The Full Belmonte, 10/6/2023
A family of five and a man walk through the desert after crossing the border near Lukeville, Ariz., Aug. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Biden administration waives 26 federal laws to allow border wall construction in South Texas
“The Biden administration announced it waived 26 federal laws in Texas to allow for border wall construction on Wednesday, marking the administration’s first use of a sweeping executive power employed often during the Trump presidency. Read more.
Why this matters:
The Department of Homeland Security posted the announcement with few details outlining the construction in Starr County, Texas, which is part of a busy Border Patrol sector seeing ‘high illegal entry.’ According to government data, about 245,000 illegal entries have been recorded this fiscal year in the Rio Grande Valley Sector.
The DHS decision contrasts with the administration’s previous posturing from a Jan. 2021, proclamation which stated that ‘building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution.’ The announcement prompted political debate by the Democratic administration facing a migrant surge while proponents of the border wall said the waivers should be used as a launching pad for a shift in policy.” [AP News]
“The Biden administration announced yesterday that it would restart deportations to Venezuela and resume repatriation flights immediately. The administration is trying to discourage migrants from crossing the U.S-Mexico border illegally. Economic and political turmoil in Venezuela has fueled record levels of migration. This year, 400,000 migrants have crossed the Darién Gap, a treacherous stretch of roadless jungle between South America and Central America, to reach the U.S., according to Panamanian officials.” [NPR]
Migrants in Brownsville, Texas.Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
Biden's Trumpish border moves
Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photos: Agencia Press South, John Moore, Kevin Dietsch, Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
“After an outcry from blue state governors and big city mayors, President Biden's border policy in 2023 is looking more like the Trump era, Axios' Stef Kight writes.
Biden's going forward with a border wall in South Texas, striking deals with Mexico, expediting family deportation, restricting asylum and paying Panama to remove people as historic migration continues.
Why it matters: Political pressure has been building for Biden to fix the border problem fast.
What's happening: Top Cabinet members descended on Mexico today to discuss solutions to illegal migration and fentanyl smuggling as tension between the two countries has escalated.
Venezuela also agreed to cooperate with U.S. deportation efforts for the first time in years, senior administration officials announced today.
Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at a meeting in Mexico City today. Photo: Marco Ugarte/AP
Zoom in: Administration officials are quick to point to the differences between Biden's border policies and his predecessor's, including expansive legal parole programs. But the similarities are hard to miss.
After swearing he wouldn't build more border walls, Biden is now waiving dozens of federal laws to allow exactly that in South Texas.
Asylum-seekers who don't seek refuge in a country they traveled through first are being rejected for asylum, reminiscent of Trump's so-called transit ban.
Homeland Security is expanding a program to deport families faster.
The State Department is readying to use foreign aid to assist another country's deportation efforts for the first time in history — similar to a plan first pursued by Trump.
Between the lines: The South Texas border wall project will use funds from 2019, when Trump was president. Biden argues that the construction is required to go forward by law.” [Axios]
U.S. Added 336,000 Jobs Last Month
“Hiring accelerated sharply last month as employers added 336,000 jobs, the biggest gain since January. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.8%.”
READ MORE at Wall Street Journal
Nobel Peace Prize
Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, right, from the center for Human Rights Defenders, listens to Karim Lahidji, president of the Iranian league for the Defence of Human Rights, during a press conference on the Assessment of the Human Rights Situation in Iran, at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 9, 2008. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Narges Mohammadi for fighting oppression of women in Iran. Magali Girardin—Keystone via AP
“The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi early today. The committee said it was for ‘her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.’ Mohammadi has been a prisoner for most of the past two decades. She has been sentenced repeatedly for being the voice of the voiceless, for her unrelenting campaign against the death penalty and solitary confinement – which she has had to endure for weeks at a time. She is currently serving a sentence of 10 years and 9 months, accused of actions against national security and propaganda against the state. She was also sentenced to 154 lashes, among other punishments.” [CNN]
Russian missile strike kills at least 51 in eastern Ukraine, officials say
“A Russian missile strike on a café and grocery store in an eastern Ukraine village killed at least 51 civilians, in one of the deadliest attacks since the war began, officials in Kyiv said.
Residents were gathering for a memorial service when the strike occurred, wiping out about one-sixth of the village’s population, including a 6-year-old child, the officials said.
The attack came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was attending a summit in Spain, where he was lobbying European leaders for more aid, amid concerns the U.S. may cut off funding due to the chaos in the House.
Support for sending more weapons to Ukraine is falling among Americans of both major political parties, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.” [NBC News]
Trump
“Former President Donald Trump endorsed Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan's bid for speaker of the House today. Trump's endorsement came after the former president was approached in recent days by GOP lawmakers who floated the idea of him serving as speaker, even on a temporary basis. Sources close to Trump say that while he is ‘flattered’ and ‘honored’ that people have raised his name, he is not seriously entertaining the idea. Even if he did run for speaker, Trump would need to earn the majority of the votes of lawmakers present and voting — which could prove difficult for a former president who is polarizing even among members of the GOP conference.” [CNN]
“After leaving office, Trump shared nuclear submarine secrets with an Australian businessman at Mar-a-Lago. Prosecutors have interviewed the businessman.” [New York Times]
Trump's opposition surrenders
Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Mary Altafeer/AP
“A growing number of anti-Trump Republicans are giving up — giving into the belief that nothing will stop him, Axios' Sophia Cai reports.
Why it matters: Despite former President Trump's increasingly violent rhetoric and four felony indictments, many anti-Trump Republicans quietly are stepping back from pushing for an alternative — concluding that nothing will sway the party's base to quit Trump.
State of play: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp — who clashed with Trump when he refused to go along with the former president's claim that the 2020 election was stolen — said last week that he'll support Trump if he gets the GOP nomination.
Win It Back, a PAC affiliated with the conservative group Club for Growth, burned through $6 million creating 40 anti-Trump messages — none of them effective, the N.Y. Times reported.
Republican Accountability PAC — a group of former Trump voters dedicated to moving beyond the former president — is giving up on the primary after spending $1 million on ads in Iowa, per Reuters.
What's happening: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once seen as the best prospect to take down Trump, has been in a downward spiral.
Hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, the biggest individual donor to the DeSantis-aligned Never Back Down PAC, won't donate more money for now.
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin — a billionaire who previously said ‘our country would be well-served by [DeSantis] as president’ — now isn't supporting DeSantis.
Between the lines: In a sign of DeSantis' struggles, Trump — obsessed with blasting the Florida governor for much of this year — is now taking aim at former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has done well in the two GOP debates and is outpolling DeSantis in New Hampshire.
Trump yesterday complained on Truth Social that Fox News ‘has been pushing Nikki 'Birdbrain' Haley’ after having ‘totally given up on Ron DeSanctimonious.’
Republican U.S. Senate candidates increasingly are aligning themselves with Trump — and casting their opponents as anti-Trump.” [Axios]
“George Tyndall, the former U.S.C. gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients, was found dead at his home. The cause of death was unclear.” [New York Times]
“The police arrested a man with a handgun who was looking for Gov. Tony Evers at the Wisconsin State Capitol. The man posted bail and returned with an assault rifle.” [New York Times]
“Representative George Santos’s former treasurer admitted that she had fraudulently reported a fictional $500,000 loan that Santos claimed to have made to his campaign.” [New York Times]
“The I.R.S. placed a lien on Rudy Giuliani’s Florida condo because he owes about $550,000 in taxes.” [New York Times]
Cornel West announced that he’s running for president in 2024 as an independent candidate.
“The activist and former Harvard and Princeton professor previously planned to seek the Green Party nomination, but that’s no longer the case. Winning the Green nod would have ensured ballot access in nearly 20 states with the potential for close to all 50. Democrats worry he could siphon off Democrats' votes from President Biden and possibly help reelect Donald Trump. West has criticized both political parties, describing his view of the left’s chronic ineffectiveness at preventing a GOP tilt to authoritarianism. He calls the argument that he could play a role in a Trump victory plausible but not persuasive. The former president’s campaign didn’t comment.” [Wall Street Journal]
Man who wounded 10 in NYC subway shooting is sentenced to life in prison
“Frank James, 64, pleaded guilty earlier this year to terrorism charges in the April 12, 2022, mass shooting aboard a Manhattan-bound train. He received a life sentence on 10 counts and 10 years for an 11th count.” Read More at AP News
The world is intervening in Haiti — again.
Richard Pierrin/AFP via Getty Images
“On Monday, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution authorizing a multinational security mission intended to tackle gang-related violence in Haiti’s capital city Port-au-Prince.
In 2021, following the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, Ariel Henry — a neurosurgeon who was in line for the prime ministership — took control of the government. Under Henry’s leadership, public institutions collapsed and armed members of the G9 and G-PEP gang federations effectively took control of Port-au-Prince. These groups traffic drugs, recruit children, and kidnap and murder civilians.
Led by Kenya’s national police force, the international security mission aims to stop the violence in the city and train Haiti’s underpaid and outgunned National Police force. However, given Haiti’s colonial history and its negative experiences with past international security missions, some fear this newest mission will do more harm than good.
The lowdown: The year-long Multinational Security Support mission (MSS) will likely begin on January 1, 2024, and be reviewed after nine months.
Kenya will send 1,000 national police officers, and several other countries from the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, and Latin America will likely offer support. The focus of the mission will be helping the Haitian police force to identify and neutralize gang structures and funding streams.
Kenya said it wanted to lead the mission due to its ‘commitment to Pan Africanism’ and the ‘reclaiming of the Atlantic crossing,’ a reference to the people Europeans once kidnapped and enslaved in Haiti. Critics worry the Kenyan National Police force will bring its track record of human rights abuses to Haiti. The US — which has its own problematic history with Haiti — was reluctant to lead the mission, as were other nations like Canada and Brazil.
Past peacekeeping efforts and international missions to the island nations have seen mixed success. In 1994 and 2004 peacekeeping missions were unsuccessful in stabilizing Haiti in the long-term, and even more concerning, the peacekeepers from the 2004 mission were likely responsible for a cholera outbreak that killed 10,000 Haitians.
The stakes: Even if the MSS can mitigate gang violence and stabilize Port-au-Prince, it will do nothing to address the government’s lack of political legitimacy. While officially the MSS is not in support of any political leader or party, the US and the UN have effectively treated acting Prime Minister Henry as Haiti’s legitimate government representative, which isn’t a view shared by most Haitians.
Henry has allowed gang violence to worsen and hollowed many of Haiti’s institutions. The judiciary can no longer prosecute gang-related crimes, and the country’s last remaining senators’ terms expired in January. This means Haiti has no elected officials in government, and Henry is stalling any efforts to establish a transitional government or hold elections.
‘This is a very specific mission, I’m told — get boots on the ground, stop the killings, extortions, kidnappings, and rapes so people can have some semblance of normalcy, get out. It’s not meant to address the root causes of why the gangs became so powerful in the first place,’ Ellen Ioanes, a weekend reporter with Vox, told me. ‘There has got to be a concerted effort from international actors to support a political settlement in which Ariel Henry steps down and Haitian people are able to hold elections and build and strengthen their public institutions.’” [Vox]
Biden plans for Xi meeting
Xi Jinping toasts last week on China's 74th National Day in Beijing. Photo: Andy Wong/AP
“The White House is making plans for a November meeting in San Francisco between President Biden and China's Xi Jinping during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, The Washington Post's Ellen Nakashima scoops.
‘It's pretty firm,’ a Biden administration official said, while not yet confirmed.
A U.S. official said the Chinese ‘want to do it.’
Why it matters: The meeting would be a strong indicator that the U.S.-China relationship is back on steadier ground after the Chinese spy balloon fracas early this year cast a deep chill over the relationship, Axios China author Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian writes.
Xi's attendance at APEC, especially since it's being hosted in the U.S., would suggest he's not abandoning multilateral summits in favor of China-centric ones — as some observers speculated after he skipped last month's G20 in India and UN General Assembly in New York.” [Axios]
“Mauritius' highest court has decriminalised gay sex. The law banning homosexuality in the island country did not "reflect any indigenous Mauritian values but was inherited as part of our colonial history from Britain", judges said.” [BBC News]
The number of people unaffiliated with any organized religion is growing globally
“For centuries, a handful of major religions have collectively been dominant forces across the world, with huge influence on the politics and daily life of virtually every nation. Religion still holds incomparable sway, but in many countries there has been a dramatic increase in the ‘nones,’ people who are nonbelievers or — while considering themselves spiritual — do not identify with any organized religion. Read more.
Why this matters:
While the nones’ vast diversity splinters them into myriad subgroups, most of them in the United States have this in common: They. Really. Don’t. Like. Organized. Religion.
In Latin America, although Catholicism remains the dominant religion, the church's influence has waned following clergy abuse scandals and the church’s stances against abortion and LGBTQ rights. And in places like the Middle East and Africa, many nones negotiate their existence by pretending to fast and pray, making it hard to find reliable estimates of the number of nones in the largely religious region.” [AP News]
Weight-Loss Drugs Come With Serious Side Effects, According to a New Study
BY ALICE PARK
“There’s been a surge in demand for a class of diabetes drugs that are now popular for their serendipitous byproduct: weight loss.
The drugs belong to a class called GLP-1 agonists and include semaglutide, the main ingredient in Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus; tirzepatide, which is found in Mounjaro; and liraglutide, used in Victoza and Saxenda. While effective in helping people with diabetes to lose about 15% of their body weight, these drugs are also linked to some risk of gastrointestinal side effects, including inflammation in the pancreas and obstructions of the digestive system….” [Time]
When driverless cars are bad drivers
San Francisco firefighters work an accident involving a robotaxi on Monday. Photo: S.F. Fire Department/Reuters
“A hit-and-run that left a pedestrian gravely injured in San Francisco this week is raising questions about whether autonomous vehicles can handle the unexpected, Axios' Joann Muller reports.
Why it matters: The promise that driverless cars will be safer than human drivers is almost the entire selling point of the technology.
But as the cars roll out in a growing number of cities, a string of incidents, including in San Francisco and Austin, has hurt public trust.
This week's accident involved both a human-driven car (which initially collided with the pedestrian) and a Cruise AV (which then also hit her).” [Axios]
Jon FosseEirik Hagesaeter/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
“A high honor: The Norwegian writer Jon Fosse won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Fosse is best known for his plays, whose sparse style and existential themes draw comparisons to Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett. His novels have also recently found acclaim in the English-speaking world — especially his “Septology” series, about an aging artist’s reckoning with the divine.
Here’s a guide to Fosse’s best work — and an explanation of how the literature prize is selected.” [New York Times]
“The Nigerian-Belgian artist Otobong Nkanga won the Nasher Prize for sculpture, one of the art world’s top honors.” [New York Times]
Ancient footprints could shed light on when humans arrived in North America.
A human footprint found at White Sands National Park. (National Park Service)
“Why? The tracks in New Mexico are more than 21,000 years old, according to a new study. That would mean humans were in the area much earlier than previously thought.
The debate: Not all scientists are convinced. But the finding could upend long-accepted beliefs about how and when people first migrated to the Americas.”
Read this story at Washington Post
'Thursday Night Football' recap: Bears snap 14-game losing streak
“At last, the Chicago Bears have won a game. DJ Moore and the Bears upended the Washington Commanders, 40-20, on Thursday night. The victory was Bears’ first win since Oct. 24, 2022, ending a 14-game losing streak. Moore was without question the star of the night. The Bears wide receiver had eight catches for a career-high 230 yards and three touchdowns. Looking ahead to this weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs (3-1) will head north on Sunday in hopes of coming away with a victory from the upset minded Minnesota Vikings (1-3). Read more
•Dick Butkus, Chicago Bears legend and iconic NFL linebacker, has died at 80.
•Mel Tucker skipped his sex harassment hearing and alleged new ''evidence'' proves his innocence.
•The power rankings roller coaster brings enticing matchups to NFL's Week 5 schedule.
•These 22 college football teams are still unbeaten.” [USA Today]
Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore (2) celebrates with teammate Darnell Mooney (11) after scoring a touchdown against the Washington Commanders.
Brad Mills, USA TODAY Sports
Baseball's best rivalry
“The Wild Card sweeps gave us an unexpected two days off from playoff baseball. On Saturday, we begin again — with drama in tow. Juiciest Division Series matchups, ranked 1-4:
1. Phillies vs. Braves
Narratives are flying here. These two share a division, which has been dominated in the regular season by Atlanta for the past six years. And yet it was the Phillies beating the Braves in last year’s NLDS en route to a surprise World Series run … one year after the Braves won a ring. Jayson Stark calls it baseball’s best rivalry.
Game 1: 6 p.m. ET (TBS)
2. Rangers vs. Orioles
Baltimore was baseball’s best team — and story — this season. Yet this wildly talented group is short on postseason experience. The Rangers are too, but Texas faces none of the pressure a 101-win upstart does. On paper, the Orioles are better, but the Rangers have already gutted out a road playoff series win. That counts for something.
Game 1: 1 p.m. ET (FS1)
3. Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers
Another divisional rivalry with a little less oomph than Phillies-Braves because the Diamondbacks haven’t really been here recently. And yet still compelling! This Arizona team came back to win both Wild Card games on the road, staving off multiple comeback efforts from the NL Central champion Brewers. Again, counts for something. The Dodgers, meanwhile, had a “quiet” 100-win season by their standards. Don’t be surprised if Arizona steals one of the first two.
Game 1: 9:20 p.m. ET (TBS)
4. Twins vs. Astros
Don’t get me wrong: This is a fun matchup. We just have a lot of fun matchups. Carlos Correa plays his old team, and honestly it’s good to see him playing well after his winter from hell. Minnesota might be in trouble here though, as the Astros remain the Astros, and the Twins don’t feel completely built for this.”
Game 1: 4:45 p.m. ET (FS1) [The Athletic]
”Saturday’s Powerball jackpot has climbed to $1.4 billion, the third largest prize in the game’s history, after no winning tickets were sold in last night’s drawing.” [NBC News]
“Lives Lived: Dick Butkus was the Chicago Bears’ Hall of Fame middle linebacker of the 1960s and ’70s and a selection for the N.F.L.’s 100th anniversary all-time team. He died at 80.” [New York Times]