As we continue our effort to keep you up-to-date on how money corrupts American government and politics, as well as other news of the day, we’re pleased to publish this daily digest compiled by BillMoyers.com’s John Light.
Big change in Canada –> The slightly left-of-center Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party won a majority by a larger margin than was expected. The vote is a repudiation of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had increasingly been catering to his party’s right-wing base. The Globe and Mail: “The vote put an end to a long, acrimonious campaign that saw charges of Conservative Islamophobia and a bitter fight between the Liberals and NDP for the ‘change vote,’ a battle the Liberals won.” The campaign was the longest in Canadian history, a grueling 78 days (ahem).
Pulling in huuuge amounts of money –> Donald Trump has repeatedly bragged that, unlike his opponents, his personal fortune will keep him from having to bow to special-interest donors offering gobs of cash with strings attached. But at The Washington Post, Matea Gold, Tom Hamburger and Jenna Johnson investigate a super PAC pulling in large checks for Trump run by a political operative who visited the Trump campaign’s offices a number of times in May and June — even though Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, denied knowing him. Lewandowski, by the way, threatened to sue the paper if it “reported that Trump had given the group his blessing. ‘I want to be crystal clear,’ Lewandowski said. ‘There is no sanctioned super PAC.'”
Webb to run as Independent? –> He’s considering it. Max J. Rosenthal at Mother Jones: “‘Dave “Mudcat’ Saunders, a longtime advisor and friend of Webb, says Webb’s sometimes petulant debate performance was likely the ‘culmination’ of the candidate’s anger at being sidelined by the party.” At The Atlantic, James Fallows, a friend of Webb, argues the move could be good for everyone. “Webb is a voice to be heard and a figure to be respected, even if the dynamics of the Democratic contest were not allowing him that role.”
Shuttered –> In a terrific #longread at MSNBC, Irin Carmon digs into the reality of getting an abortion in states that have done as much as they can to make the procedure illegal — including the story of one doctor who travels nearly 200 miles a day to provide abortions to patients.
The damage done by one gunshot –> In another great #longread, Monica Potts profiles Sean Smith, who shot his sister three decades ago when both were children, prompting Florida to pass stricter gun laws. Potts writes for The Trace: “It took a second for the gun to accidentally go off, weeks for Florida to pass a law to keep guns out of children’s hands, and a lifetime for Sean Smith to forgive himself.”
Chicago’s disappeared –> Spencer Ackerman at The Guardian: “Police ‘disappeared’ more than 7,000 people at an off-the-books interrogation warehouse [Homan Square] in Chicago, nearly twice as many detentions as previously disclosed, the Guardian can now reveal. … No contemporaneous public record of someone’s presence at Homan Square is known to exist. Nor are any booking records generated at Homan Square, as confirmed by a sworn deposition of a police researcher in late September, further preventing relatives or attorneys from finding someone taken there.”
A nice gesture –> The White House has gotten 81 major companies to pledge support for a UN climate deal slated to be signed this December in Paris. They’ll also work to green their own operations. BUT: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is not impressed. “The massive American corporate lobbying effort in Congress is at best silent on climate change, and at worst adamantly hostile,” he said in a statement (via Mashable). “For that to change, these companies will have to take responsibility for the advocacy efforts of groups that represent them in Congress, and align their advocacy with their policy.”
New PR tactic –> Former White House press secretary Jay Carney now works at Amazon, and posted a lengthy rebuttle on Medium of The New York Times’ bombshell report on the “bruising workplace” in which the web retailer’s white-collar workers operate. Carney’s main contention is that The Times’ key, on-the-record sources had a bone to pick with their employer. Times editor Dean Baquet responded to Carney saying he stood behind the story, and Carney responded to Baquet — all on Medium. Slate’s Alison Griswold points out that “the decision to dredge up the story two months later … makes you think the Times story must have really hit Amazon where it hurts.”
John Oliver doesn’t like Stephen Harper –> John Oliver offers a primer (and some advice) for Canadians voting in the historic elections up north. Sure, he recorded this before the elections, but its still funny, so go ahead and take a look. (Warning: It gets a bit blue.)
You can get our Morning Reads delivered to your inbox every weekday! Just enter your email address below…
