A politics piece should shed light on how society organizes itself to allocate finite resources, blunt internal and external threats and adjudicate disputes. If you say that paraphrase of a long-ago American Government and Politics class sounds too abstract or academic, I say: Fair!
So for this installment of The Daily 202, here are four significant politics stories that don’t necessarily fit the traditional inside-the-Beltway definition of a “politics” story.
President Biden says the pandemic is over but covid is not. For the purposes of this column, let’s look at my colleague France Stead Sellers’ reporting on the public health problem that is long covid — a panoply of symptoms that linger stubbornly months after infection.
A Scottish study of nearly 100,000 participants “found that between six and 18 months after infection, 1 in 20 people had not recovered and 42 percent reported partial recovery. There were some reassuring aspects to the results: People with asymptomatic infections are unlikely to suffer long-term effects, and vaccination appears to offer some protection from long covid.”
Frances noted the government estimates that between 7 million and 23 million Americans are suffering from long covid, including 1 million who cannot work.
This poses some difficult questions for policymakers about how to manage the potentially wide-ranging effects — not just health, but things that depend on health, like employment and education, and the economic effects both to individuals and society broadly.
How will we respond? That’s a political question.
Privacy (or lack thereof)
“The coming dystopia will be a robust public-private partnership.” That’s what I used to say on my old radio show (“The Big Picture,” RIP) whenever I did a segment on the way private technology companies, frequently with government officials, eroded Americans’ private spheres.
My colleague Geoff A. Fowler reported Wednesday on the “surveillance nightmare” created by snoop-and-scoop Amazon devices in your home. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
“Amazon says it doesn’t ‘sell’ our data, but there aren’t many U.S. laws to restrict how it uses the information,” Geoff wrote. And a lot of customers eager for convenient technology don’t wade into the fine-print details of what their devices know about them.
Echo speakers. Ring doorbells. Fire TV or Omni TV. Kindle or Fire Tablets. Smart lights, switches, or shades connected to Alexa. Halo bands. Amazon sells lots of devices that collect an incredible suite of information about you.
So, for example: “Police have made tens of thousands of requests for Ring video clips, and Amazon has handed footage to police without owners’ permission at least 11 times this year. (Amazon says it reserves the right to respond to emergency police requests when they relate to matters of life and death.)”
That’s before all of the debates about your neighbor’s Ring devices effectively surveilling you.
Alex Jones and disinformation
My colleague Joanna Slater reported Wednesday on the Connecticut jury that ordered Infowars founder Alex Jones to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to families of Sandy Hook shooting victims, retribution for years of lying that the massacre was faked and grieving parents actors, resulting in threats of violence against bereft moms and dads.
“Jones is a reckless purveyor of conspiracy theories and a prominent supporter of former president Donald Trump, who has returned the praise. ‘Your reputation is amazing,’ Trump told Jones in late 2015 as he ramped up his campaign for the presidency. ‘I won’t let you down.’”
Joanna also noted how “[i]n 2018, YouTube, Facebook, Apple, Spotify and Twitter all removed Jones from their platforms, saying he violated their policies against abusive and harmful content.”
It’s that second part that’s boiling over into politics. The issue of content moderation is turning into one of the most volatile and toxic debates. In the hours after the jury finding, some of Trump’s most devout acolytes were arguing on Twitter that Jones was a victim of political persecution. And the Supreme Court could soon take up efforts to gut the rights of website operators not to host disinformation.
This is the easiest one to understand as a political story. Water-sharing arrangements among states that depend on, say, the Colorado River, seem likely to collapse over time as cities, towns and farms compete for H2O in increasingly dire drought conditions.
It’s a public policy nightmare unlikely to solve itself. And it has far-reaching ramifications for food production, for hydroelectric power, for cities trying to sustain themselves.
Use less water? Sure. But who? When? How much? For how long? That’s … you guessed it … a politics story. Just ask J. J. “Jake” Gittes.
Parkland school shooting jury spares gunman death penalty in 2018 massacre
“A jury Thursday sentenced Nikolas Cruz to life in prison for killing 17 people at Majority Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, sparing Cruz from a death sentence after his lawyers argued he had a troubled upbringing including allegations his biological mother abused drugs and alcohol while pregnant,” Tim Craig reports.
Today’s Jan. 6 hearing: New evidence to show Trump was warned of violence
“The likely final public hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol is expected to highlight newly obtained Secret Service records showing how President Donald Trump was repeatedly alerted to brewing violence that day, and he still sought to stoke the conflict, according to three people briefed on the records,” Carol D. Leonnig and Jacqueline Alemany report.
Follow The Post’s live coverage of the hearing here
Prices rose again in September; markets poised to tumble on sign of higher interest rates
“Inflation sped up in September compared to the month before, rising 0.4 percent, despite policymakers’ work to bring down higher prices that have weighed on American families and businesses,” Rachel Siegel reports.
Social Security benefits to rise by 8.7 percent in 2023
“The change will affect about 70.3 million Social Security beneficiaries, including roughly 8 million Supplemental Security Income recipients. The adjustment will increase monthly Social Security checks by about $145 per month on average, according to AARP, which represents seniors,” Jeff Stein reports.
Lunchtime reads from The Post
Documents reveal nonprofit’s plan to downplay abortion in the midterms
“A fundraising proposal and other internal memos prepared by Independent Women’s Voice were obtained by the watchdog group Documented and shared with The Washington Post. They illustrate the fear among conservatives that new restrictions on abortion could hurt the GOP’s chances of retaking control of Congress. They also reflect the quest among conservative groups to develop strategies to neutralize the issue for abortion rights supporters who otherwise lean Republican,” Isaac Stanley-Becker reports.
State investigation fueled flawed understanding of delays during police response in Uvalde
“Visual evidence from the scene, while limited, indicates the problem was not simply one incompetent school police chief, or officers who knew better, but failed to take action. The available footage shows high-ranking officers, experienced state troopers, police academy instructors — even federal SWAT specialists — came to the same conclusions and were detoured by the same delays the school police chief has been condemned for causing,” the New York Times‘ Robin Stein and Alexander Cardia report.
Thousands of Georgia voters’ eligibility challenged before election
“This year, the eligibility of tens of thousands more voters has been contested under a provision of last year’s election law that allows any resident to challenge the qualifications of an unlimited number of voters within their county,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s Mark Niesse reports.
- The numbers: “County election officials have so far rejected most voter eligibility challenges, including 22,000 in Gwinnett County, 15,000 in Forsyth and 1,350 in Cobb County this month. Across Georgia, about 65,000 voters challenges have been filed this year, with over 3,000 of them upheld, according to a count by the voting rights organization Fair Fight Action.”
Dems’ real midterm prize: Command of the judicial wars
“For more than 20 months now, Democrats have OK’d their judicial nominees with almost no obstacles and kept pace with President Donald Trump’s big confirmation numbers, despite holding the narrowest Senate majority possible. But as they confront the potential loss of unified government control and prepare for legislative gridlock to resume between the House and Senate next year, continued sway over Biden’s nominations may be Democrats’ most tangible asset should they hang on to the upper chamber,” Politico‘s Burgess Everett reports.
U.S. and Mexico reach agreement on plans for Venezuelan migrants
“Biden officials announced the plans after reaching an agreement with Mexico that will allow U.S. authorities to send some Venezuelan migrants back across the border, while expanding opportunities for others to seek legal entry through an application process abroad,” Nick Miroff and Kevin Sieff report.
Saudi Arabia sharply rejects U.S. criticism of oil production cut
“Saudi Arabia responded Thursday to a barrage of criticism from the United States over a decision by the Saudi-led oil-producing cartel and its allies to cut production, saying the decision was based solely on ‘economic considerations’ while denying it was ‘politically motivated’ against the United States,” Kareem Fahim reports.
Oregon is suddenly in jeopardy, and Joe Biden wants to help
“Biden’s appearance this week on the campaign trail in Oregon says as much about Democrats’ struggles in the reliable blue state as it does about his own careful approach to the midterms,” Politico‘s Christopher Cadelago and Zach Montellaro report.
GOP-led states urge judge to block Biden student debt relief plan
“U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey heard arguments Wednesday on a motion filed by six Republican-led states seeking a preliminary injunction to halt the program until a ruling is made on the full lawsuit. The judge wrapped the two-hour hearing without issuing a decision but told attorneys to expect to hear from him soon,” Danielle Douglas-Gabriel reports.
Biden views China as a bigger challenge than Russia
“President Biden still views China as the most consequential geopolitical challenge to the United States despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and his threats to use nuclear weapons, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Wednesday,” John Hudson and Karen DeYoung report.
Voter registration deadlines across the country, visualized
“Voters in more than half of the states will need to register before Election Day to cast a ballot in the 2022 midterm elections. The Post has compiled this list of registration deadlines to help you participate,” Nick Mourtoupalas, Kati Perry and Eugene Scott report.
Judge clears way for Trump to be deposed in defamation case
“A federal judge has denied a request by former president Donald Trump to pause proceedings 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,” Shayna Jacobs reports.
“The decision clears the way for Trump, who denies the claim, to be deposed as scheduled next week.”
What’s left for the Jan. 6 committee?
“Beyond shutting down the committee, what else might a Republican-controlled House of Representatives do about Jan. 6th? Last month, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy released his blueprint of what he’d do as speaker. Called a ‘Commitment to America,’ it cynically identifies ‘A Government That’s Accountable’ as a primary objective and promises ‘genuine scrutiny’ of ‘Biden’s Justice Department labeling parents as ‘domestic terrorists’ — a vague swipe at the Department of Justice’s prosecution of hundreds of primarily white men for their actions on Jan. 6th,” the Bulwark‘s Kimberly Wehle writes.
“If elected speaker, McCarthy will also feel pressure to initiate bogus proceedings to impeach President Joe Biden.”
Today in Washington (times eastern)
Biden is in California today.
At 2:15 p.m., he will speak about the bipartisan infrastructure law at the LA Metro D Line Extension Transit Project in Los Angeles.
Biden will speak at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser at 10:45 p.m. in L.A.
What does it cost to raise a child?
“Raising a child is expensive. From the day your baby is born until the day they turn 18, your family will spend about $310,605 — or about $17,000 a year, according to a new Brookings Institution analysis of data from the U.S. Agriculture Department,” Abha Bhattarai, Dan Keating and Stephanie Hays report.
Want to get more specific? The Post has developed a calculator to estimate how much your household would spend on a child.
Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.
