It's Friday morning, what do we know?
DeSantis demonstrates he's deplorable, Judge Cannon rules against the DOJ and Biden avoids a rail strike
What do we know?
Sometimes, it’s the thing that didn’t happen that matters most. The Biden administration appears to have successfully avoided a rail strike, at least for now. The strike would have been a crippling blow to the economy during an especially fragile time and a political blow to Democrats ahead of the midterms. Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern railroads reached terms with unions representing about 115,000 rail workers across the nation. The tentative deal includes significant wage hikes and gives workers the right to seek medical care without fear of reprisal, a concession which union members said was essential to any bargain. Union members are set to vote on the tentative deal over the next several days
Late Thursday night Judge Aileen Cannon once again ruled against the Department of Justice in its request for a partial stay pending appeal. Instead, Cannon appointed Raymond Dearie, a senior federal judge in New York, to lead an independent review of the seized documents. Cannon expressed skepticism at the Justice Department’s claim that her initial ruling, barring investigators from reviewing disputed documents, had national security implications. She also, oddly, alluded to leaks to the media, of which there have been none. And she once again directly referred to Trump’s potential executive privilege, though both statute and precedent say he has none. Further, she gave the special master until November 30th to complete his work. Well beyond the October 17th date the department requested. It’s highly likely the Justice Department will appeal her decision to the 11th Circuit. More on Cannon’s ruling here
In a dramatic reversal, Don Bolduc, the GOP nominee for Senate in New Hampshire, said on Thursday that he believes Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election is entirely legitimate. Previously, the retired U.S. Army brigadier general had said he supported Donald Trump’s lie that the election was stolen. Appearing on Fox News, Bolduc said, "I have come to the conclusion, and I want to be definitive on this, the election was not stolen." Bolduc faces incumbent Democrat Maggie Hassan in November
In an act of profound cynicism and callousness, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had a group of Venezuelan immigrants secretly flown to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts on Wednesday. The political stunt, which used human beings as props, involved sending a chartered flight to San Antonio—paid for with taxpayer dollars—then deceiving a group of migrants to get them to board a plane, and delivering them to the island without providing any warning to residents or officials on Martha’s Vineyard. The local response to the unexpected new arrivals was swift and decisive; they were warmly welcomed, immediately given new clothes, a place to sleep and hot food, as well as being tested for Covid-19. The Florida governor's attempt to create a crisis in a blue state turned into a moment of profound decency and generosity. In other words, it backfired completely
This newsletter doesn’t care if a straight actor plays a gay character or if, say, a male character in a book is rewritten as a female character for a movie. All we care about when it comes to these things is that whatever race or gender or sexual orientation, the character be well-rounded, well written and teeming with humanity. Although, frankly, if it were up to us, every live-action movie and television show would be recast with dogs. That said, there are times when it’s important to show a different kind of face on a well known or beloved character, sometimes symbolism has the power to change lives and, by extension, make the world better. Like here, for instance:
Tennis great Roger Federer announced his retirement from the sport on Thursday morning. In honor of his departure we offer up this piece in The New York Times from David Foster Wallace on the mighty Federer. One all-time great describing another
What do we know in Ukraine?
The United States is set to announce it will send another $600 million in military aid to Ukraine. The new military aid comes just weeks after the U.S. provided $2.8 billion in aid to Ukraine and 17 other countries to help defend against a newly aggressive Russia, including $675 million in military aid to Ukraine. The announcement of new aid so soon after the last round underscores the United States’ staunch support for Ukraine, as well as an understanding of the urgency that Ukraine consolidate recent gains. Essentially, the U.S. intends to keep Ukraine as armed as possible in its war with Russia for the foreseeable future
A quick explainer of how U.S. military aid to Ukraine works
“Money” being sent to Ukraine is almost entirely in the form of weapons and ammunition
These weapons are being sent under a “lend-lease” program, similar to the one between the U.S. and U.K. before America joined the Second World War. Ukraine will eventually have to pay it all back
After the war ends, the European Union will be largely responsible for rebuilding Ukraine, part of that obligation will include paying the United States back on Ukraine’s behalf
The weapons the U.S. is providing to Ukraine, HIMARs, etc, were near replacement. In other words, they were becoming obsolete or were simply surplus that were never going to be used
The United States has not shared any of its most cutting edge military technology but has learned a tremendous amount about Russian military capabilities at very little expense to the U.S. And what the U.S. learned about our capabilities versus theirs is that, frankly, it’s not even close
In every sense, the deal with Ukraine has been a bargain for the United States and an unmitigated geopolitical success on several fronts