#three years ago people were tense about elections and pandemic

[flyingcatstiel]

live reaction reading this post

People who try to analyze what happened on Tumblr on November 5th, 2020, often really overstate how much it was actually “about” Supernatural. As someone who has never been in the supernatural fandom ever but dID join in on the hysterical destielposting—it was really more about the stress of the pandemic and the 2020 presidential election.

The two biggest Youtubers I’ve seen try to dissect “what happened that November 5th” in video essays both weren’t American—- and I think that explains why they both tried to explain the hysteria primarily via analyzing the Supernatural fandom/the original show, rather than through the lens of the election. And while those videos are cool, valid, informational, and make lots of really well-considered interesting points— I can tell you that me and almost all my mutuals had literally no knowledge or interest in the fact that “oh supernatural had made nods at the ship in the past but the creators were adamant that I wouldn’t be canon” or etc etc etc etc. the first time I learned about any of that context was way later, watching videos where people claimed that fandom history context (that I did not know anything about) was the actual reason for the hysteria.

But the reality is that people latched on to the Destiel stuff because it was a piece of big useless inane zero-stakes fandom news in a time when we were desperately waiting for serious high stakes election news. We were latching onto a “positive “ piece of inane stupid fandom news in a time of great stress, with all the desperation of a drowning man who latches onto whatever piece of wood will keep him afloat.

The core of the hysteria was that Americans (who make up a huge chunk of tumblr’s userbase) were currently glued to their laptops watching the live presidential election vote counts come in. These vote counts were taking an extended amount of time due to the pandemic causing high numbers of mail-in ballots, resulting in a constant state of Election Day Stress for multiple days straight.

This was also during the height of the Pandemic. People had predicted Trump’s presidency would be bad; no one had predicted it would be this apocalyptically bad. No one had predicted pandemics and lockdowns and hospitals overflowing with bodybags. remember Trump spreading Covid lies and conspiracies?? There were so many Qanon conspiracies about democrats being Satanic child traffickers who had to be put to death, and coup threats were mounting from the right wing side. It seemed like this election was a choice between ‘centrist democrat’ and “apocalyptic right wing conspiracy theory authoritarianism,” in the midst of pandemic conditions that people feared would never ever improve— and it seemed like a close election.

Another major point was that Trump voters were more likely to be antimaskers/Covid deniers, while Biden voters were more likely to take the pandemic seriously— so Biden voters were more likely to send in mail-in ballots instead of risking the in-person voting crowds, which meant their ballots would take much longer to count. And so, in many state electoral vote counts, it would initially seem like Trump was very far in the lead— only for Biden to slooooowly build up an agonizingly small lead as the mail in ballots came in, and then defeat Trump at the very end.

So you’re just watching these news sites giving live election updates, refreshing the page every 2 minutes to see if you’re going to live under a spineless centrist democrat or a literal Qanon Dictatorship. And then you go on tumblr to distract yourself, and there’s more election posting, and more agonizing over the votes, and more stress and despair—-

And then it’s been days and we’re right at the crucial tipping point where it’s anyone’s game and the next few hours will determine whether Trump will win, so you need to keep your eye on the vote count, because the next hours will determine the future of the pandemic and your country and your plans for your entire life—

And then stupid Destiel becomes canon! And it becomes canon in the silliest way possible!

If Destiel had become canon at any other time, it would have been a big goofy tumblr celebration? But we wouldn’t have gotten the insane explosion of hysterical interaction.

The entire core of it was the contrast between the inane meaningless stupidity of fandom news vs the actual stressful election news you wanted to hear! It really is best conveyed in that meme where Castiel says “I love you” and Dean indifferently responds with a piece of important election news.

It’s about the contrast between the low-stakes inanity of fandom and the massive life-destroying stakes of a terrifying election. There really was no reason it had be Supernatural specifically, except that Supernatural was a thing everyone knew basic things about from dashboard osmosis— it could’ve been any other equally huge silly fandom ship news about a ship everyone *knew of* but might not necessarily be invested in (ex. Stucky becoming canon, Johnlock becoming canon, Kirk/Spock becoming more canon somehow, etc etc etc.)

I think it’s true that people who weren’t paying agonizingly close attention to the American election news got swept up in it, and that non American Supernatural fans also were extremely excited for purely fandom reasons — but the entire reason it blew up to an unprecedented degree was because of that core of stressed out terrified Americans glued to their computers watching election results and suddenly receiving stupid fandom news instead, and deciding to just hysterically parodically hyper-celebrate this absurd useless zero-stakes news.

I think it was also all elevated by the fact that, as I said before, this happened at the crucial “tipping point” of the election where the next few hours would determine the winner. The fact that Biden began to slowly develop a lead in the hours after made it feel, hysterically, as if the hours after Destiel became canon was somehow the turning point where he began to win; so celebrating Destiel felt like celebrating that slow turn towards victory.

The tl,dr is that it’s so important to Remember the Fifth of November …..in preparation the inevitable hysteria that will happen in the presidential election on November 5th of next year. XD. Personally I’m rooting for Johnlock or Frodo/Sam to somehow become canon in the eleventh hour right before the democrats win

[newstfionline]

Monday, May 10, 2021

Higher Prices Leave Consumers Feeling the Pinch (WSJ) Americans accustomed to years of low inflation are beginning to pay sharply higher prices for goods and services as the economy strains to rev back up and the pandemic wanes. Price tags on consumer goods from processed meat to dishwashing products have risen by double-digit percentages from a year ago, according to NielsenIQ. Some consumers are feeling stretched. Costs are rising at every step in the production of many goods. Prices for oil, crops and other commodities have shot up this year. Trucking companies are paying scarce drivers more to take those materials to factories and construction sites. As a result, companies are charging more for foods and consumer products including foil wraps and disposable cups. And consumers are therefore paying more.

As US reopens, campuses tighten restrictions for virus (AP) About a year into mask mandates, nasal swabs and remote classes, the atmosphere turned tense at the University of Vermont as the school cracked down on rules for social distancing and face coverings amid a spike in student COVID-19 cases. Students were handed hundreds of citations for violations like standing in another student’s doorway or walking maskless to a hallway restroom, igniting a student-led petition that blasted “strict and inhumane living conditions.” “You start to feel suffocated like I’m afraid to leave my room,” freshman Patrick Welsh said in an interview on campus. Even as restrictions relax across much of the United States, colleges and universities have taken new steps to police campus life as the virus spreads through students who are among the last adults to get access to vaccines. Administrators say they’ve needed to act urgently to avoid risking an early end to the semester or sending infected students home and spreading COVID-19. In recent weeks, the University of Michigan punished hundreds of students for missing mandatory virus testing by deactivating their access cards to nonresidential buildings, and Cornell University announced that students would lose access to campus Wi-Fi, course materials and facilities for missing virus tests. The University of Chicago locked down residence halls for seven days and shifted classes online after finding more than 50 cases in a matter of days.

Pandemic gives boost as more states move to digital IDs (AP) The card that millions of people use to prove their identity to everyone from police officers to liquor store owners may soon be a thing of the past as a growing number of states develop digital driver’s licenses. With the advent of digital wallets and boarding passes, people are relying more on their phones to prove their identity. At least five states have implemented a mobile driver’s license program. Three others—Utah, Iowa and Florida—intend to launch programs by next year, with more expected to follow suit. Mobile licenses will give people more privacy by allowing them to decide what personal information they share, state officials say. The licenses offer privacy control options that allow people to verify their age when purchasing alcohol or renting a car, while hiding other personal information like their address. Having a mobile driver’s license will allow people to update their license information remotely without having to go to a state’s Department of Motor Vehicles or waiting for a new card in the mail, said Lee Howell, state relations manager at the American Automobile Association. Industry leaders say safeguards will prevent anyone’s information from being stolen, but some critics argue that having so much personal data on a phone is too risky.

Why an Estimated 100,000 Americans Abroad Face Passport Problems (NYT) About 9 million U.S. citizens currently live abroad, and as the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel finally appears, immigration lawyers estimate more than 100,000 can’t get travel documents to return to the United States. Despite the State Department making headway on a massive backlog of passport applications in the early months of the pandemic, many consulates and embassies abroad, plagued by COVID-19 restrictions and staffing reductions, remain closed for all but emergency services. Travel is restarting, but for American expats who had a baby abroad in the past year or saw their passport expire during the pandemic, elusive appointments for documents are keeping them grounded. “It’s a real mess,” said Jennifer Minear, an immigration attorney and the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “It’s a giant, multilayered onion of a problem and the reduction of staff as a result of COVID at the consular posts has really thrown the State Department for a loop.” Michael Wildes, the managing partner of the law firm Wildes & Weinberg, PC, which specializes in immigration law, estimates that the number of stranded Americans abroad is in the hundreds of thousands.

Scotland’s pro-independence leader promises another bid to break from U.K. after election boost (Washington Post) First Minister Nicola Sturgeon promised Saturday to push ahead with another Scotland independence referendum after her party gained a strong showing in Scottish Parliament elections, setting up a potential clash with Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Sturgeon said that an independence referendum was the “will of the country,,” with her Scottish National Party and pro-independence allies taking a majority of the 129 seats after all the votes were counted. That will probably boost calls to redo a 2014 independence referendum, which could lead to the crackup of the United Kingdom under the strains of Brexit and its deep divisions.

‘Freedom’ fiestas: Spaniards celebrate end of COVID curfew (Reuters) Exhilarated Spaniards danced in streets, chanted “freedom” and partied on beaches overnight as a COVID-19 curfew ended across most of the nation. In scenes akin to New Year’s Eve celebrations, hundreds of mainly young people gathered in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square to applaud the clock striking midnight while in Barcelona revellers headed to the beach with drinks in hand. Police in Barcelona had the strange task of moving people on after the last curfew began at 10 p.m., only to let them back at midnight when it ended for good.

Putin reviews Russian military might as tensions with West soar (Reuters) President Vladimir Putin reviewed Russia’s traditional World War Two victory parade on Sunday, a patriotic display of raw military power that this year coincides with soaring tensions with the West. The parade on Moscow’s Red Square commemorating the 76th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two featured over 12,000 troops and more than 190 pieces of military hardware, including intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, and a fly-past by nearly 80 military aircraft under cloudy skies. This year’s parade precedes parliamentary elections in September and comes at a time when Moscow’s relations with the West are acutely strained over issues ranging from the conflict in Ukraine to the fate of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Death toll soars to 50 in school bombing in Afghan capital (AP) The death toll in a horrific bombing at a girls’ school in the Afghan capital has soared to 50, many of them pupils between 11 and 15 years old, the Interior Ministry said Sunday. The number of wounded in Saturday’s attack has also climbed to more than 100, said Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian. Three explosions outside the school entrance struck as students were leaving for the day, he said. The blasts occurred in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in the west of the capital.

China says most rocket debris burned up during reentry (AP) China’s space agency said a core segment of its biggest rocket reentered Earth’s atmosphere above the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and that most of it burned up early Sunday. Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who tracked the tumbling rocket part, said on Twitter, “An ocean reentry was always statistically the most likely. It appears China won its gamble.” People in Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia reported sightings of the Chinese rocket debris on social media, with scores of users posting footage of the debris piercing the early dawn skies over the Middle East.

Palestinians fear loss of family homes as evictions loom (AP) When Samira Dajani’s family moved into their first real home in 1956 after years as refugees, her father planted trees in the garden, naming them for each of his six children. Today, two towering pines named for Mousa and Daoud stand watch over the entrance to the garden where they all played as children. She and her husband, empty nesters with grown children of their own, may have to leave it all behind on Aug. 1. That’s when Israel is set to forcibly evict them following a decades-long legal battle waged by ideological Jewish settlers against them and their neighbors. The Dajanis are one of several Palestinian families facing imminent eviction in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem. It also highlights an array of discriminatory polices that rights groups say are aimed at pushing Palestinians out of Jerusalem to preserve its Jewish majority. The Israeli rights group B’Tselem and the New York-based Human Rights Watch both pointed to such policies as an example of what they say has become an apartheid regime. Settler groups say the land was owned by Jews prior to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Israeli law allows Jews to reclaim such lands but bars Palestinians from recovering property they lost in the same war, even if they still reside in areas controlled by Israel. Israeli rights groups say other families are also vulnerable, estimating that more than 1,000 Palestinians are at risk of being evicted.

[patriotsnet]

Who Won Yesterday Democrats Or Republicans

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Who Won Yesterday Democrats Or Republicans

House Senate Pass Bill To Exempt Graduation Ceremonies From Covid Orders

Marjorie Taylor Greene vs Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez | 2024 Election Prediction

Michigans schools could be a step closer to having more leeway to host commencement ceremonies, after the Senate and House on Wednesday passed a fast-tracked proposal to exempt the events from pandemic emergency orders.

Most local school boards have done a good job of mitigating the risk of COVID, bill sponsor Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, said on the Senate floor. We should trust them to safely manage their own graduations.

Related:;GOP wants to exempt Michigan graduation ceremonies from COVID orders

The approval in both chambers comes a day after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the state is easing restrictions on Thursday, making masks not required outdoors for gatherings of up to 100 people.

COVID-19 cases are rapidly declining in Michigan, reaching their lowest point in six weeks on Monday. Whitmer has said she wont fully lift all the state restrictions until 70 percent of adult residents are vaccinated.

Robert Leddy, a spokesperson for Whitmer, didnt say if the governor supports the measure, but said she continues to encourage families and school districts to hold ceremonies to honor students’ incredible achievements while ensuring the safety of all attendees.

Currently, graduation ceremonies are allowed, but they have to adhere to certain capacity limits.

Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, was the lone Democrat in the Senate to support the exemption, saying her vote represents the will of her district.

The Time For Democrats To Go Nuclear Was Yesterday

In the U.S., constitutional law guarantees pregnant people the right to have an abortion without interference from the state. Judicial precedent also empowers Americans to preempt any state law that flagrantly violates their constitutional rights: Even before an illicit statute takes effect, individuals can seek a court order barring state officers from enforcing it.

The pro-life movement abhors these legal niceties. In recent years, red states have routinely enacted de facto repeals of Roe v. Wade, only to see their unconstitutional laws nipped in the bud. Of course, conservatives did not respond to these setbacks by revising their agenda to better fit the demands of law and procedure. Rather, they used every tool at their disposal including unprecedented violations of Senate convention to assemble an anti-abortion Supreme Court majority. Meanwhile, in Texas, Republicans devised a cockamamie scheme for nullifying abortion rights immediately with just a small favor from their friends on the high court.

This pretext is absurd. As Voxs Ian Millhiser writes, the tactic could be used to undermine virtually any constitutional right. Imagine, for example, that New York passed an SB 8style law allowing private individuals to bring lawsuits seeking a $10,000 bounty against anyone who owns a gun.

Eric Tiffany Trump To Make Final Election Push In Michigan

Two of President Donald Trumps children will be making stops in Michigan on Thursday as they stump for their Republican father with days to go until the Nov. 3 election.

Tiffany Trump will host a Breakfast With Tiffany event at 9 a.m. in Birmingham.

Eric Trump will host two events. First, theres a Make America Great Again event at Hope Sports Complex in Lansing at 2:30 p.m. Then, he will host an Evangelicals for Trump event at ResLife Church in Grandville in Kent County at 6 p.m. Mansur Shaheen

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Paul Mitchell Quits Gop Over Trump Fraud Claims

U.S. Rep. Paul Mitchell of Dryden says he’s;leaving the Republican party over disgust and disappointment with President Donald Trumps efforts to overturn the results of the election.

In a Monday letter to Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel and GOP House of Representatives leader Kevin McCarthy, Mitchell lambasted Republican colleagues for refusing to speak out against conspiracy theories and baseless claims of election fraud.

It is unacceptable for political candidates to treat our election system as though we are a third-world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote, wrote Mitchell, who added he voted for Trump in the Nov. 3 election.

The retiring representative requested his political party affiliation be changed to independent for the remainder of his term in office, which finishes Jan. 3.; He is being succeeded by Lisa McClain, a vocal Trump supporter, to represent the 10th district that covers Michigan’s Thumb.

Mitchells decision came after Electoral Colleges convened nationwide Monday to formally elect Democrat Joe Biden, who won more than the 270 electoral votes required to secure the presidency.;

Since the election, Mitchell has spoken out against several unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud promoted by Trump and his supporters.; He is the second Michigan Republican, along with retiring Rep. Justin Amash of Cascade Township, to switch party affiliation to independent during Trumps term.

Senate Approves Hertel As Health Director

Senate Republicans on Tuesday continued their protest against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 orders but stopped just short of rejecting the appointment of her new state health director.

Elizabeth Hertel, a former GOP legislative aide who Whitmer appointed in January, will remain director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Related:

In tense hearing, Whitmer official defends MI COVID nursing home strategy

Sixteen Senate Republicans voted to block Hertel, with several voicing concerns she will work in lockstep with Whitmer to continue restrictions they deem overly onerous.

But GOP Leader Mike Shirkey and three colleagues joined Democrats to approve the appointment in a 18-16 vote. It was a symbolic move because the upper chamber only has the authority to “disapprove” appointments within 60 days, and the GOP did not have the 19 votes needed to do so.

My vote in favor of Elizabeth Hertels appointment does not reflect agreement with her decisions as deputy director and now as director of MDHHS, but rather my belief that her background and expertise make her qualified for the job, Shirkey said in a statement.

In our conversations, I have made it clear to Elizabeth that I will continue to push for an end to the nonsensical loophole that allows the department director to control and harm the lives and livelihoods of Michiganders for months or even years on end.

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Cal Cunningham Concedes North Carolina Senate Race

Democrat Cal Cunningham conceded in the;North Carolina;Senate race on Tuesday, saying in a statement that he had called Republican incumbent Senator Thom Tillis to congratulate him on his victory.

“I just called Senator Tillis to congratulate him on winning re-election;to a second term in the U.S. Senate and wished him and his family the best in their continued service in the months and years ahead,” Cunningham said. “The voters have spoken and I respect their decision.”

CBS News projects that Tillis has won the race, after Cunningham’s concession. Tillis led Cunningham by nearly 100,000 votes as of Tuesday. The presidential race in North Carolina is still too close to call, although President Trump is currently in the lead. The full results of the election in North Carolina are unlikely to be known until later this week, as the deadline in the state to receive absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day is November 12.

Huizenga Tests Positive For Covid

U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga said Wednesday he tested positive for COVID-19 prior to a planned appearance in Grand Rapids with Vice President Mike Pence.;

The Zeeland Republican announced results from what he called a rapid test while Pence spoke in west Michigan. Huizenga said he was tested offsite, per event protocol, and is awaiting results of a separate diagnostic test that is typically more accurate.;

In the meantime, I am self isolating until I have confirmed results, the congressman wrote on Twitter.;

Earlier today, I was expected to appear with the Vice President. While taking part in offsite testing protocols, I took a rapid test that came back positive for COVID-19. I am awaiting the results of a PCR test and I am self isolating until I have confirmed results.

Rep. Bill Huizenga

Pence spoke at an auto supply company near Grand Rapids, where he defended GOP President Donald Trumps handling of the pandemic and touted the countrys pre-coronavirus economy, among other things.;

Trump, who tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago, is back out on the campaign trail and doing well, Pence said. The president, who is trailing Democrat Joe Biden in recent Michigan polls, is scheduled to speak at a Muskegon rally on Saturday.

We are opening up America, and we are opening up American schools, Pence said.;

Watch his full speech below via WOOD-TV 8. Jonathan Oosting

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Republicans Demand Answers About Private Jet

Republicans say they are giving Gov. Gretchen Whitmer until Wednesday to answer 43 questions regarding her trip to Florida or they could launch an investigation.

House Oversight Committee Chair Steve Johnson, R-Wayland, said Thursday he has sent the Democratic governor a list of questions regarding her trip to Florida on a private jet from March 12 to March 15.;

They include:

When did you make the decision to go to Florida?

Outside this trip, while Governor, has the governors nonprofit, Michigan Transition 2019, paid for any other travel?

Was there any official, or state business purpose of this trip?

How many people were on the plane?

These questions are both reasonable and important to giving the people of Michigan certainty that their governor is following proper procedures and acting within the bounds of the law, Johnson wrote in the letter.;

Here are the 43 questions Chairman Johnson sent to Gov. Whitmer. He wants answers by 10:30 a.m. on May 27 . #mipol#mileg

Sergio Martínez-Beltrán May 20, 2021

Whitmer has until 10:30 a.m. Thursday to respond to the questions, Johnson wrote.

Any failure to act in good faith or a full refusal to answer these questions may result in further investigations by the House Oversight Committee, Johnson wrote.

Whitmers office didnt immediately respond to a request for comment by Bridge Michigan.

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Whitmers office said the governor paid $855 for her seat.

Trump Attacks Snyder After Fox News Appearance

House GOP Leads Democrats in Total 2022 Retirements

Former Republican Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder told Fox News he voted for Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, earning the ire of President Donald Trump Thursday night.

Im a proud Republican, Snyder told Fox News Neil Cavuto on Your World. Im an American first, and we shouldnt let partisanship get in the way of good decision-making for our country and Joe Biden is a much better decision than Donald Trump.

Snyder endorsed Biden for president in September. Trump is set to visit the state on Friday afternoon for a rally in Waterford Township, before returning again on Monday, a day before Nov. 3. He also held a rally in Lansing on Tuesday. Mansur Shaheen

Snyder cited the presidents tax bill from 2017, tariffs he has imposed on goods from Canada, Mexico and other trading partners, and the governments COVID-19 response as reasons for why he chose to vote against Trump.

Failed RINO former Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan was a disaster with respect to the Flint Water CATASTROPHE, and a very bad Governor overall. He hurt so many people with his gross incompetence, Trump responded to Snyder on Twitter Thursday evening.

Failed RINO former Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan was a disaster with respect to the Flint Water CATASTROPHE, and a very bad Governor overall. He hurt so many people with his gross incompetence. He reminds me of Sleepy Joe!

Mansur Shaheen

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Judge Approves Flint Water Crisis Settlement

Flint residents can start registering to receive their share of a landmark legal settlement tied to the Flint water crisis, after a federal judge on Thursday granted preliminary approval of the $641.2 million settlement with the state of Michigan and other parties.

Residents have until March 29 to register to participate in the settlement.;

Not everyone in Flint is eligible to receive money. The proposed settlement includes 30 claims categories to account for people harmed by the water crisis.

The bulk of the settlement money, about 80 percent, will go to people who were minors when Flint switched its water source in 2014. Much of the rest will go to adults who can prove they suffered physical harm or property damage as a result of the crisis.

Once registered, residents have until Aug. 26 to submit documents supporting their claims. That could include medical records, evidence of property damage or other paperwork.

Before funds can be released, U.S. District Judge Judge Judith Levy must grant final approval. First, shell hold a public hearing July 12.

Some Flint activists have criticized the settlement, arguing it excludes too many city residents who should be eligible for money. Proponents of the settlement say it’s good for the city.

Lawyers for Flint residents continue to pursue lawsuits against two engineering firms that did not join the settlement, as well as a separate lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.;

Republicans Seek End To Secretary Of State Appointment

A new measure making its way through the Legislature would require Michigan Secretary of State branches to open for walk-ins.

The Republican proposal comes in response to Secretary of State Jocelyn Bensons decision to shift to an appointment-only system to modernize the agency and end pandemic-related transaction backlogs.

If you want to use the appointment system that works, you still have that option, House Oversight Committee Chair Steve Johnson, R-Wayland, said Thursday during a hearing.

But for some people that don’t work, they need that walk-in option.

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Renewing plates, licenses in Michigan can take months, despite promises

The House measures would require the Secretary of States branches to provide a minimum of eight hours in-person without the need of an appointment.

It will also waive late fees on registrations until walk-ins are reinstalled and would extend the grace period for expired driver licenses, enhanced licenses, state IDs, permits and certifications to September. The proposals will apply retroactively from April 1.

Adam Reames, the legislative policy director at the Secretary of State, told lawmakers the agency supports waiving late fees and a staggered extension of grace periods.

But the appointment-only system is the best operational model and should remain, Reames said.

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Protest Expected To Draw Hundreds

Multiple Michigan militia groups are planning an armed protest Sunday at the Lansing Capitol that could draw several hundreds of protesters, Michael Lackomar, team leader of the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia, told Bridge Michigan.;

Lackomars group and several other Michigan militia organizations including the Michigan Home Guard, Michigan Liberty Militia and Michigan Militia Corps Wolverines will likely be in attendance, he said.

He said the groups main grievance is the state Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 restrictions, which have destroyed businesses. Lackomor said they are also dissatisfied with the way the state government handled the election although he said that Democrat Joe Biden probably won.;

The plans come amid warnings from an internal FBI report about armed protests in all 50 capitals nationwide and in Washington, D.C, this weekend until Bidens inauguration next Wednesday.;

The planned protests follow a chaotic week in D.C., when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol while Congress convened to count the nations Electoral College voters.;

Before the siege, Trump told supporters that Congress should toss out the election results, and urged them to march to the Capitol and show strength. The riots left five dead, including a police officer.;

On Wednesday, the House voted to impeach Trump for a second time for his role in inciting the insurrection. The timing of a trial in the U.S. Senate remains uncertain.;

Whitmer Says No More New Restrictions

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is doubling down on her decision not to add new restrictions or regulations amid a surge of coronavirus cases in Michigan.

Currently, the state has the highest case rate in the nation by far. On Wednesday, the state reported 7,955 new COVID-19 cases.

Related:;Michigan at ‘record high’ for COVID-19 hospitalizations of children

In a media appearance dominated by talks about the benefits of therapeutic treatments, Whitmer blamed the increase on the publics fatigue and the variants of the virus in the state.

That’s precisely why instead of mandating that we’re closing things down, we are encouraging people to do what we know works as the most important thing that we can do, Whitmer said. It’s not a policy problem, it is a variant and compliance problem.

Whitmer also said the state is focusing on getting more people vaccinated.

Her decision goes against what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised the state to do.

In a White House briefing this week, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky called on the state to implement stronger restrictions and mitigation protocols.;

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What Difference Does The New House Majority Make

The Democrats took control of the House, having gained more than the 23 seats they need to take over the lower chamber of Congress. Americans voted for all 435 seats in the House.

The Democrats could now launch investigations into Mr Trump’s administration and business affairs, from tax returns to potential conflicts of interest.

They could also more effectively block his legislative plans, notably his signature promise to build a wall along the border with Mexico.

But analysts say dealing with a hostile House may suit the president, who is known both for his partisan style and ability to switch positions. They say he could either choose to accuse the Democrats of obstruction or try to reach deals to get legislation through.

Female candidates performed particularly well. Two 29-year-old Democrats – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Abby Finkenauer – are due to be the youngest women ever to win House seats.

Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are the first Muslim women and Sharice Davids and Debra Haaland the first Native American women to be elected to Congress. All are Democrats.

How the mid-term elections broke records

[orbemnews]

Analysis: Tough jobs report scrambles Washington battle ahead of crucial week The data, showing 266,000 new positions were added in April, a quarter of the number analysts had expected, had the effect of convincing both Republican and Democratic lawmakers — who return to Washington this week — that their dueling economic and political positions are justified. The report will further juice an already tense atmosphere in Washington as divisions are hardening after Biden’s first 100 days in office. The President will deliver remarks on the economy Monday, then host the four top leaders of the House and Senate for talks for the first time on Wednesday. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will attend the meeting just days after saying 100% of his focus is on obstructing the new presidency. The White House is, meanwhile, readying a strong push for Biden’s infrastructure package. The plan’s billing as a massive jobs package will take on even more resonance given the invigorated debate about unemployment. It’s always unwise to draw sweeping conclusions about any single employment report — especially as there are other statistical and anecdotal signs that the economy may be poised for a post-pandemic boom. But try telling that to Washington politicians who are on hair trigger alert for any development that might define the early months of a new administration. The GOP pounced, as it seeks to build public mistrust of Biden’s economic policies, arguing that his strategy of spending trillions of dollars in big federal programs is already proving to be counterproductive. The below-expectations report also offered the party an issue to unite around that did not involve the internal recriminations over an attempt by House Republicans to oust Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership position over her refusal to buy ex-President Donald Trump’s lies about election fraud, which will take center stage with a conference vote likely this week. Democrats seized on the same evidence that Republicans claim show Biden is damaging the economy to argue that the government must double down on efforts to help less well-off Americans still mired in the pandemic’s economic dislocation. That group has historically benefited less from previous recoveries than wealthier Americans and is the key constituency that the President is targeting in the broadest attempt to remake the economy in decades. ‘Headed in the right direction’ White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients styled the report as a blip in a generally positive trend, following a bumper report in March that blew past expectations and showed that 916,000 jobs were created, although that has since been revised downward to 770,000. “We’re headed in the right direction,” Zients told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.” South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat, hit back at claims by Republicans that unemployment benefits provided under Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan were convincing many Americans not to go back to work — after a group of GOP governors announced they would block the extended federal help. “I will tell you we may be talking about the big lie as it relates to the election, but very close to that is this notion that people don’t want to work. I have not met any of those people who don’t want to work,” Clyburn said on “State of the Union.” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that it was appropriate for governors in some regions to respond to their local jobs market. But she also criticized the rationale of the Republican argument that unemployment benefits were stopping people from going back to work. “There’s nothing in the data which would suggest that that’s the reason people are out of work,” Raimondo said. “We have to remember that, when the President moved to make this happen, this unemployment insurance has been a lifeline, a survival lifeline for so many Americans,” she added. GOP governor says cutting unemployment benefits is ‘a good idea’ With Biden gearing up for a bipartisan push on the next phase of his economic agenda, Republicans seized on the disappointing numbers released Friday to claim that Biden’s big spending ways are already damaging the economy and that his plans to raise corporate taxes to pay for a broad infrastructure overhaul would crimp growth. They are also demanding the end of all social distancing measures even in areas where the pandemic is still raging. “If Joe Biden had done nothing, the jobs report would be greater and more people would be in work today,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News. Republicans, enjoying the luxury of being in the opposition, are making politically expedient arguments that fit their ideology. Before the jobs report, they were saying the economy was doing so well that further big-ticket government spending is unnecessary. Now they are arguing that extended federal unemployment benefits are stopping people from getting back to work. The group of GOP governors slashing the $300 weekly in extended unemployment benefits are trying to force people back to work in low-wage jobs. Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox told Tapper that cutting those benefits was “a good idea.” “The purpose of those funds were absolutely critical during the pandemic, as we struggled. Now we’re towards the end of the pandemic. And here in Utah, our unemployment is at 2.9%, the lowest in the nation,” Cox said. “The biggest problem we have right now in the state of Utah are finding workers for the jobs that are available.” A unique recovery As the economy continues to open up, more vaccines go into arms, and the country is poised for a strong summer of travel, it’s possible that future Labor Department jobs reports will show significant improvements. But Friday’s shock news also suggested there are unique circumstances at play in a post-pandemic economy that are not usually in the mix after a recession. Given still genuine fears about public health and with the virus still at high levels, it would not be surprising if some workers in close to minimum wage positions feel safer continuing to draw unemployment benefits — even with more and more Americans taking advantage of vaccines. Sectors including the restaurant industry, which relies on intense, grueling and often poorly paid work, are having huge difficulties in attracting sufficient staff to operate fully. While Republicans say that the answer is to cut benefits, Democrats, including in the Biden White House, stress that such conditions are exactly the reason why vulnerable industries, like the hospitality trade, need public support. Biden spent time last week, for instance, promoting a program specifically aimed at helping the restaurant trade through a still tricky period. The new unemployment report could actually add some momentum to Biden’s warnings that an aggressive government effort is needed to ensure that the economy better caters to the needs of the less well off. Biden is asking Congress to spend tens of billions of dollars, for instance, on free childcare and home health care for sick and elderly Americans that can help their relatives, who currently look after them, back into the work force. “The number one reason now that people aren’t going back to work is what you said, fear, or they can’t find childcare or schools are still closed,” Raimondo said on CBS on Sunday. The jobs report was one of the few occasions in his first months in office where Biden has suffered setbacks with polls showing most Americans favor his management of the pandemic. Republicans have sought political advantage on another such issue — overly high numbers of undocumented child migrants flowing over the US border with Mexico. It is unclear whether one single jobs report has the capacity to alter the delicate political dynamics the President faces. He may get some political insulation from the fact that 54% of Americans in the latest CNN/SSRS poll see the state of the economy as good. That number is up significantly from 43% three months ago and far higher than it was under Trump in May 2020. Still, the dynamics of power in Washington, with tiny Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House, mean that a prolonged slowdown in jobs growth could make tougher the President’s task of getting moderate Democrats like West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin to back his expansive agenda. And the multi-trillion-dollar gamble that Biden is making could end up leaving him politically exposed unless the economy delivers in the run-up to the midterm elections next year, when the party out of the White House almost always gains seats following a change in administration. A strong economy is one way Biden may be able to buck that trend, though it remains to be seen whether pocketbook issues even in a good environment will overcome the cultural arguments that Trump used to earn his bond with grassroots conservative voters. Source link Orbem News #Ahead #Analysis #Battle #Crucial #jobs #Politics #Report #Scrambles #tough #ToughjobsreportscramblesWashingtonbattleaheadofcrucialweek-CNNPolitics #Washington #Week

[dipulb3]

Analysis: Tough jobs report scrambles Washington battle ahead of crucial week

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/analysis-tough-jobs-report-scrambles-washington-battle-ahead-of-crucial-week/

Analysis: Tough jobs report scrambles Washington battle ahead of crucial week

The data, showing 266,000 new positions were added in April, a quarter of the number analysts had expected, had the effect of convincing both Republican and Democratic lawmakers — who return to Washington this week — that their dueling economic and political positions are justified.

The report will further juice an already tense atmosphere in Washington as divisions are hardening after Biden’s first 100 days in office. The President will deliver remarks on the economy Monday, then host the four top leaders of the House and Senate for talks for the first time on Wednesday. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will attend the meeting just days after saying 100% of his focus is on obstructing the new presidency. The White House is, meanwhile, readying a strong push for Biden’s infrastructure package. The plan’s billing as a massive jobs package will take on even more resonance given the invigorated debate about unemployment.

It’s always unwise to draw sweeping conclusions about any single employment report — especially as there are other statistical and anecdotal signs that the economy may be poised for a post-pandemic boom. But try telling that to Washington politicians who are on hair trigger alert for any development that might define the early months of a new administration.

The GOP pounced, as it seeks to build public mistrust of Biden’s economic policies, arguing that his strategy of spending trillions of dollars in big federal programs is already proving to be counterproductive.

The below-expectations report also offered the party an issue to unite around that did not involve the internal recriminations over an attempt by House Republicans to oust Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership position over her refusal to buy ex-President Donald Trump’s lies about election fraud, which will take center stage with a conference vote likely this week.

Democrats seized on the same evidence that Republicans claim show Biden is damaging the economy to argue that the government must double down on efforts to help less well-off Americans still mired in the pandemic’s economic dislocation. That group has historically benefited less from previous recoveries than wealthier Americans and is the key constituency that the President is targeting in the broadest attempt to remake the economy in decades.

‘Headed in the right direction’

White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients styled the report as a blip in a generally positive trend, following a bumper report in March that blew past expectations and showed that 916,000 jobs were created, although that has since been revised downward to 770,000.

“We’re headed in the right direction,” Zients told Jake Tapper on Appradab’s “State of the Union.”

South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat, hit back at claims by Republicans that unemployment benefits provided under Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan were convincing many Americans not to go back to work — after a group of GOP governors announced they would block the extended federal help.

“I will tell you we may be talking about the big lie as it relates to the election, but very close to that is this notion that people don’t want to work. I have not met any of those people who don’t want to work,” Clyburn said on “State of the Union.”

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that it was appropriate for governors in some regions to respond to their local jobs market. But she also criticized the rationale of the Republican argument that unemployment benefits were stopping people from going back to work.

“There’s nothing in the data which would suggest that that’s the reason people are out of work,” Raimondo said.

“We have to remember that, when the President moved to make this happen, this unemployment insurance has been a lifeline, a survival lifeline for so many Americans,” she added.

GOP governor says cutting unemployment benefits is ‘a good idea’

With Biden gearing up for a bipartisan push on the next phase of his economic agenda, Republicans seized on the disappointing numbers released Friday to claim that Biden’s big spending ways are already damaging the economy and that his plans to raise corporate taxes to pay for a broad infrastructure overhaul would crimp growth. They are also demanding the end of all social distancing measures even in areas where the pandemic is still raging.

“If Joe Biden had done nothing, the jobs report would be greater and more people would be in work today,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News.

Republicans, enjoying the luxury of being in the opposition, are making politically expedient arguments that fit their ideology. Before the jobs report, they were saying the economy was doing so well that further big-ticket government spending is unnecessary. Now they are arguing that extended federal unemployment benefits are stopping people from getting back to work. The group of GOP governors slashing the $300 weekly in extended unemployment benefits are trying to force people back to work in low-wage jobs.

Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox told Tapper that cutting those benefits was “a good idea.”

“The purpose of those funds were absolutely critical during the pandemic, as we struggled. Now we’re towards the end of the pandemic. And here in Utah, our unemployment is at 2.9%, the lowest in the nation,” Cox said.

“The biggest problem we have right now in the state of Utah are finding workers for the jobs that are available.”

A unique recovery

As the economy continues to open up, more vaccines go into arms, and the country is poised for a strong summer of travel, it’s possible that future Labor Department jobs reports will show significant improvements.

But Friday’s shock news also suggested there are unique circumstances at play in a post-pandemic economy that are not usually in the mix after a recession.

Given still genuine fears about public health and with the virus still at high levels, it would not be surprising if some workers in close to minimum wage positions feel safer continuing to draw unemployment benefits — even with more and more Americans taking advantage of vaccines. Sectors including the restaurant industry, which relies on intense, grueling and often poorly paid work, are having huge difficulties in attracting sufficient staff to operate fully.

While Republicans say that the answer is to cut benefits, Democrats, including in the Biden White House, stress that such conditions are exactly the reason why vulnerable industries, like the hospitality trade, need public support. Biden spent time last week, for instance, promoting a program specifically aimed at helping the restaurant trade through a still tricky period.

The new unemployment report could actually add some momentum to Biden’s warnings that an aggressive government effort is needed to ensure that the economy better caters to the needs of the less well off. Biden is asking Congress to spend tens of billions of dollars, for instance, on free childcare and home health care for sick and elderly Americans that can help their relatives, who currently look after them, back into the work force.

“The number one reason now that people aren’t going back to work is what you said, fear, or they can’t find childcare or schools are still closed,” Raimondo said on CBS on Sunday.

The jobs report was one of the few occasions in his first months in office where Biden has suffered setbacks with polls showing most Americans favor his management of the pandemic. Republicans have sought political advantage on another such issue — overly high numbers of undocumented child migrants flowing over the US border with Mexico.

It is unclear whether one single jobs report has the capacity to alter the delicate political dynamics the President faces. He may get some political insulation from the fact that 54% of Americans in the latest Appradab/SSRS poll see the state of the economy as good. That number is up significantly from 43% three months ago and far higher than it was under Trump in May 2020.

Still, the dynamics of power in Washington, with tiny Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House, mean that a prolonged slowdown in jobs growth could make tougher the President’s task of getting moderate Democrats like West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin to back his expansive agenda.

And the multi-trillion-dollar gamble that Biden is making could end up leaving him politically exposed unless the economy delivers in the run-up to the midterm elections next year, when the party out of the White House almost always gains seats following a change in administration.

A strong economy is one way Biden may be able to buck that trend, though it remains to be seen whether pocketbook issues even in a good environment will overcome the cultural arguments that Trump used to earn his bond with grassroots conservative voters.

[livinginlandmarketing]

In the dramatic midterm elections of 2018, when the fate of the House and Senate hung in the balance and a new governor was about to be enthroned, two of every three votes tallied in California were cast via mail-in ballots rather than by in-person voting —even in the absence of a deadly pandemic.

By-mail voting has long played a dominant role in Golden State democracy, so the ballot-in-every-mailbox experiment currently underway is not so much revolution as evolution. But understanding the particulars of what happened to mail ballots in California’s 2018 election — how many were sent to voters, how many were never returned, how many were rejected and why? — can help prepare for an unprecedented Nov. 3, when counting commences on what may well be the weirdest Election Day in American history.

A Southern California News Group analysis of data collected by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission revealed some surprising things:

In 2018, 13.8 million mail ballots were sent to voters and 8.3 million were returned for counting. That means 39% — some 5.5 million ballots — failed to make their way back to elections offices to be tallied. In Southern California, Los Angeles had the most trouble getting ballots back, with 51% unreturned. In San Bernardino, it was 46%; in Riverside, 38%; and in Orange County, 37%.

Two percent of the mail ballots that did make it back were rejected by election officials, slightly higher than the national average of about 1.4% for the 2018 election. Locally, Riverside was the most prolific rejecter, with 2.3% of returned mail ballots uncounted, while San Bernardino rejected 1.5%, Los Angeles rejected 1.1% and Orange rejected just 0.7%.

Why were those ballots rejected, exactly? The most common reasons were arriving late and without proper signatures, but there were stranger reasons: 198 were rejected because the voters were dead, 222 were rejected because multiple ballots were received in the same envelope, 1,166 were tossed because the voters had already voted, and 153 were rejected because there was no ballot in the envelope. 

Stacks of mail-in ballots wait to be computer counted at the Orange County Registrar of Voters in Santa Ana, CA on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Such oddities comprise a tiny sliver of the more than 8 million mail ballots cast, and should serve as reassuring proof that the system roots out irregularities, elections experts said. Several studies done over the years have failed to find fraud on any significant scale. Indeed, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s database of confirmed election fraud cases details 1,298 “proven instances of voter fraud” and 1,121 criminal convictions nationwide over a decade, as hundreds of millions of ballots were cast.

“One-hundred-ninety-eight people could have died after mailing their ballot, 222 people could have forgotten they had voted three weeks ago and sent in a second vote,” said Matt A. Barreto, political science professor at UCLA and co-founder of Latino Decisions, a research and polling firm. “The system catches all these things, as it is supposed to.”

An official ballot drop box. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Controversy over unofficial mail ballot drop boxes set up by the California Republican Party at churches, candidate headquarters and other unauthorized locations has sparked investigations into potential felonies, adding a new layer of complexity to an already-tense 2020 election.

Ballots MIA?

Mail balloting has been a big part of California’s voting picture long before COVID-19. Since 2010, roughly half or greater percentages of voters have chosen to cast mail ballots in general elections. Statewide, 66% of ballots in the 2018 midterm were cast by mail, according to the EAVS data.

Much of Southern California, though, lagged behind the rest of the state: In Los Angeles County, only 44% of votes were cast by mailin 2018, while in San Bernardino it was 59.6%; in OC, 61.5%; and in Riverside: 69.3%

That millions of mail ballots were never returned shouldn’t really come as a surprise.

“We don’t have 100 percent turnout in any election. Many of these people are registered for permanent by-mail ballots —  ‘When I vote, I prefer to vote by mail, but I don’t always vote.’ They’re still going to get a ballot for every election,” said Thad Kousser, chair of the political science department at UC San Diego, whose recent research found that the overwhelming majority of California voters favored mail-in ballots for this election, as well as a widening partisan divide over mail balloting.

Fred Smoller, associate professor of political science at Chapman University, said American elections often fail to propel more than 60 percent of registered voters to do their civic duty. “As a nation, we have the lowest voter turnout of any industrialized nation in the world, so mail ballots that are never returned are consistent with how many people don’t actually go to the polls on Election Day,” he said. “Some see it as one more piece of junk mail.”

And while some states move swiftly to remove inactive voters from the rolls, California leans in the other direction so as not to disenfranchise people.

“One reason why so many ballots go out and may not be used is because we make it hard to remove voters from the voter rolls,” said Kim Alexander, president and founder of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation. “Other states have much more aggressive purge laws; we have strict anti-purge laws.”

Today, more than half of California voters are registered as permanent, by-mail voters. As their ranks grow — something allowed by a 2001 law — the percentage of ballots that don’t come back has grown as well.

Election workers dump ballots onto a table for sorting in 2018 in Washington state. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

“This is a trend I’ve been watching, and it does concern me from a waste perspective that we’re sending ballots to people who aren’t using them,” Alexander said. “A lot of them probably get recycled. There is an optics concern, because voters don’t have a lot of understanding of what’s happening behind the scenes to process vote-by-mail ballots. But this is a very important point: Even though they’re not being used, they’re not being misused. There’s a lot of security built into the system.”

What happens?

Election workers examine the envelopes before they are opened. Each bears a bar code that’s unique to that voter, and workers confirm the voter’s registration and address.

They check the signature on the envelope against the signature on file. Sometimes people forget to sign. And if the John Hancock on that envelope doesn’t resemble the one from the voter registration or DMV form used to register to vote, the registrar must contact the voter and give him or her time to “cure” the problem, which is why it’s so important to get mail ballots in as early as possible.

If all matches up, workers record that the ballot has, indeed, been cast, which stops the voter from voting again. The envelope is opened, the ballot is removed and the two are separated to protect voter confidentiality. The ballots are flattened, stacked and fed through scanners for counting. Registrars can’t tabulate mail votes, though, until the polls close on Nov. 3.

As of Oct. 20, 4.9 million mail ballots had been returned by California voters, according to data from the Secretary of State. That includes more than 1 million in Los Angeles, 437,000 in Orange, 174,000 in Riverside and 173,000 in San Bernardino counties.

Dead folks and other oddities

In Southern California, scattered cases of voter fraud have been uncovered.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer informs the public about the county’s response plans to help safeguard the election process on October 5. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

In August, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged Caesar Peter Abutin, 55, with casting votes in three elections on behalf of his mother, who had died. He pleaded not guilty.

In July, four men admitted their role in a scheme to give money and cigarettes to homeless people on Skid Row in exchange for false and forged signatures on ballot petitions and voter registration forms.

Reform California, the political action committee of Republican Carl DeMaio, has gathered examples of what it calls “massive fraud” in Southern California counties, including 14 ballots sent to the wrong address; seven people who received multiple ballots with separate voter ID numbers, often with variations of their names (“Margaret” and “Peggy,” for example); and four ballots sent to dead people.

Over the past decade, the Heritage Foundation’s election fraud database for California includes 24 false registrations, five cases of duplicate voting, four cases of ineligible voting and one fraudulent use of an absentee ballot. It doesn’t reflect every instance of election fraud, but the low numbers — and many academic studies — suggest such fraud is  rare.

That almost 200 ballots from dead voters were rejected in the 2018 election shouldn’t raise eyebrows. “You can go vote in the morning and die in the afternoon,” Alexander said.

“No voting system is perfect,” said Chapman’s Smoller. “There are always little instrumental or mechanical problems — like the 90-year-old with memory issues who mails in a ballot and then shows up at the polls to vote — but stories about thousands of mail ballots showing up in rivers is nonsense.

“That’s a very important point: Vote-by-mail does not have widespread, systemic fraud. It is not a hoax. You can trust it. But you’re always going to have things. It’s the nature of human beings.”

In Orange County, the Registrar’s Office takes multiple steps to ensure that voter rolls are up to date on deaths, a spokesperson said, getting notification from the Health Care Agency, the Secretary of State’s “VoteCal Deceased List” and a firm that produces national data on deceased voters. It cancels inactive voters who have not participated in two consecutive federal general elections and checks published obituaries daily. Sometimes, there’s direct notification from the family. Sometimes, ballots are returned and marked “deceased.”

“There is no evidence that there’s fraud or that mail ballots favor one party over another,” Smoller said. “There is evidence that it increases turnout — and if you believe in democracy, that’s a great thing.”

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-on October 23, 2020 at 06:51AM by Teri Sforza

[gamechuibrahim]

FINFINNEE OROMIA

In Ethiopia, a heated political tug-of-war sparks security fears

#Abiy Ahmed has been locked in a bitter dispute with the political party that used to dominate the country’s politics for decades, raising questions about his ability to hold Ethiopia together through a fraught political transition.

On October 7, legislators at Ethiopia’s upper house of Parliament – known as the House of Federation (HoF) – voted to withhold budgetary subsidies to the Tigray regional state in the country’s north.

The move by the HoF, which is dominated by allies of Abiy, came two days after Tigray’s regional leaders – and Abiy’s political rivals – decided to recall their representatives at the federal level.

Tensions were already running high since September when the Tigray region held an election in defiance of a decision by central authorities earlier this year to postpone all parliamentary and regional elections scheduled for August due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Abiy’s opponents said the postponement was a move by the prime minister to prolong his rule and pressed ahead with the election, in which the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – the dominant political force in the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a multi-ethnic, four-party coalition that had run the country for almost 30 years – won a landslide victory.

The TPLF had already split from the EPRDF in 2019 when it refused to merge along with the three other coalition parties into the newly formed Prosperity Party (PP) under Abiy.

The HoF, however, declared the September 9 vote null and void, indicating the new Tigray regional assembly will not be recognised by the federal government.

The latest moves, seen as part of a campaign of mutual de-legitimisation, have sparked fears the political turmoil could spiral into a security crisis, the latest challenge to the federal system that stitches Ethiopia’s more than 80 ethnic groups together.

Wondimu Asaminew, a former diplomat and currently the head of the Tigray Friendship Liaison Office based in the Tigray regional capital of Mekelle, is adamant the federal government in Addis Ababa is to blame for the current situation.

“Abiy’s team, from the start, had a strategy of trying to sideline, make irrelevant and even criminalise TPLF,” Wondimu said.

Wondimu was referring to the tense relationship between the prime minister and the TPLF dating back to April 2018, when Abiy assumed his post after weeks-long secretive deliberations within the EPRDF.

Taking office after months of anti-government protests, Abiy promised to solve the country’s deep ethnic and political divides and change the EPRDF’s repressive and violent image. In the first few months, he speeded up the political reforms started in the dying days of his predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn. Political prisoners were released and opposition parties were allowed to operate, while Abiy even won a Nobel Prize for securing peace with neighbouring Eritrea.

The reform process saw the long-dominant TPLF being cast aside, as the Oromo and Amhara political wings of the EPRDF moved into the political centre stage – even as in recent months prominent Oromo figures have accused Abiy, an ethnic Oromo, of being a poor advocate for Oromo interests and sliding towards authoritarianism.

Ethnic Tigrayans make up about 6 percent of Ethiopia’s population, while ethnic Amharas and Oromos combined comprise some 65 percent of Ethiopia’s total population.

While Abiy’s and TPLF’s relationship was tense from the start, the merging of the EPRDF into the PP led to outright hostility between the two sides – and the postponement of the national elections added fuel to the fire.

“Abiy wasn’t ready to solve issues within the political and constitutional framework and instead resorted to expelling our officials and destroying EPRDF,” Wondimu said.

‘Mutual brinkmanship and mistrust’

A political analyst based in Addis Ababa, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the dispute between Tigray and the federal government comes at the worst time for Ethiopia, which is already battling to slow the spread of COVID-19 and tackle a potentially devastating desert locust invasion.

“The two sides are locked in a cold war of attrition which could drag the whole country into a mess,” the analyst said. “In such a climate of mutual brinkmanship, mistrust and confusion, this could lead to an armed conflict no side intended to enter into just like what happened 22 years ago with the Ethiopia-Eritrea border war.”

Nebiyu Sehul-Michael, the head of the PP’s office in the Tigray region, ruled out an armed conflict but said the TPLF’s destructive political behaviour needed a proportionate answer from Addis Ababa.

“The federal government’s withholding of budget subsidy is meant to significantly end TPLF’s utter lawlessness and treasonable actions,” Nebiyu said.

“The current freeze of relations was quite late due to the federal government’s open-mindedness and leniency. Legal relations with lower bodies and administration can continue based on the federation, the constitution, as well as proclamations and procedures.”

The region was due to receive federal budget subsidies totalling some $280m for the current fiscal year. It is unclear how much of that funding will be affected by the HoF’s move. The federal government has previously said it would funnel funds through lower-level government bodies in Tigray, bypassing the state legislature and executive, although questions remain of how that will work in practice.

Some said the move to cut budget subsidies will likely cause mutual economic pain.

“Tigray has a big tax base and relatively robust manufacturing base. In addition, an economic siege by the federal government would likely backfire, as it would create solidarity between the people and the government in the face of a perceived threat by the central government,” the analyst said.

Already, Tigray region officials have publicly indicated they will retaliate by withholding tax revenues collected in their region from the federal government.

National dialogue, a way out of the crisis?

With both sides seemingly standing their ground, many in Ethiopia have called on for the reactivation of national dialogue to break the political deadlock.

Wondimu, while welcoming such an initiative, said it would not to be all-encompassing, and not just between the TPLF and PP.

“We’re still open for a comprehensive dialogue, illustrated in our call under the federalist forces banner,” said Wondimu.

Similarly, Nebiyu agreed that national dialogue should happen, but accused the TPLF of spoiling the groundwork needed for it to happen.

“Discussions and other peaceful means are of top-shelf importance to resolve any contested issues. But this isn’t easy in a political landscape that was spoiled by the 27-year destructive rule of the TPLF,” he said.

Observers, meanwhile, said while both sides – in principle – may accept entering a national dialogue, the terms they might set could torpedo it right from the start.

“TPLF wants a comprehensive dialogue with other stakeholders in it, as bilateral dialogue with PP would automatically make TPLF a minority stakeholder,” the analyst said.

“PP could see a national dialogue as a time-buying strategy to win an election against a disorganized and repressed opposition possibly to be held by mid-2021.”

Source: aljazeera.com

[armeniaitn]

What is behind Armenia's military provocation on Azerbaijan's border?

New Post has been published on https://armenia.in-the.news/economy/what-is-behind-armenias-military-provocation-on-azerbaijans-border-38911-23-07-2020/

What is behind Armenia's military provocation on Azerbaijan's border?

The fierce skirmishes that broke out on July 12 around Tovuz, along the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, which claimed the lives of many, have caused enormous unease in the international community. Repeated appeals from Russia, the U.S., Iran, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Minsk Group, authoritative international organizations and other groups calling on all parties to show restraint and refrain from any threat of force have so far had no effect.

In these difficult days for the Azerbaijani people – who heroically repelled the military provocation by Armenia, losing many noble sons in the process – it is gratifying to observe not only the solidarity of our citizens but also the support from our brothers in Turkey. Turkish F-16 fighters have made maneuvers along the border with Armenia in a show of support for Azerbaijan.

It is our brother Turkey that is the only country that has repeatedly made statements in support of Azerbaijan in an open form, threatening Armenia with retaliation for attacks on the Tovuz region. This will never be forgotten in Azerbaijan and is highly appreciated.

However, the situation on the border of the two conflicting countries remains very tense, because if the fighting continues for several more days, there is a risk of transferring the theater of military operations to the Karabakh front, in which case, the local conflict may eventually turn into a regional conflict. This is an outcome that officials in Baku have no interest in. It seems that Yerevan is determined to continue hostilities in order to involve regional players – Russia, Iran and even the CSTO – in this conflict.

Russia and Iran have made it clear that they support neither party. Armenia’s plan to involve the CSTO in the border conflict has also failed miserably – the organization called on both sides to end hostilities and does not support Armenia for the simple reason that Baku has fairly good relations with member states of the organization. In addition, CSTO member states – Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – are well aware that in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict Baku is a victim, and Yerevan is an occupier that has blatantly ignored four Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its troops from Azerbaijani territories – namely Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The escalation of the conflict at the border was preceded by several important developments.

First, a year ago a decision was made in Azerbaijan to transfer the state border with Armenia to the State Border Service (SBS). Before this, units of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry were stationed here.

And thus, officials in Baku decided to reduce tension in these sections of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border – yet this provided the Armenian side with a good opportunity to organize a military provocation against the border guards. A year after the decision on the Azerbaijani side, Yerevan has implemented its long-awaited plan to provoke fighting in the Tovuz area of Azerbaijan. But why Tovuz?

Several strategically important pipelines pass not far from the site of hostilities – namely the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline and the Southern Gas Corridor, which play an important part in ensuring Europe’s energy security. Almost two months before the Armenian provocation – as part of the test launch of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) built to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe – the first batch of gas from Azerbaijan reached the territory of Albania. In fact, this is an open provocation against oil and gas projects that meet the national interests of not only Azerbaijan but also Turkey.

With the launch of the oil and gas pipelines, Armenia was completely removed from all regional projects, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project. Since the transport blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey impedes the economic development of Armenia, the latter decided to try to lessen the economic opportunities Baku could enjoy through a military provocation in the Tovuz direction.

Secondly, after coming to power, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinian began to make exaggerated claims to his strategic ally Russia and the CSTO. Suffice it to recall the scandal with the arrest in Yerevan of the CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov and the many months Yerevan obstructed the process of electing a new secretary-general. The Armenian leadership tried to get the CSTO to openly support the country in the conflict with Azerbaijan. However, Pashinian was clearly made to understand that the military actions in Karabakh were a domestic issue for Azerbaijan according to international law and that this was not part of the CSTO’s responsibilities.

He then realized what former Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan’s main mistake was – and that it would be necessary to advance military clashes not on the Karabakh front, but on the state border. I would like to note that military clashes with Azerbaijan took place just three days after the Pashinian’s son Ashot Pashinian completed his military service. This coincidence is not accidental since over the past two years Pashinian’s son has been in the enlisted army, the situation on the front line has been a little calm.

Of course, there is another reason for the Armenian provocation. The fact is that the military actions in Karabakh are perceived by the Armenians as taking place on foreign territory, far from the borders of Armenia.

Despite the large-scale propaganda work of Armenia, Armenians still deep down understand that Karabakh is a foreign land and that military operations have nothing to do with their security.

But the hostilities on the state border are still a threat designed to make Armenians forget about everything else – including the country’s deep economic crisis, rising unemployment, poverty and the negative consequences of the pandemic for the economy.

Summing up the above, I will add that clashes on the border and on the Karabakh front would continue until the Armenian diplomats sit at the negotiating table and agree to conduct substantive negotiations with the Azerbaijani side on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The only solution to the conflict is compliance with the four relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions. Meanwhile Baku, in turn, is ready to provide Nagorno-Karabakh with wider autonomy under the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan with a guarantee of the full provision of civil, socioeconomic and cultural rights of Armenians living there in accordance Azerbaijani and international law.

*Director of the international expert club EurAsiaAz and editor-in-chief of Azerbaijan-based news agency Vzglyad.az.

Read original article here.

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/huawei-blocked-tech-must-be-stripped-from-uks-5g-network-by-2027-politics-news/

Huawei blocked: Tech must be stripped from UK's 5G network by 2027 | Politics News

Boris Johnson has ordered all Huawei technology to be stripped out of the UK’s 5G network by 2027.

In a major U-turn, the prime minister also banned the purchase of any new 5G equipment from the Chinese tech giant from the end of this year.

The government acknowledged the move would delay the roll-out of 5G in the UK by two to three years and increase costs by up to £2bn.

Image: Huawei is accused of having close links to the Chinese government

Acting on the advice of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Mr Johnson has accepted new US sanctions on Huawei are a “game changer” in relation to the impact of the firm’s technology on the UK’s national security.

Downing Street had previously allowed Huawei to have a role in the UK’s 5G infrastructure – a decision that came little more than six months ago.

Mr Johnson and senior ministers agreed to the removal of Huawei technology within the next seven years at a meeting of the National Security Council in Downing Street on Tuesday morning.

Sky News’ defence and security correspondent Alistair Bunkall said there were some “tense exchanges” during the NSC meeting.

An existing ban on Huawei’s involvement in the most senstive parts of the UK’s 5G networks – announced in January when the prime minister previously gave the go-ahead for the firm to build mobile infrastructure – remains in place.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden confirmed Tuesday’s further action on Huawei in a statement to the House of Commons, as he announced the measures would be put into law by a forthcoming Telecoms Security Bill.

He told MPs: “By the time of the next election we will have implemented in law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks.

“We have not taken this decision lightly and I must be frank about the decision’s consequences for every constituency in this country; this will delay our roll-out of 5G.”

Mr Dowden said the measures introduced both in January and on Tuesday would cause a cumulative delay to the roll-out of 5G in the UK of two to three years and increase costs by up to £2bn.

Critics have long alleged Huawei has close links to the Chinese government and its equipment could be used for espionage purposes – something the company has always denied.

Huawei describes itself as a private company “fully owned by its employees”.

In January, Mr Johnson confirmed Huawei would be able to build “non-core” parts of the UK’s 5G network, but with a series of conditions attached to the company’s involvement.

This included capping Huawei’s market share at 35% and blocking it from involvement in the most sensitive areas of the network.

The prime minister’s decision angered US President Donald Trump – who was reported to have been “apoplectic” with Mr Johnson in a telephone call.

In May, the US placed more sanctions on Huawei to block the firm from using computer chips based on American designs in any of its equipment.

This led to fears the company could begin to use “untrusted” replacement technologies and prompted the NCSC’s review of January’s decision.

They are understood to have concluded there were no alternative products on the market for which the UK could have confidence in.

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The NCSC had “significantly changed their security assessment” of Huawei’s presence in the UK’s 5G network in the wake of the US sanctions, Mr Dowden told MPs.

He added: “Given the uncertainty that this creates around Huawei’s supply chain, the UK can no longer be confident it will be able to guarantee the security of future Huawei 5G equipment affected by the change in US foreign direct-product rules.”

Chi Onwurah, Labour’s shadow digital, science and technology minister, branded the government’s approach “incomprehensibly negligent”.

She told MPs: “It has been clear for some time that there are serious questions over whether Huawei should be allowed to control large sections of our country’s telecoms networks, yet the government refused to face reality.

“Their approach to our 5G capability, Huawei and our national security has been incomprehensibly negligent.”

Responding to the government’s announcement, Huawei UK spokesperson Ed Brewster said: “This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone.

“It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide.

“Instead of ‘levelling up’ the government is levelling down and we urge them to reconsider.

“We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK.

“Regrettably our future in the UK has become politicised, this is about US trade policy and not security.”

Mr Brewster said Huawei would conduct a “detailed review” of what Tuesday’s decision means for the firm’s involvement in the UK.

China ‘extremely troubling’ relationship

In recent months, an increasing number of Conservative MPs had spoken out about Huawei’s involvement in the UK in recent months, which piled pressure on Mr Johnson to reverse January’s decision.

Dissent on the Tory benches in the House of Commons had also grown amid wider concerns about China, including Beijing’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, its imposition of a new security law on Hong Kong, and its treatment of Uighur people.

On Tuesday morning, ahead of the National Security Council meeting, former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told Sky News that “you can’t separate” Chinese firms and the Chinese government.

“Across the free world, more and more countries are now recognising that they face a particular threat now from Chinese government intentions,” he said.

Following the government’s announcement, Sir Iain later said the UK could strip out Huawei technology from 5G infrastructure sooner than 2027 and called for the deadline to be shortened to five years.

[itsfinancethings]

New world news from Time: How Small Acts of Defiance Turned Into a Massive Movement Against Europe’s Last Dictator

Sviatlana Haluza broke down on June 9.

As an employee of Belarus’s state-controlled media outlet SB.by, she’d grown used to rewriting boilerplate propaganda mined from other state-controlled media outlets. But now her boss instructed her to recycle an item about the imprisoned opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanousky. Haluza had a crisis of conscience. She secretly supported Tsikhanousky’s candidacy for president. “I realized I didn’t believe the stuff I was being told to publish and I didn’t want to say he was a criminal and a villain,” she said. “I cried for twenty minutes.”

Then the 23 year-old rang up her mother and a few of her friends. All gave the same advice: Don’t rewrite the attack at all. Just copy and paste it verbatim from the source material, an item lifted from the Belarusian Telegraphic Agency, and remove your surname from the byline. Haluza took the advice. “I wanted to make myself irrelevant to the propaganda,” she said.

A month after that small act of defiance, countless numbers of Haluza’s compatriots have similarly made themselves irrelevant to the propaganda. Fed up with 26 years of one-man authoritarian rule, as many as 100,000 Belarusians took to the streets of the capital Minsk over the weekend calling for a free and fair election following the decidedly unfree and unfair one held August 9. Alexander Lukashenko, the incumbent president, claimed a landslide victory with 80.23% of the vote, against 9.9% for his main rival Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a schoolteacher who wound up on the ballot after her husband, Tsikhanousky, was disqualified following his controversial arrest in May for what the government alleged was organizing a “grave breach of public order.” (The arrest was captured on video. Amnesty International has labeled Tsikhanousky a “prisoner of conscience.”)

Everyone knew Lukashenko would steal the election; few thought he’d be stupid enough to steal it by that much. Snap plebiscites captured on film after the vote was declared showing overwhelming support for Tsikhanouskaya.

In the days since, protesters and ordinary citizens have been rounded up, tossed into overcrowded cells in a notorious detention on Okrestina Street on the outskirts of Minsk. Some have been stripped naked and beaten or electrocuted, their nocturnal screams recorded from beyond the prison walls and uploaded to the Internet, reinvigorating what had been gradually dwindling rallies.

Europe’s last dictator, the consensus runs, is mounting his last stand for survival. And he’s losing, particularly to a demographic he holds in low regard: women. Along with Tsikhanouskaya, the other two leaders of the opposition are Maria Kolesnikova and Veronika Tsepkalo, both of whom stood in for men who were forced to flee the country or thrown in prison in advance of the vote. If Lukashenko thought they’d make milquetoast replacements, he was wrong.

Belarusian women have unmistakably formed the vanguard of the civil resistance thus far, turning up all over the country in white dresses and forming “solidarity chains” —human phalanxes—against the helmeted thugs of the OMON riot police. As Belarusian Nobel laureate Sviatlana Alexievich put it, “According to Lukashenko, only those who have served in the military are fit to occupy the presidency. I would like to tell him that we already entered the era of women.”

Linas Linkevičius, the foreign minister of neighboring Lithuania, has taken to referring to Lukashenko as the “former president of Belarus” on Twitter. Even the former president’s traditional base of industrial workers seems to be inching closer to that past-tense appraisal. A national strike has since been declared. On Monday, factory hands brazenly heckled the former president at the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant, transforming Lukashenko’s comfort zone into a pillory. “Go away!” the workers shouted, as he lamely told them to put away their cell phones. There would be no more elections, he swore, until someone killed him.

It was a Freudian slip that democracy has always been more a performance art than a political reality in a post-Soviet state, which for decades has seemed the land that 1989 forgot. The secret police here is still called the KGB. Seventy percent of the economy is still owned and operated by the central government. And, up until a week ago, the aging mustachioed helmsman still kept the masses fed on a steady diet of socialist realist platitudes.

In March, Lukashenko dismissed the coronavirus pandemic as “frenzy and psychosis,” nothing that a masculine troika of palliatives—vodka, sauna and tractor driving—couldn’t cure. (He later said he contracted the virus but “power[ed] through” it without exhibiting symptoms.) There was no lockdown in Belarus, a country of 9.5 million, of whom about 70,000 have been diagnosed and 613 have died, according to the World Health Organization.

And at a time when every other world leader was appearing before the cameras in a mask, Lukashenko was turning up in a sports jersey to slap around a hockey puck at a packed stadium in Minsk. “It’s better to die standing than to live on your knees,” he said then.

“I kneel down in front of you for the first time in my life,” he says now, acknowledging the precariousness of his reign, albeit without actually kneeling.

Like any wobbly strongman, Lukashenko blames a host of invisible and contradictory enemies for his misfortunes. First, there were Russian mercenaries, 33 of whom were captured in Minsk before the election and accused of being sent there by the Belarusian opposition to turn an already stalwart ally of Moscow into a satrapy of it.

Then there were the Poles, the Dutch, and a cabal of captured “Russian revolutionaries,” forced to promise on video that they wouldn’t foment revolutions anymore and who evidently stole across the border with handbooks on firearms and popular Israeli histories of assassinations.

Then there was Alexey Navalny, the leader of the Russian opposition, who, in spite of legal persecution at home, still has the cunning and wherewithal to whip up political instability next-door. (Navalny was just poisoned with an unknown chemical substance; he is now in intensive care where doctors are “currently engaged in the process of saving his life,” according to the deputy head of the hospital he was admitted to in Omsk.)

Finally, of course, there was NATO, which Lukashenko said was mobilizing at the Belarusian border ready to deploy its “black, yellow-mouthed, and blonde” soldiers to destroy the nation.

Perhaps in response to that latter conspiracy theory, Lukashenko has begged for military assistance from the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin has responded with lukewarm vows of support for “collective security,” falling short of a commitment to dispatch Russian troops or irregulars into Belarus in what would amount to a bold replay of Moscow’s invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014. Which doesn’t necessarily amount to a refusal to do just that. Which doesn’t necessarily amount to a refusal to do just that. (Russian personnel, Minsk has confirmed, have been flown into Belarus to keep state media running while native employees are on strike.)

Signs of Lukashenko’s decline and fall were always there, if you knew where to look for them. In some cases, these could be with the very enforcers of the ancien regime.

TIME spoke with three Belarusian women via Zoom this week. All were in Kyiv, Ukraine, having fled their country just before the rigged election.

Katsiaryna Kupryianava, 30, had been collecting signatures for Tsikhanouskaya in the Minsk oblast. Authorities decided to intimidate her by targeting her younger brother, Ilya Bandarenka, 18. He hadn’t been able to sit for his university entrance exam because he was sick with an ordinary fever. Bandarenka had gone to his local hospital and obtained a waiver to have his exam deferred for another day. Belarusian police turned this into a provocation against the state. Bandarenka, they alleged, had counterfeited his sick note, despite the fact that the hospital had vouched for its authenticity.

Kupryianava was then subpoenaed as part of a criminal investigation she said had no substantive basis. “There were no specific charges against me,” she said. “The police had initiated a criminal case against my brother alleging he had provided fake medical documents, even though they weren’t fake, and even though even if they had been this would have had nothing to do with me.” She and Bаndarenkа went to their local police station. One of the officers there admitted they were summoned only because Kupriyanova was collecting signatures for the opposition. It was a hint that the net was closing in on an enemy of the people.

On the eve of a meeting Kupriyanova had organized with Tsikhanouskaya’s proxies, her apartment was raided. She and her brother were home and escorted back to the police station, the rest of their frantic family in tow. They were eventually released. But now they knew what they had to do. Kupriyanova and Bondarenko fled Belarus for Ukraine July 27.

Bazhena Zholudz, 20, had canvassed for the opposition in Rechytsa, an old city in southeast Belarus, which had seen a flurry of leaflets disseminated saying that Lukashenko commanded the support of only 3% of the electorate whereas Tsikhanouskaya had 97%. Zholudz didn’t distribute them, she claims, but the police decided to blame her anyway. On July 16, she received a notice accusing her of defacing public buildings. She was summoned to the police station to be interrogated.

She went ten times over the course of the next few weeks, leading up the election. Often Zholudz wasn’t even asked about any violation of the law but was warned that a much worse fate awaited her if she continued her activism.

Once a policeman called her and asked if she’d be coming to the station herself or if he had to pick her up at a protest. It was a joke, but also a discrete signal that he wanted her to know his assignment was purely political, not administrative. “I told him I’d come myself,” Zhloudz said. “But when I got to the station he wasn’t there. They told me he’d left.”

Zhloudz returned to her apartment. The officer turned up and said that while he knew she was at the station, he’d been there, registering in his log book that he’d intended to detain her at home. “You understand what’s happening,” he told Zhloudz. “We’re spying on you even when we know you’re complying with the summons.”

What convinced Zholudz to leave the country was her employer’s connivance with the authorities.

She’d worked as a registrar at the Children’s Medical Facility and one day her supervisor received a call instructing her to keep Zholudz in the building to prevent her from attending one of her scheduled interrogations. It was clear now the authorities wanted to snare her on technical grounds, keeping her from complying with the sham investigation.

“I resigned. I told my supervisor, ‘You cannot keep me here against my will,’ I wasn’t going to be arrested for failing to turn up to the police station.”

She went to the station where her interrogator (there was a different one each time) told her that a “provocation” was being prepared against her. She decided to emigrate.

Zholudz and her boyfriend drove from Belarus to the Ukrainian border on August 6, three days before the election. They crossed the border on foot, having been met by a well-connected Ukrainian friend on the other side.

The exodus of Belarusians to Ukraine owes no doubt not just to the country’s proximity but also to common political experience. Six years ago, demonstrations swept Kyiv’s Maidan Square because Ukraine’s then-President Viktor Yanukovych broke his campaign promise to bring the nation closer to integration with the European Union; and he broke it at the behest and financial encouragement of Moscow. Ukrainians then were arrested and beaten up, too; they were also shot by snipers along the main boulevard in their capital city. While Belarusians may not be as galvanized by geopolitical concerns—their movement is mainly about transparency at home—the repression they’ve faced certainly feels the same. As does the shared sense of democratic solidarity.

In Sviatlana Haluza’s case, Kyiv was also the city where she felt she could slough off her false identity and step into her true one.

Even before she removed her surname from that hatchet job on Siarhei Tsikhanousky, she’d taken to keeping two sets of books. There was her official dayjob at SB.by (the SB stands for Soviet Belarus), which she had only taken owing to a national law which mandates that all recipients of a free university degree compensate the state with a minimum of two years of civil service. Given her degree in journalism from Belarus State University, she wanted to report the news. She wasn’t doing that, but nor could she simply resign before her contract was up without being made to pay a penalty she couldn’t afford.

Then there was Haluza’s side gig as a pseudonymous correspondent for Salidarnast, an opposition website. In her unofficial and plausibly deniable capacity as “Sviatlana Dobrovolskaya” she wrote the opposite of what rewrote for SB.by. There were fact-based stories about medical workers fighting the pandemic Lukashenko minimized; others about volunteers who were saving stray cats and dogs.

Haluza wasn’t alone. Her colleagues at SB.by, she said, also moonlighted for other anti-Lukashenko portals—fellow dissidents in disguise—and were reprimanded, as she was, for liking opposition posts on Facebook.

Haluza’s contract ended July 31. She wasted no time leaving SB.by and also Belarus, fearing that in the wake of the then-upcoming election, Lukashenko would declare martial law and the streets would turn violent, as they indeed did.

She went to Ukraine and worked as an exit poller for the Belarusian diaspora in Kyiv. On August 9, Election Day, Haluza gave a speech at the monument of her fellow countryman and fellow journalist, Pavel Sheremet, who was murdered with a car bomb as he left his apartment while commuting to work at Ukrainska Pravda, an online newspaper.

Sheremet, a Belarusian-born Russian citizen, had once been a political prisoner in Minsk, in 1997, during Lukashenko’s first term in office. Haluza wanted to pay her respects but also honor him in another way, by atoning for her role as a conscripted writer in uniform.

“I apologized to Tsikhanousky at the monument,” she said. “I don’t know if he heard my apology. But I needed to hear it.”

With reporting by Palina Brodik

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[newstfionline]

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Trump Expected to Order Troop Withdrawal (Foreign Policy) U.S. President Donald Trump is set to order a dramatic and rapid cut in the number of U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia as he seeks action from loyalists newly installed at the U.S. Department of Defense. A perception that Mark Esper, the previous U.S. Secretary of Defense, would not agree to further troop reductions on so quick a schedule, was seen as one of the reasons for his removal from the post shortly after the U.S. presidential election. Although the numbers are not yet public, several media reports signal a halving of current troop levels in Afghanistan from the 4,500 troops currently stationed there. A reduction in Iraq would be less severe, but almost all of the 700 U.S. troops stationed in Somalia are expected to return to the United States. Although Republican leaders are wary, a troop withdrawal appears to be popular among the American public. According to a YouGov poll commissioned by the libertarian Charles Koch Institute in August, 76 percent Americans supported withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, with almost half of respondents strongly supporting withdrawal. The number supporting U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq was 74 percent. The desire to end America’s wars in the Middle East and South Asia is felt similarly among U.S. military veterans. An April poll by another Koch-backed group found 73 percent of veterans surveyed supported a full withdrawal from Afghanistan, an almost 13 percent increase from the previous year.

Covid-19 origin remains a mystery (South China Morning Post, Tumori Journal) The virus that causes the Covid-19 disease has now infected more than 54 million people across the planet, but the question of just where it came from remains a mystery. Researchers may have found a new link in this puzzle after discovering evidence suggesting the pathogen had infected people across Italy as early as September last year, or months before it was first identified in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The unexpected finding “may reshape the history of [the] pandemic”, said the team led by Dr Gabriella Sozzi, a life scientist with the National Cancer Institute of Milan, in a peer-reviewed paper published last week in the Tumori Journal.

Hurricane Iota bashes Nicaragua, Honduras after Eta floods (AP) Hurricane Iota battered Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast and flooded some stretches of neighboring Honduras that were still under water from Hurricane Eta two weeks earlier, leaving authorities struggling to assess damage after communications were knocked out in some areas. By late Tuesday, Iota had diminished to a tropical storm and was moving inland over northern Nicaragua and southern Honduras, but forecasters warned that its heavy rains still posed a threat of flooding and mudslides. The storm passed about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south-southwest of Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, where rivers were rising and rain was expected to intensify. In mountainous Tegucigalpa, residents of low-lying, flood-prone areas were being evacuated in anticipation of Iota’s rains, as were residents of hillside neighborhoods vulnerable to landslides.

Boris Johnson, in self-quarantine, says he’s ‘bursting with antibodies’ (Washington Post) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson boasted that he was “fit as a butcher’s dog” and “bursting with antibodies” as he began two weeks of self-quarantine after having close contact with a lawmaker who contracted the coronavirus. Johnson was infected with the virus in March—and struggled to breathe in an intensive care unit for three days. His staff did not say on Monday whether he had been tested this time, but cases of coronavirus reinfection have been incredibly rare. Johnson on Monday said that he felt great and that because he previously had the disease he was “bursting with antibodies” but that he would self-quarantine for two weeks as “we got to interrupt the spread of the disease.” He added that he would continue to govern by video conference.

After Trump, Europe aims to show Biden it can fight for itself (Reuters) The Donald Trump era may be coming to an end. But European Union ministers meeting this week to discuss the future of the continent’s defence will say the lesson has been learned: Europe needs to be strong enough to fight on its own. EU foreign and defence ministers meeting by teleconference on Thursday and Friday will receive the bloc’s first annual report on joint defence capabilities, expected to serve as the basis for a French-led, post-Brexit, post-Trump effort to turn the EU into a stand-alone military power. “We aren’t in the old status quo, where we can pretend that the Donald Trump presidency never existed and the world was the same as four years ago,” a French diplomat said. The EU has been working since December 2017 to develop more firepower independently of the United States. The effort has been driven mainly by France, the EU’s remaining major military power after Brexit.

Hungary and Poland Threaten E.U. Stimulus Over Rule of Law Links (NYT) When European Union leaders announced a landmark stimulus package to rescue their economies from the ravages of the coronavirus, they agreed to jointly raise hundreds of billions of dollars to use as aid—a bold and widely welcomed leap in collaboration never attempted in the bloc’s history. But that unity was shattered on Monday when Hungary and Poland blocked the stimulus plan and the broader budget. The two eastern European countries said they would veto the spending bill because the funding was made conditional on upholding rule-of-law standards, such as an independent judiciary, which the two governments have weakened as they defiantly tear down separation of powers at home. Their veto has thrown a signature achievement of the bloc into disarray, deepening a long-building standoff over its core principles and threatening to delay the stimulus money from getting to E.U. member states, if a new agreement can be reached at all.

Armenia seethes over peace deal (Foreign Policy) Armenia’s government is under strain after signing a cease-fire agreement with Azerbaijan in a Russian-backed deal a week ago. On Monday, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan resigned after a public disagreement with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan over the direction of peace talks. Pressure on Pashinyan has shown no sign of easing in recent days: 17 opposition parties have called for his resignation as street protests against his leadership continue.

Kissinger Warns Biden of U.S.-China Catastrophe on Scale of WWI (Bloomberg) Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said the incoming Biden administration should move quickly to restore lines of communication with China that frayed during the Trump years or risk a crisis that could escalate into military conflict. “Unless there is some basis for some cooperative action, the world will slide into a catastrophe comparable to World War I,” Kissinger said during the opening session of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum. He said military technologies available today would make such a crisis “even more difficult to control” than those of earlier eras. “America and China are now drifting increasingly toward confrontation, and they’re conducting their diplomacy in a confrontational way,” the 97-year-old Kissinger said in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait. “The danger is that some crisis will occur that will go beyond rhetoric into actual military conflict.” U.S.-China relations are at their lowest in decades. As President Donald Trump stepped up his criticism of China, blaming it for the spread of the virus and the death toll in the U.S., each side also has ramped up moves the other sees as hostile.

Hundreds of fraudulent votes were discovered. Then a fat green parrot was elected. (Washington Post) A plump, waddling parrot has soared past its competition to claim victory in New Zealand’s Bird of the Year contest, a tense race marked by attempted voter interference during a divisive month of campaigning. In what event organizers conceded was “a stunning upset,” the critically endangered kakapo flew into first place to steal the title—ruffling the feathers of those who say the bright-green parrot unfairly secured a second term as chosen bird. The bird-of-the-year controversy took flight after data analysts working with Forest & Bird discovered that roughly 1,500 fraudulent votes had been cast. The “illegal votes,” which were submitted using a suspicious email account and came from the same IP address in Auckland, briefly pushed the country’s tiny kiwi pukupuku bird into the lead, a brazen meddling attempt that sent officials and campaign managers into a flap. Those votes were immediately disregarded, organizers said. “It’s lucky we spotted this little kiwi trying to sneak in an extra 1500 votes under the cover of darkness!” Laura Keown, spokesperson for Bird of the Year, said in a statement Nov. 10, adding that officials did not “want to see any more cheating.”

Israelis Take On Netanyahu And Coronavirus Restrictions In Wave Of Civil Disobedience (The Intercept) Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, having been at the helm for over 11 consecutive years. He is also the first sitting prime minister to be indicted, currently on trial in three cases of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, arising from abusing his authority to grant favors for, among other things, favorable media coverage. While there have been small but stubborn protests against Netanyahu since investigations into his corruption first opened in late 2016, it was not until the coronavirus paralyzed Israel’s economy that people—many of them in their 20s and 30s—starting coming out in droves. For more than 20 weeks now, tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to call on Netanyahu to recuse himself for corruption, for failing to manage the pandemic, and for what many describe as his megalomania—doing whatever it takes to evade trial. They have been convening in massive numbers in front of his official residence, many carrying homemade signs, chanting in unison “Go!” and “We won’t leave till Bibi resigns.”

Protests that historically bring out large numbers of Jewish Israelis have long been dominated by Israel’s left-leaning peace camp, and a decade ago, others drawing attention to the high cost of living. What is happening now is different: With over a million people unemployed in a country of 9 million, culture and nightlife all but dead amid the pandemic, and people’s ability to travel outside the country severely restricted, a nationwide movement of disgruntled Israelis, spanning ages and to an extent sociocultural backgrounds, is practicing civil disobedience. The government has responded with relative force against a segment of the Jewish population that is largely unfamiliar with police brutality and has not had their individual rights violated. At the same time, the government has all but ignored incitement and incidents of violence against the protesters. The official response is giving Jewish Israelis a tiny window into what it has always been like for Palestinians, both in Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza, whose protests are, prima facie, treated as suspect.

Ethiopia bombs Tigray capital (Foreign Policy) Ethiopia’s air force began bombing the Tigray region’s capital, Mekelle, on Monday in another escalation of the country’s civil war, now entering its third week. In a tweet he later deleted, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni called for the two sides to negotiate and halt the conflict “lest it leads to unnecessary loss of lives and cripples the economy.” Redwan Hussein, a government spokesman, said the war would be a “short-lived operation,” and that mediation offers from Uganda or another country were not being considered.

Amazon opens online pharmacy, shaking up another industry (AP) Now at Amazon.com: insulin and inhalers. The online colossus opened an online pharmacy Tuesday that allows customers to order medication or prescription refills, and have them delivered to their front door in a couple of days. The potential impact of Amazon’s arrival in the pharmaceutical space rippled through that sector immediately. Before the opening bell, shares of CVS Health Corp. fell almost 9%. Walgreens and Rite Aid both tumbled more than 10%. The big chains rely on their pharmacies for a steady flow of shoppers who may also grab a snack, or shampoo or groceries on the way out. All have upped online services, but Amazon.com has mastered it, and its online store is infinitely larger. Amazon will begin offering commonly prescribed medications Tuesday in the U.S., including creams, pills, as well as medications that need to stay refrigerated, like insulin. Shoppers have to set up a profile on Amazon’s website and have their doctors send prescriptions there. The company said it won’t ship medications that can be abused, including many opioids. Most insurance is accepted, Amazon said. But Prime members who don’t have insurance can also buy generic or brand name drugs from Amazon for a discount. They can also get discounts at 50,000 physical pharmacies around the country, inside Costco, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and other stores.

R.I.P. whoopsie (Euronews) French broadcaster RFI has apologized after a bug on its website triggered the publication of obituaries of Queen Elizabeth II, Pelé, Jimmy Carter, Brigitte Bardot, Clint Eastwood and about 100 other prominent (and still alive) celebrities. RFI said in a statement that a “technical problem” led to the erroneous publications. Broadcasters often prepare obituary material in advance to publish it promptly when a death is announced.

[ladystylestores]

When Jail Becomes Normal – The New York Times

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Good morning. Protests continued late into the night, without the destruction of recent days. George W. Bush offered praise for the protesters. Let’s start by looking at how mass incarceration has shaped black Americans’ lives.

For most white Americans, interactions with the police happen rarely, and they’re often respectful or even friendly. Many white people don’t know a single person who’s currently behind bars.

In many black communities — and especially for black men — the situation is entirely different. Some of the statistics can be hard to fathom:

Incarceration rates for black men are about twice as high as those of Hispanic men, five times higher than those of white men and at least 25 times higher than those of black women, Hispanic women or white women.

When the government last counted how many black men had ever spent time in state or federal prison — in 2001 — the share was 17 percent. Today, it’s likely closer to 20 percent (and this number doesn’t include people who’ve spent time in jail without being sentenced to prison). The comparable number for white men is about 3 percent.

The rise of mass incarceration over the last half-century has turned imprisonment into a dominant feature of modern life for black Americans. Large numbers of black men are missing from their communities — unable to marry, care for children or see their aging parents. Many others suffer from permanent economic or psychological damage, struggling to find work after they leave prison.

A recent study by the economists Patrick Bayer and Kerwin Kofi Charles found that 27 percent of black men in the prime working years of their lives — between the ages of 25 and 54 — didn’t report earning a single dollar of income in 2014. “That’s a massive number,” Charles, the dean of the Yale School of Management, told me. Incarceration, including the aftereffects, was a major reason.

The anger coursing through America’s streets over the past week has many causes, starting with a gruesome video showing the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. But that anger has also been building up for a long time. It is, in part, anger about incarceration having become normal.

An explainer podcast: How has mass incarceration happened? “Justice in America” — hosted by Josie Duffy Rice of The Appeal — tries to answer the question. The Times’s Caity Weaver recommends starting with the first episode, about bail. “I learn so much from this freaking podcast,” Caity tweeted yesterday.

FOUR MORE BIG STORIES

1. Less violence on Tuesday night

The amount of violence, fires and looting declined last night, relative to the chaos of previous nights. Instead, peaceful protesters in many cities defied curfews and remained on the streets late into the night to protest police violence.

Other protest developments:

Minneapolis police used force against black people at a rate at least seven times that of white people during the past five years, city data show.

In his first speech outside his home since the coronavirus lockdown, Joe Biden likened President Trump’s language to that of Southern racists of the 1960s. “We cannot let our rage consume us,” Biden said.

Former President George W. Bush praised peaceful protesters. He said that he and his wife, Laura, were “anguished by the brutal suffocation of George Floyd and disturbed by the injustice and fear that suffocate our country.”

2. Fears of ‘autocracy’

Attorney General William Barr gave the order to clear the square across from the White House on Monday night, The Times explains, in a story reconstructing the incident. The order led law enforcement to use smoke and flash grenades to scatter peaceful protesters so that Trump could appear at a church for a photo opportunity.

Former military leaders and democracy experts condemned the use of force against citizens. Retired Adm. Mike Mullen wrote in The Atlantic that Trump had “laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country.” Kori Schake, a former Pentagon official and Republican policy adviser, said, “If we were seeing this in another country, we would be deeply concerned.” Gail Helt, a former C.I.A. analyst, told The Washington Post: “This is what autocrats do. This is what happens in countries before a collapse. It really does unnerve me.”

3. Voting in a shaken country

People in eight states and Washington, D.C., cast ballots in extraordinary circumstances yesterday, and it seemed to go more smoothly than some people feared. “If Tuesday’s vote-by-mail primaries were a test for November, elections officials have reason to be encouraged: a few bumps but no major disasters,” said Stephanie Saul, a Times reporter.

Among the results:

Steve King, who’s represented an Iowa House district for nine terms and has a history of racist comments, lost his bid for renomination.

Theresa Greenfield, a real estate executive backed by the Democratic Party establishment, won Iowa’s Democratic Senate primary. She will face the Republican incumbent Joni Ernst

Ella Jones became the first African-American and the first woman elected mayor in Ferguson, Mo., where the 2014 killing of Michael Brown helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement.

Find the latest election results here.

4. Zuckerberg defends his approach

In a tense company meeting, the Facebook C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg stood by his decision not to remove or flag Trump’s inflammatory posts.

Some Facebook employees have been in open revolt over the policy. “Mark always told us that he would draw the line at speech that calls for violence,” said one engineer in a resignation note this week. “He showed us on Friday that this was a lie.”

Here’s what else is happening

A Times’s investigation explains how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fumbled its response to the coronavirus, leaving the country without adequate testing early in the crisis. Here are five takeaways from the reporting.

Republicans said they were moving Trump’s convention speech out of Charlotte, after a stalemate with Democratic officials in North Carolina about virus restrictions.

The College Board is postponing plans for an online version of the SAT because of technological challenges, further complicating the college-application process for students stuck at home.

Lives lived: Elsa Dorfman used a 200-pound Polaroid camera to create a brand of photographic art all her own, making instantaneous giant, natural-looking portraits of celebrities and everyday people — even while Polaroid, outpaced by technology, was fast going out of business. She died on May 30 at 83.

BACK STORY: WHAT SCIENTISTS REALLY THINK

“A lot of people are reading scientific papers for the first time these days, hoping to make sense of the coronavirus pandemic,” Carl Zimmer writes in his latest Matter column. Unfortunately, many scientific papers are hard to read. They’re full of jargon and aren’t intended for a general audience.

But when Carl speaks to scientists on the phone, he often finds that they can tell a riveting, clear story about their research. Of course, most people aren’t going to cold-call scientists — but there is still a good alternative to trying to muddle through academic research papers: Follow the scientists on social media.

“Leading epidemiologists and virologists have been posting thoughtful threads on Twitter,” Carl writes, “laying out why they think new papers are good or bad.” I asked Carl for a list of scientists that people should follow, and he sent me 19 names. They include the virologists Florian Krammer and Angela Rasmussen, the epidemiologists Marc Lipsitch and Caitlin Rivers and the immunologist Akiko Iwasaki.

I’ve created a list of all 19 on Twitter. And if you have ideas for other scientists to follow on social media, send an email to themorning@nytimes.com, with “virus scientists” in the subject field.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT, ROAST

Kitchen nightmares: Home edition

Not everyone is using extra time at home to cultivate a sourdough starter. The food writer Priya Krishna has documented how necessity has forced fledgling home cooks to confront their biggest fear: using their kitchens. The result is a lot of blackened pots, smoke-filled apartments and frozen pizza disasters — but also some victories, like fried eggs and a decent carbonara.

For even the most hapless cooks: Make this roast chicken. It requires salt, pepper, olive oil and a whole bird.

N.B.A. takes Disney World

The N.B.A. is in talks to resume its pandemic-shortened season by hosting the league at Walt Disney World in Florida. Players would live in Disney hotels, and all games would be held at the nearby ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.

Why Disney World? Well, it doesn’t hurt that the ESPN facility is already wired to broadcast games on its network — and that Disney, its parent company, pays the N.B.A. more than $1 billion a year for the right to air them.

Brush up on some history

Three years ago, Ibram X. Kendi, a National Book Award-winning-author and professor, compiled a history of race and racism in America through 24 books for The Times Book Review. He highlighted influential works about the black experience for each decade of the nation’s existence, including the poems of Phillis Wheatley and Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer-winning novel “Beloved.”

Together, he writes, the books “tell the history of anti-black racism in the United States as painfully, as eloquently, as disturbingly as words can. In many ways, they also tell its present.” You can revisit the list here.

Diversions

Games

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: B, on the periodic table (five letters).

You can find all of our puzzles here.

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David

P.S. The word “coronavirologists” appeared for the first time in The Times yesterday, as noted by the Twitter bot @NYT_first_said.

You can see today’s print front page here.

Today’s episode of “The Daily” includes an interview with Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis

The Times is providing free access to much of our coronavirus coverage. Please consider supporting our journalism with a subscription.

Ian Prasad Philbrick and Sanam Yar contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at themorning@nytimes.com.

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Headlines

More than 50% of parents expect to lose income when school starts: survey (Yahoo) With back-to-school season right around the corner, many parents are contemplating whether to send their children back to school or keep them at home due to the health risks of the coronavirus pandemic. And for parents who choose to keep their children at home over COVID-19 concerns, a staggering 54% say that they expect to lose up to half of their income, according to a new survey from Debt.com. Childcare has always been a major expense for parents of young children and is cited as the top-ranking unexpected cost by new parents, followed by diapers and formula, the Care.com survey found. Over half of American families spend at least $10,000 annually on childcare. Currently, it’s cheaper to pay for your teenage child to attend college than it is daycare—the average annual cost of in-state college tuition is $9,410, according to College Board. But there are also big financial implications to staying at home with their children. Over 50% of the parents surveyed by Debt.com expect to lose anywhere from 11% to 51% of their income once school begins.

House holding rare Saturday vote on postal changes, funds (AP) The House is convening for a rare Saturday session to address mail delivery disruptions, poised to pass legislation that would reverse recent changes in U.S. Postal Service operations and send $25 billion in emergency funds to shore up the agency ahead of the November election. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Postal Service will be “election central” as she recalled lawmakers to Washington in a highly unusual election year as millions of Americans are expected to opt for mail-in ballots to avoid polling places during the coronavirus pandemic. The daylong Saturday session comes as an uproar over mail interference puts the Postal Service at the center of the nation’s tumultuous election year, with Americans rallying around one of the nation’s oldest and more popular institutions.

Loss From Wildfires Grows in California (NYT) From the Southern California deserts to the Sierra Nevada to the vineyards and movie sets and architectural landmarks left by modern mortals, little of California has been left unscathed by wildfire. In the past several years, infernos have scorched the Yosemite National Park, blackened the Joshua Tree National Park’s palm-strewn Oasis of Mara, damaged the Paramount Ranch and eviscerated Malibu summer camps beloved for generations. Scars now pockmark the state, with more to come, according to fire officials. Burning across more than 771,000 acres, this week’s fires have largely stemmed from an extraordinary spate of dry lightning. As of Friday, there were some 560 blazes, about two dozen of them major. Smoke has worsened an already oppressive heat wave, the electrical grid has struggled to keep up with demand and the coronavirus has threatened illness in evacuation shelters. At least five deaths have been linked to the fires, which have forced more than 100,000 people out of their homes, filled the skies with thick smoke and consumed hundreds of dwellings.

2 tropical storms a potential double threat to US Gulf Coast (AP) Two tropical storms advanced across the Caribbean Saturday as potentially historic threats to the U.S. Gulf Coast, one dumping rain on Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands while the other was pushing through the gap between Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba. Tropical Storms Laura and Marco were both projected to approach the U.S. Gulf Coast at or close to hurricane force. The current, uncertain track would take them to Texas or Louisiana. The projected track from the U.S. National Hurricane Center would put both storms together in the Gulf on Tuesday, with Marco hitting Texas and Laura making landfall a little less than a day later, though both tracks remain uncertain.

Lights dim on cafe life in Buenos Aires, as Argentina grapples with Covid-19 and a grim future (CNN) It’s a rather unusual sight. Felipe Evangelista is sitting down at the café he has owned for nearly four decades and all he can see are upside-down chairs stored atop empty tables. It is one of the hundreds of cafés, bars and restaurants in Buenos Aires that have been forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic. Their demise is a troubling new chapter for Argentina’s battered economy, which was roiled by runaway inflation and stagnant growth even before Covid-19 slammed the door on businesses. The pandemic has been brutal for small and medium-size businesses around the capital Buenos Aires. According to the Commerce and Industry Federation of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (FECOBA, by its Spanish acronym), 24,200 of those businesses, roughly 22% of the total, had permanently shut their doors by mid-July. Jonatan Loidi, a financial analyst, author and economics professor, says the pandemic and the implementation of a lockdown aggravated an economy that was already in a recession. “Argentina hasn’t grown since 2011. In the last three years there has been not only lack of growth but also a fall in the country’s GDP.” Loidi pointed out the annualized inflation rate in Argentina, even before the pandemic, was 55%. “Uncertainty is the word that best describes life in Argentina nowadays,” Loidi said.

Turkish navy, air force drills in Aegean Sea amid tensions (AP) Turkish air and naval forces conducted joint training exercises in the Aegean Sea, the country’s Defense Ministry said Saturday, amid strains with neighbor Greece over hydrocarbon discoveries. The announcement came as NATO members Turkey and Greece are facing off in the eastern Mediterranean Sea over gas and oil exploration and a day after Turkey declared significant gas discoveries in the Black Sea. Two weeks ago, Turkey sent a warship-escorted research vessel to prospect in waters where Greece claims exclusive rights to the underlying seabed. Athens responded by sending its own warships to the area and placing its military on alert. France also sent warships and planes to join drills with Greek forces. Relations between Greece and Turkey have traditionally been tense. The two have come to the brink of war three times since the mid-1970s, including once over drilling exploration rights in the Aegean Sea that separates the two countries.

Belarus leader blames US for chaos, vows to end protests (AP) Authorities in Belarus detained a leader of striking factory workers and threatened demonstrators with criminal charges Friday in a bid to stop the massive post-election protests challenging the country’s authoritarian president, who accused the United States of fomenting the unrest. Protesters are demanding that Lukashenko resign, accusing him of stealing a sixth term in office by rigging the country’s Aug. 9 presidential election. Many are fed up with sinking living standards and the lack of opportunities under Lukashenko, and their disgust grew deeper as he dismissed the coronavirus pandemic and refused to order a lockdown. Unfazed by government threats, thousands of demonstrators on Friday formed “chains of solidarity” across the capital of Minsk before marching to the central Independence Square as post-election protests entered their 13th straight day. Motorists honked and slowed down to block traffic in a show of solidarity.

Xi Declares War on Food Waste, and China Races to Tighten Its Belt (NYT) Chinese regulators are calling out livestreamers who binge-eat for promoting excessive consumption. A school said it would bar students from applying for scholarships if their daily leftovers exceeded a set amount. A restaurant placed electronic scales at its entrance for customers to weigh themselves to avoid ordering too much. China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has declared a war on the “shocking and distressing” squandering of food, and the nation is racing to respond, with some going to greater extremes than others. The ruling Communist Party has long sought to portray Mr. Xi as a fighter of excess and gluttony in officialdom, but this new call for gastronomic discipline is aimed at the public and carries a special urgency. When it comes to food security, Mr. Xi said, Chinese citizens should maintain a sense of crisis because of vulnerabilities exposed by the coronavirus pandemic. It’s part of a broader message from the leadership in recent weeks about the importance of self-reliance in a time of tensions with the United States and other economic partners. The concern is that import disruptions caused by the global geopolitical turmoil, the pandemic and trade tensions with the Trump administration, as well as some of China’s worst floods this year, could cut into food supplies.

S. Korea imposes strict measures to stem spread (AP) South Korea is banning large gatherings, closing beaches, shutting nightspots and churches and removing fans from professional sports in strict new measures announced Saturday as it battles the spread of the coronavirus. Health Minister Park Neung-hoo announced the steps shortly after the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 332 new cases—the ninth straight day of triple-digit increases. While most of the new cases came from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, which has been at the center of the viral surge in recent weeks, infections were also reported in practically every major city and town.

Antarctic winds trigger rare snowfall across southeast Australia (Reuters) Antarctic air reaching Australia’s south east triggered snowfall down to low altitudes across several states on Saturday, with many people out enjoying the rare event despite wild winds and heavy snow that closed some roads. Pictures of snowy towns and landscapes across New South Wales (NSW), Victoria, the Australia Capital Territory and the island state of Tasmania flooded social media as locals rushed to capture the surprise early spring snowfall. Over one metre (3.3 feet) of snow had fallen in a number of alpine regions, and the cold weather would likely remain for several days, the weather bureau said.

Beirut needs billions of dollars it doesn’t have to rebuild after massive blast (Washington Post) With reddened eyes, 90-year-old Henri Azar surveys what remains of his family home. The traditional wooden-frame windows have been ripped out. Plaster was cleaved from the walls. Sunlight shines through gaps in the bedroom ceiling. A team of engineers tell him he needs to make repairs before the winter rains. Beirut officials have estimated that the damage from the enormous blast that shook the city two weeks ago could reach $15 billion, though the true extent of the destruction remains unknown. At least 25,000 homes are so badly damaged that they are uninhabitable, according to the Beirut government. There are myriad hurdles for rebuilding, including a months-old financial crisis that has sent the value of the Lebanese currency plunging and prompted draconian banking restrictions that limit withdrawals even by those with money in their accounts. Only a few homeowners have insurance, and they are being told they can’t receive a payout until the cause of the explosion is established by the government’s investigation, since damage due to war or terrorism is not covered. They say they have little hope of ever being compensated. In the meantime, landlords and long-term tenants are fighting over who should pay for repairs. No one expects assistance from the bankrupt government, which has been largely absent from cleanup efforts. Private funding of repairs is hamstrung by the banking restrictions, put in place last year after it emerged that as much as $100 billion is missing from the banking system, a sign of the country’s chronic mismanagement and corruption.

Thousands in Mali’s capital welcome president’s downfall (AP) Thousands marched Friday in the streets of Mali’s capital to celebrate the overthrow of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, as the West African nation’s political opposition backed the military’s junta plan to eventually hand over power to a civilian transitional government. But as opponents of the former regime moved ahead with plans for the future, the international community continued to express alarm about the coup that deposed Mali’s democratically elected leader this week. There are concerns that the political upheaval will divert attention away from the more than seven-year international fight against Islamic extremists who have used previous power vacuums in Mali to expand their terrain.

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Anxiety and Covid-19 (CDC/Bloomberg) A special project by the Census Bureau has set out to map and measure all the anxieties that Covid-19 has brought in its wake. One finding: Almost a third of people in some states have little or no confidence they can pay August’s rent or mortgage. Some of the longest-lasting effects of the pandemic may stem from its adverse impact on mental health, and from enforced delays in medical treatment for other conditions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a study conducted in May and June, found that more than 10% of adults seriously considered suicide—a figure that rose to more than one-quarter among 18-24 year-olds. It also found a jump in substance abuse, and said mental health outcomes were worse among racial minorities, essential workers, and unpaid caregivers.

Making billions vs. making ends meet: how the pandemic has split the US economy in two (The Guardian) Stock markets are setting new highs driven by soaring prices for the tech companies that enable those lucky enough to work from home. Apple is close to being valued at $2tn. The total wealth of US billionaires has soared $685bn since the middle of March to a combined $3.65tn. Rock-bottom interest rates have triggered a home sales boom for some as those with the money reconsider their priorities in the work-from-home era. With nowhere to go, those Americans who can are saving at record rates. But only one in four Americans can work from home. Meanwhile roughly 30 million people are unemployed in the US, about 20% of the workforce. Almost 30 million Americans recently reported that they have not had enough to eat at some point in the previous seven days, according to the Census Bureau. The vast majority—about 26 million—had lower rates of educational attainment. “It’s white-collar professionals who are able to work from home. In some ways, this is a sign that the economy is just officially split in two,” Glenn Kelman, chief executive of property company Redfin, told NPR last week.

Protests, counterprotests, and violence (Washington Post) Far-right extremists and continued clashes between Black Lives Matter protesters and police this weekend renewed tensions in Portland, Minneapolis and other cities, pushing the country into its 80th day of consecutive demonstrations in some places. A group with ties to far-right organizations that have long targeted Portland gathered downtown Saturday afternoon to wave American flags and push back against Black Lives Matter protests challenging police brutality. The event ended with two gunshots. Protests in other cities also erupted into violence Saturday, as police grappled with small groups hijacking otherwise peaceful events. One clash ended in fistfights after Proud Boys marched in Kalamazoo, Mich. Police intervened as the Proud Boys retreated into a parking garage, about seven minutes after a large brawl broke out between members of the far-right group and their opponents. Officers arrested some counterprotesters who had come out to oppose the right-wing group. In Chicago, a protest also grew violent after people used umbrellas and skateboards to attack police officers, injuring 17. Twenty-four people were arrested. And just before midnight Saturday, a group of roughly 50 protesters, most dressed in black and wearing full-face masks, descended on the 5th District police precinct in South Minneapolis. The group lobbed rocks and fireworks at the building. The station’s front windows were sprayed with anti-police graffiti, and red paint was poured along the steps of the front entrance and the sidewalk.

Virus pandemic reshaping air travel as carriers struggle (AP) In a bid to survive, airlines are desperately trying to convince a wary public that measures like mandatory face masks and hospital-grade air filters make sitting in a plane safer than many other indoor settings during the coronavirus pandemic. It isn’t working. Surveys indicate that instead of growing comfortable with air travel, more people are becoming skeptical about it. In the United States, airline bookings have stalled in the past month after slowly rising—a reaction to a new surge of reported virus infections. Globally, air travel is down more than 85% from a year ago, according to industry figures. The implications for the airline industry are grave. Several leading carriers already have filed for bankruptcy protection, and if the hoped-for recovery is delayed much longer, the list will grow.

Staycations (Morning Consult) Fully 63 percent of U.S. adults said they had plans to take a staycation during the pandemic, with 26 percent having already taken one during the pandemic, compared to 17 percent who took a vacation. The staycationers—those realists who rejected false hope instantaneously, immediately wrote the summer off, and promptly made the best of a truly abysmal situation well beyond their control—were led by the Millennials, a generation forged in the fires of crushing societal disappointment, of whom 35 percent have already taken a staycation.

Death Valley hits 130 degrees, thought to be highest temperature on Earth in over a century (LA Times) Temperatures in Death Valley skyrocketed to a blistering 130 degrees on Sunday—possibly the highest mercury reading on Earth since 1913. If the National Weather Service’s recording is correct, it would also be among the top-three highest temperatures to have ever been measured in Death Valley, as well as the highest temperature ever seen there during the month of August. The reading comes amid an epic heat wave that continues to grip most of the southwestern U.S.

Belarus Protests (NYT) Minutes after President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus vowed to stand firm against protesters he reviled as “rats,” “trash” and “bandits,” antigovernment demonstrators staged their biggest protest yet on Sunday to oppose a fraud-tainted presidential election a week earlier. Tens of thousands of protesters—some estimates put their number at well over 200,000—turned out in the center of Minsk, the capital, dwarfing a rally of Mr. Lukashenko’s supporters earlier in the day. It appeared to be the largest protest in the history of Belarus, a former Soviet republic that Mr. Lukashenko has led since 1994. The protest had a festive air, in stark contrast to the tense moods of far smaller rallies last week that were violently suppressed by security forces, leaving at least two people dead, many injured and more than 6,000 under arrest.

Japan’s economy shrinks at record rate, slammed by pandemic (AP) Japan’s economy shrank at annual rate of 27.8% in April-June, the worst contraction on record, as the coronavirus pandemic slammed consumption and trade, according to government data released Monday. The Cabinet Office reported that Japan’s preliminary seasonally adjusted real gross domestic product, or GDP, the sum of a nation’s goods and services, fell 7.8% quarter on quarter. The annual rate shows what the number would have been if continued for a year. Japanese media reported the latest drop was the worst since World War II. But the Cabinet Office said comparable records began in 1980. The previous worst contraction, a 17.8% drop, was in the first quarter of 2009, during the global financial crisis.

New Zealand delays election because of coronavirus outbreak (Washington Post) Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday postponed the general election, scheduled for Sept. 19, for four weeks as authorities grapple with a new wave of cases that has set back the country’s pandemic recovery.

Normalizing ties with Israel (Foreign Policy) Israel’s historic agreement normalizing diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates seems to have opened the way for other Gulf states to do the same. On Sunday, Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen said that Israel is exploring similar agreements with several countries in the Middle East and North Africa, suggesting that Bahrain and Oman were at the top of the list. Both countries praised the accord shortly after it was publicized, but have not confirmed whether similar deals with Israel were in the works.

Death toll from attack on Mogadishu hotel rises to 16 (Reuters) At least 16 people were killed in an attack on Sunday by al Shabaab on a seaside hotel in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, a government spokesman said, as the Islamist group launched a similar assault on a Somali military base. Sunday’s toll includes 11 victims and five assailants, Ismail Mukhtar Omar said in a tweet late on Sunday, adding: “Security forces lost one, 18 people were injured.” Militants stormed the high-end Elite Hotel in Lido beach, detonated a car bomb and then opened fire with assault rifles, the latest attack by al Shabaab, which has been battling the country’s central government since 2008.

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Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Canada’s Trudeau calls snap election in bid to regain parliamentary majority (Washington Post) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, betting that his standing has been improved by his government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic while his main opponent has failed to gain traction with voters, called on Sunday a snap federal election for Sept. 20 in a bid to regain a majority in the House of Commons. Trudeau, first elected prime minister in 2015, has led the country since October 2019 with a minority government. Winning a majority would mean he would no longer need to rely on opposition parties to advance his agenda and stay in power.

California fire threatens homes as blazes burn across West (AP) Thousands of Northern California homes were threatened Sunday by the nation’s largest wildfire and officials warned the danger of new blazes erupting across the West was high because of unstable weather. Gusts of up to 50 mph (80 kph) on Saturday pushed flames closer to Janesville, a town of about 1,500 people just east of Greenville, the small gold rush-era community decimated by the fire 10 days ago. The Dixie Fire was the largest among more than 100 big blazes burning in more than a dozen states in the West, a region seared by drought and hot, bone-dry weather that turned forests, brushlands, meadows and pastures into tinder. The U.S. Forest Service said Friday it is operating in crisis mode, fully deploying firefighters and maxing out its support system. The roughly 21,000 federal firefighters working on the ground is more than double the number of firefighters sent to contain forest fires at this time a year ago, said Anthony Scardina, a deputy forester for the agency’s Pacific Southwest region.

After Haiti Quake, Thousands Seek Scarce Care (NYT) With broken bones and open wounds, the injured jammed into damaged hospitals or headed to the airport, hoping for mercy flights out. A handful of doctors toiled all night in makeshift triage wards. A day after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake killed at least 1,300 people and injured thousands in western Haiti, the main airport of the city of Les Cayes was overwhelmed Sunday with people trying to evacuate their loved ones to Port-au-Prince, the capital, about 80 miles to the east. There was not much choice. With just a few dozen doctors available in a region that is home to 1 million people, the quake aftermath was turning increasingly dire. “I’m the only surgeon over there,” said Dr. Edward Destine, an orthopedic surgeon, waving toward a temporary operating room of corrugated tin set up near the airport in Les Cayes. “I would like to operate on 10 people today, but I just don’t have the supplies,” he said. Officials in Les Cayes estimated that only 30 doctors served the entire western region. They are now confronting the overwhelming prospect of treating thousands of grievous injuries from caved-in buildings. All the main hospitals are damaged; doctors worked overnight to erect the temporary operating room near the airport in Les Cayes because local hospitals were in such bad condition.

Death toll in floods that hit northern Turkey climbs to 70 (AP) Rescuers recovered more bodies from the site of severe flooding that devastated a town in northern Turkey on Monday, bringing the death toll to 70, officials said. Torrential rains battered the country’s northwestern Black Sea provinces on Aug. 4, causing floods that demolished homes and bridges, swept away cars and blocked access to numerous roads. Emergency crews on Monday pressed ahead with efforts to locate at least 47 people who were still reported missing in Kastamonu and Sinop. The Turkish disaster management agency, AFAD, said some 8,000 personnel, backed by 20 rescue dogs, are involved in the rescue and assistance efforts.

Afghanistan’s military collapse: Illicit deals and mass desertions (Washington Post) The spectacular collapse of Afghanistan’s military that allowed Taliban fighters to walk into the Afghan capital Sunday despite 20 years of training and billions of dollars in American aid began with a series of deals brokered in rural villages between the militant group and some of the Afghan government’s lowest-ranking officials. The deals, initially offered early last year, were often described by Afghan officials as cease-fires, but Taliban leaders were in fact offering money in exchange for government forces to hand over their weapons, according to an Afghan officer and a U.S. official. Over the next year and a half, the meetings advanced to the district level and then rapidly on to provincial capitals, culminating in a breathtaking series of negotiated surrenders by government forces, according to interviews with more than a dozen Afghan officers, police, special operations troops and other soldiers. Within a little more than a week, Taliban fighters overran more than a dozen provincial capitals and entered Kabul with no resistance, triggering the departure of Afghanistan’s president and the collapse of his government. Afghan security forces in the districts ringing Kabul and in the city itself simply melted away. By nightfall, police checkpoints were left abandoned and the militants roamed the streets freely. “Some just wanted the money,” an Afghan special forces officer said of those who first agreed to meet with the Taliban. But others saw the U.S. commitment to a full withdrawal as an “assurance” that the militants would return to power in Afghanistan and wanted to secure their place on the winning side, he said.

Chaos as thousands flee Afghanistan after Taliban takeover (AP/Reuters) Thousands packed into the Afghan capital’s airport on Monday, rushing the tarmac and pushing onto planes in desperate attempts to flee the country after the Taliban overthrew the Western-backed government. U.S. soldiers fired warning shots as they struggled to manage the chaotic evacuation. In the capital, a tense calm set in, with most people hiding in their homes as the Taliban deployed fighters at major intersections. There were scattered reports of looting and armed men knocking on doors and gates, and there was less traffic than usual on eerily quiet streets. Fighters could be seen searching vehicles at one of the city’s main squares. Massouma Tajik, a 22-year-old data analyst, described scenes of panic at the airport, where she was hoping to board an evacuation flight. After waiting six hours, she heard shots from outside, where a crowd of men and women were trying to climb aboard a plane. She said U.S. troops sprayed gas and fired into the air to disperse the crowds after people scaled the walls and swarmed onto the tarmac. Gunfire could be heard in the voice messages she sent to The Associated Press. At least seven people were killed in Kabul airport as hundreds of people tried to forcibly enter (or hold onto) planes leaving the Afghan capital, witnesses told Reuters.

Afghanistan and the media (CJR) Pundits widely blamed President Biden for the country’s swift fall back into Taliban hands. But—when it comes to the prosecution of the war, and the years of official lies told in its service—there is an awful lot of blame to go around, stretching right back to the Bush administration, which started it. As Liam Stack, a reporter at the New York Times, put it yesterday, “the entire US governing class is implicated in this… every official or DC think tanker or cable news talking head you see on TV today.” The list of the complicit includes sections of the press, and yet the dominant tone in much mainstream commentary and coverage was not one of humble self-reflection, but rather high-pitched indignation and shock. As numerous observers have noted, many major news organizations lost interest in the war—at least as a major story—as it became a quagmire, and have only returned to it recently with the endgame in sight. “Ask yourself how often Afghanistan has been a lead story for the last twenty years. And then ask yourself if it will be in a week,” Oliver Willis, a progressive journalist, tweeted. “American media is putrid at covering the world and it directly leads to a public constantly surprised by topics and issues.” In addition to sins of omission, media watchers highlighted sins of commission, seeing a clear pro-war slant in some of the coverage. Part of the problem here, surely, is the common media fallacy that it’s a story when new bad things happen, whereas the status quo just exists.

The past as indicator of the future (Globe and Mail, BBC, Washington Post, NPR) Somewhere Alexander the Great is saying something future foreign powers should have paid more attention to: even if they temporarily win a battle in Afghanistan, they will eventually lose the war. It’s simply not possible to control the disparate religious and tribal forces that make up that country. The British tried and failed three times between 1838 and 1919. The Soviets sent in 115,000 troops in 1979, but were forced to leave by 1989. After September 11, 2001, America and NATO allies invaded Afghanistan. Seven years later, 53-year-old Ruslan Aushev, a highly decorated combat veteran who served two tours with the Soviet army in Afghanistan, recalled: “We knew by 1985 that we could not win. We could take any village, any town and drive the mujahedeen out. But when we handed ground over to the Afghan army or police they would lose it in a week.” The Soviets had deployed roughly two times the number of troops the Western alliance had in Afghanistan in 2008—they also trained an Afghan army three times the size of Kabul’s security forces at the time. It was never enough. The Soviets knew the longer foreign armies remained in Afghanistan, the more support grew for the insurgents. Aushev warned thirteen years ago there could be no military solution in Afghanistan. “The Taliban may not be able to win militarily but they can’t be defeated .... There will have to be an accord with the Taliban, because at least 50 percent of the Afghan population supports them.”

Biden draws new red line for U.S. military action in Afghanistan (Yahoo News) In a resolute and, at times, defensive speech explaining the swift fall of U.S.-trained security forces in Afghanistan to the Taliban and his decision to pull troops from that country, President Biden also drew a red line Monday for the use of future military force. “If they attack our personnel, the U.S. presence will be swift and the response will be forceful. We will defend our people with devastating force, if necessary,” Biden said in a speech delivered from the White House that followed a weekend during which Afghan security forces melted away and Taliban fighters seized control of the country. Condemning Afghanistan’s military for its apparent refusal to stand and fight the Taliban, Biden said a continued U.S. military presence there was not in the country’s interests. Facing withering criticism from Washington Democrats and Republicans alike, he acknowledged that the destabilization in Afghanistan occurred “more quickly than expected,” but he went only so far in accepting blame. "I am the president of the United States of America, and the buck stops with me," Biden said. Instead, he set blame squarely on the shoulders of the Afghans. "So what's happened? Afghanistan's political leaders gave up and fled the country. The Afghan military collapsed, sometimes without trying to fight,” he said, adding, “We gave them every chance to determine their own future. What we could not provide them was the will to fight for that future.”

U.S.-South Korea drills (Foreign Policy) The United States and South Korea begin annual joint military drills today, a move likely to spark more discontent in North Korea, which has warned of a “serious security crisis” if the exercises go ahead. South Korean military officials have said that the 10-day exercise will mostly consist of computer-simulated training with minimal personnel and no live drills. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the decision to hold relatively low-key drills was taken in consideration of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as “to support diplomatic efforts to denuclearize and foster lasting peace on the Korean peninsula.” North Korea has already signaled its displeasure with the drills by refusing to answer routine calls from South Korea after reconnecting a hotline in July.

Detainee says China has secret jail in Dubai, holds Uyghurs (AP) A young Chinese woman says she was held for eight days at a Chinese-run secret detention facility in Dubai along with at least two Uyghurs, in what may be the first evidence that China is operating a so-called “black site” beyond its borders. The woman, 26-year-old Wu Huan, was on the run to avoid extradition back to China because her fiancé was considered a Chinese dissident. Wu told The Associated Press she was abducted from a hotel in Dubai and detained by Chinese officials at a villa converted into a jail, where she saw or heard two other prisoners, both Uyghurs. She was questioned and threatened in Chinese and forced to sign legal documents incriminating her fiancé for harassing her, she said. She was finally released on June 8 and is now seeking asylum in the Netherlands. While “black sites” are common in China, Wu’s account is the only testimony known to experts that Beijing has set one up in another country. Such a site would reflect how China is increasingly using its international clout to detain or bring back citizens it wants from overseas, whether they are dissidents, corruption suspects or ethnic minorities like the Uyghurs.

Animals and numbers (Wired) An understanding of numbers is often viewed as a distinctly human faculty—a hallmark of our intelligence that, along with language, sets us apart from all other animals. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Honeybees count landmarks when navigating toward sources of nectar. Lionesses tally the number of roars they hear from an intruding pride before deciding whether to attack or retreat. Some ants keep track of their steps; some spiders keep track of how many prey are caught in their web. One species of frog bases its entire mating ritual on number: If a male calls out—a whining pew followed by a brief pulsing note called a chuck—his rival responds by placing two chucks at the end of his own call. The first frog then responds with three, the other with four, and so on up to around six, when they run out of breath. Practically every animal that scientists have studied—insects and cephalopods, amphibians and reptiles, birds and mammals—can distinguish between different numbers of objects in a set or sounds in a sequence. They don’t just have a sense of “greater than” or “less than,” but an approximate sense of quantity: that two is distinct from three, that 15 is distinct from 20. This mental representation of set size, called numerosity, seems to be “a general ability,” and an ancient one, said Giorgio Vallortigara, a neuroscientist at the University of Trento in Italy. Now, researchers are uncovering increasingly more complex numerical abilities in their animal subjects. Many species have displayed a capacity for abstraction that extends to performing simple arithmetic, while a select few have even demonstrated a grasp of the quantitative concept of “zero”—an idea so paradoxical that very young children sometimes struggle with it.