;)
October 26, 2021
Afternoon Update:
Lauran Neergaard & Matthew Perrone of the AP: "The U.S. moved a step closer to expanding COVID-19 vaccinations for millions more children as a panel of government advisers on Tuesday endorsed kid-size doses of Pfizer's shots for 5- to 11-year-olds. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted unanimously, with one abstention, that the vaccine's benefits in preventing COVID-19 in that age group outweigh any potential risks -- including a heart-related side effect that's been very rare in teens and young adults despite their use of a much higher shot dose.... The FDA isn't bound by the panel's recommendation and is expected to make its own decision within days. If the FDA authorizes the kid-size doses, there's still another step: Next week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will have to decide whether to recommend the shots and which youngsters should get them."
Ariel Zilber & Adam Manno of the Daily Mail & AP: " Elon Musk has slammed President Joe Biden's plan to tax billionaires' income to pay for his proposed spending bill as the Tesla CEO saw his company's value top $1trillion and his personal wealth increase by a single-day record of $36billion.... Earlier this year, it was revealed that Musk and his rival, Jeff Bezos, have in recent years paid nothing in federal income tax." MB: Elon should read Krugman, linked below.
Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "At least five former Trump administration staffers have voluntarily spoken with the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol...."
The Trump White House's prioritization of election year politics over the pandemic response -- even as cases surged last fall -- is among the worst failures of leadership in American history. -- Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) ~~~
~~~ Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration was 'distracted' by last year's election and ignored recommendations to curb the pandemic, the White House's former coronavirus response coordinator told congressional investigators this month. 'I felt like the White House had gotten somewhat complacent through the campaign season,' said Deborah Birx, who ... Donald Trump chose in March 2020 to steer his government's virus response.... Birx, who sat for interviews with the subcommittee on Oct. 12 and 13, also detailed advice that she said the White House ignored late last year, including more aggressively testing younger Americans, expanding access to virus treatments and better distributing vaccines in long-term care facilities. More than 130,000 American lives could have been saved with swifter action and better coordinated public health messages after the virus' first wave, Birx told lawmakers.... Asked directly if Trump 'did everything he could to try to mitigate the spread of the virus and save lives during the pandemic,' Birx responded 'no.'" Emphasis added. ~~~
~~~ Marie: You have two choices: (a) you fulfill the minimal requirements of your job, which may compel you to bark orders at a few more people, something you enjoy doing anyway; OR (b) you let 130,000 people die. Which do you choose? Why, (b), if you're Donald Trump.
Annabelle Timsit of the Washington Post: A woman is suing Kellogg for $5 million because there aren't enough strawberries in her so-called strawberry Pop-Tart. Marie: While this sounds like a frivolous, childish suit, she has a point. Her lawyer, BTW, is one of the suing-est lawyers around; he files two or three fraud suits a week. In the meantime, I'd suggest the lady look in the produce section for strawberries.
~~~~~~~~~~
Maegan Vazquez of CNN: "President Joe Biden went to New Jersey to promote his economic agenda on Monday, amid a major week of negotiations with Democrats to pass portions of his sweeping, multi-trillion dollar agenda. The visit offered Biden a chance to pitch both his plans -- a bipartisan infrastructure package and a social safety net package -- ahead of his travel to Europe for the Group of 20 conference and the United Nations Climate Conference.... The President also visited an elementary school in Plainfield to highlight universal pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds offered there, much like the provision laid out in his agenda." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gosh, it's always a sweet moment when a president visits little kids (well, okay, that My Pet Goat episode was a bit fraught). Let's see how the New York Post reported the Plainfield pre-K visit: ~~~
~~~ Steven Nelson of the Rupert Murdoch Post: "President Biden watched a child's infrastructure project crumble before his eyes Monday as he visited a New Jersey school to promote his beleaguered public works plans. 'I'm sorry, my fault. That was my fault. I made you look up,' Biden said, bending over to pick up the pieces of what had been a preschooler's building block tower." MB: Why can't all news outlets report scandals like this instead of covering them up the way CNN did? ~~~
~~~ ** Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "... the Biden administration could have done a better job of summarizing its plans in pithy slogans. So let me propose a one-liner: Tax the rich, help America's children. This gets at much of what the legislation is likely to do.... There are three things you should know about both taxing the rich and helping children: They're very good ideas from an economic point of view. They're extremely popular. And they're very much in the American tradition.... There is overwhelming evidence that helping children, in addition to being the right thing to do, has big economic payoffs."
~~~ Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Monday that he believed Democrats 'should' be able to get a deal on a framework agreement for President Biden's social spending bill this week. 'Having it finished with all the t's and the i's and everything you know crossed and dotted that will be difficult from the Senate side because we have an awful lot of text to go through, but as far as conceptually we should, I really believe,' Manchin told reporters on Monday." ~~~
~~~ Sean Sullivan & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "Democrats are scrambling intensely behind-the-scenes to address immigration in the framework they are crafting to expand the nation's social safety net, according to people with knowledge of the situation, even as President Biden and other party leaders have said little publicly about their strategy in recent weeks. The most pressing question confronting Democrats is what to do about millions of undocumented immigrants seeking a path to legalization."
Sean Lyngaas of CNN: "The Biden administration is expected to name Kim Wyman, a Republican secretary of state who challenged ... Donald Trump's false claims of election fraud, to lead the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to protect future elections from foreign and domestic interference, multiple people familiar with the matter tell CNN. The move would put Wyman in a prominent role working with election officials across the country at a time when many members of her party have baselessly cast doubt on the integrity of elections. Federal officials have for weeks been in talks with Wyman, who is Washington state's secretary of state, to serve as the election security lead for DHS' Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the people...."
Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "President Biden is expected to nominate Jessica Rosenworcel, the acting chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, to the permanent job this week, putting her on track to become the first woman to lead the agency, a person familiar with the process said.... The president has come under growing pressure in recent weeks to fill two open spots at the F.C.C.: the permanent leader of the agency and the seat on the five-member commission that Ms. Rosenworcel vacated when she became the acting chairwoman. Both positions must be confirmed by the Senate, a process plagued by delays and political gamesmanship. If Ms. Rosenworcel and the next member of the commission are not confirmed before the end of the year, Republicans could gain a de facto majority. The commission is currently deadlocked, with two Democratic and two Republican members."
Maria Sacchetti & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "A U.S. Customs and Border Protection discipline board found that 60 agents 'committed misconduct' by sharing violent and obscene posts in secret Facebook groups but fired only two -- far fewer than an internal discipline board had recommended, according to a House Oversight and Reform Committee report released Monday. The report found 'significant shortcomings' in the agency's handling of the incidents and said most agents who engaged in misconduct are back on the job working with migrant adults and children. They include a Border Patrol agent who posted a 'sexually explicit doctored image' about a member of Congress, and a supervisor who 'improperly' shared an internal video of a migrant falling off a cliff to their death, according to the report. 'These outcomes were the result of a number of failings at CBP, including an inconsistent disciplinary process, a failure to train on and enforce social media policies, and senior leadership's failure to take appropriate actions despite knowledge of these Facebook groups,' said the report, which was prepared by staff from the committee's Democratic majority.... Committee investigators said they had tried for more than a year to obtain access to witnesses and unredacted disciplinary records, but said the Trump administration refused to hand them over, even when the chair issued a subpoena." Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday.)
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. WashPo Columnist Alleges Fauci Paid for Murder of Bernie Sanders. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "My family recently got a new puppy, a strong-willed and mouthy but ultimately lovable little nipper. We named him Bernie Sanders. Unfortunately, though, I can't take Bernie out on walks. Here in the capital, we have a puppy killer on the loose, a murderous psychopath known as Anthony S. Fauci. 'Dr. Anthony Fauci is facing calls from a bipartisan group of legislators to respond to allegations that his National Institutes of Health division provided a grant to a lab in Tunisia to torture and kill dozens of beagle puppies for twisted scientific experiments,' Rupert Murdoch's New York Post reported Sunday afternoon.... [And so on.] As it turns out, the only thing being tortured here is the truth.... This Tunisian study was erroneously attributed to [Fauci's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases]. NIAID did, however, fund different research in Tunisia -- and the beagles weren't puppies, they weren't euthanized, they weren't 'de-barked,' and they weren't 'trapped' so 'flies could eat them alive.' The dogs were given an experimental vaccine and allowed to roam. There was a very good reason for this: Dogs are the main reservoir host (and flies the main vector) of the disease that was being studied.... But right-wing news outlets, through stupidity or malice, conflated separate studies funded by NIAID...." MB P.S. Don't believe every headline you read.
William Booth & Amanda Coletta of the Washington Post: "Global greenhouse gas emissions are on a catastrophic trajectory and developed nations will fall short of a pledge made more than a decade ago to mobilize $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing nations transition to greener economies and adapt to climate change, two reports concluded Monday. The findings raise the stakes for -- and threaten to undermine -- the success of a United Nations climate summit, known as COP26, that is set to begin in Glasgow, Scotland, next week and could determine whether the world can effectively reset its climate trajectory." ~~~
~~~ Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "In the lead-up to COP26, a crucial U.N. climate summit next month in Glasgow, Scotland, [United Nations Secretary General António] Guterres is working feverishly to write [a happy] ending. With the world on a path that scientists have said will lead to catastrophic warming, the 72-year-old diplomat has assumed the role of the globe's exhorter-in-chief for bolder climate action. He has chided leaders of rich nations for not doing more to cut greenhouse gas emissions and for not living up to their promises to help poorer, vulnerable countries deal with the mounting disasters of a warming world. He has served as a megaphone for scientists, warning in blunt terms that failure to slow global warming will lead to more costly disasters and more human suffering in the years ahead. He has amplified the grievances of young activists, who have marched in the streets by the millions demanding more urgency from those in power.... What Guterres has failed to do, at least yet, is persuade presidents and prime ministers to lock in the sweeping commitments necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) compared with preindustrial levels -- the most ambitious goal of the 2015 Paris climate agreement."
Douglas MacMillan & Will Englund of the Washington Post (Oct. 24): "Across the nation, severe weather fueled by climate change is pushing aging electrical systems past their limits, often with deadly results. Last year, the average American home endured more than eight hours without power, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration -- more than double the outage time five years ago.... As storms grow fiercer and more frequent, environmental groups are pushing states to completely reimagine the electrical grid, incorporating more batteries, renewable energy sources and localized systems known as 'microgrids,' which they say could reduce the incidence of wide-scale outages. Utility companies have proposed their own storm-proofing measures, including burying power lines underground. But state regulators largely have rejected these ideas, citing pressure to keep energy rates affordable.... A Berkeley Lab study last year of outages caused by major weather events in six states found that neither state officials nor utility executives attempted to calculate the social and economic costs of longer and more frequent outages, such as food spoilage, business closures, supply chain disruptions and medical problems."
Margaret Renkl of the New York Times: "Gasoline-powered leaf blowers are invaders, the most maddening of all the maddening, environment-destroying tools of the American lawn-care industry. Nearly everything about how Americans 'care' for their lawns is deadly. Pesticides prevent wildflower seeds from germinating and poison the insects that feed songbirds and other wildlife. Lawn mower blades, set too low, chop into bits the snakes and turtles and baby rabbits that can't get away in time. Mulch, piled too deep, smothers ground-nesting bees, and often the very plants that mulch is supposed to protect, as well. But the gasoline-powered leaf blower exists in a category of environmental hell all its own, spewing pollutants -- carbon monoxide, smog-forming nitrous oxides, carcinogenic hydrocarbons -- into the atmosphere at a literally breathtaking rate. This particular environmental catastrophe is not news. A 2011 study by Edmunds found that a two-stroke gasoline-powered leaf blower spewed out more pollution than a 6,200-pound Ford F-150 SVT Raptor pickup truck." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: This turns out to be news I can use. I have always mulched leaves into the grass, but this year I have a lawn-care guy, and he came around with his leaf-blower last week. I asked him to mulch the leaves instead of blowing them and he gave me a long explanation of why he couldn't. There are more leaves on the ground now, so the leaf-blower will be back. This time, I'll tell him not to blow the leaves.
"The Party of Thugs." Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "In 2020, Joe Biden repeatedly insisted that once Donald Trump departed office the Republican Party would become more reasonable. Instead, it has become even more of a party of thugs, where basic norms of polite behavior are held in contempt.... If Republicans across the country are reacting to the simple fact of having a president from the other party by scrawling their simian grunts of rage on cardboard and placing them in their front yards, can you imagine what they'd be doing if the president was Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris? Biden hasn't been easy to hate.... Trump told Republicans that being polite was for suckers and losers, liberating them to let their worst selves come out loud and proud. Every bigot, bully, sexual harasser and lunkheaded goon seemed to gravitate to his cause, recognizing a kindred spirit." Column includes an explanation of the new GOP meme "Let's go Brandon."~~~
~~~ Sexual Abusers ᴙ Us. Sara Murray of CNN: "Donald Trump is throwing his support behind a trio of candidates whose troubled pasts have come under scrutiny, as he continues to influence the standards of the GOP from his post-presidency perch. In Georgia, Trump has wholeheartedly endorsed former football star Herschel Walker for Senate, even though he's faced allegations of threatening multiple women over the span of a decade. In Ohio, Trump is backing former senior White House adviser Max Miller for Congress -- even as he faces allegations of abuse from his ex-girlfriend, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham. And in Pennsylvania, Trump threw his support behind retired Army captain Sean Parnell, who is embroiled in a custody battle with an estranged wife who previously obtained two temporary protection from abuse orders against him. None of these issues, which have been documented in interviews, court filings and police records, have dissuaded Trump."
Most Dead Voters Are Republicans. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump and those around him threw a multitude of voter-fraud conspiracy theories at the wall after the 2020 election. And few were as pervasive as the idea that people rose from the dead to help defeat Trump's reelection bid. The Trump team and its allies cited supposedly thousands of dead voters in multiple states.... Nearly a year later, those ... claims have provided a case study in -- and a microcosm of -- just how ridiculous this whole exercise was. The [few] specific dead people cited by Trump and his allies have, in most cases, proved to not actually have been cases of dead people's identities used fraudulently to vote. And in several other cases, in which a dead person was actually recorded as voting, the culprit has been identified: not a systemic effort to inflate vote totals for President Biden, but rather a Republican."
Kaitlan Collins & Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "President Joe Biden has once again refused to assert executive privilege over more documents that ... Donald Trump has sought to keep out of the hands of the committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. According to a letter obtained by CNN, White House counsel Dana Remus informed National Archivist David Ferriero on Monday that Biden would not assert privilege over additional materials that Trump requested remain secret as a matter of executive privilege."
Betsy Swan, et al., of Politico: "Dustin Stockton, a conservative activist linked to Steve Bannon, is fielding questions Monday from congressional investigators scrutinizing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to two sources familiar with the interview.... Stockton previously drew national media attention for his connection to We Build The Wall, a crowdfunding effort that purported to raise money to construct a wall on the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Prosecutors in New York charged Steve Bannon and three others with defrauding donors in relation to the fund.... Trump pardoned Bannon for his involvement. Stockton has not been charged with any wrongdoing but has reportedly been linked to the investigation. He's spoken to multiple media outlets about the events leading up to the Capitol attack. In the days and weeks leading up to the pro-Trump Jan. 6 rallies, Stockton heavily promoted the event. And in the aftermath, he has defended some of the militia groups who had significant contingents charged with participating in the attack on the Capitol."
Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "Several Democratic House members have seized on the new Rolling Stone magazine article on the Capitol insurrection to call for the expulsion of the pro-Trump hardliners in Congress who were allegedly involved in planning the rallies on Jan. 6 that preceded the deadly attack. 'Any member of Congress who helped plot a terrorist attack on our nation's Capitol must be expelled,' Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) declared via Twitter on Sunday night.... The calls came after two unnamed organizers of the pro-Trump rallies on Jan. 6 told the Rolling Stone that they had had 'dozens' of meetings with multiple members of Congress or their staffers to plan the events. Those lawmakers were Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX), the organizers said." A Raw Story summary story of the Rolling Stone report, also linked yesterday, is here. ~~~
~~~ Mo Claims Ignorance, Proclaims Innocence. Bryan Lyman of the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser: "U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks said Monday he did not help plan a Jan. 6 rally that preceded an attack on the U.S. Capitol that involved the deaths of at least five people and injuries to hundreds more. Responding to a report in Rolling Stone that named Brooks or his top staffers as having a role in organizing the rally, the Huntsville Republican said he did not know that his staffers had been involved.... The congressman pushed false charges of voter fraud after President Joe Biden's win in November. He has continued to do so, despite no evidence for his claims. Brooks said he only spoke at the Jan. 6 rally because the White House asked him to do so...."
All in the Family (of Sociopaths)
Katherine Huggins of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump blasted Fox News on Sunday, claiming the network 'continually allow[s] horrible and untruthful anti-Trump commercials to be run.'... The PAC MeidasTouch claimed responsibility for the ad that got under Trump's skin...." (Also linked yesterday.) Here's the ad: ~~~
Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Monday, The Daily Beast reported that Donald Trump Jr. is now hawking shirts from his website making fun of the fatal movie set accident that killed Alec Baldwin's cinematographer Halnya Hutchins. '... Donald Jr., is hawking $27.99 T-shirts on his official site with the mocking slogan: "Guns don't kill people, Alec Baldwin kills people." On his Instagram stories, the Trump son also posted a photoshopped pic of the actor wearing one of the Ts,' reported Jamie Ross. 'It's the latest and possibly most egregious example of Trumpworld's celebration of Thursday's fatal accident on the set of Rust. The alt-right has reveled in the shooting due to Baldwin's previous mockery of ... Donald Trump and his advocacy for tighter controls on firearms.'" The Daily Beast story, where is here, is firewalled. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: This really is a family of sociopaths. They take great umbrage when someone makes fun of their own failings, but they think the misfortunes of others -- even if death is the result -- are hilarious ... AND present opportunities for them to profit financially. Thus, they have no affective understanding of the difference between laughing at the abstract humor of "I fell in a vat of chocolate" and a case where a real person might die or be injured by actually falling into a vat of chocolate. ~~~
(~~~ Here's one for the kids: ~~~)
Jim Waterson & Dan Milmo of the Guardian: "Mark Zuckerberg 'has unilateral control over 3 billion people' due to his unassailable position at the top of Facebook, the whistleblower Frances Haugen told [Members of the British Parliament] as she called for urgent external regulation to rein in the tech company's management and reduce the harm being done to society. Haugen, a former Facebook employee who released tens of thousands of damaging documents about its inner workings, travelled to London from the US for a parliamentary hearing and gave qualified backing to UK government proposals to regulate social media platforms and make them take some responsibility for content on their sites." ~~~
~~~ Elizabeth Dwoskin, et al., of the Washington Post: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has demonstrated a "relentless determination to ensure Facebook's dominance, sometimes at the expense of his stated values, according to interviews with more than a dozen former employees. That ethos has come under fire in a series of whistleblower complaints filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen.... Experts said the SEC -- which has the power to seek depositions, fine him and even remove him as chairman -- is likely to dig more deeply into what he knew and when. Though his direct perspective is rarely reflected in the documents, the people who worked with him say his fingerprints are everywhere in them.... Haugen references Zuckerberg's public statements at least 20 times in her SEC complaints, asserting that the CEO's singular power and unique level of control over Facebook mean he bears ultimate responsibility for a litany of societal harms." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Cristiano Lima of the Washington Post: "A trove of internal Facebook documents reveals that the social media giant has privately and meticulously tracked real-world harms exacerbated by its platforms, ignored warnings from its employees about the risks of their design decisions and exposed vulnerable communities around the world to a cocktail of dangerous content.... A mix of presentations, research studies, discussion threads and strategy memos, the Facebook Papers provide an unprecedented view into how executives at the social media giant weigh trade-offs between public safety and their own bottom line. Some of the documents were first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Here are key takeaways from The Post's investigation[.]" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ New York Times: "For weeks, Facebook has been shaken by revelations that have ignited a firestorm of criticism from lawmakers, regulators and the public.... The latest revelations, published on Monday morning, show internal research that undercuts the heart of social networking -- 'likes' and sharing -- that Facebook revolutionized. According to the documents, researchers determined over and over that people misused key features or that those features amplified toxic content, among other effects."(Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ How Whistleblower Frances Haugen Managed the Facebook Files. Ben Smith of the New York Times: "Frances Haugen first met Jeff Horwitz, a tech-industry reporter for The Wall Street Journal, early last December on a hiking trail near the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, Calif.... She became one of the greatest sources of the century, turning over the tens of thousands of pages of internal documents she had collected. Starting Sept. 13, The Journal justified her confidence [in Mr. Horwitz] with a meticulous rollout that included 11 major articles by Mr. Horwitz and other reporters cleverly packaged ... [as] The Facebook Files.... So there was an uncomfortable moment on Oct. 7, when a communications firm working with Ms. Haugen invited Mr. Horwitz and two of his editors to a Zoom call with a group that would grow to include journalists from 17 other U.S. media outlets. On the call, Ms. Haugen offered to share redacted versions of the trove of Facebook documents under an embargo to be set by the group..., which was founded by the former Barack Obama aide Bill Burton.... First she handed her documents to The Journal for a boutique rollout. Then she opened the journalistic equivalent of an outlet store, allowing reporters on two continents to root through everything The Journal had left behind in search of overlooked informational gems. Her intention was to broaden the circle, she said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: And then there are people like me. I have never looked to Facebook for news. Or for anything. I just found my Facebook page for the first time in years, and it's full of crap. There are a number of pictures of people Facebook thinks I might know. I don't. There's a notice that a comment I apparently wrote maybe 10 years ago "did not meet Facebook standards." Oh, dear. There's another notice about God being helpful to me or something. There are a few entries by people I do know. There is an icon to click on to access "News." I'll skip that. Maybe if Facebook had "skipped that" too, the company wouldn't be in so much trouble. Facebook is supposed to be a "social" media site. But the majority of its problems stem from it's pretending to be a "news" media site. What happened to boasting about the kids and posting vacation snapshots?
Niraj Chokshi of the New York Times: "Hertz, the car rental agency, said on Monday that it had placed an order for 100,000 Teslas, a sign of growing momentum in the shift to electric vehicles. By the end of next year, when the Tesla order is completed, electric vehicles will make up more than 20 percent of Hertz's global vehicle fleet, the company said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ New Lede: "Hertz said on Monday that it would convert more than 20 percent of its rental fleet to Tesla's electric cars by the end of next year, an announcement that helped propel Tesla's stock value beyond $1 trillion for the first time."
A Texas man has a question -- and an opinion! -- about our God-given rights. Elie Mystal of the Nation has an answer. Many thanks to unwashed for finding the clip ... and for sending it to us in embeddable format: ~~~
The Pandemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.: "The Chinese government ordered the northwestern city of Lanzhou locked down on Tuesday as officials carried out widespread testing to quash a small Covid-19 outbreak. Lanzhou, a city of about four million people, reported six new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, and a total of 39 over the past week." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Tuesday are here.
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Beyond the Beltway
New Mexico. Sonia Rao of the Washington Post: "... assistant director [Dave Halls] who handed actor Alec Baldwin a prop firearm that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza on the set of 'Rust' last week had been fired from a previous film in 2019 after an unexpected discharge on that set, according to a producer from that film.... Halls ... was fired from 'Freedom's Path' in 2019 after a crew member was injured following the unexpected discharge of a firearm, said a producer from 'Freedom's Path....'" ~~~
~~~ Simon Romero & Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: "Alec Baldwin was rehearsing a scene that involved pointing a revolver 'towards the camera lens' when the gun -- which the crew had been told did not contain live rounds -- suddenly went off and killed the cinematographer, according to the film's director, who was quoted in an affidavit released Sunday night." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Simon Romero, et al., of the New York Times: "After the 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died following the shooting on Thursday, detectives from the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office began examining the role that the assistant director, Dave Halls, among others on the set, had in the incident. They learned that Mr. Baldwin was told by Mr. Halls, who handed him the firearm, that it was a 'cold gun,' according to court documents. A cold gun on a film set typically refers to a gun that's unloaded. Investigators have not charged anyone or placed blame on any individual in the incident. They also have not indicated what kind of projectile killed Ms. Hutchins.... Mr. Halls, an industry veteran who worked on movies like 'Fargo' and 'The Matrix Reloaded,' has been the subject of complaints from various film professionals for years. The complaints, which largely revolve around his regard for safety protocols and on-set behavior, are fueling questions about the New Mexico production...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Virginia. Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "More than four years after hundreds of white nationalists and far-right extremists descended on the city of Charlottesville, Va., in a rally that turned deadly, a civil case that takes aim at the organizers is set to begin in federal court on Monday. In simple legal terms, the nine plaintiffs -- including an ordained minister, a landscape gardener and a lawyer who was a student at the time -- are suing 14 men and 10 groups considered the main organizers of the rally, accusing them of violating their civil rights and seeking damages for the injuries they sustained.... Delayed repeatedly by the coronavirus pandemic, the trial will revisit one of the most searing manifestations of how hatred and intolerance that festers online can spread onto the streets." (Also linked yesterday.)
Virginia. Hannah Dreyfus of ProPubica: "Interviews with more than 50 former Liberty ['University'] students and staffers, as well as records from more than a dozen cases, show how an ethos of sexual purity, as embodied by the Liberty Way, has led to school officials discouraging, dismissing and even blaming female students who have tried to come forward with claims of sexual assault. Three students ... recalled being made to sign forms acknowledging possible violations of the Liberty Way after they sought to file complaints about sexual assaults. Others say they were also warned against reporting what had happened to them. Students say that even Liberty University police officers discouraged victims from pursuing charges after reporting assaults." (Also linked yesterday.)
Way Beyond
Afghanistan/Pakistan. Susannah George, et al., of the Washington Post: "As the Islamic State-Khorasan is ramping up attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan is using a network of informal channels to feed intelligence and technical support to the Taliban to combat the threat, according to two Taliban leaders. Pakistan is passing the group raw information as well as helping it monitor phone and Internet communication to identify Islamic State members and operational hubs, according to a senior Taliban leader.... A Pakistani official described the communication between the two sides as informal discussions, rather than an established intelligence-sharing partnership. Pakistan appears to be one of the few foreign governments directly aiding the Taliban in the Islamic State fight, despite concerns from the United States and other countries that Afghanistan could once again become a haven for militants to carry out attacks on international targets...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Japan. Motoko Rich & Makiko Inoue of the New York Times: Princess Mako married her college sweetheart Kei Komuro Tuesday at a registry office. "The path to that tender moment had been torturous.... Rumors have metastasized and now impugn Mr. Komuro's character. Critics on social media have branded him a gold digger or a grifter.... Under the Imperial Household Law, which governs the succession of Japan's emperors, women are not allowed to reign on the throne. The law also stipulates that Princess Mako must relinquish her royal title because she is marrying a commoner, and she will become a commoner herself. Any children she has will not be in line to the throne.... But the family is running out of male heirs...."
Sudan. The New York Times is live-updating developments in Sudan following a military coup early Monday. (Also linked yesterday.)
News Lede
AP: “A powerful storm that swept through California set rainfall records and helped douse wildfires. But it remained to be seen how much of a dent it made in the state’s drought. The system weakened as it moved south but still dropped enough rain Monday evening to cause mudslides that closed roads in the San Bernardino Mountains northeast of Los Angeles. In the northern part of the state, drenching rains caused widespread flooding and rock slides over the weekend. Strong winds knocked down trees and even toppled two big rigs on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge near San Francisco. Pacific Gas & Electric reported that 380,000 homes and businesses lost power, though most had it back Monday.”
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