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Maryland receiver Rakim Jarrett caught three touchdown passes this season. (Scott Taetsch for The Washington Post)
Maryland standout receiver Rakim Jarrett announced Tuesday that he will enter the NFL draft, forgoing his remaining eligibility. Jarrett, a junior, said he will not play in Maryland’s bowl game against North Carolina State.
Jarrett could follow in the path of other Maryland receivers, such as Stefon Diggs and D.J. Moore, who have gone on to have impressive NFL careers.
“I had all the offers you could imagine,” Jarrett said of his recruiting process. He said his message to other local players is: “You don’t have to go to the big-name schools to do what you want to do life. All you have to do is have the production. Scouts and NFL teams are going to find you.”
Jarrett tallied 471 receiving yards this season, while dealing with minor injuries that forced him to exit games. He sat out the final regular season matchup against Rutgers because he hyperextended his knee. Jarrett said he might have been able to play with a brace, but he added: “It was Rutgers. They didn’t need me.”
After laughter from the room of reporters and Maryland staffers, Jarrett said, “I’m sorry Rutgers.”
Without Jarrett, the Terps cruised to a 37-0 victory over the Scarlet Knights, and redshirt senior wide receiver Jeshaun Jones overtook Jarrett as the team’s leading receiver in 2022.
Jarrett was more productive during his sophomore season, when he logged 829 yards and five touchdowns.
Jarrett, who played at St. John’s College High in the District, arrived at Maryland as a five-star prospect, signifying a major recruiting win for Coach Michael Locksley. Jarrett has been a regular starter since his freshman year, and for three seasons, he has been one of the star players in Maryland’s deep and talented receiving groups.
Locksley did “everything he told me in the recruiting process,” Jarrett said. “He was going to get me the ball, and I was going to have the opportunity to go to the NFL after three years.”
Jarrett initially committed to LSU before Locksley’s staff flipped him to Maryland. Locksley has highlighted Jarrett’s decision to play at Maryland as an important example for other local high school players.
“If a guy like Rakim Jarrett thinks Maryland is good enough to help him develop on and off the field,” Locksley said on signing day when Jarrett committed to Maryland, “the challenge is for other guys to believe the same.”
Jarrett’s career in College Park began the same season that quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa debuted as a Terp. Together, they have elevated Maryland’s passing game to new heights. Tagovailoa broke the school’s career passing record this season. The quarterback has eligibility remaining but has not announced his plans for the future.
“As far as I know, he plans to return,” Locksley said of Tagovailoa on Tuesday.
The Terps have shown steady progress through the past three years. With a 7-5 finish this season, Maryland earned trips to back-to-back bowl games. The Terps will finish their season Dec. 30 in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
Fellow Maryland wide receivers Dontay Demus Jr. and Jacob Copeland, both seniors, have already declared for the NFL draft. Cornerback Deonte Banks, a redshirt junior, will also head to the NFL. All three of those players do not plan to play in Maryland’s bowl game. | 2022-12-13T18:16:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Maryland receiver Rakim Jarrett declares for NFL draft - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/13/rakim-jarrett-declares-nfl-draft/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/13/rakim-jarrett-declares-nfl-draft/ |
The SEC and CFTC also hit the disgraced crypto CEO with civil lawsuits
Multiple U.S. regulators hit Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and chief executive officer of FTX, with fraud charges on Tuesday. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg)
A trio of U.S. agencies filed a flurry of charges against disgraced cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried the day after he was arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government.
Federal prosecutors charged Bankman-Fried, 30, with conspiracy and fraud, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that he defrauded his investors, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed fraud accusations as well.
For the past several weeks, Bankman-Fried has been hunkered down in his luxury apartment in Nassau, Bahamas, posting on social media and giving repeated media interviews where he said he made grave mistakes but didn’t knowingly commit any crimes. His arrest and the charges, coming within hours of each other, are a rapid acceleration in the ongoing story of FTX, which has gripped the cryptocurrency world since the once-well-respected company crumbled over a period of several days in November when it could not meet customer withdrawal demands.
“Sam Bankman-Fried built a house of cards on a foundation of deception while telling investors that it was one of the safest buildings in crypto,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement when charges were announced. “The alleged fraud committed by Mr. Bankman-Fried is a clarion call to crypto platforms that they need to come into compliance with our laws.”
FTX’s downfall has also shaken the overall cryptocurrency industry, which had already been rocked by steep crypto price declines, several high-profile scams and company collapses. Prices for the most common cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ethereum, are down around 65 percent this year, wiping out billions in value for millions of investors around the world.
Bankman-Fried appeared Tuesday in Bahamas court, where he did not waive a right to an extradition hearing, according to local news reports. It’s unclear how long an extradition hearing will take, or what his chances are of fighting the deportation.
While Bankman-Fried was in court in Nassau, the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing focusing on FTX, which the former CEO was slated to attend via video call before his arrest.
The hearing did however feature FTX’s new CEO, John J. Ray III, a veteran bankruptcy lawyer who took over when the company declared bankruptcy to try to recover as many assets for customers and creditors as possible.
The alleged crimes at the heart of the crypto company’s collapse are simple, despite the seemingly complex nature of the circumstances, Ray told the hearing.
“This isn’t sophisticated whatsoever. This is just plain old embezzlement,” he said.
FTX customers will not get all their money back, and the process to recover what they can will take “months, not weeks,” he added. “At the end of the day, we’re not going to be able to recover all the losses here.”
The hearing exhibited a sense of anticlimax, as politicians who had prepared to grill Bankman-Fried himself were stuck instead asking questions to the agreeable and polite Ray. Before his fall, Bankman-Fried had donated hundreds of millions of dollars to politicians, becoming the second-largest Democratic donor in the 2022 midterm elections and building a prominent position for himself in Washington.
Hours after his arrest, committee members from both parties expressed their frustration at not getting to question the former FTX head.
“Although Mr. Bankman-Fried must be held accountable, the American public deserves to hear directly from Mr. Bankman-Fried,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who heads the committee, said in a statement Monday night.
“Why not allow him to 1st testify tomorrow and answer our many questions?” Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), a member of the House panel, tweeted Monday night.
In the white-and-pink Magistrate’s Court in Nassau, Bahamas, Bankman-Fried appeared wearing a suit coat without a tie, according to the Nassau Guardian, a local newspaper. Members of Bankman-Fried’s family and representatives from the U.S. Embassy were present in the courtroom, according to the newspaper.
Bankman-Fried’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried are both professors at Stanford University’s law school. The SEC alleges Bankman-Fried used funds that had been commingled with customer money to buy them real estate. A spokesperson for Bankman and Fried did not return a request for comment.
Tory Newmyer and Steven Zeitchik contributed to this report. | 2022-12-13T20:23:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | U.S. charges FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried with criminal fraud - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/13/sbf-sec-fraud-charges/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/13/sbf-sec-fraud-charges/ |
Battered for months over rising prices, Biden now seeks momentum from better economic news ahead of his reelection.
President Biden on Tuesday speaks about inflation in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
President Biden on Tuesday sought to capitalize on positive economic news that inflation numbers are cooling, arguing that his policies are helping stabilize an economy battered by a global pandemic and a war in Ukraine, after months of facing a political battering for rising prices.
“Inflation is coming down in America,” Biden said, declaring it a reason for optimism ahead of the holiday season and the year ahead.
His remarks came after more than a year when Republicans charged that Biden’s free-spending policies helped generate the conditions for near record-high inflation, and then downplayed the effect on Americans by calling the problem “transitory.”
Rising gas prices and food costs, combined with warnings of a recession on the horizon, created a noxious political picture for Democrats ahead of the midterm elections. But the party emerged stronger than anticipated, and Biden is now seeking to reframe the economic narrative ahead of announcing his own reelection plans early next year.
“Look, I know it’s been a rough few years for hard-working Americans and for small business as well — and for a lot of folks things are still pretty rough,” he said in remarks from the Roosevelt Room at the White House, flanked by top economic advisers. “But there are bright spots all across America. We’re beginning to see the impact of our economic strategy. And we’re just getting started.”
Biden seized on new metrics as he began shaping what could be a message for his 2024 campaign if he runs as expected, or for his legacy if he steps aside.
Biden spoke a little over an hour after new figures were released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that prices in November rose 7.1 percent compared to 2021, the smallest year-over-year increase in many months. A number of other figures — including “core inflation,” which removes volatile categories like food and energy prices — also showed smaller increases.
There is still cause for concern. The figures often ebb and flow, and economists prefer to see several months’ worth of numbers before drawing conclusions. Biden, perhaps aware of a potential backlash if he appears to be celebrating prematurely, stressed that he was not declaring mission accomplished.
“As we make the transition to a more stable growth, we could see setbacks along the way as well,” he said. “We shouldn’t take anything for granted.” He added that there is “a lot more work to do.”
Republicans were quick to note that even if prices are rising more slowly, they are still high by historic standards.
“So much for President Biden’s claim that inflation peaked one year ago — grocery prices rose by 12 percent over the last year,” Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), the top Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.
“American families are maxing out credit cards, while household wealth has declined for the third consecutive month,” Brady said. “This cruel economy is going to get a lot worse next year, once President Biden’s tax increases go into effect.”
But there is little doubt conditions have improved, for the moment at least. Gas prices, which the White House monitors religiously as a barometer of consumer sentiment, are lower than they were a year ago, selling at less than $3 in many places. In June, the average price of gas surged to $5 a gallon.
Inside the Biden team's fixation with gas prices
In Biden’s first two years, he steered several major bills through Congress, starting with a $1.9 trillion economic rescue package and a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law. Congress in August also approved a $280 billion measure to expand veterans health care and a $280 billion law to counter China’s economic rise.
One of his signature pieces of legislation this year was labeled the Inflation Reduction Act, even though it had more to do with funding efforts to combat climate change, raising taxes on large corporations and lowering health care costs.
Conservatives argued that all this spending was paving the way for runaway inflation, even as Biden said it was critical to provide relief to suffering Americans. And some prominent Democrats, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, agreed with the conservatives.
On Tuesday, Summers applauded the latest numbers, saying, “The figures are encouraging.” He said he still believes that inflation has its roots in the overstimulation of the economy during 2021, when the Biden administration injected large amounts of spending.
But Biden’s decision to release more from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has helped reduce gas prices, Summers said, and some of the coming investments in semiconductors and infrastructure could spur further economic growth. He also attributed the improving economic outlook to moves by the Federal Reserve to combat inflation, and to the White House policy of not meddling in those decisions.
“These data are encouraging, even as the president recognizes we have a long way to go,” Summers said. “But for the administration’s support for the independence of the Fed as it adjusted policies — and the aggressive use of the strategic petroleum reserve — we could well have been in a much more difficult place today.”
Earlier this year, the Post has previously reported, Biden grumbled to top White House officials about his own aides’ handling of inflation. He expressed particular frustration in the early months of the year that they were not doing enough to confront the problem more directly.
The White House worried for much of the year that the persistent inflation would eclipse Biden’s agenda, clouding his ability to sell his accomplishments to voters in the lead-up to the midterm elections.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll in early May found that more than 9 in 10 Americans were concerned about the rate of inflation, and nearly 7 out of 10 said they disapproved of Biden’s handling of it.
Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster and strategist, conducted focus groups throughout the midterm campaign seeking to gauge how voters were viewing the economy. One woman, she recalled, mentioned that “everything seems to be a dumpster fire” and was eager for some sense of stability.
Lake said that Democrats’ relatively strong performance in the midterms, even as they lost control of the House, reflected a rebuke of Republicans’ polarizing, sometimes anti-democratic message rather than support for Biden’s economic policies.
Still, she said, the slowdown in inflation could be a promising sign for the president and his party.
“Democrats and Biden were 20 points behind on the economy on election day,” Lake said. “I don’t know that Democrats won because of the economy so much as despite the economy. But the persistence of the administration, and the focus and constant work to improve, is finally breaking through, both in results and in perception.”
Biden’s economic policies have largely focused on expanding access to health care, attempting to impose higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations and revive domestic industries.
The White House has long argued that the covid-19 rescue plan, one of Biden’s first big legislative victories, provided a necessary infusion of funds to stabilize the job market and help small businesses at a time when they were struggling under the weight of the pandemic.
Biden on Tuesday noted that wages are now rising faster than the prices of many goods, and he suggested that the United States was doing far better than its global allies and competitors.
“In a world where inflation is rising in double digits in many major economies around the world, inflation is coming down in America,” he said. “Our economic plan is working.”
Biden specifically cited the price of televisions and toys that could be purchased as gifts, the cost of gas that families need to travel and the price of food that extended families will serve at gatherings.
“It’s good news for the holiday season,” he said more than once.
But asked when prices will get back to normal, the president hesitated.
“I hope by the end of next year, we’re much closer. But I can’t make that prediction,” he said. “I’m convinced they’re not going to go up. I’m convinced they’re going to continue to go down.”
While Biden pointed to the latest figures as reason to spread the good cheer, Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, said this was no time to celebrate.
“Thanks to the spike in prices brought on by the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats’ reckless spending,” he said in a statement, “Americans are bracing for a blue Christmas.” | 2022-12-13T20:27:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Biden seeks political boost from slowing inflation - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/13/biden-political-boost-inflation-slows/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/13/biden-political-boost-inflation-slows/ |
A Mexican marine, part of an anti-drug and anti-corruption deployment, uses a sniffer dog to inspect cargo in the Port of Manzanillo. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
Eva Herscowitz
Alejandra Ibarra Chaoul
MANZANILLO, Mexico — Griselda Martínez lost her freedom in a hail of bullets one warm July night. Gunmen on two motorcycles sped up to the mayor’s SUV, firing 36 times, as it crawled through traffic in this Pacific coastal city. Martínez was grazed by a bullet but survived.
Today she lives at Manzanillo’s city hall, protected by 15 bodyguards. Her husband drops off groceries for her to cook in a kitchenette. She rarely sees her children or 4-year-old granddaughter.
“Really, I’m a hostage,” said the mayor. “I have no personal life.”
Manzanillo was once famous for its beaches, immortalized by a young Bo Derek jogging through the surf in the movie “10.” Later, it became home to Mexico’s No. 1 container port. Now, it has another distinction. As Mexican crime groups inundate the United States with methamphetamine and fentanyl, the city has become a crucial hub for the synthetic-drugs industry.
Mayor Griselda Martínez of Manzanillo, Mexico, leaves her office surrounded by bodyguards in November. She has lived under heavy guard in city hall and other government facilities since gunmen tried to kill her in traffic. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
Cartels are increasingly manufacturing drugs entirely from chemicals, rather than relying on plants. If Mexico’s kingpins once owed their fortunes to rural fiefdoms of marijuana and heroin poppy, they now depend on a stream of chemicals, many of them arriving from China. Seaports, airports and postal facilities are critical. The Mexican navy has confiscated around 600 tons of “precursor chemicals” in Manzanillo since 2007, making it a top entry point, according to military news releases and data obtained by The Washington Post through the country’s freedom-of-information system.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador assumed the presidency in 2018 vowing to end the U.S.-backed war on drug kingpins, which he blamed for an explosion of violence. He promised to focus instead on the government corruption that allowed traffickers to flourish. He ordered the navy to take charge of Mexico’s graft-ridden seaports in a bid to choke off the torrent of imported precursor chemicals.
Yet detecting the chemicals is far harder than identifying fields of coca or poppy plants. Thousands of shipping containers, filled with car parts, telephones, mattresses and other goods, are hauled in and out of Manzanillo each week. The illicit chemicals, which the smugglers often mask with false labels, are easily hidden in a vast sea of legitimate goods.
Complicating matters further are Mexico’s weak institutions. López Obrador announced in 2019 that he was overhauling the Manzanillo customs office, where corruption had “reached an extreme.” But the U.S. Treasury Department said last year that the Jalisco New Generation cartel continued to operate in the port, which it called a “significant gateway” for precursor chemicals, “including those used to synthesize fentanyl.”
A bipartisan U.S. congressional report warned in February that the flow of precursors to Mexico “remains almost unabated.” It attributed the problem, in part, to China’s inability to regulate its fast-growing chemical and pharmaceutical sectors, and to corruption and an inadequate security budget in Mexico.
But real progress against fentanyl could come only by addressing the U.S. appetite for the drug, the report said: “Failure to intervene in ways that appropriately reduce demand and decrease the risk of fatal overdose will almost certainly result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands more Americans.”
Martínez conducts business with Manzanillo residents at her office in city hall.
Martínez is escorted by bodyguards as she receives a briefing at a project site near Manzanillo.
As Martínez travels back to her office from the project site, her vehicle is embedded in a military convoy for her safety. (Photos by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
TOP: Martínez conducts business with Manzanillo residents at her office in city hall. LEFT: Martínez is escorted by bodyguards as she receives a briefing at a project site near Manzanillo. RIGHT: As Martínez travels back to her office from the project site, her vehicle is embedded in a military convoy for her safety. (Photos by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
Mayor Martínez, 54, has watched the synthetic-drug revolution transform her hometown, which once prided itself on being the “sailfish capital of the world.” Hundreds of soldiers, sailors and national guard troops patrol Manzanillo, which is coveted by crime groups both for its port and for the local drug market. Cartels pump out so much cheap methamphetamine that they no longer can sell it all in the United States. In two years, annual seizures of meth sold on Manzanillo’s streets have soared from 820 individual doses to more than 6,800.
“This is a phenomenon we didn’t have 40 years ago,” the mayor said. In those days, American tourists descended on Manzanillo thanks to “10,” which was filmed at a Moorish-style luxury hotel on a secluded beach. Now, she said, “we have people with psychological problems wandering the streets, like in other parts of the world.”
At every level, the government is besieged or has been penetrated by organized crime. Three customs agents disappeared after leaving work at the Manzanillo port in September 2021, their bodies later found in a paupers’ graveyard. Bryant García, the attorney general of Colima state, said in an interview that the killings appeared to be linked to an illegal shipment of precursor chemicals. No one has been arrested.
A beach scene in Manzanillo, which lies on the Pacific coast of Mexico.
Waiting for a bus near a market in Manzanillo. (Photos by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
LEFT: A beach scene in Manzanillo, which lies on the Pacific coast of Mexico. RIGHT: Waiting for a bus near a market in Manzanillo. (Photos by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
One longtime customs broker said government agents often face bribe-or-bullet ultimatums from crime groups. “They go to your house and say, ‘Hey, you have a family, a wife, a child. If you see this container, I want you to clear it. If you don’t, I’ll kill you,’ ” the broker said, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of concern for his safety. “So what do you do?”
Martínez was a women’s activist who took office in October 2018 as a member of López Obrador’s center-left Morena party. She discovered that many of Manzanillo’s police officers were working with the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels, she recalled — and fired about half of the 200 officers. Gunmen ambushed her SUV nine months later.
In a sign of how deeply drug money has permeated the region, there are a number of theories in the still-unsolved assassination attempt. Prosecutors have looked into whether the mayor was attacked in retaliation for her investigations into political corruption or for her refusal to issue certain permits. Martínez said it was no secret that some politicians and business executives had ties to drug gangs.
“It’s very likely that economic or political groups asked one of these crime groups for a favor,” she said. “To eliminate the mayor.”
The Mexican attorney general’s office in Tijuana has custody of thousands of pounds of seized drugs, including vast quantities of fentanyl as well as precursor chemicals and cutting agents. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
A chemical revolution
Since Spanish colonial times, Mexico’s ports have been thriving centers of contraband, as merchants and citizens dodged taxes and protectionist barriers. Salvador González, who worked as a supervisor at the Manzanillo port in the 1970s, recalled cargoes of bootleg lamps, batteries and ornamental music boxes. “We didn’t hear about drugs,” he said.
That changed a decade later. As U.S. forces squeezed Colombian smuggling routes that passed through the Caribbean, cocaine traffickers shifted to Mexico. Authorities captured massive loads near Manzanillo: nine tons of cocaine in 2001 on a tuna-fishing boat; 26 tons in 2007, hidden in shipping containers of soap and plastic floor tiles.
Less noticed were growing cargoes of the precursor chemicals used to make meth. A Colima family, the Amezcuas, emerged as pioneers in the trade. They made deals in Asia and Europe to import ephedrine, a key ingredient in cold medications that eased stuffy noses and sinuses. The Amezcuas’s operatives “cooked” the precursors into meth in clandestine labs.
Few people at the time realized the extent to which synthetic drugs would change the game. Most of the world’s opium poppy had come from just three countries — Afghanistan, Myanmar and Mexico. Another three nations, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, produced nearly the entire supply of coca, the base ingredient in cocaine. But chemicals are made all over the globe.
Even state-of-the-art ports can search only a small fraction of the containers arriving each day. A further complication: Some of the chemicals used in meth or fentanyl are “dual-use”: They are needed to make everyday goods such as cheese, soap and epilepsy medication.
“You can’t stop this stuff, otherwise you’d seriously disrupt the global economy,” said Bryce Pardo, who until recently was the associate director of the Drug Policy Research Center at the Rand Corp.
Crime groups play a cat-and-mouse game with regulators. When authorities put chemicals on watch lists, subjecting them to more scrutiny, traffickers combine legally available substances — “pre-precursors” — to make similar compounds.
“You can’t control [all the chemicals] because they have licit uses, like in pharmaceuticals,” said Sofía Díaz Menció, the project coordinator in Mexico for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. “And organized crime, in any case, will find substitutes.”
Traffickers have begun making ever more complex drug cocktails. The Colombo Plan, an intergovernmental organization, has analyzed samples of the drugs sold on U.S. streets over the past six years and found that about one-third have been “cut,” or adulterated, at least 15 times. Some samples contained not one kind of fentanyl but four or five.
There’s been “an explosion of new synthetic compounds,” said the group’s chief executive, Thom Browne Jr. “We’ve never seen this before.”
Now, traffickers mix fentanyl with veterinary tranquilizers such as xylazine and pain relievers such as metamizole, also known as dipyrone. These substances can amplify the impact of drugs but also deplete white blood cells and cause other health problems. It is not clear whether the substances are being added in Mexico or after the drugs have crossed the U.S. border.
“We are in a chemical, creative cesspool right now,” said Dan Ciccarone, a professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco who studies drug abuse.
Mexican marines at the Port of Manzanillo in November. They were sent in to combat corruption and the drug trade. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
‘A message of force’
A few minutes before midnight on Sept. 29, 2021, two Mexican military trucks pulled up to the headquarters of Cofepris, the national food and drug regulatory agency, in a middle-class neighborhood in the capital. About 15 marines in camouflage hopped out.
Hours later, as the agency’s senior managers showed up at their offices, many found marines guarding their computers. Nineteen managers were fired and replaced by new employees who had been secretly trained off-site.
“It was important for us to send a message of force,” said Alejandro Svarch, 34, who had become director of Cofepris months earlier.
The Mexican agency had long been plagued by corruption. But even Svarch had been stunned by what he found on taking over. In one case, he said, criminals used a fake permit to import 40 tons of tartaric acid. The substance can be used as a food additive but also to boost the purity of meth.
On paper, Mexico has a network of civilian agencies, including Cofepris and the customs agency, to monitor imports and investigate businesses that divert chemicals to drug traffickers.
Increasingly, though, the Mexican government is calling in the military.
Forensic technicians of the Mexican navy at a clandestine drug processing laboratory on the outskirts of the western city of Culiacán in 2018. (Photo courtesy of Mexican Secretariat of the Navy)
When Svarch became the director of Cofepris, he quickly determined that the permit system for dual-use chemicals was out of control. “Mexico had very likely become the number one importer of chemical precursors” in the world, he said.
Svarch was a doctor and Health Ministry official. “We are not a criminal justice entity.”
He asked the navy secretary for help.
Today, Cofepris is trying to convert an unwieldy, paper-based system into an online platform to monitor permits and keep track of dual-use chemicals. The navy helps run the agency.
On a recent day, four military analysts in orange vests sat studying computer screens at a new intelligence center at Cofepris. In the past year, the unit’s work has led to the seizure of more than 300 tons of suspect chemicals and medications, Svarch said.
U.S. officials say that they are impressed but also that the agency is woefully understaffed. Cofepris officials declined to say how many people were assigned to the intelligence center.
A lack of resources is a common problem throughout the government. López Obrador has tried to fill the gap with army and navy officers. But they must work with a civilian bureaucracy that is often shorthanded and inefficient. The customs agency, for example, has just 4,000 employees nationwide — a deficit of 2,000 — according to a speech in July by Citlalli Navarro, a customs official, that was reported by the newspaper El Economista.
In a sign of the agency’s turmoil, López Obrador has gone through three customs directors.
A cargo ship from China arrives at the Port of Manzanillo in November.
Precursor chemicals used in manufacturing illegal drugs are known to enter Mexico via ports including Manzanillo’s.
A worker watches Mexican marines using a dog to inspect cargo at the Port of Manzanillo. (Photos by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
TOP: A cargo ship from China arrives at the Port of Manzanillo in November. LEFT: Precursor chemicals used in manufacturing illegal drugs are known to enter Mexico via ports including Manzanillo’s. RIGHT: A worker watches Mexican marines using a dog to inspect cargo at the Port of Manzanillo. (Photos by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
His administration has seized more precursors in four years than his predecessor did in his entire six-year term, according to the Mexican freedom-of-information data. Yet, even tracking the busts is difficult. U.S. and Mexican officials say the government lacks storage space and incinerators for the confiscated chemicals. In some cases, officials say, crime groups have stolen the chemicals from warehouses used by authorities or bought them back from corrupt officials.
The most critical institutional weakness is in Mexico’s understaffed justice system. Svarch’s anti-graft campaign offers a case in point. It has steadily moved forward, with 36 Cofepris employees dismissed. But such cases often rely on information gathered by military intelligence that is inadmissible in court, diplomats say.
None of the 36 have faced criminal charges.
A trained dog sniffs for contraband at the Port of Manzanillo. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
A cat-and-mouse (and dog) game
Everyone was afraid Emma might pass out. A small crowd watched as she sat, calmly, in an internal patio at the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC), Mexico’s version of the FBI. A truck stood ready to whisk her to the hospital. A medical professional had a vial of Narcan just in case.
And then, the 6-year-old German shepherd stood up, bounded over to a line of cardboard boxes, sniffed around and stopped. She sat again.
Emma had found benzyl chloride, a chemical used to make perfumes, lubricants — and meth.
The September 2021 exercise marked the start of one of the world’s few programs to train dogs to detect precursor chemicals. Mexico had already been using dogs to search for fentanyl and meth. “We realized that the scent of the precursors is similar,” said Israel Zaragoza, the head of the canine unit at the AIC.
A year later, about 40 precursor-trained dogs are working across the country, sniffing packages at homes, bus stations and international courier facilities. The AIC plans to train hundreds of dogs that are already employed by Mexican police, the army and the navy. Like Emma, most of the dogs were donated by the U.S. government.
So far, the AIC’s dogs have sniffed out 366 liters — almost 100 gallons — of precursors, including 4-ANPP, which is used in fentanyl, and methylamine, a meth ingredient that became widely known because of the TV series “Breaking Bad.”
Yet, the canine detectives have found little 4-AP, one of the main chemicals used to make fentanyl. There’s been an overall plunge in Mexican seizures of 4-AP, from nearly 300 kilos (about 660 pounds) in 2020 to almost nothing this year, U.S. and Mexican officials say.
The sudden change may indicate that traffickers have switched to other precursors since 4-AP was put on Mexico’s watch list last year. “The more substances you put under control, the more traffickers use very skilled chemical engineers to find new substitutes,” said one U.N. official, who was not authorized to comment on the record.
Mexico learned that years ago. Starting in 2005, the government cracked down on ephedrine, and supplies of meth dried up. But cartels adapted their recipe, turning to a liquid called phenyl-2-propanone, or P2P. It could be created with cheap and widely used industrial chemicals — such as cyanide and mercury. The new meth ingredients were, however, more toxic.
Crime groups are changing other tactics, too. Although they’ve used seaports for years to import meth precursors, they are turning to airports to bring in fentanyl precursors, which are needed in smaller volumes, U.S. officials say. Drug agents are seeing yet another pattern: exporters sending small packages of precursors directly to homes in Mexico.
Gantry cranes service a cargo ship in the Port of Manzanillo.
Trucks hauling shipping containers await secondary inspection in Manzanillo. (Photos by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
LEFT: Gantry cranes service a cargo ship in the Port of Manzanillo. RIGHT: Trucks hauling shipping containers await secondary inspection in Manzanillo. (Photos by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
Retired Adm. Salvador Gómez Meillón, the administrator of the Manzanillo port, has won praise from local officials since taking over in 2020. His team has created an ID system for thousands of employees and visiting truckers that uses facial recognition and QR codes.
“Now, there’s no access for people who shouldn’t enter,” he said. About 230 navy personnel protect the port and help screen cargo.
Yet, suspicious precursors continue to arrive. This year, authorities at Manzanillo have destroyed more than 16 tons of the meth precursor benzyl chloride and three tons of 2-bromoethyl benzene, which can be used to synthesize fentanyl.
Gómez Meillón doesn’t underestimate the criminals. “These people are like rats,” he said. “They try to get in every which way.”
Mexican marines in Manzanillo use a scanner to inspect containers unloaded off a ship from Colombia. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
Drug experts such as Pardo say interdicting precursors is so hard that governments will have to emphasize other measures — such as stricter know-your-customer rules for chemical exporters in China and other countries. Ultimately, analysts say, the crisis cannot be resolved without slashing the demand for illegal opioids in the United States.
That’s been difficult to do — even though the U.S. federal budget for drug control has surged in the past decade, reaching more than $39 billion in 2022. In a sign of shifting priorities, more of that money is now being spent on treatment and prevention than on law enforcement efforts aimed at curbing supply.
However, it is not clear whether that has translated into a decline in the number of people abusing opioids including fentanyl, heroin and prescription pills. The U.S. government lacks rigorous data on the use of such narcotics, said Beau Kilmer, the director of Rand’s drug policy center. One figure that’s unambiguous: the soaring total of deaths caused by fentanyl, which is 50 times as powerful as heroin.
Pardo, now at the U.N. drug office, offered an example of how the demand factor has often been overlooked. He helped coordinate the recent U.S. congressional report on fentanyl — an exhaustive effort involving high-level officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State.
The officials quickly realized how daunting it would be to curtail shipments of synthetic drugs and how vital it was to focus on demand. Yet, Congress had called for the report to look only at cutting the supply.
“We realized, once we started sitting, we’re really missing half the equation here,” he said.
Cargo operations in Manzanillo take place under the gaze of Mexican marines. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
Mary Beth Sheridan reported from Manzanillo, Mexico. Eva Herscowitz reported from Washington and Alejandra Ibarra Chaoul reported from Mexico City. Steven Rich in Washington and Pedro Zamora Briseño in Manzanillo also contributed to this report. Photography by Salwan Georges. Video by Luis Velarde.
Design and development by Allison Mann and Tyler Remmel. Additional design and development by Laura Padilla Castellanos and Rekha Tenjarla. Graphic by Steven Rich. Data analysis by Alejandra Ibarra Chaoul and Steven Rich. Video graphics by Sarah Hashemi.
Jeff Leen, Trish Wilson and Courtney Kan were the lead editors. Additional editing by Gilbert Dunkley, Chiqui Esteban, Christian Font, Meghan Hoyer, Jai-Leen James, Thomas LeGro, Robert Miller and Martha Murdock.
Additional support from Steven Bohner, Matthew Callahan, Sarah Childress, Sarah Dunton, Jenna Lief, Osman Malik, Monika Mathur, Jordan Melendrez, Angel Mendoza, Sarah Murray, Ben Pillow, Sarah Pineda, Andrea Platten, Kyley Schultz, Casey Silvestri, John Taylor and Mael Vallejo.
Data for graphic is from the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, the Federal Register and a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration list of Scheduling Actions. | 2022-12-13T20:36:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Law enforcement struggles to detect fentanyl, meth precursor chemicals - Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/precursor-chemicals-fentanyl-meth/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/precursor-chemicals-fentanyl-meth/ |
As chief executive of the Girl Scouts in the 1970s and 1980s, she helped modernize its mission of empowering young women
Frances Hesselbein at the Girl Scouts' national headquarters in New York in the 1980s. (Girl Scouts of the USA)
“I’m the mother of a little boy,” she recalled saying, confessing that she “knew nothing about little girls.”
The neighbor did not give up. She later told Mrs. Hesselbein that if no new leader came forward, Troop 17 — more than two dozen 10-year-old girls who gathered weekly in the basement of a Presbyterian church — would be disbanded. Mrs. Hesselbein relented and agreed to serve for six weeks, until they could find “a real leader,” she said.
Mrs. Hesselbein led the Girl Scouts as chief executive for 14 years, recruiting new generations of members and volunteers, increasing the group’s minority ranks and modernizing its mission of empowering young women.
For her leadership of the Girl Scouts and her subsequent work training nonprofit executives, President Bill Clinton in 1998 awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
“Frances Hesselbein has devoted herself to changing lives for the better,” read the citation. “With skill and sensitivity,” it continued, she “has shown us how to summon the best from ourselves and our fellow citizens.”
Mrs. Hesselbein died Dec. 11 at her home in Easton, Pa. She was 107. Her niece Frances Eckman confirmed her death but did not cite a cause.
The Girl Scouts of the USA trace their beginnings to 1912, when their founder, Juliette Gordon Low, first convened a group of 18 “Girl Guides” in her hometown of Savannah, Ga. (The Boy Scouts of America had been incorporated two years earlier.)
Millions of youngsters grew up reciting the Girl Scout promise, selling cookies and collecting badges to mark their mastery of new skills, which evolved over the years from tasks such as “clean and dress fowl” to the use of a computer.
Under Mrs. Hesselbein’s leadership, the Girl Scouts sought to attract more members by lowering the age at which girls could join. Previously, the youngest members were Brownies, age 6. In 1984, the Girl Scouts admitted the first Daisies, age 5.
Mrs. Hesselbein was credited with tripling the number of Black and other minority Girl Scouts and with recruiting from immigrant communities and public housing projects. She sought to expose young members to careers in science, technology, engineering and math as well as business — a field many girls first encountered through Girl Scout cookie sales.
“They gain confidence,” Mrs. Hesselbein said. “They learn to write an order, make change. They become a small part of the business world.”
“At one time there was a stereotype that your Girl Scout leader was the mother of a Brownie,” Mrs. Hesselbein told the Times in 1984, “but increasingly we are having young businesswomen and professional women who are not mothers but care about children.”
Frances Willard Richards — in an early display of her independence, she changed her middle name to Ann, after her mother, at age 6 — was born Nov. 1, 1915, in South Fork, Pa. She grew up in nearby Johnstown. Her father worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad as a detective, and her mother was a homemaker.
In the late 1930s, she married John D. Hesselbein, a photographer. For years they ran a photography studio in Johnstown before moving to Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania state capital, as Mrs. Hesselbein took on increasing roles with the Girl Scouts.
Her husband died in 1978, and their son, John R. Hesselbein, died in 2011. She was also preceded in death by a grandson. Survivors include another grandson, three great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
President George H.W. Bush named Mrs. Hesselbein to two panels, on volunteerism and community service. She was the author of books including “Hesselbein on Leadership” (2002) and “My Life in Leadership” (2011).
At the Girl Scouts and in her nonprofit leadership training, Mrs. Hesselbein practiced and promoted what she described as a “circular management” style, rather than a traditional hierarchical reporting structure, to include more people in decision-making.
“The more power you give away, the more you have,” she told the Christian Science Monitor in 1992. “I truly believe in participatory leadership, in sharing leadership to the outermost edges of the circle.”
“Since Mrs. Hesselbein forbids the use of … words like ‘up’ and ‘down’ when she’s around,” he said, to laughter in the assembled audience, “I will call this pioneer for women, volunteerism, diversity and opportunity not up, but forward, to be recognized.” | 2022-12-13T20:36:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Frances Hesselbein, transformative leader of Girl Scouts, dies at 107 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/13/frances-hesselbein-girl-scouts-dead/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/13/frances-hesselbein-girl-scouts-dead/ |
Researchers have announced a key breakthrough in nuclear fusion, an elusive technology that advocates have long said holds the promise of cheap, abundant carbon-free power. Fusion has the potential to transform the global energy landscape, but there’s still a huge gap between this milestone and developing an actual power plant.
Triggering a fusion reaction is an extremely complicated process requiring enormous amounts of energy. Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco announced Dec. 13 that their fusion test had a net energy gain — that is, it produced more power than it consumed. Scientists have been trying to achieve this for decades. The breakthrough creates the possibility of a system that would have enough energy to sustain a fusion reaction plus produce excess power that could be tapped and sold. It demonstrates that fusion technology could eventually be used to generate electricity on a commercial scale.
The most immediate impact of the US experiment will be felt by engineers in charge of maintaining the US nuclear-weapons stockpile. Data yielded by the test will allow them to model what happens during a thermonuclear explosion, effectively creating a new way to gauge how warheads are aging without resorting to weapons tests, which the US hasn’t conducted for more than 30 years. The numerous companies pursuing fusion may also benefit from the breakthrough. They’re going to need significant capital as they seek to commercialize fusion, and this achievement may generate excitement among potential investors. Startups including Commonwealth Fusion Systems LLC and Helion Energy Inc. attracted $2.3 billion in support in 2021, and backers will likely direct more than $1 billion to the field this year, according to BloombergNEF. Other notable companies include Marvel Fusion, TAE Technologies, General Fusion, Tokamak Energy and Zap Energy. | 2022-12-13T20:58:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Understanding the Breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion Energy and the Challenges Ahead - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/understanding-the-breakthrough-in-nuclear-fusion-energyand-the-challenges-ahead/2022/12/13/8046a9e0-7b21-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/understanding-the-breakthrough-in-nuclear-fusion-energyand-the-challenges-ahead/2022/12/13/8046a9e0-7b21-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
Maguire notes that the chamber’s political spending has dropped significantly over the last 10 years. It spent $35 million in the 2014 election cycle; $10.9 million in 2018; and just $1.8 million in 2022. The chamber notes that these figures reflect only spending on cable or broadcast TV advertising in the weeks before an election and do not include spending on digital advertising. It also notes that it donated $3 million to a political-action committee in support of Republican US Senate candidate Mehmet Oz in 2022.
The chamber also gave money directly to at least 16 Republican members this year who voted not to certify the 2020 election. Among those donations: $5,000 to one Kevin McCarthy of California.
(Corrects last paragraph to note that the chamber gave money to 16 members of Congress who voted not to certify the 2020 election. Also updates penultimate paragraph to include details of other political spending by the chamber.) | 2022-12-13T20:58:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The Business Lobby Doesn’t Need Kevin McCarthy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-business-lobby-doesnt-need-kevin-mccarthy/2022/12/13/5995070a-7b1d-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-business-lobby-doesnt-need-kevin-mccarthy/2022/12/13/5995070a-7b1d-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
Firefighters battle a blaze at a warehouse in the Brooklyn Borough of New York on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022 in New York. Eight people suffered minor injuries in the fire at a New York Police Department warehouse that houses DNA evidence from crime scenes as well as cars, e-bikes and motor scooters, police and fire officials said. (WABC via AP) (Uncredited/WABC) | 2022-12-13T20:58:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 8 hurt in fire at NYPD warehouse where evidence is stored - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/8-hurt-in-fire-at-nypd-warehouse-where-evidence-is-stored/2022/12/13/a3c547b6-7b1f-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/8-hurt-in-fire-at-nypd-warehouse-where-evidence-is-stored/2022/12/13/a3c547b6-7b1f-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
The U.S. does not need to alienate its allies to green its economy
French President Emmanuel Macron and President Biden at the White House on Dec. 1. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by President Biden in August, authorizes $370 billion in subsidies to promote a clean energy transition in the United States. It also amounts to a massive use of government power to ensure that solar projects, electric vehicles and associated supply chains are not imported but built in the United States. The ostensible purpose is to block China from dominating the green energy market, but longtime U.S. allies — European nations prominent among them — stand to be disadvantaged, too. They don’t like it, and Mr. Biden got an earful about the issue from French President Emmanuel Macron during his recent state visit to Washington.
The Europeans have a point. The IRA’s signature policy element is a tax credit of up to $7,500 for purchasing new electric cars, but only vehicles assembled in North America are eligible. Thus European (and Japanese or Korean) vehicles manufactured in the United States, Canada or Mexico would qualify, but imports from their factories in, say, Stuttgart, Germany, would not. Given the size of the U.S. market, this creates a huge incentive for European companies to move factories across the Atlantic, abandoning a continent already reeling from covid-19 and the energy crisis that followed sanctions to punish Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
What’s more, the IRA’s “incentives” violate the spirit, and maybe the letter, of international trade laws the United States itself did so much to create and pledged to follow. Those rules specify that, once an exporter from a particular country has paid any tariffs it owes, the importing country has to treat the goods equally under its tax laws. The United States is more or less daring the European Union to take the issue to the World Trade Organization, knowing that litigation takes years and might never be resolved, since the organization’s appellate body lacks a quorum of judges. The United States has refused to confirm any in protest of past rulings against it.
The Biden administration should try to implement the law, which takes effect Jan. 1, in such a way as to permit more European market access. There are two reasons to meet the Europeans halfway: First, if the bill’s goal is to reduce inflation and carbon emissions, more competition and consumer choice would further it. And, second, given the overriding need to maintain a united political front against the Russians, Europe and the United States should avoid a protracted trade battle.
Still, the IRA is pretty explicit and it’s far from clear how its provisions could be tweaked administratively — much less how that could be done in the face of inevitable opposition from U.S. industry. A likely outcome is that Europe will try to match U.S. subsidies and domestic-content rules, in a potential repeat of the dueling subsidies the two sides supplied their respective passenger aircraft makers, Airbus and Boeing.
Of course, as the Airbus-Boeing feud indicates, economic tension between the United States and Europe is nothing new. It stretches at least as far back as 1962, when the Russian threat to Europe was, if anything, greater than it is now — but European countries still doubled tariffs on U.S. poultry. The United States retaliated with a 25 percent tariff on pickup trucks, which remains in effect to this day. To be sure, transatlantic commerce is generally free: The two sides traded more than $750 billion in goods in 2021 and tariffs average in the single digits. And yet irritants have never quite gone away. Europe, which balked at a deal that would have reduced regulatory and other non-tariff barriers when President Barack Obama offered one, has tended to protect its markets more than the United States. Germany has in recent years run a persistent trade surplus with this country, aided not only by its legendary craftsmanship but what U.S. administrations of both parties have called an undervalued currency.
Things reached a nadir when President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on European steel in 2018, citing “national security,” and Europe retaliated with levies on various U.S. exports. The Biden administration lifted the Trump levy — but replaced it with another instrument of “managed trade,” an import quota. Though the Biden administration’s tone is much more professional and diplomatic, it has pursued trade policies that are not all that different from those of its predecessor.
Free trade is out of favor with both parties in the United States, which is especially inapt in the context of trade with Europe, a region whose wages and environmental standards are comparable to those in this country. Geopolitically, more trade with NATO allies would foster the supply-line strategy of “friend-shoring” that Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and others have advocated.
The new threat Russia poses shows the transatlantic partners how much they still need each other. And they still ask a great deal of each other: The United States is providing a disproportionate share of economic and military support to Ukraine, while European businesses and households face painful economic blowback from imposing sanctions on Russia’s energy industry.
These common interests and shared sacrifices could form the basis for deeper cooperation in the form of freer and mutual transatlantic market access. The United States and Europe have to move from talking about their shared values — to acting on them. | 2022-12-13T20:58:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | France has a point on protectionist U.S. climate policy - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/13/climate-policy-subsidies-europe-trade/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/13/climate-policy-subsidies-europe-trade/ |
Historic advance in nuclear fusion is truly something to celebrate
The interior of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's laser-based inertial confinement fusion research facility in 2012. (AFP/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) (Handout/AFP/Getty Images)
Assuming these scientists did reach ignition, getting there for even a trillionth of a second required an array of 192 lasers so huge that the building where they’re housed is 10 stories high and three football fields long. The lasers focused on a tiny fuel pellet composed of rare hydrogen isotopes that is not easy to manufacture in large quantities. And the resulting reaction generated only about 20 percent more energy than it absorbed — a figure that doesn’t even count the energy that was wasted before reaching the target, or the considerable energy investment in building and operating the mega-laser array.
This is a long way from the dream of nuclear power that is safe (no worries about what to do with spent fuel rods!) and so abundant that it will be “too cheap to meter.” Scientists have been chasing this dream since the 1950s, so long that it has become a mordant joke: “Fusion is the energy of the future … and always will be.” For now, that old saw remains true; the reaction would have to generate hundreds or thousands of times more energy than went into it to begin to be an economical source of power. The hurdles to get there are enormous, possibly the most complicated engineering project humanity has ever undertaken.
So it’s probably premature for anyone to dance around the house in their bathrobe, singing “Clean, green energy for everyone!,” but … nope, actually, going to do the happy dance anyway. Scientists have accomplished a net energy gain from a fusion reaction. This is potentially the biggest news of the decade.
As you may already have heard, you are literally made of stardust. Most of the atoms in your body were forged in the core of some ancient sun, as lighter elements fused into heavier ones; you are the vicarious survivor of star fire and supernovas. Now your species is making stars — tiny ones to be sure, and very ephemeral, but nonetheless we are inching toward mastering the very process that made our world. This shift from product to producer would be wondrous even if it didn’t hold out hope for an energy revolution as profound as the shift from horsepower to fossil fuels.
As Andrew McAfee points out in his book “More From Less,” from 1800 to 1970, America’s gross domestic product and its energy consumption rose in near lockstep. They eventually decoupled, in part because the costs of burning hydrocarbons forced us to look for ways to economize. But what if we didn’t have to economize? What could humanity do for ourselves and our planet?
Human progress is the story of serial failures and halting, partial successes that add up, over centuries, to miracles. If Livermore’s results hold up, humanity will have taken a major step toward harnessing the power of the stars. No matter how much longer the journey takes, we can marvel at its audacity, and at how far we’ve already come. | 2022-12-13T20:58:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Nuclear fusion breakthrough is truly something to celebrate - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/13/nuclear-fusion-historic-breakthrough/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/13/nuclear-fusion-historic-breakthrough/ |
Transcript: This is Climate: Global Stakes with Jennifer Morgan
MR. BIRNBAUM: Hello, and welcome to Washington Post Live. I’m Michael Birnbaum, a climate reporter at The Post and a former Berlin Bureau chief.
Today we're taking a look at European climate policy. Our guest today is Jennifer Morgan, Germany's Special Envoy for Climate.
Jennifer, hello.
MS. MORGAN: Hello.
MR. BIRNBAUM: Just to start, are you cold right now in your office? I know that Germany is limiting heat in government offices. How does it feel in Berlin?
MS. MORGAN: It's very cold in Berlin right now, and indeed, our offices are set at 19 degrees Celsius. So it's a bit chilly, but I've got a sweater, and in comparison to what's happening in the Ukraine right now, I think we're doing very well.
MR. BIRNBAUM: So 19 degrees Celsius, for our American audience, that's about 66 degrees Fahrenheit, which here in Washington, typically, we only allow that with air conditioning in the summertime, not in the winter.
So before you were Germany's climate envoy, you ran Greenpeace International for six years. Why did you make the switch from activism and advocacy to governing?
MS. MORGAN: Well, I had the opportunity when Minister Baerbock, the foreign minister, gave me a call to ask if I would be interested in serving, and I made the switch because I read the coalition agreement for this government, and it had the goals that I have stood for and worked for many years, the 1.5 degrees goal, ambitious national climate policies, phasing out of coal, a greenhouse gas neutrality goal by 2045, and also a foreign policy that was really values‑based and where climate and even climate justice was in the center. And I thought, okay, I always have tried in my life to go where I thought I could make change, and this was an amazing honor and opportunity that I thought, you know, I should give a go.
And we always say in the NGO movement that one should move beyond one's comfort zone at this moment of crisis, and that's what I did, and I'm really glad that I did.
MR. BIRNBAUM: That's a lot of ground to cover. I'm looking forward to talking about a lot of those issues with you today.
But, you know, just to begin, I covered the Glasgow talks, the UN climate talks in Glasgow last year. I saw you leading protests there. This year, you were leading Germany's negotiations at, you know, the latest installment of those UN climate talks in Egypt. What do you wish, 2021, Jennifer Morgan had known about actually being in government and being in a position of responsibility in these climate negotiations?
MS. MORGAN: I mean, I guess one thing is just how challenging it is to have a responsibility to make decisions, to have to balance out the different, you know, priorities of different countries. Certainly, in the loss and damage negotiations, that was certainly a key piece, and, you know, I guess I always had respect for negotiators and, you know, people, ministers who were there. But I don't think I understood the extra responsibility that's on the shoulders of people who are trying to come to decisions and to agreements, and that's an additional level, I think, that I now appreciate more.
MR. BIRNBAUM: And you took your current position just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, sparking an energy crisis and a clear humanitarian crisis. How has the war in Ukraine affected your mission now?
MS. MORGAN: Well, I think the horrific war, Russian war of aggression, you know, certainly, it has impacted it. I think it's done so in different ways. I think it's made the urgency of phasing out fossil fuels and going for renewable energy, which has now been termed "freedom energy" in Germany as a top, top priority and I think accelerated the pace at which we've been passing legislation, setting new ambitious goals to scale that up in Germany and in Europe.
I think it has also really put an extra emphasis on our work with developing countries after‑‑you know, when we see what this Russian war is doing in terms of the pressure on food security and on energy security and after covid, I think the sense of solidarity that I feel, that we feel is even greater. And those two things, I think, have been common themes. That means we're really looking for those new alliances, putting an even bigger focus on making sure that we maintain internationally binding rules, an international set of rules that all countries should be following. That's obviously a key priority for me and for us.
MR. BIRNBAUM: So, with the war in Ukraine, there's a short‑term crisis and there's long‑term work. What do you think are going to be the lasting consequences of the war for Europe's climate policy?
MS. MORGAN: Well, I think due to the Russian war, I think Europe is moving faster. I mean, I think the geopolitics of energy are shifting dramatically, I think, for Europe and, therefore, you know, as we‑‑we will peak. I'm pretty sure we will peak gas earlier. We're, you know, having‑‑by the end of the year, we will have phased out our Russian imports. Fifty‑five percent of our gas imports came from Russia, and I think now, you know, looking at how we, within Europe, first of all, meet our energy needs and then also looking and accelerating the pace of new energy and climate partnerships around the world, I think that is a very big shift.
I also think that we've learned the hard way that being dependent on one nation for so much of something that brings services instability to our citizens is a mistake that we shouldn't make again, and I think, you know, Europe also is holding together on that.
I think, lastly, in a way, the Russian war has brought Europe closer together in how we're working‑‑have been working together. Also, the G7, I think, in a way, has had a revitalization‑‑I'm sure that was not Putin's plan‑‑but certainly standing closely together to forge a way forward that has climate protection, energy security, and peace more centrally there as key goals.
MR. BIRNBAUM: And you were, of course, at those recent UN climate talks in Egypt. You helped engineer that deal last‑minute deal on loss and damage, a kind of climate reparations, really, the kind of‑‑the first time, first action on that at one of these gatherings. Take us a little bit behind the scenes at the negotiations. What was it like?
MS. MORGAN: Well, it was intense because the first thing that we‑‑the Egyptian presidency asked myself and Maisa Rojas, the environment minister from Chile, if we would be co‑facilitators for those loss and damage negotiations. They asked us that at the pre‑COP, which was a few weeks, three, four weeks before the COP, because the first thing that we had to do was actually see if we could get that issue on the agenda in a way that was acceptable to all parties, which was a huge disagreement at the Bonn talks in June.
And so what we did was we started‑‑we listened. I just have to say we listened a huge amount in the lead‑up to the COP in order to put forward something for the presidency that could then get the issue even on the agenda, which was very clear, by the way, that it's not about liability. It's not about reparations for the past. It's about looking forward, but it is about addressing loss and damage.
And then, you know, as we arrived, the first week actually the negotiations were undertaken by Minister Rojas and my team, and then when she arrived, I mean, we had a series of bilaterals with all major groups. So, if you can imagine, you know, the UN has various groups. When we met with the G77 and China, that's all the developing countries. Pakistan was the chair. So we would meet and listen to a group of‑‑oh, it was like 45 people. And then we would sit and we would meet with the European Union separately, and then we would meet and listen to what's called the "Umbrella Group," which is a group that has the United States and Canada and Japan. And then we would meet with‑‑yeah, the Arab Group or the others. So we really did a lot of listening, and then based on that, we worked with the Secretariat. The Climate Secretariat supported us to put together a draft text, and then we consulted further. So it was a lot of listening, synthesizing, trying to really understand the priorities of each, of those key blocs, so that we could put forward something to the Egyptian presidency that could actually come to a decision. And that was, indeed, touch‑and‑go until, I would say, final hours. And there, I have to say, I think the European Union played a very important role in getting a breakthrough.
MR. BIRNBAUM: One area that didn't make as much headway was efforts to accelerate cuts to global greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. got some of the blame for that. Is that fair, and why wasn't there more progress on emissions?
MS. MORGAN: Indeed, we've stated very clearly that this outcome was far from enough on mitigation. We are still on a pathway, as the Secretary‑General said, a climate, you know‑‑"highway to hell," I think was his quote. Yes. And I think, you know, in some ways, you can say, okay, we held the line from Glasgow because the 1.5 degree goal is still the goal, but there was not progress. And I think what we saw actually was that there was a group of particularly oil‑ and fossil fuel‑dependent countries that didn't want to go in that direction.
There was over 80‑‑there were over 80 countries that supported a phaseout of fossil fuels: the European Union; Germany being in there; Alliance of Small Island Nations; Colombia, Chile, the progressive Latin American countries. But it was pretty clear that those other oil‑producing, gas‑producing countries did not want to go in that direction, and frankly, we had to consider, at the end, which Vice President Timmermans from the European Union talked about whether we were going to say no to the entire agreement because there was not enough there for mitigation. But then we would have lost the loss and damage outcome, and we didn't want to do that. So we moved forward in our doubling down.
I, a week later, went to South America to be forging new alliances because we have no time, no time to lose.
MR. BIRNBAUM: We have a question from our audience. Max Gruenig of Washington D.C. asks, what is the strategy to ensure at COP28 and COP29 we meet expectations on ambition in loss and damage? Is there a recognition that a different approach is required?
MS. MORGAN: I mean, I think on loss and damage, if I have to think about what made it a success at this COP, I think there were a mixture of things. I think‑‑and that's what we need for COP28 and COP29, which have very important issues, and on the agenda, whether it be that fossil fuel phaseout or whether it be this global stocktake, which should be a science‑based process to inform the next set of targets‑‑I mean, we need to increase our current targets‑‑part of that was really having the most vulnerable countries have a driving role in these negotiations.
The other was civil society. I mean, the pressure that was coming in from around the world from every group was very important and was felt, I think, and the fact that the impacts were hitting so hard that one just couldn't walk away, look away anymore. I think those pieces are key.
And then, really, in the end, we had a strong coalition in this COP, this past COP, for an outcome on loss and damage. We need to do that for COP28 and COP29.
I think the other piece I would say, which maybe was not as much seen, but for me, the COPs are always the multilateral negotiations. But they're also the agreements that get struck bilaterally or plurilaterally, and I think we need to do more of that. Maybe that's a bit of a different model, what the questioner is asking, where we, you know, came to an agreement with South Africa for an investment plan for them to phase out coal more quickly. We came to an agreement with Indonesia for the same and phasing up renewable energy. Germany's working with Kenya to help it meet its 2030 hundred percent renewables goal.
I think those types of initiatives‑‑and UAE is clearly trying to position itself in that type of space, despite its gas production capacity. Then I think we need to really focus in there to be building the real economy.
I mean, it's clear that renewables is more affordable. It's clear that it's so much better than others. It's clear that a bio‑‑sustainable bioeconomy is better for people, and we need to connect those local, national, and international debates better.
MR. BIRNBAUM: Here in the United States, President Biden has invested an unprecedented amount of money in combating climate change through the Inflation Reduction Act. One area that's received a lot of attention, a big part of that act is a tax break for electric vehicles that are made in the United States. What do you think that means for Europe's EV industry? Are you worried about kind of a Buy American approach?
MS. MORGAN: Well, I mean, I think, first of all, we welcome the fact that there was legislation passed in the United States that the Biden administration, the U.S. President Biden succeeded in that. And it's clear that the U.S. wants to be a global leader in energy transformation, and that's a very important signal for the world, because I think the markets of the future are going to be green. And I think we'll‑‑that will move forward from this renewable energy, electric vehicles kind of a transformation.
I think we're keen as Germany and the EU to work with President Biden and also to operationalize that promise to make that Inflation Reduction Act also work for partners. I think we're in very many conversations also with other countries, and I think we want to make that a race to the top that's fair. And I think we're confident that we can do that in a trans‑Atlantic kind of partnership.
We have already something with Germany and the U.S., and also the European Union works closely to set those standards. In fact, just yesterday, the G7 under Germany, Germany's leadership, concluded the Climate Club, which is there to drive industrial sectors, energy‑intensive sectors towards the 1.5 limit so that we can achieve those reductions in a way that we can all have‑‑you know, share from those successes.
MR. BIRNBAUM: We have another question from our audience. Travis Brubaker from D.C. asks, will the IRA help or hinder trans‑Atlantic efforts to curb climate change and accelerate Germany's Energiewende? How does Germany view the idea of a potential Buy European Act?
MS. MORGAN: Well, I think, you know, as I said, it's a big priority for us, and I think we're working closely with the United States to come to an agreement, but at the same time, we have to continue our own efforts to strengthen the European green transition of our industries. And we are having conversations in Germany and in the European Union how we can do that best. You know, I think we're seeing that when we act together, we are strong. We have also tremendous renewable resources across the European Union, and I think that's really the focus of testing that.
I think we are sticking with our ambitious goals and driving those forward, but we also want to make sure that for our companies that it's fair and that there's those conditions for that race to the future, which we need to have in just a couple years here. So I think that's how we're thinking about it, that kind of a balance moving forward.
MR. BIRNBAUM: And, in Brussels, just this morning, I'm thinking, in the early hours of today, European Parliament and the European Council made a lot of progress on a European carbon border tax. Don't want to get too deep into the weeds here, but that would basically help ensure that emissions that are from things that are produced outside of the European Union aren't unfairly imported into the EU at a savings compared to the more expensive things in the European Union that are more expensive because they're being manufactured in a more green manner. What do you think that means for Europe's climate policy? Are you optimistic that that will help Europe's climate ambitions?
MS. MORGAN: Well, I am optimistic. I think both for Europe but also really globally. I mean, that mechanism is really there to also create incentives for other countries to green their supply chains.
We are in the middle of a climate crisis, and we all need to be moving together on that. And so the CBAM, as it's noted, is really there to incentivize for other countries to put in place the types of policies that will decarbonize their supply chains so that we can be decarbonizing the economy to meet that 2050 zero‑carbon economy goal. And I think that is the purpose of it.
I think what I have seen already, even before the agreement, was that that's been taken seriously. It's almost as if Europe is now being taken as that we mean this climate action seriously, that it remains a top priority of the Union, of Germany's leadership. So I think we're hoping others will join in, and this is an extra mechanism.
You know, the Paris Agreement doesn't have enforcement mechanisms in it, and I think this is an extra way of creating those incentives so that countries move in the right direction.
MR. BIRNBAUM: And Germany recently announced about 200 million euros in subsidies to help its citizens and businesses cope with high energy prices. That's a Germany‑specific approach. It has objected to some of the efforts to put really ambitious low limits on the prices of natural gas to combat high energy prices around Europe. Some of Germany's neighbors have criticized it for having what they say is a go‑it‑alone approach, kind of prioritizing Germans over others. Is that fair? What do you say to those critics?
MS. MORGAN: Well, I think it's pretty clear that Germany is working very actively and engaged within the European Union to find solutions that work for everyone, and that is a current topic, and it will come today and in the coming days to see how we can do that.
I think the way that we approach the European Union, the role that we play there is fundamental, while at the same time being very close and having very large impacts that came from this Russian war and phasing out Russian fossil fuels and, therefore, wanting to make sure that we can be taking care of our citizens, our small businesses that have seen a huge jump in energy prices in a way that I think we needed to ensure that that‑‑we had stability here, and that stability also brings stability for Europe. So it's very interdependent, and I think, you know, we are working hard, like I said, within Europe for those types of solutions. And I think a strong Germany is also a condition for a strong Europe, and we're working on both in parallel.
MR. BIRNBAUM: How much of your time is spent on those kinds of long‑term efforts to help Germany reduce its ambitions, help Europe reduce its ambitions, and how much is spent on that short‑term energy crunch? There simply isn't enough energy right now in Europe for all of its citizens, all of its needs. Some of that short‑term energy is spent on finding fossil fuels to fill the gaps. How do you find the balance, and what is the balance right now?
MS. MORGAN: Well, I think for the government as a whole‑‑because we have kind of an approach where climate change has been mainstreamed across this German government, so we have an economics and climate action ministry along with my leading of the foreign policy, climate foreign policy out of the federal foreign office. And so I think, obviously, it is a top priority for our economics and climate ministry, and I support in that and our chancellery, of course, as well to make sure that we have‑‑and a replacement‑‑and I think that's the key thing to note, a replacement for that Russian gas‑‑and to do it in a way across the government, really, that doesn't endanger our climate goals, our long‑term climate goals. We have a binding 2045 climate greenhouse gas neutral target, and therefore, the ways that we're doing that, the ways that the economics and climate ministry are working on implementing that, you know, are those, whether they be floating LNG terminals or looking to make sure from partners that we can fill that gap while we're scaling up renewable energy and energy efficiency‑‑Germany passed the largest legislative package on energy and one could even say almost on anything‑‑this march to scale up our renewables 80 percent by 2030 and energy efficiency and to accelerate the pace of implementation.
I think my role there is to be bringing in the international perspective, to be working with allies, to also be looking at how we can fill the gaps medium term also with green hydrogen in a socially safe and equitable and environmentally sound way. And the economics and climate ministry is really in the lead of our national implementation and making sure we get that balance right, climate goals in place, coal phaseout in place, but making sure that we have heat for our citizens for this winter and next.
MR. BIRNBAUM: Well, as you said, there's already a lot happening in Germany right now in terms of efforts to reduce emissions. What more could the government be doing to help Germans, in the middle of this crisis, reduce their emissions and try to address their problems in a kind of green manner?
MS. MORGAN: Well, I think there's‑‑I think the government can always be doing more in terms of, you know, advising citizens. Of course, it's their own decisions about how they can save energy.
We're seeing actually a tremendous response to that from both companies and from citizens in how they're responding and how their purchases can make a difference on that.
I think we're looking also‑‑there's lots there about how people can be getting and installing renewable heat pumps in their homes, just a whole range of measures, how they can also be reducing their own demands across the board also in transportation. So I think that's a big piece.
And then we're just really monitoring, obviously, the economic situation and very much looking out as much as we can for people who have a lower income, where this is especially hitting them hard, and that that's something that they can be doing both for themselves but also in solidarity with Ukrainians. We have a lot of Ukrainians, especially women and children, here in Germany, and so we feel their situation, not, of course, as directly as they do, but I think that's also a key thing maybe of that spirit to try and bring. That doesn't mean there isn't a societal debate, but it's very close to home here.
MR. BIRNBAUM: And just one last question here. You've mentioned a couple of times, Germany's plan to achieve net‑zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. Is that an easy or an ambitious goal? What does it look like for Germany right now?
MS. MORGAN: That's pretty ambitious. You know, Germany, we produce steel. We have chemical companies. We have an energy‑intensive economy. We're a trade nation. So what it looks like is a climate law that is binding with‑‑and sectoral goals across the different sectors and then different ministries that are responsible for implementing those measures with an independent commission that tells us where we're doing well and where we need to do more work. And I think we definitely are doing well, but we also need to do more work in our transportation sector, in our housing sector, because it's really‑‑it is an all‑of‑society approach. I mean, we can, as government, be putting forward different laws, et cetera, but then, you know, we want to do this together with our citizens, with local initiatives that can be having renewable energy, you know, wind turbines coming in, in a way that is consistent with biodiversity and brings local benefits to those communities.
And there's a lot of societal debate, and I think that requires a lot of listening, a lot of explaining in a way that isn't coming and telling people what to do but trying to share where we are and what the dilemmas are and also how they can be part of this solution.
People here feel the climate crisis. They see it happening here in Germany and in Europe with the heatwaves with the dried‑out Rhine this summer, and many of them don't know what to do. And so I think a lot of it is that kind of partnership across society where our companies play a big role sticking with their targets and also wanting to lead the way, by the way, on the green transformation internationally, whether it be green steel or whatever that product may be, but also really working with our families and with citizens so that they can be part of that but also that they feel safe, and that we can do our part in supporting them in this transformation.
It's hard, but it's absolutely essential, and I hope that the lessons that we're learning by having to do this in an accelerated pace can be useful as part of our climate foreign policy as well to accelerate learning around the world, because it can't take seven or eight years everywhere to build a wind turbine. It needs to happen more quickly, but it needs to be done well.
MR. BIRNBAUM: Really complex issues.
Unfortunately, we'll have to leave it there. That's all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining us, Jennifer Morgan. This has been really fascinating.
MS. MORGAN: Well, thanks so much for the opportunity. I really appreciate it.
MR. BIRNBAUM: And thank you for joining us, the audience. We’re glad to have you. If you want to check out more of our upcoming events here in Washington Post Live, head over to our website. You can reach us at WashingtonPostLive.com. There, you can find all sorts of information about our upcoming events and conversations.
Thank you again. I'm Michael Birnbaum, really appreciate it, with Washington Post. | 2022-12-13T21:00:11Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Transcript: This is Climate: Global Stakes with Jennifer Morgan - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/12/13/transcript-this-is-climate-global-stakes-with-jennifer-morgan/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/washington-post-live/2022/12/13/transcript-this-is-climate-global-stakes-with-jennifer-morgan/ |
Got milk? If you’re a Black, Asian or Hispanic, make it lactose free.
A customer climbs into the fridge for milk at a Walmart in Rosemead, Calif., on Nov. 22. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)
“The rates of lactose intolerance in (people of color) are startlingly high, with 65 percent of Latino students, 75 percent of Black students, and 90 percent of Asian students unable to digest dairy milk without detrimental effects,” said the letter, whose signatories included Reps. Troy A. Carter (D-La.), who is leading the effort, and Hakeem Jefferies (D-N.Y.), who was recently elected leader of the House Democratic Caucus.
Lactose intolerance varies among ethnic groups; some foods cause worse symptoms
USDA research analyzing dietary records of teenagers and children between 2003 and 2018 found that children aged 6 through 12 years old obtained 35 percent of their fluid milk at schools, while teenagers aged 13 through 18 years obtained 25 percent of their fluid milk at schools. Consumption of fluid milk was also higher for both groups on weekdays, when schools are generally in session, than on weekends. | 2022-12-13T21:19:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | New USDA guidelines for milk and kids of color - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/13/new-usda-guidelines-milk-kids-of-color/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/13/new-usda-guidelines-milk-kids-of-color/ |
In Iran, protesters are executed. The regime is losing the people.
Protesters wearing photos of the executed Majid Reza Rahnavard chant next to a hangman's noose in Berlin on Tuesday. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Iran’s theocratic rulers used a construction crane to hang a protester on Monday. Majidreza Rahnavard was hoisted to his death, a dreadful execution intended to frighten tens of thousands who have taken to the streets over the past three months. But the killing’s real significance is that it shows the Iranian regime is at a loss for how to respond to the demonstrations with anything other than brute force.
It has executed two protesters, put nine more on death row and charged at least a dozen others with crimes that could bring the death penalty. It has arrested some 18,000 people and throttled the Iranians’ internet access. It has regularly blamed “foreign” forces, such as the United States and Israel, for instigating widespread protests. It has deployed legions of security officers, who have fired on civilians. The group Iran Human Rights, based in Oslo, reports that at least 458 people, including 63 children and 29 women, have been killed in the protests. The one thing the clerics have not done is grasp what the revolt is about.
What’s developing is a growing and irreversible chasm between state and society, between the rulers and the ruled — a potential death knell for an authoritarian regime. The protesters are demanding a free, open, secular and modern country, a stark change from the cloistered, suffocating Islamic republic. As Carnegie Endowment expert Karim Sadjadpour noted, the protests have become “a historic battle pitting two powerful and irreconcilable forces,” the predominantly young population of Iran, desperate for change, and the aging and isolated theocracy, clinging to power. The protests were initially triggered by the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, detained for what the “morality police” said was improper wearing of the mandatory head covering or hijab. But in the weeks since, protesters have voiced deeper and more profound grievances in an uprising that has drawn strong support from women and that is both generational and social. They have chanted “down with the dictator” and demanded “freedom” from the oppressive clerical overlords.
Unfortunately, the clerics are deaf to these words and have responded only with more repression. Mr. Rahnavard, 23, was accused of fatally stabbing two members of a paramilitary force in Mashhad on Nov. 17 after he purportedly become angry about protester treatment. He was likely subject to torture during an interrogation to induce a confession; trials are held behind closed doors without due process. On Dec. 8, Iran executed another protester, Mohsen Shekari, also 23, who was charged with injuring a government security agent and blocking a street.
Iranian state media published photos of Mr. Rahnavard hanging from the crane, his hands and feet bound, a black bag over his head. Such is the terrifying image that Iran’s leaders seek to convey to the protesters. But the truth — obvious to all of Iranian society — is that the despotic clerics are the ones who are afraid. If they do not change, the people might force change.
Opinion|Serious about bridging our divide? Here’s some language to avoid. | 2022-12-13T21:32:58Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | As Iran executes protesters, the theocratic regime loses the people - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/13/iran-execute-protesters-repression/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/13/iran-execute-protesters-repression/ |
Jeimer Candelario expects a bounce-back season at the plate after a down year in 2022. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
When Jeimer Candelario was non-tendered by the Detroit Tigers last month, a handful of teams inquired about the 29-year old third baseman’s availability. During a video call with reporters on Tuesday, Candelario explained that the chance to play third base every day for the Nationals appealed to him and ultimately led to him signing a 1-year, $5 million deal.
The Nationals publicly have stated that Candelario and Carter Kieboom — a former top prospect coming off Tommy John surgery last year — are in a competition in spring training for the third base job. But based on comments made at the winter meetings by Manager Dave Martinez and General Manager Mike Rizzo, Candelario will handle the majority of the duties at the hot corner next year. Candelario sees the change of scenery as “a fresh start.”
“I saw the opportunity and the team that they were building right now,” Candelario said. “I knew that I could bring some energy and some work that I have to do. I just want to contribute.”
The Nationals signed Candelario, pitcher Trevor Williams and outfielder Stone Garrett to major league deals this offseason. Otherwise, it’s been a pretty slow couple of months for Washington. On Tuesday, the Nationals claimed pitcher A.J. Alexy off waivers and designated infielder Lucius Fox for assignment, which kept their roster at 40.
Candelario began his major league playing career with the Chicago Cubs in 2016, when Nationals Manager Dave Martinez was the Cubs’ bench coach. Candelario said the familiarity with Martinez — along with knowing Victor Robles — boosted his desire to join Washington. He called Martinez a really good leader.
At the winter meetings, Martinez said Candelario will be a leader for him in the clubhouse. The Nationals will be taking a low-risk chance on the field on a switch-hitting corner infielder who they expect to have a bounce-back year after spending the last five full seasons with the Detroit Tigers. In the 2020 pandemic-shortened season, Candelario hit .297. He batted .271 the following year, led the majors with 42 doubles and finished with an OPS+ of 121 (league average is 100).
But Candelario’s batting average dipped to .217 last year. He attributed the struggles to his inability to control the strike zone. He set career highs a year ago in swing percentage (52.2 percent) and swing percentage at balls outside of the strike zone (33.6 percent).
Candelario believes being more selective will give him better balls to hit in the zone. He also thinks the ban on shifts next year will benefit him from the left side of the plate, allowing him to hit freely instead of dealing with the mental game of hitting against the shift.
“I was hitting the ball gap-to-gap, taking the pitches that were given to me in the moment and I was doing that [consistently],” Candelario said about his approach in 2021. “That’s the right thing to do and that’s what I’m going to do: be consistent and bring that to the Nationals.”
Candelario has made 505 starts at third base but also stressed that he’d be willing to play first base if that helped the team win. He could play either corner infield spot or be a designated hitter, depending on how Martinez constructs his lineup based on matchups or if Kieboom does have a strong spring training and earns the third base job. Candelario could be moved at the trade deadline if he produces like he did a few years ago. But in the meantime, he’ll assume a veteran role for a young, inexperienced team.
“Leadership starts by doing the little things the right way,” Candelario said. “It’s leading by example and doing the stuff that I’m supposed to do. We have a lot of young guys. Me going there to the Nationals, I have to put myself in a great position to help the young guys.” | 2022-12-13T21:50:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Jeimer Candelario, Nationals look for bounce-back season on offense - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/13/jeimer-candelario-nationals/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/13/jeimer-candelario-nationals/ |
In the esoteric mind of Mike Leach, football was just the tip of the sword
“You can’t be insecure or let fear rule your life,” Mike Leach wrote in his autobiography, “Swing Your Sword.” (Mike Fuentes/AP)
Mike Leach was a chronic violator of speech codes who could force you to snort coffee through your nose. He had the disheveled, distracted air of a giant elf drunk on honey, and his deadpan delivery only made his musings on candy corn, wedding hells and the usefulness of the broadax as a home defense weapon the more convulsively amusing. He was an observational genius whose main talent was for exposure — exposure of the predictable opponent and exposure of pedantries, and he treated both as pretty much the same thing.
The obituaries for Leach will stress his innovative “Air Raid” offense and his success at smaller programs, which he likened to pirate coves from which he sneak-assaulted ponderous royal navies. The offense was really just an expression of his fundamental irreverence, which was no unimportant quality. As writer Martin Amis once remarked, “The humorless as a bunch don’t just not know what’s funny, they don’t know what’s serious.” Leach kept college football mercifully unserious. Without him, campuses will be dulled and now can revert to their usually programmed rites of safe speech and self-solemnization.
Leach knew just how unserious his profession was. He satirized a culture prone to excessive fanaticism with a necessary astringent humor. In 2005, he led Texas Tech to a 39-point victory over Texas A&M, trying to run up the score even into the last minute. As Michael Lewis related in a definitive profile for the New York Times Magazine, it made the wife of an Aggie coach so irate that she stormed out of her seat yelling that at least she didn’t have to live in that third-rate hole, Lubbock.
“First of all, we just beat them by 56-17,” Leach shot back. “By rights she should now be a Red Raider slave.”
That kind of verbal devil-may-careness was accompanied by shuffling body language in rumpled cargo shorts, all of which suggested a relaxed gamesmanship. He acted as though he didn’t need the job; he just liked fooling around with it. In fact, he didn’t need it: With his law degree from Pepperdine and a feverishly searching intellect, he could have succeeded in any profession — except for those that demand conformity. “You can’t be insecure or let fear rule your life,” he wrote in his autobiography, “Swing Your Sword.” His love of marrying disparate bits of knowledge allowed him to master and persuasively coach a game he had no formal experience in. Take his longtime preoccupation with pirate history: It got him studying swordplay, which gave him insight into biodynamics, which he communicated to his players with typical imagination. One day he arrived at a team meeting with a real sword.
“Your body is your sword,” he told them. “Are you going to swing your sword aggressively, or really out of control?” With that, Leach started to swish the sword around aimlessly. “If you’re frantic, without being clear-minded, you put yourself in a vulnerable position. Are you going to duck your head and swing it timidly? Or are you going to have great technique and swing it without any hesitation?”
He was a habitual contrarian who undercut the secret coding ethos in coaching, the idea that it was all too complicated for the layman to understand, and he seemed to take a perverse pride in his marginal outsider’s position on far-flung campuses away from the traditional power centers of the game — outposts in Valdosta, Ga.; Mt. Pleasant, Iowa; Pullman, Wash.; and Starkville, Miss.
“Football is obsessive,” he wrote in his book. “The game can lurk in the back of your mind and seem all-consuming, but it doesn’t hurt to freshen it up a bit. I try to make a point of knowing a little bit about everything. … There’s so much out there besides football.”
He also wrote this: “Problem is, if you’re doing the same old thing that everybody else is doing, that’s who you become — everybody else.”
And this: “Arm strength is about sixth on the list of what I look for in a quarterback.”
And this: “We have too many non-tryers these days. They’re afraid of how things may look.”
Leach was never afraid of how things may look — or sound. He made fun of “millennial safe space stress” and was charged with insensitivity on a variety of subjects, including concussions, which led to his firing at Texas Tech when former running back-turned-commentator Craig James complained about the treatment of his son, an accusation that Leach furiously denied and fought through the courts for years.
In his news conferences, Leach resisted obscure specialist terminology and droning coach-speak. As philosophy professor Martha Nussbaum has written: “Obscurity creates an aura of importance. … It bullies the [listener] into granting that, since one cannot figure out what is going on, there must be something significant going on.”
In every way he could, Leach signaled that what was going on was just football, which was a highly entertaining tool for learning, as long as one remained mindful of the difference between the serious and the unserious. That led to one of his most entertaining riffs, in which he employed his sprawling knowledge of history, weaponry and animal tracking in a discussion of which Pac-12 mascot would win in a fair fight in 2019.
“Well, first of all, what kind of mythical powers does the Sun Devil have?” he said. “We have to consider that. The Trojan — does he have a horse, or is he on foot? Does he have a bow and arrow or just his sword? The Bruin is definitely formidable …” As for Stanford, he added: “The Tree is going to get chopped down — unless we’re going to go with a bird and somebody might get pecked or something. And then the Duck might lose interest and just fly away. … The Husky, no chance. The Beaver, we’ll see how long that beaver can hold his breath. The Ute, again, we’re back to, is he on horseback? Does he have a bow and arrow? Did he trade for a rifle? Because if the Ute’s got a rifle, there’s some definite problems …” But the notion of the powers of the Sun Devil came back to trouble him. “You’d have to get one of those Harry Potter activists to read up on how you kill a Sun Devil,” he mused.
He never stopped identifying and exposing football’s biggest danger, herd behavior, with humor. As a partial balm for his passing, revisit his 2014 disquisition on screen technology, which he considered a primal threat to creativity.
“I’m not really good with technology,” he said. “All this button-pushing and whatnot. I mean, you can just imagine based on what’s happened in the last 15 years that conversations won’t happen 10 years from now. There aren’t going to be people to talk to; it’s going to be, ‘Do you want to go out on a date with me?’ ‘I don’t know; what do you look like?’ ‘Well, I look kind of like this.’ ‘Okay, what are your interests?’ ‘Well, what do you think my interests are? Looking to this thing and typing into this just like yours are.’ ‘Yeah, no kidding, that’s what everybody’s doing.’ ‘Well, where do you want to go?’ ‘Well, what difference does it make? Because all we’re going to be doing is looking into machines anyways.’ ”
With everyone staring into the same screens, it would be tough to perpetuate the species, Leach hazarded. “That’s how it ends,” he predicted.
Leach never stared into the same screen with everybody else. He saw the game differently — not through a video screen or game tape but through his ever-refreshed outsider’s perspective. | 2022-12-13T21:50:30Z | www.washingtonpost.com | For Mike Leach, football was just the tip of the sword - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/13/mike-leach-philosophy-football/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/13/mike-leach-philosophy-football/ |
Once finalized, the landmark tariff deal on highly polluting products would push China to limit its emissions — by far the highest in the world
An employee looks at steel rolls at a factory in Nantong, China, in March. (AFP/Getty Images)
European Union policymakers struck a deal on Tuesday to impose a border tax on highly polluting products such as steel and aluminum — an unparalleled move to safeguard Europe’s own climate ambitions while pushing China and others to be greener.
The agreement, which still needs final approvals, would impose a tariff on imports of steel, cement, fertilizer and other products that have a heavy carbon footprint. The tax would raise the cost of those products to account for the high price of carbon emissions in Europe, where manufacturers pay around $94 for every metric ton of carbon they release into the atmosphere.
The goal is to impose the same cost of carbon dioxide emissions that European manufacturers pay when they produce inside the E.U.'s borders.
The deal was reached a week after the Biden administration invited the E.U. to jointly create a trade group that would give like-minded countries an advantage in producing cleanly produced steel and aluminum. Members would impose tariffs against metals from other countries that were produced in less environmentally friendly ways.
Combined, the two projects would add up to a starkly different approach from some of the world’s richest nations on how they account for environmentally harmful practices outside of their borders. In particular, it would lead to far more pressure on China to limit its emissions, which are by far the highest in the world, by some measures more than all other developed nations combined.
“We are making sure that what we do at home is not jeopardized by a sort of climate dumping,” said Pascal Canfin, the head of the environment committee of the European Parliament, who was one of the policymakers who negotiated the deal announced Tuesday and has long advocated for such a measure. “That would destroy jobs and industries in Europe.”
How China, the world’s top polluter, avoids paying for climate damage
The decision would require importers starting in October 2023 to account for the carbon emissions released when the product was made. In 2026, they would have to actually start paying the tariff, which is known in the often-clunky world of trade negotiators as a carbon border adjustment mechanism. The effort will cover steel, iron, cement, fertilizer, aluminum, electricity and hydrogen.
The tool would give Europe the ability to reach far beyond its borders to encourage other countries to invest in environmentally friendly industry.
“We will create an economic interest and rationale for a steelmaker in Turkey or in China to invest in green technologies,” Canfin said. “Because otherwise, anyway, they will pay. We are discussing a real decarbonization of key sectors.”
Before the agreement is finalized, the countries involved will need to discuss how to phase out credits that European industries are currently allotted to make them more competitive against foreign manufacturers. And the European Parliament and the 27 European member states will need to sign off on it. But policymakers involved in the discussions said final approval is all but assured by early next year.
Germany’s climate envoy, Jennifer Morgan, praised the deal, saying she hoped it would spark a wave of new climate ambition around the world.
“That mechanism is really there to also create incentives for other countries to green their supply chains. We are in the middle of a climate crisis, and we all need to be moving together on that,” she said in an interview.
The border tax is so powerful, she said, that she had been seeing Germany’s trade partners sit up and take notice in a way they hadn’t previously done.
“That’s been taken seriously. It’s almost as if Europe is being taken that we mean this climate action seriously,” she said.
U.S. policymakers have in the past worried that previous versions of Europe’s carbon border tax would hit U.S. exports to Europe, partly because Washington and Brussels impose climate regulations very differently.
The two sides have sparred with each other over climate policy in the past. Most recently, Europeans have been frustrated that President Biden’s signature climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, gives tax breaks to electric cars made in the United States, offering them an advantage over European ones. Some European leaders have called it protectionism wrapped up in climate policy. Biden administration officials have encouraged Europeans to support their own industry.
Canfin said any costs on U.S. goods could probably be worked out in a broader negotiation between Europe and the United States on aligning their efforts to combat global warming. Eventually, he said, he hoped it could expand to other parts of the economy.
“We need to avoid frictions among the countries or within the club of countries that are willing to move forward on climate action,” said Canfin, a close ally of French President Emmanuel Macron.
There are risks to the effort. Critics say such tariffs are banned under World Trade Organization rules, something E.U. policymakers rebut but that is likely to result in a formal complaint inside the organization once they go into effect. The tariffs could also spark a wider trade war, especially if the United States and Europe were to unite against China.
But for now, Europe and the United States appear aligned on the idea that tariffs tied to emissions might be an effective tool against Beijing and possibly other big emitters such as India, experts said.
“Brussels and Washington have finally realized that carbon tariffs may be the only way to force China to finally cut emissions,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate aide who now works at the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank. “That’s really the bottom line. Nothing else has worked.”
Bledsoe said that as the United States spends more and more on climate action, its impatience will mount with Beijing and other countries that aren’t moving as quickly. Border taxes may be a rare area of bipartisan agreement on climate policy, especially since they can be used to hit China, he said.
“We’re just spending so much capital on reducing emissions while Chinese emissions are still growing that the political urge to erect some kind of carbon tariff is going to be irresistible, especially ahead of the next presidential election,” Bledsoe said. | 2022-12-14T03:04:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | E.U. to pressure China on climate with tax on polluting steel, cement - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/12/13/carbon-tax-europe-china-climate/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/12/13/carbon-tax-europe-china-climate/ |
FILE - This November 2014, file photo provided by the U.S. National Park Service shows a mountain lion known as P-22, photographed in the Griffith Park area near downtown Los Angeles. A mountain lion that killed a Chihuahua while the little dog was being walked on leash in the Hollywood Hills earlier this month is the famed cougar P-22, the National Park Service confirmed Monday, Nov. 21, 2022. (U.S. National Park Service, via AP, File) (Uncredited/U.S. National Park Service) | 2022-12-14T03:04:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Exam finds famed LA mountain lion may have been hit by car - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/exam-finds-famed-la-mountain-lion-may-have-been-hit-by-car/2022/12/13/f2e1f1b6-7b4f-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/exam-finds-famed-la-mountain-lion-may-have-been-hit-by-car/2022/12/13/f2e1f1b6-7b4f-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
Ask Amy: I feel ‘stuck in grief.’ How do I move forward?
Dear Amy: I am a single gay man in my early 60s. I am having a real problem getting beyond grief. My ex-partner died almost five years ago. We were a couple for 11 years but lived together a total of 21 years and were very good friends.
I was there when he took his last breath, along with two of his dearest friends. I also lost my younger brother seven years ago and a handful of close friends in between — due mostly to cancer.
I'm thinking of advertising for someone to help (of course, I would pay them), and maybe do one little project/area at a time like the kitchen, then the storage closet, or the spare room, which belonged to my dear ex-partner.
Stuck: “Getting beyond” your grief seems like such a big lift; learning to live differently alongside your grief might be a way to frame your efforts.
The LGBTQ community where you live can help to connect you with grief groups, cleaners, and organizers. Churches and other faith communities will also sometimes volunteer to help. And — I assure you — anyone who comes into your home to do this 1) will never judge you, and 2) will have seen much more complicated clutter than yours.
Dear Amy: One of my closest girlfriends recently remarried. The ceremony was held at the courthouse with a few friends and family in attendance. We all went out to dinner afterward, and each person paid for their own meal.
Confused: Another way to look at this is: You were part of a very select group of people to witness this small ceremony. It might have been generous for all of you guests to treat the newly married couple to their post-wedding meal, as a gift to them.
Dear Amy: “Saddened and Hurt” recounted her brother-in-law’s unfiltered comment that he thought Saddened had “married the wrong person.”
Theory: Many readers have suggested this. In my answer, I did wonder: “Is it possible that he is carrying a torch for you?” | 2022-12-14T05:19:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ask Amy: I feel 'stuck in grief.' How do I move forward? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/12/14/ask-amy-stuck-in-grief/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/12/14/ask-amy-stuck-in-grief/ |
Miss Manners: How do I get my clients to email me instead of calling?
Dear Miss Manners: I need to find a way to convey to my clients that they need to stop calling me. I’m fine having a long initial phone call or two at the start of the job. But some of them, mostly those over age 60, insist on calling with every little change. Of course, they want to chitchat for 15 minutes, too.
I’ve told them: 1. I want emails, so that we both have a written record of the requested changes; 2. I work on 12 to 20 different jobs each day, and will get to theirs as soon as I am able; and 3. My phone is always muted so as not to distract me.
If Miss Manners had to guess, she would say that you are a doctor, a plumber or some other profession without whom other people think they cannot survive. No one in sales would be so openly indifferent to customer service (as distinct from the actual work).
You could, nevertheless, benefit from a more positive pitch. Every customer is important to you — so important that you make it a policy: 1. not to interrupt a job by taking non-emergency calls; 2. to document everything, so as to minimize mistakes and miscommunications; and 3. to respond promptly, if briefly, to customer emails.
That the thoughtfulness of the gift, not its cost, is all that matters to a right-thinking bride whose wedding is worth attending. | 2022-12-14T05:19:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Miss Manners: How do I get my clients to email me instead of calling? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/12/14/miss-manners-clients-calls-emails/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/12/14/miss-manners-clients-calls-emails/ |
A year ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was a somewhat unpopular leader in Kyiv, viewed by his critics as a lightweight jokester. Now, in the wake of Russia’s February invasion, the wartime president is a global icon, a Ukrainian national hero, the world’s prolific video-conferencer and, yes, the least surprising figure in recent memory to receive the designation of Time’s Person of the Year.
The international admiration for Zelensky is ultimately about much more than the man himself. His stoicism and courage seems to project the spirit of a nation that has withstood the Russian onslaught for close to 10 months at hideous cost in lives and resources. It’s now hunkering down for a possibly punishing winter, as Russia has carried out targeted strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure. At any given moment, by some measures, at least 2 million and as many as 10 million Ukrainians are living without electricity, plunged in a cold, enveloping darkness. As my colleagues reported, even then, many Ukrainians are not letting their Kremlin-inflicted woes darken their mood.
Since the conflict flared, Zelensky and his allies have insisted their battle is not simply a defense of their own territory, but of a larger civilizational struggle, pitting their liberal aspirations and fledgling democracy against the tyranny and authoritarianism embodied by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
“We are dealing with a powerful state that is pathologically unwilling to let Ukraine go,” Zelensky told Time’s Simon Shuster, suggesting that the Kremlin could not countenance a Ukraine that rejected its sphere of influence. “They see the democracy and freedom of Ukraine as a question of their own survival.”
Zelensky echoed what he and many other Ukrainians have been saying for months, that they were fighting on the behalf of other democracies vulnerable to Russia’s predations: “If they devour us, the sun in your sky will get dimmer.”
On Tuesday, dozens of nations at an international conference in Paris rallied around Ukraine. They pledged more than $1 billion in additional aid to support Ukraine in the near term, including to help boost its battered energy grid and other aspects of its civilian infrastructure.
“Over $440 million of the total aid pledged is expected to be directed to Ukraine’s energy network. French officials said the final amount would likely rise,” my colleagues reported. “In a video address earlier on Tuesday, Zelensky urged the international community to make maintaining the country’s energy supply a priority, calling for over at least $850 million in aid for the sector.”
French President Emmanuel Macron hailed Ukraine’s “bravery and determination,” and said that the work of the conference in the French capital is “tangible evidence that Ukraine is not alone.”
Kyiv is still adamant that it needs more arms and weapons to repel Russia’s offensives and reclaim more of its lost territory. “Given the scale of the war and Russia’s unwillingness to accept the reality and withdraw from Ukraine, we will need to fight through the winter,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters. He added that Russia’s strikes on civilian targets and Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was a mark of its broader military failure.
“Such barbarism is Russia’s response to losing the war on the battleground,” Kuleba said. “They have suffered a number of humiliating defeats.”
Ukraine has also been on the receiving end of a mammoth flow of Western weapons and military aid. On Tuesday, my colleagues reported that the Biden administration was preparing to send the Patriot missile system — its most sophisticated air defense technology — to Ukraine.
Western support for Kyiv is holding, no matter fears over war fatigue of many countries that was deepened by the wider economic impact of the war and the energy sanctions placed on Russia’s economy.
“Among the many miscalculations that Putin has made is his bet that the invasion of Ukraine would strain relations among his adversaries,” wrote German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a recent op-ed for Foreign Affairs. “In fact, the reverse has happened: the EU and the transatlantic alliance are stronger than ever before.”
Pentagon warns of China’s plans for dominance in Taiwan and beyond
Thousands of miles away, officials from another country facing up to a revanchist neighbor are taking notes. The war in Ukraine has echoed in the island state of Taiwan, which is constantly in the shadow of China and subject to an escalating series of provocations from the mainland. The leadership in Beijing, not dissimilarly from Putin’s stance on Ukraine, view Taiwan as an illegitimate state bound to return to the Chinese fold.
To Taiwan, Ukraine’s defiance of Russia is a source of inspiration and a template for their own survival. “Ukraine showed very great determination to defend their territory and it’s clear that Ukrainians have a very resilient civil society, which helped resist invasion,” Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Ming-Yen Tsai told me on the sidelines of a major international security conference in Halifax, Canada, last month. He added that watching Ukraine’s struggle has inspired Taiwan to implement major long-term military reforms, including extending the period of compulsory military service expected of its citizens.
While a Chinese maritime invasion of Taiwan would look very different than Russia’s land campaigns in Ukraine, Taiwanese officials have seized the moment as one to galvanize international support for their cause and sound the alarm over the challenges confronting them.
“We are already facing warfare without gun smoke on a daily basis,” Tsai said, pointing to China’s “hybrid warfare” tactics, its use of escalating forms of military intimidation through naval exercises and aerial incursions, as well as cyberstrikes and online disinformation campaigns.
“If we do not hold ground at this point,” Tsai said, “China will test the bottom line, step by step, to create a new normal, and step by step, keep changing the status quo” until Taiwan’s sovereignty will be all the more fragile.
The experience of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Tsai said, “shows that authoritarian countries have no qualms invading other countries’ territory, revising national borders and challenging the rules-based international order.” He added that, for Taiwan, the lesson is to prepare now for an invasion rather than when it’s too late. | 2022-12-14T06:08:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ukraine’s resilience sets a global standard - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/14/ukraine-resilience-global-standard/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/14/ukraine-resilience-global-standard/ |
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand was caught on a hot mic on Tuesday. (Rick Rycroft/AP)
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern suffered a rare lapse in composure on Tuesday, when she was caught on a hot mic referring to a rival lawmaker using a pejorative word to compare him to a part of the male anatomy.
The young, liberal leader has been feted globally for her calm stewardship of the Pacific nation through a number of major events, including the coronavirus pandemic, a volcanic eruption and a terrorist attack.
But a seven-minute battery of questions in Parliament on Tuesday from David Seymour, who leads the libertarian ACT party, prompted the out-of-character outburst.
Turning to her deputy, Grant Robertson, Ardern muttered under her breath — though not inaudibly enough to avoid detection by the in-house microphones, and entry into official parliamentary records — “he’s such an arrogant [expletive].”
Widely regarded globally as an effective, empathetic leader and an antidote to populist politicians elsewhere, Ardern has been criticized at home for her handling of the economy as it emerges from a long period of isolation during the pandemic. Ardern’s center-left Labour Party has been trailing in opinion polls lately ahead of national elections to be held next year.
New Zealand announces plan to reopen to the world after nearly two years of coronavirus travel restrictions
The small, island nation is grappling with many of the pressures seen elsewhere: inflation, rising interest rates and housing affordability issues. It is also facing localized problems, such as a string of ram raids on jewelry stores and corner-store robberies — at least one of them deadly — that have led to perceptions among some voters that her administration is soft on crime.
“The government’s under a lot of pressure,” said Seymour, the recipient of Tuesday’s profane remark. “I was pretty astonished because I’ve known Jacinda for 11 years,” he said, describing the incident as “out of character.”
Seymour said the prime minister texted later to apologize, noting her mother’s wise advice: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, you shouldn’t say it.”
Seymour said he replied, wishing Ardern “a Merry Christmas,” signaling it was all water under the bridge. “That’s the Kiwi way.”
The prime minister’s office confirmed in an email that she had apologized to Seymour but did not offer further comment.
Ardern’s government is facing opposition to a number of hot-button policies on its legislative agenda for the coming year, including changes to the governance of water, a world-first plan to tax agricultural emissions, and revisions to hate-speech laws.
In an interview with national broadcaster Radio New Zealand on Monday, Ardern signaled that her administration would reflect on some of those policies over the summer — when Parliament is in recess, “and just [ask] ourselves whether or not either from a spending perspective, investment perspective, or just from a focus perspective, those are things we should be prioritizing at this point in time.”
As for Seymour, he joked that he might have an exaggerated sense of his own importance: Later that evening, when an unsuspecting aunt asked whether he would like to join her for dinner, he answered, “Why would you want to have dinner with an arrogant” — ending with the word Ardern used.
The joke bombed, he said. She hadn’t caught up on the news of the day. | 2022-12-14T06:20:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern swears at David Seymour in hot-mic slip - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/14/jacinda-ardern-arrogant-hot-mic-new-zealand/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/14/jacinda-ardern-arrogant-hot-mic-new-zealand/ |
Pavlo Huk, owner of the Pure & Naive cafe-bar in Kyiv, in the bunker under his business in November. (Anastasia Vlasova for The Washington Post)
KYIV, Ukraine — If Kyiv is struck by a nuclear bomb, Serhiy Dmytruk’s biggest fear is that he will survive the blast but die anyway from hunger, thirst or cold. So he has assembled what he calls his “nuclear backpack,” crammed with enough provisions and survival paraphernalia to sustain him for a week.
Kyiv already has a network of nuclear-ready shelters in the form of its subway system, which was constructed by the Soviets during the Cold War to double as nuclear bunkers — including the world’s deepest station, Arsenalna, 346 feet below ground. | 2022-12-14T06:20:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Kyiv prepares for nuclear war: Bunkers, go-bags and an orgy invitation - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/14/kyiv-nuclear-bomb-shelters-preparation/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/14/kyiv-nuclear-bomb-shelters-preparation/ |
Ukraine live briefing: Drones shot down over Kyiv; Pentagon prepares to send Patriot missile system
Residents watch as a bombed building is dismantled in Borodyanka, Kyiv region, on Dec. 13. More explosions were reported in the city of Kyiv early Wednesday. (Andrew Kravchenko/AP)
KYIV — The sky in central Kyiv lit up with explosions early Wednesday, as air defense forces shot down nearly a dozen drones, according to city officials. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said emergency services were dispatched, and the city military administration reported damage to two administrative buildings. It was not clear whether there were any casualties. Regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said “the majority” of the drones were shot down.
As Ukraine endures its ninth month of war and faces the frigid months ahead, nations around the world are increasing aid to the country. The Pentagon is readying to send Ukraine the Patriot missile system, which would be the most advanced air defense weapon in Kyiv’s hands, senior U.S. officials told The Washington Post on Tuesday. Dozens of nations and institutions at a conference in Paris also upped their commitment to Ukraine on Tuesday, pledging to donate more than $1 billion in aid aimed at short-term support for the country during the winter months. More than $440 million of that aid is expected to go to Ukraine’s energy network.
Meanwhile, the U.S. charged five Russian nationals and two Americans with helping Russia evade sanctions by assisting with global procurement of weapons and money laundering on behalf of the Russian government. One of the Russians is a suspected Federal Security Service officer.
The early Wednesday attacks on Kyiv, in the central Shevchenkivsky district, were the first in weeks. Klitschko initially reported that 10 drones were shot down, and the city military administration later said another was struck, for a total of 11. The district covers the center of the city, extending to the east, and includes Kyiv city hall as well as some ministries and universities. Air raid sirens continued Wednesday morning.
If the United States does send the Patriot missile system to Ukraine, it would mark a departure from previous policies. It has refrained from sending certain advanced weapons — long-range missiles, fighter jets and battle tanks — to Ukraine to avoid being drawn deeper into the conflict. A senior Biden administration official told The Post that the White House National Security Council recommended reversing course in recent weeks, given intensifying attacks on Ukraine and Russia’s defense partnership with Iran.
Nations around the world pledged at least $67 million for food and water in Ukraine, $18 million for the health sector and $23 million for transportation at a donor conference Tuesday in Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron said the move is “tangible proof that Ukraine is not alone.”
A withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine by the end of the year is “out of the question,” the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said a peace deal with Kyiv was “impossible” and called for a reality check, even as the Kremlin continues to call the war “a special military operation.”
Ukraine announced two developments in its efforts to produce equipment in its fight against Russia. Ukraine’s parliament ratified an agreement with Turkey that will allow for the construction of a factory in Ukraine to create Turkish Bayraktar drones. Ukraine has also launched the production of 152-millimeter and 122-millimeter projectiles, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said during a telethon on Tuesday, reported on by Ukrinform.
Russian forces continue to strike Kherson, a port city on the Dnipro river that has been under bombardment this week. According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia carried out 79 attacks on Tuesday from rocket salvo systems resulting in civilian casualties. The General Staff also said that five missile strikes hit civilian infrastructure in Kostyantynivka, a city in Donetsk.
Vitaly Bulyuk, deputy head of the Kherson oblast occupation, was injured in car blast that killed the driver, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported. Bulyuk’s injuries are not life-threatening, according to Vladimir Saldo, Kherson oblast occupation head.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko ordered a military readiness check on Tuesday that involved troops deploying to training grounds across the country, completing engineering tasks and practicing river crossings, the Ministry of Defense said. While Belarus has close ties to Russia, the U.S. think tank Institute for the Study of War, said Tuesday that Belarus remains highly unlikely to attack Ukraine, despite the drills.
The International Atomic Energy Agency will establish a continuous presence of nuclear safety and security experts at Ukraine-controlled nuclear power plants, including the defunct Chernobyl site, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday. They will also work to establish a safe zone around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant, which is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
President Volodymyr Zelensky outlined what is needed for the eventual reconstruction of Ukraine at an international conference in Paris on Tuesday that was attended by French companies. He focused specifically on Ukraine’s Chernihiv region, where, he said, more than a thousand apartment buildings were damaged or destroyed as well as more than 7,000 houses. He also highlighted “tremendous opportunities” in Ukraine for growth in the energy, engineering, defense industry, transport, construction and IT sectors.
Shelters, backpacks and FM radios: Kyiv prepares for nuclear war. Ominous references by Russian President Vladimir Putin that he is prepared to use “all necessary means” to win in Ukraine and chatter on Russian TV talk shows advocating the use of nuclear weapons have led residents of Kyiv to consider a once-unthinkable possibility: that their city could be targeted by a nuclear bomb.
They are preparing with survival backpacks and basement bunkers, write Liz Sly and Kostiantyn Khudov, and the government has issued detailed advice on steps to be taken to survive a blast.
Ables reported from Seoul. Rick Noack in Paris contributed to this report. | 2022-12-14T06:42:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Russia-Ukraine war latest updates: Drones shot down over Kyiv, city still on alert - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/14/russia-ukraine-war-latest-updates/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/14/russia-ukraine-war-latest-updates/ |
Oregon governor commutes sentences for state’s 17 death row inmates
The execution room at the Oregon State Penitentiary, seen in 2011, will be dismantled. (Rick Bowmer/AP)
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) on Tuesday commuted the sentences of all 17 people on the state’s death row, changing their punishment from execution to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Brown said in a statement that she has “long believed that justice is not advanced by taking a life, and the state should not be in the business of executing people — even if a terrible crime placed them in prison.”
Oregon has not executed a prisoner since 1997. Brown was the latest in a string of governors who had committed to a moratorium on the death penalty. She extended the moratorium because the death penalty, she said, was “dysfunctional and immoral.”
Brown, who took office in 2015 and was reelected in 2018, will step down next year at the end of her term limit. Her successor, Tina Kotek (D), has said she will continue the moratorium, citing a personal opposition to the death penalty due to her religious beliefs.
Brown noted in her order, which takes effect Wednesday, that she had also signed into law a 2019 bill that “drastically reduced the circumstances in which a death sentence can be imposed.”
Oregon is among 27 states that authorize capital punishment. Three of those states, including Oregon, have governor-imposed moratoriums, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
“Unlike previous commutations I’ve granted to individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary growth and rehabilitation, this commutation is not based on any rehabilitative efforts by the individuals on death row,” Brown said in the statement.
An execution in 1996, which was the state’s first in more than three decades, cost taxpayers $200,000, according to the state.
Advocates of criminal justice reform praised Brown’s announcement. Jamila Hodge, the executive director of Equal Justice USA, said in a statement that the death penalty amounted to “respond[ing] to violence with violence.”
Frank Thompson, a former Oregon prisons superintendent and board member of the group Death Penalty Action, said in a statement that Brown’s announcement “took me by surprise.”
Thompson oversaw the construction of Oregon’s death chamber, which Brown on Tuesday ordered to be dismantled, saying that it was “unnecessary” in light of the commutations.
Thompson said in a 2016 op-ed in the New York Times: “It’s hard to avoid giving up some of your empathy and humanity to aid in the killing of another human being.”
He said Tuesday that he was “grateful to have lived to see this moment,” adding, “If I had one wish, it would be to be there personally to watch when the execution chamber whose construction I oversaw is officially and permanently dismantled.”
The families of the victims killed by the inmates whose sentences were commuted, however, expressed anger and dismay at Brown’s announcement. Sue Shirley, whose parents were killed by Randy Lee Guzek, one of the death row inmates, told the Oregonian that she was “horrified and outraged.”
Brown said she recognized “the pain and uncertainty victims experience” as inmates waited on death row for years. The oldest effective judgment date was September 1992, according to Brown’s order. “My hope is that this commutation will bring us a significant step closer to finality in these cases,” she said. | 2022-12-14T09:01:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Oregon governor commutes sentences for all 17 death row inmates - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/oregon-death-row-inmates-governor-penalty/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/oregon-death-row-inmates-governor-penalty/ |
How China’s Property Developers Got Into Such a Mess
Analysis by Enda Curran | Bloomberg
Unfinished apartment buildings at the Phoenix City residential project, developed by Country Garden Holdings Co., in Shanghai, China, on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. The crisis engulfing China’s property sector is impacting its biggest developer, with Country Garden’s shares and bonds hammered amid fears that a reportedly failed fundraising effort may be a harbinger of waning confidence. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg (Bloomberg)
Real estate has been the main engine of China’s economic growth since President Xi Jinping came to office a decade ago. Now the industry is in a slump, major developers have defaulted on their debts and the government is trying to organize a bailout. Economists say the intervention should be enough to hold off a disorderly crash of the property market and may even generate a slow recovery. The stakes are high, as a total collapse could undermine China’s financial system and jolt the world economy. A mortgage boycott by people angry that homes they paid for weren’t finished underscores the risk of unrest if it all goes wrong.
1. What fueled the boom?
In 1998, China created a nationwide housing market after tightly restricting private sales for decades. Back then, only a third of its people lived in towns and cities. That’s risen to two-thirds, with the urban population expanding by 480 million. The exodus from the countryside represented a vast commercial opportunity for construction firms and developers. Money flooded into real estate as the emerging middle class leapt upon what was one of the few safe investments available, pushing home prices up sixfold over 15 years. Local and regional authorities, which rely on sales of public land for a chunk of their revenue, encouraged the development boom. This also helped the central government to meet its annual targets for economic growth, which often hit double digits.
2. What triggered the slump?
The property craze was also powered by debt as builders rushed to satisfy expected future demand. The boom encouraged speculative buying, with new homes pre-sold by developers who turned increasingly to foreign investors for funds. Annual sales of dollar-denominated offshore bonds surged from $675 million in 2009 to $64.7 billion in 2020. Opaque liabilities made it hard to assess credit risks. The speculation led to astronomical prices, with homes in boom cities such as Shenzhen becoming less affordable relative to local incomes than London or New York. In response, the government moved in 2020 to reduce the risk of a bubble and temper the inequality that unaffordable housing can create. That touched off a cash-flow crisis for developers that was exacerbated by the impact of aggressive measures to contain Covid-19.
3. Did the government cause the crisis?
State officials were anxious to rein in the industry’s debts, fearing that serial defaults could ravage China’s financial system. The government began to squeeze new financing for developers and asked banks to slow the pace of mortgage lending. New borrowing metrics introduced for real estate firms proved to be a game changer. Called the “three red lines” by state-run media, they aimed to reduce reckless borrowing by setting thresholds for a developer’s liabilities, debt and cash holdings. Many firms were unable to adhere to the new rules as their finances were already stretched. Developers had some $207 billion in dollar-denominated bonds outstanding as of late 2021, accounting for about a quarter of the total from all Chinese borrowers.
4. What happened to the developers?
Those that didn’t have enough cash to cover their liabilities found themselves in a bind. At least 18 defaulted on offshore bonds after the crackdown began. China Evergrande Group, once the country’s biggest developer, was labeled a defaulter in December 2021 after it missed payments on several bonds. Others, including Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. and Sunac China Holdings Ltd., followed. Fears of further contagion weakened consumer confidence and roiled global markets that had long assumed China’s real estate titans would be bailed out by the government. As the crisis dragged on, it began to engulf developers that had been seen as the stronger players, such as Longfor Group Holdings Ltd. Even real estate debt viewed as safer as it was backed by the state ran into trouble.
5. How is the government trying to end the crisis?
Avoiding a “Lehman moment ” — when the failure of the US bank in 2008 sent shock waves through global markets — is a priority for the government. It’s unveiled measures centered on boosting equity, bond and loan financing for developers to alleviate the liquidity crunch. They’re being allowed to access more money from presales of homes, the industry’s biggest source of funds, and 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) is being advanced as special loans to complete stalled housing projects. The government has tweaked financial rules to try to stabilize the situation, allowing the central bank to increase support for distressed developers and instructing banks to ensure growth in both residential mortgages and loans to developers in some areas. Lenders have lowered their benchmark rates.
5. Is it working?
By December 2022, there was hope that prices were reaching a floor just as China’s government was loosening its strictest Covid containment policies. However, the shockwaves from the crisis were still being felt. Bad debt climbed to about 29% of total property loans in the first half of 2022, according to Citigroup Inc. estimates. Data showed price declines in the existing-home market were the most extreme in eight years in October. There was still the risk of another selloff in offshore bonds that could spread to the much larger domestic credit market, and from lower-rated property companies to stronger peers and banks.
6. What does it mean for prospective homebuyers?
Across China, millions of square feet of unfinished apartments have been left to gather dust. Economists at Nomura International HK Ltd. estimated in mid-July that Chinese developers had delivered only about 60% of the homes they pre-sold from 2013 to 2020. (Buyer protections commonly used abroad, such as escrow accounts and installment payments, have tended to be weak.) At their height in mid-July, the wildcat mortgage boycotts by owners of unfinished homes had spread to over 300 housing projects in about 90 cities. The protests later subsided. But with more than 70% of urban China’s wealth stored in housing, many livelihoods are at stake and the threat of popular unrest lingers. | 2022-12-14T09:10:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How China’s Property Developers Got Into Such a Mess - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-chinas-property-developers-got-into-such-a-mess/2022/12/14/1743c080-7b86-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-chinas-property-developers-got-into-such-a-mess/2022/12/14/1743c080-7b86-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
BOTTOM LINE: Charleston Southern plays the Tennessee State Tigers after Tyeree Bryan scored 23 points in Charleston Southern’s 76-65 loss to the Kennesaw State Owls.
The Tigers have gone 5-0 at home. Tennessee State is 1-0 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
The Buccaneers have gone 0-4 away from home. Charleston Southern is 2-5 against opponents with a winning record.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jr. Clay is scoring 16.1 points per game and averaging 4.4 rebounds for the Tigers. Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. is averaging 13.3 points and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 39.1% for Tennessee State. | 2022-12-14T09:10:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Bryan and Charleston Southern host Tennessee State - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/bryan-and-charleston-southern-host-tennessee-state/2022/12/14/2b29a130-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/bryan-and-charleston-southern-host-tennessee-state/2022/12/14/2b29a130-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cincinnati -16.5; over/under is 149.5
The Bearcats are 5-1 on their home court. Cincinnati is seventh in the AAC at limiting opponent scoring, giving up 70.1 points while holding opponents to 43.5% shooting.
The RedHawks have gone 0-1 away from home. Miami (OH) is fourth in the MAC scoring 75.2 points per game and is shooting 42.8%.
TOP PERFORMERS: Dejulius is scoring 16.7 points per game with 1.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists for the Bearcats. Landers Nolley II is averaging 14.7 points and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 47.6% for Cincinnati. | 2022-12-14T09:10:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Dejulius leads Cincinnati against Miami (OH) after 22-point performance - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/dejulius-leads-cincinnati-against-miami-oh-after-22-point-performance/2022/12/14/2452245e-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/dejulius-leads-cincinnati-against-miami-oh-after-22-point-performance/2022/12/14/2452245e-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
BOTTOM LINE: Middle Tennessee hosts the Chattanooga Mocs after Teafale Lenard scored 20 points in Middle Tennessee’s 85-75 overtime victory over the Belmont Bruins.
The Blue Raiders are 3-0 in home games. Middle Tennessee is 1-0 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
The Mocs are 2-2 in road games. Chattanooga has a 1-0 record in games decided by less than 4 points.
Jake Stephens is scoring 21.4 points per game and averaging 9.5 rebounds for the Mocs. Jamal Johnson is averaging 10.7 points for Chattanooga. | 2022-12-14T09:10:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Lenard and Middle Tennessee host Chattanooga - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/lenard-and-middle-tennessee-host-chattanooga/2022/12/14/35e0723e-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/lenard-and-middle-tennessee-host-chattanooga/2022/12/14/35e0723e-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
BOTTOM LINE: Louisiana plays the McNeese Cowboys after Jordan Brown scored 37 points in Louisiana’s 98-63 win over the Louisiana College Wildcats.
The Cowboys have gone 2-2 in home games. McNeese ranks sixth in the Southland shooting 32.9% from downtown, led by Roberts Berze shooting 48.0% from 3-point range.
The Ragin’ Cajuns have gone 2-1 away from home. Louisiana is the top team in the Sun Belt shooting 40.4% from deep. Kentrell Garnett leads the Ragin’ Cajuns shooting 51.2% from 3-point range.
TOP PERFORMERS: Trae English is scoring 10.9 points per game and averaging 1.6 rebounds for the Cowboys. Christian Shumate is averaging 10.8 points and 9.7 rebounds while shooting 52.3% for McNeese.
Brown is averaging 19.6 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks for the Ragin’ Cajuns. Terence Lewis II is averaging 13.6 points for Louisiana. | 2022-12-14T09:10:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Louisiana faces McNeese after Brown's 37-point outing - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/louisiana-faces-mcneese-after-browns-37-point-outing/2022/12/14/101362dc-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/louisiana-faces-mcneese-after-browns-37-point-outing/2022/12/14/101362dc-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Maryland -1; over/under is 139.5
BOTTOM LINE: No. 16 UCLA faces the No. 20 Maryland Terrapins after Jaylen Clark scored 24 points in UCLA’s 87-64 victory against the Denver Pioneers.
The Terrapins are 5-0 on their home court. Maryland scores 75.8 points and has outscored opponents by 15.0 points per game.
The Bruins have gone 1-0 away from home.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jahmir Young is scoring 15.6 points per game with 4.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists for the Terrapins. Donta Scott is averaging 14.1 points and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 45.0% for Maryland. | 2022-12-14T09:11:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | No. 16 UCLA takes on No. 20 Maryland after Clark's 24-point performance - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/no-16-ucla-takes-on-no-20-maryland-after-clarks-24-point-performance/2022/12/14/1d6ee870-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/no-16-ucla-takes-on-no-20-maryland-after-clarks-24-point-performance/2022/12/14/1d6ee870-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
BOTTOM LINE: No. 17 Mississippi State hosts the Jackson State Tigers after Tolu Smith scored 20 points in Mississippi State’s 69-51 victory against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
The Bulldogs have gone 5-0 at home. Mississippi State is 2-0 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
The Tigers are 1-8 in road games. Jackson State is seventh in the SWAC shooting 33.3% from deep. Romelle Mansel leads the Tigers shooting 66.7% from 3-point range.
TOP PERFORMERS: Dashawn Davis is shooting 68.4% from beyond the arc with 2.2 made 3-pointers per game for the Bulldogs, while averaging 8.8 points and 1.7 steals. Smith is shooting 62.0% and averaging 16.7 points for Mississippi State. | 2022-12-14T09:11:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | No. 17 Mississippi State hosts Jackson State following Smith's 20-point game - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/no-17-mississippi-state-hosts-jackson-state-following-smiths-20-point-game/2022/12/14/2f0b1676-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/no-17-mississippi-state-hosts-jackson-state-following-smiths-20-point-game/2022/12/14/2f0b1676-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Auburn -20.5; over/under is 133.5
BOTTOM LINE: No. 19 Auburn hosts Georgia State looking to continue its seven-game home winning streak.
The Tigers have gone 6-0 in home games. Auburn is 6-1 against opponents with a winning record.
The Panthers have gone 0-1 away from home. Georgia State is 1-3 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
TOP PERFORMERS: Wendell Green Jr. is shooting 31.6% from beyond the arc with 1.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Tigers, while averaging 13.4 points and 3.9 assists. K.D. Johnson is shooting 38.5% and averaging 10.9 points for Auburn. | 2022-12-14T09:11:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | No. 19 Auburn faces Georgia State, looks for 8th straight home win - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/no-19-auburn-faces-georgia-state-looks-for-8th-straight-home-win/2022/12/14/24c18ab0-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/no-19-auburn-faces-georgia-state-looks-for-8th-straight-home-win/2022/12/14/24c18ab0-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
BOTTOM LINE: Lehigh faces the No. 22 Wisconsin Badgers after Tyler Whitney-Sidney scored 23 points in Lehigh’s 88-62 loss to the UMBC Retrievers.
The Mountain Hawks have gone 1-3 away from home. Lehigh ranks eighth in the Patriot with 7.1 offensive rebounds per game led by JT Tan averaging 2.5.
TOP PERFORMERS: Chucky Hepburn averages 2.2 made 3-pointers per game for the Badgers, scoring 12.4 points while shooting 46.8% from beyond the arc. Tyler Wahl is shooting 41.9% and averaging 14.6 points for Wisconsin.
Evan Taylor is averaging 13.5 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Mountain Hawks. Whitney-Sidney is averaging 13.1 points for Lehigh. | 2022-12-14T09:11:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | No. 22 Wisconsin hosts Whitney-Sidney and Lehigh - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/no-22-wisconsin-hosts-whitney-sidney-and-lehigh/2022/12/14/1de9cacc-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/no-22-wisconsin-hosts-whitney-sidney-and-lehigh/2022/12/14/1de9cacc-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
BOTTOM LINE: Radford takes on the VCU Rams after Kenyon Giles scored 21 points in Radford’s 77-74 loss to the VMI Keydets.
The Rams are 5-1 in home games. VCU averages 65.8 points while outscoring opponents by 1.4 points per game.
The Highlanders are 1-4 on the road. Radford is fifth in the Big South scoring 32.4 points per game in the paint led by Madiaw Niang averaging 8.0.
TOP PERFORMERS: Adrian Baldwin Jr. is scoring 15.0 points per game with 1.8 rebounds and 6.2 assists for the Rams. Brandon Johns Jr. is averaging 12.3 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 46.1% for VCU.
Giles is shooting 48.4% and averaging 12.2 points for the Highlanders. DaQuan Smith is averaging 11.6 points for Radford. | 2022-12-14T09:11:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Radford plays VCU following Giles' 21-point game - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/radford-plays-vcu-following-giles-21-point-game/2022/12/14/0c384ea2-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/radford-plays-vcu-following-giles-21-point-game/2022/12/14/0c384ea2-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
BOTTOM LINE: Saint Mary’s (CA) faces the New Mexico State Aggies after Aidan Mahaney scored 20 points in Saint Mary’s (CA)’s 68-61 win over the San Diego State Aztecs.
The Gaels have gone 6-1 in home games. Saint Mary’s (CA) ranks fifth in the WCC with 25.5 defensive rebounds per game led by Mitchell Saxen averaging 5.7.
The Aggies are 1-2 in road games. New Mexico State is 2-2 when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents and averages 12.4 turnovers per game.
TOP PERFORMERS: Alex Ducas is scoring 13.7 points per game and averaging 3.8 rebounds for the Gaels. Mahaney is averaging 13.6 points and 2.6 rebounds over the last 10 games for Saint Mary’s (CA). | 2022-12-14T09:11:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Saint Mary's (CA) hosts New Mexico State following Mahaney's 20-point game - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/saint-marys-ca-hosts-new-mexico-state-following-mahaneys-20-point-game/2022/12/14/2e94331c-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/saint-marys-ca-hosts-new-mexico-state-following-mahaneys-20-point-game/2022/12/14/2e94331c-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
BOTTOM LINE: Coastal Carolina faces the South Dakota Coyotes after Jomaru Brown scored 20 points in Coastal Carolina’s 102-39 win over the Regent Royals.
The Coyotes have gone 3-1 in home games. South Dakota ranks fifth in the Summit with 12.0 assists per game led by Max Burchill averaging 2.3.
TOP PERFORMERS: Paul Bruns is shooting 44.8% and averaging 11.7 points for the Coyotes. Tasos Kamateros is averaging 1.5 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for South Dakota.
Brown is scoring 16.3 points per game and averaging 2.6 rebounds for the Chanticleers. Essam Mostafa is averaging 12.9 points and 10.4 rebounds for Coastal Carolina. | 2022-12-14T09:12:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | South Dakota hosts Coastal Carolina following Brown's 20-point outing - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/south-dakota-hosts-coastal-carolina-following-browns-20-point-outing/2022/12/14/16ffb762-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/south-dakota-hosts-coastal-carolina-following-browns-20-point-outing/2022/12/14/16ffb762-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Lipscomb -10.5; over/under is 147
BOTTOM LINE: Tennessee Tech will aim to stop its five-game road losing streak when the Golden Eagles face Lipscomb.
The Bisons have gone 5-0 at home. Lipscomb is 1-1 in games decided by less than 4 points.
The Golden Eagles have gone 0-5 away from home. Tennessee Tech is 2-4 in games decided by at least 10 points.
Brett Thompson is averaging 11.8 points, 3.4 assists and 1.8 steals for the Golden Eagles. Jaylen Sebree is averaging 11.3 points for Tennessee Tech. | 2022-12-14T09:12:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Tennessee Tech visits Lipscomb, looks to stop road skid - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/tennessee-tech-visits-lipscomb-looks-to-stop-road-skid/2022/12/14/08c4d560-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/tennessee-tech-visits-lipscomb-looks-to-stop-road-skid/2022/12/14/08c4d560-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
BOTTOM LINE: Santa Clara takes on the UC Irvine Anteaters after Carlos Stewart scored 24 points in Santa Clara’s 78-75 win against the Portland State Vikings.
The Broncos are 6-1 on their home court. Santa Clara is second in the WCC with 10.1 offensive rebounds per game led by Jaden Bediako averaging 2.9.
TOP PERFORMERS: Brandin Podziemski is shooting 44.6% and averaging 19.2 points for the Broncos. Keshawn Justice is averaging 2.3 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Santa Clara.
DJ Davis is shooting 45.5% from beyond the arc with 3.0 made 3-pointers per game for the Anteaters, while averaging 16.1 points. Dawson Baker is averaging 13.6 points for UC Irvine. | 2022-12-14T09:12:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | UC Irvine hosts Stewart and Santa Clara - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/uc-irvine-hosts-stewart-and-santa-clara/2022/12/14/055c6aa0-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/uc-irvine-hosts-stewart-and-santa-clara/2022/12/14/055c6aa0-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: USC -12; over/under is 145
BOTTOM LINE: Long Beach State faces the USC Trojans after Joel Murray scored 21 points in Long Beach State’s 76-74 loss to the Sacramento State Hornets.
The Trojans are 5-1 on their home court. USC is sixth in the Pac-12 with 13.9 assists per game led by Drew Peterson averaging 6.0.
The Beach are 1-3 on the road. Long Beach State is sixth in the Big West with 23.8 defensive rebounds per game led by Lassina Traore averaging 5.1.
TOP PERFORMERS: Boogie Ellis is scoring 14.4 points per game and averaging 3.0 rebounds for the Trojans. Peterson is averaging 1.5 made 3-pointers for USC. | 2022-12-14T09:12:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | USC hosts Long Beach State following Murray's 21-point game - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/usc-hosts-long-beach-state-following-murrays-21-point-game/2022/12/14/16837d6e-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/usc-hosts-long-beach-state-following-murrays-21-point-game/2022/12/14/16837d6e-7b83-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
“Wait, isn’t it in already?,” Billy Crystal jokes of the classic rom-com’s addition to the Library of Congress’s annual list of noteworthy movies
“When Harry Met Sally …,” the 1989 movie starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, has been selected to the National Film Registry. (AF Archive/Alamy Stock Photo)
Hayden’s selections, which must be at least 10 years old, were made in consultation with members of the National Film Preservation Board and other experts. Members of the public also suggested films for the Library of Congress’s pantheon of movies — picked for their “cultural, historic or aesthetic importance” — through an online submission form.
From the archives: How that scene from ‘When Harry Met Sally...’ changed the way we talk about sex | 2022-12-14T10:41:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | ‘When Harry Met Sally ...,’ 'Iron Man' enter National Film Registry - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/12/14/national-film-registry-2022/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/12/14/national-film-registry-2022/ |
The vice president has broken 26 ties. With Democrats taking a slight edge, that may not be needed.
Vice President Harris arrives at the Senate to break any tie votes as the Senate prepares to vote on an infrastructure bill last year. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
To break one tie vote, Vice President Harris was pulled out of a dinner she was hosting, her motorcade whisking her down Massachusetts Avenue well after business hours. Another time, she was several states away from D.C. when she learned her vote was needed, and hopped a quick flight back before dashing from the steps of Air Force Two to the U.S. Capitol.
Harris, who unsuccessfully sought the presidency three years ago, is widely believed to have her sights still set on the nation’s highest office. And there are few better launchpads than her current job — 15 former vice presidents have gone on to become president, including the current occupant of the White House.
“The main thing is I wish she was out there more — more visible,” said J.A. Moore, a South Carolina legislator who endorsed Harris’s run for president. “It’s the visibility piece — people want to see her out more. It speaks to the fact that they want to see that representation. They want to see more of her face and her connection with what the administration is doing.”
Harris staffers tried to build “floating holds” into her calendar weeks in advance — times when a Senate vote could happen, so Harris needed to limit travel.
“There was a whole lot of — in real time — figuring out who was absent and who was not,” said one staffer, who declined to speak on the record about a strategic matter. “It was a lot of just dialing, trying to figure out where people were.”
Thank you, @VP Harris. https://t.co/9UCxfh1ZZ7
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 5, 2021 | 2022-12-14T10:41:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | With the Senate no longer split 50-50, will Harris have a freer hand? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/kamala-harris-senate-no-longer-tied/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/kamala-harris-senate-no-longer-tied/ |
Parents say game developer made ‘Fortnite’ ‘as addictive as possible’
The creator of “Fortnite” is being sued by three parents, who claim their children became addicted to the popular video game. (Gene Park/Gene Park/The Washington Post)
While playing “Fortnite” around January 2019, a boy’s body grew warm as he struggled to breathe and formulate thoughts, according to a new lawsuit.
His guardian claims the boy, now 17, was experiencing his first panic attack, feeling pressure from the popular video game. After the boy suffered another panic attack eight months later, his guardian claims he was diagnosed with cyberaddiction and began meeting with a counselor at an addiction rehabilitation center.
The allegations are part of a lawsuit brought by three Canadian parents against Epic Games, the developer of “Fortnite.” The parents argue the game is addictive and has upended their children’s lives.
“There is no doubt that the defendants have achieved their objective of making FORTNITE as addictive as possible,” the class-action lawsuit alleges, “and have therefore knowingly endangered the health of users without warning them of the danger associated with the use of FORTNITE.”
The lawsuit, which was filed in October 2019, was authorized by a Quebec City judge last week.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Epic Games spokeswoman Natalie Munoz wrote: “We plan to fight this in court. We believe the evidence will show that this case is meritless.”
Soon after Epic Games released “Fortnite” in July 2017, the online game of shooting, survival and world-building became a global sensation. The free game has attracted more than 350 million players, who can purchase exclusive items, characters and celebratory dances to enhance the experience.
The parents who filed the lawsuit say their children in some cases stopped eating, showering or socializing because of their obsession with the game. The plaintiffs also argue that children aren’t mature enough to understand the game’s terms of service.
“FORTNITE has created, through its marketing, a vicious cycle in which children must buy to feel accomplished and accepted by their peers,” the lawsuit states, “thereby taking advantage of their vulnerable position.”
Following July hearings, Québec Superior Court Justice Sylvain Lussier wrote in a Dec. 7 ruling that the case isn’t “frivolous” or “manifestly ill-founded.” As an analogy, Lussier wrote: “The harmful effect of tobacco was not recognized or acknowledged overnight.”
If the lawsuit triumphs, Lussier wrote, addicted players residing in Québec since Sept. 1, 2017, could be compensated.
Attorney Jean-Philippe Caron, who represents the plaintiffs, said that in the past week, more than 200 parents in the Canadian province had emailed him, saying their children’s well-being had also been diminished by “Fortnite.”
“We feel extremely confident about this case,” Caron told The Post.
In 2018, the World Health Organization acknowledged “gaming disorder” as an illness. Some experts have said that “Fortnite” players are left with reduced vocabularies, while others have ended up in rehab to be treated for addictions similar to heroin abuse. Some professional sports teams have even banned their athletes from playing “Fortnite.”
Munoz, the Epic Games spokeswoman, told The Post that “Fortnite” allows parents to supervise their children’s playing time and require their permission before purchases. Users younger than 13 have a daily $100 spending limit.
The children referenced in the lawsuit have allegedly played the game for thousands of hours, including one who completed 7,781 games within two years. The parents who filed the case allege their children now use vulgar language and don’t find joy in other activities.
The boy who suffered panic attacks first downloaded the game as a 15-year-old around March 2018. His guardian claims he has participated in 6,923 games, which equates to 59,954 minutes or nearly 42 days of play. The boy sometimes doesn’t stop playing until his parents plead with him to log off, which his guardian wrote creates arguments. The lawsuit claims the boy has spent more than $5,550 in savings on the game.
The guardian “had no idea of the harmful consequences that FORTNITE would have for her child,” the lawsuit reads, “and if she had been informed by the defendants of the risks and dangers associated with the use of FORTNITE, she would have categorically refused to allow the game to be downloaded.” | 2022-12-14T10:54:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Fortnite developer Epic Games sued for 'addictive' game to children - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/fortnite-epic-games-lawsuit-addictive/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/fortnite-epic-games-lawsuit-addictive/ |
Antiabortion movement sets sights on putting people in jail
Six months after their Supreme Court victory, conservatives complain that strict new laws are not being sufficiently enforced
In Smith County, a heavily conservative county in eastern Texas, District Attorney Jacob Putman has said he would be "proud" to enforce the state's near-total abortion ban. (Jeffrey McWhorter)
The largest antiabortion organization in Texas has created a team of advocates assigned to investigate citizens who might be distributing abortion pills illegally.
Students for Life of America, a leading national antiabortion group, is making plans to systematically test the water Erin Brockovich-style in several large U.S. cities, searching for contaminants they say result from medication abortion.
And Republican lawmakers in Texas are preparing to introduce legislation that would require internet providers to block abortion pill websites in the same way they can censor child pornography.
Nearly six months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, triggering abortion bans in more than a dozen states, many antiabortion advocates fear that the growing availability of illegal abortion pills has undercut their landmark victory. Now they are grasping for new ways to crack down on those breaking the law.
Antiabortion advocates had hoped the June decision would significantly decrease the number of abortions in the United States. But abortion rights activists have ramped up efforts to funnel abortion pills — a two-step regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol — into states with strict new bans, working with rapidly expanding international suppliers as well as U.S.-based distributors to meet demand.
Now many conservatives are complaining that the abortion bans are not being sufficiently enforced, even though much of the illegal activity is happening in plain sight, as abortion rights advocates seek to reach women in need. Leaders interviewed on both sides of the debate had not heard of any examples of people charged for violating abortion bans since Roe fell, a crime punishable by at least several years in prison across much of the South and Midwest.
“Everyone who is trafficking these pills should be in jail for trafficking,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, who has started to speak with Republican governors about the prevalence of illegal abortion pill networks. “It hasn’t happened, but that doesn’t mean it won’t.”
Abortion bans include penalties only for people involved in facilitating illegal abortions, not for the pregnant women themselves.
The push on the right for enforcement reflects the extent to which both sides of the abortion battle are recalibrating after a tumultuous year that has challenged many long-held assumptions about the politics of the issue — and left the state of abortion access in the United States hard to assess. Interviews with more than 30 of the most influential advocacy group leaders, policymakers and litigators on the abortion issue found that far from settling the decades-old abortion question, the fall of Roe has triggered a major new phase of combat set to play out over the next few years in courtrooms, state capitals and the next presidential election.
While a study from the Society of Family Planning found that at least 10,000 fewer clinical abortions took place in the first two months after Roe was overturned, researchers can’t say how many women were able to obtain pills through the mail. One major pill supplier in Mexico estimated that her organization is on track to end 20,000 pregnancies by year’s end, while another Europe-based group says that, after the Supreme Court decision, it received roughly 3,600 queries per month, with about two-thirds of those coming from women in states with abortion bans.
Many Republican lawmakers have been reluctant to further restrict abortion since the June ruling, especially after this year’s midterm elections confirmed that abortion rights are popular with voters across party lines. Backlash from the court decision was widely credited with helping Democrats score some critical wins, including a state legislative majority in Michigan and control of the Pennsylvania House, while voters even in heavily Republican states turned out in droves to oppose antiabortion ballot measures.
Abortion rights advocates say they are exploring 2024 ballot measures in at least a dozen states to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions. Momentum is building in many states with strict abortion bans, including Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Ohio and South Dakota, according to several national abortion rights advocates with knowledge of early conversations across the country.
“Democrats should not be shy about being bold and using every tool to fight for individual rights,” said Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), who won easy reelection in a state that also voted to protect abortion rights through a ballot measure. States that have the ability to do a Michigan-style ballot initiative “should certainly be exploring it,” Whitmer said.
While abortion rights advocates appear largely united in their approach, the rise of abortion pills and the election results have combined to highlight tensions among conservatives over what to do next.
The next few months could pit the “true believers” — those who genuinely care about limiting the number of abortions — against those who back antiabortion policies to score political points, said Jonathan Mitchell, the antiabortion lawyer behind the novel Texas abortion ban that took effect in 2021.
Mitchell said he has been involved in discussions about aggressive and unconventional measures that he thinks are necessary if Republicans are determined to actually limit the number of abortions. But he is unsure whether Republicans will have the political will to pursue those ideas.
“Especially after this election, a lot of Republicans will want to change the subject, and going after abortion pills is not the way to change the subject,” he said.
Antiabortion advocates search for an ‘airtight’ case
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe, Texas antiabortion advocates stepped up efforts to find local prosecutors most inclined to enforce antiabortion laws.
They quickly zeroed in on Jacob Putman, the prosecutor in Tyler, Tex., a small city that bisects 200 miles of mostly open road between Dallas and Shreveport, La. Larger than a lot of other heavily conservative counties in Texas, several Texas antiabortion advocates said, Putman’s district has the resources to investigate and prosecute those who violate the state’s near-total abortion ban.
Putman is also staunchly opposed to abortion.
Since the June ruling, the prosecutor has made several public statements expressing his commitment to enforcing the state’s abortion ban. Growing up in Smith County, he told The Washington Post, he volunteered at his local crisis pregnancy center, a religiously affiliated organization that aims to dissuade women from having abortions. He and his wife have donated money to the group. As the county prosecutor, he said, he would be “proud” to bring a case against someone caught violating the abortion ban, a felony punishable in Texas by up to life in prison.
But Putman hasn’t had any of those cases. And he doesn’t expect to have one anytime soon, in part, he said, because it’s difficult to determine who is breaking the law and where the crimes are being committed.
“If it’s happening in my county, I’m not aware of it,” said Putman, sitting beneath a mounted pair of horns from a Texas Longhorn. “In order for one of these cases to get to a prosecutor’s office, someone is going to have to tell, and I don’t know who that would be.”
Texas Right to Life, the state’s largest antiabortion group, is positioning itself to help. A designated team within the organization has been searching for an “airtight” case to bring to a district attorney like Putman who is willing to prosecute, said John Seago, the group’s president.
“We’re not going to get involved until we have evidence, something credible we can take,” Seago said. “We’re trying to actually confirm who’s involved in these networks, how it’s being done.”
While there hasn’t been much evidence of enforcement since Roe fell, there is a long history in the United States of prosecuting people for pregnancy-related crimes. Between 2000 and 2020, 61 people were criminally investigated or arrested for either ending their own pregnancy or helping someone else end theirs, according to a preliminary report from If/When/How, a legal advocacy group that supports abortion rights.
Abortion rights advocates say new efforts to prosecute will exacerbate the fear and isolation of those facing unwanted pregnancies in states where abortion is banned.
“It will paralyze people from getting help and health care when they need it and are entitled to it,” said Aimee Arrambide, executive director at Avow Texas, an abortion rights advocacy group.
Seago said he hopes the upcoming legislative session in Texas — which has established itself as a testing ground for new and aggressive antiabortion legislation — will yield tools that will help antiabortion advocates in their fight against illegal abortion pills.
National advocacy groups are also pivoting to focus on enforcement. Early in the new year, Dannenfelser of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said she plans to strategize with antiabortion governors about how best to deal with the illegal pill networks.
She said she has already discussed the matter with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, one of several GOP governors to sign a strict abortion ban and win reelection this year. According to Dannenfelser, Kemp is widely supportive and “already engaged” on the abortion pill issue.
“Every governor, especially governors who have passed ambitious laws, have it in their interest to make sure that laws in their states aren’t de facto overturned by pills going into every part of their state, through organizations that are directly violating the law,” Dannenfelser said.
Andrew Isenhour, Kemp’s deputy director of communications, declined to comment on any potential legislation, adding that the governor remains “committed to supporting life at all stages and protecting the lives of the unborn.”
Some are exploring other unorthodox approaches.
Antiabortion advocates filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November challenging its decades-old approval of one of the pills used in medication abortions. Their arguments have been widely discredited by legal experts.
Students for Life of America is focused on the environmental harm it says is caused by medication abortions, specifically from fetal remains flushed down the toilet, as often happens when women take abortion pills at home. (There is no direct evidence that abortion pills contaminate the water supply, and environmental experts have dismissed the arguments made by Students for Life.)
At an internal meeting in Indianapolis on Nov. 30 attended virtually by The Post, employees expressed frustration that state officials are not already testing the water for contaminants related to abortion pills.
“You mentioned Erin Brockovich,” said Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins, speaking to another member of her advocacy team and referencing the famous legal clerk who exposed groundwater contamination around a major gas and electric facility. “Let’s just get the damn water samples ourselves since we already know they’re not doing it.”
By the end of the meeting, the group had developed several action items, including finding a lab willing to help with testing, and recruiting a team of “student investigators.” Hawkins said she will be meeting with Republican attorneys general in the new year to discuss issuing statewide injunctions against abortion pills, based on the group’s claims about toxic wastewater.
Abortion rights advocates are newly energized coming out of the midterms, eager to capitalize on public opinion and build on the gains they made in Michigan, Kentucky and beyond after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision invalidated Roe.
“From the day that the Dobbs opinion was leaked, until right now, a new fury has burned through the women of this country,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), an outspoken proponent of abortion rights, who says she is committed to helping more states pass abortion protections.
As abortion proponents turn their attention to 2024, ballot initiatives that aim to protect abortion in state constitutions are now the “strategy du jour,” said Jessica Arons, senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.
But ballot measures should not be seen as a cure-all, several abortion rights advocates warned. Because of their high price tag — abortion rights advocates spent tens of millions of dollars on the one in Michigan — these campaigns can’t happen everywhere simultaneously, said the ACLU’s Rachel Sweet, who ran the abortion rights campaigns this year in Kansas and Kentucky.
In several states that allow citizens to add issues to the ballot by collecting signatures, conservative lawmakers are already discussing various proposals to make it harder to put issues directly to voters. Soon after the midterms, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose introduced an effort to require 60 percent of voters to pass certain constitutional amendments, instead of the current system, which requires a simple majority. LaRose dismissed claims that his proposal was related to the abortion issue, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
As they push for more restrictive bans in states such as Florida and North Carolina, antiabortion advocates across the country will have to contend with moderate Republicans who have been increasingly vocal on the issue. In Indiana, West Virginia and South Carolina — three states that have convened for legislative sessions since Roe fell — Republicans struggled to agree on a path forward on abortion, as moderate factions within the caucus pressed for less severe restrictions.
West Virginia Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo (R), a practicing physician, brought debate on the issue to a standstill in July, refusing to back a bill that included criminal penalties for doctors. In private conversations with other Republican leaders, he said, he warned of a massive public backlash.
“If Republicans aren’t willing to come and meet a little bit more towards the middle, then what they’re actually doing is going to hurt their cause and cause a major swing in the opposite direction,” said Takubo, who ultimately voted for a near-total abortion ban.
Both sides of the debate are now gearing up for the 2024 presidential election, which will be critical for the future of abortion access. While President Biden has been limited in his ability to protect abortion access, an antiabortion president could significantly alter the current landscape, cracking down on abortion pills in both Democratic- and Republican-led states.
Under a Republican president, the FDA could alter the restrictions around abortion pills. For example, the agency could try to limit the period of time when patients can legally take abortion pills, from 10 weeks of pregnancy to six or seven, said Greer Donley, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law who specializes in abortion — a move that would force tens of thousands of people every year to have surgical, rather than medication, abortions.
National antiabortion advocates are also carefully considering the ways in which a president could restrict illegal pill networks. An antiabortion president could direct several agencies to bear down on the issue, including the U.S. Postal Service, as many pills are sent through the mail, and the Department of Justice, said Stephen Billy, vice president of state affairs at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
When Dannenfelser meets with Republicans who may run for president in 2024, she said she asks them first about a national abortion ban, preferring candidates who advocate for a ban after six, 13 or 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Her next question is about the “cataclysmic problem of the abortion pill.” | 2022-12-14T11:12:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Antiabortion movement sets sights on putting people in jail - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/abortion-pills-bans-dobbs-roe/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/abortion-pills-bans-dobbs-roe/ |
After his first Guinness world record, Russell Cassevah quit his day job and began traveling the country to bring Legos to kids in hospitals
Russell Cassevah lies in a giant pit of bricks in Dallas earlier this year. He delivered Lego sets to two children’s hospitals there. (Russell Cassevah)
Russell Cassevah has been obsessed with Legos since he was 4, when his mom let him pick out his first set after a trip to the doctor’s office.
As an adult, he took his love of Legos to another level: He broke back-to-back Guinness world records for walking barefoot more than half a mile up and down a path covered with sharp Lego bricks. And last year, he was a part of a five-member team that broke a Guinness world record for trudging two miles barefoot on the small building bricks. (Anyone who has mistakenly stepped on a Lego brick barefoot is wincing now.)
“The first time, Jimmy Fallon made a joke about me on ‘The Tonight Show,’” said Cassevah, 38, who lives in Chesapeake, Va. “He said that I beat every dad walking to the bathroom at night. That made me feel great.”
Walking across uneven and pointed Lego bricks “felt like my feet were on fire,” he said, adding that the soles of his feet would become cut and scraped.
“I’ve never been a quitter, though, when it comes to Legos,” he said. “I blocked out the pain and just kept going.”
After his first world record, Cassevah decided he could use Legos for good: He quit his day job and began traveling the country to deliver free Legos to children’s hospitals through the nonprofit Little Bricks Charity he created. Each year, he uses donations to buy and give away more than $120,000 worth of Lego sets to 29 children’s hospitals nationwide.
Almost a million people on TikTok follow the road trips he makes in his Little Bricks van, and every holiday season, Cassevah puts out a wish list for Lego sets that are most requested by kids in hospitals.
He is hard to miss in his bright mohawk (dyed a different color every month) as he wheels cartloads piled with Lego kits into children’s hospitals. For deliveries that are close to home, Cassevah often brings along his wife, Shannon Wolf, and their daughter, Faith, 9.
“She’s as crazy about Legos as I am, and she loves to help out whenever possible,” he said. “She knows how much kids love to build.”
Cassevah said he was inspired to start Little Bricks in 2019 after he walked on Lego bricks to raise funds for Fairy Bricks, a nonprofit in Britain that gives free brick sets to kids. In 2017, somebody had stolen 2,000 Lego sets from one of the group’s delivery vans.
“After I learned about the Fairy Bricks theft, I did some research about what Legos do for kids in hospitals,” he said. “I knew then I’d found my purpose.”
He was working at the time as a trainer for the Canon USA camera company and decided to use some of his earnings to buy Lego sets and deliver them to children’s hospitals on the weekends.
In 2020, Cassevah said, his life was changed when he met a 1-year-old girl named Tessa who had brain cancer.
“She had the cutest laugh and this little mohawk going down the middle of her head,” he recalled. “When she didn’t make it, it rocked my life. I was devastated.”
Cassevah said that to honor Tessa’s memory, he shaved his head into a mohawk, quit his job and cashed in his retirement savings to focus full time on Little Bricks. His first big delivery was to Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk.
One of the hospitals on his tour is the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital in Charlottesville, where he visited last month to drop off 240 Lego sets ($6,000 worth) for all age groups.
“Legos are one of our most requested toy items for patients, and a lot of times we can’t keep up with demand and we run out,” said Savannah Sweatman, a child life specialist at the hospital.
“Legos allow kids to just be kids while they’re here, and for Russell to donate so many [sets] to us is exciting and generous,” she said. “He came here with tons of energy and positivity, and everyone could tell he was passionate about what he does at Little Bricks.”
Cassevah also recently completed a road trip to the Arkansas Children’s Northwest Hospital in Springdale, where he donated $9,000 worth of new Lego sets to young patients.
One of them, Hewitt Kahana, was staying in the hospital for his third chemotherapy treatment when he spotted Cassevah with his blue mohawk haircut, sitting at a table covered with new Lego sets.
Hewitt, 11, has always been a Lego fan, and he had recently finished building a mini Egyptian pyramid at home in Springdale, Ark., in between treatments for a brain tumor.
“I was excited when I saw this guy, because you could tell he really loved Legos — just like me,” he said.
When Cassevah noticed Hewitt’s excitement, he said, he handed him a Lego Galaxy Explorer set and asked if he could help him to build it.
Hewitt enthusiastically said yes.
“He was really cool, and building Legos with him made me feel happy,” he said. “It was fun to look at what I’d created with him and know that I did that. Plus, I got to take the Legos home.”
“You could tell that Russell really cared about the kids and was there to bring smiles and encouragement,” added Hewitt’s mom, Christen Sluyter, 32. “It was wonderful to watch him and Hewitt building and laughing.”
Cassevah said the memory of Hewitt’s smile stayed with him as he drove about 14 hours home to Virginia.
“When I build with kids, my goal is to create fun memories and give them a voice and let them talk,” he said. “Hewitt is articulate, and he knew so much about what he was going through. You could also tell that Legos were his escape and joy.”
“More than anything, we laughed and had fun,” Cassevah added. “Hewitt knew a lot about the bricks and even taught me a few things.”
“My time with him reinforced my feeling that I’m on the right path,” he said. | 2022-12-14T11:16:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Russell Cassevah brings free Lego sets to children's hospitals - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/12/14/lego-russell-cassevah-little-bricks/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/12/14/lego-russell-cassevah-little-bricks/ |
Cathleen Decker
Alexis Salkeld Garcia poses for a photo at her home in Austin on Monday. (Sergio Flores for The Washington Post)
HOUSTON — Employees at the Texas Department of Public Safety in June received a sweeping request from Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office: to compile a list of individuals who had changed their gender on their Texas driver’s license and other department records during the past two years.
The behind-the-scenes effort by Paxton’s office to obtain data on how many Texans had changed their gender on their license came as the attorney general, Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders in the state have been publicly marshaling resources against transgender Texans.
Earlier this year, Abbott signed a bill banning transgender youths from participating in sports that align with their gender identity at K-12 public schools and ordered the state to investigate the provision of gender-affirming care as potential child abuse. State lawmakers have already proposed more than a dozen anti-LGBTQ measures ahead of the next session in January, including criminalizing gender-affirming care and banning minors at drag shows.
The records obtained by The Post, which document communications between DPS employees, are entitled: “AG Request Sex Change Data” and “AG data request.” They indicate that Paxton’s office sought the records a month after the state Supreme Court ruled that Paxton and Abbott had overreached in their efforts to investigate families with transgender children for child abuse.
Paxton’s office bypassed the normal channels — DPS’s government relations and general counsel’s offices — and went straight to the driver license division staff in making the request, according to a state employee familiar with it, who said the staff was told that Paxton’s office wanted “numbers” and later would want “a list” of names, as well as “the number of people who had had a legal sex change.”
DPS staff members compiled a list of 16,466 gender changes between June 1, 2020 and June 30, 2022, public records show. In the emails, DPS staff members repeatedly referred to the request as coming from the attorney general’s office as they discussed attempting to narrow the data to include only licenses that had been altered to reflect a court-ordered change in someone’s gender.
“It will be very difficult to determine which records had a valid update without a manual review of all supporting documents,” an assistant manager in DPS’s driver license division wrote in an email to colleagues on July 22.
If they did, Harden said, any records were probably exempt from release because of either attorney-client privilege or confidentiality.
Marisol Bernal-Leon, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office, later emailed that the office “has reviewed its files and has no information responsive to your request” for either records it had requested from DPS or emails between the attorney general’s office and DPS.
Last year, lawmakers in the Republican-dominated legislature failed to pass a measure that would have criminalized gender reassignment care, which major medical associations have deemed science-based medical care. Afterward, state Rep. Matt Krause (R) — chair of the state House committee on general investigating — contacted Paxton, who issued a legal opinion that gender-affirming care for minors could be considered child abuse. Days later, Abbott directed the state child welfare agency to investigate parents facilitating such care for their children, sparking several investigations within days, according to public records. | 2022-12-14T11:16:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Office of Texas A.G. Ken Paxton sought data on transgender residents - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/texas-transgender-data-paxton/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/texas-transgender-data-paxton/ |
To hear Senator Joe Manchin, pro-immigrant advocates are getting way too excited over the prospect of a deal in the lame duck Congress that would allow for the legalization of two million “Dreamers,” immigrants brought illegally into the country as minors by their parents. “I don’t see any movement there,” he told a forum on the benefits of immigration hosted by the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution. “They think it’s weak on border security.” | 2022-12-14T13:44:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | An Immigration Deal for Dreamers Is Out of Reach - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/an-immigration-deal-for-dreamers-is-out-of-reach/2022/12/14/891fad40-7bb3-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/an-immigration-deal-for-dreamers-is-out-of-reach/2022/12/14/891fad40-7bb3-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
Corporate America Thrives Where Abortion Is Protected
Gina Raimondo doesn’t “know why any woman would want to live in a state that criminalizes full access to health care.” The assertion by the 40th US Secretary of Commerce is especially relevant after the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June that upheld a Mississippi law conceived to overturn two landmark decisions -- Roe v. Wade in 1973 and Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992 -- conferring the almost half century constitutional right to obtain an abortion. Already in 2022, twice as many abortion clinics closed, mostly in the South and Midwest, than in 2021 since the Supreme Court decision.
Raimondo, a 51-year-old economist and Rhodes Scholar with degrees from Harvard, Oxford and Yale universities, added another bulwark to her state’s competitiveness when she signed into law the Reproductive Privacy Act in 2019, protecting abortion rights by anticipating the Supreme Court’s repeal of Roe v. Wade. She isn’t “at all surprised” to see data showing publicly-traded companies in the 11 states where abortion is illegal -- Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas -- are less diverse, less profitable and less productive than the US average for big and small firms alike and, by these same measures, inferior to companies in the 10 states that expanded access to abortion -- Washington, Oregon, California, Minnesota, Illinois, New York, Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania -- since 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Supreme Court decision giving states the power to ban abortion is proving so unpopular that voters in Kansas, by an overwhelming margin (59%-41%), rejected a proposed constitutional amendment in August that would have removed the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution. Similar referendums were rejected on election day last month in Kentucky and Montana, as Americans across the nation turned out to vote for reproductive freedom. The issue “was not about whether or not you approved of abortion, but who was in control of making the decisions for women’s health,” Ann Mah, a Democratic member of the Kansas State Board of Education, told the Kansas City Star. “If you wanted to turn your daughter’s health care over to the state legislature, then you voted yes. And if you trusted women to make their own decisions you’d vote no.”
The US economy already is suffering the economic consequences in states that have criminalized abortion. In the 10 states that enshrined reproductive freedoms since April 2020, as the Covid-19 labor market began its recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression, non-farm payrolls increased an average 18.3%, compared with 16.9% for the country as a whole, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 11 states criminalizing abortion lagged behind with 15.1% job growth. Since the beginning of 2022, employment in the 10 states guaranteeing the right to abortion climbed 2.8%, exceeding the nation’s 2.5% rate and easily surpassing the 2.3% for the 11 states that criminalized reproductive rights. The labor participation rate for women in the states criminalizing abortion is 56%, or 9.5 percentage points lower than it is for men, and below the 60% and 9.3 percentage points rates for the 10 states protecting reproductive freedom.
• Republicans Were Wrong About Abortion: Sarah Green Carmichael
• Abortion May Not Be Winning Issue for Democrats: Ramesh Ponnuru
--With assistance from Shin Pei and Daniella Goncalves. | 2022-12-14T13:45:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Corporate America Thrives Where Abortion Is Protected - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/corporate-america-thriveswhere-abortion-isprotected/2022/12/14/a6cc981e-7ba7-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/corporate-america-thriveswhere-abortion-isprotected/2022/12/14/a6cc981e-7ba7-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
FTX Lesson No. 1: Don’t Fall Asleep in Accounting Class
Analysis by Michelle Hanlon and Nemit Shroff | Bloomberg
Internal controls are the checks and balances a company puts in place to protect its assets, maintain integrity in its financial accounting systems and reporting processes, and to ensure compliance with company policies and applicable laws and regulations. Publicly listed US companies need to have their internal controls reviewed by an independent auditor to ensure they’re doing the job. In addition, certain US financial institutions that maintain custody of customer assets must attest to their internal controls. If FTX had implemented such controls even at a minimal level, many of the company’s deficiencies would have become known sooner and the large-scale meltdown might have been prevented.
• Matt Levine’s Money Stuff: How to Do Fraud at a Futures Exchange
• Bankman-Fried Apology Is as Hollow as His Empire: Lionel Laurent
Michelle Hanlon is the Howard W. Johnson Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Nemit Shroff is a Distinguished Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. | 2022-12-14T13:45:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | FTX Lesson No. 1: Don’t Fall Asleep in Accounting Class - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ftx-lesson-no-1-dont-fall-asleep-in-accounting-class/2022/12/14/d618c58a-7bab-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ftx-lesson-no-1-dont-fall-asleep-in-accounting-class/2022/12/14/d618c58a-7bab-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
10 years after Sandy Hook, mom builds daughter’s dream animal sanctuary
Catherine and Jenny Hubbard. (Courtesy of Jenny Hubbard)
Most days, first-grader Catherine Violet Hubbard could be found roaming the yard of her Newtown, Conn., home — the place where, accompanied by her pets, she’d discover a whole universe of critters and bugs to adore. Almost like a princess in a Disney movie, she’d whisper to the animals to tell their friends that she was nice, in hopes that they’d come in droves to visit her.
Ever since she was born in 2006, Catherine had a burning passion for animals, her mother, Jenny Hubbard, told The Washington Post. By the time she turned 5, Catherine had already decided she wanted to be an animal sanctuary caretaker when she grew up. But on Dec. 14, 2012, she was one of 20 children and six adults killed inside Sandy Hook Elementary.
The freckle-faced girl with bright red locks was just 6 years old. And though Catherine never got to be a teenager or see her life’s wishes come true, Hubbard has made it her mission to fulfill them. On Wednesday — exactly 10 years after the school shooting — Hubbard will break ground on the Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary, a nonprofit meant to foster the bond between humans and animals. The sanctuary will provide veterinary care, educate visitors and serve as a migration space for hummingbirds, bees and other pollinators.
The ceremony will be also be a way to “reclaim the day” — transforming one synonymous with grief and heartache into one of joyful remembrance and hope.
“I made a conscious choice since the tragedy to not focus on and continue to relive what happened in Sandy Hook,” Hubbard said. “ … It’s a solemn day for sure. And it is a day that I will forever remember as losing Catherine, but it’s also a moment to look forward with hope that she didn’t die for nothing.”
Hubbard can still hear Catherine’s laughter as she swayed her butterfly net across the garden years ago. Her favorite memory, and one Hubbard said she can picture so clearly, is the time a butterfly landed on Catherine as she sat still in the grass. Unlike her “relentless” attempts at catching everything from insects to birds to squirrels, Catherine was calm and peaceful.
“I’ve tried to pinpoint the day where I was like, ‘Wow, Catherine really loves animals,’” Hubbard said. “But I can’t because animals were always just a part of her. It was what she was drawn to, as much as they were drawn to her compassion.”
Catherine’s love for animals ran deeper than outdoor adventures and horseback riding lessons, Hubbard said. On one snowy day, Catherine, then 5, and her older brother took it upon themselves to create business cards. What Hubbard didn’t know is that her children were crafting them on a legitimate website and would eventually order 250 of them to their home. Catherine’s featured a collage of different patterns overlaying a baby pink background. The business’s name: “Catherine’s Animal Shelter.” Her title: “Care Taker.”
“I was at first mortified that they had ordered these business cards for businesses that did not exist,” Hubbard said. “So I said to both of them that the business cards couldn’t leave the house. The next day I got an email from Catherine’s kindergarten teacher telling me that her business cards were just precious, just precious.”
Those pink business cards are now at the sanctuary, Hubbard said. “We love them because in so many ways, it’s Catherine desire to be a caretaker, lived out day in and day out, that we’re doing.”
Over the past decade, Hubbard has devoted her time toward creating programs that foster human-animal relations and help seniors keep their pets, but the plans for the sanctuary only began snowballing because of a typo she made in Catherine’s obituary — instead of asking people to honor Catherine’s memory by making donations to the Animal Control Center, Hubbard wrote Animal Center.
“A group of women who ran the nonprofit, Animal Center of Newtown, suddenly received a significant amount of funds in memory of Catherine,” Hubbard said. “After that, they met with me and shared an idea of creating a place where children would see their own innate beauty in the eyes of the animals that they encountered. And as they shared what their vision was, I could see Catherine and her life and everything that she stood for.”
By 2014, the Catherine Violet Hubbard Foundation was up and running. That year, the state of Connecticut awarded 34 acres of land to the nonprofit. While it would take eight more years to begin the construction of permanent facilities, the terrain was used to host a slew of programs and events, including the annual “Butterfly Party” on Catherine’s birthday — June 8.
Last year, Hubbard said more than 10,000 people attended Catherine’s celebration. Since its inception, the foundation has also found homes for over 1,157 pets, partnered with 29 local municipalities in Connecticut and served over 707,000 meals to animals in need. Now it’s hoping to expand its impact.
Come next December, Hubbard hopes to be opening the doors to the facility for both two-legged and four-legged friends. But on Wednesday, she’ll be looking toward the sky.
“I know Catherine will be looking down on us, and she’ll be just so completely and absolutely thrilled,” Hubbard said. “Because we’ve chosen to see the best in humanity. And [the future] may not be how we wanted it to look or what we think it’s supposed to be, but I can assure you that something good does come out of every tragedy.” | 2022-12-14T13:45:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Mother of Sandy Hook victim Catherine Hubbard opens animal sanctuary - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/hubbard-animal-sanctuary-sandy-hook/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/hubbard-animal-sanctuary-sandy-hook/ |
Utah apologizes for failure to investigate trooper’s alleged sex abuse
The state’s commissioner of public safety expressed ‘deep regret’ in a letter to the family of the alleged victim
John Miller speaks on Monday about his wife, Valarie, who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a Utah highway trooper in the 1960s. (Courtesy of Wilkinson Ferrari & Co.)
Each night when they were teenagers, Debra Clark Cooperand her sister Valarie said their prayers before slipping into their matching beds and talking for hours before falling asleep. But on more than one evening, Cooper would open her eyes to find her sister quietly crying, her face blotchy from tears and her hands still clasped tightly together.
Valarie, who was three years younger, would never seem to give a clear answer about what was bothering her. Cooper, now 71, wishes that she’d pried Valarie more on one of those nights, that she’d known the pain her sister felt during their bedtime prayers.
Valarie Clark Miller was sexually assaulted by a Utah highway trooper starting in the late 1960s when she was a teenager, a trauma that devastated her for the rest of her life, her family alleged last year in a written notice of plans to sue the state. When Miller and her husband asked the Utah Department of Public Safety for an investigation in 1990, it failed to do so and did not take action against the trooper, the document says.
In a recent news conference, the Miller family and their legal team said they were going public with Valarie’s name and case in hopes that sharing her story would help other sexual assault victims.
In a rare move, Utah’s public safety commissioner on Dec. 5 sent a letter to the Miller family expressing “deep regret” for their pain and suffering, writing that their allegations were “factual” and “rest on a foundation of extensive and disturbing evidence.”
Jess Anderson conceded there was “no legal recourse” to “right the wrong” done to the Millers. When they first came forward in 1990, the statute of limitations in Valarie’s case had passed, though Utah has since lifted the reporting deadline for sex crimes. The trooper whom Valarie accused of abuse died earlier this year, according to the Millers’ legal team.
Anderson said his department would consult with an independent agency to review its internal investigation policies to hopefully prevent similar failures.
After receiving the letter, which was first reported by the Salt Lake Tribune, the Millers agreed to not sue. The apology provided what the family had sought for decades — closure.
“This whole thing has been about clearing her name,” Ryan Miller, Valarie’s son, told The Washington Post, noting that rumors about the case had sullied his mother’s reputation in Clarkston, a small town where not everyone believed her allegations.
Utah refused to prosecute four sexual assault cases, so the alleged victims set out to do it themselves
Valarie Clark Miller died in 2017 from complications of multiple sclerosis without knowing the lengths her family would go to bring the case to a close.
Later in life, she confided in family that she had been raped by the trooper — whom she first encountered through a relative — between 1968 and 1970, starting when she was 13 years old. The trooper used his “position of authority” to intimidate her and made threats to hurt Valarie or her family if she told anyone about the abuse, the notice of claim says.
When she once tried to end the assaults by telling the officer she was pregnant, he beat her and tried to drown her in a nearby reservoir, the document alleges.
Throughout her life, Valarie was plagued with flashbacks to the abuse she faced, her family said. As an adult, she started having panic attacks and had trouble eating, and she attempted suicide multiple times, according to the family.
Valarie and her husband, John Miller, decided to file a complaint with the Utah Department of Public Safety in 1990 after she’d spent nearly one year at a mental health clinic working with a therapist to process her experiences from 20 years earlier.
“It makes me feel nausea and a little dizzy,” Valarie wrote in one journal entry during her time at the clinic. “It’s hard because I can feel myself being there, feeling hot, sweaty, dirty, inside and out.”
The DPS director of internal affairs at the time said the allegations were the “most serious” ever directed at an officer of the state highway patrol, according to the notice of claim that Miller’s family would file decades later. But the investigation went nowhere — Valarie and her husband were told that the trooper, who by then had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant, had denied the allegations and passed a polygraph test.
The internal affairs director also told John Miller that he’d spoken with Valarie’s therapist from the clinic, who told him that her stories of the assaults were “untruthful,” the notice of claim says.
“That was kind of another arrow in the heart, that ‘no one’s going to believe me,’” John Miller said. “She never really recovered.”
According to the family, the trooper and the state’s public safety commissioner at the time received a letter saying the sexual assault allegations were “not sustained.”
After Valarie’s death, her family hired a private investigator in 2020 to reexamine the case. When Mike Anderson — a retired FBI agent — interviewed the internal affairs director who had been in charge in 1990, he repeatedly called Valarie “crazy” and someone “not to be believed” before admitting that he’d never given a lie-detector test to the accused trooper, according to Anderson. The private investigator also found that Valarie’s therapist had never been contacted by DPS, according to the notice of claim.
In 2021, Anderson also interviewed the trooper who allegedly assaulted Valarie. He again denied the allegations, telling Anderson that he had passed a polygraph and showing him the letter from 1990 saying the allegations were not sustained.
The family submitted the notice of their intent to sue the state — as well as the trooper, the former internal affairs director and the former DPS commissioner — in November 2021, including the evidence Anderson had gathered.
After receiving the notice, DPS began an investigation into the family’s allegations, interviewing “scores” of witnesses, according to Anderson’s apology letter. The commissioner added that he had “agonized” over Valarie’s experiences and the “generational impact” on her family.
On Dec. 6, nearly 55 years after Valarie said she was first assaulted and more than 30 years after she and her husband asked for an investigation, the family held a news conference in Salt Lake City after state officials presented them with the apology letter.
“I felt a strong sense of peace and lightness,” Cooper said of attending the meeting.
For years, Cooper had felt like there was a stone lodged in her heart when she said her nightly prayers — alone, as she and her sister lived apart as adults. Every time, she prayed her family would one day experience a sense of closure in Valarie’s case.
When Cooper returned home last week, she sat with a collection of things that remind her of her sister: a few photos, some childhood trinkets, a handful of greeting cards.
And when Cooper went to church on Sunday, the stone in her heart wasn’t there anymore. | 2022-12-14T13:45:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Utah apologizes for failure to investigate trooper’s alleged sex abuse - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/utah-apology-trooper-sexual-assault/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/utah-apology-trooper-sexual-assault/ |
Diversity progress slows at environmental groups, survey finds
Good morning and welcome to The Climate 202! Today we’re wondering what Rihanna would think of this rap by Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, to the tune of her song “Work.”
⚡️ Below we have an exclusive on the Biden administration’s expected announcements at the White House Electrification Summit today. But first:
Environmental groups show mixed progress on racial and ethnic diversity, survey finds
Environmental groups have modestly increased the number of people of color among full-time staff over the past six years, but White people still account for the vast majority of employees, especially among senior management and top executive roles, according to an annual survey released Tuesday.
The report from Green 2.0, an independent campaign working to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the environmental movement, underscores the challenges facing green groups as they seek to recruit and retain diverse staffs that look like the communities they serve.
It comes as many groups focus their advocacy on assisting communities of color and low-income neighborhoods that have historically borne the brunt of environmental hazards, including extreme weather events fueled by climate change.
The details: Environmental groups on average have 100 people of color among full-time staff, up from 75 people in 2017, when Green 2.0 started collecting this data.
Roughly 36.5 percent of full-time employees at environmental groups now identify as people of color, up from 25 percent in 2017.
However, diversity progress has slowed when it comes to senior positions. Each group added an average of two people of color among senior staff over the past year, while the number of non-White board members was unchanged.
Overall, White workers still account for 59.5 percent of full-time staff, followed by 11 percent of workers identifying as Hispanic or Latino, 9.9 percent Black or African American, and 7.2 percent Asian.
Among senior staff, 61.8 percent of workers identify as White, while among chief executives, 69 percent are White.
“It’s really important that as environmental groups, we’re not just looking at communities of color and saying, ‘This is what they need,’ ” said Andres Jimenez, executive director of Green 2.0. “We really need to make sure that our organizations are as diverse as possible so that we’re bringing their voices to the table to speak about how climate change is impacting their communities.”
Green 2.0 asked 80 nongovernmental organizations to submit data for the survey, although 16 of these groups declined to participate, while an additional four groups volunteered data without being asked. Only 20 of 50 foundations surveyed responded.
Participating groups include the Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, League of Conservation Voters and Union of Concerned Scientists.
The foundations surveyed include the Barr Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Walton Family Foundation.
About 90 percent of the participating groups have included diversity, equity and inclusion goals in their strategic plans and have established protocols for addressing racial discrimination, harassment and microaggressions.
However, fewer groups have implemented initiatives that could help retain a more diverse staff, such as a transparent salary pay scale (54 percent) or mentoring programs (43 percent).
Johanna Chao Kreilick, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the group has sought to increase retention and create a culture of inclusion by “clarifying decision-making authority” over the past year.
“Decisions were being made in willy-nilly ways all over the organization, and it was contributing to a lot of stress and strife, and it was taking racial forms,” she said during a panel discussion about the report at the National Press Club on Tuesday.
Manish Bapna, president and chief executive of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in an interview after the event that the group has “tried to be more intentional about reaching out to spaces where there are more diverse candidates,” such as historically Black colleges and universities.
“Making sure we have a diverse applicant pool before proceeding with interviews and making final decisions is incredibly important,” Bapna said.
And Leslie Hinkson, chief officer for racial justice and inclusion at the League of Conservation Voters, said in an interview that the group has launched a mentorship program geared toward junior staff of color, while three of its four new board members are women of color.
Hinkson added that after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, sparking protests across the country, several groups asked her to serve on their boards.
“I had to ask myself which if any of those boards actually cared about my experience and expertise or if they just needed a Black body,” she said. “The one board I said yes to made me believe it was the former. I hope and I believe that we have been really intentional in ensuring that every member of our board feels needed and wanted.”
The groups that did not participate in the survey include the American Conservation Coalition, a conservative environmental group, and the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank that focuses on multiple policy areas, including the environment.
ACC spokeswoman Karly Matthews declined to comment, while CAP spokesman Sam Hananel said in an email that the group publicly posts diversity data on its website and “would be happy to be included in future surveys.”
Exclusive: White House, Energy Dept. to announce ‘innovation agenda’
The White House and the Energy Department on Wednesday will announce new commitments as part of a “rapid innovation agenda” aimed at electrifying homes, businesses and transportation, according to details shared exclusively with The Climate 202.
The announcements, to be made during the White House Electrification Summit, are part of the Biden administration’s broader efforts to combat climate change and lower energy costs for American households. They include:
Thirty-five utilities will commit to sharing real-time power outage data with the Outage Data Initiative Nationwide. The move to make the data public is meant to help identify vulnerable areas of the country that could benefit from electrification. With the new commitments, ODIN will now include 100 utilities across 45 states and Puerto Rico, covering more than 43 million customers.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will announce a funding opportunity aimed at helping industrial facilities increase the adoption of on-site green technologies, such as heat pumps and battery storage.
Energy’s Building Technologies Office will unveil the Home Electrification Prize, which will fund innovative solutions to retrofit homes in communities that have been historically overburdened by pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
That office will also announce a funding opportunity that will provide up to $45 million for the development and demonstration of technologies that can significantly advance building decarbonization.
“We want to get the word out about the tremendous benefits of electrification,” Sally Benson, deputy director for energy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told The Climate 202, adding that the new initiatives are part of a larger plan to accelerate implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Granholm, OSTP Director Arati Prabhakar and White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi are expected to deliver remarks at the summit, along with Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Reps. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Sean Casten (D-Ill.).
Schumer tees up vote on Manchin’s permitting amendment to NDAA
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday said the Senate will vote on the controversial bill from Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) that would speed up the approval process for new energy projects as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, Rachel Frazin reports for the Hill.
However, it appears unlikely that Manchin’s amendment will garner the 60 votes needed for approval because it faces steep opposition from Senate Republicans, even though conservatives have long called for streamlining the permitting process for energy infrastructure.
Lawmakers have twice shot down Manchin’s permitting bill since September, most recently when the House decided not to include the legislation in the defense bill because of concerns from liberal Democrats. Earlier this year, Schumer promised to support Manchin’s energy streamlining efforts in exchange for his vote for the sweeping climate law known as the Inflation Reduction Act.
“I struggle to understand how any of my colleagues could in good [conscience] consider voting against bipartisan, comprehensive energy permitting reform that benefits all types of energy,” Manchin said in a statement Tuesday.
European Union policymakers reached a deal Tuesday to impose a border tax on imports of highly polluting products, such as steel and aluminum, from nations that do not take bold action to slash planet-warming emissions, The Washington Post’s Michael Birnbaum reports.
The agreement, which still needs final approval, would place more pressure on China, the world’s biggest annual polluter, to limit its emissions. The mechanism, known as a carbon border adjustment, is also meant to help E.U. companies compete with businesses in countries with lax environmental rules.
The deal comes after European officials have expressed frustration that President Biden’s signature climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, provides tax credits for electric vehicles made in North America, giving them an advantage over European ones.
Policymakers involved in the discussions said they are confident that the European Parliament and the 27 European member states will sign off on the agreement, with final approval expected by early next year.
In recent decades, global warming has brought wetter, warmer and stormier weather to the Arctic region, causing severe effects on sea ice, wildlife and local communities, according to an annual federal assessment of the region released Tuesday, Kasha Patel reports for The Post.
The assessment, known as the Arctic Report Card, found that the past seven years in the Arctic have been the region’s hottest seven years on record since 1900. The high temperatures are not only shortening the length of the snow season, but also causing an uptick in wildfires and heavy rain.
For the first time, this year’s report also included observations from Indigenous Alaskans, who described how sea ice loss has forced hunters to travel as far as 100 miles from their homes to find walruses during spring.
The surprising reasons parts of Earth are warming more slowly — Scott Dance, Niko Kommenda and Simon Ducroquet for The Post
The climate impact of your neighborhood, mapped — Nadja Popovich, Mira Rojanasakul and Brad Plumer for the New York Times
Giant methane leak tops list of worst U.S. climate disasters in 2022 — Aaron Clark for Bloomberg News
Meet Jahi Wise, EPA’s new rainmaker — Jean Chemnick and Avery Ellfeldt for E&E News
Our colleagues on The Post’s TikTok team took a stab at explaining the fusion energy breakthrough:
Today’s first @washingtonpost TikTok features a breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy https://t.co/ca1cZhZgnA pic.twitter.com/5jVSUSgTTh | 2022-12-14T13:45:55Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Diversity progress slows at environmental groups, survey finds - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/diversity-progress-slows-environmental-groups-survey-finds/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/diversity-progress-slows-environmental-groups-survey-finds/ |
Grant Wahl, journalist who died at World Cup, suffered aortic aneurysm, wife says
A tribute to journalist Grant Wahl is shown at the World Cup. Wahl, 48, collapsed and died while covering a match last week. (Graham Dunbar/AP)
The wife of prominent soccer journalist Grant Wahl said Wednesday that the writer’s death last week while covering the World Cup was caused by an aortic aneurysm.
She ruled out anything suspicious about his death.
“It’s just one of those things that had been likely brewing for years,” Wahl’s wife, Céline Gounder, said during an appearance on “CBS Mornings.”
Wahl, 48, collapsed in his seat Friday while covering the quarterfinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands in Lusail, Qatar. Paramedics, called by other reporters to the scene, attended to him for several minutes.
The U.S. State Department helped to quickly repatriate the body, and the autopsy was performed in the United States.
Wahl had been critical of the Qatari government for its treatment of migrant workers during the construction of stadiums for the tournament. He had also arrived at a stadium earlier in the tournament wearing a rainbow soccer ball T-shirt, in protest of the criminalization of homosexuality in Qatar. He was detained by security and forced to remove the shirt, he wrote in his Substack newsletter.
After Wahl died, his brother, Eric, posted a video to Instagram in which he said Wahl had faced death threats for his coverage and that he believed Wahl had been killed in retaliation.
Eric Wahl posted on Twitter on Tuesday that he no longer suspected foul play in his brother’s death.
Wahl is one of two journalists to die covering this World Cup. The Doha-based Gulf Times reported that photojournalist Khalid al-Misslam recently died. The newspaper did not disclose a cause of death beyond saying al-Misslam died “suddenly.”
Wahl spent more than two decades covering American and global soccer for Sports Illustrated and was one of the most prominent journalists covering the sport in the United States. He had recently started his Substack and was covering his eighth men’s World Cup. He wrote last week about struggling with his health and seeking medical treatment for chest pain. | 2022-12-14T13:46:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Grant Wahl, journalist who died at World Cup, suffered aortic aneurysm, wife says - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/14/grant-wahl-cause-of-death/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/14/grant-wahl-cause-of-death/ |
Ukrainian prisoners of war pose for a picture after a swap, in this picture released by the head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andriy Yermak, on Dec. 14, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters)
Murekezi was taken by pro-Russian forces in the southern city of Kherson in early June, according to his brother Sele Murekezi, who added that he had been falsely accused of taking part in pro-Ukrainian protests. He said that when the pair spoke in July, Suedi Murekezi mentioned that he was being held in the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, alongside two other American nationals.
Born in Rwanda, Suedi Murekezi came to the United States as a teenager and went on to spent eight years in the Air Force, according to his brother. He later moved to Ukraine in 2018 and was based in Kherson — the first major city to fall to Russian forces following the Feb. 24 invasion, and which was recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces. | 2022-12-14T13:46:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Suedi Murekezi, U.S. veteran, freed in Ukraine-Russia prisoner swap - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/14/suedi-murekezi-russia-ukraine-prisoner-swap/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/14/suedi-murekezi-russia-ukraine-prisoner-swap/ |
6 PROJECT HAIL MARY (Ballantine, $20). By Andy Weir. The lone survivor on a spaceship must figure out how to save the earth from destruction.
10 THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2022 (Mariner, $17.99). By Andrew Sean Greer, Heidi Pitlor (Eds.). A collection of short stories curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Andrew Sean Greer.
8 THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS (Algonquin, $17.99). By Ross Gay. Essays about finding joy written by a poet over the course of a year.
10 A CARNIVAL OF SNACKERY (Back Bay, $18.99). By David Sedaris. The popular humorist shares diary entries from the past two decades. | 2022-12-14T14:28:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Washington Post paperback bestsellers - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/washington-post-paperback-bestsellers/2022/12/13/6e1d6bd0-7b0f-11ed-b40d-e2028f9df9b0_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/washington-post-paperback-bestsellers/2022/12/13/6e1d6bd0-7b0f-11ed-b40d-e2028f9df9b0_story.html |
Ask Jules: Co-workers make snide comments about my social media presence
Hi Jules: How do I set a boundary at work that my social media isn’t a topic for discussion? I’ve built a small following and have been receiving a bit of PR. My co-workers like to bring it up and lately have been making snide remarks about it.
— M.
M.: You effectively set boundaries by being crystal clear: “I want to maintain a separation between work and social media.” You don’t need to further explain yourself; just use concise messaging that shows you’re unapologetic about drawing that line.
The co-workers making snide comments seem to be uncomfortable with how you’re expressing yourself on social media and in turn are trying to make you feel inferior. Instead of matching their energy, avoid engaging with their negativity and focus on your own tasks and goals. Even if your co-workers try to excuse their snide comments by suggesting you’re cringeworthy or embarrassing, it’s important to remember they’re still interested enough to spend their precious time watching your content and commenting on it.
Avoid getting defensive or engaging in back-and-forth dialogue about the topic. They want to provoke a negative reaction out of you, so instead, simple and neutral responses will show that you’re unbothered and unimpressed by their comments. “Yeah.” “Nice.” Or silence.
In a similar situation, I’ve actually removed from my followers lists people who insisted on continuously expressing negative judgment. Being given insight into your life is a privilege, and you can easily boot them out if they’re not respectful of your boundaries.
You have every right to set boundaries with your colleagues — even the ones who are supportive. Just use the same approach with lighter messaging: “I want to keep that outside of work, but I really appreciate your interest and support.” This will show that you value your colleagues but that you also value your own privacy and autonomy.
If co-workers continue to cross your boundaries, you may need to take additional steps to enforce them. This could be talking to a supervisor or HR representative. I would consider this to be a last resort though, as it could inadvertently open the door for your supervisor or HR representative to also pay more attention to that part of your life.
Overall, don’t complicate things. Say what you mean and keep it moving. | 2022-12-14T15:16:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ask Jules: Co-workers make snide comments about my social media presence - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/12/14/ask-jules-coworkers-social-media-comments/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/12/14/ask-jules-coworkers-social-media-comments/ |
D.C. is a step closer to changing its school funding model
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson has proposed changing the funding formula for D.C. schools. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)
D.C.’s public school system could soon have a funding model requiring that campuses to get at least as much money as they did the year before — an effort D.C. Council members say will bring stability to a budget process in which some schools lose funding each year.
The effort, introduced by council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), passed its first vote last week. But some education advocates worry that the measure will deepen existing inequities in the school system of 50,000 students.
The system’s chancellor and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) have criticized the measure, which, in addition to overhauling the school-budget model, would repeal a city law that outlines how money reserved for the district’s most vulnerable students should be used. Some experts also warn that it could introduce budgeting challenges for the system as enrollment continues to fluctuate.
“The chairman is right in wanting stability, but I think there was a missed opportunity to do more engagement with [D.C. Public Schools], the executive, the community,” said Qubilah Huddleston, a senior policy analyst at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute. “Ultimately, students suffer the most from this type of policymaking.”
D.C. uses a per-pupil funding model to determine school budgets, allocating money to each school according to the number of students enrolled. Every student enrolled is allocated the same base funding, whether the student is in a traditional public school or charter school.
The city also directs additional money toward students who are considered “at risk” for academic failure: those who are homeless or in foster care, whose families qualify for food stamps, or who are in high school and have been held back at least one year. The council this year moved to include even more money in the budget for schools serving populations with high concentrations of poverty.
But each year, schools can face cuts because of fluctuating enrollment, staffing changes, inflation and other factors. And, many of the district’s calculations are unclear to the public. At Hardy Middle School in Northwest Washington, for example, enrollment grew, but three teaching positions were cut, parents said earlier this year.
Parents at the school “had to fight to meet with DCPS leadership, consult with education advocates and undertake their own budget analysis just to try to disentangle how their children’s school budget was determined,” council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), said during a hearing. Advocates said that the school’s budget had increased but that the extra funding was restricted to special education.
The new funding model will “put an end to the annual budget turmoil,” Mendelson said. School budgets will be calculated starting with the current year’s allocation and then be adjusted for inflation and other rising costs. Officials are allowed to reduce a school’s budget only under certain circumstances, such as an enrollment decline that is so large in a single grade that the school can eliminate a classroom teacher.
The proposal also seeks to bring more transparency to the school system’s budgeting process — which city leaders and education advocates have described as opaque and convoluted — by requiring officials to publicize the calculations they use. Under Mendelson’s plan, parents at Hardy would be able to see exactly how their school’s budget was created.
But there is skepticism about the legislation. Schools Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee said school leaders — who are ultimately going to implement the budget model — were not “engaged” regarding the changes. And, he added, the district is already well into its budget process, and introducing a new model at this stage could compromise DCPS’s ability to finish on time.
Some education advocates oppose the measure because it repeals a law requiring that DCPS allocate directly to schools at least 90 percent of money budgeted for at-risk students. That money, provided to campuses in addition to the base per-pupil funding, must be used to pay for services or staffers directly tied to helping vulnerable students, such as extra mental health workers or additional reading coaches. The remaining 10 percent of money for at-risk students can be used elsewhere in the school system’s overall budget, including at the central office.
That law has not been enforced, however, said budget experts. Numerous investigations and reports have determined that the city often misspends money designated for at-risk students, using it to meet regular expenses and staffing needs that the per-pupil funding should cover. In some instances, this happens because schools with high concentrations of at-risk students are under-enrolled and therefore more expensive to operate. These schools’ budgets do not stretch as far as the budgets for larger schools, so principals end up spending the restricted money on basic staffing that other schools can cover with their baseline budgets.
More money would go to D.C.’s at-risk students under council proposal
Because the new funding model requires that schools get at least as much money next year as they did this year, it essentially locks this year’s budgets in place without correcting existing errors, experts said. “These are budgets that, over years, have been impacted by decisions that were inequitable,” Huddleston said. “So we are baking in existing disparities, existing inequities.”
Mendelson said, however, that the public school system and the city’s budget office say 90 percent of funding for at-risk students is, in fact, going to schools. But to quell skepticism of the plan, he is considering amending the legislation ahead of a second vote on Dec. 20 to keep the law intact.
The chairman also is working with council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) on a separate provision that could spell out requirements for schools to make clear how they use money received for at-risk students.
But the concerns do not end there. Yesim Sayin, the founding executive director of the D.C. Policy Center, said the new model could impair schools’ ability to adjust their budgets when they lose students.
“Our main funding model is that money follows students,” Sayin said. If a school loses students — but not enough in a single grade to eliminate a classroom teacher, for example — DCPS would have to figure out how to provide that school with the lost per-pupil funding.
Ferebee said officials may have to tap into other funding. “I think there’s some critical services that we provide centrally that could be at risk that, ultimately, schools would then be responsible for,” such as food services and curriculum development, he said.
Mendelson, referring to a statement from the city’s chief financial officer, said the new model would not put the school system under fiscal pressure.
Council members are to vote again Dec. 20. If the measure is approved a second time, it will go to the mayor for consideration. | 2022-12-14T15:17:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. is a step closer to changing its school funding model - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/12/14/dc-schools-budget-funding-mendelson/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/12/14/dc-schools-budget-funding-mendelson/ |
“Curtis proudly wore the Court Services Officer uniform and honorably served the people of Alaska for 13 years,” Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner James Cockrell said in the news release. “He was a proud member of the Nome community and a dedicated member of the Alaska law enforcement family.”
Known as stocky, long-haired animals with shoulder humps and horns that can weigh up to 800 pounds, muskoxen are slow-moving grazers in the Arctic that are not normally aggressive, according to the National Park Service. But they are still wild animals and can pose significant threat to humans and dogs, the agency says.
“Keep your dogs under control if a muskox is near,” the National Park Service said in a news release. “An agitated muskox can easily injure or kill a dog, so make sure your dogs are on a leash or in a pen if muskoxen are around.”
“If you are charged by a muskox, RUN,” the agency said. “Never stand your ground against a charging muskox.”
Worland, who provided prisoner transport services, courthouse security and court document service for the Alaska State Troopers since 2009, “will be sorely missed by the DPS family,” the agency said in a news release mourning his death.
“I hope that Alaskans will keep Curtis’ family, friends, loved ones, and the Alaska State Troopers in your thoughts as we process this tragic loss for our state,” said the Alaska Department of Public Safety. | 2022-12-14T15:17:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Muskox kills Alaska officer Curtis Worland as he protected dogs outside home - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/alaska-officer-muskox-worland-killed/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/alaska-officer-muskox-worland-killed/ |
Pelosi’s blunt talk about abortion rights skewers U.S. bishops
Nancy Pelosi speaks on the Right to Contraception Act in July. (Michael Reynolds/EPA-EFE)
Ask House Speaker Nancy Pelosi how she feels about the fall of Roe v. Wade, and she will caution “usually I like to talk about what I’m thinking, but on this it is a feeling thing.” Her eyes widen, and she brings a fist to her heart. “I get really emotionally angry about this in a different way than I would disagree on other issues,” she continues. “This is none of anybody’s business. It’s a woman’s right to make her own choices with her family, her God, her doctor.”
Sitting in the historic Board of Education room at the Capitol where Speaker Sam Rayburn once held court and where then-vice president Harry S. Truman learned that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died, Pelosi displays more emotion about the abortion issue than almost every other topic: “If there’s one issue that is about disrespect, about turning back the clock on women and their opportunities in life and the rest, it’s this issue."
She pulls no punches when it comes to the Catholic Church, specifically the American bishops who have for decades fought abortion tooth and nail. “They all have decided when life begins,” she says, but observes that the Catholic Church had debated this issue for centuries. “It’s a women’s rights issue in addition to a women’s health issue,” she insists. “We have to prevail.” She also decries the church’s position on in vitro fertilization. “In vitro fertilization, you’d think they would embrace that, right? That, I don’t get,” she says.
This issue, pro-choice advocates have long insisted, is not about “life.” After all, only eight Republicans voted for a House measure to preserve the right to contraception. She stresses that “this is a fight about women in every way, in every way.”
She recalls with a measure of pride her role as leader of the platform committee at the 1992 Democratic convention. Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey, former California governor Jerry Brown and others wanted to insert a pro-life plank. “And people came pushing strollers, scapulars, rosaries,” she says. But there was no second to a motion to discuss the plank, so Pelosi gaveled the boisterous crowd out of order.
Tangling with the U.S. bishops, who are more conservative than the Vatican on some issues, is nothing new for her. Earlier this year they wanted to deny her Communion. She went to the Holy See, was warmly embraced by Pope Francis and received Communion.
In an MSNBC interview at the time, Pelosi declared: “We just have to be prayerful, we have to be respectful. I come from a largely pro-life Italian American Catholic family, so I respect people’s views about that, but I don’t respect us foisting it onto others.” She added, “Now our archbishop has been vehemently against LGBTQ rights. … He led the way in …an initiative on the ballot in California. So this decision [Dobbs] … is very dangerous in the lives of so many of the American people.” She rebuked the U.S. bishops then as “not consistent with the Gospel of Matthew.”
This summer, when the Dobbs decision came down, the pro-choice forces were “so ready,” she asserts. The grass roots mobilized. They refined the message. And they raised money. As a result, she argues, abortion became a critical election issue. “Abortion was on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot,” she says.
As she exits the speakership, Pelosi remains very much the same woman who in 2015, when discussing her opposition to an antiabortion measure, reasserted her standing as a mother of five. She noted then that when a GOP House member accused her of acting as if she knew more about abortion than the popes, she responded that she certainly did.
In June, when quizzed about her disagreement with the church over abortion, she declared: “Let me just say this, a woman has the right to choose, to live up to her responsibility. It’s up to her, her doctor, her family, her husband, her significant other and her God.” She added, “This politicizing all of this, I think it’s something uniquely American and not right. Other countries — Ireland, Italy, Mexico — have had legislative initiatives to expand a woman’s right to choose — very Catholic countries.”
Pelosi’s speakership and tenure in Congress will be remembered for many things — her stance on human rights and China, passage and defense of the Affordable Care Act, repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and a slew of economic measures under President Biden. But she has also become known as a high-profile Catholic mother willing to tangle with her own church in defense of American women. Don’t expect her to let up anytime soon.
Opinions on abortion
Opinion|Seven personal stories about abortion
Opinion|Where the pro-life movement goes from here
Opinion|Abortion rights won big. Here’s what to do next. | 2022-12-14T15:17:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Nancy Pelosi is candid on abortion — and skewers Catholic U.S. bishops - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/nancy-pelosi-abortion-politicians-bishops/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/nancy-pelosi-abortion-politicians-bishops/ |
Woman charged with murder in Va. after child dies of fentanyl overdose
A woman was arrested Tuesday in Virginia after her infant died as a result of ingesting fentanyl earlier this year, authorities said Wednesday.
On June 23 at around 3 a.m., officers responded to an apartment in the 14700 block of Soapstone Drive in Gainesville for the report of an unconscious 20-month-old child, Prince William County police said in a statement. According to the statement, Tiffany Nicole Stokes was sleeping next to her 20-month-old child when she woke to find him unconscious. The child was transported to a hospital where he died
After an autopsy in August showed the child died with a lethal amount of fentanyl in his blood, according to the statement, Stokes was found in possession of a pill that was later determined to contain oxycodone and acetaminophen, which she was not prescribed.
Police said they believe that the child, whose name was not released, ingested illicit fentanyl at some point between the evening of June 22 and the early morning of June 23. Stokes used unprescribed pills believed to be Percocet around the time of the victim’s death, according to police.
Stokes was arrested Tuesday and charged with felony homicide, felony child neglect and drug possession, police said. | 2022-12-14T15:38:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Woman charged with murder in Va. after child dies of fentanyl overdose - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/14/baby-death-fentanyl-drugs-virginia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/14/baby-death-fentanyl-drugs-virginia/ |
Former Maryland Coach Lefty Driesell acknowledges the crowd during a game in 2016. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Assuming the California Board of Regents doesn’t vote to block UCLA’s planned defection to the Big Ten, matchups like Wednesday’s men’s basketball showdown between UCLA and Maryland could soon become commonplace. The nonconference meeting between top 20 foes is the teams’ first in College Park since 1982, when the Terrapins upset the No. 3 Bruins before a sold-out crowd at Cole Field House.
Thirteen years earlier, Lefty Driesell made a famous comment at his introductory news conference about his lofty aspirations for Maryland that would forever link the two programs. For better or worse, no one let him forget it.
“I feel Maryland has the potential to be the UCLA of the East Coast or I wouldn’t be here,” Driesell, who was coming off back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight with Davidson, told reporters on March 19, 1969. “I’m leaving a team I feel could have won the national title next year. But here I think we can win it more than one year.”
Three days later, John Wooden’s Bruins won their fifth title in six years.
Maryland won the NIT in Driesell’s third season. The next year, with the Terps 20-5 heading into the ACC tournament, Driesell had a message for those who questioned why his team hadn’t accomplished more.
“We’re doing the best we can but it took John Wooden something like 15 years to get a national champion,” Driesell told reporters. “It takes time to build up tradition. If people think we thought we were going to do it quickly, they were kidding themselves.”
Driesell acknowledged that he had invited criticism and created unrealistic expectations with “the ‘UCLA of the East thing.’”
“I really never said that I would make Maryland the UCLA of the East,” he said. “I said that Maryland should become the UCLA of the East. Someday I think this school will be the UCLA of the East, even if I’m not here. But you can’t expect too much too soon.”
In 2013, Driesell said he didn’t even come up with the quote, which would follow him throughout his career. He claimed it came from Jay McMillen, who starred at Maryland 1964-67. McMillen’s younger brother, Tom, the nation’s top high school basketball recruit, would commit to Maryland over North Carolina in 1970. During his 2018 induction speech at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Driesell joked that he was “kind of drunk or something” when he said it. “But we were pretty good,” Driesell added.
Driesell and Maryland got their first crack at UCLA on Dec. 1, 1973 at Pauley Pavilion.
“If we could beat UCLA, the fanfare and publicity would be far greater for us than if we won the national championship,” Driesell told reporters ahead of the matchup. “I’ve told the team that if we win this game, people will remember us a lot more than if we win a national championship. I just figure you don’t get an opportunity like this too much in your life to stop a winning streak like they have.”
Top-ranked UCLA increased its winning streak to 76 games with a rout of Arkansas the day before it faced Maryland. The Terrapins gave the Bruins all they could handle, but a turnover by John Lucas in the final seconds preserved UCLA’s 65-64 win. A photo of Len Elmore defending Bill Walton was featured on the cover of “Sports Illustrated” the following week.
“I thought we played as well as any team I’ve ever coached,” Driesell said. “I’m not happy but I don’t feel that bad right now.”
Both teams were ranked in the top five when UCLA came to College Park for the Maryland Invitational the next year. UCLA’s Dave Meyers scored a career-high 32 points and Marques Johnson scored 11 of the Bruins’ final 15 points against a three-guard Maryland offense in an 81-75 win.
“While UCLA went about everything in a very businesslike manner, the Maryland players appeared ready to crash through the nearest wall before the game began,” The Post’s Paul Attner wrote.
“I could sense that they were more worked up than we were,” Meyers said. “They were trying to beat a tradition. All we wanted was to win a game.”
It would be six years before UCLA and Maryland scheduled another home and home series. In December 1981, the Bruins routed the Terps, 90-57, at Pauley Pavilion. Driesell and the Terps would get their revenge — in double-overtime — on Dec. 23, 1982.
Ben Coleman scored 27 points and Adrian Branch added 26 in Maryland’s 80-79 win in College Park. Freshman Len Bias started for the Terps, but missed all five of his field goal attempts.
After a lengthy ban, the 'Hey' song is back at Maryland sporting events
“When a guy whups you the first time, you want to whup him the second time,” Driesell said afterward.
“After two overtimes and years of frustration for Lefty Driesell, Maryland finally has beaten UCLA,” ESPN’s play-by-play man, who referenced Driesell’s “resounding boast” upon being hired, said after the final horn sounded.
It didn’t make the next day’s paper, but Chaminade shocked Ralph Sampson and No. 1 Virginia in Honolulu later that night.
Maryland and UCLA have played four times at neutral sites since their last game in College Park. UCLA defeated Maryland in the Wooden Classic in Anaheim in 1995, and Maryland downed UCLA in the Puerto Rico Shootout three years later. The Bruins stomped the Terps, 105-70, in the second round of the 2000 NCAA tournament. Their most recent meeting was in 2007, when Kevin Love’s double-double led UCLA to a 71-59 win in the semifinals of the CBE Classic. | 2022-12-14T16:30:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Maryland welcomes UCLA to College Park for first time in 40 years - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/14/maryland-ucla-big-ten-basketball/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/14/maryland-ucla-big-ten-basketball/ |
Fusion power is tantalizing, but it won’t save the planet
Researchers at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory last weekend achieved something that had never been done before: They got a fusion reaction to produce more energy than was in the laser beams that went into sparking it. “Ignition allows us to replicate for the first time certain conditions that are found only in the stars and the sun,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm declared at the formal announcement Tuesday, hailing it as a milestone that “moves us one significant step closer to the possibility of zero-carbon abundant fusion energy powering our society.”
The potential benefits stemming from what Ms. Granholm called “one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century” are indeed tantalizing. Fusion can power a large city with a tiny amount of fuel. Unlike fission, in which atoms are split in conventional nuclear reactors, fusion leaves almost no toxic byproducts and poses no meltdown risk. Unlike solar and wind power, it produces electricity at a regular and predictable rate. And fusion’s fuel — hydrogen — is the most common element in the universe.
But the National Ignition Facility’s achievement, while a scientific coup, does not mean that a fusion-powered utopia is around the corner. Rather, history suggests that fusion power is unlikely to play a major role in the energy grid for years or decades — time that the planet does not have in the climate change fight. Other, less exotic sources of clean energy that are immediately scalable remain the most plausible options. Humanity must continue to invest in them, and urgently.
Fusion reactors work — in theory, anyway — by superheating hydrogen. Under the right conditions, atoms fuse together to create helium and, in the process, lose a bit of mass. That mass gets translated into huge amounts of energy, according to Albert Einstein’s famous equation, e = mc^2. But getting hydrogen hot enough requires vast amounts of energy. Scientists have for decades tried to produce a fusion reaction that puts out more energy than is put in. Repeated bouts of optimism and investment, particularly during the 1970s and 1980s, produced disappointing results.
Until now. At the National Ignition Facility, researchers used the world’s largest laser to point 192 laser beams at a pea-size hydrogen pellet and — finally, according to the Energy Department — produced 3.15 megajoules of energy from 2.05 megajoules of laser energy. (A joule is a unit of energy; it takes 1 joule to lift a 3.5-ounce apple one yard. A megajoule is 1 million joules.) This is a big step for researchers seeking to learn more about the dynamics of fusion reactions.
However, that 2.05 megajoule input did not represent all the energy that went into the ignition process — just the amount that inefficient lasers managed to get to the hydrogen pellet. It took far more energy in total — on the scale of 300 megajoules — to produce that 3.15 megajoule result. Scientists can improve the picture by using better lasers, but there is always likely to be substantial energy loss that would require a much more robust fusion reaction to make up.
Harnessing electricity from the energy produced in a fusion reaction is another challenge, points out Princeton University’s Wilson Ricks. As in conventional power plants, much of the heat produced will dissipate uselessly rather than transfer to the water that turns into steam to drive a turbine. This means an economical fusion reactor would have to create a lot more energy to produce enough electricity to justify the energy cost of ignition.
There are other potential fusion power options that do not rely on enormous lasers. Using a different approach, a multinational group is building a giant, doughnut-shaped reactor in southern France that might produce a sustainable fusion reaction by 2035. Others promise more progress sooner. Yet, as with the National Ignition Facility’s method, the theoretical science is simple and clear, but achieving real-world results could be much harder.
Once demonstration reactors work, fusion technology will face another barrier: economics. Fusion reactors will have to compete against traditional fission facilities and increasingly cheap renewables. In the long run, fusion’s many benefits will probably make the technology a big part of the global energy mix. But that point is not likely to come soon enough for fusion to play a leading role in replacing the fossil fuels driving climate change, a transition that scientists say should happen over the first half of this century.
The playbook for that transition — which is likely to rely on more familiar and increasingly inexpensive clean-energy sources — remains the same as it has been for decades. Governments should invest in new research, but remain technology-neutral as much as possible, providing incentives to deploy any zero-carbon energy source that can help at a competitive cost, immediately. That will likely result in accelerated investment in wind and solar farms along with facilities that store energy for times when nature does not cooperate. Power plants that can burn hydrogen — via traditional combustion, not nuclear fusion — or natural gas plants that sequester the emissions they emit might be necessary to back up these renewables. A renewables-heavy grid will require massive new high-capacity power lines to zip electricity from where the sun is shining and the wind is blowing to where people need it. Advanced fission reactors and machines that pull carbon dioxide directly out of the air might also help in the decarbonization effort.
While fusion physics advances, it is crucial that government and private investors not lose sight of the pressing challenge that humanity faces now. Though the costs of wind and solar have plummeted, it is not guaranteed that governments will enable the massive build-out of new infrastructure the world will need, that the transition to zero-emission cars will go smoothly, or that hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as agriculture, aviation and shipping will be able to cut emissions in time. So, people should celebrate the long-awaited marvel of a breakthrough with fusion — and then get back to work.
Opinion|The complex commitments to funding climate liabilities | 2022-12-14T16:39:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | A fusion power breakthrough probably won't solve climate change - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/fusion-power-climate-energy-renewables/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/fusion-power-climate-energy-renewables/ |
Turkish court sentences Erdogan rival to prison for insulting officials
By Kareem Fahim
Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, in 2019. (Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)
ISTANBUL — A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced Istanbul’s popular mayor, a political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to more than two years in prison on the charge of “insulting public figures,” a verdict that underscored concerns that opposition figures will be prevented from fairly competing in upcoming elections.
The mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, will remain in office while the sentence is appealed to higher courts, his party said. If confirmed on appeal, his conviction would also result in Imamoglu being barred from seeking public office.
Recent polls have shown that Imamoglu is among a small group of opposition figures who could defeat Erdogan in a consequential presidential election in June. Erdogan’s popularity has been dented by his management of the economy, which has suffered from skyrocketing inflation, rising unemployment and the collapse of the local currency.
As Turkey’s economy suffers, Erdogan’s opponents step up efforts to unseat him
Imamoglu, 52, a member of the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, rose to prominence in 2019 after defeating a candidate from Erdogan’s ruling party in the race for mayor of Istanbul — a political thunderbolt that handed the opposition control of Turkey’s largest city for the first time in decades.
Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or AKP, challenged the initial vote, which was overturned by the state election council. Imamoglu, though, handily won the revote, a stunning defeat for the president that cemented the mayor’s stature as a figure who threatened the AKP’s dominance. The mayor has not declared his candidacy for the upcoming elections, which are also being held for parliament.
Opposition’s win in Istanbul’s do-over race for mayor hands Erdogan a decisive defeat
The charges stem from comments Imamoglu made about his election, apparently in response to a remark by Turkey’s interior minister, who called Imamoglu a “fool.” In response, Imamoglu said those “who canceled the March 31 elections are the fools,” in what prosecutors subsequently claimed was an insult directed at the state election board.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of four years in prison. The president’s critics have called Imamoglu’s prosecution a barely disguised attempt to prevent him from running next year. The government has repeatedly insisted that Turkey’s courts act independently. | 2022-12-14T17:40:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Erdogan rival Ekrem Imamoglu sentenced to prison in Turkey for insulting officials - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/14/turkey-erdogan-ekrem-imamoglu/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/14/turkey-erdogan-ekrem-imamoglu/ |
Alex Ovechkin looks back at his rookie year with fondness, not only because it was his first shot in the NHL but also because of the players who welcomed him with open arms. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
When Brian Willsie saw his former roommate at Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre in October, it was almost as if no time had passed since the last time they had seen each other. There was laughter. There were jokes. Alex Ovechkin asked about Willsie’s life, and Willsie did the same.
Willsie spent 10 years in the NHL, including three with Washington, and was Ovechkin’s first roommate during the 2005-06 season. He saw the very start of Ovechkin’s milestone-studded career — when a gregarious, energetic 20-year-old took the league by storm with his fearless physicality and generational talent.
Willsie, who was looked at as Ovechkin’s “North American older brother,” is still watching Ovechkin from afar 17 years later and remains in awe of his former roommate as he chases Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record.
“He has such a commitment and enthusiasm about him,” Willsie said. “There is a relentless style of [playing like] he is just not going to be denied. If anybody said he can’t do it, then he was going to find a way to do it.”
Ovechkin scored his 800th goal Tuesday night in Chicago. He is two goals shy of passing Gordie Howe (801) for second on the NHL’s all-time list and 95 goals from breaking Gretzky’s record.
Willsie was there for the Russian’s first goal and knew from the start there was “something special” about the Capitals’ No. 1 draft pick in 2004. When Willsie looks at Ovechkin now, he still sees the excitement, passion and love for the game. But some things do change.
“He is not a little kid anymore,” Willsie said with a laugh. “He was always bigger than me, but now he is the man with a family, and he has got a lot of distractions. Everyone probably asks him about [the goals record] every day, but over the years just to stay focused and do what he does all the time is another credit to him, and to have that singular goal is pretty cool.”
Former Capitals coach Glen Hanlon matched the pair up, casually asking Willsie one day at practice. Ovechkin wanted a North American roommate so his English could improve as quickly as possible, and Hanlon thought Willsie would be an ideal candidate for the job. Willsie thought the same.
“I thought it would be pretty cool,” Willsie said. “I came from Colorado, where there were superstars like Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Patrick Roy. I had kind of seen that and been around that. So to come in there and see a budding superstar happen, it was neat. We were buddies, but at the same time, he always had a million questions about just routines on the roads and dinner and travel.”
Willsie was there to show Ovechkin how to be an NHLer, how to enjoy himself on the road and how to make the most of his budding career.
“I will never forget what he did for me my first year, and that experience that I have will stay with me forever,” Ovechkin said.
Svrluga: No one plays hockey like Alex Ovechkin
One of Willsie’s most important jobs on the road? Helping Ovechkin find the nearest Starbucks on game days. Ovechkin doesn’t drink a lot of coffee now, but at the time, he was obsessed with mochas, Willsie recalled.
(Ovechkin was quick to clarify: “White chocolate mochas.”)
Ovechkin’s sweet tooth was also evident after dinners on the road. When players returned to their hotel rooms for the night, they would often order dessert, such as cookies or ice cream. Willsie was usually in charge of ordering for the pair. One night, Willsie made Ovechkin pick up the phone.
“He was always uncomfortable about his English back then, and I said, ‘It is your turn to order dessert,’ and he said, ‘No, it is not,’ and then it was sort of a staring contest after 10 or 20 minutes,” Willsie said. “He really, really wanted it, and so he eventually did, and he was … not happy that I didn’t do it, but he got through it.”
From 2018: Alex Ovechkin, on the verge of 1,000th NHL game, looks back at his first 82
The highlights of Ovechkin’s rookie year were plentiful — and Willsie witnessed them all. One stretch of road games in mid-January will always stick out — and not just for Willsie but for other former teammates, including Brian Sutherby and Jeff Halpern.
The Capitals’ annual rookie dinner party came during their road swing through Dallas, Anaheim and Phoenix. Ovechkin had scored the Capitals’ lone goal in a loss to Dallas and all three goals, including the overtime winner, in a victory over Anaheim. Then the team set off to Phoenix for its next game — and the rookie dinner party.
At dinner, there was buzz about defenseman Brendan Witt. His time with Washington was nearing its end, but his teammates encouraged him to sign another contract. Soon, a “One more year!” chant broke out.
Fast-forward to the Phoenix game, a Capitals win in which Ovechkin scored a showstopping, highlight-reel goal on his back that became an instant classic. In the celebration that ensued, Ovechkin started to yell in the pile on the ice.
“One more year!” he shouted. “One more year!”
From 2016: A decade later, players remember ‘The Goal’
“I thought that was so cool,” Halpern said. “One of the most iconic goals of his career, and it showed what kind of fun and energetic personality he had and how much he just loved the guys on the team.”
Said Willsie: “That week was Alex. He was so excited both being around the team and basically single-handedly willing us to two wins. That road trip encapsulates him.”
Ovechkin looks back at his rookie year with fondness, not only because it was his first shot in the NHL but also because of the players who welcomed him with open arms. One of his first group outings came a week or two before training camp in 2005, when some players set out on a fishing charter boat for the day. It was Ovechkin’s first time fishing, and Sutherby, now a scout for Washington, remembers he was like a “kid in a candy store.”
“He showed up in skintight, super-tight jean shorts that were cutoffs,” Sutherby said. “And we are talking early 2000s, so I think they are back in style now, but they were certainly not then. … He was just willing to do anything to be a part of the group.”
From the start, Ovechkin had infectious energy, and he let his personality shine. But not everything went smoothly. Ovechkin’s recklessly physical style had consequences, and he often returned to the team hotel with various ailments. But he wouldn’t complain.
Svrluga, from 2021: Ovechkin is still improving, and teammates have ‘never seen anything like it’
“[I was] watching him play through bumps and bruises and knowing that if he didn’t play those games then we were in trouble,” Willsie said. “He didn’t want to let his group down, and I think we all have that in us, but to watch him do that the first year and every year is something that I took from him. Even if you are not 100 percent, you learn your team needs you, and there are some things you can play through.”
Years later, that mentality has Ovechkin in position to chase down Gretzky, playing through ailments while scoring goals with the same enthusiasm with which he scored his first — and his second, third, fourth and every goal after that.
“There is nothing,” Willsie said, “that can hold him back.” | 2022-12-14T17:49:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | As Alex Ovechkin chases Wayne Gretzky, Brian Willsie watches in awe - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/14/alex-ovechkin-first-roommate-capitals/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/14/alex-ovechkin-first-roommate-capitals/ |
The NFL held a training and networking summit for minority general manager candidates. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)
“We feel great about May,” Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, said. “… We thought it went really well. We need to make sure that it’s a continual thing. It can’t be a one-off, right? So what we wanted to do is take advantage of specific times that we’re able to bring folks back. It has a very similar focus. But we do want the curriculum to be different. … The other piece is really understanding other areas of the NFL outside of what your particular responsibilities are in. But most importantly it’s about networking, networking, networking.”
This week’s program included 32 minority general manager candidates from 28 teams and the league office, according to the NFL. The participants could interact with owners at a reception Tuesday evening. Collins Dobbs, a lecturer in management and an executive coach at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, addressed the group earlier Tuesday.
“I think the number one thing is obviously networking,” Eric Stokes, the Washington Commanders’ senior director of player personnel, said. “Any time you have an opportunity to expand your network, that’s a plus, whether that’s an opportunity to meet an owner, whether that’s meeting with a top-level executive or even just meeting with your peers. There are some at the program, men and women on both fronts, that I didn’t know, who I know now. It’s important to develop those rapports and expand your network. And then the other part is the professional development and opportunity to learn.”
Stokes said that he also would participate in a mock interview Wednesday.
The upcoming hiring cycle will commence with the NFL and teams facing a racial discrimination lawsuit by Brian Flores, the former head coach of the Miami Dolphins who’s now a Pittsburgh Steelers assistant, and two other Black coaches. Last offseason, NFL teams collectively hired 10 new head coaches. Two Black head coaches were hired, Lovie Smith by the Houston Texans and Todd Bowles by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Dolphins hired Mike McDaniel, who is biracial. | 2022-12-14T17:49:01Z | www.washingtonpost.com | NFL holds second networking summit for minority GM candidates - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/14/nfl-minority-gm-accelerator/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/14/nfl-minority-gm-accelerator/ |
A marble bust of Chief Justice Roger Taney is displayed in the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the U.S. Capitol in Washington on March 9, 2020. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
The House on Wednesday is slated to vote on a bill that would remove a bust at the U.S. Capitol of Roger B. Taney, the former Supreme Court chief justice who authored the majority opinion protecting slavery in Dred Scott v. Sandford.
People of African descent, Taney wrote then, “had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” A Black person, Taney added, “might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.”
Taney’s opinion, which also stated that Congress could not prohibit slavery from U.S. territories, came to be viewed as one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in history. A bust of Taney’s likeness sits outside the old Supreme Court Chamber on the first floor of the Capitol.
If approved, the bill would direct the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library to remove Taney’s bust not more than 45 days after the bill is signed into law. The bill would also direct the committee to replace Taney’s bust with one of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice.
The Senate passed the measure by voice vote last week. Upon House approval, the bill would head to President Biden for his signature.
“Taney’s authorship of Dred Scott … renders a bust of his likeness unsuitable for the honor of display to the many visitors to the Capitol,” the text of the bill states. “While the removal of [Taney’s] bust from the Capitol does not relieve the Congress of the historical wrongs it committed to protect the institution of slavery, it expresses Congress’s recognition of one of the most notorious wrongs to have ever taken place in one of its rooms …”
Legislation to remove Taney’s bust was first introduced by Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) in March 2020. (Taney, like Hoyer and Trone, was from Maryland.) That bill passed the House that year on a 305-to-113 vote but did not advance in the Senate, then controlled by Republicans.
Hoyer told reporters Tuesday that Taney’s interpretation of the Constitution is one that every American should reject.
“The good news is not only are we replacing the Taney statue, but we also provide for a bust of Chief Justice Marshall,” Hoyer said.
The vote to remove Taney’s likeness comes amid a push in recent years by Democrats to remove statues, portraits and other art in the Capitol honoring Confederate leaders and other controversial figures. The House voted last year to remove statues of Confederate leaders from the Capitol, and a statue of Taney was removed from the Maryland State House in 2017.
Upon reintroducing the bill last year, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) pointed to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, during which some supporters of then-President Donald Trump carried Confederate flags.
“There are still vestiges that remain in this sacred building that glorify people and a movement that embraced that flag and sought to divide and destroy our great country,” Clyburn said then. “This legislation will remove these commemorations from places of honor and demonstrate that as Americans we do not celebrate those who seek to divide us.”
Mariana Alfaro, Eugene Scott and John Wagner contributed to this report. | 2022-12-14T17:53:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | House to vote on removal of bust of Roger B. Taney, Supreme Court justice who authored Dred Scott decision - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/dred-scott-taney-bust-slavery/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/dred-scott-taney-bust-slavery/ |
The American, California State, and POW/MIA flags fly next to the California State Capitol building in Sacramento, California, U.S., on Thursday, March 30, 2017. California Governor Jerry Brown and legislative leaders proposed a plan to raise taxes and levy new fees to pay the bulk of $52.4 billion in transportation projects over 10 years. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)
The tech industry group Netchoice on Wednesday sued to block a landmark California law that requires tech companies to adopt new policies to protect children and their privacy online, in the latest legal salvo over the future of social media regulation.
Netchoice argues in its lawsuit that the law violates the First Amendment, arguing that tech companies have the right under the Constitution to make “editorial decisions” about what content they publish or remove. The industry group said that the law, which is set to go into effect in 2024, would force companies to “serve as roving censors of speech on the Internet” and result in “over-moderation” of content online.
California’s law is the latest battleground in state’s efforts to control the actions of tech companies after years of inaction in Washington. Wednesday’s lawsuit highlights how the industry is equally hostile to legislation from Democrats as it is from Republicans, even though the challenged laws address different tech concerns.
Netchoice is also among the plaintiffs challenging laws passed by Republican-led legislatures in Texas and Florida that seek to set rules for how tech companies treat social media posts. Those laws are now on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after conflicting rulings from lower courts — with much of the Florida law struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit while the Texas law was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
Netchoice made similar First Amendment arguments in its challenges to the Florida and Texas, which are intended to address long-running concerns that tech companies censor conservative views.
California lawmakers pass landmark children’s online safety bill
California state lawmakers passed the child safety legislation, known as the Chalifornia Age-Appropriate Design Code, in August. It requires platforms to check whether new products may pose harm to kids and teens before rolling them out, and to offer privacy protections to younger users by default. | 2022-12-14T18:15:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Netchoice sues over California law to protect young social media users - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/14/california-internet-lawsuit-filed/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/14/california-internet-lawsuit-filed/ |
For new NCI director, work turns personal: She is diagnosed with cancer
Monica Bertagnolli says she has early-stage breast cancer and expects to recover fully
In October, cancer surgeon Monica M. Bertagnolli became the 16th director of the National Cancer Institute and the first woman to hold the job. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
Last summer, when Boston cancer surgeon Monica M. Bertagnolli heard she might be selected to lead the National Cancer Institute, she asked a friend whether she would be able to do the job.
It was a disarming display of humility from an accomplished professional who has removed gastrointestinal tumors as big as pumpkins and herded not only Black Angus cattle on a Wyoming ranch but also thousands of strong-minded oncologists conducting clinical trials. Bertagnolli said her friend gave her a vote of confidence, adding, “You are kind of annoying — you never take no for an answer.”
In October, Bertagnolli became the 16th director of the cancer institute and the first woman to have the job. And then, just before Thanksgiving, her life took an unexpected turn: The 63-year-old Bertagnolli was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer after a routine mammogram in Boston.
On Wednesday, Bertagnolli held her first town hall with thousands of employees, outlining her vision for the cancer institute and explaining her medical situation — topics she also discussed recently with The Washington Post. She made clear that while she will have to slow down from her ferociously rapid pace for a while, she expects the change to be temporary.
Bertagnolli has the most common type of breast cancer for someone her age — hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative, she said. The cancer is considered treatable and has a very favorable prognosis, with a high survival rate.
She is still awaiting additional tests to determine her treatment plan, which will probably include surgery and some kind of drug therapy. She is being treated by doctors at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center in Boston, where she was chief of surgical oncology for a decade.
Medications to block estrogen — a hormone that can accelerate tumor growth — often are prescribed for early-stage breast cancer, and chemotherapy is sometimes used as well. Treatment decisions are often based on a patient’s risk of recurrence.
Bertagnolli alludes to, but does not dwell on, the poignancy of being diagnosed with the disease just as she takes the helm of the nation’s biggest cancer-fighting enterprise, a $7 billion-a-year research operation. “I can’t imagine having this challenge, on top of a very important job, without the kind of support I have from an incredibly talented team” at NCI and from her physicians and family in Boston, she said.
“I really am just fine in getting everything accomplished,” she said. “We will take it as it comes.”
At the same time, she said, she is a realist.
An older doctor, she recalled, would greet physician colleagues each morning, saying, “Every day when I walk in here as a doctor and not as a patient is a great day.” From the very beginning, Bertagnolli said, “I always had it in my mind, yeah, one of these days I’m going to be a patient. We all are.”
Herding cattle
Bertagnolli grew up on her parents’ cattle ranch in southwestern Wyoming, learning to ride and mend fences, 90 miles from the nearest town. She said her upbringing made her self-reliant but also sympathetic to the problems of rural health care, where someone who might have had a broken arm faced a long drive to get an X-ray.
She studied chemical engineering at Princeton University and graduated from the University of Utah School of Medicine, falling in love with surgery when she first walked into an operating room. She eventually focused on a rare inherited syndrome that leads to colon cancer and also concentrated on sarcomas, which are soft-tissue cancers that often wrap themselves around blood vessels or vital organs. She did in-depth training in tumor immunology — the relationship between the immune system and tumor cells — and became an expert on clinical trials.
At Dana-Farber, Bertagnolli was known as “a happy surgeon and a big-case surgeon,” willing to perform technically difficult, high-risk operations that other doctors turned down, said Atul Gawande, a surgeon and writer who trained under Bertagnolli.
Unlike in some operating rooms, where the mood was grim and tense, the atmosphere “in Monica’s was happy and weirdly comfortable and easygoing,” said Gawande, assistant administrator for global health at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Bertagnolli said it was critical for her team — which sometimes numbered nine or 10, including surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses — to be at ease during long, complicated operations: “You want everyone to feel comfortable and secure so that they perform really well.”
Bertagnolli became a surgeon when women were just starting to enter the field in substantial numbers, said George D. Demetri, a medical oncologist and director of the Sarcoma Center at Dana-Farber.
“It was really challenging for them, it was much more of an old boys’ club,” Demetri said.
While Bertagnolli often wears cowboy boots, she does not fit the stereotype of the brusque, swaggering surgeon, say people who know her.
“She is a surgeon without the personality of a surgeon,” said Ellen V. Sigal, founder and chair of Friends of Cancer Research, an advocacy group.
Gawande said he believes Bertagnolli’s 26-year-old son, Ben, who is autistic, is one reason she is unflappable.
“Ben teaches her every day,” Gawande said. “I think a huge amount of her centeredness and calmness comes from raising a child who is a joy and a challenge every day.” Bertagnolli and her husband have a second son, David, 23, who is in college.
Bertagnolli lives in Newton, Mass., with Ben and her husband, Alex Dannenberg, who is retired. She spends three days a week at NCI’s headquarters in Bethesda, Md., and the rest of the time works remotely. Ben “has a wonderful environment, and it was not possible for us to move,” she said. Besides, she said, she is used to taking the shuttle between Boston and Washington and does some of her best thinking “when I am commuting back and forth.”
On Tuesday, she got up at 3 a.m. in Boston so that she could be in Bethesda by the start of the workday. In the little free time she has, she enjoys whipping up traditional meals — she is part Italian, part French Basque — and tooling around in what she calls her “hot rod,” a 2007 Ford Mustang Shelby.
Lean and mean?
It was late July when Bertagnolli answered the phone to hear: “Would you please hold for the first lady?” Jill Biden, who like President Biden is heavily involved in promoting cancer research, came on the line and offered Bertagnolli the NCI job. In 2015, the Bidens’ son Beau died of brain cancer.
Like her predecessors, Bertagnolli faces big challenges, including prodding the sprawling cancer institute to move faster and more efficiently. As NCI director, she is a pivotal player in the White House cancer moonshot efforts to reduce the death rate by half in 25 years and accelerate treatments for a disease that kills 600,000 Americans a year.
“The big question for her is, what is the role of the NCI?” said a federal health official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not have authorization to discuss the issue. “How do you make the NCI a more lean, mean machine?”
As Bertagnolli takes over the reins, she is making the streamlining of clinical trials a priority. The cancer field is awash in promising leads, she said, but cannot test enough of them because many studies are too complicated and costly.
“We have a fire hose that goes down to a garden hose,” she said. “There are so many trials that need to be done that many are waiting for their turn.”
Bertagnolli said she hopes to encourage more cancer patients, especially those in underrepresented groups, to take part in trials; participation is in single digits. Now that she is a cancer patient, she has signed up for a trial evaluating whether a new diagnostic test is helpful in selecting the appropriate breast-cancer treatment.
Paul Goldberg, editor and publisher of the Cancer Letter, a weekly publication on cancer research and policy, said a consensus has emerged at the cancer institute, the Food and Drug Administration, and in academia and industry that trials need to be overhauled.
“This is a movement, and she is one of the key leaders,” along with FDA’s cancer chief, Richard Pazdur, Goldberg said.
One of her major challenges will be trying to secure enough financial support to increase the number of research grants NCI can fund. Only about 12 percent of applications for grants are funded, and Bertagnolli wants to increase that to 15 percent by 2025, something that would require a major funding increase.
She will also be working closely with other health officials, including those in the White House office that coordinates the moonshot and in a new agency called Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, which plans to do ambitious projects on cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and other diseases. Congress created the agency this year to conduct high-impact research that cannot be easily done through traditional approaches or in the private sector.
Since starting at NCI, Bertagnolli has appeared on several public panels to discuss her new role. When her driver said she would be 15 minutes late getting to a recent conference sponsored by the Milken Institute this month, she said, “No worries. No one’s bleeding.”
As she awaits more test results, Bertagnolli is focusing on being a good patient — “Most doctors are terrible patients,” she said, laughing — and on relying on her upbeat nature. “I am very much a glass half-full person, a natural optimist at heart in all things,” she said. “And I hit things head on. I don’t try to run away.” | 2022-12-14T18:19:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | For new NCI director, work turns personal: She is diagnosed with cancer - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/12/14/cancer-center-director-diagnosed-with-cancer/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/12/14/cancer-center-director-diagnosed-with-cancer/ |
Americans are going cashless, hating Russia, getting Tiktok news
Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 2008, an Iraqi journalist named Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad. (Bush ducked the flying footwear.)
The Pew Research Center just released its list of “striking findings” for 2022, and as always it’s a fascinating grab-bag of data with potentially major social, political and economic ramifications — everything from shrinking middle-class wealth to Americans turning to TikTok for news.
Here are a few of the findings The Daily 202 found most interesting, if not most important. Caveat: You may have seen these before, since it’s a recap of the year in Pew.
Getting news from TikTok
Back in November, Caroline flagged how President Biden was “walking a strange tightrope between relevancy and national security” by using TikTok to get his message out amid concerns about how the hugely popular social media site collects and shares user data.
“Officials say TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, is a security threat because of how much data it shares with China. (The app has denied this.)” she wrote, noting White House staff cannot download it to their government phones.
There’s a bipartisan bill in Congress to ban TikTok in the United States. Some states have already done that.
So it’s notable that more and more adult TikTok users in the United States are getting their news there, as Pew found in a summer survey, even as fewer are turning to social media rivals like Facebook.
“A third of adults who use TikTok say they regularly get news there, up from 22% two years ago,” Pew said, while “the share of adult Facebook users who regularly get news there has declined from 54% in 2020 to 44% this year.”
This one has particular resonance after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to combat inflation, which has smothered real wage growth for millions of Americans.
Pew found that 41% of Americans say they make zero cash purchases in a typical week. That’s up from 29% in 2018 and 24% in 2015, according to Pew findings from October. What about Americans who say they use cash for all or almost all of their purchases? Down to 14% today, from 18% in 2018, and 24% in 2015.
Inflation makes holding cash less attractive. Higher interest rates can cripple the finances of Americans who carry balances on their credit cards. One remaining question is what vehicle — credit card? Debit card? — Americans are using more.
Russia, the enemy
This is pretty intuitive, but with ongoing debates about sustained American aid for Ukraine — and rising Republican opposition — it makes for an interesting read.
Pew found that in barely a month after Russia expanded its war in Ukraine on Feb. 24, Americans swung to the idea that Moscow is an enemy of the United States.
In January 2022, 49% of Americans said Russia was a “competitor,” 41% said “enemy,” and 7% said “partner.” In March, 70% said “enemy,” 24% said “competitor” and 3% said “partner.”
“Democrats and Republicans largely agreed in the March survey that Russia is an enemy of the U.S., but partisan and ideological differences still existed. Liberal Democrats, for example, were the most likely to see Russia as an enemy (78%), while moderate and liberal Republicans were the least likely to do so (63%),” Pew said.
A Supreme Split
Back in September, the Gallup polling operation found a record low proportion of Americans — 47% — have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in the judicial branch that is headed by the Supreme Court. That’s down 20 percentage points from two years ago, seven points from last year.
“The new poll marks the first time that less than half of Democrats and independents express faith in the judicial branch,” Gallup said. “Republicans' trust fell below the majority level in 2015 and 2016 — although not as low as Democrats' trust is today — after court rulings that legalized same-sex marriage and upheld the Affordable Care Act.”
Cue Pew. In September, months after the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and its federal protections for access to abortion, “the partisan gap in views of the court grew wider than at any point in more than three decades,” it found.
“While 73% of Republicans expressed a favorable view of the court in an August survey, only 28% of Democrats shared that view. That 45-point gap was wider than at any point in 35 years of polling on the court.”
Americans are increasingly skeptical of their major institutions. The court’s clearly not immune.
“Suedi Murekezi, a U.S. Air Force veteran whose family says he was captured by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine earlier this year, has been freed in a prisoner swap, a senior Ukrainian official announced Wednesday,” Victoria Bisset and David L. Stern report.
Fed poised to raise rates by half a percentage point in last 2022 hike
“The Federal Reserve is poised to raise interest rates by half a percentage point Wednesday, capping off one of the most aggressive years in the central bank’s history and marking a new phase in its fight against inflation,” Rachel Siegel reports.
Biden presses call for assault weapon ban in Sandy Hook proclamation
“President Biden on Wednesday renewed his plea for Congress to adopt an assault weapons ban in a proclamation marking the 10th anniversary of the mass killing at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in which a gunman with an AR-15-style rifle took the lives of 20 first graders and six adults,” John Wagner and Mariana Alfaro report.
“Employees at the Texas Department of Public Safety in June received a sweeping request from Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office: to compile a list of individuals who had changed their gender on their Texas driver’s license and other department records during the past two years,” Molly Hennessy-Fiske reports.
“There have been 1,900 homicides [in Tijuana] this year so far, making it the deadliest city in Mexico. It is a place where language has adapted to new forms of violence, macabre and hyper-specific. The word ‘encobijado,’ for instance: a murder victim wrapped in a blanket,” Kevin Sieff, Salwan Georges, Erin Patrick O’Connor and Rekha Tenjarla report.
More from the series: Inside the daunting hunt for the ingredients of fentanyl and meth
“The Jan. 6 select committee’s final act won’t just include recommendations for criminal charges against allies of Donald Trump. Chair Bennie Thompson indicated on Tuesday that the panel was likely to make ‘five or six’ categories of referrals to outside entities for potential misconduct by figures in the former president’s orbit,” Politico’s Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu report.
“A study released Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics found that more than 3,500 Americans died of long-covid-related illness in the first 2½ years of the pandemic,” Frances Stead Sellers reports.
U.S. considers expanding asylum program for Venezuelans to include Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans
“U. S. officials are moving to expand a program creating a legal process for Venezuelan migrants seeking asylum to also include Nicaraguans, Cubans and Haitians, amid a surge in Nicaraguan migrants that has begun to overwhelm parts of the border in recent days,” the Wall Street Journal’s Michelle Hackman and Alicia A. Caldwell report.
“President Biden on Tuesday sought to capitalize on positive economic news that inflation numbers are cooling, arguing that his policies are helping stabilize an economy battered by a global pandemic and a war in Ukraine, after months of facing political derision for rising prices,” Matt Viser reports.
“Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo is emerging as the front-runner to succeed Brian Deese as top White House economic adviser, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Biden administration prepares to shuffle its team early next year,” Saleha Mohsin and Nancy Cook report.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s political donations, visualized
“Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was a prolific political donor, pumping about $40 million this cycle alone into campaign committees and other groups, mostly aligned with Democrats, federal records show,” Isaac Stanley-Becker, Chris Zubak-Skees and Nick Mourtoupalas report.
“In ways both big and small, the events of the ’90s continue to exert their influence, echoing across the decades and into the present. Long before the outbreak of the current culture war, for instance, there was the ’90s culture war, with its clashes over multiculturalism and political correctness,” Lizzy Ratner, Regina Mahone, Ludwig Hurtado and Alana Pockros write for the Nation.
“Long before 2020’s Black Lives Matter uprisings, Los Angeles lit up in despair and rage over the acquittal of the cops who beat Rodney King—an attack that was broadcast, again and again, by means of what has been described as the first viral video. Columbine paved the way for Uvalde; Iron John for incels; Fox News for Newsmax TV; fat-free for keto fads; and on and on, into the here-and-now. Instead of the End of History, the 1990s gave us the Revenge of History.”
“McCarthy, who is toiling to become speaker next year when the G.O.P. assumes the majority, has so far been unable to put down a mini-revolt on the right that threatens to imperil his bid for the top job,” the New York Times’s Catie Edmondson, Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni report.
At 1:20 p.m., Biden will leave the White House for the convention center, where he will attend the U.S.-Africa Business Forum. He will speak at 1:30 p.m.
Biden will arrive back at the White House at 2:55 p.m.
At 3:40 p.m. Biden will host a small group meeting with leaders.
Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will host a dinner for the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit at 7 p.m.
10 years since Sandy Hook
“Ten years ago, on Dec. 14, 2012, a man walked into Sandy Hook Elementary and opened fire, killing 20 first-graders and six adults in what many people thought to be a singular event: a school shooting so horrific that nothing like it could ever happen again,” John Woodrow Cox reports. | 2022-12-14T18:20:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Americans are going cashless, hating Russia, getting Tiktok news - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/americans-are-going-cashless-hating-russia-getting-tiktok-news/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/americans-are-going-cashless-hating-russia-getting-tiktok-news/ |
Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss, DJ on ‘Ellen’ show, dies at 40
DJ Stephen “tWitch” Boss and Hillary Clinton practice dance moves during a break in the taping of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in 2015. (Mary Altaffer/AP)
Stephen “tWitch” Boss, the dancing DJ on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and a former contestant on “So You Think You Can Dance,” died Dec. 13 at 40.
His wife, Allison Holker Boss, confirmed the death in a statement but did not provide further details.
He started in 2014 at “The Ellen Show,” as the program was often known by fans, and was promoted to co-executive producer in 2020.
The dancer-DJ also appeared in films including “Step Up: All In” (2014) and “Magic Mike XXL” (2015) and was featured in Disney Plus’s “The Hip Hop Nutcracker,” released this year. He also had placed as a runner-up on “So You Think You Can Dance” and later judged Season 17 of the dance competition show.
Stephen Laurel Boss was born in Montgomery, Ala., on Sept. 29, 1982. He studied dance performance at Southern Union State Community College and Chapman University, both in Alabama.
He posted dance videos on TikTok with his wife, who is also a professional dancer, with their children making guest appearances. Survivors include his wife, whom he married in 2013, and three children. | 2022-12-14T19:07:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss, DJ on ‘Ellen’ show, dies at 40 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/14/stephen-twitch-boss-ellen-dead/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/14/stephen-twitch-boss-ellen-dead/ |
Robert Toth, L.A. Times reporter targeted by KGB, dies at 93
As Moscow bureau chief, he was arrested because of his stories about Jewish dissidents in the Soviet Union
By Bob Drogin
Robert C. Toth, on right, meets in 1976 with Anatoly Scharansky, a prominent Soviet human rights activist and Jewish dissident, in Istria, a town northwest of Moscow. (Family photo)
Robert C. Toth, a Washington reporter and foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times who garnered his own headline when he was arrested in Moscow during the Cold War and grilled at a KGB prison about his contacts with Jewish dissidents in the Soviet Union, died Dec. 12 at his home in Chevy Chase, Md. He was 93.
The cause was complications from heart disease, said his son-in-law Craig Whitlock, a Washington Post reporter.
Mr. Toth won several prestigious awards as he chronicled historic events over three decades, including the U.S. space program, the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, nuclear arms negotiations, Henry Kissinger’s diplomatic forays, Richard Nixon’s turbulent White House and the Iran-contra scandal of the 1980s.
He became part of the newscycle himself in June 1977 as he was wrapping up a three-year tour as the paper’s Moscow correspondent. Six days before he was to depart, Soviet plainclothes officers arrested him on a Moscow street and notified the U.S. Embassy that he had obtained “secret data” and must report to the KGB’s infamous Lefortovo Prison for interrogation.
President Jimmy Carter’s White House and State Department said they viewed his case “with utmost gravity” and issued a strong protest to the Kremlin. At the time, Russian officials regularly planted evidence to accuse American reporters of spying.
Mr. Toth’s ordeal was nerve wracking but brief. He was questioned over two days but was permitted to go home each night and was never charged with a crime. In the end, Soviet officials allowed him, his wife and their three young children to depart Moscow as they had originally planned.
In a first-person story for the Times, Mr. Toth called the pretext for his arrest “laughable,” saying a source he believed was a scientist had handed him a paper on parapsychology, not military secrets.
He said his KGB interrogators mostly pressed him for information on human rights activist Anatoly Scharansky, their real target. Soviet authorities had refused to let Scharansky and other Jewish activists emigrate to Israel, and Mr. Toth had aggressively reported on the so-called refuseniks’ plight.
“There was nothing to hide,” Mr. Toth wrote. “My contacts with dissidents had all been open, as had theirs with me.”
But the KGB transcript of his interrogation was used against Scharansky at his subsequent trial on spurious charges of treason. The indictment falsely called Mr. Toth a U.S. intelligence officer, an allegation he called “nonsense.”
Scharansky was imprisoned for nine years but never blamed Mr. Toth, calling him a “close friend” in his 1988 memoir, “Fear No Evil.” (Scharansky changed his name to Natan Sharansky after his release in 1986 and later held ministerial posts in Israel.)
Colleagues called Mr. Toth obsessive about accuracy and details. He had been a State Department and White House correspondent in the early 1970s in the Times’ Washington bureau, and he returned there to cover national security after leaving Moscow. He retired in 1993 and spent several years as a fellow for the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
His reporting from Moscow won George Polk, Overseas Press Club and Sigma Delta Chi journalism awards. His later reporting on clandestine CIA operations in Central America received the Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting, sponsored by Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.
“He was amazingly well sourced,” said Doyle McManus, who shared the Weintal Prize with Mr. Toth and now is a Los Angeles Times columnist. “He covered the intelligence community like no one else at the time. Some of it may have been from the street cred he got from being interrogated by the KGB at Lefortovo.”
Family and friends described Mr. Toth as soft-spoken and mild-mannered, with one notable exception.
“His kids said some of their earliest memories were of him yelling on trans-Atlantic phone lines at editors not to distort the meaning of his copy,” Whitlock said. “He could be pretty profane. … He didn’t suffer editors gladly.”
Robert Charles Toth was born in Blakely, Pa., on Dec. 24, 1928, and grew up in nearby Throop, an Appalachian coal town hard hit by the Depression. His mother was a maid and homemaker. His father and both of his grandfathers dug coal in the mines.
“All three suffered black lung disease from the dust, which was what you got if you survived cave-ins, floods, fires, explosions and the various ‘damps’ (gases) that cut life even shorter,” Mr. Toth wrote in the Times in 1990.
Mr. Toth avoided the mines by enlisting in the Marine Corps after high school. He then used the GI Bill to enroll at Washington University in St. Louis, where he met his future wife, Paula Goldberg, a fellow engineer.
In addition to his wife of 68 years, survivors include three children, Jessica Toth of Del Mar, Calif., Jennifer Toth of Silver Spring, Md., and John Toth, of Victoria, Australia; a sister; and five grandchildren.
Mr. Toth initially worked for the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps. He quit after he was refused a security clearance because of McCarthy-era concerns about his wife’s parents, who were members of the Communist Party USA.
In need of a new career, he received a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University in 1955. That led to reporting stints at the Providence Journal and the New York Herald Tribune, followed by a year as a Nieman fellow at Harvard University and then a job as a science writer in the Washington bureau of the New York Times.
In 1963, he joined the Los Angeles Times at a moment when the long-staid paper was fast expanding under an ambitious new publisher, and Mr. Toth saw a chance to travel the world.
Two years later, after Mr. Toth moved to Britain to lead the paper’s London bureau, the Times ran a house ad with a black-and-white photo that showed him dressed in a natty suit, a newspaper under his arm, with Big Ben and Parliament in the background. He kept a copy in his scrapbook for the rest of his life.
“Mother England is swinging,” the headline read. “And Bob Toth knows what the action means.” | 2022-12-14T19:29:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Robert Toth, L.A. Times reporter targeted by KGB, dies at 93 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/14/robert-toth-los-ageles-times-moscow-dead/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/14/robert-toth-los-ageles-times-moscow-dead/ |
NWSL investigation finds misconduct at ‘vast majority’ of clubs
Fans display signs in support of players during the NWSL match between the Washington Spirit and the Houston Dash at Audi Field in 2021. (Scott Taetsch/For The Washington Post)
The underlying culture of the National Women’s Soccer League created “fertile ground for misconduct to go unreported,” according to a new investigation, which found the league’s financial instability and unbalanced power dynamics opened the door for rampant abuse across several teams and involving multiple coaches and team administrators.
The investigation is the second prominent probe into abuses across the women’s soccer world, this one at the behest of the NWSL and the players’ union. The 125-page report, issued Wednesday, included a new account of abuse involving Paul Riley, the former Portland Thorns’ coach, and previously unreported details on the firing of former NY/NJ Gotham FC general manager Alyse LaHue and the suspension of Houston Dash coach and general manager James Clarkson.
Similar to a report conducted by U.S. Soccer, which was released in October, the NWSL investigation details misconduct by Riley; Rory Dames, the former coach of the Chicago Red Stars; and Christy Holly, the former Louisville Racing coach. But the NWSL report also highlights a half-dozen other coaches and focuses on the missteps and mismanagement of the league’s teams and team owners, including the conduct of eight teams that ignored or mishandled complaints and warning signs of abuse.
“This report clearly reflects how our league systemically failed to protect our players," NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman said in a statement Wednesday. “On behalf of the Board and the league, let me first and foremost sincerely apologize to our players for those failures and missteps. They deserve, at a minimum, a safe and secure environment to participate at the highest level in a sport they love, and they have my unwavering commitment that delivering that change will remain a priority each and every day.”
In addition to instances of sexual abuse and manipulation, which have been revealed in previous media reports and the U.S. Soccer probe, the NWSL’s investigation found that “staff in positions of power made inappropriate sexual remarks to players, mocked players’ bodies, pressured players to lose unhealthy amounts of weight, crossed professional boundaries with players, and created volatile and manipulative working conditions. They used derogatory and insulting language towards players, displayed insensitivity towards players’ mental health, and engaged in retaliation against players who attempted to report or did report concerns.”
U.S. Soccer ‘failed’ women’s players, report finds, as new abuse claims emerge
According to the new report, “misconduct against players has occurred at the vast majority of NWSL clubs at various times from the earliest years of the League to the present.”
“Players were frequently reminded of the fragility and financial instability of the League. From the early days of the League, they were told to be grateful, loyal, and acquiescent, even as they were not afforded the resources or respect due to professional athletes,” the report states. “Players told the Joint Investigative Team that this environment dissuaded them from reporting misconduct. Compounding this effect, the League lacked trainings, policies, and other resources on harassment, abuse, and other forms of misconduct.”
The report was a product of a joint investigation conducted by two law firms: Covington & Burling, on behalf of the league, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges, hired by the NWSL Players Association. Investigators reviewed 200,000 documents and interviewed around 100 current and former NWSL players, in addition to 90 current and former club employees.
The probe was launched in October, shortly after The Washington Post and the Athletic reported allegations of abuse at several clubs, prompting players to demand action from the sport’s stakeholders. U.S. Soccer hired Sally Q. Yates, the former acting attorney general, to conduct a separate investigation around the same time. In the wake of that report, Portland Thorns’ owner Merritt Paulson announced that he was selling the club, team administrators were fired and coach Rhian Wilkinson resigned. Chicago Red Stars owner Arnim Whisler surrendered day-to-day control and earlier this month announced that he was selling the team. In all, five of the league’s 10 coaches have lost their jobs, and NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird resigned.
The NWSL report details many of the same abuses, fleshing out some details and analyzing why misconduct was allowed persist. Many instances involved authority figures who failed players — and in some cases were at the heart of the problem.
Perspective: Another ‘report’ on abuse in women’s sports. When is enough enough?
LaHue, Gotham’s general manager from 2019-21, “made unwanted sexual advances toward a player,” according to the report, sending inappropriate text messages, questioning the player’s interactions with others and pressing the player for more attention. She sent the player text messages that read, “You were in my dream last night. Getting a massage,” and “I don’t see us as friends.”
The club fired LaHue last July. According to the report, LaHue denied the allegations. Her attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment Wednesday.
The NWSL didn’t wait to act on investigators’ findings, the report says. Orlando Pride coaches Amanda Cromwell and Sam Greene were fired in October for retaliating against players; Houston’s Clarkson was suspended.
According to the NWSL report, Clarkson “communicated with players in a manner that created anxiety and fear for multiple players.”
“In one instance, Clarkson suspected that players had been drinking alcohol the night before a game, so he convened the players and reprimanded them in a manner that left multiple players feeling scared and attacked,” the report states. Clarkson was suspended in April, and the club at the time said a final decision on his status would be made at the conclusion of the NWSL investigation. He is still employed by the team. A Dash spokesman said the team did not have an immediate comment, as club officials were still reviewing the report.
Across the league, the report found a deep-seated culture in which players didn’t feel empowered to report complaints and boundary lines between players and coaches were often blurred.
“Players from marginalized backgrounds, or with the least job security, were often targets of misconduct,” the report states. “At the same time, these players faced the greatest barriers to speaking out about or obtaining redress for what they experienced."
The report details for the first time the experience of Kaleigh Kurtz, who played for Riley with the North Carolina Courage. She told investigators she didn’t initially report Riley’s behavior out of fear of being called a “troublemaker.” The report describes manipulative and volatile behavior from Riley, and Kurtz told investigators she felt she was being groomed for sexual abuse.
At one point, Riley demanded Kurtz lose 14 pounds to retain her starting position, telling her, “I hope you know I’m doing this because I love you.” Kurtz requested a trade, which the team failed to execute. Riley was fired by the Courage in September 2021, after the Athletic reported on abuse allegations that stemmed from his time coaching in Portland, which he has denied. He did not meet with NWSL investigators and was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.
Rory Dames was accused of misconduct decades ago. He coached his way to prominence anyway.
The NWSL report spreads blame to U.S. Soccer. Coach misconduct was “inadequately investigated or addressed,” it says, and coaches were allowed to pursue new jobs across the league even after complaints had been substantiated.
“Leaders from U.S. Soccer avoided taking responsibility for systemic failures to protect players, contending that decision-making authority and the responsibility to address misconduct lay with the NWSL and club owners,” the report says.
U.S. Soccer has embarked on a series of reforms in the wake of the Yates’ report.
“It’s been over two months since the release of the Yates’ report, and we’ve already seen it have big impacts across our game,” U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone said this week. “As challenging as it is to read the report, the report has and we will continue to make our sport better. Participant safety is our top priority, and the Yates’ report gave us a road map to make the changes that we are now working diligently on.”
The organization has convened a specific committee to implement Yates’ recommendations and has also hired Mana Shim to chair a player safety task force. Shim was among the first players to speak publicly about abuse and misconduct, which she experienced while playing for Riley in Portland, and she now has a key role in crafting the policies that will help current and future players.
“We’re making progress,” she said this week. “...I feel empowered and excited about what we’re doing.”
While many of the coaches cited in the two investigations are no longer working in the league, the NWSL report makes a series of wide-reaching recommendations for league officials. They include revising the anti-harassment policy; establishing clear guidelines for appropriate meeting places; consider guidelines for supervisors socializing with players; provide written guidance that makes clear comments and jokes about a player’s weight are unacceptable; requiring separate housing accommodations for players and club staff; and mandatory training covering anti-bullying, anti-harassment and anti-racism.
“This will be an ongoing process of improving and strengthening our league," said the NWSL’s Berman. | 2022-12-14T19:42:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | NWSL investigation finds misconduct at ‘vast majority’ of clubs - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/15/nwsl-investigation-union/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/15/nwsl-investigation-union/ |
Bob Glennon and Antwanette Starks of Miriam’s Kitchen. On the wall behind them is some artwork created by participants in the charity’s art studio. (Keshawn Montgomery)
On a recent morning in a church basement where meals are served to hungry people, a man with an orange knit cap atop his head and his possessions in a rolling suitcase spills magic markers from a clear plastic bag onto the table in front of him. He grabs a yellow marker.
“The experience of homelessness is traumatic,” Bob Glennon told me earlier. “A lot of time, day-to-day life can feel very chaotic.”
Glennon is the clinical director here at Miriam’s Kitchen, a charity in Foggy Bottom that works to get people off the streets and into their own homes. When you don’t have a place to live, he said, each new day represents a series of problems to be solved.
“Where am I going to sleep tonight?” Glennon said. “I’ve got to go to this place to eat and then run across town to sign up to do laundry, then it takes two hours to get to the food pantry.”
The man in the cap smooths a piece of paper in front of him.
“One outlet of studio is to provide a sense of peace and calm. Folks can come in and hopefully relax and enjoy making art just for the sake of relaxation,” Glennon said.
“Studio” is what Miriam’s Kitchen calls a program that begins at 8:30 on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, right after the free breakfast that’s served every weekday in the large dining room in the basement of Western Presbyterian Church. Basic art supplies are available to anyone who wants them: crayons, markers, paper, coloring book pages.
A coloring book page is what the man in the orange cap has on the table in front of him. The page depicts a simple autumn still life: the outlines of various leaves. The man uncaps the yellow marker and starts to carefully fill in one leaf, then another, staying inside the lines.
Before the pandemic, Miriam’s Kitchen offered an assortment of extracurricular activities to the people it serves, including beading, poetry-writing and art therapy. The charity brought aboard its first trained art therapist in 2003, Glennon said. All that was in addition to the organization’s core mission: offering what social workers call “case management,” the support with things like benefits, ID cards, housing and mental health treatment that can turn a life around.
But the coronavirus changed that. The extracurricular activities ended. For two years, the dining room was closed, and meals were distributed on a plaza outside in to-go containers. The kitchen and dining room reopened in May, after the pandemic had eased. The art studio began last month.
“We’re just kind of rolling it out slowly,” Glennon said. There isn’t yet a dedicated art therapist, but there is Antwanette Starks, a case manager who oversees the studio.
“A key ingredient to effective case management is building relationships,” Glennon said. “The art studio provides a great platform for that.”
The staff can get to know clients, and clients can get to know staff.
“We’re very respectful of how people want to receive services,” Glennon said. “If someone is not interested in speaking with a case manager, we respect that. If they just want to come in and eat, have a cup of coffee and be out of the weather, that is absolutely respected.”
Glennon continued: “Housing is always where we hope things end. We want to end someone's homelessness, but, again, it's a different path for everybody.”
One thing that can bring people back is the studio.
The man has finished coloring in the leaves with the yellow marker. They look plain, unadorned.
“We want to build a community here, where people feel a sense of belonging, where people want to come, where they feel safe,” Glennon said. “The art can also provide a wonderful sense of self-esteem.”
The man puts down the yellow marker and picks up an orange one. He uses it to add orange details to the edge of the leaf, shading them, cross-hatching. Suddenly, the leaves gain depth. They come alive.
I ask the man if he’s up for a conversation with me. He says he’s not. He takes his paper in one hand and the handle of his rolling suitcase in the other then walks back out to the streets.
Miriam’s Kitchen is a partner in The Washington Post Helping Hand, our annual charity fund drive. Your donation can make a difference in the lives of struggling people.
To give online to Miriam’s Kitchen, visit posthelpinghand.com and click where it says “Donate.” To give by check, write Miriam’s Kitchen, Attn: Development, 2401 Virginia Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20037. | 2022-12-14T19:46:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | For some of Washington's unhoused people, art offers a brief respite - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/14/miriam-kitchen-art-studio/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/14/miriam-kitchen-art-studio/ |
Get on the bus, Gus
Metro buses parked along Fort Drive NW. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)
Congratulations to D.C., which next summer will become the biggest city in the nation to offer free bus rides.
The Dec. 9 Metro article “Metro board plans for a future with city-subsidized bus fares” noted the importance for low-income people, but the bus is the best and fastest way to get between many points in the city. I have become a cheerleader of the bus system to faculty and students at my university, and have created some converts. Knowing which bus goes where is a point of pride among some of us. The train is so limited in where it goes, and yet there are people who ride the subway who would never think of riding the bus. Get on the bus, folks. It’s a great transportation option and soon will be the cheapest.
Adriane Fugh-Berman, Washington
The Dec. 10 editorial “The calm before the storm” noted that D.C. “will pay more than $40 million … to make Metrobuses free for any passenger who boards in the District. That’s the wrong solution for Metro’s problems.” But free bus rides are a wonderful solution to multiple issues.
Helping residents get around D.C. will greatly improve access to employment, education and entertainment. People will spend the money saved on other amenities. Free buses will reduce air pollution and traffic deaths. The city center could eventually be a car-free zone, allowing only buses, taxis and delivery trucks.
To improve services to the underserved, the city could post social workers on the buses to provide critical resource information to homeless riders and to promote safety. But how to pay for it? Some money could be generated by selling more advertising space on bus sides. A larger share could come from the business community. Many already offer employees transit support as a monthly stipend. Send that money directly to the city. The cost of free bus rides would ultimately be paid by D.C. residents but would be proportional to income.
Jennifer Brown, Silver Spring | 2022-12-14T19:47:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Get on the bus, Gus - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/get-bus-gus/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/get-bus-gus/ |
A surprising threat to elections in Maryland
Kari Lake on Nov. 8 in Scottsdale, Ariz. (Ross D. Franklin/AP)
Regarding the Dec. 12 news article “Republican candidate for governor sues elections officials in Arizona”:
It was entirely predictable that losing GOP candidate Kari Lake would legally challenge the election results and ask the court to declare her the winner of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election. What is more surprising, and less reported, is that a couple of Maryland lawmakers are acting in the same vein as Ms. Lake and, ostensibly because their preferred candidate didn’t win, are trying to roll back the results of the recent election of Linfeng Chen of North Laurel and Jacky McCoy of Columbia to the Howard County Board of Education.
Unlike Ms. Lake, Maryland state Sen. Clarence K. Lam (D-Howard) and Del. Courtney Watson (D-Howard) aren’t using a lawsuit to undo the 2022 election but instead have put forward legislation decreasing the terms of the just-elected members from four years to two. That provision is part of a broader bill seeking to overhaul the election of the Howard County Board of Education.
Sadly, in explaining their rationale for the measure, they have failed to mention that they are seeking to sabotage the outcome of the Nov. 8 election and that Mr. Lam financially supported one of the losing candidates. It is hard to say what poses a bigger risk to our country’s democracy: a loudmouthed former television personality whose campaign was largely based on undermining public confidence in all elections, or stealthy legislators quietly pushing legislation aimed at undermining the outcome of an election. Perhaps that is because they are equally as dangerous.
Gene Harrington, Ellicott City | 2022-12-14T19:47:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | A surprising threat to elections in Maryland - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/surprising-threat-elections-maryland/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/surprising-threat-elections-maryland/ |
When leaving a church conference gets expensive
I take issue with the Dec. 10 Religion article, “Congregations sue to leave United Methodist Church over LGBTQ issues.” It said: “The denomination’s exit plan allows churches to leave through the end of 2023, allowing them to take their properties with them after paying two years of apportionments and pension liabilities.” Though this is generally true of the more than 50 conferences of the United Methodist Church in the United States, some are forcing their congregations that wish to leave to purchase their church property.
Such is the case with the Baltimore-Washington Conference, which is the conference for D.C., a portion of West Virginia and most of Maryland, including Baltimore. This conference demands a departing church pay half the value of its church to the conference. For churches with assessed values of more than $1 million, this is an exorbitant exit fee. Perhaps The Post could ask the Baltimore-Washington Conference why it chooses to go against our denomination’s exit plan and act in such a (dare I say) un-Christian fashion.
Harvey Wise, Bethesda
The writer is a lay representative to the Baltimore-Washington Conference for Concord-St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church. | 2022-12-14T19:47:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | When leaving a church conference gets expensive - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/when-leaving-church-conference-gets-expensive/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/when-leaving-church-conference-gets-expensive/ |
At the Anthem, an electric look back by British indie band Foals
Review by Teta Alim
Foals singer Yannis Philippakis, drummer Jack Bevan and bassist Jack Freeman perform at the Anthem. The band’s latest studio album, “Life Is Yours,” was released in June. (Kyle Gustafson for The Washington Post)
As Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis’s breathy singing sauntered behind the sound of waves and a somber melody at the start of 2010’s “Spanish Sahara” on Tuesday night at the Anthem, a memory of the British rock band from a past era washed ashore.
It was June 2013 in New York City. A tropical storm left Randall’s Island, the site of that year’s Governors Ball Music Festival, a muddy mess. But on the final day of the festival, a bright sky served as a picturesque backdrop for Philippakis’s crowd-surfing antics. At that point, Foals had released its third album, “Holy Fire,” leading its sharply intersecting guitars and tectonic drums to wide-open festival-ready fields. Grouped with Arctic Monkeys and Sky Ferreira, Foals became part of an aesthetic and musical era that today’s casual internet historians have dubbed “indie sleaze.”
After losing two founding members in recent years, the band is now a trio: Philippakis, drummer Jack Bevan and guitarist Jimmy Smith. Foals’ seventh and latest album, “Life Is Yours,” is an over-the-shoulder glance at the swirling pulses of its 2008 debut, “Antidotes,” but this time with less geometry and more funk-aspiring fizzy pop.
Though Foals albums can sometimes feel like the fossilized amber of an early 2010s rock soundscape, live performances invigorate the band and serve as its best context. “For me, the very core of being a musician isn’t sitting around in a studio. It’s performing and connecting with people,” Philippakis told the Guardian this year.
His showmanship at the D.C. concert was more understated, though he still strolled off the stage to get closer to the audience. He wore his performing experience well, which stood out after the two opening acts seemed to fade under the bright lights.
Foals transformed into a six-piece band onstage, with deft touring support, opening its set with the espresso shot of “Wake Me Up,” from “Life Is Yours.” The band’s newer songs, such as the prowling “2001” and delirious “2am,” stretched as empty-headed dance tunes, were anchored by Philippakis’s lively delivery.
Still, it was with its older material that Foals seemed most electric. When the guitars could finally chase each other through the blistering curls of Bevan’s drumming, as in the disquieted “Black Gold” and intricate “Two Steps, Twice,” it clicked why the band has endured nearly two decades after its formation. And Foals will continue its worldwide touring into 2023, partly with fellow music veterans Paramore and Bloc Party. | 2022-12-14T19:51:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | British band Foals perform at the Anthem - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/12/14/foals-concert-review-anthem/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/12/14/foals-concert-review-anthem/ |
One dead, two injured in Loudoun County crash, police say
A three-vehicle crash in Loudoun County on Tuesday morning left one person dead and two injured, Virginia State Police said.
Police responded to the crash a little after 11 a.m. A vehicle traveling south on Route 15 crossed the centerline and struck two northbound vehicles on Little Oatlands Lane, police said.
Police said one person was killed and the two others were transported to Loudoun INOVA Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police did not immediately release the name of the person who was killed, saying they still had to notify family members. | 2022-12-14T19:51:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | One dead, two injured in Loudoun County crash, police say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/14/loudoun-county-three-vehicle-crash/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/14/loudoun-county-three-vehicle-crash/ |
This U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms photo provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle, shows damage from an arson that destroyed the Jehovah’s Witness kingdom hall in Olympia, Wash., on July 3, 2018. Mikey Diamond Starrett, 50, of Olympia, was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, on charges that he set that fire as well as two others at Jehovah’s Witness halls in the area. Starrett has previously insisted that he is innocent. (ATF/U.S. Attorney’s Office via AP) (Uncredited/ATF/U.S. Attorney’s Office)
SEATTLE — A Washington state man who is already in federal custody on weapons charges has now been indicted in a series of arsons at Jehovah’s Witness kingdom halls, authorities announced Wednesday. | 2022-12-14T19:52:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Washington man indicted in fires at Jehovah's Witness halls - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/washington-man-indicted-in-fires-at-jehovahs-witness-halls/2022/12/14/0cfcc49e-7be7-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/washington-man-indicted-in-fires-at-jehovahs-witness-halls/2022/12/14/0cfcc49e-7be7-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
Where Kevin McCarthy stands with the GOP base
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks with the media after a meeting at the White House in late November. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
The math isn’t adding up right now for Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to become House speaker. And perhaps as worryingly for him, the New York Times reports that not even lobbying from former president Donald Trump appears to be swaying the most stubborn holdouts in McCarthy’s party.
But there’s a long way to go in McCarthy’s second quest for the speakership. (The vote will take place Jan. 3.) The situation can change, and posturing is a thing in politics.
And he does have one thing working in his favor, particularly if his critics continue to struggle to find a viable alternative: McCarthy simply isn’t a lightning rod with the conservative base.
To be clear, McCarthy is not a beloved figure, even within the GOP. But polls suggest he hardly engenders the kind of distaste that leaders in his position often do. (By the end of Rep. John A. Boehner’s tenure as speaker, for example, a CNN poll showed that more than 6 in 10 Americans thought he should be replaced.) And that’s true most importantly with the Republican grass roots.
A new Monmouth University poll shows McCarthy is basically an undetermined quantity to most Americans, with about half not offering an opinion of him. Overall, the numbers aren’t good: Twelve percent of Americans approve of him, while 34 percent disapprove.
But among Republicans, McCarthy is at least in positive territory, with relatively few detractors. Around 3 in 10 Republicans approve of him, and around 2 in 10 disapprove.
That’s a contrast to the GOP leader of the other chamber, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.). The same poll showed around the same number of Republicans approved of him (25 percent), but his disapproval among his own party was more than twice as high: 48 percent.
(McConnell maintained his position after the 2022 election, but he didn’t face as steep a climb as McCarthy does to become speaker because he only had to win over a majority of the Senate GOP caucus. Only 10 Senate Republicans voted for his challenger, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida.)
Other polling from before the 2022 election also bears out McCarthy’s relatively good — with the key word being “relatively” — position.
NBC’s final poll before the election showed 25 percent of Republicans had a positive view of McCarthy, vs. just 11 percent who had a negative view.
A July Pew Research Center poll showed that Republican-leaning voters had a net-unfavorable opinion of McConnell by a 50-to-32 margin, but were slightly favorable on McCarthy, 34 to 29.
Things were even better for McCarthy in a late 2021 poll, when Gallup asked Americans to rate many top U.S. government figures. McCarthy earned the approval of 46 percent, to 49 percent disapproval. Those are pretty middling numbers but were at least better than those of any other congressional leader, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
The same poll showed that while fewer than half of Republicans approved of McConnell, 71 percent approved of McCarthy.
Why would 71 percent of Republicans approve of McCarthy in one poll, but just 3 in 10 do so in a poll a year later? Much of that is likely because different pollsters have varying approaches when it comes to getting people to choose a response; the Monmouth poll offered an explicit “no opinion” option, for example, which many took.
It’s also possible that more Republicans are reserving their judgment on McCarthy, now that he’s in line to become speaker.
But that’s also kind of the point. Whatever true resistance to McCarthy exists, it’s mostly relegated to a small portion of the GOP base — around a quarter of the party — and a handful of members seeking to make a point or earn concessions on House rules. Those members could indeed be enough to sink his bid for speaker if they hold strong, but there is plenty to play out. A couple of them have already suggested that they could be swayed under certain circumstances.
And if the GOP struggles to find a real alternative who can unite the party — the alternative, as with McCarthy, could afford to lose only a small handful of GOP votes — McCarthy could be well-positioned to make the case that he’s an acceptable enough candidate for the job. At the very least, the members who vote for him wouldn’t have to worry about some kind of immediate backlash from the grass roots.
McCarthy’s tenure as the House GOP leader is one marked by wholly unsteady stewardship of the GOP conference. He often seems to be doing whatever he can just to get by, rather than truly leading on much of anything — as was most evident in his quick reversal after initially blaming Trump for the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
But Trump in particular seems to appreciate McCarthy’s willingness to do what it takes to maintain power (provided that includes kowtowing to Trump, of course). And McCarthy’s ability to make himself acceptable to the base — or at least not anathema — even after sharply criticizing Trump post-Jan. 6 is not something many other Republicans can claim. Whatever you think of McCarthy, he’s nothing if not an amiable politician.
Come Jan. 3, we’ll see if he’s acceptable enough to his conference. | 2022-12-14T19:52:17Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The GOP has mixed views of Kevin McCarthy. That might be enough for him to become Speaker. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/kevin-mccarthy-popularity-republicans/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/kevin-mccarthy-popularity-republicans/ |
The massive Keystone pipeline spill was predictable
Cleanup continues in the area where the ruptured Keystone pipeline dumped oil into a creek in Washington County, Kansas, on Friday. (DroneBase/AP)
For years, American politics was roiled by the debate over building the Keystone XL pipeline, a project aimed at supplementing an existing conduit for petroleum products from Canada to the Gulf Coast. Barack Obama halted the project, Donald Trump resurrected it and, in one of his first acts as president, Joe Biden once again stopped it.
Since last week, the original Keystone pipeline has been in the news for precisely the reason pipeline owners and oil industry executives least like: a massive spill in Kansas that led to thousands of barrels of oil being inadvertently released. It’s one of the largest pipeline leaks in years. It is also one of hundreds of such incidents in the past 10 years and thousands recorded by the federal government.
Opposition to building the larger Keystone XL pipeline was based on two primary concerns, one philosophical and one practical. The philosophical argument was that the nation should not be investing in infrastructure that made it easier to extract fossil fuels, thereby making it more likely that those fuels would be used and thereby add to greenhouse-gas emissions. The practical argument was that pipelines can rupture or leak, threatening the surrounding environment. More worrisome was that the planned route for the pipeline passed over a vital aquifer that provided water for drinking and irrigation for the region.
To reinforce that second point, activists noted the frequency of spills from pipelines. Proponents of the plan noted that, in lieu of an expanded Keystone pipeline, petroleum products were being shipped by rail, which is certainly not a methodology that’s free from problems. Data from the government’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), though, shows that there have both been more spills from rail transit over the past 10 years and that the amount released from pipeline spills is more than three times that lost from train-based accidents. This makes sense, given that trains carry only a limited amount of product.
PHMSA has recorded about 500 incidents in which pipelines have spilled crude oil over the past decade — a lower rate of incidents than in the 40 years before. What’s more, those spills have been smaller than spills in the past. In the 1970s, there were more than 1,000 pipeline spills, releasing an average of 900 barrels of oil. In the 2010s, there were half as many, releasing less than half as much oil on average.
The recent spill in Kansas stands out as particularly large for the recent era, as indicated by the size of the circle in December 2022, below. But it wouldn’t stand out so much had it occurred in, say, 1972.
What’s shown above is only spills of crude oil from pipelines. Most crude-oil spills aren’t from pipelines, but from other systems of transit including rail and, of course, trucks. Nor is crude oil the only substance that spills. PHMSA has tracked tens of thousands of spills of a wide range of hazardous substances over the past 50 years — many of which were of much larger scale than what unfolded in Kansas.
There’s another important caveat here: Not all of what is spilled is lost. Often, a substantial portion is recovered. Since 1985, about 40 percent of spilled substances have been recovered, including more than 60 percent of crude oil that spills from pipelines. In Kansas, thousands of barrels of oil have been recovered so far.
Pipeline operators would no doubt argue that the news doesn’t cover the miles of pipeline that function without incident 24 hours a day. It is the case that lots of pipelines don’t attract attention because they simply do what they were built to do. The challenge is that, when they don’t, the repercussions can be significant.
Something that opponents of Keystone XL were able to successfully argue to Presidents Obama and Biden. | 2022-12-14T19:52:23Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The massive Keystone pipeline spill was predictable - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/keystone-pipeline-oil-spill-kansas/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/14/keystone-pipeline-oil-spill-kansas/ |
‘God of War Ragnarok’ director talks about managing team burnout
‘God of War Ragnarok’ director talks television and Kratos’s growth
God of War Director Eric Williams stands in front of individual illustrations of his team members at Santa Monica Studio in Santa Monica, Calif. (Lauren Justice for The Washington Post)
This article contains spoilers for “God of War Ragnarok.”
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — “God of War Ragnarok” cleaned up at the Game Awards, winning more awards than any other game this year. It won six awards, including best narrative, best music and best performance for voice actor Chris Judge playing Kratos, the game’s protagonist.
A day after the Awards, we sat down with director Eric Williams to talk about what it was like to make one of the games of the year and answer people’s most pressing questions.
Williams discussed plot beats the team considered — and others they rejected outright — and confirmed that “Ragnarok” closes a chapter of God of War’s story. The director also went in depth about what he thinks of game developers having to work long evenings and weekends to finish games, how video games compare to movies and television and what sorts of ideas he has about making games in the future.
Was there ever a version of the game where you considered killing Kratos?
Oh no, we did not consider killing Kratos for many reasons. But the main one was that that’s not the story we’re trying to tell. The story that we wanted to tell was this idea of this parent-child unit coming together and then becoming strong enough that they know each other, and they know that they made each other better, and that if you were to break them apart, you’d still feel like they’d be okay. And death, that’s a different thing. That creates a different set of emotions, there’s a lot of grief and regret. Whereas, just watching your child go to college, that’s natural progression that doesn’t have such heavy weight at the end of it.
What was the inspiration behind the Draupnir Spear?
It most definitely started from the gameplay mechanics. In one of the PSP titles, a game called “God of War: Ghost of Sparta,” he goes to the Temple of Aries, who was the previous god of war. And there are Spartan soldiers, and they’re tearing down the Aries statue, much like the thing we always saw when they tore down the statue of Saddam in Baghdad. And he goes in, and he has his epiphany moment with a childlike version of himself. And then he comes out, but one of his guys brings him his spear and shield from Sparta that he had laid down and then you get that for the rest of the game. And we got to see him be the Spartan general again
And then he was a monster and became a myth. And then in 2018, we were trying to bring him back to the man he used to be. And then this for me, it was full circle, because that’s who he was. He was a general, he was a father. He was a husband. And now he’s doing it again. And so I wanted to see that core come out of him. And so then, because we knew we wanted the spear for the gameplay side, we started working on story. How’s it gonna get made? What can we say when it’s getting made? Can we make it his and only his? Because the blades were bestowed upon him as a curse, the axe was gifted to him by his wife, like what would be him in that pure kind of way, so that if you saw him standing with that spear and shield, he may become the protector of the realms, not the destroyer anymore.
Should video games be more or less like movies?
The Game Awards last night prove the point of video games. No game was like the other. You have a game about a cat who’s wandering around, and you actually embody the idea of being a cat. And then you have a dark, mysterious world where all the storytelling is based on how you interpret it, in “Elden Ring.” Every game is different. Just like with film, it shouldn’t be like, okay, you can only have Tarantino-esque movies, or you can only have Star Wars, or we should not like Marvel. I don’t understand this.
There’s something for everyone for a reason. Choose what you like. And then maybe don’t hate on things that you don’t like — that would be a better way of approaching all this. But we know that world isn’t the internet; it’s going to do what it does. But actually trying to push things away, or saying you shouldn’t have The Last of Us because it’s too much like a movie, or you shouldn’t have FromSoftware games because they’re too difficult and not everyone can play — that’s just ridiculous to me. I don’t understand that. Because we wouldn’t have so many good books in the world, or so much good music, or so many amazing films, if we didn’t have variety. It’s short-sighted.
Do you aspire to make video games more like movies?
I think of it as an experience. The current experience that we have is this one shot camera that’s this lived-in feeling that you never leave the protagonist’s side, you’re with them. And we spent a lot of time cultivating that. And some people think it’s just a trick or it’s a gimmick.
A lot of the things that resonate with me come from film or even TV. I love “Atlanta,” because it’s so absolutely real, and then surreal simultaneously, and you don’t know which way it’s going. They perfected that formula. Donald Glover, his brother, Hiro Murai and everyone that makes that show are just absolutely incredible. There was a trend of that happening. “Fleabag.” Shows driven by comedic leads, but dark. “Barry.” It was a whole bunch of them. “After Life,” starring Ricky Gervais. This is what I love.
How do these influences bleed into your work?
It depends on what we’re trying to achieve. I’m a research monster. Like, once I decide, alright, this is what we’re gonna do, I’ll just go research to the ends of the earth. There’s a place you probably haven’t gotten in the game yet. So — unfortunately — spoilers. Well, there’s a large area in Vanaheim called The Crater. And it’s this huge, truly open world space inside the middle of our game that you can miss. It’s totally optional. And there’s three to four hours of content in there, depending on how you play it. And it tells a bunch of backstory for different characters and whatnot.
It was all based on when my wife and I went to Tanzania and Kenya on safari. We went to this place called the Ngorongoro Crater, which is this volcano that collapsed inward upon itself. And then all these animals live inside of it, and they take you down there, and you just see the circle of life, right before your eyes. And I saw it, and I came back to the team like, “you have to check this out.” And we started looking at it, and they were just like, oh, this is perfect. The way we can cut up the landscape. The fact that the dragons are this invasive species that were bought from Asgard, and they’re killing all the wildlife. You can go in there and cleanse it.
When you’re adding extra things like that to the game, how do you manage your time when you also have to manage your team’s burnout and their work hours?
That is always very difficult. We aspire to do big things and that requires a lot of time. And the work from home environment, the pandemic in general weighed on people, for many reasons. Some people lost people, we lost people on the team, which was heartbreaking. That was something no one could prepare anybody for. How do you deal with that?
I’m very blunt. And I have a very demanding bar of quality. I had to learn how to maneuver that. I was like, ‘Okay with some people I can be that way with, then we can move quickly.’ But with other people, it’s like, ‘Okay, I need to slow down. I need to find out what your real problem is and then work from there.’ It takes time. In the back of your head, you’re like, ‘I need to go do something else.’ But it’s like, no, this is the most important thing right now. People are everything to the project; every problem is a people person problem. So if you can’t solve the people, you cannot solve the problem, because you require the people to solve the problem. And I think people don’t break it down like that. They think these problems are just these things that exist on their own, it’s like, no, so we get to the root of it. So moving through that was very difficult.
Some people were able to handle it better than others, and you lean on them maybe a little bit more. I try to do right by people, that’s something I always try to keep close to my heart. Sometimes you get it wrong. And when you make a mistake, it’s what you do next that counts the most. Don’t let that lie; go fix it, go mend it, swallow your pride. But with a team of 300 plus people, and then external partners, you have to learn how to manage your time.
Sometimes it just meant spending more time, which I know is not something a lot of people like to hear. But if you’re going to make something great, there’s a price and usually it’s time. It’s funny that video games get picked on a lot for it, but it’s like the fashion industry. I watched literally a documentary with Marc Jacobs where they’re sewing the last dress while the model is nude, last in the line waiting, and there’s no shade at them. That’s how that industry was working and you think, a writer by themselves, it’s not like, they were like, ‘I’m done writing today,’ some days, you’re gonna write for 16 hours, some days, you’re never gonna write. And so it’s just that aggregate of all the time, is it worth it in the end for what you’ve created? And I think that’s good. But that’s almost like a personal choice everyone has to make.
I asked a lot of developers if they think that conscious, necessary crunch adds to the project. Some said it might benefit you if you do it for a little bit at the end of the project. But if you do it for too long, you’ll face burnout. Would you agree with that?
100%. Think about it like this: If you don’t know exactly what you’re doing in the beginning, it’s almost impossible that people are going to work at 100%. A hypothetical here: If you had a three year project, you’re going to work at 80% for the first year, 100% for the second year and 120% for the third year, right? Because now you can actually put that effort in. Putting effort in when you don’t know what you’re doing is wasteful. Why would you ever ask anyone to do that?
Hey, let’s build a car, and I want you to work 12 hours a day, but we have no chassis. What am I going to do all day? It’s just wasteful. But it’s different for everyone. And there are a lot of theories about this and unions and all that, that I don’t really want to get into right now.
So do you just leave crunching to the individual person’s choice? It could be someone’s passion project to add that crater or some extra features in?
It should never be expected. It’s like, if you want to do a little bit more, great. If you don’t and you can get it done, that’s great, too. Because every department is different as well; a concept artist and a tools programmer are not doing the same work. And so to say that you can have it equal is difficult. And then also, to that point, a concept artist in the beginning, they have a lot of work to do. In the end, they don’t. So their schedule’s almost inverted. They’re [120%] here and then chilling at the end. To expect everybody doing the same hours all the time, again, that’s just foolishness.
Like you don’t do that on a sports team. You don’t have everybody on the court 48 minutes every single night. There’s a reason. It’s rest. Everybody has to rest. Sony to their credit added forced wellness breaks, in the last two years, just to help people realize [they should] take some time off. We know you have to ship and all these things. But even just that was a reminder from corporate saying: We get it. Because there’s a stigma: If I take this off, then it’s gonna impact my performance, blah, blah, blah. But once you have corporate saying “okay,” then it makes everything cool. One of the good things about Sony is they do understand that.
What was it like to take over this series from God of War director Cory Barlog?
We were extremely worried about [public opinion]. Because Cory is a big personality on the internet. And I’m not, and I wasn’t going to be. So we held that back about me taking over until the trailer was out. We didn’t want the team to pay the penalty of me in that switch. So everybody’s like, oh the trailer’s great, and oh, by the way, it wasn’t Cory. But then some people still were like, well, boo now, just because it’s a hard opinion to win over. And I’m not mad at it. But there was a strategic reason for rolling it out that way.
What did you think of Kratos voice actor Chris Judge’s speech?
I went up and hung out in his hotel room afterwards last night until like two in the morning. And we just talked about all the good memories and everything. He’s like a friend for life.
Is there a person in your life that’s like Heimdall, that inspired him?
No. He’s an amalgamation of everything people don’t like about people. But there’s a reason behind it. He can read people’s intentions. Imagine what that would do to you. You could actually read why they don’t like you. And you would just be disgusted by it. He’s just a jerk; we gave him the most punchable face you’ve ever seen.
All of our gods have this kind of flaw. Their ability is also their flaw. Baldur can’t feel things; that drove him nuts. Heimdall being able to see everyone’s intentions, it’s just like, how can you be around people when they always want something, or there’s an ulterior motive? How many people are really genuine, that you can just be like, ‘Bob’s okay. He just wants to go hang out and have a burger.' There are very few people like that in the world.
At the Game Awards, the “Elden Ring” developers said they want to one up themselves and make something more interesting than “Elden Ring” next time. Do you have a thought of what you want to make next?
I think every developer thinks that. No disrespect. Anybody that sets out isn’t like, ‘You know what I’m gonna do today? Middle it.’
You want to progress the medium forward. Sometimes that’s a leap, and sometimes it’s a step. It doesn’t mean that the leap is better than the step. Sometimes the step is just so refined that you can’t ignore it. And sometimes the leap is so big that it’ll change everything. So it’s just where you’re at, and what you need to do with the team and time and money that you have. That’s the trick of it. A lot of games fail because they try to take the leap when they should take the step. And then that can implode a studio and then you lose developers and they get scattered to the wind.
I wonder if you’re excited to tackle a new concept or something that’s not a sequel.
Sure. Those are always interesting ideas. They’re risky. That’s why they’re not attempted very often. I don’t know if I’ve got a really good idea or if Cory does. We’ll have to see, maybe we’ll talk about it in the new year. But I still don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking something that exists and making a really good version of it. It’d be like saying we shouldn’t make any more Spider Man. It’s been done. But that’s not true. There’s always a new take on it. That’s what’s amazing about it.
It’s funny that we lost the concept of the muse. Because you could blame it on them before when it wasn’t good. And you also couldn’t take credit for all of it, because there was a muse. And now it’s like, no, it’s all on you. So you either win, or you’re crushed and depressed. And even when you win, it’s not satisfying to people like that. They’re already depressed because they’re just like, I did all that, now it’s gone. I have start all over again, and do it again. It’s just difficult mentally. So you need mental health. That’s a weird place to be. You gotta really have a strong mental fortitude to go again, even when you miss.
What’s it like for the team to be led by someone with a math and engineering background, rather than a more creative background?
I’m a designer by trade. The designers actually got it worse, probably, than anybody. Because I was like, I could call BS on anything. Whereas other ones I’m like, I don’t know. Is that exactly true? What you’re telling me? It’s gonna take 10 weeks? All right.
I also had to learn how to back off, because you’re not doing it every day. And things change. And they have different ways of doing it. And so it’s a blessing and a curse. Cory was the same way. I remember when he took over, the animators were like yeah! And then they were like, boo, because he was just so strict about the animation. So sometimes having your person is not actually the best idea.
“God of War” won the Innovation in Accessibility Game Award. Do you feel like you put a special amount of effort into the accessibility features? And do you think that should be the standard across the industry?
Yes, I do think it should be a standard, it’s something that the platforms need to take on. I don’t think it should be for every developer to constantly have to come up with it and devote all the time to it. It should be done at a platform level, and then we can access it for what will work best for the games.
Do you feel like the game was exploring masculinity? It’s a very manly game.
It’s always been that. It’s adjusted as we’ve gotten older. We were all in our 20s and stupid when we made the first games, and it was a different time in the world as well. A good friend told me one time is if you’re not embarrassed of who you were five years ago, you’re not growing as a human.
And I think as we’ve grown, Kratos has grown at the same time, but he’s still that guy. At the end of the day, people keep coming to his house, and at some point, you got to defend your house. And that was a big part of the story. It was, everybody comes to his house. And in the end, he goes to their house, and you don’t want him coming to your house.
But even then he gives everybody an opportunity, like, come on, you don’t have to be like this. And it’s very different than it used to be. And I think it’s very in line with the way that masculinity can be [expressed] now. You don’t have to hold everything. You can open up and talk about things but you can also still be strong and you’re the bear that’s gonna defend the fort and the clubs, and that’s okay. Because that needs to still be there, because other people will take advantage of you. There are snakes in the grass at all times. But you don’t have to be ridiculously over the top and gross about it. | 2022-12-14T19:53:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | "God of War" director on Kratos, game development and The Game Awards - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/12/14/god-of-war-eric-williams-qa/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/12/14/god-of-war-eric-williams-qa/ |
An aortic aneurysm killed journalist Grant Wahl. Here’s what you need to know about the condition.
Lindsey Bever
Journalist Grant Wahl is honored before the England-France match Saturday at the World Cup. (Richard Sellers/Getty Images)
Aortic aneurysms are often called “a silent killer,” because many people are not aware they have them until the aneurysms tear or rupture, often resulting in death.
That was apparently the case with journalist Grant Wahl, 49, who collapsed in his seat Friday while covering the World Cup quarterfinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands in Lusail, Qatar.
Wahl’s wife, Céline Gounder, a physician, said that an autopsy confirmed that her husband died “from the rupture of a slowly growing, undetected ascending aortic aneurysm.”
The condition “is just one of those things that had been likely brewing for years,” Gounder said. “For whatever reason, it happened at this point in time.”
The Washington Post spoke to experts about aortic aneurysms — about who is at risk, whether they can be detected through screening and how they are treated. Here’s what they had to say.
Can I be screened for aortic aneurysms?
Are aneurysms always fatal? Is there treatment? | 2022-12-14T19:53:52Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Aortic aneurysms can be silent killers, but they don't have to be fatal - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/12/14/aortic-aneurysm-screening-treatment/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/12/14/aortic-aneurysm-screening-treatment/ |
Bridesmaid distrusts the groom-to-be. Carolyn Hax readers give advice.
Carolyn Hax (The Washington Post)
Hi, Carolyn: One of our best friends just got engaged! I know we should be happy for her, but our friend group is so torn. We don’t like him at all.
He never makes it a priority to see us (I have only seen him a handful of times in their three years together despite seeing her multiple times a week), but expects her to drop everything for his friends. She used to be one of my most confident friends. After they got together, she became incredibly self-deprecating and calls herself fat and an idiot all the time. She makes a lot of jokes about it, too, saying her partner said she was “such an idiot” and laughing about it.
It’s not funny, and I’m worried she’s starting to internalize his thoughts. Some of her other friends have tried to talk to her about it, but she instantly cuts them off. I don’t feel like I can be honest with her without losing her completely — the worst possible scenario. She won’t stop talking to us about how excited she is to marry him, and I can tell she’s happy. That’s the important thing, right? It’s hard to feign enthusiasm for a relationship I’m not super supportive of. Should I just grin and bear it for her overall happiness?
— (Secretly) Bummed Bridesmaid
(Secretly) Bummed Bridesmaid: The fact that your friend immediately cut off the people who have been honest with her reads as insecurity in this relationship on her part. One thing I’ve learned the hard way is that bringing up concerns about a friend’s relationship means you will have less access to the details of their life and relationship (if not being entirely cut off). Also, if it ultimately ends, the last person they want to talk to is the person who warned them; no one likes to admit someone had greater insight into their life than they did.
Be there for her, counter her when she says negative things about herself, and use boundary-setting phrases when her partner insults her, or ask him to repeat himself as though you didn’t hear him the first time. She will probably need someone to talk to through all of this, and the best thing you can do is be a cheerleader for her self-esteem. Then, if she needs to leave him, she’ll have the self-confidence to do so.
— Sarah
(Secretly) Bummed Bridesmaid: Talk with her about the changes you’ve seen in her without ever mentioning her fiance. Reflect back to her the words she’s shared about herself — such as calling herself fat and an idiot — and express your underlying concern that this negative self-talk is harmful to her well-being. Share your own struggles with negative self-talk and self-image, because we all wrestle with these, and underline how committed you are to recognizing these patterns in yourself and balancing them with messages of self-acceptance and love.
Ultimately, what you want for your friend is for her to love and accept herself as well, right? Whether she is married, or in a relationship with anyone, she deserves to feel good about herself.
— Reflect Back
(Secretly) Bummed Bridesmaid: You are in a tough spot, for sure. My first marriage was a HUGE mistake. My dearest friend was my maid of honor. She asked a few questions along the “Are you sure?” lines, and then decided it was most important to support me in my choices about my own life and happiness.
When it ended in disaster nine months later, she felt awful for not pushing harder. We talked about it, and I told her, honestly, that I probably would not have listened. I might have even been foolish enough to consider the friendship damaged. My best friend and I agreed after that experience that we would be the kind of friends who were honest and who trusted the other person’s honesty. That we would never let it interfere with our friendship.
We were that for each other for 35 years — she died in March. We talked each other out of or through some real challenges in that time. It was a blessing, if occasionally an uncomfortable one, to have one friend who would always give me an outside perspective from a place of love and familiarity. Is she that kind of friend for you? Or is she close enough that you’d feel comfortable initiating an “Are we this kind of friends?” discussion? If not, then it might be best to just ask, “Are you really sure about this? It’s such a big step!” If she insists she is sure, and your biggest motivation is keeping her friendship, then let it go. Be there for her, and hope you are wrong and console yourself that — if you are right — she’s going to need a friend.
— SonomaLass
Every week, we ask readers to answer a question submitted to Carolyn Hax’s live chat or email. Read last week’s installment here. New questions are typically posted on Fridays, with a Monday deadline for submissions. Responses are anonymous unless you choose to identify yourself, and they are edited for length and clarity. | 2022-12-14T20:25:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Bridesmaid distrusts the groom-to-be. Carolyn Hax readers give advice. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/12/14/carolyn-hax-bridesmaid-distrusts-groom/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/12/14/carolyn-hax-bridesmaid-distrusts-groom/ |
Milton Viorst, writer who explored Mideast affairs, dies at 92
Mr. Viorst, a Washington journalist, covered the Persian Gulf War for the New Yorker. He also wrote books on the Middle East.
Journalist and author Milton Viorst, in an undated photo. (Family photo)
Milton Viorst, a journalist and author who mixed traditional reportage and historical analysis to explore subjects from the 1960s rights struggles to Middle East strife, including assertions that massive U.S. military aid to Israel has hurt chances for peace, died Dec. 9 at a hospital in Washington. He was 92.
His son Alexander Viorst confirmed the death but did not provide a cause.
Over a career spanning seven decades and more than 10 books, Mr. Viorst toggled between the worlds of on-the-scene reporting for the New Yorker and other mainstream publications, and scholarly research and policy punditry on U.S. affairs and the Middle East.
His multiple styles expanded his influence and audience but could also blur perceptions of whether Mr. Viorst was mostly an advocate, analyst or observer. He saw no contradictions in sometimes being all at once. Mr. Viorst described his 1987 book on Israel’s past and future, “Sands of Sorrow” as “part journalism, part historical and political commentary, part personal odyssey” as an American Jew.
Mr. Viorst’s overlapping roles as journalist and policy analyst were most vividly on display in Iraq, which he covered as a staff writer for the New Yorker from 1988 to 1993. He chronicled the 1991 U.S.-led war to oust Iraqi forces from Kuwait and Saddam Hussein’s withering attacks to put down internal uprisings by Shiites and Kurds challenging his Sunni Muslim-led regime in Baghdad.
“Fifty-millimeter machine-gun shells littered the ground. … The wall surrounding the Shrine of Hussein looked as if it had been struck by an earthquake,” he wrote in a 1991 story for the New Yorker from Karbala, Iraq, after government forces crushed Shiite protests. “The colorful mosaic tiles, the granite facing, and the ceramic grilles that covered the windows were scattered all over the pavement.”
He publicly argued that American administrations should have sought dialogue with Baghdad rather than isolation. He called for the United States to keep open channels with Hussein, who was a U.S. ally for much of the 1980s while Iraq was at war with Iran.
He also warned presciently of the risks from further U.S. military action in Iraq. The U.S.-led invasion in 2003 opened years of civil war and bloodshed that claimed the lives of about 4,500 U.S. service personnel and more than 100,000 Iraqi insurgents and civilians, according to monitoring groups. And as Mr. Viorst and others predicted, Hussein’s fall from power in 2003 allowed Iran to exert enormous influence in Iraq through Shiite political factions and militias.
Mr. Viorst’s books on the Arab world — and wider Muslim region including Iran and Turkey — wove historical context, such as the fall of the Ottoman Empire and Western colonialism, into his own reporting. The narratives sought to explain the enduring tensions and misunderstandings between Islam and the West — “a 1,400-year struggle between the Arab world and the Christian West,” he once said.
A review in Foreign Policy of Mr. Viorst’s “In the Shadow of the Prophet” (1998), called him “a master interviewer” who “did the work of tracking down representative figures on all sides.”
“We Americans think of ourselves as being so noble in bringing democracy to them,” he told the Carnegie Council in a 2006 interview. “What they see is the same old Western imperialism coming again, with an American flag rather than a British or a French flag, and democracy is just a trick. They had a lot of unhappy years with democracy, and I’m not sure that they see it as the wave of the future.”
Washington reporting
Milton Viorst was born Feb. 18, 1930, in Paterson, N.J., where his father was a shoe salesman and mother was a homemaker. He graduated in 1951 from Rutgers University and did postgraduate study at the University of Lyon in France as a Fulbright scholar.
He served two years with Air Force intelligence units, then received a master’s degree in history from Harvard University in 1955 and in journalism from Columbia University in 1956.
He worked at The Washington Post from 1957 to 1961, then moved to the New York Post as a Washington correspondent and Washington Star as a political writer and columnist. He chronicled history-shaping topics such as the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the civil rights movement and the Watergate scandal.
Mr. Viorst signed a “war tax protest pledge” in 1968 with other journalists and editors, vowing to hold back tax payments to protest the Vietnam War. He said his stance landed him on President Richard M. Nixon’s list of political opponents. In 1980, he looked back on a nation in flux with his book “Fire in the Streets: America in the 1960s.”
“What the sixties showed was that the dynamism was so great [that] that political system was unable to accommodate it,” he said after the book’s release. “That’s why people had to go outside the system to force it to act.”
During reporting trips to Israel and Palestinian territories beginning the 1970s, Mr. Viorst contributed articles to outlets including the Los Angeles Times and Atlantic. He developed one overriding thesis: The huge U.S. military pipeline to Israel changed the country’s character and priorities, including expanding West Bank settlements, to block any meaningful concessions to Palestinians for peace.
Among Israelis, it made Mr. Viorst either a brave truth teller or a naive apologist. The conservative Jewish-focused magazine Commentary dismissed his book “Sands of Sorrow” as a “fairy tale masquerading as history.”
“We are certainly not asking the Israelis to make existential sacrifices, we are asking them to make political changes,” Mr. Viorst told the PBS show “The Open Mind” in 2006.
In 1960, he married Judith Stahl, a poet and author of children’s literature including the bestseller “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” (published in 1972 under her married name). In 1970, they collaborated on “The Washington, D.C. Underground Gourmet.”
In addition to his wife, of Washington, survivors include three sons, Anthony Viorst of Denver, Nicholas Viorst of Queens and Alexander Viorst of Washington; and seven grandchildren.
Into his 70s, Mr. Viorst kept up a prolific pace of articles and commentary for Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, Esquire and other publications.
At times, Mr. Viorst faced other criticism from Muslim scholars and writers who saw his work as over-reliant on Western values and perceptions. In 1999, he engaged in a literary sparing match with the Palestinian American writer and historian Edward Said.
Writing in the Nation, Said called Mr. Viorst’s mostly favorable analysis on the legacy of Jordan’s late King Hussein full of “deep Orientalist ignorance” and “racist highhandedness from a journalist whose credentials to make such judgments about the Arabs are not immediately apparent or available.”
In Al-Ahram Weekly, Mr. Viorst fired back: “Said’s indignation exceeds his wisdom,” he wrote. “As one of his grad students in comparative lit might say, ‘C’mon, Cher Edouard, get real!’” | 2022-12-14T21:13:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Milton Viorst, journalist who covered and critiqued Mideast, dies at 92 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/14/milton-viorst-journalist-mideast-dies/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/14/milton-viorst-journalist-mideast-dies/ |
The rise and fall of cryptocurrencies over the past decade has been accompanied by an extraordinary degree of waste.
Trillions in notional market value was created, traded, and then evaporated. As much as 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere every year by crypto miners, equivalent to the carbon footprint of the Netherlands. Hundreds of thousands of computer mining rigs are sitting in unopened boxes, according to Coindesk, waiting for prices to rise enough to make connecting them profitable. In previous bear markets, truckloads of burned-out mining rigs have reportedly been sold for scrap.
Next to all those, though, there’s an extraordinary waste of human creativity. As Matt Levine chronicled in a recent Bloomberg BusinessWeek story, the institutions created by crypto enthusiasts were little less than a mirror financial system, complete with protocols for lending money, creating derivatives, writing contracts, and settling trades. The fact that this architecture was structurally compromised, and has collapsed under its own weight, doesn’t take away from the mass of ingenuity that went into creating it.
At an end-of-term party at my children’s school earlier this month, I found myself chatting to a friend about the collapse of FTX, the crypto exchange run by Sam Bankman-Fried. To my surprise, my friend — a thoughtful, gentle doctor and father of three — had a more than academic interest in the subject. Last year, he spent A$2,000 ($1,367) on crypto and treated it like a hobby, avoiding further investments and making and selling NFT art as a sideline. (1)
He’s scarcely alone. More than half of the adult population of Nigeria and Turkey buy or sell cryptocurrencies every month, according to a July survey by Morning Consult, a business data company. In all, in the region of 900 million people — around one in every seven adults on the planet — make regular transactions on the blockchain, based on the survey’s figures.
It’s impossible to know the motivation of all this activity. For all the attention garnered by testosterone- and adderall-fueled crypto traders and broke billionaires trying to escape the long arm of justice, the vast majority of players in crypto are likely to be doing it for more mundane reasons.
All that Nigerian and Turkish activity is likely driven by a very understandable desire by mom-and-pop savers to escape those countries’ foreign-exchange controls and double-digit inflation. Others will be doing it as a creative and intellectual outlet, like my friend. Others will buy crypto in the same way that they might have an occasional flutter on a lottery ticket or a horse race.
For the record, I’ve never believed any of the claims of crypto’s boosters — that it’s a viable alternative to fiat currency or a stable store of wealth, or even that it has any place in an investment portfolio. The fact that so many ordinary people have invested in crypto should worry governments, and make them much more ready not just to regulate the nascent industry but crack down on it to ensure people’s savings aren’t wasted on a Ponzi scheme. The fact that it’s pumping vast volumes of carbon into the atmosphere should encourage them to force activity onto the less harmful proof-of-stake protocol used by Ethereum, rather than Bitcoin’s emissions-intensive proof-of-work.
Nonetheless, you don’t have to believe the millenarian claims of blockchain’s online evangelists to think it deserves its place in the world. Plenty of human activities serve no very obvious fundamental need, and may even be mildly harmful, from art to gambling and fashion to drinking alcohol. The pleasure that people derive from such aimless activity should be recognized as a worthwhile end in itself.(2)
A better comparison might be another group of idealistic eccentrics which celebrates its annual holiday this Thursday. Speakers of the invented language Esperanto, developed by Polish ophthalmologist LL Zamenhof in 1887, have pursued their own hobby on a global scale for more than a century. The language has long been a pastime of brilliant, quixotic visionaries who’ve made a genuine impact in the non-Esperanto world — from the writers Leo Tolstoy and JRR Tolkien to figures such as Ho Chi Minh, Pope John Paul II, and George Soros.
Esperantists have their own flag and radio broadcasts, and have on several occasions tried to come up with a currency based on slightly creaky economics (one early variant was fixed to the price of bread in the Netherlands). To this day, they write Esperanto-language poetry and novels, hold annual conferences, and stay in each other’s houses when traveling. They even made a 1960s horror B-movie starring William Shatner, entirely scripted in poorly pronounced Esperanto. In short, they’ve created a remarkably fertile and sustainable worldwide community of oddball enthusiasts.
That suggests a more hopeful future for crypto than the current conflagration would suggest. Mandate deposit limits similar to those advocated for online gambling and shift activity away from proof-of-work, and it will be possible to balance the genuine interest of millions with the need to prevent harm to people and the planet.
Amid the ruins of 2022’s crypto bust, we should feel quite comfortable at that prospect. Almost every harmless amusement that humans engage in was once novel and frowned on by those who didn’t enjoy it. Someday soon, crypto and NFTs will join the ranks of such activities. Past their angry adolescence, they’ll no longer seek to change the world. They’re likely to find something better, though: The realization that often, happiness and undirected pleasure can be its own reward.
• Sam Bankman-Fried’s Apology Is as Hollow as His Empire: Lionel Laurent
• What 16th-Century Venice Teaches Us About Crypto: David Fickling
(1) He reckons he’s still ahead on his investment, while admitting that most of that value is tied up in the notional sale prices of his illiquid NFT artworks.
(2) Jeremy Bentham, whose utilitarian philosophy is a wellspring for the creed of effective altruism professed by many crypto players, argued that push-pin, a popular children’s game, was as worthwhile an activity as poetry and music. | 2022-12-14T21:22:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Here’s to Crypto Going the Way of Esperanto - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/heres-to-crypto-going-the-way-of-esperanto/2022/12/14/16b55562-7bf3-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/heres-to-crypto-going-the-way-of-esperanto/2022/12/14/16b55562-7bf3-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
Volunteers with Food Justice DMV keep receiving desperate texts from parents. What they’re not receiving: Enough used toys to give families.
Two children holding the toys they received last year from Food Justice DMV. (Olga Mateo)
The texts and WhatsApp messages started coming in September, and they have grown more frequent and more desperate.
Most have been written in Spanish, and all have come from parents unsure of where else to turn for help.
“This Christmas will you give away toys or clothes for the children?” reads one message.
Another: “I have no way of giving my children a present for Christmas. And we don't know what to do.”
And another: “I do not have a gift for my baby.”
Denise Woods shared those and other messages with me on a recent afternoon. She has received about 20 messages and phone calls from one mother alone, asking if there was any way someone could help her get a doll and a toy kitchen for her daughter.
“You know that experience where your kid is laser-focused on something?” Woods said, explaining why that mom wants so badly to fulfill her daughter’s wishes and why Woods has been asking around for a used doll and toy kitchen. “The people who text me are just so worried about not having gifts for their kids.”
While many groups collect toys for low-income families at this time of year, Food Justice DMV, a volunteer collective that Woods founded, serves a population that often falls beyond the reach of other organized efforts. The volunteers work with migrant families in the Washington region, a population that has understandably shown a hesitancy to reach out to organizations for help. Among their fears: They might be required to fill out paperwork in a language they don’t read. They might be asked to present documents they don’t have. They might find their families split up if someone decides to report them to immigration authorities.
Food Justice DMV grew out of the pandemic to make sure those families wouldn’t go hungry at a time when many were being pushed out of the workforce and left without federal assistance. When volunteers started collecting food to distribute, they expected to serve 200 families. But as word spread that help was available, they started hearing from more people. Volunteers now serve more than 8,000 families, including migrants who were bused to D.C. from Texas and Florida as part of a political stunt by the governors in those states.
During most of the year, the work of Food Justice DMV involves gathering rice, beans and other food items to give to families.
But during this time of year, volunteers also try to collect enough used toys to distribute to the children in those families. They ask for “dignity-standard, secondhand goods” to minimize waste and because in an area as wealthy as Washington, they know many families have toys sitting in playrooms and attics that their children have outgrown.
“It’s a wealth transfer, from people who have more than enough to people who have literally nothing,” Woods said. “Last year, we gave a boy a stuffed animal, and he burst into tears. He didn’t think anyone was going to give him anything for Christmas.”
She recalled crying when she saw a photo taken of the boy. She shared it with me. In it, his eyes are closed tight as he clutches a stuffed dog that has a tag hanging from its ear. It reads, “Chance” and “PetSmart,” offering the animal’s name and indicating it was sold at a pet store.
Hungry and homeless: Life for a migrant family in the nation’s capital
That year, volunteers collected plenty of toys to hand out to families. This year, they are worried they won’t have enough.
“In comparison to last year, it’s a dribble,” Woods said. “Last year, it was a flood.”
Woods described a dire situation in an email she recently sent to supporters and volunteers.
“This is our third annual Santa con Sabor and while previous years we had to get a pickup truck and have Santa Cecilia, one of our powerhouse Latina leaders, pick up extra gifts, this year we are sending out an SOS,” she wrote in that email. The phrase “we are sending out an SOS” appeared in bold. “Not only are donations for our Latin menu food way down, but so are gifts.”
Last year, volunteers provided a holiday package of food to each family that included chicken. This year, they don’t have enough to buy every family masa, a staple in many Latino households.
“It pains me that people who have lost all coming here, may not celebrate Navidad the way they deserve and the way we want: a warm plate of food from home … and a side of gifts,” Woods wrote. “I am not sure where the Christmas spirit is, but we forge ahead and hope that we will receive more dinero for food and regalos so that Brown and Black Latino/a/e families have a Navidad full of love, welcome and joy!”
The group is collecting used toys at locations in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. Areas have been designated for 24/7 drop-offs outside of Cedar Lane Church in Bethesda, Md., and Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ in Arlington, Va. They are also being collected inside, during certain hours, at the Grace Episcopal Church in Silver Spring, Md., and the Church of the Good Shepherd in Burke, Va. In D.C., the restaurant Atxondo is collecting them inside on the days it’s open.
On Saturday, volunteers with Food Justice DMV plan to place all the toys (and items for adults) on tables inside a Virginia church and let parents choose what they want. Then, if any toys are left over or collected in the days that follow, they will be given to community leaders to distribute to families in their buildings, schools and churches. That way they will reach families who couldn’t make it on Saturday.
Already, Woods and other volunteers know some families won’t be able to make it to the Saturday event.
“I don’t drive,” reads one message received from a parent. “I can’t go to there, and I don’t have money to buy gifts for the children.” | 2022-12-14T21:23:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A group that gives toys to migrant children just put out an SOS - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/14/toys-migrant-children-christmas/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/14/toys-migrant-children-christmas/ |
Homicide victim’s remains found 31 years ago identified using DNA
Robert A. Mullins went missing 31 years ago just south of Columbus, Ohio. His death is now being investigated as a homicide. (Courtesy of Pickaway County Sheriff's Office)
Skeletal remains discovered decades ago have been identified using DNA analysis, Ohio law enforcement officials announced Tuesday.
Robert A. Mullins, a 21-year-old man from Columbus, went missing between November 1988 and April 1989, according to the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office. His death is now being investigated as a homicide.
Recent advances in DNA technology have helped law enforcement make cold case breakthroughs more frequently. Last week, DNA analysis identified Philadelphia’s infamous “Boy in the Box” after 65 years.
In the case of Mullins, hunters found skeletal remains in a shallow grave along a private farm on Nov. 1, 1991. Investigators have stayed on the case ever since.
Scientists at North Texas University examined the bones in 2012 and extracted DNA that proved that the remains were those of a man — a big discovery, because investigators initially thought the bones belonged to a woman because of the victim’s estimated height.
A police lieutenant and the county coroner in 2021 sought to use genetic genealogy for leads, according to the sheriff’s office. In January 2022, the pair contracted with AdvanceDNA, a firm that analyzes DNA for public and private groups.
AdvanceDNA met with the sheriff’s office 31 years to the day the remains were found. The firm uploaded his DNA into a database, and after extensive research and help from private citizens, police linked the remains to Mullins.
The lieutenant and coroner met with the Mullins family, who provided DNA samples that confirmed that the remains were his.
“They report that efforts were made to locate him across the years, however, the attempts were unsuccessful. Robert’s absence was a great source of pain in their lives, especially in the life of his late mother Catherine, who never stopped looking for her son,” the sheriff’s office said.
The family told investigators that Mullins, who stood 5-foot-3, was living on the northeast side of Columbus when he went missing in late 1988 or early 1989 at age 21 — all of which lined up with what law enforcement officials had found.
“Thirty-one Christmases have gone by while this family waited for answers,” said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. “When the results weren’t immediate and the case grew cool, Pickaway County law enforcement dug in their heels and kept trying until the evolution of DNA technology finally yielded an identity for John Doe.”
Anyone with information about the homicide case can contact Lt. Johnathan Strawser with the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office at 740-474-2176. | 2022-12-14T21:23:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | DNA identifies skeletal remains of Robert A. Mullins after 31 years - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/skeletal-remains-dna-robert-mullins-ohio/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/14/skeletal-remains-dna-robert-mullins-ohio/ |
Justice Dept. says Calif. city to repeal ‘crime free’ housing program
City of Hesperia and San Bernardino County sheriff’s office agree to end program that authorities said targeted Black and Latino tenants
The Justice Department on Wednesday announced a settlement with the city of Hesperia, Calif., to repeal a “crime free” housing ordinance that authorities said targeted Black and Latino tenants for eviction.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said the city and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which enforced the program, have agreed to pay $950,000 in compensation and damages to resolve a federal lawsuit filed in 2019.
The Justice Department sued the city over a city ordinance enacted in 2016 that required landlords to evict any adult tenants within three days if they had engaged in criminal activity on or near their properties.
Authorities said the city and sheriff’s office used the program to force out Black and Latino tenants. In one case, Clarke said, a Black woman called police to report she felt unsafe around her boyfriend, after which the sheriff’s office told her landlord that there had been a number of domestic disturbances at the residence. The woman was evicted and moved into a hotel. After her attempts to rent another unit were rejected, she moved across the country, Clarke said.
Clarke said the settlement was the first of its kind involving a “crime free” housing program, saying that an estimated 2,000 jurisdictions have enacted similar ordinances. The Justice Department largely views such initiatives as discriminatory and “contradictory to the goals of the Fair Housing Act,” she said.
The Hesperia ordinance was “a blatantly racially discriminatory solution to a problem that didn’t exist,” Clarke said. “This should send a strong message to jurisdictions that they can and will be held accountable when they adopt discriminatory ordinances.”
The federal complaint cited a city council member, who died in 2018, as saying that the ordinance was needed to “correct a demographical problem” and that the people to be targeted offered “no value to this community, period.”
Under the settlement, the city and sheriff’s office are to pay $670,000 to compensate tenants harmed by the program, $95,000 to help promote fair housing initiatives, $85,000 to build community partnerships and $100,000 in damages.
E. Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said that authorities have identified 15 people who were evicted and that they are looking to see whether there are others.
The city manager’s office and the sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. | 2022-12-14T21:23:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Justice Dept. says Calif. city to repeal ‘crime free’ housing program - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/14/justice-dept-says-calif-city-repeal-crime-free-housing-program/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/14/justice-dept-says-calif-city-repeal-crime-free-housing-program/ |
Matt Adams agreed to a minor league deal with the Nationals on Wednesday, with an invitation to spring training. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
The Washington Nationals agreed to minor league deals with four players on Wednesday morning, including a familiar face in first baseman Matt Adams. They also signed infielder Travis Blankenhorn and right-handed pitchers Anthony Castro and Tommy Romero. All of them were extended invites to major league spring training.
Adams, 34, was a member of the Nationals’ 2019 World Series team and played in 111 regular season games that year, though he missed the playoffs with an injury. Adams played 22 games with the Rockies in 2021, but hasn’t been in the majors since. He spent last season with the Kansas City Monarchs, an independent team in the Independent American Association.
Manager Dave Martinez said last week at the winter meetings that he hoped the team would sign a left-handed bat that added defensive versatility. But Martinez also said the team’s roster is flexible enough that they could look at a variety of players in the free agent market.
“We’re kind of weighing all the options of what we want to do,” Martinez said. “Whether it’s an outfielder we could platoon with or it could be an infielder that we find out there that we can get, like I said, and he can hit righties really well.”
Adams by no means is guaranteed a spot on the Opening Day roster. The Nationals could very well sign more left-handed options before spring training. But his signing presents a low-risk reunion between him and the Nationals to see if he could fill the team’s needs. Adams is a career .268 hitter against righties compared to .210 against lefties. Of his 118 home runs, 100 have come against right-handed pitchers. He doesn’t necessarily have the defensive versatility that Martinez mentioned though; he’s started 576 games at first base and just 35 in the outfield.
But if Adams were to make the Opening Day roster, he could be a designated hitter and the Nationals could find a right-handed hitter to platoon with him. Or Adams could give Martinez another option to play first base and give off days to Joey Meneses, whom Martinez wants to play at first base during the season.
“I know he’s a rookie, but he’s an older rookie,” Martinez said about Meneses. “His days off probably would be DH’ing, if we could find someone who could possibly play first base and play some left field, that would be great.”
Adams could be one player who gets a shot in spring training. But the Nationals might sign more outfielders, with four right-handed outfielders currently on their roster (Alex Call, Stone Garrett, Victor Robles and Lane Thomas). Another player who would fit the profile of a player Martinez discussed is Dom Smith, who was non-tendered by the Mets this offseason but can play first base, outfield or designated hitter and won’t cost a steep price. But with Washington’s ownership situation still unresolved, it’s unclear how much the front office will spend.
The Nationals have made a few moves so far, albeit not huge ones. They’ve agreed to major league deals with Jeimer Candelario — who also could play first base — Trevor Williams and Garrett already. They also agreed to a one-year deal with infielder Ildemaro Vargas to avoid arbitration earlier this offseason, but there hasn’t been a ton of action otherwise.
Of the others who signed on Wednesday, Romero will return to the Nationals after making one start in Washington’s penultimate series last season. He was designated for assignment on Nov. 15 to clear roster space for the team’s Rule 5 protections. Castro spent last year with the Cleveland Guardians and Baltimore Orioles. Blankenhorn has played 26 majors league games in his career. | 2022-12-14T21:24:21Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Nats sign Matt Adams, Travis Blankenhorn, Anthony Castro, Tommy Romero - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/14/matt-adams-nationals-minor-league-deal/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/14/matt-adams-nationals-minor-league-deal/ |
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has proposed a hard salary cap system in ongoing labor talks with the National Basketball Players Association. (Jeff Chiu/AP)
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association will have until Feb. 8, 2023, to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement after the two sides agreed Wednesday to extend the deadline for their ongoing labor talks.
Per the original terms of the current collective bargaining agreement, which runs through the 2023-24 season, both sides had the right to opt out of the deal before Thursday. If either side had opted out, the current agreement would have ended on June 30, 2023. With their mutual agreement to push back the deadline by nearly two months, the NBA and players union can continue to negotiate a new agreement that would avert the possibility of a lockout next summer.
The NBA’s rapid financial growth, and the likelihood that its next round of media rights deals generate even greater profits, combine to give the owners and players ample motivation to reach a new labor deal before the new deadline.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in July that the league posted a record $10 billion in revenue for the 2021-22 season, and early reports indicate that the next media rights deals could more than double in size when the current deals expire in 2025. Tamika Tremaglio, the NBPA’s executive director, and New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum, the union president, have long maintained that revenue generation is one of their top priorities.
In hopes of spurring greater competitive balance between big-market and small-market teams, people with knowledge of the talks said that the NBA is pursuing an “Upper Spending Limit” — a hard salary cap system that would prevent teams from spending above a certain threshold on player salaries.
There is no hard limit under the current collective bargaining agreement, but teams face escalating penalties when they vastly exceed the salary cap. In recent years, the Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Clippers have poured unprecedented amounts of money into their rosters, with the Warriors spending a record $346 million on salaries and luxury taxes last year.
After footing that bill, Warriors owner Joe Lacob said last summer that the luxury tax system was “incredibly penal” and “very unfair,” and he asserted that the “hardest part” of building a title team is “navigating this luxury tax.”
When the NBA has pursued a hard cap concept in past labor negotiations, the NBPA has been adamant in its opposition. In theory, a hard cap would limit the players’ collective earning power and make it more difficult for them to change teams in free agency or by trade.
The NBA and NBPA have also discussed altering the draft eligibility guidelines to allow players to enter the league immediately after they finish high school. Under the current rules, players must wait a year before gaining their eligibility.
“I think that [lowering the age limit] will be the right thing to do,” Silver said in July. “I’m hopeful that that’s a change we make in this next collective bargaining cycle.”
Silver added at the time that the league’s other priorities included curbing public trade requests and adding “additional incentives” that would encourage star players to play in as many games as possible. The NBA, which added a play-in tournament to its postseason format in 2020, is also expected to soon adopt an in-season tournament.
After an extended lockout that shortened the 2011-12 season, the NBA and the NBPA avoided a work stoppage by agreeing to the current collective bargaining agreement in December 2016. During the 2015-16 season, the NBA’s salary cap was $70 million. This year, that figure has risen to $123 million. Similarly, the NBA’s average franchise value has increased from $1.25 billion in 2016 to $2.86 billion in 2022, according to Forbes. | 2022-12-14T21:24:27Z | www.washingtonpost.com | NBA and players union push back deadline for labor talks - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/14/nba-labor-contract-negotiations/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/14/nba-labor-contract-negotiations/ |
Prince William supervisors approve plan for growth through 2040
Environmental and slow-growth activists at a Prince William Board of County Supervisors meeting in November. (Valerie Plesch for The Washington Post)
Prince William County early Wednesday adopted an 18-year road map for new development, an effort to accommodate an expected 100,000 additional residents by 2040 that drew fierce opposition from some residents in long-protected rural areas targeted for more density.
The Northern Virginia county’s “Pathway to 2040” comprehensive plan encourages more multifamily housing, mixed-use neighborhoods and more commercial and industrial development — including a data center development that has sparked controversy in the western part of the county.
The county’s board of supervisors approved the various portions of the plan — covering land use, mobility, housing, sewers and utilities — in a series of 5-2 votes during an eight-hour meeting that ended about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.
“I think we’re going to get a lot of really great development in all parts of the county out of this plan,” Ann Wheeler (D), the board chair, said before the board voted to approve the proposed guidelines for land use. But “it’s not all happening tomorrow. It’s happening over the next 20 years.”
Supervisors Jeanine Lawson (R-Brentsville) and Yesli Vega (R-Coles) voted against the various components, citing their opposition to allowing more density in the county’s rural areas.
Supervisor Pete Candland (R-Gainesville), who recently announced his resignation after agreeing to include his family’s home in a proposal to create a 2,100-acre data center complex in his district, did not participate in the meeting.
Discussions around the plan began in 2016, with some aspects approved by the board in recent years.
Most of the new development will revolve around 24 “activity centers” that would function as residential and commercial hubs in the county of 487,000 residents.
To match that growth, roads will be widened, bike lanes will be created, some struggling areas will be targeted for revitalization, and the county’s sewer system will be expanded into areas that rely on groundwater wells.
That proposed sewer expansion and a re-designation of the “rural crescent,” where most types of nonagricultural development has been restricted to one house per 10 acres since the late 1990s, drew the most opposition.
Residents in the Gainesville area, many of whom fought the 2,100-acre “Digital Gateway” data center complex land-use designation approved by the board last month, pushed for the board to delay its vote until Candland’s replacement is elected.
They also argued against extending sewer lines into rural areas, saying it would accelerate the suburban and industrial “sprawl” that has been creeping into less densely populated portions of the county and posing environmental hazards.
“Water and sewer, when you expand it into any area, is a goad for the builders and developers,” Gary O’Brien, president of the Landview Estates Civic Association in western Prince William, told the board during a public hearing portion of the meeting. “It gives them carte blanche to build wherever they want and puts no brakes on development.”
County officials said the fact that the eastern portions of the county are largely built out makes it necessary to expand into some rural areas.
Along those lines, the plan eliminated the “rural crescent” designation and replaced it with a “conservation residential” land-use designation that would allow as many as two homes per acre if half of the total development is preserved as open space.
Large portions of rural land would fall under an “agricultural and forestry” classification, limiting development to one home per every 10 acres, though that designation isn’t permanent, according to the plan.
The rural areas would also be targeted for mixed-use developments, in the form of “hamlets” and “villages” that combine single-family homes and businesses with infrastructure upgrades. One hamlet would be in the Woolsey area, in the northwestern portion of the county, while another would be near Lake Jackson, in the center of Prince William.
A primary concern laid out in the plan was to encourage the development of more affordable housing in the county.
The plan calls for developing 69,000 homes affordable to families earning less than 80 percent of the area median income by 2040, and nearly 88,000 “workforce housing” units affordable to those earning less than 120 percent of the area median income during the same period. Much of that would occur near bus routes or train stations, with long-term plans to attract more commuter rail to the county.
The plan also encourages new housing and businesses near the county government complex in Woodbridge, the Potomac Mills area and revitalized corridors along Route 1 and Sudley Road.
Additional data center development is proposed for various sections of the county, including where the Digital Gateway project is planned.
Data centers would also be allowed under the plan in the area near Devlin and Linton Hall roads in western Prince William, where a project to build a “Devlin Technology Park” near a local elementary school was deferred earlier this year by its developer amid protests.
The county board would still need to approve an application to rezone 270 acres of that land for the project to go forward.
While the comprehensive plan takes a long view of growth-related issues that future county boards will face, its approval Wednesday may factor into next year’s local elections in Prince William, some opponents said.
“The land-use issue in this county will become the defining issue for every single one of you,” Vida Carroll, a resident in Nokesville, told the board. “Remember this. We’re heading into the campaign cycle.” | 2022-12-14T21:44:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Data centers, more housing part of Prince William County's 18-year road map for growth - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/14/prince-william-county-data-centers-plan/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/14/prince-william-county-data-centers-plan/ |
Capitals’ star Alex Ovechkin achieves 800 career goals
Ovechkin’s 3 goals in Tuesday’s game makes him the third National Hockey League player ever to reach 800.
The Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin holds his 798, 799 and 800th career goal pucks in the locker room next to hats collected for his hat trick after Tuesday's NHL hockey game against the Chicago Blackhawks. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
The Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin became the third National Hockey League (NHL) player to reach 800 career goals when he scored three times Tuesday night, touching off a wild celebration for his team and an appreciative crowd in Chicago, Illinois.
Ovechkin scored on his first two shots, beating Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek 24 seconds into the game before stuffing one home on a power play later in the first period. The 37-year-old winger then completed his 29th career hat trick when he knocked Anthony Mantha’s pass over a sprawled Mrazek in the third.
The rest of the Capitals jumped off the bench to celebrate after the milestone goal, and hats rained down on the ice from the crowd. Fans in Chicago then chanted “Ovi! Ovi!” — drawing a wave from Ovechkin.
The star forward moved within one goal of Detroit Red Wings great Gordie Howe for second all-time. Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton and Los Angeles), whose career holds the record with 894 goals.
Can Ovechkin beat Gretzky's record? It's a great question.
“It’s a big number,” Ovechkin said. “It’s the best company [you can] ever imagine since you started playing hockey.”
“I think once he’s going to be Number 1 he can have a sense of relief,” Mantha said. “Until then, I think he’s on the hunt, and that’s what we love about him.”
Ovechkin has been one of the NHL’s most powerful scorers practically since he got two goals in his debut with Washington on October 5, 2005. The 12-time all-star has nine seasons with at least 50 goals, including a career-high 65 during the 2007-2008 season. The three-time most-valuable player, whose team won the Stanley Cup in 2018, had 50 goals and 40 assists in 77 games last season. | 2022-12-14T22:41:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Capitals’ star Alex Ovechkin achieves 800 career goals - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost/2022/12/14/capitals-star-alex-ovechkin-achieves-800-career-goals/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/kidspost/2022/12/14/capitals-star-alex-ovechkin-achieves-800-career-goals/ |
Why the E.U.’s carbon border tax is a very bad idea
Concrete mixer trucks parked at a factory in Anyang, South Korea, on Nov. 28. (Kim Jong-Taek/AP)
It will likely be even harder for them to switch to renewable power sources such as wind or solar, which are capital intensive and often require large public subsidies to remain economically viable. Rich nations can afford that, but places such as Bangladesh probably cannot afford it at the scale needed. That means serious energy transition in the developing world would likely take large quantities of Western capital. That’s not likely to happen, especially if government money or guarantees are needed to spur that investment. Voters are not likely to tax themselves to pay foreigners to compete with them.
These considerations likely mean the E.U.’s tariffs will slowly encourage firms to produce energy-intensive goods in the developed world. That on-shoring might help workers in those countries with the return of relatively high-paying jobs. But it also means consumers in those countries will pay more for previously imported goods, as labor and energy costs cause prices to rise. This transfer of wealth from one class to another will be difficult to manage, especially if it happens as rapidly as climate activists hope.
Developing countries will feel lots of pain as a result. Jobs that once pulled their citizens out of poverty will disappear. Globalization unsettled the developed world, but it was a boon for poorer nations. In 1990, more than a third of the world lived in extreme poverty. By 2015, that rate had fallen to less than 10 percent. Slowing or even reversing globalization will stop this progress in its tracks. | 2022-12-14T22:45:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Why the E.U.’s carbon border tax is a very bad idea - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/eu-carbon-tariff-climate-change-bad-idea/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/eu-carbon-tariff-climate-change-bad-idea/ |
A group of migrants, mostly from Cuba, line up to board a bus after crossing the border near Yuma, Ariz., and surrendering to authorities to apply for asylum on Nov. 3. (Gregory Bull/AP)
In the 2021 fiscal year, we had more than 1.7 million encounters at the Southern border. That was a record … until this fiscal year, when it rose to almost 2.4 million. And the 2023 fiscal year, which began in October, has already seen more than 500,000 encounters — putting us on track to exceed this year’s record.
That’s not all. In 2021, there were nearly 390,000 known “gotaways” — migrants we know evaded U.S. Customs and Border Protection and slipped into the country; this year, the number of gotaways grew to more than 600,000. In 2021, there were 15 terrorism watch list arrests at the border; this year, that grew to 98 (and who knows how many violent criminals were among the gotaways). In 2021, more than 557 migrants are known to have died crossing the border illegally; this year, that rose to more than 800 migrants. That figure does not include a 22-year-old National Guard soldier, Sgt. Bishop E. Evans, who gave his life trying to save two drowning migrants crossing the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Tex., and other agents killed in the line of duty.
As bad as that is, things are about to get worse when Title 42 — the Trump-era public health order that has allowed border officials to turn away hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants to prevent the spread of covid-19 — expires on Dec. 21. When migrants can no longer be expelled under this order, even more will try illegal crossings — and the floodgates will truly open. Yet the Biden administration is pushing for a cut in funding for detention beds in the omnibus spending bill from the current level of 34,000 to 25,000 just as the need for these beds will dramatically increase.
Ironically, Biden’s push to cut detention bed funding comes at the same time his administration is arguing before the Supreme Court that it must have the discretion to release migrants with criminal records, including aggravated felons, while their deportation cases are being adjudicated — despite the clear requirement under federal law that they “shall” be detained — because … wait for it … Congress has failed to adequately fund detention. They are telling the Supreme Court they can’t follow the law because they don’t have enough resources to detain them, while simultaneously urging Congress to cut the number of detention beds. You can’t make this up.
Biden has done everything in his power to remove deterrents to mass migration. On taking office, he moved to get rid of the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which had required asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims were considered. He terminated the “safe third country” agreements Donald Trump negotiated with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, which required migrants to apply for asylum in the first foreign country they crossed into. Biden’s administration also pushed for an end to Title 42 without a plan to deal with the influx of illegal migrants it will unleash. And on his watch, deportations have dropped to the lowest levels in Immigration and Customs Enforcement history as fentanyl continues to make its way across the border, killing record numbers of Americans.
Biden says he wants Congress to pass immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for the “dreamers” — migrants who overstayed visas or were brought here as children. Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) have put forward a deeply flawed proposal that could, under different circumstances, be the starting point for bipartisan discussions. Polls show that large, bipartisan majorities want to increase the number of border agents, secure the border, bring dreamers out of the shadows, increase skilled immigration and overhaul our immigration system to make sure we are bringing in the right people with the talents and abilities we need for our economy. | 2022-12-14T22:45:32Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Biden is doing little as the situation at the border gets worse - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/immigration-crisis-border-crossing-biden/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/immigration-crisis-border-crossing-biden/ |
The L.A. journalist making Americans smarter about politics
Ronald Brownstein speaks during a taping of "Meet the Press" on Nov. 18, 2007, in Washington. (Alex Wong/Getty Images for Meet the Press)
The man who is perhaps the sharpest observer of America’s political divides lives not in Washington but Los Angeles. He has never interviewed Donald Trump. His recent book was not a tell-all about the Trump or Biden White Houses but an account of how musicians, actors and other creative types who lived in the L.A. area in the early 1970s reshaped American culture.
Ronald Brownstein, who writes separate weekly columns for the Atlantic and CNN and appears regularly on the cable news network, isn’t in the mold of other top political journalists of this era. And that’s unfortunate. News organizations need to rethink how they cover elections and government — and Brownstein is an exemplar of a better way.
What’s so great about Brownstein? First and most important, he focuses on long-term patterns instead of daily gossip, and he understands that politics isn’t just what happens in Washington.
There is more to political reporting than ever before, with publications that didn’t exist a decade ago producing numerous articles daily. But so much of that coverage is limited to two subjects: what the president and Congress are doing that day or week and the next national election.
Brownstein writes and comments on those subjects, too. But often he hones in on other kinds of political stories: the recent rightward shift in Democratic-leaning cities such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, driven by residents’ frustration with rampant homelessness and a broader sense of disorder; the moves by Republican-dominated states across the South, Midwest and Great Plains to adopt similar restrictions on abortion, transgender rights and teaching about racism in public schools; the campaign by red states to fight America’s transition from fossil fuels.
And when Brownstein is covering Washington or the campaign trail, he’s not fixated on the obvious. For example, in the wake of this November’s elections, political journalists quickly coalesced around the idea that voters punished Republicans for trying to limit abortion rights. Not quite, Brownstein pointed out in a postelection piece. There was such a backlash in some blue and purple states such as Michigan. But in Florida, Texas and other states, including purplish Georgia, Republican governors signed strict abortion limits into law and still won resoundingly.
In an interview with me over Zoom, Brownstein described his approach as “outside-in,” as he tries to show “how the parties’ agendas and messages are intersecting with the country around them.”
“In D.C., everything is very tactical. The coin of the realm is knowledge of the tactics. … But the way in which political actors intersect with the trajectory of change in the country is more important than which ad you put on,” Brownstein told me.
Brownstein has spent most of his career in Washington, but he moved to the Los Angeles area in 2014 and says that has helped his reporting.
“I'm not only trying to learn what the party's strategies are, I'm giving those strategies a stress test through my own understanding of how the country is changing,” he said. “It makes it less necessary to be in Washington.”
The second reason that Brownstein is a model political journalist is the depth and insight he brings to the work. Brownstein is not a data journalist, but his stories are full of polling and statistics that validate his arguments. He’s not known as a “whisperer” to any given politician, but his articles and television commentary often include references to his conversations with top officials in both parties. Many journalists are great at explaining the electoral part of politics but miss the policy part, or get the politics and policy but not the race and identity element. Brownstein captures it all.
Brownstein popularized many ideas that political observers, including myself, refer to regularly: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as part of a “blue wall” of states Democrats must carry in presidential elections; the division in Democratic primaries between “wine track” voters (those with college degrees) and the “beer track” (those without degrees); the notion that the electorate is divided into “a coalition of transformation” (people of color, college graduates and other groups who lean Democratic) versus a “coalition of restoration” (White Christians, older Americans and other groups who lean Republican.)
Brownstein is prescient — strikingly so at times. In an interview in late 2018, when it wasn’t at all clear whom the Democrats would nominate to take on Trump in 2020, Brownstein predicted that a ticket of Biden and Kamala Harris would be a winning one. In the run-up to this year’s elections, Brownstein didn’t rule out a potential “red wave,” but he repeatedly explained why a Republican sweep might not happen, noting the large number of people in polls who were saying that they disapproved of Biden but were leaning toward Democratic candidates.
Finally, Brownstein is frank about the radical direction that the Republican Party is headed, without being overtly ideological or partisan. He writes columns, but his work is more analysis and explanation than opinion. Brownstein does not advocate positions on issues or back particular candidates or parties, as I do. At the same time, he has not made the mistake so many other non-opinion journalists have made in the Trump era: being so eager to portray themselves as nonpartisan that they downplay Republican extremism.
“The red states are moving social policy sharply to the right within their borders on issues from abortion to LGBTQ rights and classroom censorship, while simultaneously working to hobble the ability of either the federal government or their own largest metro areas to set a different course,” he wrote earlier this year. Such language is not flattering to Republicans, but it is more descriptive than judgmental.
Brownstein isn’t perfect. He acknowledges that in the years after Barack Obama’s election as president he understated how many Americans were resistant to the increasingly multicultural nation that Obama and his supporters embodied and therefore the potential of someone like Trump to be elected president.
And in some ways, Brownstein’s approach isn’t replicable by younger journalists. Brownstein is very knowledgeable about national politics in part because he has been on the beat since 1982, with long stints at National Journal and the Los Angeles Times before joining CNN and the Atlantic. Brownstein first met Biden in 1985.
When Brownstein was starting out, editors were largely hiring White men for prestigious political-writing jobs. So he is a bit of a unicorn, both having made race, identity and demographics a big theme of his work (unlike many of his older White male peers) and having so much experience (unlike many female political journalists and those of color, like myself, who emphasize the intersection between identity and politics but are in their 40s or younger.) And Brownstein’s ability to write critically about the Republican Party without being cast as too liberal by Republicans or fellow journalists is likely enhanced by the fact that he isn’t a person of color, a woman, young or gay.
So we can’t create carbon copies of Ron Brownstein. But covering politics beyond the campaign trail and Capitol Hill, using data, reporting on both policy and electoral considerations and describing the Republican Party honestly are all things that both individual political journalists and news organizations can and should embrace.
“How would Ron Brownstein cover this story?” is a question that political journalists should have at the top of their minds. He’s doing the job the way it should be done. | 2022-12-14T22:45:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Why political journalists should imitate Ron Brownstein - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/ron-brownstein-sharpest-political-journalist/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/14/ron-brownstein-sharpest-political-journalist/ |
A man was fatally shot Wednesday afternoon during a dispute following a traffic crash on a busy road in the Skyland neighborhood of Southeast Washington, according to D.C. police.
A police spokesman, Paris Lewbel, said officers took a man into custody and were questioning him. Lewbel also said a firearm was recovered. Charges had not been filed as of late Wednesday afternoon.
The shooting occurred about 2:45 p.m. in the 2500 block of Good Hope Road SE, steps from a typically busy shopping center and near an elementary school, where Naylor and Good Hope roads converge with Alabama Avenue.
Police have not publicly identified the victim pending notification of relatives. Authorities had initially described the wounded man as conscious, but said his condition deteriorated later at a hospital.
D.C. Police Cmdr. John Branch, who heads the 7th District station, said at a news conference that it appeared the driver of one vehicle traveling on Good Hope Road collided with another vehicle whose driver was exiting a gas station.
Branch said that as the two men argued, a third man in a black Infiniti pulled up to the crash scene and got involved in the dispute, which became physical. Branch said one of the men involved in the crash shot the man from the Infiniti.
“It escalated, a gun was produced and a victim was shot,” Branch said, adding that police arrived in time to see the man with the gun and take him into custody. Branch said police are trying to sort out why the man in the Infiniti came to the scene and whether he is connected to people involved in the crash.
Branch described the shooting as “another senseless act of violence over an accident. We have to do better.” | 2022-12-14T22:49:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. police investigate fatal shooting after traffic crash and dispute - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/14/shooting-road-rage-southeast-dc/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/14/shooting-road-rage-southeast-dc/ |
D.C. teachers union approves labor contract, securing raises
The agreement includes raises, stipends and more planning time for teachers
Clifton Taylor greets students on the first day of school at Eliot-Hine Middle School in Washington on Aug. 30, 2021. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)
Members of D.C.'s teachers union voted to approve a new labor contract, securing raises and other benefits for 5,500 public school teachers, officials said.
The group reached a tentative agreement with the city in late November, which came after more than three years without a labor contract. Members voted on the measure Tuesday night and overwhelmingly supported it — 3,445 members approved and 29 teachers opposed, according to union officials.
“This is a huge win not only for D.C. educators and the respect they deserve but for their students and our school community,” Jacqueline Pogue Lyons, president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, said in a statement. “D.C. teachers felt insulted for having to work under a long-expired contract, but they never gave up on their commitment to their kids throughout the covid challenges and as inflation soared with no pay raises.”
The contract outlines a 12 percent salary raise over four years, which will be applied retroactively starting in 2019. The system’s starting pay will increase from $56,313 to more than $63,300, and salaries for senior teachers — those who have been teaching for more than 21 years and have at least a master’s degree — will see their pay jump from $116,408 to around $131,000, officials said.
D.C. reaches long-awaited deal with teachers union
The agreement also includes a 4 percent bonus for every teacher, larger stipends for educators to buy supplies, additional planning time, and $1,500 stipends for some special education teachers and hard-to-fill positions — including social workers, math teachers and psychologists.
Lewis Ferebee, chancellor of D.C.'s public schools, said in a tweet that he and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) are “excited for another step toward ensuring our educators have the tools and resources they need to do what they love doing — creating the best possible learning experience for our students.”
The contract will last through 2023, meaning the union will soon return to the bargaining table to negotiate another agreement.
“Hopefully this contract starts to heal past wounds,” Pogue Lyons said Tuesday. Teacher morale sank as the negotiations dragged on — 4 out of 5 teachers indicated in a union survey this fall that they were unhappy with their jobs, and nearly half said they would probably leave their jobs in the next few years.
“When we start negotiations in the next few months on a new contract for 2024 and beyond, we look forward to a far more collaborative relationship,” Pogue Lyons said. “It’s imperative that we work together to improve students’ learning conditions and outcomes and do what’s necessary to reverse the teacher turnover crisis that impacts students directly.” | 2022-12-14T22:49:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | After three years with no contract, D.C. teachers union members approve new agreement - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/12/14/dc-teachers-union-contract/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/12/14/dc-teachers-union-contract/ |
Metro will stay open late and offer free rides on New Year’s Eve
The transit system will waive fares after 8 p.m. on Dec. 31 and stay open beyond normal service hours
The Silver Spring Metro station. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)
Metro will offer free rides on New Year’s Eve and extend service by an hour to help celebrants get home, the transit agency announced Wednesday.
It’s the first time the transit agency will offer the free service in years, marking the latest signal that Metro is hoping to move beyond nearly three years of pandemic-related effects. Metro’s decision is another example of local leaders assisting with pre-pandemic traditions after limitations that were meant to restrict the spread of the coronavirus.
Metro last offered free rides on New Year’s Eve in 2015 and 2016, when Miller Lite sponsored rides from midnight until 3 a.m. on Jan. 1.
This year, transit officials will waive fares starting at 8 p.m. Saturday until the bus and rail system closes at 2 a.m., one hour later than normal.
“Traveling by train and bus is the safest way to celebrate New Year’s Eve and avoid drinking and driving in the region,” Metro General Manager Randy Clarke said in a statement. “Eliminating costs and extending services are easy steps we can take to give people the power to choose Metro as their safe way to enjoy all the region has to offer.”
Metro riders will not be required to tap their SmarTrip fare card or mobile app during the six-hour fare-free period, transit officials said. Normal fares and service hours will resume Jan. 1.
Metro’s board directed transit leaders to provide the free trips and extended hours to promote public safety, officials said.
“We hope customers will take advantage of this offer as we look to start 2023 with less accidents and fatalities on our roadways,” Metro Board Chairman Paul C. Smedberg said in a statement. “Metro is a safe way to get around and offering free rides reminds our customers that Metro is the way to go.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) also encouraged residents to use the free service.
The decision comes days after the D.C. Council voted to make Metrobus rides free in the District beginning July 1. | 2022-12-14T22:50:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Metro offers late-night service for free on New Year's Eve - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/12/14/dc-metro-new-years-eve/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/12/14/dc-metro-new-years-eve/ |
How Blacklisting Companies Became a Trade War Weapon
Analysis by Bryce Baschuk and Brendan Murray | Bloomberg
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Tariffs aren’t the only weapon in a trade war. Countries are also using blacklists to restrict the economic activities of certain foreign companies. While such measures are often described as necessary to preserve national security, they’re increasingly being deployed as policy tools to protect domestic constituencies or gain leverage in trade negotiations.
1. Who is using blacklists?
The US is leading the way. In October 2022 President Joe Biden unveiled a sweeping set of restrictions on China’s ability to buy semiconductors and chipmaking equipment. Administration officials then began mulling a plan to add more than 30 other Chinese companies on the US Commerce Department’s “entity list” — a classification that restricts their ability to purchase American software, semiconductors and other strategic technologies. Companies on the Entity List are blocked from buying technology from US suppliers unless they get a special export license from Commerce. Biden’s blacklists build on efforts from former President Donald Trump who used the entity list to block critical components and software for China’s telecommunications darling Huawei Technologies Co. In response, China’s government has developing a blacklist of its own, targeting foreign companies, organizations and people it calls “unreliable entities.” Export powerhouses Japan and South Korea also have deployed trade restrictions in a renewal of a long feud dating back to Japan’s colonization of the Korean peninsula in the early 20th century.
2. Who is on the U.S. list?
Huwei is among the most prominent Chinese companies blacklisted by the US government. The telecommunications giant is at the forefront of fifth-generation, or 5G, mobile technology. Other companies include Yangtze Memory Technologies, which produces memory chips that go into smartphones and other computing devices in competition with the likes of Samsung Electronics Co. The Trump administration blacklisted another 28 Chinese companies for alleged human rights violations against Uighur Muslims in China’s far west Xinjiang province. Those companies include two of the world’s largest manufacturers of video surveillance products, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co.
3. What does it mean to be blacklisted by the U.S.?
Those on the U.S. entity list are prohibited from doing business with American companies without first obtaining a US government license. The list was created in 1997 as a way to sanction companies that helped build weapons of mass destruction. It’s since been expanded to cover activities considered “contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.” Targets can be “businesses, research institutions, government and private organizations, individuals, and other types of legal persons,” according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which administers the list as part of U.S. Export Administration Regulations.
4. How is China responding?
Policy makers in Beijing say they are developing a list of “unreliable entities,” which are defined as countries, companies or people who have “severely damaged the legitimate interests” of Chinese firms by failing to obey market rules, violating contracts or blocking or cutting off supply for noncommercial reasons. Those on the list may be subject to penalties such as trade restrictions, investment bans, visa restrictions and fines. They can apply to be removed from the list. Those targeted for the list may be given a grace period to rectify their alleged transgressions.
5. Who is on China’s list?
China hasn’t named anyone yet, but there are plenty of possible targets. HSBC Holdings Plc could make the list because of its participation in the U.S. investigation of Huawei. FedEx Corp. was previously under scrutiny after China accused it of mis-routing some parcels sent by Huawei. Chinese state media has raised the specter of backlash against US companies including General Dynamics Corp. and Honeywell International Inc. in connection with a proposed $2 billion U.S. arms sale to Taiwan. China also vowed retaliation against U.S. companies participating in a proposed $8 billion U.S. sale of Lockheed Martin Corp. F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan. China also has pledged to retaliate against Trump’s sanctions related to human rights violations.
6. What explains the increased use of blacklists?
It’s part of what trade hawks in China and the US see as a generational fight for technological and economic supremacy of the 21st century. The Chinese government has leveraged its massive state resources to support industrial policies like “Made in China 2025,” and a 2017 development strategy that aims to make China the world’s primary artificial intelligence innovation center by 2030. The US government views this as a threat to America’s economic and national security and has actively sought to curb China’s technological ambitions. | 2022-12-14T22:54:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How Blacklisting Companies Became a Trade War Weapon - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-blacklisting-companies-became-a-trade-war-weapon/2022/12/14/562e63a4-7bf9-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-blacklisting-companies-became-a-trade-war-weapon/2022/12/14/562e63a4-7bf9-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
Members of the Japan Self Defense Forces (JSDF) stand in formation during a review at Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Camp Asaka in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021. Japan is planning its biggest-ever allocation to defense spending in an extra budget, as it seeks to speed up missile defense projects with China tensions simmering. (Bloomberg)
Monks at Kyoto’s Kioymizu Temple this week announced the Japanese public’s choice for the kanji character that best represents the year 2022. In a narrow vote, the winning character was 戦, pronounced sen or ikusa and meaning battle — or war.
It’s an appropriate choice not just because of the conflict in Ukraine, the threat of a missile barrage from North Korea and the other stories that have defined the year: it comes just as the country is starting to take seriously the idea of fighting for itself. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has ordered a doubling of the defense budget to 2% of the country’s GDP in the next five years, an outlay of some 43 trillion yen ($312 billion) that would lift the ostensibly pacifist nation into the ranks of the world’s biggest defense spenders.
Another reason the selection of the kanji (one of the 2,000 or so Chinese characters commonly used in Japanese writing) works is because of the fight currently taking place over how to pay for it. Kishida doesn’t want to raise deficits further to pay for it, and has suggested future increases in corporate and other taxes as funding sources instead. That led to an unusual public rebuke from two of his Cabinet ministers, emboldened by the prime minister’s low public popularity, who reject the idea of crimping the economy by boosting taxes.
It seems for now that, with a deft kicking of the can down the road, the move will proceed with plans for a combination of increased or otherwise appropriated taxes, including higher tobacco levies and a redirection of a reconstruction tax applied after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. A corporate tax surcharge is also being considered, though that’s sure to meet the opprobrium of Japan’s corporate world, that delighted in the 8 percentage points of tax cuts in the past decade. Mainstream income and consumption tax hikes are, thankfully, off the table. Kishida’s rebelling ministers seem to be falling into line. The plans are expected to be included in tax reforms set to be finalized Thursday, and will gradually ramp up defense spending each year through fiscal 2027.
Perhaps as surprising as the fight about how to pay for it is a lack of confrontation about whether it’s a good idea or not. Once raised, budgets are difficult to cut. As a result, Kishida’s steps will likely prove to be much more consequential in the long term than during the late Shinzo Abe’s efforts to loosen security legislation. Yet the clamor these days is much lower, with a total absence of street protests in Tokyo opposing the move. Even the left wing Tokyo Shimbun seemed more concerned with getting value for money than with the overall direction.
Likewise outside Japan, a move that would once have been treated with suspicion is being welcomed. When Abe was moving to boost Japan’s military between 2013 and 2015, English-language publications frequently fretted about the country’s “abandoning its pacifism,” while Chinese officials penned editorials in major papers blasting the country and comparing it to the intangible yet looming threat of Voldemort from the Harry Potter novels.
It shows how much the world around China has woken up to the real threat in the region — one that Abe warned about. China’s increasing isolation and its more muscular stance on Taiwan and in the South China Sea have opened doors for Japan to be welcomed as a military power, rather than shunned. The headlines that once fretted about “remilitiarization” or the “hawkish” ruling party have been replaced with more level-headed analyses, which more than anything reflects the shift in US rhetoric.
Seen from Japan, the pace of Washington’s China pivot over the past decade has been breathtaking. The days when presidents would bypass Japan to cozy up to Xi Jinping seem over. So too does the era when the US would treat breaches of Japanese territory by China as a “he said, she said” affair. Few fret anymore about the “death of liberalism in Japan” or push back against claims that Beijing is a threat as “not standing up to scrutiny.” Chinese officials are no longer invited to pen the kind of editorials that invoke a supposed Japanese “threat to global peace.”
Tokyo is ever-more closely being brought into the fold. Last week, Australia’s defense and foreign ministers seemed to float the idea of involving Japan in the Aukus security pact with the US and UK. The country has also sought to be the sixth member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, and is reportedly set to join US efforts to tighten exports of advanced chipmaking equipment to China. It’s also continued to move closer to Taiwan, with Koichi Hagiuda, the policy chief of Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party, warning Beijing from attempting to change the status quo during a recent visit to Taipei, the first by a senior official in 19 years.
The debate even appears to have been good news domestically for Kishida’s dismal polling numbers, pushing the party’s tenuous links with the Unification Church off the front pages. It helps that for once, it makes the prime minister look like he’s doing something of consequence — and leaving a legacy behind. Some 51% of those surveyed by NHK in a poll released this week support the increased spending, while 36% opposed it. Government surveys from 2016, after Abe’s security legislation passed, found just 30% in favor of expanding Japan’s military power.
Kishida’s personal choice for kanji of the year was different — he chose 進, meaning to continue forward or proceed. How much longer the unpopular leader can continue forward is up for debate. But while a larger military may not be his chosen political legacy, he has got the country moving in the right direction, on a path scarcely imaginable at the start of the year.
• China Says Taiwan Can Be Just Like Hong Kong: Matthew Brooker
• Japan Is Part of the Alliance of 5 to Contain China: Hal Brands
• Kishida Must Achieve Abe’s Great Unrealized Dream: Gearoid Reidy | 2022-12-14T22:54:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The Fight to Build Japan’s Military Is Just Beginning - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-fight-to-build-japans-military-is-just-beginning/2022/12/14/76f8f868-7bfb-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-fight-to-build-japans-military-is-just-beginning/2022/12/14/76f8f868-7bfb-11ed-bb97-f47d47466b9a_story.html |
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