The Full Belmonte, 11/18/2022
"The hour has come"
Photo: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — one of the shrewdest, most powerful, most polarizing and most effective legislative leaders in American history — is handing over the reins.
‘The hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic Caucus,’ Pelosi said in a speech from the House floor today as she announced that she’ll step aside as the party’s leader.
‘Never would I have thought that someday I would go from homemaker to House speaker,’ Pelosi said.
Details: Pelosi was the first woman to be speaker of the House. She led the Democratic Caucus, in both the majority and the minority, for 20 years. She’s been an exceptionally skilled legislative tactician and a prolific fundraiser.
And engineering what would happen after she stepped down was part of that strategic hold on power.
What’s next: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is likely to take over as the House Democrats’ top leader. If Democrats retake the majority in a few years, he could be the first Black speaker.
Go deeper: Meet the next leaders Read more at Axios
Nancy Pelosi with Chuck Schumer in 2018.Credit...Andrew Harnik/Associated Press
Pelosi, dominant figure for the ages, leaves lasting imprint
By CALVIN WOODWARD and NANCY BENAC
“WASHINGTON (AP) — There are two searing scenes of Nancy Pelosi confronting the violent extremism that spilled into the open late in her storied political career. In one, she’s uncharacteristically shaken in a TV interview as she recounts the brutal attack on her husband.
In the other, the House speaker rips open a package of beef jerky with her teeth during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, while on the phone with Mike Pence, firmly instructing the Republican vice president how to stay safe from the mob that came for them both. ‘Don’t let anybody know where you are,’ she said.
That Pelosi, composed and in command at a time of chaos, tart but parochial-school proper at every turn, is the one whom lawmakers have obeyed, tangled with, respected and feared for two decades.
She is the most powerful woman in American politics and one of the nation’s most consequential legislative leaders — through times of war, financial turmoil, a pandemic and an assault on democracy.” Read more at AP News
Qatar Reverses Plans to Sell Beer at World Cup
Alcohol will now only be available in special fan zones and hotels
Budweiser beer kiosks at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar. PHOTO: MIGUEL MEDINA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
“DOHA, Qatar—After more than a decade of speculation surrounding how the Qatar World Cup would handle thirsty soccer fans, organizers abruptly said Friday that beer would no longer be available within the perimeter of the stadiums here.
The decision, which came just two days before the tournament’s opening match, upended existing plans between FIFA, the host nation, and Budweiser to make beer available in certain areas before and after games in a country where sales of alcohol are highly restricted.
Now, the main option for fans looking to knock a few back will be at hotels or a FIFA Fan Festival, which is separate from the stadium complexes scattered around Doha.
‘Following discussions between host country authorities and FIFA, a decision has been made to focus the sale of alcoholic beverages on the FIFA Fan Festival, other fan destinations and licensed venues, removing sales points of beer from Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium perimeters,’ FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, said.
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, Budweiser’s parent company, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but did tweet, ‘Well, this is awkward…’
FIFA in its statement said, ‘The tournament organisers appreciate AB InBev’s understanding and continuous support to our joint commitment to cater for everyone during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.’
The last-minute switch reflects the glaring tension between a conservative Muslim country and the responsibilities that come with hosting an international sports event so closely associated with drinking. Budweiser spends $75 million every four years to be the official beer sponsor of the World Cup—and to be the only beer sold at official venues. Now, one of the central markets to sell those beers has suddenly evaporated.
Instead, Budweiser will only be allowed to sell its nonalcoholic option. Fans were caught completely off guard.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Cans of Budweiser beer featuring the FIFA World Cup logo on display in Doha today. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
US moves to shield Saudi crown prince in journalist killing
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and MATTHEW LEE
“WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration declared Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince should be considered immune from a lawsuit over his role in the killing of a U.S.-based journalist, a turnaround from Joe Biden’s passionate campaign trail denunciations of Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the brutal slaying.
The administration said the senior position of the crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler and recently named prime minister as well, should shield him against a suit brought by the fiancée of slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and by the rights group Khashoggi founded, Democracy for the Arab World Now.
The request is non-binding and a judge will ultimately decide whether to grant immunity. But it is bound to anger human rights activists and many U.S. lawmakers, coming as Saudi Arabia has stepped up imprisonment and other retaliation against peaceful critics at home and abroad and has cut oil production, a move seen as undercutting efforts by the U.S. and its allies to punish Russia for its war against Ukraine.” Read more at AP News
Republican Boebert’s lead over Frisch in Colorado narrows to within recount zone
“DENVER – Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert’s lead has decreased against Democrat Adam Frisch, putting the tight race for a U.S. House seat representing a largely rural swath of Colorado into the automatic recount zone Thursday with some votes still left to count.
Boebert, a conservative firebrand, saw her lead fall to about 550 votes with new results Thursday in a race that’s being closely watched across the country as Republicans try to bolster their advantage in the U.S. House after clinching a narrow majority Wednesday night.
The Associated Press has declared the election in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District too close to call.
Over a week after Election Day and with almost all of the counties reporting results in District 3 as of 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Boebert was still leading over Frisch, but by a slimmer margin. The latest count had Frisch trailing by 551 votes, but the tally was continually updating as counties reported.” Read more at AP News
Oath Keepers Jan. 6 sedition case moves to closing arguments
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
This artist sketch depicts the trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, left, as he testifies before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on charges of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, Nov. 7, 2022. Federal prosecutors are expected to make their final pitch to jurors in the high-stakes seditious conspiracy case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates on Nov. 18.. (Dana Verkouteren via AP)
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors are expected to make their final pitch to jurors Friday in the high-stakes seditious conspiracy case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Closing arguments will begin in Washington federal court after the final pieces of evidence were presented in the trial alleging Rhodes and his band of antigovernment extremists plotted for weeks to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power from Republican Donald Trump to Democrat Joe Biden.
Evidence presented by prosecutors shows Rhodes and his co-defendants discussing the prospect of violence and the need to keep Biden out of the White House in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, before stashing a massive cache of weapons referred to as a ‘quick reaction force’ at a Virginia hotel.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Oath Keepers wearing helmets and other battle gear were seen pushing through the pro-Trump mob and into the Capitol. Rhodes remained outside, like ‘a general surveying his troops on a battlefield,’ a prosecutor told jurors. After the attack, prosecutors say Rhodes and other Oath Keepers celebrated with dinner at an Olive Garden restaurant.
Closing arguments are expected to be Monday for the defense, which has focused on prosecutors’ relative lack of evidence that the Oath Keepers had an explicit plan to attack the Capitol before Jan. 6. Rhodes, who is from Texas, testified that he and his followers were only in Washington to provide security to right-wing figures like Roger Stone. Those Oath Keepers who did enter the Capitol went rogue and were “stupid,” he said.
Rhodes testified that the mountain of writings and text messages showing him rallying his band of extremists to prepare for violence and discussing the prospect of a ‘bloody’ civil war ahead of Jan. 6 was only bombastic talk.
Two other defendants testified in the case. Jessica Watkins, of Woodstock, Ohio, echoed that her actions that day were ‘really stupid’ but maintained she was not part of a plan but rather ‘swept along’ with the mob, which she likened to a crowd gathered at a store for a sale on the popular shopping day known as Black Friday.
Defendant Thomas Caldwell, a Navy veteran from Virginia, downplayed a chilling piece of evidence: messages he sent trying to get a boat to ferry weapons from Virginia across the Potomac into Washington. He testified that he was never serious about his queries, though he struggled to explain other messages referencing violence on Jan. 6.
Two other defendants, Kelly Meggs and Kenneth Harrelson, both from Florida, did not testify.
The group is the first among hundreds of people arrested in the Capitol riot to stand trial on seditious conspiracy, a rare Civil War-era charge that calls for up to 20 years behind bars. The stakes are high for the Justice Department, which last secured such a conviction at trial nearly 30 years ago, and intends to try two more groups on the charge later this year.” Read more at AP News
Game-changing type 1 diabetes drug approved in US
By Smitha Mundasad
Health reporter
“A ‘game-changing’ immunotherapy drug proven to delay the development of type 1 diabetes has been approved by regulators in the USA.
Experts say teplizumab marks a ‘new era’ in treatment, tackling the root cause of the condition for the first time, rather than just the symptoms.
It works by reprogramming the immune system to stop it mistakenly attacking pancreatic cells which produce insulin.
It is likely to pave the way for approval decisions in other countries.” Read more at BBC
Biden asks court to intervene on student loan relief, vows Supreme Court appeal
“President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday asked a federal appeals court to intervene in a legal battle over its $400 billion student loan forgiveness program. The administration asked the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to temporarily hold a lower court's ruling last week that found the Department of Education exceeded its authority with the debt forgiveness program. The Biden administration said it intends to appeal the issue to the Supreme Court. That emergency request would appeal a separate ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, which has also blocked the program.” Read more at USA Today
President Joe Biden speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022.Susan Walsh, AP
State Attorney General to Review Deadly U. of Virginia Shooting
The state’s top law enforcement official will look at how the university assessed the potential threat posed by a suspect before three students were killed.
By Vimal Patel
Nov. 17, 2022
“The Virginia attorney general will review what led to a shooting on Sunday at the University of Virginia that left three students dead, his office announced on Thursday amid questions about whether the university may have missed warning signs about the suspect.
A lawyer for D’Sean Perry, one of the students killed, questioned this week whether the university had investigated aggressively enough after learning two months ago that the suspect, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a senior who lived on campus, was in possession of a gun.
University officials had been investigating whether Mr. Jones may have had a gun in the months leading up to the attack, based on a tip they received in September. But the tipster had not actually seen Mr. Jones with a gun, officials said this week, and the university’s threat assessment team learned that Mr. Jones’s roommate had not seen a gun, either. The investigation uncovered that Mr. Jones had a concealed-weapon conviction in 2021 in another Virginia county.
In a letter to the state’s attorney general on Thursday, the university’s president, James E. Ryan, and the university’s rector, Whittington W. Clement, said that they had requested that Virginia State Police take over the primary responsibility for the investigation. But they acknowledged that there were ‘many valid questions’ that might not be answered by the criminal proceedings.
They asked the attorney general to appoint a special counsel to review the university’s response to the shooting and what steps it took beforehand to assess the threat Mr. Jones posed to the community.
Jason Miyares, the state’s attorney general, said on Thursday that his office had agreed to review the events that led to the shooting.
‘A public report will be shared with students, families, the larger UVA community, and government officials at the appropriate time,’ Victoria LaCivita, a spokeswoman for Mr. Miyares, said in a statement. ‘The attorney general will work with deliberate speed while ensuring that all necessary resources remain devoted to the criminal investigation being conducted by state and local authorities.’
The shooting, which also injured two other students, occurred on Sunday night as the suspect and victims were returning from a class trip to see a play in Washington, D.C. The bus they were on had pulled into a campus parking garage at the Charlottesville campus when the shooting began, the authorities said.
The university campus was locked down for nearly 12 hours, while authorities searched for the suspect, whom they later identified as Mr. Jones. He was charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony, the authorities said.” Read more at New York Times
Kari Lake says she is ‘exploring every avenue’ to fight her loss, despite no sign of election-tilting problems.
While Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, had long lines and glitches with election tabulators, there has been no evidence that the problems influenced Arizona’s race for governor.
By Alexandra Berzon and Jim Rutenberg
Nov. 17, 2022
“Kari Lake, the Republican who lost her bid for governor of Arizona after running a campaign heavily focused on election denialism, suggested in a video on Thursday that she planned to contest her defeat, arguing without evidence that voters had been disenfranchised.
In a video posted on Twitter, Ms. Lake said she had assembled lawyers and was ‘exploring every avenue,’ adding, ‘my resolve to fight for you is higher than ever.’
She pointed to problems with ballot tabulation machines that led to long lines of voters in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and is the state’s largest county. But there has been no evidence that significant numbers of people were unable to cast their ballots, let alone the 17,200 voters who make up Ms. Lake’s losing margin to Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat.
Ms. Lake insinuated that Ms. Hobbs, the state’s top election official, was responsible for the problems. But Ms. Hobbs did not directly run Maricopa County’s election.” Read more at New York Times
Officer in Charge of Uvalde Police on Day of School Shooting Steps Down
Mariano Pargas Jr. was the acting chief of the Uvalde Police Department during the massacre. A state investigation found his decisions were faulty.
Nov. 17, 2022
“DALLAS — A lieutenant who was the acting chief of the police in Uvalde, Texas, during the shooting at Robb Elementary School stepped down on Thursday, a city spokeswoman said, amid questions about his actions and after the release of video footage showing that he did not order officers to quickly breach the classrooms.
The lieutenant, Mariano Pargas Jr., was in charge of the Uvalde Police Department while its chief was on vacation when a gunman opened fire inside the school, killing 19 children and two teachers. Mr. Pargas was placed on administrative leave over the summer, and the Uvalde City Council had been expected to discuss his possible termination on Saturday in a special meeting.
‘Lt. Pargas retired effectively immediately,’ Gina Eisenberg, the spokeswoman, said in an email. ‘He was eligible to retire. Pargas served the city of Uvalde for 18 years.’
Mr. Pargas was among the first officers to enter the school on May 24 after a gunman began firing inside a pair of connected classrooms.” Read more at New York Times
GOP operative found guilty of funneling Russian money to Donald Trump
Listen
“A Republican political strategist was convicted of illegally helping a Russian businessman contribute to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.
Jesse Benton, 44, was pardoned by Trump in 2020 for a different campaign finance crime, months before he was indicted again on six counts related to facilitating an illegal foreign campaign donation. He was found guilty Thursday on all six counts.
Elections ‘reflect the values and the priorities and the beliefs of American citizens,’ Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Parikh said in her closing argument this week. ‘Jesse Benton by his actions did damage to those principles.’
The evidence at trial showed that Benton bought a $25,000 ticket to a September 2016 Republican National Committee (RNC) event on behalf of Roman Vasilenko, a Russian naval officer turned multilevel marketer. (Vasilenko is under investigation in Russia for allegedly running a pyramid scheme, according to the Kommersant newspaper; he could not be reached for comment.) The donation got Vasilenko a picture with Trump and entrance to a ‘business roundtable’ with the future president.” Read more at Washington Post
Firefighters in Snyder, New York, after responding to a car crash on I-290 Thursday night.
Snowstorm
“A potentially historic storm is bearing down on western New York state, bringing treacherous snowfall and temperatures 20 degrees below normal. ‘The snowfall will produce near zero visibility, difficult to impossible travel, damage to infrastructure, and paralyze the hardest-hit communities,’ the National Weather Service said. A state of emergency has been declared in 11 counties and commercial traffic has been banned since Thursday afternoon on about 130 miles of New York's I-90 freeway. The storm's most intense snow is expected to lash the Buffalo, New York, area, where more than 4 feet could pile up, making for an accumulation not seen in more than 20 years.” Read more at USA Today
Channeling Orwell, Judge Blasts Florida’s ‘Dystopian’ Ban on ‘Woke’ Instruction
NOVEMBER 17, 2022
“After his decisive victory in the Florida governor’s race last week, Ron DeSantis dubbed the Sunshine State as the place ‘where ‘woke’ goes to die.’ But a federal judge on Thursday pushed back against that notion, blocking the State University System of Florida from enforcing through regulation a new law that puts strict limits on what professors can teach or say about race in the classroom.
In a searing 139-page order, Judge Mark E. Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida cast as Orwellian the state’s defense of the Individual Freedom Act, also known as the ‘Stop WOKE’ Act. The order comes in response to litigation from university professors and college students, who have argued that provisions of the law prohibiting the expression of certain viewpoints, such as those related to sex and race, are unconstitutional. Defending the law, the State University System has argued that public university professors do not have free speech rights when it comes to what they teach. In his order, Walker took strong exception to that argument.
‘Defendants argue that, under this Act, professors enjoy ‘academic freedom’ so long as they express only those viewpoints of which the State approves,’ Walker wrote. This is positively dystopian.’
Walker, who was nominated to the bench in 2012 by President Barack Obama, is known for his rhetorical flourishes. In the opening line of his order, granting in part a preliminary injunction to the plaintiffs, the federal judge quoted from George Orwell’s 1984. ‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen,’ Walker wrote, ‘and the powers in charge of Florida’s public university system have declared the State has unfettered authority to muzzle its professors in the name of ‘freedom.’
Under the Individual Freedom Act, professors are prohibited from “training or instruction that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels ... student[s] or employee[s] to believe” eight specified concepts. Among others, those concepts include promoting a belief that “A person, by virtue of his or her race, color, national origin, or sex is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”
Florida’s law is part of a broader conservative pushback against “woke” liberalism and critical race theory in colleges and schools. DeSantis, who is widely expected to be a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, has made these issues central to his political identity. As governor, DeSantis is empowered to appoint most members of the state’s Board of Governors, the systemwide university governing body. Under the law, it falls to the board to ferret out unchecked “wokeness” and enforce prohibitions against it. (Violations of the law could result in forfeiture of performance-based funding from the state.)
Walker’s order, however, enjoins the board from enforcing its regulation. Jerry C. Edwards, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, who represented some of the plaintiffs, said the order sent a strong signal to public colleges and the Legislature.
‘We are very happy with this ruling,’ he said. ‘Judge Walker enjoined the Florida Board of Governors from being able to enforce this law, which he called ‘positively dystopian.’ And we totally agree that it is positively dystopian, violates the First Amendment, and is unconstitutionally vague under the Fourteenth Amendment.’
A spokeswoman for the Board of Governors said in an email that the board had ‘no comment, as it is our policy not to comment on pending litigation.’” Read more at Chronicle of Higher Education
North Korea
“North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile today, a test condemned as a ‘brazen violation’ of UN resolutions by the US and its allies. The missile reached an altitude of about 3,790 miles at Mach 22 -- or 22 times the speed of sound -- then likely fell in the waters of Japan's exclusive economic zone, officials said. The Kim Jong Un regime has carried out missile tests on 34 days this year, sometimes firing multiple missiles in a single day, according to a CNN count. North Korea's acceleration in weapons testing has sparked frequent alarm in the region, with the US, South Korea and Japan responding with their own missile launches and joint military exercises.” Read more at USA Today
Britain Unveils New Economic Roadmap
“As a cloud of economic gloom descends over Britain, the British government announced a £55 billion ($65 billion) plan of tax increases and spending cuts on Thursday in a bid to stabilize the budget and calm uneasy markets.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s five-year-plan will likely intensify economic pressures on a public already struggling to cope with a painful cost-of-living crisis. Inflation soared to a 41-year high of 11.1 percent last month, and the country will soon face its largest-ever decline in living standards, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, meaning Britons will see their real disposable incomes decline by over 4 percent.
Britain has already slid into a recession, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday. In his address, he acknowledged that the government was making ‘difficult decisions,’ although he stressed that the moves were necessary.
‘There is a global energy crisis, a global inflation crisis and a global economic crisis,’ he said. ‘But the British people are tough, inventive and resourceful. We have risen to bigger challenges before.’
‘We aren’t immune to these headwinds but with this plan for stability, growth and public services, we will face into the storm,’ he added.
Sunak’s economic agenda marks a sharp reversal from that of his embattled predecessor, Liz Truss, who resigned in October after facing sharp political blowback over pushing for unfunded tax cuts for wealthy Britons.
Soon after Truss’s plan was announced, the value of the pound plummeted to a record low against the dollar and the Bank of England declared an emergency intervention into markets. As political pressure against her economic agenda intensified, Truss dismissed Kwasi Kwarteng, then the chancellor, and walked back parts of her controversial policies before eventually resigning herself.
Sunak has now been in office for nearly a month, having just attended the latest U.N. climate talks, COP27, as well as the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. As the Financial Times‘ Martin Wolf argues, ‘The most important achievement of Hunt and Rishi Sunak is to reintroduce a degree of coherence and predictability into policymaking.’” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Myanmar frees political prisoners. Myanmar’s military junta freed 5,774 prisoners on Thursday, four of whom were foreign citizens: Sean Turnell, an Australian economic aide to Aung San Suu Kyi; Vicky Bowman, the former U.K. ambassador to Myanmar; Toru Kubota, a Japanese documentary filmmaker, and Kyaw Htay Oo, a U.S. citizen.
Of the freed prisoners, dozens were likely political prisoners. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the junta has detained more than 16,000 people since launching a coup in 2021.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Extended grain deal. Russia and Ukraine have extended the U.N. and Turkey-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative by 120 days, after it was originally set to end on Nov. 19. The deal, which was designed to help ease the global food crisis, has been marked by uncertainty ever since it was enacted in July.
‘I welcome the agreement by all parties to continue the Black Sea grain initiative to facilitate the safe navigation of export of grain, foodstuffs and fertilizers from Ukraine,’ said U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“MH17 verdict. A Dutch court sentenced three men (in absentia) to life imprisonment for murder in connection with their role in bringing down a Malaysian Airlines jet flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukrainian territory in 2014. The attack on flight MH17, by separatists linked to Russia, killed 298 people—many of them Dutch citizens.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Egypt’s detained dissident. The family of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the detained British-Egyptian activist, has warned that his health has ‘deteriorated severely’ after seeing him for a scheduled monthly family visit on Thursday.
Abd el-Fattah, who had been on a hunger strike for months, also began refusing water to coincide with the start of COP27, the latest U.N. climate summit. He began drinking water and eating again this week after a ‘near-death experience,’ his family said, but is intent on resuming his hunger strike.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Italy’s migrant-smuggling rings. Following a more than three-year-long investigation, Italian authorities have apprehended 12 people for smuggling migrants. Officials said the suspects would make anywhere between 30,000 and 70,000 euros per smuggling operation by requiring each migrant to hand over 3,000 to 5,000 euros.” Read more at Foreign Policy
Employees resign from Twitter after Elon Musk's deadline
“A mounting number of Twitter employees appeared to resign after Elon Musk asked workers to decide by Thursday evening if they wanted to continue at the social media giant, according to multiple reports. Since taking over Twitter less than three weeks ago, Musk has booted half of the company's full-time staff of 7,500 and an untold number of contractors. Musk told remaining employees this week they ‘will need to be extremely hardcore’ to build ‘a breakthrough Twitter 2.0,’ and working long hours in a high-intensity environment would be part of that push. Musk asked employees to hit ‘yes’ on a link in an email if they wanted to be part of the ‘new Twitter’ by 5 p.m. Eastern on Thursday. Employees who did not reply ‘yes’ would receive three months of severance.” Read more at USA Today
"Chief Twit" Elon MuskGetty
“Musk issued new memos putting managers on notice that their jobs are at stake if he's not satisfied with the performance of anyone working remotely.” Read more at Axios
“Many Twitter employees believe it's a matter of time before the service encounters major technical problems.” (The Verge)
“Musk and his advisers met with some Twitter workers whom they deemed ‘critical’ to try to stop them from leaving.” (N.Y. Times)
Worse than Enron
Photo illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios. Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images
“FTX's new CEO, John Ray III — who cleaned up the Enron accounting scandal of 2001 — says in a court filing that Sam Bankman-Fried's bankrupt crypto empire is worse, Kate Marino writes in Axios Markets.
‘Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls,’ he writes.
‘From compromised systems integrity and faulty regulatory oversight abroad, to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented.’
Between the lines: The filing reads like the tale of a guy haphazardly running a scam with some friends — rather than an account of the inner workings of a global financial empire, which some of the world's most sophisticated investors recently valued at tens of billions of dollars.” Read more at Axios
Denting disinformation
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
“There's a lot that worked about the midterms — hellish lines weren't epidemic; losers conceded. Here's another one:
Misinformation didn't swamp voting the way many experts had feared. Many election deniers on the ballot, particularly for secretary-of-state roles, lost their races.
How it works: Platforms, governments and the media took countermeasures — based on lessons from 2016, 2018 and 2020 — that were at least partially effective, Axios' Ashley Gold and Sara Fischer write.
Here's how online mis- and disinformation were curbed:
De-platforming: Efforts by big tech firms to explicitly banmisinformation about voting helped shove falsehoods to small platforms where those narratives couldn't spread as widely.
Too many new apps: A slew of social and messaging apps have sprung up since the Capitol siege. So memes and voting misinformation spread on alternative platforms instead of to the masses.
Deniers denied: Election deniers were rejected in the midterms, with notable wins for secretaries of state Brad Raffensperger in Georgia and Katie Hobbs in Arizona.
Defamation fears: Fox News faced a defamation lawsuit by voting machine company Dominion after airing conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who spread the narrative that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was fake, was fined $1.44 billion in a lawsuit brought by victims' families.
More education: Nonprofits, departments of state, media organizations and campaigns ran voter education initiatives in an attempt to "pre-bunk" misinformation ahead of the midterm elections.
Taylor Swift fans broke Ticketmaster
Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Amazon
“It’s been three days, and Ticketmaster still can’t handle the demand for Taylor Swift tickets.
Driving the news: Presale tickets for Swift’s upcoming tour dates were supposed to be available earlier this week, but Ticketmaster’s site crashed under the ‘unprecedented demand’ for tickets. It ultimately had to postpone presales for some tour dates.
Tickets were supposed to go on sale to the general public tomorrow — but now Ticketmaster has canceled that, too, again citing ‘extraordinarily high demands … and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand.’
Swift still sold 2 million tickets on Tuesday alone — the most any artist has ever sold on a single day.
Demand is so high in part because this will be Swift’s first tour since 2018. She’s released four albums since then. She’d have to perform 900 stadium shows in order for everyone who tried to buy tickets to be able to see her perform, according to Ticketmaster.” Read more at Axios
“M.V.P. winners: The Yankees’ Aaron Judge and the Cardinals’ Paul Goldschmidt are your American League and National League M.V.P.s.” Read more at New York Times
“Lives Lived: Michael Gerson served as George W. Bush’s chief speechwriter. Later, as a columnist for The Washington Post, he was among Trump’s earliest Republican critics. Gerson died at 58.” Read more at New York Times
Remembering Mike Gerson: "18 years is not enough"
Mike Gerson, 38, outside the White House in 2002 after being promoted to Assistant to the President for Speechwriting and Policy Advisor. Photo: Robert A. Reeder/The Washington Post via Getty Images
“Michael Gerson — the famed speechwriter for President George W. Bush, who helped craft messages of grief and resolve after 9/11 — died yesterday at a hospital in Washington at 58, from complications of cancer.
As a Washington Post columnist for the past 15 years, Gerson explored conservative politics and faith, and wrote candidly about his own struggles with depression and cancer, The Post reports.
Worthy of your time ... The Post yesterday re-posted this Gerson column from 2013, ‘Saying goodbye to my child, the youngster,’ about how it felt to drop off his son at college:
‘Eighteen years is not enough.’
‘The emotions of a parent, I can attest, are an odd mix: part pride, part resignation, part self-pity, even a bit of something that feels like grief. The experience is natural and common,’ Gerson continues:
His life is starting for real. I have begun the long letting go. Put another way: He has a wonderful future in which my part naturally diminishes. I have no possible future that is better without him close.” Read more at Axios
Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic at Wimbledon on July 10 in London. Photo: Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images
“Wimbledon will (slightly) relax its rules requiring all-white attire, allowing women to wear colored undershorts.” (Axios) Read more at AP
Weed-infused seltzer catches on
THC-infused seltzer drinks are manufactured in Mount Clemens, Mich. Photo: Annalise Frank/Axios
“Hard seltzer is extremely popular. Marijuana is extremely popular. Enter marijuana seltzer.
Driving the news: A new brand of THC-infused seltzer is rolling out across Michigan tomorrow, Axios Detroit co-author Annalise Frank reports. It’ll contain about 2 mg of THC per can.
That’s pretty standard in the small but growing market for THC-infused seltzers. They're similar to the low alcohol-by-volume seltzers that have become so popular over the past few years — just with THC instead of alcohol.
Thrillist did a taste test earlier this year, if you’re curious …” Read more at Axios