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464 lines
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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>01 November, 2022</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Ukrainian Prisoner of War’s Long Journey Home</strong> - An elementary-school teacher returned to her family at the start of the war—then Russian soldiers took her away. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/a-ukrainian-prisoner-of-wars-long-journey-home">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Can Rishi Sunak Save the Tories from Total Collapse?</strong> - Britain’s new Prime Minister, the nation’s third in seven weeks, will aim to steer an unpopular party through record inflation and a looming energy emergency. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/can-rishi-sunak-save-the-tories-from-total-collapse">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What to Make of John Fetterman’s Struggles at the Pennsylvania Senate Debate</strong> - The cognitive effects of the Democratic candidate’s recent stroke were evident as he faced off against Mehmet Oz. Will his performance imperil his party’s chances? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-political-scene/what-to-make-of-john-fettermans-struggles-at-the-pennsylvania-senate-debate">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Why Vladimir Putin Would Use Nuclear Weapons in Ukraine</strong> - The more the Kremlin has signalled its readiness to drop a nuclear bomb, the more the rest of the world has sought a reason to believe that it will not. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/why-vladimir-putin-would-use-nuclear-weapons-in-ukraine">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Withdrawn Ukraine Letter and the Progressive Debate About Biden’s Foreign Policy</strong> - Last week, thirty members of Congress issued, updated, and retracted a letter calling for more direct diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine. What happened? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/a-withdrawn-ukraine-letter-and-the-progressive-debate-about-bidens-foreign-policy">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>How to start saving and investing money — even amid economic uncertainty</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Person looking confused while holding a piggy bank" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/m4ZsRhanr4FBC_jjCf1ZMo8Y2is=/295x0:2067x1329/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71569330/illustration_6.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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KIMI for Vox
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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If you’re in a position to sock away some cash, here’s how to think about it with an eye to the future.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rsWKOs">
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For Leslie, a 40-year-old first-generation Latina immigrant to the US, her inspiration for opening a new high-yield savings account came from Instagram, specifically <a href="https://instagram.com/theavocadotoastbudget?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=">The Avocado Toast Budget</a> and <a href="https://instagram.com/delyannethemoneycoach?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=">Delyanne the Money Coach</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YNzVza">
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Until 2021, Leslie (who asked that her last name be withheld due to the sensitivity of discussing finances) had not known what a high-yield savings account was. She dropped out of college in her early 20s and had worked various retail and customer service jobs, but she hadn’t learned about credit and had damage to her own, she said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ck196h">
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“Last year,” she explained, “I got a new job, [and] I had a lot more money than I normally ever had, so I felt like I probably should start doing something with it.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xwqY6z">
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Hearing about high-yield savings accounts on social media combined with finally having the stable, livable income to set aside money prompted her to start researching different accounts, she said. After researching online and combing through websites like Nerdwallet to find the right one, she decided to open a high-yield savings account with Ally Bank, because the bank offers a feature that lets users categorize their savings accounts to meet goals such as saving for a new car, she said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jW2Nn9">
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If you haven’t begun saving for emergencies or investing for the future, you’re not alone and it’s nothing to be ashamed of, especially if you don’t earn enough to save. A <a href="https://time.com/nextadvisor/banking/savings/high-yield-savings-survey/">July Next Advisor survey</a> of 1,000 adults found that only 21 percent have a high-yield savings account and 16 percent had certificates of deposit (CDs) or money market accounts (MMAs). Like Leslie, other people who can now afford to set aside some cash may not know where to put their money to save for emergencies and build a nest egg for the future.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lDFKC1">
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Per <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/18/business/economy/federal-reserve-inflation-november-meeting.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare">the New York Times</a>, the Federal Reserve is planning to raise interest rates again in an attempt to curb inflation. The stock market is fluctuating wildly. For some, the economic volatility can be anxiety-inducing. And for people who can save for an emergency fund and invest in the stock market, figuring out where to start can be overwhelming.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q5YuLi">
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Thankfully, you don’t need to be an expert — or extremely wealthy — to find a reasonable savings account and begin investing. Here are some general guidelines (not concrete financial advice) from financial planners and a therapist on how to get you started on maximizing your savings, beginning to think about investing, and calming your financial anxiety.
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</p>
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<h3 id="1jXcPM">
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Reduce your financial anxiety by learning what you can and can’t control
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oYkR5C">
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While headlines about the fluctuating economy are scary, it’s important to focus on the things you can control, and the stock market and the Federal Reserve are not on that list, said financial therapist Lindsay Bryan-Podvin. She encourages clients to find ways to reduce their financial anxiety, such as listening to less stock market news or limiting their time on social media, and instead lean into coping mechanisms such as meditating, breathing exercises, or other spiritual and emotional practices.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WuLBqm">
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“We know that all of that news overstimulates our nervous system. It can make our anxiety worse when the reality is, no matter how many times you refresh Twitter, it’s not going to change what’s happening in the stock market,” Bryan-Podvin said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wUIBCt">
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This economic volatility can be especially scary for members of Gen Z, who might not recall the full effects of the Great Recession and are experiencing this uncertainty as adults for the first time, Bryan-Podvin pointed out. Plus, financial anxiety can cause us to overlook the data available about market cycles; however, it’s important to remember that recessions tend to be for short times compared to growth periods, she said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aaFRoe">
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“It’s really easy for our brains to go, ‘Oh, my gosh, the sky is falling. It will always be this way,’” Bryan-Podvin said. “Most of them are not planning on retiring today or tomorrow. Most of them are planning on retiring in 25 years or 30 or longer. So, it is very important to remind clients that money is only a loss in the stock market if we sell it. If we don’t sell it, we actually haven’t lost anything.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CzjfcU">
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Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic makes the current economic volatility different from previous periods of instability. With all the stress, pain, and disruption the pandemic has caused, Bryan-Podvin encourages clients to think about whether their career is financially and emotionally worth pursuing.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cEUNGP">
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In some cases, clients have concluded that their employers aren’t prioritizing their health and safety and have transitioned to work-from-home careers and others have negotiated additional time off, implemented out-of-office boundaries and secured better health care benefits, she said. And some clients are building up their savings and updating their resumes in case of layoffs at their workplace, she added.
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</p>
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<h3 id="ghv0WY">
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Set a manageable savings goal
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Rjpk1O">
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It’s hard to know exactly how much to save for emergencies. Should you save three to six months’ worth of expenses? Should it be a year’s worth? How much could you conceivably save to feel safe amid the economic disarray? Ultimately, that answer depends on your situation.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RtU4mJ">
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When the clients come to Bryan-Podvin with anxiety about their savings, she advises them to determine how much money they could save to feel safe and secure. Then they calculate the impact of inflation on their savings in the long term.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2eUkrI">
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For Leslie, the option to divvy up her Ally savings account into specific categories was more manageable than the typical financial advice of having three to six months’ worth of emergency savings. So far, she has started a category for rent in case she needs extra money to cover that, an auto repair category, and a vacation fund, she said.
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</p>
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<h3 id="llWjaI">
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Shop around for better interest rates
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DxuflA">
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Damian Pardo, regional director for First Horizon Wealth Management, recommends people with assets <a href="https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/brochures/deposits-at-a-glance/">under the FDIC limit of $250,000</a> to look for savings and certificate of deposit accounts online that are paying higher than the interest rates at large banks. While major banks like Chase, Bank of America, or Wells Fargo have not paid the highest rates recently, Samantha Garcia, <a href="https://www.halberthargrove.com/member/samantha-garcia/">wealth adviser at Halbert Hargrove</a>, said consumers may be able to find better rates at online banks. It’s best to keep your emergency savings in an accessible account but keep access savings in a bank account with better interest rates, she added.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DgX72y">
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Per <a href="https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/rates/">a Bankrate analysis</a> for October 2022, for example, savings accounts at other financial services firms such as Discover Bank (2.25 percent) and Marcus by Goldman Sachs (2.35) are offering rates higher than banks like Bank of America (0.01 percent) and Chase (0.01 percent).
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E5CqJP">
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Certificates of deposit (CDs) are federally insured savings accounts that require account holders to not withdraw their funds for a set period in exchange for a higher interest rate, <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/how-does-a-cd-account-work-5235792">according to Investopedia</a>. Another October 2022 <a href="https://www.bankrate.com/banking/cds/cd-rates/">Bankrate analysis of CDs</a> found that Capital One is offering a rate of 3.25 percent on one-year CDs with no minimum balance, and Marcus by Goldman Sachs is offering an interest rate of 3.6 percent for a year with a $500 minimum deposit. By contrast, Chase Bank is offering a 0.01 percent interest rate for CDs with a one-year term and a $1,000 minimum deposit. Bank of America is offering a 0.03 percent interest rate for a one-year term with a $1,000 minimum deposit.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FuSdRw">
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Part of the reason banks have been slow to raise their interest rates is that they have to evaluate their financial health, their loans, their deposits, and the rates that competitors are offering, he said. They also are likely looking to benefit from the increase in Federal Reserve interest rates to charge more interest rates from borrowers and bring in more money, he explained.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HQhgvF">
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Before opening a new savings account, pay close attention to the terms and conditions of the account. Some banks offer a high interest rate for a set period, typically three to six months, before decreasing the interest on the account later on, Garcia said. Pardo recommends avoiding accounts that have account minimum balance requirements or banks that charge fees for account inactivity. The bank you choose should disclose these fees to you, but you should ask the bank questions in person or online if you’re still unclear, he said.
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</p>
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<h3 id="O7Dz5x">
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Don’t overthink investing
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IMBOeq">
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After social media posts planted the seed about investing and saving, Leslie decided to open an account with Ellevest and contribute about $100 per month. With that account, she aims to learn about the basics of investing and take advantage of the one-on-one sessions with financial advisers that Ellevest offers, she said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="59y4Lu">
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For investors who really want to experiment with stocks and have extra money to play with, Pardo suggests creating an online account with an investment platform such as Fidelity or Charles Schwab to buy small amounts of stocks and learn more about investing.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VPnF6R">
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Economic concepts like stocks and bonds “are really important things to learn. And the younger you do it, the better, because, trust me, there’s nothing so complicated or so difficult to learn about any of these instruments. You just need to start,” Pardo said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nD8p23">
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Garcia sometimes hears from clients who have done research into the stock market and who want to make investments based on that, but she typically advises clients to keep their current asset allocations based on the strategy they already have.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="32otiz">
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“Timing the market — you may be successful once or twice, but over history, you’re not going to be able to do that long term,” Garcia said. “It’s easy to call the bottom when it’s over. It’s really hard to consistently be able to time it.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="wyxxaG">
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Donate to causes that matter, and give back to your people
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AEHlXd">
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Bryan-Podvin said financial anxiety doesn’t disappear among her clients once they obtain better-paying jobs. Meanwhile, others experience survivor’s guilt for being able to continue working during the Covid-19 pandemic. She encourages her clients to contribute regularly to nonprofits via donations or volunteer work, so that nonprofits can plan around those contributions.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YXzt32">
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“The reality is that most of us are not the people who are contributing to economic inequality,” Bryan-Podvin. “Most of us are not the half percent or 1 percent of people who are really in position to make that type of economic change, but there are a good handful of us who are making enough money who could probably stand to donate more regularly to causes that matter.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tEfRri">
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In the future, Leslie wants to impart what she’s learned to her now-3-year-old niece so that she knows more about credit, savings, and other financial concepts, she said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FGYocG">
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“Now that I have my niece and I’m forced to think about a little tiny child, and especially now, how everything’s going with the economy and the pandemic and who knows what it’s going to look like for her,” Leslie said. “I feel really good that I am learning this stuff now because I can also help her have a better future.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RKu7Ps">
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<em>Tatiana Walk-Morris is a Detroit-born, Chicago-based independent journalist who covers business, finance, and technology.</em>
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</p>
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<p class="c-end-para" data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2KL6WG">
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<a href="http://www.vox.com/even-better"><em>Even Better</em></a><em> is here to offer deeply sourced, actionable advice for helping you live a better life. Do you have a question on money and work; friends, family, and community; or personal growth and health? Send us your question by filling out this </em><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfiStGSlsWDBmglim7Dh1Y9Hy386rkeKGpfwF6BCjmgnZdqfQ/viewform"><em>form</em></a><em>. We might turn it into a story.</em>
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>How a Republican Congress could imperil Biden’s climate agenda</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3b7uyXKSeHrB3ekyVSpmwymaw4A=/216x0:3949x2800/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71569175/GettyImages_1243596258a.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, center, and other GOP members arrive to the US Capitol steps for a news conference on the House Republicans’ “Commitment to America” on September 29. | Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Environmental justice programs are one target for GOP attacks.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qZttH4">
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If Republicans take control of the House, Senate, or both in the midterms, they have every incentive to turn the rollout of Democrats’ singular achievements into a political disaster. At stake is $370 billion in incentives for electric vehicles, electric appliances, clean energy, and pollution reduction, passed as <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/7/28/23281757/whats-in-climate-bill-inflation-reduction-act">part of the Inflation Reduction Act</a> this summer on a party-line vote.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="u1CEgO">
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Republicans can’t scrap any part of the law as long as President Joe Biden remains in office; any attempt would face a presidential veto, even if it managed to pass the Senate filibuster threshold. What Republicans<em> </em>can do is gum up the works of the bill’s massive climate programs. In the majority, they would have additional powers to call in agency officials for hearings and issue subpoenas — all tools that could be used to disrupt the implementation of both the IRA and the bipartisan infrastructure law passed a year ago.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zu86cu">
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|
Some of this should sound familiar.<strong> </strong>Twelve years ago, Republicans swept the House in the midterms and applied the same strategy to the stimulus law meant to help recovery from the late-2000s Great Recession. The most memorable strategy was the GOP’s attack over Solyndra, a company that went <a href="https://www.energy.gov/ig/downloads/special-report-11-0078-i">bankrupt</a> two years after the Department of Energy provided it $535 million in loan guarantees.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S5XqAa">
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Solyndra made up a small subset of a portfolio of $34 billion to promote high-risk, high-reward technology companies; defaults made up just 2.28 percent of the overall portfolio. The program was unexpectedly successful, making $30 million for the government, outdoing expectations when the program was first set up (the GOP-controlled Congress was responsible for creating the program to support innovative clean energy technologies as part of the Energy and Policy Act of 2005).
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h83kay">
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Republicans, though, still hold up Solyndra as a prime example of government corruption and the dangers of “picking winners and losers.” And they’ve already prepared the same playbook for the IRA. “It’s Solyndra on steroids,” said Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who stands to lead the Energy and Commerce committee if Republicans win the House. Sen. John Barrasso, who could lead the Senate committee, issued a 20-page report last year, “The Solyndra Syndrome and the Green Stimulus Delusion,” warning that Biden’s “green stimulus is almost sure to be a flop, too—and a more expensive one.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="81zgat">
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The political context of the IRA is different from the 2009 stimulus, so its biggest vulnerabilities will be different, too. This time, loan guarantees to clean energy companies won’t be front and center. Instead, the law’s focus on programs for communities of color and rebates for low-income consumers will be the most vulnerable — and there is a thin line between Republicans being a nuisance in the law’s implementation and a truly damaging force.
|
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</p>
|
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<h3 id="P14P0I">
|
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|
The climate policy targets that gas groups have in mind for a Republican Congress
|
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</h3>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1ms7Jy">
|
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So far, most Republican attacks have been focused on the parts of the law that lower <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/7/28/23282217/climate-bill-health-care-drugs-inflation-reduction-act">Medicare prescription costs</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/8/16/23302798/irs-audit-inflation-reduction-act">bulk up IRS staffing</a>.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B9seFA">
|
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But climate spending makes up the majority<strong> </strong>of the law and will be under scrutiny as well.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qyZ7Dl">
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Energy interest groups are already drawing up their lists of priorities for the next Congress. One of the programs that the natural gas lobby American Gas Association (AGA) takes issue with is a $4.5 billion program encouraging electrification of homes. The High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebates <a href="https://www.rewiringamerica.org/policy/high-efficiency-electric-home-rebate-act">allow</a> up to $14,000 for low- and moderate-income households to electrify their homes. In a statement to Vox, the group said it would rather see the law “allow for fuel neutral energy efficiency investments,” meaning they think the law should help fund gas appliances and expansion too.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QIDWbt">
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The organization was even more frank about its priorities at a conference with industry leaders in Minneapolis in September. A recording from the event (first reported by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/20/us/politics/oil-gas-gop-midterms.html">New York Times</a>) revealed the group’s plans to work with House Republicans to ramp up oversight.
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="L2O8qR">
|
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|
The recording, also reviewed by Vox, shows AGA’s top lobbyist Allison Cunningham warning about the impact of the law’s $2.8 billion <a href="https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2022/08/ira-ej-provisions/">environmental justice block grants</a> to<strong> </strong>community-based nonprofits focused on cutting environmental pollution. “We’re concerned that this can be used or applied to support gas ban efforts at community levels,” said Cunningham. “And again, there’s a lot of different opportunities for community groups or other kinds of groups who haven’t been as skilled as long to be eligible for grants, maybe not proper training.” Another area Cunningham warns about is funding that “includes language on reducing indoor toxins and indoor air pollution.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q7qPfE">
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|
This suggests that some of the programs Republicans plan to target will be the law’s funding helping communities, particularly low-income ones, cut their pollution. These kinds of programs pose a threat to gas utilities because those utilities make their profits from putting more pipes in the ground to connect gas to new buildings. Any effort to stop that growth of a captive gas customer base undermines the companies’ future.
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cXs5Gz">
|
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|
AGA told Vox that the environmental justice block grant program is not part of its conversations at the federal level but that it will be watching to see who is eligible as the program is implemented: “We want to ensure there is proper training for those who may receive the grants as well as sound science and good data being used to inform public policy that may result from findings.”
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9qLqTm">
|
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|
AGA will be one of many energy groups urging Republicans to inspect the parts of the IRA they dislike. The <a href="https://www.api.org/news-policy-and-issues/news/2022/08/11/us-energy-industry-outlines-opposition-to-inflation-reduction-act">American Petroleum Institute</a>, the <a href="https://www.uschamber.com/economy/coalition-letter-on-the-inflation-reduction-act">US Chamber of Commerce</a>, and the <a href="https://www.nam.org/manufacturers-remain-staunchly-opposed-to-the-inflation-reduction-act-18530/">National Association of Manufacturers</a> have all spoken out against its clean energy spending. “I totally understand that the oil, coal, and gas guys are going to be coming hard at this range of programs because they don’t want to lose any of their market share any faster than they already are,” said Sam Ricketts, co-director of the climate advocacy group Evergreen Action, who advised Democrats on the bill. “That’s both what makes these programs vulnerable to this kind of tampering, and also obviously what makes these programs so important.”
|
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</p>
|
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<h3 id="txnaK7">
|
|||
|
|
The Solyndra playbook looks different in 2023
|
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|
|
</h3>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="y38N0i">
|
|||
|
|
Republicans face Biden’s veto if they try to rewrite the law. But if they gain a majority in either congressional chamber, they still have plenty of options to obstruct agency action.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uJoqa6">
|
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|
|
Agencies will be key to carrying out the law effectively, and the GOP can do its greatest damage if it prevents staff from doing their jobs. Agencies are facing enormous pressure to roll out programs in the new year, coinciding with the start of the 2023 tax year. The law leans so heavily on tax incentives and rebates for consumers that it’ll be the Treasury Department with the biggest responsibility for writing the rules around implementation. And the IRS will ultimately be the enforcers, turning the agency into an unexpected body for climate action.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3TkaDI">
|
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|
|
One worry is that a Republican Congress could slow that work down, creating the impression of a dysfunctional rollout of the law.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5iBXRP">
|
|||
|
|
“They can try to pull funding for agencies in the annual appropriations process that administer these programs,” said Jason Walsh, executive director of the labor and environmental coalition BlueGreen Alliance. “They can try to have unnecessary or burdensome oversight hearings, they can haul agency staff up to the Hill to embarrass them and to slow down work; they can attach writers or poison pills onto must-pass legislation.”
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vOo92h">
|
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|
|
Another tactic the GOP is considering, according to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/10/25/gop-debt-ceiling-threats-set-revive-brinkmanship-with-white-house/">Washington Post</a>, is using the debt limit and government shutdown to make cuts to clean energy and climate spending. While agencies are funded through mid-December, Republicans could seek budget cuts in the future that slow down work even further.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zQUnvg">
|
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|
|
All this will be under the guise of Republicans just doing their job in an oversight role. Yet not every program will face the same level of scrutiny. There are parts of the law the energy industry applauded — AGA pointed to the renewable natural gas investment credit and hydrogen investments as examples. And GOP leaders have mentioned no plans to investigate these investments.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="YK7BZm">
|
|||
|
|
Republicans are trying to destroy a law that benefits their districts
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RFhOuU">
|
|||
|
|
Democrats are bracing for the attacks. “If you are making investments in early- to mid-stage technologies, you expect a certain number of failures.” said BlueGreen’s Walsh. “In sectors where technologies are in competition for dominance, some are just not going to pan out. And that’s part of the reason the federal government takes the risk is because the private sector isn’t going to do it.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6eNf3P">
|
|||
|
|
Asked what kind of defense Democrats could put up in a Republican Congress, Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), who is running for Vermont’s Senate seat, said, “Our best defense is to do everything we can to avoid any kind of mistake. I have some confidence that we can get significant public support as this rolls out because our approach is about incentives.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OE96WV">
|
|||
|
|
But the Solyndra playbook serves another lesson: Republicans’ selective memory. The stimulus in 2009 ended up benefiting many Republican districts. The same will be true for the Inflation Reduction Act.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8BpYu3">
|
|||
|
|
The rural electric co-ops make up one of those programs, with $2.8 billion in grants that boost <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/16/23306588/biden-inflation-reduction-act-climate-pollution-energy">community-owned grids</a>. The law is also already encouraging private investment in red states. Walsh explained the law is designed to drive investment in parts of the country that have relied economically on fossil fuels, which tend to be red areas. A lot of projects and manufacturing will wind up in GOP-governed <a href="https://qz.com/biden-s-ev-subsidies-are-creating-winners-and-some-seri-1849651867">places like Ohio,</a> <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/16/biden-climate-bill-gop-governors-00051374">Oklahoma</a>, and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/carbon/exclusive-new-law-helps-us-firm-launch-wyoming-direct-air-carbon-capture-project-2022-09-08/">Wyoming</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VI7GgA">
|
|||
|
|
This is ultimately what Walsh hopes could help protect the law. “If [Republicans] create uncertainty about the funding for these programs, I can imagine that it will not be well received by the many companies and investors that are teeing up major capital investment,” he said. “If they really make a major move to obstruct or overturn [the IRA], I think they’re going to hear from a lot of those folks.”
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>The Supreme Court discovers that ending affirmative action is hard</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/FG9Sl5qgr__dJSBPJKfEUxrClFA=/311x0:3778x2600/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71567518/GettyImages_1437917729a.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Proponents for affirmative action in higher education rally in front of the US Supreme Court on October 31, the day the Court heard arguments in two cases about affirmative action in university admissions. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Not that anything is likely to stop them from doing it anyway.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VcK74b">
|
|||
|
|
The Supreme Court spent an inordinate amount of time on Monday hearing arguments in two cases about <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23405267/affirmative-action-supreme-court-race-harvard-unc-chapel-hill">affirmative action in university admissions</a>. Virtually nothing said in those arguments is likely to change the final outcome.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xLEmgM">
|
|||
|
|
The six justices appointed by Republican presidents appeared determined from the beginning to implement the Republican Party’s preferred approach to race and the Constitution, while the three justices appointed by Democrats appeared equally determined to adopt the Democratic Party’s stance. That means that the Court is highly likely to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/law-jan-june03-affirmative_01-15">implement the GOP’s longtime position</a> that affirmative action should be illegal.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yh1rZQ">
|
|||
|
|
That said, at least some of the Court’s conservatives seemed bothered by several difficult questions that are likely to arise if they hand down a decision banning affirmative action.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6441XC">
|
|||
|
|
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, for example, asked several questions about whether outwardly “race neutral” programs — such as admitting the top graduates from every high school in a state, a program <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/4/14/23022265/supreme-court-affirmative-action-coalition-tj-fairfax-school-george-bush-race">implemented by Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the 1990s</a> — are permissible even if those programs are enacted for the purpose of fostering racial diversity. Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that maybe affirmative action should still be allowed at service academies like West Point or the Naval Academy, after Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued that the military’s “strength, cohesiveness, and military readiness” will suffer without a diverse officer corps.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JJaCQq">
|
|||
|
|
One of the biggest issues that plagued the justices is what to do about a university that decides to admit a student who writes a compelling essay focusing on their experience as a person of color. As Justice Amy Coney Barrett admitted at one point, it is “slicing the salami very finely” to say that a university cannot give a slight preference to a student who checks a box on their application identifying themselves as Latino, but that the university can give a preference to the same student if they write an essay expressing pride in their Mexican American culture.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<aside id="5Qhg9q">
|
|||
|
|
<div>
|
|||
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|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</aside>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8mSL4K">
|
|||
|
|
The Court heard two cases over the course of its interminable arguments on Monday, <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/students-for-fair-admissions-inc-v-university-of-north-carolina/"><em>Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina</em></a> and <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/students-for-fair-admissions-inc-v-president-fellows-of-harvard-college/"><em>Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard</em></a>. Students for Fair Admissions is <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23405267/affirmative-action-supreme-court-race-harvard-unc-chapel-hill">largely a front group for Ed Blum</a>, a white activist who frequently advances lawsuits attacking programs such as affirmative action or the Voting Rights Act.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6s1vGB">
|
|||
|
|
But the stakes in these cases go far beyond the UNC and Harvard admissions policies that Blum and his legal team targeted in his most recent trip to the Supreme Court. Even if one of the conservative justices who expressed some reservations today surprises us, that would still likely leave five votes teed up against affirmative action. The Court, then, could very well forbid <em>all </em>universities, except for maybe the service academies, from explicitly considering race when making admissions decisions.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="wUCw14">
|
|||
|
|
How affirmative action works right now
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kq1ZAG">
|
|||
|
|
The Supreme Court’s previous affirmative action decisions are <a href="https://www.vox.com/22301135/supreme-court-affirmative-action-harvard-college-race-students-for-fair-admission-ed-blum">complicated and nuanced</a>. Although the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which restricts race discrimination, was originally understood to permit government programs that <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23403021/supreme-court-affirmative-action-race-ketanji-brown-jackson-colorblind-originalism">seek to lift up a disadvantaged racial group</a>, modern precedents acknowledge that the Constitution casts a very skeptical eye on government programs (including programs led by state schools) that draw distinctions on the basis of race. At the same time, the Court has acknowledged that society as a whole benefits from increased racial diversity, especially among its college-educated leaders.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QDoYuQ">
|
|||
|
|
(Although Harvard is a private university, the Court’s decision in 1978’s <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4987623155291151023&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr#r%5B32%5D"><em>Regents of the University of California v. Bakke</em></a> held that private schools are subject to the same rules governing race that the Constitution imposes on their public counterparts.)
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mtZwqs">
|
|||
|
|
As the Court explained in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-241.ZO.html"><em>Grutter v. Bollinger</em></a> (2003), “numerous studies show that student body diversity promotes learning outcomes, and ‘better prepares students for an increasingly diverse workforce and society, and better prepares them as professionals.’” Students who learn to interact with people of diverse backgrounds and experiences in college are more likely to succeed when they graduate into their chosen professions.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AmrHlg">
|
|||
|
|
Indeed, one perennial ritual that plays out every single time the Court hears a case about affirmative action in college admissions is that a raft of major employers file amicus briefs begging the Court not to overrule cases like <em>Grutter</em>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z1lnEE">
|
|||
|
|
This time around, dozens of major companies — <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-707/232365/20220801140714358_Nos.%2020-1199%2021-707%20-%20Brief%20for%20Major%20American%20Business%20Enterprises%20Supporting%20Respondents.pdf">ranging from Apple to Ikea to Starbucks</a> — all joined a brief arguing that “racial diversity improves decision-making by increasing creativity, communication, and accuracy within teams.” A long list of the nation’s largest law firms warned that “the private bar and the legal profession” <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-707/232626/20220802143353717_SFFA%2020-1199%2021-707%20LFAA%20Amicus%20and%20App%20COMBINED.pdf">must “have a racially diverse pool of talent from which to recruit.”</a> A group of retired admirals and generals told the Court that “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-707/232535/20220801184536974_20-1199%20and%2021-707_Brief%20of%20Amici%20Curiae%20Former%20Military%20Leaders.pdf">diversity in the halls of academia directly affects performance in the theaters of war</a>.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MXV9ik">
|
|||
|
|
Though the Court has historically paid some heed to these calls, it’s also <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23405267/affirmative-action-supreme-court-race-harvard-unc-chapel-hill">placed strict limits</a> on just how much of a role race can play in university admissions. The Court’s decisions forbid quota systems — a system where a certain number of seats are set aside for applicants from certain racial backgrounds. They also forbid “points” systems where applicants of a certain race are given a mathematically precise advantage over other applicants.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WaMm6E">
|
|||
|
|
Instead, race may only be considered as part of a “holistic” process that, in <em>Grutter</em>’s words, considers “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-241.ZO.html">all pertinent elements of diversity</a>,” and that will sometimes “select nonminority applicants who have greater potential to enhance student body diversity over underrepresented minority applicants.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jeWJqH">
|
|||
|
|
In the <em>UNC</em> case, for example, the university says that it considers “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/21/21-707/230779/20220725144111091_21-707_Response%20brief.pdf">more than forty criteria</a>” when determining which students to admit, ranging from academic record to “athletic or artistic talents” to the student’s status as a veteran. A Black or Latino candidate might receive a slight bump if their racial background will add diversity to an incoming class, but the school also gives a bump to students from rural areas and students who served in the military.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2ZEDzN">
|
|||
|
|
As a practical matter, this complicated system means that race won’t push a mediocre applicant into the pool of admitted students, but it may serve as a tiebreaker between multiple students with similar records — all of whom are likely to thrive at a particular university. A federal court found that “<a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/20211111164136730_SFFA-Appendix.pdf">race plays a role in a very small percentage of decisions</a>” at UNC, “1.2% for in-state students and 5.1% for out-of-state students.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="ltz70a">
|
|||
|
|
The Court’s Republican appointees are likely to overrule <em>Grutter</em>
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HxJsYI">
|
|||
|
|
The conservative response to <em>Grutter</em>’s core argument — the argument that society’s collective interest in having a leadership class that respects and draws from all parts of the nation justifies giving a slight advantage to individual college applicants from certain racial backgrounds — has historically been “so what?”
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7BS8rw">
|
|||
|
|
As Blum’s legal team argued in their briefs, the United States <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-1199/222325/20220502145522418_20-1199%2021-707%20SFFA%20Brief%20to%20file%20final.pdf">must be “colorblind.”</a> Under this approach, any system that takes explicit account of race is forbidden — regardless of whether it seeks to lift up historically marginalized groups or whether it benefits society as a whole.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wBegb2">
|
|||
|
|
It would be astonishing if the Court’s Republican appointees do not all share this view. Although some of them asked questions about how a decision overruling <em>Grutter</em> would operate around the margins, all six of them seemed committed to the colorblind theory — some of them very stridently.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RO7LL8">
|
|||
|
|
When Seth Waxman, the lawyer defending the Harvard policy, compared <em>Grutter</em>’s diversity rationale to a university’s decision to admit an oboe player because it needs one for its campus orchestra, Roberts quipped back that “we did not fight a civil war over oboe players.” The idea is that any form of race-conscious program is uniquely suspect because of America’s dark history with race.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HKHGc6">
|
|||
|
|
The prize for the cleverest argument for overruling <em>Grutter</em> goes to Justice Clarence Thomas, who pointed to the lower court’s finding that race only plays a role in a tiny percentage of applicants in the <em>UNC</em> case. If race really is only a factor in 1.2 percent of cases, Thomas seemed to argue, does UNC’s affirmative action program actually do enough to foster diversity in order to justify its existence?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1v2Q2v">
|
|||
|
|
Multiple conservative justices, including Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, pointed to language in <em>Grutter</em> predicting that “25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today,” or to language in <em>Grutter</em> suggesting that affirmative action must eventually have an “end point.” The clear implication was that we have reached that end point — even though 25 years have not passed since <em>Grutter</em> was decided in 2003.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="47mTa1">
|
|||
|
|
In any event, a party-line decision overruling <em>Grutter</em> should not surprise anyone. Although conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy surprised most Court observers when he <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-981_4g15.PDF">voted</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=971836935368470032&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr">twice</a> during the Obama administration to weaken, but not forbid, affirmative action programs, every Republican appointed to the Supreme Court since Thomas’s appointment in 1991 has consistently opposed affirmative action. Roberts, the least conservative member of the Court’s GOP-appointed majority, is known for his <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/05-908.ZO.html">famously simplistic approach to questions of race</a>: “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m80lek">
|
|||
|
|
And even if the Court follows Kennedy’s path and imposes new restrictions on university admissions without outright prohibiting it, the Court has already imposed such severe restrictions on affirmative action programs that a more restrictive approach is likely to function much like an absolute ban.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="ScgQpK">
|
|||
|
|
The future could be very difficult for university admissions officers
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="I8JVb9">
|
|||
|
|
At least some of the Court’s Republican appointees appeared concerned that a too-aggressive opinion overruling <em>Grutter</em> could lead to undesirable outcomes. Roberts, for example, appeared open to the possibility that affirmative action could be permissible at the service academies — the Court has <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/1/4/22866839/supreme-court-covid-vaccination-navy-seals-reed-oconnor-religion-military">historically shown more deference to the military</a> than to other institutions.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KiSnvQ">
|
|||
|
|
Kavanaugh, and, to a lesser extent, Roberts, also had several questions about what universities are still allowed to do if <em>Grutter</em> is overruled. What happens, for example, if Harvard replaces its race-conscious program with a new system that preferences traits — like a low-income upbringing or status as an immigrant — that correlate with race? Or what happens if Blum’s legal team, fresh off their victory in <em>Harvard</em> and <em>UNC,</em> decide to celebrate by targeting former President Bush’s signature Top Ten admissions policy in Texas?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3HFBXz">
|
|||
|
|
Much of Team Blum’s arguments in the <em>Harvard</em> case focused on statistical evidence that Asian applicants are particularly unlikely to be admitted. If Harvard abandons its explicitly race-conscious policies, but Asian applicants continue to be admitted at lower rates than they apply, does it risk being sued again? For that matter, does every single university where white or Asian applicants are statistically less likely to be admitted than Black or Latino applicants become the target of someone like Blum?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Z10OTS">
|
|||
|
|
At one point, Justice Samuel Alito appeared to take the extraordinary position that universities cannot even gather information on the racial backgrounds of their applicants, such as by asking them to check a box indicating which racial group or groups they identify with. But even many of Alito’s fellow Republican appointees — most notably Barrett — seemed to accept that admissions cannot be completely race-blind.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UQPmET">
|
|||
|
|
And, notably, both of the lawyers arguing against affirmative action on Monday acknowledged that a university could decide to admit a student based on an admissions essay that discusses the student’s racial background.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="350W2J">
|
|||
|
|
I want to acknowledge that the questions raised by affirmative action policies are difficult. Just how much race consciousness should we tolerate in service of diversity? And exactly how racially diverse should campuses be to serve the interests of employers? How racially diverse does the military’s officer corps need to be in order to inspire confidence in the men and women they lead? How does a court draw a line between admitting a student because they are Black and admitting them because they write eloquently about their experience as a Black person?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6FbBYP">
|
|||
|
|
These questions are so difficult that, in the <em>Bakke</em> decision that first held that universities may take some limited account of race in admissions, Justice Lewis Powell called for a <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/438/265">degree of deference to universities</a>. “It is the business of a university to provide that atmosphere which is most conducive to speculation, experiment and creation,” Powell wrote in <em>Bakke,</em> while quoting from a 1957 opinion. And Powell acknowledges that universities “must be accorded the right to select those students who will contribute the most to the ‘robust exchange of ideas.’”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IX7318">
|
|||
|
|
This Court, by contrast, largely <a href="https://www.vox.com/23180634/supreme-court-rule-of-law-abortion-voting-rights-guns-epa">rejects judicial restraint as a virtue</a>, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/6/30/23189610/supreme-court-epa-west-virginia-clean-power-plan-major-questions-john-roberts">rarely sees the value in deferring to institutions with greater expertise</a> than the justices themselves. That’s a recipe for a bold decision that could overrule every one of the Court’s university admissions decisions since <em>Bakke</em>.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Shivank Bhatnagar edges out Ajay Malik</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mojito and Wall Street excel</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>In words and actions, we have supported K. L. Rahul: Dravid</strong> - K. L. Rahul has scored only 22 runs in three games at the T20 World Cup, but team coach Rahul Dravid said that there is no chance of replacing him at the top of the order</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ICC T20 World Cup 2022 | England beats New Zealand by 20 runs in crucial Super 12 match</strong> - New Zealand are still top of the T20 World Cup’s Group 1 on superior net run rate, followed by England and Australia though all three are level on five points.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NBA | Clippers edge Rockets 95-93 on Paul George's clutch jumpers</strong> - Paul George hit a go-ahead jumper with six seconds remaining and the Los Angeles Clippers edged past the Houston Rockets 95-93 to snap a four-game losing streak in the NBA</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>People should exhibit same unity shown for unification to develop State, says Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Govt. to reimburse patent cost to startups, student entrepreneurs</strong> - Scheme offers up to ₹2 lakh for Indian patents, ₹10 lakh for foreign patents</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Andhra Pradesh government partners with Jameel Poverty Action Lab for evidence-based policymaking, effective welfare schemes</strong> - Evaluations and evidence-based insights will support the State in strengthening the schemes through quality improvements, increasing transparency, and better tracking of targets, say officials</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Assembly Committee instructs officials to expedite coastal projects in Kollam</strong> - It has also recommended to make drinking water supply, maintenance works and waste disposal more efficient in fishing villages</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Chief Minister launches digital resurvey of land across Kerala</strong> - Steps taken to settle cases related to land boards to free up land for redistribution, says Pinarayi</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Grain deal continues despite Russia pull-out</strong> - Three more ships leave Ukrainian ports despite Moscow suspending backing for the export scheme.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Tales of endurance and hardship as winter looms</strong> - Ukrainian civilians and troops paint a picture of endurance and hardship as winter approaches.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Italy’s right-wing government to criminalise raves</strong> - An unlicensed rave is shut down in Modena and hours later a new law proposes jail for organisers.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Banker Oleg Tinkov renounces Russian citizenship over Ukraine</strong> - Billionaire oligarch Oleg Tinkov condemns “Putin fascism”, furious at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Kyiv locals queue for water after Russian strikes</strong> - Missile attacks on key facilities across Ukraine on Monday cause power cuts and water shortages.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>RIP Google Hangouts, Google’s last, best chance to compete with iMessage</strong> - Today Google realizes it needs to fight iMessage, but it’s 8 years too late. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1891674">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Interventions that reduce partisan vitriol don’t help democracy</strong> - Thinking better of your partisan opponents doesn’t mean you want them voting. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1894147">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>CDC director’s COVID returns as study finds such rebounds shockingly common</strong> - In the small study, 44% of untreated, recovered people had rebound COVID-19 symptoms. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1894139">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Replit’s Ghostwriter AI can explain programs to you—or help write them</strong> - Ghostwriter generates, completes, or transforms code in 16 languages, similar to GitHub Copilot. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1894083">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Report: M2 Pro and M2 Max Macs coming in 2023, not 2022</strong> - CEO Tim Cook confirmed Apple’s product lineup is “set” for the year. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1894022">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>My Husband died. (One for the Ladies.)</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
After He died, I couldn’t even look at another Man for almost 20 years.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
But now that I’m out of Prison, I can honestly say it was worth it.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yip29p/my_husband_died_one_for_the_ladies/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yip29p/my_husband_died_one_for_the_ladies/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>My wife says I can get anal on my cake day if this post reaches front page</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Please don’t make that happen, she has been dying to try that strap-on on me forever.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MazzukaMy"> /u/MazzukaMy </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yizrcl/my_wife_says_i_can_get_anal_on_my_cake_day_if/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yizrcl/my_wife_says_i_can_get_anal_on_my_cake_day_if/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>3 blondes are walking in the woods.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
3 blonde girls are walking in the woods when they stumble across a set of tracks, the first girl having went to a zoo last week claims that the tracks are deer tracks, the second blonde laughs,
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Caitlyn you dumb bitch those are bear tracks!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The third blonde chimes in,
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Oh my god no you’re both wrong those are rabbit tracks.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
They were still arguing when the train hit them.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/TheSlothsAreWatching"> /u/TheSlothsAreWatching </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yiwa8j/3_blondes_are_walking_in_the_woods/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yiwa8j/3_blondes_are_walking_in_the_woods/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>I just found my wife has a Tinder profile and I’m furious.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
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She is absolutely not “adventurous”, and “fun to be around”!
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/RibaldPancake"> /u/RibaldPancake </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yj5go5/i_just_found_my_wife_has_a_tinder_profile_and_im/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yj5go5/i_just_found_my_wife_has_a_tinder_profile_and_im/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>What do hillbillies do on Halloween?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<div class="md">
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Pumpkin
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/isaidireddit"> /u/isaidireddit </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yiq1ju/what_do_hillbillies_do_on_halloween/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/yiq1ju/what_do_hillbillies_do_on_halloween/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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