The Full Belmonte, 11/11/2022
Consumers have seen higher prices for products on store shelves as inflation has surged.
PHOTO: RICHARD B. LEVINE/ZUMA PRESS
Inflation eased in October from nearly a four-decade high, sending U.S. stocks soaring.
“The Labor Department said that its consumer-price index increased 7.7% in October from the same month a year ago, the smallest 12-month increase since January. That’s down from 8.2% in September. Meanwhile, jobless claims ticked up last week but remained near historical lows, and home-price growth slowed sharply in the third quarter amid rising mortgage rates, the National Association of Realtors said. The inflation report likely leaves the Fed on track for a 0.5-percentage-point interest-rate rise in December, rather than the 0.75-point rise that some feared. U.S. stocks staged their biggest rally in more than two years. U.S. government bond yields marked their steepest one-day declines since 2009.”
Republicans inched closer to their expected House majority, and which party will control the Senate isn’t decided.
“The country might not know for days who will call the shots in Congress. With dozens of House races outstanding, the GOP’s forecasted gains narrowed significantly. Arizona and Nevada continued to tabulate Senate ballots. Some analysts predicted Democratic candidates would win those races, giving the party 50 seats heading into a Dec. 6 runoff in Georgia.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
© Associated Press / Matt York | An election worker verifies a ballot at the Maricopa County Recorder's Office in Arizona on Thursday.
All eyes on Georgia, Nevada and Arizona
“Three days after the midterm elections, control has yet to be determined in both the House and the Senate and while the upper chamber remains a toss-up, Republicans hold a slight edge to win the House.
Nevada and Arizona ballots are still being counted this morning and Georgia is braced for a hard-fought December runoff to determine Senate results, writes The Hill’s Julia Manchester. In the House, many toss-up races have not been called and the official victors in some gubernatorial races are still up in the air.
In Georgia, Republicans and Democrats are gearing up for a showdown to decide which party will control the Senate next year, The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports. Some Republicans are already calling on former President Trump to postpone his planned 2024 presidential announcement, worried he could hurt their chances in the runoff.
Many Republicans blamed Trump for the loss of both Georgia seats in the January 2021 runoff and fear a reprise if he tries to make the race about himself and election fraud.
The Senate Democrats’ campaign arm is already investing $7 million for field organizing efforts ahead of next month’s runoff to support Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) against Republican challenger Herschel Walker (The Hill). Walker is getting support from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NSRC), after its head, Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.) pledged Wednesday to raise whatever money he can and begin an advertising blitz for the candidate.
Scott won’t comment on whether he thinks Trump should stay out of the Dec. 6 runoff, an opinion voiced on Thursday by some fellow Republicans.
‘That’ll be a decision between Herschel and Trump. I know that Trump wants to be helpful to make Herschel win,’ Scott told NBC News. ‘That’s an issue for the campaign. I don’t get to participate in those decisions.’
Scott said his focus will be to raise ‘every dime’ possible for Walker after the NRSC injected $14 million into the race (NBC News).
Trump, meanwhile, is still considering a likely presidential campaign announcement on Nov. 15. The former president may well face off in the Republican primaries against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who looks to be a frontrunner after winning reelection by a double-digit margin on Tuesday night (The Hill). Trump on Thursday attacked DeSantis and conservative media — which blamed him for GOP losses in key races — saying ‘Ron DeSanctimonious is playing games!’ (Bloomberg News).
‘The Fake News asks him if he’s going to run if President Trump runs, and he says, ‘I’m only focused on the Governor’s race, I’m not looking into the future,’ Trump said in a statement. ‘Well, in terms of loyalty and class, that’s really not the right answer.’
Politico: Trump goes to war against DeSantis.
Politico: Scott was prepared to take on McConnell — until Tuesday.
While the Georgia seat is critical, both parties are also keeping close watch on Arizona and Nevada, where ballots are still being counted in the states’ respective Senate races. CNN estimated about 540,000 votes in Arizona and 95,000 in Nevada are left to be counted as of Thursday evening.
In Nevada, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) is trailing behind Republican challenger Adam Laxalt by 9,000 votes, but both parties are expressing optimism that they’ll prevail in the race, writes The Hill’s Caroline Vakil. Democrats feared that a favorable political environment for Republicans, coupled with the ever-present issue of inflation in the tourism-dominated economy, would thwart Cortez Masto’s chances of reelection.
But their mood has shifted as ballots counted in Clark County appear poised to help the senator close the gap with Laxalt. Republicans, meanwhile, remain bullish that Laxalt will eke out a win. Both parties are now playing the waiting game after Clark County election officials said counting will continue for several days, with the possibility that most ballots could be recorded by Friday.
The Hill: Key Nevada county expects to count most remaining ballots by Saturday.
Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Kelly (D) has a comfortable 115,000 vote lead in Arizona over Republican challenger Blake Masters, where the wait for results is expected to continue into next week. Election workers in Maricopa County today will begin wading through a massive tranche of 290,000 early ballots that were handed in on Election Day that have created chaos and lengthened the time until races can be called (The Hill).
Time: Why Arizona’s governor’s race may end up in a courtroom.
Over in the House, Morning Report is tracking a few featured races.
In Montana, former Interior Secretary under Trump, Ryan Zinke (R), who resigned under a cloud in 2018, won a House seat by a narrow margin (The Washington Post).
Votes are still being counted in Colorado in a surprisingly razor-tight race between Rep. Lauren Boebert (R) and Democrat Adam Frisch. Boebert, a far-right Republican with deep ties to Trump who was widely expected to win the race, at one point trailed Frisch by a double-digit vote margin. As of this morning, Boebert leads by 1,112 with 99 percent of the vote tallied (CBS News).
NBC News: The margin in Boebert’s race is so close, it ‘smells like recount territory.’
Meanwhile in New York, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D), who lost his own reelection bid after serving as the House leader tasked to help Democrats hold the chamber’s majority, on Thursday said of the GOP, ‘we are not going to let them steal a single seat.’
Maloney, a five-term member of Congress, lost in a newly mapped district in a stunning defeat to Mike Lawler, a Republican in the State Assembly. The outcome provided a rare instance in which the Democrats’ recent brush with fatalism almost seemed justified, as Maloney became the first chair of either party’s congressional campaign arm to lose a reelection in roughly 30 years (The New York Times).
The Washington Post: Maloney is a tale of two nights: The best of times, the worst of times.
KXAN: New York emerges as an exception to a strong election for Democrats.” Read more at The Hill
The Hill: Hispanic voters largely stuck to historical partisan trends in 2022, despite a narrative of a rightward shift among Latinos. The partisan split and the influence of Latino voters on a series of key elections underscored the importance of a Hispanic electorate once derided as a "sleeping giant."
The Hill: The midterms suggest early voting is here to stay, with 47 million voters casting ballots before election day.
The Washington Post: Where voter turnout exceeded 2018 highs.
NPR: Turnout among young voters was the second highest for a midterm in the past 30 years.
The Washington Post: Key election deniers concede defeat after disputing Trump’s 2020 loss.
Biden's student debt forgiveness plan blocked again
“A U.S. District Court in Texas on Thursday night blocked President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program on the grounds that the administration didn't have the authority to act.
The fresh injunction is in addition to a block from the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which put the program on hold nearly three weeks ago while it considered a separate lawsuit brought by six states challenging the program and the president's authority to act.
The administration has said it can offer far-reaching loan forgiveness under a 2003 law that allows for such measures during national emergencies. In this case, that emergency is the pandemic.
The Texas case was brought by the Job Creators Network Foundation, which describes itself as ‘a nonpartisan organization founded by entrepreneurs who believe the best defense against bad government policies is a well-informed public.’” Read more at USA Today
“MORE RACES CALLED — Democrat TINA KOTEK was elected governor of Oregon , defeating Republican CHRISTINE DRAZAN and Democrat-turned-independent BETSY JOHNSON. … ELI CRANEbeat Democratic incumbent TOM O’HALLERAN in Arizona’s 2nd district … California Republican Rep. YOUNG KIM holds on in Orange County. … Democratic Rep. KIM SCHRIER reelected in Washington’s 8th. … More election results
NEW PROJECTION ON HOUSE MAJORITY — The sun has now risen three times since GOP Leader KEVIN McCARTHY assured Americans that they would wake up to a House Republican majority. Yet we still don’t know who won either chamber of Congress — and each day, the sun has set with the projected number of Republican seats dimming.
This morning, our colleague Steve Shephard even points out that while it may be unlikely, Democrats still actually have a very narrow path to holding the majority. There are a bunch of uncalled races where the results are expected to go one way or the other. But it all comes down to about 11 true toss-ups where forecasters really aren’t sure what will happen — and of those, Dems would need to win nine to maintain power.
Given that narrow path, Republicans are "still favored to take a narrow House majority,” Steve notes. But even in a best-case scenario, the GOP is looking at a mere 226 seats. A chaotic scenario where their majority consists of just a handful of seats is even more likely.
It could be a while until we have answers:
In Arizona: Officials in Maricopa County “initially estimated they would complete the vote tally by Friday. Now, they say, they will be counting through the weekend,” writes the Arizona Republic’s Robert Anglen . ‘About 570,000 ballots statewide remained to be counted Thursday night.’
In Nevada: AP’s Ken Ritter writes that Vegas elections leaders say they’re counting votes ‘as quickly as we can,’ but still have 50,000 ballots outstanding in critical Clark County.
In Colorado: The Denver Post’s Conrad Swanson looks at the possibility of a recount in the unexpectedly close race between Republican Rep. LAUREN BOEBERT and Democrat ADAM FRISCH. ‘If neither candidate gains a wide enough margin, election officials might not declare an official winner in the race for weeks, depending on how the process plays out,’ Swanson writes. ‘Not only would a slim margin of victory trigger an automatic recount but either candidate can also request a recount so long as they’re willing to pay for it. The process could then extend into December.’
In California: There are an estimated 4,829,879 unprocessed ballots remaining to be counted, according to the latest numbers from the California secretary of state’s office.
The lack of clarity about the final outcome hasn’t kept House Republicans from declaring victory. Yesterday, as he continued to work the phones to lock down support for the speakership, McCarthy made two moves aimed at projecting confidence about a GOP takeover: (1) creating transition teams dedicated to implementing Republicans’ policy agenda while providing oversight of the Biden administration, and (2) demanding that the Capitol reopen to the public after more than 900 days of closures due to Covid restrictions.
McCarthy defended his drape-measuring maneuvers ahead of an official call for House control in a Fox News appearance last night. None other than President JOE BIDEN, he said, had congratulated him on winning a majority: ‘So for anyone who thinks we didn’t win the majority, Joe at least believes we did as well.’
Leaving the White House last night, Biden told CNN’s Jeremy Diamond his kudos were merely conditional : ‘I said, ‘If you win the majority, congratulations. But congratulations so far, you’ve made some gains.’
LAME DUCK IN LIMBO — Lawmakers have until Dec. 16 to agree on a new deal to fund the government, and their postures in that fight could vary drastically depending on who’s in control next year, our colleagues Burgess Everett and Sarah Ferris write .
If Republicans flip both chambers, they’ll likely want to hold out on a long-term funding deal so they can make their mark on government priorities come 2023. But if they don’t, they might be more willing to strike a pre-holidays deal that kicks the next funding fight until late 2023.
The results will also influence how Democrats spend their remaining weeks in power of both chambers. ‘If Democrats hold the Senate, they may focus more on legislation while they’re still assured power in the House,’ the pair write. ‘But if Senate Democrats are worried about losing control of their chamber, they are likely to pivot to confirming as many of President Joe Biden's nominees as possible.’
MARK YOUR CALENDARS — On Thursday, DONALD TRUMP’s team revealed that the former president’s Mar-a-Lago announcement — widely expected to be the unveiling of his 2024 presidential campaign — will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 9 p.m.
WHAT REPUBLICANS ARE GOSSIPING ABOUT — All week, many of Trump’s closest former advisers and aides — even those who stuck by his side after Jan. 6 — have pleaded with him to pump the brakes on a 2024 announcement. They fear his launch could hurt Republicans in the looming Georgia Senate runoff.
On Thursday, former New Jersey Gov. CHRIS CHRISTIE even offered this zinger to the AP : ‘We lost in ’18. We lost in ’20. We lost in ’21 in Georgia. And now in ’22 we’re going to net-lose governorships, we’re not going to pick up the number of seats in the House that we thought and we may not win the Senate despite a president who has a 40% job approval,’ Christie said. ‘There’s only one person to blame for that, and that’s Donald Trump.’” Read more at POLITICO
Republicans in battleground states where the GOP lost big have already begun pointing fingers at Trump:
“Michigan GOP memo delivers scathing election post-mortem on Trump-backed candidates,” by the Detroit Free Press’ Paul Egan
“‘It’s time for him to retire’: Some Pa. Republicans want to push Trump aside after their election losses,” by the Philly Inquirer’s Jonathan Tamari and William Bender
Midterms dampen Trump’s 2024 presidential bid
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
“It may be unclear for weeks which party controls Congress after Tuesday’s midterms, but some Republicans are already blaming Donald Trump for their underperformance.” [Vox / Ben Jacobs]
“Democrat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman defeated Trump-backed Dr. Mehmet Oz in the race for Senate in Pennsylvania. Trump’s candidates also lost bids to unseat Democratic governors in Michigan, Wisconsin, and New York.” (Vox) Read more at New York Times / Michael C. Bender and Maggie Haberman
“GOP disappointments continued in Georgia, where Trump’s other handpicked Senate candidate, Herschel Walker, faces a December 6 runoff against incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock.” [Vox / Li Zhou]
“Trump planned to launch a 2024 presidential run after successful midterms for Republicans. Now, some of his closest allies say he should delay his announcement until voters decide control of the Senate.” (Vox) Read more at Associated Press / Jill Colvin
“Meanwhile, Florida governor and potential Trump 2024 rival Ron DeSantis had a solid showing on Tuesday, sailing to a nearly 20-point victory against Democrat Charlie Crist.” (Vox) Read more at BBC / Bernd Debusmann Jr
Brian Kemp speaks at a press conference on November 7, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. Kemp is loaning his get-out-the-vote machine to the Senate GOP’s voter turnout efforts. | Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images
“Mitch McConnell is tapping Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to help Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker over the finish line in his December runoff election — a contest that could decide control of the chamber next year.
Kemp is loaning his get-out-the-vote machine to the Senate GOP’s voter turnout efforts, giving the party entrée to a political team that is increasingly viewed as one of the GOP’s most formidable state operations. The governor ran a gauntlet this year, prevailing over a Donald Trump-backed primary opponent by a lopsided margin before comfortably defeating Democrat Stacey Abrams in the general election.
Under an agreement that was finalized Thursday, Kemp will transfer his door-knocking, data analytics, phone-banking and micro-targeting program to the Senate Leadership Fund, the McConnell-aligned super PAC that is bolstering Walker. The super PAC will provide the funding for the $2 million-plus effort, which will be run by Kemp’s senior advisers and staffed by more than 100 field workers.” Read more at POLITICO
Storm damage
“At least four people have been killed after Nicole hit Florida's eastern coast as a Category 1 hurricane this week. Photos of the damage show buildings and homes that have been ripped apart in the wake of dangerous storm surge and powerful winds. Streets remain flooded and thousands of customers are still without power this morning. Nicole weakened into a tropical depression Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center. However, the subsiding storm has headed north, moving into southwestern Georgia today. It's expected to cross the western Carolinas later this evening. View CNN's storm tracker here to see Nicole's path.” Read more at CNN
Crews from the City of Jacksonville Public Works department put up road closed signs after they were blown down Thursday morning where they warned motorists about flooding across San Marco Blvd. at Lasalle St. as Jacksonville feels the effects of Tropical Storm Nicole as it makes its way Northwest through central Florida Thursday, November 10, 2022.Bob Self, Florida Times-Union via USA TODAY NETWORK
FTX lent billions of dollars worth of customer assets to fund its affiliated trading firm’s risky bets, setting the stage for its downfall, a person familiar with the matter said.
“Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried said in investor meetings this week that Alameda Research owes the crypto exchange about $10 billion. FTX declined to comment. In a series of tweets today, Bankman-Fried said Alameda is winding down trading. Yesterday, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, decided not to go ahead with a nonbinding rescue offer for its rival.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
McCarthy's tricky road
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy makes calls to Republican House members from his Capitol office yesterday. Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
“House conservatives are creating potential roadblocks to the speakership for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Axios' Andrew Solender reports.
Why it matters: If Republicans manage to eke out a majority, it will likely be a narrow one — meaning just a handful of Republican members could block McCarthy from winning the gavel.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told Axios ‘no one currently has 218’ votes to become speaker.
Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), who is openly opposing McCarthy, told Axios he's ‘confirmed with many people that ... there will be a challenge’ to McCarthy at next week's GOP leadership elections.
Former Trump official Russ Vought said: ‘I think he's in deep trouble ... I think him prevailing on the floor of the House is going to be very difficult.’
As McCarthy left the Capitol last night, he was asked if he has the votes for speaker. He confidently replied: ‘Yes.’ (CNN)
The bottom line: The speaker's election requires a majority of the House — and it's a public vote.” Read more at Axios
“Consumer prices rose 7.7 percent in the year through October. The pace was slower than economists anticipated, and below 8 percent for the first time since February.” Read more at New York Times
Grocery prices
“Americans grappling with high inflation are finally getting some relief at the grocery store. Prices overall have surged 12.4% through October versus a year ago, but analysts at the market research firm NielsenIQ say there are some deals to be had. In fresh produce, the average price for prepared mixed vegetables dropped 68% versus the same period last year. A lot of fresh seafood options are cheaper as well: striped bass fell 41.8% over the prior year while the cost of lobster is also down 7.2%. Some packaged baked goods such as assorted bagels fell 48%. Bakery sweet goods and cranberry sauce are also seeing declining prices just in time for the holidays. And in beverages, kombucha drinks have dropped 22.7%. Most consumers are also not buying in bulk, analysts say, as more shoppers are opting for smaller sizes to control their spending.” Read more at CNN
“Two days after an election in which the Republican Party attacked the Democrats for inflation, today’s consumer price index data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that inflation is slowing more quickly than expected. It rose just 0.4% in October, making the rate over the past twelve months also come in lower than expected at 7.7%.
The stock market had its biggest jump since 2020, with the different indexes observers use to measure the market all rising. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped more than 1,200 points, or 3.7%; the S&P 500 jumped 5.54%; and the Nasdaq Composite surged 7.35%, the best it has done since March 2020.
In a statement, President Joe Biden promised to continue to work to get prices down but noted that his policies are having an effect. ‘[O]ur economy has reopened, new jobs are being created, new businesses are growing, and now, we are seeing progress in getting inflation under control—with additional measures taking effect soon.’
Then Biden appeared to reach out to Republicans interested in forging a way forward from their party’s politics of the recent past, while also recalling that for all their complaints about inflation, their only plan to fix the problem was to cut taxes for the wealthy again. Virtually no economist said cutting taxes would help inflation, and many said such a policy would actually make inflation worse.
Biden said: ‘I will work with anyone—Democrat or Republican—on ideas to provide more breathing room to middle-class and working families. And I will oppose any effort to undo my agenda or to make inflation worse. We are on the right path—we need to keep moving forward to build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.’
Biden appeared to have wind under his wings, though, as with this recent vote of confidence he looks forward to the rest of his term. The 27th United Nations Climate Change conference is being held right now in Egypt, and the U.S. administration today announced a new policy for dealing with climate change. Arguing that climate change and the shortages and damage to supply chains it brings create significant financial risk for the government (that is, taxpayers), it advanced a plan to use the federal government’s power as the world’s largest buyer of goods and services—over $630 billion in the last fiscal year—to address climate change.
It would require any federal contractor who gets annual contracts worth more than $7.5 million a year to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, explain their climate-related financial risks, and set emissions reduction targets.
Climate change is a key issue for Gen Z, who came out for Biden strongly on Tuesday, but Biden’s other major initiative on their behalf ran into trouble today as U.S. District Court Judge Mark Pittman, a Trump appointee, declared Biden’s student loan relief program illegal. The government has already appealed.
Meanwhile, the counting of votes continues, with control of both houses of Congress still unclear.
What is clear is that there is a war erupting in the Republican Party. After former president Trump surged to an unexpected victory in 2016, there appeared to be a sense in the Republican Party that he had figured out how to mobilize previously unengaged voters to deliver victories to the Republican Party, and established Republicans increasingly rallied to his standard.
But he has led the party to defeat now for the third time. In the 2018 midterms, Republicans lost control of the House, with Democrats picking up 41 seats. In 2020, of course, he lost the election, as well as control of the Senate. And while this year’s outcome is not yet clear, the Democrats have had one of the best midterm performances in recent memory. Suddenly, Trump no longer seems to have a magic formula.
White nationalist Nick Fuentes told his audience that the solution to the fact Republicans are in a minority and keep losing elections is to establish ‘a dictatorship.’ ‘We need to take control of the media or take control of the government and force the people to believe what we believe or force them to play by our rules.’
Others seem to think the answer is just to dump Trump, although as Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) warned Republicans in his closing argument in Trump’s first impeachment trial: ‘If you find that the House has proved its case and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel—and for all of history.’
That his star is tarnished became clear today not just on cable television and Twitter, where right-wing users complained about his hand-picked candidates, and in Pennsylvania, where Republicans were stung by the loss of a Senate seat, but also on media owned by right-wing kingmaker Rupert Murdoch. Today the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal noted Trump’s perfect record of electoral defeat and said: ‘Trump is the Republican Party’s Biggest Loser.’
Apparently stung, Trump unleashed a furious rant on Truth Social, claiming credit for DeSantis’s start in politics. It included an astonishing claim: ‘I was all in for Ron, and he beat Gillum, but after the Race, when votes were being stolen by the corrupt Election process in Broward County, and Ron was going down ten thousand votes a day, along with now-Senator Rick Scott, I sent in the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys, and the ballot theft immediately ended, just prior to them running out of the votes necessary to win. I stopped his Election from being stolen….’
This is an apparent reference to the 2018 election that put DeSantis in the governor’s chair rather than his Democratic opponent Andrew Gillum. The race was very close: just 32,463 votes out of 9 million cast, about 0.4%, separated the two candidates. Considering what we now know about Trump’s approach to election results, a claim to having rigged the 2018 Florida election was one heck of a statement. Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo noted that even though Trump ‘is a pathological liar… this requires some explanation, if only a clear and definitive confirmation that this did not happen.’
Pundits are already suggesting Florida governor Ron DeSantis as a replacement for Trump as a presidential candidate in 2024. This is terribly premature. If, in fact, the party is going to move beyond the Trump years, it seems it might well not turn to DeSantis, who, among other things, is still under investigation for flying a plane load of legal migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, an act not just cruel but possibly illegal.
There will be plenty of time to worry about 2024.
In the meantime, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to a Democratic National Committee Event today at the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C. Harris told the audience members that their work sent a message to the entire world: ‘Our democracy is intact…. [T]his what it looks like…. Some Democrats won and some Republicans won. That is what happens when more than 100 million Americans participate and vote in free and fair and open elections…. And the people in this room and around our country made that possible by standing up for basic American values: freedom, liberty, and the rule of law. And I believe when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for.’
Biden told the attendees that Democrats ‘beat the odds’ in the midterms ‘for one reason—this is not hyperbole—because of you…. I really mean it…. You believed in the system. You believed in the institutions. You fought like hell for it. And that’s the most important thing that happened, in my view, in this election. It was the first national election since January 6th, and there were a lot of concerns about whether democracy would meet the test.’
‘It did. It did. It did.’” Read more at Heather Cox Richardson
“Alex Jones was ordered to pay another $473 million to the families of Sandy Hook victims, bringing the total damages to almost $1.5 billion.” Read more at New York Times
“KFC’s German branch apologized for using the anniversary of Kristallnacht — the 1938 Nazi pogrom against Jews — to promote ‘tender cheese with crispy chicken.’” Read more at New York Times
Data: Memo. (Readership data analysis is from a representative sample of 83 news organizations.) Chart: Madison Dong/Axios Visuals
“The road ahead doesn't get easier for Elon Musk: Three key Twitter execs resigned today, leaving leadership vacuums in information security, privacy and compliance.
The Verge reported that a Twitter lawyer sent a message to colleagues warning that Musk could put the company in further violation of a 2011 FTC consent decree around data privacy — for which Twitter has already paid multiple fines.
The FTC told The Washington Post in a statement: ‘We are tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern. No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees.’” Read more at Axios
Climate
“President Biden is heading to a UN summit today where he is expected to tout his climate record. In a speech to the COP27 summit in Egypt, Biden will proclaim the US is back as a global leader on climate change following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included around $370 billion in clean energy incentives meant to slash the use of harmful greenhouse gases. However, many nations attending this week's conference are focused on another matter: demanding climate reparations be paid by wealthy and high-emitting countries like the US to smaller, poorer nations that have felt the outsized effects of climate change. Biden has struggled to gain backing in Congress for global climate resilience funding, which would help low-income nations. And if Republicans gain control of one or both chambers, the prospects of any new climate legislation over the next two years appears dim.” Read more at CNN
“Pushing on | Ukraine’s forces have liberated dozens of settlements during counteroffensives in the country’s northeast and south, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address. Authorities in Kyiv remain cautious about Russia’s announcement its troops are abandoning the Ukrainian city of Kherson, the first major regional center seized in its invasion.
In the latest reflection of the Kremlin’s expanding war effort, bomb shelters across Russia are being brought back to life after more than three decades of neglect since the end of the Cold War.
The Kremlin sought to distance President Vladimir Putin from the retreat in Kherson, saying the decision to withdraw Russian forces came from the defense minister.” Read more at Bloomberg
Biden Jets Off
“U.S. President Joe Biden took off Thursday for a weeklong international trip on the heels of the U.S. midterm elections. The Republican party is now expected to take control of the U.S. House in January, but with smaller gains than pollsters predicted. Abroad, Biden will likely project U.S. stability and strength—after all, his foreign policy may not change much with a new Congress, no matter the final election results.
The U.S. president will have a quick start at the United Nations climate summit today in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. At COP27, Biden was expected to tout the landmark climate legislation passed in Washington this year—even as developing countries have spent the summit calling for climate aid for loss and damage caused in large part by wealthier nations. Biden is the only leader from a top emitter present at COP27; the leaders of China, Russia, and India did not attend.
Biden will then travel to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, currently hosting the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). There, the U.S. president will likely seek to reassure regional allies about the U.S. commitment to a rules-based order in the South China Sea. The Philippines and Indonesia have each looked to deepen military cooperation with the United States amid China’s saber-rattling over Taiwan, Bloomberg reports.
Biden’s most anticipated overseas engagement may come on Monday, when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping himself on the sidelines of the annual G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. It will be their first face-to-face meeting since Biden became president. (The two leaders have spoken five times.) The talks come amid rising tensions—over Taiwan, the continuing U.S. crackdown on Chinese technology, and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters, a senior White House official described the Biden-Xi meeting as aiming to ‘build a floor’ for the U.S.-China relationship. With that in mind, expectations for the talks remain low. ‘I don’t think you should look at this meeting as one in which there’s going to be specific deliverables,’ U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told journalists on Thursday.
Biden said he would avoid making concessions and wanted to draw ‘red lines’ in the U.S.-China relationship—perhaps in the hope of avoiding further deterioration. Since entering office, the U.S. president has taken a strong stance on Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory. Beijing responded with aggression in August when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.
China has also bristled at U.S. policies targeting its ambitions in the technology sector, particularly the semiconductor industry. The effort to crack down on Chinese technology has gained steam under the Biden administration. New U.S. export controls on the equipment needed to make semiconductor chips ‘could set back China’s tech ambitions by as much as a decade,’ FP’s Rishi Iyengar reports.
Climate once seemed to present a potential avenue for U.S.-China cooperation. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said this week that he had met his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, on the sidelines of COP27 for the first time since the summer, when China and the United States suspended climate dialogue. But it wasn’t a breakthrough: ‘We’ve had some informal talks, but we’re not in any formal negotiations,’ Kerry said.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Ethiopia’s peace deal. More than a week after the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) signed a surprising peace agreement, humanitarian organizations say that they have not been able to reach millions of people in the war-torn region, the Guardian reports. As part of the truce, the federal government pledged to end its blockade on the region, but the World Health Organization says that aid has not yet been allowed to pass.
In Foreign Policy, Mohamed Kheir Omer writes that Eritrea—which has a long-held grudge against the TPLF and has fought alongside Ethiopia’s federal government against Tigray since 2020—could undermine the truce.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“A Hong Kong court handed down a three-month jail term to the first person convicted under a law banning disrespect of China’s national anthem, a sign that the city is pushing ahead with its crackdown on dissent.” Read more at Bloomberg
“France has called for an international ban on deep sea mining, citing climate change, upending negotiations by a UN-affiliated organization to allow the exploitation of unique ocean ecosystems for valuable metals to begin within two years.” Read more at Bloomberg
“The plastics industry says recycling is the solution to reducing waste, but in Thailand, where much of the world’s trash ends up, it’s created a new set of problems, Matthew Campbell reports. The wide range of processes, some of them dirty and unpleasant, can have significant negative consequences for local communities. The struggle in Thailand to plastic waste from overseas and rein in recyclers shows how difficult the fight will be in places that bear the brunt of the world’s plastic pollution.” Read more at Bloomberg
An employee packs down plastic bottles into a bag at Sunee Recycle 59 Group in Bangkok on Oct. 6. Photographer: Andre Malerba for Bloomberg Green
“The Taliban is now prohibiting women from using parks and gyms in Afghanistan. Go deeper.” Read more at Axios
“Back in May, as lockdowns in China’s two biggest cities spurred rare outbursts of anger, President Xi Jinping and the nation’s top leaders declared that his signature Covid Zero policy “can stand the test of history.”
Six months later, it’s not looking so good.
Key reading:
China’s New Leaders Back a More Targeted, ‘Decisive’ Covid Zero
Here’s What Changed in Top China Leadership’s Covid Language
These Are the 20 New Rules China Is Following to Combat Covid
Euphoria Sweeps China Stocks as Signs of Covid Zero Pivot Emerge
China today took its biggest steps yet to open up since the pandemic began, releasing 20 new rules that will make it easier to travel and live in the world’s second-biggest economy. Major steps included a cut to mandatory quarantine for travelers and a pullback on testing, along with a renewed push to vaccinate the elderly.
Xi and his allies on the new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee opened the door for the changes yesterday in one of its first meetings after he secured a precedent-busting third term in office last month. China’s battered stocks soared.
Pressure had been building on the Chinese leader to shift course for months. With economic growth sputtering close to a four-decade low, criticisms of the policy in China began to mount — including with a rare public protest in Beijing that embarrassed Xi just days before his coronation.
At the same time, it’s unclear how far he can go in opening China. A lackluster elderly vaccination rate means more than a million people could perish if China starts living with the virus, which would undermine Xi at home and abroad.
While any easing for China is good for the world economy, Xi still has a tough road ahead balancing demands to open further with the risks of overwhelmed hospitals and widespread death.” — Daniel Ten Kate Read more at Bloomberg
A public Covid-19 testing booth in Beijing on Wednesday. Photographer: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
Jury orders Filmmaker Paul Haggis to pay $7.5M in rape suit
By JENNIFER PELTZ
“NEW YORK (AP) — A jury ordered Academy Award-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis Thursday to pay at least $7.5 million to a woman who accused him of rape in one of several #MeToo-era cases that have put Hollywood notables’ behavior on trial this fall. Jurors also plan to award additional punitive damages.
Veering from sex to red-carpet socializing to Scientology, the civil court trial pitted Haggis, known for writing best picture Oscar winners ‘Million Dollar Baby’ and ‘Crash,’ against Haleigh Breest, a publicist who met him while working at movie premieres in the early 2010s.
After hugging her lawyers, Breest said she was ‘very grateful’ for the verdict as she left court. In a statement released later, she said she was thankful ‘that the jury chose to follow the facts — and believed me.’
Haggis said he was ‘very disappointed in the results.’
‘I’m going to continue to, with my team, fight to clear my name,’ he said as he left the courthouse with his three adult daughters. One had wept on a sister’s shoulder as the verdict was delivered.
After a screening afterparty in January 2013, Haggis offered Breest a lift home and invited her to his New York apartment for a drink.
Breest, 36, said Haggis then subjected her to unwanted advances and ultimately compelled her to perform oral sex and raped her despite her entreaties to stop. Haggis, 69, said the publicist was flirtatious and, while sometimes seeming ‘conflicted,’ initiated kisses and oral sex in an entirely consensual interaction. He said he couldn’t recall whether they had intercourse.
After a day of deliberating, jurors sided with Breest, who said she suffered psychological and professional consequences from her encounter with Haggis. She sued in late 2017.
While awarding her $7.5 million to compensate for suffering, the jury concluded that punitive damages should also be awarded. Jurors return Monday for more court proceedings to help them decide that amount.
The verdict came weeks after another civil jury, in the federal courthouse next door, decided that Kevin Spacey didn’t sexually abuse fellow actor and then-teenager Anthony Rapp in 1986. Meanwhile, ‘That ’70s Show’ actor Danny Masterson and former movie magnate Harvey Weinstein are on trial, separately, on criminal rape charges in Los Angeles. Both deny the allegations, and Weinstein is appealing a conviction in New York.” Read more AP News
Kyrie Irving Is Not Antisemitic, N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver Says
Irving, the Nets guard, met with Silver this week after promoting an antisemitic film on social media last month. Silver said Irving’s actions were damaging.
By Sopan Deb
Nov. 10, 2022
“WASHINGTON — N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday that he didn’t believe Nets guard Kyrie Irving was antisemitic after meeting with him in person this week at the league’s headquarters in Manhattan. Irving has been facing backlash for promoting an antisemitic film on Twitter last month.
‘We had a direct and candid conversation,’ Silver, who is Jewish, said in an interview with The New York Times, adding, ‘He’s someone I’ve known for a decade, and I’ve never heard an antisemitic word from him or, frankly, hate directed at any group.’
In a follow-up phone conversation, Silver added, ‘Whether or not he is antisemitic is not relevant to the damage caused by the posting of hateful content.’
Silver declined to elaborate on his meeting with Irving, citing an agreement with him to keep the details of their conversation private. Silver talked to The Times after he spoke at Sports Business Journal’s Dealmakers Conference in Washington, his first public appearance amid the firestorm since Irving tweeted an Amazon link for an antisemitic film.” Read more at New York Times
D.C. Attorney General Alleges N.F.L. Covered Up Commanders’ Wrongdoing
The civil complaint, filed against the N.F.L., Commissioner Roger Goodell, the Washington Commanders and the team’s owner, Daniel Snyder, takes aim at the league’s investigation into workplace harassment.
WASHINGTON — The Attorney General for the District of Columbia filed a civil complaint against the N.F.L., Commissioner Roger Goodell, the Washington Commanders and the team’s owner, Daniel Snyder, on Thursday, alleging that they concealed sexual harassment and abuse of former team employees over two decades.
‘For years the team and its owner have caused very real and very serious harm and then lied to dodge accountability, to continue making profits,’ Karl Racine, the attorney general, said in a news conference. ‘So far, they seem to have gotten away with it, but that stops today.’
The civil complaint accuses the league, Snyder and the team of colluding to deceive fans living in Washington ‘that this dysfunctional and misogynistic conduct was limited and that they were fully cooperating with an independent investigation.’ Their statements about the league’s investigation misled consumers to buy tickets and merchandise supporting the team, in violation of consumer protection laws, according to the filing.” Read more at New York Times
Warren Beatty Is Accused of Sexually Assaulting a Minor in 1973
In a lawsuit filed this week, the plaintiff says Mr. Beatty groomed and coerced her into sex when she was 14 and 15. The actor, who had starred in “Bonnie and Clyde,” was about 35 at the time.
By Reggie Ugwu
Nov. 9, 2022
“Warren Beatty, the famed ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ actor and Oscar-winning director, was accused in a lawsuit this week of sexually assaulting a girl in 1973 when she was 14 and 15.
The suit, filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Mr. Beatty used his status as a Hollywood star to ‘groom, manipulate, exploit and coerce sexual contact’ with a minor.
The plaintiff, Kristina Charlotte Hirsch, alleges that the abuse took place over several months after she met Mr. Beatty on a film set in Los Angeles when he was about 35. Although the lawsuit does not refer to Mr. Beatty by name, it identifies the primary defendant as an actor who was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying Clyde in ‘Bonnie and Clyde,’ as Mr. Beatty was in 1968.
Representatives for Mr. Beatty, now 85, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit was filed under a California law from 2019 that allows adults to temporarily override the statute of limitations and file claims related to sexual abuse that are decades old. The so-called look-back window for lawsuits from people older than 40 expires on Jan. 1, 2023.” Read more at New York Times
Harvard Museum Will Return Hundreds of Native American Hair Samples
The Peabody Museum apologized for its ‘complicity in the objectification of Native peoples’ by holding hair samples taken from Indigenous children at government boarding schools in the 1930s.
Nov. 10, 2022
“The Peabody Museum at Harvard University said on Thursday that it would return a collection of hair samples that were taken in the early 1930s from hundreds of Native American children who were forced to attend government-run boarding schools.
The museum apologized for its decades-long ownership of the samples, which were taken from about 700 students spanning about 300 tribal nations, and said it would try to return the clippings to living relatives and the tribes that the students belonged to.” Read more at New York Times
New Hall of Fame toys
Photo: The Strong Museum via AP
“Same toys, new titles: The top, Masters of the Universe and Lite-Brite are the newest inductees to the Toy Hall of Fame — housed at The Strong museum in Rochester, AP reports.
Other finalists included bingo, Breyer Horses, Catan, Nerf, the piñata, Phase 10, Pound Puppies, Rack-O and Spirograph.
Zoom out: The hall recognizes toys that have inspired creativity and endured over time.
The top dates back to ancient Mesopotamia.
Hasbro’s Lite-Brite, introduced in 1966, encourages kids to create glowing pictures by pushing colorful pegs into an illuminated black background.
Masters of the Universe grew in popularity in the 1980s with the cartoon series ‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.’
Last year's inductees: American Girl Dolls, Risk and ... sand.” Read more at Axios
“Lives Lived: Gal Costa was a leader of tropicália, the 1960s movement that brought psychedelic experimentation and irreverence to Brazilian pop music. Her career spanned more than 50 years and three dozen albums. She died at 77.” Read more at New York Times