Mules Rush In

American Drug Mules, After Nasrallah

"They're taking our jobs." It's a phrase you hear associated with immigration, especially during election years. But these days, some of the people complaining about jobs being taken are Mexican drug mules. The cartels have figured out a more effective way to get often-deadly fentanyl across the border: hire someone with an American passport to do it. "The teenager practiced driving from his apartment in San Diego down to Tijuana and back, on the orders of the criminals he was working for in Mexico. He rehearsed how he would respond to questions from U.S. border officers. He tracked when the drug-sniffing dogs took a break. The men who were paying him had cut a secret compartment into his car big enough to fit several bricks of fentanyl. When they loaded it up for the first time and sent him toward the border, Gustavo, who was only 19 at the time, began to tremble. At the checkpoint, he steadied himself like he had practiced, and calmly told the border officers that he was just heading home." NYT (Gift Article): The American Drug Mules Smuggling Fentanyl Into the U.S. "In reality, the largest known group of fentanyl smugglers is not made up of immigrants traversing the desert or moving through secret tunnels — they are Americans coming through legal ports of entry. More than 80 percent of the people sentenced for fentanyl trafficking at the southern border are U.S. citizens, federal data shows." That's a statistic you won't hear during an immigrant-demonizing political rally. But the truth is stubborn as a mule.

+ The governor was initially reluctant to let me see that story close up, to let me embed with him in Springfield. He didn’t want to expose or exacerbate tensions in the community. Yet as Senator JD Vance continued to insist that his lie about eating pets was true and to falsely call the Haitians 'illegal aliens,' DeWine grew 'just more infuriated,' as he put it to me over dinner. 'Yeah, after a while, because it got cumulative, and then you keep thinking, ‘Well, they’re going to stop this,’ he said. 'Well, they didn’t stop this, they just keep going.'" Politico Magazine on Mike DeWine in Ohio. ‘Just Not Right’: A GOP Governor Confronts Trump’s Lies. (However, it's not wrong enough for DeWine to pull his support of Trump. And there's the rub.)

+ "A flood of threats was directed not only at him, but his family and his business. They came by the hundreds — phone calls, emails and letters from white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other people they had never met." Why is a lifelong Republican taking classes on using a gun to defend himself and his family? Because he dared to say something positive about his Haitian employees in Springfield. NYT (Gift Article): An Ohio Businessman Faces Death Threats for Praising His Haitian Workers.

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Screenage Wasteland

Teen mental health issues and suicide numbers are on the rise. Is the most obvious explanation the right one? The New Yorker: Has Social Media Fuelled a Teen-Suicide Crisis? "Research paints a complex picture of the role of technology in emotional states, and restricting teens’ social-media use could cause harms of its own. Research accrues slowly, whereas technology and its uses are evolving faster than anyone can fully keep up with. Caught between the two, will the law be able to devise an effective response to the crisis?" Anything "the law" would do at this point would be like tossing of feather in front of a runaway train.

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After Nasrallah

"First, Iran’s options for retaliation against Israel are very limited, and it can’t bring about much damage there without risking a destruction of Iranian infrastructure that might take decades to rebuild. Second, Iran has been trying for months to ease tensions and pursue talks with other countries in the region and with the West." Arash Azizi in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Israel Has Called Iran’s Bluff. "Despite the Israeli attack that killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah (and the killing of several other top Hezbollah leaders), "Tehran has many reasons to exercise restraint."

+ "In a statement on Saturday, President Biden said the Israeli assassination of Nasrallah was 'a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians.' He emphasized the Hezbollah leader’s 'fateful decision' to join hands with Hamas and open a northern front against Israel. The U.S. goal now, he added, is to de-escalate both conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon through the two diplomatic proposals. 'It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability.' The odds of either seem small right now." The New Yorker: What Israel’s Assassination of Hezbollah’s Leader Means for the Middle East.

+ Robert Worth with an interesting look at some of the views from Beirut in The Atlantic (Gift Article): It’s an Earthquake.

+ "The war that finally claimed Nasrallah is one that he and the movement tragically didn’t want to escape. The fight defined them. Without the mantle of resistance, Hezbollah would lose its rationale for overriding the Lebanese state. Paradoxically, it needed war to survive ... Now Nasrallah has joined the long line of Shiite martyrs. He will be mourned by his followers, who will try to avenge him. But his death offers a chance for Lebanese to reclaim their country after nearly 40 years of ruinous Hezbollah leadership." David Ignatius in WaPo: Hassan Nasrallah chose his own fate.

+ The big question in the region is what happens next. According to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant: "The next stage in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon – it will be a significant factor in changing the security situation and will allow us to complete the important part of the war’s goals: returning the residents to their homes." Here's the latest from CNN.

4

El El Cool Jane

"Riding in a black SUV with tinted windows, lawyer Mariel Colón rolls up to the gates of a remote mansion, strolling past a security guard side-by-side with Emma Coronel, the wife of notorious drug lord Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán. Sporting suits and sunglasses, the pair stride into a dimly lit room full of slickly dressed men smoking cigars. All to the roar of trumpets. The scene is from 'La Señora,' the latest music video from Colón, who spent several years working as a defense lawyer for Guzmán while he faced trial in a U.S. court. Now, at a time when regional Mexican music is becoming a global phenomenon, the 31-year-old is leveraging her association with the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel to launch her music career under the stage name of 'Mariel La Abogada' (Mariel, the Lawyer)." She defended ‘El Chapo.’ Now this lawyer is using her narco-fame to launch a music career. (I wonder if Alina Habba can sing.)

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Extra, Extra

Helene's Trail of Destruction: North Carolina was hit especially hard by Helene. WaPo (Gift Article): ‘Completely and entirely erased’: How Helene swallowed one mountain town. "Just down the hill, and in every direction, lay almost indescribable scenes of destruction and suffering. Cars sat high in tree limbs by the Swannanoa River. Homes had been tossed and mangled, then deposited far from their foundations — sometimes upside down, sometimes torn in half — wherever the river left them. A thick layer of mud covered the town, leaving many roads impassible and many homes and businesses buried, like some modern-day Pompeii." Helene death toll rises to 120 as millions remain without power. "Many people drowned after not heeding evacuation orders; others were killed in their homes and cars by falling trees and road signs. At least two Georgians were killed when a tornado picked up their car. Deaths were also reported in Florida, South Carolina and Virginia." Here's the latest on the devastation from NBC.

+ A Guide to Sanewashing: "If you watched the speech, or even snippets of it, you saw something quite different — an absolutely ugly and brutal attack on Kamala Harris, full of lies and racist misogyny." Margaret Sullivan: The three phases of normalizing Trump's attack on Harris in Wisconsin. (These are the same three phases we've seen play out for years.) Or as TNR puts it: Oops, They Did It Again: The Mainstream Media Buries Trump’s Outrage. A few outtakes of what you won't see in today's sanewashed headlines: "These people are animals ... I will liberate Wisconsin from this mass migrant invasion of murderers, rapists, hoodlums, drug dealers, thugs, and vicious gang members. We’re going to liberate our country ... You gotta get these people back where they came from. You have no choice. You’re gonna lose your culture ... They will walk into your kitchen, they’ll cut your throat." (Today, the NYT editorial board endorsed Kamala, calling her The Only Patriotic Choice for President. They should notify their news desk.)

+ Right Here, Right Now: "A far-right party founded by former Nazis won the most votes in Austria's election Sunday, in a result that could reshape Europe’s political landscape and help tilt the balance of power between Russia and the West ... Austria joins a long list of countries across Europe where the far-right now wields considerable power after making gains this summer in Germany, France and the Netherlands."

+ 'Deer in the Headlines: "Netflix has failed in its attempt to persuade a judge to throw out a defamation lawsuit brought by the woman who inspired the stalker character in hit series Baby Reindeer." Netflix fails to get Baby Reindeer lawsuit dropped. (Why do I have the feeling this is all going to lead to another season of Baby Reindeer?)

+ Ports in a Storm: "The strike could hit 36 ports that handle about one-half of U.S. ocean imports. That could affect availability of a range of goods from bananas to clothing to cars shipped via container, while creating weeks-long backlogs at ports. It could also stoke shipping cost increases that may be passed on to voters already frustrated with housing and food inflation, according to logistics experts." A port strike could cost the economy $5 billion per day.

+ A Star is (Air)Born: "The story goes that Kristofferson was so desperate to get his songs into the hands of Johnny Cash that he landed a helicopter on Cash's lawn. In the version Cash used to tell, Kristofferson emerged with a tape in one hand and a beer in the other. 'It's a great story, and a story that good needs to be believed, even if it's not true,' quips musician Rodney Crowell, who became Cash's son-in-law when he married Rosanne Cash. 'But, you know, according to John, that literally happened.'" Kris Kristofferson, musical rebel and movie star, has died at age 88. And John Ashton, recognizable from his roles in Beverly Hills Cop and Midnight Run, died at 76.

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Bottom of the News

"This year marks the 50th anniversary of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. A game of creativity and imagination, D&D lets players weave their own narrative, blending combat and roleplaying in an immersive gaming experience. And now, psychologists and therapists are working to turn it into a tool by exploring its potential benefits as a group therapy technique."

+ Montana man faces sentencing for cloning giant sheep to breed large sheep for captive trophy hunts. Wait, what?