4 (extra) unorthodox political information developments

Masks, trains and issues that go (bust)

It’s time for our weekly roundup of items that aren’t about politics within the conventional sense (voters, campaigns, polling, nameless backstabbing) however might have vital political ramifications on the native, nationwide, or international degree.

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This week’s unorthodox political information gadgets contact on that looming potential rail strike that would cripple provide chains next month, a brand new research on sporting masks in colleges, a cryptocurrency collapse, and President Biden’s announcement about contractors and the local weather disaster.

Two tracks for the railroad strike

I’m counting this as one merchandise, nevertheless it’s two developments linked to the obvious deal Biden introduced in September to avert what would have been a really damaging railroad strike. The tentative settlement, which the administration labored onerous to get, nonetheless wants union approval.

First, 4 main unions have agreed to coordinate the date on which they may go on strike: Negotiations with the freight railroad firms will run to at the very least Dec. 4, based on Chris Isidore and Vanessa Yurkevich of CNN Enterprise.

As Isidore and Yurkevich be aware: “A strike by anybody rail union would result in a shutdown of America’s main freight railroads, as all the opposite unions, even people who have ratified contracts, would honor the picket strains. That would trigger extreme financial issues, as 30% of America’s freight strikes by rail, when measured by weight and distance traveled.”

Second, one of many labor unions that has to ratify the settlement, the Worldwide Affiliation of Machinists and Aerospace Staff (IAM), narrowly voted to take action. Two unions have voted in opposition to the deal.

The politics: A strike would batter the economic system, and Biden has invested fairly a bit in averting it.

Common masking in colleges = fewer covid circumstances

Winter 2022 may see a recent covid-19 surge — along with a nasty pressure of the flu, and respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV. That surge would land in the midst of an never-ending political battle over what methods work(ed) to restrain the pandemic, like masking.

The most recent piece of data on that rating, my colleague Donna St. George reported this week, is that public colleges that stored common masking necessities in place final 12 months had far fewer covid-19 cases than people who lifted these mandates.

That’s from a research published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“The research, which adopted colleges within the Boston area in the course of the 2021-22 educational 12 months, discovered that the top of masks necessities was related to an extra 45 circumstances of covid-19 per 1,000 college students and employees — or almost 12,000 circumstances throughout a 15-week interval from March to June,” Donna reported.

The politics: The pandemic response has been deeply politicized and can most likely be a problem within the 2024 marketing campaign.

Cryptocurrency is having a foul 12 months. And the implosion of cryptocurrency buying and selling platform FTX is a blow to the younger business — and naturally to the individuals who positioned their financial savings with a agency that will not have the out there money to pay out those that try to go away.

On Friday, FTX filed for Chapter 11 chapter. Chief govt Sam Bankman-Fried, whom my colleagues Tory Newmyer and Steven Zeitchik recently noted had “emerged throughout this election cycle because the nation’s second-largest Democratic donor,” stepped down.

MacKenzie Sigalos of CNBC summarized the company’s collapse: “Within the area of days, FTX went from a $32 billion valuation to chapter as liquidity dried up, prospects demanded withdrawals, and rival trade Binance ripped up its nonbinding agreement to purchase the corporate. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried admitted on Thursday that he ‘f—ed up.’”

The politics: This sort of calamity normally ends in authorities scrutiny and requires Washington to assist.

Federal contractors get local weather guidelines

This one was a scoop by my colleague Maxine Joselow, who helms The Local weather 202 (to which it is best to subscribe).

Biden is leveraging the federal authorities’s large consumption of products and providers to help battle global warming. He’s pushing to mandate “all main federal contractors to set targets for lowering their emissions according to the 2015 Paris climate accord, a major step towards greening the federal government’s sprawling operations and one that would ripple throughout the U.S. provide chain,” Maxine reported. 

This, as Egypt hosts the U.N. Local weather Change Convention, convening leaders from almost 200 international locations. Biden might be there. The proposed rule would require “federal contractors publicly disclose their greenhouse gasoline emissions and the dangers they face from local weather change.”

“The U.S. authorities is the world’s largest purchaser of products and providers, buying greater than $630 billion within the final fiscal 12 months alone …. Biden has previously called for the federal government to grow to be carbon-neutral by 2050, partially by making a federal fleet of electric vehicles and shopping for clear electrical energy for federal buildings.”

The politics: Biden has made motion on local weather a precedence, and the local weather disaster itself is a frightening political problem.

Biden says U.S. will ‘do our half to avert’ a ‘local weather hell’ throughout tackle in Egypt

“‘We’re not ignoring harbingers which are already right here,’ Biden mentioned. ‘So many disasters — the local weather disaster is hitting hardest these international locations and communities which have the fewest sources to reply and to get better.’ His look comes close to the top of the primary week of the convention, referred to as COP27, the place talks have closely centered on rich nations’ obligations to cut back their very own emissions and assist tackle the implications of local weather change within the growing world,” Sarah Kaplan, Brady Dennis, Allyson Chiu, Siobhán O’Grady and Matt Viser report.

CBP commissioner says he refused resignation request from Homeland Safety secretary

“A conflict between two high Homeland Safety officers grew to become public on Friday when U.S. Customs and Border Safety Commissioner Chris Magnus mentioned Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requested for his resignation a day after the mid-term elections,” Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti report.

“Magnus mentioned he refused. ‘I wish to make this clear: I’ve no plans to resign as CBP Commissioner,’ Magnus mentioned in a written assertion.”

Lunchtime reads from The Put up

As Arizona counts votes, Republicans seize on Election Day glitches

“Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for Arizona governor, seized on technical glitches at dozens of polling places in a key county to name Thursday for a particular legislative session to overtake the state’s voting system, which she would have the facility to do if elected,” Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Isaac Stanley-Becker, Jon Swaine and Aaron C. Davis report.

“On Tuesday, almost a 3rd of polling places all through Maricopa County — residence to Phoenix and greater than 60 p.c of the state’s voters — had problems with the printers that produce ballots on demand for particular person voters. Beginning early Tuesday morning, printers at 70 of the county’s 223 polling websites produced ballots with ink that was too mild to be correctly learn by vote-counting machines, inflicting the ballots to be rejected, based on county officers. These officers had beforehand mentioned {that a} smaller variety of websites had issues.”

Trump crew urges court docket to go away Mar-a-Lago arbiter in place

“Legal professionals for Donald Trump urged a federal appeals court docket Thursday to go away in place an unbiased arbiter who was assigned to evaluate paperwork seized by the FBI in an August search of the previous president’s Florida property,” the Associated Press’s Eric Tucker reports.

“The Trump crew mentioned in a submitting that veteran Brooklyn judge Raymond Dearie ought to proceed in his function as a so-called particular grasp with the intention to guarantee public confidence in an investigation involving a ‘political rival’ of the Biden administration.”

On the Capitol, the query of who received the midterms lingers days afterward

“Two days after the polls closed in a consequential and extremely anticipated midterm election, Congress was in a state of suspended animation, with no person positive which occasion could be answerable for the Home and Senate come January as ballots throughout the nation continued to be tallied,” the New York Times’ Carl Hulse writes.

“Prime lawmakers who’re hardly ever at a loss for one thing to say or a plan to execute as an alternative waited anxiously for outcomes from key states within the West. And waited. And waited some extra.”

Repeat coronavirus infections can nonetheless be harmful, research suggests

“For individuals who have endured one bout of covid-19, a query looms: How protected are they from dangerous outcomes in the event that they’re contaminated once more? Not as a lot as some may suppose, based on a research from the Division of Veterans Affairs of almost 41,000 individuals who suffered reinfection,” Ariana Eunjung Cha reports.

Biden, turning 80, faces renewed age questions as he weighs reelection

“Questions on Biden’s bodily and psychological health have hung over him since he started his presidential run in 2019 and have persevered all through the primary two years of his time period. However as Biden prepares to show 80 on Nov. 20 — probably saying a reelection bid shortly thereafter — the USA is coming into unmapped territory: an octogenarian within the Oval Workplace,” Toluse Olorunnipa and Yasmeen Abutaleb report.

A meltdown in Haiti is testing Biden’s diplomatic mojo

“A spiraling political, safety and humanitarian disaster within the Caribbean nation, the place violent gangs have elevated their energy following final 12 months’s assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, has Washington pushing for a multinational safety pressure to stabilize the nation. However Biden doesn’t need the USA to take the lead, partly due to Haitian resentment over previous U.S. interventions,” Politico’s Nahal Toosi reports.

Biden’s pupil mortgage forgiveness plan is on ice. Right here’s what it is best to know.

“A federal judge in Texas has struck down President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, tabling the administration’s plan to forgive as much as $20,000 in federal loans held by tens of tens of millions of debtors,” Danielle Douglas-Gabriel reports.

For subsequent IRS chief, Biden to appoint Daniel Werfel

“The White Home introduced on Thursday that President Biden will nominate Daniel Werfel to steer the Inner Income Service, tapping a former funds official to spearhead implementation of key elements of the administration’s financial agenda,” Jeff Stein and Tony Romm report.

Annual inflation charges, visualized

“Inflation stayed excessive however confirmed indicators of slowing in October, spurring new optimism on Wall Avenue, at the same time as households and companies nonetheless face rising prices for fundamentals equivalent to meals and hire — and because the Federal Reserve ramped up its efforts to decrease shopper costs, even on the threat of forcing a recession,” Rachel Siegel reports.

The GOP thought it may make good points in New England. A blue wave hit as an alternative.

“Heading into Tuesday’s midterms, New England was thought-about a region where Republicans might make crucial inroads, probably selecting up key seats in a Democratic stronghold on the highway to a broader nationwide victory,” Joanna Slater reports.

“As a substitute, the end result right here seemed extra like a blue wave. Republicans misplaced three Home races that have been thought-about aggressive in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire, in addition to the same Senate race in New Hampshire.”

Rick Scott was ready to tackle McConnell — till Tuesday

“For almost two years, former President Donald Trump has demanded Senate Republicans dump Mitch McConnell as their chief however has by no means provided another. This week, one was set to emerge: the person answerable for the Senate Republican marketing campaign arm who has been feuding with McConnell for a lot of the 12 months,” Politico’s Jonathan Martin writes.

“Senator Rick Scott of Florida was poised to problem McConnell, Republicans briefed on his plans informed me, till he determined in opposition to a bid Wednesday morning, when it grew to become clear Republicans might not seize the bulk and there was to be a Senate runoff in Georgia.”

Biden is in Egypt right now for COP27. He has nothing on his public schedule for this afternoon.

Trump’s large announcement (post-GOP mutiny)

Thanks for studying. See you subsequent week.