The Full Belmonte, 12/11/2023
Israel
“Clashes between the Israeli military and Hamas are intensifying in Gaza as pressure builds for Israel to agree to a ceasefire. In an update Sunday, Israel said it struck more than 250 Hamas targets within 24 hours. Israeli forces have ordered residents in the main southern city of Khan Younis to evacuate ahead of additional strikes, but it's unclear how many people might be aware of the instruction given the lack of communication in much of the enclave. Meanwhile, the US is facing condemnation after it vetoed a UN Security Council resolution last week demanding an immediate truce in Gaza. UN Secretary-General António Guterres says he ‘will not give up’ calling for a ceasefire but said to ‘expect public order to completely break down soon.’” [CNN]
Israel, Hamas dispute claims of militants surrendering
Smoke billows from the site of Israeli bombardment on northern Gaza.
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that dozens of militants have surrendered in recent days as the Israeli military intensifies its military effort to crush Hamas and kill its leadership. Hamas countered in a statement, saying Israel was detaining unarmed civilians and surrounding them with weapons in a ‘desperate and transparent ploy’ to give the appearance that the resolve of the militants was fading. Netanyahu's bold prediction came two days after the U.N. Security Council's latest resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire was vetoed by the U.S. Read more
•The U.N. General Assembly will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday to vote on a draft resolution expected to be similar to the one the U.S. vetoed.” [USA Today]
Fighting in the Gaza Strip has pushed its health-care system near collapse.
What to know: Health care in Gaza is “on its knees,” the World Health Organization said yesterday, amid spreading diseases and the threat of mass starvation.
U.S. response: The Biden administration has called for Israel to protect civilians, but vetoed a U.N. resolution demanding a cease-fire Friday and will provide more weapons to Israel.
Read this story at Washington Post
Pro-Palestinian protests rise
Data: ACLED. Graphic: Rahul Mukherjee and Shoshana Gordon/Axios
“As Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip have ramped up and the death toll rises, a growing proportion of the demonstrations in U.S. cities have been in support of Palestinians, according to a tracker from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).
Opinion polling shows younger Americans, in particular, have grown more sympathetic to Palestinians since the conflict started, Axios' Rahul Mukherjee and Shoshana Gordon report.
The trend: Initially after the Oct. 7 attack, most demonstrations in the U.S. were in solidarity with Israel. Within a week, with the Israeli military response underway, pro-Palestinian protests began to outnumber pro-Israeli protests, according to the data.
Nearly half of all pro-Israel protests worldwide included in ACLED's tracker have taken place in the U.S., far more than in any other country.” [Axios]
Americans' support for Ukraine wanes
Zelensky visits the front-line city of Kupiansk, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on Nov. 30. Photo: Efrem Lukatsky/AP
“Nearly half of registered voters (48%) said the U.S. is spending ‘too much’ on aid for Ukraine, according to a new poll by the Financial Times and University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
65% of Republicans said the U.S. is spending too much on Ukraine, compared with 52% of independents and just 32% of Democrats.
The stark sign of waning support comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky travels to Washington this week to argue for more aid.
Tomorrow, Zelensky will speak to an all-senators meeting at the Capitol, meet with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and visit President Biden at the White House.
What's next: Lawmakers remain at an impasse over an emergency national security spending package that includes roughly $60 billion for Ukraine, Axios' Andrew Solender writes.
Congress has just one week left in session before senators are scheduled to leave town for the holidays. Some senators have said they are willing to remain in D.C. as long as it takes to work out a deal.” [Axios]
Kate Cox can't get abortion — for now
“The Texas Supreme Court has paused a judge's decision that would have allowed a woman to terminate a pregnancy in which her fetus has a fatal diagnosis. Just days prior, a Travis County Court blocked the state from enforcing its strict abortion ban in the case of Kate Cox, a Dallas woman. The justices now say they intend to consider a petition filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which argued the state would suffer an "irreparable loss" should Cox terminate her pregnancy. While Cox is just one person, her story reflects a much larger experience pregnant people now face when trying to access health care under draconian post-Roe abortion bans.” Read more at USA Today
Severe storms killed 6 people and damaged Tennessee neighborhoods
In Madison, Tenn. Kevin Wurm/Reuters
“Conditions should improve Monday and into the week as Tennessee residents pick through the rubble of scores of ravaged homes and businesses.
Dozens of people were injured, cars flipped, trees buckled, and roofs were blown off buildings as shoppers hunkered down in store basements Saturday in Tennessee for what the National Weather Service preliminarily determined was a string of tornadoes.
•The fierce storm system killed six people, including a 2-year-old boy in Middle, Tennessee. The severe weather outbreak may be the deadliest December on record for Middle Tennessee's tornado disasters, according to experts.
•Travel on roads and on airlines could be difficult into Monday morning, forecasters said, as the storm rolled east Sunday and threatens a swath of the nation from Maryland to Florida and across the Central Gulf Coast with severe thunderstorms, heavy rain, and even snow.
•One mother's story: A tornado slammed Clarksville, northwest of Nashville, Saturday afternoon, prompting Shanika Washington to take her children, ages 5 and 10, to a windowless bathroom in the basement of her townhouse. She tried to shield them with her own body for 20 frightening minutes.” [USA Today]
“Former President Donald Trump announced yesterday he won't testify for a second time as planned in the New York civil fraud trial against him and his company. His lawyers previously said he would be at the witness stand today. But Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he ‘already testified to everything’ and had ‘nothing more to say.’
Andrew Kelly/Pool/Getty Images
On Up First this morning, NPR's Andrea Bernstein reports New York Attorney General Letitia James shrugged off Trump's decision, saying, ‘We have already proven that he committed years of financial fraud’ and that the ‘facts don't lie.’” [NPR]
Biden and Congress are mulling big changes on immigration. What are they and what could they mean?
“President Joe Biden is taking a more active role in Senate negotiations over changes to the immigration system that Republicans are demanding in exchange for providing money to Ukraine and Israel. The Democratic president has said he is willing to make ‘significant compromises on the border’ as Republicans block the wartime aid in Congress. Read more.
Why this matters:
The White House is expected to get more involved in talks this week as the impasse over changes to border policy has deepened and the funds remaining for Ukraine have dwindled.
Much of the negotiating is taking place in private, but some of the issues under discussion are asylum standards, humanitarian parole and fast-track deportation authority, among others.
Much of the disagreement comes down to whether people think deterrence works. Many immigration advocates say some of the proposals would gut protections for people who desperately need help and wouldn’t really ease chaos at the border.” [AP News
Most-wanted man in Gaza
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar speaks during a protest in Gaza City in April. Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images
“Israel's military operation against Hamas is now focused on capturing or killing the most wanted person in Gaza: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Israeli officials tell Axios' Barak Ravid.
Why it matters: After more than two months of battering the terror group's positions, Israeli officials believe that eliminating Sinwar and his close associates would accelerate Hamas' military collapse — and an end to the war that began after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
During the past week, the Israeli Defense Forces expanded the ground operation into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, while continuing attacks on several areas in northern Gaza.
Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the IDF's chief of staff, said yesterday that many Hamas militants are surrendering in northern Gaza, which he described as a sign of the group's military collapse.
Also yesterday, a video aired on Israeli television channels purporting to show dozens of Palestinian men surrendering to IDF soldiers in northern Gaza. IDF officials claimed some of the men were Hamas militants, while others were civilians. Axios could not independently verify the video's authenticity.
Israeli intelligence believes Sinwar escaped from Gaza City early in the war and has been hiding in Hamas tunnels under the southern city of Khan Younis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the IDF surrounded Sinwar's house in Khan Younis, but the Hamas leader wasn't there. ‘He can run and hide, but we will get him,’ Netanyahu said.
A senior Israeli defense official said the goal of the operation in Khan Younis is to capture Sinwar — dead or alive.
‘We need to take him out of the game,’ the official said. ‘This is the goal, and it is possible. Hamas battalions' morale is weakening. We will break them with or without eliminating Sinwar. But if we kill him, it will happen much faster.’
Between the lines: Israeli officials won't say it publicly, but they believe eliminating Sinwar not only could help end the war — it could also help restore confidence in Netanyahu, whom many Israelis blame for being unprepared for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Behind the scenes: Israeli officials said Sinwar, 61, planned the deadly Oct. 7 attack with a small group of close associates, including Mohammed Deif, who is the commander of Hamas' military wing, and Marwan Issa, Deif's deputy.
Israeli and Arab officials said Sinwar has been in control of Hamas' operations — including its recent hostage negotiations — from the group's tunnels in Gaza.
The Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera TV networks have aired interviews with several Palestinians in Gaza who criticized Hamas — and Sinwar specifically — over the dire situation in Gaza.” [Axios]
“More than 500 Harvard faculty members signed a petition backing the university’s president, who faces mounting pressure to resign over her answers on antisemitism at a congressional hearing.” [New York Times]
“The question of whether anti-Zionism is antisemitic has created divisionamong Democrats, on college campuses and among Jews.” [New York Times]
Senators grapple with aftershocks of Tuberville blockade
“Senators are grappling with what the aftershocks of Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-Ala.) blockade of military promotions will look like — whether it will open the floodgates for members to institute widespread holds or scare them off.
Tuberville relented on Tuesday, lifting his hold on hundreds of nominees after 10 months and ending a saga that has consumed the Senate GOP conference. But he left empty-handed, having not achieved his goal of forcing the Pentagon to repeal a policy that allows service members to be reimbursed for travel expenses to receive abortion care….” Read more at The Hill
Moms for Liberty founder leaves rightwing leadership role amid queer sex scandal & rape allegations
Bridget Ziegler Photo: Screenshot
“The co-founder of the anti-LGBTQ+ extremist group Moms for Liberty seems to have resigned from her most recent position in the wake of rape allegations against her husband and her own involvement in a same-sex sex scandal.
Since August 2022, Bridget Ziegler has served as the director of the School Board Leadership Program at the Leadership Institute, an organization that trains conservative activists. Ziegler is no longer listed in the role on the website, and someone new appears to have been named in her place. Bridget Ziegler is also facing calls for her to resign from the Sarasota School Board.
At the same time, the Florida GOP appears to be working to expel or censure Bridget Ziegler’s husband, Christian Ziegler, from his role as chairman of the state’s Republican party. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has called on Christian Ziegler to resign, but he has refused, maintaining that the rape allegations against him are false.
The woman who accused Christian Ziegler of rape told investigators that she and both of the Zieglers had planned a sexual encounter for October 2. But when Bridget Ziegler was no longer available, the woman canceled, saying, “I was mostly in for her.”
She then alleges that Christian Ziegler was waiting in the hallway outside her apartment when she opened the door to walk her dog. She says he came inside and sexually assaulted her. Christian Ziegler has admitted they had sex in her apartment but claims it was consensual.
Bridget Ziegler has since admitted to detectives that she, her husband, and her husband’s accuser were involved in a consensual sexual encounter over a year ago.
Florida GOP Vice Chair Evan Power has called a special meeting of the party to discuss what to do about Christian Ziegler. According to Florida Politics, 33 of 40 members of the executive committee agreed to hold the meeting, and the party constitution only requires half to agree. Due to a series of rules and regulations, the process of deciding what consequences Christian Ziegler should endure could take at least 30 days.
In an email to the Florida GOP when the allegations were made public, Christian Ziegler made it clear he would not go anywhere voluntarily. ‘We have a country to save and I am not going to let false allegations of a crime put that mission on the bench as I want for this process to wrap up,’ he wrote.
Chaos has also begun to reign on Moms for Liberty. This week, a Pennsylvania chapter split from the national organization. Clarissa Paige, chair of the Northumberland County chapter, is planning to turn the local group into the Northumberland County Academic Alliance.
Paige said that, based on private discussions going on among the chapters, more are likely to defect.” [LGBT Nation]
Arizona is taking center stage in the abortion-rights battle.
“The state Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Tuesday about whether to allow a near-total abortion ban dating back to 1864 to take effect. The case will kick off an election-year showdown over reproductive rights that is expected to heavily influence the outcomes of Arizona’s hypercompetitive 2024 races, including contests for Congress and the White House.” [Wall Street Journal]
Speech police? Supreme Court asked to enter fray on confronting bias on campus.
Conservatives say the effort to confront bias on university campuses is 'chilling the speech of millions of college students nationwide.'
“WASHINGTON – One student reported a swastika scrawled across a whiteboard. Another, the only Black male in his class, said he was asked if he would be willing to stand up in front of his peers and rap.
‘I brushed it off,’ the unidentified student told school officials at Virginia Tech.
But, he added, ‘this is not the only instance of…behavior like this.’
The complaints funneled into a group of school officials Virginia Tech brought together in 2018 to review and confront bias on campus – sexist jokes, say, or racist name-calling. Known as ‘bias-response teams,’ the groups have proliferated at universities across the nation as schools wrestle with a series of high-profile hate incidents.
Now those efforts are facing First Amendment challenges, including a contentious case pending against Virginia Tech at the U.S. Supreme Court. The lawsuits have been successful in forcing schools to rewrite what critics call ‘speech police’ policies. Conservatives say these policies intimidate students from speaking their mind.
‘Though the First Amendment contains no exception for ‘hateful,’ ‘harassing,’ or ‘biased’ speech, universities often try to suppress it,’ a group called Speech First told the Supreme Court in its suit against Virginia Tech. ‘If Speech First is right, then bias-response teams are chilling the speech of millions of college students nationwide.’
The legal fight has reached the top court at a moment when the debate over speech on campus has become particularly fraught. School administrators are navigating a push for inclusivity in student bodies that − like the rest of the nation – are often sharply divided over politics, cultural issues and foreign affairs.
The perils were on display last week as the presidents of three elite universities – Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – faced piercing backlash for refusing to say whether students would violate school policies if they called for the genocide of Jews. The three presidents almost immediately walked back those comments after a maelstrom of criticism and calls for them to step down, And on Saturday night, the University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resign from her job.
But even before that, there were fierce disputes on campuses about the Hamas-Israel conflict, the Trump presidency and issues like race, gender identity, criminal justice and what it means to be ‘woke.’
Neither Speech First nor its lawyer responded to interview requests.
'We're going to have to confront that tension'
Virginia Tech told the Supreme Court it already disbanded its bias-response team earlier this year, even though it won the initial stages of its case in lower courts. The Supreme Court, the university said, should dismiss the Speech First appeal since the central controversy the group is raising no longer exists.
Mark Owczarski, a Virginia Tech spokesman, said the school would not comment on the case given that it is pending before the Supreme Court. But, Owczarski said, the lower courts’ ‘two previous decisions speak for themselves.’
The justices were scheduled to discuss the case, Speech First v. Sands, on Friday. They will likely decide in coming weeks whether to hear the appeal and resolve divisions among appeals courts about whether the suits may continue.
Bias-response teams ‘can generally be understood as part of a growing and evolving trend of colleges and universities making their commitment to deliver equity and inclusion more visible and more robust,’ said Stacy Hawkins, a law professor at Rutgers University who specializes in employment law and diversity.
But it’s also possible, Hawkins said, that some of those efforts went too far. There is widespread dissatisfaction on campuses – among students, faculty and administrators – about a lack of clarity over what’s permitted, she said.
‘Everyone’s trying to figure out how to navigate this climate, this context that we’re all existing in right now because it’s so extraordinarily delicate,’ she said. ‘We’re going to have to confront that tension.’
Conservative speech chilled?
Speech First has had success with similar lawsuits across the country. The University of Michigan ultimately settled in 2019, ending a similar response team it had created, after a federal appeals court ruled for the group. The University of Texas at Austin disbanded its group as part of a settlement in 2020 after a Speech First lawsuit.
Speech First claims the bias efforts violate the First Amendment by making students with unpopular views reluctant to express those opinions for fear of being turned over to school officials for discipline. Those views, the group told the Supreme Court, included one student who believes that immigrants who cross the border illegally should be referred to as ‘illegal aliens,’ and another who believes the Black Lives Matter movement is ‘fundamentally racist.’
The bias-response team at Virginia Tech, which one administrator described as ‘air traffic control’ for bias-related claims, met weekly to consider complaints, which were submitted through on-line forms. The group, made up of school officials, would review complaints and refer them to the dean of students or other offices if they thought further action was required. The team itself had no power to discipline students.
The complaints were rarely referred to other offices, school officials said, or even followed up on.
In an earlier stage of the lawsuit, the university described the effort as promoting ‘mutual respect, the value of human diversity, and the right of every person to express thoughts and opinions freely.’
A U.S. District court ruled against Speech First and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit affirmed that decision. As Speech First was preparing to appeal to the Supreme Court, Virginia Tech disbanded its bias-response team and the university's president, Timothy Sands, signed an affidavit pledging that the university would not re-institute the policy.
Sands suggested the team created unnecessary bureaucracy and noted few complaints resulted in action anyway.
‘The court has a declaration from the president of a major public university which convincingly explains why and how the bias protocol was discontinued,’ the school told the Supreme Court. ‘In that declaration, he swears before this court that he shall not allow anything like it.’” [USA Today]
Qatar sees 'narrowing' chances of Gaza truce
In Khan Younis, Razan Ashram holds the shoes of her late husband. Credit: Reuters
“Despite a UN Security Council vote on Friday having failed to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, Qatar says it's still trying to negotiate a truce between Israel and Hamas, warning that the chances to do so are ‘narrowing’. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuffed those who voted in favour of the UN ceasefire resolution as, he claims, ending the war would prevent Israel from eliminating Hamas. He has also called on Hamas fighters to surrender, as Israeli troops continue to target the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, telling the thousands of Palestinians who sought shelter there at the start of the war to move further south. Meanwhile, Hamas has issued a threat to Israel that not a single hostage will be allowed to leave Gaza alive unless its demands for a prisoner exchange are met. Some 138 hostages taken during the 7 October attacks in southern Israel are thought to remain in Gaza. Follow our live page for the latest news and analysis.
•Gaza's future: International editor Jeremy Bowen has analysed the contrasting views over who should rule the territory at the end of the war.
•Fact-checked: BBC Verify has looked into claims that a video purportedly showing Palestinians surrendering weapons might have been filmed in separate takes.
•'Under siege': An official at al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza tells the BBC none of the 250 or so people inside the facility have been able to enter or leave in five days.” [BBC]
Kiana and Ali Rahmani Fredrik Varfjell/NTB, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
“The winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the human-rights activist Narges Mohammadi, is serving a long prison sentence in Iran. Her 17-year-old twins accepted the award in Oslo on her behalf.” [New York Times]
“Saudi Arabia is trying to block a global deal to phase out fossil fuels at the United Nations climate summit, negotiators said.” [New York Times]
“The anticorruption campaigner who won Guatemala’s presidential election faces a barrage of legal attacks aimed at keeping him from taking office in the next few weeks.” [New York Times]
“Immigration reform: The Australian government has pledged to tighten visa rules for students and low-skilled workers, as part of a 10-year plan to reduce the number of migrants in the country.” [BBC]
“Article 370: India's top court has upheld the removal of special status from the former state of Jammu and Kashmir, which had enjoyed its own constitution, flag, and ability to make laws in a number of areas.” [BBC]
“Brothers in arms: About 200 members of Afghan special forces, trained and funded by the UK, face imminent deportation to their Taliban-controlled homeland, a BBC Newsnight investigation has learned.” [BBC]
“Future historians may come to judge President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to Washington this week as a turning point for the US and its allies in the fight to help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion.
Zelenskiy will meet President Joe Biden and appeal to the US Congress to free $61 billion in military assistance that’s held up in disputes between the White House and Republicans over toughening the border with Mexico. Biden’s spokeswoman called it a ‘critical moment.’
With lawmakers leaving Washington for the holidays at the end of the week, failure to agree a deal risks the US running out of money to aid Ukraine and further discussion getting caught up in next year’s presidential election race.
That would be a huge Christmas gift to Vladimir Putin. The Russian president announced Friday he’ll seek another six-year term in March elections, and later boasted to soldiers that Ukraine is running out of weapons while the Kremlin has ramped up its defense production.
A US stumble would also bolster opponents of support to Ukraine in the European Union, particularly Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, who’s blocking nearly $54 billion in aid and demanding the EU drop membership talks with Kyiv. Zelenskiy and Orban met in Argentina yesterday at President Javier Milei’s inauguration.
There’s widespread fatigue after nearly two years of war with no end in sight. Ukraine’s military counteroffensive failed to break through Russian lines and there’s a stalemate on the battlefield as winter sets in.
The US and its European allies committed to back Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Putin’s aggression. If they blink in defending a democracy, they know the message that sends would reverberate around the world.
For all the geopolitical debate and electoral calculation, they face a simple choice.
Are they ready to let Putin win?” [Bloomberg]
Ukrainian soldiers during an anti-drone drill on Nov. 11. Photographer: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images
“Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at length yesterday as tensions between the two leaders mount over the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s growing ties with Iran. In a 50-minute call, the Israeli prime minister ‘strongly criticized the dangerous cooperation between Russia and Iran’ and ‘expressed his displeasure’ with Moscow taking sides against Israel at the United Nations and other international bodies.” [Bloomberg]
“Rishi Sunak faces a critical test of his authority over his own party this week with lawmakers set to decide on his bill to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. The vote tomorrow represents the first time the House of Commons will take a position on the legislation, which the UK prime minister argues would lift most of the legal barriers that have blocked the government’s plan.” [Bloomberg]
“First speech: Argentina's new president Javier Milei has told citizens to expect ‘shock treatment’ for the economy as ‘there is no money’. His inauguration was attended by leaders such as Hungary's Viktor Orban and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, who had a brief, but intense-looking conversation.” [BBC]
“Argentina’s libertarian new president took office yesterday with an unconventional message to the nation: Life is going to get much worse under him before it gets better. Milei promised a program of shock therapy comprising drastic public spending cuts to tackle rampant inflation and rescue the economy, saying that there’s ‘no alternative, nor much time.’” [Bloomberg]
Milei supporters outside the National Congress during his inauguration ceremony in Buenos Aires. Photographer: Erica Canepa/Bloomberg
“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and top officials in his governing coalition broke off overnight talks on a revised 2024 budget and are reconvening today. Social Democrat Scholz and his partners from the Greens and Free Democrats have been wrangling over next year’s finance plan for days as they continue to grapple with the fallout from last month’s court ruling limiting the use of special off-budget funds.” [Bloomberg]
“The government of Poland’s nationalist Law & Justice Party is poised to be replaced this week by its pro-EU opponents, returning the country to the continent’s political mainstream. Following their victory in October's election, unpicking the previous leaders’ grip on the organs of state won’t be so straightforward for the group led by former European Council President Donald Tusk.” [Bloomberg]
“Hong Kong’s local council elections drew their lowest turnout in nearly three decades, as residents snubbed a system lacking political diversity after a revamp to cement China’s control.” [Bloomberg]
“The Philippines will summon Beijing’s envoy in Manila after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. slammed China’s ‘dangerous actions’ in the South China Sea over the weekend.” [Bloomberg]
“Ethiopia is set to become Africa’s latest defaulter, with an interest payment falling due to its bondholders today that the state says it won’t meet.” [Bloomberg]
EV push is slow going
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
“More than two years after President Biden signed legislation allocating $5 billion for a nationwide network of taxpayer-funded electric vehicle chargers, the first one finally opened last Friday in Ohio.
Why it matters: Having convenient, reliable fast chargers along major highways is a key confidence-booster for people considering an electric car, Axios' Joann Muller writes.
But the government's effort to supply them is moving at typical government speed, while the privately funded buildout of charging stations continues separately.
That slow pace is making it harder to achieve Biden's ultimate goal of EVs making up half of all new cars sold by 2030.
By the numbers: The U.S. will need 28 million home and public charging ports to support a potential 33 million plug-in electric vehicles by 2030, per the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
With 60,000 public chargers — including only 8,560 fast chargers — available today, the country still has a long way to go.” [Axios]
“Scammers are using QR codes to direct people to websites that can harvest their data, the F.T.C. has warned.” [New York Times]
Gene-editing breakthrough
Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios
“The FDA on Friday took a big step toward ending the most common inherited blood disorder by approving a pair of gene therapies for sickle cell disease — a debilitating sickness that affects an estimated 100,000 Americans, mostly of African descent.
Why it matters: It's the first FDA-approved therapy using the CRISPR gene-editing system, a kind of genetic scissors whose discovery won a Nobel Prize in 2020, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim writes.
The new treatments edit genes directly in a patient's body and expand the kinds of diseases and conditions researchers can target to other blood disorders, certain cancers and infectious diseases.
Reality check: The treatments are both grueling and could cost millions of dollars, raising questions about equity and access.
Patients first have to undergo extensive chemotherapy to rid their bodies of the defective cells and make way for reengineered ones — a process that may not be appropriate for older or frail patients.
There's also the risk of ‘off target’ edits that zero in on the wrong genetic sequence and could increase the risk of developing cancer.” [Axios]
Musk brings back Alex Jones
“Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' five-year Twitter ban is over. His account was reinstated after Elon Musk put the decision to a vote in a poll on the platform.
Why it matters: The decision comes as the platform loses big-ticket advertisers who pulled their business after Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory on Twitter. Musk later apologized for the post.
Zoom out: Alex Jones was booted from Twitter for abusive behavior. He is most notorious for repeated false claims that the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax.
When asked last November if he would let Jones back onto the platform, Musk refused.
He also tweeted: ‘I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.’” [Axios]
December 11, 2023
Good morning. We’re covering the rise in U.S. traffic deaths….
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Outlier status
“For most of the automobile’s first century of existence, it became safer.
In the 1920s, the death toll from vehicle crashes was so high that gruesome photos of accidents were a staple of newspaper coverage. By 2010 — thanks to better design of roads and vehicles, the addition of seatbelts and greater awareness of drunken driving, among other things — the death rate from crashes had fallen almost 90 percent from its 1920s level.
By The New York Times | Source: National Safety Council
But the progress ended about a decade ago, or at least it did in the United States. Even as vehicle deaths have continued falling in most counties, they have risen in this country.
Here’s a stark way of thinking about the problem: If the U.S. had made as much progress reducing vehicle crashes as other high-income countries had over the past two decades, about 25,000 fewer Americans would die every year.
By The New York Times | Source: OECD
My colleagues Emily Badger, Ben Blatt and Josh Katz have published a story this morning that tries to solve one part of the mystery of this country’s outlier status. Emily, Ben and Josh focus on a specific part of the problem: Pedestrian deaths have surged at night.
The smartphone
Many of the potential explanations for the trend don’t seem to fit. Cars in this country are large, but they have become only slightly larger since the early 2000s. Drunken driving has not become more common, and roads have not become more dangerous.
But there has been one major change in driver behavior: the use of smartphones.
‘Smartphones have become ubiquitous with remarkable speed, overlapping closely with the timeline of rising pedestrian deaths,’ Emily, Ben and Josh write. ‘Apple’s iPhone was introduced in 2007. Within a few years, one-third of American adults said they owned a smartphone.’
Smartphones have also become ubiquitous in other countries, of course. But American drivers seem to be addicted to their phones in ways that drivers elsewhere are not. Surveys suggest Americans spend more time on their phones while driving than people do in other countries. In part, this phenomenon may reflect this country’s culture, which emphasizes professional success and immediate gratification.
It also partly reflects vehicle technology. Nearly all cars in the U.S. are automatic transmission, freeing drivers’ hands (or so they may think) to use phones. In Europe, almost 75 percent of cars still have gears that a driver must change manually.
‘The adoption of smartphones for the past 15 years — where we are today, being addicted on social media and other apps — absolutely contributes to the increase in fatalities on our roads,’ Matt Fiorentino, a vice president at Cambridge Mobile Telematics, which tracks dangerous driving for carmakers, insurers and regulators, told Emily.
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Pot and sidewalks, too
Smartphones aren’t the only likely cause of the trend, Emily, Ben and Josh write. The spread of legal marijuana may also play a role, as may the rise in opioid addiction. In one recent federal study, half of the drivers involved in serious accidents tested positive for at least one active drug.
The continued growth of the population in the Sun Belt, where roads often lack sidewalks, crosswalks and bike lanes, may also be a factor, as may the recent increase in homelessness. People living on the streets are especially vulnerable to being hit by a car.
Some of these problems are difficult to solve. For others, however, there are promising solutions that state and local governments have simply chosen not to try. Building safe sidewalks, as Europe has done, is relatively cheap. Using traffic cameras to identify drivers who are texting — and imposing significant fines on them — would not be difficult, either.
Instead, the U.S. has chosen to accept a vehicle death rate that is almost three times higher than that of Canada, Australia or France, more than four times higher than that of Germany or Japan and more than five times higher than that of Scandinavia, Switzerland or Britain.
Among the recent victims of America’s uniquely high vehicle-death toll: A woman died after being hit by a vehicle while crossing a street in east Las Vegas on Friday and then being hit by a second car while she was on the ground. A person in Redmond, Wash., died on Wednesday night after being struck by a driver in a gray Nissan Pathfinder who then fled the scene. Another pedestrian died in a hit-and-run accident in Colorado Springs on Friday.
And on Thursday night, mourners gathered at a ShopRite parking lot in Stamford, Conn., to remember Marie Jean-Charles, a 74-year-old cashier who had worked at the supermarket for 25 years. She was killed by a speeding driver while she was crossing the street to go to work.
For more: The Times story is full of charts that show how dangerous nighttime has become for pedestrians.” [New York Times]
Heisman winner
Daniels takes a selfie with his Heisman last night in Manhattan. Photo: Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels won the Heisman trophy — the biggest honor in college football — with 4,946 yards of offense and 50 touchdowns this season.
Daniels is the second consecutive transfer to win the award, and the fifth in seven years, ESPN reports.
Flashback: Daniels is the third LSU player to win the award. Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow landed it in 2019.” [Axios]
Shohei Ohtani Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times
“Shohei Ohtani, the most coveted free agent in baseball, signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with Los Angeles Dodgers.” [New York Times]
SPORTS
“Sunday Night Football: The Cowboys outlasted the Eagles, 33-13, in a matchup of two of the N.F.C.’s top teams.” [New York Times]
“Around the N.F.L.: The Ravens beat the Rams in overtime to take the lead in the race for the A.F.C.’s top playoff spot. And the Chiefs lost to the Bills after a jaw-dropping potential game-winner was called back because of a flag (watch the play). See more takeaways here.” [New York Times]
“W.N.B.A.: The Indiana Fever scored the top pick in next year’s draft, putting them first in line to get the Iowa star Caitlin Clark.” [New York Times]
Swift's billion-dollar tour
Swift takes the stage in Buenos Aires on Nov. 9. Photo: Marcelo Endelli/TAS23 via Getty Images
“Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is the first tour to cross the billion-dollar mark, AP reports from Pollstar year-end charts.
4.35 million tickets sold across 60 tour dates, bringing in $1.04 billion.
Swift also raked in about $200 million in merch sales. Her blockbuster film adaptation of the tour, ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,’ has reportedly sold $250 million in tickets, making it the highest-grossing concert film of all time.” [Axios]
“Lives Lived: Maria Emilia Martin founded “Latino USA,” the longest-running public radio show in the country covering Latino communities, and mentored hundreds of journalists in Central and South America. She died at 72.” [New York Times]
“Lives Lived: Dr. Gao Yaojie defied government pressure in exposing an AIDS epidemic that devastated rural China through reckless blood collection. She died at 95.” [New York Times]