Happy Wednesday! Two days ago, Matt Hilton was your run-of-the-mill bee specialist. Then, he cleared a swarming colony of bees from the top of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ backstop, ending an hours-long bee delay in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Thank you bee guy,” the jumbotron read. The crowd chanted, “M-V-P!” He threw out the first pitch. And just like that, a star was born.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
- The Biden administration on Wednesday announced new sanctions on more than 280 individuals and organizations—including entities in China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—that the State Department said were aiding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including by providing components for Russian drones and missiles. In addition, the administration announced sanctions on three people linked to the death of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny while he was in custody. “The United States will continue to use the tools at its disposal to disrupt support for Russia’s military-industrial base and curtail Russia’s use of the international financial system to further its war against Ukraine,” the State Department said in a statement.
- The parliament of the Caucuses nation of Georgia approved a second reading on Wednesday of a controversial bill that would register any media and non-commercial organization in the country receiving greater than 20 percent foreign funding as “bearing the interests of a foreign power.” The legislation has inspired weeks of protests, which police on Wednesday tried to disperse using stun grenades and tear gas. This is the Georgian parliament’s second attempt to institute the Russian-style “foreign agent” law, which also prompted protests last spring.
- The United Methodist Church on Wednesday reversed its 40-year ban on ordaining gay clergy and effectively voted to allow same-sex marriages. The measure related to clergy passed overwhelmingly in a 692-51 vote during the church’s General Conference meeting in Durham, North Carolina.
- President Joe Biden announced Wednesday he is “canceling” $6.1 billion in student debt for 317,000 attendees of the Art Institutes, a private art school system that permanently closed in September. “This institution falsified data, knowingly misled students, and cheated borrowers into taking on mountains of debt without leading to promising career prospects at the end of their studies,” Biden said in a statement.
- A bipartisan group of senators—led by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii—reintroduced a bill Wednesday that would set a minimum age requirement for social media accounts. The legislation—first introduced by Schatz last year—would set a social media minimum age requirement at 13 years old, and at 17 years old for “feeding algorithmically-boosted content.” Additionally, the proposal would block social media apps and websites on public school networks and devices.
- GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia announced on Wednesday she will force a vote next week to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, a motion that is bound to fail after House Democrats confirmed Tuesday they would block it. Only two other House GOP members—Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona—have publicly supported Greene’s push to remove Johnson over his decision to usher additional Ukraine aid through Congress.
- In a 320-91 vote on Wednesday, the House passed the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act, intended to enforce federal anti-discrimination laws against antisemitism on college campuses. If enacted, the Department of Education would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism and could include calls for the destruction of Israel in prohibited speech. The bill’s future in the Democratic-controlled Senate is uncertain.
- The Federal Reserve on Wednesday opted to hold interest rates steady at 5.25-5.50 percent, and central bankers acknowledged that inflation was no longer progressing toward the Fed’s 2 percent goal. “The economic outlook is uncertain, and the Committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks,” the bankers said. Still, Fed Chair Jerome Powell added that it’s “unlikely” their next move would be a rate hike.
Trump, Take Two
With a little more than six months until Election Day, most mainstream coverage of former President Donald Trump’s third campaign for the White House has focused on his legal travails and his increasingly violent rhetoric. Comparatively little attention has been devoted to exploring what policy could look like in another Trump administration—and understandably so, since the Trump campaign is explicitly premised on retribution, rather than policy goals.
But the race between Trump and President Joe Biden stands more or less in a statistical tie. And while it’s not yet clear what kind of support either president would have in Congress if reelected, both have proven themselves more than willing to wield—and stretch—their executive powers to enact desired policy outcomes. So, it’s worth examining what plans Trump has forecasted in his third campaign and the steps the Biden administration is taking to try to preserve its executive policymaking into a second Trump term.
Time Magazine’s cover story this week, “If He Wins,” offered a rare glimpse at Trump’s policy priorities for his second term as described by the man himself. One lesson Trump seems to have taken away from his first …
As a non-paying reader, you are receiving a truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. Our full 1,543-word story on what a second Trump administration might look like is available in the members-only version of TMD.
Worth Your Time
- Saturday’s Kentucky Derby will feature fans wearing all varieties of hats: baseball caps, bucket hats, visors, maybe even a fedora or two. But the real scene-stealers are the couture millinery, many of which Christine Moore makes in her small studio in Midtown Manhattan. “It’s possible that Moore’s most famous hat was a Kentucky Derby commission in 2009,” Hannah Vanbiber wrote for The Athletic. “Worn by Patty Ethington of Shelbyville, Ky., the red hat was designed to look like a massive flower and could fit three people under its brim. A photo from the day went viral, and the rest is—almost literally—history: The hat ended up in the Kentucky Derby Museum for 10 years. Ethington is now known for her larger-than-life Derby hats. ‘The bigger, the better,’ she says. This year, for the 150th anniversary of the Derby, Ethington broke out the big red hat and is bringing it back.”
Presented Without Comment
Associated Press: Trump Will Speak at the Libertarian National Convention as He Woos Independent Voters
Also Presented Without Comment
The Hill: Dave & Buster’s to Allow Customers to Bet on Arcade Games
Also Also Presented Without Comment
New York Post: More Than $124k Raised for UNC Frat Brothers Who Protected American Flag From Anti-Israeli Mob
“A GoFundMe page set up for the Pi Kappa Phi students has raised more than $122,000 as of Wednesday afternoon for the students’ heroic stand this week at the UNC-Chapel Hill campus—“to throw this frat the party they deserve,” the fundraising site said.”
In the Zeitgeist
Richard Tandy, the keyboard player for Electric Light Orchestra, passed away at the age of 76, ELO frontman Jeff Lynne announced yesterday. Tandy and Lynne reunited in 2012 to play their classic, “Evil Woman,” and they definitely still had it.
Toeing the Company Line
- In the newsletters: The Dispatch Politics team reported on a Federal Election Commission rule that could reshape campaign field operations, Jonah argued (🔒) that universities are getting exactly what their admissions policies are selecting for, and Nick suggested that Marjorie Taylor Greene’s “Uniparty” pejorative is simultaneously meaningless and good, actually.
- On the podcasts: Sarah and David cover the battle between Texas and Pornhub on Advisory Opinions, while Jonah is joined by Robert Kagan on The Remnant to debate whether Trump is a natural outgrowth of American conservatism.
- On the site: Charlotte reports on Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Israel and the state of a deal to release the Hamas-held hostages, and Stephen Gutowski—founder of The Reload—explores whether Trump might abandon the gun rights movement as he did pro-lifers.
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