The Overnight News Digest is a nightly series chronicling the eschaton and the fall of the Republic.
The Atlantic
America Punished Elizabeth Warren for Her Competence
In November 2019, as the Democratic presidential candidates prepared for the primaries that had been taking place unofficially for more than a year and that would begin in earnest in February, FiveThirtyEight’s Clare Malone profiled Pete Buttigieg. In the process, Malone spoke with two women at a Buttigieg event in New Hampshire. One liked Joe Biden, but felt he was a bit too old for the presidency. The other liked Buttigieg, without qualification: “I feel he’s well positioned,” she explained. “The country is ready for a more gentle approach.”
As for Elizabeth Warren? “When I hear her talk, I want to slap her, even when I agree with her.”
A version of that sentiment—Warren inspiring irrational animus among those whom she has sought as constituents—was a common refrain about the candidate, who announced today that she was suspending her campaign after a poor showing on Super Tuesday. This complaint tends to take on not the substance of Warren’s stated positions, but instead the style with which she delivers them. And it has been expressed by pundits as well as voters. Politico, in September, ran an article featuring quotes from Obama-administration officials calling Warren “sanctimonious” and a “narcissist.” The Boston Herald ran a story criticizing Warren’s “self-righteous, abrasive style.” The New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, in October, described Warren as “intensely alienating” and “a know-it-all.” Donny Deutsch, the MSNBC commentator, has dismissed Warren, the person and the candidate, as “unlikable”—and has attributed her failure to ingratiate herself to him as a result, specifically, of her “high-school principal” demeanor. (“This is not a gender thing,” Deutsch insisted, perhaps recognizing that his complaint might read as very much a gender thing. “This is just kind of [a] tone and manner thing.”)
The Washington Post
As leading public health experts from across the government have tried to provide clear and consistent information about the deadly coronavirus, they have found their messages undercut, drowned out and muddled by … Trump’s push to downplay the outbreak with a mix of optimism, bombast and pseudoscience.
Speaking almost daily to the public about an outbreak that has spread across states and rocked the markets, Trump has promoted his opinions and at times contradicted the public health experts tasked with keeping Americans safe.
Trump has repeatedly misstated the number of Americans who have tested positive for the virus and claimed it would “miraculously” disappear in the spring. He has given a false timeline for the development of a vaccine, publicly questioned whether vaccinations for the flu could be used to treat the novel coronavirus and dismissed the World Health Organization’s coronavirus death rate estimate, substituting a much lower figure and citing a “hunch.”
Judge cites Barr’s ‘misleading’ statements in ordering review of Mueller report redactions
A federal judge in Washington sharply criticized Attorney General William P. Barr on Thursday for a “lack of candor,” questioning the truthfulness of the nation’s top law enforcement official in his handling of last year’s report by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, overseeing a lawsuit brought by EPIC, a watchdog group, and BuzzFeed News, said he saw serious discrepancies between Barr’s public statements about Mueller’s findings and the public, partially redacted version of that report detailing the special counsel’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Romney may vote against Trump again — this time with some bite
Mitt Romney became persona non grata in certain parts of the conservative movement last month by becoming the first senator of a president’s own party to ever vote to remove them from office.
Now, he could throw another wrench in … Trump’s and the GOP’s efforts to dig up dirt on the Bidens — this one with more practical impact.
Romney indicated Thursday that he is skeptical about the need for the Senate Homeland Security Committee to issue a subpoena related to Hunter Biden’s work for Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian energy company.
Bloomberg
Wall Street Stock Pros Fess Up: ‘We Don’t Know What’s Going On’
Along with the virus, here’s what people said has been driving the stock market this week. Optimism over Fed policy. Pessimism over Fed policy. Optimism over the government’s response. Pessimism over the government’s response. The Beige Book. Joe Biden.
The ink’s barely dry on one view, and the market goes careening the other way. It’s a futile, and infuriating, situation for investors and analysts. Forget about trying to predict where stocks will be in six months or a year. These guys can’t even figure out where they’ll be tomorrow. Everything depends on how the virus outbreak will play out. And nobody has a clue.
Outbreak Stretches U.S. Health System With Supply, Test Shortage
Strains on the U.S. health-care system appeared to increase Thursday under the weight of the spreading coronavirus outbreak. Medical workers warned of supply shortages, and hospitals were uncertain when they’ll be able to test suspected cases without relying on government labs.
Even as the number of confirmed infections in the New York area doubled, lawmakers said the federal government would fall far short of being able to test a million people by week’s end as promised.
America struggled to catch up with an outbreak that began months ago far from the nation’s shores and is increasingly affecting daily life. The number of U.S. cases exceeded 130, with 11 deaths. Authorities warned the public to brace for more.
Los Angeles Times
Another campaign, another disappointment for women as Elizabeth Warren bows out
Just a few days ago, Vanessa Jackson marked the spot beside Elizabeth Warren’s name on her Georgia ballot, hopeful she was casting her vote for the first female president of the United States.
So when the news flashed on her cellphone Thursday that Warren had bowed out of the Democratic race, she groaned. The contest was down to two white men. The highest glass ceiling in the land will remain firmly intact.
“Can we talk about the fact that we have never had a woman president and what that means?” asked the 59-year-old Atlanta social worker, who voted early ahead of Georgia’s March 24 primary.
Jackson didn’t fault Warren, saying she had long admired the Massachusetts senator’s fierce intellect and the ability the former Harvard professor had to make complex policy accessible.
“I am more disappointed in our country,” she said. “The bottom line is this woman is the best leader we can have at this moment … levels above her male counterparts — and somehow that still doesn’t matter. It’s so weird. What would have to change in the American psyche to accept the ultimate leadership of a woman?”
Officials bought this motel to hold coronavirus patients. Working-class neighbors are enraged
Health officials here thought they found a fine place to quarantine COVID-19 patients: a motel that was up for sale.
This week King County completed the $4-million purchase of an Econo Lodge in Kent, Wash., a diverse, lower-income community of 130,000 just south of Seattle.
“We hope to have it operational within days,” County Executive Dow Constantine announced Wednesday at a news conference on the mounting coronavirus deaths. Officials said it could house up to about 80 patients.
But the plan has created a firestorm of opposition in Kent, where community leaders feel blindsided.
The Oregonian
Do I have coronavirus? Oregon residents feel uncertain as COVID-19 spreads
Oregonians are settling into what may be a new normal for the near future: Daily updates about coronavirus cases, deaths and measures to mitigate the spread of a virus that has infected more than 90,000 people worldwide and killed 3,000.
The number of coronavirus cases in Oregon has climbed to three since Feb. 28, and officials expect that count to rise. Health officials believe the virus, also called COVID-19, has already been circulating within the state and that hundreds of people may be infected with the virus. […]
By the time coronavirus arrived in Oregon, Sohelia Azadi was intently tracking it. Azadi is Iranian, and she heard from family and friends about the rapid spread of the virus in her home country and the havoc it wreaked. […]
“It spread very quickly in Iran,” said Azadi. “We know someone that died at the age of twenty, she was a nurse.” When she learned the virus was in Oregon, Azadi said, she panicked.
The Seattle Times
Health officials’ message Wednesday as the state’s novel coronavirus crisis grows: Work from home if possible, postpone or cancel large events and — for people over 60 or with underlying health conditions — avoid groups and close contact with others.
Worried people have been turned away from health clinics and a state coronavirus hotline has been overwhelmed with callers.
Confirmed cases of the disease in Washington state have grown to 70 Thursday as health officials ramp up testing, including at a University of Washington lab that was given emergency approval to test specimens provided by physicians and health care centers. The state’s 10th death from COVID-19 was announced on Wednesday, as well as the nation’s first death outside of Washington, in California.
The Denver Post
Colorado announces first two cases of coronavirus in the state
The new coronavirus disease sweeping the globe has reached Colorado, state officials announced Thursday, warning that even more cases are now likely to be confirmed as they ramp up testing for COVID-19.
Two individuals tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease and at least another three people are in quarantine, state officials said. […]
“It’s a virus that seems to be spreading slowly, but what we’ve seen from other countries and from other states is that the more we test, probably the more we’ll find,” said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the state Department of Public Health and Environment.
ICE shifting more agents to Denver streets as it ramps up arrests in sanctuary cities
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is ramping up its operations in Denver, transferring special agents normally charged with long-term investigations to help target and arrest undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. […]
Alethea Smock, spokeswoman for ICE’s regional office, confirmed that special agents will be transferred to help with enforcement in Denver, but she wouldn’t say how many.
ICE leadership requested at least 500 special agents nationally to join the campaign in sanctuary cities, where they will be deployed in unmarked cars around homes and workplaces of undocumented immigrants…
Houston Chronicle
Democrats sue to stop Texas' straight-ticket voting ban
State and national Democrats are suing the state of Texas to prevent the Secretary of State from implementing the law that ended straight-ticket voting.
The practice allows voters to select all candidates of the political party of their choice; the Republican-controlled state Legislature in 2017 passed House Bill 25 discontinuing the practice after September 2020 despite opposition from most Democrats.
In the suit filed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Texas Democratic Party in U.S. District Court in Laredo on Thursday, plaintiffs argue that the law unconstitutionally burdens Texans’ right to vote and associate, and that it discriminates against minorities. They say eliminating straight-ticket voting will cause voters to take more time filling out their ballots, creating longer lines, and will disproportionately affect minority communities.
Austin Statesman
Austin ISD finds way around state ban on source of sex ed lessons
The Austin school district found itself in a conundrum. It needed a modern sexual education curriculum and found one by a Canadian public health care provider. The problem was the Canadian system offers abortions, and Texas law bars public agencies from paying or supporting groups that do.
So school district officials just took what they needed. No money — and initially no permission — was proffered.
Now critics of the curriculum are crying foul, and at least one state lawmaker has vowed to bring the matter up in the next session of the Texas Legislature.
The district says it gave the Canadian group no taxpayer resources. So district administrators say they are on the right side of the law.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trump’s Atlanta visit puts CDC in spotlight
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta will serve as the stage for a presidential visit in the midst of a disease crisis, a role the institution knows well.
But this time, when Donald Trump arrives, the agency won’t be basking in victory as when Barack Obama visited in 2014, days after U.S. Ebola patients walked out of quarantine, disease-free.
Public concern is still swelling over COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. The CDC is catching flak. Botched early testing, and mixed messages within the administration, led U.S. senators to pose tough questions to CDC officials testifying on the outbreak this week. Experts have lobbed criticism in news articles and on social media.
Miami Herald
A drug linked to suicide, depression in kids will carry the FDA’s most serious warning
A Boxed Warning or “Black Box Warning,” the most prominent and serious of FDA warnings about prescription drugs, will adorn packages of asthma and allergy medicine montelukast (brand name: Singulair), the agency announced Wednesday.
The warning, a strengthening of what already comes with the drug, will address what the FDA calls “serious mental health side effects” and will recommend that montelukast be prescribed for hay fever sufferers only when there’s no other medical option.
Those side effects the FDA keeps hearing about include “agitation, depression, sleeping problems, and suicidal thoughts and actions.”
The Boston Globe
Elizabeth Warren departs the presidential race disappointed: ‘I really thought we could do it’
Fourteen months after she launched her presidential campaign, Senator Elizabeth Warren sat in the kitchen of her Cambridge home Thursday as light streamed in from the stained glass behind her, took a few bites from a takeout bowl, and read the card from a bouquet of flowers resting on the green tile. It was over.
Hours earlier, she had told a crush of reporters outside that she was dropping out of the race after riding a tide of policy ideas and a promise to remake the economy and political system to the top of the polls last year. But she failed to build a broad enough coalition of voters to remain there…
“I think I would have made a better president than either one of them, that’s why I was running,” Warren said in an interview. “I thought it was worth fighting for another approach.”
Want to make $27.50 an hour to knock on doors? The census is struggling to hire workers
Accounting for roughly 330 million people is no easy task. Every 10 years, the US Census Bureau recruits an army of temporary workers to knock on strangers’ doors in the evenings and on weekends in order to get an accurate population count. But with unemployment at a nearly 50-year low, filling the ranks is proving to be a challenge. […]
The big push starts in March, when large-scale hiring begins and letters go out to nearly 140 million households inviting them to fill out the census online or over the phone — both new options — or in writing. And when an anticipated 60 million households fail to respond to five rounds of mailings (or to hand-delivered invitations in remote areas), the census will deploy half a million temporary workers to find out the name, age, gender, race, ethnicity, and housing situation of every person unaccounted for. […]
Nationwide, 2.6 million people have applied for census jobs so far, which is about on track, said Tim Olson, census associate director for field operations. But compare that to 2010, when many people were still out of work following the recession. So many applied — 3.9 million overall — that the recruiting process was stopped early.
The requirements are simple: Census takers must be 18 or older, pass a background check showing they have no history of violent crimes, and be US citizens (though exceptions can be made for noncitizens if there is a need for their language skills). This year the census will be offered in 13 languages, up from five in the past.
The Guardian
Russia and Turkey agree ceasefire in Syria's Idlib province
Russia and Turkey have said they have agreed to a ceasefire in Syria’s Idlib province after clashes left scores of Turkish and Syrian soldiers dead in a dangerous escalation of violence.
Speaking at the Kremlin, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that the ceasefire would begin at midnight on Thursday evening and that they hoped it would defuse tensions in the region.
The three-point agreement, read out by the two countries’ foreign ministers, also stipulated the creation of a seven-mile (12km) “safety corridor” along the country’s crucial M4 highway, which Russian and Turkish forces would begin patrolling at the end of next week.
This winter in Europe was hottest on record by far, say scientists
This winter has been by far the hottest recorded in Europe, scientists have announced, with the climate crisis likely to have supercharged the heat.
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) data dates back to 1855. It said the average temperature for December, January and February was 1.4C above the previous winter record, which was set in 2015-16. New regional climate records are usually passed by only a fraction of a degree. Europe’s winter was 3.4C hotter than the average from 1981-2010. […]
Across the globe as a whole, 2019 was the second hottest on record for the planet’s surface and both the past five years and the past decade were the hottest in 150 years. The previous hottest year was in 2016, but temperatures were boosted that year by a natural El Niño event. The heat in the world’s oceans reached a new record level in 2019, showing “irrefutable and accelerating” heating of the planet, according to scientists.
Deutsche Welle
Brexit planing cost Britain 4.4 billion pounds
Preparations for the United Kingdom's exit of the European Union cost British taxpayers 4.4 billion pounds (€5.1 billion, $5.7 billion), according to the UK's National Audit Office (NAO).
In the first detailed estimate of the cost of the Brexit, the NAO on Friday estimated that the British government spent about 70% of the 6.3 billion pounds allocated to cover the cost of preparations between the June 2016 referendum and March 31 of this year. The allocated money accounts for the possibility of the UK and EU not reaching a trade deal before the end of a transition period that expires at the end of 2020.
The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, warned of "serious divergences" in expectations between the EU and the UK as the first round of post-Brexit trade talks wrapped up on Thursday.
Coronavirus scare: When will 'hamsterkauf' become an English word?
The coronavirus scare has seen quite a number of Germans resorting to panic buying, although the chances of them really needing a lot of stuff at home over a longer period are rather slim. But that's a different story.
The point is that the Germans have a rather nice and descriptive word for hoarding stuff. They call the activity of panic buying hamsterkauf, with the corresponding verb being hamstern.
It's not too hard for people from the English-speaking world to guess its meaning. After all, they share the same word for the rodent that's used as a descriptive term in German to indicate that if you do a hamsterkauf, you want a lot of stuff — just as hamsters are eager to store as much food as they can in their cheeks. You never know, it could come in handy.
BBC News
Coronavirus: White House concedes US lacks enough test kits
The White House has acknowledged the nation does not have enough coronavirus test kits as cases of the disease ticked upwards on both US coasts.
Vice-President Mike Pence said the Trump administration would not be able to meet its objective of delivering one million testing kits this week. […]
"We don't have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward," Mr Pence said during a visit to a factory in Minnesota.
Speaking in Washington state in the evening, Mr Pence said: "We still have a ways to go to ensure that tests are available."
Easter Island: Anger after truck crashes into sacred statue
The mayor of Easter Island has called for motor restrictions to be put in place in the area after a truck collided with a sacred stone statue.
Pedro Edmunds Paoa told local media that the incident had caused "incalculable" damage.
A Chilean man who lives on the island was arrested on Sunday and charged with damaging a national monument, local media report.
The platform on which the statue was mounted was also destroyed.
The Merco Press
A research by Argentine investigator Pedro Filipuzzi revealed a list of 12,000 Nazis in Argentina that apparently have money in accounts at the Zurich-based Credit Suisse investment bank, the Simon Wiesenthal Center said in a statement.
The list, which Filipuzzi gave to Simon Wiesenthal Center's international relations director Dr. Shimon Samuels and Latin America director Dr. Ariel Gelblung, was found in an old storage room at the former Buenos Aires Nazi headquarters.
Frustrating Brazilian economic growth in 2019: less than half the forecast at the start of the year
Brazil’s economy expanded by 1.1% in 2019, marking a third straight year of frustrating activity following a massive recession, according to data released on Wednesday.
The 1.1% growth in 2019 was less than half the forecast at the start of the year, and its worst performance since bouncing back from the two-year recession in 2015 and 2016, according to data from the government’s statistics institute. It grew 1.3% in the subsequent two years, well less than half the global average.
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro took office at the start of last year with promises to rejuvenate Latin America’s biggest economy. But political turbulence hampered the government’s reform agenda, tight fiscal policy constrained domestic demand and a crisis in neighboring Argentina sapped exports.
The Times of India
As riot toll climbs to 53, videos emerge of mob targeting cops
The toll in the north-east Delhi riots rose to 53 on Thursday as more victims died of their injuries in hospital. According to officials, so far 44 deaths have been reported from GTB Hospital and five from Ram Manohar Lohia. Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital has reported three deaths and Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital one.
“Around 298 patients have been treated so far at GTB and around 100 have gunshot injuries,” said an official.
Meanwhile, two new mobile videos have emerged showing the mayhem in the Chand Bagh area during riots on February 24. The videos show a mob of over 2,000 anti-CAA protesters attacking badly outnumbered policemen, throwing stones at them and even firing, as they are huddled over the divider, trying to escape the fury of the mob.
Al Jazeera
ICC authorises investigation into alleged Afghanistan war crimes
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has authorised an investigation into possible war crimes committed in Afghanistan, which would include allegations against United States, Afghan and Taliban armed fighters.
"The Appeals chamber considers it appropriate to ... authorise the investigation," said presiding Judge Piotr Hofmanski on Thursday.
The decision, which comes days after the US and the Taliban armed group signed a peace deal, overturns a lower court decision and opens the way for prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to launch a full investigation, despite US government opposition.
Russian social media accounts sow US election discord - again
Four years after Russia-linked groups stoked divisions in the United States presidential election on social media platforms, a new report shows that Moscow's campaign hasn't let up and has become harder to detect.
The report from University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Young Mie Kim found that Russia-linked social media accounts are posting about the same divisive issues - race relations, gun laws and immigration - as they did in 2016, when the Kremlin polluted US voters' feeds with messages about the presidential election. […]
Kim's report comes weeks after US intelligence officials briefed lawmakers on Russian efforts to stir chaos in US politics and undermine public confidence in this year's election. The classified briefing detailed Russian efforts to boost the White House bids of both Republican … Donald Trump and Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders.
The Sydney Morning Herald
Record February heat pushes Reef corals closer to big bleaching event
Record sea-surface temperatures in much of the Great Barrier Reef region have intensified the risks that coral bleaching already underway could develop into another mass bleaching event.
The Bureau of Meteorology briefed the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and reef scientists on Thursday of the record February heat and the likelihood that the well-above average sea temperatures will linger well into March. […]
Terry Hughes, head of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, said the weather warnings were sufficiently serious for him to order another round of aerial surveys to begin from March 16.
"The threat of [mass bleaching] is severe and imminent enough to redo the survey," he said.
BuzzFeed News
What Happened To The Women Of 2020? Fears Of “Electability.”
The image began to circulate again on Thursday, this time with a very different sentiment behind it: five Democratic women photographed at the height of last summer, back when it seemed like one of them might have a chance at making history. They were all high-fiving, all laughing. The caption: “Madam President?”
As the last major woman candidate, Elizabeth Warren, dropped out of the presidential race, Democrats are mourning what could have been — and wondering what happened.
“Every time I get introduced as the most powerful woman, I almost cry, because I wish that were not true,” said Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, in the wake of Warren’s exit. “I so wish that we had a woman president of the United States, and we came so close to doing that. I do think there’s a certain element of misogyny.”
Ars Technica
Sorry, Tulsi Gabbard, Google can’t violate the First Amendment
When longshot presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard sued Google last year alleging a violation of her First Amendment rights, legal experts were scathing in their responses.
The lawsuit "has so many problems it's hard to know where to begin," tweeted attorney Gabriel Malor. Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman described the lawsuit as "terrible."
Now a federal judge has confirmed these experts' views. In a Tuesday ruling, he threw out the lawsuit. Gabbard's lawsuit claimed that Google violated her free speech rights when it blocked her from buying campaign ads for a few hours on the evening of June 28, 2019. But Stephen Wilson, a federal district judge in the central district of California, ruled that Gabbard didn't have a case.