The Full Belmonte, 10/23/2022
Ukraine faces power outages after ‘massive’ Russian strikes target energy facilities
Russian attacks on energy plants across Ukraine left more than a million households without electricity, officials said on Saturday
“Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had launched a ‘massive attack’ on Ukraine, with some strikes reported on energy infrastructure that resulted in power outages across the country.
More than a dozen Russian missiles pounded energy facilities and other infrastructure across Ukraine on Saturday, the Ukrainian air force said, with strikes causing blackouts in parts of different regions.
Russian airstrikes on energy facilities across the country have left more than a million households in Ukraine without electricity, the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidency, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said earlier on Saturday.
Fresh strikes targeted energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s west, Ukraine’s energy operator Ukrenergo said on social media, and officials in several regions of the war-scarred country reported power outages.” Read more at The Guardian
Illegal border crossings to US from Mexico hit annual high
“SAN DIEGO (AP) — A surge in migration from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua in September brought the number of illegal crossings to the highest level ever recorded in a fiscal year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The year-end numbers reflect deteriorating economic and political conditions in some countries, the relative strength of the U.S. economy and uneven enforcement of Trump-era asylum restrictions.
Migrants were stopped 227,547 times in September at the U.S. border with Mexico, the third-highest month of Joe Biden’s presidency. It was up 11.5% from 204,087 times in August and 18.5% from 192,001 times in September 2021.
In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, migrants were stopped 2.38 million times, up 37% from 1.73 million times the year before, according to figures released late Friday night. The annual total surpassed 2 million for the first time in August and is more than twice the highest level during Donald Trump’s presidency in 2019.” Read more at AP News
China’s leader Xi Jinping secures third term and stacks inner circle with loyalists
Xi unveiled as general secretary of ruling Communist Party, tilting China back towards one-man rule after decades of power-sharing among elite
“Xi Jinping has been confirmed as leader of China for a precedent-breaking third term, after a week-long political meeting eliminated key rivals and strengthened his political power.
The 20th Party Congress, the most important meeting of the ruling Chinese Communist party five-year political cycle, saw about 2,400 delegates gather in Beijing to rubber-stamp major reshuffles and constitutional changes before its official close on Saturday.
At a press event on Sunday, seven key Xi loyalists were revealed as members of China’s most powerful political body, the politburo standing committee (PSC), as they walked on stage in order of rank.
‘I was reelected as the general secretary of the CPC central committee,’ Xi said in opening remarks, before presenting the six other members: Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi.” Read more at The Guardian
Photo: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
“Above: President Xi Jinping looked on today as his predecessor, former President Hu Jintao, was escorted out of the closing session of China's Communist Party Congress, in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.
Hu, 79, was seated to Xi's left. Hu was led off the stage by two stewards.
Video of the incident, highly unusual given the meticulous stage management, was widely shared on Twitter — but couldn't be found on China's heavily censored social media platforms, Reuters reports.
By this evening, the comments section of almost all Weibo posts containing Hu's name were no longer visible.” Read more at Axios
Photo: Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images
AFP video footage showed a steward repeatedly trying to lift Hu from his seat, drawing concerned looks from officials seated nearby,
Hu put his hand on a sheet of paper placed on Xi's folder. But Xi quickly put his hand on the sheet.
Photo: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Looking distressed, Hu appeared to resist leaving, turning back to his seat at one point. On his way out, he exchanged words with Xi and patted Premier Li Keqiang, seated to Xi's right, on the shoulder.
Trump Organization to face criminal tax fraud charges in New York court on Monday
Former CFO is expected to testify about off-the-books compensation scheme to evade paying payroll taxes
It comes as the former US president faces a maze of legal troubles and mounting costs – by some estimates running at close to $4m a month to his leadership PAC – over his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss, the removal of government documents from the White House when he left office and a defamation case relating to a rape allegation.
Monday’s case is centered on charges that his Manhattan-headquartered real estate company defrauded New York tax authorities by awarding ‘off the books’ compensation over 15 years to company executives, including lease payments for cars, apartment rent and tuition fees for relatives in lieu of some salary, enabling the company to evade paying payroll taxes.” Read more at The Guardian
Fears Over Fate of Democracy Leave Many Voters Frustrated and Resigned
As democracy frays around them, Republicans and Democrats see different culprits and different risks.
“LA CROSSE, Wis. — Allyse Barba, a 34-year-old in the insurance industry, watched excitedly upstairs at Thrunie’s Classic Cocktails as Mandela Barnes, the youthful Democrat running for the Senate, tore through his stump speech just 19 days before the election.
Then Ms. Barba reflected on the politics of her state: the divide between the blue dot of downtown La Crosse and the surrounding red reaches of western Wisconsin, where she said she could not have a civil conversation; the Republican favored to win the seat in her congressional district, who was at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021; and a Legislature so gerrymandered that her Democratic Party does not stand a chance.
‘It is disheartening to live in a state where nothing happens,’ she said glumly. ‘Voting isn’t making a difference right now.’
Seventy-one percent of all voters believe that democracy is at risk, according to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, but only 7 percent identified that as the most important problem facing the country. Americans face more immediate concerns: the worst inflation in 40 years, the loss of federal abortion rights after 50 years and a perception that crime is surging, if not in their communities then in cities nearby.
But another factor is dampening people’s motivation to save America’s representative system of government: Some have already lost faith in its ability to represent them.
Wisconsin would seem like a state where concerns over democracy feel pressing — especially in this western swath of the state. The House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack uncovered text messages indicating that Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican seeking re-election, wanted to hand-deliver a slate of fake Wisconsin electors to Vice President Mike Pence that day to overturn Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s narrow victory in the state.
Derrick Van Orden, the fiercely pro-Trump Republican running to succeed Representative Ron Kind, a moderate Democrat who has represented much of western and central Wisconsin since 1997, was at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
And Wisconsin, perhaps more than any other state, is suffering through the erosion of democratic ideals already. Though virtually every elected statewide officer here is a Democrat, extreme gerrymandering of state legislative maps has given Republicans near supermajorities in the State Senate and House. At best, Democrats enter the state elections in November hoping to perpetuate the stalemate by re-electing their governor, Tony Evers, said Michael Hallquist, a Democratic alderman in Brookfield, outside Milwaukee.
But that democratic erosion may have sent many of Wisconsin’s citizens on a downward spiral of feeling powerless, apathetic and disconnected as one-party control becomes entrenched.
‘It is daunting to convince fellow Democrats their votes matter,’ said Tammy Wood, a party organizer who tried to fire up the crowd at Thrunie’s with a rousing ‘Welcome, Democrats, defenders of democracy!’
“That is the purpose of the gerrymander — to make us fall into that feeling of defeat,” she added. “But we can’t let that happen.”
Of course, just what is threatening democracy depends on who you talk to. Many Republicans are just as frustrated, convinced that the threat stems from liberal teachers, professors or media personalities who they fear are indoctrinating their children; undocumented immigrants given a path to citizenship; or Democrats widening access to voting so much that they are inviting fraud.
Michelle Ekstrom, 48, a moderate in Waukesha, typified Republicans who fear the electoral system has already been compromised.
‘I feel that it’s definitely crooked,’ she said. ‘I always think to myself, What is the purpose if I go vote? Someone crooked somewhere along the way is just going to put more votes in somewhere else than the real people’s votes. I think it’s definitely tilted heavily on the Democratic side.’
Mindy Pedersen, who runs a protective packaging business in Eleva, south of Eau Claire, believes democracy is being threatened by a dwindling self-reliance among Americans, saying they seem instead to be gravitating to their own kind — women, Black people, L.G.B.T.Q. people — to press their grievances. She described a meeting of a network of female business owners where she was asked to describe how the group had helped her company thrive. She replied that her gender had nothing to do with her success; she has been ostracized ever since, she said.
‘Do we want equality or do we want to crush our opposition, which is men?’ Ms. Pedersen asked. ‘If I put out a sign that said, ‘White heterosexual women matter, and by the way, I love Jesus,’ oh, could you imagine the reaction?’
Indeed, ask voters exactly what is threatening democracy and the answers are as varied as the individuals who formulate them.
Peter Flucke, 61, a retired police officer from Ashwaubenon, outside Green Bay, sees a failure of governments to protect their citizens and a breakdown of the rule of law as representing the unraveling of democratic control. Where does Mr. Flucke, now a bicycle and pedestrian safety consultant, see that happening? Not in the grainy images of lawlessness seen in countless attack ads against Democrats, but in rising death tolls in Wisconsin’s crosswalks and bike lanes.
Mr. Flucke, an independent, said he would probably vote for Mr. Barnes and Mr. Evers, though not because of all this democracy talk. In the end, he said, he is most worried about his two daughters losing their right to choose an abortion.
Caleb Hummel, 25, an engineer in Waukesha, also sees a threat to democracy, though it is by no means top of mind: socialism. His opposition to abortion is driving his vote for Republicans, but ‘there’s something to’ this democracy-in-peril talk, he said. ‘The far left is demonstrating somewhat socialist policies.’
Some voters are following with alarm the threats to democracy that spun out of Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Katheryn Dose, 74, a retired nurse in La Crosse, cited at length reports of Senator Johnson’s offer to deliver the slate of fake electors for Mr. Trump. She said it was ‘frightening’ that her congressman next year could be Mr. Van Orden. And she looked beyond her own state to candidates like Kari Lake, a Republican running for governor in Arizona, who claim falsely that the 2020 election was stolen.
“For me, I really worry about people like that being elected and running this country,” Ms. Dose said. “Election deniers with the power to deny the next election? That is a huge concern.”
But voters like Ms. Dose appear vastly outnumbered by those who express concern for the fate of democracy, yet say they are willing to vote for candidates who reject the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
Ms. Pedersen’s husband, David, a conservative who runs the packaging company with her, scoffed at all the fuss over Jan. 6.
‘In reality, do you think those people were really going to overthrow the government? Really?’ he asked, taking offense at even being asked whether Jan. 6 was a threat to democracy. ‘Was Trump ever really going to not leave office? You know he would.’
Mr. Barnes, Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor, clearly senses that the issue is not his ticket to the Senate. As he spoke to supporters, he did make the case that Mr. Johnson was a threat — ‘He personally attacked our democracy’ — but only after criticizing Mr. Johnson’s support for a tax break for the wealthy, his efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act, his opposition to Medicare negotiating prescription drug prices, his embrace of Wisconsin’s newly relevant 1849 abortion ban and much more.
If Mr. Barnes had to choose the top two issues driving voters to the polls, he said later, he would pick inflation and abortion.
Barry Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said some of the apathy toward democracy’s fate stemmed from the structure of the American political system. Other countries have multiparty democracies where citizens have political options more narrowly tied to their interests — like “green” parties for environmentalists, religious parties or socialists. Ruling coalitions of multiple parties offer more citizens a stake in the government and something to root for.
‘Our two-party system is all or nothing,’ Mr. Burden said. ‘Either your party wins the White House or loses it, wins Congress or loses it. It makes feelings more intense, positively or negatively.’
And in states like Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina and Georgia, where gerrymandering has ensured that the electorate’s partisan composition need bear little resemblance to that of its Legislature or congressional delegation, those feelings are entrenched. Only 2 percent of bills sponsored by Democrats in the Wisconsin State Legislature last session got a hearing, much less a vote.” Read more at New York Times
G.O.P. Voter Fraud Crackdowns Falter as Charges Are Dropped in Florida and Texas
One man who had his charges dismissed was among a group of former felons who were rounded up in August under orders from Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.
“Dealing setbacks to Republican-led voter fraud prosecutions, judges in Florida and Texas this week dropped charges against two former felons who had been accused of casting ballots when they were not eligible to do so because of their status as offenders.
Robert Lee Wood, one of those two felons, was part of an August roundup spearheaded by Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, on voter fraud.
On Friday, a circuit court judge in Miami-Dade County granted a motion to dismiss two felony charges related to voter fraud against Mr. Wood, 56, who spent two decades in prison for second-degree murder. Mr. Wood was among the 20 people who were recently arrested in Florida on voter fraud charges and became the first defendant to have them dropped.
And on Monday, a district court judge in Texas set aside the indictment of Hervis Earl Rogers, a Houston man who gained widespread attention for waiting seven hours to vote during the 2020 primary election. Last year, Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general and a Republican, charged Mr. Rogers with voting illegally because he was on parole.
A lack of evidence of widespread voter fraud has not stopped Republicans from aggressively pursuing it in states where they hold power. Now, the unraveling of the two high-profile cases has compromised the legitimacy of those efforts.
Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for Mr. DeSantis, said in an email on Friday that the state disagreed with the dismissal of charges against Mr. Wood and would appeal the ruling.
‘The state will continue to enforce the law and ensure that murderers and rapists who are not permitted to vote do not unlawfully do so,’ Mr. Griffin said. ‘Florida will not be a state in which elections are left vulnerable or cheaters unaccountable.’” Read more at New York Times
Voters Stick to Pandemic-Era Habits, as Early Turnout Surges
More than 5.5 million people have cast ballots in person or by mail. Experts predict high turnout in the midterm elections.
“Days into early voting in the 2022 midterm elections, states across the country have seen a surge of voters casting ballots at in-person voting sites and by mail, the latest sign that the 2020 election ushered in a transformation in the way Americans vote.
Through the first five days of early voting in Georgia, in-person turnout is up 70 percent compared with turnout in the 2018 midterm elections, according to the secretary of state’s office. In North Carolina, absentee ballot requests are up 114 percent compared with requests in 2018, according to the board of elections. And in Florida, the total early vote is up 50 percent compared with the early vote in 2018.
Election experts say the signs suggest overall turnout will be strong. But they are quick to caution that it is still early in the voting calendar — many states are less than a week in and some have not started. With voters’ behaviors so clearly changed by pandemic-era rules, it is unclear whether this rush to vote will lead to record-breaking totals after Election Day on Nov. 8.
Still, one significant shift in how American elections are conducted has become clear: Election Day has become, and will most likely always be, election month.” Read more at New York Times
Dwindling debates
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) points to an empty podium for Herschel Walker, who skipped the debate in Atlanta on Oct. 16. At left: Libertarian challenger Cha a casualty of politicians' increasing ability to bypass traditional media, Axios' Andrew Solender writes.
Why it matters: Debates, once frank exchanges about serious issuates across the 5 most competitive Slvania, accusing Democrat John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke in May, of ‘dodging’ debates. The two will debate just once, this Tuesday.
In Georgia last week, U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker (R) was a no-show (photo above) to a debate with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), leaving Warnock to sp a fundraising email saying: ‘I’m the only one who showed up last night ... If Walker is running from a debate against me, why is he running for U.S. Senate?’
Data: Brookings Institution. Chart: Axios Visuals.
Zoom out: Debates are disappearing in races up and down the ballot, all over the country.
The hotly contested Senate race in Nevada, a top target for Republicans, will be the only competitive Senate election this cycle without even a single debate, due to a stalemate between the two campaigns.
Missouri's Republican Senate candidate, Eric Schmitt, accused his Democratic foe, Trudy Busch Valentine, of ‘refusing to debate’ — before failing to show up to a debate himself the following week.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) has declined debates.
A debate between Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Republican challenger Yesli Vega was canceled after Spanberger raised security concerns and objections to the moderator, The Washington Post reported.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, both Republicans, have refused to debate.
What's next: The RNC cut ties with the Commission on Presidential Debates earlier this year.” Read more at Axios
It is rare for Title IX cases to go to trial. In Hawaii, a looming case could be a landmark stress test for the 50-year-old law.
Ashley Badis played water polo at James Campbell High School, but her team’s season was jeopardized because the school didn’t hire a coach. Her dad stepped in.Credit...Marie Eriel Hobro for The New York Times
“EWA BEACH, Hawaii — It was rough enough when Ashley Badis and her girls’ water polo teammates had to practice in the ocean, battling fickle winds and choppy waves because their high school had failed to provide them a pool.
But it was humiliating, Badis said, when she learned about female athletes on other teams lugging their gear around school all day, running to a nearby Burger King to use the bathroom, or changing clothes under the bleachers or on the bus. The boys had no such worries because they had their own locker room and facilities.
‘Hearing how many concerns and complaints that they had — it made me feel like I’m not alone in this, but it’s so wrong that we’re all being treated like this,’ Badis, now 21, said in an interview at her family’s home in this Honolulu suburb.
Badis is among the plaintiffs in a potential landmark Title IX case that alleges widespread and systemic sex discrimination against female athletes at James Campbell High School, the biggest public high school in Hawaii.
When it comes to Title IX, the 1972 federal law that prohibited sex-based discrimination in educational settings, much of the attention has focused on opportunities for women to participate in college sports. Among high schools, parents often push administrators to offer equal opportunities. When school officials are accused in lawsuits of not doing so, districts frequently settle without cases going to trial.” Read more at New York Times
GOP looks to avoid upset in Oklahoma governor’s race
“Republicans are looking to avert an upset in Oklahoma’s gubernatorial race as polls show a closer-than-expected contest less than three weeks out from Election Day.
Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) has seen the gap in recent surveys close between him and opponent Joy Hofmeister, who’s aiming to become the first Democrat elected to statewide office in the Sooner State since 2006.
In a sign of how the dynamic has shifted, the Republican Governors Association (RGA) launched a major ad buy in the state this week attacking Hofmeister.
‘That the RGA’s out there with a million dollars three weeks out tells you that their polling is showing what everything else is showing,’ said Chad Alexander, a former chair of the state Republican Party and GOP consultant. ‘I don’t think they would spend a million dollars for no reason.’
Hofmeister has served as the state’s superintendent of public instruction since 2015. She was elected to the position twice as a Republican but changed her party registration to Democrat last year.
One poll showed Hofmeister leading by 7 points, and multiple surveys have shown the candidates locked in a tight race within the margin of error.
Republicans acknowledged the race appears headed for a photo finish, but they expect Stitt to pull through.
Stitt’s campaign told The Hill in a statement that the governor will win the race because of key differences between the candidates. An ad from the campaign and the one from the RGA seek to tie Hofmeister to President Biden and claim both support gas tax increases as supply issues remain, which would cost Oklahoma jobs.” Read more at The Hill
These PACS are funding 'parents' rights advocates' running for local school board positions
“Across the country, new right-leaning political action committees are pouring money into school board races, aiming to flip control of who governs schools in favor of self-proclaimed parents rights advocates in a way that rivals the role that teachers unions have historically had in these contests.
For much less than what it would cost them to influence a seat in the House or Senate, these PACs are putting thousands of dollars at a time – sometimes just hundreds – into races for local school boards and as a result, changing education on a national scale.
A super PAC called the 1776 Project PAC is leading the way, emphasizing opposition to lessons related to racial and social justice. With a war chest smaller than what some congressional candidates in competitive districts are raising, the group has supported and opposed school board candidates in a dozen states.” Read more at USA Today
US politics’ post-shame era: how Republicans became the party of hate
Far from entering the midterms as the party of tolerance, diversity and sincerity, critics say, the Republican party has shown itself to be the opposite
“Republicans were in trouble. Mitt Romney, their US presidential nominee, had been crushed by Barack Obama. The party commissioned an ‘autopsy’ report that proposed a radical rethink. ‘If we want ethnic minority voters to support Republicans,’ it said, ‘we have to engage them and show our sincerity.’
Ten years after Romney’s loss, Republicans are fighting their first election since the presidency of Donald Trump. But far from entering next month’s midterms as the party of tolerance, diversity and sincerity, critics say, they have shown itself to be unapologetically the party of hate.
Perhaps nothing captures the charge more eloquently than a three-word post that appeared on the official Twitter account for Republicans on the House of Representatives’ judiciary committee – ranking member Jim Jordan – on 6 October. It said, simply and strangely: ‘Kanye. Elon. Trump.’
The first of this unholy trinity referred to Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who has recently drawn fierce criticism for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at Paris fashion week and for antisemitic messages on social media, including one that said he would soon go ‘death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE’.
The second was billionaire Elon Musk, who published a pro-Russian peace plan for Ukraine and denied reports that he had been spoken to Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin.
The third was former president Donald Trump, who wrote last weekend that American Jews have offered insufficient praise of his policies toward Israel, warning that they need to ‘get their act together’ before ‘it is too late!’ The comment played into the antisemitic prejudice that American Jews have dual loyalties to the US and Israel.
It was condemned by the White House as ‘insulting’ and ‘antisemitic’. But when historian Michael Beschloss tweeted: ‘Do any Republican Party leaders have any comment at all on Trump’s admonition to American Jews?’, the silence was deafening.
Republicans have long been accused of coded bigotry and nodding and winking to their base. There was an assumption of rules of political etiquette and taboos that could not be broken. Now, it seems, politics has entered a post-shame era where anything goes.
Jared Holt, an extremism researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue thinktank, said: ‘The type of things they would say in closed rooms full of donors they’re just saying out in the open now. It’s a cliche but I always remember what I heard growing up which is, when people tell you who they are, you should believe them.’
The examples are becoming increasingly difficult to downplay or ignore. Earlier this month Tommy Tuberville, a Republican senator for Alabama, told an election rally in Nevada that Democrats support reparations for the descendants of enslaved people because ‘they think the people that do the crime are owed that’. The remark was widely condemned for stereotyping African Americans as people committing crimes.
And Marjorie Taylor Greene, a congresswoman from Georgia, echoed the rightwing ‘great replacement’ theory when she told a rally in Arizona: ‘Joe Biden’s 5 million illegal aliens are on the verge of replacing you, replacing your jobs and replacing your kids in school and, coming from all over the world, they’re also replacing your culture.’
Such comments have handed ammunition to Democrats as they battle to preserve wafer thin majorities in the House and Senate. Although the party is facing electoral headwinds from inflation, crime and border security, it has plenty of evidence that Trump remains dominant among Republicans – a huge motivator for Democratic turnout.
Indeed, Trump did more than anyone to turn the 2013 autopsy on its head. In his first run for president, he referred to Mexicans as criminals, drug dealers and rapists and pledged to build a border wall and impose a Muslim ban. Opponents suggest that he liberated Republicans to say the unsayable, rail against so-called political correctness and give supporters the thrill of transgression.
Antjuan Seawright, a senior adviser to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said: ‘He has been the creator of the permission slip and the validator of the permission slip. For many of them, he is their trampoline to jump even further with their right wing red meat racial rhetoric.’
Beyond Republicans’ headline-grabbing stars, the trend is also manifest at the grassroots. In schools, the party has launched a sweeping assault on what teachers can say or teach about race, gender identity, LGBTQ+ issues and American history. An analysis by the Washington Post newspaper found that 25 states have passed 64 laws reshaping what students can learn and do at school over the past three academic years.
There are examples of the new extremism all over the country. The New York Republican Club will on Monday host an event with Katie Hopkins, a British far-right political commentator who has compared migrants to cockroaches and was repeatedly retweeted by Trump before both were banned by the social media platform.
In Idaho, long a deeply conservative state, Dorothy Moon, the new chairwoman of the state Republican party, is accused of close associations with militia groups and white nationalists. Last month she appeared on Trump ally Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast to accuse the state’s Pride festival and parade of sexualising children.
A recent headline in the Idaho Capital Sun newspaper stated: ‘Hate makes a comeback in Idaho, this time with political support.’
Michelle Vincent, a senior adviser to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stephen Heidt, noted the such currents have long been a problem in Idaho but said: ‘Trump made hate OK. He made bad behavior seem OK because of the extremes of what he was doing. They started emulating him. People were were abused here during Black Lives Matter protests. We have so much militia here and they are out of control.’
In many cases, the naked bigotry goes hand in hand with Trump’s ‘big lie’ that the last election was stolen from him due to widespread voter fraud. A New York Times investigation found that about 70% of Republican midterm candidates running for Congress in next month’s midterm elections have either questioned or flat-out denied the results of the 2020 election.
They can now count on support from Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate who in 2017 met with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and dismissed his entire opposition as ‘terrorists’ Gabbard this week defected to the Republicans and campaigned for Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor of Arizona and an unabashed defender of the big lie.
Another election denier is Doug Mastriano, a political novice running for governor of Pennsylvania with the help of far-right figures. He was outside the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection and photographed watching demonstrators attacking police before he supposedly walked away.
Mastriano has repeatedly criticised his opponent, attorney general Josh Shapiro, for attending and sending his children to what he brands a ‘privileged, exclusive, elite’ school, suggesting that this demonstrates Shapiro’s ‘disdain for people like us’. It is a Jewish day school where students receive both secular and religious instruction.
After a long courtship, Trump himself has in recent months begun embracing the antisemitic conspiracy theory QAnon in earnest. In September, using his Truth Social platform, the former president reposted an image of himself wearing a Q lapel pin overlaid with the words ‘The Storm is Coming’. A QAnon song has been played at the end of several his campaign rallies.
Ron Klein, chair of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said: ‘It’s very unfortunate that the Republican party is either silent and complicit in this antisemitic language that’s being put forward by Donald Trump and others that align with him. But it’s very indicative of a Republican party that does not want to take on rightwing extremists.’
Klein, a former congressman, added: ‘Some members of Republican party did use dog whistles and symbolic language to make their points about minorities, including the Jewish community, and that was very troubling. But the era of Donald Trump has just lifted the rock under which these people now feel it’s OK and even helpful for them to make these kinds of statements and use these kinds of words to gain political power and political stature, which is very troubling in our American political system.’
The 2013 autopsy now looks like a blip, an outlier, in half a century of Republican politics. Richard Nixon’s 1968 ‘law and order’ message stoked racial fear and resentment in the south. Ronald Reagan demonised ‘welfare queens’ in 1976 and, four years later, launched his election campaign with a speech lauding ‘states’ rights’ near the site of the ‘Mississippi Burning’ murders – seen by many as a nod to southern states that resented the federal government enforcing civil rights.
A political action committee linked to George HW Bush’s campaign in 1988 paid for an attack advert blaming Democratic rival Michael Dukakis for the case of Willie Horton, an African American convict who committed rape during a furlough from prison. Lee Atwater, Bush’s campaign manager, bragged that he would turn Horton into ‘Dukakis’s running mate’.
The Atwater playbook is being deployed again in Senate midterm races as Republicans Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania run attack ads accusing their Democratic opponents, Mandela Barnes and John Fetterman, of being soft on crime, often with images of Black prison inmates.
Stuart Stevens, a veteran Republican campaign strategist who wrote a withering indictment of the party’s trajectory, It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump, said: ‘I don’t think Donald Trump made people more racist or antisemitic; I think he gave them permission to express it.’
Stevens, a senior adviser at the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, continued: ‘It’s a party of white grievance and anger and hate is an element of that.’
Kurt Bardella, a Democratic strategist and former Republican congressional aide, agreed: ‘The real consequence of Donald Trump’s presidency is it did give permission to so many people within the party who used to try to mask or hide their racism. They now feel like they can proudly wear it and they do.’
With hate crimes on the rise across America, there are fears that comments by Trump, Tuberville, Greene and others will lead to threats and violence that put lives in danger. Bardella added: ‘We learned after January 6 that, to the Republican party faithful, these aren’t just words, they are instructions. It’s a very dangerous development that one of the major political parties in America has made the conscious decision to wrap itself in the embrace of white nationalism.’” Read more at The Guardian
Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and use of one hand, says agent
Full extent of injuries from ‘brutal attack’ on Satanic Verses author in New York state in August revealed
“Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand after the attack he suffered while preparing to deliver a lecture in New York state two months ago, his agent has confirmed.
The 75-year-old author, whose received death threats from Iran in the 1980s after his novel The Satanic Verses was published, was stabbed in the neck and torso as he came on stage to give a talk on artistic freedom at the Chautauqua Institution on 12 August.
Until now, the full extent of Rushdie’s injuries had been unclear. But in an interview with Spain’s El País, Andrew Wylie explained how serious and life-changing the attack had been.
‘[His wounds] were profound, but he’s [also] lost the sight of one eye,’ said Wylie. ‘He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack.’
The agent declined to say whether Rushdie was still in hospital, saying the most important thing was that the writer going to live.
Wylie also said he and Rushdie had talked about the possibility of such an attack in the past. ‘The principal danger that he faced so many years after the fatwa was imposed is from a random person coming out of nowhere and attacking [him],’ he said.
‘So, you can’t protect against that because it’s totally unexpected and illogical. It was like John Lennon[’s murder].’
Wylie said the world was going through ‘a very troubled period” – not least in the US. “I think nationalism is on the rise, a sort of fundamentalist right is on the rise … From Italy to … Europe, Latin America and the US, where … half the country seems to think that Joe Biden stole the election from Donald Trump. And they admire this man who is not only completely incompetent and a liar and a crook, but just a farce. It’s ridiculous.’
Asked how he felt about the fact that Maus – the Pulitzer-prize-winning graphic novel by another of his authors, Art Spiegelman – had been banned in some US schools, Wylie said: ‘You know, that’s the religious right behaving as they behave. It’s ridiculous. It’s ludicrous. It’s shameful. But it’s a big force in the country now.’
The man accused of stabbing Rushdie pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges when he appeared in court on 18 August.
Hadi Matar, 24, was arraigned during a brief hearing in Chautauqua county district court on an indictment returned by a grand jury that charged him with one count of second-degree attempted murder and one count of second-degree assault.
Two weeks before the attack, Rushdie had told an interviewer that he felt his life was ‘very normal again’ and that fears of an attack were a thing of the past.” Read more at The Guardian
Iran protests trigger solidarity rallies in US, Europe
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Chanting crowds marched in the streets of Berlin, Washington DC and Los Angeles on Saturday in a show of international support for demonstrators facing a violent government crackdown in Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of that country’s morality police.
On the U.S. National Mall, thousands of women and men of all ages — wearing green, white and red, the colors of the Iran flag — shouted in rhythm. ‘Be scared. Be scared. We are one in this,’ demonstrators yelled, before marching to the White House. ‘Say her name! Mahsa!’
The demonstrations, put together by grassroots organizers from around the United States, drew Iranians from across the Washington D.C. area, with some travelling down from Toronto to join the crowd.
In Los Angeles, home to the biggest population of Iranians outside of Iran, a throng of protesters formed a slow-moving procession along blocks of a closed downtown street. They chanted for the fall of Iran’s government and waved hundreds of Iranian flags that turned the horizon into a undulating wave of red, white and green.” Read more at AP News
Fears over Russian threat to Norway’s energy infrastructure
FILE - The Sleipner A gas platform, Norway, Oct. 1, 2022 as a Coast Guard ship patrols around the platform. Norwegian oil and gas workers normally don’t see anything more threatening than North Sea waves crashing against the steel legs of their offshore platforms. But lately they have noticed a more troubling sight: unidentified drones buzzing in the skies overhead. (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix via AP, File)
“STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — Norwegian oil and gas workers normally don’t see anything more threatening than North Sea waves crashing against the steel legs of their offshore platforms. But lately they have noticed a more troubling sight: unidentified drones buzzing in the skies overhead.
With Norway replacing Russia as Europe’s main source of natural gas, military experts suspect the unmanned aircraft are Moscow’s doings. They list espionage, sabotage and intimidation as possible motives for the drone flights.
The Norwegian government has sent warships, coastguard vessels and fighter jets to patrol around the offshore facilities. Norway’s national guard stationed soldiers around onshore refineries that also were buzzed by drones.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has invited the navies of NATO allies Britain, France and Germany to help address what could be more than a Norwegian problem.” Read more at AP News
Blunder in Affirmative Action Case May Cost Harvard $15 Million
A missed insurance notice opened a window onto the cost of litigating challenges to race-conscious admissions programs to be heard this month by the Supreme Court.
“WASHINGTON — As Harvard prepares to defend its race-conscious admissions program at the Supreme Court this month, a federal judge in Boston is considering a related dispute arising from a fumbled insurance filing, one that could cost the university $15 million.
Harvard failed to file a timely formal claim with one of its insurance companies for its expenses in defending the lawsuit challenging its admissions policies. That company, Zurich American Insurance, refused to pay, and Harvard sued. In the process, the university disclosed that its legal fees and expenses in the admissions lawsuit and a related Justice Department investigation had topped $27 million.
‘One of the nation’s top universities is apparently not great about doing its homework,’ said David Lat, a legal commentator.
Days after Students for Fair Admissions sued Harvard in 2014, arguing that its practice of taking account of race in its undergraduate admissions decisions was unlawful and harmed Asian American applicants, the university formally notified its primary insurance carrier to seek payment of its defense costs. That policy had a $25 million limit, after Harvard paid $2.5 million.” Read more at New York Times
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky tests positive for COVID-19, experiencing mild symptoms
“Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has tested positive for COVID-19, the agency announced Saturday.
Walensky is up-to-date with her vaccinations and is experiencing mild symptoms, the CDC said in a statement. She is currently isolating at home and is expected to participate in meetings virtually.
CDC senior staff members and other close contacts have been informed, the agency said.
The news of Walensky's positive test comes as health officials urge Americans to get updated boosters ahead of an expected winter surge of COVID-19 as the CDC monitors new variants.” Read more at USA Today
“Boris Johnson is trying to win enough support to make what would be a stunning comeback as Britain’s prime minister, as senior Conservative politicians declared their support for former finance minister Rishi Sunak. The two men have become the early favorites to replace Liz Truss, who announced her resignation last week.” Read more at CNN
NLCS: Phillies maul Padres in Game 4 behind Harper, Hoskins and Schwarber
Phillies hit four homers, rally past San Diego 10-6
Philadelphia lead 3-1 in best-of-seven-games series
“Bryce Harper stood on second base after a go-ahead double and ran his hands across the script ‘Phillies’ on his jersey as Citizens Bank Park shook in ecstasy over a World Series that suddenly seemed oh-so-close.
Harper punched his fists toward the ground and blurted a cuss-filled exclamation sure to be printed on T-shirts everywhere in Philly:
‘This is my fucking house!’
With one more win, it will be a home for the World Series.
Rhys Hoskins homered twice, Kyle Schwarber hit a solo shot into shrubbery and Harper doubled to put Philadelphia ahead for good in a wild 10-6 win over the San Diego Padres on Saturday night for a 3-1 lead in the NL Championship Series.” Read more at The Guardian
ALCS: Astros move to brink of World Series after blanking Yankees in Game 3
Javier, Astros romp 5-0 over Yanks, Cole, take 3-0 ALCS lead
Yanks face elimination by Houston for fourth time since 2015
“Cristian Javier and the Houston Astros aren’t just beating the Yankees, they’re chomping them up. And now Dusty Baker’s team is on the verge of an astonishing four-game sweep.
Javier and Houston’s bullpen combined on a three-hitter, Chas McCormick followed a dropped fly ball with an early two-run homer and the Astros beat Gerrit Cole and the Yankees 5-0 on Saturday night to take a 3-0 AL Championship Series lead.
‘We’re not going to come out any slower than we did today,’ McCormick said after setting off another round of the Chas Chomp celebration in Houston’s dugout. ‘We’re going to be ready to play tomorrow and go for the sweep.’
Trying for their second straight AL pennant, the 106-win Astros improved to 6-0 this postseason and need one win for their fourth World Series trip in six years. Houston aims to close out the series on Sunday night when Lance McCullers Jr. starts against Nestor Cortes.” Read more at The Guardian
Top 25 Takeaways: Clemson clears CFP path; 3 unbeatens fall
“As the number of unbeaten teams in major college football was whittled to six, Clemson emerged as the best bet to reach the playoff — even though the Tigers don’t appear to be a serious threat to win a national championship.
The Tigers (8-0) head into the last month of the season a virtual lock to return the Atlantic Coast Conference title game after rallying for a sloppy 27-21 victory against No. 14 Syracuse on Saturday.
The Orange were one of three undefeated teams to fall Saturday along with No. 9 UCLA at No. 10 Oregon and No. 8 Mississippi at LSU.
The Ducks have put that opening-weekend humiliation against No. 1 Georgia in the rearview mirror and played like the Pac-12′s best team since.
Brian Kelly’s Tigers closed the out Ole Miss with a 42-3 run and now head into an off week tied atop the SEC West, and preparing for a visit from No. 6 Alabama on Nov. 5.
Not many expected ’Bama-LSU to be a big one this season, but here they are.” Read more at AP News
“Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner and co-founder of the sports drink company Red Bull, has died, the company announced Saturday. He was 78. As well as turning his energy drink into a market leader, the Austrian billionaire also founded one of the most successful Formula One teams in recent history.” Read more at CNN
“Eclipse, a dog who brought joy to many in Seattle by riding a bus by herself since 2015, died on Friday at age 10. She began commuting alone one day when her owner was finishing his cigarette and she hopped the bus to the dog park without him. Eclipse proved that ‘good dogs belong on the bus,’ the transit authority said.” Read more at NPR