The Commentariat -- May 8, 2021

Afternoon Update:

Maureeen Dowd of the New York Times: "How naïve I was to think that Republicans would be eager to change the channel after Trump cost them the Senate and the White House and unleashed a mob on them.... Let's acknowledge who created the template for Trump's Big Lie. It was [Liz's] father, Dick Cheney, whose Big Lie about the Iraq war led to the worst mistake in the history of American foreign policy.... From her patronage perch in the State Department during the Bush-Cheney years, she bolstered her father's trumped-up case for an invasion of Iraq.... She was a staunch defender of the torture program.... She backed the futile, 20-year occupation of the feudal Afghanistan.... Because of 9/11, Dick Cheney thought he could suspend the Constitution, attack nations preemptively and trample civil liberties in the name of the war on terror. (And for his own political survival.)... Trump built a movement based on lies. The Cheneys showed him how it's done."

~~~~~~~~~~

Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Biden on Friday defended his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan after a disappointing jobs report, arguing that the new data prove the necessity of the legislation and that it would take more time for the economy to recover. 'When we came into office, we knew we were facing a once-in-a-century pandemic and a once-in-a-generation economic crisis. And we knew this wouldn't be a sprint, it would be a marathon,' Biden said in remarks from the East Room of the White House. 'It was designed to help us over the course of a year. Not 60 days, a year,' he said of the coronavirus relief passed earlier this year. 'We never thought after the first 60 days that everything would be fine.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ "A Great Reassessment." Heather Long of the Washington Post: "One way to make sense of this weak jobs report is to do what Wall Street did and shrug it off as an anomaly. Stocks still rose Friday as investors saw this as a blip.... But another way to look at this is there is a great reassessment going on in the U.S. economy.... At the most basic level, people are still hesitant to return to work until they are fully vaccinated and their children are back in school and day care full time.... There is also growing evidence -- both anecdotal and in surveys -- that a lot of people want to do something different with their lives than they did before the pandemic."

Ben Leonard of Politico: "The Biden White House released its first batch of visitor logs Friday, bringing back the practice that began under former President Barack Obama but stopped under ... Donald Trump.... The batch released included 400 records from Jan. 20 to the end of January, according to a release from the White House. The White House pledged to release the logs monthly. The White House did not include records 'related to purely personal guests of the First and Second Families' nor did it release 'records related to a small group of particularly sensitive meetings.' They described visits of potential Supreme Court nominees as such sensitive meetings.... The White House has declined to release the names of people attending virtual meetings.... The Biden administration has said it can't release the full visitor logs from the Trump White House because they are now the property of the National Archives which must get the former president's permission to make them public." Thanks Akhilleus for the reminder.

Arelis Hernández of the Washington Post: "Federal officials visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday to tout their progress in dealing with migrant children, saying minors are spending less time in Border Patrol stations and being reunited with family or sponsors more quickly. The government has re-engineered the process for managing unaccompanied children and transferring them to shelters and family, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during a news conference at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's processing facility in Donna, Tex. Flanked by five congresswomen from Texas and California, Mayorkas offered few details on how his agency plans to tackle the pressing issues that continue to drive migration and enrich smuggling organizations." ~~~

~~~ Uh, There's This. Eileen Sullivan, et al., of the New York Times: "Biden administration officials have insisted that they have gotten better control of a surge of migrant children that has swamped detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border. But documents obtained by The New York Times indicate that the problem has moved to other facilities, like convention centers in Dallas, San Diego and Long Beach, Calif., which are nearing capacity as funds for more space are scarce. The migrant children are far better cared for at the new facilities, operated by the Department of Health and Human Services, than they were at crammed jails run by the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection, according to administration officials. But health department officials are taking about a month on average to move the children and teenagers out of government custody and into the care of a family member or sponsor in the United States." The White House is allowing DHS to redirect funds to migrant care.

New Justice Department. Katie Benner of the New York Times: "The Justice Department proposed a rule on Friday that would expand the definition of a firearm and help close a loophole that has allowed people to buy so-called ghost guns, firearms that are easily assembled from kits but are not regulated by federal gun laws. The proposal was the latest effort by the Biden administration to crack down on gun deaths.... 'This proposed rule would help keep guns out of the wrong hands and make it easier for law enforcement to trace guns used to commit violent crimes, while protecting the rights of law-abiding Americans,' [AG Merrick Garland] said. President Biden ordered the Justice Department last month to find a way within 30 days to curb the spread of ghost guns, with an eye toward keeping them from criminals who might not otherwise be able to pass a background check and buy a gun."

Old "Justice" Department: "What First Amendment?" Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The Trump Justice Department secretly obtained Washington Post journalists' phone records and tried to obtain their email records over reporting they did in the early months of the Trump administration on Russia's role in the 2016 election, according to government letters and officials. In three separate letters dated May 3[, 2021,] and addressed to Post reporters Ellen Nakashima and Greg Miller, and former Post reporter Adam Entous, the Justice Department wrote they were 'hereby notified that pursuant to legal process the United States Department of Justice received toll records associated with the following telephone numbers for the period from April 15, 2017 to July 31, 2017.' The letters listed work, home or cellphone numbers covering that three-and-a-half-month period. Cameron Barr, The Post's acting executive editor, said: '... The Department of Justice should immediately make clear its reasons for this intrusion into the activities of reporters doing their jobs, an activity protected under the First Amendment.'"

So Here's What the Deep State Looks Like. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration's controversial mental health chief, who criticized last year's coronavirus response as overblown, is now serving as a senior civil servant in the Drug Enforcement Administration, raising concerns she has 'burrowed' into the federal bureaucracy to shape policy, said three officials.... Elinore McCance-Katz, who served as ... Donald Trump's assistant secretary for mental health and substance abuse, was hired as a legislative policy analyst focused on drug diversion, or the illegal use of drugs. The role, which officials said is GS-15, or the highest level under the federal General Schedule, positions McCance-Katz to help shape the Biden administration's strategy on drug enforcement, particularly with Biden's nominee to run DEA still awaiting Senate confirmation."

A woman wearing a camo hat tricked Tricky Ted Cruz into admitting his purpose in leading a group of senators to object to Pennsylvania vote totals after the Capitol insurrection was an effort to overturn the election. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post reports.

Jessie Balmert of the Cincinnati Enquirer: "The Ohio Republican Party's leaders called on Rep. Anthony Gonzalez to resign for voting to impeach ... Donald Trump, a stunning rebuke of one of their own. On Friday, the party's governing board called on Gonzalez, R-Rocky River, to resign in a divided vote. They also voted to censure Gonzalez and nine other members of Congress for "their votes to support the unconstitutional, politically motivated impeachment proceeding against President Donald J. Trump," according to the resolution. Gonzalez was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Over and above their general group stupidity, it's clear the "Ohio Republican party leaders" are mightly ignorant. Their claim that the "impeachment proceedings" were "unconstitutional" is unsupportable. Under the Constituion, the House can impeach a president or judge for undefined "high crimes & misdemeanors" that most people would consider specious, and their actions would still be "constitutional." Additionally, "incitement of insurrection," the charge for which Gonzales voted, is pretty damned serious.

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The prosecutors overseeing the vast investigation into the riot at the Capitol this winter have started offering plea deals to defendants, several lawyers said, a significant step in advancing the inquiry into the attack. The plea negotiations, which have largely been informal, are in an early stage, and as of late last week, only one defendant among hundreds charged had pleaded guilty. But many lawyers have recently acknowledged having private conversations with the government.... The extension of plea deals, even on a large scale, is typical in a legal system in which the vast majority of criminal cases never reach a jury. The likelihood that many, if not most, of the more than 400 defendants charged in connection with Jan. 6 will eventually plead guilty will have an added benefit in Washington: It will relieve the city's federal court of the burden of conducting scores of trials at once." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Can we in the public at least get a video loop of all of these traitorous reprobates pleading guilty & being carted off in cuffs?

Marie: Some were wondering in yesterday's Comments thread if this story was true. As I wrote yesterday morning, it is. Hannah Rabinowitz & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "Alleged US Capitol rioter Anthony Antonio was hooked on Fox News and developed 'Foxitis,' his lawyer said Thursday in a virtual hearing interrupted multiple times by another defendant's profane outbursts. Antonio, his lawyer Joseph Hurley said, had lost his job at the beginning of the pandemic and for the next six months watched Fox News constantly. Antonio developed what his lawyer called 'Foxitis' and 'Foxmania,' and believed the lies about the 2020 election from Fox News and ... Donald Trump." The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post: "On Friday, the State Department and the professional association and union representing Foreign Service officers will unveil 71 more names [honoring Foreign Service officers who have died on duty] after an exhaustive search through the archives to find forgotten or overlooked people who qualify. Included are three envoys who died of yellow fever in the Republic of Texas, then an independent country; a Black diplomat who was born enslaved and died an ambassador to Liberia; and [F.R.] Engdahl, who died in an accidental fall while he was a Japanese prisoner of war." (Also linked yesterday.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Abdi Dahir of the New York Times: Vanessa "Nakate, a 24-year-old Ugandan, had participated in a news conference at the World Economic Forum with four white activists, including the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg. But when The Associated Press released a picture of the five from the event, Ms. Nakate had been cropped out. The omission shocked and saddened Ms. Nakate, who in a tearful 10-minute video posted on Twitter denounced the 'racism' in the global environmental movement.... Yet her presence at the event and the effect that the episode had on her elicited a response that reverberated across the world.... The A.P., which apologized to her both publicly and privately, said it would expand diversity training for its journalists and editors worldwide. And by the time Ms. Nakate's flight landed in Uganda a day after she posted her video, she had solidified her place as a leading voice among young Africans passionately arguing for action against climate change.... The A.P., which called the decision a 'terrible mistake,' said the picture had been edited to create a close-up of Ms. Thunberg and to remove a building that was behind Ms. Nakate."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "Pfizer and the German company BioNTech have become the first companies to apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for full approval of their Covid-19 vaccine for use in people 16 and older. The vaccine is currently being administered to adults in America under an emergency use authorization granted in December. The approval process is likely to take months. The companies said in a statement on Friday that they had submitted their clinical data, which includes six months of information on the vaccine's safety and efficacy, to the F.D.A. They plan to submit additional material, including information about the manufacturing of the vaccine, in the coming weeks." (Also linked yesterday.)

Linda Qiu of the New York Times doubles down on debunking Tucker Carlson's latest whopper: "For months, popular social media posts have cited an unverified national health database to falsely suggest that Covid-19 vaccines have caused thousands of deaths, possibly even more than the virus itself. These claims have been repeatedly debunked. But they remain in circulation as prominent public figures like the Fox News host Tucker Carlson continue to promote them. 'Between late December of 2020 and last month, a total of 3,362 people apparently died after getting the Covid vaccine in the United States,' Mr. Carlson said on his show on Wednesday, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS.... But, as the federal Department of Health and Human Services notes in a disclaimer on its website, the database relies on self-reporting, and its reports may include unverified information." Qiu goes on to cite several experts who elaborate on Tucker's gross mistake.

Marisa Iati of the Washington Post: "Dutch researchers on Monday said they have trained honeybees to stick out their tongues when presented with the virus's unique scent, acting as a kind of rapid test. Although it's a less conventional method than lab tests, the scientists said teaching bees to diagnose the coronavirus could help fill a gap in low-income countries with limited access to more sophisticated technology, like materials for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.... The scientists trained roughly 150 bees with a Pavlovian conditioning method...." MB: So I guess it's okay if I play the queen bee & stick out my tongue at vaccine skeptics. Oh, Tucker ....

Raf Cassert & Barry Hatton of the AP: "The European Union called on the United States Friday to start boosting its vaccine exports to contain the global COVID-19 crisis, and said that the U.S. backing of patent waivers would provide only a long-term solution at best.... While the U.S. has kept a tight lid on exports of American-made vaccines so it can inoculate its own population first, the EU has become the world's leading provider, allowing about as many doses to go outside the 27-nation bloc as are kept for its 446 million inhabitants.... [French President Emmanuel] Macron said it was more important for Biden to work on exports. 'The Anglo-Saxons block many of these ingredients' needed to make vaccines, the French leader said, referring to Washington and London." MB: Clearly, Macron doesn't properly appreciate "uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions" -- like Me-First selfishness. Meanwhile, can't people in vaccine-needy countries start teaching tricks to honeybees?

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "A police officer in Huntsville, Ala., was convicted of murder on Friday for fatally shooting a man who had called 911 to report that he was suicidal and who was holding a gun to his head when the police arrived, prosecutors said. The officer, William Darby, who had been strongly defended by the Police Department and cleared of wrongdoing by a city review board, will face 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced for the killing of Jeffrey Parker, 49, on April 3, 2018, according to prosecutors. The verdict stunned city leaders, who had maintained that Officer Darby was justified in using deadly force."

Arizona. Hannah Knowles & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "The Arizona Senate will hold off on a plan to contact voters as part of a Republican-commissioned election recount that raised concerns from the Justice Department about voter intimidation, state Senate President Karen Fann said Friday. The head of the department's civil rights division, Pamela S. Karlan, wrote to Fann (R) on Wednesday suggesting that the recount of nearly 2.1 million ballots in the state's largest county by a private contractor may not comply with federal law, leaving ballots at 'risk of damage or loss.' She also raised questions about the contractor's stated plans to 'identify voter registrations that did not make sense' and interview voters via phone and 'physical canvassing.'... Arizona's Democratic secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, an outspoken critic of those promoting baseless election fraud theories..., has gotten a 24/7 security detail after contacting the governor's staff requesting the protection in light of an incident in which a man chased her, as well as threatening or harassing messages...."

Some people can't understand why anyone would oppose the death penalty's being imposed on those who commit heinous crimes. Well, here's one reason: ~~~

~~~ Arkansas Executed the Wrong Man. Heather Murphy of the New York Times: "For 22 years, Ledell Lee maintained that he had been wrongly convicted of murder. 'My dying words will always be, as it has been, "I am an innocent man,"' he told the BBC in an interview published on April 19, 2017 -- the day before officials in Arkansas administered the lethal injection. Four years later, lawyers affiliated with the Innocence Project and the American Civil Liberties Union say DNA testing has revealed that genetic material on the murder weapon -- which was never previously tested -- in fact belongs to another man. In a highly unusual development for a case in which a person has already been convicted and executed, the new genetic profile has been uploaded to a national criminal database in an attempt to identify the mystery man.... The Innocence Project and the A.C.L.U. ... pushed for additional DNA testing ... on the eve of Mr. Lee's execution. The request was denied. A federal judge rejected Mr. Lee's request for a stay of the execution, saying that he had 'simply delayed too long,' according to a complaint filed by [Mr. Lee's sister]." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Assuming the "new" evidence is dispositive, this is a case of state-sponsored murder. And, yes, it's murder because agents of the state, including that federal judge, acted intentionally.

Florida. Daniel Dale, CNN's fact-checker on some provisions of Florida's new voter suppression law: "The law reduces the number of hours that ballot drop boxes can be made available to voters.... The law requires Florida voters to do extra labor to obtain mail-in ballots.... The law requires voters to provide a form of identification -- their driver's license number, Florida identification card number, or last four digits of their Social Security number -- to obtain a mail-in ballot.... The law makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to possess or deliver more than two mail-in ballots per election, other than a voter's own ballot and the ballots of "immediate" family members.... The law says state and local governments are not allowed to send a voter a mail-in ballot unless the voter has requested one." And more!

Minnesota. Amy Forliti & Michael Balsamo of the AP: "A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd's arrest and death, accusing them of willfully violating the Black man's constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air. A three-count indictment unsealed Friday names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here.

Texas. Marie: Yesterday, I linked to an AP story about Texas Republicans' latest big voter suppression bill. According to the AP, "... Democrats ... deployed technical challenges and hours of questioning that the bill's author, Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain, appeared unprepared at times to answer." That sentence has since been removed from the story, which, in its latest iteration, is here. The AP story never mentioned Cain's inability to answer the central question Democrat Rep. Rafael Anchia asked him. The exchange between the two men was classic -- in the Katie Porter tradition. (If you're short on time, you may want to start watching at 6:30 minutes in, when Rachel Maddow begins her intro that's specific to the legislative exchange, or at about 8:25 minutes in, when video of the exchange begins.) ~~~

     ~~~ It's way fun to watch the change in the facial expressions of Cain & his entourage, which devolve from smug and smiley-faced at the outset to really uncomfortable as they realize Anchia has caught them accidentally revealing the real rationale for the bill. I liked the part, too, where Cain attempts to white-splain to Anchia that laws derive their authority from the state constitution, as if this would be news to Anchia. BTW, Cain ultimately struck the "purity" language from the bill.

Virginia Governor's Race. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Larry J. Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said the Republican candidates for governor this year fit into three categories: 'Trumpy, Trumpier, Trumpiest.'... One candidate brands himself a 'conservative outlaw.' Another boasts of her bipartisan censure by the State Senate for calling the Capitol rioters 'patriots.' A third, asked about Dominion voting machines -- the subject of egregious conspiracy theories on the right -- called them 'the most important issue' of the campaign. These are ... three of the leading contenders in a race that in many ways embodies the decade-long meltdown of Republican power in Virginia, a once-purple state that has gyrated more decisively toward Democrats than perhaps any in the country." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Commentariat -- May 7, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Biden on Friday defended his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan after a disappointing jobs report, arguing that the new data prove the necessity of the legislation and that it would take more time for the economy to recover. 'When we came into office, we knew we were facing a once-in-a-century pandemic and a once-in-a-generation economic crisis. And we knew this wouldn't be a sprint, it would be a marathon,' Biden said in remarks from the East Room of the White House. 'It was designed to help us over the course of a year. Not 60 days, a year,' he said of the coronavirus relief passed earlier this year. 'We never thought after the first 60 days that everything would be fine.'"

Some were wondering in today's Comments thread if this story was true. It is. Hannah Rabinowitz & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "Alleged US Capitol rioter Anthony Antonio was hooked on Fox News and developed 'Foxitis,' his lawyer said Thursday in a virtual hearing interrupted multiple times by another defendant's profane outbursts. Antonio, his lawyer Joseph Hurley said, had lost his job at the beginning of the pandemic and for the next six months watched Fox News constantly. Antonio developed what his lawyer called 'Foxitis' and 'Foxmania,' and believed the lies about the 2020 election from Fox News and ... Donald Trump." The Washington Post's story is here.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Friday are here: "Pfizer and the German company BioNTech have become the first companies to apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for full approval of their Covid-19 vaccine for use in people 16 and older. The vaccine is currently being administered to adults in America under an emergency use authorization granted in December. The approval process is likely to take months. The companies said in a statement on Friday that they had submitted their clinical data, which includes six months of information on the vaccine's safety and efficacy, to the F.D.A. They plan to submit additional material, including information about the manufacturing of the vaccine, in the coming weeks."

Minnesota. Amy Forliti & Michael Balsamo of the AP: "A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd's arrest and death, accusing them of willfully violating the Black man's constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air. A three-count indictment unsealed Friday names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao."

Virginia Governor's Race. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Larry J. Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said the Republican candidates for governor this year fit into three categories: 'Trumpy, Trumpier, Trumpiest.'... One candidate brands himself a 'conservative outlaw.' Another boasts of her bipartisan censure by the State Senate for calling the Capitol rioters 'patriots.' A third, asked about Dominion voting machines -- the subject of egregious conspiracy theories on the right -- called them 'the most important issue' of the campaign. These are ... three of the leading contenders in a race that in many ways embodies the decade-long meltdown of Republican power in Virginia, a once-purple state that has gyrated more decisively toward Democrats than perhaps any in the country."

Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post: "On Friday, the State Department and the professional association and union representing Foreign Service officers will unveil 71 more names [honoring Foreign Service officers who have died on duty] after an exhaustive search through the archives to find forgotten or overlooked people who qualify. Included are three envoys who died of yellow fever in the Republic of Texas, then an independent country; a Black diplomat who was born enslaved and died an ambassador to Liberia; and [F.R.] Engdahl, who died in an accidental fall while he was a Japanese prisoner of war."

Arkansas Executed the Wrong Man. Heather Murphy of the New York Times: "For 22 years, Ledell Lee maintained that he had been wrongly convicted of murder. 'My dying words will always be, as it has been, "I am an innocent man,"' he told the BBC in an interview published on April 19, 2017 -- the day before officials in Arkansas administered the lethal injection. Four years later, lawyers affiliated with the Innocence Project and the American Civil Liberties Union say DNA testing has revealed that genetic material on the murder weapon -- which was never previously tested -- in fact belongs to another man. In a highly unusual development for a case in which a person has already been convicted and executed, the new genetic profile has been uploaded to a national criminal database in an attempt to identify the mystery man.... The Innocence Project and the A.C.L.U. ... pushed for additional DNA testing ... on the eve of Mr. Lee's execution. The request was denied. A federal judge rejected Mr. Lee's request for a stay of the execution, saying that he had 'simply delayed too long,' according to a complaint filed by [Mr. Lee's sister]."

~~~~~~~~~~

Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: “Backdropped by a dilapidated bridge that has outlived its expected working life by two decades, President Biden sought to define the debate on his $2 trillion infrastructure plan as a question of priorities: overdue investments that would benefit a wide swath of Americans vs. tax cuts that would help a wealthy few. 'In my view, it's an easy choice between giving tax breaks to corporations and the super wealthy and investing in working families,' Biden said in front of the Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles, La. Biden, speaking in a red state he lost by nearly 20 points in November, nonetheless pitched his agenda in contrast with Republicans' most prized policy achievement of the Trump era[:] The 2017 tax cuts.... 'I'd be willing to break bread with anyone who's willing to help,' said Nic Hunter, Lake Charles's mayor, a Republican who introduced Biden. 'Every day that goes by without disaster relief is a day that Washington fails the people of southwest Louisiana.' Hunter was Exhibit A for Biden's argument that addressing the nation's infrastructure has bipartisan support across the nation.... Louisiana's Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards also spoke before Biden.... Biden also toured the Carrollton Water Plant in New Orleans, a city whose water system has pipes that are in some cases more than a century old."

Sarah Kaplan & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Months after President Biden set a goal of conserving 30 percent of the nation's land and waters by 2030, the administration Thursday laid out broad principles -- but few details -- for achieving that vision. The new 22-page document from the Commerce, Interior and Agriculture Departments highlights one of the Biden administration's central challenges: Having committed to bold environmental goals during their early days in power, officials now face the more uncertain and contentious task of figuring out how to follow through on those ambitions. The 'America the Beautiful' report outlines steps the U.S. could take to safeguard key areas on land and in the sea to restore biodiversity, tackle climate change and make natural spaces more accessible to all Americans."

Darryl Fears of the Washington Post: "Months after the Trump administration weakened the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, allowing industry and individuals to unintentionally kill any number o birds, the Biden administration proposed a new rule Thursday that would revoke that change. The proposal announced by the Interior Department would restore protections under the 102-year-old law that governed incidental take, or accidental killings of birds by people and organizations such as oil and gas companies that fail to take proper precautions to not harm the animals."

Who Are These People? Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "'With Donald Trump out of the White House -- not a joke -- you will see an epiphany occur among many of my Republican friends,' Joe Biden said during a May 14, 2019, trip to New Hampshire.... But on Wednesday..., Biden offered a more flummoxed, less confident assessment: 'I don't understand the Republicans.'... Biden has watched as post-Trump Republicans, far from reverting to their previous identity, have instead embraced the ex-president with increased fervor.... His rhetoric now has almost a 'bless their hearts' tone, professing to speak more in sorrow than anger.... A new tone of doubt has crept into Biden's assertions about the Republicans/ path."

Missy Ryan & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Pentagon leaders signaled an openness Thursday to altering military rules that govern the prosecution of sexual assaults, as support builds behind congressional initiatives that would take those decisions out of the chain of command. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said his decision to drop his opposition to changing the military's system for prosecuting such crimes was based in part on data suggesting that 20,000 service members were sexually assaulted last year. 'We can't tolerate that level of divisiveness in our force. These are blue-on-blue assaults,' he said. 'It cannot stand. It has to be resolved. So, yes, my mind is very open.'"

John Hudson of the Washington Post: “Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Ukraine's leaders in Kyiv on Thursday that the country's future is threatened by a two-front war: the battle against Russian aggression at its border and the fight against corruption within Ukraine. The top U.S. diplomat pledged to increase U.S. security assistance to Ukraine after what he called Russia's 'reckless and aggressive' buildup of troops along its border with Ukraine, and he condemned Kyiv's notoriously corrupt political system after the firing of an energy official.... 'There's clearly a need for more progress on things like corporate governance, on judicial reform, on making sure that the anticorruption bureau is truly independent,' said Blinken, who ... met with [Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, lawmakers,] civil society leaders, members of the news media and virtually with anticorruption activists." An ABC News story is here.

Hypocrites on Parade. Steve Peoples of the AP: "Every Republican in Congress voted against the sweeping pandemic relief bill that President Joe Biden signed into law three months ago. But since the early spring votes, Republicans from New York and Indiana to Texas and Washington state have promoted elements of the legislation they fought to defeat.... Polling suggests the Biden stimulus is overwhelmingly popular." (Also linked yesterday.)

Daniel Dale of CNN: "The top candidate to replace [Liz] Cheney [in the House GOP 'leadership'] is New York Rep. Elise Stefanik -- who promoted some of those election lies and sought to get the outcome of the election overturned. Stefanik, whom Trump endorsed Wednesday for the job of House Republican conference chair, supported a lawsuit that tried to get the Supreme Court to invalidate Joe Biden's victory. On January 6, after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, she voted to reject some of President Joe Biden's electoral votes. Both before the riot and immediately afterward, Stefanik made false claims about the conduct of the election in some of the states Biden won. And in previous remarks, she amplified baseless claims that there were major 'irregularities' with both voting and election software. Stefanik did not match Trump's incendiary language about the election being 'rigged' or 'stolen.' But using slightly more artful rhetoric, she aided his damaging campaign to undermine confidence in the result. Here's a look at some of Stefanik's election-related words and actions between early December and early January." MB: But, see, that's exactly why Stefanik is the top candidate. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ AND, as Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post points out, Stefanik is still standing by a three-part whopper she told on January 6 about Georgia's election count. Kessler awarded her four Pinocchios.

~~~ Catie Edmondson & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "... on Thursday, Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the Republican whom leaders have anointed as [Liz] Cheney's replacement in waiting, loudly resurrected his false narrative, citing 'unprecedented, unconstitutional overreach' by election officials in 2020 and endorsing an audit in Arizona that has become the latest avenue for conservatives to try to cast doubt on the results. 'It is important to stand up for these constitutional issues, and these are questions that are going to have to be answered before we head into the 2022 midterms,' Ms. Stefanik told Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump's former strategist, in the first of a pair of interviews on Thursday with hard-right acolytes of the former president.... While Ms. Stefanik avoided claiming outright that the election was stolen, she praised the Arizona audit, a Republican-led endeavor that critics in both parties have described as a blow to democratic norms and a political embarrassment, as 'incredibly important.'" A CNN story is here. ~~~

~~~ Tina Nguyen of Politico: "Within minutes of [Donald] Trump's endorsement of [Elise Stefanik] for GOP conference chair on Wednesday, top MAGA voices erupted in anger -- a rare break with the former president. The invective aimed at Stefanik, who was perceived to be insufficiently conservative and a relative newcomer to the Trump cause, continued to zoom through the MAGA-sphere on Thursday." MB: Of course none of this matters to Trump, whose only requirement is that a person show him slavish fealty.

Pete Williams of NBC News: "Four months after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, FBI agents maintain a steady pace of arresting people accused of taking part, as one of the largest criminal investigations in American history keeps growing. 'We're not done rounding up the worst of the worst,' said one law enforcement official. 'We're not slowing down.' More than 440 people have been charged with taking part in the Capitol siege.... Men outnumber women among those arrested by 7 to 1...."

Peter Hermann of the Washington Post: "A D.C. police officer injured battling pro-Trump rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 is seeking more recognition for those on the front lines and says he is angered by people who 'continue to downplay the events of that day.' The officer, Michael Fanone, who joined the force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and has been on leave since the riot, wrote of his misgivings in a letter he said he sent on Wednesday to members of Congress, the D.C. Council and the mayor's office.... Fanone was part of a group of officers trying to hold off thousands of rioters trying to break through a door on the west terrace of the Capitol. He was pulled into the crowd, beaten with poles, hit multiple times on the neck with a stun gun, rendered unconscious and suffered a mild heart attack. He was stripped of his badge and radio, and said someone tried to grab his firearm. He said he heard someone yell, 'Kill him with his own gun.' Three suspects have been arrested in connection with his attack." ~~~

     ~~~ A WUSA story is here. It includes a facsimile of Fanone's letter.

IOKIY Trump. Otherwise, You Go to Jail. Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: "The Federal Election Commission said on Thursday that it had formally dropped a case looking into whether ... Donald J. Trump violated election law with a payment of $130,000 shortly before the 2016 election to a pornographic-film actress by his personal lawyer at the time, Michael D. Cohen. The payment was never reported on Mr. Trump's campaign filings. Mr. Cohen would go on to say that Mr. Trump had directed him to arrange payments to two women during the 2016 race, and would apologize for his involvement in a hush-money scandal. Mr. Cohen was sentenced to prison for breaking campaign finance laws, tax evasion and lying to Congress.... While Mr. Cohen has served time in prison, Mr. Trump has not faced legal consequences for the payment.... The election commission -- split evenly between three Republicans and three Democratic-aligned commissioners -- declined to proceed in a closed-door meeting in February. Two Republican commissioners voted to dismiss the case while two Democratic commissioners voted to move forward. There was one absence and one Republican recusal. That decision was announced on Thursday.... Two of the Democratic commissioners on the F.E.C., Shana Broussard, the current chairwoman, and Ellen Weintraub, objected to not pursuing the case after the agency's staff had recommended further investigation." The Hill's story is here.

Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "An Air Force veteran who prosecutors allege worked with Stephen K. Bannon ... to defraud donors to a fundraising campaign for a U.S.-Mexico border wall has been indicted on new tax charges. Brian Kolfage, a conservative activist who lost three limbs in Iraq and was the founder and public face of the 'We Build the Wall' fundraising campaign, was charged in federal court in Florida with filing a false tax return. In an indictment, prosecutors alleged that Kolfage claimed to the IRS in his 2019 tax return that he had a total income of just over $63,000 and did not report hundreds of thousands of dollars deposited into his personal bank account from 'We Build the Wall' and other sources. Federal prosecutors in New York last year charged Bannon, Kolfage and two others with defrauding donors to the campaign, which was publicly supported by several of Trump's allies and raised more than $25 million from hundreds of thousands of donors." A CNN story is here.

Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Twitter suspended an account on Thursday that appeared to be circumventing its ban on ... Donald Trump by posting messages he shared on his own website.... On Thursday morning, a Twitter accounts with the handle '@DJTDesk' appeared on Twitter. The account's bio section stated that the handle would be featuring 'Posts copied from Save America on behalf of the 45th POTUS; Originally composed via DonaldJTrump/Desk.' Within hours, the account was suspended."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Joel Achenbach & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "Coronavirus infections could be driven to low levels and the pandemic at least temporarily throttled in the United States by July if the vast majority of people get vaccinated and continue with precautions against viral transmission, according to a strikingly optimistic paper released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report comes as administration officials and leaders in many states are sounding more confident that the country can return to a degree of normalcy relatively soon. President Biden on Tuesday announced a new vaccination goal, saying he wants 70 percent of adults to have had at least one dose by July 4. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday the modeling results give Americans a road map out of the pandemic -- so long as they continue to get vaccinated and maintain certain mitigation strategies until a 'critical mass of people' get the shots." The article is free to nonsubscribers. (Also linked yesterday.)

Sarah Rumpf of Mediaite: On Thursday night, Tucker Carlson "told his millions of viewers that he was pro-vaccine and insisted that he was not saying the vaccines were dangerous, but then immediately launched into a rant about 'the apparent death rate from the coronavirus vaccines,' citing data from VAERS (the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System). As many people noted, the disclaimer that is literally on the VAERS website, written in clear language: 'As an early warning system, VAERS cannot prove that a vaccine caused a problem....'" Reaction was swift. "Even Fox News' own medical expert subtweeted Carlson for his profoundly flawed take." Rumpf goes into detail about Tucker's mistakes. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Remember Emily Litella, Gilda Radner's character who ranted about things she had misheard? Emily was comically dimwitted, to be sure, but well-meaning. We should think of Tucker as an evil-minded Emily Litella, someone who reads or hears stuff he doesn't understand, then goes on the teevee and rants about it. I would urge Fox "News" to end each Tucker Carlson show with a disclaimer: "Never mind!" ~~~

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "The scene playing out in [the] Arizona [fake recount] is perhaps the most off-the-rails episode in the Republican Party's escalating effort to support ... Donald J. Trump's lie that he won the election.... The review is proving to be every bit as problematic as skeptics had imagined." The article recaps issues covered in stories we linked yesterday.

Florida. Ron DeSantis: Bad for Business. Taylor Dolven of the Miami Herald: "If Florida won't allow Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings to require proof of COVID-19 vaccination for passengers and crew, the company's CEO says it will take its ships elsewhere. CEO Frank Del Rio made the threat during an earnings call Thursday, just days after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled state Legislature that bans businesses, schools and government entities in Florida from asking anyone to provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccination. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is the world's third largest cruise company, parent to cruise brands Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas. Miami-Dade County spent $263 million building a terminal for Norwegian at PortMiami that finished construction last year." ~~~

~~~ Washington Post Editors: "... thanks to the cynical calculations of Florida's Republican governor, voters in the state's 20th Congressional District --; primarily Black, primarily Democratic -- will have to wait until next year to be represented in Congress. Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (D) died last month, but Gov. Ron DeSantis has set the general election for Jan. 11, with primaries in November.... It is clear from the experience of other states that it doesn't take months and months for candidates to emerge and qualify for the ballot.... About 800,000 Floridians will be deprived of representation for nine months apparently worries him not one bit. In fact, it meshes neatly with his larger agenda of suppressing the vote whenever possible for anyone but Republican voters. The thread running throughout is a disdain for democracy." ~~~

~~~ Florida. Amy Gardner & Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed broad legislation Thursday morning that imposes new rules on voting and new penalties for those who do not follow them.... Critics said the new law curtails poll access in a variety of ways that will intimidate, confuse and otherwise make it harder for people to vote by mail, which is popular in Florida." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ As Corasaniti & Epstein note in the NYT story linked below, "... on Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, with great fanfare, signed his state's new voting bill, which passed last week. Held at a Palm Beach hotel with cheering supporters in the background, the ceremony showcased Mr. DeSantis's brash style; the governor's office barred most journalists and provided exclusive access to Fox News, a nose-thumbing gesture of contempt toward a news media he viewed as overly critical of the bill." Thanks to Bobby Lee for pointing out, in yesterday's Comments, DeSantis's move to ban the real press from covering an official act. ~~~

     ~~~ Hey, Republicans. Here's a Real First Amendment Issue. Steve Contorno of the Tampa Bay Times: "When Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new bill Thursday morning to change mail-in voting in Florida, the only television cameras allowed to capture the moment belonged to Fox News. Outside, reporters and videographers from local news outlet were told the ceremonial bill signing was an 'exclusive' for Fox & Friends, the conservative network's morning show.... Fox never asked for the special treatment.... Later, the network clarified that its producers there weren't aware that DeSantis was going to sign the bill on camera.... Aside from the optics, there's also a question of whether DeSantis violated the First Amendment by shutting members of the press out of a public event, experts told the Times. A federal court in Ohio upheld that a public official cannot discriminate against journalists based on perceived bias.... People who don't have a cable subscription or who don't watch that network ... wouldn't have seen it." ~~~

Texas. Nick Corasaniti & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Hours after Florida installed a rash of new voting restrictions, the Republican-led Legislature in Texas pressed ahead on Thursday with its own far-reaching bill that would make it one of the most difficult states in the nation in which to cast a ballot. The Texas bill would, among other restrictions, greatly empower partisan poll watchers, prohibit election officials from mailing out absentee ballot applications and impose strict punishments for those who provide assistance outside the lines of what is permissible. The State House of Representatives was scheduled to debate the measure late into the evening with the possibility that it would pass it and send it to the Senate. Gov. Greg Abbott is widely expected to sign the bill into law." ~~~

     ~~~Update. Acacia Coronado of the AP: "Texas Republican lawmakers advanced a sweeping elections bill early Friday following hours of discussion that would put America's biggest red state closer to imposing a raft of new voting restrictions in the face of growing warning from corporations. The key vote at 3 a.m. in the Texas House followed hours of debate as Democrats, who had little means of stopping the bill in the GOP-controlled state Capitol, deployed technical challenges and hours of questioning that the bill's author, Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain, appeared unprepared at times to answer. Finally, an agreement was reached between Republicans and Democrats leaving the bill with 20 amendments that significantly watered down some of what advocates called the most problematic aspects of the bill as it passed the key vote 81-64."

Georgia. Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Keisha Lance Bottoms, the first-term Atlanta mayor who rose to national prominence this past year with her stern yet empathetic televised message to protesters but has struggled to rein in her city's spike in violent crime, will not seek a second term in office, Ms. Bottoms announced on Twitter on Thursday night.... The news shocked the political world in Atlanta, the most important city in the Southeast.... " The Hill's story is here.

New York. Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "New York Attorney Letitia James wants two right-wing provocateurs to pay up to $2.7 million in penalties for thousands of robocalls allegedly aimed at suppressing the Black vote ahead of the 2020 election. James said Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman 'used misinformation to try to disenfranchise Black communities ahead of the election, in a clear attempt to sway the election in the favor of their preferred presidential candidate.' Wohl and Burkman, conservative political operatives known for smearing political opponents with transparently false accusations, are already facing criminal charges in Michigan and Ohio for the scheme."

New York. Ed Shanahan & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "Sheldon Silver, who dominated New York State politics for years as the Democratic Assembly speaker before being convicted on federal corruption charges, was ordered back to prison on Thursday, according to two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the matter. Mr. Silver, 77, was in federal custody at a Lower Manhattan hospital on Thursday afternoon and was expected to be returned to the prison in Otisville, N.Y., later in the day, one of the officials said. The move came just two days after prison officials let Mr. Silver return home on a furlough while he awaited a decision on his request that he be allowed to serve the balance of his prison term under home confinement. At that point, he had served less than a year of his six-and-a-half-year sentence. That Mr. Silver was going back to prison so quickly suggested that his request had been denied, but a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on any aspect of his status."

Way Beyond

China/Space/Earth. Steven Myers & Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: "Part of China's largest rocket, the Long March 5B, is tumbling out of control in orbit after launching a section of the country's new space station last week. The rocket is expected to fall to Earth in what is called 'an uncontrolled re-entry' sometime on Saturday or Sunday. Whether it splashes harmlessly in the ocean or impacts land where people live, why China's space program let this happen -- again -- remains unclear. And given China's planned schedule of launches, more such uncontrolled rocket re-entries in the years to come are possible.... The country's space program ... continues to create danger, however small, for people all over the planet by failing to control the paths of rockets it launches.... The chances [of your being hit by debris are extremely low, but they] are not zero." NPR's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Okay, Nothing to Worry About. AP: "China says the upper stage of its Long March 5B rocket that launched the core module of its space station will mostly burn up on re-entry, posing little threat to people and property on the ground. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbing said Chinese authorities will release information about the -re-entry of the rocket, expected over the weekend, in a 'timely manner.' Wang said China 'pays great attention to the re-entry of the upper stage of the rocket into the atmosphere.'"

China. Steven Mufson & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "China's greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 surpassed those of the United States and the developed world combined, according to an analysis published Thursday by the research firm Rhodium Group. China's share of global emissions rose to 27 percent of the world's total, while the United States remained the second-largest emitter at 11 percent. India's share came third at 6.6 percent, edging the 27 nations in the European Union, which account for 6.4 percent, the report found. China, India and other developing nations have lon noted that over the past century, the United States and Europe grew their economies while generating massive amounts of greenhouse gases, and that requiring the developing world to clamp down on emissions as they industrialize and bring millions of citizens into the middle class is unfair." MB: That's sort of a ridiculous argument; when the West industrialized, the technology to reduce greenhouse gases had not been invented, AND -- although there was no question that air particles were negatively affecting health -- people didn't understand climate change & how greenhouse gases accelerated it. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Commentariat -- May 6, 2021

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Daniel Dale of CNN: "The top candidate to replace [Liz] Cheney [in the House GOP 'leadership'] is New York Rep. Elise Stefanik -- who promoted some of those election lies and sought to get the outcome of the election overturned. Stefanik, whom Trump endorsed Wednesday for the job of House Republican conference chair, supported a lawsuit that tried to get the Supreme Court to invalidate Joe Biden's victory. On January 6, after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, she voted to reject some of President Joe Biden's electoral votes. Both before the riot and immediately afterward, Stefanik made false claims about the conduct of the election in some of the states Biden won. And in previous remarks, she amplified baseless claims that there were major "irregularities" with both voting and election software. Stefanik did not match Trump's incendiary language about the election being 'rigged' or 'stolen.' But using slightly more artful rhetoric, she aided his damaging campaign to undermine confidence in the result. Here's a look at some of Stefanik's election-related words and actions between early December and early January." MB: But, see, that's exactly why Stefanik is the top candidate.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here.

Joel Achenbach & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "Coronavirus infections could be driven to low levels and the pandemic at least temporarily throttled in the United States by July if the vast majority of people get vaccinated and continue with precautions against viral transmission, according to a strikingly optimistic paper released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report comes as administration officials and leaders in many states are sounding more confident that the country can return to a degree of normalcy relatively soon. President Biden on Tuesday announced a new vaccination goal, saying he wants 70 percent of adults to have had at least one dose by July 4. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday the modeling results give Americans a road map out of the pandemic -- so long as they continue to get vaccinated and maintain certain mitigation strategies until a 'critical mass of people' get the shots." The article is free to nonsubscribers.

Hypocrites on Parade. Steve Peoples of the AP: "Every Republican in Congress voted against the sweeping pandemic relief bill that President Joe Biden signed into law three months ago. But since the early spring votes, Republicans from New York and Indiana to Texas and Washington state have promoted elements of the legislation they fought to defeat.... Polling suggests the Biden stimulus is overwhelmingly popular."

Florida. Amy Gardner & Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed broad legislation Thursday morning that imposes new rules on voting and new penalties for those who do not follow them.... Critics said the new law curtails poll access in a variety of ways that will intimidate, confuse and otherwise make it harder for people to vote by mail, which is popular in Florida."

Steven Mufson & Brady Dennis of the Washington Post: "China's greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 surpassed those of the United States and the developed world combined, according to an analysis published Thursday by the research firm Rhodium Group. China's share of global emissions rose to 27 percent of the world's total, while the United States remained the second-largest emitter at 11 percent. India's share came third at 6.6 percent, edging the 27 nations in the European Union, which account for 6.4 percent, the report found. China, India and other developing nations have long noted that over the past century, the United States and Europe grew their economies while generating massive amounts of greenhouse gases, and that requiring the developing world to clamp down on emissions as they industrialize and bring millions of citizens into the middle class is unfair." MB: That's sort of a ridiculous argument; when the West industrialized, the technology to reduce greenhouse gases had not been invented, AND -- although there was no question that air particles were negatively affecting health -- people didn't understand climate change & how greenhouse gases accelerated it.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jim Tankersley & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "President Biden delivered a clear and punchy message to America's highest earners on Wednesday: I'm going to raise your taxes, but your vacation homes are safe. In an exchange with reporters at the White House, Mr. Biden defended with gusto his plans to increase taxes on high earners and the wealthy. He railed against high-earning chief executives and promised that his plans were 'about making the average multimillionaire pay just a fair share.... We're not going to deprive any of these executives of their second or third home, travel privately by jet,' Mr. Biden said after brief remarks on an economic aid program he signed into law this year. 'It's not going to affect their standard of living at all.... But I can affect the standard of living that people I grew up with.'" ~~~

~~~ Gabe Hiatt of Eater.com: President Biden stopped by D.C.'s Taqueria Las Gemelas to pick up lunch. "'He also came to let us know that we were the first restaurant to be approved for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund in the country,' [restaurant co-owner Josh Phillips said]." Biden ordered quatro tacos y dos quesadillas -- for takeout. MB: And you thought I wasn't fluent in Spanish.

Eli Rosenberg of the Washington Post: "The Labor Department is rescinding a rule that made it harder for gig and contract workers to argue they were entitled to minimum wage and overtime protections, part of a push to undo Trump-era decisions that favored businesses and employers. The withdrawal of the 'Independent Contractor' rule, which limited the ability of workers to argue that they were misclassified as contractors when they should have been employees, will be published in the Federal Register today, and become effective on Thursday. Companies have increased the use of contractors in recent decades in part to lower labor costs. Employees are entitled to a range of benefits not afforded to contractors, including a minimum wage and overtime pay." (Also linked yesterday.)

Allan Smith of NBC News: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he is '100 percent' focused 'on stopping' President Joe Biden's administration.... 'One-hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration,' McConnell said, adding, 'We're confronted with severe challenges from a new administration, and a narrow majority of Democrats in the House and a 50-50 Senate to turn America into a socialist country, and that's 100 percent of my focus.'... McConnell's comments drew comparisons to remarks he made about then-President Barack Obama to the National Journal just prior to the 2010 midterms. 'The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president,' McConnell said then...." MB: Pardon my arithmetic, but. If Mitch is "100% focused on stopping Joe Biden, then he's "0% focused on passing legislation to help the American people."

Fadel Allassan of Axios: Donald "Trump and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise are openly supporting Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to replace Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as House Republican conference chair.... 'Liz Cheney is a warmongering fool who has no business in Republican Party Leadership,' Trump said in a statement. 'Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement for GOP Conference Chair. Elise is a tough and smart communicator!'... The public endorsements of Stefanik mark a new escalation in Republicans' internal feud over Cheney...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Olivia Beavers & Melanie Zanona of Politico: "Liz Cheney is not fighting to hold onto her job as House GOP conference chair, even as top Republican leaders openly campaign to replace her in the No. 3 spot.... Cheney has been telling people that if holding onto her leadership role requires having to lie or stay quiet, she doesn't believe that's a price worth paying.... Behind the scenes, Cheney has not been making calls or engaging in the type of campaigning that's ordinarily necessary in politics to build a coalition of support ahead of a vote.... Now it appears all but certain that Cheney will be booted from leadership, raising serious questions about her political future. Cheney, who passed on a Senate bid last year..., just posted a record-breaking fundraising quarter. But she's also facing a tough primary race next year in Wyoming, with pro-Trump challengers already lining up to take her out." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Well, There's This. Liz Cheney in a Washington Post op-ed: "In public statements again this week..., Donald Trump has repeated his claims that the 2020 election was a fraud and was stolen. His message: I am still the rightful president, and President Biden is illegitimate. Trump repeats these words now with full knowledge that exactly this type of language provoked violence on Jan. 6. And, as the Justice Department and multiple federal judges have suggested, there is good reason to believe that Trump's language can provoke violence again. Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work -- confidence in the result of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this." MB: That's how she begins, & there's more worth reading. However, she's Liz Cheney, so she has to get in her digs at Democrats & liberals. ~~~

     ~~~ Maggie Astor of the New York Times highlights the main points of Liz Cheney's WashPo op-ed. This Mother Jones post, by Abigail Weinberg, also provides a good summary & analysis.

Charles Blow of the New York Times remembers some of Liz's -- and daddy Dick's -- low marks. "... her present position does not expunge her past positions. The sword she's falling on is one she has spent her political career brandishing."

Josh Feldman of Mediaite: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is concerned about being called as a witness by a commission looking into the events of January 6th, CNN reported Wednesday. There have been calls for such a commission, and Liz Cheney has said she supports creating it. CNN reporter Jamie Gangel said, 'Kevin McCarthy was not an innocent bystander to the big lie. For weeks months, leading up to January 6th, he was talking to the president every day, a couple of times a day. Then, on January 6th, he has that critical phone call with the president where he's pleading with him to call it off.'"

Axios: "Facebook's independent Oversight Board ruled to uphold the platform's suspension of former President Trump's account but told the social media giant to rethink the ban's 'indefinite' nature. The board found Trump's posts had 'severely violated' Facebook rules but questioned the 'indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension' and 'insisted' the company find a 'proportionate response' within six months." MB: Bottom line: Facebook will put us through this again. And again. That guy will forever be a threat to democracy, even after he's dead. Update: The New York Times report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Eugene Scott of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump and other Republicans expressed outrage Wednesday over the Facebook Oversight Board's decision to extend Trump's ban from the social media platform -- and at least one House lawmaker threatened that the company will 'pay the price.' [Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.)]... In a statement, Trump called the decision 'a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our country. Free speech has been taken away from the president of the United States because the radical left lunatics are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and stronger than ever before.'" MB: Once again, Trump demonstrates that he has zero understanding of the First Amendment. As for the rest of the lunkheads, they think attempting to violently overthrow a valid presidential election is not nearly as bad as getting kicked off Facebook for inciting the insurrection. ~~~

I defer to you, Nick. -- Mark Zuckerberg, regarding a decision about Donald Trump's account ~~~

~~~ Adam Satariano & Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: Nick "Clegg ... a former British deputy prime minister ... played perhaps the biggest behind-the-scenes role in decisions around Mr. Trump's account, colleagues said, an unlikely position for a British political veteran in such an important moment for American free speech. [MB: Bull!] He developed the main justification used by Mr. Zuckerberg for barring Mr. Trump, and he oversaw the creation of the board, including the selection of its members. The board's ruling on Mr. Trump tests the argument that Mr. Clegg championed inside Facebook: Instead of taking all the responsibility for moderation, the company should enlist a quasi-judicial board of outside experts to make the final decision.... Mr. Clegg joined Facebook in 2018 to oversee its policy and public relations team after his political star had faded." ~~~

~~~ ** "Facebook Whiffed." Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "It was not a close call in January to suspend [Donald Trump] indefinitely from the world's largest social media platform, with nearly 3 billion user accounts. The insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 made that obvious. And it should not have been a close call -- or anything to agonize about -- for Facebook to keep him off the platform permanently.... 'This verdict is a desperate attempt to have it both ways,' responded a London-based group of academics and advocates that calls itself the Real Facebook Oversight Board.... What was called for here was a clear, unambiguous message: That a hugely influential public official -- arguably the most powerful person in the world -- can't use Facebook to endanger the public welfare. And once he does just that, hundreds of times, he can't come back.... [Banning Trump worked.] Online misinformation about election fraud plummeted by 73 percent the week after various social media sites -- particularly Twitter -- banned Trump from their platforms in January, a research firm found." ~~~

It's the International Liberal Jewish Cabal! According to a Washington Examiner report or op-ed or something, Facebook's oversight board "is mostly tied to [George] Soros," according to a headline. No link. Isn't this the same gang who used a space laser to start California's deadly wildfires? You'll have to check with Margie Greene on that. No link.

Maggie Haberman & Ben Protess of the New York Times (May 4): "As a federal investigation into Rudolph W. Giuliani escalates, his advisers have been pressing aides to ... Donald J. Trump to reach into a $250 million war chest to pay Mr. Giuliani for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election on Mr. Trump's behalf.' Leading the lobbying effort is Bernard Kerik. Kerik was once Giuliani's driver, and he was so good at it that Giuliani appointed New York City police commissioner. Then George W. Bush nominated Kerik to lead the Department of Homeland Security, a gig that didn't work out because Kerik's series of criminal acts soon began to surface, partially, as I recall, because of the FBI background check for the DHS job. Anyhow, Bernie landed in jail, but Trump pardoned him, so everything is good. They're all a bunch of incompetent mobsters of the type we recognize from "The Sopranos." Speaking of sopranos, a couple of pundits pointed out on the teevee Wednesday that Trump should pay up fast or Rudy will sing. ~~~

~~~ Gabby Orr & Paula Reid of CNN: "Allies of Rudy Giuliani continue to call on ... Donald Trump and Republicans to pay for his efforts around the election and, in turn, subsidize the mounting legal bills facing the former New York City mayor. Trump was recently informed directly by Giuliani associates of the increasing debts incurred by his onetime personal lawyer, one source told CNN. Giuliani's attorney, Robert Costello, also raised the issue in recent days with lawyers for Trump.... One of the most vocal is Giuliani's son Andrew, who worked in the Trump White House and told CNN, 'The nut may crack in the next 36 hours.' He called on Trump to 'take the lead on this one,' adding: 'He can be the hero.'... Andrew Giuliani said his father was reimbursed for travel-related expenses incurred after the 2020 election, when he visited Arizona and other states to argue election fraud lawsuits in court. He said his father has not, however, been paid for legal services." ~~~

~~~ In Andrea Mitchell's interview with Igor Novikov, former adviser to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, he says that Rudy Giuliani wanted the Ukraine government to smear Joe Biden on multiple fronts & get a statement from Zelensky that Ukraine, not Russia, was responsible for hacking into the Democratic party in 2016. Thanks to P.D. Pepe for the link:

Lauren Thomas of CNBC: "Peloton announced Wednesday voluntary recalls of both its treadmill machines over safety concerns. The announcement marked a major reversal of Peloton's initial reaction and comes after weeks of discussions with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. In a statement, Peloton apologized for not acting more quickly to resolve the issue after reports of one death and dozens of injuries." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Zack Whittaker of Tech Crunch: "My Peloton profile is set to private and my friend's list is deliberately zero, so nobody can view my profile, age, city, or workout history. But a bug allowed anyone to pull users' private account data directly from Peloton's servers, even with their profile set to private. Peloton, the at-home fitness brand synonymous with its indoor stationary bike and beleaguered treadmills, has more than three million subscribers. Even President Biden is said to own one. The exercise bike alone costs upwards of $1,800...." MB: You know, Zack, your first mistake was buying a pricey Peloton that probably makes your living room look like a gym. I have a $29 under-desk exercise bike. It calculates stuff, but -- to the best of my knowledge -- it does not reveal my private data to Joe Biden.

The Pandemic, Ctd.

** Thomas Kaplan, et al., of the New York Times: "The Biden administration came out on Wednesday in support of waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines, siding with international efforts to bolster production amid concerns about vaccine access in developing nations. The United States had been a major holdout at the World Trade Organization over a proposal to suspend some of the world economic body's intellectual property protections, which could allow drugmakers across the globe access to the closely guarded trade secrets of how the viable vaccines have been made. But President Biden had come under increasing pressure to throw his support behind the proposal, drafted by India and South Africa and backed by many congressional Democrats. Katherine Tai, the United States trade representative, announced the administration's position on Wednesday afternoon...." The AP's report is here.

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Wednesday struck down the nationwide moratorium on evictions imposed by the Trump administration last year and extended by President Biden until June 30, a ruling that could affect tenants struggling to pay rent during the pandemic. The decision, by Judge Dabney Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is the most significant federal ruling on the moratorium yet, and follows three similar federal court decisions. The Justice Department immediately appealed, and will seek an emergency stay of the decision, potentially delaying a final resolution of the case past the moratorium's planned June 30 expiration." Friedrich is a Trump appointee.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Wednesday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Iris Samuels of the AP: "The Blackfeet tribe in northern Montana provided about 1,000 surplus vaccines last month to its First Nations relatives and others from across the [U.S.-Canadian] border, in an illustration of the disparity in speed at which the United States and Canada are distributing doses. While more than 30% of adults in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, in Canada that figure is about 3%.... More than 95% of the [U.S.] Blackfeet reservation's roughly 10,000 residents who are eligible for the vaccine are fully immunized, after [Montana] prioritized Native American communities -- among the most vulnerable U.S. populations -- in the early stages of its vaccination campaign."

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. In Search of Bamboo. Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) on Wednesday sent a letter outlining a string of problems that she said observers from her office have witnessed at a Republican-led recount of the 2020 presidential election results in Arizona's largest county.... Ballots have been left unattended on counting tables. Laptop computers sit abandoned, at times -- open, unlocked and unmonitored. Procedures are constantly shifting, with untrained workers using different rules to count ballots.... [Hobbs] questioned whether procedures were in place to hire qualified, unbiased people to serve as ballot counters, noting that reporters have spotted former state Rep. Anthony Kern (R) among the ballot counters. Kern was on the November ballot and was photographed attending pro-Trump rallies in Washington on Jan. 6." According to a person working on the so-called audit, some of the processes the "auditors" are using to examine the ballots are designed to find traces of, uh, bamboo. Because of "unfounded accusations that 40,000 ballots were flown from Asia into Arizona." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Personally, I think they should be looking for sticky rice & green tea stains. Helderman outlines many of the irregularities in the GOP's supposed recount of a recount of a recount, but she doesn't mention that -- based on the small percentage of ballots they have examined -- the "auditors" can't possibly finish the process by the deadline, which is May 14. The Veterans' Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, where the so-called recount is being held, has been reserved by a number of high school students for their graduation ceremonies shortly after May 14. ~~~

     ~~~ Uh-oh. Bob Christie of the AP: "The U.S. Department of Justice expressed concern Wednesday about ballot security and potential voter intimidation arising from the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate's unprecedented private recount of the 2020 presidential election results in Maricopa County. In a letter to GOP Senate President Karen Fann, the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said the Senate's farming out of 2.1 million ballots from the state's most populous county to a contractor may run afoul of federal law requiring ballots to remain in the control of elections officials for 22 months. And Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan said that the Senate contractor's plans to directly contact voters could amount to illegal voter intimidation.... The Justice Department letter came six days after voting rights groups asked federal officials to intervene or send monitors to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix at the state fairgrounds, where the ballots are being recounted." Helderman briefly mentions the DOJ's letter.

Minnesota. Doha Madani & Tim Fitzsimons of NBC News: "Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin filed a motion for a new trial Tuesday after he was convicted last month of murdering George Floyd. Chauvin's attorney, Eric Nelson, is alleging pretrial publicity affected Chauvin's right to a fair trial. The motion alleges the court abused its discretion by denying the requests for a change in venue and a new trial. Because the court failed to sequester the jurors or 'admonish them to avoid all media,' Nelson's filing said, they were subjected not only to prejudicial publicity but also to 'jury intimidation or potential fear of retribution.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

South Carolina. Jeffrey Collins of the AP: "The South Carolina House voted Wednesday to add a firing squad to the state's execution methods amid a lack of lethal-injection drugs -- a measure meant to jump-start executions in a state that once had one of the busiest death chambers in the nation. The bill, approved by a 66-43 vote, will require condemned inmates to choose either being shot or electrocuted if lethal injection drugs aren't available. The state is one of only nine to still use the electric chair and will become only the fourth to allow a firing squad.... The Senate already had approved the bill in March, by a vote of 32-11.... After a routine final vote in the House and a signoff by the Senate, it will go to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who has said he will sign it." MB: Next up, guillotine. The representatives of the people are bloodthirsty barbarians, leading me to conclude that so are many of the people.

Way Beyond

Colombia. Julie Turkewitz & Sofía Villamil of the New York Times: "Colombians demonstrating over the past week against the poverty and inequality that have worsened the lives of millions since the Covid-19 pandemic began have been met with a powerful crackdown by their government, which has responded to the protests with the same militarized police force it often uses against rebel fighters and organized crime. This explosion of frustration in Colombia, experts say, could presage unrest across Latin America, where several countries face a combustible mix of an unrelenting pandemic, growing hardship and plummeting government revenue.... On Wednesday, after seven days of marches and clashes that turned parts of Colombian cities into battlefields, demonstrators breached protective barriers around the nation's Congress, attacking the building before being repelled by the police.... The clashes have left at least 24 people dead, most of them demonstrators, and at least 87 missing...."

France-U.K. Brexit Was an Excellent Idea. Sunita Patel-Carstairs & Alix Culbertson of Sky News: "A fleet of French fishing boats has descended on Jersey after threatening to blockade the island's main port over a post-Brexit fishing rights row. The UK has sent two Royal Navy ships to Jersey 'as a precaution' - HMS Severn and HMS Tamar are patrolling the waters around Jersey [Thursday] morning. And French authorities have confirmed to Sky News that a vessel, the Military Ops ship Athos, will be arriving 'imminently' to carry out a 'patrol mission' - while local reports suggest another is also en route. The deployment, France says, is to 'guarantee the safety' of people at sea and 'accompany' the flotilla of around 50 French fishing vessels currently protesting off St Helier over a lack of access to waters around the Channel island.... Jersey fisherman Josh Dearing described the scene at the port of St Helier as 'like an invasion'." MB: Fishing rights issues in the English Channel, I assume, were the sort of disputes that the E.U. courts used to work out.

News Lede

CNBC: "The U.S. employment picture improved sharply last week, with first-time claims for unemployment insurance hitting a fresh pandemic-era low. Initial claims totaled 498,000 for the week ended March 1, against the Dow Jones estimate of 527,000. That was down from the previous week's total of 590,000, which saw a substantial upward revision from the initially reported 553,000."