number if your name was on the mail.”
This meant I needed to incorporate county tax records in my research to help trace the owners of the property before 1948. It also forced me into library files and local history books to learn what I could about the names on the deeds.
Culling through those documents began yielding clues that not only uncovered the origins of land ownership under my 1.4 acres, but the hundreds of acres that surround it.
Among the names etched on a land map of the area in 1948 was Harriet Hubbard Spaar and Marian Hubbard. Land deeds show they sold my home in 1948 for about $2,000. Tax records from the 1940s revealed they were the daughters of Philip Parley Hubbard, a prominent Connecticut banker of the late 1800s and early 1900s who was the son of Rep. John Henry Hubbard, the original purchaser of the land.
Sifting through land records and census data of John Hubbard is when I learned that he not only owned my sliver of land dating back to the 1830s, but also the several hundred acres that surrounded it.
It also revealed clues as to why my property lines were so narrow and lined with stone.
As the Hubbards sold off land to the west and east of my home — keeping hundreds of acres that lay behind it — the family likely carved out my sliver of land as a road that led to their property. Tax records show they applied for an easement to allow that road to exist since the 1940s.
The back of my property is wooded and extends through the eastern edge of Hauser Nature Preserve next door. It also connects to Topsmead State Forest, a 510-acre swath of land that is a popular location for hiking and horseback riding.
Topsmead was formerly the summer residence of Edith Morton Chase, a scion of the Chase Brass and Copper Co., who received the first 16 acres of the land as a gift from her father in 1917.
Land deeds for Tospmead revealed that in 1953 some 450 acres of land that once belonged to the Hubbards were eventually gifted to Chase to keep it free of development.
“John Hubbard likely used the land as a working farm,” says Peter Vermilyea, a Litchfield native and local history teacher who has written several books on Litchfield County history. He’s researching a book on Litchfield’s Civil War history, which includes the political career of Hubbard.
“It was not uncommon for wealthy landowners like John Hubbard to be gentleman farmers,” Vermilyea says. “But it’s also clear that Hubbard was conservation-minded like so many Litchfield residents at the time and he wanted to ensure that the land remained free of development.”
Discovering the history of my land still left open questions about the structure on the property.
The town’s building department didn’t keep complete records before the 1950s because it wasn’t required by law. And property deeds didn’t reveal details of structures on the land.
Town historians I spoke with suggested the 1920 house with hardwood flooring and a working fireplace was likely constructed as a modest farmhouse.
Inside the new Waldorf Astoria condos
Its simple floor plan and use of rustic materials popular for farmhouses of the period point to a home that was likely built out of necessity — not for leisure, says Steve Schappert, a Litchfield County real estate broker who spent decades building homes in the state before selling them.
“It was likely meant to house and protect the people who worked the farm and agricultural lands around it,” says Schappert, who surveyed my home’s foundation and building materials.
That the home — bifurcated roof built on dirt instead of a concrete slab — suggests additions were added along the way, Schappert says. “It was likely a single-room dwelling with a fireplace in 1920,” he says. “The bath and kitchen were probably added later as the owners saw potential for a year-around home.”
Seeing potential for a home is how this journey started, of course.
Going down the rabbit hole of discovery left me with some unanswered questions and slight disappointment, but the process — the people, places and history of my adopted weekend town — was nonetheless rewarding.
A salient reminder that sometimes the journey really is the destination.
Tracing the history of your home could shed light on the life of a property, but knowing how and where to look will make all the difference in how much there is to learn. Whether it’s sifting through local history books and property records or uncovering details through library files and county tax records, the road to learning more about your home could be paved with interesting secrets – or, in some cases, dead ends.
How to uncover your home’s history
Town hall: This is your first stop in establishing a chain of title of the home. The property card at the clerk or tax assessor’s office will reveal who has owned your home and what they paid for it. Most places now have this information online, but you may have to visit in person if you want to go back decades.
Property deeds: Property deeds at the clerk’s office will show details such as the dwelling’s size and the property’s acreage and if that has changed over the years. Deeds should also lay out in more detail who has bought and sold the home dating back to its origin.
The historical society: The local historical society often works with homeowners to research the histories of a home as well as the people who have owned it — especially if you uncover a noteworthy former owner.
Paying a pro: In some cases, commissioning a professional to track down the history of your house could yield results. But it can be pricey — in some cases, setting you back a few thousand dollars. Those costs could sting even more if the results aren’t all that glamorous. | 2022-08-11T12:32:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How to trace your home's history - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/tracing-your-homes-history/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/tracing-your-homes-history/ |
The problem is that the chain of technological advances that will enable the climate bill to move the US to a less carbon-intensive future are not enough to get the country all the way to its goal: cutting emissions in half by 2030, compared to 2005, and eliminating them in full by the middle of the century. For that, decarbonization must become even cheaper. And future gains will be tougher to come by.
A deconstruction of American carbon emissions helps explain how cheap it has become to reduce them. The US economy is about 25% bigger than it was in 2005, and yet the country emits 20% less CO2 from energy use.
Mitchell is largely to thank for this. For each unit of energy produced, natural gas emits only 54% as much carbon as coal does. This explains why each joule of energy deployed in the US economy emits roughly 15% less CO2 than it did a decade ago.
The bill that passed in the Senate could lead to a 40% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, compared with 2005, the Rhodium Group estimates. That’s not quite the 50% cut the US promised in Paris in 2015, but it’s close.
• Now Biden Needs to Tighten Federal Limits on Methane: Carl Pope | 2022-08-11T12:32:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Climate Bill Alone Won’t Halve US Emissions by 2030 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/climate-bill-alone-wont-halve-us-emissions-by-2030/2022/08/11/f30d1ba0-196d-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/climate-bill-alone-wont-halve-us-emissions-by-2030/2022/08/11/f30d1ba0-196d-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
How well does it work? (Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
As US public health authorities deploy a new strategy to expand access to the monkeypox vaccine, they need to be more clear and open about exactly what protection the shots can provide.
The Food and Drug Administration this week issued emergency authorization to administer a small dose of Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos vaccine — one-fifth the usual size — within the skin, or intradermally, rather than under the skin. About 440,000 of the 600,000 recently allocated doses of Jynneos remain, an official from the Department of Health and Human Services explained, and the new strategy will stretch that supply into 2.2 million shots.
In making this change, the FDA is relying on a 2015 study showing that the two methods of administration elicit a similar immune response in healthy adults. Unfortunately, that study provides no information about effectiveness of either approach.
Neither does the statistic so often cited, including by the World Health Organization, that the vaccine is effective at preventing 85% of monkeypox infections. That figure is based on data collected in Africa in the 1980s, when an older monkeypox vaccine (one that elicits a similar immune response) was used and the primary form of transmission was either animal or household exposure.
These immunological studies give public health experts confidence that the vaccine protects against the most severe cases of monkeypox, but no clinical data exist to show whether it stops transmission, prevents the painful lesions seen in most cases, or provides lifelong protection of any kind.
Until such data are gathered, public health officials need to be clear about what they don’t know — especially when speaking to people considered at highest risk in the current outbreak, gay and bisexual men.
Right now, the biggest concern is communicating the risk of infection after vaccination. “How do we accurately message to right now mostly men what their risk is after being fully vaccinated?” said Jay Varma, a professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine, in New York City.
We’ve seen this movie before. In the summer of 2021, Moderna’s and Pfizer’s Covid vaccines appeared to prevent not just the most serious cases of disease but also infection. Vaccinated people were told they could feel safe gathering indoors, without masks — that the country was heading toward “normal.” Then came the wave of breakthrough infections.
Infectious disease experts, including Varma, who served as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s senior adviser for public health, “got a little bit ahead of our skis,” he said. That bred confusion about what activities were actually safe, and ultimately undermined confidence in the Covid vaccines.
Communicating the value of vaccines is a balancing act. People need accurate information about how safe shots are and exactly what protection they provide. Unknowns and nuances need to be shared so people can make their own best lifestyle decisions after vaccination. The goal should be to encourage vaccination but not exaggerate its benefits.
Messaging about Jynneos has been further muddied by efforts in some cities to stretch limited vaccine supplies by offering people one shot instead of two. While that gets more shots in arms faster, the danger is that men might feel safe to resume sexual activity without actually having sufficient protection from the monkeypox virus.
Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this week reiterated the recommendation that people take steps to protect themselves from exposure to the virus, especially if they have had only one shot, “because we don’t yet know how well these vaccines work.”
The CDC has been working on several vaccine effectiveness projects that will gather data from both on-the-ground investigations and formal clinical trials, she said. The agency expects to have initial estimates of vaccine effectiveness soon. The National Institutes of Health is also mapping out its own studies.
During the pandemic, people in the LGBT community — and men in particular — had higher levels of Covid vaccination than heterosexual adults. The CDC and FDA should now do everything possible to support that commitment to personal and public health by providing clear communication about the monkeypox vaccine. | 2022-08-11T12:32:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How the CDC Can Build Trust Around Monkeypox Shots - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-the-cdc-can-build-trust-aroundmonkeypox-shots/2022/08/11/c2b2726a-1969-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-the-cdc-can-build-trust-aroundmonkeypox-shots/2022/08/11/c2b2726a-1969-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
A Chinese soldier watches military exercises on Aug. 5, as Taiwan's frigate Lan Yang is seen in the background. (Lin Jian/Xinhua News Agency/AP)
China’s overreaction and retaliation toward Taiwan following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) visit shows that the leadership in Beijing is now focusing on taking the island by force, not through peaceful reunification as it has long claimed. Chinese President Xi Jingping’s strategy has moved from winning Taiwanese hearts and minds to inciting fear and loathing.
Although China seems to be finally winding down its military exercises around Taiwan, a week after Pelosi visited the democratic island, China’s drastic responses and ongoing punishments mark the beginning of new era of heightened danger. China canceled three military-to-military dialogues and suspended several bilateral cooperation programs on topics ranging from climate change to counternarcotics.
“I believe that they think that if they just let this continue, that there will come a time in the very near future that they will have to use force,” said Bonnie S. Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund. “And I believe that, for lots of reasons, they’re not ready to do so.” | 2022-08-11T12:32:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | What Beijing’s overreaction to Pelosi’s Taiwan visit really tells us - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/china-reaction-pelosi-visit-taiwan-reunification/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/china-reaction-pelosi-visit-taiwan-reunification/ |
In Wisconsin, democracy itself is on the ballot
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) speaks alongside his running mate, state Rep. Sarah Rodriguez, in Madison, Wis., on Aug. 10. (Scott Bauer/AP)
GRAFTON, Wis. — A great deal more than who wins and who loses is at stake in the unfolding battle for governor of Wisconsin. Fair play, reproductive freedom and something closer to democracy itself may be up for grabs.
Tim Michels, an executive in his family’s construction business, won the Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, which means he will face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in what’s certain to be one of the closest and costliest contests of the year.
In response, Evers vetoed 144 bills since taking office 3½ years ago, shattering a record that stood since 1928. He has rejected significant restrictions on abortion access, voting rights and public benefits. Evers, who calls himself the “goalkeeper,” blocked legislation this spring that would have let people carry guns into schools and churches. “If there’s a different person sitting in my chair, every single one of those bills will come back,” Evers told me between rallies in Green Bay and this Milwaukee suburb. | 2022-08-11T12:33:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The two party system itself is on the ballot in Wisconsin - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/wisconsin-governors-race/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/wisconsin-governors-race/ |
These congressional staffers helped clinch the historic climate deal
Good morning and welcome to The Climate 202! As a scheduling note, the newsletter won’t publish tomorrow or Monday in observance of the congressional recess. We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday. But first:
These Senate staffers helped negotiate the Inflation Reduction Act behind the scenes
When Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) presided over the Senate's passage of a historic climate bill on Sunday, he noted that one of his staffers had had a baby two days earlier.
But the staffer refused to stop calling in to meetings about the landmark legislation, Schumer said. Her baby's cries were audible on the calls.
The staffer, whose story has gone viral on Twitter, was Anna Taylor, Schumer's tax and trade counsel, according to a person familiar with the matter. She had toiled for months on the revenue side of the package, and she wanted to see it cross the finish line, the person said.
Like Taylor, dozens of congressional staffers worked around-the-clock and made personal sacrifices to clinch a deal on the package, which represents the largest climate investment in the nation's history, according to interviews with six Senate Democratic aides, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
To be sure, House Democratic staffers played a significant role in negotiating the Inflation Reduction Act, which was formerly known as the Build Back Better Act. But in the Senate, a small group of aides worked feverishly over a period of about two weeks to secure a surprise agreement between Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), the lone holdout on the package.
At the center of these private talks was Gerry Petrella, a trusted Schumer aide. “Gerry held it all together at a point in time when everyone thought it was dead or going to be dead,” said Rich Gold, head of the public policy practice at Holland & Knight.
Other key participants included Lance West, Manchin's chief of staff; Renae Black, the Democratic staff director for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; and Luke Bassett, a staffer on the committee, according to people familiar with the matter.
Adrian Deveny, Schumer's top environmental aide, also attended many of the private meetings. Deveny and his wife welcomed a baby boy in February, but he postponed his paternity leave until after the bill passed the Senate, said Leah Stokes, an energy policy expert at the University of California at Santa Barbara and a friend.
West, Black and Deveny declined to comment on the record for this report. A Schumer spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment.
Secret talks
On July 14, Manchin told Democratic leaders that he could not support new climate spending until he had seen the July inflation figures.
Many observers — including Senate Democratic staffers who had worked on the bill — assumed for the next two weeks that the negotiations were dormant. They had no idea that Manchin and Schumer — and the small group of their aides — were hashing out a final agreement behind closed doors.
During that roughly two-week period, about eight to 10 staffers attended a going-away party for an aide to Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), one of Congress's most vocal climate hawks. Only two of them — Deveny and Bassett — knew about the negotiations. The others were mourning the climate bill's demise.
“It was a funeral for a bill that only two people knew wasn't dead,” said one staffer who attended the gathering.
Meanwhile, Pete Wyckoff, a climate aide for Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), was frantically calling staffers for other senators who refused to give up on the climate bill. Smith referred to these senators, including Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), as the “Never Give Up Caucus,” according to a person familiar with the matter.
Surprise changes
Many staffers were caught flat-footed when Schumer and Manchin announced July 27 that they had reached a deal on the climate package, as well as a separate agreement to pass permitting reform legislation.
Bobby Andres, a staffer on the Senate Finance Committee who helped craft the tax credits for clean energy and electric vehicles, found out around the time that the news release went out, according to people familiar with the matter.
Andres soon learned that the final agreement included significant changes to the EV tax credit, including a requirement that to qualify for the credit, an EV must contain a battery built in North America with minerals mined or recycled on the continent. The auto industry has warned that this requirement will be impossible to meet.
Still, Andres said in an interview that he thinks the credits are designed to be “difficult but achievable.”
“There's any number of things in this bill that if it were up to me, I would've written it differently,” he said. “But it's not just up to me.”
Meanwhile, staffers on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee were surprised that a one-page fact sheet about the permitting agreement mentioned a commitment to complete the Mountain Valley pipeline, although they had heard Manchin publicly champion the project.
They were not surprised, however, that the climate package included a program to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. That's because EPW Committee Chair Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) and Mary Frances Repko, the panel's Democratic staff director, had spent months working to address Manchin's concerns with the program.
Repko said in an interview that she benefited from her close relationship with Black on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and her experience working for moderate Democrats during nearly 30 years on the Hill.
“Listening to concerns of Democrats who have fossil fuel interests in their states, and who need those concerns addressed in legislation in a way that they can explain to their constituents, is really not something new for me,” she said.
A proposal for a “sustainable mine” in central Minnesota has the potential to accelerate President Biden’s goal of eliminating emissions from the nation's transportation sector by transitioning to domestically sourced electric vehicles. But first, it must win the support of the local community, The Washington Post’s Evan Halper reports.
The Tamarack region of the state, which sits atop an oasis of metals used in clean technologies such as EV batteries, has taken on newfound importance now that the Inflation Reduction Act appears poised to become law, requiring that all EVs be built with components from the United States or a handful of allied nations. However, some local residents and Native American tribes have long resisted new mines for the critical minerals, citing concerns over air and water pollution.
Talon Metals, which aims to mine in Tamarack, has sought to reassure the community of its commitment to environmental protection.
Meanwhile, our colleague Allyson Chiu has a helpful explainer on what the new EV tax credits in the climate package mean for consumers who are interested in going electric.
While many Americans want to buy an EV, there is limited supply. It might make sense to hold off on making a purchase to avoid long wait times and high dealer markups, unless you've already been in the market for an EV and have found one available to buy, said Chris Harto, a senior policy analyst for Consumer Reports.
For about 18 months, President Biden's climate agenda was in limbo, as the White House and Democrats held bumpy negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) over their signature climate bill. Meanwhile, the administration punted on decisions on key issues, such as fossil fuel drilling on public lands, as it waited to see whether Manchin would come on board, Dino Grandoni reports for The Post.
Now, Biden is on the cusp of finally signing bold climate legislation with the House's expected passage on Friday of the Inflation Reduction Act. But the hard part is not yet over, as several tough environmental decisions await the administration.
In particular, the Environmental Protection Agency is still working to finalize a major regulation aimed at limiting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The rule would complement the methane fee that is a central part of the new climate bill.
Meanwhile, the Interior Department has the daunting task of finalizing a new five-year program for offshore oil and gas leasing. The climate bill mandates new oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska, making it difficult for Biden to honor his campaign pledge of “no more drilling.”
The East Antarctica Ice Sheet was previously considered less vulnerable to climate change than the Greenland and West Antarctica ice sheets, which have been rapidly losing ice as ocean water warms. But now, research in the journal Nature reveals that the world’s largest ice sheet could bring an additional 16½ feet to sea levels over the long term if global climate goals are not met, Rachel Pannett reports for The Post.
The team of researchers from Australia, Britain, France and the United States found that if the planet warms 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, as outlined in the 2015 Paris agreement, the ice sheet could add 1.6 feet to sea levels by 2500. Any increase above that temperature has the potential to raise sea levels by as much as 16.4 feet over the same period.
Fearing a major climate setback, U.S. urges care of Congo River basin — Missy Ryan for The Post
Nights offered little relief from day’s heat in July, set U.S. record — Zach Rosenthal and Jason Samenow for The Post
California sets ambitious goal to get power from offshore wind — Angel Adegbesan for Bloomberg News
Interior Department backtracks on public comment period for Willow Project — Adam Federman for Grist
‘He has total veto power’: Greg Abbott takes control over who will lead Texas’ troubled power grid, sources say — Mitchell Ferman for the Texas Tribune | 2022-08-11T12:33:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | These congressional staffers helped clinch the historic climate deal - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/these-congressional-staffers-helped-clinch-historic-climate-deal/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/these-congressional-staffers-helped-clinch-historic-climate-deal/ |
Lutherans confront ‘perfect storm’ after trans bishop fired Latino pastor
By Emily McFarlan Miller
Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, left, listens as Bishop Megan Rohrer speaks before their installation ceremony at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in 2011. Rohrer became the first transgender bishop of a mainline Protestant denomination. (John Hefti/AP)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — When the Rev. Megan Rohrer was elected bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Sierra Pacific Synod in May 2021, it was celebrated as a revolution both in and outside the ELCA, the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination. Rohrer had become the first transgender bishop of a Protestant mainline church.
Barely a year later, the top bishop of the ELCA asked for Rohrer’s resignation — after Rohrer’s removal of the pastor of a Latino congregation on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
What happened in the intervening 12 months can only be understood as a “perfect storm” of charismatic personalities clashing amid a heightened awareness of racism in one of the country’s whitest denominations, said Shruti Kulkarni, who maintains a website called “What Happened in the Sierra Pacific Synod?”
“Regardless of the intents of the people involved or whether it was justified or not, just the optics alone are terrible: You’ve got this White bishop from a predominantly White denomination that ruined this Latiné celebration of faith that was deeply cherished in their cultural tradition,” said Kulkarni, a recent graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary.
Meet the first transgender bishop, Megan Rohrer
On Tuesday, leaders of the denomination delivered an apology to Iglesia Luterana Santa María Peregrina and expressed a commitment to anti-racism at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, the triennial meeting of the 3.3 million-person denomination taking place this week in Columbus, Ohio.
“This is in response to recent events in this church that have caused harm to people, communities and the whole body of Christ,” a church news release said.
The celebration that followed Rohrer’s election last year wasn’t just about Rohrer’s identity — Rohrer, who uses they/them pronouns, is also neurodivergent — ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton said at the time. It was about all the gifts they brought to the church, including their focus on those who have been marginalized.
“What this means for the whole denomination, I believe, is that when we say, ‘All are welcome, and there’s a place for you here,’ we mean this,” Eaton said at the time.
Rohrer had only officially been in office three months when they appeared at another celebration on Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a sacred and culturally significant day for many Latino Christians. Iglesia Luterana Santa María Peregrina, located in Stockton, Calif., and then known as Misión Latina Luterana, had planned a service featuring Aztec dance and prayers and liturgical music by a mariachi band.
But, according to a listening team report on the day’s events, Misión Latina Luterana’s pastor, the Rev. Nelson Rabell-González, was not in attendance. The service was led instead by the Rev. Hazel Salazar-Davidson, the synod’s assistant to the bishop for authentic diversity, inclusive community and service. When the congregation began to shout questions about Rabell-González’s whereabouts, Rohrer, who was sitting in the pews, went to the front of the sanctuary and informed the congregation that they had removed Rabell-González from his position that morning.
In a statement on the Sierra Pacific Synod’s blog, the synod council said it had unanimously decided to vacate Rabell-González’s call at Misión Latina Luterana after receiving “continual communications of verbal harassment and retaliatory actions” by the pastor “from more than a dozen victims from 2019 to the present.”
“The severity of the situation required immediate action to safeguard the Latinx community,” the statement said.
Rabell-González has denied the accusations.
Salazar-Davidson said she warned Rohrer of the cultural implications of removing the pastor on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, but she said Rohrer told her the timing was dictated by ELCA policy.
“This was devastating because, no matter how many times or ways I explained it, no matter how much I said how significant December 12th was to an entire culture, I was not heard. Our culture was not heard. Our ancestors were not heard. The people and the culture did not matter — policy did,” Salazar-Davidson told RNS in an email. “It was devastating to watch a community that I belong to and care for on such a deep level be hurt.”
Within days, groups across the denomination had joined the outcry.
“This unfortunate situation is a clear and painful example of how systemic racism is deeply rooted in our church, and the long journey ahead of us to dismantle it,” Asociación de Ministerios Latinos de la ELCA said in a statement, saying the removal showed “a lack of empathy and understanding toward their Latinx siblings.”
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, which organizes queer ministry leaders in the ELCA and had ordained Rohrer before the ELCA ordained LGBTQ people, announced it was suspending Rohrer’s membership, citing “an existing pattern of behavior.”
A little more than a week later, Rohrer posted a public apology on the synod’s blog, saying they hadn’t understood the impact that removing the pastor on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe would have on “the greater church.”
But as word of what had happened at Misión Latina Luterana continued to spread, Eaton announced a three-member listening team to investigate. In May, after receiving the report, she requested Rohrer’s resignation.
Transgender bishop asked to resign by Lutheran denomination leader
The subsequent release of the report, in June, coincided with the Sierra Pacific Synod’s meeting, and Rohrer’s fate became the subject of a two-hour forum on the developments.
“This pains me to say that as much as Bishop Megan has done for LGBTQ inclusion, that effort has not translated to the Latiné community,” said the Rev. Dawn Roginski, interim pastor of St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in San Mateo, Calif. “We cannot pick and choose where to be inclusive. We need to be inclusive of all people as a synod.”
Rohrer and Salazar-Davidson both spoke, as did a woman who identified herself as the pastor who spoke up a year earlier against Rabell-González. A measure to remove Rohrer as bishop was voted down.
Days later, though, Rohrer resigned, and Eaton announced she would be initiating a disciplinary process against the former bishop.
In the months since, Bishop Claire Burkat has stepped in as interim bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod.
On July 17 — her first Sunday in the synod — Burkat visited the renamed Iglesia Luterana Santa María Peregrina, which had lost its funding and support from the denomination when it lost its pastor. The congregation continues to meet with its new name and at a new location, led by Rabell-González.
The interim bishop said in a letter to the synod that she promised the congregation an investigation into the circumstances of Rabell-González’s removal and an opportunity for the pastor to publicly address the complaints against him.
She apologized to Iglesia Luterana Santa María Peregrina for the lack of pastoral care and visitation following such a traumatic day, calling the apology the first of many owed to the congregation.
The congregation, Rabell-González and representatives of the ELCA’s Latino community all had requested a public apology at a churchwide assembly, according to a report by Asociación de Ministerios Latinos de la ELCA, calling it the “first step in a potential process of healing and reconciliation.”
Salazar-Davidson has said she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after the incident and filed for workers’ compensation. She’s wrestled with “what ifs” since the day Rabell-González was removed from his congregation. And she wants to see tangible change and action.
“The church has apologized in the past,” Salazar-Davidson said. “It has made statements responding to Indigenous racism, homophobia and transphobia, ableism, and others. But what good are the statements if no quality action follows? What good are they if there is no relationship?”
Rohrer wasn’t at the assembly for the apology. They’re in Israel, where, they said, they are learning about peacemaking efforts, supporting Israeli LGBTQ individuals and those in the occupied territories, and “discerning God’s call for the next chapter of my life.”
“I support all efforts to provide care, healing and reconciliation for all affected from 2019 to the present,” Rohrer said.
Several measures addressing the ELCA’s policies and procedures have been proposed for this week’s sessions at a churchwide assembly, including a measure to explore restructuring the denomination. It was approved before Tuesday’s apology.
People are paying attention now, Kulkarni said. Tens of thousands of people have visited her website to follow the story.
“The fact that the conversation is even happening is a very good sign it could lead to change,” she said. | 2022-08-11T12:34:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Lutheran church apologizes for ELCA bishop Megan Rohrer decision - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/08/11/lutheran-bishop-megan-rohrer-resignation/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/08/11/lutheran-bishop-megan-rohrer-resignation/ |
Former Virginia defensive end Chris Slade, the ACC all-time leader in sacks, is back at his alma mater as a first-year assistant. (University of Virginia athletics) (UVA athltics /UVA athletics)
CHARLOTTESVILLE — Chris Slade had completed his ninth season as an accomplished high school football coach in Atlanta last year when the record-setting former defensive end at Virginia received a telephone call from an old friend on the verge of becoming the new coach of his alma mater.
Tony Elliott grew well-acquainted with Slade while trying to lure several of his prominent players to Clemson, where Elliott was an assistant for 11 years, including offensive coordinator since 2014, before agreeing to take over the Cavaliers in December.
Slade never forgot the first conversation the two shared nearly a decade ago. It included more discussion about life lessons than football fundamentals, and it left quite the positive impression on Slade, whose 40 sacks at Virginia are the most in ACC history.
So Slade, despite having spurned offers from other college programs over his high school coaching career at Pace Academy, barely hesitated when Elliott invited the two-time all-American to join his staff this season as an assistant responsible for defensive ends.
New Virginia football coach Tony Elliott has players buying in early
“I don’t know if I’d have come back for just anybody,” Slade said. “I had to make sure it was the right person and the right situation. When he got the job, it didn’t take much convincing for me. I’ve spent so much time with him for the last 10 years when he was at Clemson, so I knew what kind of guy he is.”
Slade, 51, arrived at his first college job with immediate credibility thanks to an unmatched run with the Cavaliers from 1989 to 1992. As a freshman, Slade helped Virginia win a school-record 10 games and a share of the ACC title. The following year, Virginia was No. 1 in the Associated Press rankings for three consecutive weeks. Slade was voted first-team all-American as a senior and was chosen in the second round (31st overall) of the 1993 NFL draft by the New England Patriots.
His professional football résumé included an all-pro selection and a Pro Bowl nod in 1997. Slade’s time in the NFL not only has drawn frequent inquiries from current Cavaliers players, particularly those on defense, but also from members of the coaching staff, Elliott included.
During a moment of levity at media day several weeks ago, offensive line coach Garett Tujague paused on his way out of the practice facility to catch Slade’s lessons on the finer points of pass rushing, saying with a smile he needed to absorb as much as possible from a program luminary whose No. 85 is retired.
Tujague is among a handful of assistants from the previous administration Elliott retained for his staff.
“When he speaks, guys are going to listen,” Elliott said. “I’m excited because I get to say, ‘Hey, there’s not many teams in the country that have been ranked number one, period, but he’s been a part of one, so he knows what it’s like.’ I’m not the only one — or the people that came from Clemson, we’re not the only ones. He knows what it’s like, and he knows what it’s like here. ”
Slade has been the recipient of friendly barbs from players regarding his relatively advanced age, with some joking that film of his glory days perhaps was shot in black and white. He simply shrugs his broad shoulders and smiles. Then he points to his school record 15 sacks in 1992.
The Cavaliers, as a team, collected 19 sacks last season, ranking last out of 14 ACC schools. Virginia finished 13th in total defense, allowing 466 yards per game in part because of an inability to pressure the quarterback or disrupt plays in the backfield.
The defensive futility bothered Slade, given his attention to detail as an edge rusher who drew double teams consistently yet managed to get the quarterback to the ground or at least force hurried throws leading to incompletions or, better yet, interceptions.
At 6-foot-5, Slade was among the first notable Cavaliers defensive ends able to leverage his length and quickness into sacks, separating from blocks courtesy of an often considerable reach advantage and preventing offensive linemen from getting their hands on him for an extended period.
In coaching the position, Slade’s ideal pass rusher fits that profile, and he continues to search for length and a quick twitch off the ball while recruiting. This season, he’ll be tasked with finding creative methods of applying pressure to the quarterback after both of the Cavaliers’ 2021 sack leaders departed.
Virginia began preseason camp last week and opens the regular season Sept. 3 against Richmond at Scott Stadium. Its first game against a Power Five opponent is Sept. 10 at Illinois.
“You just look at Chris’s background and the success he has, all the things he has accomplished — naturally all the guys gravitate toward him,” first-year defensive coordinator John Rudzinski said. “He’s the gold standard for what a college football player aspires to do as a professional athlete, but what’s so tremendous about Chris is the character, his leadership and frankly the way he carries himself. So humble, and I’m blessed to be able to learn from him every day.” | 2022-08-11T12:34:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Chris Slade comes back to Virginia to coach defensive ends - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/chris-virginia-defensive-ends-coach/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/chris-virginia-defensive-ends-coach/ |
The young generation of professionals is entering the workforce with new demands — including increased flexibility, wellness perks and authenticity — shaped by their experiences during the height of the pandemic
(Jiaqi Wang For The Washington Post)
For some workers, office mandates aren’t just a pain. They’re harmful.
Stephenson represents a generation entering the labor market at a time when businesses and employees are redefining work and the workplace after the pandemic hit. Unlike the generations that came before, one of the biggest struggles for the new crop of professionals is interpersonal connections and relationships in the workplace, after the pandemic left them isolated during some pivotal years of development. To Generation Z — those born between 1997 and 2012, as defined by Pew Research Center, and also known as Zoomers — money may not always be the top job priority. Instead, their list includes flexibility to work from the office and remotely, wellness and mental health initiatives as well as meaningful work and culture. And many are willing to job hop to find the best fit.
For employers, accommodating these preferences may become increasingly important. Gen Z workers are expected to more than triple to 87 million people by 2030 in Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, accounting for 30 percent of total employment, according to a study by Oxford Economics.
“We’re seeing this young cohort of workers demand that employers care about them as whole people,” said Linda Jingfang Cai, vice president of talent development at LinkedIn. “And the ability to understand their career path is worth more than a paycheck.”
What do you expect from your employer or workplace? Tell us about it.
Gen Z can be an enigma to some of their older counterparts. They are often labeled as “lazy” or “entitled.” But Allison Williams, a 2022 Pepperdine University graduate, said people need to remember that the coronavirus pandemic hit right in the middle of some of the most influential years for Gen Z — when they were forming who they are and what they value as adults. The pandemic changed the way they formed friendships, received their education and got their first internships and jobs. It had a big impact on the way they view work and how it can and should be done, she said.
“My generation is going to embrace … flexibility and is taking a different approach rather than going straight to the corporate ladder,” Williams said.
Some companies are trying to rise to the challenge of luring Gen Z by expanding benefits and flexibility. Handshake, a San Francisco-based online service that connects college students and employers, points to General Mills and Procter & Gamble as examples. General Mills updated its benefits to include mental health offerings, which are now also available to summer interns. And Procter & Gamble now offers candidates a stress management app to help them during the process.
Tips for luring Gen Z hires
Employers aiming to hire more young people have a lot to consider. Here are some tips from LinkedIn’s Jingfang Cai and polls of Gen Z conducted by Gallup.
Flexibility is key. Gen Z either wants hybrid or remote options, Jingfang Cai says, so companies may want to consider offering flexible options that allow workers to choose what makes sense for them.
Communicate and demonstrate values. Gen Z wants to know what their employers value, how that’s being prioritized and what investments are being made as a result, she says. Wellness is often a value the generation prioritizes, according to Gallup.
Review the wording of the job listing. Ensure that entry-level jobs don’t require years of experience, as you may be missing out on an entire crop of young talent, Jingfang Cai says.
Prioritize learning. Gen Z wants to grow and learn, she says, so make sure your openings also include opportunities for training, professional growth and mentorship.
Create diverse and inclusive workplaces. Gen Z considers it imperative to work at a job that promotes respect, equity and inclusion, according to Gallup surveys.
Ethical leadership is a must. Gen Z wants to know their leaders are ethical, expect action to address moral blind spots and want to know their work has a positive impact on the world, Gallup polls show.
Many Gen Z workers say they place a big emphasis on opportunities that consider their mental health and wellness. Sam Folz, a 22-year-old software engineer at Capital One, said his company offers unlimited mental health days, a benefit he considers “huge” given Zoom fatigue and other mental exhaustion that workers might experience.
Kenny Colon, 23, who graduated this year from the University of Central Florida, said he believes a company’s office policy ultimately demonstrates whether it supports employee wellness. After he attends graduate school the next couple of years, he said he could be lured by wellness perks. For example, he said, EY, where he is currently interning, offers its workers a reimbursement of up to $1,000 for wellness needs such as mattresses.
“This generation wants to open up more; they want to talk about mental health,” Colon said. “It’s a very big thing.”
Virtual pizza parties, pet adoption fees and on-demand babysitters: How the pandemic changed employee perks
Leo De La Uso, a fully remote marketing and communications specialist for a Texas nonprofit who graduated from Texas A&M San Antonio this year, said his first priority in a job is knowing a company is genuinely interested in investing in its employees. He ideally prefers a hybrid work environment.
“The compulsory notion you have to be [at an office], I don’t think it’s something that meshes well with me and my generation,” the 23-year-old said.
For Sam Purdy, a 2022 graduate of the University of South Carolina who’s currently job hunting, a job ideally would give him some sense of long-term stability and security, in addition to flexible work options. He’s not interested in “being stuffed in a cubicle” every day, but also wants to know that amid all this change, his job won’t disappear.
“It’s weird because we don’t have a lot of leveraging power,” he said. “But you’re going to see us prioritize things other than work and push back on things like [having] to be in the office.”
For Pittsburg State University graduate Weston Charles-Gallo, remote options represent the chance to hop around and experience different cultures at an early age. He’s still hoping to land his dream job in the field of communications.
“You hear of older people who … wait until they retire to travel,” he said. “My generation is taking advantage of working remotely to go to the airport and travel.”
But Folz, the Capital One engineer, said leaders shouldn’t discount the importance of the office entirely. He said the office plays a big role in getting settled as he’s moving from Cincinnati to Arlington, Va., for his job.
“You’re in a brand new city with maybe no people you know,” he said. “Work is the best place to meet those first friends.”
And for some jobs, the hands-on experience is invaluable. Isabella Hickey, who works as a planning technician for the town of Juno Beach in Florida, said she prioritized remote jobs during her search, but ultimately landed a full-time, in-person gig.
“Being [at the office] in person has helped me grow and learn much more versus being at home trying to learn,” she said.
Hating hybrid work? Here’s how to make it less painful.
Building work relationships requires a concerted effort for some people.
“A bustling office is something I’d like to experience sometime,” said 22-year-old Selena Tran, a 2021 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, who works fully remote for a Bay Area fintech company. Tran voluntarily meets with co-workers at the office every week or two to have lunch. “You don’t get the same interactions in remote work.”
Tran prefers to work some days from home, but she also wants to work for a company that cares about its people. So she looks at social media and Glassdoor reviews to see engagement levels and get a better sense of culture. She wants to see a priority placed on people’s well-being as well as diverse teams and inclusivity.
The assumption that Gen Z workers are just a bunch of entitled TikTok addicts who don’t want to work is unfair, said Stephenson, the public relations professional. Instead, she said, they’re a group of young people who were just “dealt an interesting hand of cards” and want something better than what was offered to previous generations.
“It’s not that we’re not hard working,” she said. “We just see the workforce without the lens of people who had been in it pre-covid.” | 2022-08-11T12:34:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Generation Z's work demands include flexible work and wellness perks - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/11/gen-z-workforce-hybrid/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/11/gen-z-workforce-hybrid/ |
Serena Williams made an emotional exit from the National Bank Open after losing to Belinda Bencic. (Eduardo Lima/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Homemade signs dotted the stands in Toronto Wednesday after what may have been Serena Williams’s last tournament appearance in the Canadian city. “We love you, Serena,” was one. “Thanks 4 the years,” read another. A third simply said, “Queen.”
Williams made an emotional return to the court in her first match since Tuesday’s Instagram announcement that “the countdown has begun” to the end of her career. She lost, 6-2, 6-4, to Belinda Bencic in a National Bank Open second-round match despite the crowd urging her on and, when it was over, she grew emotional as she waited for a lengthy standing ovation to subside before speaking to the crowd.
“A lot of emotions, obviously,” Williams said of her feelings since first hinting in an interview with Vogue magazine that her retirement is likely after the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 29.
“It’s been a pretty interesting 24 hours,” she added, placing her hand over her heart. “I’m terrible at goodbyes, but goodbye, Toronto!”
Next up for Williams on her impromptu farewell tour is next week’s Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, another tuneup for the U.S. Open, where Williams has won six of her 23 Grand Slam singles titles. Only Margaret Court’s 24 surpasses that total.
In Toronto, she was given flowers as well as Raptors and Maple Leafs jerseys and told the crowd, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It’s been a joy playing in front of you guys all these years.”
After her final tournament, Williams, who will turn 41 next month, has said she is looking to evolve away from tennis, concentrating on her Serena Ventures business and other opportunities. She also hopes to give her daughter, Olympia, a baby sister or brother.
“There comes a time in life when we have to decide to move in a different direction. That time is always hard when you love something so much,” she wrote on Instagram under a shot of the Vogue cover. “My goodness do I enjoy tennis. But now, the countdown has begun. I have to focus on being a mom, my spiritual goals and finally discovering a different, but just [as] exciting Serena. I’m gonna relish these next few weeks.” | 2022-08-11T13:28:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Serena Williams offers tearful goodbye to Toronto after loss - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/serena-williams-goodbye-toronto/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/serena-williams-goodbye-toronto/ |
Kansans vote in the Aug. 2 primaries in Merriam. (Kyle Rivas/Getty Images)
We should not read too much into Kansas voters’ surprisingly lopsided rejection last week of an amendment that would have declared that the state’s constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion. After all, this is one result in a single state — fewer than 1 million people voted.
But I do think the results in Kansas have an important message for all of America: Even if the country’s elected officials and activists are clearly split into a Team Blue largely unified around one set of views and a Team Red with opposing ones, the nation’s voters are more complicated.
The ballot initiative, which would have cleared the way for Kansas Republicans to pass a near-total ban on abortion, failed because many unaffiliated and Republican voters opposed it. This wasn’t just a story of Democrats outvoting Republicans. Significantly more Kansans are registered Republicans (about 850,000) than Democrats (500,000). And turnout among Democrats (about 57 percent) last week was only slightly higher than for Republicans (55 percent). If the only people who voted on the initiative had been registered Democrats and registered Republicans, and they all voted with their leadership’s position, it would have passed by a 62-38 margin.
But that’s not what happened. Instead, around 170,000 people who did not participate in the partisan primaries voted on the abortion question. (It’s likely most of them are registered as unaffiliated and therefore can’t vote in party primaries.) This outcome — tens of thousands of people in Kansas who won’t join the Democratic Party turning out in August to vote in favor of abortion rights — was far from obvious, and that’s why many political experts, including me, were stunned by the result.
That said, this result didn’t come from nowhere. About 30 percent of American adults are Republicans, about 30 percent Democrats, and around 40 percent independents. Kansas’ electorate is more Republican (44 percent) and less Democratic (26 percent) than the nation overall but also includes a big bloc of unaffiliated voters (29 percent). Some independents are people who don’t follow politics closely and have fairly undefined views. But most consistently vote for one party or the other. And even if they don’t, many have strongly held views on particular issues.
Ruth Marcus: Why I fear Indiana, not Kansas, charts the future of abortion rights in America
One such voter is Tyler Dillman, 32, who lives near Kansas City. “I don’t feel like any party accurately reflects my ideology. I’m ‘conservative’ on topics like immigration, national security, and economics, but more ‘liberal’ on education, gay rights, and health care, and find myself in the middle on many other social issues,” Dillman, who works at a higher-education research firm, told me in an email.
But he felt strongly about taking the pro-abortion rights stand on this ballot measure.
“The Dobbs decision was a watershed moment for me,” Dillman wrote. “Previous attempts to ban abortion, or significantly curtail it, always felt like political posturing, because you knew that there was a solid foundational backstop in the Roe v. Wade decision.”
Tillman is one of eight Republican or unaffiliated Kansas voters who voted for abortion rights whom I reached via email and text message.
Their comments have good and bad news for both parties.
Greg Madison, 69, a retiree in the Kansas City area, told me he used to be a Democrat and often votes for Democratic candidates but, “I changed my registration to unaffiliated as a protest or statement against the two-party system.”
Cynthia Smith, a 63-year-old retired lawyer who lives in Lawrence, home of the University of Kansas, voted for abortion rights as part of her broader disenchantment with the Republican Party.
“Shortly after the January 6 insurrection, my husband and I changed our registration to unaffiliated because we were disgusted with the Republicans in our government, but did not feel the Democratic Party represented us either,” Smith wrote.
Even if all the unaffiliated Kansans who voted last week took the pro-abortion rights stance, the results would have been about 50-50, assuming everyone else voted along party lines. The election results suggestion that more than 80,000 Republicans, around a fifth of those who voted in Kansas last week, also took the pro-abortion rights position, leading to the 59-41 blowout for that side. That’s surprising, at least at first glance. I had assumed that registered Republicans who turn out for primaries would be aligned with the party on one of its long-standing core positions.
But that result didn’t come from nowhere, either. Polls have long suggested that from one-fifth to one-third of Republicans support abortion rights, depending on how the question is phrased. These Republicans can rarely express that preference without voting for a Democratic candidate.
And we know that Americans often have views that conflict with their party’s stands. Measures to raise the minimum wage, expand Medicaid and reduce gerrymandering have passed in red states over the past decade, even as GOP leaders oppose all three positions. A 2020 ballot measure to lift a ban on affirmative action failed in heavily Democratic California.
I asked Melissa Clark, a 42-year-old registered Republican who works in sales in the Kansas City area, what restrictions on abortion she would support. “None,” she replied.
“Politicians should not be involved in health-care decisions,” she wrote. “Women and all humans can make their own healthcare decisions. … I think it is a personal decision that is something that should be left in the hands of the individual under all circumstances.”
“Generally Republicans have gotten more of my votes,” said Cheryl Bannon, a 61-year-old retired title closing officer in the Wichita area who is also a Republican. “I am not in favor of large giveaway programs. However the Republicans are just getting too far out there — ‘don’t touch our rights to buy assault rifles in any way but let’s make women and, yes, children carry embryos to term.’”
The good news for Democrats is that all eight I interviewed said they voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and would oppose Donald Trump again in 2024. This is a very small sample, but it fits with lots of evidence that there is a small-but-real bloc of anti-Trump Republicans and that independent voters are really turned off by the former president.
“If it’s between Biden and Trump, I will absolutely vote for Biden. If a moderate Republican were to come into the mix, I may vote for them but I can’t vote for someone who is anti-choice at this point,” said a 26-year-old Kansas City-area Republican named Sydney, who works in financial services and asked that we not use her last name.
“Can we please have Romney or another Bush?” said Katie Minnis, a 42-year-old Republican who lives in Lawrence and works in corporate sales.
The good news for Republicans is that these voters aren’t likely to become consistent Democratic votes, even as Trump-like figures dominate the GOP.
Stephanie Sharp, a 46-year-old Kansas City-area software manager who described herself as a lifelong Republican, said that she would back Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s reelection bid this fall. But Sharp said she won’t support U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Democrat who holds a swing seat in the Kansas City area that the party desperately needs to hang on to, casting Davids as “a mediocre and embarrassing representative.”
The biggest lesson from Kansas is one people like me keep forgetting — the voters aren’t nearly as predictable as we think they are. | 2022-08-11T13:41:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Meet some of the Kansans who stunned the experts on abortion rights - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/kansas-pro-choice-republicans-independents/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/kansas-pro-choice-republicans-independents/ |
The new Army Monuments Officer Training program aims to bolster the ranks of cultural heritage preservation officers who can evacuate priceless artifacts
Melissa Weissert, left, discusses the evacuation of cultural objects with Capt. Hayden Bassett, center, during a role-playing exercise at the National Museum of the U.S. Army in Fort Belvoir, Va., on Aug. 10. (Maansi Srivastava/The Washington Post)
The Smithsonia Museum in the (fictional) country of Pinelandia was about to be attacked by (pretend) enemy forces. Pinelandia’s president asked the cultural heritage specialists at the (also made-up) joint military task force to assist the museum staff in evacuating the museum’s priceless (!) collection.
Wearing neon-yellow vests over their Army combat uniforms, 21 specialists who are actually Army reservists packed up the artifacts (a motley assortment of thrift store vases, paintings and tchotchkes) for transport to a safe location three kilometers away (really at the edge of the museum’s entrance plaza). As the mission progressed, a soldier (not) accidentally stepped through a painting, ripping it from its frame, and the reservists were forced to use pieces of the museum’s (not-so-precious) textile collection when they ran out of protective wrap. Meanwhile, word arrived that (nonexistent) townspeople were alarmed that American soldiers were looting the museum. Work stopped to quell those (imaginary) fears.
For five hours on Wednesday in a large conference room at the National Museum of the U.S. Army in Fort Belvoir, Va., the reservists — who in their civilian lives are archivists, art historians, archaeologists and professors — completed a tense role-playing exercise to train for the evacuation of priceless artifacts from a museum under threat. The drill was the centerpiece of the 10-day Army Monuments Officer Training program, a new partnership between the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative and the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command that aims to boost the ranks of the Army’s corps of cultural heritage specialists, the modern-day version of the famous World War II Monuments Men. The partnership was formalized in October 2019, and the first session was scheduled for March 2020. The pandemic delayed it until this week.
“The world is falling apart around you. You have to argue for resources, coordinate with other elements of the task force, work with the populace,” said Col. Scott DeJesse, the program director of the Strategic Initiatives Group in Civil Affairs, who led the program with Corine Wegener, the director of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative. “There is no right answer. You have to speak military language and museum language. It’s an art more than a science.”
A lab in rural Virginia is racing to preserve Ukraine’s cultural heritage
Since the training began Aug. 3, the participants have been taught museum operations, risk assessment, collections documentation and the handling, packing, storing and moving of objects. Thursday’s session focuses on salvage — how to recover collections that could not be protected — and working across government agencies and with local partners. The program ends with a graduation ceremony Friday.
“We are looking at the disaster cycle — preparedness, mitigation, response when you have a disaster and the early recovery phase,” Wegener said. “Just like first aid for people, if you don’t have training you freeze. We teach a basic first aid methodology for cultural heritage property … and the principles of cultural first aid in crisis.”
The 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict requires the military to have specialists on cultural heritage protection to coordinate with civilians in a crisis. The 21 participants in this first training session came from the United States, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Britain and Lebanon.
“When it comes to talent and knowledge and education, you can’t find a higher level of expertise, knowledge and networks anywhere else in the DOD [Department of Defense],” DeJesse said.
Cultural heritage expertise is especially crucial now, in light of recent conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Aggressor forces target cultural heritage sites in their effort to dominate local populations. The command’s objectives are peace and stability, and the destruction of cultural heritage undermines those goals, DeJesse said.
“Culture is a unifier, but culture also causes conflict,” he said. “Conflict in the 21st century is people-centric. You need to understand their hearts and minds.”
‘All art must go underground:’ Ukraine scrambles to shield its cultural heritage
The training team included Melissa Weissert, an actual collections manager with the Army’s museums who played an overwrought Smithsonia Museum collections manager, and Paul Morando, the chief curator at the host museum, who played the fictional Smithsonia Museum director. Lt. Col. Brian Lowery delivered an Oscar-worthy performance as the skeptical task force commander.
“I don’t have a lot of confidence in who is going to receive [the artifacts],” he said of evacuating precious antiquities, adding that the team needed to consider all phases of the operation. “Your job won’t be done by moving them to another site.”
“There’s a big difference between hearing about it and doing it. The doing helps reinforce what we learned in the classroom,” Capt. William Baehr, an archivist who lives in Fort Washington, Md., said afterward.
Capt. Sonia Dixon of Omak, Wash., a doctoral candidate in art history, described the exercise as stressful but important. “It helped me think not only about what I can do, but how I will teach others,” she said. “I live in a small town, and if there’s a wildfire, I have experience I could share with the community.”
The afternoon ended with a 45-minute critique by staffers of the real Smithsonian and Army who observed the exercise. They commented on multiple aspects of the drill, including the flow of communication, the division of labor, the inventory numbering system and the soldiers’ packing skills. They offered praise and suggestions for improvement.
Afghans are scrambling to protect their art from the Taliban.
The Smithsonian has trained hundreds of museum professionals around the world and has worked with the military in the past. Although the participants will return to their civilian lives around the globe, they have formed a network and will remain connected by the training and supported by Smithsonian resources, Wegener said.
“They know each other’s strengths and skills, and they may in the future be called upon to go on deployments or exercises where they might inject a cultural heritage perspective,” she said. “They are a team, even though they will be separated. That’s rare in the Army Reserve.” | 2022-08-11T14:03:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Imagine the Smithsonian is under attack. This ‘army’ is ready. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/08/11/museum-evacuation-drill-army/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/08/11/museum-evacuation-drill-army/ |
Haben Kelati
Ted Leo, shown at a 2017 concert at the Black Cat, will perform at the final show of this year’s Fort Reno concert series on Thursday night. (Josh Sisk for The Washington Post)
Ted Leo, the Owners and Koshari at Fort Reno: Fort Reno’s four-week outdoor concert season wraps up with a trio of familiar names: the Owners, a punk band formed during the pandemic by Black Cat owners Dante and Catherine Ferrando with longtime club staffers Laura Harris and Al Budd; Koshari, which released “The Deep Divide,” a collection of swirling, feedback-soaked indie rock, in April, more than 20 years after the band’s debut album; and Ted Leo, whose work with Chisel, the Pharmacists and the Both needs no introduction. As always, picnics and kids are welcome, and alcohol and glass bottles are not. 7 to 9:30 p.m. Free.
DCBX Fiesta in the Park at Franklin Square: Ahead of DCBX, the wildly popular 14-year-old bachata dance festival being held in D.C. at the end of August, organizers are offering free public “pop-up fiestas” in Franklin Square. In addition to music from DJ B.A.D Frankie, the event includes dance lessons, a demonstration, and a competition to win tickets to DCBX. 7 p.m. Free.
‘Wall-E’ at the Library of Congress: Apologies to fans of Cockney chimney sweeps, chalk artists and bow-tie-wearing penguins: The rained-out screening of “Mary Poppins” has been postponed until the summer of 2023. Instead, the Library of Congress is hosting an outdoor viewing party for “Wall-E,” the Academy Award-winning animated movie that the library calls “an incredible blend of animation, science fiction, ecological cautionary tale, and a charming robot love story.” The film begins at sunset on the library’s southeast lawn, at the corner of Independence Avenue and Second Street SE. No reservations are required, but come early for the prime seats in the grass. 8 p.m. Free.
‘Dirty Dancing’ at Union Market: Thirty-five years after its theatrical release, “Dirty Dancing” is still drawing adoring crowds and inspiring transatlantic pilgrimages. Every parking space is already sold at Union Market’s monthly drive-in screening, but pedestrians are still welcome to grab the makings of a picnic, find space in the Suburbia beer garden outside and watch the film projected on the market’s wall. A confession: The Post didn’t love “Dirty Dancing” at the time. “As a study of counterculture, Baby’s coming of age, the last gasp of Kennedy’s Camelot, class differences or a message about standing up for your friends, ‘Dancing’ is rather lightweight — coming off like those TV dramas where some kid learns that making the team or being popular ain’t everything,” wrote critic Desson Howe. Movie begins at 8:45 p.m. Free.
Michael W. Twitty at the Smithsonian Associates: In a 2016 Washington Post profile, culinary historian and James Beard Award-winning author Michael W. Twitty described himself as “four time blessed” (“large of body, gay, African American and Jewish”). Those latter two blessings have guided Twitty’s career, weaving African American and Jewish food traditions into a colorful fabric. His new book, “Koshersoul” — familiar as his Twitter handle — explores how the cuisine of both cultures has been shaped by migrations and the global diaspora. He discusses his work and experiences with University of Maryland professor Psyche Williams-Forson at the Smithsonian’s Ripley Center. Both in-person and Zoom viewing options are available. 6:45 to 8 p.m. $20-$25.
After-hours at the National Museum of Asian Art: Hong Kong Style: The latest edition of the late-night events at the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler galleries takes its cues from the ongoing Made in Hong Kong Film Festival. The centerpiece is an outdoor screening of Jackie Chan’s 1978 kung fu comedy classic “Drunken Master,” with music scored live by DJ 2-Tone Jones. Vendors, including Columbia Heights restaurant Queen’s English and pop-up cocktail purveyor Please Bring Chips, sell food and drinks in front of the museum, where martial arts demonstrations are held, while indoor galleries are open with curator talks. 5 to 9:30 p.m. Free.
Hiatus Kaiyote at Fillmore Silver Spring: Hiatus Kaiyote has defined its genre of music as “future soul.” The Australian band’s instrument and production choices feel fresh and free from traditional boundaries, while lead singer Nai Palm’s stirring and unparalleled voice brings plenty of soul. Kaiyote’s second album, “Choose Your Weapon,” came out in 2015 with a loud and multilayered bang. The group made fearless choices and grabbed inspiration from many places but still made the occasional whiplash enjoyable. “Mood Valiant” was released in 2021 and finds the band in an even braver place than before. The song “Chivalry Is Not Dead” features Nai Palm’s voice floating atop the junkyard-sounding production: “We could get lost in our lust,” she sings while listeners get lost in her sultry vowels. On “All the Words We Don’t Say,” she sings the title over and over again in the chorus and sounds more far away than usual. But before listeners can yearn for her to come closer, warm drums and intricate, electric strumming fill the space. Hiatus Kaiyote has never had trouble taking up space. 8 p.m. $40.
Lee Bains and the Glory Fires at Comet Ping Pong: 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.” 10 p.m. $15.
Lake Anne Cardboard Boat Regatta: Think you could MacGyver a full-size boat out of cardboard, duct tape, papier-mâché and wood glue? That’s the challenge at the Lake Anne Cardboard Boat Regatta, sponsored by the Reston Museum, which returns after a two-year hiatus. Teams construct a person-powered cardboard watercraft, then paddle across the waters of Lake Anne. Head to the Lake Anne Village Center to cheer on the costumed competitors, and stick around for a performance by local band Turtle Recall after the race. We recommend stopping by the waterfront Lake Anne Brew House, whose Reston Red was named the best amber ale in the state at the recent Virginia Craft Beer Cup. 2 p.m. Free.
¡Viva Cultura! Festival at Gateway Park: A festival showcasing Latino culture takes over Rosslyn’s Gateway Park for a day of food, music and family activities. ¡Viva Cultura!, organized by the nonprofit Center for Assistance to Families, has a broad focus, with salsa bands and DJs; performances by dance ensembles representing Peru, El Salvador and Puerto Rico; vendors offering birria tacos, arepas and other treats; and a marketplace of clothing, jewelry and gifts. Children can play games and have their faces painted. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free.
‘Jazz in the Park’ at Fort Dupont: The 50th anniversary celebrations of the beloved Fort Dupont Summer Concert Series continue with a night of jazz and R&B. Local favorites Spur of the Moment, featuring Alyson Williams; vocalist Anissa “Twinky” Hargrove; and smooth jazz pianist (and Grammy-nominated producer) Chris “Big Dog” Davis are all on the bill. Bring lawn chairs and picnics. Gates open at 5:30 p.m.; the music begins at 7. Free.
Summer Bird Walk at the Tregaron Conservancy: The 14-acre Tregaron Conservancy between Woodley Park and Cleveland Park provides humans with a gorgeous green swath of nature. Birds, apparently, like the meadows and tree canopy, too: More than 100 species of birds have been spotted on the former estate. Join birder Sam Krause on a 90-minute walk through the grounds, listening and looking for feathered visitors. Binoculars are recommended. Can’t make it this week? More dates are planned for September. 8 to 9:30 a.m. Free; donations accepted.
SausageFest at Wunder Garten: Inspired by the beer gardens of Germany, Wunder Garten holds yearly Oktoberfests and lesser-known Frühlingsfests — but what does it do when it runs out of German festivals to celebrate? It creates an Americanized one to add into the annual rotation. SausageFest highlights the DMV’s local breweries, including D.C.’s Right Proper and Virginia’s Devils Backbone, alongside a variety of sausages by CaliBurger’s food truck. (There will even be a meatless option.) The two-day festival at the NoMa bar also features live music by Chasing Autumn on Saturday and Driven to Clarity on Sunday, both at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday beginning at noon. Free.
The Zolas at the Black Cat: The Zolas’ 2021 album “Come Back to Life” opens with echoing, faraway voices and sounds reminiscent of old-school video games. The effect is that the song “Violence on This Planet” feels like it’s arriving from a different planet. That otherworldly feeling is a consistent musical theme throughout the project that leans more into the psychedelic than the indie Canadian band has before. A song like “I Feel the Transition,” with its lush production and occasionally rowdy drums, benefits greatly from some electronic sound effects. So when founding member and lead singer Zachary Gray sings, “Today’s like a shooting star, no coming back to where we are,” it fits. But that doesn’t mean the band doesn’t find a way to anchor its songs’ stories. The song “PrEP,” Gray told the Vancouver Sun, was inspired by a Reddit thread of older gay men recounting their experiences with the AIDS epidemic. Gray sings heart-wrenching lyrics like, “Remember all those years we kept our black suits by the door / Like a soldier every week / Which friend will I be dressing for,” while the durable drumming complements his moving vocal performance. The Zolas are reminding us the horrors of our own planet are worse than anything we could imagine about space. 8 p.m. $20.
Noxeema Jackson featuring Clarisa Kimskii at DC9: Returning to the D.C. nightlife scene after three years in Berlin, Clarisa 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. 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.” 10:30 p.m. $12-$15.
Interview: Clarisa Kimskii shook up her whole life; now she goes with the flow
NMAAHC Hip-Hop Block Party: Tickets for the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s free block party are long gone, but the museum plans to stream the event through its website. Tune in for virtual performances by D Smoke, DJ Spinderella, the Halluci Nation, Mumu Fresh, J.Period and a showcase of DMV artists curated by DJ Heat. 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. Free.
British Invasion at Silver Branch Brewing: Silver Branch is best known for its skill with German and Czech beer styles, such as the Glass Castle Pilsener and Umlaut Love Kolsch, but the Silver Spring brewery has a taste for beers across Europe. This celebration of British styles includes ales served through nitro taps or hand-pulled through a cask engine without extraneous carbonation. The kitchen sends out fish and chips for the afternoon, while DJs Mad Squirrel and Laura Lopez drop a soundtrack of Britpop and British Invasion classics from 6 p.m. on. 3 p.m. Free. Beers priced individually.
The Electric Cool-Aid Frozen Test: Over the last week, even the briefest trip outside has felt like stepping into a large, stifling sauna with the “moist” setting turned up to 11. If you’re craving an icy, refreshing drink, you’re not alone — and Electric Cool-Aid has just the solution. This weekend brings the Shaw cocktail garden’s second frozen cocktail competition, with bartenders from Silver Lyan, Tiki on 18th and other hot spots serving their icy inventions. The winner is crowned based on votes from the public as well as a panel of judges. 2 p.m. $8 per individual cocktail; $16 for three-ounce tastes of all six drinks.
Pretty Boi Drag Show at Union Stage: D.C.-based drag king group Pretty Boi was selling out seats and drawing on mustaches for four years before the pandemic turned its live events into virtual ones. Two years later, after online “Drag King 101” workshops and other covid-safe events, the group is presenting its first live show since early 2020. “Your Bois Are Back” is an all-ages, ASL-interpreted event at Union Stage, featuring masculine-presenting drag performers embodying male gender stereotypes in song, dance and other acts. The standard ticket will get you first-come, first-served standing room space, and a VIP ticket includes early access for seating and a goody bag of Pretty Boi Drag merch. 3 p.m. $25-$40.
WWE Monday Night Raw at Capital One: For the first time in two years, WWE’s Monday Night Raw returns to Capital One Arena for an over-the-top recording of one of its flagship shows. The evening features U.S. champion Bobby Lashley as he faces off against recently recovered “the Miz” (Mike Mizanin), who tore his ACL in a match last year, as well as fan favorites like Raw women’s champion Bianca Belair and Alexa Bliss. This North American tour is the latest in the show’s 25-year run. 7:30 p.m. $20-$125.
‘The Color Purple’ at Signature Theatre: Whether it’s a book, movie or musical, “The Color Purple” racks up awards. Signature Theatre’s big show for the late summer and fall is the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which earned 11 Tony nominations. The stirring show sets this classic, epic tale of friendship and empowerment among Southern Black women to a soundtrack featuring jazz, gospel, blues and ragtime. Through Oct. 9. $40-$108.
Blk Odyssy at Songbyrd: Singer Juwan Elcock and guitarist Alejandro Rios make up the soulful duo Blk Odyssy. They released “Blk Vintage: The Reprise” in June — building on their 2021 debut album, “Blk Vintage,” by adding new features and songs. “Let me stick this funk in your veins,” Elcock promises on the second track, “Funkentology.” It’s a slower jam, with Elcock’s vocals tiptoeing elegantly throughout. His mesmerizing cadence is key to connecting Blk Odyssy’s funk-based sound with its darker storytelling turns. The last song, “Drinking Good” featuring Eimaral Sol, is striking. Here, Elcock drinks with one hand and contemplates his brother’s death at the hands of the police with the other. He closes the first verse describing a bloodstain he won’t forget before starting the chorus with, “I’m drinking good / Face it you’re wasted.” Then there are more upbeat musical moments such as on “Ghost Ride” featuring Mereba, which has a catchy chorus and undeniable production. Still, lyrics like “But why is it so that the world doesn’t know / That all my brothers drowning slow in the watеr” stand out among textured production. Blk Odyssy continues to pierce through the funk. 7 p.m. $15-$20.
Summerfest Cornhole Series at Tysons Corner Center: If you’re looking for a weekend backyard BBQ vibe on a Tuesday night, Tysons Corner Center has you covered. As part of its Summerfest series, this week brings the seventh and final installment of the mall’s cornhole competition. It’s open to all ages and skill levels, and if you don’t have a partner, you can be matched with someone when the tournament begins. If cornhole’s not your thing, check back every Tuesday through the end of September for bingo and ping-pong tournaments. 6 to 8 p.m. Free.
Snallygaster Sightings at ChurchKey: The Snallygaster beer festival is just under two months away, but the Neighborhood Restaurant Group is already teasing its signature event. New York’s Root + Branch Brewing is the first confirmed brewery of more than 150 participants, and though its products aren’t readily available in D.C., four hazy pale ales and IPAs are coming from Long Island to the taps at ChurchKey. 4 p.m. Free admission; beers priced individually.
Arlington County Fair: A midway with a Ferris wheel, giant slides and stands selling deep-fried Oreos. Pie-eating and pizza-eating contests. Competitions for the best jellies, quilts, vegetables and floral arrangements. The Arlington County Fair has many of the trappings of a traditional county fair, with one essential difference: It’s accessible by public transportation. The jam-packed schedule includes a night market, a traveling exhibit from Richmond’s Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, goat yoga and bingo night. Families can check out music and magicians, and adults can head to the craft beer garden. Through Aug. 21. Free; rides cost extra. | 2022-08-11T14:03:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Outdoor concerts, festivals and other events in the D.C. area - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/best-things-do-dc-area-week-aug-11-17/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/best-things-do-dc-area-week-aug-11-17/ |
Dear Sahaj: Once I became a mom, I reflected a lot on how I was raised and what I didn’t want to do with my kids. I want to make sure I always acknowledge/apologize for my mistakes to my kids, take all their emotions seriously and never gaslight them. My mom doesn’t do that. She says pretty horrific things to me when she is angry, because she doesn’t know how to deal with her own emotions and has her own trauma she’s never dealt with.
Recently, I confronted her about one particularly terrible thing. She said she knew it was wrong to say, she didn’t mean it, but she didn’t feel the need to apologize. There are many examples of these patterns, and it’s hard not to be resentful around her. It limits my ability to enjoy time with her or even enjoy the moment. I want a closure I will never get from her (she refuses therapy). How do I learn to push aside that resentment to maintain the relationship?
— Rejecting resentment
Rejecting resentment: It’s normal to reflect on how your parents have impacted you, especially as you have your own kids with whom you may want to do things differently. Your mom’s failure to acknowledge the impact of her behavior is essentially rejecting the hurt part of you that needs tending to — something especially difficult, because she’s a parent who is supposed to protect and care for you.
As you’ve identified, when someone refuses to apologize, it can indicate their own inability to handle the discomfort of being vulnerable. And other times, they may just not know how to apologize nor understand the importance of it. I wonder if you have communicated to your mom what you explicitly need her to say, and why it’s important to you that she says it. It can feel weird to tell people how to love us, but being in a relationship with another person does require some extent of teaching them how you need to be loved.
While she might be navigating her own feelings of shame, low self-worth or a lack of emotional maturity, you are still left with the fallout of her actions. So what does it look like for you to find peace in the relationship and let go of the resentment that is building up?
Resentment can indicate a lack of acceptance about what has happened and is still happening. Maybe you’re still holding on to expectations that your mom will change, even when she has shown you time and time again she won’t. It may be time to manage your expectations of her and grieve the relationship you did not and won’t have with her.
Also consider what hurt part of you needs to be tended to. How can you tend to it yourself or have it tended to in a different intimate relationship? When your mom doesn’t apologize — denying you the closure you are looking for — you’re left to swallow your anger and pain. It’s important to find ways to release and acknowledge these feelings. While it may not lead you anywhere to do so with your mom, do you have other trusted and supportive people or a professional you can release this anger and pain with so that it’s not bottled inside?
It also sounds like you want to maintain the relationship with your mom, so you may need to set more boundaries around your time with her while also being intentional about what you share and what you expect to get from her.
By deliberately planning what your engagement and time with your mom looks like, you are making space for a different version of a relationship with her — one that recognizes and accepts her limitations while focusing on what is in your control.
Because you’re able to understand where your mom is coming from, and I’d encourage you to double down on your compassion. Focus on the good while managing realistic expectations.
After all, it seems like reflecting on your mom’s behavior has helped you work toward being a more emotionally engaged parent yourself. Through this, you have already begun to reparent yourself while breaking family cycles to provide a better, healthier experience for your children. That is something to hold near and close when things feel hard. | 2022-08-11T14:03:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ask Sahaj: How do I stop resenting my emotionally stunted mom? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/08/11/ask-sahaj-mom-resentment/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/08/11/ask-sahaj-mom-resentment/ |
FILE - In this image taken from video, Sean Turnell, an economist at Australia’s Macquarie University, speaks during an interview at his university office in Sydney., Nov. 25, 2005. Turnell, who is being tried with Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi for violating the country’s official secrets law, testified in court for the first time on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, a legal official said. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation via AP, File) (Uncredited/Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
BANGKOK — An Australian academic who is being tried with ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on charges of violating the country’s official secrets law testified in court for the first time on Thursday, a legal official said. | 2022-08-11T14:04:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Australian academic detained in Myanmar testifies at trial - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/australian-academic-detained-in-myanmar-testifies-at-trial/2022/08/11/e9474bd4-1974-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/australian-academic-detained-in-myanmar-testifies-at-trial/2022/08/11/e9474bd4-1974-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
Aine Davis, in a photo released in 2014. (Metropolitan Police/PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News)
LONDON — Aine Davis, an alleged member of a notorious Islamic State group that tortured, starved and killed hostages in Syria, has been charged with terrorism offenses after he landed in England following his deportation by Turkish authorities.
Davis, 38, was arrested by British police at Luton Airport on Wednesday and taken to nearby London. He has spent several years in a Turkish prison after being arrested in 2015 and convicted in 2017 of being a member of a terrorist organization. Davis has denied the charges.
London’s Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement that Davis was charged with offenses under the Terrorism Act. He appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and will be held in custody.
The charges relate to alleged terrorism offenses from 2014 and possession of a firearm for a purpose connected with terrorism, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
Davis has denied being part of an Islamic State quartet known as the “Beatles” because of their British accents.
U.S. investigators say the group beheaded at least 27 hostages — including American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. Footage of the gruesome killings was recorded and shared online.
Two members of the group, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, are imprisoned in the United States, while the group’s leader, Mohammed Emwazi, who was known globally as “Jihadi John,” was killed in a U.S.-British drone strike in Syria in 2015.
Kotey pleaded guilty in September in federal court in Alexandria, Va., to playing a role in the kidnapping and deaths of journalists Foley, Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. He was given a life sentence.
Elsheikh became the only member of the group to be convicted by a U.S. jury, earlier this year. He was found guilty of conspiring to murder Foley, Sotloff, Kassig and Mueller — and faces a mandatory life sentence.
Rachel Weiner in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. | 2022-08-11T14:05:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Aine Davis, alleged ISIS Beatle member, charged with terrorism offenses - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/aine-davis-isis-beatle-charged/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/aine-davis-isis-beatle-charged/ |
By Michael E. Miller
Children watch the sun set over a construction site where China is building a $50 million stadium for the Solomon Islands ahead of the 2023 Pacific Games. (Michael Miller/The Washington Post)
HONIARA, Solomon Islands — The half-built stadium is hard to miss in a country of crumbling infrastructure. Cranes swing massive pieces of steel. Welding sparks rain down from the rafters. Trucks hauling concrete rumble late into the night. Above it all soar two flags, one belonging to this underdeveloped island nation and the other to the country building and paying for the $50 million project: China.
As China rapidly extends its reach in the Pacific, its growing influence is unmistakable in the Solomon Islands, a country with which it established diplomatic ties only in 2019. The relationship between the world’s most populous country and this Pacific archipelago of 700,000 people was thrust into the spotlight this year when word leaked that they had struck a secret security agreement. The United States and its allies fear the pact could pave the way for the establishment of a Chinese military base in the strategically valuable island chain where several thousand American soldiers died during World War II’s Guadalcanal campaign.
The Solomon Islands and China have denied plans for a base. But China is changing this country in other ways. Some are flashy, such as the sports stadium that will serve as the centerpiece of next year’s Pacific Games. Others are subtler yet potentially more profound, including growing Chinese influence over local policing and politics and a plan for Huawei to build more than 150 telecommunications towers that critics fear could enable Chinese surveillance. Many of the deals remain shrouded in mystery, months or years after they were struck.
In a country divided over China, the stadium is the ultimate Rorschach test. It was once going to be a gift from Taiwan, which Honiara previously recognized over Beijing. Now, it’s being built by a Chinese state-owned company with a grant from the Chinese government. Some say it is sorely needed. But others worry what will happen when the games have finished.
The United States and Australia are both increasing their aid and diplomatic engagement with Pacific nations, including the Solomon Islands, where the Biden administration announced in February it would reopen the long-closed U.S. Embassy. Some Solomon Islanders feel the efforts by China’s rivals are too little, too late. But cracks also are showing in China’s promises.
Secretive deals
The security pact between the Solomon Islands and China is one of several Beijing has been pushing to Pacific island nations in recent years, according to a senior U.S. official in Washington who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.
That Beijing’s breakthrough came in Honiara was no coincidence: In Sogavare, the Chinese found a canny politician with a grudge against Australia — a key U.S. ally in the region — a combative streak and what some experts say is an ambivalence toward democracy.
U.S. to open new embassies, boost aid in Pacific as China’s sway grows
Sogavare’s four stints as prime minister have been tumultuous. He first came to power in 2000 after his predecessor was toppled in a coup but lasted only a year. His second stint also ended quickly, after a spat with Australia in which Sogavare expelled Canberra’s top diplomat and Australian peacekeepers raided his office. A third spell was cut short in 2017, when members of Parliament accused him of trying to push through legislation they did not support.
His current term began in controversy. He ran for reelection to Parliament in 2019 as an independent, only to emerge from days of bitter backroom negotiations as prime minister. Five months later, Sogavare — who two years earlier had urged the United Nations General Assembly to recognize Taiwan — announced that the Solomon Islands would recognize China.
Around the same time, Kenilorea said “Chinese interests” approached him via an intermediary with an offer of $1 million and land near Honiara if he would “say nice things about China.”
China signs security deal with Solomon Islands, alarming neighbors
Many of his fears appear to center on Malaita, the most populous province, whose government refuses to recognize China. The provincial premier, Daniel Suidani, denied having any connection to the protests that turned violent last year. But he admitted that when Sogavare’s office asked him to tell the protesters to go home, he refused.
“I said it was too late,” he told The Post in his office in the small town of Auki, four hours by ferry from Honiara. Suidani said the security pact appeared aimed at his province. “There are businesses and buildings here in Auki owned by Chinese,” he said. “Definitely [Chinese security forces] will end up here.”
Projecting China’s system
The neighborhood next to Honiara’s hospital looks like a cyclone hit it. Most homes have been reduced to foundations. Children play with medical devices among the ruins. The aging hospital was largely built by Taiwan. But this neighborhood is being cleared for a new hospital wing, and the area’s residents have been relocated. As with the stadium, the benefactor is Beijing.
He said the Solomon Islands was grateful for decades of aid from the United States, New Zealand, and Australia, which remains the country’s biggest provider of aid.
For years, Taiwan helped bankroll a fund for all 50 members of Parliament to use on projects in their districts. China took over after the switch, annually providing about $8.5 million, or $170,000 per district, according to Samson Viulu, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development, which oversees the fund. China’s contribution dropped to less than $50,000 per district this year. And next year, it will be replaced by a separate program that will give the Chinese Embassy “final approval” over who gets roughly $12.5 million, he said.
China could control the country’s airwaves, too. The government is in discussions for the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei to build 161 mobile phone towers across the Solomon Islands, said Peter Shanel Agovaka, the communications minister. The project would cost between $60 million and $70 million and be financed mostly with a loan from China.
“People were burning and looting because of some disagreement over the government recognizing China,” said Tagini’s uncle, Danny Konge. “But George didn’t care about that. He just cared about his job.”
Ellen Nakashima in Washington and Christian Shepherd in Taipei contributed to this report. | 2022-08-11T14:05:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | China’s growing Pacific influence is transforming Solomon Islands - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/solomon-islands-china-australia-pacific/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/solomon-islands-china-australia-pacific/ |
Bounce houses can be dangerous and deadly, even in low winds, study finds
Even sub-severe winds can easily send a bounce house into the air, new research reports.
The scene on Gorleston beach in Norfolk in England, after a young girl died after reportedly being thrown from a bouncy castle. (Joe Giddens - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)
Bounce houses, the inflatable structures that have long been a staple of birthday parties and kids’ festivities worldwide, may be more dangerous than many parents realize, according to a new study.
The research, the first of its kind, tracks wind-related bounce house incidents as well as nearby weather when those incidents occurred, said John Knox, a professor of geography and faculty member in the atmospheric sciences program at the University of Georgia and the study’s lead author.
“The bottom line is: bounce houses can and do tip over, roll over, or get lofted in the air in nonsevere winds,” Knox said, “and it often happens during what most people would call ‘good weather.’”
At least 28 people have died and 479 other people have been injured in 132 wind-related bounce house incidents since 2000, according to Knox — an estimate he and his team of researchers believe is likely an undercount.
In 80 of the wind-related cases, the authors could pinpoint a clear cause of the incident: for example, a rogue dust devil spinning through the desert in the Southwest, a powerful cold front bringing with it a strong gust of wind, or a pop-up thunderstorm spawning dangerous winds right overhead.
“When the winds get to be too much, these bounce houses need not only to be evacuated but also deflated,” Thomas Gill, second author on the paper and a professor of environmental science at the University of Texas at El Paso, told UGAToday. “There have been cases where a bounce house was empty, but it blew away and struck a bystander.”
But in just under half of the recorded incidents, there was no abnormal hazard, and locally observed winds were below 25 mph — the threshold where the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) advises that bouncy houses not be used.
That speed is also well below the National Weather Service’s criteria for a high wind warning, and it generally does not meet the criteria for a high wind advisory.
More than a third of the incidents occurred when the wind speeds nearby were between zero and 20 miles per hour, though Knox cautioned that high winds could be very localized if, for example, they were driven by a dust devil. Dust devils are small whirlwinds typically fueled by hot air that sometimes produce winds over 60 mph.
Bounce house regulations vary from state to state, with 19 states relying upon the ASTM’s guidelines. Another 17 states have no guidelines for usage of the inflatables.
“Because of this lack of consistency, it’s important for parents to pay careful attention to how bounce houses should be used and operated, whether at their homes for birthday parties, or at a school carnival, or wherever,” Knox said.
Knox and his team found that many of the causalities they identified could have been prevented if the bounce houses had been properly anchored to the ground by a professional, as the ASTM recommends.
The ASTM also recommends that bounce houses be operated by a professional who keeps a continual eye on the weather in case it needs to be evacuated and deflated.
U.K. bounce house death highlights danger of inflatable structures and wind
According to the database built by Knox’s team of researchers, the last fatal bouncy house incident in the United States happened in July 2019, when winds below 25 miles per hour launched a playhouse up in the air before it crashed into power lines while kids were still inside. One 9-year-old was killed and two other children were seriously injured.
The deadliest bouncy house incident on record occurred in the Australian state of Tasmania last December. Six kids were killed and three others injured after a wind gust sent the inflatable structure upward of 30 feet into the air. Bounce houses in Australia are required to be anchored to the ground and regularly inspected; though it is unclear if guidelines were followed in that case, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Wind-related injuries, while tragic and often more severe, account for just a fraction of bounce house-related injuries.
In the United States alone, more than 10,000 people visit the ER for bouncy-castle-related injuries, according to Knox A study published in the journal Pediatrics in 2012 found that injury rates in inflatable amusement devices from all causes in the U.S. increased 15-fold from 1995 to 2010. | 2022-08-11T15:35:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Bounce houses can be dangerous, even in low winds, study finds - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/11/bounce-house-injuries-death-study/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/11/bounce-house-injuries-death-study/ |
As U.S. prepares to pass landmark bill, the planet isn’t waiting around
Ice melts near Nordenskjodbreen glacier as man past by with a boat on August 25, 2020 on the Norwegian Arctic Svalbard archipelago, Norway. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)
For residents of the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, the United States’ recent success in clinching a major piece of climate change legislation may feel like too little, too late.
Over the past 40 years, as the world’s largest historical emitter of greenhouses gases repeatedly failed to take significant action on the climate, the region surrounding Svalbard has warmed at least four times faster than the global average, according to significant new research published Thursday.
The study suggests that warming in the Arctic is happening at a much faster rate than many scientists had expected. And while U.S. lawmakers this summer hashed out the details of a massive bill to speed their nation’s shift toward cleaner energy — the culmination of months of deliberations — the new findings were just the latest visceral reminder that the planet’s changing climate isn’t waiting around for human action.
Recent studies on subjects including tree mortality in North America and evidence of weakening ice-shelves in Antarctica, combined with a stream of extreme weather events that include last month’s European heat wave and torrential floods of late in Kentucky and South Korea, are providing steady evidence of global warming’s intensifying impact on the planet.
The Arctic is where some of the shifts are most severe.
Svalbard, a cluster of Arctic islands famed for populations of polar bears, experienced its hottest June on record. A record 40 billion tons of ice from the archipelago had melted into the ocean by the end of July. Melting permafrost and unstable mountain slopes are threatening homes.
And that’s just a sampling from a region that has warmed at an astounding rate — roughly 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1979.
“It’s a really vulnerable environment in the Arctic, and seeing these numbers, it’s worrying,” said Antti Lipponen, a scientist with the Finnish Meteorological Institute who contributed to Thursday’s peer-reviewed study published in Communications Earth & Environment.
The study provides sobering context for this week’s expected passage by the House of Representatives of the Inflation Reduction Act. Experts say it is a landmark piece of legislation that will drive down U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases by incentivizing the purchase of electric vehicles and energy-efficient appliances, and a quickening pace of renewable-energy installations. Recent estimates suggest that the bill could lower U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by as much as a billion tons per year by the end of 2030.
But that’s still tiny compared with the more than 2 trillion tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide gas that humanity has emitted since the year 1850 — a figure that does not include any other warming gases, such as methane, which also is playing a major role in the world’s temperature increases.
President Biden on Aug. 8 said that the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 would be “game-changing for ordinary folks.” (Video: The Washington Post)
The Inflation Reduction Act will mark “an historic moment” for the United States — one that hasn’t seemed plausible since President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore pushed for significant action in the 1990s, said Bill Hare, a climate scientist and the chief executive at Climate Analytics, a prominent science and policy institute. The bill could have a global ripple effect that spurs other countries to take more ambitious steps, Hare said.
Yet, Hare noted that the legislation does not bring the United States to President Biden’s goal of cutting emissions at least in half by 2030 from their 2005 levels. It also includes provisions for additional oil and gas drilling and easing permitting processes for fossil fuel infrastructure — contradicting findings from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the world must nearly eliminate coal and significantly slash the use of oil and natural gas to have a hope of avoiding catastrophic warming.
At the same time, Hare noted, there is an ongoing “rush for gas” in Africa and Australia “that is quite inconsistent with the Paris agreement,” the 2015 accord in which nations vowed to progressively lower their emissions to avoid dangerous levels of warming. And Russia’s war in Ukraine has prompted a near-term scramble for fossil fuels even in relatively climate-conscious Europe.
These forces continue to push the world off track from meeting the Paris accord’s most ambitious goal: limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. Beyond that threshold, experts warn, the world faces a future of chronic food crises, escalating natural disasters and collapsing ecosystems.
Already, with the world have warmed by roughly 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit), deadly climate impacts are unfolding across the globe. Europe is broiling amid record-setting heat waves that have scorched crops and sparked wildfires. At least eight people were killed in Seoul as the heaviest rainfall in more than 100 years deluged the South Korean capital. Droughts have ravaged Mexico and contributed to a spiraling hunger crisis in East Africa. In the United States, people are dying of extreme heat, and in overwhelming floods and raging wildfires.
“This summer is just a horrorscape,” said Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at Brown University and the lead author of the IPCC’s most recent report on the science of climate change. “And I know it won’t be stopping in the near term.”
These disasters underscore what an exploding body of scientific research continues to show: that adverse climate change continues to outpace the plodding progress of political action. Even a historic investment such as the Inflation Reduction Act, Cobb said, is dwarfed by the scale of the crisis.
“There needs to be an infinite acceleration in frequency of this kind of legislation,” she said. “I think the planet is sending that message pretty loud and clear.”
Startling trends in the Arctic
Take the new Arctic study, which shows that the amplified warming occurring at the top of the planet, while long expected, exceeds what climate models predict by a noticeable margin.
“We suspect that either this is an extremely unlikely event, or the climate models systematically underestimate this Arctic amplification,” Lipponen said of the rapid pace of Arctic warming.
The study takes as its starting point the year 1979 because of the availability of satellite data covering the Arctic. It defines the Arctic as the region above the Arctic Circle, and the authors acknowledge that if longer periods are considered or if the Arctic is defined more broadly, the rate of Arctic warming can appear somewhat less.
The warming is most concentrated to the east of Svalbard, in the Barents and Kara seas, regions that have also seen some of the fastest loss of Arctic sea ice. This ice has traditionally reflected a huge amount of the sun’s heat back into space, keeping the planet cool. But as it vanishes from the sea surface, more sunlight is absorbed by the ocean — and then the warmer sea surface supports even less ice.
It is one of the most well-known climate “feedbacks” — a phenomenon through which an effect of warming contributes to further warmth. Although scientists try to account for this feedback in the models they use to predict future climate change, they might be underestimating it. At the extreme, the new study finds some regions between Svalbard and the Russian island of Novaya Zemlya that are warming at a rate of over 1.25 degrees Celsius, or 2.25 degrees Fahrenheit, every decade.
That’s massively disruptive to Arctic life, human and otherwise.
But interconnections among the ice, atmosphere, land and ocean mean that no part of the planet will be unaffected. As extreme temperatures bake the carbon-rich permafrost of northern landscapes, the thawing earth releases carbon dioxide gas.
Even as people begin to cut their emissions, nature’s emissions have just begun.
A sudden collapse
There’s also concerning news from the other pole.
NASA scientists, led by Chad Greene, have derived a technique allowing them to study the enormous, sometimes country-size platforms of ice, called ice-shelves, that encircle Antarctica. These are Earth’s main defenses against massive sea level rise, acting as a bracing mechanism that holds back Antarctica’s inland ice.
But the shelves are sustaining severe damage. Several, like Larsen A and B, have collapsed entirely. Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica’s most worrying and perhaps most vulnerable spot, has lost about 2 trillion tons of ice from its ice shelf, which has dramatically retracted inland, new research found. The overall area lost from Antarctic ice shelves since 1997 — about 14,000 square miles — is a little bit larger than Maryland and represents about 2 percent of the total ice shelf area.
As a reminder of these ice shelves’ vulnerability, the Conger Ice Shelf in East Antarctica — traditionally thought to be the coldest and most stable part of the ice sheet — suddenly collapsed this year.
Conger was not very large for an Antarctic shelf — merely the size of a large city. But its unexpected collapse — which appears to have been triggered by a sudden period of unusual warmth — should prompt alarm, scientist say.
“It means that Antarctica’s ice shelves are vulnerable, and they can still surprise us,” NASA’s Greene, who works at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said of the event. Greene’s study, which appeared in Nature this week, was co-written with colleagues from NASA and the University of Tasmania.
“Conger counters a common expectation that ice shelf collapse should only occur after a long period of thinning and weakening,” he continued. “Conger tells us that ice shelves can collapse without any warning signs whatsoever.”
Imperiled northern forests
In another sign of the swiftly shifting climate, new research this week also details how tree species that dominate North American boreal forests — including firs, spruces and pines — are experiencing growing stress and a decline in the survival of saplings in response to rising temperatures and reduced rainfall.
The five-year, open-air experiment details how critical trees that have populated the southern edge of boreal forests — a key ecosystem for wildlife, timber production and for soaking up massive amounts of carbon dioxide — are suffering profound impacts as the world warms. But the species that are most likely to replace them, such as maples, are not poised to expand their distribution fast enough to fully replace the trees that are on their way toward dying out.
“The species that are most abundant there are much more vulnerable to climate change than I and other scientists had thought,” said Peter Reich, a lead author of the study also published in Nature and a longtime forest ecology professor at the University of Minnesota.
If current trends continue, Reich said, swaths of boreal forests “will be impoverished, and they might even fall apart or collapse” over the next half-century unless warming slows.
“The take-home message for me is that a large part of boreal forests, one of the largest carbon sinks in the world, is probably going to take a pretty good hit in the next 40, 50 years, even in a best-case scenario,” he said.
That’s disturbing news, because the Earth needs to gain forests, not lose them, as people try to employ every trick in the book to get carbon that is in the atmosphere back into plants, soils, rocks, and even underground storage caverns.
Reich sees his most recent findings in a broader context: While the climate-focused legislation expected to pass in Congress this week is a positive, the impacts of climate change will continue to accelerate, and they will require more far-reaching action.
Reich called the Inflation Reduction Act a “good first step” but added that “even in the most optimistic scenario, there’s going to be a lot of pain and suffering.”
“It’s going to take an economic toll on poor and rich alike in the future,” he said. “We shouldn’t pat ourselves on the back and say, ‘Mission accomplished.’ ” | 2022-08-11T15:35:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The Arctic is warming much faster, as climate change's impact grows - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/11/climate-changes-impact-intensifies-us-is-poised-pass-major-bill/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/11/climate-changes-impact-intensifies-us-is-poised-pass-major-bill/ |
Democrats are on a legislative roll. That’s great news for this congresswoman.
Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) at an Election Day event in Issaquah, Wash., on Aug. 2. (Ted S. Warren/AP)
The red wave might turn out to be more like a leaky faucet.
Congressional generic polls, which measure which party voters would like to control Congress, have swung toward Democrats in recent weeks. Moreover, Democrats in special elections in Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District and in Minnesota’s 1st have over-performed compared with the 2020 presidential race.
In the Minnesota race, as the Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman pointed out, Democrat Jeff Ettinger came with four points of upsetting Republican Brad Finstad even though Donald Trump won the district by 10 points in 2020. Likewise, in the Nebraska district, Trump’s 15-point margin in 2020 was cut down to just six points. Perhaps something is afoot.
That’s great news for Rep. Kim Schrier, the Democrat representing Washington’s 8th Congressional District. Her district, which is rated as a toss-up, was redrawn to include more rural and exurban areas and leave out more urban parts of the district.
One might think that would pose new challenges for a Democrat, but during a phone interview, Schrier told me that many of the concerns of her voters haven’t changed. “They worried about inflation, gas prices, health care and the cost of prescription drugs,” she said. They’re also worried about climate change, especially the firefighters in her state battling catastrophic wildfires and farmers affected by extreme weather. “These are people on the ground,” Schrier said.
For Schrier, the recent string of Democratic legislative victories is a huge deal. “It is everything,” she said. In the lead-up to November, she will be able to point to the historic investment in green energy in the Inflation Reduction Act. She can also tout infrastructure investments and efforts to reduce drug costs for those on Medicare and to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies. Her pitch to voters since she first ran for office in 2018 was that should would be able to get things done. Now, that message is becoming more compelling.
The priorities of Schrier’s voters align with Democrats’ productive summer. “Capping the cost for prescription drugs for Medicare is huge,” she says. “But the notion of being self-sufficient, not dependent on China for things like microchips” also has resonance. She also points to her own work inserting provisions into last year’s infrastructure bill to help thin forests and prevent catastrophic fires. It amounts to a powerful message, she says: “I hear you. I’m taking your concerns seriously.”
On inflation, she shares her constituents “frustration” with high food and gas prices. She says her arguments that corporations have used inflation to charge exorbitant prices have found receptive audiences. She has also sponsored the anti-price-gouging bill that passed the House, with 203 Republicans opposing.
Another issue has come front and center: abortion rights. The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision “comes up every day” she is out on the campaign trail, Schrier said. Voters are “really fired up about Republicans’ taking away fundamental rights.” She has run ads on the subject, and makes no bones about her unapologetically pro-choice stance. “I am the only pro-choice woman doctor in Congress. If anyone will go to bat for women, it’s me.”
Democrats must win races such as Schrier’s to have any chance of keeping Republican victories to a minimum, let alone holding the House. Her district remains a toss-up, but she now has more ammunition to make her case. | 2022-08-11T15:36:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Democrats are on the upswing. That’s great news for Kim Schrier. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/midterm-democrats-washington-kim-schrier-swing-district/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/midterm-democrats-washington-kim-schrier-swing-district/ |
Donald Trump at a rally in Perry, Ga., in 2021. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
When you watch the collection of nincompoops whose professional lives are organized around defending Donald Trump — the Fox News hosts, the backbench members of Congress, the far-right social media personalities — it’s easy to conclude that, to quote Trump himself, “they’re not sending their best.” But they know their audience, and they’re very good at identifying what that audience needs to hear, then repeating it over and over.
And right now, with investigations potentially closing in on Trump from multiple directions, they’ve homed in on a vital message: This isn’t about Trump. It’s about you.
It’s ludicrous; after all, what could be less about you than whether Trump illegally retained classified documents or lied about the value of his properties to mislead tax authorities? But the claim is absolutely vital to maintaining the Republican base’s support and passion for him.
That’s because a sense of oppression has become central to motivating conservative voters, a way of keeping them engaged, angry and feeling that they have a personal stake in the outcome of every political event, no matter how remote it might seem. So it’s being repeated over and over:
The IRS is coming for you.
The DOJ is coming for you.
The FBI is coming for you.
No one is safe from political punishment in Joe Biden’s America.
Why is it more important than ever that Trump’s very particular problems be turned into a story in which every registered Republican is at risk of having their home ransacked by jackbooted government thugs? To understand, you have to go back to 2016.
It can be hard to remember now, but when he first ran for president, Trump had an economic message with genuine appeal to a wide swath of voters, one that was based in truth even as it played on people’s resentments.
He told them that they had been victimized by a rigged system, one that gave great rewards to a sliver of the population as it left them behind. In his telling, both parties were at fault, because they had supported trade deals, including NAFTA, that allowed manufacturing jobs to go overseas, leaving communities across the country to shrink and decline.
It might have been oversimplified, and had little or nothing to do with Trump’s actual economic agenda (much of which was a standard menu of upper-income tax cuts and deregulation for corporations), but at its heart was a truth: Across the Rust Belt and throughout rural America, people are indeed suffering long-term problems that the current arrangements of wealth and power aren’t fixing.
There were millions of people who heard what Trump said in 2016 and connected to it. “The game really is rigged against people like me,” they thought, “and sure, this guy is a blowhard and a clown, but maybe he can do something about it.”
Yet today, Trump can’t say he changed any of those fundamental problems. Let’s take one vivid illustration: The New York Times recently reported on how the coal industry ravaged the land in Letcher County, Ky., leaving it vulnerable to flooding (as if the people there didn’t have enough struggles already). As the paper noted, “In 2021, not a single building permit was issued in the county,” which means nobody built a store, a warehouse, or even a home, in the entire county. Not one.
What did Trump do for the people there? In 2016, he promised to revive the coal industry, with boundless prosperity to follow, and Letcher County gave him 80 percent of its votes. But it was a lie from the beginning, as anyone with any sense could see; the coal industry kept declining, and so did Letcher County.
Trump will probably win Letcher County again if he runs in 2024; margins that high don’t just disappear. But all over, plenty of people who connected with his message in 2016 realize his obsessions don’t matter to them at all. It’s why in 2020 Joe Biden got 7 million more votes than Trump did — and sits in the White House.
It’s unlikely Trump will be able to look beyond his own petty grievances and personal preoccupations to convince a majority of the public that his victory could change their lives for the better. So for now, he and his defenders are focusing on members of their base, telling them that whatever happens to Trump this week or next could also happen to them.
They’re not just used to hearing that message; they glory in it. They are the sympathetic victims, the encircled defenders of justice, oppressed but unbowed.
This fantasy of persecution is so powerful because it turns the most mundane things — like sitting on the couch scrolling through Trump-devoted Reddit forums while Fox News plays in the background — into something dramatic, even heroic.
You’re not just an ordinary person with an ordinary job and an ordinary life. You’re a freedom fighter waging war against forces of darkness to secure liberty’s future. The more grubby and personal Trump’s misdeeds are, the more important it is to keep telling the base that story so its allegiance won’t waver.
So every absurd Trump story will have to be presented this way: He took those classified documents for you, he cheated on his taxes for you, he tried to steal the election for you, and if, heaven forbid, he should face accountability for his wrongdoing, you will be the one who pays the price.
To any reasonable person, it might sound absurd. But the MAGA devotees believe it with all their hearts. | 2022-08-11T15:36:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Why Trump has to sell a fantasy of collective persecution - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/trump-fantasy-collective-persecution/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/trump-fantasy-collective-persecution/ |
They’re top-ranked basketball players and ready to cash in. Up next: third grade
Sponsorship opportunities have already changed college athletics. Is youth sports next?
By Roman Stubbs
Ashton Jolly, left, and his fraternal twin brother Henry, 9, practice their dribble moves during the NEO Boys National Showcase at Garfield Heights High School on June 25 near Cleveland, Ohio. (Dustin Franz for The Washington Post)
GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio — Ashton and Henry Jolly IV had already posed for a handful of photos with giddy elementary school kids by the time the NEO Boys National Showcase began on a Saturday morning in late June. The twins had been advertised as headliners on social media by event organizers for weeks, and their father, Henry Jolly III, entered the gym with every promotional material he could carry, a black duffel bag full of gear that included mouth guards, knee pads and arm sleeves provided free by prospective sponsors, along with headbands stamped with the personal logo he created for his kids, “Jolly Boys.”
They had traveled more than a thousand miles from their home in suburban New Orleans to this high school gym outside Cleveland, and in case anyone might not recognize his 9-year-old twins, Jolly wore a neon-colored jersey emblazoned with the words: “Born To Go Pro,” the family’s official brand and credo.
When the camp began, the director, Sonny Johnson, called the hundreds of youth players to center court for an introduction. “The Jolly twins are in the building!” he yelled through a microphone, and Ashton and young Henry stood up. Johnson placed a $100 dollar bill on the floor and told them it was theirs if they could hit a half-court shot. Their father jogged onto the court and whipped out his cellphone to begin recording. “I gotta get this,” he muttered to himself.
Massive sports complexes are latest front in war for visitors, dollars
Both twins missed their shots, but it was still footage their 39-year-old father could use for the online documentary series he has been developing around their brand, along with a basketball camp and a clothing line. As the economics that surround youth sports has exploded, some parents have fashioned themselves as de facto agents for their young athletes, entrepreneurs who are aggressively promoting their children and priming them for potential endorsement deals as they develop.
Name, image and likeness opportunities, prohibited for so long for amateur athletes, quickly reshaped the college sports landscape, and their influence and financial reach already has started to trickle down to elementary school age, as youth teams, coaches and parents see endless moneymaking opportunities without any regulation or more encumbrance. But while the marketplace is shifting, there also remains uncertainty among stakeholders where it ultimately is headed.
Jolly sees a shifting environment ripe for exposure, and he’s intent on his kids becoming the youngest players in the country to land a lucrative NIL deal.
“Nowadays, in 2022, they looking for the next big thing. And I believe we are that. And when an opportunity presents itself, we’re going to jump at it,” he said.
Jolly has taught his boys that everything they do is part of their brand — from the way they play to their shoulder-length brown braids, which their father has made clear must be allowed by any middle school or high school coach recruiting them. He curates their social media feeds, spends hours editing their YouTube highlight videos and sometimes wears a T-shirt he made with the logos of seven youth basketball rankings websites, all of which have rated his sons the top second graders in the country.
“That’s part of my strategy, build their name up, build the expectations up, build their skills up, build their bodies up, so that by the time they get to high school, these companies are going to pay them to play,” Jolly said. “We want to do it as early as possible. I believe we’re going to be the pioneers.”
‘Rapidly changing environment’
For decades, the nation’s top basketball players were prohibited from pocketing any money until they turned professional, which usually couldn’t happen until after at least a year of college ball. But new state laws over the past year-and-a half have upended the rules at the collegiate level, and suddenly there are a lot more hands trying to get a slice of an increasingly lucrative pie.
Throughout the weekend, Jolly would post a handful of photos and videos featuring his sons on Instagram, but there was one trophy that stood out: a selfie with Armando Bacot Sr., whose son, Armando Jr., is a star forward at North Carolina and who weeks earlier had withdrawn from the NBA draft to accept a handful of NIL deals reportedly worth at least $500,000.
Bacot Sr. was in attendance to watch his other son, King, who some consider one of the top fifth-graders in the country, and the twins finally posed for a photo with both. “I’m a big fan,” Bacot Sr. told the Jolly kids as he shook their hand. After they ran off toward the concession stand, Jolly stayed to pick Bacot Sr.’s brain on how to build his own children into NIL stars. He rubbed his hands together after the conversation.
“He told me: You’re promoting them right. They’re playing up. They look good,” Jolly said.
More than a dozen states have sanctioned NIL in high school, although deals are typically reserved for teenage phenoms with large social media followings. Mikey Williams, a senior guard from San Diego with nearly 6 million followers combined on Instagram and TikTok, inked deals with Puma and Excel Sports last year and has an NIL valuation of $2.6 million, according to the recruiting site On3. And Jada Williams, a five-star recruit from Missouri who is still only a junior, has already signed deals with Spalding and Dick’s Sporting Goods. Nike completed its first NIL deal with a prep athlete in May when it reportedly signed high school soccer stars Alyssa and Gisele Thompson, sisters who play in California.
High school sports will feel the impact of NIL changes. For some, that’s cause for concern.
“It’s a really rapidly changing environment, and it’s really interesting to see this trickle-down effect, from NIL in college, to kids building their brands, to parents positioning their kids to have success at the next level,” said Travis Dorsch, a professor at Utah State University who researches youth sports. “It used to be we were just focused on parents being at the games and practices and training, and how involved they were and the types of conversations they had in the car or around the dinner table … whereas now they’re sort of turning into agents for their kids.”
The twin’s mother, Ashley Jolly, gave up her career as a telecommunications engineer and started her own day care in suburban New Orleans, which afforded her a chance to be around her kids more and have an active role in their basketball careers.
“We didn’t see this happening,” she said, and while she supports her sons building their brands and pursuing professional careers, she sometimes worries about the pressure they are facing. Her husband earned a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Holy Cross in New Orleans, but Ashley also keeps the pulse on how her kids are feeling, making sure the twins don’t get overwhelmed.
They travel up to three times a month, spending a couple thousand dollars each time, which sometimes tournament and camp directors alleviate by picking up room and board and other expenses. But there are other stressors: Jolly often worries about his kids doing anything other than basketball on trips because they might get tired or injured for competition — “He is over-the-top basketball,” Ashley said — and when the boys lost at the AAU national tournament earlier this summer, everyone was emotionally drained.
“It’s a crazy world. It is. I would never thought it was this, especially this young. Sometimes it is really stressful for Henry and I. We literally are stressed,” she said. “I’ll just be like, ‘Henry, I can’t deal with this; I have stress from my job.’ Some days I have to tell him, ‘I can’t talk about basketball right now. I just can’t. I’m tapped out.’”
Ashley said the family has lost friends because the Jolly boys have defeated their children on the court. Ashton will sometimes take it personally when a kid scores on him, and the younger Henry has started to follow suit.
“I honestly believe my sons have started something that sparked every child their age and under to step their game up,” she said. “Every time my kids step on the court, they have a target on their backs, so much so, some kids won’t be kids. They won’t come up and talk to them … they are thinking like little professionals.”
People will sometimes tell Jolly that he reminds them of LaVar Ball, the outspoken father who built his Big Baller Brand around his three high school sons, two of whom now play in the NBA.
“I was doing this before I even knew who he was,” he said as he watched his kids warm up for the camp.
‘None and done’
Jolly posts around a half-dozen times each day on his Instagram account (handle: @nbacoachjolly), where he has more than 6,000 followers, along with a separate account for just the boys, which sports another 3,000 followers. His YouTube page is filled with highlight footage and some videos have garnered thousands of views — and which features a new YouTube docuseries called “Born To Go Pro,” which shows clips of the boys training and talking about their favorite NBA players.
“Whatever makes sense, that is good for the brand. That is good for their brand,” he said. “I’m doing this for them.”
He has his eyes on other ways to make money: Last year, Overtime, a digital sports media company, started a high school league that offers kids six-figure salaries. Even though those players must forfeit their NCAA eligibility, Jolly is determined to get his kids into the league before they turn pro.
On the second day of the camp, Ashley and the couple’s 6-year-old son, Hunter, both showed up in gray Jolly Boys-branded T-shirts. The front read: “None and Done.” And on the back, the word “College” was crossed out. Her boys already have their futures mapped out.
“I want to play in the NBA for a long time,” said Ashton. “I want to make a lot of money.”
“Play in the NBA,” added the younger Henry, “and be a hall of famer.”
Back at their home outside of New Orleans, their father has also developed his own camp around the brand, which can be a lucrative endeavor for some stakeholders in the sport. A few hundred kids had paid their $265 entry fee for the NEO Boys National Showcase, which boasted a well-stocked concession stand and a merchandise store selling $50 shorts printed with an assortment of emblems: Kobe Bryant’s nickname, Chucky the Doll, The Joker — along with T-shirts, hoodies and backpacks. There were evaluators in the stands compiling scouting reports on the top kids, along with a film crew shooting mixtapes, which could be bought online later for $179.99, according to the camp’s website.
Jolly still conducted all of his own filming, as he had all summer as his boys traveled the country for tournaments — Miami, Orlando, Dallas. At the camp in suburban Cleveland, even though second graders are below the age threshold, the Jollys were invited to compete against the best third and fourth graders in the country. Their father was also taking notes for himself, because for years he’s been trying to grow his own camp into the type of event that he often brings his own boys to. A recent stop on their year-long camp circuit attracted more than 600 players and cost $200 apiece.
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“And my kids were the headliners on it. You do the math … over $100,000 dollars on a weekend,” he said.
Jolly wiped the dust from his own Iverson shoes before his kids began their first scrimmage of the camp, as if he was ready to play himself. His kids wore gear provided free from companies their father hopes will one day become paid sponsors, including Mighty Mouth Guards and CoolOMG, which he said sent the boys free arm sleeves and knee pads earlier this summer.
Johnson ventured over with a cordless microphone to provide colorful announcing to the hundreds of spectators in the gym. Ashton carved up the defense with a coast-to-coast layup, and young Henry followed with his own step-through layup. “They’ve been doing this for years!” Johnson yelled. “They’re as good as advertised!”
Still, their father wasn’t satisfied. The twins’ team trailed by 11, and even though Ashton hit a deep three-pointer — “I didn’t know you were that good!” Johnson yelled over the PA system — the younger Henry struggled. His father pulled him aside after the game.
“You’re going to miss shots. That’s not the problem. The problem is that you’re not playing hard,” Jolly said, before helping his son take his shoes off and giving him a Lunchables to eat. “Everybody is going to know who you are … you have to be a killer.”
A new breed
Jolly’s own basketball career didn’t turn out as planned. He played high school ball in New Orleans and had a stint as a college walk-on but quit before the first game to start his own business breeding American Bullies, a cross between pit-bulls and bulldogs.
Jolly bought his first dog from the rapper Curren$y for $90 and a pack of Starbursts, he said. He had a part-time job making $5 an hour at Kids Foot Locker, and while his friends were using their money to buy the latest Jordan or LeBron shoes, Jolly saved to buy dogs and kennels, marketing them with online videos and at dog shows. He sold over $1 million in dogs, he said, enjoying enough success to buy his first house at 22 and eventually start a family with Ashley.
“I learned marketing on the fly from the dogs. I was always promoting the best stud in the world,” he said. “It’s the same concept with the kids … I know how to get the name out there. On YouTube, we have some dog videos. I have one video that has almost a million views on a dog. He ain’t on a unicycle, he’s just walking around. Like, look at how great that dog looks? Now I have people with actual talent. I just know it’s a matter of time before we blow up, because we have talent.”
He put a ball in the twins hands shortly after they were born, teaching them how to dunk on a plastic Little Tikes hoop. By age 2, they were dribbling. By 3, they were shooting on 10-foot hoops. By 5, they were learning offensive sets. And by 8, they were at the doctor discussing growth charts, because Jolly, who is 5-foot-10, is hoping they will grow a few inches taller to be reasonably-sized guards in the NBA.
At 4-10 and 4-11, both Henry and Ashton are undeniably talented. They work out roughly 35 hours a week, doing two-a-day sessions in the summer that involve basketball drills and body-weight exercises. When they landed in Orlando late on a Friday night for the AAU national tournament earlier this summer, their father found a high school gym so they could work out after midnight before their games the next day. They each must make 400 shots daily, per their father’s rules, and when he’s not around, they play against each other so that one can work on offense while the other works on defense. “That’s the advantage I have,” their father said. “Iron sharpens iron.”
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When New Orleans shut down for the pandemic, Jolly started his own local AAU team and began traveling to nearby states that would allow them to play. Because New Orleans had closed gyms and local parks, he hunted for outdoor courts across the city, traveling with a ladder, drill, nuts and bolts and a rim, conducting hours-long practices for several months. The kids have other interests — riding bikes, jumping on the trampoline, watching movies — but basketball comes first.
“I just like playing basketball all day,” Ashton said.
Next year they will home-school for the first time, until their parents decide what their middle school future might be. It will give their father more flexibility to balance his day job offering mental health services across the city while coaching and promoting the kids.
Taking their shot
Before their final scrimmage during the camp, the team’s coach wanted to put one of the Jolly twins in the starting lineup and keep the other on the bench. Their father rushed over to tell the coach that they were a package deal and that they would both begin the game on the bench.
They entered the game looking identical from head to toe: same Kyrie Irving Nikes, same emoji-patterned camp shorts, same braids. The only way to tell them apart was their blue and red Jolly Boys-branded headbands. They looked to pass to each other — and only each other — throughout the game, setting one another up for an array of three-pointers and running layups. When the younger Henry got a steal and went coast to coast, Johnson perked up with the microphone again.
“The No. 1 second grader in the country! These boys are tough!” he yelled as Drake blasted on the gym speakers.
Down three points with 29 seconds remaining, Jolly called from the sideline for the younger Henry to take the ball out and pass it to his twin brother, overriding any directive the coach may have given. With so many kids and their parents starving for a highlight to put on a mixtape, it was the only way to ensure they would take a potential game-tying shot. Henry followed his father’s order and found Ashton, who used his lightning-quick speed to get past three defenders and pull up for a three-pointer.
The ball bounced off the rim. Ashton put his hands on top of his braids and shook his head. His father stopped filming and as the horn sounded, he told his boys, “Good game.” By the end of the weekend, Jolly would have another highlight video ready to release, labeling it: “Jolly Twins PROVE why they’re the #1 second graders in the country.”
After more than a dozen hours in the gym, the boys finally stopped dribbling and took off their shoes. They posed for a few more photos and squinted as they emerged outside, the early evening sun beating down. Jolly carried the black bag full of his kids’ gear, and before putting it into their black rental SUV, he was stopped by another star-struck father. The twins stood by his side and listened.
“Man, my kid is 4, and I’m showing him their videos,” the parent told Jolly. “I love watching them.” | 2022-08-11T15:37:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | These second graders are top-ranked hoops stars and ready to cash in - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/basketball-nil-second-grade/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/basketball-nil-second-grade/ |
Transcript: Race in America: Giving Voice with Michaela Jaé Rodriguez
MR. CAPEHART: Good afternoon. I’m Jonathan Capehart, associate editor at The Washington Post, and welcome to Washington Post Live and another in our series on race in America co-produced with the ‘Capehart’ podcast.
When Michaela Jaé Rodriguez was growing up she said there was no LGBTQ+ representation in the media. Today the out trans actress is at the forefront of that representation, becoming the first out trans actress to win a Golden Globe and the first to receive an Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actress in a drama series, both for her role as Blanca Evangelista in the FX series "Pose." But there is so much more to discuss. So, joining me now is Michaela Jaé Rodriguez. Welcome to Washington Post Live.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Hello. Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me.
MR. CAPEHART: It is great--it is great to see you again. We talked earlier this year, but we'll get into the meat of what that whole conversation was about later. I don't want to give away too much our connection.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Gotcha.
MR. CAPEHART: Let's start with the here and now. You are in the new Apple TV+ series called "Loot." You play Sofia Salinas, who as we saw in the clip leading into this is--she’s tough, a hard ass. Let's just say I've watched some of this--some of the episodes. She is a hard ass. Tell us more about her.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: She definitely is. So, Sofia, she is the COO to Molly Novak, excuse me. And she is this starchy kind of character, this very straightlaced character who loosens up down the line due to Molly's influence and her free spiritedness. Also, Sofia is this driven activist but also driven, hardworking woman who wants to climb the ladder, the corporate ladder to make sure she can, you know, help people when it comes to this foundation. And I love playing her. I love that she's this kind of like, you know, very strict, no games, no nonsense kind of woman. I'm not like that. Michaela Jaé is not like that. So, it's fun playing a character--
MR. CAPEHART: I was about to ask. You’re not like that at all.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Oh, not at all. Not at all.
MR. CAPEHART: So, the lead of the series, you just mentioned, Molly Novak, she's a tech mogul’s soon to be ex-wife--or actually, yeah, ex-wife--not soon to be--the ex-wife, played by Maya Rudolph of "Saturday Night Live" and especially "Bridesmaids" fame. Here's the two of you in action
MR. CAPEHART: I loved that. "I really thought he looked like Sting." You talked a bit about the relationship between Molly and Sofia. But what we also see in that clip is sort of a clash of wealth and class, and later on in the series, you see also gender. Talk more about the confluence of all of those things in "Loot."
MS. RODRIGUEZ: I think the most important thing when it comes to Molly specifically is that, like you said, she just got out of a strenuous, you know, divorce, and due to his wrongdoings, and she's trying to find a space and level of finding herself not only as a woman again but a businesswoman and a person in control to make change. And I think that's when she comes into meeting, I was gonna say conflict. It's kind of the best kind of conflict. It’s like oil and vinegar kind of conflict, which is great, because it's tasty. But she runs into this woman, Sofia. And I think that's where the understanding of gender and placement and power in those positions come into play. She sees a woman in Sofia who is striving and working hard to get to where she needs to be, and I think she understands that quite simply as a woman in the workspace trying to move ahead and make her stamp.
I think also the play on position and privilege. Molly Novak aka Wells, she comes from a high position of privilege, but I think that gets knocked down a little bit when she gets to see Sofia and also experiencing her divorce. So, they're really kind of good, kind of like even planes to play with, if that makes sense.
MR. CAPEHART: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And the other thing is you don't--you don't get the sense of that in the clip that we just saw just how wealthy Molly is. I mean she's all--she's turned out. That outfit is super fly. Her hair is banging. The jewelry is great. But when you watch the series, sister girl lives in this fabulous house. She has her own what would in normal circumstances like a commercial jet.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Yeah.
MR. CAPEHART: So there are extremes. This isn't just a wealthy lady. This is--she's a multi billionaire.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Yes. Yes, 87 million--excuse me--billion--how dare I--$87 billion was gifted to her. Well, it might as well be gifted if it’s that much money--but given to her after the divorce. So, this is a woman who's come into extreme power with having that money. And the question is always asked, what would you do with that money if you were in that position? And I think Molly, throughout the season and with the help of the ensemble, especially Sofia being her COO, you know, her secondhand position, really tailors her and creates Molly to be this woman of understanding even though she's already been but possibly lost it due to being in a marriage that was so specific and significant.
MR. CAPEHART: Well, let's stop talking about Molly and let's talk about you and not your character, but you.
MR. CAPEHART: Because we have an audience question. This one comes from New York from Anuradha Sharma Magee, asking I love your roles in "Pose" and now the wonderful comedy "Loot." When you are considering a new role, which roles are you more drawn to--drama or comedy? Are the roles you're being offered mostly well written with respect--with respect and thoughtfulness of your experiences as a transgender woman?
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Oh, yes. Okay, so the first part of that question, I will say I am a drama girl, through and through. I love--I just love having people relate on a very serious kind of like term and getting to understand the struggles of other people. And I like also putting myself in the shoes to get an understanding. Also, if I've been through it, I like being able to be a part of a script that actually, you know, expresses that. I love comedy. I love all types of films. So, when it comes to the craft, I'm going to make sure I do my job as much as I can to, you know, execute the characters that I get. But drama is my thing.
And yes, I think there's a lot of integrity that comes with writing when it comes to me. And hopefully that precedent is set down the line for other girls like myself. And it's just dignity and respect, and also creativity. I think that's what comes with just art in general, and this industry in general. And when all of those three kind of like come together, it makes a beautiful space to work in. And I have to say, alongside "Pose," "Loot" has been a really good space to work in alongside the people who I work with. I'm thankful. So yes, I hope I answered that question.
MR. CAPEHART: No, no, you did. And another role that I was--I was surprised to see you only because I'm talking about a “Black Lady Sketch Show.”
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Oh my god.
MR. CAPEHART: It's the first--the first episode of the newest season, where it's like a big haircare product returns sort of like "The Purge." And you are in--you are in charge of this one store--this store and you put them through it.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Listen, I feel like, you know, there's always that girl at the front desk that's the clerk that's like, listen, I've been working here for hours and y’all coming up in here taking all this time. I'm going to give y'all a hard time, too. And I was like, you know what, I'm going to channel that person that I've seen, you know, who has--I've watched because I was always a bystander, you know? I was always somebody who's watching. I was never a part of the group and I will watch and say, oh, wow, that's a character choice, taking note off of that. I'm going to put that in my pocket.
MR. CAPEHART: Well, I mean, it was--it was fantastic when you turn the sign that that goes from, you know, on break to off break, and everyone's trying to jump. And there's such glee in your face, in the character's face. They really loved it.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Can I tell you, there was a direction that said, hey, MJ, can you possibly like, you know, like--you know, like a spinning board or like a DJ, can you do that? I said, oh, yeah, I can definitely do that. And that's, that's how that came about. And I was really happy.
MR. CAPEHART: Actually, that's what made it really funny because you were like this.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: The little turn that she gave.
MR. CAPEHART: Like spinning the turntable. Michaela Jaé, you’ve said, quote, I'm all--"I’m going to always have Blanca on my shoulder everywhere I go." What is it about Blanca Evangelista that continues to stay with you?
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Well, I mean, when I have mentioned Blanca, the creation of her by Steven Canals was obviously an amazing creation. But I put a lot of my mother into her. So, I keep Blanca on my shoulder to give some kind of understanding of myself, but also to relate back to the person who was instilled to me--instilled in me grace. And that's what Blanca has. She has grace.
There's a lot that goes on in this crazy world that we live in. And even as a human being myself, who has all flaws, and who can do good and things that could possibly be bad, you know, I like to think of the medium ground of grace and having grace for someone. And Blanca did that. She was strong when she needed to be. She was loving when she needed to be. She was graceful when she needed to be. And that was what made her her beautiful loving self. And I thought that, you know, why not keep a piece of that on my shoulder. I like to think that I have some of that. But Blanca was--you know, she was a huge part of my life as far as developing and learning from her while on that show and outside of the show. So that's why I keep her on my shoulder.
MR. CAPEHART: I mentioned this quote in the intro but let me read it in full. You said, quote, “When I was younger, I didn't have representation for anyone of color in the LGBTQAI community. Now, I want to be the example. I want to show them that it's possible."
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Yes.
MR. CAPEHART: Talk more about why that's so important to you.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: It's so important. I mean, you know, I look back in a time where trans woman weren't even just notified. I mean, even at a time now where, you know, I feel like, we have so many understanding--excuse me, so many understandings of the LGBTQAI community, there's still this kind of like line that's kind of muddy between the trans community, and the reason why is because there's not a lot of explanation on our lives as trans women. You know, I mean, you have trans people, you have trans men, you have trans women, you have the L, the G and the B and the T. And when you don't have those representations, if you don't have that explanation of that, then no one's going to understand it, and they're going to make simple mistakes all the time. And that's what I want to alleviate. I want those mistakes to be alleviated. I want those questions that they've always had to be released, and simply watching the work that I do--and also, people doing the work while watching my work or any other trans woman's work through crafts and creativity to really be educated on that. I think that's why it's important. And since I didn't have that when I was younger, it created more space for people to make mistakes that didn't need to be made, right? And now we have a plethora of not only just women of color, but trans women of color, explaining and showing the understandings of our lives, not just our struggle, you know, with a show like “Pose” that gave a good example of what struggle looks like for the trans woman who doesn't have it and who has to survive but now for women and trans women who are actually living. What are the ramifications of that? How do you respect that? You have to see it, and you have to understand it. And you have to also know that it's not imposing, nor is it a threat. We're just here and existing like how we want to exist and how we deserve to be. So that's what representation for me meant and how important it is for now.
MR. CAPEHART: You came out as transgender at the age of 24. And you've said you had family members who supported you. But how did you navigate the outside world? It's one thing to have the support of family. But when you go outside the doors of your home, you’ve got to deal with the rest of the world. How'd you do it?
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Well, believe it or not, like I didn't come out at 24. I mean, the world has believed that I came out at 24 but I didn't. I was seven years old and I had an understanding of myself as just a feminine bodied creature, and I didn't tie myself to pronouns at that time. I mean, the world did, and I feel like that's it--my parents did due to what they thought and how I identified. But that wasn't the case for me.
And I felt like when I let the world know who I am, it wasn't a coming out story. It was just, oh, this has been me and this is me clarifying to you guys like this is who I've always been. I thought it was important, though, because there are so many people who don't even have that understanding of themselves, who can't explain it in that way. And say, oh, this is how I've always been living, but it was just the world having to catch up to me and really understand how I've always been and how I've moved through the world and not trying to construct me into this mode that they think I should be in. It wasn't until when I hit 24 or 25 that I was able to explain like how I needed to explain. Seven years old probably wouldn't be able to explain it.
MR. CAPEHART: No.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Probably would just say be able to say [audio distortion]. Probably my parents would be like, oh, okay, or at 17 years old, at a teen year where in 2004, where trans vocabulary wasn't even a thought. But at 24 years old in the early 2000s, but long enough down the line for people to really understand, I thought people should know and people should understand and the questions that they were asking me before I had even let them know solidified it for me. So yeah, I guess it was just a transcendent story. I don't think it was a coming out story for me for them. I try like, you know, to change that narrative for myself, too, if I can.
MR. CAPEHART: Oh, no, I love your reaction to my question and your answer. Because, you know, it's interesting. I've known since I was seven. I just didn't have the vocabulary and let y'all do what you were going to do until I was ready to tell you with the language that I have.
So, Michaela Jaé, we’ve gotta go back to the beginning, because here's something that folks watching don't know. We were both born and raised in Newark.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Yep.
MR. CAPEHART: Decades apart, not the same time. I'm older. But you went to Arts High School.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: I did.
MR. CAPEHART: Which is right across the street from St. Benedict's Prep.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: You didn’t tell me it was St. Benedict’s. Sorry.
MR. CAPEHART: That’s right, which is right across the street. So Arts High, for folks who are watching, that was the school where all the cool kids went, the folks who were in the arts and music, drama like Michaela. What drew you to the arts?
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Well, naturally, I was always a dramatic kid, always falling out and standing all over the place and creating skits and singing and too much energy to be bottled up. And my mom was like, we need to put you in--we need to put you somewhere where we can contain this. So, moving on down the line, I go to a performing arts school called New Jersey Performing Arts Center SYPW at 11. Grow up. Hit the age of 14, I go to a school--a Catholic school called Queen of Angels, which I pride myself now that I got to go to a school called Queen of Angels. And when I hit 14 years old, believe it or not, the women of that Catholic Church, it was all run by women--really never saw a man there, which I was like, this makes me feel even more comfortable, Black woman at that. My vice principal and my principal at that time, Ms. Hay [phonetic]--I can't remember the other woman's name--she'll kill me for that--but she said she needs to be in performing arts school, and I know a couple of students that are here that should go. Told my mother this. And my mother was like, oh, I had already known about this. My best friend, of bla bla bla bla bla years, she went. So that's how it kind of got, like, thrown at me. And then when I heard about it as a 14-13-year-old child, I'm like, oh, please let me go. At least I'll be able to do something that I love to do and also do academics. Why not?
MR. CAPEHART: Right, right. And so then fast forward, you graduate from Arts High. And then you land in probably one of the--one of the biggest off-Broadway hits called "Rent." This was when you were in your 20s. You played Angel. What did you take from that role?
MS. RODRIGUEZ: I took a lot from the character Angel. I took so much--so many learning experiences. My mom had given me like kind of a rundown course of what HIV and AIDS was like in that time, in 1991, let alone 1987. And she had friends who had passed, dropped like flies, disappeared from this earth that shouldn't have disappeared. And she gave me so much insight on what it was like. So when I went into Angel, I had already known what I was getting involved with. But the character herself, who was filled with light and joy and love and nurturing, but also has to deal with this cumbersome disease we all know as HIV/AIDS, it drew me to her. It made me realize, oh, this character alone knows what her purpose is on this Earth. She knows she has a limited amount of time, and she wants to execute every single positive thing that she can do, no matter the turmoil. No matter what is--what kind of pushback she gets, she's going to supersede. And I was like, I want to be that. And not to mention, she resonated with me. She was me. I was her. Aside from having HIV and AIDS, our personalities and everything just really matched up, and I was like, you know what, this is a character that a lot of young folks need to see who has love but is also confident in themselves to be who they are and also influence their friends who are outside of the LGBTQAI community to be who they are like. Like, yes, I need to be a part of this. And I was so thankful I got to work with almost all of the original production--the director, the producers, almost everyone, the music director, all of the originals.
MR. CAPEHART: You know, we've got less than 10 minutes left. I'm wondering--
MS. RODRIGUEZ: I'm talking a lot.
MR. CAPEHART: No, you’re not talking a lot at all. No. What we need is an hour. That’s what we need. That’s what we need. You’re not talking long.
So, look, we're at a time now in this country when, you know, the T in LGBT is out and loud. And I remember when there were articles written about how the T was silent. And so now we've got not just out transgender, trans actresses like you but all across this country, we've got young people who are coming out as trans or nonbinary at ages that are, you know, to--you know, when I came out in the '80s, at age 20-something in the--well, in the late '80s as a 20-something, the idea that someone--a kid could come out as trans at the age of six or seven was just not even something that I could contemplate. And I'm just wondering, your advice to families who have a child or teen who's coming out as transgender or nonbinary and what is your advice to that child or teen?
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Okay, perfect. I can answer both of those. I would say when it comes to a parent or family members who have just come into understanding their child as being either LGB, or specifically trans or gender nonconforming, it's very simple. It's to love them. Love them unconditionally, protect them, make sure that they are safe, put them in a space where they feel comfortable, and safe. Make sure that they have friends around them who are also LGBTQAI and straight who understand them, so that they can grow in an environment that is diverse and understanding so that when they grow older, and when their friends grow older, there will be a safety net for them as a trans or gender nonconforming individual. That's for the families and also for the LGBTQAI house families too, because it goes across the board. You know, it just doesn't hit with biological families. It's people who are displaced, young individuals who are displaced, and who have to find their families. There's a job on their end to complete. And I think as a mother or a father or a guardian, you should instill those things with them, too.
Now, when it comes to the child or the teen, don't move too quickly, because this life is--you have a lot of time, but also stay confident and love yourself and receive the love from people that you truly know have your best interests at heart regarding your safety and your heart as a person, who is obviously a part of a minority but who also is going to probably endure a lot of struggle due to you being so confident in knowing yourself. Always stay true to you and never let anyone tell you not to be who you are. That's most of the time their deflection on what they're probably dealing with themselves. And yes, unfortunately, it does come from family members who are biological, but there is also a space for you to find love in another family who may not be a biological family, there's also chosen family. So there needs to be a safety net and understanding that there is security and you can find it as the youth. But there's also people looking for you to make sure that you're protected. That's my main goal, is to make sure that they are protected.
MR. CAPEHART: So, then I've--given what you said, I would love to get your reaction to state legislatures that are passing these laws, like the so called "Don't Say Gay" bill in Florida, where those safe spaces in classrooms and schools are disappearing. You know, Texas, is, you know, not very hospitable. So, your reaction to what seems to be flying in the face of your commonsense advice?
MS. RODRIGUEZ: I would say pushback, go against it. And that's something that I'm not afraid to say, because usually when there's pushback, there's change. We had the BLM Movement, and it created change. And though it came with its problems, there was still change that happened. And though I wouldn't consider this similar to the BLM movement, this is still a movement when it comes to our lives and our safety. And the most important thing is for us to put ourselves--put ourselves in places that we know are safe, but also to push back against the people who are trying to take away our existence, because that's what it pretty much is. It's like erasing the understanding of LGBTQAI history. You know, push back, and don't be afraid to do it. I think that's what these state legislators want, is for you to be in fear and to be afraid. But don't be afraid. Live who you are. Never let anyone tell you how to live your life. And make sure you live a positive, happy, and fruitful life. You know, I mean, I always believe in karma. Bad things come to you if you do bad things. If you're doing good things and you're being yourself, there shouldn't be any good--I mean bad things coming your way. So, yeah, push back against these legislators. Kind of wicked, what they're doing. But I think more than anything, it's because the community, especially the T in the community, is winning. And usually when someone is doing a good job, or thriving and striving, without confrontation, there's always some chaos with that. And I've been used to that, so I’m just like, okay, well, if you guys can't handle it, we're gonna keep going. We're going to keep living. Thank you for your input, but we're going to keep thriving, and I'm not gonna stop until I die. So--
MR. CAPEHART: Well, speaking of stopping, we have to stop.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Ah, darn.
MR. CAPEHART: I know. We're already done. Activist, actress, also singer. You had a debut single out "Something to Say" last year. You've got an album in the works that's coming out. Just when's it coming out? Just give me a date.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Okay, so I mean, I'm hoping it comes out maybe next month, at the end of August maybe? Who knows? But we don't know just yet because we're still working on some things.
MR. CAPEHART: Okay. Activist, actress. Yeah, go ahead.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: But it should be coming out very soon. We have a lot of songs done, and we're just trying to make sure we do this right, you know. So--
MR. CAPEHART: And I can tell you're very excited about it. Okay, for the third time, activist, actress, singer, and my Newark home girl Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, thank you so much for coming to “Capehart” on Washington Post Live.
MS. RODRIGUEZ: Of course. It's always good talking with you.
MR. CAPEHART: And thank you for joining us. To check out what interviews we have coming up, head to washingtonpostlive.com. Once again, I’m Jonathan Capehart, associate editor at The Washington Post. Thanks for watching ‘Capehart’ on Washington Post Live. | 2022-08-11T15:37:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Transcript: Race in America: Giving Voice with Michaela Jaé Rodriguez - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/08/11/transcript-race-america-giving-voice-with-michaela-ja-rodriguez/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/08/11/transcript-race-america-giving-voice-with-michaela-ja-rodriguez/ |
Judge releases man who claimed he had bomb outside U.S. Capitol
Floyd Roseberry’s bomb threat last summer forced an evacuation of staffers and residents on Capitol Hill. His lawyer said he was on the wrong medication.
Floyd Ray Roseberry was apprehended on Aug. 19, 2021. (Alex Brandon/AP)
A man who a year ago forced an evacuation of Capitol Hill by claiming his truck was filled with explosives was suffering the effects of being given the wrong medications, a judge ruled Wednesday. After a year in D.C. custody, the judge allowed 50-year-old Floyd Roseberry to await trial from his home in North Carolina.
“The Court finds that proper medication and strict supervision will reasonably ensure that Mr. Roseberry does not pose a danger to the community,” Judge Rudolph Contreras wrote.
Roseberry has dealt with mental health problems since childhood, his attorney said in court papers, including bipolar disorder. He began deteriorating in recent years after the deaths of several close relatives. In the summer of 2020, suicidal but unable to get in-patient treatment, Roseberry went to his primary care physician and was prescribed Adderall and Valium.
He was taking those drugs as prescribed to him when he drove to D.C. a year later and parked near the U.S. Capitol in a truck, according to court records. In a Facebook live video, he demanded an audience with President Biden and warned that he and others had explosives with him, sending the area already on edge from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol into lockdown. Roseberry surrendered to authorities after about five hours.
Teresa Grant, a behavioral psychologist who evaluated Roseberry at the D.C. jail, told the court Monday she was “shocked” to learn that he was on a combination of drugs that are “contraindicated” for bipolar disorder.
“It can contribute to a manic or a psychotic episode, and I think that’s what happened,” she said at the hearing. Now that Roseberry is on a mood-stabilizing medication, she said “he’s been quite stable.”
A trial date has not been set. Through public defender Mary Petras, Roseberry has disputed that he ever threatened to use a weapon of mass destruction as charged. Petras says he only warned that if hit with gunfire, his truck would explode and destroy the surrounding city blocks and that there were five other individuals in D.C. with bombs.
His truck had nothing in it that could trigger an explosion, and there were no others with him, she said.
At an earlier hearing, a corrections officer testified that during an assault by another inmate that left him with a broken jaw, Roseberry had intervened and stopped further violence.
“He’s not only not a danger to anybody, he’s helping the guards” in the jail, Petras said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Tortorice said in court Monday that his wife, a psychiatric nurse, agreed that the combination of Adderall and Valium was dangerous for someone with bipolar disorder. But Tortorice argued that even with proper treatment Roseberry posed a risk.
“The government is not suggesting that Mr. Roseberry’s mental health didn’t play a role in the offense,” he said. “I think it did.” But he said there was concern “should his medications change or should he not take them.” | 2022-08-11T16:01:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Floyd Roseberry, accused of threatening to blow up Capitol, released - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/capitol-hill-truck-bomb-roseberry-released/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/capitol-hill-truck-bomb-roseberry-released/ |
The court-authorized search was reportedly about key White House documents that had not been returned. Here’s what you need to know.
Security moves in a golf cart at former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 9 in Palm Beach, Fla. The FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence, people familiar with the matter said. (Lynne Sladky/AP)
FBI agents executed a search warrant at former president Donald Trump’s Florida home on Monday, taking about a dozen boxes of material after opening a safe and entering a padlocked storage area.
Trump and his allies have denounced the search as unlawful and politically motivated, but provided no evidence to back that up and have refused to share a copy of the warrant with the public.
There are still many unknowns surrounding the purpose of the search and what crime law enforcement agents suspect may be tied to the materials they sought at the Mar-a-Lago resort.
The FBI searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club on Aug. 8 as part of an investigation into whether presidential documents were mishandled. (Video: Blair Guild/The Washington Post)
People familiar with the investigation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss it, said the dramatic decision to obtain a warrant reflected growing concern that the former president or his lawyers and aides had not returned key documents and other government property from his time in the White House.
Here’s what you need to know about search warrants and what they may signify in an investigation:
Amid tumultuous week, Donald Trump takes the Fifth
A search warrant is permission from a judge allowing law enforcement to search a location or item for evidence that could be connected with a crime. These warrants are typically narrow in scope, so police or federal agents must know what they are looking for and where they are searching for it before they execute a warrant.
The barriers to obtain search warrants are not particularly high. Law enforcement must present probable cause that evidence of a crime exists at a specific location, said to Stephen A. Saltzburg, a law professor at George Washington University. This is far easier than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” threshold needed to convict someone in court.
“There is no mathematical equation for it,” Saltzburg said. “The Supreme Court has never put a percentage on it. The odds can be less than 50 percent [that there is incriminating evidence].
DOJ plans to investigate boxes of records taken to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
On its own, a search warrant is not proof of any crime — only that a judge believes that law enforcement has probable cause to search something as they investigate potential wrongdoing.
“A reasonable person would have to think there is evidence of crime in that location,” said William G. Otis, a former federal prosecutor in Virginia.
Does searching a former president’s house mean a higher threshold?
Legally, there is nothing that says investigators need to meet a higher standard to obtain a search warrant as part of an investigation involving a former president. In practice however, according to legal experts, investigators would want to ensure there is a very high likelihood that the evidence exists before they seek such a warrant.
“It’s not because the constitution requires it,” Saltzburg said. “It’s because any judge would know it’s a political hot potato.”
How do investigators obtain a warrant?
Investigators must submit an application to a judge that includes a sworn statement — an affidavit — detailing what evidence they are looking for and what crime they believe was committed. If a judge believes investigators have probable cause to search the property, he or she would sign off on it.
“You can’t go on a fishing expedition. You cannot hold up a warrant to search for documents if you are really there to search for drugs,” said Kel McClanahan, executive director of National Security Counselors, a nonprofit law firm. “Search warrants are strictly criminal, and in order to get a search warrant you need to convince a magistrate judge that someone committed a crime.”
With search of Mar-a-Lago, simmering threats of violence come to the fore
How is a warrant different from a subpoena?
A subpoena is a court-ordered request to hand over property or to show up in court. But unlike a search warrant, law enforcement doesn’t show up to take the property. The person subpoenaed therefore has an opportunity to not comply, or could move or destroy the evidence officials are seeking.
Saltzburg said the FBI likely had clear reasons for seeking a warrant instead of a subpoena to obtain what agents were looking for at Mar-a-Lago.
“They could have done a subpoena, but the fact that they didn’t suggests they felt that, if they did, bad things would happen to the documents they were looking for,” Saltzburg said.
Search warrants could also allow investigators to take possession of classified documents without requiring lawyers for the person in possession of those documents — who may not have the requisite security clearance — to search through and hand over those documents.
The Washington Post reported earlier this week that over months of discussions between Trump’s team and government officials about whether documents were still missing, some officials came to suspect Trump’s representatives were not truthful at times, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Can the public see the warrant?
In most cases, search warrants are open to the public. But judges will often seal warrants if the signed affidavit within them reveal witnesses and details that could compromise an ongoing investigation.
The Mar-a-Lago warrant, which would give a window in to what investigators were looking for at the property and what crime they believe may have been committed, is currently sealed. Trump and his lawyers have a copy of the warrant, but so far have said they will not release it. Investigators have said little about the scope of the investigation and what crimes they believe may have been committed.
On Wednesday, a U.S. magistrate judge gave federal prosecutors until 5 p.m. Monday to respond to a request by the Albany Times-Union and other news organizations to unseal the search warrant.
In a letter made public by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart, Brendan J. Lyons, managing editor of the Albany news organization, cited the public’s First Amendment and common law right to inspect judicial records and noted that courts have ruled “it is inappropriate to indefinitely seal a warrant affidavit.”
What is an inventory list?
Investigators write a list of all the materials they took from the person or property. They would then give a copy of the inventory list to the person they searched, or his or her lawyers. They would file a second copy of the inventory list in court.
If agents took classified documents from the Trump property, the inventory list would likely not be very specific, Saltzburg said. Agents would write it with the assumption that it would eventually become public and there would not reveal any classified specifics.
“This one would be tricky, and they are not going to list certain kinds of documents,” Saltzburg said. “There is a limit on how detailed they would go on the inventory if there are classified documents.”
The execution of a search warrant is just one step in the investigation of a potential crime, according to Otis. He said the Justice Department is rightfully quiet about ongoing investigations, so it is hard to determine where they are in the probe and how much evidence they have collected.
“No one knows exactly what the next step is,” Otis said. “Search warrants are an investigative tool. We do not know for sure that there is going to be a criminal case against Trump.”
Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report. | 2022-08-11T16:58:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Questions and answers about search warrants, after Mar-a-Lago search - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/trump-warrant-explained/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/trump-warrant-explained/ |
Chinese navy ship near Sri Lanka sparks diplomatic standoff
Indian and U.S. officials have asked the bankrupt nation to rebuff China’s request to dock
Hafeel Farisz
The Chinese navy ship Yuan Wang 5 is docked in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2016. (Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)
NEW DELHI — The Chinese navy ship is reportedly unarmed. It’s probably cruising somewhere in the Indian Ocean. And no one is even sure where it will go.
But for the past week, a 730-foot-long Chinese satellite-tracking vessel has been the source of rising tensions and a symbol of the mounting geopolitical tug-of-war between India and the United States and China over Sri Lanka at a time when the economically devastated island nation is caught between major financial supporters.
Since July, the Yuan Wang 5 has been sailing from China to Hambantota port on the southern tip of Sri Lanka after Sri Lankan officials approved a stop there for “replenishment.” But Indian and U.S. officials have strongly pressured the Sri Lanka government to revoke access to the port, infuriating their Chinese counterparts.
Caught in the middle, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday that it formally requested China to postpone the visit while adding it “wished to reaffirm the enduring friendship and excellent relations between Sri Lanka and China.” Sri Lankan media reported Thursday that the ship had reduced speed and turned around, only to make another U-turn at sea and continue toward the island.
As of Thursday — when the Yuan Wang 5 was originally scheduled to arrive — Sri Lankan officials were still locked in negotiations with the Chinese about whether and when to let the ship dock, said a senior official at the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry with direct knowledge of the discussions. Indian, Chinese and American officials have all been intensely lobbying behind the scenes, said the Sri Lankan official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks between governments.
While a Chinese navy ship arriving at Hambantota is not strategically significant, Indian and U.S. officials argue that it would be viewed as Sri Lanka giving special treatment to China, a major creditor, at a time when the embattled government in Colombo needs to renegotiate its debt with a host of international lenders and obtain a bailout from the International Monetary Fund. As Sri Lanka’s economy entered free fall this year, India, which sees South Asia as its traditional sphere of influence and is seeking to reverse China’s growing role there, extended the island $4 billion in loans to buy emergency fuel.
After ousting leader, Sri Lanka still staggered by one-two economic punch
Then there is the history of the port itself. China, which financed and built it for Sri Lanka in 2012, took control of the facility on a 99-year lease in 2017 after Sri Lanka struggled to repay its debts, spurring accusations from the Trump administration that Beijing engaged in predatory lending with its globe-spanning Belt and Road infrastructure program.
This week, China indirectly accused India of “gross interference” in its affairs and dismissed its complaints that sensors onboard the Yuan Wang 5 could be used to peer inside India.
“It is unreasonable for a third party to put pressure on Sri Lanka on the grounds of so-called security concerns,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing.
The dispute reflects the jockeying between the United States and its partners and China that is taking place across the world. Since taking office, President Biden has ramped up previous U.S. administrations’ efforts to curtail Chinese expansion into the Indian and Pacific Oceans and has rallied countries such as India and Australia to help in that effort. For its part, India has sought American help to counter China, a regional rival with which it has ongoing border disputes.
American analysts say if China were to base military vessels out of Hambantota — which it has not done so far — the People’s Liberation Army would gain a foothold in a highly strategic location close to important shipping lanes and the Persian Gulf. But analysts also say it is awkward for the United States to openly call for denying China access to its port, given that Washington has historically espoused the principle of unrestricted navigation and often irritates China with its naval maneuvers.
The U.S. Embassy in Colombo declined to comment.
“U.S. ships make port calls throughout Southeast Asia and East Asia that China finds uncomfortable, and vice versa,” said Joshua T. White, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former adviser on South Asia in President Barack Obama’s National Security Council.
In recent years, White said, Washington and New Delhi have strengthened their military cooperation in the Indian Ocean with a view to countering China. On Sunday, a U.S. Navy cargo ship underwent repairs in a shipyard near Chennai, a southern Indian city near Sri Lanka. This marked the first time India allowed U.S. Navy vessels to dock for repairs, something the Pentagon has sought for years.
As the Yuan Wang 5 made its way across the Indian Ocean this week and speculation surrounding the port visit spiked, media in both India and China were awash in chest-thumping commentary.
In India, newspapers blared warnings about the vessel’s surveillance capabilities after the Indian Foreign Ministry issued a stern statement about monitoring any activity that would threaten Indian national security. Cable channels flashed the hashtag “#Chinesespyship” during news programs.
“Take Sri Lanka for example: Their debt trap has already pushed the country over the edge, but Beijing is not done yet. They’re intent on creating more trouble for the island,” Palki Sharma, anchor of the pro-government WION network, said in a prime-time monologue. “... Whether it’s humanitarian aid, whether it’s IMF bailout talks, only India has stepped up to help Sri Lanka. China has largely played spoilsport.”
The Chinese were similarly shrill, especially after Sri Lanka asked to postpone the port visit.
“India is bullying a bankrupt country,” griped the host of a popular channel on Tencent News. “Just because India gave $4 billion, they think they now call the shots. How does that amount compare to what China has given Sri Lanka over the years?”
Retired Adm. Arun Prakash, a former chief of the Indian Navy, said temperatures needed to be lowered. A dispute between India and China benefited neither country — nor Sri Lanka, he said.
“We need to respect Sri Lanka’s autonomy, particularly at this point in time when they’re on their knees,” he said. “It’s a sovereign country that can allow any ship it wants to come in. We don’t have a Monroe Doctrine in the region.” | 2022-08-11T16:58:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Chinese ship near Sri Lanka prompts Indian, American concerns and diplomatic standoff - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/chinese-ship-sri-lanka-hambantota/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/chinese-ship-sri-lanka-hambantota/ |
A supermoon may diminish views of the ‘best meteor shower of the year’
The Sturgeon moon on Thursday night may be spectacular, but skywatchers may end up wishing it wasn’t there
A jet transits a nearly full moon rising over D.C. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
The Sturgeon full moon, the third supermoon of the summer, is to take its place on the grand celestial stage Thursday night. This would typically thrill avid skywatchers, but many people will instead be looking up to the sky hoping to see the annual Perseid meteor shower, which is forecast to reach its spectacular mid-August peak early Friday morning.
Like other skyward phenomena, you’ll have your best chance to see the Perseids — which NASA calls “the best meteor shower of the year” — during the natural darkness of nighttime and where skies are free of light pollution. Even in major metropolitan areas, the intensity of the meteor shower, which launches 50 to 100 meteors per hour, can typically be seen during the overnight and early-morning hours.
Because a supermoon brightens the skies, its simultaneous presence may cut the number of visible meteors in half.
In D.C., moonrise Thursday is at 8:26 p.m. Eastern. The moon is officially full at 9:36 p.m. Eastern.
The moon is always reflecting light from the sun when it appears in the sky. Supermoons, which occur when a full moon is at its closest to Earth in its orbit, known as perigee, appear even larger and brighter than normal.
Skywatchers everywhere should be able to catch a glimpse of the Perseids even with the supermoon’s interference, although they may need to prepare more — and be a little luckier than usual.
Sky and Telescope magazine says that while ordinary Perseid meteors might be harder to see because of the supermoon, fireballs should still be quite visible. A fireball is a meteor that streaks across the sky at the same brightness as or a greater brightness than the planet Venus, according to the American Meteor Society, often sparking dazzling displays of color.
Larger chunks of comets produce more fireballs, so it makes sense that the Perseids fire off many of them. The parent body of the Perseids, the comet Swift-Tuttle, is quite large at 26 kilometers. A team led by NASA’s Bill Cooke, who heads the agency’s Meteoroid Environments Office, recorded 568 fireballs coursing through the sky during showers between 2008 and 2013, the most of any other meteor shower in that time frame, according to Sky and Telescope.
To optimize the chances of seeing the Perseids — even without being lucky enough to catch a bright fireball — there are some best practices for seeing a vivid night sky.
One recommendation from Earthsky.org is to avoid the light interference of major cities and find a dark space away from highly developed areas. Ideally, your skywatching spot would also be in a moon shadow, which allows you to see a slightly darker view of the night sky.
The reflection of the sun’s light off the Moon does cast shadows on Earth, and a supermoon will cast even more dramatic shadows. According to Earthsky, the ideal spot to be in a moon shadow would be on a plateaued area with tall mountains blocking the moon’s light. For those without mountains nearby, it would suffice to find a grove of trees or tall buildings that block the moon’s light while still allowing you to have a clear view of the night sky.
Best spots in D.C. region for viewing the Perseid meteor shower
Clear skies over large parts of the country will provide unobstructed views of the moon and any meteors, but some cloud cover will interfere right along the West Coast, in parts of the Rockies, the Upper Midwest and the Southeast.
For those less inclined to stay awake into the wee hours of Friday morning to catch the peak of the meteor shower, some meteors should still be visible earlier in the night. Skywatchers might also see an “earthgrazer” meteor, a rare type of meteor that most commonly appears in the late evening.
Earthgrazers are unique because they approach the planet at a very shallow angle, which allows them to travel long distances across the upper atmosphere, even sometimes exiting the atmosphere and reentering space rather than burning up in Earth’s atmosphere, according to NASA Meteor Watch.
Because of the supermoon, expectations for seeing the Perseids on Thursday night should be tempered. But with the chance to see a radiant fireball, a long-lasting earthgrazer or any of the dozens of meteors expected to pass through the atmosphere regardless of the Sturgeon moon’s interference, stargazers shouldn’t leave empty-handed.
Photography tips for a supermoon | 2022-08-11T17:06:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Supermoon may interfere with views of Perseids, the ‘best meteor shower of the year’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/11/perseid-meteor-shower-supermoon-sturgeon/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/11/perseid-meteor-shower-supermoon-sturgeon/ |
Pedestrian killed in crash near State Department
Timothy Fingarson was crossing Virginia Avenue Northwest when a driver struck him, police said
A driver struck and killed a 66-year-old man near the U.S. State Department building earlier this month, D.C. police said Thursday.
The victim, Timothy Fingarson, was from Charles Town, W.Va. His family could not be immediately reached.
Police said Fingarson was crossing Virginia Avenue from E Street in Northwest D.C. around 4:10 p.m. on Aug. 3 when a driver struck him. The driver, who has not been identified, had just exited the 23rd Street underpass, according to D.C. police. Police said Fingarson was outside of a crosswalk. | 2022-08-11T17:07:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Pedestrian killed in crash near State Department - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/timothy-fingarson-struck-by-vehicle/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/timothy-fingarson-struck-by-vehicle/ |
Nate Mook, left, inspects a shipment of potatoes to be delivered to a hospital in Derhachi, Ukraine, outside Kharkiv. (Sebastian Lindstrom/World Central Kitchen)
Nate Mook remembers when José Andrés asked him to run World Central Kitchen. It was January 2018, and the nonprofit organization had largely transformed itself into a disaster relief organization following its groundbreaking work in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. At the time, Mook recalled, Andrés said he needed someone he could trust to lead WCK.
But Mook said he would take the chief executive job only if the organization followed the blueprint that WCK had invented on the fly in Puerto Rico. “A lot of organizations go after money first and then they do the work. Right?” Mook said during an interview with The Washington Post. “I said [to Andrés], ‘What we did in Puerto Rico and what I saw in Puerto Rico, we do the work, and we figure out how to pay for it.’”
“We’re going to go big,” Mook said he told Andrés, “and we’re never going to make decisions based on how we’re going to make money. We’re going to do the work, and we’re going to let the work speak for itself. And if people don’t want to support us, then so be it.”
José Andrés delivers flour in Ukraine as World Central Kitchen expands operations
The people, of course, did support WCK as Mook, a onetime filmmaker and entrepreneur, led the group into one disaster area after another after he became CEO in February 2018.
Launched in 2010 after a massive earthquake in Haiti, WCK focused on a few modest programs with a budget well under $1 million. But when the organization landed in Puerto Rico in 2017 and started feeding the hungry, its revenue ballooned to $21.6 million, according to financial reports. Then in 2020, as the pandemic kicked into high gear and WCK started a program to feed Americans while activating idle restaurants, the organization saw its revenue soar to $270 million.
Revenue is expected to top $400 million in 2022, Mook said, largely because of WCK’s work in Ukraine following the Russian invasion. As Mook said, WCK has been “cooking somewhere in the world every single day since Sept. 25, 2017.”
It would appear that, during his four-plus years at the helm of WCK, Mook worked himself out of a job. Earlier this month, the organization’s board of directors and Mook agreed to part ways. The announcement came in the form of a short statement on Aug. 2. The announcement offered no rationale for the change of leadership, and WCK’s press office declined interview requests.
What’s more, the press release expressed only token gratitude for a guy who has not taken a day off in years: “We thank Nate for all of his hard work and steadfast commitment to our mission of bringing meals to those in need around the world,” the board said in the announcement. The board named Erich Broksas, chief operating officer, and Erin Gore, senior vice president of development, as interim co-executive leaders.
A spokeswoman for WCK said the organization will soon hire a global search firm to find its next CEO. The process, she said, would take at least a few months.
Met Nate more than 12 years ago...12 years ago WCK was created. Almost 5 years ago he came down to Puerto Rico with me! changed our lives...and the lives of many! We will miss you at @WCKitchen but I can not wait to see what you will do next..Gracias amigo! pic.twitter.com/kBYgs0A8JG
Mook said that, regardless of the announcement’s opaque tone, he and WCK split on good terms. Both sides knew it was time to move on, although Mook said he will stay on for an unknown period to guide the transition.
“An organization that grows from under a million a year to $400 million a year becomes a very different entity,” Mook said. “It has matured, and I’m so proud of that because, you know, if I left and the organization collapsed, then clearly I wasn’t doing my job in building it.”
“The organization, I think, is in a different place right now in terms of what it needs and where it’s going. And so it just it seemed like this was the right time,” Mook continued.
One potential concern for the board may have been WCK’s decision to set up operations in Ukraine, a humanitarian effort that has stretched out for months. A war zone is far different from a disaster zone, Mook said, and the former CEO said he had numerous conversations with board members and Andrés about WCK’s efforts in Ukraine, where the organization is providing 2 million meals a day, though not without some scary moments and close calls.
World Central Kitchen partners recovering after attacks in Kharkiv
“You have to find that balance of meeting the need and the urgency of the situation while also keeping everybody safe,” Mook said. “Jose and I had a lot of discussions about this. Sometimes they were tense discussions about: Where do we go? How do we move safely across the country? How do we work closely with trusted local Ukrainian partners who know what’s going on? How do we make sure that we’re informing our board and making sure that they know we’re taking the appropriate steps?”
As the war drags on, WCK will have to examine how it moves forward in Ukraine, Mook said. WCK is a relief organization, designed to work for set periods after a disaster. To sustain its work in Ukraine, Mook said, the group may try to secure government funding or perhaps even hand off operations to a United Nations agency.
On Wednesday, more than a week after the announcement, Andrés tweeted his personal thanks to Mook. “Met Nate more than 12 years ago...12 years ago WCK was created,” Andrés wrote. “Almost 5 years ago he came down to Puerto Rico with me! changed our lives...and the lives of many! We will miss you at @WCKitchen but I can not wait to see what you will do next..Gracias amigo!”
Andrés also sent a text to The Post on Wednesday: “He is moving on...he’ll do great things,” Andrés wrote about Mook. “WCK is moving on ... and we’ll do things together soon.”
Mook confirmed that he will be doing more work with Andrés and WCK in the future. He wouldn’t disclose what those things might be.
‘We Feed People’ spotlights the relief efforts of chef José Andrés
In the meantime, Mook said he’s going to take time off. He says he hasn’t taken a vacation since July 2019. He’ll probably attend the Emmy Awards in September given that “We Feed People,” Ron Howard’s documentary about World Central Kitchen and Andrés, is nominated in two categories. (Howard’s doc, in fact, used a lot of footage that Mook shot as a producer and filmmaker for the production company What Took You So Long.)
Mook hopes he can take what he learned with WCK and apply it to other causes. “I never really had time to sort of say, ‘How can I bring my experience and expertise and the type of thing that brought José and I together in the early days that led us to where we are now … how can I bring that to other things that I’m passionate about?’” | 2022-08-11T17:07:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | World Central Kitchen CEO Nate Mook departs amid nonprofit's growth - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/08/11/nate-mook-leaves-wck/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/08/11/nate-mook-leaves-wck/ |
Once a U.S. darling, Rwanda’s Kagame hears concerns amid Blinken visit
Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Kigali on Aug. 11. (Andrew Harnik/Pool/Reuters)
KIGALI, Rwanda — Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Rwanda’s president Thursday to end support for rebels in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo and halt repression of critics of his longtime rule, warning of mounting U.S. opposition to a leader who once ranked among America’s preferred partners in Africa.
Blinken’s visit to the Rwandan capital of Kigali, the final destination on a trip aimed at touting U.S.-African partnerships as China and Russia make inroads on the continent, marks the Biden administration’s highest-level engagement with President Paul Kagame to date.
The stop was a sign of U.S. concern about a resurgence in the long-running conflict in the eastern region of Congo, where U.S. and U.N. officials say Rwanda’s military is supporting M23 rebels who are accused of attacking civilians.
Speaking to reporters after talks with Kagame at his lush presidential compound, Blinken said he raised similar concerns about the eastern Congo conflict with the Rwandan leader as he had with Congo President Félix Tshisekedi during a visit this week to the Congolese capital, Kinshasa.
Violence has flared anew since 2021 in eastern Congo’s long-running conflict as the M23 has regained strength and, at times, clashed with U.N.-backed Congolese forces. In 2012, President Barack Obama called Kagame to urge him to cease backing armed groups across the Congolese border. Advocates say that the activities of the group, one of a score of armed factions in the remote region, abated after peace accords in 2013 but that it was never fully disarmed.
Now, according to a recent report from a U.N. group of experts, the M23 is being supported anew by Rwanda’s military.
“Any support or cooperation with any armed group in the eastern DRC endangers local communities and regional stability, and every country in the region must respect the territorial integrity of the others,” Blinken said. “We’ve seen where the failure to respect these principles can lead,” he added, referencing the estimated 5 million casualties in two decades of intermittent conflict.
The talks appeared to have resulted in an impasse on core areas of disagreement between two countries otherwise eager for partnership. Vincent Biruta, Rwanda’s minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, responded to Blinken’s remarks by insisting that his government’s actions against dissidents or opponents were justified, and pointed to Congolese support for a different rebel group in Congo as a chief driver of conflict in the region.
“Rwanda is not the cause of long-standing instability in the eastern DRC,” Biruta said. While Rwanda has consistently denied supporting the M23, Blinken has expressed hope that a regional peace initiative will prevail.
Kagame, who has led Rwanda since 2000, was long seen as a model African leader for his steps to modernize Rwanda, improve its economy and bring stability after the 1994 genocide. In recent years, he has faced mounting criticism over his treatment of dissidents, journalists and other critics, including allegedly targeting them beyond Rwanda’s borders in violent attacks in South Africa and other nations.
Kagame’s actions are coming under increased congressional scrutiny. In a letter to Blinken last month, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, announced that he would put a hold on security aid to Rwanda unless the government improves its track record on Congo and treatment of opponents.
Of particular concern in Washington is the imprisonment of Paul Rusesabagina, a U.S. resident and high-profile Kagame critic whose role in sheltering more than a thousand civilians during the genocide was portrayed in the movie “Hotel Rwanda.”
Rusesabagina, a Belgian citizen, was sentenced by a Rwandan court last year to 25 years in prison for forming a terrorist group. A high-profile critic of Kagame, he was brought to Rwanda in 2020 during a visit to Dubai. His lawyers said he was told he would be traveling to Burundi but instead was flown to Rwanda.
The State Department this year determined that Rusesabagina was “wrongfully detained.”
Blinken made reference to the “Khashoggi ban,” a law passed after the 2018 killing of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi government agents. The law allows the U.S. government to impose travel bans on those believed to be involved in transnational targeting of dissidents.
“Criminalization of some individuals’ participation in politics, the harassment of those who express opposition to the current government, we believe undermine future peace, stability, and success — success which has already been extraordinary in the case of Rwanda for the last 20 plus years, but which will not reach its full potential” if repression occurs, Blinken said.
Repeating earlier government statements indicating little willingness to reconsider Rusesabagina’s case, Biruta said the trial had been lawful. “We would request our partners to respect Rwanda’s sovereignty, Rwanda’s laws and its institutions,” he said.
Rusesabagina’s daughter, Anaise Kanimba, said her family appreciated that Blinken had raised Rusesabagina’s case. She warned that her father, 68, was not receiving needed medical attention.
“We trust that if the U.S. relationship with Rwanda is strong enough to be deserving of financial and trusted cooperation, then it is strong enough to push for the release of our father on humanitarian grounds,” she said in a statement.
Lewis Mudge, central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said the visit was a “missed opportunity” to strongly press Rwanda on rights abuses.
“It is clear that failing to address Rwanda’s abysmal human rights record over the last two decades has emboldened its officials to continue to commit abuse, even beyond its borders,” he said. | 2022-08-11T17:07:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Once a U.S. darling, Rwanda’s Kagame hears concerns during Blinken visit - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/united-states-rwanda-blinken/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/united-states-rwanda-blinken/ |
Families receive coronavirus vaccines at a back-to-school pediatric clinic, hosted by the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System and the American Library Association, on Aug. 4 in Hyattsville. (Joy Asico/AP)
For a third year, schools are opening in the presence of covid. With experience, vaccines and mitigation — plus deeper knowledge of the coronavirus itself — it should be possible to give students a lot of in-person instruction this school year, but it is vital that the lessons of the pandemic be fully absorbed.
Vaccines are the key to normalcy. They are widely available, free and highly effective at protecting against severe illness and hospitalization. Yet the uptake of vaccines among K-12 students is ridiculously low. Among children 5 to 11 years old, only 10.9 percent were fully up to date with the primary series and first booster as of Aug. 3; among those 12 to 17 years old, only 27.6 percent. This means millions are heading to class without adequate vaccine protection. While children have been less prone to serious illness and death throughout the pandemic, it makes little sense to forsake the most potent tool that exists against the virus. And as epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina points out, it is also important to stay up to date with other inoculations, including flu.
Another ticket to normalcy is better air. We know the virus can hover in the air for an hour or more, especially in a crowded, stuffy room, and that better ventilation and filtration can reduce the chances of infection. Schools should strive to reach four to six air exchanges per hour. This is not rocket science: It can be done using any combination of outdoor air ventilation, recirculating air filtered with at least a MERV (minimum efficiency reporting value) of 13 or air cleaners with HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters. According to Joseph Allen, associate professor and director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, most schools are built at a design standard of three air exchanges per hour, but many slip over time, and studies show the average is about 1.5 per hour. Teachers, students and parents ought to be aware of this vital step that can make schools healthier: Throw open the windows whenever possible.
It no longer makes sense to pursue draconian quarantines of a whole class if one student tests positive. But it does make sense to follow this rule: If sick, stay home. This applies to teachers, too. Likewise, strict mandates for masks no longer seem necessary, but prudence still matters. In areas where there is high community transmission, good-quality masks ought to be everyone’s choice, to protect themselves and others. Home rapid test kits are now ubiquitous and ought to be within reach and utilized in every household. The social distancing rule of six feet seems outdated, but hand hygiene is still important.
Last year, the omicron wave caused an enormous amount of disruption. With luck, we will have in-person classrooms from start to finish this year. But another variant could always be around the corner. Schools, parents and students must not forget the lessons of the past 2½ years, and be prepared to cope, mitigate and pivot if circumstances change. | 2022-08-11T17:08:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Back to school: With experience and vaccines, it can be back to normal - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/back-to-school-covid-vaccines-air-filtration/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/back-to-school-covid-vaccines-air-filtration/ |
Democrats are saving families a lot of money on health care. It’s a big deal.
A CVS store in Los Angeles on Aug. 8. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Republicans are attempting to distract voters with false allegations that new money in the Inflation Reduction Act for the Internal Revenue Service means that ordinary taxpayers would be subjected more audits and equally bogus claims that the bill would raise taxes on middle-income Americans. But try as they might, Republicans won’t be able to obscure the fact that the package’s health-care provisions will save Americans a lot of money.
The health-care aspects of the bill are nearly as historic as its climate change provisions. The New York Times reports, “The Senate bill, which the House is expected to pass on Friday, then send to President Biden’s desk, could save many Medicare beneficiaries hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year. Its best-known provision would empower Medicare to negotiate prices with drug makers with the goal of driving down costs — a move the pharmaceutical industry has fought for years, and one that experts said would help lower costs for beneficiaries.” Medicare recipients would also get an annual cap of $2000 for out-of-pocket prescription drug costs and a $35 monthly limit on insulin.
The benefit is not just monetary, the Times points out. “To hear the voices of older Americans who confront high drug costs month in and month out is to hear fear and worry, anger and stress. Many say they are figuring out how to get by, skipping vacations and other niceties for which they saved.” To paraphrase President Biden, the bill would give Medicare patients a little peace of mind.
The health-care provisions are not limited to Medicare. A report from the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way finds, “A typical family with health coverage at work will save about $1,000 a year, and a family with coverage through an exchange will save about $1,500 a year” between 2022 and 2025. Those savings would come primarily from three provisions. First is the bill’s extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. The second is its fixes for the ACA’s “family glitch,” which ensures a person can get premium assistance if their employer-sponsored coverage is not “affordable,” but doesn’t extend that to their family. And third is the bill’s provisions allowing the Health and Human Services secretary to negotiate drug prices and to restrict the rate of increases for prescription drugs.
In short, there is big savings to be had for a lot of Americans. Third Way’s deputy director of economic communications and health policy Ladan Ahmadi tells me this is the most significant savings for Americans since the ACA was passed because “the IRA has supercharged the savings in the family glitch fix.”
What is even more remarkable is that every single Republican senator voted against the package. House Republicans will likely follow suit. That could be a risky position as they head out on the campaign trail and meet voters who have struggled to make ends meet. That might explain why they are throwing out distracting and untrue claims.
Inflation remains a major issue for most Americans. Despite the good news that inflation rates in July fell compared with the month before it, the fact remains that prices are still 8.5 percent higher than a year before. While wages have also grown, they have increased less than inflation, pinching household finances. The health-care provisions might not be “inflation reduction” per se, but any family that is able to save $1,000 or more will see it as cost reduction.
Certainly, the Federal Reserve is primarily responsible for inflation. The pandemic, supply chain snarls and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine are the primary drivers of rising prices, so there is not much the White House or lawmakers can do about the top-line inflation number. But Democrats did the next best thing: They saved families hundreds of dollars and helped them balance their budgets. And every Republican voted against it. Remarkable. | 2022-08-11T17:08:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Democrats are saving families a lot of money on health care. It’s a big deal. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/democrats-inflation-reduction-act-health-care-savings-a-big-deal/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/democrats-inflation-reduction-act-health-care-savings-a-big-deal/ |
Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 2012, Republican presidential candidate (and future senator) Mitt Romney announced his running mate: Rep. (and future House Speaker) Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
Retrospectives, reevaluations and recriminations are definitely on Washington’s menu later this month, when we reach the first anniversary of President Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. In fact, as The Daily 202 documented, the relitigating has already started.
But it’s still notable that one of the prominent figures speaking out now is General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, who oversaw the American departure as the head of the U.S. Central Command. He retired in April 2022.
In a pair of interviews with NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly and Politico’s Lara Seligman, McKenzie blamed every administration from 2001 onward for mismanaging the conflict and said he would have kept 2,500 American troops on the ground “indefinitely.”
McKenzie told Kelly the United States lost its way in Afghanistan, cited specific things the United States should have done differently last year, and seemingly called out Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The withdrawal, completed Aug. 31, had three significant setbacks. Not all Americans who wanted to leave got out. A terrorist attack at Kabul airport killed 13 U.S. troops and scores of Afghans. And many locals who partnered with American forces over 20 years of war against the Taliban were left behind in a country controlled by that Islamist group.
Over the long term, the chief question is whether the United States can prevent the country from once again becoming a haven for terrorists eager to strike America or its allies.
“We got well over 120,000 people out. And that’s the good news story,” McKenzie told NPR. But leaving Afghans behind was “the bad news story” that “still haunts me to this day.”
“They had every expectation that we would bring them out,” he said. “We did not, and we were unable to do that.”
A rough end to 20 years of war
The withdrawal was a signature Biden campaign issue in 2020. And he declared in a February interview that year with Margaret Brennan of CBS he believed the United States would have “zero responsibility” for what happened on the ground after withdrawing.
But former president Donald Trump set things in motion by signing a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban, paring down U.S. forces there, and freeing 5,000 prisoners.
Not to be overlooked: The departure came after 20 years of war and metronomically regular warnings that the United States and its allies were not winning.
Still, McKenzie told Seligman Trump’s agreement was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
So who, Mary Louise asked McKenzie, ultimately bears the responsibility for the way the withdrawal unfolded?
“Ultimately, the chain of command does,” he said. “That was a national decision made by the president, and we executed that decision. We had an opportunity to discuss it. We had an opportunity to give input. The president made a decision, and we executed it.”
You’ll never find a more civilian civilian than The Daily 202. But Biden is at the top of “the chain of command.” Austin is right beneath him. So it sure seems like McKenzie is pointing the finger at the White House and the Pentagon. He certainly didn’t absolve them.
(Note that Biden said in remarks marking the end of the U.S. presence “I take responsibility for the decision.”)
Here’s what McKenzie identified to NPR as things that went wrong with the withdrawal:
Difficulties processing those who wanted to leave. “It took a while, frankly, for our consular officials to get there in the numbers needed to handle the press of people that were outside” the airport, said McKenzie.
“We should have begun to bring people out much earlier, rather than waiting until the very end,” he said. “And that would have been in the Spring, even, we should have begun to do that.
In his Aug. 31, 2021 remarks, Biden took aim at the idea of starting large-scale evacuations earlier, saying that wouldn’t have reduced the chaos.
“There still would have been a rush to the airport, a breakdown in confidence and control of the government, and it still would have been a very difficult and dangerous mission,” he said.
In his broader diagnosis of the war, McKenzie identified a kind of mission creep, as the initial goal of hunting down Osama bin Laden after 9/11 and leaving al-Qaeda unable to attack America swelled into an effort to impose a kind of government that couldn’t take root there.
“I don't believe Afghanistan is ungovernable,” he said. “I believe Afghanistan is ungovernable with the Western model that [was] imposed on it … We lost track of why we were there, and we did not keep the main thing the main thing.”
The chain of command responsible for that stretches back two decades. And while Biden has affirmed that U.S. officials lied about the way the war was going, the United States doesn’t really have the culture or infrastructure required for that kind of mass accountability.
“The national average for a gallon of gas has fallen below $4 for the first time since early March, a key psychological threshold for cash-strapped Americans even as inflation remains elevated,” Aaron Gregg reports.
White House details election-year pitch for economic package
“The House is poised to pass the Inflation Reduction Act on Friday and send it to President Biden for his signature, but the White House and Democrats are wasting no time in planning their campaign to highlight the benefits of the sweeping package,” Cleve R. Wootson Jr. reports.
“The midterm message, in a memo first obtained by Axios, stresses that the recent spate of wins by Biden have hurt special interests, including oil and gas companies, the pharmaceutical industry and gas companies.”
U.N. could discuss nuclear plant
“Russia requested a U.N. Security Council meeting on Thursday over the Zaporizhzhia plant. The head of the U.N. atomic energy watchdog has appealed for access to the plant and warned of the need to avert ‘nuclear disaster.’ Kyiv and Moscow are accusing each other of shelling the nuclear facility, which Russian forces captured earlier in the war,” Ellen Francis, Sean Fanning and Robyn Dixon report.
“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,” Michael Scherer, Ashley Parker and Tyler Pager report.
“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 spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private meeting.”
“The manufacturer of the only vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration to protect against monkeypox privately warned senior Biden health officials about their plan to split doses and change how the shots are delivered,” Dan Diamond reports.
“Ten years to the day that Austin Tice disappeared, and three months since [his parents met with Biden in the Oval Office], a sprawling, multinational and often halting effort to get him back is showing signs of revival,” McClatchy's Michael Wilner reports.
“In [the weeks following the FBI's initial trip to retrieve boxes from Mar-a-Lago], someone familiar with the stored papers told investigators there may be still more classified documents at the private club after the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes earlier in the year, people familiar with the matter said. And Justice Department officials had doubts that the Trump team was being truthful regarding what material remained at the property, one person said,” the Wall Street Journal's Alex Leary, Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman report.
“The 166 awards, totaling more than $2.2 billion, are the first from funding in the 2021 law for what are called RAISE grants, for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity. RAISE grants — which may include a 20 percent matching fund requirement — can go to a wide variety of entities, including states, territories and Washington, D.C., as well as tribes, cities and regional transportation entities,” Roll Call's Niels Lesniewski reports.
“With less than three weeks to go until the federal student loan repayment pause expires, millions of borrowers are still in the dark about whether President Joe Biden will extend the current payment moratorium or possibly forgive any of their debts,” CNN's Maegan Vazquez and Katie Lobosco report.
“US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson set the October 14 deadline at hearing Wednesday in the lawsuit brought by former top FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok, who was terminated by the FBI in 2018 after the revelation of anti-Trump texts which Strzok exchanged with a top FBI lawyer that he was having an extramarital affair with at the time,” CNN's Tierney Sneed reports.
“Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday that his agency is ready to take enforcement actions against airlines that don’t perform, as flight delays and cancellations continue to roil the busy summer travel season,” Politico's Oriana Pawlyk reports.
How the corporate minimum tax could hit these ultra-profitable companies, visualized
“More than 250 companies in the S&P 500 averaged more than $1 billion in pretax income over the last three years, according to a Washington Post analysis of Calcbench data. Of those, 84 paid less than 15 percent in income tax globally. The list includes tech companies such as Amazon and Intel, banks like Bank of America and U.S. Bancorp, telecom giants Verizon and AT&T, and other household names like General Motors and UPS,” Kevin Schaul reports.
“In January 2020, Glenn Youngkin, now the Republican governor of Virginia, got some welcome news. A complex corporate transaction had gone through at the Carlyle Group, the powerful private equity company that Youngkin led as co-chief executive. Under the deal, approved by the Carlyle board and code-named ‘Project Phoenix,’ he began receiving $8.5 million worth of Carlyle stock, tax-free, according to court documents,” NBC News's Gretchen Morgenson reports.
Elbridge Colby: America must prepare for a war over Taiwan
“The disquieting reality is that the United States does not appear to be adequately preparing for such a conflict despite a strengthening commitment, especially by the Biden administration, to the island and its autonomy,” Elbridge Colby writes for Foreign Affairs.
“Although the administration may be making moves in the right direction, the changes it has made so far appear to be unequal to the urgency and scale of the threat China poses. As a result, the unnerving truth is that the United States does not seem to be backing up its strong and, in many ways, commendable rhetoric with the degree of effort and focus needed to be ready to defeat a Chinese assault on Taiwan.”
Biden is on vacation in Kiawah Island, S.C. He has no public events scheduled.
“Tailgates, barbecues and frat quads have all done their part to raise awareness of cornhole, known in some regions as ‘bags,’ and played in its modern form since the 1970s. On lawns and decks all over America, the game offers a way to pass the time while the burgers get grilled; a way to benignly bond with a father-in-law; a way to assert momentary, marginal athletic dominance over one’s buddies while holding a Bud Light in one hand, ” Ashley Fetters Maloy writes.
“In recent years, though, many have gotten acquainted with the elite levels of the game by flipping past ESPN coverage of major cornhole tournament finals.” | 2022-08-11T17:08:23Z | www.washingtonpost.com | General who commanded Afghan war sounds off on withdrawal - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/general-who-commanded-afghan-war-sounds-off-withdrawal/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/general-who-commanded-afghan-war-sounds-off-withdrawal/ |
BATAVIA, N.Y. — A Christian pastor in western New York said he felt intimidated and harassed after the state’s attorney general, a Democrat, sent a letter saying she believed a planned far-right political event at his church this week could lead to racial violence.
Noted: What you need to know about the kind of search warrant used at Mar-a-Lago | 2022-08-11T17:08:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | ReAwaken Tour host says he feels harassed by NY prosecutor - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/reawaken-tour-host-says-he-feels-harassed-by-ny-prosecutor/2022/08/11/e2625960-1994-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/reawaken-tour-host-says-he-feels-harassed-by-ny-prosecutor/2022/08/11/e2625960-1994-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz celebrates after recording a save last weekend. (Mary Altaffer/AP)
“It is time,” SNY play-by-play man Gary Cohen said Sunday after New York Mets center fielder Brandon Nimmo grounded out to end the eighth inning at Citi Field, “to sound the trumpets.”
Rather than go to commercial, as is customary between innings, SNY director John DeMarsico cut to a shot of Mets closer Edwin Díaz taking one last swig of water in the home bullpen before making the most electric entrance in baseball. Handheld camera operator Pete Stendel followed closely behind Díaz as he donned his cap and walked through the door in the right field fence. Fans rose and readied make-believe brass instruments as the now familiar first beats of “Narco” by Blasterjaxx & Timmy Trumpet — Díaz’s personal anthem — blared over the stadium’s speakers.
The minute-long video of the spectacle shared on Twitter has been viewed more than 8 million times. It looks like something out of a movie, and that’s no accident. DeMarsico, who is in his third season directing games for SNY, studied film at North Carolina State and embraces what he describes as the inherently cinematic nature of the sport.
“I never understood why a baseball broadcast can’t be more like a movie, and that’s how I approach every day,” DeMarsico, 35, said in a phone interview. “I’m covering a game, but I’m going to pick a spot here or there where I’m going to show people something that they’ve never seen before.”
Díaz entering games to a bouncy trumpet beat is nothing new. After walking out in 2019 to “No Hay Limite” by Miky Woodz, the right-hander’s dreadful first season in New York following a trade from the Seattle Mariners, Díaz reverted to “Narco” before the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and has been using it ever since. With the first-place Mets enjoying their best season since they won the World Series in 1986 and Díaz striking out more than half of the batters he faces, the entrance has taken on a life of its own this year.
The trumpets were on another level tonight 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/cVvgh1DIn1
Díaz’s signature song has inspired T-shirts. The New York Giants played it at training camp this week, and an engaged couple plans to use it at their wedding reception. On Sunday, Mets Manager Buck Showalter put off a trip to the bathroom before the ninth inning so that he could watch Díaz’s entrance in its entirety for the first time.
“I don’t care how you feel about all that stuff, that’s pretty good,” Showalter said.
Sound 'em. 🎺 pic.twitter.com/ujKOojcE1u
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 18, 2022
SNY had shown parts of Díaz’s jog from the bullpen this season, but they hadn’t skipped a commercial break or sent a handheld camera operator to follow him before Sunday. With the Mets leading the Braves 5-2 in the seventh inning, DeMarsico told associate director Eddie Wahrman, who was filling in as producer, the plan. Warhrman replied that it was better to ask their bosses for forgiveness than permission.
“With the way the ballpark was abuzz, it just felt right,” DeMarsico said.
In case you only watched Sunday's viral clip of the Edwin Diaz entrance, here's the full 2-minute Director's Cut and how it looked on @SNYtv live pic.twitter.com/CSd1A0lUC1
DeMarsico wanted to stick with Stendel’s field-level shot of Díaz until he reached the mound, but he decided to cut away to fans in the stands when umpires stopped Díaz to inspect his hands for foreign substances en route. Díaz went on to strike out the side for his 26th save.
If Sunday’s broadcast were a movie, it would’ve been Oscar-worthy. Hours before Díaz closed out New York’s fourth win in five games against the defending World Series champs, Mets ace Jacob deGrom warmed up for his first start at Citi Field in 13 months. Fans stood and cheered as deGrom’s walk-up song, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man,” played over the stadium’s PA system. SNY’s esteemed broadcast team of Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez were quiet for nearly two minutes, allowing viewers at home to take in the scene.
Here's a longer version of the deGrom sequence with the booth's reaction for those that missed it on Sunday.
Ron Darling: "Am I the only who got chills?"@keithhernandez: "No" pic.twitter.com/OVFF7g0jK3
— John DeMarsico (@JohnDeMarsico) August 9, 2022
“Am I the only one who got chills?” Darling asked as deGrom prepared to deliver his first pitch to Braves leadoff man Dansby Swanson.
“No,” Hernandez replied.
The feeling was similar in the SNY production truck.
“That first chord hits and everyone in the truck goes, ‘Whoa,’” DeMarsico said. “We all felt it, and knew this was going to be very cool. I felt like the truck was levitating at one point.”
A die-hard Mets fan, DeMarsico interned at SNY in 2009 and was hired after being invited to spring training the next year. While working his way up from production assistant to graphics coordinator to graphics producer, he had the privilege of learning from the legendary Bill Webb, who directed baseball telecasts for Fox Sports since 1996 and Mets games for SNY from the time the network launched in 2006 until he died in 2017.
DeMarsico credits his crew, including Wahrman, producer Gregg Picker, graphics producer Tom Rochlin, technical director Seth Zwiebel and SNY’s freelance technical operators for making his experimentation possible. Together, that group worked hundreds of World Series games for Fox under Webb’s direction.
“It kind of gives me the freedom to be creative and take some more chances that I otherwise wouldn’t get to do because these guys are just so good,” DeMarsico said.
A recent example is the Quentin Tarantino-inspired effect shown on SNY’s broadcast after a Mets player is hit by a pitch. It had become an inside joke that DeMarsico would cut to a shot of a stoic Showalter in the dugout every time New York added to its league-leading total in that statistic. He eventually thought to add the siren that sounds and red filter that appears in Tarantino’s “Kill Bill,” among DeMarsico’s favorites, when Uma Thurman’s character encounters someone who wronged her in the past.
In a nod to film director Brian De Palma (“Carrie,” “The Untouchables”), DeMarsico uses a fake split diopter shot on occasion, which gives viewers an artistic view of the hitter and pitcher simultaneously. He and Picker have also been working to perfect a seldom used shot from behind home plate.
“Before a broadcast, we always say to each other, ‘Have a good show,’” DeMarsico said. “Our broadcast takes that pretty literally. Obviously there’s a game and we don’t want to miss anything going on the field between the lines, but we’re providing a product that should be entertaining and that’s how we approach it.”
I know people complain when I use this camera angle for a pitch but I love it. https://t.co/y4HDNS9R94
Despite the glowing reviews for SNY’s coverage of Díaz’s latest entrance, it’s not something the network will do every time.
“We want the moment to be right, and we don’t want to oversaturate it,” DeMarsico said.
Meanwhile, Baltimore Orioles closer Félix Bautista recently added his name to the list of closers with dramatic entrances, one highlighted by Hall of Famers Mariano Rivera (Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”) and Trevor Hoffman (AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells”) when he walked out to flashing lights and Omar Little whistling “The Farmer in the Dell,” the sound made famous by the late Michael K. Williams in HBO’s “The Wire.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re going to see a lot more attention on closers coming in after the attention that the Diaz clip has gotten, and I hope they do,” said DeMarsico, who saw a clip of Bautista’s entrance. “Baseball has tried to grow the game with a younger audience through a number of different things, whether it’s showing more advanced analytics or odds and probabilities, but that’s not really my cup of tea. This is the entertainment business. This is Ricky Vaughn in ‘Major League’ coming in to ‘Wild Thing.’ Edwin Diaz is Ricky Vaughn and this song ‘Narco’ is ‘Wild Thing.’ Regional networks should be taking more chances, and showing the spectacle of the game.” | 2022-08-11T17:09:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Mets TV broadcast made Edwin Diaz’s trumpet entrance look like a movie - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/edwin-diaz-entrance/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/edwin-diaz-entrance/ |
The plan down the road for the Washington Mystics is for Mike Thibault to hand head coaching duties to his son, Eric, one he retires. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
Mike Thibault wanted his son, Eric, to become a writer. The winningest coach in WNBA history was reading Eric’s thesis paper, got about 30 pages in and truly believed his baby boy had a future with the written word.
“I'm going why the hell does he want to coach? He's such a good writer,” Mike said. “Then I got to about 60 pages in it and he had written it so well about basketball that I said, no, I get why he wants to coach. His writing was good enough to convince me, just reading it, that he loved the game.
“So I stopped trying to talk him out of it.”
Trying to talk his kids out of coaching just may be the biggest failure of Thibault’s life. Eric serves as associate head coach on Mike’s Washington Mystics staff and his daughter, Carly Thibault-DuDonis, is the head coach of the Fairfield University women’s basketball team. The kids never really had a chance.
Eric, 33, is in line to be the head coach when Mike eventually decides to step away. The plan is for Mike to retain his general manager duties while Eric slides over to the first chair. Mike reevaluates his situation after every season and doesn’t seem eager to walk away, but Eric has passed on other opportunities in anticipation of taking over one day.
The job isn’t guaranteed to be Eric’s, but ownership has always trusted in Mike’s decision-making.
“What’s most interesting is that players tell you when a coach is doing a good job or not doing a good job,” Owner Ted Leonsis said. “We believe in Mike so much, he’ll have a big voice and say in what we do. Mike wouldn’t put the wrong person in.
“We have to approve as ownership. But Mike is tending to the team and is involved in every part of what we do. Eric is playing a bigger and bigger role, obviously. But we really trust and believe in Mike, and he’ll let us know when the time is, who the succession should be and why. And then we would stress test that. But it’s not the royal family.”
Mike and Nanci Thibault met through basketball when he was coaching before he had graduated from St. Martin’s University. The rest of their lives have revolved around the game as Mike won two NBA championships as an assistant with the Lakers, was a Bulls’ assistant in the early Michael Jordan years, had stints in the WBL and CBA before returning to the NBA with the Bucks. His WNBA career began in 2003 with the Connecticut Sun. Eric came along in 1987 and was born a basketball junkie.
The two parents used flashlights so Eric could script and mimic the Bulls introductions, going through every player with high-fives and all. He was drawing up plays as a child with each ending in a Jordan dunk. By high school, Nanci was bribing Eric to get out of bed with the promise of being able to watch “SportsCenter” during breakfast.
“It was the best idea I ever had as a mom, I felt,” Nanci said.
The game was completely intertwined with their lives to the point where Eric took ESPN analyst and former NBA player Tim Legler to elementary school one day and was paid by former Bucks center Ervin Johnson to run errands. Nanci chuckled and said young Eric thought Legler was his best friend and came to the house specifically to see him. While many college students spend their summers running amok, Eric hurried back to Connecticut to work with the Sun — and eventually write that paper about their 2009 season.
“I was just trying to avoid doing a research thesis,” Eric said with a laugh.
Mike had a difficult decision to make as he took over the Mystics. The newly hired coach and general manager was constructing his staff and wanted to bring his 23-year-old son along. But would players older than Eric respect him as a coach or believe that nepotism was at play?
Thibault turned to a couple former players with Connecticut, where Eric would help while still in college, to get their thoughts.
“I’m like, why would he not?” said Asjha Jones, a two-time all-star and Olympic gold medalist. “He would be in drills. He was there all the time. So we kind of saw how we worked. And you trusted him.
“He was there every day, so you knew he knew what he was talking about. And he's dedicated his life to this sport. So he knew things already that it takes people years to kind of hone in on and develop.”
That’s the same line of thinking from Mystics players. Eric, who was named associate head coach four years ago, runs practices as much as Mike, if not more, and is especially hands on — participating in drills, running full-court five-on-five and doing one-on-one development with every player. He takes part in three-point shooting contests and spends pregame with a laptop on the sideline going over film with players. Twice this season, Eric had to coach regular season games with Mike unavailable.
Elena Delle Donne raves about Eric’s knowledge of X’s and O’s. Myisha Hines-Allen points to his passion, leadership and intelligence. Las Vegas Aces forward Theresa Plaisance, a coach’s kid herself, noted the sophisticated way he sees the game and said Eric sees things two and three steps ahead of the players.
“I think he does a really great job of establishing himself as Eric and not coach Thibault’s son,” said Plaisance, a Mystic in 2021.
This is a transformative period in the Thibaults’ lives. Carly is about to start her first season as a head coach. Mike and Eric are trying to maximize a championship window, as the playoffs begin next week, that started with a Finals trip in 2018 and a title in 2019. Mike, however, doesn’t want to leave the cupboard bare when he departs. Eric recently found out he’ll be a first-time father in January.
There’s a balance between being present and preparing for a future that gets closer and closer every day, but there’s no rush for Eric.
“The last thing the world needs is Mike Thibault thinking he left too soon,” Eric joked and then said in all seriousness, “It would be selfish of me to be like, ‘Oh yeah, I think about that all the time. But everybody else stay in your role, do your role.’ I’ve got to do my role for this for this team first and foremost.
“I've had a lot of support and indications that I'll hopefully be able to be here for a while. And we're treated very well. So that's it. That's pretty simple to me. I like my life in D.C.”
The years have gone about as well as could be expected as Mike was able to tutor Eric along the way. They were able to share the 2019 championship together after Eric was offered another WNBA job beforehand. The pair don’t hesitate to challenge each other and there are days when Eric may decline a dinner invitation from Nanci after spending all day with dad.
But basketball is the family business for the Thibaults and it has been good for four decades.
“When they decided to start working together, it was a family decision, really,” Nanci said. “And mine was, if it starts to wear our family life out, this isn’t going to happen. Because that’s what’s important. And they have done amazingly well.
“I mean, that’s a hard thing to do. I’ve never had to say, okay, you guys can’t do this anymore. Not once. … It hasn’t gone without its fireworks, but it has gone well.” | 2022-08-11T17:09:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Eric Thibault is in line as successor as Mystics head coach - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/eric-thibault-mystics-next-head-coach/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/eric-thibault-mystics-next-head-coach/ |
In 2016, President Barack Obama and president-elect Donald Trump talk to members of the media in the Oval Office. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
On few previous occasions has the Trump movement so embraced Stephen K. Bannon’s strategy (paraphrased here) of flooding the zone with garbage as after the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. Prominent Republicans and conservative pundits have pushed suggestions that President Biden himself ordered the search, that the FBI planted evidence and all manner of other theories — all without even the slightest hints of evidence to back these suggestions up.
But when it comes to the sheer embrace of innuendo and a concerted lack of logical consistency, it’s difficult to top the latest entry.
Over the last 24 hours, conservative media have debuted a new whataboutism defense: What about Obama? Several Fox News shows on Wednesday picked up on a New York Post column that noted Barack Obama at the end of his presidency had 30 million records shipped to Chicago for his presidential library.
“They shipped 30 million pages of sensitive and possibly classified materials to Chicago and, by the way, he has yet to return any of it to the National Archives. Not one page,” Fox host Sean Hannity intoned. “So is his house about to get raided?”
“President Obama refused to turn over presidential records; nobody raided his house,” former federal prosecutor Francey Hakes added on another Fox show.
Former Trump campaign legal adviser Harmeet Dhillon added on Jesse Watters’s show: “Are there SWAT teams descending on Chicago to get those documents? No. And so the double standard and triple standard here is very apparent.”
Watters added: “Now, Obama has got boxes of stuff in Chicago. ... But Trump is not allowed to have a love letter from little rocket man [Kim Jong Un]?”
Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were also on the case, promoting the New York Post’s story on social media. And the elder Trump was at at again Thursday.
It’s the kind of thing that sounds superficially similar to someone with no base-level knowledge of how these processes work. But it’s a ridiculous comparison wielded by people who in many cases probably know better. And you can tell that if you look closely at how it’s being portrayed.
The first thing to note is that the New York Post’s piece — an opinion column — doesn’t actually connect the dots and draw a parallel between Trump and Obama in the same way these pundits were so eager to do. It merely casts the Trump search as spotlighting alleged problems with the Presidential Records Act — the law at issue when it comes to documents Trump might have illegally stashed at Mar-a-Lago. It notes the Obama administration records that were shipped to Chicago have yet to be made available in digital form:
At the end of his presidency, Barack Obama trucked 30 million pages of his administration’s records to Chicago, promising to digitize them and eventually put them online — a move that outraged historians.
As with many issues of government transparency and document-sharing, it’s true this is not great! You often have to wait years for requested documents, and this appears to be no exception. There was also plenty of criticism of the decision to break with precedent and digitize the documents, rather than house them physically in a traditional library.
But that doesn’t mean it bears any resemblance to what prompted the Trump search. As was reported back in late 2016, the Obama team was transferring the records to Chicago through the National Archives, which legally owns the documents once a president leaves office. Once the documents ultimately reached a warehouse in Chicago, the Obama Foundation was then due to pay the National Archives and Record Administration to digitize the documents. The lengthiness of that process aside, there isn’t the faintest hint of legal violations — nor does the Post’s story suggests as much.
The faintest hint of evidence, of course, is currently surplus to requirements on many portions of the right. Hannity stated conspiratorially that “they shipped 30 million pages of sensitive and possibly classified materials to Chicago,” without noting that the “they” included the National Archives.
The implication is that perhaps Obama too is surreptitiously obscuring his sensitive documents — but without being searched. But there’s no evidence he’s hidden anything from the Archives or that he didn’t go through the processes required to share and protect those documents once they leave Washington.
That’s the crux of the matter with Trump: the Archives has said on the record that it previously retrieved 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago that should have been turned over to it but weren’t, and The Washington Post has reported some of those documents were labeled classified and even “top secret.” The search this week was geared toward other documents that should have been turned over, but that the government believed to still be in Trump’s possession. There is a difference between having government documents and having government documents that you for some reason didn’t disclose to the Archives and/or perhaps aren’t sufficiently protecting.
There is actual evidence for a former president doing the latter. With the caveat that we still don’t know much about the evidence presented to obtain the search warrant, that’s the blindingly obvious reason why one ex-president was searched while the other wasn’t. | 2022-08-11T17:28:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Fox News and Trump baselessly invoke Obama to criticize Mar-a-Lago search - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/fox-trump-maralago-search-obama/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/fox-trump-maralago-search-obama/ |
Asked about threats to the FBI, Scalise claims without evidence that agents went ‘rogue’
House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) listens during a panel at the America First Policy Institute in Washington on July 26. (Sarah Silbiger/Reuters)
From the very first moments after news broke that the FBI had searched former president Donald Trump’s home in Florida, Trump and his allies cast the FBI, the Justice Department and anyone else believed to be involved as acting out of a dishonest, political motivation. Trump had spent years stoking distrust of the FBI in large part to distract from consideration of his own actions, and that effort rapidly bore fruit.
There’s a demonstrated risk to elevating the idea that Trump is the target of nefarious plotting by his opponents, however politically useful that narrative might be. We saw this on Jan. 6, 2021, certainly, when months of dishonest claims by Trump about an effort to block his reelection culminated in a furious mob storming the U.S. Capitol.
And, in the days since news of the FBI search emerged, there have been similar rumblings. Increased threats against Attorney General Merrick Garland. Against the FBI. Targeting the judge who signed the search warrant. More broadly, a flurry of violent discussion among pro-Trump groups online. Jan. 6 occurred because that anger was given a crystallizing time and place, but that doesn’t mean that isolated incidents of violence aren’t possible.
Yet when asked about the toxic climate the FBI is facing during a Fox News interview on Thursday morning, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) chose not to condemn it but to rationalize it.
Scalise was being interviewed by the hosts of “Fox & Friends,” a show that is not known for its interest in holding Republicans’ feet to the fire. But on this occasion, host Steve Doocy did.
“The FBI, with 35,000 members, now they apparently are receiving — a lot of specific field agents are receiving specific death threats because there are a number of people online and elsewhere who are demonizing the FBI,” Doocy said. He pointed to anti-FBI rhetoric from members of Scalise’s caucus, such as Reps. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
“I’m just curious,” Doocy continued: “Whatever happened to the Republican Party backing the blue, and in particular the 35,000 members of law enforcement, federal law enforcement at the FBI?”
The question is clear: Given the rhetoric and the threats, how is the GOP demonstrating its support for those law enforcement officers? Scalise’s response was probably unsatisfying for any officers who might have been watching.
“Frankly, we’re very strong supporters of law enforcement,” he said, “and it concerns everybody if you see some agents go rogue and if you see an agency that doesn’t have the right checks and balances at the top. This is coming from the top.”
Doocy couldn’t abide that response.
“Steve, who went rogue?” he pressed. “They were following a search warrant!”
“We want to find that out,” Scalise replied. “We want to find that out.” He then pivoted to criticism of Garland.
Outside of the context of the threats, this is a remarkable response. Scalise claims that FBI agents are going rogue and, when asked who did, says that Republicans aim to find out. This is known as “begging the question.”
But it should be considered in the context of those threats. Typically, an established Republican politician would offer his sympathies to those law enforcement officials who were being targeted even if he then transitioned to his political point. Scalise didn’t, instead simply claiming that the GOP are “strong supporters of law enforcement.” This divide between “law enforcement” and “the FBI” has been particularly important this week, with the former often excluding the latter.
When members of the Supreme Court faced threats after the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Scalise was among Republicans who criticized that response. In fact, he did so on “Fox & Friends,” calling for House Democrats to bring to a vote legislation protecting justices. (They did so; it became law.)
“Any kind of federal judges are not, by law, allowed to be threatened that way,” Scalise said then, “and yet the Justice Department won’t take action. They need to. This is a real concern.”
The difference is obvious: who’s making the threats. Threats against Supreme Court justices and protests at their houses (violating a legal statute and spurring Scalise’s excoriation of the Justice Department) came from advocates of abortion access, largely on the left. Threats against the FBI and those involved in the Mar-a-Lago search are coming from the right. From Scalise’s base. And just as Republicans spent weeks playing along with Trump’s false claims about the election after November 2020, Republicans are now playing along with his insistence that the search is necessarily partisan and illegitimate.
On Thursday, an armed man tried to breach an FBI field office in Cincinnati before engaging in a confrontation with agents. It remains to be seen if it is connected to the idea that the FBI acted inappropriately at Mar-a-Lago. | 2022-08-11T17:28:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Asked about threats to the FBI, Scalise claims without evidence that agents went ‘rogue’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/trump-fbi-search-scalise-republicans/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/trump-fbi-search-scalise-republicans/ |
Man fatally shot while installing solar panels in Southeast D.C.
A police spokesman said a shooter walked up and fired multiple rounds. A motive for the killing is not known.
A 25-year-old Baltimore man installing solar panels at homes in Southeast Washington was fatally shot Wednesday afternoon at a job site, according to D.C. police.
Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck said investigators do not know a motive for the killing. He said it appears “a shooter walked up and fired multiple rounds,” and that detectives were trying to determine if there was a prior confrontation or dispute. No description of an assailant was available.
Police identified the victim as Aryeh Wolf, and said he lives in Northwest Baltimore. A woman who answered the phone at his address said the family did not wish to speak publicly. Sternbeck said Wolf had been working in that area for several weeks.
The shooting occurred around 3:40 p.m. in the 5100 block of Call Place SE in the Marshall Heights neighborhood. The street is lined with apartments on one side and single-family homes on the other, and is near a street in D.C. that has struggled with gun violence.
Delia Houseal, who chairs the area’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission, said she had not learned details of the shooting. But she said recent burglaries and robberies have been a cause for concern, and have left her asking, “Why am I afraid?”
D.C. police are also investigating a shooting that occurred Tuesday in the 100 block of Irvington Street SW, in the Bellevue neighborhood at the District’s far southern tip.
Police said Brian Buxton, 20, of Fort Washington, Md., was shot around 4:50 p.m., and died Wednesday at a hospital. No further details were made available.
Authorities also have identified a woman who was fatally shot in Southeast Washington around 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, along with a man who police believe killed her. The man was found a few hours later, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
Police said they believe Steven Dreher, 65, of Southeast Washington, shot Leslie Simpson, 52, also of Southeast, in a parking lot in the 200 block of Savannah Street SE. Police said the two had been previously in a relationship.
About 11:30 a.m., police said Dreher was found dead in a vehicle at a rest stop along Interstate 95 in Laurel, Md.
Police said the motive for the shooting appeared to a domestic dispute, but they provided no other details.
So far this year, D.C. has had 132 homicides, according to police statistics, a 12 percent increase over this time in 2021. | 2022-08-11T17:37:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Man fatally shot while installing solar panels in Southeast D.C. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/man-killed-installing-solar-panels/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/man-killed-installing-solar-panels/ |
Pipework at the gas receiving station of the halted Nord Stream 2 project, on the site of a former nuclear power plant, in Lubmin, Germany, on April 5. (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg)
Energiewende is the stereotypically polysyllabic moniker Germany came up with for its ambitious national policy aimed at reducing carbon emissions 65 percent by 2030 compared with 1990 levels, and 88 percent by 2040. Roughly translatable into English as “energy transformation,” the Energiewende has already cost Germany many billions of dollars; cumulative investment in renewables is on course to hit $580 billion by 2025. Germany has made significant progress, with 2021 emissions 38.7 percent below 1990 levels. And yet the Germans have made everything harder for themselves by pursuing a carbon-free future without resorting to nuclear power. In fact, a key aspect of the Energiewende is a total phaseout of this zero-carbon energy source by the end of this year. Never wise, this policy has been exposed as an outright disaster by the war in Ukraine and resulting abandonment of the fuel that was supposed to take nuclear’s place during the broader transition: Russian natural gas.
For its own sake and for the sake of the broader European economy, Germany must reverse course and retain nuclear power. As an initial step, that would mean keeping its last three remaining reactors, which still produce about 6 percent of the country’s total electricity, in operation past Dec. 31. Then Berlin must find ways to increase its nuclear energy capability, which in March 2011 consisted of 17 reactors, producing one-quarter of all German electric power. That was when the government then led by Chancellor Angela Merkel — reversing a promise on which she campaigned in 2009 — decided to zero out the reactors by 2022 in overreaction to a public panic over the Fukushima accident in Japan. As that sequence of events suggests, Germans’ attitudes toward nuclear power have been unusually and irrationally anxious toward this technology, which in their country has by and large compiled an excellent safety record. The Green Party, a key member of the current coalition government, grew out of the anti-nuclear movement in the 1970s.
Sebastian Mallaby: Germany is finally acting like Europe’s major power
For all those reasons, it will be difficult for Berlin to do what is right and necessary now. Fortunately, a new trend in German public opinion seems to be making it politically possible. A July poll found that 70 percent of Germans favor keeping the nuclear plants in operation for at least some time past Dec. 31. An August survey found that only 15 percent support completing the phaseout this year, with 41 percent supporting an extension “for some months” and 41 percent favoring “long-term” continuation. This creates an opening for Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat; he recently said that extending operation of the last three nuclear plants “might make sense,” pending a “stress test” of the facilities. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threw Europe into crisis, Mr. Scholz has shown a tendency to oscillate between bold policy departures — he promised to boost German military spending — and reversion to caution; he slow-walked weapons shipments to Ukraine. On nuclear energy policy, the times call for Mr. Scholz to get back in touch with his bold side. | 2022-08-11T18:03:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Germany must keep — and expand — nuclear power - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/germany-nuclear-power-emissions/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/germany-nuclear-power-emissions/ |
It was bound to happen. Following the launch a few weeks ago of some exchange-traded funds focusing on a single stock, one issuer has come up with single-bond ETFs. These three new funds will hold either the benchmark three-month US Treasury bill, two-year US Treasury note or 10-year US Treasury note. I described single-stock ETFS as financial mutants that benefit nobody, but single-bond ETFs are a surprisingly good idea. In fact, I’m a bit shocked that nobody thought of it until now.
The primary benefit of these funds as I see it is that they give both retail and institutional investors a way to easily trade in Treasury securities, which is revolutionary. Bonds are complicated, which is why a lot of people - including hedge funds - don’t trade them. It’s a lot easier to buy shares of something that trades on an exchange and not deal with the institutional-sized lots, coupon payments and messy cash flows associated with fixed-income assets. Taking a single bond and putting it into an ETF wrapper solves these problems for investors. It’s not hyperbole to say the implications are huge, and that these funds have the potential to disrupt the ETF industry as well as futures exchanges.
Even for the biggest institutions, let alone retail investors, there is no easy way to buy a specific Treasury note or bond. To do so would entail opening an account on the government’s TreasuryDirect platform and buying odd lots of bonds directly from the Treasury Department at auction, which you would then have to hold to maturity. You could also gain exposure by purchasing bond futures, but then you are dealing with margin issues, basis risk (the spread between cash bonds and futures) and figuring out the cheapest-to-deliver bond. Another option is to buy an open-end, intermediate-term Treasury mutual fund, but unlike with an ETF you would only have “liquidity” at the end of each day when mutual fund prices are updated.
In recent years, the most popular way to gain exposure to the Treasury market was through the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF. But the ETF holds a portfolio of bonds across a range of maturities, from 20 to 30 years. As such, the characteristics of the ETF change over time, which sort of diminishes the safety and predictability aspect of owning government bonds. In other words, for all the interest in the iShares ETF, with millions of shares and hundreds of thousands of related options contracts traded, it is a portfolio with risk that is not constant. The new 10-year ETF is designed to track the performance of the ICE BofA Current 10-Year US Treasury Index, which simply rolls the on-the-run bond from one issue to the next.
Even so, it’s unlikely these funds will be used as a long-term investment vehicle, but rather as a trading vehicle. But as the iShares 20+ ETF has proven, having grown to $25 billion in assets, being a trading vehicle can be lucrative for the issuer. The new 10-year Treasury ETF charges a fee of just 15 basis points, which is on the low side for a “trading” ETF, but matches the fee charged by the iShares ETF. And I’m sure that options tied to the new ETF will be listed, which should help it steal market share from the iShares ETF and others like it. That will encourage other ETF issuers to come up with similar products.
I would characterize this as a positive financial innovation; in the world of ETFs, there are much worse. The iShares bond products have built up a great deal of credibility over time, and one of their attractions is that you can trade long-dated options on them, which you can’t do with bond futures. These new single-bond ETFs will be one of the more successful product launches of the year.
• Single-Stock Levered ETFs Are Financial Mutants: Jared Dillian
• Funds Are Turning Unexpectedly Sour on Gold: David Fickling
• Commodities Never Belonged in Your Portfolio: Jonathan Levin | 2022-08-11T18:38:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Single-Bond ETFs Solve Some Key Investing Problems - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/single-bond-etfs-solve-some-key-investing-problems/2022/08/11/d8e44a94-1997-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/single-bond-etfs-solve-some-key-investing-problems/2022/08/11/d8e44a94-1997-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
Many locations have seen their driest summer on record as rivers dwindle to a trickle
Cows graze in a dry pasture during a drought in Rancourt, France. on Thursday. (Pascal Rossignol/Reuters)
Thousands of people have died in Europe this summer from historic heat waves that have fueled massive wildfires. The weather has been far from normal — and even a casual observer cannot help but notice that something is amiss. Yet, as temperatures spike and flames scorch parched landscape, there’s an even more widespread and potentially disastrous climate-fueled hazard wreaking havoc on the continent: extreme drought.
According to the European Drought Observatory, nearly half of Europe is under “warning” conditions, which connote a severe drought and a major soil moisture deficit. An additional 17 percent of Europe has reached the threshold at which vegetation suffers, in some cases dying out or thinning.
The map above shows widespread exceptionally dry conditions over Western and Central Europe, shaded in brown. The colors are from satellites that have detected considerably less evaporation in the brown-shaded regions, meaning there’s little groundwater available to evaporate in the first place.
During July, southern parts of Britain, including London, received only 10 to 20 percent of their average rainfall, and in some cases next to nothing. London picked up barely a millimeter of rainfall (0.04 inches), compared to an average of 45 millimeters (1.77 inches).
Britain’s Meteorological, or Met, Office confirmed that it was southern England’s driest July on record and the driest July countrywide since 1935.
Météo-France, the nation’s meteorological service, issued a bulletin stating that the country had experienced its driest July on record, with total precipitation about 85 percent below average.
Amid the drought, water shortages have become prevalent in Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands. Some major rivers — such as the Rhine in Germany — are becoming precariously shallow. Reuters reports that freight shipping costs on the Rhine have more than quintupled, and many larger vessels have been reduced to carrying only 30 to 40 percent of their capacity. Otherwise, they risk running aground.
The Rhine is Germany’s main artery for shipping, and any disruptions will have ripple effects on the whole of Europe. According to Reuters, some economists fear that Germany’s GDP could drop by half a percentage point because of the shipping hurdles.
A similar hydrological issue has been causing problems in Italy, where the Po River is facing what the prime minister described as the “most serious water crisis in 70 years.” In early July, Italy declared an emergency in five of the most heavily affected regions. About 17 million people, nearly 30 percent of Italy’s population, live in the river’s basin.
About 41 percent of the Po River basin is used for agriculture, which sustains 3.1 million head of cattle (half the country’s stock) and 6 million pigs (nearly two-thirds of the national stock), according to data published by the European Commission. The drought has reduced crop yields by 30 percent in Italy, slashing what’s already a lackluster harvest since farmers planted less because of rising costs stemming from the war in Ukraine.
In addition to shrinking reservoirs, the lack of rainfall and blistering heat are helping bolster wildfire risk across Europe. A new wildfire formed near Bordeaux, France, on Thursday afternoon, prompting 10,000 residents to evacuate. The BBC reported that 1,000 firefighters were actively involved in combating the blaze, which is one of many to crop up across France and the Iberian Peninsula since early July.
The drought is both a cause and effect of the extremely hot summer that has plagued Europe so far. July was the continent’s sixth-warmest on record; June was the second-warmest.
It’s well-established that human-caused climate change is amplifying the intensity, frequency and duration of heat events and is also exacerbating the severity and impacts of drought. The U.K. Met Office announced that mid-July’s record-shattering heat wave, during which over 40 weather stations soared past the United Kingdom’s previous all-time record high temperature, was made about 10 times more likely to reach that magnitude because of climate change. | 2022-08-11T18:38:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Extreme drought is gripping Europe, intensifying heat and fueling fire - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/11/europe-drought-heatwave-fires-climate/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/11/europe-drought-heatwave-fires-climate/ |
Braden Wallake wanted to be honest about the tough parts of being a CEO. Many online called the post ‘tone deaf.’
HyperSocial CEO Braden Wallake (Braden Wallake)
But Wallake, the 32-year-old chief executive of HyperSocial, a marketing start-up, had just laid off employees for the first time, he said in an interview with The Washington Post. He had tried to avoid making his small team smaller. He had cut his paycheck and made other business adjustments. In the end, though, he had decided to let two of his 17 employees go.
“This will be the most vulnerable thing I’ll ever share,” he began, in a long post paired with a photo of himself with tears visible. Wallake wanted to own his mistakes, he said, and reach out to other business owners who might be “feeling the pain” behind their tough decisions. He wanted them to feel less alone.
“I just want people to see,” he wrote, “that not every CEO out there is cold-hearted and doesn’t care when he/she have to lay people off.”
The post quickly went viral on LinkedIn and beyond, as many accused Wallake of being insensitive and “cringe.” With more than 68,000 workers in tech laid off so far in 2022, many read Wallake’s post as privileging the chief executive’s pain over that of the employees being let go.
“This does comes across as tone-deaf, self indulgent and a tad inauthentic,” one commenter said. “Maybe you could have made the post about the people your decisions have impacted, rather than about yourself?”
“If my boss had posted a picture of themselves crying about having to lay me off with zero apologies I would be [angry],” said another.
“Thank you for having shared that and having restored my faith in the business world again,” one DM read.
“When I see this post — I see a guy who is literally just trying his best,” said one commenter. “This guy cares about his employees — he decided to process some of this online. Could he have tagged the employees and said how great they were — sure, but did he expect this post to blow up like this? Probably not.”
Wallake did not. Once he realized what was happening, he reached out to the two employees affected to show them the post and let them know that it wasn’t meant to make his “tough journey” seem worse than theirs. He shared about the job opportunities the post was already generating. Both are still taking time to think about their next steps, he said.
As cracks form in the economy, tech start-ups have been among the first and hardest hit, with widespread layoffs wracking the industry in recent months. The industry has served as a sort of canary in the coal mine for slowing growth, with executives such as Tesla’s Elon Musk and Google’s Sundar Pichai among early voices of recession fears.
Other executives have made headlines for their approach to layoffs. Vishal Garg, chief executive of online mortgage company Better.com, sparked ire after he laid off 900 employees in December in a Zoom call lasting less than three minutes.
“If you’re on this call, you’re part of the unlucky group that’s being laid off,” Garg announced over Zoom, according to reporting from National Mortgage Professional. “Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.”
Days later, Garg penned a letter apologizing to his staff, acknowledging he had “embarrassed” them.
“I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution,” Garg wrote. “I realize that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse.”
Wallake said he knows that the public has an image of wealthy executives that “are doing layoffs just to pad their own pockets.” He lives in a van with his girlfriend, who is also his business partner, and their dog, Roscoe. In his LinkedIn profile, he notes that he’s a “5x college dropout.”
In some ways, Wallake said, his post was meant to push back against the idea that chief executives are supposed to “be brave.”
“Being a business owner and letting people go, I know it’s not fun on the other end,” he continued, “but we’re human, too, and we feel like we’re losing a friend.” | 2022-08-11T18:59:51Z | www.washingtonpost.com | This CEO posted a picture of himself crying over layoffs on LinkedIn. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/crying-ceo-linkedin-layoffs-recession/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/11/crying-ceo-linkedin-layoffs-recession/ |
Wizards unveil throwback uniforms to mark 25 years since they ditched Bullets
(Courtesy of the Wizards)
To celebrate 25 years since they dropped their Bullets name, the Washington Wizards will wear white, blue and bronze uniforms like the ones they debuted in 1997 for select games this season.
After his good friend, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated at a Tel Aviv peace rally on Nov. 4, 1995, then-Wizards owner Abe Pollin announced the team he purchased in 1964 and moved to Washington from Baltimore nine years later was in search of a new name. A seven-person panel pared nearly 3,000 different fan suggestions down to 13, from which five finalists were selected. After a fan vote, Pollin announced Wizards, his personal favorite, as the winning name on Feb. 22, 1996.
“If we stick around long enough, we all change,” General Manager Wes Unseld said when the Wizards unveiled their new logo and color scheme in May 1997.
Out was the red, white and blue color scheme the Bullets had worn since 1974, including when Unseld helped them to their last NBA title as a player in 1978. In were white, blue and bronze. (I can still remember how excited I was to receive a replica Rod Strickland Wizards jersey for Christmas in 1997.)
Washington failed to make the playoffs in its first seven seasons as the Wizards, despite Michael Jordan ending his career in D.C. They qualified for the postseason — but never advanced past the second round — in each of the next four seasons under Coach Eddie Jordan, with players such as Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler leading the way.
John Wall wore the Wizards’ white, blue and bronze uniform as a rookie in 2010. In 2011, the team rebranded again and reverted to a red, white and blue color scheme. Bradley Beal was drafted the following year.
CLASSICs 🪄 pic.twitter.com/5ySy7Y4oD3
There were design elements from the original Wizards jerseys in the “Moments Mixtape” City Edition uniforms the team wore last year, but the throwbacks unveiled Thursday mark the return of the original Wizards color scheme for the first since 2010. The team also announced that the Capital One Arena court will look like it did from 1997 through 2010 when the Wizards wear their throwbacks this season. In March, Washington unveiled the cherry blossom-themed alternates it will wear for select games this year.
As part of their 25th anniversary celebration, the Wizards will donate 25 percent of all Washington Bullets apparel sales at Capital One Arena to the D.C.-based community group Alliance of Concerned Men. The Wizards will raise awareness about gun violence and encourage fans to wear orange at a game to be announced. During the franchise’s name change, fans could vote on the five finalists via a 1-900 number, with the proceeds from each $1 call going to the team’s anti-violence campaign.
What to read on the Washington Wizards
Beal gets the max: The 29-year-old guard agreed to a maximum contract that will cement him as the cornerstone of the franchise. Only in Washington do NBA stars get $251 million participation trophies, writes Candace Buckner.
Wes Unseld’s first season: Players praised the coach’s even keel. But the defense was still bad.
Offseason needs: Securing Bradley Beal’s future is at the top of the organization’s to-do list. Finding a permanent solution at point guard is No. 2 on the Wizards’ offseason checklist.
Candace Buckner: Forget the excuses about lineup disruption, chemistry issues brought on by the massive trade-deadline makeover and Bradley Beal’s season-ending injury. The Wizards took a step back this year.
Peace for Kristaps Porzingis: The big man called Washington the “perfect place” to help him reach his career goal because of the Wizards’ mix of young and veteran players.
Kyle Kuzma’s fashion game: What started as a desire to look sharp became part of his identity when he was drafted with the 27th pick in 2017 and he moved to Los Angeles.
Read more on the Wizards | 2022-08-11T19:34:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Wizards dumped Bullets name 25 years ago; throwback uniforms unveiled - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/washington-wizards-throwbacks/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/washington-wizards-throwbacks/ |
Some commuters at Grand Central Terminal in New York City during July 2022 chose to wear masks while others did not. Masks will not be required soon as part of a loosening of federal restrictions.(Hilary Swift For The Washington Post)
No longer do schools and other institutions need to screen apparently healthy students and employees as a matter of course. The CDC is putting less emphasis on social distancing. Its quarantine rule for unvaccinated people is gone. The agency’s focus now is on highly vulnerable populations, and how to protect them — not on the vast majority of people who at this point have some immunity against the virus and are unlikely to become severely ill.
CDC officials have repeatedly pointed to greater protection against the virus because of high levels of vaccine- and infection-induced immunity in the country, coupled with the rollout of effective treatments that have reduced severe illness. A report released Thursday by the agency explaining the guidance revisions said the more favorable circumstances allow public health officials to focus on “sustainable measures to further reduce medically significant illness as well as to minimize strain on the health care system, while reducing barriers to social, educational, and economic activity.”
As part of the changes, the agency is also dropping its recommendation that people be screened or tested for covid in most settings. That change is likely to affect policies in workplaces, schools and day-care centers.
“I think the question is, is the CDC finally saying, ‘Look, we’ve done what we can do to contain the most acute phases of this pandemic,’ ” said Jeanne Marrazzo, an infectious-diseases expert and clinician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “So are they just finally saying that it is time for us to sort of take a step back and think about putting this back to the individual person?”
“The pandemic is in a very different spot” than it was last year, said David M. Aronoff, an infectious-disease expert and physician at Indiana University. “We know the majority of Americans have some immunity to SARS-CoV-2, either because they’re immunized by a vaccine or immunized by an infection.”
“The vaccines remain protective against severe illness, but the combination of variants and waning [immunity] have eroded their protection against infection,” Rivers wrote in an email. But, she added, “I feel strongly that people who are exposed should wear a mask and test between Days 5 and 7 to avoid infecting others.”
The new guidance says people who have access to antigen tests and who choose to use them to determine when they can discontinue masking should wait to take the first test until at least Day 6 and they are fever-free for more than 24 hours without medicine. Test again in 48 hours, the new guidance states. Two antigen tests with more than 48 hours between them provides “more reliable information because of improved test sensitivity,” the guidance said. People should have two consecutive negative tests to discontinue masking, the guidance said.
A University of Massachusetts research study, posted online but not yet published in a peer-reviewed journal, has spurred the government to embrace serial testing. The study showed that two rapid antigen tests conducted 48 hours apart were sensitive to 93 percent of the infections detected independently by the much-more accurate PCR tests during the initial week of infection. But a single rapid test caught only 60 percent of infections among symptomatic people on the day they came up positive on the more sensitive PCR test, according to the study’s lead author, Apurv Soni, director of the program in digital medicine at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School.
Even so, CDC is not making major changes in it recommendation for people who are recovering from covid and want to know when they can exit isolation. That guidance says patients can end isolation five days after their first day of symptoms, so long as their symptoms have improved and they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without fever-reducing medication. The CDC encourages people who become very sick or have weakened immune systems to isolate for 10 days.
In the coming days, the agency plans to consolidate hundreds of websites related to its covid response, each with different messages on testing, ventilation and masking in different setting. | 2022-08-11T19:43:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | CDC loosens coronavirus guidance, signaling strategic shift - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/11/cdc-coronavirus-recommendations/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/11/cdc-coronavirus-recommendations/ |
D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
As local and federal officials argue over who bears the responsibility for aiding thousands of migrants bused by the governors of Texas and Arizona to the nation’s capital — a gesture of Republican disdain for President Biden’s immigration policies that has led to a humanitarian crisis in D.C. — D.C.'s attorney general vowed to spend up to $150,000 aiding the migrants over the next two months.
Karl A. Racine (D), who as attorney general is elected independently from the mayor and has control over his office’s spending, on Thursday announced a program of grants for nonprofits that are helping the migrants.
Racine said he would offer grants of up to $50,000 per organization, for a total of up to $150,000, to nonprofits that can demonstrate their plans to aid migrants and then show how many migrants they assist.
Mutual aid networks of volunteers have said that they are spending thousands of dollars in donated funds daily to help the people arriving on buses — who number more than 7,000 since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began sending buses in April and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey followed suit the next month. The volunteers have spent donated money on meals for migrants who have had nothing but granola bars on the bus trip; Uber rides to hospitals for migrants who arrive sick; and shoes, medicine and other immediate needs.
D.C. lawmakers ask Bowser to direct resources to aid migrants from Texas
Aid group SAMU First Response has also taken responsibility for meeting about half of the buses as they arrive, operating with a $1 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Volunteer organizers have criticized Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) for not applying for larger grants from FEMA that would fund the city in setting up a local-government-run response center for the migrants.
Bowser has argued that the situation calls for a federal response, not a local one. She requested National Guard assistance; the Biden administration denied her request last week. Bowser said she will ask again. | 2022-08-11T20:00:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. attorney general starts grant program to aid migrants from Texas, Arizona - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/dc-migrants-grants-attorney-general/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/dc-migrants-grants-attorney-general/ |
She and her quartet were an international phenomenon in the 1960s. Her admirers included Elton John, who once said she had ‘the purest voice in popular music.’
Singer Judith Durham in 1965 with other members of the Seekers. From left are Keith Potger, Athol Guy and Bruce Woodley. (AP)
A classically trained singer and pianist, Judith Durham had always been more interested in jazz than folk music. But at age 19, while working as a secretary at an advertising firm in Melbourne, Australia, and trying to launch a recording career on the side, she was invited by a colleague to sing with his folk-pop trio, the Seekers. She soon found herself onstage at the Treble Clef bar and cafe, harmonizing with the band on folk songs like “Down by the Riverside” and “Banks of the Ohio.”
As Ms. Durham told it, she was never officially invited to join the group. But in 1964, a little more than a year after she started sitting in with the musicians, they asked if she “wanted to go overseas.” The group had been hired to sing on an ocean liner bound for England. It seemed like a nice adventure, she thought, so she put her jazz ambitions on hold and tagged along with her three singing friends.
The voyage propelled Ms. Durham and the band to the top of the pop charts and, somewhat to her dismay, the center of swinging London. Soon after the Seekers arrived in England, they were discovered by a promoter and ushered into a recording studio, where Ms. Durham’s luminous soprano elevated songs like “I’ll Never Find Another You,” “The Carnival Is Over” and “Georgy Girl.” “I was shy,” she told a reporter decades later, “but when I sang I felt really empowered.”
Her death, on Aug. 5 at age 79, silenced what Elton John once described as “the purest voice in popular music,” which Ms. Durham unleashed in songs by the Seekers and later in her own decades-long career as a solo artist. The cause was complications from a chronic lung disease, according to a statement from Universal Music Australia and the record label Musicoast, which said she died in palliative care after being hospitalized in Melbourne.
For a few years in the mid-1960s, the Seekers were an international phenomenon, rivaling the Beatles in popularity and selling more than 50 million records. With their powerful harmonies and wistful lyrics about love and romance, the group was a gentle alternative to rock bands like the Rolling Stones and the Who. Folksier than most pop acts, poppier than most folk groups, they cultivated a clean-cut image that stood out in swinging London, where Ms. Durham avoided the club scene and spurned psychedelic prints in favor of more traditional A-line skirts.
Although she was dwarfed by her bandmates (she stood 5-foot-2), she emerged as the group’s focal point, winning over audiences with “her vulnerability and lack of pretension,” wrote culture critic Clive Davis, reviewing one of the band’s 1996 reunion concerts for the Times of London. “Shy and even gauche at times, Durham shares Barbara Dickson’s reserve, as well as her purity of diction,” he added. “She wants us to know that it is the song that matters, not the star.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Ms. Durham “a national treasure and an Australian icon,” saying in a tweet after her death that she “gave voice to a new strand of our identity and helped blaze a trail for a new generation of Aussie artists.”
In England, the Seekers linked up with songwriter and producer Tom Springfield, the brother of English singer Dusty Springfield, climbing to the top of the British and Australian pop charts with their 1964 single “I’ll Never Find Another You,” which reached No. 4 in the United States. In 1966, they had their biggest American hit with “Georgy Girl,” the upbeat title song for a British film starring Lynn Redgrave, Alan Bates and James Mason. The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, behind only “I’m a Believer” by the Monkees, and was nominated for an Academy Award.
“When I saw that sea of people,” Ms. Durham recalled, according to the Melbourne Herald Sun, “I almost died of fright.”
Although she usually seemed serene during performances, Ms. Durham said she had battled anxiety and self-doubt since she was a teenager. “I was a very complex-ridden, worried, self-conscious and tense person,” she told the Daily Mail in 1996. “I found my world with the Seekers superficial and single-track. I enjoyed singing, but I felt like a bird in a cage.” She left the band in 1968 to focus on her own music, releasing solo albums and embarking on a spiritual journey that led her to meditate two hours a day. She often spoke about her belief in reincarnation and “the law of karma.”
“I don’t push my beliefs down people’s throats,” she said in a 1994 interview with the Age, a Melbourne daily. “That side of things can be over-commercialized and cheapened if it becomes too transparent. [But] I can’t imagine what it must be like to go on in life not believing what I believe. It gives me a purpose and a direction in life, and that is my life’s focus.”
Judith Mavis Cock was born in Essendon, a Melbourne suburb, on July 3, 1943. Her father was a military aviator during World War II who later worked as a sales manager for an electrical company. Her mother struggled with asthma — Ms. Durham was also sickly as a child, diagnosed with the lung condition bronchiectasis — but often joined in family gatherings around the piano, where Ms. Durham and her older sister sang Bing Crosby songs and other pop standards.
Ms. Durham started taking piano lessons at age 6 and later studied at Ruyton, a girls’ day school near Melbourne. She was working at the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency when she met Athol Guy, an account executive who played the double bass and invited her to sit in with the Seekers. The group also included his former high school classmates Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley, who both sang and played guitar. By then, Ms. Durham had started performing using her mother’s maiden name.
In 1969, she married Ron Edgeworth, a British pianist and musical director. They performed together in small theaters and cabarets before settling in Queensland, in northeastern Australia. In 1990, they were in a car that collided head-on with another vehicle near Melbourne. The driver of the other car was killed, and Ms. Durham was hospitalized for several months with leg, arm and collarbone fractures.
Ms. Durham said the car crash spurred a reckoning with her own mortality, and inspired her to reunite with her old bandmates in the Seekers, who had previously performed in her absence with singers including Julie Anthony and Karen Knowles.
“I regard everything that happens to me as part of my destiny,” Ms. Durham told the Daily Mail. “I always try to look for the best in things. It’s something Ron and I based our lives upon and, when difficult events came along, our belief in reincarnation made it easier for us.” Survivors include her sister, Beverley Sheehan, a fellow singer.
Ms. Durham continued to perform with the Seekers over the next two decades, touring across Australia and Europe. She and her bandmates were appointed Officers of the Order of Australia in 2014, the year after she suffered a stroke that affected her ability to read and write but not to sing. She felt a sense of responsibility, she said, “to give people joy” through music.
“As time has gone on, the music seemed to be very valuable,” she told the Age in 1997, looking back on her earlier hits with the Seekers. “Today’s music seems to lead to a lot of depression. … There is something about the harmonies of the Seekers. It seems to be infectious.” | 2022-08-11T20:05:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Judith Durham, Australian pop star who sang with the Seekers, dies at 79 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/11/australian-singer-judith-durham-dead/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/11/australian-singer-judith-durham-dead/ |
By targeting Bolton, the regime is signaling that its recklessness knows no bounds. And the former NSA chief may not even have been the IRGC’s top target: According to the Justice Department, Poursafi let it be known he would pay $1 million for another hit, presumably against someone of even higher profile. The State Department recently told Congress that it is paying to protect former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his point man on Iran, Brian Hook, both of whom face “serious and credible” threats from Tehran. | 2022-08-11T20:09:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Bolton Plot Should Be a Warning on Iran Nuclear Talks - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/bolton-plot-should-be-a-warning-on-iran-nuclear-talks/2022/08/11/ec317f9e-19a7-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/bolton-plot-should-be-a-warning-on-iran-nuclear-talks/2022/08/11/ec317f9e-19a7-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
Here’s how extreme the D.C.-area rainstorm was Wednesday night
Around 3 inches fell in an hour in some locations.
Rainfall totals around the Washington region on Wednesday. (NWS)
The deluge in the D.C.-area on Wednesday night flooded roads and triggered traffic gridlock, with high water levels even stranding motorists — some needing rescue — and entering homes and businesses. Many areas saw an extreme of between 1 and 3 inches of rain in an hour.
The most exceptional rainfall reports concentrated in the zone around Bladensburg and New Carrollton in Prince George’s County, where about 3 inches poured down in an hour.
That hourly rainfall has a return interval of around 100 years according to National Weather Service data. In other words, that amount of rain has a one percent chance of happening in that area any given year. Another way to think about it is that such a 100-year rainstorm has a slightly greater than 1 in 4 chance of occurring within the term of a 30-year mortgage.
The concept of a thousand-year rainstorm is legitimate but limited. Here’s what you should understand about it.
It’s not a coincidence that there were multiple reports of flooding in the zone where these extreme rainfall rates occurred.
Near Bladensburg, the Weather Service reported that the northeast branch of the Anacostia River rose more than 7.5 feet in an hour. Along Kenilworth Avenue at Riverdale Road, a number of lanes were blocked by high water.
Video of a water rescue in Prince George’s county. One person fell in the rising water. 201 N.
Kennelworth Avenue #flooded #weather #flashflooding #washingtondc #fox5dc @fox5dc pic.twitter.com/Yxuw75GFe7
Just to the east, closer to New Carrollton, the Weather Service reported multiple water rescues were required between Lanham and Glen Dale.
Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department tweeted Thursday that it responded to 71 water rescue calls during the storm.
As storms rolled through Prince George’s County yesterday, the men & women of the #PGFD completed 71 Water Rescue calls between the hours of 2 and 8pm. Several occupants of vehicles & 2 residents of a multi-family dwelling were assisted to safety by career & volunteer personnel. pic.twitter.com/TcKUXFrVwv
All told, the Weather Service received more than two dozen reports of flooding.
Prince George’s County was hardest hit, but substantial flooding also affected other areas. In Virginia, high water flooded roads between Vienna and Reston as well as in Alexandria — especially around Old Town.
Flooding was also reported in eastern portions of the District. Video of water several feet high up against the door of District Dog, a pet day-care center, along Rhode Island Avenue in northeast Washington went viral.
The owner of @dcdistrictdogs in NE says this is the 3rd time this new business has flooded in the last 3 weeks! Employees had to rush to move about 50 dogs to the back area after a few inches of water made it inside 1/2 pic.twitter.com/rK8Uh7bxch
The downpour in the D.C. area on Wednesday joins several other notable rain events in the last two weeks. Even more extreme, thousand-year rainstorms occurred in St. Louis, eastern Kentucky, southern Illinois and Death Valley, Calif. There was also an exceptional and deadly flooding event earlier this week in Seoul.
The torrents in the Washington region were set off by a slow-moving cold front as it clashed with a very hot, humid air mass. Precipitable water, an indicator of atmospheric moisture, was estimated up to 2.25 and 2.65 inches Wednesday evening between Alexandria and central Prince George’s County. Such levels are near records for the time of year.
Now that the front has passed, much cooler and drier air is settling into the D.C. region.
The most intense precipitation events around the world are increasing because of human-caused climate change. A warmer atmosphere is capable of holding more moisture and producing heavier rainfall.
The U.S. government’s National Climate Assessment documented a 55 percent increase in the heaviest precipitation events in the Northeast between 1958 and 2016.
Heavy rain swept through the D.C. area on Aug. 10, causing manhole explosions and blocked roads. (Video: The Washington Post) | 2022-08-11T20:09:58Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Flooding rainstorm that hit D.C. area Wednesday evening was extreme - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/11/dc-maryland-flood-extreme-rain/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/11/dc-maryland-flood-extreme-rain/ |
A man walks past a closed McDonald's restaurant in central Kyiv, Ukraine. The fast-food chain plans to reopen a select number of restaurants in the capital and in western Ukraine. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)
More than a month after Ukraine’s foreign minister urged McDonald’s to jump-start its operations in the battle-scarred country, the fast-food giant announced that it will begin to reopen some of its 109 restaurants, despite the ongoing war and serious disruptions to the company’s supply chain.
In a company memo, Paul Pomroy, corporate senior vice president of international operated markets, said McDonald’s would reopen restaurants in Kyiv, the capital, and in western Ukraine, where “other businesses have safely reopened.”
“Over the next few months, we will begin working with suppliers to get product to restaurants, making the physical properties ready to serve customers, bringing restaurant teams and employees back on-site, and implementing enhanced procedures and protocols to support the safety of our people and customers,” Pomroy wrote in the memo.
In leaving Russia, McDonald’s dismantles a 30-year relationship
It’s unclear how many restaurants will reopen and how many employees will go back to work. A spokesman for McDonald’s declined to provide any more information.
McDonald’s had closed all of its restaurants in Ukraine on Feb. 24, when Russia invaded the country. Amid public pressure, McDonald’s also temporarily shut down its 850 restaurants in Russia, including the Moscow location that took years to open and became a symbol of a new era in Soviet-Western relations. Unlike some other chains, McDonald’s had the ability to act unilaterally in closing its restaurants in Russia and Ukraine. The company owns all 109 locations in Ukraine and more than 80 percent in Russia, according to a company financial document.
McDonald’s has continued to pay the salaries of more than 10,000 employees in Ukraine, Pomroy noted in his memo. In May, McDonald’s sold its entire Russian portfolio to a franchisee, Alexander Govor, who has rebranded the restaurants. In June, Govor opened 50 locations in and around Moscow under the name Vkusno i Tochka, which translates to “Tasty and that’s it,” a reference to the Russian slogan for Mickey D’s: fun and tasty.
The Russian rebrand was reportedly a major hit, despite a limited menu. An executive with the new Russian company said they sold nearly 120,000 burgers on the first day. But the Russian relaunch eventually ran into trouble with its supply of potatoes, which executives reportedly blamed on a poor harvest in Russia and international sanctions that have disrupted imports. French fries and wedges are apparently off the menu at Vkusno i Tochka until the fall.
Russia is building a ‘fun and tasty’ McDonald’s replacement
The supply chain appears to be a concern for McDonald’s, too, as it reenters the Ukrainian market. A Ukrainian news outlet reported that, among other things, McDonald’s “sauces are supplied by the Chumak plant in Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast, which is not operating at the moment.” A restaurant consultant told the New Voice of Ukraine that McDonald’s may have to find different suppliers for ingredients.
Yet the supply chain challenges didn’t stop Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, from urging McDonald’s to return to the country, whose economy has been devastated by the war. The World Bank has estimated that Ukraine’s economy will shrink by 45 percent this year.
Reopening Mickey D’s locations in Ukraine “was also mentioned with our official contacts with the U.S. government, because McDonald’s is one of the most famous American brands. The process is underway,” Kuleba said in June, according to the New Voice of Ukraine.
De-arched former Moscow McDonald’s reopens without Big Macs
In his memo, Pomroy acknowledged that Ukrainian officials told McDonald’s that resuming operations would support the country’s economy and people.
But Pomroy also added: “We’ve spoken extensively to our employees who have expressed a strong desire to return to work and see our restaurants in Ukraine reopen, where it is safe and responsible to do so. In recent months, the belief that this would support a small but important sense of normalcy has grown stronger.”
One Ukrainian restaurateur told the New Voice that McDonald’s decision to reopen was as much a political decision as a business one.
It was a “good signal that the civilized world supports Ukraine,” Maxim Khramov, co-owner of the Pastateca chain, told the news outlet. “McDonald’s is more than just food — it’s an indicator that shows the attitude of the international community towards our country.” | 2022-08-11T20:10:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | McDonald's to reopen some restaurants in Ukraine - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/08/11/mcdonalds-reopens-ukraine/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/08/11/mcdonalds-reopens-ukraine/ |
The Washington Post unveils a #BringAustinHome banner on the exterior of The Post's headquarters on Aug. 9, in Washington, D.C. (Maansi Srivastava/The Washington Post)
After a decade of no progress, it was encouraging to see President Biden’s confident assertion on Wednesday about our abducted colleague, journalist Austin Tice. “We know with certainty that he has been held by the Government of Syria,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. Tice, who was detained and disappeared 10 years ago this weekend while covering the Syrian civil war. Mr. Biden didn’t say when it was known, or how. Syria has not acknowledged holding him.
But if Mr. Tice is being held by Syria, that may indicate he is alive, and there is a prospect of negotiating his release with a government — even one as brutal as the regime led by Bashar al-Assad — as opposed to a shadowy armed group. We share Mr. Biden’s commitment to keep attention focused on Mr. Tice, who the president said “put the truth above himself and traveled to Syria to show the world the real cost of war.”
A former Marine captain, Mr. Tice wrote for The Post and McClatchy newspapers. He was planning to depart Syria for Lebanon on Aug. 14, 2012. He got into a taxi but never made it to the border. Five weeks later, a video emerged that showed an unidentified group of armed men holding him. The title of the video was “Austin Tice is Alive.” But no one has ever claimed responsibility for the hostage taking, nor made demands for his release.
Over the decade-long nightmare that followed, Mr. Tice’s parents, Debra and Marc Tice, have been indefatigable in pressing for his release, including a valiant but ultimately fruitless attempt by his mother to engage with Syrian officials in Damascus. President Donald Trump in March 2020 sent a letter to the Syrian government proposing “direct dialogue” about the case. Two U.S. diplomats were sent to Syria that August in an attempt by Mr. Trump to get some traction. Nothing has worked, so far.
The New York Times reported last year that during the Obama administration the CIA obtained a Syrian document indicating its government had been holding Mr. Tice. It was described as a type of judicial form, possibly showing a prisoner or arrest number. This may be what is behind Mr. Biden’s certainty.
Mr. Biden should directly ask Syria’s leader for proof that Mr. Tice is alive. There has been only silence for too long. If proof of life is forthcoming, initiating some high-level U.S. communication with Damascus about the case would be appropriate — Mr. Trump already opened the door to that. Mr. Biden can reaffirm that he is personally engaged, if that helps. In general, making concessions for hostages only encourages more such barbaric behavior. But after so many years, it couldn’t hurt to have a discussion with Syria and ask: What do they have to gain by holding Mr. Tice for another day? He is a journalist and noncombatant. On strictly humanitarian grounds, it is time for him to walk free. | 2022-08-11T20:11:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Syria must free Austin Tice - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/austin-tice-syria-freedom/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/austin-tice-syria-freedom/ |
Was the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago justified? Only the documents know.
Authorities stand outside Mar-a-Lago, the residence of former president Donald Trump, in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9. (Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
The FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago has created a logical tension at the center of American political life. An attorney general known for prudence and the restoration of norms has acted in bold and unprecedented fashion. If the FBI has been used as an instrument of political harassment — as some Republican leaders allege, without evidence — then former judge Merrick Garland has become Mr. Hyde. Or, in the typically restrained Republican translation, a Nazi.
Some Republicans have gone even further. Further, one might ask, than accusations of reviving the Third Reich? Yes, at least in practical effect. The likely next speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), has promised to use his office to persecute Garland, no matter what the justification for the search may turn out to be.
“I’ve seen enough,” said McCarthy, who has actually seen nothing of the reasoning behind an FBI action approved by a federal judge. “The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization,” he continued, in the process of pledging the weaponized politicization of congressional oversight. He then threatened, with all the ferocity that a craven, weaselly Trump lickspittle can muster: “Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar.”
But while McCarthy’s behavior is typically smarmy, Garland’s untypical behavior requires explanation.
It is possible that a stickler for the rules such as Garland is offended by Trump’s complete indifference to the rules of presidential document preservation. When I was a White House staffer, careful document retention was SOP, under the control of the staff secretary. (One of the staff secretaries I worked with was Brett M. Kavanaugh, who was always thorough and meticulous.) The material covered by the Presidential Records Act included documents that went to or came from the president, but also documents that passed between staffers. This wide net was designed to preserve an accurate historical record. It also had the effect of helping ensure an orderly, deliberative process.
But enforcement depended, in part, on the norms held and implemented by the president and his senior staff. We know Trump’s view of this process by the fact that a small staff was charged with reconstituting — with clear adhesive tape — documents that the president had “preserved” by ripping them up and throwing them on the floor.
We should hardly expect a president who openly defied constitutional norms to carefully respect document-preservation norms. Which means that the body of documents thrown into boxes, kept in Trump’s basement and gathered by the FBI, could contain anything.
What they contain, however, matters greatly. The protection of former presidents from unjustified legal harassment is also a norm, and an important one. If the material obtained by the FBI contained the third draft of the annual turkey pardon remarks, or even classified material on a coup in Ruritania, Trump would be in the wrong, but Garland would not necessarily be in the right. The likely violations of laws related to the preservation of presidential documents and the handling of classified materials would not be sufficient to order a search on a former president’s home. More important, it would be hard to imagine Garland thinking they would be sufficient.
How could the FBI know that the material it was likely to find in a search would be relevant to some ongoing criminal investigation? From document-handling processes at the Trump White House that indicated gaps? From an informant within the Trump White House when the material was taken? From someone at Mar-a-Lago with knowledge of the boxes’ contents? | 2022-08-11T20:11:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Was the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago justified? The documents know. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/mar-a-lago-fbi-search-presidential-records-act-documents/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/mar-a-lago-fbi-search-presidential-records-act-documents/ |
Even when it’s clear and sunny at your departure airport, bad weather many miles away can wreak havoc
On the clearest day, it can still happen to you: the dreaded alert that says your flight is delayed due to … weather?
Wait, what? How? Why?
“It’s really frustrating when you go to the airport, and it’s beautiful there, but your plane’s coming from some place where it’s not so great,” said Martin Dresner, a professor at the University of Maryland’s R.H. Smith School of Business who studies air transport policy.
In that case, you can blame storms wherever the plane is coming from, or even in between the two cities, which could force a plane to reroute around the system and spend more time in the air.
The no-cloud-in-sight delay is just one maddening example of how bad weather — especially unpredictable, powerful summer storms — can wreak havoc on your travel plans. One day of bad weather can trigger a domino effect that takes days to resolve. It’s a familiar story this summer, exacerbated by high demand and inadequate staffing as airlines recover from the pandemic.
On Wednesday, a day when the Federal Aviation Administration warned of storm activity from the D.C. area to Fort Worth, more than 1,200 U.S. flights were canceled and more than 7,400 delayed. Between Aug. 4 until Monday, travelers dealt with 4,000 canceled flights and thousands more delayed.
Last weekend and during earlier major disruptions in late May and mid-June, airlines pointed at weather as a factor. Summer storms typically develop in the afternoon, making flights later in the day more vulnerable to disruption than those early in the morning.
Even in normal times, experts say, air travel is a carefully choreographed dance.
“In order to maximize utilization of planes … essentially what airlines do is create these fairly tight schedules,” said Lavanya Marla, an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who studies air travel disruption. Planes and crew might be expected at multiple airports in a day, and passengers might have complicated itineraries that don’t leave much wiggle room.
“There’s a sequence in which the plan happens,” Marla said.
Now throw a weather wrench in the mix.
If there are storms with lightning in the vicinity of the airport, ramp operations have to stop in order to protect outdoor workers who might be vulnerable to lightning strikes, said Robert W. Mann, an airline industry analyst and consultant. He said airlines also don’t want planes to take off into a line of thunderstorms over concerns about turbulence.
In an explanation of summer travel issues from 2019, Delta Air Lines said the FAA might also issue delays or stops to “temporarily halt movement in and out of … airports when disruptive weather moves in.” That would keep new flights from landing or planes from departing.
Delta said pilots might also be directed to route around intense storm systems, which might extend high into the atmosphere, since they can’t safely fly over them. That can make a flight last longer, contributing to delays.
Winter storms are no picnic either, with less lightning but more de-icing and anti-icing activity.
Kathleen Giblin, a spokeswoman for United Airlines who also has worked in operations, said the issues can mount at the airport experiencing the bad weather.
“If planes can’t get off of the gate, other planes can’t get into the gate,” she said. So even if someone’s flight is supposed to be next, “your plane can’t get into that gate because the one before it can’t get off, because the ramp crew can’t get out there and move it.”
If bad weather affects flights at an airport that isn’t one of an airline’s bases, they might not have a spare plane or extra crew to swap in to get passengers on their way. That can lead to a domino effect of multiple flights being delayed or canceled.
As all of these situations unfold, crews are running out of time to be on duty for the day under their contracts or FAA requirements — even if their flights haven’t taken off.
Mann said airlines have to find crew to take those new assignments, but if they can’t find eligible volunteers, that might force cancellations, too.
Dresner, chair of the Air Transport Research Society, said it can take a few days to reposition planes and crew back to where they’re supposed to be in cases of serious disruption. And then there are the desperate travelers to consider.
“Because the airlines are operating at fairly close to capacity, you have to fit in the passengers somewhere,” he said. “It’s difficult to reschedule the passengers if you don’t have available seats.” | 2022-08-11T20:12:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why bad weather can delay or cancel flights - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/08/11/weather-flight-cancellations-delays-airlines/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/08/11/weather-flight-cancellations-delays-airlines/ |
Maven CEO on providing women’s health-care services post-Roe
Maven Clinic is one of the largest U.S.-based telehealth platforms to provide services focused on women’s health. Join Washington Post Live on Tuesday, Aug. 16 at 11:00 a.m. ET for a conversation with Maven Clinic founder and CEO Kate Ryder about providing women’s health-care services post-Roe, how technology has changed the health-care landscape and how the company adapted during the pandemic.
Kate Ryder
Founder & CEO, Maven Clinic | 2022-08-11T20:12:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Maven CEO on providing women’s health-care services post-Roe - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/08/16/maven-ceo-providing-womens-health-care-services-post-roe/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/08/16/maven-ceo-providing-womens-health-care-services-post-roe/ |
Suzan Haidamous
Security forces gather outside a bank in Beirut on Aug. 11. (Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images)
BEIRUT — An armed man took hostages at a bank branch in Beirut on Thursday, quickly becoming a folk hero for a tired and angry nation.
A man identified as Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein entered the Federal Bank of Lebanon in the Hamra neighborhood with a can of gasoline, threatening to set himself on fire if he couldn’t access the money in his account, amounting to around $210,000. He later brandished a rifle, leading to hours of tense hostage negotiations.
As the day wore on, a crowd gathered outside the bank to cheer him on. “Give him his money, give him his money,” they shouted in unison, pressing up against a line of soldiers.
The incident reflected a deep frustration in Lebanon over an ever-worsening economic crisis. Since 2019, there have been ad hoc limits on the amount of hard currency depositors can withdraw, an effort to avoid a run on the banks and a collapse of the financial system. The policy has led to waves of nationwide protests, calling for the abolishing of the country’s dynastic political class and an end to endemic corruption.
But the country has only sunk deeper into economic malaise, with the pound losing more than 20 times its value since 2019. The World Food Programme estimates 46 percent of Lebanese households don’t have enough to eat.
Al-Sheikh Hussein burst into the bank saying he needed the money in his account to pay his father’s medical bills, a claim later corroborated by his brother. Banks currently allow depositors to take out a maximum of $400 per month.
Chamoun’s late father and her mother were both bank employees. Her mother retired two years before the crisis hit, and she watched as their life savings was locked away in an institution she had worked at for more than 40 years.
“What’s more insulting is that this is happening to someone who, for her whole life, worked in a bank,” Chamoun said.
Hassan Moghnieh, the head of the Association of Depositors in Lebanon, who also served as a mediator in the negotiations, said the gunman took eight hostages: six employees, the bank branch manager and one customer. He rejected the bank’s offers of $5,000, $10,000 and $30,000, finally accepting $35,000 be given to his brother in exchange for turning himself in and releasing the hostages.
After a nearly seven-hour standoff, Al-Sheikh Hussein was escorted out into a white van. Some clapped for him, others cheered. It was unclear what, if any, criminal charges he might face.
Although elections in May ushered in new independent candidates that sparked hope in the country, the government is still largely ruled by the same families and parties that fought each other during a 15-year civil war that ended in 1990.
Haidamous reported from Washington. | 2022-08-11T21:14:55Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A man took hostages at a bank in Lebanon. Crowds came to support him. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/man-took-hostages-bank-lebanon-crowds-came-support-him/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/man-took-hostages-bank-lebanon-crowds-came-support-him/ |
Ex-Va. police officer gets more than 7 years for role in Jan. 6 riot
Sentence for former Rocky Mount officer Thomas Robertson matches highest punishment for a Capitol riot defendant so far
Thomas Robertson, right, and Jacob Fracker, then officers in the Rocky Mount Police Department, inside the Capitol. (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)
A Virginia police officer who prosecutors say lied about his actions before, during and after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, including his military service and his marriage, was sentenced Thursday to 87 months in prison.
Thomas Robertson and Jacob Fracker were members of the police department in the small western Virginia town of Rocky Mount when they joined the mob that stormed the Capitol. Both have since been fired.
“You were not some bystander who just got swept up in the crowd,” Judge Christopher R. Cooper said at Robertson’s sentencing Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington. “It really seems as though you think of partisan politics as war and that you continue to believe these conspiracy theories.”
Robertson, 49, was found guilty by a jury earlier this year of six crimes, including using a large wooden stick to block police outside the Capitol and destroying his phone when he got home. Fracker, who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge, testified at the trial.
Cooper said Robertson’s case was similar to that of Guy Reffitt, a member of the far-right anti-government militia group Three Percenters, who confronted an officer outside the Capitol with a gun. Reffitt was sentenced to 87 months in prison by a different judge.
At his sentencing, Robertson depicted his actions on Jan. 6 as an aberration in the life of a respected member of a law-abiding and respectable community. The government’s filings suggest he became radicalized under the influence of those around him, including the chief of a small neighboring police department and a retired FBI agent.
The agent produced a text conversation from March 2021, in which Robertson told Deacon, “I can kill every agent that they send for at least two weeks” and that he was “prepared to die in battle.” Deacon replied that Robertson should “be smart, pick battles, plan logistics, very carefully recruit and hope its not going to come down to it … we need a place to go … remote, defensible, water, very rugged terrain.”
Cooper said he found it particularly “disturbing” that Robertson made those comments after law enforcement officers were critically injured at the Capitol.
In an interview, Deacon said he was telling Robertson to recruit “friends” for “whatever inevitable things may happen … a flood or a hurricane,” or in the “extremely unlikely” event that “the government is overthrown by others from outside.”
Deacon retired last year as chief of police in Boones Mill, Va., near Rocky Mount. (When he was promoted in 2013, he said he was also the only officer on the force; there have been as many as seven.)
Another man described as a retired FBI agent went to the Capitol with Robertson and Fracker but did not go inside, according to the court records. That man, who could not be reached for comment, called the Capitol Police “cowards” who “will be on their knees before us” in text messages to Robertson, records said.
Fracker is set to be sentenced on Tuesday.
In his letter to the court, Fracker said he had been labeled a “rat,” a “snitch” and a “back stabber” by community members for testifying against Robertson. “It really is just heart breaking,” he said.
Robertson was a mentor to him and a “once valued father figure,” Fracker wrote.
A video from the Jan. 6 hearing on June 9 used multiple sources, including security and body camera footage, to walk viewers through the attack on the Capitol. (Video: The Washington Post)
At least two dozen people with past or current law enforcement affiliations are charged with criminal involvement in the Jan. 6 attack. Michael German, a former FBI agent who has studied far-right radicalization of police at NYU Law School’s Brennan Center for Justice, said the bureau is in “continuing denial” about the problem.
“Law enforcement has a lot of power to harm people,” he said. “Why don’t we see an aggressive project designed to protect the public?”
In a statement from the FBI, a spokeswoman said: “We cannot and do not investigate ideology. The FBI investigates when someone crosses the line from expressing beliefs to violating federal law.”
Robertson’s letter to the court explained his angry social media posts before the riot as a product of alcohol abuse and isolation while his wife was working in New York.
“I was … all alone at home,” he wrote. “I sat around at night drinking too much and reacting to articles and sites given to me by Facebook algorithms.”
However, an FBI agent wrote that Robertson’s wife went to New York after Jan. 6, not before, and that Robertson appeared to be having an extramarital affair while she was gone. Moreover, the agent said that if Robertson was drunk when he wrote the messages on Facebook that he would meet Joe Biden’s victory with violence, he was either drinking on a police shift or just before one.
At his sentencing, Robertson blamed Fracker for destroying their phones after the riot, something prosecutors noted is contradicted by both trial testimony and text evidence.
“Truth has no meaning to this defendant,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi said in court. “He’ll say whatever he thinks he needs to say to get out of a situation.”
Robertson also misled the court, Rocky Mount police, journalists and friends about his military achievements, according to the FBI. He has indicated in various interviews and conversations that he trained as an Army sniper, Ranger and parachutist in the 1990s; served as an infantryman, sniper and sergeant when he reenlisted in the 2000s; and received a Bronze Star and was awarded a Purple Heart after an injury.
The FBI agent said that Robertson was discharged three weeks into basic training in 1991 for “lack of motivation”; he reenlisted in 2006 but served only as a military police officer and had no apparent training for any other specialty. He spent about eight months in Iraq with the Virginia National Guard and then went to Afghanistan as a contractor in 2011. He was injured there, but contractors are not eligible for the Purple Heart. The agent also said that Robertson exaggerated his recovery time.
The agent suggested that Robertson may have committed a crime with those falsehoods, under a law that prohibits using “stolen valor” for material benefit.
Defense attorney Mark Rollins said that while Robertson “may have boasted about his background” and “made some clear mistakes,” he served his country and community in ways that cannot be faked. “He has always served his fellow man,” Rollins said. “He’s bled for this country.”
Robertson was released after his arrest in January 2021 but was jailed months later after going on what Cooper described as a “remarkable shopping spree for high-powered assault weapons” while becoming “further radicalized.” Robertson could be charged with illegal firearm possession, the judge noted. | 2022-08-11T21:32:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Rocky Mount officer Thomas Robertson sentenced to over 7 years in Jan. 6 riot - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/robertson-jan6-sentence-rocky-mount-police/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/robertson-jan6-sentence-rocky-mount-police/ |
Commanders QB Carson Wentz and the rest of the team's healthy starters will see 15 to 20 reps in Saturday's preseason opener. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
The Commanders did not have any joint practices with other teams this year. Practicing only against teammates, though helpful, can be tedious and often difficult when players begin to see the same thing again and again. So Saturday’s game (a 1 p.m. kick) will be the first gauge of how close this team may be — and what holes are still obvious.
“What would be really good — it was the last thing we worked on today — is I’d love to see Sam get a two-minute at the end of the game. … He’s still got a lot to learn, but consistency is what you’re looking for,” Rivera said. “Hoping he has some success, hoping he controls things and is consistent with his ball placement when he throws it.”
“There are multiple types of winning punts,” Way said. “But when [special teams coordinator] Nate Kaczor showed up, he really helped me hone … my ability to not tip the returner on which way I’m punting.”
“I stole from a couple of punters across the league,” Way said. “Johnny Hekker … he had this ability a few years back that nobody had ever really seen, where he’d stand in this one spot, and he’d punt it all over the field from there.
“Brett Kern was the punter for the AFC in the Pro Bowl the year I went [2019], and I stole the way he drops the ball like a golfer, and you play a cut shot, like, inside out. And literally, on his jersey he asked me to sign, I said, ‘Hey, Brett. Thanks for your drop. I stole it and made the Pro Bowl.'”
Terry McLaurin is Washington’s most beloved player since Sean Taylor
“He’s kind of trying to feel things out and get a feel for what he wants to do,” Rivera said. “… It’s interesting because both Chase and Sweat gravitate to him, and they spend a lot of time talking. It’s kind of good to watch. Somebody who has a tremendous amount of knowledge and vast experience like his, I think it’s good to have him around.” | 2022-08-11T21:36:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Commanders QB Carson Wentz, healthy starters to play 15-20 snaps vs. Panthers - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/carson-wentz-commanders-preseason-snaps/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/08/11/carson-wentz-commanders-preseason-snaps/ |
Mary Rodgers’s memoir weighs in on her famous dad and Stephen Sondheim
Rodgers died in 2014, but she had worked on her memoir with critic Jesse Green
Review by Wendy Smith
Mary Rodgers with lyricist Marshall Barer, left, and director-producer Hal Prince in 1960. (Rodgers-Beaty-Guettel family)
Mary Rodgers (1931-2014) had a modestly successful career in musical theater (“Once Upon a Mattress” was her one big hit as a composer) and became a best-selling author in 1972 with “Freaky Friday,” a young adult novel about a mother and daughter magically swapping bodies that spawned two movie adaptations and two sequels. By virtue of being Richard Rodgers’s daughter and Stephen Sondheim’s close friend, she was a privileged, as well as astute, observer of pivotal moments in the American musical theater from “Oklahoma” to “Company” and beyond. The “beyond” included her son Adam Guettel, yet another composer in the family, who won a Tony Award in 2005 for the score of “Light in the Piazza.” That show was also nominated for best musical, and before they announced the winner, Adam leaned over to say, “I love you, Mom.” To which Rodgers replied, “It’s gonna be Spamalot.”
That less-than-maternal response is characteristic of the smart, tart voice that animates Rodgers’s autobiography, crafted from three years of free-ranging conversations with New York Times theater critic Jesse Green. When Green showed her the opening pages he had drafted, he recalls, she had two comments: “Make it funnier” and “Make it meaner.” Rodgers was known for her sharp wit, and Green seems to have pulled very few of her verbal punches. The account of her relationship with Sondheim is so wincingly intimate in some details that you have to wonder if Green (or the publisher) thought it would be better to wait until Sondheim was no longer around to read it, a suspicion reinforced by the fact that “Shy” is being published eight years after Rodgers’s death and less than nine months after Sondheim’s.
Blunt candor is a Rodgers operating principle, beginning with what she has to say about her parents. Looking at a photograph of her father smiling fondly at her 3-year-old self, she wonders, “Where did that nice man go?” Hypercritical Daddy disliked her broad smile, winced at her loud laugh and frequently told her she was fat, Rodgers remembers. As for Mummy, she “wouldn’t get down on her knees to play with us because she’d then have to send her pants to be pressed.” It makes sense that Rodgers proposed titling her memoir “What Do You Really Think?” (Green confides this in one of the footnotes that form a lively running counterpoint to her first-person narrative.) She gleefully skewers frenemies like playwright Arthur Laurents, and she’s equally forthright (if less nasty) about lifelong friends like producer-director Hal Prince, to whom she was “practically engaged” when he was an ambitious undergraduate. “Daddy may even have been my main selling point,” she muses. “Hal was born clasping a list of people he wanted to meet.”
“Shy” lives up to its “alarmingly outspoken” subtitle but rarely seems mean-spirited, thanks to Rodgers’s sense of humor, clever way with words and refusal to indulge in self-pity. A woman whose good work as a composer was overshadowed by the titanic gifts of her father and best friend could easily feel bitter, but Rodgers calmly insists, “I’m happy with what I achieved.” And she gives a matter-of-fact account of an average theater artist’s life: a few hits, plenty of flops, workaday stints writing for television and movies. She explains her move into children’s books with similar pragmatism: “I wanted creative occupation, I needed to make money.”
As for her personal life, readers will quickly grasp that she survived a miserable childhood by learning to view those around her, and herself, with tolerant acceptance. She concludes about her father that “everything loving about him came out in [his music], and there was no point looking anywhere else.” Of her mother, whose dedication to being the Great Man’s perfect wife sparked Rodgers’s determination to have a career of her own, she says: “I began to understand — and even, to my surprise, envy — the way she turned her dependency into immense, steely competence.”
Rodgers’s abusive first husband, a closeted gay man, gets sympathy as a fellow misfit within the confines of traditional marriage: “We both did better with time, finding more honest ways to live. [I have] long since forgiven him, as I had to forgive myself.”
Did she forgive Sondheim? He was “the love of my life,” she admits, and for a brief, excruciating period after her divorce, he tried to love her the way she loved him. It was Rodgers who finally said, “This isn’t working,” and settled for devoted friendship. The pain is still evident each time she speaks of their relationship, but it’s countered by her recollections of a happy, enduring second marriage and her five children — of whom she remarks, characteristically, “Why they love me, I’ll never know.”
A guess is that they loved her because she was fun, a word Rodgers uses repeatedly. Having fun was her way of insisting that life’s sorrows would never kill her zest for life’s pleasures. Her tenacious capacity for joy is affirmed in the dazzling smile her father deplored, which radiates from nearly every photo in “Shy.” Rodgers’s delightfully gossipy tell-all is also a frank, thoughtful chronicle of one woman’s journey through experience to understanding — and a lot of fun to read.
Wendy Smith is the author of “Real Life Drama: The Group Theatre and America, 1931-1940.”
The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers | 2022-08-11T21:41:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Shy by Mary Rodgers and Jesse Green book review - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/08/11/mary-rodgers-memoir-sondheim-review/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/08/11/mary-rodgers-memoir-sondheim-review/ |
Everyone’s got to live a little. An effective politician who wants to change the world can’t be all Main Street, no Wall Street.
President Xi Jinping’s corruption crackdown on China’s sprawling financial sector seems only to be accelerating, reaching the upper levels at some of the biggest state-owned institutions. In fact, the scope has been so wide and the punishments so severe that any bureaucrat in charge of a bank, a brokerage, or an insurance unit should fear possible jail time.
But the recent corruption scandal at a $20 billion venture capital fund, which served as Beijing’s primary vehicle to foster its domestic chip-manufacturing industry, raises questions as to whether Xi’s methods to rein in his financiers are too severe, and if his anti-corruption campaign is deterring officials taking bribes at all.
To encourage good governance, the Big Fund’s stakeholders — the Ministry of Finance and China Development Bank Capital — wouldn’t be involved in daily operations. Professional managers would be hired to make investment decisions, with the fund serving as a passive investor in its portfolio companies.
But because of inferior pay, the fund struggled to attract talent, drawing top management from the system. Ding Wenwu, former president of the fund, had worked at the state agency responsible for designing the nation’s industrial policies. Lu Jun, who was in charge of investment decisions, built his career at China Development Bank. As a result, the fund’s corporate culture resembled that of the government; entrenched interests resulted in bad investments. Both senior executives are now under investigation.
In an economy where the government retains outsized influence, power can easily lead to corruption. As such, severe punishments — including death sentences — have been deemed as necessary to prevent officials from crossing the line.
Good pay, too, can be a useful tool to steer bureaucrats away from easy temptation. And yet contrary to well-run places such as Hong Kong and Singapore, where officials are more highly remunerated, China started a war on bankers’ compensation instead.
State-owned investment banks including China International Capital Corp. and Citic Securities Co. have implemented pay cuts up to 60%, even though the businesses remain solid. The trend has spread to commercial banking, where remuneration is much lower. This week, Ping An Bank Co. reportedly slashed some retail bankers’ bonuses by 40%.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Finance set new pay parameters. Base salaries for senior executives at state-owned units should be capped at 35% of their total package, with over 40% of their bonus to be deferred for at least three years. It was Beijing’s way of spurring bureaucrats into action, while curbing excessive risk-taking.
There’s not a lot of options for cashing out in the post-government revolving door either. These days, officials who retire or resign from their posts can’t work in related industries for at least three years. Getting a job in think tanks became the way for many to supplement their income upon retirement.
While they are in office, titles matter, but many mid-level officials still have outsized influence. However, ranking become the criterion for retirement benefits. For instance, minister-level officials can work up to 65; after retirement, they can still fly business class, stay in hospital suites when they seek medical treatment, and retain a driver and personal secretary. Bureaucrats retiring at deputy levels and below, however, don’t get these perks. As a result, officials either jostle and climb the ladder as fast as possible, or find ways to monetize their power, opening doors to bribery and corruption.
Xi has preached a lot of ideology to his cadres, highlighting the importance of good governance to keep the Communist Party in power. But mere righteousness and draconian punishments are not enough. Xi has to give out some carrots too.
• A Warning From Xi Jinping to Start the Year: Shuli Ren | 2022-08-11T21:41:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Xi Jinping’s Banker Crusade Is Too Much Stick, No Carrots - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/xi-jinpings-banker-crusade-is-too-muchstick-no-carrots/2022/08/11/c4ab694a-19ba-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/xi-jinpings-banker-crusade-is-too-muchstick-no-carrots/2022/08/11/c4ab694a-19ba-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
In a first for the state, the legislation contains a provision that would allow some cities and towns to ban fossil fuel infrastructure in new and major construction projects
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) speaks to reporters on March 30, 2021, in Boston. (Steven Senne/AP)
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) on Thursday signed a major climate and clean energy bill that contains sweeping policies targeting renewables, transportation and fossil fuels — a move that lawmakers and advocates say is critical to supporting the state’s goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Baker’s decision to sign the bill, which was approved by the state legislature on July 31, comes as Congress is poised to pass its most significant piece of climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act.
Described as a “landmark bill,” the Massachusetts climate legislation notably includes a provision — the first of its kind for the state — that would allow 10 municipalities to legally ban fossil fuel infrastructure in new and major construction projects. With this policy, certain cities and towns in Massachusetts could soon join others across the country that have taken similar steps to change local building codes to block the use of fossil fuels, particularly natural gas — meaning many people who want gas stoves or furnaces are likely out of luck in these places.
The bill also has a slew of other climate-friendly policies, including: funding for offshore wind energy and electricity grid improvements, a ban prohibiting car dealerships from selling new gas or diesel-powered vehicles after 2035, and incentives for electric vehicles and appliances, among others.
“With this bill becoming law, leaders in Massachusetts of all political stripes are showing that states can take meaningful climate action,” said Ben Hellerstein, state director for Environment Massachusetts, in a statement. “This bill gives me hope that we can work together to build a future where all of us can thrive. I’m thrilled for our Commonwealth to play a key role in building a world powered by 100% clean energy.”
The battle over climate change is boiling over on the home front
But the road to Thursday’s signing hasn’t been entirely smooth.
Although Baker largely left the legislation intact after state lawmakers first sent the bill his desk in July, he responded with a 19-page document outlining preferred amendments, WBUR reported. An amended version of the bill that included some of Baker’s suggestions was sent back to him on July 31. It, however, still contained the provision to allow 10 towns and cities the ability to ban fossil fuels hookups, provided that they meet Massachusetts’ 10 percent affordable housing target — a major source of concern for Baker, who said he views the policy as “exclusionary zoning,” CommonWealth Magazine reported.
“That part of the bill gives me agita,” the governor said during a press availability Tuesday, according to CommonWealth. “One of the big decisions we have to make is whether my concerns about that particular piece, which cuts at something I think anybody would agree is a very significant problem in Massachusetts, overwhelm the rest of the good the bill does.”
In an interview with the Boston Globe on Thursday, Baker said he decided to sign largely due to other aspects of the bill, including specifics about the offshore wind policies and its efforts to advance clean energy.
“I continue to want us to be a pretty big player in that space,” Baker told the Globe, “because it’s a sustainable way to create a lot of jobs, for a very long time.”
Advocates of the legislation cheered Thursday’s development, with some defending the inclusion of the fossil-fuel provision.
“Contrary to the Governor’s misimpression, the ten town provision is a pro-housing provision — construction and operational costs of all-electric buildings are on par with or lower than the costs of fossil fueled buildings,” Lisa Cunningham, architect and co-founder of ZeroCarbonMA, a local group that has been championing a fossil fuel ban policy for several years, said in a statement. “This bill ensures that multi-family housing is fossil-fuel free, and that healthy and safe buildings are accessible to ALL residents in our communities, not just wealthy residents.” | 2022-08-11T21:41:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Massachusetts passes massive climate and clean energy bill - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/08/11/massachusetts-climate-clean-energy-bill-charlie-baker/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/08/11/massachusetts-climate-clean-energy-bill-charlie-baker/ |
Polymer80 was found to have violated city consumer protection laws by falsely claiming that the parts kits were legal to purchase in D.C.
Ghost guns recovered by D.C. police are on display during a 2020 news conference held by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), who announced new legislation, later signed into law, to ban the import of gun kits and parts. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)
D.C. has won a permanent injunction, and a $4 million judgment, against one of the largest manufacturers of unserialized ‘ghost gun’ parts, after a judge ruled that the company falsely informed consumers for years that buying the pieces to make such guns was legal in the city.
The ruling was issued Wednesday against Nevada-based Polymer80, which sells the lower frames and receivers which can be used to make a pistol or a rifle, including the parts used to make an AR-15 style rifle. Weapons constructed with such parts are called ghost guns because they don’t contain serial numbers, and so can’t be traced to an original manufacturer or seller.
D.C. mayor signs law banning ‘ghost gun’ kits from District
D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine sued Polymer80 in 2020, saying that it was operating as an unlicensed gun dealer in the District. The suit alleged that Polymer was falsely claiming that it was legal for D.C. residents to purchase “80 percent lowers,” which require some machining and additional parts to make a complete gun, or “buy build shoot” kits with all the necessary parts.
Racine argued that the partially made guns qualified as firearms under the city’s Firearm Control Regulations Act because they could be readily converted to fully functioning guns, and that Polymer80 violated the city’s consumer protection act by falsely claiming the parts or kits were legal. The lawsuit revealed that Polymer80 had sold 19 gun parts kits to D.C. residents.
Polymer80 responded that the parts themselves were not working firearms, and that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has ratified that view in its written opinions. Polymer80, and other gun rights supporters, have also noted that making a homemade gun is not illegal, so long as it isn’t possessed by someone who can’t legally have a gun, or sold without a serial number.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department submitted a new rule which would clarify that “parts kits that are readily convertible to firearms are subject to the same regulations as traditional firearms,” and would require serial numbers. That rule is scheduled to take effect later this month.
Racine filed a motion for summary judgment in the case, which was largely granted by D.C. Superior Court Judge Ebony M. Scott. “The court finds,” Scott wrote, “that Polymer80′s handgun frames, semi-automatic receivers, and Buy, Build, Shoot kits are firearms.”
On Polymer80′s website, under its “Frequently Asked Questions” section, the answer to the question whether the parts are legal was “YES! The Polymer80 G150 unit is well within the defined parameters of a ‘receiver blank’ defined by the ATF,” which the federal agency had ruled was not a gun. But Scott said that was a false representation because the G150 did not have city approval and that Polymer80 did not have certification to sell guns in the District. The judge noted that ATF’s definition was “not binding on the District.”
Scott issued a permanent injunction against Polymer80 selling its kits in the city, because of “Polymer80′s alarming belief that the sale of its firearms is now legal in the District.” She determined that Polymer80 should pay either $1,000 or $5,000 for every day it made false claims to D.C. consumers, depending on the status of D.C. law at the time, totaling $4,038,000.
“This judgment against Polymer80,” Racine said in a statement, “will help slow the flow of deadly untraceable ghost guns into our community … The more than $4 million in penalties imposed by the court in this case should send a strong message to firearm manufacturers, distributors, and dealers across the country: you cannot sell illegal guns to DC residents.” | 2022-08-11T21:41:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. wins $4 million judgment against ghost gun parts maker - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/dc-ghost-guns-polymer80-judgment/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/dc-ghost-guns-polymer80-judgment/ |
Email scammers bilked VCU out of nearly $470,000, U.S. officials say
The scammers used a fake email account to send phony billing requests to Virginia Commonwealth University, authorities allege.
Students walk around a RAMS sign at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, in 2019. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
U.S. authorities said a dual citizen from Britain and Nigeria has been extradited to face charges of defrauding Virginia Commonwealth University of nearly $470,000 through an email scam in 2018.
The Justice Department said Olabanji Egbinola, 42, and two others landed in the United States on Wednesday after Britain’s highest court denied their extradition appeals last month. Prosecutors say they attempted to defraud victims of $5 million by using fake email addresses to impersonate real vendors in North Carolina, Texas and Virginia.
Prosecutors said Egbinola controlled an email account that sent phony billing requests to Virginia Commonwealth University on behalf of Kjellstrom and Lee, a construction company that had been doing contract work for the university in Richmond.
The emails from “Rachel Moore” in fact came from an impostor account mimicking the construction company’s real domain name, according to prosecutors. After communicating with Moore over several months, VCU officials wired almost $470,000 in December 2018 to a bank account that U.S. officials said was controlled by Egbinola’s associates.
The nonstop scam economy is costing us more than just money
Almost all of the money vanished in the space of three days, officials said. Two authorized signers on the bank account that received the funds issued a flurry of checks and made several wire transfers, scattering 96 percent of the funds to 25 different entities in amounts under $10,000, prosecutors said in the extradition request. They said those transfers appeared “to have been an effort to avoid currency transaction reporting requirements.”
The university was unable to recover the bulk of the money, U.S. officials said. However, VCU recouped “a significant amount” through insurance, according to a university spokesman.
“Additional safeguards were put in place to protect against this type of fraud,” VCU spokesman Brian McNeill said.
Egbinola was charged with conspiracy counts, wire fraud and money-laundering. The most serious charges carry a maximum prison penalty of 20 years, if he were convicted. As part of the investigation, the Justice Department also charged Oludayo Kolawole John Adeagbo, 43, in North Carolina and Texas; and Donald Ikenna Echeazu, 40, in North Carolina.
How to duck spam and data breaches with throwaway numbers, email addresses and credit cards
Benjamin Beliles, a Richmond-based attorney for Egbinola, said that his client was “innocent of these charges entirely” and that the “evidence against him is entirely circumstantial.”
“He intends to hold the government to its burden, and take this case to trial as quickly as possible so that he can be exonerated,” Beliles said. “His wife and kids are in the U.K. waiting for his return, hopefully in the near future.”
An attorney for Adeagbo declined to comment.
W. Rob Heroy, an attorney for Echeazu, said his client “has pled not guilty to being a part of this scheme and looks forward to clearing his name.” Echeazu was charged alongside Adeagbo in North Carolina with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft in a similar email scam. Prosecutors say they defrauded a North Carolina university of more than $1.9 million.
Egbinola has “a history of convictions for fraud crimes” in Britain, U.S. prosecutors said in a court filing, listing convictions from 2008, 2000 and 1999.
The fake domain name was not readily traceable, because the users accessing it masked their IP addresses by using virtual private servers, the FBI said. But an FBI special agent found a way to turn the tables in 2019, according to a court filing.
“An FBI special agent sent an email containing an attached document to accounts@kjellstromleegroup.com from an account that appeared to be associated with VCU,” prosecutors said in the extradition request. “FBI investigators determined that someone accessed the email account and opened the attached document from an Internet account.”
It was registered to Egbinola’s wife in Essex, Britain — the same home where Egbinola resided, prosecutors said. | 2022-08-11T21:41:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Email scammers bilked VCU out of nearly $470,000, U.S. officials say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/vcu-email-scam-extradition/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/vcu-email-scam-extradition/ |
Rev. Carl Kabat, nuclear arms opponent with Plowshares Eight, dies at 88
The Rev. Carl Kabat talks in 2004 about his arrest in Weld County, Colo., for trespassing at a nuclear missile silo site a week earlier. (Jerry Cleveland/Denver Post/Getty Images)
The Rev. Carl Kabat, a tireless opponent of nuclear weapons whose decades of protests included damaging warhead nose cones with a group known as the Plowshares Eight that gave new focus to the disarmament movement, died Aug. 4 in San Antonio. He was 88.
The death was announced by the Oblate Madonna Residence, a senior community home affiliated with Rev. Kabat’s religious congregation, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. No cause was given.
Rev. Kabat was repeatedly jailed — spending a total of nearly 20 years in jail since the 1970s — but remained steadfast in his belief in civil disobedience and symbolic vandalism to bring attention to the threats from nuclear arsenals.
Much of his influence came from his unbending commitment to public protests, even as his health declined, and a defiant spirit with a touch of sly wit. He verbally dueled with judges in court — calling some “brother” instead of your honor — and sometimes broke into military bases dressed as a clown, an homage to Saint Paul’s admonition in Corinthians to be valiant yet humble: “We are fools for Christ.”
“You have to put yourself where your words are,” Rev. Kabat said in a 2010 interview. “Otherwise you’re just kind of like flapping your jaws.”
While assigned to an Oblate mission in Brazil from 1968 to 1973, Rev. Kabat was introduced to developing currents in religious activism through liberation theology and its emphasis on economic and social justice. A crystallizing moment for Rev. Kabat came as he contrasted the grinding poverty in parts of Brazil with the huge money spent on arms by the richest nations.
After returning to the United States, he found a home among anti-nuclear demonstrators, drawing personal inspiration from Vatican statements against the arms race and nuclear war including Pope John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical “Pacem in Terris,” or Peace on Earth.
Rev. Kabat started big. On the White House portico and outside the Pentagon in 1978, he splashed human blood, which would become a hallmark of many of his protests over the decades. In 1980, he then gained national attention as part of what became known as the Plowshares Eight, a group that entered a General Electric facility in King of Prussia, Pa., and used claw hammers to damage part of the nose cones on Minuteman missiles and pour blood on documents in the plant.
The trial became a rallying point for nuclear-disarmament movement with star defendants, antiwar clerics the Rev. Daniel Berrigan and his brother, the Rev. Philip Berrigan. The group took its name from the biblical lines of nations one day beating “swords into plowshares.”
The proceedings also were an ideological tug of war. Prosecutors tried to stick to the burglary and other charges at hand, while the Plowshares Eight sought to make the trial a question over the morality of nuclear weapons and their threats to humanity.
“Nuclear warfare is not on trial here, you are,” said an exasperated Judge Samuel Salus II. (A 1982 film, “In the King of Prussia,” starred Martin Sheen as Salus with Rev. Kabat and the other defendants playing themselves.)
The Eight were convicted and given sentences up to 10 years. (Rev. Kabat received three to 10 years.) They all appealed and were paroled in 1990 covering any previous jail time served. Meanwhile, Plowshare groups were formed around the country for anti-nuclear protests, occasionally copying Rev. Kabat’s use of blood as a vivid display of dissent.
“That first Plowshares action set off a chain reaction,” wrote Frida Berrigan, the daughter of Philip Berrigan from a relationship with a Catholic nun that led to their excommunications from the Catholic Church, though they were later reinstated.
“People are attracted to, and inspired by, the alchemic mixture of symbolic disarmament and real transformation that carries through the action, jail witness, courtroom saga and time in prison,” said her 2020 essay.
Brazil as turning point
Carl Kenneth Kabat was born Oct. 10, 1933, on a farm in Scheller, Ill., the third of five children. He began pre-med studies at the University of Illinois but never felt it was his calling, his sister, MaryAnn Radake, told the National Catholic Reporter.
He decided to leave school and follow his brother Paul to the Oblates, a global religious community founded in the early 19th century in France with a focus on helping the poor. Rev. Kabat was ordained in 1959, a year after his brother.
He was assigned to the Philippines in 1965 and then Brazil, where he came under the influence of liberation theology thinkers such as Joseph Comblin. But Rev. Kabat’s increasing outreach to the poor in Recife brought warnings from Brazil’s military dictatorship, said his sister.
He was moved back to the United States and built ties with groups such as Pax Christi USA, Amnesty International and the Catholic Worker Movement.
For many years, Rev. Kabat led a revolving-door life of protest, arrest, trial and jail — and then back against to protests. There were periods of tensions with Oblate leadership, but Rev. Kabat managed to keep his activism alive.
In 1984, he and three others, including his brother Paul, cut through a chain-link fence and used a rented jackhammer to damage the cover of a nuclear missile silo at Whiteman Air Force Base outside Knob Noster, Mo. They then sat in a circle, singing and holding hands. Rev. Kabat was sentenced to 18 years in prison and served 10.
Rev. Kabat and two others, dressed as clowns, disabled a missile silo cover in 2006 at the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, pouring their own blood on the site; Rev. Kabat was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Three years later, he cut through the fence around a Minuteman III nuclear missile silo outside Greeley, Colo. — one of several such incursions in Colorado over the years — and unfurled antiwar banners.
“I thought, ‘What a beautiful place this is except for this damnable thing in the ground that could kill 2 or 3 million people,’” he said later in a jailhouse interview with the New York Times. He was convicted and sentenced to 137 days, the time he already served behind bars.
Survivors include a sister, MaryAnn Radake of Tamaroa, Ill., and nieces and nephews.
After one of his last major protests in 2016 — splashing red paint on entry sign at the National Security Campus in Kansas City, Mo. — he appeared in Kansas City Municipal Court leaning on a cane. He had only limited vision in his right eye after complications following lens surgery while in prison years before. Still, he remained in feisty form, acting as his own attorney.
He cross-examined security guard John Falcon, the chief witnesses against him from the Honeywell-linked facility. Rev. Kabat asked if he was old enough to remember the Hiroshima atomic bombing in 1945. The prosecution objected.
Judge Katherine Emke asked if he had any more witnesses. Rev. Kabat didn’t miss a beat, reaching back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s 1961 warnings about the influence of the “military-industrial complex.”
“Yeah,” he told the judge. “Eisenhower.” | 2022-08-11T21:42:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Rev. Carl Kabat, opposed nuclear arms with Plowshares Eight, dies at 88. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/11/carl-kabat-nuclear-cleric-dies/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/08/11/carl-kabat-nuclear-cleric-dies/ |
By David A. Singleton
In this photo combination, Travis McMichael, William "Roddie" Bryan and Gregory McMichael, all convicted in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. (AP)
David A. Singleton is the executive director of the Ohio Justice & Policy Center and a professor at the Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University.
As a human being, I felt nauseated watching the video of Ahmaud Arbery being shot to death by three White men who had hunted him down as he jogged through a Brunswick, Ga., neighborhood. As a Black man, I feared that Arbery’s killers would escape justice before an almost all-White jury in a state court. And as a political progressive committed to dismantling white supremacy, I was relieved when the jury found Arbery’s killers guilty of murder.
Yet the punishments the three men received — in the state case, life in prison for William “Roddie” Bryan, who joined the pursuit of Arbery and recorded the incident with his cellphone, and life in prison without parole for Gregory McMichael and his son Travis, who fired the fatal shots; and just this week in the federal case, two more life sentences plus additional years for the McMichaels and 35 years for Bryan — left me questioning whether such lengthy sentences are what justice requires. As a former public defender who now works to end mass incarceration and the extreme sentences that contribute to it, I believe the answer is clear: No.
The United States has distinguished itself as the world’s largest incarcerator. With more than 2 million people behind bars, we lead the world in the percentage of population who are in prison. Meanwhile, the racial composition of our jails and prisons reflects our failure to achieve racial justice in this country. In Ohio, where I live and practice law, Black people make up 13 percent of the total population but approximately 45 percent of the state’s prison population. Similar patterns exist across the country.
Contrary to what many believe, mass incarceration is not the result of locking lots of people up for low-level, nonviolent crimes. According to such sentencing experts as Marc Mauer and Ashley Nellis, life and other extreme sentences are the real drivers of the 500 percent increase in the prison population over the past 40 years. In their book “The Meaning of Life: The Case for Abolishing Life Sentences,” Mauer and Nellis note that one out of seven people in prison in the United States has been sentenced to life. They say that lengthy sentences make no sense from a public safety perspective given that most people age out of committing violent crimes by their mid-20s. Additionally, continuing to imprison people long past the time when they can be safely released is expensive, especially when they are elderly.
But the economic costs of mass incarceration are not the only costs. To paraphrase Bryan Stevenson and Sister Helen Prejean, people should not be defined forever by the worst things they’ve done. But a life sentence, especially life without parole, does just that. When we keep people incarcerated who have transformed themselves behind bars, are no longer dangerous, and have the potential to be productive citizens, we all lose.
The Ohio Justice & Policy Center’s Beyond Guilt project seeks to free people excessively punished who admitted to their guilt, have typically served at least 10 years in prison, and who have demonstrated their rehabilitation and fitness to return to society. Since the project’s launch in 2019, we have obtained the release of more than 40 people, many of whom were serving life sentences for murder.
One of the first of these was Angelo Robinson, who served 22 years in prison for murder and drug trafficking. His transformation behind bars convinced us to accept his case, and the prosecutor agreed to assist us in securing his release. Today, Robinson works as a machinist at a tool factory, he is a straight-A student at the local community college, and he owns his own home. He was punished for his crime; and now he is living, breathing proof that there is much more to incarcerated people’s stories than their guilt.
So, what does this mean for the three White men who killed Arbery? Under their current sentences, the McMichaels will die in prison, while Bryan, who is 52, won’t even be considered for release until he is 82. The system that imposed those sentences is the same system that sentences Black people such as Robinson to extreme punishment. It is a system we should work to reform.
If we are to end mass incarceration, state and federal authorities must eliminate such draconian punishment and enact laws that allow judges to revisit sentences based on the incarcerated person’s demonstrated rehabilitation and fitness to live in society. Meanwhile, although I am relieved that Arbery’s murderers are being held accountable, I hope they will someday be released — after they have served an appropriate period of their sentences and demonstrated their fitness to return to society. | 2022-08-11T21:42:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Ahmaud Arbery's killers received extreme sentences - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/arbery-killers-sentences-extreme/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/arbery-killers-sentences-extreme/ |
A freshman at Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento, Calif., wears his mask as he works on a math worksheet on June 6. (Hector Amezcua/AP)
The newly released CDC guidance that eases covid-19 precautions in schools has it mostly right: At this point in the pandemic, the emphasis must shift from universal mandates to individual decisions to minimize the disruption of in-person learning.
Previous guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was appropriate for the last school year, but it is out of step with the situation today. It referenced social distancing and separating kids into cohorts, which posed practical difficulties for many schools. It urged masking at schools in communities with high levels of covid transmission, which is the case for more than 40 percent of the United States.
Masks and distancing are mitigation measures that were needed before vaccines became widely available for school-age children. That’s no longer the case. Everyone 6 months and older can be vaccinated, and those 5 years old and above can be boosted. Moreover, the vast majority of children have been exposed to covid. A CDC study found that as of February 3 out of 4 kids have had the coronavirus. That was before the BA.2 and BA.5 omicron subvariants became the dominant strains. By now, most children, and most of the general population, are well-protected from severe illness as a result of vaccination, prior infection or both.
In addition, the omicron subvariants cause less severe disease compared with previous variants. Multiple studies have found that they are also less likely to result in long covid, which vaccination further protects against. Today’s dominant variant, BA.5, is the most contagious strain yet, which means that it’s increasingly difficult to avoid infection, despite precautions.
The CDC’s new guidance removes blanket distancing and cohorting requirements. Importantly, it also allows children exposed to covid to stay in class. This should prevent entire classrooms from being forced to stay home because one child tested positive and will come as a huge relief to parents who have seen how the unpredictability of covid restrictions negatively affects their work and their children’s education.
Masking in areas of high transmission remains part of the guidance, which schools will not follow anyway; a survey of 500 of the largest K-12 school districts found that 98 percent no longer plan to mandate masks.
I think it’s particularly telling that the revised recommendations no longer advocate regular testing, which diagnosed countless children with asymptomatic infections, forcing them to isolate and miss school. That the CDC is shifting away from asymptomatic screening suggests an overall change in its approach to covid. Instead of applying across-the-board mitigation measures for everyone in an effort to reduce infection, it is acknowledging the continued prevalence of the coronavirus and encouraging people to choose the precautions right for them.
Indeed, an underlying assumption in the new guidance is that individuals should act based on their own risk level. People who are immunocompromised or who live with people at higher risk for severe illness should take additional precautions. High-quality masks (N95 or an equivalent) continue to protect regardless of whether others are using them, and students and teachers should be encouraged to wear them if they wish to reduce their risk of infection. I’d add that parents can add measures based on changing circumstances, for example, by asking kids to mask for a week and then test right before visiting vulnerable family members.
Your covid-19 questions, answered by Dr. Wen
This kind of individual risk calculus is already the norm for the rest of society. Adults are already going about their pre-pandemic lives and do not have to distance, mask or quarantine for work, leisure or travel, so it doesn’t make sense for children to continue these rules. After all, the downside of mandatory precautions in kids is much higher than for adults. Requirements were justified when there were few protective tools available, but that’s not the case now. Moreover, the coronavirus will likely be around for our children’s entire lifetimes. Restrictions cannot last forever.
Those opposed to the CDC easing restrictions warn that the new policies will lead to super-spreader events at schools. They are right. Schools will have more outbreaks as layers of protection are removed. But daily outbreaks already occur at conferences, weddings, restaurants, gyms and workplaces. Most are probably not reported or even detected, as there is increased recognition that the United States cannot contain covid-19 through contact tracing.
Rather, everyone engaging in public life should be aware that those around them could be infected with the coronavirus. They should protect themselves with vaccines, know which treatments they are eligible for and take precautions such as masking according to their level of risk tolerance. Students, teachers and school staff are no different.
For the families who have been vigilant throughout much of the pandemic, doing away with restrictions will feel jarring. Some might wonder whether their previous caution was warranted. It was, just as the CDC’s previous school guidance was justified in earlier years. But policies must adjust with changing circumstances. I am very glad to see the CDC shifting its orientation away from blanket restrictions, especially for children. | 2022-08-11T21:42:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The CDC’s updated covid school guidance is ushering in a new normal - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/cdc-covid-pandemic-school-guidance-is-ushering-in-new-normal/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/cdc-covid-pandemic-school-guidance-is-ushering-in-new-normal/ |
Peter Thiel, co-founder and chairman of Palantir Technologies, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in 2019. (Kiyoshi Ota)
In October 2016, Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel made headlines when he threw his support behind Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nominee. To many, it was a stunning revelation from the person who co-founded e-commerce giant PayPal and was one of the earliest investors in Facebook.
In the years since, Thiel’s role in right-wing politics has only grown, with big investments in Republican Senate candidates like J.D. Vance in Ohio and Blake Masters in Arizona.
Tech reporter Elizabeth Dwoskin joins us to talk about Thiel’s rise in Silicon Valley and how the onetime Facebook board member became a Republican financier. | 2022-08-11T21:42:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The right-wing rise of tech billionaire Peter Thiel - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/post-reports/the-rightwing-rise-of-tech-biliionaire-peter-thiel/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/post-reports/the-rightwing-rise-of-tech-biliionaire-peter-thiel/ |
Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke Aug. 11 about a search warrant executed at former president Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence. (Video: The Washington Post)
From virtually the moment former president Donald Trump expounded on the execution of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago and his GOP allies joined him in instantly crying foul, there has been a disconnect: A bunch of people immediately claimed this was a very bad thing, even as they (mostly) knew next to nothing about it.
What if the evidence behind the search was damning? How could you know the search went too far if you don’t know what it was about? Otherwise, it sounds a lot like saying a former president is above the law.
Trump himself could shed a lot of light on this alleged miscarriage of justice, it was noted repeatedly, by disclosing the search warrant. But three days later, he still hasn’t done so.
On Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland decided to put the ball more explicitly in Trump’s court.
In a news conference, Garland announced that the Justice Department would seek to unseal the search warrant. But in doing so, the department made clear — repeatedly — that this wasn’t a decision it could make unilaterally. In a court filing, it emphasized that Trump could object.
“In these circumstances involving a search of the residence of a former President, the government hereby requests that the Court unseal the Notice of Filing and its attachment (Docket Entry 17), absent objection by former President Trump,” the Justice Department said.
It reemphasized at the end of the filing that “the former President should have an opportunity to respond to this Motion and lodge objections, including with regards to any ‘legitimate privacy interests’ or the potential for other ‘injury’ if these materials are made public.”
That Trump could object is a matter of course. But the fact that the Justice Department chose to drive that point home to him — and even go this route in the first place — is important.
The pushback against the search warrant on the right put the Justice Department in an unenviable spot: It almost never comments on ongoing investigations, but this is a matter of significant public interest and is already the subject of plenty of very uninformed criticism.
From there, it could set aside protocol and make disclosures, or it could say nothing and let its critics drive the messaging, including with continued false and baseless accusations.
There was also the matter of whether Trump’s lawyers even had the warrant. Public comments from one of his lawyers suggested his legal team was in possession of a copy, but a Fox Business reporter has called that into question. The filing Thursday effectively negates that.
From there, it’s up to the Trump team to decide whether to sign off — or not.
On the one hand, there might be things in the warrant that Trump quite logically doesn’t want people to know. But if his lawyers object — even to the disclosure of limited details — it will look like they’re obscuring something, which will undermine their side’s pushback. That could also give allies some heartburn, for fear of what they don’t know.
(The New York Times reported Thursday that some Trump allies are warning some Republicans against overzealously criticizing the FBI and Justice Department, because damaging information might be coming out that would reflect poorly on those criticisms.)
On the other hand, Trump could just let it all come out — something he hasn’t appeared apt to do thus far. That could reshape this entire conversation — one that’s been much more fruitful for Trump in the abstract, because he didn’t have to account for the actual details. Greenlighting the release would force a true reckoning over precisely what he or someone else might have improperly removed from the White House.
And unless this were to progress to a criminal case, it’s not clear we would ever learn what’s in the warrant. So Trump would be allowing the release of something that might not otherwise ever see the light of day.
Trump has until 3 p.m. on Friday to decide whether he’ll oppose unsealing the documents.
Whatever the case, this seems to put the Justice Department on significantly firmer ground than in 2016. Back then, concerns were raised about FBI Director James B. Comey’s unorthodox disclosures about the Hillary Clinton email server investigation — something Clinton allies later blamed for her loss to Trump.
Comey was effectively pushed into a corner, just as Garland was this week. On Thursday, Garland effectively pulled Trump into the corner with him. | 2022-08-11T21:42:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Merrick Garland tries to call Trump's bluff by seeking to unseal warrant - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/garland-trump-warrant-unseal/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/11/garland-trump-warrant-unseal/ |
FILE - Michigan State coach Tom Izzo shouts during the second half of the team’s NCAA college basketball game against Wisconsin at the Big Ten Conference men’s tournament Friday, March 11, 2022, in Indianapolis. Michigan State has signed Izzo to a new deal valued at $6.2 million per season, giving him about $2 million more each year. The school announced the deal Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, saying that the five-year rollover contract will need to be approved by its board next month. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File) | 2022-08-11T21:43:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Michigan State gives Tom Izzo new deal worth $6.2M per year - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/michigan-state-gives-tom-izzo-new-deal-worth-62-per-year/2022/08/11/52e5c296-19b1-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/michigan-state-gives-tom-izzo-new-deal-worth-62-per-year/2022/08/11/52e5c296-19b1-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html |
Microsoft and Sony clash over Call of Duty and Game Pass in legal docs
In January, Microsoft announced its intention to buy Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. While the Federal Trade Commission has been scrutinizing the deal in the United States, Brazil also placed Microsoft under review by the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (or CADE), the country’s national antitrust regulator, and asked various gaming companies such as Ubisoft, Riot Games, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Sony for comments on the potential merger. Out of the 11 companies CADE reached out to, Sony was the sole objector.
At the heart of Sony’s concern was Microsoft potentially owning Call of Duty, which Sony claimed would position Microsoft at the critical mass of a gaming monopoly. Microsoft had already gained some of gaming’s most revered franchises such as Fallout, The Elder Scrolls and Doom after purchasing ZeniMax Media in 2020. These high profile acquisitions have been integral to Microsoft’s plan to solidify the power of Xbox Game Pass, a subscription service where users gain access to a rotating catalogue of downloadable games for a monthly fee.
“One of the reasons Microsoft’s Game Pass has grown so quickly is because, since 2017, Microsoft has acquired several third-party studios,” wrote Sony in its response to CADE, as translated by The Washington Post. Sony noted those studios included Double Fine, Obsidian Entertainment, Ninja Theory and Bethesda, adding content from each to Game Pass. “Such acquisitions have given Microsoft a greater mass of content — even without Activision’s games. Adding Activision’s games to that content would represent a turning point.”
Blizzard reportedly cans World of Warcraft mobile game over financial dispute
Sony described Call of Duty as an exceptional property in the gaming world, one to which Activision devotes a staggering amount of resources with impressive returns. To date, the series has generated $30 billion in revenue for Activision Blizzard.
Each annual Call of Duty title is the collective effort of multiple studios working together for years. In a 2021 investor report, Activision stated there are over 3,000 workers assigned to the franchise. With production values that high, Sony maintained that no other publisher could possibly challenge Activision’s position in the market, citing Electronic Arts’ Battlefield (another blockbuster military action series) as a competitor that has still fallen woefully short of threatening the world’s most lucrative first-person shooter. Call of Duty has sold 425 million copies in its lifetime. Comparatively, Battlefield has sold roughly 88 million copies as of 2018. EA has not yet revealed the sales numbers for its latest Battlefield game, 2021′s “Battlefield 2042.” “Battlefield 2042′s” sales were described as “disappointing” by then-EA Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen during the publisher’s February investor call.
“No other developer can devote the same level of resources and expertise to game development,” wrote Sony. “Even if they could, Call of Duty is overly entrenched so that no rival — no matter how relevant — can catch up.”
Moreover, Call of Duty is a wildly popular series among PlayStation owners, a devotion which Activision Blizzard has promoted and rewarded. PlayStation players have long enjoyed exclusive Call of Duty perks unavailable to gamers on other platforms such as earlier access to in-game gear, experience bonuses, Battle Pass tier skips, player skins and more. The Call of Duty League, Activision’s premier esports league for the series, competed exclusively on the PlayStation in its inaugural season. Fans on PlayStation who preorder “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II,” the highly anticipated sequel to 2019′s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,” also get first dibs to the game’s open beta on Sept. 16 — a full week ahead of Xbox and PC gamers, who must wait until Sept. 22.
Microsoft has assured audiences that Call of Duty will remain multiplatform if the merger goes through. However, someone paying $10 a month for Xbox Game Pass could have access to every Call of Duty ever made and the latest releases upon launch, along with access to hundreds of other games. Microsoft previously utilized a similar tactic with its own popular first-person shooter franchise, Halo. Comparatively, a PlayStation player would have to buy each Call of Duty title separately. The upcoming title, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II,” alone is priced at $70 before players consider purchasing any other games or purchasing Sony’s own game subscription service, PlayStation Plus.
But is that enticing enough for PlayStation owners to jump ship for Xbox? Sony believes it is, describing Call of Duty players as die-hard fans who would readily swap to Xbox if it offered more comprehensive access to their beloved series. As Christopher Dring at GamesIndustry.biz points out, Microsoft owning the most popular video game series on PlayStation puts Sony in a very awkward spot, giving its leading competitor a direct line to its fan base on its own system with each new Call of Duty game.
Sony, however, has been building its own powerful stable of exclusive titles for years, also by purchasing talented studios. Bungie, the studio that created the Microsoft-exclusive Halo series, was the latest developer to be bought by Sony. The Last of Us series as well as Uncharted, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Horizon and “Ghost of Tsushima” are all critically acclaimed Sony exclusives made by previously independent studios now owned by Sony.
Microsoft pointed this out to CADE in its rebuttal to Sony’s comments, saying Sony had fortified its own subscription service by partnering with Ubisoft, maker of the Assassin’s Creed and Tom Clancy Rainbow Six franchises, among others.
“The launch of the new PlayStation Plus, perceived by the industry as ‘a rival to Xbox Game Pass,’ reflects the intense rivalry in the game distribution industry,” wrote Microsoft. “The offering of Ubisoft’s catalogue of ‘popular’ and ‘best-selling’ games on PlayStation Plus reinforces such rivalry and also emphasizes the diversity of high-quality third-party games available to subscription service providers.”
In a recent CADE filing, Microsoft claimed that Sony has paid for “blocking rights” to stonewall developers from adding content to Xbox Game Pass, as reported by the Verge. Microsoft also said that it invested heavily in Xbox Game Pass as a counterattack to Sony’s superior buy-to-play strategy in the previous console generation, according to a translator in the gaming forum ResetEra.
Project Magma: The origins of "Call of Duty: Warzone"
Third-party companies Ubisoft, Riot Games, Bandai Namco and Google all agreed that Call of Duty does indeed have competitors such as “Apex Legends,” “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive” and “Valorant.” Sony disagreed, arguing that no major developer has ever managed to create a franchise that could topple Call of Duty.
Recently, Respawn Entertainment’s “Apex Legends,” published by Electronic Arts, has been enjoying a resurgence in popularity thanks to swift updates, new gameplay modes, frequent competitions, detailed worldbuilding and a steady stream of overall content. Respawn is also led by Vince Zampella, who is one of the co-founders of Infinity Ward and oversaw the production “Call of Duty,” “Call of Duty 2,″ the original “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare″ in 2007 and 2009′s “Modern Warfare 2” (not the upcoming reboot).
Nonetheless, Sony insists that Call of Duty is just too big to contend against, referring to the franchise as “a category of games in itself.” And the company is fighting to prove it.
Gabriela Sa Pessoa in São Paulo contributed to this report. | 2022-08-11T21:44:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Sony fears that Microsoft owning Call of Duty could create a monopoly - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/08/11/xbox-sony-call-of-duty/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/08/11/xbox-sony-call-of-duty/ |
A roller coaster next to the logo at the entrance to the Legoland amusement park in Günzburg, southern Germany, on Aug. 11. (Stefan Puchner/dpa/AP)
A roller coaster crash at the Legoland amusement park in southern Germany injured more than 30 people after one coaster car failed to stop for reasons still unknown.
At Legoland Germany’s “Feuerdrache,” or “Fire Dragon,” attraction, one roller coaster car stopped in front of the car station’s entrance. But a second car did not completely stop, colliding into the first train, Legoland Germany said in a written statement to The Washington Post.
Why the car didn’t stop is unknown and an investigation has been opened, the park’s media office added.
The incident occurred around 1:45 p.m. Thursday local time. A total of 38 guests were on both trains, of which 31 sustained minor injuries that were treated on-site by doctors and paramedics. Of them, 14 were sent for further observation, where one person required medical treatment, Legoland Germany said.
The park area was evacuated, the press office said. The emergency response team included at least three helicopters as well as fire, police and paramedic teams. Public prosecutor office officials arrived to the site, Sky News reported.
The Legoland Deutschland Resort on Thursday noted that the ride will be temporarily closed. The park told The Post that while the park will be opened tomorrow, the “Fire Dragon” will remain closed “for the time being.”
“We want to thank all emergency personnel showing great commitment at site today and we want to wish a quick recovery to everyone involved,” Legoland Germany Divisional Director Manuela Stone said in a statement sent to The Post by the park’s media office.
The medieval-themed ride has people line up in a castle-like structure adorned with coats of arms, stained-glass windows and fake stone arches. The roller coaster cars — which run along the coaster’s twists, downhills and turns — are shaped like a green Lego dragon.
“Riding on the back of a fire-breathing dragon you see what life was like in a medieval castle, meeting valiant knights and lovely damsels,” Legoland Deutschland Resort wrote describing the ride. “But beware — do not let the LEGO® dragon that guards the treasure chambers scare you! Passing through a gate into the open, you reach the final run of the ride that will shake you up as you race along this roller coaster.”
The attraction was open to riders ages 6 with accompaniment, or 8 for solo riders, according to the Legoland Germany’s website. There are also minimum height requirements of 3½ feet for accompanied children, 3 feet 9 inches for unaccompanied.
According to Dark Ride Database, which collects information about dark ride attractions — “transportation system that takes riders through a building with a number of scenes,” the website describes — the “Fire Dragon” ride length is 1,476 feet, with a maximum speed of 35 mph and a maximum height of 52 feet.
Last week, a roller coaster accident at a different German amusement park — Wild & Freizeitpark Klotten in the nation’s southwest — killed a 57-year-old woman. She slipped out of her seat and fell 26 feet as her roller coaster car was moving through a curve, DW reported. | 2022-08-11T21:44:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Legoland Germany roller coaster car collision injures more than 30 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/legoland-germany-roller-coaster-collision-injured/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/11/legoland-germany-roller-coaster-collision-injured/ |
Comparing Trump documents to Clinton emails is apples to oranges
A law enforcement officer on Aug. 9 at the Mar-a-Lago Club, where former president Donald Trump resides, in Palm Beach, Fla. (Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images)
The apples: Marc A. Thiessen’s Aug. 10 op-ed, “The FBI goes after Trump, again,” equated former president Donald Trump’s taking a bunch of documents illegally from the White House to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s sloppy handling of docs on her private server. Ms. Clinton used her server rather than official channels because she was regularly being hacked — since the Kenneth Starr days. It was a dumb move and poorly thought out, but not malicious. And in any case, Mr. Trump and his family have used their private phones and emails for classified communications to such an extent that Ms. Clinton’s indiscretioans now look more insignificant than they should.
The oranges: Mr. Trump was under multiple investigations before his term ended. To a reasonable person, it seems likely he was concerned about this. The question is whether he took evidence of a crime with him rather than leaving it for the National Archives and public exposure.
The question remains: Is Mr. Trump hiding evidence of crimes? The first step to cleaning this up would be for Mr. Trump to release a copy of the warrant. The FBI has to spell out what it is seeking and why it believes it’s in Mr. Trump’s possession.
The irony of this is that it’s an intra-Republican issue. Just as all the damning evidence from the Jan. 6 committee is coming from loyal Republicans, the director of the FBI is a Trump appointee.
Rich O’Bryant, Alexandria
In his Aug. 10 op-ed, Marc A. Thiessen wrote that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III “cleared [Donald] Trump of engaging in a criminal conspiracy with Russia.” The Mueller report says no such thing.
Mr. Mueller wrote that Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was passing polling data to a Russian intelligence agent (as confirmed by the Senate Intelligence Committee report).
Zachary Levine, Rockville
Former president Donald Trump and his supporters have very short memories. They appear to have forgotten the “lock her up” chants about former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s use of unofficial email and the fact that the head of the FBI is a Trump appointee.
Marjorie Kravitz, Rockville
Even if we can agree that no person is above the law, practical considerations prove otherwise when dealing with ex-presidents. The question we should ask ourselves is: Why?
The very fact that a search warrant was issued and executed against the home of Donald Trump presumed, initially, that the FBI was seeking evidence far more significant than just public documents illegally in the possible possession of the former president. Never-Trumpers were delighted in anticipating indictments that would, finally, bring Mr. Trump to the defense table of a courtroom. But what if they are wrong?
As we know, presidential documents and other memorabilia are the property of the United States and held in trust by the National Archives. It was unlawful for Mr. Trump to abscond with boxes full of such documents. Though he eventually returned approximately 15 boxes’ worth of such items, he is believed to have refused to voluntarily give up the rest. To what purposes he desired to retain these records we might never learn. Nevertheless, it would have been irresponsible for the government to give up the fight — and it is why a federal judge agreed to the search.
If such acts are considered unprecedented, it is only because Mr. Trump was, and continues to be, unpresidential.
Craig M. Miller, Leland, N.C.
The Post’s Aug. 9 coverage of the FBI search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property — “FBI agents search Trump’s safe in documents probe” and “Top Republicans rush to defend Trump, join his attempts to discredit FBI” — described the public and media characterizations of the extraordinary nature of this first-ever FBI search of the home of a former American president. There is nothing extraordinary about the FBI conducting court-approved evidence-gathering to determine whether laws have been violated.
What is extraordinary is that unlike any of his predecessors, Mr. Trump has consistently ignored the rule of law, normative behavior for an American president and the national security interests of the United States in issuing security clearances, handling classified material and allowing questionable access to classified material by our adversaries. Mr. Trump defiled the presidency and should receive no benefit of the doubt from public or partisan sentiment that he is the “victim” of unprecedented attention from the FBI.
Gary A. Michel, North Potomac
More on Trump's White House documents
Justice Dept. seeks to unseal motion for search warrant at Trump’s home | 2022-08-11T22:11:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Comparing Trump documents to Clinton emails is apples to oranges - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/apples-oranges-comparing-trump-clinton/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/apples-oranges-comparing-trump-clinton/ |
Marlene and Jack Kent Cooke take in a 1993 football game at RFK Stadium. (Joel Richardson/The Washington Post)
Regarding John Feinstein’s Aug. 3 Sports column, “Nationals’ decision to deal Soto wasn’t just foolish — it was selfish”:
Well, now we know the Lerners are like all the rest of the baseball and football owners in D.C. We’ve only had one out of seven or eight who cared what the fans need and not what they put in the owner’s pocket. Is it a curse? From what?
Let’s hope the buyer of the Nationals is more like Jack Kent Cooke.
Bob Sweeny, Staunton, Va. | 2022-08-11T22:11:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Could we please have another Jack Kent Cooke? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/could-we-please-have-another-jack-kent-cooke/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/could-we-please-have-another-jack-kent-cooke/ |
Grover Norquist is part of the problem, too
Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform, in 2010. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)
I have yet to read Dana Milbank’s new book in which he leans heavily on former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as the leaders of the cabal responsible for the demise of the moderate Republican Party [“The GOP is sick. It didn’t start with Trump — and won’t end with him.,” The Opinions Essay, Aug. 7]. However, let’s not forget Grover Norquist, who brought a new level of vitriol to party politics with his Americans for Tax Reform.
Regarding family support policy proposals, Mr. Norquist recently stated that “this is not a new idea. This is a dumb old idea … [that keeps showing up] like herpes or shingles.” It’s interesting that Republicans who pushed so hard for the overthrow of Roe v. Wade indicated that they would concentrate their energies on providing support to women who could no longer legally obtain an abortion, yet party insiders consider such support akin to “herpes or shingles.” At least for herpes and shingles, there are treatments available.
Mr. Norquist’s position doesn’t even come close to the benign-neglect posture the party was once known for. Also, remember that Mr. Norquist is a strong proponent of reducing the influence of the career civil service in favor of political appointees who swear allegiance to a party and not to the American people. Let’s keep a close eye on the not-so-silent partners in the cabal.
Barbara Coughlan, Annapolis | 2022-08-11T22:11:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Grover Norquist is part of the problem, too - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/grover-norquist-is-part-problem-too/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/grover-norquist-is-part-problem-too/ |
Projects in the Washington region are receiving nearly $60 million in federal funding from a program boosted by the infrastructure law.
A rendering of the bicycle/pedestrian bridge, part of the rail bridge planned over the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Arlington into Washington. (Virginia Passenger Rail Authority)
A proposed bicycle and pedestrian crossing that would create a walkable connection from Northern Virginia’s growing Crystal City neighborhood to the District’s Southwest Waterfront area is getting a $20 million federal grant, officials announced Thursday.
In Southeast Washington, a long-planned 3.8-mile trail off South Capitol Street is getting $10 million, just under half the project’s budget. Across the Maryland line, Prince George’s County is securing $20.5 million to enhance bus connection, add sidewalks and bike lanes, and improve access to the New Carrollton station.
The projects are among five in the greater Washington region receiving nearly $60 million in federal funding under the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program. The D.C.-area projects are among 166 nationwide that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced Thursday would get funding under RAISE, which is receiving an infusion of $7.5 billion over five years from last year’s infrastructure law.
Projects funded by the program aim to improve conditions for walkers, bicyclists and public transit users.
“We are proud to support so many outstanding infrastructure projects in communities large and small, modernizing America’s transportation systems to make them safer, more affordable, more accessible, and more sustainable,” Buttigieg said in a statement.
Other federal grants include $3 million to improve sidewalk and streetscape along the U.S. Route 1 corridor in Spotsylvania County and $6 million to add dedicated bus lanes and other bus and pedestrian connections at Baltimore Penn Station. The District is also getting $9.5 million to buy 17 new DC Circulator buses through a separate grant program.
Among the biggest projects is the span over the Potomac River, which is expected to add a new connection in a busy corridor for pedestrian and bike traffic. It is part of the $2 billion Long Bridge project that also will add new rail tracks, doubling capacity for train traffic between D.C. and Virginia by 2030.
An early look at plans for new rail, pedestrian bridges over the Potomac
The federal grant will cover about 23 percent of the pedestrian crossing’s cost, estimated at about $88 million, according to the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority, which is overseeing the project.
The project, in the early stage of design, will link Long Bridge Park in Arlington and East Potomac Park in the District. Recently unveiled concepts show a bridge with a deck about 14-feet wide, aligned about 25 feet north of the proposed new Long Bridge.
Once built, the bridge will create a “safe, direct, and a more pleasant experience,” said Michael McLaughlin, the rail authority’s chief operating officer.
“This RAISE grant will further our efforts to make that a reality,” he said.
In the nation’s capital, the District Department of Transportation was awarded $10 million to build a 10-foot-wide, 3.8-mile trail from South Capitol Street and Firth Sterling Avenue SE to the Oxon Hill Farm Trail. The trail, which has a price tag of $25.1 million, will extend the popular Anacostia Riverwalk Trail system.
“The trail will complete an important missing link in the National Capital Trail Network and will have a positive effect on the quality of life for the residents of the District of Columbia as a whole,” DDOT Director Everett Lott said in a statement.
Work on the trail is expected to begin next year. The remaining funding will come from a mix of federal and local funding sources, city officials said.
DDOT officials Thursday said the agency also received a Low or No Emissions Bus Grant from the Federal Transit Administration that will support the city’s efforts to transition the Circulator system from fossil fuels to electric, hybrid or clean diesel-powered buses. The city will procure 17 electric buses with the $9.59 million grant.
In Prince George’s, County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) welcomed the news of a $20.5 million grant for improvements around the New Carrollton transit station, where the county is planning a $47 million overhaul. Plans call for a new train hall for Metro, MARC commuter trains and Amtrak, as well as better connections to Metrobus, the county’s TheBus system and intercity bus services, as well as the future Purple Line light rail.
The effort is part of a plan to revitalize New Carrollton, the county’s busiest transit hub and home to major state and federal agency headquarters.
“This is a major investment in the future of Prince George’s County,” U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Reps. Steny H. Hoyer, John Sarbanes, Anthony G. Brown, and Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.) said in a joint statement. “This funding will help grow New Carrollton Station into a state-of-the-art bus and rail transit hub that is more accessible by foot, bike, or car and promotes sustainable development in the surrounding communities.”
County leaders have sought to lure more commercial and residential development to New Carrollton for more than a decade. The project is a renewed effort to create a “downtown” area in the county, Alsobrooks said, adding it will ensure the area “becomes the premier transit hub on the Eastern Seaboard.”
The proposed changes also will enhance connectivity to the Metro station, Metro General Manager Randy Clarke said, adding the investment will help attract Metro customers, new businesses and additional housing at New Carrollton.
“Excited for this transformational transit & economic development project,” he tweeted.
Congratulations to our partner @PrinceGeorgesMD for this big win. Excited for this transformational transit & economic development project that enhances connectivity to @wmata https://t.co/sLncv11Ecx
— Randy Clarke 🚌🚊🚍 (@wmataGM) August 11, 2022
Infrastructure: 166 projects awarded billions in federal funding | 2022-08-11T22:15:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Long Bridge project joins others in D.C., Maryland to get federal money - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/08/11/dc-infrastructure-projects-federal-grants/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/08/11/dc-infrastructure-projects-federal-grants/ |
A poster of Harmony Montgomery, missing since 2019, displayed during a vigil Feb. 12 in Manchester, N.H. (Kathy Mccormack/AP)
Police have been looking for Harmony Montgomery, who was 5 when she went missing, since late last year, when her mother said the girl was supposed to be in Harmony’s father’s care. The search has now led officials to conclude that the girl was “murdered” in Manchester, N.H., in early December 2019, although her remains have not been found, said New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella (R).
Officials did not provide any other details, including whether they have identified a suspect or person of interest, and did not answer questions about what they said is now a homicide investigation. No one has been charged in Harmony’s disappearance.
The case has raised questions about the child-welfare system in Massachusetts, where Harmony lived before a judge transferred her to the custody of her father, a New Hampshire resident with a violent criminal history. An investigative report issued by Massachusetts officials in May concluded that every state entity involved in Harmony’s care failed to prioritize her safety.
“I know that over the past eight months that there have been many discussions, speculation and questions relative to where the system failed Harmony,” Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg said at Thursday’s news conference. “And I myself continue to share the same concerns and still have many remaining questions. However, the homicide of this little girl rests with the person or persons who committed this horrific act.”
She went missing two years before police found out. Her father is now charged with assault.
Blair Miller, the adoptive father of Harmony’s brother, said his family will always question why decisions were made to reunite Harmony with her father and not to require visits with her brother, Jamison.
“Had those visits been in place, and the sibling relationship been protected as the law requires, we would likely be sharing a much different story and outcome,” Miller said in a statement.
After authorities realized in December that Harmony was missing, New Hampshire prosecutors charged Harmony’s father, Adam Montgomery, with second-degree assault, two counts of endangering a child’s welfare and interference with custody. A relative had allegedly seen Harmony with a black eye and told police that Montgomery had admitted to hitting her in the face.
“I bashed her around this house,” Montgomery told his uncle, according to court records. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is being held in jail.
The last time anyone reported seeing Harmony was in October 2019, when Manchester police spotted her while responding to a call for service. Officials later said they believed Harmony had disappeared between Nov. 28 and Dec. 10 of that year.
Child-welfare system ‘failed’ missing 7-year-old, state says
Harmony’s short life was tumultuous, as she was bounced from one place to another in search of a safe home. She was in foster care in Massachusetts after her mother, Crystal Sorey, struggled with substance abuse and lost custody of her in 2018.
A judge sent her to live in New Hampshire with her father in February 2019, without requiring an in-home visit from officials. The judge determined that Montgomery was fit to parent and that the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, which governs the placement of children across state lines, did not apply.
While searching for Harmony in January, police found Adam Montgomery sleeping in a car in Manchester. He allegedly contradicted himself in the conversation and said both that he had seen his daughter recently and that he had not seen her since Sorey picked her up around Thanksgiving 2019.
Eventually, police wrote in court records, Montgomery told officers that he had “nothing else to say.” | 2022-08-11T22:50:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Harmony Montgomery believed to have been murdered, police say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/11/harmony-montgomery-murder/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/11/harmony-montgomery-murder/ |
Girl missing since 2019 was killed, N.H. authorities say
Girl missing since 2019
was killed, police say
Police have been looking for Harmony Montgomery, who was 5 when she disappeared, since late last year, when her mother said the girl was supposed to be in Harmony’s father’s care. The search has now led officials to conclude that the girl was “murdered” in Manchester in early December 2019, although her remains have not been found, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella (R) said.
Officials did not provide additional details, including whether they have identified a suspect or person of interest, and they did not answer questions about what they said is now a homicide investigation. No one has been charged in the disappearance.
The case has raised questions about the child welfare system in Massachusetts, where Harmony lived before a judge transferred her to the custody of her father, a New Hampshire resident with a violent criminal history. An investigative report issued by Massachusetts officials in May concluded that every state entity involved in Harmony’s care failed to prioritize her safety.
— Marisa Iati
and Brittany Shammas
Army is making
its first uniform bra
When Sarah Hoyt arrived at Fort Jackson, S.C., for basic training in 2002, the Army confiscated all of her personal belongings. That included sports bras she had packed for the 10 weeks of strenuous physical activity, she said.
Twenty years later, the Army is poised to offer its first official uniform bra in an effort to address challenges like the ones Hoyt faced, as well as equip female soldiers with better options for combat and training use.
Four prototypes of the bra, known as the Army Tactical Brassiere, are in development at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center in Natick, Mass., and final concepts will be presented to the Army Uniform Board for approval in the fall.
— Janay Kingsberry
Beachgoer impaled
by flying umbrella
Perreault, 63, died about an hour later at a hospital, Willard said.
Beach umbrellas have a pointed end to help push them into the sand and their wide canopy allows them to get caught up in a strong wind if they are not anchored properly, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner of Virginia asked the agency to review the rules for beach umbrellas and start a safety campaign after a Virginia woman was killed by an umbrella in 2016.
O'Rourke confronts heckler over Uvalde: Beto O'Rourke on Wednesday was railing against Texans' easy access to AR-style rifles like the one used in May to massacre 19 students and two teachers at a school in Uvalde when a heckler cackled. O'Rourke, the Democratic nominee running to oust Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in November, initially ignored the laughter. He kept stumping, saying that the Uvalde shooter had used the rifle not to fight enemy soldiers off in the distance but "against kids" five feet away. But then he stopped and pointed at the heckler: "It may be funny to you," O'Rourke thundered, interjecting a swear word, "but it's not funny to me." One video of the exchange spread quickly, racking up more than 3 million views by early Thursday, just hours after O'Rourke wrapped up the campaign stop in Mineral Wells — a town about 40 miles west of the Dallas-Fort Worth area and 260 miles north of Uvalde. | 2022-08-11T22:50:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Girl missing since 2019 was killed, N.H. authorities say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/girl-missing-since-2019-was-killed-nh-authorities-say/2022/08/11/2b3219b8-1469-11ed-aba1-f2b7689c0492_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/girl-missing-since-2019-was-killed-nh-authorities-say/2022/08/11/2b3219b8-1469-11ed-aba1-f2b7689c0492_story.html |
Virginia center is first stop in U.S. for thousands of Afghan refugees
An Afghan national and her son walk through the National Conference Center (NCC), which in recent months has been redesigned to temporarily house Afghan nationals in Leesburg, Virginia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
LEESBURG, VA. — A poster inside the National Conference Center greets evacuees from Afghanistan in that country’s two major languages, Pashto and Dari. “What makes you excited about life in the U.S.A.?” it asks.
The poster is hung inside a conference room where about 4,000 Afghan immigrants have received their initial welcome from U.S. officials. The site, which has received hundreds of evacuees per month since opening early this year, will receive a final planeload of visitors this month and cease operation by the end of September, officials say.
During its time in service, the 40-acre site has been used by the Department of Homeland Security to house evacuees for periods of generally less than 30 days while they obtain work authorizations and are paired with resettlement agencies trying to find them permanent homes in U.S. communities. On Thursday, officials offered journalists a walk-through of the facility.
The “safe haven” at the privately owned facility, which is normally used for corporate events, is a central piece of a more expedited phase of the Biden administration’s overall resettlement efforts, which have placed more than 80,000 Afghans in communities across the country since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban last year.
After receiving initial welcoming remarks in the conference room, evacuees move to an intake room for paperwork. The room is plastered with pictures of puppies, unicorns, U.S. flags, Spider Man, and Afghanistan maps colored by children, then taped to the wall, as they’ve waited for officials to collect their parents’ signatures and biometrics.
From there, the evacuees make their way to the center’s front desk to receive what Kelli Mueller, its director of operations, calls a traditional hotel front-desk experience “with a little bit of a twist.”
“We’re not always able to put families one hundred percent together because of the size of our guest rooms, so oftentimes we have to put maybe a mom with one child in one room and a dad with another in a separate room,” Mueller told journalists. Though the separations sometimes cause initial frustration, the families are generally put at ease when they realize the rooms will be side-by-side, she said.
The evacuees are given lanyards with room key cards and color-coded wrist bands for their stay. The sleeping quarters are typical hotel rooms with televisions and private bathrooms and often an extra bed added in place of a desk. The evacuees receive regular housekeeping services and access to laundry rooms. Though the facility can sleep more than a thousand people, officials put the occupancy Thursday at 657.
It’s not a detention center; evacuees can leave anytime. But once they go they can’t return, and they would forfeit many of the benefits due to them from the U.S. government. Kenneth Graf, federal coordinator for the site, said no one has chosen to leave.
There’s a supply room with free clothes, shoes and other goods. “Take as much as you need,” says a sign in Pashto and Dari. There’s a library, with mostly English books that can be checked out. A music room stocked with keyboards, drums and guitars. A legal center. And a computer center, where visitors can learn word processing skills, or how to use an iPhone or Google Maps.
Then there’s the dining hall, where Executive Chef Frank Estremera oversees the preparation of Afghan-inspired meals of green bean aloo, seekh kebab, kidney bean stew, rice with green lentils and other dishes that Estremera and his staff have devised with help from Afghan cookbooks and YouTube. There are also hot dogs. “My main goal was and is to make the Afghan people feel loved and welcomed through food,” said Estremera, himself an immigrant from Peru.
On Thursday at lunchtime, Afghan families ate together quietly around the dining hall’s tables. An Afghan child greeted journalists with a friendly “Hello!”
A 26-year-old evacuee whose last name is Wahdat agreed to speak with a reporter in Dari through an interpreter. She declined to give her first name, fearful for the safety of family members still in Afghanistan.
Wahdat, who arrived at the center two weeks ago, said she’d done intelligence, human resources and administrative work for the Afghan national army for five years until the government fell. She was threatened and followed by the Taliban — and tried to flee Kabul during the initial evacuations — but could not get out.
The dark-haired young woman spent two months in a safe house before making it to Abu Dhabi, where she spent about nine months before arriving in the United States with two suitcases. She has relatives in Washington State and hopes to resettle there.
Wahdat has a bachelor’s degree in law from a university in Afghanistan and wants to be a lawyer. She said she’s been surprised at the kindness of everyone she’s met in the U.S.
Wahdat’s eyes, peering from between a black head covering and a medical mask to protect from the coronavirus, teared up only once during the interview — as she spoke of her father and how proud he says he is of her. “Despite the distance, my father is very happy to see me safe here.”
Her parents fled Kabul and live in a rural area now. She said she hopes her family can join her in the United States one day. She talks with her father every week or two by cellphone when he travels to a place with a signal.
Thursday morning, as the journalists’ tour was beginning, one group of Afghan evacuees’ time at the center was ending. They pushed luggage carts to buses, waiting to take them to wherever they were destined to resettle.
Homeland Security police officers smiled and waved as the evacuees left. “Bye,” an officer said. “Good luck.” | 2022-08-11T23:03:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Evacuees from Afghanistan find temporary home in National Conference Center in Virginia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/afghan-evacuees-housed-in-virginia-center/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/afghan-evacuees-housed-in-virginia-center/ |
After winning the June primary, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser is set to face three challengers in November. Above, the John Wilson Building. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
In less than 90 days, candidates for mayor and other major offices in D.C. will square off — and now the November ballot is taking shape.
In deep-blue D.C., victors in the Democratic primary typically go on to win in November. Candidates running as independents, meanwhile, were required to submit nominating petitions to the city’s Board of Elections by Wednesday. And while those signatures are still subject to challenges, they offer voters a preliminary glimpse into the candidates in contests for mayor, D.C. Council chair and other seats on the council, among other offices.
Residents are also poised to vote in November on a revived effort to raise the city’s minimum wage for tipped workers, though opponents of the measure are fighting in court to keep it off the ballot.
After winning the June primary, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is slated to face three challengers in November. Comedian Rodney “Red” Grant, an independent, turned in his signatures Wednesday, while Republican Stacia R. Hall and Libertarian Dennis Sobin won their party’s primaries in June. There are no independent candidates in the ward-level council races, according to the elections board, leaving winners of the June primaries to compete against one another in November. In Ward 1, incumbent Brianne K. Nadeau (D) will face Chris Otten of the D.C. Statehood Green Party; in Ward 3, Democrat Matthew Frumin will face Republican David Krucoff; and in Ward 5, Republican Clarence Lee Jr. will face Democrat Zachary Parker.
Incumbent D.C. Council chair Phil Mendelson, who also won his the Democratic primary, will appear on the ballot with Republican Nate Derenge and D.C. Statehood Green Party candidate Darryl Moch.
Some Democratic primary winners have no challengers in the general election, including Ward 6 Council member Charles Allen and D.C. attorney general candidate Brian Schwalb.
Left-wing candidates, moderate incumbents win D.C. Council primaries
But the contest for two at-large seats on the council has generated the most intrigue ahead of November, thanks in part to a last-minute bid from Ward 5 Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (D), who entered the race last month as an independent candidate after he was disqualified from running for attorney general.
McDuffie boasted in a recent statement that he had well exceeded the 3,000 signatures needed to make it onto the ballot, despite being one of the last candidates to enter the race. He has said that a core component of his campaign strategy will be educating voters on the fact that they can vote for two at-large candidates. (The top two vote-getters in November will earn seats on the council.) Incumbent council member Elissa Silverman (I-At Large), who has been critical of McDuffie’s bid, is running for a third term.
Incumbent council member Anita Bonds (D-At Large) won the Democratic primary and is a favorite to retain her seat, leaving McDuffie, Silverman and several other candidates to fight over what’s likely to be a single available seat. Those candidates include three independents — D.C. government veteran Karim Marshall, pro-business candidate Graham McLaughlin and Fred Hill, who ran for the Ward 8 council seat in 2020 — as well as Republican Giuseppe Niosi and D.C. Statehood Green Party candidate David Schwartzman.
In his bid for attorney general, McDuffie opted into the District’s public financing program, which caps individual donations while matching donations from city residents 5 to 1 with taxpayer funds. But by law, he could not qualify for public financing again for his at-large run, meaning his donors can contribute up to $1,000. That’s helped McDuffie raise about $252,000 since early July, according to campaign finance reports from Wednesday.
Silverman, who launched her reelection campaign in the spring, is using public financing and brought in about $20,463 from D.C. residents since June 11; she has about $152,600 in cash on hand. Bonds also opted into public financing and has about $175,000 in her war chest, according to the latest report.
Other at-large candidates are likewise using public financing. Niosi has more than $108,000 in the bank, according to Wednesday’s report, while McLaughlin has about $95,800. Reports from Schwartzman and Marshall were not available by Thursday afternoon.
Residents in November are also slated to vote on Initiative 82, a renewed effort to phase out the District’s tipped minimum wage and raise it to match the general minimum wage. A near-identical proposal was passed by 55 percent of voters in 2018 but then repealed by the D.C. Council.
But first, the measure will need to survive a legal challenge in the D.C. Court of Appeals. A group opposing Initiative 82 is challenging the Board of Elections’ decision to certify the initiative for the general election ballot, contending that there were procedural errors and other issues related to signature collection and tabulation. The measure’s opponents initially filed a complaint on the matter in D.C. Superior Court, which a judge dismissed in June. That ruling is also being challenged in the D.C. Court of Appeals, according to Andrew Kline, an attorney representing the opposition.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Aug. 24. | 2022-08-11T23:03:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. general election ballot takes shape for mayor, D.C. Council - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/dc-general-election-ballot/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/dc-general-election-ballot/ |
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), shown at a public event in Richmond in July, is accused in a lawsuit of avoiding taxes at the expense of workers who invested in his former company, the Carlyle Group. (Steve Helber/AP)
RICHMOND — Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) is among several current and former executives of the private equity firm Carlyle Group being accused by a municipal pension fund of taking millions in personal profits in a way that deprived income to shareholders and shielded the executives from paying any taxes on the windfall.
NBC financial reporter Gretchen Morgenson first posted a story about the lawsuit Thursday morning after it was filed Aug. 3 in Delaware by the Pittsburgh Comprehensive Municipal Pension Trust Fund. The 136-page suit alleges that Youngkin received about $8.5 million of a $344 million payday engineered for a small group of top executives in 2019 and 2020, when he served as co-CEO.
The executives “were unjustly enriched at the expense of and to the detriment of Carlyle and its stockholders,” according to the suit. The trust fund is a Carlyle shareholder, investing retirement accounts for municipal employees such as firefighters and police officers.
“Many are first responders putting their lives on the line every day,” the suit said. “They depend on the integrity of the financial markets to provide for their retirements. The kind of impunity that Carlyle’s Control Group acted with is shocking and unacceptable.”
Youngkin stepped down from Carlyle in September 2020 to run for governor of Virginia. His role as a multimillionaire private equity chief executive has been both a political asset and a liability, as Republicans laud his business success while Democrats have criticized his firm’s practice of buying and selling companies and sometimes cutting employees to maximize profit.
Inside gubernatorial contender Glenn Youngkin's long career at Carlyle Group
On Thursday, spokeswoman Macaulay Porter defended Youngkin’s role in the financial scenario targeted by the lawsuit. “When Mr. Youngkin was a member of Carlyle’s leadership, the Carlyle board and an independent special committee retained independent experts and advisers to consider and approve a transaction that had significant benefits for the company and its shareholders,” Porter said via text message.
She declined to comment further, saying the matter is under active litigation.
Youngkin is among 15 current and former executives named as defendants in the suit, along with Carlyle. It does not allege that the activity was illegal, but seeks to recover unspecified damages, including making the executives reimburse their gains.
A spokesman for Carlyle issued a written statement in response to questions about the suit, “Carlyle was the first U.S. private equity firm to convert to a one share one vote, best-in-class governance model creating better alignment with public shareholders who now have a greater vote and voice.”
Democrats zeroed in on the suit to paint Youngkin as out of touch with ordinary people. Calling it a “stunning development,” House Minority Leader Del. Don L. Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth) tweeted that “most workers play by the rules and pay their taxes. Apparently Youngkin does not. While his party was slashing teacher pay, he was lining his pockets at the expense of public servants.”
A spokesman for Scott said the reference to teacher pay was based on the fact that former governor Ralph Northam (D) introduced a budget that included 10 percent raises for teachers, while the budget signed by Youngkin included 8 percent raises and 2 percent bonuses over the next two years. That budget was a compromise between a Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate.
Del. Marcus B. Simon (D-Fairfax) tweeted that the tactics outlined by the lawsuit amount to “slimy stuff.”
According to the suit, the private equity giant used a complicated financial technique to get a big payday for top executives and avoid paying taxes instead of passing benefits along to investors, such as the pension fund.
Carlyle was privately owned until 2012, when it held an initial public offering of stock. Several longtime executives — including Youngkin and founders David Rubenstein, William Conway and Daniel D’Aniello — had private shares that could be converted to public shares. Typically, according to the suit, converting the shares is done in a way that’s subjected to taxation. The tax payments can be used by the company to offset its tax liabilities.
In a maneuver called a tax receivable agreement, the executives who convert their shares from private to public can be compensated for the value of the tax asset that they create for the company. According to the suit, an executive might typically get 85 percent of the value of the tax asset, and the remaining 15 percent would revert to the company and its shareholders.
But the Pittsburgh pension fund alleges that Carlyle’s executives converted their shares in a way that avoided some $1 billion in taxes, which created no tax benefit for the company. Then the executives turned around and took compensation for the tax receivable agreement anyway, even though — according to the suit — it had no value. Youngkin’s portion of the $344 million payout was about $8.5 million; the suit says the three founders saw far more — more than $66 million each for Conway and D’Aniello and more than $70 million for Rubenstein.
Kewsong Lee, who served as co-CEO with Youngkin but stepped down from the company this week, arrived in 2013, a year after the company went public. He is named in the suit as having facilitated the payday for the other executives.
Youngkin has faced scrutiny before over taxes. The acreage around his home in Great Falls is under a conservation easement, drastically reducing the amount of taxes he pays on the property. Last year Youngkin’s campaign released a summary of his past five years of income taxes, showing income over that period of some $127 million.
Because much of his income was in capital gains on investments, which is taxed at a lower rate than salaried income, Youngkin’s effective tax rate fluctuated over the period between a high of 31.7 percent and a low of 15.4 percent, according to the summary provided by his campaign. The Washington Post could not independently verify the figures. | 2022-08-11T23:03:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Lawsuit accuses Youngkin, Carlyle of avoiding taxes at expense of workers - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/lawsuit-youngkin-carlyle-taxes-virginia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/08/11/lawsuit-youngkin-carlyle-taxes-virginia/ |
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