jtrent238 test blog: Evening Briefing: Republican governors stoke immigration fight

September 15, 2022

By Matthew Cullen

Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Thursday.

Migrants entered St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Edgartown, Mass., today.Matt Cosby for The New York Times

1. The governors of Florida and Texas sent migrants north to liberal bastions, trying to provoke outrage over record arrivals at the border.

Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, sent two busloads of people to Vice President Kamala Harris's residence in Washington, D.C., saying it was a call to better secure the border. Ron DeSantis, Florida's governor, sent two planeloads of mostly Venezuelan migrants to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. The groups, roughly 150 people in all, arrived without notice.

Biden administration officials said the moves were stunts to harness anti-immigrant sentiment ahead of the midterm elections. But it is unclear if the White House or arrival states can stop the drop-offs of migrants, who are guaranteed the right to seek asylum.

In other politics news, New York's attorney general rejected an offer from Donald Trump to settle a civil investigation into his business, setting the stage for a lawsuit that would accuse the former president of fraud.

Also, Democrats plan to delay a Senate vote on protecting same-sex marriage, hoping to draw more Republican votes after the midterms.

President Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, today.Kremlin pool photo by Alexandr Demyanchuk

2. China's support for Russia looks shaky.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia acknowledged that China had "questions and concerns" about the war in Ukraine at his first face-to-face meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, since the invasion began. The cryptic admission suggested that Beijing might not fully approve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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While China has offered some lip service to Russia's message that the war is the West's fault, Xi did not repeat any of those lines in his public comments at the summit in Uzbekistan. Scholars said Xi's low-key statement was an implicit rebuke of Russia.

Related: While on a rescue mission in Ukraine in March, an opera singer was shot in the lungs. But he reclaimed his voice — a marvel of medicine, chance and his own spirit. And a Times reporter visited a Russian city near the front lines, where she found fear of the war and of a potential draft.

The Biden administration helped broker a tentative deal to avert a rail strike.Dustin Chambers for The New York Times

3. Rail companies and unions reached a tentative deal to avoid an economically damaging strike.

Today's breakthrough came hours before a deadline that would have allowed tens of thousands of workers to strike, essentially halting a backbone of the American supply chain. The agreement, which now heads to union members for a ratification vote, was brokered by President Biden's labor secretary, Martin Walsh, who joined all-night talks with unions and industry leaders.

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The final sticking point in the negotiations: workers' schedules, which unions said pushed the limits of physical and mental health. The agreement also includes a significant pay increase.

In other business news, mortgage rates climbed above 6 percent, their highest point since 2008 and more than double their level a year ago.

The leader of the Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Akesson.Stefan Jerrevang/TT News Agency, via Reuters

4. Sweden, widely seen as a bedrock of Nordic liberalism, shifts to the political right.

The far-right Sweden Democrats — a party with roots in neo-Nazism — emerged as the country's second-largest party after this week's elections. While they may not secure cabinet seats in a new parliament, their rising influence reflects Sweden's move toward the populist right, based on grievances about crime, migration, identity and globalization.

In Italy, Giorgia Meloni, the hard-right leader of a party with post-Fascist roots, is the favorite to become prime minister after elections this month.

In other international news, Mexican authorities arrested a top military officer suspected of ordering the killing of at least six of 43 students who disappeared in 2014.

Roger Federer in Queens in 2019.Brittainy Newman/The New York Times

5. Roger Federer, who dominated men's tennis for two decades, is retiring.

The Swiss star, who is 41 years old, leaves the game with one of the greatest records in the sport's history: 103 ATP singles titles, 20 Grand Slam championships, a record eight men's singles titles at Wimbledon and a record-tying five at the U.S. Open.

Federer said that his career — partly defined by his rivalries with the two other players at the top of men's tennis, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic — had taken a toll on his body in recent years. He is set to play his final competitive matches at the Laver Cup in London next week.

As dominant as his play has been, his biggest legacy might be his billion-dollar brand.

An appraisal: "Roger Federer is one of those rare, preternatural athletes who appear to be exempt, at least in part, from certain physical laws," David Foster Wallace wrote in 2006.

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A simulation showing fog in the Bay Area.The New York Times

6. Could the Bay Area's beloved fog be fading away as the world warms? Some scientists are concerned.

Fog is a difficult phenomenon to capture, calculate, predict or even define. We know how it forms, but we don't know precisely where it's going. However, the consensus among scientists is that coastal fog is decreasing around the world.

If it fades, there may be no city more affected than San Francisco, where fog keeps the city cool and the nearby redwoods growing. My colleague John Branch has been chasing the fog and talking to the people who study it, live in it and even try to catch it.

In other climate news, European lawmakers voted to phase out some wood-energy subsidies that have contributed to deforestation without curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Ethereum's change is estimated to reduce its energy consumption by more than 99 percent.Sarah Pabst for The New York Times

7. Crypto's long-awaited "Merge" finally happened.

After years of delays, the popular cryptocurrency platform Ethereum — arguably the industry's most crucial — completed a mind-bendingly complex software upgrade known as the Merge, shifting to a more environmentally sustainable framework.

The apparently successful switch was heralded as a watershed moment for the industry, which saw a valuation crash in the past year. But our tech columnist Kevin Roose writes that it might end up creating some new problems.

In other technology news, President Biden signed an executive order designed to block Chinese investment in U.S. technology.

Shira Haas was cast as Sabra in the next installment of the "Captain America" franchise.Matt Licari/Invision/Associated Press

8. Reflecting real-world strife, fictional characters are met with adoration and attacks.

When Marvel announced that the Israeli actress Shira Haas had been cast to play a mutant Mossad agent in the next installment of the "Captain America" franchise, many Jewish Israelis rejoiced with pride. But the move provoked backlash from Palestinians and their supporters, who accused Marvel of glorifying the Israeli intelligence service.

Separately, the trailer for a new version of "The Little Mermaid" starring Halle Bailey, who is Black, as the Disney princess, drew a joyful response, especially among Black children and their parents. This was a sharp turnabout from the racist backlash Bailey faced when she was first cast.

Animals adopted during the pandemic may be more prone to separation anxiety.Adrienne Grunwald for The New York Times

9. Millions of Americans adopted pets during the pandemic. Now they're looking to travel with them.

It has long been difficult to take companion animals on trips, but the hospitality industry is beginning to adapt. According to the website BringFido, which focuses on travel with pets, 44 percent of U.S. hotels now allow pets compared with 22 percent before the pandemic.

Still, it's worth planning ahead. We pulled together some tips.

Related: Lake Superior is cold, sparsely settled and known for bad weather. Some say it's the perfect spot for a cruise.

New telescopes and astronomical techniques have made the search for technosignatures feasible.Illustration by Somnath Bhatt

10. And finally, the search for extraterrestrials is about to get a lot more interesting.

Scientists have long contemplated what it would take to discover life on another planet. With estimates of at least 100 billion stars in our galaxy and 100 billion galaxies in the universe, the potential candidates for intelligent life are almost too numerous to imagine.

But with new technology, our capabilities for detecting signs of extraterrestrial civilizations have greatly expanded. "The point is, after 2,500 years of people yelling at each other over life in the universe, in the next 10, 20 and 30 years we will actually get data," one astrophysicist told The Times.

Have a cosmic night.

May-Ying Lam compiled photos for this briefing.

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