The Commentariat -- April 26, 2021

McCarthy Rewrites History. Amy Wang & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) continued to defend ... Donald Trump's response to the Jan. 6 insurrection, claiming in an interview Sunday that Trump was unaware the U.S. Capitol was being stormed until McCarthy called and urged him to tell his supporters to stop. 'I was the first person to contact him when the riot was going on, McCarthy told 'Fox News Sunday' host Chris Wallace. 'He didn't see it, but he ended the call ... telling me he'll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that's what he did. He put a video out later.' The statement contradicted McCarthy's initial response to Trump's role in the attack and a fellow GOP lawmaker's recollection of what had been a tense call between McCarthy and Trump. In addition, one Trump adviser told The Washington Post that the then-president had been watching live television coverage of the riot, as multiple people were trying to reach Trump and his aides to beg for help." An NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ It's All about Kevin's Ambitions. Mark Leibovich of the New York Times: "... nearly four months after Jan. 6, [Kevin] McCarthy continues to defend his support for Mr. Trump's bogus assertions that the election was stolen from him. Friends say that he knows better and is as exasperated by Mr. Trump's behavior as other top Republicans, but that he has made the calculation that the former president's support is essential for his ambitions to become speaker after the 2022 elections, when Republicans have a decent chance to win back the House.... Mr. McCarthy knows the surest way to blow up his speakership plans would be to alienate Mr. Trump, who relishes being both a potential kingmaker to his favored candidates and saboteur of those he is determined to punish."

Alex Kasprak of Snopes: President "Biden announced that his administration would seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. The Daily Mail ran a story that asserted, in entirely theoretical terms, that the policy "could" require Americans to reduce their meat consumption by 90%. Politicians like Rep. Lauren Boebert retweeted the Daily Mail's speculation as fact." The claim is false. ~~~

~~~ Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "... former [Trump] economic adviser Larry Kudlow ... wants the nation to know that President Joe Biden is plotting to force Americans to drink 'plant-based beer.'... The beer everyone drinks now ... [is] typically made from grains, hops and yeast -- and not an ounce of steak. (Additives may include animal products, like gelatin, but beer is definitely plant based.) The bonkers brewhaha was part of Kudlow's raging criticism on Fox Business Friday against the proposed Green New Deal, which he claimed would end the country's consumption of meat, eggs, cheese and dairy. None of that's true...." Thanks to unwashed, who wonders what Larry thinks beer is made of, for the link. MB: I suppose we'll have to drink plant-based wine and even plant-based V-8 juice. (Did you know the "V" in V-8 stands for "veal"?)

Mark Sherman of the AP: "... a profanity-laced posting [by then-14-year-old Brandi Levy] on Snapchat ... has, improbably, ended up before the Supreme Court in the most significant case on student speech in more than 50 years. At issue is whether public schools can discipline students over something they say off-campus. The topic is especially meaningful in a time of remote learning because of the coronavirus pandemic and a rising awareness of the pernicious effects of online bullying. Arguments are on Wednesday, via telephone because of the pandemic.... The case has its roots in the Vietnam-era case of a high school in Des Moines, Iowa, that suspended students who wore armbands to protest the war. In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court sided with the students, declaring students don't 'shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.'" The Washington Post's story, by Robert Barnes, is here.

Elliott Williams in a CNN opinion piece: "For nearly two decades, the Supreme Court has established more leniency toward children convicted of violent crimes, in line with the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. This trend came to an abrupt stop on Thursday, with the Court's decision in Jones v. Mississippi that judges do not need to find a juvenile murderer to have a hope of rehabilitation before sentencing them to die in prison. Most stunning, however, is the manner in which the Court got there, by casting aside years of precedent with the stroke of a pen. [Friday's] decision was a frightening reminder of how easily the Court can speak out of both sides of its mouth: claiming fidelity to its own past decisions, while simultaneously gutting them."

Allyson Waller of the New York Times: "At Howard [University], the classics department is as old as the university itself. Established in 1867 -- the same year that Howard, one of the country's leading historically Black colleges and universities, was founded -- the department became a hub for Black thought, enlightening generations of students about Black people in antiquity.... The university plans to dissolve the department by the fall semester. The university's decision, which was reported in The Washington Post, has galvanized students and faculty members to preserve what the Society for Classical Studies says is the only classics department at an H.B.C.U.... An online petition in support of keeping the department has been signed over 5,000 times. Students have also brought awareness to the situation by using the hashtag '#SaveHUClassics' on their social media accounts." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

American Graffiti, D.C.-Style. Lindsay Watts of Fox 5 Washington, D.C.: "Two D.C. police cars were totaled after officers decided to drag race each other.... Sources tell FOX 5 the officers involved, who are new to the department, started racing each other on Anacostia Ave. NE near Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Garden and reports indicate they were traveling at least 60 mph."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Monday are here.

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

Katie Rogers & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "The Biden administration, under increasing pressure to address a devastating surge of the coronavirus in India, said on Sunday that it had partially lifted a ban on the export of raw materials for vaccines and would also supply India with therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators and personal protective gear.... The announcement, an abrupt shift for the administration, came after Jake Sullivan, President Biden's national security adviser, held a call earlier in the day with Ajit Doval, his counterpart in India, and as the Indian government reported more than 349,000 new infections, a world record for a single day. [A spokeswoman for the National Security Council] said the United States had 'identified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine,' the Indian-produced version of the AstraZeneca vaccine." An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Mary Eccles of Politico: "The EU is preparing rapid assistance to help India as it tackles a spiralling COVID-19 resurgence, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Sunday. 'Alarmed by the epidemiological situation in India. We are ready to support,' she wrote on Twitter. 'The EU is pooling resources to respond rapidly to India's request for assistance.' European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic wrote on social media that the EU would do its 'upmost' to mobilize assistance. He said the bloc's Emergency Response Coordination Center is working with EU governments to provide oxygen and medicine."

Rebecca Robbins of the New York Times: "Millions of Americans are not getting the second doses of their Covid-19 vaccines, and their ranks are growing. More than five million people, or nearly 8 percent of those who got a first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, have missed their second doses, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is more than double the rate among people who got inoculated in the first several weeks of the nationwide vaccine campaign.... [Stupid excuses] were expected, but another hurdle has been surprisingly prevalent. A number of vaccine providers have canceled second-dose appointments because they ran out of supply or didn't have the right brand in stock.... Several Walgreens customers said in interviews that they scrambled, in some cases with help from pharmacy staff, to find somewhere to get the correct second dose. Others, presumably, simply gave up." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) MB: So ~~~

(a) Walgreens screwed up;
(b) I'm skeert;
(c) Hey, I'll only get half-sick;
(d) Busy doing my nails.

Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: "American tourists who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to visit the European Union over the summer, the head of the bloc's executive body said in an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, more than a year after shutting down nonessential travel from most countries to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The fast pace of vaccination in the United States, and advanced talks between authorities there and the European Union over how to make vaccine certificates acceptable as proof of immunity for visitors, will enable the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, to recommend a switch in policy that could see trans-Atlantic leisure travel restored." CNN's story is here.

Gretchen Reynolds of the New York Times: "More exercise means less risk of developing severe Covid, according to a compelling new study of physical activity and coronavirus hospitalizations. The study, which involved almost 50,000 Californians who developed Covid, found that those who had been the most active before falling ill were the least likely to be hospitalized or die as a result of their illness. The data were gathered before Covid vaccines became available and do not suggest that exercise can substitute in any way for immunization. But they do intimate that regular exercise -- whether it&'s going for a swim, walk, run or bike ride -- can substantially lower our chances of becoming seriously ill if we do become infected."

Michigan. Mitch Smith & Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: "Across Michigan, which is experiencing by far the country's most dangerous outbreak, more younger people are being admitted to hospitals with the coronavirus than at any other time in the pandemic. Michigan hospitals are now admitting about twice as many coronavirus patients in their 30s and 40s as they were during the fall peak, according to the Michigan Health & Hospital Association. The shifting demographics come as a majority of Michigan residents age 65 or older have been fully vaccinated.... But the vaccinations of older people do not explain rising hospitalizations among people younger than 60, including those in their 20s and 30s. Public health experts say the outbreak -- driven by the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus, which is more contagious and more severe -- is spreading rapidly in younger age groups. And across the state, doctors and nurses are increasingly reporting a concerning trend: Younger patients are coming in more often with serious cases of Covid-19."

Jon Swaine of the Washington Post: "The stock price of government contractor Emergent BioSolutions has fallen sharply since the disclosure at the end of March that production problems at the firm's plant in Baltimore had ruined 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine. Since then, AstraZeneca moved production of its own vaccine out of the facility, and Emergent temporarily halted new production there altogether. Those developments came after Emergent's stock price had tumbled on Feb. 19, following the company's published financial results. Emergent stock has fallen since mid-February to about $62 a share from $125 a share.... But the decline has had less of an impact than it might have on the personal finances of Emergent's chief executive, Robert G. Kramer, who sold more than $10 million worth of his stock in the company in January and early February.... Investors sued Emergent, Kramer and other executives in federal court in Maryland last week, alleging that the firm artificially inflated its stock price by boasting of its ability to make coronavirus vaccines and by failing to disclose problems at the Baltimore site...." And this isn't the first time Kramer has sold off stock just before bad news about his company became public.

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Michael Wines of the New York Times: "An audit of the vote in Arizona's most populous county was meant to mollify angry Trump voters. But it is being criticized as a partisan exercise more than a fact-finding one.... When a parade of flatbed trucks last week hauled boxes of voting equipment and 78 pallets containing the 2.1 million ballots of Arizona's largest county to a decrepit local coliseum, it kicked off a seat-of-the-pants audit process that seemed more likely to amplify Republican grievances than to put them to rest. Almost half a year after the election Mr. Trump lost, the promised audit has become a snipe hunt for skulduggery that has spanned a court battle, death threats and calls to arrest the elected leadership of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. The head of Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based firm that Republican senators hired to oversee the audit, has embraced Mr. Trump's baseless theories of election theft and has suggested, contrary to available evidence, that Mr. Trump actually won Arizona by 200,000 votes. The pro-Trump cable channel One America News Network has started a fund-raiser to finance the venture and has been named one of the nonpartisan observers that will keep the audit on the straight and narrow." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: See also related commentary in yesterday's thread. The "audit" is worse than Wines makes out.

Virginia. Dennis Romero of NBC News: "Authorities in Virginia have released disturbing body camera video of a deputy shooting a Black man who was holding a cordless phone and who had just received a ride home by the same law enforcement officer. Isaiah Brown, 32, survived more than six rounds fired at him Wednesday and was in a hospital 'fighting for his life,' said a spokesman for the law firm representing him. The deputy was not named by the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office."

Way Beyond

Indonesia. Adi Renaldi & Claire Parker of the Washington Post: "Indonesia has found the wreckage of a navy submarine missing since Wednesday and declared all 53 of its crew members dead, the country's military chief announced Sunday. Underwater images captured by a remotely operated vehicle showed the wreckage in the Bali Strait at a depth of 838 meters, officials said. A search and rescue team found debris including a vertical rudder, anchor and safety jackets." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Iran. Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: "In a leaked audiotape that offers a glimpse into the behind-the scenes power struggles of Iranian leaders, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Revolutionary Guards Corps call the shots, overruling many government decisions and ignoring advice. In one extraordinary moment on the tape that surfaced Sunday, Mr. Zarif departed from the reverential official line on Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, the commander of the Guards' elite Quds Force..., who was killed by the United States in January 2020. The general, Mr. Zarif said, undermined him at many steps, working with Russia to sabotage the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and adopting policies toward Syria's long war that damaged Iran's interests." The Guardian's report is here.

The Commentariat -- April 25, 2021

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Sunday are here.

Rebecca Robbins of the New York Times: "Millions of Americans are not getting the second doses of their Covid-19 vaccines, and their ranks are growing. More than five million people, or nearly 8 percent of those who got a first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, have missed their second doses, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Contro and Prevention. That is more than double the rate among people who got inoculated in the first several weeks of the nationwide vaccine campaign.... [Stupid excuses] were expected, but another hurdle has been surprisingly prevalent. A number of vaccine providers have canceled second-dose appointments because they ran out of supply or didn't have the right brand in stock.... Several Walgreens customers said in interviews that they scrambled, in some cases with help from pharmacy staff, to find somewhere to get the correct second dose. Others, presumably, simply gave up." MB: So ~~~

      (a) Walgreens screwed up;
      (b) I'm skeert;
      (c) Hey, I'll only get half-sick;
      (d) Busy doing my nails.

Allyson Waller of the New York Times: "At Howard [University], the classics department is as old as the university itself. Established in 1867 -- the same year that Howard, one of the country's leading historically Black colleges and universities, was founded -- the department became a hub for Black thought, enlightening generations of students about Black people in antiquity.... The university plans to dissolve the department by the fall semester. The university's decision, which was reported in The Washington Post, has galvanized students and faculty members to preserve what the Society for Classical Studies says is the only classics department at an H.B.C.U.... An online petition in support of keeping the department has been signed over 5,000 times. Students have also brought awareness to the situation by using the hashtag '#SaveHUClassics' on their social media accounts."

Michael Wines of the New York Times: "An audit of the vote in Arizona's most populous county was meant to mollify angry Trump voters. But it is being criticized as a partisan exercise more than a fact-finding one.... When a parade of flatbed trucks last week hauled boxes of voting equipment and 78 pallets containing the 2.1 million ballots of Arizona's largest county to a decrepit local coliseum, it kicked off a seat-of-the-pants audit process that seemed more likely to amplify Republican grievances than to put them to rest. Almost half a year after the election Mr. Trump lost, the promised audit has become a snipe hunt for skulduggery that has spanned a court battle, death threats and calls to arrest the elected leadership of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. The head of Cyber Ninjas, the Florida-based firm that Republican senators hired to oversee the audit, has embraced Mr. Trump's baseless theories of election theft and has suggested, contrary to available evidence, that Mr. Trump actually won Arizona by 200,000 votes. The pro-Trump cable channel One America News Network has started a fund-raiser to finance the venture and has been named one of the nonpartisan observers that will keep the audit on the straight and narrow."

Adi Renaldi & Claire Parker of the Washington Post: "Indonesia has found the wreckage of a navy submarine missing since Wednesday and declared all 53 of its crew members dead, the country's military chief announced Sunday. Underwater images captured by a remotely operated vehicle showed the wreckage in the Bali Strait at a depth of 838 meters, officials said. A search and rescue team found debris including a vertical rudder, anchor and safety jackets."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: When President Biden speaks before a joint session of Congress later this week, "He will have a historic backdrop: Two women, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Harris, for the first time will be in the immediate frame of the president -- something Biden is planning to note at the beginning of his speech. In a different historic marker, both will be wearing masks as part of the coronavirus protocols in the chamber.... The address marks the conclusion of the first chapter of Biden's presidency, one that he has sought to enter with a burs of activity meant to reshape the country's politics and its place in the world.... There will likely be only 200 people total in the chamber, according to a person involved in the planning. That's a fraction of the 1,600 people normally in attendance for the president's address to Congress." MB: The article is interesting. I am a bit put-off by Viser's description of Pelosi & Harris as "a historic backdrop," as if they're, well, window-dressing.

Katie Rogers & Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "President Biden on Saturday recognized the mass killings of Armenians more than a century ago as genocide, signaling a willingness to test an increasingly frayed relationship with Turkey, long a key regional ally and an important partner within NATO. 'Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,' Mr. Biden said in a statement issued on the 106th anniversary of the beginning of a brutal campaign by the former Ottoman Empire that killed 1.5 million people. 'And we remember so that we remain ever vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms.'" The Guardian's story is here. President Biden's full statement is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Gillian Brockell of the Washington Post recounts the history of the Turks' massacre of perhaps 1.5 million Armenians during World War I. MB: The headline places "genocide" in quotation marks. I'm not sure why.

Louisiana Congressinal Race. Ally Mutnick of Politico: "Progressives suffered a disappointing setback on Saturday, after their favored candidate lost to a more establishment-aligned opponent in a special congressional election in Louisiana. State Sen. Troy Carter, who was backed by top leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, beat state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson in a runoff to fill a vacant House seat that quickly turned into a turf war for sparring factions of the Democratic party. He overcame more than a million dollars in outside spending backing Peterson to win, 56 percent to 44 percent, when The Associated Press called the race. The district is majority Black and safe Democratic territory; it includes almost all of New Orleans and stretches north toward Baton Rouge. The former incumbent, Cedric Richmond, vacated the seat to join the Biden administration." The Washington Post story, by Dave Weigel, is here.

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Following her vote to impeach Donald Trump, Rep. Liz Cheney has received a groundswell of financial support from the most powerful figures in traditional GOP politics and the corporate world.... Almost the entire traditional Republican power structure is standing behind Cheney at this tough moment -- but not House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).... As House Republicans gather Sunday for a three-day retreat meant to unify around a new policy agenda, the former president, residing 170 miles south of the GOP's Orlando gathering, continues to be a divisive figure, pitting the small band of Republican lawmakers critical of him against the majority that remains loyal. And the fault line in the conference runs over Trump's role in cheering on the rioting criminals who ransacked the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6." MB: Frankly, I hope they get in a massive fistfight. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Donald Trump: A Clear & Present Danger. Katelyn Polantz & Marshall Cohen of CNN: "... Donald Trump's continued promotion of the 'big lie' about the 2020 election could still incite his followers to violence, the Justice Department and judges noted repeatedly this week, as courts weigh the future dangerousness of US Capitol riot defendants. Two federal judges this week brought up the disinformation about 2020 from right-wing figures, and even Trump himself, as they considered keeping alleged Capitol rioters in jail before trial. And prosecutors from the Justice Department are arguing more explicitly that violent threats stemming from Trump-backed conspiracy theories are still alive, and that Trump supporters could be called to act again."

Craig Timberg & Paul Sonne of the Washington Post: "While the world was distracted with ... Donald Trump leaving office on Jan. 20, an obscure Florida company discreetly announced to the world's computer networks a startling development: It now was managing a huge unused swath of the Internet that, for several decades, had been owned by the U.S. military. What happened next was stranger still." MB: I would summarize the rest of the story, but I don't understand a word of it. It's the most popular story on the WashPo site right now (1:45 pm ET Saturday), so I'm linking it. But I don't get it. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Claire Colbert of CNN: "... Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell, aka the 'MyPillow Guy,' are among the winners -- if you can call them that -- of the 41st Golden Raspberry Awards, which are handed out to the worst in cinema every year.... The award for Worst Picture went to Lindell's documentary 'Absolute Proof,' which claims that a Chinese cyberattack flipped the 2020 election -- despite there being no evidence to back up the claim. Lindell, a vocal supporter of ... Donald Trump, also got a Worst Actor Razzie for the film. Giuliani's awkward appearance in 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm' ... won the Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor. Giuliani and his pants zipper were also recognized as the Worst Screen Combo."

Capitalism Is Awesome! Ctd. David Gelles of the New York Times: "The coronavirus plunged the world into an economic crisis, sent the U.S. unemployment rate skyrocketing and left millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. Yet at many of the companies hit hardest by the pandemic, the executives in charge were showered with riches. The divergent fortunes of C.E.O.s and everyday workers illustrate the sharp divides in a nation on the precipice of an economic boom but still racked by steep income inequality. The stock markets are up and the wealthy are spending freely, but millions are still facing significant hardship. Executives are minting fortunes while laid-off workers line up at food banks.... For executives who own large stakes in giant companies, the gains have been even more pronounced. Eight of the 10 wealthiest people in the world are men who founded or ran tech companies in the United States, and each has grown billions of dollars richer this year, according to Bloomberg." ~~~

~~~ Marie: And millions of the peasants voted for Donald Trump, who did all he could to make them poorer. The "genius" of Donald & Mitch & Josh, et al., has been to convince the nitwits & suckers that Blacks & Hispanics took their jobs & Asians made them sick & killed their grannies. ~~~

~~~ Zachary Carter, in a New York Times op-ed, highlights the groundbreaking theories of British economist Joan Robinson who "upended the misogynistic good-old-boys' network of economists and devised theories around competition and labor vital to the antitrust debates of today."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

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

Anthony Faiola, et al., of the Washington Post: "A long-simmering debate over the glaring gap in vaccine access -- largely between rich and poor countries, but among some developed nations, too -- is now boiling over, with global figures and national leaders decrying the vaccine plenty in a few nations and the relative drought almost everywhere else. African nations such as Namibia and Kenya are denouncing a 'vaccine apartheid,' while others are calling for policy changes in Washington and a broader rethink of the intellectual property and trademark laws that govern vaccine manufacturing in global pandemics.... In some countries with high vaccination rates -- including the United States, Britain and Israel -- coronavirus numbers are decreasing or plateauing. But globally, the number of new cases per week has nearly doubled since February, according to the WHO, particularly as some nations in the developing world witness their highest infection rates yet."

Beyond the Beltway

Alanna Richer & Lindsay Whitehurst of the AP: "At least six people were fatally shot by officers across the United States in the 24 hours after jurors reached a verdict in the murder case against [Derek] Chauvin on Tuesday. The roll call of the dead is distressing[.]... The deaths, in some cases, sparked new cries for justice. Some said they reflect an urgent need for radical changes to American policing -- a need that the Chauvin verdict cannot paper over. For others, the shootings are a tragic reminder of the difficult and dangerous decisions law enforcement face daily."

Montana. Iris Samuels of the AP: "Gov. Greg Gianforte [Violently R] on Friday signed a bill that prohibits state and local law enforcement in Montana from enforcing federal bans on firearms, ammunition and magazines. Supporters of the law have said it would protect the Second Amendment from stiffer gun control laws that could come from federal legislation or executive orders by President Joe Biden in the wake of several mass shootings that took place this year, including a recent shooting that killed eight people in Indianapolis. Opponents of the bill have said it would make it difficult for local law enforcement to collaborate with federal authorities on issues beyond gun access when such collaboration is essential to protect public safety, including in cases of domestic violence and drug offenses." (Also linked yesterday.)

New York. Jan Ransom of the New York Times: "... more than half of the officers in New York City's jail system who were disciplined over a 20-month period gave false, misleading or incomplete accounts on official forms or in statements to investigators, according to a New York Times analysis of records recently made public after a long court battle. The data suggests pervasive attempts by guards to cover up uses of force or other infractions at a time when the city has tried to rein in violence in the jails.... The city jail system, including the notorious Rikers Island complex, has long been a source of complaints of brutality by guards.... Until now, the disciplinary records of correction officers and their supervisors had been largely kept secret by state law. That changed last summer when, in response to pressure from protests against police violence and racism after the killing of George Floyd, New York legislators repealed 50-a, the section of the state civil rights statute that shielded most law enforcement misconduct records from the public."

** Igor Derysh of Salon: "Republicans in at least 14 states have introduced legislation that would seize power from election officials or limit their authority, apparently in response to unfounded attacks from ... Donald Trump and allies who sought to overturn his election loss. Republican state legislators across the country have responded to Trump's baseless election challenges, which were roundly rejected by dozens of judges, by rolling out more than 360 bills aimed at restricting voting access in nearly every state. But while much of the attention has focused on measures that would limit ballot access..., some of the proposals include provisions that would strip election officials of power and even impose criminal penalties for officials who defy the new restrictions.... Georgia's massive bill ... also includes more insidious measures that could allow Republicans to give 'themselves power to overturn election results,' Sylvia Albert [of] ... Common Cause said...." ~~~

~~~ Texas. Let's Not Let the "Urban People" Vote. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Twenty-four-hour voting was one of a host of options Harris County[, Texas, (includes Houston)] introduced to help residents cast ballots, along with drive-through voting and proactively mailing out ballot applications. The new alternatives, tailored to a diverse work force struggling amid a pandemic in Texas' largest county, helped increase turnout by nearly 10 percent compared with 2016; nearly 70 percent of registered voters cast ballots, and a task force found that there was no evidence of any fraud. Yet Republicans are pushing measures through the State Legislature that would take aim at the very process that produced such a large turnout. Two omnibus bills ... are seeking to roll back virtually every expansion the county put in place for 2020. The bills would make Texas one of the hardest states in the country to cast a ballot in. And they are a prime example of a Republican-led effort to roll back voting access in Democrat-rich cities and populous regions like Atlanta and Arizona's Maricopa County, while having far less of an impact on voting in rural areas that tend to lean Republican.... In Texas, Republicans have taken the rare tack of outlining restrictions that would apply only to counties with population of more than one million, targeting the booming and increasingly diverse metropolitan areas of Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

Washington Post: "John Richards, a British newspaperman who attracted a flurry of international attention when he founded and later resignedly disbanded the Apostrophe Protection Society, a self-styled bulwark against the 'barbarians' laying waste to a humble yet essential element of the English language, died March 30 at a hospital in Boston, a town in Lincolnshire, England. He was 97."

New York Times: "On Aug. 7, 1959, Arlene Pieper completed the Pikes Peak Marathon, a grueling mountain course in Manitou Springs, Col., that no other woman had finished in its brief history. She ascended 8,000 feet to the 14,000-foot summit and descended the same way in 9 hours and 16 minutes.... Her achievement did not produce a thunderclap in sports world and stayed something of a secret.... She was the first woman ever to complete a sanctioned marathon in the United States.... Ms. Pieper -- who was known most recently as Arlene Pieper Stine -- died on Feb. 11 in Capitola, Calif., south of San Jose. She was 90."

Marie: If you don't read obituaries, you're missing something. They may appear in newspapers, but they are more interesting (and better-written) than most newspaper stories.

The Commentariat -- April 24, 2021

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of Covid-19 developments Saturday are here.

Katie Rogers & Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "President Biden on Saturday recognized the mass killings of Armenians more than a century ago as genocide, signaling a willingness to test an increasingly frayed relationship with Turkey, long a key regional ally and an important partner within NATO. 'Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,' Mr. Biden said in a statement issued on the 106th anniversary of the beginning of a brutal campaign by the former Ottoman Empire that killed 1.5 million people. 'And we remember so that we remain ever vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms.'" The Guardian's story is here. President Biden's full statement is here.

Craig Timberg & Paul Sonne of the Washington Post: "While the world was distracted with ... Donald Trump leaving office on Jan. 20, an obscure Florida company discreetly announced to the world&'s computer networks a startling development: It now was managing a huge unused swath of the Internet that, for several decades, had been owned by the U.S. military. What happened next was stranger still." MB: I would summarize the rest of the story, but I don't understand a word of it. It's the most popular story on the WashPo site right now (1:45 pm ET Saturday), so I'm linking it. But I don't get it.

Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Following her vote to impeach Donald Trump, Rep. Liz Cheney has received a groundswell of financial support from the most powerful figures in traditional GOP politics and the corporate world.... Almost the entire traditional Republican power structure is standing behind Cheney at this tough moment -- but not House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).... As House Republicans gather Sunday for a three-day retreat meant to unify around a new policy agenda, the former president, residing 170 miles south of the GOP's Orlando gathering, continues to be a divisive figure, pitting the small band of Republican lawmakers critical of him against the majority that remains loyal. And the fault line in the conference runs over Trump's role in cheering on the rioting criminals who ransacked the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6." MB: Frankly, I hope they get in a massive fistfight.

Montana. Iris Samuels of the AP: "Gov. Greg Gianforte [Violently R] on Friday signed a bill that prohibits state and local law enforcement in Montana from enforcing federal bans on firearms, ammunition and magazines. Supporters of the law have said it would protect the Second Amendment from stiffer gun control laws that could come from federal legislation or executive orders by President Joe Biden in the wake of several mass shootings that took place this year, including a recent shooting that killed eight people in Indianapolis. Opponents of the bill have said it would make it difficult for local law enforcement to collaborate with federal authorities on issues beyond gun access when such collaboration is essential to protect public safety, including in cases of domestic violence and drug offenses."

Texas. Let's Not Let the "Urban People" Vote. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Twenty-four-hour voting was one of a host of options Harris County[, Texas, (includes Houston)] introduced to help residents cast ballots, along with drive-through voting and proactively mailing out ballot applications. The new alternatives, tailored to a diverse work force struggling amid a pandemic in Texas' largest county, helped increase turnout by nearly 10 percent compared with 2016; nearly 70 percent of registered voters cast ballots, and a task force found that there was no evidence of any fraud. Yet Republicans are pushing measures through the State Legislature that would take aim at the very process that produced such a large turnout. Two omnibus bills ... are seeking to roll back virtually every expansion the county put in place for 2020. The bills would make Texas one of the hardest states in the country to cast a ballot in. And they are a prime example of a Republican-led effort to roll back voting access in Democrat-rich cities and populous regions like Atlanta and Arizona's Maricopa County, while having far less of an impact on voting in rural areas that tend to lean Republican.... In Texas, Republicans have taken the rare tack of outlining restrictions that would apply only to counties with population of more than one million, targeting the booming and increasingly diverse metropolitan areas of Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas."

~~~~~~~~~~

Brady Dennis, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden used the waning hours of a White House climate summit to hammer home a message aimed as much at Americans as at the dozens of world leaders he had convened: Combating the Earth's warming is not simply a responsibility, but a chance to boost battered economies. 'Today's final session is not about the threat climate change poses,' Biden said Friday morning from the East Room. 'It's about the opportunity that addressing climate change provides, an opportunity to create millions of good-paying jobs around the world in innovative sectors.'"

~~~ The New York Times has live updates of President Biden's virtual climate summit, Day 2, here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Evan Perez, et al., of CNN: "Federal authorities are looking into whether a 2018 trip to the Bahamas involving Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz and several young women was part of an orchestrated effort to illegally influence Gaetz in the area of medical marijuana, people briefed on the matter told CNN. Prosecutors with the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section are examining whether Gaetz took gifts, including travel and paid escorts, in exchange for political favors, the sources said.... Gaetz has a long history of advocating for medical marijuana and has introduced several pieces of legislation seeking to loosen laws regulating the drug.... A number of his close associates have ties to the industry, including Jason Pirozzolo, a Florida doctor who founded a medical marijuana advocacy group and has in past news coverage in Florida been described as a "marijuana investor." According to reports, Pirozzolo accompanied Gaetz on the 2018 trip to the Bahamas that investigators are scrutinizing." (Also linked yesterday.)

Bumble-Busted. Marshall Cohen of CNN: "The Justice Department has charged a Capitol rioter who was turned in by someone he matched with on the dating app Bumble, after he bragged about his exploits on January 6. According to court documents, one week after the attack, Robert Chapman of New York told one of his Bumble matches that 'I did storm the Capitol' and said that he 'made it all the way into Statuary Hall.' He also claimed that he was interviewed by members of the media. The other Bumble user replied, 'we are not a match.' Prosecutors said the user then quickly reached out to the FBI and provided screenshots of the conversation. Investigators said in court filings that they corroborated Chapman's claims by comparing his Bumble profile picture to body camera footage from police officers who were inside the Capitol."

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "An impassioned supporter of ... Donald Trump, on trial for allegedly advocating the 'slaughter' of influential Democrats after the U.S. Capitol riot, also espoused Nazi ideology and suggested to his father that Trump should override the election results and declare the United States a dictatorship as Adolf Hitler did in Germany generations ago, according to evidence presented by federal authorities in a Brooklyn courtroom Thursday. Brendan Hunt, that evidence suggests, was fixated on extremist ideas and conspiracy theories -- including that Democrats falsely portrayed covid-19 as a deadly epidemic to gain political advantage over Trump -- when on Jan. 8 he posted a video titled 'KILL YOUR SENATORS: Slaughter them all.'" MB: Not sure if Brendan is one of the people Sen. Ron Johnson called (a) a left-wing provocateur or (b) someone who wouldn't do anything to break the law. Since it's pretty difficult to label a neo-Nazi as "left-wing," maybe Brendan now can call Senator Ron as a character witness.

Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "An Oath Keepers leader's chilling correspondence with another person who allegedly fantasized about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 'head rolling down the front steps' persuaded a federal judge on Friday that he should be kept behind bars pending trial."

A Florida Man Will Summer at a New Jersey Resort. Leia Idliby of Mediaite: "Donald Trump is reportedly planning to move his post-presidency operation from Mar-a-Lago to New Jersey, according to Business Insider.... Trump and his aides are planning to temporarily relocate to Bedminster, New Jersey, where he owns a golf club...." (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: Yesterday I wished everyone a Happy First Bleach Day! As Meredith McGraw & Sam Stein of Politico remind us, "One year ago today..., Donald Trump took to the White House briefing room and encouraged his top health officials to study the injection of bleach into the human body as a means of fighting Covid." Here's a Florida Man (et Fils) who probably did not celebrate Bleach Day. ~~~

     ~~~ DOJ Press Release: "A federal grand jury in Miami has returned an indictment charging a Florida man -- Mark Grenon, 62 -- and his three sons -- Jonathan Grenon, 34, Jordan Grenon, 26, and Joseph Grenon, 32 -- with fraudulently marketing and selling 'Miracle Mineral Solution,' a toxic industrial bleach, as a cure for COVID-19, cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, autism, malaria, hepatitis, Parkinson's, herpes, HIV/AIDS, and other serious medical conditions, and with defying federal court orders.... The Grenons claimed that ingesting MMS could treat, prevent, and cure COVID-19, according to the charges.... In prior official warning statements, the FDA had strongly urged consumers not to purchase or use MMS for any reason, explaining that drinking MMS was the same as drinking bleach and could cause dangerous side effects, including severe vomiting, diarrhea, and life-threatening low blood pressure."

The Pandemic, Ctd.

Lena Sun & Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: "Federal health officials lifted a pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine Friday night after an extensive safety review by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. The officials said the benefits of the single-shot vaccine far outweigh the risks from a rare and severe type of blood clot. The decision to lift the pause allows state and local officials to resume immediately giving the vaccine they have available on shelves, CDC officials said. The FDA has updated patient and health-care provider fact sheets for use as early as Saturday, and both agencies will publish additional education and communication materials by early next week." The Hill's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Denise Lu of the New York Times: "The U.S. death rate in 2020 was the highest above normal ever recorded in the country -- even surpassing the calamity of the 1918 flu pandemic.... Since the 1918 pandemic, the country's death rate has fallen steadily. But last year, the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted that trend, in spite of a century of improvements in medicine and public health." (Also linked yesterday.)

Sheryl Stolberg & Chris Hamby of the New York Times: "The Biden administration said Friday that it did not know that a Baltimore factory had discarded millions of possibly contaminated doses of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine when President Biden last month released the company to ship vaccines manufactured there to Mexico and Canada. Canadian and Mexican officials said on Friday that they had assurances from AstraZeneca that the millions of doses they received were safe. Some of the doses have been distributed to the public in both countries, the officials said.... Vaccine production at the plant, operated by Emergent BioSolutions, has been halted. Up to 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine needed to be discarded because of the contamination fears. This week, inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration said Emergent had failed to fully investigate the episode, and they also found fault with the plant's disinfection practices, size and design, handling of raw materials and training of workers."

Atthar Mirza & Emily Rauhala of the Washington Post: "The globe is quickly being split into coronavirus vaccine 'haves' and 'have-nots,' creating a gap that may define the next phase of the pandemic. Using publicly available figures from Our World in Data, The Washington Post found that nearly half -- 48 percent -- of all vaccine doses administered so far have gone to just 16 percent of the world's population in what the World Bank considers high-income countries. Through the summer and fall of last year, wealthy nations cut deals directly with vaccine-makers, buying up a disproportionate share of early doses -- and undermining a World Health Organization-backed effort, called Covax, to equitably distribute shots. So now, in a small number of relatively wealthy nations, including the United States, doses are relatively plentiful and mass immunization campaigns are progressing apace. But much of the world is still struggling to secure enough supply." ~~~

~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "Last July, during the presidential campaign, Joe Biden promised the universal health care advocate Ady Barkan that he wouldn't let intellectual property laws stand in the way of worldwide access to coronavirus vaccines.... Biden was unequivocal. 'It lacks any human dignity, what we're doing,' he said of Trump's vaccine isolationism. 'So the answer is yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And it's not only a good thing to do, it's overwhelmingly in our interest to do.'... Now that Biden is in power, his perception of our interest doesn't seem quite so clear. Last year, India and South Africa requested a waiver from World Trade Organization rules governing intellectual property for technology dealing with the pandemic.... A handful of rich nations, including the United States, oppose the waiver, but there's a widespread belief that if America changes its position, other countries will follow. Much of the world is waiting to see what Biden does. There's an enormous consensus in favor of a waiver."

Stupidest Senator Has More Horribly Stupid Advice. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) cast dark suspicions on the 'big push' to vaccinate American adults against the deadly coronavirus. The Wisconsin Republican, who's one of the Senate's most notorious sources of disinformation, told radio host and vaccine skeptic Vicki McKenna that the inoculations aren't necessary, reported Forbes. '[There's] no reason to be pushing vaccines on people,' Johnson said, adding that doses should be 'limited' only to those most vulnerable. 'If you have a vaccine, quite honestly, what do you care if your neighbor has one or not?... I'm getting highly suspicious [of the] big push to make sure everybody gets the vaccine.'..." (Also linked yesterday.)

Beyond the Beltway

Arizona. Jennifer Medina of the New York Times: "A Maricopa County judge on Friday temporarily halted a Republican-led effort in Arizona to recount ballots from the 2020 presidential election, after Democrats filed a lawsuit arguing that the audit violated state election security laws. But the judge, Christopher Coury of Maricopa County Superior Court, said the pause would go into effect only if the state Democratic Party posted a $1 million bond to compensate a private company -- Cyber Ninjas, a cybersecurity firm based in Florida -- that Republicans have hired to review the ballots. In a statement on Friday afternoon, Democratic officials said they would not do so, but they vowed to continue the fight in court. Another hearing was set for Monday morning, and the judge emphasized that he expected the audit to move forward." An Arizona Mirror report is here.

Iowa. Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "An Iowa woman who tried to kill two children in 2019 by hitting them with her car because she thought they were of Middle Eastern, African or Mexican descent has pleaded guilty to attempted murder and hate crime charges, the authorities said. The woman, Nicole Poole Franklin, 43, made the admission to two counts of hate crime charges on Wednesday, according to federal prosecutors. She faces life imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 for each of the charges, the Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday." These were two separate incidents. MB: I suppose it's appropriate that this horrible woman attempted to murder two (possibly) ethnic-minority children by Jeep Cherokee, a vehicle whose name has been criticized by some Native Americans, including the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. (Also linked yesterday.)

Maryland. Emily Davies & Ovetta Wiggins of the Washington Post: "Top Maryland officials are launching an investigation of all deaths in police custody that were overseen by the state's former chief medical examiner who testified in Derek Chauvin's defense, the Maryland attorney general and governor's offices announced Friday.... David Fowler, who was Maryland's chief medical examiner from 2002 to 2019, served as a key witness for Chauvin, whose high-profile trial ended this week with a jury convicting the former Minneapolis officer of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. Fowler broke with the Hennepin County medical examiner, among others, to classify Floyd's killing as 'undetermined' and not a homicide."

Minnesota. Chauvin Was Always a Bad Cop. Mike Levine of ABC News: "Late last year, as a team of Minnesota state prosecutors was preparing for the trial ... [of] Derek Chauvin..., they received a series of videos depicting Chauvin's handling of another case three years earlier that by their own description shocked them. The videos, from Sept. 4, 2017, allegedly showed Chauvin striking a Black teenager in the head so hard that the boy needed stitches, then allegedly holding the boy down with his knee for nearly 17 minutes, and allegedly ignoring complaints from the boy that he couldn't breathe. 'Those videos show a far more violent and forceful treatment of this child than Chauvin describes in his report [of the incident],' Matthew Frank, one of the state prosecutors, wrote in a court filing at the time. Now, the U.S. Justice Department may ... charge Chauvin for the 2017 incident. Two months ago, federal prosecutors in Minneapolis brought witnesses before a federal grand jury to provide testimony related to the incident, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported at the time. And this week, a source informed of the probe told ABC News that the investigation is still underway...."

North Carolina. Michael Levenson of the New York Times: "Seven sheriff's deputies have been placed on leave, and the governor of North Carolina [Roy Cooper (D)] is calling for the release of body-camera footage after deputies shot and killed a Black man on Wednesday, the authorities said.... Tommy Wooten II, the Pasquotank County sheriff, has said that the deputies were wearing body cameras and that the cameras were active at the time. He said the footage had been turned over to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and could be released only by a judge."

Way Beyond

Russia. Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "The Russian president went up to the brink -- and then, with the eyes of the world upon him, stepped back from it. State television images on Friday showed Russian forces that had massed near Ukraine, sparking fears of an imminent full-scale war in Europe, being loaded onto trains and ships to be pulled back. The same day, the imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny announced he was ending his three-week hunger strike because his demands for independent medical care had, at last, sufficiently been met. The performative blend of fear, suspense and force that President Vladimir V. Putin deploys to affirm his power reached a crescendo this week, illuminating the ever-harder-line tactics to which he is prepared to resort to cement and project his influence. Yet it also became clear by Friday that Mr. Putin saw the anxiety he was able to induce at home and abroad as a tool to be modulated depending on changing circumstances or in the service of a broader aim. It was a distillation, in short, of Mr. Putin's tactical, high-stakes rule that evokes his past as an officer in the K.G.B.: keeping the adversary guessing and off balance, while also being prepared to exercise restraint as long as he can save face." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yesterday, we were wondering in the Comments section what made Putin step back aggressive maneuvers against Ukraine. Troianovski provides an answer. ~~~

~~~ Zahra Ullah of CNN: "Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny said on Friday that he is ending his weekslong hunger strike. The announcement comes days after the Russian opposition leader was transferred to a prison hospital due to his deteriorating health." Breaking at 9:45 am ET. (Also linked yesterday.)

News Ledes

CNN: "A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft -- carrying four astronauts from three countries -- docked with the International Space Station early Saturday morning ET, beginning the crew's six-month stay in space. This mission, dubbed Crew-2, marks the third-ever crewed flight for Elon Musk's company and the first to make use of a previously flown, privately-owned rocket booster and spacecraft." The Washington Post is livebloggding developments here.

CNN: "Indonesia's Navy changed the status of its missing submarine from 'sub miss' to 'sub sank' on Saturday, as a naval chief presented debris believed to be from the vessel at a news conference. Authorities now expect to carry out an evacuation process to recover the KRI Nanggala-402 submarine and its crew when they pinpoint its exact location, Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono said. The latest update came as hopes faded for the 53 crew members, who were expected to have run out of oxygen early on Saturday. So far, no sign of them has been found, Yudo said."