Feeling blue in Green Bay The Washington

Football Team’s losing streak reached three

with a 24-10 loss at the Green Bay Packers. D

STYLE

In play and protest

Caetano Veloso’s music

feels optimistic and bold

in the Bolsonaro era. C

Modern romance

Machine Gun Kelly and

Megan Fox are a cringe-

worthy spectacle. C

THE REGION

A survey of employers

in the Washington re-

gion suggests most are

coming to terms with

telework flexibility. B

At a cemetery for the

enslaved, a mother’s per-

sonal grief mixes with

collective mourning. B

THE WEEK AHEAD

MONDAY

The Senate considers

the nomination of Jia

M. Cobb to be a U.S. dis-

trict judge.

TUESD AY

President Biden speaks

at a rally for Virginia

Democratic gubernato-

rial nominee Terry

McAuliffe.

WEDNESDAY

Attorney General Mer-

rick Garland testifies

during a Senate Judici-

ary Committee hearing.

THURSDAY

Jobless claims for the

week ended Oct. 23 are

expected at 290,000.

FRID AY

President Biden and

first lady Jill Biden meet

with Pope Francis in

Vatican City.

In the News Inside

THE NATION

The shooting death in-

volving actor Alec Bald-

win on th e set of “Rust”

has put movie armorers

in the spotlight. C

In Georgia, a p olice

chief and a town are t he

subject of national scru-

tiny over a “shoot to inca-

pacitate” policy. A

A ballot initiative o n

overhauling the p olice

force is tearing Minne-

apolis apart. A

THE WORLD

Even as Germany por-

trays itself as a leader on

climate change, the na-

tion is still razing villages

for coal mines. A

For President Biden, a

forthcoming meeting

with Pope Francis holds

broad political implica-

tions and deep personal

signi ficance. A

THE ECONOMY

The Help Desk tackles

readers’ questions on

Apple Watches, smarter

search results, downing

invasive drones and

more. A

JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST BUSINESS NEWS.......................A

COMICS.......................................C

OPINION PAGES.........................A

LOTTERIES...................................B

OBITUARIES................................B

TELEVISION.................................C

WORLD NEWS............................A

CONTENT © 2021

The Washington Post / Year 144, No. 324

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ABCDE

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Late rain 78/61 • Tomorrow: Windy 66/54 B8 Democracy Dies in Darkness MONDAY, OCTOBER 25 , 2021. $

BY CAT ZAKRZEWSKI,

GERRIT DE VYNCK,

NIHA MASIH

AND SHIBANI MAHTANI

In February 2019, not long be-
fore India’s general election, a
pair of Facebook employees set
up a dummy account to better
understand the experience of a
new user in the company’s largest
market. They made a profile of a
21-year-old woman, a resident of

North India, and began to track

what Facebook showed her.

At first, her feed filled with

soft-core porn and other, more

harm less, fare. Then violence

flared in Kashmir, the site of a

long-running territorial dispute

between India and Pakistan. Indi-

an Prime Minister Narendra

Modi, campaigning for reelection

as a nationalist strongman, un-

leashed retaliatory airstrikes that

India claimed hit a terrorist train-

ing camp.

Soon, without any direction

from the user, the Facebook ac-

count was flooded with pro-Modi

propaganda and anti-Muslim

hate speech. “300 dogs died now

say long live India, death to Paki-

stan,” one post said, over a back-

ground of laughing emoji faces.

“These are pakistani dogs,” said

the translated caption of one pho-

to of dead bodies lined up on

stretchers, hosted in the News

Feed.

An internal Facebook memo,

reviewed by The Washington

Post, called the dummy account

test an “integrity nightmare” that

underscored the vast difference

between the experience of Face-

book in India and what U.S. users

typically encounter. One Face-

book worker noted the staggering

number of dead bodies.

About the same time, in a dorm

room in northern India, 8,

miles away from the company’s

Silicon Valley headquarters, a

Kashmiri student named Junaid

told The Post, he watched as his

real Facebook page flooded with

hateful messages. One said Kash-

miris were “traitors who de-

served to be shot.” Some of his

classmates used these posts as

their profile pictures on Face-

book-owned WhatsApp.

Junaid, who spoke on the con-

dition that only his first name be

SEE FACEBOOK ON A

FACEBOOK UNDER FIRE

Lack of safety protocols fueled hate, violence in India

FACEBOOK PRIORITIZED U.S. PROTECTIONS

Platform left vulnerable in other nations, files show

DUNCAN SLADE FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

M ali Gank sits by her husband, Cris Gank, as he h olds t heir infant son J eremiah i n their home in Terra Alta, W.Va., on Thursday.

‘Raising kids is work’

Some West Virginians may pay price if Manchin gets his way on child tax credit rules

BY ASHLEY PARKER

AND CARISSA WOLF

boise, idaho — On a quiet street

south of downtown Boise, Mi-

chael Dick has festooned his front

yard with homemade signs, in-

cluding a large yellow placard

that facetiously thanks President

Biden for a growing list of griev-

ances — $4-a-gallon gas, infla-

tion, Afghanistan, covid-19. In

capital letters in black marker,

Dick, 59, recently added “dead

civilians” and “dead U.S. soldiers”

to his bill of particulars.

In another part of town, along-

side a “No trespassing” sign, Mi-

chael Schwarz, 60, used black

spray paint to scrawl “Joe Blows”

across an electric-pink poster

board.

And that’s mild compared to

the sentiments some people —

largely in conservative areas —

are expressing in their front yards

and on the signs they lug with

them to greet Biden as he travels

the country.

L ast Wednesday, when the

president visited Scranton, Pa., he

SEE BIDEN ON A

In Trump’s wake, Biden gets

increasingly profane taunts

BY YEGANEH TORBATI

AND KYLE SWENSON

charleston, w.va. — Cable news

flickered on the flat-screen television

in Ruth and James Jones’s living

room. The CNN ticker read: “Biden

lowers spending bill price in effort to

lure Manchin and Sinema.” The cou-

ple watched and listened.

They are raising two grandchil-

dren, ages 10 and 17, on a limited

income — J ames’s part-time earnings

as an Applebee’s cook and Ruth’s

Social Security payments. Like thou-

sands of other West Virginians, their

financial burden has been eased since

July by monthly federal payments,

championed by the Biden administra-

tion, to support families with chil-

dren. Now, however, those funds —

which total $500 a month — could

vanish if lawmakers agree to the

demands of their own U.S. senator,

Joe Manchin III.

Appearing on CNN in September,

the moderate Democrat from West

Virginia implied that he would not

support extending the monthly pay-

ments, which come in the form of an

expanded child tax credit (CTC), with-

out changes. “There’s no work re-

quirements whatso ever,” he said.

“There’s no education requirements

whatsoever for better skill sets. Don’t

SEE TAX CREDIT ON A

BY HANNAH ALLAM

AND ELLIE SILVERMAN

As hundreds of white suprem-
acists prepared to descend on
Charlottesville in 2017, th ey
hashed out logistics in priv ate
chat groups. They suggested a
dress code of polo shirts during
the day and shi rts with swastikas
at night. They worried about
mayo on sandwiches spoiling in
the August heat. And they
swapped tips on how to turn
ordina ry objects into lethal
wea pons, according to messages
cited in court papers.
Such detailed planning is
central to a lawsuit filed by nine
Charlottesville residents who al-
lege physical harm and emotion-
al distress during the deadly
“Unite the Right” m arch and
rally, where a torch-carrying
mob chanting “Jews will not
replace us!” awakened the coun-
try to a resurgence of far-right
extremism. After four years of
legal wrangling, a c ivil trial be-
gins Monday in a federal cou rt-
room in Charlottesville, where a
jury will decide whether the
organizing of the rally amounted
to a conspiracy to engage in
racially motivated violence.
“Defendants brought with
them to Charlottesville the im-
agery of the Holocaust, of slav-
ery, of Jim Crow, and of fascism,”
the plaintiffs say in the com-
plaint. “They also brought with
them semi-automatic weapons,
SEE CHARLOTTESVILLE ON A

Extremists

are on trial

in unusual

civil suit

Jury to weigh if planning

of Charlottesville rally

amounted to conspiracy

BY SUSANNAH GEORGE,

JOBY WARRICK

AND KAREN DEYOUNG

kabul — As the Islamic State-

Khorasan is ramping up attacks

in Afghanistan, Pakistan is using

a ne twork of informal channels to

feed intelligence and technical

support to the Taliban to combat

the threat, according to two Tali-

ban leaders.

Pakistan is passing the group

raw information as well as help-

ing it monitor phone and Internet

communication to identify Islam-

ic State members and operational

hubs, according to a senior Tali-

ban leader who, along with a Tali-

ban commander and others in

this report, spoke on the condi-

tion of anonymity because they

were not authorized to speak to

the media.

A Pakistani official described

the communication between the

two sides as informal discussions,

rather than an established intelli-

gence-sharing partnership.

Pakistan appears to be one of

the few foreign governments di-

rectly aiding the Taliban in the

Islamic State fight, despite con-

cerns from the United States and

other countries that Afghanistan

could once again become a haven

for militants to carry out attacks

on international targets if the Tal-

iban is unable to contain them.

Regional rivalries, deep-rooted

distrust and the Taliban’s coun-

terterrorism shortcomings have

SEE AFGHANISTAN ON A

Pakistan is

aiding the

Taliban in

ISIS fight

With foreign allies few,

new Afghan rulers have

neighbor’s informal help

CARISSA WOLF FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Rod Johnson, who flies a profane anti-Biden flag at his home,

says he’s not alone in his loathing. “I just chose to show it.”

Pelosi: House speaker says Democrats

are nearing deal on economic plan. A

BY DOUGLAS MACMILLAN

AND WILL ENGLUND

wilmington, n.c. — Every time
a storm lashes the Carolina coast,
the power lines on Tonye Gr ay’s
street go down, cutting her lights
and air conditioning. After Hurri-
cane Florence in 2018, Gray went
three days with no way to refrig-
erate medicine for her multiple
sclerosis or pump the floodwater
out of her basement.
“Florence was hell,” said Gray,
61, a marketing account manager
and Wilmington native who finds

herself increasingly frustrated by

the cit y’s vulnerability.

“We’ve had storms long enough

in Wilmington and this particular

area that all power lines should

have been underground by now.

We know we ’re going to get hit.”

Across the nation, severe

weather fueled by climate change

is pushing aging electrical sys-

tems past their limits, often with

deadly results. Last year, the aver-

age American home endured

more than eight hours without

power, according to the U.S.

SEE OUTAGES ON A

Power grid buckles amid

failures to act on warming