Barack Obama Campaigns For Democrats In Nevada Georgia Michigan And Wisconsin Ahead Of The Midterms
Barack Obama Campaigns For Democrats In Nevada, Georgia, Michigan And Wisconsin Ahead Of The Midterms https://digitalarkansasnews.com/barack-obama-campaigns-for-democrats-in-nevada-georgia-michigan-and-wisconsin-ahead-of-the-midterms/
WASHINGTON – Former President Barack Obama is returning to the campaign trail.
This time, he’ll host campaign rallies for Democrats running in battleground states crucial to the party’s attempt to keep their slim control of Congress during the midterm elections. Republicans only need one net gain during the midterms to retake control of the 50-50 Senate, and Democrats have an eight seat advantage in the House.
Obama remains a popular figure among his party and is a welcome boost to Democrats who are running in a politically difficult environment this year. In 2018, 63% of Americans approved of the way Obama handled the presidency, according to a Gallup survey. Two years later, 75% of Democrats had a very favorable view of Obama and another 17% had a somewhat favorable view of him, according to a Monmouth University poll.
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“Given the high stakes of this year’s midterm elections, President Obama wants to do his part to help Democrats win next month,” his office said in a statement.
Where is Obama campaigning?
Obama will make campaign stops in Atlanta on Oct. 28 and in Detroit on Oct. 29, according to a statement from his office. The former president is also scheduled to hold another rally on Oct. 29 in Milwaukee. Three days later, on Nov. 1, Obama will campaign with vulnerable Democrats in Las Vegas, Nevada.
OnPolitics: How and why we cover the midterm elections, from the editors
Who is Obama campaigning with?
In Michigan, Obama will campaign with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and other Democrats running for office. Whitmer is running against Republican Tudor Dixon to keep the governorship.
At the event in Milwaukee, Obama will headline a rally with Gov. Tony Evers, who is seeking reelection, and with Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is running for a Senate seat against incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson. Other Democrats joining Obama include Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Lt. Gov. nominee Sara Rodriguez, Attorney General Josh Kaul and Rep. Gwen Moore.
In Nevada, Obama will appear in a rally with Gov. Steve Sisolak and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, the most vulnerable incumbent Democratic senator this midterm cycle. Masto holds a narrow lead over Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, 46%-44% – well within the margin of error – according to a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll released last week.
Poll: In Michigan, Democratic Gov. Whitmer’s lead over GOP’s Dixon shrinks as economic outlook worsens: Poll
Obama has not said who he will rally with in Georgia, perhaps the most competitive battleground state. But Democrat Stacey Abrams is facing off against GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, a rematch of their 2018 gubernatorial race. Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock is fending off a challenge from Republican Herschel Walker.
Takeaways: Kemp, Abrams renew their rivalry and push divergent visions in Georgia governor’s debate
What will Obama campaign on?
The former president will urge rally attendees to take advantage of early voting, according to his office. He will also campaign on access to abortion, a crucial topic Democrats are campaigning on this election cycle, and voting rights.
Why is Obama stumping for Democrats?
Democrats are facing difficult political headwinds during this year’s midterms—from an economy teetering on the brink of recession to historical trends where the party in power loses seats—which the GOP has been capitalizing on. Republicans have attacked Democratic candidates by linking them to President Joe Biden—whose approval numbers remain low.
Obama remains the most popular Democrat in recent times and could energize Democrats to vote. Obama is also campaigning in battleground states like Georgia and Nevada, where Biden has not appeared with Senate or congressional candidates. It’s also unclear whether the current president has been asked to join candidates on the campaign trail.
Asset or liability?: Biden’s momentum hasn’t led to new invitations on midterm campaign trail
The former president also said he wants to bring attention not just to high-profile races, but to down-ballot candidates as well.
“One of the things I want to emphasize in this midterm is the importance of looking not just at the top of the ballot, but all the way down the bottom,” Obama said on the Pod Save America podcast. “Because there are governor’s races, secretary of state’s races, state legislative races that are going to really matter.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
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Putin Declares Martial Law In Occupied Ukraine As Evacuation Of Civilians Starts
Putin Declares Martial Law In Occupied Ukraine As Evacuation Of Civilians Starts https://digitalarkansasnews.com/putin-declares-martial-law-in-occupied-ukraine-as-evacuation-of-civilians-starts/
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Carrying Ukrainian flags in a city administration building that was heavily damaged by shelling in the Donetsk region of Ukraine this week.Credit…Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia declared martial law on Wednesday in four regions of Ukraine that Moscow illegally annexed but that it does not fully control, a move that would allow the pro-Russian authorities to impose even tighter restrictions as Moscow fights to hold off Ukraine’s military advances.
Separately, Mr. Putin said he was handing more power to regional governors inside Russia, implementing wartime measures that would allow for significantly more restrictions, apparently aimed at keeping a lid on dissent at home.
A presidential decree announced martial law in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions — whose annexation by Russia last month has been condemned internationally as illegal. Russia has suffered weeks of setbacks on the battlefield, and its proxies in the southern region of Kherson have begun relocating civilians in apparent anticipation of a major fight for the regional capital.
Moscow has been ordering residents of the region living west of the Dnipro River to evacuate before a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive, a move that Kyiv has dismissed as scaremongering. Just before Mr. Putin’s speech, videos released on Russian media showed lines of civilians apparently boarding ferries at a river port to evacuate.
“I signed a decree on the introduction of martial law in these four constituent entities of the Russian Federation,” Mr. Putin said at the start of a meeting of his Security Council via videoconference, referring to the four Ukrainian regions that the Kremlin unilaterally declared to be part of Russia. “In addition, in the current situation, I consider it necessary to give additional powers to the leaders of all Russian regions.”
Within hours of the decree, the Federation Council, the upper house of Parliament, approved it unanimously.
As of late last month, the Russian army controlled most of the Luhansk and Kherson regions and about half of the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions. Martial law in the four annexed territories would allow the authorities to impose curfews, seize property, imprison undocumented immigrants, establish checkpoints, detain people for up to 30 days and forcibly resettle residents to another region.
The president also ordered the creation of territorial defense forces, a type of civilian militia, in the four annexed regions, raising the possibility that Moscow’s forces may try to conscript Ukrainians to fight their own country’s forces, part of a broader effort to mobilize hundreds of thousands of new fighters as its forces suffer huge casualties.
Mr. Putin has grappled with growing anger at home over his call-up of about 300,000 reservists to fight in the war. Protests have erupted in far-flung cities, recruitment centers have been the target of arson, and thousands of military-age men have packed planes and vehicles to flee across Russia’s borders.
Some analysts said the Russian leader is being forced to signal to his nation that there may be more pain to come.
“Putin has to prepare the country for much harder times, and he needs to mobilize resources,” Tatiana Stanovaya, a Russian political analyst, said in a phone interview
Analysts said it was remarkable that Mr. Putin declared martial law, since he continues to avoid calling the invasion of Ukraine a “war” and instead uses the term “special military operation.”
“When you call it a war, it means that your special military operation failed,” Ms. Stanovaya said.
Abbas Gallyamov, a former Kremlin speechwriter turned political consultant, said the decision to declare martial law in occupied Ukraine and impose other restrictions inside Russia appeared more focused on suppressing internal dissent than improving its flailing war effort.
“In general, all this looks not so much like a struggle with an external enemy, as much as an attempt to prevent the ripening revolution within the country,” Mr. Gallyamov wrote on Telegram.
The separate decree allows for significantly more restrictive measures to be introduced in 26 regions across Russia, closest to Ukraine, including in Moscow, to more tightly control critical infrastructure facilities, public transit and communications. According to Mr. Putin, the regional leaders will be given additional powers “to ensure security.”
As with many Russian laws, there are open provisions that allow for broad interpretation and regional governors can choose which they enforce. For example, the law allows for suspension of the activities of political parties, public organizations and religious groups, or any activity deemed to undermine the defense and security of the Russian Federation. It also allows governors to set up restrictions to the entry and exit from their region.
Reporting was contributed by Oleg Matsnev, Valeriya Safronova, Ivan Nechepurenko Valerie Hopkins and Neil MacFarquhar.
— Special to The New York Times
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Destroyed vehicles on a road in the town of Arkhanhelske, in the Kherson region, earlier this month. Ukrainian forces advanced through the town in their effort to retake the city of Kherson.Credit…Nicole Tung for The New York Times
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian occupation officials were moving civilians out of Kherson on Wednesday, another sign that Moscow’s hold on the strategic southern Ukrainian city was slipping, as President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia sought to reassert control over that and other occupied regions by declaring martial law.
The move by Mr. Putin was an effort to tighten the Kremlin’s authority over Kherson and three other Ukrainian regions he recently claimed to annex, even as his army loses ground in those areas to Ukrainian forces and as Western allies dismiss the annexations as illegal.
As Russian proxy officials in Kherson said they would move as many as 60,000 civilians to the eastern side of the Dnipro River and shift its civilian administration there, they appeared to be girding for a battle for control of the region. Amid a weekslong Ukrainian counteroffensive, the pro-Kremlin leader in Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, said the relocations would protect civilians and help Russian forces fortify defenses to “repel any attack.”
Ukrainian officials dismissed the plans as “a propaganda show.” Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, accused the Russian proxies of scaring civilians with claims that Ukraine would shell the city. He called it “a rather primitive tactic, given that the armed forces do not fire at Ukrainian cities — this is done exclusively by Russian terrorists.”
Ukrainian forces have been advancing gradually for weeks along both sides of the river in Kherson, a region that Moscow seized early in the war and has declared part of Russia. Since late August, Ukrainian troops have damaged bridges near the city of Kherson, making it harder for Moscow to resupply the thousands of troops it has stationed there.
Western analysts have suggested that the Russian positions in and around the city are untenable without the bridges, and U.S. officials have said that Russian commanders have urged a retreat from Kherson, only to be overruled by Mr. Putin. But Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the Kherson region has moved more slowly than its recent advances in the east, and it was far from clear whether its forces could soon mount a push to retake the city of Kherson.
On Tuesday, the general Mr. Putin appointed earlier this month to command the war in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, said he was ready to make “difficult decisions” about the military deployments in the Kherson region, without specifying what those decisions would entail.
Ukrainian officials have greeted the hints of a Russian pullback of at least civil administrators with caution, saying the announcements could be intended for internal Russian audiences, signaling commitment to protecting civilians or preparation for a Russian military action in the area. Videos released on Russian media showed lines of civilians apparently boarding ferries at a river port to evacuate to the eastern bank of the Dnipro.
The Kherson region spans both banks of the river, with the city of Kherson, the regional capital, lying on the western side. The western bank is an expanse of pancake-flat farmland crisscrossed by rivers and irrigation canals, and one of the most pivotal battlefields of the war.
Ukrainian troops had through the summer whittled away at Russian supply lines by firing American-provided precision guided rockets at the four bridges over the Dnipro River in areas Russia controls. All are now mostly destroyed.
In late August, Ukraine opened an offensive with ground troops, advancing in bloody, slow-moving combat through several dozen villages while driving the Russian forces backward, toward the Dnipro. The Russian announcements of evacuating civilians and the civil administration could signal a faltering of military defenses, presaging a Russian pullback from the western bank of the Dnipro River in what would be a major setback for Moscow — but could also be a ruse.
Mr. Saldo, a Ukrainian politician who had switched sides at the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, told the Russian state news agency RIA on Wednesday that all ministries would evacuate to the eastern bank. The occupation government earlier on Wednesday said it would evacuate from 50,000 to 60,000 civilians across the river and onward to the occupied peninsula of Crimea or into Russia. Residents risked artillery fire from the Ukrainian Army or flooding from the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam on the Dnipro River, Mr. Saldo said.
Correction:
Oct. 19, 2022
An ear...
Ridiculous System Has Many Calling For An Interventional Cardiology Match
‘Ridiculous’ System Has Many Calling For An Interventional Cardiology Match https://digitalarkansasnews.com/ridiculous-system-has-many-calling-for-an-interventional-cardiology-match/
A match could increase fairness and give applicants more time to decide on their futures, even it means added fees.
On a Saturday morning in December 2019, Issa Kutkut, MD, then a second-year cardiology fellow at Virginia Commonwealth University, sat in a Boston hotel room grappling with his biggest career decision to date.
The day before he had interviewed for a position as an interventional cardiology (IC) fellow at his home institution and then flown to Boston for another interview, set to occur after the weekend. He woke up to receive an offer from the first, but there was a catch—he had to accept within 48 hours, and in doing so forgo any future opportunities.
“I accepted it and then I canceled the Boston interview that was on Monday, very short notice, and I also had interviews down the road, which I canceled as well,” he told TCTMD. “When I got more interviews, I told them that I already got a position.”
The whole experience was “tough, unpredictable, and chaotic,” added Kutkut, who now works at Lutheran Hospital (Fort Wayne, IN).
Last December, Kiersten Frenchu, MD (Temple Hospital, Philadelphia, PA), then a second-year general cardiology fellow, told TCTMD she started receiving interview requests—virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic—“almost immediately” following the opening of the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) cycle on the first of the month. This was much sooner than even her co-fellows who went through the process the year before had warned her about.
“I had probably close to a dozen scheduled in the first two and a half weeks of December,” she recalled. “And then by mid-December, I had actually signed a contract for fellowship and was juggling multiple offers from all over the country. Obviously, part of this acceleration is from the virtual interviews. So COVID was, in a way, a blessing for the taking away the travel and the huge financial burden of traveling everywhere, but really rapidly increased the pace of the interview process.”
This ultimately made the process “stressful” for Frenchu. “It was really hard just to time manage all of the interviews because sometimes it was multiple on the same day,” she said. “And then the stress of getting offers, how exciting that was, was quickly diminished by how quickly they needed a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. ‘Will you join them at XYZ location?’ There was never that much time to talk with your mentors or even your family, most importantly, about that decision.”
The stress of getting offers, how exciting that was, was quickly diminished by how quickly they needed a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. Kiersten Frenchu
For their internal medicine residency and general cardiology fellowship beforehand, interventional cardiology applicants have participated in the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) to match them to their programs after interviewing and submitting rank lists. And while all other cardiovascular specialty fellowships accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) use a match system to place candidates, interventional cardiology is the lone exception.
Not surprisingly, then, every trainee or recent graduate interviewed for this article had anxiety-ridden stories about their experience getting into interventional cardiology.
Sabeeda Kadavath, MD (St. Bernards Healthcare, Jonesboro, AR), recalled accepting her position with “still a dozen places left to interview at.” She reached out to these programs to let them know she was no longer seeking a spot, but they would still send her emails and even call her current program director to set interview dates, exacerbating any lingering doubts she had about having had to make a swift decision while demonstrating that even the programs themselves are paying a price. “There’s no real tally in real time of who’s accepted and who’s not,” she said, noting that this adds up to a lot of wasted effort.
Saraschandra Vallabhajosyula, MD (Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC), told TCTMD that when he went through the IC fellowship application process in late 2018 he received “a lot” of these so-called “exploding offers,” wherein he was expected to give an answer within 24-72 hours. “I went through the match for every single other landmark of my life except intervention, and this was by far the worst experience of my life in terms of how much stress and anxiety it caused,” he said.
Focusing on his work as a general cardiology trainee was practically impossible through this time, Vallabhajosyula added. “Thankfully for me, I was on an easy rotation and my program was able to give me time off, but I know many fellows who didn’t have that luxury.”
A Process Accelerated
The ERAS website currently lists 177 interventional cardiology fellowship programs, including 12 that don’t participate and 19 that are unregistered in the organization’s annual application process, meaning that they accept applications independently. The ERAS application process as it stands allows candidates to begin their application before the end of their first year of general cardiology fellowship, with the applications released to programs for review in early December.
“We’ve seen this evolution occur over the past 10 years—and it’s really accelerated over the past 2 or 3—where we used to interview cardiology fellows in the midst of their second year of fellowship,” Douglas Drachman, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston), told TCTMD. “It would often be sometime in April and that would be a little over a year before they’d be starting as an interventional fellow. . . . And it just very gradually moved from April or May to March then February then January. Just before the pandemic, there were a lot of folks who started receiving some offers earlier, primarily from their home institutions, calling and saying, ‘What could you do?’”
Last year, Drachman said his program received “around 160 to 180” applications for four spots, and within a week—before his team even had the chance to carefully review them all—“I had so many emails and voice mails from fellowship candidates saying we already have offers. . . . I just had never heard of anything like that before. It totally caught us unawares.”
I went through the match for every single other landmark of my life except intervention, and this was by far the worst experience of my life in terms of how much stress and anxiety it caused. Saraschandra Vallabhajosyula
J. Dawn Abbott, MD (Brown University, Providence, RI), who served as the program director for her institution’s IC fellowship up until last year, recalled a similar story. The current system is “way too rushed, where because there’s no set time line for fellows, they had to sort of grab any opportunity presented to them,” she said. “They may have had interviews scheduled but they’re put under ultimatums, which are really unfair to the applicant.”
The way the application process has evolved also “disadvantages individuals who come from programs without an interventional fellowship, who don’t have the luxury of just staying where they are,” Abbott added. “It might also disadvantage some minority or underrepresented candidates who are really looking for a program that they feel can train them well and the environment is supportive. And from a program’s standpoint, you lose the opportunity to showcase your strengths and to really sift through thoroughly the applicant pool.”
Drachman said the way the system has evolved has shifted “the power or the decision-making opportunity [from] the hands of the candidate, to rather favor the programs.”
When he applied for IC fellowship in 2019, Wally Omar, MD (Northwell Health, Manhasset, NY), called the process “nothing short of chaotic,” particularly the lack of a central location to find out information on all of the available programs and spots. “A lot of it comes down to word of mouth,” he lamented to TCTMD, “and cold emailing programs asking if they’re going to be opening up and what their time line is.”
This was unlike every other experience he had had thus far applying to residencies and fellowships. “It was really just playing a game and not really knowing who’s the winner and who’s the loser in all of this,” Omar said.
The interview process itself was taxing, but also told him a lot about the type of program to which he’d be committing. After one interview, “they offered me the position and they needed the decision by that same day before I left,” Omar recalled. “I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to have to talk to my wife about this.’ And they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, go call her and figure it out.’ Clearly that wasn’t in line with what I thought would be positive attitudes toward trainees in the future, and it didn’t align with me, so I declined.”
Frenchu said she is sympathetic to program directors who feel compelled to fill their slots by offering time-sensitive offers but called that practice “predatory.” She speculated that the current system might be a reflection of the type of field interventional cardiology has become.
“It speaks to some of the competitive mindset that some places might have,” she said. “I do think somehow that not focusing on wellness and work life balance . . . comes through. And if it was family focused, I think it would also probably be more women focused too.”
Omar acknowledged that interventional cardiologists “pride ourselves on being able to stay calm in chaotic situations and really get from one step to the next,” and argued that one reason the field hasn’t moved toward a match system is “just because we’re used to that in our daily lives.”
Calls for Change
Many agreed it’s surprising that interventional cardiology is the last subspeciality within cardiology to not use a match system to place fello...
Dawes Announce https://digitalarkansasnews.com/dawes-announce/
Acclaimed LA-based rockers Dawes have announced plans for a US headline tour. An Evening With Dawes US Tour 2023 gets underway March 2, 2023 at Birmingham, AL’s Iron City, and then travel the country through a homecoming finale at Los Angeles, CA’s The Theatre at Ace Hotel on May 5, 2023.
Highlights include stops at such historic venues as Nashville, TN’s Ryman Auditorium (March 4, 2023), New York City’s Beacon Theatre (March 18, 2023), and San Francisco, CA’s The Fillmore (April 26), as well as a special two-night stand at the world- famous Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, CA (April 27-28, 2023).
Spotify Presales begin Wednesday, October 19 at 10:00 am and conclude at 10:00 pm (local). Local Presales begin Thursday, October 20 at 10:00 am and conclude at 10:00 pm (local). General on-sales begin Friday, October 21 at 10:00 am (local). For complete details and ticket availability, please see here.
“We’re back to the Evening With format,” says Taylor Goldsmith. “Two sets. Just us. Long nights. Full hearts. Buy tickets. Come early. We’ll all have to break out the catalog master lists and bingo cards as we try to get to every song we’ve got.”
AN EVENING WITH DAWES U.S. TOUR 2023
MARCH 2023
2 – Birmingham, AL – Iron City
3 – Atlanta, GA – The Eastern
4 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
5 – Louisville, KY – Headliners Music Hall
7 – Bloomington, IN – Bluebird
8 – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
10 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
11 – Harrisburg, PA – XL Live
12 – Washington, DC – Warner Theatre
14 – Ridgefield, CT – Ridgefield Playhouse
16 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore Philadelphia
17 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner
18 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre
APRIL 2023
6 – Dallas, TX – The Factory in Deep Ellum
7 – Houston, TX – The Heights
8 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater
11 – Fayetteville, AR – JJ’s Live
12 – St Louis, MO – The Pageant
14 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre-WI
15 – St. Paul, MN – Palace Theatre
16 – Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall
18 – Wichita, KS – Wave
19 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
20 – South Salt Lake, UT – The Commonwealth Room
22 – Seattle, WA – Neptune Theatre
23 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
26 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
27 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern
28 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern
MAY 2023
5 – Los Angeles, CA – The Theatre at Ace Hotel
The upcoming live run celebrates the recent release of Dawes’s critically acclaimed eighth studio album, MISADVENTURES OF DOOMSCROLLER, available everywhere now via Rounder Records. Produced by longtime collaborator Jonathan Wilson (Billy Strings, Father John Misty, Angel Olsen), MISADVENTURES OF DOOMSCROLLER represents an adventurous new turn for Dawes, evincing a more ambitious, exploratory approach towards recording than ever before.
The album includes such singles as “Ghost In The Machine,” “Everything Is Permanent,” “Comes In Waves,” and the epic opening track, “Someone Else’s Café / Doomscroller Tries to Relax,” all available now at all DSPs and streaming services. Official performance videos as well as a complete in-the-round performance of MISADVENTURES OF DOOMSCROLLER in its entirety – all directed by Caitlin Gerard at Hollywood, CA’s historic EastWest Studios – are streaming now via YouTube.
Dawes marked the arrival of MISADVENTURES OF DOOMSCROLLER with a wide-ranging series of live dates, including headline shows, a summer run with The Head and The Heart, a unique co-headline tour with GRAMMY® Award-nominated Canadian artist Bahamas, and festival sets around the world.
In addition, Dawes made history with a record-setting performance of “Someone Else’s Café / Doomscroller Tries to Relax” on CBS Saturday Morning – at 10 minutes and 5 seconds, the longest live performance of a single song on US TV to date.
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Trumps Treasury Secretary To Be Called To Testify In 'espionage Lite' Trial: Report
Trump’s Treasury Secretary To Be Called To Testify In 'espionage Lite' Trial: Report https://digitalarkansasnews.com/trumps-treasury-secretary-to-be-called-to-testify-in-espionage-lite-trial-report/
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Durham Probe Failing To Deliver On Trump's Promises
Durham Probe Failing To Deliver On Trump's Promises https://digitalarkansasnews.com/durham-probe-failing-to-deliver-on-trumps-promises/
There’s a page on the Justice Department’s website dedicated to Special Counsel John Durham’s 3½-year investigation into the origins of the FBI probe of ties between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government.
Under “News,” it includes just two items, both announcing indictments of men accused of making false statements to the FBI. As of Tuesday, both cases have ended in acquittals.
What You Need To Know
Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation has not come close to delivering on the promises of Trump and his supporters that it would expose a “deep state” conspiracy that the FBI, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and others were working to ruin Trump politically through the Russia investigation
Durham has not pursued prosecution of any high-level officials or charged anyone with conspiracy, and he has brought just two losing cases to trial
It now appears the Durham probe is drawing to a close with no resounding victories
In his closing arguments at the trial of Russian national Igor Danchenko on Monday, Durham defended his investigation and denied that it was politically motivated
The webpage is a reminder that the Durham investigation has not come close to delivering on the promises of Trump and his supporters that it would expose a “deep state” conspiracy that the FBI, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and others were working to ruin Trump politically through the Russia investigation.
Durham has not pursued prosecution of any high-level officials or charged anyone with conspiracy. He has brought just two losing cases to trial.
His lone achievement was securing a guilty plea by an FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, who admitted to doctoring an email used to renew a court-approved wiretap of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Durham’s team negotiated a plea deal with Clinesmith that resulted in no jail time.
The Clinesmith case was not uncovered by Durham’s investigation, but rather by the Justice Department’s inspector general.
It now appears the Durham probe is drawing to a close with no resounding victories.
Durham’s office declined to answer questions from Spectrum News on Wednesday about what is next for the investigation.
The New York Times, citing three people familiar with the matter, reported last month that Durham had no plans to prosecute any other cases and that his team was working to complete a final report before the end of the year. Attorney General Merrick Garland will decide whether to make Durham’s findings public.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr, who claimed there was no basis for the Russia probe, assigned the investigation to Durham in May 2019 and designated him a special counsel in October 2020.
In his closing arguments at the trial of Russian national Igor Danchenko on Monday, Durham defended his investigation and denied that it was politically motivated.
Durham noted to the jury that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia probe concluded that “there’s no evidence of collusion here or conspiracy. Is it the wrong question to ask, well, then how did this get started?”
Mueller’s team detailed “numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign” but did not find sufficient evidence the campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the election. The Mueller report also laid out several instances in which Trump may have obstructed justice, but Barr declined to bring charges.
In a glimpse of what his final report might include, Durham attacked the competence of FBI agents and analysts — who were the prosecution’s key witnesses — for failing to pursue leads when they vetted the sourcing of the dossier, written by former British spy Christopher Steele, that was at the center of the most recent case.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly pointed to the discredited dossier — Democratic-funded opposition research that included salacious allegations that Russia had blackmail material on Trump — as the basis for the probe that was launched by the FBI in 2016 and later handed over to Mueller.
A 2019 DOJ watchdog report concluded that the FBI investigation was already underway before the Steele dossier surfaced. The probe, according to the inspector general, was launched after emails obtained by Russians who hacked the Democratic National Committee’s computers were published online and a foreign diplomat tipped off U.S. officials that Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos had bragged to him about Russia offering to help release damaging information on Hillary Clinton, Trump’s opponent.
The trial this week involved charges brought by Durham against Russian analyst Danchenko, who by his own admission provided 80% of the raw intelligence in the Steele dossier.
Prosecutors accused Danchenko of lying about the identity of his own sources for the material he gave to Steele. The specific charges allege that he essentially fabricated one of his sources when the FBI interviewed him to determine how he derived the material he provided for the dossier.
Trial testimony indicated that Danchenko was shocked and dismayed about how Steele presented the material and portrayed it as factual when Danchenko considered it more to be rumor and speculation.
Prosecutors said that if Danchenko had been more honest about his sources, the FBI might not have treated the dossier so credulously. As it turned out, the FBI used material from the dossier to support applications for the surveillance of Page, even though the FBI never was able to corroborate a single allegation in the dossier.
Still, special counsel Durham’s team fell so short of proving its case that U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga acquitted Danchenko of one of the five charges before it even reached the jury. Trenga nearly threw out all of the charges before the trial began, citing the legal strength of Danchenko’s defense, but he allowed the case to proceed in what he described as “an extremely close call.”
Durham declined comment after the trial, but he said in a statement issued through the Justice Department: “While we are disappointed in the outcome, we respect the jury’s decision and thank them for their service. I also want to recognize and thank the investigators and the prosecution team for their dedicated efforts in seeking truth and justice in this case.”
He issued an identical statement after the first trial ended in acquittal.
In the other case brought by Durham, a jury in May acquitted Michael Sussmann, an attorney for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Prosecutors accused Sussman of lying to the FBI when he shared concerns in 2016 about what he believed was suspicious internet server activity between the Kremlin-linked Alfa Bank and The Trump Organization.
Durham’s team said Sussman wasn’t truthful when he said he was not working on behalf of any client; Sussman insisted he was merely raising concerns on his own behalf about a potential national security threat.
Trump has long claimed Durham’s investigation would reveal “the single biggest political crime in the history of our country” — and he even pressed Durham to release his report ahead of the 2020 election.
On Wednesday, the former president posted on his Truth Social platform that the Danchenko verdict was a “very sad result for our Justice System, but so much has been exposed—far more than anyone thought possible.” He linked to a Fox News opinion piece that repeated claims Durham has not proved and blamed the special counsel’s court losses on the trials being held in cities dominated by Democrats.
His daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, told Fox News, where she is a contributor, on Wednesday morning that she believed the case against Danchenko was “proven at a certain point in this trial and yet found not guilty. I think it’s very upsetting.”
She also voiced frustration that no one was being held accountable for the “Russia collusion hoax.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a staunch Trump ally, had a different take, telling Newsmax he doesn’t think Durham’s cases have been “sincere prosecutions” and that “they exist to try to whitewash the corrupt actions of the FBI.”
“Durham is not prosecuting these cases to obtain convictions,” Gaetz said. “I believe, the entire purpose of Durham’s work is to cast the FBI as the victim rather than the perpetrator.”
On the Democratic side, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island summed up news of the Danchenko acquittal by tweeting, “An ignominious end to one of the Trumpier moments at the DOJ.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Legal Experts: Trump just Blasted His Own Defense Apart In Truth Social Rant About Rape Accuser
Legal Experts: Trump “just Blasted His Own Defense Apart” In Truth Social Rant About Rape Accuser https://digitalarkansasnews.com/legal-experts-trump-just-blasted-his-own-defense-apart-in-truth-social-rant-about-rape-accuser/
Former President Donald Trump may have undercut his legal defense in a defamation lawsuit after lashing out on Truth Social against rape accuser E. Jean Carroll.
Carroll, a longtime Elle Magazine columnist, accused Trump of rape in a 2019 book, alleging that he raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s. Carroll claimed Trump pushed her against the wall, pulled down her tights and forced himself on her.
Trump at the time claimed that he and Carroll had never met and that she was “totally lying,” arguing that she was “not my type.” Carroll filed a defamation suit against the former president, claiming that his attacks harmed her reputation.
Trump this week on Truth Social claimed that the “‘Ms. Bergdorf Goodman’ case is a complete con job,” and repeated that Carroll was not his “type.”
“It is a Hoax and a lie, just like all the other Hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years,” Trump wrote. “And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will.”
Carroll’s legal team declined to comment on the matter. “The latest statement from Donald Trump obviously does not merit a response,” a spokesperson for Carroll’s legal team said in a statement.
The tirade may have blown a hole in Trump’s defense in the case. His lawyers have long argued that he couldn’t be held personally responsible in the suit because any denials of the allegations came during his term and thus were a part of his official duties as president.
However, his latest denial and online harassment of Carroll were made as a private citizen, at a time when he is no longer protected by the presidency.
Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor for Detroit, said Carroll would benefit from amending her complaint to include an additional count based on the Truth Social post. “Because Trump is no longer president, this statement was most certainly not made in the scope of his federal employment,” McQuade told VICE News.
Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe agreed that “Trump just blasted his own defense apart in the defamation suit brought by E. Jean Carroll.”
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A Washington D.C. court is now deciding whether Trump was an official federal employee when he made his statement of denial in 2019 — if so, the United States could be listed as the defendant in the case, essentially nulling the suit as the federal government cannot be sued for defamation.
Manhattan Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan in 2020 rejected the notion that Trump was performing official duties when he made his first statements about Carroll. Kaplan wrote that “the allegations have no relationship to the official business of the United States.” He said this month that Trump “should not be permitted to run the clock out.”
The judge ordered Trump to sit for a deposition on Wednesday.
Trump’s team is sticking by the claim.
“We are confident that the D.C. Court of Appeals will find that our client was acting within the scope of his employment when properly repudiating Ms. Carroll’s allegations,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said in a recent statement to the New York Times.
The announcement comes just weeks after Habba asked Kaplan to delay the deposition until the D.C. appeal was decided, arguing that if her client won, the case would disappear. The request was denied on Oct. 12, as Kaplan found that Trump had brought the case to Washington “with the effect and probably the purpose of delaying it.” A trial date has been set for Feb. 6, 2023.
Carroll’s lawyers have also said that she plans to file another case against Trump in November under a new state law allowing victims of sexual assault a one-time opportunity to sue, even if, as in this case, the statute of limitations has expired.
“The question whether Mr. Trump in fact raped Ms. Carroll is central to this case,” Judge Kaplan explained. “It will be central also to the new case.”
CNN legal analyst Paul Callan warned that the case could be “dangerous” for Trump as his legal problems mount.
“He is being charged, essentially in a defamation case, with rape,” Callan explained. “[Carroll] brings the case not as a rape case but as a defamation case because the statute of limitations was gone on the rape case. However, when he gives this press conference saying, ‘She’s a liar, I never raped her, she’s not my type, she’s just doing it to amp up book sales,’ she says he defamed her and that gets the rape case in.”
“There’s one sleeper fact in this case that I think is very dangerous for Trump,” Callan added. “She claims she still has an article of clothing that she was wearing 23 years ago when the former president allegedly raped her and she wants to be able to have DNA sample testing done with respect to that in connection with this case. So we will see how that plays out.”
Conservative attorney George Conway, a frequent Trump critic, wrote on Twitter that Trump had a chance of winning the defamation case if he had not issued “a BRAND NEW statement REPEATING all the earlier defamatory statements, but since you’re no longer POTUS, you NO LONGER HAVE THAT DEFENSE you’ve been pushing for years that you made the statements while you were president!!!”
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Overall Arkansas High School Tennis State Championships Roundup
Overall Arkansas High School Tennis State Championships Roundup https://digitalarkansasnews.com/overall-arkansas-high-school-tennis-state-championships-roundup/
By Jeff Halpern
State overall tennis champions were crowned Tuesday in boys singles and doubles, girls singles and doubles at the State Overall Tournament at Burns Park in North Little Rock.
BOYS SINGLES
Ethan Richardson of Jonesboro, the Class 6A champion, defeated Graham Hardin of Bentonville West 6-4, 6-3 to win the championship in a rematch of the 6A championship.
Richardson received a first-round bye and defeated Alex Patrick of Shiloh Christian, 6-0, 6-0 before beating Keeton Dassinger of Episcopal Collegiate, 7-5, 6-1. Hardin, who received a first-round bye, defeated Shawn Hudson-Seegraves of Piggott, 6-1, 6-0 before beating Ben Holis of Hot Springs Lakeside 6-3, 6-2.
BOYS DOUBLES
Boyce Reed and Santiago Aquirre of Bentonville defeated Jacob Nordin and Spencer Holloway of Fayetteville, 6-3, 7-6 for the championship, earning a measure of revenge after losing the 6A title the previous week. Reed and Aquirre defeated Matthew Wewers and Nick Adams of Subiaco Academy, 6-1, 6-0 in the first round before beating Grayson Cornelison and Barrett Tipton of Hot Springs Lakeside, 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals.
Nordin and Holloway received a first-round bye before beating Matthew New and Rhett Rabb of Central Arkansas Christian, 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals and beating Aiden Matthews and Justus Thurlby of Shiloh Christian, 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals.
GIRLS SINGLES
Cassie Cervantes of Bentonville West defeated Stella DeVera of Rogers Heritage 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 for the championships.
DeVera lost to Ella Coleman of Bentonville, 7-6, 6-4 for the Class 6A title.
Cervantes received a first-round bye before beating Lovey Reynolds of Episcopal, 6-0, 6-2 and Zayla Ware of Joe T. Robinson, 6-0, 6-4 in the semifinals.
De Vera defeated Aubrey Walters of Elkins, 6-1, 6-0 and Otha Los of Siloam Springs, 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals.
GIRLS DOUBLES
Leena Cashman and Naya Kessman of Haas Hall Fayetteville, who won the Class 3A title, defeated Caroline Lasley and Kyushu Patil of Little Rock Central, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 for the title.
Cashman and Kessman received a first-round bye before beating Elizabeth Cowen and Sabrina Long of Hot Springs Lakeside, 6-1, 6-1 and Glennah Langford and Kavya Kurichety of Bentonville, 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 in the semifinals.
Lasley and Patil had a first-round bye before beating Handley Humphrey and Emily Vold of Shiloh Christian, 6-1, 6-1 and Jaymie Angtuaco and Danna Homsi of Pulaski Academy, 6-3, 6-2.
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Yasmene McDaniel Named Chief Executive Officer Of HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast
Yasmene McDaniel Named Chief Executive Officer Of HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast https://digitalarkansasnews.com/yasmene-mcdaniel-named-chief-executive-officer-of-hca-houston-healthcare-southeast/
Yasmene McDaniel
Yasmene McDaniel, CEO of HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast
Houston, Oct. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — HCA Healthcare Gulf Coast Division President Troy Villarreal today announced Yasmene McDaniel has been named chief executive officer (CEO) of HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast, effective October 17, 2022.
McDaniel has served as interim CEO of HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast since June 2022. She joined the HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast team in July 2021 as chief operating officer (COO).
“In addition to cultivating strong relationships with Southeast’s medical staff and community leaders, Yasmene has been instrumental in the growth of service lines and in providing oversight for multiple facility construction and expansion projects,” said Villarreal. “She has a proven track record in leading strategic planning and business development initiatives and in improving colleague, patient and physician engagement. I know she will continue to utilize her operational experience to lead Southeast to even stronger years ahead.”
Driven by a calling to increase healthcare access and quality for communities in need, McDaniel has served in several healthcare leadership roles in her 15 years in hospital and physician group operations. Prior to her role at Southeast, McDaniel was the COO of Corpus Christi Medical Center. She also held multiple positions during her three-year tenure in the Houston market with HCA Healthcare Physician Services Group.
Before joining HCA Healthcare, McDaniel served as chief administrative officer at Sparks Health System in Fort Smith, Arkansas and led development initiatives for the Jackson Health System in Miami, Florida, including opening a new hospital.
A native Texan, McDaniel holds two master’s degrees in business administration and healthcare administration from Texas Woman’s University in Denton and a bachelor of science degree from Baylor University. She is active in several community chambers of commerce, is a board member of the Southeast Texas Chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
McDaniel is the first black hospital CEO appointed to serve in the Gulf Coast Division. “I always wanted to work in healthcare and am thankful for all the opportunities I’ve experienced to prepare me for this next step in my career,” said McDaniel. “I am honored to serve HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast, which has a rich culture of providing compassionate care. I look forward to working with our care teams and medical staff to continue the longstanding legacy of providing exceptional care to our community.”
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Interview requests are welcome.
About HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast
HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast has served Southeast Harris County for more than 60 years. The 361-bed hospital offers a full spectrum of services, including a Level III Trauma Center, an accredited Chest Pain Center, a Primary Stroke Center, and an accredited surgical weight loss program. The hospital has several specialty services including the Center for Neurosciences and Orthopedics, the Center for Cardiovascular Services, two free-standing emergency departments and an offsite Rehabilitation Hospital currently under construction. HCA Houston Healthcare Southeast is recognized as an area leader for women’s services and is supported by its Level III neonatal intensive care unit, 24/7 OB hospitalists, and three offsite midwifery clinics. The hospital received a Spring 2022 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade “A” and has been recognized by multiple organizations as a top place to work. For more information, visit HCAhoustonhealthcare.com/southeast
About HCA Houston Healthcare
HCA Houston Healthcare is the leading provider of healthcare in the Greater Houston area, treating nearly a million patients annually. With an employee base of 15,000, HCA Houston Healthcare’s comprehensive network includes: 13 hospitals, 10 outpatient surgery centers, 11 freestanding emergency centers and numerous freestanding diagnostic imaging facilities. The system operates a regional transfer center that provides support for patient transfers into and out of its facilities, as well as access to ground and air transportation within a 150-mile radius. As one of the region’s largest healthcare systems, HCA Houston Healthcare recognizes the importance of giving back to the communities it serves. A strong advocate for the next generation of healthcare professionals, HCA Houston Healthcare is a major supporter of the University of Houston College of Nursing and the new University of Houston College of Medicine. For more information, visit HCAhoustonhealthcare.com.
About HCA Healthcare Gulf Coast Division
HCA Houston Healthcare is the leading provider of healthcare in the Greater Houston area, treating nearly a million patients annually. With an employee base of 15,000, HCA Houston Healthcare’s comprehensive network includes: 13 hospitals, 10 outpatient surgery centers, 11 freestanding emergency centers and numerous freestanding diagnostic imaging facilities. The system operates a regional transfer center that provides support for patient transfers into and out of its facilities, as well as access to ground and air transportation within a 150-mile radius. As one of the region’s largest healthcare systems, HCA Houston Healthcare recognizes the importance of giving back to the communities it serves. A strong advocate for the next generation of healthcare professionals, HCA Houston Healthcare is a major supporter of the University of Houston College of Nursing and the new University of Houston College of Medicine. For more information, visit HCAhoustonhealthcare.com.
Attachment
Yasmene McDaniel
CONTACT: Annette Garber HCA Houston Healthcare 281-928-0129 Annette.Garber@HCAhealthcare.com
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Donald Trump Advises Kanye West Needs https://digitalarkansasnews.com/donald-trump-advises-kanye-west-needs/
Donald Trump advises Kanye West needs ‘help’ amid ‘strange’ behavior: Report
Donald Trump believes Kanye West is acting “too strange” and needs “help” amid the rapper’s anti-semitism outburst, despite throwing his weight behind the rapper in earlier controversies.
As per Rolling Stone, the former president has told some people close to him that the rapper’s social media rants, in which he said he planned to go “death con 3” on “JEWISH PEOPLE,” have led him to believe that West is acting too “crazy.” He should seek out professional “help.”
Sources confided to the American magazine that the head of Trump is on purpose deflecting questions on the strings of scandals the Donda rapper stirred since his railing against the Jewish community.
Trump’s former adviser, pastor Darrell Scott revealed to the magazine the ex-president’s reaction to Ye’s now-infamous interview with Fox’s host Tucker Carlson.
“Two minutes after the Tucker segment ended, I called up Trump and asked him, ‘So, what did you think?'” Mr. Scott told Rolling Stone.
“Interesting,” the twice-impeached president responded before Mr. Scott relayed how he went on to add, “I will say this — he loves Trump!”
Mr. Scott told the former president that West turned on Jared Kusher, “sure threw Jared under the bus,” to which Trump responded: “Well, these things happen sometimes.”
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Nominee For NV Elections Post Misses Finance Report Deadline
Nominee For NV Elections Post Misses Finance Report Deadline https://digitalarkansasnews.com/nominee-for-nv-elections-post-misses-finance-report-deadline/
By GABE STERN Associated Press/Report for America
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Republican Secretary of State candidate Jim Marchant is the only statewide candidate in Nevada who has yet to file his campaign finance report, having missed Monday’s deadline.
A central duty of the secretary of state’s office is administering elections, handling campaign finance reports and enforcing reporting deadlines for contribution and expenditure reports. The secretary of state also registers corporations and limited liability companies and represents the third highest ranking state official behind the governor and lieutenant governor.
Marchant’s campaign did not immediately respond to an email request for comment Tuesday. The secretary of state’s office declined to comment.
Campaign reporting deadlines normally fall on the 15th of the month for April, July, October and January. But since it fell on a Saturday this month, the deadline was moved to Monday at 5 p.m.
Marchant had not filed by late afternoon Tuesday.
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If the report is filed one to seven days late, the candidate must pay a $25 daily fee. For eight to 15 days late, the penalty is $50 a day. And if the report is filed more than 15 days late, it is $100 a day the up to a maximum of $10,000.
Marchant is among the America First Secretary of State Coalition candidates who deny the legitimacy of the 2020 election and vow to scrap early voting and vote-counting tabulators.
Standing next to former President Donald Trump at a rally in rural Nevada this month, Marchant said if his coalition is elected, “we’re going to fix the whole country. And President Trump is going to be president again in 2024.”
Through the first two reporting periods that span from January 1 to June 30, Marchant raised more than $301,000 and spent nearly $328,000. More than half his contributions came from himself. He had a balance of nearly $15,200 at the end of June.
His opponent, Democrat Cisco Aguilar, raised more than $647,000 and spent $205,400 through June 30. Aguilar submitted his report from this period on time, which runs from July 1 to September 30. That report shows he raised an additional $1.15 million and spent $554,000 through Sep. 30. Some of his biggest donors include Wynn Resorts and the Bellagio Hotel and Casino.
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Stern is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Stern on Twitter: @gabestern326.
Election 2022
This Is Reno is focused on the mayoral, city and county races for the 2022 election.
This Is Reno is your source for award-winning independent, online Reno news and events since 2009. We are locally owned and operated.
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Doctor: Fetterman Has auditory Processing Disorder Symptoms But No Work Limits
Doctor: Fetterman Has ‘auditory Processing Disorder’ Symptoms, But No Work Limits https://digitalarkansasnews.com/doctor-fetterman-has-auditory-processing-disorder-symptoms-but-no-work-limits/
Pennsylvania Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke in May, is showing symptoms of “an auditory processing disorder which can come across as hearing difficulty,” but he has no work restrictions, his primary care doctor said in a letter released by his campaign Wednesday.
The Oct. 15 note from Clifford Chen, a physician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, says Fetterman, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, had a follow-up visit on Oct. 14. “Occasional words he will ‘miss’ which seems like he doesn’t hear the word but it is actually not processed properly,” Chen writes.
Fetterman and his aides have often mentioned this condition. He has relied on closed-captioning in interviews with the press and will do so again during a debate next week against Republican nominee Mehmet Oz.
The Democratic nominee’s “hearing of sound such as music is not affected. His communication is significantly improved compared to his first visit assisted by speech therapy, which he has attended on a regular basis since the stroke,” writes Chen. Fetterman has acknowledged that he sometimes stumbles over his words.
The letter marks the most detailed information Fetterman’s campaign has provided from a doctor since an early June letter explaining that surgery conducted 17 days earlier to install a defibrillator was to treat a previously undisclosed diagnosis of cardiomyopathy, and not for atrial fibrillation as the campaign originally claimed.
Chen writes that Fetterman’s vital signs, such blood pressure, heart rate and pulse oximetry, were normal. All of his bloodwork, including cholesterol and liver function, were also normal, Chen writes. Fetterman has no strength or coordination difficulties or cognitive impairments. His remaining issue, Chen writes, is auditory processing.
Oz has attacked Fetterman for not releasing more detailed medical records or making his doctors available for interviews with the press.
Chen writes that he’s consulted with Fetterman’s neurologist and cardiologist. Fetterman takes “appropriate medications to optimize his heart condition and prevent future strokes.” Fetterman is “well and shows strong commitment to maintaining good fitness and health practices. He has no work restrictions and can work full duty in public office,” Chen writes.
Fetterman won the Democratic nomination days after his May stroke without fully disclosing the extent of his physical condition. He revealed more than two weeks later that he had been diagnosed in 2017 with cardiomyopathy that decreased the amount of blood his heart could pump and had failed to take his medications and follow up with a doctor.
Oz has released three letters written by his doctor from this year and recent years that describe his health as “excellent.”
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Minister Departs UK Govt In New Blow To Embattled Liz Truss
Minister Departs UK Govt In New Blow To Embattled Liz Truss https://digitalarkansasnews.com/minister-departs-uk-govt-in-new-blow-to-embattled-liz-truss/
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Liz Truss described herself as “a fighter and not a quitter” Wednesday as she faced down a hostile opposition and fury from her own Conservative Party over her botched economic plan.
Yet the grim faces of Conservative lawmakers behind her in the House of Commons suggested that Truss faces an uphill struggle to save her job. Within hours of Truss’ appearance in Parliament for a regular session titled Prime Minister’s Questions, a senior member of her government left her post with a fusillade of criticism.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she resigned after breaching rules by sending an official document from her personal email account. In her resignation letter, Braverman said she had “concerns about the direction of this government” and — in a thinly veiled attack on Truss — said “the business of government relies upon people accepting responsibility for their mistakes.”
“Pretending we haven’t made mistakes, carrying on as if everyone can’t see that we have made them and hoping that things will magically come right is not serious politics,” she said.
Braverman is a popular figure on the Conservative Party’s right wing and a champion of more restrictive immigration policies.
Her departure comes days after Truss fired her Treasury chief, Kwasi Kwarteng, on Friday after the economic package the pair drew up spooked financial markets when it was announced on Sept. 23.
The plan’s 45 billion pounds ($50 billion) in unfunded tax cuts sparked turmoil on financial markets, hammering the value of the pound and increasing the cost of U.K. government borrowing. The Bank of England was forced to intervene to prevent the crisis from spreading to the wider economy and putting pension funds at risk.
Truss attended her first session of Prime Minister’s Questions since Kwarteng’s replacement, Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt, ripped up the tax-cutting package unveiled by her new government less than a month ago.
She apologized to Parliament and admitted she had made mistakes during her short tenure as the U.K.’s head of government, but insisted that by changing course she had “taken responsibility and made the right decisions in the interest of the country’s economic stability.”
Opposition lawmakers shouted “Resign!” as she spoke.
Asked by opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, “Why is she still here?” Truss retorted: “I am a fighter and not a quitter. I have acted in the national interest to make sure that we have economic stability.”
On Monday Hunt scrapped almost all of Truss’ tax cuts, along with her flagship energy policy and her promise of no public spending cuts. He said the government will need to save billions of pounds and there are “many difficult decisions” to be made before he sets out a medium-term fiscal plan on Oct. 31.
Official figures released Wednesday showed U.K. inflation rose to 10.1% in September, returning to a 40-year high first hit in July, as the soaring cost of food squeezed household budgets. While inflation is high around the world — driven up by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its effect on energy supplies — polls show most Britons blame the government for the country’s economic pain.
Opponents also accuse the Conservative government of sowing chaos by flip-flopping on policy. On Wednesday, Truss reassured retirees that pensions would continue to rise in line with inflation — less than 24 hours after her spokesman said the government was considering removing the expensive pledge as it seeks to cut public spending.
With opinion polls giving the Labour Party a large and growing lead, many Conservatives now believe their only hope of avoiding electoral oblivion is to replace Truss. But she insists she is not stepping down, and legislators are divided about how to get rid of her.
New Foreign Secretary James Cleverly urged Conservatives to give Truss another chance, saying “mistakes happen.”
“What you’ve got to do is recognize when they’ve happened and have humility to make changes when you see things didn’t go right,” he said.
Truss faces another test in Parliament later Wednesday when lawmakers vote on a Labour Party motion seeking to ban fracking for shale gas — a policy that Truss recently approved.
Conservative Party whips said the vote would be treated as “a confidence motion in the government,” meaning the government would fall if the motion passed, triggering an election. The Conservatives’ 70-plus majority makes that unlikely, but the vote will be closely watched for signs of dissent about Truss’ leadership.
Truss’ press secretary said the prime minister was “not resigning” and was in a “determined” mood.
A national election does not have to be held until 2024. Truss on Wednesday appeared to rule out calling an early election, saying “what is important is we work together … to get through this winter and protect the economy.”
Under Conservative Party rules, Truss is safe from a leadership challenge for a year, but the rules can be changed if enough lawmakers want it. There is fevered speculation about how many lawmakers have already submitted letters calling for a no-confidence vote.
Some Conservative legislators believe Truss could be forced to resign if the party agrees on a successor.
As yet, there is no front-runner. Truss’ defeated Conservative leadership rival Rishi Sunak, House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt and popular Defense Secretary Ben Wallace all have supporters, as does Hunt, who many see as the de facto prime minister already.
Some even favor the return of Boris Johnson, who was ousted in the summer after becoming enmeshed in ethics scandals.
Cleverly said he understood why colleagues were angry, but said “defenestrating another prime minister” was the wrong thing to do.
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Follow AP’s coverage of British politics at https://apnews.com/hub/liz-truss
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Expert Advisers Urge FDA To Pull Pregnancy Drug From Market
Expert Advisers Urge FDA To Pull Pregnancy Drug From Market https://digitalarkansasnews.com/expert-advisers-urge-fda-to-pull-pregnancy-drug-from-market/
An expert panel convened by the Food and Drug Administration voted 14-1 on Wednesday to recommend withdrawing a preterm pregnancy treatment from the market, saying it does not work. The drugmaker and some patient groups had argued there is evidence to suggest it might work in a narrow population that includes Black women at high risk of giving birth too soon.
Peter Stein, director of the Office of New Drugs at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, acknowledged in closing arguments clinicians’ arguments about the need for an effective drug to reduce the incidence of preterm birth — a leading cause of infant mortality in the United States. He said the agency agrees with clinicians who testified during three days of hearings on the urgent need for such a drug, but only if the data and science support it — and that is not the case for Makena.
“Hope is a reason to keep looking for options that are effective, whether we find them here or elsewhere,” he said. “Hope is not a reason to take a drug that is not shown to be effective. or keep it on the market.”
The recommendations of the panel of independent advisers are nonbinding, though the agency usually follows its advice. Withdrawing a drug from the market is a highly unusual step.
The three day hearing was emotional both for members of the public, as well as the panel members of the Obstetrics, Reproductive, and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee.
Several health groups have supported keeping Makena on the market while further study is done, worried that pulling it could deepen health inequities. “We believe that removing access will have a detrimental impact on the health of women and birthing people at risk of recurrent preterm births and will not impact all women equally,” said Martha Nolan, senior policy adviser at HealthyWomen, nonprofit women’s health group focused on helping women making informed decisions about their care.
Members of the panel, which is made up of maternal health experts, neonatologists, statisticians, and other experts, related the difficulty of their decision.
“I’m so disappointed … I wish we weren’t sitting here today,” one member said. Another expressed “deep sadness” about the large trial of Makena that showed no benefit.
Esther Eisenberg, a reproductive endocrinologist, supported withdrawing the drug, “but I’m very conflicted. This is a very very difficult question.”
Cassandra Henderson, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist in New York City who was the sole panel member who argued the large clinical trial showed promise for some patient subgroups and who voted to keep the drug on the market, said she was concerned about the low representation of minority women in the trial, as “we do know race is sort of a surrogate for racism and all the structural inequities.”
Drugmaker Covis Pharma and its backers have argued that study may have missed its benefits in high-risk populations in the United States because participants were largely Eastern Europe and only 7 percent Black. In a filing with the FDA, the drug company called the latter trial “flawed,” not only because of its racial demographics, but also because the population was low-risk and the women had access to national health-care systems that differ greatly from the complex piecemeal system in the United States.
Raghav Chari, chief innovation officer for Covis, had testified the company was willing to work with the agency to limit Makena’s use to “a higher-risk target population” only and would also agree to stop active promotion of the drug.
He called this a “practical approach” that would enable individual physicians in consultation with their patients to make decisions about whether using the drug might be helpful.
Chari said Covis is committed to conducting additional studies to address questions about the drug’s potential risks and benefits, emphasizing that reducing preterm birth is a public health priority and an area of unmet need in drug development.
“We are not proposing that race biologically differentiates patients,” he said Wednesday. “At the same time, it is well-documented that preterm birth disproportionately impacts women who are Black and other minorities in the United States. These and other social determinants of risk are factors in defining the higher-risk population where Makena is most likely to be effective.”
But Joseph Alukal, a urologist who is director of men’s health at Columbia/NewYork-Presbyterian suggested the racial inequity argument “implies the drug is effective and implies the drug is safe” when we don’t actually have an answer on that.
Mark Hudak, a neonatologist the University of Florida College of Medicine, said he is “sensitive to the disparity issues that have been raised.” However, he said allowing Makena to remain on the market is not appropriate and would result in “complete regulatory chaos.”
Makena was approved by the FDA in 2011 under an accelerated approval program for drugs that treat serious conditions for which there are no treatments. The drugmakers are then required to conduct studies confirming the drug’s benefits to continue selling the medication. But the debate over Makena’s effectiveness more than a decade after its approval underscores the complexities of that program, highlighting how it can take the agency years to pull a drug from the market even if officials believe it’s ineffective.
In the case of Makena, the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research proposed withdrawing it from the market in October 2020 — a move that followed an expert advisory panel’s 9-7 vote a year earlier to pull it from the market based on disappointing results from a large confirmatory study. But regulatory requirements, as well as the pandemic, have slowed the process.
The FDA’s Stein argued that leaving Makena on the market for a narrowed use would “upend the intention of the accelerated pathway.” He argued that “absent evidence of effectiveness, we are only left with risk. The benefit-risk balance for Makena is not favorable.”
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Record Low Temperatures Wednesday Morning: Little Rock Avoids An official Freeze
Record Low Temperatures Wednesday Morning: Little Rock Avoids An ‘official’ Freeze https://digitalarkansasnews.com/record-low-temperatures-wednesday-morning-little-rock-avoids-an-official-freeze/
Several record-low temperatures were set Wednesday morning. Little Rock only tied the record low of 33° set in 1989 and avoided having the official first freeze of the season. The earliest first freeze for Little Rock is October 20 (Thursday), so that record will stand.
Here’s a preliminary list of broken record low temperatures:
Arkadelphia — 22° Record: 29° – 1948
Fayetteville — 22° Record: 26° – 1989
North Little Rock — 34° Record: 35° – 1989
Little Rock AFB– 28° Record: 33° – 1996
Hot Springs — 31° Record: 34° – 1975
Monticello — 30° Record: 32° – 1990
Searcy — 25° Record: 29° – 1948
Mountain Home — 26° Record: 28° – 1989
Russellville — 28° Record: 29° – 1948
Mena — 23° Record: 33° – 2009
Camden — 27° Record: 33° – 1976
Stuttgart — 29° Record: 39° – 1996
El Dorado — 28° Record: 31° – 1948
Here’s a preliminary list of tied record low temperatures:
Little Rock — 33° Record: 33° – 1989
Pine Bluff– 31° Record: 31° – 1948
Batesville — 29° Record: 29° – 1948
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Shooting Suspect Arrested, School Lockdown Lifted https://digitalarkansasnews.com/shooting-suspect-arrested-school-lockdown-lifted/
JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – Jonesboro police say they have caught the suspect in a Wednesday morning shooting.
The shooting happened after 10 a.m. Wednesday in the 2400-block of Court Street.
BREAKING: Jonesboro police are responding to a shooting on the 2400 block of Court St. SUSPECT IS AT LARGE. Nettleton Schools have been put on lockdown. Police are continuing to search for suspect. Details to come. pic.twitter.com/YgDt97wQZi
— Griffin S. DeMarrais (@GDeMarraisTV) October 19, 2022
Jonesboro police confirmed one person was injured and taken to the hospital for treatment. They did not provide any further details.
According to the JPS blotter, the suspect shot his brother in the neck outside a home and then ran away.
Officers searched the area for nearly an hour before they found the alleged gunman on High Street, JPD said in an updated news release.
As a result of the suspect’s arrest, Nettleton School District lifted its lockdown.
NPS issued the lockdown as a precaution as police searched the area. Rachel Anderson, with the Jonesboro Police Department, clarified the incident was not related to the school itself.
The district sent the following message to NPS parents:
Attention NPS families, we are taking precautions due to an incident occurring off our school campuses this morning. There is no current threat, and lockdowns are in place at the high school, junior high, and STEAM. We will update you with more information as we receive it.
Region 8 News has a crew at the scene and will update this story as details become available.
Copyright 2022 KAIT. All rights reserved.
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Russia-Ukraine War Live Updates: Putin Declares Martial Law In Four Illegally Annexed Regions Of Ukraine
Russia-Ukraine War Live Updates: Putin Declares Martial Law In Four Illegally Annexed Regions Of Ukraine https://digitalarkansasnews.com/russia-ukraine-war-live-updates-putin-declares-martial-law-in-four-illegally-annexed-regions-of-ukraine/
People walk past a house Wednesday where a couple was killed in a Russian drone strike two days before, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ed Ram/Getty Images)
Updated October 19, 2022 at 10:52 a.m. EDT|Published
October 19, 2022 at 8:42 a.m. EDT
Russian President Vladimir Putin said martial law will be introduced across four regions of eastern and southern Ukraine, which Moscow illegally annexed after staged referendums last month despite not fully controlling these areas either politically or militarily. The move signals an intensifying effort to achieve his military objectives amid continuing airstrikes on infrastructure targets.
Military officials will take direct responsibility for civilian government functions in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, Putin said at a meeting of his security council. Putin did not elaborate on what exactly the introduction of martial law would change on the battlefield, as Russian forces are losing ground in the illegally annexed territories, including the southern Kherson region.
Here’s what to know
The fight for Kherson could begin in the “very near future,” a pro-Russian separatist official said. Residents were ordered to leave Wednesday morning in anticipation of a major Ukrainian push to retake the city; at least 50,000 inhabitants will be transported out in an operation that pro-Moscow authorities say will take about a week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with advisers about the country’s energy system as Russian attacks cause “massive blackouts.” Zelensky said Tuesday that 30 percent of the country’s power stations have been damaged by Russian attacks since Oct. 10, amid mounting fears of power outages in the winter.
The United States, Britain and France will raise the issue of Iran transferring weapons to Russia at a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council, according to diplomats familiar with the situation. The United States and European nations have denounced Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure using Iranian drones.
Zelensky adviser: ‘This does not change anything for Ukraine’
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Russia’s decision to introduce martial law across four regions of eastern and southern Ukraine “does not change anything,” an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday in response to the Kremlin’s announcement.
“ ‘Martial law’ implementation on the occupied territories by [Russian forces] should be considered only as a pseudo-legalization of looting of Ukrainians’ property by another ‘regrouping,’ ” Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.
Last month, Moscow held staged referendums in which occupied areas of Ukraine voted in favor of being annexed by Russia. Kyiv and its allies widely rejected the results as sham votes illegal under international law.
British defense secretary meets with Austin at Pentagon
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British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace met with his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, in Washington on Tuesday, a trip intended to reaffirm the security relationship between the allies.
The two discussed “ongoing efforts to support Ukraine, including through the provision of security assistance, and the importance of transatlantic cooperation and regional security in light of Russia’s continued brutal attack,” the Pentagon press secretary, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, said in a statement.
Ukraine’s allies to discuss Iranian weapons at U.N. Security Council
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The United States, Britain and France are expected to raise the issue of Iran transferring weapons to Russia at a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday afternoon, according to diplomats familiar with the situation. The decision follows U.S. and European concerns about Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure using Iranian drones.
The drones that Russia has been deploying, Ukrainian and U.S. officials say, are manufactured in Iran, where they are known as Shahed-136s. They are designed to strike specific targets with explosives that can be delivered at distances of up to 1,500 miles. Unlike many other attack drones, they do not use weapons to destroy their targets. They are the weapon.
Russian missiles shot down over Kyiv, mayor says
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Ukrainian air defenses successfully shot down Russian missiles flying over the capital Wednesday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. He urged residents to stay in bomb shelters while air raid sirens continued to blare across the city.
One of those who heard the capital’s air defenses blast into action was the British ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons. She described the sound of explosions and the “total calm” with which the capital’s inhabitants rushed into bomb shelters.
“Everyone here has pulled out a laptop or phone and got on with their work or they’re continuing meetings,” she said.
Photos: Cleanup continues in Kyiv after Russian strikes
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Cleanup continues in Kyiv after Russian strikes damaged infrastructure and residential targets.
Lockheed Martin plans to boost HIMARS production
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Lockheed Martin plans to boost its production of HIMARS long-range rocket artillery systems from 60 launchers annually to 96, Politico reported Tuesday, citing the company’s CEO, James Taiclet, who spoke at a third-quarter earnings call.
Last month, the Pentagon said it would double its commitment of HIMARS rocket systems to Ukraine as part of a $1.1 billion aid package.
Russian attacks are causing ‘massive blackouts,’ Zelensky says
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Russian attacks are causing “massive blackouts,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, adding that 30 percent of the country’s power stations have been damaged by the attacks since Oct. 10.
He is set to hold a meeting Wednesday on the country’s energy system amid mounting fears of power outages in the winter.
Moscow continued attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid this week, hitting a power facility in Kyiv three times Tuesday, a presidential aide said.
Separately, Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder said Tuesday that rain, snow and mud would “add another level of complexity” to the battlefield this winter.
Reporting from Kyiv
1 hour ago
Russian military leadership ‘increasingly dysfunctional,’ U.K. says
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Major elements of Russia’s military leadership are “increasingly dysfunctional,” the British Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
Four of the five generals responsible for directing the Russian invasion in February have been dismissed from their posts, and there is a growing shortage of officers capable of organizing newly mobilized reservists, the ministry said.
NATO anti-drone systems to be delivered to Ukraine
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NATO anti-drone systems will be delivered to Ukraine in the next few days, Jens Stoltenberg, the bloc’s leader alliance’s secretary general, said Tuesday in Berlin.
The air defenses will be capable of countering Iranian-made drones, he specified, after Ukraine accused Russia of using the weapons to barrage its capital Monday.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he was ready to submit a “bag of evidence” to prove the drones’ origin, Reuters reported, and he proposed severing diplomatic ties with Tehran completely.
Top German cybersecurity official removed over alleged Russia ties
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Germany removed its top cybersecurity official on Tuesday over allegations of links to Russia.
Arne Schönbohm will step away from his duties running the Federal Office for Information Security “with immediate effect” after he was accused of maintaining indirect contacts with Russian intelligence agents.
Russia evacuating Kherson residents amid warning of fighting in ‘very near future’
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Pro-Kremlin separatist officials said the war’s front line could reach the Russian-controlled city of Kherson soon, warning that Ukraine was preparing a large offensive in the region. One pro-Russian separatist official said Wednesday morning that a fight for the city could begin in the “very near future.”
Russia’s military on Wednesday morning ordered residents to leave, Russian state media reported. At least 50,000 residents will be transported out of the city, including to Russia, as part of plans for an operation that pro-Moscow authorities say will take about a week, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Reporting from Kyiv
2 hours ago
Putin does not elaborate on what newly announced martial law will entail
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In his opening remarks to a meeting with the Security Council, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not elaborate what exactly the introduction of martial law would change on the battlefield, as Russian forces are losing ground in the illegally annexed territories, including the southern Kherson region.
According to Russian law, this change gives the military a broad set of powers, including a curfew, seizure of civilian property, temporary resettlement of the population and censorship of all communications.
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Arkansas Attorney General Candidates Gibson And Griffin Set For Debate
Arkansas Attorney General Candidates Gibson And Griffin Set For Debate https://digitalarkansasnews.com/arkansas-attorney-general-candidates-gibson-and-griffin-set-for-debate/
by: Bill Smith
Posted: Oct 19, 2022 / 09:55 AM CDT
Updated: Oct 19, 2022 / 09:55 AM CDT
by: Bill Smith
Posted: Oct 19, 2022 / 09:55 AM CDT
Updated: Oct 19, 2022 / 09:55 AM CDT
CONWAY, Ark. – The candidates running to be the next attorney general for the state of Arkansas are facing off in a debate Wednesday morning.
Republican and current Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin and Democrat Jesse Gibson are scheduled to take the stage at 10 a.m.
Griffin is serving his second term as lieutenant governor and has previously served in the U.S. House representing the Second Congressional district in Arkansas. He has also served as the U.S. Attorney for the state’s eastern district and worked in the second Bush administration.
Gibson, originally from Lead Hill and now residing in Little Rock, began his career with a private firm before launching his own firm in 2022. He has served as the president of the Arkansas Trial Lawyers Association and as the chairman of the Little Rock Parks and Recreation Commission.
The debate is airing on Arkansas PBS, and a live stream will be available at the top of this page.
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Many Remain Critical Of State Of US Democracy: AP-NORC Poll
Many Remain Critical Of State Of US Democracy: AP-NORC Poll https://digitalarkansasnews.com/many-remain-critical-of-state-of-us-democracy-ap-norc-poll/
Many Americans remain pessimistic about the state of U.S. democracy and the way elected officials are chosen — nearly two years after a divisive presidential election spurred false claims of widespread fraud and a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
FILE – Rioters loyal to President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. A new poll shows that many Americans remain pessimistic about the state of their democracy and the way elected officials are chosen. The results of the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey come nearly two years after a divisive presidential election spurred false claims of widespread fraud and a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Jose Luis Magana / AP
Only about half of Americans have high confidence that votes in the upcoming midterm elections will be counted accurately, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, though that’s an improvement from about 4 in 10 saying that just before the 2020 presidential election. Just 9% of U.S. adults think democracy is working “extremely” or “very well,” while 52% say it’s not working well.
In a reversal from two years ago, Republicans are now more likely than Democrats to say democracy is not working well. This year, 68% of Republicans feel this way compared with 32% two years ago. The share of Democrats with a sour outlook on how democracy is functioning in the U.S. dropped from 63% to 40%.
Ronald McGraw Sr., 67, of Indianapolis, is a retired construction worker who recently registered to vote and intends to cast a ballot for the first time this year.
“I thought I’d let everybody else put their vote in and just go with the flow, but this whole thing is at stake now,” he said, referring to democracy, the economy, ”everything, how the whole country runs.”
McGraw, who is Black and considers himself a moderate, said a big concern is the political turmoil in the country and the fact that he sees too many self-serving politicians concerned with power, especially those who work against the interest of minorities. He said he registered as a Republican but did not give any thought to party platforms or stances at the time.
“I am paying attention now,” he said.
After every presidential election, members of the losing candidate’s party can experience a letdown. The fallout from the 2020 election has been deeper, fueled by the lies from former President Donald Trump and his allies that Democrats stole the election.
There is no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines. Exhaustive reviews in key states upheld Democrat Joe Biden’s win, while judges — including some appointed by Trump — dismissed numerous lawsuits challenging the outcome. Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr, called the claims bogus.
The general despair over democracy comes after decades of increasing polarization nationwide, from the presidential and congressional races down to local contests such as races for school boards.
Overall, just a quarter of U.S. adults — including similar percentages of Republicans and Democrats — say they are optimistic about the way leaders are chosen, while 43% say they are pessimistic. An additional 31% feel neither.
Adam Coykendall, a 31-year-old social studies teacher from Ashland, Wisconsin, said he sees party loyalties driving lawmakers more than the good of the country.
“I feel like everything is becoming a little more divisive, a little more polarized, more focused on party loyalty … rather than working for your constituency, having things that work for people rather than working for the party,” said Coykendall, who described himself as an independent who leans toward the Democratic Party.
The AP-NORC poll also found a large segment of Republicans, 58%, still believe Biden’s election wasn’t legitimate. That’s down slightly from 66% in July 2021.
Gary Phelps, a 70-year-old retired truck driver in Clearwater, Minnesota, accepts Biden is president but doesn’t think he was legitimately elected. Phelps said he was concerned about voter fraud, mail ballots being received and counted after Election Day, and irregularities with some voting machines, although he acknowledged it’s based on his feeling rather than evidence.
Phelps remains concerned about the voting process and whether the tallies will be accurate. “I would hope so, but I don’t think so,” the Republican-leaning independent said.
The poll shows 47% of Americans say they have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence that the votes in the 2022 midterm elections will be counted accurately. Confidence is highest among Democrats, 74% of whom say they’re highly confident. On the Republican side, confidence in elections is decidedly mixed: 25% have high confidence, 30% have moderate confidence and 45% have little to no confidence.
That erosion of trust comes after two years of Trump and his allies promoting lies about the 2020 presidential election and peddling conspiracy theories about voting machines.
Narratives about mailed ballots mysteriously changing vote totals have been one persistent source of misinformation. To be clear, results announced on election night are unofficial and often incomplete. It’s normal for counting to continue several days after Election Day, as mailed ballots received by their deadline are processed and added to the tally.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge of mailed balloting as voters opted to avoid crowded polling stations. A large number of those ballots slowed down the results as local election offices worked through the steps to verify the ballots and ensure they matched registered voters.
Julie Duggan, a 31-year-old police officer from Chicago, is among the Republicans who does not believe Biden’s win was legitimate. She said watching his gaffes and missteps, it was impossible to believe he garnered enough support to win.
She is concerned about the country’s direction, citing inflation, illegal immigration, crime rates and a lack of respect for law enforcement.
“If we don’t get the right people in, we will be at the point of no return,” she said, adding she hopes elections will be run fairly but has her doubts. “My confidence has definitely been shaken.”
___
The poll of 1,121 adults was conducted Oct. 6-10 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
___
Cassidy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut in Washington and Nuha Dolby in New York contributed to this report.
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Dawes Announce 2023 Tour With 2 Sets Each Night https://digitalarkansasnews.com/dawes-announce-2023-tour-with-2-sets-each-night/
Dawes released a new album, Misadventures of a Doomscroller, in July, and they’ve announced new tour dates supporting it. Kicking off in March 2023, the shows are “An Evening with Dawes”-style, where they’ll play two sets a night with no opener. The band wrote on Twitter, “Happy to announce the Misadventures of Doomscroller headline tour. 2 sets. Just us. Long nights. Full hearts. Come early. We’ll all have to break out the catalogue master lists and bingo cards as we try to get to every song we’ve got.” See all dates below.
The tour stops in NYC on March 18 at Beacon Theatre. Tickets go on general sale Friday, October 21 at 10 AM local, and you can sign up for access to a presale for NYC, starting Thursday, October 20 at 10 AM.
Dawes 2023 tour
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Dawes — 2023 Tour Dates
MAR 2, 2023 Iron City Bham Birmingham, AL
MAR 3, 2023 The Eastern Atlanta, GA
MAR 4, 2023 Ryman Auditorium Nashville, TN
MAR 5, 2023 Headliners Music Hall Louisville, KY
MAR 7, 2023 The Bluebird Bloomington, IN
MAR 8, 2023 Taft Theatre Cincinnati, OH
MAR 10, 2023 Thalia Hall Chicago, IL
MAR 11, 2023 XL Live Harrisburg, PA
MAR 12, 2023 Warner Theatre Washington, DC
MAR 14, 2023 Ridgefield Playhouse Ridgefield, CT
MAR 16, 2023 The Fillmore Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA
MAR 17, 2023 Roadrunner Boston, MA
MAR 18, 2023 Beacon Theatre New York, NY
APR 6, 2023 The Factory in Deep Ellum Dallas, TX
APR 7, 2023 The Heights Theater Houston, TX
APR 8, 2023 Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater Austin, TX
APR 11, 2023 JJ’s Live Fayetteville, AR
APR 12, 2023 The Pageant St Louis, MO
APR 14, 2023 Majestic Theatre Madison, WI
APR 15, 2023 Palace Theatre Saint Paul, MN
APR 16, 2023 Liberty Hall Lawrence, KS
APR 18, 2023 Wave Wichita, KS
APR 19, 2023 Ogden Theatre Denver, CO
APR 20, 2023 The Commonwealth Room Salt Lake City, UT
APR 22, 2023 Neptune Theatre Seattle, WA
APR 23, 2023 Revolution Hall Portland, OR
APR 26, 2023 The Fillmore San Francisco, CA
APR 27, 2023 Belly Up Tavern Solana Beach, CA
APR 28, 2023 Belly Up Tavern Solana Beach, CA
MAY 5, 2023 The Theatre at Ace Hotel Los Angeles, CA
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Inside Steve Bannons disturbing Quest To Radically Rewrite The US Constitution
Inside Steve Bannon’s ‘disturbing’ Quest To Radically Rewrite The US Constitution https://digitalarkansasnews.com/inside-steve-bannons-disturbing-quest-to-radically-rewrite-the-us-constitution/
Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist in the Trump White House who is at the forefront of the Republican march toward hard-right populism, is throwing his weight behind a movement to radically rewrite the US constitution.
Bannon has devoted recent episodes of his online show the War Room to a well-funded operation which has stealthily gained ground over the past two years. Backed by billionaire donors and corporate interests, it aims to persuade state legislatures to call a constitutional convention in the hope of baking far-right conservative values into the supreme law of the land.
The goal is, in essence, to turn the country into a permanent conservative nation irrespective of the will of the American people. The convention would promote policies that would limit the size and scope of the federal government, set ceilings on or even abolish taxes, free corporations from regulations, and impose restrictions on government action in areas such as abortion, guns and immigration.
“This is another line of attack strategically,” Bannon told his viewers last month. “You now have a political movement that understands we need to go after the administrative state.”
By “administrative state”, Bannon was referring to the involvement of the federal government and Congress in central aspects of modern American life. That includes combating the climate crisis, setting educational standards and fighting health inequities.
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon is looking to take a movement to rewrite the US constitution nationwide. Photograph: John Minchillo/AP
Mark Meckler, a founder of the Tea Party who now leads one of the largest groups advocating for the tactic, the Convention of States Action (Cosa), spelled out some of the prime objectives on Bannon’s show. “We need to say constitutionally, ‘No, the federal government cannot be involved in education, or healthcare, or energy, or the environment’,” he said.
Meckler went on to divulge the anti-democratic nature of the state convention movement when he said a main aim was to prevent progressive policies being advanced through presidential elections. “The problem is, any time the administration swings back to Democrat – or radical progressive, or Marxist which is what they are – we are going to lose the gains. So you do the structural fix.”
The “structural fix” involves Republican state legislatures pushing conservative amendments to America’s foundational document. By cementing the policies into the US constitution, they would become largely immune to electoral challenge.
Were a convention achieved, it would mark the zenith of conservative state power in American politics. Over the past 12 years, since the eruption of the Tea Party, Republicans have extended their grip to more than half of the states in the country, imposing an increasingly far-right agenda on the heartlands.
Now the plan is to take that dominance nationwide.
Article V of the constitution lays out two distinct ways in which America’s core document, ratified in 1788, can be revised. In practice, all 27 amendments that have been added over the past 244 years have come through the first route – a Congress-led process whereby two-thirds of both the US House and Senate have to approve changes followed by ratification by three-quarters of the states.
Meckler, working alongside other powerful interest groups and wealthy rightwing megadonors, is gunning for Article V’s second route – one that has never been tried before. It gives state legislatures the power to call a constitutional convention of their own, should two-thirds of all 50 states agree.
A bar chart of party control of state legislatures since 1978.
A bar chart of party control of state legislatures since 1978.
The state-based model for rewriting the US constitution is perhaps the most audacious attempt yet by hard-right Republicans to secure what amounts to conservative minority rule in which a minority of lawmakers representing less-populated rural states dictate terms to the majority of Americans. Russ Feingold, a former Democratic US senator from Wisconsin, told the Guardian that “they want to rewrite the constitution in a fundamental way that is not just conservative, it is minoritarian. It will prevent the will of ‘we the people’ being heard.”
Feingold has co-authored with Peter Prindiville of the Stanford constitutional law center The Constitution in Jeopardy, a new book that sounds the alarm on the states-based convention movement. “Our goal is not to scare people, but to alert them that there is a movement on the far right that is quietly getting itself to a point where it will be almost impossible to stop a convention being called,” he said.
His urgency is underlined by how active the movement has become. A convention resolution framed by Cosa has passed so far this year in four states – Wisconsin, Nebraska, West Virginia and South Carolina.
The group has also been busy around November’s midterm elections, using its muscle and some $600,000 (£528,252) of its reserves to support candidates amenable to the idea. “We have built the largest grassroots activist army in American history,” Meckler told Bannon, probably hyperbolically.
Bannon’s other guest on the War Room, Rick Santorum, a former Republican US senator from Pennsylvania who advises Cosa, told Bannon: “This is something that can happen very quickly. We are a lot further along than people think.”
They are also much better funded than people might think. The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), which monitors the constitutional convention movement, estimates that it pulled in $25m (£22m) in 2020, the last year for which figures are known. The funds were split between Cosa and other influential groups on the right. They include the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), a network of state politicians and corporate lobbyists which has taken up the cry for a constitutional amendment to force balanced budget restrictions on Washington.
Much of the income is dark money, with the origins hidden. CMD has managed to identify some key donors – among them the Mercer Family Foundation set up by reclusive hedge fund manager Robert Mercer, and a couple of groups run by Leonard Leo, the mastermind behind the rightwing land grab in the federal courts.
More than $1m (£880,265) has also been donated in the form of Bitcoin.
The attraction to these groups and donors of pursuing a states route to rewriting the US constitution is easily explained. Over the past 12 years, since the eruption of the Tea Party in 2010, Republican activists have deployed extreme partisan gerrymandering to pull off an extraordinary takeover of state legislatures.
In 2010, Republicans controlled both chambers of just 14 state legislatures. Today, that number stands at 31.
“Republicans are near the high watermark in terms of their political control in the states, and that’s why the pro-Trump rightwing of the party is increasingly embracing the constitutional convention strategy,” said Arn Pearson, CMD’s executive director.
Should a convention be achieved, the plan would be to give states one vote each. There is no legal or historical basis for such an arrangement but its appeal is self-evident.
One vote per state would give small rural conservative states like Wyoming (population 580,000) equal leverage to large urbanized progressive states like California (39.5 million). Collectively, small states would be in the majority and control would tip to the Republicans.
Last December Santorum spelled out this minoritarian vision at a private ALEC meeting. In an audio recording obtained by CMD, Santorum said: “We have the opportunity, as a result, to have a supermajority, even though we may not even be in an absolute majority when it comes to the people who agree with us.”
Pearson decried such thinking as “a profoundly anti-majoritarian and anti-democratic strategy that gives small rural states most control”.
With the counting system skewed towards the conservative heartlands, the list of amendments that might be pursued is disconcertingly large. Though Meckler and his allies largely avoid talking about culture war issues, it is quite conceivable that a nationwide ban on abortion and a rescinding of gay marriage would be on the table.
Bannon is hoping Republican legislatures will reach the two-thirds requirement to override supreme court rulings. Photograph: Peter Foley/EPA
More openly, advocates have talked about imposing balanced budget requirements on the US government that would dramatically shrink federal resources. Some have even proposed making income tax unconstitutional.
One of the more popular ideas circulating within rightwing constitutional convention circles, initially floated by the talk show host Mark Levin, is that states should grant themselves the ability to override federal statutes and supreme court rulings. It is hard to see how the federal rule of law could be sustained under such an arrangement with its unmistakable civil war undertones.
Under Article V, 34 states would have to call for a constitutional convention to reach the two-thirds requirement. Cosa has so far succeeded in getting 19 states to sign up, with a further six in active consideration.
ALEC, which sets a narrower remit for a convention focused on its balanced budget amendment, has gone further with 28 states on board.
Either way, there is a shortfall. To address it, constitutional convention leaders have invented increasingly exotic mathematical formulas for attaining the magic number, 34. “We used to call it fuzzy math, now we call it wacky math,” Pearson said.
Advocates filed a lawsuit in Texas in February that tried to get the courts to force a constitutional convention on grounds that they had re...
AP-NORC Poll: Many Remain Critical Of State Of US Democracy
AP-NORC Poll: Many Remain Critical Of State Of US Democracy https://digitalarkansasnews.com/ap-norc-poll-many-remain-critical-of-state-of-us-democracy-2/
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new poll shows that many adults remain pessimistic about the state of U.S. democracy and the way elected officials are chosen. The results of the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey come nearly two years after a divisive presidential election spurred false claims of widespread fraud and a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. The poll found that just 9% of U.S. adults think democracy is working “extremely” or “very well.” In a reversal from two years ago, Republicans are now more likely than Democrats to say democracy is not working well.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Americans remain pessimistic about the state of U.S. democracy and the way elected officials are chosen — nearly two years after a divisive presidential election spurred false claims of widespread fraud and a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Only about half of Americans have high confidence that votes in the upcoming midterm elections will be counted accurately, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, though that’s an improvement from about 4 in 10 saying that just before the 2020 presidential election. Just 9% of U.S. adults think democracy is working “extremely” or “very well,” while 52% say it’s not working well.
In a reversal from two years ago, Republicans are now more likely than Democrats to say democracy is not working well. This year, 68% of Republicans feel this way compared with 32% two years ago. The share of Democrats with a sour outlook on how democracy is functioning in the U.S. dropped from 63% to 40%.
Ronald McGraw Sr., 67, of Indianapolis, is a retired construction worker who recently registered to vote and intends to cast a ballot for the first time this year.
“I thought I’d let everybody else put their vote in and just go with the flow, but this whole thing is at stake now,” he said, referring to democracy, the economy, ”everything, how the whole country runs.”
McGraw, who is Black and considers himself a moderate, said a big concern is the political turmoil in the country and the fact that he sees too many self-serving politicians concerned with power, especially those who work against the interest of minorities. He said he registered as a Republican but did not give any thought to party platforms or stances at the time.
“I am paying attention now,” he said.
After every presidential election, members of the losing candidate’s party can experience a letdown. The fallout from the 2020 election has been deeper, fueled by the lies from former President Donald Trump and his allies that Democrats stole the election.
There is no evidence of widespread fraud or manipulation of voting machines. Exhaustive reviews in key states upheld Democrat Joe Biden’s win, while judges — including some appointed by Trump — dismissed numerous lawsuits challenging the outcome. Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr, called the claims bogus.
The general despair over democracy comes after decades of increasing polarization nationwide, from the presidential and congressional races down to local contests such as races for school boards.
Overall, just a quarter of U.S. adults — including similar percentages of Republicans and Democrats — say they are optimistic about the way leaders are chosen, while 43% say they are pessimistic. An additional 31% feel neither.
Adam Coykendall, a 31-year-old social studies teacher from Ashland, Wisconsin, said he sees party loyalties driving lawmakers more than the good of the country.
“I feel like everything is becoming a little more divisive, a little more polarized, more focused on party loyalty … rather than working for your constituency, having things that work for people rather than working for the party,” said Coykendall, who described himself as an independent who leans toward the Democratic Party.
The AP-NORC poll also found a large segment of Republicans, 58%, still believe Biden’s election wasn’t legitimate. That’s down slightly from 66% in July 2021.
Gary Phelps, a 70-year-old retired truck driver in Clearwater, Minnesota, accepts Biden is president but doesn’t think he was legitimately elected. Phelps said he was concerned about voter fraud, mail ballots being received and counted after Election Day, and irregularities with some voting machines, although he acknowledged it’s based on his feeling rather than evidence.
Phelps remains concerned about the voting process and whether the tallies will be accurate. “I would hope so, but I don’t think so,” the Republican-leaning independent said.
The poll shows 47% of Americans say they have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence that the votes in the 2022 midterm elections will be counted accurately. Confidence is highest among Democrats, 74% of whom say they’re highly confident. On the Republican side, confidence in elections is decidedly mixed: 25% have high confidence, 30% have moderate confidence and 45% have little to no confidence.
That erosion of trust comes after two years of Trump and his allies promoting lies about the 2020 presidential election and peddling conspiracy theories about voting machines.
Narratives about mailed ballots mysteriously changing vote totals have been one persistent source of misinformation. To be clear, results announced on election night are unofficial and often incomplete. It’s normal for counting to continue several days after Election Day, as mailed ballots received by their deadline are processed and added to the tally.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge of mailed balloting as voters opted to avoid crowded polling stations. A large number of those ballots slowed down the results as local election offices worked through the steps to verify the ballots and ensure they matched registered voters.
Julie Duggan, a 31-year-old police officer from Chicago, is among the Republicans who does not believe Biden’s win was legitimate. She said watching his gaffes and missteps, it was impossible to believe he garnered enough support to win.
She is concerned about the country’s direction, citing inflation, illegal immigration, crime rates and a lack of respect for law enforcement.
“If we don’t get the right people in, we will be at the point of no return,” she said, adding she hopes elections will be run fairly but has her doubts. “My confidence has definitely been shaken.”
___
The poll of 1,121 adults was conducted Oct. 6-10 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
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Van Drews Ties With Trump Emphasized In Reelection Campaign The SandPaper
Van Drew’s Ties With Trump Emphasized In Reelection Campaign – The SandPaper https://digitalarkansasnews.com/van-drews-ties-with-trump-emphasized-in-reelection-campaign-the-sandpaper/
ON THE BALLOT: Congressman Jeff Van Drew’s website emphasizes his move as ‘the first congressman in American history to leave the majority party and join the minority party in the United States House of Representatives.’ (Photo by Jack Reynolds)
Rep. Jeff Van Drew is running for reelection to New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District. He currently represents all of Southern Ocean County except Barnegat Township and half of Stafford Township but will represent all of those towns as well next year, thanks to redistricting.
Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot this November, but that hasn’t stopped the Van Drew campaign from mentioning his name at every opportunity.
“Meet Jeff, New Jersey’s Trump-Endorsed Conservative Congressman Jeff Van Drew,” reads a page on his campaign website.
“United States Congressman Jeff Van Drew made history in December 2019 when, after leading the charge to DEFEAT House Democrat’s sham impeachment against President Trump, he joined the President in the Oval Office to announce his decision to become a Republican. In announcing his party change, Van Drew cited the Democrat Party’s embrace of Socialism and the Radical Left, and in doing so, he became the first Congressman in American history to leave the majority party and join the minority party in the United States House of Representatives.
“When President Trump traveled to South Jersey a few weeks later for one of his signature campaign rallies with Van Drew it was the first time in more than a century that a sitting President had visited Cape May County. The Trump-Van Drew Wildwood Rally still holds the record for the most rally tickets ever requested at more than 165,000.
“Van Drew would go on to make history once again in November of 2020 by becoming the first Republican ever to defeat a member of the Kennedy family for Congress after receiving more votes than any previous candidate in the history of New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District. Van Drew’s victory ended the family’s tenure in Washington for the first time since President John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress immediately following World War 2.
“Van Drew continues to distinguish himself as New Jersey’s Trump-Endorsed Conservative Congressman for having the courage to stand strong in support of President Trump and his America First legacy.
“While Biden, Pelosi and the Socialist Squad continue to push Radical policies like the Green New Deal and Defunding the Police, Congressman Van Drew has been fighting back and speaking out loudly and proudly in defense of the America we know and love. Congressman Van Drew has repeatedly voted to DEFEND our 2nd Amendment, PROTECT unborn children, and AGAINST vaccine mandates, passports, and tracking databases, AGAINST raising the debt ceiling and budgeting via continuing resolutions, and AGAINST the massive tax increases and social spending in Biden’s so called ‘Build Back Better’ agenda.
“On December 16, 2021, President Trump hosted a fundraiser for Van Drew at Mar-a-Lago in Florida where he once again offered Van Drew his ‘total and complete endorsement’ and added that he is with him ‘all the way.’”
Van Drew said during his 2019 White House meeting he would give Trump his “undying support,” and he has lived up to his pledge. It has been reported that Van Drew officially endorsed Trump for 2024 way back in December 2021.
Van Drew’s campaign slogan is “A Strong America, A Strong South Jersey.”
He’s for a strong American economy, once again mentioning Trump. “Thanks to President Trump’s policies, America’s economy reached historic heights, and despite recent challenges, we know that with President Trump and Republican leadership in Congress, we will create more good-paying jobs, the stock market will return to all time highs, and Main Street will once again be back stronger than ever.”
Van Drew’s campaign also uses Trump’s name when talking about American energy. “While Democratic Socialists renew their calls for a ‘Green New Deal’ that will cripple our economy and threaten our way of life, Congressman Van Drew will work with President Trump to ensure America maintains its place as the world leader in oil and natural gas production and a net exporter of natural gas. An energy independent America is a stronger America.”
Van Drew also wants to see stronger American borders, a strong American military and an American Made policy to bring manufacturing and jobs back home from China while protecting American families and America’s environment and defending American values.
“America is an exceptional nation and Congressman Van Drew believes we should never be afraid to stand up for our flag, freedom, and the timeless values enshrined in our Constitution. Congressman Van Drew sponsored legislation in New Jersey to ensure Americans can fly our flag freely and proudly display our motto ‘In God We Trust.’ He has fought to protect our 2nd Amendment rights and will continue fighting alongside President Trump everyday to ensure we always protect our American values.”
How could Van Drew get any closer to Trump? Well, at a Van Drew fundraiser at Trump’s Bedminster Golf Club in August this year, the day after FBI agents raided Mar-a-Lago, the former president allegedly said a Trump-Van Drew ticket was “a really good idea.”
Various names have been floated in the press about Trump’s possible VP pick for the 2024 campaign. Politico reported his advisers are pushing for a woman or a person of color, hoping to draw votes from those two groups that tend to vote for Democrats. But you never know. Trump loves loyalty, and Van Drew has certainly proven his.
— Rick Mellerup
rickmellerup@thesandpaper.net
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Losh: Digital Strategy a Tricky Dance For Politicians
Losh: Digital Strategy ‘a Tricky Dance’ For Politicians https://digitalarkansasnews.com/losh-digital-strategy-a-tricky-dance-for-politicians/
Elizabeth Losh, the Duane A. and Virginia S. Dittman Professor of American Studies and English at William & Mary, is paying close attention to the social media posts of candidates running for office in the upcoming mid-term elections.
A media theorist and digital rhetoric scholar, Losh recently wrote “Selfie Democracy,” a book that examines the unintended consequences of politicians’ digital strategies. There is no tried-and-true road map for successful social media strategy by politicians, Losh says. That’s why she calls it “a tricky dance.”
“You need to be authentic, but you need to also in some ways acknowledge the presence of the platform and the ways that you are self-consciously managing your own image,” Losh said. “You have to have the right amount of self-deprecation. And you have to have the right degree of intimacy. The tricky dance influencers have to do is they have to both be special enough that you want to watch them and yet they need to be relatable.”
Losh joined W&M News to discuss her book and the upcoming election. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What is selfie democracy, and what does your book explore?
A: When people hear the word selfie, a lot of times they think about narcissism, exhibitionism, a kind of curated personality. I think that’s important when we think about the ways that Barack Obama’s image was packaged, the way that Donald Trump’s image was packaged, but more importantly the way that Obama and Trump’s followers are doing identity work online that shows their loyalty and their emotional ties to candidates. This kind of identity work around politics that’s happening online is really important. In the past, if you wanted to see a politician, you’d go to a speech or you’d go to a fundraiser. Maybe you’d shake that politician’s hand or if you had a baby, the politician would kiss the baby. But now it’s selfies with politicians and this sense that not only is politics personal, but it’s personalized. The selfie is sort of an ideal way to signal co-presence and to signal that intimacy with a political leader, and that’s part of why I called the book “Selfie Democracy” because it’s a book that’s really about identity politics and how identity performance online is now part of the larger political strategic landscape.
Things like “shares” and “likes” and all of these social forms of communication are often how a political message gets out. In the book, I’m arguing that there are a lot of positive effects from that. People feel more politically engaged, but they’re also more politically polarized and are also more likely to consume misinformation.
Q: What other observations did you make about how Barack Obama and Donald Trump used social media during their campaigns and time in office?
A: The big argument of the book is that Barack Obama and Donald Trump are often seen as political opposites, but they actually share a lot of essential ingredients. They both rose to power as political outsiders. They both used social media as part of that successful move. They both used the smartphone as a way to facilitate that feeling of direct digital democracy. And that energizes people, but it also gives them this false sense of intimacy with their political leaders.
Q: You spoke about the tricky dance politicians have to do when it comes to social media. What have you noticed about some of the current candidates running for office in upcoming mid-term elections?
A: In the Pennsylvania Senatorial race, Democratic candidate John Fetterman is really smart on the relatability front, like, “You know, I had a stroke. Have you or family members ever had a medical emergency?” He’s trying to be relatable, trying to do this kind of everydayness stuff while Republican candidate Mehmet Oz is doing the “I’m an accomplished surgeon, and I had this huge business empire, and I’m a media personality,” trying to play up his accomplishments. And when he tries to do an everydayness performance like he did at the grocery store where he didn’t know what the name of the grocery store was and it was like he was there doing his crudité performance, that just totally fell flat. It’s a very hard terrain.
Q: What other 2024 presidential candidates interest you, particularly in how they are using social media?
A: Most of them are kind of bad at it, which is sort of interesting. People always point to Beto O’Rourke, but I think people who study social media closely are probably less impressed with Beto O’Rourke than maybe journalists are. And obviously someone like Ted Cruz, who famously “liked” the pornographic Twitter post, has had some rough patches. Ron DeSantis has not knocked it out of the park for me in terms of social media strategy. I’m definitely keeping an eye on it. I feel like it’s such a fluid pool right now. I think the midterms are going to really be important. They were important for Obama, and the midterms were important for Trump, too. I think that there are ways that those midterms often kind of set the tone in terms of, I wouldn’t say issues, but what kind of themes, what kind of emotions are going to be the ones that are going to be most politically active.
Q: You have said social media makes people more politically polarized. There’s no better example of this than the Jan. 6 insurrection. Where are we headed with this?
A: That’s one of the things I write about in the book that I find particularly frightening. I was working on the book and saying, “What’s the ending to it?” And then Jan. 6 is the obvious ending because there you see that mistrust in representative government because this direct digital democracy undermines representative government, so we have the building that represents representative government being attacked and then people are in there shooting selfies. How could it be more demonstrative than that?
But what’s also interesting, and one of the things I wrote about in the book, is how many people there were at one time on the political left. So this is a phenomenon a lot of people write about called horseshoe politics where people who are on the really far right or the really far left can actually hop over to the other side. This extremism, this mistrust of compromise, of representation and this hatred of bureaucracy, to me that’s a particularly potent Molotov cocktail because those are people who do not believe in rules or norms.
Q: You say in the book that algorithms are distorting the whole human knowledge system. Is regulation the answer?
A: I do think social media companies need to be regulated at the very least, and I think this is something that the people on the right and people on the left agree with. The problem I think comes around the issue of fake news because I think conservatives are concerned about censorship and liberals are concerned about disinformation and misinformation, but I think privacy is something that people on the left and people on the right agree on.
I feel like on the privacy front we could at least try to move toward the European standard where we have mechanisms against tracking across platforms, although legislation takes so long that tech companies usually figure out some sort of work-around by the time that the legislation actually comes into force. I’m a radical in some ways in that I think that the amount of data that social media companies gather and search engine companies gather should be taxed. I think that there should be incentives to not collect huge amounts of user data, particularly things like location data.
Nathan Warters, Communications Specialist
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Post Politics Now: Biden Putting Gas Prices Front And Center As Midterms Loom
Post Politics Now: Biden Putting Gas Prices Front And Center As Midterms Loom https://digitalarkansasnews.com/post-politics-now-biden-putting-gas-prices-front-and-center-as-midterms-loom/
Today, with less than three weeks remaining until the midterms, President Biden is scheduled to announce more actions to address the cost of gasoline, including plans to move ahead with releasing 15 million more barrels of oil from the nation’s stockpile known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Gas prices — and the cost of living more broadly — remain a potent political issue. While gas prices have dropped significantly from their summer highs, the national average for a gallon remains more than 50 cents higher than a year ago.
In New York, former president Donald Trump is scheduled to be deposed Wednesday in a defamation case brought against him in 2019 by author E. Jean Carroll, who said he raped her in a department store dressing room decades ago. The case is among myriad legal challenges facing Trump as he eyes a 2024 White House bid.
Your daily dashboard
12:15 p.m. Eastern: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters at the White House. Watch live here.
1:15 p.m. Eastern: Biden delivers remarks from the White House on addressing gas costs. Watch live here.
3 p.m. Eastern: Biden delivers remarks from the White House on infrastructure. Watch live here.
Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers.
Noted: Gun owners support safety provisions, study says
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A new report by a bipartisan gun safety organization found that gun owners are overwhelmingly concerned about gun violence and support a number of specific policies to reduce shootings.
Writing in The Early 202, The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell and Theodoric Meyer relay that the report, commissioned by the 97percent group and conducted by Michael Siegel, a professor of public health at Tufts University, sought the opinion of gun owners in an attempt to measure whether this group opposes gun safety measures and backs policies that have generally been rejected as being too controversial to pass Congress.
Noted: Biden’s oil release announcement today follows up on spring pledge
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In the spring, President Biden pledged to released as many as 180 million barrels of oil from the nation’s stockpile known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the largest-ever release.
To date, the White House has released roughly 165 million barrels of oil from the reserve. Officials say the additional 15 million Biden will announce Wednesday completes the initial withdrawal.
In previewing Biden’s action, The Post’s Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Evan Halper note that the move follows an announcement this month by OPEC Plus, a coalition of oil-producing nations led by Saudi Arabia, that it will slash production by 2 million barrels per day, threatening further price increases in countries already grappling with high costs.
On our radar: Trump scheduled for deposition today in defamation case
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Former president Donald Trump is scheduled to be deposed Wednesday in New York in a defamation case brought against him in 2019 by an author who said he raped her in a department store dressing room decades ago.
Last week, a federal judge denied Trump’s request to pause proceedings in the lawsuit by former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Writing last week about the judge’s decision, The Post’s Shayna Jacobs noted that Trump had recently won a temporary reprieve from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, which sent the case to the appeals court in D.C. to resolve whether Trump was a federal employee as defined by the law when he publicly rebutted Carroll’s story.
Noted: Party gatherings open a window into Biden’s mind
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President Biden has a favorite line, one meant to show he knows that the combination of his voice and a microphone may get him into trouble. “No one ever doubts I mean what I say,” he’ll say. “The problem is I sometimes say all that I mean.”
The Post’s Matt Viser reports there are few venues in which he says all that he means more than at Democratic Party fundraisers, when the audience is friendly and his guard is down. Per Matt:
In just the past few weeks, Biden has told donors that Donald Trump and his followers are verging on “semi-fascism.” He warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions are risking nuclear “Armageddon.” He derided the Supreme Court as an “advocacy group.” He called Pakistan a highly dangerous country, and he suggested Italy is sliding into authoritarianism.
All these colorful remarks were delivered in the cozy confines of political fundraisers, where cameras are not allowed, but reporters with notebooks are. The events, whose frequency has accelerated sharply ahead of the midterm elections, provide the closest thing to unvarnished views from the commander in chief.
You can read the full story here.
On our radar: GOP hopefuls stump for election deniers despite distancing from Trump lies
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In an interview on the “Today” show earlier this month, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley swore off campaigning for Republicans who repeat Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
In fact, before and after that interview, she has endorsed and campaigned with a slate of Senate candidates who reject or question the 2020 election results as she positions herself as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, The Post’s Isaac Arnsdorf notes. Per our colleague:
Haley appeared at a rally Tuesday with Don Bolduc of New Hampshire, who insisted Trump won the election and President Biden was illegitimate, though he has attempted to backtrack since the primary. She also campaigned with Adam Laxalt of Nevada, who led the Trump campaign’s efforts to overturn the results in that state. And she endorsed Ted Budd of North Carolina, who as a congressman voted against certifying the electoral college results on Jan. 6, 2021.
Haley is not the only 2024 GOP hopeful who is trying to offer a contrast to Trump but still stumping for election deniers. Former vice president Mike Pence, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan have all criticized Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and have given signals about running against him in 2024. Still, in this year’s midterm elections, they’re all campaigning with Republicans who have thoroughly embraced Trump’s lies about 2020.
You can read Isaac’s full story here.
Analysis: The misleading claim that bank reports show Hunter Biden ‘committed serious crimes’
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If the Republicans win the House in the November elections, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) is on track to be chair of the House Oversight Committee.
In a recent Fox News interview, Comer signaled that the business dealings of President Biden’s son Hunter and brother James with such countries as China, Russia and Ukraine will be the subject of intense scrutiny in a GOP-led Congress.
“Hunter Biden’s committed serious crimes, as you mentioned, 150 suspicious activity reports,” Comer said. “Those are the most severe bank violations. This is when the bank notifies the federal government that we’re pretty confident our client has committed a crime. He’s had multiple banks file 150 suspicious activity reports, saying that we believe each instance was another act of a crime. But yet the FBI did nothing about it.”
The latest: Key Oath Keepers witness testifies Jan. 6 plans were potentially ‘treasonous’
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A key government witness in the seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four other members said defendants on Jan. 6, 2021, were prepared to stop Congress from confirming the 2020 election result “by any means necessary” — including armed combat — and understood their plans to be potentially “treasonous.”
The Post’s Spencer S. Hsu reports that the testimony Tuesday by Jason Dolan was the first in the trial from several cooperating Oath Keepers witnesses who have pleaded guilty in the Capitol attack investigation. Per Spencer:
The latest: At fiery debate, Rubio opposes gun measure he championed after Parkland
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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and challenger Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) clashed over abortion and gun regulations during a heated debate on Oct. 18. (Video: Reuters)
Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and Rep. Val Demings (D) of Florida clashed heatedly over gun restrictions and abortion at a debate Tuesday in which Rubio disavowed one measure he embraced four years ago after a deadly Florida school shooting — a law banning 18-year-olds from buying assault-style rifles.
The Post’s Hannah Knowles and Mariana Alfaro write that Rubio, the two-term Republican incumbent, said days after the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. — at an event with student survivors — that he would support such age restrictions as well as expanded background checks on gun purchases. But at his first and only debate with Democratic challenger Demings, the senator said the law “doesn’t work” and that background checks would not have stopped the shootings the candidates argued over.
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The 2022 Election Influencers https://digitalarkansasnews.com/the-2022-election-influencers/
To really understand an election, you have to understand the motivations — and the lives — of the Americans voting in it. But too often our politics misses the point, and just describes people as demographic groups or party labels. We can do better.
We’ve got the data for it: tens of thousands of interviews in our CBS News polling over the year where people have expressed themselves and how they see politics.
Here’s what we learned from it all: the groups who are the influencers of 2022, whose ideas and choices are steering the conversation now and likely deciding the midterms next month.
Chances are you know someone like them — or are even a member of these groups yourself. And that’s the point.
We’ll follow them all the way through election night itself with our surveys, to see how they vote and if they vote, which is often more critical in these polarized times. Because if every election is a story about us, and who we are as a nation, then we’ll certainly need to see the ending they write.
The Pressured Parents
Their story: Post-pandemic stress over their finances…and their kids.
It’s been a long few years for everyone. The pandemic took a massive toll on so many. All through it we interviewed parents who worked to keep families safe; navigating quarantines, juggling working and schooling from home, and telling us it brought them stress. And then as that eased, inflation hit, piling financial stress on top. Today, this group of parents reflects all that, saying the pandemic negatively impacted kids, or they are facing a tough financial situation now.
These parents collectively show a mix of ideas in politics: they are impacted by rising inflation and gas prices, the economy is important in their vote, concerned about paying for things, and they think President Biden could be doing more. But relief funds did help many of them, and they are more apt to think Republicans are for the wealthy. Is there a conflict there, and which party might win out? They are 13% of likely voters and their current vote is a bit more Republican, with 47% Republican and 40% Democratic.
Trump True-Believers
The “MAGA” Republicans with big influence on the party, and its fortunes
These voters told us they consider themselves “part of the MAGA movement,” along with being Republicans, and that makes them a potent force inside today’s GOP. You can’t understand this election without understanding them. On the issues, they’ve told us they don’t believe Biden won in 2020; want the Republican party and its candidates to support the former President. Notably, in their approach to politics, they’re more likely than other Republicans to call Democrats “enemies,” not just opponents.
The Republicans need their turnout in order to win, even as the former president polls as a net-negative factor and those views about 2020 aren’t popular beyond the base. Their impact is a turnout one, not a vote choice one. They’re 20% of voters and 97% are voting Republican. Will they show up without Donald Trump on the ballot? Or if you start to see Republican candidates moderate their stances, do any stay home?
Restoring Roe Voters
Women prioritizing abortion rights — and voting on them
We know Roe’s reversal changed this election — the question is by how much? This group, in particular, will help tell the tale. While many people call the issue important, these women profile the most like single-issue, abortion rights voters. They are: 24% of voters, women who say abortion is very important, want it to remain legal and they say that a candidate must agree in order to earn their vote.
Their motivation closed the gap this fall in what might otherwise have been a larger GOP lead, as they’re voting strongly Democratic at 81% today. But can Democrats grow their ranks? Much of their campaign seems to be banking on it. Of late, in the face of worse economic news, the Democrats have faced headwinds on this. So will they be enough to keep the races close or tip some?
The Young and Restless:
A turnout story for the ages
Many young people today tell us they feel older generations had things easier than they do. Many feel shut out from big parts of the economy. Their view of the world is driven in part by their generation’s diversity, which studies show is the most diverse in U.S. history. They are under 30 and don’t have kids. But they’re also less likely to vote, with under half saying they definitely will, and so comprising now 6% of likely voters. Their vote now is: 60% Democrat to 26% Republican. They use social media more and do pay attention to politics, though not quite as much as others.
They mostly — but not overwhelmingly — vote Democratic when they do, so Democrats need them to have a better chance overall. Yet, this past year, they were among the first to drop in approval for Mr. Biden, disappointed by the economy. Will social issues and rights issues motivate them instead?
Stay tuned…
In:
Elections
Anthony Salvanto
Anthony Salvanto, Ph.D., is CBS News’ director of elections and surveys. He oversees all polling across the nation, states and congressional races, and heads the CBS News Decision Desk that estimates outcomes on election nights. He is the author of “Where Did You Get This Number: A Pollster’s Guide to Making Sense of the World,” from Simon & Schuster (a division of ViacomCBS), and appears regularly across all CBS News platforms. His scholarly research and writings cover topics on polling methodology, voting behavior, and sampling techniques.
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Police Beat https://digitalarkansasnews.com/police-beat-2/
Gunfire kills dog in shots at garage
Little Rock police were investigating a shooting incident from Friday afternoon that left a dog dead.
Officers met with Jose Perez and Terri Perez, whose garage had been struck by a bullet, at 8400 Baseline Road. The two said they had received “vague” threats from previous tenants.
Police searched the property and found a projectile inside the Perezes’ shop. The search also revealed that their dog, which was in a cage behind the shop, had been struck and killed by gunfire.
Police took the projectile for evidence.
Woman attacked at intersection
Little Rock police responded to the Shell Station at 10101 Interstate 30 just after midnight Sunday after a woman reported being assaulted by an unknown man.
Officers said the victim had visible injuries to her face and both arms and was bleeding in multiple places.
The woman, 40, stated that she believed her ribs were broken, but declined treatment, adding that “she just wanted to do the report and go home.” According to the report, the woman’s husband arrived and said he would follow her home and try to convince her to go to the hospital.
The report says she had been stopped at a stoplight with her windows down when an unknown man approached the vehicle, punched her in the face, opened her door and shoved her into the passenger seat.
She told officers she kept her head down to keep him from hitting her, then decided to “take action.” The woman grabbed the steering wheel — pulling the vehicle into a parking lot — before hitting the horn as much as she could and yelling.
Two vehicles pulled into the parking lot behind her vehicle . Her attacker walked away from the vehicle after two strangers intervened.
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