The War Over A Pipeline & A Democrats’ Soul
September 23, 2022
Main Character Manchin Strikes Again
Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia might not have an ounce of integrity or party loyalty in his body, but he does have one thing in spades – leverage. The allegedly Democratic Senator has long been a thorn in the side of his more liberal party members, acting as a key swing vote in a divided Senate. This time, Manchin is being pressured by both sides of the aisle over a piece of legislation that would make it easier to build a natural gas pipeline in his state.
Earlier this year, Manchin voted in favor of a sweeping Democratic climate change, health, and tax bill. In exchange, he was promised the party’s support in passing his own legislation that would help streamline the permitting of fossil fuel and energy infrastructure projects – more specifically, the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline that would run through his home state of West Virginia.
Democrats are now balking at supporting Manchin’s permitting bill, and Republicans are looking at more extreme legislation on the subject, leaving Manchin’s deal out to dry. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont stated that he would not vote for Manchin’s bill, meaning that a minimum of 11 Republicans would need to support it. For their part, Republicans are looking to push a more aggressive permitting bill. They’re also mad that Manchin allowed the Democrats to pass their climate, tax, and health care package right before the midterms, handing them a victory at the worst possible time.
The Senate also needs to pass a funding bill to keep the lights on at Capitol Hill until mid-December. They’ll need Manchin’s vote to pass the bill, and he hopes to tack his permitting bill on to any funding measure as the spending deadline approaches and legislators get more desperate. (NYT, $)
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The President Is Willing, But The Populace Doesn’t Want To Die
- Following Russia’s declaration of partial mobilization yesterday, protests against Russia’s first military draft since World War 2 have sprung up across the country, leading to the arrests of 1,300 people on Wednesday alone.
- “In a number of regions, there were attempts to stage unauthorized actions which brought together an extremely small number of participants,” stated Russia’s interior ministry. “These were all stopped. And those persons who violated laws were detained and taken to police stations for investigation and to establish their responsibility.” The government’s statement was released as one-way tickets out of Russia skyrocketed in price before quickly selling out.
- “Everyone is scared. I am for peace and I don’t want to have to shoot. But coming out now is very dangerous, otherwise there would be many more people,” said one protestor, a student. “I came out to the rally planning to participate, but it looks like they’ve already arrested everyone. This regime has condemned itself and is destroying its youth,” said another 60-year-old would-be protestor. (Guardian)
Let’s Just Do Our Own Thing
- As the rest of the world has raised interest rates to slow global inflation caused largely by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Turkey has chosen to strike out on its own special path. On Thursday, Turkey’s central bank cut interest rates for the second month in a row, a policy encouraged by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
- The Turkish lira has suffered a serious slide in value since 2021, losing half its value compared to the U.S. dollar over the past year. A weaker lira means higher prices for imports and basic goods for Turkish citizens, also making it harder for Turkey to repay debts it owes in dollars. The country’s central bank has reportedly spent tens of billions of dollars in foreign currency to prop up the lira, and Erdogan has also increased trade with Russia to stabilize his currency.
- The economy’s one saving grace is its stock market: the benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 index is up 77% this year, outperforming markets in other countries. Many Turkish citizens choose to invest money in the market instead of tying it up in assets, as the market adjusts for inflation more easily. (WSJ, $)
Additional World News
- U.S. places sanctions on Iran’s morality police for abuse of women (Reuters)
- Iran’s Raisi attacks U.S. “hegemony” and “militarism” (WaPo, $)
- Ukraine War News: As Moscow Begins Troop Call-Up, Some Men Flee the Country (NYT, $)
- ‘It is beyond bleak’: Pakistan floods affecting 16m children, says Unicef (Guardian)
- Hungary PM Orban says EU’s Russia sanctions should be scrapped (Reuters)
- Ukraine Prisoner Exchange Sparks Backlash in Russia (WSJ, $)
- Former Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan loses genocide appeal (Al Jazeera)
“Bipartisanship is really tough to achieve when everyone on both sides is left with a bad, bad taste in their mouths.” – Campbell Brown
Declassification Proclamation
- Prosecutors have said that about 100 of the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago were marked classified, including some labeled top secret. In his first TV appearance since the raid on his residence, former President Trump sat down with Fox News host Sean Hannity and claimed that the documents were declassified while he was still in office.
- Trump explained that “there doesn’t have to be a process, as I understand it. If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified.” Trump’s legal team has so far not produced evidence that the documents at Mar-a-Lago had been declassified, so it turns out that you can’t declassify documents “even by thinking about it.”
- Earlier that day, New York Attorney General Letitia James had filed a lawsuit against Trump and three of his children accusing them of manipulating property values to deceive lenders, insurance brokers, and tax officials. Trump told Hannity the lawsuit was part of the ongoing “witch hunt” he’s talked about since he began campaigning in 2016. (WaPo, $)
Court In The Middle
- Wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas will be interviewed by the House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection. Emails and other records indicate Thomas was involved in schemes involving “fake electors.”
- Thomas was also in communication with former President Trump’s lawyer John Eastman, and questioned him about how he would go about getting the election overturned. She first came under scrutiny for telling chief of staff Mark Meadows to encourage Trump not to concede to Biden. The committee announced they would hold another hearing next week, but did not say the focus or who would appear. (NBC)
Additional USA News
- Mexican earthquake triggers 4-foot waves in Death Valley National Park — 1,500 miles away (CBS)
- 17-year-old suspect identified in shooting deaths of 2 teenagers in North Carolina (CBS)
- Judge blocks Indiana’s near-total abortion ban (CNN)
- ‘Fat Leonard,’ fugitive in U.S. Navy scandal, caught in Venezuela (WaPo, $)
- North Dakota driver charged with fatally striking teenager says he purposely hit the teen after a political argument (CBS)
- Congress approves student loan forgiveness fix for some divorced couples, sending bill to Biden’s desk (CNN)
- L.A. mayor election: Takeaways from the Bass-Caruso debate (LAT, $)
Tax Slips Don’t Lie
- Earlier this year, Spanish authorities announced that they would be seeking a prison sentence of eight years and two months against famous singer Shakira for allegedly evading taxes from 2014 to 2016. In a recent interview, the Colombian star stated that she would be fighting the charges, claiming that she was too busy tearing it up on stage across the globe to be considered a resident of Spain.
- “First of all, I didn’t spend 183 days per year at that time at all. I was busy fulfilling my professional commitments around the world,” Shakira told Elle on Wednesday. “Second, I’ve paid everything they claimed I owed, even before they filed a lawsuit. So as of today, I owe zero to them. And finally, I was advised by one of the four biggest tax specialist firms in the world, PricewaterhouseCoopers, so I was confident that I was doing things correctly and transparently from day one.”
- Besides struggling with Spanish tax collectors, the star is also going through a very public divorce from soccer star Gerard Piqué. The media attention from both the divorce and court case seem to be taking their toll on her: “I have paparazzi camping outside, in front of my house, 24/7,” she said. “And there’s not a place where I can hide from them with my kids, except for my own house.” She has called this period “probably the darkest hour of my life.” (LAT, $)
Additional Reads
- How to Hunt Like an Octopus (NYT, $)
- Koalas have fingerprints almost identical to ours (PBS)
- Einstein wins again: Space satellite confirms weak equivalence principle (Ars Technica)
- Levels of stress, anxiety and sadness among women are at a 10-year high, survey shows (USA Today)
- An exploding king: Why Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin was lined with lead (WaPo, $)
- Firms in four-day week trial will make it permanent (BBC)
- On the run, Lebanese woman who stole own savings says she’s not the criminal (Reuters)
Tim Hsia, the publisher of Daily Pnut, is a West Point graduate and former active duty infantry officer. Earlier this year, he cofounded The Military Veteran, an organization dedicated to helping servicemembers find meaningful civilian careers after their military service. The Military Veteran partners with large companies and startups to help them source and select fantastic veteran talent.
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