November 5, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Rachel Siegel, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden is closing in on a decision on who should run the Federal Reserve, and both Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell and Fed governor Lael Brainard, the only Democrat on the central bank's board, were spotted at the White House on Thursday, a person familiar with the matter confirmed Friday. The president has not made a decision but expects to soon, according to a source familiar with the process. It wasn't clear if Powell or Brainard met directly with the president. Powell's term as chair is up in February." A CNBC story is here. MB: Biden should consult Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for her input. She is, of course, way too short to be the Fed chair herself, but I'd say she's tall enough to have a considered opinion.

Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department searched two locations associated with the conservative group Project Veritas as part of an investigation into how a diary stolen from President Biden's daughter, Ashley, came to be publicly disclosed a week and a half before the 2020 presidential election, according to people briefed on the matter. Federal agents in New York conducted the court-ordered searches on Thursday -- one in New York City and one in suburban Westchester County -- at places linked to people who had worked with the group and its leader, James O'Keefe.... Project Veritas did not publish Ms. Biden's diary, but dozens of handwritten pages from it were posted on a right wing website on Oct. 24, 2020, at a time when ... Donald J. Trump was seeking to undermine Mr. Biden's credibility by portraying his son, Hunter, as engaging in corrupt business dealings. The posting was largely ignored by other conservative outlets and the mainstream media.... The Justice Department, then led by Attorney General William P. Barr, opened an investigation into the matter shortly after a representative of the Biden family reported to federal authorities in October 2020 that several of Ms. Biden's personal items had been stolen in a burglary...."

Betsy Swan & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A top Trump Justice Department official who aided the former president's quest to overturn the 2020 election met Friday with congressional investigators probing the Jan. 6 Capitol attack -- accompanied by a lawyer who worked on a suit aimed at overturning the Georgia election results. And according to a letter from that lawyer reviewed by Politico, former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark is refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 select committee.... The letter is unusual and surprising; to make the case that Clark cannot testify to the Jan. 6 committee, it cites a separate letter in which Trump's lawyer specifically said the former president would not try to block Clark's congressional testimony. In the lengthy letter, Clark counsel Harry MacDougald cites attorney-client privilege -- among other things -- to justify his client's refusal to cooperate. But any such privilege lies with the client to assert, and even if Trump were Clark's client under these circumstances, the former president has already declined to block Clark's testimony.... MacDougald [is] an Atlanta lawyer who partnered with conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia." MB: "Uh, I can't testify because Trump said I could testify." I think what Clark means to say is, "I hereby invoke my Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination."

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Since the spring, a steady tide of school board members across the country have nervously come forward with accounts of threats they have received from enraged local parents. At first, the grievances mainly centered on concerns about the way their children were being taught about race and racism. Now, parents are more often infuriated by Covid-19 restrictions like mask mandates in classrooms. It is an echo of what happened when those faithful to the Tea Party stormed Obamacare town halls across the country more than a decade ago. In recent months, there have been Nazi salutes at school board meetings and emails threatening rape. Obscenities have been hurled -- or burned into people's lawns with weed spray. n one extreme case, in suburban San Diego, a group of people protesting mask mandates ... summarily installed themselves as the district's new board." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As long as there's a cooperative police presence, it's not that hard to control a school board meeting. The cops eject attendees who won't observe "regular order." As to what the vicious bastids may do in the shadows, that's a whole 'nother thing.

New York City. Ed Shanahan of the New York Times: "Rodents are among New York's permanent features. But across the city, one hears the same thing: They are running amok like never before." The cause, according to some experts, is a "perfect-pandemic-storm scenario." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: For a short time in 1999-2000, we had a small second-storey apartment in the Mews behind Washington Square North. Back in the day, it was servants' quarters for the posh people who lived on the Square. When we had the apartment, NYU owned it, and the super worked & resided in an NYU-owned apartment complex cobbled together from a few of the townhouses on the Square. I had come to know where to find the super, as our toilet would occasionally act up, sometimes running continuously and sometimes trying to overflow. One cold & icy February morning, I was sitting alone in the living room when I heard the toilet acting up again. I went in to see if a jiggle of the handle would fix it. It would not. The cause of the noise was not faulty plumbing but a rat swimming 'round and 'round in the toilet bowl. I slammed down the toilet seat, slammed shut the bathroom door, and in a feet-don't-fail-me-now comedic moment, I raced down the stairs and around the corner -- barefoot on the icy pavement -- to get the super. He brought along an entourage of helpers, and one way or the other, they extracted the uninvited swimmer from our quarters.

~~~~~~~~~~

Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: "The Justice Department on Thursday sued Texas over the state's new voting law, arguing that the Republican-led measure would disenfranchise Texans who do not speak English, people with disabilities, older voters and those who live outside the United States. The department argues that the law violates the Voting Rights Act by limiting the help that poll workers can provide to voters. It also contends that the law runs afoul of the Civil Rights Act by requiring mail-in ballots to be thrown out if they fail to include a voter's current driver's license number, an election identification number or part of a Social Security number." An ABC News report is here. The DOJ's statement is here.

Quit Squawking. Build Back Better Will Pay for Itself. Sarah Ewall-Wice of CBS News: "Tax hikes on the wealthy and large corporations in the proposed [Build Back Better] social spending bill would rake in $1.48 trillion, the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated. Their analysis comes as Democrats are hitting the gas pedal on efforts to pass President Joe Biden's agenda, arguing the plan would be paid for. The White House framework of the Build Back Better Act puts the cost of the entire bill at $1.85 trillion. But that version of the proposal does not include paid leave or raising the cap on the state and local tax deduction -- known as SALT -- which were included in the House version of the bill which could be voted on this week.... The provisions included in the agenda to pay for it remain closely aligned.... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pointed to the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates on Thursday, claiming it validates how the agenda is 'solidly' paid for. The Biden administration argues that the provisions to raise revenues in the Build Back Better Agenda will actually reduce the deficit. They estimate the money generated would total $2.15 trillion." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Moreover, as far as I can tell, the Joint Committee estimate doesn't include the likely higher wages -- and therefore higher taxes paid -- that may be garnered as a result of the advantages the bill gives to workers & workers-to-be. ~~~

I do believe in polite compromise, but it's past time for some of this.~~~ Emily Cochrane & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "House Democrats are scrambling to line up the votes needed to push through a $1.85 trillion social safety net, climate and tax bill, as moderate Democrats, spooked by Tuesday's electoral drubbing, have raised concerns about the cost and details of the rapidly evolving plan. Late Thursday night, Democratic leaders postponed a vote on the measure to Friday, when they also hoped to clear a Senate-passed $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill for President Biden's signature. A senior aide who disclosed the update on the condition of anonymity said they were confident they could complete the measures by Friday."

Hansi Lo Wang of NPR: "The Senate has confirmed Robert Santos, President Biden's nominee to head the U.S. Census Bureau, for a historic political appointment. After a bipartisan 58-35 vote on Thursday, Santos, one of the country's leading statisticians, is on track to be sworn in as the first Latino to lead the federal government's largest statistical agency, which carries out key national surveys and the once-a-decade head count used to distribute political representation and federal funding around the United States."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "emocrats are ramping up their discussions about changing the Senate's rules amid growing frustration about the inability to move voting rights legislation. After months of trying to give space for bipartisan discussions on election legislation, Democrats are planning internal talks about what, if any, rules changes they'll be able to get through on their own. Those ideas include smaller shifts on nominations or amendments. But altering the filibuster -- particularly when it comes to elections bills -- is getting the most attention. A group of Democratic senators have been tasked with leading the talks and feeling out their colleagues on how to 'restore' the Senate.... [Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer said multiple times this week that Democrats are exploring 'alternate paths' to how to pass voting rights legislation without needing the 10 GOP votes required to break a filibuster.... Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who is a close ally of President Biden<, became the latest senator this week to back nixing the filibuster for voting rights."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday expressed skepticism about Donald J. Trump's attempt to block from release a wide range of documents related to the Capitol riot, signaling that she might be open to allowing a congressional committee scrutinizing the violence to pore over hundreds of files that the former president wants to keep secret. At a hearing by video conference, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia repeatedly asked pointed questions about the legal basis for Mr. Trump's claim that at least 770 pages of documents related to the mob attack must be shielded by executive privilege. 'The Jan. 6 riot happened in the Capitol,' Judge Chutkan told Mr. Trump's lawyer, Justin Clark. 'That is literally Congress's house.' Still, the judge also suggested that the House select committee ... might have overreached, referring to its demand for documents -- which potentially amounts to millions of pages -- as 'very broad' and, at one point, 'alarmingly broad.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Kyle Cheney of Politico: District Court Judge Tanya “Chutkan repeatedly seemed incredulous at Trump's legal effort to block Congress from obtaining the documents, noting that this is a rare case in which Congress and the current White House are in 'harmony' about the decision to release them. And Trump, she said, as a former president, has no authority over either branch of government.... 'There is only one executive,' said ... Chutkan...."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Congressional investigators probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol are examining the contacts between one of the rioters who breached the Capitol and state-level GOP officials who worked with ... Donald Trump as he attempted to overturn the 2020 election. The rioter, who interviewed with the committee twice in the past week, described knowledge of contacts between GOP officials in a key state Trump lost and allies of the former president in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack. The person interviewed ... discussed those contacts in a voluntary interview with congressional investigators."

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "A Texas real estate agent who bragged after Jan. 6 that as a blonde White woman she would not be going to jail for joining in the assault on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob was sentenced Thursday to two months of incarceration. It was one of the harshest penalties imposed to date on a participant in events at the Capitol who was found guilty only of a petty offense. 'For better or worse, you've become one of the faces of January 6,' U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper of D.C. told Jenna Ryan, 50. She gained national attention by defending her conduct at the Capitol in media interviews and on Twitter. Because of that notoriety, Cooper said, people would look to her sentence as evidence of 'how our country responded to what happened.' He continued, 'I think the sentence should tell them that we take it seriously, that it was an assault on our democracy....'" The Huffington Post's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Ryan's impending incarceration raises a lot of questions. Like, "Do orange jump suits clash too much with white skin?" and "Can you get your hair highlighted in jail?"

Paulina Villegas of the Washington Post: "The Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday that it has referred the cases of more than three dozen unruly passengers to the FBI for potential criminal prosecution in hopes of curbing a sharp uptick in people acting violently on planes this year. 'Let this serve both as a warning and a deterrent: If you disrupt a flight, you risk not just fines from the FAA but federal criminal prosecution as well,' FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson said Thursday in a news release. In August, the FAA and the Justice Department began developing an information-sharing protocol to refer the most serious cases to the FBI for further review and faster prosecution, the agencies said in a joint statement.... Now, all incidents are subject to a fine of up to $37,000 for each federal violation. The FAA reported 5,033 incidents of unruly passengers as of November during this year, 3,642 of which were related to mask-wearing. From the total number of incidents, the FAA initiated 950 investigations, a sixfold increase from last year." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm all for throwing the book at these belligerent nitwits, but it's a huge shame that many of the Trumpbots who, with premeditation (or premedication! as I am wont to spell), injured police officers, threatened the lives of top political leaders and tried to overthrow a presidential election will pay a lesser price for their crimes.

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Whisky. Karen Young of the Washington Post: "The State Department has investigated, and the $5,800 bottle of Japanese whisky is still missing, along with a gold coin and assorted trinkets the Trump administration had prepared as gifts for a G-7 summit that never happened. To recap: When the Biden administration took over the State Department last January, it found a number of items missing from the vault where foreign gifts to U.S. government officials are stored -- including a bottle of Suntory Hibiki 30-year-old whisky given to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by the government of Japan in 2019. Pompeo, through his lawyer, has previously said he never received the whisky and denied any knowledge of the gift.... The OIG made no reference to media reports that Trump officials had walked off with the swag bags, purchased by the U.S. government and valued at $680 each.... The OIG investigation began, the report said, after 'the political appointees that formerly led' the office under ... Donald Trump 'resigned on January 20, 2021, and career officials assumed acting leadership.' On that day, the new team 'entered the gift vault ... and found it in a state of disarray.'"

Adam Goldman & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "An analyst who was a key contributor to Democratic-funded opposition research into possible links between Donald J. Trump and Russia was arrested on Thursday and charged with lying to the F.B.I. about his sources. The analyst, Igor Danchenko, was a primary researcher for claims that went into the so-called Steele dossier, a compendium of rumors and unproven assertions suggesting that Mr. Trump and his 2016 campaign were compromised by and conspiring with Russian intelligence officials to help him defeat Hillary Clinton. In a 39-page indictment obtained by the special counsel, John H. Durham, a grand jury accused Mr. Danchenko of five counts of making false statements to the F.B.I. about his sources for certain claims in the dossier." Politico's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Marisa Sarnoff of Law & Crime summarizes what-all the indictment alleges Igor Danchenko lied about to FBI agents. Includes copy of the indictment.

Shayna Jacobs, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Manhattan district attorney has convened a second long-term grand jury to hear evidence about the Trump Organization's financial practices and potentially to vote on criminal charges, according to people with knowledge of the matter.... One person ... said the second grand jury was expected to examine how ... Donald Trump's company valued its assets."

Devan Cole & Tierney Sneed of CNN: "Allies of ... Donald Trump testified under oath that they had done little to verify debunked claims of fraud in the 2020 election before spreading them on the national stage, according to tapes of their depositions obtained exclusively by CNN. The new footage of sworn testimony from Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell animates the behind-the-scenes movements of the two in their effort to sow doubt about the integrity of the presidential election results. The video details responses from the Trump allies as a lawyer representing former Dominion Voting Systems executive Eric Coomer in his defamation case against them peppers them with questions about their allegations.... 'It's not my job, in a fast-moving case, to go out and investigate every piece of evidence that was given to me. Otherwise, you're never going to ... come to a conclusion,' [Giuliani testified]." MB: Giuliani doesn't understand the definition of "evidence." He gets it confused with "unsubstantiated allegation" & "zany conspiracy theory."

Brad Plumer & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "More than 40 countries pledged to phase out coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, in a deal announced Thursday at the United Nations climate summit that prompted Alok Sharma, the head of the conference, to proclaim 'the end of coal is in sight.' But several of the biggest coal consumers were notably absent from the accord, including China and India, which together burn roughly two-thirds of the world's coal, as well as Australia, the world's 11th-biggest user of coal and a major exporter. The United States, which still generates about one-fifth of its electricity from coal, also did not sign the pledge."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "Pfizer announced on Friday that its pill to treat Covid-19 had been found in a key clinical trial to be highly effective at preventing severe illness among at-risk people who received the drug soon after they exhibited symptoms. The antiviral pill is the second of its kind to demonstrate efficacy against Covid. It appears to be more effective than a similar offering from Merck, which is awaiting federal authorization. Pfizer's pill, which will be sold under the brand name Paxlovid, cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent when given within three days of the start of symptoms." See also WashPo full story, linked below. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Friday are here.

Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "An experimental coronavirus pill reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 89 percent in high-risk people infected with the virus, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced Friday. The effect of the drug, a five-day regimen designed to block the virus from making copies of itself, was found to be so strong midway through the study that an independent committee monitoring the clinical trial recommended it be stopped early. The data has not yet been published or peer-reviewed, but Pfizer said in a news release that it would submit the data to regulators 'as soon as possible.'"

Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Thursday set Jan. 4 as the deadline for large companies to mandate coronavirus vaccinations or start weekly testing of their workers, the government's biggest effort yet to enlist private businesses in combating the virus. The new rule, applying to companies with 100 or more employees, is expected to cover 84 million workers, roughly 31 million of whom are unvaccinated. It lays out details of a plan President Biden announced in September, invoking emergency powers over workplace safety. In a separate measure that will affect 17 million more workers, nursing homes and other health care facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds must ensure all employees are vaccinated by Jan. 4, with no option for testing." ~~~

~~~ Andrew DeMillo & Geoff Mulvihill of the AP: "Republican state officials reacted with swift rebukes Thursday to President Joe Biden's newly detailed mandate for private employers to require workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, threatening a wave of lawsuits and other actions to thwart a requirement they see as a stark example of government overreach. At least two conservative groups moved quickly to file lawsuits against the workplace safety mandate, and a growing roster of GOP governors and attorneys general said more lawsuits were on the way as soon as Friday. Some Republican-led states had already passed laws or executive orders intended to protect employers that may not want to comply."

Nomaan Merchant of the AP: "Thousands of intelligence officers could soon face dismissal for failing to comply with the U.S. government's vaccine mandate, leading some Republican lawmakers to raise concerns about removing employees from agencies critical to national security. Several intelligence agencies had at least 20% of their workforce unvaccinated as of late October, said U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Some agencies in the 18-member intelligence community had as much as 40% of their workforce unvaccinated, Stewart said, citing information the administration has provided to the committee but not released publicly. He declined to identify the agencies because full information on vaccination rates was classified.... Intelligence officers are particularly hard to replace due to the highly specialized work they do and the difficulties of completing security clearance checks."

Chris Hamby of the New York Times: "The federal government has canceled its contract with a troubled Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer that ruined millions of doses and had to halt production for months after regulators raised serious quality concerns. The decision marks a stark reversal of fortune for the politically connected contractor, Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions, and an abandonment by the government of a deal that was supposed to be a centerpiece of Operation Warp Speed."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona Governors Race. Em Steck & Andrew Kaczynski of CNN: "Kari Lake, the Arizona gubernatorial candidate recently endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has embraced fringe far-right figures in her campaign events, including publicly thanking a Nazi sympathizer for his support and appearing with figures linked to the QAnon conspiracy.... At a campaign event in late August, Lake posed for a photo and video with far-right personalities Ethan Schmidt-Crockett, the founder of the AntiMaskersClub, who harassed a store specializing in wigs for cancer patients this summer because it required customers to wear masks, and Greyson Arnold, a Nazi sympathizer who has a history of making White nationalist, racist, antisemitic and pro-Nazi statements, including once calling Adolf Hitler 'a complicated historical figure which many people misunderstand.'... Lake became an early favorite in the GOP primary by embracing the once-fringe extremism now mainstream within the Republican Party, including promoting election lies, doubling down against mask and vaccine mandates, and calling for the imprisonment of Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is also running for governor."

Arizona. Baxter Holmes of ESPN: "Interviews with more than 70 former and current [Phoenix] Suns [professional basketball organization] employees throughout [majority owner Robert] Sarver's 17-year tenure describe a toxic and sometimes hostile workplace under Sarver. Some told ESPN that he has used racially insensitive language repeatedly in the office. Employees recounted conduct they felt was inappropriate and misogynistic, including Sarver once passing around a picture of his wife in a bikini to employees and speaking about times his wife performed oral sex on him. Some said the longtime owner fostered an environment in which employees felt they were his property, even once asking one woman whether he 'owned' her to determine whether she worked for the Suns. 'The level of misogyny and racism is beyond the pale,' one Suns co-owner said about Sarver." MB: Unless those interviewed are making up stuff, it appears Sarver routinely uses the N-word even though, in case he didn't know better, he's been told not to do so.

Georgia. The Batson Challenge. Richard Fausset & Tariro Mzezewa of the New York Times: "Even as he approved the selection of a nearly all-white jury this week to hear the murder case against three white men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery, a Georgia judge declared that there was an appearance of 'intentional discrimination' at play. But Judge Timothy R. Walmsley of Glynn County Superior Court also said that defense lawyers had presented legitimate reasons unrelated to race to justify unseating eight Black potential jurors.... What may have seemed like convoluted logic to non-lawyers was actually the judge's scrupulous adherence to a 35-year-old Supreme Court decision that was meant to remove racial bias from the jury selection process -- but has come to be considered a failure by many legal scholars."

New Jersey State Senate Election. Nick Corasaniti & Tracey Tully of the New York Times: "For nearly a decade, Stephen M. Sweeney, the second most powerful lawmaker in New Jersey, seemed truly unassailable. He boasted deep ties to the most feared political power broker in the state and unyielding support from the influential building trade unions. Four years ago, the state's teachers' union spent more than $5 million to unseat him. He won by 18 points. This year, his challenger was Edward Durr, a truck driver for Raymour & Flanigan, a furniture chain, who had never before held office. His campaign video was shot on a smartphone. Yet Mr. Sweeney, the State Senate president and a Democrat, was ousted in a shocking political upset by Mr. Durr, a Republican.... Mr. Sweeney's loss amounts to a seismic restructuring of political power and influence, leaving a substantial vacuum in the State Legislature; he had held the post of senate president, with the ability to set the legislative agenda, for nearly 12 years." ~~~

     ~~~ Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Hours after the race was called in his favor, [Edward] Durr faced calls to resign over past social media posts in which he denigrated Muslims, described Islam as 'a false religion' and played down the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.... '... Mr. Durr should either renounce his hate-filled statements or resign from office,' the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement."

Wisconsin. Timothy Bella & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "A juror in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse was dismissed Thursday after making a joke to a police deputy about the 2020 shooting of Jacob Blake, which set off protests in the Wisconsin city where the teen is accused of shooting three people. Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder said in court that the incident occurred when the White male juror was being escorted to his car earlier this week. Prosecutors said the joke the juror made about the number of shots fired at Blake -- a Black man who was shot by a White police officer in Kenosha, Wis., and left partially paralyzed -- showed racial bias."

News Lede

New York Times: "The American economy added 531,000 jobs in October, the Labor Department said Friday, a sharp rebound from the previous month and a sign that employers are feeling more optimistic as the latest coronavirus surge eases. Economists polled by Bloomberg had been looking for a gain of 450,000 jobs. The unemployment rate declined to 4.6 percent, from 4.8 percent. The October gain was an improvement from the 312,000 positions added in September -- a number that was revised upward on Friday, along with the August figure, providing a more upbeat picture of the last few months.' CNBC's report is here.

November 4, 2021

Elections 2021

** New Jersey. Brent Johnson. of NJ.com: "Phil Murphy, a Democrat who has pushed New Jersey in a more progressive direction and overseen the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic, won a second term as the Garden State's governor Wednesday night, narrowly defeating Republican Jack Ciattarelli in a bitter and closer-than-expected race that was too close to call for nearly 24 hours. The race was called by The Associated Press early Wednesday evening.... As of just before 7 p.m. Wednesday, Murphy's margin over Ciattarelli was less than a percentage point -- 50% to 49.2%. It's a difference of 19,440 votes out of 2.4 million cast, which if it holds up would make it among the closest governor's race New Jersey has ever had.... The Ciattarelli campaign criticized the call by the AP. 'With the candidates separated by a fraction of a percent out of 2.4 million ballots cast, it's irresponsible of the media to make this call when the New Jersey Secretary of State doesn't even know how many ballots are left to be counted,' Ciattarelli spokeswoman Stami Williams said in a statement. It's possible the race could still be contested. Mail-in and provisional ballots may be counted through Monday, and Ciattarelli could petition the state courts for a recount." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The New York Times story is here.

New York. Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: "In a sharp reversal of political fortune, Mayor Byron W. Brown of Buffalo has seemingly triumphed in a write-in campaign for a new term, besting India Walton, a democratic socialist who had stunned Mr. Brown in a primary in June and had drawn national attention as a champion of progressive values. Ms. Walton -- a first-time candidate -- said on Wednesday afternoon that she likely would not be able to translate the energy of her surprising primary victory into a general election win. 'It seems unlikely that we will end up with enough votes to inaugurate a Walton administration in January,' she wrote on Twitter."

Christopher Mathias of the Huffington Post: "At least seven Republicans who attended the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C., that turned into a deadly insurrection were elected to office Tuesday. Three were elected to state legislatures, and four won positions at the local level.... Among the Jan. 6 attendees who won office on Tuesday were two Republicans reelected to the Virginia House of Delegates: Dave LaRock and John McGuire. Earlier this year LaRock, responding to criticism from a Black elected official about his role in the insurrection, said the official should focus on 'the needs of the colored community.'" The story has been updated to report that at least eight GOP January 6 attendees have been elected, five of them to local offices. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A Washington Post story, which still has the number of January 6 rally-goers/election victors at seven, is here.

Tory Gavito & Adam Jettleson in a New York Times op-ed: "The Virginia election results should shock Democrats into confronting the powerful role that racially coded attacks play in American politics.... Crucially, the Republican [gubernatorial] nominee, Glenn Youngkin, was able to use racially coded attacks to motivate sky-high white turnout without paying a penalty among minority voters.... It will not work to ignore race and talk about popular issues instead.... The past half-century of American political history shows that racially coded attacks are how Republicans have been winning elections for decades, from Richard Nixon's 'law and order' campaign to Ronald Reagan's 'welfare queens' and George H.W. Bush's Willie Horton ad.... As Mr. Trump showed -- and Mr. Youngkin confirmed -- racially coded attacks do not necessarily repel Latino voters.... Democrats must confront it and explain that powerful elites and special interests use race as a tool of division to distract hard-working people of all races while they get robbed blind.... Forced to confront [race], [Barack] Obama offered Americans a vision that mobilized a broad, diverse coalition -- while also persuading white voters."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Some Democrats, such as Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.) and Martin Heinrich (N.M.), are saying that the slow pace of progress on the Build Back Better Act, which has in turn delayed passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, hurt Democrats in Virginia."MB: Hey, let's ask Joe Manchin what he thinks about that! "... Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has slowed down negotiations on a massive $1.75 trillion reconciliation package, says the 'unbelievable' Republican victories in Virginia's statewide races Tuesday validate his concerns about inflation and moving the Build Back Better Act too quickly through Congress.... 'I've been saying this for many, many months, people have concerns, people are concerned,' he said...." MB: If "people have concerns," Joe, it's because you & your Republican friends have been raising those :concerns." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marie: Anyhow, Joe, let's put this "unbelievable" setback in perspective. (1) Despite all the "Democrats are doomed" stories prominently featured by nearly every major media outlet Wednesday (almost all of which I chose not to link), Rachel Maddow pointed out that since the bygone days of Bush the Elder, the party in the White House has always lost the next year's gubernatorial races in both Virginia and New Jersey. That is, every president, in his first term, was zero for two. President Biden, on the other hand, is one for two. He beat out all recent presidents when Democrat Phil Murphy prevailed in New Jersey. (2) I watched a Nova show tonight about galaxies merging and so forth, and really, none of this matters in the grand scheme of things, does it?

Maine Ballot Measure. Taylor Telford of the Washington Post: "Maine voters approved an amendment Tuesday that enshrines the 'right to food' -- the first of its kind in the United States. The amendment to the state's constitution declares that all people have a 'natural, inherent and unalienable right' to grow, raise, produce and consume food of their own choosing as long as they do so within legal parameters. It was approved on Tuesday by 60 percent of voters based on unofficial results, according to Ballotpedia. The measure had been approved by the state legislature in May.... Maine state Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, a Republican legislator who sponsored the legislation, has called it the 'Second Amendment of food.'... But opponents contend the amendment is vague and could open the state to a range of food safety, legal and environmental challenges.... Animal welfare and farming groups say, for example, it could weaken animal cruelty protections or allow amateur farmers to unwittingly unleash invasive species."

Even stories that are not about Tuesday's election are about Tuesday's election: ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Weisman & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Smarting from an off-year electoral rebuke, congressional Democrats pushed forward on Wednesday toward House votes as soon as Thursday on nearly $3 trillion worth of social policy, infrastructure and climate change programs -- but with a deep new worry: Would a legislative victory help or hurt their bruised political standing? The day after a defeat in the Virginia governor's race and an unexpectedly close race in the Democratic stronghold of New Jersey, the Democrats in Congress toiled to keep recriminations to a minimum. But centrists grumbled that the party's left flank had held back final passage of what they considered the most popular part of the agenda, a bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill, while liberals blamed poor campaigns and ineffectual candidates."

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked legislation to restore parts of the landmark Voting Rights Act weakened by Supreme Court rulings, making it the second major voting bill to be derailed by a G.O.P. filibuster in the past two weeks. Despite receiving majority support, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named for the civil rights activist and congressman who died last year, fell nine votes short of the 60 required to advance over Republican opposition.... just one Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined all 50 Democrats in voting to open debate on a compromise measure that also has the support of Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, who helped negotiate the new version.... In the aftermath of the defeat, Senate Democrats said they would intensify internal discussions about altering filibuster rules or making other changes to allow them to move forward on voting rights legislation despite deep resistance by Republicans, who have now thwarted four efforts to take up such measures."

Felicia Sonmez & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday approved President Biden's nomination of former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel as U.S. ambassador to Japan, even as two Democrats on the panel voted in opposition. The nomination now advances to the full Senate. Emanuel has faced sharp criticism for his handling of police misconduct, including the 2014 police shooting of Laquan McDonald, a Black Chicago teenager. The two Democrats opposing Emanuel during Wednesday's voice vote were Sens. Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Edward J. Markey (Mass.). In a statement Wednesday morning, Merkley said he had reached his decision after carefully considering Emanuel's record and 'the input of civil rights leaders, criminal justice experts, and local elected officials who have reached out to the Senate to weigh in.'... It is rare for a senator to issue a statement opposing a nominee chosen by a president of their own party." Merkley's statement is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden on Wednesday said migrants separated from family members at the border would not receive hundreds of thousands of dollars for the damage inflicted by the Trump-era policy, rejecting an option for monetary compensation that had been floated in negotiations with lawyers representing the families. Representatives of the migrant families and government officials had discussed giving families $450,000 for each member affected by ... Donald J. Trump's 'zero tolerance' policy, which led to the separation of about 5,500 children from their parents.... But when asked on Wednesday about compensating the migrants, Mr. Biden denied the option was on the table. '$450,000 per person? Is that what you're saying?' Mr. Biden said when asked by Fox News reporter Peter Doocy about the payments. 'That's not going to happen.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course there is a no-cost way to "give" most of the family members $450K each: give them permanent residence status. Almost all of the young people will earn (and pay taxes on) at least $450K during their lifetimes.

Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "The Federal Reserve will start easing its vast support for financial markets this month, marking a highly anticipated policy change as central bank leaders grapple with major price increases in some parts of the economy but plenty of room to grow in the labor market. The Fed's announcement, made after its two-day policy meeting concluded Wednesday, comes as the economy continues to shift more than 18 months after the pandemic first hammered U.S. labor and financial markets. The S&P 500 and other stock indexes closed at record highs Wednesday amid fresh optimism about the economy's direction, but other concerns persist, including inflation, supply chain issues and a disconnect between many unfilled jobs and unemployed workers." A New York Times report is here. CNBC's report is here.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A New York law that imposes strict limits on carrying guns outside the home seemed unlikely to survive its encounter with the Supreme Court, based on questioning from the justice on Wednesday during two hours of arguments. Several members of the court seemed to be searching for a way to rule narrowly in the case, which could involve deciding that local officials have too much power to deny licenses to people seeking to carry guns in public for self-defense while affirming the state's right to exclude guns from sensitive places." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What's most "unlikely to survive" is public safety. I don't think the Supremes have any idea how stupid many gun-toting Americans are. I recently heard a person say a premedicated premeditated (thanks, Forrest!) murder (by gun) was justified because a teenager had told the shooter that the guy he shot had sexually abused her. IOW, it's okay to shoot people dead if you hear a rumor they might have committed a terrible (but non-capital) crime. Apparently the justices couldn't get past the Second Amendment to the Fifth & Fourteenth, which feature due-process clauses.

Trump's Campaign Paid for Insurrection Planning. Jacqueline Alemany, et al., of the Washington Post: The Trump campaign made "more than $225,000 in campaign payments to firms owned by [Bernard] Kerik and [Rudy] Giuliani -- including more than $50,000 for rooms and suites at the posh Willard hotel in Washington that served as a 'command center' for efforts to deny Biden the presidency in the days leading up to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. The fact that campaign funds were used to finance efforts to subvert Biden's victory could complicate the former president's ongoing attempt to use claims of executive privilege to shield documents and testimony from the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6, according to some legal scholars.... 'Executive privilege is typically limited to the protection of communications involving a president's official duties -- not to those relating to personal or political campaign matters,' [former Watergate prosecutor Richard] Ben-Veniste said." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

~~~ John Wright of the Raw Story: "A new legal fund has been established to support organizers of ... Donald Trump's 'Stop the Steal' rally on Jan. 6 who've been subpoenaed by the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection. And money raised through the fund will pay for counsel from the law firm of Trump's former acting attorney general, Matt Whitaker, according to Rolling Stone.... The magazine notes that the fund, which reportedly was set up by Matt and Mercedes Schlapp, 'will not help the hundreds of Trump supporters who have been charged with storming the building.'"

Murray Waas in the Guardian: "The high-profile federal criminal investigation of Rudy Giuliani in recent days has zeroed in on evidence that in the spring of 2019 three Ukrainian government prosecutors agreed to award contracts, valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, to Giuliani and two other American attorneys as a way to gain political and personal influence with the Trump administration. Federal investigators believe Giuliani and two attorneys who worked closely with him, Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova, probably violated federal transparency laws that require Americans working for foreign governments or interests to register as foreign agents.... Federal prosecutors in the southern district in New York have compiled a list of more than two dozen specific acts by Giuliani, Toesning and DiGenova as to how to advance the personal and political interests of a group of Ukrainian prosecutors and political factions in Ukraine with which they were aligned...."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Fenit Nirappil & Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post: "Almost a year after their parents and grandparents became eligible, young U.S. children are now lining up for vaccines to protect them from the virus that upended their childhoods, in many cases keeping them away from schools, playdates and vacations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off late Tuesday night on smaller doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. Soon after, doctors and nurses began administering the first shots, and parents started scrambling to book appointments, many hoping their children could be partially vaccinated before Thanksgiving. White House officials have cautioned pediatric vaccinations won't start in earnest until next week after initial shipments of 15 million doses arrive, medical professionals undergo training on administering the shots, and doctors and hospitals plan clinics."

Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "President Joe Biden called the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's authorization of the Covid-19 vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11 'a giant step forward to further accelerate our path out of this pandemic,'" saying Wednesday that it's 'a day of relief and celebration' for parents around the country. 'The bottom line is: We've been planning and preparing for months to vaccinate our children. Our program will be ramping up this week and more doses (will be) shipped out each day so that we have it fully up and running by next week,' Biden said during remarks at the White House Wednesday afternoon." ~~~

~~~ The President's full remarks, as delivered, are here. Via the White House.

U.K. Ellen Francis & Claire Parker of the Washington Post: "Regulators in Britain granted approval to the experimental drug molnupiravir from U.S. pharmaceutical giant Merck on Thursday, marking the first authorization from a public health body for an oral antiviral treatment for covid-19 in adults. Experts say that if widely authorized, the medicine could have huge potential to help fight the coronavirus pandemic: Pills are easier to take, manufacture and store, making them particularly useful in lower- to middle-income countries with weaker infrastructure and limited vaccine supplies.... A global clinical trial showed the pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by nearly half among higher-risk adult coronavirus patients diagnosed with mild to moderate illness, Merck -- which worked on the drug with partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics -- said last month."

Beyond the Beltway

Florida. Gary Fineout of Politico: "Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed on Wednesday to create a fully-staffed statewide law enforcement office whose sole job would be to crack down on election crimes, despite previously praising Florida's smooth 2020 elections and rebuffing calls by members of his own party for an audit. DeSantis, who is running for reelection and is considered a potential 2024 presidential contender, is also pressing state lawmakers to increase the criminal penalty for violating new restrictions on collecting mail-in ballots. He also wants to enact a tight new 100-day deadline on when local election officials must scrub their voter rolls for those who died, moved or been convicted of a felony." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Just last night, Rachel Maddow was mocking Delaware Sen. Chris Coons' 2020 GOP opponent for wanting the cops to go after Coons for stealing the election from her (by 100K+ votes) and install her in the Senate or something. Now we find out a sitting governor is proposing a crime-busters force to maybe sorta do the same thing. Life imitates comedy.

Georgia. Richard Fausset & Giulia Heyward of the New York Times: “... a jury was selected on Wednesday in the trial of the three white men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old Black man who was chased through a suburban Georgia neighborhood before being fatally shot by one of his pursuers in February 2020. The jury, which is made up of residents from Glynn County, where more than a quarter of the population is Black, includes 11 white people and one Black person. Anxiety over what the jury's racial makeup ... had been palpable among observers and participants in recent days.... [Overruling a prosecution argument,] the judge ruled that for each of the [defense's] eight stricken [Black] jurors, the defense had provided a 'legitimate, nondiscriminatory, clear, reasonably specific and related reason' as to why the potential juror should not be seated." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Now here's a case where lawyers likely will argue against due process: "The men's lawyers are expected to argue that their clients, who told the authorities that they suspected Mr. Arbery of a series of break-ins in their neighborhood, were carrying out a legal citizen's arrest under a state statute that has since been largely repealed." That is, it's okay to shoot a Black man dead if you think he looks like a criminal.

Nevada. Matt Bonesteel & Des Beiler of the Washington Post: "Prosecutors in Nevada said Wednesday that former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III reached a speed of 156 mph and had a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit before the early-morning crash Tuesday that killed a 23-year-old woman and her dog. Eric Bauman, chief deputy district attorney for Clark County, Nev., said Ruggs's Chevrolet Corvette was traveling at 156 mph about two seconds before he crashed into the back of a Toyota Rav4 driven by Tina Tintor on Rainbow Boulevard near Spring Valley Parkway in Las Vegas. When Ruggs's air bags deployed, his car was traveling at 127 mph, Bauman said.... Police also found a loaded gun in the passenger-side floorboard of Ruggs's car.... The Raiders released Ruggs, the No. 12 pick of the 2020 NFL draft, late Tuesday." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There are a number of reasons not to describe professional athletes as "heroes." Here are two: (1) There's nothing vaguely heroic about playing sports for money. (2) If you repeatedly tell some nitwit he's heroic, he'll think he's (a) heroic, (b) invincible and (c) too good to be concerned about other people.

New York. Brian Rosenthal of the New York Times: "New York officials said Wednesday they had struck a deal with the largest holder of taxi loans in the city to help rescue thousands of cabbies who have been crushed under paralyzing debt after years of exploitative practices in the industry. The move was a major win for drivers: As part of the deal, officials agreed to significantly expand a financial relief program that they had announced earlier this year that many drivers had criticized as insufficient. In all, the city could spend $100 million or more in a bid to potentially eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars in debt owed by the drivers. The final cost has not yet been determined. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the deal with Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, whose father-in-law once drove a cab in New York City.... In recent weeks, the Taxi Workers Alliance staged a hunger strike to urge city officials to agree to the guarantee, which was not part of the city's earlier relief program. The new plan has not yet been adopted by other lenders in the taxi industry, who carry about 60 percent of the loans taken out by drivers to buy medallions, the tin plates bolted onto the hoods of yellow taxis that allow them to pick up street hails."

Virginia. Christopher Miller of BuzzFeed News: "Neo-Nazis Christopher Cantwell and Matthew Heimbach on Wednesday ... were in a court.... 'What's your favorite Holocaust joke?' Cantwell, who is representing himself..., asked Heimbach, who was called to the stand by the plaintiffs as a witness, during cross-examination.... Attorneys for the plaintiffs interjected before any jokes were uttered. But Cantwell ... and Heimbach spent nearly an hour talking about their adoration for Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, the dictator's book Mein Kampf, and their belief that the Holocaust was a hoax. Hitler, Heimbach testified, 'did nothing wrong' in murdering some 6 million Jews. The exchange between the two neo-Nazis contrasted sharply with the testimony by Deborah Lipstadt, an acclaimed Holocaust scholar.... Lipstadt said that much of the messaging between some of the 24 defendants in the case constituted 'Jew hatred.'... Lipstadt also testified about the 'great replacement theory,' a topic that has been pushed by Republicans, as well as media outlets and figures loyal to that party's extremist right, such as Tucker Carlson of Fox News." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: ... Which makes this Jewish News Syndicate report hard to fathom: "An exit poll conducted by the American Jewish Congress found a 10 percent decline among Jewish voters in Virginia in support of Democrats following the 2020 election."

Way Beyond

Afghanistan, Where It's Always Wartime. Victor Blue, et al., of the New York Times: "In the two months since the Taliban took control of the country, the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan -- known as Islamic State Khorasan or ISIS-K -- has stepped up attacks across the country, straining the new and untested government and raising alarm bells in the West about the potential resurgence of a group that could eventually pose an international threat.... After spending 20 years fighting as an insurgency, the [Taliban] finds itself wrestling with providing security and delivering on its hallmark commitment of law and order."

News Lede

CNBC: "The U.S. unemployment picture improved again last week, with initial filings for unemployment insurance falling to another pandemic-era low. First-time claims dropped to 269,000 for the week ended Oct. 30, down 14,000 from the previous period and better than the Dow Jones estimate for 275,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday."

November 3, 2021

Afternoon Update:

New Jersey. Brent Johnson of NJ.com: "Phil Murphy, a Democrat who has pushed New Jersey in a more progressive direction and overseen the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic, won a second term as the Garden State's governor Wednesday night, narrowly defeating Republican Jack Ciattarelli in a bitter and closer-than-expected race that was too close to call for nearly 24 hours. The race was called by The Associated Press early Wednesday evening.... As of just before 7 p.m. Wednesday, Murphy's margin over Ciattarelli was less than a percentage point -- 50% to 49.2%. It's a difference of 19,440 votes out of 2.4 million cast, which if it holds up would make it among the closest governor's race New Jersey has ever had.... The Ciattarelli campaign criticized the call by the AP. 'With the candidates separated by a fraction of a percent out of 2.4 million ballots cast, it's irresponsible of the media to make this call when the New Jersey Secretary of State doesn't even know how many ballots are left to be counted,' Ciattarelli spokeswoman Stami Williams said in a statement. It's possible the race could still be contested. Mail-in and provisional ballots may be counted through Monday, and Ciattarelli could petition the state courts for a recount."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Some Democrats, such as Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.) and Martin Heinrich (N.M.), are saying that the slow pace of progress on the Build Back Better Act, which has in turn delayed passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, hurt Democrats in Virginia." MB: Hey, let's ask Joe Manchin what he thinks about that! "... Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has slowed down negotiations on a massive $1.75 trillion reconciliation package, says the 'unbelievable' Republican victories in Virginia's statewide races Tuesday validate his concerns about inflation and moving the Build Back Better Act too quickly through Congress.... 'I've been saying this for many, many months, people have concerns, people are concerned,' he said...." MB: If "people have concerns," Joe, it's because you & your Republican friends have been raising those "concerns."

Christopher Mathias of the Huffington Post: "At least seven Republicans who attended the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C., that turned into a deadly insurrection were elected to office Tuesday. Three were elected to state legislatures, and four won positions at the local level.... Among the Jan. 6 attendees who won office on Tuesday were two Republicans reelected to the Virginia House of Delegates: Dave LaRock and John McGuire. Earlier this year LaRock, responding to criticism from a Black elected official about his role in the insurrection, said the official should focus on 'the needs of the colored community.'"

Felicia Sonmez & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday approved President Biden's nomination of former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel as U.S. ambassador to Japan, even as two Democrats on the panel voted in opposition. The nomination now advances to the full Senate. Emanuel has faced sharp criticism for his handling of police misconduct, including the 2014 police shooting of Laquan McDonald, a Black Chicago teenager. The two Democrats opposing Emanuel during Wednesday's voice vote were Sens. Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Edward J. Markey (Mass.). In a statement Wednesday morning, Merkley said he had reached his decision after carefully considering Emanuel's record and 'the input of civil rights leaders, criminal justice experts, and local elected officials who have reached out to the Senate to weigh in.'... It is rare for a senator to issue a statement opposing a nominee chosen by a president of their own party." Merkley's statement is here.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A New York law that imposes strict limits on carrying guns outside the home seemed unlikely to survive its encounter with the Supreme Court, based on questioning from the justices on Wednesday during two hours of arguments. Several members of the court seemed to be searching for a way to rule narrowly in the case, which could involve deciding that local officials have too much power to deny licenses to people seeking to carry guns in public for self-defense while affirming the state's right to exclude guns from sensitive places." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What's most "unlikely to survive" is public safety. I don't think the Supremes have any idea how stupid many gun-toting Americans are. I recently heard a person say a premedicated premeditated (thanks, Forrest!) murder (by gun) was justified because a teenager had told the shooter that the guy he shot had sexually abused her. IOW, it's okay to shoot people dead if you hear a rumor they might have committed a terrible (but non-capital) crime. Apparently the justices couldn't get past the Second Amendment to the Fifth & Fourteenth, which feature due-process clauses.

~~~~~~~~~~

Elections 2021

Massachusetts. Boston. Ellen Berry of the New York Times: "Michelle Wu, who entered public service out of frustration with the obstacles that her immigrant family faced, will be the next mayor of Boston, pledging to make the city a proving ground for progressive policy. Buoyed by support from the city's young, left-leaning voters and by Black, Asian and Latino residents, Ms. Wu, 36, soundly defeated City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George. Ms. Essaibi George, who ran as a pragmatic centrist in the style of former Mayor Martin J. Walsh, had the backing of the city's traditional power centers, like its police, its trade unions and its working-class Irish American neighborhoods."

Minneapolis. Gregory Krieg, et al., of CNN: "Voters in the city rejected a ballot measure to overhaul policing drafted amid the national fury over George Floyd's murder by a police officer but that went to voters as rising concerns about gun violence drained energy from the protest movement that had launched it. CNN on Tuesday projected that Minneapolis Question 2 had failed, effectively ending a push to give the city council oversight of a new Department of Public Safety and done away with a requirement to employ a minimum number of police officers tied to the city's population. The status quo-affirming result is a setback to both citywide and national efforts to fundamentally reduce or eliminate the role of police in America."

New Jersey. At 3 am ET Wednesday, the gubernatorial race is still too close to call. At 4 am, Gov. Murphy (D) was trailing Jack Ciattarelli (R) by only 60 votes, according to CNN. Update: As of 9:30 am, according to CNN, Murphy leads by 5,700 votes, and the only two counties with still-uncounted votes lean Democratic. So that's a wee bit of good news. The race has not been called.

New York City. Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "Eric Leroy Adams, a former was elected on Tuesday as the 110th mayor of New York and the second Black mayor in the city's history." The ABC News report is here. ~~~

~~~ Michael Gold & Karen Zraick of the New York Times: "In New York City, a global beacon that draws a diverse population from all over the world, the City Council has never had a person of South Asian descent -- or a Muslim woman -- among its membership. That changed on Tuesday, when Shahana Hanif, a former City Council employee, won her election in a Brooklyn district that covers Park Slope, Kensington and parts of central Brooklyn." ~~~

~~~ Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Alvin Bragg was elected Manhattan district attorney on Tuesday and will become the first Black person to lead the influential office, which handles tens of thousands of cases a year and is conducting a high-profile investigation into ... Donald J. Trump and his family business. Mr. Bragg, 48, a former federal prosecutor who campaigned on a pledge to balance public safety with fairness for all defendants, beat out seven other Democrats for the nomination earlier this year and will succeed Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat who did not seek re-election."

Ohio Congressional Race. Jennifer Medina & Mary Astor of the New York Times: "Shontel Brown, a Democrat, won a House seat in a special election in Cleveland on Tuesday, defeating her Republican opponent, Laverne Gore. Ms. Brown had narrowly won the Democratic primary for the seat earlier this year, after its previous occupant, Marcia L. Fudge, was appointed by President Biden as the secretary of housing and urban development. Ms. Brown defeated Nina Turner, a former state senator and a top surrogate for Bernie Sanders when he ran for president, in that primary, which attracted big Democratic names and millions of dollars. The district, Ohio's 11th Congressional District, encompasses most of Cleveland and much of Akron and is heavily Democratic." ~~~

~~~ Cincinnati, Ohio. Henry Gomez of NBC News: "Aftab Pureval won Cincinnati's race for mayor on Tuesday, according to unofficial results, making the 39-year-old lawyer the first Asian American elected to lead the city. Pureval defeated David Mann, a city councilor and fellow Democrat who previously served as mayor and in Congress, 66 percent to 34 percent with all precincts counted, according to unofficial results from the Hamilton County Board of Elections. Pureval will succeed term-limited Mayor John Cranley, who is seeking Ohio's Democratic nomination for governor in 2022."

Virginia. Gregory Schneider & Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Virginia voters chose Republican Glenn Youngkin as their next governor, according to several projections -- a dramatic reversal for a state that had appeared solidly Democratic in recent years and a significant loss for President Biden and the party's establishment. Former Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe came up short in his bid to become only the second Virginia governor since the Civil War to win a second term, with key suburban districts joining rural parts of the state in favoring Youngkin by a narrow margin. Republicans appeared to sweep the other statewide races, with Winsome Sears projected to win lieutenant governor and Del. Jason Miyares (Virginia Beach) declaring a win for attorney general. Sears is the first Black woman elected statewide in Virginia and Miyares would be the first Latino. A red wave also washed through the House of Delegates, turning a 55-45 Democratic majority into what could become a 51-49 Republican majority. The victories, projected by the Associated Press and Edison Research, come only a year after Biden carried Virginia over Donald Trump by 10 points, a wild swing that casts doubt on Democrats' agenda in Richmond and Washington alike." The AP's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Scherer & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post analyze Youngkin's successful dancing-with-Trump strategy. MB: Like so many "both-sides" journalists, Scherer & Dawsey are unwilling even to mention Youngkin's late-campaign racist theme opposing the teaching of critical race theory, an approach to scholarship that would be discussed only at the university level and not explained to, say, eight-year-olds. If the implications were not so diabolical, it would have been amusing to listen to reporters interviewing "ordinary voters" (white people) about their opposition to critical race theory. The gist of their responses, even when pressed, was, "I don't know what it is, but I don't like it." What these "ordinary voters" do seem to know is that it's not about glorifying Robert E. Lee and fondly recalling genteel life on the old plantation. The lessons of Virginia, IMO, are two: (1) Democrats must find more attractive, inspiring candidates -- McAuliffe is a crass political operative; and (2) many Republicans and so-called Independents don't care for in-your-face racist appeals, as they don't like to think of themselves as racist, but they are favorably drawn to less overt "pro-white" messages. Youngkin was lucky that (1) his opponent was McAuliffe, but he was smart to exploit Number (2). In addition, ~~~

~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post is right: "Democrats in Congress had months to prove that they could legislate, to demonstrate that a government of the people, by the people and for the people could still function despite the creeping authoritarianism, the daily assaults on truth and the conspiracy-minded paranoia. They let President Biden down. They let the country down. And on Tuesday night, Terry McAuliffe paid the price.... Glenn Youngkin ... ran a Trump-inspired campaign of disinformation, conspiracy theories and race-baiting. It wasn't terribly close.... The Manchins and the Sinemas and the Jayapals, by making the perfect the enemy of the (very) good, have handed an advantage to an illiberal faction that is stoking White nationalism.... Had congressional Democrats moved three months ago to enact Biden's infrastructure legislation and Build Back Better agenda, the huge stimulus within those bills would already be boosting the economy and creating jobs.... Youngkin's victory confirms a depressing reality: Trumpism succeeds as a tactic even in the absence of Trump. Though Youngkin nominally distanced himself from Trump..., he ran a classic MAGA campaign, raising racial fear and animus among White voters by scaring them about crime and the phantom menace of critical race theory." ~~~

     ~~~ The AP's analysis, by Sara Burnett & Hannah Fingerhut, does address Youngkin's racist appeal.

~~~~~~~~~~

Elizabeth Harris, et al., of the New York Times: "The Biden administration on Tuesday sued to stop Penguin Random House, the largest publisher in the United States, from acquiring its rival Simon & Schuster, a major antitrust lawsuit and a sign of a different view of corporate consolidation than the one that has prevailed for decades in Washington.... Earlier this year, President Biden signed an executive order focused on spurring competition across the economy. He has appointed skeptics of corporate concentration to the Federal Trade Commission and his economic policy team. His nominee to lead the Justice Department's antitrust division, Jonathan Kanter, is a lawyer who represented critics of the tech giants. And the federal government has gone to court to block a series of corporate deals this year...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan Weisman & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Democrats reached a deal on Tuesday to add a measure to control prescription drug costs to President Biden's social safety net plan, agreeing to allow the government to negotiate prices for medications covered by Medicare, as the House moved closer to a vote on the sprawling bill. The prescription drug deal is limited. Starting in 2023, negotiations could begin on what Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon called the most expensive drugs -- treatments for cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as anticoagulants. Most drugs would still be granted patent exclusivity for five years before negotiations could start, and more advanced drugs, called biologics, would be protected for 12 years. But for the first time, Medicare would be able to step in after those periods, even if drug companies secure patent extensions or otherwise game the patent system." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Sen. Josh Hawley on Tuesday blocked swift confirmation of several State Department nominees, in a continuation of the unprecedented GOP-led campaign to slow-walk most of President Joe Biden's picks for top foreign policy posts. The Missouri Republican, who has previously said he would hold up Biden's national security nominees over his misgivings about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, objected to eight of the nine nominations that Democrats sought to unanimously approve on Tuesday, saying he was doing so on behalf of himself as well as some of his GOP colleagues who had separate objections.... Hawley and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have dramatically slowed down the process of installing those individuals in their positions, drawing ire from Democrats, Biden's State Department, European allies and even some Republicans.... A visibly angry [Bob] Menendez [(D-N.J.), chair of the Foreign Relations Committee,] and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer lambasted Hawley during floor speeches on Tuesday evening as Hawley was running down the list and objecting to the nominees one by one.... Hawley did, however, allow one nominee to be confirmed unanimously -- David Cohen, Biden's pick to be ambassador to Canada." ~~~ MB: I'm going to guess than Hawley found Cohen to be the only nominee among the nine to be manly enough for the job. ~~~

Can we be surprised that after years of being told that they are the problem, that their manhood is the problem, more and more men are withdrawing into the enclave of idleness and pornography and video games? While the left may celebrate this decline of men, I for one cannot join them. -- Josh Hawley, in a speech ~~~

~~~ Adam Gabbatt of the Guardian: "The effort to combat toxic masculinity in the US has led men to consume more pornography and play more video games, the Missouri senator Josh Hawley claimed in a speech to a group of Republicans. Speaking at the National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, Florida, Hawley addressed the issue of 'manhood', which he said was under attack, and called for men to return to traditional masculine roles.... [Hawley,] who notoriously raised a fist in support of a mob outside the US Capitol on 6 January appeared to echo talking points made by the likes of the Proud Boys, a far-right group that opposes feminism and believes men are under attack from liberal elites." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court, which has not issued a major Second Amendment decision in more than a decade, will hear arguments on Wednesday on a New York law that imposes strict limits on carrying guns outside the home. The question of how the Second Amendment applies to carrying guns in public is an open one. When the Supreme Court established an individual right to own guns in 2008 by a 5-to-4 vote in District of Columbia v. Heller, it addressed only the right to keep firearms in the home for self-defense. At the same time, it indicated that many kinds of gun regulations are permissible."

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Elon Musk doesn't think visionaries like him should pay taxes the way little people do. After all, why hand over his money to dull bureaucrats? They'll just squander it on pedestrian schemes like ... bailing out Tesla at a crucial point in its development. Musk has his sights set on more important things, like getting humanity to Mars to 'preserve the light of consciousness.'... There's an enduring claim on the right that taxing billionaires will discourage them from doing all the wonderful things they do.... [However, the evidence from the days when taxes were highly progressive and corporate taxes were twice what they are now demonstrates that] the superrich won't go on strike if forced to pay some taxes.... What I suspect, although I can't prove it, is that what really drives someone like Musk is an insecure ego.... The important point, however, is that the pettiness of billionaires comes along with vast power. And the result is that all of us end up paying a steep price for their insecurity." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In fact, most of us think we have very good reasons that taxes should be lowered on people under our particular circumstances. While I don't actually think my taxes are too high, here are some "reasons" I might claim unfair or excessive taxation: 1. People whose incomes are far higher than mine -- like, say, Elon Musk & Donald Trump -- are taxed at a much lower rate than am I. 2. I'm retired. 3. Much of my income comes from investments my husband and I bought with income that already was taxed once; so taxes on my current income amount to double taxation! 4. Even my Social Security income is taxed. Clearly, I've already paid taxes on that income, too, plus I paid more into Social Security than I'll get out of it. 5. My investments contribute a lot to the economy! 6. I live in a high-property-tax state, and my local property taxes are no longer all tax-deductible from my federal taxes (as they were pre-Trump). 7. My local school taxes are astronomical, and I'll never be sending any more kids to school. 8. I don't travel much, so I "underuse" expensive public infrastructure. 9. In fact, other than Medicare (for which I still pay!), I don't use public services much at all. Think about it. I'm sure you too can drum up reasons and "reasons" that someone (or a family) in your situation should pay lower taxes.

Kashmir Hill & Ryan Mac of the New York Times: "Facebook plans to shut down its decade-old facial recognition system this month, deleting the face scan data of more than one billion users and effectively eliminating a feature that has fueled privacy concerns, government investigations, a class-action lawsuit and regulatory woes.... Facial-recognition technology, which has advanced in accuracy and power in recent years, has increasingly been the focus of debate because of how it can be misused by governments, law enforcement and companies." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race 2024 -- or 2020 -- or Who Knows? Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "QAnon supporters gathered in Dallas [at the site where President Kennedy was assassinated] on Tuesday in the hopes that John F. Kennedy, Jr. would make major revelations. 'QAnon supporters are gathering for an event in Texas on Tuesday at which they falsely believe JFK junior will reveal he is not dead and announce a 2024 presidential run with Donald Trump, the former president,; the Independent reports. The son of America's 35th president died in 1999. Journalist Steven Monacelli posted a video of members of the crowd chanting a euphemism for 'f*ck Joe Biden' while holding a Trump-Kennedy QAnon banner.... The banner is from 2020, showing yet another 'prophecy' that did not occur." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "At the site overlooking where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated nearly six decades ago, scores of QAnon believers outfitted with 'Trump-Kennedy 2024' shirts, flags and other merchandise gathered. They forecast the president's son John F. Kennedy Jr., who has been dead for over 20 years, would appear at that spot, emerging from anonymity to become Donald Trump's vice president when the former president is reinstated."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Wednesday are here: "President Biden said Tuesday the United States has 'reached a turning point in our battle against Covid-19,' following a green light from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for 5-to-11-year-olds, clearing the way for millions of children to get immunized against the virus."

Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday formally endorsed the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children aged 5 through 11, a move that will buttress defenses against a possible surge as winter arrives and ease the worries of tens of millions of pandemic-weary parents. At a meeting earlier in the day, a panel of scientific advisers had unanimously recommended that the vaccine be given to these children. Inoculations could begin as soon as this week. 'Together, with science leading the charge, we have taken another important step forward in our nation's fight against the virus that causes Covid-19,' Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the C.D.C., said in a statement Tuesday night." The AP report, an update of a report linked yesterday afternoon, is here.

Aw, That Wasn't So Hard, Was It? Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Two months after the Pentagon began requiring all troops to get the coronavirus vaccine or face dismissal, the vast majority have now had shots, in part because none received a religious exemption, military officials said. While vaccine exemptions are often broadly worded, requests based on religious beliefs are coming under close scrutiny in the military and at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the first federal agency to impose a mandate. They will likely be followed by the rest of the federal government, where most workers are required to be vaccinated by the end of this month. The Biden administration will release a federal vaccine requirement for private companies with 100 or more employees 'in coming days,' a representative for the Department of Labor said this week."

Beyond the Beltway

I don't think it is hyperbole when I say this is how totalitarian regimes unfold. If you deny science and you deny the universities the critical role they play in American society, then you truncate free speech, academic freedom and the dissemination of information. -- Prof. Jeffrey Goldhagen, University of Florida ~~~

~~~ Florida. Monique Beals of the Hill: "A fourth University of Florida professor claims the school rejected his request to testify against state leaders and provide his expertise on the impact of COVID-19 on children even though he said he would not have been compensated for the testimony. Jeffrey L. Goldhagen, a University of Florida professor and pediatrician, was asked to testify against Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida commissioner of education, the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Board of Education for a case in which Florida parents and children sought to overturn the state's ban on mask mandates in schools, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education." MB: To read the Chronicle story, you have to sign up. ~~~

~~~ Ana Ceballos & Mary Klas of the Miami Herald: "Last year, four University of Florida law professors who wanted to sign a 'friend of the court' brief in a lawsuit challenging a new felons voting law were told that they could not identify themselves as university faculty members in the filing because it involved 'an action against the state.' In August, university officials told a UF professor of pediatrics that he couldn't work on two cases challenging the state's ban on mask mandates because participating in lawsuits against Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration would 'create a conflict' for the university. And on Monday, UF announced that three political science professors can be allowed to provide expert testimony in a voting access case against the state only if they do it without pay.... For the faculty at the state's flagship university, the episode has Orwellian overtones." MB: Who knew that a teaching post at a state university came with a lip-zipper?

Way Beyond

Ethiopia. Declan Walsh & Simon Marks of the New York Times: "Ethiopia declared a state of emergency on Tuesday and called on its citizens to pick up arms and prepare to defend the capital as rebel forces from the northern region of Tigray pressed south toward the city following the capture of two key towns. The Tigrayans, who have been fighting the government for the past year, have joined forces with another rebel group as they advance on the capital, Addis Ababa. Foreign officials monitoring the fighting said there were signs that several Ethiopian Army units had collapsed or retreated. The state of emergency reflected the rapidly changing tide in a metastasizing war that threatens to tear apart Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous country. It also marked another dismal turn in the fortunes of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose international reputation has been battered by a war that has led to reports of human rights violations, massacres and famine."

France/Australia. Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: "France on Wednesday doubled down on its anger with Australia for tearing up a $67 billion submarine deal, with Ambassador Jean-Pierre Thébault accusing the nation of intentionally deceiving Paris and of worsening the diplomatic rift with 'low' tactics. In remarks to Australia's National Press Club in Canberra, Thébault said Australia's decision to cancel the contract for diesel-powered boats in favor of a nuclear-submarine alliance with the United States and Britain was 'treason in the making' and a 'stab in the back.' His scathing comments followed the leak of a text message from President Emmanuel Macron to Prime Minister Scott Morrison that appeared in a Sydney newspaper on Tuesday, in which the French leader had asked, 'Should I expect good or bad news for our joint submarines ambitions?' The leak -- intended to show that Paris knew the submarine contract could be canceled -- came after Macron accused Morrison of lying to him about Australia's plans." MB: Can't see where there's any treason here. By definition, you can't commit treason against another country.

News Lede

CBS News: "The Atlanta Braves are World Series champions for the first time since 1995. The Braves won the 2021 World Series on Tuesday, defeating the Houston Astros 7-0 (box score) in Game 6 to take the series, 4-2. The Braves, who won the title at Houston's Minute Maid Park, were paced by an offensive onslaught and a gem from left-hander Max Fried in the title-clinching win."

Australia. "My Name Is Cleo." New York Times: "A 4-year-old girl who vanished in the dead of night while camping with her family in a remote area of Western Australia was found 'alive and well' 18 days later in a locked house, the authorities said on Wednesday. The girl, Cleo Smith, was freed after the police broke into the empty house in Carnarvon, the same town where she and her family lived. Detectives openly wept upon finding her. The police later detained a 36-year-old man and said he had no known connection to the family. 'One of the officers picked her up into his arms and asked her "What's your name?"' Col Blanch, Western Australia's deputy police commissioner, said in a statement. The AP's story is here.