We begin today with Hugo Lowell of The Guardian announcing that Number 45 will be booked tonight before a primetime television audience.
The former president – seeking to distract from the indignity of the surrender by turning things into a circus – in essence had his lawyers negotiate the booking to take place during the prime viewing hours for the cable news networks.
Trump has posted on his Truth Social platform that he would be arrested on Thursday, but the primetime scheduling was finalized in recent days after his lawyers met with the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, at her office on Monday.
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Trump returned to his instinct to maximize television ratings to his benefit for his surrender to authorities in Atlanta, the people said, and could extend the coverage of the proceedings by speaking afterwards in front of cameras and reporters.
The strategy to turn surrenders in each of his four criminal cases into spectacles has been an effort to discredit the indictments, as well as to capitalize on the information void left by prosecutors after such events to foist his own spin on the charges.
Due to "technical difficulties" and the late hour, I am not able to post any punditry of the Republican presidential debate last night. My apologies.
Danny Hakim, Maggie Haberman, and Richard Fausset of The New York Times report that former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani was booked yesterday in Atlanta for being a named and indicted co-conspirator in Number 45’s failed effort to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Mr. Giuliani, whose bond was set at $150,000, arrived in Atlanta as another defendant in the sprawling case, the lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, filed a motion seeking a speedy trial. Under that scenario, which Georgia law allows, the trial for all 19 people indicted in the case would have to start no later than Nov. 3, months earlier than prosecutors had sought.
After his booking, Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, stepped out of an S.U.V. to address a throng of reporters, calling the case “an attack on the American people.” He then made his way to A 2nd Chance Bail Bonds, a business near the jail.
He and Mr. Trump face the most charges among those indicted in the case. Mr. Giuliani served as Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer in the aftermath of the 2020 election and played a leading role in advancing false claims that the election had been stolen from Mr. Trump.
Andrew Daniller of Pew Research Center reports that polling shows that Barack Obama is the most popular of all U.S. presidents in the past 40 years.
About four-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (41%) say Reagan has done the best job as president over the past 40 years. Slightly fewer (37%) say Trump has done the best job, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in July.
Nearly six-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners (58%) say Obama has done the best job as president in the past 40 years. Far fewer name Bill Clinton (19%) or Joe Biden (7%), who is running for reelection in 2024.
In the last four decades, four Republicans and three Democrats have served as president. Among U.S. adults overall, 32% say Obama has done the best job during this period, followed by Reagan (23%), Trump (19%) and Clinton (12%). Relatively small shares name Biden, George W. Bush or George H.W. Bush (4% or less for each).
Americans’ views of which presidents have done the best job in the past 40 years are largely unchanged since a September 2021 Center survey. The new survey was conducted after Trump was indicted in federal court in Florida on charges related to improper handling of classified documents, but before indictments charging him with attempts to overturn the 2020 election were returned in federal court in Washington, D.C., and in state court in Georgia.
Daniel Aldrich writes for JustSecurity about the value of social capital and social infrastructure, generally, and specifically, its indispensability during the recent Maui wildfires.
… Maui’s social capital and social infrastructure proved beneficial during and after the fires. As we have seen in other disasters, including Hurricane Harvey along the Texas Coast, Japan’s 3/11 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown, and even the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, civil society activated first and assisted in ways that physical infrastructure on the island cannot. Even as firefighters and other uniformed personnel battled the blaze in Lahaina, residents from neighboring islands brought boats laden with generators, propane tanks, clothing, and meals and passed these resources via a human chain onto Maui’s shore to distribute to survivors. Following the 9/11 plane attacks in Manhattan, hundreds of civilian boats also showed up to ferry some 400,000 survivors off of the island as quickly as they could dock, fill up, and depart. After Japan’s January 1995 earthquake in Kobe, people from across the country drove, biked, and even walked to the devastated area to offer their assistance, resources, and aid.
Along with social capital, social infrastructure — the places and spaces where communities build and maintain connections — plays an important role in Maui’s response and recovery processes. These are the sites where people can find grace and a moment to breathe, perhaps accessing psychosocial counseling or the assistance of a religious leader. People in Lahaina, the former capital of the Hawaiian kingdom, hold strong connections to Indigenous customs and have long cultivated a tight-knit community founded on cultural heritage, stewardship, and aloha (respect). Through homes and even pop-up tents, Native Hawaiian residents have gathered supplies for those in need after the fires. Even after its normal meeting place burned, members of the Grace Baptist Church gathered together at a coffee shop to sing, mourn, and be in the company of others experiencing the same shock. Other places of worship — such as the Chabad of Maui — took in visitors, supplied food and hot drinks, and provided a place for survivors to find some peace while the fires smoldered. These important but underappreciated spaces between home and work provide grieving community members with opportunities to meet others without plans and reservations. As Dr. Rebecca Adams, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina, pointed out, these places provide a chance for “repeated, unplanned interactions; and a setting that encourages people to let their guard down and confide in each other.” Ensuring that voluntary associations and other sources of collective action have the resources they need to foster these connections should be a top priority for the recovery process.
Finally, the long-term resilience challenges from this fire tie closely to Hawaii’s economic conditions well before the disaster struck. Rental and ownership costs for housing in Hawaii were among the worst in North America, taking up around 93% of average income to cover a 30-year mortgage, according to some calculations. History has also shown that after disasters destroy housing stock, the price for rebuilding typically rises because of high demand for materials and labor. Native Hawaiians in particular worry that their historical lands will be purchased by wealthier foreigners. Left to its own devices, the fire could incentivize developers and large-scale corporations to purchase land, price residents out of affordable living spaces, and displace Indigenous communities.
Renée Graham of The Boston Globe sees a “parallel” between the violence that people do to the planet itself and the violence people inflict on each other.
Wildfires in Maui, the most deadly in modern US history. A tropical storm hit Southern California, the first in more than 80 years. Tornados ripped through Massachusetts and Rhode Island. A month’s worth of rain within hours caused massive floods in Vermont. Heat waves throughout the Southwest measured in weeks, not days, and were so severe that emergency rooms saw a notable uptick in people suffering serious burns after their skin touched scorching sidewalks. Ocean temperatures so high that parts of Florida’s coral reef are dying.
Lives and livelihoods were lost, and communities large and small were left in ruins as a much anticipated season instead became one of constant horror.
The first full summer without any COVID-19 pandemic restrictions since 2019 was supposed to be different. At least that’s what we were told to believe. We would return to life as we knew it before COVID killed millions worldwide, including more than a million Americans. We would pretend that people weren’t still getting sick and dying, albeit in smaller numbers than during the pandemic’s many surges, and that countless others weren’t suffering the ravages of long COVID.
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There is a terrible parallel between the violence people inflict on this planet and each other. Public servants are threatened for doing their jobs. Librarians and teachers are under siege because Republicans want to rob schoolchildren of history, literature, and knowledge. These are the same people who — like Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is running for president — believe drag shows and trans kids are more dangerous than fossil fuels and our rapidly warming planet.
Tony Romm of The Washington Post writes about the Justice Department’s continuing efforts to find and prosecute cases of COVID-19 aid fraud.
To save an economy in free fall, congressional Democrats and Republicans starting in 2020 adopted a series of coronavirus aid packages totaling roughly $5 trillion. The money aimed to ease the strain on the hospitals and doctors, save cash-starved small businesses from financial ruin and support millions of Americans suddenly without a job.
But the speed at which Washington tried to dole out the funds — combined with decades of state and federal mismanagement — ultimately opened the door for waste, fraud and abuse that law enforcement officials are now beginning to identify.
The Justice Department said Wednesday that it had filed charges or at least launched investigations related to roughly $8.6 billion in alleged coronavirus aid fraud since the start of the pandemic. That included hundreds of new cases, pleas, sentences and other developments secured as part of an enforcement campaign it ramped up from May through July.
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The new push to prosecute fraud comes roughly five months after President Biden promised to penalize those who stole untold billions in coronavirus funds. This March, Biden urged lawmakers to adopt $1.6 billion to help the Justice Department pursue criminals that stole pandemic money, along with new powers that might help the government prevent future abuse in other aid programs.
The Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a series of surveys showing that while the specific belief in medical disinformation is not very large, medical disinformation does contribute significant successfully in creating uncertainty about several medical topics.
A new KFF survey reveals the broad reach of health misinformation, with at least four in 10 people saying that they’ve heard each of 10 specific false claims about COVID-19, reproductive health, and gun violence.
Relatively small shares say that each of those false claims are “definitely true”, ranging from as few as 3% who definitively believe that COVID-19 vaccines have been proven to cause infertility to as many as 18% who definitively believe armed school guards have been proven to prevent school shootings.
At the same time, roughly half to three-quarters of the public are uncertain whether each of the 10 false claims are true or not, describing them as either “probably true” or “probably false.” This suggests that even when people don’t believe false claims they hear, it can create uncertainty about complicated public health topics.
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“While many Americans struggle to separate health information fact from fiction, our survey shows that credible sources of information, and messengers, represent an opportunity to break through and help increase trust,” said Irving Washington, senior fellow for misinformation and trust at KFF. “We’ll continue to focus on this opportunity and what type of efforts can make a difference.”
West Virginia University Assistant Professor Brian Broome writes for The Washington Post about his frustrations, anger, and fears surrounding WVU’s cutting of humanities programs.
I am frustrated because there seems to be no recourse of consequence. The university has offered an appeals process and I suppose that’s something. The students have raised their voices in protest and were left wondering if their voices will be heard and respected. Whenever something like this happens in the United States, regardless of the occupation, it’s the little people who get crushed — the folks who’ve been told that all the American Dream requires is hard work and dedication. The faculty at West Virginia University has worked hard to win its positions; the English department alone is laden with honors and awards. I’m not sure if any of that will matter.
I am angry because the students will pay the price. The ones who aren’t necessarily interested in the highest paying job or the most popular major. The ones who are looking to be creative first and well paid, well, maybe later. I know college enrollments suffered during the pandemic. But the students will return — if someone is here to teach them. I am angry because we seem to be turning everything that celebrates our shared humanity into a business. But business is just a means to an end to a life of some measure of happiness and joy. Money is one ingredient, but hardly the only ingredient, in that recipe.
And I’m afraid because this seems to be the way we’re going in America: Away from the things that verify and restore our humanity. Away from the skills that make us thoughtful and wise and toward those that make us either profitable or disposable. And this happens at a time when, from what I read about the actors and writers strike in Hollywood, those with the most want to nullify those with the least. To make us redundant. To propel us toward an existence run by artificial intelligence. Because when it comes to saving a dollar or two, it seems that human beings are the first to go.
A plane owned by Wagner Group leader Yevgeni Prigozhin crashed during a flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg, killing all 10 persons that were on board.
While Prigozhin and the Wagner Group's second-in-command, Dmitry Utkin ,were listed on the flight manifest, currently only Russian sources state that Prigozhin and Utkin died in the jet crash.
Zedryk Raziel writes for El País In English that the authoritarian crackdown on gangs by El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, is becoming a contagion throughout Latin America.
In El Salvador, a country with under 6.5 million residents, the government has arrested 71,000 people accused of criminal activities as members of MS-13 or their rival gang, Barrio 18. Their once-ubiquitous graffiti has been erased from the streets. The military has set up checkpoints with tanks on the roads, while the National Police patrol the streets carrying weapons. It’s common to see people being arrested and families clustered outside detention centers hoping to find their loved ones.
Bukele’s war on gangs has resulted in a visible decline in democratic rights and freedoms, according to the United Nations and international human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch. The international community has expressed alarm and concern about the mass trials, construction of mega-prisons, overcrowded jails, police abuse, and hundreds of prisoners who are paraded in government propaganda videos. But other Latin American countries plagued by violence and crime are starting to apply the same strategy. Honduran President Xiomara Castro launched a similar offensive in June. Ecuador recently declared a state of emergency following the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio during a campaign appearance. And hardliners in Colombia and Chile are also espousing similar approaches.
The ongoing state of emergency know as the “state of exception” decreed by Bukele has significantly transformed the cultural landscape of this Central American country over the past 17 months. People here often talk in the past tense. Before, you couldn’t walk around here. Before, you couldn’t be out at this hour. Before, you couldn’t go in that neighborhood across the street... “Now we can finally get some rest, you know, sleep at night,” said Mrs. Tere, who has a clothing store in Cimas de San Bartolo, the former headquarters of “the gang with the number” — the Barrio 18 gang. Merchants here were universally extorted. The only difference was the amount to be paid, which depended on the size and success of the business. The gang seized homes from some residents and put them up for rent, while others were charged fees to own a vehicle. One of the alleys in this neighborhood had a wall painted with a huge sign that read: “Welcome to the heart of Barrio 18.” It has now been painted over with a Christmas message.
Finally today, Sethu Pradeep writes for Indian Express about India becoming the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the moon—and the first nation to make a landing at its south pole.
Cementing India’s status as a global power in space, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scripted history as Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft made a soft landing on the surface of the Moon Wednesday evening. With the mission’s success, India has become the first country to land a spacecraft on the lunar’s uncharted territory of south pole and fourth overall to reach on the Moon.
The spacecraft’s Vikram lander made the soft landing at 6.04 PM (IST), ending the disappointment over the crash-landing of the Chandrayaan-2 lander four years ago. While congratulating the team of scientists behind the mission, ISRO chief S Somnath said the health of the lander will now be assessed and that rover will come out from the lander module in the next few hours.
According to ISRO, the mission’s three objectives are to demonstrate a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, to demonstrate a Rover roving on the Moon and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments. What happens next? Find out here. While Indian space programme gets many compliments for getting such a big bang for its limited budget, frugal innovation will no longer be enough for India to make a difference to global activity on the Moon, C Raja Mohan argues in this piece. Nalini Singh, in this special piece to Express, however has an audacious request to the politicians: please don’t appear on TV in a live broadcast to take credit for this epic achievement, or to pat the ISRO chairman’s back patronisingly. Known for storifying myths, writer Devdutt Pattanaik retells some of the myths, stories and legends in this piece about the celestial body that are a part of our cultural truth, our Indian-ness.
Have the best possible day everyone!