Extra, Extra
Threat Within: The Fani Willis hearing in Georgia last week had many sordid details, but lost in the shuffle was perhaps the most important testimony of all: the reason some wouldn’t consider the job eventually given to Nathan Wade. “Fani Willis had trouble finding lawyers willing to help prosecute her case against Trump. Even a former Georgia governor turned her down, saying, ‘Hypothetically speaking, do you want to have a bodyguard follow you around for the rest of your life?’ He wasn’t exaggerating. Willis received an assassination threat so specific that one evening she had to leave her office incognito while a body double wearing a bulletproof vest courageously pretended to be her and offered a target for any possible incoming fire.” David French in the NYT (Gift Article): MAGA’s Violent Threats Are Warping Life in America.
+ Texas Hold Em: “Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval rating has rebounded to its highest point in nearly four years as he clashes with the Biden administration over the southern border, according to a recent poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.”
+ House Calls: “Four former members of the White House Medical Unit confirmed that in both the Trump and Obama White Houses, the team passed out sedatives such as Ambien and stimulants such as Provigil without proper prescriptions, provided complimentary medical equipment and imaging to ineligible staffers, and used aliases in electronic health records to disguise the patients’ identities and deliver free care in cases where the recipients wouldn’t be eligible.” WaPo (Gift Article): ‘No prescription needed’: Inside Ronny Jackson’s White House clinic’s ‘systemic problems.’ (I need drugs just reading about politics.)
+ Campus Death: Former YouTube CEO’s son found dead in UC Berkeley dorm, leaving prominent Silicon Valley family ‘devastated beyond comprehension.’ This story is hitting the Bay Area hard and it’s a sad reminder that, these days, powders or pills can kill.
+ Navigating the Age Age: “Perhaps one way to navigate yourself through this seemingly insoluble morass would be to ask yourself why Biden, who is stipulated Old, has managed to helm the most successful presidency in modern history. Booming economy, eye-popping jobs reports, first gun violence reduction bill in decades, $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan plus COVID relief, Inflation Reduction Act, infrastructure prioritized, judges seated. Pick your metric—there have been a lot of wins. And the reason this old man who sometimes forgets things like dates has gotten all this done? He has, for the most part, surrounded himself with experts, genuine scientists, respected economists, and effective governmental actors and advisers.” Dahlia Lithwick: The Real Way to Think About Biden’s Age This Run. “We’re in a Biden-Trump rematch. And the media is focusing on this?” (Age ain’t nothing but a number. Authoritarianism on the other hand…)
