;)
December 21, 2021
Marie: The edit function still is not working right. If I can access Reality Chex over the Christmas holiday, I'm going to see if I can "migrate" the site to a Squarespace upgrade that supposedly has better tech support (better than "none," that is). Squarespace's tech support has always been terrible, so if the whole thing blows up, you'll find me on Twitter for a while. ~~~
~~~ BTW, I kept posting links till about 9:30 am ET, so if you stopped by earlier, you might want to scan the page to see if there are any new entries of interest to you.
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
GOP Perpetuates the Big Lie. Daniel Dale of CNN: "Five Republican candidates for governor of Minnesota were asked at a forum last Wednesday whether they thought President Joe Biden won a 'constitutional majority in the Electoral College.' None of them was willing to utter a plain 'yes.' Their responses, which ranged from explicit inaccuracies to feeble dodges, made national news. But they weren't unusual.... A refusal to endorse the legitimacy of Biden's victory has become a key requirement in Republican primaries across the country. From conservative Alabama to the swing states of the Midwest, numerous Republicans trying to win party nominations in 2022 have joined ... Donald Trump in refusing to publicly admit that Trump just plain lost. Some candidates are aggressive, turning the lie that Trump was the rightful winner into a central part of their campaign pitches. Other candidates are evasive, straining to sidestep a direct answer on the question of Biden's legitimacy." ~~~
~~~ The Danger They Pose. Gina Harkins of the Washington Post: "As Donald Trump began contesting the presidential election results in November 2020, CNN's chief media correspondent, Brian Stelter, received a text from a man describing Stelter's mother's home, 'implying he was there.' It wasn't the only threatening message Stelter said he received from the man.... Stelter detailed the threats Monday night after testifying at the sentencing hearing for Robert Lemke, a California man who federal investigators say threatened about 50 people over their truthful 'statements expressing that then-President Trump had lost the 2020 presidential election.' On Monday, Lemke, 36, from Bay Point, Calif., was sentenced to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty in October to threatening an unspecified journalist's New York-based family.... 'We are nearby, armed and ready,' [a] text message [from Lemke to a journalist's family member] said, according to court documents. 'Thousands of us are active/retired law enforcement, military, etc. That's how we do it.' That day, the brother of an unnamed congressman representing New York received a similar message from Lemke."
Tatum Hunter & Gerrit De Vynck of the Washington Post: "On Dec. 9, word of a newly discovered computer bug in a hugely popular piece of computer code started rippling around the cybersecurity community. By the next day, nearly every major software company was in crisis mode, trying to figure out how their products were affected and how they could patch the hole. The descriptions used by security experts to describe the new vulnerability in an extremely common section of code called log4j border on the apocalyptic.... Log4j is a chunk of code that helps software applications keep track of their past activities.... A few weeks ago, the cybersecurity community realized that by simply asking the program to log a line of malicious code, it would execute that code in the process, effectively letting bad actors grab control of servers that are running log4j.... Experts say it's the biggest software vulnerability of all time in terms of the number of services, sites and devices exposed. The fact that log4j is such a ubiquitous piece of software is what makes this such a big deal.... The best thing regular computer users can do is make sure the apps they use are updated to their most recent versions...."
The Washington Post's live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.
Samantha Pell of the Washington Post: "The NHL will halt its season Wednesday amid a spike in coronavirus cases and the rise of the omicron variant, the league announced Monday night, becoming the first major pro sports league in North America with plans to halt play entirely, albeit briefly. Team facilities will be closed from Wednesday through Saturday, and players will return Sunday for coronavirus testing and practice. Games are in line to resume Monday, Dec. 27. The league's previously scheduled holiday break was Friday through Sunday."
Quint Forgey of Politico: "Anthony Fauci ... on Tuesday called on Fox News to fire host Jesse Watters for targeting him with violent rhetoric at a conservative conference earlier this week. '...The guy should be fired on the spot.' Speaking on Monday at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest conference, Watters encouraged attendees to rhetorically 'ambush' Fauci with dubious questions about the National Institutes of Health allegedly funding 'gain-of-function' research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. 'Now you go in for the kill shot. The kill shot? With an ambush? Deadly. Because he doesn't see it coming,' Watters said.... Fox News declined to comment on the record on whether it endorses Watters' remarks or plans to take disciplinary action against him. Fox News also did not respond to a request for comment on Fauci's critique of the network.... Lara Logan, a Fox News personality and host on its streaming service, compared him to the infamous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele earlier this month. In response to those remarks, Fauci rebuked Fox News for not taking disciplinary action against Logan...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Watters made his name on Fox ambushing public figures and others with stupid questions when his was a regular on Bill O'Reilly's now-defunct Fox show. ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Emma Goldberg of the New York Times: "Fox Corporation, the owner of Fox News, told employees on Friday that those working in New York City would have to show proof they'd had at least one dose of the Covid vaccine by Dec. 27, removing the option to get tested weekly instead. The new policy was in keeping with New York City's vaccine rule, which Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in early December and which is more stringent than a contested Biden administration rule requiring vaccine mandates or weekly testing at larger employers. The New York City mandate, which requires on-site workers at all businesses to be vaccinated, is the country's most sweeping local vaccine mandate and affects some 184,000 businesses. 'Our policy reflects the guidelines of the mandate,' a spokesman for Fox Corporation said in an email on Monday. More than 90 percent of Fox's employees are vaccinated, the company said."
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David Edwards of the Raw Story: "The U.S. economy has improved more in President Joe Biden's first year in office than it has under any president in the last 50 years. Bloomberg's Matthew A. Winkler made the observation in a column on Monday. 'U.S. financial markets are outperforming the world by the biggest margin in the 21st century, and with good reason: America's economy improved more in Joe Biden's first 12 months than any president during the past 50 years notwithstanding the contrary media narrative contributing to dour public opinion,' Winkler reported. According to Winkler, Biden's economy ranked either first or second in 10 key measures when compared to the previous 10 presidents."
Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced strengthened limits on pollution from automobile tailpipes in a bid to reduce a major source of the carbon dioxide emissions that are heating the planet. The more stringent rule -- the most significant climate action taken to date by the Biden administration and highest level ever set for fuel economy -- would require passenger vehicles to travel an average of 55 miles per gallon of gasoline by 2026, from just under 38 miles per gallon today.... The Biden administration is expected to lean heavily on executive action and regulations like the new tailpipe rule after the centerpiece of the president's climate agenda, far-reaching legislation that would have transformed the energy and transportation sectors, was essentially scuttled on Sunday by Senator Joe Manchin III, the West Virginia Democrat who holds the swing vote in an evenly split Senate."
Emily Cochrane & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "A day after announcing that he would not support his party's signature domestic policy legislation, Senator Joe Manchin III, the centrist Democrat from West Virginia, offered an unsparing critique of the efforts by the Biden administration and senior Democrats on Capitol Hill to pass the sprawling $2.2 trillion climate, spending and tax bill. In a 14-minute interview with a local West Virginia radio station, Mr. Manchin directly faulted White House staff and top Democrats for what Mr. Manchin described as a misplaced assumption that he could be pressured into accepting such a large package. He said that over six months of negotiations, they failed to adequately respond to his concerns and sufficiently cut down the scope and size of the measure. While he refrained from directly criticizing President Biden, he had harsh words for members of the president's staff, who he charged 'put some things out that were absolutely inexcusable.' Pressed further, he refused to specify what infuriated him, beyond that it had pushed him to 'the wit's end' and he believed it had been driven by White House staff members." ~~~
~~~ Marie: So according to Manchin -- an elderly man who has been in rough-and-tumble politics for decades -- he squelched a $2 billion bill that would have benefited all Americans (and the Earth), at least indirectly, because some White House staffers he won't name said or did something he won't reveal which irritated him. That's the lamest excuse I ever heard. ~~~
~~~ AND. Jonathan Lemire of Politico: "Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and President Joe Biden spoke Sunday night after a major blowup in negotiations around the president's domestic agenda, three people familiar with the call told Politico. The conversation ended with a sense that negotiations would, in fact, resume ... in the new year. The tone of conversation was cordial.... White House staff had given Manchin a heads-up on Thursday that the president was soon to put out a statement accepting a delay in the Build Back Better Act and that it was going to mention the West Virginia senator by name. Manchin objected, asking that either his name be left out or that he not be alone because his family had already been the target of abuse.... But the statement went out anyway, and contained only Manchin's name. The senator then snapped at White House aides and told them that he was done negotiating. The West Wing interpreted that as meaning that current talks were done but could pick up again next year." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Several articles about "what went wrong" ran in Sunday's & Monday's papers, but Lemire's explanation seems the most likely. ~~~
~~~ Tara Golshan & Arthur Delaney of the Huffington Post: "Publicly, [Joe Manchin's] biggest gripes [about the Build Back Better bill] are about the cost of the bill. But privately, Manchin has told his colleagues that he essentially doesn't trust low-income people to spend government money wisely. In recent months, Manchin has told several of his fellow Democrats that he thought parents would waste monthly child tax credit payments on drugs instead of providing for their children, according to two sources familiar with the senator's comments.... Manchin has also told colleagues he believes that Americans would fraudulently use the proposed paid sick leave policy, specifically saying people would feign being sick and go on hunting trips.... Continuing the child tax credit for another year is a core part of the Build Back Better legislation that Democrats had hoped to pass by the end of the year. The policy has already cut child poverty by nearly 30%. Manchin's private comments shocked several senators, who saw it as an unfair assault on his own constituents and those struggling to raise children in poverty." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is the perfect argument. No matter that there is statistical proof that the child tax credit has been a boon to American children, Joe can always point to cases of parents squandering the benefits on drugs or other things that are of no benefit to their children. Once you decide that most poor people are poor because they're irresponsible and not because of market forces or other factors largely beyond their control, end of discussion. I was wondering if Manchin drove his Maserati from his 65-foot yacht to the Fox studio. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Weisman & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "Senator Joe Manchin III on Monday cited a litany of issues that drove him to oppose President Biden's $2 trillion Build Back Better bill.... But left almost unsaid was the issue that has always propelled his political career as a Democratic maverick: climate change. The version of the bill that passed the House last month devoted $555 billion to shifting the nation to renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar power, and away from fossil fuels like West Virginia coal. Mr. Manchin, who defied gale-force political headwinds in 2010 by running for the Senate on his opposition to President Barack Obama's climate change legislation, killed a provision in Build Back Better that would have imposed stiff penalties on electric utilities that continued to burn coal and natural gas. But even with the stick dropped from the House's bill, West Virginia's coal interests were working hard to kill off the measure's carrot, a package of tax credits to make clean energy more financially competitive, and, by extension, struggling coal even less so. Their lobbyists talked frequently to Mr. Manchin....
"West Virginia coal and gas, and policies designed to stop their burning, have always had a special place in Mr. Manchin’s politics. A Manchin family-owned business has made a small fortune selling waste coal from abandoned mines to a heavily polluting power plant in the state. The blind trust in which Mr. Manchin's interests lie held between $500,000 and $1 million last year, according to his most recent disclosure form. The company, Enersystems, valued at between $1 million and $5 million, delivered the senator $492,000 in dividends, interest and business income in 2020, the May disclosure states." MB: So exceptionally dirty coal is how he can afford to buy a Maserati & a yacht.
Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, vowed on Monday to press forward with votes on a revised version of President Biden's $2.2 trillion marquee climate, tax and spending plan.... Votes on the plan would come in early 2022, Mr. Schumer pointedly noted in a letter to his colleagues, 'so that every member of this body has the opportunity to make their position known on the Senate floor, not just on television.... We simply cannot give up.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Stymied by Republicans on voting rights legislation, Senator Chuck Schumer on Monday gave the clearest sign yet that he would try to force a fundamental change in Senate rules if needed to enact federal laws to offset voting restrictions being imposed by Republican-led legislatures around the country. In a letter to colleagues, Mr. Schumer, the New York Democrat and majority leader, said that the Senate would take up stalled voting rights legislation as early as the first week of January and that if Republicans continued to filibuster, the Senate would 'consider changes to any rules which prevent us from debating and reaching final conclusion on important legislation.' But it is not clear how far Democrats will be willing or able to go in working around the 60-vote requirement for most legislation and finding a way to pass voting rights legislation with a simple majority." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
David Sanger & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "... the United States and Britain have quietly dispatched cyberwarfare experts to Ukraine in hopes of better preparing the country to confront what they think may be the next move by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as he again menaces the former Soviet republic: Not an invasion with the 175,000 troops he is massing on the border, but cyberattacks that take down the electric grid, the banking system, and other critical components of Ukraine's economy and government. Russia's goal, according to American intelligence assessments, would be to make Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, look inept and defenseless -- and perhaps provide an excuse for an invasion."
Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "The Pentagon on Monday issued new guidelines meant to root out extremism in the U.S. military, warning that 'liking' white nationalist and extremist content on social media and similar activities could result in disciplinary action. The guidelines come nearly a year after the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, which dozens of current and former service members attended, leading to a reckoning at the Pentagon over extremism in the ranks. The participation of military personnel in the Capitol riot distressed senior Pentagon officials so much that Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III ordered a 60-day -stand down,' completed in April, to address the issue.... John F. Kirby, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, said officials discovered that about 100 service members were involved in substantiated cases of extremist activity over the past year. In a memo to the department on Monday, Mr. Austin said the Pentagon was updating its screening of recruits and would also look at how to prepare troops who are retiring from being targeted by extremist organizations after leaving the military." See also Tom Boggioni's story, linked under "Elections" below.
** Michael Schmidt & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "... as investigators [on the House January 6 committee] sifted through troves of documents, metadata and interview transcripts, they started considering whether the inquiry could yield ... evidence of criminal conduct by ... Donald J. Trump or others that they could send to the Justice Department urging an investigation. That move ... could have a substantial political impact by increasing public pressure on Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who in his first year in office has largely sidestepped questions about what prosecutors are doing to examine the conduct of Mr. Trump and his aides as they promoted baseless allegations of voter fraud.... According to people briefed on their efforts, investigators for the committee are looking into whether a range of crimes were committed, including two in particular: whether there was wire fraud by Republicans who raised millions of dollars off assertions that the election was stolen, despite knowing the claims were not true; and whether Mr. Trump and his allies obstructed Congress by trying to stop the certification of electoral votes."
Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "The House select committee investigating the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 sent a letter on Monday to Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) requesting he provide information that could be crucial to the panel's examination of efforts to overturn the election. The letter from Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) cites Perry's efforts to install Jeffrey Clark, former Justice Department official, as acting attorney general.... Thompson ... cites having evidence of Perry's 'multiple text and other communications with President Trump's former chief of staff regarding Mr. Clark.'... 'We also have evidence indicating that in that time frame you sent communications to the former Chief of Staff using the encrypted Signal app.'... The text message sent to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and first revealed by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), vice chair of the select committee, asking him to 'Please check your signal,' was sent by Perry, according to a source.... The letter to Perry is the first significant action the committee has taken with regard to obtaining information from a sitting member of Congress...." An NBC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Clearly I was not paying close enough attention to Cheney's revelations in last week's hearings. Here are some important texts to Meadows which I missed; the one from the MyPillow Guy is a classic that defines gallows humor:
Marie: Not sure why I'm bothering to link the following. I'll chalk it up to my dedication to "journalistic activity": ~~~
~~~ Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Pro-Trump broadcaster and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is suing the Jan. 6 select committee to block the panel from obtaining his phone records and compelling his testimony at a deposition next month. In the suit, Jones says he intends to assert his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination -- confirming a statement he made on his show -- and that the committee rejected his offer to provide 'written responses' to their questions.... He also says he doesn't intend to produce documents, claiming his 'journalistic activity' is protected under the First Amendment." MB: And I'm a brain surgeon because I once stuck a pencil in my ear.
Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: "Michael Fanone, the D.C. police officer who was dragged into a mob and beaten during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and later publicly excoriated lawmakers and others who downplayed the attack, said he submitted his resignation from the force Monday. The 41-year-old officer will officially depart on Dec. 31, after using previously acquired leave. Fanone, whose frequent appearances on national television caused consternation among police commanders, said he will be an on-air contributor to CNN on law enforcement issues. A CNN spokeswoman confirmed his new role."
Hugo Lowell of the Guardian: "Donald Trump is increasingly agitated by the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, according to sources familiar with the matter, and appears anxious he might be implicated in the sprawling inquiry into the insurrection even as he protests his innocence. The former president in recent weeks has complained more about the investigation, demanding why his former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, shared so much material about 6 January with the select committee, and why dozens of other aides have also cooperated. Trump has also been perturbed by aides invoking the Fifth Amendment in depositions - it makes them look weak and complicit in a crime, he has told associates - and considers them foolish for not following the lead of his former strategist Steve Bannon in simply ignoring the subpoenas.... He has started swearing about the negative coverage and bemoaned that the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, was too incompetent to put Republicans on the committee to defend him."
Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump filed a lawsuit on Monday against the New York State attorney general, Letitia James, seeking to halt her long-running civil investigation into his business practices and to bar her from participating in a separate criminal investigation. The suit, filed in federal court in Albany by Mr. Trump and his family real estate business, argues that Ms. James's involvement in both inquiries has been politically motivated. It lists statements she has made that Mr. Trump's lawyers argue are evidence of her bias against him." A CNBC story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Your Tax Dollars Are Rusting. Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "According to an investigation by the Atlantic's John B. Washington, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of steel purchased by Donald Trump's administration to build his ill-fated border on the U.S.-Mexico border now sits rusting away in the desert with no concrete plans on what to do with it.... After Trump lost his re-election bid in 2020, the incoming administration of President Joe Biden pulled the plug on the controversial relic of the Trump era, with workers pulled off the job and materials left behind." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "QAnon cultists gathered in Dallas have started drinking an industrial disinfectant mixed into a chemical cocktail. Family members of a Delaware woman who left her husband and children to await John F. Kennedy's return have confirmed that she's drinking the chemical mixture containing chlorine dioxide from a communal bowl, in a rite that cult researchers find extremely alarming, reported the Dallas Observer. 'This feels like a progression,' said Mike Rothschild, author of the book The Storm is Upon Us that examines the QAnon movement. 'It immediately evokes images of Jonestown and Heaven's Gate.'"
Elections 2022, 2024
Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "According to a report from Newsweek's David Freedman, supporters of Donald Trump are ... making rumblings that they will not react peacefully if the former president makes a third bid for the White House and loses again.... Freedman wrote that guns rights activists who fear restrictions on their ability to purchase weapons unfettered are finding their interests dovetailing with supporters of Trump and a merger of the two groups could lead to violence -- particularly if the Biden administration pushes through the new gun laws that the majority of Americans support.... UCLA law professor Adam Winkler ... [told Freedman], 'The idea that people would take up arms against an American election has gone from completely farfetched to something we have to start planning for and preparing for.'" The Newsweek story, which is firewalled is here.
California. Scott Wong & Rafael Bernal of the Hill: "Longtime Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), the powerful chairwoman of an Appropriations subcommittee overseeing immigration issues, will not seek reelection in 2022.... She becomes the 23rd House Democrat to signal they are not running for reelection during a difficult election cycle in which Republicans are well positioned to win back the majority. Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), a leader of the moderate Blue Dog Democrats, announced earlier Monday that she was retiring in 2022 to spend more time with her young children. Over the weekend, there were also reports Rep. Albio Sires (D-N.J.) plans to retire."
Florida. Sarah Ferris of Politico: "Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a leading voice of House Democrats' moderate wing, announced Monday she won't seek reelection next fall in another stinging loss for her party. The Florida Democrat -- who flipped a GOP-held battleground seat in 2016 and helped write the party's playbook for its House takeover two years later -- said she is leaving the Hill to spend more time with her family.... The growing wave of departures comes as historical and political headwinds suggest a likely GOP midterm takeover, and as the House itself becomes a more toxic and stressful environment amid the twin calamities of Covid and the Capitol insurrection. Murphy, a member of the high-profile investigation into those Jan. 6 riots, has faced a dramatic uptick of threats against her and her family."
The Pandemic, Ctd.. Brought to You by the Unvaccinated
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Tuesday are here.
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "President Biden will announce new steps on Tuesday to confront a staggering surge in coronavirus cases, including readying 1,000 military medical professionals to help at overburdened hospitals, setting up new federal testing sites, deploying hundreds of federal vaccinators and buying 500 million rapid tests to distribute free to the public. The measures, outlined to reporters Monday night by two senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, come as coronavirus caseloads are rapidly rising around the country, particularly in the Northeast, fueled by the highly infectious new Omicron variant -- just as Americans prepare to gather for Christmas." The ABC News report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I know what a leak is. Somebody with information -- a leaker/whistleblower -- surreptitiously contacts a reporter or media outlet & secretly gives them information. Sometimes the leaker is so secretive that s/he won't identify herself; other times she just speaks to the reporter on condition that her name/identity is withheld. They usually do this for their own protection. There are, of course, "authorized" leaks, somewhat similar to this one, where the boss wants something good said about her but doesn't want it to be known s/he's really the source. But why do "two senior administration officials," who apparently spoke to a bunch of reporters, have to impose a "condition of anonymity"? This is ridiculous. ~~~
~~~ Update: These anonymous "senior administration officials"' disclosures are so secret that the White House published a "fact sheet" (make that "FACT SHEET") on President Biden's "New Actions to Protect Americans and Help Communities and Hospitals Battle Omicron." ~~~
~~~ On another note, I'm way surprised Biden does not appear to be setting up concentration camps to warehouse the unvaccinated -- see the first two comments in today's thread.
Teaganne Finn of NBC News: "President Joe Biden has tested negative after coming into contact with a White House staff member last week who tested positive for Covid on Monday, press secretary Jen Psaki announced in a statement. The staff member 'spent approximately 30 minutes in proximity' to Biden on Friday aboard Air Force One during a flight from South Carolina to Pennsylvania, said Psaki, adding that the aide is not in regular contact with the president."
Mike Stobbe of the AP: "Omicron has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the U.S., accounting for 73% of new infections last week, federal health officials said Monday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers showed nearly a six-fold increase in omicron's share of infections in only one week. In much of the country, it's even higher. Omicron is responsible for an estimated 90% or more of new infections in the New York area, the Southeast, the industrial Midwest and the Pacific Northwest. The national rate suggests that more than 650,000 omicron infections occurred in the U.S. last week."
The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here. The Washington Post's live Covid-19 updates for Monday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "A booster shot of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine significantly raises the level of antibodies that can thwart the Omicron variant, the company announced on Monday.... Most coronavirus vaccines seem unable to stave off infection from the highly contagious variant. Moderna's results show that the currently authorized booster dose of 50 micrograms -- half the dose given for primary immunization -- increased the level of antibodies by roughly 37-fold, the company said. A full dose of 100 micrograms was even more powerful, raising antibody levels about 83-fold compared with pre-boost levels, Moderna said. Both doses produced side effects comparable to those seen after the two-dose primary series. But the dose of 100 micrograms showed slightly more frequent adverse reactions relative to the authorized 50-microgram dose." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Dan Merica of CNN: "Donald Trump was booed by a portion of an audience in Dallas on Sunday when he said he had received a Covid-19 booster shot, according to video of the closed press event that was shared on social media. The comments by Trump ... came during a stop of his tour with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. According to video tweeted by O'Reilly's 'No Spin News,' the former Fox News host says, 'Both the President and I are vaxxed' and then asks Trump, 'Did you get the booster?' 'Yes,' Trump says to a smattering of boos in the audience. 'Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't,' Trump says in the video, seemingly trying to quiet the boos. 'That's all right, it's a very tiny group over there.'" Trump went on to defend development of the vaccine, saying, "We saved tens of millions of lives worldwide." MB: Facing down a crowd of suicidal, homicidal fans is probably the bravest thing Trump ever did. I mean that.
Beyond the Beltway
Minnesota. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "Twelve jurors began weighing manslaughter charges on Monday against Kimberly Potter, who fatally shot a man during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb while seeming to think she was using her Taser. They began deliberating after hearing closing arguments from prosecutors and from lawyers for Ms. Potter, a white officer who resigned from the Brooklyn Center Police Department after killing [Daunte] Wright, a Black man who had been driving to a carwash. The jurors discussed the case for about five hours without reaching a verdict. They will be sequestered until they decide the case...."
New York. Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "A federal jury in Manhattan began deliberations late on Monday in the sex-trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the former socialite charged with conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein over a decade to recruit, groom and sexually abuse teenage girls. The jury was sent home after deliberating for about an hour without reaching a verdict and will continue deliberations on Tuesday."
~~~ Wyoming Will Be Their New Home. Debbie Cenziper & Will Fitzgibbon of the Washington Post: "In recent years, families from India to Italy to Venezuela have abandoned international financial centers for law firms in Wyoming's ski resorts and mining towns, helping to turn the state into one of the world's top tax havens. A dozen international clients who created Wyoming trusts were identified in the Pandora Papers, a trove of more than 11.9 million records obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and shared with The Washington Post.... The documents offer a rare look at Wyoming's discreet financial sector and the people who rely on its services.... In Wyoming, with the support of state lawmakers, the industry charged ahead, promoting a suite of financial arrangements to potential customers around the world. At the heart of those arrangements are trusts, legal agreements that allow people to stash away money and other assets so they are protected from creditors and incur few or no tax obligations for themselves or their heirs." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Way Beyond
Haiti. Elizabeth Dias of the New York Times: "The 12 missionaries who were freed from captivity in Haiti last week had staged a dramatic escape on Wednesday night, making their way past guards and traveling on foot for about 10 miles while carrying two small children, their missionary organization said on Monday. 'They found a way to open the door that was closed and blocked, filed silently to the path that they had chosen to follow and quickly left the place that they were held, despite the fact that numerous guards were close by,' Weston Showalter, the spokesman for Christian Aid Ministries, said at a news briefing at the organization’s home office in Ohio, recounting the story for the first time. The account of the escape comes solely from the U.S. missionary group.... It was not clear how the missionaries escaped their guards after weeks of being held captive under close watch." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The report suggests skepticism of the missionaries' accounts. Anyhow, their sponsor's general director attributed their escape to “God work[ing] in a miraculous way to enable the hostages to escape.” It would seem that part of the miracle involved the passing of silver. Apparently God & Mammon sometimes work together. 'Tis the season, I guess. I'm glad they've been freed, however the escape came down.
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