National News Roundup

Year 6, Week 48 (December 11-17)

December 20, 2022December 20, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This week was pretty eventful as everyone gears up for the holidays, but there’s still a surprising dearth of horrorshow news. It’s a Hanukkah miracle, y’all. (Speaking of holidays, the NNR will take its customary end-of-year break after this roundup. Barring any unforeseen nightmare news, we will return in the new year on Tuesday, January 3.)

Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an indictment!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

This is a relatively big week on the Election Rejection front. Here’s what we are tracking:

Election Rejection: Winding Down the House. The House January 6 committee confirmed today that they are referring Trump to the DOJ for 4 different crimes in connection with January 6, most notably incitement of an insurrection itself. They’ve also released an executive summary of their full report, which is already 160 pages long–the full report, which will be even longer, will be released on December 21. The referrals are not binding, and the DOJ already has an investigation open on this matter, but they are likely to review the House committee’s compiled testimony as part of that investigation. In related news, the House Ways and Means Committee will spend tomorrow discussing Trump’s tax returns, which will likely have interesting repercussions as well.

The Biden Rebuilding updates are once again mostly about other branches interacting with the Biden agenda, though we do have one story from the Fed. Here’s what I have for you:

End-of-Year Updates. There are a lot of odds and ends to report this week as we head into the holiday break. On the legislative side of things, the Senate did indeed pass the military bill that made its way through the House last week, which will end mandated COVID vaccination for the armed services. Meanwhile, on the judicial side, Attorney General Garland is moving to end sentencing disparities in federal cases involving distribution of crack and powder cocaine. This is a long-overdue move for an issue of racial inequity that has been on the books for over thirty years and was originally crafted by Biden himself. The Supreme Court also issued an administrative stay on Title 42, which will preclude Biden from ending it and letting asylum seekers enter the country properly again. Finally, the Fed raised interest rates again, but at a lower increase than the previous several have been.

Your New Normal:

Contagion Corner. With COVID cases still on the rise, the Biden administration is reviving their free test campaign again–households can now order another four tests by U.S. mail. Meanwhile, yet more studies were published showing that Republican policies increase COVID fatalities, and as if to underscore this point Ron DeSantis announced he wants to indict people who implemented COVID vaccines. There was also a study finding that long COVID has killed about 3,500 people since the pandemic began. But in more positive tripledemic news, there were also a few stories suggesting that the flu season may be peaking early, which would hopefully ease things a bit if it recedes.

The Bad:

Twitter Trash Fire. Twitter with Elon Musk at the helm continues to be a hot and concerning mess. This week, he banned a bunch of journalists from the platform because they covered a story about a bot that tracked his jet’s flights. Eventually the accounts were reinstated, only for Twitter to release a new policy stating that it will ban users who share links to other social media platforms. Then that policy was deleted without being officially rescinded. Finally, Musk capped off the week by taking a poll about whether he should step down as CEO, which resulted in users collectively voting him off the island (though he has not stepped down as I type this).

The Good:

Recent Environmental Advancement.* Scientists in California achieved a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion this week, when they successfully created ‘ignition’ using giant lasers–in other words, they created a reaction that generated energy at a rate exceeding the activation energy. This breakthrough reflects decades of work, and has a lot of potential applications for clean energy and safer nuclear use. It’s an exciting advancement!

So that’s all I have for this week, and for that, we can all be grateful. For making it through, you deserve this baby tortoise routine and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!

Year 6, Week 47 (December 4-10)

December 13, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

The news was conspicuously quiet this week, all things considered, which makes me suspicious that it is planning something. In the short term, I’ll take the quiet news week, but let’s all brace for the worst over the holidays just to be on the safe side.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an election!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

The flow of Election Rejection stories is starting to lessen a bit as I type this, but there’s still a lot to cover. Here’s what has happened:

Election Rejection: Investigation Roundup. For yet another week, there is news on almost all of the Trump investigations we’re tracking at the NNR. Among the actual actionable news: 1) The House January 6 investigation is planning to issue several criminal referrals to the DOJ in its last few days of existence, though we’ll have to wait until December 21 for full information about who it is considering indicting and on what charges; 2) the special counsel for the Department of Justice investigation into January 6 has begun subpoenaing state officials that fielded Trump correspondence; and 3) another search of Mar-a-lago as part of the stolen documents investigation this week managed to uncover yet more classified documents, which caused the DOJ to move to hold Trump in contempt of court (though sadly, that motion was not granted).Also, though strictly speaking, this is really more Trump-election-adjacent, 4) the Trump Organization was found guilty this week of seventeen counts of tax fraud.

The Biden Rebuilding updates this week are really more about the legislative side, but they do involve Biden’s agenda pretty directly. Here’s what I have for you:

Legislative Updates. As foretold by prophecy, the House did pass the Respect for Marriage Act this week, which means that incremental legislative protections for same-sex and interracial marriages will be enacted at the federal level as soon as Biden signs it into law. As I mentioned last week, however, the final version of the bill does not provide protections for states granting same-sex marriage if Obergefell is overturned, which means it may become effectively unenforceable in many places in the U.S. at some point in the future. And on the ignoring Biden side of the spectrum, the House also passed a version of the National Defense Authorization Act this week that rescinds Biden’s COVID vaccine mandate for troops. That last bit is particularly frustrating when cases are rising again–but more on that below.

Your New Normal:

Contagion Corner. It’s a bad week for Contagion Corner on basically all axes. COVID cases are rising again nationally as I type this, with transmission levels high all over the country; current strains remain particularly dangerous for people over 65 and immunocompromised individuals. Flu infections are very high nationally as well, and experts are still concerned about RSV, though rates appear to have peaked by the time that I’m writing this. The combination “tripledemic” is causing experts to stress the value of masking again, and many jurisdictions are either highly recommending or mandating masks again under CDC Community Level rules. Against this backdrop, it is relieving to note that as of this week, bivalent booster shots have been approved for children under five.

The Bad:

New York Times Walkout. The New York Times was in the news this week when over 1,100 workers staged a one-day walkout, saying that its executives have been failing to bargain in good faith since March 2021 when their employee contract first expired. Though I consider it encouraging that the Times covered its own walkout on Friday, no agreement has been struck as far as I know at the time that I’m typing this. Newspaper strikes are historically rare, and it’s a noteworthy statement about both our current labor movement and conditions at the New York Times that they chose to strike now.

The Good:

Recent Election Resilience. I’m sure most folks reading this have heard by now that the Georgia senate runoff was called for Raphael Warnock earlier this week, leaving the Senate Democrats with a true 51-49 majority. Needless to say, it’s very rare for the President’s party to pick up seats in the midterms, especially with approval ratings about said President hanging out around 40%. The results can likely be attributed to both high early voting turnout and low Republican engagement. These results do come with a small asterisk, as Arizona Senator and world’s worst bisexual Kyrsten Sinema responded by officially leaving the Democratic party a day or two later. That said, she’s expected to still caucus with the Democrats on most issues for the remainder of the term.

So that’s all I have for this week, and for that, we can all be grateful. For making it through, you deserve this baby pangolin spa day and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me blueprints for my house in Valheim!

Year 6, Week 46 (November 27–December 3)

December 6, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

I assume, Dear Reader, that you are just as sick of reading “it’s another bad news week” as I am of typing it. Nonetheless, here we are another week, with even the Good news being kind of a bummer. The roundups will continue until morale improves.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an election!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

The flow of Election Rejection stories is starting to lessen a bit as I type this, but there’s still a lot to cover. Here’s what has happened:

Election Rejection: Investigation Roundup. There is news on almost all of the Trump investigations that I mentioned last week, with some bonus Trump calling for the Constitution to be suspended just for funsies. Among the actual actionable news: 1) The presumptive new head of the House has indicated that he plans to investigate the House January 6 investigation instead of, y’know, investigating the attack on the Capitol; 2) the separate Department of Justice efforts regarding January 6 just convicted several members of the Oathkeeper supremacist group of sedition due to their attack on the Capitol; 3) the House Ways and Means committee received copies of Trump’s taxes and is beginning to review them after the Supreme Court okayed their subpoena last week; and 4) the Eleventh Circuit went ahead and chucked the special master order for the Mar-A-Lago stolen document investigation out the window.

There’s also a lot of misery happening on the Biden Rebuilding front. Here’s what I have for you:

Railroad Union Blues. It’s looking likely we’ve avoided a railroad strike over the holidays, but the methodology for getting there was classic Gilded Age. Instead of further negotiation on Biden’s rail settlement during an extension of the status quo period, as I forecast last week, Congress used a law from 1926 to force railroad unions to submit to the existing settlement. I want to be extremely clear that this existing settlement was being rejected by the unions for good reason–namely, that it did not include any provision requiring paid sick leave for workers, who currently lack access to paid sick leave at all. Though the Senate did consider adding seven days of paid sick leave to the agreement, that provision failed in the Senate because it received 52 votes rather than the 60 required to pass. It’s still in the realm of possibility that the unions will choose to strike illegally, and I will continue to keep folks posted on this story.

Your New Normal:

House Changing of the Guard. We got more news on House leadership this week, with Nancy Pelosi’s hand-picked protege Hakeem Jeffries becoming the Dem’s Minority Leader for the next session. Jeffries will be the party’s first Black House leader, and it’s likely he will continue to take centrist positions on most issues. The new Dem whip will be Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar will be the caucus chairman.

The Bad:

Stochastic Terrorism Times. There was a bunch of news about stochastic terrorism this week, especially regarding LGBT and Jewish populations–which, let me tell you, is a real hoot if you’re a member of both communities. In Ohio, a bunch of Proud Boys menaced a children’s storytime event at a church until it was canceled because the event involved drag queens. There were also similar “protests” in Florida and New York from overtly antisemitic groups over the same weekend, though they received less coverage. Perhaps unsurprisingly, against that backdrop, the Department of Homeland Security also issued a terrorism bulletin this week that noted increased focus on Jewish and LGBTQ populations as well as sustained focus on other groups such as immigrants, medical providers, and public officials.

The Good:

Recent Relative Marriage Resilience. The Senate did also pass the Respect for Marriage Act this week, which provides some incremental legislative protections for same-sex and interracial marriages at the federal level. This news does come with some important caveats, however; the bill creates large religious exemptions that SCOTUS signaled today may be broadened soon through new case law. It also does not provide protections for states granting same-sex marriage if Obergefell is overturned, which means it may become effectively unenforceable in many places in the U.S. at some point in the future.

So that’s all I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve tippy tappies and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!

Year 6, Week 44.5 (November 15-26)

November 28, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Folks, I really appreciate your patience last week during a traumatic time for those of us in the LGBTQIA+ community. Now that we’ve had a bit of a breather over the long weekend, the NNR is back and ready to tackle the last week and a half. And ho boy, is there a lot to tackle.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an election!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

On the Election Rejection front, even with elections over there is still a lot to report. Here’s what has happened:

Election Rejection: Investigation Roundup. There sure are a lot of election-related investigations right now, almost all of which are centered on 45, and we’ve gained a few more in the last couple of weeks. Right now, we’re tracking: 1) The House January 6 investigation, which is racing to completion ahead of the new session and has subpoenaed the secret service driver mentioned in their last public hearing; 2) the separate Department of Justice investigation into January 6, which appointed a special counsel this week and is currently trying to get Mike Pence’s testimony; 3) the grand jury probe into Trump’s election interference currently happening in Georgia, which finally heard testimony from current Senator Lindsey Graham this week and ordered former NSA advisor Michael Flynn to testify; 4) the Mar-A-Lago stolen document investigation, which is still ongoing and will also be handed by special counsel as of this week; and finally, 5) the Manhattan investigation into Trump paying off Stormy Daniels, which is somehow back from the dead now that it’s 2016 all over again (but more on that below). Of additional and related note, though not a separate investigation per se, is the Supreme Court decision this week that the House may indeed subpoena Trump’s tax records–those documents will almost certainly find their way into several of the investigations listed above.
Original Flavor Election Rejection. Though the GOP wanted Trump to put off announcing a 2024 campaign until the Georgia special election was over, in true 45 form he didn’t even last a week before filing paperwork and announcing a 2024 bid last Tuesday. Notably, Rupert Murdoch, who among other things runs Fox News, has made it clear that his empire won’t support Trump this go-round, and as I discussed above the announcement won’t protect Trump from his zillion investigations either. Meanwhile, in the other form of original flavor election rejection, as I type this there is already a lawsuit challenging election results in Arizona. The lawsuit is being brought by GOP candidate for attorney general Abe Hamadeh, who lost by about 510 votes, and it’s alleging that the technical ballot issues in Maricopa county precluded accurate results. That said, since his fellow GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake still hasn’t conceded, it’s very possible she’ll join the suit as well.

The melange above makes the Biden Rebuilding front look quiet, but there’s still news on that front as well. Here’s what I have for you:

Loan and Union Updates. In light of the ongoing student loan cancellation legal limbo, the Biden Administration announced this week that they would extend the payment pause on federal student loans in general, rather than allow them to come due in January as originally planned. We also got word of a final $6B student loan settlement for a class action lawsuit about borrower defense to repayment, which is a type of relief available to students whose colleges defrauded them. And speaking of settlement, four freight rail unions have rejected Biden’s negotiated rail settlement from earlier this fall. In the short term, this is being handled by an extension of the status quo period so that further negotiation can happen, but if no deal can be reached, we may see a railway strike as soon as December 9.

Your New Normal:

Your Normally Scheduled Election. We do still have traditional election updates to track, both from Georgia and from remaining seats that have been called since last week. The House has officially changed hands for the next session, with the GOP obtaining 220 seats by the time I type this. Nancy Pelosi will be handing House leadership over to Kevin McCarthy, who is current minority leader, though it looks like the GOP’s margin will be very narrow–Democrats did preserve at least 213 seats, leaving the GOP with a total maximum possible majority of nine votes. One of the two seats still not settled is Lauren Boebert’s seat in the Colorado Third District, where her opponent Adam Frisch has conceded but nonetheless is entitled to a recount unless he formally withdraws. Meanwhile, in Alaska, famously moderate Republican Lisa Murkowski emerged the victor of this week’s Senate race through ranked-choice voting. Finally, in Georgia, the state Supreme Court had to step in to protect early voting over the weekend, preserving people’s ability to cast ballots until December 2 as the state gears up for the special election on December 6. Due to a number of voter suppression provisions already in place, ballot places saw very long lines on Saturday, with some voters having to wait multiple hours even though voting early. It’s likely we can expect even longer lines on the actual date of the special election next week.
Contagion Corner. The biggest news from contagion corner is that we appear to have a new dominant variant of COVID again, this time the BQ variant that is particularly dangerous for immunocompromised people. We are also seeing an uptick in XBB cases, which is a variant similarly resistant to monoclonal antibody treatments. That said, a study was also published this week suggesting that two-thirds of first wave COVID infections have led to long COVID. Needless to say, none of that news is awesome, but I’ll keep people posted on further updates.

The Bad:

Multiple Mass Murders. As I referenced in the intro paragraph, this was a very difficult week for gun violence. First, while on a University of Virginia field trip to DC, a student–who apparently wasn’t even in the African American studies class taking the trip–opened fire on the bus and killed three people, injuring two others. Then over the weekend, at a queer club in Colorado Springs, a person with an AR-15 managed to kill five people and injure twenty-five more in what was almost certainly a hate crime before being subdued by other club patrons and brought into custody alive. Finally, as we headed into the holiday, an employee of a Walmart in Chesapeake, VA brought a gun to his shift and fatally shot seven people, including himself. It is incredibly disheartening to have to keep reporting repeatedly on this kind of senseless violence in civilian public spaces, and as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community the Club Q murders truly get under my skin. I want to stress that the rhetoric being espoused about trans people by the Republican party demonstrably incites violence and is very dangerous. We need to take it seriously and work to counter it, just as we must work to counter all forms of violent white supremacy.

The Good:

Recent Climate Resilience.* At the COP27 climate summit last week, though emissions agreements proved elusive, we did see an interesting form of agreement entered. More specifically, the over 200 countries involved agreed to form a “loss and damage fund” which, in effect, set up compensation for climate damage caused by wealthy countries that generate the most pollution. It’s a form of support that countries experiencing climate change hazards have been trying to set up for a long time, and hopefully it will prove helpful as we experience more and more natural disasters.

So that’s all I have for this week, and I think we can agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this cat parkour and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me your favorite recipe for pumpkin pie!

Year 6, Week 43 (November 6-12)

November 15, 2022November 15, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

For yet another week, we’re continuing the theme of “more election news than you can shake a stick at,” and not all results are even in as I type this. Given the Georgia runoff election, we definitely won’t be done with election news for another several weeks–but there is nonetheless a lot to report. I’ll continue to keep folks posted.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an election!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

On the Election Rejection front, we have less than I feared but still more than I want to report. Here’s what has happened:

Election Rejection: Trump Stuff. Just because there’s a national election that ostensibly doesn’t involve him, that’s no reason for Trump to stop being in the news! This week, the story is that he’s suing the House Jan 6 panel to so that he can avoid the subpoena they sent him. He also keeps hinting that he’s going to run in 2024, even in unrelated places like his memo asking to keep the special master in place for the Mar-A-Lago matter. Meanwhile, especially given the dismal Republican performance in the midterm elections this week, GOP officials are trying to shut him up about his own plans to run, and many appear to be openly trying to pry the party out of his dayglo orange hands.
Original Flavor Election Rejection. We didn’t get as much original flavor election rejection as I had feared, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t get any. In Maricopa County, AZ, people gathered to protest “fake results” because a printing malfunction slowed down the counting process. That same day AZ senate candidate Blake Masters announced that he wouldn’t concede, despite his opponent Mark Kelly’s victory, until every single vote was counted. Meanwhile, in the state’s gubernatorial election, local javelina and MAGA candidate Kari Lake has outright signaled she won’t concede several times–most famously, back in mid-October before there were even any ballots cast. That race appears to have just been called for her opponent Katie Hobbs as I type this, so I guess we’ll see what happens next from here.

The melange above makes the Biden Rebuilding front look quiet, but there’s still news on that front as well. Here’s what I have for you:

Loan Cancelation Canceled. A federal district court in Texas found Biden’s loan cancellation plan unlawful this week, marking the second legal challenge to the program and the first conclusion on the merits. Despite the tortured logic of the court opinion, the Biden administration has stopped accepting applications under the program. Just today, the 8th Circuit also upheld the injunction from the first legal challenge, which was an earlier case in St. Louis. These are frustrating challenges to an innovative program, particularly because one of the Texas plaintiffs was a recipient of a $48K forgiven PPP loan before suing to prohibit loan forgiveness.

Your New Normal:

Your Normally Scheduled Election. There’s a lot still in flux from the 2022 midterms, but I do have some concrete things to report–and much of the news is pretty promising. By Saturday, it became apparent that the Democrats managed to hold onto 50 Senate seats, winning Nevada and Arizona and flipping a Pennsylvania seat that has been red for forty years. (My pet theory is that Elon Musk won the Senate for us when he told everybody to vote Republican.) This means Dems will maintain control of the Senate while we wait for results on Georgia’s seat, which is proceeding to a runoff election for the second time in a row. Meanwhile, there are still seventeen House seats unresolved as I type this, and either party could gain control based on the number of seats already won. It’s currently expected that the GOP will take a razor-thin majority when the final votes are tallied, but given the chaotic week we just had, who knows what will happen next.
Contagion Corner. There was a lot of news this week about COVID, flu, and RSV–namely, that infections of any of them are bad (who knew), especially in children. There was also a story about a ship in Australia arriving in Sydney with over 800 passengers infected with COVID. But on the more positive pediatric side, a local long-term study published this week shows that universal masking in schools is effective for reducing COVID transmission. The NNR continues to recommend both vaccination and masking indoors.

The Bad:

Climate Change Crises.* There was a fair amount of news this week about climate change. President Biden issued some statements about America’s failure to meet the 2015 Paris climate agreement and the steps that may be taken in order to curb our emissions from here. Meanwhile, a massive draft assessment was issued this week by the United States Global Change Research Program, finding (among other things) that the continental US is warming at a higher rate than the global average. This has a lot of implications for the country, most of which are pretty dire if we don’t engage in transformative change.

The Good:

Recent Ballot Resilience. There were a lot of trends during the midterm elections that are really promising. Young voters turned out in massive numbers, largely rejecting the fascist and anti-democratic candidates up and down the ballot and voting in our first Gen Z representative. This Gen Z civic engagement in turn meant a so-called “red wave” just never materialized in most places. Voters also overwhelmingly supported reproductive health, with four different states either gaining or preserving protections by referendum. Meanwhile, two different states elected openly lesbian governors for the first time ever. Finally, four states passed referenda that prohibited forced prison labor under their state constitutions for the first time. We’ll want to think about how these trends reflect a stymied will in places with widespread suppression, particularly as we move into the Georgia runoff.

So that’s all I have for this week, and I think we can agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this felinterior designer and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!

Year 6, Week 42 (October 30–November 5)

November 8, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

We’re continuing last week’s theme of “more election rejection news than you can shake a stick at,” and as promised last week, the NNR is here to keep folks posted in the final days ahead of the midterms. Though I’m not in the business of reading tea leaves regarding what will happen in a particularly unpredictable election tomorrow, there’s still a lot of news to report.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an election!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

On the Election Rejection front, our circuses have circuses this week. Here’s what has happened:

Election Rejection: Jan 6 Stuff. Remember those 8 contested emails I mentioned last week, which Trump’s lawyers were trying to block by appealing to the Ninth Circuit? There were some very interesting finds in those, so naturally Trump counsel accidentally forwarded them and they wound up published by Politico. (The most interesting thing to come out was indisputably the Trump attorneys’ belief that Clarence Thomas would forestall the 2020 election certification.) Meanwhile, the House panel is offering immunity to a Trump aide in exchange for testimony again, and we learned more about Oathkeeper threats after Jan 6 from the Stewart Rhodes ongoing trial.
Insurrection Update: Various Trump Court Things. In light of Trump’s repeated hints that he’s about to run for President again, the DOJ is starting to think about how it will investigate a Presidential candidate–and the RNC is signaling that it won’t pay his legal fees anymore. Of course, none of this stopped Trump from deciding to sue the New York Attorney General, even though his attorneys advised against it because the legal brief is pretty much made of spite and wishes.
Original Flavor Election Rejection. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the biggest election rejection story is probably the election tomorrow. Prominent Democrats such as President Biden and former President Obama spent the week warning people that democracy itself might not survive if people keep voting in MAGA sociopaths. Honestly, it’s hard to take that as hyperbole when the GOP is already suing over swing state ballots and claiming the election was rigged. Just to add more fuel to fire, Putin’s staff went ahead and confirmed that Russia interferes in American elections on the regular, a judge in AZ had to order armed people away from ballot boxes, and many swing states are preparing for unprecedented threats of violence at polling locations. It’s likely to be a bumpy ride from here, folks.

The melange above makes the Biden Rebuilding front look quiet, but there’s still news on that front as well. Here’s what I have for you:

Biden Miscellany.* The biggest news on the Biden front is that the Fed raised interest rates by 0.75 to combat inflation for the fourth time in a row–bringing us to six consecutive rate hikes this year, which improbably is not exaggeration. This represents the biggest rate hike in decades, and the new rate of between 3.75 and 4% hasn’t been seen since the Great Recession of 2008.

Your New Normal:

Your Normally Scheduled Election. Amid all the weirdness and excessive spending of this year’s midterm election, it’s easy to lose track of the election itself. As I type this, over 41 million ballots have already been cast through early voting and absentee ballots, and in many places those ballots eclipse the total number cast in our last midterm election in 2018. Nonetheless, tomorrow will likely be an incredibly eventful day, especially with so many state referenda in play on topics like abortion, marijuana, and voting itself. If you are one of the many people planning to head to the polls tomorrow, you can find your polling place, double-check that you are registered, and read up on your ballot online before you go.

The Bad:

Muskrat New Habitat (again). If you live on the Internet like my household does, you’ve probably watched the Elon Musk takeover train wreck–when the owner of Twitter is also the undisputed Twitter Main Character, it’s hard to look away. Suffice to say, he did indeed lay off thousands of people when he chaotically fired a full half of the company on Friday. Then over the weekend he claimed that his fleeing advertisers simply hate free speech, tried to hire a bunch of the staff back because apparently some of them weren’t supposed to be fired, and confirmed his ongoing plan to turn Twitter’s verification system into a status symbol. (Several people, including me, were very concerned that he planned to launch what is effectively a misinformation campaign on the day before a major election, but he did push back the rollout on that one until after the midterms.) Today, just to top everything off, he told everyone to vote Republican and started permanently banning verified accounts that were changing their account names in order to parody him.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. There’s a lot that is very concerning going on with SCOTUS right now, but this week they did decline to hear a challenge to the TSA’s authority to mandate masks on public transportation. Needless to say, this allows a very firmly-worded decision from the D.C. Circuit court to remain in place in that circuit instead, and these days we take that as a win.

So that’s all I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this unusual cat transit method and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me new blends of herbal tea because we’re running low!

Year 6, Week 41 (October 23-29)

November 2, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Remember last week, when I was like “I sure hope we aren’t about to get a deluge?” I would like to personally apologize to you all for jinxing this week’s news like that, because after six years you’d think I would know better. At any rate, there’s more election rejection news than you can shake a stick at right now, which is perhaps not shocking with Election Day only a week away. I’ll continue to keep folks posted on the many many threads happening.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an election!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

On the Election Rejection front, our circuses have circuses this week. Here’s what has happened:

Election Rejection: Jan 6 Stuff. The House panel is moving forward with several types of interviews this week. Most notably, they are interviewing former Trump aide Hope Hicks, and they also have begun interviewing Secret Service staff. The committee also moved forward with reviewing 8 contested emails that Trump’s lawyers are trying to block, not waiting for the Ninth Circuit to review Trump’s lawyers’ appeal.
Insurrection Update: FBI Tour of Mar-A-Lago. It was another comparatively quiet week on this front. That said, the Mar-A-Lago investigation team did add another veteran prosecutor to its ranks, and they are also seeking to compel testimony from another of Trump’s allies. It’s likely we’ll see more news on this story soon.
Insurrection Update: Other Trump Cases. A lot has happened on this front just in the last day. Remember last week, when Justice Thomas went ahead and granted an administrative stay on an order compelling Graham to comply with the Georgia investigation? This was indeed so that the full court could consider Graham’s request to freeze the whole thing, and they tossed that sucker out with a single paragraph of opinion–if I had to summarize the basic gist, it would be “lol nice try.” Meanwhile, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was ordered to testify in the same case earlier in the week. That said, Trump did have more luck in his attempt to get SCOTUS to block releasing his taxes after a lower court compelled them— because Chief Justice Roberts barred the IRS from giving them over again just today.
Insurrection Update: Home Attack. I honestly wasn’t sure where to put this one, and eventually decided to just give the story its own paragraph, though I do think it shares roots with January 6 news. At any rate, Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked in their home in CA this week, and the assailant apparently yelled “Where is Nancy?” before assaulting him with a hammer. The assailant pretty quickly admitted that he had political motives once in custody, apparently planning to break Nancy Pelosi’s kneecaps due to her work in the House. He is being charged with several felonies, including an attempt to kidnap a federal officer.
Original Flavor Election Rejection. Of course, on top of everything else above, there’s also news about our current election cycle, which is rapidly coming to a head. In Arizona, a federal judge refused to restrain people who are camping outside of ballot boxes, claiming that it is protected free speech to video people dropping off their ballots. Needless to say, the Justice Department intervened in this court case today, arguing that this behavior is illegal under the Voting Rights Act. Meanwhile, more than 100 lawsuits have been filed about November 8 already, despite the fact that Election Day hasn’t even happened yet. (Most of the lawsuits are about how early voting and absentee voting are bad and lead to voter fraud, because of course they are.)

The melange above makes the Biden Rebuilding front look quiet, but there’s still news on that front as well. Here’s what I have for you:

Biden Miscellany.* There was a fair amount of news this week, as there is every week, regarding the ongoing fight with inflation and how mortgage rates continue to climb because of it. That said, there was also a lot of news about a United Nations report published this week, which notes that the United States (and many other countries) are not hitting emission targets under the 2015 Paris climate accord. Needless to say, this has a lot of implications, and none of them are good, though presumably this will color negotiations at the next world climate summit, which will take place in Egypt next month.

Your New Normal:

Contagion Corner. There were a lot of stories this week about COVID, unsurprisingly. Most were regarding the threats created by reinfection (spoiler: they’re not great) and the likely risk of high transmission rates if we see an uptick in new variants over the winter. That said, there were also a few lingering stories about how white people in Republican states are more likely to die young, both from COVID and from other health risks.

The Bad:

Muskrat New Habitat. After several months of refusing to cover Elon Musk threatening to buy Twitter, on account of he kept shooting himself in the foot, I finally have to cover this story because Elon Musk actually bought Twitter this week. So far, it’s just as obnoxious as you were probably expecting–he immediately fired a bunch of executives and stopped enforcing safety-based content restrictions. Then news leaked that he plans to also lay off at least a quarter of the company, which will be thousands of people. Finally, today he publicly haggled with Stephen King about how much a blue check mark should cost, so uh, we all got to watch that one happen. I want to stress that this takeover is horrifying and newsworthy because it’s not a merger or a corporate takeover; instead, Elon Musk now privately owns one of the most influential social media companies in the world because he paid $44B out of pocket for it. That is a truly staggering amount of money for one individual to even own, let alone be able to throw around, and we will likely see repercussions from this across many sectors for a long time.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. These stories aren’t “good news” so much as “signs the court system can sometimes work correctly,” but two different people who engaged in high-profile political violence were convicted appropriately this week. In Michigan, three men were convicted for a plan to kidnap the state governor, though their sentencing won’t be until December. And in Wisconsin, a man was convicted of intentional homicide for killing six people when he drove his SUV into a Christmas day parade, despite his claims that as a sovereign citizen he shouldn’t be prosecuted.

So that’s all I have for this week, and I think we can agree that it was more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this pitball adventure and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me extra sleep because it has been a long week and it’s only Tuesday!

Year 6, Week 40 (October 16-22)

October 25, 2022October 25, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This was another one of those weeks where a lot of (American) stories are slowly developing as I type this–it feels like the news is holding its breath. Here’s hoping we’re not about to get a deluge.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a prime minister!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

On the Election Rejection front, one ring of the circus went weirdly quiet but we’re still in full swing. Here’s what I have for you:

Election Rejection: Jan 6 Stuff. This is by far the biggest ring this week, and the biggest news is that the House panel has officially subpoenaed garbage cheeto Donald Trump to testify under oath by November 14. Meanwhile, Steve Bannon was sentenced to four months in jail and a $6.5K fine for his failure to testify in front of the same panel. Finally, a federal judge held that documents from Trump’s attorney have to be turned over to the panel as well.
Insurrection Update: FBI Tour of Mar-A-Lago. This front was pretty quiet this week, but we did see one story confirming that the classified documents recovered at Mar-A-Lago included state secrets about China and Iran, shocking basically no one. We’ll likely see follow-up on this one next week.
Insurrection Update: Other Trump Cases. There was significant news this week regarding the Georgia criminal investigation into the 2020 election. At the top of the week, it sucked to be Lindsey Graham, who failed to convince an appeals court to pause his subpoena to answer questions from the prosecution. But then Graham appealed to the Supreme Court, which has already granted an administrative pause, and I would posit that it sucked to be the rest of us–but more on that below.

On the Biden Rebuilding front, there’s a lot going on as well for another week. Here’s what has happened:

Biden Miscellany. Remember last week, when I said that it was a good idea to get your application in sooner than December of next year if you had federal student loans to cancel, because there was already a lawsuit challenging it and the judge was considering an injunction? Sadly, that injunction did go into effect before the week was even over. The Biden administration is still encouraging people to apply anyway, and it’s possible they feel emboldened because the Supreme Court opted not to hear an emergency appeal on the matter. At any rate, I’m sure I’ll have more news on that soon.

Your New Normal:

Contagion Corner. There was a lot of news about how COVID harms the country this week. At the top of the week, the Washington Post ran a story about how COVID mortalities among white people have increased over time instead of decreasing, as they have done with other racial demographics. This was followed by a report from the GAO about how COVID has increased maternal fatalities, which were already much higher in the US than in any other wealthy country. Finally, a story broke just today about how COVID tanked math and reading scores–this past year’s results are the worst in thirty years across the whole country. So basically… COVID is not great for the country’s overall health and mental well-being. (I’m sure you’re utterly shocked by this unforeseen revelation.)

The Bad:

SCOTUS Interruptus. Comey Barrett may have opted to keep SCOTUS out of the student loan suit, but her colleague Justice Thomas did not opt for the same restraint. Just today, he granted an administrative stay on the 11th circuit order that compelled Graham to comply with the Georgia investigation. This administrative stay is almost certainly so that the full court can consider Graham’s request to freeze the whole thing until the final appeal is over. That said, given Thomas’s wife’s active lobbying on that very issue, the administrative stay is also a frustrating reminder of the fact that SCOTUS effectively has no enforceable code of ethics.

The Good:

Recent Energy Resilience.* There were a few headlines in the news this week about the first-ever lease sale to be held for offshore wind on the Pacific coast. As I understand it, this is a significant step forward in Biden’s clean energy plan. Hopefully, it’s also the second in a series of sales that will include several more off of Maine and the Gulf of New Mexico. Progress!

So that’s all I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this frog dahlia hotel and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me recommendations of shows you like!

Year 6, Week 39 (October 9-15)

October 18, 2022October 18, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

The news was surprisingly merciful this week, for the most part–outside of health news, there’s way less than usual that will make you want to stare at walls. I think we all know better than to expect this to stay the norm, but we might as well enjoy a partial reprieve while it lasts. We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled dystopia soon enough.

Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a subpoena!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

On the Election Rejection front, we’re back to a full-blown three ring circus again. Here’s what I have for you:

Election Rejection: Jan 6 Stuff. The House panel held its ninth public hearing on Thursday, which will probably also be its last one–though they did vote unanimously to subpoena Donald Trump, so who knows what will end up televised from that. In addition to the subpoena vote, they also aired several video and audio clips illustrating the severity of the day’s events, Trump’s knowledge of the election results, and premeditation to declare victory regardless of the actual election results. It’s likely we’ll see further action on this, but it’s hard to predict what form it will take–I’ll keep folks posted.
Insurrection Update: FBI Tour of Mar-A-Lago. A whole lot happened in this ring over the past week. Trump’s appeal to the Supreme Court to consider the special master case was summarily denied, which in turn prompted the Department of Justice to ask to end the special master review. Meanwhile, a Trump lawyer admitted to the DOJ that she attested to a Mar-A-Lago search she hadn’t been around for (and which of course never actually happened). Finally, a Trump employee told the FBI that Trump ordered staff to move various boxes of records around shortly after he received a subpoena for the materials in the summer–which was then confirmed with security footage of Mar-A-Lago.
Insurrection Update: Other Trump Charges. Trump also had a lot of sketchy business news this past week, much of which relates back to the New York civil fraud investigation. The same day the lawsuit was filed, Trump’s lawyers attempted to incorporate–and I can’t believe I’m not making this up–the Trump Organization II. Needless to say, Letitia Jones was not amused, and has moved to freeze transfer of assets while her case is pending. On top of that, just today the House Oversight and Reform Committee published a nine-page letter to the Secret Service regarding an investigation into Trump’s illegal self-dealing. More specifically, the panel noted that Trump repeatedly charged five times the government rate when forcing Secret Service agents to stay at his hotel as President. Though we’ve known about this self-dealing a long time, the public letter to Secret Service suggests the potential beginning of another formal investigation within the House.

On the Biden Rebuilding front, there’s a lot going on as well for another week. Here’s what has happened:

Biden Miscellany. The Biden administration had a lot of odds and ends this week, but most of them were relatively positive. The administration announced a significant and unusual 8.7% cost of living adjustment for folks receiving Social Security benefits, which will help with the rampant inflation we are experiencing but is by no means a full fix. The administration also began implementing its federal student debt cancellation plan today, and will accept applications until December 31, 2023. That said, it’s a good idea to get your application in sooner if you think you might qualify, because there’s currently a pending lawsuit and that judge may implement an injunction.

Your New Normal:

Contagion Corner. COVID news is very mixed this week. In the positive column, bivalent boosters are now available for children ages 5 and up. That said, this is particularly good because numbers are beginning to rise again–it’s looking likely that omicron variants have created another superstrain. If we continue to follow the trends first seen in Europe, as we have done for much of the pandemic, we’ll probably see an autumn surge similar to Delta just like last year. I’ll definitely keep folks posted on this.

The Bad:

Out of Adderall. This week, the FDA acknowledged a nationwide shortage of Adderall, which is a drug many Americans take to treat ADHD. This is the second medical shortage with serious pediatric implications in the past year, and the infant formula shortage that began in February took many months to fix. Officials believe that this shortage may take months to fix as well, which will negatively impact the mental health of millions of Americans.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. After a lengthy judicial process, jurors on the consolidated Alex Jones defamation cases reached Damages o’Clock this past Wednesday. It’s hard to imagine a less sympathetic defendant, but the compensatory damages awarded of nearly $1B are nonetheless truly incredible–this total does not even reflect the punitive damages, which will be awarded next month. Especially for compensatory damages, that’s a truly unprecedented amount. For contrast, the infamous “McDonald’s case” from 1994 awarded only $160,000 in compensation; even the highest tort damages that I’m aware of for a single case in American history, awarded in Anderson v. GM in 1999, totaled $107M in compensatory damages. The $1B award is definitely more money than Jones has, though how much money he actually has is an open question at the moment. It’s certainly a strong message, at any rate.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve these cuddle friends and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me recommendations of shows you like!

Year 6, Week 38 (October 2-8)

October 11, 2022 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Well, the news is still terrible, but at least it’s also Fat Bear Week until tomorrow, and look at all these good bears going for gold! (Honestly, no shade if you want to pause here and go vote for your favorite; we all need to take news breaks now and then.)

Standard standing reminders still apply: I guess after six years I’m conceding that I’m a journalist, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a ballot measure!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Cleanup in Aisle 45:

I’m clearing some space in Election Rejection this week to begin discussing Election Day, which at this point is only a month away. Here’s what I have for you:

Original Flavor Election Rejection. With primaries over and Election Day four weeks away, we should probably talk about just how many official GOP candidates are 2020 election deniers. (Spoiler: It’s 299 of them.) Though not all of these candidates are favored, by any means, obviously this has a number of potential implications for midterm elections, especially for the gubernatorial and Senate races. We’ll need to keep an eye on this, and now’s also a great time to familiarize yourself with candidates and ballot measures in your area if you haven’t already done so.
Insurrection Update: FBI Tour of Mar-A-Lago. The big news from Mar-A-Lago this week is that the Justice Department still thinks they are missing classified White House documents in Trump’s possession. This revelation has also put more scrutiny on Trump’s lawyers, making more people notice him ordering them to lie during past interactions with the National Archives. Meanwhile, Trump is busy asking the Supreme Court to get involved in the special master mess, because he wants to undo the Eleventh Circuit’s smack down of the investigation pause from last week. As soon as that request was on the table, the appeals court agreed to expedite their final decision on the case, presumably because they don’t want to see what SCOTUS would do with the injunction. So it’s likely we’ll see a lot of updates in the next few weeks.

On the Biden Rebuilding front, there’s a lot going on, though some of it was shunted to the Good. Here’s what has happened:

Response to Russia.* Biden had to field a lot of interrelated foreign affairs news this week. As the war in Ukraine continues to accelerate, with Ukraine exploding the Crimean bridge that connects Russia to the region, Biden expressed concern about the rising risk of a Russian nuclear attack on Ukraine. In the meantime, Russia responded through OPEC+ by moving to dramatically reduce oil output, which will in turn make gas prices climb again. This will likely help fund their invasion, but it seems clear that there were retributive motives at play as well. It’s a tricky thing for Biden to navigate as we head into the midterms.

Your New Normal:

Contagion Corner. The depressing COVID news this week is that once again, the majority of Americans are failing to get their booster shots–it’s estimated that only four percent of eligible Americans have gotten the bivalent vaccine since it was released last month. Needless to say, this doesn’t bode well for a potential winter case surge, especially if we also see a new variant. About the best I can say is that scientists also believe that COVID is getting closer to the flu as it evolves. This makes it more treatable and predictable, especially with drugs like Paxlovid, although recent studies suggest that Paxlovid is underutilized too.

The Bad:

Political Determinants of Health. This week really highlights the increasing trend of health access depending on local politicians. On the reproductive justice front, Arizona courts just paused the enforcement of their new (old?) near-total abortion ban, which was revived by a federal judge a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, Oklahoma passed a law that predicated dispersal of federal medical funds, some of which were earmarked for cancer patients, on local hospitals ceasing all gender-affirming care to minors. In other words–and I want to be extremely clear about the medical consensus on this matter–the state will not fund life-saving measures until their hospitals stop providing other life-saving measures to kids. If, like me, that sentence makes you want to throw things out your window, I recommend donating to the Oklahoma ACLU, which has already signaled it is likely to sue.

The Good:

Recent Weed Resilience. Joe Biden took the noteworthy step this week of pardoning those with federal marijuana possession convictions. Though this likely won’t directly help that many people, proportionally speaking, he did signal that it was the first of many steps his administration plans to implement. The move will likely also impact the many marijuana-related referenda at play in next month’s election, which hopefully will spur meaningful change at the state level. Suffice to say, though this cannot be the end of the conversation, it’s a decent first step.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. Nonetheless, for making it through, you deserve this party blep and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me warm socks because it’s getting cold!