March 4, 2023

Saturday, March 4, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

To read an article excerpted in this Roundup, click on its blue title. Each “blue” article is hyperlinked so you can read the whole article.

Please feel free to share.

It would be great if you invite at least one other person to subscribe today. https://buttondown.email/AnnettesNewsRoundup

____________________

Joe is always busy.

Lesion removed from Biden’s chest was a common form of skin cancer, doctor says.

(CNN) — President Joe Biden’s doctor said Friday that a lesion removed from the president’s chest last month was basal cell carcinoma, a common type of skin cancer.

“All cancerous tissue was successfully removed,” O’Connor wrote.

The letter also said: “Basal cell carcinoma lesions do not tend to ‘spread’ or metastasize, as some more serious skin cancers such as melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma are known to do.” (CNN).

__________

Black Vietnam vet finally awarded Medal of Honor for bravery.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 60 years after he was recommended for the nation’s highest military award, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, received the Medal of Honor on Friday for his bravery in the Vietnam War.

After a crowded White House ceremony, a grateful Davis emphasized the positive of the honor rather than negative of the delay, saying, “It is in the best interests of America that we do things like this.”

Thanking President Joe Biden, who draped a ribbon with the medal around his neck, he said, “God bless you, God bless all, God bless America.”

The belated recognition for the 83-year-old Virginia resident came after the recommendation for his medal was lost, resubmitted — and then lost again.

It wasn’t until 2016 — half a century after Davis risked his life to save some of his men under fire — that advocates painstakingly recreated and resubmitted the paperwork.

Biden described Davis as a “true hero” for risking his life amid heavy enemy fire to haul injured soldiers under his command to safety. When a superior ordered him to safety, according to Biden, Davis replied, “Sir, I’m just not going to leave. I still have an American out there.” He went back into the firefight to retrieve an injured medic. (AP).

_________

Biden thanks Scholz for 'profound' German support on Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held private talks with US President Joe Biden in the White House on Friday amid concerns that China may start sending weapons to Russia.

Scholz said cooperation with the US was "in a very good state" and added it was important to keep up their transatlantic unity and their support for Ukraine. 

Scholz said it was "really important that we acted together," adding it is also "important that we give the message that we will continue to do so as long as it takes."

Biden said to Scholz: "I want to thank you for your strong and steady leadership. I mean that sincerely. It's made a huge difference." The US leader also thanked Scholz for Germany's "profound" support on Ukraine.

This was Scholz's first trip to Washington DC after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

Why are the US and Germany worried about China?

Ahead of the meeting, the German chancellor called on China to "use your influence in Moscow to press for the withdrawal of Russian troops," and not to "supply weapons to the aggressor Russia" in a speech to the Bundestag on Thursday.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told DW, "We still don't have any indication that the Chinese have decided to move forward providing any kind of lethal weaponry or capabilities to Russia.

"They haven't taken it off the table, but we don't see any signs that they're moving in that direction right now, and we certainly hope that they don't."

Such a move could have the potential to drag out the Russian war in Ukraine, which has already lasted over a year. It could also provoke friction between Germany and the US due to their differing stances on Beijing.

China is Germany's biggest trading partner, and the possibility being floated by the US of imposing sanctions on China if it decides to send weapons may cause problems for Berlin which has suggested Beijing could have a role to play in bringing about peace. (Deutsche Welle DW).

____________________________

Merrick Garland is always busy, though some wish he picked other tasks.

Attorney General Merrick Garland makes unannounced trip to Ukraine.

(CNN) — Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unannounced trip to Ukraine on Friday, according to a Justice Department official, his second trip to the country after Russia invaded a little more than a year ago.

Garland was invited to Lviv by the Ukrainian prosecutor general, the official said, and joined President Volodymyr Zelensky at the “United for Justice Conference.”

The official added that Garland “held several meetings and reaffirmed our determination to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed in its unjust and unprovoked invasion against its sovereign neighbor.”

____________________________

Don’t buy your Mifepristone Abortion pills at Walgreen’s. In fact, consider not buying anything there.

Below is a photo of Roz Brewer, CEO of Walgreens. Maybe she should hear from you. (800) 925-4733.

Walgreens won’t distribute abortion pills even in some states where they remain legal.

The nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain confirmed Thursday that it will not dispense abortion pills in several states where they remain legal — acting out of an abundance of caution amid a shifting policy landscape, threats from state officials and pressure from anti-abortion activists.

Nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general wrote to Walgreens in February, threatening legal action if the company began distributing the drugs, which have become the nation’s most popular method for ending a pregnancy.

The company told POLITICO that it has since responded to all the officials, assuring them that they will not dispense abortion pills either by mail or at their brick-and-mortar locations in those states.

The list includes several states where abortion in general, and the medications specifically, remain legal — including Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana. For example, Kansas’ law that patients only obtain the pills directly from a physician is blocked in court.

“There is currently complexity around this issue in Kansas and elsewhere,” said Fraser Engerman, Walgreens’ senior director of external relations.

The company stressed that it is not yet distributing the pills anywhere in the country, but is working to obtain certification to do so in some states, though declined to say which. (Politico).
  ____________________________

One threat to Democracy at the Supreme Court may be stopped, for now. Or maybe it won’t.

The Supreme Court signals that a terrifying attack on voting rights will vanish, in Moore v. Harper.

Moore v. Harper, a lawsuit the Supreme Court heard last December, poses the biggest threat to US democracy since the January 6 attack on the US Capitol — although it’s worth noting that even some of the Court’s more conservative members seemed to recoil at some of the case’s implications when they heard oral arguments in Moore in December.

On Thursday, the justices signaled that they are likely to take an off-ramp from this case. The Court released a brief, one-paragraph order indicating that this case may simply disappear.

Moore rests on an awkwardly named legal theory, known as the “independent state legislature doctrine,” which claims that state lawmakers have expansive and potentially unchecked authority to write election laws that favor their preferred federal candidates.

Under the strongest version of this theory, members of each state’s legislative branch have unchecked authority to decide how elections for Congress and the presidency will be conducted in their state, a power potentially so broad that it could effectively be used to hand victory to a particular candidate.

That said, during oral arguments in December, a majority of the Court appeared to reject this most aggressive version of the doctrine. But most of the justices did appear open to weaker versions of the independent state legislature theory. And even under these narrower readings, the Supreme Court — with its 6-3 Republican-appointed supermajority — could give itself sweeping and unprecedented authority to decide the winner of congressional and presidential elections.

But, as Thursday’s order suggests, the Court may no longer have the lawful authority to hear the case. The new order references a federal law which provides that, under certain circumstances, the justices may hear an appeal from “final judgments or decrees rendered by the highest court of a State.”

And that means that the US Supreme Court most likely will not decide the Moore case. In the likely event that the Court does get rid of the Moore case, that will probably only delay Supreme Court review of the so-called independent state legislature doctrine. (VOX).

But this is what has now occurred.

“The U.S. Supreme Court has asked parties in the case to file new briefs by March 20 on the effects “of the North Carolina Supreme Court’s February 3, 2023 order granting rehearing, and any subsequent state court proceedings.” (Washington Post)

And this 👇 appeared on SCOTUS BLOG.

Justices order new briefing in Moore v. Harper as N.C. court prepares to rehear underlying dispute.

What this means is not clear to me as a layperson, though Linda Wharton, Esq., consultant to the Roundup, assures me that this is consistent with SCOTUS process - “They want briefing before they dismiss. It’s the usual way of proceeding.”

Stay tuned.

____________________

Banana Republicans may work on one issue with the Democrats.

The Ohio derailment is spurring Congress to actually do something about train safety.

In the wake of the train derailment and toxic spill in East Palestine, Ohio, last month, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill to provide more oversight over railroad carriers and improve industry safety regulations with the aim of preventing future accidents.

On February 3, a freight train carrying five tank cars of the toxic chemical vinyl chloride derailed and ignited, prompting first responders to order an evacuation of the surrounding area. A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board found that a wheel bearing severely overheated immediately before the accident, and while the train braked after detectors picked up the hotter than normal temperatures, it did so too late and through no apparent fault of the workers onboard.

Though both parties have been pointing fingers at each other over the accident, the bill is a compromise among Republican Sens. J.D. Vance (Ohio), Marco Rubio (Florida), and Josh Hawley (Missouri), and Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), and Bob Casey and John Fetterman (both of Pennsylvania). The bill has earned praise from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, but it’s not clear whether it will get the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate or pass the GOP-controlled House.

What’s in the bill — and what’s not

The bill, known as the Railway Safety Act of 2023, adopts many of the reforms that the Biden administration has called for. It would require rail carriers to notify emergency authorities when transporting hazardous materials; develop a plan in the event that gas such as vinyl chloride is discharged; and mitigate blocked railroad crossings due to train delays.

It would introduce regulations requiring “well-trained, two person crews aboard every train” and around train length and weight, route selection, speed restrictions, track standards, maintenance, issue detection and more. In the East Palestine accident, detectors didn’t trip until moments before the derailment. Rail companies that fail to comply would face higher maximum fines under the bill.

The bill also boosts funding for HAZMAT training, for research and development into tank car safety features, and for the Federal Railroad Administration generally.

It’s hard to say whether those measures would have stopped the East Palestine accident from happening. But they might have allowed workers to catch malfunctions early, and keep them from happening in the first place with preventive maintenance on the train and track.

While the bill makes strides in improving safety regulations, it doesn’t include everything on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s wishlist. For one, he has asked rail carriers to “join a close call reporting system that protects whistleblowers who spot issues that could lead to accidents,” in which only one freight rail company currently participates voluntarily. (Rail carriers have previously cited concerns about confidentiality of the data and their own internal safety reporting systems as reasons for not participating.)

The bill also doesn’t include any protections for railroad workers… (VOX).

Touch 👇 to watch Democratic Senator, Sherrod Brown on this bill.

____________________________

Shameless action in Belarus, Russia’s ally in authoritarianism.

Belarus jails Nobel winner Bialiatski for 10 years; EU, US protest.

LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights activist Ales Bialiatski was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday by a court in his native Belarus which found him guilty of financing protests in a trial condemned by the United States and the European Union as a "sham".

Bialiatski, 60, was awarded the Nobel prize in October for his work promoting human rights and democracy in a country which President Alexander Lukashenko, a staunch ally of Russia, has ruled with an iron hand for nearly 30 years, violently locking up his opponents or forcing them to flee

(Reuters).
_____________________

The Widow Clicquot rides again.

The little-known history of Champagne.

In 2000, when I produced Jane Eyre on Broadway, the show and a champagne, that was just arriving in America, began a conversation about a sponsorship. What visibility could the show give the wine and how many cases of Veuve Clicquot Brut or Vintage would we receive in return? Could we include the champagne in a scene on the stage or in a lyric?

As producer, I didn’t want to commercialize our stage or our show with a sponsor. But my conversation with our writer/director John Caird (he who served that same role in Les Miserables) cleared my conscience. Did I know that during Bronte’s life, a French widow, the Widow Clicquot, had brought her bubbly wine to the UK and the aristocracy of Britain became smitten with a woman so bold as to be doing commerce, and with such a sophisticated drink to boot?

John, without hesitation, included a historically appropriate reference to the Widow in the script and a toast on stage with the Widow’s drink, a sly tribute to a courageous entrepreneur and the wine she brought with her to England.

Yes, cast, crew, and company all received delicious Champagne as Opening night gifts.

Some of the biggest innovations of Champagne came down to the ingenuity of several women. In the 19th Century, the Napoleonic Code restricted women from owning businesses in France without permission from a husband or father. However, widows were exempt from the rule, creating a loophole for Barbe-Nicole Clicquot-Ponsardin, Louise Pommery and Lily Bollinger – among others – to turn vineyards into empires and ultimately transform the Champagne industry, permanently changing how it's made and marketed.

In 1798, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin married François Clicquot, who then ran his family's small textile and wine business, originally called Clicquot-Muiron et Fils in Reims. It turned into a financial disaster. When Clicquot died in 1805, leaving her widowed at 27 years old, she made the unconventional choice to take over the company.

"It was a very unusual decision for a woman of her class," said Tilar Mazzeo, cultural historian and author of The Widow Clicquot. "It would have been extremely unusual for her to have a business, because she didn't need to… She could have spent her life in drawing rooms and as a society hostess."

Desperately in need of money for the business, she asked her father-in-law for today's equivalent of about €835,000.

"Amazingly, her father-in-law said yes," Mazzeo explained, "which I always think must say something really important about who he thought she was, and what he thought she was capable of as a woman with no business background."

The 'veuve' suggested a certain kind of respectability to the beverage

From the beginning, Barbe-Nicole used her widowed status as a marketing tool, yielding positive results. The Champagne house became Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin – the French word veuve translates into "widow".

"The 'veuve' suggested a certain kind of respectability to the beverage… some of these beverages had gotten associated with the debauchery and wild parties of the royal courts of old," explained Kolleen M Guy, author of When Champagne Became French: Wine and the Making of a National Identity and chair, Division of Arts and Humanities at Duke Kunshan University in Jiansu, China. (BBC).

  ____________________________

Oh, the weather outside has been wacky, but look what is happening in DC.

DC's cherry blossoms coming early due to confusing weather.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The cherry trees in the nation’s capital are confused by Earth’s changing climate, with the iconic blossoms appearing earlier than expected because of the unusually warm winter.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and the National Park Service announced Wednesday that Washington’s 3,700 cherry blossom trees would reach peak bloom this year from March 22-25. That’s several days earlier than observers and experts had expected. (AP).

____________________________

One More Thing.

Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce after 22 years of marriage.

See you tomorrow.

______________________