The News Not Noise Letter: What If They Don't Make A Deal?
A revolt in the House could shut down government. Plus: Oregon’s magic mushroom clinics are treating mental illness one trip at a time, and what’s the Clarence Thomas news now?
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Here are the headlines:
Shutdown Looms: Chances are, your weekend plans are brighter than House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s. With the clock ticking and a revolt in his ranks, McCarthy sent members home with no clear plan to avert a government shutdown. He’s got 9 days left to get a temporary financing measure across the finish line. His options are limited – convert defectors, pass long term spending bills the Senate will almost certainly reject or cut a wholly different deal with Democrats. Driving the resistance: McCarthy critic Rep. Matt Gaetz who says he wants McCarthy out of the Speakership. The White House is taking steps to prepare government for a shutdown, which would furlough thousands of government workers and delay many constituent services. The politics of this are bad for Democrats but worse for House Republicans, and especially McCarthy, a point not lost on the White House social media team.
Clarence Thomas and the Kochs: We keep reading about Justice Clarence Thomas’s ethical breaches, and here’s the latest: ProPublica reports he secretly attended multiple donor retreats for the Koch network – an extremely influential right-wing political organization that’s brought several cases before the court. According to the report, Koch network staffers said Thomas was brought to speak “in the hopes that such access would encourage donors to continue giving.” For more information, read the full report here.
Ophelia On Its Way: This again. Tropical Storm Ophelia will make landfall in the Carolinas early Saturday morning, ramming into the Mid-Atlantic and following the coast to southern New England over the weekend. If you live in this area, be warned that the storm could produce up to 7 inches of rain in parts of North Carolina and Virginia; coastal storm surges could reach up to 5 feet along the Mid-Atlantic coast. And forecasters say strong winds will blow deep inland, and could spawn tornadoes through Saturday.
UAW Strike Expands: Good news/bad news for striking autoworkers. The good news: after the first week of the walkout, the UAW says they’ve made progress negotiating with Ford and won’t expand the strike to new Ford locations. The bad news: the union says they have not made similar progress in talks with General Motors and Stellantis Jeep and will expand the strike against them. UAW workers walked out at 38 new sites in 20 states, all at parts distribution centers for the two automakers. Workers continue to picket the original three strike sites: Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex, GM Wentzville Assembly, and Ford Michigan Assembly Plant. President Biden will travel to Michigan Tuesday in solidarity with the striking workers.
WGA Strike Updates: The Hollywood strike could be a smidge closer to resolution. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) met Friday with the studios and streamers for a third day. Rumors are swirling that a deal with writers could be close. But even if the writers reach a deal, production will remain stalled until actors reach a separate deal.
Here’s some news that doesn’t suck:
Magic Mushrooms for Mental Health: This year, anyone can take a trip to Oregon and trip on legal shrooms. Thanks to a law passed in 2020, it is legal to get psilocybin therapy (i.e., magic mushrooms) without a prescription. The psychedelic mushroom treatment is offered at 11 specially-licensed service centers to any member of the public over the age of 21. You don’t have to live in Oregon. But before taking the shrooms you do need to meet with a licensed facilitator. Psilocybin has shown enormous promise for treating depression and other mental health conditions in clinical studies, provided the fungus is administered under the supervision of a trained facilitator. In the right setting, psilocybin “rewires” the brain, disrupting tightly-entrenched networks and creating greater plasticity in the brain. Researchers believe that by interrupting these entrenched patterns, psilocybin prompts patients to explore different, more positive or neutral neural pathways. The FDA first authorized restricted use of psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy” in 2018. Oregon issued its first service center license this June. Now, Colorado and California have followed in its footsteps and are on the way to legalizing psilocybin in regulated contexts. Would you try psilocybin therapy? Or have you already?
Fed Holds On Interest Rates: Here’s an interest rate story that won’t make your stomach drop. The Fed opted not to increase interest rates at this month’s meeting due to cooling inflation. Interest rates will remain between 5.25–5.5% for the time being, though the Fed has signaled there may be one more rate hike before the end of the year and still more in 2024. The interest rates will likely remain high for some time as the economy continues to cool.
Restoring Rights: Twelve years after the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, the Pentagon is reaching out to LGBTQ+ veterans who were forced out of the military and denied benefits under that policy. The Department of Defense hopes to upgrade these veterans’ discharge statuses from less-than-honorable to honorable, which comes with access to a slew of benefits previously denied to these individuals. As part of their campaign, the DOD has released a new website for those who were discharged because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. “We know correcting these records cannot fully restore the dignity taken from LGBTQ+ service members when they were expelled from the military…But this is yet another step we're taking to make sure we do right by those who served honorably,” said Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks.
Climate Corps: You’ve heard of the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. Now the US will also have an American Climate Corps, a civil service program that will train young people for climate conservation and green energy jobs. The White House says the program should put 20,000 people to work in its first year “conserving our lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, advancing environmental justice, deploying clean energy, implementing energy efficient technologies, and tackling climate change.” No previous training or experience is required for most positions, and all participants will be paid for their training and service. Biden pledged the creation of the Climate Corps during his first week in office, but the version launching now is smaller than previous proposals. The White House says the program aims to attract “underrepresented groups and socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals” for training. “We're opening up pathways to good-paying careers, lifetimes of being involved in the work of making our communities more fair, more sustainable, more resilient,” said Biden’s climate policy adviser Ali Zaidi.
Gun Safety Gets White House Status: The White House is also for the first time standing up an Office of Gun Violence Prevention. The President said it’s intended "to send a clear message about how important this issue is to me and to the country." It will be overseen by Vice President Harris who said, “we will not stop working to end the epidemic of gun violence in every community, because we do not have a moment, nor a life to spare.” Gun safety advocates have been calling for this for years and hail the move as a big win.
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