An Ignoble Experiment: Oil pipeline gusher shuts Surf City USA

By Kurt Heine

TOP STORIES

Monday, Oct. 4

PIPELINE BREAK SOAKS CALIFORNIA COAST IN OIL A ruptured oil pipeline off Huntington Beach in Southern California created a mileswide sheen, coated beaches in thick globules and killed untold numbers of fish and birds. Beaches in the town known as Surf City USA could remain closed for months. [AP]

FACEBOOK PEDDLES HATE FOR PROFIT, INSIDER SAYS A whistleblower who worked on Facebook's civic misinformation team during the 2020 election said in an explosive "60 Minutes" interview that the platform fails to weed out "angry, hateful, polarizing content" because it drives engagement and makes money. [HuffPost]

GLOBAL ELITES HIDE RICHES TO ESCAPE TAXES Maybe Donald Trump isn't such an outlier when it comes to tax avoidance. Hundreds of world leaders, powerful politicians, billionaires, celebrities, religious leaders and drug dealers have been hiding their investments in mansions, exclusive beachfront property, yachts and other assets, according to a trove of records dubbed the Pandora Papers obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. [AP]

A DEM DEAL WITH MANCHIN IS CLOSER THAN IT LOOKS Conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin seems to have wrecked President Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion Build Back Better spending plan, but not really, explains Jonathan Cohn. Intense negotiations to mollify Manchin and fellow Democratic holdouts focus on whether tax breaks count as spending, and whether health care spending includes new savings. [HuffPost]

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WHAT'S BREWING

THE DEMOCRATIC AGENDA: TURBULENCE AND MAYBE HOPE Progressive Democrats showed their power over moderates by throwing Washington into disarray, upending Biden's hope for smooth passage of his giant budget reconciliation package. But the messy infighting may soon be forgotten as just a bump in a road the president wants to rebuild. [HuffPost]

SUPREMES TEE UP GUNS, GOD, ABORTION The Supreme Court begins its new term today, with abortion, guns and religion on the agenda for a court with a rightward tilt, including three justices appointed by Trump. The first Women's March of the Biden era headed straight for the high court steps.[AP]

ALEX JONES THE SANDY HOOK LIAR KEEPS HIS LOSING STREAK ALIVE Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones lost another lawsuit — his third in a week — seeking damages for his lies that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was a hoax. A jury will decide later how much he'll have to pay. [HuffPost]

TRUMP'S JAN. 6 MOB OVERWHELMED COPS HOURS BEFORE RIOT U.S. Park Police radio recordings show outnumbered officers were overwhelmed by Trump's lie-stoked mob hours before rioters breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Cops were pinned inside the Washington Monument, unable to check unattended bags or people they suspected were carrying weapons, the recordings show, raising new questions about why law enforcement was so unprepared for the violence later that day. [HuffPost]

REPUBLICANS BOLT FROM TRUMP AIDE AFTER HARASSMENT CLAIM, BUT STICK WITH TRUMP Some Republicans quickly moved to cut ties with Corey Lewandowski, once a top aide to Trump, after a GOP donor alleged that Lewandowski sexually harassed her at a fundraising event. Those same Republicans have no problem sticking with Trump himself, who faces far more serious allegations from at least 26 women, Amanda Terkel points out. [HuffPost]

HEADS ROLL IN WOMEN'S SOCCER LEAGUE SEX ABUSE SCANDAL

National Women's Soccer League Commissioner Lisa Baird resigned hours after the North Carolina Courage fired longtime coach Paul Riley. An explosive media report told how Riley shuffled from one team to another after allegations that stretched back a decade and were ignored by Baird. [HuffPost]

THE HARD TRUTH ABOUT HOW R. KELLY GOT AWAY WITH IT FOR SO LONG The sex criminal R. Kelly never really hid his use of power, fame and influence to harm Black girls, boys and young women. Employees and industry colleagues aided and enabled him. They booked flights for girls and women to travel to Kelly for sex; they ignored obvious signs of his girlfriends' abuse. Why did justice take so long, wondered Taryn Finley. "They were Black girls," one person said. "Let's be real." [HuffPost]

IN TEXAS, THE BIGGEST 2022 RACE ISN'T FOR GOVERNOR A contest between Democratic darling Beto O'Rourke and Trumpist incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott headlines the state's politics next year. But another big contest is brewing a tick down the ballot, where Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a conservative reactionary, and Mike Collier, a wonky Democratic accountant from Houston, are gearing up for the sequel to a close race three years ago. [HuffPost]