Jeff Bezos once saved the Washington Post. Now he needs to do it again

[Daily Kos Morning Roundup]( [Abbreviated Pundit Roundup]( is a long-running series published every morning that collects essential political discussion and analysis around the internet. - [Jeff Bezos once saved the Washington Post. Now he needs to do it again]( When Jeff Bezos bought the Post in 2013, it was struggling financially, and its future was uncertain. The billionaire’s ownership not only restored the paper to profitability for several years, but allowed it to regain its prominence. While setting an ambitious tone for technical transformation, he properly kept his hands off the journalism, letting legendary editor Marty Baron do his job. It worked. The Post made money, boosted digital subscriptions and nimbly took advantage of technology. Fast Company magazine, twice over the past decade, named the Post the most innovative company in media. More importantly, the Post staff did essential journalism and hewed to standards of integrity. Despite the complaining one hears about how no one covered Donald Trump until it was too late, the Post did, with two of its top reporters even producing a book, Trump Revealed, well before the 2016 election. [...] But now, all of that is facing an existential threat. And Bezos is very much in charge of how that will play out. He has a decision to make every bit as consequential as his original purchase (for the bargain price of $250m). - [With the critical upcoming elections and the fate of our democracy on the line, it is more important than ever that Daily Kos doesn't just survive, but that we thrive. Please donate $5 a month to Daily Kos.]( - [Biden, Zelensky to sign 10-year U.S.-Ukraine security deal at G-7 summit]( The deal aims to commit future U.S. administrations to support Ukraine, even if former president Donald Trump wins November’s election, officials said. It will be a framework for a long-term effort by the United States to help develop Ukraine’s armed forces, which have innovated on drone warfare and other cutting-edge techniques in the fight against Russia, but are also desperately outgunned and in need of modern weapons. Officials said that they hoped the agreement would transcend political divisions within the United States, but acknowledged that Trump or any future president could withdraw from the legally binding executive agreement, because it is not a treaty and will not be ratified by Congress. Nor does it make any new commitments about Ukraine’s prospects for joining the NATO defense alliance, which remain distant. - [Biden’s overlooked campaign to protect Americans from Big Business]( Through his executive authority, Biden has taken steps to combat “junk fees” — hidden fees that make everything from airline bookings to concert tickets more expensive than their sticker price, but also just feel like shady corporate attempts to get the better of consumers. He has also required companies to provide more transparency in their pricing. His administration has also tackled monopolies like it’s the Roosevelt era, filing a flurry of sweeping lawsuits against major companies, including four Big Tech companies, on the grounds that they are harming competition in their industries and, therefore, American consumers. Though those lawsuits have yet to be decided, they have already put companies on watch and, if successful, could create new legal precedents that would protect consumers well after Biden leaves office. That’s important because any actions he takes through executive authority could be easily overturned if former President Donald Trump wins the election. - [Southern Baptists vote to oppose IVF and reject tighter ban on women pastors]( The resolution on IVF states that “though all children are to be fully respected and protected, not all technological means of assisting human reproduction are equally God-honoring or morally justified.” It cites the number of embryos generated in the IVF process — resulting in freezing, stockpiling and sometimes destroying the excess — and asks families to use other reproductive technologies, or to consider adopting children or unwanted frozen embryos. But the resolution is not binding. While the denomination has come out forcefully against abortion and criticized the use of embryos in research, in the past, it has had little to say about IVF, a procedure that has been widely accepted by the American public. [...] The IVF resolution came after a highly anticipated vote on how the denomination planned to address the ordination of women. With the rejection of the proposed amendment, much remains the same: The denomination can’t tell independent churches whom to appoint as a pastor, but they have the authority to say which churches are allowed in the convention. It’s a power the convention exercised last year when members voted to oust five churches, including Saddleback, a California megachurch, for ordaining three women pastors. - [Weakened Leaders of the West Gather in Italy to Discuss an Unruly World]( Except for Ms. Meloni herself, every one of the leaders is arriving at the meeting beleaguered, embattled or endangered — an ill-starred convergence that speaks to the political tremors rattling across the West. It also doesn’t bode well for the results of a gathering that already faced vexing challenges, ranging from Russia’s war in Ukraine to China’s global economic competition. [...] A surge in populism could divide the Western leaders on some issues and play to advantage of their biggest rivals on others. Far-right parties tend to be more hostile to free trade but friendlier to China and less supportive of harsher sanctions on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. These are all issues that will loom large when the leaders sit down on Thursday in the coastal town of Fasano. The Biden administration has pushed Europe to impose higher tariffs on China’s exports of electric vehicles, batteries and semiconductors, as it did in May. It is trying to drum up support for secondary sanctions on Russia, a major escalation of pressure that would go after companies that do business there. - [Doesn't matter if you're a coffee or tea person—it's sure to taste better out of a Daily Kos mug. Get yours now!]( - [The Real Lesson of the SCOTUS Tapes]( The more interesting portion of the recordings, at least to me, came from Windsor’s interactions with Roberts. The chief justice is a somewhat enigmatic figure, even by Supreme Court standards. He hasn’t written a book and infrequently gives speeches. When he speaks, it is only to the most anodyne of audiences, like law schools and non-ideological legal organizations, and only about the most neutral of subjects. He almost never writes concurring or dissenting opinions of his own. I can’t remember the last on-record interview that he gave to a news outlet that wasn’t C-SPAN. [...] Roberts’s claim that this era is more or less normal when it comes to American political stability explains a lot about his approach to Trump v. Anderson, the disqualification clause case that the court decided earlier this term. While I don’t doubt that Roberts abhorred January 6 itself, if he also sees it as just the latest chapter in the long American history of political violence, it may explain why he apparently thought the cure of disqualification was excessive for the disease of insurrection. Another intriguing moment came when Windsor brought up religious liberty. “I believe that the Founders were godly, were Christians, and I think that we live in a Christian nation, and that our Supreme Court should be guiding us in that path,” she began, before Roberts interjected. “I don’t know if that’s true,” he replied. “I don’t know that we live in a Christian nation. I know a lot of Jewish and Muslim friends who would say maybe not, and it’s not our job to do that. It’s our job to decide the cases as best we can.” Want to write your own stories? [Log in]( or [sign up]( to post articles and comments on Daily Kos, the nation's largest progressive community. Follow Daily Kos on [Facebook](, [Threads](, and [Instagram](. Thanks for all you do, The Daily Kos team We're not asking for much Over the past 12 months, the average donation to Daily Kos has been just $9.44. These donations may seem small, but they're a big deal to us. In fact, they are our largest source of income. 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