Good morning! Here is your news briefing for Friday September 3, 2021
1.) THE DAILY SIGNAL
September 3 2021
Happy Friday from Washington, where Democrats don’t seem nearly as informed as Republicans about the danger posed to the military by critical race theory. Mike Gonzalez calls them on it. How is President Biden going to rescue Americans stuck in Afghanistan? His options are limited, Fred Lucas reports. On the podcast, we explore the connection between critical race theory and the rise in antisemitism. Plus: what Texas’ new pro-life law actually does; Jen Psaki scolds a male reporter on abortion; and the looming threat from Iran. On this date in 1783, the Revolutionary War officially ends as the United States, Great Britain, Spain, and France sign the Treaty of Paris, in which Britain recognizes the independence of its 13 former American colonies.
An amendment rejecting the use of critical race theory in America’s military academies may not have made it out of committee, but the spirited debate about it is revealing.
Since the Supreme Court created a right to abortion on demand in 1973, medical technology has evolved significantly to let women see that their babies are humans, worthy of legal protection.
“The Taliban has all the benefits of holding hostages without the negative aspects,” says Long War Journal editor Bill Roggio. “These Americans are trapped in Afghanistan.”
A strong connection exists between critical social justice ideology, including critical race theory, and a rising tide of antisemitism around the globe, a new report says.
EWTN’s Owen Jensen asks the White House press secretary why President Biden supports abortion when “his own Catholic faith” teaches that the procedure is morally wrong.
Like the Taliban, which refused to abide by a commitment to reduce attacks and break ties with al-Qaeda, Iran’s Islamist regime repeatedly violates nuclear nonproliferation commitments.
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3.) DAYBREAK
Your First Look at Today’s Top Stories – Daybreak Insider
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State Department Spokesman Refuses to Say How Many Legal Permanent Residents are Trapped in Afghanistan
Associated Press correspondent Matt Lee grilled State Department spokesman Ned Price. From the story: “…a lot of them feel like they frankly got screwed here and that they were lied to,” Lee continued, “because they had been told by people on the [State Department’s Afghanistan] task force … that we know where you are, we’re not going to let you – we’re not going to strand you, don’t worry, stay tight – hold tight. And now, what do they do? I mean, are you in touch also with the green card holders?” Price answered that that “we absolutely did and continue to message lawful permanent residents.” “How many?” asked Lee, to which Price eventually acknowledged that “we’re just not able at present to give you a firm figure as to how many LPRs may be in Afghanistan who wish to leave … If there is an LPR in Afghanistan who indicated a desire to leave before or who changes his or her mind in the coming days, weeks, months, or beyond, we will help that person. We will help that person depart Afghanistan” (NY Post). From Hugh Hewitt: It is a scandal that the American people do not have a MINIMUM NUMBER for citizens and green card holders abandoned in Afghanistan. @POTUS knows. @SecBlinken knows. We should know. Not the details that endanger people. But the minimum scope of this crisis (Twitter).
2.
Teacher Removed for Making Students Pledge Allegiance to Gay Pride Flag
The California teacher was put on “administrative leave” (Washington Times). From Michael Knowles: Removal is a good start, but she needs to be fired (Twitter). After all, a teacher who posted the Antifa flag in his classroom was fired (Washington Examiner).
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3.
Texas Abortion Law Already Saving Lives
I believe this ABC News story’s intent is to sound ominous, but it’s truly heartwarming: “A day after the nation’s most restrictive anti-abortion law went into effect, doctors and advocates reported a steep decline in abortions across Texas. Houston provider Dr. Bhavik Kumar said he normally performs between 20 to 30 abortions a day. Since the new law, he said he’s only seen six patients — and was forced to turn half of them away” (ABC News). The Wall Street Journal editorial board does not believe the law will be upheld (WSJ). A look at why Roe v. Wade is bad law (National Review).
4.
U.S. Media Begins to Pivot Away from Afghanistan Story
From Jim Geraghty: “…the people with the loudest voices in the national media clearly have concluded that the past two weeks have been enough. Keeping our attention on Afghanistan, and watching the Taliban’s brutal rule of death, might make our national shame intolerable. So it’s time to go back to familiar stories about how bad Jim Jordan is and Joe Rogan is Texas pro-lifers and gun owners are. The mostly urban and blue-state audience for these news organizations like hearing how much more sophisticated and morally superior they are to Republicans.” He then looks at many of the disturbing stories much of the media is now ignoring (National Review). More stories on the effort to escape the Taliban (Washington Examiner, New York Post). From Peggy Noonan: The president’s people think this will all just go away and are understandably trying to change the subject. But the essence of the story will linger. Its reverberations will play out for years. There are Americans and American friends behind Taliban lines. The stories will roll out in infuriating, sometimes heartbreaking ways. The damage to the president is different and deeper than his people think, because it hit at his reputational core, at how people understand him. His supporters have long seen him as soft-natured, moderate—a sentimental man famous for feeling and showing empathy. But nothing about this fiasco suggested kindliness or an interest in the feelings of others. It feels less like a blunder than the exposure of a seamy side. Does he listen to anyone? Does he have any people of independent weight and stature around him, or are they merely staffers who approach him with gratitude and deference? (WSJ). The RNC put out a video of Afghanistan veterans (Townhall).
5.
Crenshaw: America No Longer Safe After Biden Pullout
From the Texas congressman: “We had networks in place, and we were doing intelligence collections prior to, and we had people on the ground forward stage so they could actually do those missions. We have no ability to do that anymore. We have no ability to keep Americans safe.”
Democrat Joe Manchin Puts a Halt to $3.5 Trillion Spending
From the story: Senator Joe Manchin is demanding a “strategic pause” in action on President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, potentially imperiling the $3.5 trillion tax and spending package that Democratic leaders plan to push through Congress this fall. The West Virginia Democrat, a linchpin vote in the evenly divided Senate, said at an event in his home state on Wednesday and in a Thursday Wall Street Journal op-ed that rising inflation and a soaring national debt necessitate a go-slow approach and a “significantly” smaller plan than the one Democratic leaders and the White House have endorsed (Bloomberg). From Manchin’s op-ed: The nation faces an unprecedented array of challenges and will inevitably encounter additional crises in the future. Yet some in Congress have a strange belief there is an infinite supply of money to deal with any current or future crisis, and that spending trillions upon trillions will have no negative consequence for the future. I disagree (WSJ).
7.
Left-Wing Writer Warns Democrats that Abortion Isn’t the Winner They Think It Is
And this is from a writer who starts by calling the Texas law “a draconian, constitutionally bizarre abortion law” and sees the entire pro-life movement as an insincere sham.
Pelosi Vows to Pass Legislation Allowing Abortion for All Nine Months of Pregnancy
From the story: The bill, if enacted, would establish a federal right to abortion through all nine months of pregnancy if a single doctor asserted the abortion was necessary to protect the mental and emotional health of a woman seeking an abortion (National Review). From whomever is being Joe Biden on Twitter: The Supreme Court’s overnight ruling is an unprecedented assault on constitutional rights and requires an immediate response. We will launch a whole-of-government effort to respond, looking at what steps we can take to ensure that Texans have access to safe and legal abortions (Twitter).
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9.
CDC Upcoming Report: Kids Still Not Struggling with COVID
From the story: As far as the CDC can tell, says Walensky, kids aren’t getting sicker. The share ending up in the hospital in the Delta era apparently isn’t much different from the share pre-Delta. If you’re a mom or dad, you can breathe easier about in-class instruction this fall. We’ll have the data tomorrow. The flip side of that good news, though, is the bad news that many more kids are being infected by the hyper-contagious new variant just as many more adults are. Which means, even though the share of children needing hospital care hasn’t increased since spring, the raw number of kids needing it has increased.
Nothing about Hong Kong, of course. You choose between the Marxist “Black Lives Matter” and any of the following: End Racism, Stop Hate, Inspire Change, Say Their Stories, It Takes All of Us.
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Markets: A report showing the lowest number of jobless claims since the pandemic began helped boost the S&P and the Nasdaq to record highs. Spotify stock benefitted from Apple’s loosening of its App Store rules.
Economy: It’s jobs report day . Economists expect job growth to have slowed down from the previous two months, but still to come in at a solid 725,000 jobs added in August.
A week of wild weather is putting more pressure on US lawmakers to upgrade the country’s infrastructure so that our future commutes don’t require a canoe.
Hurricane Ida left 1 million Louisiana households and businesses without power earlier in the week, then on Wednesday dumped its leftovers on the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast. At least 43 people were killed by Ida’s remnants, which brought record rainfall and flooding to the region.
To get a sense of how much water fell on NYC Wednesday night: In one hour, the city received nearly as much rain (3.15 inches) as Chicago typically gets in the entire month of September.
Climate change is causing once-infrequent extreme weather events to become more common, according to the IPCC’s major report from last month. But the US’ current infrastructure doesn’t appear to be up to the challenge.
Massive amounts of water rushed into some NYC subway stations on Wednesday—the third time the city’s subways have flooded this summer alone. Service was suspended and was slowly resuming by yesterday afternoon.
Meanwhile, in Louisiana, the extensive power outages caused by Ida have sparked criticism of the state’s electric grid, most of which dates back to the ’50s and ’60s.
And we haven’t even mentioned the fires blazing out West, which are also exposing the weaknesses of California’s grid.
Isn’t there an infrastructure bill in the works? Yep, a bipartisan plan passed the Senate this summer. It contains $46 billion for building resilience against disasters, and advocates say the bill is crucial to beef up the US’ climate defenses.
For evidence that government spending can meaningfully help avoid catastrophe, they point to the $14.5 billion hurricane defense system built around New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The new levees successfully fended off the worst of Ida on Sunday.
Looking ahead…the House plans to vote on the infrastructure bill by September 27, though both Republicans and progressive Democrats, for very different reasons, have objections to it that could slow the process down. – NF
Marvel is introducing its first Asian superhero to its cinematic universe today. But while Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is debuting in US theaters, the movie that Marvel expects to resonate most with Chinese viewers…may not be released in China at all.
What happened: All foreign movies face censorship when entering the Chinese market, and Marvel has edited previous movies to comply with the rules there. But Shang-Chi, which Chinese authorities have blocked from appearing in theaters thus far, is facing backlash in China over a character in the comic books called Dr. Fu Manchu, Shang-Chi’s father and an embodiment of popular anti-Asian stereotypes.
“Fu Manchu is not in this movie, is not Shang-Chi’s father, and again, is not even a Marvel character, and hasn’t been for decades,” Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige argued. Marvel replaced the character with Iron Man’s archenemy, the Mandarin.
Feige is frustrated because lots of $$$ is being left on the table in China. China was the second-largest box office in the world before the pandemic, and Chinese moviegoers are big Marvel fans: 22% of ticket sales for 2019’s Avengers: Endgame came from China.
Bottom line: Shang-Chi isn’t the only upcoming Marvel film having trouble getting past the bouncer in China. Spider-Man: No Way Home and Eternals also don’t have Chinese release dates yet. – SQ
Thanks to a heated labor battle, the Triscuit supply could run drier than the actual cracker. Grocery stores are stocking up on Nabisco treats because of a production slowdown at bakeries and distribution facilities around the country.
Why is production slowing down? On August 10, about 200 employees at a Nabisco bakery in Oregon put down whatever makes Ritz crackers so buttery and went on strike. Since then, workers in four other states have joined them.
What do they want? Workers want their pensions back after the company switched to a 401(k) plan in 2018. They’re also angry about a July proposal from Mondelez International, Nabisco’s parent company, that would increase shift length but cut overtime pay.
Employees have also expressed concerns about the company’s outsourcing of work to Mexico after two recent factory closures in the US.
Mondelez has denied those claims and said that, while it is moving some workers to 12-hour shifts to handle the recent spike in demand, employees are well compensated.
Zoom out: Workers have been gaining leverage in a labor market where qualified employees are hard to find. This Nabisco standoff will test the limits of that resurgent power. – MM
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Stat: Sales of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the marketplace OpenSea hit $3 billion in August, up more than 10x the total of the previous month. The explosion indicates that, at least this summer, younger retail investors have left mainstream cryptocurrencies like bitcoin to the boomers.
Quote: “I would prefer to stay out of politics.”
Elon Musk, a Texas resident with a number of business ventures in the state, wouldn’t weigh in on Texas’s new law that bans the vast majority of abortions. Musk isn’t always mum on political matters—he called California’s stay-at-home orders for Covid-19 “fascist” in Tesla’s Q1 2020 earnings call.
Walmart is bumping up hourly wages for 565,000+ employees by at least $1 to help retain its workforce ahead of the holiday season.
Today in chip shortages: Ford’s US sales declined 33% in August, Tesla temporarily stopped production in China last month, and GM is idling more North American plants.
WhatsApp was fined ~$270 million by the EU for privacy violations. It is the second-largest fine handed out under Europe’s GDPR privacy law.
Virgin Galactic flights have been grounded by the FAA while the regulator investigates a deviation from the flight plan during the company’s July 11 mission.
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If you’re turning this long weekend into an even longer weekend, let us take something off your Friday to-do list and offer a few well-crafted OOO messages. This first one is from our colleague, Blake Solomon:
Hey friend,
I’m currently enjoying some well-earned PTO. I’ll be blissfully offline from [dates of PTO]. If something urgent comes up you can reach out to [emergency contact name/email]. But as for me, I am most likely enjoying an ice cream sundae while looking out the window (feel free to make this your own as well!). I’ll get in touch with you as soon as I’m well-rested and back online.
Thanks!
[Name]
If you’d like something a little…spicier, don’t worry, we’ve got even more OOO messages here.
Name a car brand. Write it in all capital letters. Rotate one of the letters 90 degrees and another letter 180 degrees to make a woman’s name. What is it?
New Jersey. Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted that of the 23 deaths in his state, most were people who “got caught in their vehicles by flooding and were overtaken by the water.” Murphy said the White House offered support in the recovery effort, adding that he informed Biden “that I will request an expedited Major Disaster Declaration today.”
…
A record 3.15 inches of rain fell in Central Park in New York City in one hour, according to the National Weather Service. That amount surpasses the 1.94 inches that fell in one hour last month during Tropical Storm Henri, which was thought then to be the most ever recorded in the park.
…
“That says to me that there are no more cataclysmic, unforeseeable events,” [New York Gov. Kathy Hochul] said. “We need to foresee these in advance and be prepared.” In addition to strong winds, many of the most dangerous storms in recent years have brought tremendous amounts of rain – creating new threats to infrastructure and people who live far from the coast.
Why is China banning effeminate men from television?
China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) has said it will ban “effeminate” aesthetics in entertainment shows and that “vulgar influencers” should be avoided. The televisio…
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How did the world phase out the use of leaded gasoline?
On August 30, the UN announced Algeria’s last reserves of leaded gasoline had officially been emptied in July 2021. Leaded gasoline has been banned in the United States for decades, but les…
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Context: Apple partners with the TSA and select states to have digital versions of driver’s licenses.
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Biden’s post-Ida promises to Gulf Coast ring hollow after Afghanistan disaster, Mark Meadows says
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Thursday questioned President Biden’s promise not to leave Hurricane Ida survivors behind, comparing it to Biden’s promise to evacuate Americans stranded in Afghanistan.
“Joe Biden just told hurricane survivors they ‘won’t be left behind,’ which would be comforting words had he not just said the exact same thing last week, and then turned his back-leaving hundreds of Americans behind in Afghanistan,” Meadows tweeted. “Then and now. Biden’s words are empty.”
Meadows’ comments came ahead of Biden’s scheduled visit to Louisiana on Friday to view the hurricane’s impact on the region.
Biden was heavily criticized for his chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan that ultimately failed to evacuate every American from the country, despite multiple promises from the administration that those who wanted to leave would be evacuated by the U.S. military.
Biden spoke directly to Americans in the Gulf Coast, where Hurricane Ida first made landfall, in a statement Thursday.
“My message to the people of the Gulf Coast, who I’m going to visit [Friday]: We are here for you,” Biden said. “And we’re making sure the response and recovery is equitable so that those hit hardest get the resources they need and are not left behind.” CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON OUR TOP STORY.
In other developments:
– Biden to visit Hurricane Ida devastation in Louisiana on Friday
– Ida’s aftermath: Swollen rivers threaten new flooding in parts of Northeast as storms kill dozens
– Ida aftermath: Power outages in Louisiana, Mississippi persist for a fourth day
– Biden to visit Hurricane Ida devastation in Louisiana on Friday
– US loans Exxon refinery oil from emergency reserve in Ida’s wake
BREAKING NEWS: New Zealand authorities say Islamic terrorist stabbed 6 at supermarket; suspect dead
Washington politics ‘has literally killed Americans,’ Richard Grenell says
Former Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell claimed Thursday that the Biden administration was trying to “spin” the facts regarding Afghanistan, portraying the rescue of 90% of Americans, instead of 100%, as a success.
Grenell shared his observations with guest host Tammy Bruce on “Fox News Primetime.”
“I am not surprised that Washington, D.C., is lying to us again,” he said. “Unfortunately, Tammy, we have a situation where Washington, D.C.’s politics has literally killed Americans. And while this can go on in Washington, and those in Washington can paper it over and try to spin that they got 90% of Americans out of Afghanistan, the rest of us outside of Washington are saying we have never seen a situation where Washington, D.C., politicians are proud of 90%.
“What we hear, what the rest of us hear is that ‘You left 10% of the people in Afghanistan and you’re trying to spin this’. I really never thought that I would see this moment come.”
Grenell, who served under former President Donald Trump, said U.S. intelligence officers were now “leaking [to the press] against Democrats” – remarking that the intel bureaucracy usually leaks exclusively to the detriment of Republican administrations. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
In other developments:
– Tammy Bruce exposes Biden presidency failures: His lies ‘get people murdered’
– US military escape from Afghanistan: Air Force crews describe ‘apocalyptic’ final scenes
– White House says there are ‘active’ ISIS threats in Afghanistan, as ‘closer to 100’ Americans remain
– Hannity: OSAC alert shows State Department leaving Americans ‘hostage’ to Taliban
Pelosi hears from GOP as Dem bill directs $200M to park in her San Francisco district
Republicans cried foul this week over $200 million earmarked in the House Democrats’ massive $3.5 trillion budget resolution for the Presidio Park in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco district, according to reports.
“Their deficit spending proposals saddle future generations with insurmountable debt in order to give Nancy Pelosi things like a $200 million earmark,” Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, said Thursday while the committee began marking up the bill, according to the Washington Times.
The Presidio is a 1,500-acre national historic park that sits on the San Francisco Peninsula. Drivers see the park as they enter San Francisco from Marin County via the Golden Gate Bridge.
Pelosi helped build support to create the Presidio Trust when the park transitioned from a military installation in the 1990s.
The speaker is also known to frequent the park herself.
“I’m a regular at the Presidio,” she told the Nob Hill Gazette in an interview published this week. “It’s just so beautiful to walk and see the bridge and then walk back and see the City.” CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
In other developments:
– Manchin tells Dems to ‘hit the pause button’ on $3.5T spending plan
– Newt Gingrich: Bernie Sanders’ $3.5 trillion big government bill and a prediction
– 14 Dems break ranks, sign onto GOP measure to increase defense spending by nearly $25B
– GOP’s critical race theory amendments for defense bill voted down by Dem-led House Armed Services Committee
TODAY’S MUST-READS:
-Candace Owens denied medical treatment as Colorado lab cancels COVID test appointment
– New Orleans 911 operator sought after deliberately disconnecting calls, police say
– California superintendent not sure Antifa teacher had been reported before Project Veritas exposed him
– ISIS ‘Beatles’ member pleads guilty, faces life in prison
– CJ Stroud’s four TDs help Ohio State in win over Minnesota
THE LATEST FROM FOX BUSINESS:
– Amazon to proactively remove more content that violates rules from cloud service -sources
– General Motors is temporarily pausing production at eight US factories
– August hiring may have slowed due to delta variant
– Gun maker grapples with low inventory amid record sales
– High-profile FDA resignations cause a ‘mess’ for Biden amid vaccine debate
Roice McCollum and Jim McCollum, the sister and father of Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum who was killed in the Aug. 26 attack on Kabul’s airport, joined “Hannity” on Thursday to express their sorrow and explain why they decided against meeting with President Biden.
“Everything he has done was completely wrong,” Jim McCollum said. “We had opportunities to do this the right way and we absolutely failed miserably as an administration.”
The Gold Star father said Biden White House “couldn’t have picked a worse way” to go about ending the 20-year Afghanistan war.
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Democrat run Los Angeles County and the State of California were both humiliated by Grace Community Church and it’s pastor John MacArthur. On Tuesday the Democrat run county Board of… Read more…
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11.) AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE
AEI’s daily publication of independent research, insightful analysis, and scholarly debate.
Suggesting that racial affinity spaces are an evidence-based practice is simply irresponsible — and does grave violence to the meaning of “evidence-based.”
Under the budget resolution congressional Democrats recently approved, federal spending across core family policies and the broader social safety net would increase by 72 percent, or about $220 billion per year, over pre-pandemic spending levels.
The Taliban’s ideological beliefs align closely with Salafi-jihadi groups that use violence to advance their aim of enforcing a fundamentalist understanding of Islam.
Smart Brevity™ count: 1,194 words … 4½ minutes. Edited by Zachary Basu, who’s becoming a national-security reporter after an epic run as newsdesk virtuoso.
🇯🇵 Breaking: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, whose support dwindled during an unpopular COVID response, will step down. The succession race is wide open. (Reuters)
1 big thing: Biden wants abortion fight
An anti-abortion demonstrator kneels before a line of volunteer clinic escorts in Louisville in May. Photo: Jon Cherry/Getty Images
President Biden is eager for a fight over abortion — an issue he sees as politically advantageous after the conservative Supreme Court left in place the near-ban in Texas, senior officials tell Axios.
Why it matters: The Supreme Court appears to be barreling toward giving red states significantly more power to restrict women’s access to abortions.
State of play: The White House sees abortion as a potent issue ahead of next year’s midterms, with Biden under huge pressure on Afghanistan, inflation, crime and the border, Axios’ Sam Baker, Jonathan Swan and Alayna Treene report.
The Texas law, SB8, allows strangers to sue doctors, nurses, or even Uber drivers — anyone who performs or facilitates an abortion.
“I want to see the GOP defend the idea that your nosy neighbor can sue your aunt for driving you to the hospital,” a senior White House aide told Axios.
Biden announced “a whole-of-government effort to respond to this decision,” including his new Gender Policy Council, the White House counsel’s office, HHS and the Justice Department.
Story continues below.
2. Part 2: All three branches of government engage on abortion
Data: Axios research. Map: Sara Wise/Axios
The White House wants to elevate the Texas abortion case even though aides know a high-profile fight over abortion rights will also energize Republicans.
That’s because Democrats say the sheer sweep of Texas’ law, and the highly unusual way it’s written, make it a juicy political target.
Democrats think the issue will especially help them with suburban voters, who hold the key to the House majority.
“This is a massive political gift to Democrats,” a senior House Democratic aide said.
Reality check: On the actual issue of abortion, Dems are losing.
They’re unlikely to stop this trajectory, no matter how well they do in midterms.
What’s next: A more straightforward abortion case — a Mississippi case that’s a likely vehicle for the conservative court to chip away at Roe — is teed up for the term that begins next month.
The other side: “I would be careful if I were them,” said an influential conservative legal figure, referring to Democrats.
“The Texas law makes the Mississippi law look very reasonable,” the conservative said. “The more play the Texas law gets, the easier it is to uphold Mississippi. Because the Mississippi law is no longer the end of the world.”
🚨 Breaking:Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he might support a law that bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, much like the Texas law. The details.
Go deeper: The next states that could pass abortion bans after Texas (our Axios PM lead), by Oriana González and Sara Wise.
3. Our COVID funk
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
The pandemic isn’t over, but Americans are over the pandemic:
COVID fatigue is showing up in declining willingness to cooperate with public health guidance, Axios health care editor Tina Reed writes.
The share of Americans who feel hopeful has plummeted to 34%, from 48% in March, according to the Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index.
But the number of Americans saying they feel motivated, energized, inspired or resilient has risen at least as much — suggesting we’re resolving to do what it takes for the long haul.
“The news gods just do this to us sometimes — they give us too much to handle,” Rachel Maddow said on MSNBC.
“I think they enjoy it. Too much to handle, too much to follow, too much to absorb — certainly too much to report on in any sort of orderly fashion.”
5. America’s climate collision
Headstones at a flooded cemetery in Somerville, N.J. Photo: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP
President Biden, who visits Louisiana today, connected the dots on America’s simultaneous climate calamities:
“The past few days of Hurricane Ida and the wildfires in the West and the unprecedented flash floods in New York and New Jersey is yet another reminder that … the climate … crisis [is] here.”
The big picture: “Disasters cascading across the country this summer have exposed a harsh reality,” The New York Times reports (subscription).
“The United States is not ready for the extreme weather that is now becoming frequent as a result of a warming planet.”
Cars and trucks are stranded by high water on the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx. Photo: Craig Ruttle/AP
The latest: At least 46 people were killed from Maryland to Connecticut when Ida’s remnants hit the Northeast on Wednesday night and Thursday morning — 40 of them in their homes and cars.
Of the 13 people killed in New York City, 11 were in basements, per The Times.
Satellite image: Maxar Technologies via AP
Shortwave infrared satellite view of fire line near Sierra at Tahoe ski resort yesterday.
6. Sneak peek: Fall tech launches
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
The centerpieces of fall’s new-hardware season are new iPhones, Windows 11 PCs and other devices from Facebook, Amazon and Google, Axios’ Ina Fried writes from San Francisco in her column, “Signal Boost.”
But to see where tech is moving next, pay attention to the market’s edges — niche products and surprise debuts that represent experiments and long bets.
👓 Here’s what we’re watching:
Apple is expected to launch the next iPhone at an event some time this month, though this is unlikely to be a year in which the smartphone gets a major overhaul.
Microsoft is launching Windows 11 on Oct. 5 — the biggest change in years for the venerable operating system.
Facebook has promised new hardware this fall, including smart glasses it developed in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, maker of Ray-Ban.
Amazon always has a slew of new hardware in the fall, and often drops in experimental hardware launches with the mainstream fare.
Google has promised a Pixel 6 launch that will be the first to use the company’s internally designed Tensor processor.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a constitutional law professor who was House manager for President Trump’s second impeachment trial, will be out with a memoir Jan. 4 — two days before the anniversary of the Capitol riot.
Raskin says he wrote “Unthinkable“ as a way “to make sense of two traumatic events in my life, the shattering loss of our son Tommy to depression on the last day of 2020 and, one week later, the bloody … insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.”
“This book is a labor of love written to capture the dazzling life of a brilliant young man in crisis, who we lost forever, and the struggle to defend a beautiful nation in crisis, a democracy that we still have the chance to save,” Raskin says in a statement from Harper, the publisher.
8. 🎤 Comebacks: First album in 40 years
ABBA in 1979. Photo: Ron Frehm/AP
Swedish supergroup ABBA is releasing its first new music in four decades, along with a concert performance that will see the “Dancing Queen” quartet go entirely digital, AP reports.
The forthcoming album — “Voyage,” dropping Nov. 5 — is a follow-up to 1981’s “The Visitors.” A virtual version of the band will begin a series of concerts in London on May 27.
“We took a break in the spring of 1982 and now we’ve decided it’s time to end it,” ABBA said in a statement.
President Biden’s approval ratings are sinking. Independent voters are against him. Republicans are gaining on Democrats in the congressional generic ballot. GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin is within striking distance in the Virginia governor’s race. There’s even a dwindling chance that California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom might be replaced by a conservative Republican in September’s recall election. Democrats are already worried about next year’s midterm elections. “Democrats are clear-eyed that the ’22 midterms are going to be tough,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D., Mass.) told the Washington Post last week. “We’ve got the historical precedent of midterms for a first-term president provoking a backlash.” [READ MORE]
An Oregon House Democrat is “concerned” about the price tag of President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion budget plan, a sentiment that could threaten the White House’s ability to deliver on a crucial piece of its domestic agenda. [READ MORE]
The right-leaning social media app Gettr is attracting international users, including Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, the populist agitator who has been described as the Donald Trump of Brazil. Bolsonaro has largely used the app to post videos of speeches, but his sons are more active, using the platform to post details of their personal lives. [READ MORE]
The Chinese ambassador to the United States warned of “disastrous consequences” for U.S.-China relations if America uses a “Cold War playbook” against China.
The Biden administration is expanding the team dedicated to renegotiating the Iran deal, just days after Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett urged the United States to back out of negotiations, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
The race for the Republican nomination for Senate in Pennsylvania is Sean Parnell’s to lose after snagging an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
Some Republican members of Congress are pushing back on Biden administration figures of Americans left behind in Afghanistan after the last U.S. troops left the country on Monday, arguing they do not give the full picture of who is stranded under Taliban rule.
President Joe Biden promised a “whole-of-government” response to Texas’s new abortion law and the Supreme Court’s decision not to block it, but Democrats are poised to be disappointed with the results.
A few Southern states appear to be turning the corner on the recent delta surge as new COVID-19 cases decline, but relief is still a long way off for overburdened hospitals.
Former President Donald Trump’s attempt “to starve refugee programs” of needed resources contributed to the abandonment of thousands of Afghan nationals who worked for the United States, according to a prominent State Department official.
The U.S. Border Patrol is asking agents and trainees to disclose if they have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, and those who have not may face significant restrictions, according to internal documents shared with the Washington Examiner.
Federal prosecutors dropped the testimony of an FBI special agent involved in the investigation of an alleged plot to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after findings he called former President Donald Trump a “piece of s***” on social media during the investigation’s course, according to a defense attorney.
A group of families who lost loved ones on 9/11 urged a U.S. government watchdog to investigate whether the FBI intentionally tried to obscure Saudi Arabia’s role in the terrorist attacks.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican, said that “we have no ability to keep Americans safe” after the Pentagon said it is “possible” the United States will work with the Taliban against ISIS-K in Afghanistan.
A nonprofit organization that provides free streaming services for broadcasting TV stations through a loophole in copyright law went dark Thursday after an adverse court ruling earlier this week.
Former President Donald Trump threw his support behind former college football star Herschel Walker, endorsing his longtime friend and political novice in the 2022 race for Senate in Georgia.
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As the coronavirus spreads, new variants continue to develop. The strains that account for the highest number of cases in Illinois are the alpha and delta variants. But now the World Health Organization has added a new variant of interest to its list: Mu.
Meanwhile, the United Center joined a growing list of places with vaccine policies. Venue officials said yesterday that the United Center will require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test for anyone coming to an event — including Bulls and Blackhawks games this season. Here are the details.
— Nicole Stock, audience editor
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.
As Labor Day weekend looms for a nation grappling with a more contagious coronavirus variant, public health officials are citing a new report on a post-spring break outbreak among University of Chicago students to discourage travel.
The report, published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, uses interviews from 140 of the 158 undergraduate students at the Hyde Park campus who were diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 15 and May 3. After spring break, which took place the last week of March, the cases had “increased rapidly” even as the university cracked down via multiple mitigation efforts — including a stay-at-home directive, the report states.
In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a Texas law that bans most abortions as early as about six weeks, before many women even know they’re pregnant. Here are four things to know about the impact the ruling and the law in Texas might have on Illinois.
Editorial: That ‘novel’ Texas abortion legislation is thoroughly un-American
A veteran Chicago police supervisor is the third city officer this week to be arrested on allegations that he used excessive force in an on-duty incident, authorities said Thursday, accusing him of shoving a flashlight between a clothed teen’s buttocks in February.
Lt. Wilfredo Roman Jr., a Chicago cop since June 2000, was charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct, both felonies.
Five dozen volunteers are participating in a Moderna vaccine study underway at Lurie Children’s Hospital, testing the safety and effectiveness of the shot in children ages 6 to 12. While much of the nation is growing impatient for a COVID-19 vaccine for younger kids, medical experts say they must take exceptional care during studies involving children, because their health is paramount.
The Chicago River was once so polluted one swath became known for bubbles that would rise up from the rotting stockyard carcasses below. Today, on sunny afternoons, you can see floating wetlands, beavers and boaters. But after a heavy rain, sewage is still sometimes dumped in the waterway, creating an environment that, for humans, can threaten a bad bout of diarrhea.
This holiday weekend, before you leave to hop in a kayak and paddle up the North Branch, or cruise south toward Bridgeport, you can check what’s in the water. Here’s how.
After touting a large-scale plan for weekly COVID-19 testing of all Chicago Public Schools students and staff this fall, district officials said Thursday that the program won’t operate at full capacity until a few weeks into the school year. Nader Issa has the full story…
No charges were filed against the 3 Norbertine order priests he accused — including a man convicted twice of sex crimes. But his death helped spur a broader investigation by Wisconsin’s attorney general.
Parents, students and educators who expected widespread testing at the start of the school year have been left frustrated by the delay and anxious about whether it would hinder early detection of case clusters developing in schools.
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi has slashed their property tax breaks and is going after seven of them for $371,000 in back taxes he says they should have paid.
Ivy Poma, who treated Franklin Fine Arts Cafeteria Manager Faye Jenkins, said she closed the head wound with skin glue and told Jenkins to take pain meds after Principal Kurt Jones threw the bottle.
The Latino Policy Forum argues that not only did Democratic mapmakers fail to increase the number of Latino-majority legislative districts in line with population growth, they actually decreased Hispanic voting power in some districts.
Banks designated as “municipal depositories” have long been accused of investing far more in majority white neighborhoods than they in communities of color. City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin is trying to change that.
Welcome to The Hill’s Morning Report. It is the Friday before Labor Day! (Adieu to a wild summer of news; get ready, because autumn won’t be tame.) We get you up to speed on the most important developments in politics and policy, plus trends to watch. Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver are the co-creators. Readers can find us on Twitter @asimendinger and @alweaver22. Please recommend the Morning Report to friends and let us know what you think. CLICK HERE to subscribe!
Total U.S. coronavirus deaths each morning this week: Monday, 637,539; Tuesday, 638,711; Wednesday, 640,108; Thursday, 642,081; Friday, 643,669.
Hurricane Ida and her stormy aftermath left at least 58 people dead nationwide, produced billions of dollars in damages stretching from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast and spawned new warnings from scientists and elected officials that climate change has increased the risks of powerful natural disasters.
The death toll as of today rose to at least 44 across four states — New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania — where high winds and flash flooding left extensive damage and at least 200,000 homes were without power days after what began as a Category 4 hurricane first made landfall far to the south (The New York Times and Reuters). The aftermath of Ida also walloped parts of Maryland, with flooding that killed one man in an apartment complex while another person remained missing (WTOP and The Baltimore Sun).
The New York Times describes some of those who died in New York and New Jersey, including people who drowned in basement apartments, after being submerged in their cars and trapped in structures ripped apart by the storm.
In Louisiana, fatalities unofficially climbed to 13 and were expected to rise. One million people lost power on Sunday in Louisiana and Mississippi, and hundreds of thousands of customers in Louisiana still have no electricity. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said 25,000 utility workers were in the state to help restore electricity, with more on the way (WDSU6). In New Orleans, power was restored to a small number of homes and businesses, city crews cleared some streets of fallen trees and debris and a few corner stores reopened. Officials declared Grand Isle, La., (seen below), where Hurricane Ida first came ashore, uninhabitable, but property owners will be allowed to survey damage and remove personal effects today and tomorrow (The Times Picayune).
If residents in some parts of Louisiana are without transportation, gasoline, cell service or money, many have been forced since Monday to either swelter outdoors or move inside to what’s left of their sodden, moldy shelters as they await help. Those who are luckier were able to evacuate early, went to stay with friends and relatives outside the state or temporarily decamped to hotels that have electricity and air conditioning.
President Biden will travel today to meet in New Orleans with Louisiana state and local officials to personally pledge all available assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal departments. Officials believe it could take weeks to restore power in Louisiana (The Hill).
Biden said at the White House Thursday that “extreme storms and the climate crisis are here,” constituting what he called “one of the great challenges of our time.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who has been in the job for nine days, said at a news conference on Thursday that Biden phoned her to offer “any assistance” as the state assesses the storm’s powerful and unexpected impact in her state. “We need to foresee these in advance, and be prepared,” she said.
Amtrak on Thursday suspended service between Boston and Washington, D.C., because of the storm damage.
In Connecticut, a veteran state trooper was found drowned on Thursday, apparently a victim while on duty of the storm’s ferocious floodwaters (News12).
Other disasters: Lake Tahoe residents are still at risk from the enormous wildfire in California, although firefighters caught a break on Thursday with lighter winds (CNN).
Afghanistan-related headlines: Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Thursday night visited wounded service members being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (The Hill). … Did Biden wear blinders about getting the United State military out of the longest war — so much so that he discounted valuable advice he received from others? It is a compelling question that The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Hannah Trudo posed to insiders: “After 40 years of foreign policy experience, I don’t want to say he’s set in his ways but trying to convince him that he’s off the marker is not easy,” one commented.
More than 40,000 Afghan refugees are scattered at sites across the globe, stuck for an indeterminate time as they await vetting by the United States (The Hill). … Green card holders and Afghan allies who said the United States promised to get them out of Afghanistan describe broken promises and failed attempts to flee (The Associated Press). … The Taliban could announce a government today. U.N. humanitarian flights into Afghanistan resumed and international money transfers have been received in banks (The Washington Post). … Qatar said it was unclear when the airport would reopen in Kabul but the watchword is “soon” (The Associated Press). … How will the Taliban rule? A look at the past offers some clues (The New York Times).
A MESSAGE FROM AT&T
AT&T is making a $2 billion, 3-year commitment to help connect communities to their American Dream
We are making a $2 billion, 3-year commitment to help connect communities to their American Dream.
Kamal Bell, Founder of Sankofa Farms
LEADING THE DAY
POLITICS: Washington on Thursday became embroiled in a branch-off (if you will) as the executive and legislative fired back at the Supreme Court mere hours after its five most conservative jurists allowed the Texas “heartbeat” statute to stand late on Wednesday.
Biden on Thursday announced that he is directing his administration to look into ways to protect access to abortion for women in Texas following the court’s ruling. He added that the 5-4 decision is an “unprecedented assault” on a woman’s right to an abortion under the Roe v. Wade precedent, warning it will result in harmful consequences for millions of women.
“By allowing a law to go into effect that empowers private citizens in Texas to sue health care providers, family members supporting a woman exercising her right to choose after six weeks, or even a friend who drives her to a hospital or clinic, it unleashes unconstitutional chaos and empowers self-anointed enforcers to have devastating impacts,” Biden said in a statement.
“Rather than use its supreme authority to ensure justice could be fairly sought, the highest Court of our land will allow millions of women in Texas in need of critical reproductive care to suffer while courts sift through procedural complexities,” he added (The Hill).
On Capitol Hill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that the lower chamber will vote on legislation once it returns to Washington on Sept. 20 by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) that would statutorily protect a person’s ability to seek an abortion and for health care providers to provide abortion services. Pelosi called the Texas statute “a flagrantly unconstitutional assault on women’s rights and health” and a “catastrophe.”
“This ban necessitates codifying Roe v. Wade,” Pelosi said, referring to the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling.
Assuming the House passes the codifying measure, the bill would die quickly in the 50-50 Senate, with Democrats needing 10 Senate Republicans to cross party lines to do so — something that has zero percent chance of happening.
The Washington Post: Texas abortion law abruptly reshapes the political landscape.
Axios: Democrats’ next moves after a stunning SCOTUS loss on abortion.
Put simply, this would set up a political battle over Roe v. Wade in the 2022 midterm elections, with Democrats believing that a defeat of the 48-year-old ruling would give the party another tool in its push to retain both congressional majorities.
“It’s too early to say if it is ‘the issue,’ but there is a reason Washington Republicans want nothing to do with this: Americans overwhelmingly believe folks in need should be able to get an abortion,” Cole Leiter, who served as communications director for the House Democratic campaign arm in the 2020 cycle, told the Morning Report. “When you attack that fundamental and established right you piss them off and remind them how much their health is at risk.”
“Pissed off people vote, and they’re not confused about who pissed them off,” Leiter added.
As Niall Stanage writes in his latest Memo, while public opinion on the hot-button issue has not conclusively shifted left over time in the same way other issues have (such as same-sex marriage), a consistent majority has favored preserving Roe v Wade.
Fox News: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Democrats renew push to pack Supreme Court after Texas abortion ruling.
IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES
CONGRESS: Democratic and progressive hopes to pass a massive $3.5 trillion reconciliation package hit a major speedbump on Thursday as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) (pictured below) called on party leaders to hit the “pause” button and poured cold water on the possibility of supporting a bill of that size and scope.
In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, the West Virginia centrist questioned the price tag of the proposal and the effect a package that immense could have on inflation, an issue Manchin has raised in Senate Democratic conference meetings. He added that his colleagues should slow down the process of passing the bill, which is considered the cornerstone of the Biden agenda (The Washington Post).
“Instead of rushing to spend trillions on new government programs and additional stimulus funding, Congress should hit a strategic pause on the budget-reconciliation legislation,” Manchin wrote. “A pause is warranted because it will provide more clarity on the trajectory of the pandemic, and it will allow us to determine whether inflation is transitory or not.”
“While some have suggested this reconciliation legislation must be passed now, I believe that making budgetary decisions under artificial political deadlines never leads to good policy or sound decisions,” Manchin continued. “I have always said if I can’t explain it, I can’t vote for it, and I can’t explain why my Democratic colleagues are rushing to spend $3.5 trillion.”
As The Hill’s Jordain Carney writes, the planned package is expected to include a number of top priorities of the majority party, including an expansion of Medicare, immigration reform and monies to combat climate change. Manchin can single-handedly hold up passage of any bill as Senate Democrats will need all 50 members to vote in a bloc for it to reach Biden’s desk.
The timing of Manchin’s comments also complicates matters for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). The Democratic leader has given Senate panels until Sept. 15 to finalize their portions of the $3.5 trillion blueprint so that they could start socializing the bill with conference members.
The Hill: Progressives hit Manchin after he tells colleagues to “pause” on Biden’s $3.5 trillion plan.
The Washington Post: White House joins push to beef up pandemic prevention funding amid worries Congress will shortchange the effort.
Politico: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) phone records are among those eyed for preservation by the House Jan. 6 investigators.
The Associated Press: Democrats promote Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) to vice chairwoman of Jan. 6 panel.
The Washington Post: “QAnon Shaman,” face of pro-Trump Capitol riot, to plead guilty.
CORONAVIRUS: Despite rising U.S. COVID-19 cases driven by the delta variant last week, weekly applications for jobless benefits hit a new post-lockdown low, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department. As The Hill’s Sylvan Lane reports, the continued decline of new weekly applications for unemployment benefits suggests that the delta surge has not led to widespread layoffs — a glimmer of good news about August’s trendline ahead of the government’s monthly nonfarm payroll report to be released this morning.
However, private-sector job creation in August fell short of analysts’ expectations, according to ADP data. The big picture remains that both ADP and Labor Department job reports show a big increase in private-sector employment since May — more than 2 million new jobs, according to MarketWatch.
> Vaccine booster shots: The Biden administration has a plan to begin offering booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines to adults after Sept. 20, recommending Americans get refresher doses about eight months after their last shots on the theory that the antibody shield built up against the virus in vaccinated adults has begun to ebb.
The debate about whether the available science supports the government’s booster plan rages inside the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Two experienced and influential FDA vaccine regulators decided to resign this fall (The Hill). For an administration that pledged to follow the consensus recommendations of top scientific experts while responding to the pandemic, discord within agencies complicates trust and sows public confusion at a time when the government is working to increase the number of Americans rolling up their sleeves for first doses of vaccines.
The Washington Post: The FDA plans to meet publicly on Sept. 17 with outside advisers about boosters, just days before the government’s rollout of a plan for additional doses.
CNBC: Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speculated as an immunologist (“I would not at all be surprised”) that the recommended vaccine regime eventually becomes three doses, period.
And speaking of scientific research, COVID-19 vaccines cut the risk in half of a debilitating condition called “long COVID” or “long-haul” recovery in infected patients, according to a major new study published Wednesday in the Lancet (USA Today). One of the cautionary tales about people who survive COVID-19 infection is how often they sustain serious kidney damage that can produce lifetime impairment (The New York Times).
> Variants: We heard about alpha, lambda, learned to fear delta as the dominant U.S. strain of the virus, and are now told that the COVID-19 variant known as “mu” is not an “immediate threat” (The Washington Post).
> Employers & employees: What can employers do if workers avoid COVID-19 vaccines? It’s legal for businesses to require the shots and they could fire employees who don’t comply. They can ask employees to disclose their vaccination status. They can impose higher insurance surcharges on employees who are unvaccinated, compel weekly COVID-19 testing, and impose different workspace requirements on unvaccinated workers (The Associated Press). Federal employees can be fired if they lie to their bosses about being vaccinated (Government Executive).
> State watch & COVID-19: The New York state legislature on Wednesday extended the state’s residential and commercial eviction protections and foreclosure protections through the end of 2021 with the pandemic in mind and COVID-19 cases surging. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed the extensions on Thursday (The Hill).
New York City subway posters, sporting logos from the CDC and Health and Human Services, vividly admonish Gotham’s residents to wear masks and get vaccinated (pictured below).
> International developments: The European Union said countries in the bloc will return millions of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine doses it received from a plant in South Africa, following criticism by health activists that the EU removed doses from a continent that has the lowest immunization rate in the world (The Wall Street Journal).
OPINION
The Supreme Court aids and abets Texas in violating women’s constitutional rights, by Ruth Marcus, columnist, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3t8eEsa
Supreme Court gets it right on Texas abortion law, by The Editors at National Review. https://bit.ly/2WQ5HYg
A MESSAGE FROM AT&T
WHERE AND WHEN
The House will meet at noon for a pro forma session. The full House will not be active until Sept. 20.
TheSenate convenes at 1:30 a.m. for a pro forma session. Senators are expected back in Washington on Sept. 13.
The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief at 9 a.m. Biden will deliver remarks about U.S. employment data in August at 10 a.m. The president will then travel to New Orleans to receive a briefing from local officials at 1:15 p.m., tour a part of LaPlace, La., at 2:45 p.m., and survey damage from Hurricane Ida from the air, including Grand Isle, at 3:55 p.m. The president will meet with leaders from impacted communities at 5 p.m. Biden will depart New Orleans at 6:10 p.m. and fly to Philadelphia to make his way to his home in Wilmington, Del., after 10 p.m.
The Labor Department at 8:30 a.m. will report on U.S. employment in August. Analysts anticipate that employers added jobs at a brisk clip as parts of the economy, including hospitality and travel, continue to rebound during the pandemic.
➔ TECH: Does Apple Inc.’s Siri violate users’ privacy? A federal judge on Thursday said a lawsuit can go forward on that question (Bloomberg News). … The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it is investigating whether Richard Branson’s recent test flight to the edge of space aboard his Virgin Galactic rocket-powered plane veered off course during its descent. The company confirmed the plane’s trajectory “changed” but said it was controlled and intentional (New Yorker and CNN Business). … WhatsApp on Thursday was fined roughly $267 million by a privacy watchdog in Ireland due to alleged violations of the European Union’s data privacy rules, the largest penalty issued yet by the group since the strict 2018 regulations took effect (The Hill).
➔ INTERNATIONAL: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced on Friday that he will not run for reelection as party leader at the end of the month, bringing his time atop the nation to an end after a year. Suga, 72, said he will not be a candidate to head the Liberal Democratic Party, long the party in power, later this month, with parliamentary elections set to be held by Nov. 28 (The Wall Street Journal). … The Russian state communications watchdog called on Apple and Google Thursday to remove an app spawned by allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny from their stores, or face fines if they decide not to. Roskomnadzor, the agency, told the two tech behemoths that a decision not to remove the app created by supporters of the jailed political figure would be construed as interference in Russian elections. The app promotes Navalny’s push to back candidates who are most likely to defeat political figures from the Kremlin’s main United Russia party (The Associated Press).
THE CLOSER
And finally … 👏👑👏👑👏 Applause galore for Morning Report Quiz winners! We made Princess Diana our puzzle theme this week because Tuesday marked the 24th anniversary of her death.
These readers recalled or Googled some A+ royal trivia to take their bows in the winner’s circle: Patrick Kavanagh, Mary Anne McEnery, Richard Baznik, Jaina Mehta, Eden Infante, Dylan Way, John Donato, Joan Domingues, Randall S. Patrick, Amanda Fisher, Richard Beal, Ricca Slone, Zoë Walker, Candi Cee, Mari Rusch, Michel Romage, Grace Siler, Steve James, Amy Condit, Joe Erdmann, Elisabeth Morrissey and Lesa Davis.
They knew that Diana’s sons William and Harry in July unveiled an outdoor sculpture at Kensington Palace to honor their late mother.
“Diana The Musical” heads to Broadway in November.
At a 1985 White House event, 24-year-old Princess Diana accepted actor John Travolta’s invitation to dance, an experience he later described as “a storybook moment.” ★ Almost every one of our puzzlers knew exactly which actor caused a stir on the dance floor that night. The suggestion to ask the princess, Travolta said, had been former first lady Nancy Reagan’s. The images live on.
The Morning Report is created by journalists Alexis Simendinger and Al Weaver. We want to hear from you! Email: asimendinger@thehill.com and aweaver@thehill.com. We invite you to share The Hill’s reporting and newsletters, and encourage others to SUBSCRIBE!
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POLITICO Playbook: It’s Bernie vs. Pelosi on reconciliation
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DRIVING THE DAY
A few realities a day after the Supreme Court abortion decision:
1) Several states are already weighing copycat laws. As our Alice Miranda Ollstein and Josh Gerstein report, top officials in Arkansas, South Dakota and Florida announced they’re looking to replicate Texas’ citizen enforcement scheme for their own abortion laws, while lawyers also say blue states may try to adopt a similar structure for getting around the courts on things like guns and Covid-19 precautions. Courts could, however, strike down Texas’ law long before those state legislatures have a chance to attempt those legal gambits.
2) There’s virtually nothing Democrats can do. President JOE BIDEN and Speaker NANCY PELOSI can say they’ll try, and liberals can make demands, but the votes simply aren’t there in the Senate to pre-empt the Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on whether to overturn Roe v. Wade.
3) Some conservatives who oppose abortion rights are arguing the Texas law is a terrible vehicle to advance the cause. From its six-week ban on abortions to the “bounty hunter” provision and no exceptions for rape or incest, it means they’re swimming against popular opinion, even among those who are sympathetic to curbing abortions. Elected Republicans will be in a tough spot taking a stand on it. See GUY BENSONand BILL KRISTOL on this.
POLICY-PALOOZA, PART 2: MEDICARE EXPANSION VS. ACA — Democratic leaders have been spending the August recess privately sparring over which health care programs should get priority in the party’s $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. The fight is expected to drag out for days if not weeks — and pits extra benefits for seniors versus coverage for more low-income individuals.
Party leaders realize that tough decisions need to be made about what gets axed from their expansive health care wishlist. They have somewhere between $500 billion and $700 billion to play with, multiple senior Democrats close to the talks told Playbook — generated by prescription drug pricing reforms as well as changes to a Trump-era Medicare rebate program. (The prescription drug proposal faces pockets of Democratic opposition, so this total could actually shrink. But we’re assuming for the purposes of this item that that’s the number.)
Here are the battle lines to watch, per Playbook sources:
1) PELOSI & THE ‘SHORE UP THE ACA’ CROWD: In the House, Pelosi and her fellow leaders — as well as the chairs of relevant panels — are adamant that the party has a responsibility to the millions of people using Obamacare to shore up subsidies indefinitely while they can. Currently, the subsidies are set to expire at the end of 2022, and there’s a fear that unless Democrats make them permanent, Republicans could try to gut the historic program if (more like when) they take the House.
This group also wants to cover 2.2 million low-income people in states that didn’t accept the Obamacare Medicaid expansion. The issue, some believe, could play well in competitive areas in the 2022 midterms, like Georgia.
The cost: Sources close to the talks estimate about $200 billion-$250 billion each for Medicaid expansion and shoring up subsidies, for a total of around $400 billion-$500 billion, but note that is not set in stone.
People to watch: Pelosi, who’s in legacy mode and views Obamacare as one of her crowning achievements. Also keep an eye on Majority Leader STENY HOYER, Majority Whip JIM CLYBURN (D-S.C.), Ways and Means Chair RICHARD NEAL (D-Mass.), Energy and Commerce Chair FRANK PALLONE (D-N.J.) and the Congressional Black Caucus, who are all in Pelosi’s camp.
The left’s response: For a while now, progressives have been more interested in moving to a Medicare for All system than pouring billions into Obamacare. Expect them to argue that the party should fund Obamacare subsidies for a few years, rather than long term, in order to save money that could be used to expand Medicare. In other words, pack more items into the reconciliation bill but fund them over a shorter period of time.
The downside of that is that benefits for millions of people could hinge on which party is in power in a few years. Progressives will argue that the GOP would be hard pressed to let benefits expire; but other Democrats say that thinking is naive.
2) BERNIE & HIS DENTAL PLAN BACKERS: On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Budget Chair BERNIE SANDERS (I-Vt.) is leading the charge to expand Medicare to include dental, vision and hearing benefits. Supporters note that one in five Americans over 65 have lost all their teeth, and some don’t have money to pay for dentures, glasses and hearing aids. WaPo reported this week that Sanders is also pushing privately for an additional stopgap program to offer these benefits right away while the fuller program is being created, which could take three to five years.
The cost: The CBO estimates about $350 billion. (Just under $240 billion for dental; $30 billion for vision; and $89 billion for hearing.) The additional stopgap program cost is unclear at this point but would likely be expensive.
People to watch: Sanders and progressives, who view making Medicare more robust as a step in the direction of Medicare for All. Beyond Sanders, watch Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER, who is on Sanders’ side in this fight and negotiating with Pelosi. House sources are whispering that perhaps Schumer made a promise to Sanders about including his plan in reconciliation; Schumer’s office didn’t respond to a question about this but says he’s backed including it for a long time.
Privately, they have another fear: that progressives, in a bid to push the nation toward Medicare for All, are trying to screw with Obamacare. “I don’t think that the world has figured out that Bernie is booby-trapping ACA — whether on purpose or not — for his dental plan,” said one senior House Democratic aide. “We are literally inviting the Republicans to come f— around with ACA.”
The 2022 factor: Members want something tangible to run on. Since the dental program will take years to get off the ground, there is a concern that Democrats won’t see the political benefit of this in time for the midterms.
Two other key dynamics to watch:
— Where is the White House in this fight? The ACA vs. Medicare fight goes back to the 2020 campaign trail. Back then, candidate Biden sided with the ACA crowd. Now, sources close to these talks say the White House appears to be backing Sanders and the Senate — or at least isn’t doing more to temper Sanders’ expectations.
“Everyone is afraid to tell Bernie no,” the senior Democratic aide told us.
— A third coalition? One final wrinkle in all this is an odd collection of House progressives and moderates who want to lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60. Almost everyone we talked to for this item says the idea is likely toast. But in June more than 150 House Democrats signed on in support — a group that included prominent progressives PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-Wash.) and JOE NEGUSE (D-Colo.) but also moderates like CONOR LAMB (D-Pa.), who is running for Senate, and JARED GOLDEN (D-Maine), who represents one of the most competitive districts in the country. They might not be ready to give in so easily.
THESE REPUBLICANS ARE GOING … BIG GOVERNMENT? — There’s an intra-party fight on the right — and it’s not (all) about DONALD TRUMP! For decades, conservatives have called for the government to take a hands-off approach to the economy. But now, a group of self-styled “common good capitalists” — like Sen. MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.) — want to change that. And they’re gaining power. It’s a divide over not only what policy approach is best, but what the most effective political strategy is for the GOP in the 21st century. Tara talks with an influential voice in this new economic counterculture: Oren Cass, head of American Compass and MITT ROMNEY’S former campaign adviser, as well as Eliana Johnson, POLITICO Magazine contributor and editor-in-chief of the Washington Free Beacon, about this policy divide and where the 2024 GOP hopefuls land on this spectrum. Listen and subscribe here
MANCHIN GONNA MANCHIN: When we last heard from JOE MANCHIN, it was way back on Aug. 11, when he voted to advance the Dems’ $3.5 trillion budget — a vote that set in motion the reconciliation process. But accompanying his aye vote, the senator from West Virginia released a statement explaining that spending that much money caused him to have “serious concerns,” including “rising inflation,” exploding debt, and “unforeseen crises our country could face.”
You can save time reading the entire piece by glancing at the subhead: “Amid inflation, debt and the inevitability of future crises, Congress needs to take a strategic pause.”
Inflation? Check. Debt? Check. Future crises? Check. That’s the familiar Manchin case against the size of the Dem plan, and he’s been making it for a while now.
What was new was this predictably vague Manchinism: Dems need to take “a strategic pause” on reconciliation. What does that mean?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But that’s sort of the point. Manchin fires off a new warning about the high cost of securing his vote every few weeks, knowing that his every utterance, even if it’s recycled, will gain the attention of Schumer and Biden, which helps solidify his kingmaker position in the Senate, and attract outrage from the left, which helps him back home in a state that Democrats don’t win anymore.
On cue, Rep. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-N.Y.) took to Twitter excoriating the senator: “Manchin has weekly huddles w/ Exxon & is one of many senators who gives lobbyists their pen to write so-called ‘bipartisan’ fossil fuel bills. It’s killing people. Our people. At least 12 last night. Sick of this ‘bipartisan’ corruption that masquerades as clear-eyed moderation.”
BIDEN’S FRIDAY:
— 9 a.m.: The president will receive the President’s Daily Brief.
— 10 a.m.: Biden will deliver remarks on the August jobs report.
— 10:30 a.m.: Biden will leave the White House for Louisiana, arriving in Reserve at 12:40 p.m. CDT.
— 1:15 p.m. CDT: Biden will get a Hurricane Ida briefing from local leaders in LaPlace, followed by a neighborhood tour and remarks at 2:35 p.m. and an aerial tour of several affected communities at 3:55 p.m.
— 4:40 p.m. CDT: Biden will arrive in Lafourche Parish, where he’ll meet with local leaders in Galliano at 5 p.m.
— 5:40 p.m. CDT: Biden will leave Lafourche Parish and make his way via New Orleans and Philadelphia to Wilmington, Del., arriving at 10:10 p.m. EDT.
Principal deputy press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE will gaggle on Air Force One on the way to Louisiana.
A LITTLE HELP, PLEASE — “U.S. presses Pakistan as Afghan crisis spirals, leaked docs show,” by Nahal Toosi: “The Biden administration is quietly pressing Pakistan to cooperate on fighting terrorist groups such as ISIS-K and Al Qaeda in the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. In response, Pakistan has hinted that Islamabad deserves more public recognition of its role in helping people now fleeing Afghanistan, even as it has downplayed fears of what Taliban rule of the country could mean.
“These exchanges and others, described in emails, sensitive but unclassified cables and other written materials obtained by POLITICO, offer a glimpse into how tensions between Washington and Islamabad linger after two decades of war in Afghanistan. They suggest that the two governments are far from lockstep on the road ahead, even now that the United States has pulled its troops from Afghanistan.”
GOING LOCAL: Check out Eugene’s first-person dispatch from The Helmand, an Afghan restaurant whose “enduring popularity is a testament to the vibrant Afghan diaspora that calls the Baltimore area home.”
KICKER:The Taliban“were disappointed” that U.S. forces bricked their planes and helicopters before leaving Kabul.
“Elias’ decision to leave his firm of nearly three decades was, perhaps, the natural result of his own Trump-era evolution. Before Trump became president, Elias was the consummate creature of Washington … Elias said Trump’s election and subsequent presidency lit a fire that led him to go public with his progressive bona fides.”
‘MY KEVIN’ IN THE HOT SEAT — “McCarthy’s phone records among those eyed by Jan. 6 investigators,”by Nicholas Wu and Heather Caygle: “The select panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection has asked for House Minority Leader KEVIN MCCARTHY’s phone records to be preserved as it expands its inquiry, a committee source confirmed Thursday.
“McCarthy’s name was included in a broad request the select panel sent Monday to social media platforms and telecommunications companies, asking them to preserve records that could be relevant to the probe of the attack. Although the request does not mean the committee will necessarily take the subsequent step of seeking McCarthy’s records, the panel’s move means the minority leader now faces a threat of having his personal data subpoenaed.”
TV TONIGHT — PBS’ “Washington Week”: Courtney Kube, Anita Kumar, Susan Page and Craig Whitlock.
SUNDAY SO FAR …
Gray TV
“Full Court Press”: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) … Catherine O’Neal.
MSNBC
“The Sunday Show”: Ruth Marcus … Neal Katyal … Cecile Richards … Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) … Ben Rhodes … Amna Nawaz … Rob Reiner.
FOX
“Fox News Sunday”: Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) … Ashish Jha. Panel: Jonah Goldberg, Catherine Lucey and Harold Ford Jr. Power Player: retired Navy Adm. William McRaven.
CBS
“Face the Nation”: Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) … Scott Gottlieb.
ABC
“This Week”: Panel: Chris Christie, Donna Brazile, Heidi Heitkamp and Kristen Soltis Anderson.
NBC
“Meet the Press”: Panel: Yamiche Alcindor, Matt Bai, Brendan Buck and Betsy Woodruff Swan.
CNN
“Inside Politics”: Panel: Molly Ball, Joshua Jamerson, Jackie Kucinch, Kevin Liptak and Joan Biskupic.
MEDIA MOVE — Catherine Morehouse is now an energy reporter at POLITICO, covering the electricity grid, power industry and FERC. She previously was an associate editor and reporter at Utility Dive.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Platinum Advisors is adding Jessica Aune as a legislative assistant and Jordan Colvin as a VP. Aune most recently was Northern California fundraising director for the Biden campaign and inaugural committee, and is a Democratic fundraising/campaign veteran. Colvin most recently supported Pavea/Pillsbury’s Qatar contract through her government affairs and consulting firm, and is a Hill alum.
WHITE HOUSE ARRIVAL LOUNGE — Pablo Manríquez (@PabloReports): “NEW: White House calls Luisana Perez up from HHS to serve as Hispanic Media Director in EOP, replacing Audrey Lopez.”
STAFFING UP — The White House announced it will nominate Brad Crabtree as assistant secretary of Energy for fossil energy and carbon management.
TRANSITIONS — Katie McBreen will be VP of comms at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. She currently is VP of comms and strategy at the Consumer Brands Association. … Nathaniel Sizemore is now press secretary for Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.). He most recently was comms director for Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.). …
… Kristen Bennett is now House press secretary for America Rising PAC. She most recently was press secretary for two Republican gubernatorial races and is an RNC alum. … John Nagle is now government relations associate at Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions. He previously was major gifts officer on the development team at Stand Together. … Jake Colvin will move up to become the next president of the National Foreign Trade Council. He’s currently VP.
TRUMP ALUMNI — Geoff Smith is now deputy director of the D.C. office of Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt. He previously was senior government affairs officer for DOT in the Trump administration. … Hannah Cooke is now scheduler for Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.). She most recently was scheduler and financial administrator for Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), and is a Trump Interior Department alum. … Mike Rigas is now interim president of BMT Designers and Planners. He is the former acting director of OPM and deputy director for management at OMB in the Trump administration.
ENGAGED —Deesha Dyer, founder and CEO of Hook & Fasten and a former White House social secretary in the Obama administration, and Wesley Moe, a nonprofit consultant, got engaged Aug. 20 at The Reach at the Kennedy Center. Pic
WEDDING — Sabra Simmonds, co-founder and CEO of research and comms firm Aslan Strategies, and Beau Guidry, a facility engineer for Amazon Web Services and a former submarine officer for the U.S. Navy, recently got married at the George Inlet Salmon Cannery in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. Jack Ferguson, who introduced the couple, officiated. Pic … Another pic
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Time’s Edward Felsenthal … CNN’s Brian Stelter … Rick Perlstein … John Mercurio of the MPA … POLITICO’s Katherine Foley … Lucia Alonzo of Michael Best Strategies … John Zogby … CBS’ Erica Brown … Rita Hite of the American Forest Foundation … Dominic Hawkins of the Clyde Group … Todd Lindeman … Roll Call’s Mary C. Curtis … NBC’s Adam Reiss … AFSCME’s Tiffany Ricci … Paul Merski of ICBA … Bruce Moyer … WSJ’s Kristina Peterson … Sunshine Sachs’ Shawn Sachs … Tiffany Waddell of the National Governors Association … Tripp Donnelly … Hillary Allen of DCG Communications … former Reps. Michael Barnes (D-Md.), Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), John Olver (D-Mass.) and Michael Huffington (R-Calif.) … Mara Stark-Alcala … Joshua Gross … Flin Hyre … Kathi Wise … Jon Corley … Jayne Visser … Melinda Warner … E&E News’ Jennifer Yachnin … Graeme Crews of the Southern Poverty Law Center … Jessica Ditto … Ana Ortega Villegas of Human Rights First … Kathleen Stanton of the American Cleaning Institute … Jeff Dinwoodie (4-0) … Italian PM Mario Draghi … Airbnb’s Kim Rubey … Kelsey McKinney, author of “God Spare the Girls”
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Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Allie Bice, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross.
Albanian Heroes of Two Kinds: Skanderbeg & Mother Teresa – American Minute with Bill Federer
A century after the King of Assyria carried away the ten Northern Tribes of Israel into captivity, far away across the Mediterranean, Greeks settled the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea in the 7th century BC.
One of their major cities was Epidamnos (Dyrrhachium), founded in 625 BC, located in modern-day Albania.
It was there in 48 BC, that Julius Caesar defeated Pompey at the Battle of Dyrrhachium.
Augustus Caesar began incorporating the area, known as the Balkan Peninsula, into the Roman Empire.
The Roman road, Via Egnatia, stretched from Dyrrhachium on the Adriatic Sea to Constantinople, Byzantium, on the Aegean Sea.
The Balkan Peninsula today includes the countries of:
Albania
Macedonia,
Bulgaria,
Serbia,
Slovenia,
Montenegro,
Croatia,
Romania,
Kosovo,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
Greece, to the borders of Turkey.
When the western Roman Empire fell to barbarians in 476 AD, the Balkan Peninsula survived, resisting the siege of Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great in 481 AD.
In 840 AD, the northern Balkan Peninsula became part of the Christian Bulgarian Empire, which included the area of Albania.
In 1190, Albania became a province in the Christian Byzantine Empire, with its major city of Dyrrhachion on the Adriatic Sea.
In the 1400s, the Ottoman Turkish army crossed the Bosporus and invaded west.
Ottomans attacked:
Constantinople,
Serbia,
Morea,
Black Sea,
Wallachia,
Bosnia,
Vienna,
Karaman,
Akkoyunlu,
Moldavia,
Crimea, and
the Balkan Peninsula.
Albania was conquered in 1431, with the local nobility being killed and replaced with Muslim landowners, who imposed exorbitant taxes on the Christian population.
This was followed by periodic massacres of Albanians.
Ottomans led crusades against the Albanian people, with stories of forced conversions and Christian boys taken and forcibly indoctrinated into being Islamic soldiers, or used for pederasty.
Eastern European countries had brave leaders who resisted Islamic invasion:
Hungary’s John Hunyadi (1406-1456);
Poland’s Wladyslaw III (1424-1444);
Moldova’s Stephen the Great (1433-1504);
Romania’s Vlad III (1428-1477);
Bulgaria’s Prince Fruzhin (c.1393-1444).
In 1443, the Christian Albanian hero was George Castriot, called “Iskander” or “Scanderbeg,” who led a revolt against the Ottoman Muslims.
American Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow memorialized him in the “Poem of Skanderberg”:
“… Anon (soon) from the castle walls
The crescent banner falls,
And the crowd beholds instead,
Like a portent in the sky,
Iskander’s banner fly,
“The Black Eagle with double head;
And a shout ascends on high,
For men’s souls are tired of the Turks,
And their wicked ways and works,
“That have made of Ak-Hissar
A city of the plague;
And the loud, exultant cry
That echoes wide and far
Is: ‘Long live Skanderbeg!'”
For 25 years, Skanderbeg struck fear into the heart of the Ottoman armies.
His 10,000 braves soldiers, often outnumbered in battle, consistently won against larger and better supplied Muslim armies.
Considered a model of Christian resistance, Skanderbeg fought in the Venetian-Ottoman War.
When Skanderbeg died in1468, the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed the Conqueror, exclaimed:
“At last Europe and Asia are mine! Woe to Christendom! It has lost its sword and its shield.”
For the next five centuries, Albania was under Ottoman rule.
This finally ended when Sultan Abdul Hamid II – the 99th caliph of Islam – was deposed in 1909.
There was enthusiasm that Turkey would set up a democratic form of government.
Unfortunately, the joy was short-lived as fundamentalist leaders, called the Young Turks, seized control.
They promoted the idea of re-establishing the caliphate through “Ottomanization” – creating a homogeneous Turkey of one race, one language, and one belief.
The brotherhood of the Young Turks began a genocidal expulsion and extermination of non-Muslim ethnic minorities, including millions of:
Albanians,
Armenians,
Syrians,
Greeks,
Serbs, and
Bulgarians.
In the upheaval of World War I, Albania briefly gained independence in 1912.
It had a few short-lived monarchies, then a republic.
During World War II, Albania was occupied by Fascist Italy, followed by Germany’s National Socialist Workers Party (Nazi).
Albania was a communist State, 1944-1992, during which time it became an officially atheist country.
In 1992, the Republic of Albania was founded.
Many ethnic Albanians lived in the nearby area of Kosovo, the historic center of Christian Serbia and Montenegro.
As Muslims immigrated in and increased in number, they took over neighborhoods, forcing the previous inhabitants out.
Immigrants decided to take over the whole region, erupting into the Kosovo War, 1998-1999.
At this same time, in the United States, the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal was breaking, and President Bill Clinton decided to support the Muslim Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) which drove out over one million ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.
Clinton initiated Operation Deliberate Force, in which weapons were funneled through Iran and Islamic terrorists to Bosnia-Muslim fighters, similar how the U.S. had supported Iraq against Iran, as Richard J Aldrich described in The Guardian:
“In the 1980s Washington’s secret services had assisted Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran.” (The Guardian, 4/21/02, “America used Islamists to arm the Bosnian Muslims”)
Through years of immigration and war, Kosovo went from being a significant Christian area to a tiny new country with a 96 percent Islamic population.
Citizens of Kosovo were so appreciative of Bill Clinton that they erected a statue of him on a street named Bill Clinton Boulevard in the capital of Pristina, Kosovo.
One of the most famous Albanians was the humble daughter of an Albanian grocer.
Born in 1910, she joined a Catholic religious order at age 18 and began working in the slums of Calcutta, India.
She founded the Missionaries of Charity, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1979.
This was Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Malcolm Muggeridge, a British Journalist who had converted to Christianity, wrote in “The Human Holocaust,” (Human Life Review, 1980):
“Mother Teresa … in Calcutta, goes to great trouble to have brought into her Home for Dying Derelicts, castaways left to die in the streets.
They may survive for no more than a quarter of an hour, but in that quarter of an hour, instead of feeling themselves rejected and abandoned, they meet with Christian love and care …
… Mother Teresa’s … love and compassion reach out to the afflicted without any other consideration than their immediate need, just as our Lord does when He tells us to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked.
She gives all she has to give at once, and then finds she has more to give … Something of God’s love has rubbed off on Mother Teresa.”
Phyllis Schlafly wrote in The Power of the Positive Woman (NY: Arlington House Publishers, 1978):
“Few women in history have ever known the career fulfillment that Mother Teresa has known.
She is the Albanian nun who has made it her mission to minister to the poor and dying in Calcutta, India …
She has become a living legend, acclaimed throughout the world-a career success and a happy woman by any standard. And Mother Teresa has said that men could never equal women in love and compassion.”
Mother Teresa explained:
“Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.”
“God hasn’t called me to be successful. He’s called me to be faithful.”
“If you want to pray better, you must pray more.”
“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”
Ronald Reagan wrote in “Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation,” (Human Life Review, 1983):
“The revered Mother Teresa, who works in the streets of Calcutta ministering to dying people in her world-famous mission of mercy, has said that ‘the greatest misery of our time is the generalized abortion of children’ …
We can echo the always-practical woman of faith, Mother Teresa, when she says, ‘If you don’t want the little child, that unborn child, give him to me.'”
On February 3, 1994, frail 83-year-old Mother Teresa addressed the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., before an audience of 3,000, including President and Mrs. Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore:
“Jesus died on the Cross because that is what it took for Him to do good to us – to save us from our selfishness in sin …
… The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself,
and if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?”
Urging America to repent, Mother Teresa stated:
“How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? …
We must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even His life to love us.
So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans or her free time, to respect the life of her child.
The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.
… By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems.
And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility for the child he has brought into the world. The father is likely to put other women into the same trouble.
So abortion just leads to more abortion.”
The Old Testament version of abortion was sacrificing innocent children to pagan gods.
Proverbs 6:16-17 “The Lord hates … hands that shed innocent blood.”
God is just. Though patient and long-suffering, He will eventually judge individuals and nations who shed innocent blood, unless they repent.
2 Kings 21: “King Manasseh did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites … He sacrificed his own son in the fire (to Moloch) …
The Lord said through his servants the prophets:
“Manasseh … has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him … Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle …
Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end.”
2 Kings 24:2-4: “The LORD sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders … to destroy Judah … because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive.”
Mother Teresa continued:
“Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use violence to get what they want.
That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
Many people are very, very concerned with the children of India, with the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger, and so on.
Many people are also concerned about all the violence in this great country of the United States. These concerns are very good.
… But often these same people are not concerned with the millions who are being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers …
We have sent word to the clinics, to the hospitals and police stations: ‘Please don’t destroy the child; we will take the child.’
So we always have someone tell the mothers in trouble: ‘Come, we will take care of you, we will get a home for your child.'”
Mother Teresa spoke further:
“And we have a tremendous demand from couples who cannot have a child …
Jesus said, ‘Anyone who receives a child in my name, receives me.’
By adopting a child, these couples receive Jesus but by aborting a child, a couple refuses to receive Jesus.
Please don’t kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child.
… I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child and be loved by the child.
From our children’s home in Calcutta alone, we have saved over 3,000 children from abortion …”
Mother Teresa concluded:
“If we remember that God loves us, and that we can love others as He loves us, then America can become a sign of peace for the world.
From here, a sign of care for the weakest of the weak – the unborn child – must go out to the world.
… If you become a burning light of justice and peace in the world, then really you will be true to what the founders of this country stood for. God bless you!”
Declaring January 22, 2018, National Sanctity of Human Life Day, President Trump stated:
“We focus our attention on the love and protection each person, born and unborn, deserves … Reverence for every human life, one of the values for which our Founding Fathers fought, defines the character of our Nation.
Today, it moves us to promote the health of pregnant mothers and their unborn children … It dispels the notion that our worth depends on the extent to which we are planned for or wanted.
… Science continues to support and build the case for life. Medical technologies allow us to see images of the unborn children moving their newly formed fingers and toes, yawning, and even smiling.
Those images present us with irrefutable evidence that babies are growing within their mothers’ wombs – precious, unique lives, each deserving a future filled with promise and hope.”
President Donald J. Trump remarked at the 47th Annual March for Life, January 24, 2020:
“Every child is a precious and sacred gift from God …
When we see the image of a baby in the womb, we glimpse the majesty of God’s creation.
When we hold a newborn in our arms, we know the endless love that each child brings to a family.
When we watch a child grow, we see the splendor that radiates from each human soul. One life changes the world …
And as the Bible tells us, each person is ‘wonderfully made …'”
He continued:
“We are protecting pro-life students’ right to free speech on college campuses.
And if universities want federal taxpayer dollars, then they must uphold your First Amendment right to speak your mind …
Sadly, the far-left is actively working to erase our God-given rights … and silence Americans who believe in the sanctity of life …
Last year, lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb right up until delivery …
Then, we had the case of the Democrat governor in the state of Virginia … The Governor stated that he would execute a baby after birth …”
President Trump concluded:
“The tens of thousands of Americans gathered today not only stand for life … to help spread God’s grace.
And to all of the moms here today: We celebrate you, and we declare that mothers are heroes …
Because of you, our country has been blessed with amazing souls who have changed the course of human history.
We cannot know what our citizens yet unborn will achieve, the dreams they will imagine, the masterpieces they will create, the discoveries they will make.
But we know this: Every life brings love into this world. Every child brings joy to a family. Every person is worth protecting.
And above all, we know that every human soul is divine, and every human life –- born and unborn –- is made in the holy image of Almighty God.”
On September 5, 1997, just five days after Princess Diana was killed, Mother Teresa died.
On September 4, 2016, Pope Francis recognized this humble daughter of an Albanian grocer as a Saint in the Catholic Church.
Albanian Mother Teresa shared what motivated her:
“I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him.
This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him.
Summary: President Joe Biden will receive his daily briefing, deliver a speech, and meet with rabbis. President Biden’s Itinerary for 9/3/21: All Times EDT 9:00 AM Receive daily briefing10:00 AM Deliver speech explaining the August jobs report [Live Stream]10:30 AM Depart White House en route to New Orleans1:10 PM Arrive …
Hours after the Supreme Court declined to block a highly disputed Texas abortion law, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hinted that he is open to similar legislation. “I’m pro life,” DeSantis said. “I welcome pro-life legislation. What they did in Texas was interesting, but I haven’t really been able to …
WASHINGTON – A militant fighter for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a foreign terrorist organization, pleaded guilty today to all charges that were pending against him in the United States relating to his participation in a brutal hostage-taking scheme that resulted in the deaths of four American …
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said Wednesday that members of his caucus would be wise to “hit the pause button” on their $3.5 trillion budget, a sweeping piece of legislation that includes the bulk of President Joe Biden’s agenda. Manchin, a moderate from West Virginia who often breaks from his more …
After nearly two years of imposing draconian measures allegedly meant to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, the CDC has set its eyes on a new policy agenda. They intend to treat gun violence as a national health emergency. This would be a convenient excuse to ram through many gun control proposals …
Sen. Tom Cotton from Arkansas is taking the lead in the GOP’s push to get President Joe Biden to clarify the number of Americans and allies that remain in Afghanistan after U.S. troops withdrew from the country. Cotton spearheaded a group of 26 Republican senators who wrote to Biden on …
“For example, in addition to inappropriate statements from the video, the teacher posted a sign supporting a personal decision for at least one local political issue, and possibly more,” the letter said. Gabriel Gipe’s classroom was cleared of all posters and signage on Wednesday morning, according to the letter. On …
Progressives renewed their calls to abolish the Senate filibuster and expand the Supreme Court after it did not block a Texas law restricting abortion access from going into effect. “Republicans promised to overturn Roe v Wade, and they have,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote just after midnight Thursday, invoking …
The Florida Department of Health will start fining businesses $5,000 for violating the state’s ban on vaccine passports. The state agency’s rule, “Penalties for COVID-19 Vaccine Documentation Requirements,” says it will impose the fine on “any business entity, governmental entity, or educational institution.” The $5,000 fine will apply “per individual …
An Australian state is testing out a new app that uses facial recognition technology to ensure residents are complying with COVID-19 home quarantine orders. The app, listed as Home Quarantine SA in app stores and unveiled by the South Australian government Aug. 23, uses geo-location and facial recognition software to …
Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi promised federal abortion legislation as she reacted to Texas’ Heartbeat Act Thursday, saying the new law creates a “vigilante bounty system.” “The Supreme Court’s cowardly, dark-of-night decision to uphold a flagrantly unconstitutional assault on women’s rights and health is staggering,” Pelosi said in …
The World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring a new coronavirus variant that could potentially evade vaccine immunity. The B.1.621 variant, also called Mu, was first reported in Colombia in January 2021. It has now been detected in 39 countries and was added to the WHO coronavirus watchlist on Monday. Mu …
Currently America has in place in Washington a far-left administration which is fine with governors of blue states mandating that citizens wear masks, which are proven to be worthless in controlling the spread of disease, which is among the most personal limitation of behavior and personal choice anyone can have …
European Union regulators imposed a $265 million fine on Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp on Thursday for failing to adequately inform consumers what it did with their data. The fine, issued by the Data Protection Commission (DPC), related to WhatsApp’s failure to provide consumers with certain information about how it shared their …
Joe Biden and “Dr’” Jill were at Dover Air Base as the flag-draped remains of the thirteen young men and women who gave their lives in Afghanistan were returned to their families. There are a few things to discuss as we review how Biden handled himself with the families …
EAGLE PASS, Texas—U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry seized narcotics which totaled over $400,000 in street value. “While drug trafficking organizations employ a wide variety of methods to move their illicit product, CBP officers continue to utilize high-tech …
The U.S. abandoned more than half of all interpreters and Afghans who applied for special immigrant visas (SIV), a senior State Department official told The Wall Street Journal. The official didn’t share specific information or figures, but estimated that a majority of the visa applicants were left behind in Afghanistan, …
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was reportedly shocked that President Joe Biden barely brought up China in their recent White House meeting. Bennett had prepared to broach the topic with Biden and senior U.S. officials ahead of the talk, an Israeli official who was part of the Aug. 27 meeting told …
Former Connecticut school teacher Jen Tafuto spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation’s Samantha Renck about why she chose to resign from teaching after six years because of equity curriculum, how parents can stay on top of their children’s education and more. WATCH: Content created by The Daily Caller News …
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is readying an antitrust lawsuit against Google over its digital advertising practices, a source familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The lawsuit will be based on the ongoing DOJ investigation into allegations Google illegally maintains a monopoly in the digital advertising market, and could be filed …
Happy Friday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. I can’t really make a case for this being my home planet.
We are apparently heading into a three-day weekend here in the United States. I’m never aware of these things until the last minute, despite being perfectly capable of reading a calendar. They sneak up on me and I never have three days in a row off, so it’s all just more stuff to pile onto my legendary trust issues.
Should your weekend involve some extra time off, you might be looking for some holiday entertainment. I am running out of things to enjoy on the streaming services, so I’m always looking out for alternative fare.
Like in-fighting over on the left.
Internecine squabbles abound in political factions, no matter where on the spectrum the group exists. They are, however, more likely to break out the farther left one goes. That’s the price that is paid when all politics is emotion-driven. American leftists have spaz meters that go from asleep-to-screech in approximately .0000000087 nanoseconds after a political battle doesn’t go their way.
After the Supreme Court let the new Texas abortion law stand, their shrieking has occasionally been reaching pitch levels that can only be heard by the canine ear. The poor dears are super, super upset that it is now more difficult to kill a baby in the womb in the state of Texas.
All of the inhabitants of Leftmedia Land have been in a tizzy about this since Thursday, lying about what actually happened, as is their way. The lefties say and do the darnedest things when they’re in a fit of pique. I have a pretty good imagination, but even I didn’t see them focusing their rage on their cherished memory of the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Of course you do. The heroine, the pioneer, the voice of reason. The Notorious RBG. And, it would appear, a traitor to the cause of abortion.
It is a typical leftist move. Things don’t go the way you want, find someone to blame. Along with the usual suspects such as Republicans, pro-lifers, Texans, you, me, Grand Moff Tarkin and the republic of Gilead, the Left is eating its own by claiming that the SCOTUS abortion decision would have been avoided had Ginsburg retired during the Obama years, allowing him to name her replacement. And they are doing it with their usual style and class with comments such as:
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s categorical refusal to retire brought us here. So thanks you old dead white bitch.”
One commenter even referred to her as Ruth Vader Ginsburg. I had to chuckle a little bit at that one. Still another essentially blamed her for opening the door for the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett.
Delicious, isn’t it? Virtually no one is safe from the diaper-filling tantrums of the emotionally stunted left, even a woman who was pretty much given rock star status by them while she was alive. There isn’t a corpse or grave these infantile maniacs won’t climb all over in the name of political rage.
It’s a sickness that not only fuels their outbursts but governs their policy decisions as well.
PJ Media senior columnist and associate editor Stephen Kruiser is a professional stand-up comic, writer, and recovering political activist who edits and writes PJ’s Morning Briefing, aka The Greatest Political Newsletter in America. His latest book, Straight Outta Feelings, is a humorous exploration of how the 2016 election made him enjoy politics more than he ever had before. When not being a reclusive writer, Kruiser has had the honor of entertaining U.S. troops all over the world. Follow on: Gab, Parler, MeWe
Washington D.C. Imam Abdul Alim Musa: The Zionists Run America, They Bombed Kabul Airport To Influence Biden’s Iran Policy – Just Like They Orchestrated 9/11 . . . Imam Abdul Alim Musa, Director of Masjid Al-Islam in Washington D.C. said that “the Zionists” carried out the August 2021 Kabul airport bombings, killing American troops, in order to influence President Biden’s policy on Iran. He made his remarks in a Friday sermon that aired on As-Sabiqun DC on YouTube on August 27, 2021. He said that the Israeli delegation was supposed to meet with President Biden, whom he referred to as “whatever his name is,” but was delayed because of the bombing in order to gauge Biden’s stance on Iran. Musa went on to say that the Zionists are telling President Biden what to do, but that Biden has the opportunity to save America from Zionism. He said that the Zionists control Congress, the Senate, and the U.S. economy, and that they “run America.” MEMRI
Are the feds even paying attention to this sort of thing that takes place here in America? This would be within the DHS/FBI purview. Or unlike Trump, this type of lunatics are protected by the Freedom of Speech?
Majority of Voters Say Biden Should Resign Over Afghanistan Withdrawal . . . A slim majority of likely voters think President Joe Biden should resign over his administration’s handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, according to a national poll. Fifty-two percent of likely voters surveyed by Rasmussen Reports said Biden should resign over the withdrawal. Thirty-nine percent said he should remain in office. Nine percent said they were not sure. The survey took place Aug. 30-31, the final days of the U.S. withdrawal, and polled 1,000 likely voters. Most of the people surveyed also said Vice President Kamala Harris is not qualified to replace Biden should he choose to resign. Washington Examiner
Politics
Biden going to Delaware for long weekend amid Afghanistan crisis . . . President Biden is scheduled to spend at least part of Labor Day weekend at his home in Delaware despite the ongoing fallout from the chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan that has left dozens of American citizens and thousands of the US military’s Afghan allies in Taliban-controlled territory. The White House says Biden will head to Wilmington after a full day of visiting Louisiana communities devastated by Hurricane Ida. Before he departs the executive mansion for New Orleans Friday morning, the president is scheduled to give remarks on the August jobs report. Biden was supposed to go to Delaware two weekends ago, but his trip was initially pushed back and then scrapped due to the ongoing withdrawal from Afghanistan — which was then in its final phases — as well as the approach of Hurricane Henri toward the northeastern US. New York Post
Biden falsely claims he visited the Tree of Life Synagogue . . . Is he lying or imagining things?
And which is worse? President Biden on Thursday told Jewish leaders that he spent time at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh after the October 2018 mass murder of 11 people there — but the synagogue told The Post he never visited. “I remember spending time at the, you know, going to the, you know, the Tree of Life synagogue, speaking with them,” Biden said in a 16-minute virtual address ahead of the Jewish holidays Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Barb Feige, executive director of the Tree of Life, said that Biden did not visit the synagogue in the nearly three years since the anti-Semitic attack. White House Dossier
Not Even the Liberal Base Has Confidence in Kamala Harris: ‘I Don’t Think She Can Win’ . . . Harris’s favorability ratings are and have been terrible. Polls show she is faring far worse than three of her four most recent predecessors at this point in their tenures, and only slightly better than the fourth, Vice President Mike Pence, who served a uniquely unpopular president, according to a Times analysis of polling data. On average, Harris is viewed negatively by 49% of voters, compared with 43% who see her in a positive light, about 10 percentage points worse than Biden’s favorability numbers. Townhall
Psaki suggests a man is not qualified to ask questions about abortion . . . During today’s White House briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told a male reporting asking about abortion, “I know you’ve never faced those choices.” White House Dossier
Biden, environmental extremists undermine U.S. energy independence . . . By Rep. Liz Cheney. Since taking office, President Biden and his Administration have caved to extremists on the environmentalist left and sought to undermine the U.S.’s domestic energy production. Not only is this devastating for our economy and for the families who rely on a thriving American energy industry, but it’s dangerous for our national security. Producing less energy at home means that we are forced to rely on our adversaries for these critical resources, emboldening them and weakening our global standing as they attempt to undermine our interests. Already this year, the United States hit a 10-year high for imports of Russian oil. Instead of working to reverse this disturbing trend, the Biden Administration threatens to remove uranium from the critical minerals list. Uranium is a vital component to both our national security and energy security, and it’s essential that it remains on the list so we can spur production of this mineral domestically. According to a 2018 U.S. Geological Survey, “U.S. sourced uranium will be needed in the future to meet defense requirements.” Washington Times
Biden keeps giving out the store to Putin. Joe’s “experts” must be telling him that if he appeases Putin, the master spy will stop waging cyber warfare on America. Russia is another disaster, waiting to happen under Biden’s watch, because Putin perceives he has a window of opportunity with the weak and incompetent administration.
DeSantis fights court’s ruling allowing masks in schools . . .
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has appealed a judge’s ruling that states the governor exceeded his authority by ordering school districts to not require mask mandates for their schools. In a court filing Thursday, DeSantis’s attorneys took his appeal to the 1st District Court of Appeal in an attempt to reverse Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper’s ruling. Cooper last week gave power to all 67 school districts in the state to impose mask requirements at the behest of parents. Cooper agreed with the lawsuit parents filed against DeSantis saying that his executive order was unconstitutional and stated that it cannot be enforced. The Hill
National Security
Democrats Just Revealed They Don’t Understand How Critical Race Theory Threatens Our Military . . . An amendment rejecting the use of critical race theory in America’s military academies may not have made it out of the House Armed Services Committee, but one thing the spirited debate Wednesday made clear is that Republicans understand the discipline far better than Democrats. Again and again, House Republicans Jim Banks of Indiana, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Pat Fallon of Texas showed a surprisingly sophisticated ease addressing critical race theory in the late hours of a long debate over the National Defense Authorization Act. Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith of Washington, Anthony Brown of Maryland, Jackie Speier of California, and other House Democrats, meanwhile, either mouthed superficialities or struggled to explain what critical race theory is. Republican members of the committee obviously have devoted time to studying an academic discipline that is now force in all aspects of American life because the issue has become important to their constituents. Democrats, taken aback by the furor, have chosen instead to fight a rearguard battle by minimizing the importance of critical race theory, or even deny it has escaped the faculty lounge. Daily Signal
Hannity deems White House chief of staff ‘delusional’ on Afghanistan exit . . . Sometimes, the easiest way to get beyond the spin is just to look with your own eyes at what is happening. No matter how many times the White House tries to say that the withdrawal was handled as well as can be expected, it is obvious to anyone who turns on a TV that it was not. The question now is, does the White House believe its own spin? Because if it does, there truly are delusional people running the country. Fox News host Sean Hannity tore into White House chief of staff Ron Klain on Wednesday, calling him “delusional” for praising President Biden’s leadership throughout the Afghanistan withdrawal. Klain, who feverishly retweeted praise for Biden, and admiration from media allies, during the Afghanistan crisis, spoke to MSNBC on Tuesday. White House Dossier
More cities adding mental health experts to 911 calls . . . Police departments across the country looking to dial down the potentially deadly stakes of encounters between officers and the public are adding unarmed mental health experts to 911 calls.
Minneapolis; Los Angeles; Denver; Portland, Oregon; and the District of Columbia are among the cities experimenting with “crisis intervention” programs that trace their roots to a long-standing initiative in Eugene, Oregon. Since 1989, Eugene’s CAHOOTS program, short for Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets, has been sending unarmed teams that include a crisis intervention worker and a medic to handle 911 calls for mental health, addiction or homelessness issues. Washington Times
International
New Zealand authorities say Islamic terrorist stabbed 6 at supermarket; suspect dead . . . Authorities in New Zealand say they shot and killed an Islamic terrorist on Friday afternoon, within 60 seconds of when he started stabbing people at a supermarket. Of the six people stabbed, three were in critical condition, one was serious and two were in moderate condition, according to outlet Stuff New Zealand. The man, a Sri Lankan national, was a known ISIS supporter and was being followed around the clock, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, identifying the incident as a terror attack. Fox News
Married Kremlin Spies, a Shadowy Mission to Moscow and Unrest in Catalonia . . . In the spring of 2019, an emissary of Catalonia’s top separatist leader traveled to Moscow in search of a political lifeline. The independence movement in Catalonia, the semiautonomous region in Spain’s northeast, had been largely crushed after a referendum on breaking away two years earlier. The European Union and the United States, which supported Spain’s effort to keep the country intact, had rebuffed the separatists’ pleas for support. But in Russia, a door was opening. In Moscow, the emissary, Josep Lluis Alay, a senior adviser to the self-exiled former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, met with current Russian officials, former intelligence officers and the well-connected grandson of a KGB spymaster. The aim was to secure Russia’s help in severing Catalonia from the rest of Spain, according to a European intelligence report. NYT
Coronavirus
Why is no one talking about natural immunity? . . . The Biden administration is pursuing a universal vaccination strategy, even encouraging private businesses and public universities to mandate COVID-19 shots as a prerequisite to be able to go to work or school. The CDC insists even if you already contracted the virus and have survived, you should get the vaccination. The U.S. federal government is failing to take natural immunity seriously – and their universal vaccination strategy is foolish, misguided, and at its worst, deadly. Newly released data from Israel show people who once had a SARS-CoV-2 infection were much less likely than never-infected vaccinated people to contract the Delta variant, develop symptoms from it, or become hospitalized with serious COVID-19. That’s right – natural immunity provides more of a shield against Delta than two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine. Analysis/Opinion. Washington Times
Candace Owens says Colorado facility refused to give her a COVID-19 test . . .Candace Owens was refused a COVID-19 test in Colorado because the owner of the testing facility claims the commentator is making the “pandemic worse by spreading misinformation.” Owens, founder of BLEXIT attempted to book one because it was required for her next destination. The test was booked under her married name, Farmer, which she believes means that the testing facility must have looked up her name online to find out who she was before denying her a test. The email response from the COVID-19 testing facility owner, Suzanna Lee, said that she was denying Owens service because she could not “support anyone who has pro-actively worked to make this pandemic worse by spreading misinformation, politicizing and DISCOURAGING the wearing of masks and actively dissuading people from receiving life-saving vaccinations. Just the News
Even medical care has been politicized by the leftist extremists. Imagine what it would be like if they succeed in imposing socialism in America.
Pentagon Has ‘Range of Tools’ to Compel Service Members to Get COVID-19 Vaccine: Spokesman . . . The Pentagon has a “range of tools” to compel military service members to get the COVID-19 vaccine after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fully approved the Pfizer vaccine last month, officials said on Thursday. It comes as House lawmakers have backed legislation, sponsored by Army veteran Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn, which prohibits dishonorable discharges for troops who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine. Speaking at a press briefing, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby told reporters that the secretary expects that the department leadership will implement these mandatory vaccines with skill. Epoch Times
Money
Manchin tells Dems to ‘hit the pause button’ on $3.5T spending plan . . . Sen. Joe Manchin told his fellow Democrats to pause the controversial and massive $3.5 trillion spending bill currently being debated in Congress. “Hit the pause button,” Manchin said Wednesday at an event hosted by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce. “Let’s sit back. Let’s see what happens. We have so much on our plate. We really have an awful lot. I think that would be the prudent, wise thing to do.”Manchin represents the linchpin vote on the package which needs the support of every Democratic senator in order to move it through a divided Senate. Fox Business
US expected to post solid job gains despite Delta surge . . . The US economy is expected to post another solid month of job gains, in a sign that the more contagious Delta coronavirus variant is having a limited effect on hiring plans and worker shortages are continuing to ease. According to a consensus forecast compiled by Bloomberg, employers across the country are expected to have added 725,000 positions in August, a downward shift from the 943,000 jobs created in July but steady enough progress to push the unemployment rate down to 5.2 per cent. The unemployment rate hovered at 5.4 per cent in July.
The data, which will be released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8.30am US eastern time on Friday, comes just days before the scheduled expiration of enhanced federal unemployment benefits that were put in place to blunt the economic damage caused by the pandemic. Financial Times
You should also know
Fox News Channel Is as Popular as Ever based on Nielsen ratings . . . Once again, claims and predictions of Fox News Channel’s impending demise have proven mere wishful thinking, as ratings show that it is indeed still the most-watched cable news network. Recently released Nielsen ratings for the month of August show that FNC dominated the market with 94 of the month’s top 100 cable news telecasts. Furthermore, 13 of the top 14 viewed news programs were on FNC. Just how dominant has Fox News been? Well, according to the numbers, FNC bested CNN by over 200% in total prime time viewers. Meanwhile, CNN saw its viewership numbers decline by another 39% after losing 70% already earlier this year. And MSNBC’s viewership continued its downward spiral, hitting lows not seen since 2017. Patriot Post
I guess when I get a call from Sean Hannity’s producer asking to appear on his show, I won’t turn him down. 🙂
Mike Pompeo joins Bold & Blunt podcast with Cheryl Chumley . . . Time for Christians to reclaim America Washington Times
Please listen to this excellent podcast with my friend and fellow fighter for freedom, against socialism in America, Cheryl Chumley as she hosts former President Trump’s SECSTATE Mike Pompeo.
When the State Comes for Your Kids: Social workers, youth shelters, and the threat to parents’ rights . . . Ahmed* is a Pakistani immigrant, a faithful Muslim, and until recently, a financial consultant to Seattle’s high-tech sector. But when he reached me by phone in October 2020, he was just one more frightened father. Days earlier, he and his wife had checked their 16-year-old son into Seattle Children’s Hospital for credible threats of suicide. Now, Ahmed was worried that the white coats who had gently admitted his son to their care would refuse to return him. “They sent an email to us, you know, ‘you should take your ‘daughter’ to the gender clinic,’” he told me. At first, Ahmed assumed there had been a mistake. He had dropped off a son, Syed, to the hospital, in a terrible state of distress. Now, the email he received from the mental health experts used a new name for that son and claimed he was Ahmed’s daughter. Abigail Shrier on Substack
ABBA Reunites After 40 Years, Announces New Album And Tour . . . The hugely popular Swedish pop group ABBA definitely got everyone’s attention Thursday when it announced that after 40 years they had reunited and a new album is coming. “ABBA ARE BACK with ‘Voyage,’ a brand new album and revolutionary concert,” the group captioned their post on Instagram about the new music due out Nov. 5, according to their website. The post was noted by Rolling Stone magazine. “Listen to two brand new songs now and pre-order ‘Voyage’ from the official store for first access to tickets,” the post added. “For more info, link in our bio. #ABBAVoyage #ABBA.” Daily Caller
Guilty Pleasures
NRA joins Taliban . . . After many decades fighting an uphill battle for American citizens to retain their right to bear arms, the National Rifle Association has now decided to economize on its advocacy costs by simply joining the Taliban. We just received this statement: “Wullah yawullah in the name of the prophet (PBUH) we now are part of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. This means we get to carry around expensive US-made military equipment. And we want it for free, too. Praise upon the prophet or whatever! Yours truly, the NRA”.
After this suprising message, all Democrat-led anti-gun initiatives were abruptly halted, and Congress quickly passed a 29-trillion-dollar “infrastructure” bill to equip this new Taliban branch with fancy toys. All NRA members will be able to pick either a fully armed blackhawk helicopter, an attack drone, a small truckload of machine guns or a handful of laser-guided rockets, courtesy of the US taxpayer. Well done, NRA! Comrade Minitrue. People’s Cube
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At least 46 people have died in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Maryland after Ida—no longer a hurricane but still a powerful storm—caused flash floods across the Northeast.
A new real-world study from Israeli researchers found that, 12 days after receiving a third dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, adults’ relative risk of a confirmed COVID-19 infection decreased more than 11-fold, and their relative risk of severe illness decreased more than 10-fold.
Alexanda Amon Kotey, a British national and Islamic State member, pleaded guilty on Thursday to all charges brought against him for his participation in a hostage-taking scheme in Syria that led to the deaths of four American journalists and humanitarian aid workers: James Foley, Kayla Mueller, Steven Sotloff, and Peter Kassig. “The justice, fairness, and humanity that this defendant received in the United States stand in stark contrast to the cruelty, inhumanity, and indiscriminate violence touted by the terrorist organization he espoused,” acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Raj Parekh said in a statement.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced Thursday that former District Attorney Jackie Johnson had been indicted on a felony charge for her role in hindering the murder investigation of Ahmaud Arbery last year. Johnson showed “favor and affection” to one of the men later charged in Arbery’s murder and failed to “treat Ahmaud Arbery and his family fairly and with dignity,” the indictment alleges.
Schools in Nigeria’s Zamfara State were ordered to close in recent days after armed bandits abducted at least 73 students from a state-run high school. Mass kidnappings have become somewhat common in the region, with children typically being released by their captors after families make ransom payments.
Judge Robert Drain approved Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy settlement plan on Wednesday that will require the company’s owners, members of the Sackler family, to forfeit their equity in the company and pay approximately $4.5 billion in damages in installments over the next decade. As part of the deal, the Sacklers will receive lifetime immunity from civil liability over their role in perpetuating the American opioid epidemic. Several states plan to appeal the decision.
Initial jobless claims decreased by 14,000 week-over-week to 340,000 last week, the Labor Department reported on Thursday, the lowest level since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release August’s jobs numbers later this morning.
Walmart, the United States’ largest retailer, announced Thursday it is raising its minimum hourly wage from $11 to $12, increasing pay for approximately 565,000 of its 1.6 million American employees. The company’s average wage for hourly workers is now $16.40 per hour.
The Coming Insolvency of Social Security
An annual government report published earlier this week estimated that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Social Security’s funding will run out in 2033—one year earlier than previously projected. Medicare’s life expectancy remained unchanged from last year, when it was forecast to be depleted by 2026.
From an actuarial perspective, the pandemic cut both ways regarding the solvency of the two entitlement programs, from which between 60 and 70 million people benefit. On the one hand, the recession put millions out of work and dramatically cut the amount of revenue generated by the payroll tax—the programs’ primary source of funding. Conversely, the excess deaths wrought by the virus skewed toward older Americans eligible for the benefits.
Ultimately, though, the former consideration was more pronounced, leading the trustees of the funds—Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and Acting Social Security Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi—to adjust their estimates.
The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, which disburses Social Security funds, will be able to operate as normal until 2033, at which point continuing tax revenue would be able to cover only 76 percent of promised benefits. The Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which disburses Medicare Part A funds, will be able to operate as normal until 2026, at which point continuing tax revenue would be able to cover only 91 percent of promised benefits.
The pandemic may have accelerated these trends—at least with regards to Social Security—but both programs have faced questions about their long-term viability for years, particularly as the population has gotten older, with a smaller pool of younger workers to shoulder the burden of a mass of retiring baby boomers.
“Overall it is noteworthy that the Social Security insolvency year continues to move up. However, the Social Security and Medicare drain on our public finances is so much bigger than the trustee figures even indicate,” Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told TheDispatch. “The reality is, Social Security is already running permanent annual deficits, and those deficits will have to be made up by current borrowing and current taxes. The idea that we have 13 years where [the program] is just fine before it goes belly-up assumes that the trust fund actually has any money.”
Since we last wrote about Hurricane Ida’s landfall in Louisiana on Sunday, the storm’s remnants have swept across the nation, bringing torrential rains and strong winds to cities and towns across the Northeast. As of Thursday night, local authorities have recorded at least 46 deaths, many from urban areas.
“We are in a whole new world now. Let’s be blunt about it. We saw a horrifying storm last night, unlike anything we have seen before,” New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said yesterday. “And this is a reality we have to face. And unfortunately, the price paid by some New Yorkers was horrible and tragic.”
Images of swamped subways, submerged vehicles, and flooded high rises on the Eastern seaboard brought renewed attention to natural disaster vulnerabilities in cities. New York City, Philadelphia, and even Washington, D.C., felt Ida’s impact in the days following its initial landfall.
Central Park set a new record for the most rainfall in a single hour between 8:51 and 9:51 p.m. Wednesday, and New York City reported more rain in a single day than it typically does during the entire month of September. New Jersey reported 23 deaths and New York reported 13, eight of which occurred in Queens basements.
“The United States National Weather Service issued a flood emergency in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, and parts of Long Island last night. This is the first time that such a warning has ever been issued for the city,” President Biden said Thursday. “People were trapped in the subways, but the heroic men and women of the New York Fire Department rescued all of them.”
The southern states hit by Ida are also in recovery mode after the hurricane left hundreds of thousands without power and cell service and stalled the region’s oil production.
As the number of new COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant has exploded, so, too, have the number of articles mocking and shaming vaccine-hesitant people who have died of the disease. “Whom are these stories for?” Elizabeth Bruenig asks in a piece for The Atlantic. “If persuasion is the target, then the aim seems off—a general problem in our democracy, where persuasion is a key method of self-governance but something we’re less and less amenable to. In that sense, the strange case of vaccine persuasion is just another entry in the annals of our disillusionment with our own liberal democracy. One receives the distinct impression from today’s discursive environment that persuasion in its traditional democratic form—wherein a great deal of value is placed upon shrewd and moving rhetoric that assumes listeners’ basic goodwill—is a useless venture, and that lower forms—insults, scolding, intra-group memeing, the dirty persuasion of disinformation campaigns—are all that’s left. Maybe those things are useless too, one gathers, but at least they’re fun and cathartic.”
As the State Department’s acting director for Iraq political affairs during President George W. Bush’s second term, Thomas Warrick helped design the Special Immigrant Visa program. Now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, he believes the SIV process urgently needs an update if we are to honor our commitments in Afghanistan. “The U.S. government needs now, at last, to commit the people and resources necessary to clear the number of SIV and refugee cases by a reasonable but ambitious target,” Warrick argues in the Washington Post. “Neither security nor American values need to be compromised. Those in Congress who criticized the Biden administration for slowness to respond need to step up immediately to vote [for] money for overtime and for bringing back retired homeland security, intelligence, and military personnel to clear this backlog.”
Something Positive
Hey, how about some good news? According to Kenya’s recent wildlife census, the country’s crackdown on poaching is working. The elephant population has grown 12 percent over the past seven years, and there “has been a notable increase of all the three species of giraffe found in Kenya” since 2011.
“Efforts to increase penalties on crimes related to threatened species appear to be bearing fruits,” the report concludes. “Such efforts should be sustained for long term conservation and management of this species.”
The Advisory Opinions podcast is built for days like yesterday. Get off Twitter, tune out the noise, and let David and Sarah explain what is actually going on with the Texas heartbeat law—and what it does (and doesn’t) mean for the likelihood of Roe v. Wade being overturned.
If you’re short on time and can’t listen to a 65-minute podcast, David’s French Press from yesterday (🔒) is a worthy substitute. “Here’s the shortest possible description of what happened,” he writes. “In a 5-4 unsigned opinion the Supreme Court refused to block a highly unusual Texas law that bans abortions when there is a ‘detectable fetal heartbeat.’ But that short description doesn’t even begin to describe what happened yesterday. The highly unusual law has led to a highly unusual legal result, and that means that a host of people are just deeply, deeply confused.”
Atlantic staff writer Graeme Wood made his first-ever Remnant appearance on Thursday, joining Jonah for a conversation about the future of the Taliban, the psychology of extremists, and the future craziness of American politics.
On the site today, Weifeng Zhong explains that our secrecy-driven model for intelligence collection is behind the times, and in particular behind China. He calls for more of a focus on open-source information.
Mary Chastain: “My Alf passed away on Sunday. I got an email saying I will get his ashes on Friday. It’s been an awful week. Anyone who knows me knows Alf was attached to my hip for 16 years. Thankfully, I still have Bingo, but we miss Alf. It will be nice to have him home with us forever. Not in the way we want, but he will be home and at rest.”
Stacey Matthes: “In which the ‘principled conservatives’ at the Lincoln Project once again prove that they were never actually conservatives to begin with.”
Vijeta Uniyal: “Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda congratulated its ally Taliban for the “historic victory” in Afghanistan and called for worldwide jihad. In a statement released on Wednesday, al Qaeda urged the “Muslims masses” to “prepare for the next stage” of jihad to establish Islamic rule from Arab North Africa to the Middle East. In light of the weak U.S. leadership on the international stage under President Biden, the terrorist group gave a call to intensify jihad in Yemen, Indian Kashmir, and Palestine — a reference to Israel, al Qaeda’s official statement said.”
Legal Insurrection Foundation is a Rhode Island tax-exempt corporation established exclusively for charitable purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code to educate and inform the public on legal, historical, economic, academic, and cultural issues related to the Constitution, liberty, and world events.
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33.) THE DAILY WIRE
34.) DESERET NEWS
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Morning Edition
Friday, Sept. 3, 2021
Good morning. On our mind today: Governors during the pandemic, women registering for the military draft, and the Utah Utes’ and Weber State Wildcats’ season opener. Read this morning’s six most important stories below.
Governors, the pandemic’s early heroes, are getting torched for their handling of COVID-19
Perspective: The ‘swamp’ of Washington showed its best colors getting people out of Afghanistan
‘A good starting point’: Utah beat Weber State handily, but has plenty of work to do
Utah’s 2nd youth COVID-19 death is unvaccinated Salt Lake County teen
Meet Taylor Randall, the first alum to ascend to University of Utah presidency in 50 years
‘Shang Chi’ director explains why his film is all about family
Biden Admin Freaks Out Over Pro-Life SCOTUS Decision
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court came down on the side of babies by refusing to block a Texas law banning abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, a major win for the pro-life cause. However, President Joe Biden and Press Secretary Jen Psaki were none too happy about the court’s decision. Biden issued a harsh condemnation, referring to the SCOTUS decision as “an unprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional rights.” He has also declared that he will oversee a “whole-of-government effort” to fight the law in Texas, discussing his options with the White House counsel and Gender Policy Council.
“Following up on the Texas law, why does the president support abortion when his own Catholic faith teaches abortion is morally wrong?” asked Owen Jensen, a DC reporter for Eternal Word Television Network, known for its Catholic-focused programming. Psaki initially responded by saying it’s the president’s belief that “it’s a woman’s right, it’s a woman’s body and it’s her choice.”
Jensen pressed further, asking, “Who does he believe then should look out for the unborn child?”
“He believes that it’s up to a woman to make those decisions. And up to a woman to make those decisions with her doctor,” Psaki said before firing back, “I know you’ve never faced those choices nor have you ever been pregnant but for women out there who have faced those choices this is an incredibly difficult thing. The president believes that right should be respected.”
Abortion Laws to be “Enshrined” by Congress?
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi decided to combat the state law by attempting to codify Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the US, into law. Brittany Bernstein, in the National Review, quotes Nancy Pelosi as saying:
“SB8 unleashes one of the most disturbing, unprecedented and far-reaching assaults on health care providers – and on anyone who helps a woman, in any way, access an abortion – by creating a vigilante bounty system that will have a chilling effect on the provision of any reproductive health care services. This provision is a cynical, backdoor attempt by partisan lawmakers to evade the Constitution and the law to destroy not only a woman’s right to health care but potentially any right or protection that partisan lawmakers target.”
Bernstein later goes on to analyze:
“The measure would face an uphill battle in the evenly divided Senate where Republicans would likely filibuster the bill. The [Senate bill] does not even have the support of all 50 Senate Democrats: Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania have not signed on as co-sponsors.
Meanwhile, Senator Ed Markey (D., Mass.) called for eliminating the Senate filibuster to allow legislation to codify Roe v. Wade to pass with a simple majority.
“We have seen what the Republicans will do in ultra-conservative state legislatures across the country to quash the constitutional rights of Americans, and this ruling needs to be an urgent call to action for my Senate Democratic colleagues.”
Weekend Reads Wall Street Journal: The Afghan Fiasco Will Stick to Biden The Federalist: Chris Cuomo Demonstrates Media Ignorance On Pro-Life Movement Wall Street Journal: Texas’ Abortion Law Blunder National Review: Overturning Roe v. Wade Would Repair a Supreme Injustice The Federalist: How To Have A Normal, Friendly Conversation: A Guide For Race-Obsessed White Leftists
What to Watch – The Defeated
A gritty, intense look at post-WWII Berlin, The Defeated is a brilliant show that tragically went under the radar upon its release in 2020. The underrated Taylor Kitsch, best known for his turn as bad-boy heartthrob Tim Riggins in Friday Night Lights, stars as Brooklyn cop Max McLoughlin, who was sent by the US government to help German civilians establish a police force to restart a society ravaged by war and further impacted by occupation. Of course, Max has an ulterior motive in the trip – to find his AWOL brother.
The 8-episode miniseries is a tough watch, as it deals frankly with torture, sexual assault, abuse, forced prostitution, and severe mental illness, but the series is worth the watch. Fantastic performances, excellent writing, and a gripping mystery drama. The power plays between the Russians, Americans, and German criminal underground are incredibly compelling, propped up by engaging, complex characters. Every single major character (with maybe the exception of the pure-evil main villain) is compromised in some way, making a moral sacrifice due to their harsh world, which makes the series as thought-provoking as it is thrilling. The show is currently available to stream on Netflix and is certainly worth a binge this long weekend.
Paulina Enck is a Press Secretary at American Action Forum and a former Federalist Intern. She recently graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with a degree of Global Business. All opinions are her own. Follow her on Twitter at @itspaulinaenck.
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Sep 03, 2021 01:00 am
First hydroxychloroquine, now ivermectin, is the hated deadly drug de jour, castigated by the medical establishment and regulatory authorities. Read More…
Sep 03, 2021 01:00 am
While Biden has argued the Afghan conflict “is not in the national interest” in part because the country is so remote, the same cannot be said for Yemen. Read More…
Sep 03, 2021 01:00 am
A peasant who survived the Black Death must have felt considerable optimism and relief. We can have that, too, but only if… Read More…
Fallacies about a ‘free’ education
Sep 03, 2021 01:00 am
Democrats have been touting free education in their massive spending proposals, but there are some unintended consequences… Read more…
Taliban co-founder to lead new Afghanistan government, police in New Zealand kill “extremist” who stabbed six, and Japan’s struggling PM Suga steps down
Today’s biggest stories
Cars sit in water after flooding on the Major Deegan Expressway spilled over into the neighboring street in the Bronx borough of New York City, September 2, 2021
U.S.
Flash flooding killed at least 44 people in four Northeastern states as remnants of Hurricane Ida unleashed torrential rains that swept away cars, submerged New York City subway lines and grounded airline flights. U.S. President Joe Biden travels to Louisiana today to get a first-hand look at the destruction wrought by Ida.
In a scene replayed across the United States, angry parents and activists streamed into a meeting of the Florida’s Lake County school board where it considered whether to mandate mask-wearing for students and staff. Meanwhile, South Carolina’s Supreme Court struck down a school mask mandate in the state’s capital city in the midst of its largest surge in COVID cases since last winter.
More than 9 months after Pennyslvania certified the 2020 election, Republican lawmakers in the state are launching a partisan probe into the vote by soliciting sworn testimony on “irregularities” and scheduling a hearing for next week.
The Virginia Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the state can take down a towering statue of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee, a centerpiece of protests against racial injustice, from its capital city of Richmond.
A screen grab shows a police officer walking with a gun outside a shopping mall following a knife attack in Auckland, New Zealand, September 3, 2021
WORLD
New Zealand police shot and killed a knife-wielding “extremist” who was known to authorities, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, after he stabbed and wounded at least six people in a supermarket.
Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar will lead a new Afghan government set to be announced shortly, sources in the Islamist group said, as its fighters battled forces loyal to the vanquished republic in the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said in a surprise move he would step down, setting the stage for a new premier after a one-year tenure marred by an unpopular COVID-19 response and sinking public support.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, struggling ahead of a September 20 election, came under concerted fire at a debate from opponents who said he had no business calling an election during the pandemic.
Vietnam’s coronavirus epicentre Ho Chi Minh City is proposing to emerge from a strict lockdown and resume economic activities from September 15, shifting from its “Zero-COVID-19” strategy to living with the virus, according to a draft proposal.
BUSINESS
Joe Perkins, head of Michigan-based auto supplier Mobex Global, marked Labor Day weekend this year as more than a holiday or a symbolic nod to U.S. workers. It now carries real-world significance as the lapse of federal unemployment benefits on September 4 brings hope of a surge in job applicants to fill open positions that have kept his company 10% short of its hiring goals.
Walmart’s move to give 565,000 of its U.S. store workers raises of at least $1 puts the spotlight on the industry’s tight, competitive labor market as the all-important holiday shopping season is set to kick off.
The Chinese government’s campaign to improve conditions for workers has spurred companies, particularly some of its hardest-driving tech giants, to cut down on long hours of compulsory overtime but not all employees are happy about it.
Two furloughed jumbo jet pilots and a burnt-out finance worker have been among the more unusual candidates to learn how to drive 44-tonne trucks at Laurence Bolton’s school in south London during the pandemic. We examine how Britain’s trucker shortage is jamming a post-pandemic recovery.
Amazon.com plans to take a more proactive approach to determine what types of content violate its cloud service policies, such as rules against promoting violence, and enforce its removal, according to two sources, a move likely to renew debate about how much power tech companies should have to restrict free speech.
New from Breakingviews
Agenda-setting insight from the international commentary brand of Reuters
Broadway’s long-awaited reopening kicked off with the return of Tony-winning show ‘Hadestown’ – the first musical to come back after an unprecedented 18-month shutdown.
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44.) WORLD NET DAILY
Web version
Breaking News Alert
This is a breaking news alert which we send infrequently to update you on emerging breaking stories.
National Public Radio mocked users of ivermectin with claims that the “horse paste” – used as an animal dewormer – is both dangerous to humans and ineffective against COVID.
But the public broadcasting corporation forgot one stunningly important thing. … Read more…
Somehow, the original “two weeks to flatten the curve” of the spread of COVID turned into “zero COVID” among many politicians around the world. Australia is one of the last holdouts of that strategy, seeking to totally eliminate the virus.
But last week, the prime minister made a startling announcement. … Read more…
A new social, anti-crime program in San Francisco raises a number of novel questions, including, but not limited to, could this be the beginning of a new career choice: that…Read more…
A new poll that surveyed some 11,000 “faith voters” found that by a 9-1 margin, they are calling for an impeachment inquiry to be opened into Joe Biden. The MyFaithVotes.org…Read more…
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pauses for a moment as she addresses reporters on Thursday, April 15, 2021, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing…Read more…
In a 5-4 decision which included the three justices appointed by President Trump, the Supreme Court has made a stunning ruling that is upsetting Democrats and progressives across the nation. …Read more…
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Why do Republicans keep winning? They don’t care about the rules.
by Hayes Brown
There’s a certain level of terrible creativity at work in the GOP’s latest moves. From the local level to the Supreme Court, Republicans and their appointees show they are willing to bend or break any rule — or make up new ones altogether — so long as they can remain in power. It’s why the Texas abortion law came into effect — and why democracy itself is so threatened, Hayes Brown writes.
“It doesn’t matter that only a third of the country wants Roe v. Wade overturned, that districts in Texas have been gerrymandered so no Democrat can undo the ongoing changes or that a majority of votes may no longer win an election,” Brown writes. “Their power begets power, entrenching them and their policies into place.”
MSNBC Films and Peacock will present “Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11,” a Yard 44 and NBC News Studios production. The feature documentary tells the story of Sept. 11 through personal recollections recorded from a video booth that have never been shown on film. The same eyewitnesses return to the booth to reflect upon the past two decades. Watch “Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11” commercial-free Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET, and stream it exclusively on Peacock.
The first two episodes of Southlake, a six-part original podcast series from NBC News, are now available. The new series, hosted by national investigative reporter Mike Hixenbaugh and news correspondent Antonia Hylton, takes listeners inside a wealthy Texas suburb’s war over race and education. Listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.
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47.) ABC
September 3, 2021 – Having trouble viewing this email? Open it in your browser.
Morning Rundown
Death toll rising in Northeast after catastrophic flooding: At least 46 people are dead in the Northeast after the remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped flooding rain and spawned tornadoes. Overall, there have been at least 59 deaths across eight states related to Ida. The National Weather Service issued the first-ever flash flood emergency for New York City Wednesday evening while the city was walloped with 7.19 inches of rain. Subway stations were turned into waterfalls and Midtown streets became rivers. Thirteen died in New York City as a result of the storm with at least eight deaths caused by flooded basement residences, according to New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea. Most of the city’s fatalities were in Queens. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy also declared an emergency with 3 to 5 inches of rain falling per hour in some locations. At least 23 people have died due to the storm in the state. Flooding got so bad in some parts of New Jersey that cars were underwater. Homes in Gloucester County were also devastated when a tornado ripped through Harrison Township on Wednesday. Other states were also hit hard by Ida as it made its way through the Northeast, including Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland. President Joe Biden, who approved New York and New Jersey emergency declarations due to the storms, addressed Hurricane Ida’s damage on Thursday, and told East Coast governors that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is “on the ground” and ready to provide assistance. Here’s what climate experts are saying about the record-breaking storm.
Biden slams SCOTUS refusal to block Texas abortion law: Following Wednesday night’s Supreme Court vote that formally rejected a request from Texas abortion providers to block the state’s law restricting the procedure while legal challenges continue, President Joe Biden said he was launching a “whole-of-government effort” in response. In a statement, Biden said he is directing his Gender Policy Council and the White House legal team to ensure women maintain their constitutional right to abortion. Similar sentiments among lawmakers condemning the Texas law, known as SB8, were echoed throughout Washington, D.C., Thursday. Despite the scramble on multiple fronts, restoration of abortion rights in Texas is not expected to happen quickly, experts say. Since the Texas law came into effect, women in the state are struggling to access abortions and reproductive care, specifically women who live in dire communities. Some advocates say SB8 is just the latest chapter in a history of legislation that has disproportionately hurt women of color. Ever since Roe v. Wade, Black women seeking abortion services have faced barriers. Marsha Jones, CEO of the Afiya Center in Dallas, told ABC News that even when low-income women are able to get financial aid through abortion funds to cover the cost of the procedure, many still don’t have access to care because they can’t afford related travel costs, child care or other medical costs like sonograms. Advocates have vowed their legal battle will continue until full access to the procedure is restored.
Improper use of Boppy nursing pillows, loungers linked to 7 infant deaths: Seven recent infant deaths have been tied to nursing pillows and infant loungers made by Boppy, a maker of baby products, according to a new analysis from Consumer Reports. The seven deaths and one infant injury all happened in the nearly one year since the Consumer Products Safety Commission issued a warning for caregivers about the risks of using pillow-like products for sleeping infants, according to Consumer Reports, which analyzed U.S. government data. The products connected to the infant deaths include Boppy nursing pillows and loungers, which are still sold online and in major retailers. In response to the findings, the CPSC told ABC News it is looking into possible legal action. While Boppy told ABC News in a statement it has provided warnings on its products, the CPSC said the deaths involving nursing pillows and loungers appeared to happen when “children are left on or near pillows, and the child rolls over, rolls off, or falls asleep.” To prevent similar incidents from happening, the CPSC approved a new federal rule in June for infant sleep products that will go into effect in 2022.
Daughter donates part of her liver to save her critically ill dad: A Minnesota father is celebrating a new chance at life thanks to his daughter, who donated part of her liver to save him. Six years ago, Mike Maudal, 62, was diagnosed with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, an aggressive form of fatty liver disease, which can progress to cirrhosis and liver failure, according to the Mayo Clinic. He was initially treated with diet changes and medication, but in 2018, doctors told him he would ultimately need a liver transplant. As he waited for a donor, his daughter, Molly Maudal, struggled with watching her father’s health decline. So, Molly decided to get tested as a potential donor for her dad. She learned she was eligible to save her dad’s life during a phone call with a Mayo Clinic nurse in April. On June 11, the father-daughter duo underwent a living-donor liver transplant. The Maudals recovered in hospital rooms near each other and were discharged within one day of each other. They told “GMA” they want to share their story to encourage more people to become living donors.
GMA Must-Watch
This morning on “GMA,” Brittany Wagner of Netflix’s “Last Chance U” joins us to talk about her new book, “Next Chance You,” which shares her practical strategies to overcoming obstacles. Plus, as we head into Labor Day weekend, our anchors share their picks for binge-worthy TV, music, movies and books. And Will Reeve talks with college athletes who are seeing a paycheck for the first time since being allowed to profit off their name, image and likeness. All this and more only on “GMA.”
Today we focus on the fallout from the Supreme Court’s decision not to strike down Texas’ restrictive abortion law, why it’s getting harder to predict storms in the age of climate change, and the long overdue return of Abba.
Here’s the latest on that and everything else we’re watching this Friday morning.
Experts say the Texas case, alongside and another one the high court will consider from Mississippi this year, have the same goal: gutting or overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationally.
The laws take two separate approaches to curtailing abortion rights. But they may end up working together — with the help of a conservative Supreme Court — as a well-timed one-two punch that could be a death knell for the landmark ruling.
“Whether it comes in this [Texas] case, or comes in the next term in the Dobbs case, out of Mississippi, it seems very likely that whether they actively reverse Roe, saying that Roe is no longer the law, cases like this will make inroads that will lead to gutting the protections that Roe has provided,” said Joyce Vance, an NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst and a former U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Alabama, in an interview on MSNBC Thursday.
New Mexico is bracing for an influx of women seeking abortion after Texas’ restrictive las took hold.
Leah Litman, assistant professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, argues in this opinion piece that the Texas ruling has given other states the green light to ban abortion and close clinics.
Forecasts predicted an intense storm headed for the New York area, but the intensity of rainfall in the era of climate change can be difficult to anticipate. At least 42 people were killed as the remnants of Ida battered the Northeast Thursday.
The Taliban are poised to announce a new government in Kabul. But there’s one corner of the country where their flag does not fly and they won’t take it without a fight.
Any process that keeps the Maduro regime intact will exacerbate intolerable security threats, writes Sen. Jim Risch, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
ABBA, the beloved Swedish pop group, announced Thursday in a global livestreamed event that, after nearly 40 years, it will release a new 10-track album, “Voyage,” on Nov. 10 via Universal Music Group’s Capitol label.
The group debuted two of its new songs, “I Still Have Faith in You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down,” for fans during the event, which at one point had more than 200,000 people tuning in live.
There will also be a new concert featuring the group — made up of Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus — performing digitally as avatars, aka “ABBA-tars” with a live 10-piece band.
The terrible toll, in lives and damage, of Hurricane Ida is still becoming clear. Also, the World Health Organization is monitoring a new COVID variant. All that and all that matters in today’s Eye Opener. Your world in 90 seconds.
The remnants of Hurricane Ida brought record-breaking rain and flooding to states across the Northeast. The severe weather killed more than 40 people and left hundreds in need of rescue. Correspondent Mola Lenghi reports from New Jersey.
Last week more than 200,000 new pediatric cases of COVID-19 were reported across the country – a more than five-fold increase over the past month. This comes amid the ongoing fight over school mask mandates, including in Florida, a state hit especially hard by the spike in COVID cases. Correspondent Manuel Bojorquez reports.
Heading into Labor Day weekend, federal health officials are urging unvaccinated individuals to avoid traveling during the holiday. The recommendation comes as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations rise across the nation. Correspondent Errol Barnett reports.
Ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick to face sex abuse charges in court
The 91-year-old former Archbishop of Washington D.C.’s appearance on criminal child sex abuse charges will be a day of reckoning not only for him, but for the Catholic Church.
Nature calls: Pandemic drives exodus from cities to rural towns
The COVID pandemic resulted in hundreds of thousands of Americans leaving urban centers for rural towns. Correspondent Mola Lenghi takes us on a journey into New York’s Hudson Valley to see what’s drawing people from the big city, and how the new arrivals are transforming the region.
Swedish supergroup ABBA are back with new music for the first time in almost 40 years. The band announced in London that a new album will be released in November, and a new show next year will see the band reunite in the form of digital avatars on stage. Correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports.
Plus: More bad news for free speech online, Fauci on booster shots, and more…
Bad Texas regulations could be at odds with each other. The new Texas abortion ban may contradict the mandates of social media regulation passed by the Texas Legislature. Under the mandates of the two statutes, social media platforms could be required to both take down and leave up information about abortion, Techdirt‘s Mike Masnick points out.
The social media law—House Bill 20—was passed by the Texas Senate on Wednesday (the same day Texas’ new abortion law took effect).
Similar to a law that was passed—and blocked—in Florida, H.B. 20 is designed to treat social media platforms like common carriers (such as phone and cable companies).
A “blatantly unconstitutional bill,” H.B. 20 “tries to prevent social media websites from moderating content,” writes Masnick. “While the bill does include some language to suggest that some content can be moderated, it puts a ton of hurdles up to block that process.”
Meanwhile, the new Texas abortion law (Senate Bill 8) prohibits “knowingly engag[ing] in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion, including paying for or reimbursing the costs of an abortion through insurance or otherwise.”And it allows civil lawsuits against those suspected of helping someone get an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.
The aiding and abetting provision could be construed to prohibit providing information about where to get an abortion, abortion pills, how to get funding to travel out of state for an abortion, etc.
While S.B. 8 does say “that the aiding and abetting rule should not apply to 1st Amendment protected speech,” Masnick doesn’t see that “making much of a difference in the long run because (1) the 1st Amendment already protects such speech so you don’t need a law to say that and (2) it’s unlikely to stop people from suing over speech that they claim is aiding and abetting…”
The digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) also has concerns that the Texas abortion law could target speech about abortion. “In addition to the drastic restrictions it places on a woman’s reproductive and medical care rights, the new Texas abortion law, SB8, will have devastating effects on online speech,” warns EFF:
The law creates a cadre of bounty hunters who can use the courts to punish and silence anyone whose online advocacy, education, and other speech about abortion draws their ire. It will undoubtedly lead to a torrent of private lawsuits against online speakers who publish information about abortion rights and access in Texas, with little regard for the merits of those lawsuits or the First Amendment protections accorded to the speech. Individuals and organizations providing basic educational resources, sharing information, identifying locations of clinics, arranging rides and escorts, fundraising to support reproductive rights, or simply encouraging women to consider all their options—now have to consider the risk that they might be sued for merely speaking. The result will be a chilling effect on speech and a litigation cudgel that will be used to silence those who seek to give women truthful information about their reproductive options.
So what happens if someone posts to a Texas Facebook group about how or where to get an abortion after six weeks?
“Until the courts actually rule on this, we don’t just have a mess, we have a contradictory mess thanks to a Texas legislature (and governor) that is so focused on waging a pointless culture war against ‘the libs’ that they don’t even realize how their own bills conflict with one another,” Masnick writes. As it stands,
Under Texas’s social media law—remember “each person in this state has a fundamental interest in the free exchange of ideas and information”—Facebook is expected to keep that information up. However, under Texas’ anti-choice law—remember, anyone can sue anyone for “inducing” an abortion—Facebook theoretically faces liability for leaving that information up.
So who wins out? Well, it should be that both bills are found to be unconstitutional, so it doesn’t matter. But we’ll see whether or not the courts recognize that. Section 230 should also protect Facebook here, since it pre-empts any state law that tries to make the company liable for user posts, which in theory the abortion law does. The 1st Amendment should also backstop both of these, noting that (1) Texas’ social media law clearly violates Facebook’s 1st Amendment rights, and (2) the broad language saying anyone can file civil suit against anyone for somehow convincing someone to get an abortion also pretty clearly violates the 1st Amendment.
In other news related to the Texas abortion ban…
• “An activist has made a script to flood a Texas website used to solicit information on people seeking abortions with fabricated data, according to a TikTok video from the developer and Motherboard’s test of the tool,” Vicereports.
• The Cato Institute’s Walter Olson riffs on some of the elements of the Texas abortion ban and how few of “these ways of turbocharging litigation…are new techniques.” Twitter thread starts here:
A lot of people today learning about the fundamental unfairness of “one-way” fee shifting (losing defendant must pay, losing plaintiff skates away) in private litigation. #SB8
• Dating apps Bumble and Match “are creating relief funds for people affected by a Texas law that bans abortion from as early as six weeks into pregnancy,” reportsTheTexas Tribune.
• “The Texas abortion ban could force tech to snitch on users,” warnsProtocol.
The First Amendment protections for anonymity might really get put to the test. https://t.co/eszueHWJrt
Sixth Circuit rejects Cleveland official’s claim that immunity protects him from First Amendment retaliation suit, in case brought by fire battalion chief who says he was punished for voicing concern over his chief’s qualifications. https://t.co/7v8NWc1F2mpic.twitter.com/wrH9tpA63l
Amazon’s web hosting wing may start cracking down on the kinds of content it hosts. The company “plans to take a more proactive approach to determine what types of content violate its cloud service policies, such as rules against promoting violence, and enforce its removal,” Reuters reports.
Over the coming months, Amazon will hire a small group of people in its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division to develop expertise and work with outside researchers to monitor for future threats, one of the sources familiar with the matter said.
It could turn Amazon, the leading cloud service provider worldwide with 40% market share according to research firm Gartner, into one of the world’s most powerful arbiters of content allowed on the internet, experts say.
QUICK HITS
• “I would not at all be surprised that the adequate, full regimen for vaccination will likely be three doses,” top COVID-19 adviser Anthony Fauci said at a White House briefing yesterday.
• The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has made feeding peacocks a crime punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
• In NBC News poll conducted August 14–17 finds 54 percent of respondents think abortion should be legal always or most of the time. Thirty-four percent say it should be illegal with exceptions, and 8 percent say it should be illegal without any exceptions.
Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason, where she writes regularly on the intersections of sex, speech, tech, crime, politics, panic, and civil liberties. She is also co-founder of the libertarian feminist group Feminists for Liberty.
Since starting at Reason in 2014, Brown has won multiple awards for her writing on the U.S. government’s war on sex. Brown’s writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast, Buzzfeed, Playboy, Fox News, Politico, The Week, and numerous other publications. You can follow her on Twitter @ENBrown.
Reason is the magazine of “free minds and free markets,” offering a refreshing alternative to the left-wing and right-wing echo chambers for independent-minded readers who love liberty.
Delayed Exit; Trust in Elections; Quote of the Week
By Carl M. Cannon on Sep 03, 2021 08:59 am
Good morning, it’s Friday, Sept. 3, 2021, the day of the week when I reprise quotations intended to be uplifting or educational. Today’s is from Frederick Douglass, who on this date in 1838 effectuated his escape from bondage in Maryland.
Rented out as a carpenter on the Baltimore docks, Douglass, then known as “Fred Bailey,” hopped on a train heading north. Posing as a merchant seaman, he changed trains in Philadelphia, then spent a few days in New York City. He was joined there by Anna Murray, a black woman who had been born free and aided in his escape. They were married in New York on Sept. 15, 1838, but they still weren’t safe from slave hunters who roamed the city. Local abolitionists helped the couple sail to New Bedford, Mass., where they began playing their part in ending slavery on these shores.
Frederick Douglass was a man who would defend himself physically in a fight, even when the odds were not in his favor, and he would urge President Lincoln to enlist slaves in his army, but he is remembered today for the tremendous force of his words, some of which I’ll reprise in a moment.
First, I’d point you to RCP’s front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion pieces spanning the political spectrum. We also offer original material from our own reporters, columnists, and contributors, including the following:
* * *
Fitful 48 Hours for Americans, Afghans Trying to Escape. Susan Crabtree reports on apparent bureaucratic delays that hindered the departure of a chartered plane carrying dozens of U.S. citizens, at-risk religious minorities and Afghan allies.
One Enduring Lesson From Afghanistan: Don’t Invade. At RealClearDefense, Scott Savitz examines the 80-year effort by the British to establish governance in Kabul, which presaged later failures by the Soviet Union and the United States.
American Principles and the Challenge of Afghanistan. At RealClear’s American Civics portal, Adam Carrington considers how concepts articulated by the 18th century French thinker Montesquieu shed light on recent events.
The Lack of Trust in Elections — and How to Get It Back. Chad Flanders and Kevin Vallier offer a prescription.
When Will PA Mayors Wake Up to the Crime Crisis? Gabe Kaminsky reports on the continuing rise in violent crime in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and the muted response of Democratic leaders in those cities.
Of the World’s 25 Dirtiest Cities, 23 Are in China. At RealClearEnergy, David Holt questions why climate-change activists aren’t calling out the world’s worst polluter.
Five Facts on the U.S. Electric Grid. No Labels has this primer at RealClearPolicy.
* * *
As he became one of this nation’s most prominent abolitionists, Frederick Douglass repeatedly warned white Americans that a reckoning was coming, and that it was unlikely to be peaceful. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress,” he said in an 1857 speech in Canandaigua, N.Y. “Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.”
The “awful roar” that was coming, however, was the sound of cannon fire, not the tides. Yet even after the Civil War ended slavery, much of the work of freedom remained. And Douglass knew something that champions of freedom from Martin Luther King Jr. to Alexander Solzhenitsyn have reminded us, which is that slavery and other forms of tyranny don’t only harm those under the yoke. They threaten oppressors as well, stunting their very souls.
In an 1883 speech at a civil rights meeting in Washington, D.C., Frederick Douglass expressed that thought this way: “No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.”
The first webinar in the Fall series is a 9/11 commemorative program that will feature the recollections of former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra, and 9/11 family member Debra Burlingame.
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60.) TWITCHY
61.) HOT AIR
62.) 1440 DAILY DIGEST
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Good morning. It’s Friday, Sept. 3, and we’re covering Ida’s rising death toll, the start of the college football season, and more. Have feedback? Let us know at hello@join1440.com.
The death toll from former Hurricane Ida soared yesterday, as remnants of the storm brought torrential downpours and triggered widespread flooding from Maryland to Massachusetts. As of this morning, at least 46 deaths have been reported, including 13 in New York, 23 in New Jersey, and five in Pennsylvania. A 19-year-old Maryland resident died after reportedly rescuing his mother from a basement apartment overnight Wednesday.
The deaths come in addition to at least four in Louisiana, where Ida arrived Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane, and two in neighboring Mississippi, where a highway bridge collapsed. Some estimates place the total economic loss from the storm at $18B.
See videos from New York City here and here, and drone footage from Louisiana here.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Larry—now in the middle of the Atlantic—is forecast to grow into at least a Category 4 storm, but is not currently projected to make landfall (see trajectory).
College Football Kickoff
The 2021 college football season kicks into full swing tomorrow, with a number of marquee matchups scheduled for opening weekend.
Starting the day, No. 12 Wisconsin hosts No. 19 Penn State (12 pm ET, Fox) in one of the biggest in-conference season openers in recent Big Ten history. In the afternoon, No. 1 Alabama hosts No. 14 Miami in a neutral site game in Atlanta (3:30 pm ET, ABC). It marks the fourth time in six seasons that the Crimson Tide enters as the top-ranked team, though they must replace QB Mac Jones and a number of other starters.
In the biggest Week 1 matchup, No. 3 Clemson takes on No. 5 Georgia in Charlotte, North Carolina (7:30 pm ET; ABC). The game is Clemson’s first of the post-Trevor Lawrence quarterback era, and the Tigers will lean on sophomore DJ Uiagalelei to take the offensive reins. Other notable games include No. 17 Indiana at No. 18 Iowa (3:30 pm ET, BTN) and No. 9 Notre Dame at Florida State Sunday (7:30 pm ET, ABC). See the full schedule here.
No. 4 Ohio State started the party early, beating Minnesota 45-31 last night.
Face Mask Study
The largest randomized control trial on the effectiveness of face masks to date revealed a positive relationship between the prevalence of mask-wearing and a decrease in COVID-19 transmission. The study, involving almost 350,000 people spread across 600 villages in rural Bangladesh, showed a 30% increase in facial coverings, following a series of interventions that encouraged residents to wear masks, resulted in roughly a 10% drop in COVID-19 transmission. The protective effect increased to nearly 35% for those over 65 years old, researchers said. A paper describing the study is awaiting peer review.
The rolling average of new US cases sits near 170,000 per day, with daily deaths averaging above 1,400. Explore the data here.
Have a great Labor Day—we’ll see you Tuesday morning!
Let’s cut to the chase: Americans love pizza. The cheesy goodness, the crispy crust, the world of topping options (including pineapple, if you care to admit it). So it’s no wonder that the US pizza market is valued at $46B and is poised to grow to $54B in the next two years. We can’t get enough of the stuff.
>Famed Swedish band ABBA reunites in the studio for first time in nearly 40 years, announcing new studio album due out in November and a 2022 virtual concert (More)
>US men’s national team draws with El Salvador in its first 2022 World Cup qualifying game (More) | NBA announces likely COVID-19 protocols for upcoming season to include practice and game day testing for unvaccinated players (More)
> Sidharth Shukla, Bollywood actor and reality TV star, dies of heart attack at 40(More)
From our partners:It’s a plant-based flash sale! Laird Superfood specializes in creating the cleanest (and tastiest) plant-based food products on the market. And today only, you can take 20% off the superfoods that everyone is raving about. Fan favorites like superfood coffee creamer, oat & macadamia nut plant milk, functional mushroom coffees, coconut water, and your new go-to snacks—shop now for 20% off!
Science & Technology
>Federal Aviation Administration grounds spaceflights from Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic while it investigates problems the company’s latest spaceflight (More)
>Four-legged whale fossil revealed in long-awaited study; the 43-million-year-old fossil is believed be an ancient land mammal species in the process of evolving back into a marine animal species (More)
>Modified buckyballs—spheres made of 60 carbon atoms—shown to be comparable in strength and hardness to diamond, but capable of conducting electricity (More)
Business & Markets
>US stock markets up (S&P 500 +0.3%, Dow +0.4%, Nasdaq +0.1%) as weekly jobless claims drop to pandemic-era low of 340,000 (More) | Record high 50% of US small-business owners had unfilled job openings in August (More)
> Jury selected in criminal trial of Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of the blood-testing startup Theranos (More)
>Hedge fund executives from Renaissance Technologies will pay $7B to settle long-running tax dispute with IRS (More)
Politics & World Affairs
>New Zealand police kill a reportedly ISIS-linked extremist after six stabbed in Auckland grocery store attack (More)
>Former Georgia prosecutor facesmisconduct charges, with state officials alleging she shielded the men charged in the death of Ahmaud Arbery (More)
>Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says he won’t run for leadership of the country’s governing party next month, effectively stepping down from the office amid criticism of the country’s handling of COVID-19 (More)
WEEKEND READS
Tough Trees, Hot Fires
E&E News | David Ferris. Increasingly intense western wildfires are beginning to threaten California’s redwoods, some of which are thousands of years old. (Read)
Why Do We Work Too Much?
New Yorker | Cal Newport. Even workers and executives who have some control over their own schedule tend to overwork themselves. (Read, paywall)
Ohio’s Fake High School
USA Today | Staff. The story of Bishop Sycamore, who tricked ESPN into airing their high school football game, but whose address is a Columbus-area duplex. (Read)
It’s 3 am and you want a slice of pizza. What are you doing up at 3 am?! Not important—Piestro’s got you covered.
With restaurant-quality pizzas in shopping malls, universities, office buildings, and so much more, Piestro’s robotic pizzeria can serve up a pizza with all your favorite fix-ins in just three minutes (but if it’s extra urgent you can order ahead online). To help fuel Piestro’s global expansion—including $580M in pre-orders via commercial contracts—they’re looking for investors like you to consider their offering. Check it out today—the round closes on 9/30.
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Editor’s note: More than 3 million monthly clicks can’t be wrong. Here are the most popular stories we ran in August. Enjoy!
Historybook: Treaty of Paris signed, ending American Revolutionary War (1783); Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Marguerite Higgins born (1920); HBD author Malcolm Gladwell (1963); RIP football coaching legend Vince Lombardi (1970).
“If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires.”
– Malcolm Gladwell
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On the menu today: While Afghanistan disappears from American news coverage, the Taliban threatens the relatives of Afghans who immigrated to America, Senate Republicans demand answers to basic questions about who is still stranded in Afghanistan and what’s being done to get them out, and a Biden administration official reveals why no one will get fired for this debacle.
Mr. President, Americans Are Still Stranded in Afghanistan
This morning, Mike Allen of Axios reports, “President Biden is eager for a fight over abortion — an issue he sees as politically advantageous after the conservative Supreme Court left in place the near-ban in Texas.”
Of course Biden wants a fight over abortion. It’s extremely familiar territory for him and for the rest of the country. And it would distract attention from the fact that the president broke his promise, made on national television, that if there were still Americans in Afghanistan after August 31, we would ‘stay to get them all out.’ 100 to 200 American citizens, ‘thousands’ of green-card … READ MORE
Welcome to the Friday edition of Internet Insider, where we dissect the week online. Today:
Processing Texas’ new restrictive abortion law
NYC flooding draws comparisons to The Day After Tomorrow
That cursed Cinderella flash mob video
BREAK THE INTERNET
The warning signs that led to SB8
In September 2018, I shared a few memes on Twitter that people were making about the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, a typical topic for me to tweet about since I edit stories about internet culture. However, I also pointed out that many of the memes were toxic and sexist. They poked fun at the fact that Kavanaugh, a Trump nominee for the Supreme Court, could potentially affect Roe v. Wade. I was harassed by dozens of Twitter users in response to my tweet. The block button was effective, but I still received notifications for weeks. One man sent me a GIF of a Planned Parenthood building being blown up.
On Wednesday, Senate Bill 8 went into effect in Texas. The law bans abortions after six weeks—before most people with a uterus know they are pregnant. The majority of the abortions in the state are done after six weeks. The Supreme Court, now with both Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, has a conservative majority. They refused to block the law, which also allows anyone to sue a clinic who performs an abortion outside of the six-week window, as well as anyone who helps someone else get an abortion.
Over the last two days, I’ve seen my social feeds become inundated with posts about the law, which will likely affect abortion laws in other states. A lot of people were surprised that it passed. Others were sad for young girls who will be left with few options. I thought back to the awful memes I saw three years ago—and all the terrible posts I’ve seen on social media since then that slut-shame women who choose to get an abortion.
Anti-abortion rhetoric is all over the internet, and it has been for a long time. Like political memes, anti-abortion memes reflect the growing divide in this country. But, like many others have said this week, anti-abortion laws don’t prevent abortion; they just prevent safe abortion. Women will always find ways to seek an abortion, but some of those options won’t be as safe as going to a clinic in your own state. And those in power who stood aside to let this law happen are telling us that they simply don’t care.
17 best astrology sites for online birth chart readings
Online birth chart readings or astrological profiles aren’t all that different from the ones you would get in person. Just like the rest of our lives during COVID, this service now happens over video calls. How you want your reading done and the focus of the reading is all up to you. But be sure to do your homework on the professional you work with first. Read on for our tips on how to choose a practitioner, where to go, and more.
Released in 2004, The Day After Tomorrow depicts a heavily fictionalized image of climate change, where catastrophic weather devastates New York City in a matter of days. First comes a tsunami of floodwater, followed by a new ice age. As one of the quintessential NYC disaster movies, some of its scenes now look disturbingly similar to real life.
New York’s subway system is notoriously in need of maintenance, but it was also never designed to withstand this level of flooding. So while The Day After Tomorrow may be a corny movie that played fast and loose with climate science, the comparisons are wholly understandable.
—Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, staff writer
CRINGE
James Corden’s ‘Cinderella’ flash mob is hard to watch
Today, the latest Cinderella adaptation debuts on Amazon Prime, starring Camila Cabello, Idina Menzel, and James Corden. Thanks to The Late Late Show,we got a glimpse of one of the songs on the soundtrack in the most unexpected of places: Twitter.
Last weekend, someone who was caught in a “Crosswalk the Musical,” one of the show’s recurring segments, recorded the Cinderella cast performing “Let’s Get Loud” (whichappears on the Cinderella soundtrack) in front of their vehicle.
The original clip from @_BlueAnt has been viewed more than 18 million times since Saturday and has gone viral, thanks in part to the Film Updates Twitter account reposting the video. We’ve seen these types of flash mob musicals on The Late Late Show for years, but rarely do they come from the POV of the unsuspecting audience who tried to drive somewhere and was treated to a musical instead. The video led to a lot of great memes from the POV of the drivers. But much of the ire and jokes were directed toward Corden, whose hip thrusting really, um, stood out.
—Michelle Jaworski, staff writer
MEME OF THE WEEK
The “Did it hurt?” meme came for us all this week.
“This is unbelievable! It’s been over 20 years. I never thought this would happen again..”
A 54-year old business consultant named, Lisa, could barely contain her emotions when something shocking happened to her in her own home.
She was experiencing occasional digestive discomfort, fatigue, achy joints, brain fog, dry skin, and weight gain, even though she thought she was doing everything right by maintaining a healthy diet and exercising on a daily basis.
Finally having enough, she went to see her doctor, and he gave her a test: “For the next 7 days, I want you to write down everything you eat and then come back to see me”.
One week later, Lisa returned to her doctor with a long list of foods she had eaten for the past 7 days.
After carefully reading over the list, her doctor looked at Lisa and said, “You told me you were eating healthy foods..”
“What do you mean?”, a very confused Lisa replied.
It turns out, her doctor identified one specific “health food” in Lisa’s diet that he believed was the leading culprit to all of the troubles she had been experiencing.
Lisa was stunned. She could not wrap her head around what her doctor was telling her.
After just a couple of weeks of making one simple change to her diet, Lisa began to notice better digestion, more energy, healthy joint functions, healthy-feeling joints, and smoother-looking skin.
However, the biggest shock came one day when she tried on her favorite jeans she used to wear in her early 30’s. To Lisa’s surprise, they actually fit!
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It’s fascinating that two senior FDA officials who have overseen decades of mass vaccinations have now finally reached the end of their tolerance for crimes against humanity. They resigned earlier this week, citing the astonishing fact that the White House, CDC and UN have conspired to lock the FDA out of vaccine approval decisions, bypassing FDA regulatory authority and pushing vaccines for political reasons that have no scientific basis.
Also today: the Red Cross has publicly announced that vaccinated individuals are prohibited from donating blood for certain plasma applications because, “the vaccine wipes out those antibodies.”
In other shocking news, new research has found that the antibodies produced in response to covid vaccines are, themselves, pathogenic.
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American men need to stand up and stop the covid tyranny
Steve Lynch, who ran for governor of Pennsylvania, delivered a rousing speech at a recent Freedom Rally in which he called on men everywhere to band together and take back our country from the …
Australia passes new controversial online surveillance bill
The Australian federal government passed a controversial new law that gives the country’s law enforcement agencies more online surveillance powers. Known as the Surveillance Legislation …
An Air Force commander who helped oversee the final US withdrawal from Afghanistan detailed how troops spent a mere three hours swiftly loading up military planes for the last mission of America’s longest war. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On With Your Day.
By Faith Karimi
Hurricane Ida’s remnants turned streets into rivers in Manville, New Jersey. Carlos Gonzalez/AP
Ida
Communities are mourning and trying to clean up after floodwaters turned highways and homes into death traps in the Northeast. The remnants from Hurricane Ida pummeled cities with unprecedented rainfall in some areas, leaving at least 46 people dead in six states. The victims included a Connecticut state trooper who was swept away as he responded to a missing person’s call. Most of the deaths were in New Jersey, where Gov. Phil Murphy said a majority of the victims were overtaken by rising floodwaters while in their vehicles. In New York City, a lot of people who died were found in basements. Meanwhile, communities in Louisiana, where the hurricane made landfall, have no power and are struggling with a severe fuel shortage. President Joe Biden will visit the state today to survey storm damage and meet with state and local officials.
Clashes erupted overnight between Taliban fighters and an anti-Taliban group in Afghanistan’s northern Panjshir Valley, a source said. The mountainous, inaccessible region north of Kabul is the last major holdout against Taliban rule, and has a long history of resisting the insurgent group. Taliban fighters have been gathering forces in the area, and claimed they’d captured three districts in the valley. Sporadic fighting between the Taliban and the National Resistance Front has gone on for two weeks. The rugged, inaccessible landscape gives local forces an advantage over would-be invaders. A Taliban leader called on Panjshiris to accept an amnesty and avoid fighting, but acknowledged negotiations had yielded no result so far.
Texas
President Joe Biden says he’s launching a federal effort to respond to the new Texas abortion law. The state’s abortion providers are turning away patients following the new law, which bans abortions after six weeks. The Supreme Court denied a request from Texas abortion providers to freeze the state law, meaning it will remain on the books for now. Biden called the law’s novel enforcement structure — which allows private citizens to bring civil suits against anyone who assists a pregnant person seeking an abortion — a “bizarre scheme” with the potential to unleash “unconstitutional chaos.” He tasked the Department of Health and Human Services along with the Justice Department to see what steps the federal government can take to ensure safe and legal abortions in Texas.
California
Firefighters battling California’s massive Caldor Fire are facing the likelihood of more blazes in upcoming weeks. The severe drought suffocating parts of the American West is leading to water shortages, creating the ideal environment for wildfires to spark rapidly. In addition to the blazes, firefighters are facing exhaustion and Covid-19 infections in an extended fire season that shows no sign of slowing down. California’s fires have been unrelenting this year, torching more than three times the land burned in the state during the same time span last year. More than 15,000 firefighters are on the frontlines of California’s 16 active large wildfires. “Firefighters are getting tired, they’re getting drained,” Cal Fire spokesman Dave Lauchner said.
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I want to know who knew what when, and what could have been done differently — because New Yorkers deserve to know what we’re doing to learn from this event and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on the deadly flooding in the state.
Brought to you by CNN Underscored
The best thermometers of 2021
After scouring editorial and user reviews, we picked 15 of the most highly reviewed thermometers to put to the test. Here are our three top picks to take with you to work or school.
The power of the brain
David Aguilar was obsessed with Lego. He spent his childhood building cars, planes, helicopters — and eventually, his own prosthetic. (Click here to view)
(Paul Mirengoff)Sen. Joe Manchin has thrown a monkey wrench into Democrats’ plan to pass, via reconciliation, a $3.5 trillion spending package on top of the trillion dollar (or so) bipartisan “infrastructure” bill. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed called “Why I Won’t Support Spending Another $3.5 Trillion,” Manchin states:
The nation faces an unprecedented array of challenges and will inevitably encounter additional crises in the future. Yet some in Congress have a strange belief there is an infinite supply of money to deal with any current or future crisis, and that spending trillions upon trillions will have no negative consequence for the future. I disagree.
An overheating economy has imposed a costly “inflation tax” on every middle- and working-class American. At $28.7 trillion and growing, the nation’s debt has reached record levels. Over the past 18 months, we’ve spent more than $5 trillion responding to the coronavirus pandemic. Now Democratic congressional leaders propose to pass the largest single spending bill in history with no regard to rising inflation, crippling debt or the inevitability of future crises. Ignoring the fiscal consequences of our policy choices will create a disastrous future for the next generation of Americans.
Those who believe such concerns are overstated should ask themselves: What do we do if the pandemic gets worse under the next viral mutation? What do we do if there is a financial crisis like the one that led to the Great Recession? What if we face a terrorist attack or major international conflict? How will America respond to such crises if we needlessly spend trillions of dollars today?
Instead of rushing to spend trillions on new government programs and additional stimulus funding, Congress should hit a strategic pause on the budget-reconciliation legislation. A pause is warranted because it will provide more clarity on the trajectory of the pandemic, and it will allow us to determine whether inflation is transitory or not.
(Emphasis added)
Actually, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has already said she won’t support a $3.5 trillion reconciliation deal. Her refusal alone would have been sufficient to block it.
But Manchin seems to add another obstacle by calling for a pause. The most natural way to read his statement is that he wants to wait before voting on any large reconciliation package — wait until certain variables become better known. It will be some time before we know whether a new, deadly coronavirus variant will emerge, whether the inflation is “transitory,” and, perhaps most importantly, what the mood of the country is as we head towards an election year.
It’s possible, nonetheless, that Manchin (and Sinema) will agree soon to a smaller reconciliation package of, say around $2.5 trillion. I can certainly see that happening. But if we take Manchin’s op-ed at all seriously, it’s possible that he won’t — not for many months, anyway. And by then, who knows?
Where does Manchin’s bombshell leave Nancy Pelosi? Allahpundit points out that she imposed a September 27 deadline for bringing both the reconciliation package and the bipartisan infrastructure bill to the House floor for a vote.
However, Pelosi’s left flank has said it won’t vote for the bipartisan measure without the reconciliation package, and Pelosi herself has taken this position at times. With the latter legislation now on indefinite pause thanks to Manchin, will she hold a vote on the bipartisan piece if Manchin sticks to his guns? If so, will she have the votes to pass it?
At Talking Points Memo, Kate Riga complains that Manchin’s move “could also end Democrats’ chance to meaningfully legislate for years.” That’s possible, depending on how one defines “meaningfully legislate,” But Sens. Manchin and Sinema don’t seem to want such legislation in the sense that Riga means.
Neither do the American people. Otherwise, they would have elected a Senate that could muster 50 votes for the task. And otherwise, Democrats wouldn’t be obsessed by the idea that they won’t have this opportunity again for years.
(Scott Johnson)I am scheduled to join Jon Justice, Drew Lee, and producer Samantha Sansevere for the weekly Justice & Drew round table tomorrow morning from 7:00-9:00 a.m. The show runs from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. weekdays on Twin Cities News Talk AM 1130. It is available via live stream here and in podcast form here.
The show covers local and national news with a sense of humor and an upbeat twist. Entertaining while they educate, Jon and Drew provide a crucial counterpoint to the editorial cowardice and stupidity of the Star Tribune. I think that it is safe to say that our withdrawal from Afghanistan will be a subject of discussion, as it has been on the show all week.
I think it’s likely we’ll also be talking about my glimpse into the Blue Grand Jury investigation earlier this week. Tom Lyden covered it for FOX9 KMSP here this afternoon. The Star Tribune, which is the proximate cause of the investigation, has yet to get around to the developments this week. Shocking, I know.
The federal judge investigating grand jury leaks in the Chauvin case is not pleased with the MN AG. https://t.co/fserMuaeG5
Judge Schiltz to AG: “I first want to express my disappointment at your extraordinarily careless handling of confidential and sensitive information regarding a federal grand jury.”
The show has been extraordinarily hospitable to John Hinderaker and me as well as John’s colleagues at the Center of the American Experiment. Along with Alpha News, Justice & Drew is the most important source of local news in the Twin Cities. Please check it out if you might find it of interest.
(John Hinderaker)The world’s elites claim the right to govern by virtue of their technical and bureaucratic expertise. One can think of historical eras when an elite’s claim to govern by virtue of its superior skills and its record of success would be plausible. Unfortunately, we are not living in one of them.
One of many cases in point: Oxford University head ‘embarrassed’ Michael Gove is an alumnus. Michael Gove is a prominent British politician. He has held a number of posts in Conservative administrations, including Education Secretary and Justice Secretary. Currently he is Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Among other things, he advocated for Brexit. So why is the vice-chancellor of Oxford University embarrassed that Gove is an alumnus?
In a candid speech Professor Louise Richardson said the “war on wokeness” was a problem for institutions and blamed populists, politicians and parts of the media for perpetuating the view that universities are “bastions of snowflakes”.
The war on wokeness is a problem for institutions? Most of us would say that wokeness is a problem for institutions.
Speaking on a panel alongside vice-chancellors from across the world at Times Higher Education’s World Academic Summit, Richardson said: “Michael Gove, the British cabinet minister who I am embarrassed to confess we educated, famously said after it was pointed out to him by a journalist that all the experts opposed Brexit, he said: ‘Oh we’ve had enough of experts.’
Amen!
“With the vaccine, it seems like the public can’t get enough of experts. Many of our scientists have become household names. We have demonstrated through the vaccine work and the development of therapeutics and so on just how much universities can contribute and that’s enormously helpful to our cause.”
Of course, when “experts” said that Brexit would destroy Britain’s economy, they were wrong and Michael Gove was right. But declining to follow the lead of “experts” is heresy, and I suppose it only makes matters worse if the experts turn out to be manifestly wrong.
As for covid, the experts have not been unanimous on much of anything, and many of them (like the execrable Dr. Fauci) have changed their minds repeatedly, seemingly functioning more as politicians than scientists. The bottom line is that if many millions of people in the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere have become skeptical of the credibility of alleged experts, it is with good reason.
I share that skeptical attitude, in part because of my own experience. As a trial lawyer, I both worked with and cross-examined hundreds, likely thousands, of experts in various fields. Many of them had extraordinarily impressive credentials. My experience was that experts are like everyone else. Some know what they are talking about, others don’t. Some back up their opinions with sound data and careful reasoning, while others crumble under adverse examination. Deferring to someone merely because he or she is a credentialed expert would be a terrible, and sometimes potentially suicidal, practice. Don’t do it.
(Paul Mirengoff)The Biden Education Department has opened “civil rights” investigations into five states — Iowa, South Carolina, Utah, Oklahoma and Tennessee — that have banned school districts from requiring masks. This is a naked effort to back Democrats and teachers’ unions in their dispute with some Republican governors over mask wearing, a dispute that has nothing to do with civil rights.
Federal civil rights law requires that students with disabilities be given a free and appropriate education. But this obligation should not be construed to require an entirely risk-free education for students with disabilities.
The covid-related risk of serious health problems for children, including those with disabilities, is very small. For children who are vaccinated, it is minuscule. For vaccinated children in settings where social distancing measures are followed, it is probably all but non-existent.
Thus, mask wearing is not required to provide an appropriate education to students with disabilities. It’s not even required to provide them with an education that carries virtually no risk of becoming seriously ill.
There are also legitimate questions about whether masks lower the risk of infection. I believe they do to some degree, but the evidence is not conclusive. It’s even less clear that masks provide protection on top of that obtained by social distancing.
The CDC claims that masks are among the most effective tools to prevent the spread of the virus. It recommends universal masking in schools.
The CDC has said lots of things during the pandemic. Some have turned out to be correct, some have not. Others remain neither confirmed nor disproven.
State and local decisionmakers should take the CDC’s recommendation into account. But in the end it should be up to these decisionmakers to decide whether, on balance, the incremental health benefit, if any, from mask wearing at school is worth the downside of making kids wear masks all day, often against the desire of their parents.
Unfortunately, in some jurisdictions the decisionmakers are at odds. That’s a political dispute with health ramifications maybe, but no civil rights implications.
The federal government should stay out of it, but Team Biden won’t. It is beholden to the teachers’ unions and they want masks — to protect themselves, not to protect disabled students.
(Paul Mirengoff)Now that the worst is over Afghanistan (in terms of optics, not reality) we can expect the mainstream media to (1) move away from the subject and (2) revise the narrative that emerged when the debacle was happening before our eyes.
According to my friend who dutifully reads the New York Times every day, this is where that organ seems headed:
NYT returns to form today. The paper does its best to position Biden to political advantage, attack his foes, and suppress unfavorable news. We are back on home ground.
Afghanistan still makes the front page, but only as one of a raft of other stories. The focus is reduced, but there is still a very substantial amount of Afghanistan news inside. The coverage itself, however, is far more supportive of Biden than we’ve seen in recent days.
A key article is headlined, “In Pulling Troops Out, A President Becomes An Unlikely Insurgent.” This piece portrays Biden as a courageous dove standing up to the hawkish bipartisan national security establishment in ways that resonate with average Americans. This very much follows the president’s own line in trying to fudge the question of his handling of the withdrawal, while focusing instead on the decision to withdraw itself.
The piece does note that there is a danger of over-correcting for past hawkishness by moving to an era of “under-reach.” Overall, however, the author, Mark Landler, makes Biden out to be something of a hero for doing what neither Obama nor Trump, for all their desire to get out, actually managed to pull off.
Another piece is a classic case of an Op-Ed disguised as “news analysis.” This article by Reid J. Epstein and Catie Edmondson, is an all-out attack on Republican critics of Biden’s withdrawal. It indicts them for hypocrisy in supporting Trump’s pull-out then turning on a dime to attack Biden for doing the same thing.
Again, all effort is focused on turning an argument over the handling of the withdrawal into an issue of the policy choice itself. According to Epstein and Edmondson, “…those who praised Mr. Trump’s plan but assailed Mr. Biden’s withdrawal have volunteered few substantive suggestions for what the president should have done differently.”
Really? I hear critics constantly complaining about Biden’s decision to withdraw during the fighting season for political reasons, as well as his decision to abandon Bagram Air Base. At any rate, this article is hardly “news analysis.” It truly is a thinly disguised partisan opinion piece.
A real “news analysis” would have at least considered the bombshell Reuters report on Biden’s call with Ghani. The clear implication of that report is that Biden knew the pull-out was going badly and did nothing to change his plans. The transcript also makes clear the president’s willingness to misrepresent the conditions on the ground. The president’s critics have pointed to this story for two days now. The Times has not a word to say about it, nor do most other mainstream sources. So we would appear to be back to our usual corners.
The Times is still trying to make up its mind on how to treat the stranded American citizens. It buries a mention of them near the end of a long article on the challenges of governing Afghanistan. Clever. To its credit, however, the editorial page includes an Op-Ed warning of the continuing danger of international terrorism emanating from Afghanistan. Overall, however, the Times has returned to its usual partisan posture.
(Emphasis added)
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Ida’s wrath struck the Southeast and the Northeast, the Caldor Fire still burns near Lake Tahoe and more to start your Friday.
Happy Friday, Daily Briefing readers! Congrats on making it through another work week.
In the news today, we will see President Joe Biden head to Louisiana to survey the damage Hurricane Ida did last weekend. Meanwhile, the Northeast is doing its own cleanup after the storm blew through Wednesday and Thursday, causing major flooding in New York City and New Jersey.
🎧 On today’s 5 Things podcast, hear the latest from Ida as climate scientists warn more freak weather events are on the way. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker.
What else is happening today:
Biden to visit New Orleans in wake of Hurricane Ida
President Joe Biden plans to visit Louisiana Friday to survey damage from Hurricane Ida, which lashed the state last weekend as one of the five strongest storms to ever strike the U.S., packing 150 mph winds. He will also be meeting Louisiana’s Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, and other state and local leaders. About 900,000 people in Louisiana, including much of New Orleans, remained without power and tens of thousands had no water in the midst of a sultry stretch of summer Thursday. Efforts continued to drain flooded communities, and lines for gas stretched for blocks in many places from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. But there were also glimmers of hope. Commercial flights resumed in New Orleans and power returned to parts of the business district Thursday.
📸 Photo of the day: New Jersey stadium stuck underwater after storm📸
TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater is shown under floodwaters Thursday, September 2, 2021.
Thomas P. Costello & Tariq Zehawi, USA TODAY Network
In New Jersey, flooding killed two people in Hillsborough and two in Bridgewater, where TD Bank Ballpark, home of the New York Yankees’ Double-A affiliate, is located and submerged.
Newsmakers in their own words: Jen Psaki takes on a male reporter over abortion
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki talks to reporters at the White House on Thursday, September 2, 2021.
Getty Images photo; USA TODAY graphic
During a briefing Thursday, reporter Owen Jensen with EWTN Global Catholic Network asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki how Biden can support abortion when “his own Catholic faith teaches that abortion is morally wrong.” After a brief exchange, Psaki fired back at Jensen, noting that Biden believes it’s up to the woman to make decisions when she’s pregnant.
The Supreme Court late Wednesday denied an effort by abortion rights groups to halt a Texas law that bans people from having procedures after six weeks of pregnancy. Biden in a statement Thursday criticized the Supreme Court’s decision as an “unprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional rights.”
After days of fierce winds, firefighters battling the Caldor Fire near Lake Tahoe took advantage of better weather conditions Thursday and were even able to allow some people back to their homes. Friday’s forecast called for lighter winds but also extremely dry daytime weather, with a warming trend continuing through the weekend. The blaze has spanned over 330 square miles across two counties within miles of the popular tourist destination, forcing an unprecedented evacuation of all 22,000 residents of South Lake Tahoe, California, and tens of thousands of tourists. It has been burning since Aug. 14 and still threatens thousands of homes, businesses and other buildings ranging from cabins to ski resorts along its trek toward Nevada’s border.
Bryan Ruby poses for a portrait at Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, Oregon, on August 26, 2021. Bryan plays for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes.
Photo by Amanda Lucier for USA TODAY; USA TODAY Sports graphic
August jobs report: Hiring may have slowed in face of the delta variant
When the government issues its August jobs report Friday morning, it may show a stretch of robust hiring over the past few months slowing at a time when the COVID-19 delta variant’s spread has discouraged some Americans from flying, shopping and eating out. Economists have forecast employers added 750,000 jobs in August, according to the data provider FactSet. That would be a substantial gain, though below the roughly 940,000 jobs that were added in July and, after the Labor Department revised its numbers, June as well. Some analysts are more pessimistic, expecting job growth of 500,000 or less. But even many of those economists expect any hiring slowdown to be brief, noting employers are still struggling to fill jobs to meet strengthened consumer demand. And with a $300-a-week federal unemployment supplement set to expire next week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and others speculated more of the unemployed would be looking for work.
Marvel’s long-awaited ‘Shang-Chi’ kicks into theaters
After getting a head start preview before the holiday weekend Thursday night, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” opens in theaters Friday. In his ★★★ (out of four) review, USA TODAY film critic Brian Truitt writes “Shang-Chi” puts martial arts and Asian-influenced fantasy elements on display in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time.” Starring Simu Liu, who Truitt says “exudes likability, swagger and depth,” the film follows Shang-Chi and his best friend Katy (Awkwafina), who go from San Francisco hotel valets to global heroes as they try to foil the latest machinations of Shang-Chi’s father Wenwu (Tony Leung), who wields 10 ancient mystical rings as the leader of a shadowy terrorist organization. In an interview with USA TODAY , Liu said he connected with his character’s “feeling of being constantly in between worlds and struggling to figure out what path he wants to take.” Liu is the mega-franchise’s first lead Asian superhero.
🔵 ‘Shang-Chi’ star Simu Liu ‘would’ve given anything’ to change his name to Steve:Asian Americans relate.
Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) roughs up a bad guy as best friend Katy (Awkwafina) looks on in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”
MARVEL STUDIOS
Drake’s new album debuted early Friday morning
Drake (finally) released his sixth studio album, “Certified Lover Boy” at 2 a.m. ET on Friday. On Monday, a day after his rival Kanye West’s long-delayed “Donda” hit streaming services, Drake announced “CLB” was coming Friday after previous push backs. Then the four-time Grammy winner and habitual chart-topper amped up the hype during the week by buying a series of billboards in cities such as Atlanta, Chicago and Memphis to tease the album’s collaborations. In New York, the billboard touted “The GOAT is on CLB” while another said “Hey Houston the hometown hero is on CLB.” Speaking of buzzy collaborations, Lady Gaga also releases a remix of her 2020 pop-homecoming album called “Dawn of Chromatica” Friday. New guest artists include Charli XCX, Rina Sawayama and Bree Runway.
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93.) JUST THE NEWS
Just The News Daily Newsletter
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Manchin roils Biden plans, seeks ‘pause button’ on massive $3.5 trillion liberal package
Centrist Democrat from West Virginia raises concerns timing not right with “runaway inflation,” bungled Afghan exit.
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Jake Paul now wants to box Tim Tebow and please Tim, please knock him out in Jesus’ name
After defeating Tyron Woodley to bring his boxing record to 4–0, Jake Paul tweeted this:
Lots of people seem to be really upset that the Texas abortion ban will mean fewer black babies and Down syndrome babies getting killed
The Supreme Court’s historic upholding of Texas’s abortion ban has occasioned no small amount of well-deserved celebrating from the pro-life lobby. But it’s also made a ton of pro-choicers really mad—and in many cases specifically because the law will mean less abortions for nonwhite babies and babies with Down syndrome.
AWWW ALERT: Check out the video of these rare twin elephants that were just born in Sri Lanka
Sometimes we need a break from the bad news, so thanks for joining me.
The South Australian government is going to force residents to send photos of themselves within 15 minutes at random times to prove they’re staying at home during quarantine 🤡
The nation of Australia (which most of the rest of the world still refers to, in jest, as a “democracy”) is soon to be home to an innovative new COVID-19 mitigation measure that will require many residents to send hostage photographs of themselves to prove they’re staying at home during quarantine.
China officially bans “sissy men” from TV
I still find it amazing that the woke Left and Communist China are best buds:
Watch this warrior woman protect her dog from a bear using nothing more than a stick
One Canadian woman recently proved her frontier mettle by literally standing up to a bear and scaring it off using nothing more than a stick.
Should white people “commit suicide as an ethical act?” This professor at a Catholic university had some very confusing thoughts about it
Have you ever considered whether or not white people should, in some circumstances, kill themselves “as an ethical act?”
Candace Owens Was Just DENIED A Covid Test For “Making the Pandemic Worse”
Watch Owens explain the situation in an Instagram Live here.
A restaurant CEO wrote that obesity is unhealthy and then people got upset so he deleted it
It can be hard, in the age of COVID, to remember day-by-day what you’re allowed to say and what’s been forbidden by both “experts” and public opinion. To the latter group you can apparently add the medically accurate remark that being severely overweight is really unhealthy.
Life in Afghanistan: A peek at what it’s like for the average citizen after the Taliban takeover and it might not be what you think.
I had the opportunity to briefly discuss what’s going on in Kabul with a woman whose Afghan husband is there. It’s always useful I think to step away from the relentless, if entirely understandable, focus on Taliban soldiers parading through the streets with American equipment, the utter humiliation in the manner in which the American withdrawal took place, and the genuine tragedy of what awaits those left behind who had close ties to the Americans and the former government.
Remember the women at the L.A. spa who claimed a dude exposed himself and it was dismissed as a “transphobic hoax”? Yeah, charges have now been filed against the man, who is a registered sex offender
Earlier this year, a group of women at a California spa claimed that a man identifying as a woman exposed himself to them in the women’s bathroom of the spa.
This heavy-metal cover of a guy ranting about Covid restrictions is one of the scariest and most amazing things I’ve ever seen
Our favorite metal enthusiast is back, this time with a video set to a crazy guy who spoke at the San Diego Board of Supervisors meeting a few weeks back.
The Biden admin is starting to get serious about border security … in Tajikistan
This makes total sense.
Watch: Aussie guy plays with deadly sea snake because anything else would just be sensible
You Aussies are insane:
Former Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary claims DoD knew about Kabul bomber and had a drone target lock but didn’t take the shot
According to former Deputy Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Pardo-Maurer, our military knew about the Kabul suicide bomber that killed nearly 200 people, including 13 U.S. service members – and even had the guy in their sights with a Predator drone – but refused permission to take him out.
If you think you’re having a bad day, at least you’re not this alligator who ate a drone and then started smoking like a tire fire
Are you having a rough one? Did you spill your coffee all over your new dry-cleaned suit? Miss the bus? Stub your toe? All of that stuff at once? That’s no fun. But hey, at least you’re not George the Alligator, who ate a drone and then appeared to more or less burst into flames:
The CDC says the unvaxxed shouldn’t travel over Labor Day weekend
Yeah, they’re really saying that!
Watch: After gutting Biden with an attack ad last week, Trump just went in for round 2 with an even more savage beat down
So Trump decided to blast Biden last week with an ad over the hot mess in Afghanistan and it was brutal.
Fall Is Coming — Welcome The Greatest Season With One Of The Funniest Videos You’ll See Today
We all know that autumn is the greatest of all seasons. Cool weather, leaves falling, hoodies, jeans, football. Need I say more?
Major teacher’s union president is OK with your kids having lost a year of education because now “they know the difference between a riot and a protest” and “they know the words insurrection and coup”
Parents: If you are worried that the wholesale shuttering of schools throughout 2020 and the shift to a disastrous, unhappy “virtual” form of “education” may have had a negative effect on your child’s educational and intellectual development—what’s known as “learning loss”—then you can rest easy with United Teachers Los Angeles President Cecily Myart-Cruz’s assurances on the matter:
Yikes: Biden’s Approval Is WAAAAAY Down In Most Recent Rasmussen Poll — 52% Say He Should RESIGN!
More bad news for Biden.
NYC streets, subways, and apartments are completely flooded out from Ida’s torrential rain and the videos are so wild they don’t even look real
Hurricane Ida hit NYC on Wednesday night as more than 3.15 inches of rain was recorded in ONE HOUR in Central Park, leading to catastrophic flooding throughout the city.
San Fran is now literally paying people TO NOT SHOOT EACH OTHER
These people really do not understand human nature or law enforcement, do they?
The Supreme Court just refused to block Texas’ heartbeat abortion law! Praise the Lord and God bless Texas!
BOOOOOOM 💥
Card-checking, hug-forbidding, child-banning, COVID churches … just as Christ intended
For a generation, the trend within mainstream American Christianity has been to transform churches into “seeker-sensitive” venues that utilize worldly hooks to lure in unbelievers where they can be transformed by Jesus. Plenty has been written about the biblically questionable approach of trying desperately to grow a church wide rather than deep, and while I certainly have my own thoughts on the topic, that’s not my focus here.
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99.) MARK LEVIN
September 2, 2021
Posted on
On Thursday’s Mark Levin Show, Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasts the Supreme Court decision for not taking a case on the Constitutionality of Texas’ new law that only allows abortion when there is no fetal heartbeat found. The Court took no substantive position and Chief Justice Roberts sided with the more liberal justices on the Court. This is more irrationality from the left pushing for abortion on demand and disguising it as a choice to help people. This is nothing more than the dehumanization of children. Then, approximately one-third of the children admitted at the southern border are missing. Where are they? Why isn’t the White House asking where they are? 65,000 unaccompanied children may now be in the hands of traffickers since the Biden administration has been backlogged with keeping tabs on them and following up. Later, Afghanistan, or Talibanistan, is no longer on the top of the list of media news reports, as they have announced their intentions to form an alliance with China. The media will not report on this and is doing a disservice to the citizens of this country, as did President Biden and his senior leaders in the military and State Department. Afterward, Larry Elder, candidate for Governor of California in the recall election of Gavin Newsom, joins the show to discuss the issues. Elder highlighted that 75% of African American boys are reading below grade level. He also mentioned how Democrats are fearful of losing California because they need a Democrat governor to make important appointments, such as the U.S Senate should Kamala Harris ever assume the Office of the Presidency. Finally, Gary Ginsberg calls in to discuss his new book, First Friends: The Powerful, Unsung (And Unelected) People Who Shaped Our Presidents.
The podcast for this show can be streamed or downloaded from the Audio Rewind page.
Image used with permission of Getty Images / Kevin Dietsch
100.) WOLF DAILY
Wolf Daily Newsletter
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More than 9 months after Pennyslvania certified the 2020 election, Republican lawmakers in the state are launching a probe into the vote by soliciting sworn testimony on “irregularities” and scheduling a hearing for next week.
A British-born man who was a member of a team of Islamic State militants in Syria nicknamed “The Beatles” and accused of beheading American hostages pleaded guilty on Thursday to eight U.S. criminal charges including lethal hostage taking and conspiracy to support terrorists.
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Tortured, beaten and kept in solitary, the Americans who stood for election integrity on January 6th are prisoners of war.Decent, freedom loving Americans have no recourse. Imagine the desperation — the United Nations Human Rights Committee. …
The Left has normalized antisemitism in the United States. This is the result. Despite only representing 2% of the American population, Jews represent a staggering 58% of all religiously motivated hate crimes. Much of America’s Jewish leadership …
ICYMI: I joined Kara McKinney to discuss the Islamic terror attack in Texas and the terrible self-inflicted wound of the US surrender in Afghanistan.Terror is coming.
Al-Qaida Back in Afghanistan – Just in Time for Biden’s 9/11 …
This is by design. This isn’t ineptitude, this is deliberate. This is treason. We are under illegitimate hostile rule.House Republicans Press to Hold Joe Biden Accountable for Deadly Afghan Withdrawal
Unimaginable horror censored by the sharia complaint world press.Muslim Fulani Herdsmen Kill 36 Christians in Kaduna State, Nigeria Anglican bishop laments government inaction.
Aug 25, 2021. Say NO to Mayor de Blasio’s vaccine mandates and vaccine passports outside NY City Hall; a massive crowd gathered representing multiple city unions.
The United States, Guatemala, and Kosovo have all have moved their embassies to Israel. And just now Honduras become the fourth country to do so. The story of Honduras’ move is here.Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez and Prime …
Did we miss anything? Let us know by hitting reply or sending an email through our site here.
We cover the news for you, and as always – you’re our best source!
102.) CNS
103.) DAN BONGINO
104.) INDEPENDENT SENTINEL
www.independentsentinel.com
Dear Readers,
We might discontinue this newsletter or only send an email once a week with just a few key articles mentioned. We are under tremendous censorship and even the newsletter is censored. If you want to check the articles, bookmark the website because the Left is doing its best to make us disappear.
If you get bounced, we’re not doing it.
Our readership is way down since Facebook canceled the popular Capitalism page we built the website on thinking Mark Zuckerberg’s commitment to free speech was sincere. We had a million followers and just under a million ‘likes.’ FB fact-checkers slammed us for jokes, satire, and minor errors or downright misinterpretations.
All the fact-checkers consult or watch each other to see how they evaluate. Then they mimic each other. We have a serious groupthink problem in the country.
The censorship will get a lot worse until they only let you read what they see as okay to read. Check out what Australia is considering now in the first two articles below. It’s unbelievable to think the Aussies would go along with this.
We’re right behind them.
If you disagree with the Left, you’re a racist, Islamophobe, homophobe, etc. They have all bases covered.
What would you prefer in a newsletter? Let us know.
WSJ’s scathing indictment of Joe BidenThe Wall Street Journal Editorial Board wrote a scathing editorial about Joe Biden and his unspeakably horrendous performance in Afghanistan. Two key statements: “Biden’s defiant, accusatory defense on Tuesday of…
Erasing history, from the Taliban to Michelle ObamaI’m not an Amanpour fan but the clip below is right on. The Taliban are deceivers. For some reason, Biden’s administration believes or pretends they believe the Taliban might allow…
Flashback! Fake news reporter Brian Williams’ top hits!The Babylon Bee did it again. They cleverly mocked Brian Williams, one of the many fake news reporters tied to the NBC and MSNBC news sites. Actually, they’re all fake…
San Fran to pay criminals to not shoot peopleSan Francisco is rolling out a pilot program that will pay high-risk individuals to not shoot anyone as gun crimes tick up in the city, Fox News reported. “These small investments can transform…
Mu is here! Right on time as Delta starts to subsideWHO, The World Health Organization, is investigating Mu, the new COVID variant, and it’s right on time! Delta is starting to dissipate and the people are getting too close to…
Flashback! Lindsey Graham promoting war with RussiaHere are John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and that looks like Amy Klobuchar promoting war between Ukraine and Russia for no good reason. Additionally, the whole funding of every country in…
WOKEs plan to destroy the military justice system soonThe hard-left WOKEs now in control of the military will soon revamp the unfair, racist military justice system. Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen H. Hicks, who is every WOKE, wrote about it…
Off they go! US military vehicles heading for IranJournalist at al-monitor, Assad Hanna said US military vehicles are being transported to Iran and posted a photo on Twitter as they are transported. It’s amazing that happened with all…
Lindsey Graham’s views are indistinguishable from the Left’sJoe Biden and his administration did enormous untold damage with his actions in Afghanistan. Tucker says one of the main proponents of the Afghanistan debacle is Lindsey Graham who agreed…
The Corps wants to create infantrymen who will arrive at their first duty station with the critical and creative thinking skills of Marines several years into their career, instead of the robot-like, trigger-pullers that some have accused the service of producing in its longstanding entry-level infantry course, Marine officials said last week.
Members of the Air Force’s 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron who flew out on the last military flights detailed their final fraught hours in what has been a dark, emotional and divisive U.S. exit from a war that now leaves the country in the hands of the same Taliban enemy it once ousted from power.
The 379th Expeditionary Medical Group’s patient population increased tenfold overnight the first day of the evacuation, according to an Air Force statement Thursday that cited chief medical officer Dr. Elaina Wild, an Air Force captain.
Neither leader discussed the threat of an imminent Taliban takeover in their last phone call, according to Reuters, but one theme was consistent from Biden: The situation needed to improve to change the optics in the final month before the U.S. was to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Navy’s 7th Fleet routinely conducts freedom-of-navigation operations and transits through areas China has claimed as its territorial waters, including the Taiwan Strait and island chains in the South China Sea.
Afghanistan sent a small team to the Olympics in Tokyo during July and August, but the nation’s Paralympians were not expected to compete after Kabul fell to the Taliban on Aug. 15.
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UnitedVoice was created to promote independent thinking and to share common sense ideas, useful information and alternative perspectives on important issues.All UnitedVoice editorials have these things in common–they promote American family values, freedom, independence, common-sense thinking and self-reliance… taking responsibility as individuals for our own lives in order to help keep our families safe and our country strong.UnitedVoice helps equip its readers to make better decisions in uncertain times.We will continue to share the week’s most popular stories to ensure that reading anything we share is time well spent.Jack Manza
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