What Happened Today: June 1, 2022
Jury awards Depp $15m in defamation suit; Canada’s handgun freeze; Supreme Court looking at clerk cellphones in Roe v Wade leak probe
The Big Story
Jurors in Virginia have concluded that Johnny Depp had been defamed by his ex-wife Amber Heard, and have awarded the actor $15 million in damages. The lawsuit began with Depp suing Heard for $50 million after she called herself a “public figure representing domestic abuse” in a 2018 article for The Washington Post, which led Heard to countersue Depp for $100 million. The verdict was delivered Wednesday after a six-week trial during which the former couple, who met while filming a movie, traded claims of physical and emotional abuse and fed the most private and scurrilous details of their marriage—Depp accused his ex-wife of both defecating in their bed as a form of revenge and cheating on him with billionaire Elon Musk, and Heard alleged Depp was an abusive drug addict—directly into the media machine.
The trial became a subject of fascination both for traditional media outlets and a mass audience online. Internet spectators appeared to side overwhelmingly with Depp, producing scores of memes and commentary videos challenging and belittling Heard’s claims, which led to speculation that the case represented a repudiation of the “believe women” mantra popularized in the #MeToo era. The jury, however, was more divided and awarded a separate $2 million in damages to Heard after finding that she too had been defamed by a statement made by one of Depp’s former lawyers. “I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband. I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women,” Heard said in a statement released Wednesday. In his own statement, Depp addressed his reasons for pursuing the case: “Speaking the truth was something that I owed to my children and to all those who have remained steadfast in their support of me. I feel at peace knowing I have finally accomplished that.” –JS
Read it here: https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/johnny-depp-amber-heard-lawsuit-jury-verdict/0
In the Back Pages: What Ruth and Lincoln Shared
The Rest
→ On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited the recent mass shooting at a Texas school in announcing new nationwide legislation to “freeze” handgun sales and limit the size of gun-magazine capacity, along with a gun buyback program that officials say will help reduce gun violence. “We need only look south of the border to know that if we do not take action firmly and rapidly it gets worse and worse and gets more difficult to counter,” said Trudeau. With strict gun rules already in place and gun homicides significantly lower than in the United States, Canada has nonetheless seen an increase in both guns in circulation (up 71% between 2010 and 2020) and gun homicides, with 2020 bringing one of the highest numbers of gun deaths since 1997. Though it’s currently a minority in Parliament, Trudeau’s Liberal Party could get the legislation passed if it adds Canada’s New Democratic Party to its coalition.
→ The number of legislators who’ve violated the STOCK Act continues to grow, with three or more senators failing to make required disclosures of their household financial transactions. At least 60 lawmakers in both houses have so far violated the 2012 act that requires government officials, including lawmakers, to publicly file reports of stocks and securities transactions greater than $1,000 within 45 days of the transaction. A recent batch of late disclosures by Democrats Sen. John Hickenlooper (CO) and Sen. Gary Peters (MI) and Republican Sen. Jerry Moran (KA) are the latest violations. The purpose of the filing requirements is to curb potential conflicts of interest for legislators who routinely receive confidential briefings that could be leveraged for windfall transactions before that information is made public. Failing to disclose several significant transactions, including sales of stock worth between $100,000 and $250,000, and another sale between $250,000 and $500,000, Sen. Hickenlooper’s late reporting was simply an honest mistake, insists his spokesperson, Alyssa Roberts. “We missed filing these on time by mistake, but we’ve implemented steps to prevent it from happening again.”
→ Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was quick to celebrate her endorsement from J Street, the Progressive pro-Israel advocacy group that has called the speaker of the House a “champion of diplomacy”; Pelosi has been quiet, however, about her endorsement from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), signaling that this champion of diplomacy has grasped the changing nature of her party’s attitude toward Israel. “J Street’s supporters across the country consistently strive for peace, justice and equality—for both Israelis and Palestinians, and for all Americans too,” Pelosi said on Tuesday, hours after the endorsement from J Street. “I welcome their endorsement as we continue to work together toward these shared goals at this critical moment in our history.” It has been months, meanwhile, since AIPAC announced that it would endorse Rep. Pelosi, and she is yet to publicly acknowledge its support, which she has welcomed for most of her career, often speaking at AIPAC events and conferences. With the base of the Democratic Party shifting leftward on Israel, AIPAC has lost much of its clout, and the lobbying organization only made matters worse when, earlier this year, it endorsed 109 Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 election results and notably decided not to endorse Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), a stalwart supporter of Israel who has earned the ire of President Trump and his allies.
→ Since 2017, the public schools in rural Jefferson County, Florida, have been run by Somerset Academy, a charter school management company that stepped in to overhaul a public education system suffering from dismal test results and graduation rates. Now the local school board will be stepping back in to overhaul those same schools, which have only worsened under Somerset’s care; just 19% of Jefferson County third graders passed this year’s reading test, a statewide low that beat the previous record of 28%, notched in 2021 by—you guessed it—Jefferson County. Alas, the youngsters of Jefferson County will likely fare no better with government bureaucrats stepping back in; statewide, only a quarter of third-grade kids passed their reading exams with “proficiency” in 2022, and just 53% passed it at all.
→ A new program in San Francisco will spend $6.5 million to end trans homelessness in the next five years. “Transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming San Franciscans are eighteen times more likely to experience homelessness compared to the general population, and we know that the rates are even higher for our minority trans communities,” said Mayor Breed in a statement, which drew praise from allies and scorn from critics who have been quick to question the fairness of setting aside much-needed funds for a small and specific subset of San Franciscans. Breed said the $6.5 million would secure 150 long-term housing units, short-term rentals, and trans youth health facilities. This program comes after intense scrutiny of another $160 million San Francisco program previously mentioned in The Scroll, which subjected the 6,000 residents of the program’s single-room-occupancy housing to a “a pattern of chaos, crime, and death,” according to an investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle.
→ On Tuesday at three Los Angeles hospitals, 99% of the union representing resident physicians and interns voted “in favor of striking if necessary,” as negotiations between the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), as the union is called, and L.A. County officials have hit a wall. Resident physicians, who often work more than 80 hours a week for less than minimum wage, are demanding higher pay and better benefits—demands that might prove unmeetable for a national medical system that has relied for a century on the ready availability of cheap and indentured labor that comes from running a residency program. “They’re preying on our altruism,” said Dr. Lorenzo González, chief resident of family medicine at Harbor-UCLA and president of the CIR. “We need acknowledgement of the sacrifices we’ve made.” The COVID-19 pandemic has only deepened the healthcare system’s dependency on residents and driven up the burnout rate among young doctors, 60% of whom reported suffering—before the pandemic—from “a low sense of personal accomplishment, emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and depersonalization,” according to a study from the Medical Science Educator. The CIR has been gaining traction in California, with several residency programs joining the 1,300-member CIR since March, including Stanford and the Keck School of Medicine at University of Southern California.
→ Chart of the Day: In 1980, the 100 richest counties in the United States voted for the Republican Party by a 91% margin; have a look at how those counties have voted since:
→ Hundreds of Israelis have died because of heat waves caused by global warming in the past decade, according to a new study conducted by Tel Aviv University and Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection. Since 1850, the world has warmed 1.1 degree Celsius, but some areas are warming at far faster rates, and Israel is among them, reporting a 1.5 degree Celsius rise since 1950—double the rate of the rest of the world. The study estimated that 363 Israelis have died in the past decade because of the heat waves already cooking up the country, and it warned that Israel, which has been identified as one of the countries most at-risk of heat waves triggered by global warming, should expect more heat-related deaths in the coming years.
→ Rumor Radar: Can you turn back your biological clock with a modest modification to your genetic code? That’s what geneticist Brian P. Hanley says happened to him after five years of hormone injections—and he’s reportedly experienced better sleep and quicker recovery from injury too.
→ With the Supreme Court’s annual term in full swing, and the halls of the highest court tense with several landmark decisions on guns, abortion, and the First Amendment in the wings, the already-secretive chambers of the nine justices are set to become even more intense as court officials escalate their probe into who leaked the draft Justice Alito opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, with law clerks potentially forced to turn over their cell phones to internal investigators, according to a new CNN report. Some clerks will also be asked to sign affidavits about whether they were involved in or know who amongst the roughly 75 court employees likely leaked the draft opinion to the press last month, which along with the cell phone review amounts to an unprecedented escalation by Chief Justice John Roberts, who began the probe last month following the publication of the draft opinion by Politico. It’s likely that the law clerks will seek their own outside counsel for protection, setting up a potentially explosive legal battle about privacy inside the nation’s highest judicial office.
Additional reporting and writing provided by The Scroll’s associate editor, David Sugarman
What Ruth and Lincoln Shared
A meditation on the holiday of Shavuot and its connections to America's greatest president
By Stu Halpern
America’s greatest president and an ancient Moabite turned Jewess make an unlikely pair. Yet as American Jews prepare to read the Book of Ruth on the upcoming holiday of Shavuot, their unexpected similarities are worthy of consideration.
For those in need of a refresher, the biblical tale recounts the loyalty of a bereft foreign widow, Ruth, to her elderly Israelite mother-in-law, Naomi, whose husband had also passed away. The two, with little hope of stability and sustenance, journey back to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem amid the political, social turmoil, and moral chaos of the pre-monarchical period. Ruth demonstrates strategic initiative in seeking economic support for her and Naomi by gleaning in the fields of strangers, only to stumble upon Naomi’s distant relative, Boaz. Appealing to Boaz’s generosity, Ruth inspires him to marry her and ensure the continuation of Naomi’s family line. The couple produce a son whose eventual ancestor is the legendary King David.
Abraham Lincoln, like Ruth, emerged from humble beginnings. His father, Thomas Lincoln, was barely literate, and the two were estranged for most of their adult lives. Ruth’s father is never mentioned in the text, and pointedly, Naomi initially discourages Ruth from accompanying her to Bethlehem and prods Ruth to return to her mother’s house in Moab.
Both figures demonstrated a unique-for-their-time moral courage. Ruth was a member of a nation known for its paganism and stinginess. The Moabites had seduced earlier generations of Israelites into idol worship and had cruelly refused to offer them bread and water after their exodus from Egypt. Ruth’s unyielding loyalty to Naomi, and her efforts to ensure her survival despite the historical baggage between their two peoples, is therefore remarkable. Lincoln’s own ethical courage in leading the country’s fight against slavery has been well documented. As David S. Reynolds’ recent biography emphasizes, the president’s political position translated into his personal interactions as well. When the aged abolitionist Sojourner Truth journeyed to Washington to meet the president before she died, he signed her autograph book “For Auntie Sojourner Truth.” Truth recalled their interaction: “I was never treated by anyone with more kindness and cordiality than was shown me by that great and good man, Abraham Lincoln.”
Although the U.S. wartime commander in chief and the unheralded immigrant quietly gathering grain lived starkly different lives, a surprising echo occurs in their respective travels.
Read the rest here:
What Happened Today: June 1, 2022
I've been really appreciating The Scroll as a high-quality new summary. In particular, I like that you don't just repeat conventional wisdom on any particular topic or event.
So....was disappointed to see J-Street described as "Pro Israel." I don't think there's really any argument to support that, in spite of how they might characterize themselves.
That Speaker Pelosi would identify with J Street having just several thousand members but not AIPAC with hundreds of thousands of members and decades of vigorous support for Israel speaks volumes about todays Democratic Party. And its leaders support or lack of same for Israel’s defense. Surveys show strong American Jewish support for Israel. But the actions of the Democrat Party suggest far more limited “support”. Why American Jews who claim they “love Israel” do not support those well established Jewish groups whose support for Israel is incontestable remains puzzling. J Street doesn’t represent American Jewish support for Israel.
Is that why Dem Speaker Pelosi chose to highlight J Street ?