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After Bolsonaro’s defeat, some supporters want military intervention
By Paulina Villegas
Supporters of defeated Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro demonstrate Wednesday in front of the Eastern Military Command building in Rio de Janeiro. (Wagner Meier/Getty Images)
BRASILIA — Electoral authorities have declared Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva the winner of Brazil’s presidential election. The incumbent he bested, President Jair Bolsonaro, has allowed the transition to begin.
Jo Carvalho believes it’s time to call in the military.
“I would much rather live in a dictatorship than in a communist country,” the 63-year-old retired schoolteacher said. When the military ran Brazil’s government from 1964 to 1985, she said, “there was much more order, and things were calmer.”
“We would much better off with them than with any [Workers’ Party] government,” she said.
Their candidate defeated, thousands of Bolsonaro supporters rallied outside army headquarters in the Brazilian capital on Wednesday to call for military intervention. Some said they wanted commanders to audit the vote Sunday to verify that Lula’s victory was legitimate. Others, claiming without evidence that the election was rigged or flawed, were demanding an outright coup.
“We don’t want a thief and a corrupt man as president,” said Cleuse Merlin, a 58-year-old teacher. “Just the thought of it makes me sick.” The military, she said, “are our last hope.”
Analysts said a coup was unlikely. The Superior Electoral Court announced the leftist Lula, a two-term former president, the winner of what authorities described as a clean election within hours of the polls closing Sunday evening.
The right-wing Bolsonaro emerged from a 45-hour post-election silence on Tuesday to thank his voters and say he would follow the constitution. He did not name Lula or concede defeat, but his chief of staff said he had been authorized to begin the transition. His vice president said “we lost the game,” and a justice said Bolsonaro had told the tribunal “it’s over.”
“The military will likely stay out,” said Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Rio-based think tank Igarapé Institute. “As they should, allowing civilian institutions to manage the process.”
“The military are being very pragmatic at this point,” said Guilherme Casarões, a political analyst at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in São Paulo. “Most military officials are legalists in that they abide by the law. They are not going to stage a coup attempt or anything like that. This is not 1964.”
Bolsonaro doesn't concede loss to Lula but allows transition to begin
Supporters of the president have been blocking highways and roads across Brazil since Lula was declared the winner Sunday evening. Pointedly, Bolsonaro did not tell them to go home. Instead, after months of sowing doubt in the integrity of the election system, laying the groundwork to contest a loss, he described their action as a righteous expression of “indignation and a sense of injustice.”
That was all the encouragement many bolsonaristas needed. They began gathering outside the army headquarters in Brasilia on Tuesday evening; more descended on military barracks in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba. Scores of highways, meanwhile, remained blockaded Wednesday.
Lula won the second and final round of the election Sunday by less than two percentage points, the narrowest margin in a presidential vote here since the fall of the military dictatorship in 1985. For the lion of the Latin American left, the win capped a remarkable comeback. Less than three years earlier, he was serving a prison sentence for corruption and money laundering.
Lula was freed after more than 19 months when the Supreme Court ruled he had been denied due process. The charges were later annulled. Some Brazilians believe he was released on a technicality and remains guilty. He has maintained his innocence; supporters say he should never have been charged.
Bolsonaro hasn't conceded to Lula. Is he following the Trump playbook?
Authorities said the protests Wednesday were mostly peaceful. But at a roadblock in the southeastern city of Mirassol, a person allegedly drove a car into a group of people, injuring 15, four seriously, the São Paulo state security secretariat said. Videos on social media showed a gray car throwing people in the air and running over others. The alleged driver has been arrested.
In Brasilia Tuesday evening, families with small children sat on folding chairs, grilled meat and drank beer out of coolers. People wearing bright green and gold waved giant Brazilian flags. Some knelt in prayer around an evangelical pastor who called for divine intervention to “get the demons” out of the government and allow Bolsonaro to stay.
Dozens sang the national anthem: “It’s you, Brazil, O beloved homeland!”
Lucas Miranda, a 27-year-old entrepreneur, said he did not support a military coup. But he wanted the army to launch an “investigation” to verify the election was “clean and just.”
“I am Brazilian above everything else,” he said. “I am here for the love of my country, the constitution.” If the military certified the vote, he said, he would concede Lula’s victory.
Lula defeats Bolsonaro to win a third term as Brazil's president
The military agreed in September that it would audit a sample of the vote from the first round of the election Oct. 2. It has not announced a result of that review.
Miranda rejected comparisons between Bolsonaro and his ally, former president Donald Trump, who has yet to concede his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
“Contrary to Trump, Bolsonaro never told us to wreak havoc, or impeach or invade anything,” he said. “We are not for violence or a coup. We just want the truth.”
Lula has largely ignored Bolsonaro and the protests.
“I am sure we will have an excellent transition,” he tweeted Tuesday after the president spoke. “We will build a government for all Brazilians.”
Analysts said the coming days could be crucial. If the protests grow, Casarões said, they could encourage Bolsonaro to action.
“If Bolsonaro sees he’s got massive support,” he said, “he’s probably going to inflame the situation.”
Ukraine live briefing: Russia returns to grain deal; Ukraine prepares for winter after energy grid attacks | 2022-11-02T22:46:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Brazil election: Bolsonaro supporters call for military intervention - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/02/bolsonaro-brazil-protest-military-election/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/02/bolsonaro-brazil-protest-military-election/ |
The Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon on the Hualapai reservation on Aug. 15, 2022, in northwestern Arizona. (John Locher/Associated Press)
TikToker Katie Sigmond has pulled stunts including bowling with a pumpkin and throwing a fake cinder block at cars. But one of the social media star’s recent exploits got her in trouble.
“Do we really need to say, ‘don’t hit golf balls into the Grand Canyon?’ ” officials with the national park wrote on Facebook last week, attaching a screenshot of the young woman apparently hitting a ball over the rim of the geologic wonder — and losing part of her club in the process. “Throwing objects over the rim of the canyon is not only illegal but can also endanger hikers and wildlife who may be below.”
Sigmond is now facing charges for the stunt. The influencer, who did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment, has three pending misdemeanor counts related to littering, creating a hazardous condition and throwing objects over the canyon rim, park spokeswoman Joelle Baird said.
At Grand Canyon National Park, she added, “we do take incidents like this really seriously.”
The video was posted to the social media celebrity’s account on Oct. 26, according to the park. In it, she stands before the national landmark’s iconic layered red rocks and takes a swing at a ball. Her club breaks in two, with part flying into the canyon. She spins to face the camera, her mouth agape.
“How did that happen,” reads text on the clip, along with a crying-face emoji.
Park officials had “a number of people reporting this incident,” Baird said. Members of the public helped point to the woman in the video. Within a couple of days of the video being uploaded, Grand Canyon law enforcement had tracked her down.
Interactive, from 2016: A comprehensive guide to the 63 U.S. national parks
The perpetrator was not named in the park’s Facebook post, but Baird identified her as Sigmond. She said a citation was filed with the U.S. District Court in Flagstaff, Ariz., where the influencer will have a mandatory court appearance. The date was not immediately available. Baird said the misdemeanor counts each carry the potential of up to six months in jail and $1,000 in fines.
The golfing video is not without precedent. In October 2021, the national park asked for the public’s help in finding a man who hit a baseball over the rim. Officials ultimately made contact with him, but it’s unclear if charges were filed.
Baird said Grand Canyon National Park authorities have been dismayed to see such incidents unfold “on a fairly regular basis.”
“This is not something that we want to encourage in any way,” she said, “and in fact it’s really dangerous and harmful to Grand Canyon and the people who visit.” | 2022-11-02T22:50:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | TikToker faces charges after hitting golf ball into Grand Canyon - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/02/grand-canyon-golf-charges/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/02/grand-canyon-golf-charges/ |
A man stands in a cave revealed by melting at the Sardona glacier in Vaettis, Switzerland. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone/AP)
Other glaciers can be saved only if greenhouse gas emissions “are drastically cut” and global warming is capped at 1.5 degrees Celsius, the Paris-based UNESCO warned in its report.
About 50 of the organization’s more than 1,150 World Heritage sites have glaciers, which together constitute almost a tenth of the world’s glaciered area.
“Glaciers are retreating at an accelerated rate worldwide,” said Tales Carvalho Resende, a hydrology expert with UNESCO.
The organization described a “cycle of warming” in which the melting of glaciers causes the emergence of darker surfaces, which then absorb even more heat and speed up the retreat of ice.
Besides drastic cuts in emissions, the UNESCO report calls for better monitoring of glaciers and the use of early warning mechanisms to respond to natural disasters, including floods caused by bursting glacial lakes. Such floods have already cost thousands of lives and may have partly fueled Pakistan’s catastrophic inundations this year.
While there have been some local attempts to reduce melt rates — for example, by covering the ice with blankets — Carvalho Resende cautioned that scaling up those experiments “might be extremely challenging, because of costs but also because most glaciers are really difficult to access.”
Throughout history, glaciers have grown during very cold periods and shrunk when those stretches ended. The world’s last very cold period ended over 10,000 years ago, and some further natural melting was expected in Europe after the last “Little Ice Age” ended in the 19th century.
While the additional melting has to some extent balanced out other impacts of climate change — for instance, preventing rivers from drying out despite heat waves — it is rapidly reaching a critical threshold, according to UNESCO.
If the trend continues, the organization warned, “little to no base flow will be available during the dryer periods.”
The changes are expected to have major ramifications for agriculture, biodiversity, and urban life. “Glaciers are crucial sources of life on Earth,” UNESCO wrote.
“They provide water resources to at least half of humanity,” said Carvalho Resende, who cautioned that the cultural losses would also be immense.
“Some of these glaciers are sacred places, which are really important for Indigenous peoples and local communities,” he said.
Small glaciers at low or medium altitudes will be the first to disappear. UNESCO said ice-loss rates in small glaciered areas “more than doubled from the early 2000s to the late 2010s.”
This matches observations from researchers who have studied the retreat of glaciers. Matthias Huss, a European glaciologist, said scientists had seen “very strong melting in the last two decades” in Switzerland.
At the same time, there are fewer and fewer places cold enough for glaciers to actually grow. “Nowadays, the limit where glaciers can still form new ice is at about 3,000 meters [about 9,840 feet],” he said, explaining that in recent decades that altitude has risen several hundred meters. | 2022-11-02T23:07:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | UNESCO says one third of glaciers at world heritage sites will melt by 2050 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/11/02/glaciers-melt-world-heritage-unesco/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/11/02/glaciers-melt-world-heritage-unesco/ |
Commanders defensive end Chase Young said he is confident he can return to an elite level of play. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
Late Wednesday morning, 353 days after he tore the ACL in his right knee, Washington Commanders star defensive end Chase Young returned to practice. As his fellow defensive linemen ran from stretches to individual drills, a group of them encircled Young and danced, celebrating his arrival.
In his first comments to reporters this season, Young said his rehab was neither slower nor faster than he expected — “I never really had a timeline” — and that he was confident he could return to an elite level of play.
“I felt real good,” he said. “I felt pretty springy. … Just feeling like a football player again.”
Each of Chase Young’s reps during individual drills Wed in his return to practice. pic.twitter.com/RooWxs6Ogy
It’s “probably jumping the gun” to expect Young to play Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, Coach Ron Rivera said. It seems likelier that Young will return the week after, at the Philadelphia Eagles on “Monday Night Football,” though the team will monitor his progress over the next week and will not hesitate to slow him down if necessary. How careful the team has been during his return has sometimes frustrated Young, and when asked if he would like to play Sunday, the 23-year-old grinned.
“I ain’t gonna go into that one,” Young said, adding, “I mean, I wanted to play in [Week 1].”
During the portion of practice open to the media, Young went through a handful of reps. He practiced firing off the line of scrimmage, batting down passes and defending the play-action pass. None of the players wore helmets or pads because, given the team’s recent physical games and the grind of a long season, Rivera decided Wednesday’s practice would be a “tone-it-down” day.
Still, Young said he took all the work he could find, including jumping in for scout-team reps. He laughed about facing left tackle Charles Leno Jr., whom he called “Leeeno.”
“He gave me some real good sets just to get back into it,” Young said. “I feel good. I felt like I was coming off the ball, good, low. I’m going to take it day by day.”
Young’s teammates expressed excitement about his return.
“It was cool — really good seeing him with that jersey on,” safety Kam Curl said. “Ready to get that playmaker back on the field.”
“I’m excited to see him get back in the rotation with us,” defensive tackle Daron Payne said, adding, “It’s going to be fun.”
When asked what he thought of Commanders owner Daniel Snyder opening the door to a possible sale of the team, Young demurred.
“We really don’t pay attention a lot to the outside noise because we have so much stuff we have to do inside the facility to win games,” he said. “We stay on the task at hand, got the blinders on, and that’s really how we rocking there.”
Jackson arrives in Pittsburgh
In Pittsburgh, the Steelers introduced cornerback William Jackson III. Jackson told reporters he wasn’t surprised Washington traded him before Tuesday’s deadline because “it was a mutual agreement, so I was expecting for it to happen.”
“It was cool,” Jackson said of his time with Washington. “I enjoyed my time there. I have nothing but love for the guys. Things just didn’t work out.”
'I just got here. It was a whirlwind. Everything happened fast. I just want to get in and get comfortable and know exactly what I got to do and know the ins and outs of the defense' - @WilliamJackson3
📝 : https://t.co/ak043L7XJt pic.twitter.com/HfBEH54Fky
In Washington, Rivera said the Jackson signing failed because, while evaluating him, the team thought it could fit Jackson, a man-to-man cornerback, into its zone-heavy, “match” scheme.
“Some people felt that there would be an opportunity to take his skill set and use it to benefit us and to fit in what we do,” he said. “That’s really where we were wrong in terms of the evaluation.”
Asked how the team could avoid a similar mistake, Rivera said: “Once we talk about the skill set, we talk about, ‘Can that skill set be fit to what we do?’ Probably the biggest thing we learned from this is, ‘Hey, we made a mistake,’ and so instead of prolonging the mistake, halfway through the year, we decided to go another direction. ... We kind of like the idea of … fitting guys to what we do as opposed to just looking at that skill set and saying that’s it.”
In Pittsburgh, Jackson said the Steelers’ man-to-man coverage scheme suits him better and that the back injury he said prevented him from practicing for three weeks in Washington is now “almost 100 percent.”
“I’m just ready to get on the field,” he said.
In Washington’s locker room, the defensive backs said they were sad to see a friend go but understood the NFL can be a ruthless business. Safety Bobby McCain — who, like Jackson, left the only organization he had known (the Miami Dolphins) to join Washington in 2021 — said Jackson is “good people, man. That’s my dog.”
“We all knew it was kind of coming, so it’s not like it’s a surprise or anything,” McCain added. “But I hit him up [Tuesday] and told him good luck. He’s a good player, and he’s going to continue to be a good player.”
Jackson’s two interceptions with Washington involved Curl. In the 2021 season opener, his first game with the team, Jackson made an athletic play to secure a pick right in front of Curl. In Week 10 against Tampa Bay, Curl deflected a pass that Jackson caught.
“I’m going to miss my dog, Will-O,” Curl said, adding that the 30-year-old helped him with the nuances of finances and rehab as a young player. “We’re going to stay in touch. You hate to see a teammate go, but it’s a business.” | 2022-11-02T23:20:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Chase Young returns to practice — and the Commanders’ defense rejoices - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/02/chase-young-returns-practice-commanders-defense-rejoices/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/02/chase-young-returns-practice-commanders-defense-rejoices/ |
Dan Snyder speaks during the announcement of the Washington Football Team's name change to the Washington Commanders in Landover, Maryland on Feb. 2. (Rob Carr/Photographer: Rob Carr/Getty Ima)
The announcement Wednesday that Daniel Snyder would hire an investment bank to consider the potential sale of the Washington Commanders arrived after a dizzying sequence of events over the past two and a half years, a period in which change, controversy and scandal engulfed Snyder and the franchise he has owned since 1999.
Snyder’s grip on the franchise, a once-beloved civic institution diminished by two decades of dysfunction, loosened in recent weeks as the calls from fans to sell the team spread to league ownership circles, most vocally from Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay. Even then, Snyder released defiant statements about never selling the team — as he had once declared he would never change the team’s name, which he finally did under pressure from sponsors in 2020.
Since Snyder dropped the nickname, a move meant to fortify his standing within the league, a whirl of allegations and ensuing investigations have imperiled his status. Snyder had long been the subject of disdain from fans and eye-rolling from fellow owners. But the tumult of the past 2½ years carved the path to Wednesday’s announcement.
Dan Snyder hires investment bank to consider "potential transacations"
On July 13, 2020, days after team sponsor FedEx called for franchise to drop the nickname “Redskins” on the ground that it was a slur, the team announced it would “retire” the name without introducing an immediate replacement. In the weeks leading into the announcement, three minority owners began the process of selling their shares, which totaled 40 percent of the franchise.
Three days later, The Washington Post published a report in which more than a dozen women alleged sexual harassment and verbal abuse by team employees. The allegations led to the firings or resignations of multiple front office officials, including longtime radio voice Larry Michael, and prompted Snyder to hire high-powered lawyer Beth Wilkinson to investigate the team’s workplace.
In mid-August, Snyder hired Jason Wright to replace Bruce Allen, making Wright the first Black NFL team president. The choice of Wright, a former NFL running back who became a highly regarded business consultant, was widely praised. The goodwill would not last.
The Post published another story on Aug. 26, 2020, in which former employees alleged more lewd workplace behavior, including the production of a video with footage of partially nude cheerleaders filmed without their knowledge at a photo shoot. Five days later, the NFL assumed oversight of Wilkinson’s investigation. The Post would later report that Snyder, against his public declarations, had interfered with the probe.
As the investigation wore on, Snyder’s acrimony with his minority partners grew, as court documents released in December 2020 revealed. In March 2021, the owners on the NFL’s finance committee approved a debt waiver that enabled Snyder to borrow $450 million to buy out the partners, which put the entirety of the franchise in his hands.
The fallout from Wilkinson’s investigation arrived months later, nearly a year after it began. On July 2, 2021, the NFL fined Snyder $10 million and, while not officially suspending Snyder, said his wife, Tanya Snyder, would assume control of the franchise. The league did not release Wilkinson’s report, instead offering a summary, a decision that drew widespread criticism and has continued to reverberate.
“The culture of the club was very toxic and fell far short of the NFL’s values,” Lisa Friel, the league’s special counsel for investigations, said.
In response to the league’s decision not to release the full findings of Wilkinson’s investigation, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in October 2021 opened an investigation into the team’s workplace culture in part to pressure the NFL to make the findings public.
That same month, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times published excerpts from emails then-Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden sent to Allen in 2011 that included racist, homophobic language. The emails had been part of the trove of documents the NFL reviewed as part of its investigation. Many within the league suspected Snyder or someone in his employ had leaked them, which Tanya Snyder reportedly denied to fellow owners at a league meeting.
Washington ended the 2021 season without a name, still using Washington Football Team for the second season. On Feb. 2 — days after former quarterback Joe Theismann let the new name slip during a radio interview — the franchise revealed it had chosen to be called the Commanders.
The next day, former cheerleader and marketing manager Tiffani Johnston accused Snyder of sexual harassment in testimony to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, part of a bevy of new claims presented to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
In response to the new allegations aimed directly at Snyder, the NFL hired former U.S. attorney Mary Jo White to investigate and produce a report for Commissioner Roger Goodell. The investigation remains ongoing.
The congressional committee convened again in late June, days after The Post reported Snyder had paid a former female employee a $1.6 million settlement in 2009 after she had accused Snyder of sexual assault. Snyder denied the allegation. Goodell testified over Zoom to the lawmakers for 2½ hours while a chair with Snyder’s name in front of it sat empty because he declined to attend. The committee would subpoena Snyder, and he gave a 10-hour deposition in July.
As accusations and investigations mounted, Snyder tackled the dilemma of finding a new stadium to replace FedEx Field, an outdated facility the franchise wants to move out of by 2027. Snyder has found unwilling partners in local municipalities across three states. In May, it was revealed the Commanders had acquired the rights to purchase 200 acres in Woodbridge, Va., as a possible stadium site. Several Virginia lawmakers raised vehement opposition to dealing with the team, opposition one of them doubled down on weeks later when defensive coordinator Jack del Rio downplayed the Jan. 6 failed insurrection as a “dust-up.”
As the league braced for White’s findings, sentiment among owners shifted in, several people told The Post. By September, many owners came to believe the league should compel Snyder to sell the franchise. Forcing a sale would require the approval of 24 of 32 owners. An ESPN report last month, in which anonymous sources said Snyder had told associates he “had dirt on” fellow owners, ratcheted the tension.
At a league meeting in New York on Oct. 18, Irsay made those feelings public when he told reporters, “I believe there’s merit to remove him as owner.”
The Commanders responded forcefully, calling the comments inappropriate. In a statement, a spokesperson insisted that once all the evidence came to light, “Mr. Irsay will conclude that there is no reason for the Snyders to consider selling the franchise. And they won’t.”
About two weeks later came the revelation from Snyder himself that, after a whirlwind 2½ years, they might. | 2022-11-02T23:21:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The controversies that led Dan Snyder to consider selling Commanders - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/02/dan-snyder-sale-reasons/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/02/dan-snyder-sale-reasons/ |
D.C. man found guilty of murder in 2018 shooting of 15-year-old
Following weeks of testimony, a D.C. Superior Court jury found 20-year-old Malik Holston guilty of chasing down and fatally shooting Gerald Watson
Gerald Watson, 15. (Family photo courtesy of Alberta Pearson)
A D.C. Superior Court jury found a 20-year-old man guilty of first-degree murder while armed in the 2018 killing of a 15-year-old, who authorities said was chased through an apartment complex before being shot more than a dozen times.
Malik Holston, of Southeast Washington, was found guilty in the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Gerald Watson.
Assistant U.S. attorneys Michael C. Liebman and Andrea Coronado argued that on the afternoon of Dec. 13, 2018, Watson — who was 16 years old at the time — and another teen chased Gerald through a courtyard of a D.C. apartment complex.
Gerald, prosecutors and witnesses said, tried to escape by ducking into an apartment building on Knox Place SE. Police said Holston and another suspect cornered Gerald in a stairwell. Authorities said a witness overheard the high school freshman scream, “Help me! Open the door!”
Authorities said the shooting was connected to a neighborhood dispute among the teens, who lived less than half a mile apart.
The other person who detectives alleged was involved in the fatal shooting was killed a year later, in 2019.
Holston, who was also found guilty of several weapons charges, is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 26 by Judge Rainey R. Brandt. | 2022-11-02T23:25:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. man found guilty in fatal shooting of 15-year-old Gerald Watson - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/02/gerald-watson-guilty-murder-trial/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/02/gerald-watson-guilty-murder-trial/ |
Parents have pushed back against school closures in proposed district boundary plan
Prince George’s County Schools CEO Monica E. Goldson with a student at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt on Aug. 29, the first day of school. (Michael A. McCoy for The Washington Post)
Prince George’s County Schools CEO Monica E. Goldson recommended delaying the consolidation of two elementary schools Wednesday, after parents pushed back against an earlier boundary proposal that would have closed four campuses by next school year.
Goldson’s recommendation came as the system reaches its final steps in revising its school boundaries in an effort to balance enrollment in different parts of the county. Some schools — particularly in the northern part of the county — have struggled with overcrowding, and more students are projected to enroll in the school system in the coming years.
“While there is no perfect scenario, our hope is to present a plan that positions Prince George’s County Public Schools to address enrollment changes over the long-term,” Goldson said in a news release.
Prince George’s school leaders consider boundary changes
Under Goldson’s recommendation, Concord Elementary School in District Heights and Pointer Ridge Elementary School in Bowie would be consolidated in fall 2024. An earlier version proposed the two schools close ahead of the 2023-2024 school year.
Goldson further recommended that boundary changes at 29 schools don’t take effect, as the shifts would have affected fewer than 20 students at each school, she noted. Those changes would have included moving students from Whitehall Elementary to Rockledge Elementary in Bowie and from Bond Mill Elementary to Scotchtown Hills Elementary in Laurel, among others.
She also suggested that students who are rising fifth- or eighth-graders who would have been affected by boundary changes stay at their current school for their final year. Siblings of those students can also stay for that year, under Goldson’s recommendation, though parents are responsible for transportation.
Bowie parents where schools were slated to close have spoken out against an earlier proposal made by the district’s consultant and advisory committee. During a rally outside the school system’s offices in October, they noted that enrollment would probably increase in their area in the coming years because of major housing developments. They argued that the school space would be needed to help prevent overcrowding. The group of parents has another rally planned Thursday.
Darius Hyman, Pointer Ridge’s parent-teacher association president, has helped coordinate the rallies. He said Goldson’s recommendation to delay consolidation was a step in the right direction, but there is still a concern that the community will face a possible school closure again in another year.
“At this moment, it is an opportunity for them to review the numbers that were very concerning as far as the growth of the community, what the ratios accurately look like, and give families the opportunity to start moving in to get the new influx of students that will be coming into the school zone,” said Hyman, 41.
The Prince George’s County Board of Education will vote on the school boundary proposal Nov. 10. | 2022-11-02T23:25:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Prince George's schools CEO recommends delaying closing two schools - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/11/02/prince-georges-school-boundaries/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/11/02/prince-georges-school-boundaries/ |
Kyrie Irving’s latest statement includes $500,000 donation, no apology
After facing fierce criticism for a social media post about an antisemitic film, Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has partnered with the Anti-Defamation League and agreed to donate $500,000 to combat intolerance. (Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)
Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving will donate $500,000 and partner with the Anti-Defamation League to combat hate and intolerance following his controversial social media post about an antisemitic film.
In a joint statement with the Nets and the ADL, Irving distanced himself from the film and book and acknowledged the fallout from his social media post. The Nets, who have not publicly fined or suspended Irving, announced that they will provide a matching $500,000 donation.
Irving, who has faced nearly a week of fierce criticism, stopped short of formally apologizing.
“I am a human being learning from all walks of life and I intend to do so with an open mind and a willingness to listen,” he said. “So from my family and I, we meant no harm to any one group, race or religion of people, and wish to only be a beacon of truth and light.”
In his post, Irving linked to the film “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” on Thursday. When questioned by reporters Saturday about the film’s content and a previous social media post about Alex Jones’s “New World Order” conspiracy theory, Irving denied that he was antisemitic but refused to apologize, arguing that “history is not supposed to be hidden from anybody.” During the heated exchange, he said he had not done anything illegal or harmed anyone. Irving added that the “New World Order” conspiracy theory was “true.”
In the wake of Irving’s post and subsequent statements, the NBA, the National Basketball Players Association, the Nets and team owner Joe Tsai issued statements opposing antisemitism. Irving eventually deleted the post without any public comment, and a group of eight fans sat courtside at the Nets’ win over the Indiana Pacers on Monday wearing T-shirts that read, “Fight Antisemitism.”
“At a time when antisemitism has reached historic levels, we know the best way to fight the oldest hatred is to both confront it head-on and also to change hearts and minds,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said. “With this partnership, ADL will work with the Nets and Kyrie to open dialogue and increase understanding.”
Nets General Manager Sean Marks said Tuesday that Irving did not meet with the media Monday or Tuesday because he needed time to “simmer down.” Marks added that he and Tsai were engaged in talks with the ADL.
“I’m certainly not proud of the situation we find ourselves in,” Marks said. “I’d like to get back to basketball. … There is no tolerance and no room for any hate speech or antisemitic remarks in this organization.”
After Brooklyn parted ways with coach Steve Nash on Tuesday, Irving looked disengaged throughout a 108-99 loss to the Chicago Bulls. The seven-time all-star finished with just four points on 2-for-12 shooting, the lowest point total of his four-year Nets tenure.
The Nets said Wednesday that they would work with the ADL, a nonprofit organization, to “develop educational programming that is inclusive and will comprehensively combat all forms of antisemitism and bigotry.”
“The events of the past week have sparked many emotions within the Nets organization, our Brooklyn community, and the nation,” the organization said in a statement. “The public discourse that followed has brought greater awareness to the challenges we face as a society when it comes to combating hate and hate speech. We are ready to take on this challenge and we recognize that this is a unique moment to make a lasting impact.”
Irving, 30, is averaging 26.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists for the Nets, who are off to a 2-6 start. The No. 1 pick of the 2011 draft has been a lightning rod for criticism for much of his Brooklyn tenure, including his polarizing decision to remain unvaccinated throughout last season. | 2022-11-03T02:49:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Kyrie Irving, Nets and Anti-Defamation League say they're teaming up - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/02/kyrie-irving-nets-anti-defamation-league/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/02/kyrie-irving-nets-anti-defamation-league/ |
Wizards center Daniel Gafford drives to the basket against 76ers guard Shake Milton during Wednesday's 121-111 Washington win in Philadelphia. (Laurence Kesterson/AP)
PHILADELPHIA — First came the half-hook through contact, then the dunk. Up next was a pair of jumpers over smaller defenders sandwiched between a pair of free throws. And that was just the beginning.
Wizards center Kristaps Porzingis has thrived in a pair of matchups with the 76ers this week, particularly with Joel Embiid’s absence (non-covid illness) handcuffing Philadelphia. In a 121-111 win at Wells Fargo Center, Porzingis had 30 points and nine assists — his second straight game with at least 30 points — as the visitors ended a three-game skid.
Porzingis, for one, didn’t miss Embiid.
“I don’t have to waste all that energy fighting a guy that’s a 100 pounds heavier than me,” Porzingis said. “So it’s, of course, better for me.
“ … Me and Joel, I like playing against him because there’s some advantages on his side, and then there’s some advantages on my side. I had to take advantage of a team like this. Every game is different. … This kind of game is more interior.”
Despite being without their MVP candidate, the 76ers stayed close for most of the second half. The Wizards leaned on their big three of Bradley Beal (29 points), Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma (18 points, eight rebounds) in the fourth quarter, with the trio scoring 26 of the Wizards’ 30 points over the final 12 minutes.
“We didn’t turn the ball over and we got to the line,” Wizards Coach Wes Unsled Jr. said. “We were aggressive. Just shy of 70 points in the paint. Those are high efficiency looks. And that allows you to kind of stem the tide.
The Wizards (4-4) took a 57-51 lead into halftime, set up by late runs in the first and second quarters. Washington used a 12-2 stretch started by Porzingis and closed with a three-point play from Monte Morris to lead by six after the first quarter.
James Harden was kept in relative check, but he scored seven straight second-quarter points to help pull the 76ers within three. The Wizards responded with a Will Barton jumper and a three-pointer from Porzingis to lead by six at the break.
Philadelphia (4-5) got hot from beyond the arc in the third quarter, making 8 of 12 from deep. Shake Milton’s buzzer-beating three-pointer left the hosts down just one entering the final period, but Porzingis, Beal and Kuzma were too much down the stretch.
Tyrese Maxey led the shorthanded 76ers with 32 points. Harden finished with 24 and 10 assists.
Here’s what else to know from Wednesday’s game:
Embiid’s absence
Philadelphia Coach Doc Rivers said Embiid has the flu and hasn’t been around the team as a precaution after doctors advised him to stay away.
“I don’t know how we survived in our way,” Rivers said. “How everyone else didn’t get sick, I don’t know. But I do think it’s the right thing that we’re doing now all over the league.
“Teams used to go on road trips and one guy would get sick and then the next thing you know, the whole team eventually got sick. And so I think we’re doing the right thing [keeping Embiid isolated]. Except for your key guys sometimes aren’t around. That hurts you.”
Kuzma gets aggressive
Kuzma was held to nine points in each of the previous two games and Unseld took responsibility, saying he needed to find a way to get the forward going. Unseld said Kuzma needs to defend at a high level and find easier offense. Unseld’s direction appeared to take with Kuzma, who consistently scored off backcuts and in the paint. His line also included four assists.
“You know my numbers are going to be up and down. Any time you’re the third option, some games you have high number, some games you don’t. That’s how it is,” Kuzma said. “It’s all about just finding your spots and rhythm. We’ve been experimenting with different lineups and trying to get our rhythm back to what it was the first five. I’m a good basketball player. I can figure it out. It just takes some time.”
Three-point difference
The 76ers shot 52.8 percent from behind the arc while the Wizards hit just 23.8 percent of their threes. Unseld liked the looks and said they need to continue to find a way to get more attempts after going 5 for 21. | 2022-11-03T02:58:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Wizards take advantage of no Joel Embiid, beat Sixers - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/02/wizards-76ers-porzingis-embiid/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/02/wizards-76ers-porzingis-embiid/ |
Hi Carolyn: I recently started a new job. As I start trying to make friends with my co-workers, I am often asked whether I have kids. I do; they are 5 and 9, and they live with their dad most of the time. Our custody arrangement was based on a number of factors, and it suits us all perfectly, but because I am a woman, all anybody ever hears when I explain this is “unfit mother.” I have tried to figure out the best way to answer this question to try to normalize our situation, but everything I say seems defensive.
— As a Matter of Fact …
As a Matter of Fact …: Funny how we’re all terribly open-minded until we’re not.
I would approach it from that angle.
Actually, I would not get into the details at all and let people mind their own business, unless these potential friendships progress to the point where it’s natural to share. At that point, you can share the details and the funny reactions you get from people. Because that’s more newsworthy than who stays with whom.
Until then, you can say honestly that you share custody, yes? Since “most of the time” doesn't mean “all of the time” and therefore your kids are with you some of the time. And, scene.
For when you do want or need to share, I would go at it from the open-mindedness angle. E.g.: “The kids stay more with their dad. We’re terribly modern.” Then don’t (over)explain. Plant the idea that if they judge you, they’re being sexist, and let them process it.
For “As a Matter of Fact …”: I can provide some empathy. Your situation was my situation. My son is now 28, but at age 5, a few years after his father and I divorced, he went to live with his father. I had him on most weekends. I was a perfectly good mother, but for reasons that fit all of us, it was the best choice, and I have no regrets.
I did, however, deal with my mother’s confusion and her accusations that I was “giving up my son.” It hurt a lot, and these feelings of guilt and shame carried over into how I felt I needed to respond to people asking me about my child. I did say things like, “We share custody,” or, “He’s with his dad during the week.” But I still felt as if I needed to follow up with “not because I’m a bad mother,” or even the extra-dumb, “Boys need their fathers.”
All of this was ridiculous and not necessary. I did not need to justify our situation to anyone, but I was young, and people are often judgmental.
People also often have rigid views of motherhood and how mothers are supposed to behave and live, and who’s supposed to be the custodial and noncustodial parent.
But I knew my ex-husband and I were doing what was best for our child, and I was grateful that, even though we weren’t married, we had the kind of relationship where we could support our son as we thought best, not as others thought best.
Your situation is not the norm; it won’t always be easy. But you do get better at fielding the questions. Take care of yourself, and don’t ever doubt that you are a good mother. | 2022-11-03T04:12:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Carolyn Hax: How does a mom explain letting kids live mostly with dad? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/11/03/carolyn-hax-kids-custody-dad/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/11/03/carolyn-hax-kids-custody-dad/ |
The real winner of the Israeli election may not be Benjamin Netanyahu, but the country’s once taboo far right. The former prime minister, still facing legal challenges due to graft charges, looks likely to lead a bloc in Israel’s Knesset. He did so only with the help of two formerly fringe firebrands: Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir.
Smotrich, the leader of the far-right Religious Zionist Party, and Ben Gvir, a prominent leader in the same political grouping, have been on the outskirts of mainstream politics for years.
And yet after this week’s election, Israel’s fifth since 2019, they will likely end up as kingmakers. Preliminary polls suggest that the Religious Zionist faction could end up the third largest in parliament, making them a vital coalition partner for Netanyahu’s center-right Likud Party with Ben Gvir already demanding control of the Public Security Ministry.
Both Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett, another recent prime minister, are also right-wingers. And Smotrich and Ben Gvir have both tempered down their harshest rhetoric in recent years. So what makes the Religious Zionist grouping different, and perhaps more alarming, than other right-wing groups?
There are a number of worrying areas where the newly powerful Israeli far right still stands out. Among them: Calls to expel Arabs who do not support Israel; intolerance of Israel’s large LGBT community and other nonobservant Jews; and a seeming acceptance of the necessity of violence.
Here’s a rundown.
Anti-Arab policies and pushes for expulsions: As Israeli journalists like Haaretz editor David E. Rosenberg have noted, the Religious Zionist faction stands out from European far-right groups for not just promising to curtail immigration but suggesting they could deport people born on Israeli-controlled land.
Ben Gvir has links to the late Meir Kahane, the U.S.-born rabbi who openly advocated for the expulsion of Palestinians from Israeli-controlled land. Ben Gvir began his political journey in the Kach party, founded by Kahane and banned under anti-terrorism laws in 1994, and he is now the leader of Otzma Yehudit, which means “Jewish Power,” a party made up of many Kahanist politicians.
In recent years, Ben Gvir has said he only supports the expulsion of Arab citizens who are not loyal to the state.
“If an Arab lives here and recognizes the state of Israel, ‘Ahlan wa Sahlan’ [‘Welcome,’ in Arabic]. No problem with them. But anyone who wants to destroy, to throw stones, to throw molotov cocktails — we’re at war with them,” he said in a recent voice memo to The Washington Post.
Smotrich, meanwhile, supported legislation that helps annex lands held by Palestinians and co-founded an Israeli nongovernmental organization that blocks Palestinian construction in Israel and the West Bank.
Critics say the aim is to speed up the process of Israeli settlers acquiring land from Palestinians — ironically Haaretz reported in 2017 that Smotrich lives in a West Bank settlement built illegally under Israel’s own laws.
Intolerance to gay rights and the nonobservant: Where Netanyahu and other Western right-wing leaders have tentatively embraced LGBT rights in recent years, the Israeli far right is often openly hostile.
Smotrich was an anti-LGBT rights activist in his youth and more recently has drawn attention for comments made about Israel’s burgeoning gay community. In 2015, Israel’s Army Radio procured a recording in which he called himself a “proud homophobe” and said that gay people should “feel uncomfortable with being abnormal.”
Ben Gvir used to protest Gay Pride parades as “abominations,” though he last year since suggested a somewhat softer stance.
“The homosexuals are my brothers and the lesbians are my sisters,” he said in a talk show interview, “but I’m against walking around in the streets in underwear.”
Critics say that behind these comments is an ultraconservative view of Israeli society. Yitzhak Wasserlauf, a 30-year-old ally of Ben Gvir expected to win a seat in Knesset, has criticized the liberal Reform Jewish movement for making a “mockery of religion” by having marriages conducted with both a rabbi and a priest.
Smotrich, a lawyer by trade, has called for major legal reforms. His opponents say they are designed to allow the government power to do things like take draconian action against asylum seekers or even political opponents without judicial interference and that women’s rights will be reversed.
Acceptance of violent extremism: Kahane helped birth Israel’s far right by advocating a hateful, often violent type of Jewish nationalism. He served in the Knesset for four years, but he was effectively boycotted by other politicians and effectively banned from Israeli politics in 1988 for racism; two years later he was assassinated.
But the threat of far-right violence he brought from the United States still hangs over Israeli politics. After negotiating the Oslo accords with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995. Police soon drew a line between the assassin and spinoff Kahane groups.
Ben Gvir, then a young far-right rabble-rouser who was exempted from Israel’s military service because of his political beliefs, had threatened Rabin just three weeks before his assassination.
Though he has never been convicted of violence himself, Ben Gvir has defended violent far-right extremists in court (like Smotrich, he is a lawyer) and he had been convicted of incitement to racism and support for a terrorist group. For years, he had a photograph of Baruch Goldstein, an American Israeli far-right extremist who massacred Palestinian worshipers, hanging in his home.
Recently, he has brandished a gun during clashes between police and stone-throwing Palestinians in East Jerusalem, calling on police to shoot with live ammunition.
Rights groups have accused Smotrich of promoting settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. And even though he is allied with Netanyahu now and proposing legal reforms that could help the former prime minister escape jail, he has shown little interest in the kind of cynical but pragmatic politics Netanyahu espouses.
In a secret recording released during the campaign last month, Smotrich was heard calling Netanyahu a liar and suggesting it was his own intervention that had stopped plans for the center-right Likud Party to ally with Israel’s Arab parties.
“Wait a bit. With Netanyahu, physics or biology will do their work,” Smotrich said in the recording, according to the Times of Israel. “He won’t be here forever; at some point he’ll be convicted by the court or whatever. Have patience. There’s no question Netanyahu is a problem, but you have to choose between one problem and another.” | 2022-11-03T04:16:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What do Israel’s new far right kingmakers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir want? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/israel-far-right-ben-gvir-smotrich/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/israel-far-right-ben-gvir-smotrich/ |
North Korea fires long-range missile, triggering warnings in Japan
A man at the Seoul Railway Station on Thursday watches a news report about North Korea's latest missile launch. (Lee Jin-man/AP)
SEOUL — North Korea fired three ballistic missiles off its east coast on Thursday, including a long-range missile, adding to the growing tally in a record year of weapons tests.
The launches came a day after North Korea fired about two dozen missiles, with one falling near South Korean waters for the first time since the end of the Korean War nearly 70 years ago.
Japan had alerted that one of Thursday’s missiles might have flown over its territory, ordering residents in its northern prefectures to take shelter indoors. Tokyo later corrected the announcement, saying it had lost track of the missile.
In early October, North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years, which sparked evacuation orders and triggered strong condemnation from Tokyo and Washington.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the long-range missile was fired from near Pyongyang’s Sunan area at around 7:40 a.m. local time. It flew about 760 kilometers (472 miles) and reached an altitude of 1,920 kilometers (1,193 miles). About an hour later, two short-range missiles were fired from the nearby city of Kacheon, according to the JCS.
The Yonhap news agency, citing an unnamed defense source, reported the long-range missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile that failed midflight. After a hiatus of more than four years, North Korea in March resumed testing of ICBMs that are potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
Seoul’s Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong and his U.S. counterpart, Wendy Sherman, denounced North Korea’s latest missile launches as “very deplorable” and a threat to international peace. After an emergency meeting on Thursday, the government’s National Security Council condemned the North’s repeated activity as “provocations.”
This week, North Korea threatened “powerful measures” against South Korea and the United States for staging joint air exercises that it criticized as “a war drill.” South Korea’s security council said the allied military exercises will “continue in an unwavering manner.”
The barrage of missiles that North Korea launched on Wednesday represented the most fired in a single day. Of those, one landed less than 60 kilometers (40 miles) off South Korean waters and triggered air raid sirens on the nearby island of Ulleung, with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol calling it a de facto violation of his country’s territory. In response, South Korea’s armed forces said it fired three air-to-ground precision missiles near North Korean waters.
North Korea’s record number of weapons tests this year have occurred amid stalled negotiations with Washington over its nuclear program. U.S. and South Korean officials said earlier this year that Pyongyang had finished preparations for a seventh nuclear test. | 2022-11-03T04:17:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | North Korea fires long-range missile, triggers warnings in Japan - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/north-korea-missile-launch-japan/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/north-korea-missile-launch-japan/ |
By Bobby Caina Calvan and Stefanie Dazio | AP
FILE - Then-CBS president Leslie Moonves attends the CBS Network 2015 Programming Upfront at The Tent at Lincoln Center on May 13, 2015, in New York. CBS and the former president Moonves will pay $30.5 million as part of an agreement with the New York attorney general’s office to compensate the network’s shareholders, as part of an insider trading investigation and for concealing sexual assault allegations against Moonves, announced Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) | 2022-11-03T06:23:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | CBS, Moonves must pay $30.5 million for insider trading - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/cbs-moonves-must-pay-305-million-for-insider-trading/2022/11/02/ac7329d8-5af8-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/cbs-moonves-must-pay-305-million-for-insider-trading/2022/11/02/ac7329d8-5af8-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
Don’t Confuse Powell’s Tough Talk With Massive Rate Hikes
It’s way too soon to look for a shift by central banks toward easier money. That point has been made loud and clear. Don’t let that obscure an important development: While officials aren’t done combating inflation, they do want to set aside the most intense phase of that tussle.
Looking for a flip to undisguised dovishness will be a futile exercise until well into next year. That’s no excuse for dismissing the evolution we’re seeing in policy settings. There’s a growing recognition that the breakneck pace of interest-rate hikes that characterized much of this year needs to transition into something less frenetic. Taking longer to reach the endgame, in less ambitious leaps, is better than strangling the global economy and then figuring out what to do with the body. The opportunities — and challenges — entailed in this recalibration aren’t unique to the Federal Reserve.
If the coming downshift from DC — be it December or January — gives Asian policymakers the ability to lean more toward local conditions and less toward Fed Chair Jerome Powell, that’s a good thing. There’s an often-unspoken tension between the domestic mandates of price stability and full employment handed to the Fed by Congress and the bank’s role as the world’s most powerful economic institution. The dollar is the usual way this dominance manifests itself, and the greenback’s epic rally has been a huge problem for the region.
While the Fed wasn’t the first to signal a course modification, it is getting a lot of attention. The Fed lifted its main rate by 75 basis points Wednesday, the fourth consecutive such step, and suggested that at some time in coming months the hikes will be of smaller magnitude. Powell was at pains to sound hawkish in his press conference. He doesn’t want people to think that Fed has finished its work. That doesn’t mean the prospect of a transition isn’t worth noting, if not celebrating.
Powell is treading a well-worn path. The Reserve Bank of Australia, Monetary Authority of Singapore and Bank of Canada have recently stood out for their restraint. They tapped the brakes, though with less force than a few months ago, in relatively modest moves that blindsided some economists. Each has vital stakes in world trade and the strength of demand beyond their shores. If their concern is justified, we have more to worry about than just skyrocketing prices.
Prior to the 2020 slump, the RBA was considered an icon, lauded for the three-decade run without a recession Down Under. Powell went so far as to only half-joke in 2018 that business cycles hadn’t been retired, except in Australia, where expansions seemed to last forever. The RBA’s downbeat view Tuesday wouldn’t make pleasant reading for the Fed boss.
Yes, the RBA lifted its benchmark rate by a quarter point and held out the prospect of more. But it’s what didn’t happen that matters: Despite a disappointing pickup in inflation last quarter and calls for an aggressive response, Governor Philip Lowe resisted returning to a 50-basis-point climb. The board stuck with a quarter-point step. Importantly, it noted that officials have already done a lot and that rate adjustments affect the economy with a “lag.” No less worthy of scrutiny were Lowe’s remarks in a speech later Tuesday: “We need to strike the right balance between doing too much and too little.” Lowe even held out the prospect of an eventual pause. The fact it’s being floated as a possibility at all underscores that something has changed.
While every monetary agency will tell you it’s data-dependent, it’s crucial they aren’t enslaved by it. In the case of the RBA, because it didn’t return to 50 basis points in response to a strong inflation number, the implication is that it would require a string of nasty surprises to get off climbs of 25 basis points. The last thing central banks want is to be seen as bereft of strategy. While many say a recession isn’t their base case, they are careful not to rule it out. Mark Carney, who headed both the Bank of England and Bank of Canada, told a Hong Kong conference Wednesday that a global slump is “very likely.”
A byproduct of the Fed’s aggression this year has been a rampaging dollar and strains that has created in the global financial system. Across Asia, central banks have stepped into markets to stem the decline in their currencies against the greenback. Japan has intervened to stamp out what it calls speculative attacks on the yen, the first such action in a generation.
South Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia have also attempted to dent the pace of depreciation. The Fed’s muscular approach — and language — has also pushed local authorities into undertaking bigger rate hikes to catch up. The Bank of Korea cited currency moves after the September meeting of the FOMC as a reason to hike by a sizeable amount in October. “The Bank of Korea is now independent from our government, but not from the Fed,” BOK chief Rhee Chang-yong told the Peterson Institute for International Economics last month.
Hours after Powell spoke, the Philippine central bank said early Thursday it will lift its own rate by 75 basis points at the Nov. 17 meeting. This is “necessary to maintain the interest rate differential prevailing before the most recent Fed rate hike, in line with its price stability mandate and the need to temper any impact on the country’s exchange rate,” Governor Felipe Medalla said. Talk about forward guidance.
So why did Powell talk tough to reporters, extinguishing a market rally? He probably doesn’t want expectations racing ahead to an eventual pause next year. There’s no suggestion the RBA entertained a pause this week. That’s a matter for next year. But when the history of monetary policy in the third decade of this century is written, late 2022 may be worthy of a chapter. | 2022-11-03T06:23:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Don’t Confuse Powell’s Tough Talk With Massive Rate Hikes - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/dont-confuse-powells-tough-talk-with-massive-rate-hikes/2022/11/02/9ec6e8c6-5b28-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/dont-confuse-powells-tough-talk-with-massive-rate-hikes/2022/11/02/9ec6e8c6-5b28-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
The key difference is that Musk is now the owner, chairman, and chief executive officer. What he says, goes. Unless he changes his mind, which he won’t do. Or he’s simply joking, which also happens. This feels pretty real, though, given that he’s talked about it quite regularly in the past.
Musk calls this delineation a “lords & peasants system.” Joe from across the street has just as much claim to legitimacy as POTUS44. He’s right. You and I may not care about Joe’s identity, but his neighbor may want to know whether a hoard of zombies really was seen marching down the street where they both live. And the blue tick not only brings authenticity, but also accountability. Musk’s own tweets were used against him in legal battles, and being able to confirm they truly were sent by the Tesla Inc. CEO was key to that process.
• Musk Gutting Twitter Would Be a Threat to Us All: Tim Culpan
(1) Musk said the price would be adjusted by country proportional to purchasing power parity. | 2022-11-03T06:23:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Elon Musk’s Pay-to-Play Strategy Will Make Twitter Too Clubby - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/elon-musks-pay-to-play-strategy-will-make-twitter-tooclubby/2022/11/02/bf863312-5ae9-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/elon-musks-pay-to-play-strategy-will-make-twitter-tooclubby/2022/11/02/bf863312-5ae9-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
Toyota Motor Corp. Land Cruiser Prado (L) and FJ Cruiser sport utility vehicle (SUV) bound for shipment at a port in Yokohama, Japan, on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2022. Toyota Motor is scheduled to release earnings figures on November 1. (Bloomberg)
The largest car company on the globe is doubling down in China. Toyota Motor Corp.’s success there, and its plans to tap into the country’s electric vehicle-supply chain, shows how tough it is to circumvent the factory floor of the world — even for top manufacturers.
Toyota, which has so far been able to navigate the snarls that have caused grief for its competitors, bemoaned chip shortages and surging raw material costs as it posted a 23% drop in net income in the first half of its fiscal year. The weakening yen didn’t help offset any of this either. In China, however, the firm’s operating income at joint ventures went up because of increased sales. It ranks third behind Volkswagen AG and BYD Co.
No wonder. China has become the Japanese car company’s EV launching pad and savior. Initially a laggard with its electric agenda, the firm botched the release of its first bZ4X electric sport utility vehicle that came months after competitors had released their models. The wheels were at the risk of coming off. It recalled vehicles earmarked for different regions and then vowed to find a solution. Early last month, Toyota said it was preparing the parts to fix the problem and restart production. In late October, it launched the bZ4x in China in five variants. It’s now releasing a second EV — the bZ3 sedan. This time, though, it’s with BYD batteries. It will be produced in Tianjin and distributed in China by the Tianjin FAW Toyota Motor Co. joint venture. That’s a stark shift for a company that has typically relied on in-house design and parts.
That China has made Toyota’s electric plans a reality shows how deep and efficient its supply chains are and how it’s able to gear up industrial production quickly. It’s an underappreciated factor, often lost in the constant geopolitical wrangling.
Beijing helped Tesla Inc. too, laying out the red carpet ( on its own terms) and enabling Elon Musk’s firm to churn out thousands of EVs, launch various models and even export them to Europe. It delivered a record 83,135 cars in China in September. The company is reaping the benefits of scale, which few other countries can compete with. Musk is now sending engineers and production staff from the Shanghai factory to help with the expansion of its Fremont, California plant. BYD, the domestic battery and EV giant, has also been able to increase production.
Supportive policy has no doubt been helpful. But China’s industrial prowess is key. As Beijing boosts its auto industry, especially EVs and batteries, it is focused on staying ahead. That means ensuring components are available and up-to-date. For instance, it has now set its sights on a type of semiconductor that will go into just about every electric car — silicon carbide or SiC. These are used in higher-range EVs that are increasingly available in China. It doesn’t currently have large-scale production — for now, that is dominated by US company Wolfspeed Inc.
There are other Japanese firms and emergent Chinese players, too. These SiC chips were listed as a key area in the current Five Year Plan. State research institutes and universities are supporting manufacturing patents, while 30 projects have been targeted for scaling chip production to around 4 million wafers per year by 2026, according to research firm MacroPolo. That’s important for Toyota, an early adopter of SiC: Who wants to keep dealing with supply shortages for chips for the next five years? It’s already starting to feel the pinch of production delays and all the other costs for adjustment that come with it.
Even so, the Japanese company has been able to deal with this. Many others can’t, especially with surging energy and labor costs. The reality is business is business, and China’s supply chain is indispensable for now.
• The US Just Can’t Match China’s Industrial Heft: Anjani Trivedi
• If Factories Don’t Return Now, They Never Will: Thomas Black
• Welcome to the Scary, New Inflationary World: Trow and Ashworth | 2022-11-03T06:23:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | China Keeps the Wheels on Electric Vehicles - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/china-keepsthe-wheels-on-electric-vehicles/2022/11/02/016a87d8-5afe-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/china-keepsthe-wheels-on-electric-vehicles/2022/11/02/016a87d8-5afe-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
There are three words likely to be heard again and again at the United Nations COP27 climate conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh next week: loss and damage.
The concept — straight compensation for the economic destruction that will result from climate change — is a relative newcomer to the thicket of jargon that surrounds climate diplomacy. Egypt, and the nations of the global south that regard this year’s conference in Africa as a chance to seize the initiative after last year’s Glasgow meeting, would like to see it take its place as a third pillar of climate funding. That would place it alongside mitigation (technologies such as solar and wind farms that prevent emissions) and adaptation (making infrastructure resilient to the effects of warming).
The need for such assistance is clear. Poor nations that contributed the least to historical carbon dioxide emissions are likely to bear the brunt of the weather disasters it will cause over the coming decades. This year alone, drought in Brazil and East Africa cost $6 billion and floods in South Asia cost more than $8 billion, insurer Aon Plc wrote in a report last month. The rich nations that can afford the services of Aon and its peers aren’t the ones most in need of support: Of $1.5 trillion in economic losses from disasters over the past five years, just $561 billion was covered by insurance.
Tackling that situation presents a wicked dilemma, though. The money for mitigation, adaptation, and now loss and damage all comes from the same group of rich donor nations — and while their funding pool rarely grows much faster than their own economies, the costs of dealing with flooding, heatwaves and drought are rising at a pace determined by the warming climate itself. The money that’s spent repairing the effects of a disordered atmosphere risks cannibalizing the funds we should be spending to prevent its cause.
One influential 2015 study of the issue found in a world that warmed by 2.7 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, damage to developing countries would rise from $426 billion in 2030 to $1.55 trillion in 2050. That represents an annual rate of about 6.7%, far higher than the 1.7% pace at which rich economies have grown over the past decade.
We’ve seen this pattern play out before in conventional aid flows. Traditionally, such support comes in two forms: humanitarian aid, given without conditions to meet the cost of recovery from disasters; and official development assistance, more forward grants and low-rate loans to build infrastructure and assist in economic growth.
Though humanitarian aid is never proportionate to the sums needed, there are few restrictions on its growth rate. When disaster strikes, a need arises and funds are raised. Over the decade through 2021, spending rose at around 13.4% a year, close to its 15% rate the previous decade. ODA doesn’t increase at nearly such a dramatic pace, with the 10-year annualized growth rate falling to 2% over the most recent period, compared to a 9.4% pace over the previous 10 years. In 2021, humanitarian aid had grown to make up 11.9% of the overall assistance budget, compared to 4.1% in 2011.
From the perspective of a donor country’s finance ministry, this is hardly surprising. Humanitarian aid and development assistance are both money the government raises from local taxes and sends overseas to people who don’t vote for them. When urgent disaster relief needs arise, it’s often the development funds that get squeezed instead.
The problem is likely to get worse before it gets better. With rich countries’ budgets constrained by the costs of the pandemic, surging energy costs and rising interest rates, every cent of overseas spending is getting scrutinized. The UK cut its aid budget from the long-standing international target of 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5% in 2021, saying it was a temporary measure to deal with the impact of Covid-19. Norway and Sweden, two of the most generous aid donors, have proposed similar cuts in recent months.
What can be done to solve this problem? A first target would be for rich countries to finally, after five decades, meet their commitments to that 0.7% of GNI target, compared to the 0.33% they spend now. That would instantly more than double the money available to avert the effects of climate change.
More innovative structures to encourage investment in developing economies could also bring in trillions in sorely-needed private finance, freeing up public money to be spent on disaster relief. The $70.2 billion in public, multilateral and export-credit climate funding in 2020 mobilized just $13.1 billion in private funds, a rate of less than 20 cents on the dollar. Reducing the cost of capital for renewables projects in emerging nations by 2% would cut $15 trillion from the cost of hitting net zero in those countries by 2050, the International Energy Agency wrote last week.
Those are worthy ideas — but they’re hardly new, and so far neither has made up for the inadequate flow of climate funds from north to south.
If there’s one silver lining to the clouds now gathering over the geopolitical landscape, perhaps it’s this, then. Foreign aid is a creation of the Cold War, as the US and Soviet blocs sought to buy the allegiance of the global south by funding their development aims. A return to strategic competition between democratic and authoritarian governments may bring terrible effects. If it encourages the rich world to treat poorer nations as allies to be wooed, rather than debtors to be neglected, however, it may be the spur the world’s climate needs.
• To Fight Climate Change, Put Markets to Work: Michael Bloomberg and Mark Carney | 2022-11-03T06:23:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Climate Change Costs Are Eating Up the Money to Avert It - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/climate-change-costs-areeating-up-the-money-to-avert-it/2022/11/02/ed828496-5b02-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/climate-change-costs-areeating-up-the-money-to-avert-it/2022/11/02/ed828496-5b02-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
Kemp’s Secret Weapon in Georgia Race Against Abrams: $5 Billion in Covid Funds
By Margaret Newkirk | Bloomberg
Brian Kemp, governor of Georgia, right, shakes hands with an attendee following a news conference in Summerville, Georgia, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2022. Thunderstorms and heavy rain pounded parts of northwest Georgia on Sunday, sparking flash flooding in some areas and prompting Governor Kemp to declare a state of emergency, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (Bloomberg) | 2022-11-03T06:24:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Kemp’s Secret Weapon in Georgia Race Against Abrams: $5 Billion in Covid Funds - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/kemps-secret-weapon-in-georgia-race-against-abrams-5-billion-in-covid-funds/2022/11/02/dcbbd95c-5abf-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/kemps-secret-weapon-in-georgia-race-against-abrams-5-billion-in-covid-funds/2022/11/02/dcbbd95c-5abf-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
Singapore or HK? DBS Offers Clues to Who Is Ahead
Asia’s two financial centers are looking more attractive to banks right now than the region’s largest economy.
For at least part of 2023, Chinese lenders may bear the brunt of President Xi Jinping’s draconian Covid-19 containment policies and the mainland’s cratering real-estate industry. Hong Kong and Singapore, where policymakers don’t set domestic interest rates and loan prices tend to closely track US borrowing costs, will see banks enjoy bumper profitability for a second straight year.
Still, the two rival cities’ fortunes are diverging in ways that are significant for the banks serving them. Talent is leaving Hong Kong in large numbers, and an overheated property market is starting to crumble. None of it bodes well for the Chinese special administrative region’s mortgage demand. Real-estate in Singapore, however, is still strong because a lot of the capital and people fleeing China and Hong Kong are headed its way. Which is why Singapore-based DBS Group Holdings Ltd., the biggest of the city-state’s three homegrown leaders, may have an edge next year over HSBC Holdings Plc, which relies on Hong Kong for a big part of its profit.
DBS’s September-quarter earnings released Thursday offered fresh clues. Net interest margin jumped 32 basis points from the previous three months to 1.9%, and net profit rose 23% to a record S$2.24 billion ($1.58 billion). The strong performance wasn’t exactly a surprise. HSBC recently upgraded its target for net interest income this year after margins surged 22 basis points.
With the Federal Reserve raising its key overnight rate by a jumbo-sized 75 basis points for a fourth straight meeting, and Chair Jerome Powell saying US interest rates will go higher than projected previously, banks can lend more profitably. Lenders with strong current and savings account franchises, which can afford to be slow to pass on higher rates to depositors, will benefit the most. In Asia, HSBC and Standard Chartered Plc in Hong Kong, DBS in Singapore, State Bank of India and Bank Rakyat Indonesia are all looking well-placed. A big exception is China, where interest margins will likely shrink again as authorities try to offset a deepening slowdown by lowering the cost of capital.
Singapore banks have an extra spring in their step. DBS and United Overseas Bank Ltd., a smaller rival, are both aggressively expanding their regional footprints. DBS acquired wealth and retail banking businesses in five Asian markets from Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in 2016. Since then, Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta has bought a troubled lender in India, picked up a stake in Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank and is aiming for the top spot among foreign wealth managers and card issuers in Taiwan, where it has acquired Citigroup Inc.’s consumer-banking operations. UOB, controlled by Singapore billionaire Wee Cho Yaw, has gone for Citi’s consumer banking franchises in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, its first big takeover in 16 years. UOB, too, garnered a record third-quarter net profit.
After exiting more than 20 countries since the global financial crisis, HSBC will also want to start acquiring businesses, though CEO Noel Quinn has much less wiggle room: The bank’s equity capital is still below its medium-term target. Besides, the distraction of a split of its Asian operations demanded by Ping An Insurance Group Co., the UK bank’s largest shareholder, means it has to keep a grip on costs and meet its target of raising the return on tangible equity to 12% plus by 2023. (DBS reported a return on equity of 16.3%, an all-time high.) The sudden departure of HSBC’s chief financial officer has also added to uncertainty.
The other difference between the two financial centers in 2023 may lie in their lenders’ asset quality. HSBC recently set aside a tidy sum to cover its exposure to Chinese commercial real estate. The Hong Kong loan portfolio, too, will be a source of worry, after the city’s gross domestic product shrank a worse-than-expected 4.5% in the third quarter from a year earlier.
By contrast, DBS’s non-performing assets fell 5% in the third quarter. Delinquency in Singapore could become problematic, but only if authorities come in with heavy artillery to break up the city’s raging property mania. If the next round of so-called “cooling measures” bites and the market turns, homeowners might find themselves sitting on underwater mortgages. A tightening of total debt servicing norms — like in 2013 — could also see overstretched borrowers default on unsecured credit lines.
Those risks may or may not come to pass, unlike in China and Hong Kong, where the fault lines are clearly visible. Hong Kong’s finance summit this week, meant to serve as a signpost of the city’s post-pandemic reopening, has been marred by last-minute cancellations. Meanwhile, the seven-day lockdown of the area around the world’s largest iPhone factory in Zhengzhou shows that a relaxation in Xi’s Covid-Zero strategy early next year — a topic of intense speculation in the stock market — is not a given.
DBS’s Gupta is projecting net interest margins to rise further to 2.25% by the middle of next year, assuming the Fed stops its war on inflation at 4.75%. However, if the US economy tips into a recession and rates have to be quickly lowered, the jump in loan profitability that has pushed DBS shares to near-record highs could start to fade. Depending on how deep it is, a US downturn could also hurt credit quality in Singapore’s export-driven economy. Still, on current comparisons with their Hong Kong peers, Singapore lenders are clearly ahead in the race for 2023.
• Hong Kong Bankers Fear for Their Careers: Shuli Ren | 2022-11-03T06:24:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Singapore or HK? DBS Offers Clues to Who Is Ahead - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/singapore-or-hkdbs-offers-clues-to-who-isahead/2022/11/02/9e6d886c-5b28-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/singapore-or-hkdbs-offers-clues-to-who-isahead/2022/11/02/9e6d886c-5b28-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
The Conflict Testing Ethiopia’s Nobel-Winning Leader
Analysis by Samuel Gebre and Simon Marks | Bloomberg
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been at loggerheads with leaders of the northern Tigray region since 2020. Their forces fought each other for more than 16 months before a truce was declared in March. It unraveled in August when the two sides accused each other of staging fresh attacks. Fighting persisted until African Union brokered another truce in November. The conflict has pushed millions of people into hunger and tarnished Abiy’s once-illustrious reputation as a Nobel laureate.
1. How did Abiy’s fortunes change?
Abiy started with a bang when he became Ethiopia’s prime minister in 2018. He scrapped bans on opposition and rebel groups, purged allegedly corrupt officials and ended two decades of acrimony with neighboring Eritrea, an initiative that won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. He also welcomed foreign capital to maintain momentum in one of the world’s fastest-expanding economies. But he struggled to contain ethnic tensions, and his attempts to sideline the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, once the nation’s preeminent power broker, led to civil war. The conflict stalled planned economic reforms and prompted the US government to impose sanctions on Ethiopia and withdraw its duty-free market access. The nation’s misery has been compounded by the worst drought in four decades and soaring grain and fuel prices.
2. What sparked the civil war?
Abiy set about consolidating power under his newly formed Prosperity Party after taking office. This meant confronting the TPLF, which had dominated the ruling coalition since a Marxist regime was overthrown in 1991 and continued to govern Tigray. Abiy ordered a military incursion into Tigray in November 2020 after accusing forces loyal to the TPLF of attacking a military base to steal weapons. The TPLF said its raid was a preemptive strike because federal troops were preparing to attack. The government eventually gained the upper hand in the war, and the rebels withdrew to within Tigray’s borders in December 2021. Five months after the initial cease-fire was declared, the TPLF accused federal forces and allied troops from neighboring Eritrea of starting a new offensive. A new truce was reached following talks in South Africa led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. It remains uncertain whether it will hold.
3. What’s been the fallout from the war?
The government hasn’t disclosed casualties, and access to the conflict zones was restricted, but there are fears that hundreds of thousands of people have died due to fighting, hunger and a lack of medical care. The United Nations estimated in November that the war, along with a drought in eastern Ethiopia, had left about 20 million people in need of aid. The government has rejected allegations from civil rights groups that it obstructed efforts to dispense aid or that its forces were party to widespread human rights violations. A panel of UN experts in September reported that all sides in the fighting have likely committed abuses such as extra-judicial killings and rape. It said that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that some of the violations amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
4. What are the other tensions about?
The government has accused members of the Oromo Liberation Army, which has aligned itself to the TPLF and has been campaigning for greater regional autonomy, of killing hundreds of civilians and deployed the army to avert further violence. The group, which controls part of the central Oromia region, in turn alleges that the federal police have targeted and killed ethnic Oromos and Nuers. Ethiopia and Sudan are meanwhile at loggerheads over the rights to a swath of fertile land along their border. Al-Shabaab, a Somalia-based Islamist group that’s linked to al-Qaeda and is seeking to expand its influence in the Horn of Africa, also staged an attack in Ethiopian territory in July 2022.
5. Why all the instability?
Africa’s oldest nation-state, Ethiopia has long been plagued by discord among its more than 80 ethnic groups. The country was an absolute monarchy until the 1974 socialist revolution that deposed Emperor Haile Selassie. It became a multiethnic federation in 1991, when a TPLF-led alliance of rebels overthrew the Marxist military regime that followed Selassie. The Tigrayans, though comprising just 6% of the population, came to dominate national politics. After failing to quell three years of violent protests over the marginalization of other, bigger communities, including the Oromo and Amhara, Hailemariam Desalegn quit as prime minister in 2018. The then-ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front named Abiy, an Oromo, as his successor. Abiy’s party won a decisive majority in mid-2021 elections.
6. What’s been the impact on the economy?
Ethiopia’s $111 billion economy expanded by an average of more than 7% annually between 2018 -- the year Abiy took power -- and 2021, but the International Monetary Fund sees the growth rate slowing to 3.8% in 2022. With its finances under strain, the government announced in 2021 that it wants to restructure its $28.4 billion of external debt. The US urged multilateral lenders to halt their engagement with Abiy’s administration. The IMF has yet to initiate a new program for Ethiopia -- a key requirement for debt restructuring -- after the previous one lapsed without any money being disbursed.
--With assistance from Fasika Tadesse. | 2022-11-03T06:24:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The Conflict Testing Ethiopia’s Nobel-Winning Leader - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-conflict-testing-ethiopias-nobel-winning-leader/2022/11/02/5475f77c-5ae1-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-conflict-testing-ethiopias-nobel-winning-leader/2022/11/02/5475f77c-5ae1-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
The IMF Missed a Chance to Free Egypt’s Economy
A crisis is only an opportunity if you take it. By agreeing to a $3 billion loan for Egypt, the International Monetary Fund has again missed the chance to press the government of General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to free the economy from the grip of his military.
There is no gainsaying the importance of the concessions that the IMF apparently extracted from Cairo — a 200 basis-point hike in interest rates and a more flexible currency regime. The former will help slow inflation, which was 15% in September, the highest level in four years. The latter will allow market forces to determine the natural level of the Egyptian pound, an improvement on what analysts described as the government’s “drip, drip, drip” devaluation policy.
But these measures won’t address the main weakness of the Egyptian economy: The overweening presence of the country’s military in practically every important sector, from infrastructure and housing to hotels — and in some unimportant ones, such as bottled water. By giving his former comrades-in-arms free rein across the economy, Sisi has discouraged entrepreneurship and investment in the private sector.
At best, the loan will give Egypt temporary relief from the battering its economy has received since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has raised import costs and made foreign investors skittish. The war can be blamed for both problems, but Egypt’s long-term economic wellbeing depends on building a robust private sector, without the military.
Despite granting Egypt a $12 billion bailout program six years ago, the IMF showed little interest in getting Cairo to address this problem — until last summer, when it gingerly raised the issue in a country report. Including military-owned companies in the broader category of state-owned enterprises, the report noted that many were performing poorly and some “benefiting from an uneven playing field.” It was, to be sure, a roundabout acknowledgment of the problem, but it raised hopes the IMF would confront the issue in its negotiations with the government over the new loan.
Scholars like Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, have argued that the IMF and other international financial institutions “should tackle the reality of military involvement systematically in their programs and policy recommendations, and they should confront the issue head on in their dealings with Egypt’s authorities.”
But in the negotiations for the $3 billion loan, “there is no evidence further pressure has been exerted on this issue,” Sayigh told me in an email. He describes the new agreement as “minimalist across the board: focused on debt, exchange rate, and the like.” The Fund’s negotiators seem to have dropped key planks in the platform it laid out last year, such as “urging the state to exit various economic sectors, or pushing for a unified public procurement law, both items being directly relevant to the environment within which (military-owned) companies operate.”
For some critics, this is not merely a missed opportunity. “It is an abdication of responsibility by the IMF,” says Timothy E. Kaldas, a policy fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. “It has financed a flawed economic program for six years, and is now papering over the problems.”
The Sisi government has paid some lip service to the importance of getting the military out of the economy. It has vowed to list or sell off some military-owned companies, but has been slow to act on these promises.
It is not clear Sisi recognizes that he needs to act — or, indeed, that he has the political will. In the late 1990s, when China’s then-president, Jiang Zemin, confronted a similar situation, he was able to order the People’s Liberation Army to get out of the economy. His authority as head of the Communist Party gave him the power he needed.
The Egyptian leader has no such political base and may feel too beholden to the institution he served to act against its interests. He will need prodding from outsiders, and who better than his country’s creditors?
The most obvious candidates are regional allies, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have provided tens of billions of dollars in loans and investments in Egypt. Were military firms to go on the block, Gulf Arab investors, whether individuals or sovereign funds, would likely be the most enthusiastic bidders.
But the Gulf monarchies have historically valued political stability more than economic prudence. They may be reluctant to lean too heavily on Sisi, whom they regard as vital to preventing the Arab world’s most popular country from slipping into chaos. Memories are still fresh in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi of the last time that happened: The Arab Spring brought down the previous dictator, Hosni Mubarak, and allowed their sworn enemy, the Muslim Brotherhood, to rise briefly to power.
They would have preferred that the IMF did the leaning, but the Fund chose not to exercise its leverage — Egypt is its second-largest borrower, after Argentina. As a result, the Egyptian cat remains unbelled.
• To Tackle Hunger, We Need to Fix Food Subsidies: David Fickling
• The Arab Spring Is Over, But the Struggle for Democracy Isn’t: Editorial
• Higher Food Prices Aren’t Making Farmers Richer: Adam Minter | 2022-11-03T06:24:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The IMF Missed a Chance to Free Egypt’s Economy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-imf-missed-a-chance-to-freeegypts-economy/2022/11/03/330f4daa-5b35-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-imf-missed-a-chance-to-freeegypts-economy/2022/11/03/330f4daa-5b35-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
NEW YORK — Bono opened his book tour Wednesday night in what he called a “transgressive” mood, a little bit guilty for appearing on stage with three musicians who were not his fellow members of U2 and otherwise singing, joking and shouting out his life story to thousands of adoring fans at Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre. | 2022-11-03T06:25:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Bono opens book tour before adoring fans at Beacon Theatre - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/bono-opens-book-tour-before-adoring-fans-at-beacon-theatre/2022/11/03/48885436-5b32-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/bono-opens-book-tour-before-adoring-fans-at-beacon-theatre/2022/11/03/48885436-5b32-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
HONOLULU — The ground is shaking and swelling at Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano in the world, indicating that it could erupt. Scientists say they don’t expect that to happen right away but officials on the Big Island of Hawaii are telling residents to be prepared in case it does erupt soon. Here’s are some things to know about the volcano. | 2022-11-03T06:25:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | EXPLAINER: Where will Hawaii's biggest volcano erupt from? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/explainer-where-will-hawaiis-biggest-volcano-erupt-from/2022/11/03/f4ad3c0a-5b36-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/explainer-where-will-hawaiis-biggest-volcano-erupt-from/2022/11/03/f4ad3c0a-5b36-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
Cavaliers: Improved to 3-0 in overtimes. ... Kevin Love missed all five 3s after making eight on Sunday. He did have a rare dunk, posing afterward as his teammates celebrated on the bench. “He barely got over the rim,” Garland joked. “I wouldn’t call it a slam but a stuff. But I’ll give it to him.” | 2022-11-03T06:27:23Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Garland scores 29 in return, Cavs edge Celtics 114-113 in OT - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nba/garland-scores-29-in-return-cavs-edge-celtics-114-113-in-ot/2022/11/02/c1c4c52a-5b21-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nba/garland-scores-29-in-return-cavs-edge-celtics-114-113-in-ot/2022/11/02/c1c4c52a-5b21-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
In this image made from video provided by the Queensland Police Service, Vanessa Gardiner, mother of Toyah Cordingley, whose body was found on Wangetti Beach of Australia’s Queensland on Oct. 22, 2018, speaks in Cairns, Australia in November 2022. Australian police offered a 1 million Australian dollar ($633,000) reward on Thursday, Nov. 3, for information on the whereabouts of an Indian national who is suspected of murdering Toyah Cordingley four years ago before returning to his homeland. (Queensland Police Service via AP) (Uncredited/Queensland Police Service) | 2022-11-03T06:29:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Australian police offer $633,000 reward for Indian suspect - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/australian-police-offer-633000-reward-for-indian-suspect/2022/11/02/b5b53418-5b26-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/australian-police-offer-633000-reward-for-indian-suspect/2022/11/02/b5b53418-5b26-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
A photographer aimed his camera at a surfer. A shark photobombed him.
Professional surfer Tyler Warren rode the Southern California waves as a great white shark burst out of the water behind him
A great white shark jumps from the water behind Tyler Warren during the San Onofre Surfing Club contest in California last month. (Jordan Anast)
Great white sharks routinely stalk the ocean for seals and sea lions before bursting out of the water to strike, kill and plunge back into the sea. They’re apex predators and the largest predatory fish in the world. They swim faster than 35 miles an hour and shred prey with an array of 300 serrated, knifelike teeth staggered in rows.
And for centuries, they have haunted the popular imagination as bloodthirsty man-eaters.
Now, they can add another line to their résumé — photobomber extraordinaire.
On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 22, freelance photographer Jordan Anast aimed his camera at professional surfer Tyler Warren while working the San Onofre Surfing Club contest in California. As he photographed Warren, a great white shark shot out of the ocean, clearing the water entirely. The shark made a split-second appearance in the background before crashing back into the sea.
Anast, who’s been covering sports events in Southern California for more than 20 years, got the shot — a neat juxtaposition of man and beast, side by side, both going about their very different purposes, seemingly unaware of each other.
The photo struck a nerve. Anast said the attention he’s getting because of it has been nonstop over the past week and a half.
“It’s insane,” he said.
Why we love to fear sharks
Both Anast and Warren got to work at San Onofre State Beach around 10 that morning, specifically at the break known as “Old Man’s.” Anast started taking pictures. Of surfers prepping their boards and going out into the water, riding waves, mugging with fellow competitors, hanging out with their children. Of spectators sitting on the beach, taking it all in.
Then, at 11:02 a.m., while photographing a surfer he would later identify as Warren, Anast saw something out of the corner of his eye. At first, he thought it was a really big dolphin, which wouldn’t have been unusual. In his years of photographing surf competitions, Anast has captured plenty of dolphins — by themselves, jumping over surfers, knocking them off their boards.
“Everything,” he said. But, he added, “I never got a shark.”
Only when Anast looked at the screen of his Canon EOS R5 did he realize what he’d captured — the arc of a great white coming out of the ocean, peaking in the air and then crashing back into the water. In the foreground, Warren was riding a wave.
“I was just amazed,” Anast said.
Warren, who’s been surfing professionally for 14 years and making surfboards for more than two decades, said he didn’t know about the shark. He was catching his second or third wave of the round and was about halfway through the ride when he heard people cheering from the beach. Although they were louder than normal, he didn’t think much of it. He was on the clock — the round was 15 minutes — so he focused on catching another good wave. Only after the heat had ended and he’d come to shore did a woman approach him. Eyes wide, she told Warren that a photographer had been taking pictures of him.
“You wouldn’t believe the photo,” he remembered her saying. Then, she described the shot: “You’re surfing, and there’s a huge shark jumping behind you.”
Warren tracked down Anast and, sure enough, that’s exactly what it was.
Undeterred by his brush with a great white, even if only on the two-dimensional space of a photograph, Warren’s already back in the water. Clashes with sharks are rare, he said, even at San Onofre where they’ve coexisted with beachgoers for decades.
Instead, Warren said he focuses on catching a good wave.
“I usually don’t really think about sharks because you can just freak yourself out,” he said.
Sharks’ reputation as man-eaters is unfair and threatens the species, authors say
Anast and Warren said they’re taken aback by their newfound fame. After the image was beamed to screens thousands of miles away, Warren heard from people across the country. His brother reached out after seeing him on the news in Florida. His sister did the same from Texas. His uncle, Arizona. When he goes out to catch waves, surfers and other beachgoers barrage him with questions and comments about “that shark photo.”
“It’s gotten to the point where it just feels over the top. Every person I see that I know and don’t know, they bring it up,” he said, although he acknowledged that he recognizes the photo is something he’ll probably look back on in a decade or two with not only amazement, but appreciation.
“It’s definitely a one-in-a-million shot,” Warren said.
Actually, Anast said, he’s archived 2.5 million photos in his decades-long career, and he’s only got one with a surfer being photobombed by a great white shark. He suspects it’s the only one he’ll ever get — that anyone will ever get.
“I just don’t see it happening.” | 2022-11-03T09:17:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Great white shark photobombs surfer, photographer - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/03/surfer-shark-photobomb/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/03/surfer-shark-photobomb/ |
Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder is pictured before an October game. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
The news, though vague and subject to change, arrived Wednesday like a heavenly declaration. Daniel Snyder, the billionaire who has overseen the thorough ruination of a prime NFL franchise, is open to selling the Washington Commanders. Perhaps the team can huddle at the end of practice and break with shouts of “Hallelujah!”
Too soon? Yes, for sure. But on this day, that dream didn’t seem so distant.
If the announcement that Snyder hired an investment bank to “consider potential transactions” didn’t yet feel as if their prayers had been answered, long-suffering fans at least can sense that their boos have been heard. The impact of numerous investigations of the alleged misdeeds of the owner and his organization has been felt.
In recent weeks, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay applied pressure and contended “there’s merit to remove” Snyder for creating a toxic workplace culture, which included a disturbing history of misogyny that led to many forms of abusive behavior toward women. Now Snyder, who has tarnished the reputation of a franchise still considered among the NFL’s most valuable, is “exploring all options,” according to a team spokesperson.
It doesn’t mean Snyder is certain to sell the team. He could be attempting to strengthen his financial position as he continues the endless pursuit of a new stadium, and the cleanest way to do so would be to seek new minority investors. But last year, Snyder bought out three limited partners for $875 million after a contentious process, and it would be an embarrassingly imprudent decision for any businessperson to partner with Snyder.
It makes no sense morally; joining forces with an NFL pariah invites incomprehensible scrutiny and guilt by association. It’s questionable financially, too; the price tag would be exorbitant for such a small percentage of a team in which the investor would have little say. And there’s still the probe of financial improprieties that Congress first flagged in March, raising further questions about Snyder’s integrity.
In August, Forbes estimated the Commanders to be worth $5.6 billion. If so, raw math says a 10 percent stake should cost $560 million. But the negotiation is tricky because the true value of owning a small part of a sports team is never a straightforward discussion. Who wants to approach $1 billion for a piece of the Snyder headache?
Surely, Snyder doesn’t want to sell the Commanders. But he and his wife, Tanya, are making a shrewd decision to look around. In a just sports world, he wouldn’t have any luxurious options to explore. He already would have faced accountability so stiff that he wouldn’t have a team. But that’s not how this game works. Facing problems he caused from all directions, Snyder has the chance to escape on a golden parachute. He doesn’t deserve one, but the people who still love this franchise and remember what it can be deserve freedom. Closure could be on its way — finally.
For a change, there could be alignment for Snyder and a fan base that has turned against him. There could be hope for a resolution that doesn’t involve years of litigation and an all-out war between Snyder and the rest of the NFL team owners. But such a scenario requires a motivated ownership group that probably would have to pay a preposterous, record-shattering price.
Rob Walton and his group bought the Denver Broncos for $4.65 billion in June, establishing the new largest sale price. Forbes ranked Denver the 12th-most-valuable NFL team. The Commanders were sixth, and in Snyder’s case, we are talking about an obstinate owner being forced to consider something he would rather not do. Any offers could start at the $5.6 billion estimate, but they’re not likely to end there. It would have to be the sweetest deal to entice Snyder.
He is 57, a teenager compared with most NFL owners. He was 34 when he bought the team in 1999, fulfilling a childhood dream. With good health and the dexterity to keep fending off his troubles, Snyder easily could run the franchise for another quarter century. He paid $800 million for a team valued at seven times that now, but despite making so much money off such bad football, the multiplier must keep humming to pacify the lack of an emotional return on investment.
Snyder has made himself a villain through his actions. After 23 years, there is nothing he can do to change that. During a Week 7 game against the Green Bay Packers at FedEx Field, the crowd — members of which chanted “Sell the team!” that afternoon — booed Tanya Snyder when she appeared in a video about breast cancer awareness. Such moments must sting the most. Tanya is a breast cancer survivor, but in that moment, she symbolized nothing more than an awful reign that will not end. There is no compassion, no understanding at this point in the relationship. There is no respect, either. There is only desperation.
Wednesday provided an indicator that the desperate feeling is mutual. For more than two decades, Snyder often has operated as if he could do this forever, impervious to criticism and focused solely on his own happiness. But what happens when the privilege of not having to answer to anyone starts to evaporate?
Snyder has few allies not on his payroll and an overflowing list of people who can detail why being associated with him isn’t worth it. His adversaries aren’t just the exasperated fans he can’t win over. They are in the government. They are women and former employees who refuse to stay silent. They are lawyers, and they are civic leaders who mock his driftless efforts to persuade multiple municipalities to engage in a bidding war for a new stadium. And now, with Irsay as the face of the disapproval, it appears NFL owners may be willing to abandon one of their own.
Snyder didn’t just wake up and decide to be transparent. He didn’t want us all to know that he’s considering “potential transactions,” but he needed the wealthiest of the wealthy to know that, with all the heat he’s feeling, he’s up for a game of “Offer Me Something Ridiculous.”
He needs options. He needs out of the corner he finds himself trapped in. He needs a path to a win — or at least justification of an otherwise forced exit.
It’s premature for fans to rejoice because a fickle owner announced a process that could be long and tenuous, but it was a big day nonetheless. Snyder doesn’t seem so defiant anymore. | 2022-11-03T09:21:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Dan Snyder gives Commanders fans hope for an ownership change - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/dan-snyder-selling-commanders-hope/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/dan-snyder-selling-commanders-hope/ |
DeVonta Smith's Eagles are big road favorites against the Texans. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
The Philadelphia Eagles enter Thursday night’s game at the Houston Texans as 14-point favorites, and if that spread does not get bet down, the Eagles will be the biggest road favorite ever in a Thursday night game, breaking the record set by the Indianapolis Colts for a 2007 game at the Atlanta Falcons. (The Colts were favored by 13½ and won by 18.) The total for this game is set at 45½ points after opening at 43½.
On paper, this shouldn’t be much of a game: The Eagles are the NFL’s lone unbeaten team at 7-0 while the Texans are 1-5-1. But that doesn’t mean the game isn’t worth betting. Here are a few of our top plays that merit consideration.
Philadelphia Eagles -7 first half, playable to -8½
The Eagles know how to get off to a fast start. Philadelphia is scoring a league-high 3.5 points per drive in the first half and has headed to halftime with an average lead of 12.7 points. Just twice this season have the Eagles ended the opening half with less than a double-digit lead. Houston has faced a 2.3-point deficit, on average, at the end of the first half.
DeVonta Smith, over 50½ receiving yards, playable to 51½
Smith is averaging 60 yards as the outside receiver opposite A.J. Brown. The Texans are allowing 9.8 yards per attempt to outside receivers, the fifth-highest rate in the league and more than a yard more than the average team (8.3). Most of the defensive attention should be focused on Brown, especially after his monster six-catch, 156-yard, three-touchdown game last week, which should open up the field for Smith.
Davis Mills under 221½ passing yards
Mills ranks 32nd out of 33 qualified passers in ESPN’s QBR metric, and it’s not like he has gone up against many elite pass defenses. Among Houston’s opponents, only the Broncos rank in the top 12 in terms of pass-defense DVOA, and Mills managed only 177 yards and 4.7 yards per attempt in a 16-9 loss at Denver on Sept. 18.
The Eagles are No. 2 in pass-defense DVOA, behind only the Broncos. They sacked Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett, another young signal caller, six times and limited him to 5.0 yards per attempt in Sunday’s 35-13 win. Texans No. 2 receiver Nico Collins will miss the game with a groin injury, and No. 1 receiver Brandin Cooks is dropping hints on Twitter that he’s unhappy Houston didn’t trade him at the deadline. The Texans listed Cooks as questionable.
Mills and the flailing Texans had a short week to prepare for the best pass defense they’ve seen since Week 2 — even more reason to like his passing yards going under. In his lone game on short rest in his career, Mills threw for 168 yards last season against the Panthers. | 2022-11-03T09:22:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Thursday night picks and bets for Eagles-Texans game - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/eagles-texans-thursday-picks-odds/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/eagles-texans-thursday-picks-odds/ |
As Democrats struggle elsewhere, abortion shapes a governor’s race in Mich.
The campaign is nearing the end during a simultaneous push to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution through a direct vote
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) at a Get Out the Vote rally in Detroit, on Sunday. (Emily Elconin/for The Washington Post)
After the Supreme Court in June struck down Roe v. Wade, which established a constitutional right to abortion decades ago, states were left to decide laws and restrictions on the procedure. Democrats quickly sought to tap into anger over the ruling and energy in the fight to protect abortion rights in states, giving them hope of beating expectations for a dismal midterm election.
Those hopes have faded in some places, as Democrats across the country grapple with Republican attacks over inflation, crime and an unpopular president. Some in the party have recently voiced concern that they placed too much emphasis on the abortion, amid signs that it is not motivating some voters as much as other issues.
But in Michigan things are different, according to interviews with candidates, operatives, voters and a review of polling. Abortion continues to be top of mind, with Democrats and abortion rights advocates cautiously optimistic that they have an advantage heading into next Tuesday.
That is heavily due to a ballot measure known as Proposal 3, which will determine if Michigan codifies a right to abortion. Abortion rights advocates hope to prevent a 1931 state law that bans abortion even in cases of rape or incest from remaining on the books. A judge granted Whitmer’s request for a temporary restraining order on the enforcement of the law, and in September it was declared unconstitutional and blocked by a state court. But the ballot measure will determine if any restrictions can go into effect in the future, and would guarantee a woman the right to an abortion up until fetal viability.
While both candidates largely focus their remarks on other issues such as the economy and education, Whitmer has mentioned abortion regularly, a strategy that Democrats believe will pay off. Recent polls have shown her with a lead over Dixon, including a CNN survey of likely voters that showed her leading Dixon 52 percent to 46 percent, even as Democrats brace for a difficult election. That same poll showed likely voters favoring changing the state constitution to codify abortion rights, by a margin of 54 percent to 45 percent.
Energy behind the ballot measure is visible in fundraising disparities between organizations on either side of the proposal. Reproductive Freedom for All, an organization supporting abortion rights, has raised nearly $40.3 million, while the antiabortion Citizens to Support Mich. Women and Children has raised $16.9 million.
Whitmer, who had fought the long-dormant law before Roe was struck down, a development that paved the way for its return, said in the interview after a campaign rally here in Flint that Michigan has a chance to go the opposite direction of states that banned or severely restricted access to abortion.
“In other states, those rights are gone, period. Here, we’ve got an opportunity to enshrine these rights,” she said of the ballot measure.
Whitmer was one of the Democrats considered by President Biden to be his running mate in 2020 and has been talked about in Democratic circles as a potential future presidential hopeful. If she wins reelection in a swing state that Trump won in 2016, then Biden won four years later, she will be well-positioned to expand her influence in the party, Democrats say.
In Michigan, Democrats hope the abortion proposal will have a downballot impact as well. Republicans currently hold a majority of seats in both chambers of the state legislature, and Democrats hope it will help them take control. “It really is impacting the conversations we’re having on every race,” said Democratic state Sen. Mallory McMorrow.
Former president Barack Obama recently echoed Whitmer’s urgency at a rally in Detroit. “Here in Michigan, this isn’t even theoretical. Abortion rights are literally on the ballot,” he said, before hitting Dixon for her opposition to the measure.
“Gov. Whitmer’s opponent strongly supports it, a law from 1931. She thinks politicians had the right idea back then. I mean, she probably thinks, if she watched The Handmaid’s Tale, she’s thinking, well, what’s the problem?” Obama said. During the Republican primary, Dixon had praised the law, and said saving the “life of the mother” should be the only exception to abortion bans.
Dixon, at a rally in Livonia, told The Post that Obama’s comparison is “a desperate attempt to get their base out.”
“What a sad thing to say when abortion is on the ballot people can decide it, but it’s also been decided by a judge. So it goes to show that if you continue to push an issue that is not actually an issue in this election, that you don’t have a plan to run on,” she added.
Some of Dixon’s supporters attending the rally said abortion and the ballot-measure vote are top of mind, part of a larger concern that the government is infringing on the rights of parents. Dixon and other antiabortion advocates have claimed the legislation would eliminate parental consent for children seeking abortions, and for those seeking gender therapy.
“We know that Proposal 3 does remove parental consent. It also makes it so that you don’t have to be a doctor to perform an abortion,” Dixon said at the final gubernatorial debate last month.
The ballot measure does not explicitly mention parental consent, and experts say that even if the law is later challenged in the courts, if the measure passes, the parental-consent requirements should survive. Under current state law, parental consent is required for minors seeking abortions.
“It’s confusing. It’s extreme. It’s permanent,” said Christen Pollo, spokesperson for Citizens to Support Mich. Women and Children, the antiabortion group campaigning against Proposal 3.
Amanda McNeff, a nurse practitioner supporting Dixon, said she voted for Biden in 2020 and previously considered herself a Democrat but is now voting Republican in part due to the ballot measure.
She said she is voting against Proposal 3 because she believes it “is where that trans surgery is hiding.” The ballot measure also does not mention gender-affirming care.
For her and other Republican voters who spoke to The Post, the abortion ballot measure is further evidence of Democrats overstepping and more reason to vote against Whitmer.
“The bottom line is, is they want to allow kids 10, 12, 15 to go and have somebody else give them an abortion without telling their parents. So if there’s any harm done to them, and they die, the parents have no recourse,” said Karen Mattson, another Dixon supporter planning to vote against the proposal. “The parents have no say, they have no knowledge of what’s going on with their kids. That’s totally, totally gone.”
Supporters of the measure counter that the proposal would merely return Michigan to the same place it was before Roe was overturned, and have worked to overcome the misinformation surrounding the bill.
“I think asking some people to affirmatively amend the state constitution comes with a unique challenge,” said Loren Khogali, the executive director of American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.
The ACLU was involved with the ballot measure from before the overturning of Roe. If it is successful, Khogali said, it could provide a blueprint for other states looking to take a direct vote on abortion rather than leave it up to Congress or state legislatures.
While canvassing in Canton with other supporters of the ballot measure, a man raking leaves outside his home asked Khogali about how a “yes” vote would impact parental consent.
“There’s nothing that interferes with the laws that are in place regarding parental consent,” she responded. “Just like any medical care that you seek it requires parental consent and will continue to be regulated that way.”
For Karen Szkutnik, who wore a “Pumpkin Spice and Reproductive Rights” T-shirt to the Canton canvassing event, the measure is personal.
“I had a late abortion at 20 weeks, my baby had a condition and was going to die right after birth,” she said.
When she recently retired from her job in health care, she says everyone asked what she was going to do with her newfound time.
“And I said, I’m not doing anything other than help the campaign until Election Day.”
Rachel Roubein in Washington contributed to this report. | 2022-11-03T09:26:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Abortion shapes governor’s race in Michigan as Democrats struggle elsewhere - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/michigan-abortion-whitmer-dixon/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/michigan-abortion-whitmer-dixon/ |
The former president is holding a rally in Iowa and taking swipes at likely primary rivals, while his super PAC is running ads attacking Biden
Former president Donald Trump speaks in Mesa, Ariz., on Oct. 9. (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post)
Trump also has repeatedly winked at his supporters in public remarks, strongly hinting that his own mind was made up. “Under these ridiculous rules and regulations you’re not allowed to talk about it,” he said at a rally last month in Michigan. “We’ll be making a decision very soon,” he added in Arizona. “I think everyone’s going to be happy, I really do.”
“Very soon” could come within days of Election Day on Nov. 8, with Trump hoping to take credit for what’s expected to be a strong Republican showing. Advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans, said announcing soon would pressure Republicans to line up behind Trump before potential rivals get into the race. Trump expects to face Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former vice president Mike Pence and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, advisers said.
Some advisers also cited the importance of declaring Trump’s candidacy before a potential indictment from the Justice Department. Investigators have been closing in on Trump and his inner circle in separate probes into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the mishandling of classified documents recovered from his private Mar-a-Lago Club and residence in Florida. Some advisers said announcing Trump’s candidacy before any potential charges would help him by making the prosecution look more political.
Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich released an earlier statement, saying: “President Trump continues to be the leading voice in growing and energizing the Republican Party by introducing millions of new voters to his endorsed candidates and energizing voters who usually sit-out midterms.”
In the meantime, Trump has begun discussing personnel picks for a campaign and asking people to help in various states, according to people familiar with the conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal details. He has floated Mar-a-Lago as the site of an announcement, but some advisers would like him to choose a venue in a swing state.
Trump has been tracking what donors meet with other candidates, advisers say, and has hosted state officials and Republican National Committee members at Mar-a-Lago ahead of an announcement.
The Iowa rally was scheduled to help Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R), who some polls show is in a tight race, after an earlier event in the state did not come together, according to a person involved in the planning. The state also has a competitive race for attorney general, and the Republican candidate is slated to speak.
The rally location, in Sioux City, isn’t in a competitive congressional district. The state’s GOP chair, Jeff Kaufmann, said he advocated for bringing Trump there to help turn out the vote for statewide races. “When you have no contested election, there is a tendency for voter enthusiasm to decline,” Kaufmann said. “We need something in this 4th District to put things into overdrive.”
Still, Trump clearly has his own interests in Iowa, where he narrowly lost the 2016 caucus to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). A recent Des Moines Register poll found that most Iowans view Trump unfavorably, a marked turn from last fall. Trump won the state by eight points in 2020. Even some of Trump’s supporters have started admitting to reservations about voting for him a third time.
“A lot of people who attend his rally want to thank him for what he did, but that doesn’t mean everybody at the rally believes he should run for president again,” said Bob Vander Plaats, head of the Family Leader, an Iowa-based social conservative group. “A lot of people are going to think, ‘We need somebody new, somebody fresh, in 2024 to make sure we win.’ ”
Trump is divisive, viewed favorable by 42 percent of Americans but 81 percent of Republicans, according to a recent New York Times-Siena national poll. Multiple polls have shown that a majority of Americans believe he should be prosecuted for his role in encouraging his supporters to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6, leading to a riot that disrupted the formal certification of the election results.
Trump has spent the almost two years since leaving office cementing his grip on the party. His endorsements proved decisive in many primaries, and he has held rallies to promote the “Trump ticket,” rather than using the party’s name. Eight of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection have since retired or lost their primaries, and a ninth, Rep. David G. Valadao (R-Calif.), is in a close race for reelection. Candidates emphasizing Trump’s false claims about fraud in the 2020 election are now within striking distance of winning the power to oversee or certify future elections, including in Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin — states that were crucial to Biden’s electoral college victory.
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a Trump confidant, said he expected the former president to join the race soon but cautioned against centering the campaign on settling scores.
“If it’s a campaign of grievance — people are not being loyal, that kind of stuff — I think that’s not the best hand for him to play,” Graham said. “What he’s going to have to do is when he announces, talk about how he would take on the Biden agenda and the case he would make to take the White House back.”
Graham said he often hears concerns about electability and said Trump needed to try to alleviate those.
“This is still Trump’s primary to lose, but I’m hearing from people who say, ‘I liked him. I think he was a good president. I think he shakes things up, but I don’t know if he can win,’ ” Graham said. “His challenge is going to be take that admiration for his presidency and prove to people he can also win.”
Trump has already started making his case against Biden by proxy in some super PAC ads airing in the midterms. The Make America Great Again super PAC has spent more than $16 million helping Trump-endorsed Senate and gubernatorial candidates on the ballot on Nov. 8, according to data from the media-tracking firm AdImpact. The ads in Nevada and Pennsylvania take special aim at Biden.
“Send Biden a message. Defeat Catherine Cortez Masto,” the voice-over in the Nevada spot says, citing the Democratic Senate incumbent.
“Joe Biden and John Fetterman aren’t up to these challenges,” an ad in Pennsylvania says, referring to the Democratic Senate candidate there.
Two people involved in the ads said the attacks on Biden were supported by the PAC’s research because the president is unpopular in those states. The super PAC is being advised by Chris LaCivita, a veteran Republican ad maker who is also being considered for a senior campaign role, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump has also begun dunking on his potential opponents in the Republican primary. He criticized DeSantis for endorsing Colorado Senate candidate Joe O’Dea after Trump lashed out at O’Dea for distancing himself from Trump. DeSantis, who is running for reelection, will not appear at Trump’s rally in Miami on Sunday, instead holding his own competing event.
The Florida rally arose from a conversation between Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (R), who is also on the ballot, according to people familiar with the planning. Trump is also planning homestretch rallies in Pennsylvania on Saturday and Ohio on Monday.
Trump’s PAC now routinely blasts out state poll results showing Trump leading likely primary rivals and beating Biden in a hypothetical 2024 rematch.
“We’re leading by numbers that nobody’s ever seen before, that includes Republicans,” Trump said at last month’s Arizona rally. “We got some Republicans that say, ‘Oh, we want to run.’ Let them run. Who the hell cares? We’re leading by so much.” | 2022-11-03T09:26:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Trump hasn’t announced a 2024 bid. But he’s acting like he’s running already. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/trump-2024-campaign-midterms/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/trump-2024-campaign-midterms/ |
Brendon Birt immediately pulled over, called 911 and darted out of his vehicle toward the flames
Brendon Birt made a wrong turn in Red Oak, Iowa, on Oct. 23 and rescued four siblings from a house fire. (Video: Tender Lehman via Storyful)
Brendon Birt made a wrong turn as he drove a friend home just before 2 a.m. in Red Oak, Iowa. The mistake ended up saving the lives of four siblings.
Birt, 26, accidentally turned onto Prospect Street as he was looking for his friend’s house on Oct. 23. The directional mix-up was a stroke of luck: He drove by a home that was engulfed in flames.
Given the early hour, “I just had to assume somebody was in there,” said Birt, who immediately pulled over, called 911 and darted out of his car toward the burning house. “I was throwing stuff at the house, hitting the windows, yelling — everything I could to try to get them out of the house.”
When no one emerged from the home within a few minutes of Birt knocking and screaming “fire,” he decided he would break down the back door — as the front was almost entirely engulfed in flames.
“I just knew how bad it was getting, and I really had no time to think,” said Birt, who lives in Red Oak. “I was going to do whatever I had to do.”
Just as he was getting ready to run to the back, two teenage girls and a younger boy sprinted out the front door, screaming and crying as they pushed past billows of smoke. They said Birt’s banging woke them up.
“It was a huge relief when I saw them running out,” Birt said, adding that his friend stayed by the car. “If they had waited one more minute, they probably wouldn’t have gotten out of there.”
The three tearful siblings who ran out of the house said their older brother was still inside. About a minute went by — which “felt like forever,” Birt said — before the brother came racing out as flames danced around him. Firetrucks pulled up at the same time.
Birt learned that the four children — Bryce, 22, Kindred, 17, Spirit, 14, and Christopher, 8 — were asleep at home when the blaze broke out. Their mother, Tender Lehman, was in Montana for a family emergency, while her husband, Chris Lehman — who is a boilermaker — was working in Muscatine, Iowa. Bryce was looking after his younger siblings.
“I can guarantee you if it had not been for Brendon,” Bryce said, “it would have been 10 times worse than it was.”
While the siblings all made it out physically unscathed, five of the family’s seven dogs perished in the blaze.
“My kids were very shaken up,” Tender said. “They lost their dogs. They were devastated.”
She and her husband were devastated, too.
Tender was asleep at her sister’s house in Ekalaka, Mont., when she got the frantic call.
“I was in shock,” she said. “I was a mess. I was just falling apart.”
Tender wanted to drive home right away, but “we were pretty hysterical, my sister wouldn’t let us leave,” she said, explaining that she settled down once she knew her kids were safe and had a place to stay, and her mother drove her back to Red Oak first thing the next morning.
Birt stayed with the Lehman siblings for nearly three hours after the fire, “hugging them and talking to them, and trying to make them feel better,” he said, adding that he waited until the kids were picked up by a family friend, the VanHooses, who took them in for the night.
It took Birt some time to digest what had transpired.
“Until you get in that position, you don’t realize how fast that house is going to go up in flames,” said Birt, who is a hip-hop and rap artist. “It was crazy.”
When he approached the fiery house that night, “I imagined it being my family in there,” Birt said. “There was no other way around it.”
The Lehmans feel indebted to Birt for his willingness to put himself in danger to save strangers, they said.
“I think it’s such an epidemic in this country, people pulling out their cellphones and recording tragedy instead of jumping in to help,” Tender said. “He pulled out his cellphone and he called 911. He knew that they didn’t have time to wait.”
She was stunned that he got as close as he did to the fire. The blaze was so hot it melted Bryce’s truck — which was parked 20 feet away.
“He is a special, special guy,” Tender said.
What she is most awed by is that Birt “is still rescuing my children,” she said, explaining that they continue to be in touch and talk about what happened that night. “They’re healing each other. They’re the only five people on the planet that know what that night felt like.”
Birt has checked in with the Lehmans every day and visited numerous times since the fire. He even took the youngest, Christopher, trick-or-treating on Halloween.
“He is so much a part of our lives,” Tender said.
The kids, they said, are filled with gratitude for their newfound friend and hero.
“I never knew taking the wrong turn was such a good thing,” Christopher said.
“I’m just thankful that he’s been with us every second that we’ve asked him to,” said his sister, Spirit.
“He actually did something and saved all of us,” Kindred added. “It was pretty unbelievable.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation, the Red Oak Fire Department told The Washington Post.
When the fire started, “we were under a wind advisory,” Tender said. “Someone could have simply flicked a cigarette,” and it might have sparked the blaze.
The family lost the entire contents of their home. The damage to the house is not covered by insurance, Tender said, because of an issue with the roof — which they had planned to fix.
“I did shop around for more insurance, but I just thought we had time,” said Tender, who is studying to become a nurse and works as a nursing assistant at Montgomery County Memorial Hospital.
Her mother, Windy Mojarez, started a GoFundMe page to help her daughter’s family get back on their feet. Family friends — the Ericksons — offered to let them stay in their camper for the past week, and the family just secured a rental home.
Tender said she is overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from her community and beyond. Most of all, though, she is grateful that her four children are still with her — which, she believes, is because of Birt.
“I told him, ‘You just gained another family.’ He’s going to be in all the Christmas cards,” she said. “He’s an incredible human.”
Birt said he is proud to be an honorary Lehman.
“They’re definitely family forever,” he said. | 2022-11-03T10:14:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Brendon Birt saw a house on fire. He saved 4 siblings inside. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/11/03/fire-lehman-house-rescue-siblings/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/11/03/fire-lehman-house-rescue-siblings/ |
By Prachi Gupta
Jack is 28 and a lawyer. He is seeking someone who is “kindhearted, athletic, curious,” plus has interests she is passionate about. Chelsea is 29 and an event planner. Her dream date is with a “Scottish rugby player who travels often and owns a charity dedicated to rescuing dogs.” (Daniele Seiss)
Chelsea, 29, briefly dated a man who said he had a good experience participating in Date Lab. When they broke things off a few months ago, she decided to apply. She was looking forward to an “old-fashioned blind date,” noting that she’s not a fan of dating apps because it’s easy to miss out on a good match based on surface-level traits. She’s interested in a long-term relationship but didn’t put any expectations on the public setup. “I wasn’t super nervous going into it.”
While she usually straightens her hair for first dates, her friends encouraged her to wear it curly. The event planner showered in the morning, giving her curls time to set. After work, she went home and dressed in her go-to date night outfit that she “feels good in,” which includes a turtleneck tank. She listened to Lizzo on her drive over to Sovereign in Georgetown.
She arrived about 10 minutes before her match, Jack, a 28-year-old lawyer. Like Chelsea, he is interested in a serious relationship but didn’t “put a lot of emotional weight” on the evening. He came straight from a busy day at the office, dressed in a pink J. Crew button-down. He listened to hip-hop while riding a rented scooter over, then got nervous as he entered the restaurant. Thankfully, he arrived just on time.
After taking photos, they sat and got vodka blueberry cocktails while deciding on food. They split a flatbread, and then she ordered a short rib entree while he got a pork sandwich. They each had two more drinks, switching to beer.
Chelsea broke the ice by asking Jack, “Why do you think The Post decided to match us?” This is when Jack told her that he played rugby in college. “That must be it,” she said, noting that she had a “thing” for rugby players. The attraction was mutual. “She had done her hair in very pretty curls,” Jack commented. “I thought she was quite pretty and there was not much of a nervousness about her, and that’s always attractive.” Physically, Jack “checked a lot of boxes” for her as well, she said.
The conversation quickly delved into their interests and the culture shift involved in moving to D.C. from their respective hometowns — Jack grew up in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Chelsea is from Grand Rapids, Mich. “We talked about family, and he’s close with his family and I am too,” Chelsea said.
To meet more people in D.C., Chelsea joined a volleyball league, while Jack plays kickball. Jack, who had a group of friends in D.C. from college, admired Chelsea’s outgoing nature and her willingness to join new activities to meet people. “It’s scary to go out and try to make friends when you move,” he said. “She’s definitely outgoing.”
Chelsea liked Jack’s sense of humor. When she mentioned that she and her friends send each other Christmas cards, she was surprised to learn that Jack and his friends have a similar hobby. “We started this 12 years ago and made them in Kinkos,” Jack said. Now they make elaborate e-cards. One of the friends “is in video production and so we go into a studio,” he said. He shared with her a few of the cards, including one with him and his friends wearing matching Christmas sweaters, striking an “awkward JCPenney family portrait” pose, according to Chelsea. She found it to be “so funny, and it really showed his personality.”
They talked for more than three hours, ending the date after 9 p.m. When the bill came, they had gone over The Post’s allotted amount, and both offered to pay. But Jack insisted, and covered the entire difference. He then noticed that the receipt included a 15 percent tip. “I normally tip 20 percent,” he told me. He did the math to make sure the wait staff received 20 percent. “He’s polite and definitely a gentleman,” Chelsea said.
They walked out and hugged goodbye near the entrance, where Jack rented a scooter to get back home. As they stood there, Jack asked Chelsea for her number, but she told him to put his number in her phone. Then she texted him. They continued texting that night. “We were talking about fall in general, and both have Target printed matching flannel pajamas. He sent me a picture of it after the date,” she said with a laugh. “I really liked him.”
Describing the evening as “a good date and a good conversation,” Chelsea “would definitely go out with him again.” Jack, too, looked forward to a second date: “Our schedules haven’t quite lined up, but I think we’ll go out again.”
Chelsea: 4.5 [out of 5].
Jack: 5.
They remain in touch and are coordinating plans for a second date.
Prachi Gupta is a writer in New York.
Date Lab: He wants someone to share his life with | 2022-11-03T10:14:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Date Lab: He’s a gentleman — and a rugby player - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/11/03/date-lab-hes-gentleman-rugby-player/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/11/03/date-lab-hes-gentleman-rugby-player/ |
Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah stands inside a defendant's cage during a trial in Cairo in May 2015. (Mostafa el-Shemy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
CAIRO — When world leaders arrive in Egypt for the U.N. Climate Change Conference next week, they will have to dance around a subject that the government here would prefer not to discuss: human rights.
Egyptian officials face mounting scrutiny over how the country can host the prestigious conference while thousands of people rights groups say were unjustly imprisoned remain behind bars — including Alaa Abdel Fattah, a British Egyptian computer programmer and activist who has been on a partial hunger strike for more than 200 days.
The conference will take place in the coastal resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, far from the prison outside Cairo where, on Tuesday, Abdel Fattah, who is 40, reduced his daily 100-calorie intake to zero in a desperate bid to draw more attention to his case. If he is not released by the time the summit begins Sunday, he has told his family, he will stop drinking water.
His sister Mona Seif tweeted Monday that if Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi and new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “don’t resolve this he will die.”
As Abdel Fattah’s condition has worsened over the past month, pressure has increased on Egypt to release him and others ahead of the summit, known as COP27.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg visited Abdel Fattah’s family’s sit-in outside the Foreign Office in London, where another sister, Sanaa Seif, has been sleeping in a tent to demand a meeting with the foreign secretary. Dozens of British parliament members have signed a letter in support of her request. Seif has also addressed the European Parliament, which in October adopted a resolution calling for Abdel Fattah and other prisoners of conscience to be released from Egyptian prisons before COP27.
The U.K. Foreign Office said the British government is “working hard to secure [Abdel Fattah’s] release and we continue to raise his case at the highest levels of the Egyptian government.”
“The Western diplomatic community is getting increasingly frustrated by the obfuscation and stonewalling” of the Egyptian government, said a Western diplomat with knowledge of the case who spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
“The likelihood of a substantial public statement is increasing,” the diplomat said.
Egypt has released some prisoners in recent weeks but many continue to languish behind bars, including activist Ahmed Douma, blogger Mohamed “Oxygen” Ibrahim and lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer, who previously represented Abdel Fattah.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry did not reply to a request for comment from The Post about Abdel Fattah’s case. In June, the government denied that he was on hunger strike. The next month, a member of the presidential pardon committee said he was among those being considered for possible release.
Delegates traveling to Egypt for the climate summit have also expressed concerns that government restrictions on public gatherings will prevent attendees from protesting. At COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, last year, some 100,000 people participated in a march calling for urgent action on the climate crisis — a number that would be unthinkable anywhere in Egypt, but particularly on the heavily secured Sinai Peninsula.
Rules surrounding public gatherings in Egypt — where mass street protests helped push out the government of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 — are so strict that demonstrations are essentially nonexistent.
But the government is increasingly worried that the worsening economic situation here, including the recent devaluation of the Egyptian pound, could provoke a public backlash. Dozens of people have reportedly been detained in connection to vague calls for protests on Nov. 11 — the same day President Biden is expected at the summit.
A group of U.N. human rights experts said recently that restrictions on civil society “have created a climate of fear for Egyptian civil society organizations to engage visibly at the COP27.”
Abdel Fattah’s struggle for freedom has turned him into a symbol for the thousands of lesser-known political prisoners in Egypt’s notorious detention system.
A prominent activist during the 2011 revolution, Abdel Fattah — whose father Ahmed Seif el-Islam was a human rights lawyer and whose mother is a London-born math professor at Cairo University — has been jailed repeatedly over the past decade on various charges.
Most recently, in December, he was sentenced to five years in prison, convicted of spreading false news undermining national security — allegations human rights groups have decried as baseless, and an attempt to silence any criticism of Sissi.
State Department spokesman Ned Price expressed disappointment over Abdel Fattah’s sentencing — a sentiment Egypt’s Foreign Ministry rebuked as “inappropriate.”
Foreign interest in Abdel Fattah’s case has increased since he claimed British citizenship from prison last year. But Egypt has still not granted the U.K. consular access to him — even as British and Egyptian officials have worked closely together on planning for COP27 because of Britain’s role hosting last year’s conference.
“COP is around the corner. There’s always a chance of something happening,” said one academic in Egypt who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. But if Egypt released Abdel Fattah, the government might worry “that it looks like they buckled to pressure.”
President Biden vowed on the campaign trail in 2020 to hold Sissi to account over human rights abuses. Now, Abdel Fattah’s family hopes he will follow through.
In phone call from their ongoing sit-in outside the Foreign Office in London, Abdel Fattah’s cousin Omar Robert Hamilton, a filmmaker and writer, said relatives were still holding out hope that “Biden would condition his attendance [at COP] on a significant prisoner release.”
Egypt typically receives more than $1 billion in U.S. military aid annually. Last year, the United States attached human rights conditions to $130 million of that aid and ultimately withheld it after determining that Egypt did not meet the conditions — including the release of certain prisoners. In September, the Biden administration once again decided to withhold the $130 million but to release a separate $75 million for some steps taken toward some prisoner releases.
Abdel Fattah’s family and friends say that one potential path to freedom could be if Egypt agreed to rescind his Egyptian citizenship and deport him to Britain.
But consistent tumult at 10 Downing Street has left his relatives dependent on a rotating cast of temporary advocates at the highest ranks of the British government, which they believe has further slowed progress on the case.
“The mess inside the Conservative Party is very obvious to the Egyptian authorities, and they’re not taking the British government seriously,” Sanaa Seif said.
Unlike dissidents seen as threats in other countries, Abdel Fattah does not lead a political party or movement. But he has a reputation as a voracious thinker, reader and debater who does not shy away from any topic, “including what people consider sacred or untouchable,” his friend Ola Shahba said. Because of that, she said, “our regime really sees Alaa as a symbol — a choice that he has not made himself at all.”
His family recently published a collection of his essays in a volume titled “You Have Not Yet Been Defeated,” compiled from his writings in prison.
His publishers organized a letter released Wednesday signed by 15 Nobel laureates, calling for world leaders to devote part of their agenda at COP27 to Egypt’s political prisoners, including “most urgently” the case of Abdel Fattah, who is “at risk of death.”
Despite international interest in his case, Sissi’s government is “not really getting the backlash it should for what has been happening with Alaa and what has been happening with political opposition and activists and the state of human rights and prisons in Egypt,” Mona Seif said in a phone call.
Unlike relatives of other prisoners in Egypt, who fear attention could worsen their chances of release, Abdel Fattah’s family has opted to speak out and openly criticize the governments involved, believing they can no longer afford to be silent.
With dozens of world leaders expected to arrive in Egypt in the coming days, they hope their efforts will pay off.
“You’re in the middle of this ongoing battle that doesn’t seem to end and you can’t really withdraw from it because they have one of the most important people in your life hostage,” Mona said. “So you are forced to continue.” | 2022-11-03T10:27:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | As Egypt hosts COP27, political prisoner Alaa Abdel Fattah may die, family says - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/alaa-prisoner-egypt-cop27/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/alaa-prisoner-egypt-cop27/ |
Jamel Terrell Tanner. (Courtesy Terrice Tanner)
Jamel Terrell Tanner spent his final months walking Dumfries Road in Prince William County — a Virginia highway also known as Route 234 that is less than welcoming to pedestrians.
After losing the family home that he shared with his mother and sister, Tanner, 31, lived in extended-stay hotels along the six-lane road near an Interstate 95 interchange, commuting by foot to jobs at McDonald’s and Cracker Barrel.
“He was working,” his sister, Terrice Tanner, said. “He had two jobs. He was trying to make a way for himself.”
Tanner’s journey, however, ended last month when he was struck by a vehicle while he was walking to work. His sister has started an online petition to bring stop lights, crosswalks and sidewalks to the interchange, which swirls through Dumfries Road’s exurban landscape of gas stations, fast-food restaurants and auto body shops without a clear path for pedestrians.
“I hope to bring peace to others who are walking to and from with out the means of transportation and of hopes to prevent further families to not go through this pain this has caused my family,” the petition says.
County police said that a Hyundai Sonata exiting the interstate at Dumfries Road struck Tanner, who was wearing dark clothing and walking in the roadway, around 9:45 p.m. on Oct. 28.
County police referred questions about the intersection to the state and county departments of transportation. A spokesman for the Virginia Department of Transportation said that the agency conducts an “engineering safety review” after every fatal crash but that the results of this review were not immediately available.
Richard Weinmann, the traffic safety engineer branch manager for the Prince William County Department of Transportation, said the county would work with the state to evaluate the interchange and, if necessary, make improvements.
“On all on- and off-ramps, high-speed vehicles are merging with traffic,” he said. “It’s not ideal for pedestrians. Currently, this is not a priority location.”
The total of traffic deaths in Prince William County last year was the highest in at least a decade, with 32 fatalities recorded.
“There’s a lot of people that walk up and down in that area, and they have to walk in the grass or on the median so they don’t get hit,” Terrice Tanner said. “Accidents have happened in that area for lack of public safety features.”
Jamel Tanner’s death in the crash came amid years of struggle after his family lost its longtime home.
Terrice Tanner said she and her two brothers had grown up with their mother at their grandmother’s house in Woodbridge. After her grandmother died, according to Tanner, they had mortgaged the property to pay her grandmother’s debts, then lost the home in 2020 when they couldn’t keep up with the payments.
She and her brothers had ended up in extended-stay hotels in Dumfries near the I-95 interchange, sometimes all cramming into a Motel 6 room a few hundred feet from where her brother would die. Together, they scratched out an existence as best they could.
“I was pretty much living check to check for paying rent for the hotel room,” she said.
Jamel had done what he could to help out, picking up shifts at nearby restaurants. Jason Thomas, Tanner’s manager at McDonald’s, said Tanner was well-liked by his fellow workers and was often early to work.
“He just came to me saying he was having hard times,” Thomas said. “No one else would give him an opportunity. I told him I would give him an opportunity to work. And that pretty much that was it. He came to work every day.”
When Terrice Tanner was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in July, she moved to Ohio in the hope of securing better treatment. Jamel stayed behind, moving into a nearby Econo Lodge — and walking the same dangerous path each time he had a shift.
Terri Tanner, Terrice and Jamel’s mother, said her children’s stay on Dumfries Road was supposed to be temporary. She was looking for a way to reunite the family — to re-create better times when Jamel and his friends would play video games in the family’s Woodbridge basement.
There, she knew everyone was safe. Once the family split up, she couldn’t be sure.
“We were moving wherever we could go until we could settle into our next home,” she said. “He was alone when he passed. … He was working two jobs, so I couldn’t always talk to him when I wanted to.”
What will happen to the family now isn’t clear. Terri Tanner is in a nursing home battling spinal stenosis, a narrowing of spaces in the spine. Terrice Tanner is staying at a shelter in Toledo, trying to make funeral arrangements for her brother.
Whatever future there is, Jamel — who loved football and the color green — won’t be in it, Terri Tanner said. For her, the loss of the family home was the beginning of the end.
“Had we still been in that home, he would probably still be here,” she said. | 2022-11-03T10:31:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Jamel Terrell Tanner lost his home. Walking to work, he lost his life. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/jamel-tanner-dumfries-pedestrian-fatality/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/jamel-tanner-dumfries-pedestrian-fatality/ |
An 18-year-old follows Trump’s lead in Frederick County Council race
Republican Mason Carter, 18, is running against Democrat Julianna Lufkin, 31, for a seat on the Frederick County Council. (N/A)
Mason Carter graduated from high school in May. He lives at home with his parents and doesn’t have a job. Come Tuesday, the 18-year-old Republican who says he has been inspired by former president Donald Trump since age 11 hopes to become one of the youngest public officials ever elected in Maryland.
And his chances look good.
Frederick County voted decisively for Joe Biden over Trump in the 2020 presidential contest. But in his race against Democrat Julianna Lufkin, Carter is running for the county council’s 5th District, its reddest and most rural seat, giving him a significant edge.
Carter, who declined to be interviewed for this story but did send responses to some questions submitted by email and text, said he wants to reduce taxes and government regulation and improve roads and schools. And he’s running against the decision by county officials to put restrictions in place during the pandemic to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
What prompted him to run, he said in an email, is his belief that “government should stay off our backs and out of our pockets.”
The population of Frederick County, once predominantly rural and still the state’s leading agricultural county, shot up 43 percent in the past two decades, to 280,000. The growth has crowded schools, strained infrastructure, increased public spending and coincided with a shift in the county’s political makeup. Biden’s 2020 win was the first time the county voted for a Democrat for president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
Republican Michael Blue, a Walkersville car repair business owner who has represented District 5 for one term, cast votes he thought would serve his largely rural constituency, which stretches to the Pennsylvania border and includes Emmitsburg, Thurmont, Walkersville and Woodsboro. Often, he said, that involved working with his Democratic colleagues on the council to find legislation agreeable to both parties.
But Carter, then 17, targeted Blue, 63, like a battle-hardened pro in the primary campaign, attacking him for being “anti-Trump,” for not being a “true conservative” and for siding “with the radical liberals on our County Council.”
“We remain determined to take back our beautiful county and restore freedom and liberty,” Carter proclaimed on his page where he had criticized Blue’s support of mask-wearing and other covid prevention measures. “I will never reduce you to your home, lock down your business, shut your church, force mask your children, or raise your taxes.”
In his campaign, Carter has billed his candidacy as an effort to #saveFrederickCounty, a hashtag he uses on signs, mailings and Facebook posts. In March he wrote in a campaign survey conducted by Duckpin, a conservative Maryland politics and news blog, that “2022 is undoubtedly Republicans’ last chance to take back Frederick County.”
Carter has said he models his approach on that of Trump. “Trump: Art of the Deal” is his favorite book and he regularly praises the former president on the trail and on his Facebook feed.
“I had a great time traveling to Scranton, PA to support our amazing President,” Carter posted on his campaign’s Facebook page in September. “We are the freedom movement. Proud to be a MAGA Republican.”
Carter won the July primary with 2,841 votes to Blue’s 2,469. Lufkin, 31, who co-owns a catering business with her mother and is also the first woman to graduate from a year-long program at the Virginia Institute of Blacksmithing, had not run for political office previously. She ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and received 2,442 votes.
Carter’s work experience is relatively limited: six months as a reporter for a local newspaper and a stint in customer service in retail. His forays into politics include founding his high school’s Republican club and volunteering on local political races.
His campaign resonates with Tim Clarke, 57, a retired law enforcement officer who lives in Rocky Ridge. Carter’s youth doesn’t bother Clarke.
“I just think he’s the best candidate. He’s been out working hard and he’s going to get my vote,” Clarke said. “I’d like to have someone a little older but … his thought process is similar to mine. We’re both conservative.”
Clarke said he gave Carter a lot of credit simply for running for office.
William and Angelina Walsh of Woodsboro are registered Democrats who have lived in Frederick County for 50 years. They both voted for Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in previous elections, but as they exited early voting at the Thurmont library last week they said they voted straight Democrat — including Lufkin.
“He hasn’t been around long enough to know what the hell is going on,” William Walsh, 72, a retired federal worker, said of Carter. His wife, also a retired federal worker, agreed. “I wouldn’t vote for anyone associated with Trump,” Angelina Walsh said.
Blue said he was not entirely surprised to lose to Carter, who has been endorsed by Maryland Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox, a state delegate from Frederick who defeated Hogan’s handpicked successor, a moderate Republican, in the July primary.
“I knew with the way the political environment is, not only here in Frederick County but a number of places around the country, that Democrats and Republicans, in both parties the far extremes are taking out some of the more moderate candidates in the primaries,” he said.
Blue said that governing from the far left or far right “just doesn’t work.”
“I think it’s pathetic if you cannot see a point of view or that someone else’s opinion has some merit,” he said. “You may not agree completely, but we are more alike and agree on more things than we don’t. And if we would just embrace that and work from that particular angle we can have a lot more productive governance that the citizens deserve. ”
Blue, who backed Trump for president, said he has decided to support Lufkin in the council race. He said that it will “not be an easy battle” for her, but he thinks that she has the life and work experience suited for the job and that she can win.
Blue said Carter has been an energetic campaigner, but he thinks the youth is too inexperienced to be on the council.
“This has nothing to do with me not backing a Republican who beat me. I really [couldn’t] care less. I think this Mason Carter is way in over his head,” Blue said. “I wish him the best. … I’m not going to be rooting against him, but I just don’t see how without a lot of help he’s going to be able to perform the duties. … Every vote, every decision he makes affects all of the citizens of Frederick County.”
Lufkin said she decided to run this year because of her concerns over food insecurity facing children, underfunded public schools, poor internet in the most rural areas of the county and the ongoing toll of the opioid epidemic.
“I turned 30 and realized that I was not having the impact on my community in the ways that I wanted,” Lufkin said in an interview. “I was not helping in the ways that I thought help was needed.”
Carter said in an email that his ultimate goal in life is to be a husband and father, but “with rising prices, high taxes, increasing crime, and overcrowded schools, I fear that I will not be able to give my children the life they deserve here in Frederick County.”
While inflation has driven up prices everywhere and some Frederick schools are over capacity, even some of Carter’s boosters say crime is not increasing.
“We’ve seen eight consecutive years where we have seen reduction in serious crime,” Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins told the Frederick News-Post this week. “So that’s not necessarily an issue when you see what’s going on around us, but we don’t want it to become an issue.”
Jenkins, who has been sheriff for 16 years and is running again this year, has endorsed Carter in the race.
Lufkin said she and Carter disagree on political issues, but it’s her work and life experience that separates the two candidates: “I’ve been working in the family business since I was 14 or 15,” she said. “So that seems like a pretty fundamental difference.”
Lufkin said she would work with Republicans to reach consensus on issues even if that included making occasional concessions — something she said Carter would not do with Democrats.
Trump, election denial, QAnon and Dan Cox: In Maryland, the GOP marginalizes itself
Carter, who sent out mailers with a photoshopped image of Lufkin with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) that called Lufkin “the AOC of Frederick County,” said in an email he would “be more than happy to work with my Democrat friends and colleagues on policies and issues that will improve the quality of life for our families.”
Lufkin has $9,630 on hand as of her most recent filing on Oct. 27. Carter has $11,861 per his filing on Oct. 28.
In March, Carter was asked in the Duckpin questionnaire if Biden was legitimately elected president in 2020. He replied “No.”
He did say then that he would accept the results of the primary election. Asked last month if he would accept the results of the general election if he loses, Carter said he would not commit to doing so.
“How can you rightfully accept something that hasn’t happened yet?”
Peter Jamison contributed to this report. | 2022-11-03T10:31:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 18-year-old candidate following in Trump's path in Maryland election - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/mason-carter-18-trump-maryland/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/mason-carter-18-trump-maryland/ |
No-hitter, new players, old standbys: The Astros never go away
From left, Rafael Montero, Bryan Abreu, Cristian Javier, Christian Vazquez and Ryan Pressly pose after Houston's combined no-hitter in Game 4. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA — The summer the Houston Astros were scheming and scamming their way to the World Series title, Cristian Javier was a 20-year-old converted outfielder trying to pitch his way from the New York-Penn League to the Midwest League to the Carolina League — three levels of Class A, with no guarantees of a future. That year, he pitched for both the Tri-City ValleyCats and the Quad City River Bandits, seven cities, each of which must feel a long way from Houston. To this day, he is untouched by baseball scandal. As of Wednesday night, he is entrenched in baseball history.
At 25, Javier may not be Don Larsen — still the only man to start and finish a no-hitter in the World Series. But he is part of the Astros’ deliberate and desperate attempt at a new beginning, a reboot that could well result in another championship. Javier is technically Houston’s No. 3 starting pitcher, but he could well become a star — as the six no-hit innings with which he strangled the Philadelphia Phillies showed in full force, the foundation not only of just the second no-hitter in the 118 World Series to date but of Wednesday’s 5-0 Game 4 victory that evened this series at two games apiece.
“It’s crazy,” said Astros mainstay third baseman Alex Bregman, a fixture of a figure on what has become a fixture of an October (and November) team. “We grew up watching the World Series. We know baseball’s been going on for a long, long time. So to be a part of, just be a teammate on a team that did that and what Javy and the guys did is really special.”
Wednesday doesn’t turn Javier into Larsen, the New York Yankee whose 1956 perfect game remains the only one-man World Series no-no. But over 97 pitches in which the Phillies — fresh off a brash and bullish Game 3 victory in which they crushed five home runs — barely came close to a hit, he reminded everyone that the Astros just don’t go away. Javier struck out nine and walked two. The only thing lower than his postseason ERA (0.71) is the postseason batting average of his opponents (.051).
That he needed three outs apiece from Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly is a statement about the realities of the modern game, not his own limitations. That he did it for the Astros will impact how it’s perceived.
“We had positive energy in the clubhouse,” Javier said afterward through an interpreter. “We told ourselves that we would come in today to win.”
This was elite stuff from a supremely talented team that refused to cave to the pixie dust vibe the Phillies have had going for a month. Boo Bregman all you want. Label second baseman José Altuve a cheater for life. Long after 2017, with different leadership in fresh circumstances, the Astros keep cranking out players who propel them deep into the postseason, a constant threat for another title because of their abilities and their attitude.
“I know no-hitters are cool,” Altuve said. “But I think what we were trying to do was win.”
Which is all they do — 106 times in the regular season, now nine times (against two losses) in the postseason. For the sport, this could all seem inconvenient. The Astros’ lone championship — won during a season in which they invented, orchestrated and perfected an elaborate and illegal sign-stealing operation — came four division titles and three American League pennants ago. Yet when Altuve and Bregman and others step to the plate in opposing ballparks, the scandal can feel fresh. The boos are real and full-throated. They can feel outdated. They are also earned.
This is part of the Astros’ full-time residency in the playoffs. Most teams are lucky to rent space here occasionally. The Astros own property and could at any point put on an addition. Maybe that’s not great for baseball, because their appearances on all these TV screens on all these late nights are a means for a dark chapter in the sport’s history to bubble up again.
When the catcalls and chants rain down on Bregman or Altuve, it’s not because Philadelphia has some special, specific venom toward either of them. It’s because the sport does. And at some level, the sport can’t forget.
Except what if the Astros are also capable of creating the kind of magical moments that should happily define this time of year? Javier’s performance — in which the Phillies’ best shot at a hit was a sharply hit Kyle Schwarber groundball, just foul — should elicit only awe. There should be no room for “Yeah, but …” That Dusty Baker’s bullpen finished it off has to give the series juice, because when the Astros looked wobbly after that 7-0 shellacking in Game 3, they showed up and showed out.
“Man, it’s a strange series,” Baker said. “I mean, they hit five home runs yesterday and then no hits today. I mean, this is a daily game, and it’s filled with daily emotions.”
True. But there are constants, too. Whatever happened in the past and happens the rest of this series, the Astros must be acknowledged as unshakable. Since 2017, only the Dodgers have more regular season victories. Wednesday night was Houston’s 51st postseason victory in that stretch — 11 more than Los Angeles. Over six postseasons, the Astros have played .602 baseball against the best opponents the sport has to offer — better than a 97-win pace. They have reached the American League Championship Series every time.
So without getting ahead of ourselves, it might be worth wondering how a second title in this six-year stretch would impact the perception of these Astros decades from now. They won the first one using videotape and trash cans — and, who knows, maybe even buzzers attached to their bodies.
What if they won again — (presumably and probably) clean? It would be Barry Bonds hitting 73 homers in a single season — without human growth hormone. It would be the 1919 Chicago White Sox returning to the World Series the next year — and trying to win it, rather than throwing it.
Javier is in a perfect spot to help this group transition. He is part of their present and their future — not their past. He is blessed with a fastball that is not strictly overpowering, but has been labeled “invisible.”
“It’s going up,” said catcher Christian Vazquez, “like a turbo fastball. … It’s electric. You can call it anytime. No matter who’s in the batter’s box, you can call it.”
So for Houston, he is a talented, transitional character with no baggage, even as many of the mainstays who orchestrated the scam are elsewhere. Carlos Beltran, the supremely talented hitter and mastermind, is retired. Alex Cora, the bench coach who assisted, won a title as the manager of the Boston Red Sox, was relieved of those duties when his role was revealed and is now is back in that chair. Shortstop Carlos Correa left as a free agent and is about to be a free agent again. Outfielder George Springer is in Toronto.
What remains are more than bits and pieces. Altuve, the engine of a second baseman, and Bregman, the no-heartbeat third baseman, were core pieces then and are core pieces now. Yordan Alvarez has developed into something he wasn’t in 2017, which is Houston’s best hitter. Kyle Tucker was an extra part then, an all-star now. Justin Verlander was a dramatic addition late in 2017 who could well be awarded his second Cy Young as an Astro early in this offseason.
So they’re the same — but different. Wednesday night belonged to a 25-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Republic and the relievers who backed him up, because they delivered a historic World Series performance. That they did so in the orange of the Astros doesn’t taint it. But it’s unarguable that an old controversy colors every new accomplishment for this team that never goes away. | 2022-11-03T10:35:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The Houston Astros never go away - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/javier-no-hitter-houston-astros-world-series/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/javier-no-hitter-houston-astros-world-series/ |
Geno Smith has been a revelation in his first full season as the starter with Seattle. (Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images)
Of all the unlikely things that can happen over the course of an NFL season, the rise of Geno Smith from castoff and journeyman has to rank high on the list.
The 32-year-old quarterback was Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll’s choice to replace Russell Wilson as Seattle’s starting signal caller, and in the latest example of how well it’s working, Smith became the first quarterback in over 20 years to beat two of his former teams (the Los Angeles Chargers and New York Giants) in back-to-back games.
When Smith joined the Seahawks in 2020, he was catching on with his fourth team in four seasons and had made all of two starts since 2014, which didn’t seem to suggest that he’d be able to lead Seattle to the top of the NFC West, rank first among all quarterbacks with a 72.7 percent completion rate or rank third in passer rating (107.2) and touchdown-to-interception ratio (13-3).
But that’s where things stand for now, with the Seahawks sitting at 5-3 heading into Sunday’s game against the division-rival Arizona Cardinals. Here is a quick look at that matchup and the rest of the Week 9 schedule.
Byes: Broncos, Browns, Cowboys, 49ers, Giants, Steelers
Eagles (7-0) at Texans (1-5-1), 8:15 p.m. Amazon Prime: It’s a short week and heaven knows anything can happen in the NFL, but Philadelphia’s chances of staying undefeated are enhanced by the fact that it doesn’t face an opponent with a winning record at the moment until Dec. 4 against Tennessee. The Eagles and Texans face some tough competition from Game 5 of the World Series, which also matches Philadelphia and Houston. This is only the seventh time World Series and NFL games involving the same metropolitan areas are taking place on the same day, according to Elias.
Chargers (4-3) at Falcons (4-4), 1 p.m.: Thanks to its nutty overtime victory over Carolina on Sunday, Atlanta sits atop the NFC South. It’s a precarious perch, though, with Tampa Bay, despite its struggles and Tom Brady’s funk, and New Orleans only one game back.
Dolphins (5-3) at Bears (3-5), 1 p.m.: When Tua Tagovailoa starts and plays at least three quarters, the Dolphins are 5-0. Can he overcome a defense that gave up 40 points to the Jets and 393 yards to the Lions? (The addition of star pass rusher Bradley Chubb at Tuesday’s trade deadline should help those numbers.) Dolphins wideout Tyreek Hill has over half a season left to break Calvin Johnson’s 10-year-old NFL single-season record for the most games with 10 receptions and 160 receiving yards. They’re tied with four at the moment.
Tyreek Hill (961) and Jaylen Waddle (727) have combined for the most yards ever by a WR duo through the first 8 games of a season in the Super Bowl era. pic.twitter.com/TiLvBYPpAl
Panthers (2-6) at Bengals (4-4), 1 p.m.: There is zero margin for error in a season filled with middling teams. Just ask Carolina wideout D.J. Moore, who took off his helmet to celebrate his touchdown catch against the Falcons and was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. That led to a missed extra point attempt, a missed field goal in overtime and a loss that dropped the Panthers into the NFC South cellar rather than a win that would have created a four-way tie for the division lead.
Packers (3-5) at Lions (1-6), 1 p.m.: “I feel like if we can just get one [win], then the whole momentum changes,” Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers said Sunday night after his team lost its fourth game in a row. The game in Detroit might present an excellent opportunity unless the Lions suddenly revert to the form they showed when they had the league’s top scoring offense over the first month of the season.
Raiders (2-5) at Jaguars (2-6), 1 p.m.: With Jacksonville’s latest loss Sunday in London, Trevor Lawrence now has a 5-20 record that is the worst through 25 starts among quarterbacks taken first overall in the NFL draft in the common draft era (since 1967). Things haven’t been any better this year for Las Vegas’s Derek Carr, who hasn’t reestablished a rapport with his former Fresno State teammate Davante Adams and whose 86.8 passer rating is his worst since 2017.
Colts (3-4-1) at Patriots (4-4), 1 p.m.: At least Sam Ehlinger, whose passes gained 8.7 yards per attempt against Washington on Sunday in his first career start, managed to avoid the killer interceptions that doomed Matt Ryan, who was benched before that game. Mac Jones looked okay for New England, which continues to own the Jets. He was sacked six times but passed for 194 yards, with a touchdown and an interception.
Bills (6-1) at Jets (5-3), 1 p.m.: With victories over the teams of Matthew Stafford, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers so far this season, Buffalo sure looks like a Super Bowl favorite.
Crazy but true...
Since Week 2, the Giants & Jets have had the SAME result in each of their last 7 games including wins/losses and covering:
Wk 2 - W✅
Wk 3 - L ❌
Wk 8 - L ❌ pic.twitter.com/5Ahxbluhpv
— SportsLine (@SportsLine) October 30, 2022
Vikings (6-1) at Commanders (4-4), 1 p.m.: It probably isn’t personal anymore for Kirk Cousins, who returns to FedEx Field riding a streak in which Minnesota has won five games by one score. The Vikings enter a tough stretch against a Washington team that has won three in a row, followed by games against the Bills and Cowboys. After Minnesota, Washington faces the Eagles in Philadelphia in a Monday night game. Entering their game Sunday against Indianapolis, the Commanders had been 1-128 since 2000 when trailing by multiple scores in the final five minutes of a game.
Seahawks (5-3) at Cardinals (3-5), 4:05 p.m.: Seattle needs to focus on a defense that is 29th in the league in yards allowed and 28th in points allowed. Arizona has only one road game over the next month-plus, but the Cardinals are 4-8 at home since the beginning of the 2021 season. Seattle won these teams’ Oct. 16 matchup, 19-9.
Rams (3-4) at Buccaneers (3-5), 4:25 p.m.: Maybe Tampa Bay will put together a December winning streak, the way it did in 2020 when it went on to win the Super Bowl. But that team, in addition to winning four in a row in December and all four in January/February, also had a three-game winning streak in October. Tom Brady is winless against Los Angeles with Tampa.
Titans (5-2) at Chiefs (5-2), 8:20 p.m., NBC: Tennessee is on a roll after an 0-2 start, but after Kansas City the Titans have a character-revealing go of it against Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Dallas. Tennessee is 5-1 against the Chiefs since 2014, including 2-1 with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback for Kansas City.
Ravens (5-3) at Saints (3-5), 8:15 p.m., ESPN, ESPN2: None of Baltimore’s remaining opponents are over .500 at the moment (with the Bengals at 4-4), and the Ravens just improved their defense with the addition of former Bears linebacker Roquan Smith. Still, New Orleans can be pesky — just ask the Raiders. | 2022-11-03T10:36:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | NFL Week 9 schedule, matchups and five-minute guide - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/nfl-week-9-schedule/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/nfl-week-9-schedule/ |
With the country’s largest market at stake, betting companies and native tribes have spent big to defeat dueling propositions. On Election Day, bettors may lose.
By Gus Garcia-Roberts
California online sports gambling situation for upcoming election with several propositions that is at a standstill and will continue. (Michael Domine/Michael Domine/The Washington Post)
LOS ANGELES — The giants of mobile sports betting entered California, the final conquest that would clinch an improbable national takeover, with a clear strategy: divide and outspend.
DraftKings and FanDuel, the leaders of an exploding industry, had spent their decade of existence forgoing profits in favor of relentless expansion, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into marketing, lobbying, campaign contributions and massive political ad buys in states where sports betting was on the ballot. In the process, they helped transform sports betting from an underground vice to a nearly inescapable part of mainstream American sports.
A grand salvo in California, which a DraftKings executive has called one of the industry’s "holy grails,” had long been expected. And it appeared possible earlier this year, as the industry’s leaders pushed a proposition, to be voted on Tuesday, that would deliver them a market with 40 million potential customers and billions in expected revenue.
In a state notorious for tangled gaming interests and sometimes unpredictable voters, the companies built a war chest that dwarfed even their efforts in other key states, including New York, where they ultimately succeeded, and Florida, where they were gearing up for a fracas with the Seminole Tribe. DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM alone contributed $95 million toward supporting the California measure, and the industry ultimately spent $150 million in political ads, promising to help reduce homelessness and touting Native American support.
And then California’s most powerful tribes effectively countered them with a veritable flick of the wrist.
A single tribe, with roughly 200 members, outspent that trio of Wall Street-backed conglomerates, putting more than $100 million toward ads depicting the proposition as a misleading campaign run by out-of-state operators. The sports betting operators and their allies hit back, filling the airwaves with messages that the powerful tribes were themselves deceitful, and that their proposition would only enrich the coffers of a few select tribes mostly exempt from taxes.
The expected result of financial juggernauts spending more than $400 million on clashing ads for and against dueling sports betting propositions: mutual defeat. Polls have suggested both propositions will likely lose, victims of widespread voter confusion and apathy. The campaigns have slowed spending, and sports betting executives have signaled they are now focused on trying again with California voters in 2024.
But those aligned with the state’s most powerful gaming tribes see the stalemate as a show of force, one that could embolden them to reject entreaties for compromise with the sports betting companies going forward.
In their march toward control over a national market that has at times seemed inevitable, the kings of sports betting may have underestimated the power of a nexus of small bands of Native Americans wielding fortunes they started by operating disputed bingo rooms on desolate inland reservations.
“They were warned,” said Victor Rocha, conference chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association and member of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. “It’s one of those things in gaming where it’s like, you know: Don’t stare into the sun, you look both ways before crossing the street, and you don’t f--- with the California tribes.”
Bingo roots
Decimated by genocide and disease, forced into conscripted labor by Spanish explorers and pushed onto discarded desert land by the American government, some of California’s dozens of bands of Mission Indians found a way to lift themselves out of poverty in the mid-1980s: high-stakes bingo.
They offered six-figure jackpots and boats and cars as prizes. The state took notice, sending in law enforcement spies who reported back that hundreds of non-Indians were filling reservation bingo halls each night to gamble on games banned by the surrounding county.
California sued two of the tribes for violating anti-gambling ordinances, and the case wound its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case was a bellwether for the unresolved legality of tribal gaming, and states and tribes around the country intervened. A potential multibillion-dollar industry hinged on the legality of bingo rooms operated by a couple of tribes, one of which had 25 members.
The Mission Indians prevailed. “Self-determination and economic development are not within reach if the Tribes cannot raise revenues and provide employment for their members,” wrote the justices, in a decision that effectively legalized nationwide Native American gaming — now a $39 billion industry annually.
In California, the bingo rooms became gleaming resorts and casinos, cornerstones of a tribal gaming market that is the biggest in the country, with 75 tribes reaping an estimated $8 billion in annual revenue.
Those tribes have periodically had to defend that dominant position in statewide gaming from longtime enemies, like California’s card rooms, or upstarts, like quasi-legal poker sites. But the most existential threat has loomed since another industry-shifting Supreme Court decision in 2018.
When the court ruled that individual states were free to legalize sports betting, companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel were perfectly positioned to capitalize. Over the next couple of years, dozens of states moved to legalize some form of sports betting. In California, where doing so would require a statewide vote to amend the constitution, the state’s most powerful tribes attempted to beat the gaming companies to the punch.
Starting in 2019, those tribes collected signatures for a proposition that would allow sports betting in person at tribal casinos, as well as at privately owned horse tracks. That alliance with California’s politically powerful but embattled horse racing industry struck some in tribal gaming as a mistake.
Deron Marquez, a former chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians who now directs a program in tribal administration certification at Claremont Graduate University, said he was surprised at any tribal initiative that would have carved out a stake for non-Native interests. Marquez said such an arrangement would have been more appropriate two decades ago, when the tribes were still consolidating power. “Today, you’re the Goliath, and the rules of conduct changed,” Marquez said. “The second you introduce a non-tribal entity, the floodgates open.”
But the pandemic scuttled efforts to get the in-person sports-betting proposition on the ballot in 2020. Instead, the tribes aimed for this year’s election, and by May 2021 that measure — Proposition 26 — had officially qualified for the ballot.
If the proposition succeeded, tribal revenue from sports betting would be untaxed, as is the case in all Native American gaming, but the horse tracks would pay taxes. The proposition also included a civil enforcement provision in which individuals could file suit against potential violators of gaming law. That appeared to be a shot across the bow of card rooms, which had their own sports-betting initiative and whose very legality the tribes have long disputed.
In mid-2022, the ballot initiative funded by gaming companies also officially garnered the signatures it needed. By the beginning of this year, 29 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico had legalized some form of sports betting, and DraftKings operated in 15 of them. Proposition 27 was designed to legalize sports betting specifically in California to the benefit of the upstart giants of the industry and more venerable gaming conglomerates.
Licenses to operate sports betting in the state would cost $100 million each and only be available to those companies that were already licensed in 10 states — or five states if they owned a dozen casinos. Those license fees would then be put towards a newly created program to be focused on relieving homelessness.
The ballot measure’s corporate cheerleaders have included Major League Baseball, an early investor in DraftKings, which said in a statement that the proposition “has the safeguards to create a safe and responsible online sports betting market in California.”
FanDuel, DraftKings, MGM, Fanatics, Penn Entertainment, Wynn, and Bally’s, or their subsidiaries, each donated or loaned at least $12.5 million to a committee supporting the proposition.
The name of that committee — Californians for Solutions to Homelessness and Mental Health Support, a Coalition of Housing and Mental Health Experts, Concerned Taxpayers and Digital Sports Entertainment and Gaming Companies — reflected a campaign that appeared to bury the proposition’s main cause, legalized mobile sports betting, under a mountain of civic sympathy.
Gaming executives initially pitched their proposition as “complementary” to the existing proposition led by dozens of tribes, though a court battle could be expected if both were approved by voters. Sponsors of Proposition 27 have said they attempted to collaborate rather than clash with tribes, which some leaders in tribal gaming have disputed.
“We shared drafts with a number of tribes, took input and made changes based off those suggestions,” said Nathan Click, a spokesperson for sponsors of Proposition 27.
“They never showed us anything,” said Dan Little, chief intergovernmental and tribal affairs officer to San Manuel, one of the most powerful tribes in California gaming.
James Siva, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, said he didn’t believe that tribes were given any real input into the drafting of Proposition 27. Siva said that the initiative’s framework — with the gaming companies in the driver’s seat — “was a non-starter from the beginning."
"It’s eroding exclusivity, it’s limiting our sovereignty, its limiting all of the past two-and-a-half decades of work that tribes have done in this state to create this industry,” Siva said.
Proposition 27 would require gaming companies to partner with a tribe in order to gain a license. That appealed to a handful of tribes with less lucrative gaming operations far from cities. The coalition behind the proposition has touted the support of three tribes — versus the dozens of tribes against it.
Nonetheless, those supportive tribes were a cornerstone of a historic ad blitz. A campaign prominently featured Jose “Moke” Simon III, the chairman of the Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians, who said the proposition would support “financially disadvantaged tribes that don’t own big casinos.”
The result of the conflicting messages appeared to be confusion, even among the tiny number of everyday people who pledged their own cash in support of the gaming companies’ proposition. The committee supporting Proposition 27 received, nestled among the many eight-figure contributions from corporations, a total of 13 donations from individuals, ranging from a retired postal manager to a Lyft driver.
Those who explained their contributions to The Washington Post each said they had no interest at all in sports betting.
“That’s crazy,” said retired Los Angeles-area construction consultant Robin Harrington when told that the $100 donation she made in August had to do with sports betting. Harrington recalled making the donation after chatting with a “really delightful" woman who solicited it via phone.
“I’m appalled that ‘digital sports entertainment and gaming’ is lumped in with human resource benefits such as homelessness and mental health in one proposition!?” Harrington told The Post via email after a reporter sent her information about the committee. “It feels like a scam.”
Another donor to the committee, Joseph Strain, is a truck driver from New York. He said that after his 18-wheeler broke down in California, he spent time in Stockton and Sacramento, where he encountered people living on the streets. He then saw ads for the proposition, pledging to help solve homelessness, on his motel televisions.
"I believed what I contributed to had something to do with the Native Americans there in California,” said Strain, who in July gave the committee $100. “From the little that I read, I liked very much what I was seeing.”
A vision in the valley
Few tribes have gained as much from gaming exclusivity — or have as much to lose if it is eroded — as the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.
Exiled to a craggy desert reservation 70 miles east of Los Angeles, the tribe once relied on doctors visiting on horseback for medical care. Tribal chairman Lynn Valbuena often recalls that as a child she waited for welfare trucks delivering cans of food.
Then, in 1986, the tribe opened a bingo hall. By 2021, that enterprise had morphed into a 17-floor resort and casino, including a steakhouse serving $500 Kobe striploin. And earlier this year, San Manuel expanded operations to Las Vegas by reopening the $650 million Palms Casino Resort. The tribe’s philanthropic gifts have included a $9 million endowment toward a tribal gaming and law program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a $25 million surprise donation toward the university hospital that used to send the horseback doctors. Valbuena’s personal holdings have included a custom-built hilltop home in Orange County.
The tribe contributed $103 million to a committee devoted to defeating Proposition 27. “This was viewed as a major threat to tribal government gaming operations,” said Frank Sizemore, San Manuel’s chief of staff. “We didn’t really pick the fight.”
Siva, the California Nations Indian Gaming Association chairman, said that while tribes were torn on whether to support Proposition 26, which would allow in-person sports betting, there was more unity against the gaming companies’ proposition. Two committees aligned against Proposition 27 raised a total of nearly $250 million.
Attack ads those committees helped fund claimed that the out-of-state gaming corporations wanted to turn “every cell phone into a gambling device,” leading to addiction and more homelessness of the sort that Proposition 27 was supposedly designed to combat.
Recent polls have shown that the circus of negative ads — bankrolled by the gaming companies, the tribes, and card rooms — are likely to doom both propositions for sports betting on Tuesday. At the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas last month, chief executives signaled that they were no longer holding out much hope to succeed in California this year.
“If an opposition side is willing to spend over a hundred million dollars,” said DraftKings co-founder and CEO Jason Robins, “that’s just tough to beat.”
“We absolutely live to fight another day,” said FanDuel CEO Amy Howe, adding that it’s “hard to imagine" that the legal sports betting market won’t eventually include California.
“We believe there is a path to get there," Howe said.
Losing in California coincided with another setback at the hands of a powerful tribe in Florida. Gaming companies last year committed more than $37 million in an effort to get a sports betting deal approved by voters that would cut into the Seminole Tribe’s compact with the state.
But following an ugly campaign that included that tribe allegedly paying petition gatherers to refuse to work with the gaming companies, DraftKings and Fanduel couldn’t get their measure on the ballot.
At least in California, the loss may lead to a more conciliatory approach in 2024. Howe suggested as much during her remarks last month, saying the industry will refocus on finding a “solution that aligns the stakeholders.”
If that is corporate-speak for a compromise with California’s powerful tribes, however, the gaming companies may find themselves having to accept a more subservient role than they have in other states.
Several tribes, including San Manuel, have collaborated on an online and in-person sports betting initiative that would restrict the action to servers on tribal land. At the Global Gaming Expo, Pechanga Band Chairman Mark Macarro said the tribes might consider the out-of-state corporations only as platform providers for tribal mobile sports betting operations. Macarro made those remarks while wearing a T-shirt reading: “Not Today, Colonizers."
“I think they came into this very arrogant, thinking that they could just roll into California, the largest market, and get what they want,” Little, San Manuel’s chief intergovernmental and tribal affairs officer, said of the gaming corporations. “There might be an opportunity for everyone, but they’ve got to be humble.”
Rocha, conference chair of the National Indian Gaming Association, warned that there were “half a dozen more” tribes that would be willing to drop $100 million-plus if tested again in future election years by the likes of DraftKings and Fanduel.
Rocha said that there wasn’t much trust to build on for any future compromise between the California tribes and the gaming companies. “These are the same people that got between us and our land, between us and our sacred sites, between us and our hunting grounds, between us and our rivers," Rocha said. “And now they’re trying us again.” | 2022-11-03T10:36:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Sports betting is on the ballot in California: Propositions 26 and 27 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/prop-26-27-california-sports-betting/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/prop-26-27-california-sports-betting/ |
Hula dancers at the Old Lahaina Luau in Maui, Hawaii. A new Maui ordinance limits the intensity of outdoor lighting for such events. (Sean Thompson/AP)
In 1886, after meeting the inventor Thomas Edison in New York, Hawaii’s King Kalakaua enthusiastically began electrifying the grounds of his new residence — and within a year, 325 incandescent lights had the Iolani Palace fully aglow.
The king wouldn’t be able to pull off the same feat these days on Maui. Much of the island’s outdoor illumination soon could violate a new ordinance intended to help the island’s winged population. Fines could reach $1,000 a day.
The measure restricts outdoor lighting in an effort to keep endangered birds — and Maui has some of the world’s rarest — from crashing into spotlighted buildings. But Bill 21, signed into law last week, is ruffling feathers because its provisions also could keep flagpoles, church steeples, swimming pools and even luaus in the dark.
“People have told me they’ve seen birds falling on the ground in town, up country, all over the place,” said the bill’s author, Kelly Takaya King, who chairs the Maui County Council’s Climate Action, Resilience and Environment Committee.
Maui is a veritable Eden for species such as the wedge-tailed shearwater, white-tailed tropicbird, brown booby, myna, kiwikiu and nene — the state bird and the world’s rarest goose.
The island also is home to some 170,000 people, however, and the new law is pitting the avian paradise against the human one. The ordinance imposes a near-total ban on upward-shining outdoor lighting and limits short-wavelength blue-light content. Similar laws are in effect in many jurisdictions nationwide to protect various local interests, including the night skies in Arizona and the wilderness in New Hampshire. Maui has a more complicated set of priorities.
The outdoor light restrictions effectively prohibit nighttime hula dances and luau performances — local cultural signatures. Indoor alternatives are impractical. “Customers do not want to be in a ballroom or enclosed facility — they can go to Detroit and do that,” wrote Debbie Weil-Manuma, the president of a local tourism company, in a letter of opposition.
At the same time, Maui is grappling with an invasive species arriving in flocks of up to 35,000 a day: tourists. Local officials are considering caps on hotel and vacation rentals.
Birds can be disoriented by artificial light, sometimes confusing it for moonlight, and end up slamming into a building’s windows or circling until exhausted. In a single night in May 2017, 398 migrating birds — including warblers, grosbeaks and ovenbirds — flew into the floodlights of an office tower in Galveston, Tex. Only three survived. This danger is why the Empire State Building in New York City, the former John Hancock Center in Chicago and other landmark skyscrapers now go dark overnight during peak bird migration periods.
One tall building. One dark and stormy night. 395 dead birds.
Yet, most mass bird fatalities occur in urban centers with tall buildings in high density. Maui is rural, and its kalana, or county office building, is only nine stories tall.
Jack Curran, a New Jersey lighting consultant who evaluated the science behind the bill, said the council “clearly didn’t do their homework.” The bill also requires that lighted surfaces be nonreflective, with a matte surface if painted. As the island is coated in compliant black paint, Curran joked, “Maui will wind up looking like Halloween.”
Even support for the regulation is fractured. “This bill does provide good benefits,” said Jordan Molina, Maui’s public works director, “but it doesn’t have to do so recklessly.” The new law, he added, will make his office the “blue-light police.”
Although the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not oppose the bill, it recommended creating a habitat conservation plan unless the county could devise a foolproof lighting policy.
According to public records, the council relied on a single, non-peer-reviewed study funded by an Arizona company, C&W Energy Solutions, that lobbied for the bill. (The county’s attorneys issued a memorandum in July warning of the “potentially serious conflict of interest,” which the council ignored.) And King’s efforts were propelled in part by conservation groups’ lawsuit alleging that a luxury resort’s lights disoriented at least 15 endangered petrels between 2008 and 2021, resulting in at least one petrel’s death. (By contrast, the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project has focused on the continuing “depredation by feral cats,” which number in the thousands on the island.)
Still at issue are the measure’s conflicting exemptions. For example, lights at public golf courses, tennis courts and schools’ athletics events are allowed, but not lights at hotel-owned golf courses or tennis courts. Conventional string lights are permitted for holidays and cultural festivals but must be “fully shielded” for all other uses, including weddings. The county fair is also exempt. So are emergency services and emergency road repairs.
The law will inhibit TV and film crews’ night lights, such as those used by “Hawaii Five-O,” “NCIS: Hawai‘i” and “The White Lotus.” The latter was honored in October by the Maui County Film Office for giving the island national and international recognition.
To guard migratory birds, Philadelphia plans to cut its artificial lighting that can fatally distract flocks
King told local media that compliant lights are widely available online. But when asked recently for online links to such bulbs, her office sent just one — for a bedside night light that can double as an outdoor bug light, although it was unclear whether the bulb meets all of the ordinance’s specifications.
“Appropriate lighting is not available,” King then conceded. “We’re hoping it will be in the next few years. When you pass a lot of these environmental laws, you kind of have to go in steps to get them passed.”
As passed, the bill explicitly removed exemptions for field harvesting, security lighting at beaches run by hotels or condominiums, safety lighting for water features, motion-sensor lighting, and lighting on state or federal property — including Maui’s harbors and even the runway lights at its airports.
Council member Shane Sinenci supported the ultimate provisions. “Our unique biodiversity is what makes us appealing to both visitors and to residents alike,” the Maui News quoted him as saying before the final vote. “We are often underestimating the value of a healthy ecosystem and all the benefits that comes with it.”
The law takes effect in July for new lighting and requires existing lighting to be in compliance by 2026. | 2022-11-03T10:57:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | New bill in Maui will restrict outdoor lighting to protect birds - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/11/03/maui-outdoor-lighting-restrictions-birds/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/11/03/maui-outdoor-lighting-restrictions-birds/ |
Will the German chancellor’s China trip repeat mistakes made with Putin?
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is making an 11-hour trip to China on Friday. (Clemens Bilan/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to travel to Beijing on Friday, becoming the first Group of Seven leader to visit since the start of the pandemic, but allies in Germany, Europe and the United States have raised concerns about his ability to deliver a clear, coherent message on where his country and the broader West stand.
Scholz will be traveling alongside a delegation of business leaders, and the economic emphasis strikes some observers as worrying — a little too similar to former chancellor Angela Merkel’s mercantilist approach to foreign policy, which cemented Germany’s reliance on cheap Russian energy and left Berlin painfully exposed when relations with Moscow deteriorated over the war in Ukraine.
There is now broad consensus in Europe about the need to rethink ties with China. But some allies say Scholz appears to be out of step. Most alarming, they say, was his willingness to allow the sale of a stake in a German port terminal to a Chinese firm, despite German intelligence warnings and furious opposition from within his cabinet. Scholz is also poised to permit a Chinese takeover of a German microchip company.
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“There is a little bit of shock across the continent. And this serves China’s interest in dividing Europe,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
“There is concern in Washington, as well,” she said. “The United States is feeling like this is a moment where we all have to be aligned.”
Scholz has touted a zeitenwende, or “turning point,” in German foreign and defense policy since the start of the war in Ukraine. He has said the invasion, along with changes in China itself, have forced a fundamental shift in German government strategy toward Beijing. He is known as a cautious leader, however. And with a recession looming, he does not appear eager to dramatically disrupt Germany’s relationship with its largest trading partner.
Writing Wednesday in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the chancellor dismissed the notion of “decoupling” from China and instead talked about eliminating “risky dependencies.” He said he intends to press Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang on reciprocity in areas such as market access and intellectual property protection.
Although the German government said coronavirus restrictions would make it difficult to hold meetings with activists and NGOs that are customary for European leaders on such trips, Scholz pledged not to “ignore controversies,” including “respect for civil and political liberties and the rights of ethnic minorities,” China’s threats toward Taiwan and its tacit support of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Under Xi, China has grown more authoritarian at home and more assertive on the world stage. It has waged a brutal crackdown on Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities, crushed dissent in Hong Kong and raised the specter of military force to take control of Taiwan.
Scholz’s critics questioned the approving message that might be conveyed by a Beijing trip on the heels of Xi’s appointment to a third term, securing his position as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.
In Germany, allowing Chinese shipping giant Cosco to buy a stake in a port terminal in the northern city of Hamburg appeared to be a further “gift for China to create a decent atmosphere,” said Roderich Kiesewetter, a Christian Democrat on the parliamentary foreign affairs committee.
Six German government ministries voiced objections last month to the port deal. Germany’s intelligence chiefs also issued stark public warnings about the dangers of Chinese investment in the country’s infrastructure and businesses. “Russia is the storm, but China is climate change,” said the head of domestic intelligence, Thomas Haldenwang. Bruno Kahl, from Germany’s equivalent of the CIA, added that security services were “very very critical” of the sale of important infrastructure to China.
In the end, Scholz — who is also a former mayor of Hamburg — pushed through a compromise that permitted Cosco to buy a reduced 25 percent stake, rather than a previously planned 35 percent, which would have amounted to a blocking minority.
A senior State Department official told The Washington Post on Wednesday that the compromise followed concerted engagement by U.S. officials in Berlin.
“The embassy was very clear that we strongly suggested that there be no controlling interest by China, and, as you see, when they adjusted the deal, there isn’t,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic talks.
The official noted that the majority stakeholders “remain Hamburg city and remain the port itself, which is important for the standards we’re trying to set among all of the G-7 countries and for the world.”
The compromise was still met with widespread dissatisfaction in Germany. The Finance Ministry and Foreign Ministry both wrote letters of protest, according to Der Spiegel. The acquisition “disproportionately expands China’s strategic influence over German and European transport infrastructure and Germany’s dependence on China,” Foreign Office State Secretary Susanne Baumann wrote to Scholz’s chief of staff.
A second U.S. official suggested that the port sale “confirms that Scholz and his team truly haven’t learned from Russia-Ukraine.” The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic, said the arguments about the risks felt like a “repeat” of debates over Nord Stream 2, the controversial Russian gas pipeline that German officials for years framed as a purely commercial private business deal.
The potential takeover of the Dortmund, Germany-based microchip company Elmos by a wholly owned subsidiary of China’s Sai Microelectronics comes as the United States moves to cut China off from advanced technology through export controls.
The German government has argued that the technology used by Elmos is outdated, but the decision still goes against express warnings from German intelligence, Handlesblatt newspaper reported.
Collectively, the actions have contributed to a sense of bafflement and frustration with Germany’s leadership from partners such as the United States and fellow members of the European Union, who would like to see more coordination from Berlin.
“It’s very important that the behavior of member states toward China … change in a way that’s more coordinated than individually-driven, as China obviously wants us to be,” E.U. trade chief Thierry Breton said in an interview with Reuters on Monday.
Scholz maintains that he coordinated his China trip with the E.U., France and the United States. “When I travel to Beijing as German chancellor, I also do so as a European,” he wrote in his Wednesday op-ed. “Not to speak on behalf of the whole of Europe, that would be wrong and presumptuous. But because German China policy can only be successful embedded in a European China policy.”
French newspaper Le Monde reported that President Emmanuel Macron had proposed going with Scholz to China, just as Macron and Merkel jointly hosted Xi in 2019. But the French government had urged a later Beijing trip, to avoid a perceived endorsement of Xi’s new consolidation of power, Politico reported. Scholz appears to have turned Macron down.
The visit also comes just before this month’s Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, where U.S. officials are preparing for a possible meeting between Xi and Biden — and are trying mightily to signal that Europe, the United States and other allies are united in the face of Russia’s war.
The State Department official said Scholz’s op-ed explanation of his China trip was in line with U.S. preferences, but that Washington would be watching with keen interest.
“What’s important to us is that he sends strong messages about all of the things that we have collectively been willing to do if China will engage, but have been concerned about in terms of China’s coercive and other behaviors,” the official said.
Last April, when top Chinese and E.U. officials held a virtual summit, the Chinese side published a readout while the call was still taking place, prompting Western news organizations to flash Beijing talking points as news alerts and allowing China to control the narrative.
With Scholz on Beijing’s turf, it could be hard for the German side to get out in front of that type of maneuver, potentially handing China a propaganda victory by allowing the country to cast Scholz’s visit as a German effort to — as one observer put it — “kiss the ring.”
China’s Communist Party-controlled press are likely to spend the coming weeks touting Scholz’s visit as a sign of China’s ascendance and seizing on signs that Germany is at odds with its allies. The Global Times has already picked up on reports of a Franco-German rift on China policy, attributing the split to the European “sour grapes.”
Janka Oertel, director of the Asia program at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the German chancellery is facing criticism from those who argue “this is not business as usual, so the delegation should not look like business as usual.”
But it would be a mistake, she said, to think that Germany is not wrestling with the lessons of the war in Ukraine. The debate is happening at nearly all levels of society, she said, from government to business and academia.
“There is no analytical problem in terms of understanding what the problem is,” she said. “The challenge is what to do about it.”
Rauhala reported from Brussels and Hudson from Munster, Germany. Rick Noack in Paris contributed to this report. | 2022-11-03T11:19:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Will Olaf Scholz's China trip repeat Germany's mistakes made with Putin? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/olaf-scholz-china-trip-germany/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/olaf-scholz-china-trip-germany/ |
The Rubell Museum DC, which opened Oct. 29, offers a robust critique of American hypocrisy in its first exhibition
Review by Philip Kennicott
The facade of the Rubell Museum DC. (Chi Lam)
People from outside of Washington, especially journalists, are obsessed with proximity to the U.S. Capitol. A crime, no matter how random, that happens “in the shadow of the Capitol” is particularly lurid. Any social dysfunction “within a mile” or “five miles” of the Capitol, even dysfunction that is endemic to cities across the globe, is an egregious sign of moral collapse.
But perhaps it does matter that the new Rubell Museum DC, a splendid, professional and engaging addition to the city’s art scene, is “less than a mile” from the People’s House. The former Randall Junior High School, a historically Black public school in Southwest Washington, has been transformed into a 32,000-square-foot museum building, with ample, well-lit and congenial galleries. The 1906 building is surrounded by a synoptic history lesson in failed urban design, which means the Rubell’s art is seen in an ethical context: Choices matter, and we inhabit a world that reflects those choices.
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Just to the north of the museum is the Southeast Freeway, a massive, pollution-spewing gash to the city fabric that has isolated the southwest quadrant from the city center for decades. Nearby is the District’s main automobile inspection station, among several similar facilities that are land-hungry eyesores blotting the urban margins. And what is missing — the long-demolished historic neighborhoods that were erased by mid-century urban-renewal schemes — is just as salient, and sad.
The Rubell Museum, which opened its doors Oct. 29, is a satellite of art collectors Don and Mera Rubell’s larger contemporary art space in Miami, founded in 1993 and expanded over the years, including in 2019, when it moved to a new, 100,000-square-foot exhibit space with a library, bookstore, restaurant and performance area. The Rubells are significant players in the contemporary art world, renowned not so much for their riches as for their judgment, particularly when it comes to championing young and rising artists.
A $20 million makeover turned a D.C. school into a modern art museum
The museum’s inaugural exhibition, titled “What’s Going On” after the 1971 album by Marvin Gaye (a student at Randall in the 1950s), includes more than 190 works by 50 artists. Among them is Keith Haring’s 1989 “Untitled (Against All Odds),” a series of often macabre drawings inspired by Gaye’s lyrics. The Haring series, dedicated to Steve Rubell (the brother of Don Rubell and nightclub impresario who died in 1989), occupies a full gallery, one of several spaces devoted to a single installation or work in series. These more focused rooms are among the highlights of the exhibition.
Haring’s aesthetic — bold, clear, political and passionate — recurs throughout the museum. The space, renovated by Beyer Blinder Belle, includes a bright and open lobby (an addition to the front of the building), a large introductory gallery (formerly the school’s auditorium), and smaller but ample galleries stacked on three floors, with well-lit corner spaces containing the larger works and interstitial galleries devoted to smaller material.
The Rubells’ taste tends to clarity, and the works chosen from their larger collection (which includes more than 7,000 pieces) are generally politically and socially conscious and speak in idioms that are straightforward though not simple-minded. An entire gallery is devoted to Hank Willis Thomas’s “Unbranded” series, a consistently smart and provocative dissection of images of Black people and culture exploited by the advertising industry. Another features the sculpture and assemblage of Josh Kline, indicting the disposability of capitalism, especially its disregard for labor, which it treats as a limitless and expendable commodity.
Most of the work falls into what might be called the “vanitas” mode of contemporary art, modern analogues to Renaissance paintings reminding viewers that death and judgment are inevitable and supersede pleasure and worldly pursuits. The modern vanitas also skewers the superficial and worldly, focusing on darker truths, insidious causes and structural failures.
The iconic covered wagon, once a symbol of national expansion and cultural ambition, becomes sculpture in Matthew Day Jackson’s 2005-2006 “Chariot (The Day After the End of Days),” repurposed as a weapon of war, dispossession and genocide. In Leonard Drew’s “(Untitled #25),” monumental stacks of cotton are placed in the center of the room, a superfluity of raw material, and a reminder of the raw cruelty of the slave-driven cotton-and-textile trade that enriched and immiserated millions of people, according to their race and privilege.
The tone is serious, but not dispiriting. Smaller, more self-contained pieces pursue other themes, sometimes with humor and whimsy. Huang Yong Ping’s ceramic urns are also vanitas pieces — we look into their dark interior to find death preserved in the form of taxidermy animals — but make a game of the darker process of seeking beyond outward appearances to find the truth. Midas, patron saint of American culture, has been unleashed to comic effect in a room full of trash and architectural odds and ends in John Miller’s 2007 installation “A Refusal to Accept Limits.”
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The new museum gets almost all the intangibles of a museum experience right: the pacing, the juxtapositions, the flow, the light. Amid the sobering politics are moments of radiance and poetry. The building details — including the preservation of arched brick doorways — were handled with grace and taste by architect Hany Hassan. A patch of preserved terrazzo floor on a stair landing is a nice touch, reminding visitors not just of the building’s prior use, but also of how thoroughly we have squandered the investments that were once made in the public realm.
Right from the start, the Rubell Museum DC has found its substantial niche in the capital area’s museum ecosystem. It complements the private Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Md., by focusing on a wider range of artists, at varying stages in their careers. It has a freer hand to be edgy and provocative than the museums under the Smithsonian aegis, or the National Gallery. And it is local without being provincial, with free admission for D.C. residents, and a number of artists born or working in the city are among those in its inaugural exhibition. If you voted with the majority in any recent D.C. election, you are likely amenable to the museum’s basic political thrust.
There is real symbolic importance to filling out that ecosystem. While the Rubell caters to visitors — it wants to offer a valuable experience — it doesn’t have the usual, imaginary tourist (easily offended and dependent on familiar values and cultural bromides) lurking in the background of its choices. It gives an unapologetic and comprehensive overview of the basic modes and themes of contemporary art. The sins, unfairness and indignity of American culture are surveyed and to some small degree remediated in works with both local and national resonance.
So, we might flip the usual fetish for proximity to the Capitol. It is news worth celebrating when good things happen less than a mile from the Capitol.
What’s Going On Open indefinitely at the Rubell Museum DC, 65 I St. SW. dc.rubellmuseum.org. | 2022-11-03T11:23:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Rubell Museum DC's first show is robust critique of American hypocrisy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/11/03/rubell-museum-dc-review/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/11/03/rubell-museum-dc-review/ |
The first volume of ‘Remembrance of Things Past’ turns 100 this year. A new translation of its central tale offers a taste of Proust’s (much) larger masterwork.
This year the world has honored the centenary of two masterpieces of modern literature, James Joyce’s “Ulysses” and T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.” But this fall also marks two other important anniversaries: the publication on Sept. 19, 1922, of “Swann’s Way,” the first volume of C.K. Scott Moncrieff’s pioneering translation of Marcel Proust’s “A la Recherche du Temps Perdu,” followed, two months later, by the death of Proust himself at age 51 on Nov. 18.
Many believe that “In Search of Lost Time” — a more accurate translation of the book’s title than Scott Moncrieff’s poetical “Remembrance of Things Past” — is the 20th century’s greatest novel. Others have found it to be almost unreadable because of its length (1.5 million words), its seemingly endless serpentine sentences, and its author’s microscopic attention to the nuances of societal relationships and the subtleties of the human heart.
T.S. Eliot wrote of waste and woe. His private life provided material.
Years ago, I took a college French course in Proust during which I slowly worked my way through the entire three-volume Pléiade edition. In retrospect, I don’t seem to have done much else that spring. But as with Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” — another long novel about families and the passage of time — I came to feel that its characters were more real than the actual people around me. You don’t so much read “In Search of Lost Time ” as live in it.
In particular, I remember finishing the famous section “Swann in Love” (from “Swann’s Way”) in Oberlin College’s Carnegie Library just as the lights were being turned off in the main reading room. I walked back to my dorm in a daze, Charles Swann’s words ringing in my ears: “To think that I wasted years of my life, that I wanted to die, that I had my greatest love, for a woman to whom I wasn’t attracted, who wasn’t my type.”
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This past week, I reread “Swann in Love” in a new translation by Lucy Raitz, advertised by Pushkin Press as a “stand-alone novella” and the “perfect introduction to Proust.” In many ways, both those claims are accurate: All the rest of Proust’s magnum opus focuses on its narrator’s childhood, friendships, affairs of the heart and intermittent moments of transcendent happiness, before he arrives at the discovery of his vocation — which is nothing less than to write the book we have been reading, to redeem through art all the wasted years of a dilettantish life.
Nevertheless, “Swann in Love” isn’t quite as excisable as it might seem. Some of its characters were already introduced in “Combray,” the opening section of the novel, which describes the narrator’s family and early life. Moreover, all its men and women will continue to appear throughout the book, as the passing years reveal deeper layers to the vulgar salon hostess Madame Verdurin, Swann’s friend the Baron de Charlus, the alluring Odette and even an unnamed artist who turns out to have been the young Elstir, later the greatest painter of his generation. Above all, though, Swann’s obsession with Odette provides the template for all the subsequent love affairs in the book. In other words, this Pushkin paperback would have benefited from a contextual introduction and at least a brief afterword to make clear that this “novella” should really end with the words “To be continued.”
Here, though, is how it begins.
One evening, Charles Swann, a wealthy, charming man about town and an habitue of the highest ranks of society, is introduced to Odette de Crécy at a theater by a friend who quietly suggests that he might have a good time with her. The middle-aged Swann has already enjoyed many affairs, with women of all classes, and at first feels relatively indifferent to Odette. Though she has large, beautiful eyes, “her profile was too sharp, her skin too delicate, her cheekbones too high, her features too drawn.” What’s more, Swann, an aesthete and authority on Vermeer, finds her unintelligent. Nonetheless, Odette seems utterly taken with him, and, as Proust notes, “feeling that one already possesses the heart of a woman can be enough to make one fall in love.”
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Because Odette spends her evenings at Madame Verdurin’s, Swann stoically endures the company of that supercilious social climber and her sycophantic hangers-on. There one night he hears a violin and piano sonata by a composer named Vinteuil and is transfixed by a “little phrase” of five notes, two repeated. This music becomes the anthem of his growing love for Odette (as well as one of the leitmotifs of the entire novel).
That love reaches its initial peak one evening when Swann visits the Verdurins and learns that Odette has already left but may be stopping for a cup of chocolate at Prévost’s restaurant. He rushes there — no Odette. Overwhelmed by a need to see her, he searches in other cafes and restaurants, his despair increasing. Then, just as he is about to give up, he almost literally bumps into her outside the Maison Dorée, where Odette tells him she’s just had supper. He drives her home in his carriage, en route shyly asks to adjust the disarranged orchids at her bodice, and that night they make love for the first time.
Before long, the once-blase Swann experiences what the novelist Stendhal, in his treatise “On Love,” calls “crystallization”: No aspect of Odette now seems less than utterly, completely enchanting. “He didn’t contradict her vulgar ideas, or the bad taste that she showed in everything, and which, indeed, he loved as he loved everything about her.”
But one evening over dinner Swann detects a knowing glance passing between Odette and another Verdurin guest, the Comte de Forcheville. From then on, he starts to wonder about those occasions when this Botticelli-like beauty sent him home early because of tiredness. Was she secretly expecting another visitor later on? Could she be deceiving him with Forcheville or other men? Or, as an anonymous letter insinuates, even with women?
Among the pleasures in reading Proust is his constant recourse to unexpected similes, such as his likening jealousy to “an octopus stretching out first one, then a second, then a third tentacle” as it chokes the sufferer. In vain Swann tries to account for Odette’s movements at all times of the day and night. Suspicions increasingly torment him. Odette, though, soon recognizes that Swann is hooked, gladly accepts his gifts, and more and more treats him as chattel. Before long, the once-debonair man of fashion feels grateful for the least crumb of affection.
Let me pause there. I’ve skipped over many details and there’s much more to come, but the real gift of “Swann in Love” isn’t its plot so much as its rapturous intensity and the wholly immersive experience of inhabiting Swann’s consciousness. Yearning, possessiveness, jealousy, deception, self-torture, the impossibility of truly knowing another person — these turn out to be the unhappy and recurrent elements of Proustian love.
Still, in the midst of his misery, Swann happens to attend a grand soiree, where his creator — who is also a great comic novelist — presents an extended satirical tableau of Parisian high society. There, just as he’s about to leave the party, Swann unexpectedly hears the hired musicians play Vinteuil’s sonata and this time recognizes that “the feelings Odette had had for him would never return, and that his hopes of happiness would not be realized.”
Yet the story of Charles Swann and Odette de Crécy is nowhere near over. However, you’ll need to read not just “Swann in Love” but the rest of “In Search of Lost Time” to learn what happens to this ill-matched couple. You’ll be surprised.
Swann in Love
By Marcel Proust, translated by Lucy Raitz
Pushkin Press. 256 pp. $24 | 2022-11-03T11:24:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Book review: 'Swann in Love' - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/11/03/if-you-cant-handle-15-million-words-proust-try-swann-love/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/11/03/if-you-cant-handle-15-million-words-proust-try-swann-love/ |
(Daniela Martín del Campo for The Washington Post)
With the turning of the leaves, there’s another indication of seasonal change: Movies are about to get better — or at least bigger.
The fall/holiday season is when studios traditionally trot out their Oscar hopefuls — along with, for reasons I can’t explain, dueling “Pinocchios.” (A live-action adaptation with Tom Hanks came out on Disney Plus in September, and Guillermo del Toro’s entry arrives on Netflix on Dec. 9. But wait, you say: Wasn’t there just another “Pinocchio” at Christmastime 2020? Why, yes. Yes, there was.)
This year, women are taking center stage in a number of films, including “She Said,” a fact-based tale of #MeToo reporting; “Nanny,” a horror-infused immigrant tale by Nikyatu Jusu; “Women Talking,” based on real-life rapes in a Mennonite community; and the Whitney Houston biopic “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” Even the next Black Panther is likely to be a woman.
But there’s another, more meta theme of movies about movies this year. From “Bardo” (about a filmmaker experiencing a midlife crisis) to “Babylon” (set in the early days of Hollywood), and from “Empire of Light” (centering on workers in an English seaside cinema) to “The Fabelmans” (Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age saga), this season’s offerings focus on filmmakers holding a mirror up to themselves.
Opening dates are subject to change.
(Nov. 11, R)
Starring: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Íker Sánchez Solano, Ximena Lamadrid.
Mexican filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu, a four-time Oscar winner who has been working to great acclaim in Hollywood after making a splash with the Spanish-language “Amores Perros” (a 2001 Oscar nominee for best foreign language film), has titled his latest movie after the Buddhist concept of a liminal state between death and rebirth. That’s fitting for a cross-border story, the director’s first film shot in Mexico since “Amores.” “Bardo” centers on Silverio (Cacho), a Mexican-born, Los Angeles-based filmmaker who is grappling with ambivalence about national identity as he travels between California and Mexico on the eve of receiving a prestigious filmmaking award.
Talking point: Scattered with allusions to such icons of Mexican culture — high and low, revered and reviled — as poet Octavio Paz, mescal, axolotls, lucha libre and Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, the often-surreal screenplay for “Bardo” is a reunion of Iñárritu and Nicholás Giacobone, his co-writer on the Oscar-winning “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).” Available Dec. 16 on Netflix.
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(Nov. 11, PG-13)
Starring: Angela Bassett, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Danai Gurira, Florence Kasumba, Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Freeman, Tenoch Huerta Mejía.
In the wake of the death of T’Challa/Black Panther (portrayed by the late Chadwick Boseman), there’s an existential threat to the African nation he once ruled in the next installment of Marvel’s superhero saga. As the trailer for the hotly anticipated sequel to 2018’s “Black Panther” strongly suggests, at least one source of peril to Wakanda will arise from beneath the sea, in the form of the half-human, half-Atlantean Namor (Huerta Mejía), Marvel’s precursor to DC’s Aquaman. But the real question on everyone’s mind is: Who will take up the mantle of the film’s titular protector? While there is a glimpse of a baby being born in the trailer (underwater!), we shouldn’t have to wait for a hero to grow up. Exclusive footage released by Fandango of the next Black Panther — masked, yet in a form-fitting suit — appears to confirm what most fans already expect: that she will be a woman.
Talking point: A bittersweet air — grief over Boseman’s death, tempered by expectancy — hangs over the film. But it could help heal our sense of collective loss. As the Nigerian singer Tems sings in her cover of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” in the trailer, “Everything’s gonna be all right.”
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Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau.
Fiennes plays a disgruntled celebrity chef whose elaborate, multicourse meal — served on an island at $1,250 a head for 12 handpicked customers — turns into a deadly piece of performance art in the darkly satirical feature debut of TV veteran Mark Mylod (“Succession”). Though tinged with horror, the film (produced by Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, among others) is also queasily funny, in the manner of Ruben Ostlund’s recent “Triangle of Sadness,” which also skewered the pretensions of the elite — a turning of the tables that seems to be in the zeitgeist.
Talking point: Fiennes prepped for his role by watching Netflix’s “Chef’s Table” and observing Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn, who was brought on set as a technical consultant, creating such fussy on-screen dishes as Dungeness crab served with fermented yogurt whey, dried sea lettuce, umeboshi (salted Japanese plums) and kelp.
Starring: Zoe Kazan, Carey Mulligan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher.
Following in the fact-based footsteps of such journo-thrillers as “Spotlight” and “The Post,” “She Said” tells the story of New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey (Kazan and Mulligan), whose dogged reporting helped break the story of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment and assault allegations. Like those earlier two films — the first an Oscar winner about the Boston Globe’s reporting on sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, and the second an Oscar nominee about this newspaper’s race to publish the Pentagon Papers — “She Said” looks to be a celebration of shoe-leather journalism.
Talking point: The English-language feature debut of German filmmaker Maria Schrader (“I’m Your Man”), “She Said” is based on Kantor and Twohey’s 2019 book by the same name, which lays out the story behind the story — one that led to a shared Pulitzer Prize for the Times and the New Yorker.
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Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell, Mark Rylance.
To some, Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” — a 2018 remake of the 1977 camp horror classic by Dario Argento — came out of left field, especially following his swooningly romantic Oscar winner of 2017, “Call Me By Your Name.” Perhaps it shouldn’t have. The Italian filmmaker’s new film is loosely based on Camille DeAngelis’s 2015 young-adult novel, sometimes described as a coming-of-age cannibal road trip romance. The Hollywood Reporter says of this cinematic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup: “Guadagnino’s seemingly divergent interests in romance and horror have never come together quite so ideally as they do here.”
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Luca Guadagnino Q&A: Don’t believe everything you hear about ‘Call Me By Your Name’
Starring: Jonathan Majors, Glen Powell, Christina Jackson.
Based on Adam Makos’s 2014 nonfiction book by the same name, “Devotion” tells the true story of flyboy friendship and heroics involving two U.S. Navy aviators in the Korean War: one Black (Majors, of “The Last Black Man in San Francisco”) and one White (Powell, of “Everybody Wants Some!!”), during a time when our nation was still segregated.
Talking point: Can the film’s formula of male camaraderie and aerial combat generate the same combustible appeal of the summer blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick”?
The Secret of ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ is that it doesn’t try too hard
Starring: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Gabriel LaBelle, Judd Hirsch, Seth Rogen.
The “West Side Story” team of director Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner reunite for this semi-autobiographical tale centering on Spielberg’s teenage stand-in, Sammy Fabelman (LaBelle), the child of a workaholic engineer (Dano) and a free-spirited homemaker (Williams). The 8mm films made by Sammy in “The Fabelmans” are re-creations of actual 8mm films Spielberg once made as a teenager.
Talking point: The director has called this project, winner of the People’s Choice Award at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, the most “daunting” of his career, describing his brainstorming interviews with Kushner — conducted over Zoom in the early days of the pandemic — as a form of therapy.
Starring: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista.
Writer-director Rian Johnson’s follow-up to the 2019 hit whodunit “Knives Out,” about a bickering family in the wake of the suspicious death of their paterfamilias (Christopher Plummer), has no direct link to the original, other than Craig, who returns in the role of detective Benoit Blanc. Here, the murder that inspires the mystery is said to take place only halfway through the film. While you’re waiting, it’s likely to be fun watching another cast of thousands, including Norton as an Elon Musk-y billionaire and Bautista as an attention-seeking YouTube star.
Talking point: “Glass Onion” is less a proper sequel than a stand-alone film. (That’s a good thing: You don’t need to watch the first film as homework. But do it anyway.) Johnson told the Los Angeles Times: “I’ve never experienced nerves quite like actually sitting down to write something. I also spent 10 years planning ‘Knives Out,’ whereas this, I was kind of starting from scratch.” Available Dec. 23 on Netflix.
Starring: Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Spector, Leslie Uggams, Sinqua Walls, Rose Decker.
“Nanny” arrives from Blumhouse, the horror-centric production company known for such titles as “Halloween Ends” and “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone,” and which together with Amazon bought the film out of Sundance, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for drama. But calling this stylish immigrant drama horror isn’t quite right. Despite some genuine jump scares, the most unsettling thing about it is the ingrained classism encountered by its heroine Aisha (Diop), a Senegalese teacher who takes on the job of child care for a privileged and clueless wealthy White couple (Monaghan and Spector) on New York’s Upper East Side.
Talking point: Two inhuman entities from African folklore haunt Aisha’s dreams in writer-director Nikyatu Jusu’s feature debut: the water spirit Mami Wata (“mother water”) and the trickster figure Anansi the spider. They may seem at times like boogeymen — and are filmed as such — but they’re also a manifestation of empowerment for Aisha. Available Dec. 16 on Amazon.
(Nov. 23, PG)
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu.
This season’s answer to “Encanto” — minus the songs — Disney Animation’s “Strange World” is, like that 2021 film, set in a mythical, visually marvelous world that is under a mysterious threat (here, it’s crops dying). Gyllenhaal voices Searcher Clade, a farmer who, despite his first name, is not the explorer his legendary, long-missing father was. Did I say missing? Searcher’s dad (Quaid) turns up in the trailer to lead a world-saving expedition that includes Searcher’s wife and son (Union and Young-White) and the president of the fictional Avalonia (Liu), where it’s set.
Talking point: Co-director Don Hall, who helmed the film with “Raya and the Last Dragon” co-writer Qui Nguyen, describes the film, partly inspired by early 20th-century pulp adventure magazines, as Jules Verne meets “National Lampoon’s Vacation.”
(December TBD, PG-13)
Starring: Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw, Frances McDormand.
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sarah Polley (“Away From Her”) wrote and directed this adaptation of fellow Canadian Miriam Toews’s 2018 novel about rapes that took place within an ultraconservative religious farming community — itself inspired by real events uncovered more than 10 years ago in a Mennonite colony in Bolivia. The film’s title is said to be an apt description of the film, the bulk of which takes place in a hayloft as the women discuss the limited options that are before them: forgive and forget the menfolk’s crimes, leave the community forever and forsake eternal salvation, or stay and fight.
Talking point: The movie passes the Bechdel Test by every measure, arguably save one: The conversation pointedly revolves around the misdeeds of men — but it is a conversation that, arguably, needs to be had.
(Dec. 2, not yet rated)
Starring: Will Smith, Ben Foster.
The release of this fact-based Civil War saga about the flight of a man (Smith) from slavery in Louisiana — widely considered an Oscar contender — became uncertain in the wake of Smith’s Oscar-ceremony slap of host Chris Rock. After the actor was banned from all Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences events — most notably the Oscars ceremony itself — for the next 10 years, there were questions: Can the star and producer of “Emancipation” be nominated if he cannot attend the ceremony? (Apparently.) Will he be nominated? Who knows, but reaction after an intimate Los Angeles screening last month that included Tyler Perry, Dave Chappelle, Rihanna, Kenya Barris and A$AP Rocky was glowing. “I’m still haunted by ‘Emancipation,’ ” Perry wrote on his Instagram story. “It’s truly powerful, moving and captivating.” Available Dec. 9 on Apple TV Plus.
Talking point: The film was inspired by photos of an enslaved man known as “Whipped Peter,” taken in 1863 during a Union Army medical examination and first published in Harper’s Weekly. One photo, dubbed “The Scourged Back,” became one of the most widely circulated images of slavery, eventually contributing to a groundswell of public opposition to the practice.
(Dec. 9, R)
Starring: Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Colin Firth, Toby Jones.
Filmmaker Sam Mendes turns his attention from the World War I of his Oscar-nominated “1917” to the early 1980s with “Empire of Light,” a poetic meditation on lost souls centering on two workers in an English seaside cinema. The central relationship is a romance between Colman’s Hilary, the middle-aged duty manager who has an apparent mood disorder, and Ward’s Stephen, an aspiring architecture student. Against the backdrop of Britain’s racist skinhead movement, Stephen, who is Black, and Hilary, who is White, forge a tender and unexpected connection.
Talking point: Mendes has said that Colman’s character was inspired by his mother. “It was very personal,” he told Reuters. “It really was stimulated by memories from my childhood of growing up around someone who was mentally falling apart and yet somehow heroically was also bringing me up at the same time. So it is a love letter to her and to the courage of people struggling with mental illness.”
Filmmaker Paul Dalio mines his bipolar disorder for feature debut
Starring: Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge, Sally Field, Bill Irwin.
Based on a 2017 memoir by TV columnist Michael Ausiello, “Spoiler Alert” is a romantic dramedy — call it a rom-dram — about Ausiello’s relationship with his late husband, Kit Cowan. Helmed by Michael Showalter (director of the Oscar-winning “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and the Oscar nominee “The Big Sick”), the movie stars Parsons as Ausiello, Aldridge as Cowan, and Field and Irwin as Cowan’s parents.
Talking point: “Savage Love” sex columnist Dan Savage makes his screenwriting debut here, alongside TV writer David Marshall Grant.
(Dec. 16, not yet rated)
Starring: Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, Stephen Lang.
How long have we been waiting for the sequel to the 2009 hit “Avatar”? Technically, since 2006, when filmmaker James Cameron first dropped the suggestion that he would like to make sequels to the film (mind you, a film that hadn’t even been made yet). In 2010, after it became a bona fide hit, Cameron confirmed that there would be follow-ups. (Yes, plural. “Avatar 3” is already in the works.) What took him so long? Cameron had to wait for technology to catch up to his vision. Returning to the planet of Pandora, repository of the ore Unobtainium — the dumbest name, by the way — the new film finds the Marine Jake Sully (Worthington) trying to live out his life peacefully with the blue-skinned extraterrestrial Na’vi Neytiri (Saldana).
Talking point: “Avatar: The Way of Water” was filmed using a souped-up version of a technology known as high frame rate. (Anyone remember that from “The Hobbit”?) Called TrueCut Motion, it “provides all the advantages of sharp high frame rate for high-resolution fast action without sacrificing the cinematic feel,” according to its developers.
Why does ‘The Hobbit’ look so weird?
(Dec. 16, PG-13)
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Zen McGrath, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Hopkins.
“With ‘The Son,’ Florian Zeller Wants to Make Audiences Uncomfortable.” That’s the headline on Vanity Fair’s interview with French novelist-turned-playwright-turned-filmmaker Florian Zeller, who, with Christopher Hampton, won an Oscar last year for the screenplay of “The Father,” adapted from Zeller’s play. (They’re both part of a trilogy of plays, along with “The Mother.”) Jackman and Dern play the divorced parents of a troubled teenager (McGrath) struggling with depression. It’s not for the faint of heart.
Talking point: Hopkins, who won an acting Oscar for his performance in “The Father,” plays another, very different father in “The Son”: the emotionally aloof parent to Jackman’s Peter, reminding us that every father is also someone’s son.
Anthony Hopkins is welcoming old age by embracing his inner child
(Dec. 16, R)
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau.
The backlash was swift after images of Fraser first appeared online — in prosthetic fat makeup — as a reclusive English teacher struggling with obesity as he tries to reconnect with his teenage daughter (Sink). Though happy to see the actor’s comeback in Darren Aronofsky’s drama (adapted by Samuel D. Hunter from his play of the same name), many weren’t happy about what looked like exploitation. Early reviews have been mixed, with some praising Fraser’s performance while criticizing the use of a fat suit. The Independent captured the collective ambivalence, calling “The Whale,” which garnered Aronofsky three prizes at the Venice Film Festival, both “effective” and “grossly manipulative.”
Talking point: Fraser defended the use of the suit, which added 300 pounds and required six hours to get into, telling Newsweek that he himself is “not a small man. I don’t know what the metric is to qualify to play the role. I only know that I had to give as honest a performance as I can.”
Starring: Naomi Ackie, Stanley Tucci, Ashton Sanders.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” screenwriter Anthony McCarten tackles the life story of another music sensation (after Queen’s Freddie Mercury): New Jersey choir-girl-turned-pop-superstar Whitney Houston, played by English actress Ackie, a BAFTA winner for her role in the Netflix series “The End of the F---ing World.” There’s plenty of built-in drama here. Tucci plays record producer Clive Davis, who signed Houston to Arista Records in 1983 at the age of 19, becoming a kind of Svengali to the young singer. (Note: Davis also produced this film.) And Sanders plays Houston’s husband, Bobby Brown, with whom she shared a crippling drug addiction during their turbulent 14-year marriage.
Talking point: Apparently, there’s still no one who can belt it like Whitney. Recordings of Houston’s singing voice will be been used in place of Ackie’s.
10 years after Whitney Houston’s death, what have we learned about her — and ourselves?
(Dec. 21, PG)
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillén, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Florence Pugh, John Mulaney, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone.
Exactly how many lives does this cat have? That’s the question, literally and figuratively, in this latest chapter of DreamWorks Animation’s long-running “Shrek” franchise. Puss (voice of Banderas) has used up all of his lives as the film gets underway, but he’s been granted a reprieve: a chance to restore the ones he’s lost if he can find the mythical Last Wish. Reuniting with Hayek’s cat burglar (and love interest) Kitty Softpaws, our hero sets off on an antic adventure, pursued by characters from various fairy tales.
Talking point: “Puss in Boots,” I wrote in 2011, was “almost shockingly good,” thanks in large part to the talented voice cast (and perhaps also lowered expectations). This cast features Pugh as Goldilocks, Mulaney as Jack Horner, and Colman and Winstone as Mama and Papa Bear.
Starring: Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart.
Set in 1920s Hollywood, as the Silent Era was on the way out, writer-director Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” spins a raucous, fictionalized tale around Robbie’s starlet Nellie LaRoy; Pitt’s movie star Jack Conrad (said to be loosely based on John Gilbert); and Calva’s Manny Torres, an up-and-comer, born in the United States to Mexican immigrants, with his eye on fame. Although the film’s sprawling cast — including Chloe Fineman, Flea, Lukas Haas, Spike Jonze, Tobey Maguire, Max Minghella, Eric Roberts, Katherine Waterston, Samara Weaving and Olivia Wilde — features some playing real people (e.g., Minghella’s Irving Thalberg), the story, Chazelle has said, is “mostly” made up.
Talking point: Chazelle told Variety that he took inspiration from such films as Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita,” Robert Altman’s “Nashville” and “The Godfather” — “old-school epics that managed, through a handful of characters, to convey a society changing.”
(Jan. 6, PG-13)
Starring: Bill Nighy.
“Living” — the story of a terminally ill man (Nighy) taking stock of his life and realizing that he hasn’t really lived — has deep roots. First came Leo Tolstoy’s 1886 novella “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” which was the inspiration for the 1952 film “Ikiru” by Akira Kurosawa. (“Ikiru” is also said to have been the inspiration for “Biutiful,” by Alejandro G. Iñárritu.) This new film, a direct remake of Kurosawa’s, is written by Kazuo Ishiguro, whose books have been made into movies before (“The Remains of the Day,” “Never Let Me Go”), but who returns to screenwriting for the first time in 17 years.
Talking point: Set in London in the 1950s and directed by the South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus, whose “Moffie” charted the struggles of a closeted gay soldier, “Living” has all the DNA of an “exquisitely sad” drama of repression and regret, to quote the Guardian’s assessment.
Underneath it all, he’s still Bill Nighy | 2022-11-03T11:24:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Here are the movies everyone will be talking about this holiday season - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/11/03/fall-holiday-movie-guide/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/11/03/fall-holiday-movie-guide/ |
North Carolina Democrats center abortion as GOP eyes a supermajority
State Rep. Terence Everitt (D) shared his family’s experience with abortion on the campaign trail in the final stretch before Election Day
North Carolina state Rep. Terence Everitt (D) shares his and his wife's personal experience with abortion in Raleigh, N.C., on Sept. 28. (Justin Kase Condor for The Washington Post)
RALEIGH — At a recent campaign event, North Carolina state Rep. Terence Everitt (D) told a very personal story, one he has only begun sharing publicly in the last few months.
“I’ve yet to get through this” without tearing up, Everitt told the dozens of women gathered to hear from Democrats on the ballot.
In a halting voice, Everitt spoke about his wife’s 2007 miscarriage and the surgery she needed to have the a dead fetus removed — a procedure also used during abortions.
If she’d needed the same medical treatment in a state with strict abortion restrictions, Everitt said his wife might have faced intrusive questions. In some states with bans, women who miscarry have reported struggling to find doctors who will remove the fetus, because they’re worried about violating state law. “Nobody should be investigated on that day,” he said.
In the closing weeks of the campaign, Everitt has spoken about his wife’s procedure more and more often, a sign that he and other Democrats believe abortion access is a winning issue on the trail. Recent polling suggests abortion access is one of the most important issues for Democratic voters in this competitive state.
And Democrats have argued that if Republicans regain a supermajority in the state legislature, they will tighten restrictions in one of the last southern states to allow the procedure with few limitations. “It’s pretty clear that the ability of women to get reproductive care in North Carolina, and even across the southeast, will depend on a handful of competitive state legislative races here in North Carolina,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said in an interview with The Washington Post.
The governor has been promoting campaign ads supporting Democratic candidates like Marcia Morgan, who is running for state senate in the seventh district, that urge voters to rally behind left-leaning candidates to stop a Republican approach to abortion policy that Cooper calls “cruel and extreme.”
After the Supreme Court struck down the protections to abortion enshrined in Roe v. Wade, North Carolina’s governor promised to defend access in his state. But if Republicans flip two state senate seats and three state House seats, they will regain the supermajority that the party lost in 2018. With that, Republicans could override Cooper’s veto on a number of issues — including abortion.
GOP leaders have indicated that they would move to strengthen North Carolina’s restrictions. State Republicans have in recent years proposed and attempted to enact limits to abortion access, including a “heartbeat” ban in early pregnancy. In 2021, Cooper vetoed a bill to ban abortions sought for certain reasons, including the fetus’s race, sex or a disability diagnosis. Republicans argued that the bill would make “eugenic abortions” illegal, but Democrats opposed requiring patients to offer rationales to terminate a pregnancy.
Senate leader Phil Berger (R) has said he supports a ban on the procedure after the first trimester. House Speaker Tim Moore (R) favors a six-week ban. Fred Von Canon, Everitt’s opponent in the race to represent Wake Forest, told The Post that he supports a ban beginning when cardiac activity can be detected at around six weeks, with exceptions for victims of rape and incest and for the life of the mother.
But many Republicans in the state, including Everitt’s opponent Von Canon, have argued that Democrats inaccurately conflate Republican support for an abortion ban with support for restrictions on miscarriage care, treatment of ectopic pregnancies and limitations on birth control.
“These are all ridiculously false claims,” Von Canon said, adding that terminating an ectopic pregnancy or performing a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure to surgically remove a dead fetus after a miscarriage would not be subject to an abortion ban.
Many doctors and abortion rights advocates say abortion bans can deter or complicate treatments for potentially life-threatening pregnancy complications like ectopic pregnancies, even inadvertently, because the medical procedures are identical in medically necessary and elective abortions.
Von Canon and others also argue that Democrats are overestimating how much voters in these districts care about abortion in this race. He said he believes North Carolina voters care more about inflation, public safety and gun rights.
“Abortion is an issue in this election,” Von Canon said in an email. “It’s nowhere near the most important issue.”
But Everitt and others say centering on abortion is a winning message in a state where a little over half of residents want to keep the same level of access to the procedure that existed under Roe.
To do that, Everitt has taken an unusual approach, speaking publicly about his family’s experience with abortion. At campaign events, he shares his family’s experience with terminating an unviable pregnancy shortly after he and his wife were married.
In 2007, as newlyweds excited to grow their family, the Everitts wasted no time in telling all of their friends, family and co-workers as soon as the pregnancy test came back positive. “We already knew names — what we were going to name it if it was a boy or if it was a girl,” his wife, Jennifer Everitt, said.
The first prenatal appointments went well — they could hear the beat of what would eventually become the developing baby’s heart during an ultrasound. Jennifer, who was 30 at the time, had no reason to think she would have any pregnancy complications.
But around the eighth week of pregnancy, Jennifer began to bleed. Soon after, while she was at work, the bleeding got much worse.
Jennifer borrowed $20 from a co-worker to pay for a cab to the hospital. A young doctor found that the baby’s cardiac activity was very weak and told the couple that they would lose the pregnancy.
“It was very emotional,” Jennifer said. “Everything goes through your head: I was so excited. Why is this happening? Can I even have kids? Maybe I never can.”
The doctor offered Jennifer two options: wait for her body to pass the fetal tissue naturally — which could take days or weeks and might still require medical intervention to prevent infection — or get a D&C to terminate the pregnancy immediately.
“For my own physical and emotional well-being, I needed it to be done as quickly as possible,” she said.
The next day, she went back to the hospital to have the D&C that terminated the pregnancy and removed the fetal tissue from her body. “I was glad that it was over at that point,” she said. “I needed to be able for my body to heal, for my mind to heal, so that we could think about getting pregnant again.”
The Everitts said they could not imagine going through the miscarriage under the types of abortion restrictions that already exist in neighboring states. Although her procedure may have been allowed under exceptions made for the health of the mother, Jennifer Everitt said she worries she would have been interrogated by police to suss out the reason for her D&C or denied the procedure by a doctor worried about running afoul of the law, as has happened to women in places like Texas and Wisconsin.
“I didn’t have an investigator coming into my room to say, ‘Did you do something to cause this? Why are you having this procedure?’ ” she said.
Although Jennifer eventually had two healthy babies, she said her later pregnancies were difficult. Three years later, after she had her daughter by C-section, her doctor told her that it would put her life in danger to carry any more pregnancies to term.
“She should not have to wait until her life is truly in danger,” Terence Everitt said. “She should not have to be on life support, or getting oxygenated, or whatever that vague life-of-the-mother language means. We should just ensure her safety.” | 2022-11-03T11:28:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | North Carolina Democrats center abortion as GOP eyes a supermajority - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/03/north-carolina-democrats-center-abortion-gop-eyes-supermajority/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/03/north-carolina-democrats-center-abortion-gop-eyes-supermajority/ |
Cox, the Republican candidate for Maryland governor, comes from a family with deep roots in the home-schooling and ‘parental rights’ movements
Gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox (R) talks to reporters after a debate with Wes Moore (D) on Oct. 12 in Owings Mills, Md. (Brian Witte/AP)
Dan Cox’s time had come.
It was the spring of 2015, years before Cox would be elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, let alone win the Republican nomination for governor. Cox was an all-but-unknown lawyer. The figure whose endorsement would one day propel his political fortunes — Donald Trump — was still weeks away from announcing his first presidential run.
It was nevertheless a special day for Cox and for the home-schooling organization, Walkersville Christian Family Schools, whose students he was preparing to address. His father, pastor Gary Cox, had founded the group more than three decades earlier to help conservative Christians provide their children with an alternative to the secular education offered in public schools.
Gary Cox stood at the microphone at a Baltimore County church, recalling how he had delivered a commencement speech when Dan, the oldest of his 10 children, completed the group’s home-schooling curriculum 23 years earlier. Now it was Dan’s turn to deliver the speech, and his son Josiah — Gary’s grandson — was among the graduates.
It was “a precious opportunity for one generation to the next,” Gary Cox said, ceding the lectern to his son.
Dan Cox, wearing a suit and tie, delivered a 33-minute exposition of biblical themes in which he repeatedly warned the class that the beliefs imparted by Walkersville Christian Family Schools were alien to much of the world. The 17 young men and women before him had been educated according to “the best interests of your parents,” he said, an experience that “sets you apart.”
“We live in a day and age when the Bible is scorned,” Cox said, according to a YouTube video of the ceremony. “ ‘Old-fashioned.’ ‘Nonsensical.’ ‘Nonapplicable.’ ‘No bearing to modern reality.’ But most of the people who say that have never read it.”
Seven years later, Cox, now 48, is speaking to a much larger audience. Instead of a single church, he has the ears of many GOP voters across Maryland, who chose him in last summer’s primary over the candidate favored by outgoing Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.
Polls show Cox, who did not respond to repeated requests to comment for this article, trailing far behind Democratic candidate Wes Moore. Yet whatever the outcome Nov. 8, his rise to the top of the Maryland GOP and his endorsement by Trump represent a landmark for an increasingly influential force in American politics and culture: the Christian right’s home-schooling movement.
Cox’s family has played an active role in that movement since its emergence in the 1980s, and its tenets have profoundly shaped Cox’s personal and political life.
As a child, Cox watched his father fight in Annapolis against state efforts to more strictly regulate home schooling. His wife, Valerie, was also home-schooled through Walkersville Christian, and the couple, who have 10 children, has used the group’s curriculum to educate their own kids. Cox worked at the organization for a decade before he obtained a law degree. (Originally based in Walkersville, Md., the group changed its name to Wellspring Christian Family Schools after moving to new locations in Frederick County.)
While Cox has not made religious home-schooling a focus of his public statements or campaign materials, he has borrowed heavily from the movement’s rhetoric as he condemns teaching about gender and sexuality in public schools. And during his brief time in the legislature, he has repeatedly sought to pass “parental rights” bills that echo model legislation written by conservative Christian home-schooling activists.
Maryland Gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox (R) said that "parents should be able to opt their children out" of teaching gender identity for young children. (Video: The Washington Post)
The sudden prominence of a home-schooling graduate in a state struggling with questions about the quality, equity and funding of its public education system is all the more notable given the instruction offered by Wellspring Christian Family Schools.
Among other things, Wellspring’s curriculum and textbooks teach children that a married woman should “desire to be under submission” to her husband, that the United States’ civil government should “acknowledge the Lord of Scripture and be reconstructed according to His demands,” that the universe is 6,000 to 8,000 years old and that the theory of evolution is “the biggest assault of the devil against the knowledge of God.”
Those who study the Christian home-schooling movement say its leaders have been remarkably successful in exporting their language of “parental rights” to debates over library books, bathrooms and vaccines in public schools. And they say Cox’s gubernatorial nomination — at a moment when interest in home schooling has exploded after prolonged pandemic school closures — is an unmistakable measure of the movement’s progress.
“They’ve been very explicit that their point is to create people who can enter public life so they can take the country back for Christ,” said Samantha Field, government relations director at the Coalition for Responsible Home Education, an organization founded by home-school alumni to advocate for stricter regulation of home schooling. “Dan Cox was the entire reason this movement was started in the first place — to create him and people like him.”
‘He understands the battle’
Cox stood in a white dress shirt on the midway at the Great Frederick Fair, blinking into the September sunlight as he mingled with Maryland voters. His brown hair neatly parted, Cox made small talk with passersby, his demeanor invariably polite, his face fixed in the slightly distracted expression he has often worn during public appearances since his victory in the July primary.
“We’re making headway.”
“I feel like I’m in a marathon.”
“I’m a farmer.” (Cox is a lawyer but said he had lived and worked on farms earlier in his life.)
Cox has adopted many messages dear to the GOP base, decrying vaccine mandates, crime, and the rising cost of gas and groceries. He has repeated falsehoods about the theft of the 2020 presidential election and tweeted that Vice President Mike Pence was a “traitor” as rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — then deleted the tweet and called it a “poor choice of words” amid calls for his expulsion from the legislature.
Yet there is a central theme to which Cox reliably returns, and it was the same one that animated many of the supporters he spoke to at the fairgrounds: parents’ control over the upbringing and education of their children.
It was a point of connection with Brian Hetrick, an Eastern Shore farmer worried that radical ideas about gender were being taught in schools. “I don’t want them forcing it down our kids’ throats,” he said.
Likewise with Alexander Twine, 48, who lives in Frederick: “They need their ABCs and 123s, not how to take drugs and do bad things, and he’s a boy, he’s a girl, no he’s not.”
Chelsea Neal, a 37-year-old Frederick County mother who began home-schooling her children during the pandemic, said she appreciated Cox’s background in and support for home instruction.
There were more than 42,000 children being home-schooled in Maryland during the 2020-2021 school year, according to the State Department of Education. That represents a 54 percent jump from the previous year.
Nationwide, the number of home-schooling households doubled during the first year of the pandemic, according to the Census Bureau, with just over 11 percent home-schooling children by the fall of 2020.
The motives of this much-expanded group have not been closely studied. The last thorough look at home-schooling families’ beliefs and demographics — a 2016 survey from the National Center for Education Statistics — found that just over half said a “desire to provide religious instruction” was an important factor in their decision.
In an October interview with Real America’s Voice, a right-wing media outlet, Cox vowed to appoint leaders to the state board of education who would “put parents back in charge of their children’s education.” But his devotion to the cause predates the eruption of America’s latest education culture wars.
He wasn’t yet 10 years old when his father, Gary, founded Walkersville Christian Family Schools in 1983. In a 2019 interview with the Frederick News-Post, Cox said his father studied to be a Catholic priest and “ended up nearly losing his faith” but was brought “back to God” through the evangelical movement and became a pastor.
Approached at his church, Gary Cox declined to comment for this story.
In the 1980s, Maryland state education officials sought to effectively outlaw home schooling, making it a legal option only for parents who had a teaching certificate. Gary Cox was at the forefront of those who pushed back, said Manfred Smith, founder of the Maryland Home Education Association.
Smith — a German-born atheist inspired by the Objectivist philosophy of novelist Ayn Rand — formed an unlikely partnership with Gary Cox as the pair fought, and frequently won, policy battles in Annapolis. He said the pastor was cordial and strategically astute, sometimes moderating the more defiant impulses of other activists, including Smith, and urging them to be realistic about what they could achieve.
“You have polar opposites here, yet Gary and I are friends. We respect each other,” Smith said.
Smith said he did not remember ever meeting Dan Cox. But Glen Lindengren, a real estate developer and general contractor from Queen Anne’s County who educated all six of his children through Walkersville Christian Family Schools, said that even as a child Dan was “in the middle of it all” as his father fought against home-schooling restrictions.
“Dan was involved in that ever since he was a young kid,” Lindengren said. “He knows what he’s doing. He understands the battle we’re up against.”
In his 2019 News-Post interview, Cox said he first traveled to Annapolis at age 7, and at 12 received an “ovation” from state senators after he testified at a committee hearing. He said he couldn’t remember what he had spoken about.
Maryland education officials relented, allowing parents to home-school as long as they periodically submitted proof of children’s academic plans and work. No tests or other assessments were required, and families who wanted to avoid interaction with the government could submit to oversight by private “umbrella” groups, including church-run schools or education programs.
One of those groups was Walkersville Christian Family Schools.
‘An alternative universe’
After Dan Cox graduated from Walkersville Christian, he began attending Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg in 1992 but left after his junior year. In 2002, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in government and politics through University of Maryland University College, an adult education and distance-learning program. Four years later, he earned his law degree from Regent University, a private Christian school in Virginia Beach founded by the televangelist Pat Robertson.
From 1995 to 2005, according to a brief biography posted on the state legislature’s website, Cox was a high school teacher at Walkersville Christian. It is unclear what subjects he taught, but Brad Main, a former employee who said he worked alongside Cox and served with him on Walkersville Christian’s board, remembered him serving in an administrative role — helping families and students to follow the program’s curriculum and meet its standards — that he gave up when he attended law school.
Today the Cox family’s home-schooling organization offers a variety of programs to families, according to its website. They range from a review of students’ work and confirmation that parents are meeting state requirements to an “academy” in which children follow courses and lecture series while still learning day-to-day in their homes. Students who choose the latter option can also attend conferences and field trips, and eventually earn a high school diploma granted by Wellspring Christian Family Schools.
In addition to classes in writing, accounting and other subjects, Wellspring emphasizes a deeply conservative interpretation of what the Bible has to say about science, civics and gender roles.
The 2021 final exam in one course, “Dogmatic Creationism,” involves writing a letter to an atheist to explain statements such as “Creationism is a self-evident dogma whose evidence is universally visible in every created thing, such that it can’t be refuted.” The class textbooks are the Bible and “The Early Earth,” which suggests juvenile dinosaurs — small enough to fit among other animals — may have boarded Noah’s ark.
Another textbook, “God and Government,” argues that the United States is a Christian nation and that “civil government must be called upon to acknowledge the Lord of Scripture and be reconstructed according to His demands.”
In a videotaped lecture posted online for a course entitled “Biblical Foundations for Family Life,” Gary Cox tells students that “the protection of the wife from satanic destruction is by being tucked under the headship of her husband as God ordained it.” Referring to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he adds: “There’s a picture here of someone ruling and someone being ruled … a picture of voluntary submission. It’s important that the wife, again, desire to be under submission. It’s pretty much impossible to rule over somebody that doesn’t want to be ruled.”
In another course lecture, he highlights a passage from Psalm 127 that is famous among many Christian home-schoolers, who believe it directs women to bear as many children as possible: “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.”
“The bottom line is this: Every gift that a woman has will find maximum expression as she serves God in the home, raising her children,” Gary Cox explains in the same lecture.
Dozens of Wellspring Christian Family Schools staff members and past or present families declined or did not respond to requests for comment from The Washington Post. School leaders did not respond to a note left with Wellspring employees by a reporter who visited the group’s office, a modular building next to a church amid rolling hills and corn fields in remote Sabillasville, Md.
Lindengren, who said he withdrew his children from public schools out of desire for an explicitly Christian alternative that included teaching about creationism, said he and his wife were deeply satisfied with their experience at Wellspring.
“They see the world from the biblical foundation,” Lindengren, 69, said of his children. “And that’s what we were looking for as parents.”
It is unclear whether Dan Cox — who has repeatedly advocated strengthening science and math instruction in public schools — personally taught or still believes the ideas promoted by his family’s organization. But Elizabeth Bartholet, a Harvard law professor emeritus who advocates dramatically increasing regulation of home schooling, said they are common among ideologically committed Christian home-schoolers.
“Many of them are clearly committed to ideas about women that are very different from our anti-discrimination norm in our society,” Bartholet said. “Many of them are committed to ideas about science, reality, that are very different from what are taught in our schools.” Conservative Christian home-schooling activists, she said, “want to both enable parents and encourage parents to raise their children in an alternative universe.”
After Cox won election to the House of Delegates in 2018, those activists found a new friend in Maryland.
‘A child’s best interests’
Cox had been in office just over a year when he sat down before the House of Delegates Judiciary Committee to champion a bill guaranteeing that parents in Maryland have “the fundamental right to direct the upbringing, education, care, and welfare” of their children. It was March 5, 2020 — six days before the World Health Organization’s declaration of the coronavirus pandemic.
Cox fiddled with a computer for a moment before playing a video.
“There’s one thing we can all agree on: When it comes to raising children, family is better than the government,” the narrator’s voice intoned. The 85-second video went on to warn that “parents of all backgrounds are seeing their rights slowly slipping away.” It ended by urging viewers to “sign up” at the website parentalrights.org.
Cox’s bill was based on model legislation created by the Parental Rights Foundation, an offshoot of the Home School Legal Defense Association, which since the 1980s has been the leading national organization in the Christian home-schooling movement.
The legislation had its roots in the ideas of Michael Farris, one of the association’s founders, who is a lawyer and whose children were home-schooled. He has fought against home-schooling oversight and other perceived threats to parental control, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Farris has warned would curtail Americans’ ability to “administer reasonable spankings” to their kids.
Farris, who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor of Virginia in 1993, has long argued for a constitutional amendment that would make parental rights “fundamental,” or subject to the same deference given to freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
Critics say that such an elevation of parental rights would come at the expense of vulnerable kids, making it harder for social workers, teachers, doctors and courts to intervene in cases of abuse or neglect. The same criticism was leveled at Cox’s bill by groups representing victims of sexual and domestic violence. The Women’s Law Center of Maryland worried it could “make a parent’s rights more important or superior to a child’s best interests.”
The bill died in committee, but Cox introduced a new version this year.
Will Estrada, president of the Parental Rights Foundation, said the past few years have shown that parental concerns about control over their children’s upbringing transcend political and religious divides.
“In one regard, it’s significant that someone like Dan is a major-party nominee, but on the other, it’s not really big news,” he said. “Parental rights are larger than home schooling. They’re larger than Christians. They’re larger than Republicans or Democrats.”
Cox’s connection to the world of religious home schooling remains as much personal as political. Among the private security guards — wearing bulletproof vests and holstered pistols — who turned journalists away from a recent rally at a farm in Carroll County was a graduate of Walkersville Christian Family Schools.
It was Josiah, the candidate’s son, who at his 2015 graduation ceremony had listened with his classmates as Dan Cox urged them to take seriously the words from Romans 14:8: “Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
Erin Cox and Ovetta Wiggins contributed to this report. | 2022-11-03T11:45:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Dan Cox was shaped by Maryland's Christian home-school movement - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/dan-cox-christian-homeschooling-maryland/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/dan-cox-christian-homeschooling-maryland/ |
the deciders
Story by Dan Balz
Photos by Demetrius Freeman
A few days later, Kelly Martin, 39, visited the same restaurant, having finished a morning workout, and voiced similar worries. “It’s a nerve-racking time to be Black in America,” she said. “I’ve never seen more Black wealth in America, but I’ve never seen more hate towards Black people in America. ... I’ve never seen more Black abundance in America, but at the same time, I’ve never seen more people that want to strip Black people of abundance in America.”
For a Democratic Party on the defensive as Election Day nears, there is perhaps no more important group of voters than Black Americans. Black women and Black men have consistently supported Democratic candidates in higher percentages than any other group of voters in the country. They are responsible for turning Georgia blue two years ago, helping elect President Biden and two Democratic senators, one of whom, Raphael G. Warnock, is in a neck-and-neck race for reelection this fall.
“If Democrats lose control of the Senate, a lot of those issues that are important to us, they’re going to be sidelined again.”
— Darlena Slate, 48
In interviews in mid-October here in the hotly contested Atlanta suburb of Gwinnett County, Black voters, with rare exceptions, expressed strongly negative feelings toward Walker, the former University of Georgia football star, whose campaign has been dogged by controversy over his personal life. Many of them said they are insulted by his candidacy, calling it a slap in their faces by a Republican Party they see as pandering to Black people by nominating someone many of them say is not qualified to serve.
The Georgia governor’s race is a rematch from four years ago, with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp challenged by Democrat Stacey Abrams, a former state legislator with a national following. Abrams is credited with helping to build the turnout organization, particularly among Black voters, that two years after her narrow loss to Kemp helped Biden, Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) win the state.
The Black voters interviewed, with some exceptions, said they see the Republican Party as having succumbed to Trump and Trumpism — transformed into a party that is unwelcoming to the aspirations of Black Americans. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll taken last spring found that 75 percent of Black Americans said they believed the Republican Party is racist against them. GOP leaders point to their efforts to recruit diverse candidates as evidence to the contrary, and their slates around the country this fall reflect that to a degree.
— Kelly Martin, 39
Kelly Martin, husband Jolon, and daughters Phoenix, 7, and Winnie, 4, carve pumpkins at their home in Peachtree Corners, Ga., in late October.
The Washington Post this fall has explored the motivations of some of the voters who will decide the face of the next Congress. “The Deciders” series has focused on voter groups that were part of a Democratic coalition that delivered major victories in the 2018 midterm election, when Democrats captured the House. This same coalition propelled Democrats in 2020 as the party regained the presidency and, with the help of two runoff victories in Georgia in early 2021, won control of the Senate. Previous stories have looked at the roles of White suburban women and Latino voters.
The Post is looking at some of the voter groups that will determine whether Democrats can maintain the coalition that propelled them to victories in 2018 and 2020.
Interviews for this story were conducted primarily northeast of Atlanta in Gwinnett, a rapidly growing and rapidly diversifying county. Those interviewed do not represent a scientific sample of Black Americans. But in speaking for themselves, they provide insights into the realities of their lives and perhaps others like them.
Between 2010 and 2020, Gwinnett County added more than 150,000 people, and its current population is about 1 million. The 2020 census found that the county was about 33 percent White, 31 percent Black, 22 percent Hispanic and 13 percent Asian.
Over the past two decades, Gwinnett has been transformed from a Republican stronghold to a county that now favors the Democrats. In 2012, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney won Gwinnett with 54 percent of the vote. In 2016, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton carried the county with 51 percent of the vote. Two years ago, Biden won 58 percent of the county’s votes. Meanwhile, local political offices have undergone a partisan and demographic transition, from predominantly White and Republican to more diverse and Democratic.
“Is this truly my country?” she responded. “Can I fly red, white and blue, or is red, white and blue inherently considered a racist flag? It’s very nerve-racking. … It’s very much a sense of wanting to belong but knowing that you’ll never belong. That’s how it feels to be Black in America.”
‘We’ve got to vote for one of them’
A “Reverend Raphael G. Warnock” sign is set up at a Souls to the Polls event at Victory Outreach Church in Atlanta on Oct. 23.
The next day, about three miles away, the early vote facility at the Shorty Howell Park Activity Building was getting ready to close after another day of balloting. Leaving the building after voting, Fermin Stewart, 68, an ear, nose and throat surgeon still wearing his blue scrubs, stopped to talk. He was worried. Democracy “is really on the line,” he said, referring to the number of Republican candidates around the country who have denied or questioned the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, including Walker. Asked his impressions of Walker, Stewart said, “It’s an embarrassment to me as a Black person. My grandchild could be a better senator.”
Those comments reflected the derision many other Black voters have for the Republican nominee for Senate. “The idea that Herschel Walker is a qualified candidate for the U.S. Senate, that is the biggest joke of the century,” said Penny Poole, 64, president of the Gwinnett County chapter of the NAACP. “[Republicans] know it, but they would rather have an ignorant Black man who they can puppeteer than someone who would actually make good decisions for the country.”
“[Republicans] ... would rather have an ignorant Black man who they can puppeteer than someone who would actually make good decisions for the country.”
— Penny Poole, 64
Polls have shown Walker doing no better among Black voters than most GOP candidates. A Monmouth Poll released in late October found that just 6 percent of Black Georgians said they would definitely vote for Walker, with another 2 percent saying they would probably do so.
On paper, at least, Walker might have appeared to have the kind of attributes that would attract crossover Democratic and independent voters. He had widespread fame as a star athlete at the University of Georgia in a state where football generally — and the UGA Bulldogs specifically — are revered. Many Republicans saw Walker’s candidacy, because he is a Black man, as a chance to make inroads with Black voters.
Still, Jasmine Clark, 39, a Democratic state representative in Gwinnett County, said she was puzzled as to why Republicans pushed him forward. Republicans had many choices for the person to go against Warnock, Clark said, yet they put forward someone who had many negative stereotypes attributed to Black men: “Violent. Absentee father. Multiple children by multiple women. Not very smart. All these stereotypes in one person.”
Beyond that are the contradictions between allegations about Walker’s personal life and his professed beliefs. Running as an opponent of abortion, he has been accused by two women of paying for abortions, charges he has denied.
LEFT: Herschel Walker delivers remarks at a Unite Georgia rally at the Global Mall in Norcross, Ga., on Sept. 9. RIGHT: Vanessa Manley waves the American flag at a Souls to the Polls event at Victory Outreach Church in Atlanta.
The Warnock-Walker race remains one of the most competitive in the country. If Warnock wins reelection, Republicans who promoted Walker’s candidacy — Trump was his leading advocate — may conclude they made a miscalculation. A Walker win in the Georgia Senate race would underscore that party allegiance in a time of polarized politics can overcome glaring weaknesses of a candidate.
Slate said she found much that was appealing in Warnock as her senator. “Warnock just seems like an honest person who has the best interests of middle-class and poor Georgians, including Brown and Black folks and those who don’t have wealth and direct connections to powerful people,” she said.
Keith Walters, 60, a retired military officer, said Warnock is still learning the trade of being a politician and will need a few more years in office, but he will vote for him over Walker without hesitation. “I would say he has the right approach, and his heart and his intentions are the right way.”
If Black voters have strongly negative views about Walker, they are clearly worried about the governor’s race and whether Abrams can prevail. She has been struggling against Kemp, who defied Trump by certifying the 2020 election results and was rewarded by GOP voters with an easy primary victory against former senator David Perdue, an election denier.
Four years ago, Abrams claimed voter suppression at the hands of Kemp, then the secretary of state, and declined to concede. Some strategists said privately that this might have made her a more polarizing figure in the state. Her support among Black voters in Georgia remains strong, though a recent poll for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution showed her current level of support among Black voters slightly below that of four years ago.
Martin said she has followed Abrams for years and has high praise for her. “I love her get-out-the-vote campaign,” she said. “She’s a very boots-to-the-ground type of woman, which I like. It seems like she’s very much about the people and not afraid to get her hands dirty when it comes to really being among the people.”
Walters described Abrams as “a seasoned politician” with a good persona whom he believes can defeat Kemp. He added a caveat. “I think she can seem somewhat combative. It’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with that. But that can turn off people.”
Slate said Black women are often unfairly judged due to their race and gender. “The simple fact that I am a Black woman, it’s going to piss some people off,” she said.
Haynes admires Abrams but worries about the state of the race. “It really should not be a competition,” she said. “Kemp does not have a fourth of the credentials that Stacey Abrams has.” But she went on to say, “In our state, and I think that’s usually the case for most places, the incumbent doesn’t have to fight that hard as long as the state isn’t in total upheaval. We’re not in total upheaval quite honestly, on the surface, we’re not. So that concerns me.”
Edward Muldrow, 56, served as Republican Party chair in Gwinnett County from 2019 to 2020. Born in Miami, he served for 23 years in the Air Force and now is a consultant working with other countries on large infrastructure projects.
In the Senate contest, he will be voting for Walker. He doesn’t think Walker is “ready for prime time,” but he doesn’t think Warnock is either. “We’ve got to vote for one of them,” he said. “And so for me, the tie goes to the runner. I go with the Republican.”
“The Democrat Party continues to lie to the Black community about what they’re going to do ... and then they go back on their word. But before that they say, ‘Oh, just vote for me again.’”
— Edward Muldrow, 56
His first presidential vote was for Ronald Reagan, a choice that sparked “a huge conversation” with his mother, who wanted him to explain his support for a Republican. Muldrow recalled telling her, “Well, I see everything else that everybody around here does. And, you know, it all seems to be kind of one-sided, with Democrats running everything, and everybody who looks like me is running everything. And it’s a horrible neighborhood. So maybe this guy has a different answer.”
As a Black man, Muldrow sees the Democratic Party as taking advantage of people of his race. “The Democrat Party continues to lie to the Black community about what they’re going to do and how they’re going to help them,” he said. “And then they go back on their word. But before that they say, ‘Oh, just vote for me again.’”
Muldrow pointed to a comment Biden made during the 2020 campaign, when he said in a radio interview, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump then you ain’t Black.” Biden later apologized, but the remark still offends Muldrow. “Who is this guy?” he said. “It’s the epitome of White privilege. You have a White guy telling the Black guys, you need to vote for me if you want to stay Black. That’s crazy.”
He said Democratic policies have hurt rather than helped the Black community, particularly the 1994 crime bill, which was drafted in the Senate by Biden. Liberals, he said, should “take a hard look at themselves” before casting aspersions at the Republicans.
Muldrow doesn’t spare his party from criticism. He noted that as Gwinnett County was diversifying, local Republicans did not recruit candidates who fit the changing demographics. “What you’re seeing right now is it didn’t work …” he said, “So now you got to try to play catch-up.”
Walker’s candidacy, then, could be read as part of that effort by the party to play catch-up.
‘The hammer in our toolbox’
Marqus Cole goes to check on the greenhouse at Grace Fellowship Church in Snellville, Ga.
Most Black Americans interviewed in Georgia see no home for themselves in the Republican Party and haven’t for decades, though they see the party of Trump as especially inhospitable.
Maleika Stewart, 21, a junior at Spelman College in Atlanta, said the GOP doesn’t “align with my values,” and added, “I feel like there was probably a time when the Republican Party wasn’t so scary to analyze. As a college student, and me personally, I just try to stay clear of the whole party entirely.”
The modern Democratic Party pushed for the civil rights laws in the 1960s that secured Black people the right to vote and prohibited discrimination in public places, hiring and housing. Black voters saw Democrat Barack Obama elected as the nation’s first Black president. Just in the past two years, Biden picked Kamala D. Harris as the first Black, South Asian and female vice president and nominated Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
But the strong support for Democratic candidates among Black Americans should not be mistaken for blind loyalty. That is especially true for younger Black Americans.
Many Black voters feel that Democrats count on their support on Election Day but do not push hard enough at other times on their priorities. On issues like voting rights and policing, Biden and other Democrats have been rhetorically strong but have yet to deliver. The same is true for codifying Roe after the Supreme Court’s decision in June, an issue raised in conversations with Black women.
“I didn’t want to be a part of Biden’s legacy because I knew his policy history. ... But I also feared Trump’s potential because of his history. So I didn’t want to be a part of that.”
— Emmanuel Morrell, 33
For some Black voters, the party is neither progressive enough nor true to its stated ideals. Emmanuel Morrell, 33, was born in Georgia in a military family. He is entrepreneurial and currently operates a small baking business. He has been active in campaigns, but has stepped away from the Democrats.
He had great expectations when Obama was elected in 2008. “I thought that was going to be a major transformation,” he said. “His election was of great significance to me. And then, as his terms continued, it [was] depreciating or diminishing returns... I found myself constantly having to explain away why he wasn’t taking certain actions.”
Today he is an admirer of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination. In 2020, Morrell declined to vote for either Trump or Biden. “I didn’t want to be a part of Biden’s legacy because I knew his policy history, so I didn’t want to be a part of that. But I also feared Trump’s potential because of his history. So I didn’t want to be a part of that.”
If Morrell is reflective of a populist and progressive critique of the Democratic Party, Marqus Cole, 36, offers a different perspective of the concerns he has about the party he embraced as a candidate for Congress.
“It’s really important to me that people hear the clear message to vote their values, and values don’t have to be tied to political identity.”
— Marqus Cole, 36
Marqus Cole, seen at his home in Snellville, Ga., ran for Congress in 2020.
Cole is a lawyer and national director of church engagement and outreach for the Evangelical Environmental Network. Married and the father of two daughters, he attends a predominantly White evangelical church and ran for Congress in 2020, losing in the primary.
“Running for Congress as a millennial Black person in the Democratic primary,” he said, “I would often get questions out in the community about, ‘Well, how are you also a person of faith? How do you go to an evangelical church?’ When I was at church on Sunday, people would be like, ‘How are you running for Congress as a Democrat?’”
Cole described his political philosophy as “help people, lots of them, especially ones you don’t always agree with,” and “loving your neighbors.” He said Democratic leaders need to be more flexible and willing to search for common ground. “It’s really important to me that people hear the clear message to vote their values, and values don’t have to be tied to political identity,” he said.
“For a long time, [Democrats] have gone to the hammer in our toolbox, which is voter mobilization, base mobilization,” he said. “It’s an incredible tool, and it’s very powerful. I often go to the hammer in my toolbox when I need to do home projects, but sometimes I need a screwdriver, sometimes I need a wrench. And so, while I’m all for base mobilization in turning out infrequent voters, there’s also the idea that values-based messaging, lowering the saliency of some issues, is another tool that’s also effective.”
‘Revolution’
Residents line up for early voting at the Beauty P. Baldwin building in Lawrenceville, Ga., on Oct. 21.
In one way, the fact that Trump got a higher percentage of the votes from Black men than from Black women is not a surprise. Women of all races vote more Democratic than do men of those same races. Biden still won overwhelmingly among Black men — with far higher percentages, for example, than among Latino men.
“All the things that people have talked about for the last 40 years, trying to explain in general why women are more likely to be Democratic and Republican, may also apply in African American communities as well,” said Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University.
Questions about whether Black men can be pulled away from the Democratic Party have prompted discussion, debate and some consternation.
Terrance Woodbury, a Democratic pollster, worries that Republican efforts to woo Black men could bear fruit, even if nominally. He sees what happened in the 2020 presidential election and in some other statewide elections — where he said Republican candidates increased their share of votes from Black men — as something Democrats should take seriously.
“What makes it a big deal is that these Black men who are now voting for Republicans used to be Democratic voters,” he said. “This is where we are seeing men of color and not just Black men, but men of color, emerging as the most consequential swing voters in the electorate.”
Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster, said far too much is being made of what Trump did in 2020, saying that the level of support for Republican presidential nominees has moved in a relatively narrow band through many elections, including 2020. “I think it’s kind of myopic, in that the historical pattern here has been fairly consistent, from a data standpoint,” he said.
As the conversation about Trump and Black men continued, Belcher’s tone suddenly shifted, and he began to talk in personal terms. “Taking off my hat as a social scientist and having my hat on as a Black man,” he said, “I’ve become very suspect at why this has been something that is used in a negative way to attack Black men.... The Black man is somehow attacked … as a political problem.”
Belcher said he sees this discussion as part of a longer pattern in minority politics. “It’s always been divide-and-conquer within the minority [communities],” he said.
Democrats worry even more about younger Black voters. Not only are younger people in general less likely to vote than older voters, but young Black Americans are also less likely to see the electoral process as the principal path toward progress, according to research by Cathy Cohen, a political scientist at the University of Chicago.
On surveys that she conducts, one question asks what the best way is to achieve racial progress. For young Black people, the No. 1 answer is “revolution”; about 1 in 5 pick that. Second is “nonviolent protests and demonstrations,” with “voting in state and local elections” running fourth.
These younger voters have grown up with city council members and mayors who look like them. “And they have also seen that even under those conditions or under that type of leadership, their neighborhoods don’t really improve,” she added.
‘Things are changing’
Former president Barack Obama delivers remarks at a rally with Sen. Raphael G. Warnock and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams in College Park, Ga., in late October.
For many Black Americans, the 2022 election is not just a moment of choice and decision; it is part of a continuum that dates back more than a decade, a period in which they have seen the country change. Some of those changes have been good, but others have generated feelings of anxiety and anger.
Many Americans, including some of those interviewed in Georgia, said they remember Obama’s election as a time of celebration and goodwill. Even some voters who had not supported Obama nonetheless expressed a belief that the country had made more progress in race relations. And yet for many Black voters, it was a moment of both elation and of concern.
Slate, one of the women who visited a Norcross restaurant recently before voting early in Gwinnett County, has four children and works as an independent financial consultant.
“I was just thinking about all of the history in our family for Black people in America,” she said about Obama’s election. “I was thinking, like many people, things are changing. But there was so much that was under cover that started to come out. … Racism and blatant racism were happening. There were things happening even before [Obama], but it just became so much more noticeable.”
Darlene Slate works at her home office in Peachtree Corners, Ga.
Poole, the local NAACP leader, said she was among those who shed tears over Obama’s victory. During an interview, as she thought again about her own family’s history — her great-grandfather was an enslaved person — she choked up, pausing to regain her composure. She recalled the day after Obama’s election as one of uneasy silence that became a harbinger of what Tarece Johnson, chair of the Gwinnett County School Board, called the “blacklash” to the first Black president.
“White people were not looking [at you], and they were not talking,” Poole said. “They knew if they looked in your eye, you could see their disappointment.” She then quoted an expression she had heard from her father as a child: “It was so quiet you could hear a rat piss on cotton.”
Cole, the evangelical leader and former congressional candidate, said he wasn’t prepared “emotionally and spiritually” for how much that election would touch him. “And I wasn’t prepared emotionally or spiritually for the backlash that would come from him becoming president, and the threat,” he said. “For me, it was affirming of identity. For others, it threatened their identity and helped accelerate some of the problems we see today.”
The problems seem unending. The massacres inside a Charleston church or a Buffalo grocery store or schools practically everywhere. Police killings of Black men. The White supremacist rally in Charlottesville. The insurrection at the Capitol.
“Being a bully somehow became equated with somehow being strong, and standing up to bullies got equated with being woke.”
— Jasmine Clark, 39
State Rep. Jasmine Clark canvasses door to door in Lilburn, Ga., in late October, encouraging residents to vote.
Clark, the state representative, said she worries about exposing her 14-year-old daughter to the hostility she sometimes encounters while campaigning. “People are more empowered to be hateful and think that that’s okay behavior,” she said. “Being a bully somehow became equated with somehow being strong, and standing up to bullies got equated with being woke.”
Looking to the future, she sounded pessimistic. “You have a really nice plate, and you break that plate,” she said. “Even if you glue it back together, it’s just not going to be as strong as it was when it was a full plate. And I feel like we have broken off a plate, and now we’re trying to bring it back together. And we’re picking up the pieces and holding it together as much as possible, but it’s never going to be the same.”
‘Blinking lights’
Shoppers outside a Dollar Tree in Lilburn, Ga., sport shirts for state Rep. Jasmine Clark, who held a neighborhood canvassing event.
Like many states, Georgia allows early voting, and for weeks citizens across the state have seized that opportunity. With so much at stake, early turnout has easily eclipsed that of 2018 though it has remained short of the turnout in 2020. There has been a particular surge of participation from Black people, women, and voters over the age of 50, according to a Post analysis, and the increases have been largest in the Atlanta region.
“I can’t complain if I don’t vote my voice,” Haynes said in a text message sent after she was interviewed. “And as a Black child of the South, whose family wasn’t always able to do so, I don’t take it for granted.”
But she said she worries about where the country seems to be heading. “I’ve been so concerned recently that I’ve almost just wanted to turn it off because I just have a real fear about what’s happening with the democracy,” Haynes said. “It sounds so trite, but I have a real fear of what’s happening. There seem to be so many people who don’t care about each other.”
“I grew up seeing Reagan and the Bushes — not that I grew up as fans of theirs. ... The 2022 Republican Party is so far removed from all of that. I think they have allowed kind of an underpinning of racism and bigotry to run the party.”
— Dennisha Haynes, 45
Cole, too, worries about the “blinking lights” that represent threats to democracy, from the attack on the Capitol to the possibility that election deniers will be elected in some states and then oversee future elections. But he also sees the 2022 election as part of a longer arc of history.
“The story of America’s growth has always been intrinsically tied to America’s relationship with race,” he said. “And so at these key moments, America faces an opportunity to acknowledge how race has played into that and grow in a different direction, or to decline to acknowledge how race has played a part of that and continue a malformed growth.”
He continued: “My hope and observation is that many of us choose the healthy way of growth, not the cancerous way of growth. But the reality that we have to observe is that cancer is growth, too. … I think if we ignore the cancer, then we can’t get the treatments for the cancer, and it’ll continue to spread until it chokes us.”
Design and development by Aadit Tambe. Design editing by Madison Walls. Photo editing by Natalia Jimenez. Graphics editing by Kevin Uhrmacher. Story editing by Philip Rucker. Copy editing by Sam-Omar Hall.
Dan Balz is chief correspondent at The Washington Post. He has served as the paper’s deputy national editor, political editor, White House correspondent and Southwest correspondent. Twitter Twitter
Demetrius Freeman is a staff political photojournalist at The Washington Post. Twitter Twitter | 2022-11-03T11:54:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Democrats need huge Black turnout, but does the party deliver in return? - Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/black-vote-elections-2022-democrats/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/black-vote-elections-2022-democrats/ |
Breeders’ Cup 2022: Entries, picks, odds and start times for Saturday’s races
Flightline and Flavien Prat are in the Breeders' Cup Classic field. (Washington Post illustration/iStock/John Minchillo/AP)
Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint
Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile
Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf
Breeders’ Cup Sprint
Breeders’ Cup Mile
Breeders’ Cup Distaff
The Breeders’ Cup World Championships, the ultimate handicapping challenge for horseplayers, heads to Keeneland this year, with Saturday’s schedule featuring nine championship races, including the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf and the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Flightline, unbeaten in five starts and the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, comes in after a sizzling performance in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, bringing much hype with him. Even his trainer, John Sadler, was surprised by the last effort, going so far as to compare him to all-time greats in other sports.
“It exceeded expectations,” Sadler said of Flightline’s 19-length victory at Del Mar. “Because until a horse does a thing, they don’t know exactly how it’s going to go. It’s like when Tom Brady plays, they expect him to be great. With a horse like this, you’ve got to be a good steward. You know, if you have Michael Jordan, you don’t necessarily have to coach him up, but you’ve got to be a good steward.”
Flightline should be the shortest price of the day, but he won’t be the only odds-on favorite to go to post. Jackie’s Warrior (4-5 on the morning line in the Sprint) and Nest (9-5 in the Distaff) are sure to be popular among bettors.
Below are selections for each championship race on Saturday. These contenders include my top pick to win, and other horses that should provide good value in multi-race wagers such as the Daily Double and the Pick 3-4-5-6 rather than exactas, trifectas and superfectas. There will be a new All-Turf Pick 4 on Saturday that will include the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, Breeders’ Cup Mile and Breeders’ Cup Turf. There also will be three Pick 5 options. The early Pick 5 will start with Race 1, the middle Pick 5 will start with Race 3 and the late Pick 5 will begin with Race 7. (There are two early races before the nine-race championship schedule begins.)
My fair value for each horse is also listed. Odds higher than the fair value warrant a win bet. Anything lower and it is a pass. In some cases, the fair-value odds will differ significantly from the morning line, but that’s because the morning line, set by Keeneland, is not always accurate. For example, Casa Creed, 6-1 on the morning line in the Turf Sprint, was offered at 10-1 odds by offshore bookmakers. Contenders are listed in order of post position, not in order of preference. All post times are Eastern.
Third race, 11:50 a.m. Seven-furlong race for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up.
Pick: No. 11 Wicked Halo (10-1)
Fair value 8-1
There is a lot of early speed in this race, enough that Hot Peppers, Slammed, Lady Rocket and Echo Zulu could all be tired by the time the horses enter the turn. The late runners, like Ce Ce, Sterling Silver, Obligatory and Chi Town Lady, may be too far behind to contend. During the last two fall meets at Keeneland, almost two-thirds of all dirt sprint winners were within one length at the half-mile marker.
Chain Of Love, meantime, has only won one of her five events this year and it required a muddy track to get it done. That leaves Edgeway, Goodnight Olive, Franks Rockette and Wicked Halo. Of those, Wicked Halo is the only multiple graded stakes winner who also has a win over this track, the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes in October.
Other contenders: No. 1 Slammed, No. 8 Goodnight Olive and No. 13 Echo Zulu
Fourth race, 12:29 p.m. 5½-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up; to be run on the turf.
Pick: No. 6 Highfield Princess (7-2)
Highfield Princess is a seasoned mare with three straight impressive wins — two at five furlongs — in three different countries: the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest in France, the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes in England and the Group 1 Flying Five Stakes in Ireland. She’s also shown she can handle the left-hand turn uncommon in European sprint racing, having won the Queen Charlotte Fillies’ Stakes over a synthetic surface in 2021 at seven furlongs.
Other contenders: No. 8 Golden Pal
How to pick the winner of a horse race
Fifth race, 1:10 p.m. One-mile race for 3-year-olds and up.
Pick: No. 10 Senor Buscador (12-1)
Senor Buscador is an overachiever, having recently won the Ack Ack Stakes, a one-mile Grade 3 race at Churchill Downs, at 6-1 odds in a field of eight horses. This son of Mineshaft also hit the board in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at long odds (21-1). He’s even got another win at a mile under his belt, the Remington Springboard Mile at Remington Park, earned in the second race of his career. The only concern is this colt always seems to find himself three, four or five-horses wide, a note that haunts him in all seven of his races. However, jockey Francisco Arrieta was aboard for the Ack Ack Stakes and overcame a three-wide trip, so there is hope he can do the same on Saturday.
As a side note, some horses fall notoriously short of the finish line and Three Technique looks to be that horse here. In his eight starts at a mile on dirt, he has won just once, with three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes. But when he hits the board, it is usually at a price. He’s worth considering for the place and show slots in some of your exotics.
Other contenders: No. 1 Slow Down Andy, No. 6 Laurel River and No. 9 Cyberknife
Sixth race, 1:50 p.m. 1 3/16-mile race for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up; to be run on the turf.
Pick: No. 9 Rougir (12-1)
Rougir, winless in three starts leading up to October’s Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine, took a wide trip and was even steadied (taken in hand by the jockey, usually because of being in proximity to other horses) as she turned into the stretch. Yet the 4-year-old daughter of Territories closed strongly to win by a neck at 5-1 odds. What’s most interesting about that race was her career low pace figure (64) to the half-mile mark, also known as a “turf pace low,” coupled with her highest final speed figure to date, a notable pattern of improvement.
One other horse to highlight is Going to Vegas, a horse following a similar trek to the Breeders’ Cup as she did in 2021. That year she raced in the Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar, then the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita before trying the 1⅜-mile Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar. This year the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf is at 1 3/16 of a mile, considerably shorter than 2021 and possibly better suited to Going to Vegas’s endurance. Trainer Philip D’Amato is no stranger to this event (he won the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in 2016) and I wouldn’t think he would take the same route if he didn’t think it would pay off. Even his jockey choices, Flavien Prat for the Mabee Stakes and Umberto Rispoli for the Rodeo Drive Stakes and Breeders’ Cup, is the same this year as it was last year.
Other contenders: No. 12 Moira
Seventh race, 2:30 p.m. Six-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up.
Pick: No. 2 Kimari (4-1)
If you are playing the Pick 4, Pick 5 or Pick 6, this is an important race for you. The public will be singling Jackie’s Warrior in this leg, making it more lucrative to go with other horses. Yes, Jackie’s Warrior is a worthy odds-on favorite and deserving of all the action he will get, but in a pari-mutuel pool you want a unique ticket, and that is probably impossible with him in the mix.
Instead, take a look at Kimari. A Grade 1 winner at Keeneland one year ago, she is coming off back-to-back Grade 2 wins with the highest speed figures of her career. She is also carrying that speed later than ever, making her a threat at this distance. Plus, she has recent success coming off a layoff. She’s 3 for 3 in dirt sprints off a layoff, with two wins in graded stakes.
Other contenders: No. 1 Manny Wah, No. 4 American Theorem, No. 6 Elite Power and No. 9 Jackie’s Warrior, although as mentioned, playing the favorite is not recommended
Eighth race, 3:10 p.m. One-mile race for 3-year-olds and up; to be run on the turf.
Pick: No. 11 Annapolis (10-1)
Give me the precocious 3-year-old with a versatile running style that might be overlooked in this race.
Annapolis has been solid since breaking his maiden on the first try at Saratoga in 2021. The War Front colt has finished first or second in six turf stakes races since. Five of those six were graded stakes races, with wins in the Grade 2 Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont, the Grade 3 Saranac Stakes at Saratoga and most recently the Grade 1 Turf Mile Stakes (at 6-1 odds) over the oval at Keeneland, the site of Saturday’s race. In that last effort, Annapolis set new career speed figures to the half-mile mark and for the final race, indicating the young horse is peaking at the right time for trainer Todd Pletcher.
One other horse I would consider is Shirl’s Speight. On paper this is a tough horse to back, but there is one race that offers hope, the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile Stakes here at Keeneland in April. That not only gives this son of Speightstown (the Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner in 2004) a win at the same distance over the same track as Saturday’s event; it also reunites him with the jockey from that race, Luis Saez. Those two managed to beat seven other horses at 9-1 odds that day off a layoff, a close match for what will transpire in this race.
Other contenders: No. 7 Beyond Brilliant, No. 9 Malavath and No. 13 Kinross
Ninth race, 3:55 p.m. 1⅛-mile race for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up.
Pick: No. 8 Society (6-1)
There are plenty of high-caliber names to choose from here, including five-time graded stakes winner Nest and seven-time graded stakes winner Malathaat, yet I can’t help backing Society, an overachieving Gun Runner filly that could be loose on the lead as the race’s only true front-runner.
Society broke her maiden at Keeneland and paid handsomely at $57.60 on a $2 win bet, and she recently won the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes at Parx, paying $17.60 on a $2 win bet. She figures to be in the same odds range again on Saturday and comes into the race with the highest speed figure of her career, 109, which is well above par.
Other contenders: No. 6 Nest
10th race, 4:40 p.m. 1½-mile race for 3-year-olds and up; to be run on the turf.
Pick: No. 2 War Like Goddess (9-2)
This race’s morning-line favorite, Rebel’s Romance, has won three straight 1½-mile turf races, two at the Group 1 level (European races are “grouped” by class, whereas in the United States they are “graded” by class). However, don’t discount War Like Goddess, a winner of five straight 1½-mile turf races, just not over consecutive races like Rebel’s Romance. Two of those races were here at Keeneland, the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes in both 2021 and 2022.
Other contender: No. 7 Nations Pride and No. 11 Mishriff
11th race, 5:40 p.m. 1¼-mile race for 3-year-olds and up.
Pick: No. 2 Life is Good (6-1)
This is a very competitive field. The horse you want to avoid is Flightline, the 3-5 morning line favorite. He is bound to be on the lion’s share of tickets in every pool available, depressing the payout of those tickets. I would also toss out Kentucky Derby hero Rich Strike and 5-year-old Happy Saver. Rich Strike has improved in each race since his stunning Run for the Roses but he feels overmatched here. Happy Saver, meanwhile, has just one Grade 1 win over the past three seasons, and that came in October of 2020. Epicenter and Taiba have yet to beat older horses, which is significant. Only one 3-year-old, Authentic in 2020, has won this race over the past five years. The two previous 3-year-old winners, Arrogate (2016) and Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (2015) were the favorites.
That leaves Hot Rod Charlie, Life is Good and Olympiad. I’d back any and all of those horses in the Pick 4, Pick 5 and Pick 6, with win wagers on any that offered 3-1 odds or better. If pressed for a single horse to work with, I’d choose Life Is Good, who could be the lone front-runner in this race.
Other contenders: No. 5 Hot Rod Charlie and No. 7 Olympiad
More on horse racing
Rich Strike’s Triple Crown path shows less might become even more common
The dark side of Bob Baffert’s reign | 2022-11-03T12:29:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Breeders’ Cup entries, picks, odds and start times - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/breeders-cup-entries-picks-odds-start-times/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/breeders-cup-entries-picks-odds-start-times/ |
Can Hendon Hooker and Tennessee keep things close against Georgia? (Scott Keller/AP)
Hopefully last weekend was rock bottom. I went a season-worst 1-3, with Ohio State failing to cover as a favorite at Penn State, Syracuse getting its doors blown off by Notre Dame as a home favorite and Rutgers failing to score (much less cover) as an underdog at Minnesota. Only the Tennessee-Kentucky under kept things from getting truly bleak. My record stands at 19-16-1 for the season. Time to bounce back.
No. 2 Tennessee (+8.5) at No. 1 Georgia, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Georgia’s offense is much more potent than Kentucky’s: The Bulldogs rank fifth in passing success rate. But they also are 127th in passing explosiveness, preferring to move the sticks methodically instead of with big plays. If Tennessee’s defense can continue the momentum it started accruing Saturday, that could limit the Bulldogs’ attack.
Flipping sides, Tennessee’s offense has had 30 passing plays gain at least 30 yards and 19 passing plays gain at least 40 yards, both tops in the country by considerable margins. Georgia will be without edge rusher Nolan Smith — a top NFL prospect who leads the Bulldogs with three sacks, seven tackles for loss and 16 quarterback hurries — after he tore a pectoral muscle in the first half of Georgia’s win over Florida on Saturday. All four of the Gators’ passing plays that gained at least 20 yards came after Smith left the game.
It’s a big loss, and Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker (2,338 yards, 21 touchdowns, one interception) will have that much more time to work. It should be enough to keep this game close.
Fresno State (-24.5) vs. Hawaii, 10:30 p.m., Fox Sports 2
East Coast night owls got a treat last week when Fresno State scored 15 points in 13 seconds with around a minute left, then picked off San Diego State quarterback Jalen Mayden to seal a wild 32-28 win. The Bulldogs shouldn’t have been in a position where they needed a nutty comeback, because they had four trips to the red zone end with zero points (a turnover on downs, two interceptions and a missed field goal). Convert some of those opportunities into points, and Fresno State would have won more comfortably.
Saturday night’s game against Hawaii should be less stressful for the Bulldogs, who got quarterback Jake Haener back from the high-ankle sprain he suffered against USC on Sept. 17. Haener threw for 394 yards and three touchdowns against San Diego State, with those two red-zone interceptions a sign of rust. He also took seven sacks as the Bulldogs’ offensive line felt the absence of sixth-year senior Dontae Bull, who suffered a broken leg during the game and is done for the season. But the Rainbow Warriors have just eight sacks (only Air Force and Colorado have fewer) and rank 115th in defensive success rate.
Hawaii’s loss to Wyoming on Saturday eliminated the Warriors from bowl contention, so they might not exactly be up for this trip across the ocean. They’ve been involved in a string of close games of late, but they’ve all been against similarly bad teams: The average SP+ ranking of their past five opponents is 116th, and they went 1-4 in those games. (Hawaii is 129th out of 131 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in SP+.)
Fresno State is in the driver’s seat to win its division in the Mountain West, and with Haener back, Fresno State is Hawaii’s toughest opponent since a Sept. 10 game at Michigan. And while the Bulldogs obviously aren’t on the Wolverines’ level, Michigan’s 56-10 blowout could be at least somewhat similar to what we see Saturday night.
No. 22 Syracuse (+3.5) at Pittsburgh, 3:30 p.m., ACC Network
Syracuse has lost two straight — at Clemson and vs. Notre Dame — to fall out of the national conversation. Less prominent, though perhaps more stark, has been the decline of Pittsburgh, last season’s ACC champion.
The Panthers have lost three of four. That skid includes defeats to a truly bad Georgia Tech team at home, to a middling Louisville team on the road and at North Carolina, the only standout of this bunch. Pitt’s only win over that stretch was against Virginia Tech, which is going nowhere. Now you’re telling me the Panthers should be favored over a Syracuse team that was one bad quarter away from beating Clemson two weeks ago?
Sure, the Orange got a little lucky in the turnover department against the Tigers. And, yeah, Syracuse looked lifeless against the Fighting Irish. But there’s enough evidence to suggest that this point spread is a bit off.
Pitt quarterback Kedon Slovis has regressed over the past four games, in which he averaged 6.5 yards per pass attempt and threw four interceptions. Against West Virginia (123rd in passing yards allowed per game), Tennessee (127th) and Football Championship Subdivision school Rhode Island to start the season, he averaged 9.2 yards per attempt. Syracuse is allowing just 164.5 passing yards per game, an average bettered only by Boise State and Illinois.
The Panthers have tried to hide Slovis’s shortcomings by handing it off to running back Israel Abanikanda, whose 183 rushing attempts rank fifth nationally. But 45.8 percent of his rushing yardage came in only two games — against Rhode Island and Virginia Tech. In Pitt’s past two games, he has averaged only 4.7 yards per carry, well below his season average of 5.9, and neither Louisville nor North Carolina has a particularly strong rushing defense. (Syracuse doesn’t, either, if we’re being honest.)
Syracuse is in a bit of a tailspin, but I think the Orange can do enough to cover here.
No. 2 Ohio State at Northwestern, Northwestern team total under 12.5 points, noon, ABC
The Wildcats have played three teams — Penn State, Wisconsin and Iowa — that rank in the top 20 in defensive SP+ (an opponent-adjusted measure of overall efficiency) and scored seven, seven and 13 points in those games. They needed a whole lot of help to get to that last point total in last weekend’s 33-13 loss at Iowa, with one touchdown coming on a short drive after a 12-yard Hawkeyes punt and another coming in garbage time with the game well out of reach. For the game, Northwestern averaged an awful 2.6 yards per play.
Ohio State ranks sixth in SP+ defense — higher than any of the Wildcats’ opponents listed above. That would be reason enough to think Northwestern will struggle to score, but then there’s this: The forecast is calling for windy, showery conditions in Evanston, Ill., which could tamp down the passing games of both teams. Even though it’s not particularly good at it, Northwestern passes the ball 53.36 percent of the time, which ranks 37th nationally. A bad offense on a bad team — the Wildcats already have seven losses and won’t be bowling — playing in bad conditions screams low output, and I think the Buckeyes won’t have to do much to keep Northwestern from scoring. | 2022-11-03T12:29:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | College football picks against the spread, over/unders, favorites, locks - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/college-football-betting-preview-tennessee-georgia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/college-football-betting-preview-tennessee-georgia/ |
Everything you need to know about the New York City Marathon
The New York City Marathon will be back to normal, with 50,000 runners crossing the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge at the start. (Richard Drew/AP)
The New York City Marathon returns in full force Sunday for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with a field of 50,000 participants expected to run through the city’s five boroughs over the 26.2-mile course that begins on Staten Island.
The 2022 marathon is the 51st edition of the race and the last of the six that annually comprise the World Marathon Majors. The 2020 race was canceled because of the pandemic, and last year’s field was capped at 33,000 because of it.
When is the New York City Marathon?
How can I watch the New York City Marathon?
What are the starting times for each division in the New York City Marathon?
Who are some of the top runners in the New York City Marathon?
How can I track a runner’s progress in the New York City Marathon?
What are the covid-19 restrictions at the New York City Marathon? | 2022-11-03T12:29:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 2022 New York City Marathon: Schedule, how to watch, runners to watch - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/new-york-city-marathon-how-to-watch/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/new-york-city-marathon-how-to-watch/ |
The logic behind Zuckerberg’s big, (probably) bad bet on the metaverse
An avatar of Mark Zuckerberg is seen as the chief executive of Meta Platforms Inc. speaks virtually during an event in New York on Oct. 11. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg News)
One year ago, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook was becoming Meta as part of a strategy to reorient the company around the virtual reality “metaverse.” In addition to the name change, the company pledged to drop massive sums — $10 billion just last year — into hardware, software and content to bring the metaverse to life.
That was a pretty bold bet considering how few people have a VR headset. There isn’t great data on headset ownership, but every estimate I’ve seen was in the modest millions, compared to the billions worldwide who have access to a smartphone or computer. I was pretty skeptical when Zuckerberg made his announcement, and I can’t say the year since has brought great reason for optimism.
The company has reportedly started badgering its own workforce to spend more time in Horizon Worlds, its core metaverse platform, and no one I’ve spoken to outside the company seems any more enthusiastic about virtual space. Brad Gerstner of Altimeter Capital, one of Facebook’s long-term shareholders, recently published an open letter to Zuckerberg suggesting that he limit his metaverse investment to no more than $5 billion a year.
And yet, in recent weeks, I have found myself repeatedly delivering a (qualified) defense of Zuckerberg’s big bet. Frankly, I doubt it will work out. But I think it might be the right thing to do anyway.
As I’ve written before, Meta faces two major strategic challenges. The first is its issues with younger users; teens have proved much less interested in joining Facebook and Instagram than their older siblings were. This would be a problem for any company that relies on advertising for its revenue, because advertisers especially prize access to younger demographics, who have decades of brand loyalty ahead of them. But it is especially a problem for Meta, because successful social media services also rely on network effects — a fancy name for products that get more valuable as more users adopt them.
A classic example is the telephone. When only one person has a phone, it’s a paperweight. When two people have telephones, they’re modestly useful. When millions of people have them, they’re essential. And so with Facebook and Instagram: As more people joined the services, it became harder for the remainder to hold out.
Companies that benefit from network effects enjoy rapid growth, and some protection from upstart competition. But what network effects giveth, they also taketh away: If the network starts to shrink, the decline can be especially rapid, as each user who leaves makes it less valuable. It is thus dangerous to be a social media platform with an aging demographic.
The second problem Meta faces is that people increasingly access it through mobile apps — and Apple has made it harder for apps to track users. That makes Facebook much less valuable to advertisers, which can no longer target their ads so precisely. Reportedly, this has already cost Facebook somewhere north of $10 billion in revenue this year.
That’s not to say that Meta is in dire straits; the company still threw off tens of millions in operating profits last year. But its position is precarious. And profitable companies in precarious positions basically have two options: They can try to milk their cash cow for all it’s worth, and return that money to the shareholders, while understanding that the operation might eventually have to wind down. Or they can take some of that cash and bet it on a Hail Mary.
Shareholders would generally prefer the former (hence the Gerstner letter). And there’s a good argument for the cautious approach. People who have had a Facebook-level success will always be tempted to try to repeat that feat, even though there simply aren’t that many Facebook-level ideas lying around. There is, therefore, a high risk that the Hail Mary ends up just being a method for heaving away a lot of shareholder value.
That said, you can hardly blame Zuckerberg for wanting to give it the old college try. And while I have my doubts about whether Zuckerberg is the man to bring us the Metaverse, if he succeeds, he will solve a lot of problems for his company.
If the metaverse really is the future, young people are likely to be first to embrace it, so if Meta can create a space it wants to be, it will bolster both its network-enhanced competitive position and its appeal to advertisers. Moreover, because Meta manufactures one of the leading VR headsets, if the metaverse does take off, the company will be a lot less vulnerable to a hardware company making a software change that guts Meta’s business model.
There are a lot of hurdles between here and there, of course: Zuckerberg has to get people to buy VR headsets and use them to hang out on Facebook’s platforms, and he also has to find ways to monetize their presence.
If I had to bet, I’d bet against Zuckerberg. But if I were Mark Zuckerberg, I’d probably be tempted to bet on myself. | 2022-11-03T12:38:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The logic to Mark Zuckerberg’s big, and probably bad, bet on the metaverse - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/mark-zuckerberg-billions-metaverse-bet/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/mark-zuckerberg-billions-metaverse-bet/ |
Heinicke bounced around the NFL and wasn’t playing when the Commanders called. This season he stepped in as starting QB.
Washington Commanders quarterback Taylor Heinicke, right, skips away from Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner during an October 30 game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Heinicke threw an interception, but then led the Commanders to a victory. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
After a slow start, I thought I would not write about the Washington Commanders for the rest of the National Football League (NFL) season. I changed my mind because of Taylor Heinicke.
Heinicke was the backup quarterback for the Commanders. He became the Number 1 guy after the team’s starting quarterback, Carson Wentz, hurt his throwing hand. Heinicke has led the Commanders to close wins over the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts. Washington now has a respectable record of 4-4 (4 wins, 4 losses).
But Heinicke is not just an NFL quarterback and fan favorite. He offers great lessons for kids and especially kids who like sports.
First lesson: Don’t give up. I know you’ve heard that one before, but Heinicke shows why it is true. Heinicke played college football at Old Dominion University (2011 to 2014). He threw for 132 touchdowns and ran for 22 more but was not drafted by any NFL team.
Heinicke bounced around the NFL for years but could not stick with any one team (he was released five times). In 2020, he was living with his sister, sleeping on her couch, and taking courses in advanced math.
The Washington Football Team called, and Heinicke got another chance to play. Which bring us to the second lesson.
Be ready. When Heinicke got his chance during the 2021 season, he played well. Not Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady great, but good enough to show he belonged in the NFL.
Don’t be one of those players who is always complaining that you should be playing more but when you get a chance you perform badly. Keep working hard so when your opportunity comes you can seize it.
Focus on the future, not the past. In both of those Packers and Colts games, Heinicke started poorly, throwing interceptions at crucial times. He didn’t slam his helmet and get down on himself or his team, he bounced back.
After an interception in the Colts game, Heinicke led the Commanders on two long drives (82 and 89 yards) to win the game. During those two drives, Heinicke completed 12 out of 14 passes for 151 yards. That’s bouncing back.
Finally, focus on what you can do, not on what you can’t. Heinicke is not a perfect player. He is small for an NFL quarterback and doesn’t have a strong arm. But he can move around in the pocket and passes well on the run. Most important, Heinicke seems to be the kind of enthusiastic competitor who inspires his teammates.
Not every player can be the star of the team. But every player can find a way to use their skills to help the team in some way.
Just as Taylor Heinicke is helping the Washington Commanders.
Fred Bowen writes the sports opinion column for KidsPost. He is the author of 27 sports books for kids. His most recent football book is “Gridiron: Stories From 100 Years of the National Football League.” | 2022-11-03T12:51:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Quarterback Taylor Heinicke’s twisting career path offers lessons - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost/2022/11/03/taylor-heinicke-career-lessons/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost/2022/11/03/taylor-heinicke-career-lessons/ |
Global warming twice as fast in Europe as in rest of world, study says
The river Rhine is pictured with low water in Cologne, Germany, on Aug. 10. (Martin Meissner/AP)
Temperatures in Europe have risen at more than twice the global average over the past 30 years, a new report has found, as the continent recovers from a summer of record heat.
Temperatures in Europe increased at an average rate of 0.5 degrees Celsius (32.9 degrees Fahrenheit) every decade between 1991 and 2021, according to the annual State of the Climate in Europe report published Wednesday by the World Meteorological Organization and Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program.
“The year 2021 presented a live picture of a warming world and reminded us that even those societies we consider better prepared are not safe from severe impacts of extreme weather events,” WMO Secretary General Petteri Taalas wrote in the report’s foreword, noting the exceptional floods and wildfires that hit the continent last year.
More than half a million people were “directly affected” by major weather and climate events — mostly storms or flooding — at a cost of more than $50 billion, the report said.
The report noted exceptionally high temperatures and heat waves, including what is believed to have been a European record of 48.8 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit), measured in Sicily, Italy, in August 2021.
Rising temperatures also had a significant impact on Europe’s glaciers: The Alps recorded a loss of 30 meters (98 feet) of ice thickness between 1997 and 2021, and the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet contributed to a rise in global sea levels.
In Europe, more temperature records were broken this year, with England and France experiencing their driest July on record, Britain recording its highest-ever temperature, 104.5 degrees, and glaciers melting at an unprecedented rate.
Extreme weather events also were recorded in winter, with unusually heavy snowfall affecting Spain and Norway, and an unexpected cold snap causing severe damage to vineyards and other crops in winter 2021.
Meanwhile, world leaders and diplomats are preparing for this year’s U.N. climate change summit, known as COP27, in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The report acknowledged some progress by the European Union in the fight against climate change, highlighting a 31 percent reduction in greenhouse gases in the region from 1990 to 2020. The bloc has previously outlined plans to reduce emissions by 55 percent from 1990 levels by 2030.
Taalas, the WMO chief, called for Europe to further its aims to reduce climate change, calling it “a necessary requirement to limit global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius, while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees, as specified in the Paris agreement.” | 2022-11-03T12:51:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Global warming twice as fast in Europe, climate report says - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/11/03/europe-heating-faster-global-warming/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/11/03/europe-heating-faster-global-warming/ |
Politicians assumed most Latinos were anti-abortion. They were wrong.
Experts attribute Latinos’ support for abortion rights to the community’s youth and length of time in the U.S.
In Miami, abortion rights activists with Florida Planned Parenthood PAC protest on June 24, the day the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. (Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images)
Experts credit the growing youth of the Latino population and the length of time they have been living in and adapting to U.S. culture. Those assumptions were also driven by long-held misconceptions of the role that religion, particularly Catholicism, plays in Latinos’ lives, they say.
THE DECIDERS: The Latino vote shifted toward Republicans in 2020. Will it again?
Some Democrats have already begun seizing on it. In Texas, attorney general candidate Rochelle Garza and congressional candidate Michelle Vallejo hosted a town hall on abortion rights, pointedly making the case to Vallejo’s Hispanic-heavy district, which has traditionally been considered conservative on abortion. In Oregon, congressional candidate Andrea Salinas — who could be the state’s first Latina elected to Congress — rallied for abortion rights in Oregon’s capital city after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. She speaks openly about her Mexican immigrant father who is against abortion and about taking her teenage sister to a clinic to get one.
“There was no one in my family to take her to the clinic when she decided to have an abortion, so I took her to the clinic and I held her hand and gave her a shoulder to cry on,” she said in a Washington Post interview.
Long Beach, Calif., Mayor Robert Garcia (D), who is also running for Congress, said the issue appeals to young Latinos in his community.
“There’s a misconception that Latino communities are less engaged on this, and I think that’s incorrect. Particularly when you talk to young Latinas … they want access to reproductive health, they want access to abortion care — and their families, their moms and their dads, understand that,” said Garcia, who has partnered with Planned Parenthood on get-out-the-vote efforts and is speaking at an abortion rights rally this weekend.
Local and statewide Latino organizations — from North Carolina to New Mexico — are also putting the topic of abortion at the forefront to turn out the vote.
A majority — 68 percent — of Latino voters say abortion should be legal, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos survey, with nearly the same percentage opposing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning of Roe v. Wade. Two-thirds of Catholic Latino voters also opposed the ruling.
A Pew poll found that 60 percent of Latinos said abortion should be legal, along with 59 percent of White Americans, 68 percent of Black Americans and 74 percent of Asian Americans.
This support is partially driven by younger Latinos. In The Post-Ipsos poll, 84 percent of Latino registered voters ages 18-29 thought abortion should be legal compared with 62 percent for those 65 and older — still a majority, but a significantly smaller one.
Mark Hugo Lopez, director of race and ethnicity research at Pew, said as more Latinos assimilate into U.S. culture, the more their views on social issues like this one change. A 2002 Pew and Kaiser Family Foundation survey found a majority of Latinos saying abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. That flipped by 2022, when a majority of Latinos said abortion should be legal in a Pew poll. (The 2002 survey was conducted by telephone, while this year’s version was online.)
“There’s been a shift in their views that looks more like the U.S. public,” said Lopez. “What has been happening is the population has become more settled, so immigrants are living here longer and in some ways looking like other Americans.”
As of last year, 81 percent of Latinos living in the United States were citizens. The share of immigrant Latinos is declining, with most of the population’s growth driven by births.
Hispanic voters favor democrats, but by smaller margin, Post-Ipsos poll finds
There is also diversity within America’s Latino community. A September poll by Pew found Central Americans in the United States the most opposed to abortion among Latinos, with 42 percent saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Mexican Americans follow, with 56 percent saying abortion should be legal, then Puerto Ricans at 62 percent and Cuban Americans at 67 percent. South Americans in the United States were the most likely to say abortion should be legal, at 77 percent.
But part of the misconception, Latino organizers and consultants say, stems from insufficient nuance.
On a recent warm evening in McAllen, Tex., Krystal Valdez said she identified as “pro-life.” As the 20-year-old ate tamales with her boyfriend at an event for candidate Vallejo, she said if she were to get unintentionally pregnant, she would still have the child. She was adopted as a baby, and she said she might consider putting the baby up for adoption if she really could not keep it.
But when pressed about whether other women should be allowed to make the decision to get an abortion, the subtlety in her position emerged.
“Even though I’m pro-life, women should have their own decision,” she said. “Other women, for themselves, need to have the option.”
Trump Republican or liberal Democrat? Latinas battle for House seat
Valdez’s distinction between her own choice and the choices of others is why the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice is careful about the language it uses when discussing abortion, said Lupe Rodriguez, executive director of the institute.
“Those buzzwords, pro-life, pro-choice, have never really represented the way most community members identified themselves,” Rodriguez said. “It does not resonate.”
The distinction bears out in The Post-Ipsos poll: 50 percent of Latino voters ages 18 to 29 said they personally thought having an abortion is morally acceptable, while 84 percent of them said abortion should be legal. Similarly, a quarter of Latinos age 65 and older said they personally thought having an abortion is morally acceptable, even though a solid majority of them thought abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
Voto Latino’s CEO María Teresa Kumar encountered similar findings after the group tested different abortion rights ads this summer. The ad that resonated the most with the Latinos they sampled, which included moderate and swing voters, was one in which a minister’s daughter said that she would not choose to have an abortion herself, but she would not impose that decision on others either.
It “really swayed” independents and men, Kumar said, evoking a more sympathetic response than an ad with a woman sharing that her abortion allowed her to attend college and pursue a career.
Florida Hispanic voting patterns serve as warning for Democrats
But there are Latinos who remain against abortion rights.
Manuel Garcia, 36, a software engineer in Long Beach, Calif., is a registered Republican who was brought up in a religious household and still attends Mass every Sunday. He said religion plays a key role in his stance against abortion.
“I still agree with what I was told and what I was brought up with,” Garcia said. “I think it would be better off if the kids were born, even if they weren’t wanted, maybe given up for adoption. I think that would be a better route than just aborting them.”
Garcia and his wife have struggled to conceive, he said, and are looking into adoption themselves.
He does not think there should be exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother, and he does not have a preference on the number of weeks allowed for an abortion, either.
“I feel like once you place exceptions you could almost justify anything, and I don’t think it’s correct to have to abort the fetus. I think it’s a living person,” he said.
But for many Latinos, the connection between Catholicism and abortion is not a straight line. Roxanne Benitez, 47, considers herself Catholic, but has come to a starkly different conclusion on abortion.
“If it was according to the Bible, I mean — I have tattoos, I have piercings, my children have tattoos and piercings, none of that is allowed either,” said the Houston resident, who is a fourth-generation Texan. “And I believe in birth control. So yeah, no.”
Alondra Trevizo-Escarcega, 23, sees the generational abortion divide in her own family; she has had difficult conversations on the subject with her dad, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico before she was born.
“I said ‘Put yourself in my position. Would you want me to have a child if I were sexually assaulted and I had to have my abuser’s child? Or, you know, if I just wasn’t ready to be a mother and giving them the love that they needed?’” the Liberal, Kan., resident recalled.
She said her dad was “a little shocked” by her candidness on the subject and did not say much.
“I don’t think he’s ever thought about it, other than abortion is bad,” she said. “I think it’s important for me as a younger-generation Latina to have these really hard conversations with older parents, aunts, other family members.” | 2022-11-03T13:30:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Abortion rights key issue with Latino voters, polls say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/03/latino-voters-abortion-rights/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/03/latino-voters-abortion-rights/ |
The quarterback left Gonzaga and is building his legacy at undefeated St. Mary’s
Quarterback Carson Petitbon transferred from Gonzaga to St. Mary’s before his senior year and has found happiness at his home school. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
Facing one of his life’s toughest decisions in January, Carson Petitbon ordered motivational books to guide where he’d spend his final year of high school. Petitbon dissected the minds of legendary athletes, such as Michael Jordan and Tom Brady, but the quarterback didn’t feel confident until he finished Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist.”
Petitbon has faced high expectations his entire life. His grandfather, Richie Petitbon Sr., starred in the NFL between 1959 and 1972 and helped Washington’s team win three Super Bowls as its defensive coordinator before serving as its head coach in 1993. Carson’s father, Richie Petitbon Jr., played linebacker at Maryland in the mid-1980s. Carson’s two brothers also played Power Five football.
With guidance from “The Alchemist,” which conveys a theme of pursuing one’s legacy, Carson Petitbon transferred from Gonzaga to St. Mary’s (Annapolis) to create his own path and belonging. Behind Petitbon, St. Mary’s (9-0) can complete its first undefeated regular season since 1968 with a win at Severn on Friday afternoon.
“He’s sort of almost taken on being a coach on the field,” said Chris Baucia, Petitbon’s quarterback trainer. “With the last name Petitbon, that runs deep.”
Petitbon has long intertwined football with his closest relationships. His introduction to the sport came as a 2-year-old, when he and his father hid behind couches in their Annapolis home before they’d jump and throw the ball to each other. He played knee football with his brothers, Richie Petitbon III and Luke, in games that became so noisy his parents grew angry.
Petitbon helped coordinate two-on-two football games in his driveway and established traditions of family games on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The contests adhered to one rule: The Petitbons competed on the same teams. Petitbon served as the water boy on his brothers’ squads, including when they attended Gonzaga in Northwest Washington, where Petitbon wore a purple-and-white afro wig to games.
Every Sunday in the fall, Petitbon donned a Redskins jersey and called his grandfather to ask his thoughts on that day’s games. When they didn’t attend Washington’s games, the Petitbons ordered buckets of Popeyes chicken as they watched on TV. Richie Jr. estimated the family discusses football 60 hours per week.
“At the end of the day,” said Carson Petitbon, who has accounted for 1,756 yards and 24 touchdowns this season, “that’s all you have is yourself and your family.”
As a 10-year-old, Petitbon began playing football for the Peninsula Athletic League Hawks, which donned burgundy and gold jerseys and was coached by Richie Jr. Though Richie Sr. played quarterback at Tulane in the late-1950s and safety in the NFL, his ensuing family members selected different positions. Richie Jr. played linebacker; Richie III and Luke chose offensive lineman.
Carson Petitbon loved leading his teammates as their quarterback. On game days, he wore his jersey from 6 a.m. until he slept at night. Richie Jr. called Petitbon the “Porsche” of the family because he often caught defenders off-guard with pump fakes before running for touchdowns.
Petitbon’s desire to create team camaraderie was predictable to his parents. When he was 18 months old and in preschool, Petitbon organized the classroom and desks every morning before directing classmates to their seats.
As Petitbon built friendships at St. Mary’s Middle School, his brothers commuted roughly 31 miles to Gonzaga, where they became stars and collected dozens of college scholarship offers. Petitbon didn’t consider attending a different high school. While he also played basketball, Petitbon’s passion for football blossomed his freshman year in 2019 playing alongside Luke, who’s now a redshirt sophomore at Wake Forest.
Petitbon studied schemes on Madden while playing as his role model, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray. He developed a photographic memory, reciting playbooks and other monologues, including William Shakespeare’s St. Crispin’s Day Speech and actor Al Pacino’s team address in “Any Given Sunday.”
He called his grandfather weekly to discuss coverages. He learned to motivate his teammates by asking Richie III how Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa spoke to players when he attended Alabama between 2015 and 2018.
Petitbon started as a sophomore in a season condensed by the coronavirus pandemic. In the Eagles’ finale against St. John’s in April 2021, Petitbon threw a game-winning 60-yard touchdown with 79 seconds remaining. Gonzaga finished 5-0.
Even as he thrived at Gonzaga, Petitbon stood in the student section at St. Mary’s basketball games. He considered transferring after his junior season.
Gonzaga started 4-3, and against Good Counsel on Oct. 16, 2021, ligaments in Petitbon’s left hallux tore when he was tackled. He endured grade-three turf toe and missed the remainder of Gonzaga’s 5-6 campaign — the Eagles’ first losing record since 2008. He told his parents he wasn’t having fun.
Gonzaga’s coaches, Petitbon said, wanted to stage a quarterback competition entering this season. Petitbon wasn’t willing to risk sitting his senior year. After he settled on transferring, partially based on his readings, St. Mary’s coaches and players welcomed him.
“As soon as Carson told me that he was transferring,” said St. Mary’s wide receiver Casey Smith, Petitbon’s childhood friend, “I was immediately like: ‘Oh, we’re winning the championship. Our offense will not be able to be stopped.’ ”
When Smith entered the weight room for the Saints’ first workout in June, he was shocked to witness what Petitbon achieved in minutes. Petitbon had memorized every teammate’s name and stored their numbers into his phone. Even Smith, who had attended St. Mary’s for three years, didn’t know some players.
Petitbon, 18, assembled workouts with teammates at local fields. On days they didn’t train, he invited friends on his family’s boat and to jet ski on the Chesapeake Bay behind his home. On his first school day at St. Mary’s in August, Petitbon awoke at 5 a.m. and focused on his homework after the 10-minute drive home from practice.
“You just see that kid,” Richie Jr. said, “and that happiness and that joy come back to his life.”
St. Mary’s emerged as one of the D.C. area’s top teams Sept. 17, when Petitbon rushed for a five-yard touchdown for an overtime victory over Loyola Blakefield. When a videographer approached Petitbon in Towson, he became his first family member to point to the royal blue “St. Mary’s” print across the front of his jersey.
Before most games, Petitbon eats pizza and pasta with teammates and holds players-only meetings. In October, the school’s 130 seniors visited Petitbon’s house for photos and food before homecoming. In his backyard, Petitbon convened his offensive teammates in formation for a photo.
“If we were defeated, lost every game, I would still be happy,” said Petitbon, who aspires to play in college. “Because I’m with all my friends.”
At a late-October practice, Petitbon gathered teammates for a pick-up 3-on-3 game. After a few snaps, coaches yelled for players to gather at midfield. Petitbon was enjoying competitions reminiscent of his childhood.
“Next play wins,” Petitbon told his teammates.
When a teammate dropped a pass, Petitbon smiled and sighed while looking toward the sky. Then, he ran to midfield for 7-on-7 drills. After he threw a 40-yard slant pass to Smith for a touchdown, Petitbon requested an extra play. He called the reserves into the huddle.
“Did you see that play?” Petitbon instructed. “We’ll run the same thing.”
Against St. Paul’s in Brooklandville the ensuing afternoon, Petitbon began the victory with a 48-yard touchdown pass to Smith on that slant route — a play they’ve connected on since they were kids.
After every game, Petitbon leaves the field with his teammates. When he removes his helmet in front of his family, he reveals a grin.
“That,” Richie Jr. said, “is happiness.” | 2022-11-03T14:00:55Z | www.washingtonpost.com | From football family, Carson Petitbon found happiness traveling own path - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/carson-petitbon-st-marys/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/carson-petitbon-st-marys/ |
Israeli far-right lawmaker and the head of "Jewish Power" party, Itamar Ben-Gvir, waves the Israel flag after first exit poll results for the Israeli Parliamentary election at his party's headquarters in Jerusalem, Wednesday. (Oren Ziv/AP)
TEL AVIV — To the many Israelis shocked by the meteoric rise of Itamar Ben Gvir, an anti-Arab far-right politician set to be at the center of Israel’s next government, media analysts offer a simple explanation: excessive airtime.
“He got media coverage with no comparison to any other politician or candidate in Israel,” said Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, head of the Democracy in the Information Age Project at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem-based think tank.
Even former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will use Ben Gvir’s votes to return to power, said the media coverage of Ben Gvir was overblown. On Monday, a day before the polls opened, Ben Gvir was interviewed in four consecutive talk shows on one Israeli channel alone. Throughout 2021, Ben Gvir garnered 100 hours of airtime, far more than any other politician, according to Darkenu, an Israeli NGO promoting political moderation.
And with every TV appearance, radio spot and social media post, his formerly fringe positions — expel “disloyal” Arab and Jewish citizens, allow Israeli soldiers to shoot to kill alleged Palestinian assailants, overhaul the country’s judicial system — became normalized, said Nadav Eyal, an Israeli columnist with the Yediot Ahronot newspaper.
For the media stations, “giving him a preposterous share of exposure was sensationalism,” he said. “With him on a panel, you could always have a feisty discussion.”
On Thursday, with more than 90 percent of votes counted, Religious Zionism — the far-right slate in which Ben Gvir officially serves as second-in-command but is its star attraction — won 14 seats, making it the second largest bloc in the expected ruling coalition and the third largest in the Knesset.
The center-left bloc, led by caretaker Prime Minsiter Yair Lapid, in contrast, fell short of a parliamentary majority, with 50 seats. Meretz, Israel’s most traditional left-wing party that advocates for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, did not even pass the four seat threshold.
For the first time in four years of political paralysis, Israel is expecting a relatively stable government, paradoxically, thanks to Ben Gvir — a political provocateur who built a career coaching young Israelis who attacked Palestinians on the best tactics for escaping punishment by the state.
His base, made up of many of those young extremists, began coalescing in earnest in May 2021, amid a war in Gaza and wave of violent clashes in mixed Arab-Jewish cities.
Arabs torched synagogues and hurled stones. Jews threw molotov cocktails at Arab-owned cars and homes. Fistfights broke out, stabbings were common and towns that once coexisted in relative peace were transformed into conflict zones.
Ben Gvir appeared in the more than 100 Telegram and WhatsApp groups that functioned as organizing platforms for far-right Israelis planning to attack Arabs citizens, homes and businesses.
“The number one face you saw in these groups was Itamar Ben Gvir,” said Achiya Schatz, CEO of Fake Reporter, an Israeli watchdog organization that tracks disinformation and online influence campaigns. “Those groups were a huge factor in shaping the public opinion around what was going on in the May events and what should be done.”
He also popped up on prime-time news panels, stoking fears of lawlessness, and calling for support in the streets.
“The person who is responsible for this Intifada is Itamar Ben Gvir,” said Kobi Shabtai, Israel’s chief of police.
This year, those messaging groups morphed into a get-out-the-vote platform for Ben Gvir’s campaign, said Schatz.
Thousands of young Israelis flocked to Ben Gvir events in schools, yeshivas and event halls, which sometimes drew counter-protests, and often converged with security flare-ups throughout the country.
In a demonstration last week in Tel Aviv, Ben Gvir supporters shouted “death to terrorists!” The next day, a 54-year-old Palestinian man attempted to use his car to ram through a group of soldiers. He was killed on-site.
On Thursday morning, as Israel counted the last votes, a 20-year-old Palestinian stabbed police officers in Jerusalem. The Palestinian man was killed. An ongoing Israeli military crackdown in the West Bank has put 2022 on track to be the deadliest year for Palestinians there since the United Nations began keeping records in 2005.
Ben Gvir has said that, once in power, he will demand to head the Internal Security Ministry, and to show “who the landlords of this country are.”
The ultimate responsibility for creating the Ben Gvir phenomenon lies with politicians, especially Netanyahu, said Zvi Reich, chair of the department of communications at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
“Basically it starts and ends up with politics, not with media,” he said. “The media is responding to political situations. So since Netanyahu approved him and supported him, and since he was wrapped very smartly under a broader, ‘legitimate’ umbrella of the Religious Zionist Party — this is how he got his political legitimacy.”
Biden administration officials voiced concerns to Israeli President Isaac Herzog during his visit to Washington last week about the inclusion of far-right figures in the next government, Israeli journalist Barak Ravid reported in the news site Walla on Wednesday.
U.S. officials have so far largely refrained from commenting, saying it is too early to express a position until the new governing coalition is in place.
“This is a relationship that has always been based on our shared interests, but importantly our shared values,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday. “And we hope that all Israeli government officials will continue to share the values of an open, democratic society, including tolerance and respect for all in civil society, particularly for minority groups.”
Analysts say Ben Gvir’s use of free press was reminiscent of Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. And like Trump, and other far-right politicians across the world, Ben Gvir may struggle as he transitions from being a television personality to a government official.
“His day job for the past 30 years was provocateur,” said Eyal, the Israeli journalist. “Now the question is, can he be a real politician?” | 2022-11-03T14:22:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How Israeli media propelled Netanyahu and Itamar Ben Gvir to power - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/israel-election-netanyahu-ben-gvir/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/israel-election-netanyahu-ben-gvir/ |
Busboys and Poets is among the restaurants and bars hosting viewing parties on election night with food and drink specials. (J. Lawler Duggan for The Washington Post)
Phillips After 5: Life in Color at the Phillips Collection: Learn about the Phillips Collection’s newest acquisitions during pop-up talks at the Dupont gallery’s monthly after-hours soiree, then try your hand at coloring images of pieces from its collection. Local singer Tommi provides R&B and soul sounds, while Denizens offers a beer tasting. Suggested dress code: “The more vivid the better!” 5 to 8:30 p.m. $20.
Kaleta and Super Yamba Band at the Millennium Stage: From the 1970s to the 1990s, Beninese guitarist Leon Ligan-Majek, known as Kaleta, performed with two of the greatest African pop musicians of all time — first alongside King Sunny Ade, then as a member of Fela Kuti’s legendary band. Now residing in Brooklyn, Kaleta keeps the hypnotic Afrobeat funk flowing as the frontman of the Kaleta and Super Yamba Band. 6 p.m. Free.
‘You Are Ketchup’: A celebration for the forthcoming book by Kokayi at Byrdland Records: The central ingredient in “You Are Ketchup,” the terrific new memoir-slash-career-guide by D.C. rap mainstay Kokayi, is tough love, which he’s more than happy to dish up in person, too. “One hundred thousand new songs go up on Spotify every day,” he says. “You’re not special!” At least not to the grinding gears of a capricious music industry that treats musicians, in Kokayi’s words, like ketchup, an interchangeable sauce. So he’s written a book about accepting one’s fate as a condiment while ultimately nurturing all of the artistic ineffables that exist beyond the edicts of the marketplace. Written in a tone so conversational you can practically hear it in your ear, “You Are Ketchup” feels like a megadose of straight advice from a muso-mentor who’s been there. 7 to 9:30 p.m. Free.
Interview: D.C. rap hero Kokayi never did things by the book. Then he wrote one.
Salt & Sundry’s 10-year anniversary: November will be even more festive than usual at Salt & Sundry: This destination for colorful, boho home goods is celebrating a decade in business with a cocktail party Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at its Union Market location, passing out snacks and a cocktail from neighboring bar Buffalo & Bergen and offering 10 percent off all purchases. Pop-ups are happening throughout the month at both D.C. locations every Saturday. Stop by for a book signing with the “Afrominimalist” Christine Platt at Union Market on Nov. 5 from 1 to 3 p.m., a nonalcoholic drink tasting with local brand Mocktail Club at Logan Circle on Nov. 19 from 1 to 3 p.m., and a discount on Virginia-based Sydney Hale candles at both stores on Nov. 19, among other events. Through Nov. 26. Free.
Women in Spanish cinema screenings: The Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain organized the film series Mujeres de Cine, which showcases female directors of Spanish films in four showings this month. “¿Qué hicimos mal? (What did we do wrong?),” a feature from Liliana Torres about a woman questioning her past to improve her romantic life, screens at AFI Silver Theatre on Thursday. On Saturday, the East Building Auditorium of the National Gallery of Art hosts “Destello Bravío (Mighty Flash),” directed by Ainhoa Rodríguez. The surrealist film, which centers on a small rural town, explores its female characters’ desires to rebel against societally mandated norms. Both films are shown in Spanish with English subtitles. Thursday at 7:15 p.m.; Saturday at 2 p.m. AFI Silver screening is $13; National Gallery of Art screening is free with advance registration.
National Gallery Nights tickets become available: The National Gallery of Art’s late-night events are going on hiatus after one more after-hours party. The theme for Nov. 10 is “Americana,” which covers multiple aspects of American life and culture. Among the highlights: American University professor Elizabeth Rule discusses her Guide to Indigenous D.C. app; Country Current, the Navy’s country and bluegrass band, performs; museum curators offer pop-up talks about American art; and Chalk R!ot creates a graffiti piece inspired by ’80s hip-hop. The two previous events “sold out” in the blink of an eye, so be logged on to nga.gov before noon and ready to click. If you miss out, there are two more chances to grab them: Once on the morning of the party, when extra tickets become available at 10 a.m., and at the door of the event, when a limited number of spaces can be claimed beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tickets available at noon. Free.
Museum after-hours events draw crowds with music, drinks and, yes, art
100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb at National Geographic Museum: On Nov. 4, 1922, workers excavating an area in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings for the English archaeologist Howard Carter uncovered a set of stone stairs buried under rock debris. They led to the largely intact tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen, who died circa 1323 B.C. The National Geographic Museum, currently hosting the immersive exhibit “Beyond King Tut,” marks the centennial of this important discovery with a weekend of events, including hourly tours; crafts and activities for families; documentary screenings; and a falafel workshop with Dina Daniel, the founder and chef at Egyptian restaurant Fava Pot. Through Sunday. $12-$20. Children younger than 5 admitted free.
Review: Immersive King Tut exhibit looks beyond the gold mask
Superorganism at 9:30 Club: The eight-member group Superorganism is on its second album of fun and sometimes frenetic pop music. The London-based band’s self-titled debut in 2018 featured eclectic production choices and jubilant melodies. Lead singer Orono Noguchi’s voice doesn’t compete with the group’s maximalist sound; instead, her dreamlike delivery grounds the music and makes the band’s insightful lyrics more meaningful. Mystical-sounding guitar riffs fading in and out and cartoony birds chirping in the distance make Noguchi sound like she’s singing in the middle of a lush garden. On the 2022 album “World Wide Pop,” Superorganism doubles down on its delightful chaos. The first song, “Black Hole Baby,” is a good encapsulation of what the band is doing: “Welcome back to the black hole, honey / Hold my hand ’cause the end is coming,” Noguchi sings as alien-sounding bells ring, explosions sound and clips from radio personalities play. The band is doing that quintessential pop thing — providing a soundtrack for the end of the world. 10 p.m. $25.
‘Broadway’s Brightest Lights’ at Strathmore: The National Philharmonic kicks off its 2022-23 season with a tribute to some of Broadway’s biggest stars. Singers Megan Hilty (“Wicked”), Michael Maliakel (“Disney’s Aladdin”) and Luke Hawkins (“Annie Live!”) perform greatest hits from Gershwin to Sondheim, and guests can expect new orchestrations of beloved tunes — and plenty of tap dancing. If you miss Friday’s performance at Strathmore, check out the same program at Sunday’s show at Capital One Hall. Friday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 7 p.m. $19-$102; free for children.
Día de los Muertos at the Kennedy Center: In honor of the Mexican Day of the Dead, the New Orchestra of Washington — conducted by Guadalajara native Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez — presents a program of pieces by Mexican composers, including Silvestre Revueltas and José Pablo Moncayo, and the world premiere of “Cantos de Requiem” by Jorge Vidales, which was commissioned by the New Orchestra of Washington and Choral Arts. 7:30 p.m. $45-$59.
The Big Build at the National Building Museum: The National Building Museum puts a new spin on a petting zoo during its family-friendly festival, returning for the first time since 2019: Instead of animals, construction equipment will be parked outside the museum, and kids can get up close to and even climb inside the heavy machinery. The Big Build’s booths inside the museum’s Great Hall will introduce children and teens to building pros like roofers, structural engineers, plumbers and carpenters. Fun interactive activities include a nail driving contest and an earthquake simulation, as well as story time and free admission to museum exhibits. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free. No tickets or reservations required.
Side Yards at Yards Park: Sword swallowers! Escape artists! Contortionists! Stilt walkers! What sounds like a roster of attractions hawked by a traveling carnival barker are the star performers at Side Yards, an annual tribute to sideshows along the Capitol Riverfront. Viewers of all ages can marvel at magicians, acrobats and other entertainers, sit for tarot and palm readings, and purchase food and drinks from local restaurants. While the Side Yards Eventbrite page says the event is sold out, organizers say that walk-ups are welcome. 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Free.
Hammered Hulls Record Release at the Black Cat: For D.C. music fans of a certain age, few bands in recent memory have generated as much excitement as Hammered Hulls — a punk supergroup featuring vocalist Alec MacKaye of Ignition and the Warmers, bassist Mary Timony of Ex Hex and Helium, guitarist Mark Cisneros of Des Demonas and Medications, and drummer Chris Wilson of Titus Andronicus and the Pharmacists. After dropping a seven-inch single in the summer of 2019, the quartet has finally released its debut LP, “Careening,” a collection of 12 songs that snarl and groove, with jagged edges of guitar lines tempered by deep, steady bass lines and whip-crack drums. It calls back to classic D.C. hardcore sounds while also looking forward. Hammered Hulls marks the record’s official release with a show at the Black Cat. Divorce Horse and Saffron open. 8 p.m. (doors open). $20.
Interview: Eavesdropping on the new post-punk supergroup Hammered Hulls
Children’s Africana Book Awards Festival: The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art hosts a festival celebrating books that encourage accurate representation about the continent. Award categories include books suitable for young children, older readers and new adults, and winners include writers such as Safia Elhillo and Johnnetta Betsch Cole. The day also features an author Q&A, book signings, art activities and a master class writing workshop led by Lesina Martin, which requires advance registration. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free.
16th annual Parade of Trabants at the Spy Museum: The Spy Museum has a significant section on Cold War espionage in Berlin, so it’s only appropriate that the museum has long hosted a commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But this quirky party celebrates the occasion through the lens of the Trabant, the clunky, smoky, nostalgia-inducing East German car that’s now sought after by collectors. View a collection of Trabis — cars made of resin plastic and cotton fibers — and chat with owners while listening to German tunes from the Alte Kameraden band and creating “Berlin-style” graffiti. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free.
‘Noche de Baile’ at La Cosecha: Union Market’s La Cosecha, dedicated to the flavors and styles of Latin America, combines shopping and dining like few other places in the area. (It helps that the merchants are never far away from the large, central bar.) Each Saturday in November, the space hosts a different DJ for three hours of dancing, food and drink specials, staying open past its usual closing time. 8 to 11 p.m. Free.
Día de los Muertos Masquerade Gala at the Mexican Cultural Institute: Check out the Mexican Cultural Institute’s ofrenda, or Day of the Dead altar, at this after-hours party, which includes live mariachi music, dance performances and lessons, a Mexican buffet, open bar, and tours exploring the building’s historic murals. The dress code is black tie optional or masquerade-style. 8:15 to 11:45 p.m. $135.
Fall Festival at River Farm: The American Horticultural Society opens the gates of its 27-acre estate to visitors for a fall festival featuring a beer garden and holiday shopping from local vendors. Kids might enjoy a show by children’s band Rocknoceros (performing hits like “Washing My Hands”), a petting zoo with pony rides or the crafting station. Visitors can grab a bite from food trucks including Rocklands Barbeque and Lost Boy Cider. A portion of ticket proceeds benefits the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, based in Alexandria, and the American Horticultural Society. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. $9-$20.
13th annual D.C. Tweed Ride: D.C.’s Tweed Ride began in 2009 as a way for the city’s snappiest dressers to show off their stylish houndstooth jackets, vintage dresses, boater hats and newsboy caps along with their new and antique bikes while parading around the city. This year’s ride covers just over eight miles, beginning and ending at Logan Circle, followed by a picnic in the grass. There’s no need to RSVP — just show up in your coolest outfit. 10 a.m. Ride begins at 11. Free.
John Philip Sousa Birthday Concert at Congressional Cemetery: Among the many famous residents of Congressional Cemetery is John Philip Sousa, the “March King” who composed “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” “The Washington Post March” and “Semper Fidelis,” the official march of the U.S. Marine Corps. Sousa was a member of the Marine Corps Band before returning as its director. Each year on his birthday, the band honors Sousa with a performance at his grave. The tribute begins with a ceremony and a talk by a Sousa impersonator before the band marches in at 11 a.m. for a 25-minute concert. 10:30 a.m. Free; RSVP requested.
Sherry Week: This is a great week for fans of fortified wine, as restaurants across the city celebrate sherry with tastings and events. Among the highlights: try special flights and cocktails at Jaleo, Cranes and McClellan’s Retreat; watch a sherry cobbler cocktail competition at Service Bar (Tuesday); taste a one-night-only menu of sherry cocktails at the Green Zone (Tuesday); taste rare bottles at Maxwell Park (Wednesday); or visit the theater with a performance of “La Llorona” at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, with pre- and post-show drinks and a discussion about Spanish influence on Mexican food and drink (Friday). Through Nov. 13. Prices vary.
Election night events: Midterm elections don’t usually inspire the same fervor as presidential elections — in the bar world, that is. Viewing parties with special cocktail menus, bingo games and coloring sheets? So 2020. But there are still opportunities to go out and watch the results roll in. Boundary Stone hosts an election-night pub quiz, with all the big screens tuned to political coverage, beginning at 7 p.m. (Arrive early or make a reservation if you want to join in.) Busboys and Poets, probably the city’s most politically conscious bar, hosts watch parties with all-night happy hour at all nine of its locations beginning at 6 p.m. Fight Club, which installed a projection screen and TVs just before football season, offers $7 beer-and-a-shot combos, $10 wine and $2 off punches, and a 15 percent “Eat Your Feelings” discount on all appetizers from 4 p.m. on.
The Red Derby shows the results on big screens on both floors, but let’s face it: You’re going for the specials, which include half-price chicken tenders (it’s “Tendie Tuesday”), $3.50 whiskey and tequila shots, and $3.50 “mystery beers” selected by bartenders. Doors open at 5 p.m. Election night conveniently aligns with Taco Tuesday at Shaw’s Tavern, so you’re getting $10 taco trios and discounted margaritas — $8 each, $28 pitchers — beginning at 5 p.m. and a party with TVs and full sound at 7 p.m. Union Pub, located steps from Senate office buildings, has its own take on democracy: The Capitol Hill bar is running Twitter and in-person polls about which beer it should give away on election night. (The choices are Bell’s Two Hearted, Bud Light, Guinness Blonde and Pacifico.) Voting ends Sunday; the results will be announced Monday. The first 200 people in on election night will be able to claim the winner for free; other specials include $5 margaritas and $1 off tequila shots from 4 p.m. to close. | 2022-11-03T14:27:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Festivals, concerts and fun things to do in the Washington, D.C., area - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/best-things-do-dc-area-week-nov-3-9/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/best-things-do-dc-area-week-nov-3-9/ |
New movies to stream this week: ‘God Forbid’ and more
Giancarlo Granda, left, and Jerry Falwell Jr. in “God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty.” (Giancarlo Granda/Hulu)
The documentary “God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty” begins with Giancarlo Granda sitting down to tell his story directly to the camera: a lurid tale of how, in 2012, the self-described “horny 20-year-old” pool attendant at Miami Beach’s Fontainebleau hotel met Jerry Falwell Jr. — then president of Liberty University — and his wife, Becki, beginning a years-long affair with Becki in which he would have sex with her while Jerry watched. The tale, narrated alternately by Granda and Mark Ebner, author of “Off the Deep End: Jerry and Becki Falwell and the Collapse of an Evangelical Dynasty,” gets more icky still: Eventually, Granda says, Granda and Falwell would take turns. “When I think about it,” Granda says, “I cringe.” You may, too, and not just at Ebner, who can hardly open his mouth without dropping an f-bomb. Gradually, the saga grows to involve a $4.5 million investment in Miami real estate with some shady partners and a meeting with — wait for it — Donald Trump. This is when the film by Billy Corben (director of the Netflix docuseries “Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami”) starts to get a lot more interesting, attempting to connect the dots between the sex scandal and the political “king-making” of the Falwell family, which includes Junior’s father, the late televangelist and Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell Sr. Eventually, Corben attempts to draw a line between the Fontainebleau and the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court and the rise of white nationalism. It may be a stretch, but the connection is strengthened by the sober commentary and context provided by the University of Pennsylvania’s Anthea Butler, an authority on history, race, politics, evangelicalism, gender and sexuality, media, and popular culture. “God Forbid” could use a lot more of her and a little less of Ebner’s potty mouth. TV-MA. Available on Hulu. 109 minutes.
The Falwells, the pool attendant and the double life that brought them all down
Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry star in “Causeway,” a drama about a veteran of the war in Afghanistan (Lawrence), who finds solace in a friendship with a traumatized auto mechanic (Henry) after returning home with a brain injury. Variety says the downbeat film belongs to a familiar genre: “the slow-burn nonverbal indie gloomfest.” R. Available on Apple TV Plus. Contains some strong language, sexual references and drug use. 92 minutes.
Based on Philip Beard’s 2004 young-adult novel, “Dear Zoe” stars Sadie Sink (“Stranger Things”) as a teenager struggling with the emotional fallout of the hit-and-run death of her younger half sister. Collider says the film, which also stars Jessica Capshaw, Justin Bartha and Theo Rossi, “has its heart in the right place, but its reliance on creating one too many schmaltzy moments for the characters and trying to be too many things at once hold it back from being anything noteworthy.” R. Available on demand. Contains some teen marijuana use. 94 minutes.
Sophia Bush stars in the sci-fi film “Deborah,” about a group of young friends who are spending the weekend in a house equipped with an AI device that allows them to manipulate time in small increments. TV-MA. Available on demand. 86 minutes.
Millie Bobby Brown reprises the title role in “Enola Holmes 2,” a sequel to the 2020 film about the kid sister of Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill). PG-13. Available on Netflix. Contains some violence and bloody images. 130 minutes.
From the director of “Fantastic Fungi,” the documentary “Gratitude Revealed” features interviews with Norman Lear, Deepak Chopra, Jack Kornfield and others examining the ways in which the practice of gratitude can lead to a more meaningful life. Unrated. Available on demand. 82 minutes.
In the mystery thriller “The Minute You Wake Up Dead,” Morgan Freeman plays a Southern sheriff investigating a murder in the wake of investment losses — blamed on a shady stockbroker (Cole Hauser) — and an insurance scam involving the stockbroker’s girlfriend (Jaimie Alexander). R. Available on demand. Contains some violence and language. 90 minutes.
In the thriller “On the Line,” Mel Gibson plays the host of an overnight call-in radio show who learns — while on the air — that his family has been kidnapped by someone who is threatening to kill them and blow up the station. R. Contains coarse language throughout and some violence. 104 minutes.
Daniel Radcliffe stars in “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” playing a heavily fictionalized, tongue-in-cheek version of the man who made a career out of singing his own parodies of popular songs. Variety calls it a “winningly daffy-droll postmodern satirical biopic.” TV-14. Available on Roku. 108 minutes. | 2022-11-03T14:27:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | New movies to stream from home this week. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/11/03/november-4-new-streaming-movie-roundup/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/11/03/november-4-new-streaming-movie-roundup/ |
Chris Caputo takes over as head coach of the George Washington men's basketball team. (Jess Rapfogel for The Washington Post)
While other high school basketball players dreamed of playing in the NBA, Chris Caputo dreamed of being a head coach growing up in New York City during the 1990s.
“[I] fell in love with college basketball, and I kind of realized I wasn’t going to be a guy who was a professional player,” said Caputo, who played for Archbishop Molloy High School and legendary coach Jack Curran. “I really looked up to my high school coach and in turn started to learn more about college coaches like the Mike Krzyzewski’s, Dean Smith’s, Lou Carnesecca’s. I just was very attracted to the profession in terms of the impact you can make on young people.”
Caputo’s path toward a head coaching opportunity began at George Mason, under current Miami Coach Jim Larrañaga. He served as an assistant for the Patriots for six seasons, aiding in their 2006 run to the Final Four, along with two other tournament appearances. Now back in the D.C. area after 11 years at the University of Miami, Caputo is ready to attack his first head coaching opportunity at George Washington University.
“He’s a great guy, came in with a lot of knowledge. He just came off an Elite Eight run with Miami, well respected and we know that he knows how to win,” senior guard James Bishop IV said. “All the guys are really bought into what he’s trying to do, how he wants us to play.”
When Caputo realized his aspirations for coaching, he was relentless in his pursuit of opportunities. While attending Westfield State University, he met Larrañaga, a fellow New Yorker and Archbishop Molloy graduate at a high school all-star game in Connecticut. Caputo did everything in his power to end up on Larrañaga’s staff.
“I gave him my email address and said, ‘stay in touch.’ I thought that would probably be the end of it, but he started emailing me almost on a daily basis,” Larrañaga said. “He did that, I don’t know if it was throughout his junior and senior year, or just his senior year, but it was a long time.”
Expansion wouldn’t kill the NCAA tournament, but it would be less fun
Despite Caputo’s campaigning, Larrañaga chose a different candidate when an assistant coach position opened at George Mason. However, Caputo’s persistence was validated when Larrañaga offered him a volunteer position, which he immediately pounced on. For three years, he learned the nuances of coaching at a Division I program and impressed enough to be promoted to a full-time assistant coaching role in 2005. Caputo would remain on Larrañaga’s staff for almost 20 years, including the move from George Mason to Miami in 2011.
“I’ve always felt like passion is a great characteristic. That you love what you’re doing and how you’re doing it and you have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish, and that Chris clearly portrayed,” Larrañaga said. “He was very passionate and he wanted to be a coach.”
Caputo’s ability to network and recruit, especially in a metropolitan hub such as D.C., was specifically intriguing to Larrañaga. Establishing and maintaining contacts throughout the DMV area, Caputo was able to provide the rest of the staff with critical details for recruiting. This included creating and planning camps for elite players to visit George Mason, giving coaches face time with some of the best local players.
“Chris is the best networker I’ve ever been around. But he knows more people than anybody I know. And he stays in touch with more people than anybody I know,” Larrañaga said. “We had a great network of people providing us with information and Chris was a major player in producing that network.”
When Caputo headed down to Miami with Larrañaga, he brought the same passion and intensity that allowed him to thrive at George Mason. However, their staff would have their work cut out for them in the jump from the Colonial Athletic Association to the ACC. During his tenure at Miami, the team tallied five NCAA tournament appearances, one conference championship and won 226 games.
“He was really learning the business of coaching. He was expanding his knowledge and also becoming very passionate about the X and O part of the game,” Larrañaga said of Caputo’s time in Miami. “He also was developing his own coaching style. He’s got a lot of experience offensively because he’s done a lot with me. He’s got a lot of experience defensively because he was the scout team coordinator and defensive coordinator.”
With Miami beginning to achieve more consistent success, paired with his personal development as a coach, Caputo had no plans of leaving South Beach.
“I had different opportunities throughout the years but I was also very very happy in Miami,” Caputo said. “I loved working for Coach Larrañaga, I loved the staff love, I loved being a part of the success that we were enjoying. For me to leave, it was going to have to take something very special.”
That something very special would take the form of an opportunity to become the head basketball coach at George Washington University. Coaching the Colonials would allow Caputo to return to the D.C. area where he got his coaching start and established his expansive network of recruiting contacts. After some deliberation, this familiarity allowed Caputo to accept the offer and take the leap of faith into an opportunity 20 years in the making.
“Coach [Larrañaga] said, ‘hey, look, you got to bet on yourself and this is a great opportunity. It’s probably the best head coaching job one of my assistants has gotten right from being an assistant coach,’” Caputo said. “I was excited to take what I’ve learned all these years and try to implement it as a head coach.”
Caputo joins a Colonials men’s basketball program that has not finished with a record above .500 since 2016-17, with the goal of creating sustainable success. He is aware of the challenge at hand but is eager for the responsibility it brings.
“I think I’m almost looking forward to trying to build a sustainable, successful program at George Washington,” Caputo said. “I judge things in long horizons.”
As Caputo finally embarks on the journey he’s been chasing since his days at Archbishop Molloy, Larrañaga is confident that his mentee will succeed.
“He’s very direct, and [players] are very receptive to his form of communication. He’s very typical of New York guys, there’s not a lot of baloney,” Larrañaga said. “He’s very well prepared to be a tremendous head coach.” | 2022-11-03T15:36:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Chris Caputo's DMV roots made him a perfect fit at George Washington - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/chris-caputo-george-washington/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/chris-caputo-george-washington/ |
The galindoi variation of Psilocybe mexicana mushrooms. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
Psilocybin, the active hallucinogen found in psychedelic mushrooms — also known as “magic mushrooms” — can effectively alleviate a severe bout of depression when administered in a single dose and combined with talk therapy, a new clinical study found.
Adults with depression who were administered a single 25-miligram dose of psilocybin were more likely to experience significant improvements in their mental health — both immediately and for up to three months — than others who were randomly assigned smaller doses of the same drug, said the peer-reviewed study, which was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“There’s something about the psychedelic experience that leads to a rapid resolution of depression symptoms,” said James Rucker, a consultant psychiatrist at King’s College London who worked on the trial. “We don’t really know what that is at the moment, but it’s very different to standard antidepressants.”
The trial’s findings could be an encouraging sign for the 16 million Americans estimated each year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to have depression, many of whom struggle to find treatments that work for them. Its authors hope the study — which was relatively small, with just 79 participants receiving the 25 mg dose — will pave the way for eventual regulatory approval of psilocybin by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a drug against depression.
The new study randomly assigned 233 adults with depression three doses of psilocybin — 25 mg, 10 mg and 1 mg — across 22 sites in 10 countries. The authors found that the group given the largest dose recorded the most significant improvements in their depression, both immediately and for several weeks after.
Two-thirds of the study’s adult participants who were given a 25 mg dose of the active hallucinogen recorded a significant improvement in their depression within as little as three weeks, the researchers found. Within the same period, nearly one-third of those who were given the largest dose found their symptoms had been alleviated to the extent that they no longer qualified for a clinical diagnosis of depression.
After taking a single psilocybin capsule, the study’s patients were supervised in an environment where they experienced the drug’s hallucinogenic effect while lying down, wearing an eye mask and listening to music. Then they discussed their six-to-eight-hour “trip” with a psychotherapist, who guided them through the insights offered by the experience.'
“Patients describe it as like a waking dream,” Rucker said, where “the nature and breadth of experience is expanded.” But unlike in a dream, the patient is fully aware of what is happening to them and more likely to remember it as a result — a potential explanation for its alleviation of depression symptoms, Rucker said.
Another notable result of the study was the immediacy of the effect researchers identified psilocybin was having on patients — usually as soon as the next day. It stands them in contrast to conventional antidepressants, which have been known to initially exacerbate symptoms before only taking effect four to six weeks later, if at all, according to a 2012 review into existing research on therapy options for depression.
The precise mechanism by which psilocybin acts against depression is unclear, but it may be connected to the unique way the hallucinogen allows people to access and interrogate their own emotions, the study’s authors suggested.
“People often gain some clarity into the reasons they might be depressed. They might be grieving for someone, but they’re unable to get in touch with that grief — just as an example,” Rucker said. “With awareness comes a sort of clarity.”
‘Acid Test’: The case for using psychedelics to treat PTSD, depression
Barriers on conducting clinical research into certain restricted substances, including psilocybin, have also eased in recent years. In 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced that it was streamlining its application process for researchers wishing to study Schedule I substances, defined in 1971 as having “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” and which includes psilocybin.
“What people forget about psychedelics is that they were being used as medicines prior to 1971 when they essentially got caught up in the drugs war,” Rucker said. “We’re just picking up the baton of history.” | 2022-11-03T15:41:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Magic mushroom drug psilocybin can treat depression, new trial suggests - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/11/03/magic-mushroom-psilocybin-depression-study/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/11/03/magic-mushroom-psilocybin-depression-study/ |
People are seen inside an immigration processing center in Manston, Britain, Wednesday. (Henry Nicholls/Reuters)
LONDON — A young girl’s plaintive message in a bottle tossed over the fence of a migrant processing center has become latest event roiling British public opinion over the system handling illegal migration.
The call for help on Wednesday, from the overcrowded center which she described as a “prison,” came after a newspaper reported that a busload of recently arrived migrants, wearing blankets and flip flops, had simply been dumped off at night by authorities at a London train station.
The incidents took place against a backdrop of a man on Saturday throwing at least two gasoline bombs at the walls of another migrant processing center near the port city of Dover on the English coast. The assailant was later found dead in a nearby parking lot. Anti-terrorism police assigned to the case said the attack appeared driven by “some form of hate-filled grievance.”
Migration row intensifies between U.K. and France after English Channel deaths
The British government is struggling to produce a cogent strategy to humanely slow the flow of illegal migrants, as the number of attempted entries surge. Criminal gangs smuggle migrants via shipping containers, trains and ferries, and in dangerous small rubber rafts that motor across the rough English Channel.
Around 38,000 people are been detained so far in 2022 crossing the narrow but perilous channel in boats from French beaches, the highest number since record keeping began.
Last year, the total was 28,526 people, while in 2020 it was 8,404. In August, on a single day, 1,295 people attempted the trip in 27 boats.
The trip has proven deadly for some. In a single incident in November 2021, at least 27 migrants died while attempting the crossing. Most of them were from the Kurdish region of Iraq.
Public sentiment about immigration has changed dramatically since the 2016 Brexit vote when politicians promised the United Kingdom would be able to “take back control” of its borders and curb both illegal and legal immigration.
At the time of the vote, Brits said that immigration was the most important issue facing the country — today they are more likely to tell pollsters that the economy, health care and the environment are priorities.
The British government is under particular pressure over conditions at Manston, a former Royal Air Force base in southeast England that is running at more than double its capacity, and where the girl with the message is living.
Her letter was shoved into a bottle and thrown to a photographer working for Press Association, the British news agency, on the other side of the fence.
The migrants are supposed to be processed within 24 hours, but in the message said there over 50 families who had stayed there for over 30 days.
“We are in a difficult life now … we fill like we’re in prison … Some of us very sick … We really need your help. Please help us,” she wrote in broken English.
Migrant girl begs for help in message in a bottle https://t.co/m56INW0u4J pic.twitter.com/OBFf4sfYhi
— Peter Foster (@pmdfoster) November 3, 2022
Local leaders have said that there were close to 4,000 migrants at the center over the weekend even though the facility was designed for 1,600.
Meanwhile, the Guardian newspaper reported that a bus load of migrants from the same center were dropped off at Victoria train station during the night, with many having nowhere to go.
Danial Abbas, a volunteer with the homelessness charity Under One Sky, told the BBC that his charity happened to be at the station when they saw a group of people who appeared “highly distressed, disoriented and lost … and simply turning to anyone and everyone on the street to help.”
The Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who is in charge of immigration, visited both centers in Dover and Manston on Thursday but news reporters were not invited on the trip.
After getting the migrants clothes and food, his charity contacted the Home Office who then took them by taxi to hotel accommodation.
Britain’s Home Office said in an emailed statement that “the welfare of those in our care is of the utmost importance and people are only released from Manston when we have assurances that they have accommodation to go to.
Currently, the British government wants to send refugees and migrants to Africa, in controversial move, embraced by many in the Conservative Party but denounced as cruel and illegal by critics.
In April, the former prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced his government had signed a $160 million deal with Rwanda to accept Britain’s illegal migrants.
The idea is to put all or most adult migrants who arrive illegally on British shores — including asylum seekers — onto planes to fly 4,000 miles away to East Africa, where they could live and work while their claims were assessed or leave if they preferred to return to their home countries. They would not come to Britain.
Boris Johnson hailed the policy as a “world model” and said that other Western nations would adopt it. He said the government’s goal was “to break the business model” of the smuggling gangs, which can make $400,000 for each launch of an unseaworthy dinghy. He said he was sending a message that people who cross illegally “risk ending up not in the U.K. but in Rwanda.”
The new government, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to pursue the Rwanda strategy.
The first flight to Rwanda was canceled in June, after a last-minute order by the European Court of Human Rights. The policy is now being reviewed in British high courts. | 2022-11-03T15:41:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Girl send message in bottle from U.K. migration center - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/uk-manston-victoria-asylum-immigration-braverman/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/uk-manston-victoria-asylum-immigration-braverman/ |
Taiwan is sounding an alarm about Emperor Xi
Taiwanese tanks fire at targets during a live-fire exercise in Penghu, Taiwan, on Oct. 19. (Ritchie B. Tongo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock) (Ritchie B Tongo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Taiwan now faces a more powerful foe in Chinese President Xi Jinping. Last month’s Chinese Communist Party congress freed Xi of the last internal checks on his power, bestowing upon him a status akin to that of an emperor. For Taiwan’s leaders, that increases the already high risk of conflict. They are warning that time is running out to do what’s needed to avoid war and save their democracy.
In my meetings with senior Taiwanese government leaders last week in Taipei, several officials shared their concerns about the outcome of the congress. Xi’s bellicose statements on Taiwan at the congress, and the fact he amended the party constitution to say that China will “resolutely oppose and contain Taiwan independence,” continue a trend of rising threats and aggression.
Even more worrying was Xi’s purging and demotion of officials who might not support his hard-line policies and his promotion of loyalists and “wolf warrior” diplomats. Xi, like other totalitarian leaders, is becoming more isolated from contrary views. This could make him more detached from reality and therefore more likely to do something risky or dangerous, Taiwan’s analysis goes.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told me that Xi demoted several Chinese officials with long experience on the Taiwan issue, further complicating the already tense relationship between Taipei and Beijing.
“It might show that Xi Jinping does not trust the bureaucracy in making Taiwan policy, and he seems to have his own small circle in thinking about Taiwan,” Wu said. “And if Xi Jinping is so detached from the reality of the situation in Taiwan … you can expect his policy toward Taiwan might not be as realistic as we hope.”
Alex Huang, deputy secretary general to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, told me Xi is now surrounded by yes men whose sole purpose is to help Xi consolidate domestic control and protect his power.
“They are not experts in improving China’s economy or improving its status in the international landscape,” he said. “So that creates a lot of risks, not only to Taiwan, but to the entire Indo-Pacific and the entire world.”
In Washington, the Taiwan debate centers on whether (and when) China might attack — and whether the United States would intervene on Taiwan’s behalf. Four times, President Biden has promised to do just that. Yet four times, the White House has also said that America’s policy of not revealing its intentions, known as strategic ambiguity, had not changed.
That confusion can’t be reassuring to Taiwan’s leaders. They know that a Chinese invasion can’t be held off for very long without sustained U.S. help. Whether that help comes in the form of weapons only (see Ukraine) or actual U.S. troops is also out of their control.
Taiwan’s leaders also know there’s no way to predict what a newly all-powerful Xi will do. But they calculate the risk of attack will be most acute as soon as he believes he has the military capability to succeed in taking back the island.
In the meantime, Xi will look for opportunities to escalate the situation, Wu said. For example, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visited Taiwan in August, Beijing intentionally overreacted, seizing the chance to unveil new aggressive tactics, including missile launches, blockade-like military exercises, economic coercion, cyberattacks and a massive disinformation campaign.
The most sensitive moments ahead will come, Wu said, when Taiwan holds its presidential election in early 2024, when the United States holds its presidential election in late 2024, and when Xi is nearing the end of his third term and looking to his cement his legacy in 2027.
What seems clear is that, right now, preparations are not going fast enough. Taiwan is trying to revamp its defensive strategy to take into account the lessons of the Ukraine war. But some items it needs, such as antiaircraft and antimissile defenses, are scarce because most spare supplies are being sent to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Taiwan is building backup communications systems, stockpiling supplies, sharpening its hybrid warfare skills, reforming its system of military reserves and trying to prepare a frightened population for what might come.
Taiwan’s leaders acknowledge that the free world suffers from fatigue in fighting for democracy. But if Taiwan falls, they say, Xi will feel empowered to go further — and at that point, stopping China’s advance will only be more costly. Already, China is trying to lay claim to much of the South China Sea and East China Sea, while expanding China’s military footprint in both the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Taiwanese leaders insist that defending Taiwan is Taiwan’s own responsibility. They understand that Americans’ willingness to help Taiwan depends heavily on whether the Taiwanese are absolutely determined to fight for their own freedom.
“We only have one plan — that is, to defend ourselves,” Wu said. “Whether the United States is going to come or not, Taiwan has to be prepared.”
That’s the right message. But unless leaders in both Taipei and Washington speed up those preparations, Xi could become convinced that his opinion on Taiwan’s future is the only one that matters.
Opinion|Xi’s totalitarian power grab bodes poorly for U.S.-China relations
Opinion|Xi Jinping is consolidating power in China
Opinion|Xi doesn’t deserve the title ‘president’ | 2022-11-03T16:16:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Taiwan is sounding an alarm about Emperor Xi - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/taiwan-china-xi-war-invasion-threat/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/taiwan-china-xi-war-invasion-threat/ |
Percival Everett has serious fun playing with your expectations
The author’s 23rd novel, ‘Dr. No,’ contains some of his trademarks, including a sly sense of humor and a brainy, melancholic protagonist
Review by Asali Solomon
Percival Everett in Pasadena, Calif., in October. His 23rd novel, “Dr. No,” was published this week. (G L Askew II for The Washington Post)
It somehow seems that Percival Everett, one of the most inimitable and distinct voices in contemporary American fiction, who has been a finalist for some of the world’s most prestigious literary prizes, is still largely unknown to mainstream readers. It’s impossible to resist reading that fact into the symbolism of the publicity photo on the back of his latest novel, “Dr. No” — an empty park bench. “It’s ‘Dr. No,’ it’s all about nothing,” he explained recently, with a shrug, during a video interview.
The novel is an antic caper about a mathematician, Wala Kitu, whose name translates to Nothing Nothing and who studies the concept of nothing. But there’s more to the image of that bench than absence. It’s a sight gag, a provocation, an invitation to see something differently. (Why on earth do writers put their photos on books?) Reading the works of Everett is an invitation to see everything differently.
I spoke with Everett on Zoom, where his backdrop was an office cluttered with books, string instruments and a prominently placed atlas of the state of Wyoming. Bearing in mind my own meager output — three books published over 16 years — I asked him immediately how he had been able to publish 33 over 30 years, including novels, poetry and short-fiction collections. “I don’t stress about anything,” he said. He admits to occasional worries about the well-being of his family — his wife, the writer Danzy Senna, and the couple’s two teenage sons — but he does not sweat writing. “I mean it’s just books,” he said.
Part of what he means is the opposite of how that sounds — that it’s only the books he cares about, rather than, say, fame and especially fortune. “Some people just want to make money writing,” he said. “I think they’re insane.”
Everett, who’s been a professor of creative writing at the University of Southern California since 1998, does not tour or maintain a presence on social media. He is grateful to his longtime publisher, Graywolf, for sharing his priorities. “Nobody there talks to me about marketing because my eyes glaze over,” he said. He does not read reviews. While Everett’s long career, which began with “Suder,” in 1983, makes him the consummate writer, people who often interact with authors will recognize that these kinds of pronouncements also make him the anti-writer.
If his dramatic lack of careerism is singular, so too is the motivation behind his work. “I’m interested in ideas, and I try to find vehicles for them,” he explained. He once said, “I would love to write a book everyone hated.”
In this he has not been successful. “Dr. No” follows “Telephone” (2020), a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and “The Trees” (2021), a gruesome, funny and profound murder mystery about lynching in the United States that was shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize. While not a bestseller in his home country, Everett has a loyal global readership and is beloved in France in particular. There is a Percival Everett International Society.
In case you’re not a member, “Dr. No,” his 23rd novel, is as good an entry as any to the particular and peculiar world of his fiction, where a reader can take nothing for granted. One of Everett’s noted influences is the 18th-century English picaresque “Tristram Shandy,” which interests him not just for its “playfulness” but for its “stalling of gratification of the story” and even “challenging the notion of story.”
Everett’s most widely known novel, “Erasure” (2001), contains a surprisingly compelling satirical novel within a novel. “Telephone” combines a family tragedy about a geologist’s teenage daughter suffering a rare degenerative disease that results in dementia with a plot about Mexican migrants confronting white supremacists at the New Mexico border. More to the point, that novel was published in three different editions, with three different endings — with almost no external sign of which edition was which. “The Trees” interrupts its hectic plot with a lengthy list of victims of lynching in the United States.
If the unexpected always happens in Everett’s individual novels, the variety across the work also astonishes. His corpus includes thrillers and domestic fiction, dystopian stories and several Westerns. Individual works travel between genres, often upending them.
Everett was born in Georgia in 1956 and raised in Columbia, S.C. His background is as multifaceted as his writing, though the relationship between his biography and his fiction is slant at best. He’s a former philosophy graduate student, a fly fisher, a woodworker and a painter. He can play and repair guitars, he can castrate bulls, and he spent 12 years training horses in Moreno Valley, Calif. In fact, he connects his experience with horses to his ability to write under any circumstances: “You can’t make a 1,200-pound animal calm by being excited.”
Everett is fond of saying that “Dr. No” is about “nothing.” Like much of his work, however, it could just as easily be described as about everything. The plot involves an absurd vengeance scheme and a cast of zany characters while managing to explore epistemology, friendship, obscene wealth, ethics and the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
As always, it is a slippery investigation of identity. Characters include the “racially ambiguous” villain John Milton Bradley Sill; his White servant, DeMarcus; and a jocular James Earl Ray. The novel also includes a delirious mass-unmasking scene. Almost no one in the book is who they say they are, except a one-legged dog named Trigo, the moral center of the novel. (“I’ve never had an animal betray me or lie to me,” Everett said.)
Another element of “Dr. No” that Everett readers will find familiar: a brainy, solitary, melancholic Black protagonist, content living in his own mind until some mess comes knocking at his door to hijack his life. The novel’s ending is also pure Everett: chaos, inscrutability, fin. “You don’t really end a story. You abandon a story,” he says. “Dr. No” actually continues a story — Wala Kitu first appeared 23 years ago as a baby genius in the novel “Glyph.”
Characteristically disrupting expectations, there’s one thing the book is not about: “It has nothing to do with anything [James] Bond,” its author said.
If Everett makes few overtures to the mainstream, he almost always includes in his work the universally pleasing element of humor. In one early “Dr. No” scene, the antagonist threatens the beleaguered Wala Kitu with a visual flourish. “Sill ripped a paper napkin, but not all the way through, and set it on the table.” When Kitu asks why he didn’t finish the job, he replies, “I got tired.”
Of course, the laughs in Everett’s work are frequently double-edged. While he’s traditionally prickly about the label “Black writer” — perhaps because it comes with assumptions that might not fit, say, someone who has spent long periods of time in the mountains of New Mexico with only a horse for company — Everett connects his humor to what he identifies as a particularly African American aesthetic of irony. “Approaching oppression with irony is how people survive,” he said.
Other literary models in this tradition, according to Everett, include the sardonic postwar novelist Chester Himes and Zora Neale Hurston, whose humor arguably created a school of criticism.
In what Everett calls an inversion of the “nuclear stereotyping” of Black people in American popular culture, “The Trees” opens with a savage sendup of a White family in Mississippi. The Bryant boys, ages 3 to 10, refer to their mother as “Hot Mama Yeller, the CB handle she used when she chatted with truckers late at night after the family was asleep.” Their father, Wheat Bryant, cannot be said to be between jobs because he “had held only one job in his whole life, so he wasn’t between anything.” Everett has heard that some White readers, men in particular, have taken it as “a personal affront,” but he seems deeply unbothered. Hurston and Himes probably would have loved it.
Everett also aligns the blend of wit and rage in his work with the social commentary of groundbreaking 20th-century Black comic performers, naming Richard Pryor, Dick Gregory and Moms Mabley, whom he considers “the most underrated comedic talent.”
Everett, if not exactly underrated, is certainly not as well-known as he should be; evidently he’s too busy writing to care. When I asked how a reader should move from the violent weightiness of “The Trees” to the cloak-and-dagger shenanigans of “Dr. No,” he said, almost cheerfully, “You should put one down and forget it and read the next one.”
Asali Solomon’s most recent novel, “The Days of Afrekete,” was released in paperback last month. | 2022-11-03T16:16:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Percival Everett has serious fun playing with your expectations - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/11/03/percival-everett-dr-no/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/11/03/percival-everett-dr-no/ |
Here’s what to know about the $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot
James Franklin of Baltimore holds the Powerball lottery tickets he purchased at a convenience store Wednesday in Cockeysville, Md. (Julio Cortez/AP)
With $1.5 billion in the pot, the winner of the next Powerball drawing could get a prize few have ever seen.
After Wednesday’s drawing yielded no winner, the game’s jackpot climbed close to the world record — $1.586 billion in 2016, which was shared by multiple winners — and will likely surpass it if Saturday’s drawing does not yield a winning ticket. It is now the third-largest lottery jackpot ever.
Saturday’s will be the 40th consecutive drawing without a winner. The longest previous run was in 2021, when it took 41 drawings before someone clinched a $699.8 million jackpot. If there is no winner on Saturday, this run will tie that record and could beat it.
What are the largest jackpots ever? | 2022-11-03T17:21:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Powerball jackpot is $1.5 billion before Saturday drawing - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/03/powerball-jackpot-drawing-billion/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/03/powerball-jackpot-drawing-billion/ |
By Alfonso H. Lopez
A voter fills out a ballot Nov. 2, 2021, at George C. Marshall High School in Falls Church. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
Alfonso H. Lopez, a Democrat, represents Arlington in the Virginia House of Delegates.
Election Day is fast approaching. Given the razor-thin majorities in control of Congress, the results of just a few elections in Virginia could have national ramifications.
Unfortunately, it has become clear that the responsibility to provide clear, accurate and updated election information to Virginia voters who aren’t fluent in English remains an afterthought for Virginia’s Department of Elections and the administration of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).
After receiving a number of complaints last month concerning the quality of Virginia’s online election information, my office and I went through each page of the Virginia Department of Elections’ Spanish-language website and were shocked to discover careless errors and glaring mistakes littered throughout.
A few of the issues seemed like simple typos, easily excused by human error. However, several of the Spanish-language webpages had important election information that hadn’t been translated into Spanish — that is, the pages had English sentences interspersed throughout the otherwise Spanish text.
The most problematic and disconcerting errors we found were the ones that gave voters blatantly incorrect or outdated election information, sometimes up to three years old. Also, candidates’ lists and election information in Spanish for military and other overseas voters still referred to elections from 2020 and 2021.
With only a few weeks left before the Nov. 8 election, I wrote to Youngkin and the Department of Elections and urged them to correct these problems with all due haste. It is unacceptable for our commonwealth to allow even a single Virginia voter to be misled or misinformed because of errors on the part of their state government.
Within a week, I received a reply from the Department of Elections noting that several of the examples we brought forward had been addressed. But even now, a few days from Election Day, the Spanish website for the Virginia Department of Elections continues to display a number of issues.
Webpages for information on early voting and decennial redistricting are still completely absent on the Department of Elections’ Spanish website; websites for campaign filings and candidate bulletins still reference elections from 2021 or 2019; and a significant number of documents linked on the Spanish website are still written entirely in English.
Again, just a few of these issues could be waved away as simple mistakes. But taken together, these problems collectively paint a dim and fairly distressing picture of the state of language access in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
These errors are classic examples of the kinds of basic cultural blind spots that haunt government agencies when departments are not intentional enough about hiring linguistically diverse staff or when those departments fail to fully anticipate the effect of their work on residents who are not fluent in English.
As we witnessed during the height of the coronavirus pandemic — when Hispanic Virginians, facing infection rates five-times higher than White non-Hispanics, became Virginia’s ethnic community most likely to get infected and subsequently die from the disease — blind spots of this kind can have deadly and catastrophic results.
In a commonwealth where more than half a million residents primarily speak Spanish in the home, it is unconscionable for state agencies to continue to endorse inaccurate election information only days out from Election Day.
Voting is the most fundamental of political rights, and every state has an overriding duty to provide clear and correct voter information to its citizens. The failure of the Youngkin administration to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their primary language or ethnic background, have the same access to correct voter information says a great deal. If intentional, the actions are shameful. If a thoughtless oversight, it says a great deal about the value his administration places on New Americans and Latinos. | 2022-11-03T17:21:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Virginia’s Department of Elections is failing Spanish-speaking voters - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/virginia-department-elections-failing-spanish-speaking-voters/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/virginia-department-elections-failing-spanish-speaking-voters/ |
Albertsons is issuing a $4 billion ‘special dividend.’ Critics call it ‘looting.’
The parent of Albertsons and Safeway says it’s rewarding shareholders. Critics see a case of private equity managers enriching themselves while eviscerating a company.
A Safeway grocery in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Oct. 18, 2021. (Ash Ponders/Bloomberg News)
On Wednesday, the attorneys general for Illinois, California and D.C. filed a similar suit in federal court.
Albertsons is controlled by a consortium of five investment firms, the largest of which is Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm led by Steve Feinberg, a major Republican political donor who served on the economic advisory council for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Cerberus owns about 29 percent of Albertsons shares. Collectively, the consortium owns 75 percent and controls the company, according to financial statements.
Three senators — Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) — already have urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate. | 2022-11-03T17:30:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Albertsons plans $4 billion payout to owners before merger - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/03/albertsons-special-dividend-owners/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/03/albertsons-special-dividend-owners/ |
World leaders reckon with a flurry of new activity on natural gas and coal ahead of the climate summit
Trucks carry imported coal to train cargo compartments at a port in Gdansk, Poland, on Oct. 22. (Omar Marques/Getty Images)
The U.N. climate summit in Glasgow last year ended with a resounding repudiation of fossil fuels, with countries including the United States signaling that it would be a costly mistake to move forward with big new oil, gas and coal projects.
The mounting calls to limit investment in such ventures seemed to resonate: Many major projects had stalled, struggling to line up financing as the world looked toward a future of cleaner energy.
But a year later, the fossil fuel industry is experiencing a remarkable rebound, with sudden momentum behind more than 80 projects that range from coal-fired power plants to hulking gas export terminals, many of which could lock the world into decades of new greenhouse gas emissions.
The backsliding is occurring as nations grope for alternatives to Russian natural gas, cut off by sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine. It will be a major point of tension at this year’s global climate summit, which begins in Egypt on Sunday. It throws into further jeopardy a global carbon budget crafted to avert climate chaos by threatening to deluge countries with far more fossil energy than they need to replace supplies from Russia.
“If all of that new infrastructure is built and used until the end of its lifetime, there is no chance of meeting the goals in the Paris agreement,” said Niklas Hohne, founder of the NewClimate Institute think tank and an emissions scholar at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, referring to the effort by global leaders to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avert the most catastrophic consequences of climate change.
“The plan was not to build any new infrastructure, because everything new you build has to run for 20 or 30 years to pencil out, long past the point we want to be off fossil fuels,” Honhe said. “But now all these projects are on the table again.”
This is true not just in Europe, where there are seven new natural gas projects under construction and another 33 in various stages of planning, according to the nonprofit Global Energy Monitor. Another two dozen projects also are being pursued in the United States. Global investment in new natural gas infrastructure is projected to surge to $42 billion in 2024, according to the market research firm Rystad Energy, a jump of 50 percent above what it is this year. The result is that the worldwide supply of liquefied natural gas will nearly double by 2030, a volume that climate activists warn pushes the supply past what is needed to replace Russian gas deliveries.
Worries about filling the energy void created by sanctions on Russia have led European leaders to sign several deals for new gas contracts in sub-Saharan Africa — which Europe and the United States for years tried to dissuade from pursuing large-scale, climate-unfriendly fossil infrastructure over cleaner alternatives such as solar and wind power. Europe’s energy deals in Africa include accelerating plans to transform the nation of Mozambique, which until this year had never shipped natural gas to Europe, into a global hub for fossil fuels following the discovery of vast deposits before the pandemic.
The global warming impact of the projects, many of which won’t come online for years, would be immense and would directly conflict with the ambitious short-term emissions goals Europe and the United States only recently set for themselves. The United States, which already exports more natural gas abroad than any other country, will be positioned to ship nearly 50 percent more with the pending completion of just three projects that are far along in construction, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.
While it is unclear how many projects in the United States and elsewhere will ultimately get all the regulatory approvals and investment needed to move forward, an analysis by the advocacy group Food and Water Watch tallies the potential climate impact if every natural gas project on the table gets built. By 2030, the “lifecycle footprint” — which includes the impact of extracting, processing and shipping it all, plus the greenhouse gas effects when it is burned for energy — would equal the emissions of 621 million cars on the road for a year. It would be like building 100 new coal plants, according to the group.
All the building plans threaten to undermine Europe’s recently approved REPowerEU initiative, which aims to cut use of natural gas 41 percent by 2030, a crucial target for limiting global warming. An analysis by the European economic think tank Bruegel revealed a severe mismatch between that goal and the amount of fossil fuel infrastructure European countries are endeavoring to build and support.
Meanwhile, energy transition analysts are keeping a close watch on the surge in Europe’s use of coal, which is meant to be a stopgap until cleaner replacements for Russian gas are available but could become a significant climate problem if the plants stay open for years. In Germany alone, 21 coal-fired power plants are being reopened or have had their closings postponed to help the country through the next couple of winters. That includes such plants as the one in Bexbach, which hadn’t burned coal in a decade.
Though natural gas burns cleaner, it is potentially a much bigger climate problem because the cost of new infrastructure can quickly stretch into the billions of dollars, creating economic pressure to keep the facilities operating for decades. European countries are not confident that the floating gas import terminals they are installing that can be moved elsewhere after a few years will be adequate. They are also moving ahead with major new land-based infrastructure.
Consumer groups are as unnerved by the current trend as environmentalists, warning of the risk that ratepayers and taxpayers get stuck paying for massive projects that, long before the end of their useful life, are mothballed to meet climate goals.
Bruegel’s projections show the amount of natural gas flowing in the E.U. could nearly double the amount countries there should be using under the REPowerEU plan by the end of the decade.
Such data points have some world leaders sounding an alarm. “For every $1 invested in low-carbon energy supply, $1.10 is invested in fossil fuels. Go figure,” John F. Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy, said at a recent event at the Council on Foreign Relations. “The math and the science unequivocally make clear we just cannot hit our targets unless we dramatically change that ratio.”
The recently published U.N. emissions gap report, which warned the world is fast blowing past its carbon budget, highlighted the “lock-in” of fossil fuel infrastructure as one of the threats facing the planet. “Decisions made today can define emissions trajectories for decades to come,” the report warned.
Among the projects that could drive such emissions is the proposed Rio Grande LNG terminal in Texas, which the Sierra Club notes would be bigger than New York’s Central Park at a size of 984 acres. It would sit right next to another proposed facility in the Brownsville Ship Channel, called Texas LNG, that is four times the size of Disneyland.
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The Rio Grande project is one of many that had stalled before the Ukraine invasion upended the energy landscape, with a French power company lined up to purchase the gas pulling out of a tentative deal under pressure from European government leaders concerned about the climate impact. The project has since come roaring back, with that same French energy company entering into a purchase agreement that extends until 2041.
World leaders pushing robust action on climate change are banking on investors getting cold feet and pulling the plug on some of these projects as they weigh the risk that rapid deployment of renewable energy could turn them into costly “stranded assets.”
The International Energy Agency, for example, projects the fervor for fossil fuels will quickly fade. Few of the planned developments, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said, make economic sense in an era when the cost of solar and wind installations have plunged.
“Many of these projects, I believe, will stay in the box,” Birol said. His agency’s new World Energy Outlook report shows clean technologies advancing so rapidly that overall fossil fuel use will peak within a few years and then be in permanent decline.
Yet big fossil energy companies are moving ahead, assuring investors that there will be a market for the fuel. The reception they are getting from regulators is far more solicitous than before the invasion of Ukraine, and in many cases large public subsidies for projects are on the table, despite a pledge by every Group of 20 nation to stop subsidizing electricity powered with fossil energy. Every one of those countries continues to subsidize it, according to the U.N. emissions gap report.
In the United States and Europe, industry and political leaders are justifying the expansions by projecting that much of the infrastructure will be converted to greener uses within a few years. Today’s new gas terminals and pipelines, the reasoning goes, will be tomorrow’s delivery system for processing and delivering green hydrogen, fuel that can be made with zero emissions if companies can figure out how to produce it affordably at scale.
Many of these plans, however, are aspirational and overlook significant logistical challenges, as well as market and political pressures, that could enable gas to flow indefinitely.
“There is this desire to make sure new hydrocarbon infrastructure is transition-ready to handle other fuels,” said Jason Bordoff, founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. “I don’t think we’ve kicked the tires enough to make sure that is proven reality and not hype.”
“The important question is: How can we use this energy crisis to accelerate and not decelerate the transition?” he said.
It is a particularly challenging conundrum for Europe, where lawmakers and regulators are trying to find a path to replacing Russian gas without adding new long-term sources of emissions. The impact of the path they take can be hard to chart, amid conflicting projections of climate fallout.
Officials do not even have a clear picture of how much of the Russian gas Europe no longer wants will make its way elsewhere. Much of it flows into pipelines from Siberia, and diverting it to places such as India and China that might be open to buying from Russia would be an extremely costly undertaking.
“One of the big questions is whether Russia can export as much as it did before,” said Georg Zachmann, an energy and climate fellow at Bruegel. “If Russia’s export decline is equal to what Europe imports from other places in the world, then the climate impact should be limited.”
At the moment, the number of projects with momentum far outpaces what is needed to replace that Russian gas. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, U.S. energy companies have entered into 32 new binding contracts for the sale of natural gas, according to the nonprofit Global Energy Monitor. Additionally, five large proposed Gulf Coast LNG export terminals that are still in the planning stage and had no deals locked down before the war have since secured contracts to sell gas abroad.
Among the resurgent gas projects in Europe is one planned for along the Elbe River near Hamburg that appeared doomed only late last year.
A key partner in the project had to bail after its plans to supply Germany with gas extracted and shipped from Canada were nixed by the Canadian government, which judged the $14 billion endeavor a climate hazard. Canada’s environment minister called the blueprints to export natural gas “in no way justifiable.”
Now Stade is among the many revived fossil fuel developments around the globe back on a fast track, with Germany scrambling to build new terminals and fracked natural gas from the United States replacing the Canadian fuel supplies that were blocked.
At the same time, even dormant Russian gas fields still pose a climate threat.
Shutting down gas fields is itself is an extensive and costly process, with large amounts of emissions potentially seeping from the facilities for years. Those emissions would compound the climate effects of all the new gas infrastructure outside Russia.
Oil companies say they could mitigate those effects with the installation of carbon capture machinery. Developers of the Rio Grande project, for example, are promising to wipe out more than 90 percent of emissions at their proposed Texas facility by using an industrial process to trap the greenhouse gases and store them underground. The oil company Occidental declared in March that it has a deal to start selling what it calls “net-zero oil,” claiming its use of carbon sequestration techniques will wipe out the emissions normally associated with oil production.
Climate activists say such promises ignore the emissions created when the fossil fuels are shipped and ultimately burned by customers, as well as the reality that carbon capture technology remains a work in progress. Some of the biggest demonstration projects so far have not met their emission reduction targets.
“The idea that we can do a little more gas and then move onto renewables does not work anymore,” said Hohne, the NewClimate Institute founder, who was a contributor to the U.N. emissions gap report. “There is no more space in the carbon budget for that like there was 10 or 20 years ago.” | 2022-11-03T17:30:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Fossil fuel building boom imperils global efforts to confront warming ahead of COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/03/fossil-fuel-cop27-russia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/03/fossil-fuel-cop27-russia/ |
Voters in Sparks, Nev., late in the day on Election Day in 2020. (Scott Sonner/AP)
The news conference President Donald Trump’s lawyers held at the Republican Party’s national headquarters soon after the 2020 election is remembered mostly for former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s odd tonsorial drooling. But it must also be remembered as one of the first iterations of the clumsy effort to tie together seemingly contradictory strains of election-fraud theorizing: that the election was stolen on election night by manipulated electronic voting machines — but also later by illegal or fake mail-in ballots.
Trump attorney Sidney Powell attempted to square this circle.
The voting machines “probably” were used all over the country to flip Trump votes to ones for Joe Biden, something that “we might never have uncovered had the votes for President Trump not been so overwhelming in so many of these states that it broke the algorithm that had been plugged into the system, and that’s what caused them to have to shut down in the states they shut down in.” Only after the flood of votes “broke the algorithm” — you can perhaps hear the sound of computer engineers slapping their foreheads — did the fraudsters come “in the back door with all the mail-in ballots.”
Obviously this is all nonsense, every part of it, as months and years of analysis have proved repeatedly. But there’s something about Powell’s formulation that seems to linger as the 2022 midterms approach. Republicans who say they are worried about the upcoming elections being stolen have come up with a way to beat the system: Vote only at the very last minute to potentially stymie those devious hackers/fraudsters/Democrats.
One iteration of this idea cropped up in Washington state, where every voter casts a ballot through the mail. There, a hard-right GOP candidate for the U.S. House, Joe Kent, encouraged his supporters to wait to submit their ballots until the last day of the campaign.
At a town hall event, Kent recommended that people learn about “why holding on to your ballot until the last day is one of the surest ways to ensure that if there were to be any funny business … they would have the least amount of time to do said funny business.”
Officials in the state quickly rejected the idea. One, Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall, accurately attributed it to “the lie that’s happening across the country” — that there’s rampant fraud that must be counteracted.
The same theory has appeared in states that have more-traditional voting systems, as well. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported recently that an ally of Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano had compiled a five-part “Plan for Victory” that made similar recommendations aimed at disrupting purported election-stealing.
“Make [the election hacker] think he’s got the cheat in the bag and nobody will notice,” Toni Shuppe wrote, “then overwhelm him during the last hour with a turnout he can’t keep up with.”
Then it cropped up in Maryland.
“Vote on November 8th as late in the day as possible,” said Macky Stafford, a campaign staffer for Michael Peroutka, the Republican candidate for attorney general in the state. “If everyone could stand in long, long lines at 6 o’clock, that would actually help us.” In an email sent earlier this week, Stafford repeated the same plan: “Let’s all pray we wait in historically long lines and while we are standing in line, inform fellow voters to only vote on paper once in the polls: no touch screens!”
These are irrational concerns being addressed with an irrational strategy, so no rational deconstruction of them is likely to have an effect. But let’s engage in one anyway.
The idea here is that “hackers,” people somehow controlling what the electronic voting machines will produce, will be flummoxed by a late surge in votes for Republican candidates. This presupposes that the hackers are as limited in their time frame as voters themselves, that once polls close the hackers can’t adjust anything — that they track voter turnout, set the number of stolen votes needed to ensure victory and then go about their evenings. Then, all of a sudden, a rush of late votes and their plan is upended!
This, like so many other unsupported conspiracy theories in modern America, is largely born of ignorance about technology. This purported algorithm, for example, needs to do nothing more complex than set Democratic vote total to Republican vote total plus one. Sure, the hackers might want to be slightly more sophisticated than that, distributing votes proportionally depending on who’s voting where. But that’s something that 1) could be baked into the program from the outset and 2) isn’t time dependent! Wasn’t the whole thing in 2020 that the vote was “stolen” slowly over hours and days? The “hackers” would have way more time to influence things than the voters themselves do.
Again and importantly: There’s no evidence at all that this occurs, and there are, in fact, various reasons (technological, statistical, logical) to assume that it doesn’t. It’s all nonsense — but nonsense that various people appear to be taking seriously.
This isn’t just born of ignorance about technology, of course. It’s also a response to the very human impulse to want to do something to address a problem that strikes you as urgent. People do things like this all the time, taking steps that don’t necessarily solve a problem but seem as if they might be aimed in that direction. It is expected that some people might seize on a way to combat the fraud they think is rampant, to empower themselves and their allies against their imaginary oppressors.
What this reveals isn’t really anything about the process. It’s the electoral equivalent of recommending that people wear tinfoil hats to block mind control. What it reveals instead is how deeply these false claims about the election have burrowed into the consciousness of some American voters and how irrational those claims have become.
Vote when you want to. It doesn’t matter. You’re not tricking hackers by voting late. You’re not “breaking the algorithm” by doing so. All you’re doing is making yourself wait in line.
Secretary of state races draw record funds as elections come under stress
4:53 PMAnalysis: How the Fetterman debate affected the Pa. race — or didn’t
4:33 PMMichigan election officials are prepped for ‘everything and anything’
4:14 PMDemocrats add $1.2 million to boost Sen. Hassan in New Hampshire | 2022-11-03T18:17:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Trump fans have a plan to trick nonexistent vote hackers: Vote late - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/voting-trump-midterm-elections-fraud-claims/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/voting-trump-midterm-elections-fraud-claims/ |
A former San Antonio Spurs team psychologist alleges that Josh Primo exposed himself to her on nine occasions during their individual sessions. (AJ Mast/AP)
A psychologist formerly employed by the San Antonio Spurs filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that the organization had ignored her repeated complaints about Josh Primo, whom she said had exposed himself to her on nine occasions during their one-on-one sessions.
Hillary Cauthen, an Austin-based sports psychologist, said that she first reported to the Spurs in January that Primo had exposed himself to her during an individual session. The lawsuit states that she met with Spurs General Manager Brian Wright in March and with a Spurs legal representative in May to discuss the matter, but “nothing was done” and Primo remained an active member of the team.
“My passion is to help others learn how to thrive in their world and to help organizations develop a culture of care,” Cauthen said Thursday at a news conference. “The organization I worked for has failed me.”
The 19-year-old Primo, who was San Antonio’s 2021 first-round pick, was abruptly released by the Spurs last Friday, less than three weeks after the organization picked up his $4.3 million option for the 2023-24 season.
“It is our hope that, in the long run, this decision will serve the best interest of both the organization and Joshua,” Spurs CEO RC Buford said in a statement announcing the release. “The Spurs organization, including front-office executives, coaching staff and players, will have no additional comments to share at this time.”
Cauthen is being represented by Texas attorney Tony Buzbee, who represented nearly two dozen women who brought sexual misconduct lawsuits against NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson. In her lawsuit, Cauthen alleges that Primo exposed himself to other people on at least two occasions.
“I’m disheartened to be standing here sharing my story, but I’m also very humbled and honored to have a place to share words that others may have not been able to,” Cauthen said. “I’m a clinical sports psychologist, I’m a mother of four wonderful daughters, I’m a woman and I am a victim. I am many things, but I’m not alone in the fight to do the right thing. The right thing is saying, ‘No, this is not okay.’ To hold people accountable. To make systematic change and protect those who suffer in silence.”
Primo’s attorney, William J. Briggs, II, said in a statement Thursday that Cauthen’s lawsuit was “an act of betrayal against her young client” and that her claims are “either a complete fabrication, a gross embellishment or utter fantasy.”
“Josh Primo never intentionally exposed himself to her or anyone else and was not even aware that his private parts were visible outside of his workout shorts,” Briggs said. “What makes the allegations even less credible is that Dr. Cauthen never informed her patient of the purported exposure. … Josh Primo is at the beginning of a promising career and has been devastated by these false allegations and release by the Spurs.”
Primo, a guard who was the youngest player in the 2021 NBA draft after spending one season at Alabama, averaged 7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists in four appearances this season. Entering the season, Primo was viewed as a key piece in the Spurs’ rebuilding effort. After clearing waivers following his release, Primo is an unrestricted free agent.
In a statement to ESPN made last Friday, before the nature of the allegations became public, Primo said that he was “seeking help to deal with previous trauma I suffered,” and that he would “take this time to focus on my mental health treatment more fully.” | 2022-11-03T18:35:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Former team psychologist sues Spurs for ignoring Josh Primo complaints - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/josh-primo-spurs-lawsuit/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/josh-primo-spurs-lawsuit/ |
Launcher Reviews
‘God of War Ragnarok’ improves on its predecessor in every way
Review by Gene Park
Developed by: Santa Monica Studio | Published by: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Release: Nov. 9
Under embargo: Beat-by-beat descriptions of narrative moments, as well as the fates of any of the game’s characters
“God of War Ragnarok” by Santa Monica Studio is the best told story in a video game in 2022. When it comes to gameplay, it is an iterative sequel to the 2018 PlayStation 4 smash hit, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. In fact, the whole story is full of surprises, with as many whimsical delights as gory fights.
“Ragnarok” is also one of the rare stories in any medium where the second experience is better than the first, rewarding the audience’s knowledge and attention to details. As soon as the credits roll, you may be immediately tempted to start over, empowered with knowledge on how plot beats unfold and appreciating character and story arcs that pay off big time by the end.
But you also don’t want to restart the game immediately, because “Ragnarok” is an even rarer type of game that offers more adventure after it ends. Some of its biggest emotional payoffs happen after the credits, featuring more playable adventures and secrets to find. It’s a generous game, offering stories that feel like a sequel to the game you just beat.
Even rarer is the game with side content that could equal the quests found in CD Projekt Red’s seminal 2015 hit, “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.” So many other big-budget developers have tried to hit that peak, but I can confidently say Santa Monica Studio has surpassed that bar, having written side quests even more rewarding (in gameplay and story) than “The Witcher 3.” While the main story is a triumph, the side quests that lay off the beaten path are home to the game’s biggest battles, its most awe-inspiring sights and its biggest play areas. In my preview I noted that the start of the game felt narrow and linear, but that does not hold true for areas later in the game. This is easily the biggest God of War game to date.
If players are eager to dive into Ragnarok, they don’t need to finish the first game to enjoy the second (though the context makes for a richer experience). Even if the recap of the story-so-far at the menu comes across as a bit confusing to those who didn’t play the previous chapter, the early game provides plenty of background and plot exposition from the previous game, in which Kratos and his son, Atreus, earn the ire of the Norse gods and trigger the beginning of Ragnarok while attempting to honor the final wish of Kratos’s late wife (and Atreus’s mother).
Santa Monica Studio also took to heart many of the gameplay nitpicks of the otherwise celebrated 2018 game. That game didn’t have much in the way of spectacular set piece enemy fights, so “Ragnarok” has multiple screen-filling, giant-sized monsters to engage in extravagant combat scenarios. The prequel didn’t have a huge variety of enemies, so “Ragnarok” provides unique combatants in each of the nine realms of Norse mythology.
In battle, Kratos feels just like his old self, and it’s a welcome, long-awaited return. Kill finishers have more flourish, incorporating weapons. It’s a constant thrill to throw Kratos’ Leviathan Axe, punch back an enemy to soften them for the killing blow and summon back the ax, punctuating the attack combo by cleaving the enemy in half.
A feel for the game: How Sony worked with developers like Insomniac to design the PlayStation 5
Kratos begins with his iconic Blades of Chaos weapons from the original trilogy, which were reintroduced late in the 2018 game. Now part of his starting kit, the developers designed combat arenas and levels around the weapons’ ability to hook and fling the hero across great distances and up vertical spaces. It’s here that the comparisons to the recent Doom series reboot will feel apt. In 2016, “Doom” laid a foundation for a reboot just as “God of War” did in 2018. In 2020, “Doom Eternal” built upon that formula with speedier, gorier, and more highflying action, just as “Ragnarok” does, with Kratos flinging himself across chasms and into his enemies.
Kratos rediscovers his old murderous rage against his will, as the Norse gods instigate every fight. He struggles to balance his past effectiveness as a god killer and his current desire to be left alone. There are many interesting, intentional parallels to “God of War 2,” the beloved swan song for the PlayStation 2 era. Both games are about Kratos helplessly careening toward his disposition to kill gods: What will he do now that he’s learned to love and trust others? He taps into his old Spartan savagery in many ways throughout “Ragnarok,” recalling even more movesets from the older titles. In gameplay and story, this is immensely rewarding to anyone who’s followed Kratos since his earliest god-murdering days.
Kratos is a reluctant murderer this time, even more so than in the PS4 prequel. In this game, he’s judicious about who he might slay. This character conflict adds another layer to the emotional drama of each epic battle, allowing the audience to wonder, “Will he or won’t he murder?” It’s a constant question, adding tension as Kratos meets prominent members of the Norse pantheon, including Thor, Heimdall and the All-Father Odin, portrayed with frightful deviance by Richard Schiff of “The West Wing” fame.
The PS VR2 is funny. Why isn’t it pitched that way?
In almost every aspect, “Ragnarok” is the better game when compared to the 2018 release. There is only one area where the game seems to falter, and that’s pacing. The 2018 game was about a literal funeral march with the ultimate goal of scattering a woman’s ashes at her chosen location, but it still moved faster than “Ragnarok’s” story about the end of the world. The story plays coy about whether the actual Ragnarok event, the end of the Norse mythology, will occur, and this coyness drags out at the beginning, with quests that seem to meander. It becomes clear late in the game that the slow pace is meant to introduce new characters, so some patience may be required.
The pacing issue is crystallized by the only weak character in the game, the newly introduced Angrboda. The character might have been an interesting addition to the cast if she did not so neatly fit the definition of the “manic pixie dream girl” trope: a flirtatious woman who lacks agency in the plot and serves only to motivate the male protagonist on their journey. There is an extended narrative sequence in the first half of “Ragnarok” that prominently features Angrboda, and I can only describe it as a much longer version of the Mary Jane walk-and-talk sequences of another marquee Sony game, “Marvel’s Spider-Man.” The Angbroda sequence tasks the player with clearing bug nests, solving light puzzles — and little else.
It’s not as if women in “Ragnarok” are portrayed poorly. Danielle Nicole Bisutti’s portrayal of Freya, the tragic mother of Baldur who Kratos kills in the prequel, threatens to steal the spotlight away from Sunny Suljic’s incredible portrayal of a growing teenage Atreus. Freya’s tragedy at the end of the 2018 game is directly addressed here, and becomes the beating heart of this story of forgiveness and finding purpose in life. The daughter of one of the notable Norse gods is another highlight, as she struggles to define her own legacy while making peace with her father’s all-too-real and chilling alcoholism.
Once the Angrboda sequence ends, the game’s pacing ramps up considerably, all while opening up the playing fields across the nine realms. Side content starts to flood in, and the true epic scope of the game reveals itself. It’s then that you realize the game’s other great achievement: cultivating a sense of belonging across the nine realms. The game reuses areas and digital assets from the 2018 game, but much like Sega’s Yakuza series’ reuse of the same several city blocks throughout seven games, “Ragnarok” does this to establish a sense of familiarity. This extends to the postgame, where revisiting certain areas causes the characters to reflect on the journey and their history in these spaces. Kratos isn’t just here as a mythological tourist; he actually likes spending time and building memories here.
And more importantly, he likes the people here too. In the 2018 game, a motley crew of helpers gathered around Kratos. They were a colorful, likable cast of characters, but they were avatars for a number of features established for that game. Blacksmiths Brok and Sindri introduced crafting to the series. Mimir, the beheaded, self-proclaimed “smartest man in the world,” functioned more as a dispensary for lore and background in the game’s quieter moments.
But in “Ragnarok,” Kratos is allowing fellowship into his life. When he calls another character “brother,” it’s an important moment even if it’s presented in a casual, informal cutscene. Brok and Sindri are now practically co-protagonists in the story, driving the adventure as much as they assist. Mimir isn’t just along for the ride anymore; he feels comfortable enough around Kratos and his son Atreus to tell them how foolish they can sometimes be. These three characters also own the game’s most poignant and moving scenes across the entire game’s runtime.
The original trilogy was a nihilistic deconstruction of polytheism and the trap of fate. The final, best surprise of “God of War Ragnarok” is how it subverts this bleak worldview into something more hopeful and joyful. By the end, the game pleads with and urges its characters and the audience to be more open, loving people. The way “Ragnarok” transforms the series is remarkable.
Popular entertainment these days is obsessed with lore to a fault. Disney’s Marvel and Star Wars franchises have entire councils of people devoted to keeping lore straight across these stories. Even 2022′s biggest game, “Elden Ring,” was essentially a story all about lore. Despite tapping into well-mined Norse mythology, “Ragnarok” is focused squarely on seeing and hearing its characters. Like Kratos, you will actually like spending time with them. The memories of these people will stay with you long after the credits roll. By the end, you will believe that even a god of war can earn himself some peace. | 2022-11-03T18:57:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | God of War Ragnarok review: Better than the first in nearly every way - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/reviews/god-war-ragnarok-review/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/reviews/god-war-ragnarok-review/ |
WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is seen through a video camera viewer as she waits to appear in a video link provided by the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service before a hearing at the Moscow Regional Court. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)
U.S. Embassy officials in Russia have met with imprisoned WNBA star Brittney Griner, the White House said Thursday.
“We are told she’s doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One after the State Department confirmed the meeting.
Griner has been sentenced to 9½ years in prison for bringing less than a gram of cannabis oil, which is illegal in Russia, into the country. She has been imprisoned since her Feb. 17 arrest.
Last week, a Russian court rejected Griner’s appeal of her prison sentence.
Jean-Pierre said Thursday that Russia has continued to refuse a “significant offer” from the United States to “resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detention” of Griner and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine also imprisoned in Russia. Just last month, Jean-Pierre told reporters that Russia had yet to respond to the “serious” proposal the Biden administration made in July to free Griner.
“Despite a lack of good-faith negotiation by the Russians, the U.S. government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternative potential ways forward with Russians through all available channels,” Jean-Pierre said on Thursday. “This continues to be a top priority.”
Jean-Pierre, however, offered no details on any alternative proposal offered to Russia.
In a tweet Thursday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. Embassy representatives who met with Griner “saw firsthand her tenacity and perseverance despite her present circumstances.”
“We continue to press for the immediate release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan and fair treatment for every detained American,” Price said.
Spokespeople for Griner’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the embassy officials’ visit.
The U.S. government has long characterized Griner’s arrest as a “wrongful detainment.”
Last week, after the Russian court’s dismissal of her appeal, Griner’s attorneys said they would confer with their client about the possibility of further appeals, and that they intended to make use of “all the available legal tools.” Once the appeals process is over, she is set to be transferred to a penal colony.
Griner, a 6-foot-9 center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was detained in February while trying to enter Russia at the Sheremetyevo International Airport near Moscow, where she plays during the WNBA offseason. She turned 32 last month while in prison, an occasion family and friends used to call for her release and safe return to the United States.
In August, Russia acknowledged for the first time that negotiations were underway to release Griner and Whelan, but it did not confirm media reports indicating a potential swap for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.
Griner and Whelan’s families met with President Biden at the White House in September to discuss their relatives’ imprisonment. At the time, White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Biden is “not going to let up” in his efforts to get Russia to free Griner and Whelan.
“We want these two individuals home back where they belong with their families,” Kirby said.
Maite Fernández Simon and Mary Ilyushina contributed to this report. | 2022-11-03T18:57:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | WNBA star Brittney Griner meets with U.S. Embassy officials in Russia - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/brittney-griner-us-officials-meet/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/03/brittney-griner-us-officials-meet/ |
The powerful opioid is the leading cause of overdose deaths in America.
Courtney Kan
Fentanyl, a powerful painkiller developed nearly 60 years ago, is at the center of the deadliest drug epidemic in American history. More than 71,000 people died of synthetic-opioid overdoses in 2021 — more than the number of U.S. military personnel killed during the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined. And recent figures indicate that fentanyl is outpacing heroin as a leading cause of overdose deaths in some parts of the country.
One of the greatest dangers of fentanyl is its potency. Deaths attributed to the drug began to climb in 2013, when traffickers began mixing illicit fentanyl with other drugs including heroin, counterfeit pain pills and cocaine. In some instances, drug users have no idea that fentanyl has been added.
What makes fentanyl so deadly?
What is being done to address the crisis?
What does fentanyl look like?
Does fentanyl have other names?
What are the signs of a fentanyl overdose? What should you do if you suspect an overdose? | 2022-11-03T19:10:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What to know about fentanyl, the leading cause of U.S. overdose deaths - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/03/fentanyl-opioid-epidemic/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/03/fentanyl-opioid-epidemic/ |
New York attorney general says company and former executive will pay $30.5 million as Los Angeles police investigate captain who allegedly aided sexual assault coverup
Les Moonves, the former president of CBS, at an event at the Lincoln Center in New York in 2015. (Evan Agostini/Associated Press)
The sexual misconduct scandal that forced the resignation of the once powerful CBS president Les Moonves four years ago has evolved into bicoastal investigations of insider trading and police corruption.
But the agreement did not include admission of wrongdoing or liability by the company. A spokesperson for Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, said “we are pleased to resolve this matter,” which involved “alleged misconduct” by the former CBS chief executive, “who was terminated for cause in 2018, and does not relate in any way to the current company.”
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Police Department announced Wednesday that it has launched its own investigation into a former employee that will also seek to determine whether any others were involved in attempting to cover up accusations against Moonves. “What is most appalling is the alleged breach of trust of a victim of sexual assault, who is among the most vulnerable, by a member of the LAPD,” police chief Michael Moore said in a statement.
A previously settled class action shareholder lawsuit accounts for $14.75 million of the $30.5 million that CBS and Moonves agreed to pay. As part of the agreement this week, Paramount agreed to add another $7.25 million to the funds that will be directed to shareholders, and Moonves will contribute $2.5 million. Another $6 million from Paramount will be spent on programs related to sexual harassment and assault.
A lawyer for Moonves did not respond to a request for comment. The agreement comes four years after Moonves, once considered a media kingmaker, resigned from his perch atop CBS after several women accused him of sexual misconduct in stories published by the New Yorker.
Shortly after, the company launched its own investigation, found cause for firing Moonves and denied him millions in severance. His lawyer at the time said the former executive “vehemently denies any nonconsensual sexual relations and cooperated extensively and fully with investigators” for the company.
According to the New York probe, a Los Angeles police captain, unnamed in the report, left a voice mail for a CBS executive saying someone had filed a sexual assault complaint against Moonves with the Hollywood station. The captain then shared an unredacted police report, including the accuser’s identity, which ended up in the hands of Moonves and other executives. Those executives spent months trying to suppress the news of the allegation and pressured the accuser not to take her story to the media, the report alleges.
Meanwhile, Moonves in public described #MeToo as a “watershed moment” and cast himself as sympathetic to the movement. “I think it’s important that a company’s culture will not allow for this. And that is the thing that is far reaching,” he said at an event in late November 2017. “There’s a lot we’re learning. There’s a lot we didn’t know.” He approved the firing of star anchor Charlie Rose after a Washington Post investigation detailed allegations of sexual harassment against him.
The state attorney general’s report noted that CBS around the same time filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission stating that its business depended on Moonves, without disclosing it knew about the police report and the impact it could have as “risk factors.” The report alleges that CBS executives knew claims against Moonves could pose problems for the company. Weeks before the first New Yorker story, the company authorized communications executive Gil Schwartz, who allegedly knew about the brewing crisis, to sell shares that were then worth more than $8 million.
The New York attorney general’s office said such actions violated state investor protection laws. Company stock prices slumped after news of the alleged misconduct by Moonves appeared in the media. The report also stated that the day Moonves resigned, the captain sent a text a company executive, saying “we worked so hard to try to avoid this day. I am so completely sad.”
Razzan Nakhlawi contributed to this report. | 2022-11-03T19:32:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Les Moonves harassment scandal fuels insider trading and police probes - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/11/03/cbs-les-moonves-insider-trading/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/11/03/cbs-les-moonves-insider-trading/ |
Shepard Smith will depart CNBC after his show is canceled
Network is axing “The News with Shepard Smith,” an evening show anchored by the Fox News veteran
Shepard Smith in a Fox News studio in 2017, before he left the network and joined CNBC. (Richard Drew/AP)
Shepard Smith, who joined CNBC in summer 2020 after a long career as a Fox News anchor, will no longer appear on the financial news channel after the evening news program he anchors is canceled at the end of November, the network announced Thursday.
“The News with Shepard Smith,” which airs at 7 p.m. weekdays, was meant to be a “nonpartisan” daily rundown of the country’s biggest news stories, which CNBC hoped would rival evening newscasts on the broadcast networks that have millions of viewers. But despite regularly landing interviews with key newsmakers, Smith’s show struggled to capture even a fraction of that audience.
Instead, the network will pivot the evening time slot back to its core product — business news and personal finance — after Smith’s show wraps up. “Decisions like these are not arrived at hastily or taken lightly,” CNBC President KC Sullivan said in a message to employees on Thursday that was obtained by The Washington Post. “I believe this decision will ultimately help to strengthen our brand and the value we provide our audiences.”
A network employee with knowledge of the situation said the decision was not a cost-cutting move, though Smith earned a large salary as an evening news anchor.
Smith came to the network with a reputation as a down-the-middle anchor, which he honed during a 23-year career at the Fox News Channel. He abruptly resigned from the network in late 2019, denying that his departure was precipitated by occasional clashes with his colleagues on the right-leaning network.
He was recruited from Fox by longtime CNBC President Mark Hoffman, who left the network earlier this fall, Smith told The Post in a 2020 interview. Smith held discussions with other cable news networks before deciding to join CNBC, where his newscast replaced reruns of “Shark Tank” when it premiered that September.
But Smith’s stature in the industry did not generate big ratings for CNBC. Between June and September this year, his show was the 52nd most-watched on cable news, bringing in an average of 206,000 viewers nightly. Still, the network said the show has doubled CNBC’s viewership in the 7 p.m. slot, attracting a relatively wealthy audience that advertisers prized.
“The quality journalism Shep and his team delivered each weeknight was exemplary and not lost on us or our 7 p.m. audience,” Sullivan wrote. “At a time when misinformation and disinformation is rampant, The News succeeded in providing audiences with the clearest understanding of the facts.”
The network president said CNBC will look to identify new opportunities for the approximately 20 members of Smith’s staff. A replacement show focused on business news will be launched in the 7 p.m. slot at the beginning of 2023.
Smith could not immediately be reached for comment. | 2022-11-03T19:32:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Shepard Smith will depart CNBC after his show is canceled - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/11/03/shepard-smith-cnbc-canceled/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/11/03/shepard-smith-cnbc-canceled/ |
Fairfax police investigate 6 reported shootings in Comptons Corner area
No people were struck in any of the shootings, which occurred between Oct. 23 and Oct. 30.
Fairfax County police said they are investigating six reported shootings — including two in which bullets flew into occupied homes — in the Comptons Corner area during the past two weeks that they believe to be related.
No people were struck in any of the shootings, which occurred between Oct. 23 and Oct. 30, police said Thursday in a news release. Police said they believe the shootings are related because of the proximity of the incidents. Each occurred during the evening hours.
Someone shot into occupied homes in the 7100 block of Ordway Road on Oct. 23 and the nearby 6900 block of Hovingham Court on Oct. 28, police said. People heard shots fired in the other three incidents in the 7100 block of Ordway Road — though no damage was found — and a bullet struck the door of a moving car at the intersection of Ordway Road and Compton Road on Oct. 29, according to police.
Detectives are continuing to investigate the shootings, police said. Authorities said people who have information on the incidents should call the department at 703-691-2131. | 2022-11-03T19:32:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Fairfax police investigate 6 reported shootings in Comptons Corner area - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/fairfax-shootings-comptons-corner/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/fairfax-shootings-comptons-corner/ |
A voter casts a ballot at the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center in D.C. during the June primary election. (Julia Nikhinson for The Washington Post)
The most heated race on the ballot in D.C.'s election this month sets up an unusual competition: Three sitting council members are running for two spots.
Two of them, Anita Bonds (D) and Elissa Silverman (I), are incumbent at-large members. A third, Kenyan R. McDuffie, has represented Ward 5 as a Democrat for the past decade, but left the party to run for an at-large seat as an independent after he was ruled unqualified to run for attorney general in the Democratic primary.
That has made for an election that’s dividing D.C. voters in unusual ways. With three sitting council members running, plus five more challengers in the mix, some of the ordinary alliances and factions — liberals versus moderates, longtime residents versus newcomers, supporters of the establishment versus agitators for change — don’t quite apply. And some voters’ underlying concerns about the future racial makeup of the council, as well as a recent campaign finance complaint against Silverman, have further complicated the at-large contest, which has garnered increased attention with less than a week to go until Election Day.
“I’m not sure it’s a race about the political differences,” said George Derek Musgrove, a D.C. historian. “What you really get is, ‘Kenyan is a nice guy and asked for my vote, and I like that one bill he sponsored a while back.’ They say the same thing about Elissa.”
As they consider their two choices, residents are parsing the different votes that the members have taken on the council, weighing the candidates’ backgrounds and identities and mulling the strategic considerations in a pick-two race.
The three council members have tried to define themselves for those voters. Bonds, a council member since 2012, brings up her history; she has been involved in the city’s politics and occasionally in national Democratic politics for 50 years, and particularly focuses on senior citizens and longtime D.C. residents.
Anita Bonds, enigma of the D.C. Council
Silverman, a two-term incumbent who has been a champion of left-leaning D.C. activists, boasts of her policy achievements for workers, including the creation of the city’s paid parental leave benefit and generous pandemic unemployment benefits, as well as the pointed questions she asks of mayoral administration officials, harking back to her former career as a journalist.
McDuffie, who chairs the council’s business committee, pitches himself as a more moderate vote on issues like taxation and business regulation, as well as a leader in focusing the city on racial inequity. He championed a law that created a multimillion-dollar violence interrupter program as a supplement to traditional policing and another that funded “baby bonds” that low-income children can cash in once they become adults.
Independent challengers Graham McLaughlin, an advocate for businesses with a history of hands-on help for people leaving prison, and Karim D. Marshall, a former council staffer who has critiqued the council’s record of overseeing faltering government agencies, have also racked up some significant endorsements and donation totals, even in a crowded field. Marshall brought a campaign finance complaint against Silverman that recently resulted in her being fined by the city. Silverman has appealed the ruling, and Marshall continues to pursue further ethics charges against her.
They’re joined on the ballot by independent Fred Hill, Republican Giuseppe Niosi and D.C. Statehood Green candidate David Schwartzman.
D.C. at-large hopefuls go after incumbents in debate
As the only Democrat in the race, Bonds holds a tremendous advantage in a deep-blue city, and she got a warm reception at a meeting of the Ward 7 Democrats last month. As she began her remarks talking about her history — “I can talk about half a century,” she said — advisory neighborhood commissioner Dorothy Douglas turned to the person next to her to fill her in, in a loud whisper, on Bonds’s role as a confidante of longtime mayor Marion Barry.
On social media, Bonds said, she sees comments about change on the council. “They’re talking about the status quo and about how the incumbents, maybe their time is up,” Bonds said to the crowd. “I’m saying to you: Don’t listen to that … You don’t give up on your government.”
Bonds, who chairs the council’s housing committee, did not mention the recent scathing federal report on D.C.'s public housing, which found that poor conditions and management have left many units vacant, but did boast of the District’s spending on repairs to public housing and success in reducing homelessness.
Some attendees said they are pleased with Bonds’s performance on the high-profile issue.
Donald Isaac, pastor at Ward 8’s Southeast Tabernacle Baptist Church, pointed to D.C.'s billion-dollar spending on housing production during Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s two terms, and the recent promise of up to $202,000 in down payment assistance for Washingtonians to buy homes.
“In a city as wealthy as we are, we have an obligation to set an example to the nation … I like the city. I like the direction. I like the diversity,” Isaac said. Knowing that Bonds chairs the housing committee, he said she will get one of his two votes, and he is still mulling who else to pick.
Others have criticized Bonds on housing, which Musgrove said she’s likely insulated from due to the popularity of Democrats in the city. “The whole D.C. Housing [Authority] scandal is her bailiwick,” Musgrove said. “But it won’t hurt her because she has a D next to her name.”
Bonds has promised to work on legislation to revise the housing authority; last month, the council passed an emergency bill introduced by Silverman to quickly impose new training requirements on the D.C. Housing Authority’s board members. Like Bonds, she has promised a more comprehensive measure in the future.
Alex Dodds, a leader in the left-leaning volunteer group D.C. for Democracy, which is campaigning for Silverman, sees clear policy differences between her preferred candidate and McDuffie. Silverman favored a successful proposal last year to raise income taxes on the city’s highest earners while McDuffie opposed it, and Silverman voted to stop the Bowser administration’s program of dismantling homeless tent encampments and promising expedited housing assistance for the occupants while McDuffie did not.
“To me it’s really a question of whether we are siding with people or siding with money,” Dodds said. “I want the council to side with people who do not have money. That’s just really the central question to me.”
Silverman has long been a favorite of liberal activist groups and a target of business leaders, while McDuffie has been viewed as a moderate and a friend to businesses, as evidenced in the corporate donations pouring into his campaign. McDuffie, who is not taking public financing, has raised more than $605,000, much of it from companies and individuals who gave the $1,000 maximum. Silverman, who opted into the public financing program in which donations are capped and matched by the city, has raised more than $440,000, including public funds.
Emblematic of the stakes: Outgoing D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine, who has endorsed Silverman in the race, recently posted a video on Twitter harshly decrying Bonds for her housing oversight and McDuffie for his corporate donors.
“Ms. Bonds has completely failed tenants in the District of Columbia,” Racine said. On McDuffie, he added, “Kenyan is being backed by big-money interests … who simply want their way at the city council.”
But as they weigh their choices, some voters have found it challenging to neatly place Silverman and McDuffie along traditional liberal and moderate lines.
Silverman recently surprised some leftists by saying she favors increasing the size of the police department, and boasts of ways she helped businesses weather the pandemic. McDuffie’s best-known legislation — baby bonds, alternatives to police and explicit governmental focus on racial inequity — is all liberal.
McDuffie has emphasized his roots as a native Washingtonian; Silverman grew up in Maryland. “The difference between me and my primary opponent in this race is that I have an intimate understanding of the city and its people and its neighborhoods,” McDuffie said at a rally outside Eastern Market to about 100 supporters.
Some of Silverman’s detractors say she lacks support among Black Washingtonians, including China Dickerson, who advised the last candidate to challenge Silverman, Dionne Bussey-Reeder, and is now supporting McDuffie.
Indeed, four years ago, the only places where Bussey-Reeder tallied more votes than Silverman were wards 7 and 8, the city’s poorest sections with sizable Black majorities. Silverman responded by pointing out the endorsements she’s received from unions for construction workers, grocery workers and transit workers. “There’s a reason why all those workers, who are largely Black workers, are supporting me and not anyone else in this race: because I fight for them,” she said.
McLaughlin, another White candidate who has long belonged to Black churches and had roommates who were leaving incarceration, has pointed to his donors and campaign volunteers east of the river as evidence of his citywide appeal. Observers have praised McLaughlin for running a savvy citywide campaign for a first-time candidate.
Some Black leaders have been among those who heaped criticism on Silverman after the city’s Office of Campaign Finance fined her more than $6,000 last month for using public campaign financing money to conduct a poll in the Ward 3 primary race, which she was not running in. Prominent anti-violence activist Ronald Moten organized a protest outside the city government building asking her to drop out of the at-large race, and McDuffie and Marshall have seized on it as a campaign talking point.
Silverman has insisted that she did not violate campaign finance law and requested a full hearing before the Board of Elections. On Friday, the board will hold a hearing to address a complaint from Silverman that the Office of Campaign Finance had given her less time to respond than it originally promised and had expanded its investigation beyond Marshall’s original complaint that she’d illegally coordinated with other campaigns. Marshall plans to escalate the complaint against Silverman, saying he wants to refer the issue to federal authorities.
Silverman, meanwhile, has been knocking on doors and hosting meet-and-greets across the city, including on a recent Sunday east of the Anacostia, where most neighborhoods are low-income and majority-Black.
In the Skyland neighborhood, Jean Poitevien told Silverman that his chief complaint is “Crime, crime, crime. What do you recommend? You hear shootings all the time.”
Silverman, citing her reputation as a watchdog of city agencies, said she would like the council’s public safety committee to review specific incidents of gun violence to pressure the police department to make arrests in those cases. Poitevien, whose professional work includes helping businesses obtain licenses and permits, was skeptical.
“It’s never been the agencies themselves,” he said. Silverman encouraged him to email her about the specific problems. He did. Days later, he said he still wasn’t sure who to vote for, and whether any of the candidates would bring change. | 2022-11-03T19:53:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C.'s heated at-large council race is an unusual competition - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/dc-at-large-race/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/dc-at-large-race/ |
Dwyane Wade defends trans daughter, blasts ex-wife’s objection to name change
Former National Basketball Association star Dwyane Wade, seen in February 2020, filed in August to legally change his trans daughter's name and assigned gender. (Wilfredo Lee/AP)
Dwyane Wade on Thursday fired back in a social media post against his ex-wife, Siohvaughn Funches-Wade, who filed a petition this week objecting to the former NBA star’s August court filing to legally change their trans daughter’s name and assigned gender.
Funches-Wade’s objection, filed Tuesday in a Los Angeles County court, requests that their 15-year-old daughter, Zaya, “make this monumental decision for themselves” when she turns 18, the “age of majority.” She also claims that Wade stands to “profit” from Zaya’s name and gender change with contracts and marketing opportunities through companies like Disney and “may be pressuring or incentivizing the minor child with lucrative financial opportunities.”
“These are serious and harmful allegations that have hurt our children,” Wade responded in a statement posted to his Instagram. “While none of us are surprised by Siohvaughn’s attempt to fight Zaya’s identity and her unwavering attempt to drag my name through the mud, I’m very disappointed that she continuously find ways of centering herself and HER needs, without regard to her children.”
Representatives for Wade did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Wade and Funches-Wade, who were married from 2002 to 2010, share two children together: Zaya and a 20-year-old son, Zaire Wade.
Dwyane Wade married actress Gabrielle Union in 2014. In recent years, the couple have spoken openly about their support for Zaya’s gender identity.
“We are proud parents of a child in the LGBTQ+ community and we’re proud allies as well,” Wade said during an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in 2020. “We’re just trying to figure out as much information as we can to make sure that we give our child the best opportunity to be her best self.”
A hearing to resolve the case of Zaya’s official name and gender change is set for Dec. 12. | 2022-11-03T20:07:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Dwyane Wade defends trans daughter Zaya in blistering Instagram post - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/11/03/dwyane-wade-zaya-daughter/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/11/03/dwyane-wade-zaya-daughter/ |
Biden fears for democracy. It might not matter in the midterms.
President Biden leaves the podium after speaking at Washington's Union Station on Wednesday. (Alex Brandon/AP)
Sometimes, politicians actually say what they mean. Doing so isn’t always convenient for the official, and these moments aren’t guaranteed to galvanize the public. But the rare occasions when political calculation falls away are always revealing.
“Just a few days ago, a little before 2:30 a.m. in the morning, a man smashed the back windows and broke into the home of the speaker of the House of Representatives, the third-highest-ranking official in America,” Biden said soberly. “He carried in his backpack zip ties, duct tape, rope and a hammer. As he told the police, he had come looking for Nancy Pelosi to take her hostage, to interrogate her, to threaten to break her kneecaps. … The assailant ended up using a hammer to smash [Paul Pelosi’s] skull.” | 2022-11-03T20:11:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Biden fears for democracy. It might not matter in the midterms. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/biden-democracy-threatened-midterms/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/biden-democracy-threatened-midterms/ |
Milwaukee mayor fires official who sent ballots under fake names to lawmaker
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson (D), seen here last month, announced the firing on Thursday. (Stringer/Reuters)
MADISON, Wis. — Milwaukee’s mayor fired a top elections official after learning she had sent military ballots under fictitious names to a state lawmaker who has questioned how elections are run in Wisconsin, the mayor said Thursday.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson (D) announced he had fired Kimberly Zapata, the deputy elections director for the city, after discovering she had sent the ballots in an apparent attempt to show committing such a crime was possible.
Elections officials and prosecutors are looking into the incident, which centered on absentee ballots meant for members of the military. Unlike almost every other state, Wisconsin for years has allowed service members to cast ballots without registering to vote. A state website permits people to order military ballots without providing proof of residency.
State Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R) — the chairwoman of the Wisconsin State Assembly’s elections committee, who has amplified false claims about elections — announced Monday she had received three military ballots under what appeared to be fake names at her home. Brandtjen turned the ballots over to the Waukesha County sheriff’s office and disclosed what happened in a news release.
Within days, Johnson learned Zapata had sent the ballots and fired her.
“This has every appearance of being an egregious, blatant violation of trust, and this matter is now in the hands of law enforcement,” Johnson said during a short news conference Thursday morning.
Obama says democracy 'may not survive' if Arizona Republicans win
Zapata used the state’s online portal for ordering absentee ballots that is available to anyone and did not use any systems that are available only to election workers, said Claire Woodall-Vogg, Milwaukee’s elections director.
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm’s office issued a statement Thursday saying charges would probably be issued within days. Zapata’s attorney, Michael Maistelman, declined to comment.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported on the firing of Zapata, who has worked for the city for seven years.
Election officials said they have not seen signs of others ordering absentee ballots under fake names and emphasized that the incident involving Zapata was identified quickly.
Ann Jacobs, a Democrat who sits on the state’s bipartisan elections commission, criticized the action and said she did not believe it pointed to a systemic problem. Anyone who tried to order the number of fake absentee ballots that would be needed to change election results would be quickly caught, she said.
“You’re not going to be able to go in and create 20,000 ballots to be sent to your home and not have that be flagged,” she said Monday, before Zapata was publicly identified. “There’s a reason why this doesn’t happen, and the reason it doesn’t happen is a felony is a pretty big deterrent. And to do it on any scale where you could actually affect an election would be massive and would be seen and you would be caught trying to do that.”
The three ballots were sent to Brandtjen’s home in suburban Milwaukee under the names Holly Adams, Holly Brandtjen and Holly Jones and marked as military ballots. In a news release Monday, Brandtjen said she received them late last week and determined after making inquiries that the voters probably did not exist.
“I believe someone was trying to point out how easy it is to get military ballots in Wisconsin,” she said in a statement. “Feeling shocked about this situation is an understatement because it demonstrates stolen valor from those who protect this nation. I think it’s sad that people feel they have to break the law to get the attention of the legislature.”
Brandtjen did not return a phone call and did not say in her news release whether she wanted to change the law to require military members to register to vote. Republicans control both houses of the legislature by wide margins and are expected to take up a suite of voting bills in the session that begins in January.
The situation echoes an episode from the summer, in which conservative activist Harry Wait requested ballots in other people’s names and asked that they be sent to his home. He said he requested the ballots to expose flaws in Wisconsin’s voting system but he now faces criminal charges.
Wait this week said he had nothing to do with the incident involving military ballots but said he believed whoever did it was a patriot. He said he had not previously been aware that service members do not need to register to vote in Wisconsin.
“If I knew this, I would have done it myself to expose it,” he said. | 2022-11-03T20:11:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Milwaukee mayor fires official who sent ballots under fake names to lawmaker - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/fake-ballots-military-wisconsin-milwaukee/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/fake-ballots-military-wisconsin-milwaukee/ |
First, she must oust Rep. Chris Pappas, who is seeking his third term in a New Hampshire swing district where experience is top of mind for many voters
Republican House candidate Karoline Leavitt hugs an attendee at an event in Londonderry, N.H., last month. (Cheryl Senter for The Washington Post)
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Karoline Leavitt has had to learn what it means to speak up with conviction around those who disagree with her opinion.
As one of a small number of conservatives at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, she scorned her professors in the college newspaper, accusing them of bringing liberal bias into the classroom. As an aspiring broadcast reporter, she complained that the news media was treating then-candidate Donald Trump unfairly in 2016. Four years later, she earned a spot in the Trump administration’s press shop.
At 25, Leavitt defied expectations by winning the first hurdle in her maiden campaign, topping a more moderate Republican in the primary to represent her hometown in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District. Her open embrace of Trump led the top two House Republican leaders to endorse her opponent in the hopes that a more pragmatic candidate could win the general-election race.
Leavitt is now hoping to again challenge the norm, this time on Capitol Hill. If she wins, she will become the youngest woman ever elected to Congress and one of the first members from Generation Z.
First, she must oust Rep. Chris Pappas, 42, a Democrat seeking his third term. In this swing district, Pappas is considered vulnerable, with history showing that the sitting president’s party tends to lose House seats in midterm elections. If Pappas wins reelection, he would be the first politician to win three consecutive terms representing the 1st District since Republican John E. Sununu’s streak two decades ago.
Both candidates are trying to animate their base — and fight for a winning share of independent voters — by presenting opposing viewpoints on myriad issues, including inflation, crime and abortion. While both candidates are speaking about the same issues, albeit in vastly different ways, the race in turn has drawn focus on the question of experience. Several voters who spoke to The Washington Post questioned whether experience is a necessity when high prices continue to affect their fiscal decision-making.
Independent voters such as Debbie Lambert, who is in her 60s, said that age shouldn’t be a factor but that it’s a consideration she can’t ignore. Though she was leaning toward voting for Pappas — she said Leavitt’s position on abortion “scares” her — she was still giving Leavitt a look last month at a Manchester grocery store, hoping to hear more about her positions on Social Security as she prepares to retire.
“I guess it shouldn’t matter, but it does a little bit,” Lambert said of the experience factor. “That’s why I want to hear what she has to say.”
Donna Zannoni, 74 and also an independent, is siding with Leavitt. She wants to retire but says she can’t afford with prices so high. After attending a Leavitt event at Estey’s Country Store in her hometown of Londonderry, Zannoni described Leavitt as “feisty.” She said that is exactly the characteristic a new member of Congress should have to “fight all the harder” against what she sees as the GOP leadership’s more moderate stances.
“If it was me, get rid of all the old people,” Zannoni said. “You need young blood in there.”
A Gen Z conservative rarely fits in
Leavitt said she decided to run for Congress when she saw President Biden and congressional Democrats undoing Trump administration policies. Leavitt also said there were no conservative voices from her generation with nuanced perspectives that she could really look up to.
“I wanted to be part of that change and part of the movement that brings young Americans onto our team, because the reality is the liberal Democrat policies of this administration and Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi and my Democrat opponent are making life completely unaffordable for Generation Z Americans,” she said in an interview at the Londonderry event. “My goal, as a Generation Z conservative, is to speak that truth and bring people to our side of the aisle.”
Leavitt was born and raised in Rockingham County, N.H., working at her family’s ice cream shop in Atkinson during the summer. She attended Catholic high school in nearby Massachusetts, where, she told the podcast “The Catholic Current” last year, her commitment to her religious teachings and public service was fostered.
She attended Saint Anselm College on a softball scholarship and had her sights set on fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a broadcast reporter. Leavitt became disillusioned by the job, she has said, as she watched “the liberal media” attack Trump. Upon graduation in 2019, Leavitt interned at the White House and worked her way up to the job of assistant press secretary, fighting “against the biased mainstream media,” her campaign website says.
After the 2020 election, Leavitt relocated down Pennsylvania Avenue to work as communications director for Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), helping Stefanik as she campaigned to replace Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as GOP conference chair.
As the 2022 elections approached, it was no secret on Capitol Hill that Leavitt, then 23, had higher ambitions and was exploring a run for Congress. Leavitt was encouraged by Stefanik, who as chair has worked to recruit more women to the male-dominated GOP conference. Stefanik was once the youngest woman elected to the House, at age 3o in 2015, before New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her House race in 2018 at 29.
Launching her campaign in July 2021, Leavitt was not considered a serious contender by others in the party. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) viewed her positions, including pushing the falsehood that Biden was an illegitimately elected president, as too extreme compared with fellow Trump administration official Matt Mowers, who lost to Pappas in 2020 by five percentage points. Both endorsed Mowers in the primary, and the Congressional Leadership Fund, a political action committee linked to McCarthy and focused on backing more-electable candidates, spent $1.3 million to boost him.
The efforts were not enough. GOP voters favored Leavitt over Mowers by over 10 percentage points in the September primary. According to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan group tracking money in politics, PACs aligned with McCarthy and Scalise have since donated thousands to her campaign, while the Congressional Leadership Fund and the National Republican Congressional Committee have invested millions in ads to defeat Pappas. Leavitt’s campaign brought in $900,000 from largely small-dollar donors in the state in the weeks after her win, according to her campaign.
But Leavitt faces an uphill battle to convince undecided voters in a state that Trump lost twice that she is her own individual. In the first debate this cycle, Leavitt skirted around a question about whether she supports Trump’s suggestion that he would pardon rioters who overtook the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “That’s a hypothetical question,” she responded. “And President Trump is not on the ballot this election cycle.”
Leavitt has since softened her views on key issues, including the 2020 election results. Earlier this year she tweeted that “Joe Biden absolutely did NOT legitimately win.” But in a recent interview she said Biden was the “legitimate” president. When pressed on whether she would have voted to certify the election had she been in office on Jan. 6, 2021, Leavitt said “probably not” after reiterating her belief that “fraud and irregularities” occurred.
After embracing Trump’s Make America Great Again movement in the primary, she removed such references on her social media pages as she entered the general election. Someone visiting her social media pages or website late last month might not know that Trump endorsed her.
Asked whether her MAGA background is too strong for a swing district, Leavitt said that her fiscally conservative approach meets the moment and that Republican and independent voters are looking to the GOP to deal with the economy and high gas prices. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up.
“New Hampshire is the ‘Live Free or Die’ state,” she said. “So we have a freedom-loving mentality here that I think exceeds across the political spectrum. Republicans, Democrats, independents — we value our freedom.”
“It’s my job to reverse the tide and ensure our ‘Live Free or Die’ values are being brought and met in Washington,” Leavitt said.
Economy remains front and center
Standing before dozens of people outside Estey’s Country Store, Leavitt accused Pappas of voting for spending bills that are contributing to inflation and “crushing” small businesses. She said working-class families will have to choose “between heating and eating this winter” because Democrats have yet to prioritize fracking and oil drilling.
To combat rising prices, Leavitt proposed cutting funding for 87,000 new IRS agents. (Democrats recently boosted funding to the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act so they could replace staffers expected to retire over the next decade, but it does not call explicitly for hiring 87,000 agents.) Republicans have called the hires an example of Democratic federal overreach, and Leavitt made the unsupported claim that the hires would help the IRS “snoop into the bank accounts of small businesses.”
During her first debate with Pappas, Leavitt suggested reevaluating how much funding is going to Ukrainians fighting a Russian invasion. “Mr. Pappas supports dealing more of your tax dollars to send to the country of Ukraine when we are facing 8.2 percent inflation,” she said.
Pappas attacked Leavitt’s stance on Social Security, citing statements she made earlier this year about being open to raising the retirement age and privatizing the program. Pappas’s campaign, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the House Majority PAC have invested roughly $8.3 million in attack ads, with some featuring the interview remarks.
In response, Leavitt said she “will always protect Social Security” but is against “trillions and trillions of new spending that is adding to inflation and is bankrupting your generation, my generation,” arguing that taxes will need to go up if the program is not overhauled in some way.
Her lack of specificity on some policy issues is something Pappas is using to draw contrasts around their political experience. In an interview, Pappas said his record proves he has worked across the aisle to pass consequential measures, such as the infrastructure bill.
“We strengthen our democracy by coming together and finding solutions to rising prices. We strengthen our democracy when we protect people’s personal freedoms and ensure that people have the right to make their own health-care decisions,” he said. “I think my opponent is more driven by the national media attention and desire to attack Democrats. That’s not going to help solve problems.”
Some people close to Leavitt say it is unfair to point at her lack of specificity when discussing policies as a sign that she is unprepared for the job, noting many Republicans, including incumbents, have not proposed specific policy prescriptions before a potential GOP majority debates what bills to pass.
But it has struck some voters as evidence of inexperience. Mike Bouchard, 64, a Democrat who said he is not enthused by Pappas, said he will stick with the congressman because Leavitt is “very, very young. That’s a big job for a 25-year-old kid.”
But Republican Steve Vargus, 41, said the way Leavitt comports herself and the conviction she displays is what first caught his attention when he saw her do a Fox News interview this year. He said he thinks Leavitt will not only bring that same passionate appeal to Congress but also use it to hold leaders in the GOP conference to account.
“We just need change,” Vargus said. “People have just been in there for too long. They get too comfortable for being in there for too long. That’s why we need young blood like Karoline in there.”
His young daughter, Layla, went up to Leavitt during the Londonderry event to ask her whether she ever thought she would get this far in the race.
“I did. I believed in myself. But it’s hard sometimes,” Leavitt told the third-grader. “There are a lot of challenges, a lot of mean things people say. But if you believe in yourself and you just focus, then it doesn’t matter what people say.” | 2022-11-03T20:11:58Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Karoline Leavitt wants to be Gen Z’s conservative voice in Congress - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/karoline-leavitt-republican-gen-z/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/karoline-leavitt-republican-gen-z/ |
Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to supporters in Jerusalem on Wednesday. (Oren Ziv/AP)
Objectively speaking, Israel might be stronger than ever before in its 74-year history. Its military is all but unchallengeable by other Middle Eastern countries. Arab countries increasingly either recognize it diplomatically or deal with it as if they did. Even Lebanon, whose government is under the influence of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah party, has made an agreement with Israel over offshore natural gas drilling rights. At home, the country’s tech-driven economy generated per capita output of $51,000 last year — the 25th-highest globally, according to the World Bank.
And yet, in national elections this week, many Israelis voted as if none of this were true. Taking counsel of their insecurities, they handed a parliamentary majority to parties aligned with the right-wing former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which campaigned as Israelis’ best protectors against Palestinian violence and Iran’s nuclear program.
The defeat of centrist Yair Lapid’s coalition, which ranged from anti-Netanyahu conservatives to Islamist Israeli Arabs, can only trouble Israel’s friends abroad, including the United States. This is true not only because it all but certainly spells the end of an already improbable two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which Mr. Lapid had backed, at least in principle. It is also true because of Mr. Netanyahu’s record. In his previous terms, Mr. Netanyahu was indicted on corruption charges and played on internal U.S. partisan divisions, undercutting President Barack Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran and cozying up to President Donald Trump. (To his credit, Mr. Netanyahu quickly congratulated Joe Biden on his 2020 victory, annoying Mr. Trump.)
The greatest concern, though, is the likely inclusion in Mr. Netanyahu’s parliamentary majority of ultra-right-wing politicians. Some, such as the Jewish Power party’s Itamar Ben-Gvir, have roots in Kach, the now-defunct anti-Arab party founded by Meir Kahane, a political figure so virulently extreme that Israel banned the party and the U.S. State Department labeled it (until earlier this year) a terrorist organization. In 2007, an Israeli court found Mr. Ben-Gvir guilty of supporting a terrorist organization and inciting racism. Yet today, he and Bezalel Smotrich, a religious extremist notorious for his homophobic statements, control a political bloc that is on course to supply 14 of a 64-seat majority for Mr. Netanyahu in the 120-seat parliament.
Granted, that majority is magnified by Israel’s quirky electoral system, not reflective of the 4.7 million votes cast, which were split almost precisely evenly between pro- and anti-Netanyahu parties. The alliance between Mr. Ben-Gvir and Mr. Smotrich enjoyed the support of only 10.8 percent. But for divisions within, and tactical errors by, the Israeli left, the election might have ended differently. Rocket attacks and other violent provocations by Iranian-backed forces such as Islamic Jihad in Gaza also played into the hands of Mr. Netanyahu and the ultra-right.
There is a slim chance that the apparent right-wing coalition — like others in the past — will fall apart. Though it’s also highly unlikely, Mr. Netanyahu might yet break his campaign pledge never to form a coalition with the National Unity party, one of Mr. Lapid’s erstwhile conservative coalition partners, which won 12 seats in the election, instead of the ultra-right.
Nevertheless, the sobering reality is that Mr. Ben-Gvir has been mainstreamed. And, after a four-year stalemate in Israeli politics that included five general elections, Mr. Netanyahu, 73, has won a seemingly durable return to the job he previously held for a combined 15 years. He did so not by resisting illiberal trends in Israeli society but by manipulating them — in part because he calculated that far-right politicians could help him get the corruption case against him dismissed. The price of Mr. Ben-Gvir’s and Mr. Smotrich’s support might be control over key ministries, including the one that directs the Israeli police, which Mr. Ben-Gvir has said he wants for himself.
For the Biden administration, the rise of such figures in a major U.S. ally raises dilemmas. While appropriately reserving judgment until the actual formation of the new Israeli government, the State Department’s spokesman, Ned Price, referred to both the “shared interests” and the “shared values” upon which the U.S.-Israeli relationship rests, expressing the hope that "all Israeli government officials will continue to share the values of an open, democratic society, including tolerance and respect for all in civil society, particularly for minority groups.” This obvious allusion to Mr. Ben-Gvir laid down an important marker for Mr. Netanyahu; nor should the administration rule out a U.S. diplomatic boycott of Mr. Ben-Gvir if he joins the cabinet.
No matter how repugnant the rhetoric of Mr. Netanyahu’s new allies, they — and he — should be judged on what they do with the power Israeli voters conferred upon them. Soon enough, the once and future prime minister’s actions will show the priority he places on not only Israel’s democratic traditions but also its decades-long relationship with the United States. | 2022-11-03T20:29:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Israel election results in troubling turn toward illiberal democracy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/israel-elections-netanyahu-ben-gvir/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/israel-elections-netanyahu-ben-gvir/ |
A specter rises from the rhetoric of the 1970s: Scary NYC subways
New York Police Department (NYPD) officers enter a subway at a station in New York on May 25, 2022. (Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg)
There was a time when New York City was hopelessly crime-ridden, unfailingly dangerous and generally a blight on the Atlantic seaboard.
That time is not now, despite what you might have seen on Fox News.
It is true that crime has risen in the city, both over the past year and over the past several years. While the number of murders is down, violent crime overall is up 30 percent. But, as is the case with other places where crime has measurably increased, crime is still nowhere near what it was 30 years ago.
This is admittedly little consolation for victims of that crime, but it is worth noting in the context of rhetoric about crime. Over the past month, Fox News has run story after story after story about crime in New York, often focusing on the city’s subways. A search of the network’s website shows nearly 200 stories mentioning the city and the subway system over the past month alone. Few, if any, of them are about ridership. Instead, they focus on the relentless dangers subway riders purportedly face.
There are two reasons for this focus.
The first is that there have been alarming incidents of crime on the subway in recent weeks. As CNN’s John Miller put it last month, these “have a significant impact on the system and the psyche of its riders.” That’s particularly true given how tabloids like the New York Post have seized on such stories; its website has run nearly 1,000 stories mentioning the subway in the past month.
Then there’s the other reason: the long-standing role the New York subway has played in the public conversation about crime. When Bernard Goetz shot four young Black men who he said were trying to rob him on the train, it triggered a national debate about both race and responses to crime. When subway cars went from graffiti-covered to sparkling, it was hailed as a measure of how the city had finally begun reversing its high-profile crime problem. And this is setting aside the role played by “The Warriors.”
The most recent monthly data on crime in the subway system is for September. If we compare September to the same month in the prior four years, we see a pattern: a surge in criminal complaints in 2020 that has faded since. Crime (overall and the subset of violent crimes) were up over September 2019 but down relative to the first year of the pandemic.
That’s one month compared over time. CNN’s Miller notes that, year-to-date, subway crime is actually lower than it was in 2018 or 2019, albeit only slightly.
The rise in crime seen at the outset of the pandemic is likely in part a function of the concomitant decline in subway ridership. In September 2022, the average weekday ridership was down 41 percent relative to September 2019. In September 2020, though, it was down 72 percent. Ridership has a relationship to crime in that less-crowded trains and platforms are easier targets for criminal activity. As The Washington Post’s Justin George wrote in April, “empty stations and trains have created spaces where criminals feel emboldened, transit researchers say. In turn, crime increases dissuade new customers from entering stations.”
As we’ve noted in other contexts, Fox News’s recent coverage of crime has not been linked to actual criminal activity. This year, the network has repeatedly been far more likely to talk about crime on the subway compared to its two primary competitors, CNN or MSNBC. That includes a huge spike in October.
Investigative reporter Radley Balko, author of the newsletter “The Watch,” recently compared data on crime in New York City to crime in Oklahoma. “Fearmongering works,” he wrote, noting that Oklahomans were much less likely to point to crime as a problem than New Yorkers, despite having a higher crime rate. (This was recently a focus of a gubernatorial debate in the former state.) He then shared a number of responses — many centered on the subway as a marker of New York’s rampant crime.
Balko pointed out that one was at far, far more risk of dying in a car accident than being killed on the subway. But the exchange was telling. The subway is all-but-unique to New York in the American imagination, so whatever horrible thing occurs there is similarly entwined with the city — and its leadership and its politics and its demography. Grainy cable-news coverage of a crime on a subway is a visual shorthand for all of that, the sort of shorthand that doesn’t follow from footage of a random assault on the street.
Every article of this sort must necessarily include the disclaimer that any violent crime is bad and that contextualizing it is not excusing it. Such disclaimers are necessary precisely because incidents of crime are used to build visceral narratives about safety. Conservative outlets are covering crime so much because the midterm elections are looming. They are trying to apply the emotional response of seeing horrible crimes to the political conversation — and trying to frame criticism of that behavior as itself sympathetic to criminals.
As Balko said, fearmongering works. | 2022-11-03T20:29:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A specter rises from the rhetoric of the 1970s: scary NYC subways - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/crime-new-york-city-subways-fox-news/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/crime-new-york-city-subways-fox-news/ |
The mayor of a small Oregon town has been charged with attempted murder after he opened fire at a moving car with two children in it, police said.
The alleged road rage incident happened about 9 p.m. Monday when Dowen Jones, the mayor of Rufus, Ore., abruptly pulled over along a highway, raising another driver’s concerns, the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Rufus has fewer than 300 residents, according to the most recent census. It is about 100 miles east of Portland, along the Columbia River that marks the Oregon-Washington border. | 2022-11-03T20:51:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Rufus, Oregon mayor charged with attempted murder in alleged road rage incident - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/03/oregon-mayor-rufus-attempted-murder/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/03/oregon-mayor-rufus-attempted-murder/ |
The Checkup With Dr. Wen: Should the unvaccinated be excluded from family gatherings?
Over the past several months, many readers have asked a version of this question: Should they continue to ask that everyone gathering with them be vaccinated and perhaps even up-to-date with their booster shots?
Some have been more pointed: “I have no time or patience for people who are still (still!) unvaccinated,” Ellen from New York wrote. “My two cousins were excluded from holiday gatherings last year, but other family members are pressing for them to come to this year’s Thanksgiving dinner. Can I safely do this, considering we have quite a few elderly people attending?”
In the early months of the vaccine rollout, the data pointed strongly in favor of requiring vaccines because they were highly effective against infection and therefore against the spread of covid. In September 2021, I wrote a column with my colleague Sam Wang in which we equated the risk of remaining unvaccinated with the risk of driving intoxicated. At that point, vaccination reduced the risk of becoming infected by a factor of five, meaning if you were around an unvaccinated person compared to a vaccinated person, you were five times more likely to be around someone who had covid and could pass it on to you.
That’s why I favored vaccine requirements and advised readers that they could make their holiday gatherings safer by asking all those attending to be vaccinated. When boosters first came out, and initial data showed that they restored vaccine effectiveness against infection, I also thought requiring boosters made sense, because they substantially reduced the chance of someone becoming infected and therefore contagious to others.
Circumstances have changed. We now know that while being up-to-date with boosters continues to protect against severe disease, immunity against infection wanes in a matter of weeks. In addition, the omicron subvariants are partially immune-evasive, and the effectiveness against symptomatic infection is not high even during the period of optimal vaccine protection.
One study, published in JAMA in May, found that during the time of omicron predominance, vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic infection after two months was only 29 percent in children ages 5 to 11. It was just 17 percent in adolescents.
Another study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in July, reported that there was essentially no difference in protection against infection between unvaccinated adults and people who received two vaccine doses six or more months prior. A third dose restored effectiveness to 52 percent, but, as other studies have demonstrated, this protection is likely short-lived.
It’s important to note that none of these findings should dissuade people from getting vaccinated. Rather, we need to be clear about what the covid vaccines do. They are very good at protecting us from hospitalization and death, which is a remarkable scientific success. But, as we learned from omicron, the vaccines are not so good at protecting us from contracting covid.
There’s another reason the likelihood of infection is no longer so different between the unvaccinated and the vaccinated: A large majority of both groups have had covid. Those who previously contracted covid still benefit from vaccination, as hybrid immunity appears to afford the strongest and most durable protection (indeed, the NEJM study found that prior infection plus three doses of the vaccine was 77 percent effective against infection). But it’s hard to make the case that someone still unvaccinated — who has almost certainly had covid — poses a greater danger to others than a vaccinated person.
My advice to Ellen is that her unvaccinated cousins can attend Thanksgiving this year. To make it safer, she could ask that everyone — vaccinated or not — take a rapid test just before arriving. Other measures, such as improving ventilation by holding some portion of the get-together outdoors and opening doors and windows, will also help.
And people who are feeling unwell should not attend, as they could be infected with something other than covid and sicken guests just the same.
“We would like to have friends who would be traveling from an international city to visit us in our home. How can we remain safe from covid and still welcome them after their long journey? We both are elderly and vaccinated. They’ve had some covid shots but generally don’t wear masks. We do not want covid. We would like to host them in our home. Your suggestions?” — Judy from Hawaii
Would your visitors be willing to wear masks during their travels and for a few days before — essentially to have a short quarantine ahead of their trip during which they limit exposure and do not visit others, maskless, in indoor settings? If so (and if they make sure to wear an N95 or equivalent mask during these periods), have them take a rapid test just before seeing you. These steps should reduce the risk of them being asymptomatic covid carriers who could infect your family.
“I have been avoiding going into restaurants, but as the pandemic is ongoing, I am realizing that this is probably not feasible long term, especially as the colder months are upon us. Can you please give me some guidance? Is there a safer way to go about this? My husband and I are 61 and 59, and we have been fortunate to have avoided getting covid thus far. We mask at the gym and in crowded places, but socialize unmasked in small group settings. I am also a kindergarten teacher and have continued to mask at work. I would really appreciate some guidance!” — Marla from Maryland
A lot of people have come to the conclusion that covid is here to stay and that there is a cost to forgoing activities that carry some infection risk but are otherwise important to us. It seems you’ve already made such a decision when it comes to socializing unmasked with small groups of friends. Such an activity is undoubtedly important for your sense of well-being, but you are still being careful to limit the group size and therefore to try to reduce your exposure.
You could use a similar calculus when it comes to dining at indoor restaurants. Perhaps you could begin with a restaurant with a lot of space between tables. Go with a few close friends — maybe the same small group that you’ve been socializing with already. Bring a mask and use it if you need to wait in a crowded reception area or go to the restroom. These actions won’t eliminate risk, but they will reduce it while allowing you to resume indoor dining.
“I cannot take the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. I have allergies to PEG. It was suggested that I restart my vaccine protocol with the Novavax vaccine (I had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and the J&J booster in September and December 2021). Will the Novavax vaccine protect me from the new variants?” — Cindy from Indiana
PEG, or polyethylene glycol, is a component of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and you are right to avoid these vaccines because of your known allergy.
At the time you received your vaccines, Johnson & Johnson was the only other vaccine authorized in the United States. You already completed your primary series, which is one dose of the J&J vaccine, and you had one J&J booster. So you don’t need to restart your vaccine series. Rather, you need one booster dose to be up-to-date with your vaccine.
The Novavax vaccine is a reasonable choice for you. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allows for this vaccine to be given as a booster in a “mix-and-match” format for adults who completed their primary vaccine series, so anyone who got at least two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or one dose of J&J, can get Novavax. This vaccine is not reconfigured to target the omicron subvariants, but it should have broad coverage against them. (The company has said its vaccine produced a strong antibody response against BA.1, BA.2 and the dominant BA.5 subvariant.)
In a large JAMA Network Open study, researchers compared the severity of disease for people who contracted the BA.2 omicron subvariant with that of the BA.1 and delta variants. They found the mortality rate for delta was 0.7 percent; for the original omicron BA.1 variant, it was 0.4 percent. It dropped to 0.3 percent for BA.2. Patients infected with delta and BA.1 were also more likely to require hospitalization, invasive ventilation and intensive care admission. Hopefully, this is an indication that SARS-CoV-2 is becoming less severe as it evolves.
A clinical trial of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine in 6-month-old to 5-year-old children found that it is safe and protects just as well against infection as it does in young adults. Two doses of this vaccine elicited a strong antibody response, and the effectiveness against infection is 37 percent among 2- to 5-year-olds and about 50 percent among 6- to 23-month-olds. That’s comparable to the 46 percent effectiveness seen among 18- to 25-year-olds. These results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, provides additional information to parents still questioning whether to give the vaccine to their younger children.
About 700 American women die every year from pregnancy and its complications. A new CDC report reviewed more than 1,000 pregnancy-related deaths and found that more than 4 in 5 of them were preventable. Nearly a quarter were related to a mental health condition such as suicide or drug overdose. Other common causes were hemorrhage, cardiac conditions and infection. More than half of the deaths occurred after the first week of birth, underscoring the need to provide better postpartum care. | 2022-11-03T21:08:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The case for requiring coronavirus vaccines is much weaker than before - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/covid-vaccine-unvaccinated-holidays-family-gathering/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/covid-vaccine-unvaccinated-holidays-family-gathering/ |
Israel’s endless campaigning is over. Now, the real political fight begins.
By Gershom Gorenberg
Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right Israeli lawmaker and the head of Jewish Power party, gestures after receiving exit poll results at the party's headquarters in Jerusalem on Wednesday. (Oren Ziv/AP)
It would be easy both to overstate and understate the meaning of Tuesday’s elections. Most of all, it would be easy to despair of democracy’s future in Israel — and that, too, would be a mistake.
Netanyahu’s Likud party and its three expected coalition partners won 64 seats out of 120 in parliament. The temptation of overstatement lies in the journalistic shorthand of describing the electorate as though it were a single individual: “Israel ends indecision, chooses the right.”
Every democratic system has quirks that distort the outcome. The United States’ electoral college is a flagrant example. The quirk in Israel’s multi-party, proportional elections is the minimum threshold: A party needs 3.25 percent of the national vote to make it into parliament. One vote too few, and it gets no representation.
The Post's View: Israel takes a troubling turn toward illiberal democracy
Meanwhile, the two parties of Israel’s historic left, Labor and Meretz, had seen most of their voters switch in recent years to outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid (There Is a Future) party. Nonetheless, Labor leader Merav Michaeli rejected running together with Meretz. Lapid’s effort to change Michaeli’s mind was unsuccessful. And only at the last minute did Lapid cease trying to draw voters away from the two parties to his left.
The same narcissism of small differences afflicted the Joint List, an alliance of parties supported mainly by the country’s Arab minority. One of those Arab parties, the National Democratic Assembly (also known as Balad, from its Hebrew acronym) broke with its erstwhile partners in the Joint List and ran separately. Lapid kept his distance.
Both Meretz and Balad fell short of the threshold — Meretz by only 3,800 votes. Disunity in the “change bloc,” as Netanyahu’s opponents are known, cost it six or more seats, and brought Netanyahu victory.
The significance, however, is not just the return to power of Netanyahu, a deeply divisive politician who is on trial on corruption charges linked to his efforts to control the media. Netanyahu’s gambit in helping the Religious Zionism party stay together was more successful than he expected, perhaps even more than he wanted.
The No. 2 figure in Religious Zionism, Itamar Ben Gvir, is a disciple of the late racist politician Meir Kahane — giving him notoriety that boosted media attention during the campaign. Ben Gvir called for expelling left-wing politicians to Syria, demanded that police use live fire against disturbances in Arab East Jerusalem — and said he would demand the cabinet post responsible for the police in a Netanyahu government.
Slightly less strident but possibly more dangerous, Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich announced plans for a judicial “reform” that would free the government and parliament to violate basic rights.
The rabble-rousing clearly appealed to voters on the right. Religious Zionism has won 15 seats in parliament. Barring surprises, it will be the largest and most influential of the Likud’s coalition partners. Along with its ultra-nationalism comes its reactionary social views, including a strong anti-LGBTQ stance and a plan to suppress complaints of domestic violence. The new Netanyahu government looks set to make past Netanyahu governments look downright tame.
Those who want a more democratic, more egalitarian Israel must start rebuilding politically now. The blow to old parties of the left might create the opportunity for new movements and alliances. Jewish and Arab opponents of the new government need to find ways to work together.
At the same time, they need to overcome the long disconnect between the urban left of Tel Aviv and the outlying towns that have been left behind in Israel's economic leap forward. In the manner of the populist right elsewhere, Netanyahu and his allies have appealed to grievance, to disaffection, without offering a better future. His opponents need to do better. | 2022-11-03T21:08:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Israel’s endless campaigning is over. Now, the real political fight begins. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/israel-election-netanyahu-save-democracy/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/israel-election-netanyahu-save-democracy/ |
Woman killed in Lorton crash, Fairfax County police say
A 76-year-old woman was killed Wednesday in a two-vehicle crash in the Lorton area, Fairfax County police said.
Ruth Feth, of Alexandria, was killed while making a left turn at the intersection of Ox Road and Blu Steel Way, police said in a news release.
Authorities said Feth, who was driving a 2013 Toyota Camry on Blu Steel Way, was attempting to turn onto southbound Ox Road when she was struck by a driver of a 2008 Volkswagen Golf driving north. Feth turned in front of the driver, police said.
Feth was taken to a hospital, where she died, police said. Authorities said it was the 15th fatal crash not involving a pedestrian in Fairfax County in 2022. There were 14 non-pedestrian fatal crashes through the same period in 2021.
Police said they do not believe alcohol was a factor in the crash but are still determining whether speed was involved. The incident remains under investigation.
Prince William board approves framework for controversial data center project | 2022-11-03T21:12:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Woman killed in Lorton crash, Fairfax County police say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/woman-killed-lorton-crash/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/03/woman-killed-lorton-crash/ |
Antonio Gibson scores a touchdown during Sunday's win over the Colts. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
For much of training camp, the Washington Commanders garnered eyes for their change at quarterback, with the arrival of Carson Wentz, and what appeared to be a potential duel at running back. The team drafted Brian Robinson in the third round out of Alabama and had Antonio Gibson, a former college receiver who converted to tailback and topped 1,000 rushing yards last season.
The battle became even more magnified when Antonio Gibson fumbled in the preseason opener and subsequently took reps as the team’s kickoff returner.
To the outside — and perhaps to Gibson, too — the change appeared to be a teaching moment.
But now eight games into the season, Gibson’s altered role as a do-it-all back and special-teamer has proven fruitful. The dynamic of the team’s rushing corps aligns with what Coach Ron Rivera envisioned from the outset, in having players of complementary skill sets open up the playbook with their production in both the passing and running games.
“I said this before and we’ll see if it proves true: I think there’s going to be some games … where Antonio gets rolling early and we stick with him more and [Robinson] doesn’t get quite as much. Or it’s more even,” Turner said last week. “ ‘B-Rob’ obviously had the lower yards per carry, but that’s because he was in there for some of those grinded out type of moments and runs and Antonio hit a couple splash plays that are going to boost your stats.”
Washington’s win over the Indianapolis Colts last weekend showed just how effective Gibson can be in space, and how much more the Commanders can get out of him on fewer snaps.
Through eight games, Gibson is averaging about 30 offensive snaps per game and totaled 228 receiving yards (the fifth-most among running backs), two touchdown catches and 12 receiving first downs (fourth-most). He also had 292 rushing yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns, plus an average of 24.33 yards per kickoff return (fifth in the league with a minimum of six returns).
“I think it is giving him an opportunity to be even more dynamic because, again, not only is there a threat that he’s gonna run the ball, but there’s a threat that if he gets out in space and catches the ball, he can immediately impact the offense because he is already down field or he’s out in space where he can make people miss,” Rivera said. “That could be even more effective for our offense.”
As Washington has attempted to rebuild the offense for the last three seasons, it’s cycled through seven different starters whose skill and experience have varied significantly. With Taylor Heinicke at the helm now, the Commanders have bounced back from a four-game losing streak to win their last three games — just in time to face the top two teams in the NFC. Washington hosts the Minnesota Vikings (6-1) on Sunday before traveling to Philadelphia for its second meeting with the 7-0 Eagles in Week 10.
Jerry Brewer: Daniel Snyder is trapped — and now Washington fans can dare to dream
The quarterback change has jump-started Washington’s offense, but so too has the use of the Commanders’ versatile playmakers. Playmakers like Gibson, whose speed and elusiveness in the run game, and catch-ability and size (6-foot-2, 220 pounds) in the pass game have made him a rare threat.
“That's kind of a matchup problem for the defense,” Heinicke said. “If you want to put a linebacker on him, okay, you think your linebacker can cover this guy or do you want to take a safety out the field and go cover him and do that?”
Added Gibson: “I don’t think they’re actually prepared for my speed. When I get an open field, I can run and sometimes they misjudge that.”
Gibson’s production in the passing game has opened opportunities for Robinson in the run game, an area Turner hopes to get more yardage as the season progresses. Against the Colts, the 6-1, 228-pound rookie converted three first downs on short-yardage plays and had a pair of runs in the second quarter to help set up Gibson’s touchdown.
“Big running backs bring a different impact to the game,” Gibson said.
But Gibson’s impact this season extends to special teams too, where he’s returned six kickoffs and resumed a role he hadn’t had since college.
In training camp, Rivera told reporters that the adding Gibson in the mix as a returner was done to maximize his skill set, namely his speed and ability to break tackles. His college experience didn’t hurt either.
Gibson admitted he at first took the change “the wrong way” before coming around.
“I’m actually enjoying [kickoff returns],” he said. “At first I took it the wrong way, but I did it in college and am having fun. … Who’s to say I can’t be the best kickoff returner? Trying to go in between the tackles, you can’t run full speed every time, and being able to catch the ball and just go, I have fun with that.
“And being able to affect the game in the pass and as a running back, I’m all over the place right now and that’s how I wanted to be.” | 2022-11-03T21:38:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Antonio Gibson gives Commanders a triple threat - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/antonio-gibson-commanders-running-back/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/antonio-gibson-commanders-running-back/ |
Kansas Coach Bill Self, above, and assistant Kurtis Townsend were suspended for the first four games of this season as punishment stemming from a 2017 federal investigation into bribery and corruption in college basketball. (David J. Phillip/AP)
Two of the nation’s top men’s college basketball programs this week received penalties stemming from the fallout of a 2017 FBI investigation into corruption in the sport. Kansas on Wednesday announced its self-imposed punishment, which includes the suspension of Coach Bill Self and an assistant. Louisville on Thursday received a fine and two years of probation from an independent panel.
“We believe the actions we are announcing today move us closer to resolving this matter,” Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod said in a statement Wednesday. “We look forward to commenting further when this process is fully resolved. Until then, I want to reiterate our unwavering support of Coach Self and our Men’s Basketball program.”
Self, who led Kansas to the second national title of his 19-year tenure in April, was suspended for the first four games of this season, as was assistant Kurtis Townsend. Additionally, the school will subject itself to several recruiting restrictions, including a reduction in recruiting visits this year and next, and the reduction of three total scholarships over the next three years.
The self-imposed penalties come after the NCAA named Self and Townsend in its notice of allegations accusing the school of five violations in connection to its relationship with Adidas, which was at the center of the initial federal investigation into bribery schemes within college basketball.
Kansas turned its case over to the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP), which was created in 2019 as an alternative to the NCAA’s infractions process.
In its statement, the school said it informed the independent panel about its self-imposed penalties, which it said also included banning Self and Townsend from off-campus recruiting activities from April through July of this year. During their suspensions, both coaches will miss the team’s Nov. 7 opener against Omaha, additional home games against North Dakota State and Southern Utah and a Nov. 15 game against Duke as part of the State Farm Champions Classic in Indianapolis.
“We are hopeful these difficult self-imposed sanctions will assist in bringing the case to a conclusion,” Kansas Director of Athletics Travis Goff said. “Until then, we will continue to focus on supporting our outstanding Men’s Basketball student-athletes and coaches. Assistant Coach Norm Roberts will serve as interim head coach during the first four games.”
On Thursday, the IARP placed Louisville on two years of probation, fined the program $5,000 and issued several recruiting restrictions for violations that occurred under former coach Rick Pitino in relation to the 2017 federal investigation, as well as subsequent violations under Pitino’s successor, Chris Mack.
While Louisville coaches are not named in the IARP report, the report outlines the accusations that led to the penalties.
Those include recruiting violations committed by former Louisville assistant Kenny Johnson, whom the NCAA accused of helping influence Brian Bowen II’s recruitment to the school in 2017. Bowen was a former top recruit, and his father testified in federal court that Johnson arranged for a $1,300 payment to lure Bowen to Louisville (Bowen briefly attended the school before transferring to South Carolina and entering the NBA draft). Per the IARP report, Pitino, who was fired in 2017 and now coaches Iona’s men’s team, failed “to promote an atmosphere of compliance” but was not punished. Johnson was given a two-year show-cause penalty.
After that case was referred to the IARP, the IARP learned of recruiting violations under Mack, whose former assistant Dino Gaudio last year threatened to expose alleged NCAA violations by the program following his dismissal from the team after it failed to make the NCAA tournament. Gaudio, a former head coach at Wake Forest, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of attempted extortion and received a fine and probation. Louisville self-reported violations related to staffers participating in on-court activities and the creation of personalized recruiting videos. Mack, who in January parted ways with Louisville, was not punished.
“With the IARP decision announced today, the five-year process involving the University of Louisville’s men’s basketball program has now come to an end,” the school said in a statement. “…For our University, the Louisville community, our men’s basketball program and our passionate fans, today marks the beginning of a new chapter and we are only looking forward.” | 2022-11-03T21:38:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Kansas, Louisville receive penalties related to federal probe - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/kansas-louisville-ncaa-violations/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/11/03/kansas-louisville-ncaa-violations/ |
NASCAR driver says his video-game-like move could’ve been ‘really stupid’
One of the year’s biggest viral sports moments was inspired by none other than the Nintendo GameCube.
At this past Sunday’s NASCAR race at Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway, driver Ross Chastain accelerated into the wall on the final corner — what he later called “a video game move” — to hurtle ahead of five other cars at the finish line, allowing him to just barely advance to this weekend’s championship race. Miraculously, he sustained no major injuries and caused no crashes.
“Every time I see the video, it seems a bit unreal,” Chastain said in an interview with The Washington Post. “I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
The 29-year-old driver said he learned the tactic from playing the video game “NASCAR 2005” on his Nintendo GameCube growing up. “I haven’t even thought about doing a move like that since back when I played the game,” he said. “It’s wild.”
“Wall riding” has long been a tactic in racing video games, where players — without fear of sustaining real-life damage — accelerate recklessly into turns, hugging the wall as they carry speed into the next straightaway. Hardcore sim racers typically complain that this maneuver is too unrealistic, but Chastain proved last weekend that it can be done in real life, though even he can’t believe he pulled it off.
“I have a large amount of respect for what we’re doing and the dangers involved,” he said. “I honestly still can’t believe I grabbed high gear and fully committed, knowing I’d hit the wall.”
You probably know someone who just got into Formula One. That’s a good problem for the F1 video games.
By most measures, Chastain isn’t a typical NASCAR driver. The Florida native is an eighth-generation watermelon farmer and, up until a few years ago, would spend his off weeks working the fields with his family. Unlike many of today’s NASCAR stars, he never had much experience with online sim racing, opting instead to play GameCube on the couch with his brother.
“We had satellite internet at my house for a long time,” he laughed. “I don’t even know what my buddies were playing, but I was never involved because of the slow internet.”
Chastain spoke with The Washington Post about last weekend’s viral moment, his interest (or lack thereof) in most video games and his surprising bid for a NASCAR championship.
Launcher: Your move last weekend put the Nintendo GameCube back on the map for a bit. Why was NASCAR 2005, on that console, such a hit in the Chastain household?
Ross Chastain: Yeah, you know, we just happened to have a GameCube. I didn’t have any other friends who also had one. But hey, that’s what we had, so that’s what we played. My brother actually did the [wall ride] move first and showed me how to do it.
What’s funny is that nowadays, in NASCAR, we have a large facility with Chevrolet that has simulators, where our engineers put our exact car setup into it. You can try everything you want in there with no penalties, but I’ve never attempted that [wall ride] since the GameCube!
Virtual races are drawing millions of viewers. Sim racers and streamers are seizing the moment.
Are you a fan of any other video games? With a GameCube growing up, maybe you liked Nintendo series like Legend of Zelda or Super Mario?
Chastain: Nah, not really. We mostly just did that NASCAR game casually.
We were usually out in the farm. When watermelons were in the ground, we weren’t home a lot. Then we had racecars when I was 12, so we were very active and just weren’t inside much. And where we lived, I didn’t have great internet, so I couldn’t be streaming stuff with my friends.
In online sim racing, wall riding is typically frowned upon as being too unrealistic. But you somehow pulled it off in real life — and emerged relatively unscathed. How’d you do it?
Chastain: For most cars, including the old NASCAR stock cars, it wouldn’t work because of the way the bodies and suspensions are. But this NASCAR next-gen car, which debuted this year — it’s the reason my move was successful. The way the car is, it works in perfect harmony to go through a corner wide open. I don’t think any other racecar could go through that corner the way our next-gen did.
A few NASCAR drivers were critical of your move, most notably last year’s champion, Kyle Larson, who called it “embarrassing.” You were well within the rules of NASCAR, but do you think the sport should consider new regulations to limit that move in the future?
Chastain: Man, that’s not my call. And look, NASCAR can do what they want. We will read the rules, interpret the rules and then go execute the best we can. Whether it’s my crew chief pushing the limit by the rule book, or me on the track pushing the limit — whatever rules they write, we’re going to try to beat everyone else whatever way we can.
So, no real opinion here. Just give me the rules and don’t change them on me halfway through the race!
After your move last weekend, a lot of new fans — especially video game fans — were sharing the clip and saying they’ll be rooting for you, even though they don’t usually watch NASCAR. What’s your message to these new fans hopping on board the ‘Chastain train’?
Chastain: Jump on, we’ve got plenty of room. But please hold on because it’s not always the most pleasant ride! I’ll make mistakes, but I’ll also be rewarded.
The outreach from last weekend has been amazing, but one thing that stuck with me was Travis Pastrana — a friend and former teammate I had — told me the only thing between stupidity and brilliance is success. In other words: My move last weekend would’ve seemed really stupid if it didn’t succeed, and I fully agree with that. That move didn’t have very good odds of succeeding, but for some reason it worked.
Do you plan on trying out any other video game moves in the final race this weekend? Maybe throw a Mario Kart banana peel at your championship rival, Chase Elliott?
Chastain: You know what, I just want to win the race and smash a watermelon.
Once the championship is over, do you think you might dust off the GameCube and play some more “NASCAR 2005”?
Chastain: My GameCube’s got to be back home somewhere, but there’s no telling where Dad’s put it, maybe off in a closet somewhere. We’re going to have to do some searching to find it. | 2022-11-03T21:56:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | NASCAR’s Ross Chastain on his viral “video game move” - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/11/03/ross-chastain-wall-ride-nascar-interview/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/11/03/ross-chastain-wall-ride-nascar-interview/ |
Recent appearances highlight a gap in star power
Former president Barack Obama speaks at a rally at Cheyenne High School Tuesday in North Las Vegas. (David Becker for The Washington Post)
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — President Biden took the stage here the other night and for more than 30 minutes tried to rally a college campus around his policies, from student loan debt to prescription drug costs to hearing aid prices.
“Saving $3,000 per year” on hearing aids, he shouted at the significant volume he kept throughout. “You hear me?! If I don’t stop talking so loud, you’re all going to have hearing loss!”
His delivery was often halting and at times confusing — at one point he referred to this era as “the 20th century going into the second quarter of the 21st century” — and at the end he thanked the crowd, some of whom had left during his remarks, for being “a very patient audience, especially standing there all this time.”
Just over two hours later and 2,500 miles away, Biden’s predecessor and onetime boss Barack Obama was rallying a different crowd in a different state. Musician John Legend was the opening act at a high school in North Las Vegas, and for 45 minutes Obama swung between sharp, can-you-believe-this barbs at the modern Republican Party and call-and-response with the crowd.
“I love you back,” he said at one point, one of several times he stopped mid-thought to acknowledge the adulation from his audience. “But we’ve got to focus right now! We’ve got to focus.”
While Biden was in a state that is largely off the map of Democratic competitiveness — recent polls give Republicans a comfortable lead in the top races in Florida — Obama was in perhaps the most vigorously fought battleground, with a range of must-win races in toss-up territory.
Biden may not be top surrogate for Dems
It was a vivid illustration of the two men in two different circumstances during a crucial final stretch before the midterm elections, and it showcased the yawning gap in star power and charisma between the two partners. It put the sitting president at arm’s length from the most important places while the former president, even though he himself hasn’t been on a ballot in a decade, was dispatched to play a familiar role as the Democratic Party’s rallier-in-chief.
Even some of those who attend Biden’s rallies say he is not an energizing force for the party. “To be honest, not really,” said Marvin Wilson, a 51-year-old field organizer for the Florida Democrats who attended Biden’s rally.
Asked about Obama, Wilson added, “He’s more energetic. He’s a better communicator. He’s more energizing, and he draws your attention. The president doesn’t do that.”
Aides and advisers to both men insist there is no resentment, even as Biden has had to take a back seat to the party’s former leader in some ways. The advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions, said they were in frequent touch and that the Obama staff clears its events with Biden’s so that they are in close coordination.
Biden advisers also insist that he is comfortable with Obama in the spotlight — “We want people on the field, and we would be foolish if we didn’t want assets in play,” one said — and point to one of his frequent public jokes to candidates emphasizing that he has no ego when it comes to helping Democrats.
“I’ll come campaign for you or against you — whichever will help the most,” Biden often says.
Still, Obama, 61, remains a rock star as the country’s first Black president and a charismatic, eloquent figure. In contrast, Biden, who turns 80 this month, retains affection in the party, but his sometimes stumbling style clearly inspires less adulation and excitement.
“President Obama was always most effective in a large crowd, a rally where he could deliver a call to action and talk about ‘fired up, ready to go,’” said Ben LaBolt, a strategist who worked for Obama’s reelection campaign and has worked closely with the Biden White House. “Biden has been a brilliant retail politician when he can sit down with a family at a diner or at a town hall meeting where he can hear personal stories.”
LaBolt added, “They’ve always had their own strengths and addressed each other’s deficiencies.”
“If he’s going to do five to 10 political events every two years, it just commands a different level of press and voters attention and allows him to break through,” LaBolt said. “He hasn’t overused the spotlight of the post-presidency to engage in any saturated campaign. So he really speaks with a powerful microphone whenever he speaks.”
Obama has traveled in the past week to Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Arizona — virtually every high-profile state his party is fighting to win.
In a party that has struggled to find new voices that capture the nation’s attention — and is now led by a 79-year-old who began his political career half a century ago — Obama has become the must-have surrogate of the season.
He mixes humor and fresh lines about new candidates with some of his greatest hits of the past. He’s cut more than 25 ads and robocalls for candidates, and each of his rally appearances has helped fill hundreds of volunteer shifts for get-out-the-vote efforts. He’s seen as having particular reach in motivating the young voters that Biden may have a hard time mobilizing.
Many of the issues that Biden and Obama talk about are similar — raising alarms about threats to democracy and abortion rights, addressing inflation and crime, and pointing to the Democratic legislative victories of the past two years.
The desire for Obama on the campaign trail is a big change from his own first midterm as president, in 2010. At the time, the new president was fighting the same historical trends that Biden is now facing. He was deeply unpopular following his pursuit of the Affordable Care Act his party’s difficult efforts to sell it to a skeptical electorate.
That year, it was Biden who was often in demand as the vice president traveled to competitive blue-collar districts where Obama was not welcomed. Obama was in a similar position then to Biden’s now, with his Democratic predecessor, Bill Clinton, considered the most sought-after surrogate that year.
Biden was also seen as a key asset in the 2018 midterms, during Donald Trump’s presidency, often traveling to the same states that he is now asked to avoid. He was asked to appear a few weeks before the 2018 midterms in Las Vegas, rallying the party in the same state where Obama appeared this week.
“President Obama wants to be as helpful as he can be, and that’s why he’s crisscrossing the country to make the case,” said Eric Schultz, a senior Obama adviser.
“He’s not in the muck of day-to-day governing,” he added. “That’s the virtue of being a former president. He brings an elevated perspective that I think people appreciate and has widespread appeal.”
Biden is facing the head winds that almost every president in modern history has confronted. Since 1934, the only first-term president whose party hasn’t lost House seats in a midterm election was George W. Bush, when Republicans gained eight seats in the 2002 midterms at a time when the country was on a war footing in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
During the rally on Tuesday night in Florida, at least a quarter of the crowd cleared out while Biden was speaking. While there was energy and chants of “Let’s go, Joe!” when he took the stage — and at moments in which he promised to codify abortion rights or attacked Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis — there were many times when people were less engaged, looking at their phones or otherwise fairly quiet.
His digressions into talk about the debt ceiling did not appear to land. “I know this is complicated stuff,” he conceded. “But at the end of the year, every year, we have obligations of debt around the world.”
Wilson, the organizer who said he wasn’t energized by Biden, said as a member of the Black community, he felt there were issues the president had “utterly ignored.”
“He doesn’t motivate me,” Wilson said. “I’m not trying to say anything negative about him. Outside of student loans, that’s the only thing he’s done that’s been really good.” Wilson said he has $410,000 worth of loans from attending law school at the University of Miami, some of which may be forgiven if the law is allowed to go into effect.
Caroline Henry, 51, who brought her 11-year-old son with her to the rally, said she thought Biden was “great” and working to turn the country around after Trump. She said she always watches Biden on TV and finds him to be energizing. Like Wilson, Henry said Biden’s student loan forgiveness was his best policy. She has $190,000 of loans from Florida Memorial University that will all be forgiven if the measure can go into effect.
But when asked about Obama, Henry said: “Obama gave a sense of hope.” She said Biden does, too, but she wished Obama could run for president again with Biden as his vice president.
“I wish they could team up again,” Henry said. “But either way, [Obama] is supporting him, so that’s a good thing.” | 2022-11-03T22:00:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Obama in demand as Biden struggles to energize crowds - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/obama-biden-contrast-star-power/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/obama-biden-contrast-star-power/ |
Hannah Pick-Goslar, friend and memory-keeper of Anne Frank, dies at 93
One of the diarist’s first friends, she was also among the last people to see her alive at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Hannah Pick-Goslar, far left, plays in a sandbox next to Anne Frank and other friends in 1937. (Anne Frank House)
Hannah Pick-Goslar remembered it well, the diary with the red checkered cover and elegant metal clasp that Anne Frank received for her 13th birthday in 1942. The girls had been schoolmates and friends for nearly as long as they could remember. From the first day of kindergarten they were inseparable.
Like Anne, Ms. Pick-Goslar was a German-born Jew and had sought refuge in the Netherlands with her family shortly after Hitler came to power. She was half a year older than Anne and, by her own account, almost nothing like her. Anne was the popular one, a chatterbox content to be the center of attention. Hanneli, as Ms. Pick-Goslar was called, was more reserved, with none of what she described as Anne’s “feisty” streak.
And yet the girls shared a bond that would endure the vicissitudes of adolescence and transcend their separation when Anne and her family went into hiding to evade capture by the Nazis. For more than two years, until their arrest on Aug. 4, 1944, Anne’s diary served as a repository for her thoughts and fears. First published in Dutch in 1947 and later adapted to acclaim for the stage and screen, it has sold more than 30 million copies in 70 languages and remains perhaps the most famous document of the Holocaust.
For Ms. Pick-Goslar, the diary was a revelation of the interior life of her cherished friend, a budding author who liked to bring her journal to school and write between lessons. When curious classmates asked what she was writing, Ms. Pick-Goslar recalled, Anne deflected their inquiries. “None of your business,” she said Anne would reply.
Ms. Pick-Goslar encountered Anne for the last time on the other side of a barbed-wire barrier at Bergen-Belsen, the Nazi concentration camp in northern Germany where both were imprisoned, and where Anne and her older sister, Margot, died of typhus two months before the camp was liberated in April 1945.
Ms. Pick-Goslar was among the last people to see Anne alive, according to Gertjan Broek, a senior researcher at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. In the decades after World War II, she traveled around the world as a living link to Anne Frank and a guardian of the memory of the other 1.5 million Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust.
Ms. Pick-Goslar, 93, died Oct. 28 at her home in Jerusalem. The cause was a heart ailment, said her son Chaim Pick. Her story was recorded in the book “Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend” (1997) by Alison Leslie Gold and was dramatized in a Dutch film released last year on Netflix, “My Best Friend Anne Frank.” Her memoir, “My Friend Anne Frank,” written with journalist Dina Kraft, is slated for publication next June, on the occasion of what would have been Anne Frank’s 94th birthday.
‘From then on we were friends’
Hannah Elisabeth Charlotte Goslar was born in Berlin on Nov. 12, 1928. Her father was a prominent Zionist and served in the Weimar government as a deputy minister in charge of the press bureau. Her mother, a schoolteacher, died giving birth to a stillborn baby in 1942, leaving Hanneli to help care for her younger sister, Gabi.
After Hitler became chancellor in 1933, the Goslars moved to London and then to Amsterdam, where Hanneli’s father earned a modest income assisting other refugees. Hanneli was grocery shopping with her mother when they met Anne and her mother, Edith Frank, who were also newly arrived from Germany. Hanneli was 5; Anne was 4. Neither yet spoke Dutch.
The girls lived next door for years and filled their days with games of hopscotch, marbles and jump rope. As they grew older, they and other girls played ping-pong and collected photographs of European royalty.
They sometimes went to work with Anne’s father, Otto Frank, dialing each other on the office telephones and plotting pranks. A portion of the office, which was located on Amsterdam’s Prinsengracht canal, would serve as the Franks’ hiding place, the Secret Annex, whose entrance was disguised by a movable bookcase.
“Hanneli Goslar, or Lies as she’s called at school, is a bit on the strange side,” Anne wrote in one of her earliest diary entries, on June 15, 1942. “She’s usually shy — outspoken at home, but reserved around other people. She blabs whatever you tell her to her mother. But she says what she thinks, and lately I’ve come to appreciate her a great deal.”
The Goslars were more religiously observant than the Franks, but the two families sometimes celebrated the Shabbat together. In her recollections of Anne, Ms. Pick-Goslar added dimension to the portrait that emerges from the pages of her diary.
“My fiery Anne was ebullient, precocious, boy-crazy,” she once told the Times of London. Remarking on Anne’s insistence on her own point of view, Ms. Pick-Goslar’s mother observed that “God knows everything, but Anne knows better.”
After the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, Anne and Hanneli were forced to attend a Jewish school. The Franks went into hiding after Margot received an order to report for a work camp. Ms. Pick-Goslar learned they were gone when she knocked on their door and a lodger relayed a rumor that they had fled to Switzerland.
Anne and her family were joined in hiding by four other Jews — Hermann and Auguste van Pels and their son, Peter, and a dentist named Fritz Pfeffer. In her diary, Anne chronicled their day-to-day activities and reflected on the past and future, for what she could imagine of it. She wrote several times about Hanneli, unburdening herself of regrets about how she had treated her old friend while exploring new acquaintances. She confessed feelings of guilt about her own relative safety in hiding while Hanneli remained on the outside, her fate as yet unknown to Anne.
‘A reminder of what my fate might have been’
On June 20, 1943, Ms. Pick-Goslar and her family were arrested in a roundup and taken to the Westerbork transit camp in the Netherlands. In February of the following year, they were transferred to Bergen-Belsen.
“I saw her in front of me, clothed in rags, her face thin and worn,” Anne wrote on Nov. 27, 1943, describing a dream in which she said Hanneli had appeared before her. “Her eyes were very big and she looked so sadly and reproachfully at me that I could read in her eyes: 'Oh, Anne, why have you deserted me? Help, oh, help me, rescue me from this hell!”
Hanneli returned to Anne in another dream the following month. “Dear God, watch over her and bring her back to us,” Anne wrote on Dec. 29, 1943. “Hanneli, you’re a reminder of what my fate might have been. I keep seeing myself in your place.”
The circumstances that led to the Franks’ arrest have never been conclusively determined. They were taken to Westerbork and then Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp in occupied Poland, where Edith Frank ultimately perished. Margot and Anne were transferred to Bergen-Belsen in November 1944. Ms. Pick-Goslar learned that a group of Dutch women had arrived at the camp. Among them was Auguste van Pels, who informed her that Anne was there, too.
In February 1945, Anne and Hanneli were reunited. They could not see each other because the barbed-wire fence dividing them was stuffed with straw, but Ms. Pick-Goslar immediately recognized her friend’s voice.
“What are you doing here?” Ms. Pick-Goslar recalled asking. “You were supposed to be in Switzerland.”
Through tears, they told each other of everything they had endured. Otto Frank by then had been liberated from Auschwitz, but Anne did not know and believed both her parents to be dead. With Margot near death, Anne had no reason to live, she told Hanneli.
“Anne’s not the same person,” Ms. Pick-Goslar recalled thinking. “Neither am I. We’re broken girls.”
Risking her life by leaving her assigned area in the camp, Ms. Pick-Goslar repeatedly returned to the barrier in attempts to toss bits of food and other supplies to her friend — “a crust of bread or a sock or a glove, anything that gave a little warmth,” she said. Then Anne was apparently transferred to another section of Bergen-Belsen, and they never saw each other again.
“The fact that I survived and she didn’t is just a cruel accident,” Ms. Pick-Goslar said.
Ms. Pick-Goslar and her sister were the only members of their immediate family to survive the Holocaust. When they returned to the Netherlands, Ms. Pick-Goslar was seriously ill. Widowed and childless, Otto Frank had also returned home and looked after them “like a father,” journalist Melissa Müller wrote in a 1998 biography of Anne Frank.
He helped the two sisters make their way to Switzerland, where they lived in the care of relatives before Hanneli immigrated to what was then the British Mandate for Palestine in 1947. Her sister later followed.
Survivors include three children from her first marriage, Yochanan Pick and Ruthie Meir, both of Jerusalem, and Chaim Pick of Tel Aviv; her sister, now known as Rachel Moses; 11 grandchildren; and more than 30 great-grandchildren. She described her large family as her “answer to Hitler.”
Ms. Pick-Goslar remained in touch with Otto Frank until his death in 1980 at age 91.
Just as Anne felt Hanneli’s presence in hiding and saw her friend in dreams, Ms. Pick-Goslar said she often felt Anne was with her when she spoke about their lives.
“Anne’s diary … stops right in the middle one morning when Anne and the others in hiding were arrested by the Nazis,” Ms. Pick-Goslar observed. She offered her testimony, she added, in the hope that it might “fill in what really happened — as horrible as it was — to my friend after the diary ends.” | 2022-11-03T22:00:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Hannah Pick-Goslar, friend to Anne Frank, dies at 93 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/03/hannah-pick-goslar-anne-frank/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/03/hannah-pick-goslar-anne-frank/ |
Holly Bailey
Officials wait outside the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her husband, Paul Pelosi, in San Francisco on Nov. 2. (Jeff Chiu/AP)
Paul Pelosi, who was attacked in his home last week by an intruder with a hammer, was released from a San Francisco area hospital Thursday, according to a source briefed on his condition.
Pelosi, 82, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), has been hospitalized since being attacked early on the morning of Oct. 28. He underwent surgery last week to repair a skull fracture and “serious injuries to his right arm and hands.” He is expected to make a full recovery, according to the speaker’s office.
David Wayne DePape, 42, faces several state and federal charges related to the attack on Paul Pelosi, including attempted murder, attempted kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon, among other charges. DePape told police he was on a “suicide mission” and had a target list of state and federal politicians as part of his effort to combat “lies” coming out of Washington. | 2022-11-03T22:17:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Paul Pelosi released from hospital - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/paul-pelosi-released-hospital/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/03/paul-pelosi-released-hospital/ |
That might be partly explained by the fact that Japan was enjoying a sleepy fall holiday when the suspected intercontinental ballistic missile was launched. But Pyongyang’s sound and fury increasingly signifies very little. Useful as they may be to intelligence agencies looking to gauge an enemy’s capabilities, the missile launches have long since lost the ability to scare.
Some bullet train services were briefly halted Thursday after Tokyo issued an alert for a likely failed test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, initially thought to have overflown the country. It hardly rocked Asian markets.
Appropriately, the unprecedented missile salvo came just days after Halloween, when people are generally bored of the same old tricks. One launch triggered the first air raid alert in South Korea since 2016, prompting residents to evacuate to underground shelters, with a missile landing close to Seoul’s territorial waters. Japan’s alert, warning residents in the north of the country to take shelter, was the second such incident in two months. Footage showed the disturbing J-Alert siren echoing through the early-morning autumn sun in towns such as Ishinomaki, which was devastated by the tsunami in 2011.
But this was no 2017, nor a 1998, the watershed moment when Pyongyang first lofted a missile over the country. That was followed by intensified talks on normalizing relations between the two countries, something almost impossible to imagine in 2022. Within a few years of that scare, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a groundbreaking visit to Pyongyang, shaking hands with Kim Jong Il and securing the release of several Japanese citizens abducted by the regime.
Kim succeeded this time only in extending the US-South Korea Vigilant Storm air drills he was protesting with the barrage.? Over the long term, the more likely impact from the recent salvo is to amplify the voices of Japan’s defense hawks, who are calling for greater spending to defend the country from such threats.
Even under the relatively dovish Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, such voices are now in the ascendancy. The Sankei reported this week that the government plans to boost defense spending over the next five years to a total of 48 trillion yen ($325 billion) in an updated midterm defense plan due this year. That’s 1.7 times the current equivalent, as the US pushes its ally to increase defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product from its long-held unofficial cap of 1%.
Just as significant was the news that Japan is mulling developing and deploying homegrown hypersonic missiles by the end of the decade. Considering that’s a technology the US has yet to deploy, such a plan would demonstrate Tokyo’s commitment to building out its counter-offensive capabilities. The country also reportedly plans to purchase Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US to tide it over until it can deploy more advanced, made-in-Japan technologies.
For a country that had been retreating from the defense industry, and less than a decade ago saw tens of thousands take to the streets and fisticuffs in parliament protesting tweaks to security legislation, the new stance represents a momentous shift. Increasingly, it’s one backed by the public: Surrounded by a hostile trio of China, North Korea and Russia, citizens’ long standing opposition to defense spending has been shifting. Just one-third of those polled in an NHK survey last month opposed increasing such spending.
Home to more than 50,000 US military personnel, Japan has long been in North Korean firing lines. In some ways, the threat has become another of the unpredictable and potentially devastating disasters the country has simply learned to endure — and spend on avoiding or mitigating. Thursday’s ICBM might not have overflown the country. But Japan now knows real and greater threats are not far away.
More From tBloomberg Opinion:
• Kim’s Right, North Korea Is a Nuclear State: Gearoid Reidy
• US-South Korea War Games Have a Global Audience: James Stavridis
• The Race for Missiles in Asia’s Danger Zone: Gearoid Reidy | 2022-11-03T22:18:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | North Korea Missile Salvo Hits the Law of Diminishing Returns - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/north-korea-missile-salvo-hits-the-law-of-diminishing-returns/2022/11/03/377fb92e-5bb2-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/north-korea-missile-salvo-hits-the-law-of-diminishing-returns/2022/11/03/377fb92e-5bb2-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
Magic medicine? (Photographer: Bloomberg)
The hype threatens to undermine the good that might come out of rigorous studies of psychedelics. Psilocybin might help people with depression — and given the need, I sincerely hope so. But that’s still an open question. We can’t ignore the limitations of clinical trials, or the still-wide gaps in our knowledge about when, whom and in what settings psilocybin might help.
Most depression medications work by increasing levels of serotonin in the brain with the goal of improving signaling between nerve cells. But it’s no secret that not everyone benefits from these pills, and those who do see an improvement typically need to take them for weeks before an effect sets in.
The hope for psychedelics centers on the notion that they act more rapidly on those same signaling pathways. Studies of psilocybin in animals suggest the drug can quickly and profoundly alter the circuitry in areas of the brain that help control things like motivation, reward, fear and anxiety.
The new trial, sponsored by Compass Pathways PLC, which is trying to develop psilocybin into drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is one of several exploring how that effect might help people with depression. In the study, 233 people who hadn’t been helped by conventional antidepressants were given one of three doses of psilocybin: 25 milligrams, 10 milligrams or 1 milligram (a dose that was used as the placebo). About 29% of the people in the high-dose group were in remission by the third week of the study, and 37% saw a significant improvement in their depression.
The first caveat is the size of the study. Only 79 people got the highest dose, and 75 received the medium dose, which did not elicit an effect. The magnitude of the response in small studies of psychiatric treatments is often more modest in larger trials — and can be further diminished when a treatment is used out in the real world. That’s been true of currently available antidepressants, and if it holds true — and I suspect it will — for psilocybin, it might make its benefits feel far less profound, or even comparable to existing treatments.
The bigger elephant in the room is that it’s nearly impossible to run a trial of psychedelics with a true placebo arm, a situation that could be swaying the outcome of these studies. Untangling a drug’s true effect on depression is always difficult — studies of currently-available antidepressants suffer from a significant “placebo effect,” in which a sizable group of people improve in a trial despite not receiving the drug.
But psilocybin studies face a different challenge: The drug’s hallucinogenic effects make it pretty clear to patients whether they’ve gotten the therapy, and their behavior and experiences during treatment mean the therapists and staff do, too.
That matters because the treatment being offered isn’t psilocybin alone. In the Compass study, volunteers received the drug in a specialized, calming setting and then were monitored for at least six hours by a therapist and an assistant therapist. In the months after treatment, study volunteers then had “integration sessions,” or visits with those same therapists to discuss what insights were gleaned from the experience.
One the main predictors of a benefit from psychotherapy is the relationship with the psychotherapist, says Suresh D. Muthukumaraswamy, a professor at the University of Auckland who studies psychedelics. These studies create “the perfect conditions” for there to be a difference in that relationship between the people who did and did not receive the psychedelic, he says. Imagine, he says, the type of conversation that someone in the high dose group might have compared to someone who did not receive a psychoactive dose of the drug.
Compass is starting a phase 3 study of psilocybin this year, with the goal of enrolling over 900 people around the world. It’ll try to overcome that fading effect by testing repeated dosing of the drug and comparing that to single-dose therapy. | 2022-11-03T22:18:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Psilocybin Studies Risk Being Warped by Hype - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/psilocybin-studies-risk-being-warped-by-hype/2022/11/03/a374b56a-5ba5-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/psilocybin-studies-risk-being-warped-by-hype/2022/11/03/a374b56a-5ba5-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
What Is the Israeli Far-Right Bloc That’s Key to Netanyahu’s Comeback?
Analysis by Daniel Avis and Gwen Ackerman | Bloomberg
Incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 73, has served in the post five times before. But when he returns to office following Nov. 1 elections, it will likely be, for the first time, as the head of a government coalition in which his Likud party is the most moderate member. The expected inclusion of a far-right bloc risks igniting tensions both within Israel and between the country and its most important ally, the US.
1. What is the far-right bloc?
Known as Religious Zionism, it’s a merger of a party of the same name, headed by former transportation minister Bezalel Smotrich, and several others including Jewish Power, led by controversial firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir, 46. Barring a surprise in final voting, the bloc was on track to have 14 of 120 seats in the next Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Preliminarily, Netanyahu’s Likud had 32, and the other parties in the likely government coalition, both representing Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews, had 18.
2. Why is Ben-Gvir controversial?
As a teenager, he led the youth wing of the Kach party, which campaigned for the expulsion of Arabs from Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. It was later banned from politics and designated a terrorist organization by Israel and the US. Ben-Gvir was spared from a prohibition from political office because he was underage. But he was barred from military service due, he says, to his past involvement with the party. He went on to train as a lawyer, and in 2021 he became a Knesset member as the leader of Jewish Power, which has previously advocated for the deportation of Arab citizens seen as “disloyal” to the state and for extending Israeli sovereignty to the occupied territories. He caused a stir earlier this year by suggesting that some of his fellow Knesset members, Jewish and Arab both, should be deported for their political views. His party advocates dismantling the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority -- which, under the terms of a 1993 Israeli-Palestinian accord, administers limited Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank. The party argues that the authority is “corrupt” and “jihadist.”
3. What does Ben-Gvir say?
4. How does Likud compare with the far-right bloc on these issues?
Traditionally, Likud has taken a skeptical approach toward conceding land in the occupied territories, where the Palestinians hope to establish their own state alongside Israel. However, Netanyahu has been cautious about abrogating previously signed agreements. As prime minister in 2020, he proposed annexing about 30% of the West Bank, rather than all of it, as Jewish Power has urged. Netanyahu does not question the basic rights of Israeli Arabs, who make up more than 20% of the population. But he pushed legislation that explicitly defines Israel as a Jewish state and urged supporters to vote to prevent Arabs from gaining political power.
5. What would be the domestic implications of the bloc’s inclusion in the government?
It would likely exacerbate strains among the Arab citizens of Israel, who complain of being treated as second-class citizens. In early 2021, tensions between Arab and Jewish Israelis boiled over into the most serious clashes in decades. Any effort to revive negotiations for a Palestinian state would likely be futile. Expansion of Israeli settlement building in the West Bank is a realistic possibility. The bloc has thrown its support behind proposals to reduce the independence of Israel’s judiciary, which many on the right see as biased against them. Some of the ideas could favorably impact Netanyahu, who faces multiple corruption charges, although he’s said he wouldn’t back legal changes that would apply retroactively.
6. What about foreign relations?
US officials have stated publicly and privately that the inclusion of far-right figures in the next government could negatively affect US-Israel relations. A number of Jewish groups in Europe and the US have also said their inclusion could harm ties.
--With assistance from Alisa Odenheimer. | 2022-11-03T22:19:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | What Is the Israeli Far-Right Bloc That’s Key to Netanyahu’s Comeback? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/what-is-the-israeli-far-right-bloc-thats-key-to-netanyahus-comeback/2022/11/03/f0ee2444-5bc2-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/what-is-the-israeli-far-right-bloc-thats-key-to-netanyahus-comeback/2022/11/03/f0ee2444-5bc2-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
Ray Guy, first punter in Pro Football Hall of Fame, dies at 72
He retired from the Oakland Raiders with a streak of making 619 punts without having one blocked
By By staff and wire reports
Oakland Raiders punter Ray Guy kicks during the Super Bowl at the Superdome in New Orleans, Jan. 25, 1981. (Richard Drew/AP)
Ray Guy, a star at the University of Southern Mississippi who later played for the Oakland Raiders and became the first punter to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame, died Nov. 3 at a hospice center in Hattiesburg, Miss. He was 72.
Southern Miss, where Mr. Guy starred before becoming the first punter ever taken in the first round of the NFL draft, announced the death but did not provide a cause.
Mr. Guy was drafted 23rd overall by the Raiders in 1973 and retired from the team in 1987 with a streak of 619 punts without having one blocked. But it took nearly three decades for him to be selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame — the first player to be inducted exclusively for his punting.
“That kind of bothered me because they were saying that’s not a position, it doesn’t take an athlete to do that, it’s not important,” Mr. Guy said before his Hall of Fame induction in 2014. “That’s what really got under my skin. It wasn’t so much whether I did or didn’t. I wish somebody had. It was just knowing that they didn’t care.
His kicks went so high that one, which hit the Superdome scoreboard 90 feet above the field in a Pro Bowl, helped put “hang time” into the football vernacular. His ability to pin the opponent deep with either high kicks or well-positioned ones was a key part of the success of the great Raiders teams of the 1970s and ’80s.
He also was a three-time Super Bowl champion and seven-time Pro Bowl selection.
The onetime Raiders coach and sports commentator John Madden once said that the first time he watched Mr. Guy punt in practice for the Raiders, he knew the team had something special.
William Ray Guy was born in Swainsboro, Ga., on Dec. 22, 1949, and grew up in Thomson, Ga.
At Southern Mississippi, he also played defensive back. He still shares the school single-season record for most interceptions with eight in 1972, and his 61-yard field goal at Utah State set an NCAA record at the time.
Mr. Guy retired from football because of back problems.
His statistics look somewhat pedestrian compared with those of today’s punters. His career average of 42.4 yards per kick ranks 61st all time, and his net average of 32.2 yards (excluding his first three seasons when the statistic wasn’t kept by the NFL) isn’t even in the top 100.
Mr. Guy was also a member of the College Football Football Hall of Fame and the National High School Sports Hall of Fame.
He and his wife, Beverly, filed for bankruptcy in 2011, and he was forced to sell his Super Bowl rings to pay his debts.
“Sometimes, things just happen,” he told the Clarion-Ledger. “The only thing you can do is deal with it. I made some bad decisions, did some things I shouldn’t have done. Nothing illegal. Just buying this, buying that, overspending. Material things don’t mean anything to me anymore. I’m doing good, living within my means, doing the best I can.”
His marriage ended in divorce. He had two children, but a complete list of survivors was not immediately available. | 2022-11-03T22:20:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ray Guy, first punter in Pro Football Hall of Fame, dies at 72 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/03/ray-guy-football-punter-raiders-dead/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/03/ray-guy-football-punter-raiders-dead/ |
Dr. Samuel Katz at the Duke Children's Health Center. (Jared Lazarus/Duke)
The “Edmonston virus” was passed through chick embryos more than a dozen times, reducing its strength. It was then injected in monkeys by the Enders-led team, which included a research fellow from Yugoslavia, Milan Milovanovic. The monkeys developed none of the classic symptoms such as fever and rashes or showed viremia, the presence of the virus in the bloodstream. But the monkeys had antibodies.
“We injected these youngsters with the chick cell virus and observed them daily,” Dr. Katz said in the podcast. “We did throat cultures. We did blood cultures. And they never had any viremia, they never had any virus in their throat. … So we had made the big jump.”
“After going through boot camp, they gave us tests and said, ‘Oh, you’re a bright boy. We’re going to send you to college,’ ” Dr. Katz told a Dartmouth alumni magazine in 2009. “I said, ‘No, no, I just came from college.’ ”
He was assigned to a hospital training school in San Diego. “That was my introduction to medicine,” he said.
Over the decades, he wrote commentaries on medical topics, including some that were politically sensitive. He was opposed to having physicians assist with prison executions, and he called for limits on pharmaceutical companies’ ability to hold patents that keep generic drugs off the market.
“Most young parents cannot appreciate, fortunately, as I do, the horror of polio with iron lungs and crutches; measles with encephalitis; meningitis due to haemophilus influenza B … tetanus of newborn infants with overwhelming mortality; and a number of the other infectious diseases that we fortunately do not see,” he testified.
“It is true that despite all that vaccines have done to improve the health of individuals and communities in the United States and throughout the world, they are not perfect,” he added. “However, one simple fact cannot reasonably be disputed — the benefits of immunizations far outweigh any possible risks.” | 2022-11-03T22:20:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Samuel L. Katz, doctor who helped develop measles vaccine, dies at 95 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/03/samuel-katz-measles-vaccine-dies/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/03/samuel-katz-measles-vaccine-dies/ |
Want to help the Iran protests? Let its soccer team play in the World Cup.
By Bill Saporito
Members of Iran's soccer team pose for a photo before a match on Sept. 23 in Austria. (Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)
Bill Saporito is an editor at large at Inc.
When the United States’ national team took the field against Iran in the 1998 World Cup in France, players from both teams posed together for a pregame portrait. It was a gesture of sportsmanship over politics. The Americans would, alas, extend that diplomacy too far in the actual match, conceding two goals in a dismal 2-1 defeat.
Jubilant Iranians filled the streets of Lyon that evening — a number of whom, I discovered, turned out to be expats living in Los Angeles, sometimes called Tehrangeles.
Their happiness that night had another dimension. To many Iranians, the win was a victory over Iran’s theocratic regime, which has little use for sport, or the joy it can bring to people.
Team Melli, as Iran’s squad is known, represents far more than football within that country. It is a symbol of what life could — and should — be all about. “A soccer match in Iran isn’t like one anywhere else on the planet,” said Dan Gaspar, an American who was part of the Iranian coaching staff for several years. Because Iranians are not allowed to sing and dance in public, he added, “when they come into the stadium, it’s a sanctuary for them.”
David Ignatius: Why the fabric of Iranian repression has begun to unravel
As history would have it, Iran faces the United States on Nov. 29 in Qatar, and the setting will be a lot different. At home, Iran is violently trying to suppress an uprising led by women who are pursuing human rights in daily protests around the country. The demonstrations have followed the murder of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman in the custody of the notorious “morality police” for the alleged crime of not properly covering her hair. In its foreign policy, Iran is supplying Russia with self-detonating drones, the main purpose of which is to terrorize civilians in Ukraine and destroy critical infrastructure such as electrical and water supplies.
A soccer ball can’t be a peacemaker, but geopolitics cannot be ignored. Russia was booted from the competition shortly after its brutal invasion of Ukraine. Recently, human rights organizations such as Open Stadiums have been calling for FIFA, soccer’s ruling body, to disqualify Iran on the same basis that it red-carded Russia.
That’s warranted but unlikely. FIFA’s own charter says it “helps protect those who advocate respect for human rights associated with its activities.” But as the Iranian regime steps up arrests of activists, artists, academics and students who challenge its authority, soccer’s supreme rulers are as yet unmoved. As with everything FIFA, morality can get sidelined by money. The Qataris “won” the right to host the World Cup — in a desert nation with little soccer history — in 2010, a few years before FIFA was shown by Justice Department prosecutors to be deeply corrupt. Qatar’s anti-women, anti-gay, anti-labor and anti-alcohol (sorry, England) authoritarianism was not deemed disqualifying, at least not by FIFA’s elastic ethical standards, which have more interpretations than the offside rule.
Now that they have spent more than $200 billion to stage the World Cup, the Qataris, too, resent being called to account for their human rights record. In England, entities tied to Saudi Arabian ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who orchestrated the murder of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi, were deemed “fit and proper” to buy Newcastle United, one of England’s fabled teams. Saudi Arabia, no also-ran when it comes to crushing dissent, has also qualified for the Cup.
Members of Team Melli have already made it clear that they don’t play for their unloved government. In a pretournament friendly match, the players chose to take the field in black warm-ups that hid the national crest, a not-so-subtle support of Iran’s women.
That’s one argument for letting Iran compete. Here’s another: The projected 5 billion viewers of and 1.3 million visitors to the World Cup will bring more attention to the struggle in Iran. “ ‘Team Melli’ in the spotlight is what we all need,” tweeted an Iranian football fan. “To show the world, we are together AGAINST the regime.”
In Qatar, the U.S. Men’s National Team plans to offer support for Iran’s women — but has yet to say exactly how.
For the Iranian players, the risks are both personal and professional. The World Cup is a showcase for talent, especially of Iranians hoping to move to Europe to play. So far, only one Iranian team member, Sardar Azmoun, who plays for Bayer Leverkusen in Germany, has openly expressed support for Iran’s women.
Adding drama to the picture? This could be Iran’s best team ever. In Carlos Queiroz, Iran has an outstanding coach — and a popular figure who has stood against any interference by authorities. Iran is also playing in a weak first-round group, against a favored English team that nevertheless has been underwhelming in qualifying, an aging Wales team and a young American team.
Assuming FIFA doesn’t find the spine to disqualify the Iranians because of their murderous government, you can expect the members of Team Melli to put up a good fight in the group stage, even if they are eventually eliminated. When they return to their bloodied, combustible nation, a much more important fight will still be unfolding. | 2022-11-03T22:20:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Let Iran play in the World Cup. It will shed light on protests there. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/fifa-iran-melli-world-cup-soccer/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/fifa-iran-melli-world-cup-soccer/ |
He hid in the brush across the two-lane road from the house. The situation with the obsessed fan became public earlier this year when Deegan skipped an April race in Florida because of alleged death threats against her boyfriend.
You want to find Deegan? She’s probably on her Can-Am Maverick X3 tearing through the front yard and making content for her YouTube page that has half a million followers. She boasts 1.2 million followers on Instagram and with Cabre as her social media manager, the couple typically devotes two days a week to creating content for NASCAR’s only female driver racing full-time at the national level.
“I love seeing other little girls come into racing, and older men come up to me and say ‘I got my daughter into racing because of you, because I saw that you were able to do it and show there is a hope and a future,’” Deegan said. “Little girls come up to me when I am at the dirt track, telling me how they watch my YouTube videos so they can see how I drive, and how I act. | 2022-11-03T22:21:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Hailie Deegan navigates social fame with NASCAR ambitions - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/auto-racing/hailie-deegan-navigates-social-fame-with-nascar-ambitions/2022/11/02/8a64902e-5ae5-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/auto-racing/hailie-deegan-navigates-social-fame-with-nascar-ambitions/2022/11/02/8a64902e-5ae5-11ed-bc40-b5a130f95ee7_story.html |
Filmmaker Ken Burns on learning from the past
Ken Burns joins Washington Post Live on Thursday, Nov. 3. (Video: The Washington Post)
Ken Burns has chronicled U.S. history in his acclaimed documentaries on the Civil War, the Roosevelts and the Holocaust among a range of other subjects. Join Washington Post senior writer Frances Stead Sellers for a conversation with Burns about his new book, “Our America,” and how the past can shape our understanding of the present.
“What I’ve understood, finally, maybe it took me too many decades to get it is, there’s only us, there’s no them. And when anyone tells you there’s a ‘them,’ you need to run away. So this is an attempt to show all of us, with no them present.” – Ken Burns (Video: Washington Post Live)
“The movement that is afoot, the thing that is threatening the United States is not conservative. It’s dangerously radical ideas that are right out of authoritarian playbooks… An overwhelming number of people in the Republican party do not believe in the freest and fairest election we’ve ever had, that are willing to put in those election deniers into important positions in the oversight of elections… This is completely un-American, it is authoritarian.” – Ken Burns (Video: Washington Post Live)
“The fragility of civilization and institutions are as present now as they were back then… Don’t kid yourself, these are not some different kind of people in those sepia-toned photographs, they’re people like us… There’s a moment in the film when the great Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt says, ‘The time to stop a genocide is before it happens.’ To which I added, the time to save a democracy is before it’s lost.” – Ken Burns (Video: Washington Post Live) | 2022-11-03T22:23:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Filmmaker Ken Burns on learning from the past - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/11/03/filmmaker-ken-burns-learning-past/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/11/03/filmmaker-ken-burns-learning-past/ |
World’s richest man decides to set $44 billion on fire
Elon Musk a few days after buying Twitter. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Some might say Elon Musk, who last week became Twitter’s official new owner, has buyer’s remorse. But that implies he had actually wanted the thing before he bought it. Back in April, the mercurial billionaire made an overpriced takeover bid, which he then tried to back out of.
Now Musk, who’s also chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX (which don’t exactly seem as if they should be part-time jobs), is trying to figure out what to do with his new toy.
Even before any concrete new content policy appears to have been implemented, legions of trolls and bigots have already begun testing the guardrails. In the 12 hours following Musk’s finalized purchase, use of the n-word on Twitter jumped nearly 500 percent, according to the Princeton-based Network Contagion Research Institute.
Some consumer brands have already done so, including General Motors (a Tesla competitor). The Financial Times, citing inside sources, reported Wednesday that L’Oréal had also suspended its advertising spending on the platform; the company subsequently released a statement saying it had not made “any decision” about Twitter ads. | 2022-11-03T22:39:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Elon Musk decides to set $44 billion investment in Twitter on fire - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/elon-musk-twitter-advertisers-content-moderation/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/03/elon-musk-twitter-advertisers-content-moderation/ |
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