A recently installed surveillance camera is positioned near the U.S. Capitol on Monday.
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A recently installed surveillance camera is positioned near the U.S. Capitol on Monday.
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Congressional leaders and top security officials say the U.S. Capitol will be well-prepared for a far-right rally expected for the area on Saturday, including plans to reinstall perimeter fencing that was up for months after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
This weekend’s rally will present law enforcement officials with the first large-scale security test to the Capitol since the attack on the complex by a pro-Trump mob.
On Saturday, right-wing demonstrators plan to protest the ongoing criminal cases tied to individuals charged after the deadly riot. The weekend rally has drawn the attention of far-right extremist groups, The Associated Press has reported.
Monday’s vote of confidence in Capitol security plans came following a security briefing for the top Democratic and Republican leaders in each chamber by Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger and House Sergeant-at-Arms William Walker. Both Manger and Walker were installed in their posts after their predecessors were forced to resign following the Jan. 6 attack.
“They seem very, very well-prepared, much better prepared than before Jan. 6,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “And I think they are ready for whatever might happen.”
Schumer made the remarks following the joint meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
Manger said he shared with the leaders the intelligence the agency is aware of, along with its operational plan for that day.
He also told reporters he expects the fencing to return later this week.
“The fence will go up a day or two before [the rally] and, if everything goes well … it will come down soon after,” he said.
The Capitol Police Board, a small panel that includes top security officials in each congressional chamber, approved the plan Monday to put up the fencing around the complex temporarily. And last week the board issued an emergency declaration that will go into effect at the time of the demonstration to allow Capitol Police to deputize outside law enforcement officials as special officers for the department.
For its part, the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department, or MPD, has also said it’s ready to defend the Capitol.
“MPD will have an increased presence around the city where demonstrations will be taking place and will be prepared to make street closures for public safety,” Chief Robert Contee said recently.
And on Monday, Capitol Police arrested a man with weapons near Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington.
Pelosi said the security briefing was a reminder of improvements installed since the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“It seems much better,” Pelosi told Capitol Hill reporters. “I’m sure we’ll have ongoing communications.”
In a statement, Capitol Police said the agency is aware of online discussions regarding the Saturday event. Manger said that while demonstrators have a right to protest, he urged those looking for trouble to stay away.
“We are here to protect everyone’s First Amendment right to peacefully protest,” Manger said. “I urge anyone who is thinking about causing trouble to stay home. We will enforce the law and not tolerate violence.”
Capitol Police noted that since Jan. 6, the agency has improved training, installed a new emergency response plan, added additional equipment and launched a departmentwide operation planning process. It has also held planning meetings for the Saturday event for the last month.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — While the invasive spotted lanternfly has been wreaking havoc on the East Coast, officials in Kansas were shocked to find one pinned on a student display at the state fair.
The spotted lanternfly is an invasive insect that prevents plants from photosynthesizing, causing them to die, prompting health officials to suggest killing it on site. Kansas State Fair officials judging 4-H entomology entries last week discovered one display included an invasive moth.
That triggered a federal investigation.
“We had one entomology issue,” Fair Board member Gregg Hadley, Director for Extension at K-State Research and Extension, advised the rest of the board Friday morning. “It was a dead one, but it was in a critter box.”
The student from Thomas County who included the insect in a 4-H insect display box had properly identified it as a spotted lanternfly.
The insect, which looks like a moth but is actually a hopping tree bug, prevents plants from photosynthesizing by depositing sticky honeydew excretions that then grow mold, causing the plants to die.
It feeds on some 70 different plant species and has spread widely since showing up in Pennsylvania about 10 years ago. It’s believed it arrived on cargo from China.
Residents in quarantine areas are asked to follow a checklist before moving vehicles or other outdoor items out of the quarantine areas to ensure they aren’t transporting the bug or its eggs.
One of the fair’s entomology judges was familiar with the insect — and the requirement of reporting it to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
That agency will conduct an investigation, trying to trace back how the insect landed in northwestern Kansas, some 1,100 miles from the quarantined areas.
Hadley and Wade Weber, the State 4-H Program Leader, said they were unaware of there ever being a similar incident from a fair entry in the past. Because the insect was dead, the student was allowed to enter the exhibit, Weber said.
The lanternfly originates from China, and George Hamilton, department chair of entomology at Rutgers University, believes they landed in the U.S. via a crate coming from the Asian country. The good news about the insects is that they can’t harm humans or pets. However, they cause massive damage to plants and are known to feed on over 70 different types of trees and plants.
“They’re very good hitchhikers,” Hamilton told USA TODAY. “Most people don’t even know they’ve got them until the adult form comes out.”
The proposal includes substantial measures to raise taxes on the rich. Taxable income over $450,000 — or $400,000 for unmarried individuals — would be taxed at 39.6 percent, the top rate before President Donald J. Trump’s 2017 tax cut brought it to 37 percent. The top capital gains rate would rise to 25 percent from 20 percent, considerably less than a White House proposal that would have taxed investment gains as income for the richest, at 39.6 percent.
Under the committee’s plan, a 3 percent surtax would be applied to incomes over $5 million.
The proposal would also raise taxes in a variety of ways on businesses called pass-through entities — like many law firms and financial companies — that distribute profits to their owners, who then pay individual income taxes on them. Those changes, including the extension of an existing 3.8 percent surtax to include pass-through income, would raise taxes primarily on high earners, generating several hundred billion dollars in revenues, by Democratic estimates.
The joint committee estimated on Monday that the changes would raise about $1 trillion from high-income individuals.
Republicans balked at the proposal. Business lobbying groups rejected the package, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce slamming it as “an existential threat to America’s fragile economic recovery and future prosperity.”
“President Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats are ramming through trillions of wasteful spending and crippling tax hikes that will drive prices up even higher, kill millions of American jobs and drive them overseas, and usher in a new era of government dependency with the greatest expansion of the welfare state in our lifetimes,” Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the committee’s ranking Republican, said of the plan.
But what is not included is notable. The richest of the rich earn little from actual paychecks (Mr. Bezos’s salary as the founder of Amazon was $81,840 in 2020), so a surtax on income would have little impact. Their vast fortunes in stocks, bonds, real estate and other assets grow largely untaxed each year.
“The proposal is extremely modest in the area of structural change,” said Eric Toder, a co-director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington. “Mostly, it is about raising rates on existing tax bases.”
The president makes remarks during a briefing from federal and state fire agency officials at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
The White House abruptly cut the feed of President Biden‘s briefing on wildfires with federal and state officials.
During Monday’s visit to Boise, Idaho, Biden received a briefing about the ongoing wildfires that have plagued several states out west.
While Biden spoke for much of the briefing, at one point he said he wanted to hear more from George Geissler of the National Association of State Foresters.
“One of the things that I’ve been working on with some others is —” Biden said before being cut off mid-sentence.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
This isn’t the first time the White House intervened in blocking Biden from being heard by the general public. Last month, the president’s audio feed was cut as he was about to respond to a reporter’s question on his administration’s military withdrawal deadline from Afghanistan.
In March, the White House cut the feed as Biden said he was “happy to take questions” while speaking to Democratic lawmakers at a virtual event.
This latest incident comes just days after Politico reported how White House staffers will “either mute [Biden] or turn off his remarks” out of “anxiety” that he will veer away from “the West Wing’s carefully orchestrated messaging.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki previously admitted during an interview that Biden is often advised by her staff not to take questions.
Biden raised eyebrows last week when he told a crowd, “I‘m supposed to stop and walk out of the room” at a White House event following his prepared remarks.
Blinken said the Biden administration was handcuffed by Trump’s agreement with the Taliban, which in part reduced the U.S. troop presence to 2,500 by the time Biden took office. With the Taliban continuing its “relentless” military campaign regardless of that agreement, Blinken said, Biden “immediately faced the choice between ending the war or escalating it.”
“Had [Biden] not followed through on his predecessor’s commitment, attacks on our forces and those of our allies would have resumed and the Taliban’s nationwide assault on Afghanistan’s major cities would have commenced,” Blinken said.
Several Democratic-led congressional committees are already investigating the withdrawal, a dynamic that threatens to complicate Biden’s effort to sell the pullout as necessary and the subsequent evacuation operation — which resulted in the airlift of more than 120,000 people — as a success.
While Republicans zeroed in on the recent events that led to the fall of Kabul, Democrats sought to broaden the scope of the hearing to include an examination of the mistakes made under presidents of both parties for nearly two decades.
“We are seeing domestic politics injected into foreign policy,” Foreign Affairs Chair Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said of Republicans’ criticisms of the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal. Meeks added that the committee would hear from officials from the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations, too, as part of the panel’s review.
The State Department has already acknowledged that thousands of Afghan allies who applied for Special Immigrant Visas were left behind, in addition to several hundred Americans, when the final U.S. troops left Afghanistan on Aug. 31. (Some of those U.S. citizens have since been evacuated from the country.)
“Our standing on the world stage has been greatly diminished,” said Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee. He accused Blinken of “betraying” those Afghan allies.
Lawmakers from both parties had criticized the Biden administration for not starting the evacuations of those vulnerable Afghans sooner, in particular the SIV applicants and their families. Many of them served as translators and interpreters for the U.S. military throughout the war.
That delay forced a scramble inside the U.S. government, with Biden sending more than 5,000 troops to secure the main airport in Kabul, where the U.S.-led evacuation mission was headquartered.
Blinken again shifted the blame to the Trump administration, arguing that Biden “inherited” a broken SIV program that included a backlog of 17,000 visas.
“There had not been a single interview of an SIV applicant in Kabul in nine months, going back to March of 2020,” Blinken said. “The program was basically in a dead stall.”
In response to criticism from Republicans about U.S. citizens being left behind in Afghanistan, Blinken said U.S. diplomatic staff began urging Americans to leave the country as early as March. Still, Biden acknowledged last month that “this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated,” but argued that the rapid collapse of the Afghan government showed that it was the “right decision” to leave Afghanistan.
“There’s no evidence that staying longer would have made the Afghan security forces or the Afghan government any more resilient or self-sustaining,” Blinken said. “If 20 years and hundreds of billions of dollars in support, equipment and training did not suffice, why would another year, or five, or 10, make a difference?”
Blinken later addressed the U.S. counterterrorism strategy for Afghanistan, a major blind spot for lawmakers as officials warn of the possibility that the country again becomes a safe haven for terrorist groups like al Qaeda. Blinken said the U.S. maintains so-called over-the-horizon counterterrorism capabilities, but he acknowledged that those are limiting without boots or bases on the ground.
“We will remain hyper-vigilant about any reemergence” of a threat from al Qaeda and other terror groups, Blinken added.
House Democrats on Monday proposed raising the top tax rate on capital gains and qualified dividends to 28.8%, one of several tax reforms aimed at wealthy Americans to help fund a $3.5 trillion budget plan.
The top federal rate would be 25% on long-term capital gains, which is an increase from the existing 20%. (Long-term capital gains are incurred on appreciated assets sold after more than one year of ownership.) Added to an existing 3.8% surtax on net investment income and the total tax bite would be 28.8%.
The new rate would apply to stock and other asset sales that occur after Sept. 13, 2021, the date House Democrats introduced the tax portions of their legislation.
Starting in 2022, taxpayers would incur the top federal rate if their taxable income exceeds $400,000 (single), $425,000 (head of household) and $450,000 (married joint), according to a House Ways and Means Committee aide.
That aligns with a Biden administration pledge not to raise taxes for households making less than $400,000. However, it’s lower than the current income thresholds at which the top rate applies.
The capital-gains policy differs from one previously floated by the White House, which had called for a top combined rate of 43.4% on those whose income exceeds $1 million. House Democrats also appear to have omitted a Biden administration proposal to tax capital gains upon the owner’s death.
Democrats broadly aim to make the tax code more equitable and raise trillions of dollars to expand the country’s social safety net and make investments to curb climate change. Those changes are expected to cost up to $3.5 trillion.
Increasing the top capital-gains rate (and lowering the income thresholds at which that top rate applies) would raise $123 billion over the next decade, according to an estimate issued Monday by the Joint Committee on Taxation.
House Democrats’ tax proposals aren’t a done deal, however. Senate Democrats may seek different reforms. Passing legislation may not be an easy lift given Democrats’ razor-thin margins in the House and Senate and unified Republican opposition.
In addition to raising the capital-gains tax rate, House Democrats’ legislation would create a 3% surtax on individuals’ modified adjusted gross income exceeding $5 million, starting in 2022.
The bill would also raise the top marginal income-tax rate to 39.6% from 37%. Among other reforms, it would also fast-track a reduction in the estate-tax exemption (to $5 million from the current $11.7 million for individuals) and change the way the wealthy use individual retirement accounts and 401(k) plans.
The bill would also provide $78.9 billion in funding to the IRS to bolster tax enforcement for taxpayers earning more than $400,000 a year.
The Democratic National Committee’s executive director thanked the U.S. Capitol Police for containing the threat near the group’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., pictured in 2018.
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The Democratic National Committee’s executive director thanked the U.S. Capitol Police for containing the threat near the group’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., pictured in 2018.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Authorities arrested a California man early Monday who had a bayonet and machete inside his pickup truck parked near the Democratic National Committee headquarters.
According to a statement from the U.S. Capitol Police, a special operation division officer noticed a Dodge Dakota truck emblazoned with a swastika and other white supremacist symbols around midnight. In place of a license plate, the truck had a picture of the American flag.
Officers arrested the driver, Donald Craighead, 44, of Oceanside, Calif., over possession of prohibited weapons, including a bayonet and machete.
“This is good police work plain and simple,” Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said in a statement. “We applaud the officers’ keen observation and the teamwork that resulted in this arrest.”
According to the Capitol Police, Craighead claimed he was “on patrol” and spoke about white supremacy.
The arrest was made less than a week before people are set to gather at the U.S. Capitol for a rally in support of the hundreds of pro-Trump supporters who were charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“At this time, it is not clear if he was planning to attend any upcoming demonstrations or if he has ties to any previous cases in the area,” the department said.
Sam Cornale, executive director at the DNC, thanked the Capitol Police for containing the threat.
“DNC employees are real human beings who fight tirelessly for a better America, and their safety, security, and well-being — physical, mental and emotional — are the top priorities of DNC leadership,” Cornale said in a statement. “This suspect’s apparent views are despicable, and violence and white supremacy have no place in our country.”
Less than a month ago, Capitol Police took a North Carolina man into custody who had claimed to have a bomb in his pickup in front of the Library of Congress.
On Monday morning, the U.S. Capitol Police arrested a California man who had multiple weapons in his truck near the Democratic National Committee headquarters, seen here in this stock photo.
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On Monday morning, the U.S. Capitol Police arrested a California man who had multiple weapons in his truck near the Democratic National Committee headquarters, seen here in this stock photo.
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Authorities arrested a California man early on Monday who had a bayonet and machete inside his pickup truck parked near the Democratic National Committee headquarters.
According to a statement from the U.S. Capitol Police, a special operation division officer noticed a Dodge Dakota truck emblazoned with a swastika and other white supremacist symbols around midnight. In place of a license plate, the truck had a picture of the American flag.
Officers arrested the driver, 44-year-old Donald Craighead of Oceanside, Calif., for possession of prohibited weapons, including a bayonet and machete.
“This is good police work plain and simple,” said U.S. Capitol Police chief Tom Manger in a statement. “We applaud the officers’ keen observation and the teamwork that resulted in this arrest.”
According to the USCP, Craighead claimed he was “on patrol” and spoke about white supremacy.
The arrest was made less than a week before people are set to gather at the U.S. Capitol for a rally in support of the hundreds of pro-Trump supporters who were charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“At this time, it is not clear if he was planning to attend any upcoming demonstrations or if he has ties to any previous cases in the area,” the department said.
In media news today, an MSNBC historian uses 9/11 to campaign against Republicans, an LA Times columnist calls Larry Elder a ‘very real threat’ to communities of color, and the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler gets mocked for praising NYC’s vaccine mandate
Fox News Channel will provide special, live coverage of California’s gubernatorial recall election through the early hours of Wednesday morning as the political fate of Gov. Gavin Newsom, D., is decided.
Martha MacCallum will anchor “The Story” from Los Angeles beginning on Monday, providing viewers with the latest news and information along with analysis from Fox News contributors Leo Terrell and Leslie Marshall.
On Tuesday, Fox News’ primetime lineup of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” “Hannity” and “The Ingraham Angle” will be followed with Trace Gallagher anchoring special coverage live from Los Angeles at 11 p.m. ET.
Fox News Channel will provide special, live coverage of California’s gubernatorial recall election through the early hours of Wednesday morning as the political fate of Gov. Gavin Newsom is decided. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, Pool, File)
Shannon Bream will anchor a special two-hour edition of “FOX News @ Night” from 12 a.m. through 2 a.m. followed by a two-hour block of live coverage with Gallagher from 2-4 a.m. ET.
Fox News correspondents William La Jeunesse, Claudia Cowan, Matt Finn and Jeff Paul will also be live from various locations throughout the Golden State.
Voters are being asked two questions on the Newsom recall ballots. The first question is whether the governor should be removed from office. If more than 50 percent support removing Newsom, the second question offers a list of candidates running to replace the governor. If the governor is recalled, the candidate who wins the most votes on the second question – regardless of whether it’s a majority or just a small plurality – would succeed Newsom in leading California.
Republican Larry Elder, a conservative talk radio host and the polling and fundraising frontrunner among the 46 gubernatorial replacement candidates on the recall ballot, is seen as the biggest threat to Newsom.
Newsom and his allies have framed the recall drive against him as an effort by the far right, supporters of former President Donald Trump, national Republicans and conservative media to oust him. The political effort to save his job is called “Stop the Republican Recall.”
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Senate Democrats will also have their say in the tax proposals. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., has called for a corporate rate of 25%, lower than the one favored by House Democrats. He has also expressed concerns about the plan adding to budget deficits.
The party will need votes from every member of the Senate Democratic caucus and all but three House Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., aim to pass the legislation through the budget reconciliation process without Republican support.
The House tax plan would not go as far as President Joe Biden initially hoped. The president had called for a 28% corporate tax and a 39.6% capital gains rate.
Biden has promised not to raise taxes on anyone who make less than $400,000 per year.
The House proposal would take huge steps to reverse the 2017 Republican tax cuts. It would hike the corporate rate to 26.5%, after the GOP slashed it to 21% from 35%.
Democrats would also restore the top individual rate to 39.6% after Republicans cut it to 37%.
The GOP has opposed the Democratic plan in part because of proposed changes to the 2017 law. Republicans also would not reverse any of the cuts as part of the Senate-passed bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Under the House Democratic plan, the top corporate rate would apply to income above $5 million. The first $400,000 in income would be taxed at an 18% rate.
A 21% rate would apply to corporate income between $400,000 and $5 million.
The plan would invest nearly $79 billion in IRS tax enforcement to increase revenue raised.
It would hike taxes on certain tobacco products. The proposal would also change or scale back certain deductions for high-income individuals and corporations to raise money.
The committee outline does not include a proposal to raise the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions set under the GOP law. A handful of Democrats from high-tax blue states such as New Jersey and New York have said they will oppose a reconciliation bill that does not raise the deduction limit.
In a joint statement Monday, Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal, D-Mass., Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., and Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., signaled House Democrats will address the cap in a future version of the tax plan.
“We are committed to enacting a law that will include meaningful SALT relief that is so essential to our middle-class communities, and we are working daily toward that goal,” the representatives said. Suozzi and Pascrell are among the lawmakers who said they will only vote for a spending bill that raises the deduction limit.
Democrats plan to use the new revenue to fund expansions of child care, paid leave, pre-K education, community college, public health insurance plans, household tax credits and green energy incentives, among other investments.
Simultaneously, western countries like the US, UK, and Germany suspended their aid programs to the country, largely citing the need to not legitimize the Taliban. The World Bank and NATO have also done so.
On the ground, Afghan civilians are in desperate need of help, with the United Nations warning on September 7 of a “looming humanitarian catastrophe.” It said $200 million was needed to plug the gap.
Last week, China pledged $31 million worth of food, medicine, and COVID-19 vaccines, to Afghanistan, the first sizeable foreign-aid promise from a major nation since August 15.
What China wants from the Taliban
For China, the new Taliban regime signals a chance to extend its reach and access natural reserves. On September 3, the Taliban said China had promised to keep its embassy open and “beef up” relations. In late July, as the US was withdrawing from Afghanistan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted Taliban leaders in his country, in a clear sign of warming relations between the two powers.
“With the US withdrawal, Beijing can offer what Kabul needs most: political impartiality and economic investment,” Zhou Bo, a former colonel in the China’s People’s Liberation Army, wrote in The New York Times.
“Afghanistan in turn has what China most prizes: opportunities in infrastructure and industry building — areas in which China’s capabilities are arguably unmatched — and access to $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits.”
Taliban political chief Abdul Ghani Baradar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin, China, on July 28, 2021.
Li Ran/Xinhua via REUTERS
Senior Asian diplomats told the Financial Times that China was promising the Taliban hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild infrastructure in Afghanistan.
China also wants the Taliban’s cooperation in preventing Islamic extremism, particularly from the East Turkestan Independence Movement, near its borders, the FT said. ETIM is a political group fighting for the independence of what China calls its northwestern Xinjiang region.
China has long claimed that Muslim minority groups, like the Uyghurs and other ethnic Turkic people, pose a security threat. Since 2016, it has detained hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs at hundreds of prison-like camps across Xinjiang.
In their July meeting, the head of the Taliban Political Commission, Abdul Ghani Baradar, told China’s foreign minister that the Taliban would never allow any forces to use the Afghan territory to endanger China, according to a Chinese government statement on the meeting.
‘Our most important partner’
The Taliban have welcomed China’s embrace.
“China is our most important partner and represents a fundamental and extraordinary opportunity for us,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on September 3. “It is ready to invest and rebuild our country.”
“I think they would like to get in for the mass mineral deposits that exist on the ground in Afghanistan,” McKenzie said.
As of early September, the US has resumed funding some aid operations in Afghanistan, including about $260 million to programs like the UN World Food Program, The Wall Street Journal reported. Those programs work through local staff rather than the Taliban, a US Agency for International Development representative told The Journal.
Nearly 1 million New York City students headed back to the classroom Monday morning — but the first day of school hit a snag when the city Department of Education’s health screening website crashed.
The screening on the website, which teachers and students are required to complete each day before entering the building, refused to load, or crawled for some, before the first bell. It was back up just before 9 a.m.
“The DOE Health Screening tool is back online. Our apologies for the short period it was down this morning. If you are having issues accessing the online tool, please use a paper form or inform school staff verbally,” NYC Public Schools tweeted.
Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the glitch, telling reporters, “First day of school, a million kids, that will overload things.”
At his daily press briefing later in the morning, Hizzoner couldn’t say why the site had crashed.
At PS 51 in Hell’s Kitchen, staffers were getting parents to fill out paper copies of the health screening as their children waited in line to enter.
For many students, Monday is the first time they have been back in a classroom in 18 months after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the nation’s largest school system in March 2020.
A student wearing a face mask.Christopher Sadowski
De Blasio gave students celebratory fist bumps on their first day back at PS 25 in the Bronx.
“We want our kids back in school, we need our kids back in school. That’s the bottom line,” the mayor said outside the school.
“We need parents to understand if you walk into a school building, everything’s cleaned, the ventilation is taken care of, everyone’s wearing a mask, all the adults are going to be vaccinated,” he added. “It’s a safe place to be.”
A teacher surveys her classroom in preparation for the upcoming start of school.Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter conceded there were still students being kept home because their parents are worried about the highly contagious bug, which is seeing a resurgence in cases across the nation due to the Delta variant.
Official enrollment figures for the 2021-22 school year have not yet been collated, with de Blasio saying it would take days to figure out.
“We understand the hesitation and fear. It’s been a really rough 18 months, but we all agree the best learning happens when teachers and students are together in classrooms,” she said.
“We have the vaccine, which we didn’t have a year ago, but we’re prepared to increase testing if we have to.”
Staff prepare school hallways for students in NYC.Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
She hailed Monday as a “tremendous day for all of New York City.”
“I am the biggest cheerleader for this system,” she said.
De Blasio has been touting the return to classrooms for months, but the spread of the Delta variant has led to an array of issues ahead of the reopening, including concerns over vaccinations, social distancing and a lack of remote learning.
New York public school students are returning en masse for in-person classes.John Minchillo/AP
Angie Bastin, who dropped her 12-year-old son off at Brooklyn’s Erasmus school Monday, told The Post she had fears regarding COVID.
“The COVID is coming back, we don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m very worried,” she said.
“I’m nervous because we don’t know what’s going to happen. They’re kids. They’re not going to follow all the rules. They’re going to eat, they’re not going to talk without masks. I don’t think they’re going to follow the rules they tell them over and over, because they’re kids.”
Meanwhile, Dee Siddons — whose daughter is in eighth grade at the school — said while she too was concerned about COVID, she was happy for her kids to get back in the classroom.
“I’m excited that they’re going back to school. It’s better for their social and mental health, and their social skills, and I’m not a teacher, so I’m not the best at home, but it’s a little nerve-wracking,” she said.
“I am concerned about them taking precautions, but you have to teach your kids the best way to take care of themselves, because I can’t take care of anyone else’s kids.”
There is no vaccine mandate for students over the age of 12 who are eligible to receive the shot. About two-thirds of students ages 12 to 17 have already been vaccinated, according to the city.
But teachers are required to be vaccinated — and they have been given until Sept. 27 to get their first dose.
The directive has proven challenging, with 36,000 Department of Education workers — including more than 15,000 teachers — remaining unvaccinated as of last week.
The United Federation of Teachers has been fighting portions of the mandate and scored a win against the city last week when an arbitrator ruled the city needs to provide accommodations to DOE staff with medical conditions or religious beliefs that preclude them from getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
Greeting teachers at PS 51 in Hell’s Kitchen first thing Monday, UFT president Michael Mulgrew lauded returning staffers for their efforts in helping to reopen the school system.
But he also acknowledged a slew of unresolved concerns.
Mulgrew said he hoped last week’s ruling on the fate of unvaccinated teachers would lead to a surge in shots — but admitted the city could conceivably lose thousands of educators.
“It’s been a real challenge,” Mulgrew said of trying to soothe tensions related to the vaccine.
The city has also faced pushback from some parents who want to keep their children home.
Unlike last year, New York City officials say all-remote learning won’t be an option this school year.
The city kept schools open for most of the last school year, with some students doing a mix of in-person and remote learning. The majority of parents chose all-remote learning.
Students who are quarantining due to COVID-related illnesses or are granted medical exemptions will be allowed to learn remotely. Those who are vaccinated and asymptomatic won’t have to quarantine if there’s a positive COVID case in their classroom.
Mom of four Stephanie Cruz grudgingly waved her children off to school at PS 25 in the Bronx, telling The Post she would have preferred to keep them home.
“I was a little bit nervous and scared because the pandemic is still happening and my kids are going to school,” Cruz said.
“I am nervous about my kids keeping their mask on during the day and staying safe. I was hesitant to send them off.
“I will be ecstatic when my kids get home safe and I can’t wait to hear about their first day.”
Among the protocols the city is enforcing for the reopening are mandatory masks for students and staffers, 3 feet of social distancing and upgraded ventilation systems.
The city’s principals union — the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators — has already warned that many buildings will lack the space to enforce the 3-foot rule.
Jamillah Alexander, whose daughter is in kindergarten at PS 316 Elijah School in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights, said she was concerned about elements of the new COVID protocols.
“They’re not going to shut down unless it’s two to four cases. It used to be one. It was 6 feet of space, now it’s 3,” she said.
Other parents said they had warned their children not to take off their masks.
“I told her to keep her mask on at all times. You can socialize but don’t get too close to anyone,” Casandria Burrell told her 8-year-old daughter.
Several parents dropping their children off at PS 118 in Brooklyn’s Park Slope were frustrated by the school’s requirement for students to bring their own supplies, including disinfectant wipes and even printer paper.
Tia Elgart said the supplies set her back $250 for her two children.
“It was last minute and it wasn’t optional,” she said.
“I guess we’re supplementing the budget. They lost a lot of students last year so they’re hurting financially and the standards for these parents are very high.”
As Whitney Radia dropped her 9-year-old daughter off at school, she also noted the high cost of providing school supplies.
“They had to bring their own everything. No shared school supplies,” Radia said.
“At least $100 per kid, more to be honest. The normal stuff like notebooks, folders and pens but also baby wipes, tissues, paper towels, their own scissors, markers, colored pencil sets, printer paper. The stuff that used to be communal.”
Additional reporting Jackie Salo and Kevin Sheehan
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a No on the Recall campaign event with Vice President Harris on Wednesday in San Leandro, Calif. President Biden is set to campaign with Newsom on Monday.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a No on the Recall campaign event with Vice President Harris on Wednesday in San Leandro, Calif. President Biden is set to campaign with Newsom on Monday.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A rare event happens Tuesday in California. Californians will decide if Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom should remain in office.
It’s just the second recall election in the state to qualify for the ballot, but the second in the last 20 years. That previous recall, in 2003, resulted in actor Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming governor.
A lot has changed since then on many fronts, but that it’s even happening in the first place — and who the leading Republican contender is — is an example of how politics has shifted in the state, and reflects a national shift toward sharper partisanship.
The election will also have national consequences. A California governor could appoint a new U.S. senator to the evenly divided chamber in the next year or so. And this is the first big test of whether Democrats can fire up their base — even in a very blue state — ahead of next year’s midterm elections when Republicans are favored to take back the House.
Here’s a primer on the recall, how it works and how we got here. But first:
What are potential national political consequences?
The fact that a Democratic governor in a state that President Biden won by almost 30 percentage points in 2020 doesn’t stand a near-0% chance of being ousted tells you a degree of the story of off-year elections.
– The party out of power is usually the one that’s most fired up. During this pandemic, conservatives have been particularly vexed by Democratic governance — and they have no greater example for their ire, of everything they dislike about liberals, than California. So Newsom was already a ripe target.
– A test of Democratic mobilization. All eyes will be on to what degree Democrats are enthusiastic ahead of 2022. There are certainly motivators, considering the stakes the threat of Republican governance poses to the center-left, from the handling of the pandemic to extreme abortion laws like Texas’. Given that Democrats outnumber GOP voters by almost 5 million in California, how close Republicans get to recalling Newsom — or of course if he’s recalled — is going to be something to watch.
– In very practical terms, the U.S. Senate could be at stake. At first, this doesn’t seem to make sense, since this is about a governorship. But consider that Democrats only control the 50-50 Senate by the narrowest of margins, needing Vice President Harris to break ties. The California governor has the power to appoint a U.S. senator should there be a vacancy, Newsom or his replacement would serve until January 2023, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein would be approaching 90 at that point.
– A test of Biden’s clout. The president is campaigning for and with Newsom Monday. That raises the political stakes. If Newsom were to lose — or if it is close — Biden’s sway would be in question. And it would come at a time when Biden’s approval rating has been slipping nationally, given the resurgent coronavirus due to the delta variant and following the Afghanistan withdrawal.
– A sign of the growing strength of a partisan minority? To qualify for the ballot, a recall effort requires signatures that amount to at least 12% of the turnout of the last gubernatorial election, plus some other total vote thresholds. While this year that’s about 1.5 million signatures — undoubtedly a lot of signatures — you can find 12% of people who agree that they are very upset about a lot of things. What are the future repercussions when that’s the bar to cause a statewide election that is costing California $276 million? Calculating that out for future fights, as the country becomes even more polarized, could be astronomical.
The factors at play here — the relatively low threshold to get on the ballot, and then if the governor is recalled, that their replacement could win with a plurality of votes — follow larger, national complaints about the growing power of a political minority, like with the Senate filibuster and the Electoral College.
So how does this recall actually work?
Californians have been legally able to recall their governors since 1911. Every governor in the last 60 years has faced a recall attempt, though only two, including this one, have qualified for the ballot. Newsom has faced at least five attempts.
Newsom’s opponents got 1.7 million signatures to get this recall on the ballot, higher than the 1.5 million needed, but they also had more time than usual. Normally, recall petitioners get a little over five months to turn in signatures. This effort was extended four months beyond that because of the pandemic.
How did Newsom end up in this position?
The recall effort began in June 2020, and didn’t have to do with COVID-19. As KQED’s Scott Shafer told the NPR Politics Podcast, it was about the death penalty, crime, homelessness, housing costs and immigration.
But it very much became about the pandemic after Newsom was caught on camera at a birthday party — without a mask — at one of the most expensive restaurants in America, The French Laundry, in November. It reeked of hypocrisy, given this was during the height of the pandemic and with restrictions in place in California.
How will a winner be decided?
Ballots were mailed to all 22 million registered voters in the state about a month before Tuesday’s election. There are two questions voters can decide on:
First, should Newsom be recalled?
Second, who should replace him? If a majority votes “no” on the first question, then the second question doesn’t matter. But if “yes” on Question 1 gets 50% plus one vote, Newsom would be recalled, the highest vote-getter on Question 2 would become governor (by Oct. 22 when the state would certify the results), and serve out the remainder of Newsom’s term.
Californians do not have to vote on both questions. And the use of mail-in ballots could complicate the turnout picture, altering the traditional notion of whose voters are motivated to hit the polls.
Who is on the ballot to replace Newsom?
Conservative talk show host and gubernatorial recall candidate Larry Elder speaks to the media after casting his ballot Wednesday in Los Angeles.
The leading replacement contender is Republican Larry Elder, a controversial talk radio host. (The ballot also includes Caitlyn Jenner, who is not expected to fare well.)
Who is Larry Elder?
Newsom has been happy to elevate Elder because of his many controversial statements. For example, Elder, who is Black, has said it can be argued that slaveowners were owed reparations because slavery was legal and slaves were “property” of those owners. He has also said Blacks “exaggerate” racism, that “women exaggerate” sexism and said working mothers aren’t as “dedicated” to work as others — among other things.
That someone who has expressed such extreme views could be the leading Republican candidate in a state like California shows just how much the party — not just in California but across the country — has changed since electing Donald Trump as president.
When was the last California recall?
2003. Local issues, from an energy crisis and budget deficit to a gas tax hike, dominated and hobbled Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. Davis’ approval rating was mired in the 20s, he was recalled, and America was given “The Governator.” (If you think that’s bad, you can imagine, if you don’t remember, the number of Total Recall headlines in reference to that election.)
Three major differences, though, between 2003 and this 2021 recall:
This recall has been far more nationalized. Newsom has essentially put GOP governance on the ballot, especially the coronavirus pandemic, which is what ironically supercharged the effort to get the recall on the ballot in the first place.
Unlike Davis, Newsom is fairly popular. His approval ratings are routinely above 50%.
And Schwarzenegger was something that’s now seemingly an endangered species among elected officials: a Republican moderate. Elder is decidedly not. In addition to his controversial views, Elder has definitively said he would appoint a Republican to the U.S. Senate if Feinstein’s seat were to come open.
Republican candidate Larry Elder, who has the best chance of unseating Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom in California’s gubernatorial recall election, is already preparing to dispute the results with escalating talks of “voter fraud” in the days leading up to election day.
Ahead of Tuesday’s recall election, Elder’s campaign has created an election fraud section on its website where supporters can join a petition to demand a special session of the California legislature to investigate the results. The website also contains a link for supporters to report any alleged election fraud.
“We trust in our officials to safeguard that ballot box… however, when those officials, either through laziness or incompetence, allow thieves to steal amidst the dead of night and cheat our ballot box, we can no longer rely on its contents,” the petition reads.
The conservative radio host has also been talking up possible fraud on the campaign trail, drawing criticism from Newsom and comparisons to former President Donald Trump‘s ongoing effort to undermine elections with baseless claims of wrongdoing.
Conservative talk show host and gubernatorial recall candidate Larry Elder speaks to the media after casting his ballot September 8, 2021 in the special recall election, outside a polling location in Los Angeles, California. Robyn Beck/Getty Images
After he cast a ballot for himself on Wednesday, Elder echoed Trump as he told reporters “there might very well be shenanigans” comparable to what happened in the 2020 election.
Since President Joe Biden won in November, his predecessor has been continuously pushing baseless claims that widespread voter fraud caused his defeat and that Democrats “stole” the election from him. Those claims have been thoroughly litigated in court and discredited.
Last weekend on Fox News, Elder voiced his belief that the 2020 election was “full of shenanigans” and his fear that “they’re going to try that in this election right here.”
Newsom recently described Elder’s talks of voter fraud as an “extension of the Big Lie and ‘Stop the Steal.'” On Friday, the governor told reporters “we’re four days out, the election hasn’t even happened, and now they’re all claiming election fraud. I think that’s important to highlight that.”
Elder has also threatened to file a lawsuit to dispute the election results, according to the Sacramento Bee. “We have a voter integrity board all set up—most of these are lawyers,” the candidate said. “So, when people hear things, they contact us. We’re going to file lawsuits in a timely fashion.”
During a campaign event Thursday, officials for Newsom said they are prepared to fight any lawsuits from Elder following the September 14 election, where voters will be asked to choose whether they want to keep or remove the governor with a replacement candidate.
Newsom will remain in office if more than 50 percent of California voters choose to keep him and recent polling indicates that he’s well positioned to beat the recall.
In a poll released Friday by the Los Angeles Times and the University of California Berkeley Institute of Government Studies, 60 percent of likely voters opposed recalling Newsom and 38.5 percent said they wanted him out of office. Another poll by Data for Progress showed that 57 percent of voters supported keeping Newsom and 43 percent wanted to remove him.
Newsweek reached out to Newsom for further comment.
China will tread cautiously in Afghanistan and its main goal would be to work with the Taliban on border security, a former U.S. ambassador to Beijing said Friday.
The world’s second-largest economy is one of the few countries that established friendly relations with the Taliban even before the militant group took over Afghanistan in a matter of days last month.
“I expect that China will be very careful,” Max Baucus, who was the U.S. ambassador to China between February 2014 and January 2017 under former President Barack Obama, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.“
“They will not try to take over the country as other countries, including the U.S., have,” he said, adding that China is worried about potential terror attacks within its borders or on Chinese targets in the region, carried out from Afghan soil.
The former ambassador added that developments in Afghanistan will test the United States as its global military and political clout decline following its withdrawal, leaving room for others like China to fill the gap.
“This is going to test the United States,” Baucus said, adding, “We don’t yet have a strongly defined policy for China, and now this withdrawal is going to complicate the development of that strategic policy toward China.”
Afghanistan’s natural resources
For years, Afghanistan served as an important backyard for China, according to Mohammad Shafiq Hamdam, who previously served as deputy security advisor to former President Ashraf Ghani.
“Their interest is purely economic and political,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Friday, adding that the Taliban and the Chinese government have very little in common apart from “challenging the U.S. presence in the region (and) challenging NATO allies.”
China is interested in Afghanistan’s trillions of dollars worth of untapped mineral resources that can potentially help Beijing boost its global influence, according to Hamdam, who also previously served as senior advisor to NATO in Afghanistan.
He explained that China can position itself as an alternative source for the Taliban as Afghanistan is in desperate need of economic assistance.
The removal of the limits allows South Korea to build ballistic missiles with larger warheads that hold destructive power and that can target underground bunkers where North Korea keeps its nuclear arsenal and where its leadership would hide at war, military analysts said.
When Mr. Moon visited his Defense Ministry’s Agency for Defense Development last year, he said South Korea had “developed a short-range ballistic missile with one of the largest warheads in the world,” an apparent reference to the Hyunmoo-4, which missile experts say can cover all of North Korea with a two-ton payload.
When North Korea last conducted a missile test, on March 25, it said it had launched a new ballistic missile that carried a 2.5-ton warhead. This month, reports emerged in South Korean news media that the South was developing an even more powerful weapon: a short-range ballistic missile with a payload of up to three tons.
The tit-for-tat weapons buildup signaled that the rival militaries were arming themselves with increasingly powerful missiles that can fly farther and carry more destructive power, and that are harder to intercept.
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