A Purr-esidential Announcement
January 31, 2022
The Good News
- Same-sex penguins succeed as foster parents in first for New York zoo (Guardian)
- House Democrats introduce resolution to ratify ERA to US Constitution (Axios)
“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” – Rosa Parks
A Race About Race
Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement from the Supreme Court last week, leaving a space open on the bench for President Biden to fill. Breyer is a left-leaning judge, which means the split on the court will stay the same with Biden’s newest nominee, but it’s still a major moment given that whoever is chosen could be on the Supreme Court for decades to come. When asked on Thursday about who he was considering as Breyer’s replacement, Biden said, “The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity, and that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court,” going on to say that it’s “long overdue.”
On Friday, during a radio interview, Republican Senator Roger Wicker from Mississippi said of Biden’s promise, “The irony is that the Supreme Court is at the very same time hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination, while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota.” He also said that he doesn’t think the nominee will “get a single Republican vote.” Wicker’s comments weren’t well-received by the White House, who said the decision “is in line with the best traditions of both parties and our nation,” including Republican hero President Reagan. But Wicker may not be alone.
A new ABC/Ipsos poll found that 76% of Americans want Biden to consider “all possible nominees,” and only 23% of Americans want him to follow-through on his campaign promise. The poll was small, but also found that when broken down by race, only about 28% of non-white citizens want Biden to only review Black women for potential nomination. Perhaps more surprising was the statistic that only 46% of Democrats were supportive of his vow. An interesting show of support, however, came from the other side of the aisle on Sunday. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said, “Put me in the camp of making sure the court and other institutions look like America.” Graham even went far enough to heap praise on Michelle Childs, one of the rumored frontrunners for Biden’s nomination. (WaPo, ABC, Axios)
The Heart Of The Mattarella
- Sergio Mattarella has agreed to stay on as Italy’s president and serve a second term, and was formally re-elected on Saturday after Italy’s coalition parties failed to agree on a compromise candidate. Mattarella, 80, had been hoping to retire from politics, but for the sake of “stability” amidst the economic and health crises in the country, he acquiesced to staying on.
- Prime Minister Mario Draghi was reportedly the one to convince Mattarella to stay, and he applauded the president for going “along with the extremely strong will of parliament to re-elect him for a second term.” After seven rounds of voting, the parties in Italy’s governing coalition had to come to terms with the fact that deep divisions in the cabinet were making it impossible to compromise on an alternative candidate.
- Italy’s president is elected through a secret vote in an electoral college of 1,009 senators, members of parliament, and regional delegates. Many lawmakers didn’t vote at all, while others suggested candidates that couldn’t get a sufficient amount of support. Mattarella may serve the full seven-year term, but some have suggested that after Italy’s 2023 elections, Mattarella could step aside and pass the position to Draghi. (BBC)
Talking Turkey
- Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the head of the state statistics agency, Sait Erdal Dincer, after data regarding the country’s inflation in 2021 showed it reached a 19-year high of 26.1%. Erdogan has also fired three central bank governors since mid-2019.
- Erdogan has publicly lamented high interest rates, which he thinks are to blame for the inflation, in direct opposition to what almost all economists believe. Dincer said in an interview earlier this month that he knew his dismissal was coming, and while he could have distorted or hidden the inflation rate, he has “a responsibility to 84 million people.”
- The opposition group said that Dincer’s data was too low, and that cost of living increases were actually double what he claims. Erdogan, however, felt the number was too high, and Dincer was being overly critical of the economic state of the country. Dincer’s replacement was announced to be Erhan Cetinkaya, 40, who has been deputy chairman of the BDDK banking watchdog since 2019. (Al Jazeera)
Additional World News
- Northern Ireland marks 50 years since Bloody Sunday (AP)
- DR Congo issues death sentences for murder of UN experts (BBC)
- Oil executives from Spanish company Repsol barred from leaving Peru after massive spill (CNN)
- Freedom Convoy: Why Canadian truckers are protesting in Ottawa (BBC)
- North Korea tests longest-range missile since 2017 (AP)
- Weather, cleanup keep oil slick away from Thai resort island (ABC)
Word Of Maus
- Maus, the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel by Art Spiegelman, was banned by a school district in Tennessee due to “inappropriate language” and an illustration of a nude woman over two weeks ago, sparking debates across the country about book banning and whitewashing of history as a whole. On Friday, two different versions of the Holocaust story reached the top 20 list on Amazon.
- Maus was #12 on Amazon as of early Friday evening, and was not available for delivery until next month; the version which includes a second volume, The Complete Maus, was #9 and out of stock. Neither was even in the top 1,000 in the days before. Other schools have removed books like To Kill A Mockingbird and The Bluest Eye as conservatives make a push for intervening in classrooms. (Politico)
The Wrong Kind Of Girl Power
- The U.S. attorney in Alexandria, Virginia announced on Saturday that they had arrested Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, a former Kansas resident, and charged her with providing material support to a terrorist organization. The criminal complaint was filed back in 2019, but Fluke-Ekren was brought back to America on Friday to face charges.
- Fluke-Ekren joined ISIS, and was leading an all-female battalion called “Khatiba Nusaybah” in plans to attack a college campus and a shopping mall. One witness said that Fluke-Ekren told her crew that “she considered any attack that did not kill a large number of individuals to be a waste of resources.”
- Khatiba Nusaybah members were trained in using AK-47s, suicide belts, and grenades. Six witnesses gave their observations of Fluke-Ekren, and one witness even said that Fluke-Ekren’s own children were seen holding assault rifles. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh says she was a “fervent believer in the radical terrorist ideology of ISIS.” (NPR)
Additional USA News
- Seven in critical condition after Ohio hotel carbon monoxide poisoning (Guardian)
- GOP Gov. Sununu: Schools should have ‘flexibility’ with covid rules (CNN)
- US pledges to put Russia on defensive at UN Security Council (AP)
- 3,500 US flights canceled for Saturday, as winter storm pummels East Coast (CNN)
- 9 dead in ‘mass-casualty traffic collision’ in North Las Vegas (The Hill)
- The worst of the storm that slammed the Northeast with record snowfall has passed, but ‘dangerously cold’ wind chills remain in some places (CNN)
A Purr-esidential Announcement
- The Biden family welcomed Willow, a 2-year-old, green-eyed, gray and white tabby farm cat from Pennsylvania. On the campaign trail, the First Lady was giving a speech when Willow hopped up onto the stage and stole the show. She is named for the First Lady’s hometown of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. The farm owner said that she would hold onto Willow until the Bidens were settled enough to welcome her to the White House.
- Willow joins Commander as the pets of the White House. Commander was introduced in December, and is the family’s latest German shepherd, after Champ and Major. Champ died in June at age 13, while Major, a 3-year-old rescue, was sent off to a quieter life after behaving aggressively. The last White House cat was George W. Bush’s feline friend India, whose name sparked controversy, who came after the Clintons’ Socks.
- Stacy Cordery, who teaches history and leadership at Dickinson State University, said she thinks the Bidens are trying to “make the White House feel more approachable” after Trump’s pet-less administration. Horses, dogs, and cats were all popular choices over the centuries, but other pets include a badger, opossums, a raccoon, Andrew Johnson’s odd attachment to the mice that roamed the house, and a flock of sheep that replaced gardeners who joined the war effort under Woodrow Wilson. (AP)
Additional Reads
- Funeral held in Vietnam for influential monk Thich Nhat Hanh (AP)
- It’s Lunar New Year. Get Ready for Some Fruit. (NYT, $)
- Spotify Was Never Going to Drop Joe Rogan (Wired)
- ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic resentenced to 21 years in prison (NPR)
- China claims to be holding the greenest Olympics. So why has it built a ski resort in the middle of a nature reserve? (CNN)
- Bette Midler hits back at West Virginia governor’s request she kiss his dog’s derrière (CNN)