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The U.S. supply of weapons has never been enough for Kyiv. But for Washington and the Pentagon, there are broader concerns.
Pallets of ammunition, weapons and other equipment are loaded and bound for Ukraine on a commercial airline at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., on Oct. 12. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — Virtually every day, a line of 18-wheel trucks loaded with weapons or ammunition pulls up to a sprawling warehouse here nestled near an asphalt runway stretching nearly two miles. Drawn from U.S. military depots around the country, the lethal cargo is unloaded onto pallets that will be packed aboard cargo planes bound for Europe, the next stop on its journey to the front lines in Ukraine.
The constant tempo has evolved from choppy beginnings into precision choreography in the 10 months since Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Similar scenes are being repeated at bases and seaports up and down the East Coast as U.S. commitments surpass $20 billion in military support for a war in which the United States, at least officially, is not a participant.
“It’s all a steady flow on purpose,” Air Force Master Sgt. Christopher Mitcham said this fall as he supervised the activity in Dover. “You just understand that you’re at the mercy of what the mission needs.”
Both the mission and its needs have undergone a radical transformation since Russia’s full-scale invasion in late February, when the Biden administration provided minimal support for vastly outnumbered Ukrainian defenders. Since then, Washington has dug ever-deeper into its own arsenal and treasury to supply Kyiv with massive quantities of arms.
This week, the administration marked the historic visit to Washington by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by announcing the transfer of a Patriot missile battery, the most sophisticated air defense system in the U.S. arsenal.
But the initial war supply operation clearly wasn’t built for the long haul. As the grueling conflict continues with no end in sight, it has exposed flaws in U.S. strategic planning for its own future battles, and revealed significant gaps in the American and NATO defense industrial base. Stocks of many key weapons and munitions are near exhaustion, and wait times for new production of missiles stretches for months and, in some cases, years.
In interviews over the last several months, more than two dozen senior U.S., European and Ukrainian government and military officials and experts, some speaking on the condition of anonymity about the strategically and diplomatically sensitive effort, revealed new details about how a U.S.-led consortium of democracies has gone about keeping Ukraine afloat in the war.
For much of the past year, the United States and its allies have been playing catch-up in supplying Ukraine. Many of the systems now deployed there were initially withheld as too complicated for its forces to use and maintain, too liable to provoke Russian escalation or a wider war with NATO, or too likely to be captured by Moscow’s advancing army. Others requested by Kyiv — including warplanes, battle tanks, and long-range precision missiles — continue to be denied as the Pentagon makes its own assessment of Ukrainian strategy and abilities.
There have been logistical problems, as supplies had to be located and donors cajoled and coordinated. Ukrainians, starting out with an arsenal stocked with aging, Soviet-era equipment, needed to be trained on modern Western armaments. Complicated transport routes to the war zone had to be arranged, along with provision of spare parts and repairs of the heavily used weapons.
But each phase of the conflict — Russia’s initial, failed attempt to conquer Kyiv, the artillery battles in the eastern Donbas region, Ukraine’s retaking of Kharkiv in the north and Kherson in the south — has brought more sophisticated armaments into the fight. What began as an ad hoc supply of small arms and short-range defenses today has become a torrent of precision systems with martial names and acronyms — Switchblades and HAWKS, HIMARS, NASAMS and now PATRIOTS.
Moscow’s current attempts to extinguish the lights and turn off the heat across the country have led to new appeals for additional air defenses, something Ukraine has been asking for since Day One. Promised rush deliveries have begun to arrive, but not in the quantities Ukraine needs. “Is it enough?” Zelensky asked rhetorically amid his many expressions of gratitude during a Wednesday night address to Congress. “Honestly, not really.”
But Ukraine’s supporters are also seeking some basic changes in the way the war is being fought.
“We have to remember that this fight, this war, it is dynamic,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a recent interview in his Pentagon office. “When the situation on the battlefield changes, we have to be agile enough to change as well.”
As combat has reached a stalemate with the arrival of winter, and while the still-outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainians prepare new offensives to regain more Russian-occupied territory, the plan is to train them to fight more like Americans.
Over the next several months, tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops — a massive increase from the relatively small groups that have been pulled off the battlefield to master new weapons this year — are being brought to Europe to learn and put to use new tactics against the deeply dug-in Russians in the eastern Donbas region and the southern Black Sea coast.
“I think if we can train larger formations — companies, battalions — on how to employ fires, create conditions for maneuver, and then be able to maneuver like you’ve seen [the U.S. military] maneuver on the battlefield, then I think we’re in a different place. Then you don’t need a million rounds” of artillery, a senior U.S. defense official said.
“We’ve got to get them to that point.”
The battle before the battle
In late September, just days before Russia unilaterally declared its annexation of four Ukrainian regions in the eastern Donbas and the coastal south, Zelensky delivered a feisty address to students at Harvard University.
Moscow was still taking territory, and Ukrainian lives were being lost, while the West focused more on reacting to Russian actions than warding off new offensives, he said, looming down at his audience from a massive video screen.
“When you’re preventing, you’re taking the lead in the situation,” Zelensky told the students. “Preventive action would mean that the world is not ready to swallow whatever the Russians want to feed it.”
It was part grievance over the perceived stinginess of allies and partners by a president fighting for his country’s survival, part theater by an actor-turned-politician who knows how to emote. The Biden administration was sympathetic but unmoved.
During a Wednesday news conference with Zelensky, President Biden said that provision of some of the weapons Ukraine wants could shatter unity among alliance partners who were “not looking to go to war with Russia.”
As the West has become increasingly invested in a Ukrainian victory, benefactor and recipient have often been frustrated with each other. It began before the invasion, with what U.S. officials saw as the Zelensky government’s refusal to take the threat seriously.
Preparations, and the early shipment of some defensive weapons, were made more difficult by the reluctance of Ukrainian military commanders to share their own plans with the Pentagon. Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke regularly with his Ukrainian counterpart, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, but did not get very far in the days and weeks leading up to the invasion.
“We were, like, ‘What’s your plan? Share your plan. Let us help,’” a second defense official recalled. “And the Ukrainians were ‘We’ll get it to you. Don’t worry. We’ll talk to you about it.’”
“In the end, they did not provide us with all that much information,” the official added. “They were balancing their own internal politics. Or they had operational security reasons. Or whatever it was. But we did not have full visibility into there.”
The Ukrainians, aware that the Americans had little faith in their ability to beat back the Russians, had frustrations of their own. To Zelensky’s government, U.S. hesitancy made little sense if they were so certain the Russians were coming. Just days after Zelensky appointed him defense minister in November 2021, Aleksii Reznikov, a lawyer who had once served in the Soviet air force, met with Austin at the Pentagon to ask for Stingers, the portable, shoulder-launched air defense system that can shoot down helicopters and low-flying planes. “The answer was ‘No, that’s impossible,’” Reznikov said in a recent interview.
It was not until a few weeks before Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on Feb. 24 and moved to form a pincer around Kyiv that the impossible suddenly became possible. Stingers and U.S. Javelin antitank weapons, and their European equivalents, began to pour into the country, along with more ammunition for Ukraine’s Soviet-era tanks and artillery.
Throughout March, Zelensky continued to call for Western aircraft and a no-fly zone over Ukrainian airspace, something the Americans and NATO found unthinkable for an alliance determined to keep the war at arm’s length. Late that month, Reznikov flew to meet Austin in Warsaw with a new request.
“We had done our homework,” Reznikov said. After studying publicly available information on the U.S. arsenal, the Ukrainians concluded that the Pentagon had a surplus of A-10s, the aging, subsonic attack aircraft known as Thunderbolts. “They can deliver heavier bombs, and we could use them against [Russian] tank columns,” he said.
He asked for 100. Austin, he said, again replied it was “impossible” and “made no sense.” The planes, Reznikov said he was told, were old-fashioned and slow, a “squeaky target” for Russia’s formidable air defenses. “This was understandable to me. It was reasonable. I said okay,” Reznikov recalled, throwing up his hands in mock surrender.
But the rejections, and explanations, continued.
Poland offered to send some of its Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets, but only if they were transferred to Ukraine via the U.S. air base in Germany. The Americans said they had no objections to the planes, but that transferring them from a U.S. installation sent the wrong message to Moscow.
Allies later collected spare parts to help get Ukraine’s remaining MiGs into flying condition. The Americans also authorized the transfer to Ukraine a fleet of Russian-made, Mi-17 helicopters it had originally purchased for Afghan forces but never sent.
In April, Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, visited General Atomics, the manufacturer of Gray Eagles, a next generation of lethal Predator drones. The company said it had aircraft available, but would need U.S. government approval to transfer them.
The administration denied the request, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the issue. Senior military officials expressed concern that if the drones were shot down or seized by Russian forces, the technology could be exploited by Moscow, which has turned to Iran to reinforce its own depleted unmanned aerial vehicle arsenal.
Despite the lack of sophisticated weaponry, and to the surprise of much of the world, Ukrainian forces outfought the sluggish Russians in the Kyiv region. By the end of March, Moscow’s troops had withdrawn, and a new phase of the war that the United States, its allies, and Russian President Vladimir Putin had thought would be over in a few weeks was about to begin.
Moving at the speed of war
After Russian forces failed to take Kyiv, they regrouped to eastern Ukraine behind a wall of heavy artillery. They began to move west at a rapid pace, gobbling up territory far beyond the portion of the Donbas region Moscow had seized and illegally annexed in 2014. The Ukrainians were at a supply disadvantage, and senior U.S. military officials concluded they would lose without comparable or better equipment.
But decisions lagged on what to supply and who would supply it. The United States was providing the bulk of the weapons. Other countries in NATO and farther afield were also participating, but the process was haphazard and the hodgepodge of weapons was just barely holding Moscow’s forces at bay. By mid-April, Austin saw the need to impose some order, and convened a meeting of international donors.
“We were pushing stuff into Ukraine at a very rapid pace early on, and encouraging other people to do the same,” Austin later said in an interview in his Pentagon office. “But there really wasn’t a unified, concerted effort to coordinate — not only the provision of materials, but also transport, deconfliction of routes” for the truck and train-loaded flow of weapons from European air and sea ports to the Polish border, where Ukrainian troops picked them up.
With less than a week’s notice, top defense officials from more than 40 governments gathered on April 20 at the U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany, to establish a system to find the right weapons, make decisions and coordinate deliveries. “We’ve got to move at the speed of war,” Austin told the closed-door session. Suddenly, U.S. reluctance to provide American-made, high-powered artillery evaporated and Biden approved the first shipment of powerful howitzers, the M777 155 mm systems, to Ukraine.
It was, Reznikov said, “the first step across the Rubicon.”
But agreement didn’t necessarily mean timely arrival. The first U.S. howitzers did not ship to Ukraine until June. And in Ukraine’s view, there has never been enough artillery to match Russia’s overwhelming advantage.
Shells for Ukraine’s old Soviet systems are no longer produced in mass quantities, and acquiring them abroad is unpredictable. Arms brokers representing Ukraine and Russia compete to outbid each other for the little remaining stock.
A reporter traveling near the front lines outside of Kherson this fall found one Ukrainian soldier nervously awaiting delivery of more ammunition for a Soviet-era artillery piece that was older than he was. The 40 or so shells rolling around in the back of a truck were all he had left, said the 25-year-old platoon commander in Ukraine’s 59th Motorized Brigade who asked to be identified by his call sign, Vognyk. Some soldiers in his unit had driven north to pick up some more they were told had been left behind by retreating Russian soldiers near Kharkiv.
“There is always a shortage,” Vognyk said. “We just have to wait for a good target before we use anything.” He was still awaiting his turn for training on the M777.
Another step across the Rubicon
The next step toward providing more sophisticated weaponry came in early summer, as Ukraine sought artillery that would fire with more precision, and deeper behind Russian front lines. But when Reznikov asked for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, the multiple-launch HIMARS, the Americans drew another line.
HIMARS were in relatively short supply in U.S. stockpiles and had been transferred only to a handful of countries, including Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East, Romania and Poland in Europe and, in 2020, to Taiwan. There were implications for U.S. force readiness and legal concerns about the transfer of sensitive technology. How would the Ukrainians be trained to use them, and how would they be maintained in the field?
“It’s not just about what you have” on the battlefield, Austin said in the interview. “It’s about how you use what you have … and whether or not you train on how to use it.” The constant need for maintenance, spare parts and fuel gets “kind of lost on a lot of people. … If you can’t sustain a system in a fight, you might as well not even bother to deploy it.”
It was not until June, just as the first M777s were arriving, that Biden announced approval of four HIMARS systems, and an unspecified amount of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket systems munitions, or GMLRS, the medium-range missiles to be fired from them. Agreement came only after the top levels of the Ukrainian government assured the White House they would not be used to fire into Russian territory. Biden drew another line at ATACMS, missiles with a range of up to 200 miles.
Another step across the Rubicon had been taken, Reznikov said. So then, “I asked for tanks.” Once again, the United States said no, insisting that the M1 Abrams tank was too sophisticated for Ukrainian troops and required too much logistical support to operate. Germany has also refused to supply its Leopard and Marder tanks, in large part, German officials have said, because they don’t want to be the first to contribute a major new weapon system that the United States has not yet agreed to.
Reznikov remains optimistic. Tanks, he said, are “low-hanging fruit,” and German minds would change if the United States “like a big brother,” would supply the M1 Abrams. “One. Just a symbolic step, and after that I’m sure we will have Leopards from Germany, we will have British and French tanks.”
“I’ve got a lot examples with Stingers, artillery, HIMARS and more” about how the U.S. approval process works, he said. “It’s just a political decision. I absolutely understand that all the pro-Ukraine politicians in different countries have to have an internal agenda. It’s normal,” he said.
Told of Reznikov’s comments, the first senior defense official said even one M1 was out of the question. Used by U.S. forces in Iraq, the massive battle tanks were “hard for us to sustain and maintain. It would be impossible for them.” Besides, “I think that the Ukrainians now have more tanks on the battlefield than the Russians do. … The Russians have graciously donated a lot” the official said sarcastically, noting the equipment that Moscow’s forces abandoned in hasty retreats from Kyiv and Kharkiv.
The industrial challenge of a conventional war
With the volume of aid have come questions about how long such effort and expense can be sustained in a time of global economic pain. Biden has committed more than $20 billion worth of weapons into Ukraine, $14 billion of it in drawdowns from Pentagon weapons stocks, and $6 billion in new weapons production contracts.
“There’s the surge” of weapons most of this year, “and then there’s what’s sustainable,” Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s policy chief, told a defense forum in September. “We don’t want to be in a position where we surged and then kind of fall off to nothing. … There is no expectation that it’s going to be what we’ve seen in the last six months … but it’s not going to be zero.”
A new Republican House majority is already making noise that the United States will not continue to write a “blank check” to Ukraine. While politicians argue about the expense, the Pentagon is increasingly concerned about supply — both for Ukrainian forces and for American readiness to fight other potential battles.
Years after U.S. defense officials shifted their focus from more conventional warfare to counterterrorism and space-aged weaponry, Ukraine has shown that trench battles in Europe aren’t confined to the history books. A nonnuclear war with China, or even directly with Russia, is likely to require a steady, long-term stream of the kind of equipment that is now in short supply.
“A conventional war … is an industrial war,” said Seth Jones, a former adviser to U.S. Special Forces who now heads the International Security Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). There are “serious challenges” to current supplies in the U.S. arsenal, he said. “We are really low … and we’re not even fighting.”
An upcoming CSIS report on American readiness, Jones said, concludes that “the U.S. defense industrial base is in pretty poor shape right now. If you identify China as the ‘pacing’ threat, and an ‘acute’ threat from Russia, we don’t make it past four or five days in a war game before we run out of precision missiles.”
The United States has provided Ukraine with air defense systems, from Stingers taken out of U.S. storage, to NASAMS, the medium range National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System jointly produced by Raytheon and Norway’s Konsberg company, and has promised far more. But “unfortunately,” according to Mark F. Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior adviser at CSIS, “turning good intentions into battlefield realities will be difficult.”
Stinger production lines had long since been closed down. The first two of eight promised NASAMS have recently arrived in Ukraine, but the other six have yet to be manufactured and delivery could take up to two years.
“This is a very real challenge,” said Norway’s deputy foreign minister, Eivind Vad Petersson, in an interview. “I’ve been surprised by my own impatience with the defense industry because it’s such a different animal to all other kinds of fields. … Just imagine any other business sector, looking at this kind of scenario where stocks are empty and need to be refilled, and there’s a clear political will and need to do this to support Ukraine.”
“Industry would rush to ramp up production because there’s obviously going to be demand,” he said. “But the defense industry doesn’t work that way.”
Though the Ukraine war has been a boon to defense spending, production is suffering the same problems as other industries — inflation, supply chain shortages, a dearth of skilled and willing workers, and general post-pandemic lags. But the unique peculiarities of its contracting systems, requiring long lead times and prepayment; the tendency of defense budgeters during peacetime to save money by cutting back on more prosaic items such as precision munitions in favor of ships, planes and other big-ticket items that please lawmakers; and the immediate and unanticipated demands of the Ukraine war have all played a part.
A shortage of artillery ammunition of all sorts remains a weakness. Although production increases are planned, the U.S. defense industry can presently build about 14,000 155 mm howitzer rounds per month, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said in an interview. According to U.S. defense officials, Ukrainian forces have fired that amount in two days during periods of heavy fighting.
One partial solution, discussed by Austin at the November international contact group meeting and at high level NATO gatherings, is encouraging the Europeans to more fully open their own stockpiles and build up their own industrial capacity to take more of the burden. Spain has provided four HAWK medium-range air defense systems for Ukraine, and the United States, which retired its own use of the system in 2002, is sending munitions for them.
Germany has promised to supply Ukraine with four IRIS-T systems, a relatively new ground-based version that uses its infrared air-to-air IRIS missile. But only one has been sent so far; the others are still on production lines.
While the Western weapons pipeline to Ukraine remains open, the back and forth over the next best system — and the urgencies of the fluid fronts of the war — remain in constant negotiation.
“Clearly Mr. Zelensky has made plain and apparent … his desire for additional military capabilities, and who can blame him given the aggression inside his country,” John Kirby, communications coordinator for the National Security Council, said this week. “Any president, any commander in chief in similar circumstances, would want as much as he can get as fast as he can get.”
“We also have no interest in escalating this war in a manner than makes it the United States versus Russia,” Kirby said. “But nobody gets a veto over what the United States provides Ukraine.”
Khurshudyan reported from Kyiv. | 2022-12-23T11:22:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Inside the monumental, stop-start effort to arm Ukraine - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/23/ukraine-weapons-biden/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/23/ukraine-weapons-biden/ |
Fuel costs are still rising in Jordan, and people want to know why
Jordanian bus drivers in the southeastern province of Ma’an lift a “dignity” sign during a strike to protest fuel prices on Dec. 16. (Khalil Mazraawi/AFP/Getty Images)
BEIRUT — A rise in fuel prices in Jordan has set off nationwide demonstrations, snarling traffic and supply chains and threatening the stability of a U.S. ally that has struggled to insulate itself from the global economic downturn.
Organized by truckers, the “dignity protests” turned violent in one part of the impoverished south last week, allowing the government to cast the unrest as a security issue instead of a failure of policy in addressing long-term economic challenges that predate the coronavirus pandemic.
Police were deployed last week to “calm down riots” in Ma’an, and underdeveloped province in the southeast, according to the state-run news agency Petra. The province’s deputy police chief was then shot in the head by people the police described as “saboteurs.”
The government’s reaction was swift: Authorities vowed to “strike with an iron fist” any such attacks. The next day, they announced a temporary ban on TikTok, popular for sharing videos of protests. Jordan’s cybercrime unit said it was tracking instances of “hate speech, incitement to vandalize and attack law enforcement cadres and property, and blocking roads” on the social media app.
In a show of support, King Abdullah II’s son and heir, Crown Prince Hussein, attended the fallen deputy police chief’s funeral. Activists say Ma’an remains under an internet blackout.
Notably absent from the government’s response has been a mention of the reasons, frustrations and anger fueling the protests. Citizens watched the security apparatus crack down without receiving any reassurance that officials are addressing the economic pain that’s plaguing the country.
Amid royal infighting, Jordan’s sinking economy is another rallying point for discontent
Three police officers were shot dead Monday during a raid targeting the alleged hideout of the men suspected of killing the deputy police chief. The Public Security Directorate said one suspect was killed and nine others arrested. Authorities said they all belonged to what they called a “terrorist cell” that follows “Takfiri ideology” — an extremist form of Islam whose adherents view more moderate Muslims as infidels.
The reaction follows a pattern of which Jordanians have grown weary: The government addresses security concerns with an urgency that’s not granted to other crises felt by the public. In the absence of official statements on the protesters and their demands, the narrative in official media now is largely about the “Takfiri” element, which “has actually fueled more anger,” former foreign minister Marwan Muasher told The Washington Post.
Jordan, like many countries, is suffering rising unemployment, debt, inflation, and food and energy prices. But the country’s economic troubles preceded the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war; those events have only exacerbated them. The country has long depended on foreign aid from the United States and Saudi Arabia, but as relations with Saudi Arabia have cooled in the past few years, Muasher said, that support has slowed.
Jordan is largely devoid of natural resources. A relatively strong growth rate of 2.2 percent in 2021 did not lead to strong job creation, the World Bank said in July. Unemployment stood at around 23 percent at the end of 2021, up from 19 percent before the pandemic. The World Bank report said the “alarming” levels of unemployment “are mainly due to the limited capacity for the private sector to generate more and better jobs with the economy being dominated by small, low-productivity firms.”
Despite years-long calls by economists for Jordan to develop more economic self-reliance, the government still employs an “outdated” system that relies on foreign aid and an emphasis on security services, according to Muashar, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“There is a strange resilience to stick to old tools that are no longer sufficient to maintain social peace,” he said. “Where is the government?” is a question many Jordanians are posing at a time when the state has been “glaringly absent.”
“The status quo is not sustainable,” he said.
Royal turmoil has Jordanians buzzing even as government tries to silence them
Some lawmakers have angrily echoed citizens’ concerns. One member of parliament, Ismail al-Mashaqbeh, blamed the government for pushing people to the street by hiking prices, asked “to be kind to people’s conditions as we are now in winter,” and questioned whether the government had studied its decision before making it.
A member of parliament from the south, Eid al-Naimat, said the public was tired of hearing the government say “The [cooking] gas cylinder will not be touched” while officials raise prices related to fuel. He warned that quick measures are needed to avoid further unrest.
Naimat emphasized the need to reduce the tax on fuel derivatives to protect citizens from what he dubbed a “big ghost.” Anger at this tax has grown, which another lawmaker said amounted to approximately $1.7 billion last year — totaling 3.7 percent of the country’s overall GDP.
“There is also anger over what is seen as a lack of transparency about this tax,” Muasher said. “A lot of people are saying gasoline prices have gone down internationally, so why are they going up in Jordan? All these questions may have credible answers, but they’re not being put forth by the government.”
Despite the TikTok ban, people still found ways to post videos of protesters chanting at the king: “Rest, rest, oh Abdullah, when are you planning to do reforms? You killed us, you corrupt [people].”
Some ridiculed the ban. One young man posted a video saying, “It’s okay, I’ll just open Facebook. I’ll open Instagram.” He pointed to his eyeglasses: “These days, even these can go live.” | 2022-12-23T11:22:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Jordan's dignity protesters demand action on rising fuel costs - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/23/jordan-protests-fuel-prices-dignity/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/23/jordan-protests-fuel-prices-dignity/ |
Amid drought, Arizona contemplates a fraught idea: Piping in water from Mexico
Proposal by a private consortium to build Mexican desalination plant comes as surprise to some on state’s water authority
Water flows through Navajo Canyon in Page, Ariz. The water in Navajo Canyon connects with Lake Powell, which feeds into the Colorado River. (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post)
Arizona’s newly expanded water finance board had met only three times. The state authority had no director. Nor had it made a public call for water projects to boost Arizona’s dwindling water supplies from the Colorado River.
But earlier this week the board was suddenly facing a vote on whether to support a $5 billion project led by an Israeli company to build a plant to desalinate ocean water in Mexico and pump it 200 miles across the border — and through a national monument — to ease the state’s water crisis. Arizona and Mexico have been talking for years about removing salt from water in the Sea of Cortez, but this plan was new to many, and the rush for the state’s blessing in the waning days of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s administration worried some in the state.
“I’m sorry but this reeks of backroom deals,” State Sen. Lisa Otondo (D) told the board during its meeting on Tuesday.
The accelerated debate also reflected the urgency of the water crisis facing the American Southwest. With water levels in key reservoirs approaching dangerously low thresholds — as a historic drought extends into its third decade — many officials want to import water into the Colorado River basin from elsewhere.
“The risk here clearly, in this case, outweighs the rush,” Andy Tobin, a member of the water finance board and a former speaker in the Arizona House of Representatives said during Tuesday’s meeting. “We’ve got folks who are running out of water.”
IDE Technologies, an Israel-based company that has built desalination plants around the world, claims it can deliver an oasis of up to 1 million acre-feet of water to the drought-parched state — an amount roughly equal to what central and southern Arizona took from the Colorado River this year.
During its presentation to the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona, two representatives from the developer, plus a Goldman Sachs official involved in financing for the project, presented their vision for the largest desalination plant in the world. The representatives said the project would be entirely financed by private money but they want Arizona to pledge to buy the water at an unspecified future price.
“We need a long-term commitment that when we deliver water to you, you will buy it,” said Erez Hoter-Ishay, manager of the Arizona Water Project Solution Team, as the IDE-led consortium is called. “Simple as that.”
On Tuesday, the water finance board voted unanimously approve a nonbinding resolution to continue to study the project.
IDE said the plant would be built near Puerto Peñasco, along the Sea of Cortez in the Mexican state of Sonora. The roughly $5 billion first phase would involve building a plant that sucks in seawater and filters it through membranes to remove the salt.
Then it would be pumped through a 200-mile pipeline north, crossing into the United States at the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, an international biosphere reserve, before following a highway toward Maricopa County, where it could join canals that serve Phoenix and Tucson. The first phase, a single pipeline, could carry about 300,000 acre feet of water to Arizona and could be operational by 2027, with future pipes supplying up to 1 million acre-feet, the IDE representatives said. An acre-foot equals 326,000 gallons, or enough to cover an acre of land in a foot of water.
Environmental groups have raised concerns that the plant, which would pump brine back into the Sea of Cortez, could damage marine habitat, and the pipeline could disrupt the sensitive desert in the national monument.
Jennifer Martin, a program manager with the Sierra Club in Arizona, told the board that the state should be focused on conserving water, moving away from water-intensive crops such as alfalfa, and reining in rapid growth, rather than shifting the environmental burden onto Mexico and future generations.
“Sierra Club urges you to put the breaks on this expensive, energy-intensive and environmentally-harmful proposal now and not to rush it through in the waning days of 2022 and the Ducey administration,” she said.
Arizona and Mexico for the past several years have been discussing another possible desalination approach — where Arizona would pay for a plant across the border in exchange for taking a portion of Mexico’s allotment from the Colorado River, said Sarah Porter, director of Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy. The cross-border pipeline plan “is a little bit out of left field.”
Porter said she’s not sure there would be a market for buying such a large quantity of water in Arizona, even with the shortages on the Colorado River.
“We don’t need to run out and find another couple hundred thousand or 500,000 acre feet of water,” she said. “It’s not at all clear that that level of demand will develop.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, some board members said they were surprised to be considering such a major infrastructure project after first hearing about it just a few days earlier. The expanded board was created by legislation earlier this year to administer a $1 billion fund for projects to boost the state’s water supply. State Rep. Reginald Bolding (D), a nonvoting member of the board, questioned how IDE even knew to present its proposal to the board.
“We haven’t hired an executive director or staff. To my knowledge we haven’t put out any calls for proposals,” he said. “How did you know to put in a proposal for this agreement before we even set up the infrastructure of the board?”
Hoter-Ishay said the company has been meeting with officials in Arizona and Mexico for more than three years to develop the project and wants the state’s commitment before starting a federal environmental review.
Earlier this year, Ducey toured an IDE desalination plant during a visit to Israel. State Rep. Russell Bowers, the Republican speaker of Arizona’s House of Representatives, told the water board he’d been aware of the project but had signed a nondisclosure agreement so he couldn’t discuss it.
C.J. Karamargin, a spokesman for Ducey, said the governor has been outspoken about the state’s water crisis and the urgent need to address it.
“Arizona is facing a water emergency. We are in dire situation,” he said.
Karamargin noted that an IDE desalination plant in Carlsbad, Calif., has been supplying drinking water to residents in San Diego County for years and said the green soccer fields during the World Cup in Qatar came from the same technology.
“It's not only a game-changing amount of water. It’s a game-changing approach,” he said. “It is very good news indeed that a company that has the track record that IDE apparently has is interested in coming here and taking this on.”
The project would need approvals in both the United States and Mexico. The developer submitted a right-of-way application for the water pipeline to the Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday, beginning what promises to be a lengthy environmental review process.
IDE’s presentation was vague on the cost of their water. Hoter-Ishay cited some estimates from last year that valued an acre-foot of water at $2,200 to $3,300 but stressed this was “of course subject to engineering.” For 300,000 acre-feet of water, that range could mean up to nearly $1 billion per year.
“No one can value the cost of water,” Hoter-Ishay said. “When you don’t have water, you don’t have growth, you don’t have life.” | 2022-12-23T11:26:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Amid drought, Arizona to study project that pipes in water from Mexico - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/12/23/arizona-mexico-water-pipeline-project/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/12/23/arizona-mexico-water-pipeline-project/ |
Mike Witmer’s holiday lights always include a tribute to his beloved young neighbor who died of cancer
Mike Witmer's Christmas light display in Gaithersburg, Md. Every year, he includes a tribute to his late neighbor, Kevin. (Courtesy of Mike Witmer)
Every year before Christmas, Mike Witmer decorates his home in Gaithersburg, Md., with an elaborate light display, and every year, he gets asked the same question: “Who is Kevin?”
On the roof of his garage, “Hi Kevin” is spelled out in large, brightly lit letters, surrounded by stars. The sign has been a part of his annual Christmas display since 2002 — when his 11-year-old neighbor, Kevin, was diagnosed with cancer.
“We all knew about it, and were praying and in touch with his folks,” said Witmer, 56, who has lived in the same house in Hadley Farms since 2001.
Kevin and his sister were around the same age as Witmer’s son and daughter, and they all swam together at their local swim club. While the kids played, the parents socialized.
“We became friends,” Witmer said of Kevin’s family. “They’re just the nicest people in the world.”
That year, Kevin’s doctors told him he could spend Christmas at home. Witmer, who had already become known in the neighborhood for his festive light display, decided to add a special shout-out to Kevin, in the hope that it would cheer him up.
Witmer wrote “Get Well Kevin” in colorful letters above his garage.
“I was just trying to be a nice dad in the neighborhood,” he said. “It was such a small gesture.”
But to Kevin’s family, it was very meaningful. They were delighted, Witmer said, and Kevin earnestly asked if Witmer would put his name in lights every year.
“I was like, ‘how could I not?’” Witmer recalled.
The following year, he shifted the sign from “Get Well Kevin” to “Hi Kevin.” To make it exciting for the boy, Witmer painted “Hi Kevin” on scrap pieces of wood, then hid them around his Christmas display. Every year, Kevin would try to spot them. It became a fun game between the two of them.
“He was such a cool kid,” said Witmer. “He could talk to anybody. Even with his cancer, he would never let it get to him or get him down.”
When Kevin’s cancer eventually went into remission, “I continued the tribute,” Witmer said.
Sadly, though, after Kevin completed his freshman year at the University of Maryland, his cancer came back “harder and stronger,” Witmer said. “That’s what eventually took him.”
He died in June 2010, and Witmer spoke at his funeral — at the request of Kevin’s parents.
In his speech, Witmer vowed to make his annual “Hi Kevin” display bigger than ever, so that his beloved neighbor could see it from heaven. Witmer kept his promise.
Every year since, he has included Kevin in his Christmas display. His heart swells when Kevin’s family and friends stop by to see it.
“Thank you for keeping his memory alive,” they tell Witmer, who still keeps in touch with Kevin’s family, although they no longer live in the neighborhood, he said. “That response is more incentive to keep doing it.”
In past years, Witmer has shared the “Hi Kevin” story on social media, but this year it got unprecedented attention.
“Maybe the world just needed it,” he said.
In a Facebook post on Dec. 7, he chronicled the touching tale.
“Maybe someone will read this story and take a smile away from it,” he remembered thinking. “That’s all I can hope.”
“I don’t know what’s hardest to believe,” Witmer wrote in the post. “That he’s been gone for 12 years or that I’ve been including his name in my display for 20 years now.”
“Either way,” he continued, “I love sharing this story.”
Comments poured in — most of which were from strangers around the world, expressing gratitude for the soul-affirming story. Witmer has read each one — and responded to many.
“This is one of the most beautiful tributes I’ve ever read,” one person wrote.
“Bawling like a baby, what a very special story,” another commenter added. “Thank you for sharing it, and for your lovely heart.”
Witmer is stunned by the response.
“The reaction is just overwhelming in such a good way,” he said, adding that Kevin’s family is not ready to talk publicly about their son. “It’s been humbling.”
Witmer’s greatest wish, he said, “is for people to see that it’s always the small things that mean the most.” | 2022-12-23T11:31:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Maryland man writes ‘Hi Kevin’ in Christmas lights each year - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/12/23/mike-witmer-kevin-christmas-lights/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/12/23/mike-witmer-kevin-christmas-lights/ |
A photographer set out to connect with Italy’s abandoned horses
Perspective by Chloe Coleman
Cinzia Canneri
Horses abandoned in rural northern Italy near the city of Ferrara. Many of these horses died; others entered a Horse Angels recovery program that offered them for adoption. (Cinzia Canneri)
Italian photojournalist Cinzia Canneri has been documenting an unlikely class of stray animals in her home country: horses. Her research shows that since 2018, as a result of economic crisis, about 8,000 of the creatures have been abandoned, making horses the fourth most abandoned animal in Italy after dogs, cats and turtles.
Canneri corresponded with In Sight in a Q&A about the project.
What made you interested in covering this topic?
In 2018, a herd of abandoned horses was found in northern Italy following the bankruptcy of a riding stable. At the same time, I was also made aware of semi-abandoned horses that were left in a terrible state on a roadside in Rome, where they were malnourished and kept inside small and restrictive enclosures. These two events struck me deeply, because the horse is an animal that, once abandoned, is likely to die without further opportunity to be with other people who can take care of it.
I began to read up on it to try to understand what makes people behave in this way. However, I could not find much information on this issue, so I researched it by talking directly to the people at the centers responsible for relocating abandoned horses. I also interviewed some individuals who had been forced to abandon their horses.
Abandonment is a phenomenon that can happen through exploitation, in the sense that when a horse is no longer producing money, like a racehorse, it is just a cost and therefore is abandoned. However, very frequently abandonment occurs because people who have a horse are experiencing financial hardship and are unable to meet the considerable expenses that its maintenance requires.
Separation from the horse may also occur through foreclosure following bankruptcy, because the horse in Italy is considered a piece of movable property and not a domestic animal.
The horse in mythology is linked to strength and freedom, but in reality it is an animal that is reduced to its financial value — a concept that continues to be supported through our own laws that recognize the horse as a commercial good.
The analysis of man’s relationship with the horse, as an in-depth examination of a social issue related to economics, seemed to me to be highly interesting.
You covered this topic from 2018 to 2020. Did you continue to follow the story in 2021-2022? If yes, did you see it improve or worsen during the pandemic?
I am continuing to follow this story and I am also analyzing it from other points of view, such as clandestine slaughter, which is unfortunately very widespread. During the lockdown period, there were many problems involving horse-riding. As many of these facilities were closed, not enough income was generated to support the livelihood of the horses. In this situation, however, more than the increase in illegal abandonments, there were actions of cooperation and solidarity. This was particularly demonstrated in Padua, one of the cities in Italy most affected by deaths from covid, where horses were allowed to feed in the city parks. Paradoxically, during one of the worst crises experienced worldwide, there were responses of solidarity and support that limited the phenomenon of horse abandonment.
What was the most challenging part of covering this story?
I had never photographed animals, and for me it was a beautiful as well as highly challenging project, especially when I found myself photographing the abandoned horses in the Po Valley. I looked at them from afar and gradually sought a relationship that would allow me to get closer to them. I really tried to build a relationship as I do with all the subjects I photograph, but with horses, the relationship was built starting with nonverbal language, from the search for an encounter between different species, from listening to deep sensations that were not related to consciousness. It was an experience that allowed me to enter into a different connection with the reportage that I was carrying out. My photos are always characterized by an intimacy that is created between me and the person who offers me her story; my challenge was to photograph horses with the same intimacy.
Are there ways that our readers can help these horses in Italy?
Absolutely. There are two important associations in Italy with which I have collaborated and which are doing an important job of recovering horses that live in a situation of abandonment and neglect.
Horse Angels, ODV is an association that deals with relocating abandoned horses, carries out legal actions, and promotes a culture linked to the protection of horses and the environment.
IHP (Italian Horse Protection) directly welcomes horses and other equids seized for mistreatment. It is an association that fights for a legislative and cultural change that leads to the recognition of the rights of horses, also through awareness campaigns based on scientific knowledge.
Helping these associations, that are based only on volunteering and that do a really important job, is essential. | 2022-12-23T11:31:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Horses are one of Italy's most abandoned animals - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2022/12/23/photographer-set-out-connect-with-italys-abandoned-horses/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2022/12/23/photographer-set-out-connect-with-italys-abandoned-horses/ |
What Indians think about China, and the border clashes
How will the Modi government respond? Public opinion may hamper the government’s moves to downplay the tensions after the latest skirmish.
Analysis by Aidan Milliff
Paul Staniland
Indians take part in a protest against China in Mumbai, India, on Dec. 13. (Rafiq Maqbool/AP)
Indian and Chinese troops clashed this month at Tawang, a long-disputed territory east of Bhutan. The skirmish injured dozens of soldiers on both sides — the first major border incident since 2020, when a brawl in the Galwan valley killed 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers.
Many experts believe that even low-level conflict between nuclear-armed adversaries, like these small clashes in high and remote mountain terrain, heightens risks of conventional and nuclear escalation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government appears to maintain a relatively optimistic outlook, modestly downplaying the Tawang incident. This raises the question of how India will respond to rising tensions with China.
What do Indians think? Public opinion will likely factor into how India’s government responds to these tensions. Our new research analyzes 60 years of data on Indian public opinion about China. The patterns we identify in Indian citizens’ views of China provide insights into the possible foreign policy constraints the Modi government may face.
Foreign policy is not below the radar
Conventional wisdom might suggest that a minority of Indian voters — similar to trends among U.S. voters — hold meaningful, coherent views on foreign policy. In fact, foreign policy has been largely absent from electoral campaigns in India. Relations with Pakistan are the main foreign policy issue that regularly comes up in elections.
Our research found evidence that the Indian public has, for decades, paid some attention to the India-China relationship. As relations between the two countries progressed from war in 1962 to rapprochement later in the Cold War, and then a return to increased competition more recently, Indians’ views of China have followed suit. General “approval” of China is higher in India when the bilateral relationship is good, and lower when tensions rise.
About a decade ago, Indians’ mood turned pessimistic. Our analysis of data from Pew Global Attitudes surveys shows that net favorability toward China has been negative since the late 2000s. Despite Modi’s early attempts to sustain positive engagement with China, only about one in four Indians had favorable views of China by the end of his first term in 2019.
Low approval of China persists in 2022, and may constrain Modi’s response to China’s actions at the disputed border. That’s because a disapproving public could raise the domestic political costs of a response that seems excessively friendly or conciliatory.
But public attention to foreign policy has limits
Consistent with previous research in the United States, our research finds that Indian “public opinion” about foreign policy really reflects the views of a relatively wealthy, educated, urban subset of the Indian public. Across decades of data, poorer and less-educated individuals are less likely to express foreign policy opinions.
And even people who express foreign policy opinions don’t have unlimited attention. We examine attitudes toward China in the narrow windows around historical border clashes in 1986 to 1987, 2013 and again in 2017. We discovered that views on China didn’t seem to change much in response to these non-fatal clashes. Experts at the time agreed that these incidents were serious and dangerous, so why didn’t the Indian public react?
The simplest explanation is that non-fatal border disputes didn’t get enough attention in the media to shift public opinion. India’s paper of record reported on the 1986-1987 border crisis only about once per month, for instance, but mentioned a simultaneous internal security crisis more than every other day. If the media does not extensively report on a clash — or media reports successfully frame it as a triumph for the Indian government — the public is unlikely to focus on the issue.
The Indian public has not historically been swayed by border crises — but that may change. New forms of media and increased media consumption in recent years could boost public awareness of India-China border crises going forward.
Partisans don’t always follow their leaders
Research on wealthier democracies like the United States suggests that many citizens mirror the foreign policy opinions of elites from their political party. In India, the situation appears to be different. Despite assessments of Modi’s “agenda setting” power, we find that attitudes toward China don’t vary substantially across different political parties.
Elites in Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have tried to downplay the conflict with China, continuing a long-standing effort to avoid serious escalation. BJP voters don’t seem to be listening: their views of China seem to differ little from the views of supporters of other parties, regardless of elite cues. If anything, Modi’s slowly toughening stance toward China since 2020 suggests that he is responding to border events as well as a worsening public mood.
Will Indians pay closer attention to China policy?
It’s not clear whether India’s public is willing to prioritize foreign policy opinions over pressing domestic issues, like the economy. Moreover, the Modi government is nationally dominant, and enjoys the backing of much of India’s media. The opposition has criticized Modi’s China policy, but the government faces few serious challengers. These factors seriously limit Modi’s vulnerability.
Professors: Check out TMC's updated topic guides for your classroom discussions.
Nevertheless, parliamentary elections are only 16 months away. As Modi attempts to deescalate tensions after the Tawang clash, he may find himself in a delicate situation. Modi faces a public that disapproves of China and, historically, has been skeptical of his China policy. Indians may also be overly optimistic about how India would fare if tensions escalated into full-scale military conflict. Highly visible defeats along the border might be difficult to “spin” — and thus increase the political risks these clashes present to the Modi government.
At the same time, many Indian voters have yet to make up their minds about China. That leaves substantial space for opinions to change — or for more people to express their opinions for the first time. If Modi manages to build public support for de-escalation and reconciliation with China, he will likely succeed by shaping the opinions of this yet-unopinionated majority. Just as much as hard facts on the border, the process of shaping opinion and managing information will be crucial for determining how the China issue factors into India’s complicated internal politics.
Aidan Milliff (@amilliff) is a Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow on Contemporary Asia at Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.
Paul Staniland (@pstanpolitics) is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and a nonresident scholar in the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. | 2022-12-23T11:31:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Along the India-China border, troops are fighting again. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/23/china-india-border-clash-modi/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/23/china-india-border-clash-modi/ |
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Franco Harris eludes a tackle by Oakland Raiders defensive back Jimmy Warren en route to the end zone after Harris’s “Immaculate Reception” on Dec. 23, 1972. (Harry Cabluck/AP)
“There’s still that unbelievable feeling, a little chill in the air,” he told WESA, Pittsburgh’s NPR news station, on Monday, when asked what it was like to see replays of his controversial 60-yard touchdown half a century later. “I’m saying, ‘Wow, is that me?’”
The Steelers took a 6-0 lead on Roy Gerela’s second field goal with fewer than four minutes remaining, and that figured to be enough for a Pittsburgh defense that hadn’t allowed a touchdown in its final three regular season games. But backup quarterback Ken Stabler capped an 80-yard drive with a 30-yard touchdown run on a busted play on Oakland’s ensuing possession, putting the Raiders ahead 7-6 with 1:13 to play and setting the stage for Harris’s heroics.
On fourth and 10 at the Pittsburgh 40-yard line with 22 seconds on the clock, Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw dropped back, rolled to his right and rifled a pass in the direction of running back John “Frenchy” Fuqua over the middle.
Jack Tatum, the Raiders’ hard-hitting safety, broke on the ball and collided with Fuqua just as it arrived at the Oakland 35-yard line. Tatum’s right forearm caught Fuqua in the head, knocking him to the turf. The ball ricocheted back toward midfield and hung in the air just long enough for Harris to snatch it before it hit the ground. Harris headed toward the sideline, stiff-armed Raiders defensive back Jimmy Warren at the 15-yard line and raced into the end zone with five seconds remaining.
Harris’s assignment on the play — 66 Option — was to block the outside linebacker. In interviews over the ensuing years, Harris, who was a rookie in 1972, mentioned a mantra that had been instilled in him by Coach Joe Paterno during his college career at Penn State and which served him well: “Go to the ball.” Harris had started upfield a couple seconds before Bradshaw’s toss.
The 'moment of humanity' when a cart drives off and an NFL game goes on
Bradshaw wasn’t the only one unsure about what had transpired. There was confusion and controversy, which only added to the mystique of the play. At issue was whether Bradshaw’s pass ricocheted off Tatum or Fuqua; an NFL rule at the time prohibited consecutive touches by two offensive players.
“I heard the ball bounce away from Tatum and me and said to myself, ‘Well, that’s all for this year,’” Fuqua told reporters. “I never really saw the ball hit Tatum or anybody. I heard it. Then I was flattened and was laying there when everybody started going crazy.”
In Pittsburgh, the Steelers’ first playoff win marked the dawn of a new day for the franchise.
The Steelers lost to the Dolphins, 21-17, in the AFC championship game the following week, despite Harris’s 16 carries for 76 yards. Pittsburgh returned to the AFC championship game in 1974 and defeated the Raiders en route to winning its first of four Super Bowl titles in the ’70s.
Members of his Hall of Fame family will forever have fond memories of Franco Harris. #HOFForever pic.twitter.com/T4Op9JEyZI
In a 1997 column for the New York Times to mark the 25th anniversary of Harris’s miraculous touchdown, legendary Pittsburgh radio analyst and sportscaster Myron Cope explained the origin of the play’s nickname, which he introduced to the masses. As the story goes, Steelers fan Michael Ord stood on a chair at a downtown bar after the game, tapped his glass with a spoon and declared, “This day will forever be known as the Feast of the Immaculate Reception!” Ord then convinced his friend, Sharon Levosky, to call the WTAE newsroom and share the clever moniker with Cope.
“I heard out Sharon and said: ‘That’s fantastic. Let me give it some thought,’” Cope wrote. “The Immaculate Reception? Tasteless? I pondered the matter for 15 seconds and cried out ‘Whoopee!’ Having conferred upon Franco’s touchdown its name for 11 o’clock news viewers to embrace, I accept neither credit nor, should you hold the moniker to be impious, blame.” | 2022-12-23T11:31:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Franco Harris’s ‘Immaculate Reception’ turns 50 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/23/franco-harris-immaculate-reception-anniversary/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/23/franco-harris-immaculate-reception-anniversary/ |
At festive events, give them light tasks, set aside a space to relax and make adaptations for physical activities. These and other considerations will make them feel welcome.
Christmas party with focus on foreground decorations. (iStock)
1Invite people with chronic illnesses to holiday parties, and be okay with hearing ‘no’
2Consider coronavirus testing and masking
3Include people with chronic illnesses, but give them light tasks
4Create a space where guests can rest
5If possible, designate a restroom for those with GI issues
6Plan an inclusive menu
7Have adaptations for physical activities
8Have considerate conversations
9Offer to help with holiday preparations
10If guests with chronic illnesses cannot be a part of the festivities, follow up
For many people with chronic illnesses, the holidays can be a lonely and exhausting time. Health limitations may keep them from joining celebrations, and participating in the festivities can quickly tire them.
The Washington Post asked people with chronic conditions for advice for family members, friends and colleagues to help make the holidays an enjoyable experience for everyone.
“It all begins with listening and validating,” said Ben HsuBorger, U.S. advocacy director of MEAction, a nonprofit advocating for people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
Here are 10 more recommendations for a fun and inclusive holiday season.
Invite people with chronic illnesses to holiday parties, and be okay with hearing ‘no’
With certain chronic illnesses, people can become rundown quickly, and their fatigue can last for a significant period of time. Particularly during the holidays with multiple events to attend, they must use their energy strategically, so they may need to decline your holiday party.
Invite them anyway.
“For so many of us, we’ve constantly had to say no and then we feel like, ‘Oh, people are getting annoyed by that. They probably won’t call anymore,’ ” said Charlotte Florez, 36, of Raleigh, N.C., who has postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and vasovagal syncope, both of which can cause a fast heart rate and dizziness, lightheadedness and fainting upon standing. “Continuing to invite them and giving them the opportunity and letting them know that you want them there is really important to them.”
Consider coronavirus testing and masking
Hosts and other guests could consider taking a coronavirus test, masking, or holding the event in a spacious, well-ventilated area, particularly when inviting those who are immunocompromised.
“Chronically ill people are not a burden; they’re a reminder,” said HsuBorger, 41, of Madison, Wis., who has ME/CFS, an infection-associate disease that causes severe fatigue. “Maybe these conversations can be touch points for thinking about the health of our entire community.”
Include people with chronic illnesses, but give them light tasks
Ask whether guests with chronic illnesses would like to contribute. If they want to pitch in, suggest bringing something store-bought, such as napkins, plasticware, or a premade dessert.
Shannon Koplitz, a 44-year-old from Clearwater, Fla., who has POTS, said she enjoys participating in festivities, but because of her limitations, her family gives her a simple side dish she can prepare in advance — and one that is not crucial to the meal in case she becomes too fatigued to finish it.
“My family is very understanding, and they know to give me only one assignment,” she said.
Create a space where guests can rest
Many people with chronic illnesses need time to rest and recover. Provide a comfortable, quiet space where they can take a moment to relax — a bed, a couch, or a recliner in a separate room. If you have a heated blanket, throw it over the chair for them to use since some guests may have conditions that cause achy joints, muscle pain, or problems regulating body temperature.
Let them know the space is there for them.
“I just want my family and friends to be mindful and give me some grace — don’t take it personally if I have to step away and rest,” said Shonda Berry, 42, of Chicago, who has an autoimmune condition called ulcerative colitis, which affects the gastrointestinal system.
If possible, designate a restroom for those with GI issues
Some chronic conditions cause GI problems, and it can be embarrassing, stressful and nearly impossible for people to wait for a restroom. If possible, have a separate bathroom — and let them know they can use it.
Berry said because of her condition, she must avoid gatherings where there is only one restroom. “If I can have a designated bathroom, that is most helpful,” she said.
Plan an inclusive menu
Ask ahead of time whether your guests with chronic illnesses have any new food allergies or intolerances. Have at least one dish they can eat, and let them know it is for them. Some guests may even prefer to bring their own food.
Also, have a festive, nonalcoholic beverage such as sparkling cider or mocktails for those who cannot drink alcohol because it may exacerbate their symptoms or interfere with certain medications.
Have adaptations for physical activities
Some holiday festivities are more physical. Be mindful that some guests may need special accommodations. For instance, when preparing a holiday feast or baking festive cookies, have a spot where they can sit to chop vegetables or roll cookie dough.
If you plan to go caroling, have one family member or friend bring a vehicle so people with chronic illnesses can sit down and rest, or be taken back home if they become too fatigued to continue.
Still, be prepared that you may go to the trouble to accommodate someone “and then they’re too sick to do it,” said Jaime Seltzer, director of scientific and medical outreach at MEAction who also has ME/CFS.
“That’s something, unfortunately, they have no control over,” she said.
Have considerate conversations
Some people with chronic illnesses may want to discuss it. Others may not. It is nice to give them the opportunity to tell you how they are doing, but leave space to chat about other things.
“Remember that we’re so much more than our illnesses,” said Florez, community engagement coordinator for the nonprofit group Dysautonomia International.
Offer to help with holiday preparations
Whether hosting or attending an event, do not force assistance on people with chronic illnesses, but certainly ask — at least twice — whether you can help, said Seltzer, 41, of San Jose.
And be specific with your offer. “If you’re asking if there’s anything you can do, that offloads the decision-making process — which is also a task — to the sick person,” Seltzer added.
Instead, ask to carry shopping bags, wrap gifts, set up for the festivities or clean up afterward.
If guests with chronic illnesses cannot be a part of the festivities, follow up
Despite their best efforts, family members or friends with chronic illnesses may not be able to attend the celebration. That does not mean they did not want to. Following up with them — calling them on the phone, paying them a visit, bringing them some holiday cookies — is a meaningful gesture.
“It’s very easy to be lonely and go into a dark place during the holidays,” said Sam Norpel, 48, of Blue Bell, Pa., who has long covid. “Find little ways to connect and reach out to them so that they don’t feel so alone.” | 2022-12-23T11:31:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 10 tips to help loved ones with chronic illnesses enjoy the holidays - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/12/23/chronic-illness-holiday-tips/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/12/23/chronic-illness-holiday-tips/ |
Spring Valley English Tudor house on the market for $5.25 million
HOUSE OF THE WEEK | The recently finished five-bedroom, six-bathroom house includes multiple outdoor spaces
French doors on the first floor let in natural light. (Photos by Nathan Stewart)
The house on Fordham Road was falling apart. The roof leaked, the framing was rotted, mice invaded and, according to owner Jonathan Smith, it was a site for drug-related activity. Once a showpiece on a prominent corner lot of the Spring Valley street, the structure sat vacant and decaying for years.
Smith chose to tear it down and construct a new house on the property. The plot sold for $1.6 million in 2021; the newly completed project is now on the market for $5.25 million.
Located on a suburban street lined with mature trees, the new house was designed to resemble the longer-standing Georgian-, Colonial- and Tudor-style houses in the neighborhood. Smith’s team studied the deconstructed house to re-create its English Tudor style. They added stucco roofing and a painted brick chimney to allow the new house to blend in with the older ones nearby. New copper gutters will oxidize in about a year to create a vintage look, Smith said.
He did, however, encounter constraints building where the dilapidated house once stood. Old oak trees and large rocks blocked areas his team needed to access, and the space originally designated for a basement had to be reduced, because part of the house sits on a crawl space. But the new house, completed in 2022, resembles its predecessor in style.
Past a porch and through a large front door, the front foyer includes herringbone floors. The team was thoughtful about installing Ply Gem windows and French doors throughout the first floor in a way that allows outside views from nearly all angles. The goal, Smith said, was to create a “usable space that flows.”
The first floor has 10-foot cathedral ceilings. A dining room off the foyer leads to a study with green walls and built-in cabinetry and shelving. Through a mudroom and connected to a large family room, the kitchen includes white oak floors, polished nickel detailing and white Carrara marble countertops. This level also has an attached sunroom, deck and patio.
The second level includes a primary suite with 14-foot ceilings, a fireplace, two-door balcony and two walk-in closets. The primary bathroom has designer tile and custom cabinetry with a walk-in shower and detached tub. Near a second-floor laundry room, there are three bedrooms, each with a bathroom and walk-in closet.
The lower level has a bedroom with full windows and an en suite bathroom. A recreation room has a bar, and a mudroom connects to a two-car garage. New owners could add an elevator to a shaft connecting the levels.
About a half-mile away from the property was the site of a chemical weapons dump, a location where scientists developed weapons such as mustard gas during World War I in what was then a remote part of the District. In 2021, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a lengthy removal process more than a century after the original project.
The property was first listed in early November as one of the most expensive properties for sale in Spring Valley. The neighborhood, which has been home to at least three U.S. presidents, along with Supreme Court justices and billionaires, has had increased property values since 2019, with most houses selling for around $2 million. The area is walkable and is welcoming new businesses on Massachusetts and Wisconsin avenues.
3701 Fordham Rd. NW, Washington, D.C.
Features: The English Tudor house, completed in 2022, replaced a house that sat abandoned for years. The new project features cathedral ceilings, a primary suite with two walk-in closets and Carrara marble countertops.
Listing agents: Robert Hryniewicki, Adam T. Rackliffe and Christopher R. Leary, HRL Partners; Jennifer Thornett and Micah Corder at Washington Fine Properties. | 2022-12-23T11:31:34Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Spring Valley English Tudor house on the market for $5.25 million - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/23/3701-fordham-rd-nw/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/23/3701-fordham-rd-nw/ |
Although its themes may be timeless, retail shopping has been completely transformed
Perspective by Vaughn Joy
Vaughn Joy is a PhD candidate at University College London and co-host of the "Impressions of America" and "Hollywood in Focus" podcasts. She is currently studying the cultural ramifications of political pressures on post-war Hollywood.
Actors John Payne, Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn and Natalie Wood stand before a Christmas tree in director George Seaton's film, “Miracle on 34th Street.” (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
George Seaton’s 1947 film “Miracle on 34th Street” is a Christmas classic frequently described as “timeless.” However, the central setting of the film, Macy’s department store, and the role of Kriss Kringle as played by Edmund Gwenn, are tied to a very different era of shopping — one that no longer reflects what the public holiday experience looks like.
“Miracle on 34th Street” was set in Macy’s flagship department store in Manhattan. Filmed on location and with real customers, the movie reflected the crucial role played by department stores in American life in the 1940s.
Originally conceived as mass shopping centers where small businesses could retail under the same roof, department stores became grander over the first half of the 20th century, growing to include all manner of services beyond shopping and becoming vital hubs in cities. As historian Jan Whitaker has chronicled, department stores’ cultural importance came from the way they empowered White women and created a public, communal space for them. The stores had rooms set aside where women could sew clothing, write letters and more.
By the mid-20th century, department store shopping was a fixture of the urban experience for middle class White women, with women of color largely excluded. The exclusive communal experience sold in department stores as well as the products offered were integral to the aspirational and performative class dimensions of conspicuous consumption — a place where women could show that they had made it.
By shopping in these stores and spending time within them, a shopper could project the image of being higher class and able to afford the luxuries of this exclusive experience. Historian Daniel Boorstin termed department stores “palaces of consumption,” describing them as integral to the cultural architecture of their cities. These stores also enhanced the cachet of the brands they sold, as well as the services offered.
It was in this context that “Miracle on 34th Street” became a hit. Kringle is an old man who believes himself to be the real Santa Claus and who is hired on a whim to replace an inebriated impersonator in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Macy’s subsequently hires him to sit in the store and convince children that what they really want for Christmas are the toys the store had overstocked. But the order to tell children what they want appalls Kringle, and he takes it upon himself to listen to the children and tell their parents where to get the toys they actually desire — even if the better price or product is at a competitor’s store.
While the film’s surface-level dialogue claims to be against the commercialization of Christmas, department store executives still end up as its true heroes. Kringle’s “goodwill policy” of honesty becomes a record-shattering success and customer loyalty rises, prompting R.H. Macy to extol the new in-store Santa and declare Macy’s “the store with a heart.” Macy’s expands its policy across the country — prompting competitors such as Gimbels to follow suit.
By making the department stores the heroes, the film subverts its own anti-commercialist claims and bolsters the image of department stores as communal anchors, driven by good-hearted motives and hoping to better the lives of people in their communities. When the Macy’s store psychologist calls Kringle’s sanity into question and a legal battle ensues, Macy’s executives gets further good press, especially among children and parents, by firing the psychologist and proclaiming that they do fully believe in the authenticity of their Santa Claus.
Yet this movie, with department stores and their crucial societal role at its core, arrived in theaters just as the prestige and patronage of such shopping meccas began to slip.
Suburbanization drove the shift, as the middle class fled urban centers for the suburbs. That led to the rise of malls that were designed around bringing chain department stores to suburban areas. As malls began offering access to the large, brand-names once only available inside urban shopping centers, department stores lost their status as an exclusive class symbol. As business slumped, department stores had to eliminate the luxuries of the earlier communal experience.
The inexorable decline of department stores ignited by suburbanization has only picked up over time. That was reflected in John Hughes’s 1994 remake of “Miracle,” in which the relevance of the department store to the story is palpably diminished. Macy’s refused to allow its name in the remake, and Gimbels, once a luxury shopping giant, had shuttered in 1987. This prompted Hughes to create two fictional stores: the heroic Cole’s and the evil Shopper’s Express.
In small changes to the plot, Cole’s is in financial trouble and the executives at Shopper’s Express disparage Kringle and bring his sanity into question. These minor deviations change the story’s message.
The original movie painted all department store executives as the heroes coming together to spread the “goodwill policy” nationwide, as well as protecting the belief in Santa Claus. This reflected the revered position of department stores in communities. By 1994 however, with their place in society diminished, Hughes replaced this pro-department store message with one about brand loyalty and saving a department store in decline.
The rise of internet shopping right after the remake dealt a final blow to department stores — at least, as they exist today.
Urban department stores like the Macy’s depicted in “Miracle” are rapidly becoming a relic of the 19th- and 20th-centuries. In a recent Hart Research Associates Public Opinion Survey on shopping habits, only 7 percent of respondents answered that department stores would be their first or second choice of store for purchasing gifts this season. While the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic undoubtedly play a role in this low number, it is simply a more rapid continuation of the long trend dating back to the 1950s.
Yet, all is not lost for the malls to which department stores became tethered in the second half of the 20th century — ironically due to a lesson from the department store heyday chronicled in “Miracle.” While mall shopping has largely decreased, retail real estate developers have seen an increase in occupancy since the initial drop-off following the onset of the pandemic. And according to the Wall Street Journal, developers have seen a resurgence in foot traffic in higher-end malls over the past two years, even as “middle- and lower-quality malls” continue to struggle.
One factor at work: With department stores exiting, many of these malls are embracing the sort of communal services offered by the early-20th century department store experience. Malls that are enjoying a resurgence have invested in services outside of shopping such as entertainment experiences or medical clinics.
With the cultural significance of department stores drastically diminished, the ability of “Miracle on 34th Street” to resonate with Americans’ experiences of holiday shopping and visiting Santa wanes more every year.
The original “Miracle on 34th Street” was a timely film that represented on-screen a very real and crucial cultural and class dynamic that is no longer relevant in 2022. The aspirational class performance that department stores sold and the specific exclusive communal space that they provided are outdated references with little resonance for many modern audiences.
As department stores shutter, the rebranding of malls as communal spaces offering services outside of shopping opportunities may be a way to recapture some of the 1947 experience of visiting Santa Claus. In an ever-adapting commercial environment reacting to the economic and technological developments of consumer relations, department store Santas became mall Santas and may yet become something new as malls continue to evolve.
While the heart of “Miracle on 34th Street,” the ideas of believing in the magic of honesty and goodwill and in Kringle’s famous line “Christmas is not just a day — it’s a feeling,” remain timeless, the central cultural touchstones at the heart of the film have become antiquated. It may be time to retire “Miracle on 34th Street” from its “timeless” status until we reinvent the communal spaces that allowed it to resonate with Americans’ experiences. | 2022-12-23T11:31:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The retail world at the heart of ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ no longer exists - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/12/23/miracle-34th-street-department-stores/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/12/23/miracle-34th-street-department-stores/ |
New Mexico has remained a -- mostly -- reliably blue state in recent elections
By Leigh Ann Caldwell
Sen. Ben Ray Luján says his state could be a model for other Southwestern states Democrats are trying to win over. (Sarah Silbiger for The Washington Post)
New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján’s confidence that his state can serve as a model for Democrats hoping to turn the southwest into a party stronghold starts with his family.
His father, Ben, grew up in a Republican family but become a prominent Democratic politician because he felt the party best served the state’s and his community’s needs.
In Nevada, one more victory for the ‘Reid machine’ over ‘Team Mitch’
Democrats have hoped to make the Southwest, or the Sun Belt, a source of reliable support for the past two decades as the political map has shifted with Midwestern states becoming more competitive and Florida becoming increasingly Republican in recent elections. The population of the region is exploding, with transplants from all over the country, including Colorado and New York.
The Hispanic population has also grown in the Southwest, with Democrats winning over this expanding voting bloc early on while trying to beat back Republican gains in recent elections.
But through all that change in the Southwest, New Mexico has changed the least and remained, mostly, reliably blue.
Both of its senators are Democrats and its Democratic governor just won reelection. In the next Congress, all three of its House members will be Democrats. There are 45 Democrats in the state House, compared with 25 Republicans, and there are 27 Democrats in the state Senate, compared with 15 Republicans.
Luján, who rose through the ranks of the House to assistant speaker before he was elected to the Senate in 2020, said that New Mexico turned blue after years of work by Democrats to peel off rural voters.
Democrats “showed up in places that Republicans usually don’t have to worry about showing up,” Luján said in an interview. “It’s how I was raised. It’s how dad did it. It was part of our strategy when we were successful before — you need to go talk to folks.”
“I absolutely believe that New Mexico is on the path to turning red, the same as Louisiana, Arkansas,” said Stevan Pearce, a former congressman and the head of the New Mexico Republican Party. “These are long, slow, generational-type pulls.”
A blue state without traditional liberal attributes
New Mexico, a border state, is vast in its makeup. It’s largely rural and includes oil and gas drilling in the eastern part of the state near Texas. It includes three national security research labs and 26 federally recognized tribes. Liberals reside in the cities, such as Santa Fe and Albuquerque. It is also the third poorest state in the country.
It’s population growth is one of the slowest in the country but it continues to have the largest percentage of Hispanic residents, making up nearly 48 percent in the state, according to the 2020 census. Having a stable voter bloc is a big advantage politically, too.
The rapid growth of states such as Arizona and Nevada mean that campaigns have to continually introduce candidates to voters.
New Mexico’s demographics don’t match traditional liberal strongholds, such as Massachusetts or California, but nearly a dozen analysts and political officials interviewed for this story said Democrats’ success there is multifaceted and rests on the importance of the profile of the candidates as well as consistent voter outreach outside of campaign season.
“The political ideology is less important than the candidates’ efforts to reach out to the community,” Barreto said.
GOP exuberance crashed into Democratic resistance to defy midterm expectations
Luján is the type of candidate who fits well in a center-left state, his allies said. He’s unabashed in his support for abortion access in a post-Roe v. Wade era, but in his first two years in the Senate, he has worked with Republicans to pass numerous bills focused on New Mexico, including research and development for the national labs, assistance for communities affected by wildfires and a tax credit for carbon capture to help combat climate change. Luján suffered a stroke earlier this year, which took him away from the Senate for five weeks, but has since recovered with a full work schedule.
He’s from the rural northern part of the state and still lives on a small family farm in Nambé. New Mexico boasts generations of Hispanics, some of whose families have been there since before it became a state in 1912.
Luján became the first Hispanic to represent New Mexico in the Senate in 45 years, and the fourth overall, when he defeated his Republican challenger, Mark Ronchetti, in 2020 51.7 percent to 45.6 percent.
The first Hispanic senator, Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo, a Republican, was elected in 1928. The second was Dennis Chavez, a Democrat, who Luján said he tries to emulate, a sign that his goal is moving into Democratic leadership. Chavez was the fourth ranking Democrat when he died in office in 1962.
Latinos make up a large share of voters in New Mexico — more than 3 in 10 voters in both 2018 and 2022 were Latino, according to AP VoteCast voter polls.
Democrats contend their support among Hispanic voters has been key to their success in the state as well as other Southwest battlegrounds in the midterms. They point to key Senate wins in Arizona by Sen. Mark Kelly (D) and Nevada by Catherine Cortez Masto (D) as well as some House victories as evidence they have maintained the support of Hispanic communities despite Republican predictions ahead of the election that these voters were moving quickly into their camp.
But the numbers in recent elections also raise some potential warning signs for the party about the strength of that support, mirroring the nationwide trend.
For instance, in 2018 Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) won the gubernatorial race with support from 71 percent of Latino voters, according to AP VoteCast. In her successful reelection bid in 2022, she won 66 percent of the Latino vote. Similar drops occurred in gubernatorial races in Arizona, Colorado and Nevada during the same time period.
But the loss of Latino support was less than anticipated and less than in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) picked up 11 percentage points among Latino voters between 2018 and 2022.
Florida Latinos are mostly Cuban and Puerto Rican. In New Mexico, they are multigenerational Mexican.
“The Mexican American has been a Democratic firewall for the Democrats,” Barreto said.
Pearce — who represented the 2nd Congressional District from 2003 until 2019, except for one term because he ran and lost his Senate race — said the party is making inroads in registering Hispanic voters in New Mexico. He said an increasing number of Hispanics are running as Republicans, which he says is “very important because politics is about visibility.”
Case in point: Susana Martinez, the Republican governor from 2011 to 2019. Even Democrats argue Martinez is a playbook for GOP success.
But Democrats also portray her success as unique to her as opposed to emblematic of Republican strength in the state overall.
Martinez was able to “break through the ranks and able to appeal to a wider range of voters,” said state House Rep. Javier Martínez, a Democrat in the running to be the next speaker of the state House. “Their nominees have been candidates that do not relate to large enough numbers of voters.”
A focus on Latino voters
New Mexico Democrats have done well in integrating Latinos politically, according to political operatives and analysts who follow the state. It has more Latinos elected to office than any other state and campaigns are not only bilingual but bicultural. Fifty-seven percent of state House Democrats are Hispanic. Three out of five members of its Congressional delegation are.
“We know it has an impact not just on vote choice but on Hispanic turnout,” Gabriel Sanchez, professor of political science at the University of New Mexico, said of Hispanic integration in the state. “That’s what’s made New Mexico a stronghold for Democratic politics in the Southwest.”
In his second term as Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair for the 2018 election cycle, Luján helped to recruit Xochitl Torres Small to run in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, one of the most competitive seats in the country and a seat that has been held predominantly by Republicans since 1968.
Torres Small won. She was the first Latina to represent the district, in which 55 percent of voters are Hispanic.
She said she ran because she didn’t feel represented. “I didn’t feel like the challenges of living on the border were really seen,” she said.
Torres Small was defeated by Republican Yvette Herrell in 2020. In 2022, the candidates, party campaigns and outside groups spent about $25 million on the race, according to OpenSecrets. Herrell was defeated by Gabe Vasquez, a young Hispanic American who grew up on the border and was a member of the Las Cruces city council.
But Republicans blame the legislature for the loss, saying it created a district much more hospitable to Democrats in redistricting.
Democrats argue Republican candidates also struggled during the midterms because they were too extreme for New Mexico and too eager to back former president Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
“I was furious,” said Rochelle Williams, who started the group Blue CD2 NM last year to help elect a Democrat to represent the state’s 2nd Congressional District. “I don’t want an insurrectionist representing me.” | 2022-12-23T11:32:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | New Mexico Democrats push their state as a model for winning Latino voters and in Southwest - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/23/new-mexico-democrats-latino/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/23/new-mexico-democrats-latino/ |
House prepares to vote on $1.7 trillion omnibus bill amid GOP objections
A day after a bipartisan Senate vote, lawmakers have hours before government funding runs out at midnight Friday
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) arrives on the House floor Wednesday before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's speech. A $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill to fund the government — and deliver aid to Ukraine — is awaiting House action before a Friday night deadline. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)
With only hours to go before federal funds run out, lawmakers face a race against the clock to finish a sprawling measure that would boost domestic and defense spending, finance President Biden’s top priorities and provide new emergency aid, including to Ukraine.
But the bipartisanship that largely characterized a successful 68-29 vote in the Senate on Thursday is unlikely to materialize in the House, where Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the chamber’s minority leader, has led the GOP in vigorously opposing the package of appropriations bills, known in congressional parlance as an omnibus.
As McCarthy vies for the speakership — hoping to run the House once his party takes over in January — he has held out for weeks against any negotiations with Democrats. He has even signaled support for blocking bills written by his Republican counterparts in the Senate who supported the spending package, a position first endorsed by his party’s most conservative members, some of whom oppose McCarthy’s bid for speaker.
Democrats are still expected to prevail in advancing the omnibus through a chamber where, until Jan. 3, they retain a majority. The vote Friday is likely to be sparsely attended, as more than 220 members from both parties had indicated by Thursday night that they would be absent in part due to inclement weather — choosing instead to vote from afar by proxy.
What's in the $1.7 trillion omnibus?
But the looming partisan tensions still could foreshadow even tougher spending fights next year, when Congress must return to the matter of funding the government before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, while tackling a slew of other critical fiscal deadlines with immense implications for the U.S. economy.
“These investments support our communities with the urgency they need,” said Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, during a Thursday evening congressional hearing that prepared the omnibus for floor debate.
Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), her counterpart on the panel, soon after aired her concerns about the “size and scope of the package,” saying that lawmakers could not “continue to spend at this rate on these extravagant social programs.”
The omnibus would provide nearly $773 billion for domestic programs and more than $850 billion for the military, covering expenses through the 2023 fiscal year. Over months of talks, Republicans had insisted on robust Pentagon funding, while Democrats secured some — but not all — of the health, education, labor and economic spending they initially sought.
Senate approves omnibus spending bill
A trio of top appropriators — led by Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), along with DeLauro — clinched the deal spanning more than 4,000 pages in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Their deal also includes nearly $47 billion in military, economic and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, as well as about $27 billion to respond to natural disasters affecting Florida, Puerto Rico and other parts of the United States.
House Republicans largely sat out of the talks, as some believed they could get a better deal — and extract spending cuts and other policy concessions from Biden — if they delayed debate until they assumed the majority in January. To that end, McCarthy led his party in arguing for a short-term funding extension, which would have kept the government running into next year, with federal spending frozen at existing levels.
But congressional leaders and negotiators rejected that approach — and even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) supported a deal that he described as imperfect but still critical for funding the Pentagon. That prompted McCarthy to assail McConnell, siding with conservatives including Reps. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who pledged in a letter this week to “do everything in our power to thwart even the smallest legislative and policy efforts” of senators who backed the omnibus.
McCarthy’s top deputy, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), similarly encouraged Republicans last week to vote against a one-week funding extension that gave lawmakers more time to reach a deal — a move that could have created a shutdown. On Tuesday, Scalise’s aides then recommended a vote against the omnibus, arguing that the bill is “designed to sideline the incoming Republican House Majority” with its spending increases.
By Thursday night, the top Republican on the House Rules Committee, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), predicted that “many members” of his party would vote against the omnibus because it was shepherded through the Senate so quickly. | 2022-12-23T11:32:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | House prepares to vote on $1.7 trillion omnibus bill amid GOP objections - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/12/23/omnibus-bill-house/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/12/23/omnibus-bill-house/ |
Fans find nostalgia in the wreckage of RFK stadium
The decrepit stadium is being torn apart, and those who went to games there are taking home pieces of history.
Larry Spalding, 65, holds the ventilator duct his dad helped install at RFK Stadium. (Emily Davies/The Washington Post)
Its beams are rusting. Its concrete slabs are falling. But on this Wednesday in December, the soul of RFK Stadium lived on in pieces of the wreckage.
A ventilator duct.
An elevator panel from 1961.
Seat 18 from the 14th row of Section 206.
One by one, three people arrived to collect these vestiges of the once great sporting arena. The pieces of metal, to them, were a way to remember what made the stadium feel like home — before it turns to rubble.
The duct brought Larry Spalding closer to his father, who had talked of how installing the stadium’s ventilation was one of his life’s highlights before he died at 48. The elevator panel reminded Elyse Horvath of what it was like to ride up and down with their grandmother, who brought them to the stadium as a kid because she knew those buttons helped ease her granddaughter’s anxiety. And the orange seat with paint peeling off the bottom made Sebastian Amar feel 13 again, eating chicken fingers with honey mustard and believing that the volume of his screams could change the score of the game.
“I look at this rustic falling apart decrepit stadium, and I wish we had stayed because it was our decrepit, rusting, falling apart stadium,” Amar said, staring at the tan, tired building.
RFK, located on the Anacostia River two miles east of the U.S. Capitol, was the home of Washington sports teams and their fans for nearly six decades. It hosted the team now known as the Commanders in the 1980s and early 1990s, when the franchise won three Super Bowl championships. It held D.C.’s baseball team through their transition from the Senators to the Nationals. It was home to D.C. United when the team brought professional soccer to the nation’s capital for the first time. Fans used bounce and cheer with such force that the whole building shook.
The stadium is scheduled to be demolished by the end of next year, after the city decided in 2019 to tear it down. Events D.C., which managed the stadium, is making use of its parts. They offered orange seats from the lower-bowl for sale, and plan to do the same with the yellow and burgundy seats from the upper bowl over the next year. The group responded to individual requests, too, for other fragments of the building that carry sentimental value for fans. They gave away some of those pieces free.
Plans for the 190-acre space remain unclear, especially because the federal government, rather than the city, owns the land. But these fans on Wednesday were not focused on the future. They each held their scrap gingerly, its touch transporting them back to the past.
Spalding said he doesn’t remember much about his dad — who died from brain cancer when Spalding 10 years old — except for vivid memories of their time together in the car. John Spalding used to make sure to take a route through the city that included a good view of RFK Stadium, so he could point to the building and say to Larry, “I helped build that.”
The older Spalding had returned from his deployment during World War II and got an apprenticeship with a metal working company, which was hired to install ventilation for the new stadium. Larry recalled how his father told him about riding a motor scooter around the hallways of the stadium to check the duct work. “I’d lose my stomach,” John would say, laughing while describing the sensation of racing over bumps in the concrete. Then he would find a speed bump in the road and step on the gas, allowing his son to feel the same lurch in his belly.
“I remember him dying. I remember him working all the time. But that is the only time, him talking about RFK, when I could see a twinkle in his face,” Larry Spalding said.
On Wednesday, the now 65-year-old lifted the chunk of metal, mostly burnt orange and bent at the corner. He plans to frame a piece of it alongside an old photograph of his father and a picture of the stadium — “when it was new,” he clarified.
Horvath, 26 and autistic, has always found elevator buttons soothing. They remembered particularly enjoying the sensation of the buttons in the RFK elevator, which had ridges around the circles and were often hard to press down. Their grandma, who was a fan of the football team, used to take Horvath to the stadium as a kid — partly because of the games, but mostly because she knew her granddaughter loved the architecture and riding in the elevator.
In 2017, Horvath came across a video of the RFK elevator and was shocked to see it had still not been updated since the 1960s.
“It’s not easy to find original elevators these days,” they recalled thinking, and set their sights on obtaining a panel from the building.
Horvath picked it up on Wednesday, running their fingers over the inspection switch and buttons to the second and third floors. The third-floor button sank into the board.
“I’m going to clean up the back so I can push the buttons without them falling out,” they said.
Amar, now 39, thought about stealing Seat 18 when he went to the last D.C. United game at the stadium five years ago. He saw other fans around him trying to yank the iconic orange chairs out of the ground but decided at the last minute to play by the rules. He regretted it the second he stepped into the parking lot.
For Amar, those seats and that stadium were synonymous with his childhood. His dad, from Morocco, had grown up with soccer at the center of his life. The moment D.C. had its team, Jacques Amar, Sebastian’s father, knew he wanted his kids to have the same experience, Sebastian said. He purchased season tickets that year, making his family part of the Original 96ers — the fans who have been devoted to the team since their first season.
The Amar family spent every home game at RFK, Sebastian Amar said. They tailgated in Lot 8. They devoured carne asada from the food trucks, once those popped up. They walked in together through Gate A, where it felt like they together crossed a threshold from the stresses of normal life into a space where they only talked about the referee and who was playing well that day. They listened to a man who played the drum so loudly that it made the seats vibrate.
“It was a physical feeling,” Sebastian Amar said. “You really can and do believe as a fan that you can will your team to success, and part of that is how much do you give from the stands.”
The stadium is where young Sebastian Amar saw his first fight (“Listen, that happens sometimes in soccer,” his dad told him). It is also where Jacques Amar was honored in 2013, after he died of leukemia. The team held a moment of silence for him that spring, Sebastian Amar said, at a game against the New York Red Bulls.
Sebastian Amar still has season tickets to D.C. United games, though the team now plays at Audi Field.
He put his hand on Seat 18 and looked toward Gate A, which had a faded D.C. United shield above the door.
“It feels like the new stadium is built for the casual fan,” he said, referring to Audi Field. “RFK was for the die-hards.” | 2022-12-23T11:52:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Fans claim pieces of history from RFK stadium - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/rfk-demolition-seats-memorabilia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/rfk-demolition-seats-memorabilia/ |
The perils of teaching a child to poop in the toilet
Why poop is the trickiest hurdle in potty-training
By the time parents contact Jen L’Italien, they are desperate for guidance. They’re frustrated; they’re overwhelmed; they worry that they’ve failed. Sometimes they’re in tears.
The source of their distress? A small child who is trying to learn how to poop like a member of modern society.
Ask any parent who has had to do multiple loads of particularly unpleasant laundry, or has held awkward conversations with a preschool teacher about accidents in class, or has recently called the pediatrician in a panic because a potty-training child hasn’t pooped in four days straight: Teaching a toddler to poop in the toilet can test the mental fortitude of even the most serene and supportive parents.
The issue is so common, and so fraught, that an entire industry has emerged to support families as they face this rite of passage. There are books for parents. There are books for children. There are online courses. There are innumerable coaches and consultants and psychologists who specialize in potty-training.
“I would say that poop problems are the bread and butter of my work, for sure,” says L’Italien, a potty-training consultant in Maine who was certified six years ago in the potty-training method made famous by Jamie Glowacki, author of the book “Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right.” “It’s the bulk of the reason why parents come to me for consultation.”
Occasionally, parents contact her after only a matter of hours or days, freaked out that their kid hasn’t mastered the skill right away. More often, she hears from parents who have become stuck in an ongoing, troubling pattern: A child keeps having accidents, or waits to poop until they’re in a nap time pull-up, or throws a tantrum every time they’re prompted to use the toilet. The key is figuring out why a child is struggling to poop in the potty, L’Italien says. Two of the most common answers to this question are constipation and withholding, which are often connected. “Constipation will lead to withholding, and withholding will lead to constipation.”
This is one reason Francyne Zeltser, a child psychologist and potty-training specialist, recommends making sure a toddler is not having any issues with bowel movements before trying to potty train. “There are families who will say, ‘We were going to potty-train during the holiday break, but Johnny was constipated, but we stuck to the plan, and now he’s withholding.’ Of course he’s withholding; it hurts! I would rather delay potty training and maybe wait until February if it means we can get Johnny regular first, so we don’t start a negative cycle.”
The unfortunate Catch-22 of potty-training, and poop-training in particular: It’s often very stressful for parents, but it’s very important that parents not convey any feeling of stress.
That’s not an easy task, especially when there are very real external sources of pressure that can factor into the equation. There are schools and camps that require a child to be potty-trained before enrolling. There are judgy relatives who might offer unsolicited feedback. (“I’ve heard of a grandma shaming the child for requesting a pull-up to poop in, and saying that ‘She should be a big girl,’ which is doubly shaming,” L’Italien says.)
There’s also no shortage of social pressure, and the temptation to compare one child to another. “Before everyone was on social media all the time, maybe you knew of one or two of the other kids in the class, what they were doing,” Zeltser says. “But now you have a group chat with all the parents from a preschool class, and someone asks, ‘How many people’s kids are potty trained?’ And then you feel pressured by the responses in the group.”
All this tension is a problem, because kids — even really little ones — can sense it, and anxious vibes interfere with their ability to potty train, L’Italian says. “The parent’s anxiety can create some outright refusal, outright resistance in the child,” she says. “We cannot poop if we’re not relaxed. Literally. If parents are overreacting or hovering, if there’s a lack of chill, if there’s a lack of calm, if we’re not able to be regulated as parents, we’re not going to be able to help a child through a new skill.”
It helps, these experts agree, to have reasonable and realistic expectations. Yes, there are the mythical children who miraculously potty-train perfectly in 48 hours flat, who never once wet the bed or poop in their pants. Those children are unicorns. Your child is probably not one of them, and that’s fine.
“Some kids just have to have a lot of accidents in order to learn, and that’s not easy for a parent,” says clinical psychologist Lynn Adams, who has worked with many parents who are potty-training their children, including families with children who have autism.
But there’s a lot that parents can do to make the process less daunting, Adams says. For starters, try to get comfortable talking about poop; normalizing a basic biological function helps kids approach it without a sense of taboo.
“Something I learned from my Freudian supervisors in grad school is really trying to demystify the process of poop,” Adams says. “We can talk about this! Yes, it’s gross, but we can handle it, it’s not embarrassing.”
When Adams was potty-training her own kids, she read them the book “Everyone Poops.” She took them to the zoo and let them watch animals poop. In her work with autistic kids, Adams often used Play-Doh as a way to help children visualize and understand the physical act of pooping. (And yes, she knows you’re probably cringing at this: “People are like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want to do that,’ but it’s really only a short period of time when you have to do these things.”)
It’s also helpful to remember that pooping in the toilet is a life skill, experts emphasize, and shouldn’t require reward.
“We don’t give a child an M&M for brushing their teeth or picking up a spoon to eat their cereal,” Zeltser says. “This is a skill they’re learning, not a behavior that is desirable.”
Offering a treat as a reward might work for peeing, L’Italien notes, but pooping isn’t something a kid can do on command anyway. She also suggests skipping the potty-training sticker charts; most toddlers aren’t developmentally capable of understanding delayed gratification: “Save your money on that.”
Committing to an approach is essential. When families contact Adams for help, “they’re at their wit’s end, and they feel they’ve exhausted every method,” she says. But when she sits down with them, “it turns out they’ve tried something for like a day or two before they kind of threw in the towel and tried something new. And like everything else in life, consistency is so critical.”
With whatever method a parent wants to try, she says, stick with it for a minimum of three days — and ideally, more like a week or two — before switching to a new strategy if needed.
If this means waiting a little longer until the task is more logistically doable, then it’s worth it to delay, Zeltser says. “You want to look at your calendar and say, ‘When am I not running around, when can we identify a three-consecutive day period when we can stay home’? You’re better off pushing back the start date of training than trying to train inconsistently.”
Given the intensity of the whole endeavor, it’s not surprising that some parents are really excited when their kid gets it right. But when your kid actually poops where they’re supposed to poop, please don’t throw a parade, L’Italien says.
“The parents who go big — like go big with praise, this whole cheerleading response, there are dances, there’s calling grandma, it’s a whole huge thing — that can be a big detour that leads your child to withhold, because … that’s a lot of pressure,” she says. “Watch the positive reinforcement. ‘Positive’ is not cheerleading. We don’t want this to be a performance act; we want it to be normal.”
And if you don’t have a kid who gets it right away, don’t give up hope, she says. It’s exhausting and frustrating, but it’s not forever, and there are people who can help.
“It’s a very vulnerable, hard place to be, but don’t feel isolated,” she says. “There are always ways out of it. There is always a solution.”
It’s worth remembering that what works for one kid might not work for another, and any child is capable of throwing a curveball, Adams says, a lesson she learned anew when she potty-trained her own 2-year-old daughter. At the time, she’d been a child psychologist for 15 years. She’d successfully potty-trained her older son, who has autism and struggled with some of the motor skills required — it was difficult for him to get his pants down in time, or to climb up onto the big toilet. At work, Adams was known as “the potty lady.” She felt ready to guide her second child.
“My daughter was really ready, physically, and she loved her princess underwear,” Adams says. She first assumed this incentive was a good thing, but then her toddler served up a plot twist: “She would wet them, or get them dirty, so she could put on a new princess.” Her daughter made the process into a game, Adams said, and would cheerfully announce when she’d pooped in her bed.
“I really didn’t want to back off, because I knew she could do it,” Adams said, “But I had to back off.”
So she did. She put her little girl back in diapers, and a few weeks later, the 2-year-old announced herself that she was ready to wear her princess underwear again. This time, “she was ready,” Adams says. “Those few weeks were important. They’re little humans, and you have to respect their autonomy.” | 2022-12-23T12:27:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Potty training tips for one of the biggest obstacles: Pooping - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/parenting/2022/12/23/potty-training-tips-poop/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/parenting/2022/12/23/potty-training-tips-poop/ |
Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. celebrated after moving the pile for a first down against the Giants on Sunday. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Robinson’s production and rushing efficiency have improved each week, which has helped to reinvigorate an offense that lagged in nearly all facets. Over the past nine games, the Commanders have gone 6-2-1 while averaging 148.0 rushing yards and 8.89 rushing first downs per game, both of which rank sixth highest in the NFL.
But Sunday, in a loss to the New York Giants that made the Commanders’ playoff odds significantly longer, Robinson was limited to 12 carries, a number his coaches in hindsight agreed should’ve been higher.
Added offensive coordinator Scott Turner: “Twelve carries, you look at it and you say, ‘Man, we really should have given him the ball more than that.’ … Because of Brian and how he was running, looking back at it, yeah, you would’ve liked him to touch it more.”
More concerning: He had only two fourth-quarter runs against the Giants, the second of which put the Commanders in the red zone for a shot at a go-ahead touchdown. Robinson went around the left end to pick up 19 yards before getting pushed out of bounds at the Giants’ 11. Instead of leaving him in, the Commanders turned to versatile receiver Curtis Samuel, who ran the ball for one yard. The drive ended with a sack and fumble by Heinicke.
Robinson, who said he’s his own biggest critic, believes his improved patience as a runner has allowed him to play more efficiently.
Analysis: Why the Commanders’ less efficient, run-heavy offense is working so well
On Sunday, the flow of the game made it difficult for the Commanders to get Robinson the ball more. They trailed from the second quarter on and were left to play catch-up with their passing game. And when they finally did use Robinson in the red zone, Terry McLaurin was flagged for an illegal formation, so his touchdown was scratched. | 2022-12-23T12:45:06Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Brian Robinson Jr. jolted the Commanders’ offense. Now he needs the ball more. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/23/brian-robinson-commanders-rushing-offense/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/23/brian-robinson-commanders-rushing-offense/ |
The omnibus bill is proving to be a Grinch for companies and families
Lawmakers appear prepared to let some popular tax breaks disappear in the omnibus tax deal reached by both parties this week. (Elizabeth Frantz for The Washington Post)
1No expansion of the child tax credit
2Companies won’t get to immediately deduct research and development
3Tax law will treat big corporate expenses less generously
4Companies won’t be able to deduct as much of their interest expenses
You can read more here about what the $1.7 trillion bill will do. Here is a list of four tax breaks it will not extend.
No expansion of the child tax credit
Current tax law provides most parents or guardians with a tax credit of up to $2,000 per year for each of their children. For half of President Biden’s first year in office, this tax credit got a lot more generous: a monthly benefit of $300 for every young child and $250 for every child between the ages of 6 and 17.
Companies won’t get to immediately deduct research and development
Senators from both parties seemed to agree — in a nonbinding vote in May, they supported keeping the full deduction in place by a vote of 90-5. But the idea did not make it into the omnibus bill as it neared a final vote on Thursday.
Tax law will treat big corporate expenses less generously
Before the Trump-era 2017 tax law, the company generally had to deduct the cost of that asset from its taxes over the course of many years. The 2017 law allowed companies to deduct the full expense right away, a move known as “bonus depreciation,” and companies loved it because they’d rather have a tax cut now than later.
The 2017 law set this benefit to start phasing out in 2023. Congress didn’t touch that provision this year. So starting next year, barring future legislative action, “bonus depreciation” will drop from the full cost of the asset to 80 percent, and by 2027, the bonus will be gone altogether and companies will have to go back to spreading the depreciation out over many years.
Companies won’t be able to deduct as much of their interest expenses
When Congress passed the Trump-era tax cuts, many expected that the temporary provisions in the bill would someday be extended, making the law far more costly to the country and more generous to businesses. This week marked the first test of that expectation — and it looks like Congress isn’t budging so far. More of those 2017 tax cuts for both businesses and families are set to expire in the years to come. | 2022-12-23T13:02:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Congress will not extend 4 popular tax cuts in 2023. Here's what we know - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/23/tax-breaks-congress-ends-extension/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/23/tax-breaks-congress-ends-extension/ |
Ben & Jerry’s Tests the Limit of Altruism Versus Profit
Who knew ice cream could be so fraught.
Last week, Ben & Jerry’s independent board and its parent, British consumer giant Unilever Plc, resolved a highly unusual legal dispute that had been churning between them since last year. It began when Ben & Jerry’s announced in July 2021 that doing business in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was “inconsistent with our values” and that it would cease selling its ice cream in the region.
Things started to get complicated from there. Ben & Jerry’s Israeli licensee, Avi Zinger, sued the brand and Unilever, contending that their actions violated US and Israeli law. Unilever decided to rid itself of the whole mess by selling Ben & Jerry’s Israeli operation to Zinger. That prompted Ben & Jerry’s independent board to sue Unilever to try to block the deal, arguing that its parent had undermined its authority and that the continued presence of the brand in the region would damage its integrity.
Both Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever declined to elaborate on last week’s resolution, with Unilever saying that the terms are confidential. But Zinger has told the media that his recent deal with Unilever is unchanged since the settlement.
There’s a lot going on here: a power struggle between a brand and its parent; big thorny geopolitical issues that I won’t even begin to wade into; legitimate questions about what it means to be a social enterprise; even a touch of the heated ESG culture wars. But at the crux of it all is a debate about what happens when a company’s business mission and social mission are at odds.
Normally these kinds of conflicts get hashed out privately inside executive suites and boardrooms with, let’s be honest, the financial imperative prevailing. The reason this dispute became so heated and so public can be traced back to Unilever’s $326 million acquisition of the Vermont-based ice cream business in 2000. As part of the deal, the company’s founders (the real-life Ben and Jerry) required that the brand maintain an independent board responsible for furthering its social mission; Unilever would oversee the financial and operational parts of the enterprise.
For 20 years, assigning responsibility for these two functions to two separate bodies worked just fine. Ben & Jerry’s spoke out in support of gay marriage, was early in sounding the alarm on climate change, endorsed the Occupy Wall Street movement, called for the dismantling of white supremacy and boycotted advertising on Facebook over the proliferation of hate speech on the platform. The progressive causes that the ice cream maker championed aligned with the type of consumer it wanted to attract, which meant more sales of Chunky Monkey and Phish Food. The formula worked: Last year, Ben & Jerry’s became one of only 13 Unilever brands to surpass €1 billion in annual sales.
Unilever benefited from Ben & Jerry’s social mission, too, injecting its doing-well-by-doing-good attitude into its own operations. Former Unilever Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman, who retired in 2018 after a decade-long run, even became the de facto leader of Big Business’s burgeoning conscious capitalism movement. Polman’s successor, Alan Jope, took it a step further, demanding that all Unilever brands have a clear purpose — Hellmann’s mayo tackling food waste, Vaseline aiding in skin care for Syrian refugees. Ben & Jerry’s, with its innate sense of mission, was the company’s shining example.
But the West Bank move changed all that. It was different from Ben & Jerry’s past actions, which had mostly entailed putting out fiery statements or introducing new flavors in support of a particular cause. To the Ben & Jerry’s board, pulling out of the Israeli-occupied territory was a question of ethics. But to Unilever, ceasing operations there was a business decision and therefore fell within its jurisdiction. “There is plenty for Ben & Jerry’s to get their teeth into on their social justice mission without straying into geopolitics,” Jope said in a July call with journalists. Ben & Jerry’s lawyer compared the statement to Laura Ingraham telling LeBron James to “shut up and dribble” after talking politics in a 2018 interview.
Ben & Jerry’s decision to pull out of the West Bank did have real consequences for Unilever. Jope received an irate call from the Israeli prime minister, and several state pension funds pulled their money out of Unilever. Some investors took it as a sign that the company had taken its purpose-driven agenda too far and were not exactly displeased when Jope announced that he would retire at the end of 2023.
Until then, highlighting the independence and sway of the Ben & Jerry’s board had always been in Unilever’s best interest — an opportunity to underscore its own mission-driven bona fides. But in the lawsuit, Unilever instead argued that the board’s scope and power was in fact quite narrow, to the point where it lacked the authority to bring the lawsuit in the first place. The change in tone and tactic signals a deep change in the relationship between Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s, which is clearly no longer the favorite child.
But it also represents a more existential shift at Unilever, which may now be questioning the value of trumpeting its commitment to social issues so loudly and publicly. The tide is turning within parts of the investment community, which are starting to view ESG as an unwelcome distraction. To Unilever and the rest of corporate America, whatever sales boost comes from selling deodorant or ice cream that stands for something may no longer be worth the backlash from shareholders.
• A Look at Who Might Succeed Jope at Unilever: Andrea Felsted
• Why Brands Are Reeking Havoc on Our Noses: Ben Schott | 2022-12-23T13:02:38Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ben & Jerry’s Tests the Limit of Altruism Versus Profit - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ben-and-jerrys-tests-the-limit-of-altruism-versus-profit/2022/12/23/231f2abc-82ba-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ben-and-jerrys-tests-the-limit-of-altruism-versus-profit/2022/12/23/231f2abc-82ba-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html |
Cultivate a new you in the new year with 7 D.C.-area classes
As 2022 draws to a close, embrace the “new year, new you” mantra by picking up a hobby. Here are seven classes in January where you can learn something new, whether it involves creative writing, wine tasting, knitting or bonsai pruning.
Jan. 3-25: Introduction to Knitting at Fibre Space: Show up to Fibre Space in Old Town Alexandria as an absolute beginner who doesn’t know a knit stitch from a purl stitch, and by the end of three weeks of classes, you’ll be on your way to knitting a scarf. The weekly workshops last an hour and a half, and you’ll want to purchase the $55 “intro knit kit” or go shopping in the store beforehand for the necessary needles and yarn. 7 p.m. $75.
Jan. 10-Feb. 7: ‘Write Into Art’ with Smithsonian Associates: Is 2023 the year that you write a novel? Find inspiration to put pen to paper during an online workshop with Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the Writing Salon at the National Gallery of Art. Works by artists including Edward Hopper, Suzanne Valadon and Kenjiro Nomura serve as powerful prompts to spark your imagination as you practice creative writing techniques, such as multiple narratives or experimenting with a timeline. Students can drop into one virtual Smithsonian Associates class or sign up for all five workshops. 10 to 11:30 a.m. $40-$45 per class or $175-$185 for the full course of classes.
Jan. 12: ‘Bake & Take: Challah Edition’ at Mess Hall: The founders of D.C.’s homemade chicken soup company Prescription Chicken demo all the steps for braiding and baking challah bread during a two-hour class at culinary incubator Mess Hall. A bowl of soup is included in the hands-on workshop, and you’ll leave with freshly baked challah and more dough to freeze for later. 6 p.m. $75.
Jan. 12-Feb. 2: Tango lessons at the Embassy of Uruguay: This series of four weekly classes fulfills two resolutions in one: Not only are you learning new dance steps, but you’re expanding your cultural knowledge, as lessons are held at the Embassy of Uruguay, and organizers promise that students will “learn about the history of tango to better understand the dance.” Neither a partner nor experience with tango is required to take the class with instructor Luis Angel. 6 to 7 p.m. $75 for all four classes.
Jan. 20: Boozy Bonsai at PlantHouse: Alexandria’s PlantHouse is a shop devoted to indoor greenery, complete with a bar stocked with wine and beer as well as event space for workshops. Check it out during a “Boozy Bonsai” class, where you’ll pot and prune a tiny juniper tree to take home. (Fair warning: This workshop is for ages 16 and older, and alcohol isn’t included in the ticket price.) 6:30 to 8 p.m. $40.
Jan. 21: Tea Blending Workshop at Atlas Brew Works: The urban farmers behind community garden organization Cultivate the City are taking over Atlas Brew Works for a Saturday afternoon tea party. Using dried, garden-grown herbs such as lavender and lemongrass, you’ll learn how to create your own personal blend of flavored tea. 1 to 2 p.m. $30.
Jan. 26: ‘How to Blind Taste Wine Like a Pro’ at Hill Center: Sommelier Michael Scaffidi shares his tricks of the trade in this class at the Hill Center on Capitol Hill. You’ll try four unidentified wines from four different grapes and four different wine-growing regions, and the hope is that by the end of the evening, you’ll be ready with plenty of adjectives to describe vino other than “jammy.” 5:30 to 7 p.m. $68.
Fritz Hahn contributed to this report. | 2022-12-23T13:02:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Learn to knit, dance, bake and taste wine at these D.C.-area classes - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/new-years-resolutions-classes/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/new-years-resolutions-classes/ |
Displaced Hurricane Ian survivors brace for a holiday without a home
By Derek Hawkins
Thomas Simonetti
Kate Gauntt, left, in front of her family's destroyed home in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., nearly three months after Hurricane Ian ravaged the area. (Thomas Simonetti/For The Washington Post)
FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — The big mango wood table on John and Kate Gauntt’s storm-battered second floor was set with paper plates and a tray full of Costco hot dogs. The couple gathered their kids, said a quick prayer and started serving.
Meals like this have become sacrosanct for the family of 10 since Hurricane Ian inundated their house by the beach in late September, destroying their belongings and forcing them to strip the interior down to the studs and subflooring. This is where they talk, laugh, play games and unwind in the evening before packing into a trailer in their driveway to sleep.
“Family is sacred,” said John Gauntt, 38. “We choose the quality of our relationship over the quality of our stuff.”
Three months after Ian struck, thousands of Floridians whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the Category 4 hurricane remain displaced. The total number living without permanent housing is unclear, but more than 52,000 households have been approved for rental assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to FEMA statistics, hinting at the scope of the problem.
Many of those who lost homes say they felt the foundations of their lives and futures shift beneath them. Some face the prospect of permanent displacement if their fortunes don’t change in the new year. Others wrestle with painful decisions about how to move forward in a region devastated by the historic storm.
For the Gauntts and their eight children, who range in age from 15 months to 15 years, the gutted house briefly feels like a home again when they gather for dinner.
But their situation is untenable. There are too many construction hazards for the family to stay inside for long, and the trailer is cramped. The couple worries about the older kids growing restless as this limbo drags on. As the holidays approach, they face an agonizing choice: part with the house and uproot the family or slowly chip away at repairs until they can move back in.
“At the end of the day,” said Kate Gauntt, 34, “we’re still kind of living in a war zone with kids.”
Christmas in an Airbnb
In an Airbnb in central Fort Myers, Toby Hillen poured a glass of Hawaiian Punch and sank into the couch with her dog, a Chihuahua-dachshund named Cody.
It had been another exhausting day of paperwork and phone calls in the seemingly endless scramble to find a stable place to live. She had already been denied a temporary trailer from FEMA. Now she was waiting on rental assistance.
(Video: Chris Zuppa)
“Trying to get any answers,” she joked, “is like trying to explain how the color nine smells.”
The past month has felt like a race against time for the 51-year-old mother and her teenage daughter, Emily.
The mobile home they shared in Fort Myers filled with nine inches of sewage, leaving it uninhabitable until she can pay for a full renovation.
The vacation rental they were in now was a stopgap, set to end three days after Christmas with no option to extend. Even if they could stay, Hillen’s salary as a cashier at a miniature-golf course wouldn’t be enough to cover it.
For weeks she scoured apartment listings. Prices had spiked in the area, but moving to a cheaper place farther inland was out of the question.
“The only normalcy we have,” Hillen said, “is that my daughter can go to school, and I can go to work.”
Two of the apartments they toured were non-starters. One was badly storm-damaged, the other tucked in a neighborhood where they didn’t feel safe.
Finally, a suitable two-bedroom came up. They could barely afford it. But it was clean and quiet, and close to Emily’s school. Plus, it had hurricane windows. Hillen signed the lease.
They’re spending Christmas in their Airbnb. A few people in the community helped them with presents, and Hillen put up a tiny tree in the living room. The real gift, though, would be the new roof over their heads.
“That hurdle is crossed,” Hillen said. “Now we’ve just got to figure out how to furnish the place.”
‘The best we can’
Scott and Sammy Wilson met here years ago, when he was a bouncer and she was a bartender at the Lani Kai Island Resort. They had come for the beach, for the sun, and stayed for each other, finding work in a supply house for the shrimp boats on San Carlos Island.
Ian left their two-bedroom house by the boatyard mangled beyond repair and wiped out the mobile home they owned across the street. Stress from the storm killed their aging dogs, Trixie and Slayer. Scott Wilson lost thousands of dollars’ worth of welding tools.
Also gone: The 1984 Chevrolet Camaro that he bought for $700 a quarter-century ago. It had driven like new thanks to the work he had put into it. But the waters claimed the car, and now it lay buried in a 15-foot trash heap near his yard, only its license plate visible beneath a mass of scrap wood and tree limbs.
On a recent Friday afternoon, Wilson, 47, climbed a ladder into the living room of his house and took stock of all the loss one more time.
“We’re trying to do the best we can with what we have left,” he said. But there’s only so much they can salvage. And the mold is slowly creeping over every surface.
Help has come in bursts. The couple had been living for weeks on a futon in a welding shop when family members in the Northeast bought them a 32-foot trailer and drove it down. Relief workers brought generators and food. And a pair of FEMA checks — one for $700, another for $2,282 — helped cover rent and utilities.
With about 50 shrimp boats still grounded or sunk, the couple’s work has dwindled. Some days, there’s little to do but share beers and talk shop with the boat workers under a canopy tent in San Carlos Maritime Park. They’ve mulled whether to leave the area or even the state, maybe returning to Wilson’s native New Jersey.
But this is still home.
“I don’t like giving up on anything,” Wilson said. “And I’m not going to start with this.”
‘My son’s future’
John Velez scanned what was left of the bathroom doorway in his squat, single-family home and let out a nervous laugh.
“We had the kids’ height marks here,” he said. “That’s gone.”
The 33-year-old once had visions of turning this into the Thanksgiving house, the Fourth of July house, the “place where the family comes together and forget their problems,” he said. His father had bought it more than a decade ago. One day Velez hoped to hand it down to his children — Sadie, 10, and Caden, 7.
“In my culture, the house is a symbol of the family,” said Velez, who was born in Colombia and came to the United States in 2004. “It gets passed down.”
But the hurricane upended that dream, flooding the property in the Harlem Heights neighborhood of Fort Myers and tearing up the roof. It also hit his business. Velez runs a tree service company called MSF, short for “my son’s future” and “my Sadie’s future.” He lost chain saws, power pruners and two Ford F-150s in the storm.
The family is in an apartment now. Velez drops by to check his mail and inspect the property but never stays long. They had to strip the waterlogged drywall and trim, leaving only studs, exposed cinder blocks and plastic sheeting. Memories of what it used to look like and how they narrowly escaped the flooding are still fresh.
These days, Velez is focused on other things. He’s getting his tree service up and running again. He’s also working on himself, he said, attending therapy to help him process all he and his family have been through.
He’s not sure what it will take to rekindle his dream for the house. A redesign would help, or at least some new drywall and paint.
“This will forever be home, but we’re traumatized,” he said. “It’s an open wound still.”
Finding peace
On Sunday morning, John and Kate Gauntt shuffled their kids into a 12-seat passenger van and headed to church in Fort Myers. Both of their vehicles — a Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and a 15-seat van — were totaled in the storm. This one was a donation from a family friend.
As they crossed the steep bridge that connects Fort Myers Beach to the mainland, John Gauntt peered at the wreckage below. There was so much left to clean up.
“It used to be, ‘Wow, look where we live,’” said Gauntt, who runs a charter fishing business. “Now it’s, ‘Wow, look at all the shrimp boats still sitting on top of houses.’”
This had been home for two decades. His parents had bought their house when he was a teenager, and the couple purchased it from them in 2019. Gauntt and his father had spent years fixing it up, while his mother, a decorator, gave the interior a distinctive touch. “I have been part of every piece of trim and beadboard in there,” Gauntt said.
They loved their community, too. An annual Christmas toy drive held by a local nonprofit at a vacated seafood restaurant drew an outpouring of donations for families affected by the storm. Kate Gauntt had spent the previous afternoon picking out presents for her youngsters and wrapping them in the dining area with a group of other parents.
In a perfect world, they would stay in Fort Myers Beach. But the storm brought a reckoning.
To get the house to code, they would need to rebuild from the ground up. Without some sort of financial windfall, that would be prohibitively expensive. They could also stay and repair it themselves. But that would take long hours of labor over several months at least, during which time they would have to live as they do now, packed into their trailer.
Selling, heartbreaking as it would be, felt like a more realistic option. So the couple put their house on the market, hoping that if an offer did come through, it would be enough to finance a new place that fit their large family. “It’s our responsibility to have our kids in a safe house,” John Gauntt said, “not an ongoing project.”
While they were on the road, a text came in from the couple’s real estate agent. “Bingo!” it read. “Showing request for 1:45 to 2:00 today. Good?”
“Go for it!” Gauntt texted back.
At church, the family listened to a service about finding peace. “What disturbs our peace?” the pastor asked. Obstacles, he said. Unmet expectations.
“God doesn’t always pick the easy path for us,” he continued. “Does anybody like the easy path? I know I do.” Gauntt raised his hand.
Afterward, in the parking lot outside, the couple tried not to think too hard about the text from the real estate agent. An open house the day before hadn’t drawn much interest. For now, the biggest question was where to take their gaggle of kids for brunch. The house could wait.
Maps show the impacts of Hurricane Ian
Biden, FEMA head to Florida as survivors scramble for federal aid | 2022-12-23T13:03:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Displaced Hurricane Ian survivors brace for the holidays without a home - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/23/florida-hurricane-ian-housing-holidays/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/23/florida-hurricane-ian-housing-holidays/ |
Her dispute over tenure at the San Francisco Symphony in the 1970s focused national attention on equality in the arts
Percussionist Elayne Jones in 1965. (Sam Falk/New York Times)
Ms. Jones nevertheless became an in-demand freelance musician in New York in the 1950s and ’60s. She was the first African American orchestral musician to play with the New York Philharmonic and performed extensively with the New York City Opera. She found an influential mentor in conductor Leopold Stokowski, who selected her for the American Symphony Orchestra, which he formed in 1962.
Ms. Jones won her spot — a pinnacle of success in the classical music world — in what is known as a blind audition, in which aspirants perform behind a screen. Black musicians including Ms. Jones had fought to institutionalize blind auditions in classical music so that they could be judged on their talent rather than by their race.
“I wouldn’t have gotten the job if the screen wasn’t in play,” Ms. Jones told Grace Wang, a professor at the University of California at Davis who documented her story in the online publication Boom California. “I’m the recipient of a thing that I worked on.”
Ms. Jones’s debut received a highly complimentary review in the San Francisco Chronicle.
“Sensational! Absolutely sensational,” music critic Heuwell Tircuit wrote, according to Wang’s account. “Clean articulation, fine intonation, and technical savvy — a particularly fine roll, smooth as butter — rich tonal sensibility, and what was really mind blowing, she phrases.”
But two years later, after a standard probationary period, a seven-man committee of the orchestra’s musicians denied tenure to Ms. Jones and a Japanese-born bassoonist, Ryohei Nakagawa.
“I’ve worked so hard all these years,” Ms. Jones told the Times. “I’ve had good vibes everywhere. Now I wonder what the hell is wrong, and what do I do that’s so wrong? … Was it because I was a woman or a Black? Or both?”
Ms. Jones filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging her rejection. A judge ordered the matter returned to the orchestra players’ committee, which again denied her request for tenure. While Ozawa supported her during the first vote, he rescinded his support amid the second.
San Francisco Examiner arts critic Alexander Fried wrote in 1975 that “the symphony at its very best does not outclass her,” but that “even seasoned musicians and symphony players differ about Ms. Jones’s musical art and craft, notably on the point of playing immaculately in tune.”
Elaine Viola Jones — she changed the spelling of her first name after seeing it misspelled and deciding that she liked it with the “y” — was born in Harlem on Jan. 30, 1928.
Her mother played the piano and was “lured to the States under the guise that she could be a concert pianist,” according to Ms. Jones’s daughter. She ultimately subsisted on domestic work and was her daughter’s first piano teacher.
“My mother always said to me, ‘Laynie, you’re going to do something respectable. You’re not going to clean White people’s floors!’” Ms. Jones recalled years later in an interview with the Percussive Arts Society. “So I started studying piano at the age of six.”
“There may have been a link with the mistaken notion that all Black folks have rhythm,” she said. “As luck would have it, I took to drums like a duck takes to water. As much as I enjoyed the piano, the experience of playing with other people in an orchestra was so profound and beautiful. Drums are more sociable than piano.”
“Being Black is worse than being a woman in everything except baseball, football and basketball,” she told the Afro-American in 1973. “I had to prove that music could be played by anyone who loves it. And I never let anything stand in my way. It’s been a terrible burden because I always felt I had to do better; that I wouldn’t be allowed the lapses other musicians have.”
Ms. Jones’s marriage to George Kaufman ended in divorce.
Besides her daughter, of Walnut Creek, Ms. Jones’s survivors include a son, Stephen Kaufman, a traveling musician and performance artist known as Thoth, currently residing in Mexico; another daughter, Harriet Kaufman Douglas of Akosombo, Ghana; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
After leaving the San Francisco Symphony, Ms. Jones went on to a long career with the orchestra of the San Francisco Opera, retiring in 1998. She wrote a memoir, “Little Lady With a Big Drum,” published in 2019.
By pursuing her work, she said, “I wasn’t just playing music; I was making a statement. This would be my new objective: to try to change the way women and Blacks were treated.” | 2022-12-23T13:03:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Elayne Jones, pathbreaking timpanist, dies at 94 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/23/elayne-jones-african-american-timpani-dead/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/23/elayne-jones-african-american-timpani-dead/ |
Biden has turned around U.S. foreign policy. But the road ahead is perilous.
President Biden speaks during a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Wednesday. (Oliver Contreras/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Changing foreign policy from one administration to another isn’t like flipping a switch. It’s more like turning around an aircraft carrier.
In that sense, the achievements of President Biden in his first two years in office are remarkable. He has dramatically shifted the direction of U.S. foreign policy from his predecessor, and for that, he deserves kudos. As the recent appearance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before Congress shows, Biden’s role in rallying the West and defending against brutal aggression has helped regain the United States’ stature as a defender of democracy.
But turning the boat around is just half the battle. Just as important is maneuvering around obstacles — and there are many difficult ones ahead.
This is not to diminish the administration’s accomplishments, of which there are many. It reentered the Paris climate accords, made clear it would remain active in the World Health Organization, mended and even expanded NATO and enhanced U.S. ties with the European Union on issues ranging from cyberterrorism to infrastructure. It also set up or expanded a range of multilateral relationships, including the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, the I2U2 group (which includes India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United States) and the AUKUS security pact between Australia, Britain and the United States. These arrangements have begun to pay some dividends, including progress on global climate commitments and the distribution of millions of coronavirus vaccinations.
Moreover, Ukraine is prevailing in its war against Russia (albeit at huge cost), thanks to the support of the historic alliance Biden constructed. Russia has not yet been forced to sue for peace, but the West is moving the ball in that direction.
But large questions remain. The Biden administration has reaffirmed the United States’ historic commitments to Taiwan, but it has yet to devise a means of defusing China’s aggressive military ambitions. The tinder box remains. Meanwhile, the administration’s promised China trade policy review has yet to arrive.
Likewise, a disastrous foray to reestablish ties with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman led Biden to offer a cringeworthy fist bump with the brutal leader. Despite that gesture, the Saudis still cut oil production against U.S. wishes. The administration has promised a new policy for Saudi Arabia that better reflects our interests and values, but that has yet to arrive either. Administration officials argue that the Saudis have made some positive moves, such as voting at the United Nations against Russian annexation, providing aid to Ukraine and acting constructively to end their war in Yemen. Still, the experience with the Saudis in the past year damaged the United States’ commitment to human rights and democracy.
In the absence of any headway in re-establishing a deal with Iran to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon, the Biden administration has not devised an alternate strategy to contain Iran. At an end of the year news conference, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that in response to Iran’s brutalization of protesters, “we issued new sanctions, including on the prosecutor general of Iran." He also promised "to make sure that Iranians have in their hands the ability to communicate with each other, to remain connected with the outside world.” Nevertheless, Iran’s internal repression and external aggression continue.
Then there is Afghanistan. While the administration made good on its commitment to pull troops out of the country, ending two decades of unproductive war, the ending was disturbingly chaotic. It resulted in the deaths of 13 Americans and left behind tens of thousands of Afghans who supported U.S. troops. We failed to anticipate the speed at which the Afghan government and military would collapse. Now, Afghan girls have predictably been thrown out of universities. (Fortunately, predictions that we would be open to terrorist attacks and destroy our international credibility seem overblown.)
Biden’s priorities ahead must be threefold: First, he must marry a policy of military readiness with a coherent regional plan to contain China. The United States lacks a trade policy that reasonably balances its economic interests with its national security needs. In the same way Biden constructed an alliance to ensure Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a strategic failure, he must demonstrate to China that an invasion of Taiwan would come at a terrible cost. At a moment when China is hamstrung by covid-19 and economically less potent, the United States should look to resuscitate some version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership to enhance its economic relationships with allies in the region while boxing out China.
Second, since the Iran nuclear deal appears dead, the administration needs a comprehensive strategy to contain the Iranian threat, curtail its support for terrorist groups and strengthen regional stability. As former Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross put it, the core of this strategy should be to restore deterrence: “Iran must see that sanctions loopholes will be closed and that if it refuses a credible diplomatic outcome, it will risk its entire nuclear infrastructure.” The administration could also build on the Abraham Accords to create a regional network for military defense and intelligence sharing.
Finally, the United States must see Ukraine through to victory. Concern that Russia will deploy weapons of mass destruction should not paralyze the West, especially since the use of such weapons would pose a threat to Russia’s own homeland and troops. Now is not the time to be stingy with our support to Ukraine.
The United States is stronger and more respected than it was two years ago, but there’s a long road ahead. Having built the apparatus to restore U.S. power, it now must execute strategies to defend our interests. | 2022-12-23T13:03:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Biden's foreign policy has a perilous road ahead - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/biden-foreign-policy-china-russia-ukraine-iran/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/biden-foreign-policy-china-russia-ukraine-iran/ |
Open up — and help clean up — the Chesapeake Bay
A tree killed by rising salt water and eroding soil lies on its side near where the Honga River empties into the Chesapeake Bay on Nov. 12 near Bishops Head, Md. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Federal, state and local governments have spent billions of dollars on the Chesapeake Bay in recent decades, especially since Congress enacted a stringent “pollution diet” in 2010 intended to clean up one of the world’s most magnificent and diverse estuaries. There has been measurable progress in the bay’s health — as well as foot-dragging that continues to endanger the cleanup. With a federally mandated deadline on the horizon in 2025, key environmental goals set by federal regulators are unlikely to be met by states in the bay’s watershed.
Alarm bells should be ringing, given the slippage in progress toward meeting pollution reduction targets, with daunting long-term consequences for fisheries, including oysters, crabs, rockfish and other marine life. Urbanization and agriculture have been long-standing threats to the bay’s ecology; global warming poses new dangers. Cleaning up the bay, says Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), is “like running up a down escalator. If you stop, the bay would die quickly — we need to run even faster to get to the top.”
The worry is that political inertia will take hold if the public turns apathetic in the face of the bay’s long slog toward restoration. That could allow the bay to backslide, leaving its waters a fetid and increasingly lifeless soup.
Mr. Van Hollen and Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) have devised a shrewd way to augment existing cleanup efforts. The idea behind their draft legislation, which would incorporate a string of sites around the bay into the National Park Service system, has been discussed for a half-century, but theirs is the first bill in Congress. They seek to galvanize a constituency for rescuing the bay by making it accessible for many more Americans.
That would be a major step forward, for an oddity of the Chesapeake Bay is the disconnect between its vast scale and meager accessibility. The bay’s watershed encompasses 64,000 square miles and roughly 19 million people. Yet little of its shoreline — less than 10 percent, by most estimates — is publicly accessible.
Much of the land along the water is privately owned, often by individuals or families whose deeds are decades old. State and local parks in Maryland and Virginia and some other sites afford access to bits of the bay. But points of entry are scarce for people who lack property and boats on the water. Many who kayak, fish or swim in the bay have little choice but to park on patches of grass near bridges, which is dangerous and often illegal.
Under the Van Hollen-Sarbanes proposal, what advocates describe as an expandable daisy chain of existing and prospective sites around the bay would be laced together under the Park Service’s aegis. Dubbed the Chesapeake National Recreation Area, they would be anchored by visitor’s centers and other interpretive and recreational facilities. The portfolio of new sites owned or managed by the Park Service might be modest at the outset, prominently featuring Burtis House, a 19th-century watermen’s dwelling in downtown Annapolis; Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, on the bay just south of Annapolis; Whitehall Manor, a graceful estate on a peninsula just east of Annapolis; and the North Beach of Fort Monroe in Hampton, Va., the spot, then known as Point Comfort, where the first enslaved Africans disembarked, in 1619, on what became U.S. shores.
Over time, the recreation area’s goal would be to add sites and properties that would voluntarily join or, by mutual agreement, be acquired by the Park Service. The proposal specifies that the recreation area would neither seize land nor infringe on private rights on land or water, including fisheries.
Long-term expansion is a plausible vision given the prestige wielded by the Park Service, arguably the most popular federal agency. Plenty of individual, family and corporate landowners might be happy to be affiliated with it. Private giving could also augment the Park Service’s own programs.
An existing model is the highly successful Golden Gate National Recreation Area, around San Francisco Bay. Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, it connects three dozen sites, including museums, parks and conservation areas. They highlight hundreds of animal and plant species as well as the region’s historical potpourri — Indigenous cultures, Spanish colonialism, the Mexican Republic, the Gold Rush, San Francisco’s boom and the U.S. military’s presence.
The Chesapeake Bay boasts a heritage at least as rich and varied, covering six states and the District of Columbia. Indigenous tribes thrived there for centuries before Capt. John Smith took their names — the Potomac, Rappahannock, Susquehanna, Wicomico and others — for many of the watershed’s major rivers when he explored the area in 1608. Watermen harvesting oysters, crabs and fish built a thriving industry starting in the 19th century. African American communities have long roots around the bay’s shores, including at Carr’s Beach, just south of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, which boomed as a resort and concert venue during Jim Crow. The American Revolution’s final major battle was at Yorktown, near the mouth of the bay, and the nearby U.S. Navy base at Hampton Roads is a mainstay in the country’s coastal defense. Yet there is no entity that tells this story as an integrated historical, cultural and ecological feature of the American landscape.
It wasn’t long ago that some museums in the area gave short shrift or entirely overlooked parts of that history. Even in this century, one distributed a brochure tracing the region’s settlements only to the early 1800s, in effect erasing Indigenous tribes.
The Park Service’s track record suggests it would do better — allowing more Americans to enjoy the bay’s wonders and, in the process, expand the constituency for cleaning it up.
Opinion|Why the E.U.’s carbon border tax is a very bad idea | 2022-12-23T13:03:55Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The Chesapeake Bay needs a national recreation area - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/chesapeake-bay-national-recreation-area/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/chesapeake-bay-national-recreation-area/ |
The grand strategy behind Japan’s defense buildup
A live-fire exercise conducted by Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force in a training area in May 2020. (Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images)
There are two ways to think about Japan’s announcement this month that it will surge defense spending by more than 50 percent in the next five years and acquire advanced missiles that can strike the Eurasian mainland. The first is that it’s a victory for the U.S.-led world order, because China’s military advantage in the Western Pacific will narrow. The darker version is that it’s a recognition of the failure of the U.S.-led order, which aimed to suppress military competition in East Asia after World War II.
Both the optimistic and pessimistic perspectives reflect important realities, and history will decide which was more apt. In the meantime, few Americans are as well-versed in Tokyo’s thinking as Michael J. Green, a Japanologist who was a top Asia hand on President George W. Bush’s National Security Council and currently leads the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney in Australia. His recent book, “Line of Advantage,” explains Japan’s China strategy to a Western audience. I interviewed him over Zoom to understand the implications of Japan’s geopolitical transformation.
“A lot of people argued that Japan’s culture of pacifism was immutable,” said Green, who first moved to Japan to teach English after college in the 1980s, “but I always felt the Japanese were ultimately realists.” The primary goal of their statecraft has been “to not lose,” he said. Japan organized to not lose economically in the decades after World War II and is “now organizing to not be coerced and defeated by China.”
The turn from pacifism has been sudden. One of Green’s professors compared Japanese politics to “a plate of peas — it never moves,” he recalled. “But if you tilt the plate a little bit, they all roll to one side.”
China is tilting the foundations of order in Asia. For most of the Middle Kingdom’s history, its rulers were focused on Asia’s interior, but now China has “largely settled its land-border problems with every country except India,” Green said. “The last piece for China to secure” is Asia’s maritime periphery.
“The challenge for China, and the reason it is so dangerous for the rest of us,” he said, is that unlike the United States’ Monroe Doctrine in Central America and South America, Beijing’s bid for regional dominance in Asia is “aimed at some of the most important economies and militaries in the world.” Even if China’s naval and air force buildups were “defensive in origin,” it is “extremely offensive and aggressive if you’re Japan, or if you’re the Philippines, or especially if you’re Taiwan.”
Taiwan is now the most likely flash point for war in the region. On a trip to Taiwan and Japan in November, I was struck that Japanese officials seemed more alarmed about the prospect of Chinese aggression against Taiwan than the Taiwanese themselves.
An American military defense of Taiwan against China would probably rely on the U.S. naval base on Okinawa about 400 miles away, making Japanese territory a potential Chinese target. If Japan acquires 500 Tomahawk missiles, as it is reportedly contemplating, China might think twice about such a strike. Then Tokyo could join the United States in a naval war while reducing the likelihood that its homeland would come under attack for the first time since 1945.
Japan started that war with the United States, of course, by attacking Pearl Harbor in 1941. But for Green, Tokyo set the conflict in motion with a more fundamental strategic error: Its decision to be primarily a land power instead of a sea power. That decision was rooted in Japan’s history and geography. Unlike Britain, the Japanese archipelago is well-protected by oceans, so its fighting forces focused inward. Japan was run by “a clan system with a very violent system of norms and the samurai ethos,” Green said. Civil war made the army “absolutely dominant.”
Japan’s navy, which emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries, was less influential. “The army’s instincts were to control land, not sea,” he said, leading to Japan’s occupations of Korea, then Manchuria and China. The clan system “fused with a modern army and also injected into that modern army a very brutal, medieval way of conquest, which is what you saw Japan do in the ’30s and ’40s,” Green explained — a rampage that dangerously upset the balance of power in Asia.
Tokyo’s new strategy focuses on air and sea power to meet China’s maritime ambitions and defend the open trading system that has helped Japan become the world’s third-largest economy. But Asia’s security will still depend on the United States playing an active role it chose not to play in the 1920s and 1930s.
Green worries that American intellectual life isn’t sufficiently attuned to the geopolitics of Asia. As a young aspiring diplomat, he assumed that his time in Japan would be a “palate cleanser before I pursued my career in Europe, like any good East Coast American.” Instead, he said, “I just got hooked.”
When he joined the NSC in 2001, “the Europe office was about three times larger than the Asia office” because of the Clinton administration’s focus on the Balkan wars of the 1990s. American strategists have recognized the necessity of a greater Asia focus for decades, Green said, but the United States’ energy has repeatedly been drawn into Europe and the Middle East — “the Balkans, 9/11, [the Islamic State], Ukraine.”
Academically, the study of international relations emphasizes European history. Students learn about the Peloponnesian wars but are less likely to study the Sino-Japanese war or Mongol conquests. “The academy hasn’t adjusted,” noted Green, who earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins and is a professor at Georgetown.
The main historical difference between European and Asian geopolitics is that in Europe, power dynamics “have long been multipolar.” The Spanish, British, French, Austrians, Russians, Germans and Turks have all been major regional powers at one point or another. When one gets too powerful, “the other powers eventually defeat that rising power and reestablish an equilibrium,” Green said, “and then another one rises.”
The sweep of Asian history, by contrast, has China at its center. “It’s mostly a history of China either being cohesive or disintegrating.” More than in Europe, the distribution of power in Asia hinges on one powerful state.
Sometimes it seems impossible to shake American diplomacy from its European roots. The Biden administration’s Summit for Democracy in December 2021 “was really a European, transatlantic design,” Green told me. Such appearances can help China appeal “to the global south and pan-Asian solidarity.”
In meetings in Tokyo, I also heard unease about the way the Biden administration has presented its democracy agenda. Japan is a democracy, though its high levels of social consensus and the dominance of one party distinguish it from most Western systems.
Japanese elites believe that Tokyo can be an intermediary between the United States and the strategically vital but less-democratic states of Southeast Asia. Japan’s national security strategy, Green said, “emphasizes Japan’s commitment to upholding an international order that’s based on rule of law and human rights,” but “when it comes to human rights violations in Myanmar, or the coup in Thailand, they’re not where we are.”
Japan’s outlook as a maritime power is more like Britain’s in the 19th century than the United States’ “Wilsonian” tradition — that is, focused on protecting commerce and enforcing rules rather than democracy promotion.
Green drew a contrast between Japan’s defense buildup and Germany’s more passive approach to Russia’s aggression. “A lot of scholars in the ’90s and 2000s were saying, ‘Germany good, Japan bad,’ ” and asking why Japan was “not able to deal with its military past.” Green proposed that maybe Germany was “too successful” on that front.
The war in Ukraine poses a strategic dilemma for Asia’s defense. “If we did nothing in Ukraine,” Green noted, America’s Asian allies “would’ve been terrified” by the precedent. On the other hand, they “don’t want us sending all of our best equipment” to Eastern Europe rather than East Asia.
Japan’s steps toward rearmament, for Green, show that the post-World War II period of Pax Americana is “completely different from anything ever seen in history.” Unlike the British Empire or the Roman Empire, it has been “based on building up former adversaries as power centers that had their own agency.” Now, “Japan is choosing, not being forced by America, but is choosing to reinforce the international order that America helped to create after the war.”
But at the same time, he said, the fact that Japan is making this “rather desperate” decision should be cause for American humility. Washington is losing the capacity, on its own, to back up the security commitments it has made around the world. That is the paradox of Japan’s strategic transformation: Its defense of the American system is itself a sign of that system’s heightened vulnerability. | 2022-12-23T13:04:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Why is Japan building up its military? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/japan-military-buildup-explained/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/japan-military-buildup-explained/ |
Winter storm live updates Hundreds of thousands without power as frigid air overtakes eastern U.S.
Hundreds of thousands without power as winds over 40 mph set to blow across half Lower 48
The developing Great Lakes storm is about to ‘bomb out’
Extreme wind chills in the double digits below zero reach across U.S.
Winter weather and storm alerts swell over Lower 48 states
Your guide to traveling in the storm
What exactly is a ‘bomb cyclone’?
People commute in downtown Milwaukee as Wisconsin braces for a winter storm that could bring blizzard conditions, causing possible power outages, and make holiday travel conditions dangerous. (Alex Wroblewski for The Washington Post)
Hundreds of thousands are already without power early Friday morning as an exceptional Arctic blast sends temperatures tumbling in the eastern United States while a powerful blizzard is underway in the Great Lakes region. From Montana to north Georgia, icy winds are producing subzero wind chills as blinding snow pastes portions of Michigan, Ohio and the interior Northeast. In Connecticut and Georgia, more than 95,000 customers in each state were in the dark around 7:40 a.m. Eastern, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks outages across the nation.
The winter storm responsible for the snow is forecast to rapidly intensify Friday as it charges from the Ohio Valley into Canada, qualifying it as a “bomb cyclone,” the most severe kind of mid-latitude storm. Around Buffalo, up to 3 feet of snow may fall amid winds up to 70 mph, making travel impossible. The storm will generate wind gusts of at least 40 mph from the northern Plains to the Northeast, complicating air travel at multiple hubs.
In parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, temperatures will fall rapidly Friday morning into the afternoon, bringing the threat of a flash freeze on surfaces that remain wet from overnight rain. Some roads could become treacherous.
Wind chills Friday morning were as low as around minus-50 in Montana and North Dakota and below zero as far south as Dallas and Birmingham, Ala. Chicago had a wind chill of minus-34 at 5 a.m. local time. Frostbite can occur in less than 10 minutes under these conditions.
The combination of snow and high winds may lead to extensive tree damage and widespread power outages in Buffalo, which was under a state of emergency starting at 7 a.m. Friday. Conditions may not improve there until Christmas Day.
Here are six maps that show the severity of the Arctic blast and winter storm.
Roughly half of the Lower 48 is slated to see winds gusting more than 40 mph. The strong gusts will cause numerous flight delays or cancellations as crosswinds hamper aircraft takeoffs and landings, while simultaneously contributing to blizzard or near-blizzard conditions across the northern Plains and parts of the Great Lakes regions.
Power outages were already mounting early Friday morning because of the winds. PowerOutage.US, a utility tracker, reported about 800,000 customers without electricity across the country as of 7:45 a.m. Eastern time.
The incipient storm system over the Great Lakes is about to undergo explosive intensification that will result in a fledgling low pressure system becoming a powerhouse “bomb cyclone” by Saturday. The consequences of such swift strengthening will include strong winds affecting nearly half of the Lower 48 states and heavy snow around the Great Lakes.
A bomb cyclone is a storm whose central barometric (air) pressure plummets by 24 millibars in 24 hours — basically 2.4 percent of the atmosphere’s ambient mass. That evacuation of mass results in a vacuum-like effect, the discrepancy causing air to rush into the storm to fill the void so to speak. That brews strong winds.
Bitter Arctic cold and strong winds are overlapping to produce an incredibly hostile environment as Siberian air spills across the country, making venturing outdoors dangerous and adding strain to the electrical grid.
At least 24 U.S. states — representing half of the Lower 48 — were reporting wind chills in the double digits below zero as of 6 a.m. Eastern time. Wind chills near zero reached all the way south to the Gulf Coast.
The term “wind chill” describes an index that calculates how cold you feel taking into account both temperature and wind. It attempts to quantify the effects of wind blowing away the insulating layer of heat that develops around a human body, resulting in a loss of heat.
On Friday morning, the map of weather alerts in effect for the Lower 48 states is as busy as it gets. Watches, warnings and advisories for frigid air, ice, wind, snow and flooding stretch from coast to coast.
The National Weather Service wrote over 200 million people or 60 percent of the U.S. population was under some sort of winter weather warning or advisory.
The Pacific Northwest, including Seattle and Portland, is under a winter storm warning because of an icy mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain.
By Amanda Finnegan
Natalie Compton
Thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Anyone getting ready to fly, drive or take a train should prepare for extra headaches.
The frigid and stormy weather system delivering subzero wind chills and blizzard conditions is forecast to strengthen so quickly that it will earn an ominous meteorological distinction: “Bomb cyclone.”
If that sounds menacing, that’s because it’s intentional. The term was designed to convey a degree of intensity and danger that is typically associated with hurricanes, but that even winter storms can carry. | 2022-12-23T13:05:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Winter storm live updates: Blizzard conditions, arctic blast snarl U.S. holiday travel - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/12/23/winter-storm-snow-forecast-live-updates/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/12/23/winter-storm-snow-forecast-live-updates/ |
D.C.’s population grew last year, reversing pandemic-related decline
People shop this month at the Downtown Holiday Market in D.C. Washington's population declined during the pandemic but resumed growing this past year, new census data shows. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
The District’s population grew slightly last year, reversing the pandemic-related decline from the previous year, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday.
Virginia’s population also grew, though slightly, while Maryland registered a decline after a flat year. The U.S. population overall posted an incremental increase that was driven primarily by immigration. When counting only total births minus deaths, the population increased by 245,080.
The 2020 Census undercounted Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans
“We’re still digging out of the pandemic in some ways,” said William H. Frey, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who analyzed the census data and its impact on the Washington metro area. “There’s still a lot of deaths. Fertility has gone up a little bit. The big outlier is a big infusion that we’ve had in the last year ... due to immigration. And that’s affecting all states — all states had more immigration this year than last year.”
The U.S. population increased 0.4 percent from 2020 to 2021, to approximately 333.3 million, the bureau said. That gain followed the slowest annual population growth since 1900, according to Frey’s analysis.
U.S. Census data show growing diversity; number of White people falls for first time
The bureau said a net increase in migration added 1,010,923 people to the U.S. population, nearly tripling the previous year’s net of 376,029 people. The recent influx suggests migration patterns are returning to pre-pandemic levels, the agency said.
The District’s population grew by 3,012 people, or 0.5 percent, from 2021 to 2022, compared with a 0.3 percent decline the previous year, Frey’s analysis found. The increase was well below the go-go years of the previous decade, when the District’s population grew as much as 2.5 percent annually, Frey said.
Virginia gained about 26,000 people, or 0.3 percent, compared with a 0.2 percent increase the previous year, while Maryland lost more than 9,700 people, or 0.2 percent, from the previous year. | 2022-12-23T13:24:22Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. population grew since 2021, reversing pandemic-related decline - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/dc-census-2022-growth/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/dc-census-2022-growth/ |
Local residents and onlookers gather following a shooting incident on 'Rue d'Enghien', near a Kurdish cultural center in Paris, 23 December 2022. (Teresa Suarez/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Three people were killed and at least three more injured in an attack in central Paris on Friday, according to a local mayor.
Speaking to reporters, Alexandra Cordebard, the mayor of the 10th district of Paris where the attack unfolded, said “the shootings took place in the Kurdish community center located on Rue d’Enghien, as well as in a restaurant just in front of the community center and at a hairdresser.”
Public prosecutor Laure Beccuau said that the attacker was known to authorities and they were looking into a potentially racist motive.
The BFM television channel reported that the suspect, who was also injured in Friday’s shooting and has been arrested, had attacked a migrant center in Paris a year ago.
“I ask all residents and residents not to go to the neighborhood, those who are at home to stay there for the time being,” Cordebard, the local mayor, said. | 2022-12-23T13:46:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Three killed, at least three more injured in central Paris shooting - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/23/central-paris-shooting/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/23/central-paris-shooting/ |
Charlie Kirk delivers a warning to the RNC, and sparks a backlash
Kirk’s Turning Point Action debuted an initiative designed to pick off GOP committee members insufficiently attentive to the ‘grassroots voice’
Charlie Kirk speaks Nov. 5 at a rally in Florida for Gov. Ron DeSantis and congressional candidate Anna Paulina Luna. (Thomas Simonetti for The Washington Post)
Charlie Kirk, the 29-year-old activist who leads Turning Point USA and a network of conservative affiliates, wrote with a warning.
In a Monday email to the 168 members of the Republican National Committee, he told them that donors and activists would desert the party unless it changed. The result, he said, would be colossal failure in the 2024 presidential election.
“How do we plan to win in 2024 if you so boldly reject listening to the grassroots, our donors, and the biggest organizations and voices in the conservative movement?” he asked in the message, which was obtained by The Washington Post. “If ignored, we will have the most stunted and muted Republican Party in the history of the conservative movement, the likes of which we haven’t seen in generations.”
The extraordinary message came in the midst of a bitter GOP leadership contest, with incumbent RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel seeking to beat back a challenge from Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney and committee member from California who has been paid for legal consulting by former president Donald Trump’s political action committee, among numerous clients. Kirk and his allies have vigorously promoted Dhillon, hosting her on various media platforms and staging a straw poll at a recent Turning Point summit in Phoenix.
The email also deepened an internal GOP feud over the party’s disappointing performance in last month’s midterms, with competing factions blaming one another for why Republicans in key races came up short.
Above all, the message showed how Kirk is squaring off with the GOP establishment. He is marshaling his well-resourced network of nonprofit groups, which gained popularity over the past six years with Trump’s backing but demonstrated mixed results in races last month. Many of Kirk’s endorsed candidates lost, foremost among them Kari Lake, the GOP nominee for governor in Arizona. Dhillon served as an attorney for Lake’s campaign, traveling to Phoenix for the election.
Kirk alerted the RNC members to a new initiative of his group’s political arm, Turning Point Action, that would seek to pick off RNC members deemed “disconnected with grassroot conservatives.”
He said the effort, called the Mount Vernon Project, will “recruit leaders to serve on the RNC and at the state level who wish to better represent the grassroots voice.”
The initiative, which was previously reported by Politico, is “funded graciously by donors who are vocally disenchanted” with the RNC’s members, Kirk wrote.
The project brings to the national stage a model of bare-knuckled politicking used by Turning Point in its home state of Arizona, where it has worked to purge GOP officials who stood in the way of Trump’s efforts to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election. Now, the focus is on the race for GOP chair, with Kirk saying at his group’s weekend summit in Phoenix: “Turning Point Action might remove members of the RNC if they vote incorrectly.”
In delivering his warning Monday to RNC members, Kirk laid particular emphasis on his ties to donors. “In my position, I interact with more large donors than almost anyone in the movement,” he wrote.
He advised the GOP members that donors would cut them off unless the party changed. “In recent weeks, I have spent countless hours on the phone with donors who have told me emphatically that they will not support the RNC in this presidential cycle if things do not change,” he wrote.
McDaniel rejected criticism of her stewardship of the party in a Wednesday interview with Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade, arguing, “This is Turning Point and Harmeet trying to take over the RNC.”
Of Turning Point, she acknowledged, “They do great conferences.” But she said the group’s broader impact is questionable. “How many young voters did they register? How many youth voters turned out this cycle? How about the college kids in Arizona, where they are headquartered?” she asked.
Kirk replied on Twitter, claiming that his group had logged more than 500,000 volunteer hours this past cycle and contacted more than 5 million voters, among other outreach.
Dhillon, for her part, criticized McDaniel’s decision to go after Kirk’s network.
“Turning Point USA is the leading conservative youth organization in America — exactly the kind of activists we rely on and need to motivate,” she said in a statement to The Post. “It’s a puzzling campaign choice for Ronna to go out of her way to attack a large segment of our current and future grassroots, volunteer and voting base.”
In a recent appearance with Dhillon, Kirk praised her for taking on GOP leadership, saying, “This is a club, it’s a cartel, it’s a smoke-filled room, you are not supposed to ask questions.”
Some RNC members were irked by Kirk’s approach, according to emails obtained by The Post.
José Cunningham, an RNC member from D.C., wrote a Wednesday email to other committee members in which he addressed Dhillon directly about Kirk’s remarks, asking: “Harmeet, you claim we’re your friends and colleagues. Are you really okay with someone accusing of us being a ‘cartel?’ Where are the ‘smoke-filled rooms,’ Harmeet? I’ve never seen them.”
Dhillon has made similar comments, saying on Fox News earlier this month that the RNC operated like a “corrupt driven machine inside the Beltway.”
Emma Vaughn, a spokeswoman for McDaniel, said the chairwoman’s decision to run for reelection reflected her backing within the party.
GOP members, Vaughn said, “rallied around the chairwoman because of her unprecedented investments in the grassroots, election integrity, and minority communities, and for taking on Big Tech and the biased Commission on Presidential Debates.” McDaniel “will continue speaking with each and every member about how the party can continue building upon our investments and make the necessary improvements to compete and win in 2024,” Vaughn added in her statement.
Turning Point Action’s intervention into RNC races is part of an effort to “respond to our people and donors — who gave [McDaniel] a resounding vote of no confidence in our straw poll — and work to restore the RNC to the grassroots,” Andrew Kolvet, a spokesman for the group, said in a statement. “Evidently that is troubling to many entrenched members of the committee who are comfortable losing.”
Ben Proto, a member from Connecticut, dismissed Turning Point’s initiative in an email to fellow RNC members. Without identifying Kirk’s group by name, he took aim at “Celebrities who claim to have the pulse of the voters, but who talk in an echo chamber to people who already agree with them.”
“And when I hear that some of these same ‘celebrities’ are going to start a PAC to take over state committees and county committees, and the national committee, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, because it is clear they truly do not understand how elections, at any level, work and, more importantly, how they are won,” he wrote in a Wednesday email to other RNC members.
Dhillon, in response to the complaints, suggested they had been manufactured, saying in her statement to The Post that she is running an “insurgent campaign” without consultants “preparing astroturf emails and talking points.” Neither Cunningham nor Proto responded to requests for comment.
Yvonne Wingett Sanchez contributed to this report. | 2022-12-23T14:29:48Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Charlie Kirk delivers a warning to the RNC, and sparks a backlash - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/23/charlie-kirk-rnc-ronna-mcdaniel-harmeet-dhillon/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/23/charlie-kirk-rnc-ronna-mcdaniel-harmeet-dhillon/ |
Ask Damon: Should I talk to my daughter about her weight gain?
Dear Damon: My 23-year-old daughter, “Kim,” started gaining weight and losing her hair a year ago. She attributes the hair loss to a stressful final two years of college, followed by having to move suddenly and find a new job. She suspects the weight gain is a side-effect of her birth control. Although I have not mentioned it to her, I am concerned the changes are due to diet and lack of exercise.
As an introvert, Kim is uncomfortable going places alone and most of her friends live an hour away. She used to go to the gym with her previous roommate, who was an excellent cook and frequently made healthy meals for them both. Since her current roomie is rarely home, Kim’s routine has settled into long workdays, followed by evenings online. Because she is too tired to cook, she relies on high-carb prepared foods with little nutritional value. I realize she’s an adult and advice from mom about body appearance might seem shallow and judgy. She expressed a desire to see a therapist last year, but due to her tendency to procrastinate and the challenge of finding a provider, she has not pursued it. I am very concerned about the long-term impact on her health and would like her to see a doctor. Should I say something or stay out of it?
— Concerned Mom
Concerned Mom: You love your daughter, right?
Of course you do! That question was (hopefully) rhetorical. I think it’s important, though, to sometimes still ask ourselves that when thinking about our loved ones. Because loving someone doesn’t always equate to loving behavior, and the question can serve as an anchor — which is what you need right now.
Your daughter experienced a period of unusual stress, and her body reacted to it in a usual way. But instead of her mental health and emotional well-being being your primary concerns about her, you seem to be mostly worried about aesthetics. So concerned with how she looks that you dismissed her and jumped straight to diet and exercise. The implicit message is clear: “Your laziness is making you ugly.” Maybe that’s not what you’re saying. But I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what she’s hearing.
Of course, you should be concerned if your daughter is developing what you believe to be unhealthy habits, but I want you to be honest. Would you be as concerned with her “habits” and her “health” and even her introversion if she hadn’t started to gain weight? Are you worried about her actual health, or just how effectively she models the veneer of healthiness? (Which, for many young women, usually just means “Is she thin?”)
I do think you should say something, and it should be something like “You have plans for next weekend? Asking because I know you’re into Monster Truck Rallies, and there’s one at the convention center. Thought it would be cool to go. I’ll get tickets.”
Monster Truck rallies might not be her jam. It could be thrift shopping or cow tipping or whatever. My point is that your child has expressed that she’s experiencing stress so severe that it’s impacting her body. This isn’t the time for “shallow and judgy” comments about her appearance, because it’s never the time for that. Instead, help her alleviate some stress and experience some joy. Maybe this is a transitional period for you as a parent, where you become more of an ear than a voice in her life. And yes, I think seeing a doctor would be extremely helpful for her. But there’s a vast difference between urging her to do it because she can’t fit her old jeans, and suggesting it while she’s confiding in you about her stress. | 2022-12-23T14:34:09Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Ask Damon: Should I talk to my daughter about her weight gain? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/12/23/ask-damon-talk-daughter-weight-gain/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/advice/2022/12/23/ask-damon-talk-daughter-weight-gain/ |
In famously snowy Buffalo, New York, forecasters predicted a “once-in-a-generation storm” because of heavy lake-effect snow, wind gusts as high as 65 mph (105 kph), whiteouts and the potential for extensive power outages. Mayor Byron Brown urged people to stay home, and the NHL postponed the Buffalo Sabres' home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. | 2022-12-23T14:34:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Massive winter storm brings frigid temps, snow and ice to US - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/massive-winter-storm-brings-frigid-temps-snow-and-ice-to-us/2022/12/23/95868b34-82c1-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/massive-winter-storm-brings-frigid-temps-snow-and-ice-to-us/2022/12/23/95868b34-82c1-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html |
Nothing Says ‘Christmas’ Like a Lawsuit
Let’s start in the Arkansas, where the mayor of Eureka Springs (population 2,171) has reversed himself and decided to allow a Nativity scene to remain in a public park. Originally, the town had asked that the privately owned exhibit be removed, evidently because of a threatened lawsuit. Cooler heads prevailed. Because other “secular displays” are permitted, a religious exhibit is consistent with US Supreme Court precedents.
Or maybe we can’t. One lawyer who’d planned to take his children, ages seven and five, to the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall was told his tickets were revoked. The problem? His law firm is suing Madison Square Garden, which owns Radio City Music Hall, on behalf of a man who was assaulted after a hockey game. MSG claims they can ban any plaintiffs’ lawyers from attending any of their venues.
On a lighter note, there’s the Queen of Christmas saga. Last month, headlines trumpeted the Trademark Office’s rejection of Mariah Carey’s effort to obtain the exclusive right to use “Queen of Christmas” (and other related marks) for such varied products as fragrances, children’s stories, musical sound recordings, and — yes — “sanitary masks for protection against viral infection.”
Carey’s 1994 recording of “All I Want for Christmas is You” is a ubiquitous sign of the season. She was long ago dubbed Queen of Christmas by various media outlets. (She also once rejected the title.) But her effort to gain exclusivity over the term sparked objections, particularly by one Elizabeth Chan, who bills herself as “music’s only full-time Christmas singer-songwriter” and who’s also been called Queen of Christmas. (As has Darlene Love.)
But let’s be clear: Contrary to what I’ve seen in several headlines, the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board didn’t rule that Carey could not prove rights in the mark. The board denied the application because she never responded to Chan’s filing in opposition. Maybe she was too busy getting ready for her Christmas concert at — you guessed it! — Madison Square Garden.
I wonder if any lawyers attended her concert.
Finally, let’s drop in on Dedham, Massachusetts, where the public library will be displaying a Christmas tree after all. A decision had been made — I choose the passive voice because media reports leave unclear who made it — to end the three-decade tradition, evidently because the presence of the tree made some people uncomfortable.
Its absence made others uncomfortable.
• A Conservative Theory Too Extreme Even for This Supreme Court: Noah Feldman
• ‘ Reverse Discrimination’ Is a Concept With a Long, Ugly History: Stephen L. Carter | 2022-12-23T14:34:12Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Nothing Says ‘Christmas’ Like a Lawsuit - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/nothing-says-christmas-like-a-lawsuit/2022/12/23/834fc510-82c2-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/nothing-says-christmas-like-a-lawsuit/2022/12/23/834fc510-82c2-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html |
Sid High knew some Christians hurt transgender kids who, in turn, reject Christianity. But, for him, his faith and his identity were equally important.
Sid High, 18, near his home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on September 18, 2022. (Rachel Mummey for The Washington Post)
“This is just something you’re going through,” he told himself. “‘It’s because you’re going through puberty.”
Sid held back the tears until his mom picked up. He climbed into the passenger seat, then sobbed so hard his whole body shook. | 2022-12-23T14:34:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Iowa teen is trans — and devoutly Christian. Would he have to choose? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/trans-christian-iowa-sid-high/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/trans-christian-iowa-sid-high/ |
Readers critique The Post: Stop trying to show political equivalence
I must take issue with how the Dec. 14 Politics & the Nation article “Biden signs bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriages” characterized the recent congressional votes for the Respect for Marriage Act. It reported that 12 Republican senators (out of 50) and 39 Republican House members (out of 213) voted for the bill and called this “strong bipartisan support.” It is not. Simple arithmetic shows that a significant majority of Republican members of Congress opposed this legislation, despite the Gallup survey of 2022 the article cited showing that 55 percent of Republicans supported same-sex marriage. These Republican members of Congress don’t represent their own voters, just their own prejudices and the prejudices of those who fund and bolster their primary electoral campaigns.
In the future, The Post should avoid such strained attempts at equivalence. When it comes to issues such as LGBTQ rights, abortion rights, civil rights and voting rights, the two parties are still very far apart, with Democrats in support and Republicans in opposition.
Bob Dardano, Washington
An ironic display of partisanship
In “Can we still change each other’s minds?,” his Dec. 11 Book World review of Anand Giridharadas’s “The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy,” Nikil Saval provided an exemplar of the polarization and divisiveness that plague the United States, but not in the way he intended:
His long opening paragraph was an exceedingly partisan screed.
That was ironic, because the book review purported to suggest a path toward unity. And if it really was a book review, how about reviewing the book, rather than indulging the reviewer’s hyperpartisan political stance?
Collin Agee, Falls Church
Show, don’t tell
Regarding the Dec. 14 front-page articles “FTX founder charged with criminal fraud” and “Capitol Hill scrambles for answers — and distance”:
I have no vested (or otherwise) interest in cryptocurrency and have no relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried. But I do have concern when The Post tells us what to think about a news item or personality. In both articles, the first line noted that Bankman-Fried is “disgraced.” Why not relay what he did and let the reader decide whether he has done something disgraceful or is disgraced?
I’ve spent four decades working with audio description, the spoken words used to make visual images accessible for people who are blind. We never refer to a person as “angry” (telling our listeners what to think); rather, we note that the person is grimacing, his teeth are clenched, etc. We show the listener what’s going on and let the listener decide whether the individual is “angry” within the context of other information.
Perhaps The Post can learn from audio description techniques. Show us what the news is; don’t tell us what to think about it.
Joel Snyder, Takoma Park
More than a clunky war movie
Mark Jenkins whiffed in his Nov. 25 Weekend movie review of “Devotion,” “Stodgy Korean War aviator drama is slow getting up to speed.” Apparently, he assumed this was a just another “fighter-pilot drama” and a “clunky old war movie” with “only two major action sequences” that falters in his phantom comparison with “Top Gun: Maverick.” “Maverick” is an exciting fighter-pilot drama about a fantasy mission. “Devotion” is a real-life drama about achievement, determination and devotion that includes a real-life mission of “above and beyond” bravery in a real-life, brutal war.
President Harry S. Truman’s bold executive order 9981 issued in July 1948 directed the integration of the armed forces. This was a long and “slow-developing” process on both the macro and micro levels and receives appropriate investment of movie footage. The achievement and determination required to successfully transition from a sharecropper shack in Mississippi to the ready room of a combat squadron of naval aviators deserve praise; to accomplish that as a Black man in the ’40s justly deserves a book and a movie — and a more enlightened review.
But the real-life story continues with the development of a bond between men of different races that rises to the level of devotion (the clue is in the title) and, in this case, legend.
A lesser note, in the penultimate paragraph, Jenkins, perhaps unknowingly, disparaged the intensity of close-air-support missions. It might be a beneficial homework assignment to research the feelings of ground forces and aviators conducting those types of missions.
Jack Cassidy, Annandale
The writer is a naval aviator.
A horrific review
The Dec. 2 Weekend review of the movie “Holy Spider” described it as a “serial-killer thriller inspired by the true story” [Also Opening]. Recognizing that I might be ignorant of a technical difference between a thriller and a horror movie, I looked it up. NewDawnFilm.com provided this explanation: “A horror film wants to ‘horrify’ audiences whereas a thriller film only seeks to ‘thrill.’ With horror, the focus is on scaring people. They generally know there is a big evil present and the audience act as voyeurs to how these big evil haunts, destroys, or even kills the victims in an inevitable way.”
In my mind, the true story of the murder of 16 “prostitutes” is horrifying, certainly not thrilling. And to have The Post describe such horror as thrilling is, well, disturbing. On behalf of sex workers, murder victims and the viewing public, I think an apology is in order.
Elizabeth Mumford, Chevy Chase
Call it what it is
The caption to the photograph that accompanied the Dec. 11 news article “Sending soldiers to war, Russia ignores trauma they bring home” referenced Russia’s “military operation” in Ukraine. Just curious whether the caption was submitted by a spokesperson for the Kremlin. In the article, the “war in Ukraine” is appropriately referenced.
Stephen Sherman, Bethesda
What were their names?
After birth, a scientist is given a name, typically consisting of two or three words. This name is used to distinguish one scientist from other scientists, which is especially helpful at times when a specific scientist has a discovery such that people know who is to be congratulated for said discovery.
The Post, in the Dec. 14 front-page article “U.S. hits key milestone in race to fusion energy,” failed to distinguish one scientist from another by generally crediting “scientists” for the achievement.
The article said that “still, it was the first time anyone had managed to create net energy gain” but failed to mention who that “anyone” actually is. There was barely any mention in the article of anyone by name who worked on the project. This lack of specific recognition seems wholly limited to scientists, as if to the outside world scientists resemble a pack of zebras.
Would one report on the moon landing without naming astronauts, elections without naming politicians, or hockey games without naming players? The scientists who have been working on laser fusion for decades, like those who detected gravity waves and those who took a picture of a black hole, are the Buzz Aldrins, Raphael G. Warnocks and Alex Ovechkins of their fields and deserve proper recognition for these achievements.
James Caron, Silver Spring
Not quite .500
The Dec. 10 Sports article “Caps climb above .500 with third win in row” propagated a common misconception about how teams’ records are presented in the National Hockey League. The Capitals’ record of 13-12-2 represents 13 wins and 14 losses. The losses are broken out into two separate totals because the NHL awards a “standings point” to losses that occur in overtime and in a shootout.
At that point in the season, the Capitals had lost more games than they had won, and therefore were below .500.
Jim Gaarder, Columbia
Nothing in life is free
Regarding the Dec. 11 Metro article “Free buses save riders money but mixed reliability can temper benefits”:
There is no such thing as a free bus ride. The correct term would be “taxpayer-supported” — just like free college, which is also “taxpayer-supported.”
Karl Hertag, Warrenton
A reversal after a reversal was in order
After the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance ruled against D.C. Council member Elissa Silverman (I-At Large) in a case stemming from her expenditures on a poll conducted in the Ward 3 primary, the Nov. 1 editorial “Unacceptable” amplified that decision and used it as further ammunition in an effort to unseat her in the Nov. 8 election. “These findings reaffirm our belief that Ms. Silverman is not a good choice for D.C. residents,” the editorial said.
Now, after Silverman lost the election, the D.C. Board of Elections has reversed the OCF decision [“Silverman’s polling did not break campaign finance law, board rules,” Metro, Dec. 13]. But there has been no editorial taking note of the election board’s ruling.
If the initial decision in the case warranted an editorial, surely the recent one also did. By failing to acknowledge this reversal, the editorial board of the region’s newspaper of record is damaging its credibility on local issues.
Daniel Horner, Washington
Any reporter assigned to write the obituary for a polymath literary luminary such as Hans Magnus Enzensberger would be challenged to capture the variety of work he did over 70 years at the center of German literary culture [“A leading author and intellectual of postwar Germany,” obituaries, Dec. 13]. In addition to all he wrote, Enzensberger was a great champion of writers who likely would have disappeared without his attention, such as the Jewish German poet and dramatist Nelly Sachs, who was one of the first he carried on his shoulders to Suhrkamp Verlag, the publishing house where he assumed a central role as editor in 1960, thereby introducing Sachs to a wider German audience.
Without his conviction of her importance, Sachs never would have come to such prominence, winning the Nobel Prize in literature (with S.Y. Agnon) in 1966. Enzensberger’s legacy includes such insight and acts of grace and should not be forgotten.
Joshua Weiner, Washington
The writer is the translator of Nelly Sachs’s “Flight and Metamorphosis.”
There was no need for a religious framing
I am a lover of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” and Benjamin Dreyer’s always thoughtful and beautifully written commentaries on writing and literature. So I was glad that The Post published Dreyer’s Dec. 13 Tuesday Opinion commentary, “The joy of reading Dickens proves that God blessed us, every one.”
But the headline gratuitously imputed a religious interpretation to Dreyer’s piece, which said nothing about God, except to quote the last line as just that — the last line. Dreyer wrote that Dickens’s choices of words and ear are what make us come back to “A Christmas Carol” and his other works. I’m a writer, critic and atheist, and the joy one gets from reading Dickens proves he was a great writer, in command of his craft. It has nothing to do with gods of any persuasion, as far as I’m concerned.
Religious people are free to interpret their experience anyway they like. But when I read The Post, I don’t want to be evangelized.
Julia Lichtblau, New York
Wallowing over the missed ‘Wind in the Willows’
The Dec. 14 Wednesday Opinion column “To build a delightful library for kids, start with these books” surprisingly left out Kenneth Grahame’s “The Wind in the Willows,” and Mole, Ratty, Badger, Mr. Toad “simply messing about in boats” and all their simple, outlandish and daring adventures. Also, the comfort of returning home to “this place which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome.”
As a sort of recommendation, in “A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré,” the editor, Tim Cornwell, a son of the master novelist of the shadowy world of secret agents, writes that at his home, le Carré was not encouraged to read. At age 7, however, while recovering from illness, he was read “The Wind in the Willows,” not once, but, at his request, two or three times. “After that,” he reported, “I read the book myself and everything seemed to fan out from there.” That led to writing “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold,” and “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” “moles,” and all.
Maybe “The Wind in the Willows” should be included in a child’s library both for delight and to see what it might inspire now.
Ted Pulliam, Alexandria
Stringing along readers on concert coverage
That the Emerson String Quartet is disbanding is hardly news [“Emerson String Quartet launches its farewell tour at the Barns at Wolf Trap,” Style, Dec. 12]. It has played and been reviewed in D.C. on multiple occasions — with distinction but also, as Michael Andor Brodeur pointed out, with flaws. What, then, is the value-add in a review of the group’s concert at the Barns at Wolf Trap, playing Beethoven quartets that most classical music lovers have heard umpteen times on the radio or in person?
Wouldn’t it have better served readers — and the cause of contemporary classical music — to have published a review of the spectacular Junction Trio, which performed at the Phillips Collection on Dec. 11? Three young, supremely talented musicians — Conrad Tao, Stefan Jackiw and Jay Campbell — played a thoughtful program of great music by Tao, Charles Ives and Maurice Ravel that was fresh and exciting music to my ears and, I suspect, to many in the sold-out audience.
Sadly, it seems The Post is limiting the number of music reviews it prints, but I hope the editors and Brodeur will make more interesting choices for coverage in the future.
Howard Shapiro, Bethesda
‘I can’t stands no more’ Popeye
The addition of “Popeye” in the Sunday comics is a poor choice. The strip is not humorous, especially when compared with the “Popeye” strips of the past. The content is dark and very inappropriate. The strip pales in comparison with the other comics. In the Dec. 11 strip, a snowman with pointed teeth was chasing children, threatening to enslave mankind. I do not see the humor, which would be tough to explain to my grandchildren. I hope The Post can and will do better.
Clark J. Kendrick, Olney
We need puzzles for everyone
My spouse and I are decades-long subscribers to The Post. Only recently have we started doing the puzzles in the Style section. We continued this new tradition in our week in London last month with the Times. I noticed that the Times provided three levels of Sudoku puzzles. Given the need to focus on what is in front of us after being overwhelmed by all the news of the world, we find it helpful to do some puzzles. The problem is that many of us who might just be getting into this good habit can manage only the easy-to-moderate Sudoku puzzles.
I wish The Post would consider providing three levels of puzzles. Perhaps on Sundays to nudge people toward reading the Sunday paper as a family and then puzzling together.
Sabrina S. Fu, Ellicott City
Ingenuity is part of the puzzle with crosswords
It’s getting tiresome to see letters complaining about the Sunday Post crossword [“This one stumped us,” Free for All, Dec. 17]. As a paid subscriber to eight crossword outlets and a regular competitor in several East Coast tournaments, I can tell you that Evan Birnholz is revered as one of the top constructors in the business. I marvel weekly at the ingenuity of his puzzles, as do many others within the crossword community.
Yes, crosswords have changed over the years. Meta themes and rebuses are common. References to today’s pop culture and modern-day sports stars and actors are what should appear in today’s puzzles. People who complain about not knowing the names of rap stars or WNBA players are basically saying, “I want only my era or interests to be reflected in the puzzle.” I’m in my late 50s, and I’ve discovered good music, TV shows and food dishes by seeing them referenced in a crossword. (Pro tip: Unless you’re competing in a tournament, it’s okay to Google when you’re stuck, and learn something new in the process!)
Personally, I’m happy to be past the era of seeing Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe and Della Street in every other puzzle. Oreo references are probably here to stay, but that’s a cultural phenomenon that transcends generations.
Props to Birnholz. Solving the Sunday Post puzzle is always a highlight of my week.
Diane Mezzanotte, Laurel | 2022-12-23T14:34:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Readers critique The Post: Stop trying to show political equivalence - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/free-for-all-republican-democrat-equivalence/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/free-for-all-republican-democrat-equivalence/ |
How Christian nationalism seeped into home schooling
Some educators who produce home-schooling materials are trying to change that
Emily MacFarlan Miller
The Rev. Jesse Johnson speaks at Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Va. (Courtesy of Rev. Jesse Johnson)
The Rev. Jessie Johnson, a teaching pastor at Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Va., rejects the idea of a Christian nation. “The government doesn’t establish churches, nor should it,” he said.
But Johnson also believes that the Pilgrims who landed in Plymouth, Mass., in 1620 were on the right track when they made a covenant with God to establish a Christian society.
“There has to be a moral compass for society,” he added.
Because Johnson and his wife believe American public schools lack that compass, they home-school their three children.
A movement that originated among educators on the left in the 1970s, home-schooling was increasingly adopted through the 1980s and ’90s by conservative Christian families seeking to instill their personal values in their children and shield them from an increasingly secularized public school system.
The home-schooling population consistently hovered at around 2 million students since then — a little more than 3 percent of the national student body — until the covid-19 pandemic shuttered in-person classes and forced children into Zoom classrooms.
In September 2020, six months into the pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the share of home-schooled children had shot up to 11 percent of households. With the escalated numbers has also come increased attention to home schooling.
Debates, meanwhile, have arisen over what children are being taught about American history, partly in response to the 1619 Project, a recounting of U.S. history that stresses the story of Black America, beginning with the arrival of the first enslaved people. The surrounding culture war picked up on the controversy, resulting in book bans and accusations that teachers are instructing elementary school students using a legal and academic framework known as critical race theory.
These controversies have prompted the release of politically charged home-school curriculums such as Turning Point Academy, a product engineered by pro-Trump talk-show host Charlie Kirk that promises to deliver an “America-first education.” Another, the Christendom Curriculum, touts itself as “America’s only Christian Nationalist homeschool curriculum” and includes “battle papers” that tell children how to argue with the liberals who supposedly hate White Christians.
Some of these programs have tiny reach — Christendom Curriculum had 100 subscribers as of September. But critics of religious home schooling say the same Christian nationalist messages, if not the same partisan divisions, have been present in the most popular and long-established curriculums used by Christian parents.
“The ideology has been taking root for at least a generation,” said Doug Pagitt, an evangelical pastor in Minnesota and the executive director of Vote Common Good, a progressive voting-rights organization. Christian nationalist ideas are “all over the place” in the materials of Christian education companies, Pagitt said.
“It’s in there in theology. It’s in there in history. It’s in there in current events,” he said.
How the Capitol attacks helped spread Christian nationalism in the extreme right
Some of the most popular home-school curriculum textbooks, produced by publishing giants Abeka, Accelerated Christian Education and Bob Jones University Press, teach that the first Europeans to arrive in Virginia and Massachusetts made a covenant with God to Christianize the land.
“The History of the United States in Christian Perspective,” a textbook from Abeka, promises students: “You will learn how God blessed America because of the principles (truths) for which America stands.”
Those truths made America “the greatest nation on the face of the earth,” the book says, before issuing a warning: “No nation can remain great without God’s blessing.”
These companies’ books offer students an “unproblematic and unquestionably exceptional America,” said Kathleen Wellman, a professor of history at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and author of “Hijacking History: How the Christian Right Teaches History and Why It Matters,” in a column for Religion News Service.
Abeka’s history injects conservative values into more recent history as well, noting that “since the 1960s, decisions of the Supreme Court and other judges have contributed to the moral decline of our country.”
Abeka, ACE and BJU Press declined to comment to RNS.
The Abeka curriculum was born at Pensacola Christian Academy, a K-12 school on Florida’s panhandle founded in 1954. Initially working from outdated public school textbooks, the school’s Southern Baptist founders, Arlin and Rebekah Horton, began publishing their textbooks in 1972 to supply the Christian schools that had proliferated after Supreme Court rulings ended segregation in public education and banned religious expression in the classroom.
Today, Pensacola Christian Academy’s website boasts that every class is taught from a biblical perspective. Science instructors are explicit about “God’s wonderful design,” but students also learn the basic principles of chemistry and dissect frogs, much as secular students do.
It is in the humanities, especially history, that former PCA students say they were indoctrinated into a form of Christian triumphalism, in which American society was at its best when it hewed to Christian faith.
“It was just pure propaganda — nationalist propaganda,” said Tyler Burns, a graduate of Pensacola Christian Academy. Former Republican president Ronald Reagan was treated as practically the “fourth member of the Godhead,” Burns recalled.
As a Black American, Burns said he remembers feeling disoriented while being taught slavery was a “blessing in disguise” because it introduced enslaved Africans to Christianity. Burns, now president of the Witness: A Black Christian Collective, has spoken extensively about the ways Christian education affected his ability to embrace his Black identity.
The White supremacist ideas that dismayed Burns can be found in Abeka’s home history curriculum as well. It implies that Southern land owners had little choice but to buy enslaved people to keep up with the demand of growing cotton and tobacco. “The Southern planter could never hire enough people to get his work done,” it reads, noting at the same time that “only one out of 10 Southerners owned slaves.”
In practice, many home-schooling parents fashion their own reading lists to suit their views or their children’s abilities. Stephanie Rotramel, who has home-schooled her three children off and on since her oldest, now 17, was in preschool, said home schooling allows flexibility to meet specific educational needs.
This year, as her kids head back to school at home, she is using mostly Christian curriculums, though none of the ones mentioned in this article. She wants to expose her kids to diverse perspectives, though, and plans to supplement the curriculums with YouTube videos from Trevor Noah and with a “year of nontraditional lit” — books such as “Everything Sad Is Untrue,” by Daniel Nayeri, and “I Am Malala,” by the Pakistani education activist.
She doesn’t see giving a warts-and-all account of the country’s history while sharing a Christian worldview with her children as contradictory.
As a Christian, Rotramel said, she sees America as a place “full of sinners who need Jesus.” That includes the Founding Fathers. It includes Ronald Reagan, too.
“I feel like that's the message of the Bible,” she said. “We're all messed up. We need Jesus.”
How Christian home-schoolers laid the groundwork for ‘parental rights’
The Rev. Johnson agrees. He said he and his wife try to teach their children about the ways the United States has fallen short of the values of Christianity — in particular when it comes to race.
So while the Johnsons have had their children read the Mayflower Compact, the Pilgrims’ charter for their new society that would honor the glory of God and the “advancement of the Christian faith,” the family also has traveled to Charleston, S.C., to study the history of slavery and had made repeated trips to Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia, where two major Civil War battles were fought and not far from where they now live.
“We know whose side we are on,” said Johnson, adding that slavery violated the Christian ideal that all people are made in God’s image — a founding American principle.
The drumbeat of White supremacy and Christian nationalism in the past few years has also convinced some conservative Christian curriculum writers that they should revise their materials.
Charlene Notgrass, who runs Notgrass History with her husband, Ray, a retired pastor, from their home in Tennessee, has been writing U.S. history and civics lessons for Christian home-school families since the early 1990s.
At the time, most home-schoolers were either “conservative Christians or hippies,” said Charlene, 68. Most of the early home-school textbooks reflected that.
Today, they say, home schooling is more diverse — both politically and ethnically. The couple said they have had to keep learning about overlooked parts of history and to reflect that new knowledge in their products.
In 2020, amid the George Floyd protests and a contested election, Charlene Notgrass finished a revision of “America the Beautiful,” their high school history text. “Too often,” it reads, “people have not believed that we are all equally valuable creations of God. Therefore, sometimes people treat people who are different from themselves — in skin color, in nationality, in political party, in the amount of money they have — as less valuable.
“No two Americans are likely ever to think exactly alike about everything,” it concludes, “but we still must respect each other.”
The Notgrasses describe themselves as “patriotic Americans” and want students who read their lessons to love their country. But they also want them to know the truth.
“We don’t think Americans are God’s chosen people, the way the Israelites are God’s chosen people,” Charlotte Notgrass said. “The Bible tells us point-blank that God chose the Israelites. It does not tell us point-blank that God chose America.” — Religion News Service
RNS national correspondent Yonat Shimron contributed to this report.
This article is part of a series on Christian nationalism supported by the Pulitzer Center. | 2022-12-23T14:34:54Z | www.washingtonpost.com | How Christian nationalism seeped into home schooling - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/12/23/how-christian-nationalism-seeped-into-home-schooling/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/12/23/how-christian-nationalism-seeped-into-home-schooling/ |
Friday’s bowl betting preview: Wake Forest can light it up in the Gasparilla Bowl
Sam Hartman will play what is likely to be his final game at Wake Forest in the Gasparilla Bowl. (Ben McKeown/AP)
We kick off our Christmas weekend with two bowl games Friday. Here’s a look at the matchups, including any players and coaches who have departed via the transfer portal or are opting out. All times Eastern, and spreads and totals were taken Thursday from the consensus odds at VegasInsider.com.
In Shreveport, La.
Houston (-7) vs. Louisiana Lafayette
This game will feature strength (Houston’s offense) vs. strength (Louisiana-Lafayette’s defense) and weakness (Houston’s defense) vs. weakness (Louisiana-Lafayette’s offense). The Ragin’ Cajuns followed up a historic 12-1 season in 2021 with a 6-6 campaign that was marked by injuries at quarterback. Chandler Fields began the season as the starter but was replaced by Ben Wooldridge after an injury, but Wooldridge suffered a season-ending leg injury and was replaced by Fields for the final two games. Only two of the Cougars’ seven wins this year came against teams that finished with winning records.
Key personnel losses: Houston (7-5) has a long list of transfers, but none of the departing players saw the field much this season. Cougars wide receiver Nathaniel “Tank” Dell (1,354 receiving yards, 15 touchdowns) has announced his intention to depart for the NFL but will play in the bowl game. Louisiana Lafayette’s biggest losses were defensive end Andre Jones (team-high 7.5 sacks) and leading receiver Michael Jefferson (810 receiving yards, seven touchdowns), who both will skip the bowl game to prepare for the draft. Wide receiver Dontae Fleming (19 catches, three touchdowns) has entered the transfer portal.
Pick: Louisiana Lafayette +7. Death, taxes and fading Houston Coach Dana Holgorsen’s teams in bowl games. Holgorsen has gone 2-7 against the spread in the postseason (3-6 straight up), and his teams have lost by at least 14 points in four of their past five bowl games.
In Tampa
Wake Forest (-2) vs. Missouri
Like the first game on Friday’s schedule, both teams have one good unit: Wake Forest has a great offense (at least when passing the ball) and a terrible defense, while Missouri has a strong defense but a middling offense. The Tigers went 6-6 this season, but four of their losses were by a touchdown or less and they led top-ranked Georgia in the fourth quarter Oct. 1 before wilting. The Demon Deacons started 6-1 but lost four of five to end the season, allowing 36.6 points per game over that span. Quarterback Sam Hartman has 74 touchdown passes over the past two seasons, but he has also thrown 25 interceptions.
Key personnel losses: Wake Forest’s key losses were cornerback Gavin Holmes, who led the team with nine pass breakups, and running backs Christian Turner and Quinton Cooley, who combined for 10 of the Demon Deacons’ 16 rushing touchdowns. Missouri starting defensive ends Isaiah McGuire and DJ Coleman and starting safety Martez Manuel (who combined for 16.5 of Missouri’s 36 sacks) will skip the bowl game to prepare for the NFL draft, while wide receiver Dominic Lovett (whose 56 catches were 19 more than any other Tigers player) is in the transfer portal.
Pick: Wake Forest -2. With all of its personnel departures on defense, Missouri will struggle to keep up with Wake Forest’s go-go offense in Hartman’s final game at Wake Forest (he has said he either will enter the draft or transfer). | 2022-12-23T14:35:00Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Gasparilla Bowl preview, Independence Bowl preview - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/23/independence-bowl-gasparilla-bowl-best-bets/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/23/independence-bowl-gasparilla-bowl-best-bets/ |
The ‘tripledemic’ looms over schools as illnesses spike
Infections surged and some campuses closed. More may face troubles in the new year.
Donna St. George
A surge in respiratory infections has forced some schools to close and many children to miss days or weeks of school this fall. (Matt Slocum/AP)
Student absences in Montgomery County have been on the rise as an early surge of flu and respiratory illnesses converged with the spread of covid-19 — in what many are calling a “tripledemic.” And so ahead of winter break’s beginning on Friday, the school system encouraged people to wear masks.
“Especially if they have cough or cold symptoms, in high risk exposure situations, or if they are at risk for severe complications,” Medical Officer Patricia Kapunan wrote in a message to families in Maryland’s largest school system.
Similarly, school officials in D.C. reported an increase in illness-related absences, though as in other school systems, D.C. officials do not track the nature of student sickness. Montgomery’s medical officer said in an interview she expected the challenging trio of viruses has contributed to absenteeism, too.
Schools and day cares from coast to coast are contending with outbreaks of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza, covid and a bevy of other infections that have forced some to close and created major disruptions for children who are sick for days or weeks.
The bugs are hardly new: They commonly circulated among children in schools and day cares before the pandemic, especially as temperatures turned cold.
But pediatricians suspect that children and infants who were masked or ensconced at home for two years had fewer exposures to common viruses and may not have built up resilience to them. As pandemic restrictions eased, many were exposed for the first time, causing a spike in illnesses and infections. A wave of RSV infections began in August or September, a month earlier than normal. Flu season also arrived about six weeks early with unusually high numbers of infection in October.
The numbers are striking: By mid-November, rates of hospitalization for RSV had nearly quintupled compared with the previous year, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting 5.1 hospitalizations for every 100,000 people. Among young people under 18, hospitalizations peaked in mid-November, when the agency reported 18.7 RSV hospitalizations for every 100,000 people, five times the rate of the same week last year.
The spike forced some schools and day cares across the country to close — not just because kids were sick, but because too many of the adults caring for them had fallen ill, too, according to school leaders. The situation largely impacted smaller districts and was exacerbated by schools also dealing with shortages of teachers and substitutes.
What’s happening this fall is hardly a repeat of last school year, when students and staff were out sick with covid quarantining because they’d been exposed to the virus. That, combined with a dire staffing shortage, forced schools toward desperate measures: Principals last year were cleaning bathrooms, National Guard members were driving buses, and students were spending days at school without teachers.
This year, closures have been far more limited. Still, absenteeism is up in many schools — during a year when they are hoping to make up for the days lost to the pandemic.
The tiny district in Osage City, Kan., which serves fewer than 1,000 kids, started its holiday break last Wednesday — three days early — because 40 percent of its students were out with illnesses. Stafford High School in Virginia closed after roughly 1,000 out of 2,100 students called in sick after a school dance. A school in Southern Oregon remained open even after 40 percent of students were out sick, according to the Medford Mail-Tribune.
Van Dyke Public Schools in Michigan, with fewer than 2,000 students, closed for a day in December to do a deep cleaning.
“It seems there are too many illnesses going around to safely and healthily run our buildings,” the district said in an announcement. “It’s definitely December in Michigan.”
Brian Creasman, superintendent of Fleming County Schools in Kentucky, made the tough call to cancel four school days in November after illnesses hit his staff so hard he worried that there were not enough adults to ensure students could be safely supervised. The district’s attendance rate is usually above 90 percent, but in early November, it dipped below 80 percent. And upward of 40 staff members eventually called in sick.
“At that point, it became unsafe to stay open, because you can’t fill the positions with subs,” Creasman said. And in the days leading up to the closure, there were so many teachers out that many classes had to abandon curriculum. “It’s not about teaching and learning. It’s just basically making sure that kids are safe, that kids are not going all over the place.”
Hospitals are worried about child RSV this year. Here’s what to know.
Creasman’s district was one of at least 25 Kentucky school districts that shut down or shifted to remote learning in the midst of outbreaks in November, according to the Kentucky School Boards Association.
The ripple effects of sick kids and shuttered day cares spread to hospitals overwhelmed with pediatric patients and parents forced to miss to work. More than 100,000 people missed work because of child-care issues in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a number exceeding even the worst months of the pandemic. And it has led to spot shortages of children’s medications.
Colorado saw an extraordinary spike in the number of children hospitalized for RSV, and tallied 447 outbreaks in schools and day-care facilities, according to the state’s public health department. Five schools in Ann Arbor, Mich., have had to close in the past week because of staff shortages, according to WXYZ Detroit.
USD 420 School Closure Due to Illness
Osage City Schools will be closed for the remainder of the semester starting Wed, Dec. 14 due to a high number of absences. Today, over 40% of the student population was absent due to illness. See you January 3rd. pic.twitter.com/XYHuFeMq2X
— USD420 Osage City Schools (@USD420SCHOOLS) December 13, 2022
Some concerned school leaders are bracing for another spate of infections in the new year, after students and staff return from winter break. In Philadelphia, schools will require masks for the first 10 days of school, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. A school district in New Jersey has already reinstated a mask mandate in response to rising infections, according to NJ.com.
In the Washington region, the 160,000-student Montgomery County system sent students home with coronavirus tests before the winter break and urged that they test before returning in January. The county was moved in mid-December from a “low” covid community level, as designated by the CDC, to a “medium” level.
Teachers and students in D.C. will also have to take coronavirus tests before they return to work.
One bit of good news: The number of children and infants hospitalized for RSV has fallen sharply since mid-November, according to the CDC.
David Rubin, director of PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the early wave of RSV infections means kids who caught it in the fall have developed some immunity and are less likely to fall ill again.
“It creates some optimism for the second half of the winter season because we’re unlikely to see a resurgence of RSV,” Rubin said. | 2022-12-23T17:37:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | A spike in RSV, flu and other infections forced some schools to close - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/12/23/rsv-covid-flu-schools-close/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/12/23/rsv-covid-flu-schools-close/ |
Updated January 4, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. EST|Published December 23, 2022 at 11:04 a.m. EST
Every Wednesday at noon Eastern — except for Dec. 28 for a holiday break — Aaron Hutcherson and Becky Krystal provide practical cooking advice that you can’t find on Google. We try to answer questions like “How do I get my pizza dough to roll out easier?” and “What’s the difference between cured and uncured bacon?”
How to brown butter and use it in sweet and savory dishes | 2022-12-23T17:37:47Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Q&A: Ask The Post's Aaron Hutcherson and Becky Krystal about your recipes and kitchen dilemmas - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/12/23/questions-recipe-cooking-advice/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2022/12/23/questions-recipe-cooking-advice/ |
FILE - Musicians Kenneth Gamble, left, Leon Huff, center, and Thom Bell stand together at Gamble and Huff Music, on Broad Street, in Philadelphia, on Thursday, May 30, 2013. Bell, the Grammy-winning producer, writer and arranger who helped perfect the “Sound of Philadelphia” of the 1970s with the inventive, orchestral settings of such hits as the Spinners’ “I’ll Be Around” and the Stylistics’ “Betcha by Golly, Wow,” has died at age 79. Bell’s wife, Vanessa Bell, said that he died Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022 at his home in Bellingham, Washington, after a lengthy illness. (Stephanie Aaronson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP) | 2022-12-23T17:38:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Thom Bell, an architect of 1970s Philadelphia soul, dies - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/thom-bell-an-architect-of-1970s-philadelphia-soul-dies/2022/12/23/aa681e2c-82db-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/thom-bell-an-architect-of-1970s-philadelphia-soul-dies/2022/12/23/aa681e2c-82db-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html |
Durham’s probe of Russia investigation has cost taxpayers at least $6.5 million
The special counsel’s work appears to be winding down, after one guilty plea for for altering an email and two trials that led to acquittals
Special counsel John Durham leaves federal court in Washington in May. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
The special counsel appointed to review the FBI’s investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign has so far cost taxpayers more than $6.5 million, according to a Justice Department report released Friday.
In 2019, while Donald Trump was president, Attorney General William P. Barr appointed John Durham to examine how federal law enforcement had investigated possible coordination between Trump’s presidential campaign and the Russian government.
Trump predicted at the time that Durham would uncover “the crime of the century” inside the U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies that conducted the investigation. But so far, two people charged by Durham have been acquitted at trial, while the third pleaded guilty to altering an email that one of his colleagues used in preparing an application to surreptitiously monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
The special counsel’s work appears to be winding down, but the Justice Department has not yet announced when it will end. A department spokesman declined to comment on Friday.
What is a special counsel and what it means for investigations of Donald Trump
In November, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed another special counsel — Jack Smith — to oversee the criminal probe of Trump’s possible mishandling of classified documents at his Florida home and key aspects of the sprawling Jan. 6, 2021, case. No expense reports have been released in that probe.
Special counsels are independent prosecutors that attorneys general appoint to oversee high-profile investigations in “extraordinary circumstances” if they feel that their leadership could cause a conflict of interest.
The Justice Department has released incremental tallies of Durham’s expenses throughout much of his 3½-year review. The latest report released Friday shows that Durham spent nearly $2.1 million between April and September 2022. About half of the total during this period — more than $1 million — went to personnel costs, with the bulk of that paying Justice Department staffers detailed to the special counsel.
About $679,000 went to contractual services, which included about $392,000 for litigative support and $287,000 for IT services. The rest of the money paid for travel and office space costs.
House Jan. 6 committee recommends that Congress act to bar Trump from running again
The other reports show that between Oct. 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022, Durham spent nearly $1.7 million on the investigation. Between April 2021 and September 2021 he spent nearly $1.9 million. And between Oct. 19, 2020 and March 2021 — the first published expense report — the special counsel spent around $934,000.
The cost summaries do not represent Durham’s full expenses since his probe began in the spring of 2019. Durham was the U.S. attorney in Connecticut when Barr first asked him to review the FBI investigation. At that time though, Durham was not appointed as a special counsel who was required to publicly report investigative expenses.
Durham’s most recent trial concluded in October of this year, and the latest expense report covers a time period that ends in September, meaning at least one additional cost report should be forthcoming.
In that trial, a jury found Igor Danchenko — a private researcher who was a primary source for a 2016 dossier of allegations about Trump’s ties to Russia — not guilty of lying to the FBI about where he got his information.
In 2021, a former FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, was sentenced to one year of probation after admitting he had altered a government email used to justify secret surveillance of Page. Clinesmith had worked in the FBI general counsel’s office starting in 2015. He told a federal judge he doctored the message but thought at the time he was inserting truthful information. | 2022-12-23T17:38:14Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Durham probe of Russian investigation cost nearly $2.1. million April-Sept. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/23/durham-special-counsel-russia-costs/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/23/durham-special-counsel-russia-costs/ |
Rural hospitals, climate refugees, and other non-political political stories
Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. This will be the last installment of The Daily 202 until Jan. 3, 2023. We hope your holidays are lovely and mostly news-free!
Rural hospitals, climate refugees and other non-political political stories
Here’s your final 2022 installment of political stories that don’t have the trappings of classic inside-the-Beltway political pieces, or aren’t obviously about politics but have significant local, national or international import.
Please keep sending your links to news coverage of political stories that are getting overlooked. They don’t have to be from this week! The submission link is right under this column. Make sure to say whether I can use your first name, last initial and location.
A conundrum for rural hospitals
From reader John S. in Cobleskill, N.Y., comes this meaty public-policy story in the New York Times. Reporter Emily Baumgaertner took us through efforts to help America’s struggling rural hospitals survive. At a cost to patients.
“For 46 million Americans, rural hospitals are a lifeline, yet an increasing number of them are closing. The federal government is trying to resuscitate them with a new program that offers a huge infusion of cash to ease their financial strain. But it comes with a bewildering condition: They must end all inpatient care.”
“The program, which invites more than 1,700 small institutions to become federally designated ‘rural emergency hospitals,’ would inject monthly payments amounting to more than $3 million a year into each of their budgets, a game-changing total for many that would not only keep them open but allow them to expand services and staff. In return, they must commit to discharging or transferring their patients to bigger hospitals within 24 hours.”
The politics: The trade-offs — and larger hospitals’ reluctance to admit transfer patients — risk leaving rural communities with no reliable care at all. This is a classic public policy challenge involving finite, even scarce, resources.
Climate refugees in … Michigan?
The global climate crisis is arguably the biggest political story out there. And from reader Daryl M. in Lafayette, La., we learned about this wrinkle: the prospects of people (climate refugees, really) moving to Michigan.
Here are Sheri McWhirter and Lindsay Moore of mlive.com:
The politics: There are obvious challenges for Michigan as this phenomenon accelerates. Drinking water, sure, but also “sprawl catering to the affluent, spikes in housing prices and congested traffic,” McWhirter and Moore reported.
A ‘no’ on medically assisted death
This has been a debate in Europe and America for decades: Under what circumstances can medically assisted death be legal?
An anonymous reader from Massachusetts flagged this piece, from Mark Pratt of the Associated Press: “The highest court in Massachusetts said in a decision Monday that allowing doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to mentally competent patients with terminal illnesses is not protected by the state constitution.”
“The court said ‘every one of us is free to vote and encourage our legislators to enact laws, and to craft appropriate procedural safeguards, with respect to one of the only human experiences that will affect us all.’”
The politics: We’re not being cute when we say this is a matter of life and death. This goes to the core of the relationship between the citizen and the state.
Don’t blink and miss this surveillance story
Imagine the you from 20 years ago reading this story, from NBC4 New York’s Sarah Wallace: A mom (Kelly Conlon) and daughter on a Girl Scout trip to New York go to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes Christmas show. But mom gets turned away because of facial recognition.
“That’s because to Madison Square Garden Entertainment, Conlon isn’t just any mom,” Wallace reported. “Conlon is an associate with the New Jersey based law firm, Davis, Saperstein and Solomon, which for years has been involved in personal injury litigation against a restaurant venue now under the umbrella of MSG Entertainment.”
MSG has a policy banning attorneys from firms in active litigation against it from attending events at its venues, Wallace reported. Its security intercepted Conlon in the lobby, apparently having spotted her using facial recognition.
MSG stated: “In this particular situation, only the one attorney who chose to attend was denied entry, and the rest of her group — including the Girl Scouts — were all able to attend and enjoy the show.”
The politics: Government surveillance gets a lot of attention. But we aren’t having a coherent national discussion about it or about the private sector’s role.
It packs quite a kick.
Fallout continues from Jan. 6 committee final report that blames Trump for deadly riot
“Today, fallout continues from Thursday’s late-night release of the full report of the House select committee that recommends barring Donald Trump from ever holding public office again and blames the former president’s conduct following the 2020 election for the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol. The nine-member committee is set to disband within days as Republicans prepare to take control of the House,” John Wagner and Mariana Alfaro report.
“More than a million utility customers are without power across swaths of the country Friday as an exceptional Arctic blast is sending temperatures tumbling in the eastern United States while a powerful blizzard is underway in the Great Lakes region,” Jason Samenow, Matthew Cappucci and Scott Dance report.
Follow our live coverage of the storm here
More: Flight cancellations exceed 3,600 Friday amid winter storm disruptions
“The Supreme Court justice and the lawyer who worked to help Trump try to overturn the election have a remarkable relationship that dates back more than three decades and that began years before Eastman served as Thomas’s clerk and before Thomas joined the bench, a Washington Post examination found. In the 1980s in Washington, as acquaintances working in the Reagan administration, they each explored writings and legal theories that informed their views of the Constitution, according to interviews and a Post review of their writings and speeches,” Emma Brown and Rosalind S. Helderman report.
“The initial war supply operation clearly wasn’t built for the long haul. As the grueling conflict continues with no end in sight, it has exposed flaws in U.S. strategic planning for its own future battles, and revealed significant gaps in the American and NATO defense industrial base. Stocks of many key weapons and munitions are near exhaustion, and wait times for new production of missiles stretches for months and, in some cases, years,” Karen DeYoung, Dan Lamothe and Isabelle Khurshudyan report.
“Before Donald J. Trump became president and after, his exceedingly complex and voluminous tax returns came under regular scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service. The number of agents assigned to the audit team: one,” the New York Times’s Alan Rappeport reports.
“After he left office, the I.R.S. said it was beefing up the audit team, to three. The tax agency itself acknowledged that it was still overwhelmed by the complexity of Mr. Trump’s finances and the resistance mounted by the former president and his sophisticated army of accountants and lawyers, which included a former I.R.S. chief counsel and raised questions early last year about why even three revenue agents should be assigned to audit him.”
“Colorado’s capital is some 650 miles from the border city of El Paso, but it has become the latest community struggling to manage the influx of asylum seekers entering the U.S. illegally,” the Wall Street Journal’s Robert Barba reports.
“President Joe Biden attempted to strike a unifying message in a Christmas speech to the nation that came as he moves into the second half of his term in office,” CNN’s Donald Judd, Kevin Liptak and Maegan Vazquez report.
“The message of Christmas is always important, but it’s especially important through tough times like the ones we’ve been through the past few years,” Biden said. “The pandemic has taken so much from us. We’ve lost so much time with one another, we’ve lost so many people, people we loved — over a million lives lost in America alone.”
“When a U.S. military aircraft landed on the tarmac in Rzeszow, Poland, on Tuesday, the plane crew thought they were picking up the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and a few high-level Ukrainian officials,” Tyler Pager and Yasmeen Abutaleb report.
“There’s no denying that it’s been a rough few years, with a global pandemic and global inflation that have lasted longer than almost anyone expected. But as we look back on 2022 — and look forward to what lies ahead — I have never been more confident about what the American people and the American economy can achieve,” the president wrote in an op-ed for Yahoo News.
How cold it could get Friday, visualized
“The forecast for Friday calls for 52 percent of the United States to be 20 degrees colder than the average minimum temperature for the date, and 18 percent of the country to be 30 degrees colder than the average minimum temperature for the date. Mean temperatures on Friday are expected to be below freezing across nearly 75 percent of the country and below zero for approximately 23 percent of the country,” Dan Stillman and Janice Kai Chen report.
“Megadonor and disgraced crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried burrowed his campaign cash so deep into the Democratic Party that lawmakers are now preparing internal investigations to be sure they’re rid of it — and prepared for any potential restitution to victims of Bankman-Fried’s crimes,” Kara Voght reports for Rolling Stone.
“The campaign of Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) is currently conducting an internal assessment of any donations it may have received from political or professional associates of Bankman-Fried. Once those donations have been identified, the Torres campaign will set them aside for a fund it expects the Justice Department will set up to compensate the victims of the fallen crypto magnate’ crimes.”
“Rep.-elect Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) is taking a similar tack. ‘We’re doing an internal audit to identify individuals who have ties or possible ties to Sam Bankman-Fried and will set aside those funds until we receive guidance on what to do with it,’ a Frost spokesperson tells Rolling Stone.”
“Rep.-elect Becca Balint (D-Vt.), who received more than $26,000 in donations from Bankman Fried’s colleague and allies, has also vowed to ‘hold funds in a separate account to await resolution and compensate victims,’ her campaign manager told VTDigger.”
“In a Monday email to the 168 members of the Republican National Committee, [Charlie Kirk] told them that donors and activists would desert the party unless it changed. The result, he said, would be colossal failure in the 2024 presidential election,” Isaac Stanley-Becker reports.
At 4 p.m., Biden and first lady Jill Biden will leave the White House for Children’s National Hospital. They will arrive at 4:15 p.m.
The Bidens will leave Children’s hospital for the White House at 5:45 p.m., where they will arrive around 6 p.m.
Key advice this holiday season
Thanks for reading. See you in the New Year.
This just in: McConnell says Trump’s political clout has ‘diminished’ | 2022-12-23T17:38:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Rural hospitals, climate refugees, and other non-political political stories - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/23/rural-hospitals-climate-refugees-other-non-political-political-stories/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/23/rural-hospitals-climate-refugees-other-non-political-political-stories/ |
D.C. hospital staff busy on phones when patient was killed, advocates say
Crystal Gale Davis holds a photo of her father's final Facebook profile photo. David Dowdell was killed at St. Elizabeths Hospital in March. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)
An advocacy group said in a report Wednesday that staffers at D.C.’s public psychiatric hospital were looking at their phones and a computer when a patient was gruesomely killed earlier this year.
Authorities said David Dowdell, a 65-year-old patient who was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, was killed by another patient who had wandered into his room during a March night at St. Elizabeths Hospital.
In the early hours of March 9, investigators found patient Charles Lee standing over Dowdell, twisting his foot on his neck in a blood-spattered room where two broken plastic spoons lay nearby, according to court documents.
Lee, 28, of Southeast Washington, was charged with first-degree murder in Dowdell’s death. Court records indicate the case is pending.
He told police he “just needed to kill someone,” court documents said, and he sharpened a spoon to use as a weapon to give Dowdell “a quick death.” Police said that, according to Lee, he bit Dowdell’s throat “just for safety” after he strangled him.
Lee’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
He was supposed to be safe in a mental hospital. Police say a fellow patient killed him.
In a report released Wednesday, Disability Rights D.C., the federally mandated advocate for patients at St. Elizabeths, said Dowdell was killed after staff “failed to follow multiple Hospital policies that were designed to prevent just such incidents and protect the safety of the patients.” (Dowdell was referred to by a pseudonym in the report.)
A review of video footage showed Lee exiting his own room five times before finally entering Dowdell’s as seven staff members meant to monitor patients looked at phones and a computer, talked to each other, or simply weren’t present, the report said.
One nurse who did walk through the hallways with a flashlight passed Dowdell’s room while Lee was inside but did not look through the window, then falsely reported that Dowdell and the other patient were in their beds, the report said. In addition, a security guard assigned to the unit was not present, according to the report.
“All staff persons who were working that night on the unit grossly neglected their duties,” the report said. “If the staff persons had been adhering to Hospital policies and fulfilling their required duties that night, they should have been able to intervene to prevent this horrible tragedy.”
The report recommended that the hospital review footage to determine whether staff are fulfilling their assigned duties and conduct random inspections, among other measures.
In a statement, the D.C. Department of Behavioral Health said that St. Elizabeths “strengthened its safety protocols” immediately following Dowdell’s death, including doubling the number of nursing staffers who conduct safety checks and reviewing videotapes to make sure protocols are being followed. The hospital also took “appropriate personnel actions,” according to the statement, including firing some staffers and retraining others.
“The Department of Behavioral Health is committed to providing a safe, healing environment at Saint Elizabeths Hospital,” the statement said.
Andrea Procaccino, a staff lawyer at Disability Rights D.C., said Dowdell’s death was the result of “gross neglect.”
“This was a locked unit,” she said. “These are people who are trained to prevent such a thing. … They didn’t do their job.”
St. Elizabeths is the nation’s first federally funded mental hospital, founded in 1855. Its patients include some criminal defendants awaiting competency hearings or found not guilty by reason of insanity.
The hospital has often been criticized by advocates, most recently for outbreaks of the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, its allegedly excessive use of restraints and its response to the coronavirus. | 2022-12-23T18:39:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C. hospital staff busy on phones when patient was killed, advocates say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/dc-st-elizabeths-patient-death/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/dc-st-elizabeths-patient-death/ |
D.C. covid-19 rates climb ahead of Christmas celebrations
Jenna Portnoy
People shop for holiday gifts and other items at the annual Downtown Holiday Market in Washington on Dec. 8. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
As a very chilly Christmas approaches, coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are up across much of the DMV region, raising concerns that the virus might spread rapidly after people gather indoors to celebrate and escape frigid temperatures this weekend.
On Thursday evening, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention elevated the coronavirus community levels to medium in D.C., Alexandria, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County. And even in surrounding counties with low community levels — like Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia — case numbers and hospitalizations have been trending up.
The virus finally caught up with D.C. Council member-elect Matt Frumin, who on Thursday tested positive for the first time since the pandemic arrived nearly three years ago.
“Today I’m hearing about how much [covid] is out there — it’s enormous,” he said. “I wish this headache was over but it isn’t.”
Frumin said he is isolating with mild cold-like symptoms and will probably miss out on plans to be with his adult children this week, who are visiting for the holidays. But his biggest concern is that he may have unintentionally passed the virus to others before he started feeling ill, despite his efforts to be safe by getting boosted and checking his temperature every day before interacting with the public.
“If you feel even an inkling that you might be sick, get out there and get tested,” he said.
Faced with rising case numbers and hospitals already inundated with flu and RSV patients, local officials are encouraging residents to test before gathering, consider wearing masks in crowded public spaces and practice good hygiene by washing hands frequently and covering coughs and sneezes. And if you feel sick, even on Christmas Day, stay at home.
“Better to miss out on something than get a loved one seriously ill,” Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said on Wednesday, after the county’s covid community level crossed the threshold into medium.
The full picture of how the coronavirus is spreading within the community is hard to gauge, in part because many people are testing at home and not reporting the results. Local governments across the country are also reporting data less often — Montgomery County was the only jurisdiction in the region to publicly update its community level to medium before the CDC published its analysis on Thursday night.
Case rates across the region are not quite as high as at this time last year when the first omicron variant began spreading through the United States, though they are higher than at many other points during the pandemic. Still, the CDC recommends those at high risk of severe illness from covid-19 wear masks in indoor public spaces when community levels cross into medium, and advises people to test before meeting with a high-risk person and wear a high-quality mask in their presence.
Holiday celebrations and pandemic fatigue stand in the way of some of the most effective precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Even as coronavirus metrics have worsened in recent weeks, officials across the region have left masking and other risk management strategies up to personal choice. Booster vaccination rates have lagged despite widespread embrace of the primary vaccine series across the region. And few people seem eager to don masks and keep socially distant at the start of a third pandemic winter.
Few residents received a bivalent booster this fall, despite vaccination rates that remain far higher than the national average. Even in Montgomery County, which boasts an overall vaccination rate of 93 percent, only 31 percent of eligible residents have received the updated booster that also protects against the omicron variants, according to CDC data. Other jurisdictions in the region have even lower booster uptake, with only 17 percent of residents in Prince George’s County, 18 percent in Loudoun County, 23 percent in Fairfax County and 27 percent in D.C. receiving an updated booster shot.
“Boost, mask, wash, test — that’s what we’re recommending,” Elrich said. “These four steps still work.”
As the year winds to a close, coronavirus clinics offering tests, vaccination boosters and flu shots will be open across the DMV. The District runs eight covid-related centers, one in each ward.
The Montgomery County Health Department will keep three testing and vaccination clinics open on Dec. 26 and Jan. 2, so that residents who feel ill can get tested, but the clinics will not be open on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.
Prince George’s County also publishes a map of the three county-run testing sites and dozens of privately-run sites.
Several free PCR testing sites in Alexandria will shutter at the end of the week, but free tests are still offered at neighborhood clinics and free rapid tests are still available through the public library. The city of Alexandria reported a seven-day average of 210 new daily cases this week.
Cases have also been ticking up in Fairfax County, where the seven-day average of new daily cases hit 271 on Friday. Covid-19 hospitalizations have been on the rise in Virginia and Maryland. And across the region, hospitals have been struggling to keep up with the number of patients seeking treatment for respiratory infections in recent weeks, with a growing number of people showing up to the emergency room seeking treatment for covid.
Over the past few months, most of the patients who tested positive for the coronavirus at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda were seeking treatment for other medical reasons and were asymptomatic for covid. But that has changed recently, said Eric Dobkin, the hospital’s vice president of medical affairs and chief medical officer.
“What we’re seeing now is at least half of the patients that are in the hospital that are covid positive are actually here because of symptoms of covid or covid-type complications,” he said.
Dobkin expects the number of patients with covid will not reach previous surge levels but he pleaded for people to continue to take it seriously and take appropriate steps to prevent spread.
“People have to be wearing masks. They have to keep social distancing and please, please, keep up to date with vaccinations,” he said. “I mean, I can’t stress that more.”
Dobkin said he understood that people have grown tired of having to take precautions, but he warned that there is still much unknown about covid.
“The consequences of being infected with covid, or influenza for that matter, are not necessarily benign,” he said.
Covid cases continue to rise at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, and covid and flu numbers are expected to increase following the holidays, said Pouya Gharahdaghi, the hospital’s assistant medical director and an emergency room physician. He recommends that those who can get vaccinated for the coronavirus and flu do so to lessen the impact of the illnesses.
“Everyone’s tired of wearing a mask. I don’t blame them,” Gharahdaghi said. That being said, in times that you know there’s going to be an uptick, with people from across the country coming together to visit family and bringing the virus with them, if you can take precautions to protect yourself and your loved ones, it’s a good idea to do so.”
Residents preoccupied Wednesday afternoon with holiday shopping and the looming storm showed little sign of the pandemic panic that gripped the region for two previous winters. Instead, masks are optional in most businesses, and many choose to go without them.
Josh Clapper described a surreal experience of reading an article contemplating the return of more widespread masking while he was riding a Metro train, unmasked like all the passengers around him. He imagined phones pinging with “tri-demic” alerts any minute.
“People want this to be a normal holiday season. They want that really badly,” said Clapper, who is in the military and recently returned from Japan where masking was universal.
Although his family isn’t gathering in a big group this year for other reasons, he said in past years they discussed everyone’s vaccine status to make sure they were all protected. Like Clapper, few people entering the Metro station in Dupont Circle were masked.
Serena Lo, a federal government employee, said she was one of maybe 15 percent of riders in her Metro train car wearing a mask, which she removed by the time the extra-long escalator delivered her to the street level.
“I am constantly still thinking about it, but it is hard when you see hardly anyone wearing masks anymore,” she said.
She worries about her 80-year-old mother who grocery shops without a mask but has remained covid-free throughout the pandemic. Lo credits being up-to-date on her vaccines with feeling only flu-like symptoms when she contracted the coronavirus in July.
However, she worried that because the vaccines offer protection from severe illness, but not total protection from infection, people will be dissuaded from getting the updated booster.
“Some people might logic through that and think, ‘What’s the point?’” she said. | 2022-12-23T19:09:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Covid is rising in the DMV as people gather for the holidays - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/dc-covid-spike-christmas/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/dc-covid-spike-christmas/ |
Peace on earth, but not just for some
A sign displayed at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda on Thursday. Students walked out in support of Jewish students who attend the school. (Robb Hill/The Washington Post)
“Joy to the world the Lord is come” will be sung with gusto on Christmas Day by many sharing my faith tradition. We will sing that beloved carol which speaks of a world ruled by the Lord’s “truth and grace” and of “nations [proving] the glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love.”
But how much joy exists at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, where only days ago a vandal painted “Jews Not Welcome” on an entrance sign?
And where is joy in Montgomery County after police last month found antisemitic graffiti, including swastikas, hangmen and white-supremacist language, also in Bethesda?
We will sing our rhapsodies to “heaven and nature” and the Lord’s coming. But our song won’t take note of the rise of antisemitism in this region and across the country. Or the harsh realities of racism and bigotry based on sexual identity and religion lurking outside our churches (and too often within).
Yes, this is the time to proclaim, “Peace on earth and goodwill to all.” This is the time to share warm feelings stirred by scenes of an innocent babe in a manger, decorated trees and bright shining lights. But what if we lift our eyes from Christmas visions and glimpse the dark side?
Because evil and pain don’t take time off for Christmas.
Last week, The Post published a report on Hatchet M. Speed, a Navy reserve officer with a top-secret security clearance accused of breaching the U.S. Capitol with the Proud Boys extremist group on Jan. 6, 2021. He was charged with keeping unregistered silencers among a stash of firearms, while Speed’s lawyers contended the devices were “solvent traps” used in cleaning guns. The jury in Alexandria was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, so the judge declared a mistrial. (Speed still faces a separate trial in D.C. federal court on misdemeanor charges related to the Capitol incursion.)
E.J. Dionne: The three men who helped me understand Christmas
But that isn’t why this case fills this space.
Any notion of Christmas being the launch of a peace in which, as the prophet Isaiah said, “there will be no end” is shattered by details in the case against Speed. An undercover FBI agent testified in court that Speed said he wanted to kidnap Jewish people in the Washington region and subject them to violence. “People who don’t have bodyguards, people who don’t have intel organizations helping them out,” government documents quote him as saying. He said more.
Discussing his views of American politics, Speed reportedly lamented that he previously “didn’t realize … how organized the opposition is” and “what [he] didn’t realize is the whole Jewish element,” which he described as a “total blind spot.” Speed allegedly stated: “If we don’t have an organized way to fight back there’s absolutely nowhere to commit.” Speed noted that “Hitler really demonstrated that.” Discussing his admiration for Adolf Hitler, the undercover agent reported, Speed described the Nazi dictator as “one of the best people that’s ever been on this earth.”
And we sing, “Joy to the world.”
I think of a Christmas notion heard growing up: This is a time of the year to spread joy to children, and to show kindness.
Where is the joy and kindness embracing some of our children?
As of Dec. 1, 16 children in our nation’s capital had been killed by gunfire this year. More than 80 of our youths were shot and injured, and more than 200 juveniles were arrested for committing violent crimes, reported The Post’s Emily Davies.
And as of Dec. 1, police data showed fatal shootings of youths have more than doubled compared to the same time last year. Nonfatal shootings of juveniles were also up by more than 80 percent.
What, then, is the meaning of Christmas? I know what it’s not.
Christmas is not all about gift giving, extolling greeting card images of peace or using a day off to escape life’s pressing burdens.
Imprisoned in Berlin by the Gestapo in 1944 for his association with groups planning a new social order after the collapse of the Third Reich, Alfred Delp, a Roman Catholic priest, wrote in December of that year, “This year the temptations toward a picturesque Christmas are probably reduced.”
That understatement camouflaged what was to come. Two months later Delp was executed. In one of his letters smuggled out of prison, he spoke of the need to confront the harsh realities of life even at Christmas; the reality that in our journey, we will face forces that would rob Christmas of its innocence, beauty and promise.
If those of my faith, and those with different faiths or no faith at all, share the Christmas spirit of rescuing humanity for a better world, then we have a job to do.
We must stand up to hate, attack root causes of violence and despair, lift the lost and least among us. “These burdens are among the fixed conditions and prerequisites of life,” Delp wrote as he faced the harshest Christmas of his life. So, too, for some of us this Christmas.
A call to change the world around is resorting to the cliche “the real reason for the season.” It also poses a heavy lift. But pursuing and accomplishing that just might bring some real joy to the world.
Opinion|For Republicans, it’s going to be a fabulist year | 2022-12-23T19:10:20Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Antisemitism and violence have no place this Christmas - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/christmas-peace-antisemitism-violence/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/christmas-peace-antisemitism-violence/ |
Faith-based groups on border unfazed by lawmakers’ call to investigate them
By Alejandra Molina
Pastor Elias Rodriguez of Casa Nueva Voz greets migrants as they seek refuge from winter weather in a shelter near the U.S. border in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on Thursday. (Morgan Lee/AP)
When four Republican congressmen accused Catholic Charities USA of violating federal law by providing food, clothing and shelter to migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border, the organization quickly fired back, calling the allegations “incredibly disturbing,” “fallacious and factually inaccurate.”
Instead of endangering people, as the lawmakers suggested in a Dec. 14 letter that accuses Catholic Charities USA of “aiding and abetting illegal immigrants,” the humanitarian work “is mandated by the gospel” and saves lives by caring for “vulnerable people on the move,” a statement issued by the organization declared.
Anthony Granado, the vice president for government relations for Catholic Charities USA, said he found the lawmakers’ claim insulting, saying it “threatens the core ministry of the church.” The urgency of the organization’s response was necessary because, Granado said, the work of Catholic Charities “has traditionally been met with a great level of respect by Republicans and Democrats alike.”
“We have not seen such a level of direct … attack against Catholic Charities USA,” Granado told Religion News Service. “We will continue to do this work. We will not apologize for it. The gospel compels us to do so. If that’s unpopular with certain members of Congress, so be it.”
Organizations advocating for migrant on the U.S.-Mexico border, many of which are faith-based groups and churches providing shelter, say they will not be intimidated by lawmakers who are requesting investigations of nongovernmental organizations accused of “facilitating the movement of illegal immigrants across our border.”
The same day Catholic Charities received the letter — which was signed by U.S. Reps. Lance Gooden (Tex.) Tom Tiffany (Wis.), Jake Ellzey (Tex.) and Andy Biggs (Ariz.) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) asked the state attorney general to investigate NGOs that he says have assisted illegal border crossings near El Paso.
With pandemic-era immigration restrictions expected to expire soon, border towns have been preparing for an onslaught of migrant arrivals. Use of the public health rule known as Title 42 was supposed to end Wednesday, but U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. ordered a temporary hold.
Some advocates, such as the Catholic activist Dylan Corbett, the executive director of Hope Border Institute, said these tactics not only raise questions about abuse of office, but also about threats to religious liberty.
“We do this as an expression of our faith,” Corbett said. “We do this as an expression of our commitment to building a more just world, because we are people of faith.”
Pedro De Velasco, the director of education and advocacy for Kino Border Initiative, a Catholic group that advocates and provides humanitarian assistance for migrants in Nogales, Ariz., as well as in Nogales across the border in Mexico, said his organization has not received any such inquiry into its humanitarian assistance.
To De Velasco, these queries are meant to “raise doubts in the work that NGOs are doing for the migrants” — work that the government should be doing, he added.
“There’s a need, because the U.S. government is not upholding the international and domestic laws of people accessing asylum. People are stranded. They’re stuck in Nogales and all across the border,” he said.
“It’s complicated, because we know that [in] a lot of these Republican states, these conservative states, they call themselves Christian, and we are currently in the Advent season. … Many Christians seem to forget that Christ is truly present in the migrants that are stranded on the other side of the border, begging us to open the doors to him,” De Velasco said.
Granado said Catholic Charities USA first received a similar letter from the lawmakers in February asking for information “about our alleged role and work with the administration.” Granado said the organization didn’t respond, because it was under no obligation to do so.
The letter this month was different, requiring Catholic Charities to preserve all information concerning “expenditures submitted for reimbursement from the federal government related to migrants encountered at the southern border.” Catholic Charities was urged to comply or risk being compelled to do so “by congressional subpoena next year,” according to the letter.
Granado said there has been no further communication with the lawmakers since Catholic Charities issued its statement Dec. 14, where it noted that the federal government was “fully responsible” for determining who enters the country.
Humanitarian care, which includes bathing facilities and overnight respite, is provided legally, the organization said, adding that it “typically begins after an asylum-seeker has been processed and released by the federal government.”
For Granado, it’s important to note that “this is not Catholic Charities USA against the Republican Party.”
“There are many Republicans who strongly value the work of Catholic Charities and look to faith-based entities like our own, and other groups in civil society, to assist the public sector, to assist government in serving people … because government cannot do everything alone,” Granado said.
Rabbi Ilana Schachter said she witnessed firsthand the role of faith-based groups on the border when she visited the area of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez earlier this month with a delegation of rabbis organized by HIAS, formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights.
“What we’re seeing right now at the border is a lot of suffering,” said Schachter, who serves at Temple Sinai in Roslyn Heights on Long Island. “People are going through extraordinary lengths to put themselves and their families out of direct threat and danger.”
Schachter, who is involved with interfaith work in New York state, said she saw many Catholic shelters “just doing this work, volunteer-based, and out of the goodness of their heart because of what their faith tradition teaches.”
“It has to do with human dignity … and that’s a tenet of my faith as a rabbi, but I would hope that would be a universal tenet,” she said. | 2022-12-23T19:10:51Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Faith-based groups on border unfazed by lawmakers’ call to investigate them - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/12/23/faith-based-groups-border-unfazed-by-lawmakers-call-investigate-them/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/12/23/faith-based-groups-border-unfazed-by-lawmakers-call-investigate-them/ |
Spirit passengers flying out of Philadelphia had their holiday plans for Mexico thrown off track
A Spirit Airlines flight headed to Cancún International Airport returned to Philadelphia on Friday morning after crew reported “multiple lightning strikes,” the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed.
Flight-tracking site FlightAware shows that the plane, an Airbus A321, took off from Philadelphia International Airport just after 10 a.m. and landed back at the airport right after 11 a.m. According to a statement from the FAA, the flight landed safely.
The airports with most flight cancellations and delays over the winter storm
The airline did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FAA said it will investigate.
The incident unfolded as a massive winter storm moved into the area. By just after noon Friday, more than 4,000 U.S. flights had been canceled, and more than 4,100 others were delayed, according to FlightAware.
Follow live updates from the winter storm
According to the National Weather Service, commercial passenger planes are struck by lightning an average of once or twice a year.
“They are designed and built to have conducting paths through the plane to take the lightning strike and conduct the currents,” the Weather Service says.
RIP, Spirit — America’s most hated airline
BTW-Holiday travel
A procrastinator’s guide to holiday shopping by plane, train and Sheetz | 2022-12-23T19:11:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Lightning strikes on Spirit flight ground plane en route to Cancún - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/12/23/multiple-lightning-strikes-hit-spirit-flight-ground-trip-cancn/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/12/23/multiple-lightning-strikes-hit-spirit-flight-ground-trip-cancn/ |
(Phil Wilkinson/Scotsman/PA Wire/Press Association Images, Guilio Broglio/AP, Reuters, AP)
Beatrice Mintz
Charles E. McGee
Mimi Reinhard
Willie Lee Morrow
Sam Gilliam
Margaret Keane
Diana Kennedy
Raymond Damadian
Clayton Jacobson II
Mable John
Roland Mesnier
Anne Garrels
Nick Holonyak Jr.
Stephanie Dabney
Charles Fuller
Virginia McLaurin
Joyce Bryant
Obituaries are almost always about more than they seem. The death of a single person might represent the passage of an entire era — with Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reign in the history of the British monarchy, or with Mikhail Gorbachev, the defrosting of the Cold War.
But a death may also mark the loss of a younger part of ourselves. To anyone who grew up watching “Leave It to Beaver,” the wholesome 1950s sitcom forever in syndication, Wally Cleaver, played by actor Tony Dow, was the all-American big brother. If Dow and thus Wally — the cool guy, the protective one — is no longer there, a piece of childhood is gone for the generations who loved him.
This year marked the end of many lives that helped define postwar culture, an era that was hardly the idyll presented in shorthand lore. Jerry Lee Lewis, who married his underage cousin, provided a new musical beat for lust and rebellion. Marsha Hunt, a onetime screen sweetheart, lost her movie career to the injustices of the anti-communist witch hunt. Sidney Poitier, Hollywood’s first Black leading man in mainstream film, pointed the way toward social progress, while Autherine Lucy Foster, an African American student who faced mobs and death threats when she enrolled at the University of Alabama in 1956, showed how far society off-screen had yet to go.
The deaths that unfolded this year also showed just how much did change in the ’60s and ’70s. Jean-Luc Godard broke all cinematic rules. Loretta Lynn gave powerful voice to women. Nichelle Nichols stood out as a Black female officer on “Star Trek.” Sam Gilliam moved beyond traditional boundaries in art. Bill Russell proved transcendent on the basketball court. They — and their obituaries — inspire and challenge, giving space for complexity and contradiction.
Jan. 2, age 77 | A member of a renowned family of fossil hunters in Kenya, who discovered skeletal remains that illuminated the study of human origins and became a best-selling author, television host and a powerful voice for the preservation of African wildlife. | Read more
Jan. 3, age 100 | A scientist, who in decades of single-minded devotion to her research, produced seminal findings about cancer, how it develops, how it may be treated and the genetics underlying those discoveries. | Read more
Jan. 6, age 82 | An Oscar-nominated director, who was part of the vanguard of New Hollywood filmmakers who helped reinvigorate American cinema, gaining wide popularity with 1970s movies such as “The Last Picture Show,” “What’s Up, Doc?” and “Paper Moon” before suffering a string of personal and professional calamities. | Read more
Jan. 6, age 94 | The first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor, and who forever changed the perception of African Americans in movies with his powerful and charismatic screen presence. | Read more | See more photos
Jan. 8, age 93 | An Oscar-winning lyricist, who collaborated with her husband, Alan Bergman, on some of the most enduring pop songs heard at the movies, among them “The Way We Were” and “The Windmills of Your Mind.” | Read more
Jan. 9, age 65 | A Jekyll-Hyde comedian, who gleefully veered from the wholesome to the profane, offering fatherly advice on “Full House,” hosting the family-friendly clip show “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” and telling some of the dirtiest jokes imaginable in his stand-up sets and cable television specials. | Read more
Jan. 9, age 71 | A multifaceted American mezzo-soprano, known for the dramatic intelligence and intensity she brought to a broad sweep of parts on the world’s leading operatic stages. | Read more
Jan. 12, age 78 | The leader of the Ronettes, who sang about teen love in a voice that might last forever and the 1963 hit “Be My Baby.” | Read more
Jan. 16, age 102 | A retired Air Force brigadier general, who flew combat missions in three wars and broke racial barriers as a Tuskegee Airman, serving in an all-Black unit during World War II and helping inspire the next generation of aviators with his fortitude and courage. | Read more
Jan. 18, age 73 | An influential editor, who rose from an impoverished childhood in the segregated South to become one of the few African Americans on the mastheads and red carpets of the fashion world. | Read more
Jan. 20, age 74 | The singer, whose soaring, near-operatic rock anthems and megaselling “Bat Out of Hell” album made him an unexpected pop star of the 1970s and 1980s and whose many acting roles included an integral part in the cult movie classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” | Read more | See more photos
Jan. 21, age 68 | The comedian and actor, who mined laughs from his Minnesota upbringing and his girth for more than four decades and who won an Emmy Award in 2016 as the unlikely matriarch on the quirky, earnest TV comedy “Baskets.” | Read more
Feb. 9, age 77 | A free-spirited, genre-busting funk singer, who influenced generations of artists with her libidinous stage presence, bluesy melodies and bold, uninhibited lyrics about sex, love and desire. | Read more
Feb. 19, age 80 | A Hall of Fame wide receiver, who finished his career in 1977 as the NFL’s all-time leading pass catcher and whose elegance and elusiveness made him one of Washington’s most acclaimed football stars. | Read more
March 2, age 92 | She faced racist mobs and death threats as the first Black student to attend the University of Alabama, and who was suspended and ultimately expelled by a school board that was unable or unwilling to ensure her safety. (Pictured, center) | Read more
March 13, age 71 | A leading man of 1980s Hollywood who rose to stardom as a cocky but indolent lawyer in “Body Heat,” won an Oscar for playing a gay man jailed under a South American dictatorship in “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and later established himself as a versatile, mold-breaking character actor. | Read more
March 23, age 84 | The first female secretary of state, who came to the United States as an 11-year-old political refugee from Czechoslovakia and decades later was an ardent and effective advocate against mass atrocities in Eastern Europe while serving as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. | Read more | See more photos
March 25, age 85 | A photojournalist, who chronicled the first and final stages of the Vietnam War and whose presidential images included the departure of Richard M. Nixon from the White House and the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. | Read more
Age 50 | The longtime drummer, who was a rhythmic force behind the Foo Fighters, a multiple-Grammy-winning group that was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year. | Read more
April 5, age 79 | A pompadoured, velvet-voiced teen idol of rock-and-roll’s early years, who recorded more than two dozen hit singles, was featured in the 1963 movie musical “Bye Bye Birdie” and maintained a decades-long career as a crooner on the nightclub circuit. | Read more
Age 107 | A secretary, then known as Carmen Weitmann, who typed the names of more than 1,000 Jewish people — including her own and those of two friends — to create what became known as “Schindler’s List,” and who called herself a “schreibkraft,” or typist. | Read more
April 12, age 67 | A comedian with a signature honking voice, who delighted in shocking his audiences with pointedly crude material and who achieved greater renown in film and on TV commercials. | Read more
April 22, age 70 | The swift-skating Canadiens winger, whose scoring prowess helped preserve Montreal’s National Hockey League dynasty throughout the 1970s. | Read more
April 23, age 88 | The conservative Utah Republican, who came out of political nowhere to win a U.S. Senate seat in 1976 and ended his career 42 years later as the longest-serving Republican in the chamber’s history and one of his party’s most influential lawmakers of recent decades. | Read more
Age 76 | The singer, who topped the country music charts in the 1980s and early 1990s with her daughter Wynonna in the Grammy-winning singing duo the Judds. | Read more
May 17, age 79 | The self-taught, Oscar-winning Greek composer, who piloted a dashboard of synthesizers through the New Age and into the cinema, most notably with catchy, cosmic scores for “Chariots of Fire” and “Blade Runner.” | Read more
May 20, age 101 | An editor and baseball writer at the New Yorker, who, in his role as a fiction editor, helped mold the stories of generations of writers. As a sportswriter, he was enshrined in the writers’ wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. | Read more
May 26, age 67 | Actor best known for his menacing, tough-guy roles in “Something Wild” and the mob drama “Goodfellas,” who also had a significant supporting part in the baseball fantasy film “Field of Dreams.” | Read more
Age 83 | A would-be opera singer that sculpted and wrote poetry, starred as a mob boss in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” and showed his range while playing Henry Kissinger in “Nixon” and a left-wing intellectual in “Reds” and went on to deliver one of the most gripping performances of his career, alongside co-stars Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Ray Liotta. | Read more
June 22, age 82 | A barber turned entrepreneur, who helped popularize tools such as the Afro pick and styles including the one dubbed the Jheri curl over more than half a century as an innovator in Black hair care. | Read more
June 25, age 88 |An artist, who helped redefine abstract painting by liberating canvas from its traditional framework and shaking it loose in lavish, paint-spattered folds cascading from ceilings, stairwells and other architectural elements. | Read more | See more photos
June 26, 94 | The painter, whose portraits of children with big, sad eyes became an art-world phenomenon in the 1960s and whose husband falsely took credit for her work for years.| Read more
June 29, age 83 | The bigger-than-life godfather of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, who was equal parts brawler, bully, braggart, rule breaker and shrewd huckster of his own outlaw mystique. | Read more
July 6, age 82 | A Hollywood leading man of the 1970s, who memorably displayed his tough-guy screen presence as the trigger-happy Mafioso Sonny Corleone in “The Godfather” but who also proved, beyond his macho exterior, a versatile performer of wry expressiveness and unexpected vulnerability. | Read more | See more photos
July 8, age 67 | The longest-serving prime minister of Japan, who sought to revive the country as an economic and military power to confront China’s rising influence. | Read more | See more photos
July 14, age 73 | The Czech immigrant, who was the first wife of Donald Trump during his rise to prominence as a celebrity and real estate investor in the 1980s and was the mother of his three eldest children. | Read more | See more photos
July 18, age 93 | A Swedish-born artist, whose “soft sculptures” of hamburgers and ice cream cones and oversized renderings of everyday things — including lipsticks and binoculars as big as buildings — made him a leading force in pop art. | Read more | See more photos
July 24, age 99 | A British-born cookbook author and expatriate, who became one of the world’s leading experts on authentic Mexican cuisine, influencing generations of chefs and deploring Americans’ fast-food experience of wan tacos and overseasoned enchiladas. | Read more
July 27, age 77 | An actor, who endeared himself to millions of TV viewers as Wally Cleaver, the all-American big brother on the wholesome sitcom “Leave It to Beaver.” | Read more
July 30, age 89 | An actress, whose role as the communications chief Uhura in the original Star Trek franchise in the 1960s helped break ground on TV by showing a Black woman in a position of authority and who shared with co-star William Shatner one of the first interracial kisses on American prime-time television. | Read more
July 31, age 88 | The cornerstone of the Boston Celtics dynasty of the 1950s and 1960s, he won enduring renown as the most successful player in the history of team sports. When the Celtics named him head coach in 1966, he became the first Black man to hold that role in a major professional sport in the United States. | Read more | See more photos
Aug. 2, age 94 | The Los Angeles Dodgers announcer, whose soothing delivery, exhaustive knowledge of the game, masterful powers of description and Ripkenesque indefatigability made him the best-known and best-loved baseball broadcaster of the past 50 years. | Read more
Aug. 3, age 86 | A doctor, who helped revolutionize medical diagnostics by developing the first magnetic resonance imaging machine and who later became so embittered after the Nobel Prize went to two other pioneers in MRI technology that he took out full-page newspaper ads to denounce the decision. | Read more
Aug. 7, age 89 | The historian, best-selling author and two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, who brought to life the grand sweep of time and place. | Read more
Aug. 8, age 73 | The dulcet-voiced singer from Australia, who became a country-pop, folk-pop, rock-pop, disco-pop sensation in the 1970s, starred in the Hollywood musical juggernaut “Grease” and underwent a sultry makeover with her megaselling 1981 record “Physical.” | Read more | See more photos
Aug. 9, age 72 | The British novelist, whose literary debut, “The Horse Whisperer,” became a publishing phenomenon, selling more than 15 million copies and leading to a hit movie adaptation by Robert Redford. | Read more
Aug. 12, age 81 | The German filmmaker, whose 1981 drama “Das Boot” earned global acclaim for its humane depiction of U-boat sailors during World War II, and who later had a long Hollywood career directing action-driven blockbusters including “Air Force One,” “The Perfect Storm” and “Troy.” | Read more
Aug. 14, age 53 | The actress, whose roles ranged from a stress-ball White House aide in “Wag the Dog” to a Bates Motel stabbing victim in a remake of “Psycho,” but who claimed she was “blacklisted” from major studio projects in the late 1990s after she and Ellen DeGeneres broke ground as a celebrity same-sex couple. | Read more | See more photos
Aug. 18, age 88 | A banker and dirt-bike racer, who grew tired of crashing into the ground at high speeds and decided to build what he called “a motorcycle for the water,” inventing a stand-up personal watercraft that evolved into the modern jet ski. | Read more
Aug. 25, age 91 | A soul and blues singer, who became one of the first female recording artists signed to the Detroit label that became Motown and who later served as the lead singer in Ray Charles’s background vocal group the Raelettes. | Read more
Aug. 26, age 78 | The French-born pastry chef, who whipped up desserts for five presidents and dignitaries over a quarter of a century in the White House and boasted of never serving the same dish twice. | Read more
Aug. 30, age 91 | The last leader of the Soviet Union, who embarked on a path of radical reform that brought about the end of the Cold War, reversed the direction of the nuclear arms race and relaxed Communist Party controls in hopes of rescuing the faltering Soviet state but instead propelled it toward collapse. | Read more | See more photos
Sept. 1, age 75 | A feminist cartoonist, who challenged the boys club of underground comics and created DiDi Glitz, a big-haired, hard-drinking single mom obsessed with interior decorating. | Read more
Sept. 7, age 82 | A journalist, who left network TV in 1980 for the uncertainty of anchoring at the first 24-hour cable news network — CNN — and whose steady-under-missile-fire coverage from Baghdad during the 1991 Persian Gulf War helped elevate the outlet to global prominence. | Read more
Sept. 7, age 71 | A broadcast correspondent, who was expelled from the Soviet Union, covered Central America’s civil wars and brought NPR listeners into the heart of Baghdad during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. | Read more
Sept. 7, age 104 | The Hollywood actress, who played all-American girlfriends, wives and mothers during the wartime 1940s and saw her career wither after protesting the House Un-American Activities Committee’s witch hunt into communist activity in the film industry. | Read more
Sept. 8, age 96 | The seemingly eternal monarch, who became a bright but inscrutable beacon of continuity in the United Kingdom during more than seven decades of rule. | Read more | See more photos
Sept. 12, age 87 | A Grammy-winning pianist, who had a major crossover pop hit in the 1960s with “The ‘In’ Crowd” and was a central figure in combining jazz with electronic music and other styles. | Read more
Sept. 13, age 76 | A former U.S. solicitor general, who led the Whitewater investigation into the Clinton administration that began with probes into allegedly improper real estate transactions but mushroomed into wider investigations that led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in the House. | Read more
Sept. 13, age 91 | A European filmmaker and cinematic rule-breaker, who was regarded as one of the most influential, uncompromising and at times befuddling artists of his era, once declaring “a film should have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order.” | Read more
Sept. 18, age 93 | The engineer and educator, whose development in 1962 of the first practical visible-spectrum light-emitting diode, or LED, proved a breakthrough that now has countless practical applications, including lightbulbs, mobile phones, TV sets and microscopic surgical equipment that can save lives. | Read more
Sept. 22, age 70 | A British author who is best known for her “Wolf Hall” trilogy, a series of best-selling novels set amid the political turmoil of 16th-century England, for which she twice won the Man Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards. | Read more
Sept. 28, age 64 | A former Dance Theater of Harlem prima ballerina, who inspired a generation of Black dancers with her signature role as the red-plumed heroine in a modern reimagining of “The Firebird” and other performances that helped reshape classical ballet. | Read more
Sept. 28, age 59 | An award-winning rapper, born Artis Leon Ivey Jr., who was among hip-hop’s biggest names during the 1990s and whose “Gangsta’s Paradise” that was featured in the 1995 movie “Dangerous Minds,” starring Michelle Pfeiffer, endures as one of the most-listened songs, racking up over 1 billion plays on both YouTube and Spotify earlier this year. | Read more
Oct. 3, age 83 | The playwright, who helped bring nuanced, multifaceted Black characters and stories to the forefront of American theater, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1982 for “A Soldier’s Play,” his blistering exploration of racism and violence at a Louisiana Army base during World War II. | Read more
Oct. 4, age 90 | The singer and songwriter, whose rise from dire poverty in Kentucky coal country to the pinnacle of country music was chronicled in the best-selling memoir and movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” and whose candid songs gave voice to the daily struggles of working-class women. | Read more | See more photos
Oct. 11, age 96 | An English-born actress, who excelled as the world’s most evil mother in “The Manchurian Candidate,” became a luminary of Broadway musical theater, and starred for 12 years as a warmhearted crime writer and sleuth in the TV series “Murder, She Wrote.” | Read more
Oct. 18, age 75 | A pompadoured singer, who played a central role in the rockabilly revival of the 1970s and collaborated with influential guitarists Link Wray, Danny Gatton and Chris Spedding . | Read more
Oct. 19, age 90 | One of the last children of enslaved Americans, who grew up hearing stories from his father, who was born into bondage during the Civil War. And, decades later, Smith marched for civil rights in Washington and Selma. | Read more
Oct. 24, age 67 | An actor, who in addition to his roles in “Will and Grace” and “Call Me Kat,” was known for the viral Instagram videos he began posting early in the pandemic. | Read more
Oct. 26, age 49 | A food writer, who at 29, started a blog about her attempt to make every recipe in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” which led to a book and the “Julie & Julia” movie, starring Meryl Streep. | Read more
Oct. 28, age 87 | The influential singer and pianist, whose unbridled performances and scandalous life defined the personal rebellion at the heart of rock-and-roll music. | Read more
Nov. 11, age 76 | The sledgehammer-wielding comedian, who rose to stardom in the 1980s through his cable specials and constant touring, performing unusually interactive shows in which he smashed a watermelon into pulp and sprayed audience members with bits of food and a fountain of irreverent humor. | Read more
Nov. 14, age 113 | The daughter of Black sharecroppers, who as a centenarian, became an internet celebrity with her exuberant dance upon meeting Barack and Michelle Obama in 2016, her moves the expression of boundless joy at seeing an African American family in the White House. | Read more
Nov. 18, age 99 | A Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and the author of more than a dozen published diaries that were remarkable for their candid entree into elite gay and artistic circles from the 1960s onward. | Read more
Nov. 20, age 95 | An African American singer, who became known as the “bronze blond bombshell” of the 1950s, electrifying nightclub audiences with her sultry voice and shimmering silver hair before she abruptly left entertainment in search of fulfillment in missionary work and later on the opera stage. | Read more
Nov. 22, age 94 | A former NAACP legal secretary, who safeguarded the reputation and legacy of her late husband, Thurgood Marshall, a towering civil rights lawyer who became the first Black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. | Read more
Nov. 26, age 63 | A child actress, who later belted out 1980s anthems of joyful creativity and freedom with the title songs for “Fame” and “Flashdance,” but then battled for royalties in a legal fight that sidetracked her career at its peak. | Read more
Nov. 30, age 96 | A pliant Chinese technocrat, who was unexpectedly hoisted to the summit of power in Beijing after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and who led the world’s last major communist party as it harnessed capitalism to turn China into a global economic player. | Read more
Nov. 30, age 79 | A British vocalist and songwriter for the rock band Fleetwood Mac, who helped shape some of the group’s hugely popular hits including “Don’t Stop” about her crumbling marriage to bandmate John McVie. | Read more
Dec. 1, age 84 | A burly Hall of Fame pitcher, who struck out more than 3,500 batters and won 314 games while acquiring a reputation as the king of the spitball, the illegal pitch that he used — or pretended to use — while slinging his way to two Cy Young Awards in the 1970s. | Read more
Dec. 4, age 90 | A smooth-voiced tenor and actor, who was best known for his nearly 50-year run on “Sesame Street,” where he was a founding cast member. (Pictured, right) | Read more
Dec. 5, age 71 | An Emmy Award-winning comic actress best remembered for playing high-strung bar manager Rebecca Howe on NBC’s hit TV show “Cheers” from 1987 to 1993, and who also starred in the “Look Who’s Talking” verbal-baby film franchise. | Read more | See more photos
Mid-December, age 72 | A running back with the Pittsburgh Steelers whose shoestring grab of a deflected pass in 1972 became one of the most storied moments in National Football League history, a 42-yard run for a last-second playoff victory over the stunned Oakland Raiders in what became known as the “Immaculate Reception.” | Read more
Photo editing by Stephen Cook, Jennifer Beeson Gregory and Dee Swann; Introduction by Adam Bernstein; Copy editing by Dorine Bethea. | 2022-12-23T20:41:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | notable deaths 2022 celebrities world leaders artists authors athletes - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/23/notable-deaths-2022/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/23/notable-deaths-2022/ |
Boycotts are dangerous — even against Russian culture
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Dec. 21 in Moscow. (Mikhail Klimentyev/AP)
Though Philip Kennicott didn’t suggest a boycott of Russian culture in his Dec. 18 Critic’s Notebook, “Putin’s brutality against Ukraine complicates our appreciation of Russian culture” [Arts & Style], he noted a “growing sense that Russia may indeed be exceptional among nations, and uniquely toxic.”
The rejection of Russian culture can only give solace to culture warriors across the United States who are pressing for the banning of books and restrictions on what students can read in our public schools. Also, Russian nativists around President Vladimir Putin could use this as “proof” that the West is opposed to Russian identity and culture.
I am an aspiring iconographer. I study iconography under the tutelage of an artist who emigrated from Russia. Should I stop writing about icons because Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church is one of Mr. Putin’s primary enablers and the Russian Orthodox Church is providing a spiritual veneer over the atrocities in Ukraine? Of course not. I understand the difference between a deeply beautiful, 1,000-year tradition of Russian spiritual artistry and a contemporary Russian political hack.
We need look back no further than the last four decades of the 20th century to find voices arguing against Russian culture because of the Soviet threat. Fortunately, those voices did not prevail, and, at the height of the Cold War, Russian music and art continued to be enjoyed by European and American audiences.
Mr. Putin and those around him are trying to define the Ukraine war as a struggle to preserve the “purity” of Russian culture and values from the depravity of contemporary Western European and North American culture. Let’s not give them “proof” of the United States’ enmity toward Russian culture. Let us also not provide unintended ammunition for people who have similar culture warrior goals in this country.
Bill Thompson, North Potomac | 2022-12-23T20:41:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Boycotts, even against Russian culture, are dangerous - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/boycotts-against-russian-culture-are-dangerous/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/boycotts-against-russian-culture-are-dangerous/ |
For Cassidy Hutchinson, ‘I don’t remember’ wasn’t good enough
Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testifies before the House's Jan. 6 committee on June 28. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
Cassidy Hutchinson knew better than to put herself in debt to what she called “Trump world.” As she would later testify, “Once you are looped in, especially financially with them, there is no turning back.”
But Hutchinson, who witnessed the final days of the Trump White House from her all-access perch as an aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, had been subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 select committee. The deadline for turning over documents was looming, and Hutchinson was, she said, “starting to freak out.” One lawyer she consulted said he could assist — then demanded a $150,000 retainer.
So, the young aide, out of work since Trump had left office a full year earlier, initially decided to turn to Trump world for help. Which is how she came to receive a phone call from Stefan Passantino, previously a lawyer in the Trump White House counsel’s office.
“We have you taken care of,” he told Hutchinson. When she asked who would be paying the bills, Passantino demurred — this despite legal ethics rules that let attorneys accept payment from third parties but only with the “informed consent” of their client.
“If you want to know at the end, we’ll let you know, but we’re not telling people where funding is coming from right now,” Hutchinson, in her deposition, recalled him saying. “Like, you’re never going to get a bill for this, so if that’s what you’re worried about.”
If Hutchinson’s live testimony before the select committee was riveting, her deposition testimony, taken several months later and released Thursday, is a page-turner: The Godfather meets John Grisham meets "All the President’s Men." Before, we could only imagine how frightening the situation must have been for the 20-something Trump staffer. Now, we can read of her frantic search for help, and her terror as she contemplated telling the truth.
It is a tale, at least in Hutchinson’s telling, of Trump allies dangling financial support in exchange for unyielding loyalty. “We’re gonna get you a really good job in Trump world. You don’t need to apply other places,” Passantino assured Hutchinson. “We’re gonna get you taken care of. We’re going to keep you in the family.” The goal, as he set it out, was clear: “We just want to focus on protecting the President.”
It’s a story of meek compliance enforced by fear of consequences — and menacing admonitions to remain on board. “They will ruin my life, Mom, if I do anything they don’t want me to do,” Hutchinson told her mother when she offered congratulations about finally securing a lawyer.
The night before her second interview with the committee, an aide to Meadows called Hutchinson about her former boss: “Mark wants me to let you know that he knows you’re loyal and he knows you’ll do the right thing tomorrow and that you’re going to protect him and the boss. You know, he knows that we’re all on the same team and we’re all a family.”
Most vividly, it is a chilling account of questionable legal ethics practiced by Passantino who, in a plot twist worthy of a Hollywood scriptwriter, was the Trump White House’s chief ethics officer. Passantino is depicted repeatedly advising Hutchinson to fall back on an asserted failure to remember anything. “The less you remember, the better.”
Except Hutchinson did remember — and quite a lot. Such as the incident in the presidential limousine, as related to Hutchinson by deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato, in which an enraged Trump allegedly lunged at his lead Secret Service agent when he refused to take the president to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
When Hutchinson mentioned this episode to Passantino shortly before her first interview with the committee, “he’s like, ‘No, no, no, no, no. We don’t want to go there. We don’t want to talk about that.’” The committee, he said, “have no way of knowing that. … But just because he told you doesn’t mean that you need to share it with them.”
Deposition prep with Passantino seemed confined less to reviewing the facts than to instructing the witness in the art of declining to disclose them. “He was like, ‘Well, if you had just overheard conversations that happened, you don’t need to testify to that,'” Hutchinson said.
“Stefan never told me to lie,” she told the committee. “He specifically told me, ‘I don’t want you to perjure yourself, but "I don’t recall" isn’t perjury. They don’t know what you can and can’t recall.’” Hutchinson pressed him on this matter. “I said, ‘But, if I do recall something but not every little detail, Stefan, can I still say I don’t recall?' And he had said, ‘Yes.’”
A week later, appearing before the panel, Hutchinson found herself peppered with questions about the Trump limousine incident. She kept saying she hadn’t heard anything like that — and Passantino sat silently by as his client offered testimony he knew to be false.
“I just lied,” a rattled Hutchinson told Passantino during a break. “And he said, ‘They don’t know what you know, Cassidy. They don’t know that you can recall some of these things. So you saying "I don’t recall" is an entirely acceptable response to this.’”
No, no, no. Lawyers advise their clients not to volunteer information — that’s appropriate. They instruct them to give limited answers, confined to the precise scope of the question — that’s appropriate, too.
But lawyers — at least lawyers who want to keep their law license — do not provide the kind of counsel that Hutchinson describes. There is no “overheard” or “I don’t recall” loophole if, in fact, you did hear something and you do remember it. Ominously for Passantino, the deposition transcript reveals that Hutchinson provided the same information to the Justice Department.
Passantino, who has taken a leave of absence from his law firm to “deal with the distraction of this matter,” said in a statement that he represented Hutchinson “honorably, ethically, and fully consistent with her sole interests as she communicated them to me” and believed she “was being truthful and cooperative with the Committee throughout the several interview sessions in which I represented her.”
In the end, Hutchinson decided she could not accept such advice and still look at herself in the mirror. So, she dumped Passantino and decided to spill what she knew to congressional investigators.
“To be blunt, I was kind of disgusted with myself,” Hutchinson said. “I became somebody I never thought that I would become.”
To read her deposition is to wonder: What do the others in the Trump crowd see when they look in the mirror?
Opinion|How the Jan. 6 committee’s report boosts the Georgia probe into Trump | 2022-12-23T20:41:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | How Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson decided to tell the truth - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/cassidy-hutchinson-trump-jan-6-perjury/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/cassidy-hutchinson-trump-jan-6-perjury/ |
To slow antisemitism, put a menorah in every window
The Dec. 19 Metro article “Fear in the Festival of Lights” highlighted the distressing rise in antisemitism in the United States, specifically in Bethesda. It is noteworthy that the story of Hanukkah recounts the oppression of a religious minority and its subsequent resistance to that tyranny.
The article quoted Rabbi Greg Harris of Congregation Beth El thoughtfully suggesting that Jews put Hanukkah menorahs in their windows as a sign of solidarity. I suggest that dealing with antisemitism requires that we, as a society, take this one step further and follow the lead of the people of Billings, Mont. In 1993, after a brick was thrown through the window of a Jewish family where a menorah had been displayed, a response arose, conceived by a non-Jewish friend, that all the people of Billings, of every background and faith, place menorahs in their windows. This act community solidarity in standing up to hate and bigotry might ultimately be part of the solution. This story is retold in the children’s book “The Christmas Menorahs: How a Town Fought Hate,” by Janice Cohn. It would be fitting if this book were one of the gifts to appear in everyone’s holiday packages this year.
Nechama Liss-Levinson, Washington | 2022-12-23T20:42:04Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Community solidarity in defeating antisemitism - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/community-solidarity-fight-antisemitism/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/community-solidarity-fight-antisemitism/ |
D.C.’s affordable housing rules should include downtown, too
A sign at 1629 K St. NW, one of many downtown D.C. buildings with major vacancies. (Heather Long/The Washington Post)
The Dec. 16 Metro article “Officials offer tax relief to turn vacant offices into apartments,” which covered D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s (D) celebration of the future of housing in downtown D.C., reported that there is nearly 22 million square feet of empty office space in the District. The pandemic has accelerated the shift to remote work, leaving many downtown offices empty, especially those in older buildings. Some of that space is already being converted to residential use, such as the former Peace Corps headquarters at 1111 20th St. NW, the site of the mayor’s announcement.
Offices are no longer the sole best use of downtown space. The Committee of 100 on the Federal City has long advocated for expanding the city’s Inclusionary Zoning Program to the currently exempt downtown area. Under that program, developers are required to set aside a share of new residential projects for affordable units; no subsidies are provided. We support a livable and diverse downtown and are encouraged that there is movement in that direction. However, we question the wisdom of providing tax abatements to developers for new residential projects in the central business district that set aside 15 percent of units as affordable. Though the tax incentives the mayor is proposing would appear modest in the aggregate, we are concerned that this will become a slippery slope with increasing fiscal demands on the city.
The values of many downtown office buildings are sinking. As landowners see this trend, many are exploring converting the spaces to residential. The affordable housing rules applicable to all other parts of the city should apply downtown as well.
Kirby Vining, Washington
The writer is chair of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City. | 2022-12-23T20:42:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | D.C.'s affordable housing rules should include downtown - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/dc-affordable-housing-apply-rules-downtown/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/dc-affordable-housing-apply-rules-downtown/ |
D.C. parents should be held responsible for their children’s violence
Regarding the Dec. 19 front-page article “D.C. leaders vexed by rise in juvenile shootings”:
The current situation mirrors the state of affairs while I was commanding officer of the D.C. homicide branch during 1988 and 1989, as reported by The Post in “Lives that revolve around death” [Nov. 27, 1988] and “4 more deaths push D.C. homicide rate to more than 1 a day” [Dec. 31, 1988]. City leaders were vexed at that time — and are vexed again now.
I opined to city leaders then that nothing would change until parents were held culpable for the actions of their teenage children. Over the years, a host of community grass-roots organizations has provided educational and mentoring activities for young people, with a veritable plethora of positive results. However, they are now proving to be insufficient. During the era of my command, I would often go to homicide scenes during late evenings and midnights. Bystanders often consisted of young children and teens without the presence of parents, clergy or other responsible adults to counter the notion that the observed aftermath of violence was acceptable.
During my era, illicit drug activity was the causal factor in about 80 percent of homicides. I would suspect that the current wave is directly the result of the callous disregard for life by teens aided by the unprecedented availability of lethal weapons, and from years of learned inappropriate behavior in our society. It is time to hold parents responsible, both criminally and civilly.
Bill Ritchie, Clinton
The writer is a former D.C. chief of detectives.
Opinion|In Bethesda, a menorah in every window
Opinion|A ban on trophy hunting is long overdue | 2022-12-23T20:42:16Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | D.C. parents should be held responsible for their children’s violence - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/dc-parents-responsible-childrens-violence/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/dc-parents-responsible-childrens-violence/ |
Social media should follow the same rules as legacy media
The Dec. 20 editorial “How Twitter’s been destroyed, and how it might be saved,” urging Twitter (and presumably other similar “social media” sites) to ensure that what’s posted is “fair and credible,” was whistling in the dark: It’s just not going to happen.
All the incentives point in the opposite direction. The more hyperbolic and reckless the “speech,” the further it spreads. And the greater the audience, the greater the revenue from advertising the platform reaps.
If Congress were a serious legislative body, it would long ago have repealed the statute that frees social media corporations from the restraints that, despite the First Amendment, newspapers and television stations observe to protect themselves from lawsuits. Magically, social media would take seriously the job of moderating the posted content and tamping down the hate speech they allow.
The Post and other legacy publishers and producers should inform consumers of the steps they take to ensure accuracy. The Post and others should inform the public that social media corporations don’t bother with this. Perhaps in time consumers will stop turning to Twitter, Facebook and others to get news — or at least become skeptical about the information they get there. Elon Musk’s Twitter rampage is no different, except in the size of the site’s audience and the fame of its owner.
George B. Driesen, Washington | 2022-12-23T20:42:29Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Social media should follow the same rules as legacy media - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/social-media-follow-same-rules-legacy-media/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/social-media-follow-same-rules-legacy-media/ |
If adopted, VA proposal would put veterans’ lives at risk
The headquarters of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington in July 2019. (iStock)
Veterans across the country experience numerous barriers to health care, and a change being considered by the Department of Veterans Affairs could leave them without access to lifesaving care.
The VA is proposing to cut its reimbursement rate for emergency air medical services, which could put veterans’ lives at risk. This change would force air medical bases across the country to close, disproportionately affecting rural veterans, many of whom live hours away from the nearest trauma center and rely on air ambulances for quick transport during medical emergencies.
As a veteran and the chairman of the health administration committee for the largest veteran service organization in the country, I am gravely concerned about what this could mean for the health of the men and women who bravely served our country.
We cannot let our nation’s veterans lose access to this lifesaving service. That’s why I am calling on the VA to delay making any cuts to its reimbursement rate.
James Stanko, Steamboat Springs, Colo.
The writer is chairman of the American Legion’s health administration committee. | 2022-12-23T20:42:41Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Veterans Affairs proposal would put veterans’ lives at risk - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/veterans-affairs-helicopter-transport-risks-veterans-lives/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/23/veterans-affairs-helicopter-transport-risks-veterans-lives/ |
Winter storm conditions should gradually ease this weekend in most places, followed by a major thaw next week
A Chicago Transit Authority train arrives at the Roosevelt train station in Chicago on Thursday. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
Travel remained substantially compromised across the nation Friday as an Arctic front and winter storm bring icy precipitation, plunging temperatures and high winds in the East and blizzard conditions over parts of the Great Lakes. The falling snow that snarled travel in the Midwest and Ohio Valley on Thursday has largely subsided, but blowing snow will continue to disrupt air travel and create low visibility for drivers into Saturday.
The number of flight cancellations and delays at U.S. airports was continuing to grow as of midday Friday, with more than 5,000 delays and 4,000 cancellations. So when will things start to improve?
Live updates: More than 1.4 million without power as frigid air overtakes eastern U.S.
Here is a breakdown by region of expected travel conditions over the next few days and through New Year’s Eve weekend.
Mid-Atlantic and Northeast: Gradual weekend improvement, but cold
The Arctic front and risk of flash freeze moves up the Interstate 95 corridor Friday, reaching New York City by mid- to late afternoon and Boston this evening.
Gusty winds before and during the frontal passage may contribute to flight delays and cancellations, but also should dry much of the moisture on main roads before subfreezing temperatures arrive soon after, as was the case when the front plowed through the Washington, D.C., area Friday morning. Still, there could be enough wet spots and puddles for patchy black ice to form, especially on side streets, sidewalks and driveways north and west of the urban centers.
NYC is salting the roads and it’s 52 degrees right now. Doubt they have ever pretreated when it was that warm. Issue will be if line of heavy rain with arctic front washes it all way pic.twitter.com/DeeqpLrUtJ
— Bill Karins (@BillKarins) December 23, 2022
Air travel and road conditions should be much improved this weekend throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast despite bitter cold temperatures, as wind gusts become somewhat weaker, with no precipitation expected. Rail disruptions in the Northeast corridor due to wind, downed trees and flooding should improve this weekend as well.
Midwest and Great Lakes: Lake-effect snow could last into Christmas
Most of the falling snow has come to an end, with the exception of locations along the south and east sides of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, where cities including Cleveland and Rochester, N.Y., will continue to see lake-effect snow showers through the weekend.
It will be more than just snow showers in Buffalo, where another 2 feet or more of snow through Saturday night will continue to cripple all forms of travel to, from and around the Buffalo area. Several more inches of lake-effect snow could also fall through Saturday night along the east side of Lake Michigan, including in Grand Rapids, Mich., and South Bend, Ind.
Blowing of existing snow, as opposed to new falling snow, is predicted to persist across much of the Midwest and Great Lakes through Saturday before easing for Christmas Day. Blowing snow, while perhaps patchy rather than widespread, could lower visibilities and cause additional flight delays and cancellations at major hubs including Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis. Patchy areas of blowing snow could also reduce visibility on roads into Saturday across the Upper Midwest and northern portions of the Ohio Valley, as far south as Des Moines; Indianapolis; Columbus, Ohio; and Pittsburgh.
The blowing snow and cold temperatures could continue to disrupt rail service across the Midwest and Great Lakes, where some routes have already been canceled through the weekend.
Pacific Northwest: Stormy through the weekend
Outside of the Great Lakes, the weather should be trending better for most of the country. One exception is the Pacific Northwest, where precipitation that started as ice Friday continues through the weekend as periods of occasionally heavy rain. That could mean more problems for flights in and out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which was seeing the most delays and cancellations of any airport in the world as of midday Friday, according to FlightAware.
Travel in and around Portland, Ore., is likely to be affected by freezing rain Friday afternoon and night, and then periods of occasionally heavy rain this weekend.
A thaw next week into New Year’s Eve weekend
Heavy rain is a travel concern for the Pacific Northwest and Northern California early next week, but the weather should be relatively calm and dry most of the week across the vast majority of the country.
Over the course of next week, temperatures will trend from below average to above average over most of the Lower 48 states.
Another storm could affect travel next weekend from the Gulf Coast to the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard. But this time the precipitation will almost certainly be in the form of rain, with temperatures potentially 15 to 25 degrees above normal, which would translate to daytime highs in the 50s and 60s across much of the eastern half of the nation. | 2022-12-23T20:44:26Z | www.washingtonpost.com | When will weather and travel conditions finally improve? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/12/23/end-of-blizzard-winter-storm-arctic/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/12/23/end-of-blizzard-winter-storm-arctic/ |
The Russian commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, right, takes part in an event to meet children who Russia says were orphans from the occupied Luhansk region of Ukraine and transfer them to foster parents at the Tolmachevo airport in Novosibirsk, Russia. (Alexandr Kryazhev/Sputnik/AP)
“It was kidnapping,” Lopatkina said. “The worst thing was that they always told our children, ‘Just forget about your parents. That’s it. You will go to Russia and you will be Russians.’ All along they were telling our kids they would be better off in Russia. ... Your parents, they abandoned you. They don’t want you.” | 2022-12-24T06:14:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Russia's top child welfare official is also its kidnapper-in-chief - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/24/ukraine-stolen-children-maria-lvova-belova/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/24/ukraine-stolen-children-maria-lvova-belova/ |
WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scored his 801st and 802nd goals to pass Gordie Howe for second on the NHL career list and the Washington Capitals beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-1 on Friday night.
NEW YORK — The NFL and NFLPA have determined spotters assigned to watch players for concussions were aware New England wide receiver DeVante Parker had a possible head injury on Dec. 12 and they were in position to prevent him from playing.
NEW YORK — New York Jets wide receivers coach Miles Austin has been suspended by the NFL for a minimum of one year for violating the league’s gambling policy.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay guard Elgton Jenkins signed a contract extension that assures the Packers won’t lose one of the NFL’s most versatile offensive linemen to free agency.
SAN FRANCISCO — Outfielder Michael Conforto has agreed to a $36 million, two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants, a deal that includes an opt out after the first season, a person with direct knowledge of the pact said.
AUSTIN, Texas — The woman who called police to report a family violence assault by Texas basketball coach Chris Beard said Beard did not strangle her and she never wanted him arrested or prosecuted. | 2022-12-24T07:24:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Friday's Sports In Brief - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/fridays-sports-in-brief/2022/12/24/5c4d41bc-8354-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/fridays-sports-in-brief/2022/12/24/5c4d41bc-8354-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html |
LAS VEGAS — Michael Amadio’s stay in the Vegas Golden Knights’ top line will end once Jack Eichel returns from a lower-body injury. He has made the most of his opportunity.
Blues leading scorer Jordan Kyrou didn’t play for the second game in a row because of an upper-body injury, but he took part in Friday’s morning skate. He leads St. Louis with 16 goals and 32 points. ... Vegas second-line right wing Jonathan Marchessault didn’t play because of a lower-body injury. The Knights called up right wing Pavel Dorofeyev and defenseman Brayden Pachal from their American Hockey League affiliate in Henderson, Nevada. ... Pietrangelo extended his points streak to four games (one goal, three assists), and Krug extended his to four (five assists). | 2022-12-24T07:24:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Golden Knights rally to beat Blues 5-4 in shootout - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nhl/golden-knights-rally-to-beat-blues-5-4-in-shootout/2022/12/24/86828a64-834f-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nhl/golden-knights-rally-to-beat-blues-5-4-in-shootout/2022/12/24/86828a64-834f-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html |
Bradley Beal scored 24 points on 10 of 16 shooting as the Wizards took down the Kings in one of their most complete games of the season Friday. (AP Photo/Randall Benton)
SACRAMENTO — More than two hours before the Wizards and Kings tipped off Friday, two men stood on a corner a block away from Golden 1 Center sporting Kyle Kuzma jerseys. Each jersey was a Lakers edition, No. 0 — one gold, one black — so it was clear who the pair were going to see.
It’s doubtful they left disappointed.
Kuzma put on a show with 32 points, nine rebounds and five assists as the Wizards produced one of their best games of the season in a 125-111 victory over the Kings. Washington (13-21) has now won two of its past three games after losing 10 straight. Friday was also just the second time the team has surpassed 120 points in its past 13 games.
At one point, Kuzma poured in seven points in less than three minutes after halftime when he dribbled into a pull-up three-pointer that even he described as a heat check. As the net ripped and the Wizards took 28-point lead, any thoughts of a Kings rally seemed improbable. Bradley Beal (24 points) hit a jumper in the paint soon after to extend the lead to 30 points, the Wizards’ biggest of the season.
The Kings chipped away the rest of the evening but never got closer than 13. Late in the fourth quarter a fan in the stands cheered “Beat the tra-ffic, beat the tra-ffic.”
“I don’t know if you guys saw it, but I felt like we had a different swagger today,” said Kristaps Porzingis, who was back in the lineup after a two-game absence because of a non-covid illness.
Part of that swagger was Rui Hachimura putting up 21 points in his second night back after missing 31 days and 16 games with a bone bruise in his right ankle. Against the Jazz on Thursday, he seemed to ease himself back in. Friday night in Sacramento, he attacked from the outset, led a second-quarter surge with the reserves and finished two points shy of his season high. He started 6 for 6 before first miss came late in second quarter.
“I'm just trying to be aggressive,” Hachimura said. “Both offensively and defensively, from the beginning.
“I'm just trying to bring the energy. I think I can be the guy to bring the energy to both ends. Today I just showed it.”
De’Aaron Fox led the Kings with 26 points, seven rebounds and three assists while Domantas Sabonis posted a triple-double with 20 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists.
Wizards Coach Wes Unseld Jr. credited the defense for the offensive output
“Honestly, I thought it was our defense,” Unseld said. “It allowed us to get out and run. Twenty-plus fast-break points. It’s one of the things we preached all year. We get stops, we have the license and freedom to push and we made the most of those opportunities.”
Here’s what else to know about Friday’s win:
Delon Wright checked in at the 3:22 mark of the first quarter as he made his return from a hamstring strain that had sidelined since Oct. 25. The team started the season 3-1 with him in the lineup. He had back-to-back plays early in which he delivered a slick bounce pass to a cutting Hachimura for a layup. He then got a deflection on defense. Early in the second quarter he executed a sneaky steal of a Kings inbounds pass after a Wizards basket. Those are the little things Wright does that were missed. He finished with two points and eight assists in 15-plus minutes.
Porzingis was spotty in his return to the starting lineup, finishing with seven points on 2 for 11 shooting. He did grab 13 rebounds.
Deni Avdija missed his second consecutive game with lower back soreness as the Wizards had a late scratch for the second straight day. Will Barton was a surprise addition to the injury report about 90 minutes before the game, also with lower back soreness, and did not play. Unseld said he woke up stiff and wasn’t able to get loose, something he attributed to the long road trip and many nights in hotels.
With Hachimura, Wright and Porzingis back in the lineup, Unseld and his staff are set to have a lot more options and their disposal. The team now has three days off and hopes to have Avdija and Barton back in the lineup when they return. That would make the roster its healthiest since the early part of the season.
“It gives you the flexibility [of] ‘what do we need in that moment?’ ” Unseld said. “Sometimes you just try to figure out what that looks like, the pairings, how you utilize guys. And some guys are going to get squeezed. That’s just the nature of it. You’re not going to be able to play 11, 12 guys every night.
“I think it’s a good problem to have when you know you have enough depth to kind of get you through.” | 2022-12-24T08:07:53Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Wizards handle Kings with ease to close bruising six-game road trip - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/24/wizards-kings-road-trip-finale/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/24/wizards-kings-road-trip-finale/ |
D.C.-area forecast: Record cold highs possible today, and frigid for Santa
Wind chills are in the single digits to around 10 through tonight.
Many record low maximums are possible today, including in the D.C. area. (weatherbell.com)
* Wind chill advisory until 10 a.m. *
3/10: Feels like today’s at least a little better than Friday, even if it’s just in my head.
Today: Partly sunny, wind chilled. Highs: Near 20 to mid-20s.
Tonight: Very cold. Lows: 10-16.
Tomorrow: Mostly sunny. Breezy. Highs: Upper 20s to lower 30s.
More than five dozen low maximum records are at risk of being broken in the eastern U.S. today, many of which are locations around here. After starting the morning colder than the city has been in years, highs could challenge Christmas Eve records from 1989. Although cold eases slightly into Christmas Day, temperatures are below freezing through the weekend. Perhaps as good a reason as any to spend the whole time indoors with family and friends?
Today (Christmas Eve): It’s a crisp and crunchy (underfoot) start. Temperatures in the single digits and wind chills below zero only slowly climb upward. We could see some midday cloud increase, but it should be no worse than partly cloudy. Early afternoon readings in the teens to near 20 rise to highs ranging from near 20 north and west to the mid-20s in southern Maryland. Wind chills top out in the single digits to around 10.
Numerous record low maximums are threatened in the Mid-Atlantic. D.C. will be close to its record for the date of 23, set in 1989. At Dulles International Airport, the record is 22, which is also in play. Confidence: Medium-High
Tonight: It’s another frigid one, albeit slightly less frigid, under clear skies. Temperatures range from near 10 to the mid-teens. With lighter winds than last night, wind chills are mainly in the single digits. Confidence: Medium-High
Tomorrow (Christmas Day): Sunshine dominates from start to finish. The trend of somewhat less cold persists, with highs reaching the mid-20s north and west to around 30 south and east. Winds are not as gusty, but we still see wind chills about 10 degrees below actual temperatures. Confidence: Medium-High
Tomorrow night: Not much change from tonight. Clear skies rule and temperatures run to lows in a range of about 11 to 17. Winds finally die off so there’s not much wind chill. Confidence: Medium-High
Sun graces our skies for much of Monday. There should be some cloud increase late and possibly a few conversational snowflakes after dark. Parts of the area rise above freezing for the first time in several days. Highs are mainly in a near 30 to mid-30s range, keeping our gain of about five degrees per day going. Confidence: Medium-High
More sun than not Tuesday. Temperatures are up another notch, to highs in the mid-30s to around 40. A bit of a pre-January thaw getting underway. Confidence: Medium-High
0/10 (↓): You might be reaching for a t-shirt by the beginning of 2023. | 2022-12-24T10:28:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | D.C.-area forecast: Record cold highs possible today, and frigid for Santa - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/12/24/dc-area-forecast-record-cold/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/12/24/dc-area-forecast-record-cold/ |
Who pulls the financial strings at Twitter? These are Musk’s backers
(Emma Kumer/The Washington Post; Robyn Beck/Pool/Reuters; iStock)
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al Saud
The Qatar Investment Authority
Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter takeover has so far been marked by turmoil.
After slashing half the company’s 7,500 member staff, he’s driven away advertisers and created a bigger financial hole for the company. So far, his ideas for bringing in additional money — paying for verification and additional features — have failed to make much of a dent. An unscientific poll he launched recently told him to step down as CEO.
Estimated Contribution:
The Saudi prince agreed in May to convert his shares of Twitter, worth nearly $2 billion, into a stake in the company when Musk took it private. A month earlier, he had publicly sparred with Musk about the company’s worth, but later tweeted that Musk would be an “excellent leader for Twitter.”
The prince has previously placed winning bets on Apple, Amazon and eBay. But his latest Silicon Valley investment has drawn skepticism in Washington. President Biden and some members of Congress have called on officials to examine the role of Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Twitter deal.
Estimated Contribution
Known for its investments in companies including Barclays, Credit Suisse and Volkswagen, the $450 billion fund has an expansive footprint across the globe, and counts itself among Musk’s investors, putting up $375 million toward the deal. The fund is fueled by Qatar’s liquefied natural gas exports and helps power the gulf nation’s diplomatic and political projects.
The massive cryptocurrency exchange was recently in the news for backing out of its plans to acquire FTX, a rival exchange co-founded by Sam Bankman-Fried that has since collapsed. Shortly after Musk’s initial bid for Twitter, Binance contacted him and committed $500 million toward the purchase.
What they get: As part of the deal, anyone who invested $250 million or more gets special access to confidential company information. But giving that privilege to foreign investors is raising flags with Biden and U.S. officials. Of particular interest is whether that includes access to personal data about Twitter’s users since several of the entities are entwined with governments that have a history of cracking down on dissidents on Twitter and other online platforms.
One of the most famous venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, this firm has invested in Airbnb, Lyft and Coinbase. Co-founder Marc Andreessen was one of the people who privately messaged Musk about the Twitter deal, according to court filings. “If you are considering equity partners, my growth fund is in for $250 [million] with no additional work required,” Andreessen wrote. His firm would go on to give even $400 million. He has cheered on Musk in recent weeks on Twitter, particularly during the release of the “Twitter Files,” a string of releases on behavior inside the company before the takeover.
What they get: Some of the biggest players in Silicon Valley are now tied to Twitter’s future. They will expect a major return on their investments, and their influence ensures that they can throw their weight around. How Musk decides to run the company, who he hires and promotes, and what features and products he emphasizes will reveal the role these investors will play in the new, private Twitter. But as their messages and public comments suggest, they’re also trying to get into Musk’s good graces.
$ 1 Billion
The co-founder and chairman of the software company Oracle, Larry Ellison is known for his lavish spending. The tech titan, whom Musk counts as a friend, purchased the Hawaiian island of Lanai, in 2012. Earlier this year he texted Musk, “Elon, … I do think we need another Twitter.” Ellison would go on to pledge $1 billion to Musk’s purchase.
The billionaire has cultivated ties with Donald Trump, hosting the president in 2020 at his estate in California’s Coachella Valley and giving millions to Republican candidates and committees, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. After Musk said in October that he would not reinstate banned accounts until there was a clear process in place for doing so, he restored Trump’s account after a 52 percent majority of users in a Twitter poll he ran voted in favor of the decision.
One of the co-founders and former chief executive of the company, Jack Dorsey rolled over his investment in Twitter to Musk’s new private enterprise, doubling down on his faith in the tech mogul, to the tune of $1 billion.
What they get: From political persuasion to regained glory, the wealthy elite in Silicon Valley have myriad reasons to ally themselves with Musk — and may have some asks of him too. A host of Musk’s associates now function as a small council of lieutenants, helping to bring Musk’s vision of a “hardcore” Twitter 2.0 to fruition. Jason Calacanis, a longtime Musk associate who helped fundraise and cheerlead during the turbulent run-up to the deal, has played an important role in the company’s transition. And once Musk shifts his focus from Twitter, there’s also the role of CEO up for grabs.
A collection of several banks — including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Barclays — have lent Musk more than a quarter of the funding, or $13 billion. After a boom of dealmaking in 2021, coming off the uncertainty of the pandemic, Musk’s buyout presented an enticing opportunity.
This intimidating debt load and Musk’s optimistic revenue projections present daunting math for the company. Musk’s platform would need to charge $44 a month to recoup the advertising value generated by the top segment of U.S. power users if it relied only on subscriptions, according to an internal document reviewed by The Washington Post.
What they get: While these banks won’t hold the same type of sway over Twitter, they are a powerful weight on the billionaire, who will owe roughly $1 billion in interest a year. Musk has also at times last year put more than half of his Tesla shares down as collateral on loans, according to financial filings, worth tens of billions of dollars. But Tesla has slumped roughly 65 percent this year, highlighting both the risks facing tech companies in a downtrodden market and the danger of loading a slow-growth company like Twitter with too much debt. The banks helping to finance his Twitter deal would play a huge role if the company ever goes under.
Editing by Laura Stevens and Karly Domb Sadof. Copy editing by Angela Mecca. | 2022-12-24T11:24:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Here’s who helped Elon Musk buy Twitter - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/24/elon-musk-twitter-funders/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/24/elon-musk-twitter-funders/ |
Tori Amos fought for her songs 30 years ago. Now she’s celebrating them.
The singer is marking the anniversary of her album “Little Earthquakes” with a graphic novel version, which has Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman among its contributors
Artist David Mack created the illustrated cover for a new graphic-novel version of Tori Amos's 1992 breakthrough album “Little Earthquakes.” Contributing writers include Neil Gaiman and Margaret Atwood. (Z2 Comics)
Tori Amos knew she was in for a fight. It was the early ’90s, as she was on the brink of stardom, yet before Amos could get there, she had to believe in herself over those who might mute her instrument.
The singer-songwriter — the woman who had become a Maryland piano prodigy by age 5 — had given her record label a version of what would become “Little Earthquakes,” her breakthrough album. But an executive at Atlantic Records had listened to it and replied with a directive: Silence the ivories.
“Erase the piano?” Amos says today, recounting the sting and the incredulity. “And replace them all with guitars?” She realized this was a creative crucible.
“There were artists who came before me who were legends — Billy [Joel] and Elton were allowed to play the piano and wear leggings — but I had a battle, and that was my battle,” Amos says during a video interview. “We all have different battles, but the piano players who came after me didn’t have to fight that particular battle, because I fought that battle.”
She provided Atlantic with several new songs, but she refused to dial down the volume of her piano virtuosity.
Amos says she had few true friends in Los Angeles at the time, after the commercial disappointment and breakup of her ’80s band Y Kant Tori Read. “There’s no disease in L.A. that people are afraid of as much as failure,” she says. “So I was isolated.” Amos had her agent and her then-boyfriend, producer Eric Rosse. And she had two others who especially supported her — fellow creatives who were insightful sounding boards.
“I fought the battle with two knights at the Round Table,” she says. One was artist Rantz Hoseley, who was living in her L.A. bungalow while he pursued a storyboard job with the then-fledgling “The Simpsons.” And the other was rising writer Neil Gaiman.
Now, Hoseley and Gaiman are figuring crucially into her life again. To help mark the 30th anniversary this year of Amos’s landmark solo debut, they are returning her to the realm of comics.
This month, she and the publisher Z2 Comics — where Hoseley is editor in chief — have released a special project called “Little Earthquakes: The Graphic Album,” which adapts dozens of her songs, including B-sides, as illustrated stories. (It’s also available as part of a package with the vinyl LP.)
Featuring such singles as “Winter,” “Crucify” and “Me and a Gun,” the 1992 album would land on many rock critics’ “best ever” lists and herald Amos as one of the most enduringly influential songwriters and performers of her generation.
Now, the “Graphic Album” features such rock-star writers and artists as Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Bill Sienkiewicz and David Mack interpreting 24 Amos songs through eye-popping sequential panels.
“Graphic Album” arrives nearly 15 years after the Eisner Award-winning comics anthology “Comic Book Tattoo,” also edited by Hoseley, in which dozens of creators produced stories inspired by Amos’s discography. Gaiman says “Comic Book Tattoo” proved influential, drawing other musical acts to the songs-as-comics format. Z2’s other recent art projects have included working with Gorillaz and “Weird Al” Yankovic.
Hoseley now wanted to focus on Amos’s “Little Earthquakes” because he is still particularly moved by those songs. He cherishes that time in the early ’90s, during which he says Amos was becoming the authentic performer and songwriter she was meant to be. He even wrote and drew the book’s comic that interprets “Flying Dutchman” — a cut inspired by Hoseley, Amos says.
In its emotional content, the “Little Earthquakes” music is “both comforting and a dagger to your heart,” Hoseley says by Zoom from the Los Angeles area. He believes these songs have lost none of their impact, yet “sometimes it takes a different creative interpretation of something to remind us of that.”
The “Graphic Album” creators delve fully into Amos’s lyrics to produce evocative visions of mothers and mermaids, of anxiety demons and happy phantoms.
One of the most striking pairings is Atwood, as creator of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” interpreting Amos’s “Silent All These Years.” In the comic, beautifully rendered by Mack, a mermaid considers when to use her considerable power against a man rather than surrender strength.
On a recent December afternoon, Amos is positively beaming from her Florida home, where a sign that greets visitors outside says, “Mermaids welcome.” She relishes the book’s visual adaptations.
“It was incredibly moving, seeing how the artists and storytellers were dancing with the muses and the relationships with the songs themselves, which is outside of my relationship with” the music, says Amos, who also has a home in England. She speaks of her songs as if they take on their own forms and lives once she has recorded them. “When they leave my studio at Cornwall and walk down the lane, some have short skirts on and I’m a little embarrassed, and some have a bottle of tequila. They’ll never be just mine again.”
Amos underscores that she was not actively involved in the “Little Earthquakes” comics: “I put my faith in the artists and storytellers — I didn’t want to meddle. Sometimes as writers, once we’ve written something, sometimes we need not to be also the showrunner.”
The song that Hoseley was most concerned about assigning to a writer-artist was “Me and a Gun,” which Amos wrote about being raped at knifepoint when she was 21.
He says they couldn’t leave off that song, yet the challenge became: “How the hell do we handle this because the material has such a personal impact for so many people? There are so many people whose lives have been changed because of that song — who have had their silence given voice through that song — so you don’t want to lock in a narrative that disturbs that so [fans] feel like the song was taken away” from them.” Yet he and Amos were pleased with the scripting and rendering by Desi Alicea-Aponte, who depicts a woman at a tiny piano gradually finding strength through music.
Gaiman says he simply had to take on the song “Tear in Your Hand,” which contains lyrics referencing Gaiman himself. Back when Amos was wrestling with the creation of “Little Earthquakes” she asked Hoseley to recommend a comic book from the stacks of them he had in the L.A. home they were sharing. He handed her an issue of Gaiman’s epic “The Sandman” that features the muse Calliope.
Amos was immediately inspired, asking herself: “Who writes stories like this?” She inserted a lyric into her song “Tear in Your Hand” that mentions Gaiman and “The Sandman’s” Dream King.
Hoseley took a cassette of the then-unreleased “Earthquakes” songs to 1991’s San Diego Comic-Con and introduced himself to Gaiman. Once back in England, Gaiman popped in the tape of unreleased “Earthquakes” music without expectation and “was transfixed.” He soon was catching Amos perform at the Canal Brasserie in London. Gaiman recounts that life chapter in the book’s “Afterword” comic, in which he describes Amos as “my wisest friend.”
So what is it about Amos’s songs that allows other artists to find them so fertile for inspiration and interpretation?
“Her songs have always been movies for me,” Gaiman says from Woodstock, N.Y. When he is adapting her music to comics, the lyricism and emotional depth compel Gaiman to sit back and listen and just imagine: “What is there when I close my eyes?”
“Because this is comics, I can make the $10 million rock video that I can’t make,” he says, “because no one’s going to give me $10 million to make a rock video anymore.” | 2022-12-24T11:59:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Tori Amos revisits ‘Little Earthquakes’ with a graphic album 30 years later - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/comics/2022/12/24/tori-amos-little-earthquakes-graphic-album/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/comics/2022/12/24/tori-amos-little-earthquakes-graphic-album/ |
U.S. and German soldiers shared Christmas Eve dinner at height of WWII
By Dave Kindy
German prisoners of war carry the body of an American soldier through deep snow during the Battle of the Bulge, in the Ardennes sector of Belgium in late 1944. Nearby, German and U.S. soldiers shared a Christmas Eve dinner. (AP)
On Christmas Eve 1944, heavy snow blanketed the Hürtgen Forest in Germany, near the Belgian border. Inside a tiny cabin deep in the woods, 12-year-old Fritz Vincken and his mother, Elisabeth, listened to warplanes and artillery shells as the Battle of the Bulge neared its climax.
As they tried to make the most of an inauspicious holiday, they couldn’t anticipate that a true Christmas miracle would soon come to their modest home.
Months earlier, the mother and son had moved to the isolated cottage when their home in nearby Aachen had been destroyed by Allied bombing. For Fritz, who first recounted his story in a 1973 article for Reader’s Digest, the remote cabin offered a reprieve from the death and destruction of World War II.
They were alone because Fritz’s father, Hubert, who baked bread for the German army, had recently been called into service as Allied armies pressed closer to Germany. Fritz and Elisabeth held little hope that Hubert would be able join them for Christmas Eve dinner.
Less than two weeks earlier, the tranquility of the Hürtgen Forest had been shattered when Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt unleashed 30 divisions hidden in the nearby Ardennes Forest of Belgium for the last major German offensive of World War II. Vicious fighting erupted across the Western Front, including around the Vincken cabin, as Allied armies desperately tried to repel the surprise attack amid blizzard conditions.
As mother and son prepared Christmas Eve dinner, they were startled by a knock on the door. The closest neighbors were miles away. With Fritz by her side, Elisabeth opened the door and saw three young soldiers, all armed. Two were standing; the third lay in the snow with grievous wounds. The men spoke a language unknown to the Vinckens. Fritz realized they were Americans.
“I was almost paralyzed with fear, for though I was a child, I knew that harsh law of war: Anyone giving aid and comfort to the enemy would be shot,” Fritz later remembered.
Elisabeth also knew the penalty for harboring Americans. But the soldier bleeding in the snow was young enough to be her son. She motioned for all three to enter the tiny cabin. Fritz and his mother helped the severely injured man into a bed and tended to his wounds.
None of the Americans spoke German, but Elisabeth and one of the men communicated in French. Elisabeth, seeking to stretch their meager meal to accommodate the guests, told Fritz, “Go get Hermann.” Hermann was a rooster being fattened in case Hubert made it home for dinner. He was named for Hermann Göring, a Nazi leader for whom Elisabeth had little regard.
Suddenly, there was another knock on the door. Fritz opened it, expecting to see more Americans lost in the forest. Instead, he was alarmed to find four German soldiers. The young men had become separated from their unit and were looking for shelter from the cold.
Elisabeth went outside to speak with the new arrivals, telling them they were welcome to spend the night but had to leave their weapons outside. When the young Wehrmacht corporal started to object, Elisabeth looked at him sternly and said, “It is the Holy Night and there will be no shooting here.”
While the Germans placed their weapons next to the woodpile, Elisabeth went back into the cabin and returned with the Americans’ guns. When they were all gathered inside, the enemies stared at each other in stony silence, wondering how long this temporary truce would last.
Elisabeth took command of the scene, Fritz wrote in Reader’s Digest, and had the combatants mingle close together. She realized that a meal of Hermann wasn’t going to satisfy such a large group, so she told her son to get additional ingredients for the chicken soup she was preparing.
“Quick, get more potatoes and some oats,” he remembered her saying. “These boys are hungry, and a starving man is an angry one.”
When the wounded American started moaning, one of the Wehrmacht soldiers examined him. He had been a medical student before the war and realized the injured man had lost a lot of blood. “What he needs is rest and nourishment,” the German said.
Eventually, everyone began to relax. Both groups of soldiers searched their backpacks for food to share. The Wehrmacht corporal contributed a bottle of red wine and loaf of rye bread.
Soon the soup was served. Elisabeth bowed her head and said grace. Fritz remembered seeing tears in his mother’s eyes and noticed that some of the soldiers wept too, perhaps thinking of their families far away or feeling grateful that they wouldn’t have to fight on Christmas Eve.
The next morning, the soldiers prepared to go back to war. A stretcher was crafted from a pair of poles and Elisabeth’s tablecloth to transport the wounded American. As the U.S. soldiers checked a map, the German corporal showed them how to get back to their own lines. They then shook hands and headed off in opposite directions.
“Be careful, boys,” Elisabeth called after them. “I want you to get home someday where you belong. God bless you all!”
Not long afterward, the war ended and the Vinckens were reunited. Fritz immigrated to the United States in 1959 and later opened a bakery in Honolulu. Hubert died in 1963, and Elisabeth followed in 1966.
Fritz always hoped to meet the soldiers again, though he knew his chances of seeing the Germans were not good, given their staggering casualty rate at the end of the war. He thought publicity might help, starting with his 1973 Reader’s Digest article, which President Ronald Reagan mentioned in a 1986 speech. In 1995, Fritz appeared on national television, telling his story on “Unsolved Mysteries” to host Robert Stack.
A nursing home chaplain in Frederick, Md., saw the episode and remembered a resident telling a similar story. He contacted the TV producers about Ralph Blank, a World War II veteran who had been a sergeant with the 8th Infantry Division in 1944.
In 1996, Fritz flew to Maryland to meet with Blank, who was 76 and in poor health. They recognized each other immediately and reminisced about their shared evening of peace during a hellish war.
She decoded Nazi messages and helped win World War II. Now she’s 101.
The reunion was filmed and shown on “Unsolved Mysteries” later that year. At one point during the episode, Ralph turned to Fritz and said, “Your mother saved my life.” For the former German boy who was now an American citizen, that moment was the high point of his life.
“Now I can die in peace,” he told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. “My mother’s courage won’t be forgotten and it shows what goodwill will do.”
Neither man lived to see the 2002 TV premiere of “Silent Night,” a retelling of their 1944 encounter. Ralph died in 1999 at age 79, and Fritz died in 2001 at 69. (The families of both men could not be reached for comment.)
“The inner strength of a single woman, who, by her wits and intuition, prevented potential bloodshed, taught me the practical meaning of the words ‘good will toward mankind,’” he said, adding, “I remember mother and those seven young soldiers, who met as enemies and parted as friends, right in the middle of the Battle of the Bulge.” | 2022-12-24T11:59:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | U.S., German soldiers shared Christmas Eve dinner at height of WWII - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/12/24/christmas-eve-truce-1944/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/12/24/christmas-eve-truce-1944/ |
Donna Reed’s daughter plays guardian angel for ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
Mary Owen has made it her mission to ensure that small-town theaters can play the beloved Christmas classic
Mary Owen at an IFC Center screening of “It's A Wonderful Life.” (Julie Gold)
Since 1974, when a copyright lapse sent it into the public domain, the 1946 Frank Capra drama “It’s a Wonderful Life” has been a Christmas classic, largely because it offered free programming for television stations. Over two decades, the uplifting story of George Bailey (James Stewart) overcoming suicidal despair with the help of a guardian angel became the quintessential Christmas movie, replete with a suitably evil villain — the heartless banker Mr. Potter — and wholesome, heartwarming romance, by way of George’s loyal and resourceful wife, Mary, played by Donna Reed.
For the past 15 years, Mary Owen — Reed’s youngest daughter — has been appearing at annual screenings in small independent theaters that have become a cherished seasonal ritual throughout the country. “It’s become a tradition,” she said recently from her home in Iowa City, 200 miles from where her mother grew up in Denison, Iowa.
Mary Bailey is the true hero of "It's a Wonderful Life"
But that tradition faced an existential threat on a par with George Bailey’s earlier this year, when some small theaters thought they wouldn’t be able to play “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Although several venues were able to book the film as usual, others say they were told they wouldn’t have access to it until January, after an exclusive run sponsored by Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and distributor Paramount Pictures.
“The first time I heard about it I thought, ‘We have left Bedford Falls,’” recalls Owen, referring to the fictional town where Bailey grows up and, by the end of the film, discovers that he has been a force for good all along. When she heard that her local nonprofit art house, FilmScene, might be barred from showing “It’s a Wonderful Life,” she was incensed.
“I’ve been part of this momentum of showing the movie in small, independent theaters since 2007, and it’s become a tradition,” said Owen, 65, who moved to Iowa in 2020 to help organize her mother’s centennial. Preventing small theaters from showing “It’s a Wonderful Life,” she says, “goes completely against the essence of the movie” and its ideals of community, generosity and self-sacrifice.
It’s tempting to see George Baileys and Mr. Potters at every turn in a story that possesses uncanny parallels with “It’s a Wonderful Life,” in which mom-and-pop values manage to overcome profit-driven commercialism. But it’s not always as clear-cut as it seems. Life, while often wonderful, is just as likely to be ambiguous, contradictory and a little messy around the edges.
But a shared moral of both tales is that, for mom and pop to prevail, they have to stand up for themselves.
"It's a Wonderful Life" is a holiday classic. The FBI thought it was communist propaganda
After conversations with Fathom and Paramount, FilmScene eventually joined the Fathom event, which took place in more than 1,000 theaters from Dec. 18 through Dec. 21. Some venues followed suit, while others took to the streets — literally. After initially being told she couldn’t play “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Ellen Elliott, executive director of Friends of the Penn, which runs the nonprofit Penn Theatre in Plymouth, Mich., says she discovered that the Alabama Theatre in Birmingham had received an exemption. “I’m like what?!” Elliott recalled recently, adding that when she did some digging she found out other theaters in Michigan had also received exemptions. “Anybody who knows me knows I’m not going to lie down,” Elliott noted. “Fathom does this with films all the time — we wanted to book ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ at Thanksgiving, and that had a moratorium, too. But ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’? No. You don’t do that with this film.”
On Oct. 26, Elliott sent a text and Facebook post encouraging Penn patrons to show up to the next day’s screening of “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” for a group photo in front of the Penn with the message “Please preserve our community tradition” on its marquee.
“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but people came and they kept coming,” Elliott recalled, estimating that as many as 1,000 people showed up to the rally. “It was just like the end of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ where everybody comes to George’s house. … We got amazing pictures of the crowds, our NBC affiliate was there. They had reached out to Paramount twice that day and they never responded. But the next afternoon I got an email [from the studio] saying, ‘We’re happy to book this for you.’”
Since October, more theaters have been given the go-ahead to play “It’s a Wonderful Life,” but not all were so lucky. Chris Collier, executive director at Renew Theaters, which manages four nonprofit theaters in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, says he received an email from Paramount in August saying the film would be “out of release this holiday season due to the upcoming Fathom event.” He simply took no for an answer and moved on. “We’re small and we’re still short-staffed from the pandemic,” Collier explains. “On one level, it wasn’t worth our staff time to fight a losing battle. The flip side is that the amount of time we could have invested lobbying Paramount we’re now spending communicating with disappointed patrons about why we’re not playing ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’”
As for who plays Mr. Potter in this story, no one is willing to accept the role. Fathom Events CEO Ray Nutt insists that the company made an exception to its usual policy of demanding exclusivity, allowing more than 300 independent theaters to show “It’s a Wonderful Life” alongside the multiplexes that compose the bulk of its network (Fathom is owned by the three biggest theater chains in the United States: AMC, Regal and Cinemark). The Fathom engagement has been a box office success: When it ended on Dec. 21, “It’s a Wonderful Life” had earned more than $1.4 million and a spot in the week’s top performers. And the movie had attracted more than 117,000 filmgoers, a reminder that in many towns, suburbs and exurbs, the multiplex is the community theater.
As "It's a Wonderful Life" turns 75, Karolyn "Zuzu" Grimes reflects on the film that belatedly changed her life
Paramount declined to comment directly, sending a statement through a spokesperson that any theater that wants to play “It’s a Wonderful Life” is able to play it — an assertion that raises the question of whether every time a Hollywood studio tries to dodge a potential PR crisis an angel gets his wings.
For Elliott, in Plymouth, Mich., the saga of “It’s a Wonderful Life” this year demonstrates the fragility of a theatrical ecosystem in which small, independent theaters are chronically at risk — even though they often demonstrated creativity and nimbleness in hanging on to audiences during the pandemic shutdown. “When a multiplex is allowed to take something that was born and originally shown in these little theaters and they’re restricted from it, you’re killing the little guy,” she says. “The small-town theater is being almost treated the same way as a multiplex, and it’s not the same. The distributors need to understand that.”
At a time when nostalgia and fan loyalty are increasingly butting up against the realities of private ownership — of everything from popular HBO programs to Twitter — “It’s a Wonderful Life” occupies a singular place in the collective psyche as something owned by everyone, a product of Bedford Falls, not Pottersville. Owen, who recently introduced the film at the IFC Center in Manhattan, said this year’s screenings were imbued with a different spirit than in years past.
“There was an exuberance I haven’t felt for a long time,” she said, adding that in addition to the post-pandemic joy of being together in a theater, something more aspirational was going on. “The universality of this movie is kind of unbelievable,” Owen said. “I also think it speaks to this idea of community that we really have lost. We’ve become so divided. People probably do recognize Pottersville as more of what we’re living in now, but they really do want to treat each other better.” | 2022-12-24T11:59:56Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Donna Reed’s daughter plays guardian angel for ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/12/24/donna-reed-wonderful-life-theaters/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/movies/2022/12/24/donna-reed-wonderful-life-theaters/ |
NFL Week 16 primer: Gardner Minshew tries to help Eagles clinch No. 1 seed
Gardner Minshew takes over at quarterback for the Eagles for their road game against the Cowboys. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
Gardner Minshew takes over for the injured Jalen Hurts at quarterback as the Philadelphia Eagles attempt to secure the No. 1 seed in the NFC on a busy Christmas weekend in Week 16 of the NFL season.
The NFL will play 11 games Saturday, including a night game in Pittsburgh as the Steelers and Las Vegas Raiders commemorate the 50th anniversary of the “Immaculate Reception.” That will come after the Eagles visit the Dallas Cowboys in a late-afternoon game in Arlington, Tex.
Minshew, the former starter for the Jacksonville Jaguars who achieved something resembling folk-hero status in his more productive moments, gets the starting nod for the Eagles. Hurts, a top contender for the league MVP award, is sidelined with a sprained right shoulder he suffered while being tackled at the end of a run during Sunday’s triumph at Chicago.
The Eagles are on a five-game winning streak and have a league-best record of 13-1. With three regular-season games remaining, they lead the second-place Cowboys by three games in the NFC East. They are two games in front of the Minnesota Vikings for the NFC’s top seed, which would bring the conference’s lone opening-round postseason bye and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. The Eagles need only one more victory to secure that.
So this game means everything, in some ways — but also next to nothing, in other ways. The Eagles almost certainly will secure the top seed, even if it doesn’t happen Saturday. The Cowboys already have clinched a playoff spot but have little hope of overtaking the Eagles in the division race. They would be well served to return to a higher level of play before the postseason, however. In their past two games, they narrowly beat the one-win Houston Texans, then lost in overtime to the Jaguars.
Weather could be an issue in many cities Saturday, given the wintry conditions overtaking many parts of the country. Many games have playoff implications. The NFL scheduled most of this weekend’s games for Saturday but will play a three-game slate Sunday. | 2022-12-24T12:00:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | NFL Week 16: Gardner Minshew to start in place of Jalen Hurts for Eagles - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/24/nfl-week-16-analysis-takeaways/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/24/nfl-week-16-analysis-takeaways/ |
We’re in a golden age of board games. It might be here to stay.
Despite our addiction to screens, the card and table top games industry is thriving
As he quarantined during the height of the pandemic with his wife at home in Frederick, Md., Jared Bryan would look longingly at one of the many shelves of card and table top games he has displayed in his home. But instead of finding joy and admiring in the beautiful boxes and recalling memories from his many game nights, he found sorrow.
“In 2021, it was kind of really sad looking at these games that weren’t getting played,” said Bryan, 37, a software engineer who got into board games in college. “Now, I’m kind of having the opposite feeling. I’m really looking forward to being able to play them again.”
Bryan missed the shared experience and the ability to push aside everything going on in his life and just have fun with his friends — and he’s not alone. Those feelings of community and gaiety are among the many catalysts driving card and tabletop games into a golden age not seen since the 80s, industry experts say. Board games have unequivocally made a comeback. And they’re just in time for the holiday rush.
“It is undeniable — they are gaining in popularity fast,” said Elan Lee, the creator of popular card game Exploding Kittens.
The global board game market has an estimated value between $11 billion and $13.4 billion and is projected to grow by about 7 to 11 percent within the next 5 years, according to market research companies Technavio and Imarc. Year-to-date board game sales last month compared to the same period in 2019 increased 28 percent, according to market research company NPD Group. Card games are up 29 percent and strategic card games — such as Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering — are up 208 percent.
The crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has made it easier than ever for unknown designers to release games. Over 3,000 new games are released each year (excluding expansion packs), according to the website and online forum BoardGameGeek, which aims to log every game published. The industry now has more categories and themes, prettier boxes and higher quality game pieces. In many cases, the rules are simpler and there are more offerings that focus on cooperation rather than competition.
These developments have opened the doors for a broader audience to embrace the hobby. There are also board game YouTube channels, like Watch it Played, that focus on to making it easier for people to become board gamers.
“It’s about finding people’s interests, and drawing them in that way,” said Rodney Smith, who founded Watch It Played. “I mean, if you want to play a game about making a quilt, there’s a board game about making a quilt. There’s really any theme you can think of.”
Games started gaining popularity in the years leading up to the pandemic, said Jay Zahn, the editor in chief of trade publication the Toy Book. Board game bars and cafes had been popping up around the country and attendance at major games conventions was increasing.
Even as covid sent people home, many still bought card and tabletop games. Sales surged, the NPD data shows, suggesting that many families who found themselves forced to spend time together looked for ways to connect through games and puzzles.
The trend continued once restrictions eased, and people craved social interactions following years of seclusion, NPD data shows. Major retailers are also embracing the hobby — broadening past the classic board games produced by major toy companies.
“Barnes & Noble and Target now have the exact same kinds of games you would find in what used to be like a hobby niche kind of store,” Smith said.
More than Monopoly and Candyland
Blasting off into space. Running a farm with your family. Hunting down a werewolf. Building railroads. A Viking competing for a place of honor during Ragnarok.
The themes and genres in the games industry are so vast and diverse that most people can find a point of entry.
“There’s been this uptick in people realizing that board games are so much more than Monopoly and [Clue] and Scrabble and [Settlers of] Catan,” said Tom Brewster, a writer and presenter for Shut Up & Sit Down, a United Kingdom-based game reviews website.
One of the best-selling games on Amazon this year was Wingspan, which is about birdwatching, from Stonemaier Games.
“It has gorgeous components and it has a very soothing flow to it,” Brewster said. “And it’s made people want to spend time doing these sort of vast games.”
While the classic games — such as UNO, Guess Who?, Trouble — are still very popular, games like Wingspan filled a hole in the industry, which had been stale for decades, Lee said. The Exploding Kittens creator said that void inspired him to create his own games at a time when the majority of the new options were dense German strategy games with a book’s worth of instructions.
“All the games that were on the market were trying very hard to be good games, instead of trying very hard to let me form new memories with my friends and family,” he said.
Now, there are more cooperative games such as Just One, Unfathomable and Codenames: Duet. Recent years have also seen an increase in silly games such as Unstable Unicorns and A Fake Artist Goes to New York that draw in people whose maybe only previous gaming experience was a long session of Monopoly.
Even older games — Ticket to Ride, Pandemic — have grown in popularity. A company called Restoration Games is revamping decades-old offerings by upgrading them to modern design, sensibility and production value.
“Now there’s so many games that are just pleasant and fun and sort of comforting and generate laughter and entertainment around the table, as opposed to just sort of brute competition,” Watch It Played’s Smith said.
Licensing has become a part of the business as well as a gateway for new gamers. While Monopoly is known to offer special editions for popular franchises — including Friends, Harry Potter, Fortnite and Star Wars — other games have joined in. What Do You Meme, which involves captioning a popular meme, has special expansion packs featuring images from The Office, Schitt’s Creek and 90 Day Fiance.
Social media is also playing a larger role in the space. Wavelength, a social guessing game that involves a topic and a dial, grew in popularity after TikToks of people playing it went viral.
Brewster, from Shut Up & Sit Down, predicts that more game makers are going to consider the social media screen and length restraints when designing games. He said he has seen a surge in TikTok videos about board games.
“People are going to want to start making games that are visually poppy and really easy to explain, which to me is a great thing,” Brewster said. “I want more of those games out there because they’re the way that you know, that people get into the hobby.”
A nimble and accessible industry
Lee’s start in the industry began like most other unknown board game designers — through the crowdfunding website Kickstarter. He teamed up with a friend, Matthew Inman, and they posted their Exploding Kittens project on Kickstarter with a goal of raising $10,000 to print 400 copies of the game — the minimum offering at the printer. But within 30 days, they had raised $9 million, enough to print 700,000 copies.
Now a full-fledged company under the same name with over a dozen offerings, the company has sold more than 20 million games.
Lee and other industry experts point out that card and tabletop games are relatively inexpensive to produce — “just ink on cardboard,” he said — so there is also minimal barrier to entry.
“If you have that one good product and managed to connect with people, there’s a real opportunity to build something great out of it,” Toy Book editor Zahn said.
The relatively easy production process gives game makers a leg-up on others in the toy space, said toy expert and consultant Chris Byrne. “Because of the fashion-based nature of the [toy] business, the ability to be nimble and bring something to market really quickly when you see a trend, that’s a really defining aspect of certainly the modern industry,” he said.
Jen Armstrong, a former live events coordinator turned home-school instructor, had an idea to make an official boxed game for the holiday gift swap White Elephant. She, along with her husband, son and daughter, made a prototype and posted it on social media. Hallmark soon contacted them and asked about stocking the game in its stores.
Armstrong and her family now have a Tulsa-based company called SolidRoots with over 20 games, among them is Mind the Gap, a multigenerational family game that includes pop culture trivia and silly challenges. The company was acquired in August by Toronto-based children’s entertainment company Spin Master.
“It’s been a really surreal experience,” Armstrong said. “I was a home-school mom with two ‘tweenagers’ and we made a game that worked. So, you know, anyone can do this.”
Companies like SolidRoots are thriving, according to Byrne, as opposed to the big players like Mattel and Hasbro. Both companies cut their annual profit forecasts this year as stubbornly high inflation impacted consumers’ shopping habits.
“There are small companies that are doing gangbusters with product right now because they are smaller and more flexible,” Byrne said.
Nothing like the real thing
Lee doesn’t remember the moves his brother made to help him clinch the win in an intense round of Clue or what evidence he had that his sister was (allegedly) cheating at Monopoly. What he does remember, though, are the interactions and the vivid emotions he felt while playing the games as a child — and once lobbing a sandwich at a sibling in a loser’s rage.
“That’s like, the best memories ever,” Lee said. “And [my siblings] have those similar memories with me — and that’s how we think of games.”
The pandemic stripped away this feeling for most gamers, especially those who, like Bryan, the dedicated hobbyist from Frederick, organized frequent open-invite gatherings.
Like many other gamers, Bryan found ways to play games virtually with friends using websites like Tabletop Simulator and some game makers released online versions of their product.
But the atmosphere of an in-person game is hard to replicate virtually.
“I think it’s something we kind of miss and crave because the digital world is so isolating in a lot of ways and it’s impersonal, and a board game is very personal — you are sitting across, you’re seeing the other person and you’re doing this very shared experience together,” said Smith.
It’s that joy and excitement of playing with friends and family that has made the hobby so addicting, Brewster said.
“The thing that board games do better than anything else is getting your favorite people into a room together and having a having a bit of fun with something that’s like new and exciting and strange,” he said. | 2022-12-24T12:21:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why board games are quickly regaining popularity - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/24/board-game-popularity/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/24/board-game-popularity/ |
It’s an example of what social scientists call ‘priming’
Analysis by Thomas Gift
Andrew M. Bell
The Fox News logo outside News Corp. headquarters in Manhattan on Feb. 26, 2021. (Jeenah Moon for The Washington Post)
When Donald Trump dined with noted white nationalist Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago recently, CNN and MSNBC covered the story extensively. By contrast, according to The Washington Post’s Philip Bump, Fox News had remarkably little to say. Previous academic research has suggested that Fox News coverage is racially biased and amplifies racial resentment and prejudice.
But why might Fox News affect viewers that way?
Political scientists usually suggest that media can affect viewers through “framing” (how a story is told) or “selective coverage” (whether a story is told). For example, in the summer of 2020, Fox News framed Black Lives Matter protests with narratives that regularly emphasized riots and looting, while CNN and MSNBC (sometimes to the point of ridicule) depicted the events as “mostly peaceful.” Meanwhile, Fox News has tended to cover what it has referred to as “Black-on-Black” crime, while centrist and socially liberal outlets have emphasized anti-Black police brutality.
Both media framing and selective coverage clearly influence their audiences. But in a new study co-written with political scientists Chris D. DeSante and Candis Watts Smith, two of us found that Fox News’s day-to-day racial coverage isn’t the only thing that could influence its audience’s racial attitudes. Our research suggests that just tuning in to Fox News might be enough to activate racial bias.
Measuring how news sources shape racial attitudes
Using a national, opt-in survey fielded digitally by the public opinion research firm Bovitz in October and November 2020, we asked roughly 1,100 White participants to read a fictitious news article about a U.S. soldier charged with an alleged war crime. The article, which reported details resembling actual charges lodged against U.S. service members, told of a highly decorated U.S. Army Ranger killing a defenseless Taliban detainee.
We presented this scenario reasoning that respondents would be least likely to respond with racism when judging members of the U.S. military. American soldiers, who are part of an all-volunteer armed forces, are widely respected across partisan lines.
However, not all respondents read the same version of the story. We randomly varied two details: the race of the soldier (White, Black, Latino, Middle Eastern or unidentified) and the media outlet reporting the story (Fox News, CNN or no branding). After reading the vignette, respondents were asked, on a scale of one to seven, whether they agreed that: 1) the soldier’s actions were justified; and 2) he should be convicted.
Results showed that respondents were significantly more inclined to convict the accused and to find his actions less justified if and only if two conditions were true: The alleged criminal was presented as Black, and the story was reported by Fox News. In other words, just seeing a Fox News logo — keeping all other details the same — was enough to make White Americans think Black Americans were more likely to be guilty of a crime.
Republican attacks on LGBTQ lives may have helped Democrats
The result wasn’t what we necessarily expected. We didn’t anticipate that the Fox News logo might negatively affect attitudes toward the Black service member any more than soldiers of other races. So what could explain this outcome?
One plausible explanation is what social scientists call “priming” — a stimulus that prompts a person to think or behave in a particular pattern. Research has already found that looking at an image of a Confederate flag can make Americans less likely to vote for a Black candidate. Another study has discovered that exposing respondents to an American flag can make citizens more likely to vote Republican.
Similarly, simply spotting the Fox News masthead may be enough to prompt some Whites to expect that Blacks are guilty. Other research finds that Fox News has regularly blamed Black people for rioting and that Fox News’s website is more likely to show Black people in stories about crime. That in turn suggests that Fox News might reinforce racial stereotypes. Other scholars have found that different racial groups tend to be associated with distinct stereotypes — for example, Middle Eastern populations are associated with terrorism, Latinos with illegal immigration and, relevant to our study, Blacks with violence and criminality.
The findings suggest a plausible hypothesis. Perhaps the media brand of Fox News has become such a potent symbol in American politics that, all by itself, it can activate racialized attitudes. When Americans enter partisan “echo chambers,” they don’t just watch or read different news — they enter a hyper-ideological, value-laden environment that alters how they digest and interpret even the same facts.
Of course one study is hardly definitive. Our analysis points to the need for more research into how Fox News and other media may or may not prime racial attitudes across a range of political and social issues. For one thing, there are ongoing debates regarding the representativeness of opt-in online surveys — a more traditional survey might possibly lead to different results. Furthermore, the results raise other pressing questions: Do other right- and left-wing media venues trigger similar responses? Would we find similar responses for a situation that didn’t involve criminal justice?
Even so, our research provides evidence on an important debate about how channels such as Fox News influence their viewers. Such channels don't just frame stories, or decide selectively which issues to cover. Over time, they develop their own brands and identities, which may independently prime viewers to respond in particular ways.
Thomas Gift (@TGiftiv) is associate professor of political science at University College London (UCL) and director of the UCL Centre on U.S. Politics (@CUSP_ucl).
Andrew M. Bell (@AndrewBellUS) is assistant professor of international studies at the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University.
Julie M. Norman (@DrJulieNorman2) is associate professor of politics and international relations at UCL and co-director of the UCL Centre on U.S. Politics (@CUSP_ucl). | 2022-12-24T13:31:44Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Does Fox News encourage racial bias? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/24/just-seeing-fox-news-logo-prompts-racial-bias-new-research-suggests/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/24/just-seeing-fox-news-logo-prompts-racial-bias-new-research-suggests/ |
'We won that’: How Shelby beat the FBI, Ethics Committees and Trump
The senator was the ultimate survivor, winning every race he ran whether as a Democrat or Republican
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), left, with Sen. Richard C. Shelby, (R-Ala.) (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post)
In 1992, running as a conservative Democrat not aligned with his party’s presidential nominee, Richard C. Shelby cruised to victory with 65 percent of Alabama’s vote.
By 2016, running as a Republican not supportive of his party’s presidential nominee, Shelby cruised to victory with 64 percent of the vote.
In all the years, the ups and downs of 36 years in the Senate and eight years in the House — 16 as a Democrat, 28 as a Republican — Shelby cut a path as one of the great political survivors of this era.
Not just surviving, often thriving.
He chaired four Senate committees. He clashed with Senate legends, CIA officials, the Justice Department and the ethics committees. He feuded with Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
Shelby, 88, got the last laugh on Thursday afternoon as he and his longtime friend, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), received a standing ovation moments before the duo’s nearly $1.7 trillion bill funding the federal government received wide bipartisan approval. The two leaders of the Appropriations Committee embraced days before they retire and walk off into the political sunset.
While Leahy was always a Vermont liberal, Shelby has, in his own words, “evolved” over the years. But he always found the political sweet spot and kept winning.
His career is a rebuke to two trends in today’s Senate: those who rush to social media and cable news with outlandish actions seeking attention, and those who sit quietly on the legislative sidelines and do as their party leaders instruct.
“If all you’re interested in is doing everything to please everybody — to say, ‘This is to help me get reelected’ — you’re going to be a House member or a senator of no consequence up here,” Shelby said in a long interview on Monday inside his office where just about everything had been boxed up and sent to storage. “And you’ll be here for the wrong reason.”
Shelby believes his steady popularity back home comes from understanding that voters still value a “senator of consequence,” particularly in the mold of the old-time southern senator who spent decades acquiring power and using it to help constituents.
Born in Birmingham in 1934, Shelby attended the University of Alabama and the Birmingham School of Law, before winning a state Senate seat. He won a House seat in 1978 and entered Congress with a collection of rising stars that included then-Reps. Dick Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.)
By 1986, he jumped into an uphill Senate race against an incumbent, Jeremiah Denton, who was a beloved war hero who had spent 7½ years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
“A tough race,” Shelby recalled, winning by fewer than 7,000 votes, just 0.6 percent for his margin. He would never again face a campaign like that one.
He joined another class of future congressional statesmen: Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) and Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), future majority leaders; John McCain (R-Ariz.), himself a Vietnam hero who won the 2008 presidential nomination; and Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), the longest serving woman in Senate history.
“We were all ambitious. We knew that,” he recalled, noting that he’s the last person in office from those classes of 1978 and 1986.
Early on he asked the Senate majority leader, Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), for a seat on the Appropriations Committee. “Definite Republican tendencies,” Byrd told senior Democrats, explaining his rejection.
Shelby quickly discovered that the days of southern conservatives dominating the Democratic caucus had passed, and after he won a second term in 1992 he openly feuded with President Bill Clinton. White House officials retaliated by offering Shelby just one ticket to the ceremony honoring Alabama’s national football championship. Howell Heflin, the state’s Democratic senator, got 15 tickets.
“A few decades ago, it was a sleepy town by the Tennessee border. Today, it’s a booming technological hub for cutting-edge industries like space exploration and missile defense,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a tribute speech to Shelby.
And a trip to Singapore led Shelby to turn Mobile’s port into one of the deepest in the nation. But senators of consequence do more than deliver dollars for their states, and Shelby’s first chairmanship came on the Intelligence Committee.
He counts his vote for the 2002 authorization of the Iraq War among his biggest regrets, blaming CIA officials for misleading Congress about the regime’s arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.
“We were told by our intelligence people and everybody else that that’s what they were doing,” he said, wishing he had listened to his own doubts at the time. “I think that’s one that all of us needed more data.”
Instead, he spent two years fending off a Justice Department investigation into allegations that he leaked classified information during a congressional investigation into the 2001 terrorist attacks. No charges were filed and the Senate Ethics Committee closed the matter without any punishment.
As he recounts his old battles, they often end with the same phrase: “We won that.”
That’s how he described a battle with McCain over a Mobile shipbuilding dispute, and how he and Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) again defeated McCain on a dispute over purchasing Russian rockets for the U.S. aerospace industry, with its focus in Huntsville.
“And we won that,” he said, breaking into a smile. “McCain did congratulate me on that.”
The legendary battles with the Arizonan began, like so much in the Senate, on more personal terms. “I think McCain and Shelby’s split came over John Tower,” he recalled.
The former GOP senator from Texas had been nominated by President George H.W. Bush in 1989 for defense secretary, and Shelby had initially pledged to support McCain’s close friend.
But Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), the Armed Services Committee chairman, disliked Tower and held weeks of hearings, including allegations of personal misconduct. Shelby stayed loyal to his chairman, opposing Tower.
He loved traveling the world, particularly with his wife, Annette Shelby, the first woman granted tenure as a professor at Georgetown University’s business school. Leahy recalled how his wife, Marcelle, and Annette Shelby helped save a tense meeting in Havana with the Cuban president, Raúl Castro.
“I’m a professor at Georgetown and I’ve taught many Cubans,” Annette Shelby told Castro, after Marcelle Leahy had prodded the famous dictator’s brother to talk about great-grandchildren.
“Well, the half-hour meeting became two hours,” Sen. Leahy said Friday.
Shelby maintained a fairly staunch conservative posture for most of his tenure. As the top Republican on the Banking Committee, he walked away from talks in 2008 that would lead to the $700 billion Wall Street rescue.
Almost nothing changed politically, as his reelection came in like clockwork, always between 63 and 68 percent, but then ahead of the 2016 campaign Shelby heard footsteps.
Several veteran senators had been caught by hard-charging ideologues in GOP primary campaigns, so Shelby got ready, hiring McConnell’s top political advisers to run a modern campaign. Trump’s ascendancy in Alabama complicated matters, bringing out many first-time voters who weren’t natural Shelby supporters.
“I never ran with Donald Trump. No, I didn’t. I ran ahead of him 20 points,” Shelby said. He won his primary with 65 percent of the vote, well ahead of Trump’s 43 percent plurality.
In his final term, Shelby tried to play the role of institutional caretaker. When The Washington Post broke news that, in his 30s, Republican nominee Roy Moore had romantically pursued teenage girls, Shelby broke ranks in that 2017 special election.
“He would’ve been the face of the party for the wrong reasons, and the face of Alabama for the wrong reason,” Shelby said Monday.
Moore, who received a late Trump endorsement, lost by less than 22,000 votes.
Soon after Shelby announced he would not seek reelection this year, Trump jumped into Alabama politics again, endorsing Rep. Mo Brooks (R), a controversial figure who spoke at the Jan. 6, 2021, rally before the attack on the Capitol.
Shelby gave his support to Katie Britt, his former chief of staff active in state business circles. He funneled $6 million into a super PAC that pummeled Brooks, who often opposed the type of big-spending deals that Shelby used to boost Alabama.
Britt won the primary. In the general election, she received a very Shelby-like endorsement: More than 66 percent of voters backed her.
Candidates who made history in Tuesday’s midterms
Britt’s campaign hat hung in Shelby’s office, one of the last things left. He hopes that she follows his path toward being a consequential senator.
“I am, by nature, not against everything. There are a lot of things I’m hard right on, hard right,” Shelby said. “And a lot of things that I think there is tomorrow. The clock ticks forward, we evolve.” | 2022-12-24T13:31:50Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Sen. Richard Shelby evolved and thrived over 44 years in Congress - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/24/richard-shelby-senator-retirement/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/24/richard-shelby-senator-retirement/ |
Alex Ovechkin holds his 798, 799, and 800th career goal pucks in the dressing room after the Capitals’ win over the Blackhawks on Dec. 13. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894 career goals was once considered unbreakable. Now, after Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin passed Gordie Howe to move into second place on the NHL’s career goals list, it feels almost inevitable that Ovechkin will surpass Gretzky’s mark, and perhaps by quite a bit.
“I think a thousand goals is possible for him, especially after what we’ve seen tonight,” former NHL defenseman and ESPN analyst P.K. Subban said this month after Ovechkin recorded a hat trick to become just the third player in NHL history to reach 800 goals. “ … There’s no doubt in my mind that he can hit 900, but I think a thousand is there. Why not?”
One thousand goals might be ambitious, but 895 is attainable for the 37-year-old Ovechkin, who passed Gordie Howe for No. 2 on the all-time list .
Wayne Gretzky’s 2,857 points
Take away his 894 goals and Gretzky would still hold the NHL record for points thanks to his ludicrous 1,963 assists in 1,487 games. With 1,921 points in 246 more games, Jaromir Jagr is a distant second on the career list.
Martin Brodeur’s 125 shutouts
For years after he retired in 1970, goaltender Terry Sawchuk’s record of 445 wins seemed untouchable. Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche great Patrick Roy eclipsed Sawchuk’s mark in 2000, and Brodeur blew past both of them, finishing his 23-year career in 2015 with 691 wins.
It’s Brodeur’s shutout record, though, that seems the most secure. While seven goalies now have more wins than Sawchuk, Brodeur is the only one who surpassed his 103 shutouts. The next-closest active goalie is 38-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury with 72.
Cy Young’s 749 complete games
Unless Rob Manfred or a future commissioner shortens games to six innings or robot umpires are eventually calling balls and strikes for robot pitchers, no one will challenge this century-old mark. Consider: MLB pitchers combined for 36 complete games in 2022. Young pitched at least 36 complete games in 11 of his 22 seasons, and he finished with 103 more complete games than Pud Galvin, who is second on the list.
Cal Ripken Jr.’s 2,632 consecutive games
Lou Gehrig’s unbreakable streak of 2,130 consecutive games played stood for 56 years before Ripken broke it Sept. 6, 1995. The Iron Man played two more seasons without missing a game until finally deciding it “was time” to take a day off.
Combine the consecutive games played for the players with the third- and fourth-longest streaks (Everett Scott and Steve Garvey, respectively) and it doesn’t equal Ripken’s mark. The longest streak since Ripken’s ended belongs to Miguel Tejada, who played in 1,152 straight games from 2000 to 2007.
John Stockton’s 15,806 assists
Stockton led the league in assists in nine consecutive seasons from 1987-88 to 1995-96. The Utah Jazz legend has 3,715 more assists than Jason Kidd, who retired in 2013 second on the all-time list. Phoenix Suns 37-year-old point guard Chris Paul, who is No. 3, could average 10 assists per game over a full season for the next five years and still not pass Stockton. Paul is averaging 9.1 assists this season but has been limited to 18 games by a heel injury.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 points
Wilt Chamberlain still owns several unbreakable records, including career rebounds (23,924) and points in a game (100), but Abdul-Jabbar passed him to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer April 5, 1984, and played five more seasons.
From 2020: Any GOAT discussion must include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Emmitt Smith’s 18,355 rushing yards
Smith ran for at least 1,000 yards in 11 consecutive seasons during his 13-year career with the Dallas Cowboys and retired after rushing for 937 yards as a 35-year-old with the Arizona Cardinals in 2004.
Jerry Rice’s 197 receiving touchdowns
As with Gretzky and Young, Rice’s résumé includes multiple records that could be considered unbreakable, including his 1,549 catches and 22,895 receiving yards. Even with the proliferation of passing in today’s NFL — teams combined for 694 passing touchdowns in 2002 and 840 last season — Rice’s touchdown record doesn’t figure to be surpassed anytime soon, if ever.
Randy Moss, who broke Rice’s single-season touchdown record with 23 in 2007, retired 41 touchdowns shy of Rice’s career record in 2012. Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams is the active leader with 85; Rice had 118 by the same point in his career. | 2022-12-24T13:32:03Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Wayne Gretzky's goals record was once considered unbreakable - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/24/most-unbreakable-sports-records/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/24/most-unbreakable-sports-records/ |
Children who might have otherwise received nothing for Christmas were able to fill their arms with puzzles, stuffed animals and other used toys.
A young child picks a toy during an event held by Food Justice DMV on Dec. 17. (Denise Woods /Food Justice DMV)
The young boy in the red and black jacket didn’t need to look through the toys sitting on the blanket in front of him. As other children walked past stuffed animals, puzzles and building blocks, looking for items that called to them, he made his way straight to a dump truck almost half his size.
If you had peeked in on that moment, which took place outside a Virginia church, you would have seen that boy holding the truck tightly.
You would have also seen a girl in pink glasses gravitate toward a small red trampoline and a boy in a fuzzy brown hat clutch a Paw Patrol puzzle.
The scene was one of joy and abundance for children who don’t often get to experience both at once.
It was also a scene that almost didn’t happen.
Days before the volunteer collective Food Justice DMV planned to hold the giveaway event on Dec. 17, founder Denise Woods sent out an SOS, letting supporters know that volunteers didn’t have enough food or toys this year to give to the migrant families they serve in the Washington region. What makes the group’s toy collection different from the many others that take place at this time of year is volunteers gather secondhand items and get them to families who might fall beyond the reach of other organized efforts, because of language barriers and deportation fears.
“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: beans, rice oil and maseca and a side of gifts,” Woods wrote in an email at the time. “I am not sure where the Christmas spirit is …”
In an earlier column, I told you about that SOS and the desperate messages volunteers were receiving from parents. What happened next left volunteers overwhelmed, in the best way.
People in D.C., Maryland and Virginia started looking through their homes and gathering the toys their children and grandchildren no longer used. They then drove them to one of several places that were collecting items on behalf of Food Justice DMV.
They brought puzzles and board games and art kits. They brought a toy stove, a toy shopping cart and a bike. They brought small stuffed animals and medium stuffed animals and jumbo stuffed animals.
They brought so many items to one church that bulging bags and boxes lined the side of the building. At another church, the items filled four rooms.
“It is a tsunami of gorgeous gently loved gifts,” Woods said, assessing the piles. She described the outpouring as “something out of a movie.”
Thousands of people throughout the Washington region responded. All it took was learning that children around them might go without to decide they wouldn’t let that happen. In addition to those who brought toys, people left gift cards, donated money online and offered to assist in other ways. People outside of the region also got involved. One young woman who moved out of state called her parents who still live in the area and asked them to go into her childhood bedroom and donate an old toy of hers.
By the time the giveaway event arrived, volunteers were carting truckloads of items to a church in Falls Church. There, migrant families found them spread across blankets and tables. Children who might not have received anything for Christmas left with their arms full and their parents left carrying bags of items.
Amy Santay, who is 14, arrived with her mother, 8-year-old sister and 2-year-old cousin.
“I was really surprised,” she said. “I didn’t expect there would be that much stuff.”
Her sister got Barbie dolls and clothes, her cousin got miniature cars and dinosaurs, and she got a jacket and a red “really soft” blanket, which made her happy because sometimes at night her home gets cold. That all of those items were secondhand didn’t bother the teenager.
“It’s still usable,” she said. “Other kids can still use it.”
She said her mom is from Guatemala and works hard at her cleaning job to pay the rent and keep the family fed, but that doesn’t leave much money for her to buy presents during the holidays. That day at the church, the teenager said, her mom and the whole family left smiling.
“We were so thankful,” she said. “I just want to thank everyone so much.”
Churches in Maryland and Virginia, along with a D.C. restaurant, had been accepting toy drop offs, but after the giveaway event, Food Justice DMV began asking people who wanted to help to make online donations toward food purchases. They had collected more than enough toys.
So many toys were left over from the giveaway that community leaders were able to fill cars and trucks with them to take to families who couldn’t make it that day. They spent the past week delivering them. They even had enough to send some to Senegal and Guatemala, turning the local gift-giving effort into an international one.
“For so long I think we felt, not accurately, that no one really cared, because we were existing on fumes and praying we would make our food costs,” Woods said. “Now we know people do care and care deeply.”
Migrant families have been used in political stunts this year. The governors for Texas and Arizona have sent them on buses to the District to make a statement, and in doing so, have treated people as the problem instead of the country’s immigration system, which doesn’t provide clear paths to citizenship for many. An estimated 11,000 migrants have been bused to the District, and while many have since left the region, hundreds alone remain in local hotels and shelters. Many of those are children.
A donated item dropped off at those hotels in recent days was one that a mom had been hoping to give her daughter — a toy kitchen.
Woods cried as she talked about the impact of that and the many other gifts that were received. The strangers who came together to help the families recognized the system is broken, not people, she said.
“They wanted to support people who have escaped trauma, climate crisis, gang violence and the most inhumane things possible to arrive here,” she said. It didn’t matter that they didn’t speak the same language or share the same experiences as those families, she said. “Everyone wanted to make sure they felt welcomed and had a good Christmas, and that’s the true spirit of Christmas.” | 2022-12-24T14:24:07Z | www.washingtonpost.com | They put out an SOS for toys for migrant kids. Thousands responded. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/24/toy-donations-migrant-children/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/24/toy-donations-migrant-children/ |
The statue of Freedom on top of the dome of the U.S. Capitol. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
By John Kelly
It’s time again for my annual Fiendishly Difficult Washington Trivia Quiz! And I’m delighted to say that this year, it’s both extra fiendish and extra trivial.
A historic Georgetown sign is on display in the D.C. Public Library's Peabody Room. You once could practically smell Georgetown before you could see it. (Jerry McCoy)
For decades, a malodorous smell hung over Georgetown, courtesy of the Hopfenmaier rendering plant. What did the plant’s operators once add to the process to try to mask the noisome odor?
Tic Tacs.
Sodium bicarbonate.
Kitty litter.
It didn’t work. According to one nose-witness, it just produced a smell like “rancid chocolate.”
Arlington County's Crystal City has a shiny name. Do you know where it came from? (Cliff Owen/Associated Press)
Crystal City in Arlington County, Va., takes its name from what?
A quartz mine operated by German immigrants there.
An amusement park.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s ill-fated Crystal Heights development.
The crystal chandelier in the development’s first apartment building.
In 1963, three-bedroom apartments in Crystal House 1 at 1900 S. Eads St. started at $290 a month.
Some Metrobus routes are numbers, some are letters and numbers. Any idea why? (Eric Lee for The Washington Post)
In general, what does it mean if a Metrobus line is designated by a number, such as 30, as opposed to a letter and a number, like S2?
It follows the course of an earlier Capital Transit streetcar line.
It utilizes an electric bus.
It does not operate on days ending in “Y.”
It is an express bus.
Buses started replacing streetcar lines in the 1920s.
In June 1868, two diplomats — Baron Von Kusserow, Prussian envoy to Washington, and Gen. A. Gallatin Lawrence, U.S. minister to Costa Rica — lost their jobs. Why?
They were both caught spying for the emperor of China.
They had run a counterfeiting operation.
They had secretly wed.
They had dueled one another.
The duel is thought to have taken place in Bladensburg, Md. It violated anti-dueling legislation passed in 1839.
The Washington Post offered Claude Grahame-White $10,000. What did he have to do to earn it? (Library of Congress)
In October of 1910, The Washington Post promised it would pay Englishman Claude Grahame-White $10,000 if he could accomplish something. What was it?
Fly an airplane from Washington to Baltimore and back again without stopping.
Bench-press the weight of President William Howard Taft: 330 pounds.
Convince British monarch King George V to write a column for The Post.
Find the source of the Potomac River.
The day before his attempt, Grahame-White crashed both his main plane and his backup plane.
In 1911, hundreds of cats were assembled for an exposition in the District. Why? (Evelyn Hockstein for The Washington Post)
In March of 1911, The Washington Post reported that 500 cats had been delivered to an exposition center at North Capitol and M streets. What were the cats for?
A cat show.
To catch rats in the vermin-infested building.
To train student veterinarians in spaying and neutering.
To be used as passengers in model-airplane flights.
At least one cat was carried in a model that flew for 37 minutes before crashing into an iron pillar. There was no word on whether the cat was injured.
A group of English women who had been banned from appearing in Canada entered Washington’s American League ballpark on Oct. 8, 1922. What were they there to do?
Agitate for women’s suffrage.
Run a marathon.
Play soccer against a men’s team.
Perform a nude ballet.
Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. — named after the English munitions company they worked at during World War I — played to a 4-4 tie against a team of male D.C. all-stars. Following the lead of England’s Football Association — which sought to “protect” the women — Canada’s league had banned the club from playing.
In 1892, Virginia beer baron Robert Portner installed something in his Manassas home that he’d invented for his Alexandria brewery. What was it?
Beer taps.
Carbonated tap water.
Air conditioning.
Bathtubs made out of beer barrels.
In 1880, Portner and B.E.J. Eils received a patent to cool and purify air using liquefied ammonia.
Freedom looks like she's standing still atop the dome of the U.S. Capitol. Actually, she moves a bit. Why? (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
The statue of Freedom atop the dome of the U.S. Capitol moves up to 4½ inches a day. Why?
To stop pigeons from fouling it.
To signify whether Congress is in session.
Because of thermal expansion from the sun hitting the cast-iron dome.
Because of the wind.
The movement of the sun heats architect Thomas U. Walter’s dome unevenly, causing the movement.
The tackle heard round the world took place not long after this photo of Joe Gibbs and Joe Theismann was taken on Nov. 18, 1985. A famous passenger accompanied the quarterback to the hospital. (James A. Parcell/The Washington Post)
Which unlikely figure rode in the ambulance that took Washington quarterback Joe Theismann to the hospital after his horrific 1985 leg fracture?
Jack Kent Cooke.
Cathy Lee Crosby.
U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.
The pair were dating at the time, and Crosby had been watching from the owner’s box.
Which of these charities is a partner in The Washington Post Helping Hand?
Friendship Place
Miriam’s Kitchen
To give, go to posthelpinghand.com.
John Kelly writes John Kelly's Washington, a daily look at Washington's less-famous side. Born in Washington, John started at The Post in 1989 as deputy editor in the Weekend section. Twitter Twitter | 2022-12-24T14:24:08Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Perspective | John Kelly's 2022 D.C. trivia quiz - Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2022/2022-dc-trivia/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2022/2022-dc-trivia/ |
A fallen tree branch lies on the hood of a vehicle in Buffalo on Friday. Sub-zero temperatures and white-out conditions shut down most operations in the city on Friday. (Malik Rainey For The Washington Post)
The brutal winter storm conditions that are continuing to batter most of the United States brought one of the cities most accustomed to snow — Buffalo — to a standstill overnight and into Saturday, with hundreds of people stuck in vehicles in the frigid cold and drifting snow, with no way for rescue workers to reach them.
Two people died in separate incidents at their homes when first responders could not get to them. There is no emergency service for much of the area, said Marc C. Poloncarz, county executive for Erie County, which includes Buffalo. A physician was coaching a woman over the phone who was delivering her sister’s baby at home. People were stranded for the night in restaurants as well as their homes, he said.
“This was a very, very bad night in our community,” Poloncarz said. “Thankfully, the sun is up.”
“This may turn out to be the worst storm in our community’s history, surpassing the famed blizzard of ’77 for its ferocity,” he added.
He said emergency response is not available in about two-thirds of the blizzard-affected area. Emergency vehicles themselves were stuck in the snow. More than 27.8 inches of snow fell at the airport in Buffalo. “It’s not something we’re proud of,” Poloncarz said.
He warned people not to call 911 or an emergency storm number unless they had life-threatening crises. Abandoned vehicles were causing additional problems, and there were concerns that snow-clogged exhaust vents were causing carbon monoxide or natural gas exhaust to back up into homes.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has ordered the National Guard to respond, and units were on their way to the worst-hit parts of the region.
Snow was forecast to continue falling in the Erie County area throughout the day and possibly until early Christmas Day, Poloncarz said.
While Buffalo may have been seeing the monster storm’s worst, few parts of the country were unaffected by the cold, ice, snow and winds that have barreled across the nation in the past two days. Temperatures were below freezing in Houston on Saturday and below zero wind chills swept throughout much of the Midwest.
Power was knocked out for at least 1.5 million on Friday and temperatures plummeted, sometimes at record-breaking speeds. More than 1.6 million were still without power as of 11 a.m. on Saturday, according to PowerOutage.us, with hundreds of thousands out in Tennessee and Kentucky.
FedEx said on Saturday that the severe weather is causing disruptions to its hubs in Memphis and Indianapolis hubs and that delays could be expected for deliveries through Monday.
Air travel was snarled with thousands of flights canceled. Blizzards throttled the Great Lakes region. Even winter-tested cities such as Chicago and Detroit shut down holiday attractions and urged people to stay inside.
The storm that the National Weather Service described as “once in a generation” began Thursday and is expected to last through Christmas weekend, ultimately carving a 2,000-mile path across much of the country. The danger zone extended from Canada to Mexico, and from Washington state to Florida.
Jason Samenow, Danielle Paquette and Emmanuel Felton contributed to this report.
Over 1 million without power as winter storm swells to a bomb cyclone | 2022-12-24T16:35:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Winter storm updates: Blizzard conditions, arctic freeze sweeps Buffalo - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/12/24/winter-storm-blizzard-eastern-us/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/12/24/winter-storm-blizzard-eastern-us/ |
Judge rules against Kari Lake in bid to overturn election results
The defeated GOP candidate for Arizona governor claimed that illegal voting and printer malfunctions had cost her the November election
Republican candidate for Arizona governor Kari Lake on election night event on Nov. 8 in Scottsdale, Ariz. (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post)
An Arizona judge on Saturday rebuffed an effort by Kari Lake, the defeated GOP candidate for governor in Arizona, to reverse the outcome of her November election, ruling against her after a two-day trial that showcased speculation about systematic malfeasance at the polls but failed to prove it.
The finding was in line with recent judgments against Abe Hamadeh and Mark Finchem, the unsuccessful candidates for attorney general and secretary of state, respectively, who also challenged their losses. Taken together, the rulings show how the judiciary in Arizona, a state rife with distrust in the democratic process, rejected challenges to election results and affirmed the will of voters.
Lake, a former television news anchor and acolyte of former president Donald Trump, lost the Nov. 8 election by more than 17,000 votes. After making election denialism a centerpiece of her campaign, she refused to concede, even after the result was certified on Dec. 5. Days later, she sued her opponent, Democrat Katie Hobbs, as well as officials in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and more than half the state’s voters.
Lake’s complaint, which asked that she be declared the winner, centered on problems with printers in Maricopa County. Those problems required some voters to wait in line, travel to another polling place or deposit their ballots in secure drawers for tabulation at a central location. County officials have said the problems resulted from insufficient printer heat settings. They also acknowledged at trial that “shrink-to-fit” settings at several voting locations caused ballots to be rejected, though they were all duplicated and ultimately counted. A deeper analysis is still underway, they testified.
A judge found on Election Day that the mechanical issues did not prevent anyone from voting. But in a 69-page filing, attorneys for Lake used a grab bag of unproven assertions and anecdotal accounts to argue that “hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots infected the election in Maricopa County.”
The claims reached far beyond the administration of voting to include conspiratorial allegations about efforts to combat election misinformation, which the filing deemed an “unconstitutional government censorship operation,” as well as evidence from the 2020 election.
The judge hearing Lake’s case, Peter A. Thompson of Maricopa County Superior Court, earlier tossed most of her assertions but allowed arguments to proceed on two claims — that employees at Maricopa County’s ballot contractor stuffed extra ballots into the system and that the printer problems on Election Day were intentional.
In Saturday’s 10-page ruling, Thompson said the court “acknowledges the anger and frustration of voters" who were inconvenience by technical problems on Election Day.
“But this Court’s duty is not solely to incline an ear to public outcry,” he wrote. “It is to subject plaintiff’s claims and defendants’ actions to the light of the courtroom and scrutiny of the law.”
There was not convincing evidence that printer problems in Maricopa County were intentional, Thompson concluded, or that ballots were mishandled in a way that would have affected the outcome of the election. In his ruling, he made note that lawyers for Maricopa County had indicated they would be pursuing sanctions against Lake’s team and said such a motion must be filed by Monday morning.
Lake wrote on Twitter that she would appeal the ruling.
A lawyer for Hobbs, in urging the court to dismiss the lawsuit, said Lake’s case represents what is “rotten in Arizona.”
“For the past several years, our democracy and its basic guiding principles have been under sustained assault from candidates who just cannot or will not accept the fact that they lost,” said the lawyer, Abha Khanna. “The judiciary has served as a bulwark against these efforts to undo our democratic system from within, and we ask this court to assume that role once again.”
In a closing statement on Thursday, Khanna said, “Kari Lake lost this election and must lose this election contest. The reason she lost is not because of a printer error, not because of missing paperwork, not because the election was rigged against her, and certainly not for a lack of a full opportunity to prove her claims in a court of law.”
“Kari Lake lost the election because, at the end of the day, she received fewer votes than Katie Hobbs,” Khanna added.
Lake was represented in court by Kurt Olsen, a Washington-based lawyer involved in Trump’s efforts to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election. He was joined on her legal team by Bryan Blehm, an attorney who represented the cybersecurity firm Cyber Ninjas in its haphazard audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results.
Olsen, in a closing statement, maintained, “The evidence shows that Kari Lake won this race.”
But he backtracked immediately, saying, “At a minimum, we have put forth solid evidence that the outcome of this election is uncertain.”
Olsen relied heavily on the testimony of Rich Baris, a conservative author and pollster who goes by the name “The People’s Pundit” on Twitter. Baris told the court that interviews he had conducted with 813 residents in Maricopa County proved that the printer problems were to blame for Lake’s loss. A defense witness, Kenneth Mayer, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, called the theory “pure speculation.”
Thompson took pains to allow Lake’s attorneys to make their case, accommodating technical errors and the mislabeling of various exhibits. On Wednesday, he coached one of her attorneys to evade an objection by opposing counsel, saying, “I assume you’re asking the witness to the extent of her knowledge.” At another point, he said of the plaintiff’s counsel, “I’ll give him some leeway.”
Lake’s lawyers called numerous witnesses, including Clay Parikh, an Alabama-based IT expert who recently appeared at MyPillow founder Mike Lindell’s “Moment of Truth” summit in Springfield, Mo.; Heather Honey of Haystack Investigations, a Pennsylvania firm tapped for the Arizona Senate’s partisan audit of the 2020 election; and a technical support worker who said he observed chaotic conditions on Election Day.
Parikh maintained that problems with how ballots were printed could not have been unintentional but acknowledged under cross-examination that he never reviewed duplicates of the faulty ballots, all of which were ultimately tabulated. Honey argued that insufficient oversight of ballots allowed contractors to inject illegal ballots into the system but refused to say whether she had evidence that any illegal ballots were in fact inserted.
Maricopa County’s directors of elections and the county recorder were among others who testified. Scott Jarrett, the county’s co-director of elections, defended the contractor in the crosshairs, Runbeck Election Services, as “best in class.”
Lake has used social media to promote her lawsuit and ask supporters to contribute to a nonprofit organization established on Dec. 5 called the Save Arizona Fund. A person close to her, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal details, said she has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars into the fund, which is being used to pay attorneys, among other costs.
Meanwhile, Lake has escalated her rhetoric in recent days, calling for the imprisonment of Maricopa County officials before a crowd gathered in Phoenix for a conference hosted by the pro-Trump youth group Turning Point USA.
“These people are crooks,” she said. “They need to be locked up.”
In a statement reacting to Saturday’s ruling, Hobbs’ campaign manager, Nicole DeMont, said: "We’re pleased that the courts have upheld the will of the voters, and Governor-Elect Hobbs is continuing the work of preparing to take office as Arizona’s next governor.” | 2022-12-24T19:39:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Kari Lake loses bid to overturn election results in Arizona - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/24/kari-lake-election-lawsuit/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/24/kari-lake-election-lawsuit/ |
The punishing combination of heavy snow, extreme winds and bitter cold temperatures may be unparalleled
Analysis by Jacob Feuerstein
Neighborhoods in Buffalo experience whiteout conditions Saturday. (Malik Rainey for The Washington Post)
Buffalo is experiencing a blizzard labeled by the National Weather Service as “life-threatening,” “once in a generation,” and “crippling,” powerful statements from an agency known to often speak conservatively.
The blizzard is far from over. As the National Guard and first responders attempt to reach hundreds who are stranded, a blizzard warning remains in effect until Christmas morning.
It could very well end up being the worst storm in the city’s history — not so much because of the amount of snow it is producing but because of the punishing combination of snow, extreme winds and bitter cold temperatures.
Here are some startling statistics about the storm so far from Buffalo Niagara International Airport:
Since 9 a.m. Friday, the visibility has not risen above 0.13 miles. Much of the time, the visibility has been zero in unrelenting whiteout conditions.
Winds have gusted over 45 mph for more than 24 consecutive hours; blizzard criteria is three hours of 35 mph winds. Between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Friday, winds gusted over 60 mph every hour, including a 71 mph gust.
About 28 inches of snow has fallen, with much higher drifts.
Temperatures tumbled from 38 degrees at 6 a.m. Friday to 4 degrees at 4 a.m. Saturday. Wind chills have fallen as low as minus-21.
The Weather Service is predicting up to another 1 to 3 feet of snow through Sunday morning.
Don Paul, who was the chief meteorologist for Buffalo’s CBS affiliate for 31 years and currently writes about the weather for Buffalo News, said he’s seen nothing like it in his 38 years living in the area.
“The blizzard of 85 paralyzed the city, but this is the worst,” he wrote in a text message. “That storm had gusts over 50. This one has had numerous gusts over 65 and some over 70. It’s a monster.”
The intensity of the current storm is tied to an exceptionally intense mid-latitude storm, or “bomb cyclone,” that explosively intensified as it swept from Indiana into Ontario and Quebec between Thursday and Friday afternoons. The storm’s pressure plummeted about 35 millibars in that time, well over the threshold for a meteorological bomb — 24 millibars in 24 hours. The lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.
Spiraling over eastern Canada, the storm has generated a massive wind field affecting much of the eastern United States with strong gusts and bitterly cold air. As the powerful winds have blown over the relatively warm waters of the Great Lakes, intense and very persistent lake-effect snow bands have developed.
“This may turn out to be the worst storm in our community’s history, surpassing the famed blizzard of ’77 for its ferocity,” said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz at a Saturday morning news conference.
To understand why this blizzard is so severe and possibly worse than any other, we can compare it against some of Buffalo’s mightiest winter storms of the past.
Powerful and deadly: The most severe blizzards in U.S. history
Generally considered Buffalo’s worst natural disaster, the Blizzard of 1977 involved surprisingly little snowfall.
“That storm was almost entirely a ground blizzard, with only an estimated new 12 inches of snow on top of the vast amounts of powdery snow already deposited on frozen Lake Erie and the landscape,” Paul said.
The stage for the storm was set by the coldest December and January in the area’s history, with frequent arctic outbreaks that kept temperatures well below freezing for weeks. Lake Erie was completely frozen by the new year, and January 1977 was the third snowiest month in the city’s history, with more than 90 inches falling. Much of that snow accumulated atop Lake Erie’s ice-covered surface, where it remained fine and loose in the frigid air.
On the 28th of the month, though, a very powerful cold front crossed the Northeast. Ripping winds pulled arctic air eastward and, simultaneously, blew much of that powdery Erie snowpack off the lake and into the Buffalo area.
Little precipitation fell, but it did not matter. Winds gusted to 75 mph, temperatures fell below zero, and massive drifts of wind-swept snow accumulated in the streets.
The city was completely paralyzed — only navigable by snowmobile — for around four days, until the harsh wind and frigid conditions finally let up. By then, 29 people had died, mostly in cars stuck in the blowing snow.
Both 1977 and this event involved blizzard conditions that lasted for many hours, and visibility persistently stayed around zero. And, like in 1977, extreme cold and wind accompany the current blizzard, both of which could knock out power and prove deadly for anyone exposed to the elements.
Compared to the Blizzard of 1977, the current storm has produced extreme blizzard conditions for a longer duration. However, cold winds probably held on for a longer period in 1977, and the area was less prepared than it was for the current storm, which was well forecast.
Unlike the 1977 storm, Lake Erie was sufficiently ice-free for lake-effect snow to fall during the 1985 blizzard. Nearly 3 feet of snow accumulated in Buffalo amid 50 mph winds and below-zero temperatures.
Buffalo’s resolve to avoid the disaster of 1977 led to a six-day travel ban, during which the mayor famously advised residents to: “Stay inside, grab a six-pack and watch a good football game.” Conditions were reportedly worse than the 1977 storm, but the well-enforced driving ban precluded fatalities.
This storm may be more comparable to the current blizzard than the 1977 event. Large amounts of snow were falling, not just blowing, and conditions were similarly cold and windy. The 1985 storm was well-forecast like today’s, as Buffalo had learned emergency management lessons from 1977.
Storms in October 2006, November 2014, November 2022
Examples abound of famous 21st-century storms that paralyzed parts of the Buffalo area. The 2006 storm, which saw 2 feet of heavy, wet snow bring down trees and power lines, was one of the most destructive in city history; the 2014 and 2022 events involved as many as 6 feet of snow accumulating downwind of Lake Erie.
But none of these events were blizzards for Buffalo, as comparatively gentle winds accompanied the snow and less extreme temperatures. The 2014 and 2022 storms may have been voluminous — far more snow fell in the Buffalo area than likely will today — but the city is used to extreme snow accumulations and was able to return to normal relatively quickly. | 2022-12-24T19:39:28Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Why this blizzard could be the worst in Buffalo’s history - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/12/24/buffalo-blizzard-history/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/12/24/buffalo-blizzard-history/ |
Afghan university students chant slogans and hold placards during a protest of the ban on university education for women in Quetta, Pakistan on Dec. 24. (Arshad Butt/AP)
ISLAMABAD — The Taliban has issued another sweeping ban on women in public life, barring female Afghan employees from working at international organizations. The ministry of economy announced the decision in a statement Saturday, saying “all female employees who are working in their respective departments should stop their work until further notice.”
The ministry warned that any international organization that does not comply with the new ban will have its work permit revoked.
The ministry said the decision was made after “serious complaints” that women working for nongovernmental organizations were not observing conservative Islamic dress. Earlier this year the Taliban ordered all Afghan women to wear head-to-toe coverings in public.
The move comes as Afghanistan faces a dire humanitarian crisis, with near-universal poverty and more than two-thirds of Afghans expected to need humanitarian aid in 2023. International NGOs have played a critical role in providing basic assistance and keeping Afghanistan’s health care system afloat, particularly after the Taliban took power last year. Afghan and foreign women have continued to work with these organizations since the Taliban takeover, and are often uniquely positioned to provide aid to women in the deeply conservative country.
Saturday’s announcement comes just days after the Taliban banned Afghan women from attending university, a decision that harms thousands of women nationwide, constricting their role in the workplace at a time when Afghanistan is already struggling economically.
One Afghan woman working for an international organization in Kabul said she burst into tears when she heard the news, calling it “shocking and disappointing.”
“This is like losing our hopes,” she said. “We don’t have the opportunity to work — I am speechless.”
She said she received an email from the human resources department at her organization, instructing her to work from home until further notice. She said she feels “lucky” to still be able to work at all, for now — even though it means she is forced to rely on internet via her mobile phone and deal with the Afghan capital’s frequent electricity cuts. At the office, she had a generator and WiFi.
The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said she is the main breadwinner in her family — supporting her elderly parents and her husband, who is just finishing school. She also covers the educational expenses of one of her young nephews. “I cannot even imagine” losing that income, she said.
The United Nations said Saturday it is “profoundly concerned” by the order and would seek clarity from Taliban officials. “Any such order would violate the most fundamental rights of women, as well as be a clear breach of humanitarian principles,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
“The U.N. in Afghanistan and its partners condemn the reported order and remind the de facto authorities that taking away the free will of women to choose their own fate, disempowering and excluding them systematically from all aspects of public and political life takes the country backward, jeopardizing efforts for any meaningful peace or stability in the country,” the statement added.
Ramiz Alakbarov, the U.N. secretary general’s deputy special representative for Afghanistan, called the order a “clear breach of humanitarian principles” in a tweet.
Amnesty International called the new order “yet another deplorable attempt to erase women from the political, social and economic spaces,” in a tweet.
CARE International, which has worked in Afghanistan since 1961, suspended its operations on Saturday “until there is further clarity on the decision and its impact,” according to Melissa Cornet, the organization’s humanitarian advocacy adviser for Afghanistan. Representatives from the United Nations and international NGOs will hold an emergency meeting Sunday to plan a coordinated response, she said.
“This decision will prevent women aid workers from reaching women and girls in need” and from providing “lifesaving aid to a population already facing life-threatening levels of hunger,” Cornet said.
The announcement did not specify whether the ban applies to foreign women working for NGOs, but previous restrictions have applied only to Afghan women.
Parker reported from Washington. | 2022-12-24T20:18:24Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Taliban bans Afghan women from working for NGOs. - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/24/taliban-women-ngo/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/24/taliban-women-ngo/ |
Charlene Mitchell on July 8, 1968, after being selected as the Communist Party candidate for president. (New York Daily News Archive)
In raw numbers, Ms. Mitchell’s impact on the 1968 race was sharply limited by rules in many states that raised obstacles for the Communist Party and other smaller groups to get on the ballot. She and running mate Michael Zagarell received slightly more than 1,000 votes, including write-ins.
“It’s never easy to be a Communist. It’s never easy to be a revolutionary,” she said in an interview during the campaign. “To be a revolutionary means you have to have a certain kind of dedication to a movement, to a principle … Now, that does not take place with some ease or comfort.”
Frank Shakespeare, Nixon campaign's TV adviser, dies at 97
Besides Ms. Mitchell, the 1968 race included a campaign by Black comedian-activist Dick Gregory. A Black civil rights leader, Channing Phillips, was put forward for nomination by the D.C. delegation at the Democratic National Convention.
Other women had previously made public moves for the presidency, including Maine Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, who sought the Republican nomination in 1964. In 1972, a Black congresswoman from New York, Shirley Chisholm, made a bid for the Democratic nomination — often cited as a trailblazer in the party for Vice President Harris.
Ms. Mitchell became a standard-bearer for the U.S. Communist Party as it groped for a new identity. Soviet-directed crackdowns on freedom movements in Hungary and Czechoslovakia made pro-Moscow views untenable. Student-led groups, meanwhile, had largely shifted to antiwar protests, and the postwar economic boom had undercut Communist recruiting in factories and elsewhere.
The shadow of the anti-communist blacklists and “Red scare” inquests of the 1950s had somewhat faded, but the Cold War still drew sharp ideological lines for Americans. Ms. Mitchell sought to build more connections with emerging feminist movements and Black empowerment figures such as Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture.)
At a Harvard speech in 1968, Ms. Mitchell called the late civil rights leader King a “tremendous human being,”
Ms. Mitchell had earlier gained attention in 1959 for defiant exchanges during an appearance in Los Angeles before a panel gathering testimony for the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Among Ms. Mitchell’s admirers was Angela Davis, who was hired in 1969 as an assistant professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, but then became a counterculture icon after being dismissed over issues that included her links to the Communist Party.
Ms. Mitchell led the defense committee for Davis, who was acquitted in 1972. The work also led Ms. Mitchell to spearhead the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, a group whose work foreshadowed some of the current movements for social justice.
In 1975, Ms. Mitchell’s team helped in the acquittal of a Black woman, Joan Little, on charges of killing a North Carolina prison guard who she claimed attempted to rape her. Little asserted that she acted in self-defense.
In a statement, Davis said Ms. Mitchell stood out for her ability to “discover ethical connections between the political and the personal, the global and the local.”
The anti-apartheid fight in South Africa became a focus for Ms. Mitchell in the 1970s, years before widespread divestment protests and boycott movements began around the United States. The Communist Party led rallies calling for South Africa’s expulsion from the United Nations and the release of Nelson Mandela and other jailed members of his African National Congress.
After Mandela’s release from prison in 1990, Ms. Mitchell and Davis visited him in South Africa. Ms. Mitchell was later invited back for the election in 1994 that made Mandela president.
Around this time. Ms. Mitchell also broke with the U.S. Communist Party’s leadership, which had faced internal tensions over its direction after the death in 1986 of Henry Winston, one of the party’s most prominent Black voices. Ms. Mitchell and others believed the party was ignoring racial and other social inequities and also needed to adapt to new technologies for outreach.
“A radical … is seen as someone who acts on what they think,” she said in a 2017 interview, “and they do it in a kind of bold way. And that was my feeling about where I was — and I’m still that way.”
Young activist
When Ms. Mitchell was 9, the family moved to Chicago, where her father worked as a Pullman porter and political organizer for Rep. William L. Dawson (D-Ill.), one of the few Black members of Congress at the time.
As a teenager, she had joined protests to end segregation at a cinema on Chicago’s North Side and joined the youth branch of the Communist Party. Ms. Mitchell became a full party member in 1946 and studied briefly at Theodore Herzl Junior College (now Malcolm X College) in Chicago.
“Some people fall in love with Shakespeare,” she said in 2006. “I fell in love with the ‘Communist Manifesto.’” | 2022-12-24T21:10:59Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Charlene Mitchell, first Black woman to run for president, dies at 92 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/24/charlene-mitchell-communist-black-dies/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/24/charlene-mitchell-communist-black-dies/ |
Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson was discharged from the hospital Saturday morning. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson was discharged from the hospital Saturday and will be out indefinitely after taking a puck to the face during Friday’s win over the Winnipeg Jets.
The frightening injury occurred 55 seconds into the third period, when a slap shot from Winnipeg’s Brenden Dillon hit Carlson up high. Carlson immediately fell to the ice, bleeding profusely. Carlson skated to the locker room with a towel pressed to his face. He was then transported to the hospital for “precautionary evaluation,” Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette said after the game.
Washington’s next game is Tuesday against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, who scored his 801st and 802nd goal Friday, passing Gordie Howe for second all-time, expressed concern for his longtime teammate after the game.
“It sucks that Carly get hurt and the whole third period I think the boys were thinking about him and how he’s doing, but I hope he’s all right,” Ovechkin said. “I don’t know what’s happening right now, but all our minds right now are with him.”
Carlson has eight goals and 13 assists through 30 games and is averaging a team-high 23:24 of ice time. If Martin Fehervary, dealing with an upper-body injury that the team is calling day to day, is not healthy enough to play Tuesday, Alex Alexeyev could take Carlson’s place in the lineup. Alexeyev was recently activated off injured reserve after he took a high hit on Dec. 9.
Carlson’s injury is the latest ailment the team has been forced to cope with this season. The current injury list includes T.J. Oshie (upper body, day to day), Fehervary , Beck Malenstyn (broken finger), Tom Wilson (ACL, indefinitely) and Nicklas Backstrom (hip, indefinitely). | 2022-12-24T21:11:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Capitals' John Carlson out indefinitely after taking puck to the face - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/24/john-carlson-capitals-puck-face/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/24/john-carlson-capitals-puck-face/ |
Arlington police investigate medical emergency as possible cause of crash
Arlington police said Saturday they were investigating a car crash in which an 84-year-old driver died after apparently suffering a medical emergency.
Police said the man had been driving eastbound on Langston Boulevard near North Harrison Street at about 2:12 p.m. on Friday when he suffered “an apparent medical emergency” and then veered into the westbound lanes of traffic and struck another vehicle.
Medics performed lifesaving measures at the scene and then transported the driver to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No other injuries were reported.
The case remains under investigation. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause and manner of death. | 2022-12-24T21:32:45Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Arlington police investigate medical emergency as possible cause of crash - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/24/arlington-crash-medical-emergency/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/24/arlington-crash-medical-emergency/ |
Two women arrested after police say they drove at off-duty officer
Two women were taken into custody Friday evening after they evaded an off-duty police officer at a shopping center who was trying to stop them after they were accused of shoplifting.
The women were suspected of theft at a store in the Pike & Rose shopping area in North Bethesda just before 8 p.m. on Friday, said Carlos Cortes, a spokesman for the Montgomery County police. An off-duty Montgomery County police officer, who was in uniform, was notified and attempted to stop them. It was not immediately clear whether he was working a private job, such as security for a store, or just shopping, Cortes said.
The women got into a car and, as the officer attempted to stop them, the driver continued driving toward him in what Cortes described as an attempted vehicular assault. The officer got out of the way and was not hurt, and the suspects got away.
However, police located the vehicle and followed it to I-95 in Howard County, where the suspects were arrested. Their names and the charges were not immediately available. | 2022-12-24T21:32:57Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Two women arrested after police say they drove at off-duty officer - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/24/women-arrested-pike-rose/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/24/women-arrested-pike-rose/ |
Four University of Idaho students were found dead in their Moscow, Idaho, home last month. Police have not publicly identified any suspects. (Ted S. Warren/Associated Press)
Ashley Guillard claims she knows who killed four University of Idaho students in a grisly crime that has shocked the country and stumped police. Her source of information? Tarot card readings.
In scores of videos posted to her TikTok account, the self-styled psychic unwinds a bizarre and baseless theory that the chair of the university’s history department orchestrated the killings after a romantic entanglement with one of the students. She shared the professor’s photograph and branded her the killer in TikTok videos that have been viewed 2.5 million times.
Now the historian at the center of Guillard’s allegations, Rebecca Scofield, has filed a defamation lawsuit against her. The lawsuit, which follows two cease-and-desist letters sent to the TikToker, says the claims have upended Scofield’s life, damaged her reputation and put her and her family’s safety at risk.
“Professor Scofield has never met Guillard,” says the complaint filed Wednesday in Idaho District Court. “She does not know her. She does not know why Guillard picked her to repeatedly falsely accuse of ordering the tragic murders and being involved with one of the victims. Professor Scofield does know that she has been harmed by the false TikToks and false statements.”
The Moscow Police Department has not identified any suspects in the killings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. The four roommates are believed to have been asleep when someone entered their off-campus house and attacked them in the early morning hours of Nov. 13. Police say they were stabbed to death with a fixed-blade knife; a weapon has not been recovered, and a motivation has not been publicly identified.
Rampant speculation has surrounded the killings since they became public, with much of it unfolding online. The Moscow Police Department maintains a “rumor control” section on its website and has decried the spread of misinformation.
“There is speculation, without factual backing, stoking community fears and spreading false facts,” the Moscow Police Department said in a Dec. 2 news release. A week later, the department warned on Facebook that people harassing or threatening those potentially involved with the case could face criminal charges. Police had received 15,000 tips regarding the case as of Saturday.
Scofield’s lawsuit accuses Guillard of seeking to benefit from the huge interest in the case, with the complaint charging that she has “decided to use the community’s pain for her online self-promotion.”
Guillard, a Texas resident whose TikTok bio reads “Ashley is God,” told The Washington Post that she got into tarot card reading after what she called a “spiritual journey” around 2015. She said that after a follower asked her to look into the Idaho killings, she did a reading that “was alluding to a teacher being involved.”
The cards then led her to the word “history.” She pulled up the University of Idaho’s history department website and saw Scofield at the top of the page. Another reading told her the history chair was involved, Guillard said. That was that — she was convinced. She told a Post reporter not to dismiss card reading as speculation.
“Having my gift or my ability, I know what I know,” she said.
She started posting her claims Nov. 24, using Scofield’s university photo and saying repeatedly — and without any evidence — that she had ordered the students’ killings because she did not want people to find out that she was in a same-sex relationship with one of the victims.
The lawsuit calls that claim “false.”
“As Guillard’s statements involve moral turpitude, a professor being involved with a student, they are per se defamatory in nature,” it says.
The lawsuit requests a jury trial, attorneys’ fees, and compensatory and punitive damages.
Scofield is an Idaho native and Harvard-educated historian who has spent her career highlighting the often overlooked diversity of the American West, creating an audio history of gay rodeo and writing a book called “Outriders: Rodeo at the Fringes of the American West.” She said in the lawsuit that she had never taught the four students and could not recall ever meeting them. On the weekend of the killings, she and her husband were in Portland visiting friends, she said.
Since finding herself at the center of Guillard’s allegations, she has installed a security system at her home, fearing that someone could harm her or her family members. She worries that her reputation has also been affected; the lawsuit says the TikTok videos led to her name being linked to “murder” in a basic internet search.
“The statements made about Professor Scofield are false, plain and simple,” one of her attorneys, Wendy Olson, said in a statement. “What’s even worse is that these untrue statements create safety issues for the Professor and her family. They also further compound the trauma that the families of the victims are experiencing and undermine law enforcement efforts to find the people responsible in order to provide answers to the families and the public.”
Guillard remained defiant in the face of the lawsuit, returning to TikTok to post more videos about Scofield, at times calling her “Killer Rebecca.” She described the suit as “measly” and said she was excited to “present my ideas in court.”
She told The Post that she isn’t worried about being sued, that “time will tell and I’m willing to take the risk.” She has not hired an attorney.
“I’m going to keep posting. I’m not taking anything down,” she said. “If in the alternate universe, if I was wrong, this is an open and shut case. I did say she ordered the execution of the four University of Idaho students. I’m still posting. I’ve said a lot of things about her. I’m not going to stop. If I’m such a liar, I’m so wrong about it, then in court she will win.” | 2022-12-24T22:29:35Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Idaho killings: Professor Rebecca Scofield sues TikToker Ashley Guillard - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/24/idaho-killings-rebecca-scofield-ashley-guillard-/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/24/idaho-killings-rebecca-scofield-ashley-guillard-/ |
FILE - Disney television star Orlando Brown of the show “That’s So Raven,” talks with Smith Middle School principal Carol Batiste at the school in Beaumont, Texas, Jan. 27, 2007, to help celebrate the school’s new status as the Science and Medical Technology Magnet middle school of the Beaumont Independent School District. Brown has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault charges stemming from an alleged altercation in Lima, Ohio. According to Allen County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office records, Brown was taken into custody Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, held on a $25,000 bond and arraigned the next day in Lima Municipal Court. He’s charged with aggravated menacing. (Mark M. Hancock/The Beaumont Enterprise via AP, File) | 2022-12-24T22:42:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Actor Orlando Brown pleads not guilty to assault charges - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/actor-orlando-brown-pleads-not-guilty-to-assault-charges/2022/12/24/fa938ec0-83d2-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html | https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/actor-orlando-brown-pleads-not-guilty-to-assault-charges/2022/12/24/fa938ec0-83d2-11ed-8738-ed7217de2775_story.html |
It’s cold out there! D.C. area bundles up as pipes freeze, power goes out
A person walks down Pennsylvania Avenue SE in D.C. during the bitterly cold weather on Saturday. (Robb Hill for The Washington Post)
A layer of ice covered the Capitol Reflecting Pool in D.C. on Saturday as 8-year-old James Taylor ventured to the edge.
He touched it with his shoe — keeping his weight over dry land — as his younger sister, Katie, watched from a safer distance.
“It was real solid,” James reported afterward. “Super hard. And I saw leaves frozen in it.”
The siblings were paying an unplanned visit to their aunt’s house in the District after the power went out at their home in Germantown, Md.
“When the cold front came in yesterday, a couple of trees went down,” said their mother, Juli Taylor. “It was just our neighborhood. But Pepco was working on it all day.”
Much of the region was similarly trying to make the most out of the extreme cold, which threatened to thwart even the best-laid holiday plans. Saturday marked the third coldest Christmas Eve on record at the measuring station at Reagan National Airport, with lows in the D.C. area reaching the single digits.
More than 50,000 people in the region lost power, water pipes froze and broke, and the D.C. Public Service Commission asked all residents to conserve electricity through Christmas morning. Public officials across the District, Maryland and Virginia declared cold weather emergencies, opening shelters and urging residents to stay indoors. More than 60 flights were canceled on Saturday at Reagan, according to FlightAware, stranding travelers amid peak holiday season.
Historically COLD in the DMV on 12/24 -- Lows this AM were mostly in the single digits (see map); officially 9 in DC (at Reagan National) -- 3rd coldest on Christmas Eve on record.
It's still extremely cold with temps around 10-12 and wind chills in the single digits below zero. pic.twitter.com/2RDf9c0Aeb
Similar if not more extreme weather blasted cities across the country in what the National Weather Service called a “once in a generation” storm, imposing dangerous conditions from Washington state to Florida. Cities used to blistering winters like Chicago and Detroit shut down holiday attractions and told people to stay inside. The temperature in Denver dropped by 37 degrees in a single hour, a record-breaking plunge. And the arctic storm brought Buffalo to a standstill, leaving two people dead in separate incidents after emergency responders could not reach them.
Christine Alexander, director of electric operations for Pepco, said her crews across the D.C. area had been working 16-hour shifts to bring back electricity — taking breaks to warm up in their cars. John Lisle, communications director for D.C. Water, described a similar hustle among his employees, who had spent weeks repairing small pipe leaks in preparation for this cold snap. As of Saturday afternoon, he said there had been 18 water main breaks in D.C. this week, with six in the last 24 hours alone.
Jason Blake, battalion chief for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, said his force on Saturday responded to a number of calls for oven fires, which he described as common during holidays like Christmas when “people try to be a chef for the day.” The weather has compounded that increase, with surge in calls for broken water pipes and frostbite.
Dramatic drops in temperature can be particularly dangerous for people experiencing homelessness. D.C. officials said the city’s shelters and hypothermia centers have remained open, and the government offered eight warming buses at locations across the city.
Ceymone Dyce, director of homeless services for the outreach organization Pathways to Housing DC, said there are still people sleeping outdoors in D.C. Pathways has worked with other nonprofits and city officials, she said, to compile a list of those people to give to the outreach workers conducting wellness checks late at night and in early mornings.
Eyob Hailu, 42, spent time in the Capitol Hill United Methodist Church on Saturday morning, where church members served hot breakfasts of pancakes and sausage in paper bags. Hailu, who is homeless, said he spent the bitter Friday night mostly walking around.
“Just back and forth, you know what I’m saying, little places where I can just dip in,” he said — stores, other homeless people’s tents, or the foyers or fronts of buildings sheltered from the weather. He said he found a warm-enough spot at a train station to catch a couple of hours of sleep.
The church members serve free meals seven days a week, year-round. They said fewer people than usual were out and about and hungry Saturday, probably because of the cold and the city’s efforts to bring them inside to avoid hypothermia.
Nearby, the Citibank clock along Pennsylvania Avenue SE put the temperature at 14 degrees around 9:30 a.m. Katherine Anderson passed by with a bundle of last-minute holiday cards. She paid little attention to the sign on her way to the post office from her Capitol Hill rowhome.
“At least if they’re postmarked before Christmas, I get a little bit of leeway,” she said.
With that errand out of the way, Anderson, a poet, was planning excursions to the U.S. Botanic Garden and the National Gallery of Art.
“There’s an old expression, ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, only inadequate clothing,’” Anderson said. “So I’ve got long underwear. I’m good.”
At Union Station, bundled travelers waited for trains and buses, unwilling to let the cold derail their plans.
“It’s crazy, but we are going to New York,” said Bercem Yel Pehlivan, grabbing a steaming cup of coffee from the station’s McDonalds. “We got the tickets and everything and we couldn’t cancel, so we have to go.”
The 29-year-old, her younger sister and two friends — all of whom are from Turkey but living in the D.C. area — were excited to see Times Square, freezing or not. Her sister, recently arrived in the United States to be an au pair and looking forward to seeing her first Christmas lights, grinned from under two scarves.
Asked if she’d checked the temperature forecast for New York City, Yel Pehlivan shrugged. “Minus something,” she said.
In Old Town Alexandria, a man wearing a waterproof Santa suit lowered his skis into the frigid Potomac River on Saturday for an annual Waterskiing Santa event. An announcer explained to the gathering audience that, really, it wasn’t so cold for someone coming from the North Pole.
“This is like a Saturday on the beach,” the broadcaster said.
Laura Meckler contributed to this report. | 2022-12-24T22:55:49Z | www.washingtonpost.com | It’s cold out there! D.C. area bundles up as pipes freeze, power goes out - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/24/dc-cold-christmas-weather/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/24/dc-cold-christmas-weather/ |
Cold in D.C. misses one record, sets another
The mercury didn’t sink to record level, but it didn’t climb very high
For cold days, such as Washington experienced on Christmas Eve, the question for many is how cold did it get — did we set a record?
As it turns out, we’ve had colder Christmas Eves, in terms of how far into the shivery single digits the mercury fell. But another way of characterizing cold exists. We might ask about the high temperature, and consider the past readings it failed to reach.
On that score, it appears that Saturday set a record for Washington. Before Saturday, on every Dec. 24 on record, the mercury here always succeeded in struggling upward to reach at least 23 degrees.
But on Saturday, according to preliminary data from the National Weather Service, the official thermometer at Reagan National Airport showed a high for the day of 22 degrees.
That appears to set a record. It falls in the category of low maximum temperature. Dec. 24, 2022, was the day when it never got warmer in Washington than 22 degrees.
Presumably, the 22 degrees recorded at 3:43 p.m. will now go into the books, as a symbol and token of this frigid time.
The old “low-maximum” record of 23 was set in 1989. It was set, like the new record, during a period of extreme cold in Washington and throughout the country.
In speaking of the Arctic blast that has plunged a large portion of the United States into a deep freeze, the National Weather Service cited a once-in-a-generation storm.
If the definition of a generation is made to include a period of 33 years, then the designation seems particularly suited to the days leading to Christmas in 1989 when long-standing records were set. | 2022-12-25T03:18:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Christmas Eve cold sets a record of sorts - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/24/record-cold-washington-christmas-eve/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/24/record-cold-washington-christmas-eve/ |
Illustrations by Kate Pullen for The Washington Post
… which begins with the world entering the third or possibly eighth year — nobody remembers anymore — of the pandemic. The American public is seriously divided: Everybody who is wearing a mask hates everybody who is not wearing a mask, and vice versa. Both sides are 100 percent supported by The Science.
America faces three major crises: spiking covid-19 cases, soaring inflation and an alarming surge in the number of people who think it’s okay to hold loud FaceTime conversations in public. The national mood is gloomy, and it’s taking a heavy political toll on President Biden, as voters increasingly question whether he is up to the job of leading the nation, or for that matter finishing his sentences.
According to the polls, the two biggest concerns of the public, by far, are the pandemic and the economy. Consequently Congress is focused, laserlike, on: the Senate filibuster rule. This is a legislative tactic that is evil when the other side uses it but good when your side uses it. At the moment the Democrats want to change the rule, so of course the Republicans, led by Sen. Mitch “I am smiling, damn it” McConnell, are opposed to changing it, which means Washington is consumed by a bitter, vicious, nasty, name-calling battle pitting the Democrats against Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who are also Democrats.
… there is trouble in, of all places, Canada. The news up there is that the capital city, Ottawa (from the Algonquin word “adawe,” meaning “Washington”) is besieged by a massive protest convoy of trucks, clogging the streets, honking horns, blocking traffic and making it impossible for anybody to get anywhere. Granted, this is the situation pretty much every day in, for example, New York City, but apparently in Canada it is a big deal. As tensions mount, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a controversial move, invokes emergency powers enabling the government to freeze the protesters’ access to beaver pelts.
Ha-ha! We are poking some good-natured fun at Canada, which is actually a modern nation and an important trading partner that we depend on to supply us with many vital things. Celine Dion is only one example. In all seriousness, the Canadian trucker strike is a significant event that raises some important issues, which everyone immediately stops caring about because of the situation in Ukraine.
Ukraine is a nation that, through poor planning, is located right next to Russia. This is unfortunate because Russian President Vladimir Putin, a man who relaxes by putting kittens into a food processor, has long wanted to establish closer ties with Ukraine, in the same sense that a grizzly bear wants to establish closer ties with a salmon.
On Feb. 24 the Russian army invades Ukraine. Everyone assumes the Russians will easily prevail, but the Ukrainians put up a surprisingly strong resistance (we are using the term “resistance” in the sense of “physically fighting back,” as opposed to “tweeting defiant hashtags”). Most of the world rallies around the underdog Ukrainians and their charismatic president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian and actor who is basically the opposite of Vladimir Putin. (Although to be fair, if Putin did comedy, he would kill.)
In economic news, inflation continues to worsen despite intensive efforts by the Biden administration to explain that it is caused by Vladimir Putin, corporate greed, covid, supply-chain issues, global climate change, the filibuster rule, the murder hornets and various other factors totally unrelated to any policies of the Biden administration. For its part, the Republican National Committee issues a formal statement declaring that “rampant inflation places a terrible financial burden on American working families, and we totally hope it stays bad until the midterm elections no wait we didn’t mean to say that last part out loud.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings on President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson. She is clearly qualified, so this is an excellent opportunity for Republican senators — who believe the Democrats behaved like scum in hearings for equally qualified Republican nominees — to show that they have more decency and class. But of course this is impossible under our current political system, under which the primary function of government is to gain revenge. So the Republicans get even by behaving scummily toward Jackson, thus reinforcing the growing public perception that both sides are scum.
In entertainment news, the venerable Rolling Stones announce that they will hit the road this summer for their Drool on the Microphone Tour. This will be the Stones’ seventh tour since 2003, when their physical bodies finally disintegrated into small piles of dust and they were replaced by holograms. The good news is, ticket prices for the new tour will start as low as $150. The bad news is the $150 seats are so far from the stage that the sound will not reach them until after the concert is over.
In other sports news, the Major League Baseball lockout ends as owners and players approve a collective bargaining agreement, with some rule changes intended to make their product more attractive to modern fans, including starting games in the seventh inning, referring to runs as “touchdowns” and at some random point in every game releasing a large venomous snake in the infield. Also, noncompetitive franchises such as the Minnesota Twins will be permitted to end their seasons in mid-August because, in the words of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, “What’s the point?”
… Elon Musk says he wants to buy Twitter for $44 billion, which works out to one dollar for every apocalyptic tweet emitted about the sale by alarmed verified Twitter users who are deeply concerned about the precedent of allowing billionaires to buy major media platforms, which have traditionally been small mom-and-pop operations like The Washington Post and Facebook. Another verified concern is that Musk favors “free speech,” which we are putting in quotation marks because although it sounds good — Free speech! — if everyone is allowed to have it willy-nilly, the public could be exposed to misinformation that has not been verified by the verifiers, as opposed to the current situation, in which everything on Twitter is 100 percent accurate.
On the economic front, inflation continues to strain the economy despite intensified efforts by the Biden administration to have the president read teleprompter statements about it between trips to Delaware.
In other leadership news, Florida’s combative Gov. Ron DeSantis, always looking for new things to combat, takes on an insidious threat to the state’s families and the American way of life: Disney. The issue is that Walt Disney Co. expressed an opinion deemed unacceptable by the governor, leaving him with no choice but to sign a law that would:
… Americans learn that there is a new medical danger for them to be nervous about: “monkeypox.” The CDC, in an official statement, notes that there are “very few confirmed cases” and urges the public to “remain calm,” adding that “we all have to die sometime.”
Meanwhile parents scramble desperately to find baby formula amid a shortage that has left U.S. store shelves bare, although there are plentiful supplies abroad. In an emergency effort reminiscent of the legendary Berlin Airlift, the U.S. government provides temporary relief by using an Air Force transport plane to fly 35 tons of American babies to Germany. The operation is deemed a success, although, as an official noted, “afterward we had to burn the plane.”
The war in Ukraine continues but receives less and less coverage in the United States as Americans turn their attention to the historic Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard defamation trial. At issue is Heard’s 2018 Washington Post op-ed alleging that Depp, once the embodiment of cool in the role of dashing pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, has developed a case of face bloat and currently looks, quote, “like the owner of a struggling water-bed store.”
The House Select Committee to Investigate the Living Hell Out of January 6th hears testimony, much of it from former members of the Trump administration, that leaves objective observers with only two possible interpretations of Donald Trump’s actions on that day:
… President Biden, on an official visit to the Middle East, is widely criticized for fist-bumping Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, an alleged human-rights violator who is believed to have ordered the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Responding to the criticism, the White House press office explains that the president “thought it was a different Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.”
In other foreign news, Boris Johnson announces that he is resigning as prime minister of Britain so he can spend more time on his hair.
On July 4, America’s Independence Day celebration is marred by a horrendous mass killing allegedly committed by a young man who had an extremely disturbing social media history but was still able to legally obtain a semiautomatic rifle. As you can imagine, everyone is shocked.
The House Jan. 6 committee, concluding Phase 1 of its investigation, votes unanimously to reinstall Donald Trump in the presidency so he can be impeached a third time. The committee also announces plans for “January 6: The Musical.”
The nation enjoys a welcome break from all the negative news when NASA releases images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope — the most powerful space telescope ever built — showing, in spectacular, never-before-seen detail, a dead squirrel on the roof of a Walmart in Plano, Tex. A NASA spokesperson promises that the images will be even more impressive “once we figure out how to point it toward space.”
… a political firestorm is ignited when FBI agents search Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s personal residence and party rental venue, and seize classified documents as well as what a Justice Department source describes as “several thousand misappropriated packets of White House ketchup.” Trump declares that this is part of the Fake News Deep State Witch Hunt; his opponents declare that Trump is finally — This time IT’S REALLY HAPPENING, PEOPLE — going to be arrested for something. And thus the Donald Trump Show, now in its 373rd week, continues its seemingly interminable run on the center stage of American politics, like “The Phantom of the Opera,” except it never even gets to intermission.
President Biden also announces a massive program to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan debt. Also everybody who failed college chemistry will get bumped up to a B-plus. As is so often the case with massive government programs, this is popular with the people who will benefit from it and unpopular with the people who will pay for it.
In international news, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lands in Taiwan, strips off her pink pantsuit to reveal a camo pantsuit underneath, swims across the Taiwan Strait and single-handedly destroys a Chinese naval base. At least that’s you would think happened, based on the Chinese reaction to the Pelosi visit, which is to almost start World War III. God only knows what would have happened if we had sent, say, Cher.
Speaking of states taking action, in …
… Ron DeSantis, who we remind you is governor of Florida, uses Florida state funds to charter two planes in Texas, which is not part of Florida, and has them transport a group of migrants from Venezuela, which is also not part of Florida, to Martha’s Vineyard, yet another place that is not part of Florida. This would be a hilarious gubernatorial prank if not for the fact that these are actual human beings, as opposed to Muppets to be deployed in a cynical game of Migrant Whack-a-Mole.
In a legal development that causes widespread swooning on MSNBC, New York Attorney General Letitia James files a lawsuit accusing Donald Trump of falsifying business records, issuing false financial statements and failure to pay $327 million worth of parking tickets. Just for fun, Trump declares that he’s guilty, while the Democrats call the lawsuit a politically motivated witch hunt. Everyone enjoys a hearty laugh before order is restored.
NASA, culminating a $300 million planetary defense project, successfully crashes a spacecraft into an asteroid 7 million miles away, only to discover that the impact has nudged the asteroid, which previously posed no threat, into a collision course with Earth. Red-faced NASA officials immediately make a “semi-urgent” request for another $300 million.
Speaking of money, in …
… the national debt creeps up by yet another trillion and now exceeds $31 trillion, but again this is nothing to worry about because it has absolutely no economic consequences. We don’t know why we even bother keeping track.
Speaking of money: Elon Musk announces that he has decided to buy Twitter after all, because the only Springsteen tickets he could get for $44 billion were “way the hell up in the balcony.”
But the big story in October is politics, as voters prepare to cast their ballots in what everybody on cable TV agrees will be the most historically historic midterm elections since the dawn of time. At issue is nothing less than the fate of the nation, with the voters choosing between two opposing philosophies of government, as clearly laid out to the American public in several billion dollars’ worth of informative TV commercials: On one side is the party of far-right, election-denying, coup-supporting, anti-democracy, environment-destroying, racist sexist homophobic transphobic gun-worshipping proslavery “Handmaid’s Tale” Ku Klux Klan fascists who are literal Nazis; on the other side is the party of extreme radical leftist, anti-family, anti-border, pro-rioter, criminal-coddling, tax-raising, economy-wrecking, godless un-American Communist baby-killing groomer pedophile sex perverts. The choice is yours, voters!
Meanwhile the House Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Donald Trump in a historic legal action that jubilant Democrats say will finally etc. while a defiant Trump says etc. The committee also votes to permanently designate Jan. 6 as a National Day of Thinking About January 6.
In sports, the World Series gets underway in a competition between — this bears repeating — two teams other than the New York Yankees.
Abroad, Liz Truss resigns as prime minister of the United Kingdom after a turbulent term lasting a little under 14 minutes. She is replaced by Rishi Sunak, whose name can be rearranged to spell “Is A Hunk, Sir.” In China, President Xi Jinping wins an unprecedented third term when delegates to the Communist Party congress unanimously elect, after careful consideration, not to die.
...as the historic midterm elections approach, with the fate of democracy hanging in the balance, verified blue check mark media personalities on Twitter focus with a ferocious intensity on the single most critical issue facing the nation, if not the world: the status of verified blue check mark media personalities on Twitter.
The problem is that Elon Musk intends to charge people $8 a month for a blue check mark, which would mean any nonelite rando could get one, which would be a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Twitter Verification Clause. Some verified users go so far as to declare, on Twitter, that they are seriously considering leaving Twitter, although it is not immediately clear what they would do with the extra 14 hours per day.
Speaking of scandals: Entertainment-industry giant Ticketmaster comes under intense criticism when millions of disappointed Taylor Swift fans discover that all of the tickets to Swift's upcoming concert tour have been purchased by Bruce Springsteen.
Speaking of surprises, in...
...the World Cup, in a major upset, is won by the plucky underdog national team of Qatar, which did not, technically, win any games, but nevertheless is awarded the championship trophy thanks to what FIFA officials describe as “a huge amount of sportsmanship.”
In a historic milestone for the U.S. space program, the Artemis 1 spacecraft, after a 25½-day voyage that took it past the Moon to a point 260,000 miles out in space, returns to Earth to pick up the crew. “From now on,” states a red-faced NASA spokesperson, “we’re going to make sure they’re on board before we launch.”
Because in reality there is no new vibe in Washington. Washington is “Groundhog Day” with Congress as Bill Murray. The only change is that the Republicans have narrowly regained control of the House of Representatives, which means they can spend the next two years seeking revenge on the Democrats. For example, they could form a House Select Committee to investigate the House Select Committee that investigated January 6. Of course, the Democrats still control the Senate, which means they could retaliate by forming a Senate Select Committee to investigate the House Select Committee investigating the House Select Committee that investigated January 6. Thus the legislative branch of the federal government could spend the next two years probing itself, like some kind of deranged proctologist.
Happy New (GLUB).
Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist and author. | 2022-12-25T05:38:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Dave Barry’s 2022 Year in Review - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/12/25/dave-barrys-2022-year-review/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/12/25/dave-barrys-2022-year-review/ |
Md. woman donated kidney to stranger after seeing request on Internet mailing list
Liza Porat, a 57-year-old mother of five, answered a message that read, ‘Please help me save a life’
Marianna Ilyasova, of New York, left, after she received a kidney from Liza Porat, of Silver Spring. (Chaya Lipschutz)
So began her months-long process to donate a kidney to a stranger with the help of Chaya Lipschutz, who runs a website called KidneyMitzvah. Despite the Jewish reference in her website, Lipschutz says she helps people of all races and religions. From her apartment in Brooklyn, Lipschutz — a 65-year-old former secretary for a nonprofit — posts notices for kidney and liver patients in need of new organs and success stories of donors who’ve given.
While there are many organizations and people who try to help link organ donors and recipients, those who’ve worked with Lipschutz said she’s unique: She charges no fees and brings a lot of energy and a caring spirit.
She’d heard about Lipschutz through a friend and asked her to post a message she had written: “I’m crying day & night & praying to God for him to show me what a day looks like by feeling healthy. I have lost all my strength & can’t even walk without aid.”
She continued, describing multiple health complications from her kidney failure. “Dialysis sucks out all nutrients & minerals from the body,” she wrote. “Every day, getting more critical. I don’t want to die! Please help me!”
Md. grant will help students with disabilities set back by pandemic
Porat read the message. It was her birthday, and her closest childhood friend had recently received a new kidney. Porat said she planned to make a donation to a local kosher food bank in honor of her own birthday and in gratitude for her friend’s transplant. But when she read Ilyasova’s plea, she thought, “I can’t overlook this.”
She and Ilyasova went through months of testing to see if they were a match. They underwent transplant surgery in October. After the procedure, they met in person for the first time at the hospital, and Ilyasova cried.
Porat hopes her tale will encourage others to become kidney donors.
“If I have it in my power to save a life, how do you turn away?” she said. “I couldn’t do that. She’s someone’s kid. … She’s a woman, and she’s a member of the Jewish community, and we’re supposed to look out for each other.” | 2022-12-25T10:53:18Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Md. woman donated kidney to stranger who needed transplant - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/25/silver-spring-kidney-donor-stranger/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/25/silver-spring-kidney-donor-stranger/ |
Parks in Fairfax’s Franconia district scrap the Confederate ‘Lee’ name
The soon-to-be changed signage at the entrance to Lee District Park on Dec. 21. (Olivia Diaz/The Washington Post)
John Krantz moseyed through the neighborhood streets near Lewis High Park on a gusty 40-degree day. He and his dog, Hazel, have lived in the Springfield, Va., community for about a year and a half, and they often stroll through the parks — some of which until recently bore the name “Lee,” after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee or his family members who enslaved people.
The Fairfax County Park Authority officially renamed the spaces at the beginning of December, a decision which came after the county’s Board of Supervisors decided to turn the magisterial district from “Lee” to “Franconia.” Lee High Park, which sits behind John R. Lewis High School, became Lewis High Park. Lee District Park became Franconia Park. And the Lee District Rec Center became the Franconia Rec Center.
The toppling of Confederate monuments and changing of streets and other names that honor Confederate figures has been a hot-button issue in Virginia, with some residents complaining that history is being erased while others argue it is appropriate to remove tokens that honor a racist past. The changing of park names has generated similar reactions.
Krantz said he was unaware of any name changes. But when he heard the news, he said his first thought was: It’s about time.
“It's weird to name parks and things after people who actively try to attack the country,” Krantz said.
Bill Bouie, the chair of the park authority board, said conversations about renaming the parks had been happening for about three years. He said when the board of supervisors decided to change the magisterial name altogether, and the board aligned its plans with the district.
Supervisor Rodney Lusk (D-Franconia) said the decision to make the district’s name “Franconia” was inspired by already existing public landmarks in the community.
Fairfax changes Lee magisterial district to Franconia
“You might be familiar with Franconia Road,” Lusk said. “Our district police office is located in the Franconia Governmental Center. Additionally, we have the Franconia-Springfield Parkway, which is pretty recognizable here. We have the Franconia Museum.”
The changes, though, have not been universally embraced.
Colette Thurston, a resident of the Franconia district’s Monticello Woods neighborhood who emigrated from France in 1961, said the Confederate history was not her own. But she said she did not understand why the name changes were happening in her neighborhood, like the 2020 decision to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School to John R. Lewis High School, in honor of the late Georgia congressman.
Fairfax board renames highways named for Confederate leaders
“To me, this is part of history,” she said. “It’s the way it is. You don’t change the history.”
“I guess I’m from the old school,” she added. “I don’t like changes.”
Nathaniel Lee, who said he was an indirect descendant of the Lee family, thought it was important to acknowledge the area’s ties to the Confederacy. However, he said he supported Fairfax County’s decision to reframe community spaces.
“When we’re dealing with parks and these rec centers, are we projecting that welcoming feeling by having divisive figures named on them? No.” Lee said. “So I agree with those changes.”
Renee Grebe, a nearly 20-year Franconia resident and a volunteer parks custodian, said she wants the parks in her community to be for everyone — and she hopes the name change would promote a message of inclusivity.
“I think that renaming parks are a really good start for a much broader need to make sure nature is more accessible to all,” she said.
Fairfax County may rename two districts over ties to slavery
Mohamed Hashim of Springfield said he has roamed Franconia District Park — which is separate from the recently dubbed Franconia Park — since he was 6 years old. He has fond memories of playing soccer on the field or going on walks on the park’s path.
Hashim noted the differing opinions in his community regarding the name changes.
“I guess there's a tension people have with keeping the history of Robert E. Lee while trying to address some of the inconsistencies in injustice and all that,” Hashim said.
Hashim said he did not have a strong opinion on which side was right or wrong. Time, he said, would hopefully wear down the divisions. | 2022-12-25T12:11:40Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Parks in Fairfax’s Franconia district scrap the Confederate ‘Lee’ name - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/25/fairfax-parks-lee-franconia-names/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/25/fairfax-parks-lee-franconia-names/ |
Commanders quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Taylor Heinicke talk on the sideline during the game against the San Francisco 49ers Saturday. Wentz entered the game to replace Heinicke in the second half. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
The inevitable finally happened. Taylor Heinicke, the backup quarterback with a combo of magnetism and football character that often surpasses his talent, scraped his head against his ceiling so often Saturday that the Washington Commanders benched him. To end the game — and probably for the remainder of a season with a playoff berth at stake — they turned to Carson Wentz, the player making $28 million this season whom they traded multiple draft picks to acquire in March.
Teetering along their path to the postseason, the Commanders are poised to make the most consequential decision of Coach Ron Rivera’s three seasons with the franchise. It also feels like the most predictable decision. For as much as Heinicke’s demeanor and competitiveness fit this team, his impact comes with an expiration date. The Commanders just went 0-2-1 in December, dropping Rivera’s record as Washington’s coach during this critical month to 3-6-1. If you isolate the past two seasons, Rivera’s team is 1-4-1 in December. Heinicke has started all six of those games. The offense has failed to produce more than 20 points in each of them.
The struggles aren’t all on Heinicke. In particular, the inconsistency and gradual regression of the offensive line without Brandon Scherff this season makes it difficult for anyone under center. In a sport that requires constant adjustment, Wentz had disastrous moments early in the season because he was learning offensive coordinator Scott Turner’s system, and he has a bad habit of holding on to the football too long. Then Wentz broke a finger and Heinicke replaced him. Heinicke’s familiarity with the offense, quicker decision-making and the improved run game with rookie Brian Robinson Jr. helped the Commanders for the bulk of a stretch in which they won five of six games after a 2-4 start. But now that teams have gotten used to them again, the Commanders are in need of further revision. And this is why Heinicke’s limitations now outweigh his positives.
He is who he is, and you love him until he’s not enough. With two games remaining, Washington (7-7-1) could still hold on to the seventh and final NFC playoff seed by sticking with Heinicke. But considering the cautious offensive brand of football they’re playing, they have to perform too close to flawless nearly every down to win that way.
The Commanders need a boost: more big plays, more surprises, more margin for error. They’ll have to settle for the erratic skill set of Wentz.
After a 37-20 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Christmas Eve, Rivera remained undecided about which quarterback will start next week against the Cleveland Browns. But he said he would make the decision quickly to maximize the starter’s preparation time. It doesn’t seem as if he is making an open-minded choice as much as he is verifying that turning back to Wentz is the proper risk.
The coach has been frank about the possibility in recent weeks. There has been so much smoke, so much legitimate reason for speculation. Then, in the middle of an otherwise efficient game, Heinicke committed two turnovers in a three-play span, which led to two field goals that increased the 49ers’ lead to 30-14. First, Heinicke lost a fumble, the football popping into the air after Nick Bosa sacked him. Then he threw an interception to cornerback Jimmie Ward. Overall, he played a solid game, completing 13 of 18 passes while throwing for 166 yards and two touchdowns. But Rivera took the opening to take a look at Wentz in a game for the first time in 10 weeks.
“When the game got to where it was, the last thing we wanted was for them to tee off on [Heinicke],” Rivera said.
It was a compassionate way to explain away the fact that he really wanted to see how Wentz looked in an offense that has improved since the beginning of the season. Wentz went 2-4 as the starter before Robinson became a major factor, before the receiving corps took form and before the entire offense developed its run-based identity. Washington traded for Wentz thinking he could amplify a young and talented unit. With the offense struggling and Heinicke lacking the skills to take on a heavier load, Rivera couldn’t resist flirting with the original plan.
Wentz played well. The game was out of reach, and the 49ers’ league-best defense played softer coverages. But Wentz did enough to turn the coach’s head. He entered and immediately led the Commanders on a touchdown drive, capping it with a 20-yard pass to Curtis Samuel. In the fourth quarter, Wentz was 12-of-16 for 123 yards.
Even with all the qualifiers about how conservative San Francisco was at that point, the lasting impression for Rivera wasn’t just the stats. It was how Wentz operated. He was decisive. He escaped the pass rush and made a highlight-reel flip pass to get started. He showed superior arm strength and an ability to jolt the offense out of an incremental slog.
It was refreshing to see, especially on a day when Washington failed to score during a 17-play, 84-yard drive that lasted more than 10 minutes. The team has struggled in the red zone and faced an alarming number of third-and-long situations recently. It remains to be seen whether Wentz can fix his own red-zone issues and limit negative plays. But in theory, he can diversify the offense because he has ideal size, can make every throw and still flashes standout traits.
You can already hear Rivera rationalizing the decision.
“Our ability to run the ball takes a lot of pressure off the quarterback,” Rivera said. “This is a different unit from the group he played with. There are some things that [show] what he can do when he does have the opportunity to stand tall in the pocket.”
Then again, there is the well-documented baggage. Most pertinent now is the way Wentz ended last season in Indianapolis. The Colts were 9-6 with two games remaining. They lost both and failed to make the playoffs. Wentz managed just 148 and 185 yards passing in those games. In the season finale, Indianapolis needed only to beat the 2-14 Jacksonville Jaguars to sneak into the postseason. The Colts lost, 26-11. They couldn’t get rid of Wentz fast enough, and they had to be a bit stunned when the Commanders offered a nice package of second-day draft picks to acquire him.
Now, Wentz may get the chance to show what he learned from that debacle. Rivera and the front office can either salvage the questionable move they made nine months ago, or they can endure a double dose of second guessing — one for pursuing Wentz in the first place, another for going back to him when Heinicke is a steadier, but not spectacular, choice.
The Commanders don’t have a comfortable option. At this point, each seems like a gamble. There are no great percentages for Riverboat Ron to play. It’s just a game of perception, and after three years of mediocrity, he needs to win this one badly.
NFL takeaways: Eagles stumble, Vikings amaze again, Bills clinch division | 2022-12-25T12:11:46Z | www.washingtonpost.com | The Commanders need a jolt at quarterback. Will Carson Wentz do? - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/25/carson-wentz-taylor-heinicke-commanders/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/25/carson-wentz-taylor-heinicke-commanders/ |
One woman thought she had made $2.8 million after a hot day of trading on the Singapore exchange. It was a lie, authorities say.
The mobile application showed a profit of $2.8 million on what appeared to be a hot day of trading on the Singapore exchange. But whenever the trader tried to withdraw funds back home in the United States, she faced customer service representatives asking for mysteriously high tax payments or fees, according to court documents.
U.S. officials say it’s a new and sophisticated scam draining millions of dollars from people who drop their guard online. Far from earning $2.8 million, the trader invested $9.6 million into the platform this year before it all vanished, according to court documents.
In a court filing in November, the Secret Service said five U.S. victims reported that they were enticed to invest large sums in cryptocurrency this year by scammers who created seven identical domains spoofing the website of the Singapore International Monetary Exchange. The scammers also created a smartphone app mimicking what traders use on legitimate platforms, officials said.
According to a warrant filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia as part of the websites’ seizure last month, one victim in Richmond lost $289,000. Another, in Los Angeles, was drained of more than $200,000. The trader in Redmond, Wash., who thought she netted $2.8 million in one day in July said her account showed a total profit of about $7 million.
But the “trading profit” displayed on her app was an illusion, according to U.S. officials.
“After numerous attempts to withdraw their investments, they were unable to recover any portion of their cryptocurrency investment,” a Secret Service agent stated in the court filing in November.
Investigators call it a “pig-butchering” scheme. Scammers find targets on dating apps, social media or via text messages sent to a “wrong number.” They strike up relationships with the targets and slowly gain their trust, eventually floating the possibility of a cryptocurrency investment. Once the money is sent to a fake investment app, the scammer disappears with the funds.
An ex-cop fell for Alice. Then he fell for her $66 million crypto scam.
Jason Kane, deputy assistant director of the U.S. Secret Service Office of Investigations, called it “the next generation of the long con.”
“The American public must be aware of the dedication these criminals have to defraud people out of their hard-earned money,” Kane said in a statement. “Fraudsters may identify their victims and coerce them into investments, producing so-called returns on the investments to solicit further investments. The public must be vigilant in their online activity, aware of who they are interacting with and suspicious of any solicitation of funds from an unknown source.”
The FBI said that the scam originated in China in late 2019. But by 2021, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center had received more than 4,300 annual complaints related to crypto-romance scams, which resulted in more than $429 million in losses.
“Scammers are using translation programs to communicate seamlessly with their victims,” the FBI said in a news release. “Victims have very similar stories: Meeting someone on a dating app, the scammer gains the confidence and trust of the victim, and then claims to have knowledge of cryptocurrency investment or trading opportunities that will result in substantial profits. The victim is then directed to transfer large amounts of cryptocurrency from the exchange account to cryptocurrency wallets controlled by fraudsters, ultimately losing it all.”
The trader in Washington state said she communicated with a scammer via LINE, a Japanese chat application, and WeChat, a Chinese app. The warrant application does not describe how the two became acquainted.
Her first investment was for $400, authorities said, but days later she poured another $100,000 into the platform, and wound up losing $9.6 million total. She said “customer service representatives” would make requests for “taxes” or “fees” whenever she tried to withdraw funds from her account, according to the warrant application.
In May, a representative on the fake Singapore exchange told the trader that “according to Financial Income Tax Act, if the total profit of the day exceeds 100% of the principal amount of the transaction, you need to pay 30.6% of the profit amount of personal income tax,” U.S. officials said. That meant paying another $570,384 in taxes, according to court records.
“Please pay as soon as possible, after payment we will deduct the tax for you, thank you!” the representative said.
After the trader made the purported income tax payments and tried to withdraw funds, she was told the next month that she had “received 33 abnormal” bitcoin and “your account now belongs to the abnormal state … you need to pay 33 BTC as a security deposit, to ensure that you are not involved in any illegal behavior,” the warrant application says.
That’s when the trader “determined it was a scam and stopped making investments,” according to court records.
U.S. officials said the investigation into the spoofed Singapore exchange is ongoing. Federal prosecutors have not identified suspects by name. Officials said people who believe they may be victims of a cryptocurrency scam should contact CryptoFraud@SecretService.gov or visit IC3.gov to file a report. | 2022-12-25T12:29:15Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Officials warn of crypto scam where genuine-looking sites show fake profit - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/25/crypto-scam-pig-butchering/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/25/crypto-scam-pig-butchering/ |
That patriotic painting of George Washington on Christmas? It was German.
Visitors at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York view “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. (Richard Drew/AP)
When the painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware” was first revealed to the public in the early 1850s, it was a smash hit. It toured major cities, drawing crowds and gold medals. A poet wrote an ode to it. The artist quickly painted a second version, to be shipped off and exhibited abroad.
It isn’t hard to see why art historian Barbara Groseclose calls it “the very emblem of patriotism for Americans.” The enormous canvas depicts perhaps the most crucial moment in the War of Independence, Gen. George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night in 1776. After months of embarrassing failures, Washington ordered thousands of troops to stealthily cross the icy waters undercover of darkness. The next morning, in Trenton, N.J., their surprise attack provided a much-needed morale boost.
In the painting, Washington stands proudly in a boat, seemingly certain of America’s destiny.
But here’s the thing: That multi-city tour the painting went on? It was in Germany — Berlin, Düsseldorf and Cologne, to be exact. The artist? A German. And the ode to it? Auf Deutsch.
That second version that was sent abroad? It was sent to the United States.
Why Christmas was the best time of year to escape slavery
In fact, when Emanuel Leutze started his masterpiece, his intention was not to ignite the patriotic passions of Americans, but to inspire his fellow Germans to be as patriotic as he knew Americans were.
In 1848, a wave of rebellion spread across Europe. It started small with a revolution in Sicily and then grew. In Denmark, protesters demanded a formal constitution. French citizens forced the creation of the Second French Republic. In London, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published “The Communist Manifesto.”
At the time, the German Confederation included dozens of independent states, dominated by two monarchs jockeying for control. During the revolutions of 1848, demonstrations of peasants, students and intellectuals sprang up throughout these states, demanding democratic reforms and touting pan-Germanism.
It was in this cauldron that Leutze decided to paint Washington. Although German by birth, he had spent his formative years in Philadelphia before returning to Düsseldorf for art school. Leutze had seen firsthand the power of seemingly disparate groups uniting for the cause of freedom, and he hoped his painting would inspire his countrymen to act like, well, countrymen.
Unfortunately for Leutze, the revolution dissolved faster than he could paint. An attempt at a national assembly, called the Frankfurt Parliament, collapsed under the weight of its intellectualism, and many “Forty-Eighters,” as they came to be known, were forced to emigrate.
After its German tour, the first version of “Washington Crossing the Delaware” ended up in the Bremen art museum. In an odd twist of fate, it was destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II.
In 1859, Leutze migrated back to the United States, where the response to his Washington painting was massive. A magazine review called it “incomparably the best painting yet executed of an American subject … full of earnestness without exaggeration.” A newspaper said it was “the grandest, most majestic, and most effective painting ever exhibited in America.”
Mark Twain, ever the satirist, had a different view, calling it a “work of art which would have made Washington hesitate about crossing, if he had known what advantage would be taken of it.”
Tens of thousands of people stood in line to see it at exhibitions in New York and Washington. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the painting now resides, within a year nearly every home had a print, engraving or needlework version displayed on the mantel.
Leutze divided his time between New York and Washington, where Congress commissioned him to paint another American classic, the massive “Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way,” which still hangs in the Capitol.
Unfortunately for him, national division followed him to his new home; the U.S. Civil War broke out in 1861 just as he was finishing his latest patriotic work.
A version of this story was originally published on Dec. 25, 2017.
More on George Washington
At the nation’s first presidential transfer of power, George Washington was ‘radiant’
Why George Washington has two birthdays — and neither falls on Presidents’ Day
George Washington gets romanticized by male biographers. Now a woman has taken him on. | 2022-12-25T12:29:33Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Patriotic Christmas painting of George Washington was actually German - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/12/25/washington-crossing-delaware-germany-christmas/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/12/25/washington-crossing-delaware-germany-christmas/ |
Lizzie Johnson
A migrant at a bus station near the U.S.-Mexico border in McAllen, Tex., on Tuesday. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg)
Three buses full of migrants arrived at Vice President Harris’s residence in Washington, D.C., from Texas on Christmas Eve amid bitingly cold temperatures, the latest in an influx of newcomers sent to the Northeast by Southern states.
About 110 to 130 men, women and children got off the buses outside the Naval Observatory on Saturday night in 18-degree weather after a two-day journey from South Texas. Some migrants were bundled up in blankets as they were greeted by a mutual aid group that had received word that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) had sent the caravan.
Volunteers scrambled to meet the asylum seekers after the buses, which were scheduled to arrive in New York on Christmas Day, were rerouted due to the winter weather. In a hastily arranged welcoming, a church on Capitol Hill agreed to temporarily shelter the group, while the restaurant chain Sardis provided 150 breakfasts, lunches and dinners, a mutual aid organizer said.
Abbott’s office did not respond to requests for comment or confirm publicly that it sent the buses. Abbott said in a letter to President Biden on Tuesday that Texas cities were unable to house the migrants, who were at risk of freezing on the street. Temperatures in Texas dipped into the teens and 20s in some cities this weekend.
The buses had been arriving all week — three from Arizona, another three from Texas — so Tatiana Laborde knew it was going to be an “intense” time. But on Friday, Laborde — who is the managing director of SAMU First Response, one of the agencies helping with the migrants — found out about the three rerouted buses. They were scheduled to arrive Sunday morning, Christmas Day.
The Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, a collection of aid groups that formed in response to Abbott’s latest tactic, mobilized volunteers who could welcome the migrants when they got off the buses on Saturday, core organizer Amy Fischer said. The aid group, warned by a nongovernmental organization in contact with the Texas Department of Emergency Management, worked with the city to charter a bus to take the immigrants to the church, where the asylum seekers were given warm clothing and hot meals.
Volunteers also helped the migrants figure out how they could get to friends and family who they had hoped to stay with or connected them with housing. Laborde said that her team was able to purchase about 90 tickets for the migrants. New York and New Jersey were the main destinations. The farthest was Boston.
“D.C. continues to be welcoming,” Fischer said. “Whether it’s Christmas Eve, whether it’s freezing cold outside or warm outside, we are always ready to welcome people with open arms and make sure they have a warm reception in this community.”
Harris’s office did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment Sunday morning.
From border town to ‘border town,’ bused migrants seek new lives in D.C. area
Most of the migrants on the buses that arrived Saturday came from Central America or the Caribbean, Fischer said. About half of the group was made up of families. They came from Mexico through unauthorized and treacherous points along the border, while official border crossings have remained closed under the Title 42 public health policy, a pandemic-era policy used to expel immigrants. | 2022-12-25T17:04:36Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Migrants sent from Texas arrive in frigid D.C. on Christmas Eve - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2022/12/25/migrants-dc-christmas-eve/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2022/12/25/migrants-dc-christmas-eve/ |
Police dismissed Black leaders’ claims of a serial killer. Then a woman escaped.
Police Lt. Ryan Dowdy walks by the home of Timothy Haslett in Excelsior Springs, Mo., on Nov. 21, 2022. Haslett has been charged with rape, kidnapping and aggravated assault after a woman said she escaped from his home where she was being held captive. (Arin Yoon for The Washington Post)
KANSAS CITY, MO. — The minister on the TikTok video was visibly upset, warning that a “serial killer” was targeting young women in a drug-ridden industrial area in Kansas City where residents believe a number of women have disappeared in recent months.
“We got three young ladies that are missing, ain’t nobody saying a word,” Tony Caldwell said on the video, with emotion. “What is the problem? Why can’t we get some cooperation? Where are our community leaders? Where’s our activists? Where’s our public officials? Where’s our police department. C’mon now!”
Caldwell’s stark warning about the dangers along Prospect Avenue — posted by the Kansas City Defender, a news site covering the Black community — quickly went viral in late September, garnering nearly 700,000 hits and inspiring the spread of further warnings on Facebook. Then the Kansas City Police Department moved swiftly to rebut the rumors, calling the allegations “completely unfounded.”
The tragedy that came to light two weeks later has roiled the metro area and widened the gulf of distrust between the Black community, which has long felt ignored and dismissed by law enforcement, and the Kansas City Police Department which has been under fire for recent killings of unarmed Black men, racist treatment of Black officers within its own ranks and the city’s rising homicide rate.
In the early hours of Oct. 7, residents on a leafy street in Excelsior Springs, a bedroom community north of the city, were awakened by the sound of knocking and the faint cry: “Help me.” A grandmother opened her door and found an emaciated young Black woman, wearing only a latex bondage dress and a homemade metal collar and padlock around her neck.
“He killed two of my friends,” she told him.
Caldwell, a minister and community activist, said he began to hear rumblings over the summer about of women going missing from a particularly desolate stretch of Prospect Avenue.
“There were so many reports I started getting concerned,” he said. But when he went to the police station to raise the matter, Caldwell said he was told, “'Well, give it a couple days. You know how those type of people are. They might pop up and they might not.’ At that point I thought we might as well do this for ourselves.”
In late September, Ryan Sorrell, the executive editor and founder of the Defender, decided Caldwell’s concerns were serious enough to warrant a wider audience in the interest of public safety. He posted the TikTok video with the caveat: “Please know we take these matters seriously and only want to report facts and not fearmonger. However given the very serious nature of the matter we believe it is critical to report this.”
“That’s why Black people were so concerned, because this had happened before and they didn’t listen to us then,” said Sorrell said. “That’s why it spread so quickly in the community.”
The authorities’ swift denunciation of the Defender’s post, Sorrell said, “in essence silenced us because then every single news outlet in the city just also parroted verbatim what the police department said.”
This year alone, a KCPD detective who shot a Black man backing into his own driveway was sentenced to six years in prison after a 2021 manslaughter conviction. The department paid $5 million to the family of an unarmed Black man shot by police in 2019. And the Justice Department launched a civil rights investigation into the department’s hiring practices after a Kansas City Star investigation revealed endemic racism and abuse within its ranks.
“It’s a systemic issue, and you have people in there who are there for the wrong reasons,” said David Finnell, an Air Force veteran and patient account representative at an area hospital whose family had been trying to locate his missing stepsister, Sirrena Truitt, since June. She had lived along Prospect Avenue, he said, and was one of the women who inspired Caldwell’s video.
Finnell and other family members — to little avail — had been pushing the Kansas City police for months to create an official missing person report and begin investigating Truitt’s disappearance after they heard from other relatives that she had been murdered.
“You might say that the girl who escaped that house has brought it all to the forefront,” he said.
In the neighbor’s living room, the woman was having difficulty breathing because of the restraint collar around her neck. Emergency responders had to cut off the padlock before she could breathe with enough ease to tell them what happened, Dowdy said.
“It was bad,” Dowdy recalled. “It was painted all black, with multiple devices to restrain her.”
No human remains have been found on the site, Dowdy said, and they have not yet identified any further victims. But he said that he believes there is a “substantial possibility” there are more victims.
“We have found people that we have known to be in that house and are trying to contact them and identify them and see what their contact with Haslett was. But there are no other victims that we are aware of at this time and I really want that to be clear,” Dowdy said. He noted that the woman who escaped had not been reported as missing.
“The race war started a long time ago. Wake up,” he wrote in one post, adding a vulgarity. And in another, he wrote, “Racism is a natural thing! It actually [is] an emotion and has, or used to at least, have a clinical name. It’s called xenophobia. Xenophobia is to fear or be suspicious of the unknown. And every species of animal and insect on earth feels it to one degree or another. Where in nature on earth do you see cross-species comingling? Where do you see interspecies breeding?”
Haslett left the military and eventually moved to Missouri and found a job as a union worker for the railroad. Facebook pictures as recently as 2020 show a clean cut and smiling Haslett hugging his child, an image nearly unrecognizable from the man who appeared in the recent mug shot — who was puffy, unkempt, with long hair and a bushy beard.
One recent night, Caldwell called to order his regular weekly meeting of the Justice and Dignity Center on the East side of Kansas City. Caldwell has long chaired this regular weekly meeting with representatives of over 80 nonprofits and volunteers — and swapping information on possible missing people is now a primary focus.
“We have been able to locate two out of the seven missing women we have been looking for,” Caldwell told the group, “Thank God.”
Members of the group clapped, and a few of the pastors called out “Amen!”
One had been found alive, but a second “unfortunately we were only able to find their remains,” Caldwell said. “So we’re going to keep that family in prayer.”
Becchina said in an email that before the discovery, the family’s information was not substantive enough to meet the criteria for filing an official missing persons report, which has strict requirements, including a strong indication of foul play, or having been the subject of past threats, acts of violence or recent domestic disputes.
“He just threw insults out about her, that’s all he did,” Finnell said. “He said ‘What do you care, you ain’t seen her.’ He was very rude and condescending and talking about her like she’s a dog. He said, ‘She’s on drugs, it doesn’t matter.’ It does matter. She is a human being, and no human should be thrown in a hole and left there.”
Becchina said that the detective, Nathan Kinate, had expressed “frustration” on the call. Kinate referred calls from The Post to his supervisor and the police department’s office of general counsel, and Becchina responded on their behalf.
Caldwell and his group say little has changed in their relationship with police since the young woman escaped from Haslett’s home. They have taken matters into their own hands, constructing a database with photos of citizens who frequent homeless shelters and soup kitchens, so they will have a baseline of information if others disappear.
“It’s abundantly clear we are on our own,” he said.
Kansas City Police have said they continue to take claims about missing people seriously. But despite the alleged escape of the woman from the home in Excelsior Springs — and her allegations of other victims — Kansas City police said they have not put in any new community relations efforts or Black outreach plans since Haslett was arrested.
“We have outreach and interactions in the community every day,” Becchina said in a statement. He said that there are community interactions officers assigned to every patrol division station, as well as a staff of social workers.
Alice Crites and Praveena Somasundaram contributed to this report from Washington. | 2022-12-25T17:04:42Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Black leaders say Kansas City police ignored claims of missing women - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/25/missing-black-women-kansas-city/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/25/missing-black-women-kansas-city/ |
Arctic cold and snow conditions began to ease across the United States on Sunday, but travel disruptions from the sprawling winter storm continued
Updated December 25, 2022 at 12:03 p.m. EST|Published December 25, 2022 at 10:31 a.m. EST
A lone pedestrian in snow shoes near St. John’s Grace Episcopal Church during a blizzard in Buffalo on Saturday. (Derek Gee/Buffalo News/AP)
Officials in Erie County, N.Y., on Sunday reported four additional deaths attributed to the catastrophic snowstorm that has wreaked havoc across much of the country, bringing to seven the number of known fatalities in the hard-hit Buffalo area.
The people who died were found in homes and on the street, said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz, warning that additional fatalities could be discovered later. The names of the dead were not released.
Photos: Winter storm unleashes severe weather across the United States
The blast of Arctic air continued to chill much of the eastern United States, according to the National Weather Service, but is expected to weaken as it drifts eastward.
More than 175,000 utility customers across the country remained without power as of Sunday morning, according to poweroutage.us., down from at least 1.5 million on Friday. The storm has snarled traffic and travel plans over the Christmas holiday, with more than 1,400 flights canceled in the United States as of Sunday morning, according to Flight Aware, compared with more than 3,488 canceled on Saturday.
In Erie County, a ban on driving remained in place, and officials called on residents to keep their water running so that pipes would not freeze. Officials said the region, which received several feet of snow in a 48-hour period, is used to shoveling out when that occurs. But during this blizzard, in addition to frigid temperatures, wind gusts that reached to nearly 80 mph created dangerous drifts and whiteout conditions that blinded drivers.
“It’s like putting in front of you a sheet of white paper and just keeping it there for hours and hours and hours on end,” Poloncarz said. | 2022-12-25T17:05:19Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Fierce blizzard leaves 7 dead in Buffalo by Sunday; more flights cancelled - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/12/25/buffalo-winter-storm-blizzard-us/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/12/25/buffalo-winter-storm-blizzard-us/ |
A family in Liverpool, England, watches Britain’s King Charles III deliver his first Christmas Day message on Sunday. (Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images)
Britain's King Charles III and members of the royal family attended a Christmas service on Dec. 25 at St. Mary Magdalene's church on the Sandringham estate. (Video: Reuters)
The setting for Charles’s first go at the Christmas message was designed to display continuity from queen to heir, staged at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where his mother was buried just a few months, beside his father, Prince Philip.
The first royal Christmas message was broadcast via radio in 1932 by King George V. Elizabeth took the tradition to television — and delivered one every year of her reign except in 1969, when she apparently decided that the public had had enough of the royals after the BBC broadcast of a two-hour documentary that she found indulgent and intrusive.
The Christmas broadcasts have long served as a kind of annual summing-up about the doings of royal family, including births, heirs, anniversaries, jubilees and deaths. Charles’s 2022 message — with its homage to his mother — was in keeping with the tradition.
The renegade pair — who resigned as “senior working royals” in 2020 and moved to California — had caused a public stir in recent weeks with a Netflix documentary series that claimed that palace operatives fed negative stories about Meghan to the news media. Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace said they would have no comment, and the king’s Christmas message on Sunday suggested that they have no intention of changing course.
In her Christmas message last year, the Queen skipped over the controversies that hit the family at the time, including allegations that Prince Andrew had engaged in sexual abuse, which he denies.
Known for brevity, the Christmas messages also tend to address major societal issues and have dealt with subjects including the Great Depression, the rise of Nazism, the threat of nuclear annihilation in the 1950s and the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is one of the few public remarks that British monarchs usually write without government advice.
In his address on Sunday, Charles referred to conflicts, famines and natural disasters that struck this year, but he made no direct reference to climate action — an issue that occupied him before he took the throne. As sovereign, he faces more expectations than before to refrain from sharing his personal views.
But the backdrop of Windsor Castle offered a message — to be decoded — of sustainability and of Charles’s love of nature, gardening, plants, and the circle of life.
In a note to reporters, the palace said that the Christmas tree was “decorated with ornaments made from sustainable materials including paper and glass as well as natural products such as pine cones.”
The floral arrangements used “English foliage — holly, berried ivy and red skimmia,” and the tree was to be recycled to be viewed by holiday visitors to Windsor. | 2022-12-25T17:05:25Z | www.washingtonpost.com | King Charles III pays homage to Queen Elizabeth II in Christmas speech - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/25/king-charles-christmas-message-queen-elizabeth/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/25/king-charles-christmas-message-queen-elizabeth/ |
Kevin Payne helped build D.C. United into an MLS power at RFK Stadium. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Kevin Payne, a National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee who oversaw D.C. United’s rise into an early MLS dynasty as the club’s founding president and general manager, died Sunday of a long-term lung illness. He was 69.
“It saddens me greatly to let you know that Kevin Payne passed away this morning,” Sunil Gulati, who served as president of the U.S. Soccer Federation from 2006 to 2018, told The Washington Post in a statement. “He was surrounded by his family and at peace after a long and difficult battle. We will all miss him terribly."
United was particularly prolific during Payne’s first stint, winning three of the first four MLS Cup championships, two Supporters’ Shield titles for the league’s best regular season record and the 1996 U.S. Open Cup crown.
The team was led from its inception by former University of Virginia coach Bruce Arena — who would go on to steer the U.S. men’s national team to the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals — and featured the likes of Bolivian stars Marco Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno and U.S. national team stalwarts Eddie Pope and John Harkes. United ruled over the region as well, beating Mexico’s Toluca for the 1998 Concacaf Champions Cup — still one of just three continental titles won by MLS teams.
He returned to United as the club’s president and CEO in 2004, when the team earned its fourth and most recent MLS Cup title. D.C. also won two more Supporters’ Shields and another U.S. Open Cup before Payne stepped down in 2012 and embarked on a one-year stint as Toronto FC’s president and general manager.
Payne was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2021 under the institution’s “Builder” designation, and also earned U.S. Soccer’s Werner Fricker Builder Award in 2011. (Fricker was the president of U.S. Soccer when he hired Payne to be the federation’s national administrator in 1989.) Payne was added to United’s Hall of Tradition in 2015.
Born March 5, 1953, Payne worked as a radio journalist in New York and as a special events executive in Vail, Colo., before taking a job as an executive for U.S. Soccer in 1989. Two years later, he became the president of Soccer USA Partners, a firm that owned the marketing and broadcast promotion rights to the U.S. men’s national team in the buildup to the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
During his National Soccer Hall of Fame induction speech, Payne recalled his early days with United as some of the “most enjoyable times” of his professional life. He also recalled his meeting with Fricker more than 30 years ago, when Fricker asked him why he wanted to work in soccer. | 2022-12-25T18:10:13Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Kevin Payne, ex-D.C. United president, dies at 69 - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/25/kevin-payne-dies-dc-united/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/25/kevin-payne-dies-dc-united/ |
Washington Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren has been the backbone for the team in the last month. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
While virtually all the recent attention surrounding the Washington Capitals has revolved around captain Alex Ovechkin, backup goaltender Charlie Lindgren has quietly put on a show.
Since Dec. 5, Lindgren, 29, has amassed an 8-1-0 record with a .933 save percentage and a 1.89 goals against average.
His only loss in that span was Washington’s 2-1 home loss to Dallas in mid-December. The Capitals held a one-goal lead headed into the third against the Stars, but a rebound power play goal and a lucky bounce resulted in the two goals for the visitors.
Lindgren was again solid Friday night in the Capitals’ 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets, making 25 saves in the win. He had a huge stop on Jets forward Adam Lowry in the second period with the Capitals up 1-0. Minutes later, Sonny Milano scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal.
“I felt really good,” Lindgren said Friday night, “ … just feel good about where my game’s at right now. Those games sometimes are a little bit tough when you’re not getting a lot of rubber, but you just stay in it and stick with it and end up being a pretty solid game.”
Lindgren’s role increased this month after starter Darcy Kuemper was injured on Dec. 3 against Calgary. Kuemper was placed on injured reserve a week later and was sidelined until Thursday, when he made his return in the Capitals’ 3-2 overtime win in Ottawa.
Lindgren has been the backbone for a team that struggled through the first 20 games of the season, going 7-10-3. Since then, Washington has a 12-3-1 record and is back in a playoff position.
After a holiday break, Washington next plays Tuesday against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. On paper, the game should be a Kuemper start, but a convincing argument could be made to let Lindgren take the big stage in New York.
“We’re all playing really well, I think, and we’re certainly all bought in to the game plan,” Lindgren said. “I think our coaching staff has done a good job with us and just seeing our compete level night in, night out. I feel like we’re outcompeting teams, outworking them and finding ways to win hockey games. I think we’re all having a blast.”
Lindgren’s work ethic has also earned him the respect of his new teammates. Typically, he stays out for extra work at practice, wanting to get in as many reps as possible. In the locker room he has a warm, bubbly personality, always eager for a chat and with a smile on his face.
The Lakeville, Minn. native has been a welcome addition to a Washington team that overhauled its goaltending tandem in the offseason. He signed with the Capitals on the first day of free agency in July — the same day the franchise inked a deal with Kuemper to be its No. 1 netminder.
Washington signed Lindgren to a three-year, $3.3 million deal. At the time, his most recent NHL experience was limited to five games for the St. Louis Blues last season — when he went 5-0-0. Before that, he spent five seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, posting a 10-12-2 record in 24 starts, with a 3.00 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.
With the Capitals, Lindgren is having something of a breakout month. Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette said Washington “couldn’t have asked for anything more from him.”
“He’s been rock solid,” Laviolette said. “Sometimes with us, with the adversity we’ve faced this year, I think guys wait for an opportunity to get in there and Darcy was getting the majority of the starts and Charlie was working hard every day, waiting, waiting. … There’s no question that he has a big hand in us starting to climb here.”
For Lindgren, it’s been nice to get in a rhythm.
“I’ve just tried to go in and do my job,” Lindgren said. “That’s really it. … I just wanted to go in every night and give the team a chance to win. This team’s been [playing] extremely hard for me; a lot of credit goes to them.”
Kuemper also praised Lindgren for helping spark Washington’s climb while he was sidelined.
“He was on fire in there and I think we — the team — really rallied around that,” Kuemper said. “Super happy for him, happy for our group. We needed the points. So it was nice to see the guys get on a roll.” | 2022-12-25T18:36:39Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Charlie Lindgren has keyed the Capitals in December - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/25/charlie-lindgren-capitals/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/12/25/charlie-lindgren-capitals/ |
Arlington already carries a housing burden
The Sycamore Gardens neighborhood in Arlington on Dec. 11. (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post)
The Dec. 17 editorial “More housing is needed in the D.C. region” called Arlington County a “beacon” because the County Board proposes to loosen zoning’s “iron grip” and allow construction of multi-unit buildings without those pesky “regulatory hurdles.” Let’s discuss the facts, which are far less anodyne.
Four percent of the D.C. metro area’s population lives in Arlington on less than one-half of one percent of the area’s land. Arlington already is very densely populated. In fact, more than 70 percent of our current housing is multifamily. Arlington County continues to surpass its share of the area’s annual goals for new housing. Arlington County housing director Anne Venezia has said, “We can confidently say we do have enough capacity within our current plans to enable the production that [Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments] has for Arlington targets.”
The county has more than 70,000 studio and one- and two-bedroom rentals, and hundreds more are either under construction or in the pipeline. The vast majority of “missing middle” units would be rentals, and most would be studios or have one or two bedrooms. These will not be the “family size” units the county says we need. The county estimates one unit of a duplex will go for more than $1 million, in the unlikely event it isn’t a rental. That is not affordable, or even attainable, housing for middle- and lower-income people.
Those “regulatory hurdles” prevent an 8,000-square-foot eight-plex from being built on a 5,000-square-foot lot, looming over an existing small house next door and incentivizing the razing of that house and others like it, which in the Arlington context, are likely relatively affordable. The missing middle proposal is not ready for prime time.
Barbara E. Taylor, Arlington | 2022-12-25T19:59:31Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Arlington already carries a housing burden - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/25/arlington-housing-missing-middle/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/25/arlington-housing-missing-middle/ |
Democracy is failing, and our textbooks show us why
Kudos to the Dec. 22 Politics & the Nation article “Study: Textbooks lag behind on climate change,” about the failure of our higher education teaching materials to adequately address climate change and the political connection to this failure. This is what happens when conservative Christianity gets a voice in public policy. Evangelical assertions that “God wouldn’t let such a thing happen” or “it is part of some larger religious plan” are working their way into political policy because of the reliance of the Republican Party on the votes of religious conservatives.
The violation of the notion of separation of church and state that stood as a basic tenet of this country’s founding has created a serious deficit in all levels of education. This weakness in our education system explains the difficulties we are having holding onto our democratic form of government.
Henry Light, Charlottesville | 2022-12-25T19:59:37Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Climate change missing from textbooks shows that democracy is failing - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/25/democracy-is-failing-our-textbooks-show-us-why/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/25/democracy-is-failing-our-textbooks-show-us-why/ |
Major accounting firms can help the IRS scrutinize Trump’s taxes
The Internal Revenue Service building in D.C. (Susan Walsh/AP)
That the Internal Revenue Service doesn’t have the expertise to audit tax filings from wealthy individuals isn’t news. As the Dec. 22 editorial “Revealing records” stated, “even if the agency wanted, it lacked the resources for a thorough review” of former president Donald Trump’s taxes (and reviews of other wealthy individuals).
The $80 billion being appropriated for the IRS can fix this problem, but not in the way Congress suggests. The money can’t fix it fast enough to review Mr. Trump’s taxes relatively soon or review other complex filings beginning with the 2022 tax year.
Assigning special talent within the IRS to review Mr. Trump’s taxes and other top earners will not suffice. Larger teams and people with a level of expertise the federal payroll cannot support are required. As do other federal agencies, the IRS should contract with major accounting firms to conduct complex audits. These firms have the requisite expertise. Protection of personal information under such a contract would have to be ensured, but this is not out of the ordinary for high-level federal contracts with private firms. Such contracts can be let within months, and audits can proceed for Mr. Trump’s past returns and for the 2022 returns of other top earners.
If, after the massive budget increase for the IRS, the wealthiest continue to avoid proper scrutiny while others’ returns are more carefully reviewed, then the effort is a sham.
Robert Pokras, Silver Spring | 2022-12-25T19:59:43Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | The IRS should employ big accounting firms to scrutinize Trump taxes - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/25/irs-helps-major-accounting-firms-scrutinize-trump-taxes/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/25/irs-helps-major-accounting-firms-scrutinize-trump-taxes/ |
Ukrainian refugees face a perilous return to war
Ukrainians seeking asylum in the United States walk at the El Chaparral port of entry on April 7. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Thousands of Ukrainians who arrived in the United States between April 12 and 24 find ourselves in jeopardy. We and thousands of Ukrainians like us entered through the checkpoint at the open border for Ukrainians between Mexico and the United States during that 12-day period.
Each of us was admitted as a “parolee,” and we are legally allowed to stay in the United States until April. Because of the dates we arrived, we are not eligible for either temporary protected status or the Uniting for Ukraine program. We are allowed to stay only for one year, and we would be made to leave the United States in April, even if Russia continues to attack Ukraine.
We are afraid for the lives of our children and cannot go back into the war. Our houses, schools and cities are destroyed. We are asking for help to maintain our legal status to be able to legally remain in the United States.
The thousands of Ukrainians who arrived April 12-24 need the humanitarian parole for legal stay in the United States extended until the humanitarian situation in Ukraine changes.
Karyna Falko, College Park | 2022-12-25T20:00:02Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Opinion | Ukrainian refugees face a perilous return to war - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/25/ukrainian-refugees-face-perilous-return-war/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/25/ukrainian-refugees-face-perilous-return-war/ |
Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas for the first time on Dec. 25 at a church in Dnipro, Ukraine. (Heidi Levine)
KYIV, Ukraine — Nadiya Zalenetska rushed into the small chapel with a pink bundle in her arms — her 2-month-old daughter, Lyubov, wrapped in a thick blanket. Zalenetska had covered her hair with a red shawl, fitting for a Christmas she was observing two weeks earlier than she ever had before.
Like many Ukrainians, Zalenetska had always known Christmas Day as Jan. 7, according to the Julian calendar used by the Russian and Ukrainian branches of the Orthodox Church. But a movement to reject everything associated with Russia, 10 months into its invasion of Ukraine, has begun to transform even the most sacred traditions.
Many Ukrainians are embracing Dec. 25 as Christmas for the first time, reflecting a desire to be more like the West and less like their assailants.
A poll conducted in the Diia smartphone application — which most Ukrainians use to store their personal documents and access public services — asked what date people prefer for Christmas. Nearly 60 percent (of some 383,000 respondents) chose Dec. 25. The Jan. 7 date came in second.
“This is our new tradition,” the 26-year-old Zalenetska said. “We don’t want to do the same thing that Russia does. So much of the world celebrates on Dec. 25, so we will, too.”
How Russia’s war in Ukraine is dividing the Orthodox Christian world
In remarks to Congress during a visit to Washington this past week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alluded to the emergent tradition. “[I]n two days we will celebrate Christmas,” he said. “Maybe candlelit. Not because it’s more romantic, no, but because there will not be, there will be no electricity.”
In a Christmas miracle — or just a holiday gift from the authorities — Sunday was a rare day without power outages across the city, made necessary by repeated Russian missile strikes targeting critical infrastructure. Ukrainians “must be with electricity today! Maybe not all of the time, but enough for this crazy timeline. Merry Christmas,” Sergey Kovalenko, the CEO of the YASNO energy provider, said on Facebook.
The Ukrainian government made Dec. 25 a national holiday in 2017. A few years later, in 2020, Metropolitan Epiphanius, the leader of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, suggested he would be open to moving the celebration formally if adherents supported doing so. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that movement gained steam, and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine officially granted permission in October for dioceses to hold Christmas services on Dec. 25.
On the grounds of central Kyiv’s St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, the church’s first Dec. 24 and 25 Christmas services were held at a small, white rectory, where Zalenetska’s young family squeezed through a crowd to light a candle and whisper a prayer. Even as the day’s first air-raid alert rang throughout the capital on Sunday morning, people remained in the pews.
“On December 25th, about a hundred years ago, a prayer was heard in this church,” Archpriest Vitaly Klos said during the service. “Today we restore historical justice. … I wanted to emphasize that the date, when to celebrate, should not prevail in our hearts, but what we celebrate and whom we glorify. It can be the 25th or January 7th.”
“Russia will not take away the joy of Christ’s birth from us,” Klos said.
Most Ukrainians identify as Orthodox Christian, according to the Pew Research Center. But for the past three years, they have been divided between two similarly named bodies: the “self-governing” Ukrainian Orthodox Church, aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which split off in 2018 to create a fully independent ecclesiastical entity.
Once viewed as an influential force for Russian propaganda in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has waned in popularity since the start of the war. Even after the Ukrainian Orthodox Church formally distanced itself from the Moscow Patriarchate in May over its support for the war, Kyiv has repeatedly accused its clergy of loyalty to Russia.
Earlier this month, Zelensky said his administration would draft a law “making it impossible for religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation to operate in Ukraine.” He also ordered a probe into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Ukrainian authorities arrested dozens of priests this fall for allegedly helping Russia, including by providing information to Russia’s military. Ukraine’s main internal security service, the SBU, raided monasteries and churches across the country in search of evidence. SBU officials said some raids unearthed pro-Kremlin reading material.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has rejected accusations of collaboration with Russia as “unproven and groundless.”
In Moscow, meanwhile, Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has been one of the war’s most prominent backers, delivering sermons extolling its virtues. Kirill, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has played a key role in providing faith-based justifications for Russia’s expansionist aims — in particular, advancing the notion of “Ruskiy Mir,” a Russian world encompassing Ukraine.
It’s disdain for that very Ruskiy Mir concept that’s inspired many Ukrainians to turn away from a Jan. 7 Christmas celebration.
“It was the Soviet Union that destroyed Christianity inside of it and Ukrainian culture,” said 16-year-old Sasha Deschenko, who celebrated Christmas on Dec. 25 with her family for the first time this year. “Now we are claiming our culture and traditions back.”
Tetyana Deschenko, Sasha’s mother, long considered switching to a Dec. 25 Christmas. After part of her family had to live under Russian occupation earlier this year — her husband’s relative was killed by Russian soldiers in the Kyiv region on Feb. 25, she says — the decision became simple. On Sunday, the family of four ate a Christmas meal on a table with a red tablecloth decorated with images of snowmen and Santa Claus. Tetyana made kutia, a traditional Ukrainian Christmas dish of sweetened grains — Sasha’s favorite.
“I called my mother yesterday and said, ‘What kind of Christmas is this? Like a Catholic one?’” Tetyana said. “But later she said that her grandmother always wished her a merry Christmas on the 25th. I just don’t want any joint holidays with Russia.”
But not everyone is ready to accept Dec. 25 — and the divide is often generational. Some said they would celebrate both the December and January dates.
Walking past a Christmas tree market in Dnipro last week, Liudmila Kravchenko, 71, a widower, said there is much Ukraine can learn from Europe — such as rule of law and how to organize a government. But she said she did not approve of switching the date of Christmas, and expressed concern that the cultural changes risked transforming the country too much.
“I don’t like it. The west is the west,” Kravchenko said. “We were born here. If it’s for foreign policy, it’s one thing but it’s another for the holidays.”
Just down the street, Danylo Marchuk, 21, and a handful of friends canvassed the street collecting donations for displaced Ukrainians. They were doing so on behalf of the youth chapter of the European Party of Ukraine, a political party urging closer ties with the European Union. Marchuk said he celebrates Christmas on the traditional date with his family at home, but he and his friends started celebrating on Dec. 25 last year.
“It’s more a Soviet tradition,” he said of the old date. “The 25th is new, and something we’re looking forward to seeing going forward. The youth know what we’re doing, and we’re going toward Europe, and we do want to live in Europe.”
Stein reported from Dnipro, Ukraine, and Parker from Washington. Ievgeniia Sivorka in Dnipro and Erin Cunningham in Washington contributed to this report. | 2022-12-25T21:05:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Early Christmas in Ukraine signals split with Russian Orthodox Church - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/25/christimas-orthodox-ukraine-russia-war/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/25/christimas-orthodox-ukraine-russia-war/ |
19-year-old dies after falling through ice into pond, police say
A 19-year-old died after falling through the ice of a pond in Virginia, police said.
Police said they received a call on Saturday for an adult male who fell through the ice of a pond near the 6000 block of Erinblair Loop, in the Piedmont community in Haymarket of Prince William County.
The Department of Fire and Rescue found the man in the pond and transported him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Police have not released the name of the individual.
Police say preliminarily that there are no indications of foul play. | 2022-12-25T21:14:10Z | www.washingtonpost.com | 19-year-old dies after falling through ice into pond, police say - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/25/haymarket-va-ice-pond-death/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/25/haymarket-va-ice-pond-death/ |
Vern Brischke, a furniture maker most of the year, donned his Christmas suit on Friday to visit a center for adults with intellectual disabilities
Vern Brischke, a furniture builder, dons his Santa Claus suit at his Monterey home as he prepares to deliver presents and spread holiday joy on Christmas Eve to people throughout California’s Central Coast. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
So much has been lost during the pandemic, and perhaps nothing greater than the human touch, the joy of being surrounded by others, the magic moments that surprise you, making life a little brighter. And for the residents of the Gateway Center, a facility for adults with intellectual disabilities in Pacific Grove, Calif., this holiday season was especially brightened by the appearance of a white-bearded Santa Claus wearing his blaring red-and-white suit, cinched with a wide black belt.
On Christmas Eve, a furniture maker from Monterey, by the name of Vern Brischke, stepped into his snow-white GMC Sierra truck and headed to spread the joy that perhaps only he could deliver.
Throughout California’s Central Coast, there were no doubt many Santas at many malls, but here at the Gateway Center, Brischke was especially welcomed. The residents were drawn to him, responding with smiles so broad that Santa’s eyes widened in unison.
The widespread use of face masks, so needed for protection, had inevitably made it harder for Santa to fully read the emotions of those who came to him. On Friday at Gateway, many of the residents’ faces were uncovered, and Brischke could see the need for emotional connection and joy more than ever.
“I can read it when people need more time, a little bit more touch, that simple hug you can hold for 20 seconds,” said Brischke, 67, who visits multiple places, including Gateway, during the Christmas season.
During a stop at a community holiday dinner serving thousands of people, Brischke met Eva Lindsay, 5, who has a hearing impairment. “He makes me so happy,” she said, adding that “I really like his bells.”
At Gateway Center, he said, he found “some of the most loving people that there is.” They affected him as much he has helped them. When they sat on his lap, or broke into a grin, he said, “it almost brought tears to my eyes.”
It was such a simple, powerful gift: a smile, to be seen and shared. | 2022-12-26T00:13:05Z | www.washingtonpost.com | Vern Brischle's Santa visits to the disabled seem especially bright this Christmas - The Washington Post | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/25/california-santa-visits-vern-brischle-special-needs/ | https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/25/california-santa-visits-vern-brischle-special-needs/ |
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