Today’s Headlines and Commentary

Microsoft will shut down its version of LinkedIn in China, saying in a statement Thursday that having to comply with the Chinese government has become increasingly difficult, according to the Wall Street Journal. LinkedIn was the last major American social media platform operating openly in China. The company will launch a new version of its service in China that would no longer have its social-media features and restrict some content to comply with government demands.

President Biden announced on Wednesday that the Port of Los Angeles will become a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operation to help relieve the U.S. supply chain backup, reports the New York Times. Several large companies made commitments to unload during off-peak hours to help reduce congestion for the Port of Los Angeles and the nearby Port of Long Beach. Ports around the world are backed up as a result of slowed production and the increased demand for goods as the global economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. Consumer price inflation rose 5.4 percent in September when compared to last year, chilling consumer confidence.

At least six people in Beirut were killed when gunmen opened fire on a Hezbollah-organized demonstration, says the Washington Post. The demonstration had called for the removal of the judge leading the probe into the 2020 Beirut port blast. The subsequent shootout between supporters of Hezbollah and the Lebanese Forces party was the worst conflict in the capital since 2008. During a visit to Lebanon that coincided with the violence, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland announced $67 million in aid to the Lebanese army.

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection issued a subpoena on Wednesday to former Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark, says the Washington Post. A Senate committee report issued last week discussed Clark’s role in helping former President Trump with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. This subpoena comes as tensions over compliance with the investigation ramped up, with former White House aide Steve Bannon defying a subpoena from the committee last Wednesday.

The Supreme Court seemed prepared on Wednesday to reimpose the death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev after a federal appeals court overturned the sentence, according to NPR. Some justices voiced concern about the exclusion of evidence that would allegedly show that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Dzhokhar’s older brother, had killed three people two years before the bombing in an act of jihad. The evidence could have bolstered an argument from the defense that Dzhokhar was under the influence of his older brother. Although the Biden administration imposed a moratorium on executions in the federal system, the administration is defending Tsarnaev’s death sentence. The Supreme Court is expected to decide on the matter by summer.

A Danish man was charged on Thursday in connection with the murder of five people with a bow and arrow, according to the New York Times. Norwegian authorities believe the rampage was an act of terrorism. The attack was the worst mass killing in the country since 2011. The suspect, Espen Andersen Brathen, is expected to appear before a judge on Friday.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Bryce Klehm sat down with Vanda Felbab-Brown and Scott R. Anderson to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan.

Aaron R. Cooper wrote about the limitations of congressional surveillance, and the question it raises around the convergence of individual privacy and the separation of powers.

Stewart Baker shared an episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast, featuring: Paul Rosenzweig to lay out the Department of Homeland Security’s new cybersecurity directives; Matthew Heiman to describe the Justice Department plan for enforcing cybersecurity rules for federal contractors; Nick Weaver to discuss the White House and the Justice Department’s new initiatives regulating cryptocurrency; along with a series of shorter updates.

Klehm announced this week’s Lawfare Live in which Carissa Byrne Hessick, the Ransdell Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, will join Lawfare Managing Editor Jacob Schulz to discuss her recent article on the Jan. 6 plea deals.

Howell also shared an episode of Rational Security in which the hosts sat down with Shane Harris to discuss the naval nuclear engineer arrested on espionage charges, CIA reorganization and whether the Jan. 6 committee will get the testimony and documents it is demanding.

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