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Vaccinated groups at highest risk of Covid-19 hospitalisation and death identified using new QCovid tool
SEPTEMBER 17, 2021
by University of Oxford
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-vaccinated-groups-highest-covid-hospitalisation.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-nwletter
Researchers from the University of Oxford have today reported on findings on the vaccinated people who are at greatest risk from severe COVID-19 leading to hospitalisation or death from 14 days post the second dose vaccination, when substantial immunity should be expected.
In a paper published in the British Medical Journal, they write that by updating the QCovid tool developed in 2020, which directly influenced UK policy in February 2021, adding 1.5 million people in February 2021 to list of those advised to shield, they are able to identify groups more at risk of hospitalisation or death from COVID-19.
They used national linked datasets from general practice, national immunisation and SARS-CoV-2 testing, death registry and hospital episode data, in order to analyse a sample of over 6.9m vaccinated adults, of whom 5.2m had both vaccines doses, which was representative of the UK population as a whole. This sample included 2,031 COVID-19 deaths and 1,929 COVID-19 related hospital admissions, of which 81 deaths and 71 admissions occurred 14 or more days after the second vaccine dose.
Based on this, the researchers have developed cumulative risk scores to calculate people's risk of hospitalisation or death from COVID-19 following one, or two vaccination doses. These scores take into account factors including age, sex, ethnic group and the background rate of COVID infections, and in particular highlight an elevated risk to:
- Those who are immunosuppressed as a result of chemotherapy, a recent bone marrow or solid organ transplant, or HIV/AIDS
- People with neurological disorders, including dementia and Parkinson's
- Care home residents, and those with chronic disorders including Down's Syndrome
Julia Hippisley-Cox, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and General Practice at the University of Oxford, co-author of the paper, said:
'The UK was the first place to implement a vaccination programme and has some of the best clinical research data in the world. We have developed this new tool using the QResearch database, to help the NHS identify which patients are at highest risk of serious outcomes despite vaccination for targeted intervention. This new tool can also inform discussions between doctors and patients about the level of risk to aid shared decision making.'
The researchers report that there were relatively few COVID-19 related hospitalisations or deaths in the group who had received the second dose of any vaccine, meaning that the study lacked the statistical power to determine if the groups listed above are more, or less, at risk following a second vaccine dose compared with following the first dose.
Furthermore, they did not distinguish between type of vaccination offered, and acknowledge that their study may have been limited by factors such as exposure, as occupation for example is not something that is often recorded in general practice or hospital records.
Aziz Sheikh, Professor of Primary Care Research & Development and Director of the Usher Institute at The University of Edinburgh and a co-author of the paper, said:
'This enormous national study of over 5 million people vaccinated with 2 doses across the UK has found that a small minority of people remain at risk of COVID-19 hospitalisation and death. Our risk calculator helps to identify those who remain most at risk post-vaccination.'
'Our new QCovid tool, developed with the help of experts from across the UK, has been designed to identify those at high risk who may benefit from interventions such as vaccine booster doses or new treatments such as monoclonal antibodies, which can help reduce the risk of progression SARS-CoV-2 infection to serious COVID-19 outcomes.'
The researchers hope that these data can be used in a variety of health and care settings to inform those more likely to be at risk, and potentially help to prioritise those identified for further trials of vaccines, boosters or future preventative therapies.
Prof. Hippisley-Cox concludes:
'Individual risk will always depend on individual choices as well as the current prevalence of the disease, however we hope that this new tool will help shared decision making and more personalised risk assessment.'
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-vaccinated-groups-highest-covid-hospitalisation.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-nwletter
Trump Looks for Challenger to Depose Mitch McConnell as Split Widens
GOP’s most influential figure and its top elected official are divided on policy, politics and who should lead the party in the future
By Michael C. Bender and Lindsay Wise
Wall Street Journal Sept. 19, 2021 10:00 am ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-looks-for-challenger-to-depose-mitch-mcconnell-as-split-widens-11632060002?mod=djemalertNEWS
WASHINGTON— Mitch McConnell’s record-long reign as Senate Republican leader has lasted long enough for former President Donald Trump.
Mr. Trump has spoken recently with senators and allies about trying to depose Mr. McConnell and whether any Republicans are interested in mounting a challenge, according to people familiar with the conversations. There is little appetite among Senate Republicans for such a plan, lawmakers and aides said, but the discussions risk driving a wedge deeper between the most influential figure in the Republican Party and its highest-ranking member in elected office.
Since failing to be re-elected, the former president has maintained high levels of support among conservative voters, and polls show he has convinced much of the party that the 2020 results were fraudulent. Mr. McConnell has said that President Biden won the election and that Mr. Trump’s “wild falsehoods” about the outcome were responsible for the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol.
They have also split on policy this year. Mr. McConnell joined 18 fellow Senate Republicans in voting for a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, despite Mr. Trump saying the deal “makes the Republicans look weak, foolish, and dumb.”
The feud between the two men threatens to splinter the party when Republicans could be building momentum in their bid to recapture control of Congress next year. As polls have shown Mr. Biden’s approval rating dipping below 50% this summer—a troubling signal for Democrats’ political fortunes—the two Republican septuagenarians remain divided over how to tilt the balance of a 50-50 Senate back toward their party.
In a recent interview, Mr. Trump declined to discuss whether he was recruiting challengers for Mr. McConnell. The former president did say he wanted Senate Republicans to oust the Kentuckian from the leadership position he has held for almost 15 years.
“They ought to,” Mr. Trump said. “I think he’s very bad for the Republican Party.”
Mr. McConnell declined to comment. But his grip on the party’s 50 senators appeared steadfast.
“Naw, I’m not going to get in that fight,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R., Ala.), one of Mr. Trump’s top allies in the Senate. Mr. McConnell, he added, “is doing a good job.”
Republican senators vote every two years on which members to elevate as leaders, and Mr. McConnell’s eighth term in the top spot—the longest-ever tenure for a Republican leader—doesn’t end until the next session of Congress in January 2023. The record for either party is held by Mike Mansfield of Montana, who was Democratic leader of the Senate for 16 years until he resigned in 1977.
Mr. McConnell has held on to his position by maintaining a high level of satisfaction among Senate Republicans even as retiring members repeatedly cite the diminishing chances for legislative accomplishment as a reason for quitting.
Political-action committees run by allies of Mr. McConnell—including the Senate Leadership Fund, American Crossroads and various state-specific groups—spent $462.5 million in helping to elect Republicans in 2020.
In the first six months of 2021, Mr. Trump stockpiled $102 million in political cash. He reported no donations to Republican campaigns during that time.
Sen. John Kennedy equated the former president’s odds of ousting Mr. McConnell to that of a donkey learning to fly.
“I just don’t realistically see that happening,” said Mr. Kennedy, a Republican facing re-election next year in Louisiana and one of Mr. Trump’s confidants in the Senate.
Mr. McConnell has served in the Senate since 1985, the same year as Mr. Trump’s first major prime-time national television interview. Three-dozen years later, the two men are circling each other on the map of competitive Senate races. Republicans are defending 20 Senate seats in 2022, compared with 14 held by Democrats.
Mr. Trump has spoken about what he views as his outsize influence on the Senate’s 2020 races and pointed to his endorsement as the reason at least 10 Republican contenders won their contests.
Many Republican strategists dispute that math and blame the former president for pivotal losses in the final two races. As Mr. Trump falsely identified widespread fraud as the reason for his defeat, depressed turnout cost Georgia Republicans a pair of runoffs—and the Senate majority—in January, they say.
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has swiftly endorsed candidates in several races before the 2022 midterms, challenging Mr. McConnell and his team.
The main disagreement has been over the style of candidate best suited to pick off seats from Democrats. Mr. Trump has leaned on personal relationships and loyalty tests for most of his endorsements. In contrast, Mr. McConnell has looked to Republicans who have been vetted, with a demonstrated ability to win in their states.
In Georgia, Mr. Trump has backed Herschel Walker, a college football legend and close Trump family friend for a U.S. Senate seat. Republican strategists allied with Mr. McConnell privately worry that Mr. Walker might struggle to win over general-election voters because of allegations of domestic violence and business troubles, which he has denied.
In Arizona, Mr. McConnell’s team and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have tried to recruit Gov. Doug Ducey to take on Sen. Mark Kelly, the incumbent Democrat. Mr. Ducey has drawn Mr. Trump’s ire for not doing more to overturn Mr. Biden’s victory in the state and has declined to run.
The only primary so far featuring a direct Trump-McConnell showdown is in Alaska, where the former president has endorsed a bid from a former state agency head, Kelly Tshibaka, to unseat Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Ms. Murkowski, who has support from Mr. McConnell and the NRSC as she seeks her fourth six-year term, was among seven Republican senators who voted in February to convict Mr. Trump at his second Senate impeachment trial. She is the only one of those who is seeking re-election next year. Mr. Trump was acquitted.
Mr. Trump’s endorsed candidates haven’t echoed his call to remove Mr. McConnell from power. Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama and Pennsylvania’s Sean Parnell—both locked in competitive primaries for U.S. Senate seats—didn’t respond to requests for comment about Mr. McConnell and whether they would accept help from political-action committees tied to the Republican leader. Ms. Tshibaka and Mr. Walker also didn’t respond to requests for comment.
A spokesman for the Senate campaign of Rep. Ted Budd (R., N.C.) said he would “welcome the support of anyone or any group who shares” his vision for the Republican party, but wouldn’t address whether Mr. Budd would support Mr. McConnell for leader.
The former president hasn’t made an endorsement in Ohio’s Republican Senate primary, in which several candidates are offering various flavors of Trumpism. The front-runner in the race so far, former state Treasurer Josh Mandel, has highlighted moments in which opponents have been out of step with Mr. Trump while promoting himself as the contest’s rightful heir to Trumpism.
In an interview, Mr. Mandel said he believed the former president received more votes than Mr. Biden in the 2020 election but wouldn’t say whether Senate Republicans should remove Mr. McConnell.
“I don’t understand your question—is there someone running against him?” Mr. Mandel
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), one of Mr. Trump’s closest advisers, said Mr. McConnell was indispensable to Mr. Trump’s legislative accomplishments. But he added that it was unlikely the former president would cease his attacks.
Asked whether he had given Mr. Trump any advice on his feud with Mr. McConnell, Mr. Graham said, “Yeah, ‘Let’s focus on winning in 2022.’”
—Alex Leary contributed to this article.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-looks-for-challenger-to-depose-mitch-mcconnell-as-split-widens-11632060002?mod=djemalertNEWS
The Lincoln Project @ProjectLincoln ·1h “A tough spot from The Lincoln Project about the tough spot the Texas Governor finds himself in.” — Brian Williams, featuring our latest ad against Greg Abbott, on @11thHour
VIDEO
“A tough spot from The Lincoln Project about the tough spot the Texas Governor finds himself in.” — Brian Williams, featuring our latest ad against Greg Abbott, on @11thHour pic.twitter.com/XMID8CEr5E
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 18, 2021
“A tough spot from The Lincoln Project about the tough spot the Texas Governor finds himself in.” — Brian Williams, featuring our latest ad against Greg Abbott, on @11thHour pic.twitter.com/XMID8CEr5E
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 18, 2021
SURPRISE: IVANKA, ERIC, AND DONALD TRUMP JR. ARE STILL MOOCHING OFF U.S. TAXPAYERS
Trump’s adult children received six months of taxpayer-funded security after their dad left office, despite having nothing to do with the government and being rich enough to pay for it themselves.
BY BESS LEVIN
SEPTEMBER 17, 2021
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/09/ivanka-eric-don-jr-trump-secret-service-taxpayer-funded
During the four years that Donald Trump served as president, he famously ripped off taxpayers for millions of dollars by hosting official business at his properties, where the grifter incarnate made sure to bill the people for everything from golf carts to candles to water. The biggest source of income, though, seemed to come from charging the Secret Service to rent space at his own resorts; whether it was a weekend at Mar-a-Lago or an overnight at Bedminster, Trump, who claims to be “very rich,” never thought to let the individuals protecting his life stay gratis, instead forcing the government to fork over significantly more cash than what Eric Trump once claimed was “like 50 bucks” per night.
Since former presidents are given Secret Service for life, and Trump didn’t suddenly stop being a con man upon leaving office, that arrangement has obviously not changed—between January 20 and April 30, he billed the Secret Service for $40,011.15, a nice chunk of change considering he could have charged the agency nothing.
But Trump isn’t the only member of his family who is still costing taxpayers outrageous sums of money—his adult children, all of whom are a chip off the old grifter block, are too.
The Washington Post reports that thanks to the 45th president’s order, made during his last days in office, to extend 24/7 security for six months for Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Lara Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Tiffany Trump, and three former officials, taxpayers have been forced to fork over $1.7 million to protect a collection of people who (1) have no role whatsoever in government and (2) can afford to protect themselves. How do the charges break down? Let’s start with Princess Purses and the Boy Prince of New Jersey:
Among the first payments the Secret Service made was to Trump’s own company. That day, the records showed, Ivanka Trump and her family left Washington for Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J.—where Ivanka Trump has a cottage on the grounds. Secret Service agents came along, and Trump’s club charged them for the rooms they used.
The bill was $708.30 for one night, the records showed. The rate appeared to be $141.66 per room, the same rate that the club charged the Secret Service while Trump was still president. In the next six months, the Secret Service spent about $347,000 on airfare, hotels, and rental cars while protecting Ivanka Trump and her husband, former White House adviser Jared Kushner, the records show. The receipts showed the pair visiting resort destinations: Hawaii, Utah ski country, an upscale Wyoming ranch, and Kiawah Island, S.C.
Agents also followed Kushner—now a private businessman—to the United Arab Emirates in May, paying $9,000 for hotel rooms, according to federal spending data posted online. The Secret Service did not say what the airfare costs were for this Kushner trip. The Daily Beast reported that the hotel was the Ritz-Carlton in Abu Dhabi, citing a government spending document that said the hotel was Kushner’s choice.
In other words, taxpayers have been, in part, footing the bill for Javanka’s vacations and for Kushner to play businessman. Spokespeople for the couple did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment, but if they had, perhaps they would have explained why taxpayers are still funding Kushner’s and Ivanka’s security details when the duo reportedly made up to $640 million while working in the White House and can surely pay for such things out of their own pockets. (Another unanswered question: Are Kushner and Ivanka now letting the Secret Service use their bathrooms, or do they still have to find a tree outside when nature calls?)
How about Ivanka’s siblings? It turns out the Trump boys cost slightly less to protect, but not by much, while Tiffany was a downright bargain.
Tiffany Trump, a recently married law school graduate, appeared to cost the least to guard. The partial records showed that, as of May, the Secret Service had spent $56,000 on airfare, rental cars, and hotels while protecting her. The costs of protecting Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were similar: $241,000 for Eric and $213,000 for Trump Jr.
The records showed that the brothers mainly shuttled between their homes in New York and South Florida, with an occasional side trip. Trump Jr. went fishing in Montana. Eric Trump—who has become the most visible leader of the Trump Organization—visited Trump hotels in Washington and Chicago. When he did, just as when his sister visited the Bedminster club, the Trump Organization charged agents who stayed in the former president’s properties: $350 for rooms in Washington, $1,415 in Chicago.
Outside of the Trump family, the former president also hooked up several of his former staffers with six extra months of Secret Service protection, courtesy of taxpayers. That group included his fourth and final White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, and, most gallingly, former Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, whose tab clocked in at $479,000 and included $114,000 for rooms at a W Hotel in Los Angeles, $23,000 for rooms during business travel in Israel, and $58,000 for rooms and golf carts during three separate vacations Mnuchin took to Cabo San Lucas.
For those of you unfamiliar with the net worths of various Trump officials, Mnuchin is very, very rich and was worth an estimated $400 million as of July 2019. How did he amass such wealth? Through various sources that included his role running a lender called OneWest, which reportedly “carried out more than 36,000 foreclosures during [his] reign,” including one reportedly against a 90-year-old woman who owed the bank 30 cents but accidentally sent a check for 3.
Through a spokesman, Mnuchin told the Post that he hadn’t asked Trump to give him extra protection but chose not to decline it because “government officials advised him to maintain it.” The spokesperson claimed that Mnuchin “intends to reimburse certain expenses” that arose from his extra six months of protection, but conveniently declined to say when Mnuchin planned to do so, or how much of the tab he would pay back.
While the $1.7 million is obviously a drop in the bucket compared to the Secret Service’s $2.4 billion budget, as the Post notes, these are “wealthy adults, with no role in government, whom the agents trailed to ski vacations, weekend houses, a resort in Cabo San Lucas, and business trips abroad.”
“Who wouldn’t enjoy continuing their free limo service and easy access to restaurant tables?” Jim Helminski, a former Secret Service executive, wondered aloud. “Even if there was a credible risk to family and associates of Trump, these people are now private citizens who can afford to hire some very talented private security firms for their personal protection.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/09/ivanka-eric-don-jr-trump-secret-service-taxpayer-funded
Three big questions on Mark Milley
By Aaron Blake Senior reporter
Today at 7:00 a.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/18/3-big-questions-mark-milley/
Gen. Mark A. Milley has weighed in for the first time on a new book saying he went to extraordinary lengths to allay Chinese concerns about a potential military confrontation sparked by President Donald Trump.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the Associated Press the calls were, in fact, “routine” and were meant “to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability.” But he declined to expand on that, saying that would have to wait for his upcoming testimony on Sept. 28.
“I’ll go into any level of detail Congress wants to go into in a couple of weeks,” Milley said.
That testimony looms increasingly large, as multiple developments in recent months have detailed Milley’s reservations about Trump’s stewardship of the country. Combined with Milley’s public comments, they have turned a man in an important role, but who isn’t usually publicly well-known, into a lightning rod.
Even those critical of Trump have suggested Milley’s actions — the book from The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward and Robert Costa reports Milley also told China he would “call you ahead of time” if an attack was coming — say the episode raises troubling questions about military interference with civilian control. Others worry his actions and comments could politicize the military, as The Post’s Missy Ryan reported Friday.
On top of that report, another book by Post reporters Carol D. Leonnig and Philip Rucker this summer quoted Milley as drawing parallels between Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election and the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany. Before that, he was targeted by prominent figures on the right for expressing interest in understanding critical race theory, and he apologized last year for appearing in a photo op with Trump after law enforcement used force to clear Lafayette Square outside the White House of racial justice protesters.
The latest report is certainly the biggest one, though, and it has cast a spotlight on Milley like never before — with plenty of details yet to be filled in. With that in mind, here are some big questions about Milley’s testimony Sept. 28.
1. How specific were his assurances — and what was the context?
Whenever there’s a major, complicated controversy like this, it can fall victim to oversimplification. Some have characterized Milley as simply downplaying the possibility of a U.S. strike.
But the report goes further than that, as The Post’s editorial board emphasized this week:
What could be considerably less benign is the pledge Gen. Milley reportedly made to alert Gen. Li Zuocheng ahead of any U.S. strike: “If we’re going to attack, I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.” According to “Peril,” this came in the Oct. 30 call — before the insurrection and, indeed, before the election. We struggle to understand what circumstances — absent clear authorization from civilian policymakers — could justify offering a foreign adversary such a pledge.
There are conflicting conceptions of precisely how rogue Milley was going. Axios has reported that reassuring China was Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper’s policy, and Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin has reported that many were looped into Milley’s calls.
Axios has also cited a source familiar with Milley’s calls as suggesting the message was less that he would tip China off and more that there wouldn’t be a surprise attack — perhaps because Milley viewed it as being illegal.
This is really the comment that everything hinges upon. Milley’s explanation of it is more or less the ballgame. And even if others were clued in, the circumstances of that promise will determine whatever becomes of this.
2. Why the need to reassure China?
While there are valid questions about Milley’s actions, others point to just why he was put in such a position in the first place. Trump has a demonstrated history of pushing and overstepping boundaries and norms, which frequently tested those around him when it came to their complicity or efforts to keep him in check.
But when the new report landed, the big question was: Why China? While there was certainly concern that Trump might do something drastic as he was headed out the door — given his drastic efforts to stay in office — there was no real indication it might pertain to China. Trump had used China as a political foil and launched a trade war with it, but there was little in the public record pointing to a brewing confrontation.
Axios’s Jonathan Swan reported that it appeared to involve faulty intelligence China was receiving about a potential confrontation:
In mid-October 2020, top Pentagon officials grew concerned about intelligence they’d seen. It showed the Chinese were consuming their own intelligence that had made them concerned about the possibility of a surprise U.S. strike against China, three sources familiar with the situation tell Axios.
...
Then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper worried the Chinese were misreading the situation and that their misperception could lead to a conflict nobody wanted.
Esper directed his policy office to issue a backchannel message to the Chinese to reassure them the U.S. had no intention of seeking a military confrontation. The message: Don't over-read what you're seeing in Washington; we have no intention to attack; and let's keep lines of communication open.
What that wouldn’t really explain, though, is why Milley was reportedly so concerned about Trump specifically — rather than the bad intel the Chinese were consuming.
Given Milley’s pledge to “go into any level of detail Congress wants,” he would seemingly be prepared to discuss all of this at-length — at which point people can better evaluate the appropriateness of his actions.
3. How can situations like this be avoided?
However you slice it and however many people were involved in what Milley was saying, the fact remains that this was an all-too-familiar type of scenario during the Trump administration. Numerous figures, including military leaders like former defense secretary Jim Mattis, described similar concerns about Trump, but they spoke out only after they no longer worked for him.
They have often explained that they felt they could do more good when it came to Trump’s unwieldy impulses by staying in office. This often required silence, a delicate dance and plenty of humoring, because they worried about being replaced by someone who would be more compliant.
But for all Democrats have said about Trump’s norm-busting and pushing of boundaries, they have demonstrated precious little initiative in changing the way government operates in response. Congress has over the last several decades ceded plenty of power to the chief executive to do things it struggles to do or doesn’t want to do. You’d think it would discuss what mechanisms could be used to deal with what happens when that gets exploited.
Just because you worry about the commander in chief, of course, doesn’t mean you have the right to undermine him or set up parallel diplomacy. That could create an awful precedent.
But if there’s anything that would seem to provide a crystallizing moment for potential reforms — especially given the prospect that the former president involved could soon seek a return to office — it would seem to be this. And Democrats (and Republicans alike, to the extent they have worried about Trump themselves) would be well-served to probe these kinds of questions. That effort very much starts with whether a president has too much power to launch military attacks, and what can be done when one oversteps even the limited obstacles in their way.
By Aaron Blake
Aaron Blake is senior political reporter, writing for The Fix. A Minnesota native, he has also written about politics for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and The Hill newspaper. Twitter
MORE FROM THE POST
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/18/3-big-questions-mark-milley/
Remembering Virginia’s ‘Forgotten 14’
Opinion by A. Donald McEachin
Yesterday at 9:00 a.m. EsT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/17/remembering-virginias-forgotten-14/
A. Donald McEachin, a Democrat, represents Virginia’s 4th Congressional District in the House of Representatives.
U.S. history is plagued with untold stories of forgotten heroes. Approximately 180,000 African Americans served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Known as United States Colored Troops (USCT), they were essential to Union victory, yet Americans remain largely unaware of their role during the war. There were more than 5,500 African American men who enlisted in my home state of Virginia, and thousands more were native Virginians who enlisted at locations outside the Old Dominion. Most Virginia USCTs were previously enslaved and had escaped by crossing Union lines in Tidewater and Northern Virginia, areas occupied by the Union Army for most of the war.
Despite their contributions to Virginia and our nation’s historical trajectory, their stories are largely missing from our history books. It is past time to give proper commemoration to the USCTs. Their stories, suppressed during the Jim Crow era, need to be told and made more widely known.
In January 2020, the Richmond City Council unanimously approved construction on the state capital’s famous Monument Avenue of a new monument honoring 14 African American Medal of Honor recipients, known as the “Forgotten 14,” for their role in the Battle of New Market Heights. That battle was an important Union victory over the Confederate forces defending Richmond and helped advance Union troops farther south. Today, unfortunately, the challenges of the past year and a half, including the coronavirus pandemic, the death of George Floyd, the removal of most of Richmond’s Confederate monuments and the uncertain future of Monument Avenue, have sidelined this effort.
At the same time, another effort to honor the Forgotten 14, along with the other USCTs who fought at the Battle of New Market Heights, has gained momentum. The Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Educational Association is moving forward to construct a monument to those soldiers and their White officers at the battlefield. In addition, the American Battlefield Trust recently released a new video about the battle featuring retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Ron Coleman.
On Sept. 29, 1864, at the Battle of New Market Heights, which took place a short distance south of today’s Richmond International Airport, USCTs from the Army of the James won an important victory where two previous attempts had failed. Celebrated at the time, the victory contributed to President Abraham Lincoln’s reelection and was featured on the front page of the New York Herald on Sept. 30, 1864. Among the many brave soldiers was Powhatan Beaty, an African American sergeant, who played an integral role in the Union’s ultimate victory.
Beaty was a first sergeant in Company G, 5th United States Colored Infantry (USCI). His regiment was among a division of Black troops assigned to attack the center of the Confederate defenses at New Market Heights. The defenses consisted of two lines of abatis and a line of earthworks manned by Brig. Gen. John Gregg’s Texas Brigade. Two separate failed attacks — involving the 4th and 6th USCI and the 5th, 36th and 38th USCI regiments — resulted in severe casualties.
During the Civil War, very few African Americans were commissioned officers, so the vast majority of the USCT officer corps was White. At the battle of New Market Heights, Confederates strategically targeted the USCT officers, killing and wounding many of them. In many cases, it fell to African American sergeants and corporals to assume command and rally the Black troops to victory. With no officers remaining, Beaty took command of the company and led another charge toward the Confederate lines. This attack proved successful in driving the Confederates from their fortified position; however, Company G’s losses were great. By the end of the battle, more than half of the Black division had been killed, wounded or captured. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler recognized Beaty’s battlefield heroism, and seven months later, on April 6, 1865, Beaty received the Medal of Honor.
On Sept. 30, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee supervised counterattacks to retake the hard-earned ground. When that failed, Lee was forced to divert troops from Petersburg to shore up the Richmond lines. A few months later, when Petersburg fell, Lee abandoned Richmond and, within a few days, surrendered at Appomattox.
Beaty’s story of heroism is just one of the many untold accounts of the brave USCTs who served alongside Union troops to fight for freedom. As with so many others, his story remains widely unknown; however, now is the time to tell his story and the stories of so many brave USCTs like him. After more than 130 years, Virginia has removed the statue of Lee from Monument Avenue in Richmond. This decision, which was long overdue, represents progress and allows us the opportunity to honor those who represent America’s values and diversity — individuals who are truly deserving of our veneration.
The long period of silence about African American valor during the Civil War needs to end, and the heroic achievements of the USCT must be honored. I urge the Richmond City Council to continue its efforts to honor the Forgotten 14 on Monument Avenue and encourage all Americans to learn more about the USCTs. I applaud the work of the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association for fighting to enshrine USCTs valor and shine a light on their service. We must continue our efforts to ensure the stories of the Forgotten 14 are told and honor their courageous sacrifice.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/17/remembering-virginias-forgotten-14/
UK business minister meets energy bosses over soaring gas prices
By Kate Holton
September 18, 2021 2:00 PM BST Last Updated an hour ago
https://news.trust.org/item/20210918130006-dn6ut/
LONDON, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Britain's business minister held emergency meetings with the heads of the UK's largest energy suppliers and operators on Saturday to discuss a surge in gas prices that threatens a range of industries and could disrupt the nation's supply of meat.
The food industry has called on the government to subsidise carbon dioxide (CO2) production after high gas prices forced two fertiliser plants to shut, stripping food producers of the CO2 by-product used to stun animals before slaughter and vacuum pack food to prolong its shelf life. read more
Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng was meeting executives from regulator Ofgem, National Grid (NG.L), Centrica (CNA.L) and EDF (EDF.PA) to discuss the "absolute priority" of energy security, saying he was confident there was enough capacity to more than meet demand.
The government has been moved to act after European gas prices hit record highs after more than tripling this year, putting some small domestic suppliers out of business and threatening other sectors that are interlinked. read more
"Energy security is an absolute priority," Kwarteng said. "We are working closely with Ofgem and gas operators to monitor supply and demand."
The government has said it is in regular contact with food and farming organisations. It is also liaising with the Civil Contingencies Secretariat that helps respond to civil emergencies.
The shortage of CO2, which is also used to put the fizz into beer, cider and soft drinks, comes when the food industry is already struggling with an acute shortage of truck drivers, which has been blamed on the impact of COVID-19 and Brexit.
Nick Allen of the British Meat Processors Association said on Saturday that the pig sector was two weeks away from hitting the buffers, while the British Poultry Council said its members were on a "knife-edge" as suppliers could only guarantee deliveries up to 24-hours in advance.
"Doing nothing is not an option," Allen told Reuters, adding that given the exceptional circumstances, the government needed to either subsidise the power supply to maintain fertiliser production or source CO2 from elsewhere.
British Poultry Council head Richard Griffiths said he was working with the government to assess stock levels and implement contingency plans, warning that food supply disruption could become a national security issue.
Were slaughterhouses to run out of CO2, pigs and chickens would be left on farms, creating additional animal welfare, food supply and food waste issues, he said, adding: "We hope this can be avoided through swift government action."
Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Alexander Smith and Edmund Blair
https://news.trust.org/item/20210918130006-dn6ut/
Why is fuel-linked CO2 ‘crisis’ set to impact meat, beer, and fizzy drinks?
Carbon dioxide, which is in short supply, is used in many industries
Lamiat Sabin 3 hours ago
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/co2-shortage-beer-fizzy-drinks-meat-gas-b1922584.html
Meat, beer, and fizzy drinks could be in short supply as a result of record prices for natural gas.
Wholesale gas prices have sky-rocketed, partly as a result of higher demand as economies around the world begin to recover amid the ongoing Covid pandemic.
The high prices have also been blamed on lower flow of gas to the UK from Norway and Russia, and maintenance issues at some gas sites.
What has gas got to do with food?
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is used to stun animals before they are slaughtered, and the gas is also used in meat processing and storage.
CO2 is also used to make beer and soft drinks fizzy.
The gas is a by-product of making fertiliser.
Two fertiliser plants, in Teeside and Cheshire, suspended their operations indefinitely this week as a result of the global shortage of natural gas that is used to power them.
This chain of events has had a knock-on effect on supplies of meat and carbonated beverages.
What are the industries saying?
Meat producers are calling on the government to step in to protect the food supply chain by demanding that CO2 manufacturers co-ordinate their operations to minimise disruption.
On Saturday, British Meat Processors Association chief executive Nick Allen described the situation as “undoubtedly a crisis” and attended emergency talks with the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on Friday.
He said the lack of CO2 adds to the industry’s existing problems of the shortage of lorry drivers and slaughterhouse staff.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “If we haven’t got the CO2 supplies – on the packaging side that reduces the shelf-life of products going on the shelves at a time when we are really struggling because of all the transport problems.
“This has come as a huge shock, it has happened so quickly.
“I think everyone is outraged in the industry that these fertiliser plants can shut down without any warning whatsoever and suddenly take something which is so essential to the food supply chain off-stream just like that.
“We really need government to step in now and actually do something.”
On BBC News, Mr Allen said that lessons should have been learned from the “CO2 crisis” of 2018.
Is it just meat and fizzy drinks that are affected?
Fruit and vegetables would also be impacted by the shortage of CO2, according to the Cucumber Growers Association, as greenhouses are pumped with the gas to boost crops.
What about industries not related to food?
The healthcare sector is also expected to be affected by a shortage of CO2, as the gas is used in surgical procedures.
Although not mentioned by the government, CO2 is also used in the manufacturing industry, as well as refrigeration.
Is anyone doing anything about the shortage?
A government spokesperson said: “We are monitoring this situation closely and are in regular contact with the food and farming organisations and industry, to help them manage the current situation.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/co2-shortage-beer-fizzy-drinks-meat-gas-b1922584.html
Karen Piper @PiperK Donald Trump just sent a letter to GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger demanding that Brad announce he is president.
Still delusional, I see....
12:35 AM · Sep 18, 2021·Twitter Web App
THREAD
Donald Trump just sent a letter to GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger demanding that Brad announce he is president. Still delusional, I see.... pic.twitter.com/yvZsPFoMYh
— Karen Piper (@PiperK) September 17, 2021
Trump NYC Tower Debt Hits Watch List With Vacancies Rising
Sophie Alexander and John Gittelsohn
Fri, September 17, 2021, 9:32 PM·3 min read
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-tower-loan-moved-watch-191119363.html
(Bloomberg) -- A $100 million loan on Donald Trump’s Fifth Avenue tower was moved to a watch list Monday because of “lower average occupancy,” according to information compiled by Wells Fargo & Co.
The debt, sponsored by the former president himself, is secured by the 244,482 square feet (22,700 square meters) of office and retail space in Trump Tower. Occupancy has dipped to 78.9% from 85.9% at the end of 2020, according to Wells Fargo, the master servicer of the loan. Revenue from the property was $33.7 million in 2020, according to the loan documents. In the first quarter of 2021, it was $7.5 million.
Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump Organization is far from alone in facing real estate challenges. The pandemic has battered Manhattan, sending office and retail vacancy rates soaring and weighing on asking rents.
Marc Fisher, whose showroom occupied the 21st floor of Trump Tower, “vacated prior to lease end,” Wells Fargo said in the note, adding that the Trump Organization is trying to find a replacement. In March, Trump’s company sued the footwear maker, which used to partner with Ivanka Trump’s now-defunct fashion line, for more than $1 million in unpaid back rent. It later dropped the lawsuit, according to court records.
Fisher’s space was 10.8% of the gross leasable area of Trump Tower, whose largest current tenants are the Trump Organization itself, Gucci America Inc. and ICC Industries, according to the information compiled by Wells Fargo. Trump is current on payments for the $100 million mortgage.
The loan, which matures next year, is just one piece of the more than $590 million of debt held by the Trump Organization that comes due within the next four years. More than half of that is personally guaranteed by Trump.
One of Trump’s favored lenders, Deutsche Bank AG, cut ties with him after the riot at the U.S. Capitol earlier this year. Among the outstanding loans Trump has with the bank is $125 million for his Doral, Florida, golf resort that matures in 2023.
There is also more than $150 million in debt tied to the Old Post Office building in Washington, D.C., which now houses a Trump International Hotel. The Trump Organization has been looking for a buyer for that property, where the debt matures in 2024.
The Trump Organization got a boost earlier this year when a partner in one of its most valuable assets, Vornado Realty Trust, refinanced debt on an office tower in San Francisco. Trump holds a 30% stake in the property and the deal generated a $617 million cash-out for its owners.
“We are one of the most under-leveraged real estate companies in the country relative to our assets,” Eric Trump said at the time of the Vornado bond sales in April.
(Updates with details of Trump’s debt throughout.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-tower-loan-moved-watch-191119363.html
Election Fraud Cases Sow Doubts About Legal Profession’s Future
Sept. 14, 2021, 10:45 AM
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/election-fraud-cases-sow-doubts-about-legal-professions-future
Courts came down ‘hard’ on attorneys who filed frivolous lawsuits
Fraud claims show how fragile judiciary has become
Penalties and discipline against a dozen attorneys over Trump-fueled election challenges probably won’t discourage similar fraud suits in the future, legal experts say.
Lawyers behind dismissed cases in several states have been cited for violating professional standards requiring candor in the courtroom and barring the filing of suits not backed up by fact or law.
The repudiation of the “unsubstantiated claims was a reassuring validation of the rules as courts have historically applied them,” said Charles Geyh, a legal and judicial ethics professor at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law.
Courts rose to the occasion, Geyh said, but the discipline might not be enough to stop lawyers from being involved in similar challenges in the future.
No one’s been disbarred yet despite calls from some for severe discipline, especially after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot by Donald Trump supporters energized by his claims of a stolen election. Sanctions range from a temporary license suspension for Rudy Giuliani to sharply worded judicial dressing downs and orders to pay court costs and other fees.
Election Suits
More than 60 lawsuits alleging election fraud were filed in states including Pennsylvania, Texas, Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan. Most cases were dismissed quickly, with judges citing the lack of legal and factual evidence to back up the claims,
The legal community called for sanctions for the attorneys involved, including “celebrity” lawyers like Giuliani—a former Trump confidant, New York mayor, and Manhattan U.S. attorney—and trial lawyer Lin Wood. Most others, however, weren’t known beyond their own states.
Investigations by bar groups and courts on lawyer discipline can take several months or longer, but they proceeded unusually fast in the Trump election-fraud cases.
A New York state appeals court temporarily suspended Giuliani’s license in June followed by the D.C. Court of Appeals in July. Courts also handed down decisions in Colorado and Michigan by the end of August.
Court reactions were speedy and encouraging, said RonaldMinkoff, chair of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz’s professional responsibility group. Minkoff submitted a complaint over Giuliani to the New York Attorney Grievance Committee on behalf of several lawyer groups and attorneys earlier this year.
Judges wrote lengthy opinions expressing outrage and raising alarms about harming democracy. But when it came to discipline, they fell back on the principles of being a lawyer.
“Plaintiffs’ attorneys have scorned their oath, flouted the rules, and attempted to undermine the integrity of the judiciary along the way,” U.S. District Court Judge Linda Parker of the Eastern District of Michigan said Aug. 25 in a 110-page ruling.
“As such, the Court is duty-bound to grant the motions for sanctions,” Parker said when she ordered Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, Wood, and seven other attorneys to pay the other side’s attorney fees.
The defendants submitted requests Sept. 8 for more than $204,000 in fees.
Two lawyers in a Colorado district court lawsuit also were ordered in August to pay the defendant attorneys’ fees over bad-faith claims.
Additionally, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is under investigation for alleged ethical violations relating to lawsuits he filed contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Fitness Standards
The sanctions meted out in the election fraud cases may have been less than expected or warranted, experts say.
Lawyers could be emboldened to file additional lawsuits filed because “the sanctions aren’t that huge,” said Richard Painter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis.
Bar associations need to step in and take away the licenses of attorneys who try to cast doubt on the election outcome by alleging facts that don’t exist, said Painter, who was chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration.
Marissa Delinks, an attorney with Hinshaw & Culbertson in Boston, said that based on Parker’s findings in the Michigan case, it’s “understandable” that she referred the lawyers to their disciplinary boards. It’s surprising that the judge in the Colorado case didn’t “do the same based on his findings,” Delinks said.
Courts penalized attorneys for a lack of candor in the courtroom and for filing frivolous suits not backed up by fact or law. Those violate ethics guidelines based on ABA Model Rules 3.1, 3.3, and 8.4. The rules focus on the notion of honesty in the practice of law, violations of which aren’t uncommon in attorney discipline cases.
A lawyer’s false statements “erodes the public’s confidence in the integrity of attorneys admitted to our bar and damages the profession’s role as a crucial source of reliable information,” the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department said in Giuliani’s case.
Such violations also question the fitness to practice, Judge Parker said in referring matters to disciplinary authorities where individual lawyers are licensed.
Potential Impact
Some attorneys still face possible disbarment or additional lesser sanctions. But ethics experts are wary of what impact the response by the judiciary and any professional fallout will have on attorneys going forward.
For those sympathetic to Trump, “this will simply expand the frontier of polarized partisan combat to include the legitimacy of a judiciary that the former president has indicted for failing to do the right thing,” Geyh said.
John Dean, the former Nixon White House counsel who went to jail and was disbarred over the Watergate cover-up, praised the actions of the courts, but questioned whether bar associations, especially, would follow up.
“Post-Watergate there was a national effort, lead by the American Bar Association, to address legal ethics. It was effective,” Dean said. In that era, the ABA required all accredited law schools to teach ethics, for all lawyers to pass a national ethics bar exam, and all states bars adopted updated codes of professional responsibility, he said.
Dean questioned whether state and federal bars now would address ethical problems. The Trump administration “pushed legal ethics into the trash can and today lawyers get away with whatever they think they can. This self-regulating profession is no longer self-regulating,” Dean said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Melissa Heelan in Washington at mstanzione@bloomberglaw.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Seth Stern at sstern@bloomberglaw.com; John Crawley at jcrawley@bloomberglaw.com
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/election-fraud-cases-sow-doubts-about-legal-professions-future
Alleged Mafia Consigliere Surrenders After Three Days in Hiding
By Patricia Hurtado
17 September 2021, 21:33 BST
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-17/alleged-mafia-consigliere-surrenders-after-three-days-on-the-lam
DiMatteo was only one of 14 charged Tuesday to avoid arrest
Colombo crime family racketeering case is biggest in years
The reputed consigliere of the Colombo crime family, the only one of 14 people charged in a sweeping U.S. racketeering case to avoid arrest earlier this week, turned himself in to federal authorities in New York on Friday.
Ralph DiMatteo, 66, surrendered to federal agents and is scheduled to be arraigned at a virtual hearing Friday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Taryn Merkyl in Brooklyn, said Adrienne Senatore, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
DiMatteo and 13 others were charged Tuesday in one of the biggest New York prosecutions of alleged Mafia members brought by the U.S. in recent years. They’re accused of trying to take over a Queens-based labor union and attempting to extort at least $10,000 a month from both the union and its health fund, according to prosecutors in the office of acting Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis.
Also charged were reputed Colombo crime family boss Andrew “Mush” Russo, underboss Benjamin “Benji” Castellazzo and Colombo family captain Vincent Ricciardo. While the others were arrested Tuesday, DiMatteo was considered a fugitive, and his son posted a picture of him on Twitter standing shirtless in a pool in Florida, the New York Daily News reported.
The defendants in the racketeering case used extortionate means, including direct threats of bodily harm, to control the management of the union and caused it to make decisions that benefitted the crime family, prosecutors said.
Matthew Mari, a lawyer for DiMatteo, couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-17/alleged-mafia-consigliere-surrenders-after-three-days-on-the-lam
Slow learners...
But is worse is they refused to allow high school students to register to vote in school. They thought teachers would brainwash the kids.
They also lost that as well.
Sam Levine @srl North Carolina court permanently blocks state's voter ID law, saying it was "was motivated at least in part by an unconstitutional intent to target African American voters." (clarifying earlier tweet).
Full opinion: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g3xeOQDgEHtoEfHI4_44zjy4SgzCnKxA/view
THREAD
North Carolina court permanently blocks state's voter ID law, saying it was "was motivated at least in part by an unconstitutional intent to target African American voters." (clarifying earlier tweet). Full opinion: https://t.co/qvcRZZKyfI pic.twitter.com/7MBpCn6V9V
— Sam Levine (@srl) September 17, 2021
Protest for jailed Capitol rioters: Police ready this time
By COLLEEN LONG, MICHAEL BALSAMO and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
an hour ago
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-elections-prisons-capitol-siege-12b13804484d90c3ea780cf39635b9ef
WASHINGTON (AP) — Allies of Donald Trump are mounting a Saturday rally at the U.S. Capitol, aimed at supporting what they call the “political prisoners” of the Jan. 6 insurrection — about 60 people held behind bars of the more than 600 charged in the deadly riot.
The repeated attempts to rewrite the narrative of the violence and panic of the day, and the persistent volatility around the politics of the 2020 election have made it impossible to predict what may happen this weekend. After all, law enforcement was only expecting a free speech protest the day Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
Intelligence suggested that extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers would turn up, but some prominent members of the groups have sworn they aren’t going and have told others not to attend. Far-right online chatter has been generally tame, and Republican lawmakers are downplaying the event.
But law enforcement officials are taking no chances. The fence around the Capitol is back up, temporarily at least. Police are preparing for the possibility that some demonstrators may arrive with weapons. Hundreds of counter-demonstrators are also expected with the possibility of clashes. The D.C. police department is activated, and U.S. Capitol Police have requested assistance from nearby law enforcement agencies.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved a request for about 100 members of the D.C. National Guard to be stationed at a city armory near the Capitol, to be called if needed as backup for other law enforcement agencies and primarily to protect the Capitol building and congressional offices. They’ll be without firearms, but will be equipped with batons and protective vests for self-defense.
Police officials planned to lay out security plans Friday.
Meanwhile, a Homeland Security intelligence report warned of social media posts that discussed possibly storming the Capitol the night before the rally. One user also “commented on kidnapping an identified member of Congress,” the document said, though the lawmaker wasn’t identified by name in the report.
“Other references to violence identified on social media include discussions of using the rally to target local Jewish institutions, elected officials, and ‘liberal churches,’” it said.
Many commenters on online platforms popular with the far right like Telegram disavowed the rally, saying they believed law enforcement was promoting the event to entrap Trump supporters. Some urged their followers not to attend what they said was a “false flag” event they believed was organized in secret by the FBI.
At the same time, however, some commenters continued to promote rallies planned for Saturday in cities and state capitals across the country.
In a notice to House members this week, Sergeant at Arms William Walker urged lawmakers to stay away from the Capitol complex on Saturday and reminded them of security available if they were traveling or had protests in their districts.
Lawmakers who supported Trump’s efforts to overturn his defeat distanced themselves from the event. “I don’t know what it is,” said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said when asked about the rally.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said he would not be attending, though he said he does have questions about the treatment of those charged in the riot. His message to those coming to Washington for Saturday’s rally: “Obviously, if you do come here, peacefully protest. Make your point peacefully, that is every American citizen’s right.”
Trump was still using his platform as the most popular leader in the GOP to express sympathy for those who were arrested and continue spreading the election misinformation and notched up his attacks by the end of the week. In a statement Thursday, he said: “Our hearts and minds are with the people being persecuted so unfairly relating to the January 6th protest concerning the Rigged Presidential Election.”
The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of court and jail records for the Capitol riot defendants to uncover how many were being detained and found about 60 held in federal custody awaiting trial or sentencing hearings. Federal officials are still looking for other suspects who could also wind up behind bars. Just Friday, a judge ordered the pretrial detention of a Pennsylvania woman who contends the court doesn’t have jurisdiction over her.
At least 30 are jailed in Washington. The rest are locked up in facilities across the country. They have said they are being treated unfairly, and one defendant said he was beaten.
Federal authorities have identified several of those detained as extremist group leaders, members or associates, including nine defendants linked to the Proud Boys and three connected to the antigovernment Oath Keepers. Dozens are charged with conspiring to mount coordinated attacks on the Capitol to block Congress from certifying the 2020 Electoral College vote, among the most serious of the charges.
Some jailed defendants are charged with assaulting police officers, others will making violent threats. A few were freed after their arrests but subsequently detained again, accused of violating release conditions.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has set standards for judges to apply in deciding whether to jail a Capitol riot defendant. A three-judge panel of the appeals court ruled in March that rioters accused of assaulting officers, breaking through windows, doors and barricades, or playing leadership roles in the attack were in “a different category of dangerousness” than those who merely cheered on the violence or entered the building after it was breached.
Despite that, Trump and his allies have tried to shift the narrative on the violence of the day. First, some blamed attack on left-wing antifa antagonists, a theory quickly debunked. Then came comparisons of the rioters to peaceful protesters or even tourists. They’re now saying the protesters are being treated unfairly by the criminal justice system.
Rally organizer, Matt Braynard, a former Trump campaign strategist, has been promoting the Saturday event and others like it in cities nationwide to focus attention on what he calls the “political prisoners” being unfairly prosecuted.
___
Associated Press Writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Jacques Billeaud, David Klepper, Lisa Mascaro, Jake Bleiberg, Amanda Seitz and Robert Burns contributed to this report.
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-elections-prisons-capitol-siege-12b13804484d90c3ea780cf39635b9ef
Nancy Pelosi: 'Thank you Facebook for two million members of Qanon'
Duration: 04:44 1 hour ago
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi gave a sarcastic thanks to Facebook for facilitating 'two million' members of the group Qanon. Pelosi gave a speech to Chatham House members on US democracy where she spoke about the January 6 insurrection.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/nancy-pelosi-thank-you-facebook-for-two-million-members-of-qanon/vi-AAOyiSg
the facebook files - A series offering an unparalleled look inside the social-media giant’s failings—and its unwillingness or inability to address them.
VIEW THE FULL SERIES
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-facebook-files-11631713039?mod=series_facebookfiles
Facebook Inc. knows, in acute detail, that its platforms are riddled with flaws that cause harm, often in ways only the company fully understands. That is the central finding of a Wall Street Journal series, based on a review of internal Facebook documents, including research reports, online employee discussions and drafts of presentations to senior management.
Time and again, the documents show, Facebook’s researchers have identified the platform’s ill effects. Time and again, despite congressional hearings, its own pledges and numerous media exposés, the company didn’t fix them. The documents offer perhaps the clearest picture thus far of how broadly Facebook’s problems are known inside the company, up to the chief executive himself.
05 How Facebook Hobbled Mark Zuckerberg’s Bid to Get America Vaccinated
By Sam Schechner, Jeff Horwitz and Emily Glazer
Facebook threw its weight behind promoting Covid-19 vaccines—“a top company priority,” one memo said—in a demonstration of Mr. Zuckerberg’s faith that his creation is a force for social good in the world. It ended up demonstrating the gulf between his aspirations and the reality of the world’s largest social platform. Activists flooded the network with what Facebook calls “barrier to vaccination” content, the internal memos show. They used Facebook’s own tools to sow doubt about the severity of the pandemic’s threat and the safety of authorities’ main weapon to combat it. The Covid-19 problems make it uncomfortably clear: Even when he set a goal, the chief executive couldn’t steer the platform as he wanted. A Facebook spokesman said in a statement that the data shows vaccine hesitancy for people in the U.S. on Facebook has declined by about 50% since January, and that the documents show the company’s “routine process for dealing with difficult challenges.”
LIVE Q&A: A LOOK INSIDE THE FACEBOOK FILES
Our reporters will discuss their findings from the WSJ’s Facebook Files investigation. Join them at 1 p.m. ET Monday to ask your questions.
Facebook Employees Flag Drug Cartels and Human Traffickers. The Company’s Response Is Weak, Documents Show.
Employees raised alarms about how the site is used in developing countries, where its user base is already huge and expanding
By Justin Scheck, Newley Purnell and Jeff Horwitz
Sept. 16, 2021 1:24 pm ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-drug-cartels-human-traffickers-response-is-weak-documents-11631812953
In January, a former cop turned Facebook Inc. investigator posted an all-staff memo on the company’s internal message board. It began “Happy 2021 to everyone!!” and then proceeded to detail a new set of what he called “learnings.” The biggest one: A Mexican drug cartel was using Facebook to recruit, train and pay hit men.
The behavior was shocking and in clear violation of Facebook’s rules. But the company didn’t stop the cartel from posting on Facebook or Instagram, the company’s photo-sharing site.
Scores of internal Facebook documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show employees raising alarms about how its platforms are used in some developing countries, where its user base is already huge and expanding. They also show the company’s response, which in many instances is inadequate or nothing at all.
Employees flagged that human traffickers in the Middle East used the site to lure women into abusive employment situations in which they were treated like slaves or forced to perform sex work. They warned that armed groups in Ethiopia used the site to incite violence against ethnic minorities. They sent alerts to their bosses on organ selling, pornography and government action against political dissent, according to the documents.
Facebook removes some pages, though many more operate openly, according to the documents.
In some countries where Facebook operates, it has few or no people who speak the dialects needed to identify dangerous or criminal uses of the platform, the documents show.
When problems have surfaced publicly, Facebook has said it addressed them by taking down offending posts. But it hasn’t fixed the systems that allowed offenders to repeat the bad behavior. Instead, priority is given to retaining users, helping business partners and at times placating authoritarian governments, whose support Facebook sometimes needs to operate within their borders, the documents show.
Facebook treats harm in developing countries as “simply the cost of doing business” in those places, said Brian Boland, a former Facebook vice president who oversaw partnerships with internet providers in Africa and Asia before resigning at the end of last year. Facebook has focused its safety efforts on wealthier markets with powerful governments and media institutions, he said, even as it has turned to poorer countries for user growth.
“There is very rarely a significant, concerted effort to invest in fixing those areas,” he said.
The developing world already has hundreds of millions more Facebook users than the U.S.—more than 90% of monthly users are now outside the U.S. and Canada. With growth largely stalled there and in Europe, nearly all of Facebook’s new users are coming from developing countries, where Facebook is the main online communication channel and source of news. Facebook is rapidly expanding into such countries, planning for technology such as satellite internet and expanded Wi-Fi to bring users online including in poor areas of Indonesia one document described as “slums.”
The documents reviewed by the Journal are reports from employees who are studying the use of Facebook around the world, including human exploitation and other abuses of the platform. They write about their embarrassment and frustration, citing decisions that allow users to post videos of murders, incitements to violence, government threats against pro-democracy campaigners and advertisements for human trafficking.
The material is part of extensive company communications reviewed by the Journal that offer unparalleled detail about the company’s shortcomings in areas including rules that favor elites, teen mental health and efforts to manage its algorithm.
Some of the most serious issues flagged by the documents are overseas. Activists have complained for years that Facebook does too little to protect overseas users from trouble it knows occurs on its platform. The documents show that many within Facebook agree.
“In countries at risk for conflict and violence, we have a comprehensive strategy, including relying on global teams with native speakers covering over 50 languages, educational resources, and partnerships with local experts and third-party fact checkers to keep people safe,” Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said this week.
‘Not enough’
The employee who identified the Mexican drug cartel is a former police officer and cybercrime expert hired in 2018 as part of a new investigation team focused largely on “at-risk countries,” where the rule of law is fragile and violence is common.
That year, hate speech in Myanmar proliferated across Facebook’s platforms, and the company has acknowledged it didn’t do enough to stop incitements to violence against the minority Rohingya population, which the U.S. said were victims of ethnic cleansing. Executives described the Myanmar violence as a wake-up call to the company’s responsibilities in the developing world. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote a letter of apology to activists after initially playing down Facebook’s role in the violence and pledged to do more.
An internal Facebook report from March said actors including some states were frequently on the platform promoting violence, exacerbating ethnic divides and delegitimizing social institutions. “This is particularly prevalent—and problematic—in At Risk Countries,” the report says.
It continues with a header in bold: “Current mitigation strategies are not enough.”
The ex-cop and his team untangled the Jalisco New Generation Cartel’s online network by examining posts on Facebook and Instagram, as well as private messages on those platforms, according to the documents. (Messages on WhatsApp, another Facebook product, are encrypted by default.)
...
MUCH MORE
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-drug-cartels-human-traffickers-response-is-weak-documents-11631812953
Jason Kint @jason_kint Facebook. The dam has broken. I’ve never seen anything quite like this. I’m not shocked by anything. Just surprised we’re finally starting to see it. And I’m surprised this way rather than a SEC investigation or something.
4:39 AM · Sep 17, 2021·Twitter for iPhone
THREAD
Facebook. The dam has broken. I’ve never seen anything quite like this. I’m not shocked by anything. Just surprised we’re finally starting to see it. And I’m surprised this way rather than a SEC investigation or something.
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) September 17, 2021
Surgical mask dermatitis caused by formaldehyde (releasers) during the COVID-19 pandemic
Olivier Aerts,Ella Dendooven,Kenn Foubert,Sofie Stappers,Michal Ulicki,Julien Lambert,
First published: 28 May 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/cod.13626Citations: 19
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cod.13626
We present a case of occupational allergic contact dermatitis from formaldehyde and 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (bronopol) contained in a polypropylene surgical mask.
CASE REPORT
A 38-year-old woman with a history of erythematous and telangiectatic rosacea consulted us in December 2019 because of itchy, burning facial and periocular erythema lasting 1?year. Notwithstanding a primary diagnosis of rosacea, clinical examination also revealed subtle eczematous lesions. Moreover, the patient experienced minor respiratory complaints, also related to her profession as a laboratory technician. She worked for a company producing coatings for the paper and cardboard industry, and her duties involved the quality control of water-based polymer mixtures containing formaldehyde, bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol (bronopol), methylchloroisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone (MCI/MI), MI, and benzisothiazolinone (BIT). She wore protective gloves and (not fully occlusive) goggles, but no mask, thus still allowing airborne exposure to these chemicals; no hand dermatitis was present.
Given the peculiar clinical presentation, and the exposure to well-known sensitizers, patch tests were performed, as reported previously,1 with the Belgian baseline series2 and a cosmetic series. A flare-up of her facial condition occurred during the patch test week and readings showed, on day (D) 4, positive reactions to formaldehyde 2% aq. (++), bronopol 0.5% pet. (+), MCI/MI 0.02% aq. (++), BIT 0.1% pet. (+), and thiuram mix 1% pet. (+). She was thus diagnosed with occupational airborne allergic contact dermatitis from formaldehyde (releasers) and isothiazolinones; no relevance was found for thiuram mix. Both types of (volatile) preservatives were likely also involved in provoking the respiratory complaints, and the former possibly contributed to the clinical picture of rosacea.1, 3
The patient subsequently changed profession and started working as an auxiliary nurse at a general hospital. The dermatitis completely resolved, except for occasional minor relapses of rosacea related to exposure to wind and cold weather. However, 5 months later (April 2020), while working on a COVID-19 ward, she developed a relapse of dermatitis a few hours following the prolonged use of a particular polypropylene (“plastic”) surgical mask (Figure 1A–C). A flare-up of rosacea, as frequently reported in patients wearing facial masks,4 was again considered, although the wearing of other types of surgical masks apparently caused no skin problems. Given the results of the previous patch tests, she contacted our department for advice. A literature search, as well as a quick response from the manufacturer of the mask, revealed that the nonwoven polypropylene mask might contain trace impurities of formaldehyde and bronopol,5, 6 whereas no isothiazolinones or thiurams (or carbamates) had been used during the production process.
FIGURE 1
Open in figure viewer
PowerPoint
(A) An auxiliary nurse, wearing a polypropylene surgical mask, (B) who developed rosacea-like allergic contact dermatitis from formaldehyde and bronopol contained in the mask; (C) positive patch test to formaldehyde 2% aq. on day 4
DISCUSSION
The prolonged use of facial masks may result in several skin problems, mostly irritant contact dermatitis (ICD), but also flare-ups of pre-existing dermatoses (eg, rosacea), contact urticaria, and allergic contact dermatitis (ACD).4, 7 For example, during the previous severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, several facial skin problems were reported, and even respiratory complaints without skin lesions, due to the wearing of polypropylene N95 (FFP2) respirators. Of interest, patch tests revealed contact allergy to formaldehyde (releasers) in some of these cases and chemical analyses could confirm that trace amounts of free formaldehyde were present in these masks as a by-product of the degradation of polypropylene.5, 6 In the present case, both formaldehyde and bronopol in a polypropylene surgical mask caused facial ACD, mimicking a flare-up of rosacea. Polyester- or cellulose-based masks might constitute formaldehyde-free alternatives in these cases.5
In conclusion, because formaldehyde is a frequent contact sensitizer8, 9 and given that health care workers, patients, and consumers now often have to wear (polypropylene) surgical masks at work and in the public environment, similar cases might be expected in the future. To propose safer alternatives, the contact sensitizers potentially present in facial masks, and related medical devices, should be labeled, or at least be easily retrievable as in the present case.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to Medline International France SAS (Châteaubriant, France), the manufacturer of the surgical mask, for their rapid assistance in clarifying this case.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Olivier Aerts: Conceptualization; investigation; methodology; validation; writing-original draft; writing-review and editing. Kenn Foubert: Investigation; validation; writing-review and editing. sofie stappers: Investigation; writing-review and editing. michal ulicki: Investigation; writing-review and editing. Ella Dendooven: Investigation; methodology; writing-review and editing. Julien Lambert: Validation; writing-review and editing.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
None.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cod.13626
Trump's lawyers had a 'law school 101 discussion' about explaining to him how the Supreme Court works, book says
Sonam Sheth
Business Insider
Thu, September 16, 2021, 12:38 PM·3 min read
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-lawyers-had-to-explain-how-supreme-court-works-book-2021-9?r=US&IR=T
Trump's lawyers had to tell him being mad over the election wasn't enough cause to sue, a book says.
"Why don't we just get up to the Supreme Court directly?" he asked, according to the book.
That prompted a "tense, basic, law school 101 discussion" about how to explain the court to Trump.
As President Donald Trump realized last year that he was on the brink of losing reelection, his lawyers had to explain to him that being angry about the results was not enough of a reason to file lawsuits, a new book says.
The conversation took place on November 6, according to the book, three days after Election Day and the day before major news outlets and television networks projected Joe Biden as the winner. At one point, the discussion took a more elementary turn as the president's lawyers tried to figure out the best way to explain to him the basics of how the Supreme Court works.
That's according to "Peril," by The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, an early copy of which Insider obtained.
Trump's lawyers started by telling him it wouldn't be easy to bring cases alleging voter fraud because they'd need to demonstrate standing - a legal principle stipulating that a party must prove the laws or actions it's challenging have caused it harm or injury - to get before a judge.
They specified that being upset about the election results did not constitute legal standing, the book says. Trump then took a different route.
"Well, why don't we just get up to the Supreme Court directly?" he asked, according to the book. "Like, why can't we just go there right away?"
The president's advisors told him that there was a specific legal process to follow to get before the Supreme Court. Trump instructed them to go figure that process out, the book says.
What followed was what Woodward and Costa describe as a "tense, basic, law school 101 discussion" between the lawyers "about what they should tell Trump."
"They knew they could never go straight to the Supreme Court," the book says. "Trump would have to file in district courts, then get a federal appeals court to hear the case, then file for the Supreme Court. It would take time."
Trump said frequently and publicly on the campaign trail that he was banking on the Supreme Court to hand him the election if he lost the Electoral College to Biden.
After Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September last year, leaving a vacancy on the high court, Time reported that Trump allies were weighing which prospective Supreme Court picks would help him win the election.
On September 23, Trump made the groundless claim that Democrats were trying to rig the election against him and said he wanted a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that would agree with him.
"I think this will end up in the Supreme Court," he said. "And I think it's very important that we have nine justices."
He eventually nominated, and the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed, Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the court, cementing a 6-3 conservative majority.
In the following months, Trump publicly urged the court to rule in favor of a longshot lawsuit filed by the state of Texas asking the justices to throw out the election results in four battleground states that Biden won: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.
But in December, the Supreme Court threw out the case, with all three of Trump's nominees - Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch - voting to dismiss it over a lack of standing.
The decision, which came in the form of an unsigned order, infuriated Trump, who tweeted the next day: "The Supreme Court really let us down. No Wisdom, No Courage!"
Two days later, the Electoral College met and certified Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.
Read the original article on Business Insider
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-lawyers-had-to-explain-how-supreme-court-works-book-2021-9?r=US&IR=T
World’s largest tree wrapped in fire-resistant blanket as California wildfires threaten General Sherman
Millions of acres of California's forests have burned in this year's ferocious fire season
By Agence France-Presse
17 September 2021 • 9:00am
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/09/17/worlds-largest-tree-wrapped-fire-resistant-blanket-california/
A grove of ancient sequoias were getting aluminum cladding to fend off the flames CREDIT: AFP
The world's biggest trees were being wrapped in fire-proof blankets Thursday in an effort to protect them from huge blazes tearing through the drought-stricken western United States.
A grove of ancient sequoias, including the 275-foot (83-meter) General Sherman Tree - the largest in the world - were getting aluminum cladding to fend off the flames.
Firefighters were also clearing brush and pre-positioning engines among the 2,000 ancient trees in California's Sequoia National Park, incident commanders said.
"They are taking extraordinary measures to protect these trees," said park resource manager Christy Brigham, according to The Mercury News.
"We just really want to do everything we can to protect these 2,000- and 3,000-year-old trees."
Millions of acres (hundreds of thousands of hectares) of California's forests have burned in this year's ferocious fire season.
Scientists say man-made global warming is behind the yearslong drought and rising temperatures that have left the region highly vulnerable to wildfires.
On Thursday, two fires were looming down on the park's Giant Forest, home to five of the world's largest trees, including the General Sherman.
Around 500 personnel were engaged in battling the Paradise Fire and the Colony Fire, which together have already consumed 9,365 acres of woodland since they erupted from lightning strikes on September 10.
The enormous trees of the Giant Forest are a huge tourist draw, with visitors travelling from all over the world to marvel at their imposing height and extraordinary girth.
While not the tallest trees - California redwoods can grow to more than 300 feet - the giant sequoias are the largest by volume.
Smaller fires generally do not harm the sequoias, which are protected by a thick bark, and actually help them to reproduce; the heat they generate opens cones to release seeds.
But the larger, hotter blazes that are laying waste to the western United States are dangerous to them because they climb higher up the trunks and into the canopy.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/09/17/worlds-largest-tree-wrapped-fire-resistant-blanket-california/
Afghanistan women's youth soccer team escapes to Pakistan
Published 1 day ago
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-58571183
Female players from Afghanistan's junior national soccer team have crossed the border into Pakistan.
The girls had spent the past month in hiding amid fears of a crackdown on women's rights by the Taliban.
Members of the women's side flew out of Kabul last month but the youth team were reportedly left stranded as they lacked passports and other documents.
Thirty-two players and their families won visas after the charity "Football for Peace" lobbied Pakistan.
An official with Pakistan's Football Federation said the group, totalling 81 people, would be housed at the federation's headquarters in the eastern city of Lahore. A further 34 people will arrive on Thursday he said.
The players will remain in Pakistan under tight security for 30 days before applying for asylum in third countries, the official said.
The Independent recently revealed that the players had written to Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan to ask for permission to urgently enter the country.
The letter claimed that the girls were at risk of "grave threats" from the Taliban.
After the fall of Kabul a month ago, players were warned by the national team's former captain, Khalida Popal, to delete pictures of themselves playing on social media and to burn their kits to protect themselves from potential reprisals from the new regime.
Female players from Afghanistan's junior national soccer team have crossed the border into Pakistan.
The girls had spent the past month in hiding amid fears of a crackdown on women's rights by the Taliban.
Members of the women's side flew out of Kabul last month but the youth team were reportedly left stranded as they lacked passports and other documents.
Thirty-two players and their families won visas after the charity "Football for Peace" lobbied Pakistan.
An official with Pakistan's Football Federation said the group, totalling 81 people, would be housed at the federation's headquarters in the eastern city of Lahore. A further 34 people will arrive on Thursday he said.
The players will remain in Pakistan under tight security for 30 days before applying for asylum in third countries, the official said.
The Independent recently revealed that the players had written to Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan to ask for permission to urgently enter the country.
The letter claimed that the girls were at risk of "grave threats" from the Taliban.
After the fall of Kabul a month ago, players were warned by the national team's former captain, Khalida Popal, to delete pictures of themselves playing on social media and to burn their kits to protect themselves from potential reprisals from the new regime.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-58571183
Biden Announces Defense Deal With Australia in a Bid to Counter China
By David E. Sanger and Zolan Kanno-Youngs
Sept. 15, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/us/politics/biden-australia-britain-china.html
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration took a major step on Wednesday in challenging China’s broad territorial claims in the Pacific, announcing that the United States and Britain would help Australia to deploy nuclear-powered submarines, adding to the Western presence in the region.
If the plan comes to fruition, Australia may begin conducting routine patrols that could move through areas of the South China Sea that Beijing claims as its exclusive zone and range as far north as Taiwan. The announcement, made by President Biden, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, is a major step for Australia, which until recent years has been hesitant to push back directly at core Chinese interests.
Australia has felt increasingly threatened, however, and three years ago was among the first nations to ban Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, from its networks. Now, with the prospect of deploying a new submarine fleet, Australia would become a far more muscular player in the American-led alliance in the Pacific. The vessels are equipped with nuclear propulsion systems that offer limitless range and run so quietly that they are hard to detect. For Mr. Johnson, the new defense arrangement would bolster his effort to develop a “Global Britain” strategy that focuses on the Pacific, the next step after Brexit took the country out of the European Union.
“This is about investing in our greatest source of strength, our alliances, and updating them to better meet the threats of today and tomorrow,” Mr. Biden said in the East Room, flanked by two televisions showing the British and Australian leaders at their remote press briefings. “It’s about connecting America’s existing allies and partners in new ways.”
Mr. Biden and Mr. Morrison said Australia would not arm the submarines with nuclear weapons. Australia is a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which bans it from acquiring or deploying nuclear weapons.
The submarines almost certainly would carry conventional, submarine-launched cruise missiles.
“Let me be clear: Australia is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons or establish a civil nuclear capability,” Mr. Morrison said.
Yet even conventionally armed submarines, staffed by Australian sailors, could alter the naval balance of power in the Pacific.
“Attack submarines are big deal, and they send a big message,” said Vipin Narang, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who studies the use of nuclear weapons and delivery systems among major powers. “This would be hard to imagine five years ago, and it would have been impossible 10 years ago. And that says a lot about China’s behavior in the region.”
In Australia, the move was considered a momentous shift by some strategists. “The Australian decision to go this way is not just a decision to go for a nuclear-powered submarine,” said Hugh White, a professor at Australian National University and a former Australian defense official. “It’s a decision to deepen and consolidate our strategic alignment with the United States against China.”
He added, “This just further deepens the sense that we do have a new Cold War in Asia and that Australia is betting that in that new Cold War, the U.S. is going to emerge victorious.”
The announcement is the latest action in a U.S. strategy to push back on Chinese economic, military and technological expansion, carried out by Mr. Biden; his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan; and his Asia coordinator, Kurt Campbell. Over the past eight months, they have blocked China from acquiring key technologies, including materials for semiconductor production; urged nations to reject Huawei; edged toward closer dealings with Taiwan; and denounced China’s crackdown on Hong Kong.
Next week, Mr. Biden will gather the leaders of “the Quad” — an informal partnership of the United States, Japan, India and Australia — at the White House for an in-person meeting, another way to demonstrate common resolve in dealing with Beijing.
Mr. Biden spoke with President Xi Jinping of China last week for roughly 90 minutes, only the second time the two leaders have spoken in since Mr. Biden took office. Few details of the conversation were revealed, so it is unclear whether Mr. Biden gave his Chinese counterpart warning of the move with Australia. But none of it would have come as a surprise to Beijing; earlier, the Australians had announced a deal with France for less technologically sophisticated submarines. That deal collapsed.
Nonetheless, the decision to share the technology for naval reactors, even to a close ally, was a major move for Mr. Biden — one bound to raise protests by China and questions from American allies and nonproliferation experts. The United States last shared the nuclear propulsion technology with an ally in 1958 in a similar agreement with Britain, administration officials said.
“There is a shared understanding that we need to strengthen deterrence and actually be prepared to fight a conflict if one occurs,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund, a policy think tank. “It reflects growing concern about Chinese military capabilities and intentions.”
The nuclear reactors that power American and British submarines use bomb-grade, highly enriched uranium, a remnant of Cold War-era designs. And for two decades, Washington has been on a drive to eliminate reactors around the world that use bomb-grade fuel, substituting them with less dangerous fuel to limit the risk of proliferation.
The movement gained momentum after the Sept. 11 attacks. President Barack Obama ran a series of “nuclear summits” for world leaders, used to pressure nations to remove from service old reactors that used highly enriched uranium so that the fuel could never fall into the hands of terrorists.
But the arrangement with Australia seems almost sure to move in the other direction: Australia is likely to power its submarines with highly enriched uranium, because for now, there is little choice. Aware of the contradiction, administration officials cast the decision as an “exception,” though one they would not make for other major allies. That includes South Korea, which in decades past was caught moving toward building its own nuclear arsenal. Australia has been a leader in the nonproliferation movement.
A senior administration official deeply involved in the negotiations over the deal said on Wednesday that the United States had not made a deal like this in decades and that, “after today, it’s not likely we will do it again.”
Officials said that the details would be worked out over the next 18 months, including strict controls on nuclear technology. They said Australia had already agreed not to produce the highly enriched fuel, meaning it will probably buy it from American stockpiles. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III will lead the administration in the partnership, which also involves collaborating on cybertechnology and artificial intelligence.
The United States has explored moving away from highly enriched uranium. A study by the Pentagon’s top nuclear advisory group concluded in 2019 that the United States should shift to reactors that burn low-enriched uranium, which cannot be easily diverted to use in weapons. But that process, the experts concluded, could not begin until after 2040.
“There will be many who say we are giving the Australians a gateway drug for a nuclear capability,’’ Mr. Narang said. “It is not something we would let other major allies get away with, much less help make it possible.”
But China’s aggressive tactics in the Pacific and America’s desire to ensure security for Taiwan required the United States to empower Australia, even if it meant carving an exception to the effort to reduce the use of weapons-grade nuclear fuel, according to Elbridge Colby, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense strategy and force development.
“If nonproliferation has to take a back seat, that’s the right call,” said Mr. Colby.
Australia has, for more than seven decades, been a member of the “Five Eyes,” the intelligence alliance that includes the major English-speaking victors of World War II. The other four are the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand. They regularly exchange information on cyberthreats and a range of terrorism threats.
David E. Sanger is a White House and national security correspondent. In a 38-year reporting career for The Times, he has been on three teams that have won Pulitzer Prizes, most recently in 2017 for international reporting. His newest book is “The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age.” @SangerNYT • Facebook
Zolan Kanno-Youngs is a White House correspondent covering a range of domestic and international issues in the Biden White House, including homeland security and extremism. He joined The Times in 2019 as the homeland security correspondent. @KannoYoungs
A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 16, 2021, Section A, Page 17 of the New York edition with the headline: To Counter China, U.S. Widens Its Alliance With Australia. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/us/politics/biden-australia-britain-china.html
Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports Chronological note: The Trump letter motion that the judge denied was filed on Dec. 10 of last year, when Barr was AG.
Since that time, Garland's DOJ took the same action, and Judge Kaplan's ruling just hit the docket today.
The motion he rejected:
thread
Chronological note:
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) September 15, 2021
The Trump letter motion that the judge denied was filed on Dec. 10 of last year, when Barr was AG.
Since that time, Garland's DOJ took the same action, and Judge Kaplan's ruling just hit the docket today.
The motion he rejected: https://t.co/A9j7mgYu59
Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports Trump's request to stay all proceedings in @EJeanCarroll's lawsuit has been DENIED by a federal judge, without comment, in a minute entry.
This follows AG Garland's DOJ requesting substitution on behalf of Trump.
Background,
@LawCrimeNews
: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/merrick-garland-dojs-defense-of-trump-from-e-jean-carroll-suit-takes-institutional-interests-to-absurd-lengths-lawyers/
Trump's request to stay all proceedings in @EJeanCarroll's lawsuit has been DENIED by a federal judge, without comment, in a minute entry.
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) September 15, 2021
This follows AG Garland's DOJ requesting substitution on behalf of Trump.
Background, @LawCrimeNews: https://t.co/gDdKeSZuwe pic.twitter.com/cNsk15GLcg
Live Politics latest news: Gavin Williamson and Robert Buckland first casualties as Boris Johnson reshuffles Cabinet
By: Catherine Neilan, politics live editor Tony Diver, political correspondent
15 SEPTEMBER 2021 • 2:12PM
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/09/15/politics-latest-news-boris-johnson-news-covid-winter-lockdown/
This doesn’t look good for Steve Bannon
Bill Palmer | 9:09 am EDT September 15, 2021
Palmer Report » Analysis
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/this-doesnt-look-good-for-steve-bannon/41454/
Multiple major media reports over the past few months have confirmed that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office is criminally investigating Steve Bannon on a number of matters. State charges aren’t covered by his federal pardon, so if he’s indicted and convicted in New York, he’ll rot in prison. Now he has another legal front to worry about.
An upcoming book from Bob Woodward and Robert Costa reveals that it was Steve Bannon who convinced Donald Trump to make a big deal out of January 6th, even going so far as to convince Trump that they were going to “bury” Joe Biden on that date. Given that Trump then turned around and directly incited a deadly domestic terrorist attack against the United States Capitol, Bannon now has to worry that he could end up being indicted for incitement and/or conspiracy.
Trump gave Steve Bannon a federal pardon that covered his “Build The Wall” fraud scheme and related crimes, but it didn’t cover the Capitol attack. If the Feds do end up bringing high level conspiracy charges, Bannon will have to worry about going down on federal charges, in addition to the state charges that New York is reportedly bringing against him. The wheels of justice turn excruciatingly slowly, but this doesn’t look for Bannon.
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/this-doesnt-look-good-for-steve-bannon/41454/
Dan Diamond @ddiamond The White House is *praising* Fox News for effectively adopting “a more stringent version of the vaccine and testing mandate” that Biden announced last week, @oliverdarcy
details.
https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/1631672551033630cf84eb6bf/raw?utm_term=1631672551033630cf84eb6bf
The White House is *praising* Fox News for effectively adopting “a more stringent version of the vaccine and testing mandate” that Biden announced last week, @oliverdarcy details.https://t.co/A61TQUEeiy pic.twitter.com/n2T6iPALph
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) September 15, 2021
Maurice Hilleman was a vaccine miracle worker. Imagine what anti-vaxxers would have made of him.
Opinion by David Von Drehle Columnist
Yesterday at 5:23 p.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/14/maurice-hilleman-vaccines-covid-anti-vaxxers/
Long before there was Operation Warp Speed, there was Maurice Hilleman.
Before the magnificent multibillion-dollar project to find a vaccine for covid-19, there was a guy from Montana with the brilliance of a great scientist and the swagger of a cowboy. Hilleman created more than 40 vaccines. In the 1950s, he and his team stopped a rampaging pandemic. Across his career, he saved millions of lives. A person who saves one life is a hero. What do we call the person who saves too many to count?
Don’t answer that. Not now, amid the anti-vaccine backlash of a spoiled, forgetful species. Hilleman worked his pinprick miracles at a time when Americans knew and feared the deadly terrors of communicable disease. We will know, and fear, them again if anti-vaxxers prevail.
Born on the frontier in 1919, as a catastrophic influenza pandemic raged throughout the world, Hilleman lost his mother and twin sister to birth-related causes during the first days of his life. He grew up brusque, competitive and determined to beat disease. His professors at the University of Chicago urged him to apply his genius to academic science. But Hilleman insisted on work that would have immediate results — the sharp end of the spear. He went to work for a large pharmaceutical firm.
It was 1944. The United States was preparing for an eventual invasion of Japan, where a deadly strain of encephalitis awaited troops who had no natural immunity. Hilleman pitched in to develop a vaccine in a matter of months. By age 30, he was chief of respiratory diseases at the Army’s research institute at what is now the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. There, he figured out how the flu virus mutates quickly and migrates from birds to humans, via pigs.
In April 1957, Hilleman noticed a brief article in the back pages of the New York Times. Thousands of “glassy-eyed” children were overwhelming clinics in Hong Kong. He immediately recognized that influenza had taken a giant leap — and a pandemic was headed his way. The young scientist sent airplanes halfway around the world to collect virus samples and risked his reputation by rushing out 40 million doses of a rapidly created vaccine. Roosters throughout the United States enjoyed longer lives to produce the fertilized eggs in which the vaccines grew.
Hilleman stopped what had been called the “Asian flu” in its tracks. He was just getting started.
He crossed my path when I was 10 years old.
School officials summoned our classes to the gymnasium one morning. They arranged us in rows on the floor in alphabetical order. At a signal, we were to stand, turn and walk silently into the school library nearby. Medical authorities would meet us there to jab vaccines into our upper arms.
This was Hilleman’s doing, I learned many years later. Chief vaccine scientist at the Merck & Co. superlab by this point, Hilleman had combined his vaccine for mumps (which he developed after scraping virus from his own daughter’s mouth) with vaccines for measles and rubella. Hundreds of millions of children have received the lifesaving MMR vaccine in the half-century since we marched through the library.
I was not at all afraid of measles, mumps or rubella. Like covid-19, they were all diseases that infected children but rarely killed us. They wrought greater havoc on adults in our lives, and on their unborn children. What I feared — deeply, desperately — was needles. That walk from the gym to the library, perhaps 100 feet, was the longest of my life. If a man with a scar, a dripping knife and a white panel van had appeared and offered to save me, I would have run to him. The room swam as I felt my shirt sleeve pushed up. Then I was stung and swabbed with cold alcohol, and staggered away like a branded calf.
Can you imagine what hay Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his fellow vote-grubbing vaccine skeptics would have made with the picture of 300 alphabetized schoolchildren shuffling along to be stuck? At age 10, I would have greeted the demagogues as liberators — but as the Bible advises, I’ve put away childish things. I thank heaven for Hilleman and John Enders, Albert Sabin, Jonas Salk, Emil von Behring and countless other virologists who transformed the world with their life-preserving vaccines.
Vaccination is not a choice. It’s a responsibility. Just as we pay gasoline taxes to use the roads, we suffer an occasional pinprick to live healthier lives than our pre-vaccine forebears. It is the very small price for very large gains. Are you hideously scarred by smallpox? Born deaf and blind from rubella? Paralyzed by polio? Did you die in your 20s, coughing your lungs out from tuberculosis?
Probably not, because you live in the age of vaccines.
My 10-year-old self would never have said it, but 50 years later, here goes. Dr. Hilleman: Thanks for the jab.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/14/maurice-hilleman-vaccines-covid-anti-vaxxers/
3 former US officials charged in UAE hacking scheme
By ERIC TUCKER and ALAN SUDERMAN
today
https://apnews.com/article/technology-united-states-hacking-5700a1fa8b1b4612477658b883e58f31
WASHINGTON (AP) — Three former U.S. intelligence and military officials have admitted providing sophisticated computer hacking technology to the United Arab Emirates and agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to resolve criminal charges in an agreement that the Justice Department described Tuesday as the first of its kind.
The defendants — Marc Baier, Ryan Adams and Daniel Gericke — are accused of working as senior managers at a UAE-based company that conducted hacking operations on behalf of the government. Prosecutors say the men provided hacking and intelligence-gathering systems that were used to break into computers in the United States and elsewhere in the world.
The Justice Department alleges that the men committed computer fraud and violated export control laws by providing defense services without the required license. The case also appears to be part of a growing trend highlighted earlier this year by the CIA of foreign governments hiring former U.S. intelligence operatives to bolster their own spycraft — a practice officials have said risks exposing U.S. secrets.
“This is a loud statement” that the Justice Department takes such cases seriously, said Bobby Chesney, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law who specializes in national security issues.
The charges were filed under a deferred prosecution agreement that, in addition to requiring a $1.68 million payment, will also force the men to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation, to sever any ties with any UAE intelligence or law enforcement agencies and to forego any security clearances. If they comply with those and other terms for three years, the Justice Department will abandon the prosecution.
As part of the agreement, the three men did not dispute any of the facts alleged by prosecutors.
The Justice Department described it as the “first-of-its-kind resolution of an investigation into two distinct types of criminal activity,” including providing unlicensed technology for the purposes of hacking.
“Hackers-for-hire and those who otherwise support such activities in violation of U.S. law should fully expect to be prosecuted for their criminal conduct,” Mark Lesko, acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s national security division, said in a statement.
According to court documents, the trio left a U.S.-based company that was operating in the UAE to join an Emerati company that would give them “significant increases” in their salaries.
The companies aren’t named in charging documents, but Lori Stroud, a former National Security Agency employee, said she worked with the three men in the UAE at U.S.-based CyberPoint and then for UAE-based DarkMatter.
Stroud said she quit because she saw DarkMatter hacking U.S. citizens. She said she assisted the FBI in its investigation and was glad to see the case come to a resolution.
“This is progress,” Stroud said.
The Emirati government did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Wednesday. Questions sent by email to officials at Abu Dhabi-based DarkMatter could not be delivered.
Since details of DarkMatter’s hacking campaign became public, the company’s profile has dropped over the last few years, with some staff moving onto a new Abu Dhabi-based firm called G42. That firm has been linked to a mobile app suspected of being a spying tool as well as Chinese coronavirus tests that American officials warned against using over concerns about patient privacy, test accuracy and Chinese government involvement.
DarkMatter’s founder and CEO, Faisal al-Bannai, told The Associated Press in 2018 that the company takes part in no hacking, although he acknowledged the firm’s close business ties to the Emirati government, as well as its hiring of former CIA and NSA analysts.
Prosecutors said that between January 2016 and November 2019, the defendants increased operations being providing to the UAE government. They bought exploits to break into computers and mobile devices from companies around the world, including those based in the U.S., according to the Justice Department. That includes one so-called “zero-click” exploit — which can break into mobile devices without any user interaction — that Baier bought from an unnamed U.S. company in 2016.
Lawyers for Adams and Gericke did not immediately return messages seeking comment, and a lawyer for Baier declined to comment.
The Justice Department described each of them as former U.S. intelligence or military personnel. Baier previously worked at the NSA, according to a former colleague who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding the matter.
The CIA warned in a letter earlier this year about “an uptick in the number of former officers who have disclosed sensitive information about CIA activities, personnel, and tradecraft.”
The letter sent to former CIA officials was signed by Sheetal Patel, the agency’s assistant director for counterintelligence. It described as a “detrimental trend” a practice of foreign governments hiring former intelligence officers “to build up their spying capabilities.” Some listed examples included using access to CIA information or contacts for business opportunities as well as “working for state-sponsored intelligence related companies in non-fraternization countries.”
“We ask that you protect yourself and the CIA by safeguarding the classified tradecraft that underpins your enterprise,” Patel wrote.
____
Suderman reported from Richmond, Virginia. Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant in Washington and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
https://apnews.com/article/technology-united-states-hacking-5700a1fa8b1b4612477658b883e58f31
Fears That Trump Might Launch a Strike Prompted General to Reassure China, Book Says
In a sign of his concerns, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer also gathered commanders to remind them of the safeguards in the nuclear launch procedures.
By Michael S. Schmidt
Sept. 14, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/us/politics/peril-woodward-book-trump.html
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff twice called his Chinese counterpart in the final months of the Trump administration to reassure him that Donald J. Trump had no plans to attack China in an effort to remain in power and that the United States was not collapsing, according to “Peril,” a new book by the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
“Things may look unsteady,” the chairman, Gen. Mark A. Milley, told Gen. Li Zuocheng of China on Jan. 8, two days after Mr. Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol to try to stop the certification of his election loss and in the second of two such calls. “But that’s the nature of democracy, General Li. We are 100 percent steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.”
Yet despite his assurances, General Milley was so concerned about Mr. Trump that later that day he convened a meeting with top commanders to remind them that the procedures for launching a nuclear weapon called for his involvement in such a decision.
The book also reveals how Vice President Mike Pence struggled more than was publicly known over how to navigate Mr. Trump’s demands that he upend the election certification. Speaking privately to former Vice President Dan Quayle, who oversaw the certification of the 1992 election in which he was on the losing ticket, Mr. Pence appeared open to going along with Mr. Trump’s plan, pushed the false claim that Arizona’s voting results were wrong and asked whether there was any way he could delay certification.
A spokesman for Mr. Pence did not respond to a request for comment.
“Peril,” which is scheduled to be released next Tuesday, says its accounts are based on contemporaneous notes, documents and interviews with unnamed firsthand participants and witnesses. The New York Times obtained a copy of it.
Similar to other media reports and books released since Mr. Trump left office, the book details how Mr. Trump’s presidency essentially collapsed in his final months in office, particularly after his election loss and the start of his campaign to deny the results. Top aides — including General Milley, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Attorney General William P. Barr — became convinced that they needed to take drastic measures to stop him from trampling on American democracy or setting off an international conflict, and General Milley thought that Mr. Trump had declined mentally in the aftermath of the election, according to the book.
A little less than half of the book also covers the first several months of Joseph R. Biden’s administration, as the new president grappled with the pandemic, a faltering economy, Congress and the military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“If the mission is to preserve the Ghani government, I would not send my own son,” Mr. Biden is quoted as telling aides in his first few months in office during the discussions about the withdrawal, referring to President Ashraf Ghani, who at the time was trying to repel the Taliban from taking over the country.
But it is the book’s details about the Trump administration that are likely to garner the most attention.
In the days leading up to the 2020 election, the book reveals, American intelligence showed that the Chinese believed that Mr. Trump planned to launch a military strike to create an international crisis that he could claim to solve as a last-ditch effort to beat Joseph R. Biden Jr.
General Milley, who had become increasingly concerned about China’s growing military power and the potential for one misread move to set off combat between the world superpowers, first called General Li around that time on a secret backchannel. He wanted to assure General Li and President Xi Jinping that the United States was not planning to attack China.
On the Jan. 8 call, General Li suggested that Chinese leaders feared that the United States government was unstable. He pressed General Milley over the course of an hour and a half about whether the military was going to take action.
Despite General Milley’s reassurances, he feared that Mr. Trump might be trying to find a moment that he could seize on to remain in power, similar to Hitler’s exploitation in 1933 of an arson fire at the German Reichstag to help institute emergency powers, the book said.
But even after the call, General Milley concluded that the situation was “grave” and General Li “remained unusually rattled,” the book reports.
Mr. Trump, General Milley had concluded, did not want a war but might order the launch of some sort of military strike that would set off a chain reaction and lead to war.
“I continually reminded him,” General Milley is quoted as saying, “depending on where and what you strike, you could find yourself at war.”
Later that day, General Milley spoke to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was growing increasingly concerned Mr. Trump would lash out and use military force.
“This is bad, but who knows what he might do?” Ms. Pelosi said. “He’s crazy. You know he’s crazy. He’s been crazy for a long time. So don’t say you don’t know what his state of mind is.”
“Madam Speaker,” General Milley said, “I agree with you on everything.”
General Milley, who as the president’s top military adviser is not in the chain of command, tried to reassure Ms. Pelosi that he could stop Mr. Trump.
“The one thing I can guarantee is that as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I want you to know that — I want you to know this in your heart of hearts, I can guarantee you 110 percent that the military, use of military power, whether it’s nuclear or a strike in a foreign country of any kind, we’re not going to do anything illegal or crazy,” he said.
“Well,” Ms. Pelosi said, “what do you mean, illegal or crazy?”
“I can give you my word,” General Milley said. “The best I can do is give you my word and I’m going to prevent anything like that in the United States military.”
After speaking to Ms. Pelosi, General Milley convened a meeting in a war room at the Pentagon with the military’s top commanders, telling them that he wanted to go over the longstanding procedures for launching a nuclear weapon. The general reminded the commanders that only the president could order such a strike and that General Milley needed to be directly involved.
“If you get calls,” General Milley said, “no matter who they’re from, there’s a process here, there’s a procedure. No matter what you’re told, you do the procedure. You do the process. And I’m part of that procedure. You’ve got to make sure that the right people are on the net.”
The general added: “The strict procedures are explicitly designed to avoid inadvertent mistakes or accident or nefarious, unintentional, illegal, immoral, unethical launching of the world’s most dangerous weapons.”
Then, he went around the room and asked each officer to confirm that they understood what he was saying.
Twelve days later, General Milley said, he thought he might be one of the happiest people at Mr. Biden’s inauguration because Mr. Trump had finally left office.
“We know what you went through,” Mr. Biden told General Milley shortly before the inauguration. “We know what you did.”
While much had been reported about General Milley’s views of Mr. Trump, the book’s depiction of Mr. Pence revealed for the first time the depths that the vice president went to as his fealty to Mr. Trump collided with calculations about his political future and the counsel of his aides and advisers to follow the Constitution.
In the days leading up to Jan. 6, Mr. Pence called Mr. Quayle, the only living Republican vice president forced to certify an election in which he was on the losing ticket.
Mr. Pence told him that the president was convinced that Mr. Pence could throw out the election results in order to keep himself in power.
“Mike, you have no flexibility on this,” Mr. Quayle told Mr. Pence. “None. Zero. Forget it. Put it away.”
“I know, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell Trump,” Mr. Pence said. “But he really thinks he can. And there are other guys in there saying I’ve got this power.”
Mr. Pence then echoed Mr. Trump’s false claims of election fraud. “Well, there’s some stuff out in Arizona,” Mr. Pence said.
“Mike, I live in Arizona,” Mr. Quayle said. “There’s nothing out here.”
Matthew Cullen contributed research.
Michael S. Schmidt is a Washington correspondent covering national security and federal investigations. He was part of two teams that won Pulitzer Prizes in 2018 — one for reporting on workplace sexual harassment and the other for coverage of President Trump and his campaign’s ties to Russia. @NYTMike
A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 15, 2021, Section A, Page 16 of the New York edition with the headline: New Book Details Fears Trump Would Start War. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/us/politics/peril-woodward-book-trump.html
On Sunday, 15 September 1940, the Luftwaffe launched its largest and most concentrated attack against London in the hope of drawing out the RAF into a battle of annihilation.
“Never forget your freedom was never free”
#BattleOfBritainDay
Battle of Britain Day!
— ASA Scotland Charity SCIO🇬🇧 (@AncreSommeScot) September 14, 2021
On Sunday, 15 September 1940, the Luftwaffe launched its largest and most concentrated attack against London in the hope of drawing out the RAF into a battle of annihilation.
“Never forget your freedom was never free”#BattleOfBritainDay pic.twitter.com/NlAQwKPAZL
Today is Battle of Britain Day when we remember The Few who came from around the world to defend our nation and fight against tyranny.
We must never forget the sacrifice made for our freedom. #LestWeForget #BoB81 #battleofbritainday
7:39 AM · Sep 15, 2021·Twitter for iPhone
Today is Battle of Britain Day when we remember The Few who came from around the world to defend our nation and fight against tyranny. We must never forget the sacrifice made for our freedom. #LestWeForget #BoB81 #battleofbritainday pic.twitter.com/hlsminuM80
— RAF Cosford (@RAF_Cosford) September 15, 2021
Today is Battle of Britain Day when we remember The Few who came from around the world to defend our nation and fight against tyranny.
We must never forget the sacrifice made for our freedom. #LestWeForget #BoB81 #battleofbritainday
7:39 AM · Sep 15, 2021·Twitter for iPhone
Today is Battle of Britain Day when we remember The Few who came from around the world to defend our nation and fight against tyranny. We must never forget the sacrifice made for our freedom. #LestWeForget #BoB81 #battleofbritainday pic.twitter.com/hlsminuM80
— RAF Cosford (@RAF_Cosford) September 15, 2021
Gavin Newsom will remain California governor after handily defeating recall attempt
California voters resoundingly reject choice to replace Democratic governor, who faced a battle for his political life
Maanvi Singh in Oakland
@maanvissingh
Wed 15 Sep 2021 06.42 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/14/gavin-newsom-will-remain-california-governor-after-easily-defeating-recall-attempt
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom has prevailed in a historic recall election that had him battling for his political life. In a referendum on the governor’s leadership through the pandemic, voters resoundingly rejected the choice to replace him with a Trumpist Republican.
The Associated Press projected the results about 45 minutes after polls closed on Tuesday night. Newsom’s most popular challenger was Larry Elder, a right wing radio host who drew comparisons to the former president and who attempted to sow baseless doubts about the election process.
Newsom did not hold a watch party or election night celebration. Instead, he struck a somber tone speaking to reporters on Tuesday night, saying: “Tonight I’m humbled, grateful, but resolved.”
Speaking in Sacramento, Newsom said that in voting no on the Republican-led recall, Californians said “Yes to science, we said yes to vaccines.”
“I’m humbled and grateful to the millions and millions of Californians that exercise their fundamental right to vote,” Newsom said, “and express themselves so overwhelmingly by rejecting the division, by rejecting the cynicism.”
While margins are expected to shrink as more votes are tallied, results on Tuesday night showed Californians appeared to oppose the recall effort in greater numbers than some experts initially expected. With about 60% of ballots counted, “no” on the question of whether to recall Newsom was ahead by a two to one margin.
Although the race was called by the AP on Tuesday night, the vote count is not yet final, and election officials have 30 days to count all the ballots.
As a Democratic governor of a deep-blue state, the governor found himself in the peculiar position of having to defend his seat after the recall effort gained steam amid the worst of the pandemic, fueled by frustrations over school and business closures.
Gubernatorial recall petitions are very common in California, but only one other such recall has made it on to the ballot in state history.
Newsom initially dismissed the recall election as a costly distraction – indeed, it could cost the state some $300m or more. But Democrats kicked into high gear in the late summer as polls indicated that apathetic and angry voters could cost him his position at the helm of the most populous US state.
In the lead-up to the election, Newsom – who struggled to live down missteps and connect with young progressive voters – reframed the recall as a referendum on Trumpism – honing in on Elder. Emphasizing that Elder had vowed to repeal mask and vaccine mandates “before I have my first cup of tea” if he were inaugurated as governor, Newsom characterized the election as a “matter of life and death”.
The day before the 14 September deadline to vote, Joe Biden campaigned alongside Newsom, telling voters “the eyes of the nation are on California”.
“It’s somewhat remarkable that Newsom was able to take the Covid issue, which might have been a failure fatal weakness for him and was able to turn it into a considerable strength,” said Dan Schnur, a politics professor who has advised Republican candidates.
For many voters, a “no” vote did turn out to be less an endorsement of Newsom and more a rejection of Elder and other Republicans. Newsom “didn’t let us turn into a Florida or a Texas”, said Tim Otto, a bookstore owner in Stockton, California – referring to states whose governors have blocked or fought mask and vaccine requirements.
Elder spent election night in Costa Mesa, California, where guests at his party viewed Fox News on big screens, and danced along to live music from Phil Crosby (Bing’s grandson) and his six-man band. He conceded defeat on Tuesday night.
Among early voters, Democrats outnumbered Republicans by two to one – though gap was expected to shrink on election day with a greater proportion of Republicans expected to cast their ballots day-of. Polls that had initially placed Elder within striking distance of Newsom began to widen ahead of election day. As his chances of victory slimmed, Elder began following in Trump’s footsteps by spreading conspiracy theories to falsely suggest that the election was rigged against him.
The results will have national reverberations. For Democrats across the country, Newsom’s victory has averted a crisis of confidence. “Democrats running in other parts of the country next year would do well to study Newsom’s playbook very carefully,” Schnur said – noting that the governor’s ability to find a foil in Elder is in large part what helped him energize voters.
The race has given Elder, an already popular fixture in rightwing media, a more prominent national stage. “I have now become a political force here in California,” he said in a recent radio interview, on KMJ Now radio. “I’m not going to leave the stage.” His election misinformation, which has been amplified by Trump and his allies, has carried on a sense of mistrust of US elections among conservative and rightwing voters.
Newsom’s other Republican challengers included the former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulkner, the businessman John Cox – who also lost to Newsom in 2018 – and the reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner.
The governor, who was elected by historic margins nearly three years ago, worked throughout the recall campaign to live down pandemic-era missteps. Parents were frustrated when public schools remained closed in California for far longer than they did in other states. Under Newsom, the state’s unemployment department struggled with major backlogs, and paid out an estimated $31bn in fraudulent claims. The governor also faced harsh criticisms over the state’s initially slow vaccine rollout and its ineffectual sign-up site. An ill-timed, lobbyist-laden dinner at the Michelin-starred French Laundry restaurant amid the state’s Covid-19 surge last November gave his opponents further ammunition against him.
Having survived the recall, Newsom will serve one more year before he is up for re-election. “If he had survived by a small margin, it is very likely another Democrat would have run against him from the left next year,” Schnur said. “But given a landslide like this one, it’s very hard to see that happening.”
A blowout for Newsom will also “further Newsom’s political strength and aspirations going forward”, said Mindy Romer, the founder of the Center for Inclusive Democracy, a nonpartisan research organization.
The only other gubernatorial recall that went to statewide vote was in 2003, when Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger ousted Democrat Gray Davis. But Newsom remained more popular than Davis did, despite his blunders.
Support for the recall was highest in parts of California’s agricultural central valley, and rural north. Those areas have always been more conservative, and were centers of resistance against mask requirements and pandemic restrictions over the past year.
Ultimately, a major consequence of this year’s recall in California could be a rethinking of the recall process itself. In a poll released Monday by the UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, 75% of registered voters said they wanted to keep their right to remove a statewide official through a recall election. But a majority of voters also proposed reforms, such as increasing the number of petition signatures required to trigger a recall, and requiring that recallers give a reason for wanting to remove an official such as illegal or unethical conduct.
Associated Press contributed to reporting.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/14/gavin-newsom-will-remain-california-governor-after-easily-defeating-recall-attempt
Trump at war with Bedminster neighbours over family cemetery where he wants to be buried, report says
Bevan Hurley 9 hrs ago
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/trump-at-war-with-bedminster-neighbours-over-family-cemetery-where-he-wants-to-be-buried-report-says/ar-AAOryM5?li=AAnZ9Ug
Donald Trump is reportedly in a protracted stand-off with neighbours of his Bedminster country club over plans to build a private ceremony [sic] that he wants to be buried in.
A report by Business Insider says Mr Trump requested permission more than 10 years ago from local authorities to build a private burial plot for family behind the first tee on his sprawling 520-acre golf club 40 miles west of New York.
Mr Trump also filed a proposal to build another cemetery of just under 300 plots to sell to club members.
The proposal is still causing tension between the Trump Organization, which owns the course, and the Bedminster Land Use Board, according to the Insider.
The Bedminster Land Use Board secretary Janine De Leon reportedly told the Insider she didn’t have any updates on the cemetery proposal.
A former GOP committeewoman Sally Rubin said: “The rules we’ve put in were limited to a certain number and could not be seen from Lamington Road.
“So who cares what he does on his hundreds of acres of property?”
The Washington Post reported in 2017 that the cemetery plans had been approved.
Members of the board said they were “baffled” by the request.
“It never made any sense to me,” the board’s former president Robert Holtaway told the Post.
“We don’t question motives. We’re there as a land-use board.”
In 2007, Mr Trump said he wanted to build a “19 foot high” family mausoleum made of stone at the Trump National Golf Course in New Jersey.
“It’s never something you like to think about, but it makes sense,” Trump told the New York Post.
“This is such beautiful land, and Bedminster is one of the richest places in the country.”
Now 75, Mr Trump is teasing another run at the presidency in 2024.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/trump-at-war-with-bedminster-neighbours-over-family-cemetery-where-he-wants-to-be-buried-report-says/ar-AAOryM5?li=AAnZ9Ug
The Challenges of Reclaiming Filipino Louisiana’s Centuries-Old History
Members of what is perhaps the oldest Asian community in the United States are committed to preserving—and sharing—their story.
BY ETHAN SANDWEISS
SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/filipino-louisiana
Trump’s White House chief of staff is target of Capitol attack records request
House select committee investigating 6 January wants telecom and social media companies to preserve records on Mark Meadows
Hugo Lowell in Washington
Mon 13 Sep 2021 10.00 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/13/mark-meadows-records-trump-capitol-attack-committee
The House select committee investigating the 6 January attack on the Capitol has instructed telecom and social media companies last week to preserve records of Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The move positions the select committee on the doorstep of the Oval Office as it pursues a far-reaching inquiry into whether Trump and his White House helped plan or had advance knowledge of the insurrection perpetrated by the former president’s supporters.
House select committee investigators signaled their intention to examine potential involvement by the Trump White House and House Republicans when they last week made a series of records demands and records preservation requests for Trump officials connected to the Capitol attack.
In the records preservation requests, the select committee instructed 35 telecom and social media companies to avoid destroying communications logs of several hundred people, including the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, and 10 House Republicans, in case it later issues subpoenas.
But the previously unreported inclusion of Meadows on the list of people whose records the select committee wants preserved suggests the panel will seek more information on the most senior aide in the Trump administration and could upturn every inch of the West Wing in its inquiry.
The former chief of staff is among several top White House officials who may hold the key to unlock inside information pertaining to the extent of the former president’s involvement in the Capitol attack that left five dead and nearly 140 injured.
Meadows remained at Trump’s side in the weeks before 6 January as well as on the day itself, as the White House strategized ways to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and ensure the then vice-president, Mike Pence, would not certify Joe Biden’s victory.
The White House chief of staff started the day of the insurrection with Trump in the Oval Office, before attending the “Save America” rally that preceded the Capitol attack, according to a Trump administration official familiar with his movements.
Meadows then accompanied Trump back to the White House with a coterie of aides and advisers, from where the former president told the Republican senator Ben Sasse that he was “delighted” at the images of his supporters and domestic violent extremists storming the Capitol in his name.
He then also spoke to Marc Short, the chief of staff to Pence, as well as Kash Patel, the chief of staff to the then defense secretary, Christopher Miller, the official said.
Such proximity to Trump and the chiefs of staff to two key Trump cabinet members closely connected to the Capitol attack suggests Meadows is likely to be a prime witness for the inquiry, insofar as he can shed light on Trump’s private thoughts as the violence unfolded.
A spokesperson for the select committee declined to comment on the preservation request for Meadows. But the chair of the House select committee, Bennie Thompson, previously told the Guardian that any conversations with Trump would be investigated by the select committee.
The inclusion of Meadows on the list, alongside McCarthy and 10 other far-right House Republicans, nonetheless provides a clearer picture of the sharpening contours of the investigation and its overall direction as the select committee ramps up its work.
It also echoes congressional investigations of eras past: Richard Nixon’s White House chief of staff, HR Haldeman, came under scrutiny from the Senate select committee into the Watergate scandal and was forced to testify about the extent of Nixon’s involvement.
But it was not immediately clear which companies had received a records preservation request for Meadows from the select committee. Some telecom and social media companies – such as the online forum 8kun popular with QAnon conspiracy theorists – did not even receive a list of names, counsel for the forum said.
House select committee investigators are still in the evidence-gathering phase, but the committee is likely to schedule its second hearing before the end of the month, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The select committee said on Friday that investigators had received thousands of pages of documents, and that they understood the National Archives had started the process required by law for the review of presidential records.
Meadows’s communications, meanwhile, may be of interest to the select committee in other aspects of the inquiry into the origins of 6 January, an area that falls under the panel’s purview after it took charge of all congressional investigations into the Capitol attack.
The select committee subsumed several inquiries into the Trump administration’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election, including one by the House oversight committee that was examining how Meadows pressured the justice department to investigate baseless allegations of election fraud.
Top Republicans under scrutiny have embarked on a campaign of threats and intimidation in an attempt to thwart the inquiry.
The Republican House minority leader, McCarthy, last week lashed out at the select committee’s records preservation requests and warned that the GOP would retaliate against companies that complied when his party retakes the House majority.
McCarthy argued, without citing any specific law, that it would be illegal for telecom and social media companies to comply with the records requests – even though congressional investigators have obtained phone and communications records without issue in the past.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/13/mark-meadows-records-trump-capitol-attack-committee
Two Florida middle-schoolers charged with plotting mass shooting after ‘extensively studying’ Columbine
By Andrew Jeong
Today at 4:26 a.m. EDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/13/florida-school-shooting-plot-columbine/
Two Florida middle-schoolers are being held at a juvenile detention center after being accused of planning a mass school shooting inspired by Columbine.
The 14-year-old and 13-year-old boys, whom The Washington Post is not naming because they are minors, are eighth-graders at Harns Marsh Middle School in Lee County, about two hours away from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a gunman killed 17 in 2018. They were charged with conspiracy to commit a mass shooting and have been ordered to be held at a juvenile detention center for three weeks, reported WINK, a CBS affiliate in Fort Myers, Fla.
Police investigations suggest the boys had looked for guns on the black market, studied ways to build pipe bombs and researched the 1999 school shooting that occurred at Columbine High School in Colorado, County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said.
“I have been crystal clear. Our kids will be safe,” said Marceno. “And those responsible for threats — real or fake — will be held accountable.”
The two teens were arrested last week, after authorities were told by a teacher that one of the boys could be carrying a gun at school. Deputies who arrived at the middle school on Thursday found no firearms.
“However, a map of the school was located. The map contained markings indicating the location of each of the school’s interior cameras,” Marceno told reporters on Friday.
Subsequent investigations convinced detectives that the pair had plotted to carry out a school shooting, Marceno said. Detectives learned the boys were attempting to learn how to construct pipe bombs and how to buy firearms on the black market, he added. Authorities also learned of the pair’s interest in the two gunmen who killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine before killing themselves; Marceno said the boys were “extensively studying” that shooting.
Police officials who executed search warrants of the boys’ homes found a gun and several knives, Marceno said.
Both boys “are well known to deputies, as we have responded to their homes for almost 80 times combined,” Marceno said.
The two underwent assessment at a mental health facility, then were transferred to the Lee County Jail.
“I’m certain that my team of dedicated deputies and detectives acted promptly, investigated thoroughly, and prevented a very violent … act,” Marceno said.
The mother of one of the boys, who was at the court hearing Sunday, according to footage from the Lee County Court House that was carried by WINK, said her son is "just a little boy” who didn’t think the pair’s plans were serious.
Legal representatives for the two teenagers could not be reached, nor could the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
Mass shootings — defined as those involving four or more people injured or killed without counting the shooter — have been increasing in America since 2017, according to figures compiled by Gun Violence Archives, a Washington-based nonprofit.
Last year saw the biggest increase in mass shootings since the organization began counting relevant incidents in 2014, with 611 cases, compared with the previous year’s 417. The nonprofit has counted close to 500 mass shootings so far this year.
By Andrew Jeong
Andrew Jeong is a reporter for The Washington Post in its Seoul hub. Twitter
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/13/florida-school-shooting-plot-columbine/