The Full Belmonte, 11/26/2022
Midterms free of feared chaos as voting experts look to 2024
By NICHOLAS RICCARDI
“Before Election Day, anxiety mounted over potential chaos at the polls.
Election officials warned about poll watchers who had been steeped in conspiracy theories falsely claiming that then-President Donald Trump did not actually lose the 2020 election. Democrats and voting rights groups worried about the effects of new election laws, in some Republican-controlled states, that President Joe Biden decried as ‘Jim Crow 2.0.’ Law enforcement agencies were monitoring possible threats at the polls.
Yet Election Day, and the weeks of early voting before it, went fairly smoothly. There were some reports of unruly poll watchers disrupting voting, but they were scattered. Groups of armed vigilantes began watching over a handful of ballot drop boxes in Arizona until a judge ordered them to stay far away to ensure they would not intimidate voters. And while it might take months to figure out their full impact, GOP-backed voting laws enacted after the 2020 election did not appear to cause major disruptions the way they did during the March primary in Texas….
Even though some voting experts’ worst fears didn’t materialize, some voters still experienced the types of routine foul-ups that happen on a small scale in every election. Many of those fell disproportionately on Black and Hispanic voters.
‘Things went better than expected,’ said Amir Badat of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. ‘But we have to say that with a caveat: Our expectations are low.’
Badat said his organization recorded long lines at various polling places from South Carolina to Texas.
There were particular problems in Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston. Shortages of paper ballots and at least one polling location opening late led to long lines and triggered an investigation of the predominantly Democratic county by the state’s Republican authorities.
The investigation is partly a reflection of how certain voting snafus on Election Day are increasingly falling on Republican voters, who have been discouraged from using mailed ballots or using early in-person voting by Trump and his allies. But it’s a very different problem from what Texas had during its March primary.
Then, a controversial new voting law that increased the requirements on mail ballots led to about 13% of all such ballots being rejected, much higher compared with other elections. It was an ominous sign for a wave of new laws, passed after Trump’s loss to Biden and false claims about mail voting, but there have been no problems of that scale reported for the general election.
Texas changed the design of its mail ballots, which solved many of the problems voters had putting identifying information in the proper place. Other states that added regulations on voting didn’t appear to have widespread problems, though voting rights groups and analysts say it will take weeks of combing through data to find out the laws’ impacts.
The Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law is compiling data to determine whether new voting laws in states such as Georgia contributed to a drop in turnout among Black and Hispanic voters.
Preliminary figures show turnout was lower this year than in the last midterm election four years ago in Florida, Georgia, Iowa and Texas — four states that passed significant voting restrictions since the 2020 election — although there could be a number of reasons why.
‘It’s difficult to judge, empirically, the kind of effect these laws have on turnout because so many factors go into turnout,’ said Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, Los Angeles law school. ‘You also have plenty of exaggeration on the Democratic side that any kind of change in voting laws are going to cause some major effect on the election, which has been proven not to be the case.’
In Georgia, for example, Republicans made it more complicated to apply for mailed ballots after the 2020 election — among other things, requiring voters to include their driver’s license number or some other form of identification rather than a signature. That may be one reason why early in-person voting soared in popularity in the state this year, and turnout there dipped only slightly from 2018.
Jason Snead, executive director of the conservative Honest Elections Project, which advocates for tighter voting laws, said the fairly robust turnout in the midterm elections shows that fears of the new voting regulations were overblown.
‘We are on the back end of an election that was supposed to be the end of democracy, and it very much was not,’ Snead said.
Poll watchers were a significant concern of voting rights groups and election officials heading into Election Day. The representatives of the two major political parties are a key part of any secure election process, credentialed observers who can object to perceived violations of rules.
But this year, groups aligned with conspiracy theorists who challenged Biden’s 2020 victory recruited poll watchers heavily, and some states reported that aggressive volunteers caused disruptions during the primary. But there were fewer issues in November.
In North Carolina, where several counties had reported problems with poll watchers in the May primary, the state elections board reported 21 incidents of misbehavior at the polls in the general election, most during the early, in-person voting period and by members of campaigns rather than poll watchers. The observers were responsible for eight of the incidents.
Voting experts were pleasantly surprised there weren’t more problems with poll watchers, marking the second general election in a row when a feared threat of aggressive Republican observers did not materialize.” Read more at AP News
What Trump told the white nationalist
Supporters cheer as former President Trump announces he's running again, at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 15. Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP
“Former President Trump dined and conversed with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night, Axios' Jonathan Swan and Zachary Basu report.
Why it matters: Trump's direct engagement with a man labeled a ‘white supremacist’ by the Justice Department — one week after declaring his 2024 candidacy — is likely to draw renewed outrage over the former president's embrace of extremists.
Trump said in a statement to Axios: "Kanye West very much wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was intended to be Kanye and me only, but he arrived with a guest whom I had never met and knew nothing about."
Behind the scenes: A source familiar with the dinner conversation told Axios that Trump ‘seemed very taken’ with Fuentes — impressed that the 24-year-old was able to rattle off statistics and recall speeches dating back to his 2016 campaign.
Paraphrasing the conversation, the source said Fuentes told the president he preferred him to be ‘authentic,’ and that Trump seemed scripted and unlike himself during his recent 2024 campaign announcement speech.
Trump responded: ‘You like it better when I just speak off the cuff,’ the source said.
Fuentes replied that he did, calling Trump an "amazing" president when he was unrestrained.
‘There was a lot of fawning back and forth,’ the source added.
During the conversation, Fuentes said he represented a side of Trump's base that was disappointed with his newly cautious approach — especially with what some far-right activists view as a lack of support for those charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Trump didn't disagree with Fuentes — but said he has advisers who want him to read off teleprompters and be more ‘presidential.’
Fuentes told Trump that he would crush potential 2024 Republican rivals in a primary, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump asked for Fuentes' opinion on other candidates as well.
Trump at one point turned to Ye and said: ‘I really like this guy. He gets me,’ according to the source.
The source added: ‘I don't believe the president knew who the hell [Fuentes] was.’” Read more at Axios
What can Democrats push through Congress in the lame-duck session?
Lauren Gambino in Washington
Legislation on the debt ceiling, civil liberties and elections is still possible before Republican House majority kicks in
“As a new era of divided government looms in the US, Democrats are rushing to complete a lengthy legislative to-do list that includes landmark civil liberties legislation, a routine but critical spending package and a bill to prevent another January 6.
There are only a handful of working days left before the balance of power in Congress shifts and Democrats’ unified control of government in Washington ends. In January, Republicans will claim the gavel in the House, giving them veto power over much of Joe Biden’s agenda.
Meanwhile, Democrats will retain – and possibly expand, depending on the outcome of a runoff election in Georgia – their majority in the Senate, allowing them to continue confirming Biden’s judicial and administrative nominees.
With a narrowing window to act, Democrats intend to use the end-of-year ‘lame duck’ session to leave a legislative mark while they still control all the levers of power in Washington. But they are also under mounting pressure to act to raise the statutory debt limit, staving off a partisan showdown next year that many fear could lead to economic calamity.
‘We are going to try to have as productive a lame-duck session as possible,’ the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said at a post-election press conference. ‘It’s going to be heavy work, long hours to try and get much done.’
Among the unfinished business is enacting legislation to keep the federal government funded past a 16 December deadline. Failure to do so would result in a government shutdown. Lawmakers must also reauthorize the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a must-pass bill that sets US military policy for the coming year.
Democrats must also decide whether to confront the debt limit. House Republicans have threatened to use the debt ceiling as leverage to extract deep spending cuts, a prospect that has raised alarm among economists and policymakers who are pleading with Democrats to defuse a dangerous fiscal standoff.
In an interview with CNN, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who is poised to succeed Nancy Pelosi when she steps down as the House Democratic leader in January, said raising the debt ceiling before Republicans take control of the House was probably ‘the right thing to do’ as a way to prevent conservatives ‘from being able to hold the American economy hostage’.
The debt ceiling now stands at $31.4tn, a level that will need to be addressed by the third quarter of 2023, according to projections.
Yet Democratic leaders have suggested that it is unlikely Congress will address the borrowing limit in the next few weeks.
Schumer said last week that he would like to ‘get a debt ceiling done in this work period’ but insisted that it would require Republican support, effectively ruling out a go-it-alone approach that would allow Democrats to unilaterally raise the debt limit. Speaking to reporters on the same day, the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, said he didn’t think Congress would take up the issue until ‘sometime next year’.
In a Washington Post op-ed, Peter Orszag, the former director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office, implored Democrats to prioritize the issue, even if it takes up precious floor time to accomplish.
‘Any Democrats averse to taking such a painful vote now should consider how much leverage their party will lose once Republicans control the House – and how much higher the risk of default will be then,’ he wrote. ‘It’s generally not a good idea to enter a negotiation with a ticking timebomb and a counter-party willing to let it go off.’
While fiscal matters are at the center of negotiations on Capitol Hill, there are many more legislative items on the agenda.
Schumer said the Senate will take a final vote on legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriages when the chamber returns after the Thanksgiving recess. Earlier this month, 12 Republicans joined all Democrats to clear a major procedural hurdle that put the historic measure on track to passage.
‘Passing the Respect for Marriage Act is no longer a matter of if but only of when,’ he said in recent remarks. A version of the bill passed the House earlier this year, with support from dozens of Republicans.
Meanwhile, the Senate also hopes to enact reforms to a 19th-century elections law that Donald Trump attempted to exploit to reverse his defeat in 2020, which led to the insurrection at the Capitol.
A bipartisan proposal would overhaul the Electoral Count Act, clarifying that the role of the vice-president, who presides over the certification of the electoral votes as president of the Senate, is purely ceremonial. That means the vice-president could not unilaterally throw out electoral votes, as Trump and his allies pressured his vice-president, Mike Pence, to do. If the bill passes, it would be the most substantive legislative response to the events of January 6.
The White House is also eager for Congress to approve additional financial support for Ukraine, as the nation defends itself against a Russian invasion. The House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, who could be the next speaker if he can survive a revolt among hardline conservatives in his caucus, signaled that Republicans would use their majority to limit – or possibly oppose – future spending on the war.
Previous aid packages to Ukraine have been approved with overwhelming bipartisan support, and the president and Democratic leaders are hopeful that a new package can be achieved. Fears that Republicans could cut off aid just as Ukraine forces Russia into retreat with the assistance of US weaponry may motivate lawmakers to authorize vast new spending for Ukraine. The White House has also asked for additional funding to prepare for a possible winter surge of coronavirus infections, though Republicans are unlikely to back the request.
Constrained by the calendar and their narrow majorities, a host of other Democratic priorities will probably remain out of reach as the sun sets on their power in Washington.
A group of Democrats is urging Congress to pass immigration reform and ensure legal protections for Dreamers, undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children, while efforts are under way to reach an agreement on cannabis-related legislation. Senator Raphael Warnock, whose Georgia runoff election will determine the margin of Democrats’ control next year, has continued his push to cap the cost of insulin.” Read more at The Guardian
Emboldened Biden, Dems push ban on so-called assault weapons
By COLLEEN LONG, MARY CLARE JALONICK and LINDSAY WHITEHURST
“WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden speaks about the ‘scourge’ of gun violence, his go-to answer is to zero in on so-called assault weapons.
America has heard it hundreds of times, including this week after shootings in Colorado and Virginia: The president wants to sign into law a ban on high-powered guns that have the capacity to kill many people very quickly.
‘The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick. Just sick,’ Biden said on Thanksgiving Day. ‘I’m going to try to get rid of assault weapons.’
After the mass killing last Saturday at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, he said in a statement: ‘When will we decide we’ve had enough? ... We need to enact an assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off America’s streets.’
When Biden and other lawmakers talk about ‘assault weapons,’ they are using an inexact term to describe a group of high-powered guns or semi-automatic long rifles, like an AR-15, that can fire 30 rounds fast without reloading. By comparison, New York Police Department officers carry a handgun that shoots about half that much.
A weapons ban is far off in a closely divided Congress. But Biden and the Democrats have become increasingly emboldened in pushing for stronger gun controls — and doing so with no clear electoral consequences.” Read more at AP News
Elon Musk says he will back Trump rival Ron DeSantis in 2024 if he runs for president
Billionaire says he prefers ‘someone sensible and centrist’ but that he had been disappointed by the Democrats so far
“Elon Musk has said he would support Donald Trump’s arch rival, Ron DeSantis, in 2024 if the Florida governor were to run for president.
‘Yes’, Musk said in a tweet when asked if he would support DeSantis in 2024, after suggesting he had not found his ideal candidate among Democrats.
‘My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist. I had hoped that would the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far,’ Musk tweeted.
The entrepreneur’s remarks are the clearest sign of his political backing after he indicated in June this year that he was still mulling his Republican preference for president but that he was ‘leaning towards’ DeSantis.
The move may prove a boost for DeSantis in what Republicans expect to be a bruising battle between Trump and DeSantis for presidential nomination, with some predicting ‘a lot of blood on the floor’ in a fight between the two. The Florida governor won a landslide in this month’s midterm elections, while Trump was criticised for the Republicans’ failure to deliver the much-promised ‘red wave’ after the defeat of key candidates he endorsed.
Musk also said on Friday night that he was ‘fine with Trump not tweeting’ after having his account reinstated last weekend. ‘The important thing is that Twitter correct a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service. Deplatforming a sitting president undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America.’
Twitter banned Trump after the January 6 attack last year, saying his posts were ‘highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the US Capitol’. Trump was also banned from Facebook, Instagram and YouTube after the riot.
Musk’s tenure at Twitter has been turbulent, with the owner admitting that Twitter has suffered a ‘massive’ drop in advertising revenue amid concerns about his plans for moderating content on the platform, including the fate of banned accounts.
He has told Twitter employees that ‘roughly half’ of the platform’s revenues need to come from subscriptions in order to ‘survive the upcoming economic downturn’. According to Twitter’s last set of annual results, advertising accounted for 90% of its $5.1bn in revenues.” Read more at The Guardian
“Apple’s Reliance on China Grows Perilous With iPhone City Chaos
Violence at the world’s biggest iPhone plant in Zhengzhou, China, peakedon Wednesday when hundreds of the 200,000 staff clashed with security personnel. The incident has underscored both the economic risks of China’s Covid-19 policies and Apple’s dependence on the country.” Read more at Bloomberg
A screenshot from video of Foxconn workers clashing with police officers outside the dormitory compound.
Ukraine works to restore water, power after Russian strikes
By JAMEY KEATEN and SAM MEDNICK
“KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities endeavored Saturday to restore electricity and water services after recent pummeling by Russian military strikes that vastly damaged infrastructure, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying millions have seen their power restored since blackouts swept the war-battered country days earlier.
Skirmishes continued in the east and residents from the southern city of Kherson headed north and west to flee after punishing, deadly bombardments by Russian forces in recent days. The strikes have been seen as attempts at Russian retribution against Ukraine’s beleaguered but defiant people after Ukrainian troops over two week ago liberated the city that had been in Russian hands for many months.” Read more at AP News
The site of a Russian missile attack in Kyiv. Photographer: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
“Kremlin Faces Rising Ire From Wives, Mothers of Mobilized Troops
Desperate to rescue their sons and husbands from the front lines in Ukraine, Russian women are putting pressure on the Kremlin in the latest sign of spreading discontent. Protests have taken place in at least 15 regions. But families’ demands aren’t against the war. They mostly focus on getting their menfolk adequate training and equipment to fight.” Read more at Bloomberg
Energy-rich Qatar faces fast-rising climate risks at home
By SUMAN NAISHADHAM
“AL RAYYAN, Qatar (AP) — At a suburban park near Doha, the capital city of Qatar, cool air from vents in the ground blasted joggers on a November day that reached almost 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit).
The small park with air-conditioned paths is an apt illustration of World Cup host Qatar’s answers, so far, to the rising temperatures its people face. The wealthy Gulf Arab nation has been able to pay for extreme adaptive measures like this thanks to the natural gas it exports to the world.
A small peninsula that juts out into the Persian Gulf, Qatar sits in a region that, outside the Arctic, is warming faster than anyplace else on earth.
‘It’s already bad. And it’s getting worse,’ said Jos Lelieveld, an atmospheric chemist at Germany’s Max Planck Institute. Part of the reason is the warming waters of the Persian Gulf, a shallow, narrow sea that contributes to stifling humidity in Qatar during some months.
‘It’s a pretty difficult environment. It’s quite hostile,’ said Karim Elgendy, an associate fellow at the London-based Chatham House think tank. Without its ability to pay for imported food, heavy air-conditioning and desalinated ocean water, he said, the contemporary country couldn’t exist.
Already, Qatar has faced a significant rise in temperatures compared to pre-industrial times. Scientists and others concerned about climate change are trying to keep the Earth as a whole from warming by more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) on average because research shows it will be profoundly disruptive, making many people homeless, inundating coastlines and destroying ecosystems.
‘Qatar has an enormous amount to lose in terms of the effects of climate change,’ said Mohammed Ayoub, a professor at the Environment and Energy Research Institute at Qatar’s Hamad bin Khalifa University. It is one of the world’s hottest countries and will experience even more heat extremes, floods, droughts and sand and dust storms.
CLIMATE PLEDGES
If Qatar is one of the world’s wealthiest nations per capita, it is also one of the most polluting per person. Around this country slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Connecticut, large SUVs are a common sight, filled with cheap gasoline. Air-conditioning blasts the insides of buildings year-round. Even the country’s drinking water is energy intensive, with nearly all of it coming from desalination plants that burn fossil fuel for the force needed to press ocean water through tiny filters to make it consumable.
In recent years, Qatar has inched forward making climate pledges. At the 2015 Paris climate talks, it did not commit to reducing emissions, but set a goal six years later to cut emissions 25% by 2030. One way would be to use carbon capture and storage at gas production facilities, a much-discussed technology that has yet to be deployed at scale.
Recently, the country also connected a solar power plant to its electric grid that could power 10% of the nation’s energy needs at full capacity.
In Doha, there is a new metro system, more green spaces and parks, and the upscale Msheireb district which was designed to take advantage of natural wind flows.
But it’s not clear that Qatar can reach its reduction goal in seven years. At the recent U.N. climate conference in Egypt, Qatar’s environment minister Sheikh Faleh bin Nasser bin Ahmed bin Ali Al Thani said the country was “working to translate these ambitions to facts.”
The ministry of environment and climate change did not respond to multiple requests from The Associated Press for comment on its emissions reduction plan.
In the past, it has said that one key effort will be to diversify Qatar’s economy.
Many observers say hosting the World Cup is part of branching out from oil and gas to become an entertainment and events destination. But to hold the event, Qatar built enormous amounts of infrastructure over a 12-year period — with a massive carbon footprint, despite its claims otherwise.
‘They can’t diversify without spending money,’ said Elgendy. ‘And that money will come from oil and gas. It’s a bit of a conundrum.’
GLOBAL DEMAND FOR GAS
Qatari officials and some academics argue that exporting liquefied natural gas to the world can help the transition to clean energy because the fossil fuel is less polluting than oil and coal. That view is increasingly unsupported by science as the extent of leaks from natural gas infrastructure becomes clear. Leaking natural gas is far more harmful for the climate than carbon dioxide, ton for ton.
Earlier this year, state-owned gas giant Qatar Energy joined an industry-led pledge to reduce nearly all methane emissions from operations by 2030. Methane is the the principal constituent of natural gas.
But a real turn away from fossil fuels has yet to begin here.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s race to replace gas from that country left Qatar — among the world’s top natural gas producers and exporters — in pole position to benefit.
Qatar inked new deals with several energy companies, including a recent 27-year agreement to provide liquefied natural gas to Chinese oil and gas company Sinopec.” Read more at AP News
“UN to Investigate Iran for Human Rights Violations in Protests
The United Nations’ top human rights body voted overwhelmingly to start an international investigation into deaths, injuries, and other alleged abuse of protesters and their families since anti-government protests erupted in September. Golnar Motevalli and Yasna Haghdoost report.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Populist Power Games Threaten Fragile Meloni Coalition in Italy
Far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has shown moderation on economic and diplomatic issues, despite her ruling partners’ sympathies for Russia and impatience with European Union deficit rules. But Chiara Albanese and Alessandro Speciale explain she’s in danger of being eclipsed by her deputy prime minister and populist rival, Matteo Salvini.” Read more at Bloomberg
Salvini and Meloni in Rome on Tuesday. Photographer: Filipo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images
China sentences Chinese-Canadian star Kris Wu to 13 years
“BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court on Friday sentenced Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu to 13 years in prison on charges including rape.
Beijing’s Chaoyang District Court said Wu was given 11 years and 6 months for a 2020 rape, and 1 year and 10 months for the ‘crime of assembling a crowd to engage in sexual promiscuity’ in a 2018 event in which he and others allegedly assaulted two women they had gotten drunk.
The court said the three victims in the rape case had also been drunk and were unable to consent.
It said a combined 13-year sentence was agreed on and Wu would be immediately deported after serving his time.
‘According to the facts … the nature, circumstances and harmful consequences of the crime, the court made the above judgment,’ the court said in an online statement.
A Canadian diplomat was in court to hear the sentencing, it said.
Wu was also slapped with a fine of 600 million yuan ($83.7 million) for evading taxes by massively underreporting his earnings from performances, advertisements and other sources of income.” Read more at AP News
The U.S. takes England to the wire
Team USA's Christian Pulisic (left) and Yunus Musah contest Jordan Henderson of England today in Qatar. Photo: Dale MacMilan via Getty Images
“The U.S. was on the brink of beating England today in World Cup group play in Qatar, but finished in a 0-0 draw.
The U.S. is guaranteed to advance if it beats Iran on Tuesday, ESPN reports.
England has yet to beat the U.S. at a World Cup, AP reports.
The two played to a 1-1 draw in 2010.
The U.S. won 1-0 in 1950.” Read more at Axios
Miracle’: Missing cruise ship passenger found OK in water
“NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says a passenger who went overboard from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico was rescued on Thanksgiving after likely being in the water for hours.
The 28-year-old man was reported missing at noon Thursday while the vessel, the Carnival Valor, was heading to Cozumel, Mexico. According to Carnival Cruise Line, the man was with his sister at a bar on Carnival Valor Wednesday at 11 p.m. and went to use the restroom. His sister reported him missing the next day after the man did not return to his stateroom.
The Coast Guard launched search and rescue crews Thursday afternoon and alerted nearby ships to be watchful.
Coast Guard Lt. Seth Gross said a cargo ship later saw a person in the water about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana, and the mouth of the Mississippi River. Gross said the man confirmed he was the missing cruise ship passenger after he was hoisted into a helicopter about 8:25 p.m. Thursday.
‘He appeared to be suffering from mild hypothermia, shock, dehydration, but his condition overall appeared stable,’ Gross told WWL-TV, adding the man was taken for medical care.
Gross called the rescue ‘a miracle especially on a holiday like Thanksgiving.’
In a statement, Carnival said: ‘We greatly appreciate the efforts of all, most especially the U.S. Coast Guard and the mariner who spotted the guest in the water.’
The man’s name has not been released.” Read more at AP News
Black Friday chills out
Photo: Charlie Riedel/AP
“Online shopping has calmed much of the traditional Black Friday mayhem — as you could see today at this Walmart in Shawnee, Kansas ...
Photo: Brendan McDermid/Reuters
... and at the Macy's Herald Square flagship store on 34th Street in Manhattan.
Photo: Miguel Schincariol/AFP via Getty Images
But there was an old-school grab for TVs at this sale in São Paulo, Brazil.” Read more at Axios
New pre-turkey travel day
TSA checkpoint at Denver International Airport on Tuesday. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
“The Friday before Thanksgiving is the new Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Axios chief financial correspondent Felix Salmon reports.
The TSA counted 99.9% of the travelers passing through its checkpoints last Friday as it did the day before Thanksgiving.
It was 92% back in pre-pandemic 2019.
Why it matters: In a world of remote work, millions of Americans decided they didn’t need to go into the office at all this week — and left for their Thanksgiving celebrations on Friday, Nov. 18.
The bottom line: Thanksgiving week is becoming increasingly like the week after Christmas — one where offices are ghost towns.” Read more at Axios
GAME OF THE WEEKEND
“No. 3 Michigan at No. 2 Ohio State, college football: The stakes are always high when these rivals meet for their annual end-of-season game. This year, they’re as high as can be. Both teams are undefeated, for the first time since 2006, and the winner is sure to get one of four spots in the College Football Playoff. Michigan’s rushing game has been elite, while Ohio State has one of the country’s best quarterback-receiver combinations. By one measure, they have the two best defenses in the country. So who has the advantage? It may come down to nature. ‘If the weather’s bad,’ one Big Ten coach told The Athletic, ‘that plays into Michigan’s hands in a big way.’ Noon Eastern today on Fox.” Read more at New York Times
“Related: A century ago, the coach of Michigan schemed to get Ohio State’s quarterback disqualified for the season. These letters show how he did it.” Read more at New York Times
THE WEEK IN CULTURE
Alessandro Michele.Stephanie Gengotti for The New York Times
“Gucci’s creative director, Alessandro Michele, is leaving the company. It’s the biggest creative shake-up of a fashion brand since the pandemic.” Read more at New York Times
“Tumblr users are obsessing over ‘Goncharov,’ a 1973 Scorsese film starring Robert DeNiro as a Russian hit man. The catch: It’s not real.” Read more at New York Times
“Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are planning to start a production company that they said would share profits with actors and off-camera artisans.” Read more at New York Times
“Netflix is taking an experimental approach to theatrical releases with the movies ‘Glass Onion’ and ‘Matilda the Musical.’” Read more at New York Times
“Agatha Christie’s whodunit ‘The Mousetrap’ is coming to Broadway. It’s been running in London’s West End for 70 years.” Read more at New York Times
“‘The Walking Dead’ ended by teeing up for potential spinoffs. Here are five takeaways from the show’s finale.” Read more at New York Times
“You’ve seen The Times’s picks for notable books of 2022. Browse others from The Washington Post, NPR and the New York Public Library.” Read more at New York Times