Today’s Headlines and Commentary

Images of migrants on Wednesday illuminated the escalating humanitarian crisis on the Belarus-Poland border, reports NBC News. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called the “instrumentalization of migrants and refugees” to achieve political goals “deplorable” on Tuesday, echoing similar accusations Poland and other European Union member states have lodged against Belarus. The Polish and Belarusian governments have both shared videos alleging forces from the other have brutalized the migrants at the border.

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will invest $785 million into efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus in vulnerable populations, such as people of color, people with disabilities and people living in rural or low income areas, according to the Hill. Funds will go toward building vaccine confidence and creating equity-focused programs.

The defendants in the civil trial for the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville are using the legal proceedings as a platform to spread hateful vitriol and right-wing extremist beliefs, writes the Washington Post. University of Virginia graduate Devin Willis gave testimony on the racist behavior he endured as Black man during the rally. Christopher Cantwell, a neo-Nazi defendant representing himself without an attorney, badgered Willis to name his friends in public proceedings that hundreds of people listen to the audio broadcast of each day. This led to the names and photos of Willis’s friends spreading across far-right chat rooms. Cantwell “[s]aw this as a tremendous opportunity both because of the cause at hand and because I knew the world was listening.”

Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona is being criticized for sharing a doctored anime video over the weekend from both his professional and personal Twitter accounts in which he kills Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and swings a sword at President Biden, reports NPR. The video, an altered version of the opening credits to the series “Attack on Titan,” showcases Republican politicians attacking Democratic leaders with swords and blood spatters over words like drugs, crime and poverty. Gosar previously downplayed the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and spoke earlier this year at a white nationalist conference whose organizer spoke supportively of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

China and the United States pledged on Wednesday to increase cooperation on climate action, including cutting emissions of methane, according to Reuters. Additionally, China and the United States, the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, reached an agreement on a joint climate declaration.

After being reelected on Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced he would compile a major economic stimulus package worth 30 trillion yen ($265 billion) by next week, reports AP News. The pandemic, the economy and national security will be Kishida’s top priorities.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Jack Goldsmith sat down with John Mearsheimer to discuss the United States’ engagement with China after the Cold War and its reverberating consequences.

Goldsmith and Bob Bauer discussed how a proposal in a bill before the House could give Congress what it needs in its conflicts with the executive branch while acknowledging executive branch prerogatives and broader constitutional traditions.

Bryce Klehm announced this week’s Lawfare Live, in which Roger Parloff will join Benjamin Wittes to discuss the guilty pleas in Capitol riot cases.

Klehm also shared the decision from the Ninth Circuit that denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against NSO Group Technologies.

Lauren Sukin and Kathryn Hedgecock analyzed how last month’s Facebook outage could shape public perceptions of cybersecurity policy.

Stewart Baker shared an episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast, featuring: Scott Shapiro to break down the Biden administration’s sanctions on four offensive cyber firms; Nate Jones to talk about cybersecurity regulation for defense contractors; Jamil Jaffer to analyze ransomware gangs; along with a series of shorter updates.

Emily Dai shared the Office of Special Counsel’s report outlining their investigation of political activities by senior Trump administration officials leading up to the presidential election.

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