The Commentariat -- September 5, 2021

Zeke Miller & Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Joe Biden will visit all three 9/11 memorial sites to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and pay his respects to the nearly 3,000 people killed that day. Biden will visit ground zero in New York City, the Pentagon and the memorial outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Flight 93 was forced down, the White House said Saturday. He will be accompanied by first lady Jill Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, for a separate event before joining the president at the Pentagon, the White House said. Harris will travel with her spouse, Doug Emhoff."

Robert Burns of the AP: "Top U.S. national security officials will see how the failed war in Afghanistan may be reshaping America’s relationships in the Middle East as they meet with key allies in the Persian Gulf and Europe this week. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are traveling to the Gulf separately, leaving Sunday. They will talk with leaders who are central to U.S. efforts to prevent a resurgence of extremist threats in Afghanistan, some of whom were partners in the 20-year fight against the Taliban. Together, the Austin and Blinken trips are meant to reassure Gulf allies that President Joe Biden’s decision to end the U.S. war in Afghanistan in order to focus more on other security challenges like China and Russia does not foretell an abandonment of U.S. partners in the Middle East."

Julie Watson & Bernard Condon of the AP: "Veteran-led rescue groups say the Biden administration’s estimate that no more than 200 U.S. citizens were left behind in Afghanistan is too low and also overlooks hundreds of other people they consider to be equally American: permanent legal residents with green cards. Some groups say they continue to be contacted by American citizens in Afghanistan who did not register with the U.S. Embassy before it closed and by others not included in previous counts because they expressed misgivings about leaving loved ones behind. As for green card holders, they have lived in the U.S. for years, paid taxes, become part of their communities and often have children who are U.S. citizens. Yet the administration says it does not have an estimate on the number of such permanent residents who are in Afghanistan and desperately trying to escape Taliban rule."

MoDo Notices the Great American Debacle. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: “One coast is burning. The other is under water. In between, anti-abortion vigilantes may soon rampage across gunslinging territory.... America is reeling backward, strangled by the past, nasty and uncaring.... We feel the return of dread.... With a memory like a goldfish, America circles its bowl, returning to where we have been, unable to move forward, condemned to repeat a past we should escape.” Etc., etc. etc. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Oh, wait, wait; that's not MoDo.

The “Great Reassessment.” Heather Long, et al., of the Washington Post: “There are 10 million job openings, yet more than 8.4 million unemployed are still actively looking for work.... This weekend, the employment crisis will hit an inflection point as many of the unemployed lose $300 in federal weekly benefits and millions of gig workers and self-employed lose unemployment aid entirely.... There is a massive reallocation underway in the economy that’s triggering a 'Great Reassessment' of work in America from both the employer and employee perspectives. Workers are shifting where they want to work — and how. For some, this is a personal choice. The pandemic and all of the anxieties, lockdowns and time at home have changed people. Some want to work remotely forever. Others want to spend more time with family. And others want a more flexible or more meaningful career path. It’s the 'you only live once' mentality on steroids. Meanwhile, companies are beefing up automation and redoing entire supply chains and office setups. The reassessment is playing out in all facets of the labor market this year....”

What Hillary Knew. Colbert King of the Washington Post: “While celebrating the Supreme Court’s June 27, 2016, decision rejecting of two restrictive provisions in a Texas House bill regulating abortion, [Hillary] Clinton warned in a campaign release that the fight for the right to access health care, and for women to make their own decisions about their bodies and their futures, was 'far from over.... The fact that our next president could appoint as many as three or four justices in the next four years' is a striking reminder 'that we can’t take rulings like today’s for granted.'... 'Just consider Donald Trump, the Republicans’ presumptive nominee. The man who could be president has said there should be some form of ‘punishment’ for women seeking abortions. He pledged to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. And last year, he said he’d shut down the government rather than fund Planned Parenthood.'”

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “Leaders of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol are calling out House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for making 'baseless' claims regarding ... Donald Trump’s involvement in that day’s violence. In a joint statement Saturday, committee chairman Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) criticized a Thursday interview by McCarthy, in which he said the FBI had concluded Trump had 'no involvement' in the insurrection.... 'We’ve received answers and briefings from the relevant entities, and it’s been made clear to us that reports of such a conclusion are baseless,' they continued. Thompson and Cheney also pointedly noted that McCarthy’s statements — including remarks he gave on the House floor on Jan. 13, a week after the insurrection — 'are inconsistent with his recent comments.'... On Jan. 13, McCarthy said in a House floor speech that Trump 'bears responsibility' for the Capitol attack and even floated the idea of censuring Trump....” CNN's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Thompson & Cheney's statement, via the House.

Jonathan Greenblatt, Director of the Anti-Defamation League, in a CNN opinion piece, says the organization was wrong to oppose "the location of the then-proposed Park51 Islamic Community Center & Mosque near Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan." He says it's important to make this admission now, when anti-Muslim conspiracy theories & other expressions of hate are being used to discourage the settlement of Afghan refugees.

Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: “Richard B. Spencer, the most infamous summer resident in [Whitefish, Montana], once boasted that he stood at the vanguard of a white nationalist movement emboldened by ... Donald J. Trump. Things have changed. 'I have bumped into him, and he runs...,' said Tanya Gersh, a real estate agent targeted in an antisemitic hate campaign that Andrew Anglin, the founder of the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website, unleashed in 2016 after Mr. Spencer’s mother made online accusations against Ms. Gersh. Leaders in Whitefish say Mr. Spencer, who once ran his National Policy Institute from his mother’s $3 million summer house here, is now an outcast in this resort town in the Rocky Mountains, unable to get a table at many of its restaurants. His organization has dissolved. Meanwhile, his wife has divorced him, and he is facing trial next month in Charlottesville, Va., over his role in the deadly 2017 neo-Nazi march there, but says he cannot afford a lawyer. The turn of events is no accident. Whitefish, a mostly liberal, affluent community nestled in a county that voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020, rose up and struck back. Residents who joined with state officials, human rights groups and synagogues say their bipartisan counteroffensive could hold lessons for others....”

The New York Times features on its front page links to three stories about cryptocurrencies:

     ~~~ Eric Lipton & Ephrat Livni: "The boom in companies offering cryptocurrency loans and high-yield deposit accounts is disrupting the banking industry and leaving regulators scrambling to catch up." ~~~

     ~~~ Ephrat Livni & Eric Lipton: "The development of Bitcoin and thousands of other cryptocurrencies in a little over a decade has changed the definition of money — and spawned a parallel universe of alternative financial services, allowing crypto businesses to move into traditional banking territory. Here’s what is happening in the fast-growing crypto finance industry, a sector that has officials in Washington sounding alarm bells." ~~~

     ~~~ Why Bitcoin Is Really Bad for the Planet. Jon Huang, et al., of the New York Times: "Cryptocurrencies have emerged as one of the most captivating, yet head-scratching, investments in the world. They soar in value. They crash. They’ll change the world, their fans claim, by displacing traditional currencies like the dollar, rupee or ruble. They’re named after dog memes. And in the process of simply existing, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, one of the most popular, use astonishing amounts of electricity.... The process of creating Bitcoin to spend or trade consumes around 91 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, more than is used by Finland, a nation of about 5.5 million. That usage, which is close to half-a-percent of all the electricity consumed in the world, has increased about tenfold in just the past five years.... Much of the electrical energy gets consumed ... [in] the maintenance of the vast Bitcoin public ledger.... The system wastes energy by design." MB: Like Robert Frost's milkweed pod, "... waste was of the essence of the scheme."

Sarah Kaplan & Andrew Ba Tran of the Washington Post: "Nearly 1 in 3 Americans live in a county hit by a weather disaster in the past three months, according to a new Washington Post analysis of federal disaster declarations. On top of that, 64 percent live in places that experienced a multiday heat wave — phenomena that are not officially deemed disasters but are considered the most dangerous form of extreme weather. The expanding reach of climate-fueled disasters, a trend that has been increasing at least since 2018, shows the extent to which a warming planet has already transformed Americans’ lives. At least 388 people in the United States have died due to hurricanes, floods, heat waves and wildfires since June, according to media reports and government records." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oddly enough, even though I don't live in one of those counties, I got hit by the dregs of Hurricane Ida as her heavy rains knocked over a huge tree. The tree fell on my power lines & knocked two smaller trees onto the lines, too. The power company came out with tree trimmers & freed the lines, but I still will have to have the half-fallen tree trunks cut down. The point is, you don't have to be part of the statistics to suffer the consequences.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Ken W. contributes this post by an anonymous doctor. S/he must speak for tens of thousands of doctors, nurses and other hospital workers. MB: I feel just as this doctor does, but s/he and others who experience the heartache first-hand must feel it a thousand times more vividly than I do. Donald Trump's limp & confusing Covid response, including his discouragement of mask-wearing, is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. But at least he did what he knew how to do (shout at subordinates) to facilitate rapid development of Covid-19 vaccines. Now the mini-Trumps like Ron DeSantis & Greg Abbott, along with millions of Trump's nitwit followers who refuse to take the vaccine, refuse to wear masks, and actively promote unsafe health practices are all murderers, too.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here.

Florida. There's This. Adriana Licon & Kelli Kennedy of the AP: "Florida is in the grip of its deadliest wave of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, a disaster driven by the highly contagious delta variant. While Florida’s vaccination rate is slightly higher than the national average, the Sunshine State has an outsize population of elderly people, who are especially vulnerable to the virus; a vibrant party scene; and a Republican governor who has taken a hard line against mask requirements, vaccine passports and business shutdowns." ~~~

~~~ AND This. Debbie Lord of Cox Media: "Florida businesses, government entities and schools will soon face fines of up to $5,000 fines for asking a customer or visitor to show proof they have been vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. A bill signed in May by Gov. Ron DeSantis will allow the state to issue fines beginning Sept. 16 if people are asked to show proof they have received a COVID-19 vaccine before being allowed in businesses, schools or government buildings."

Way Beyond the Beltway

AP: "Pope Francis is encouraging countries to welcome Afghan refugees who are seeking a new life. During his appearance to the public in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Francis also prayed that displaced persons inside Afghanistan receive assistance and protection."

Afghanistan. Adam Nossiter of the New York Times: "Taliban fighters violently suppressed a women’s protest Saturday in Kabul, while 70 miles to the north ex-Afghan army and militia members battled the Islamist group in Panjshir Province, as pockets of anti-Taliban resistance continued to flare up. Several of the women, who were demanding inclusion in the yet-to-be named Taliban government, said they were beaten by Taliban fighters — some of the first concrete evidence of harsh treatment of women by the group."

The Commentariat -- September 4, 2021

Until Further Notice, the Comments section is again working properly, and there is no need for you to fake-sign in to comment. But do save your work until you're sure your comment "took." -- Marie

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Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "President Biden surveyed the damage caused by Hurricane Ida in the New Orleans area on Friday, days after powerful winds and destructive rains from the Category 4 storm devastated the Gulf Coast. At a briefing at the St. John the Baptist Parish Emergency Operations Center in LaPlace, La., Biden spoke to the potential impacts of the 'significant investment' the infrastructure bills he is seeking to push through Congress in rebuilding the storm-ravaged areas like the ones he would tour.... The president pointed to the levee system around New Orleans, which was rebuilt in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as an example of smart infrastructure investment, saying it was 'a lot of money -- but think about how much money it saved.'... On a later tour of a LaPlace neighborhood, Biden saw homes covered in blue tarps amid debris and uprooted trees. He hugged residents in sweltering heat as they showed him the damage. He then surveyed the damage from above in a helicopter." See also Greg Sargent's post, linked below, on how Joe Manchin is stepping on Biden's message.

Daniel Han of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Friday called the new Texas law banning most abortions 'un-American,' telling reporters that the Department of Justice is investigating mechanisms that might block its enforcement. 'The most pernicious thing about the Texas law, it sort of creates a vigilante system where people get rewards to go out [and enforce it],' Biden said of the law, which prohibits abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, roughly six weeks into pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. 'It just seems, I know this sounds ridiculous, almost un-American.'" The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Friday signed an executive order that would require the review, declassification and release of classified government documents related to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. In doing so, Biden said he was fulfilling a promise he had made while campaigning for president, in which he had vowed, if elected, to direct the U.S. attorney general to 'personally examine the merits of all cases' where the government had invoked state secrets privilege and 'to err on the side of disclosure in cases where, as here, the events in question occurred two decades or longer ago.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "With a humanitarian crisis looming [in Afghanistan], the Biden administration is reviewing how to tailor that web of sanctions so that aid can continue to reach the Afghan people. The challenge is how to let donor money continue to flow without further enriching the Taliban, which the United States considers a terrorist organization. Experts say that such a situation, in which a group deemed to be terrorists takes over an entire country, is without precedent and poses a complex test for the United States' sanctions program.... As the Taliban swept to power last month, the United States swiftly ... blocked its access to $9.5 billion in international reserve funds and pressured the International Monetary Fund to suspend distribution of more than $400 million in currency reserves.... The militant group continues to be classified as a specially designated global terrorist group, and they are also under United Nations sanctions.... But a desire to demonstrate some flexibility is already apparent. In the past week, the Treasury Department has signaled to humanitarian organizations that it is taking steps to permit aid work that benefits the Afghan people to continue."

Jonathan Dienst, et al., of NBC News: "The U.S. plans to send at least two Afghan evacuees back out of the country to Kosovo because of security concerns raised after they arrived at a U.S. airport, said two sources familiar with the U.S. evacuation. The Afghans will undergo a further review in Kosovo.... Any other evacuees who trigger similar concerns will also be sent to Kosovo, said the sources. Of more than 30,000 evacuees from Afghanistan to the U.S., about 10,000 needed additional screening as of Friday, said the sources, and of those about 100 were flagged for possible ties to the Taliban or terror groups. Two of those 100 raised enough concern for additional review."

Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "On the last day of August, when President Biden called the airlift of refugees from Kabul an 'extraordinary success,' senior diplomats and military officers in Doha, Qatar, emailed out a daily situation report ... [that said] conditions in Doha ... were getting worse.... Whatever plans the Biden administration had for an orderly evacuation unraveled when Kabul fell in a matter of days, setting off a frenzied, last-minute global mobilization." If you have a NYT subscription, read on. Unsettling, tho not surprising. In fairness, the majority of immigrants to this country -- from those who came in slave ships to those who came in steerage & counted themselves lucky to escape conditions in the places from which they fled -- arrived in less-than-ideal circumstances.

Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "The Commerce Department plans to shut down a little-known internal security unit that came under scrutiny by Congress for conducting rogue surveillance and investigations into people of Chinese and Middle Eastern descent, department officials said on Friday. The announcement came after department investigators released the findings of a nearly five-month internal review that concluded that the Investigations and Threat Management Service improperly opened investigations 'even in the absence of a discernible threat' and operated outside the bounds of its legal authority.... Unlike [a parallel] Senate investigation, the Commerce Department stopped short of attributing the problems to racism or xenophobia inside the unit."

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "... Sen. Joe Manchin III is going to great lengths to dramatically undermine [President] Biden's ... $3.5 trillion 'human infrastructure' package. In a Wall Street Journal piece, Manchin urges a 'pause' on the bill and calls for 'significantly reducing' its size 'to only what America can afford and needs to spend.' Most obviously, this could upend the 'two track' strategy, under which progressives support the $1 trillion bipartisan 'hard' infrastructure bill on the understanding that centrists such as Manchin will back the reconciliation measure. That could implode Biden's whole agenda. But this is deeply dangerous in another, less obvious way, one that turns on the reconciliation bill's provisions to combat climate change.... It's galling that the word 'climate' appears nowhere in Manchin's piece, even as he piously suggests he has a divinely inspired reading of what America truly 'needs to spend.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marshall Cohen of CNN: "The so-called 'QAnon Shaman' who stormed the US Capitol in a horned bearskin outfit pleaded guilty Friday to a felony for obstructing the Electoral College proceedings on January 6. The defendant, Jacob Chansley of Arizona, is a well-known figure in the QAnon movement. He went viral after the January 6 attack because of the bizarre outfit he wore while rummaging through the Capitol. He made his way to the Senate dais that was hastily vacated earlier by Vice President Mike Pence -- someone Chansley falsely claimed was a 'child-trafficking traitor.' He pleaded guilty Friday during a virtual hearing in DC District Court. The guilty plea was made as part of a deal with prosecutors, and it was accepted by District Judge Royce Lamberth." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

No. 1 Grifter Uses Donor Money to Pay -- Himself. Shayna Jacobs, et al., of the Washington Post: "... as Trump Tower has dealt with imploding tenants [including a company that made Ivanka Trump shoes], political backlash and a broader, pandemic-related slump in Manhattan office leasing since last year -- it has been able to count on one reliable, high-paying tenant:... Donald Trump's own political operation.... Starting in March, one of his committees, Make America Great Again PAC, paid $37,541.67 per month to rent office space on the 15th floor of Trump Tower -- a space previously rented by his campaign.... This may not be the most efficient use of donors' money: The person familiar with Trump&'s PAC said that its staffers do not regularly use the office space. Also, for several months, Trump's PAC paid the Trump Organization $3,000 per month to rent a retail kiosk in the tower's lobby -- even though the lobby was closed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is quintessentially Trump: scamming people who think their $25 will transport him to the White House in August (oh wait, August is over) but instead will be a drop in the bucket to pay Trump to rent empty space to himself because the space is unrentable to real people & businesses.

Steve Vladeck in a Washington Post op-ed: Justice Elena Kagan's dissent in the Texas abortion case was only two short paragraphs in which she pointed out "the court's alarming record of inconsistency in its recent spate of late-night emergency orders, [and] she spoke directly to its eroding legitimacy. Rather than focus on the majority's willingness to allow Texas to flout the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, Kagan chose to highlight what the ruling said about the court's 'shadow-docket' -- the calendar it uses to issue procedural case-management orders.... As Kagan put it, the majority decision 'is emblematic of too much of this Court's shadow-docket decisionmaking -- which every day becomes more unreasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend.'... Her critique [noted that the majority] ... used an unsigned and barely explained order to short-circuit the constitutional rights of millions of Texas women; and its nonintervention over abortion differed blatantly from its aggressive interventions in the past year in religious liberty cases.... Two things have changed in recent years. First, the court is using these orders with far greater frequency to allow much-debated policies to go into effect.... Second..., the court is treating these orders as creating precedents that lower courts must follow." Justice Kagan's dissent is here, via the Supreme Court. ~~~

~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "In recent years, and especially during the Trump administration, the court has relied on the shadow docket to make consequential decisions on a wide range of issues. Often, the court issues its decisions from the shadow docket without signed opinions or detailed explanations of the kind you would find in an argued case.... The vote on the Texas abortion law came on Wednesday, in the dead of night.... The court has essentially nullified the constitutional rights of millions of American women without so much as an argument.... This isn't judicial review as much as it is a raw exercise of judicial power.... The extent to which political outcomes in America rest on the opaque machinations of a cloistered, nine-member clique is the clearest possible sign that we've given too much power to this institution. We can have self-government or we can have rule by judge, but we cannot have both."

... the courts let the Sacklers off the hook, the excuse being they didn't want to clog the courts with lawsuits. But suing poor women in Texas, or people who help poor women in Texas, or people who help the people who help the poor women in Texas? File at will! -- Nisky Guy, in yesterday's Comments

Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. -- Scott Fitzgerald

And the courts won't let us forget it. -- Marie

Marie: So here are the fundamental flaws in U.S. "democracy" today. (1) We nearly re-elected a president* who for four years mocked the rule of law and used his position and his appointees to facilitate multiple violations of law and "norms." The president is not elected by popular vote, and arguably the worst presidents* in recent years (Bush & Trump) came into office after they lost the popular vote. (2) A Senate that in no way represents the majority of Americans. a House of Representatives that, because of gerrymandering, does not represent a majority of American voters. (3) A court system that overreaches its implied powers and is made up of justices, two of whom (Gorsuch & Barrett) were confirmed under abnormal conditions and two of whom (Thomas & Kavanaugh) who most likely told material lies, under oath, during their confirmation hearings. (4) State legislatures which are working to disenfranchise millions of Americans. (5) A Constitution which is almost impossible to amend in order to improve Flaws 1-4. (Likely you can think of more, but these are the basics.) ~~~

~~~ ** AND There's This. Elizabeth Dwoskin of the Washington Post: "A new study of user behavior on Facebook around the 2020 election is likely to bolster critics' long-standing arguments that the company's algorithms fuel the spread of misinformation over more trustworthy sources. The forthcoming peer-reviewed study by researchers at New York University and the Université Grenoble Alpes in France has found that from August 2020 to January 2021, news publishers known for putting out misinformation got six times the amount of likes, shares, and interactions on the platform as did trustworthy news sources, such as CNN or the World Health Organization.... The NYU study is one of the few comprehensive attempts to measure and isolate the misinformation effect across a wide group of publishers on Facebook, experts said, and its conclusions support the criticism that Facebook's platform rewards publishers that put out misleading accounts." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Clearly, 20th- and 21st-century parents & teachers have not been smart enough or able enough to convey to their impressionable offspring that tabloids, movie magazines, gossip columns, what your friends heard -- and now social media -- are not fonts of facts. The result is a country populated by generations of numbskulls.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Friday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Adela Suliman of the Washington Post: "A coronavirus variant known as 'mu' or 'B.1.621' was designated by the World Health Organization as a 'variant of interest' earlier this week and will be monitored by the global health body as cases continue to emerge across parts of the world. It is the fifth variant of interest currently being monitored by the WHO." The article outlines what is known, so far, about the mu variant. ~~~

     ~~~ Tom Tapp of Deadline: "Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday said U.S. public health officials are 'keeping a very close eye' on a new variant of Covid-19 that was first detected in Colombia. Known as B.1.621 or the 'Mu variant' according to the World Health Organization nomenclature, it has 'a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape,' according to a WHO report released on Monday. 'Preliminary data presented to the Virus Evolution Working Group show a reduction in neutralization capacity of convalescent ... similar to that seen for the Beta variant, but this needs to be confirmed by further studies.' Today, he Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced the Mu variant, for the first time, has been identified in the region. The numbers are still small; Only 167 Mu variants have been identified in L.A. County thus far."

Chris Hayes of MSNBC pointed out Friday night that about twice as many people died from Covid-19 yesterday as died from Covid-19 on that date a year ago, before vaccines were available.

Marie: I was listening to Anthony Fauci on the teevee Friday night. He speaks unscripted about complex topics in full, understandable & grammatical sentences and paragraphs. If you're accustomed to listening to teevee hosts & pundits, that should impress you.

Arizona. Andrea Salcedo of the Washington Post: "When an Arizona school employee called a parent on Thursday to share that his son had come in close contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus, the dad was told his son must stay at home for at least a week. Instead, later that morning, the man walked into Mesquite Elementary School with his son and two other men carrying zip ties before confronting the principal over the school's quarantine policy, Vail Unified School District Superintendent John Carruth told The Washington Post. In a meeting with the principal, Carruth said, the men threatened to call local authorities and conduct a 'citizen's arrest' if the student was not allowed to rejoin school activities immediately.... The principal ... explained that the school was following guidance issued by the local health department [and] ordered the trio to leave, Carruth said.... A spokesperson with the Tucson Police Department confirmed that officers responded to the incident."

Beyond the Beltway

Colorado Update. According to Bente Birkeland of NPR, Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is still in hiding after a month on the lam, aided & abetted as she is by My Pillow Guy Mike Lindell. Tina is an elected official & the county supervisors, who like Tina are Republicans, are urging her to return to work. MEANWHILE, "Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold [D] filed a lawsuit to prevent Peters from having any role in the county's upcoming fall election.... [AND] On Thursday [Peters'] deputy, Belinda Knisley, was charged with second-degree burglary and a cybercrime over entering the building while she was suspended, pending an investigation into unprofessional and inappropriate conduct in the workplace." I checked out photos of Tina online, and it turns out she is an attractive, blond-haired woman d'un certain âge. Perhaps Mike has My Pillow aspirations here. In Right-wing Bizarros World, life is but a dream.

Texas. Sean Hollister of the Verge: "... the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life is encouraging citizens to report those people [who help women get abortions] at a dedicated 'whistleblower' website, promising to 'ensure that these lawbreakers are held accountable for their actions.'However..., hosting provider GoDaddy has given the group 24 hours to find a different place to park its website. 'We have informed prolifewhistleblower.com they have 24 hours to move to another provider for violating our terms of service,' a spokesperson told The New York Times and The Verge. GoDaddy ... tells The Verge that it violated 'multiple provisions' of the site's Terms of Service including Section 5.2, which reads: 'You will not collect or harvest (or permit anyone else to collect or harvest) any User Content (as defined below) or any non-public or personally identifiable information about another User or any other person or entity without their express prior written consent.'" ~~~

~~~ Leia Idliby of Mediaite: "Logan Green, the CEO and co-founder of Lyft, announced that the ride-hailing company will cover all legal fees if any of its drivers are sued under Texas' new abortion law." ~~~

~~~ AP: "A state judge has shielded, for now, Texas abortion clinics from lawsuits by an anti-abortion group under a new state abortion law in a narrow ruling handed down Friday. The temporary restraining order Friday by state District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin in response to the Planned Parenthood request does not interfere with the provision. However, it shields clinics from whistleblower lawsuits by the nonprofit group Texas Right to Life, its legislative director and 100 unidentified individuals. A hearing on a preliminary injunction request was set for Sept. 13."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Patricia Maginnis, one of the nation's earliest and fiercest proponents of a woman's right to safe, legal abortions, who crusaded for that right on her own before the formation of an organized reproductive-rights movement, died on Aug. 30 in Oakland, Calif. She was 93."

New York Times: "Willard Scott, the antic longtime weather forecaster on the "Today' show, whose work, by his own cheerful acknowledgment, made it clear that you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, died on Saturday at his farm in Delaplane, Va. He was 87.″

The Commentariat -- September 3, 2021

Breaking News: Until Further Notice, the Comments section is again working properly, and there is no need for you to fake-sign in to comment. But do save your work until you're sure your comment "took." -- Marie

Marie: Reality Chex AGAIN is not accepting comments, through no design or fault of my own. However, my dumb interim plan to get around the problem still works. Here, again, are the easy instructions:

1. In the URL (address line), enter www.realitychex.com/display/Login and return. The login is case-sensitive, so that "L" in "Login" must be capitalized.

2. A log-in page will come up. Type squarespace in the Login box. Type nonsense in the password box. And return. That will get you page to the standard Reality Chex page. (Note: Don't use boldface type; I've put the stuff you have to use in boldface only to make it easier to see.)

3. Type your comment in the Comments box as usual. But at the end of the comment, sign it with your usual Reality Chex handle, because the name of the poster will say "See Above."

Also, thanks to Ken W. for alerting me.

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Afternoon Update:

Daniel Han of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Friday called the new Texas law banning most abortions 'un-American,' telling reporters that the Department of Justice is investigating mechanisms that might block its enforcement. 'The most pernicious thing about the Texas law, it sort of creates a vigilante system where people get rewards to go out [and enforce it],' Biden said of the law, which prohibits abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, roughly six weeks into pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant. 'It just seems, I know this sounds ridiculous, almost un-American.'" The Washington Post's story is here.

Amy Wang of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Friday signed an executive order that would require the review, declassification and release of classified government documents related to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. In doing so, Biden said he was fulfilling a promise he had made while campaigning for president, in which he had vowed, if elected, to direct the U.S. attorney general to 'personally examine the merits of all cases' where the government had invoked state secrets privilege and 'to err on the side of disclosure in cases where, as here, the events in question occurred two decades or longer ago.'"

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "... Sen. Joe Manchin III is going to great lengths to dramatically undermine [President] Biden's ... $3.5 trillion 'human infrastructure' package. In a Wall Street Journal piece, Manchin urges a 'pause' on the bill and calls for 'significantly reducing' its size 'to only what America can afford and needs to spend.' Most obviously, this could upend the 'two track' strategy, under which progressives support the $1 trillion bipartisan 'hard' infrastructure bill on the understanding that centrists such as Manchin will back the reconciliation measure. That could implode Biden's whole agenda. But this is deeply dangerous in another, less obvious way, one that turns on the reconciliation bill's provisions to combat climate change.... It's galling that the word 'climate' appears nowhere in Manchin's piece, even as he piously suggests he has a divinely inspired reading of what America truly 'needs to spend.'"

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Friday are here.

Marshall Cohen of CNN: "The so-called 'QAnon Shaman' who stormed the US Capitol in a horned bearskin outfit pleaded guilty Friday to a felony for obstructing the Electoral College proceedings on January 6. The defendant, Jacob Chansley of Arizona, is a well-known figure in the QAnon movement. He went viral after the January 6 attack because of the bizarre outfit he wore while rummaging through the Capitol. He made his way to the Senate dais that was hastily vacated earlier by Vice President Mike Pence -- someone Chansley falsely claimed was a 'child-trafficking traitor.' He pleaded guilty Friday during a virtual hearing in DC District Court. The guilty plea was made as part of a deal with prosecutors, and it was accepted by District Judge Royce Lamberth."

No. 1 Grifter Uses Donor Money to Pay -- Himself. Shayna Jacobs, et al., of the Washington Post: "... as Trump Tower has dealt with imploding tenants [including a company that made Ivanka Trump shoes], political backlash and a broader, pandemic-related slump in Manhattan office leasing since last year -- it has been able to count on one reliable, high-paying tenant:... Donald Trump's own political operation.... Starting in March, one of his committees, Make America Great Again PAC, paid $37,541.67 per month to rent office space on the 15th floor of Trump Tower -- a space previously rented by his campaign.... This may not be the most efficient use of donors' money: The person familiar with Trump's PAC said that its staffers do not regularly use the office space. Also, for several months, Trump's PAC paid the Trump Organization $3,000 per month to rent a retail kiosk in the tower's lobby -- even though the lobby was closed." MB: This is quintessentially Trump: scamming people who think their $25 will transport him to the White House in August (oh wait, August is over) but instead will be a drop in the bucket to pay Trump to rent empty space to himself because the space is unrentable to real people & businesses.

~~~~~~~~~~

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Biden on Thursday said he is directing his administration to look into ways to protect abortion access for women in Texas after the Supreme Court refused to block the state's law that bans almost all abortions[.]... The White House on Wednesday said the proper recourse to ensure abortion access would be for Congress to codify Roe v. Wade. But Biden on Thursday signaled his administration would take unilateral action where possible. The president said he was asking the Gender Policy Council and White House Counsel to 'launch a whole-of-government effort to respond to this decision, looking specifically to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice to see what steps the Federal Government can take to ensure that women in Texas have access to safe and legal abortions as protected by Roe, and what legal tools we have to insulate women and providers from the impact of Texas' bizarre scheme of outsourced enforcement to private parties.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Aliza Worthington of Crooks & Liars: Elie Mystal gives President Biden a blueprint for how he could subvert the Texas law. Also read the citations Worthington includes in her post. MB: Mystal's plan is indeed subversive, but not any more so than the Texas law. ~~~

~~~ Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that the House will vote on legislation to guarantee access to abortion upon its return to Washington later this month after the Supreme Court refused to block a restrictive Texas law that bans most abortions.... Pelosi said that after the House returns to session on Sept. 20, the chamber will vote on a bill from Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) to statutorily protect a person's ability to seek an abortion and for health care providers to provide abortion services.... The Senate companion bill to Chu's legislation has the support of 48 Democrats. Two Democrats, Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Bob Casey (Pa.) have not signed on as co-sponsors. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) called for abolishing the filibuster so that legislation to enshrine Roe v. Wade can pass in the Senate with a simple majority and for expanding the Supreme Court." MB: IOW, the bill will not pass in the Senate. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Thanks, Susan! Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Sen. Susan Collins emerged from her face-to-face meeting with then-Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh in August 2018 insisting that he had reassured her that Roe v. Wade was settled law. Two months later, Collins (R-Maine), who supports abortion rights, declared in a lengthy Senate floor speech that Kavanaugh had a 'record of judicial independence' and dismissed the notion that he might overturn precedent. She later would vote to confirm him to the lifetime post. Collins's past assertions came into sharp relief Wednesday as Kavanaugh joined four of his fellow conservatives on the court in declining to block one of the country's most restrictive abortion laws.... Collins's support for Kavanaugh -- and her insistence that he would uphold Roe -- was crucial in installing then-President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court as the Senate confirmed him by one of the narrowest margins in history, a near party-line 50-to-48 vote.... In a statement Thursday afternoon, Collins called the Texas law 'extreme and harmful.... I oppose the Court's decision to allow the law to remain in effect for now while these underlying constitutional and procedural questions are litigated.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, if only Collins had been a little more "concerned." Kudos to CNN for repeatedly knocking Collins on-air Thursday. ~~~

~~~ Supremes Toss the Principle of Equal Justice. Ian Millhiser of Vox: "The Court has now signaled that it will permit states to enact laws that were intentionally drafted to frustrate judicial review, at least if a majority of the Court agrees with what that law is trying to accomplish. And it handed down one of the most monumental decisions of our era -- a decision effectively overturning Roe v. Wade -- in a shadow docket order that offers virtually no reasoning.... The Roberts Court ... is perfectly willing to make sweeping legal pronouncements in shadow docket orders when conservative litigants ask them to do so. But now that a group of litigants who are hated by conservatives asked the justices to hand down a similar order, the five most conservative justices insist upon judicial modesty.... The Supreme Court is quite protective of due process -- when the right litigant seeks the Court's protection. One of the most disturbing things about Whole Woman's Health is that it suggests the Court has abandoned its most fundamental principle: equal justice under law." ~~~

~~~ Josh Marshall of TPM: "... the Supreme Court is both corrupted and corrupt. One of the court's nine members sits illegitimately. At least five of the current conservative majority have opted for a parodic version of what the judicial right once denounced as 'judicial activism.' The conservative majority's jurisprudence is a results-oriented approach abandoning both precedent and the more basic interpretive traditions to arrive at the preferred outcomes of either the Republican party or conservative ideology generally. A 6 to 3 Court doesn't require extraordinary measures to overrule Roe. It seems prepped to do so next year in a case from Mississippi. The overnight decision -- which rather overstates what the Court did -- is another example of the injudicious exuberance to use the Court to remake the nation's laws in ways that mere democracy will not allow.... The lawful remedy is to create new seats on the Court to break its power. The lawful solution to overruling Roe is to take current precedent as of today and enact it as law.... I would be remiss if I didn't add that Justice Breyer is in the process of handing the corrupt majority a seventh seat by insisting on remaining on the Court with no justification whatsoever. He deserves the most unremitting scorn." ~~~

~~~ Karl Paul of the Guardian: "Pro-choice users on TikTok and Reddit have launched a guerrilla effort to thwart Texas's extreme new abortion law, flooding an online tip website that encourages people to report violators of the law with false reports, Shrek memes, and porn.... An online form allows anyone to submit an anonymous 'report' of someone illegally obtaining an abortion, including a section where images can be uploaded for proof.... One TikTok user said they had submitted 742 fake reports of the governor Greg Abbott getting illegal abortions." ~~~

     ~~~ One Small Step for Womankind. Joseph Cox of Vice: "An activist has made a script to flood a Texas website used to solicit information on people seeking abortions with fabricated data, according to a TikTok video from the developer and Motherboard's [Vice's] test of the tool. The developer, whose social media identifies him as Sean Black, also made an iOS shortcut making it easier for non-technical activists to participate as well.... 'To me the McCarthyism era tactics of turning neighbors against each other over a bill I feel is a violation of Roe V Wade is unacceptable. There are people on TikTok using their platform to educate and do their part. I believe this is me doing mine,' Black told Motherboard in an email."

Manchin Makes Written Request to Everyone to Kiss His Anatomy. Tony Romm of the Washington Post: "A defining element of President Biden's economic agenda appeared to be in new political jeopardy on Thursday, after Sen. Joe Manchin III, one of the chamber's most pivotal swing votes, said the Senate should take a 'strategic pause' on advancing its $3.5 trillion tax and spending package. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Manchin (D-W.Va.) raised concerns that the price tag is too high, that the effects on the federal debt might be too great and that the risks of inflation could create financial harm for Americans. He called on his fellow Democrats to slim down their spending ambitions -- and to slow down their plans to adopt the measure as soon as this month."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot included Representative Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader, this week on a list of hundreds of people whose records it instructed social media and telecommunications companies to preserve for possible use in the inquiry. The move signals that the panel may seek more information from Mr. McCarthy, who has said he had a tense phone call with Donald J. Trump as a mob of the former president's supporters laid siege to the Capitol, a conversation that could shed light on Mr. Trump's state of mind and intentions as the violence unfolded. It also adds new context to Mr. McCarthy's threat this week to retaliate against any company that complies with the records preservation demand.... The preservation request, which listed 11 other far-right Republicans when it was issued on Monday, was accompanied by a statement that said the committee was merely 'gathering facts, not alleging wrongdoing by any individual.'" A CNN story is here.

Annie Grayer, et al., of CNN: "Democratic Chairman of the January 6 Select Committee Bennie Thompson announced on Thursday that Republican Rep. Liz Cheney will become the panel's vice chair, the latest sign that the Democrat-run committee is attempting to strike a bipartisan tone as it prepares to wade into politically contested waters. Cheney, one of two Republicans to serve on the committee, has defied her party by joining the panel controlled by Democrats and even sacrificed her own position in leadership in order to remain vocal and outspoken about the need to investigate the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Clare Hymes of CBS News: "The bare-chested man pictured with his face painted, wearing a horned helmet and howling in the Senate chamber during the insurrection on January 6th is expected to plead guilty Friday in federal court to charges stemming from his participation at the riot, according to a court filing. Jacob Chansley, aka the 'QAnon Shaman,' was charged with a six-count indictment that includes civil disorder, violent entry and disorderly conduct, as well as a felony count for obstruction of an official proceeding, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The details of Chansley's plea agreement with the government, including which specific charges he is pleading guilty to, have not yet been made public. In a statement, Chansley's attorney, Albert Watkins, said his client no longer wants to be associated with the conspiracy theory QAnon...."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A self-described 'poster boy' for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was sent back to jail Thursday after violating a federal judge's order to stay off the Internet -- a lapse his lawyer attributed to his seeming addiction to the QAnon cult. Douglas Jensen, 42, of Des Moines became one of the most recognized members of the mob that day when he was recorded on widely shared video pursuing U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up two flights of stairs inside the Capitol while searching for the just-evacuated Senate chamber, according to prosecutors. Jensen -- wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with a large 'Q' and an eagle -- came to Washington believing that members of Congress and Vice President Mike Pence were going to be arrested for opposing ... Donald Trump's effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly said at a hearing Thursday."

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "At least one employee at Donald J. Trump's family business testified before a grand jury on Thursday as prosecutors in Manhattan weighed whether to charge a senior executive at the company with tax-related crimes, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Manhattan district attorney's office is scrutinizing whether the executive, Matthew Calamari, benefited from what prosecutors have described as a 15-year scheme at the Trump Organization to help its top leadership evade taxes by compensating them with off-the-books luxury perks such as free cars and apartments. The development came two months after the district attorney's office indicted the Trump Organization's chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg, and the company itself over the perks.... Mr. Calamari's son, Matthew Calamari Jr., who is the 28-year-old corporate director of security at the Trump Organization, testified before the grand jury on Thursday. Jeffrey McConney, who has long served as the Trump Organization's controller and handled the elder Mr. Calamari's taxes, had also been expected to testify."

Amy Wang & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "Kelly Craft, who was appointed to two ambassadorships under ... Donald Trump, directed government business to Trump's hotel in Washington while in office, emails released by the State Department show....According to the emails, [at her own request & sometimes contrary to State Department recommendations,] Craft stayed at the Trump International Hotel multiple times while in Washington."

Matthew Goldstein & Kate Kelly of the New York Times: "James Simons, a mathematician whose algorithmic approach has been adopted by many other investment funds, and some of his former colleagues at Renaissance Technologies have settled a decade-long dispute with the government over the tax treatment of some of their investments, the firm said in letter to investors. The settlement, which involves 10 years' worth of trades made by the hedge fund, could be worth as much as $7 billion, according to a person with knowledge of the agreement. It is one of the largest federal tax disputes in history. The deal ends a standoff that led to a congressional investigation and involved two politically connected financiers: Mr. Simons, a longtime patron of Democratic candidates with an estimated net worth of $25 billion, and Robert Mercer, a former Renaissance executive whose advocacy for conservative causes included helping to found Cambridge Analytica. After Donald J. Trump won the 2016 presidential election, the now-defunct political consulting firm became embroiled in a scandal for harvesting Facebook data without users' consent to assist his campaign." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Who'da thunk a big Trump backer had a history of bilking the government of tax revenues?

Adam Goldman of the New York Times: "A member of a notorious cell of four British Islamic State members who tortured Western hostages pleaded guilty on Thursday in a federal courtroom filled with family members of the group's American victims, some of whom were beheaded for propaganda videos seen around the world. Alexanda Kotey, 37, was part of an ISIS cell of four Britons called 'the Beatles' -- a nickname given by their victims because of their accents -- and known for their extreme brutality. The group kidnapped and abused more than two dozen hostages, including the American journalists James Foley and Steven J. Sotloff in 2014, both of whom were beheaded in propaganda videos. Another two Americans were also killed: Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. As families of all four victims sat silently in the courtroom on Thursday, Mr. Kotey recounted calmly and without emotion his crimes and his involvement in the hostage-tasking schemes.... He pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit hostage taking resulting in death and conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens outside the United States. As part of the plea deal, if Mr. Kotey fulfills his cooperation requirements, he could be sent to Britain after 15 years to complete the remainder of a mandatory life sentence."

Matthew Gault & Jason Koebler of Vice: "Gun company Remington has subpoenaed the report cards, attendance records, and disciplinary records of five kindergarten and first grade students murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, according to new court filings in a civil lawsuit filed against the company." MB: To what end? To argue that the loss of a particular child's life isn't worth much if he didn't do well in kindergarten? That's really the only "purpose" I can figure for these subpoenas. This is taking "blaming the victim" to a whole new level.

Christopher Flavelle, et al., of the New York Times: "Disasters cascading across the country this summer have exposed a harsh reality: The United States is not ready for the extreme weather that is now becoming frequent as a result of a warming planet.... 'And to the country, the past few days of Hurricane Ida and the wildfires in the West and the unprecedented flash floods in New York and New Jersey is yet another reminder that these extreme storms and the climate crisis are here,' said [President] Biden, who noted that a $1 trillion infrastructure bill pending in Congress includes some money to gird communities against disasters. 'We need to do -- be better prepared. We need to act.'... Governments have not spent enough time and money to brace for climate shocks that have long been predicted.... But ... there are limits to how much the country, and the world, can adapt."

Mayberry Falls to Climate Change. Christopher Flavelle of the New York Times: "Climate shocks are pushing small rural communities..., many of which were already struggling economically, to the brink of insolvency. Rather than bouncing back, places hit repeatedly by hurricanes, floods and wildfires are unraveling: residents and employers leave, the tax base shrinks and it becomes even harder to fund basic services. That downward spiral now threatens low-income communities in the path this week of Hurricane Ida and those hit by the recent flooding in Tennessee -- hamlets regularly pummeled by storms that are growing more frequent and destructive because of climate change." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, Republicans are destroying their own fairy tale. Republican politicians hold up these small towns as idyllic exemplars of "real America" at the same time they either oppose efforts to curb climate change or outright deny there is such a thing.

Beyond the Beltway

Georgia. Alyssa Lukpat of the New York Times: "A grand jury indicted a former prosecutor in Georgia on Thursday, accusing her of 'showing favor and affection' to one of the men now charged with killing Ahmaud Arbery and for directing police officers not to arrest another suspect. The prosecutor, Jackie Johnson, a former district attorney in Glynn County, had recused herself from the case involving Mr. Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was confronted by three white men while jogging through their neighborhood. The fatal encounter, which stoked national outrage, was recorded on a cellphone video by William Bryan, who filmed Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael fatally shooting Mr. Arbery. All three have been charged with murder.... The indictment says Ms. Johnson failed 'to treat Ahmaud Arbery and his family fairly and with dignity' by not disclosing that she had sought the assistance of another district attorney before recommending that he take over the case. Ms. Johnson recused herself because Gregory McMichael had worked in her office. She also 'knowingly and willfully' directed two Glynn County police officers not to arrest Travis McMichael, 'contrary to the laws of said state,' the indictment said." An AP story is here.

Way Beyond

Japan. Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "Less than a year after becoming prime minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga said on Friday that he would not seek re-election as leader of the governing party, paving the way for a new leader after his historically unpopular tenure. Mr. Suga assumed the prime ministership after Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, resigned last August because of ill health. Mr. Suga, the son of a strawberry farmer and a schoolteacher from the country's rural north, had been a behind-the-scenes operator and always looked uncomfortable as a public-facing leader."

News Ledes

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the New York related to the remnants of Hurricane Ida are here: "The death toll from the remnants of Hurricane Ida grew on Friday with the announcement of two more deaths in New Jersey, bringing the total number of lives lost to 45 across four states hit that were hit by the storm Wednesday evening. Authorities fear the toll will increase further: Gov. Phillip D. Murphy of New Jersey said at least six people were still missing in the floods.... In New York City, where most of the deaths occurred when people were trapped in flooded basement apartments, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Friday that going forward, when flash floods were forecast, the city would go door-to-door in neighborhoods with high concentrations of such apartments and evacuate residents."

CNBC: "Job creation for August was a huge disappointment, with the economy adding just 235,000 positions, the Labor Department reported Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 720,000 new hires. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.2% from 5.4%, in line with estimates. August's total -- the worst since January -- comes with heightened fears of the pandemic and the impact that rising Covid cases could have on what has been a mostly robust recovery. The weak report could cloud policy for the Federal Reserve, which is weighing whether to pull back on some of the massive stimulus it has been adding since the outbreak in early 2020."